The ship is complete chaos when we return in the evening. Lila and the rest of the guys beamed down to Earth and raided Smith’s facility, and the med bay and the overflow med bay are full of rescued aliens.
None of them are lightning cats, thankfully. Earth is too warm for any of them to reside there, not to mention without a glamour charm, we can’t pass as an Earthling, but there are plenty of people in need. They all look slightly shell-shocked, and we do our best to comfort them, but it isn’t easy. We aren’t equipped for this many captives.
The Celestian ship is on its way, and Mark says they are about an hour out and are fully equipped to handle the influx of refugees. We thought maybe there were a few alien captives, but there are almost a hundred beings here. How did they all slip under the radar, and how did Smith get away with keeping them captive?
I was discussing it with Caspian and Nikos. Once the aliens arrive on Earth, they became their responsibility, and thecircus never once checked in with them unless they requested assistance. Once upon a time, there was an off-worlder as a liaison, but they all went by the wayside when Lila’s parents were killed. They were the last liaisons, and the Adams brothers never replaced them, trusting Smith to police the aliens, but that was a big mistake.
“How did he get away with this for so long? How didn’t anyone pick up that he was such a cretin?”
There’s a signal to say another group is ready to beam aboard. I’ve been controlling the transporter room because there isn’t much else I can do, and we are still trying to keep the ship’s crew as in the dark as possible. None of them have ventured to these two floors since the circus pod departed and Lila discovered that Lester is a traitor. She locked access just in case there are more traitors. She will unlock it in the morning when all of the captives have transferred to the next ship. It’s just lucky the med bay, transporter room, and hologram deck are all on the floor below the bridge. She told everyone it was for family privacy in the evenings, and they all accepted that excuse just fine.
The second lot of refugees that beamed had children spread between them. They all stared at me with awe as they were shuffled out of the transporter room. When we returned, we brought Titus, Thorn, Nixie, Hurricane, and his two sisters back as well as Saxon’s two cousins.
We need the help, and we trust all of them because they are family and new to the circus. Mehira and Musette went down to the facility to assist, and the rest stayed here to help with the influx.
Echo remains safely on the deck above with the children, Kinga, and Andre. I know he wants to come down and help, but I won’t risk him. I think we’re going to need Magenta and Vanity,but I’m not sure Vanity is stable enough yet after bonding to risk it. Better off leaving them there for now.
The transporter hums, letting me know there is another incoming transport. I check the security ID. Huh, that’s Captain Potter’s ID. Why is he coming back to the ship?
I hit the button to approve the transport, and it fires up. Within moments, Broderick appears on the platform with a thunderous look on his face.
“What’s going on?” he demands, striding off the platform and approaching me. I consider growling at him, but I know this anger comes from fear and not knowing. “Imagine my surprise when I go to find Lila or one of her mates to ask a question about the concession hiring, and I couldn’t find any of them. Someone informed me that they were returning to the ship in the evening to be with their children. Okay, fine, understandable, but then one of the trapeze riggers asks me if I could find any of the new fliers, since they had some tech question, and when I sent out a pod-wide call, there was no response from any of them. I sent a message to Malik and Titus, wondering if they knew where any one was and didn’t get a response, but then I remember Nixie is back, and I went in search of her, and she was nowhere to be found, and neither was her mate or his sisters. Something is definitely fishy.”
I snort at his unintended pun, and he glares at me. “So, kitty cat, I want to know what happened.”
Before I can answer, the transporter hums again, and the incoming ID code shows Link’s name. I hit the button to approve the transport. Susie messaged me, saying that he was bringing an incoming trauma and to be on standby.
“Get out of the way, Rick. This one is coming in hot, and it needs to get to the med bay,” I tell him, and his lips round in shock, but he’s quick to obey. The transporter activates, andLink appears on the platform, along with Zeydan, a medical gurney, and an unconscious woman.
“We need to hurry. Lila healed her internal organs, but she still lost a lot of blood, and she’s underweight like she hadn’t been looking after herself. Whether she couldn’t keep anything down because of the baby or they were starving her, we won’t know until we can speak to her,” he tells Zeydan, then he notices Rick and me.
“Oh, good. Can you two walk ahead and clear the halls? We can’t afford to be delayed,” he asks us with a tone that isn’t going to accept a no.
We do as he asks and escort them to the med bay, but Rick is not happy. “What in the blue blazes is going on, and why wasn’t I read in? Where is Lester? Why isn’t he helping with all of this?”
We pass a group of refugees who are waiting outside the holo deck to be assigned a bed and assessed. They all move out of the way. Some of them mutter words of sympathy to the woman on the bed as we go past, while all of them look concerned.
“We have a lot to tell you,” I explain. “Lester was one of the moles inside the circus. He was also assisting illegal aliens on and off the planet by masking ship signatures on our radars when they would use the shadow of the galaxy ship to hide their presence. They were able to transport on and off without going through the proper circus channels. It’s also one of the reasons so many of these captives were able to be taken without anyone knowing, because they weren’t on Earth through legal channels, so nobody knew they were missing.”
His mouth drops open, and he is stunned into silence as we arrive at the med center and the woman is wheeled into the bay. Susie and Mark jump into action, placing IVs in both arms. One is a blood transfusion, direct from Nixie’s mate Hurricane, and the other one is a clear bag of fluids. Link grabs a syringe of something and injects it into the bag of liquids. The woman inthe bed doesn’t move the whole time as Susie hooks her up to monitors.
“Where did you find her? Why is she like this?” Hurricane demands from Zeydan, staring at the woman with a scary kind of fury.
“She was one of Smith’s breeders. Seeing me triggered her labor, and the pregnancy was not an easy one, nor was the birth because the baby was not compatible with her body.”
“What the hell kind of baby did she have?” Susie exclaims as she gives the woman a sponge bath. Both Rick and I stand back, but we want to hear what happened.
“She had an Aaz’axian baby, and it wasn’t through a consensual arrangement,” Zeydan explains, running a hand over his head. His long, white hair is in disarray, and his foxlike ears twitch in irritation.
“Brannock?” Aarin, who is sitting in a chair also donating blood, asks.
“God no,” Link denies, shaking his head. “He would never do that to a woman.”
“No, he wouldn’t, and he actually got revenge for her when he eviscerated the one who did do it. He was the same one who turned him and Chloe in. Karma bit him on the ass, and he was a breeding captive too, but they wouldn’t let him breed many of the women because he ripped them apart on release. Only Sanshia survived because of her power to regenerate, and I think possibly a Skarrian woman who helped us, but because they need to be bonded to conceive, it never took,” Zeydan says, taking a seat.
“Oh my god,” Rick whispers in horror.
“Okay, we’re giving her fluids and a painkiller. The blood transfusion will help, but she’s probably going to need another bag.” Link looks at the bag of blood, which is almost empty.
