Page 22 of Rogue: Planet Athion
“You know about that?”
“Everyone knows about that. It’s why Marick is so bitter. Who do you think suggested that House Zantar play for ownership of you?”
“Marick, the bastard,” Killion said.
“Indeed,” Vex said solemnly. “Marick is a frequent visitor to House Zantar. I do believe he plans to defect from Ryzer soon. He and your house master do not see eye to eye on a number of issues.”
Marick had set it all up. He’d wanted me punished, and he had succeeded, but not in the way he’d imagined. Not by having me violated and cowed. No. He’d succeeded in breaking my heart by taking Anton from me. My fists clenched with the need to hurt someone, preferably the little weasel responsible for all of this.
Marlon nodded slowly, absorbing all this information. “We fake it for Marick. We let him believe he’s won and—"
“We escape,” Xavier said.
Vex laughed. “I like your optimism.”
Xavier’s smile was cut-glass serious. “I’m no optimist. I’m a realist.” His gaze dropped to mine. “I came here looking for something, and I found it, and now it’s time to get out.” He looked around at the others. “So, who wants to get off this rock?”
8
“This is a joke, right?” Killion said. “Thereisno way off this rock.”
I studied Xavier’s face, the sincerity in his eyes and the hard set to his mouth. “He’s not joking.”
Xavier’s mouth quirked. “Let’s take this discussion to the training room.” He glanced up at the intercom. “Just in case someone does decide to listen in. We can mask our conversation with noise.”
Five minutes later, we had the treadmill running, and the Trads were working the weights machine, producing clanks and clinks. I lay on the weights bench while Marlon pretended to spot me, and Killion did bicep curls to our left.
Xavier, who had taken a seat on the bench to my right, slung a towel about his shoulders and began to speak low and urgent.
“Okay, so I didn’t come here by accident. I was sent here to investigate reports of human and Athion trafficking. A few months ago, we received an anonymous tip that human females and Athions were being held captive on a Trad mining asteroid and used in fighting pits. Now, there are several asteroids under Trad control, so it took us time to pinpoint which ones may be actively running fighting pits. We got a tip about Vesper a few weeks ago, and my team and I made the run. I volunteered to get myself captured so I could scope the place out, gather intel, and get any prisoners out, but this … This setup is bigger than we anticipated. There’s no way I can get all the Athions and humans out, and to be honest, if not for a tiny glitch in my plan, I’d have left yesterday.”
“What do you mean?” Marlon asked.
He tapped a spot under his ear. “I have a tracker and com under my ear. It links to the main ship and allows my team to extract me via a teleport feature. But with all the miles of rock between us, and the machines above us, there’s no signal. I can’t contact them.”
“So, you’re stuck here.” I shook my head. “So how the hell do you intend to get us out?”
He grinned. “Work leave. You heard what Marick said. They’ll be allowing us out to work in the mining sectors, and when they do, we’ll make a break for it.”
Killion made a sound of exasperation. “Did you not hear the part about drones and guards?”
“Not to mention the fact we have no schematic of this place,” Marlon added. “We could be going around in circles.”
Xavier leaned forward. “That’s where you’re wrong. We used deep core scans to map out the upper floors of this place from orbit. And once I get in contact with my crew, they can guide us out.”
“Us?” I canted my head. “You can teleport us all out?”
He nodded. “Yes. I can.”
I didn’t know enough about the technology to argue with him, but something in my gut squirmed a warning.
“Look,” he forged on. “We can do this if we work together.” He met my gaze. “Rogue, you’re an anomaly. You and the other women who were brought here have been altered by the fertility drug the Trads were using, and there could be answers in your blood. A way to subvert their plan maybe? I don’t know. But I sense that you’re important, and as the last surviving human female on this asteroid, you’re more valuable than you realize.”
He wanted my blood. He wanted answers. He wanted a weapon. My heart sank even though logically everything he was saying made sense. I guess a part of me had thought he’d liked me for me. Damn, where had the girly notion come from? This wasn’t about my feelings, this was about a way to stick it to the Trads that had reaped my home planet. If there was something in my blood that could help the Athions and the humans thwart the Trads, an anti-fertility solution that might just affect the Trads, then we had to give it a try.
“What if we don’t all get to do the work leave together?” Killion asked the question that was preying on all our minds.
I looked Xavier straight in the eyes. “Then he leaves with whomever he can save, and he sends reinforcements to get us out, right?”
