Home in the Stars Box Set

by Mason, Jolie

  “Oh,” She felt so sick, as sick as she had only the day before. It was just as she suspected. “This disease. That' s the weapon.”

  He began walking toward the lift. “We took you off planet. They didn't know you were leaving. Obviously, they'd reactivated the dormant infection before we left.”

  “Taarken. They want the mines.”

  “Without a doubt. With a plague on planet, they could use a humanitarian pretense to take over the planet.”

  The lift rose slowly to the upper deck where her cabin nestled at the top of the ship. He used his voice command to open the door, then set her down near the crimson silk of her bed. She sat down weakly on it. “Ari?”

  He looked down at her, and gave her a small grin. “Already hidden behind a fleet of battlecruisers, Angel. No one is getting the better of Caden Carnes.”

  “One of us needs to check the charge on the engine.”

  He gripped her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “I've got first watch, Captain.” Her heart did strange things at the seductive way he said captain, like it had very little authority and far more allure than it should have. “You're hitting the rack.”

  “This sounds like mutiny.” He smiled again, but didn't respond. She moved back on the bed as he moved toward the hatch. “Emery?”

  “Yes”. He turned back toward her.

  “Are you coming back?”

  Luca was almost ashamed to admit she held her breath waiting for his answer. ” I'll be back”, he told her finally.

  ***#***

  That night Emery took the longest night watch of his life. He monitored the scanners making sure there was no pursuit. He walked the decks checking all the functions that needed crew to man them. He checked on the children in one of the crew compartments, and he drank lots of coffee. Not to mention, he'd had a side project to set up for the worst case scenario.

  He'd left Luca with the impression he'd wake her up for watch, but he'd lied. She needed rest, and he needed time to think. He'd wanted to protect her from the world he'd fallen into all those years ago, but he saw now that it had already sucked her right in. His world had stolen her childhood and made her into a time bomb to be deployed without remorse. It was too late to keep her out of it long before he arrived.

  He stared intently at the view screen full of darkness and stars as Luca did when she stood watch. Not for the first time, he wished he could go back. Back to the days in academy when he'd been approached by Wilson Meers. Back to before he sold his soul to the devil he knew, rather than walk straight into the arms of the one he didn't.

  He'd been recruited as an analyst, and, as so often happened in the Empress' service, he'd been groomed for agent status without even realizing it was happening. They had a way of making you feel like you wanted it all along, a way that he now questioned darkly. If people could be wiped again and again, who is to say he hadn't been re-written? It was a doubt that crowded his brain in the wee hours that night. Was he even the man he began to be as a young recruit?

  When he thought about Luca, something told him she would be the same no matter who she thought she was, whatever happened to her. She would be full of life and confidence, a pilot's nature, a flier. He looked at the digital time above the console. It had been eight hours at FTL. They'd used a pre-set taking them to a remote charging station out in the Havoc system, an excellent place to hide while they charged the power cells. He had pointed the ship toward the station as soon as they decelerated.

  Havoc sat on the edge of the rim, not quite in Imperial space. It had no planets, but one small charge station and a commerce station in a far orbit around the small star at its center. It had been named Havoc, in large part, because of its large number of asteroid belts and comets in varying orbits, sometimes unstable ones. Many a ship had flown its last in this system.

  Supplying the few Rim planets who still communicated with the Empire, Havoc Station attracted the scum of the universe and the missionaries intent on saving their souls. He thumbed the image to zoom to look at the cylindrical station with three nearly vertical arms ending in docking pads at the circular tips. Orange emanations emitted from the station made it glow with sinister flare, like a dying star in its throes.

  The Solar Relay lay just beyond the system's strange ice ring barrier. No one fully understood how it formed, and, truthfully, there were no scientists who cared to find out. The value of this system rested solely in it's mining operations of rare ore and jewels collected by chance in the belt of asteroids surrounding the star.

  The hatch behind him hissed open. He turned to see young Ian Simms stroll through with two mugs of coffee. “Ian, how are the kids?”

  “Hard to keep in one place, except for Daniella. She still won't talk, hardly moves. So we know where we're going yet?”

  “We don't have a lot of options.” He sighed.

  The boy let his eyes fall to the station in the viewer. “And what's that?”

  “Havoc Station. Trust me, we aren't leaving a bunch of kids there. That is no place to grow up. We will find someplace. I needed to talk to you about that, kid.” Emery reached into his pocket and pulled out a record chit, a simple certified storage device to keep important records like deeds or birth certificates. He pressed it into Ian's hand. “You can't be yourselves anymore. None of you. Those are new identities. You are an orphaned family of foster siblings. Aiden, Daniele, Tolly and Gerid Simeon, en route from Alpha Base Cinq when your ship was boarded by pirates. Your parents launched you in a stealth shuttle coincidentally like the one in our hold where we discovered you. Understand?”

  Ian looked stunned. His brown freckled nose wrinkled with dismay.“We can't just go home?”

  “Kid, these bastards see you as an investment. We're all assets. Luca and I have to disappear too. We need to get you kids as far from the Empire as possible. We're almost there to be honest. The Rim systems don't belong to anyone.”

  “In the Rim? Is that where we're going?” Ian's eyes grew large with uncertainty.

  “Yeah, unless you have a better idea. It's the best I can think of at the moment.”

  “I don't have any ideas.”

  Emery nodded. They sat silently, both of them staring at the strange, dark beauty of the space station in the viewer. Finally, the boy spoke. “Do you...do you know what they were going to do with us?”

  “For certain? No. But, I know what they did to Luca. Bastards gave her a plague that nearly killed her and is killing thousands right now. Ironic, that they actually shot the empire in the foot with it.”

  “I've been monitoring the news feeds. Sensor System is destabilizing under the quarantine. You got us out just in time. No one is leaving now.”

  “It's amazing the difference a day makes.” Emery pulled out the console to check position and approach. He made a few adjustments and pulled up the comm screen. “Carry Bell, NCR: Requesting docking, Havoc SRS”

  A long pause poured through the comm.

  “Havoc SRS: Hold approach Carry Bell.”

  He waited anxiously. This moment would tell it all. Had Morgan set the dogs on them?

  “Havoc SRS: Carry Bell you are cleared for approach, Dock Twelve.”

  “Carry Bell: Thank you Havoc SRS. We are on approach.”

  He placed the Bell on manual and did one slow fluid turn around the far docking platform. The numbers displayed prominently in sprawling white lettering. He located twelve and then made an approach pass. There were only a few ships docked at the solar relay which was unsurprising, given the popularity of the system where your ship can be torn in two by unexpected space debris at any moment.

  He maneuvered the Bell gently into the clamp space and listened for the telltale thump of the clamp lock. It came before the console registered a lock. He extended the cell into the hub. They waited. The console display flashed charge beginning.

  As was usual, the lights on the ship dimmed to half all over the ship. Ian stood and stretched, then took up the empty coffee mugs. “I'll g
o check on the others, and tell them what we're doing. Probably, best not to surprise them.” He looked down at the small white chit in his hand. “Should probably get them used to the new names too.”

  Emery looked at the kid, in part, surprised. He was apparently a natural field agent to adapt so quickly and change tactics with such ease. “Wouldn't hurt, Kid”, he said. The boy just nodded grimly and left through the open hatchway with his head down, resigned to his new task.

  He suspected the kids were already adopted. Ian had stepped into a role much too big for his years. The kid was something else, he thought, as he set the long range scans to run during the solar charge. They would receive ship wide alerts whenever anything new approached the relay. It was the best he could do at half power.

  He just hoped his boss was farther behind than usual. Valek Morgan would be worried right now. He would be terrified his house of cards was coming down, and the general public would find out who was responsible for the plague on Sensor Prime and the destabilization of the Sensor system, a major commercial hub of the Empire. Emery figured he would soon bring the full weight of his position to the search for Luca and himself.

  It was only a matter of time, and he needed to be ready. He just didn't bleeding know how. Intelligence training didn't help much when faced with a fleet of battle cruisers and a megalomaniac spy master. He had their new identities ready, but what they really needed was time to run.

  5

  Luca felt cool air brushing her face. Her fatigue went straight into her bones. She turned slowly onto her side on the soft mattress, making a small whispered sigh.

  “You awake?”

  His voice broke the silence, husky and sexy. She hadn't even put eyes on him yet, and she felt that low curl in her body, just from the sultry tone of it. She searched the room for him, and pushed up on the pillows.

  Her eyes found him at her desk, hair rumpled and uniform askew. He hadn't gone to bed at all.

  “How long have I slept?”

  He looked at the console. “The Bell is charged to eighty six percent.”

  “I just keep losing time”, she said. “How is our mini crew?”

  He smiled. “As well as can be expected, I suppose. I've talked to the kid about where to take them.”

  “You found someplace?” She frowned at the thought of four kids out there on their own. It didn't sit right.

  “There is a planet just on the others side of this system in the Rim. It's in the Malock system. It's got cattle operations and keeps to a lower tech level. Moderate population but it's growing. If we move fast enough Valek won't find them there. We can drop them off as soon as we charge.”

  “Then what do we do?”

  His forest green eyes met hers in grim resignation. “We run, and we keep running. Morgan's not going to quit. You're the evidence of what he's been doing.”

  That was it. A life on the run? She had no clue how to live that way, not really. The Carry Bell had been her home so long that she couldn't imagine living on planet, on another ship or anywhere else. She'd lived under an alias, but it didn't feel like an alias to her. It was who she was now. Luca Brine. It appeared that she would have to wipe out that identity too.

  She sat up on the bed to realize she still wore hospital scrubs. “Well, that's attractive.”

  He glanced away hiding a grin. “Everybody has a nurse fantasy”, he said.

  “I don't”, she replied. “Recently, I've noticed I have the strangest spy fixation though.”

  His small grin faded to an expression that couldn't be read at all. She tried, but it revealed nothing as she waited for his response. She'd taken one look at him when she woke up, and she wanted him. She wanted him more than she'd realized. She lifted up on her elbows in the bed, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

  He stood up at the desk and walked over to the bed. Emery sat beside her. “Spies aren't very trustworthy”.

  She shifted to one elbow and rested a pale hand on his thigh. The material of his pants was smooth and warm under her skin.

  “This one is”, she said. “He's a hero.”

  Emery grimaced a little. “He's not a hero.”

  “Is too.”

  He shook his head. “You're incorrigible.”

  She looked up at him through a curtain of blond bangs. “I thought you said I was an angel.”

  He chuckled. “I guess you're right.”

  “I like when you call me Angel”, she said softly.

  His hand rose to brush along the curls twisting into her face. “It makes me feel like I have a place, you know. It's easy to forget, but I don't have most of my memories.”

  “You don't change, Luca. You're always you.” She couldn't resist leaning into the hand near her cheek. She rubbed against his rough skin like a cat.

  “There you go with the heroics again.”

  He frowned. She frowned back. “I'm not good enough for you. You understand that, right?”

  “I'll be the judge of what's good for me, Thank you. Em, you're thinking too much.”

  “Or I'm thinking with the wrong thing.” His hand cupped along her jawline with the pad of his thumb resting on her chin. Petting her chin with that thumb, he lightly ran his hand up and into her hair at the back.

  “I've heard that about you espionage types.” She could have cringed at the already breathless hitch in her tone. She certainly didn't seem to have the knack for playing it cool. He made her jumpy under the skin, until he touched her, then he made her burn, just like she was burning right now. Little flames of pleasure where his hand held her firmly spread out seeking more, fuel to burn. She pressed closer.

  ***#***

  Her hand stroked his thigh through the uniform cargoes. Her face turned up to his, revealing perfect, full lips. She looked rumpled and warm lying there stretched out in her deeply crimson sheets, and his thoughts took a less than noble turn.

  “Angel,” he whispered as she raised herself to press against his chest.

  “Shh”, she said and smiled that devastating smile she had that made him putty in her hands and he buckled.

  Emery grabbed her shoulders and hauled her closer effortlessly, pressed her breasts so hard against his chest that he could almost feel her heart beat. She was soft where he was hard, and the contrast of their blended bodies made him picture long nights twisted in sheets and sweat. Suddenly, he couldn't think of anything else. He licked his lips, and dipped his mouth down to take hers without any hesitation or better intentions.

  His intention could only be to burn his memory in her mind. His hand ran back down between their bodies where he swept one large hand across her right nipple, clearly, visible behind the scrub shirt. He toyed with her body till she whimpered, then he pushed her back down on the bed, following her on one knee as they kissed.

  He should back off, say no. He was no good for her, and he knew it. She needed someone who would bring less trouble to her life, he thought. Unfortunately, his conscience seemed to have checked out already. His body danced with hers, until neither of them could breathe without the other.

  Her resistance remained non-existent. She yielded, in fact. The slight frame of her body welcomed him, took him in like a homecoming. He moved a hand to brush away the scrub top. “Angel”, he whispered. “Stop this.”

  She pulled away and all he saw were her brilliant, blue eyes, cool but warm at the same time. “You stop it.”

  It was challenge and warning. “I can't. You keep expecting me to be a good man, and you couldn't be more wrong, Angel.”

  “I don't want you to be good. I want you to be here.” She pulled him into a quiet storm of a kiss. He responded, sinking farther into losing himself in her. “I want something to remember, something that's mine.” She said it with such conviction.

  Hers, she said. When had that happened, he asked himself. When had he become more than just himself.

  She'd been an assignment, then a reason to fight his choices. Now, what was she?

  Something inside
answered his question; She was everything.

  Even as he reached for her clothes, peeling them away from soft, toned limbs, he thought frantically he had to tell her, tell her about his assignment, tell her how he'd been unable to do a job that would hurt her. He had to tell her he would burn worlds down to protect her, but all he could do at that moment was lose himself in the curves and ridges of her body, and the feel of her hands clutching at this back.

  His pants were still on, but she'd made good progress on the rest of his clothes. Hers were gone. She'd made it to her knees in front of him on the bed. “Just once, please, Emery. Please.”

  He braced on one knee still, leaned in closer, hovering over her. Emery ran his fingers sensually along her side, smooth and tapered to wide, round hips. His hand dipped, close to her center without actually touching her. He let his nails brush through the edges of the crisp hair there. “You don't beg”, he said firmly. “Just ask, Angel. I'll give you anything.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, running her hands through his hair, “Anything could keep us here a while”, she answered.

  “Ask”.

  She glowed in his arms, as if he'd turned her on from the inside.

  “Touch me, Em?”

  He plunged his fingers into her, soft, wet flesh gave before his touch. Her reaction was a startled gasp, and a surge of her hips forcing his hand deeper into her depths. He shook from wanting her. Would anything turn out to be everything, he wondered vaguely.

  Emery twisted his hand, searching for the spot that would make her scream. He knew he found it when she arched toward him making small sexy sounds. He rubbed the spot methodically, sometimes pulling his hand away entirely until she whimpered. He slowed his pace, savored the slick, soft feel of her. Her breathing increased in pace, even as his hand slowed. He pushed harder cupping her sex in his hand entirely.

  Just as he felt her tighten imperceptibly around his fingers, she made a sharp sound of pleasure, then another more primitive one. “Oh,” she cried. “Em, faster.” Her hands clutched his shoulders and rode his hand. It was hands down the sexiest sight he'd ever seen.