"Finian, we're in position," Tyler said over the coms.
He and Auri danced together across the room from where I was, weaving through the crowd in an attempt to get as close to Bianchi as I could manage.
It was easy, almost too much so. I moved my body to the rhythm of the music.
"Finian?" Tyler asks. "Do you read me?"
No answer.
I scanned the area for my squadmates, frowning as my eyes settled on Cat. Had something gone wrong?
"Scar, Thea. I need you two to go back and check on Fin. Cat, meet us by the bathrooms." Tyler instructed, and we all began to move. I met up with Scarlett after exiting the party, the two of us sprinting the best we could in our heels and dresses.
That was until the artificial gravity was taken out.
If it hadn't been for our magboots to ground us, we might have been stuck in the air like many of the other citizens of the World Ship.
Not that we weren't a spectacle ourselves. Both of our gowns were billowing out around us as we pushed off and maneuvered through the Grand bizarre and back towards Dariel's home.
"Kal, Zila, can you hear me?" Scarlett asks into the coms.
"Affirmative, Legionnaire Jones," Zila responds.
"What's your position?"
"Almost at Dariel's flat. ETA, forty-two seconds."
"We're still a few minutes out, Scar," I inform her, holding onto one of the stalls of the bizarre as I check my uniglass.
"We cannot wait for you," I hear Kal say. I can't help frowning at that, not knowing what he and Zila would be walking into.
"Four guns are better than two, Punchy," Scarlett comments as we start moving again.
"The World Ship's technicians will have the secondary gravity generators online at any moment. If Finian and Dariel are compromised, your presence in a close-quarters battle will not outweigh the cost of delay."
"Kal, please be careful," I say without thinking about it first.
Scarlett shoots me a glance, raising an eyebrow that practically asked if I wanted to share with the class.
"Do not worry, Be'shmai. I will do only what is necessary." He reassures me and I sigh.
"We'll be there as soon as we can."
"We have arrived. I am going in." Kal informed us.
I was practically holding my breath as we hurried to get to the residential area, my heart hammering at the sounds of blaster fire. Kal's creative cursing would have been amusing in another situation, but now I was hanging onto his voice to make sure that he was okay.
Until the comms went dead with the sound of a disruptor's blast.
"Kal! Can you hear me?" I asked, my heart sinking to my stomach.
"Zila?" Scarlett asks too. Met with no answer, we push ourselves as fast as we can, not stopping until we're standing outside of Dariel's place.
The sight in front of me has my blood roaring in my ears, fury and fear causing my hands to shake.
A GIA operative stood in front of us as our squad mates floated unconscious in zero g, the walls charred by blaster fire.
"Legionaries Jones and Maverick. So nice of you to join us." It spoke, the voice unrecognizable from behind the mirror mask.
The next few moments were a blur, my own rush forward to attack the GIA agent before they could draw their blaster again, just as Kal launched for them as well.
The agent was down in seconds and I could nearly cry in relief at seeing Kal. His shirt was bloody and he had seen better days, but he was okay.
"Are you alright, Be'shmai?" He turned his attention to me, checking me over for any injuries.
"I'm fine, I promise. Are you okay?" I looked up at him, seeing the smallest of smiles on his lips.
"As long as you are alright, as am I." He replied softly.
Scarlett had rushed over to where Fin was, checking on him. Zila had floated over as well and scanned Fin over with her uniglass.
"His exosuit is damaged, but he is alive." Our brain reports.
Scarlett looks over at us, motioning to the unconscious GIA agents.
"Let's get them stripped down. Zila, you suit up with me. Kal, you and Thea get Fin back to the longbow." She instructs and we start moving.
But when we removed the mirror mask from the GIA agent, I could only gasp in horror.
The woman behind the mask looked dead, her cheeks hollowed out and eyes wide open. Kal immediately put himself between me and the GIA agent.
The skirts of my dress billowed around me in zero gravity, rustling as I floated backward a few feet.
"Maker.." I gasp, holding onto the wall for a moment.
I could hear voices in my head, whispers getting louder and louder.
Join us. JOIN US.
Become one with us.
"Stop it..!" I hissed, my hands coming up to cover my ears. But it did nothing, only seeming to trap the voices in my head.
A chill ran down my body as a presence overwhelmed me, pulling and tugging at me. So many voices, so many..
Join us..
"Thea!" One voice broke through them all, tears gathering in my eyes as I looked up. There was so much concern in those violet eyes, so much that it pulled me out of the haze.
Without thinking, I threw my arms around him, my momentum causing us to float further into the den.
My body was trembling as his arms wrapped around me slowly, but tightly, holding me as close to Kal as possible.
"I have got you, Be'shmai." He whispered into my ear, his voice the only one that mattered to me in that moment.
Soon the gravity returned and we had to move into the next part of our mission. Kal stayed close to me as we managed to get Fin back to the ship.
I could still hear it, whispering into the back of my mind, but one look at Kal was enough to steady me.
We waited in the airlock for our squadmates, quiet for the moment, blaster rifles in hands in case something unfriendly appeared instead. I would glance at him every so often, finding Kal glancing back each time.
It brought a small smile to my lips, despite everything going on.
