“Tell me what’s wrong.”
She was going to insist about this until he told her and he wouldn’t be able to lie to her either.
“There is a distinct possibility I might have to go back down to Earth again. I can’t believe I came to that decision easily the first time. I’m a pretty rational decision maker.”
She laughed and the sound made his groin hard again. “No offense, Acton, but you’re shoot first, asks questions later. Captain Acton is not usually thought of as being rational.”
“So what are you saying? I need someone with a rational mind with me to come to the meeting I am now very late for with the lizard people?”
She nodded. “Exactly. That is precisely what I am saying.”
Her idea held merit. She was usually pretty clearheaded and good in a crisis. It seemed simple enough; she would come to the meeting—which meant they really needed to get dressed.
“Put on your clothes, I need you to come protect me from the amphibians.”
She nodded and straightened herself in a remarkably little amount of time. He pulled up his pants and glanced at himself in the mirror. He still looked like the same guy who had been on Earth only hours ago but he didn’t feel at all like him. The question, he knew, was whether anything he had learned down there would help him up here.
“Acton?” Lizbeth stood by the door waiting. He nodded. There was so much he wanted to say to her and no time to say it. Lizbeth should have had hours of his attention; instead she was rushing out of a liaison in the conference room to go interrogate and be interrogated by an unknown alien race.
They walked in companionable silence and he did everything he could to not reach out and take her hand. Turning the corner, he gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile before they walked through the conference room door.
“Captain Acton, you didn’t keep us waiting this long last time.” In person it was obvious these creatures were true amphibians. They slurred their words together, their ‘s’ sounding so much like a snake it was hard for him not to stare.
Turning toward the table, he made the decision to not apologize. “Really? I don’t remember our first meeting so I can’t make a comment one way or another.” Raising his left hand, he pointed to the chair next to him for Lizbeth to sit it. When she did, he introduced her. “This is Lizbeth, she is one of my most reliable officers and I value her opinion on all matters.”
“We know Agent Suwanee.”
Acton raised one eyebrow and looked at Lizbeth who shrugged her shoulders. She was as confused as he was.
“When did you become acquainted with her?”
“At our last meeting, we met all of your crew.”
Now he was really getting annoyed. “How is possible that not one member of my crew knows anything about this?” If his tone sounded aggravated, he really didn’t care anymore.
“Because we wiped your memory. Well, the crew’s memory. Yours was supposed to remain intact. But something must have gone wrong there too if you can’t remember us and you came to actually believe you were the persona we set up for you on earth.”
Lizbeth cleared her throat. “What do you mean you wiped our memory?”
“When the Alliance decided to break our treaty and send you to the Hydro system to steal its water, we were honor bound to destroy you. But Captain Acton convinced us that you were unaware there even was a treaty between our two allegiances so we decided to spare your lives, send you away from here. Captain Acton volunteered himself to serve out the penalty for the Alliance.”
Silence filled the room and Acton felt his heart rate speed up. This sounded right. Damn it. Taking the punishment for the ship was something he would automatically do and it would be just like the Alliance to sign a treaty and then send him unawares into the heart of the mess to break it and then let him handle the consequences.
“You could be making this whole thing up. We only have your word that any of this happened.” Lizbeth sounded a little frantic, although she managed to keep her expression neutral. Obviously she knew this was something he would do too.
“As to that,” The lizard captain waved his right hand and Acton’s ears rang loudly. Once again, he had the impression of his time slowing down and then speeding up.
The previous negotiations with the lizards, whose name were actually the Tutonians, and were the warriors in a group called the Allegiance, were honor bound to protect the Hydro system, what they considered the only remaining unspoiled territory left in the galaxy. In other words, the only place left where space travel and war hadn’t spoiled or nearly destroyed the planets. They’d wiped the memories of the whole crew so that no one would remember the Tutonians existed and they could continue to protect the Hydro planets without anyone knowing they were there.
Acton’s punishment was to spend 100 years on Earth, the purpose being so that when he returned to the Alliance he might be inclined to petition the leaders to leave Hydro alone.
Everything had gone just as the Tutonian leader, Harrow, described it. But there was more to this story than even Harrow knew. Lizbeth had objected to his leaving the ship and had done so rather vocally. First she’d objected on the principal that no one could lead the ship as well as he could and only secondly had she confessed the true feelings of her heart.
Their earlier moment in the Conference room had not been their first time together. Acton closed his eyes not wanting his expression to illuminate for anyone what it was he thought about. They had shared one night together before her memory had been wiped and he’d voluntarily been stolen from the ship. One glorious night. He’d thought he’d always have that to hold onto.
His love, she’d always belonged to him, at least in his heart, and they’d taken the only thing he had of her from his memory.
Acton opened his eyes and stared for a moment at Lizbeth. Her eyes glowed with unshed tears. She would never let herself cry in front of others, he knew this to be true about her, but her grief was apparent just the same. She also remembered what they had shared.
“You leave us in a difficult position, Captain Acton, and if it were anyone else this entire ship would already be destroyed but we like you and respect you. Also, we did not count on you losing your memory. Had you not, you would have sent your crew away when they somehow retrieved you.”
Acton nodded. He would not let this ship and the people on it be destroyed.
“I think perhaps you underestimated all of us. There is no way any of us would ever stop looking for Acton if we thought he had been taken. He is our Captain.”
“And you are in love with him, which does not help.”
Lizbeth’s head shot up. “How did you know that?”
“We are very ancient creatures. We see many things.”
Acton wasn’t sure but he thought they were laughing at them. He frowned. This was getting them nowhere.
“I have the solution.” Acton turned to stare at Lizbeth, confused by what she could consider the answer to be but she seemed to be adamantly going out of her way to not make eye contact with him. This didn’t sit well with him. What did she have planned?
“I’ll go in his place.”
“Like hell.”
She still wouldn’t look at him. “My going missing would cause much less of a stir than Acton’s. There would be no reason for everyone to go looking for me.”
“I would never stop looking for you.” He heard the emotion in his voice and he didn’t care if everyone else heard it too.
“Yes, you would.” She nodded as if she considered this. “You have your whole crew to consider. You would stop looking for me after a while and if you can make it that I don’t forget who I really am, then I will go out of my way to make sure I don’t do the things you did that led me to actually find you.”
“No, Lizbeth.”
Harrow nodded. “This would be an acceptable trade for us.”
“I said, no.”
“You’re the captain.” Lizbeth’s eyes pleaded with him
. “Think like the captain, not like my love.”
Acton’s head pounded. “There has to be another way.”
Lizbeth shook her head animatedly. “There isn’t. This place was a disaster without you. It can’t be allowed to happen again. I go and in one hundred years they lift the memory loss from you and you come and get me.”
“You’re going to age down there. I aged like an earthling. You may not be alive in 100 years.”
“She’ll be alive, as you would have been. She’ll look old, but she’ll be alive.” Harrow shrugged his shoulders as if it didn’t matter one way or the other to him.
“You’re captain of the Instigator. This is my destiny. Let me save us all.”
Chapter Four
Lizbeth bit her fingernail. He had to go for her idea. There was no way she could remain on this ship without him. It was unacceptable. Better she should remember the brief times they’d been together and know she did something to better all of their situations than continue to exist in the half-life she’d had on the Instigator without him.
The lizards stood, satisfied. Acton reached out and grabbed her arm.
“The longer I do this, the more clear it becomes to me that it is all pointless if I don’t have you with me. I was miserable on Earth. Allowing you to do this goes against every natural instinct I possess. It’s my job to protect you, Lizbeth.”
“It’s our job to protect each other. Your job is to lead. You did your time. Let me do mine. If not, I would be happy to contact the Alliance and formally petition them. I can almost guarantee they will think your presence on this ship is more important than mine.” She paused; her next words were going to be hard to say. “You’ll forget me, Acton.” When he started to object, she raised her hand to stop him, touching her fingers to his warm lips. “There are planets to see, systems to explore, if I’m not here with you every day, you’ll forget me. I could never forget you. Call it my stubborn streak or whatever you’d like. I need to do this.”
Acton’s eyes had gone hard. She knew he didn’t like what she’d said but there was no choice. Everything needed to be set up as it had been before. The crew would leave the system and be a sufficient enough distance away before she’d be taken and their memory changed, erased. She wondered if it was possible to arrange it so they never remembered she existed at all. At the thought she swallowed her tears.
No one wanted to be forgotten completely.
Harrow stopped in the hallway, waiting for her. “How quickly can you return the ship to Omega Galaxy?”
“In a matter of hours, if we hurry.”
“We’ll be scanning the area. When we see you get there, we will pull you from the ship and erase the crew’s memory of ever having met us.”
She nodded. It was a solid plan and this time it would work, it had to. She needed to get to the command bridge so she could start getting things in order since Acton seemed to be glued to his chair in the conference room. She sighed. So much for a romantic goodbye.
* * * *
The arrangements had been made; he knew he could always count on Lizbeth for that. The woman would arrange her own funeral, if she could. That was essentially what she had done in a matter of hours. No one on the crew would speak to him. He wondered if she was at all cognizant of that.
Probably not since she seemed to think this entire fiasco was going to work better this time since no one would want to come looking for her. She couldn’t be more wrong. He could already picture the hordes of people who would line up outside of his quarters and demand he send out search parties.
She didn’t look at him when he came into the command bridge. In all the years they’d flown together, she had always looked up when he’d entered the room. It had been a little gesture he’d grown to count on. Now, their final moments together on this ship and she wouldn’t acknowledge his presence.
He sighed. There had to be another way out of this and he was just too inept to figure out what it was. But he’d be damned if she was going to ignore him.
“Lizbeth, I’d like to see you in my office for a moment.” He stood and stormed toward his private retreat. He hadn’t given her the chance to respond which meant she’d have no choice but to obey him.
Behind him, he heard her rise from her chair and walk in the direction of his office. The doors opened and she entered.
“Yes. Acton?” Her eyes looked sad. His heart crumbled into a million pieces. So much for yelling at her.
“We never have time to do this in a bed.”
She shook her head. “What?”
“This.”
Pushing her back against the wall, he lifted her off of the ground and supporting her weight with legs and the wall behind them.
“Computer, lock the door.” If life were fair, some day he would get to be with her and he wouldn’t need to worry about someone interrupting.
Lizbeth’s head was thrown back against the wall. “This is a bad idea, Acton. It’s just going to make me miss you more.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
She shook her head. “Please don’t.”
He blew out a breath. He wasn’t sure how he would have stopped if she’d wanted that. He’d have found a way but damn was he glad not to.
Not sure he could wait much longer, he pulled down her pants, managed to get his own off, and thrust inside of her. The moan she gifted him with sent shivers through his body. As he plunged in and out her, he couldn’t help but notice the silhouette they made together in the bay window of his office. It was highly erotic. Outside the windows of his office, the dead quiet of space seemed the perfect backdrop for their joining.
His climax hit him fast and uncontrollably. He was relieved when he felt hers happen at the same time. Pushing her harder against the wall so he could be sure she had support, he let his head fall against her chest. Her heart beat fast and steady and for a few moments he let himself enjoy the sound of it.
As he came down from his high, his head throbbed. This couldn’t be the last time they would be together. Every instinct, the very essence of his core, cried out in horror over this thought.
Feeling her hands in his hair, he opened his eyes to look up at her. Half naked, fully sated, and hot as hell, Lizbeth made a striking image pushed up against the wall with her legs still spread around him.
“Don’t think so hard. I bet you’ve all ready given yourself a headache.”
He snorted. “You know me so well that sometimes it’s scary. How am I supposed to let you go?”
“Look, either you’re going or I am. I’ve had my turn being here without you. I don’t want to do it again. So, now it’s my turn to go to earth, have a job, and serve the punishment for all of us. Better that than lose everyone to destruction by those lizard men.”
Acton felt her shiver in his arms. She was nothing if not loyal and the entire crew travelled together for over half a century now. It would destroy her to lose them if she could save them. He understood that feeling and that’s why it ate him alive to let her do this.
The communicator on his hip buzzed. He groaned.
“This is Acton, what do you need?”
“Sir, we’ve reached the coordinates given to us by the lizard people.” Emo’s voice spoke over the receiver. That was what the whole ship had started calling them and thus far Acton hadn’t done anything to stop it from happening. They were all going to forget the race even existed; it certainly didn’t matter to him whether or not his crew called them by their correct name.
“I understand.”
The communicator beeped. Lizbeth squirmed, an indication she wanted to get down although the effect had him getting hard again. He lowered her to the floor and tried to adjust himself so he fit back into his pants. It would still be a few minutes before he could be seen in public without everyone knowing exactly what they’d done.
“For god’s sake Lizbeth, give me the word and I’ll find a way to blow the Tutonians from the sky or run like hell until we can get reinforcements.
”
She shook her head. “Thanks for the offer. I have no doubt you would do that for me. I’ve always known you would. But we’d probably get blown from the sky or start an intergalactic war that would get millions of people killed.”
He nodded, a grin appearing on his face. “What’s one little intergalactic war? You and I have averted them in the past. We probably could again.”
She laughed and the sound warmed him. “Maybe our luck has finally run out.” She pulled him close to her and he inhaled her sweet, cinnamon scent wondering if he’d somehow think of her every time he smelled it for the rest of eternity. “I love you Acton.”
With that final statement, his heart threatened to explode out of his chest, but she walked from the room anyway.
This couldn’t happen, not like this. When the door closed behind her, he walked to his personal computer screen. Tapping the buttons, he entered the code that would give him private communications with the outside world. His crew would be unable to see whom he spoke with and he needed that. It was pivotal if his new plan was to be a success.
* * * *
Should she start a countdown in her head? When would they take her, how would it happen? Glancing back at Acton, who sat in his captain’s chair studying a data screen, he seemed totally relaxed. If she didn’t know better she would think that she had made up the whole encounter in his private office.
Her cheeks warmed at the recent memory. Emo cleared his throat and she changed the direction of her eyes to pay attention to him. He smiled sadly. At least she knew he would miss her when she was gone. He’d been a good friend.
Was it wrong that she hadn’t taken the time to prepare some sort of going away speech? Something to indicate how grateful she was to everyone who she had lived with for all of the long years that they’d been together?
She spun around in her chair, intending to stand up and speak off the cuff about her feelings when her entire world went black. One second she was on the bridge looking at her compatriots, the next it felt like she had nothing but a black void around her, and finally she landed with a thump on the white tile floor of a room she’d never been in before.
Yes, Captain Page 4
