Zenith Point (The Sector Fleet, Book 4)

by Nicola Claire

Mandy let out a short laugh. It sounded frustrated and not just a little impatient.

  “You don’t get it,” she said. “I’m it. I’m all we could get onboard any ship. Communications were patchy worldwide at the end. Travel was all but impossible. Even we weren’t stupid enough to chance atmospheric flight. I was it. This ship is it. We get it back; we help the others.”

  I was watching Hugo openly now. This had not gone at all how I had expected. In a small way, he was my hero. Standing up to injustices without the cape. He hadn’t done more than point out how Mandy had used me. He’d not even given his opinion on the matter. But the fact that he’d said anything at all was enough to impress me.

  And now this. This anger and defiance he showed her. This implacable wall that she could pit herself against, time and again, and it would never crack. He looked at her with unveiled disgust and fury. People had died. She could have helped prevent that.

  “This is ridiculous!” she shouted. “None of this helps us now. Nathan Price has control of this ship, and we’re in a position to get it back. Stop thinking about the small things and start thinking about the big picture. The entire Sector Fleet. Forty thousand survivors. We can end this.”

  “The end justifies the means,” Hugo said softly.

  Mandy blinked at him and then let out a disgruntled breath of air and turned around.

  Her eyes landed on me unexpectedly. For her as well as me. She hadn’t realised I was sitting right there staring at her.

  “Adi,” she said, sounding sad.

  “Don’t,” I offered. “You said we can end this.” I couldn’t go over this again. I couldn’t address my tumultuous emotions. The abandonment. The betrayal. “How?” I asked. “How do we stop this?”

  Please, make this stop. All of it.

  I was aware Hugo was looking at me now. I kept my eyes resolutely on Mandy. She’d hurt me and yet it was easier to face her than him. Than his compassion. His caring.

  Hugo was a good man, and I realised, right then, that I was falling for him.

  I couldn’t face that either and I certainly couldn’t let him see it in my eyes right then.

  “That’s just the thing,” Mandy said steadily. “While the leaseholder started his little coup, I’ve been busy. Even he discounts the pay-for-passages.”

  “What do you mean?” Hugo asked.

  Mandy tore her gaze from me and looked at him.

  “I’ve raised an army for you, Captain,” she said. “They’re a little rough around the edges, and their weapons are all homemade, but they’re ready. As ready as they can be.”

  “What?” Hugo said; his two officers joined him. They all looked a little shellshocked.

  “I might not have warned you,” Mandy conceded. “But I do have your back. There are fifty odd civilians ready to help you take back your ship. If you’ll have them.”

  Hugo stared at her for a moment and then scrubbed a hand over his face, cupping his jaw.

  He nodded his head slowly. Then let out a long breath of air.

  “OK,” he said. “Let’s do this. Let’s take back our ship.”

  Thirty-Two

  She Could See Right Through Me

  Hugo

  Establishing where exactly Aquila could see and not see took some time. We knew he could see in the central hubs. But not all of the passenger quarters. We also knew he’d take note of anyone missing work. So, communicating with our rebel army and organising them into something that resembled less pitchfork wielding villagers, and more elite level forces was asking a lot.

  And then there were the weapons. Steak knives were the least of our worries. We had industrial kitchen utensils, and broom handles with forks attached. Several people wielded walking sticks. They were armed of a fashion, but they needed some basic training and the only place to do that was the observation deck. In the middle of the night.

  Aquila’s speakers worked in there, but we’d established he couldn’t hear anything, nor could he see. That’s why Price had his mercs dressed in civvies and dotted throughout the daytime population. Although curfew was over, it was expected that everyone would be in their quarters by midnight and they would not venture out until six the next morning. There were still mercs about, but these were dressed in their armour and easy to spot. They were also light on numbers. Even mercs needed downtime, and it made sense to stand them down when the passengers were asleep.

  So, we crept through tunnels and congregated in the observation deck, and had lookouts keeping an eye on the armoured guards. And we did it all in small numbers.

  I would have liked to have been able to use the computer room, but although Aquila still couldn’t see in there, he could hear. And the snap of a walking stick against a broom handle makes a distinctive noise. As it was, we were pushing ourselves with the skeleton crew of mercs each night.

  Thankfully, they had several decks to walk and gave us a twenty-minute window every hour.

  So, slow going was an understatement. But we’d needed the time to design a plan of attack.

  What we came up with was severely lacking.

  “Once we start,” I said quietly to those in the pit with me. We’d discovered we could talk quietly and Aquila wouldn’t hear us in here. You had to raise your voice to get his attention. Clearly, his repair of the gel walls hadn’t been perfect, and I was thankful for that.

  Mandy glanced at Adi, garnering my attention. I’d noticed that Adi turned away every time Mandy tried to talk to her. My girl was smarting, but she was staying strong. Giving the spook the cold shoulder. Making her work for it. But that didn’t mean Adi wasn’t preparing herself for this war.

  She had the fillet knife on one hip and a steak knife on the other. She was practically a warrior princess now. I tried not to smirk at that imagery, but…well, I’d been a fan of old reruns of Xena back on Earth.

  “Once we start,” I repeated, having lost my train of thought. Not exactly stellar leadership skills, “they’ll be on to us. So, timing is everything. We can’t do this at night; too few mercs and we need to hit them hard. So, we’ll have to act as one and do that in and around normal civilians.”

  “It’ll be confusing,” López added. “But we might be able to use that confusion against them.”

  “It doesn’t matter if we don’t get them all,” I added. “But we do need to get a lot of them to make this worth our while.”

  The officers all nodded their heads.

  “Get some sleep,” I said. “Nova replaces Flux on watch in two hours. Pass on the orders at changeover. You each know which group of civilians you’re in charge of. Let’s make this work.”

  “Yes, sir,” López said. The others joined in with their agreement.

  Everyone scattered to their respective corners, some grabbing something to eat from the synthesiser. That left Adi, Mandy and me at the pit. With a sleeping Ratbag.

  I watched Adi’s fingers idly scratch the dog’s ears. She was almost always in touch with that dog when in here. It worried me slightly. If something happened to Ratbag, Adi would suffer. I pushed Ratbag up near the top of my Keep Alive list and turned my attention to Mandy.

  She was staring at one of Aquila’s towers.

  “Why can’t we simply hack at these things?” she asked. “Chop them up into little pieces and be done with the bastard.”

  “We don’t know which ones might affect essential systems,” I said. “Life support. Air filtration. Recycling. We can’t take the risk without an engineer to guide us.”

  “You’d think there’d be someone with enough know-how in the pay-for-passages,” she muttered, well aware that we couldn’t get to our crew without lethal reprisal.

  I hoped that with the merc numbers culled tomorrow we’d be able to address that problem. But we needed to take baby steps first. Mercs. Then leaseholder and mayor. Then Aquila. In that order.

  It was a damn weak plan, and as a tactical officer, it gnawed at me.

  “Well,” Mandy said, looking at Adi again and fin
ding the usual; no eye contact, head turned away, cold shoulder. “I’m going to get some sleep. I’ll…ah…head over there.” She nodded down one of the tower corridors.

  I nodded back at her and said nothing. There was no way I was going to encourage her to stay around Adi.

  That left Adi and me at the pit. I watched her for a while and then took a seat beside her. Big wide eyes stared at me.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey,” she softly replied.

  “You ready for this?” I’d tried to get her to agree to stay in the core room. But we were all going and leaving her here alone with Crazy Aquila was not a good idea. I hadn’t tried hard in the end.

  “Not really,” she said, offering me a small smile.

  “Me neither,” I offered back, making her laugh.

  It was a tiny laugh. A quasi-laugh. But I’d take it.

  “Just stick close,” I said. “Keep your back to mine if we get cornered. We’ll cover each other.”

  “OK,” she said. So simple. So trusting.

  It hit me like a sledgehammer.

  Adi trusted me.

  For a moment I just stared into her eyes. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t move.

  And then her eyes darted down to my lips.

  It was the first time she’d done that since that moment in the emergency tube. We were rarely ever alone. Someone was always here in the pit with us or out in the tunnels. That one time when the ladder had disappeared, and we’d been separated from Johnson and Armstrong, and now this. Pre-battle, when everyone needed a moment to themselves and a decent sleep.

  Twice we’d been absolutely alone with each other.

  And twice she’d looked at me as if she wanted me to eat her. Kiss her. She wanted me to kiss her. But now I was thinking all manner of things.

  I’d kept my distance. I’d tried to be a friend and nothing more. The captain who cared for his charges, including the civilian woman who was now included in his command group. Adi had long been a part of my team. One of my officers if only in theory.

  So, I’d kept my distance. But if I were honest with myself, I’d kept my distance for more reasons than just that. I’d kept my distance because Adi was so sweet. So innocent. So removed from the grubby AU uniforms we had all worn. From the plasma pistols some of us had on our hips. From a rank that demanded our sacrifice.

  Adi was gentle and kind and wore her heart on her sleeve. And she’d been through hell and survived it. God knows how she’d survived it. But Adi had, and she hadn’t lost that sweetness. That innocence.

  Far be it for me to steal it now.

  But the way she looked at me. The way I sometimes caught her glancing in my direction. The way she ate my lips up with those big, beautiful eyes. It could go to a man’s head. It was going to both of mine.

  I swallowed. Fuck. I was nervous. I could feel a slight tremor in my fingers. I licked my lips. She let out a little sigh. Oh, God, stop me now. I couldn’t do this. Not to Adi.

  Adi was every reason I had to keep fighting. To get us out of this mess. To save what was left of humanity. There were other valid reasons, but I realised right then, it was for Adi that I did this. Nothing else came even close to my urge, my compulsion, to save her.

  Some women wear their strength on the outside for all to see. You can’t miss it. It’s a beautiful thing. And then there are some women who wear it quietly. Secretly. Internally. You might think them weak. You’d be wrong. So wrong.

  Adi wore her strength privately. And my God, I was attracted to that.

  “It’s all right,” she said softly. “I won’t break.”

  I might, I thought.

  “It’s just a kiss,” she added. She could see right through me. “I’ve kissed boys before, you know.”

  I wanted to laugh. I wanted to scream. Boys. I was no boy. She had no idea what she was asking of me. Such sweet innocence.

  The tension ratcheted up several degrees. Both of us poised on a precipice. At any moment one of my men could have walked back into the pit area. I hesitated. Adi waited me out.

  One kiss, I thought. Just one for luck.

  Ah, who was I kidding?

  Thirty-Three

  That’s The First Time You’ve Not Called Me Captain

  Adi

  He reached up and stroked his fingers along my jaw. Light but sure, his eyes watching where he touched, following the slow progress of his fingertips across my skin. There was no frantic rush, no breaking of a dam as I’d been used to. Hugo had control over his desires, even as his eyes heated with a look of passion I had only ever dreamed about.

  He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. It popped out again. My hair seemed to stand on end now, so different from the sleek locks I’d had before I’d chopped them off with a fillet knife. I ducked my chin, wondering again how he could look at me like that. I was a mess. I was nothing like I used to be.

  His other hand came up and tipped my face up; fingers soft but firm under my jaw. His eyes found mine. He didn’t say a word, just let me see the desire he felt. I licked my lips. He chuckled. Deep. Alluring.

  And then he ran a thumb over my lips. From right to left.

  I had never been so turned on.

  Hugo was no boy. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was completely in control of his motions, his actions. And he also knew what he was doing to me. His lips tipped up in a little smirk. A self-congratulatory little smirk.

  I decided to turn the tables on him. My hands found his hips, ran over his lower stomach. He sucked in a breath of air, his fingers tightening slightly on my jaw, but then quickly softening. I could feel his lower abdominal muscles with my fingertips, but it wasn’t enough. So I flattened my hand, feeling the heat from his body warm me.

  I ran my palms over his abs, relishing the tautness, the definition. Most of the Anderson Universal crew were fit and conditioned for spaceflight. Hugo was no different, and I relished it. My hands made their way up to his chest, brushing against his nipples on their trek of discovery.

  I wanted him naked. I bit my lip with the strength of that craving.

  Hugo hadn’t stopped touching me either, which made it all the harder to concentrate on what I was doing. But he seemed to know how much I could handle and had stuck to light touches of his fingertips across my cheeks and jaw, and down my neck. He cupped a hand on my nape, a thumb stroking up into the mess of my hair.

  His upper body inched closer; leaning into my touch. As if begging me to explore further. I’d made it as far as the dip in front of his throat. I ran a finger over it and up over his Adam’s apple. He hadn’t shaved in days, and I wasn’t used to such facial hair. It was softer than I had thought it would be. What I would assume would be called a full beard.

  It wasn’t bushy, but it was thick. I found it inordinately attractive for some reason.

  A thumb stroked over my cheek, then again, and again, getting closer and closer to my mouth. My eyes flicked up to Hugo’s, but he was looking at my lips.

  Kiss me, I thought. Kiss me now.

  His eyes darted up to mine, and he let out a slow breath of air. Then slowly, oh so slowly, eyes still locked on mine, he leaned forward. Until his lips brushed mine, almost not there.

  I’d never felt so much from so little. I squirmed closer, eager for more.

  He let out a huff of breath that could have been amusement, but I was determined not to think about that. And then he pressed his lips harder to mine.

  I ran my tongue along the seam of his lips. His body jerked and then his tongue met mine.

  He tasted of the toothpaste we’d stolen from someone’s quarters. He tasted all male. Hot and spicy and minty; it was a winning combination. He licked into my mouth and made a soft sound of approval. His hand cupping my nape pulled me closer as the other ran down my back and cupped my hip and the curve of my butt.

  We were pressed up against each other; somehow we’d ended up as close as we could manage while still sitting in our respective seats. There were pi
llows scattered at one end of the pit. I knew where they were in relation to us and I wanted desperately for us to slide down into the gel floor depression and spread out over those cushions and spend the next few hours exploring each other’s body.

  I tugged him toward them.

  He held me back. Kissed me harder. I forgot about the pillows as I kissed him with every fibre of my body.

  I hadn’t realised you could do that. That your lips were a conduit to the rest of you. I could feel his hand on my neck and the one on my hip and butt, but it was the kiss, the sensations, the taste, everything, that swirled through my body and made every single nerve ending tingle.

  I felt hot and itchy, and so freaking turned on, and it wasn’t enough, I needed more, I so needed more.

  “Adi,” he whispered against my lips, his kiss softening, dragging little starbursts across my cheek and jaw and neck. “Adi,” he repeated. “We can’t do more than this.”

  It was like a cold bucket of water on my body. I pulled back, shivering.

  “Babe,” he said, gripping me tighter, making it impossible to pull fully away. “We’re not alone,” he whispered, kissing the side of my neck. “I very much want to be alone with you. But we’re not. And I won’t make love to you like this.”

  Forget starbursts. I felt like my entire body had been bathed by a supernova. I was instantly flushed, my skin too tight, my body thrumming in all of my most intimate places. I squirmed where I sat, leaning into his touch again. His lips trailed over my jaw and found my mouth, and then he kissed me like I was his everything.

  That momentary loss of control on top of him telling me he wanted to make love to me was enough for me to let out a helpless moan.

  Hugo immediately pulled back and slapped a palm over my mouth, his eyes wide.

  Oops.

  Footsteps sounded out. I winced. Hugo shook his head, trying to clear it, no doubt. We separated just in time for Commander López to miss how intimate we’d been. She stopped a few paces away and stared at us, arms crossed over her chest.