No Remedy

by Christine d'Abo

  “Alec, are you secure?” Byron called out, not bothering with the coms. “It’s gonna get bumpy here in a second.”

  “I’m good,” Alec shouted back. There was a soft hiss of static, followed by his voice echoing through the com. “Bry, is there some sort of perimeter security we need to be aware of?”

  “Not up here. Why?”

  Mace’s heart began to pound as she glanced at the monitor. “Shit, I see them too.”

  “What?” Byron leaned in close to the scanner, tapping his finger against the screen. “I don’t see . . . damn it!”

  “Hold on.” Not waiting to hear his suggestions, Mace threw the Geilt into a far steeper dive through the upper atmospheric shell than was healthy, then veered in a hairpin turn back away from the planet’s surface. The sudden change in their trajectory jerked the two small security probes out of their orbit. The objects followed, trailing behind the ship in an intercept path. “Left over from your guild friends?”

  “Krieg was a paranoid bastard, but this level of technology wasn’t his style. He hated spending credits if he didn’t think there would be a payoff. More likely to send someone to blow you out of the sky than lay a trap like this.” Shit.

  Images and thoughts of Krieg flashed through Byron’s mind, none of them complimentary. Mace wanted to rip the bloody necklace from her throat, not needing the distraction as she bounced the Geilt off the atmosphere and back into the asteroid field.

  “I’m going to get rid of these pests before we make any approaches. With luck, they won’t have transmitted our coordinates to whoever put them out here.”

  Don’t count on it. The simultaneous thought of both men echoed in her head. She couldn’t stop laughing as she throttled up the ship, taking them directly into the path of the largest of the rocks. “Watch and learn, boys.”

  The hull rattled as she increased speed, nearing the minimal gravitational field of the space boulder. Mace aimed for dead center, knowing her timing would have to be perfect to force the probes to crash while ensuring her ship didn’t. The computer sensors started to scream at her as the probes fell into weapons range.

  “We could blow them out of the sky.” Byron tensed beside her. “No reason for this.”

  “If they haven’t sent the transmission, then whoever comes to check on them later will think they simply malfunctioned and crashed.”

  “And if they’ve already alerted the owner, you’re putting our lives at risk for nothing.”

  Mace grinned. “But it’s fun.”

  Foolish, cocky kid. “I’d rather settle for getting us down safely.” Byron’s fingers flew across the console. “Less than a thousand meters from the asteroid.”

  “Hold on, Alec.” Mace waited until the last possible second before jerking the nose of the Geilt straight up.

  The force from the shift in their forward momentum made her stomach pitch and roll with the ship as the artificial gravity tried to compensate but was half a second too slow. Alec’s low moan crackled out from the coms, while Byron chuckled as the closer of the two probes smashed against the asteroid.

  “One down,” she muttered, steering the ship in a corkscrew arc back down toward the planet. “That’s what I want.”

  Twin rocks at least double the size of the Geilt were locked together in a swinging dance of repulsion and attraction. The gap between them as they pulled apart would be just wide enough for her to slip the ship between, leaving the probe no room when the asteroids contracted together again.

  No, no, no, don’t do it. “Mace . . .” Byron’s low growl would have terrified anyone. “Don’t be a fool. Let me blow it up with the lasers.”

  A small part of her felt bad for what she was about to do, but the rest of her had total confidence in her ability to pull the maneuver off. Next to her brother and possibly Faolan, she was the best pilot on the Belle Kurve and had been since she was seventeen. Without another comment, she engaged the throttle, pushing the engines to capacity as she entered the gap.

  “Shit.” Byron spun in his chair to face the side computer. “We’re not going to make it.” I’m going to kill her.

  Mace sucked in a breath as she watched the asteroids start their inward swing. She’d brought the Geilt over halfway through their path, the probe only a hundred meters behind them, as the gap rapidly began to close. The timing had to be perfect; a silent count ticked off in her head as she watched the sensors closely. She felt Byron stiffen beside her as, at the last possible moment, she side-rolled the ship, giving them just enough room to clear the colliding rocks.

  The probe didn’t make it.

  “Woooooo!” Air rushed from her screaming lungs, and she let her body relax back into the seat as she took a deep sigh of relief. “See? Not a problem at—”

  Pure, incoherent red rage filled her brain. Byron jerked her chair around and grabbed her by the neck. His fingers dug into her flesh as he leaned in close, his face only inches away.

  “If you ever do anything stupid like that again, I will happily put a blaster to your head and pull the trigger. If you want to kill yourself, that’s fine. But I’m not going to sit idly by while you take others with you. Understand?”

  She jerked away, driving her palm into his solar plexus to drive him back. He puffed out all his air in a sharp blast, surprise clear on his face as he struggled to regain his breath. Not wanting to give him a chance to recover, Mace yanked a blaster from its holster and pressed it to his temple.

  “Let’s get something straight. In the bedroom you may be the one who takes control, but on this ship, I’m in charge. My ship. Not yours. If I want to fly us straight into the bowels of hell, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  Byron licked his lips, his eyes glinting with internal fire. He panted a few times as his lungs finally refilled, then answered as if it hurt him more than the punch had. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She didn’t retreat, her anger fueling her attack. “And for the record, I may have fucked you once, but don’t count on a repeat performance. It takes more than a bossy attitude to get me hot.”

  That brought a smirk to Byron’s lips. “I think it’s exactly what gets you hot.”

  Mace pressed the blaster harder against him and did her best to ignore the She looks fucking gorgeous when she’s pissed off that flashed through her head.

  “Are you going to let me fly my ship now? I’d like to get to this base of yours sometime soon. Alec might need to rest before he gets to work.”

  I want to work on you, I want you begging and pleading for me to fuck you until you scream. No, not good, Byron, shut that down, not the time. Relax. Breathe. “Then we better get moving.”

  He reached up and gently pushed the blaster away, slowly enough that Mace could have stopped him if she were so inclined. She wasn’t. She could hear him talking himself down, more calmly and reasonably than she ever could have.

  Straightening, she reholstered the blaster. “I’ve never wanted to shoot someone so much in my life.” She snorted and dropped back into her seat. “Except maybe Faolan.”

  “Lucky he’s in your good books at the moment or else you might not be so keen to find him a cure.” Byron went back to work on the computer, pausing only briefly to cast quick glances at her. “All programmed in. We’ll be able to set down close to the base. It’s in a bit of a valley, so the Geilt will be hidden from visual scans, and the metal and mineral content in the surrounding mountains should mask it from computer scans. They’ll only see it if they trip over it.”

  Deciding she couldn’t handle any more conversation with him, Mace simply nodded and concentrated on getting them through the atmosphere with as little trouble as possible. Gods, she hoped they’d be able to get an antidote or treatment for Faolan figured out soon, so everybody could go their separate ways. If she had to keep butting heads with Byron, one of them would end up dead. And it wouldn’t be her.

  Unlike their first attempt at a landing, the second went smoothly. Almost too smoothly for Ma
ce’s comfort. Things weren’t supposed to be easy—not for her. So she was almost relieved when the valley Byron had described wasn’t readily visible as they approached. She hated being forced to rely on the Geilt’s computer sensors to guide her down to safety. Still, flying blind wasn’t new to her. With hardly a shudder, she lowered the landing gear and touched them down gently.

  Smug satisfaction made her grin. “I’ve done my part. Now let’s see what your base looks like.”

  Strip her naked and wipe that grin— “Let’s get the boy, then, and find out how bad things are in there.”

  Byron strode out into the main area ahead of her, to come face-to-face with a pale and shaking Alec leaning against the back of the chair.

  “I’m not a boy.”

  “Shit.” Mace tried to move to Alec’s side, but Byron beat her to him. “Are you okay?”

  Alec waved her away, even going so far as to lightly shove at Byron. “Fine. Just need to lie down soon. Let’s see what’s here so we can get started.”

  Gods, I hate to see him like this. I need to help. My boy, my responsibility. “Alec, I think you should rest first.”

  Mace shuddered at the emotion Byron packaged with his thoughts. Not able to take any more, she freed herself from the necklace and shoved it in her pocket. Byron noticed, cocking an eyebrow in question.

  “The chain was irritating me.” Jerking her chin toward the door, she stepped past the men. “We better move before he can’t. I’ll take the lead. Byron, bring up the rear. Alec, if you see anything weird, yell.”

  “Gods, I didn’t realize you were quite so bossy, Mace.” But despite his protests, Alec fell into step behind her as they left the ship.

  The air on the planet held the putrid scent of sulfur. Mace had to suppress a gag as she caught the first whiff. They would need to get inside to avoid getting sick. Blaster in hand, she swept the area as they moved across the cracked and split landscape on their way to the camouflaged bunker door barely visible in the sheer side of the mountain. Clearly, the safe house was designed to go unnoticed by anyone who wasn’t aware of its presence to begin with.

  The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as a large shadow silently passed over their heads. Twisting around to look above them, she caught sight of an airborne creature as it disappeared past the cliff overhang.

  “I thought you said there was nothing on this planet, Byron?” She kept the blaster pointed at the sky, even as she resumed their trek to the bunker. “That was a very large something up there.”

  To his credit, Byron was also pointing his blaster upward, using his other hand to nudge Alec along faster. “We’ll talk once we’re inside. I swear to gods we killed all those bastards last time we were here. Your brother helped.”

  A bloodcurdling screech reverberated in the stone valley, sending a chill through Mace. “Then I’m betting they won’t be pleased to see us here. Let’s hurry.”

  Knowing better than to tempt fate, she took off at a jog toward the bunker. The stone-clad door was pitted and the bottom was covered in a layer of muck, blown up over the years of disuse. Byron thrust the blaster into Alec’s waiting hands and dropped to his knees in front of the small access panel.

  “It should only take me a minute to get into this. The codes cycle through a series of twelve permeations. I’ll know which one based on the prompt.”

  Two more large shadows crossed the ground, followed by another screech. Alec and Mace exchanged glances.

  Alec shifted his stance, trying to peer around the ledge above them. “Want to move a bit faster, Bry? They sound hungry.”

  “Just . . . one . . . second . . . There!” The door hissed loudly but only opened partway, apparently glued in place by the built up layer of silt. Byron squeezed his body between the door and the frame, wedging himself in tight. “Give me a second to . . . get this bitch . . . open.” Grunting, he forced the door the last few inches they needed.

  Mace waited for Alec to get safely inside before following suit. It took all three of them to push it back closed, blocking the outside safely away. The musty stench of stale air filled the tiny vestibule. Byron grabbed a light from his belt, and shined it on the corridor ahead.

  “Looks like people really did forget about this place. Should help us keep off the radar for now.” Stepping forward, he led the way through halls that at one time must have been the epitome of guild prosperity. Now they were littered with debris, covered in inches of dust, and appeared to have housed any number of creatures over the years.

  Mace was surprised the place was still standing and hadn’t simply caved in under the mountain’s weight, given its current condition. “Might want to fire your cleaning staff, Mr. Head of the Guild. They clearly haven’t been living up to their end of the contract.”

  Alec snorted, only to stumble over a crack in the floor. “How much farther?”

  “Getting horny again? Because I’m good for another round if you are.” Byron winked at them from over his shoulder.

  “And he wonders why I ran away from him,” Alec muttered.

  Mace would have laughed if it weren’t for the flash of hurt she saw on Byron’s face. As quickly as it was there, it was replaced with the now familiar cocky grin. “Couldn’t keep up with my libido. That’s why Mace here is going to be your helper, Alec. I’m more man than you can handle and she’s your backup.”

  Bastard. Mace didn’t need to have the necklace on to know Byron was more hurt than he’d let on and Alec was emotionally damaged. If she were smart, she’d abandon the two of them here and go off to find someone else to help develop a ryana antidote. There wasn’t time to indulge their relationship issues, let alone possibly add to them by acting on the fantasies that plagued her.

  “If you two are done with the pissing match, we need to find some usable living space and the lab. I want to get started on the research again as quickly as possible.”

  They spent a few minutes clearing a path to what ended up being a common room. From there, they had access to the living quarters, as well as to several powerful computers that were tucked into a side room and appeared intact.

  Byron blew dust from a keyboard, sending a cloud of particles up through the flashlight’s beam. “I’m pretty sure Krieg had some science whacks working on a special project for him a few years ago. There might be more equipment in one of the other labs if this isn’t enough. We’ll know more when we get the power on, I guess.” It took him a few minutes to backtrack down the corridor. They knew he’d succeeded in finding the generator when the lights flickered on, dazzling Mace for a few seconds until her eyes re-adjusted.

  She watched Alec inspect the equipment, flicking switches and waiting for the nearest computer to power up. His color was slowly coming back to normal, but he held his body rigid as he moved. When Byron walked back into the room, Alec ignored him. When the screen finally brightened into an image of the guild logo, he gave a nod but didn’t direct his words to anyone in particular. “It will do.”

  Then, without so much as a thank-you, he pulled up a chair, slipped the backup data crystal he always carried with him from his pocket, and started to work.

  Byron stared at Alec for a moment, a look of longing on his face, before turning to Mace. He licked his lips and shrugged. “I’ll check out the place. See what I can find.” He left before she could say anything.

  Standing alone, she felt her heart begin to ache. This wasn’t how things were supposed to have gone. She was going to get a remedy for Faolan, then get the hell home. She wasn’t supposed to get caught between two ex-lovers. She wasn’t supposed to lust after either of them. And she certainly wasn’t supposed to have any feelings whatsoever for both of them.

  So why the hell did she want nothing more than to lock the two men in a room until they sorted their shit out? More importantly, why did she want to lock herself in the room with them until she knew they were all going to be fine?

  “Mace, think you can help me fill in the details of your last e
xperiment?” Alec kept his eyes glued to the screen as he spoke; his fingers never paused on the still-grimy keyboard. “I didn’t have time to save them to the backup before we ran.”

  Swallowing past the tightness in her throat, she did her best to push the emotions deep down before they could break through. “Yup, no problem.”

  Gods, she was in so much trouble.

  Byron hated feeling useless. For the past five days he’d been relegated to the sidelines, watching as Alec and Mace went about their tests. It had taken both him and Mace to convince Alec to manufacture and take the antidote for the Brasillian syndrome. Byron still wasn’t completely convinced it had worked, but seeing as Alec wasn’t climbing the walls trying to fuck everything in sight, he assumed things were better.

  In a way, he wished Alec was still symptomatic.

  Since their arrival on the base, Byron hadn’t been able to engage Alec in anything deeper than a conversation about the weather—which was shitty. If Mace wasn’t close by, Alec would practically fold inward, trying to segregate himself from Byron. Even with Mace around, Alec had little interest in spending much time with them. Byron was feeling worse than he had during those first few weeks at the Loyalist science compound, when he’d been nothing more than Alec’s bodyguard and Alec barely gave him the time of day.

  Even though he’d finally managed to locate Alec and make sure he was safe from the threat of bounty hunters, Byron couldn’t do what he really wanted. He needed to find a way to make his former lover sit down and pay attention to him. But nothing seemed to work.

  He wanted to punch something.

  “What’s with the scowl?” Mace slipped past him to the food replicator he’d somehow jerry-rigged into working with parts from around the base. “I’m surprised you’re not out exploring what’s left of your safe house.”

  Mace and Alec had come to an uneasy truce since their arrival. She didn’t bring up Faolan’s suffering and Alec kept his guilt speeches to a minimum. As a result, Mace had started smiling a bit more and her guard had dropped.