Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  “Not so different from his brother,” Adin said, ironically.

  It was getting harder and harder to split her focus, but she could tell she was getting close.

  “She told him that she needed a key. That she had to travel alone to retrieve it. He let her go.”

  “Most unwise.” Adin smiled.

  “Instead, she locked all the wonders…and left.”

  Adin stared at her and she could feel him, hell, she could almost see him, putting the pieces together.

  “What were the names of these two brothers?”

  “The elder was named Gaedon, but everyone called him Gadi.”

  He twitched slightly. Sara was so deep inside his head, she wasn’t sure if it was his brain or his body.

  “The younger son was named Dusan.”

  “That is not true.” His voice was intense, but controlled.

  There it was, the channel she’d been looking for.

  “There are no Dusan, no Gadi—just Garradians.”

  She stared at him as she reached into the channel…

  Adin’s eyes widened.

  Energy flashed along the connection before she could disconnect.

  It went through her mind like a ball of fire...

  * * * * *

  There was a flicker of light, a kind of power surge, and the connection with Donovan went down. Halliwell could see an immediate shift in the Dusan’s…fighting. Xever was back in control. He didn’t need the connection to see it. It was playing out in the battle. Xever wasn’t just back on board, he was pissed off. He threw his ships against them with no concern for the men in them.

  Donovan was dead or had been neutralized. That was the only explanation.

  “Major Loren, launch the outpost defenses at your discretion.” Halliwell spoke calmly. It was their last line of defense. And it would reveal the location of the outpost to the Dusan, to Xever. “And you might want to prepare to evacuate the non-combatants.”

  They had succeeded in cutting their way their way through the center of the Dusan Fleet, but now they were besieged on every side. As Halliwell began to think about his own possible retreat, it was as if Xever heard the thought. His ships began to flow around their positions.

  There would be no retreat from this fight.

  So be it.

  The Gadi and Garradian ships were taking major damage. Some had lost communications and part of their weapons. Debris drifted everywhere, some the shattered hulls of ships, theirs and Dusan.

  And in between, it seemed that every bit of space left was filled with the flash of missiles, explosions, weapons fire. The rattle of gunfire was louder now within the Doolittle and the yells of men in combat were audible during lulls in the battle. An out of control fighter smashed into the ship sending a shudder through the bridge.

  The HUD lit up, the Kikk outpost lit up with multiple bogeys, as Loren joined the fight.

  And it still wouldn’t be enough.

  “Shields are down to thirty-five percent.”

  Well, one thing is for damn sure, Xever is not getting my ship.

  He armed the self-destruct.

  * * * * *

  Fyn was only one level below Sara’s position now. Xever had moved her to that room where she’d killed herself.

  The one with the bed.

  At the moment, she was alone in there. Not moving. Would explain why she was alone. Still about fifty Dusan between him and her. Twice that behind him, but they weren’t a problem anymore.

  He checked the HUD. Someone had lived long enough to tip them off that he was in the outpost. Two groups were moving in on his position. At least ten men in each.

  He took out the lights in the corridor, lowered his night vision goggles, turned them on and waited for them to find him.

  * * * * *

  Sara woke slowly. Someone was pounding on her head with about twenty hammers.

  Crap. The nanites were trying to restore order. She could feel it. Lots of damage to repair. She went to rub her aching head and couldn’t. Her hand moved, just not toward her head. She tried the other one. It didn’t make it to her head either. She tried her legs. They seemed to be stuck, too. She opened her eyes, though she really didn’t want to. The light stabbed into them with punishing force. It took her a minute to figure out where she was.

  The Supreme leader suite. And how she was. Chained to the bed.

  Not good.

  Memory returned in a painful rush. Adin had slammed her out of his mind like a bat to a ball. The hit was almost out of the park. Okay, how bad was it. Was the baby okay? Had the energy feedback injured her—before she could finish the question, she could see her own womb. A golden net of nanites surrounded and protected the baby. Might have to rename the little suckers. They were acting more like nannies.

  That was the good news.

  Her vest was gone, radio with it, but she still had clothes on. That was good, too. Probably wouldn’t last, but at least she hadn’t been stripped while she was unconscious. Adin had done a lot of damage. Too many more of those and she’d be drooling down herself, despite the nanites. She needed to improve her situational awareness. She tapped into the outpost’s sensors. Dots all over the place. No way to tell which dot belonged to Adin. Wait, dots were disappearing. One dot seemed to be kicking their asses. Cool. Had Kalian managed to get one of his guys back down here? Or had Henderson sent a guy?

  She checked on the Dusan ships. Looked like both had been boarded. Small groups of dots were making larger groups of dots go away. Only way she could help, was to try again…

  Sara closed her eyes and reached out. Two transmitters down, two to go. At least now she knew the way. All she needed was time to get to it again. Not that it was going to be easy. Now that Adin knew she could get into the network, he’d be watching for her. Sara tapped in and stopped, waiting to see if he’d notice her—

  The door swished open. She wasn’t surprised to see Adin enter.

  “You are awake.”

  He seemed almost relieved.

  “I’ve got a bitch of a headache.”

  He pulled up a chair and sat down, capturing one of her hands. It wasn’t hard to do. Her range of movement was severely limited. She could probably have broken some of his fingers, but she couldn’t see the upside of pissing him off. A lot of downside, but no upside. He played with her fingers, his expression complicated.

  “You have locked the outpost again.”

  “Yes.”

  A small smile quivered on the edges of his mouth, but he managed to suppress it. He held her gaze with his as he bent and nibbled on her fingers. Not even a shiver.

  “Turn it back on.” He kissed the inside of her wrist, but his eyes watched her.

  He was close. It was easier to get in when he was close—

  “Stay out of my head, Sara. You’ll get damaged.”

  Sara lowered her lashes. “I’m going to get damaged anyway. I think we both know that I prefer damage to…this…”

  He shifted his butt from the chair to the bed, his mouth moving up her arm. It felt wet.

  “What you need from me, you won’t get this way.”

  He stopped. “I don’t need anything from anyone.” He looked at her, his gaze hard. “What I want, I take.”

  “Do you even know what you want?” She stared at him. “You think I came here to betray you, but that’s not the whole story.”

  “What is the whole story?”

  Sara wasn’t even sure. She knew that she felt compassion for him this time. Her father had made him this way. He was a monster but buried behind the monster, she thought she saw a longing for something different in his eyes.

  He produced one of her knives. Sara stiffened.

  “I was going to have my men strip you, but then I thought of this.” He put the edge of the knife under her tee shirt and cut, the cold edge of the knife sliding against her bare skin. “You cut up my gown. I’m going to cut up this uniform of yours. A little at a time.”

 
; His gaze devoured the skin he’d exposed. It was hard to concentrate. On the upside, he’d have a harder time, too.

  He bent down and put his lips on her bare stomach. His touch didn’t warm anything. The cold went deeper and it flowed outward from her heart, until she felt encased in ice.

  He looked up, as if he sensed her lack of response.

  Frustration was making a beachhead against desire.

  “You will have to come to terms with me, Sara.”

  “If those terms are friendship...”

  He leaned over her, his gaze roaming over her body, his hunger clear in his eyes.

  “Then get friendly.” He spread his hand across her bare stomach, his eyes watching her avidly.

  “You don’t need another companion, Adin, but I think you could use a friend. How could you trust anyone? Everyone in your life is just waiting, aren’t they?”

  His gaze narrowed. “Waiting for what?”

  “To take what you have. To be supreme.”

  He stared at her for what seemed like a long time.

  “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

  “What way is this?” His brows arched, but his gaze seemed conflicted.

  She moved the chains. “This way. If you force yourself on me, you’ll destroy the part of me that you’re drawn to.”

  “Such drama.” He shook his head. “The women I’ve been with are passionate and devoted to me. They would die for me.”

  “If their passion and devotion is so wonderful, why are you here with me?”

  * * * * *

  The bridge security teams set up behind shattered computer panels and trained their weapons on the entrances. The sound of small arms fire was almost deafening now and the time until the battle reached the bridge would soon be measured in seconds not minutes.

  Xever’s counter attack had been brutal…

  The Gadi and Garradian ships were barely functional and would soon be destroyed. The attack had softened suddenly though. Still no contact from Donovan, but Halliwell had some hope that while down, she might not be completely out.

  The cloaked ships were still kicking ass, but there weren’t enough of them and their time was running out too.

  Xever had deployed ships to assault the island outpost. Now it fought for its life, too. They were almost out of ammunition for the defenses that used ammo. Their power wouldn’t hold out forever either.

  The cloaked ships could retreat, but they wouldn’t. He knew his men. He’d picked all of them. He still had one hand left to play. He gripped his pistol with one hand and hunkered down behind the cover of his chair with his finger hovering over the manual self destruct, just in case. His ears were ringing from the gunfire in the corridor outside.

  He hailed all of his ships, waited for the connection. “Arm sierra delta on my mark.” Arm self destruct. It was a bitter moment.

  And to the Gadi he added, “We’ll give you time to retreat, Commander. Try to cover you.”

  “We will fight or die with you, Colonel.” Gaedon’s voice was calm and cool.

  “It’s been an honor fighting with, sir.”

  “And you, Colonel.”

  He cocked his pistol and waited.

  * * * * *

  Major Loren crouched behind the defensive barricade. On either side of him, men waited with automatic grenade launchers. He hoped to be able to hold the Dusan off long enough for the geeks and non-combatants to evacuate through the portal.

  The city still had some defensive canons. It was impressive to see them set the sky on fire over their heads. The Dusan assault force was taking a beating, but some of them had gotten through. According to tracking, he had about three hundred bogeys approaching his position. And more ships were making it through and landing.

  * * * * *

  Henderson and his team had captured the bridge, but it was turning into a trap, instead of a victory. Dusan soldiers were swarming their position from every direction. He hoped the Gadi assault team was having better luck.

  “Let me extract,” Perkins, who was piloting the ship said. “If you can get to—”

  “There’s nowhere we can get from here,” Henderson said calmly. “We’re completely cut off.”

  He’d run out of ammo ten minutes ago. Now he and his men were using Dusan weapons taken from the bodies around them.

  “I’ve got some weapons,” Perkins said. “Maybe I can distract them.”

  Henderson looked at the ship schematic, on the Dusan version of a HUD. “Target their propulsion. And then fall back and prepare to take out the outpost if Captain Donovan’s life signs go dark.”

  There was a pause. “Yes, sir.”

  Henderson opened fire as a squad of Dusan rushed onto the bridge. As he fired again and again, he felt the ship take the first hit. Warning lights began to flash on a console.

  Looked like Perkins hit the right spot. Good man.

  * * * * *

  Adin stared at Sara, as rage boiled up from inside.

  While she distracted him, men had boarded his own ship, taken control of his bridge. They would die, but it was an impertinence. Added to that was the suddenly revealed outpost on Kikk. He had known it was there, had searched for it but she had found it and turned it on. Then turned it against him.

  He wanted to hit her. He wanted to take her. He wanted her to feel what he did. Not even a quiver of emotion broke the surface of her gray eyes. It was as if only her mind lived. Her body was slack and indifferent.

  Her voice tempted him. Her light tempted him. He hated it, but it was the truth.

  He had killed his father to become the leader of his people. His brothers, too.

  Only strength mattered. This was the creed they lived and died by. That and purity of race. Do not let Dusan blood be tainted, his father had gasped with his last breath, as Adin stood over him.

  If she told the truth, it was not possible to taint their blood. They were all Garradian.

  If she told the truth.

  “Why should I believe you?”

  “Trust is a leap. You believe me or you don’t.”

  Trust was a trap. Trust was weakness. Trust was defeat.

  His father had trusted him. His father was dead.

  She was more dangerous than he had realized.

  Because he wanted to believe her. He wanted to see her smile one more time.

  Before he killed her.

  * * * * *

  Fyn took a hit to the leg from a stun gun and almost went down. As he lurched to the side, he spun and took out the bogey. A bunch of them swarmed him, almost forcing him to the ground. He bunched his muscles and stood up, flinging them in all directions. Then he made them go away.

  The corridor was clear. On the other side of the door, twenty more bogeys waited for him.

  He used his M-4 for support. He had to make it through that door. He had to get to Sara. He didn’t know why or how, he just knew he was running out of time. She was running out of time.

  * * * * *

  Sara felt Adin take her hand, his clasp gentle as he stroked the fingers. He set the knife aside.

  That was probably good, wasn’t it? So why was her spider sense tingling?

  His lashes lifted and he looked at her. In his eyes she saw good-bye.

  “You are right. I prefer to remember you like this.”

  He was going to kill her.

  “You made your case very well.” A hint of patronizing filtered into his voice. “But you do not know me. You do not know my people.”

  He stroked her hair back off her face.

  “You are more dangerous like this than when you are fully armed. You would steal my will, my strength.”

  “I’m not trying to steal anything, Adin.” Sara swallowed dryly. “I’m trying to free you from the false traditions of the past.”

  But she could tell he was slipping away from her, back into those false traditions, back into the safe comfort of the familiar. He’d rather be right than happy. It was crazy, but it was the
truth.

  Even as he smiled at her, his hands reached for her throat…

  Sara slammed into his head, pushing her way through the tangled network for that one, crucial channel…

  He cried out.

  He fought back.

  With his mind.

  With his hands.

  They were around her throat, squeezing off her air as his mind battled hers…

  Stars spun across her horizon. The edges were going dark…

  She wasn’t going to make it…

  * * * * *

  By the time Fyn reached the door, the nanites had restored most of his function. Had to like that. An alarm went off inside his head. Sara was in trouble. He could feel it.

  He went through the doorway like the wrath of the gods, firing everything he had. As he plowed into the Dusan phalanx, he used weapons, elbows and feet, scattering them. He cleared a path, but there were still some alive. He fired back over his shoulder as he ran for the last door between him and Sara.

  He flung it open with his mind. As he came in, he saw Xever kneeling over Sara, his hands around her neck. Xever’s eyes widened in shock.

  Fyn fired once, then again. The force of it flung Xever off Sara and against the wall. He slumped to the floor.

  Fyn closed the gap. The bastard had chained her again. Her neck was livid where his hands had squeezed. For long, agonizing minutes, he couldn’t find a pulse. He bent over her, giving her the CPR he’d learned from Carey. Forcing his air into her lungs. Forcing her heart to keep pumping.

  Finally, when he didn’t know if he could keep going, her chest heaved and she took a breath on her own. Then another.

  He collapsed beside her, his hand stroking the hair off her face. He murmured her name over and over.

  * * * * *

  The gunfire stopped. Silence spread throughout the ship. Two Dusan ships collided and exploded from an easily avoidable collision. The rest just…froze, hanging in space like cardboard cutouts.

  “What just happened?” Halliwell looked around the bridge for answers his people didn’t have either.

  “I don’t know, sir.” Finally someone spoke.

  “They just stopped firing.” This from someone else.

  The silence was as intense as the noise had been. People began to emerge cautiously from behind their makeshift barricades.