Wow. Naked Nobek heaven.
Two groups of young Nobek trainees, resplendent in skintight short-shorts, stood facing each other from opposite sides of the clearing. Muscles gleamed in the glaring sun on bodies pumped for battle. The side on my left wore red shorts with black piping. The men on my right wore black shorts with red piping. They glared at each other across the glowing green expanse of grass, bodies tensed, upper lips wrinkled back to display fangs.
Walking between them, looking from one side to the other like a general inspecting his troops, was Stud Man. He was easily the best looking of the bunch and I glanced at Candy to see her reaction. Her eyes were wide and her mouth agog. I bit my lips together to keep from bursting out with laughter.
Stud Man was accompanied by four other men, also pleasingly near-nude as they stalked in his wake. Fellow trainers, I supposed. The quick glimpse I took told me they looked older than the men in the two teams, hardened and self-assured. I couldn’t concentrate very well on their faces. My eyes didn’t want to rise beyond chest height. There was just so many near-naked bodies to look at.
Stud Man drew to a halt in about the center of the glade. He glared at the Red Shorts Team and barked something in Kalquorian at those men. They responded with those hair-raising howls that made my skin want to crawl right off my flesh. At least now I knew they weren’t hunting for tasty Earther girls to gnaw the bones of. I shivered at the sound nonetheless.
Stud Man twisted around and screamed at Black Shorts Team. More freaky howls. I cringed. I enjoyed the sights, not so much the sounds. I wished they would shut up and just stand around looking amazing.
I got my wish. After that last round of inhuman shrieks, Stud Man held up a large black-handled knife. I gazed at the shining blade with an admirer’s eye. From near the point to about halfway down its edge it was serrated. Oh, the damage I could have done to those Tragooms with such a weapon. For a moment it held my attention better than the men.
Stud Man grinned, his fangs down as he flung the knife to embed in the grass ... or the floor beneath the vid representation of grass, I reminded myself. It quivered for an instant, reflecting beams from the twin suns overhead.
The five trainers sped out of the middle of the glade, their bodies blurred as they took up positions at the edges of the clearing. I had a moment of panic when I thought one headed straight for us, but he veered to the right instead.
While I was on the verge of wetting my pants at the near discovery, both teams screamed in an ear-popping rush. Bedlam descended as they rushed towards each other. Flesh smacked with unbelievable violence against flesh. The teams fought each other in brutal hand-to-hand combat.
It took me a few moments to realize they fought to claim the knife Stud Man had thrown down. I’m not sure how I figured it out; the melee seemed to be pure chaos. However, the bodies always seemed to concentrate in the waiting blade’s vicinity, and that was where the bloodiest combat occurred. The blade was the prize.
Minutes flew by and one by one, men began to fall. The trainers hauled them out of the fight. Many protested they could go on, but the trainers’ decisions were absolute. When they said a man was done, he was done.
They’d gotten down to half a dozen guys still battling when Candy whispered in my ear. “Where did he go? I haven’t seen Nobek Stidmun for some time.”
I’d completely forgotten we were there to stalk Candy’s crush. I’d gotten swept up in the fighting, wondering who would win the super nice knife. I’d picked a favorite, a guy in red shorts who wasn’t so big he couldn’t move fast and wasn’t so small he’d get stomped on by the rest. My attention had concentrated on him as I silently cheered him on. I looked around, but Stud Man was nowhere in evidence.
“Maybe he’s hiding behind a tree, taking a nap,” I smarted off and went back to mentally urging on my pick to victory.
“Damn it,” Candy whined.
Maybe two minutes later the fight ended. My guy was the last eliminated before the Black Shorts Team victor snatched the blade out of the ground. Oh well. I’d almost picked the winner.
Black Shorts Winner, a man whose head looked tiny compared to his immensely wide shoulders, held the knife up in the air. His teammates roared their approval. Then the Red Shorts added their howls, acknowledging their opponent’s supremacy.
One of the trainers – Stud Man was still nowhere to be seen – stepped to the winner and said a few words, probably hailing him as Trainee Numero Uno.
Then the bad thing happened. Nobek Stidmun’s ridiculously resonate voice rang out, speaking in English. “You have indeed done well. I will add to your honor by allowing you to carry these trespassing females to my office.”
He spoke from right behind Candy and me. With startled high-pitched cries, Candy and I twisted around to see Nobek Stud Man looming over us, a cruel grin lighting up his perfect features.
There was a Walk of Shame ... sort of. It was more like a Carry of Shame. The bloody, sweaty Nobek who’d won the knife slung Candy and I over each wide shoulder. He followed Nobek Stidmun through a maze of corridors, taking us to his office.
Even now, I’m convinced Stud Man took a roundabout route so he could parade us in front of as many soldiers and fleet officers as possible. The only place we didn’t see was the promenade, where our fellow Earthers or someone from the Pussy ‘Porter might have noticed we were in trouble and rendered aid.
Candy pounded on the laughing trainee’s back as he carried her like a sack of potatoes. She kept yelling, “Leave me alone! I’m a Matara! I’m supposed to help save you people!”
Meanwhile I did a fairly good potato sack imitation myself, also drumming my fists against the back of the trainee. I shouted to Stud Man, “You’d better com Nobek Oses, or he’ll rearrange that pretty face of yours! You won’t look good to your mother when he’s through with you!”
The men we passed stared in shock or laughed or cheered. We were such a spectacle.
At long last we were brought into an office that resembled Oses’s on board the transport. Desk, computer, com, chairs. Nothing else, nothing decorative at all. Maybe it’s a Nobek thing. The breed is notorious for hating administrative duties, so I suppose there’s no urge to make the place where that happens nice.
At least the man carting us around set us gently on our feet. He grinned at us. “Did you like the contest?”
I adjusted my clothing, making a face at the sweat stains and blood he’d left on me. “Yes. I thought the last man had your number, but you earned that knife.”
He grinned, pleased as punch that I thought he’d done well. At least one of us was happy.
I was nice because the kid ... he looked pretty darn young now that I had a close-up view of him ... had only been following orders by lugging us around. It hadn’t been his decision though I doubted he minded carrying us the way he had.
Secondly, I was afraid to confront Nobek Stud Man. After all, we had been in a restricted area and even with that smoking face and body, I figured he wasn’t going to give us a pass over breaking the rules. He was a Nobek, a brute under all that pretty packaging. I had no doubt we were in big trouble, even if we were women.
“You are excused, trainee,” the deep, spine-tingling voice said, robbing me of my distraction. The kid with the monstrous shoulders bowed to us, bowed to him, and left. I looked at the door he walked out of longingly as it closed.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Stud Man’s voice informed. “So you may as well face me and the trouble you’re in.”
As I sighed and turned to obey, Candy began to wheedle. “But we didn’t hurt anything. We just watched.”
“A restricted area,” Stud Man replied, giving her a half-smile that promised nothing good was about to happen. “And don’t tell me you couldn’t read the sign that told you it was off-limits. You women were not allowed to come into the station until Captain Wotref verified you’d all been clearly instructed to stay out of places with red signs.”
She gave him
big, sorrowful eyes. It was a look that could have melted an iceberg. “I only did it because I wanted to meet you, Stidmun. After what you said in the dining room, I thought you wanted to meet me too.” Tears filled those eyes. I wondered how much of it was an act and how much real terror fed her performance.
Stud Man’s smile gentled. “I did want to meet you, Matara Candy. I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. After we deal with your trespass. You broke the rules and now you must face the consequences of that.”
Somehow it was the reasonable way he said it that gave me chills. It was so matter-of-fact, as if we could not possibly have an argument against his judgment. The issue was not open to debate.
Candy made another try, this time on my behalf. “Shalia only came along because she was afraid I’d get myself into trouble. She tried to talk me out of it.”
Stud Man shrugged. “She should have tried harder. And let you go.”
I wasn’t trying to get out of punishment. I knew I had it coming. I still had to make one thing abundantly clear. “Nobek Stud – uh, Stidmun. I have a baby daughter on the transport and need to get back to her pretty soon. Whatever you’re going to do to me, get it over with.”
He had been paying attention to Candy all this time. The big guy was definitely interested in her, though it was clear that wasn’t going to factor in on whatever sentence would be passed. With my statement, he finally gave me his undivided attention.
Stidmun looked at me for a long beat before sniffing with little concern. “You should have thought of that before you broke the rules.”
I took a step closer to him, my attitude going as cold as his. “Yes, I should have. I wasn’t thinking, and that’s my fault. But I will not have my child suffer because of it. You will get on a com, contact Weapons Commander Oses, and apprise him of my situation. And then you will take whatever pound of flesh is due for my stupidity and send me back to my daughter.”
He went very still. So did I. He stared at me and I stared at him, neither of us blinking. I felt a deadly calm fill me, one that Stidmun the Stud Man couldn’t touch. I wasn’t fucking around when it came to my kid. Whether this bit of man flesh knew it or not, I would be home with my little girl before another hour was out.
Stud Man’s eyes narrowed. He spoke slowly, as if realizing something. “Matara Candy called you Shalia.”
“That’s right. Shalia Monroe.”
His eyes widened at that. He cocked his head to one side and looked me over – not with heat or anything remotely like lust, but as if sizing me up. “You are Shalia Monroe? You fought and killed a squad of Tragooms, saving the lives of dozens of men?”
Oh geez, had the Nobeks from my ship been running their big mouths about that? I wanted to groan.
Instead I spoke through gritted teeth. “I am the only Shalia Monroe traveling on Wotref’s transport. You won’t find anyone else with that name running around here.”
A smile tugged at one corner of Stud Man’s mouth. “Well. I’d better put you somewhere safe then until I decide what to do with you. I can’t have you running loose, tearing up my men or the station.”
I was still mostly cold with determination. “I’m not kidding about getting back to my daughter, Nobek.”
All hint of humor fled his face. Stud Man’s attitude was as matter-of-fact as mine. “I’m sure you’re not. Come with me, please.”
He headed for the door. I exchanged a look with Candy and shrugged. I had no idea what would happen next, but at least we were moving things along now.
We walked through the station. Again we traveled myriad halls until I was convinced we were rats in a maze.
Candy shot me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. This was really stupid.”
Yeah, it was. But what was done was done, and now it was time to pay the piper.
Stidmun led us back to the training section, the very same one we’d been in before. We didn’t go into the restricted part this time. Instead we went into one of the rooms that we’d passed before going through the red-signed door. Blue mats covered the floor, the kind Oses set out to safely break our falls when he trained us for hand-to-hand fighting. It smelled like years of sweat in there.
The Nobek ushered us in, but he didn’t follow. Instead he stayed at the door. “Wait here.” The door closed and I heard the telltale beep that indicated it had locked.
“Son of a bitch,” I snarled. I went to the door and fiddled with the panel when it didn’t open. Stud Man had locked us in all right. ‘Wait here’ indeed.
“Damn it,” Candy said, pacing back and forth. “Why did I do this to us?”
“You’re a horny bitch in heat,” I said without rancor as I considered the door panel. If Stidmun thought I was cooling my heels for who knew how long, he was as stupid as he was handsome.
The panel was different from what we had on the ship. Door controls on the Pussy ‘Porter were bolted into the wall. It took a special tool to get those things off in order to remove the panel cover. There were no bolts on this particular cover.
“You didn’t happen to wear your knife today, did you?” I asked Candy. I needed a way to pry that control panel loose.
“No. I wasn’t planning on slashing anyone on a friendly station within Empire space,” she responded in a dry tone. Maybe she was mad at me for calling her a horny bitch. “What are you up to?”
“Busting out,” I answered. “I warned your sweetheart I wasn’t waiting around. He should have taken me seriously.”
“I got the idea he did.” Candy had a slight smile on her face. “I guess he’s just not fully aware of how renegade commando you can get.”
“What are you laughing at?” I said, turning around to check the room out. There had to be something in there I could use to get access to the door controls.
“I’m just thinking that when the chips are down, you’re always at your best. Do you have any idea how badass you are when you need to be? I don’t think you do.”
I snorted. “What I know is that even with dozens of people willing to babysit Anrel, she’s my responsibility. I said I’d be back within a certain time frame, and I will.”
“Okay, so then let’s find something to get that door open,” Candy said, returning to her typical cheerful demeanor.
We moved in opposite directions, searching for the closets that were often hidden in the walls. I pressed a panel experimentally and moved on to the next when it didn’t slide open. “You’re not going to hang around and wait for Nobek Stud Man’s return?”
Candy giggled. “I think he’ll find me more interesting if I get away from him. Now that I’ve practically thrown myself at him, it’s time to play hard to get.”
“Devious,” I opined, a smile breaking over my face. I couldn’t help it. With the vengeance of escaping smug Stud Man on my mind, I was starting to have fun. Candy’s plan to attract through evasion only added to the attempt.
I’d gone through two closet/cabinet units when Candy crowed with success. I turned to see her holding a slender flat metal bar the length of her arm with a handle. “I don’t know what this thing is, but I’m calling it a crowbar,” she beamed.
“Perfect,” I breathed. I joined her at the control panel.
Kalquorians make things to put up with a lot of abuse, I’ve noticed. The control panel was no different. Even once we’d gauged enough space to fit the end of Candy’s crowbar between the covering and the wall, it took both of us heaving on the handle to pop the thing off. We cheered our success before peering into the guts of the panel with all its components.
“Sensor, power module, command module ... that might be the locking mechanism,” Candy mused over the processor and mechanical doodads we’d exposed. “Most of it goes into the doorframe. If one of us has small enough fingers, we can try tripping it manually.”
“Let me hold that thing,” I said, tugging the crowbar from her. She handed it over. I turned the handle towards the control panel and began smashing the stuff inside it.
>
“Or we could do that,” Candy shouted over the sounds of things breaking.
There was a hissing buzz, and the two panels of the door slid apart a couple of inches. Yay for blunt force trauma to inanimate objects.
All my abuse couldn’t convince the door to open further though. What was left inside the panel was wrecked.
“It’s a start,” Candy said. “We can each grab onto a door now and pull them apart.”
She got on one side and I got on the other. We grabbed our respective panels, set our feet, and pulled with all our might. I felt my door shift a tad, but it moved no further into the wall.
“Anything?” I huffed to Candy when she paused in her efforts. I saw no discernable difference in the opening.
“Just the slightest sensation that it wanted to move,” she said between deep breaths.
Shalia's Diary #8 Page 4
