Dammit! Marik didn’t have time for the young man to regret his life choices and decisions. “Where is the healer going to be held?”
The young man gulped. “We were hungry, that’s all. My dad and me. We were sitting on the…” His eyes misted over. His mouth hung open.
Marik wasn’t willing to let go yet. He pressed his fingers firmly against the young man’s flesh, and the young man’s eyes jolted open again. Sweat covered his face, and his hands came up and then beat against the ground. His breath came in short and fast inhales and exhales that sent little bubbles of blood dripping down his chin.
Marik said, “If I have to keep you alive for a hundred years to ask you the same question over and over again, that I will. You will suffer for eternity if you do not answer me.”
He hated himself for saying those words, but he had to. Jenny’s life was at stake, and this young man’s was already gone.
The Rover gulped out. “They said if we came along, that if we helped, they would give us food and credits. That we would be hungry no more.”
Pity surfaced, but Marik could not afford pity just then. “Tell me.”
The young man’s eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks. His voice was faint. “That house that belonged to…to the man that used to trade in exotic furs. That’s where they’re all staying. Not above, Below. They are in the rooms below the others.”
Marik said, “Rest now.”
He took his hand away and looked over toward Talon. Talon nodded his head and pulled his weapon. The young man’s eyes were still closed. The pity that Marik felt for him made him have to turn his head as Talon fired the weapon directly toward the young man’s skull.
He said, “Do you have any idea where the houses he spoke of are?”
Talon said, “Yes. It’s a good thing you pressed for more intel too, because we would’ve been at the wrong place. Our information had them one street over.”
Marik felt more tired than he could even bear but he had to bear it. “I will go with you.”
Talon said, “You must rest now.”
Marik shook his head emphatically. “Hell no. I am going with you, Talon.”
Talon said, “They have not yet made a ransom demand. We know that is what they want because they left a note behind. We will wait for them to demand a ransom. In the meantime, you can do something about that leg of yours.”
Marik’s hands balled into fists. A long vein appeared and stood up along his forehead. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing while they hold her prisoner.”
Talon said, “We are not doing nothing. I have to get the ship back to the dock. That will take some hours. We have to move. We have to get as many people as want to go on that ship.”
Marik’s mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”
Talon gave him a humorless grin. “Well, you said you wanted to populate the planet right? I see no better way. Honestly, I think the only way to fight against what is happening here now is to fight against the Federation. We can’t save them all. We have done all that we can here. Maybe the best thing that we can do is take as many as we can, as many as want to go, with us when we leave.
“We will only be able to take from this city, however. There is no way in hell I am risking taking my ship over the other cities on this wretched planet. They may shoot me out the very sky for sheer spite.”
Marik looked down at his feet. “I see.”
Talon’s hand rested on his upper arm. “I know this is not what we planned. I know we plan to come back here and help as much as possible. I thought that perhaps having more healers here would make a difference but the truth of the matter is we would be better off taking the healers from here and putting them on our own planet. Taking the people who want a better life from here and putting them on their own planet. Those who would sit here and continue to rebuild even though it’s futile won’t change their minds. This is home to them; it will always be home to them. They will never leave.”
Marik knew that was true. His heart bled anyway. He said, “I wonder what would’ve happened if anyone had offered us assistance when our home planet was being destroyed. Would we have taken it, Talon?”
Talon said, “Circumstances are entirely different.”
Marik’s eyes met his squarely. “Are they? What if the planet had not been destroyed but merely leveled like this one has been? Would those who were left behind when the ships left have done the same thing that these people are doing? Are we so very different from these humans? I don’t know that I can just leave them here.”
Talon said, “It’s the last thing I want to do, but it is the only logical thing to do at this point. We have to fight the Federation. We have got to make people see that they cannot depend upon the Federation anymore. It’s broken. They care only for themselves. They make promises they never keep and they let people die by the millions. Not just humans but every race. If we are going to restore a real peace and safety to this universe, the Federation has to be crumbled.”
Marik knew in his heart that that was true. It didn’t make it any easier to take. Jenny was a human, and he had no idea if she would leave or not. If she didn’t, he would have no choice but to leave her. Leave her or stay here and try to help for the rest of his life.
He would cross that bridge when he got to it.
Right now, all he wanted to do was make sure that she was not murdered by her former lover.
