by Imogene Nix
Levia decided that silence was the best policy, and he no doubt had considered that too, because he didn’t speak until they touched down in the shuttle bay.
The clips clacked and fell away, and just as she rose to move, his hand shot out, gently encircling her wrists.
“Levia, I mean what I say. We will talk.” Then with a swift move he was up and out of the cockpit while she remained still, her thoughts swept away.
* * * *
Their next run took them to Excelsior, a tiny planet far away from Omega V and Juranaa. Their task was to collect a drilling rig that was due for repair and overhaul. The run should have been simple, but passing through Dendaran Federation space was problematic.
Sandon had been on the bridge for an hour, sifting through Levia’s report on their fuel usage.
“Captain? Levia? There’s a large Enforcer Class ship closing on us. It’s scanned our ID and…” Vestang turned, his face glowing with excitement.
Sandon half-rose and rested a hand firmly on Levia’s shoulder, hoping to lend reassurance. He felt the sudden tension when the hail sounded. “Golden Echo, this is the Enforcement Vessel You’tang Sunrise. You are required to come to a full stop and submit to a search.”
“Dendaran vessel, we are traveling under a warrant from the Juran Commonwealth on trade,” Levia replied. Sandon’s fingers curled as she answered their hail.
“You must submit, or be prepared to be boarded and brought under tow.”
Gritting his teeth, he let his mind run through the scenarios. This could be spite, or maybe they’d gotten wind of their mission, or… He didn’t even want to consider that it was because of Levia.
Sandon watched as her fingers hovered over the keyboard. “Sandon, we have nothing to be worried about, but this feels…off.”
He felt the same and knew she was watching, seeking even the merest hint that he regretted bringing her back to the ship.
“We stop, let them search, then resume our journey.”
Her gaze searched his face, but he kept his own neutral.
“You’tang Sunrise, stand by while we come about and make ready.”
They boarded and demanded scans of their cargo and manifests. Sandon kept his feelings of violation and fury under control until they were off his ship.
“Bastards! What did they think they’d find?”
A chance look in Levia’s direction stopped him in his tracks. “Levia?”
Her eyes shone bright with tears. “It’s because of me. I’m the one causing the issues. If you just…” She waved a jerky hand in the air. “Let me leave the Echo and you’ll be freed from this…inconvenience.” The emotions that welled were harsh. Scalding in intensity.
Thrusting out one hand, he grabbed her fleshy upper arm and dragged her away from the helm. Her feet moved, squeaking on the floor, until he hauled her around the corner of the bridge, out of sight.
Leaning close, he willed her to understand the roaring that filled him. “You. Are. Not. Leaving.”
The way her eyes widened told him she’d never expected this. She opened her mouth, flicking the tip of her pink tongue around the edges.
He groaned as pressure surged at his groin. “You’re not leaving me, Levia.”
This time, when he kissed her, it was with great deliberation. His mouth slanted over hers, massaging the firm fleshiness of her lips. When she moaned and the steeliness of her body leached away, he slid his arms around her.
She tugged back from him. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Why not?”
Her chest moved against his in a most delightful manner, and he smiled, waiting for her to return the favor. Instead, she frowned. “I’m not looking for…”
“Neither was I. But it’s there, between us. Don’t fight it, Levia.” He carefully traced her face with an unsteady hand while she remained quiescent in his embrace.
“I don’t know how to…” The unsteady breath spoke volumes. “I don’t want to hurt you, Sandon, but I don’t know anything about relationships.”
“I’ll teach you.”
Coming back to the present was difficult. He frowned at the screen in front of him. Another hail, another inspection. The fourth in this sector alone.
Rat-tat-tat. The door opened and he waited as Levia entered his office. The fact that she still hesitated annoyed him, but he reminded himself to be thankful for the small steps. She was still there and hadn’t left the Echo.
* * * *
I might not be adept at reading people, but I know what Sandon wants. Hell, if Levia were honest with herself, she’d admit she wanted it too. Fear drove her to attempt to ignore the primal urges that pushed her to claim him for herself. The funny jiggle that always seemed to begin in her belly started the slow dance she’d come to associate with Sandon.
“So, that’s the fourth inspection. I’m hopeful that as we are exiting this section of Dendaran space, we should be clear for now. Only, I did manage to get some information this time.” Levia bit her lip. Sandon’s beautiful eyes were shadowed and the day-old stubble on his chin made her think of impossible dreams.
“What did you find out?”
“Down in the cargo bay, there was a young midshipman. First tour, you know how they are, so eager. Anyway, before he realized I was the Cybe, he let slip that the search and seize orders came from the military arm. He was hushed as soon as the others on inspection duty heard him, but...” Stopping and shrugging was all she could do right now.
Being the target was nothing new to her, but involving others? That was an unpleasant state of affairs.
“So you think that we are being targeted by their military and subject to search and seize, why?”
“Do I really need to spell it out for you, Sandon? Because of me. Because I’m a Cybe, and one they’ve tried many times to neutralize.”
The instant the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. Saying too much had never before been an issue, but something about Sandon caused her to feel much more than she ever had before. He caused her to regret where she was in life and how she’d reached this point.
“Explain what you mean, Levia.”
Breathing deeply, she filled her lungs with much-needed oxygen. “I was sent on a mission to Omega V to capture Ordan Mayerber. He’d committed countless atrocities, including the slaughter of fifty-seven Muesterlin nuns on Serrano because the Dendarans thought they were trafficking information during the war. They were, of course, neutral, until that point. Then the hierarchy of the Muesterlin faith swung in behind the Jurans.”
He looked surprised, but that wasn’t everything she needed to tell him. She prepared herself mentally, sure that when he heard the rest, he’d banish her from the Golden Echo.
“The thing is… I was one of the Juran’s best assassins. I had over two hundred certified kills and was sent in to....” His face leached of color at her words, but she forged on. “I was given the mission of tracking him down and neutralizing the threat he posed to the Juran forces on Omega V. That was when they launched the new Dendaran destroyers, the ones fitted with sonic weaponry. I nearly had him when it rose.”
In her mind, the vision of it ascending over the horizon loomed and she swallowed.
“The boom… It came so quickly, and there was no time to escape. They found me on the field. The enhancements had saved me, but the injuries…” The memory of excruciating pain swelled, and she had to swallow the bile that rose in her throat, choking her.
“Levia, I didn’t know.”
She knew what he was about to say. He hadn’t known why she’d refused to go to Omega V and wouldn’t have pushed her if he’d known. She dismissed his self-recriminations, because it had been her choice not to share her fears. “I didn’t intend to tell you. That’s why I didn’t want to go to Omega V. But even after that, once they realized who I was... Well…” Levia spread her hands, feeling useless and cowardly. She had to turn away, to find a measure of privacy in the midst of her pain.
“They had pursued their interest in knowing how the cybernetic enhancements were integrated. Then they decided that while I was there, they should run tests on pain thresholds, strength assessments…” She shook her head, wanting to block out the recollections of months spent in the white room, observed and assessed like a specimen.
“How long?”
She turned back and his face was a stark white, his eyes wide, and she knew she’d told him too much. Hearing it all had hurt something inside him, and she hated the responsibility that came with her actions. “Long enough. But after the truce, I was returned to the Jurans and my—”
When he rose, it was with an angry jerk and a twitching muscle at the side of his jaw. “I didn’t ask about what happened next, I said how long?” The menace in his tone was new.
“Why?”
“Because when we find Mayerber, if you don’t get to him before me…” His gaze took on the cold matte of a ruthless killer.
For the first time, she wondered if there was more to this man than the side he showed others. She’d taken him for an urbane, well educated but essentially cerebral type, not the cold man who stood before her. Muscles flexed and she realized they were hard. Well defined. This view of him was both extraordinary and unsettling.
“Mayerber is dangerous. He was one of the best strategists the Dendarans have. He’s not someone to be taken lightly.” She needed to ensure he understood.
He canted his head to the side. “Are you saying I’m not up to the task?” This time a slight smile covered his face.
“Well, I don’t really… I mean, you work behind a desk and…” She scrabbled for the words to explain her concerns without hurting his feelings.
He merely laughed. “There’s more to me than meets the eye, you know.”
She shivered, understanding this was true on more than one level. He was also the man who made her feel alive. Human. Womanly.
“I, uh… We need to prepare for—”
Her words were stilled as he kissed her, this time hungrily. His mouth roamed over hers, and she grabbed his shoulders, feeling the strength of him beneath the gray material of his uniform. When his lips left her mouth and nibbled their way across her jaw, she couldn’t contain the gasp as nerve endings quivered with delight.
“Sandon…”
When he reached the sensitive point, the place where jaw met neck, she moaned, and the rattle of his laugh against her skin set off explosions of longing deep within her body. The feel of his tongue lightly tracing over the veins was sensually drugging, and she had to close her eyes. His hands curved around her butt and pulled her closer. She nestled between his legs, and the jut of his erection against her belly told her of his arousal. It was hard and urgent.
Everywhere their bodies touched, she burned. The zing of attraction had become a wildfire, and she welcomed the heat. His hands slid upward, searching up the contours of her back until they gently cupped her, over the ribs. Any rational thought fled at that moment as the sensations overwhelmed.
“Levia, you want this too. Tell me.” His gentle command impinged.
“I do. I want you, Sandon.”
With a sound that might have been triumph, he swooped again, devouring her. When his hands cupped her breasts through the layers of clothing, she thought she’d entered heaven. His thumbs rubbed carefully, finding the twin points of her nipples, where were jutting outward.
They stilled then gently massaged while the warmth between her legs pooled in her belly as if she were melting from the outside in. Their tongues tangled, and on his breath, she tasted the soft muskiness that she associated with him.
“Sandon, Sandon…” She chanted his name when she finally tugged away.
The need to breathe had her chest bellowing as much as the hunger of her body for his. The cool air caressed skin that had somehow become exposed during their shared intimacy, and she blinked, noting the way her suit gaped, the zipper pushed down to her navel.
“We have to stop.” She pushed at his chest, her action weak and disclosing the truth. She didn’t really want to stop.
He stilled, and for a moment, she wasn’t totally sure what to think, then he exhaled and lifted a hand to her face. “I know. You aren’t ready, but when you are, I’ll be here.”
Tears burned and she wanted to swipe them away, along with her fears. “I just… I don’t know what I’m doing around you. It’s like being an alien in your own body. Every thought and everything you knew about yourself turned topsy-turvy. I’m used to being cautious and…” She stopped, trying to make some sense of the mush in her brain.
“It’s okay. I get that. But I want you so much, Levia, that I dream of you and I ache constantly. My bed is lonely, and I wish you were ready.”
The tug of his words had her wishing she could be stronger. “I’m a coward, Sandon. I want that, but I’m so afraid.” On one level, she was deathly fearful, but another told her to take the chance. Unable to go further yet, she nuzzled into his touch, inhaling his scent, hoping to show him instead how much she wanted to be with him.
A knock sounded at the office door. She pulled away with a jerk and was tugging up the zipper as the door opened with a creak.
“Hey, boss—” Vestang’s words trailed off, and she knew they’d been caught. The burn of humiliation bloomed on her face. “I’ll, uhh…”
The silence grated at her nerves, while her fingers tugged at the zipper. The sound echoed, telling its own tale.
“It’s not that important,” Vestang muttered. “I’ll see you on the bridge.”
She turned to see him flee through the door, which then banged shut.
“Well, at least once they know, no one will question the time we spend together.”
She whipped around to see a grimace on Sandon’s face. “You think this is okay?”
“No. But I won’t be furtive with you, Levia. I want to be with you. I’m not prepared to hide my feelings. Besides which, I think most of the crew knows about the chemistry between us.”
She bit her lip at his words. He was right, and trying to hide behind closed doors would only work so long. He deserved better, much better than the stolen kiss and touches they’d shared so far. “Oh God!”
“Hmm, maybe we should talk about what you came here for?”
“What?” Disorientation kicked in. “Oh, yes. We’ve already lost six days as a result of these searches. I can’t make up that kind of time, but I have managed to plot a course that will help us to avoid them. It will add another three days, but given the current situation, I think it might be worth considering.”
He cocked his head. “Okay, show me what you have in mind.”
* * * *
The approach to Excelsior was completed in silence, and Sandon watched the gray-green planet loom large ahead of them.
They’d been intercepted again just as they entered the system. This time, Sandon questioned the captain on the reason they’d been stopped. He’d seen the truth in the other man’s eyes when he blinked and backed away. The captain’s security guards had taken a swipe at him, and Levia had moved in. Her movements had been a blur and she’d growled that no one touched her captain. As Sandon remembered it, he almost smiled.
Before he could call her back, she’d had the burly officer on the floor whimpering, his arms pulled back with her knee against his spine. “Touch him again and there won’t be enough of you to launch into a memory capsule.” When she’d looked at the officer, her eyes were wide. Wild.
The crew had been fascinated during the action, but ever since had walked a wide berth around her. Levia had retreated into her shell, showing up for duty and keeping a determinedly isolated persona.
He’d have to tell them of course. The truth was, her status as a Cybe was affecting the running of the business and ship. Not to mention the mess it made of his equilibrium.
“Captain, I’ve answered th
e hail from ground control. They state that as we are several days late with the run, they wish to renegotiate the contract.”
“Damn them!” The curse slipped out, and he didn’t miss the way she flinched.
“Captain, I need to send them an answer. Will you renegotiate?”
“Yes. Tell them I require a face-to-face though. The crew needs downtime, and if we can get the issues ironed out, we can kill two birds with one stone.” He watched as she relayed his agreement and request.
For the first time, he noted the droop of her lips and strain bracket that edged the side of her mouth. Everyone was hurting because of the actions of the Dendarans, but none more than Levia.
“I need you to pilot the shuttle again. We’ll go down in the larger one.”
“But surely Vestang…” Her gaze settled on him, and he wanted to reach out and soothe her. But business had to come first.
“No. Vestang will pilot the other shuttle, with the crew aboard. Gorthos and Vilmar will remain on ship. The others will take their leave first. That leaves us to deal with the cargo.”
She bit her lip, an indication that she was wracked with indecision. “Captain, perhaps one of the others would be best. I can remain here and replot our flight plan.”
That didn’t suit him at all. He needed to spend time with her away from the pressure cooker environment of the Golden Echo, and he needed her skills as a negotiator. He might even need her as a bodyguard.
“No, Levia. I need you with me. There are some things that I will need your skills for.”
She wanted to argue, her reactions clear in the mutinous set of her mouth, but even as she shook her head, she agreed. “Sure, but it’s your funeral.”
He waited as she finalized the plans with ground control then switched the comm to broadcast.
“Attention all crew. We have arrived at Excelsior. As per my announcement, all crew due for leave are required to assemble in the shuttle bay at eleven hundred hours. Crew remaining aboard will be required to attend a briefing session in my office immediately. Captain out.” During his short speech, Levia had risen, having placed the Echo on the automatic mode, and as she edged by him, he thrust out a hand. “I’ll need you too.”
