The Lost Star Episode One (17 page)

“Chief, do you have a solution?” Harvey
asked.

“Sure do. I’ve got this now.” He chuckled as
he marched over to the equipment locker and started rooting around
in it.

Hunter deflated so much it was a surprise
his shoulders didn’t detach and sink through the floor.

As he glanced over at his brother, he
realized Harvey appeared to relax too.

Harvey waited there until B'cal finally gave
the all clear.

Then he left the room.

Hunter caught sight of Harvey’s expression
as he walked through the doors.

A cloud of confusion and guilt hung over his
brother’s face.

B'cal ordered Ava straight to the med bay.
As Hunter turned to follow, B'cal asked him to hang
back.

As soon as Ava left the room, B'cal turned
on Hunter. “What happened here?” he asked directly.

Hunter didn’t need clarification. He knew
what B'cal was asking.

Hunter drew in a deep breath. “I don’t
know.”

“
And I don’t like it,” B'cal stated flatly.
“Lieutenant Commander Shera was out of line. I’m no doctor, but
from what I’ve figured out of those armlets, Ensign Ava was right –
their removal would’ve killed her. So what the hell just happened
back there? And more to the point, why would anyone wear
those?”

All good questions
. All questions that were screaming out
for answers.

First things first. “Chief, do me a favor.
You’ve already transferred Ava to engineering, right?”

B'cal nodded. “Why?”

“
I know there are two other Avixans on
board, not including Meva and Shera. Do you reckon you can give Ava
tasks that will keep her away from all four of them?”

“Consider it done.”

Hunter let out a breath of relief. “Well at
least that’s something.”

“What else are you going to do?” B'cal
crossed his arms, looking serious.

“I’m going to find out everything I can.”
Hunter nodded at him and left the room, his own promise ringing in
his ears.

Ava

Ava sat on the edge of her bed. She’d been
discharged from the med bay
eight hours ago.

She hadn’t moved since.

She had no idea what to do.

Fear, confusion, and anger locked her in
place.

She simply couldn’t believe Shera had done
that, couldn’t believe the lieutenant commander would be stupid
enough to make such an open and obvious threat.

Shera
hated Ava, that much was clear, but Shera couldn’t do
anything about it….

Ava shivered, drawing her shoulders
together.

With her armlets on, she was defenseless.
Slow, weak – a soft target, especially for a full Avixan
warrior.

Shera
could literally cut Ava to shreds.

…
But she wouldn’t. Because killing a
priestess was a mortal sin. Shera would be locked in stasis under
the black temples and never let out.

Shera
would know this. So… that meant… what? That had just been a
cruel joke?

Ava shook again, drawing her arms in tightly
around her middle.

The truth behind Shera’s actions wasn’t
what was making Ava shiver.

It was the fact she’d shared information
about her locks.

If the Avixan government found out, she’d be
shipped back to the temples and never allowed to leave the planet
again.

That thought chilled her, saw her arms wrap
all the way around her middle as she crunched her head onto her
knee.

The door opened without warning, and in
walked Nema.

They shared quarters.

This wasn’t the first time Nema had walked
in over the past eight hours.

Ava didn’t even bother to uncoil
herself.

“
God, you’re still like this. Ava, honey,
whatever happened, I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

Ava didn’t move.

There was no point. The Avixan government
would find out sooner rather than later, then she’d be shipped
away.

“
Honey, it’s okay.” Nema bent over her and
placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “Your shift starts in an
hour. Ava?”

“There’s no point. I won’t be allowed to
stay. There’ll come for me.”

“Who? You keep saying that. What’s going on?
Ava?”

A
va wouldn’t answer. After a few failed attempts to comfort
her, Nema took a step back, let out a worried breath, and left the
room.

Ava squeezed her eyes shut and tried to
block out the pain.

…

Lieutenant Hunter
McClane

His mind was spinning summersaults through
his skull.

There was too much to think about.

That’s why he hardly noticed when Ensign
Nema walked up to him in the mess hall.

She cleared her throat and pressed her
hands together. “Excuse me, are you Lieutenant McClane?”

“
Yeah. Can I help you?”

“
I’m hoping you can,” the ensign said in a
quiet tone. “You were involved in the accident with Ensign Ava this
morning, weren’t you?”

“How do you know about that?” he asked
immediately. The nature of that accident had been kept quiet from
the crew. The last thing Harvey wanted was for news of a split
between the Avixans on board getting out.

The ensign clasped her hands tighter. “I
know Ava was in an accident, and, ah… you were seen exiting a hatch
with her with your top off. News like that travels. I don’t know
what the accident was about though. And Ava won’t tell
me.”

Hunter baulked. “I can explain. I didn’t
have my top off because—”

The ensign looked mortified. “No, I wasn’t
suggesting anything like that. I just... I came to you because I
think I need your help. I share quarters with Ava. Ever since she
came back from the med bay, she’s done nothing but sit on the edge
of her bed with her arms wrapped around her middle. She won’t move.
Won’t respond to me. And every time I remind her that her shift’s
coming up, she just mumbles there’s no point. That she won’t be
allowed to stay. That they’ll come and get her.”

Any fleeting embarrassment burnt up as panic
gripped his heart. “What? Who’ll come and get her?”

“I don’t know. She won’t explain. I’m
guessing it has something to do with the accident. I think she’s
scared there’ll be repercussions. I know you were involved. I was
hoping you could put her mind at ease or at the very least put her
out of her misery.”

Hunter didn’t need to be asked twice. He
snapped to his feet. “Where are your quarters? B Block,” he
suddenly remembered as he clicked his fingers.

The ensign looked shocked. “How do you
know that?”

“Never mind. I’ll go see what I can do.” He
nodded genuinely, turned sharply on his boot, and half jogged out
of the mess hall.

He’d wanted an excuse to see Ava after the
incident, anyway. But this wasn’t the kind of excuse he’d wanted.
The thought of her cradled on the edge of her bed in fear shook
through his gut like a punch.

He raced to
B Block.

It didn’t take long to find her quarters.
Her name was on the door.

He didn’t hesitate. He jammed his thumb
into her intercom. “Ava? It’s me, Lieutenant McClane. Hunter. Open
up.”

She didn’t respond.

“Ava, I know you’re in there. Your
roommate’s worried about you. Now, please, open up. Don’t make me
override the door controls. Come on.”

“Come,” she called.

The doors opened.

She was on the edge of her bed, just as
Ensign Nema described.

Nema hadn’t been able to describe the exact
look of total dejection crumpling Ava’s brow and whitening her
cheeks, though.

He slowed right down as he entered, a cold
sensation spreading through his chest as his heart went out to
her.

“Ava,” the door swished closed behind
him.

He’d never seen her like this – never been
able to imagine the strong calm Ava in such a state of
fragility.

She didn’t look at him.

Her arms were wrapped so tightly around her
legs that her hands had gone white.

She stared dejectedly past him, her eyes
wide, her gaze dead.

“
Ava.” Without deciding to, he sat down
next to her on her bed. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s all over now. You’re
okay. The neural gel’s all gone.” Even as he said it, he knew
that’s not why she was acting like this.

“It doesn’t matter," she managed in a weak
voice.

“
What doesn’t matter, Ava? Are you… scared
of Shera?” Protective anger flared in his gut at the very thought
of it.

“No,” she answered in that same dead
tone.

“
It’s okay. Tell me what’s going on between
you two. I’ll tell the captain. He will listen to me this
time.”

“It doesn’t matter. I won’t be allowed to
stay.”

The hair on the back of his neck stood on
end as a cold shiver pressed down his back. “What do you mean? Who
won’t allow you to stay? You’ve done nothing wrong – the Coalition
aren’t going send you away for this.”

“My people. I committed a crime,” her voice
was so quiet he had to lean close to pick it up.

Fear locked him in place.

God, he hadn’t been wrong, had he? Ava
wasn’t the monster Meva had made her out to be, right?

Even as he thought it, he knew it couldn’t
be true. “Ava, what are you talking about?”

“
It’s forbidden to share information about
my locks. I shouldn’t have even told you there were called locks,”
she admitted through a crushed laugh. She brought a hand up
and
collapsed it over
her face.

He could see tears streaking through her
fingers.

W
hat she’d said struck him. “What are you talking about? You
barely shared any information with us.”

“It’s enough. They’ll take me back to
Avixa.”

“
No. Look, there’s got to be some way to
appeal. I mean… how do you know they’ll even find out? I’ll talk to
Harvey, I’ll let him know to leave that bit out of his report. I’ll
let B'cal know, too. I’ll make sure no one says
anything.”

Slowly she let her hand drop. Her pale face
was covered in tears, her skin flushed with blotchy specks of
blue.

He couldn’t say she looked truly hopeful,
but there was a flicker in her eyes.

“Ava, I will make this work. I owe you
considering how much of a jerk I was. You deserve to be on this
ship.”

She uncurled her legs, locked her hands on
the bed, and took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she shook her
head. “It probably won’t work.”

“
Sure it will. If news never spreads,
they’ll never know. I don’t know anything about your society, Ava,
but I know you didn’t do anything wrong. So I’m not going to let
you go down for this.” He stood, the passion pushing him to his
feet like a swell battering a ship at sea. He looked down at her,
heart beating hard in his chest.

In that moment, he was completely aware of
his body. His attention centered in his beating heart, his stiff
back, his eager gaze.

He forced himself to take a step back. “Wait
here. I’ll make this right.” He turned and half-jogged out of her
door.

If he’d had time to pause, he would
appreciate how far he’d come since this morning.

Maybe
things were moving too fast, maybe it meant he couldn’t
think things through.

Maybe it didn’t matter.

Hunter McClane was different from his
brother.

He wasn’t a great
commander. He wasn’t the perfect
strategist.

But when he knew something was right, he
followed it through.

And that was more important.

Lieutenant Hunter
McClane

News had spread.

Not just about Hunter taking his shirt
off.

But a
bout the true nature of the accident and the aftermath. Not
amongst the crew, amongst the Avixans.

Hunter saw two of them in the corridors as
he plowed towards the bridge.

Tough they appeared to be engaged in some
kind of work with an open communication panel, they stared at him
as he powered past.

They even twisted their heads to watch him
as he flew down the corridor, straining their stiff white necks
until he was out of sight. He could see how eagerly they watched
him as he glanced at one of the reflective panels beside him.

If he needed any more evidence Shera had
spread information about the accident, it came sashaying around a
corner and latched a hand on his wrist.

Meva.

Her expression, as always, was unreadable.
At first glance you would be forgiven for thinking it was playful,
intimate even.

At second glance, he saw the fine wrinkles
rumpling the skin around her eyes, the hard edge to her jaw.
“Hunter, there you are. I’ve been looking for you.”

“I don’t have time,” he snapped as he went
to brush past.

She wouldn’t let go of his wrist.

She curled her strong fingers around it like
a clamp.

He stopped, arched his neck, and shifted
around to look at her pointedly. “Meva, let me go. I’m busy.”

“I need to talk to you.” Her smile stiffened
as her crystal blue eyes narrowed. She wasn’t glancing at him – she
was watching him, surveying his every micro expression.

Naturally he stiffened.

He took a step back.

She kept hold of his wrist and stepped
with him. Her smile – that crazy, seductive smile that usually
drove him wild – made him uneasy as hell.