Captives of the Kratzen (Hearts in Orbit)

by S. C. Mitchell

  He leapt back, firing both blasters.

  The beams dissipated before hitting, illuminating a force shield around her that had been invisible. “You can’t hurt me.”

  Thumbing his blasters from the stun to the kill setting, upping their power to the maximum, Carter fired again. The force shield broke with a pop, and the beams struck.

  I’ll bet that hurt, didn’t it. But that much force should have killed her.

  Eyes wide, Kristin took a step back. “You’ll never escape.”

  Footsteps in the hallway behind announced troops moving toward them. Tina slammed the door and, with the help of the Dzlozians, shoved a heavy piece of machinery against it. “We’re trapped.”

  “No we’re not.” Kirtl scampered to the side, pointing to a back door in the chamber. “That way. It’s a short cut to the Dzlozian’s ship.”

  They’d have to get past Kristin. “Are you sure?”

  “She’s been trying not to think about it, but she’s shown me exactly where we have to go.” Kirtl had his back against the side wall, sliding toward the other door, the Dzlozians right behind him.

  Kristin lunged at the Blarmling, but couldn’t quite reach, held by her restraints. “Damnable ratling. You’ll still never get there.”

  Carter fired again. “Go. All of you.”

  His dual burst pushed Kristin back once more.

  Tina stepped beside him and took aim at Kristin. “I’ll go when you do.”

  Adding the third blaster allowed a constant stream of firepower. Kristin writhed in the corner. “This does not matter. I cannot be killed here. The oracles protect me. And you will all soon be dead.”

  Kirtl held the door open for them as they edged toward the doorway.

  A chill coursed its way through Carter’s gut. Three blasters on the kill setting. Why the hell wasn’t Kristin dead? What had they done to her?

  Loud thumping began on the door they’d entered through. The equipment blocking it moved, squeaking as it inched back from the doorway. The bugs were forcing their way in.

  “Let’s go.” He fired a final burst, then sprinted toward the door, confident Tina was on his heels, holstering his blasters as he ran.

  He caught the door handle as Kirtl scampered back, then held it for Tina as she hurried by, slamming it tight as soon as she was on her way down the hall after Kirtl, Rolanda, and Tendle.

  Seeing Kristin Devenport again had his gut twisting, but he tamped down his emotions and sprinted to catch up with the others. Still, the question sizzled in his mind. How the hell had she even survived?

  ~ ~ ~

  Capturing Carter’s gaze, Tina placed a hand on his shoulder as they hurried down the hallway. “You all right?”

  She’d helped nurse him back to health after Rik Mazer rescued him from Kristin’s stronghold on Pluton, in the Dark Nebulan sector. He’d been near death. She still wasn’t sure if Carter had an amazing constitution or just pig-headed determination but he’d rejoined the bridge crew of The Starboard Mist far sooner than anyone expected him to.

  “Yeah. I’m fine.”

  She doubted that. The hurt and disgust clearly showed in his expression. But he’d be okay. He was Carter.

  “This way.” Kirtl led them down a passage to the left.

  Two more turns and a few hundred meters later the passage took them out onto a scaffold above a hanger bay.

  Below, a sleek starcraft sat on the landing pad. The central tube of metallic lavender with a point on one end featured three aqua-colored fins on the other. Two elongated pods nestled between the fins. Engines of some kind?

  It was like nothing she’d ever seen before.

  ~ ~ ~

  “You came in that?” Carter could see no indication of a warp core or ion drive. Nothing like the modern ships in the Milky Way.

  “Tzum Kandlop Plemnon?” Kirtl translated. How quickly the little Blarmling had snatched the rudiments of Dzlozian speech from Rolanda and Tendle’s minds.

  “Sondom inflawt tendelodaum.” Pride infused Tendle’s tone. “Garra plent.”

  “He says his father’s company builds these space ships. What does it look like?” Kirtl’s shorter stature had him below the level of the panel on the side of the walkway. He pulled himself up to peer over. “Oh, my.”

  The floor of the hanger deck swarmed with roaches.

  “Yes, that’s going to be a problem.” Carter had no idea how they were going to get to the ship through so many guards.

  Rolanda sighed. “Tlliem dulette.”

  She pulled a small controller from the pocket of her kimono. When she pushed a button on it, a muffled zzzt issued from the spacecraft. Instantly all the bugs around the ship fell to the floor.

  Unconscious? Dead? Did it really matter?

  Those outside the affected area skittered toward the exits.

  Carter dashed for the stairway that would take them down to the main deck of the landing pad. “Where’s the door. How do we enter?”

  The bugs could return with reinforcements at any minute. Every second could count if they were going to get away.

  “Sonda Tong.” Rolanda sprinted by him, pressing another button on her controller.

  Ahead, a panel in the ship’s hull slid to the side, and an entrance ramp extended.

  Under his breath, Carter said, “Yeah, sonda tong.” Whatever that means. He sprinted after her up the ramp.

  Puffing, Kirtl was right behind him. “It means hurry up, I think. She is very worried.”

  The speech thing could become a real barrier. Thank goodness Kirtl had acquired at least the rudiments of the Dzlozian language.

  They’d have to depend on the Dzlozians to pilot the ship. Scanning the ship’s controls, Carter couldn’t make any sense of them, and he’d been trained to pilot almost every ship configuration in the Fleet.

  Rolanda threw herself into the seat at the front of the craft, one he assumed was the pilot’s chair. “Tinda fable, conti us blamin.”

  “She needs time, but I don’t understand their time units.” Kirtl took up a position behind Rolanda. “From her thought patterns, it appears something needs to warm back up before we can lift off because they used that weapon to knock out the bugs.”

  Tendle climbed into the ship. “Frientendable, che comio da flemble,” he shouted toward the front of the ship.

  Where the hell was Tina? She should have been right behind them.

  “Tsen ambula tuba,” Rolanda shouted back. Her fingers continued to fly across the control panel, pressing buttons and clicking switches.

  “Frenen padock, blemenine,” she added under her breath with a sneer.

  “She’s not really happy with Tendle right now. And Tina’s on her way. She held back to see if there were any bugs coming.” Strain showed in Kirtl’s eyes. Mind-reading and translating thoughts at the same time couldn’t have been easy.

  Stepping back to the doorway, Carter scanned the bay for Tina.

  She had her blaster aimed at a doorway as she backed toward the ship.

  “Tina, get in here.” What the hell was she doing?

  She held up her left hand, fingers spread wide.

  A second later, he heard the footsteps of approaching troops.

  Tina had a better angle on the entrance and fired before he even saw the bugs. An explosion rocked the cavern as the ceiling collapsed in front of the doorway.

  She turned and sprinted up the ramp. “That kind of looked like it would explode if I hit it.”

  “You took a hell of a chance there.” His stomach was in knots. “If something had happened to you—”

  “Don’t go all man on me, Carter Arcturus. Kirtl told me Rolanda needed more time. I thought it was a risk worth taking.” She flipped her long ebony lock
s over her shoulder. Even disheveled, she was so beautiful.

  “Yeah, well, I can’t help being a man.” He shrugged. He knew Tina was smart and could take care of herself. Still, there was a part of him that longed to protect her.

  The corners of her mouth quirked up. “I wouldn’t have that any other way.”

  With an electric snap, a soft vibration rippled through the ship.

  “Tsengan. Tsengan.” Tendle threw himself into one of the gray, padded seats along the wall and pulled a webbing around himself that covered his torso, connecting in the middle.

  “We should sit and strap in.” Kirtl mimicked Tendle’s actions. The security webbing shrunk to fit his diminutive form.

  As the ramp pulled in and the hatch slid closed, Tina and Carter dropped into seats as well. Carter pulled the webbing from each side. The ends attracted to each other as if magnetized, connecting along a vertical seam over his chest and stomach. While comfortable and giving, the webbing fastened him securely to the seat.

  Through an oval porthole, he watched the landing bay drop away as the ship lifted. The force of the launch pushed him into his seat. The metal structure of the landing bay gave way to open sky. Gliding easily, the ship picked up speed. A blue-green sky quickly faded to the blackness of space as the planet dropped out of sight behind the Dzlozian craft.

  Stars twinkled into sight. He could only wonder where they were going. Hell, he didn’t really know where he was?

  Lost.

  He’d never been so lost.

  Yet, he had Tina beside him. And she had feelings for him. And that thought brought warmth to his heart.

  Even lost in the depths of a strange galaxy, he’d also never felt so found.

  Chapter 7

  “Where do you think we’re going?” Tina eased into the comfort of the seat. The safety netting held her close without being restrictive, unlike some of the belts she’d worn on other starcraft. Certainly the Dzlozians had different technology in play here.

  “I haven’t a clue. We don’t even know where we are.” Carter bent forward to glance toward the front of the ship where Rolanda and Kirtl held a quiet conversation. “But anywhere is probably better than being captives of the bugs.”

  She reached over and took his hand. “It wasn’t all bad.”

  He squeezed. “Anywhere else but in a bug lab, it would have been perfect.”

  Truth. Alone time with him had been everything she’d imagined. Even being naked, uncomfortable as it had been at first, had become a nonissue between them, except for the fact that it kept them on a passionate edge. Like having an itch she couldn’t scratch.

  Of course she’d noticed his almost constant erection. It was nice to know he found her attractive. Sexy. She certainly found him that way. Those broad shoulders. That big, sexy smile. Even now she noted how his cobalt eyes twinkled as he snuck glances her way.

  Then there was his trim waist and, by the gods, his abdominals. How she longed to run her fingers over those taught ripples. She’d come so close.

  Not that she blamed Kirtl for his timing. She didn’t even want to imagine what the bugs wanted to do to her.

  Kirtl’s words jolted her out of her reverie. “I considered waiting, but thought it better to hurry. I still can’t completely read the bugs’ minds, but it felt like they were planning something unpleasant for both of you.”

  How easy it was to forget they had a mind-reader among them. Convenient at times to be sure. They’d have never escaped without him.

  “You did the right thing, Kirtl.” She ran her hand through the fur on his head, scratching behind his ear the way she knew he liked it.

  “I’m still not sure we can trust Rolanda and Tendle.” Carter leaned in toward Kirtl. “Hell, I don’t think they trust each other. Have they been able to tell you where they’re taking us?”

  Kirtl nodded. “Dzlozia, I think. Their home world.”

  At the tail end of the spacecraft, as far from Ralanda as he could be, Tendle sat brooding.

  She hated to stress Kirtl, but Tina needed to know. “What’s going on between Rolanda and Tendle?”

  “I’ve only picked up parts of their issues.” Kirtl’s eyes glazed, as he did when reading someone hard. “There’s a problem with this ship, I think. Tendle’s company made it. Rolanda is a test pilot of some kind. She is not happy with something. Maybe more than one something. I believe the ship’s problems had something to do with them being captured. She blames Tendle and his company for that.”

  Carter glanced toward Rolanda. “I hope it’s nothing that will affect our escape.”

  “Slinto kanhe blabertzan. Tiber tzec?”

  Rolanda’s call from the front of the ship startled Tendle from his brood.

  “Bahlt gamman fibrozol.” Ire filled his tone as Tendle pivoted his seat to face the back wall. He pressed a square tile on the panel ahead and it opened up into a workstation. A display panel lit with a view of space behind the ship. The planet they were fleeing continued to diminish, but six bug ships pursued them. “Kirtl? Tamon Carter ge Tina sonto bleven? Lin tubastor vlibin.”

  Kirtl unbuckled his webbing and trundled over to stand at Tendle’s shoulder. They exchanged more words in Dzlozian, then Kirtl motioned Tina and Carter over. “There is only time to show you once. The bugs are closing quickly. Watch.”

  A joystick control moved the targeting reticle across the view screen. It looked more halovid game than actual weapon. Three buttons and a switch ran down the left hand side of the control station. Tendle pointed and spoke. Kirtl translated.

  “The switch is computer targeting on and off. The buttons from top to bottom are computer lock, unlock, and fire. Without the computer lock on, the top two buttons do nothing and you have to aim manually with the joystick.”

  The reticle hovered over the foremost bug ship and Tendle pressed the button to lock it on. Then he hit the fire button. A greenish beam flew from the bottom of the screen toward the targeted ship. The camera must have been mounted somewhere above the gun.

  The shot came close, but flew past the pursuing ship slightly low and to the port side.

  “Slont!” Tendle brought his fist down on the control panel, frustration obvious in his face.

  Rolanda’s comment from the pilot’s chair didn’t seem comforting. “Tonda flib. cortapupkin.”

  Kirtl nodded, then trundled back to his seat. “The targeting computer seems to be the root of the problem. Rolanda suggests turning it off. Switch to the left.”

  The Blarmling spun to face the wall, then hit the button to open his weapon control panel.

  Tendle fired again, and again the shot went wide. “Slont. Slont.”

  With a deep sigh, Tendle switched off his targeting computer.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Carter returned to his seat and brought up his display. “But I guess we couldn’t do any worse.”

  Tina followed suit, sliding back into her seat and connecting the safety webbing. As her display came into focus on the pursuing ships, two of them fired. Blue plasma bolts shot directly toward her on the screen.

  “Sonda plom.” Rolanda’s warning came as the ship banked to starboard.

  Tina could only assume it translated to brace for impact or some such, for a moment later the ship was rocked by an explosion. Okay, target computer off.

  She manipulated the joystick to place the reticle over one of the bug ships on her screen and pressed the button. The green ray shot out from the bottom of the screen, flying toward the ship, but missing it slightly to the port side. She moved the indicator to the right, aiming off the starboard side of the pursuing ship, and fired again.

  This time she hit it, and an explosion erupted on the ship’s hull. She hadn’t taken it out, but it must have been heavily damaged as it slowed, falling
behind the others.

  She switched to target the next closest. As she did, it exploded to nothingness.

  “Yes.” Carter’s husky affirmation sent warmth cascading through her stomach. “The targeting reticle is off. You have to play manually to find your proper line-up.”

  Setting up her next shot a bit farther to starboard, Tina fired once again, scoring a direct hit, disintegrating the ship. “That’s the key.”

  “Somplan tu bout.” Surprise registered in Tendle’s tone.

  Kirtl exchanged some words with him in Dzlozian.

  “Ahhh!” Tendle’s response sounded vaguely like galactic standard, but with a definite Dzlozian accent. Perhaps the two races were not so different after all.

  With four gunners firing, the pursuing ships began to disintegrate. Even when Rolanda zigged and zagged to avoid a blast, Tina simply had to delay her shot. All the time, the ship kept accelerating. Slowly, their pursuers slipped behind.

  Unlike Ships from the Milky Way, that had two drive types, this Dzlozian craft appeared to only have one type of propulsion system. But whatever process it used must have allowed for acceleration past the speed of light. Stars outside appeared to elongate into shining lines in the inky blackness of space, an artifact Tina had only viewed during warp jumps in a standard starship.

  She didn’t understand the science behind any of it, just knew that it worked. When she got back to The Starboard Mist, she’d have to tell Thuban Pinder and his sons, Pollix and Wasat, about this new type of propulsion. As the ship’s engineering crew, they’d be interested for sure.

  If they ever got back.

  The few surviving attack ships slipped back beyond weapon range and soon disappeared completely from view.

  “Looks like we made it.” Carter spun in his seat toward Tina. “I’d like to know what kind of propulsion system they’re using.”

  “An exchange of technologies would probably benefit both societies.” Just because they shared an enemy in the bugs did not mean the Dzlozians were necessarily allies, but it would be a good reason to open negotiations.