Knowing, approximately, where it was, she only had to look around for a short time before she found the familiar ring lock and panel. The hull was thick, but there was nothing to stop her as she cut her way through. Her termites, previously stuck to the outside of her suit, were already integrating into the nanobot network of their ship. Cutting off any alerts that might be sending.
Haven had a hard time climbing in through the trash chute. Not only did the exit seal after cutting through the first time, but a secondary layer shut over the inside to offer more protection. But she cut right through that one too.
Slipping inside and crawling her way up, she had to fight against gravity almost as soon as she was in the ship. The magboots, however, made climbing that much easier. They supported her as she moved up, looking for another point of entry into the ship itself. She didn’t really care if she damaged things in the process either. In fact, if she wasn’t worried aboutVytln accidentally being hurt by what she did, wherever he might be, she’d be doing more.
Once she was inside, however, she was like a virus. While she meandered in the walls, unconcerned about being scented since that wasn’t a super sense Vytln’s people possessed, she let her termites get to work making her invisible. She was choosing not to think about the Humility, about the explosion that had been so unnervingly silent behind her as she was breaking her way inside, about whether or not the others survived the explosion...
While her termites were taking over, she took the time to use the metal cutter to weld a piece of metal she cut off another wall to seal the hole she made while getting inside. Not because she cared about their ship, only to keep any pursuers off her tail.
By the time she finished, the termites had invaded the system, and she now had access to all the cameras, intercoms, and operating systems.
First things first, she immediately set them to disabling the engine and subspace generator. Now, her termites couldn’t do much damage, especially that fast, but they could send false signals that indicated something was catastrophically wrong. And no one would dare ignore those warnings. Her only goal in that was keeping them from leaving this place.
And as the mechanics and engineers were busy trying to find a problem that didn’t exist, she was free to search the ship for Vytln.
There weren’t cameras everywhere like on the Humility. But the places that they were absent from were very telling. She could guess, based on locations, that most were privies – bathrooms and toilets. Most of the private rooms, funny enough,didhave cameras. A majority were empty, a few had peoplesleeping, one had a trio deliberatelynotsleeping, but none had Vytln. The hallways and main areas had far more people than the private rooms, but also didn’t have her mate. Neither, to her surprise, did the brig. Only one of the cells had someone in it, but it was a random lvtl male, not anyone she recognized. The engine room had a bunch of mechanics looking for the problem that didn’t exist. That lvtl female, Yl’ln, was on the bridge sitting in the captain’s chair, wearing a slinky red dress, and giving orders with lazy waves of her hand. Haven wasn’t sure if she was the actual captain or if she was just having fun giving orders, but she also didn’t care, because she had figured out where the blind spots were.
One was in the private quarters, and she imagined that had to be the bedroom of the head honcho in charge. Kldyn, she guessed, wouldn’t want to be watched at all times. At least, she didn’t, and if she was in charge, she’d definitely have those cameras removed.
The other, however, was near the front, upper floors of the ship. She could see the door that must lead into the room she couldn’t find, but not the room itself. More suspiciously, it was guarded. Two big, imposing lvtl males were standing outside while, walking away from it down the hall, she spotted Kldyn himself. He had a happy spring in his step that she didn’t like.
And yellow-orange blood cooling on his suit.
Haven’s stomach twisted, but she clenched her teeth and fought the urge to be sick.
Not now. She had to focus now.
That room, then, was her target. And if Vytln wasn’t there, she was just going to start going through the whole ship until she found him.
It wasn’t hard to get there either. Just like every other place she’d gone before, it was made for species much bigger than herself. Sneaking through what they’d consider tight spaces was just a narrow hall she only had to turn slightly to get through.
And as she went, she started messing with things. Nothing vital. She didn’t want them to die. At least, not until she was sure Vytln would be alright. She was still in her envirosuit, helmet and everything, so she wasn’t worried about herself. But she doubted he’d be wearing his still. Until she was sure he was, she was careful about the damage she caused.
But she did cause damage.
She pulled at wires. She cut through them with her metal cutter. She melted sensors. She used her termites to set off more. She cut through the main lights in a few places, forcing them onto secondary, battery lights that weren’t as bright and sent the engineers into more of a frenzy. They were looking hard for whatever was wrong.
Haven could see it all on her tablet as she climbed her way through. Though she didn’t turn on the sound, she watched as people ran onto the bridge and started giving reports. Yl’ln sat up and started barking more orders, looking angry instead of smug this time. When Kldyn eventually joined her on the bridge, he looked confused then angry as well.
It was tempting, so tempting, to make her way to the bridge and really start causing problems. But no, she was focused on her task.
The duct work that she eventually cut her way into wound around the ceiling of the room she couldn’t see. The ducts here were thinner than the other walls. She had to squeeze her way through, but it wasn’t so tight that she couldn’t push forward.The room was bigger than she anticipated, than what she would expect from a prison. What was this room for?
She got her answer when she finally came upon a vent and was able to see inside. Relief and horror and anger all filled her in equal measure at the sight of her mate. Hanging from chains, kneeling on the floor, more cracks in his skin than before. She could see the dark splatters that were his cooled blood, as well as the bright, lava-like flow of the fresh blood from new scars.
There was no one else in there with him. Just Vytln, slumped forward like a broken marionette on a string, staring at the floor. And, in front of him, there was a huge viewing window that looked out onto the debris field of what had been the Humility.
She winced when she looked out and saw it. Her ship! Her beautiful ship. Shattered into unrecognizable fragments and pieces.
But the others might still be alive, safe in the shelter. There was still a chance, and she was always willing to fight on that chance. And Vytln was still alive as well. He wouldn’t be bleeding if he were dead.
Now she had found him.
It was time to get to work.
Smiling, she started backtracking. She needed to get into a better position for this.
Chapter 45
