Pets in Space® 4

by S. E. Smith

  Maura never took to strangers like this. It had to be an act.

  The Rathski smiled and stroked the StarDog’s long back.

  “Way to draw her in, partner.” Rigel managed not to smirk at his SpyDog’s cleverness. “Disarm and charm her. Let her think we’re falling for her story while we set the trap.”

  “It’s important I reach the transport leaving for MONA Loa in a few days,” she told him. “Can you help me get there?”

  “Possibly,” Rigel answered. “But there’s something I need from you if we’re going to team up.” He gave her a friendly smile. “Your weapons.”

  Defiance flashed in her ebony eyes. “The spaceport is crawling with patrols. Do you think that’s wise?”

  “I think it’s a necessity if we’re going to be traveling together.”

  For a moment, she went rigid then eased her stance and slowly, deliberately, drew her weapon and offered it to him.

  “And your dagger?”

  She pulled the blade from her thigh sheath and surrendered it as well.

  He secured the laze-pistol in the thigh pocket of his field fatigues and parked her dagger in his boot keep. Well, that was easy. He really hadn’t expected her to comply so willingly. Now all he had to do was find a way to deliver her to Network Headquarters. Hopefully he’d have a little assistance with that soon.

  One thing was certain. Command was going to get a lot more than they’d bargained for when Rigel finally reached MONA Loa and turned over his intel…and his unwitting prisoner.

  Chapter Two

  “We need to change position,” Rigel advised the Rathskian. “Put some distance between ourselves and any Alliance patrols moving into the area.”

  “Is that wise?” she countered. “How is the Network to contact you if you don’t remain in the vicinity?”

  “They have their ways.” Rigel subconsciously brushed a hand over the ear that concealed his alert system mini-speak. Seemed she didn’t know about the special device. No need to clue her in then. “You’re not a trained field agent, are you?”

  “Not officially,” she admitted.

  “Then what—officially—are you?”

  Her dark eyes leveled on him, as if deciding how much to say. Or how much to fabricate. “I’m an envoy to a member of Command, on special assignment.”

  “Special assignment to do what?”

  “I can’t disclose that.”

  Of course she couldn’t. “I thought we were allies.”

  “That doesn’t mean we’re authorized to share sensitive information.” Her black gaze locked on his face. “But I’m sure you’re aware of Network protocol.”

  Nice dodge.

  “What name do you go by?” she asked.

  “Rigel.”

  That was all the information she needed about his identity, for the moment. She hadn’t volunteered her own name and he was about to ask when he keyed in on the sound of voices outside the hang.

  “Quiet.”

  He crept to the hang opening and spied an approaching squad. She stealthily slipped into place beside him. He met her questioning look with a firm nod. “Ithians. We leave now.”

  This time she didn’t argue. He popped Maura from her shoulder into his satchel and indicated their escape route with a hand motion. They crossed the hangar in a low crouch to slip out the opposite side. She stayed with him when he doubled back along the outside wall. So far, so good. At least she hadn’t alerted the Alliance team to his presence.

  An alley provided a path away from both the scene of Wisdom’s destruction and the converging Ithian patrols, and they took it at a fast clip.

  Making a right, they followed another alley for three hundred paces then veered left, putting more distance between themselves and ground zero. Once Rigel was satisfied they were out of the hot zone, he selected a deserted hangar and motioned her inside.

  Rigel moved to a shaded corner and hunkered down. He placed his satchel on the ground and unfastened it so Maura could get some fresh air. The Rathski remained on her feet.

  So far, she’d been a model prisoner. Of course, she didn’t yet realize she was his prisoner.

  She gave him a questioning look. “Why have we stopped?”

  “I need to wait for instructions.”

  She looked around the empty hangar doubtfully. “How will they contact you here?”

  “They’ll find a way.”

  The little StarDog poked her head out and Rigel waved her out of the bag. She slithered free and bounced around—“Happy! Happy!”—before fixing her attention on the woman. “Friend?”

  “Not friend.”

  “Your StarDog’s name is Maura?” the Rathskian asked, kneeling and reaching out to gently run her fingers through his partner’s thick fur.

  Had he called her by name? “Yes.”

  “Hello, Maura,” she whispered to the StarDog. “I am Sona.”

  He made a mental note of it—the Rathskians didn’t use surnames—to run through the Network’s database later. Hopefully, he’d be getting an update soon.

  Maura gave one of her contented feline purrs, nestling her head against Sona’s chin to cuddle when the Rathski sat down. Then she made two quick turns in Sona’s lap and flopped onto her back. “Belly rub?”

  “She can’t hear you.”

  She didn’t need to. Sona smiled and stroked the StarDog’s silky belly. His partner’s eyes closed in bliss.

  Rigel threw the tiny beast a covert frown. “Don’t overdo it, pard. Make her work for your trust.”

  The StarDog wrinkled her nose at him and sneezed, her scoffing reply coming through loud and clear. “Maura knows.”

  Inside his ear, the comm crackled. Agent Blackline, contact Captain Garr. Bay 5126. Secure passage to MONA Loa transport.

  Rigel jumped to his feet. “Time to go.”

  “Where now?” Sona questioned, her lovely butt remaining firmly planted on the hangar floor.

  “We have a ship to catch.”

  “You know this how?”

  “I can’t disclose that.”

  She glanced around before leveling a doubting scowl at him. “What ship?”

  “You’ll know when we get there,” he answered crisply.

  “You can’t trust me with the information?”

  “It’s strictly need-to-know.” He bent to open the seal of his bag. “Stay here or go with me. Your call.”

  It wasn’t, of course. She was coming with him, one way or another. But it was better to let her think it was her own idea to tag along.

  “Back in the satchel, partner.”

  Maura remained sprawled across the Rathski’s lap, eyes half closed.

  Rigel gave his SpyDog a willful look. “Berra!”

  The little StarDog finally heeded his command, rolling off Sona’s lap to the hangar floor and scampering across the ground toward Rigel. But without warning, she made a sudden about-face and darted back to the Rathskian.

  Rigel scowled. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “More belly rub.”

  “Maura!” He pointedly dropped the bag at his feet with an emphatic hand signal.

  The SpyDog complied, giving him a sulking look as she slunk past his feet and stopped before the open bag.

  “Do you always talk to her so harshly?” Sona asked.

  Rigel winced. She thought he was being unkind? Maura was his partner, and he had great affection and admiration for her, but this sudden willfulness needed immediate and firm correction.

  Granted, these last few weeks in the field had been hard on his SpyDog. They’d been on the move, with little rest and no time for bonding. Maura missed her play time. He’d make it up to her once they finally reached the Network transport and he’d safely transferred the intel Maura carried—and secured this Rathskian anomaly.

  But first he had to find his contact.

  Maura still sat at his feet, refusing to conceal herself in his satchel. “Berra,” he repeated. The LaGuardian command for ‘hide.’


  She stared up at him defiantly then dissolved before his eyes, fluffy golden tail and all.

  Chapter Three

  Sona gasped. “Where did she go?” The StarDog had completely vanished.

  “Still with us,” Rigel said with a stern frown. “She colored.”

  She pinned Rigel with a questioning expression. “What is ‘colored?’”

  “It’s sort of like camouflage,” he explained.

  “I have never seen a StarDog do this before. How is it possible?”

  He shrugged and turned away. “How many StarDogs have you been around?”

  “Only one.”

  His eyebrow quirked, but he asked—and offered—nothing more. Acquiring information from this aggravating man was testing her nerves. Extracting his teeth might be easier. The visual amused her.

  “Explain. How is it possible?” she pressed.

  He stooped to close his satchel. Seemed his StarDog had won this round, but she wasn’t going to accept defeat either. When he rose, so did she, folding her arms and staring him down.

  “Her fur has camo genetic properties,” he finally relented, “so she can blend into her surroundings when necessary.” He turned his head to address a patch of sandy cero-crete an arm’s length from his right foot. “Or when she chooses to be difficult.”

  The StarDog chittered back at him, and Sona didn’t even try to hide her smile. Maura’s defiance toward her taskmaster was entertaining. And endearing.

  Unlike her handler.

  “All right. I know it gets hot in the bag. You can stay out if you remain colored. At least, for now.” The man threw Maura a disapproving frown. He retreated into the deeper shadows of the hang and checked a device strapped to his wrist that displayed a digi-map on the screen. No doubt it showed the layout of Calos Spaceport. Perhaps this was how he communicated with his commanders?

  He caught her staring at the digi-map and, surprisingly, angled the display so she could see it. The red indicator was on bay 5126, still a fair distance from their present location. They had to travel an enormous grid of alleys and hangar rows to reach it.

  Skirting the Alliance scouting parties was going to prove difficult, but being intercepted by one of the teams wasn’t an option. She couldn’t risk being recognized by a fellow Rathskian or one of the Ithian elite. She was supposed to be vacationing at her father’s manor on Veros, not skulking about on Banna. If her deception were discovered, it would put both her and her family—and possibly even the future of Rathskia—in grave jeopardy.

  When Wisdom had been paracannoned, their carefully laid plans had been tossed into a turbine. Desperate to avoid the patrols, she’d zeroed in on the chiller unit as a potential hideaway—but the man she’d seen lurking near Wisdom had beaten her there. She wasn’t sure yet if stumbling upon this rude and brusque operative was a blessing…or a black curse regurgitated by the Sixth Hell.

  She’d hoped to link up with two members of Wisdom’s crew—they, at least, had accepted the presence of a Rathskian, even if they’d never grown entirely comfortable with her being on the commodore’s ship—but in the chaos of the rushed evacuation, she’d lost track of Taro and Adini.

  This man, though…

  He suspected her every move, but suspicion ran both ways. His link to the Network’s intel corps was troubling.

  Granted, he wasn’t hard on the eyes, but his rough bearing grated on her patience. Why had the Highest Power seen merit in throwing them together? Perhaps it was true that the All-Entity had a cruel sense of humor.

  At least she could enjoy the company of a StarDog.

  She dearly missed the happy little mascot she’d known on Wisdom, a black and white charmer named Luna, who belonged to Taro and Adini. She’d struck up a fast friendship with the cuddly creature who often kept her company when most of the humans aboard wanted nothing to do with her.

  Luna and Maura both showed their bio-engineered genetics—a blend of canine, feline, weasel, and mongoose—and had many similarities, except for Maura’s ability to ‘color.’ Rigel’s companion appeared to be enhanced with special abilities that wouldn’t be needed in a mere companion animal.

  A more recent generation? Possibly a cutting-edge prototype?

  Or perhaps an animal designed specifically to partner with a deep-cover agent?

  “Do you have a surname, Agent Rigel?” she asked, hoping he’d disclose a little more about himself.

  “Blackline.” He took a swig from his mini-canteen then offered it to her.

  She shook her head, extracting a hydration flask from a pocket in her synth-leathers and swallowed a gulp of cool water.

  “Enough rest,” Rigel announced. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover. Let’s move.”

  Sona surrendered her spot in the shade to venture out into the rising heat of midday. Getting to this man’s contact was paramount. She couldn’t be spotted—or worse, captured—on Banna. She just hoped once they got to the ship that she’d be accepted as a friendly and granted quick passage to the Network transport. She didn’t know how much this Rigel knew or suspected about her affiliations, and until they reached MONA Loa Station, she had to keep close tabs on him and his communications.

  Chapter Four

  They still had a long trek ahead of them, and this woman had already learned crucial information about him and Maura. If she got away from him now, it could be very bad. True, she’d been nothing but cooperative, but he still had to be wary of the potential for ambush. His SpyDog exposing a covert capability to this Rathskian had certainly upped the stakes. Reaching the safety of a Network ship and securing her onboard was crucial. He just hoped the ship had a prisoner retention cell to reduce the risk of her sabotaging his mission.

  “Walk ahead of me,” Rigel directed. “A Rathskian and a Carduwan might make suspicious bedfellows.”

  Sona gave him a quick glance, one eyebrow arched in surprise—or was it scorn? “As it should be,” she retorted, and strode ahead.

  “Stay with her,” Rigel told his invisible partner then realized she was no longer at his side. Dust puffs rose where the StarDog scampered along in step with their captive. It wasn’t the first time she’d anticipated a command, but now it ramped up his annoyance a full notch or two.

  “Make a right here,” Rigel instructed.

  Having her walk ahead made watching her easier but calling out each turn or new direction in their path was attracting attention. They’d already snagged a few puzzled looks from passersby and he didn’t need the added scrutiny. Thankfully, there weren’t that many people moving about in the midday heat. Rigel lengthened his strides to close ground between himself and the Rathski.

  “Take the left fork.”

  “Get any closer and you can just whisper in my ear,” she said, without looking back.

  Nonplussed, Rigel eased off a stride.

  Was she trying to provoke him? Rigel shook it off. He had to stay sharp and avoid letting his mind wander down paths that might lead to distraction.

  He gave her a quick—and involuntary—once-over. Her synth-leathers followed the silhouette of her body like a sleek black shadow. Long, graceful strides made her unbound black hair brush against her shoulders with every step. She was obviously fit; their hike hadn’t winded her in the least. And if she was warm in those leathers, she wasn’t complaining.

  Hades, if she wasn’t Rathskian—and a possible enemy asset—he might even have found her attractive. In an exotic sort of way.

  Whoa. Now there was a dangerous thought.

  Rigel looked up when something flashed in the heavens. A blinding point of light flickered high above before ballooning into a circle of sun-bright plasma. A ship had just exploded somewhere near the planet.

  “Space battle,” Sona muttered.

  “The Alliance may have taken out the vessel that toasted Wisdom,” Rigel speculated.

  “Let’s hope not,” Sona answered. She angled her head to meet his eyes. “That ship was Specter.”


  Rigel stiffened. Holy Hades! Specter had scuttled Wisdom? The ship was one of Zaviar Mennelsohn’s advanced prototypes, now piloted by his own daughter, Drea Mennelsohn. Specter had an M-drive and was a smaller sister-ship to Spirit, the transport he needed to reach. The two ships were essential to the Network, the only ships in existence capable of spanning the enormous distance to MONA Loa Station.

  And Hades, if the Alliance had just destroyed Specter, things had turned very grim for his cause. The ship was irreplaceable. And her captain, well…

  That hit home. Specter’s captain was the reason he and his brother no longer spoke.

  “Why was Wisdom destroyed?” It gutted him to have to ask, but he needed a better understanding of the events and he wasn’t getting a sit-rep from his superiors.

  “The Alliance was after Captain Gant.”

  Commodore Gant, Rigel mentally corrected.

  “They dogged his vessel to Banna then deployed the blockade. Rumor on the ship was they meant to pin him down and seize Wisdom. The Network couldn’t allow the ship and all the data she carried to be compromised.”

  “You seem to know a lot about it.” He tried to keep his tone conversational, not accusing, but he didn’t succeed. She had detailed info about the incident for a mere passenger.

  “Because I’m with the Network.” She sighed in exasperation. “How is it that you don’t know?”

  Rigel wiped a hand over his mouth. “I’ve been out of touch with Command.”

  “Didn’t they just contact you?”

  “It was a one-way conversation.” He wasn’t telling her anything she hadn’t already guessed. But it rankled him that a Rathskian knew more about current events than he did.

  Her dark gaze locked on his face, her attention lingering a little longer than was comfortable. What was she puzzling out now?

  Maura sounded off in a series of quiet chirps and her paws came to rest on his knee. He nodded and hunkered down to open his satchel.

  “She’s hungry?” Sona questioned.

  “She hasn’t eaten since yesterday.”

  “Have you?”