Chapter 4

GUNNOX

The Zibeck's thin frame shuddered under my grip. Inside a dingy hut along the main path through the trading port on Tirius, I slammed the alien against the wall. His large black eyes darted around in fear as I bared my fangs, releasing a low growl.

"Where are they?" I snarled, my hands digging into his bony shoulders. The Zibeck whimpered, his beseeching gaze landing on Tyrk.

"Well, don't look at me," Tyrk barked out a laugh while riffling through the Zibeck's belongings. "I'm not going to help you. It's in your best interest to tell the Valosian what he wants to know."

I tightened my hold and leaned in close. "We know a Gretolic ship filled with Valosians and humans were sold to the trollis. Tell me who the trollis sold them to or I'll rip your limbs off one by one starting with this one."

I twisted the wiry limb I held in an unyielding grip, the bone beneath threatening to buckle under the strain. A brilliant shade of green, the eight-legged creature emitted a shrill wail. Instinctively, my ears plastered themselves against my skull, shielding my sensitive auditory system from the piercing sound.

The Zibeck's resolve wavered. "All right!" he cried out. "It's been months since that transaction took place. The largest lot was auctioned off to the Gorkens. Maybe twenty Valosians and ten or so humans. The rest were sold to various species. The Gorkens took them to Gorka to work in the sorium mines."

"What other species bought them!" I hissed.

"Most were sold in large lots to a few Orcs, some Bioti, Natookie. One female was sold to a Nomadican."

"And what about the Mayrans?" Tyrk sauntered over.

"I don't know—" the Zibeck's words were cut off as I torqued his appendage backward.

"Answer the Nomadican's question and it had better not begin withI don't know," I ground out, twisting harder.

"All right! All right! There was a group of them that came through, but that's been a long time ago, long before the Gretolics brought the Valosians and the humans. Most were sold to the Gorken too while a few were sold to another species. And before you break off my arm," the Zibeck gasped. "They were beastly creatures I had never seen before. Word spread through the port they were called Jagots from outside the known Universe. That's all I know. I swear!"

I suddenly released the Zibeck and he crumpled to the ground. Tyrk stood beside me, arms crossed.

"We need to move quickly then," he said gravely. "The conditions in those mines are brutal. Few survive longer than a handful of months."

My jaw clenched. "What do we tell Nara? Her mate may not have been sold to the Gorken."

"We tell her the truth and start our search on Gorka. If he's not there, we go in search of these Jagots."

Just then, Ruze burst into the hut, a triumphant grin on his face. In his clawed hands, he held three circular bands that glinted silver under the bright orange sunlight streaming through the open door.

"Found us some Moktain cloaking tech," he announced and nodded at the Zibeck cowering in the corner. "Where are we headed?"

"To the sorium mine on Gorka." Tyrk examined the band Ruze handed each of us. "Perfect. This is exactly what we need to infiltrate the Gorken mine unnoticed. With these, we'll be like ghosts, able to walk among them unseen."

"How does it work?" I asked, turning the smooth metal over in my palm.

"You wear it around your wrist," Ruze explained. "It bends light around you, makes you undetectable. Plus, I linked them so we'll be able to see each other even when cloaked."

As I secured the device around my wrist, it melded with my scales like a second skin. The thrum of its energy sent a shiver through me, prickling over my scales in waves of unseen power.

The Zibeck's gaze, previously locked onto me, suddenly darted around the room in confusion. His eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly as he scanned the space where I still stood, now invisible to his probing stare. Despite remaining motionless, I had vanished from his sight entirely.

"Cloaks engaged. It'll be easier and faster to get back to the ship through the crowd if we don't have to keep our heads down," Tyrk said donning his device. "There's no time to waste. The longer the Valosians and humans are inside the Gorken mine, the greater the risk they won't make it out alive."

I took one last look at the cowering Zibeck before turning to follow the two Nomadicans now enveloped in wavy distortions as we raced through the throngs of strange, otherworldly beings milling about the trading port.

Tirius was a cauldron, its sun a fiery blood orange orb in a violet sky. The air was thick and heavy, making it hard to breathe. I yearned to shed the unfamiliar pants and hooded cloak Ruze had given me, craving the comfort of my breechcloth. I hated the feel of the boots covering my feet as I kept pace with the Nomadicans.

The attire was stifling, but concealing my species was important to not draw attention to us. Valosians were an infant race and not enlightened. We weren't supposed to hold a broader knowledge of what lay beyond the clouds of our world, so blending in was crucial to avoid unwanted scrutiny.

With a cloaking device, I no longer needed the disguise. I shoved the hood from my head as we raced across the desolate field where Ruze had landed our cloaked Moktian craft.

Tirius was the second planet I had roamed since waking up caged on a world filled with giants who wanted to eat us. I despised Tirius just as much as I had the giant's planet and I was certain I would hate Gorka as well, but I was determined to find as many of my kinsmen as I could and return them home to Valose.

Cloaked or not, the Gorken would soon feel my fury. Nothing would stop me from rescuing my people.

Tyrk lifted the ramp and closed the hatch as soon as we were all on board.

"We know where a large group of them are," I told Nara, her delicate blue hands twisting in distress. "Sold to the Gorken for slave labor in their mines. Most of the Mayran too. Zorin might be among them."

"Sorium mines are death traps," Nara spat bitterly. "The Gorken work their slaves until they drop. After all this time, chances aren't good the Mayran's taken there are still alive."

"Your mate was a ranger," Ruze pointed out and took his seat at the command console. "As a member of the Mayran military, he's stronger than the villagers."

I took my seat and strapped in, jaw clenching as fury bubbled within me. The thought of my people toiling away in a death mine boiled my blood. "If he's there, we'll get him out," I vowed. "All of them."

Seated next to Ruze, Tyrk's fingers danced across the command console. "We should save the kript and use tellic to hyper-jump. It will take us days to reach Gorka if we only burn rillium."

"We don't have any tellic—" Ruze's words abruptly cut off as Tyrk flashed him a white chip. "Where did you get that?"

"Found it," Tyrk rose from his seat and headed to the back of the command deck. "The Zibeck had it hidden under his pillow. Set a course for Gorka and lift us off this rock. I'll be in the engine room depositing the tellic into the energy converter."

Nara resumed her seat as the ship hummed to life. The spacecraft ascended without a whisper as if gently buoyed by an invisible sea. A sense of relief washed over me as Tirius and its seedy trading port receded into the distance. Yet, despite my eagerness to leave and rescue my brethren, I remained a firm believer that a warrior's feet were meant to stay on the ground.

"Tellic's in the chamber." Tyrk came barreling back, resumed his seat, and strapped in. "Let's go."

Through the viewport, the stars stretched into streaks of light as we were thrust into what Tyrk called a hyper-jump. I was pressed back into my seat, my hands curling around the edges as I hung onto my ass. It wasn't quite the same rush as the wormhole but unsettling all the same.

We came out of the hyper-jump within secs. Outside the viewport, a large dusty planet loomed. My spine straightened and my blood pounded in my ears, knowing my brethren were down there slaving in an alien mine.

"Scanners on." Tyrk's clawed hands dance over the console.

I unbuckled the restraints that held me in my seat and leaned forward as the holographic projection of the planet sprang up from the console. The three-dimensional map was a swirling mass of fiery reds and deep oranges. Mountain ranges rose like jagged teeth across its surface.

"Those are the mine shafts." Ruze somehow switched the view of the planet, so it became transparent and pointed out the veins snaking beneath the surface inside a condensed region. "With the ship cloaked, we can set down near the main entrance."

"Thanks to Zaku for removing all the trackers," Nara murmured as she moved in for a closer look at the map. "Who would have ever guessed the Valosians had a Moktain ally living among them?"

Not I. Despite the fleeting time I felt had passed since escaping the giant's cage, the world I had returned to had been irrevocably altered, a place unfamiliar yet hauntingly reminiscent of what it once was. The memory of my escape from the giant's cage still lingered vividly in my mind, each detail etched with clarity as if it had just unfolded.

"Ruze, can you tease out the lifeforms readings according to species?" Nara squinted at the scores of pulsing dots.

"The energy from the ore must be interfering with the scanner," Ruze growled, tapping on the sleek panel before him. "It's glitchy, but it appears the red are the Gorkens. Yellow and blue are humans and Valosians. There appears to be only one Mayran." Ruze indicated the only white dot in a cluster of blue.

Nara sagged where she stood. I leaped forward, catching her in my arms before she hit the floor. Her lithe frame wilted in my arms as I carried her back to her seat.

"It has to be him," I stated. "Like Ruze said, your mate is a warrior among your people. Who else could have survived, if not him?"

Nara bobbed her narrow chin. The bright yellow of her otherworldly gaze glistened with the trembling of her lower lip. "All those villagers, gone. Worked to death in that dirty mine."

"I'm so sorry." It was a weak response, but it was the only thing I could think to say.

"Strap in," Tyrk called out. "Prepare for landing."

The atmosphere inside the spacecraft was palpably charged with anticipation. The weight of our mission bore down on me, but I was resolute. It might be too late for Nara's people, but it wasn't for mine or the humans. Failure was not an option. I was bringing my people home.

Cloaked, our ship descended, slicing through the thick, dusty atmosphere of the Gorken home world, the rocky terrain below rose to meet us in a desolate embrace. The mouth of the cave yawned before us like a gaping maw, its jagged edges casting eerie shadows in the murky light.

I scanned the entrance, taking in the sight of the towering Gorken guards stationed at the threshold. I don't know what I had expected, but a fusion between insectoids and a scaly rexose wasn't it.

The Gorken appeared similar to the Nuttaki, my natural enemy on Valose as they had some characteristics of an insectoid, except they stood on two legs and not eight. Much like the nocturnal creatures that roamed the Huren jungle, they were heavily scaled. Their bodies glistened in the intense sunlight as their cold, lifeless eyes reflected nothing.

Sinuous limbs extended from under their armored exoskeletons, moving with eerie jerks and twitches. Instead of typical mouths, like the Nuttaki, jagged slits punctuated their hard carapaces, opening and closing as they conversed among themselves.

"We are only going inside to recon the situation." Ruze followed the blue veins of the mine projecting on the map with a claw-tipped finger. "Then we return here and figure out the best plan to extract all the captives. There's a secondary entrance just beyond this ridge. It's small, maybe too small to get through. Probably an air shaft. We need a visual of the interior of the mine, get a look at the condition of the people first before we try and make any plans."

I couldn't argue with his sound reasoning. Like a Trisess scout, Ruze meticulously plotted our next moves, his keen eyes scanning the map for any potential risks or advantages that could aid in our mission to rescue the captives from the twisting network of mineshafts.

After much debate between Nara and Tyrk, the Nomadican relinquished his cloaking device to the red-maned Mayran. She was as determined to set eyes on her mate as I was the Valosian males toiling inside. It made logical sense one of our only two pilots remain with the ship.

"We might be invisible, but we still leave footprints, and we can still be heard, so move with caution and whatever you do, don't talk or bump into anyone," Ruze warned."Comms off and plasma blasters stay holstered unless we have no other option but to shoot our way out."

Each of us clipped the boxy comm to our belts and slung a holster weapon across our torsos. With cloaking devices strapped to our wrists, Tyrk lowered the ramp and we emerged from the ship. The planet's unforgiving sun beat down on us, scorching our skin as we stepped onto its arid and dusty surface. The terrain was littered with decaying rock formations, towering like stoic guardians in this foreign world, their sharp edges casting ominous shadows against the desolate horizon.

The heat was oppressive, bearing down on us like a relentless weight, suffocating and unyielding. Waves of shimmering distortion rippled around our bodies; a mesmerizing dance of camouflage provided by the Moktian cloaking devices. The air wavered around us, bending light in a surreal display as we approached the yawning mouth of the mine.

My scales flickered in hues of blue, silver, and white with my eagerness to put eyes on my kinsmen. Blue dots on a holographic map could not compare with seeing them firsthand.

Nara marched ahead of me; her vibrant blue flesh took on an ethereal glow under the harsh sunlight. Her long red, tubular mane trailed behind her like a fiery beacon amid the sweltering heat and distorted reality that enveloped us. Together, we pressed forward, careful to keep our footprints hidden as we approached the guards from the side. Our figures undulated in the mirage-like effect of the cloaking technology, seamlessly blending into the rocky terrain so effectively that even the keen-eyed guards remained unaware of our stealthy presence.

Ruze turned to look back at us. He gestured that we follow him inside. No sooner did we step across the threshold, than a swarm of Gorken guards spilled out onto the rocky terrain.

We flattened ourselves against the rough cave walls as the patrol marched past, their guttural voices echoing through the tunnels. I held my breath, silently praying to the Spirits to show us favor.

Once the guards passed, we crept deeper into the winding mine. The air grew cooler as we went, a respite from the oppressive heat outside. The darkness enveloped us with only a scattering of torches to light the way. Ruze slowed his steps, hand on the wall as he felt his way. I blinked dark-penetrating lenses into place, moving ahead of him. I pointed to my eyes, and he nodded for me to lead the way.

Up ahead, the tunnel opened into a massive cavern lit by the eerie glow of orange sorium ore Tyrk had described. My heart sank at the sight before me. Valosian males were crammed tightly together behind a row of thin, glowing bars, their bodies slumped against each other for support. They all wore tattered rags and most had their eyes tightly shut, signs of exhaustion and defeat. Among them were a handful of my clansmen, their familiar faces gaunt but still recognizable.

It was clear they were resting, but the weight of their brutal existence was etched on their withered faces while the human females were scattered around the cavern, laboring and dressed in little more than scraps of fabric.

Gorken guards stood watch, uncoiling whips, and cracking them at their feet when they weren't working hard or fast enough. My blood boiled over the cruelty of it all.

A dark-maned female struggled to carry a bucket filled with glowing ore. Her tattered clothing was covered in a fine layer of dirt as she strained to lift and dump the ore onto a conveyor.

My gaze was drawn to her as she strained under the weight of the bucket she carried. Despite her tattered clothing and dirt-covered flesh, I couldn't tear my eyes away from her gaunt frame. As she strained to lift and dump the load onto a conveyor, there was a determined set to her jaw, a spark of resilience in her eyes that held me captive. The heart of a warrior beat within her wilting frame.

A surge of energy rippled through me. My hand instinctively covered my sternum, feeling the initial thump of my ancillary heart thundering to life. It pounded in my ears drowning out the drone of the conveyor and guttural heckling of the guards as the females toiled.

For the second time in my life, I experienced the searing burn of adrenalyne as it coursed through my veins, igniting a fiery sensation that strengthened my muscles. I was invincible, ready to take on every Gorken on this forsaken planet just to save this withering female from another sec of cruelty.

Just as I surged forward, ready to assist the female who had awakened me, a clawed hand grabbed my arm and forcefully pulled me back. With a tight grip, I was pressed against the rocky cave wall and held in place by the massive Nomadican.

"Don't be stupid, Gunnox," Ruze hissed close to my ear. "Remember why we are here. Recon only."

Our slight scuffle caught the attention of two Gorken guards standing nearby. His bizarre, slitted gaze swept over where we hovered, invisible to his prying. Nara's bright eyes widened in alarm as she cut us a scathing look. Torn between rushing to my female and not jeopardizing the mission, I relied on Ruze to hold me back.

With great effort I tore my gaze away from the drooping female, signaling to Ruze that we should continue our reconnaissance. I must remain focused on the task at hand if we were to save them all.

As we hugged the cave wall and headed for the narrow air shaft on the opposite side, the female suddenly stumbled, spilling the bucket of ore across the cavern floor. A Gorken guard bellowed in rage, grabbing her roughly by the arm. She cried out, trembling in fear as he pushed her across the conveyor and unfurled a cruel whip. His segmented appendage, rearing back and ready to strike.

Primal instinct to protect my female surged forward as did I. My voice boomed through the space as I unholstered my weapon and removed the cloaking device from my wrist to toss both in the Ruze's direction. "Stop! I will take her punishment."

Gasps followed by the confused whispers of my clansmen who recognized me filled the silence after my sudden outburst.

"Why are you not in your cage with the others? The day guards not doing their jobs again," the Gorken seethed, yellow eyes narrowing on me. Then a sinister grin spread across his insectoid face. "Doesn't matter. You can bear her punishment as well as your own."

Despite their fragile appearance, the Valosians erupted into a frenzy as the female was pushed aside. The Gorkens may have weakened their bodies, but they couldn't extinguish the fierce determination that burned within all Valosians. They crowded the thin bars, their hands sizzling under their grips before they recoiled in pain.

Among my fellow kin, a blue skinned male with a bright red-tubular mane sat slumped against the far wall. My ears perked and swiveled as I picked up on Nara's sharp gasp from behind me as well as Ruze's hushed protest.

I took my female's place and stood before the conveyor, bracing myself for the Gorken's whip. As the lashes struck my scales, I was grateful for her presence. Without her, the pain would have been unbearable. I clung to her delicate, human face, using it as an anchor to ground myself against the onslaught.

The sharp strikes ripped across my scales, drawing blue blood from my back, but all that mattered was her safety. I would endure everything so she would not.

Our gazes locked, the connection undeniable. My spirit reached out to hers, and I knew that as long as she was unharmed, nothing else mattered. For her, I would suffer a lifetime of lashes.