20. Chapter 20

After they made an initial truce, Rhutg said he needed to think and plan. He handed Ava a tablet to input details regarding her Humans while he thought.

He told her that after she documented what she remembered, he would send it off to the main contact they had at the Galactic Board so there was a record of it, just in case, as well as off to the Vorbax Quorum on Xai. He didn’t need to specify what “just in case” meant.

Ava sat down and started cataloging her family. Her mother, with her soft brown hair. Her sister, Maebel, who was closest in age to her. Little details she could remember about the other sisters as they were born. One had a birthmark on her foot in the shape of a leaf. As Ava wrote, remembering all the littlest details about each of them, the neat box she kept them in inside her mind came apart. She started to tear up thinking about them for the first time in years. She never forgot them. Their faces were fuzzy in her mind, but she still loved them just as strongly as when she’d first left them.

At the end of writing down everything relevant about them, she made a paragraph break and started inputting word for word every piece of information on Joy from the auction house flyer. She also took a photo of it to attach at the bottom. Some of the identifying numbers printed under the name “Joy” from the auction house were worn out, but she remembered them and filled in where they were rubbed off. Ava hoped they could be useful in finding her someday. This picture had been her only Human to look at for years. Ebel had found the flyer and printed it for her ages ago. This Joy was family now too.

Tears were falling in earnest, and Ava let them as she stared at the words on the screen, all the parts of her loved ones on display. In the end it was only a small amount of Humans she had documented. She wished she had more information about the others, about the ones she remembered at the breeding facility, but couldn’t recall much. Every Human deserved more than the hand they were dealt by the stars.

Ava let out a shuddering breath, looking over what she had typed. She hadn’t spoken their names in forever. Not even Ebel knew who they were. He asked a few times, but Ava always brushed him aside. Now, looking at the names, she wondered why she never shared before. Her heart felt raw, like a wound existed in it that was incapable of healing. Her hands shook as they held the tablet.

The tablet was tugged out of her hands, and she saw Rhutg looking down at her, a speculative look on his face. His eyes no longer held the cold indifference that they did previously. Instead, they shone with compassion.

“You feel emotions just as strongly as we do,” he commented, out loud instead of in her mind.

Ava rubbed the tears on her cheeks, attempting to wipe some away. She felt so relieved that their names were down, out of her brain, somewhere real for the first time. Not only that, but the information would be sent off to a place that would hopefully take an interest in them.

Ava held out her hand to take the tablet from Rhutg. Once she had it in her hands, Ava also took a picture of herself, forcing a smile, and included it in the file, along with her height and weight. She wanted them to be able to see her now. She wanted everyone to see who she was. That she existed, out here almost forgotten in the stars. Just in case.

Rhutg put his hand heavily on her shoulder, and she felt calming waves from him, similar to Vox’s. There was no rush of heat with him, just shared affection. Two sentient beings who had loved and lost. Ava put her hand over his and looked at him with still watery eyes. An understanding flowed between them, connected by his hand on her shoulder. Ava looked at him and hoped with all her heart that his love would return too. She squeezed his hand gently.

“Violie,” Rhutg said softly, his tone strained with emotion. “That is my mate I am rescuing.”

“We will find her,” Ava promised, nodding. He lifted his hand to take the screen from her, nodding himself.

Ava handed him the screen, and he added more information to the report for his contact, including some words in a language she could not decipher.

“What are you saying?”

“Our agreement, as well as a current status report. I am also asking if there’s any additional information from the Tuxa in regards to where the females are, or other battle information. Our contact, Iryl, is on the Galactic Board on Elyhim, the council planet, and can source knowledge that we cannot sometimes.” He paused. “I am also including the medical records we obtained from you earlier and the file the Phor have of Humans. I figured the more information I can provide the better. It would show our people why it would be in their interest to take an interest in your Humans.”

Ava nodded and watched him type it out, his hands overlarge on the keyboard made for delicate Phor fingers. It was quiet until he finished, Ava just watching until the transmission was confirmed and received. It was peaceful here, sitting next to him. She gave a halfhearted grin. To think she was terrified of this man only a brief time ago.

“Iryl, our contact, might attempt a hologram conference with us in a bit upon receiving this information. I will let you know.”

“Okay.” Ava felt worn out now after writing about her family, but forced herself to ask, “Have you any plans yet on what you want me to do?”

“I . . .” Rhutg started to answer but stopped. Flashing from blue to purple and back again, he fixed Ava with a stare and became a bit more hardened, closing off the vulnerable side he’d just shared. “That will have to be something we all decide. Vox is none too happy you are not in the med bay like he thought you would be.”

Ava looked down. “He would not have let me talk with you otherwise if he knew what my plan was. And, well . . . my mind was made up.”

“Well, he knows where you are now. It is best for us to clear this up immediately. I have communicated to him to come here and meet us in navigation. Erox as well.”

“And Lirell?”

“He needs to monitor that Phor in the engine room. We will inform him later.”

Ava, who had started to relax with Rhutg, felt anxiety again. She always felt jumpy when in danger of displeasing someone.

Rhutg rumbled beside her, “Vox cares for you, Human. I am beginning to see why. You do not need to fear him, yet your pheromones are coated in stress. His reaction is not one of anger but of concern.”

Ava didn’t respond. With creatures as foreign and powerful as the Vorbax, it was hard to not feel intimidated. That and the takeover of the ship was still in her mind. She wasn’t scared of them in that way, not anymore, but it didn’t change the fact that they were incredibly powerful creatures. She knew what they were capable of.

The door to navigation opened quicker than she would have thought with how far the med bay was. Ava jumped at the suddenness, the door making a harsh sound in the silent room.

Vox walked in, eyes wild, flashing a bright cerulean blue. Until now, Ava had only seen them glow purple for intense emotions, and their normal blue. Her gut told her, with his tense posture, that the color meant fear.

He met her eyes and rushed up to her, walking until he was next to her. He crouched down and took her head into his hands. Ava tried averting her eyes, but he followed their movement to the side to meet them again.

“Ava, what have you done?”

She looked into his eyes, full of concern, confirming that he wasn’t full of rage. Tears began to fill hers again.

It was Rhutg who responded, “Brother, she is a sentient creature and capable of making her own decisions. She has been kept as a pet long enough.”

Ava winced, hearing Rhutg’s description of her like that. It stung, but was not untrue.

Vox, still holding her head, turned to Rhutg and hissed, “I do not view Ava that way. I just want to keep her safe. You are too willing to play with her life. She is defenseless.” His colors flashed from the light blue to intense purple.

“I know you do not view her like that, but it doesn’t change the fact that her life has been like that up until this point.”

Rhutg handed Vox the tablet that still had all the information on it that Ava had filled out and was now transmitted across space to the Vorbax. He viewed it quickly, scanning through the details on her family.

Vox looked up from the tablet and back at her. “Ava . . .” he said softly.

“I will help, Vox. I need to.” Ava held his gaze, stiffening her back.

Vox was flashing the bright blue again, but didn’t answer as Erox walked in, startling Ava again with the door opening suddenly.

“She is no different from us,” Erox added as he came to stand close to Rhutg, next to Ava. He had obviously been catching up on events telepathically on the way over. “You, of any of us, know that there is no real difference.”

Vox didn’t acknowledge them. Instead, he continued to scroll through the tablet with Ava’s details on it. He gripped it hard in his hands, furrowing the scales on the top of his head in concentration.

“I cannot stop this, it seems. I am outnumbered,” Vox said eventually. He flashed a bright blue again before drawing himself up and looking firmly at both Rhutg and Erox. “I want it on record how uneasy I am about this and disagree with the course of action. If her involvement has to happen, it needs to be in a way that compromises her safety the least.”

Rhutg glanced at Ava, pinching the bottom of his chin absently. “We will keep her safety in mind, but her help can also ensure the safety of our females. She raised a good point in talking, earlier. If we can somehow get her to the females, she can warn them or help in some way with arming them.”

“Arming them? And how would she do that?” Vox spat, posture tense. “Package her up and send her off on a maybe, defenseless? I will not allow this.”

The three of them lit up, communicating telepathically. They all wore strained expressions, their gazes intense as they looked at each other.

Ava felt frustrated at being left out again, but didn’t interrupt the silent exchange. If she needed her privacy from time to time, she could allow that they needed it as well. Just as long as they included her once they were done.

Instead of pointlessly watching them, she turned to the controls Rhutg had up and began clicking around the city map of Torga. Rhutg glanced at her while she was doing so but moved aside, allowing her access.

Torga was a small planet. The area they were visiting was not an open air city but domed. It looked like the environment was no longer habitable from all the manufacturing that had taken place. She couldn’t determine what was wrong with it, but the outside air had a thick haze that made her assume it was polluted. No wonder the Tuxa had outposts all over the galaxy and were taking over wherever they could. They needed resources with their own pint-sized planet being depleted.

Ava pulled up the schematics and pictures of the interior of one of the interconnecting domes. It looked like the Phor cargo bay with how it sealed itself off.

She breathed in excitedly, pulse quickening while clicking through the photos. Inspiration hit her. If the outside air was that toxic, couldn’t exposing one of the domes to the air cause chaos?

She zoomed in farther on the seams of the building. She felt frustrated as she looked for anything similar to what she had worked with before to understand the schematics behind the structure. Even though the Phor used engine parts that the Tuxa made and could retrofit, the Phor guarded their technology and used things of their own design, so what the Tuxa had used to construct the domes was not familiar. Dead end.

Vents, though. She searched around for those. If the entire city was domed, they must have filtration vents like this ship did. Ava knew all about vents. Vents were universal. There were only so many ways for filtration to occur.

There.She tapped rapidly on the screen to make it zoom in on the ceiling of one of the interior photos. She then zoomed in on one of the outlet vents. Judging by the metalwork next to it and the way it displaced the edge of the dome, there had to be a large space to move within in that vent. She could fit. She let out a gasp, the screen reflecting her intense face as she got closer. She absolutely could fit.

She traced the vent structure along the ceiling, noting how it moved across and then into the next picture, and the next. Across most of the city, across all the domes. The entire vent system was probably interconnected between all the structures. It had to be so there was no pollution build-up in areas.

And if she was wrong . . . she looked for sewer schematics but came up blank. That was probably underground and not as visible, but as a backup—a very disgusting backup—it could work. There were toilets and running water in places. All those drains had to lead somewhere. She discarded the thought, shuddering.

Ava scrolled back up to the ceiling and roved through the pictures, looking for side panels. Each dome’s filtration system appeared to start on the ceiling and went down through the dome with vent shafts. One main filter unit must rest on the top of every dome. Once she could identify the pattern of the vent system, she realized it was repeated all over the city, with connecting points between each dome’s system.

Looking at an overhead view, her body sagged seeing the sheer scope of how large the city was. There were at least one hundred or so domes. If each one had their own filter unit they probably all shared the load. There would have to be at least some overlap, otherwise one unit being out would contaminate an entire dome if there was no backup.

She slowly formed a plan. If the vent systems weren’t connected, and if she had an oxygen tank, she could probably skip over the roof to the next section if she needed to, but she was almost certain the entire ventilation system was like a giant web, all interconnected.

She probably couldn’t compromise the dome structure itself to let any of the pollution in, but she could mess with the filtration. It definitely could help provide a distraction.

Rhutg, still shining, put his hand on her shoulder, following her thoughts. A grin slid across his face. “Yes, Ava. Yes.”

Ava smiled up at him and then over to Vox, who walked closer to look at the screen.

Vox sighed, resigned, looking at the pictures and where she’d zoomed in. He didn’t say anything, and still wore a pinched expression.

“How would we get her there in the first place?” Erox asked. “The Tuxa are not bright, but they would be aware of transports coming in and out of their space.”

It was Vox who answered, in a passive voice, “You send her in early with some of the Tuxa husks we have here. Have them land on a dome, and Ava will go into the vents before the other Tuxa come to investigate. We can monitor the ship remotely.”

“Won’t that make them question this ship then, when you come?” Ava asked.

“Not all the small transport pods you have on board are Phor made. Some were from contractors when they initially docked that were being held while they were here on assignment,” Rhutg explained, clicking on the feed himself and exploring the ceiling.

Ava remembered the Haroo, now dead, and realized that’s who they probably belonged to. Ava never bothered inspecting the small transport area unless she went off ship with Nuor. If that was the case, then the Tuxa wouldn’t put two and two together that the small Haroo vessels had anything to do with the Phor ship. Provided they didn’t arrive at the same time. Ships had to be coming and going like crazy there every day. She sat back, feeling more solid now that there was a realistic way for her to help. She could do this.

Vox was still glowing blue but seemed defeated. After all of this, she could be bold and ask him to stay with her when she rested this cycle. She doubted he would deny her now. Her stomach clenched in anticipation.

No, he wouldn’t deny me. She glanced at him. He gazed back with an uncertain look. She took his hand. He didn’t resist, and she became certain he would want to spend these next few cycles together as much as she did. Just in case.