by Autumn Dawn
Xera felt a moment of cold terror. Biters! He was sending them back to that desert hell? Thankfully, she didn’t have time to waste time in thought. She dragged the barely conscious Rysing to the cockpit and strapped her in as the autopilot fired the engines. She’d barely fastened her own bindings before they cleared the shuttle bay doors.
The shuttle controls were locked. Xera slammed her hand on the console and looked out at the rapidly thinning atmosphere. They broke out into true space and her stomach clenched. Next stop: hell.
The attacker had covered his tracks well. The shuttle bay surveillance cameras showed the bodyguards being murdered in a different location, and the bodies were found in that different place, to collaborate the story. It wasn’t until the forensic examination that anyone knew for sure the bodies had been moved.
Fortunately, Xera’s bodyguards had kept in touch with Xtal, so it was known where her last reported location was. Ryven knew the guards were too well trained to have claimed to be in a different spot.
What he and his crew didn’t know was what had happened to the women—for the Leo-Ahni was missing, too, and one could only speculate that they were together. The pair might be held somewhere on the planet or have been sneaked off-world. But Ryven and his family didn’t know who had taken them or why. An exhaustive search commenced.
Ryven knew he might only have hours. If it took them too long to locate his wife and Rysing, they might find only bodies. He tried not to think about it, but it affected all his decisions, which is why he let Xtal lead the search. He was too involved, his choices potentially blurred by rage and fear. His wife and child were in danger, and he’d never felt less in control.
Chapter Twenty
Since they’d dropped out of hyperdrive, Xera was doing everything she could to unlock the controls. Nothing worked.
It had been three tense days to the frontier border. They had plenty of food and water, but no weapons. Their shuttle was a commercial model for ferrying passengers, not fighting aliens. She didn’t know what they’d do if they did make it to the desert planet. Unless they made it to the shelter, they wouldn’t survive long. Unfortunately, she didn’t know the coordinates to the fortress, even if she could unlock the controls.…
She wanted to scream. Instead, she cursed. The black words were almost a mantra, but they weren’t helping her much. She tried praying instead.
Rysing sat like a statue, alternating between staring at the proximity locator and Xera’s dogged efforts. “Can you fly this if we do unlock the controls?” she finally asked. Maybe Xera’s constant muttering was wearing on her.
“Sure. Mostly. I can land for certain,” Xera said. She hoped she could.
Rysing took a shuddering breath. “What is this planet like?”
Xera bit her lip.
“That bad?”
“It wasn’t a pleasure park.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rysing said, her voice distant. She’d been watching the readouts with disturbing intensity. “There’s a planet coming up, and I think we’re headed for it.”
Xera stopped what she was doing to stare at the display. Rysing was right, but there was something else. “There’s a ship in orbit.”
Rysing froze. “Khun’tat?”
Xera frowned. “No. It almost looks like…the GE! We’re saved!” Her joy was quickly cut off as she realized what they might look like—an enemy ship closing in on their turf. Granted, they were in a shuttle and not a warship, but they weren’t exactly invited to this particular party, either. According to the newly minted treaty, the GE weren’t supposed to be here.
She drew a quick breath and thought fast. They needed a way to communicate, and their controls were still locked. Could they free the transceiver in time?
They got lucky. The GE ship hailed them, and while the women could not respond, they could see and understand the captain of the ship. He looked startled to see her. No doubt her face had been splashed on telecasts all over the star system—her situation would have been interesting fodder for the folks back home. She wondered what spin the GE had put on the story. “Lieutenant Harris-daughter? What are you doing here?”
“We’re trapped!” Xera tried to tell him, but it was plain he couldn’t hear her, so she gestured to the controls and mouthed, “Help!”
He frowned at her. “Is there a problem with your communicator?”
She nodded, then glanced around in frustration. There was nothing to write with, so she looked at him and mouthed, “Help!” again.
“We’re going to bring you in,” he said, as if she might disagree with that option.
Xera nodded and gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
“Who are these people?” Rysing asked.
“My former employers,” Xera said bluntly. Realizing her position, she turned her back on the screen and told the girl, “They’re kind of enemies of the Scorpio, so we’re going to have to play this carefully. They’re to think we were both held against our will—that should be easy for them to believe. If they thought otherwise it might go badly, understand? Don’t tell them about the baby. In fact, it would be best if you didn’t say much. Try to act shell-shocked, like you did when the Scorpio first found you.”
Rysing looked disgruntled at the reminder.
Xera wasn’t above pleading for a good cause. “Please? If we’re not very careful, I might never see my husband again.” An eight month journey was too far away for casual visits, and if the GE did take her back to Polaris, her baby would be nearly a year old before she could return to Ryven. That was assuming she could find the money and a private craft willing to take her so far out. With the Khun’tat running around, it became too dangerous to risk.
Maybe, someday, conditions might be right to meet her sisters halfway—they could each travel for four months and meet at a place somewhere in the middle. None of that mattered today. Today, she had to choose between them.
Rysing looked at her intently. “And is that truly what you want? You have a chance to see your sisters again. I’ve heard you speak of them…you miss your family.”
The ship shivered as the GE ship’s tractor beam locked on. Xera had minutes to make up her mind. Her husband or her sisters? New or old? There was only one choice her heart would accept.
“Commander! You need to see this.”
Ryven took the tablet from the ensign and scanned it quickly. His eyes slowed as he took in the data.
“What is it?” Toosun strode over and tried to read over his shoulder.
“One of the cloaked satellites around planet 4 Zega picked up a human ship. It looks like the interlopers are back. That’s not all. An hour ago they towed one of our shuttles on board. The satellite picked up a transmission.” He keyed the audio and heard the human commander say, “Lieutenant Harris-daughter? What are you doing here?”
Ryven’s heart lurched when he heard his wife’s name. He listened intently to the rest of the exchange, learning all he could. If her communicator was jammed, what else might have been wrong with the ship? What was she doing on it in the first place?
Toosun looked sober. It was obvious he was considering the implications of Xera conveniently appearing near a GE ship.
Ryven looked at him. “There’s no way she could have known it was there. We didn’t even know until now.”
His brother still looked somber, but continued Ryven’s line of reasoning. “She couldn’t have killed her guards, not by herself. We all watched her, and she had no one who would have helped. There was no indication she ever tried to make any allies to help her escape, either. But if a chance opened up to run? Would she have taken it? She knew how to pilot a shuttle.”
“With jammed controls, through Khun’tat infested space? She’s not suicidal,” Ryven snapped. But it begged the question, was she put in there? If so, someone had seemed intent on an ugly death for her. Who hated her—or him—that much?
Toosun bit his lip. “We’d better get to her fast. It’s three days if we leave now.”
&
nbsp; Ryven gave the order. The ships were already fueled and standing by. He prayed they’d get there in time to prevent a disaster.
It was a disaster. Xera just didn’t have the patience to pretend to be downtrodden and abused. She sat in the commander’s office and tried to at least look weary. That was easy enough. She’d forgotten how much she hated bureaucracy.
To give him credit, Commander Telis seemed to be trying to be sensitive. He offered her coffee and asked again if she’d like to see the medic. When she refused, he settled down to politely interrogating her. “Lieutenant, I know you’ve been through a lot these past months. We at the GE salute you for your bravery and daring in escaping your captors. While we know it will in no way make up for your pain, rest assured that you will receive a promotion and a substantial bonus for your suffering.”
There was the bribe, she thought dispassionately. The man sounded like he was at a board meeting. “Thank you,” she said into the expectant pause.
He cleared his throat and looked down at his electronic tablet. “As I’m sure you know, the Galactic Explorers finds itself at odds with the Scorpio on a number of matters. They’ve objected to our exploring this particular planet, for instance.”
Xera maintained a polite silence. They both knew the GE was breaking the treaty by being here.
“In spite of the risks, our leaders feel it’s a world that requires at least a cursory survey. There are so few habitable planets that we can’t afford not to learn all we can about each new discovery.”
In other words, the greedy board members were willing to risk having their charter revoked to explore this planet. They must think there was something valuable to be had. If they got in and out quickly, they could get away with samples and a cursory survey without anyone being the wiser. If they did find anything of interest, who knew how far they’d go to obtain the planet? Even if there were a movement to revoke the GE’s charter, the Interplanetary Council might not have the power to stop them. After all, the IC was simply an underfunded, unappreciated peacekeeping committee. The GE had grown powerful. It might take a true war to bring them down.
His next words confirmed her fears.
“Of course, should the planet prove as valuable as we hope, the GE may decide to press our claim on it. After all, there are no Scorpio currently living here. Why should they be allowed to claim a planet they aren’t currently using?”
Why should the GE? Xera thought privately, but she said only, “That’s very ambitious, sir.” And wouldn’t the Scorpio love to know about their attitude? Of course, the fact that the commander was telling her all this confirmed that he didn’t expect her to bolt back to the Scorpios.
He nodded. “Do you have any reason to believe your escape was discovered or tracked? We’d hate to cut this mission short.”
Xera frowned. He was ready to pull out if she said yes. That might make her life very difficult. If they left, she’d have no choice but to go with them. “If they had any idea they’d already be here. I have no reason to think they’ve discovered us.” She tried to look anxious for the mission. “I’m sorry, sir. It wasn’t my intention to make this difficult for you.”
He relaxed a fraction. “It’s certainly not your fault. In fact, you could be of great value to us all. No one else has been so deeply integrated into the Scorpio culture. Any insights you can offer would be appreciated—especially anything with military applications.”
She didn’t have to fake her distress. There was no way she was going to betray Ryven’s people to the GE. “I’m sorry, sir. I wasn’t allowed to witness much of a military nature. They didn’t trust me, you know. Except…” She frowned as if reluctant to dredge up the memory. “I was on a ship once that was attacked by the Khun’tat. You did get the message they let me send to the IC? You know what they are?”
The commander looked uncomfortable. “We got the message. Our understanding was that they mainly existed on the other side of Scorpio space.”
She let the full weight of her concern show. “We were attacked close to the site of the peace talks. That’s not so far from here.”
He was silent a moment. “Any additional information you have will be useful. I’d like you to file a formal report as quickly as you can.
“Meanwhile, your assessment has made me want to get this assignment done with all speed. We’ll be landing on the planet shortly.” Her alarm must have shown, for he added, “You don’t have to worry about your safety. We’ll be using the ‘fortress’ you know from before—we have a full report of it—and our ship is in good working order. Our force field will be more than sufficient to repel any creatures.”
“Yes, sir. I…I won’t be required to leave the ship, will I?” It was easy to act petrified. Maybe it wasn’t so far from the truth.
His expression was kind. “No, Lieutenant. For now I’d like you to concentrate on your report. You may go.”
She was glad to leave, and more rattled than she liked to admit. She had no good memories of this place. Finding out she was going back, however briefly, was an unpleasant shock, but not as bad as the one she got when she found out who else was sharing her ship.
Captain Khan was waiting for her in the hallway. There were people around, so he didn’t pause, didn’t say a word as he strode forward. He didn’t have to. Though he used a cane and walked with a pronounced limp, his stare was still predatory. It intensified as he neared. Waves of hatred washed from him, as if he could do her harm with a thought, and his cold eyes promised a reckoning.
Xera held the man’s gaze and tensed, prepared to defend herself, though she doubted he’d try anything here. No, he’d wait for his moment. She was going to have to watch her back.
She wondered why he was here and decided the GE would want his experience of the planet for this mission. She suspected if he’d been punished at all, it had probably been a hand slap. The GE would value his knowledge more than they would care about his “alleged” bad behavior.
She warned Rysing about him as soon as she got to their room.
The Leo-Ahni sat on her bunk in their tiny cabin and eyed her. “You have a special talent for making friends, don’t you?”
Xera grimaced. They’d been allowed to clean up and change into spare uniforms when they arrived, though Rysing’s bagged hopelessly on her slender frame. It was hard to say whether human space rations would agree with her, but Xera hoped she’d try to eat; the girl couldn’t afford to lose more weight.
Well, they’d soon have their chance to find out. On Xera’s advice, Rysing had given a blood sample to the medical technicians to test for allergies. Out of politeness Xera had waited with the Leo to eat. Fortunately the med techs were quick. Rysing tested allergy negative to most common foods, though that was no guarantee she’d like them.
The galley was just ending a shift when the women walked in. A quick glance around showed no Khan in sight. “Okay, girl. Time to try some more alien food,” Xera remarked. “I’ll try to steer you away from anything with teeth.” She gave the girl a quick smile and handed over a tray.
This far out in space, shipboard fare was pretty dull, so Xera figured it’d be easy to keep Rysing’s sensitive taste buds from rebelling. The girl’s nose twitched suspiciously as they moved along the cafeteria line, and she looked less than thrilled with the globs of reconstituted mashed potatoes, hydroponic veg and dehydrated fruit. Even the tank-grown fish were met with looks of stoic determination.
They sat at a table. Rysing stared at her tray and took a deep breath. She put a tiny bite of mashed potatoes in her mouth…and promptly gagged.
Xera nodded sympathetically over her own bite. “You get used to it.”
Rysing bravely took a sip of water to clear her mouth, then tried the beans. She didn’t gag, but she didn’t look happy. After trying the fish, she put down her fork. “I don’t think I’m hungry anymore.”
“You haven’t tried the veg.”
“I don’t think I dare.”
Xera exhaled
in amusement. “I see your point, but you need to keep up your strength. Trust me when I say the food gets no better than this.”
Rysing looked at her plate and swallowed hard. After a moment, she picked up her fork and dug in. She chewed mechanically, an empty look on her face, as if she were trying to distance her mind from what she was ingesting.
“I’ve seen that look before. You looked like that when we were dining on bugs, lieutenant,” a new voice said.
Xera looked up into the face of Ensign Trevor, the man who’d once offered her a comb…and made her a scandalous proposition. The memory made her voice cool. “Ensign.”
He looked nonplussed, then reddened with memory. “Ma’am. I was hoping we could talk. I think I owe you an apology.” He looked at her steadily until she relented and allowed him to sit down.
He stared at his own tray a moment as his face became a deeper shade of red. It was an unfortunate combination with his orange-red hair and the pale skin that made his freckles stand out in glaring relief. “I, uh, want to say I’m sorry for the way I handled things in the cave. It’s just that…” He took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. “I had a crush on you, ma’am, and I didn’t want to see you get hurt. I just picked the wrong way to try to protect you.”
She could see no deceit in his face. Looking back, she could see how she might have taken his interest hard, but things had been very different then. She’d been feeling trapped and vulnerable, imagining the worst. She could believe that he’d been a slightly horny white knight who bungled his approach. Here and now, he could be excused.
“I think we were all out of our element, Ensign. I can forgive you for fumbling your catch.”
He grinned at her description. “Thank you. I think you had it worse than most, though.” He sobered and glanced around. “Listen, you need to watch out for Khan. He was forbidden to speak to you upon your arrival, but he hasn’t forgotten what happened. He’s up for promotion, too—”
“Promotion!”
“Yeah. The GE sees him as a valuable asset. We’re all being called heroes for surviving the crash. Now that you’re here, they’ll use you as an example of why we shouldn’t ally with the Scorpio. If they can find an excuse to lay claim to this planet, they’ll be happy to send more ships and men out here.”
