At Xander’s command and at the sight of the stunner aimed his way, Drik froze. At the same moment a lithe female walked into the room from behind them, and her gaze settled on Kirek. “Finally, you’ve found a warrior pleasing to the eyes and much to my liking.”
Drik used his psi to engage his suit, dressing in an ornate ensemble of pants in dusty blue and a matching jacket with gold braids that crossed his chest and dangled at the hem. He spoke with annoyance. “Lataka. How many times have I told you not to come to my private quarters?”
“Father. I wanted to meet your visitors.” Lataka ignored her father, and her rounded hips and full breasts swayed as she walked straight to Kirek. Grinning, she stared at him as if he were a treat as sweet as jarballa sauce. Ignoring Kirek’s weapon and the jaw-dropping surprise on his face, she flung her arms around his neck. To prevent them from toppling, Kirek steadied her with one arm, his eyes wide with astonishment.
“Yes. He’s perfect for me. I want him, Father.”
She shamelessly rubbed against Kirek in the most provocative manner. The woman wasn’t attacking him as Xander had first assumed, and apparently Kirek had quickly figured this out as well, holding his fire. How odd. He’d been holding a stunner aimed at her father, but she ignored the weapon and appeared bent on seduction. She must be drugged or brainwashed. Something surely wasn’t right with her. Unless she was using her body as a trick to distract them.
“Steady,” Xander ordered.
Xander hadn’t let the woman divert his attention. He kept his gun aimed on Drik.
Ignoring the weapon pointed at him, Drik spoke with a voice that dripped with arrogance. “Why are you here?”
“Kiss me,” demanded the golden-haired, golden-eyed Endekian woman. While the other females in Drik’s sleeping chamber had clothed themselves, the woman in Kirek’s arms kept rubbing against him, and every time he removed her grasping hands from one part of his body, she grabbed him elsewhere.
The scene might have been amusing, but the danger was real. If a guard found them now, they could be shot on the spot, and Xander had no illusion that the Endekian weapons would not be stunners, but lethal.
Leaving Kirek to deal with the seductive female, Xander lowered his weapon but kept it ready. “Drik, I’m sorry for barging in, but I couldn’t wait to go through diplomatic channels. Our business is urgent.”
“And your business is?” Skepticism turned Drik’s face a nasty shade of green.
“I would like your authorization to take a woman—”
“Take anyone you’d like.” Drik gestured to the females huddled on his bed.
Xander couldn’t believe the leader was offering him a woman so casually but kept his astonishment in check. What man would hide behind a woman to save himself? Or did the Endekian simply not mind sharing? Xander didn’t understand him, but clearly Drik didn’t comprehend his request, either.
“I want to take an Endekian female on a mission in my starship.”
The women all gasped. One collapsed in a faint.
Drik frowned and ignored them. “Our females are not allowed to leave Endeki.”
“Perhaps an exception could be made.” His comment elicited more gasps and wide-eyed stares.
“We don’t make exceptions, especially with Rystani.” Drik spat out the last word like a vulgarity, and his expression suggested the mere idea was as distasteful as swallowing poison. A woman hid behind him, cowering as if in fear Xander would take her.
Ranth spoke in privacy mode, so only Xander could hear the communication through the portable unit. “According to my research, Drik’s government doesn’t approve of Dr. Calladar’s research. If he knew which woman you needed for our mission, he might be more amenable to coming to an agreement.”
Xander used Ranth’s information. If that didn’t work, he was prepared to try bribery. “Endeki doesn’t need the services of Dr. Alara Calladar as much as we do.”
Drik’s facial muscles didn’t change, yet his eyes gleamed with interest. “Why do you need Dr. Calladar’s services?”
A frightened woman behind him had a strange expression in her eyes. Almost as if she knew Alara. More likely it was simply relief that she was safe. Either way, Xander focused his attention on Drik, who seemed to be considering the idea of Alara leaving Endeki.
“We are on a mission to find the Perceptive Ones in the hopes they can provide pure DNA to save the Terrans.”
Drik shuddered as if he found the subject distasteful. “Terrans, Dregan hell. A red-blooded Terran female almost ruined our empire, disrupting our trading routes by doing business with the Osarians.” Mentioning Earth had been an error, one Xander couldn’t rectify, but he refused to give up, even as Drik continued his rant. “We care nothing about the welfare of Terrans. Or Rystani. So I won’t permit Dr. Calladar to leave Endeki. No matter how useless and stupid her work. She belongs here.”
The Endekian leader might be unaware he’d just insulted one of his own people. But Xander felt insulted for her. Compared to this slimeworm, Alara was a model Federation citizen.
“Since we seem to value her more than you do, perhaps you’d let us pay you for her services?”
Drik shook his head. “She’s a heroine of the war. A symbol of Endekian strength and resilience. My people wouldn’t understand if I permitted her to leave with you.”
Despite Drik’s insistence, Xander sensed that the Endekian would have liked nothing better than to send Alara with them, but that he couldn’t, not without jeopardizing his political reputation. However, if Xander could find a way for Drik to save face, then perhaps they could both have what they wanted. Drik would rid himself of a woman he obviously had no respect for and disliked. Xander would gain a valuable crew member.
“Dad, I’ve never had a Rystani warrior to satisfy my needs. I want him.”
Xander tried not to let Lataka’s bold words or the distracting sight of Kirek holding the woman prevent him from focusing on the negotiations. The lad had clamped one of her arms behind her back and held her pressed against him to prevent her from groping him. He had her under firm control, enabling Xander to concentrate his attention on Drik.
Xander tried another tactic. “Your people might applaud your decision if you explained it to them in a way they understood.”
“What do you have in mind?” Drik’s tone sounded almost reasonable again. Could his rant against Terrans and Rystani have all been for show? Or to drive a harder bargain?
Xander kept his tone even. “If you told your people that Endeki was now at peace and that this gesture would serve to increase trade between our worlds, perhaps they might view Dr. Calladar’s departure in a positive manner.”
Drik shook his head. “Endekians would never believe I would allow one of our women to leave—not even one such as she. If she were to go, you must appear to use force.”
“That can be arranged.” Xander didn’t like it but would do whatever was necessary.
“To guarantee her safety and to make it appear as if we weren’t duped, we need to capture a hostage in exchange.” Drik’s smarmy gaze snagged on Kirek.
“Oh, Father.” Lataka squealed. “You are brilliant.”
At the Endekian’s outrageous suggestion to leave Kirek behind, Xander checked his temper. Since he’d never abandon Kirek, he shouldn’t be so furious. Nevertheless, if Xander had replied right away, he would have had difficulty restraining his tongue.
Drik’s almost amused gaze rested on Kirek, who still held the struggling woman. “Lataka, if I let you keep him for a while, would you agree to give up Barklon? You’ve been seeing way too much of him.”
“Yeeees,” she purred.
“No.” Xander had to force himself not to raise the stunner and was pleased his voice remained calm, although he shook with indignation. Drik and Lataka had spoken of the boy as
if they expected him to be this woman’s plaything. “Kirek is essential to my crew. I will not leave him behind.”
“Then Dr. Calladar will remain on Endeki,” Drik sneered. “My daughter will simply find another man to please her.” As if the matter were settled, he turned back to his women and used the null grav in his suit to float among them. “You may leave now.”
Lataka stamped her foot. “I don’t want them to go.”
Xander was not about to give up, even if he didn’t understand Endekian customs. On Rystan and Mystique women and men took their relationships much more seriously than the casual ease he’d seen so far on Endeki. Still, despite their differences, he had to find a compromise. While he couldn’t forsake Kirek on a hostile world, especially not with that woman, he still had options. “I would pay dearly for Dr. Calladar’s services.”
Drik didn’t even look at him. “I’m not interested in your credits. I wouldn’t mind Dr. Calladar’s departure. During her absence I could dismantle her laboratory. Without her presence to defend her work, other Endekian women won’t protest so much. However, I can always find another way to stop Dr. Calladar.”
“I won’t leave Kirek,” Xander repeated.
“It’s my destiny to stay.” Kirek spoke with the quiet conviction of a warrior far beyond his years.
Lataka squealed in delight. “Oh, so you like me, too. We will have so much fun.”
Drik grinned with fondness at his daughter. “Kirek pleases my daughter, and I enjoy spoiling her. Either leave him as a hostage, or we don’t have a deal.” Drik didn’t appear to care one way or the other about Xander’s answer or the stunner he held. He began to kiss one of his women.
“Why does your captain believe your spending time with me would be so terrible?” Lataka tipped back her head, her spine arching as she wriggled against Kirek. “I could teach you much about pleasing a woman.”
“This is unacceptable.” Xander turned to leave. “We will find another way. Let’s go.”
Kirek didn’t move. “It’s . . . all right. I’m willing . . . to be their hostage.”
“Your staying with her is not under consideration.” While Xander spoke in severe command mode, he wondered if Kirek was responding like any eighteen-year-old would with a willing woman in his arms, or if there could be more to his seeming acquiescence to place himself in jeopardy.
Kirek shrugged casually, but his stare was direct, piercing. “It’s my fate to stay.”
His words were simple but conveyed a world of meaning. Xander finally realized Kirek had known all along that he wouldn’t be going back to the Verazen. His journey ended here. Likely he hadn’t told Xander earlier because if he had, Xander wouldn’t have agreed to bring him.
Somehow, Kirek had known Drik intended to take him hostage. That’s why he’d used the hyperlink to talk to his parents. That’s why he hadn’t wanted anyone else to come with them. If not for Kirek’s intuition, had more of the crew accompanied them, they might have been taken as hostages, too.
Realizing he would have to consider leaving Kirek on Endeki made Xander feel as though he were being squeezed by the gravity of a black star, his heart racing out of sync. Many people on Mystique considered Kirek their most precious citizen. To leave him behind in the clutches of the shameless Lataka turned his stomach, but with Kirek’s gaze calm and his poise self-assured, Xander didn’t waste time wondering whether he’d ever had a real choice.
“You’re certain?” Xander asked. “We have no idea how long we’ll be gone.”
“I understand. You have no choice.” Kirek’s tone was thoughtful, his eyes conveying those of an old soul more than a young lad’s. His demeanor revealed a deep assurance that his fate was indeed to stay on Endeki, and the boy’s attitude finally convinced Xander he should agree.
Xander exchanged a nod, conveying his admiration of Kirek’s courage and willingness to be left behind, then he turned to Drik. “I accept your conditions. We have an agreement.” He narrowed his eyes and hardened his tone, lacing it with a threat. “But if he comes to any harm—”
“Harm?” Lataka laughed, pleasure lighting up her face and a lingering smile showing off perfect white teeth. Kirek released her arm, and she skimmed one seductive finger down his chest in a proprietary manner. “Why would we wish to harm such a marvelous man?”
We?
Two women separated themselves from Drik and joined Lataka. Their hands stroked, caressed, and they cooed with pleasure. It suddenly struck Xander that Kirek wouldn’t be only Lataka’s plaything.
What in Dregan hell had he just committed Kirek to? And what kind of man would he become after his stint on Endeki?
XANDER LEFT THE residence with his mood as bleak as a Rystani winter, his heart heavy as bendar. As captain, it was his duty to protect every member of his crew. Between Kirek’s youth and status among their people, he was special, pure of heart and soul. Besides, Xander liked the young man. Leaving him behind seemed like a betrayal and a failure, but the mission must come first. Still, Endeki morals were not Rystani morals. The experience on Endeki would transform the young man, and Xander worried what he might become and how he might change. However, Xander couldn’t stay and protect Kirek. Nor could he take back his words.
Xander didn’t fail often but when he did, he had difficulty accepting it. Drik had held the upper hand, however, and short of kidnapping Alara for real and creating an interplanetary incident that might start another war his people could ill afford, he’d had no choice. But it had been the finality and acceptance in Kirek’s tone that had convinced him. Knowing that didn’t make him feel better. There should have been something else he could have done other than leave Kirek behind, but with so many people dying on Earth, Xander had to put the welfare of millions before any one person’s safety.
For the moment, he must turn his thoughts to Dr. Alara Calladar. Thanks to Kirek’s sacrifice and Ranth’s spying, he had her home address. As the Endekian sun’s first rays filtered over the black horizon, Xander left Drik’s residence behind and stepped aboard his shuttle.
“Set a course for Alara’s home.”
“Compliance,” the computer replied. “She’s likely asleep. Do you want me to send a message to warn her of your arrival?”
Ranth’s suggestion would be the polite thing to do. But since Xander was fairly certain his visit would be unwelcome and that she might even try to flee to avoid him, he shook his head. “Open communication with Mystique.”
“Compliance.”
Kahn’s visage appeared almost immediately on the holovid. Xander filled him in on his decision to leave Kirek on Endeki and was relieved when Kahn offered to inform Miri and Etru that their son would be staying behind.
Kahn rubbed his brow wearily. “I’m afraid I have more bad news.”
“What?” Xander’s gaze sharpened. “Is Tessa—”
“She’s the same. Maybe a little more tired. She tries to hide her naps from me. I pretend not to notice.” Kahn loved his wife dearly, and he conveyed his worry over her health with his every breath.
Xander’s concern turned to his own family. “My father—”
“Is well, as are your brothers. However, the Terrans have discovered that it’s not only their DNA breaking down, but that of their plants and animals, as well.”
“The plants and animals have been exposed to the pollution, but I wouldn’t think they’d be susceptible in the same way.” Xander frowned. He was not a scientist. “What do the experts say?”
“They’re stumped. They’ve never seen anything like this. Panic is widespread. Earth now has a blockade in place. No one can land or leave orbit.”
“But?” Xander sensed there was more.
“There are already reported outbreaks of the same problem on several Terran colonies.”
“Did the Terrans get sick on Earth and b
ring the sickness with them to the new worlds?”
“That’s what we believe, but Federation citizens are growing hysterical. Some are isolating themselves in fear. As the panic spreads, fear that the illness is caused by a virus and not pollution as we initially believed will hurt the economy on thousands of worlds. Unless we find a cure, the Federation could fall apart.”
“The situation’s that dire?”
Kahn nodded reluctantly. “If our best scientists can prove the outbreaks on the Terran colonies originated on Earth due to their pollution and not a virus, the fear will die down. After thousands of years of trade, Federation citizens won’t give up their luxuries without good reason. But right now, panic abounds, and the prevailing anxiety may make your journey more difficult. Planets on your route may now be closed to outsiders. You might want to assign your Terran crew to ship duties only.”
“I understand.”
Xander flipped off the shuttle’s hyperlink with a sigh of mounting frustration. Between losing Kirek and the unrest throughout the Federation, before they’d even departed Federation space, his mission was already at greater risk.
Now more than ever, he needed Alara’s help. Still, kidnapping a woman from her home and her world in the hopes of coercing her to help them . . . stung his honor. He’d prefer straightforward ship-to-ship battle or hand-to-hand combat to sneaking into a woman’s home in the middle of the night with the intention of abduction.
Did his purpose of saving billions of lives justify his use of force against the innocent Dr. Calladar? He shelved the ethical considerations for others to determine. He was the captain of the starship Verazen, and his mission was of the highest priority.
If his action left a sour taste in his mouth, he would deal with his scruples later. But as he exited his shuttle on the roof of Alara’s apartment, he hoped this would be the last argument he had with his conscience for the duration of the mission.
Although he didn’t expect the scientist to give him much trouble since she was a tiny thing, he recalled that she’d been full of attitude. Quite likely she would shout. Perhaps cry. Or beg. But he would be immune.
The Ultimatum Page 5
