Deep emotion, more than he would have expected from the usually stoic starship commander. But Rik was that kind of guy. Easy to know and a good friend, when he let it show. But as a former undercover operative, he could mask just about any emotion if he wanted to.
So this . . . he didn’t want to mask.
“How the hell did you find us so fast? I would have thought us days from rescue.” Days they hadn’t had.
Rik smiled and shook his head. “Magda had one of her visions when we were back on the other side of the wormhole for provisions. She probably saw everything before it even happened, knowing her. I’ve stopped doubting her abilities. I issued a request for a task force right away. When the powers that be ignored it, I contacted Rigel and Phoebe, and our good ambassador put a little muscle behind the request.”
“A kidnapped ambassador’s son tends to grab their attention.” Ambassador Antares smiled and shot him a wink.
“Did Tina and Kirtl find you?” She had to be here, didn’t she? Otherwise how would the fleet have gotten here?
“Actually, we found them. Picked them up on our way here, right where Magda told us they’d be.” Rik motioned toward the Dzlozians. “Magda had another vision just before we jumped into the wormhole. As the fleet massed, we warped ahead to coordinates she pulled from the gods know where, and there was Kirtl and Tina’s ship.”
Carter walked Rik and Ambassador Antares toward the group of Dzlozian dignitaries. He indicated Rolanda. “This is their chief military commander, Rolanda.”
The sooner he turned negotiations over to the Dzlozians, the better for everyone. “I have to admit, I haven’t met most of the others, so I’ll turn introductions over to her.”
As he handed the translator device to Rolanda, her eyes widened.
“Tendle!” Tears suddenly rimmed her eyes.
Carter’s gaze swept back toward the hatch. Striding through the doorway, down the exit ramp, Tendle and Chel walked side by side. Behind them, Tina and Kirtl followed.
Rik’s smile broadened. “We found that one when we warped in cloaked to check out where to deploy the fleet. He was floating, helpless in some kind of lifepod, close to an exploding mothership. Tina told us we should pick him up.”
Rolanda handed the translator to one of the Dzlozians behind her with a quick phrase that translated. “Take this.”
Then she rushed toward Tendle, hugging him tight with a string of Dzlozain words flowing so fast the translator had trouble keeping up.
Oh hell, yeah.
I had a feeling there was something more than business between those two.
Carter slapped Rik on the shoulder. “Introduce yourselves. Make a treaty. Save the galaxy.”
Frack galactic protocols. All he wanted was Tina back in his arms.
He strode toward her as she scampered down the ramp.
And then she was there, in his arms, her eyes glistening. Her lips ready. He didn’t wait.
He pulled her close. The scent of honey locust invaded his senses, as his mouth sought hers. So soft, warm, and wonderful. So Tina.
His Tina.
Did he dare call her his?
Gods, how he wanted her. His erection pulsed with desire. If he had his way, he’d carry her back to his cabin in The Starboard Mist and lock all the craziness out.
But he did have obligations and responsibilities. To his shipmates, to the Galactic Federation, and to the Dzlozians.
He locked those thoughts down as long as he could, drowning in the passionate warmth of Tina’s embrace. Then he pulled back. “We can’t.”
~ ~ ~
“I know.” Her head reeling from Carter’s kiss, Tina could barely catch her breath.
He was safe. He was here. It should have been enough. But deep inside, she wanted more. Desire so overwhelming, she could barely contain it.
She’d never wanted a man this way before.
Pressing into him once more, his rigid length pulsed against her belly. She gave him one last, quick peck before releasing him. “But we will.”
His sexy smile had her core clenching. “Count on it.”
She took a deep breath, trying to get her emotions under control.
Taking her hand, he pulled her toward the group at the base of the ramp.
Rolanda and Tendle joined them as well. Tina hadn’t suspected the depth of emotion between the two, but seeing them embrace and kiss had warmed her heart.
“Sorry, sir,” Carter said.
Rolling his eyes, Rik Mazar chuckled. “Nothing to apologize for, Mr. Arcturos. If I thought Luna would’ve let me get away with it, I’d have kissed her myself when I saw Tina come off that Dzlozian ship with Kirtl.”
It was bait. Rik had never been anything but appropriate with Tina. Though, yes, Luna would have his hide if he’d tried anything. Not that Rik would.
Carter didn’t rise to the bait. “Why don’t we move the negotiations inside? Dzlozians are a very friendly, accommodating people. But watch what you eat. Their food may not agree with you.”
Chapter 15
Tina slipped away from the negotiations two hours later. The introductions and information sharing were done. Diplomats now dominated the discussion. Rik and Rigel had that part firmly in hand for the Federation, though they insisted Carter stay because he was the highest ranking Fleet officer available.
That was probably for the best. She could use a little rest before she dragged Carter back to her bed for something not quite so restful, but oh, so much more satisfying.
She’d shot him a wink, and he rolled his eyes in frustration, as she’d asked to be excused.
Three moons shown down on the grassy field as she made her way back to The Starboard Mist. Two large golden spheres dominated, while a third, smaller greenish moon trailed them through the night sky like a child.
Like a child.
In the midst of the grasslands, The Starboard Mist loomed like an ebony goliath in the otherwise unoccupied plane. Home.
She looked forward to seeing the cabin she’d made her own after they’d taken the ship from the Pirates of the Dark Nebula. A little space for herself. It meant so much after being a slave and having nothing.
Magda stood by the hatchway. “I’ve been waiting for you . . . or Carter. After what you’ve been through you both need a complete check-up scan.”
Magda was a former circus fortune teller and mystic. But she also had skill with herbs and healing. Rik had made her the ship’s doctor, even though she didn’t have any kind of degree or formal medical training. How he’d gotten that past the Federation Fleet and Galactic Marshals boggled the mind, but no one complained. Magda always had a cure for whatever ailed you.
To be fair, the updated sickbay system on The Starboard Mist handled diagnosis and cure without human interaction. It just required a little basic medical knowledge and a caring hand at the controls. Magda was all that and so much more.
“I was going to take a nap.” Maybe she could put this off.
Grabbing her arm, Magda pulled her into the ship and toward sickbay. “It won’t take long and you can nap while I scan you.”
As she stripped down and climbed onto the padded examination table, Magda drew a warm sheet over her.
Tina closed her eyes but couldn’t manage to doze off with the large overhead medical scanner moving up and down her body.
Sitting at the medical monitor station, Magda hummed a soft tune. Then she stopped, issuing a soft, “Hmmm.”
Tina opened one eye, glancing toward Magda. “What?”
“It’s a good thing I checked. It appears the bugs have managed to undo your Tyvar somehow.” Magda stood and shuffled over to a cabinet.
The word meant nothing to Tina. “What’s a Tyvar?”
“Birth control. S
urely you had the procedure, though maybe on your planet it’s called something else. Almost every girl in the galaxy has their Tyvar around the time they turn eight years old. It’s not like Quendor is one of those back-water rim worlds. Do they have some kind of taboo or religious restriction on the procedure?”
“I don’t think so. I was captured by the pirates when I was six.” As a small girl on Quendor, such things were not discussed, at least not in her presence. Later with the pirates, ignorance was a way of life. Their women got pregnant all the time. Little the men cared.
But there were men, and then there were men. Tina had spent her life avoiding sex, avoiding men whenever possible. She had no experience desiring one.
Then Carter had stumbled into her life.
She wanted him, wanted to make love with him. Wanted everything she’d heard about, dreamt about, and thanks to him, thought about far too often. So much so she hadn’t considered the possible outcome.
She wasn’t ready to have a baby. Most likely, neither was Carter.
“You poor child.” Shuffling over to the medical computer, Magda input some commands. “What have you been doing for birth control?”
“Well I . . .” Quendorians never talked about sex. At least that’s what her mother taught her at a very early age. But, damn it. Magda was the ship’s doctor. Tina should be able to talk to her about this. “I’m still a virgin.”
“Living among the pirates as long as you did? Amazing. You are indeed blessed by the galactic gods.” Opening one of the upper cabinets, Magda rummaged through the medical paraphernalia to extract a plas-wrapped package.
“No reason for you to continue trusting luck, though.” She shuffled back to Tina’s side. “Also well past time you took that stud, Carter Arcturus, to bed and have a little fun before you both explode.”
Tina’s cheeks went even hotter. “Have we been that obvious?”
With a huge guffaw, Magda threw her head back. “Ha. Even if I hadn’t caught that little kiss on the ramp when you two met back up, I’d have known. The Oracles told me. They’re not usually that specific, but with you, I got the most direct and useful information from them that I ever have. The exact sector where we’d find your ship in Andromeda.”
When Magda was in the Milky Way she could hear voices in her head she called the Oracles. When she was here in Andromeda, they fell silent. “Well thank goodness you were listening when they told you where to pick me and Kirtl up.”
Chuckling, Magda shook her head. “I had the specific coordinates. Didn’t know what the hell they meant, but thank goodness Rik trusted me.”
She patted Tina’s arm. “Let’s get this done. Sex is much more fun when you don’t have to worry about it.”
Would the procedure hurt?
Magda ripped open the plas-pac to extract a disk-like metal object with a long cable running out of the back.
She connected the end of the cable into her medical computer terminal, then looped her fingers into elasticized straps on the back of the disk, running the cable between her middle and ring finger. Then she placed the disk on Tina’s lower stomach.
A warm vibration built, deep in Tina’s core. The sensation caused her to clench.
“Good. Good. Don’t fight it. I’m administering a mild, local anesthetic. You should feel a small pinch.” Magda moved the disk slightly lower, adjusting the angle.
Something inside tightened. A few seconds of discomfort, but nothing she couldn’t handle.
“Almost done now.”
Once again, that warm, gentle vibration built inside. “I feel at peace, like I’ve never felt before.”
Magda pulled the disk from her stomach, then smoothed back Tina’s hair. “Sleep if you can, honey. It will do you some good.”
“Oh, I’m sure I couldn’t . . .” Lethargy filled her muscles. Her eyelids drooped.
A soft chuckle escaped Magda’s lips as she pulled a warm blanket over Tina.
Maybe just a short nap.
~ ~ ~
“You drugged her?” Carter’s gaze narrowed on Magda as the woman stood defiant, arms crossed in the doorway to the sickbay examination room.
“Keep it down. She needs some rest. Probably, so do you.” She pushed him out into the sickbay reception room and closed the door.
A warm, welcoming woman under most circumstances, you didn’t want to get on Magda’s bad side, so he backed up. Still, he wasn’t ready to completely back down. “What I need is Tina.”
Why the hell couldn’t they get a little alone time?
“I know. I know. By the galactic gods, I know. I was young once.” She shooed him toward the other examination room.
He gave up and tromped inside. If she wanted to talk, he’d talk. He certainly wasn’t leaving until Tina woke anyway.
But Magda stopped in the doorway. “Strip down and get under that sheet on the examination table.”
“What?” If he was stripping down for any woman, it was going to be Tina.
Raising an eyebrow, Magda leveled her gaze at him. “Do I need to stay and assist? Because I will, hot stuff.”
He raised his eyes to the ceiling. The woman could be so persistent. “Okay, okay!”
“I will be back in five minutes. Be under that sheet or I will ogle you. I promise.” Mischief danced in her eyes as she closed the examination room door.
With a sigh, Carter pulled off his shirt.
~ ~ ~
When the medical scanner passed over him a fifth time, Carter began to suspect something was wrong. He’d never had to be scanned more than three times in his life, even that time he’d been brought back here near death because of Kristin Devenport.
Well, maybe then. He had passed out sometime during the examination.
“Magda, tell me. What’s going on?” If she was keeping mum, it couldn’t be good. Magda usually talked constantly, even when nobody was listening.
Scowling at her monitor, she didn’t even look his way. “It’s probably nothing. Just an anomaly. The scan itself looks fine. But when I compare it to your last one, things don’t line up properly.”
“And Tina?”
“Same. I’m going to scan her one more time after she wakes up.”
When the scanner finally stopped, Carter sat up and knotted the sheet around his waist like a kilt. Moving to stand behind Magda at her workstation, he glanced over her shoulder. “So what is it?”
Not that he understood medical scans any better than he did Targinian nano-physics, but he wanted to at least see what Magda was concerned with.
“Carter! Tina! Where the hell are you?” Rik’s shout echoed across the ship-wide com speakers.
Magda hit the reply button. “They’re both here in sickbay. What’s wrong?”
“Good. Get them both lying down and sedated, if possible. I’ll be right there.” Concern laced Rik’s tone.
“Back on that table, buff boy.” She stood, heading toward her medicine cabinet.
He climbed back on the table. He knew better than to defy both Magda and Rik. “Okay, but you’re not sedating me until I know what’s going on. I feel fine.”
And then he didn’t.
His stomach suddenly turned inside out. He retched as nausea overwhelmed him. If he hadn’t been lying down, he’d have been on the ground. What the hell just happened?
“Crap.” Pulling a medi-blanket over him, Magda activated the sedative setting.
Like acid eating his stomach and groin, agony rolled through him.
He couldn’t keep still. Pain so intense he curled into the fetal position as tears filled his eyes. He was dying, he knew it. He just didn’t know why.
He hadn’t eaten any of the Dzlozian food. Hadn’t taken any new injuries. He was feeling fine until these cramps and pain str
uck.
The sedative kicked in and darkness spiraled at the corners of his vision. Still, the pain only lessened slightly as darkness rolled over him.
Sleep or death?
At that point, it didn’t really matter.
Chapter 16
Rested, warm, and feeling on top of the world, Tina woke under the cozy blanket. How long had she been out?
She opened one eye to find Magda sitting at her bedside. “You drugged me.”
“Yes I did. How are you feeling?” Magda’s brow furled as she smoothed Tina’s hair back.
Concern? Was something wrong?
“I feel fine. Better than I have since I got back. Maybe I did need the rest.”
Magda squeezed her hand. “You needed more than that.”
Knots tightened in her stomach. The sorrow and hesitancy in Magda’s tone hinted at something being wrong.
Way wrong.
“Tell me.”
Pulling in a deep breath, Magda’s words caught in a sob.” Car . . . Carter, and your friends Rolanda and Tendle . . .”
Pulling herself to sit, Tina leveled her gaze on Magda. “What happened?”
“The Kratzen . . . I guess that’s what we’re calling those damn bugs now . . . they planted some kind of biological time bomb inside you. As soon as you left their planet, it started timing down. When we did your Tyvar procedure, it somehow stopped your countdown. Carter and the two Dzlozians were not so fortunate. When the device triggered it flooded some kind of unknown toxin into their systems.”
No. “Dead?”
Nausea threatened to overwhelm her.
Magda shook her head slowly. “Not yet, but they might as well be. We managed to put the three of them into cryo sleep, but we can’t find the cure. We’ve been analyzing the toxin we extracted from you, but can’t even figure out what it is. It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. And we have so little to work with.”
Captives of the Kratzen (Hearts in Orbit) Page 10
