Chapter Six

Another explosion from the direction of her living quarters showed the intruders had breached Gus’s last defense.

“Don’t look back,” Gus ordered as Anandra’s hand pulled against hers, his focus on what was behind rather than what was ahead. Seeing his hood had slid down, Gus adjusted it for him. “You never look back.”

That was how you survived.

Caius sent Gus a thoughtful glance that made her feel like she’d revealed something important. “Where to?”

Shaking off her reservations, Gus took the lead. “This way.”

It wouldn’t be long until this position was overrun. Their enemies were coming from multiple directions. Through the green house at their back while another contingent was even now in the process of working their way around the container bank.

Luckily, it wasn’t far to one of the backup escape routes that Gus had seeded throughout the docks in case of emergency.

Anandra and Caius shadowed her as she turned away from the sounds of pursuit, heading for the opposite side of the container bank.

An overly eager human male barreled around the corner as Gus reached it, forcing her to dodge.

The male was young. About twenty. Not even out of the pimply face phase and already with a soul as black as coal.

He was also inexperienced.

“They’re here! I found them!” he shouted over his shoulder.

Gus tsked.

He should have used that rifle he was holding. Maybe he would have lived longer.

She reached for him, her hand already primed with one of the fast acting poisons she kept on her knuckles.

A pair of garden sheers flew past her face.

The human fell back with a surprised gurgle. The sheers buried in his throat.

“When did you—?” Gus trailed off.

She never felt Caius remove the sheers she’d placed on her person. Impressive. And a little unexpected from a high ranking member of a Great House. She would have thought such low born skills as pickpocketing beneath a Tuann of Caius’s stature.

“Never mind.” Gus put aside her questions and skirted the body, trusting the other two would follow. “Come on.”

Anandra scurried after her, but Caius paused long enough to collect the sheers from the human’s neck and a blade from the man’s boot before sauntering after them.

Gus kicked herself. She should have done that. Now Caius was armed and she was not.

Caius squinted as the rumble of a ship’s engine came from overhead. “Their preparations have been quite thorough so far. Is that going to be a problem?”

Gus glanced up as a small ship, one of those models common among salvagers, maneuvered through the openings of the dock’s upper levels to hover overhead. Its body and wings had been painted a bright shade of pink.

A calling card, of sorts.

Gus stopped in front of a narrow gap between two containers. “No.”

“You sure?”

Gus allowed herself a very small, slightly mysterious smile. “They’re in my territory.”

No one knew this place as well as she did.

The gap beside her was narrow. Just wide enough for an adult of Gus’s size. It was created by slightly offsetting some of the containers. The tombs were riddled with such errors. The product of human error and a touch of interference on Gus’s part.

Over time, the narrow channels had formed a kind of maze within a maze. One only Gus was privy to.

“Come on,” Gus said, plunging into the crevasse.

She’d only made it a few steps before she realized that Caius wasn’t behind her. She looked back to find him standing at the opening, his thoughts easily visible.

“You’ll fit,” Gus promised.

It would be tight, but if he turned sideways, he should be able to make it.

Probably.

Caius grumbled something about claustrophobia but didn’t argue as he squeezed himself into the narrow gap.

Following a map that existed only in her mind, Gus led them through the labyrinth between. Down one narrow passageway after another. The drone of the ship above and the shouts from their pursuers echoing from the other side of the containers. Startling close. Only a few slim metal walls separating them from death or capture.

“Almost there,” Gus called as they cut through the container bank.

With a quick look overhead to make sure the coast was clear, she darted out from between the containers and over to the next bank where she waited for the other two to catch up.

Anandra and Caius reached her just as the ship swung into view.

“All this effort will be wasted if we can’t lose our eyes in the sky,” Caius commented.

Gus cut him a look but didn’t respond as she disappeared into the next passageway, leaving Anandra and Caius to follow if they wanted.

It turned out they did. Caius’s grunts as he squeezed into the narrow space a familiar refrain that soon faded into the background as Gus concentrated on remembering the right path. It had been years since she created these short cuts so it took a moment to orient herself.

Coming to a cross roads of sorts, Gus slowed.

Left or right?

After a moment of hesitation, Gus turned left. “It’s this way.”

She was almost sure of it.

A few turns later, she was proved right when she spotted the small belladonna flower etched into the bottom right of a container.

Trite as it may be, the belladonna flower was the symbol she’d adopted as her own. A way to mark her territory. Even if no one but her was ever aware of its presence. Sometimes it came in the form of an actual plant grown somewhere close by. Other times, it was an etching like the one in front of her.

It wasn’t her only symbol. Just the most common. Oleander and Ba-bane, a particularly toxic plant from House Danai’s homeworld, were her other two. Usually reserved for special circumstance. For those things or people that Gus considered essential.

It was rare for Gus to bestow the mark of an Oleander. Ba-bane was even rarer. Only ever used when things were not only essential but had also become something she cherished.

To date, she’d only used ba-bane once.

“Why did we stop?” Anandra panted, coming up behind her.

The boy looked tired. His features drawn and pale with exhaustion. Gus didn’t think he could go much further. The food she’d given him only having done the bare minimum in restoring his energy levels.

Caius wasn’t doing much better. He was running on fumes and the energy the choko tree had bestowed to him.

If they carried on like this, they might collapse.

Good thing then that they didn’t have to.

With that thought in mind, Gus crouched, pressing her thumb against a petal of the belladonna.

After a moment there was a faint hiss and the outline of a door appeared next to her.

Gus rose. “We’re here.”

The door gave way easily when Gus pushed against it, allowing her entrance into a container that at first, second, and third glance would be indistinguishable from pretty much every other container sitting on Titan’s
docks. Perhaps a little emptier than most but nothing a raid by one of the pirate clans dominating the station couldn’t explain.

Anandra and Caius hovered by the entrance as Gus walked over to a set of crates stacked haphazardly in the corner.

Spotting the one with a belladonna flower stamped on its front, Gus reached around to its back, searching for the lever she knew was there.

After a moment of fumbling, her fingers brushed against something hard. She grabbed it and pulled.

There was a rumble.

Gus hurriedly stepped back as the stack of crates started to move. Caius and Anandra joined her as they slid to the side to reveal the hole waiting beneath. A ladder conveniently leading down into the gaping maw.

“No wonder you weren’t worried about the ship,” Caius remarked, taking in her escape hatch. “Very clever.”

Why was it that when he said that Gus got the feeling he meant something entirely different?

“I’ll go first,” Gus volunteered.

Mostly to get away from whatever he was insinuating.

“You’re quite good at that.” When Gus looked at him, Caius elaborated. “Running away.”

“If I wasn’t, you and the boy would have been recaptured already,” Gus said before maneuvering her way onto the ladder.

“Prickly, prickly—just like a cute, harmless efji,” Caius murmured.

Gus pretended not to hear that as she started her descent.

The efji, like its cousin the tijit, was part of the rodent family. Only unlike the tijit, it had no natural defenses. It relied on foraging for sustenance and was known for its lack of fear or sense, scolding predators much larger than themselves whenever they ventured too close to their burrows or food reserves.

By comparing her to one, Caius was saying Gus was someone who talked big but didn’t know her own capabilities.

An awfully mouthy assertion for someone who’d been saved by her not just once but twice.

Where did he get off comparing her to an efji? She wasn’t the one who’d gotten captured by pirates. Some military commander he was. His subordinates must be beside themselves with shame.

Mentally grumbling to herself, Gus descended the ladder a little faster than necessary, reaching the bottom in no time. Anandra was next on the ladder as Gus took stock of the tunnel they found themselves in.

Large enough for the three of them to stand side by side, it had large pipes running overhead and along the sides. Algae had formed along the walls and ceiling. A product of the moisture that had accumulated on the surfaces. Something was also growing over the metal grates of the floor, a moss of some kind that provided a carpet of green and yellow for them to walk over.

The only source of light was the dim glow provided by the motion triggered emergency lighting lining the walls.

“What is this place?” Caius asked, looking around as he joined Gus.

She started forward. “Maintenance tunnels.”

“What happens if they follow us?” Caius asked, falling into step with her.

Anandra was the straggler, plodding behind as they stepped carefully over the slick moss covering the floor. There were few patches of the original, uncovered grates left. Everything else had been consumed by the moss and algae, turning the tunnel into its own miniature ecosystem.

“They won’t.”

Caius eyed her. “You seem certain of that.”

“I am.”

“How?”

Gus’s earlier resolve to speak less was already being tested. “For starters, they don’t know this tunnel exists.”

Not many did. Only the original builders. And Gus.

Seeing Caius’s sidelong look, Gus expanded. “They were left off the station blueprints.”

A lot had been left off those blueprints. Most people weren’t as curious or paranoid as Gus. They didn’t feel a relentless need to explore their surroundings until they knew every nook and cranny of their new home. Nor were they privy to the unheard voices of plants.

When Gus kept hearing murmurs that didn’t make sense, she knew she had to discover the reason. That search had led her to a secret tunnel system more expansive than anyone on Titan would ever suspect. One that went well beyond the smuggler tunnels that were something of an open secret.

“Why would they do that?” Caius asked.

Gus shrugged. “Who knows?”

Whatever the reason, Gus was grateful. If not for this system, they would have had a much more difficult time escaping.

“They’ll have some idea of where we disappeared. You’re not afraid of them discovering your bolt hole.”

“No.”

Gus could have explained, but she didn’t feel like it. This was already more conversation than she’d had in over a decade.

Their pursuers could search for as long as they wanted. They wouldn’t discover their escape hatch. By now, the stack of crates would have slid back into place, once again concealing the tunnel.

But, by some miracle, if they did discover where they’d gone, Gus and the other two would be long gone. Disappeared into the bowels of the station.

Sensing eyes on her, Gus looked up to find Caius staring. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Gus scowled but let it go. “We have a long way to go. Let me know if either of you need to stop and rest.”

“Will do.” To Gus’s surprise, Caius didn’t fall back to walk with Anandra, sticking annoyingly to her side. He waited until she shot him a look to smile wide. “Where to next? I assume you have a plan.”

Gus did, but she didn’t know why he seemed so certain of that.

“I have a—friend.” Gus hesitated over the last word, finally settling on “friend” as the best, least suspicion option. “He’ll give us sanctuary until we can contact your people.”

He’d also help her find out what the hell was going on. Caius didn’t need to know that part though.

“And is this friend like you?”

Gus scowled at the Tuann. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Caius’s smile deepened into something approaching real humor. “I meant no harm. I simply wanted to know if this friend was also a wanderer.”

Gus squinted but couldn’t detect any sign of a lie. “He’s human.”

“Ah,” Caius said lightly. “How intriguing.”

Gus didn’t like his tone or the way he seemed to be insinuating something without ever saying a word.

“Why?” Gus asked, knowing she was playing into his hands and not caring.

“I was simply curious if there were other wanderers on this station.”

The emphasis he placed on wanderers made it clear he meant something entirely else.

“Not all wanderer’s congregate into enclaves,” Gus said defensively.

More often, they were solo travelers. Occasionally, they formed small groups. Enclaves were rare. Mostly because some of the Houses took issue with them. Usually the more minor Houses that existed on the outskirts of the Tuann empire. Those without a planet or Mea’Ave to call their own.

Wanderer enclaves posed the most threat to them. They were competition for resources and a potential danger if the enclave ever decided to attack.

As a result, the minor Houses often conducted raids when they found out about an enclave.

“Of course not. It was a fleeting curiosity. Nothing more,” Caius purred.

Gus frowned, getting the feeling that he was humoring her but unable to point to why.

Done with this uncomfortable exchange, Gus quickened her step to leave him behind. “Keep an eye on the boy. We still have a long way to go.”

Gus breathed a sigh of relief when Caius finally fell back to walk with Anandra, leaving her to merciful silence at long last.

She missed her plants. When they said “I’m thirsty” or “my roots need tending” that’s exactly what they meant. None of this verbal jousting where you said one thing but meant something entirely else.

Gus and the other two pressed further into the bowels of the station. Their footsteps echoing off walls covered in a patina of age and rust.

“This place is old,” Caius observed, staring into what might have once been Titan’s original control room. Before the original architects started adding to it like mad scientists determined to see how they far they could push the boundaries of physics.

“Yes,” Gus said with a quick glance at the equipment in the room.

Most of it was several decades old. Considered out of date and defunct even by a human’s standards. To a Tuann, it must have seemed positively prehistoric.

“The way they built this place is very odd,” Caius said.

It was. There was no arguing that.

“What do you suppose their intentions were?” Caius asked.

“I don’t know.”

And even if she did, she wouldn’t tell him. Titan was like her and the rest of her siblings. Full of secrets and loath to part with any of them.

“Can you hold out a little longer?” Gus asked Anandra, ignoring Caius’s bemusement. “It’s not much further.”

She was a little worried about him. Their destination required a rather long ascent up a less than trustworthy ladder. With how light headed Anandra looked, that might be a problem.

They could take their chances in the station. It would certainly be easier and faster. But that brought its own potential host of problems. Gus was sure they had people monitoring the cameras. They’d notice if they popped back onto the radar so close to where they disappeared.

Better to wait and re-enter on one of the upper levels where it would be easier to blend in with the crowd.

Anandra glanced at Caius first, waiting until he received the okay before nodding. “I can do it.”

Caius shot Gus a smile. “You heard him. He’s fine.”

“He better be. If he falls, he’s your responsibility.”

Gus wasn’t going to waste her energy on someone with no concept of their own limits.

Harsh. But, in Gus’s experience, that was life.

*

“Wait here,” Gus told the other two a couple hours later as they lingered on the periphery of deck sixteen.

The slums, as locals called it.

The roughest part of the station. Where homeless congregated in bays once meant for other things. Those who could secure a room down here were usually connected in some way. Either to the pirate clans that used Titan as a base of operations or the information guilds that had a strong presence on the station.

It was a dangerous, lawless place that most visitors tried to avoid.

If Gus had her preference, she wouldn’t have brought Anandra and Caius here, but desperation made strange bedfellows.

Also, this was where her contact had chosen to set up shop.

Gus plunged into the teeming mass of people, careful to avoid the child pickpockets roaming freely in the halls. Feral things who would shiv you as soon as look at you.

Stopping at one of the transient stalls obstructing the pathway, Gus scanned their wares, choosing a bright red and orange woven jacket with a hood. The largest she could find. She swiped a pay chip over the stall’s scanner before making her way back to the other two.

“Put these on,” Gus ordered, handing Caius the jacket.

It wasn’t large enough, Gus realized unhappily a moment later when the arm and chest area strained around Caius’s overlarge muscles.

“What are they feeding you?” Gus muttered.

Who needed muscles that big?

No one. That’s who.

Caius arched an eyebrow. “Most women appreciate my physique.”

Gus barely held back her snort. “Next time you need saving, perhaps you should go find one of them then.”

For half a second, Gus debated handing over her cloak. But nope. She wasn’t the one who’d exercised so much that even the largest sized clothing available was unable to contain his bulging majesty. He could stay looking like an overstuffed sausage. People would just assume he was vain.

Caius drew a few strange looks as he and Anandra followed her onto the concourse. Most of the humans they passed were sure to give him a wide berth, but Gus noticed several young toughs along the wall eying him like fresh meat, trying to gage their odds of coming out the winner in a brawl.

After a moment, they shook their heads, moving off as they decided Caius was more trouble than he was worth.

“At least someone appreciates my physique,” Caius purred next to her ear.

Gus shrugged him off. “They’re leery of your affiliation.”

As small fish in a small pond, these boys survived by being careful about who they preyed upon. Due to Caius’s size and the way he moved—like someone aware of his surroundings—they probably assumed he belonged to one of the gangs or pirate clans.

If these boys knew the truth, that Caius was alone and injured, they wouldn’t have hesitated to accost them.

In fact, that might still happen.

Not wanting to chance it, Gus hurried Caius and Anandra along. Thankfully, no one stopped them or tried to pick a fight with Caius, allowing the rest of the journey to pass peacefully.

It wasn’t long before they reached their destination. A restaurant in a little visited corner of deck sixteen operating out of one of the cargo bays.

Natalie’s, for all its humble decorations, metal tables and chairs that looked like they had been scavenged from a scrap heap, was a staple of the slums. One of the few places to stay in business despite the rampant vandalism that was a daily part of life for most other businesses on the level.

For some reason, no one ever touched Natalie’s. Gus had never been able to figure out why. Though she suspected it might have something to do with Kevin, Kyle’s brother. She’d heard whispers that he was a highly sought after art and jewel thief. Any time there was a heist in the Consortium, people on Titan blamed his crew.

Gus had never been able to confirm that though.

Even if true, it didn’t explain how a place like Natalie’s managed to stay in business. Let alone how they’d managed to secure a highly coveted slot like a cargo bay to operate out of.

It was a mystery. One Gus had been willing to leave alone given how valuable Kyle was to her organization.

“You brought us all the way up here for food?” Caius asked with a slight frown.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gus said, moving toward the restaurant. “The food is just a bonus.”

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