Chapter 4

A jolt of fear run down Sapphire's spine.

"You can't find Faize?" Said Jupiter incredulously, "I thought you could like, smell everything?"

Caine growled under his breath.

"I lost his scent."

"How?"

"If I knew, then I'd know how to fix it, now wouldn't I?"

"Ahmi, locate Faize Tanyir," said Jupiter abruptly, ignoring Caines muttering.

"What-" started Sapphire, but before she could finish the sentence, the same computer voice from when she woke up replied.

"Faize Tanyir is not aboard the vessel."

"What?" Jupiter shrilled.

"Ahmi, are all escape pods accounted for?" Caine asked, "There should be ten," he said to the ladies.

"There are ten escape pods." The computer's voice was mellow and soothing.

"What ships are currently in the docking bay?"

"Heart of the Pack and Shadow-Maker are currently docked."

"He's still on board then," said Caine, "Those are our ships. He couldn't have left the ship otherwise."

"He must have removed his tracker," reasoned Jupiter, though she looked unsettled.

Caine snorted, "A splice's tracker is implanted in the back of the neck, into our spine," he explained, "Even I'd be impressed if he managed to remove his without killing himself."

"What actually happened?" Asked Jupiter, looking both frightened and exasperated.

Before Caine could explain, the door opened again, and he immediately moved in front of both of the ladies, spreading his wings to block them from view.

"Y-Your Majesty?" it was one of the crew members. He looked intimidated by Caine, but he seemed determined to do his duty.

"Yes?" She said, pushing Caine's wing out of the way impatiently.

"T-the captain is requesting your presence in the cargo bay. She asked that you bring Caine Wise as well."

"Of course, we'll be down right away." She moved to follow the young man, but Caine insisted on leading. "That's where I found officer Theely, and Faize could be anywhere."

"You should come too, Sapphire," she said, "You'll be safest with us."

She nodded and followed. She was tempted to run – go hide in her room – but if it was Faize who was out to get her, she doubted that she'd be safe there. She was frightened now, very much so, but Jupiter trusted Caine, and since she wasn't exactly a fighter herself, her best hope to protect herself would be to attach herself to someone else who was well protected.

This time, travelling through the ship was less full of wonder, and more full of shadows and fear. She followed furtively, looking all over for danger, feeling vulnerable. Caine was in full 'protector' mode, and was sweeping through the hallways like a wolf on the hunt.

The Cargo bay was huge, packed wall to wall with canisters, cartons and what looked like oil drums. Narrow walk-ways were spaced between the boxes, which formed great walls of metal.

Caine led them through the maze of supplies, his wings held tightly to his body. He stopped at one intersection and waved Jupiter and herself ahead. It was a dead end, but a middle-aged man was crouched at the back of it, examining something. He had two officers with him, one a human woman, a little older than Sapphire, but build like a rugby player, thick, and pure muscle. The other was a splice, but she couldn't tell what. He had an angular, hard face, and intense eyes that flicked all over the place as the two of them stood watch. He had wings much like Caine's, a dark brown, tipped in white. A bird of prey, perhaps?

Neither of them were paying attention to the captain, who stood as the three of them approached. They looked outwards and upwards, their alien guns held comfortable but ready.

"Ah, Your Majesty, thank you for coming," He bowed slightly to Jupiter. He turned to Sapphire and nodded politely.

"This is Captain Toridar. He's the... Captain. Of this ship."

"Yeah, I think I worked that out," said Sapphire sarcastically, then she clamped her hands over her mouth.

"Oh god, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." She winced, resisting the desire to bang her head on a wall. What was she thinking? Snarking at a queen and a captain.

"Nice to meet you," she mumbled, embarrassed and intimidated by the whole situation. Why was she even here? They didn't need her to examine a dead body. She didn't even want to see it. The thought of actually seeing a corpse gave her the willies. A knot of nausea began to form in the pit of her stomach.

"Caine, I'd like your report. When, exactly, did you notice Faize missing?"

He growled slightly in response, but straightened his back, and stood at attention as he spoke.

"Her Majesty asked for some time alone with Ms Nelson, and after they departed, Faize also took his leave. I didn't trust his motives, I never have, so I followed him. He was heading towards the cargo bay. I saw him go in, but after that I lost his scent." He looked seriously angry now, his jaw clenched.

"I searched the hold, but I couldn't find him. I told Security Officer Theely to guard the entrance until I could come back with the stealth resonators."

He held up a small device in the palm of his hand. It was a sleek silver sphere, with dark green stripes radiating from the centres, creating a curved grid pattern across it.

"When I got back, he was gone, and I could smell blood. I tracked the blood trail, and found him here. That's when I paged Captain Toridar, and came to get you, your Majesty."

The captain ground his jaw in thought. "Why didn't you page me when you first noticed the Ossumurr missing?"

Jupiter stepped up before Caine could answer. "That's my fault, Captain, I had told Caine that Faize was someone to trust. Until this death, Caine was acting on suspicions, but had no real reason to consider Faize a danger."

The captain huffed into his scruffy beard. "Understandable."

He sighed, "Theely was a good man, a good officer. He'll be missed."

"How did he die?" Asked Jupiter. Sapphire was please to notice that Jupiter didn't seem too interested in getting a closer look at the crumpled body, shoved unceremoniously into a gap between crates. That meant that she didn't have to get closer either.

"His skull has been smashed, and his throat has been cut. It's hard to tell which killed him, not until we can do the autopsy, but I'd place credits on the throat being the killing blow."

"Why's that?" asked Sapphire, curious, despite herself.

The captain gave her a grim smile, "If it was just the throat, we could probably revive him, as long as we found him quickly enough. But if you damage the brain too badly, it's just not possible. There's not enough to save."

Sapphire nodded, but felt sick. She tried to take a step back, to get farther away from the blood and death, but Caine was still standing guard in behind them, and she also somewhat afraid of him too, and he didn't move to let her escape.

The Captain nodded at Caine.

"You gonna use that thing, or what?"

"With pleasure," he growled, squishing the device between his hands. It clicked and began to glow a bright fluorescent green. As he pulled his hand away, the light was flung outwards, and a faint green circle of light surrounded them for 15 feet in all directions, with the tiny sphere at its centre.

"If the bastard's stealthed, this'll find him," he said, and turned out of the aisle. As he carried it along, the circle moved with him, illuminating everything within it in a subtle green glow. As they wandered through the maze, Caine turned into every aisle far enough to check every nook and cranny, but he grew more and more frustrated as his searched came up empty.

"He must have gotten out," Captain Toridar said, "There was a gap between you leaving, Caine, and your return. Faize must have slipped out before you came back."

"But why now?" asked Jupiter, "He had plenty of opportunity to kill Sapphire, or myself. He could have done this ages ago. Why wait until he was trapped on board the ship?"

"He's an Ossumur, " snarled Caine, "Can't expect him to have a whole lot of foresight."

"I can't help but feel that you're being racist," said Jupiter, "But I'm not sure if it applies here."

He smirked, but said nothing.

Sapphire could do nothing but follow along. She felt incredibly out of place. The captain was silent, but alert. He had a small pistol drawn and ready, while his two security officers followed closely behind, with their larger guns cradled in their arms, covering the rear. Jupiter followed Caine confidently, who lead the small group, and then Sapphire bunched up in the middle. She had no weapon, no fighting skills, just a growing apprehension.

Caine swore under his breath as they reached the entrance to the cargo hold.

"We'll search the entire ship, if we have to," said the Captain grimly, "Might I suggest we secure Her Majesty in her quarters while we sweep for our traitor?"

"I will not be secured," objected Jupiter, "Faize is my problem too, I-"

"No, I agree with Captain Toridar," injected Caine, "We can sweep it for security, then lock the door. It'll be safer."

As they marched through the hallways, Sapphire noticed that the crew was no where to be seen.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, fearing the worst, and that Faize had gone on a rampage, killing the entire crew.

"That alarm was a signal for all non-essential crew to return to their quarters, and for all security personnel to go to their battle-stations."

"Oh."

She was still having trouble believing Faize had done this. If he wanted her dead, he could have killed her in that alley. Or in her room. While he had kidnapped her, and she still felt a bubble of resentment for that, he had kept his promise. He hadn't hurt her. Was he just trying to get an opportunity to kill Jupiter instead? Why kill the security officer? What did he gain from that? She sighed. She had just been thrown into this world of espionage and politics, and she had no idea why anyone did anything. She couldn't even begin to comprehend it all.

"Sapphire's room is closer, so I'm locking you both in here," said Caine as they approached the door, "Just let me check it first."

"Fine," grumped Jupiter, who looked resigned to the fact that Caine was going to have his way. They hadn't even argued, but Sapphire got the impression that the topic of her safety came up frequently – and she always lost.

The door slid open, and Caine slipped in, with Jupiter and Sapphire following close behind, staying in the bubble. The captain stopped at the door and faced himself outwards to guard from the hallway.

The room was just big enough that the bubble didn't see all of it immediately. As the field fell over the last corner, a shape flickered into view, clinging to the upper corner near the ceiling.

As fast as thought, before Jupiter or Sapphire could react, the shape launched itself from the wall, over Caine's head. Up and over, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Sapphire could only watch in horror at the figure moved faster than Caine could react. He had his gun out, but the attacker was already behind him, and he didn't have enough time to turn. The Captain was unaware, his attention directed outside, and no one had even made a sound.

They pushed off from the ceiling, with a weapon in each hand – Guns? Knives? He was moving too fast to be sure. He was headed right at the two women, face obscured by a mask, glittering black goggles covering their eyes.

Inches before impact, another shape materialized, fading into view as if its speed was ripping away invisibility. With a jolt, Sapphire saw faint blue-grey spots on it face.

Faize intercepted the attacker, diverting his course, where the pair of them slammed into a wall. Caine stepped between the threat and the two woman, both still paralysed shock, knocking them backwards with his wing.

Faize and the assassin was in a deadly brawl, each moving faster than they could follow, except maybe Caine, for he raised his gun and fired carefully, two shots in quick succession.

The assassin dodged one, swiping at Faize's face with a short knife, but caught the second one as Faize simultaneously slashed across his throat with his claws.

The assassin crumpled to the ground, dead or unconscious, Sapphire couldn't tell. She hoped it was dead.

Faize was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily, removing the metal claws he had attached to his hands.

"You shot me!" He accused Caine, as he noticed a trickle of blood down his side.

Sapphire, finally unfrozen, leaped forward to help the wounded splice.

Captain Toridar was in the room now, yelling for his guards to get the doctors.

"I did not shoot you,"Caine countered, holstering his gun, and pulling Jupiter close. "I shot the assassin." He turned a concerned face towards his queen.

"Are you alright?" he embraced her tightly, running a hand through her hair. She smiled up at him and gave him an affectionate squeeze. "I'm fine."

Sapphire looked away, embarrassed and a little jealous to be seeing their moment on intimacy. She was shaking with adrenaline herself, but had no one to lean on. She instead focused on her wounded saviour.

"You fired twice, and only hit the spider once," Said Faize shakily, as his knees buckled. Sapphire was there, looping his arm over her shoulder. Caine instantly appeared on his other side, taking the rest of hit weight.

"My other shot missed you both, friend," assured Caine as he helped lower Faize onto Sapphires bed. He nodded at the smoking dent in the wall siding.

Faize swore under his breath in some alien tongue as his arms gave out when he tried to prop himself up. "Poison!" he managed to gasp.

"It's a spider splice," confirmed the Captain, who had pulled the mask off of the assassin to reveal a thin faced woman. "Black Widow, by splicers mark."

Faize was fading fast. His face was turning blue, and he was struggling for breath. The wound itself wasn't bleeding all that much, but the poison seemed to be spreading quickly.

He tried to reach for his jacket, but his arm fell helpless to his side. "Pocket," he wheezed, "Anti-venom."

Sapphire ripped his jacket open to reveal a dozen pockets sewn into the inside, each labelled with tiny, precise stitches in a language she couldn't read.

"That one!" Said Caine, pointing to a pouch right next to her hand. She grabbed at it, and pulled out a tiny device, a vial attached to some sort of dispenser.

"Pull the cover off!" He yelled, as he struggled to hold down Faize, who was starting to go into convulsions. "Stick it in his neck!"

Heart beating so fast she thought it would explode, she ripped at the the lid covering the needle with shaking hands. With no hesitation, she jabbed it into his pale neck, hoping to god that she didn't need to hit a blood vessel. The pressure of the stab triggered it to dispense, and with a loud hiss the vial emptied into his body.

Caine continued to hold him down, while the rest of them looked on in anticipation. His seizures slowly lessened, and just as a team of doctors rushed in, his breathing, while still ragged, was almost back to normal. He was barely conscious, fighting to stay awake, but he was able to smile warmly at Sapphire and said "Thank you," before he surrendered himself to oblivion.