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location.»

      The ship swiftly ascended into the skies as Lindon carried Serena to her quarters.

      Chapter 8. Hunter

      It took Serena a couple of days to recover, and another two – for them to catch up to Hunter’s trail.

      They didn’t find out how exactly he got to Daruta, but when they saw Zarad meeting up with the cyborg, they fell back to see if the two will lead them to Falana.

      What they did manage to find was that Zarad was purchasing some materials and rare resources that were available only on Daruta. And since the planet was a known trading stop for many different ships from all over, no one noticed the Veluthian ship that was parked in the space port for a number of days.

      However, even after the ship flew off, they still hadn’t seen Falana anywhere. Lindon, ordering Lyssa to be cloaked and unseen, followed the cyborg and Zarad, until the ship reached one of the seventeen moons of a space gas giant – Nahelas-Torm. Six of the seventeen moons were inhabited – there were various tiny settlements there that operated in collecting the rare gases from Nahelas-Torm for export.

      Reconfiguring MSS Lyssandra to look like any other human ship, the crew docked in the small space port, which could barely be called a safe place – a couple of pirate ships were freely parked there as well.

      Serena – even though feeling better and much stronger than she was before – was eager to see Hunter again and find out what happened to her man. In the past few days she barely spoke to anyone – and when she did, all she could ask was if they can finally get Hunter back.

      Lindon didn’t like this obsession, even though understood her wish to know what happened to the Terran. To the Veluthian it all seemed too suspicious, too obvious that Hunter came to fight her in that cage. It seemed like Falana was forcing Serena into a trap.

      Wolfin agreed with him on that and they both were worried that Serena would not be as clear headed as she should be when the time comes to meet Falana and her goons face to face. Both men also agreed that for the time being Hunter should be considered an enemy, because the man they knew would have never hurt Serena at all, and this augmented fighter nearly beat her to death, barely landing a few blows to the woman.

      So when the Veluthians saw Falana and Zarad walking out of their ship – Lyssandra was parked only two spaces away from it with constant video feed aimed at their vessel – they headed out to follow the two. Since Hunter wasn’t with them, Wolfin forced Serena to stay on board with Laneth and Kayla watching over her, as they all will be searching for any sign of Hunter. Laneth was ordered to contact the Veluthians as soon as they catch glimpse of the cyborg and keep Serena inside the ship at all costs.

      And though Laneth wasn’t sure she would be able to stop the woman from running off, she promised to do everything in her power to do so. Kayla, on the other hand, promised to let them know if anything happens.

      Serena felt irritated and offended, remaining on the ship. She stayed silent all the while her eyes were glued to the screens watching Falana’s ship standing on the parking plot.

      Laneth and Kayla didn’t bother the woman and entertained themselves by quiet chatter – Laneth was explaining something new to the girl. It was a good distraction to keep the child engaged in their life, as the girl was quite capable and smart for her age. She caught on quickly and Laneth was glad that Kayla was so interested in topics like the mechanisms the woman worked on a lot, or the programs she was creating. Apart from that Kayla was very interested in medicine, and Laneth hoped that someday in the future the girl would find herself learning a number of very useful skills that might come in handy in their line of work.

      Unfortunately, the conversation they were having was so deep that Laneth didn’t notice Serena slipping out of the bridge.

      «Laneth.» the ship’s AI called the woman. «I could not stop our Captain.»

      The woman jumped from her seat and whipped around, immediately concerned for Serena, who was nowhere to be found.

      «Where did she go?» she asked, panicked

      «She’s outside!» Keyla screamed. «She went to Hunter!»

      Laneth glanced at the screen and immediately jolted out of the bridge, seeing Serena approaching the cyborg and hoping that Kayla would contact Wolfin or Lindon to let them know. The mechanic cursed herself for not being able to make three shocker guns to knock the cyborg out – she was able to make only two and gave them to the Veluthians, as they needed them more than she did.

      If they only knew…

      As for Serena – she wasn’t really thinking. When she saw Hunter walking out of Falana’s ship, she slipped away, while Laneth was distracted by Kayla, and ran out to see if she could manage to at least speak to the man.

      Running up, she jumped in front of him, and the cyborg stopped, coldly looking at the woman.

      «Hunter!» Serena called out. «Please! Let me know there’s something of you left in this…»

      A heavy blow landed to her jaw, throwing her down.

      Through the ringing in her ears she heard him making a step forward and grabbed his leg. The cyborg froze, looked down and she saw him tilting his head a bit. The next flash of pain made her curl up on the floor, when he kicked her in the side.

      She forced herself up and caught up with him again, but as soon as he saw her next to him, his foot landed a kick to her leg, making it snap. Serena gasped, falling down, and yet still caught his ankle.

      «Hunter! Please! I know you’re…» she breathed out.

      The cyborg leaned down and grabbed her neck, raising her up.

      Serena reached out to touch his face, but felt her chest bursting with pain. Her mouth almost immediately filled with blood, and the woman realised her strength was failing.

      «Hunter… I love you…» she whispered, shedding blood. «Please…»

      The cyborg in front of her remained expression-less, until suddenly something hit him in the back and he bared his teeth, arching his back.

      Serena felt a jolt of shock enveloping her body and her mind slipped away, throwing her into the safe embrace of darkness.

      Perhaps, it was for the best that things happened like this. But Lindon and Wolfin, who rushed back to the ship at first news of Serena running off, weren’t happy to find their Captain in the condition she was in when they arrived in a nick of time.

      Swiftly, they delivered both – the barely alive Serena and the cyborg they knocked out with one of the shocker guns Laneth supplied them with – on board Lyssandra. They were glad that things like this happened in this space port all the time and no one seemed to care for the scuffle that took place.

      And while Laneth was working hard with Hunter, trying to find out what to do and if they could even get him back somehow, Serena was placed into the care of the medical bay. It took the mechanic a little while to find out that Hunter, though augmented, was, in fact, still partly human. The only problem was that there was some kind of a chip installed to make him either pliable for manipulation, or put under direct control of Falana herself. And since it was connected to his brain, the man was delivered to the medical bay as well to get this part extracted – with hopes of him becoming himself again.

      Some time passed before Hunter opened his eyes, but the first thing that came to his mind was the memory of Serena in front of him – wide-eyed, pale and spilling blood from her mouth. He wasn’t sure if what he saw was a nightmare.

      He tried to get up, but something held him down. When he looked at his body, he saw an alien, metal torso, glimmering under the lights, and the same, metal-covered arms and legs. His gaze slid further and he saw a medical pod, inside which lay a woman. The pale face, silver hair and multiple bandages on her body made him flinch.

      «Serena!»