“Yes?” Lila answers, her words sibilant in the Madovian form.
“We have you on our sensors. Why are there three occupants on your shuttle?” a distorted voice demands.
“I have two incubators with me. You know a Madovian won’t leave her eggs unattended.” There’s an awkward pause, and the voice comes back over the speakers. They sound uncomfortable.
“Please be advised, we will be searching your incubators for weapons.”
Lila scoffs. “By all means. I am not stupid enough to allow them weapons, even if they are docile and completely in my thrall.”
She looks at us pointedly, and we both know how we have to behave—blank looks and no reactions but fawning over her.
“We have programed your ship with the coordinates. Fly into the open space and land. Come out so it can be searched. If we see any signs of weapons, we will shoot first and take the orb from you.”
“You can try,” Lila hisses, unwilling to concede to the voice on the radio. The communications cut off, and I heave out a sigh of relief. That went well, or it seemed to. We will only know when we land, which is about ten minutes later.
Lila navigates to the meeting coordinates and sets the ship down in what looks like a large open mine shaft. She engages the landing gear, and the ship bumps down. She turns it off and slithers toward us, grabbing the leashes and giving them a tug. “Come on, boys,” she says, her tongue flicking in and out, the snakes on her head hissing in agitation.
Lila is not wearing anything over her breasts. Madovians are proud of their half forms and wouldn’t dream of covering them. Lila has come a long way since she first joined the circus and was afraid of showing everyone her goodies, as she likes to call them. Now, she doesn’t even blush at the thought of everyone seeing them and pushes them out with pride.
The leashes tighten as she moves down the ramp, Tirrian and I walking docilely behind her. The collars not only give us a shield if needed, but also glamour both of us to look unlike ourselves. We weren’t sure who was a part of the Syndicate, and both Tirrian and I are known throughout the galaxy as not only Lila’s partners, but as the dragon prince and heir to Snakebite Logistics. Tirrian’s glamour makes him look like a blue dragon, with long flowing hair almost down to his ass and gold glitter across his wings. I look like a basilisk, dull green in color with horns all over my head instead of my hood. The mouthful of fangs isn’t particularly pleasant either.
My tongue wants to flick in and out with agitation too, but I have to pretend to be docile, so I clamp my lips shut and stare adoringly at Lila.
There is a door in the wall of the cliff, and it opens before fifteen guards run out, swarming us and the ship. Lila pauses and acts bored as they search the ship, Tirrian, and me. They return and stand behind the commander of the team who waits patiently in front of Lila. His face is calm, but we can see the terror in his eyes.
“All clear,” one of the guards announces robotically, and I slowly turn my head to look carefully at him. That sounded slightly artificial, and sure enough, when I look closely at them, I notice they are all soldier bots like Smith had on Earth.
“Mistress, we must search you too,” the commander insists, and I can tell by how he smells that he isn’t a bot. He smells like terror despite trying not to show it. The rest of the guards smell like nothing but machine oil and computer chips, and it isn’t a nice smell like our cyborg, who smells like electricity before a storm.
“Get on with it,” she hisses. “I have better things to do than hang out here all day.”
He waves the robot forward, and he gives her a pat down, even though there is nowhere she can hide anything since she isn’t wearing clothes. The robot eyes the slit in her stomach, and all of the snakes on her lunge forward, their mouths open. The robot doesn’t flinch but looks at the commander who visibly shudders.
“Leave it.” He waves the robot back, and he steps into line. “If you will follow me.” He gestures us forward, and Lila follows, tugging our leashes. The commander stops. “You can leave your incubators here. They will be safe while you conduct business.”
She hisses and rumbles her displeasure. “My incubators do not leave my sight until they are dead and my babies are consuming their corpses—or would you like to take their place?” she threatens, and the slit in her stomach starts to writhe like it’s going to open.
He swallows nervously and shakes his head. “Fine, bring them, but they will be shot if you try anything.”
“If any harm comes to my incubators, you will replace them,” she warns him, and he hurries forward through the door in the side of the mine. It’s dark in here, but none of us have trouble seeing because we all have excellent night vision. Tirrian’s arm brushes against mine in reassurance, which I don’t need but appreciate. The door bangs closed behind us, sealing us off completely. I don’t turn back to look, but I can hear feet following behind us. It’s not as many as there were, so I’m assuming some of them remained behind to guard the ship.
The path winds its way downward into the mine. I think this is probably the old living quarters of the original miners, but it smells musty and unused, like no one has been here in years.
“How long has this base been stationed here?” Lila asks the commander.
“It’s housed the Syndicate since the first days,” he says proudly. “Right under the Galactic Council’s noses without anyone being any wiser.”
It’s strange that I don’t hear very many heartbeats within the compound. Only a large door at the end of the corridor has any sounds of life. We reach it, and the commander presses a button. It opens into a bright room. Lila hisses and shrieks as she is temporarily blinded by the bright light. It’s a clever tactic to keep both your enemies and allies off-kilter.
When our eyes adjust, we are ushered through a large room to a seating area at the front of the room. I smother the surprised gasp that wants to leave my mouth. Seated is a who’s who of people Lila has pissed off over the last few months, but in the very center is her grandmother’s sister, Vivian, who we now know as Vivax. On one side of her is Smith, who’s looking smug as fuck, and on her other side is Deineira Digicon, Link’s mother. We suspected both of them, but the people fanning out on either side really aren’t a surprise either.
None of them are looking at us with recognition, though, so I think for now, we are in the clear.
“Mallabar, I was worried you were dead or worse, had been discovered when I hadn’t heard from you for so long. You have the orb?” Vivax asks, and Lila nods.
“Yes.”
“Where is it?” Vivax demands. “You and your ship were searched, and it wasn’t found.”
