Alien Outcast

by Tracy St. John

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “And you—” Nako looked at the dolt who’d fucked up yet again. He was close to murder. He imagined Sesin’s hot blood on his hands, and ancestors, it felt good.

  Instead, the Dramok punched his dented computer podium. It was built to take the abuse, though it awarded the fist attacking it with a new ding. It didn’t help Nako feel better. The crunch of Sesin’s skull caving in would be so much more satisfying.

  Before he could finally step over the line and commit homicide, Nako screamed, “Get the fuck off my bridge!”

  Sesin hastily bowed and left. It wasn’t enough. Nako’s fury rose in a shriek again. “Ancestors, save me from my own men! I cannot have that fool making command decisions a second longer!”

  He twisted about to glare at Terig. His Nobek went from mildly interested in the drama to matching Nako’s vicious display. He bared long fangs at his Dramok and captain. He mouthed, don’t you fucking dare.

  Before Nako could dare, Terig raced off the bridge. After a moment, Nako followed him.

  Damn him, he’s facing up to his responsibilities before I kill someone.

  * * * *

  In the featureless stretch of corridors broken up by computer terminals dotting the tan walls, Terig had almost reached the lift when he sensed Nako hot on his heels. He detected his silent Dramok the way one might perceive an oncoming storm, though the sky might be cloudless. It made sense. Nako was a force of nature.

  Son of a bitch. Leave it alone, my clanmate.

  Terig knew Nako would not let it go. The raider captain was desperate to unload Sesin, and his wish to do so was well within reason. Sesin was lazy. He was stupid. And he was an asshole who had no business serving as the raider’s weapons commander. Only rank had put him in the position—and it was that same damned need to acknowledge rank, even on board a rogue raider, that would shove Terig into Sesin’s shoes if the bastard didn’t shape up.

  Rank kept men like the raider’s crew disciplined. To promote someone beneath Terig to the weapons commander’s spot would invite disorder. Perhaps even mutiny. That didn’t change the fact that Nako looked to the wrong man to replace Sesin. Ulof would be a better choice over Terig.

  A low growl sounded behind him, and he knew he had to have it out with his Dramok and captain. Again. Yet he kept striding towards the intership transport as he called, “No, damn you. Don’t say it. The answer still is, and will always be, no.”

  “You need to stop covering Sesin’s mistakes so I have a valid reason to demote him. You have to take over the weapons commander duties, Terig. Sesin is a fool, and you know it!”

  He wasn’t going to escape another meaningless fight. Terig turned on his heel to confront Nako. “I am a bigger fool, and you know that. At least Sesin hasn’t gotten us all killed.”

  “Not yet, and yet is the operative word here. He’s a disaster waiting to happen. You’re already doing his job for the most part. Why is this such a big deal?” Nako’s visage was close to purple with rage. Terig hadn’t seen him this furious in weeks.

  It wasn’t just Sesin. Nako was irate at the whole scenario. Matara Piper’s story, Bi’is’s meddling against Kalquor, the new threat to the empire. Not to mention that this time, he couldn’t turn his back on those who disappointed him.

  Instead of saying any of that, Terig trotted out old, well-worn arguments. As tired as they were, they were still his truth. “I’m not leadership material. I shouldn’t have allowed you to convince me to be weapons subcommander. I’m a front-line soldier. A weapons mechanic. That’s all I’m fit for.”

  Nako dragged his fingers through his frizzy hair and presented his usual rebuttal. “You committed a grievous error eight years ago. It happens. That doesn’t discount the amazing career you had beforehand.”

  “It doesn’t? Then tell me why I was demoted to the bottom of security. And let’s review the report Fleet Command sent when they stuck you with me. Shall I quote it to you? I remember the words exactly: ‘place Nobek Terig at the front line of any face-to-face battles you encounter. The death of this pathetic excuse for a Nobek would be no great loss.’”

  Nako punched the wall at the hated words. “Fuck that report! The admiral who wrote it lost his son in that battle.”

  “Under my command.”

  “Yes, yes, under your command. You fucked up. It was the first major fuck-up in a career that had been nothing short of amazing until that point. The reason your earlier service and wins were discounted, the only reason you got busted down to the lowest rank, was because a couple of your men were related to high-profile officers bent on revenge.”

  “I lost all status because I led my men into a battle any idiot—even Sesin—would have known to stay out of.” Guilt, as familiar and timeworn as their argument, twisted his gut.

  “Terig. My Nobek.” Nako’s voice came out in a groan. “You were a good fighter then. You’re a great fighter now. You’re ready for the responsibility.”

  A crushing weight settled on Terig’s shoulders. He heard the dying screams in his head. Saw again the explosions of fighters in black, forbidding space. “I’ll never be ready to hold the lives of others in my hands again. I won’t be liable for the death of one more man. The answer is no.”

  “If Sesin does something dumb enough to get us killed, that’s on your head then.” Nako ejected the words like venom.

  “You decided to remain out here when Kalquor decommissioned the raiders. Those who remained too, to die out here, are following you. Their blood is yours, not mine.”

  His fists clenched. “You all accepted exile of your own free will. Those who wished to remain with the fleet were at liberty to leave and do so.”

  “Except for me and Ulof, because we won’t leave you no matter what.” It was Terig’s turn to sap some of the poison filling him, to let Nako feel failure’s sting. “Sometimes I wonder if you’d do the same. If you’d stick by us despite any decisions we might make that would be contrary to what you want. You’re good at abandoning people and situations when they don’t agree with you.”

  Nako jerked, as if Terig had slapped him. He stared at his clanmate, his shock palpable.

  Well, it was nice to know that Nako hadn’t entertained the notion of walking out on his clanmates. Maybe it would never come to that—not that Terig would allow such a thing. If Terig had to cut off the Dramok’s legs to keep him around, Nako was stuck with his Nobek and Imdiko.

  Tired of arguing, Terig turned on his heel and went to the transport. The lift’s door closed on Nako, still standing speechless.

  Chapter 6

  After his quarrel with Terig, Nako’s day only got worse. Alerted to the Bi’is shuttle explosion, the area was soon crawling with the Basma’s destroyers. Nako called Sesin to the bridge but didn’t alert Terig, as he normally would have. He knew he was being childish to half-hope the Basma’s ships would detect his cloaked raider and teach his Nobek a lesson by blasting them all into oblivion.

  That would serve Terig right, wouldn’t it? I’d be dead, but at least I’d get to be vindicated.

  Ancestors, he was an overly proud jerk. Nako admitted it as he clung to his wounded vanity.

  And what the fuck was Terig getting at, saying Nako abandoned everyone who didn’t agree with him? His clanmates were forever disputing what he wished. Did they really fear he’d walk out on them?

  Retreating unobserved from the sector where the enemy destroyers performed sensor sweeps as they tried to figure out what had exploded and why, didn’t improve Nako’s mood. Once they were in clear space, out of detection range, Nako ordered the raider to hold position until he figured out his next move.

  He checked in with Ulof, whose frame of mind seemed steadier than was usual. Thoughtful, as a matter of fact. If Terig had shared the argument with their third clanmate, Ulof gave no indication of it. He did sound somewhat shaky when Nako ordered him to escort Matara Piper to the quarters he’d selected for her, but the Imdiko didn’t balk. “Sure,
I can do that. She’ll appreciate not having to sleep in the brig.”

  With the woman attended to, Nako sat in his cubby on the bridge and reviewed what Piper had shared with him. His mood began to smooth out but trying to come up with his next move soured the captain yet again. When Terig came on the bridge to relieve Sesin two hours later, Nako refused to acknowledge his Nobek.

  He stared at his notes and the report Terig had filed about their encounter with the Earther, including a transcript of the conversation the subcommander had been wise to record. Something about Piper’s story bothered him.

  He believed her about the lost colonists. He believed her about the viruses, both the first that set Kalquor on the path to extinction and what she said was heading their direction now. But something was missing.

  It wasn’t in the intel he had. Nako didn’t think his suspicions were being raised by anything tangible at all. It was a gut feeling. The woman hadn’t been up front about the entire situation.

  The sense of anticipation as he left the bridge—still ignoring Terig, though he could feel his clanmate’s gaze on him as he walked out—added to Nako’s irritability. He shouldn’t look forward to seeing the Earther the way he did. His steps shouldn’t be hurrying, his heart rate increasing with eagerness to be near her once more. She was more a prisoner than guest, a potential enemy. She’d damned sure screwed up his intentions to remain aloof from Kalquor’s difficulties.

  Yet expectation eclipsed his grouchiness as he announced himself at the door of the quarters he’d assigned her. The reprieve was temporary. When there was no answer to his summons or to a second, Nako ordered the door open and found the small room empty.

  He snarled at the undisturbed space that hadn’t been occupied in the last two years. He commed Ulof. “Where is the human woman?”

  “Still hanging out with her smelly pal in the brig. She didn’t want to leave him. Is that a problem?”

  “Damn it.” Nako switched off his com and headed for the brig. Well attuned to their captain’s moods, the few crewmembers he passed gave him a wide berth.

  When he entered the brig, he barely acknowledged the security guard who bowed to him. As he neared Piper, her face registered alarm. The Tragoom, which had been standing as close to her as the containment field would allow, edged away.

  Nako considered easing up on the temper. He hated Piper’s naked fear. No creature so lovely, so enticing, should be terrified of him. But he needed answers.

  “You’re holding back.”

  “What do you mean? I told you the truth.” She shrank, cowed by his looming presence. There was no sign of the fierce strength she’d shown before. Cringing as she did, Piper seemed…less. Nako’s personal interest in her dimmed, and it should have been a relief. Instead, disappointment stabbed him.

  “You explained quite a lot, but something’s not adding up. What are you leaving out?”

  “What makes you think there would be more? What more could there be?”

  Nako snarled, “Don’t give me that wide-eyed innocent act. It’s not working.”

  Tears leaked out. She hunched her shoulders, as if she expected him to beat her. No, this was not the same woman who’d demanded he listen when she was brought on his ship.

  Where was that spark? Who was this pathetic female? Piper’s demeanor made Nako’s ire grow. He suspected she was trying to play on his sympathies, to engender some protective response that would keep him from discovering what she kept hidden.

  Wrong man, sweetheart. He had no urge to harm her, but she could have used some discipline. Putting her over his knee and giving her a good, hard spanking would teach her a lesson in not manipulating people.

  Unfortunately, his devious mind supplied him with a visual of the thought. Her womanly body draped over his thighs, the voluptuous curves of her bare ass exposed, his palm cupping her tender flesh just before he turned it hot and red with repeated slaps…

  Nako swore an oath as his groin surged with molten excitement. Dismissing the delightful vision, he advanced toward her and yelled between clenched teeth, “Tell me what you’re leaving out, or—or I’ll skin your putrid friend here and make him into a throw rug!”

  Piper’s whimpers cut off razor-clean. She shot to her feet and came at Nako, shoving him with all her strength, pushing him from Ob’s cell. Her eyes crackled blue fire. “Don’t you dare touch him! He hasn’t done one fucking thing to you. I swear, if you hurt Ob, I’ll turn you into a throw rug! You—you—keep away from him if you want to stay in one piece!”

  The spark had returned, blazing into an inferno. Nako figured he was more than twice her weight, and most of him was muscle. Yet the human had thrown off the cloak of terror she’d worn moments before, ready to go toe-to-toe with him. Over a Tragoom.

  If Piper’s fear of him had been an act, she wouldn’t have cast it aside so easily. She would have continued to play it out, hoping to convince him to shield her vulnerability. Nako was sure of that. Having dealt with clanmates with enough emotional issues to keep an army of therapists employed for a decade, the Dramok had some sense of troubled psyches.

  Won’t lift a finger to defend herself, but she turns into a zibger if her pals are threatened. She was strong when it came to warning us about the death ship. Stronger when we threatened the Tragoom. All right, little lady. I have your number now.

  Nako grabbed her upper arm and pulled her from the worriedly grunting Ob. “Fine. The Tragoom lives for another hour or so, but we’re going somewhere else to talk. What you tell me determines if it survives longer than that.”

  With Nako dragging her out of the brig, Piper wilted, the determined protectiveness fleeing. She let him propel her into the corridor, whimpering once again.

  If Nako hadn’t seen her at her finest, he would have been disgusted at the wretched display. Now, he was intrigued. What would it take for the Earther to blaze with power again, for her to be the fierce woman that obviously made up her core?

  Nako didn’t know, but he was determined to get answers to all his questions about Matara Piper.

  Belatedly, Nako realized he had few options for a private conversation on board the small raider. He’d have to take Piper to his clan’s quarters or the room he’d assigned to her. His groin throbbed at the thought of having her turn spitfire again with a nearby sleeping mat beckoning for him to toss her down.

  It might have been best for her to remain a puling, scared thing. If he was to help the empire, he had to focus on the intel she possessed. Sex should have been the last thing on his mind.

  His problems had so many layers, Nako wondered if he’d ever reach the core of them.

  He marched Piper to her quarters, which had once belonged to his former first officer. Commander Rekasp had left with a third of the crew when Nako had refused to give up the raider. Fortunately, he’d cleaned the room spotless, and the unused space only held a hint of mustiness.

  The door shut behind them. “Lock,” Nako ordered, not missing how Piper paled to see nothing in the room but empty shelves and a sleeping mat.

  He released her and stepped back. She shrank into the far corner, where she cowered. “What are you going to do to me?”

  “Question you.” He rolled his eyes when she darted another peek at the sleeping mat. “Matara, I am many things, including an unrepentant asshole. But I have no intention of harming you.”

  “Why are we in a bedroom then?”

  Well, at least she got to the point. “Because this is your quarters, and one of the few places private enough where I can discuss a deadly plague without scaring the fuck out of the rest of my men. At least, not until I know how badly I should scare them.” When she continued to hunch in the corner with a terrified expression, he threw his hands up in the air. “Why do you insist on thinking I’m planning to hurt you?”

  “Because you look angry. You believe I deserve to be severely punished.”

  Again, he was reminded of his clanmates. What they said often contained meaning beyond
the literal words. Layers and layers of issues.

  In Piper’s case, he was pretty sure what lay behind her supposition. He didn’t agree she deserved to be harmed, but it was obvious she believed she did. She was damned near inviting it. But why?

  Nako forced himself to relax. He adopted an easier attitude, attempting to show her she was safe with him. “My anger is for the situation I find myself in. Plus I had an argument with my Nobek, which has not yet been resolved. I have perhaps taken that out on you, and I apologize.” He nodded to the knife peeking out from under the hem of her dress. “If it will make you feel safer with me, hold your knife. Being armed might bring you some measure of comfort.”

  His invitation worked. Piper straightened from her hunched position. Surprised hope chased away her fright, making her appear no longer cowed. She offered a tremulous smile. He dipped a nod.

  A relieved breath whooshed from her. “I really expected you to get rough. I mean, with there being a war on and everything, you can’t trust anyone, can you? Especially an Earther racing out of Bi’isil space with a Tragoom as her best buddy.”

  “Did that creature really help you?”

  “Ob was my salvation while I was a Bi’isil slave. He responds to kindness.”

  “It seems impossible for a Tragoom to have that capacity.”

  “Once, after our master punished him for making a mistake and ordered him not fed for several days, I knew it would be dangerous for me to be anywhere near Ob. I snuck him food, so I wouldn’t start looking like a snack. He took it as a token of compassion and began to see me as a friend.”

  Nako shook his head, still disbelieving. “All I’ve seen from Tragooms is treachery.”

  “Maybe if he hadn’t been so badly treated by his people, he would have been the same. But that’s not been the case. May I sit?” She gestured to the sleeping mat and sank down on it when Nako indicated she could.