Ecstasy Bound

by Kerce, Ruth D.

  “Come.”

  Relief spread through her when she heard his voice. Having Braden near always kept her grounded. If anything ever happened to him, as it had to Tara, she didn’t think she could stand it.

  The door slid open almost soundlessly. As soon as she stepped inside the room and the door closed behind her, they hugged in greeting. Brianna pulled back first, knowing they might not have much alone time. “Quite a mess we’re in the middle of here.”

  “To say the least.”

  “I tried to catch you after the meeting but I didn’t want to pull you away from Alexa. I’d hoped to check in with you before the Initiation starts. I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I suspected you would come, so I told Alexa that I needed to stay behind. Pitch and Josella are with her. She understands the seriousness of our situation and knows I have responsibilities and need to put plans into motion.”

  “Alexa wasn’t curious for details?” She wondered just how much he’d actually confided in her. She knew he hated keeping secrets from his mate.

  “Alexa knows when to ask questions and when not to. She’s beyond what I deserve, Brianna, and I love her more every day. Now I’ve got three little ones to love too.” A smile tugged at his lips and he shook his head slightly, as if not believing his good fortune.

  Brianna’s heart melted. The look on Braden’s face always softened when he spoke of Alexa. She saw such a depth of caring in his eyes for his children that a small tear formed in her own eye. She couldn’t be happier about her twin finding his true love.

  She hoped to be as lucky someday with a love and family of her own.

  “What do you think about everything Laszlo said?”

  “Well, I’m not going through each of his explanations and theories, point by point.

  It would take too damn long. So let me just say that at first I wasn’t buying any of it.

  Now, after thinking over everything and how it all connects, a lot of what he said does make sense, given what’s happened.”

  “But still, I feel like we’re not getting the full story from him.”

  “No. We probably never will. He’ll make certain he keeps enough knowledge to himself to save his own ass and position.”

  “Do you think that’s his real intention?” She would rather believe otherwise. Laszlo was always one whom the Warriors and even Xylon’s non-Warriors looked up to. “Are we being too hard on him?”

  “I don’t know his real intention, Brianna. But after what he’s put us through, I’m not feeling overly generous. Everything he did was supposedly for our protection. All right. Maybe. But at what cost? Certainly there had to have been a better way.”

  Conflict still tugged at her deep inside. “He’s been our leader for a long time. He has to be given some consideration for that.”

  “I’m not suggesting we overthrow him. But we can’t afford to trust Laszlo completely without verification of what he says. He may still have an alternate plan in motion that he hasn’t revealed to us.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Initially, we need to get out of here, regroup our people as best we can, deal with Daegal and the situation facing Earth. I have to believe that what Laszlo said about the spinal fluid is true, otherwise Briggs wouldn’t be here.”

  “And I personally saw the Initiation file on him.”

  “Right. Which further strengthens my belief about the testing of Earth’s men being legitimate and in place. Are the deep-space trackers working down here?”

  “I don’t know. Why?”

  “Find out. If so, see if you can verify that Daegal’s already on his way to Earth. If he’s out there, as Laszlo said, Daegal’s fleet will probably be traveling under his own signature, so he shouldn’t be hard to locate. He won’t expect any Xylons to be a threat or even looking for him. Don’t let anyone know what you’re doing but see what you can discover. We need a timeline on Daegal’s arrival on Earth.”

  “All right. I’ll have to check back in with Laszlo first about the Initiation before I’m missed or he’ll get suspicious. I’m the lead. But I’ll get you the information before we start. I should have time.”

  “Good.”

  “What if we can’t verify that Daegal is on his way to Earth? You can’t be thinking about not taking the long-range orbiter to Earth if the deep-space trackers don’t pick him up, can you?”

  “It’s an old ship. We might be better off waiting if we can’t confirm.”

  Waiting could result in dire consequence for the people of Earth. Consequences she didn’t think she could live with. “What if we confirm later. What if we’re too late? Do we take that chance and possibly sacrifice Earth when we could stop the invasion?”

  Brianna rubbed her temple, feeling a headache coming on.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a pending headache.”

  “I’ve had one of those all day myself. It’s making me irritable.”

  She knew how he felt. “What if we miss picking up Daegal with the tracker because he’s cloaked for some reason or out of range?”

  Braden crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. “Like I said, I don’t know yet, Brianna. Don’t bombard me with ‘what ifs’.” A look of exhaustion crossed his face. “I need more information.”

  “And if we can’t get it?” A quick decision wasn’t always the best way to go and she knew she was pushing. But in this case, no matter how much information they had, Braden still might be forced into making a gut choice in the end.

  “Let’s just take one step at a time. All right? I realize that we might have to follow through regardless of what we find. Some things have a momentum of their own.

  Report back to Laszlo. We don’t want him to get suspicious. I’ll be working with Torque to try to figure out if the decontamination room can be rigged for our use. Send an internal, coded message to the control room when you know something. Use the un-coded code, just so no one else picks up on what we’re doing. Do you remember it?”

  “Yes.” When they were younger, they’d all had various means of communicating with each other. Various types of code that all four of them used and special code just between the twins or just between the two sisters or brothers. Some code looked like random letters. Other code looked and sounded like casual conversation but contained secret messages—that was what they referred to as their un-coded code. It came in handy when other ears might be listening.

  “Who’s going to be working with us behind the scenes, Braden? Not Delemar, Josella or Alexa, I’m assuming.” They were the non-Warriors down here.

  “Definitely not Delemar or Josella. Alexa, well, I’m not going to lie to her. But I’ll try to keep her on a need-to-know basis. She’s under a lot of stress right now and is worried about the babies. I’d rather not tell her too much because I don’t want her saying anything to Kam by accident. Her instinct will be to protect him and I just don’t know how much to trust him or Halah right now.”

  “Do you really believe Kam would betray us, Braden? You two are, or were, like brothers.” He, Erik and Kam had been inseparable at one time. She didn’t like the thought of all these suspicions separating them into two camps. “I really thought he’d proven himself to us…until the meeting.”

  “So had I. I want to believe in him, Brianna. But he kept secrets from us. For Laszlo.”

  “And he has that implant,” she offered, still not wanting to believe he would betray them. But she had to keep all the facts in mind.

  “Yeah. That worries me too, on more levels than one. I have to be sure. About everyone. I’m not even sure how much to trust Leila now.”

  She nodded. Leila and Laszlo were both Healers. They could very well have a separate agenda from the rest of the group. Xylon Healers had a bad reputation for running secret agendas. Leila hadn’t told them about the shots she’d been giving Laszlo. But then, neither had Erik. Could it be possible he hadn’t
known about her involvement?

  “We’ll bring in Erik soon but I don’t want to put him in a position of keeping secrets from Leila until we have to. She’s close to Kam and if Erik accidentally mentions anything, she might think she’s doing something to help by telling Kam more than we actually want him to know. I hope soon we’ll be able to definitively prove that Kam is the Xylon Warrior and friend we’ve all known over the years and that we can trust him.

  I don’t like what’s been happening. This uncertainty is eating away at all of us.”

  “I agree. Do you want me to get Torque in here? He should be in on this from the start. He’s extremely sharp in tight situations. We need him. We need to be united.”

  “Not yet. He’s too explosive, especially since we lost Tara. Once we have a few more facts, we’ll bring in him and Erik. I don’t want a lot of arguing back and forth about what’s happened. I want a plan in place or at least a solid idea of what we want to do.”

  Torque definitely wasn’t himself right now and might not be thinking clearly. But no one was one hundred percent. She didn’t like excluding him, not even at this stage.

  Collectively, they’d be much stronger.

  Still, she’d do as Braden wished. And Erik? Something continued to bother her about the whole situation with him but she couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. She hated to bring up the issue but it had to have crossed her brother’s mind. “Do you really think we can trust Erik to side with us? I mean, what if Leila—”

  “We can trust Erik. I’d trust him with my life, my family’s life, no matter what. No matter Leila’s position. He and I have been through too much together over the years.”

  “I know but—”

  “I trust him, Brianna. Period. I don’t want to hear any more questions about it.” He uncrossed his arms and pushed away from the wall.

  Recognizing the fierce look on Braden’s face, she didn’t argue, hoping he wasn’t misplacing his trust. To expect Erik to go against his mate if a choice had to be made was not something she’d bet her life on.

  “Before we make any definite decisions, we’ll also need more details about ACE,”

  Braden said, his brow furrowing.

  “Are you thinking the project might be about more than it appears? Part of a larger, hidden agenda, maybe?”

  “That’s what we need to find out. If we head for Earth, I want to make certain we’re a part of the solution, not a further cause of problems for those people. Can you try to get some additional information out of Briggs?”

  “I already have. He’s being closemouthed about what he knows. Though from his reaction in the meeting, I suspect that he doesn’t know much more than what Laszlo related and not even some of that until Laszlo told us all in the conference room. He was as shocked as the rest of us about the spinal fluid. I think he truly believed this was solely about the Egesa invasion and their enslaving Earth’s people to gain control over another planet’s resources.”

  “Well, make certain, if you can. Maybe he’ll be more pliant after he fucks you.”

  Braden grinned.

  She smacked his shoulder. “Don’t make me take you down.”

  “Like you could.”

  “Don’t underestimate me, brother.”

  “Never.” He chuckled.

  “I’ll continue to try to find out what Briggs knows and what his stand is if it comes to a fight. Knowing who to trust and who we can count on will be key.” She paused as Braden’s smile faded and a concerned look crossed his face. “What is it?”

  “Something happens in your eyes when you speak about him. I get the feeling something personal is brewing between you two.”

  She shrugged, avoiding direct eye contact. She didn’t like that her emotions showed in her eyes, even if only to Braden, for she didn’t know herself what was brewing. Not for sure. “I think his heart is in the right place. That’s all.”

  “Be careful, Brianna.”

  She glanced up at him. “Always. Don’t worry.”

  After a last hug, she left Braden’s quarters. The door slid closed and she leaned back against the corridor wall and let out a heavy breath. Braden’s question about her and Briggs made her realize just how much she’d allowed Sam to get to her emotionally.

  She wasn’t so certain that was a good thing, for any of them. Whatever feelings she might have could skew her decisions if she didn’t take care.

  With renewed determination to get them all out of this auxiliary shelter safely, she pushed away from the wall and quickly made her way back toward the meeting room.

  Her mind raced with too many thoughts. They needed more information. And they needed it fast.

  As she turned the corner, she met Laszlo in the corridor outside the conference room door. “Do you need me to do anything before the Initiation starts?”

  “Yes. Go to my private quarters and rest. You look exhausted and you’re going to need your strength. You won’t be disturbed in my room. Take some time there to relax.

  Leila and I still have a few tests to run. We’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

  His quarters. Yes. Laszlo had computing equipment in his quarters. She could do the research for Braden while she was there instead of using the system located on the lower level, which would have been the only other one available to her. Braden and Torque would be occupying the systems in the control room. Using the med computer would look too suspicious.

  Laszlo had just handed her the perfect opportunity. She nodded. “I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

  * * * * *

  Erik squatted in the transport hole, studying the storage readouts. He’d already supplied the larger orbiter with essentials, even though they couldn’t spare much food, water and medical supplies. They had a second orbiter to also supply, in case the Ice Moon was on restricted rations, and they’d need to leave supplies here in the shelter as well.

  Luckily they’d be able to restock some of the necessities while on Earth. Now he was checking the weapons capacity and storage. He felt uncomfortable preparing for such a mission without a good supply of hand and flight weapons but he had few choices.

  He flipped a pit switch and a moment later a localized alarm went off. “What the hell?” He rose and stepped onto the catwalk. His boots clanged loudly on the grating.

  He peered at a side monitor.

  Halah leaned over the edge, hanging on to a rung from the side ladder. “Get out of there, Rhodes! We’ve got an overload somewhere.”

  “I hear it. I’m not deaf. It’s a double failure in the main fuel line and weapons systems.” He tapped the readouts on the screen. “I’ll fix it from down here. Coordinate from the main panel.”

  “You’re going to get yourself fried! That’s a critical alarm. The early warning system didn’t go off.”

  Figures. Another system down. “Just do as I say.” He disappeared back into the hole and pulled off the weapons panel. They couldn’t afford to lose this ship. He flipped on the nearby speaker. “Let’s disengage the volatile systems until we can isolate and resolve the problem. Cut the power to W-5 through W-15.”

  “Power cut,” Halah’s voice responded.

  Damn. No change. He had to get the heat levels down fast, before everything blew.

  “It’s still on overload. Too much heat buildup.”

  “Yeah, I can see that.” The gauges on the side panel showed everything had pushed beyond maximum.

  “If you get roasted, Braden will fry my ass too. Now get out of there so I can seal the chamber!”

  “Can we stay calm here?” He punched on the cooling system, opening it up to full capacity, but the numbers continued to rise. “Give me more coolant from the auxiliary.”

  “I’m giving you the facts, Rhodes. I have to seal the chamber.”

  “Halah! Coolant. If you seal me up in here before I order it, I’ll haunt you to your grave, Warrior.” He counted on her listening to a comman
d rank order.

  “I’m not going to seal you in.” Her voice changed from determined to resigned.

  “You’re on standard max. That’s it. There’s no direct access to the auxiliary. I can’t increase the output on this particular system without a direct-line connector tube and there’s no time to set one up.”

  “Perfect,” Erik grumbled. “I’m going to do an eighty percent fuel dump on the main tank.” If he didn’t lower the levels and the panels popped, the orbiter as well as the whole auxiliary shelter could go up in a wall of flames. At twenty percent capacity, if a fire broke out, they’d be able to douse it before the tank exploded.

  “We need that fuel. The orbiter can’t make it to Earth without its full supply.”

  “If this orbiter blows, the fuel won’t matter. There will still be enough in there along with the secondary tank to get to our outpost on the Ice Moon. We can refuel there.”

  Damn ancient flyer. Too bad the smaller orbiter was short range only. It was more modern and would have been safer to take to Earth, if it had the capacity for that distance.

  The short-range orbiters didn’t have the protective covering needed for extended space travel. The outer shield would disintegrate. For short-range flights, the covering required was much thinner. Thus the short-range orbiters were cheaper to manufacture and were much more plentiful.

  The newer orbiters also had regenerative, non-liquid energy. It wasn’t unlimited but went a long way before needing a core replacement and wasn’t prone to this type of overheating.

  “There will be barely enough fuel if you dump, Erik.”

  “So do you have an idea or are you just arguing with me again? You can’t have it both ways—either we seal the chamber and it blows or we try to save this thing.”

  “Let me set up a catch.”

  “It’ll filter too slowly.”

  “Not a spare tank, a storage unit.”

  “Well, do it fast.” He heard a whirring sound even before he’d finished his sentence. She must be opening up one of the compartments where the storage units were kept. They weren’t constructed to hold fuel but it would do if she hurried and transferred the spill to a connecting fuel tank. They’d lose some in the transfer but not an excessive amount.