Shalia's Diary Omnibus

by Tracy St. John

  Well, at least I could strike off that on my list to freak out over. “What about us?”

  Betra grew more serious, if that was possible. I braced myself, but I wasn’t ready for what he said next.

  “At least one of the raiding parties of Tragooms has made it to this section of the ship. There is a group close to your quarters.”

  I froze in Betra’s arms. I considered my blaster, but it had no live ammunition. Training had come too late for me to protect myself from the awful creatures.

  The Imdiko hugged me close. “I commed Oses and told him you were still on board, injured, and in trouble. He’s sent a team on the way. He said for us to stay in here until he kills those raiders.”

  I tried for a weak joke. “All that for little old me? My heroes.”

  Betra pressed his lips to my cheek. “Any lost Matara is too many. Especially when it’s you.”

  I was about to speak again, probably to say something stupid, when booming thuds sounded against my door. I gasped. Betra covered my mouth with his hand, his eyes wide.

  “Hush,” he whispered in my ear as another round of blows thundered. “The boarders must be searching for valuables to steal and people to kill. Move quickly and quietly to your sleeping room, and we’ll lock ourselves in there.”

  He stood, setting me on my feet. Betra pushed me towards the other area, drawing a blaster from the holster I hadn’t noticed he wore. Watching the locked door, he retreated to the bedroom after me. Once inside, he ordered that door closed and locked too.

  We could hear those fierce booms continue from our hiding place. Betra gave me a glance, and I trembled at how pale he’d gone. Pointing his weapon towards the door, he pulled his com from his belt and spoke into it.

  “Betra to Oses. Attack party trying to break into Shalia’s quarters.”

  There was no answer for a few seconds, making me wonder if the weapons commander was unable to respond. Knowing Oses, he’d have put himself in the thick of fighting and in the middle of the worst kind of danger. He might be dead. My stomach was a lead weight.

  Then his growly voice came through, yelling and breathless. There was a lot of noise in the background; sounds that made me think of howling dogs. Screeching too, as well as blasters booming. “Copy that. We’re fighting through to you. Stay locked in. I’ll be there as fast as I can, Imdiko.”

  It sounded to me we were on our own. Who knew how long? It could be Oses and his men wouldn’t reach us in time.

  I eyed the knife sheathed in Betra’s belt. “Can I hold that?”

  He handed it to me, handle first, without taking his gaze off the entrance. The sounds of someone trying to break in continued unabated. “Yes, but only to defend yourself. Do not fight on my behalf, Shalia.”

  I thought, we’ll see about that, but kept quiet. I didn’t want him to reclaim the knife.

  “Remember, a Tragoom’s weak spots are his eyes, groin, and just below the breastbone. Stabbing it anywhere else has no effect.”

  Good to know.

  The pounding stopped. Silence wound out, somehow more frightening than the noise.

  Then there was the distant sound of percussion blasters. They grew louder in the following seconds.

  “Oses’s team is here,” Betra breathed, relaxing a bit.

  After a few seconds of what sounded like a war outside my suite, the sounds faded. Seconds later, Betra’s com went off, confirming that we’d been rescued. “Oses to Betra. Are you and Shalia all right?”

  Betra beamed at the device, as if it would transmit his smile to the Nobek. “We’re here, Weapons Commander.”

  “Excellent. We’ve chased this bunch from Shalia’s quarters and are in pursuit to finish them off. Reports say this is the last group of the boarders, and other security teams are converging on them. There may be individual stragglers loose on the ship, though. Stay locked up tight until I give you the signal it’s clear.”

  “Understood. Thank you, Oses.” Betra put the com away and blew out a breath. “That was close.”

  “Too damned close,” I agreed.

  I handed him his knife, and he holstered both weapons. We held each other for a few minutes, quietly enjoying being alive. Then we went into my sitting area to wait for Oses’s signal.

  “It won’t be so bad after this jump,” Betra said. “By the time we hit the next portal, more patrols will be in place.”

  “Thank the prophets,” I said. “Kalquor should have waited until all the portals and our route were better guarded.”

  “I agree, but it’s such a mad scramble to get your people off Earth that expediency is the rule. They may rethink that after this.”

  My door buzzed. We both glanced up. “It’s probably Oses,” Betra said. He raised his voice. “Who’s there?”

  No answer. Instead, the buzz sounded again. Betra shot to his feet, yanking his blaster free once more. “Into the sleeping room, Shalia! They have a frequency disruptor and they’re trying to break in!”

  No sooner had he shouted the warning when the door slid open. Two enormous, rhino-pig-looking Tragooms invaded. Betra started shooting in a deafening volley.

  The pair had some sort of force field in front of them, because the brunt of the shots was deflected. Some of the percussive blast got through, because I saw the Tragooms stagger backwards a little. They squealed in reaction, but then they came in again. They had their own weapons, and they brought them up to sight on Betra.

  I screamed, distracting them for a couple of precious seconds. They didn’t fire on Betra, startled to spot me standing there. That gave my liaison the chance to fire a few more shots, staggering them again.

  Before they could recover, Betra shoved me into the bedroom. He screamed for the door to lock as soon as we were in, but it was only postponing the inevitable. The bastards had us.

  “Grab my knife. Com Oses too,” Betra said. He stood in front of me, shielding me, with the blaster pointed and ready. “I’ll hold them off you as long as I’m able. Stay as low as you can.”

  I scrabbled at his belt for the two items, readying the knife and keying the com as I threw myself to the floor. “Oses, they’re in my quarters! We’re trapped with—”

  My door buzzed and opened. Betra fired a barrage at the two monsters, keeping his body between me and them. They returned fire, but they were thrown off by the constant bombardment from the liaison’s weapon. It was the only reason they didn’t hit him right off the bat, though they should have. The space we were in was cramped, leaving little leeway for them to miss.

  But miss they did. Pieces of my bed blew apart. My closet disintegrated, and paneling and fabric flew everywhere. The illumination of that wall failed, dimming the half-dark room more.

  All I could do was lie on the floor and scream like a banshee, sure I was about to watch those hideous monsters kill my friend. A shot did connect with Betra’s chest. He staggered from the force of it, damned near tripping over my useless self. However, Betra kept on firing, a howling wolf.

  Then four black blurs swept in from behind the Tragooms, snarling and screaming as they took the brutes down. It was Oses and three of his men. They fired into the Tragooms’ skulls at point-blank range. The force fields the bastards had were no match for that. Their skulls blew apart, sending a mist of black blood and gray flesh confetti into the air.

  I grabbed Betra and checked him for injuries. “Holy shit,” I said to him as I stared at the shredded hole in his formsuit’s chest, over the heart. “I thought you were dead when they hit you. That armor is sturdy stuff.”

  He winced as he inspected the damage. “It feels as if someone launched a boulder into my chest, but I’m okay.”

  Oses stepped forward and looked Betra over, keeping hands to himself. “Imdiko, you should go to Medical and have that checked out. The armor held, but you’ll need to be sure nothing is broken or internal injuries sustained.”

  “I’m fine. Besides, I can’t leave Shalia until you’ve killed them all.”
r />   “If you’re sure. Stay locked in here while we finish sweeping for stragglers.”

  Betra smiled at the weapons commander. “Thanks for getting here so fast. We wouldn’t have survived without you coming as quickly as you did.”

  Oses nodded, pleased. “I am glad to have been a service to you both.”

  Something passed between the two men, something sweet and damaged and sad. It was a sense of what might have been.

  Uncomfortable, I turned my attention to the big, stinky bodies lying on the floor. “Betra, I have to have new quarters, pronto. This smell won’t ever come out. For heaven’s sake, did the Tragooms shit themselves?”

  The spell broke, and Oses grinned at me. His fangs were down. “Tragooms always do when they die. It’s the smell of victory.”

  I gagged, which made him laugh.

  As he followed his team out, Betra asked, “Is there any word on the battle with the ships?”

  Oses paused, his shark’s grin widening. “We still have three destroyers. Only a couple of the battlecruisers continue to fight. All the rest of the attackers have run off. We’ve had a glorious time of it.”

  He and his team left me and Betra to lock ourselves in with the headless enemies...enemies with pants full of poop. Smells like victory, huh? Yeah, it was glorious, all right. Crazy Kalquorians.

  We quit the bedroom, closing the door to keep as much of the stench as possible out of the rest of my suite.

  Betra sat down, but I paced the floor and fretted. “We’re not out of it yet, are we? Not if a couple of battlecruisers remain.”

  “Oses acted confident. He must be, if he’s hunting the Tragooms that boarded the transport. Otherwise, he’d be on the bridge, coordinating defense from there. No doubt he’s receiving ongoing reports on the battle. He wouldn’t leave anything to chance.”

  I noted boastfulness in Betra’s words. “You’re bragging on him,” I said. “You may not plan to be Oses’s bed partner, but you care about him enough to take pride in his accomplishments.”

  The Imdiko stiffened, and a look crossed his features as if he would deny my assessment. Then his shoulders slumped. “Fine. I care for the brute. If I was capable of being with a man, Oses would be my Nobek, and no Dramok would be able to convince me to accept another.”

  I went to Betra and curled against his side. “What’s so awful about admitting to that?”

  He sighed. “Because if Oses realized it, he’d try to turn it into more than I can offer him. It’s enough I hurt him as much as I do. Discovering I care for him as the dearest friend in the universe, but not as a lover, would make the situation worse.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “He enjoys a fight too well to accept ‘no’ for long stretches. I would have to transfer off this ship if I had to fend him off every moment of every day.” He growled a little under his breath. “As irritating as he is, I would miss having him close by.”

  And here I thought my romantic life was complicated.

  We sat there for a few minutes, deep in our own notions and waiting to live or die. I assume Betra was thinking over his mess of a situation with Oses and the inability to be a part of a clan. Meanwhile, I mused over my own loved ones. Mom lay in stasis somewhere on a shuttle out in space, unaware that she may never have the opportunity to awake. Lucky gal. My child, a tiny embryo in my stomach, a hostage to my fortune, shared whatever fate waited for me. Katrina and Candy were on a shuttle, with my empty seat next to them. Would they would be okay if the Tragooms won? Would they find a safe port or be picked up by the victors?

  I wondered what effect my death would have on my Kalquorian dads. Nayun would be beside himself, but Bitev and Rak, who were not as invested in me, would be there to help him through it. That was some comfort. Still, it would only increase their worry for the woman they’d clanned.

  And what of Dusa, Esak, and Weln? Would they regret not answering my coms if I was killed out here? I couldn’t be the reason they felt any guilt. My conscience gnawed at me for sending all those messages that reminded them over and over we weren’t together any more. I should have honored their request to make a clean break of it.

  I’d been so selfish. What an awful legacy to leave behind.

  I was roused from my depressing reflections by Betra caressing my breast. I looked into his blue-purple eyes in surprise.

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” I said. “We could die at any moment.”

  “What better time to make love then?” he asked. “Why not grab what pleasure we can, while we can? Why shouldn’t we have sex as if it’s for the final time, in case it is the last chance?”

  He had a point. We could sit here whining over our fucked-up lives, or we could go out in the midst of happiness. However, what he said next nearly had me running from him...even if that meant escaping into the room with the smelly, headless Tragooms.

  Betra gazed at me with warmth. “Dying might not be so bad if it happens in the embrace of the woman I love.”

  I stared and nearly obeyed that urge to hang with the Shit Twins. I managed, “No, Betra. No.”

  His smile refused to falter. “I’m afraid so, pretty Earther. I’ve tried to fight it, but the heart wants what it wants.”

  I jumped up and yelled at him. “Damn you! You stupid, fucking Kalquorian, don’t you dare! I refuse to love you, Betra. I refuse!”

  That damned Imdiko laughed at me. “I didn’t say you had to, Shalia. I simply stated how I feel.”

  I have never wanted to strangle anyone so badly as I wanted to strangle Betra. “You’d better believe I’m not falling for you. I went through that shit once with men I couldn’t have. I’m not doing it again!”

  “No, you can’t do that,” Betra said, his voice softening, and the smile slipping off. “The last thing I want is you hurt. Truly, Shalia. If I thought for a minute you might love me too, I’d insist they give you another liaison.”

  I stared at him, unable to figure any of this out. “Why? You aren’t making any sense, Betra.”

  He ducked his head and studied the floor between us, as if it were the most fascinating sight in the universe. “I’ve witnessed what it cost you to leave Clan Dusa behind. You’ve come close to choosing badly because you lost your heart to a clan that can’t have you. I can’t have you either, because I won’t join a clan. If you had such feelings for me, it would lead to misery. I can’t let that happen.”

  I blinked, my brain not wrapping around his rationale. “But you said you love me. What about you getting hurt? After all, I’m seeing Oses too. I’m supposed to join a clan on Kalquor. What does that do to you?”

  Betra shrugged. “It means I enjoy what I can have for as long as you’ll gift that to me. It means every second I have with you is precious, leaving memories to savor.” He frowned. “It also means that if I believe you’re growing attached, I’ll push you away. You are not allowed to love me. You have to find a clan worthy of you, who’ll treat you well and help you raise your child.”

  “You don’t wish to keep me for yourself?” I couldn’t believe that. Didn’t falling in love mean you had to have and hang onto a person, no matter what?

  Betra’s gaze met mine. The look was hard, and his expression was set with determination. “I am only an Imdiko, one man. I am not enough to be all you must have, Shalia. I would never be so selfish as to deprive you of what you need.”

  I do not understand him. However, with Tragooms roaming the corridors, I lacked the opportunity to try. In the end, I just needed to pretend we weren’t inches from dying.

  I couldn’t handle the discovery that Betra had fallen for me. I could handle lust, however, so I suddenly stripped. An instant later, I was on my knees in the position Oses had taught me: legs wide apart, hands behind my neck, boobs thrust forward, and my gaze cast down. I prayed it would shut the idiot up. Stupid Betra with all his talk and attempts to make his feelings for me noble. I hated him at that moment.

  I couldn’t see Betra’s face, but I was at eye
level with his groin. Objectives achieved. Those stretchy pants were pitching a tent in a hurry, and he said nothing else to incite me to punch him in the mouth.

  “Now that is amazing, pet,” the Imdiko said, his tone low and quiet. “What a sweet way to present yourself. Stay still while I play with you.”

  I did as I was told, holding position while Betra cupped my breasts. His thumbs rubbed across the nipples, making them stiff. I had to remind myself to exhale, as my breath kept catching. How was it my clit felt his every touch, as well as my tits? Ticklish heat trickled through me, leaving me wet and eager for whatever he would give.