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  Janai grew sleepy. Tender hands lower her onto the bed and she could no longer stay conscious.

  Fitful nightmares haunted her dreams.

  29 ~ Freedom Team

  She stood with Ash, looking out onto the landscape of the free-zone. The illusion walls and invisible fencing protected them from the Morgee. The second sun cast a brilliant light above the horizon as it made its decent in the west. Night would be upon them soon and Janai took in a deep breath. The scent of the moist, night air gave her strength. The warm, steady arm around her shoulders gave her the feeling of security. She looked up into the lavender eyes of her promised one and wrapped her arms around his middle. He laid a gentle hand on her face and pressed his mouth to hers. She closed her eyes and wished for the moment to last forever. After a long kiss, they held one another and gazed out at the setting sun.

  During the year they’d been in the free-zone, they had made the official mating promise to each other with what was left of their little rebel group as witnesses. Divia had agreed to take the roll of escort during the three preparation cycles before the bonding ceremony that would make them lifemates. Kissing was allowed, as was caressing and holding, but nothing further, which frustrated Janai and Ash on many occasions. Janai had no idea just how strong adolescent hormones could be until she’d met Ash, and she hoped all the waiting would make their mating night electric.

  The next two years would be concentrated on learning about each other’s families and heritage, discussing future children, should they decide to have any, as well as studying in their fields of talent. Ash continued his studies as messenger, and Janai trained in the hospital. The Kritine boy’s headaches diminished the more he worked with the E’treuns on communication techniques. They located one other Kritine who recently came into her messenger mind gift. She also studied the E’treun way, and Ash advised her on what he had experienced with the onset of his own mind gift. Janai had stamped out her illogical jealousy towards the girl. Ash wouldn’t betray her trust.

  Penny had fully recovered from her illness but still cried for and had nightmares about her brother. The little girl had adopted Blal’k as a big brother and clung to him at times. He didn’t seem to mind in the least. Penny and Krav’n attended basic studies with E’treun guardians and continued to learn quickly. Tish had become a favorite with the translators. Her natural gift with languages astonished them, and the girl adapted quickly to her new life. The translators planned to use her to help decode more of the ancient texts.

  Vala had lost some muscle in her arm from that first run to the free-zone, but she didn’t let it get in her way. She taught Aknidean hunting skills to some of the younger ones. And Blal’k, well, he worked in the kitchen, preparing meals with the E’treun chefs. With more and more mouths to feed, he and the two Aknideans were quite busy these days. Everyone was busy. Training, learning, preparing.

  The Freedom Team was ready for this mission, according to the E’treun elders. Janai had her doubts.

  “Janai! Ash!” a voice called from behind.

  They turned to see Krav’n running through the rock illusion. “Divia says to come in now.” The little boy stopped in front of them. “Dinner’s ready.” He flashed a smile and blinked his vertical eyelids at the pair. “And the runners are here.”

  Janai placed a hand on her brother’s head ridges. He’d grown taller in the last year and the top of his head now reached her ribs. “Tell Divia we’ll be right in.”

  “Okay.” Krav’n scampered back through the illusion and out of sight.

  “Janai?” Ash said in a soft voice. “You sure you’re ready for this?”

  She looked up at her future mate, who had grown taller in the last year, also. No, I’m not, she thought. She caressed the pattern spots on his neck. “The slaves don’t have a chance without us.” She took his hand in her own, and together they headed inside as doubts swirled in her head like an unchecked storm.

  ****

  Janai crouched near a tree outside the dome. The huge rock-shaped building still held her fascination and she was grateful it was above ground this time. The familiar rumbling rang in her ears and the smell of impending rain filled her nostrils. She blew a stray, white curl from in front of her face as she tightened the vine that secured her hair behind her head.

  Ash hunched next to her, waiting for the signal that the Morgee soldiers were in their recharging cylinders. The Freedom Team would have to move fast if they wanted to get inside before the storm began. Rains came hard and fast on this world and Janai didn’t ever think she’d get used to the sudden floods they created in their wake. She scanned the darkened sky. Clouds obscured the two larger moons and the third and smallest hadn’t yet risen. She turned to Ash and waited for his lavender eyes to focus on her own.

  The E’treuns worked tirelessly to break the ancient codes of their ancestors, but the language and technology had been stored away centuries ago, following the Morgee revolt. The half-machine, half-genetic engineered Morgee still raided planets and enslaved children.

  She softened her face when her promised one made eye contact. She looked forward to the day when they would become lifemates. Even though they’d been gone from their homeworld for nearly five years now, they both agreed to follow Kritine tradition in personal affairs. Some part of their lives needed to feel normal again.

  As the light waned, Janai could barely see the dark, patterned neck spots that usually stood out against Ash’s gray skin. She fingered her own. Both of their mind gifts were growing stronger. Her hand rested on her sinsabe, secured around her waist with a vine rope. She smiled wearily at Ash. She was the only one besides the E’treun and other Kritine messengers that could mentally communicate with Ash, and she could now send messages, as well as receive them. She thought this had something to do with her special abilities as a healer. After all, there hadn’t been a focus healer in her family for five generations, so the talents were vaguely known. Especially to her.

  Ash narrowed lavender eyes on her. It’s time, he sent. He ran fingers through his white hair, a nervous habit Janai understood all too well.

  She looked over to Vala, who was hiding behind the next clump of trees. The Aknidean girl had her earflaps extended and was listening intently for the faintest of sounds. She’d been an invaluable member of Janai’s original escape group with her skills as a hunter. Vala’s determination was part of the reason she’d regained most of the strength in her injured arm. She never let the muscle loss affect her abilities as a hunter, and the scars on her left hand and arm were the only evidence she’d ever been injured. The age rings on her wrist were visible once again against her golden Aknidean skin. Another year older, like everyone here.

  Vala returned Janai’s gaze with her own yellow eyes and motioned that she’d heard, then flicked her long brown braid behind her. Both drew light-fire weapons. Janai cradled the black, crescent-shaped object in her right hand and charged it up. She heard the initial hum of Ash’s weapon. A crash of thunder made her jump and her heartbeat thumped wildly beneath the breast of her gray jumpsuit.

  She could tell Ash was communicating with the other messenger, who was waiting with her group in one of the hidden tunnels inside the rockdome. Their timing had to be excellent if they wanted to succeed. And they needed that transport. They would never beat the Morgee on foot.

  Janai envisioned the large, bulky creatures with their gold, glowing eyes and tentacle mouths. She channeled her anger at the E’treun ancestors for creating these half-machine, half-genetic beings into this mission. Perhaps anger would ease her fear. No more time to dwell on the future.

  Ash gave the signal and the trio ran swiftly and quietly toward the rockdome and into the far alcove. A crack of thunder rumbled overhead and the hard rains began. Janai quickly placed her hand on the wall next to her and a panel slid open to reveal an ancient E’treun symbol adorning a black button. She pressed the button flush to the wall and waited while the door opened.

  They entered a d
arkened room and closed the door, shutting out the storm. The rumbling turned to a low hum with the closing of the entrance. Janai had been here so many times but the place still set her nerves dancing. She was certain she could close her eyes and find her way through some of the tunnels. That thought gave her comfort and she offered a confident nod to Ash.

  The group headed straight for the nearest tunnel, following the continuous blue lights that ran along the base of the walls. After a couple of twists and turns, they were in the large, white room that housed the rejuvenation cylinders of the Morgee soldiers. Ash mentally scanned the room to make sure they were safe. Janai crossed to the lighted panel with symbols adorning the black buttons. The light underneath the button that locked the Morgee in the cylinders was illuminated and she looked to Ash.

  She mentally sent, The cylinders are secured.

  He made his way to the nearby wall, placing a hand on the smooth illusion doorway. The illusion disappeared to reveal Pethe, the other Kritine messenger, and her group of refugees. Once they crossed through the illusion wall, they wouldn’t be able to cross back into the room, but that didn’t matter. The hidden tunnels were still the safest way to travel through the rockdome, since the Morgee couldn’t enter them.

  “How many soldiers are mobile?” Janai said, studying Pethe’s drawn face. The girl was about fifteen earth years, a little younger than Janai.

  “Two.” Pethe pointed a thin gray hand to a sealed doorway across the room. “They went through there.”

  “And the slaves?” Ash said.

  “Ronarian this time. But only three. And very young.” She looked hopeful. “They’ve already taken them to a ground craft.”

  Janai’s mind momentarily flashed to Krav’n. She missed him and touched the breast of her jumpsuit, where a hidden pocket carried a drawing he’d made for her before she’d left on this mission. A hand on her shoulder brought her back to the room and she turned eyes to her future mate.

  Ash read her thoughts and smiled wearily. “Ready?”

  She nodded and shook a stray curl from her face. She looked once more to the cylinders that housed the soldiers and wished they could shut down the energy flow that rejuvenated them. Other Morgee would be on them in no time if they did. They’d tried that once before and lost Gryden. Another child lost to the Morgee wars.

  Janai was determined not to let that happen ever again, so they would leave the cylinders alone until they could control the Morgee inside them. Gryden’s image appeared in her memory and she pushed it away. She sealed the other entrances from the lighted panel, then she, Ash and Vala joined Pethe’s group behind the illusion wall. Even though they could see out into the room, they weren’t visible from the other side.

  Pethe had freed a camp and brought four others with her to the rockdome. She’d been communicating with Ash and the E’treuns along her journey. Two of her group had died as a result of exposure during rains, and the hardships were evident on the girl’s pale, drawn face. Pethe had led her group into the rockdome at first light but had no time to get to the safety of the mountain caverns. She hadn’t been trained for the dome, so Janai’s Freedom Team had planned her rescue, along with the theft of a ground transport.

  This time they would get the refugees to the free-zone in the safety of a transport. At least, that was the plan. Once they were in the safe zone, training would begin on using the craft to infiltrate the Morgee and take them down. If this worked, the Morgee soldiers would probably be ready for them the next time, and they’d have to go about stealing another craft a different way.

  Janai scanned Pethe’s little group of runaways for injuries. The youngest girl was from Sitopa and had her third arm in a sling, but otherwise she seemed okay. Her pink eyes looked pale but focused, and her short downy hair lay matted against the thick and nearly transparent skin of her skull.

  Dirt and exhaustion colored the children’s faces. Scratches and bruises stood out on the gray skin of the two Kritine boys. Their white hair was almost brown with dirt but both seemed alert and eager. The other girl looked about twelve years old. She had blue eyes and blonde hair and Janai couldn’t help thinking about Sarah. The Morgee had recaptured Sarah over a year ago, and no one found out what happened to her. Perhaps she was still alive.

  A hand landed on her shoulder and she heard Ash’s thoughts in her mind. We’ll find her.

  She shook off the memory and made her way to the Earth girl. Redness rimmed blue eyes. She placed a hand on the girl’s forehead. As she feared, this one had a fever.

  “I’ll be fine,” the Earth girl said in a low voice. “I just want to get out of here.”

  Janai rummaged through her sinsabe and pulled out some fever-herbs. She pinched off a few of the frail, dried, red leaves and offered them to the girl. “Put these under your tongue. They’ll help with the fever.”

  She was grateful to Divia for the knowledge of this obscure plant. The herbs weren’t easy to locate outside the free-zone, so Janai had stocked up on them as best she could before their mission. She pushed her healer instincts back. They needed to hurry. She would take care of the injured once they were on the ground transport.

  “Let’s go,” she ordered. Pethe’s group followed her and the other Freedom Team members.

  Janai, Ash and Vala had studied the ancient texts on craft flying that the E’treun ancestors had left behind, one of the few texts the E’treuns could still read. They only hoped the Morgee hadn’t altered the technology. Ash and Vala would have to fly the thing. With injured among them, Janai’s healer duties became even more important.

  They hurried into the next tunnel and through the room with transparent shower cylinders. The far wall contained another secret illusion doorway that took them into a sloped tunnel, leading to the ground transport room.

  As they approached the huge room, Ash stopped the group. “Morgee.”

  Janai wasn’t exactly sure how Ash was able to sense the beings. He’d tried to explain but, without experiencing it for herself, she had a difficult time understanding the technique. His communications with the E’treuns altered him somehow. She and the others waited until he indicated the room was clear before entering.

  The rejuvenation cord attached a seamless, hovering ship to the ceiling. There were no openings or windows visible anywhere on the golden craft. The height of the ceiling still made Janai dizzy when she looked up.

  Ash scanned with his mind to see if he could locate any Morgee in the area. “Nothing.” He sounded a bit drained. “They’re gone, for now.”

  Janai led her group directly underneath the transport, and they waited for Vala to return from a nearby panel. The Aknidean girl had her earflaps extended while she pressed a series of buttons to open the craft. When she re-joined the group, the craft was opening and a clear tube extended down from its belly, surrounding them. A moment later, Janai felt the lifting movement and was soon inside the ship. Things were going more smoothly than she expected. Almost too easily.

  The inside of the ship was equipped with large benches along the wall, presumably to hold the Morgee when they were tunnel diggers under E’treun rule. There was a control panel at the front. And a large window allowed them to see the outside, a solid illusion from the other side of the ship.

  Ash and Vala busied themselves at the panel, discussing which buttons controlled what. After everyone had dropped their packs in a storage bin, Janai led Pethe and her group to the benches and strapped them in as best she could with the large Morgee ties. Since there was plenty of bench space, she forced the sick Earth girl to lie down.

  The girl rose to a half-sitting position. “I can sit. I’m fine.”

  Janai gave a hard look she’d adopted from Divia, and the patient obediently lay back on the bench. She placed a slender, gray hand on the girl’s forehead. The fever was beginning to break, thanks to the herbs. The girl started to sweat. Janai retrieved a pack from the bin, unrolled the sleep skin, and covered her to keep her from getting chilled. She placed an
other roll of skins under the girl’s head to cushion the hard bench. Then she strapped her down, leaving her arms free, and gave her a reassuring smile.

  “We’ve got company!” Ash yelled from the front of the craft. “I can’t get the ship door to respond! It’s locked up!”

  Janai turned to him. She saw a soldier waiting underneath the transport. The cylinder engulfed him and began raising him into the craft. She drew her weapon and Vala joined her.

  “Get us out of here!” the sturdy Aknidean girl shouted to Ash.

  The Morgee soldier’s torso was inside. The children began to scream. Then the soldier was on board and the belly of the ship sealed itself. A metallic arm captured Vala and the girl struggled to get free, but her muscular arms and legs were no match for the soldier’s strength. He jerked Vala up and her weapon fell to the floor.

  Janai thought of using her focus healing energy to disable him as she’d done once before, but she would be exhausted and useless for several hours. No, she had to rely on the weapon in her hand. She reached for the tentacle but the creature pulled it close to his body. Evidently, he knew about the light-fire weapon’s ability to disable him. Janai cursed. Vala struggled. A strong, painful grip of the metallic hand landed on Janai’s shoulder. She twisted to get hold of the tentacle but the soldier held her out, away from his body. Her feet dangled in the air and she groaned at the pain that shot through her shoulder.

  Suddenly, the craft began to move and she looked in Ash’s direction. Through the window, she could see the large illusion wall that kept the bright craft room concealed. The ship passed through the wall as Ash moved the craft outside. The rains had stopped and the sky was clearing once again.

  Janai turned her attention back to the soldier. He’d been distracted by the darkness, and Vala was reaching for the tentacle. The girl gripped it and yanked it toward Janai. Janai gritted her teeth against pain, grabbed the tentacle from Vala, and fired into the open end. The Morgee’s glowing eyes went dark and he froze. The two twisted free and fell to the floor of the craft. A piece of Janai’s jumpsuit dangled from the frozen being and she shivered, rubbing at her bruised shoulder.