by Liza Probz
She could feel her palms start to sweat, becoming more slippery on the cool metal bars. Just a few more feet.
Suddenly she lost her grip and started to fall. Brook closed her eyes, not wanting to see the sharp metal edges below before they cut her to pieces.
Then a hand was holding her as she swayed above certain death, Ontarii having kept her from falling.
“I’ve got you,” he grunted, then with one hand he proceeded to move himself along the bar and over to the ledge. “Just hold on and don’t look down, okay?”
“Okay.” She tried like hell to keep the terror out of her voice. Her position and pride were everything to her.
When they were close enough, Brook managed to swing herself over and land on the ledge. She scooted down to make room for the major.
He leapt off the bar, making it look easy, like he was an Olympic gymnast ready to claim his gold medal.
She looked up into his midnight eyes. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “No problem. Now, get moving.”
Chapter 9
Ontarii was frantically trying to catch his breath without letting his companion know how shook up he was.
The female had almost fallen to her death, and if he hadn’t caught her, he’d be left alone in the cursed engine room with no idea how to get back to the bridge, let alone explain to her crew what had happened.
But worse than that, he would have had to watch the female be sliced apart by the wicked metal frames below them. Although she annoyed and frustrated him, and although they’d only known each other for less than an hour, the thought of watching the human female’s death was more unsettling than he could have predicted possible.
What was it about her that got under his skin? He wasn’t sure, but regardless, he wanted her alive and with him for the moment. He never would have thought that he would have found a human woman attractive, but something about Captain Brooklyn made his blood run hot. At first he’d thought it was anger. Now he wasn’t so sure.
“You’ve gone red.”
He blinked at her statement. “What?”
“Your skin.” She pointed to his arm. “It’s red.”
Ontarii looked down to where she was pointing. She was right. He’d turned a deep maroon color due to his anxiety.
“Never mind that right now. We need to get out of this chamber and back to the bridge.”
She nodded, then carefully turned herself and slid along the wall to the ventilation panel. Slowly removing the panel, she set it aside on the ledge and then climbed into the hole it revealed.
The opening was small, and Ontarii had to delicately maneuver himself into the gap. Once inside, there was very little room to move.
In front of him, the human captain was already crawling forward on her hands and knees. This afforded Ontarii with a prime view of her rounded bottom. He wasn’t expecting the reaction it invoked. A tendril of pleasure shot through his body and forced him to arousal.
You’re being ridiculous. This shit is dangerous and you’re a moment away from the chance of death, and all you can think about is the human female’s body. Focus!
He chalked his unexpected lust up to the adrenaline caused by her near-death experience. The major had seen many humans, in holographic form, and his body had never had a reaction like this one. He forced himself to shrug it off.
Ontarii started forward again, almost having to squeeze himself through the narrow confines of the ventilation shaft.
“It gets really tight at this juncture here,” she said, pushing around the corner.
Ontarii took a deep breath. He started bending, trying to shift his broad shoulders around the corner. It seemed to be working, or maybe not.
He was stuck, half his body around the curve, the other half trapped behind him.
“Wait,” he called to the captain who was already several feet down the shaft. “I’m stuck.”
She carefully maneuvered her body to turn around and headed back to him. She was very flexible, and the realization didn’t help the swelling that was currently taking place under his uniform.
“Can you move at all?” she asked, inspecting his position in the shaft.
Ontarii attempted to push himself forward, then backwards. Nothing happened. “No.”
“Well, I don’t have anything to grease you down with to make it easier,” she said, biting her lip as she studied the situation.
Her words, combined with the way she chewed her lip, made his heart beat harder in his chest. When she moved closer to try and tug on his left shoulder to free it, he had to force his breathing to settle.
Where she touched him, electric shivers pulsed through him at the contact.
“You’re wedged in there good,” she said, licking her lips in concentration.
“Stop licking your damn lips, female,” he growled and narrowed his eyes at her.
“What?” She locked onto his gaze with confusion in her eyes. “Stop bitching at me about my habits or get yourself unstuck.”
He ignored her and concentrated on not groaning at the sight of her pretty pink tongue. Why the hint of her little tongue seemed so erotic was beyond him, but the dull ache inside of him and the full erection between his thighs was proof of her power.
Get your head on straight.
He ignored the desire coursing through his veins and tried to hold his breath, pushing his shoulder a little here and there.
She moved closer and her scent rolled over him. It was fresh and clean, something he wasn’t quite familiar with, something entirely exotic and uniquely hers. Concentrate on freeing yourself and think inappropriate thoughts about the woman later!
There was a sudden banging noise, and the sound of an alarm echoed through the ventilation shaft.
“Oh no,” Captain Brooklyn said, her face turning white. “Oh no, no, no!”
“What is it?”
“That’s the propulsion alarm. Someone’s plotted a course and the engines are beginning to cycle. We have less than a minute to get out of this shaft or we’ll be burned faster than an ant under a magnifying glass.”
Ontarii wasn’t sure what an ant was, but he knew the chances of survival were terribly bad for them.
“We’ve got to get you out of here.” She pulled hard against his shoulder.
Ontarii pushed, trying to help her, but he didn’t move an inch.
“Leave me,” he said through gritted teeth. “Save yourself.”
“No one gets left behind on my crew,” she said, pulling with all of her might.
“I’m not a part of your crew. You owe me nothing. Now get out of here!”
The captain’s eyes narrowed and her face took on a stubborn cast.
“Think small thoughts and shift your hips to one side,” she told him, then proceeded to squeeze through the space between his legs and shoulder. Once behind him, she laid on the shaft floor and put her feet on his back.
“Okay, here we go.” She pushed with her legs. Her legs were apparently stronger than her arms, and when Ontarii added his force to hers, he finally popped free and slumped around the corner.
“Get moving,” she yelled from behind him, pressing against his backside to push him forward. He ignored the jolt of energy he felt at her touch and started crawling forward as fast as he could.
The alarm wailed behind them, setting his teeth on edge. He scrambled forward, moving as rapidly as he could, and yet it didn’t feel nearly fast enough.
“We’ve got twenty seconds at the most,” the human shouted from behind him.
“Almost there, I think,” he said, and reached the end of the shaft. There was a panel that resembled the one they’d taken off in the engine room and he immediately set about removing it.
Captain Brooklyn shuffled up beside him and helped. Her hands were shaking hard as she pushed against the corner of the panel. At last it popped free and the two of them jumped down from the shaft and into the cargo bay.
“We’ve got to get this panel back in place,” s
he said, holding it back into position and motioning him to help. “If the engine blasts off, the energy pulse will blow down the shaft and right out of this open panel. We’ll still be fried.”
They worked quickly, Ontarii making sure that the sections were back in place. The alarm cut off suddenly and there was a hard jolt against the ship.
“That’s the engine. Someone is trying to move the ship.”
Ontarii turned to face the captain.
Her expression was grim, her hands at her sides and curled into tight fists.
“Let’s go find out what’s happening.” He jerked his head to indicate that she should lead the way.
She began jogging across the cargo bay toward the exit, her long legs carrying her away from him quickly. The fact that she was in shape and able to keep up with him turned him on far more than he expected it to.
Ontarii followed, trying to keep a lid on his thoughts and failing miserably. He was furious that she’d risked her life to free him. She should have left him and taken care of herself.
But she’d stayed, and she’d saved his life. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
They rushed out of the cargo bay and into the adjoining corridor, Captain Brooklyn leading the way to the bridge. There was another loud sound, the screech of metal on metal, and then the feeling of movement.
“We’re heading somewhere.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “I wonder where.”
“We shouldn’t be heading anywhere,” he responded through clenched teeth. “There’s no way your ship could have broken the tractor lock by itself.”
Before she could answer they were through the door and into the corridor outside the bridge. It was empty and eerily quiet. The human captain ran to the bridge door and hit the button to open it.
Nothing happened.
She banged on the door with her fist. “Open up in there!”
Still nothing.
Turning back to him with wide eyes, she shook her head. “What the hell is going on?”
Ontarii frowned. I wish I knew.
Chapter 10
Brook didn’t understand what had happened. An hour ago they’d been calmly headed towards JL-398. In the last hour she’d made first contact with an alien species, been zapped by bioelectricity, watched her crewmember plunge to his death, and narrowly avoided joining him on the other side.
What a difference an hour makes.
Now she was locked out of the bridge, and her ship was headed into the unknown, having broken free of the Zantharian flagship that had held it. How had the ship detached itself? And could she expect a retaliation blast from the flagship?
“This is Major Ontarii,” she heard, turning her head to watch the alien commander as he spoke into a device that must have been tied into the intricate knot on his right shoulder. “Report.”
No reply.
He fussed with the knot, repeating himself. “This is Major Ontarii to the Zantharian flagship. Come in.”
The alien’s face was bleak. “Communications are out.”
“Great,” Brook muttered and turned back to the door to pound against it. Once again she got no response.
Moving to the panel beside the door, she worked to get the covering off. “I’ll pop the manual override. Hopefully we’ll have better luck here than in the engine room.”
“We need to re-establish communications with my ship as soon as possible.” The major’s voice was firm and demanding.
“Of course, boss,” she said, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her tone. “I’ll get right on top of that.”
Brook fiddled around in the panel compartment until she found the lever for the manual release. She tugged it upwards and the door slid outwards an inch so that she was able to grab the edge.
Ontarii beat her to it, putting his large hands on the edge and yanking the door open.
Brook pushed past him and into the chamber that served as her ship's bridge, finding it completely empty.
"Where is everybody?" she asked, half to herself. She hurried to the navigation console. A course had been set, apparently towards JL-398, or Zanthar, as her companion had named it.
Ontarii scowled at the empty bridge. "Bring up your external display."
Brook rankled at his tone but punched in the command to bring the exterior view on the screen. She focused on the emptiness before her, confused. They seemed to be alone in space.
She changed the display from the front view to the rear. Since they'd just disengaged from the flagship, it should be visible on the display screen. But there was nothing there.
Ontarii moved up beside her. "Where are the controls for your sensors?"
Brook pointed, pulling up the ship's log and leaving the major to figure out the sensor controls on his own. "According to the log, the coordinates were set, propulsion was engaged, and then...nothing."
The small escape pod had not been launched. None of the external hatches had been opened. According to the log, her crew should still be there. Somewhere.
"If I'm reading your primitive device correctly, there is not another ship within two astronomical units. Which makes no sense, because our defense perimeter requires that our ships be within one AU of each other."
Ontarii's face was a battlefield. Anger and frustration warred with concern, and his color was changing again, becoming a sort of mustard yellow with stripes of red appearing here and there.
The color changes must be connected to something. They can't be random.
All thought left her head when he turned his midnight eyes in her direction.
"Captain Brooklyn, I'm afraid the Hareema have infiltrated the flagship. There's no way your ship could have detached without help from outside. My crew knows better than to disobey an order and break the defensive line. An enemy agent is the only thing that makes sense."
"How could they have gotten over to your ship without detection? Don't you have safeguards set up to expose any enemy infiltrators?" Brook recalled the shock she'd received to prove she was the human only an hour before.
The major nodded. "We've got safeguards, but the enemy may have become familiar with our protocols. We may not be able to root the agent out until it's done some damage. It can take on any shape, including my own."
The idea sank into Brook's mind, bringing with it the realization that she could run into a double of herself while attempting to complete her mission. There could already be a false Captain Brooklyn, telling her crew to do God knows what.
"I need to communicate with my ship," Ontarii said. "Can you make that happen?"
Brook slid over to the comm, and was instantly dismayed by the number of red lights blinking on the console.
"Shit," she muttered, trying to get into the system and failing. "I'm locked out of the communication systems and I can’t even begin to figure out how to break in."
She needed the ship's engineer, but even with Talia's assistance, she wasn't sure if the alien would be able to reach his ship. Moving back to the navigation console, Brook determined that, at their course and speed, it would take approximately twelve hours to reach JL-398, er, Zanthar.
She stood and headed for the door, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.
"Where do you think you're going?" The major's voice was harsh and gravelly.
"I'm going to check the ship, to see where my crew is hiding."
"Not alone you're not." He turned her to face him. "From this point forward we are not out of each other's sight. That's the only way to make certain that neither of us is an imitation."
Brook stared up into his handsome face. She refused to be distracted by his striking eyes and classic good looks. "You know, I've been a good sport thus far, but it’s damn well time that you stopped bossing me around."
His face tightened as he stared down his nose at her. "Frankly, I don't care what you think. This is one order you will follow."
"Or what?" she asked, anger blasting through her veins.
He cocked an eyebrow at
her. "I don't make empty threats, little human. You will stick to me like glue, or you'll undergo another one of my shocks."
"Sadist," she spit back at him. "You bullied your way onto my ship and have been giving me orders ever since. I don't appreciate it, and I don't have to obey you."
He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a shake. "Stop playing games, little girl. This isn't the time or place."
"Let me go," she growled through gritted teeth, trying to pull away from the much larger major, but she couldn't break his grip.
He bent nearer until his face was mere inches from hers. "The rule is for both of our benefits. It insures that neither of us can be replaced by a Hareema without the other knowing. So cease in your efforts to be contrary and let's go search the ship. Together."
Brook's eyes burned into his, so close now she noticed the thin ring of gold around his pupils. Although she was mad enough to spit, she still felt aware of the major, as a woman was aware of a man. His nearness was distracting her, making her forget her anger as he held her close.
"Let go of me," she repeated, but she was only capable of mustering up a low whisper. She wasn't sure if she even wanted him to let go anymore.
The corner of his lip turned up in a wicked smile as she stiffened. Need raced through her and she tried to pull from him again. It had been too long since she’d been with a man. Her work required everything of her, but denying her physical needs was going to land her in bed with an alien. Not good. She promised herself a few dating adventures the minute she got home.
He moved even closer and stopped just before their lips touched, his eyelids lowering and his breathing growing heavy. "What are you doing to me?"
"I...I don't know what you’re talking about." She was unable to move, unwilling to shift again due to the weight of his gaze and the way it burned her insides.
"Whatever it is, don't stop," he whispered roughly before jerking her against him and pressing his lips to hers.
His kiss was like nothing she'd ever experienced before. His lips were firm but soft, his taste exotic, bordering on sweet and tart. It reminded her of lemonade on a hot summer day.
