Depths Of Desire

by Ruth D. Kerce

  Before he said what was on his mind though, she spoke again, “Don’t think that insignia will stop me. I still outrank you with my time in grade.”

  “Official time in grade. I made rank first.”

  “Irrelevant, since you were stripped of that rank and taken out of commission with just cause.”

  Even so, he knew the ways of war better than most and he’d challenge her decisions if he felt justified. “I don’t want to argue about this, Brianna. I’m not going to purposely jeopardize anything but we’re headed into more trouble than we can handle. You know that.”

  If she did try to remove him from this mission, he’d have a tough choice to make. Would he obey his sister’s amended orders or follow their leader’s original orders? He trusted and loved his sister. He neither trusted nor loved Laszlo. Still, deep down, his sense of duty to Xylon was as strong as it had been years ago when he’d first made rank, despite his transgressions. Of course, a third option did exist—to do what he felt would be best for all, regardless of orders, even if that meant taking over this mission himself.

  Brianna’s voice penetrated his thoughts. “We have to save Earth to save ourselves. If we don’t stop what’s happening, our enemies will gain almost unlimited power. Nobody else has the firepower or the inclination to do this.”

  “We don’t have the firepower.” And how many warriors would have the inclination, after what happened to their own planet, remained to be seen. Besides, he wasn’t so sure that saving Earth would truly save themselves in the end.

  “Our forces can be reorganized. Fleets of warriors will join us and we will win. I believe in our people.”

  “You have a lot of faith.” If she was wrong, Earth was definitely doomed. As Xylon already had been.

  Their brother Braden—second-in-command of Xylon’s Warriors—along with others, were headed for a Xylon outpost to gather their fleets, if any still existed. They were supposed to rendezvous in orbit around Earth to take out any Egesa ships.

  The Egesa—half humanoid, half lizard-like creatures—were headed toward Earth to enslave its people and save their own powerful leaders from certain death by harvesting much-needed human spinal fluid.

  Xylon’s warriors were the only ones advanced enough in warfare to stop the Egesa from plunging Earth as well as other systems into chaos and destruction—Laszlo’s words. Torque figured the Xylons’ odds of success, given their current circumstances, were slim to none against the cold-blooded creatures. At full force, they’d been taken down and now here they were coming back for more. Granted, the leader of the Egesa had surprised them with an ancient weapon long believed destroyed. But maybe that made their enemies smarter than Xylon’s leaders, who’d been fools to trust that none of those weapons still existed.

  “Best to change the subject, Torque, before our disagreement becomes heated, for it would serve no purpose and not change our circumstances.” With that hard look still in her eyes, Brianna checked their energy levels. “Is the thruster working correctly now?”

  “It’s indicating. Halah’s checking the rear panel to make sure.” He waited a heartbeat before he continued. With a slight smile and trying to shift the mood, he asked, “You and the Colonel haven’t fucked since we took off. Troubles?”

  Brianna’s hand stilled and she looked over at him. “Not the best subject, Torque.”

  He cocked an eyebrow, suspecting that’s exactly what they had been doing down below. If not, they were fools not to take the opportunity. He couldn’t help goading her about it. Most Xylons would have just moved into the back of the ship and gone at it, regardless of an audience. But since joining with him, Brianna had adapted her behavior. “I haven’t even seen him touch you, except on the hand.”

  “Just because Sam’s not into public, sexual displays if he can avoid them, doesn’t mean we haven’t been together. Besides, even Xylons don’t openly fuck another where an opposite-sex sibling is likely to see, except maybe during a Joining Party. And even if you weren’t on this mission with us in such tight quarters, you know how Earthlings feel about these things.”

  Yes, the sexually repressive attitudes of those from that backward planet were well known and documented. Sometimes he believed humans simply needed an excuse to act on their true desires. Briggs had agreed to their sexual initiation rite readily enough. Or a modified version of it. The man wasn’t shy. Even so, Torque knew that problems loomed. “He doesn’t fit in with us, Brianna. An Earth-trained soldier never will.”

  “Airman.”

  “What?”

  “Sam’s an airman, not a soldier.”

  “Who the fuck cares what he’s called, Brianna! That’s not the point.”

  “He cares. Therefore, I care. And keep your voice down.”

  Torque glanced toward the center of the orbiter where Briggs and Leila Abdera, a Xylon Healer, sat quietly discussing the serum they’d manufactured from Briggs’ altered sperm, if the occasional word he caught was any indication. If the serum didn’t protect human males from the Egesa poisons and diseases—if it didn’t help them heal faster from any wounds inflicted—their planet didn’t stand a chance of survival.

  Even if the mission somehow proved successful, once back on Earth, Torque had a bad feeling that Lieutenant Colonel Sam Briggs might not honor his commitment to Brianna or he might try to separate her from her family. Something in the man’s eyes told him that he harbored a lot of secrets and that disturbed him in more ways than one. They’d all had to deal with enough secrecy recently to last them a lifetime.

  “Alexa fits in. She’s from Earth,” Brianna finally offered in a softer tone.

  Their brother’s mate was one of the few super breeders in existence. A woman capable of producing multiple children with each birth. A rare and important find for the survival of their species. “Alexa is different. She’s only half human and not military. Her other half, along with her heart and soul, is pure Xylon.” Plus she was the daughter of their leader Laszlo. “She was fated from birth to be with us, accepted as one of us. Our breeding problems are—”

  “Not as dire as the council had us believing. Or so I’m beginning to think.”

  That took Torque by surprise. Laszlo and the Council of Thirteen had harbored their own secrets. Laszlo was guilty of manipulating all their lives. But Brianna rarely voiced doubts about their leaders. “Perhaps.”

  He looked at Leila, studying the woman. As the warriors’ chief healer, she would know the truth. Or should. Breeding on Xylon had been strictly controlled after most of their females mysteriously became sterile. Then even tighter controls were instigated when the majority of Xylon’s men became unable to breed with most other humanoids in the Xylon system. Because of a lack of suitable mates available, they’d eventually had to search other systems for specific DNA-compatible matches to help preserve the race.

  He wondered just how much Leila knew about the situation and if she’d been sworn to protect some secret truth. In the past, he wouldn’t have thought Leila deceptive, especially being mated to one of the most trustworthy warriors he’d ever known. But so many had betrayed their trust that almost everyone was under suspicion in his eyes now. His gaze switched back to Sam and more uneasiness churned inside him. “The Colonel’s presence, this exchange with Earth, disturbs me.”

  “I know you don’t like Sam—”

  “I don’t trust him.”

  “You don’t trust anyone.”

  When her brow furrowed and she busied herself unnecessarily, once again looking over the instruments and readings, he knew that she was at the end of her patience. Their family had been through too much. He didn’t want more friction between them. He touched her hand. “I trust you.” She looked over at him.

  Before either of them could say anything more, Halah reappeared. “You fixed it.”

  Brianna pulled back her hand and slid out of the seat. “Good.”

  Halah sat beside Torque and looked over the data panels. “It was a minor glitch. I’ve
been watching the readings since we took off. There’s a small incompatibility problem between the older thruster hardware and the upgraded software system. It might need manually resetting from time to time. I see the tracking equipment has been turned on.”

  Torque nodded. “For all planets, orbits and outlying areas. We’ll be encountering traffic soon.”

  Halah turned to Brianna. “When we reach Earth, we’re going to have a hard time staying cloaked for an extended length of time. The energy consumption is enormous for the age of this ship. The fuel doesn’t regenerate as quickly as we’re accustomed to with our newer ships.”

  “Yes, I figured as much. After we’re on-planet, take the ship out of orbit and tracking range. At least until we have backup. If it’s safe to de-cloak at that time, do so. Go as far out as necessary to conserve our resources. Come back into contact range periodically to check in. Keep this ship safe at all costs. It may be our only way back home.”

  Halah nodded. “Understood.”

  “Brianna?”

  She turned at the sound of Briggs’ voice. “Yes?”

  “How are we going to communicate with the ship and with each other once we’re on Earth and separated?”

  “After we lifted off from Xylon, Halah found some old equipment, previously overlooked, that was stashed with various engineering parts stored below. With it, we’ll be able to use Earth’s satellites to communicate. Our own grid is still down, making our current devices useless, but we can bounce messages off your telecom network with the older vid-cell units.”

  Torque reached into a compartment and pulled out three old-looking handheld devices. “You’d better get them set up.”

  Brianna nodded as she grabbed one of the devices. “Once these units are programmed and energized, they should work fine with Earth’s satellites unless something has changed that we’re unaware of.”

  “Why will the old ones work and not the new?” Sam asked, looking at the unit in her hand.

  Halah took hold of another unit. “They use Xylon’s old grid specifications, which are still different from Earth’s, but compatible, whereas our new devices aren’t. For security reasons, as Earth advanced, Xylon changed the system, so whenever our ships approached the planet, no one could come across or tap into our communications without our permission or knowledge.”

  “You don’t happen to still have my comm device, do you?” Sam asked.

  Torque shook his head. “It was destroyed.” That would have been a good option for contacting his people on Earth, but since it had been one-way only, it wouldn’t have served them in any other capacity.

  “So Earth might be able to intercept and hear us on the old units without our knowing it. Is that going to be a problem?” Sam further questioned.

  Halah shook her head. “We’ll use a frequency that they’ll be less likely to monitor. There is a chance, though small, of discovery but we’ll have to take that chance. Our options are limited. At some point, we might want and need that contact, so it’s not all bad. You all can also use whatever they have on-planet to communicate with each other, but if so, I won’t be in the loop, so make that a last resort.”

  “Will the Egesa be able to tap into our communications?” Sam continued.

  “Not if we were using our newer units. With the older ones…” Halah hesitated a moment, then shrugged. “Unknown.”

  Torque snorted. “You lived with them. You don’t know their comm network capabilities?”

  “I wasn’t concerned with the details of their network, other than how it affected me while on Marid. Their weapons and flight capabilities were my primary interests.” The frown on her face and the snap in her voice showed her irritation.

  Yeah, right. I wouldn’t bet my sizable balls on that. He started to shoot back his thoughts until Brianna placed her palm on his shoulder.

  Halah’s attention returned to Sam. “You and the others can take two of the units and leave me one on the ship. The reprogramming needed is extensive but it’ll work, so no worries there. Just concentrate on what you need to do once you’re down there.”

  “So the ship’s comm system isn’t compatible even though this is an older flyer?” Sam was obviously trying to understand everything as quickly as he could.

  Even so, Torque’s patience began to wane. “No, it’s not compatible with the handhelds. The ship’s been updated with the newer software.” Changing Xylon’s grid specifications had been a sound idea but its disadvantages were now apparent. Still, they’d manage. Brianna had already decided that she, Leila, Sam and he would be the ones visiting the planet. He needed to connect with the Xylon Warriors already on Earth and get them updated and reorganized. Leila needed to connect with the military scientists and get the injections tested, verified and then duplicated and administered as quickly as possible. They had a contact on Earth who supposedly could act as a go-between with the scientists—someone who was a part of this secret exchange that he still didn’t quite trust. With Sam’s help, Brianna would coordinate with Earth’s military forces.

  Halah would stay with the ship. Leaving only one crew member aboard went against standard procedure for a fighter of this size, but they had few choices. Of them all, Halah was the most knowledgeable about the instruments and how they worked. She was also a top pilot and weapons expert. She knew the Egesa and their flight capabilities better than the rest of them. If anyone could maneuver this ship alone and keep it safe, it was her.

  “How are we going to get to the surface?” Sam asked. “Are we going to land, offload, then send Halah back up to re-orbit the ship?”

  “Didn’t you fill him in?” Torque asked Brianna.

  “Some. I haven’t gone over all the specifications yet. Most of this is standard operating procedures for us. It’s going to take Sam a little longer to absorb all the details. I didn’t want to overwhelm him with too much all at once.”

  Torque grumbled a curse of frustration. He punched the main portal control, expanding their viewing area. Yeah, his bad attitude was showing again. But once they arrived at the planet, they’d need to move quickly. Plans, backup plans, emergency plans. It all needed to be solid in his head so he’d be ready for anything. All this chatter aggravated and distracted him from those thoughts. Dealing with someone who knew less than a WAIT—warrior in training—made his sac hurt.

  “Feel free to go take a nap if my inquiries are boring you, Torque.”

  “Gentlemen,” Brianna interjected. She looked at both of them then addressed Sam. “Landing is probably not a good idea. Even if we got down undetected, we’d be too easy of a target on the ground. This ship has a transport control. We’ll use that.”

  “Is it working?” Leila asked from the background.

  “We’ll test it,” Halah said, looking around Brianna at the other woman. “It appears to be functional. I don’t anticipate a problem. I’ll send down a piece of equipment and bring it back up to make certain. After you all are down there and I’m out of orbit, you’ll have to use whatever local transportation they have to get around. Because of the upgraded software, those old handheld units aren’t trans-conn compatible and we don’t have any of the older materialization units aboard.”

  “Fucking great.”

  “Torque…” Brianna shot him a hard look. She took the third vid-cell unit to begin the reprogramming. Halah moved to the lounging area of the ship to help her.

  Briggs sat in the seat Halah vacated. “Once we get down there, we’ll need to work together without a lot of tension so we appear unified.”

  “No shit.” Torque checked their heading and fuel supply as well as their environmental controls. The closer they got to Earth, the more antsy he felt and the worse his mood got. There had to be a way for this mission to succeed, something they could throw at the Egesa that the creatures wouldn’t expect. A few hundred on-planet warriors, along with the technically challenged Earth military—even a military able to heal quickly and protected from the Egesa’s poisons and diseases—w
ere not going to cut it in the end.

  “You’ll need to follow my direction with the U.S., otherwise you’ll get nowhere.”

  Torque looked over at him. “You’ve got one chance, Briggs. We don’t have time to fuck around. If they’re not receptive to our plans, we move on to another leading government.”

  “That would be a mistake. The United States—”

  “Is not in charge of the planet. As much as they would like to think they are. I’m aware of your history.” That was only partially true. He hadn’t actually spent much energy on the political working of other planets. Leila’s mate Kam was their Earth expert. Unfortunately he wasn’t with them for this leg of the mission. A mistake in his opinion. But it hadn’t been his call. All of them had been to Earth at least once before though and were familiar enough with the culture. They’d make do.

  Briggs simply stared at him for several moments then finally replied, “I don’t think Laszlo would agree with that decision. If he did, our exchange—”

  “Laszlo isn’t here. I am.” Laszlo had directed that they work with Briggs’ government to begin with, not with a combined government unit, as he would have thought. But time was limited, so if it didn’t go well, he had no problems altering the plan.

  Briggs’ gaze hardened. “You are not in charge.” He glanced back toward Brianna. “My wife will be making the decisions here, Torque. Don’t forget it.”

  Torque tapped the insignia on his uniform. “This does give me a say. A big one.” He turned to the instrument panel, trying very hard to hold onto his temper. If time started to run out, Brianna would see the logic in changing the plan to their advantage.

  Briggs grabbed his arm. “You don’t have the authority to go against Laszlo’s orders.”

  Torque’s gaze snapped to the man’s hand. He slowly raised his eyes. “Are you telling me what my duty is?” he asked in a low, tight voice.

  After a moment of silence, Sam replied, “I’m pointing out the line of command. Abide by it. You and I both carry a lot of weight in this mission, especially with Brianna in charge. Don’t make her chose between us, Torque. You won’t like the outcome.”