by Mina Carter
The marine moved like lightning, a flurry of exploratory jabs and kicks designed to test Dani’s defenses on that side. She had the advantage. She’d seen Dani fight, twice, whereas Dani was operating in the dark where Kenna was concerned. She was a marine, though, and by the looks of the way she moved, a shit-hot one. Assuming she was as tough as coffin nails was a given.
She launched a few testing combinations of her own, kicking off her front leg as she tested Kenna’s reactions. As she expected, the other woman’s guard was rock solid. They moved around each other, pacing, testing and going back to circling. All the while looking for an opening, the smallest hint of a chink in their opponent’s armor.
Even though she kept her attention on Kenna, Dani couldn’t help but be aware of the large form of her alien “husband” across the hall. He was barking orders at men fighting each other in circles like the one she and Kenna were in—the Latharian version of a fight ring.
She had no idea where he’d gone last night after leaving her in his quarters. At first, she hadn’t believed he’d really gone and had showered with one eye on the door, figuring out at the same time that alien showers worked the same as human ones. Same with the toilets. After hours of restless tossing and turning, jerking awake at the slightest noise, she’d figured out that no, he wasn’t coming back. She finally allowed herself to slide into a restless slumber.
“At least you got one of the good ones.”
Kenna’s comment, delivered just after a double hook, backhand combination that Dani alternately ducked and blocked, made her raise an eyebrow. “Good ones? What do you mean?”
The other woman somehow managed to launch a vicious three-punch combination attack and jerk her head toward the tall warrior over on the other side of the room at the same time. “Your hubby… those kids he’s training? They’re the Lathar version of cannon fodder. Younger sons, kids from less affluent families. No one else bothers with them because they’re just sent into battle to make up the numbers… they’re meant to die.”
Dani had to stop her jaw dropping as she blocked a punch. As soon as she was able, she slid a quick glance over to where Sardaan was walking a younger warrior through a fight move. “That doesn’t make sense… Not to bother with them, I mean. They’d be far more effective if they were trained well. Fewer causalities that way.”
Kenna nodded. “You and I know that, but for all their technology, the Lathar can be very backward in other ways.”
“How so?”
Dani moved sharply to the side, switching up her fighting style to see if she could draw Kenna in and then take her to the floor. She and Kenna were a similar height, so, unlike when she had been fighting Sardaan last night, she didn’t need to worry about being overpowered easily.
“They operate in a clan or family-based structure rather than the military one we know. Feudalistic almost. Challenge fights and sometimes outright assassination are viable methods of career advancement here.”
Dani’s eyebrows winged up to almost disappear under her hairline. “Assassination? I thought they were all about honor?”
“Yeah, but they’re also all about not getting caught as well.” Kenna grinned, a flick of her gaze down saying she’d spotted the slight drop of Dani’s guard on the left side. It was a deliberate ploy, but, as Dani had expected, the marine was too experienced to fall for it. Instead, she went for Dani’s right knee, which she’d been leaning a little too much weight on.
She moved, launching her attack like a speeding bullet, but Dani was ready for her. With a grunt, she twisted, half taking the impact as Kenna barreled into her. She twisted as they fell, heaving herself up and around. By the time they hit the floor, she had her thighs around the other woman’s neck in a brutal headlock.
Kenna didn’t give up though, twisting and bucking to try and get Dani off, but she held on, knowing her opponent couldn’t hold out long. Sure enough, within seconds Kenna slumped to the floor and then reached a hand out to tap the floor.
“You fight well,” Dani complimented her as she unhooked her legs and rolled away. The marine had totally missed the soft movement as Dani lifted the strange octagonal dog-tag from around her neck, pocketing it in a piece of sleight of hand she had learned long before she joined the service. A graceful movement took her to her feet and she held out her hand to help Kenna up. The marine smiled, a little ruefully, as she hauled herself upright and brushed herself down.
“Thanks. Not been beaten quite so quickly by another human for months though. I obviously need to train more.”
She gave a little smile, about to add a comment about Kenna not being around many other humans for months, when there was a frustrated growl from the other side of the hall.
“For the goddess’ sake, how the draanth do you expect to survive your first battle if you all get so distracted by two females?”
The two women turned to see Sardaan glaring in frustration at the small group of youths. All of whom were very shame-faced and guilty as they looked at their feet or at a point somewhere over the big warrior’s shoulder.
“I’m trying to give you tools so you don’t end up as an afterthought in some war commander’s list of casualties,” he raged on, his movements jerky and body tight. “And all you can do is giggle and watch a fight that’s nothing to do with you!”
That he cared was obvious, and heat spread out from the center of Dani’s chest. Such caring and need to help others in a less fortunate position than himself… it spoke to her on levels she didn’t want to admit. Really didn’t want to admit.
She exchanged a glance with Kenna and then called out. “Would you like to come and join us?”
The swift look she got from Sardaan was unreadable, but she carried on anyway. Most of the warriors were still youths and smaller than full grown warriors. She wasn’t sure how old they were, but some looked to be as young as fourteen or fifteen. Certainly not old enough or physically mature enough to take on adult male warriors.
“We can show you a few human moves that you might not have seen before.”
“We don’t need no human moves,” one muttered, but the group as a whole had started to drift their way. Some cast pleading eyes toward Sardaan as if waiting for permission.
“Oh, you lot might not need human moves,” he said. “But perhaps Konaat could have done with some last night. Go on. Perhaps they can teach you something I can’t.”
There was whooping and within seconds Dani and Kenna found themselves surrounded by a group of Latharian teenagers eager to learn. For the next hour, Dani worked opposite to Kenna, showing the youngsters different moves to utilize their smaller size and agility against bigger opponents, only stopping when a bell sounded.
“Second watch,” Sardaan called from the sidelines as the boys all broke away from their opponents and raced across the other side of the hall to collect their belongings. “Change and report to your duty stations as quickly as you can. Don’t dawdle or you’ll get written up and I can’t do trallshit to help you then!”
“I’ll go hurry them along,” the older warrior who’d been training them with Sardaan when she’d arrived commented, nodding toward Dani as he left.
“That’s me as well,” said Kenna. “Got some training with Daaynal later. Want to make sure I grab something to eat beforehand. Catch you on the flip side.” She saluted and hurried out of the door after the rest.
Leaving Dani alone. With her new alien husband.
“Thank you for your help with them.” He walked toward her, stopping a half step away to look down at her. “How did you sleep?”
Heat crawled through her at his nearness, her body tense with anticipation. Carefully taking a step back, she put some distance between them. “I slept well, thank you. And you’re more than welcome. They’re a nice bunch of lads. Kenna says they’re overlooked for training though?”
She deliberately tried to keep the conversation light and on subjects other than their sleeping arrangements. The quirk of his lips said he knew w
hat she was trying to do.
“Unfortunately so. Riis and I are trying to help, as much as we can. Some of those boys couldn’t hold a damn blade the right way when we started.”
“You’ve done well with them.”
Reaching for the towel and water bottle she’d left by the wall, she straightened up to find him right there. She gasped and stepped away, but her back collided with the wall. He didn’t give her a chance to get away, large hands either side of her shoulders.
“I didn’t… sleep,” he told her, his voice low and rough. His blue eyes were dark with a heat and desire that took her breath away. “All I could think of was you in my bed. Naked. And that I wanted to be in there with you.”
She lifted her chin in challenge, trying to ignore the shiver that swept over her skin. Her entire body prickled, aware of his closeness. He was so close she’d only have to press forward a little and they’d be touching from chest to hips. She tensed, fighting down the temptation to do just that.
“Why you?” The question was out before she could stop it, and he frowned.
“Why me what?”
She needed to keep him talking. If she kept him talking, she could perhaps forget about that kiss last night, the way he’d been a gentleman and given up his bed for her… forget his kindness to the boys everyone else had written off as cannon fodder.
“You said they… by they, I figure you meant the emperor and your leaders, had rigged last night so that I would be claimed by one of your warriors. Forgetting for a moment the diplomatic incident that’s likely to have caused… why did they pick you to be my escort? I assume you had standing orders to try and seduce me anyway.”
His expression set, and she caught a glimpse of anger in the backs of his eyes. Fleeting, but not at her. At least, she didn’t think so.
“Yes. I had orders. But…” He reached out to brush a soft thumb over her cheek. “I’d have done my damnedest to seduce you anyway, orders or no orders.”
“You would have?” Someone had stolen her voice, replacing it with the sexy, breathy voice of a sex goddess, or a phone sex worker. “Why?”
He blinked. “You’re asking me that?”
“Yes.” She met him look for look. Unblinking. “I’m asking. Why were you going to try anyway? Am I some sort of trophy… an easy fuck because you have no women?”
That was the worse-case scenario she could think of. To be wanted purely because of a lack of holes to fuck. Crude, but the truth of it when they got down to brass tacks.
“Seriously?” He barked a laugh, pushing off the wall to run a hand through his hair. He looked down at her, an incredulous look in his eyes. “You think… draanth, if I was just looking for something soft to fuck, I’d head to one of the pleasure houses. There are plenty of species in the galaxy with compatible genitals to the Lathar. I don’t need to try and seduce a reluctant bloody human just for somewhere to stick my cock!”
8
She needed to get off this damn ship and the quicker the better.
After their little altercation in the training hall, Sardaan had stormed off, leaving Dani all on her own. She didn’t mind, wanting to be anywhere but where the tall, pissed-off Latharian warrior was.
She bit her lip as she looked at herself in the mirror. The only place she felt she could really let her guard down was in the small bathroom off Sardaan’s quarters. She wouldn’t put it past them to have bugged his room, especially since this had apparently been a setup from start to finish, but she seriously doubted they’d gone as far as bugging his washroom. At least, she really hoped they wouldn’t be that indelicate.
She’d made him mad. Running a hand through her hair, she sighed. Sure, she’d made lots of people mad over the years. Couldn’t make a cake without breaking some eggs, and she’d broken more than a few people’s moods when she’d risen through the ranks to major general. Even more when she’d won the All-Trial year after year.
And she’d rather be back there, on the start line, knowing most of the people around her were going to try and kill her or otherwise knock her out of the running over the following seven days than face Sardaan’s furious expression again.
He’d been going to try and seduce her. But why? Because he’d wanted to, the little voice in her head shot back. Forget the delicate diplomatic situation between their species… he’d planned to seduce her because he wanted her. That, and the emotion in the backs of his eyes, scared the shit out of her more than the possibility of a full-scale war.
She had to get out of here. Before she did something stupid… like fall in love with her own husband.
Pushing off from the vanity, she shoved her hands through her hair, slicking it back off her face.
“Okay, Dani,” she told herself, bolstering her nerve. “You got this. Walk in the park compared to the All-Trial.”
Getting out of Sardaan’s quarters was a piece of cake. She had Kenna’s octagonal dog tags to get her through doors. She’d felt a little bad for stealing from the other woman, but all was fair in love and war… and it was obvious which side Kenna had thrown her lot in with.
As soon as she left the quarters, Dani turned left and started to follow the path she’d memorized from the hall and shuttle bay last night. It wasn’t a long walk, but she’d be alone and in an area she shouldn’t be in. Any Lathar who saw her would know she was up to something. Then the game would be up quicker than she could blink.
Reaching the corner, she ignored the heavy bass of her heart and the sweat sliding down the center of her back. The next section was guarded by those damn combat bots. And if just one of those saw her… she was fucked. Big time. They moved too quickly for her to get away and unlike an alien warrior, who she might have had a chance against, there was no way she could fight one.
Holding her breath, she peeked around the corner. One quick look, a snapshot of the corridor and she ducked back. The bots were all still in their alcoves. Shit. She couldn’t even tell which one was active. They all looked dormant.
Heart in her throat and her stomach in knots, she crept forward. As a serving soldier danger was nothing new to her… but this was something else entirely. There was something about the bots that crept into her brain and triggered primal survival instincts.
The last time she’d been so close to outright terror had been on E-seven-B-four, one of the outer planets in the Esphen system. The whole planet was riddled with vampire spiders the size of small dogs. Needless to say, they hadn’t spent long dirt-side, just long enough to rescue the surviving crew of an ill-fated outpost, but the few hours down there had been enough for a lifetime. Several lifetimes.
She slipped from cover. Each rustle of her clothes as she crept forward sounded too loud, like the volume of reality was cranked all the way up and at any moment, she expected the bots in front of her to power up and leap into action. The corridor was pale, almost white. It would show up blood really well…
She put the thought from her mind. Cold sweat rolled in heavy, fat beads down her spine. Her arms and legs shook, heart going like one of the old freight trains they’d used back home to ferry the ore from the center of the asteroid. She hadn’t wanted to be a miner. That’s why she’d joined the military… But right about now, she’d take a lifetime never seeing daylight if she could just get past these killer robots without being noticed.
She made it to the middle of the corridor, eyes on stalks as she watched for any of their “eyes” to activate. Sardaan had said there was always a pilot on standby, running diagnostics, but he hadn’t said whether there was one per corridor, or if the pilots watched a couple of corridors each.
Hopefully it was the latter, which meant she had a fighting chance of getting past before the pilot cycled through the bots to look at this corridor again.
Three quarters of the way down the corridor, the end was almost in sight. She allowed herself a small sigh of relief, then…
Squeak!
She froze as her boot caught against the flooring, the sound almos
t deafening. With a gasp, she threw herself forward, going from a standstill to a sprint as she tried to reach the end of the corridor and cover before any of the bots woke. Heart pounding and lungs about fit to burst, she reached the turn and threw herself around it, expecting the corridor to be filled at any second with the death machines and their lethal spinning blades.
It took her a few moments to work out that the thundering noise wasn’t the sound of the bots chasing her as she’d expected but the sound of her own heart in her ears. Dragging in a ragged breath, she forced herself to calm down and walked quickly along the corridor toward the hall.
The place was deserted, all the doors open between the corridors, the antechambers and the hall to reveal a cavernous place. It reminded her of a modular building where all the walls could be pulled back and reconfigured to create different spaces. An image of the entire center of the Latharian vessel opened up and occupied with troops filled her mind.
She shivered.
If they did that, and landed on Earth, humanity was done for. Well and truly.
Keeping to the walls, she scooted through the hall quickly, emerging onto the other side and taking the right turn she remembered leading to the shuttle bay. Her own shuttle would have returned to the Defiant with Vice President Cole, but the Lathar were just bigger versions of humanity, so she should be able to fly one of theirs.
Should. If she could reach the pedals.
She stepped out of cover and into the next corridor when a slight sound alerted her to the fact she was about to have company. With a gasp, she scuttled backward, concealing herself inside one of the rooms off the corridor.
Just in time.
A small group of Latharian warriors marched up the corridor, their crisp movements warning her that these were well trained and dangerous, nothing like the boys she’d helped train this morning.
“Shit, shit, shit…” she murmured to herself, risking a glance when the sound of booted footsteps grew fainter. The longer she took, the higher the risk of being caught. She needed to get off this damn ship and fast.