by PJ Schnyder
Tracer entered with Max as Nibs squared off against their sniper, Specs. Kaitlyn was trying to decide which to watch, a dog get on a flat treadmill or two men try to wrestle blindfolded. And honestly, they were only a day into their journey. Boredom would spawn much more creative matches later.
“How about you, babes?” Meat Head lifted his chin in her direction. The men around him fell silent. “You got the balls to spar with the men?”
Meat Head might have tossed the challenge in the general direction of both Kaitlyn and Skuld but he really spoke to Kaitlyn. Nibs and Durn shook their heads. Both of them had seen this scenario roll out in the past. It was like a bad holo vid.
“Leave the ladies alone, Zec.” Specs attempted to reroute the idiot.
“Nah.” Zec—she preferred thinking of him as Meat Head—wouldn’t be deterred. What was with the single syllabic names in this unit? “Their captain says this little bit can track as good as our man, better’n most of us. Says she’s as good as the mutt over there. I wanna see what the bitch can do.”
Bitch? Oh, hell no he didn’t just call her a canine.
“You’re outta line, Zec.” Specs gave the man a shove.
But Zec watched Kaitlyn with a lazy grin, taking a minute to eye her from the ground up. Bad boy thought he was the alpha dog. She’d have laughed if she didn’t have an intense desire to skin him alive. Four years wasn’t enough time to erase the memory of captors looking at her just the way he did, or what they did to her when they opened the cell door. Then, she’d been chained up and scared, her body betraying her with agonizing pain as the virus raged through and rewrote her DNA. Then, her captors did to her as they pleased and she hadn’t had the power to struggle.
Here and now, bad boy had pissed all over her territory. Silent, she stepped onto the sparring mats.
Maybe she should have kept a low profile and maybe she should have walked away, but she’d done enough of what she ought to do for the day.
Meat Head grinned as he stepped onto the mats and stood toe to toe with her.
Musk and grease filled her nose. His scent hung heavy with testosterone and sweat. Even if she hadn’t had a heightened sense of smell, the man would have been an affront. She bared her teeth at him as the others decided who would call the time. “You stink.”
“Fucking bitch.” He shoved her backward a fraction of a second before Nibs called the bout to a start.
Kaitlyn ignored the general noises of disapproval as she brought her arms up, hands in loose fists. Based on his earlier sparring matches, Meat Head liked to start in a stand up and then tended to try to take a smaller opponent to the ground. Now his first strikes were slow and came in wide. She covered easily and returned with lightning fast striking combinations to his face and exposed torso. A couple of his fellow marines grunted in approval. She kept her eyes on him, watched his face turn progressively redder with anger.
But he didn’t get stupid, not yet. Cautious, he led with a couple of jabs, she batted them away from her face easily. Deciding she was bored with the boxing, she threw a couple of low kicks in with her punches not intended to take his feet out from under him but to shift his footing and keep him off balance. His brows drew together and he huffed with the effort to stay on his feet.
Anger, frustration spiced the air. Not long now, and she’d have him.
He changed elevation, crouching down and diving for her a couple of times, trying to take her down where his bulk would squash her but he was too slow and she danced out of his way, zoning to the left or right and landing a hit or two to the kidneys or back of the head. A grin threatened to stretch her lips and she consciously kept a straight face. Damn, this was fun.
Though she pulled most of her hits, every one of them landed solid and the grunts of pain from her opponent gave her guilt free satisfaction.
The three minutes were winding down and he had yet to land a single hit. As a last ditch he hopped up in a clumsy superman punch. She slipped to the outside and tagged his exposed side with hook to the kidneys. With a howl of rage, Meat Head snapped and really came after her.
“Zec!”
Oblivious to the warning shouts of his colleagues, Kaitlyn watched the man go berserk. His added speed, fueled by resentment, crashed through her guard as his fist connected with the side of her head.
Time to get serious because no one would stop him in time.
Bob and weave, cover and return strike, she still had speed and agility on him. When she landed a right slant kick on his upper leg, he visibly paused, no doubt unable to shake the way his quads seized up. Panic entered his eyes as the man realized he couldn’t win.
The cat in her gathered itself to pounce.
He stumbled to the side and Kaitlyn thought he would step off the mat and disengage.
Instead, he grabbed Skuld by the front of her ship suit and threw her into Kaitlyn.
Her rage snapped the leash as she caught Skuld and spun, redirecting Skuld’s momentum to land her in the arms of Tracer. Completing the turn, she hammered Zec with a back-fist to the face, followed immediately with a left hook.
Bastard.
As he fell to the side under the blows, she brought up her right knee with enough force to send him up and backward. His feet literally left the ground.
How dare he.
She leaped into the air, coming down on top of him, driving her feet into his midsection as they landed.
He’d laid hands on her friend. Threw an innocent into danger.
Knees atop his chest, she drew her right hand back for the killing swipe.
“Enough!” Dev’s voice cut through the red haze around her.
She looked up at him and lifted her lips in a silent snarl.
Her captain didn’t move, didn’t say another word. He met her gaze and stared her down, pitting his will against hers. Faced with those dead calm eyes, Kaitlyn came back to herself.
Standing, she stepped clear of her prey and awaited orders. The men gave her plenty of clearance.
“I suggest you go cool down.”
So civilized. Dev hadn’t given her an order, hadn’t given her a reason to challenge his dominance. The subtle reminder of her humanity brought with it a tiny splash of shame. She’d lost control.
She glanced to the side. Tracer was fussing over Skuld. She’d be okay. Assured of Skuld’s safety, Kaitlyn strode out of the gym.
Chapter Seven
Once she reached Med Bay she didn’t bother to shut the door. Dev would be along in a few moments and she needed to get back under control before he arrived.
If she couldn’t, well, that would be why he was going to check in on her. In the first weeks she’d been aboard ship, he’d been the one to help her remember how to return to human when her cat aspect slipped the leash. There’d been a lot of talking, but she didn’t remember so much of what he said as the tone of his voice and the way he spoke to her like she was human. He’d helped her remember what she’d been, and he hadn’t acted as if she’d already died.
It’d been a long time ago, but apparently, not forgotten even at the cellular level. She’d need to try harder. Regression was not in the game plan.
His footsteps sounded in the corridor sooner than she’d expected. Still, when he appeared in her doorway, his shoulders were relaxed, hands loose and heart beat steady. Nothing about his body language spoke of anger or alarm, nothing to further agitate her beast.
He studied her for a minute as she watched him. When he spoke, his voice remained light. “While I agree the man is a waste of air, I’d appreciate it if one of my crew weren’t responsible for ending him, especially when we’re supposed to be comrades in arms and whatnot.”
She’d spit, but the practice was gross. Still, thinking of Meat Head made her want to get the bad taste out of her mouth. “He proved he’d t
hrow one of us on the line if it gave him any sort of advantage.”
“True enough and I won’t fault you for handing him his ass.” Dev dismissed the point with a wave of his hand. “I’m more concerned with how close you were to making him a corpse. Your intentions were pretty clear.”
A spear of guilt stabbed her. To be honest, it was there and then gone again, burned clean away by the memory of how willing the man had been to toss Skuld into harm’s way. And one of Kaitlyn’s greatest nightmares was to be responsible for harm to an innocent, especially one who mattered to her the way Skuld did. No. Skuld was one of hers to protect and the man meant to hurt her friend.
The only regret Kaitlyn suffered was the necessity of sparing the man’s life.
“I know you, Kat, so I’m going to promise you he will not be allowed anywhere near Skuld or any of our other shipmates one on one.” Dev spoke slowly and deliberately, holding his temper in check as much as hers. A part of the reason Kaitlyn looked to him was the way he made crew his family. No doubt he was every bit as angry as she was over what had just happened.
And his anger helped her get hers under control. “Then I’ll give you a promise back. If the idiot comes to harm on this ship, it won’t be by my hand.” She paused. “Or claw.”
Dev grinned. “Well now, I think we’ve had our obligatory talk, as it were.”
She hadn’t promised not to bite the bastard though. The last time she’d killed, she’d crushed an attacker’s skulls in her jaws. Ah well, Dev would hold her to the spirit of the promise even if she hadn’t quite covered the detail.
Besides, he hadn’t made her promise to the man’s safety once they were all off the ship.
After Dev left, she toyed with the idea for a bit and then discarded it. The man was space flotsam, but he wasn’t worth the effort it’d take to plan his demise. Details were a point of pride for her and if she couldn’t do it properly, going undetected, she wouldn’t do it at all.
Dev’s steps halted and he paused in the corridor, then she heard him pace for minute. Inwardly she cringed.
“Katy.” Years of being a merc gave her a hard exterior but her captain’s words still triggered her anxiety, especially when she knew it was justified.
“You need to get a line on what is bothering you.” He gestured back toward the guest quarters. “These men, normally they wouldn’t shake your control the way they are, especially not the idiot.”
“No.” Maybe three years ago it would’ve been a problem, when she’d still struggled for control and against trauma in a two front war inside herself. But not now. “I’m on edge and I can’t pin down why. I need to run, clear my head.”
“That is not an option and you know it’s mostly to keep you safely out of a lab rat’s cage.”
She nodded. “Aye, Captain.”
“You let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you get this under control.”
This. The talking and his concern, helped. Usually it was enough to balance her, support her as she worked things through on her own. Impulse took hold of her. “I’m going to talk to the prisoner, Bharguest.”
Dev’s brows rose up almost to his hair line. Obviously not what he was expecting. “You have a reason. I’m sorta blind as to what it might be right now.”
“He knows what I am, Dev.” Her captain hadn’t missed that particular, no, he had been letting a sleeping dog lie. “And he hasn’t mentioned a thing to the military men.”
“I was of the opinion the less time you spent in his vicinity the better.”
Might live longer at least.
Kaitlyn tipped her head sideways. “I’m thinking along different lines, Captain. I’m thinking he’s bored and he finds me more interesting than the men guarding him. I’ve got a hunch he’s got useful information, more than he’s given them as part of his bargain, and all very valuable to me if I get him to share. Rygard’s life could depend on it.”
’’Course getting Bharguest to share would be the tricky part of the game.
Dev remained silent, considering. After a moment he sighed. “I don’t need to warn you the man is dangerous.”
Kaitlyn pressed her lips together. “Only reason he’s in detainment is because he hasn’t gotten bored enough to break out. I get the impression he goes places because he wants to. He toys with the guards because they amuse him. He’s playing the military because it pleases him to do so. I don’t have all the puzzle pieces yet, but any move he makes is one he does either because it goes in the direction he wants or hell, just because he doesn’t have something else to do to amuse him more.”
Another hesitation. “You could be right.”
Dev had seen more battles, more combat and more of everything than Kaitlyn had. He could assess a man every bit as well as she could and better. His reluctance wasn’t because he didn’t believe her.
“You be careful. And you keep in mind our purpose is to work with the military team aboard, not only to rescue your man.”
Kaitlyn pressed the tip of her tongue between her teeth. “Aye, Captain.”
The corner of Dev’s mouth lifted in a shadow of a grin. “You’ve been saying ‘Aye’ a bit often of late. I’m starting to get suspicious as to what you’ll get up to once you get off this ship.”
Kaitlyn blinked wide eyes, once, twice.
“Uh huh.” Dev shook his head. “It’s a lucky thing for you I believe you do your best work when you’re given a lot of leeway. A man with less nerve would be driven to drink by now.”
“You do drink, Captain.” And she drank with him occasionally. Who else would have taught her the finer points of scotch?
Dev threw up his hands. “Drink more, then.”
She grinned as he left, for real that time, his steps echoing all the way down the corridor. He wasn’t just her captain because he could keep her under control. No, Dev was a man who knew people.
Still, she needed to talk to Bharguest to learn more about others. She glanced at her wrist chrono. She’d log on to find out what Boggle had found for her first, then go talk to the prisoner who wasn’t really a prisoner.
* * *
“It’s not as much about how bad it looks, Kat, it’s how bad it sounds.” Boggle’s image hovered over her terminal. The resolution was good enough for her to see the sweat bead along his brow. “I’m going to play you the feed I snagged first and then tell you what I found in communications surrounding the transmission.”
Kaitlyn nodded.
The three dimensional hologram flickered. She watched as Rygard’s last distress call played before her eyes. He’d already been in direct confrontation, from the look of him, and he’d delivered his hurried message in a grim hush. Based on the timestamp of the communication, it couldn’t have been long after the last time they’d spoken.
She saw as he shoved the terminal under a tarp to keep it from immediate discovery, understood the reasoning behind leaving it to transmit for as long as possible. It was listening to the struggle, to DeSarto’s curse and Rygard’s grunt of pain. Hearing that did some significant damage to what calm she’d managed to pull together before calling Boggle.
“I need an isolated recording of the sounds made by those biologics, Boggle. Rygard’s team was observing a potentially dangerous outpost, but there was no intel to indicate an opposing force capable of taking out their base camp in retaliation. These were supposed to be slavers hunkered down to process in new merchandise and get it off as quickly as possible. All of their fire power should have been invested in defending the outpost. They shouldn’t have the...resources to launch this kind of attack.” High points for the rational words, but she subtracted a few for the high pitched thread of distress straining her vocal chords. Clearing her throat, she tried for better tone. “You have additional data?”
Boggle’s face flashed back on screen.
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“I’ll send you the sound tracks right after this call.” He studied her for a moment, brows drawn over close set eyes. “You’re not going to like the communications I intercepted from Captain what’s-his-face aboard your ship. He included a recommended course of action along with the mayday call from Rygard. Reconnaissance only, with utmost caution. He doesn’t feel a retrieval will be an effective use of resources because to him, it’s obvious the soldiers are dead.”
“Listening to the fight, it’s obvious they were taken alive.” Anger built inside Kaitlyn, burning a hole through her chest. Her cat aspect growled, low and rumbling inside her head. “And what’s-his-face’s name is Petrico-Calin. The Fourth.”
“High chance they didn’t stay alive long, according to what’s-his-face.” Boggle paused, pressing his lips so hard together, his double chins dimpled. “Rygard’s a heavy hitter, Kaitlyn. It’d be dangerous to take him alive.”
Experience told her different. Considering the ferocity of the attack, Rygard might have fought too hard to be worth taking captive, true. But he knew reinforcements were on the way and their general estimated time of arrival. He was also smart enough to play the captive until his team had the support needed to break loose. She’d stick to the evidence they had and find more when she got on the ground.
In spite of her worries, Kaitlyn gave Boggle a rare smile. “You’ve got good gut instinct. One of these days, you should leave Dysnomia Station and come out on a run with me.”
Beady eyes widened until the whites showed. “Not likely.”
She shook her head, there wasn’t enough time to coax him while more serious matters were at hand. “If those biologics attacked out of hunger or territory issues, they would have killed Rygard and DeSarto on the spot. It sounded like the entire camp was overwhelmed and you could hear them taken away, sounds of struggle faded as they left. They were still alive and kicking hard as they went. Normal biologics don’t take prisoners.”
Any normal animal on any normal planet only attacked out of defense or out of hunger. Pretty simple. Sentience made things complicated.
