Chapter Two
Talyani couldn’t believe she’d done it. She’d been able to sneak onto one of the Tyurma prison ships. It had been easier than she thought since the emperor had demanded everyone attend or watch his sham of a trial. It left no one to guard the ships.
She looked like every other guard in her drab green shirt, pants, and black lace-up boots. It had taken a great deal of work, but she’d finally been able to restrain her signature hair beneath a cap the guards wore.
From the information she’d gathered, the prisoners were to be loaded in order of their unit designation, which meant Nas would be on the second ship. She quickly moved to the cell-level control room and found the perfect hiding place.
A maintenance closet.
It had evenly spaced slats near the top for air circulation, and with her height, she could see out perfectly. She needed to watch which cell the controller assigned Nas’s pod and what security code he used to seal them in.
Simple.
Nothing could possibly go wrong.
Right?
In what seemed like a lifetime later, she leaned back against a side wall. Had something gone wrong? Had the cyborgs been found not guilty? Had all this been for nothing?
No.
She knew Shui. He wasn’t going to change his mind. He wasn’t that benevolent. He wanted the cyborgs gone. So, they would be gone, and no one had the power to stop him.
Hearing voices, she straightened and peered through the slats.
A guard walked into the room, and after pushing several buttons on the control console, he ordered, “Group 146. Cell 225.”
“Move it, you traitors!” A guard from outside the control room barked.
Talyani covered her mouth to muffle her gasp as she saw a group of cyborgs move past the large viewing window that faced the cells, their cheeks branded with the letters “CR.” Her father hadn’t said anything aboutthat.
The control room guard pushed several buttons again. “Cell 225 secure. Group 147, Cell 226,” the guard ordered, and she saw another group pass, this one filled with civilians, and their cheeks were branded, too, but with the letter “R.”
This went on and on. Some groups she saw, some she didn’t. But she saw the guard in the control room repeatedly touching the same buttons.
“Group 371. Cell 450.” Talyani’s breath quickened. That was her brother’s group. “Cell 450 secured. That’s it. We’re full. Send the rest to the next ship.”
With that, the guard left the room. Talyani had to force herself to wait and not immediately jump out of her hiding place to release her brother. If she made a mistake now, Nas would be instantly recaptured.
No, she had to wait until they were close enough to Tyurma for her plan to work.
Feeling the vibration beneath her feet, she spread her legs wide and braced herself for takeoff.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Major Ranvir Somerled stared at his clenched fists as he sat in his holding cell. They’d been so close to stopping the emperor. So close to preventing the needless slaughter of millions of innocent lives on Bionus because of the emperor’s hunger for power.
Instead, he was on his way to prison, and the rebellion was dead. Lifting his head, he assessed the other four occupants in the cell. One was a gangly civilian who cupped his branded cheek and sobbed. He couldn’t be more than twenty.
The other three were dressed like him in the black-trimmed, grey uniforms that all cyborgs wore. None of them were part of the pod he’d commanded, so he couldn’t use his closed network to talk to them, and he refused to use the open network because the emperor would be monitoring it.
His gaze returned to the civilian. “Why are you here?”
Ranvir kicked the other man’s foot when he got no response, causing the man to shriek.
“What?” he sobbed, his terrified gaze shooting to Ranvir. “What do you want?”
“Why are you here?” Ranvir repeated. He wouldn’t put it past the emperor to insert a civilian spy into their group, knowing how protective cyborgs were of them.