“There she be!” Mackerel’s deep and rich voice announced -- like the other three couldn’t see her. “The guardian of our safety.”
“Or the means to our demise,” chimed another engineer.
The other men in the lift broke into muffled snickering.
Shardae let it unfurl for a few minutes before saying over her shoulder, “There’s a reason why engineers aren’t funny.”
“Oh yeah, why’s that?” Mackerel asked, a smile on his lips.
“You.”
The doors opened just in time for her to escape. The eruption of bolder chuckles filled the compartment. She smiled. Nice to be able to ruffle the engineers’ feathers.
Her good mood crumbled when she reached the outer doors to the brig. She headed in with her head abuzz with possible issues but stopped at the control box, a rectangular glass-encased room that contained the control panel -- one of the two security consoles to the brig.
The prisoners weren’t acting as though they were about to spend the rest of their lives doing hard labor, but none of her staff had any evidence of plans to escape.
“Sergeant Simmons!” called a frantic voice from behind her.
Private Porter stalked toward her, Zander behind her. “This, this --” Porter pointed at Zander, “-- pilot said he’s on our security team. Where’s O’Leery?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Shardae saw Lee hovering close to the force field securing the entrance of his cell. A grin crossed his face, his gaze drinking in every detail. Wonderful.
Shardae steadied the geyser of anger spewing inside her. Porter had called her authority into question. That couldn’t go unpunished. Not in front of the others and definitely not in front of the prisoners.
“Crewman Porter,” Shardae said, voice full of ice. “Did you receive a promotion I didn’t know about?”
Porter frowned, searching for an answer. “No, ma’am.”
“Then I’m still chief of security,” Shardae continued, stepping forward. “That means I don’t answer to you. If you want to continue working for me, you’d best start remembering who you’re talking to and quickly.”
Porter swallowed so loud, it echoed in the corridor. She looked Shardae in the eyes. “Yes, ma’am,” she said tightly.
“Now, for your information, Pilot Reyes has been assigned to security…”
“Why?” Porter rudely interjected.
Shardae stepped closer still until she could feel the woman’s hot breath on her face. A red haze filtering from her fury drifted over everything. If Porter wanted to get her ass beat down, well, okay. Shardae snarled, “I’m not going to explain a damn thing to you. You got issues with that?”
“Yeah, I do, ma’am,” Porter barked back, her face scrunched up in anger.
“Talk to Commander Ashe,” Shardae said coldly. “For now though, you’re relieved of duty until further notice.”
“What?” Porter screeched. “You can’t do that! I’m going to talk to the commander!”
“You do that,” Shardae snarled. “Don’t forget to mention the charge of insubordination I’m bringing against you.”
With that Porter spun on her heel and stalked down the corridor, nearly plowing into Zander.
“Reporting for duty, ma’am,” Zander said breezily.
“Get back to stations,” Shardae snapped before pinning her annoyance onto Zander. The rest of the team members returned to work. Hot whispers and the rumbling of conversations resumed. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Lee. He’d slunk back into his cell.
“Follow me,” she ordered to Zander. They needed to talk -- privately.
Seething, she led him to the security doors outside the holding cells. Only the turbo lift and camera were in the hall. Once away from the eyes of her security team, she asked Zander, “Why are you here?”
“I’m ready to be part of the team, ma’am.”
She tried to stay angry, but she couldn’t. He was so handsome -- cheeky bastard. The smile sprang on her face. “Eager, aren’t you, pilot?”
He inclined his head. “Yes, ma’am.”
The air thickened. Noise fell away when Zander spoke to her like that. It’d been driving her batty all day long. Even in sleep he taunted her with his infectious smile, his carefree manner. Her blood raced through her veins, half propelled by adrenaline with her verbal interchange with Porter. The other, enhanced by Zander’s smoking sexiness in close proximity to hers.
“Look,” she said, ignoring his grin. “It’s been a long day for you -- being new to the vessel.”
“Ma’am?”
“Go back to your quarters. Rest, eat, relax.”
Zander nodded, but his rigid stance told her he didn’t want to go.
“Go on, Reyes. You’ll have plenty to do tomorrow.”
His eyes met hers. The thin tingle in her pussy beat faster, making her wet with want. “Can you come with me?” His voice was so low the corridor’s security monitors wouldn’t pick them up.
“What?” she hissed. He did not just ask her that!
“Coffee and bagel,” he said, his eyes locked on hers.
“I -- I -- that wouldn’t be appropriate,” she choked around the rising regret in her throat. She fled back into the console’s cube. Running away from Zander, away from the heat he stirred inside her, and far away from the terrible, but strange feelings he caused inside her heart. She shuddered at the fluttering in her belly. Suppressing a giggle, she took in a big gulp of air.
Lies, treachery, and betrayal, these she knew well. Shardae dove back into the familiar, cold arms of spacecraft security.
Chapter 9
One week later
The last week had been comprised of nothing but monitoring, extinguishing small fires, and steering the spacecraft up to Titan’s orbiting outpost. A small research and development division of the IGO occupied the upper floors of the outpost. Rumors had it the R&D scientists used the prisoners as lab rats. Either way, Zander found the flight boring with a capital B. The only saving grace that kept him even remotely conscious floated before his mind’s eye now -- the bodacious Sergeant Simmons.
“Pilot Reyes,” came the icicle-encased voice of Commander Ashe from behind him. “You with us?”
Zander’s attention snapped back to the present. “Oh, yes, ma’am,” he replied dutifully, not meaning any of it. He had the faint impression she’d said something important. He had blocked her out in his lust-filled vision of Sergeant Simmons.
He swiveled his seat around to face the commander.
Commander Ashe’s inquisitive cold green eyes met his. Unsmiling, she put both hands on the armrests of her commander’s chair. “Then repeat what I just said to the crew.”
“Yes, ma’am. You were discussing orders for when we arrive at the outpost next week.” A shot in the dark, but hey, it sounded close to home.
Chuckling rippled through the senior crewmen on the platform at his response. Okay, so maybe he didn’t ballpark it at all.
The front of The Explorer was shaped like a V with the point of the letter slicing into the cold arms of space, the command center. Both junior commanders rotated the duties of overseeing the crew while Ashe did other things. For the most part, he’d come to like both Junior Commanders Stankiewitz and Henderson.
He didn’t like how both were laughing at him right now though. Shooting them both stunner beams with his eyes, Zander grimaced as they laughed more.
“No, Pilot Reyes,” Commander Ashe replied coolly. She ignored the rest of the crew. “I said for you to report to security. Sergeant Simmons requests your presence down on the brig.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Zander nearly jumped out of his seat in his haste to get to Simmons. That’s news he liked hearing!
Commander Ashe said dryly, “Perhaps she can hold your attention better than I.”
He didn’t confirm it for her, but he headed onto the turbo lift. JC Henderson took his place at the helm in his stead.
He liked being on the
security team, but he only had one more week. By the time they got to Titan, O’Leery would be back on duty, all healed up. Zander didn’t like to think about not being able to see Simmons, but he wrestled the slight stitch in his chest back into the corners of his mind.
“Sergeant Simmons?” he asked, a bit out of breath from both his haste to get down to her and his adrenaline-induced excitement. The doors of the turbo lift closed behind him, but his favorite sergeant wasn’t outside the brig to greet him as she had been on previous occasions.
Zander’s hair rose on the back of his neck. This didn’t follow, her not being here, waiting. The corridor’s illumination flickered as if in agreement. “Sergeant Simmons!”
“Why are you shouting?” Sergeant Simmons came around the corridor carrying a pair of V.R. goggles in her right hand. “You have an earpiece.”
“Yeah, I do,” he said with a rush of relief at finding her safe and sound. “Just about to use it to find you.”
“Why?” she asked. “I told Tate to tell you to meet me at the brig.”
“I thought something had happened to you.”
She shook her head.
Every day he found her more breathtakingly beautiful. Yeah, the word had been overused, but it wasn’t his fault the language didn’t have a word to describe the simply stunning Sergeant Shardae Simmons. He cleared his throat. “What’s with the goggles?”
“You and I are heading to the virtual reality hologram deck,” she explained, sweeping right by him. He fell into step with her. “You’ve got to pass your stunner certification because somehow it elapsed.” She winked at him. Goodness, when she brightened, she lit up the whole damn corridor. “You don’t recognize them?” she asked, holding them out from her body. “Surely, you haven’t been that many years out of academy.”
Zander recognized the gaming goggles. At academy they used them for combat trainings. “Combat trainings,” he said, with puzzlement of his own. “You and me? You can’t be serious.”
“You scared of a little tussle?” she teased.
“No,” he said with a laugh. “Not at all.”
“Good. So come on.”
A few other soldiers entered the hologram center with Zander and Shardae. Three males gave Simmons very interested looks. One in particular whispered that she had a nice ass.
“Shut up!” Zander barked before he could stop himself. No one touched his woman, his sergeant. No one talked about her ass.
One of the soldiers turned around to him. “Mind your business, Reyes,” he shot back, a snicker still on his mouth.
Simmons glanced over her shoulder, then turned around to face them. “Mackerel! Don’t talk to my staff like that.”
“I can say whatever I want,” Mackerel said. “You get your boy toy in there and train him right.”
“Boy toy? I’ll show you boy toy,” Zander seethed. He snatched the V.R. goggles from Simmons. “I’ll beat your tail.”
He knew exactly what Mackerel thought about Simmons because he had the same thoughts himself. He despised the hungry looks Mackerel kept giving his woman. Sure, she didn’t know she belonged to him, but Zander saw Mackerel as a rival suitor -- one who needed an ass whipping fair and square. Plus a little extra since the man had called him a toy.
They both headed into one of the numerous rooms set aside for virtual enjoyment. She came in behind them. Inside the white walled place, Zander’s aggravation escalated. Mackerel’s cronies continued their verbal assault, which had Simmons pissed.
Shardae snatched Zander’s jacket and jerked his ear down to her mouth. “We’re going to beat the shit out of them.” Her thumb jutted to the trio of men.
Zander saw the glint in her eyes. A fire of competition burned and it explained how Sergeant Simmons had managed to scale up the IGO ladder.
“Hell, yeah!” Zander said. They pounded fists and put on their goggles.
“Hey, Mack,” Simmons shouted as she turned to him. “Ladies first.”
He laughed. “Funny thing, you women. You want to be treated equally, but then try to sweet talk us.”
Sergeant Simmons grinned. “Sweet talk?” she scoffed. “That was a warning.”
Then she said, “A.I.: hologram CT Simmons Beta.”
Instantly the walls flickered into deep, white snow. The loamy aroma of damp earth rose from the walls as the scene shimmered into existence. Zander could even see the puffs of his exhales in the cold air. Overhead clouds scudded across the blue sky turning it black.
“What kind of CT training you got, Simmons?” Mackerel shouted. “Frozen tundra on Saturn?”
He and his crew had put their goggles on too. Like a laugh track, the two men with him chuckled.
“You’re about to find out,” she snapped as her blast cannon materialized in her hands. She squeezed off a ball right then. It slammed directly into Mackerel’s torso, sending him sailing back into a thick thatch of snow some thirty yards away.
And all hell exploded around them.
Zander grinned when a blast cannon materialized in his hands too. The other two also had cannons flicker into their realities. Shots lit up the surroundings. The earth heaved. Zander dove behind trees. He and Simmons exchanged hand signals. They made an excellent team.
Zander realized he had become separated from Simmons. He tagged the other laughing hyena. “You’re done,” Zander said with a soft sneer. “And done by a boy toy.”
A yelp cut his taunting short. That had definitely been Simmons. He knew her voice, heard it in his sleep. Zander spun around and scanned the surrounding forest for her. He jogged through the thick layers of snow, his hands growing cold. The longer he ran, the more worried he became. He found her slumped against a thick pine, her hand on her head. A trickle of blood dribbled down her forehead.
“Simmons,” he whispered, dropping to his knees on the hard, frozen earth. “What happened? Are you all right?”
“Get down, pilot,” she muttered, wincing. She squinted in pain. “Softly.”
From the patterns in the snow, Zander could tell that Simmons had rolled over on the ground. She had crawled across the cold to safety behind a boulder. He touched her chin, gingerly moving her head.
“Mackerel?” he asked, heated. He’d repay that bastard threefold.
She swallowed thickly and answered, “I don’t know. Hit from behind.”
“I’ll kill him.” Zander stood up, growling in his new rush of fury.
How dare that bastard put his hands on her! Why not just stick to the program? Shoot her with the blast cannon? Zander understood that the scenery, the blast cannons and all of the snow had been fabricated from the computer’s A.I. But the sticky blood drying on Simmons’ face had been very real.
“Wait.” She grabbed his jacket. He leaned in close to her. Close to his mouth, she said through clenched teeth, “Be careful.”
“I will.” He lingered a bit, stroking her chin. “You need medical attention.”
“No, just go get him!” Her eyes still narrowed to furious slits. “That’s an order.”
He leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. Impulsive and foolhardy, he didn’t care. His lips crushed against hers -- at last he tasted her sweetness! She gave in to his mouth, allowing him to take full possession of her lips. It went deeper than mere curiosity. No, he wanted to tattoo upon her the urgency, his heart, his ache that someone hurt her, and to press upon her how she’d grown in him. He couldn’t be sure he could untangle himself from her.
Ever.
Chapter 10
A sharp heat stung Shardae’s scalp from the stealth-attacker’s blow. For a few minutes thoughts of Zander blunted the thudding agony of her injury. Her heart buoyed in her chest at the pilot’s flight across the snow, seeking to avenge her attack. She touched her stinging lips. They didn’t hurt, but a surreal feeling descended on her. He’d kissed her. He’d actually kissed her.
Had he been swept into the moment or had he meant to put those kissable lips against hers?
S
he swallowed the wad of burning emotions and pushed herself to a crouched position. His sizzle still resonated on her mouth. Lord, if his kisses stirred her like this, then being with him would surely melt her into pools of want. Now that she thought about Zander’s expression once the kiss ended, she knew the craving grew in him. He wanted her. She couldn’t deny the twin desire building inside her.
She watched him move seductively through the forest, slow but alert. He cast a few brief looks back at her before cutting off to his right. Only after he vanished behind several snowdrifts did her head begin to pound again.
Mackerel. She’d known him for years. His teasing had started almost at once. Handsome, smart, and when he wanted to be, Mack was good people. Ortega constantly advised Shardae to take him up on his subtle hints at dating.
Despite all of Mack’s pros, he didn’t fire Shardae’s thrusters. Zander did.
She must be attracted to reckless, womanizing pilots. Her boyfriend had been the primary pilot here, but he’d become the somewhat secret lover of Commander Ashe. Her ex-lover eventually was court-martialed for the mess on Titan a few years ago. No hard feelings. The weasel boyfriend was over. Ashe though hadn’t learned about his womanizing ways until much too late.
A loud bark of “Yeah!” echoed through the forest, snatching Shardae back to the now.
“Zander,” she whispered, forcing herself to a full standing position. The dizziness lasted for several breaths; sweat broke out over her body. Lifting her blast cannon from the cold ground, she walked around the frozen landscape.
Despite the eerie quiet, a low steady humming sound permeated the trees. The icy air vibrated with each soft crunch of her boots on the snow. It reminded her that this place of frost and of forests existed on a series of servers down in engineering. The weeping gash on her scalp flared in searing irritation. It was very real.
IGO 2: Save for Shardae Page 5