Fools Rush In (The Interstellar Rescue Series Book 3)

by Donna S. Frelick

  She grinned, but blood streaked down her arm, which hung loose at her right side. “Well, you’re right, Cap, it was close. This little devil was not being cooperative, so we’d just decided to bring him to Gabriel for a sitdown when the bomb went off. Had we hesitated another minute we’d be soyburger.”

  “You’re injured.”

  She shrugged. “Might need a sealant.”

  Brilly snorted. “And an hour in the regen tank for that broken bone!”

  “Everybody else okay?” Sam thought they all looked a little shell-shocked, and the Gray had likely been smacked around some.

  “I don’t recommend trying to go back in there.” Brilly had a look of horror on her face. “We barely made it through. The place is collapsing.”

  Daniel brushed the worst of the dust off his jumpsuit. “We’re fine, Captain.” He surveyed the yard. “Sleeper gas?”

  “We have about five minutes left. Then we’ll get everybody up and to the ship.” He squinted at the former director of one of the most notorious slave factories in the quadrant. “What are we doing with him?”

  Rayna spoke up. “Rescue will want to talk to him. Then I guess they’ll send him home.”

  “He’ll be a fucking Loyalist hero.” Daniel spat in the dust at the Minertsan’s feet. The Gray shrank into himself as if he thought the giant Pataran might follow the insult with a death blow.

  Sam stood over the meter-high creature and wondered, not for the first time, how something that looked so insignificant could be the source of so much misery in the galaxy. “You’re one of the lucky ones, today, Minertsan. If I had found you, I’d have thrown you back into that flaming pit and left you to burn.”

  He grabbed the nearest Security uniform and gave orders to have the Gray and his captors sent back up to the Shadowhawk. All around them now, “bodies” were starting to come to life, waking to find their world had changed. Sam and Rayna watched as the ’hawk’s Security team sorted through the groaning, confused people in the yard, determining which of the lucky ones were resistants and which were still under the full influence of the mindwipe, sending batches of LO’s up to the waiting Rescue ship, sending guards and staff home to their dwellings in LinHo.

  Sam suddenly realized he had a responsibility for those people, too. “You know, technically I own most of LinHo now.”

  “What?” Rayna looked at him like he’d sprouted an extra head.

  “I was still Drew Vort’s partner when I killed him. He owned most of LinHo, so now I own most of LinHo.”

  “What the hell would you want with this godforsaken rock?”

  “Good question. And I better figure it out fast. LinHo’s major place of employment will be a pile of shit in another ten minutes.”

  Rayna looked around. “This place always was a pile of shit.”

  “You’re right. And you know what? You’ve had enough of it. Come on.” He wanted to sweep her off her feet, to feel her warmth and negligible weight in his arms, but he held himself back. She had wrapped a fragile dignity around her tiny body now and was holding onto it with grim purpose. He wouldn’t interfere. She needed to leave this place under her own power.

  But she wasn’t moving. She was just looking up at him, tiny frown lines between her brows.

  “I would have died in there if it hadn’t been for you.” There was none of her usual snap behind the words.

  He couldn’t tell her he would never have let that happen. “You were practically out the door already. You just needed a little help with the walking thing.”

  “Still.” Her gaze locked on to his. “I should’ve known you’d be there when I needed you.”

  “Always. You can count on that, Little Bit.” He almost scooped her up despite his vow to resist it, but they were suddenly jostled by Security crew trying to round up a gaggle of LO’s. He took Rayna by the arm instead. “Let’s go.”

  He led the way through the quad until they found Gabriel and the head of the Security detail, a freshly promoted Javin Darto. “Things seem well in hand here.” Sam grinned at the big man in his new uniform. “We’re going back to the ship.”

  Darto stood a little straighter. “Aye, Cap. Glad to see you’re all right, ma’am.”

  “Thanks for the help.” Rayna smiled at him. “Again.”

  The squad leader seemed at a loss for words, but the huge grin on his face spoke volumes.

  Gabriel joined them as Sam and Rayna stepped into a clear space in the yard. A few seconds later the beam enveloped them and they reformed in the ’hawk’s D-mat room.

  Mo was waiting for them. “We have a problem, Cap.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Sam turned to his XO, but before he could open his mouth Rayna collapsed at his side. He gathered her in before she could hit the floor and took off for Sickbay at the end of the corridor, Gabriel and his XO on his heels.

  Mo tried for his attention. “Cap?”

  “Save it!” In his arms, Rayna was nearly as white as he was, the blood drained from her face. Under his hand he could feel the bandage had begun to soak through. He ran into Sickbay and bellowed for Doc Berta. The startled medic met him at the exam table in the first open bay.

  The table scanned Rayna’s vital signs while Doc Berta made her own exam and in seconds looked up to nod. “She’ll be fine. She’s lost some blood is all. Get out and let me do my job.”

  Sam exhaled a shaky breath. He finally let go of Rayna’s hand and stepped back, giving the doctor room to do her work.

  When his heart returned to its normal rhythm, he looked to Gabriel. “Stay with her.”

  Gabriel nodded and found a place in an out-of-the-way corner.

  Sam followed his XO into the corridor. “Now. You were saying?”

  “The Gray destroyer. The ship entered orbit ten minutes ago.”

  “What?” Sam punched the lift panel for the bridge. “Why didn’t you say so? And who the hell is on the bridge?”

  “I did say so, and Sipritz has the conn.”

  Sipritz could hold command as well as anyone, but a primal possessiveness roiled in his guts. Something threatened his ship. He needed to be on the bridge.

  The lift doors slid open and he swept onto his bridge, tension tightening his greeting. “Crew!”

  “Cap!” They were worried, all right. Maybe they thought he wouldn’t make it back from Kinz. Maybe they thought the Gray destroyer taking up most of the viewscreen would end it for them this time.

  “Report, Sipritz!”

  “The Minertsan destroyer, the Tifan, took up orbit approximately eleven minutes, fifteen seconds ago. We are on battlestations. Shields are up. Her captain is demanding our surrender. The only reason he hasn’t blown us out of space is the non-aggression rule in force in LinHo orbit. Obviously, he’s not yet aware of the change in ownership of LinHo, or of what’s happening down below.”

  “Okay. Status of the transfer of LO’s?”

  Patel at Communications had an answer for him. “Rescue ship Harriet Tubman reports transfers are seventy percent complete, Cap. They’re nearly full, though. We’ll have to pitch in.”

  Mo groaned. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Right. Put me through to the Tifan. And, Mo, have the former director of the Kinz facility brought to the bridge.”

  Patel looked over his shoulder. “Onscreen, Cap.”

  Sam stood on the Cap walk with arms crossed over his chest and scowled at the image of the Tifan’s captain resolving on his viewscreen. The Gray’s aura showed no subtlety through EM communication; the colors were muted and difficult to distinguish. The dark gray that billowed around the captain’s form could have meant a neutral emotional tone shading into anger, or a fault of the color translation in the comm system. At any rate, Sam was no expert at decoding the Grays’ emotional projections. He had seen only the basest of emotions in his time with them.

  “Surrender, Shadowhawk. You are an enemy of the Minertsan Consortium. Your ship and your cargo are forfeit. Your captain
and crew are subject to the justice of the Consortium.” What came through the comm was an electronic simulation. The Gray’s “lips” didn’t move; he had no “voice.”

  All of it was an offense to Sam’s ears. “I’ve had a taste of the ‘justice’ of the Consortium before, Captain. I won’t yield to it again. And before you go making threats, you might want to know the situation on LinHo. Kinz has been destroyed. I take it that was your goal, though the Thrane mercenaries you sent to do the job failed to survive. The workers in the factory, however, did survive. They’ll be returned to their own lives. I assume that’s the cargo you were referring to?”

  The aura around the Gray captain swirled with what was clearly bright red and black now. “Those slaves are property of the Minertsan government!”

  “No. They are free people, as of this moment.”

  Mo stood behind him. “Cap. The Kinz director is here.”

  “Ah! Feel like taking a shot at us, do you? You might want to reconsider. We have a hero of the Consortium aboard.” He grabbed the Gray by the arm and brought him forward. “If not for Arek, Director of Arms Facility Number Four Seven Nine Three, your Thrane bomber might not have completed his mission. Isn’t that right, Arek?”

  The Director’s aura was a sickly shade of yellow and green, but he nodded.

  “Speak up. Tell the captain.”

  “I cooperated with Lord Kor, sir. I . . . did everything he told me to do.”

  “And yet he is dead, and you are not.”

  “I . . . regret that I was taken prisoner before I could die in service to the Consortium.”

  Sam feigned surprise. “Die? A hero like Arek here? This was a facility given over to the production of weapons for the rebels, you realize, Captain. Without his cooperation, Kor would never have been able to do his job. You need to take him back to Minertsa for his reward.”

  The Gray was shivering under his hand. “I deserve no recognition for doing my work.”

  On the screen the captain of the Tifan showed an aura tinged with triumphant gold and bloodthirsty red. Sam had seen that combination many times. Things might not go so well for Arek back on the home planet. The term scapegoat came to mind.

  Sam smiled at the screen. “Of course, if you attack my ship, I’ll just kill him. Then you can explain to your superiors what happened to him. I don’t think I have to remind you we’ve beaten you once already. No reason to think we won’t do it again.”

  The captain of the Tifan considered, his aura fading from blood red to a more unreadable mix of colors. “If you turn Arek over to me, I will leave the system and return to Minertsa directly. You have my word.”

  Sam wanted to laugh, but he managed a straight face. “And just how much is your word worth, Captain?”

  “I might ask a pirate the same thing. But that might insult you.”

  Sam did laugh then, and so did his crew. A Gray with a sense of humor? You had to like that. And what choice did he have, really? Take the thing’s word or start blasting. With D-mats underway the latter wouldn’t be an option.

  “Okay. Take him and be gone with my blessing.”

  The Gray captain’s aura shone with an obvious gold. He nodded in farewell as his image winked out.

  As soon as the light moved past her abdomen, Rayna pushed the call button. Things were busy in Sickbay, so she had to push it for a while before a medic appeared to see what was wrong.

  “Get me Doc Berta.”

  The medic, veteran of many a ward war, with the no-nonsense demeanor to prove it, crossed her arms over her chest. “What for?”

  “She needs to sign me out.”

  The woman laughed. “Not today, hon. You just got out of surgery.”

  Maybe. But I’m not staying here another hour. She’d spent all the time she was going to spend locked down. “That’s right, out of surgery. The light’s done its job, too. See?” She pointed to the pink line running just under her ribs on the left side.

  “Uh huh. But you still need rest and rehydration. Just try sitting up. You’ll see.”

  Rayna put her hands on the mattress and pushed. Her upper body levered to a sitting position, where she wavered, her vision washing in and out. The medic grabbed her arm to stabilize her, and Rayna felt the bed come up to meet her back. She was still halfway sitting up; the medic must have raised the mattress for her.

  But the woman had the look of I-told-you-so all over her face. “Now. Any more outta you and I’ll sedate you. The doc will be here in the morning to take a look at you.”

  Fuck. She waited for the room to stop spinning and considered her options. Maybe if she hijacked an assist-chair . . .

  “You’re supposed to be recovering.” He filled most of the open side of her cubicle, his grin lighting the space. “Why do you look like you’re planning Rescue’s next mission?”

  Her heart thumped in her chest, a fact that the monitor duly recorded. Sam’s grin grew wider at the sound of it. No hiding how she felt for him.

  “I was trying to plot my own escape. Please tell me you’re here to rescue me.”

  He sat at the edge of her bed and took her hand. “Restless already?”

  “I feel fine. I’m tired of being cooped up. Can’t you do something? You’re the captain.”

  His finger traced the line of her scar, a frown wrinkling his brow. “Doc Berta rules in here, you know that. You need time to heal.”

  “I can heal anywhere. I can heal in my cabin.”

  Sam lifted an eyebrow. “Your cabin? And where might that be, Little Bit? We’re full up with LO’s heading back to Madras. Even Lainie has four other bunkmates.”

  The monitor registered the acceleration of her heartbeat into a dangerously high zone. An alarm sounded and the screen turned yellow. Had she made too many assumptions? Had they been through too much to just pick up where they’d left off? His face gave her no answers.

  The medic showed up before Rayna could say anything. “Cap?” She looked from her captain to her patient and back. “Everything okay?”

  “Fine, Jenson. Carry on.”

  “Aye, Cap. Not too long, now.”

  “Understood.”

  Rayna tried to regain control of the conversation. “I thought we might . . . I mean—”

  “You’ll be staying in our cabin, Little Bit. Yours and mine. For as long as we’re together. Unless you’ve changed your mind?”

  Relief flooded through her, causing the damn alarm to whoop again. “No! Hell, no, I haven’t changed my mind!” She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close. He smelled like fresh air and warm earth. “We may not have much time, but I want to spend every second with you, Sam. God, I love you. Take me out of here. I can’t stay here another minute.”

  Doc Berta rushed into the cubicle and spoiled the moment. “What the hell are you doing to my patient?” The medic hovered behind the doctor, if a woman of her girth could be said to hover. From her smug expression, it was clear she’d tattled.

  The captain of the Shadowhawk stood to his full height and faced the wrath of his med department. “I’m removing her from your care.”

  “Like hell. I just closed her up a few hours ago. Jenson here just turned the light off on her. She needs rest.”

  “And rehydration,” Sam added. “I know. I can be sure she gets that. In my cabin.”

  The doctor gaped. “Your cabin? Am I missing something here?”

  Rayna had to smile. “If you are, you’re probably the last person on this ship to know.”

  “If you insist on keeping Agent Carver here, she’ll only find a way to escape that bed before she’s ready.” Sam didn’t look at her as he said this. He kept his gaze on the doctor. “I take full responsibility for my fiancée.”

  Three voices joined the chorus. “Your what?”

  Before Doc Berta could recover, Sam had unhooked Rayna from her monitor and IV and lifted her into his arms. “Sign the pad. I’m taking her.” The doctor was still protesting—loudly—as he strode from Sick
bay into the corridor.

  Rayna squirmed in his grasp. “I never agreed to a marriage contract. You know we can’t do that.”

  “Stay still. Do you want to be rescued or not?”

  She didn’t think he’d take her back to Sickbay, but she didn’t have the strength to fight him. She’d save her breath for the real argument when they got to his—their—cabin.

  Besides, it was embarrassing enough to be carried like a baby through the ship, with his crew grinning at them like schoolkids. Some of them even cheered and applauded. And her erstwhile “fiancé” was eating it up, prouder than a Melbax arborian who’d just won a mate challenge.

  “I am going to slap that grin clean off your face, Captain Snark!” she hissed at him.

  He drew back to look at her, his grin growing. “Oh, so it’s back to Captain Snark, is it? You must be feeling better.”

  They reached his cabin at last, and he carried her inside, the hatch sliding closed behind them. It was dimly lit, but, as always, it was neat and clean and smelled like Sam. Suddenly she didn’t feel much like fighting anymore.

  “Put me down, you evil ptark!” But she was laughing now, warmth glowing in her chest for this man who had rescued her in so many ways.

  He laid her on the bunk and followed her down, entwining his big body with hers so she could feel his strength, his heat held in reserve. His hands cupped her face, and without a word, he took her mouth, his tongue bringing that taste of drunken cherries. He was gentle, his hunger leashed, but still her body responded to him with a familiar ache. She had been too long without him.

  He broke off with a moan. “You need rest.”

  “I need you.” So damn much. More than he could ever know.

  He wanted her, too. She could feel his hard length pressing against her thigh. But the expression in his deep, green gaze was more than sexual. That gaze spoke of protection, loyalty, love. Everything about him promised forever.

  “And you’ll have me, Rayna. For the rest of our lives. We have time now. Rest and heal.” He dropped a lighter kiss on her lips.