by S. E. Smith
Ariel grew pale as she saw terror flicker through Trisha’s eyes for a moment. “Come on.”
All three women took off down the corridor at a run following Trisha. They knew if anyone could find their way back to the transporter room, it would be Trisha. Trisha mentally retrieved the map she had drawn in her head from the time of their arrival until they were escorted to their cabins: first the transporter room to medical then from medical down to their rooms. She quickly reversed the path. They met a few men in the corridors but none seemed willing to stop them. It could have either been the frantic pace they were keeping or the threatening glare Carmen was sending them, either way Trisha was thankful. She was trying hard not to show how much pain she was in. Before long, Trisha skidded to a stop outside a set of doors.
“This is it.” Trisha gasped. She started to move forward but Carmen put her hand out.
“Let me go first. I know you can handle it but I saw how much it hurt you when you kicked that guard.” Carmen said softly.
Trisha started to protest but stopped and nodded. Carmen was right. She was paying for that kick. Her entire leg was throbbing and it felt like she was being seared with hot pins up and down it. Trisha took a step back and motioned for Carmen to go ahead of her. Ariel took up the rear.
“Thank you.” Trisha said softly. “Let’s do this. I want to go home.”
Carmen squared her shoulders and rolled her head side to side before she moved towards the door. As it slid open, Trisha quickly scanned the room noting where every man stood. She gripped the larger knife in her hand but kept the smaller one tucked safely in the borrowed pants she was wearing. Several of the men glanced up with the door opened, popping to attention when they saw the three women silhouetted in the doorway. One of the men started forward. As soon as he was close, Carmen struck out, grabbing his arm, pulling him forward off balance, and twisting at the same time until she had his arm pinned behind him and a knife held to his throat. When he started to struggle Ariel stepped forward and held the dismantled chair leg up under his chin, forcing him to raise it to an uncomfortable level.
Trisha held the larger knife out in front of her keeping the other men who started forward to stand back.
“Just stay where you are.” Trisha said quietly. She glanced at the man standing in front of the console to the transporter. “I want you to beam us back down to our planet. Do you understand? I’m not asking, I’m telling you.”
Trisha counted five men in the transporter room. One by the console, two over by a panel near the platform, the one they held, and one on the far side of the room. She motioned for the two men near the platform to move back.
“Go to the back with the other man.” Trisha said harshly. She needed to remain focused. She was a soldier now. She breathed in and out through her nose pushing away the pain, the fear until she found the calm center within the storm. “Ariel, make sure no one can get into the room.”
Ariel gave a warning glance to the man she was holding the chair leg to and took a small step away from him. She never turned her back but moved in slow, cautious steps backwards. Glancing behind her briefly, she gripped the chair leg tightly and swung with all her might, driving it into the panel. Sparks flew as the damaged panel hissed.
“Done.” Ariel said with a grin.
Carmen looked like she almost had a smile on her face. It was the closest to one Trisha remembered seeing in the past three years. “You know, I haven’t had this much fun in years. We should get together more often. I know this great little bar down in Mexico…” Carmen was saying before a loud thump sounded on the outer door to the transporter room. “Uh-oh, I think we have company.”
Kelan was beyond furious. His warship had never taken as much damage as it had in the last three days since they brought the females on board. After he finally got into his cleansing room and found it empty, he discovered that Trisha had destroyed the inside control panel. He didn’t know how she was able to get out of his living quarters but he was going to find out and prevent it from happening again. He then tracked her to the other females living quarters only to discover his men just regaining consciousness. They did not have their symbiosis with them at the time thinking it wouldn’t be necessary. His symbiosis, in the meantime, was just finishing reshaping after it had flowed through the hole it created in the cleansing room door.
“Where is she?” Kelan growled out to his symbiosis. It shook itself from the tip of its snout to the tip of its spiked tail. It was back into the shape of a Werecat. Kelan stood aside as it moved swiftly towards the door.
Kelan glanced once at the three men who were just beginning to sit up and sighed. He barked out a command for medical assistance for them and for their symbiosis to be called to the females’ living quarters. He stormed out of the cabin yelling for several of the warriors who were gathered outside the room to follow him. His fury became red hot as soon as he realized where the females were heading. He was almost to the transporter room when the alarms began sounding.
“What is it now?” Kelan bit out in response to the call from his chief of security.
“Trelon’s mate has started a flood in docking bay 4.” Jarak said in a weary voice.
“A WHAT?” Kelan asked startled.
“A flood.” Jarak replied. “From the looks of the programming in our environmental controls, it appears she was working on creating rain in space. It worked.”
Kelan shook his head and wondered what he had ever done to deserve this. He always tried to live his life along the guidelines set forth as a Valdier warrior. So what if he strayed a time or two, it wasn’t as if he deserved such punishment for a few slips.
“Clean it up and try to find out how she was able to get into the environmental system. I want her locked out of everything! And, see if you can get Trelon to tie her down.” Kelan added thinking that wouldn’t be such a bad idea for his Trisha.
Kelan paused outside of the transporter room doors when it didn’t open automatically. He called out a series of command codes, but it still wouldn’t open. Kelan slammed his fist against the solid door in frustration. Closing his eyes, he sought the cool, calm center that had kept him alive for so long and discovered it had been shot to hell. The only thing he could find deep inside him was his dragon laughing its ass off at its mate’s shenanigans. Fat lot of help you are! Kelan muttered crossly. Kelan’s dragon just rolled over, overcome by mirth.
Opening his eyes, he turned to one of the warriors standing near him. “Get me a tool kit immediately.”
“Yes, Commander.” The huge warrior said with a surprisingly stoic look to his face.
Unfortunately, his eyes gave away his true feelings. He was enjoying the surprising drama the females brought on board the warship way to much. Kelan sighed as he watched the warrior hurry down the corridor. Traveling for long periods in space could be very boring. Since the end of the Three Wars, they had little to worry about as far as threats. On occasion, a renegade pirate ship might attack when it accidently mistook the V’ager as something other than the power warship it was. It was a mistake it never made again as Kelan made sure it was destroyed. Kelan shook his head. He was ready for a nice pirate ship to come along right about now so he could blow it to pieces since he couldn’t do that to the aggravating females who were systemically destroying the V’ager.
The warrior returned quickly with the tools Kelan needed to remove the panel and engage the manual control. He really hoped the females hadn't destroyed the transporter room. Trelon had just finishing fixing it from the first time they were in there. He didn't think his brother would be too happy if he told him it had been destroyed again. Kelan dropped the cover to the floor of the corridor and went to work on the wiring. From the sparks he was getting, he had a feeling the females destroyed the inside panel like they did in their living quarters. Kelan reached for the manual override bar and began pumping it open just far enough so he could get his hands into the crack that opened. Straining, he slowly pulled the doorway o
pen far enough for one of the warriors to stick a metal bar into it to keep it opened. Kelan stepped through the opening and sighed heavily. Yes, he thought in resignation, tying them up was beginning to sound pretty damn good.
Kelan just stood looking at the situation before him wondering what in the hell to do next. His mate was banishing his shaving knife at Tulex who was standing at the transporter console looking at her with a combination of amusement and lust, the crazy female who had a tendency to hurt all of his warriors was poking a knife into Burj’s throat, and the other crazy one was swinging a piece of a broken chair at the other three warriors while begging them to ‘take a piece of me’. Kelan ran his hands through his hair, threw back his head and roared out his frustration.
“Enough!” Kelan growled out, staring at the three females.
Normally when Kelan growled, roared, glared, or showed any signs of losing his tightly controlled self-discipline, the warriors and more than a few of his enemies were smart enough to run in the opposite direction. Why he ever thought these females would react the same way was beyond him. They just looked at him like he was the one with the problem and raised their eyebrows before turning back and threatening his warriors again. He really needed to kill his older brother for landing on that stupid planet, or at the very least, beat the shit out of him. As he gazed at his mate, he grudgingly admitted she looked beautiful pointing that knife at Tulex. Though, Kelan admitted to himself, if Tulex didn't quit looking at Trisha with lust in his eyes, he might gladly gut the bastard for her.
“What is going on?” Kelan asked with a resigned sigh.
“The females are demanding we transport them back down to their planet. I have tried to explain to them we left it three days ago and are not even near their galaxy anymore.” Tulex said wincing as Trisha jabbed him with the point of the shaving knife.
“And I told you to take us back!” Trisha said angrily. “I have to go home.”
Kelan crossed his arms and looked sternly at Trisha then the others. “There will be no going home for any of you. This is your home now.”
Burj made a distressed noise when Carmen tightened the knife at his throat. “Commander, I don’t think they like that answer.” He choked out as a thin line of blood trickled from the small cut on his neck.
“Oh, quit being a big baby. I didn’t mean to cut you.” Carmen muttered under her breath. “If I had meant too, you would be dead.”
Trisha looked at Kelan, really looked at him for the first time. “You are the commander of this ship?” She asked hesitantly.
“Yes, my name is Kelan Reykill. I am the commander of the V’ager. Now, will you please quit threatening my men and return to my living quarters? We can discuss this in a much less destructive way.” Kelan said gently. She really was beautiful standing there biting her bottom lip and looking at him with a vexed expression on her face.
Trisha paused for a moment before replying. “No.” Trisha said firmly, turning back to Tulex and poking him again. “I want to go home. Now! Since you are the commander, you can tell him to turn this thing around and take us home.” Trisha said in a firm, determined voice.
“We all want to go home right now.” Carmen gritted out. “You had no right to take us away from our planet without our permission.”
Kelan turned to look at Carmen before he addressed her coolly. “I do not require permission from anyone. All of you had seen too much. Might I remind you, you would have died had I not intervened on your behalf. All of you are now my guest aboard my warship. I would appreciate it if you would cease threatening my men and damaging it. It is beginning to make me very angry.” Kelan no sooner finished that statement when the alarms sounded again. A moment later he heard Jarak’s voice in his communicator.
“What now?” Kelan snapped out.
“Trelon’s mate again.” Jarak replied anxiously.
“What has the human female gotten into this time?” Kelan asked impatiently. He was trying to deal with the situation in front of him and did not have time to hunt for the other human female. Trelon needed to get her under control, immediately.
“She was running different tones in engineering. The good news is we are getting power levels never seen before from the crystals.” Jarak said in surprise.
Kelan rubbed a hand across his eyes. His head was beginning to ache badly. If his symbiosis hadn’t abandoned him, it would be no problem. Unfortunately for him, it was currently laying on the floor next to Trisha watching her carefully.
“What is the bad news?” Kelan muttered darkly.
“It appears all the symbioses currently assigned to help in engineering are drunk and wrecking it.” Jarak responded hesitantly.
“Take care of it. I don’t know and I don’t care how, but take care of it.” Kelan growled back before signing off.
“What other human female?” Ariel asked suddenly.
“The tiny one you call Cara. She is a pain in my…” Kelan began before Tulex interrupted him.
Trisha bit her lip as she listened to the conversation going on over the sound of the alarms. She was trying to not focus on the spasms of pain that were running up and down her leg and into her back. She wasn’t sure how much longer she would be able to stand. It was taking everything inside her not to cry out as the needles became sharper and sharper. She tried to relieve the pressure by moving most of her weight to her other leg but that just made her back worse. Small beads of sweat started breaking out on her forehead as the nausea started to build in her stomach. She wouldn’t let her friends down. She couldn’t. She was tough. Her dad taught her techniques on how to ignore pain. Trisha tried to remain focused on breathing through each spasm but the pain was becoming unbearable. Trisha was in so much pain she was unaware of the two tiny symbioses on her wrists moving in aggravation as they sensed her increasing discomfort.
“Commander.” Tulex called out softly. His eyes grew wide with concern as he saw the pain darkening Trisha’s already dark brown eyes to black. He was closer to her so he was able to see the sweat on her brow and how she turned from pale to almost sheet white.
Kelan jerked his head around when he heard the thread of concern in Tulex’s voice. “What?”
Tulex was about to reply when a particularly sharp pain swept through Trisha clouding her vision. She was unable to hold back the cry of pain as her muscles tensed up into severe spasms. Trisha felt herself falling as her legs went out from under her.
Carmen muttered a curse and thrust Burj away from her spinning and rushing for Trisha at the same time Ariel threw her chair leg at the three men and sprinted across the room. Both of them were still behind Kelan, who reached Trisha first and took her from Tulex’s arms. Kelan slowly lowered Trisha to the floor. Trisha’s eyes were closed and her teeth gritted as the waves of pain radiated throughout her body. Her hands were clenched so tightly into fists, Kelan couldn’t open them. His symbiosis circled around him and was pressing close to Trisha, spreading fine threads of gold all over her body as it searched for the cause of her pain.
“Get away from her.” Carmen said roughly to Tulex as she moved to kneel down next to Trisha’s head. She was wiping her hand across her brow. “Breathe deep, sweetheart, and try to relax as much as you can.” She kept repeating over and over softly.
Ariel moved down to Trisha’s leg and began massaging it. “I should never have let you take on those men.” Ariel said in remorse as she continued to massage Trisha’s calf and thigh muscles. “You need to tell us when you are in pain before it gets too bad. You know what happens if you push too hard.”
“What is wrong with her?” Kelan asked desperately. His eyes were focused on the pale, clammy face of his mate. Tiny white lines of pain were etched around her mouth and she was trying to breathe deeply through her nose; but instead, small quick gasps were slipping past her tightened lips.
His symbiosis was moving over Trisha’s entire body, pausing and shaking as she moved. He laid his hand on top of it so thick gold bands would form arou
nd his wrists and he could connect to what it was doing to his mate. His breath caught in his throat as wave after wave of intense pain flooded him.
“What is wrong with her?” Kelan demanded harshly glaring first at Carmen then at Ariel.
Carmen just shook her head and looked away. When Kelan realized he would get nothing out of her, he turned his gaze on Ariel, daring her to not tell him. His mate was obviously in excruciating pain and he wanted to know why.
Chapter 6
Trisha rolled over frowning. She stared up at the ceiling focusing on her body. She didn’t hurt. She slowly moved her feet back and forth and up and down. Nope, no pain. She thought confused. She pulled her knees up slightly, waiting for the pain in her lower back to warn her she had been lying still too long. Nothing! She lifted her arms up and stretched towards the ceiling rotating her wrists back and forth, still nothing, nada, zip. Where was the pain through her shoulders and neck? A movement on the bed next to her made her smile. Turning her head, she let out a small yelp. Instead of the big golden dog she was used to seeing next to her there was a huge, dark haired man with golden eyes.
