In Enemy Territory - Shannon West Page 0,5

to have the entire planet placed under martial law, similar to the one they imposed on Earth. Martial law had been applied before in occupied territories by the Tygerians whenever they seized control. The king had deposed Janos for his role in the kidnappings, despite the fact that Janos hadn’t been a part of the original plot. He had known who Larz was afterward, and he had concealed Larz’s presence on the planet for far too long, so in Davos’s judgment, he had to be punished. Mikos, incensed that Larz had been put in so much danger as a soldier, wanted Janos severely punished, but both Blake and Larz interceded after Larz made threats of his own. Much to Mikos’s disgust, Blake had convinced King Davos to make Larz the Governor in charge of pretty much everything on Laltana and to leave Janos’s fate to Larz’s discretion.

Larz promised to give the situation with his mate Janos his close, personal attention, and he’d been doing so ever since.

Prince Larz came farther into the office and perched on the side of his desk. “I came to tell you some exciting news. There’s been a new development in the search.”

There was no need to ask which search, because Kylon knew immediately. It was a subject he and Larz discussed almost every day. The hunt for the still-missing Tygerian boys taken from the unimaginatively named ship, KR-24, was a subject never far from their minds. The ship had been hijacked by slavers, with all the young men and boys on board either killed or taken to be used in slave trafficking. This Tygerian light freighter had been an older vessel that was converted into a huge shuttle to transport men to a training facility on one of Tygeria’s distant moons. The KR-24 had been disposed of in a wrecking yard in Farlia after the hijacking to hide it from being discovered by the Tygerians.

Once Larz had finally been recovered, Kylon had been one of the first soldiers to volunteer for this new duty station on Laltana, eager to see his old friend again and serve under him. Everyone on Tygeria knew about the effort to bring home the men of the KR-24, of course, and Kylon felt he had a personal stake in the outcome because those boys had been destined to be his trainees. He sat up quickly, eager to hear Larz’s news.

“What kind of development?”

“One of the investigators, who’s been searching the old Farlian records and interrogating the slavers, found a promising lead. He tracked down a former Farlian trader; not a slaver, though he traveled in the same circles. His name is Jakkab Kallaf, and he’s old now and retired. Under interrogation, Jakkab admitted he attended a slave auction five cycles ago on board the ship that attacked the KR-24. He claims his memory isn’t the best, and he was frightened at being questioned by the investigator, but he remembers Tygerian boys being auctioned off. He could be lying, of course, to avoid any accusation that he was involved himself, though he swears that he was there at the auction merely by chance.”

Kylon made a scoffing sound and Larz nodded. “He claims to have witnessed the purchase of four Tygerian males, two of them only young boys around thirteen or fourteen cycles in age. He remembers the buyers of the two youngest because he’s sure they were Gatifreyan. Gatifreyans are all non-binary, so they do have a handsome, but unusual, appearance and a distinctive look. He also knew who they were because he’d traded with them before as well, but claims not to remember their names. He says Gatifreyan names are ‘difficult,’ whatever that means. The Gatifreyans left for their home planet early the next morning with the two young Tygerian boys.”

“Are you serious?” Kylon said, leaning forward. These alleged sightings were rare and electrifying when they trickled in. After so long with no news, things had begun to happen quickly since Larz had become Governor, and Kylon was excited to be among the ones who were helping to bring some of the boys home. Kylon himself had been on two different missions to find three more of the young men who’d been taken from that ship, both trainees and crewmen. Two of the homecomings had been hugely successful, but one of the young men had suffered serious emotional and physical trauma during his captivity and was still being treated by physicians.

“I’m ready to go after them now! How soon can