Rule 26 (6 of ?, j2 au)
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Rule 26 (6/?)
(J2 au, one instance of minor dub/non-con)
The shift in atmosphere was not subtle or insignificant once Jensen was again wearing Nekrotik's mask and hood. No conversation took place beyond what was strictly necessary. Jensen commanded immediate and immense respect, and was addressed as either Sir or Doctor. He ignored Jared completely, and spent his time giving orders to Jeff and Kane.
Jared expected to be left in the base, and was almost looking forward to it. But just at the last minute, as Doctor Nekrotik was sweeping towards the shuttle, he seemed to notice Jared again. He flicked a finger in Jared's direction, said, "Bring him," to Jeff, and that was it: Jared was part of their very unmerry band.
Not surprisingly, Jared couldn't relax on the journey. This situation was new, and definitely scary, enough so to give him a grudging appreciation of the last few days. He missed Chris's music, and Wisdom's snarking, and Jeff wearing only a very loose approximation of his uniform. And he missed being able to see Jensen's face, and that expression he got when he looked at Jared sometimes, like Jared was a snarling, savage dog that Jensen really wanted to scratch behind the ears.
Nekrotik was currently focused on the shuttle holoscreen, which was alternating between replaying the footage from the royal wedding shown on the chat show earlier, and spewing out data about the crown jewels.
The crown jewels were a translucent yellow scepter and orb that had been fashioned, one of the factoids informed Jared, from pure ambola crystal. They had been created at the end of a bloody civil war at the start of the planet's history some two thousand years ago, and they now stood as a symbol of hope and unity. For the people of Nigellus 8, the crown jewels were their definitive cultural icon.
Jared really hoped Doctor Nekrotik was only wanting to borrow them. Somehow though, when he saw Nekrotik's sprawling fleet ranged around the planet, he doubted it. The position of the system's sun rolled blades of light over the silver-white ships, and Nigellus 8 was lost in shadow.
Slowing the shuttle, Kane flicked on comms. "Frontship Medeaus, this is Commander Kane. We will be docking in five, at which point I will take command of the fleet. Have the Nigellus system liaison standing by to meet Doctor Nekrotik."
When they boarded the Medeaus, Jeff went out in front. Jared was starting to get why that was funny, because what the hell was Jeff supposed to do that Nekrotik couldn't do himself? Not to mention that Jared was seriously beginning to buy in to this undying crap.
He followed a few steps behind Nekrotik and Kane, hanging back with Wisdom. Again, he expected to be sent off to Nekrotik's chambers, to be left to wait until smashing his head into the wall a couple of times seemed a neat way of relieving the boredom. And again, he found himself brought along with the main crowd of Nekrotik's people.
They spoke to Nekrotik in calm, respectful tones that didn't quite mask just how afraid of him they were. He can't work his own coffee machine, Jared wanted to tell them. He tried to mend his coffee machine and blew out his own security.
Instead, he loitered near the door on the bridge, and grudgingly moved whenever he was in someone's way.
Wisdom had already slipped off, presumably to the medical wing, and Kane took charge of the fleet, barking orders and demanding reports. The only other familiar face Jared had was Jeff, who took his eyes off Nekrotik only to regularly scan their surroundings and the people near them.
"Well?" Nekrotik said, zeroing in immediately on the Nigellus liaison.
The liaison was a short man, with a squashed nose and small eyes. He was sweating and fidgeting, and it didn't take any great leap of intuition to tell he had bad news.
He took a breath before beginning, but it wasn't a big enough one to manage a level voice through his anxiety. "Prime Minister Kozlowski apologizes most humbly, but regretfully cannot offer you the crown jewels. He begs your understanding and mercy in this matter. He is eager, instead, to give you all the scientific data regarding the jewels that has been amassed so far, a wealth of research spanning the last five hundred years."
Everyone held silent. Doctor Nekrotik's respirator gave a steady hiss-and-rush while he looked at the liaison, his expression hidden by the large blank glass eyes of his mask.
"I see," Nekrotik said finally. "Inform Prime Minister Kozlowski that I am disappointed by his lack of foresight, a sentiment I'm sure his citizens will share." He glanced over at Kane. "Ready the warships. Have the cannons charged."
Jared blinked, but Kane was already in action. It was already happening. A large ship came into view, sliding ahead of the Medeaus, followed by a second. Unthinking, Jared rushed forward to the huge panel window, as if he really wanted a better view of the carnage that was about to happen.
"No! No, you can't!" he cried out.
He looked back at Nekrotik, saw Nekrotik watching him, head tilted curiously to one shoulder. He'd never looked less human to Jared.
Jared saw Nekrotik's hand twitch, and he knew that in a matter of seconds he'd be knocked out or silenced or mind-whammied, and still the warships were moving into position. He flung his hands up in surrender, shouting, "Wait, wait wait! Ambola crystals! They can't take heat or… or atmospheric disturbance! They'd be ruined, you said!"
At some point, Jared's heart had forgotten to beat, and he was left with a strange, tense emptiness in his chest. Everyone was looking at him, not saying a word.
The shadow of the warships fell across the bridge as they moved between the Medeaus and the system's sun.
"Tell the warships to hold," said Nekrotik.
Moments later, the scene outside the window was frozen once more.
But Jared's heart still wouldn't beat, because Nekrotik was utterly fixed on him. He approached Jared slowly. Jared tried to put Jensen's green eyes and freckles and kissable mouth in place. Only his own reflection looked out at him from Nekrotik's face.
"Yes," Nekrotik said. "That's correct. It's a lesser-known aspect of ambola crystals. Trivia, in most cases."
Nekrotik could murder Jared right now, and not one of these people would lift a finger to stop him. Jared had no idea if Nekrotik was going to murder him. Mostly, he hoped he would, except he had the idea it would probably be painful and horrible and really drawn out.
Then Nekrotik looked away, over to the liaison, and Jared swayed as if suddenly released.
"Tell Prime Minister Kozlowski," said Nekrotik, "that I wish to offer my congratulations on the prince's wedding. In person. To that end, Prime Minister Kozlowski should inform his majesty that he can look forward to a visit from me imminently." He looked pointedly in Kane's direction to add, "Put a blockade around the planet. Nothing and nobody leaves."
Jared gazed out of the window at the stationery warships, feeling weak with relief. It was the first good feeling he'd had in a while. He'd barely had time to bask in it before Nekrotik ruined it by saying, "You, to my quarters."
:::
Nekrotik's quarters were pretty much identical to his quarters on the last ship. Muted colors and lighting, big panoramic view, not much by way of furniture. Jeff accompanied them to the door, then, as Nekrotik swept by, gave Jared a meaningfully grim look. It could have been a warning, or maybe it was intended to be sympathetic, or even a bit of both.
Nekrotik took the chair, propped his chin up on one hand, and looked at Jared. At least, Jared assumed he was looking at him; the mask made it difficult to be sure. Jared lifted his chin defiantly and looked right back at him.
If it was a waiting competition, Jared was determined to win.
"That could have been unfortunate," Nekrotik said eventually.
"I guess you're talking about your crystals getting damaged, not the millions of people you were gonna kill," Jared snapped back. "So what the hell happened? You forget a vital piece of information in the space of a few hours? How does that work?"
"There's a lot…" Nekrotik trailed off. He lifted one gloved hand towards his head, fingertips hovering at his temple without touching. "There's a lot going on in here. I can't keep track of it all, all of the time."
"The crystals did that to you, huh? You ever think maybe it was a dumb idea to shoot yourself up with them? That ever occur to you? Did you ever think that -"
Jared cut off. Nekrotik was smiling. Jared had no way of knowing it, except he could see it in the tilt of Nekrotik's face, as plain as if the mask was gone.
"Jared. I think it was my finest achievement to date." He rose to his feet, sinuous and graceful. He drew in towards Jared. "I set myself a goal, and I achieved it. Because that's what I do. I get what I want. I want those crystals. And I'll get them."
He was close now, close enough that Jared could feel the heat of his body, close enough that his heart was beating faster, harder. He turned his face to look Nekrotik dead on.
"You don't get everything you want," Jared said, his voice rough and raw.
In the dull light of the lamp and the stars, Nekrotik's black latex mask looked like liquid. There was no alteration in the rhythm of the respirator's breathing as he leaned in, and Jared swallowed hard, his stomach knotting. He didn't understand how he could hate someone so completely, and yet still be eaten up with wanting them. It wasn't fair.
"Yes, I do," Nekrotik said simply.
He put his hand on Jared's cheek, and Jared jerked away, but not far enough. The glove was cool on Jared's overheated skin.
Jensen was breathless and wild-eyed on the bed under Jared. His mouth had been kissed red and even prettier, and was curling into an exultant smile as he gazed up at Jared. His hips were fitted snug between Jared's knees, and his body was hot and hard under Jared's, pinned in place for him.
Jared blinked, became suddenly aware of Nekrotik's mask hanging from his hand. He let it drop, and the thud as it hit the floor snapped reality right back into place.
There was heat low down in his belly, his cock thick between his legs. He couldn't catch his breath. His lips were hot and aching.
He sat up sharply, and his head spun. Nekrotik just laid there, watching him, all mussed up and smug.
Horror chased the breath out of Jared's lungs. He scrambled off the bed, away from Nekrotik, who lazily rolled over and retrieved his mask from the floor.
"What did you… oh god, what did you do?" Jared said. His voice rose to a shout. "What the fuck did you just do?"
Nekrotik flicked him a glance as he buckled the mask back on. "I just told you to kiss me. You came up with throwing me on the bed and doing it a couple more times all by yourself. You're clearly very responsive."
Jared hurled the lamp from the desk across the room, didn't even wait for it to reach its target before he was following it, ready to break every bone in Nekrotik's body with his bare hands. Anger blinded him, made the room swim around Nekrotik's blank, masked face, and the only thing Jared knew was that he had to kill Nekrotik right now or all this venom would burn him from the inside out.
The lamp smashed a few feet away from Nekrotik's head. Jared didn't pay the sound or broken pieces of it any attention, nor did he register the door opening or Jeff's sudden presence until he had to bat him aside to get at Nekrotik. He heard Jeff grunt, then Jeff's big hands caught hold of him again, swinging him down to the floor, heavy and painful.
In a mindless frenzy, Jared thrashed and struggled, too far out of his own control to be able to stop himself, even when he tasted blood in his mouth. He couldn't do anything with the crazy swell of feeling inside himself except fight.
"Stop it! Jared, snap outta it! Goddamn it, stop it before you hurt yourself!"
He could hear Jeff's voice, and could barely breathe for Jeff's weight pinning him down. But he couldn't stop. Not while Nekrotik was still alive. Nekrotik had to die. Or Jared had to. He couldn't live with all this hate. He didn't want to live. He didn't want to share a universe with Nekrotik, couldn't exist where something like he did.
He gasped for breath through a froth of spit and rage. His lungs were raw with the need for oxygen. There was pain all over his body from where he fought against Jeff's restraint.
Nekrotik's shadow fell over him. "Sleep," he said.
And Jared did.
:::
Overhead, there was blue sky and a few fluttering birds. It took Jared a few seconds to realize that he was looking through a glass ceiling.
He sat up. The bed he was on was just a little ridiculous. It appeared to be one big stack of multicolored cushions and silks, held together with a thick and ornate gold frame. It matched the rest of the huge room it stood in, in opulence and flamboyancy. Not a single thing was in the room that wasn't designed more for attractiveness than practicality. As if the glass ceiling wasn't enough, the walls were broken up with full-length windows, dressed with flowing silk and velvet drapes.
Standing at one of the windows was a woman, with whip-straight blonde hair and a uniform similar to Jeff's. She turned at the sound of movement, and Jared saw that she was young and pretty, and really very far from harmless. There was a sharpness like spite to her eyes. Then she smiled, and that was even sharper.
"You're in a suite at the royal palace on Nigellus 8," she said before he could ask. She waved a hand at a nearby table. "There's coffee and sugar-water if you want it, which you probably do 'cause I bet you're feeling like crap. Dinner's not for a while, so you can take your time."
While the woman watched, Jared approached the table warily and fixed himself a coffee. Then he tried a little of the sugar-water, found he liked it and poured himself a glass of that too. He sat back down on the end of the bed and alternated between the two drinks for a while.
Feeling more awake, he looked at her again. "So who are you?"
"I'm Cassidy. Doctor Nekrotik assigned me to you. It's my job to make sure you don't say or do anything that's likely to make him want to kill you." She glanced Jared over, and smiled again, bitterly amused. "I'm interpreting the task as a form of cruel and unusual punishment." At Jared's frown, she added, "Doctor Nekrotik solves lots of problems by killing them. And I'm thinking you're all kinds of problematic."
She made no attempt to cover the curiosity in her voice. Likewise, Jared felt no compunction about making no attempt to explain.
"What's this dinner?" he said instead.
"Fancy formal affair," she said airily, turning back to the window. "You, Doctor Nekrotik, a few members of the royal family and the government."
Jared laughed without humor. "Yeah, 'cause I guess throwing a party is the first thing I'd do if a murderous tyrant showed up on my doorstep unannounced."
"Can't expect Doctor Nekrotik to show up on a planet and not be received with all state and ceremony." She grinned back over her shoulder at him. "He's not just a murderous tyrant, he's a celebrity."
:::
Once she deemed him suitably rested up, Cassidy took the coffee and sugar-water away from him, and rang a bell. "You're not going to like this," she said, no apology in her tone.
She was right. Jared didn't like it at all. More hand-servants than he could keep track of descended upon him, and they did unspeakable things to him.
Jared knew that people paid good money for treatment of this kind, but Jared would have paid good money to make them stop. He was waxed and moisturized and bathed, and his hair was cut and his skin was oiled and perfumed, and then, before the clouds of fragrant steam had cooled, they brought out the clothes they expected him to wear.
Jared thought for something to qualify as clothing, it should cover more than the strips of fabric they were waving at him did.
"No," he said flatly. "No. There would have to be snow in the deserts of Ghul before I would put that on." At the servants' distressed faces, Jared shook his head again, adding, "I'm sorry. No."
"But it's traditional," said the oldest woman, waving the outfit towards Jared again.
"It's a shirt with no front, a skirt thing split to the hips, and a loincloth. I don't care how traditional it is, I'm not wearing it."
Technically, the shirt did have a front, except it was a cowl neck that dipped to the navel, and which stayed on only due to a thin gold chain that stretched across the chest from shoulder to shoulder. The skirt was at least ankle-length, but it was a peculiarly perverse attempt at modesty when it was also completely open at both sides. And the loincloth was just a loincloth, albeit one with a lot of pretty gold embroidery.
Cassidy slung an arm around Jared's shoulders and leaned in around him to admire the clothes. "C'mon, Jared. It's not like you don't have the legs for it."
"It'd be a grievous insult to His Lordship if we didn't dress you as befitting your status," said the older woman. "He would be beyond furious."
Ready to argue it some more, Jared looked at her face, and he understood. This was not a case of her being disappointed or offended that Jared didn't like some Nigellus custom. The look on her face was genuine fear.
He gave Cassidy a pointed look, and said, "He's a fucking bastard." With a sigh, he obediently allowed the old woman to dress him.
Once Jared gave in to the costume, it seemed pointless to argue the make-up they wanted to put on him. He sighed, and held still when they told him to, and let them paint his eyes and mouth and cheekbones.
"So, what did you mean, 'befitting my status'?" he asked the old woman, as she tilted his face up to black his eyelashes. "There's a traditional outfit for pissed kidnap victims?"
The old woman shot Cassidy a confused look, who rolled her eyes and made an 'ignore him' gesture.
"Traditional as His Lordship's… ah…" She tactfully avoided Jared's gaze. "We have an old word, consero, it means, uh, literally, 'bed-toy', but-" She rushed on over Jared's indignant spluttering, "but it has a fine and noble heritage. There have been conseros who have been as influential, if not more so, than even the prime minister. It's a term of respect, an acknowledgement that a person is more than just a, just a..."
"Casual fuck," Cassidy supplied. She turned at one of the servant's approach, and beamed. "And now the best part!"
With great reverence, the old woman opened the box the servant held, and drew out what at first appeared to be a miniature chandelier. It was gold and curved, and it dripped with glittering stones.
Jared gave it a dubious look. "Where's that going?" he said.
"On your head," said Cassidy, sounding superbly amused.
"It's enormous. You put that on me, and I'm going to look like a giant," he said.
Cassidy propped her chin up on her hands to watch the old woman fix the headdress in place. "Mmm, but a very sparkly one."
The headdress was heavy, the strings of stones kept getting in his face, and it rattled. It was a suitably absurd final word on the rest of the absurd outfit.
After the hand-servants were mostly gone, Jared surveyed himself in the full-length mirror. Beneath all the polish and make-up and oil, there was still that dragged-up, Stantone street urchin looking back at him.
"I look stupid," he said to Cassidy.
"You are stupid," she told him bluntly. She moved closer, until her face was at his shoulder in the mirror. "If you feel stupid, you'll look stupid. But you look hot. You've got the whole 'harem sex-slave' look going on, but then it's all mixed up with the muscles and that badass attitude, and it's just really really hot."
A tentative smile appeared on Jared's face in the mirror. "I've never been objectified before," he said.
Cassidy's comm.-link buzzed at her wrist. She smacked Jared on the butt as she moved away to take the call. "Get used to it."
Left alone, Jared studied himself again in the mirror. It was still a really silly look, but he supposed he did at least have the body to carry it off, plus the kohl around his eyes was kind of neat, and his primary consolation had to be that Chad wasn't around to see it and laugh himself sick.
"Sir?" A hand-servant - a rosy-cheeked girl of no more than sixteen - was hovering a few inches away. "I was sent to give you these."
'These' were a pair of delicate gold anklets, strung with tiny bells. Jared sighed, managed a weak smile and reached for them. However, the girl dropped to her knees to fasten them on him herself.
As she closed the clasp on the first one, she looked up at him, biting her lip, and Jared raised an eyebrow awkwardly, still far from comfortable with having a servant waiting on him. The girl cast a furtive glance at Cassidy, saw her still deep in conversation, and looked back at Jared.
"How do you bear it?" she said.
Bewildered, Jared shook his head. "Bear what?"
"Having him touch you. He's an old man, ancient. They say he wears that mask because he's horribly disfigured. They say he experimented on himself and now he's too hideous to show his true face." She'd built up speed as she spoke, her voice getting louder, but when Cassidy looked over in their direction, the girl dropped sharply back into a whisper. "I'd kill myself rather than let something so vile touch me."
Jensen'd look really pretty in this kind of ridiculous get-up, Jared thought. He probably had the attitude to carry it off as well, the kind of attitude that said he might be the one wearing a silly assortment of next-to-nothing clothes, but you should feel damn lucky he was letting you look. Then again, the Jensen who couldn't work his coffee machine and made a tragically bad date might feel as dumb in the clothes as Jared did.
It all depended on which particular end of the really fucking wide spectrum of his moods he was at. It was just a crying shame that his face didn't change to fit his mood, that he got to be beautiful even when he was intent on wiping out whole planets for a few lumps of crystal.
"You've no idea how ugly he is," said Jared brutally. "He's a monster. You've got a fucking monster in the palace."
The girl looked horrified, and he instantly felt a stab of guilt. She fled before Jared could even try to soften his words. Finishing her call, Cassidy watched the girl rush out. She raised an eyebrow at Jared.
"Something you said?" She tugged on Jared's arm. "C'mon, princess, time to get you to the ball."
:::
Before sending him in, Cassidy made it very clear to Jared what was likely to happen if he pissed Nekrotik off.
"He doesn't care about people. You irritate him, he'll kill people. You irritate him again, he'll kill more people. They won't be people that matter, they'll be that little girl you were talking to earlier, and they'll be that nice old lady who made you look so pretty. He'll kill them because he knows you won't like it."
The click of Cassidy's boots on the palace floor was a biting counterpoint to the metallic music of Jared's headdress and anklets.
The rest of the palace was as sumptuous as Jared's room, as ornately decorated as Jensen's base hadn't been. There was no dust, no dirt, just color and opulence, gleaming marble and glowing satin. From the windows, Jared could see immaculately kept gardens, stretches of lawn bordered with fat, blossoming flowers.
Jared had always known places like this existed, but had never expected to end up in one. He couldn't stop touching things - the intricately worked bust of some planetary hero, the fine gold mesh that draped over the windows, the overflowing bowls of ripe fruit of the kind Jared hadn't even seen before, let alone tasted.
Cassidy didn't even seem to notice the beauty of her surroundings, let alone that Jared was acting like an out of town hick.
She spun around, walking backwards to face him as she carried on talking. "Or he'll mess with your head. He can do that. He can put ideas in, take them out, play you just like a puppet."
Reflexively, Jared swiped the back of his mouth, stubbornly pushed away the memory of Jensen under him on the bed, so fucking gorgeous when he was freshly kissed. He turned his face away so Cassidy wouldn't see his cheeks burn.
"And if he does that," Cassidy was saying, "there's a real good chance it won't be him killing randoms." She patted Jared on the shoulder and gave him a sunny smile that did nothing to warm Jared's blood. "So, be a good boy, and I'll pick you up after the party, 'kay?"
She pushed him towards the stairs, which led up to a set of double doors so huge they made even Jared look like a child, and stood back to watch him up. Lifting the hem of his skirt before he could trip, Jared ascended the stairs slowly. He couldn't hear anything of what was going on in the banquet hall, and the silence - disturbed only by the music of his anklets and headdress - did not ease his growing tension.
The guards at the door bowed their heads stiffly at his approach. Two of them were wearing an unfamiliar uniform, but another four were Nekrotik's soldiers, so Jared presumed the others were Nigellus men. One of the Nigellus guards stepped forward to open the door for him.
Jared took a deep breath, reminded himself of the first time he stepped inside the freighters' bar on Stantone - thirteen years old and double-dared by Chad - and went in.
It didn't feel like a party. The brightly dressed aristocracy of Nigellus 8 sat around the table like hiding children, silent and scared to make too much noise. They ate their food as though it were a necessary task. It was something to get through before they could leave but none of them had the stomach to rush.
And at the head of the table was the reason for the wretched atmosphere: Nekrotik sat there, masked and hooded in black. A single glass of red wine, untouched, was on the table in front of him. A few feet behind him stood Jeff. Jeff's lips quirked into a quick smile when he saw Jared, and it was an odd moment of warmth, there and then gone.
People looked up as Jared passed, and they didn't look away. Their expressions were curious and admiring, and Jared wasn't at all used to it. He flushed, smiled back a little nervously.
Finally, Nekrotik glanced over at his approach. He made no comment on Jared's dress; instead, he simply flicked his finger towards an empty chair to his right then ignored him.
Jared sank into the chair, feeling almost grateful that he was spared having to deal with Nekrotik's attention, before he immediately began to fret about screwing up with the silverware. A hand-servant moved in unobtrusively and assisted him, and Jared grinned at the man, pathetically relieved.
It was only when Jared had food on his plate to deal with and the correct knife and fork in hand, that he registered he was sitting opposite a prince. He, a gutter-rat from Stantone, was sitting opposite a prince, complete with crowned head. He swallowed his food with a hard gulp.
The prince, however, seemed keen to fix on a subject about which he might be able to connect with Doctor Nekrotik.
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone wear the consero garb as well as your friend here, Lordship," he said to Nekrotik, though his smile was for Jared. "He's a very handsome man."
Nekrotik looked again at Jared, then back at the prince. He cocked his head, and the prince's smile died.
"So, where are you from originally?" said the prince, perhaps to see if addressing Jared directly would provoke a better response from Nekrotik.
Of course, Jared was mid-mouthful, and he chewed hurriedly to be able to answer without flashing the prince some masticated food. "Uh, originally, the planet doesn't exist anymore. But I grew up in Stantone. It's in the Xas system."
The prince's expression was politely clueless. Jared wasn't surprised. If the prince had heard of Stantone at all, it'd be only that it was nothing but a spat out town on a dirty rock. Not the kind of place that'd ever get a royal visit.
The prince's eyes flittered to Nekrotik and away again, and Jared really hoped he wasn't going to try standard couple small-talk like 'so how did you meet?' Jared telling that story had to be worth the deaths of at least a handful of the servants.
Instead, the prince said, "It must be nice. Traveling so much. Seeing so much of the galaxy. You've probably seen more of it than I have!"
"Um, maybe?" said Jared.
"I left Jared use of his mouth so that he could eat," Nekrotik cut in coldly. "Not so that he could talk. He has a habit of abusing the privilege."
A moment of horrible silence passed, in which everyone seemed to be looking at Jared, which was unfortunate, because Jared was thinking he might start choking on his food, and he didn't want to disgrace his momma by doing something like that in front of an audience of well brought up people.
"I'm deeply sorry if I offend-"
Nekrotik cut over the prince as he might raise his voice to speak over a yapping dog, and the prince shut up at once. "Prime Minister Kozlowski, in three minutes, your moon will move into the second quadrant, at which point your scanners will be able to detect my fleet standing by in position around your planet."
There were gasps and cries at the announcement, cutlery clattering on the plates. Nekrotik swept on, unconcerned.
"It's time for you to decide whether your people would prefer to keep the crown jewels, or their planet. Is a cultural icon of more importance than the culture?"
At the exact moment Jared opened his mouth to argue, Nekrotik's empty face snapped towards him, and Jared was silent. His tongue was nothing but a sensation of numb thickness. Stricken, he clapped a hand over his mouth, but Nekrotik was already focused on Kozlowski once more.
"I know about the solar lock on your vaults. You have ten hours, until your sun rises, in which to make your decision. After that time, the crown jewels are mine. It's up to you whether I leave behind a planet of happy, breathing people, or burned out corpses."
:::
Dinner ended right there. People wept, people fled the room. Ashen-faced, Prime Minister Kozlowski and the prince departed, accompanied by a flurry of officials. His announcement made, Nekrotik gestured for Jeff to collect Jared, and they left the banquet hall.
Nekrotik's soldiers were everywhere in the palace. Jared hadn't really noticed them before, but for every Nigellus guard, there were at least two soldiers in Nekrotik's red and black.
The people they passed, nobility and servants alike, averted their eyes from Nekrotik. But not from Jared. They looked at Jared and they hated him. And Jared couldn't really blame them. To them, Jared was Nekrotik's dressed up whore. He wished he could take the headdress off, rip off the damn anklets so they wouldn't hear him coming and look. It felt like an insult to them to be wearing their clothes.
Nekrotik's chambers were a relief in as much as Jared didn't have to feel the people of Nigellus watching him anymore, but Nekrotik was there, and Jared was pretty sure he'd prefer to be hated by a whole planet rather than spend another minute alone with Nekrotik.
"Shall I take him back to his quarters, sir?" said Jeff, inclining his head towards Jared.
"No, no," said Nekrotik. He scanned the room quickly, then pointed. "There. Cuff him at the foot of the bed. He won't be in my way there."
Even if Jared had his voice to make some protest, he didn't think he'd bother. He knew that look on Jeff's face. Resigned sympathy. Jeff not liking an order didn't mean there was any chance of him not following it. Nekrotik could order him off the edge of a cliff and Jeff would shrug and sigh and do it, Jared though resentfully. Maybe even save the shrug and the sigh for the way down.
Jeff dragged Jared to his knees, caught his eyes as he bound Jared's hands to the bedframe. He reached out for the headdress. "You want me to take this off so you're more comfortable?" he asked quietly.
Grudgingly, Jared nodded. He held still as Jeff worked the intricate piece from his hair, his hands both gentle and deft. Once it was gone, Jared's headache lifted instantly, and before he could help it, he flashed Jeff a small smile. Jeff's bleak look was a cold reminder that Jared was very soon to be left alone with Nekrotik again.
Jared's eyes Jeff out of the door, then looked up at Nekrotik with all the hatred in his look that he could summon.
Nekrotik, however, was pushing back his hood and unbuckling his mask. His gaze skimmed over Jared, noted his venomous expression, and he rolled his eyes. He put one foot on a stool and began unbuckling his boots. Jared watched, sullenly fascinated.
"This is a definite improvement," Nekrotik said. "Real pretty, and real quiet."
He laughed at the snarling curl of Jared's lip. "Relax, I'm not interested. You have nothing I want. Believe me, if you did, it'd already be mine."
He stripped off the other boot. Jared turned his face away before he could finish undressing, not to give Nekrotik privacy or because it was the decent thing to do, but because getting turned on by him got in the way of hating him, and tonight, Jared wanted nothing but hate on his mind.
The bed creaked as Nekrotik climbed in, and then he was out of sight. The light stayed on for a while. Jared could hear the soft energy hum of a reading pad, the tap of Nekrotik's fingertip as he scrolled through it. Then the light went out. The bed creaked again as Nekrotik turned over. The rhythm of his breathing leveled out into sleep.
:::
Glass smashed. The door opened, Jeff's big shape black against the dull block of light.
"Sir?" He crossed to the bed. "Jensen?"
"Tried to get a drink, knocked the glass." Nekrotik's voice was blurred and weak. "Oh god, is it broken? Did I break it? Tell them I'm sorry. I better go tell the prince I broke his glass. It's my fault."
"Shh, settle down," said Jeff. The bed creaked, Jensen made a soft noise of distress, then Jeff said, "No, stop that, get back into bed."
"I broke his glass," said Jensen. "I should go tell him I'm sorry."
"He's a prince," Jeff said firmly. "He's got plenty of glasses. Too many probably. I bet you did him a favor in breaking that one. C'mon, lay back down. You need a drink? I'll get you some water."
On his way to the bathroom, he glanced down at Jared, and Jared's eyes instantly slammed shut, evening his breathing out. Jeff didn't linger. Once he was passed, Jared opened his eyes again. He could hear the covers on the bed rustling, and he wished he were in a better position to see Jensen.
Water ran in the bathroom as Jeff filled a glass.
Again the bed creaked, and then Jensen's footsteps padded across the floor. Jared could see angles of the shapes of their bodies, the back of Jensen's head, the dip before his shoulder.
"Jeff," he said. The muzzy fretfulness was gone from his voice. "Jeff, they need to prepare for evacuation." Jeff looked up at him sharply, and Jensen nodded, just once. "They should be ready. As soon as I have the crystals, as soon as I'm off the planet. They need to be ready."
"Okay," said Jeff. He took hold of Jensen's arm and guided him back towards the bed.
"You'll tell them?" said Jensen. "They have to be ready."
"They will be," Jeff said soothingly. "I'll make sure of it. Here's your water. "
Jared listened to him drink, felt the bed rock as Jensen lay back down.
"As soon as I'm off the planet," Jensen said again.
"They'll be ready. You gonna be awake much longer?"
"No," said Jensen, and it was in his voice how close sleep was.
Jeff stayed perched on the side of the bed while Jensen gradually drifted off again. The last thing he said before sleep was, "Tell the prince I'm sorry I broke his glass."
:::
The incident in the night could have been a dream, except there was a servant in the room when Jared woke, picking up the shards of broken glass. The servant tactfully did not appear to notice when Cassidy crouched to release the cuffs at Jared's wrists.
Jared's shoulders ached too much for him not to accept the hand Cassidy offered him to pull him to his feet. She was a soldier and a stranger, not to mention the enemy, but Jared still felt a residual prickle of humiliation at having a pretty girl find him handcuffed to the bottom of someone's bed.
She pushed a jumpsuit at him, saying, "Chief Commander Morgan sent you this. I'm also supposed to tell you that your mouth should work again now." She raised her eyebrows. "I even wanna know what you did that Doctor Nekrotik felt the need to shut you up? Did you think I was kidding when I told you to behave?"
The servant departed silently, and Cassidy shoved Jared towards the bathroom. "Hurry. I want you showered and dressed in five. We're on a tight schedule."
In the bathroom, Jared took off the traditional clothes he'd been dressed in and folded them neatly in a pile, treating them with more respect than anything else he'd ever worn. He washed off the make-up and oil in the shower, though not as well as he would have liked because Cassidy kept banging on the door to inform him precisely how many minutes he had left. He wasn't totally dry when he peeled on the jumpsuit, and as a result felt grubbier than ever.
Cassidy was talking on her comm.link when Jared emerged from the bathroom. She gestured him towards a pot of coffee on the desk. Jared picked up the pot, flipped over the upturned cup - and stopped.
A scrap of paper had been shoved into the bottom of the cup.
Jared cast a quick glance at Cassidy, then pulled the paper out.
Jared, it read. On my way. Be ready. Tom.
The bottom of Jared's belly dropped in shaky relief. He curled the paper into his palm, tucked it into the wrist of his jumpsuit. He continued pouring himself a cup of coffee, though his hands trembled and he forgot the sugar.
There was hope again. If Tom was free, chances were that at least some of the others were too. And they were coming, for Jared.
"You ready?" said Cassidy.
Jared jumped. His smile felt fake. "Yeah, I'm ready," he said.
Cassidy led him back through the palace, supremely unconcerned with the black looks sent their way, to the shuttle waiting to take Nekrotik back to the Medaeus.
Nekrotik's soldiers surrounded the landing bay, the majority of them on guard but enough left over intent on various tasks for there to be a general rush of activity. They snapped to attention and saluted as Cassidy passed, and Jared cast her an appraising look, curious for the first time how high up the ranks she was.
Dawn was pale green silk on Nigellus 8, the clouds neat folds in the sky. The view from the elevated landing bay looked out over the capital city, taking in temple spires and shimmering monoliths of housing blocks, and everything but the palace's own roofs was dwarfed by a towering yellow statue of a god-figure Jared wasn't familiar with.
"It's Ayeyah," said Wisdom. Jared jerked around to see him stood just a little behind them. Wisdom didn't look back at him, kept his eyes on the statue. "Sister-Queen, they call her. She grew the universe in her garden, as a tribute to the Brother-King, Yuli. One day, Yuli will come back to the universe, and he and Ayeyah will pick the stars and planets like flowers."
Cassidy snorted, unimpressed. "Which makes us what, exactly? Greenfly?"
Wisdom looked thoughtful. "Well, I don't know, Katie. You feel as significant as all that in the scheme of things?"
"Oh, bite me, Doc." She flipped her hair back behind her shoulders, turning a slow circle to survey the whole landing pad. "I like the origin myth on Junko best. Where god's having, like, a massive stroke and we're all part of his brain-fart."
"You make a strong case for that," said Wisdom, his eyes glittering. He glanced at Jared. "I hear I missed out on your makeover last night. Jeff said it was mighty impressive."
Cassidy grabbed Jared's arm and turned him pointedly away from Wisdom. "Ignore him, Jared. He's a mean, old sarcastic man. You looked hot. Haters are gonna hate."
"Hardly seemed worth the effort," said Jared. "All that fine stuff they put me in, and I was sat down for all of fifteen minutes before Nekrotik pretty effectively ended the party."
"Oh, he's a party animal," Wisdom murmured. His gaze was fixed on the far end of the landing bay, where Kane had just come into sight at the head of a troop of soldiers.
Kane directed a few orders at the soldiers, then broke over to meet them. He smirked at Cassidy. "Heard you got babysitting duty."
"Heard there was an escape on the last babysitter's watch," Cassidy shot back. She flashed a smart little smile, before she added, "Sir."
Kane laughed, and he looked to Jared as he did, like this was a joke they all shared. "Okay, you folks better get on board. Doctor Nekrotik's gonna be here in a couple of minutes. Let's not keep him waiting."
While Kane took charge of getting the shuttle ready, Cassidy hustled Jared onto the main shuttle with Wisdom. Unsurprisingly, the corridors were filled with soldiers, though getting through was no problem for Cassidy. She bickered good-naturedly with Wisdom, paying no attention to the path that opened up for them as soon as they approached.
It would almost have been comfortable, except Jared couldn't shake the bad feeling of last night. Jensen had sounded so insistent on evacuation, and even the word made Jared cold, but Cassidy and Wisdom and Kane, even the soldiers, seemed in good spirits.
Maybe Jensen had had a nightmare. Maybe they were used to Jensen getting overwrought when he woke in the middle of the night.
Maybe this was business as usual.
They had only just gathered in the shuttle's command pad when the noise suddenly plummeted into silence. Footsteps rang out on the metal flooring in the corridors, and then Jeff and Nekrotik and a handful of guards entered the command pad.
In his arms, Nekrotik had the yellow crystal scepter and orb.
Kane turned to greet him. "Everything is ready for departure, sir," he said. "We're awaiting your order."
"Good, let's go," said Nekrotik.
He passed the crown jewels to a soldier, who disappeared with them instantly, and then moved to the main window.
The engines hummed into life, there was a shudder, and the shuttle began to rise. The capital city swung into view, like it was hung from a hook in the sky, and Jared could see the full expanse of tiny, elaborate buildings, and the rivers and greenlands that surrounded it.
Sunlight splashed over Nekrotik's mask, set fire to his mirror eyes.
"Order the warships into position, Kane," said Nekrotik. "I want Nigellus 8 removed from the galaxy maps. Tell them to begin the bombardment as soon as we're clear."
Cassidy tensed in the seat beside Jared, not even breathing. Wisdom heaved a sigh and turned his face away. Heart beating hard, Jared waited.
There was genuine shock on Kane's face. His eyes flittered, ever so briefly to Jeff, and then back to Nekrotik.
"They made me ask twice," said Nekrotik. "Do you really want to make the same mistake?"
"No, sir," Kane said instantly. There was no hesitation in his voice as he relayed the order, and Nekrotik gave a satisfied nod.
"Good. I'm going to my lab to begin initial analysis of the crystal. I don't want to be disturbed."
As soon as he was gone, Jeff moved in to speak to Kane in a voice too quiet for Jared to hear. They spoke quickly, and then Kane moved away to lean over the shoulder of the soldier at one of the control panels, while Jeff came over to Jared and the others.
"Cassidy, go check in with security on the Medaeus," he said. It was a fairly transparent excuse, but Cassidy took it without protest. She strode sharply out of the room, and Jeff watched her go before he dropped down in the chair next to Wisdom.
Wisdom didn't look up.
"There are evacuation ships ready to go," said Jeff in a low voice. "Kane's gonna give 'em as clear a route as he can. Estimate about forty percent of the population will make it out in the first hour. Maybe another twenty percent of what's left after that."
"You knew?" said Wisdom, no accusation in his voice.
"Last night. Rumors started getting around that Nekrotik being on the planet might be a bad sign." Jeff looked directly at Jared. "And you need to work on pretending to be asleep, kid."
"He lied," said Jared. "He told them he wouldn't bomb them if they gave him the crystals. He lied, and now he's going to kill all those people."
The old woman who'd smiled as she placed the ridiculous headdress on him, and the pretty girl who hadn't been able to stomach the idea of being touched by someone like Nekrotik, and the servant who'd helped Jared with his silverware at dinner, and whoever it was who had passed Jared Tom's note, and the prince and his new wife and the prime minister.
All dead. As dead as the people from his homeworld.
Fire streaked past the shuttle, a single blast at first, then thick waves of it. It splashed like water over Nigellus 8 and Jared lost sight of the city under the flames. It was a trick of the mind, old trauma coming back to him, because there were hundreds of feet between the shuttle and the planet surface, and the distance was only growing, but Jared could feel the heat of the bombardment on his skin.
Tom couldn't get here fast enough.