The Forgotten Eight
Page 6
And it was debatable whether they'd even gotten the call for help! She hadn't been able to hail High Command from this side of the wormhole, after all!
"I should try to contact High Command again!"
To her relief, Kiel studied her for a long moment and finally nodded. Jalen removed his harness and changed places with her at the communications console. She glanced at Kiel again for guidance once she'd settled. "Where should I ask them to meet us? I'll need coordinates."
"Zeta, zeta quadrant, vector east 169 west 5541."
Danielle nodded and repeated it. Even as she mentally composed her message, however, it hit her that the coordinates he'd given her were the same, or at least roughly the same, as those she'd followed to the wormhole that had taken her to their galaxy. She glanced at him sharply. "But … it took us nearly two weeks to get to Chab from the second black hole we went through. We'll never be able to maintain our lead that long!"
"We will rendezvous with them at that point at 24:00 EST."
Danielle blinked at him, glanced at the Earth Standard Time clock, and then looked at him again. "You're saying …." Anger flickered to life. She knew she'd been unconscious when they'd taken off, but she also knew she couldn't possibly have been unconscious more than a day at the very most! She sure as hell hadn't been out for a week! "Are you telling me that we took nearly two damned weeks to get there when this damned ship is fully capable of making it in two days? Never mind!"
She presented him with her back, fuming for several moments before it occurred to her that she should just count her blessings that the ship had the capability! Otherwise, they would've been toast long before help could arrive. If they lived through this, though, she was going to give him a piece of her mind! She was going to let him know what she thought about the three of them … high-jacking her ovaries while she was at it!
"Mayday! Mayday! This is Captain Danielle Dubois, serial number 245812, aboard the modified Federation fighter Firebird 013 with Captains Kiel, Baen, and Jalen of the Danu! We believe we have located the Nubien home world. Currently, we are being pursued by a fleet of thirty two Nubien warships. We need back up! Rendezvous quadrant zeta, zeta, vector east 169 degrees west 5541 degrees. Mayday! Mayday!"
She waited, hoping for a response. When thirty minutes passed without one, she repeated the message, instructed Gertrude to replay it hourly and left the bridge to pace in the small gathering area near the center of the ship and try to think.
She did think. She thought until her head hurt-about everything. She couldn't seem to bring any order to her thought processes, though, arrive at any conclusions that gave her any peace. She couldn't formulate a plan that would magically save them if help didn't come. She couldn't make herself accept that there was any possibility that she was pregnant at all let alone the circumstances. She couldn't think what she should do if it transpired that it wasn't some elaborate hoax her defective computer, Gertrude, had come up with-maybe to confuse the enemy?
She couldn't think of Kiel, Baen, or Jalen as enemies, though-any of the Danu. She couldn't believe that Gertrude had assessed them as a threat and decided to plant dis-information! It occurred to her that the computer might have, but in order for her to be capable of lying it would have to see them as a threat and that lying was necessary.
She didn't know what to think of the fact that they'd deceived her in their trip to Chab, deliberately set the ship to a slow cruise when it was capable of going five times that fast!
She realized after a moment that she did know what she thought of it, she wasn't certain if she should trust it or if it was a good thing or a bad thing for that matter. It had certainly given them time to impregnate her! Was that the only goal? To mate? Or did it mean something to them beyond sowing their seed in fertile ground?
She didn't know how long Kiel had been watching her, but it sent a jolt through her when she turned in her pacing and discovered that he'd followed her. She met his gaze and the moment she did she realized that the heart of her distress was the fear that it was over-her life, the babies she might have conceived-everything.
She didn't want to fight with them! Not now, anyway! Maybe if they made it, she'd still feel the need to vent over the things they'd done, but not now.
She didn't want to waste the little time they might have left fighting when she could be finding heaven in his arms. Her throat closed at the thought. She didn't want to die! She didn't want Kiel, or Baen, or Jalen to die! And she didn't want her babies to die!
Uncertain of whether he would welcome such a distraction given the situation, she approached him slowly, stopping when she was less than an arm's length away, waiting, hoping he would understand what she needed and offer it.
He lifted his hands after a long moment and settled them on either side of her head, smoothing her hair lightly, and then coasting his hands over her shoulders and down her upper arms. Her throat closed with want when she felt his hands curl around her arms. She surged toward him, curling her arms around his neck and pulling herself to him. "Make love to me, Kiel," she whispered. "Make me feel loved, like I matter to you."
"You cannot believe you do not," he said, his voice rough.
She swallowed with an effort. "I need you to show me."
He tensed, but after a moment, he pulled away and leaned down to scoop her up and lift her against his chest. Relieved that he'd understood, she nuzzled her face against his neck.