Starborne

Chapter 35

I allowed myself twenty seconds of hesitation outside the reinforced steel door. Stefin and Koryn were being held deep in the bowels of the ship, behind multiple walls of security. It was completely possible that accessing these rooms would set off a whole host of alarms, even if I was using Jack's key. ALYX was doing her best to scramble the log of my motions, but if anyone on the ship was half smart, there would be redundancies in place to alert someone when their top secret prison cells were accessed. However, these lugs were pretty dumb.

The risk was still high, so I had needed to make sure everyone else was settled first. Now that the rest of the plan was irreversibly in motion, I couldn't put off this confrontation for any longer. 

I timed my arrival right after their meager lunch was delivered. This gave me thirty minutes while the guards changed shifts, and I could be in and out, leaving Jack none the wiser. A half hour seemed both like not enough time with them, and altogether way too immersive. 

Koryn and Stefin both looked up when the doors hissed open, their initial boredom morphing into surprise.

Stefin's shock quickly became guarded anger, while Koryn simply averted his gaze and refused to look me in the eye at all.

"What do they want?" Monotone, devoid of emotion, Stefin's voice still had the power to give me goosebumps. 

It was interesting to consider that, while the herbs and potions from Cynabar had worn off and I no longer felt that otherworldly pull, I still reacted to him so strongly. Interesting, and annoying as hell.

"Probably to kill you." I couldn't help but quip. "But, I'm not here on anyone's orders."

"I'd sooner believe that the Terrans gave up their colonies, then you're here without his permission."

"Stranger things have happened."

No response to that.

"Like, for example, I was just talking to Akara and-"

"Keep her name out of your traitorous mouth!" I was stunned by Koryn's booming anger. 

He stood up from where he was seated on the floor, his massive hands balled into fists. I noted that their feet were bound together and to the wall by a thick chain, but one of their hands had been temporarily freed during the lunchtime reprieve. Another sign that the mercenaries made terrible prison wardens.

I lifted my hands in a gesture of surrender, no longer interested in garnering a reaction. On instinct I subtly moved backwards so I was out of reach of their chains, but Stefin clocked the movement with disgust.

"We won't dignify you with the respect of a physical attack, human."

Derision filled his voice. I couldn't help the pang in my chest that came with knowing these two people, who I unfortunately still cared about, hated me so much.

"Okay, okay, I- I'm sorry. Can we please start over? I don't have much time."

Koryn rolled his eyes and sat back down. He pointedly turned away from me and continued picking at a dry roll that looked to be their only sustenance. 

Stefin shrugged sardonically, crossing his arms and narrowing his gaze. Neither of their reactions screamed receptivity, but I was out of options. 

"I left Cynabar and returned to my assignment, and you went back to your lives." I wasn't ready to address the details that had been revealed to me earlier, but I needed to walk them through the circumstances of my mission.

"I had a history with Jack - a long time ago, and the Terrans knew that." Still no reaction, but Stefin's eyes narrowed further.

"Not a great history, I'd tried to kill him - well, that's tangential, and he escaped, but we didn't know that until more recently." I was losing my cool, starting to babble.