by Chandra Ryan
“It would take a lot less energy to land than it would to jump to a new location. I’ve been looking into the numbers and I think we could manage it.”
He seemed to have a plan. She just wished he wouldn’t make her pull it from him one piece at a time. “Okay, we could land. But then what? I’m guessing you don’t think going to the base is any better of an idea than having mechanics come up here.”
“We get Michael. He seems like the kind of guy who could help us disappear for a little while. That is, if you trust him.”
She’d suspected earlier that he’d overheard more of her and Michael’s conversation than he admitted but now she was certain of it. Still, he’d proven himself when he’d come to her aid so she guessed he’d earned a measure of her trust. And it was a solid plan. “I trust him more than most. And, yes, Michael would be able to help.”
It appeared as if Sans started to smile but he stopped before she could comment on his gloating. “Good. It’s settled then.” He winked at her. “I liked Michael.”
“Everybody likes Michael.” The words were out before she realized what she was saying. As soon as she said them, though, an extremely provocative image popped into her head. “Wait. You don’t have some personal reason you suggested we seek out Michael, do you?”
“I have no idea what you mean, sir.” But his words had just enough indignation to make her doubt them.
“Fine. Then let me be blunt. You aren’t trying to get into his pants, are you?”
“I suggested him because he has the contacts to help us. Nothing more.”
“Good. I need you to be focused on the job at hand.” As opposed to a hand job. She nearly choked at the wayward thought. Thankfully she’d managed to stop herself before she actually said it. Just because she hadn’t said it, though, didn’t mean she wasn’t imagining it. And damn, was it hot.
“Are you okay, Captain? You look a little flushed.”
She took a deep breath and tried to clear the image of the two men together from her head. “Of course I’m okay. I’ll be even better when you take a seat. There’s still a chance we might be able to land before someone finds us.”
Sans sat down and then threw a smirk in her direction. “Not the smoothest change of subject I’ve ever heard, sir.”
“And yet still the truth.” Aimes practically growled the words. “If I’m going to die, I’d rather it not be in the middle of a lover’s quarrel.”
“We aren’t lovers.” She and Sans both shouted the words simultaneously at Aimes.
“Of course you aren’t, sir,” Aimes said dryly. “I don’t know what might have given me that idea.”
With no witty retort at hand, she let the comment go and focused on getting her crippled vessel on the ground safely. “No telling how the damage is going to affect the landing. I’m guessing it won’t make it smoother, though. Might want to strap in.” She was a little surprised when both men actually listened to her. She was hoping at least one would ignore her. She kind of wanted to shake them up. Just a little.
When they were standing on Michael’s doorstep twenty minutes later, though, she was glad they hadn’t had any delays. It was nice to have solid ground under her. Even better to know her ship was hidden in a locker. And thanks to Sans, the universal tracker had been disabled. They were on their way to being off the grid.
She raised her hand to knock but when she lowered it, she hit a wall of solid muscle instead of the door. Before she could utter an apology, though, she was swept up into Michael’s strong arms and was being hugged so tight she couldn’t breathe.
“It’s been less than a day since you saw her last. Don’t you think you’re overreacting?” Sans’ question made Michael loosen his grip a little. Something she was extremely grateful for since now she could take a breath. Still, he didn’t release her.
“Michael, you’re shaking.” She hadn’t noticed the slight tremble when he’d been wrapped around her like a vise but now it was all she could feel. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay?” He barked a harsh peal of laughter after the question. “Are you seriously asking me if I’m okay?”
She squirmed in his grasp but he still clung to her. “Yeah. I am. You’re acting kind of weird. Even for you.”
“I just heard you were dead. Killed in a conflict with the Coalition. And now you’re standing on my doorstep without out a single scratch on you.” He let go of her but only for the instant it took to grab on to her shoulders and thrust her backward so he could examine her. “How is it possible? How are you here standing in front of me?”
Now it was her turn to freak out. “Wait. I’m dead?” Everything went still around her but the calm only made her want to scream more. “They’re seriously reporting I’m dead? Are you kidding me?”
Michael’s smile was filled with relief. “I’d never kid about the news. You should know that.”
“But they couldn’t possibly have a body.” She made a show of stretching out her arms as she examined her legs. “I’m still using it.”
Michael shook his head. “I don’t know how, but they have one. They’re reporting the DNA is an exact match.”
“Um… Guys. We should probably move this conversation inside.”
She wanted to shush Sans for interrupting but her practical side cautioned against it. He did have a point. Someone out there apparently wanted her dead. And if they couldn’t actually kill her, they’d settle for making the universe think she was dead.
Everyone who knew her thought she was gone. The thought rocked her again. “My dad. I have to call him.” Michael ushered her into his house as the rest of the ramifications rolled through her head. “And my superior officers. I have to let them know I’m okay and that the Coalition didn’t attack me. Well, they attacked me but I don’t think they’re behind this.” As much as she wanted to pin everything on them, even she had to admit that there was no way they had the ability to come up with a DNA-matched cadaver.
“Take a deep breath, sweetheart. Try to relax.” Michael guided her to the couch.
Take a deep breath? Seriously? He thought she should be able to relax right now? “I’m legally dead. I probably can’t access any of my accounts. My keycards have most likely been deactivated. And I’m guessing I no longer have clearance to fly my own damn ship. What part of this should I find relaxing?”
“How about the part that you aren’t actually dead?” Michael went to pour her a drink and then returned to sit next to her. “Having to sort out your accounts is better than the alternative, don’t you think?”
She took a gulp of the dry wine and then sighed. “I have to get ahead of this. I need to call a press conference.”
Sans sat down on her other side so she was sandwiched between the men. Now that was an idea. If she were officially dead, she wasn’t his commanding officer any longer. There was nothing stopping her from being with both men. Well, nothing other than her inability to maintain a relationship and the possibility of losing Michael when she caused it all to self-destruct. And given time, she would cause it to self-destruct.
“I don’t think that’d be such a great idea,” Sans said as he shook his head.
“What?” He couldn’t mean the three of them writhing naked on a bed together. She hadn’t said that out loud. Had she?
Sans’ brow wrinkled with concern as he looked at her. “The press conference.”
“Oh, that.” It was actually a relief that he wasn’t talking about the ménage. She didn’t plan on actually having one with them but the thought of him not wanting to have one with her hurt her feelings for some reason.
“Yes. That.” Sans touched his palm to her forehead. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m dead. Doesn’t that kind of answer the question?” She gulped down the rest of her wine before putting the glass on the coffee table. “So what do you think would be a good idea? Do share.”
There was a loud knock on the door that made her pulse jump and her breathing falter. “Are you expecting anyone?�
� she whispered.
Michael shook his head as the knocking repeated. “I’m getting dressed,” Michael yelled loudly. “Give me a second.”
He motioned them to follow him to the back of the house and into his bedroom. When he reached the other side of the bed he threw back a rug and opened a trapdoor. “Follow the tunnel. It leads to a small clearing in the woods. I’ll meet you there as soon as I get rid of whoever is at the door.”
“Do you really think this is necessary?” She didn’t know which she hated more—running or leaving him behind to face possible danger. “Maybe we can just hide somewhere in the house? That way we can help if something happens.”
“If that’s trouble knocking at my door, I’ll be a lot safer if you aren’t here. Trust me.”
“I’ve been running all day and look at where it’s gotten me,” she argued.
“It’s brought you back to me safe and sound.” He kissed her softly and then turned to Sans. “Keep her safe.”
“Will do.”
Before she could react, Sans grabbed her around the waist and started lowering her down the narrow opening. “I can do this on my own,” she snapped at him.
“Yes sir.” He let go of her abruptly and she slid down a couple of rungs in the ladder before she caught herself.
“Jerk.”
“I get it. You’re upset. But you aren’t the only one in trouble here.” As he looked down at her the muscle in his jaw tensed. “If you went down with your ship, what do you think happened to Aimes and myself?”
She stared up at him in confusion for a moment before she understood. They’d be dead, too. Or at the very least missing and wanted for questioning. Their lives had been screwed up just as badly as hers and she hadn’t even realized it. “I’m sorry. I guess with the shock of everything, I just didn’t think about it.”
“I get it. But what you need to understand is that we’re in this together. You’re our captain. We need you to hold it together, sir.”
She nodded and took a deep breath. “Of course.” She was still their captain. She’d known it on an intellectual level but hearing Sans say it made it real. Her life seemed to settle back into place around her. “Then let’s get out of here.”
She climbed down the ladder with deliberate and sure steps and then moved out of the way to wait for the men. After they joined her, Michael closed the door and they were left in darkness. “Here.” She turned on a flashlight and handed it to Aimes. “You’re my navigator. So navigate.”
He chuckled softly but took the light. “Yes sir.”
The tunnel only went in one direction but Aimes seemed to be happy enough to lead them. She assumed that meant he was as relieved to be back to his duties as she was. It felt good to be useful. Now all she needed was a good gunfight to put Sans’ expertise to use. She cringed at the thought of a firefight developing in the tight confines of the tunnel though. Maybe she’d have to find some other way to make Sans feel useful. He seemed to make a fairly good engineer.
She paused at the thought. Nowhere in his file did it say that he’d had training in that particular discipline yet he seemed more comfortable around machines than he did with weaponry. It was something she’d have to ask him about later. Maybe she could find some way to put those skills to use. Since she’d lost her mechanic—she sneered as she thought about the traitor, McNeal—she needed to have someone around who was good with machines.
They reached the end of the tunnel and she let the men go up to the surface first. She didn’t enjoy cowering underground until they cleared the surrounding area but Sans was her security. This task belonged to him. It only took a couple of moments before she was poking her head aboveground again anyway. She took a deep breath and relished the fresh scent of the woods in fall before she climbed out. She loved flying through space but sometimes she did miss certain aspects of being on the ground. The scent of fall was one of the things she missed the most.
“Where are we?” she asked as she put the camouflaged door to the tunnel back in place.
Aimes had his reader out and was flipping through the screens but he paused to look up at her. “We’ve gone about twenty klicks northwest.”
“Is there anything here we can use for shelter?” She glanced around to get her bearings but all she saw was forest.
“Not unless we build it ourselves.” He looked around as if he was taking inventory of the resources. “But since we aren’t going to be here long, I don’t think we need to worry about shelter.”
“We’re going to be here as long as it takes for Michael to rejoin us,” she said firmly.
“We need to be off this planet before sunset. If they tracked you to Michael’s, this isn’t a secure location.”
“There’s no way to know that they tracked us to Michael’s. We don’t even know that his visitors had anything to do with us. So we wait until Michael joins us.”
“We’ll wait as long as possible for him, Captain. But he’s not critical.”
“Yes, he is.” She couldn’t believe Sans hadn’t figured that out already.
“Why? And don’t tell me it’s because you want to get into his pants.”
She smirked at him for throwing her words back at her. “No. Because he’s the only member of our little group who is still legally alive. And you were right when you suggested we go to him for help. He’s got the connections to smuggle us off this planet.”
“Damn. I’d forgotten for a second. My accounts and access codes probably don’t work either.” Sans sighed heavily as he massaged his scalp. Poor guy. He hadn’t thought about all of the ramifications of being dead yet. “Okay. We wait for Michael.”
“I thought you’d see the wisdom of my decision.” Her smile was probably a touch smug but she allowed it.
He ignored her gloating though. “And where are you having him smuggle us to?”
“Thumell.” The small settler planet was perfect. No one would think to look for her there. No one would ever think to look for anything there except ore.
“Thumell?” Sans’ brow crinkled in thought. “Small mining planet on the belt?”
“Yeah. I’m surprised you’ve heard of it. I only know about it because I scouted it once. Back when I was the navigator.”
“My family mined. It’s a tight-knit community.”
As he said the words, she realized she knew nothing about him or his past. She wanted to start asking him questions but she recognized that now wasn’t the time to start digging. They needed to get out of this mess first. She could, however, capitalize on her new discovery. “Great. Then you can help us with the locals when we land. Pull the planet up on the charts, Aimes.”
Aimes pulled up the universe chart on his reader and flipped through a couple of screens. “I don’t have it.”
“It’s in the second quadrant.”
He flipped through several more screens before shaking his head. “It’s not on the charts, sir.”
“Of course it is.” She snatched the reader away from him and started to search through the maps. After a few minutes, though, she had to admit Aimes had been correct. “I don’t understand. I saw the planet. I know it’s there.”
“What were you scouting for?” Sans asked softly.
“The same thing we were always scouting for on these missions. The same thing we were scouting for before we were attacked. Coalition bases.” She still stared down at the reader. No amount of time would change what she saw but she couldn’t help but hope the missing planet would suddenly appear. “But we didn’t find anything on Thumell that looked suspicious.”
“And that’s what the report said?” Sans pressed.
“It wasn’t my ship so I didn’t fill out the final report. But I can’t imagine there was a Coalition base down there that I didn’t notice.” But as she stared at the reader, she started to wonder. Maybe she had missed something. The evidence was right in front of her. The planet no longer existed. And she had been pretty green on that mission. “Dystanatious.” She w
as already typing the planet’s coordinates into the reader as she said its name.
“I’m sorry?” Aimes peeked over her shoulder.
“Dystanatious. We could go there.” That had been her mission. She’d cleared the planet in no uncertain terms. But as she pulled up its sector she saw it was missing as well. “No. That one I know was clear. It can’t be gone.”
Aimes shook his head. “No. I was on that mission. I remember the planet. It has to be there.”
“Maybe you’ll have better luck finding it then.” She handed his reader back to him. “And look for the last three missions we ran while you’re at it.” She held out hope that she was wrong but a ball of dread was quickly gathering in the pit of her stomach.
“They’re all gone. Wiped from the database.”
The ball grew at his words until her arms and legs felt numb with it. “This makes no sense. How do entire planets suddenly go missing and no one notices?” She started pacing. “And where did they go? They were all clean. No judge would issue a burn off for a clean planet.”
“Were they all mining settlements?” Until Sans asked the question, she’d almost forgotten he was there.
“Yeah. The Coalition likes to hide its bases on small planets in the outer realms. Which means most of my missions focus on mining colonies.”
“And how many Coalition bases have you spotted over the years?”
“Three.” And she’d felt a sense of accomplishment and pride with each find.
“Out of how many missions?” Sans asked.
She tried to think back over the years to add up the missions but couldn’t. “Too many to count.”
“Countless missions to find three bases? Sounds like a waste of manpower and money. Unless they weren’t looking for bases, sir.”
The need to defend herself and the military twisted in her gut. “Of course they were looking for bases. And how can you put a price on the lives that finding those three bases saved? How many of your brothers- and sisters-in-arms were saved because I stopped all possible raids from those bases?”
An expression too close to pain to be anything else crossed Sans’ face but he shrugged and it was gone. “You’re right. I’ve lost far too many members of my family. I’m all for any solution that stops the bloodletting.” He turned from her and started picking up fallen branches. “I’d better get a shelter set up.”
