Asarlai Wars 1: Warrior Wench

by Marie Andreas

  To find herself cradled in her second-in-command’s arms. She was surprised at how nice it felt. Not in a sexual way, but in a secure way. Although even in her weakened state, she had to admit it felt pretty damn good in a sexual way as well. Not enough for her to forget who he was, but good nonetheless.

  She pushed Deven away. “I’m okay. At least my brain isn’t going to leak out of my ears anymore. And I know that something happened while I was gone.” As she said the words, she waited for that dark presence to swarm out of her mind and swallow her. A few seconds and nothing.

  “I think, whatever it was, you broke it. I still don’t remember much. I went to Ghorlian Prime for a deal.” She frowned. Without knowing all the details it appeared that she had been an idiot for going to Ghorlian Prime. “This deal, whatever it was, obviously was nothing more than a trap.” She held up her hand when Gosta looked ready to launch into data gathering mode. “No, I don’t know where I went after that, or why they took me, or who they even are. Maybe you and your new toy can help me on that.”

  Deven helped her up into the chair, and for once Vas didn’t fight him. That block in her head had been damn strong. If Deven had been a weaker example of his kind, she wouldn’t have gotten out.

  “You don’t remember anything? Faces? What the deal was?” Deven frowned. “There was another block in there as well, one too old to be part of this. I couldn’t see anything about it, but I think the new block cracked the old one.”

  Vas shuddered. She’d felt the edges of that older block, and she was pretty sure there was only one person and place it could have come from. Her older brother and her home world—a world where wind and sand storms could kill within minutes. However, he was dead and if she was lucky, so was her homeworld. “I don’t remember a damn thing about the trip. As for a second block, there’s not much we can do about it right now, is there?” At Deven’s reluctant shake of his head, she went back to the current issue. If there was something else lurking in her head from almost twenty-five years ago, it could stay where it was. “We move on to what is happening now. We have to assume that the attack on me, my memories, and the missing Victorious Dead is all related somehow.” She waved toward the computer. “Is there any way that database can combine things? Maybe see connections that we’re missing?”

  Gosta studied the screen he had up for a few seconds. “I don’t know. Maybe with it I can at least fill in the pieces more.” He finally turned toward her, worry unlike any she’d ever seen made his thin face skeletal. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Vas started to bravado it off, but stopped. “I’m going to be all right, Gosta. I’ve come out of worse scrapes.”

  “But not like this.” His deep brown eyes were almost watery. “I’ve never seen anything go after you like this. You’ve always been the rock, the one thing in this company that stays the same.”

  For an instant Vas thought he was going to say in this world. He was clearly terrified. She’d always thought of her crew as her family, but she never thought about them thinking of her the same way.

  “I have you and Deven, and this whole damn crew looking out for me. Whoever those assholes are, they don’t stand a chance.”

  Gosta met her eyes with his own worried ones for a few minutes more, and then nodded. “Agreed. Whoever is doing this are assholes.” Swearing was rare for him and the term sounded awkward. “And I will help you find new evil things to do to them when we find them.” He paused, and reached up to a small shelf above his desk. “I was going to wait to give you this. It is not fully tested. But it might come in handy at some point.” His face flared red in embarrassment as he tumbled a small, metal sphere into her palm.

  “What is it?”

  Gosta fluttered his hands and turned back to his monitor. “In theory it is an EM weapons buster. I have not named it yet. It could be used to temporarily disable blasters. Up to a class three, I would think.”

  Flashing him a smile, she pocketed the ball. Inventing things was his hobby, and about half of the gadgets even worked. Just not always as intended. She wasn’t sure what good something that would wipe out her own weapons as well as her enemies could be, but she’d keep it.

  “Thank you, Gosta. Okay, enough about me, did you two find out anything about our cargo or destination?” She poked Deven. “You know how I hate going into these things blind. Pretend I didn’t almost die again and fill me in.”

  Deven went to the empty room next door to get another chair. He waited until he’d sat before finally turning to Gosta.

  “We found what I think the seller wants us to find. It’s nothing more than exotic silks, but they were from poisonous silk worms. Thus being used to make celebration robes for the Floxian magistrates.”

  “Which are illegal since at least half of the magistrates die.” Vas rolled her eyes. “I say if they want to practice an odd way of population control through poisoned garments and their religious caste, more power to them.” She rubbed the back of her neck; it felt like someone had shortened all of her neck muscles. “There’s no danger to us from this fabric, is there?”

  Gosta spun back to his data screen and happily clicked away. “No, Captain. The fabric has to be treated before the poisons become active. There’s no threat to any of us.”

  She stretched as she got out of her chair. It wasn’t just her neck; every muscle in her body suddenly felt two inches too short. “Mac and Jakiin are just damn lucky this one looks clean.”

  “You look like hell.” Deven rose as well. “Your body is having a reaction to breaking down that command on your mind.”

  “Wonderful. Then if that’s the case, I’m going to my quarters and trying to sleep. Deven, you have the bridge.” She didn’t know if it was because it was getting worse, or because he said it would get worse, but each step toward the door was like fighting through a swamp.

  “Actually, Gosta, could you take the bridge?” He said from behind her.

  “Deven—”

  “You need something now or you’ll not even be able to move in the morning. Gosta can babysit for a bit.”

  Deven took her elbow. Annoyingly, it seemed to be too much trouble to remove his hand. Which pissed her off even more. How could she control her crew if she couldn’t even control her body?

  “And don’t even try to say you’re fine.”

  Gosta came up behind them before she could come up with a response.

  “I’d listen to him, Captain. He does know more about this sort of thing than even I.”

  Vas let the two of them lead her into the lift as if she were a thousand-year-old Ilerian godmother. “You two are worse than two little old ladies. Deven, you can escort me to my quarters. Gosta, you have the bridge.” She glared at both of them. “But it was my idea.”

  Neither said anything but Gosta got off the lift in record speed when they hit the command level.

  Deven stayed silent as they made their way to her quarters. Wise move for him.

  “Now what?” she finally asked when they got to the door.

  “I’ll give you the best massage you’ve ever had.” The look in Deven’s eyes was definitely one that would do well in a brothel.

  Vas backed into her door. “What the hell? Deven, this isn’t the time—”

  “It’s the only thing that’s going to work. Your mind and body are connected. Everyone’s is. Your mind just had a catastrophic event take place, and now all those chemicals are rushing around your body kicking the hell out of it. The adrenaline release alone could make you immobile for days.”

  She tried to stretch to prove him wrong, but her arms felt like she’d been lifting heavy weights for a week straight. Thing was, she wasn’t sure if she trusted herself if he started in on her body. She may not recall what had really happened during her month hiatus, but she was sure no sex had been involved.

  However, she was damned if she was going to let recent events ruin her resolve where this sexy hunk of telepath was concerned. No teke had ever been in her be
d and she was keeping it that way. She wished she could say the same about none ever being in her head, but she did not intend to let that number go up either.

  However, he was also right about the massage. Just standing here was turning her back into a solid lump of metal.

  “Okay.” She put one hand on his chest as he grinned and started forward. “But nothing happens, do you hear me? You just make me relax, but keep all your other body parts to yourself.”

  He nodded and pushed open her door. “Whatever you say, Captain.”

  She ignored his look and shuffled to her bed. With an uncommon bit of self-consciousness, she stripped off her flight shirt and pants and eased herself on top of her bed. There was no reason for her to be self-conscious. She’d been naked in front of more than a few men, including Deven, during battles. Plus this was just a massage.

  The minute his strong fingers touched her body, she knew why she felt awkward. If her body hadn’t been tight enough to snap, she would have been sorely tempted to roll over and grab him. As it was it took a few minutes to force her body to not react to the long movements those hands were making. He carefully soothed her entire back, and then started in on her neck, deftly separating out the muscles and relaxing them one by one.

  Why the hell was this man a merc? He could make fifty times what he made in a year doing just this, even more if he added sex.

  A soothing haze filled her mind. As she relaxed further, her body began responding to his hands in a very different manner. Rolling over, she couldn’t think of why she wouldn’t want this man in her bed.

  Reaching up and pulling him close, she kissed him and tried to return the sensations she was feeling. Deven held back, then leaned in and returned the kiss with an intensity she’d never felt before. Suddenly his hands were everywhere at once, and where his hands weren’t his lips were. Her body had been almost too stiff to move moments before but now it needed to move, and it needed Deven.

  Ripping his clothes off, Vas moved with an intensity unusual even for her to push Deven onto the bed beneath her. There was still a vague haze around everything, but it was soothing, not threatening. All she knew was that she needed him. She needed him inside her.

  His hands went there first, teasing and taunting her, all the while the gray fog soothed any other thoughts. Pushing his hands aside, she climbed on top of him, her mind and body needing him more than she could believe. After a few moments, he flipped her beneath him, his eyes searching for something as his mind kissed hers. Their minds merged into one in an even more passionate reaction than the one taking place between their bodies. The climax was so intense that Vas screamed once, and then lost consciousness in a comforting world of gray fog.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Vas was actually having a nice dream, a lovely dream where a bevy of handsome men waited on her as she relaxed by a peaceful lavender sea. She could smell the brine of the water, almost hear the warbling of the local seabirds—when a klaxon roared through and shattered everything.

  “Crap!” The sound had so pulled her out of sleep, that she’d thrown herself onto the floor of her quarters. Wondering why she was naked, she got to her feet and slid to the main comm stuck in the middle of the wall. “Vas here. What the hell is going on?” On a plus side, her muscles felt great. Deven’s massage must have worked even though she didn’t recall any of it. A small nagging voice starting pushing at her in her head, but she forced it away with Gosta’s words.

  “Captain, we’ve got a ship closing in fast. It’s small, but won’t answer our hails and could do some damage. I’ve gone into evasive maneuvers, but Hrrru can’t keep up. It’s changing course almost faster than we can.” His voice was calm, but she heard the underlying fear.

  “Get Mac up there now. Continue staying out of its way. And keep trying to raise the pilot or crew,” Vas yelled into the comm as she threw her wrinkled flight suit back on. “If it’s them or us, you’ll have to blast it.”

  The silence told her he’d thought the same thing. Of course if that happened he’d probably go into seclusion for a month trying to purge his conscience of having to kill whatever idiots were on the ship.

  “Aye, Captain.”

  Vas rolled her eyes as she palmed open the door. How did a mercenary company end up with so many non-violent types? And why in the hell hadn’t she noticed before?

  That thought was gone the moment she hit the command deck.

  The ship was still coming at them, but either it had slowed down, or Gosta had overreacted about its speed. The Warrior Wench was easily staying out its way.

  Gosta got out of the command chair as soon as she got on deck. “Report.” She took her seat and called up the information they had on the ship. Raxilan-class, it was a small miner colony ship. Usually used for hauling ore. Probably had a crew complement of no more than four, five if they were friendly.

  “We picked it up outside of the Deneb sector, didn’t seem to be following us at first. Then about ten minutes ago it started closing in. It still hasn’t responded to any of our calls. I even had the scrambler on in case they were outer world and didn’t have a common translator. Nothing.” Gosta punched in a few more numbers and the stats came in. “As it got closer we got this intel—single life sign, fading fast. The ship has enough raw ore to blow us out of the sky if it explodes anywhere near us. And it is tracking us with an automatic system. No pilot could have followed that tight, well, no non-teke pilot. And whoever is onboard is almost dead, so they couldn’t be piloting.”

  Vas glanced over the data. Now that the ship was slowing down, the immediate danger was lessened. Still though, the thing was a bomb waiting for an ignition.

  “Projections on when it will stop on its own?” She could pull back and order it blown to bits. It was too dangerous to be left out in space and the life signs were fading too fast for anyone to be saved.

  But she didn’t want to. The ship trailing them was another part of the growing posse of mysteries tracking her. If she blew it up she’d never know what part it played. Ore ships didn’t go on destroy runs.

  Gosta went to his own station, moving Bathie out of the way. “Within the hour. Whoever sent it after us didn’t think we’d be able to outrun it. There’s not enough fuel for more than forty-five minutes, an hour at the best.”

  Deven hit the deck at that minute, looking fresh and relaxed as usual, even though Vas was sure he’d probably been sound asleep. Something about him stirred the muttering in her head, and she roughly shoved it aside. Why did she have a very bad feeling she’d missed something? Deven had given her a massage and she’d slept. Nothing more.

  “I checked, and there’s no teke activity onboard. The sensors are clean.” Deven seemed ruffled, not that anyone but Vas could probably tell. However, he was disturbed by something other than the ore ship.

  “Someone took over a fully loaded ore ship, programmed it on a suicide run, and aimed it our way. I want to know why.” Vas drummed her fingers on the arm of the command chair. Years of clean living and she got paid back with this. She sent a few nasty thoughts toward whatever deity was pissing in her bath, and then turned toward Mac. “Keep us clear. If it is on a suicide run it could still damage us from a distance.

  “Bathie, monitor chatter around here. I know there isn’t much in this sector, but chances are whoever sent that thing after us is keeping an eye on it. I know I would.” Vas thumbed open the comm on her chair. “Terel? I’ll need you to ready a team. Full suits. I don’t know what’s over there. We’re going over as soon as its fuel is wasted.”

  She felt Deven’s presence next to her long before he spoke. “Why don’t I go with them?”

  His closeness triggered whatever her head had been trying to tell her. Head and body both, she felt the flush start to grow and it was all she could do not to rip his clothes off on the command deck.

  What the hell happened?

  One full look in his eyes answered that question.

  Son of a bitch, she didn’t have
time for this.

  “I need five minutes with Deven. Gosta, get everything ready. Tell Terel I’ll be down for my suit in a bit.” She grabbed Deven’s arm and jerked him toward her ready room. “Deven will be staying here.”

  Deven didn’t put up a fight and stayed silent. Vas lit into him as soon as the door to her ready room slid shut.

  “You son of a bitch, what the hell did you do last night? You know how I feel about your people.” Vas was a rolling storm of emotions, with fear, pain, and betrayal being the strongest. She wanted him to feel some of them too. “You got into my head. You fucking got into my head and my body.”

  Deven wouldn’t look up for a few moments, which would have given her food for thought had she been calm enough to listen. Bits and pieces of last night trickled into her mind. Her body and mind blending with his in a way that could only be unnatural. She’d never had sex like that in her life. And gods willing she never would again. It was all she could do to keep from running into her room and curling up and never coming out.

  “It wasn’t just me. You responded—”

  “And you should have stopped me. Damn it, Deven.” Vas folded her arms as tight as she could around herself. She’d trusted him. Completely trusted him.

  “I didn’t mean for it to happen.” He held up a hand, his eyes meeting hers and staying there. There was a hurt there, and a softness. “Let me finish. I was trying to heal you as I massaged. I think I must have gone too deep with you mentally when I broke that block and the link was still there. Healing pulled us both into that.” At her arguing glare, he went on. “A haze, do you recall a haze?”

  Reluctantly she nodded. It was coming back, all of it.

  “I saw it too, it was—” He tried looking for a word, but failed. “I can’t translate it into any Commonwealth tongue. But it wasn’t completely my fault. I was pulled in as well.” He waved his hands between them. “Any residuals should be gone within a few days.”

  Vas turned away. The feelings were too intense. Part of her needed to have him right now. The other part needed to have him abandoned on some moon far away. As a child, she’d been kidnapped by extremists from her family’s wind farm for two weeks. The extremists had all been high-level telepaths and thought nothing of rampaging through the mind of a child.