Dagger's Hope

by S. E. Smith

  “Fifteen meters, the vessel is currently landing,” the computer replied.

  “That’s impossible,” Dagger muttered under his breath as they stepped into the lift. “Starship classification and weapon systems analysis.”

  “Unknown,” the computer replied.

  “Damn it,” Dagger growled, glancing at Jordan’s wide worried eyes.

  “What is it?” She asked, biting her lip. “I thought the computer was supposed to give us more notice.”

  “It should have,” he stated, slipping through the door and pulling her behind him as he headed for the bridge. “Computer…”

  Dagger’s voice faded as he looked out of the front view screen. He had been about to demand a self-test on the system to make sure there wasn't a malfunction in the circuitry, but that order died on his lips when he looked out the front of the Starship.

  There was no fault in the system. The computer was right, there was a vessel landing. It was also correct about one other fact. He didn’t know what the hell it was either.

  Before the Lexamus IV was the strangest looking Starship he had ever seen. The vessel shifted, changing forms as it rotated in place before landing on the soft surface. He watched in disbelief as large rows of dark red crystal formed and connected to make a wide flat base, so the vessel didn’t sink down. The structure instead distributed the weight across the surface. Shimmering red crystals reflected the bright light of the mid-afternoon sun.

  If Dagger thought the ship was bizarre, it was nothing compared to what came out of it when a door and steps appeared from nowhere out of the side of it. He was vaguely aware of Jordan leaning forward with a frown as she studied what was happening as well. They both watched as two men and what appeared to be a robot and a half, descended the steps. The men appeared to be having a heated conversation from the way they were talking and the waving of their hands. What was stranger was they didn't appear to be carrying any weapons.

  “Are those….” Jordan stared for a moment more. “Those look like humans!”

  “Yes, they do,” Dagger growled under his breath and turned.

  Jordan straightened and stared at him as he picked up a weapons belt and slid it on before he gripped the laser rifle in his hand again. He could hear her following him as he strode off the bridge. A dark scowled of concern swept across his face when she stepped into the lift behind him.

  “What are you going to do?” She asked breathlessly.

  “Go introduce myself and find out where in the hell they came from,” Dagger muttered.

  *.*.*

  “I told you, we should have taken a left at that last star!” Luc argued. “I do not know why Jarmen will not listen to me!”

  “It is because you have drunk too much wine,” Jon Paul retorted. “The last star on the left! That is a children’s tale, Luc. We are trying to get back to Earth, not find the Pirate Captain Hook!”

  “Ah, well, it was better than finding out we went too far like we did at that last place,” Luc replied, turning to look at the two robots following slowly behind them. “Isn’t that right, Numbnuts? They almost tore you apart, eh, my friend?”

  “Yes, Dumbass, the local inhabitants were not familiar with the workings of a Class A Service Bot,” Numbnuts stated, pulling one leg out of the muck when he began to sink only to find that his other leg was now sinking.

  “I think we should have asked for an owner’s manual of the ship before we stole it, if you ask me,” the small robot muttered, kicking up a patch of mud under the wheels attached to his feet. “This mud is not doing a thing for my wheels.”

  “I think I liked you better before he re-programmed you, IQ. You were more fun,” Luc muttered. “Do you think that thing even has an owner’s manual, Jon Paul?”

  Jon Paul stopped and shrugged. “How should I know? I don’t know anything about Starships. You know that,” he responded, before tilting his head. “Something tells me Jarmen is hoping that we do not come back?”

  “Why do you say that?” Luc asked, turning as the figure of a male suddenly appeared from the other Spaceship.

  Jon Paul shifted uneasily from one foot to the other when he saw the weapon aimed at them, not to mention the other weapons around the male’s waist. If that wasn’t enough to make him want to piss in his pants, the air of menace combined with the ragged scar across the man’s cheek that made him look even more intimidating, and the look of death in his eyes, confirmed it.

  “We should not have upset, Jarmen,” Jon Paul whispered, slowly raising his arms.

  Luc glanced at his friend and lover and raised his hands as well. “But, it was IQ who suggested asking for directions, not me this time,” Luc choked out, watching with wide eyes as the man stopped less than ten feet in front of them.

  “Bonjour, monsieur. I am Jon Paul and this is Luc,” Jon Paul stuttered. “Would you happen to know what year it is back on Earth?”

  “Dagger, they are human!” A soft voice exclaimed behind the man.

  *.*.*

  Dagger watched the two men as they raised their hands into the air. Both wore a lopsided grin and were staring back at him with wide, brown eyes filled with curiosity more than fear. He deduced that part of the reason for their lack of fear was Jordan’s smiling face.

  “Jordan,” he hissed when she took a step forward and held out her hand, giggling when one of the men raised it to his lips and kissed the back of it.

  She glanced over her shoulder and frown. “They’re human, Dagger,” she replied with a touch of admonishment.

  “I know they are human,” he retorted in a low voice, lowering his weapon when she crossed in front of it. “What I want to know is how they got here?”

  “I can explain that, monsieur,” Jon Paul replied with an easy grin. “Our host, a most disagreeable, ill-tempered man named Jarmen D’ju wished for us to ask for directions.”

  “Yes,” Luc agreed with an eager nod. “We are lost again. We are not sure what time period we have arrived in.”

  “Luc!” Jon Paul scolded, turning on Luc and rambling a long sentence in a different language before he turned back and smiled apologetically at Dagger. “I apologize. We were only instructed to find out the date and confirm our location. Our friend is still learning how to drive the Crystal ship.”

  Dagger opened his mouth to reply, but closed it when another figure appeared in the doorway of the red Crystal ship. His eyes narrowed on the male. He was several inches shorter than Dagger, yet there was an air of strength and power in his stance. The male returned his stare without blinking.

  “Monsieur, may I present, Jarmen D’ju,” Jon Paul replied with a sigh. “He is the captain.”

  “He doesn’t have a sense of humor,” Luc whispered, leaning closer to Jordan and rolling his eyes. “I think he has a stick up his ass, eh.”

  “I do not have a stick up my ass, Luc,” the male stated as he walked closer. “I have already told you that before.”

  Dagger watched as Luc turned away from Jarmen and rolled his eyes again. Jordan had pressed her lips together when Luc mouthed that he ‘did too have a stick up his ass. A very large one’. Dagger raised an eyebrow at the teasing comment. He had to give Luc credit. The human was either extremely brave or he had a death wish.

  “Who are you and what are you doing here?” Dagger demanded, tightening his grip on the rifle in his hand.

  Dagger watched as Jarmen D’ju’s eyes flickered over the movement before he dismissed it. Instead, the man’s eyes began to glow an unusual red. Unease built in Dagger as the man remained silent for several long seconds.

  “You have a burnt electrical circuit in engine two. The power crystals for the left thrusters are also depleted,” Jarmen replied instead. “There are minor component error messages that need to be resolved before the ship is safe for flight. I will help you with the repairs in exchange for information.”

  “Who the hell are you and where did you come from?” Dagger demanded, pulling Jordan behind him and stepping back
.

  “He is harmless, monsieur,” Jon Paul said hastily when he saw the alarm on Dagger’s face. “He can…”

  “He is half robot,” Luc interjected with a shrug. “He is on a quest.”

  Dagger studied the faces of the men for several long seconds before they narrowed on Jarmen’s face. The man’s eyes were shuttered and his face devoid of expression. The only indication that he might be annoyed was the small tick in his jaw.

  “What kind of quest?” Dagger asked suspiciously.

  “Love,” Luc and Jon Paul answered at the same time.

  “Not love,” Jarmen retorted finally before he turned to look at Dagger. “There was an error in my calculations. We… arrived in orbit around the planet. The Crystal ship’s scans picked up your ship. Identification of it indicated that your ship might contain the star charts I need.”

  “What are you looking for?” Jordan asked softly, placing her hand on Dagger’s arm so that he would lower the weapon he had started to lift.

  For a moment, Dagger caught the fleeting anguish in the other man’s eyes. Man or robot, this man was looking for someone. If what the other two men said was true, it was someone that meant a great deal to him.

  “Jane,” Jarmen replied, looking a Jordan. “Her name is Jane and she is from a planet called Earth.”

  *.*.*

  Jordan watched in fascination as the two Frenchmen talked while they prepared a meal aboard the Lexamus IV an hour later. It had taken some fancy talking and finally the realization that the three men and their robots were not a threat when the two men began arguing again, this time in French with each other.

  Jordan had fallen in love with them when the large robot called Numbnuts walked up behind both men and lifted them by the back of their shirts. The little robot, called IQ, explained that their ‘weird friend’ Jarmen had programed Numbnuts to keep the two men from getting hurt.

  “So, are you attached, in a relationship, seeing anyone?” IQ asked, walking his fingers up Jordan’s arm.

  A chuckle escaped Luc when he heard the little robot. He turned twinkling eyes to Jordan who was giggling. The grin on his face widened when he saw a set of irritated red eyes, almost the color of their ship, turn to glare at him. With another laugh, he turned with a glass of wine for each of them.

  “I told Jon Paul that I liked his programming better than Jarmen’s,” Luc replied with a wink as he set a glass down in front of Jordan with a bow. “Only the best wine for my beautiful lady.”

  Jordan picked up the wine and looked at it. She had never drunk any alcoholic beverages before. When the world went crazy, that seemed to be the most prized commodity for a lot of people. Shrugging at Dagger’s raised eyebrow, she lifted the drink and took a sip. A shudder of distaste made her face scrunch up and she wiggled her nose at it.

  Dagger’s low chuckle made her blush. She turned when the little robot climbed up on the table and lay down in front of her with one gangly, metal three-fingered hand under his chin. She grinned and leaned forward to brush a kiss across its brow.

  “IQ, off the table,” Jarmen ordered with a low growl. “Jon Paul, you should not change his programming.”

  “But, I think he is adorable,” Jordan said, sitting back in her seat when she suddenly found the small robot in her lap. “Oh!”

  “You shouldn’t encourage him,” Jarmen said, tilting his head. “He…”

  “Jane liked him the way Jon Paul programmed him, as well,” Luc interrupted when he saw Jarmen’s eyes beginning to glow. “He made her laugh.”

  Jordan saw the flash of pain across the strange man’s face before it returned to the blank mask. She glanced at Dagger and knew he had seen the reaction as well. Whoever Jane was, she really meant a lot to the man.

  “Here, a feast fit for a beautiful princess,” Jon Paul said, walking over to the table and setting down a tray. “The food on this ship is much better than what we have.”

  “So is the wine, eh?” Luc moaned as he sniffed his glass before sipping it.

  Jordan bit her lip, staring at the two men, as IQ lifted her fork to her mouth. She automatically opened her mouth to accept the bite of food before taking the fork from the little robot when Jarmen growled at it again to get down. The little bot huffed and grumbled, but he climbed off her lap and rolled away.

  “Where are you two from?” Jordan asked Luc and Jon Paul.

  “Canada, then the stars,” they both said at the same time. Luc chuckled and waved to Jon Paul to continue as he picked up his wine glass. “You are a much better storyteller than I, Jon Paul.”

  “It was a clear and beautiful starlit sky in September,” Jon Paul began.

  “No, no, it was cloudy and raining,” Luc interrupted with a frown. “And it was in the Spring.”

  Jon Paul glared across the table at Luc and pointed his knife at him. “You said I could tell the story, so I will tell the story the way I want too,” Jon Paul stated with a glare. “I want it to be a beautiful, starlit night and so it shall be a beautiful, starlit night this time.”

  Luc took another sip of wine and leaned toward Jordan with a wink. “It was early spring and raining,” he whispered. “Go on, I will listen to your starlit story.”

  *.*.*

  Dagger glanced at the two Frenchmen, listening with half an ear as they tried to charm Jordan. He would have felt jealous if he had not discovered that the two men were, in fact, in love with each other. Turning his attention back to the man across from him, he contemplated how he should handle the situation. He knew that the male wasn’t being completely honest with him, yet he didn’t sense any threat from him or his ‘crew’ of misfits. He believe Jarmen when he said he was looking for a woman named Jane

  “Are they always like that?” He asked, taking a bite of the food that the men had prepared. His eyes widened at the burst of flavors and he glanced at the two animated figures that were competing for Jordan’s attention now. “This is good.”

  “Yes, and that is the only reason that I haven’t killed them… yet,” Jarmen stated calmly.

  Something told Dagger that the male meant it. He turned when Jordan’s laughter rang out. His eyes widening when he saw that she was sipping more of the wine. His brow creased when he saw Luc innocently top it off when she set it back down on the table.

  “Where did you get your ship?” Dagger asked bluntly, turning back to Jarmen.

  Jarmen returned Dagger’s intense stare. “I stole it,” he replied. “I needed it, so I took it.”

  “Why did you need it? Where did you steal it from and are the ones you stole it from going to come looking for it here?” Dagger demanded, clutching his fist around the knife in his hand. “I won’t allow anyone to put Jordan in any more danger than she already is.”

  Jarmen’s hand moved in a blur of speed. The knife in Dagger’s hand disappeared and reappeared in Jarmen’s. Dagger watched as the male twirled the knife between his fingers before turning it and holding it back out to him. It was a clear message that if he had wanted to harm them, he would have done so already. Dagger carefully took the utensil and set it down next to his plate.

  “I am no threat to you or the female,” Jarmen replied, confirming what Dagger had been thinking. “The only ones in danger are the Frenchmen and their robots. No one will search for the Ship. I cannot tell you any more about where the ship came from, what it is, or when I am going. If I did not need their assistance, I would leave those two with you. Unfortunately, I will need their assistance once I arrive at my destination.”

  “You know that the Earth is under the Trivator and Alliance protection,” Dagger informed him. “You will need to get permission granted to land.”

  “Not when I am going,” Jarmen replied dismissively. “I have completed a more thorough scan of your ship. I will help you complete the repairs before I leave in return for your assistance in keeping those two away from me for a short period of time.”

  “Why don’t you just leave without them?” Dagger asked, turn
ing to watch Jordan as she snorted into her hand at something Luc said.

  “Sorry!” She whispered before bursting into giggles again. “Sorry!”

  Amusement tugged at his lips. His little mate was tipsy. “On second thought, don’t,” he murmured when the two men began to sing in an off-key melody.

  Jarmen turned to gaze at the two men who were working their way through the third bottle of wine. It was true, if he hadn’t needed their help, he would have left them behind back on Kassis. Neither one had given him much choice. They had both told him either he took them, and the robots, with him on his quest or they would inform the Kassisan leader, Torak Ja Kel Coradon that he planned on stealing the Crystal ship that belonged to the people of Elpidios.

  The real reason is I know that Jane will accept them before she would ever accept me, he thought.

  No, as much as he hated to admit that he actually needed the help of the two men, he needed to find Jane before he lost her forever.

  Chapter 16

  Dagger released a silent chuckle when Jordan’s soft snores echoed in the corridor as he picked her up. She had curled up on the narrow padded seat about a half hour before and fallen asleep. He paused when Jarmen walked out into the corridor behind him.

  “I will take you up on your offer to leave those two here for the night, as well as the robots,” Jarmen stated in a calm voice. “I would spend more time trying to keep them alive if I try to take them back to the Crystal ship, and I might forget why I should.”

  The chuckle he had been fighting to hold back escaped when Jordan’s arm rose and she tried to roll in his arms. The two Frenchmen were asleep on the floor of the dining area while the two robots had plugged themselves into the Lexamus power grid. There was still a lot he didn’t understand about Jarmen D’Ju, but he felt confident that neither he nor the two humans were a threat.

  “The Gartaians will be feeding at this time of night,” Dagger warned him. “It would be safer for you to remain here.”