His Carnal Need (Xylon Warriors 2)

by Ruth D. Kerce

  “Scramble your transmission, Torque.” The communication should be secure, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

  “All right. Done. What’s going on?”

  “We’re inside The Dome. We have the information on Daegal. Leila is at the Med Lab looking for the formula now. Where’s Braden?”

  “He’s…unavailable at the moment.”

  Unavailable? Erik looked over at Kam. Something was wrong. By his hesitant response, Torque obviously didn’t want to explain over the airwaves, and they didn’t have time to ask a lot of questions that didn’t directly relate to the mission. Nor was it a good idea to lose focus right now by concentrating on whatever problem had developed in The Lair. His need to return to Xylon quickly escalated though.

  “Do you have Josella?”

  “There’s a hitch. We had her contained, but she escaped. I just got the word from Pitch. They’re looking for her, though so far, nothing.”

  “Why would she run?”

  “Hell if I know. When I had the chance to get off the Sand Moon, I took it. No telling what’s going through that female’s mind.”

  “What am I supposed to tell Halah?” He hadn’t planned on this turn of events.

  “It’s your call.”

  Erik thought a moment. “All right. We’ll tell her we have Josella on the Sand Moon. We just won’t tell her that we don’t have her precisely located or secured until the last second.”

  “We’re going to betray her trust,” Kam muttered, weariness lacing his voice.

  “We don’t have a choice, Kam. If we tell her now, she’ll turn us over to the Egesa.” His responsibility consisted of getting what they had come for and making sure everyone returned safely. He intended to do that job.

  “We’ve registered some suspicious troop movements on Marid,” Torque transmitted. “They seem to have pulled back from whatever they were doing, but I don’t like it. Get out of there as soon as you can.”

  “Exactly our plans. We’ll be coming in on a Marid orbiter.” He looked to Kam for confirmation. At his nod, Erik continued, “Ours was damaged and has been salvaged and probably gutted by now.”

  “Understood. We’re closed down to non-Xylon flights, but I’ll have our trackers watch out for you.

  Transmit your identification code on our emergency channel as you approach orbit.”

  “Will do.”

  * * * * *

  “Got it,” Leila told Halah. “Marid’s equipment is archaic, but this looks to be the formula. The compound contains the basic elements common to our protection fluids.” The solution had better test correctly. A mistake was not acceptable. A second mission to The Dome would prove too dangerous to arrange right now. “It’s not their protection formula, is it?”

  “I don’t think so. A component to break down the main ingredient is present. I’ll need Lair equipment and time to study the compound better. But I can’t find anything else of interest in here, so I’m fairly certain this is it.”

  “Does the formula require refrigeration?”

  “No, we lucked out.”

  “All right, let’s get out of here. Let me have the vial.”

  “You?” Suspicion immediately took hold.

  “Where were you planning to hide it?”

  Hmm. “Good point. Here.” Even though she knew it best to give the vial to Halah, since she had no place to carry it herself, she still handed over the formula reluctantly.

  Halah slid the vial into her belt. They closed the unit, and she reset the alarm pad. “We’re ready to go.”

  A sound of boots along the corridor stopped them.

  “They’re here to check the malfunction,” Halah whispered. “Sounds like two of them.”

  Her heart racing, Leila moved to dart out of the room.

  Halah grabbed her and pushed her against the wall. She planted a kiss right on her lips.

  Leila froze, so stunned by Halah’s actions she couldn’t react.

  When Halah brushed aside her hair and squeezed her bare breast, male laughter floated to her ears.

  Halah stepped back, false surprise on her face. “Isn’t there any place private these days?” she barked at the men who stood there grinning at them.

  “Try your quarters,” one of them suggested.

  “That’s so boring. I’m looking for a sexual kick. Something different. Certainly, you understand.” She grabbed Leila’s hand and grinned sexily at the men as they passed.

  Their loud laughs followed them down the corridor.

  As soon as they got out of range, Leila pulled away from Halah and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “That was disgusting. What happened to the ‘seeking help for your wounds’ plan?”

  “Oh, you probably loved it.” Halah chuckled. “Besides, it worked well. They didn’t even think to question us. So, don’t complain.”

  * * * * *

  Erik studied Dak as he paced back and forth, while they waited for the women to return. The man had appeared in Halah’s quarters without them noticing or without him tripping the alarm Halah had rigged up. He must have materialized in, which meant he and Halah were closer than he’d thought for her to allow him access to her entry code. Dak told them that two ships were ready to go—one for him and Halah and one for the rest of them.

  Erik couldn’t wait to get out of The Dome and off Marid, though he and Kam harbored a bit of concern about the data Kam had retrieved from the computer. Kam had told him how easily he’d broken the passwords. This whole thing might be a setup. But at this point, instead of giving Kam more time to poke around The Dome’s system, he simply wanted to get the formula and get out of there. The formula itself was more important than the information on Daegal and The Dome, in his opinion.

  Even if they found what they needed to destroy The Dome, they’d need to clear out the slaves, and remove any deadly bacteria that might spread into the atmosphere, not to mention a whole host of other pre-destruction operations. And if any of Marid’s scientists ended up escaping, or were off-moon at the time of destruction, they could re-create the sterilization formula. Xylon would find itself right back in the same situation as now, if they didn’t have a counteragent ready to go, even with The Dome destroyed.

  The formula came first.

  The door opened, and Halah and Leila stepped inside.

  Erik instantly relaxed when he saw Leila and saw that she was all right. He noticed Halah didn’t reset the alarm. He assumed that indicated success. “Did you get the formula?” he asked to make certain.

  “We have it,” Leila told him.

  “Wonderful. Good job, you two.”

  “The ships are ready, Halah,” Dak said.

  “What about Bron?”

  “He’s not well enough to travel. He can’t self-heal, and as such won’t be walking for some time.”

  Erik couldn’t help but notice how unhappy Halah looked at the news.

  “We can’t wait.” She turned toward him. “I’ll show you the communications board now, so you can contact Braden.”

  “Well…” He scratched his chin. “Actually, we already found it in your bath and made contact.”

  “You found it?” She frowned, and a look of irritation crossed her face. “How clever of you.” The sarcasm dripped from her voice. “Where is Josella?”

  “Not until we get ready to board the ships.”

  Halah huffed out a sigh of frustration. “Fine.”

  “Can we get some decent clothing before we leave?” He glanced at Leila, having asked the question mostly for her sake and comfort.

  “You need to stay in the slave outfits, or you’ll attract attention with those wristbands.”

  “Lovely.” Leila stroked her hair over her bare breasts.

  “Can’t we cut off the bands?” Kam asked.

  “An alarm on the main control board will sound if we do. You need to wait until you’re back on Xylon, or at least out of Marid’s orbit, or The Dome can track where the band was broken.”
/>   Erik held out his hand. “All right. Leila. Kam. Let me have the disk and the formula for safe keeping.”

  “Halah has the vial,” Leila told him.

  He turned toward the woman, his hand outstretched.

  “Where are you going to hide them?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I created a spot. Not that I don’t trust you, of course.”

  “Of course.” She handed him the formula, and Kam handed him the disk.

  As the ranking Class 1 officer, he felt better holding onto the items himself. At least he knew they were safe. Erik pushed them down his pants into a small pouch. He’d fashioned the pouch from one of Halah’s underclothes found in a drawer, while the women were gone. The vial and disk should be safe there, unless he got searched for some reason. Though he figured a slave probably wouldn’t rate a search for contraband—not a slave who’d already gone through processing.

  “Are we ready to go?” Halah asked.

  “Ready,” Leila and Kam answered together.

  “Let’s go,” Erik said. “The faster the better.”

  * * * * *

  “Report?” Daegal asked. “Two ships register as placed on standby in the secondary transport center,” the Top Commander told him. “They do have clearance. Looks like Rave arranged for one of them a while ago, before she disappeared. She obviously didn’t take the ship, which means she set it up for someone else, or if she did want to use it for herself, she either never made it to the orbiter, or is still planning to sneak aboard at some point. The second one was cleared by control for an off-planet visit to Sunevia for Dak.

  Supposedly, for a visit to his home planet. But given his loyalty to Halah, I think that’s their escape. I’ve sent an Assassin to question Bron. He’s one of her cohorts and was recently hurt in the encounter with the Egesa Commander. He might know specifics. They all had to know their deception would eventually be discovered.”

  “What about the surveillance in Halah’s quarters? I suppose that’s not working.” Daegal’s patience wore very thin right now. Excuses made him irritable, and he’d heard enough lately to last a lifetime.

  “Surveillance in her personal space never worked for long. We’ve sneaked into her quarters to fix the malfunction multiple times, and always within twenty-four hours, the hidden monitors went back down.”

  “That’s because she kept finding the equipment, you idiot. Cancel their clearance.”

  The man typed in a few commands at the main control panel. “Done.”

  “Place guards around the ships. If Halah shows up, take her and anyone with her into custody. Same with Rave. You’ve been monitoring Halah’s external activity, at least, as I asked?”

  “Yes, of course. She and the Healer went out together and returned to her quarters just a few minutes ago. We don’t know exactly where they went. We lost the transmission. I think they visited the Med Lab. The surveillance system went screwy around there about the same time. I’m waiting for a report from maintenance. A couple of men were dispatched to check out the equipment failure.”

  Daegal hung his head. He took a moment before speaking, needing a sense of calm to keep control of his voice. “When captured, I want them alive.”

  “That might prove difficult. They won’t be easily subdued, if their plan is to escape in that ship. If they lift off, they die, Daegal. It’s already arranged.”

  Daegal nodded. He preferred them alive. He needed information. But their deaths would shake The Lair to its foundation. Not a bad alternate plan. “Are the Warriors collared?”

  The Commander punched a few buttons. “No. None of them. We won’t be able to control them remotely.”

  “Are they armed?” He needed to change their slave procedures, so that all slaves were collared, whether their actions or planet of origin necessitated it or not.

  “Unknown.”

  “Do we have a clear visual between Halah’s quarters and the upper transport center?”

  “Monitors are going out all over the place. We can partially monitor, but don’t have complete control right now.”

  “Sabotage?”

  “I don’t see how.”

  “Well, find out how!” If Laszlo were behind the malfunctions, and they could track the path of origin, they’d have him. Capture wouldn’t be far behind.

  * * * * *

  Erik glanced around warily. He, Leila, and Kam followed Halah and Dak as though they were on a leisurely stroll. The hair on the back of his neck tingled. Something wasn’t right. He felt a trap. The area looked too deserted, as if purposely cleared. Halah and Dak’s boots echoed in the corridors and stairways. The click of video equipment as the machines followed their progress seemed more than normal monitoring. In situations like this, he didn’t feel comfortable being unarmed.

  They approached the transport center and stepped inside. Halah stopped abruptly and herded them behind some orbiter panels stacked in the back.

  “What’s going on?” Kam asked.

  “Egesa troops are stationed outside of our orbiters. We’ve been discovered.”

  “Shit,” Erik cursed. “I knew it. Get us some weapons.”

  Halah hesitated a moment, then nodded to Dak. “Arm them.”

  From an equipment bag on his back, Dak handed a disruptor to him and to Kam. “These are a new design and work a little differently than the disruptors on Xylon. You need to flip open this chamber here and keep your thumb pressed to the unlock mechanism on the handle while you fire.”

  “Thanks,” Erik responded. No wonder they hadn’t been able to use the Marid weapons on their previous mission. This new bit of intelligence would prove valuable for future missions. “Stay close,” he told Leila, wishing a better way existed to protect her. “Do either of you have a shield for Leila?”

  Halah shrugged off her jacket and held it out. “Put mine on. The shield is already engaged.”

  “I can’t take your shield,” Leila protested.

  “Take it,” Halah and Erik said to her at the same time.

  “I’ll be all right,” Halah checked her weapon. “You have a plan?” she asked Erik.

  “You still determined to take your own ship?” he asked her.

  “Damn right.”

  “That’s going to make it harder.”

  “We’re all going to die anyway.” She grinned.

  Erik laughed. She was still a Class 1 Xylon Warrior, no matter what, willing to run headfirst into an impossible situation. “Fine. What’s stored in those supply barrels we hid behind earlier? Fuel?”

  “The ones on the left have fuel. The middle ones are cleaning fluid. The ones on the right contain water.

  You can keep them apart by the colors.”

  “All right. The ships are docked on the outer end, so we’re going to blow this place. We’ll shoot the barrels. When the Egesa run for cover, we make our way up the ships’ ramps fast. We can take off amid the chaos. After that, it’s every man—or woman—for himself, so stay out of my airspace.”

  “And you stay out of mine. My ship is the one on the left and contains the extra fuel I’ll need. You take the other one. It’s armed and will get you to Xylon.”

  “Everyone ready?”

  “First things first, Warrior,” Halah said.

  “What’s that?”

  “Where’s my sister? Give me the coordinates, or we’re going nowhere.”

  “She’s on the Sand Moon.” At least that was the truth. He didn’t like double-crossing her on this deal.

  But a bigger issue lay at hand.

  “The Sand Moon? What’s she doing on that savage rock?” Her eyes held a concerned and wary look.

  “I don’t know how she got there. But our main tracker found her. Braden dispatched three Warriors to locate and hold her, until further orders.”

  “Where on the Sand Moon?”

  “Don’t know. The Warriors lost her. Sorry, Halah.” Erik fired his disruptor, as did Kam, and the barrels exploded.

  “Bast
ards!” Halah screamed. She and Dak fired at the barrels, spilling soapy cleaning fluid along the transport deck.

  The Egesa guards and workers ran for cover as fire shot into the air. They slipped and slid on the mixture of fluids.

  Halah pointed her weapon right at Kam. Erik raised his disruptor toward her, but Kam batted it down.

  “Go!” Kam yelled at him.

  He hesitated, but then he and Leila rushed up the ramp of the orbiter on the right.

  “Come on, Kam!” Erik ordered. He saw Halah lower her weapon, hurt visible in her eyes, even from a distance.

  She and Dak rushed up the ramp of the other orbiter. Halah stumbled halfway up, her thigh not yet completely healed. Dak returned to help her the rest of the way.

  Kam ran up the ramp to join him and Leila. Until Halah closed her ramp, Kam kept watch, firing at the Egesa at the same time.

  “Close the ramp!” Leila shouted to him.

  Erik slid into the pilot’s seat, and Leila seated herself next to him. Kam raised the ramp and closed the hatch. He rushed to the control area. He sat behind them at weapons’ control.

  “Everyone acclimate yourselves quickly,” Erik ordered. “We have no time for indecisiveness.”

  “Halah is taking off in her ship,” Kam reported. “I’ve got her on the screen back here.”

  Erik engaged the engines. Another blast rocked the area. Fire engulfed the building.

  “Get us out of here,” Kam told him. “The roof’s coming down.”

  Egesa guards continued to fire at them, despite the presence of the uncontained fuel.

  “Here we go,” Erik said.

  The orbiter moved forward out of the transport center and lifted up into the sky. Ground guns fired at them the entire time, but only resulted in minor structural damage.

  “Looks like Halah is in the upper atmosphere. And there she goes. She’s in orbit.” Leila studied the screens in front of her. “A patrol of at least six is already up there firing upon her. The ground patrols must have alerted them.”

  “We have to help her,” Kam said.

  “Are you nuts?” Erik maintained hand control, preferring to pilot himself, instead of turning their fate over to the nav-computer. “She’s the perfect diversion. While they’re busy with her, we can get out of here.”