Embrace the Passion: Pets in Space 3

by Smith, S. E.

  He snorted and handed her a new pack from his belt.

  She squeezed the weapon inside her sling and replaced the cartridge before setting it on the table. After a deep breath, she glared at Penzak. "Now, how about you tell me the plan."

  ***

  Rafe had more time than he’d expected to prepare. A few hours, as they got themselves together, more than enough to radio the Hunting Cry. Fireteam Alpha was already on their way – they’d finished their mission early and the Cry had re-routed them to assist, but he and Nafisi still had to survive long enough to greet them.

  And now Triptych was coming.

  Rafe listened to the growing roar of oncoming hoverbikes and tried to count how many engines there were. Not that his opponents would be sending their whole crew at once—this would be a test run, a chance to see what defenses he and Nafisi had set up on the ranch. If Triptych could get what it wanted on the first try, fine, but they were expecting resistance. In a way, he felt sorry for the folks who’d been volun-told to scout out the ranch. They had to know it was the most dangerous job they could be asked to take.

  In his head, he kept a tally: two down near their ship, when Nafisi got hurt. Which left somewhere between fourteen and eighteen potential assailants. A first sortie like this might mean a third of the available resources. So he had to assume six people coming. While he hadn’t mentioned it to Nafisi, he had to figure out a way to not be too effective. Leave several who could run back to their ship. The pirates wanted a live wolf, sure, but it wouldn’t take too many losses before they decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Once that time came, all they'd have to do was fire on the area from orbit.

  He glanced back toward the house, where Nafisi lay in wait for anyone who came to search there first. Honestly, he was surprised that she’d agreed so readily. But JJ needed a guard, and she was the perfect person to take care of the job.

  Scooting closer to the edge of the kennel roof, Rafe adjusted the sights on the old plas-rifle. It wasn’t a perfect hiding space, but if they wanted the wolves, they’d have to walk right into his line of fire.

  And even if they got through, most of the wolves had already been released. Nafisi had assured him that she could re-collect them by following trackers in their collars. That moved several out of harm’s way, but did no good at all for the young Double-J litter, nor did it help the pregnant female who wasn’t willing to leave her space in the kennel. Knowing the future generation of wolves depended on him, he had to make sure he did everything right.

  The first of the bikes roared into view. Rafe resisted the urge to glance toward the house one last time. He had to trust Nafisi to do what he’d suggested and be safe.

  The first bike roared back and forth in front, engine growling as the goon rolled hard on the throttle, and even the sound seemed designed for intimidation purposes.

  Which meant it had to be a distraction. Rafe looked around to identify where the others would be coming from. Fortunately, his helmet’s lowlight sensors made it easy to spot two others sneaking toward the kennel on foot. He could still hear another bike out there beyond the first. Someone who, no doubt, waited for Rafe to reveal his position before swooping in to take care of business.

  He drew a bead on the first of the sneaking thieves, who continued forward oblivious to his observation. When they were close enough to be a threat, Rafe held his breath and fired. The plasma bolt flared, but before the first shot had even landed he was already swiveling the muzzle toward the original bike rider. Two plasma bolts sent the bike crashing and its wounded pilot scurrying for cover. Rafe swiveled back and fired on the remaining raider on foot. Two more down, at least twelve to go.

  And that was two shots more than he allowed his snipers to take without moving. At this point, anyone watching would have zeroed in on his position. Rafe slid to the edge of the kennel’s roof and jumped down, then charged across the open space to shelter among the towering columns of the ranch’s wind turbines. There was still a bike unaccounted for, and while it wasn’t great cover, the remaining guy wires would restrict the bike’s speed and maneuverability. Anything that could level the playing field put the odds in his favor.

  He realized the sound of the other bike wasn't moving just before he heard pistol fire from inside the house. His pulse crashed in his ears as he ran full tilt for the porch.

  Stupid old man, been jockeying a desk too long. An obvious double-fake and you bought it.

  With a roar, he threw himself up the stairs. His shoulder hit the door and smashed it inward as he charged in to draw their fire. Even as he moved, he evaluated the scene—Nafisi holding his sidearm in a comfortable single-hand stance, one thug, collapsed on the ground, but conscious. And a second raider, smile triumphant as he pointed a pistol at the wriggling blur in his other hand.

  JJ.

  Rafe didn’t stop, just lowered his head to continue straight toward the pirate. The raider shifted targets and fired. Agony seared along Rafe’s shoulder. The sound was too loud, the smell of burnt flesh too close as momentum carried Rafe into the thug. JJ hit the tile floor with a heart-rending yelp. Rafe tugged his combat blade free when he realized the other man wasn’t fighting back. The plas-hole in the center of his chest meant he wouldn’t fight back ever again.

  The moment of calm that followed was quickly filled by pain as his own injuries pushed past the wall created by adrenaline and fear. His dispersion mesh had deflected most of the hit to his shoulder, but his ear and the left side of his face ached where the plasma fire had splashed.

  None of that hurt as badly as the fear on Nafisi’s face. She dropped to her knees beside him, fingers checking his injuries as he hissed and pulled away. Her hand grabbed his chin so he couldn’t look anywhere but at her. “What the fuck were you thinking? You could have been killed!”

  A complete war raged in his chest. He wanted to make sure she was okay, to check every inch of her for injuries. Wanted to kiss her and finish what they’d tried to start when Triptych had arrived. But the terror that had gripped him had made him reckless, dangerous to both of them. The pirate could just as easily have shot her instead, and she hadn’t been wearing a mesh. Icy talons dug into his heart at the thought of losing her. He couldn’t take that again.

  He forced himself to calm, swallowed against the pain in his throat so he could speak. Instead of what he wanted, needed to ask, he focused on the mission. “Is JJ safe?”

  She glared at him. “Yes, your precious wolves are fine.” Nafisi almost spit the last word.

  Good. Let her hate him. It would be easier that way. He couldn’t take the idea of losing her, and if she couldn’t stand him, then maybe it wouldn’t rip him apart when he left.

  8

  Nafisi stomped around the sterile space of her med bay while she waited for the internal scanner to finish processing. If the rangers had given her better funding, she could have had a top-end scanner, one that produced results instantly. The logical part of her brain told her she was being irrational. Unfortunately, she also didn’t care at the moment. The thought made her snarl again, and she slammed one of the cabinet doors too forcefully. JJ started at the sharp noise, lurching over onto his injured leg and letting out another heartbreaking yelp of pain.

  Immediately, her cheeks burned and she rushed to the table where her patient waited. She rubbed her fingertips into the soft black of the pup’s fur. "I'm sorry, buddy. I know. He just makes me so angry." Gener had always teased her about talking to the wolves; she joked that if they started talking back, then she’d be worried. Not like Penzak, who talked to the wolves like she did, like he would any other member of his family.

  She turned her focus back to JJ. Putting the cast on him one-handed would be tricky enough, she didn’t need to have her hands shaking as well.

  The internal scanner pinged, and she tapped a command into the side of her exam table. The results of the scan opened in the far corner where she could rotate them and confirm her prognosis. In between moments of JJ batti
ng at her hand, thinking it was a game, she reviewed the fracture she had felt in his foreleg. A clean break. No fragments, no splinters of bone out of place. More importantly, it occurred far enough away from the young wolf’s growth plates that they weren’t likely to have been damaged. Had the fracture been more distal, the pup’s leg might have been permanently shortened. Instead, JJ would have to deal with the indignities of getting around in a cast for a while.

  Nafisi used the fingers of her injured hand to hold the pup still while she applied the moldable plastic casting. When everything was in place, she touched the activator electrode to the material, and it immediately hardened into a waterproof cast.

  “There you go, JJ.” She kept her voice soothing to calm the confused wolf and stroked his head. "I promise, it’ll be gone in no time. Soon you won't even remember it was ever there."

  She wished that she could say the same about Penzak. While she worked to get JJ patched up, he had thrown himself into setting up new defenses against what he felt sure would be the final push by Triptych’s raiders. Focused on the mission.

  Her teeth ground together. How had she let shit get so far out of hand? When had her backtalk and snark turned into foreplay? When had that started turning toward genuine affection? She'd gotten stupid, carelessly opening herself up again, and had the door slammed in her face.

  If she was honest, it served her right. She knew better than to get attached. Men. Wolves. Everything went away in the end.

  She dragged the back of her hand across her face, grinding away the moisture that threatened to spill. The situation wasn’t worth her tears, even angry ones.

  Once the cast was completed, she nuzzled her face into the top of JJ’s head. "Fortunately, this just might be the injury that keeps you from getting saddled with a ranger anytime soon. Trust me, you'll be thankful for that."

  For his part, JJ was more appreciative of the cheek scratching and general attention and she was happy to provide. After closing the report from the scanner, she scooped JJ off the table and set him on the floor. “How's that going to work out for you?"

  The pup looked unsteady and glanced at her with wide, black eyes. With no ability to bend one of his legs, he mostly held the limb away from the floor and relied on an awkward three-count gait to get around. It might be pathetic, but he could move on his own.

  Nafisi could only watch for so many moments before scooping him back up again. In her head, she heard Gener reprimanding her for coddling the wolves, but she didn't care. She'd always given them her whole heart, and they still turned into damn fine wolves. Her argument had been that it was the love she gave that made them want to be heroes in the first place.

  She'd been alone so long that she forgot you couldn't do the same with a human. Especially not with a ranger. They were who they were. At least she had the benefit of finding out before she'd done something truly foolish, like slept with him. She always did fall a little in love with the men who shared her bed.

  She lied to herself that she only regretted the missed opportunity slightly.

  JJ licked her cheek several times, then settled down against her shoulder. The trauma and commotion clearly had exhausted him, as it was barely a few moments before tiny puppy snores sounded in her ears.

  She made the final pass through the med bay, checking to make sure everything was put back where it belonged, and all the cabinets were closed. When she was satisfied, she moved to the master panel to key in the lockdown code.

  The lights cut out, plunging her into unexpected darkness.

  Nafisi glanced around the kennel. No backup lights glowed in the dark to guide her way, so they hadn’t just cut the lights. They’d taken down all the power. Even cut her connection to the ranch’s battery system.

  After tucking JJ into the sling alongside her wounded arm, she collected the pistol from the countertop. She refused to think about being thankful for Rafe’s insistence that she bring it with her, but the weight of it was comforting all the same. Apparently, Triptych had decided to give them less time than her ranger had expected.

  ***

  Blind fire struck the communications array and shut it down in a shower of superheated plasma. Rafe let out a quiet breath, glad to have abandoned it as a hiding place after his last shot. He leaned against the wind generator and lined up another target through his light-amplification lenses. As soon as the pirate moved out of cover, Rafe dropped him. Eight down.

  Not that it mattered. There were too many of them. The defenses he’d had a chance to lay, mostly wire fences they’d have to cut or crawl through, would slow the raiders down. It wouldn’t stop them, and a war of attrition only worked when he had more than just himself.

  As soon as his target fell, Rafe jumped to the ground and ran for a new position. Before long, they should reach his half-way fence. He’d attached flares to it to buy himself a few more valuable seconds of time, but with no word from Fireteam Alpha, all he was delaying was the fall of the ranch and Nafisi’s capture.

  The thought of her ached in his chest, and he reminded himself it was better this way—with her angry and him gone. He had a command to run, at least for a few more months. If he controlled the pain, took it on his own terms, it would hurt less.

  He was still waiting for the less-pain part to start up.

  He scanned the few places he’d seen the Triptych raiders so far. Frustratingly, none of them seemed to be barking orders. They had to have a cell director, that was just how Triptych worked, and Rafe had to capture him. If the pirates managed to escape, the location of the ranch would get broadcast back to the Triumvirate, and it would be open season on the wolves.

  Rafe crouched in a new location at the corner of the greenhouse and held his breath. As he’d expected, a burst of suppression fire raked the area he'd been hiding in only moments before. One of the vertical vanes buckled and melted under the heat, and another fell to the ground. He winced. Nafisi would have plenty of repairs that the rangers would need to pay for.

  Part of him wished he had an excuse to oversee them.

  Red light exploded over the area as the flare traps he’d set rocketed into the sky and began to drift back down. A dozen Triptych fighters froze in the sudden light. They must have been packed into that Percheron two-deep. Rafe’s stomach dropped at the sight of so many soldiers. Any hope he had of holding out against those numbers was a fever dream.

  Rather like thinking about a future with Nafisi.

  He fired, but his shot went short, kicking up dirt and rocks as his target ducked behind cover. His position blown, the raiders took charge of the fight. Screaming in unison like an unholy choir, they stood and charged toward the farmhouse.

  Their battle cry was met with an eerie yip-yip-howl that sent a familiar shiver down Rafe’s spine. The soldiers froze again, and those that knew the sound had already started to run the other way. It wouldn’t help. Distorted blurs streaked across the ground, leaping up and tackling anyone who couldn’t get into cover. Plas-fire snapped from the far side of the house, and Rafe spotted the head of Fireteam Alpha—Sergeant Marcel—stalking forward with her weapon at the ready. A quick glance counted considerably more than the Fireteam’s four wolves in the attack, however. Alpha must have met up with some of Nafisi's pack after they’d landed.

  Buoyed by the change in odds, he ducked out of cover long enough to drop another target.

  With wolves and an experienced fireteam in the fray, the battle was effectively over. Some of the pirates surrendered, more tried to run only to discover that two legs were far slower than four. With mop up proceeding, Rafe walked over to the sergeant and took a deep breath before shaking the woman's hand. "That was more of a surprise than I was expecting."

  "Sorry, sir. We would've announced our presence, but there was plenty of enemy chatter about how they thought they had you alone." Marcel pulled her helmet off and mopped the perspiration from her hairline. "We inserted quiet on the far side of the moon. Figured they might be scanning for transmissions
. Sorry to keep you guessing, sir."

  Rafe started to thank her again when her earpiece lit up. Marcel tapped her microphone into position. "Go ahead." After a few moments she looked at him. "Azat and Gasto said the pirates’ Percheron has developed a sudden case of exploding engine. Worst they’d ever seen. I’m afraid that bird’s grounded."

  And with the communications issues on Secundus, they wouldn't be telling anyone what they'd found, either. He nodded. "Good work, Sergeant."

  "Just doing the job, sir. You're the one who pieced together the intelligence that Bravo brought back and made it actionable." She glanced past him, then met his gaze. "Speaking of which, I think someone wants to see you."

  Rafe dismissed the sergeant with a quick salute, then turned to find Nafisi standing with JJ cradled in her good arm. The cast on his leg wasn’t invisible, so it looked as though the splinted plastic hung in the air and disappeared into an amorphous blur.

  She stepped forward. "They got them all?"

  "Looks that way." He shifted uncomfortably. "With the threat neutralized, you should be safe." He held his breath, willing her to overcome his own stupidity. Please, ask me to stay.

  "Oh." Nafisi stroked her fingers along the pup’s fur absently. "JJ’s leg should heal just fine."

  Of course it would. She was brilliant, and she cared about the wolves in ways that astonished him. Her methods might not be field-manual orthodoxy, but she produced great wolves. And that meant she made great rangers.

  He cleared his throat. "I'll have supplies for repairs sent. And an engineer platoon to get them sorted out. Hopefully a more permanent version of the communication booster as well."

  She looked around the farm and nodded, as though seeing some of the damage for the first time. "That would be good.” He could hear the hurt in her voice but couldn’t figure out how to keep himself safe and bridge that gap at the same time. She took a breath and watched him. “Well, thank you, Commander."