by Linda Gayle
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Chapter Thirteen
Kels took his time walking down the corridor to return to Elion. He raked his hands through his hair and breathed out heavily. What a tangle. He thought of his mate fuming on the com deck and opted to shed his protective gear first, maybe give El a few more minutes to cool off.
But when he rounded the bend into the gear room, he found Elion sitting on a weapons locker, already back in his white T-shirt and khakis and securing the lovely, lethal pulsar Kels had acquired during the fight.
“‘ello, mate,” Kels said, gauging his friend’s mood.
Elion said nothing, just fixed the locks on the pulsar and set it into a rack along with their other weapons that then disappeared into the wall unit. He looked up at Kels, and yeah, he was still pissed.
“What are we going to do?” he asked bluntly.
“Well,” Kels said, sitting opposite him on a second locker and hauling off his grimy boots, “I say we kill the bad guy, rescue the girl, and save the SenVerse.”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
He stood and slid out of his pants. “I’m open to suggestions.”
“Fuck, Kels.” Elion stared aside, his mouth set in a grim line. “A Prime.”
“Part Prime,” he reminded him.
“Which part?” He laughed unpleasantly.
“Not the girl parts,” Kels said, not liking his mate’s tone. “Primes are all male. Most of her’s got to be human.”
“No human kills with a touch.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve seen you rip ‘em up pretty good with that martial training of yours. Nice job on Corsair’s gangers by the way.”
Elion shook his head. “What if Jalanna’d taken you up on your generous offer? Do you really think I’ve got twenty thousand iron lying around?”
“‘Course not. I was feeling out how much she was getting paid.”
“Quite a lot apparently. And by who? Sayal’s creator?” He spoke the word with such venom that it gave Kels pause.
“She can’t help being what she is. And you can’t blame her for not telling us. She spoke truth, even it if was a bit after the fact. She’s frightened, not just for herself, but for us. Believe me. If I know her, she’s meditating in my quarters right now, trying to figure a way out of this mess, same as we are.”
“Could be one lie on top of another.”
“You know it’s not.” He sat again and put his elbows on his thighs. “You’d feel it if she were lying. We’re bonded together, our minds linked, like she said.”
Elion bolted to his feet. “Don’t even say that.” He dragged his hands over his head as if he could squeeze her out of it. “I don’t want to be brain fucked by a Prime. Who knows? Maybe she already made me…” He trailed off, his expression agonized.
“Made you fall in love with her?” Kels finished quietly. “No, El, that was natural. She’s a special girl, no matter her genetic makeup.” He stood to pull on his pants, then hung his protective gear in the storage locker.
“It does matter, though,” Elion said after a moment. “I can’t love a…an alien. It’s not right.”
Kels put his hand on his shoulder. “Mate, not that long ago, people would have said you weren’t right for loving a man, but you love me, eh? And I love you, and we both have feelings for Sayal. It’s just the wheel turning. It’s inevitable. Take the time you need to wrap your head around it, but don’t even try to deny it. I’ve never seen you so smitten with anyone. Not even with me,” he said, raising his eyebrows as if amazed and trying to make a little joke out of it.
Elion’s eyes softened, and he shook his head. “There’s an Old Earth saying. A bird and a fish might fall in love, but where would they live?”
“I guess that’s what we have to figure.” Kels turned to stomp his feet into his grav boots. “First we have to look at this whole situation objectively, which means stripping our emotions out of it and separating what we know for sure from what we only think we know. There might be gaps Sayal can fill in for us, but as far as knowledge about the SenVerse in general goes, we’re light-years ahead of her. She’s only been out on her own for about four months, she told me.”
Elion stood with his hands in his pockets, his gaze downcast. “Why us, though?” He brought up his eyes to peer at Kels. “Of all the beings in the SenVerse, why’d she pick us?”
Kels tipped his head. “Fate.”
“You believe in that?”
“Dunno. Got to play the hand you’re dealt, though, eh?”
He nodded slowly. He seemed to be coming to grips with the situation, thank the saints. All this emotional turmoil was fucking exhausting. Kels said, “When you’re ready, I’m sure she’d want to talk with you.”
Elion rubbed his cheek and sighed. “Crack, the things I said… She’s got to hate me.” He crossed his arms over his chest, shoulders slumped, the picture of abject misery. “For fuck’s sake, I held a pulsar on her. Why’d you give it to me? What if I’d shot her?”
“I knew you wouldn’t.”
“You take such chances.”
“When are you going to learn to trust me?” He held his friend’s gaze, though it pained him to see Elion in such heartbreak. “Now, listen. Sayal’s tucked away for the moment, and we’ve got to fold and fly. Then I need a run to sort my head.” He often did his best thinking on the ship’s treadmill and looked forward to sweating out some of the tension since no one was likely to be up to fucking it out. “Let’s you and me meet on the com deck around six-hour, and we’ll compare notes. What do you say?”
Elion nodded and looked at him thoughtfully. “You know, that’s the first time you’ve said you loved me when you weren’t drunk.”
“Yeah, I do feel bad about that. I’ve taken you for granted. Just figured you’d always be there for me, like you always have been.”
“And I always will.” Elion leaned into him and kissed him. He hadn’t shaved, and his light beard felt scratchy rubbing over Kels’s lips, but Kels’s body hummed with welcome and familiar sexual anticipation. He slipped his arms around his friend, drawing his lean, hard frame against his own. Yeah, he really did love Elion. It might not be exactly the same kind of love he had for the birds, but if El needed a cock up his ass now and then, Kels would be more than happy to oblige. He wouldn’t mind it right now in fact, but this kiss had more of a “glad we’re in this together” vibe, and Elion seemed far too sad for sex.
El broke the kiss first and finally smiled, though sorrow still touched it. “Doesn’t feel right without Sayal,” he said.
Kels pretended offense. “Are you saying now that I’m not man enough for you? Saints below. My ego is in at least the fourth level of hell right now.”
Elion laughed in his quiet, understated way; then he said, “Six-hour?”
Kels let him go. “Yeah. Puzzle it out, mate. Use that keen military mind of yours. We need an answer before we reach the Zone, else we need to figure where we can go where we’ll all be safe.”
“From a Prime and the Terran Armada if she’s right about that? Nowhere.”
Kels ruffled Elion’s short hair. “Such a downer, you are. There’s always a way.”
“Yes, Captain.”
The alarm began to chime. Ship needed folding. Kels rubbed his hands together. “Last chance to change course.”
Elion shrugged. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Another Old Earth saying. Means, all systems go.”
“All right, then.” Kels left him to go to the com, thinking as he sat in his chair and felt his way into the fold that they might be diving to their deaths. And just when they’d all come round to loving each other. Oh fuck.
But several hours later, Elion still had no easy solution.
“The smartest thing for us to do is to set her down somewhere,” he said, staring out into the red-blue rush of folded space. He sensed Kels go still sitting in his capta
in’s chair. They’d met on the com deck to discuss the situation, as arranged, but even after long pondering, Kels had little to offer beyond what they already knew, and Elion hesitated to voice what he’d conjectured.
“Where?” Kels asked after a moment.
Elion turned to his friend, who gazed at him with worried, serious eyes. “A large city where she could blend in. Cansault on Oribus Four, maybe. New Paris on the Celestine Ordinal? I don’t know.” He rubbed his hands over his face and saw blood and ice phantoms swirl behind his eyelids. He’d been blanking into the void for some time, pondering. “Far from the Conflicts, where she’d be safe.”
“You know and I know,” Kels said, “she’ll not be safe anywhere long as the Prime is looking for her.”
“If he’s been wanting her back, he could’ve snatched her on Aleut.”
Kels popped his knuckles. “Yeah, I did consider. There’s too many damned gaps.” Kels looked like Elion felt, tired and depressed and frustrated. Recommending they dump Sayal was the hardest thing Elion had ever had to say. He hated himself for it. He’d hoped Kels would jump on him, admonish him for being cruel, but instead the captain appeared to agree, and that was most depressing of all.
Elion drew a breath. “Kels…I could stay with her. Somewhere. Wherever we feel it’s safest for her. I could watch out for her.”
All right, perhaps that was the hardest thing he’d said. Kels’s eyes widened, and he stared at Elion for a moment, clearly trying to process what he couldn’t. Elion could almost hear his heart cracking down the middle. Fuck. He’d never been that sure of his captain’s love, but now… He knew it seemed he was choosing Sayal over Kels, but it was so much more complicated than that.
“She’s a weapon,” he tried to explain, opening his palm. “A danger, and the only way to contain that danger is to make sure she doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.” He gentled his tone. “It’s not because I don’t love you or don’t want to stay with you.”
“Well, how fucking noble,” Kels muttered, an edge of temper in his tone.
“I have more military training. It makes sense I should be the one to watch over her.”
Kels nodded, pressing his thumb and forefinger over his eyelids. “This is a fucking awful situation.”
“We could both stay with her,” Elion suggested, but even as the words left his lips, Kels idly ran his fingers over the arm of his chair and stared out the viewport. He loved his ship and his piratical life. Asking him to give it up was akin to clipping an eagle’s wings.
“Grounded,” he said, confirming Elion’s suspicions. In his heart, Elion had hoped Kels would agree with this angle. He could easily envision the three of them on a nice grass planet living out their days, but clearly it didn’t appeal to Kels. “I don’t know, El. Isn’t there any other way? Besides, it doesn’t solve the problem of the Prime creating others like her.”
“That’s out of our hands, I suppose.”
“I don’t like that answer. I want a way to solve the entire tangle.” He shook his head. “Dumping Sayal’s not an option. Neither is losing you.” Such an intense possessiveness filled Kels’s gaze, a wave of prickle flesh radiated over Elion’s skin. If he’d doubted Kels’s feelings, and he had in the past, those doubts were fast fading.
“I won’t have it,” Kels continued. “We’re in this together, mate. You, me, and her.”
“What about Keeva?” He almost didn’t have the guts to ask, but it needed airing.
After a pause, he said, “I don’t know.”
It was his boss’s big heart that kept him from blowing off the bird completely. Sensing a chink in the armor, Elion leaned toward him. “She doesn’t love you, Kels. She never did. Look at me. Who knows you better than I do? No one, that’s who. We’ve eaten, drunk, brawled, and bled together for the last five years, side by side. That bird—she only wanted you for your dick.”
Kels gave a sad, wry smile. “Et tu, Elion?”
Elion matched his smile. “Yeah, I want it too, but I want what’s attached as well. The whole life-support system.”
Kels sucked air through his teeth and rubbed his temple. “Such a romantic.”
“You know I love you.”
“I know.” He exhaled again, let his hands fall to the arms of his chair. “And what about Sayal?”
“How could she not love us, two great handsome blokes?” He tried a smile.
“Yeah. But that’s not quite the issue, is it?” Kels sat back in his chair. “Back when we were both fighting, while you were up in the deep, flying between the stars, I was down on the ground with the troops. Those enhanced guys I told you about; things went bad for them. They looked…different. Longer legs, bigger heads. One guy could see in the dark. His eyes were all silver, I’ll never forget.
“They did their best. You could tell they wanted to fit in, but few of the troops would accept them. I got friendly with Night-eyes. They were like children, El, like Sayal, naive and innocent, raised in a lab basically.” His pressed his fingertips together. “When the Earth First Council declared them illegal, the same soldiers they’d fought alongside for months didn’t hesitate to grab them. They didn’t put them down nice either. They tortured them first. Blazed a lamp into Night-eyes’s face. Strung up the runner by his legs. Gutted them alive. The EFC didn’t care. They just wanted them gone. Humans can be sick animals. Sick and twisted. Hardly worth fighting for sometimes.” He paused, lost in his dark memories, and then his focus came back to Elion. “That’s when I left. I packed up my gear and headed into Aleppo’s great desert.”
Where he’d found Elion and rescued him. Elion shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Not many did. The enhancement program came and went like a bad dream. Not a one was left alive, far as I know. I’ve always hated myself for not trying harder to save them. I don’t know what I could’ve done, but…something. Anything. They didn’t deserve what happened to them, any more than Sayal deserves to die or be dumped for being different.”
Chagrined by his captain’s gentle scolding, Elion dropped his gaze, but he had to be realistic. “You couldn’t save the enhanced troops. How’re we going to save Sayal?”
“Well, now we’ve come full round again.” Kels rubbed his chin, apparently stymied.
Elion wet his lips and hesitated, then said, “There is one option I’ve been rolling around. The EFC.”
Kels shook his head. “Those bastards? What about them?”
“They are bastards, but you know what they say. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“What are you digging at?”
“If we can get concrete evidence of the Prime’s doings and the armada’s involvement and report it to the EFC, they’ll take action. Don’t you think?”
“You’d ask them for help after what they did to the ‘hancers? After what they’ve done to Earth?”
“They’re the only ones with enough power to stop this.”
“But, Sayal—they won’t let her live once they get wind. Then we’ll have a third party on our tails, and frankly I’m more afraid of them than I am of the armada and the Prime combined.”
“We might be able to smooth a deal.”
“With the EFC? Think it through,” Kels warned. “They’re fanatics with assassins in every dark corner of the SenVerse. You can’t trust them.”
“They need never be aware of Sayal, only of the Prime’s experiments. She might be dead for all they know.”
“You’re cracked.”
“Listen. All we have to do is produce our evidence. Blood samples, hair samples. DNA, right? If Sayal can identify the armada generals she saw watching her, then we’re well on our way.” He could see Kels rolling the idea around in his mind, feeling the edges and corners of it.
“There’s still one large barrier to your plan,” Kels said. “Who can we trust in the EFC?”
Elion was silent a long moment. He clenched and unclenched his fists, then said, “I know someone. An EFC agent.�
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Kels looked at him with eyebrows raised. “You?”
“We met a long time ago. Before I knew you. We’d started out as enemies, both stranded on a forest moon. I was assigned to protect a senior warlord this bloke was supposed to kill. The warlord managed to get himself killed, which left the two of us with nothing to do. Except either kill each other—or fuck.” He lifted a shoulder and felt his face turning red. He couldn’t look at Kels. “There was more to it of course. A lot more.” He drummed his fingers on his thigh, remembering. It had been a strained but profound affair, a dark moment in his life, but lined with light as well. “I tried to turn him, bring him over to the armada. I thought I had him, but at the last minute he went back to the EFC.”
“It must be years since you set eyes on him.”
Elion sucked in his cheeks and shook his head. “Nah. Only a couple in fact. Remember Nightmute Station? The job we had there?”
“The weapons run, sure. That’s right. You did disappear for a time. I knew you were off with some fella.”
“That was him—Lowan. We recognized each other right away.”
“Saucy minx, you, trysting with an assassin.”
He didn’t share Kels’s humor about the situation. “He’s a tangled man. A good man, though he feels he’s too far gone for redemption. This is just the sort of thing that might appeal to him, though.”
“Can you still get hold of him? Is he trustworthy?”
“I think so. On both counts.” He considered carefully. “Is thinking so good enough?”
“It’ll have to be, mate.” Kels seemed pleased. “You provided the missing piece, El. That’s brilliant. It’s a good plan. It’ll work.”
Elion’s heart had begun to pound, his skin flushing with nerves and doubt. “What if it doesn’t? He is an assassin. What if I don’t know him the way I think I do? We’re taking an awful chance with Sayal’s life. What if I’m wrong?”
Kels threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know, Elion. Stop being such a depression. We’ve got a plan of sorts. Let’s get Sayal and fill her in.”
