by Gun Brooke
“I don’t know about you, but I have all this adrenaline coursing through me and I can’t make myself relax. You just admitted you find me attractive…”
Her heart fretted like a crazed, caged animal. Was Dana really suggesting they have sex? Just like that? EiLeen had just confessed how out of practice she was when it came to physical nearness! Was this a joke on Dana’s part? Was it a way of taunting an insufferable woman who needed to be put in her place? Or…or was it what it sounded like? Could she take Dana’s words at face value?
Chapter Six
Dana tried to decipher the expression, or rather, the several different expressions that ghosted across EiLeen’s face. Trepidation, certainly, and something like fear mixed with anger struggled for dominance. Not surprisingly, anger won out.
“You are joking. Surely.” EiLeen pinched her lips, her cheek flushing an annoyed red.
“Joking? No. About what, by the way?” Keeping her gaze level, Dana watched EiLeen pressing herself farther into the pillows, glowering at her.
“About this whole seduction scene. Acting as if you honestly would find a woman past her prime attractive.”
“Past her…?” Gaping, Dana tried to follow EiLeen’s reasoning. Could this larger-than-life woman really be that insecure? “First, you’re not past your prime, as you put it. You’re stunningly beautiful, not that beauty is all that matters. Second, I’m not joking. I do find you very attractive and I think we could be very good together, if you’d allow it to happen.” Dana persuaded herself to continue talking even if she risked EiLeen’s wrath. “I’m not a player. In fact, I’m usually rather shy when it comes to personal relationships.”
“Shy?” EiLeen laughed joylessly. “If that’s your being shy, I’m not sure I could handle you being confident.”
“Am I wrong to think that you’re something of a shy woman yourself?”
“Hardly.” EiLeen closed her eyes and sighed. “Perhaps, in a way.”
“There. You see. We’re not that different. Age seems to be another hang-up for you.”
“And it isn’t for you?”
“No. Never has been.”
“You sound very certain all of sudden.” EiLeen shifted and moved nearer, her eyes darkening. “You sound like you think you can handle getting closer to a woman who’s seen every damn planet within the SC and then some. Who’s met every dignitary worth meeting and been the leader of an entire planet with its moons and asteroid belts as well.”
“I have no intention of getting closer to your leadership persona, or the front you put up while shaking the hands of dignitaries. I want to just feel the genuine, authentic EiLeen, the woman who had to recede into obscurity when she inherited a throne that was never meant to be hers. That’s the woman I’m interested in.”
EiLeen’s eyes were wide and her fists clenched and white-knuckled. “You sound like you mean it.”
“I don’t usually lie.”
“I’m not sure you truly comprehend what you’re implying.” EiLeen touched Dana’s cheek with unsteady fingertips. “So soft. I admit I’m wondering whether the rest of you is just as soft.” Clearly startled by her own words, EiLeen closed her eyes and groaned. “I can’t believe I just said that.”
“Would you like to touch me?” Dana lost the last of her oxygen after her spontaneous question. She trembled where she sat, her legs tucked up against her.
EiLeen’s eyes turned almost black as her star-shaped pupils swallowed what was left of her irises. “Yes,” she whispered.
Balancing on her knees, Dana pulled down the coverall from her shoulders, baring her upper body. She slid up to EiLeen and just sat there, waiting to see what EiLeen would do.
“Oh, you’re wicked.” EiLeen shook her head. “You’re like this evil sindianah, out to tempt me.”
“What’s a sindianah?”
“A mythical water creature said to live in the sea and occasionally claim the heart of a sailor.” She cupped Dana’s shoulder and skimmed her hand down her arm. “Yes. Soft. Even softer than I thought.”
Dana’s skin broke out in goose bumps. “As are your hands, EiLeen.” She wasn’t sure where her courage and conviction came from, but she ran her fingertips along her neck and traced the modest neckline. “And your skin.”
“Temptress.” EiLeen’s eyes roamed all over Dana’s naked expanse of skin.
“No. That’d be you.” Dana moved in, claiming EiLeen’s pale-pink lips with her own. She lingered there for a moment, unmoving. Slowly parting EiLeen’s lips with the tip of her tongue, she deepened the kiss.
EiLeen moaned against Dana’s mouth. “Been so long. Too long.”
“I’m here now,” Dana said, her voice husky. “I’m here. Let me, EiLeen. Please, let me.”
“What do you want?”
“To feel we’re alive. To feel you. This closeness.” The words, whispered with such heat, passed her lips with each hot breath. Dana cupped EiLeen’s cheeks and tilted her head, angling it perfectly for an even deeper kiss. She caressed EiLeen’s tongue, her lower lip, ran the very tip of her own tongue along EiLeen’s upper lip.
“We are. Alive. And close. And I don’t think I can stop.” EiLeen looked pained. “I don’t want to. I mean, I should know better, but I need…this.” She framed Dana’s face with her trembling hands, combing through her hair with her fingers. “So stunning.” Tugging at the tresses in her hands, she pulled Dana closer, recapturing her lips.
The kiss tore open something inside Dana, something that had clearly obstructed her breathing before. Suddenly it was easy to take deep breaths through her nose as she returned EiLeen’s kisses. EiLeen in turn seemed insatiable. Her mouth, so warm and soft, her teeth sharp and nipping at her, and, oh stars, the sounds EiLeen made in the back of her throat. Whimpers, moans, and the sexiest way of grunting she’d ever heard, all blended into a harmonic masterpiece that drew Dana in.
“How can you smell so delicious when you’ve used the same cleansing unit as I did?” EiLeen spoke in a raspy, tremulous voice. “How’s that even possible?”
“I don’t know.” Dana inhaled EiLeen’s scent greedily. Somehow, the expensive perfume, or whatever it was that made her olfactory sense stand at attention, lingered. Perhaps it was not just the faint perfume, but EiLeen’s own scent, that stirred these emotions in her? “All I know is that you drive all my senses crazy—scent, touch, sight…taste.” As if to prove her last point, she latched on to EiLeen’s lips. “So good—”
The blaring of the alarm klaxons made them jerk part. For a moment the pain of losing the connection was more than she could take. Her entire system cried out for the sensation of holding EiLeen close, but then she was on her feet, bolting for the helm with EiLeen right behind her.
“Damn, it’s them. No, I take that back. It’s not.” She punched in commands with hands suddenly steady. Inside, her body and mind were screaming, protesting the abrupt way they’d been yanked apart.
“Who are they?”
“Same type of ships, same marking, but the computer still says these are different. They had backup? Who the hell are they if they’re this well financed and equipped?”
“No messages from the SC command?” EiLeen pulled up another computer module. “Until we know who we’re dealing with, we can’t trust anyone who isn’t at Jacelon’s level. We have no way of knowing who’s involved and how far this spreads.”
“What the hell are you carrying that they want so dearly?” Dana glanced at EiLeen, seeing the dullness in her eyes and wondering if the way their emotions had come to a sudden full stop had caused it. For all she knew, EiLeen could have decided not have anything more to do with her. Shaking her head to rid herself of this disturbing thought, Dana focused on the readings. “They’re less than twenty minutes behind us. I don’t see how we can outrun them on our way to the station. And even if we did, if they follow us there, it’ll be damn near impossible to escape undetected from it.”
“Didn’t you say the Guild Nation equippe
d and upgraded this shuttle? Surely they put in their famous masking features?” EiLeen scanned the console.
“Of course. It’s been a while since I piloted something smaller than the Koenigin. I’m not sure how you know about the MAFE, but I’m glad you reminded me.” Dana punched in commands. “I altered our trace emissions into in-space background noise. If they’re unaware that our shuttles have this feature, we might just be able to make a run for it.”
“Changing our course to see what happens.” EiLeen was immediately on top of what needed to be done, and Dana drew a tiny breath of relief that the woman she was meant to protect was able and self-assured. “Turning eight degrees, starboard. Setting a detour course to the space station.”
Dana couldn’t take her eyes off the monitor. She stared at the readings until her eyes stung from lack of blinking. Inside her mind, the danger they found themselves in was much less important than the way EiLeen’s kisses had affected her, and, stars and skies, the way Dana had returned the caresses. How could the physical bond she’d just experienced still exist so clearly even if they weren’t touching and were in the midst of a life-saving operation?
Dana watched EiLeen pull up files on the monitor.
“They’re still on the original trajectory, Dana.” EiLeen turned and smiled, the first unabashed, full-blown smile she’d ever seen light up her features. “Some of the smaller vessels are scurrying on parallel tracks, but nobody has veered off toward us. Seems the MAFE is working according to the specs.”
Dana wanted to respond with her usual professionalism. She opened her mouth to say something like “affirmative” or at least “yes, it sure looks like it,” but all she could do was stare at the transformed face before her. EiLeen was a stunningly beautiful woman on any given day, but that smile, oh stars, that smile; it rendered her a certain softness that made her beauty esoteric and unforgettable.
“Dana?” The smile waned a bit and a frown showed up on EiLeen’s forehead.
“Yes. Yes, that’s promising. The MAFE, I mean. Not the smile. I, oh, stars.” Huffing in frustration, Dana decided to stop talking.
“Smile, what smi—ah.” EiLeen’s smile broadened again. “I didn’t know you were ever prone to babble, Captain.”
“Oh, don’t.” Her cheeks warming, Dana wanted to groan and thud her head against the console. “Don’t listen to me if I ever babble again. I’ll try not to do that again. And if I do. Don’t listen.”
“And I would suggest that you stop panicking. What happened to the confident woman from over there on the bunk bed?” EiLeen motioned with her head.
“She…I was rudely interrupted.” Dana huffed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m still reeling. Sorry for acting so weird.”
“Weird now or weird then?” EiLeen didn’t elaborate and she didn’t have to.
“Now.” Annoyed at her loose hair, Dana twisted it into a messy bun by tying it into a knot.
“What a crime.” Star-shaped pupils dilated again as EiLeen followed her every move with her eyes.
“Excuse me?”
“A crime to hide that abundance of hair.”
Flustered, which was even more frustrating than the hair issue, Dana busied herself at the helm, reading the sensors again. “They’re still on our original course. That doesn’t make us safe, though. They possess cloaking capability. I’ve tried every sensor sweep available and I can’t make out any traces, but they can still be there, tricking us.”
“Any signs at all from alien propulsion-system waste particles?”
“None. Just space dust.”
“Any chance of sampling the space dust and running a few tests? Does the shuttle keep a LABKIT?”
Dana snorted. “Don’t tell me you hold a degree in chemistry too?” She wouldn’t be surprised.
“No. I minored in physics at the Imidestrian Royal University.” Looking entirely serious, EiLeen laced her fingers and leaned back in her chair.
Not sure if EiLeen’s deadpan expression hid another way of ribbing her, Dana shook her head. “I can’t tell if you’re joking.”
“Granted, I’m a bit rusty, as it’s been at least thirty years since I completed my degree, but it’s true. I do, or did, know my way around a basic physics lab.”
“Of course. Well, it’s the first real thing we have in common. I minored in physics as well. Between us and what’s available equipment-wise, we should be able to look for trace elements of a cloaked ship.”
“You’re wrong.” EiLeen’s suddenly heated tone, coupled with the fire that burned in her eyes, shocked Dana.
“What about?” Folding her arms over her chest, she waited for whatever mistake EiLeen would pounce on now.
“That’s not all we have in common. Surely I don’t have to drag you back to bed to remind you?” The words left EiLeen’s lips like dripping honey.
Gasping, Dana trembled at the passionate words and the outrageously sexy way EiLeen spoke. Sitting there, only half a meter away, devouring Dana with her eyes, she looked every bit the regal, self-assured woman who had boarded the Koenigin some thirty-six hours ago. Now they would have to get inside the less-than-spacious area of the shuttle where the LABKIT was located. She wished they could conduct the test at the table, where they’d have more elbow room. Suddenly remembering EiLeen’s question, she felt the color rise on her cheeks. “Um, no. No, you don’t have to remind me. I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”
Chapter Seven
Jitters traveled up and down EiLeen’s spine as she sat in the co-pilot / navigator seat again. “The initial findings after retrieving a space sample are bothersome. They’re not close, but more than ten hours ago, someone decloaked for a few moments, probably just enough to determine our position. They’re cloaked again and closing in.” EiLeen sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “We have no way of knowing how close, only that it’s uncomfortably so.”
“There’s a way to reach the space station faster, but it’ll blow the whistle for all ships within the sector as to our presence. I didn’t really see that as an option, but if they’ve already made us we should consider it.”
“So we tear in there, guns blazing, and steal another ship. That defies the purpose of going there in the first place, doesn’t it?”
“Not if we obtain a faster ship.”
“If being the operative word.” EiLeen looked out the view port. The star pattern whisked by them, as Dana was using every single resource the propulsion system could produce. “I’m going to have to sacrifice myself in order for you to get away. They’re not really interested in you.”
“What?” Dana stared at her, clearly aghast. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Oh, calm down. I don’t mean literally. Do keep up.” EiLeen barely stopped a chuckle. “I meant, let them think I’ve sacrificed myself.” She grew solemn. “I’m sure they realize the importance of what I’m about to take to the unit on Revos Prime. I would indeed sacrifice myself rather than let it fall into enemy hands. But if it did, it might reignite the war, with almost all the advantages on the enemy side.”
“I won’t let that happen,” Dana said, speaking through her teeth.
“Oh, trust me, I don’t feel like cutting my existence short by any means.” She locked her gaze on Dana’s. “Especially now.”
Suddenly looking flustered, Dana busied herself with the controls. “So how do we fake your demise then, my Queen?”
Narrowing her eyes at the facetious way Dana used her former title, EiLeen spoke rapidly. “I have an idea, but we need to be on the space station for it to fool anyone. Can you get us there faster, Captain, or were you just bragging?”
“Oh, just for future reference, I never brag.” Dana laughed, suddenly sounding reenergized. “I deliver.”
It was EiLeen’s turn to feel her cheeks warm. Damn it. Every time she thought she had the upper hand with this woman, Dana did or said something to put her in her place. EiLeen returned her eyes to the stars. Normally, such behav
ior would frustrate her, but truth be told, she rather liked it.
*
Dana felt quite proud that she got them to the infamous space station so quickly. As soon as it showed up on short-range sensors, EiLeen had gotten up and started walking back and forth between the bathroom and the sleeping area.
“We’ll dock in ten minutes,” Dana said, working the controls. “Care to tell me your plan?”
“Sure, since you’re going to have to do all the acting.”
Dana flinched. “What the…what acting?”
“Easy, really. We’re going to set the self-destruct sequence on mute and leave the ship. I’ll sneak off among the riffraff populating this station wearing a disguise, and you’ll put on the best act of a lifetime when our shuttle explodes into smithereens. In the commotion, we steal another ship and take off.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Dana said weakly. “Disguise, by the way. Disguised as what?”
“As this.” EiLeen stood and pulled on a large piece of fabric, looking suspiciously like Koenigin-issue bed sheets. Letting it cover half her face and all of her signature gunmetal-gray hair, EiLeen hunched over and moved with difficulty. “I’m your servant, Moi, remember?”
“Stars and skies, EiLeen. You’ve missed your calling.” Dana gawked. In less than a few seconds, EiLeen, former queen and the most regal person in the universe, had disappeared, and in her place stood a hunched-over, meek-looking old woman. “If that doesn’t pull it off, nothing will.”
“Thank you. Now, your job is to set the muted self-destruct and act heartbroken when I’m dead.”
Even though the words were spoken with irony, the meaning of them still sent cold shivers throughout Dana’s system. “All right.”
A gentle hand on her shoulder made her look up at EiLeen’s violet eyes. She was still in character, but her eyes were…hers. “Better not look too closely at anyone. Your eyes are stunning—and very special.”