Chapter 21
“I want to gooutside.”
Xera stared atRysing like she’d lost her mind. “Why? There’s nothing good outthere.”
“I need to seeit,” the Leo-Ahni said quietly, but her face was determined. Attimes she could be every bit as stubborn as Xera herself. “Iunderstand if you are afraid. I will ask the commander to allow me togo with his party.”
Xera drew breath.She didn’t want the girl wandering around alone; she feltresponsible. “You won’t understand what anyone is saying. Youcould get hurt if someone called a warning you couldn’tunderstand.”
“So you’llgo?”
Xera sighed. “Iguess. I’m going to request a gun for the outing, though. It’stoo dangerous for even one of us to be unarmed. I don’t suppose youcan shoot?”
“I was nevertaught.”
So they ended upgoing out in the chill desert sun. Xera felt like a bodyguard as shehovered near the small Leo-Ahni and surveyed the rocky plateau. WhileRysing looked around with curious eyes, Xera scanned the skies andground for danger.
“Relax,Lieutenant, we’ve got you covered,” one of the accompanyingmarines drawled, smiling a lazy and confident smile. His big bluntface was tolerably good-looking, but his attitude grated.
“When you’vemarched for a day over these sands with things jumping out of the skyand the sand buckling under your feet, we’ll see how well you cancover me,” she told him grimly. “I think I’ll stay on guarduntil then.”
He shrugged,thick-skinned enough not to mind her attitude. She noticed he stayedclose, though, and she caught a subtle nod between him and EnsignTrevor, who was also part of their party. Was Trevor pulling favors,having his friend watch over her?
She’d have to becareful; she was really starting to like him.
Captain Khan wasalso there, cane and all. He sent her one cold look then pretendedshe didn’t exist. She wasn’t fooled into thinking he’d given uphis revenge.
“A woman couldrun for miles over this sand,” Rysing said longingly, her eyes onthe horizon. “I need to go down there.”
“Don’t get anyideas about going for a jog,” Xera warned her. “Running for milesin this stuff is deadly.”
Rysing looked ather with dignity. “I’m not a fool.”
“Thank God forthat, because I must be to let you talk me into this.” Xeramuttered in her own language. She nodded to the far end of theplateau. “Look, they’re getting ready to go now.”
She kept herbreathing even as her group moved away from their massive ship towardthe nearby fortress, reminding herself that they were fully armed. Itwasn’t night, so fliers weren’t a threat, wouldn’t be even ifit were pitch dark, because they didn’t like the lights sprayingout from the ship. She’d had all the precautions explained to her.In addition, the men ahead of the party had equipment capable ofdetecting the other dangers, were even setting traps for them. Therewas no reason for her feeling of doom.
“Easy now,ma’am. It’s a short walk, and you’re surrounded by guns.” Themarine sounded like he was calming a skittish animal.
“A happythought,” she assured him, but she made herself walk tall as if shefelt no fear. There was a moment of déjà vu as she remembered herfirst meeting with Ryven. She’d walked tall then, too.
Rysing paused onthe sand and breathed deep. Her eyes half closed as she took in thescents. She’d never looked more like a cat than when she knelt downand splayed the fingers of her right hand over the sand. She was verystill, as if listening. “There’s something coming under thesand.” She pointed to the southeast, toward the sun.
Xera translatedrapidly.
“Naw, thesensors aren’t picking up any…whoa! Incoming! Sandworm,” yelpedone of the technicians manning the sensors.
“The trapsaren’t ready,” Ensign Trevor said grimly. “Better shoot it.”
Rysing watched thechaos calmly. “Hold still and it will stop,” she murmured, but noone was listening. She placed a hand on Xera’s arm when she triedto pull her away. “Be still. It hunts by vibration. If you arestill, it is blind.”
Xera didn’t wantto experiment, but she told the marine with them what Rysing hadsaid.
“How does sheknow?” the man asked softly, but he held still, his gun trainedwhere he thought the worm would be.
Their care wasunnecessary. As soon as the beast got close, it was shot. Rysingshook her head. “Silly.”
“We’d betterget non-essential personnel inside,” the Commander ordered. “Iwant those samples double-quick.”
Since it was builtfor keeping out animals, not people, the security was easy toovercome. All too soon they were entering the tunnel that led to themain room.
The fortress waseverything Xera remembered, but the circumstances were vastlydifferent. She’d expected fear, but oddly the place gave her a rushof melancholy. She missed her husband. If she wanted to see himagain, she was going to have to do everything in her power to getherself back to him. If an opportunity came up, she was going to haveto run for it.
Rysing didn’tseem in a hurry to leave. She inspected every inch of the main caveas if it were a house on the market. She even followed Ensign Trevorbelow to look at the worms and mushrooms.
Xera stayedtopside with the marine. There was no way she was going back down inthat hole. She caught Khan looking at her once, but she knew therewas nothing to fear yet. He wouldn’t make his move in front ofwitnesses.
Rysing came upmunching on a mushroom. She carried a jar full of bugs in her otherhand.
Xera looked at herin horror. “What are you doing?”
Rysing popped thelast bite in her mouth and licked her fingers with a slightly pointytongue. “These are much better than ship’s food. I’m hoping thecrawling ones will be as well. At least they’re fresh.”
Xera gagged. Shehad to turn away quickly to keep from embarrassing herself.
“I know thefeeling,” Ensign Trevor said as he came up carrying his own jar.“Nothing like squishing through the…say, you’re not going topuke, are you?”
She came veryclose. For a moment she had to close her eyes and breathe verycarefully. To comfort herself, she murmured, “I could understand itif she were the one who was pregnant.”
Suddenly itregistered what she’d said. Her eyes popped open. Ensign Trevor wasstaring at her with a particular, frozen expression. Pity or horror?She couldn’t tell, but it was time for fast decisions. She shot alook at the marine. His gaze was across the room, as if he hadn’theard a thing, but she didn’t believe it.
She looked atTrevor. “Could you escort me back to the ship? We need to talk.”
He nodded stiffly.“I’ll take a load of specimens.”
“We’ll watchyour back,” the marine said, and he and Rysing fell into step acouple of paces behind.
She waited untilthey were climbing the stone stairs to the platform before she spoke.“The commander of the Scorpio, Ryven, is the father. If you saw thetapes from the conference, you must have known that.”
He nodded. “Yes.It’s just…I’m so damn sorry for you. No woman should have tosuffer that.”
She shook herhead. “No suffering here. However he behaved with you all, he’sdifferent with his family, with women. I want this baby to have hisfather.”
The silence wasthick. The ship was getting nearer. Had she made a mistake?
“I see. What doyou want me to do?” Trevor said finally. “You know better than toask the Commander to let you go.”
“Can you helpme? We’re leaving in what…two days? I can’t go back, andRysing…I’ll ask, but I think she wants to stay with the Scorpio,too.”
There was aheartbeat of silence. “I’ll see what I can do.”
She sent him alook of gratitude. “Thank you.”
He sighed. “Yeah,I’m a sucker. I know.”
The time passedquickly as the GE party collected their specimens. Xera worked on herreport and Rysing played games on the computer, or pestered EnsignTrevor in the lab, armed with a handheld translator he’d found forher. She was insatiably curious, particularly about the planet. Shetold everyone it was because she’d never gotten to see anything buta small portion of her own planet and a confined space of the Scorpioworld. She was so childlike and cute, she got away with it,especially since she was free in telling anyone who asked about herown world. On a ship full of explorers, she was in constant demand.
Even so, sheassured Xera privately that she wanted to return with her. She hadhope of seeing her own people again someday. Not all of them wereready to let the Khun’tat rule, and she hoped to help the rebels insome way.
Xera didn’tspend too much time thinking about the girl’s motives; she had herown hopes and worries to occupy her; and other people’s motives.Time was getting tight. She needed off the GE ship, and soon, and sheneeded Trevor’s help. Would a man she’d once spurned really helpher escape?
Ensign Trevorfinally asked her if she’d like to take a walk to the cargo bay.Rysing was welcome to come, too. He asked it standing in her doorway,acting as if nothing more interesting were going on than aninvitation to see some of the new things that had been collected. Itwas such a common sight that it didn’t cause any interest.
Severalcrewmembers waved to Rysing as she passed. Cheerfully, she wavedback. They girl had a sunny side when not burdened with fear, andeverybody liked her.
Everybody butKhan. Xera’s old captain saw the group pass in the hallway andglowered. Everyone who associated with Xera was suspect.
“There’s notenough room in the labs, so some of the newest specimens are storedin the cargo bay. You’ve never seen anything like them, I promise,”Ensign Trevor said as a cover while they passed Khan and severalothers. “I hope we can keep them alive until we reach home.”
They didn’t goto the cargo bay, though. Xera and Rysing were escorted to theshuttle bay instead. The huge doors were open as men and equipmentmoved in and out. There seemed to be a problem at the doors. Amachine was stuck on the ramp, belching smoke and blocking the exit.Xera thought she recognized their earlier marine escort as one of theshouting men swarming over it. Nobody paid them any attention.
Trevor walkedcasually to the Scorpio shuttle and let them in. Once inside, hespoke quickly. “Strap in and take off. It’s fueled and thecontrols are fixed. Preflight’s done. It’s now or never.”
Xera took abreath. Her throat felt tight. “You’ll be punished for this.”
He smiled grimly.“Hit me a couple of times, will you? Make it look good and thingswill go better for me. Remember, I have to stumble out of herelooking banged up.”
She winced. “Ihope you go to heaven for this.” She punched him in the nose, andit was a good shot. Bone crunched under her fist. He cursed andgrabbed his face, probably seeing stars.
“Now thisis interesting,” Captain Kahn said. He was propped in the doorway,one hand supporting him on the wall, the other clutching his cane. “Isee you’re still a traitor, no matter what the Commander says.”
Xera stared athim. Trevor turned slowly, still clutching his nose. Blood ranbetween his fingers. “Sir, I tried to stop her.”
Khan smirked. “Iheard. Lovesick whelp! Don’t you know she’s been rutting withaliens?” His hand tightened on his cane as he looked at Xera. “Thistime, it’s my word against yours, and you’re the one trying toescape on this enemy ship.”
Trevor rushed him.But though a hero at heart, Trevor was no warrior. One neat blow tothe side of his head with Khan’s cane and he was stretched out onthe floor, dead to the world. Khan looked amused.
Xera glancedaround for a weapon. For her baby’s sake, she’d rather not gettoo near Khan. She knew he’d kill her and claim self-defense. Itwas the logical thing, given his hatred of her.
“Here.” Rysingmust have raided a toolbox, because she handed Xera a heavy wrench.“Hurry. We need to take off.”
“No pressure,”Xera muttered.
Khan grinned andlunged for her. She ducked the cane and went to one knee, swung thewrench with all her strength. His cane connected with her shoulderand clipped her ear, but it lacked force. Her wrench didn’t. Itkissed the man’s bad knee with gleeful fury. He screamed and wentdown on top of her. Somehow his hands wrapped around her throat andtightened. He was crushing her larynx.
Xera saw Rysingkicking his head, but still Khan didn’t let go. But she had trainedfor this. Xera encircled his arms with hers and grabbed hold of herright fist, locking them together. With a mighty jerk, she pulled,breaking his arms at the elbow. There was a wet crunch as the bonessnapped.
Khan screamed, asound that was quickly cut off by another crack. Trevor stood overhim, the wrench clutched in his hand. He was weaving, but stillhauled Khan off Xera.
“He’s dead,”Rysing said.
“Yeah,” Xeracroaked. She crawled to her feet. She looked at Trevor. “Can youget him out of here? We’ve got to go.”
He smiled grimly.“Better hurry. This won’t go over well.”
“Thank you,”she said. He deserved a lot more, but she didn’t have anything elseto give.
He held her eyesthen nodded, dragging Khan from the ship. Mercifully, the ramp wasout of sight of the main door, blocked by a huge crate, so no onesaw. She knew the situation wouldn’t last.
“It’sdangerous being your friend,” Rysing said. She was already strappedinto a chair and staring tensely out the windshield.
Xera grunted. Herthroat was too bruised for idle conversation. Ignoring the blood onher hand, she grabbed the control yoke.
The shuttle roseseamlessly and she eased out of the bay. When people saw what washappening, they started to shout and point, but there was nothingthey could do; the machine on the ramp blocked the door.
Xera cleared themachine and rose above the plateau, then punched it. The shuttlehurtled away from the desert as if shot from a cannon, and Xera andRysing’s bodies were shoved back in their seats by the G forces. Inminutes they broke out of the atmosphere and saw the blackness ofspace.
Rysing gave alittle shriek of glee. “We did it!”
“Don’t rejoiceyet,” Xera said grimly. “I have to figure out how to get ushome.”
Rysing stared ather. “But…you can fly! Can’t you?”
Xera took abreath. “I never got to plotting coordinates, not for this model ofship. Oh, I can do it in other shuttles, but I have to play withthese controls first.”
“This is not agame! Play at nothing; get us home.” Rysing’s voice hadrisen an uncomfortable octave. She was out of her comfort zone again.
“Working on it,”Xera snapped. Her fingers flew over the controls, trying to find theflight record. If she could find it, she could use that to get theship back where it came from. Easy enough…in theory.
“There are shipscoming from the planet. Your people must have seen the dead captain.”Rysing started to shake.
Fighters. Xeracould see them. She swore and tried to keep her mind on the task athand. She didn’t think she could outrun their pursuers in theshuttle. Their only hope was to jump to hyperspace, but it wastantamount to suicide without proper coordinates.
“We’re goingto die.” Rysing rocked back and forth in her chair. The hunters hadbarely arrived, and the prey was nearly catatonic with fear. Whateverher trigger was, the GE must have tripped it. She must have forgottenall the fun she’d had on the human ship. Maybe being pursued byfighters could do that to a girl.
So much for beingeveryone’s buddy.
Xera had no timefor pity. If Rysing couldn’t help, the least she could do was shutup. She was shredding Xera’s nerves. Without looking she hissed,“Come on, girl, get a grip! We can get out of this. Stop wilting onme.”
Rysing took ashuddering breath. She stilled.
With a shout ofvictory, Xera found the ship log and the coordinates of home. “Aboutfreaking time,” she snarled as she started punching codes. Theywere going back.
Suddenly anotheralarm sounded. “Warning! Enemy ship approaching. Aura quadrant3-0-7.”
Xera looked at thereadout and paled. It was a Khun’tat ship, and it was headed theirway. Feverishly she input the commands to jump the shuttle intohyperspace, only to hear, “Please prepare while the hyperdrivewarms up. You have seven minutes until this jump.”
Seven minutes. Herheart stopped. They’d be dead in four.
Xera had a badmoment. For several seconds she was tempted just to give up. Therewas a deep, dark place in her mind that would gladly leap free andscream if she would just let it. But Xera wasn’t that person. TheKhun’tat and GE hadn’t won yet.
Xera turned to sayas much, only to find Rysing slicing open her wrist with a knife fromthe toolkit.
“What are youdoing?” Xera yelled, and launched herself at the girl before shecould do the other. She grabbed Rysing’s wrist, but the girl’sknife raked her free arm. She hissed in pain and pinned the Leo’sknife hand, then elbowed Rysing in the jaw. That stunned the girllong enough for Xera to flip her on her stomach and put her in an armlock. The Leo-Ahni was surprisingly strong for such a slight thing.
“Hold still!”Xera put a knee in Rysing’s back and grunted as she struggled toreach the toolbox without losing her captive. There was tape there.She snatched it and wrenched Rysing to her feet, using the arm lockto control her. It was harder getting the girl into a seat, andRysing nearly got away. Fed up, Xera muttered, “This is for yourown good,” and she smashed her fist into Rysing’s face. Thatstaggered the girl long enough for Xera tape her to the chair. Aglance at the screen showed the Khun’tat ship was much closer.
Swearing at thelost time, Xera grabbed the med kit and slapped some clotting agentand a patch over the wound before taping Rysing’s arm down.
“You’ve doomedme,” the girl cried. “I won’t let them have me again!”
“Don’t worry,I’ll slit your throat if it comes to it,” Xera promised, her mindalready scheming. Not that she wanted to think about it; the sight ofthe girl’s blood already made her nauseous. She sat down and staredat the controls. What could she do with very little time and noweapons? Would it come down to suicide? Did she know how to blow upthis ship?
The Khun’tatneared. Much more and their ship would swallow the shuttle whole.Just as Xera was thinking of ramming them out of spite, she washailed.
“Ryven?” shegasped. “Is that you?” She flipped on the communications screenand could have cried. There was her husband’s face, just as she’dimagined it. How had he arrived in time? Never mind, she could askhim later. “Thank God! Get us out of here!”
Ryven’sexpression was controlled. There was no room for relief yet. “Easy.We will.” His gaze took in Rysing’s condition.
“Shetried to slit her wrists when she saw the Khun’tat coming. I had toknock her down to save her life”
Heactually choked back a laugh. “Woman…! No, don’t lose composurenow. You did well,” he added, when it seemed she might wilt. “Don’tpanic; you’re going to feel our tractor beam lock on in a moment.”
Xerafelt a little bump and relaxed a fraction. Ryven’s ship had them,but the Khun’tat were so close! They were launching ships to boardthem.
Butso were the Scorpio! She’d never been so grateful to see warshipsin all her life. Even as Ryven’s craft’s launch bay opened toreceive them, she saw glimpses of explosive battle.
Suddenly,the shuttle rocked as the blasted remains of a Khun’tat fighterslammed into it. The tractor beam was no protection, and alarmssuddenly flared.
“Xera!”Ryven shouted. Her screen grew fuzzy.
“Busy!”Xera shouted over the alarms. Her hands flew across the controls asshe assessed the damage. Life support was failing. The hull washeavily damaged and threatening to buckle. The toilet… She actuallylaughed. “Hey, Rysing! Our toilet is offline. Man, but that wouldbe a problem if we planned to live very long.” She shook her head,amazed at the detail and insignificance. Who designed these systems,anyway?
Luckilyfor them, they were swept inside Ryven’s ship. Medics were waitingto escort Rysing to sickbay. Xera was sped to her husband’s side.Uncaring of proprieties, she threw herself against him in a hug,which he returned with crushing force.
Aftera long moment, she drew back and told him solemnly, “I’m having abad day.”
Helaughed, but it was strained. “We will make it better now. Will youstay with me?” He gestured to an empty chair.
“Absolutely.”She parked her tail in the seat, grateful for the chance. She stillfelt very unsettled. “What about the GE? You do know they’rehere, right?”
Herhusband nodded. “They are running as fast as they can in theopposite direction. We will deal with them later.”
Sheopened her mouth to defend at least two of them, but decided now wasnot the time. They could discuss it all later.
Ryvenbegan to issue commands, and she knew better than to distract him.Her husband would get them home.