“We mistakenly thought it would be nice to go for an evening walk last night,” Indigo said. “Or the other night. I have no idea what time it is. They took my phone.”
“Mine too,” Juanita lamented in a mournful tone.
The door slid open, interrupting the introductions.
Juanita half-expected someone to walk in with trays of food. If Star Guardians were the good guys, they would definitely think to feed their guests, wouldn’t they?
Sadly, the two uniformed men who strode in weren’t carrying trays. Their sleeves were rolled up, revealing tattoos identical in size, color, and placement to the one the green-haired man wore on his forearm. The man in the lead looked more like what Juanita expected from a soldier, or even an officer, with a clean-shaven face, angular jaw, and short brown and gray hair, a little mussed, but still within regulation. At least US Army regulations. He had a couple of scars, including one on his chin and another that had lopped off the corner of one eyebrow. He was lean and fit, and maybe six feet tall, but not as broad and brawny as the green-haired guy or many of the soldiers the women had passed in the corridors on the way to the rec room. He made Juanita think of Colonel O’Neill in Stargate SG-1.
The brown-skinned man walking behind him was younger, with some kind of fur draped diagonally across the torso of his black uniform jacket. He had a tidy mustache and goatee, and was without adornments other than the arm tattoo, but he had some impressive dreads that gave him a wild look as they fell to his butt. He made her think of Tyr from Andromeda.
A third man trotted through the door, and Juanita stood up, smiling. Orion.
He wasn’t in one of the uniforms, instead wearing the same sleeveless vest from before, his muscular arms fully on display. He stopped in the middle of the room to the left of the graying man. The brown-skinned guy took a position to the right. Though Orion was bigger and more muscular than the uniformed man beside him, as well as fifteen or twenty years younger, they had the same strong jaws and dark brown eyes.
“I’m Captain Sagitta,” the graying man said, touching his chest and looking around the room at the women. “I understand one of you has a translation chip already?”
Sagitta? Was this the person Orion had called Sage? He’d seemed much bigger in the armor.
“That’s me,” Juanita said.
Of course, everyone else wore blank looks at the non-English words.
Sagitta looked expectantly at Juanita. Was she supposed to translate for everyone?
“That’s the captain,” she told them.
“This is my tracker, Lieutenant Treyjon,” Sagitta said, gesturing to his right, “and this is Orion, a bounty hunter who’s working with us. If you saw him on the slaver ship, please know that he was working undercover.”
Orion frowned. Hadn’t he told her they were brothers? If so, was it odd that the captain hadn’t introduced him that way?
Sagitta raised his eyebrows at Juanita. Oh, right. Translations. She told the others what he’d said.
“Who among you is the leader?” Sagitta asked.
The leader? Were they supposed to have a leader? Most of them didn’t even know each other.
Nonetheless, Juanita translated the question.
After hesitating a moment, Tala stood up. She was probably the oldest of the women who’d been captured, so maybe it made sense, or maybe as a doctor, she was used to being in charge.
Juanita moved to stand next to her. She wasn’t a leader of anything, but she figured she had better stand by Tala so she could translate.
Orion smiled at her, and a feeling of warmth spread to her toes. He had a nice smile. He ought to make the gesture more often. His usual expression was more of a surly glower, one that seemed more pronounced when he stood next to Sagitta.
The three men walked closer to Juanita, Tala, and Angela. Before speaking, Sagitta opened his palm to reveal a couple of tiny silver chips.
“Uh oh,” Juanita said. “Ear doctor time.”
Tala frowned. “What?”
“I think that’s what Orion put in my ear.”
“Yes,” Orion said.
“They bite.”
Sagitta tilted his head to the side. “They’re not animate. They just sink into your skin enough to clamp on. It’s only painful for a second.”
“They bite,” Juanita repeated to Tala.
“We can communicate more easily with you if you wear them.” Sagitta handed one to the other man, Treyjon, and nodded toward Angela. Maybe she was also to be considered one of the “leaders” due to sharing a bench with Tala. “Miss Juanita, warn them that we will put the devices in their ears.”
It was an order, not a request, Juanita noted, but she translated. Captains were probably used to giving orders without saying please.
Warily, Tala turned her head so Sagitta could place the chip in her ear canal. If she experienced any warm tingling feelings from him fondling her ear, she didn’t show it. But Tala was always on the distant and aloof side, so Juanita didn’t know if she had warm tingly feelings.
Angela, on the other hand, smiled shyly at Treyjon. Until the thing bit into her ear. Then she stiffened and gasped.
He patted her shoulder, his expression surprisingly warm and sympathetic for someone rather fierce-looking who wore the alien equivalent of a bearskin. Sagitta didn’t offer any pats when Tala flinched at the bite, but Tala probably would have rejected them anyway.
“Your name?” Sagitta asked her, all business.
Tala jerked in surprise and touched her ear, but she recovered quickly.
“I’m Doctor—I mean, just Tala. This is Juanita and Angela.”
“Will there be food soon?” Angela asked, ignoring the marvel of the translation chip in favor of more pertinent concerns.
“Doctor?” Sagitta’s eyebrows rose, and he ignored the other question.
Surprisingly, Tala’s cheeks reddened. “No. I mean, I was a surgeon, but I… quit.”
“A surgeon? You have training? Experience?”
“Yes. I was a cardiothoracic surgeon for almost ten years. I only quit recently.”
“If you’re thinking of hiring her to replace Doc Svetloka, remember the planet she came from,” Treyjon said. “They don’t even have interstellar flight. Who knows what their doctors know?”
“Star Guardians don’t hire,” Sagitta said, then lowered his voice, “and I know you’re not accusing anyone of being primitive, Lieutenant.”
“I hope you’re not disparaging my planet, Captain.” Treyjon stroked his band of fur. “Just because we hunt zetrandi with spears doesn’t mean we don’t read books.”
“Is it hard to open the pages when they’re frozen together?” Orion asked.
“Not at all, but I wouldn’t expect you and the captain to understand, having grown up on such a soft planet. I hear you can press a button, and drones deliver food to your apartment in less than ten minutes.”
“Less than five if you’re in the heart of the city.”
Treyjon scoffed.
“Captain,” Tala said, “what’s to happen to us?”
“We’re on our way to our home port on the planet Dethocoles. It’s the seat of our government and also houses the military space fleet and Star Guardian headquarters. We’ll have to report in to our superiors, but I expect we’ll be allowed take you back to your planet after that.”
“You can’t take us home first?” Tala asked.
“I cannot. I have my orders. But this ship exists to protect people, even those who don’t know of the Confederation and Star Guardians. You have my word on that. You won’t be harmed. In the meantime, you and your people are our guests. Please feel free to use the facilities.” Sagitta gestured at the tables and the gym.
Oh yes, Juanita was going to take up weightlifting while she was on her first interstellar flight. Wouldn’t that be fun?
The game tables looked somewhat more interesting, but what she really wanted was to explore the ship. Would Orion be able to give her
a tour?
“Can we go anywhere we want?” Juanita asked.
For a brief moment, the most horrified expression crossed the captain’s face. Orion threw his head back and laughed.
“Is that a no?” Juanita murmured to Tala and Angela.
Tala shrugged back. Angela, who was looking at Treyjon’s tattoo, or maybe the defined muscles of his forearm, didn’t acknowledge the question.
“Of course not,” Sagitta said. “I was just—we have some areas that are secure, but perhaps tours of common areas of the ship can be arranged for those who are interested.”
“The captain is having a heart attack over the notion of grubby civilians leaving fingerprints on the pristine control panels on the bridge and in engineering,” Orion informed them.
“Not precisely,” Sagitta murmured. “After all, I let you touch them.”
“Only with the utmost reluctance, from what I’ve noticed.” Orion touched a hand to his chest. “I’ve been on enough fire falcon ships to know where the sensitive parts are. I’ll be happy to give the women a tour.” He smiled at Juanita.
She started to return that smile, but she noticed the captain frowning at Orion.
“You will not be alone with any of our guests,” Sagitta said coolly.
Orion’s eyebrows flew up, and he faced the captain. “What does that mean?”
“I’ve seen you looking at that one.” Sagitta waved to Juanita. “I do not trust your honor in this matter.”
“My honor? I’m the one who got wind of the slavers’ mission and told you about all this.”
“Only because you travel in those people’s orbits and make your life among criminals.”
“So I can have contacts among them. I know you’ve found it useful more than once that I’ve been able to get in touch with colleagues to send you information. Nobody would talk willingly to a Star Guardian.”
“Nobody unscrupulous, no.”
Juanita shifted her weight, made uncomfortable by the argument. She also worried she was causing some of the tension, however inadvertently. Had Orion been checking her out? She remembered him glancing at her boobs once, but not in an overtly lecherous manner.
Orion, glaring at Sagitta, stabbed his thumb into his chest. “I’m not unscrupulous. I can’t believe you would even say that.”
“You killed ten men in that engineering room.” The captain faced him calmly, his eyes cool but devoid of the anger in Orion’s. His cheeks weren’t flushed, either.
“In self-defense. And they were criminals, not tax-paying citizens. Don’t tell me you’ve never killed anyone to defend yourself or your crew, Captain.” He put a weird, accusatory emphasis on the rank.
Had the bench not been at Juanita’s back, she would have edged away. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try some of that gym equipment, after all.
Treyjon looked away from the argument and toward the exercise mats, as if he were considering the same thing.
“Not someone with an egatar chip, no.”
“I—what?” The fury and indignation in Orion’s eyes faded, replaced by uncertainty.
“Did you even look? Did it ever occur to you that there might be innocents aboard that ship? That some of the crew might be people who that Captain Cutty enslaved and then forced to join?”
“I know nobody in the first group had a chip on his forehead.” Orion looked to Juanita, that uncertainty still in his eyes.
She had no idea what they were talking about and could only shake her head.
“But the lights kept going out. I don’t know. I guess it’s possible—”
“It’s more than possible. It’s the truth. I saw the bodies, and I know your work.” A muscle ticked in the captain’s jaw. “I scanned the dead. The man with a chip was Argoneth Tanner from a wormhole research station outside of Zeta Colony. His station was raided last month by Cutty’s ship. As a scientist, he was doubtlessly a prize the captain didn’t want to sell on the cheap, and he may even be how Cutty learned that the gate we just went through had opened after being dormant for so long.”
“It was self-defense,” Orion said, but his argument was softer this time, much less passionate. “There wasn’t time to—”
“Then you don’t kill people, if that’s the case. You knock them on their asses, or you stun them. Why can’t you carry a stunner? By the gods, Orion. You’re twenty-eight years old. When are you going to consider consequences for your actions before you take them?” Sagitta’s face had been nothing but cold, but now emotion flashed across it. Anguish? “I’m honor bound to report that man’s death, Orion. His murder. And who was responsible. Further, the rest of those men, slavers or not, should have been tried, not killed outright.”
Sagitta thumped his fist against his thigh and strode toward the door.
“And stay away from the women,” he said over his shoulder before stalking out.
“I don’t carry a stunner, because criminals don’t take them seriously, and you get killed by someone with a double-firing bolt bow,” Orion muttered so softly that Juanita almost missed the words.
His cheeks were cherry red, and his fists were clenched at his sides. He avoided looking at her—he avoided looking at everyone. He stalked across the room, his back ramrod straight, and left without another word.
Only Treyjon remained, but he didn’t seem to know what he was supposed to do. The green-haired guard hadn’t left his position by the door, and he was keeping his face blank now as he gazed at a spot on the wall.
“Familial affairs,” Treyjon finally said.
He gave the women something akin to a salute and walked out.
“Does this mean we’re not getting any food?” Angela asked.
Juanita shook her head bleakly, confused about what exactly was going on, and more worried about Orion than about eating. He had captured her, yes, but they all would have been captured anyway. He had stuck his neck out to keep that asshole from raping her. And he’d protected them again in that engineering room. Surely, she owed him something. But what could she do to help in a world—in a universe—that she didn’t know?
11
“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not allowed to let you in.”
Orion scowled at the green-haired guard now standing outside the door to the rec room. A couple of hours had passed since he’d squabbled with Sage, and he’d realized he had left Juanita without talking to her or giving her the gift he had in his pocket. At least that gift gave him a legitimate reason to return. He had little else to do on this ship, and he would much rather converse with her than twiddle his thumbs in the cabin he’d been given.
“And why is that?” Orion asked.
“The captain’s orders.”
“He said I couldn’t go off alone with them, not that I couldn’t see them at all.”
“He told me not to let you in.” The guard lifted his shoulders and appeared apologetic, but he also didn’t look like he would budge.
Orion thought about trying to force his way in, but like all Star Guardians, the kid was in great shape and would have had excellent training. Granted, Orion was no pushover in a fight, and he’d studied under a master for a year on Vrangar 7 before getting into bounty hunting. He figured he could take the kid.
But to what end? He wasn’t going to kill anyone here, and the guard would simply call Sage and complain. Orion would end up confined to his cabin, if not to the brig. If what Sage had said about that research scientist was true—and as much as his brother irritated him, Orion had no reason to think him a liar—then he was surprised Sage hadn’t put him in the brig already.
What would happen when they reached Dethocoles? Would Sage truly report that he’d killed a citizen? Would the jurors have any benevolence in their hearts when Orion explained that it had been self-defense? And that in the dark, he hadn’t known…
He dropped his chin to his chest, bothered by what he’d done. It had been a mistake—who even would have thought that an innocent under the manipulation of an egata
r chip would be among those sent to engineering to help with repairs?
“Are you all right, sir?” the guard asked.
He sounded more wary than concerned, like he expected Orion to feign illness or come up with some other distraction in order to surprise him with an attack. Why did these people all think so poorly of him? Yes, he was a bounty hunter instead of a Star Guardian, but he captured criminals, the same as they did. He, too, protected humanity. He wasn’t a rapist, thief, or murderer.
Except, he apparently was a murderer.
He growled in frustration, and the guard’s hand dropped to the stunner on his belt.
“Sorry.” Orion stepped back and lifted his hands. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just having a bad day.”
The guard’s lips twisted. Orion wished another guard were on duty now, not the one who’d heard Sage’s condemning words.
“Listen, if I can’t go in, will you ask the woman with the blue-tipped black hair to come out here for a minute? I have something of hers, and I forgot to give it to her earlier.”
He had been too humiliated to even look at Juanita after Sage’s words. A part of him still wanted to hide in his cabin for the rest of the trip and never have to meet her eyes again. But she would go back to her own world eventually—hells, he’d promised to help ensure that happened—and then he would likely never see her again. It seemed a shame not to spend time with her while it was a possibility. Assuming she actually wanted to spend time with him. He truly had no idea. Before, he’d been the only one on that ship not being an asshole to her. Now… He looked at the green-haired guard, a handsome young fellow. One of dozens of handsome young fellows on the Falcon 8. If these women were like the rest of the human women in the galaxy, they would soon be drooling over the heroic Star Guardians. How would he look in comparison?
“What is it?” the guard asked suspiciously.
“This.” Orion dug the little device out of his pocket. Juanita had dropped it when running away from Bray, and he’d had a chance to recover it.
Orion: Star Guardians, Book 1 Page 9
