Mercy's End: A Dark Sci-Fi Romance by Athena Storm

Author:Athena Storm [Storm, Athena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Athenaverse Press
Published: 2019-12-27T18:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Gyn

I spend most of the night laying awake, staring out the window at the cityscape and wondering how I’ve ended up at this point in my life.

Perhaps I never should have remained on Titanus Vox after my release from prison. Certainly, my life would be a lot less complicated than it is now. I definitely wouldn’t be on trial for a bombing I didn’t commit.

But military life just wasn’t for me any longer. The fighting during the battle of Titanus Vox was brutal. Perhaps it wasn’t a hell storm like Horus IV had been, but it was still rough. It’s not that I don’t think, sometimes, violence and even killing are necessary. It’s that I’m not sure that I want to be the one doing the violence and killing any longer.

Life has been hard among the humans and Alliance sapients here in Traxis. They haven’t exactly welcomed me with open arms. Even people like my employer, Dave, don’t extend me the same courtesy they do other races. Dave goes out drinking every Friday evening with my fellow welders, and not once have I been invited to join them.

The only person who has really, truly, made me feel welcome here is Thorne. And now, even she views me with distrust and wariness, even though she knows I didn’t plant the bomb that killed almost forty people.

Despite her insistence that we keep our relationship on the purely physical level, I can’t help but feel as if both of us want more than that. At least, she did until yesterday.

Anger boils in my chest at her father. Not just for stirring up fear in Thorne’s heart, but for his refusal to answer her final question. If he doesn’t believe one hundred percent that I am guilty, then why is he even going through with the trial?

Then I think back to what Judge Brandis said, about possible rioting and violence among the stirred up populace if there were a mistrial. I suppose they want to make it clear that this matter is being handled thoroughly, but why should it have to happen at my expense?

After a time, I manage to let go of my anger. The people to blame here are the ones who set me up for a fall, not those tasked with handling the trial. Sterling Silver is simply doing his job, and who knows what kind of pressure he’s under at the highest levels?

I drift off for a time, but I’m awakened by the dawn of the next day. For a time I lay there in silence, until I hear Thorne rise from her own bed next door and shuffle down the hall to the kitchen.

Eventually, I work up the nerve to face her and put on my suit before heading into the kitchen. She sits at the counter, a bowl of grains and milk before her. Thorne glances up at me, and seems to realize she hasn’t provided me with breakfast.

“Um, there’s bowls in that cabinet, and milk’s in the fridge.

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