by T. S. Ryder
"I'm human. I can carry the baby safely to term."
"And as humans have only recently come to our attention, there is no exceptions made for them."
It was too new. She needed time to think, to decide what she wanted. Closing her eyes, she swallowed hard and nodded. "I need time to decide whether I will end the pregnancy or tender my resignation."
"Understood. I will have you taken to your quarters."
Sara felt numb as she followed her escort. He chatted blithely, completely unaware of her turmoil. What was she going to do? Did she tell Tom, or did she keep it to herself until she decided? Did she want to be responsible for a child, another living being? Where would her career be if she decided to keep it? And where would she be? Military life was all she knew, could she even get a job as a civilian?
"And our brig is just one floor down," her escort said, his constant chatter bringing Sara out of her thoughts.
The brig?
Tom.
Well, there was certainly one thing that she could be absolutely certain mattered, that she knew she needed to do. Those humans on that ship needed to be brought in by someone who would make sure that they would be safe and be able to live their lives.
Before the thought was even fully solidified in her mind, Sara had grabbed the petty officer in a chokehold. The little alien squirmed, attempting to fight her off, but she held on tightly, cutting off his air. Soon he slumped. Her heart was in her mouth as Sara laid him down and relieved him of his weapons. The brig was right below them, and she had a jailbreak to complete.
Well, I guess this solves one problem, she thought grimly as she took off, running as hard as she could. After this, my career is definitely over.
Chapter Ten: Tom
Tom sat in the brig, head against the wall, eyes closed. If worst came to worse, his father would get him out of this trouble he found himself in. If that happened, though, the mission was over. It would then be a race against time to get to those humans first.
Ideally, he would talk with this Colonel Flanard, and strike a deal with him. The Ruziers Corporation thought that he was working for them, why couldn't he convince Flanard that he would get a cut of the profits. Bribing was also an option, as were threats of his father's might and power.
Would he be allowed to speak with Sara? She knew details about him and his mission, and she might just tell Flanard about it if she thought it would help his case. They had had a little time to speak in the escape pod coming over to this ship, but not enough. Tom hadn't even considered that she might tell Flanard about the mission and his real name until they were being separated aboard the USC ship.
And if she was going to have a chance to keep her career after this was over they had to believe that she was his hostage. So he had kept his mouth shut.
The energy barrier that made up the door to his cell blinked and went out. Tom got to his feet, mind racing as he tried to decide what to do with Flanard. His eyes widened as Sara strode into the cell instead.
"They let you see me?"
"No. This is a jailbreak. Hurry. I rejigged the internal sensors to go haywire and I started a fire the floor above us, but we don't have much time before Flanard figures out what's going on." She grabbed his hand. Her palm was sticky with sweat. "We have to move."
This meant the end of her career, but it was too late to change that now, so the two of them headed down the corridor. Sara handed him a weapon, which he gratefully took. They didn't encounter anybody on their path to the docking bays. There they had to stun a few workers but quickly found his ship. Tom ran to the pilot's chair at once and navigated the ship through the barrier that kept the cold of space out.
Everything was going smoothly. Too smoothly. Flanard's ship didn't even chase after them.
"That was easy," Sara said once they were on their way. "I am good. They didn't even see us leave."
Tom sat in the pilot's chair, plotting in a course. The ship's computer was a specialized one that wiped out his navigations whenever he stopped, or if other ships came too close. It was a safety precaution he had learned well years ago.
Now he wondered if it was going to be enough.
It was far too easy to escape Flanard's ship. Which could only mean one thing. "What deal did you strike with him?"
Sara turned her golden eyes on him. "What?"
Tom strode to the panels that accessed the ship's navigation controls. His hands trembled as he ripped them open and began poking around inside. Sara watched him, her eyes wide. Because she found his behavior surprising, or because she knew it meant he suspected? He wanted to punch the wall until the bones in his hand shattered. His Starmate had betrayed him.
"They let us go. Or at least they let me go." There were no tracking devices in the navigation controls, and so he went to the weapons, another easily accessed point. "Did you tell him about my mission? Did you agree to split the profits of selling off the humans we find there?"
The silence between them weighed heavy.
"Are you seriously accusing me of selling out my own people?" Sara's voice was low and furious. "After everything we have been through together, you really think that little of me? I thought we were supposed to be Starmates and all that crap! Or was that just a line you've been spinning to convince me to jump into bed with you?"
Her accusation was like a knife to his heart. Tom paused in his frantic search. His heart hammered in his chest. He had longed to find his Starmate for so long, what if he had been wrong? What if he was tricked by his oncoming musth, and Sara wasn't the one meant for him after all? What if he was so desperate to find a woman to love that he picked out the first one he saw that was in need of help?
"Tom, seriously. I thought that we…"
He snarled and renewed his search.
It took him five hours of searching, but eventually Tom found a small tracking device tucked in underneath the food processor.
He crushed it under his heel and whirled on her. "As soon as we got away, you were boasting about your escaping skills. Was it to make me think that you were really so good, so I wouldn't think of that?"
Sara stared at the crushed tracker, her normally blue skin a faint turquoise. "He was going to follow us. I should have known."
"You told Flanard about my mission." Tom's hands clenched, his breaking heart making him all the angrier. "Worse than that. You told him where to find us, didn't you? Is that what you were doing on that planet when the scorpion attacked you? Contacting your USC ship to tell him where to go next to get me? But the ship's navigation wiped itself clean, so you couldn't calculate my trajectory. And so you have to have me lead you straight to the ship. You thought that my feelings for you would blind me, making you above suspicion."
Sara stared at him, her expression incredulous. "You're an idiot."
"I am," he agreed. "I'm an idiot for thinking that you actually wanted me."
"You're an idiot for thinking that I betrayed you! I'm—" She stopped, seemingly choking on her words. Her shoulders slumped. "I am starting to have feelings for you, Tom. Beyond simple lust. I had no idea Flanard did that."
Tom turned away. Her reluctance to tell him that she was developing feelings was all he needed to know it was a lie. What was he going to do now? His heart felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces, his very soul ripped in two.
"Why would I betray you?" she asked.
"You're part of the Corps. This could be you proving your loyalty to the United Species. You're human, he could have threatened you. Who knows? Like you've been saying all along, we don't actually know each other."
"If that's what you think, then lock me up. Drop me off on some forsaken planet, just abandon me!" Sara grabbed his arm, making him face her. "You're a fool. But I won't try to convince you of something that you clearly have no desire to believe."
Tom studied her. He wanted to believe that she was on his side. He wanted to believe that she didn't actually betray him. But he was a fool to think that just because
he believed they were Starmates, it meant she loved him.
"There aren't any planets between here and my destination," he said, grasping her arm.
She yanked away. "So where are you going to lock me up, then? The bedroom or the cargo bay?"
Both had panels that could be accessed. No, there was only one room on the ship where she couldn't sabotage him. He hated thinking of her being cramped into the bathroom, and it would present problems to take care of his daily needs, but it was the only place he could put her. He pointed towards it. Sara stared in disbelief for a moment, but her face hardened and she walked in, slamming the door behind her.
Tom closed his eyes. Why? We're meant to be deliriously happy. Not this. What did I do to deserve this?
Chapter Eleven: Sara
The one good thing about being locked up in the bathroom was that Sara could throw up all she wanted, without Tom becoming suspicious about why she was so sick. The only time she saw him was when he brought her food and neither of them talked when that happened.
If he wasn't being such a pig-headed moron, she might have told him she was pregnant. But she wasn't about to share something like that with an idiot who found a tracking device on his ship and decided that she must be the only reason that it was there. For everything he said about Starmates and whatever else, he showed that he had zero trust in her.
And that, in her opinion, was unforgivable. Even if she did tell him that she was pregnant with his child, she doubted that he would believe her.
Sara wasn't sure how long she was stuck in the bathroom when Tom opened the door and gestured for her to come out. A rush of desire washed over her the moment she saw him like it always did these days. Another reason to keep their interactions to a minimum. The bitter scent of his musth filled her nose and she had to fight to keep herself from throwing herself at him. His knuckles were thick with layers of flesh seal, and judging from the dents in the walls, he was having a hard time controlling the aggression that came with musth.
Good. Served him right for not trusting her.
"We're getting visitors," Tom snarled. "Don't make waves, and don't tell them you're human. Actually, just don't do anything at all."
"Who are they?"
"None of your business."
Sara glowered at him. "Then I think I'll tell them that you kidnapped me and that they need to contact the USC right away!"
"I just told you to—" Tom closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His tense shoulders slowly unknit. "The Ruziers Corporation sent a ship. They said it's to check for updates, but there has to be something more going on here. Just… just don't do anything stupid."
"You should tell yourself that," Sara muttered. She glared back as Tom glared at her, but nodded stiffly. "I'll be the most charming, vapid female you could possibly hope for."
If the atmosphere between them was already thick, it only got thicker once Tom's 'visitors' boarded. It was a mix of species, but their leader was a T'shav. This one wore the traditional var'ki skirt and had vivid black tattoos on his chest and arms. Swirls and spikes surrounded skulls, and oddly a flower right over his heart. There had to be some sort of significance to that, but Sara put on her most air-brained smile and tried to ignore the desire to get a gun and fight them off.
"Bond," the T'shav greeted, nodding at him. "Ruziers hears that you ran into a little trouble with the USC."
"Hardly trouble, Rayo," Tom replied, waving a hand airily. "The colonel was an idiot. He already knew about the shipment and thought I wouldn't find the tracking device he planted on my ship when he let me escape. Laughable, really."
"Hmm." Rayo's gaze shifted from Tom and focused on Sara.
His gaze swept down her in a way that had the hair on the back of her neck prickling. She shifted closer to Tom unconsciously. After all that had happened would Tom still defend her from his employer?
Of course he will. We're Starmates. Her heart jumped a little. Where had that thought come from? They weren't Starmates, no matter what Tom thought. The fact that he could so easily mistrust her was only proof of that. Wasn't it? Musth does play with their heads. All those hormones…
"Who's the female?"
"Nelly. I picked her up a while back to help me through my musth," Tom said, though his voice took on a dangerous tone. "She's of no consequence to you, Rayo. Why did the Ruziers Corporation send you? Because of my little run-in with the USC?"
Rayo eyed Sara for a moment. She narrowed her eyes at him, but when Tom's arm tightened around her, she dropped her gaze. Being the meek girl-toy wasn't something that came easily to her. She'd had to play the part a few times over the course of her career, and every time she wanted to claw out somebody's eyes. Right now she wasn't sure if Rayo or Tom was at the top of her list…
No. Tom wasn't even a contender. Her shoulders sagged and she found herself leaning into him. If their roles were reversed when it came to their 'escape', she probably would have thought the same thing he did. She was still angry that he would so readily believe the worst of her, but really, what did she expect? They got away with hardly a fight and then a tracker shows up on the ship. Not exactly brain science to think that the lieutenant is still working with the Corps.
"I asked a question," Tom said, a growl to his voice. "Don't push me right now, Rayo."
The other T'shav shrugged. "I just came to warn you. Somehow Zon found out about the shipment, and he's sending someone to collect it."
Sara's head jerked up. "Zon?"
Everybody knew about the T'shav warrior Zon. He commanded a huge fleet of ships, and in many ways ruled an empire in his own right. There were plenty of people who thought that he was a traitor and criminal, but hundreds of colonies had hired him to protect them, and from Sara knew, he championed the Human Rights movement.
"So he's sending someone after the shipment?" Tom asked, his voice tense. "Well, that puts a different spin on things. I'm not going up against Zon's people. I'll be turning my ship around and getting out of here."
"We'll accompany you to the shipment site," Rayo interrupted. "Ruziers feels that stealth is no longer an option, and so we're assigned to see you safely there and back. And your retainer has been tripled."
A cold shiver slid down Sara's spine. If the corporation was afraid that Zon was going to steal the humans, and Zon was an advocate for human rights, that meant that they were not planning on setting up the sanctuary that Tom had talked about. So what were they really after?
"I don't get what's so important about a bunch of humans," she said, draping herself over Tom and playing with her hair. She deliberately made her voice bored.
"Don't worry your pretty head about that," Tom started, but Rayo interrupted him.
"What's so important about humans? They're not classified as a sentient species, and they have universal DNA. This shipment is worth more than you can even dream of, honey." Rayo smirked. "The males aren't worth much besides being sold to labs or private collections, but the females can be sold under the population trade act."
Sara ducked her head to hide her fury. The population trade act? It was a thin disguise to make the women sex slaves, treating them like baby making machines. So that was what this was all about. Her rage began bubbling and her hands clenched. She glanced around to find a weapon, but as soon as she moved towards taking Tom's, he twisted her around and pressed a firm kiss on her mouth.
Rage was replaced by desire. Heat rose in her body, making her skin feel tight, and she threw herself into the kiss, pressing Tom's mouth open. His hands were strong on her hips. When he pulled away, she actually whimpered, wanting more.
Tom pushed her towards the bedroom. "I'll just be a minute, sweets."
Dazed, Sara glanced around. Rayo and the others were all smirking, giving her knowing looks. Her anger began rising again, at them and Tom both. She'd probably kill somebody if she stayed out here, so she strode into the bedroom. If the door didn't slide shut automatically, she would have slammed it behind her.
Drawi
ng in a deep breath, Sara leaned against the wall, trying to clear the confusion. He was on a mission to bring back the humans so the corporation could sell them all. This explained so much. Tom's determination not to be discovered, his impatience to get there as quickly as possible. Why he was so ready to believe she had betrayed him. It was because he had already betrayed her. Was everything he told her a lie?
He probably doesn't even think we're Starmates.
For some reason that hurt worst of all. Sara bowed her head, fighting back tears. Well, it didn't matter. The fact was she was stuck with him for now, and if she wanted to get out of this alive, she was going to have to figure out her next move.
There was a gun laying on the nightstand. Clearly, Tom had forgotten about it. Sara stared at it for a moment before she picked it up. Well, at least she wasn't defenseless now.
Chapter Twelve: Tom
Damn. Could this get any worse? Not only did he have to play host to these pieces of worm vomit, but now Sara thought that he was going to sell the humans they were after to a life of slavery and worse. And then there were the reports of Zon's agent. Was Rayo really warning him, or was he carefully feeling out Tom's position? Did the other T'shav suspect that he was Zon's agent himself?
Just keep calm, he told himself as his musth-addled head told him to just kill Rayo and his crew and be done with it. Stay in control.
The bedroom door closed, hiding Sara's form from him.
"That's some female you've found."
Rayo chuckled and tapped his shoulder. Instantly Tom wanted to rip the man's arm off for daring to threaten him. His hands clenched, but he was just able to keep himself under control.
"You shouldn't do that. Musth," Tom reminded him.
Rayo backed up a step, holding up his hands. "Sorry. But you've got quite a girl there… you know she's human, right?"
