Vengeance Denied

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Secluded Compound: Freya

Watch out!

Dodging red blaster fire, Freya spun until her back pressed against the wall. Using her nanite's connection to Bash, she responded to him. Thanks. I'm about to cheat, as you call it, and take them all out.

Don't kill them. We need some of them alive.

I'll leave one or two. She didn't wait for his response. Closing her eyes, she reached out with her telekinesis and incapacitated each of the women firing at them. With the snap of their spinal column, each woman dropped to the ground, paralyzed from the waist down. Freya flung their Reapers until they crashed into a pile near Bash.

With the enemy disarmed, Freya and Bash holstered their blasters and confronted the women. "Where's Alastor?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." One of them hissed.

"You're part of the Patriots. Don't deny it, I can hear it in your thoughts." Freya challenged as she dug through the woman's memories. "We'll find him, whether you cooperate. It's just a matter of time."

"You'll never succeed. Men will be our downfall!" The woman screamed while trying to pick herself up off the floor.

"I don't think so." She hadn't realized she'd never walk again. Freya watched her struggle, leaning down until she stopped centimeters from her face. "You underestimated me, bitch."

Freya watched Bash access their computers, looking for any clues. Since Alastor disappeared during the start of the revolution over a year ago, they couldn't find him or confirm his death. It was like he'd never existed.

Alastor's name bounced around the woman's mind, but most of the thoughts were useless and full of conspiracies. Going deeper, she found a trace of something more. Following it, Freya felt a sweat break out all over her body as she concentrated. Why was this so difficult? Pushing harder, she felt something warm on her upper lip. Freya wiped the blood away as she finally accessed the information. Shar'ana had Alastor.

"Bash, run a search for Shar'ana." The room spun as she lost her balance. Freya's own thoughts became sluggish as she withdrew from the woman's mind.

Ell'e appeared from a side room, then rushed to Freya. "They have some kind of mental trap for your telepathy." Freya felt a sting in her thigh as her thoughts started to clear.

"What was that?" She slurred while Ell'e held her upright.

"It will counteract what's going on in your brain. It seems they used to have someone on their team with the same ability as you. That's how they developed the counterattack." Ell'e let go, watching her every move. "Did you find Alastor?"

"A Patriot by the name of Shar'ana has him." Bash called out from the main control console.

"Well, that's not good."

"No, it's worse than that. Cay told me that Shar'ana was one of the two women responsible for him at Gu'Rati. She was his main captor that was particularly cruel."

"Shit." Ell'e's fist clenched.

"Yeah. Even if he's still alive and we get him out, I don't know how much of him will be left." Bash held up his cybernetic arm, revealing a thin metal spike that receded under his skin. "I've got everything we need. I'm not sure how she survived the colony self-destructing, but my guess is she's been taking it out on him."

Bash scooped Freya up and sprinted through the long underground passageways until he got to a set of stairs. Ell'e ran up to them first, holding the hidden door open for them, then they headed for their cloaked hover bikes. Her feet touched the ground as the injection finished reversing the effects of the attack. "Can you drive?"

"Yeah." Freya rubbed her hands over her face then rolled her shoulders. Throwing her leg over the bike, she powered it up and clipped on the small helmet shield on her vest. Ell'e took off, Freya followed, and she knew Bash would be right behind them. Freya flinched when pressure and heat hit her, followed by the loud clap of an explosion. She telepathically scolded him. What happened to keeping a few alive?

I didn't think we'd get everything off their database. Bash matched pace beside her, winking through the helmet shield.

You're incorrigible. Did you read through everything already? Speaking telepathically wasn't necessary since the hover bikes had a built in communication system, but she enjoyed the little wisps of emotions she felt from Bash through the nanites.

Yup. There isn't a definitive answer to where Shar'ana is keeping him, but there are three places we need to check out first. After we go back to the Ancient City and update the others, that is.

This will devastate Say'La when we tell her. Freya didn't know if she could survive losing Bash again, they'd gotten so close in the few years together. There was only one thing she could do for the woman she'd started to consider a friend, find Alastor.

I'll tell her when we get back. Bash's offer gave her a bit of relief until she realized how hard this was for him, too. One of these days she'd learn the subtlety of these emotional interactions. The rest of the ride home was silent.

Say'La stood outside of their living complex when they arrived. A weight settled in Freya's belly the moment Say'La realized he wasn't with them. Tears welled up in her blue eyes. Ell'e was the first off her bike. She approached Say'La, grasping her hands, then pulling her into a tight hug. Freya approached them, laying her hand on Say'La's shoulder. Bash joined the trio, placing his hand on top of Freya's.

"I have news for you. Freya and Ell'e, can you update the others while I talk with Say'La?" Bash gave Freya a sad smile and she appreciated the sacrifice he made for her. She gave him a nod. Then they left the two of them to talk about the mission.

Tears were already welling up in Freya's eyes as they walked into the main meeting area of the complex. When they found the Ancient City last year at the start of the uprising, it was unlike anything they'd ever seen. While not near the size of the inner-city, the series of interconnected buildings encompassed a sizable area. Where they kept the transits sat near one of three primary entrances, this one being where the inhabitants spent most of their time.

"Not to be an a*s, but you gotta knock that off." Ell'e handed Freya a small cloth from the kitchen.

"I know. The last thing we need is a spontaneous telekinetic incident, but I'm just so sad and pissed off about the whole thing. I know we won, but it doesn't feel like it. Not when one of our own remains missing." Freya cleaned the blood off herself.

"The surliest of our team." Ell'e added.

"The two of you are tied for that spot."

"Why did I ever say I liked you?" Ell'e teased. Since the revolution, they'd gone from reluctant allies to almost friends. When she added up O'Paka and Nova, she had three friends, and that realization awed her. Plus, she had a brother that hadn't tried to kill her.

Thinking of Tris'Tyn made her mother pop into her mind. Even after a year, they still didn't know where Genevieve kept herself hidden away. For all they knew, she'd died during a skirmish between the Resistance and Patriots. While there was an Oligarchy in place for their new government, it didn't stop the Patriots from trying to take over now that ARI and Crimson were disbanded.

"Hey sis, did you bring any good news with you?" Tris'Tyn called from across the room, sitting a little closer to O'Paka than seemed necessary. Ell'e dropped on the couch on his other side, scooting closer so her thigh brushed his. She didn't know if she should be protective of Tris'Tyn or amused by the two women constantly fighting for his attention.

"Not what we wanted." She dropped into the chair across from them. "Bash is consoling Say'La, then we'll come up with a new plan based on the intel we retrieved."

"I don't know how much more of this she can handle." Tris'Tyn leaned closer and dropped his voice. "She barely eats, and she's lost so much weight."

"I can't get through to her." O'Paka chimed in. "I even talked Bash into making some of that sausage and potato soup we all love so much, but she barely touched it."

"That's why we have to get him back." Freya added.

"f**k that." Say'La's voice carried through the room. They all spun to see her standing in the doorway dressed in all black and armed with every type of weapon they had in the armory. Bash stood behind her with a worried look on his face. "I'll kill anyone who tries to keep us apart."

Ancient City: Bash

If Freya had told him about Say'La's past as part of Crimson, he wouldn't have volunteered to tell her they didn't know where Alastor was. The only side of her he'd ever seen was the sweet woman that helped everyone and left her door open to anyone that needed to talk. The rampaging woman stringing together curses that almost made him blush actually scared him a bit. Though it reassured him she could handle a man like Alastor.

After stuffing every pocket with a weapon or other infiltration device, she shot him a look that made his balls retreat. "First, you'll tell me everything you found, then I'll find him." She stalked out of the armory without a second look. Bash rushed to catch up with her as she barged into the meeting room, startling everyone there.

"We should do this in the command room." Bash said with authority. He didn't think they had a spy in their city, but didn't want to reveal anything if there was.

Say'La spun on her heel and marched off to the secure meeting place. He walked with Freya. I thought you were scary… did you know she was Crimson before she defected?

No. Freya shot him a look. We could've used her help over the years.

It's a long story, but I wouldn't recommend asking her right now.

Once the door slid closed, Say'La spun on him. "Where do you think he is?"

Bash glanced at Freya, then brought up the intel he'd stolen from the compound. Opening the schematics to three locations, he covered the entire wall display with them. "These are the places that Shar'ana has spent the most time since the uprising. It can't be easy to transport him these distances, so my theory is he's being kept at the one where she spends the most time. Because she is a high-ranking member of the Patriots, I think she has to travel to the other locations."

"Did this come with a list of members?" Freya cut in.

"Yes, but there's no way to know how accurate it is." Bash got out before Say'La jumped in.

"So we raid the place we think he's at. We can coordinate with Nova's team that's in the inner-city to hit this location." Say'La pointed to Shar'ana's second likely location. "Then I know another team that can hit the third place. Even if we miss, we'll have all three bases covered."

The room remained silent while he went over her plan. It wasn't a bad one, but they had to weigh their options. "The only downside to this approach is that there is no way to do it covertly. If they detect even one member on the team, all the bases will go on alert. Now, I know our team's skills and Nova's, but we don't know the first thing about this third team."

"The third team is my Crimson unit. We defected together. They're the best the Resistance has, no offense." Say'La nodded to Freya.

"We can go over details tonight, then notify our teams tomorrow." Freya joined Bash where he stood next to the display.

"No, we finish planning now, then I will personally meet my team to brief them. You can decide who brings Nova up to speed, but we leave tonight." Say'La braided her long blond hair as she spoke.

Bash looked at Freya, Ell'e, Tris'Tyn, and O'Paka for help, but no one moved.

A loud explosion rocked through the building. Pulling the video feeds of the complex, he displayed them over the schematics. Nothing was out of place. The entire property looked fine. Then he noticed the people flocking out of the buildings, staring at the sky. What would be up there? Even ERIC was uncharacteristically silent.

"Outside, let's go." Bash hurried everyone through the door.

Pure terror froze him the moment he stepped through the threshold. The normally solid light blue sky was lit up in bursts of reds and oranges as explosions rocked through their atmosphere. Aside from gasps and sobs, no one spoke. No words existed for the horror running through them.

This is pure theory, but I think we're being attacked from beyond our world. Since the atmosphere acted as a shield, I can only deduce that someone is trying to destroy that shield. ERIC's voice inside his mind didn't reassure him.

Reaching for Freya, he saw a flash of blue light. Then she vanished.