by T. S. Ryder
"I hear you, Sir, but the power costs more than that to collect in this region. I really can't let it go for any less than—"
"Do you want to keep your head on your shoulders?" Bond snarled.
The Aphrosian paled. "Sir, I—"
Bond snarled and grasped the hilt of his broadsword. Sara hurried over, placing herself between the two aliens. The last thing they needed was this! What was going on with her companion?
"Pay the man what he's asking," she said, narrowing her eyes at Bond. "The sooner we repower, the sooner we get out of here."
Bond glared at her, but she wasn't about to back down. Eventually, he nodded. "Fine. Your price is acceptable. But I want the micro fractures in the power tanks and exhaust ports all fixed while we wait."
He stormed away while the Aphrosian protested. Sara gritted her teeth and paid the alien the last of her few helixes to cover the extra expense and went after Bond. He had been moody ever since they got low on power. Though her own nerves weren't in the best of shape, they had been getting along up until now. She wasn't going to let him bully people, though!
"What the hell was that all about?" she demanded halfway back to the ship. "We're getting further from United Species territory. Of course, things are going to be more expensive."
"And what happens when we run out of funds? Did you think you were helping that man make an honest living? No! Everyone out here is a pirate and savage who would tear us both to pieces and sell our parts in a heartbeat."
"Oh, you mean like you?" Sara's hands clenched. "Kidnapping a Corps officer?"
"I didn't kidnap you. I rescued you. I have never once told you that you couldn't leave," Bond hissed. "If you want to leave, then you can. I'm not forcing you to stay with me, I asked you to stay so that you could help me."
"Maybe I will leave then!" Sara ignored the hurt look that flashed over his face. "Whatever. I'm tired of being stuck in that ship. I'm going for a walk. Don't leave without me. Or do leave, see if I care."
She walked away, trying to ignore the twisting of her gut. That was the first fight she and Bond had had–well, since they had gotten to know each other, anyway, and it wasn't sitting well with her. She felt like she was losing her best friend. Tears pricked her eyes.
The docking ports were close to a forest full of vibrant pinks and oranges that made Sara's head hurt until she adjusted her vision to filter out the colors. That was a great thing about bionic eyes, they could do things organics couldn't. Her depth perception was a little off in black and white, but at least she didn't have to deal with the clashing colors anymore. The forest was thick, full of sounds. It was like an animal punk-rock band.
Sara kept to the edge of the forest, stewing in her anger at Bond. As the hours passed, though, she started to regret what she had said.
He's not a pirate or a savage. He's a good man doing a good thing. And I love him. She shook her head rapidly. Like. I like him. I don't love him.
That was ridiculous to even think. She didn't even know him! They had been forced together, yes, but it was hardly enough for love to develop!
But what if it was?
A humming noise brought her back from her thoughts. Her head came up, but she didn't see anything. She backed away from the forest, all the same, ready to run, and drew her weapon. But when something huge came out of the trees at her, she didn't have time to use it. A burning cold pain stabbed into her shoulder and she fell to her knees. The gun dropped from her hand.
Chapter Six: Tom
By the time the ship was powered, Tom's knuckles were cracked open and bleeding. He had spent the whole time beating on whatever was available in his training room, trying to relieve the irrational anger that was building in him all too quickly.
He knew he needed to warn Sara about this, but he had been hoping that they would have grown closer and that his musth wouldn't be a problem. There were only two weeks left before it hit, and there wouldn't be a planet between here and their destination for them to stay apart if she decided that she didn't want to have anything to do with him while his hormones went out of whack.
Maybe it would be best just to set her up here in a trustworthy inn or something, and continue on his own. He would be violent and unpredictable, but he could more or less control himself, and he didn't expect to come across anybody else, anyway. His musth would take longer to get through without sex, but he could handle it just fine.
But he needed to tell Sara. He didn't fool himself into thinking that she would want to stay with him. Even though she had told him it wouldn’t take much for her to agree to jump into bed with him, he didn't want just sex. They were Starmates, he wanted to have the same happiness that his parents did. Sure, sexual desire was a part of it, but only a small part as far as he was concerned.
Tom shook his head as he left his training room. Sara hadn't returned to the ship yet, which meant she was probably still angry with him, but they needed to resolve this. After applying flesh seal to his bleeding knuckles, he headed out to look for her.
She wasn't in any of the bars in town, so Tom returned to where he had seen her headed towards the forest. He found her footprints easily enough, keeping to the edge of the trees.
The tracks stopped abruptly. Her weapon laid on the ground.
Tom's heart began pounding. Adrenaline surged in him, and his teeth bared in a ferocious snarl. She was in danger. The appropriate fear was buried somewhere inside of him, but blinding rage took hold. His mate was somewhere out there without her weapon. The crushed leaves around the area clearly showed that she had been ambushed.
He spun towards town. He would find whoever did this, and they would taste his blade. He would disembowel them, string them up by their innards, he would—
Calm down, he told himself firmly, closing his eyes to draw in a deep breath. He hadn't taken the time to research the local fauna, and there was no guarantee that it was one of the aliens in the town that had taken her rather than an animal. He couldn't afford to make mistakes, not when Sara's life hung in the balance.
The prints were fairly fresh, and it only took a little more investigation to see the claw marks in the nearby trees. After taking a closer look at the marks, Tom swore loudly.
Tree scorpions.
The species was a plague on the galaxy, the eggs able to survive on the hulls of ships across deep-space journeys without freezing, and reentry without burning. On some planets the creatures were tiny, but on others, they had grown large enough to prey on humanoids.
Apparently, this was one of those planets. He could only hope that the local species didn't have a fatal venom, otherwise, he was already too late.
Snatching Sara's gun from the ground, Tom headed into the forest, holding the gun in one hand and a dagger in the other. The trail from the scorpion was easy to follow, large gashes in trees where it had merely barged its way through the foliage.
He came across the beast sooner than he expected. It was hunkered down in a small thicket, it's long, camouflaged body contorting. Huge chunks were ripped out of its back and half of its legs were missing. A thick, yellow goop dripped from the sting on its tail, and one set of its five compound eyes was damaged beyond repair. Clearly, the thing had gotten into a fight with something else in the forest.
Sara lay between its pincers.
Rage flowed freely and Tom rushed from the trees, screaming as he dropped both gun and dagger and drew his broadsword. The scorpion shrieked, backing away, but he was too quick. One quick slash and his sword sliced through the left mandible. The scorpion screamed. The stinger jabbed at him. Tom severed its tail from its body.
He was filled with savage joy as the adrenaline pumped through him, the thrill of the kill washing away reason and sanity. He kept attacking the scorpion, cracking open its hard shell to pulverize what was inside, until it stopped twitching. With one final blow, he took off the creatures head. Smiling, he cleaned his sword and sheathed it.
Only to freeze when he turned towards Sara again.
Her arms and legs were flailing, her neck wrenching back and forth. Her back bowed, eyes rolling. A dark foam built at her lips.
Tom's heart seized. He dove towards her, gathering her up into his arms. She convulsed so wildly that he could hardly hold onto her, but he wrapped both arms tightly around her and ran back the way he had come, not caring if he drew attention to himself. He was panting by the time he got back to the town, and Sara's convulsions had stopped. His eyes danced over the signs, finding a doctor's building and rushing towards it.
"Hold on," he whispered, his voice breaking. "Hold on, please."
The doctor was a tall, green-skinned Odap. His wings fluttered behind him when Tom burst into the building, shouting for assistance. Luckily for the Odap, he didn't keep the T'shav waiting and immediately abandoned the patient he was with to help Sara.
"Tree scorpion sting?" the doctor said, nimble fingers pressing to Sara's swollen and bleeding shoulder.
"Yes."
The doctor nodded. "It appears the venom has worked its way through her already. She'll be fine. Our local bugs pack a narcotic punch that can be hard on humanoids, but in my hundred standard years on this planet, I haven't seen one death because of them. You were right to bring her here so quickly, though. I can provide her some medications to help ease the symptoms."
Tom nodded and settled down beside Sara. Now that he knew she was in no danger, his hands began shaking. His blood still rushed through his body, but the adrenaline faded, leaving him feeling tired. He clutched Sara's hand as the doctor bustled about.
"I'm sorry," Tom whispered to his unconscious Starmate. "I should have told you why I've been in such a bad mood."
He glanced up when the doctor gasped. And tensed again. As if being attacked by a scorpion wasn't enough! The doctor was holding a scanner. Tom jumped to his feet. How could he have been so stupid, so unobservant to let this happen?
"She's human!" the doctor blurted.
Tom didn't wait for him to repeat it louder. In this forsaken place, Sara would be worth ten times his ship and fear of a lone T'shav wouldn't be enough to protect her. He couldn't risk this getting any further. The doctor's eyes widened as Tom's fist flew at his face, but as soon as contact was made the Odap was down. Tom gathered Sara back into his arms and kicked open the door, running once more, this time towards the ship.
Sara was stirring by the time he returned to the ship, and he set her on the couch before rushing to the cockpit. It was only when the planet had faded from the scanners that Tom relaxed. It seemed like they had successfully made their escape.
"Bond?" Sara's voice called.
Making sure the course was set, Tom returned to check on her. She was laying on the couch, her hair wound around her hand. She was pulling it, and when she saw him, relief came over her face.
"Bond, I need you to get rid of it."
Tom knelt beside her. "Get rid of what?"
"The spider! It's on my head, and it bites me when I try to take it off." Her eyes were wide and earnest. She tugged hard at her hair and yelped. "It just bit me again!"
Tom had to laugh. After all his worry, seeing that she was okay was too much of a relief. He gently released the tangles of her hair from her fingers. "It's just your hair, Sara."
"There's a spider."
"There's no spider."
Sara narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure?"
He nodded. "No spider. I promise."
"Oh. Good." Sara settled back into the couch, sighing. "No spiders. Because Bond got rid of them. My double-o-seven," she sang each word. "Mine. All mine."
"Yes," Tom said, stroking her hair from her face. His heart swelled hearing her say those words, but he knew better than to trust her state of mind. "Sara, do you think you could love me?"
"Hell, yeah. But not right now… I'm so tired…" She smiled beatifically at him and propped herself up on her elbow. Her gaze went to his lips, but Tom quickly stood, putting distance between them. Sara looked shocked. "Is it the spider?"
"There's no spider. But you're not in your right mind. I can't let you kiss me now when you wouldn't kiss me sober."
Sara groaned and threw herself back onto the couch. "Darn alien…"
Tom smiled as her sentence trailed off into a snore. It had been a close call, but she was going to be okay. That was all that mattered.
He would tell her about his oncoming musth when she woke up and was thinking clearly. They would be able to figure out what to do about it then. For now, he would let her sleep.
Chapter Seven: Sara
Sara distinctly remembered her attempts at seducing Bond while the scorpion poison was working its way out of her system. It had lasted for a full three days, the withdrawals another week, as she lay shivering and vomiting. She wasn't sure what was more embarrassing, stripping naked and dancing on the table while singing Britney Spears songs, or vomiting all over Bond as he tried to get her to drink some soup broth. Either way, he was extraordinarily patient about the whole thing, helping her dress again, or carrying her to the bathroom to clean her up.
If they were Starmates–wait, she didn't believe in that–if she started dating him, was this the kind of treatment she could expect all the time? Or was he just putting on a show to convince her to be with him?
She wandered into the training room to see Bond going at a training bot as though it had just slaughtered his family. It never ceased to amaze her. Even though she had seen his fighting prowess and the violence he could inflict, he was just so sweet and gentle with her that sometimes she had a hard time reconciling the two images.
Within minutes, the bot was completely demolished. Sara winced. "That's gonna cost a lot to fix."
Bond was shirtless, wearing only the var'ki skirt T'shav warriors preferred. His skin gleamed with sweat, and his massive chest panting made Sara's mouth water. He was just too well put together to be possible! She shook her head–those types of thoughts were what got her in trouble while she was high on scorpion venom.
"How are you feeling?" Bond muttered, not looking at her. He crossed the room and shoved on his boots. Odd. He told her more than once that he hated footwear, and he rarely wore it on the ship.
"Much better, thank you."
"Good. I'm glad. Look, there aren't any planets in our course until we reach the ship where the humans are, but if you want, I can deviate my course and take you somewhere else."
Sara's brow furrowed. What was he talking about? "Is this still about our fight from before? Because I don't want to leave. I want to save those humans. You have no idea how lonely it feels to say things like 'Luke, I am your father' and have nobody get that you're quoting Star Wars."
Bond began cleaning up the demolished bot. "My mother told me about Star Wars."
"It's not the same." Sara sighed. She wanted to get those humans to safety as soon as possible. They would be terrified and confused, and since she had experience with that, she could help them. "Unless it's that you want me to leave."
His head jerked up. "What? No. No, I don't want you to leave. But I have to tell you something that might make you want to leave."
What could be so bad? Sara waited.
Bond sighed and shrugged. "It seems like the violence that we've been encountering has brought my musth on early. I've checked my blood, my testosterone levels are nearly twice as high as normal. Other hormones are increasing, too, but I'm fairly certain that my pheromone production hasn't started yet. It'll just be a few days, though. I know I can control myself on my musth, but I understand why you'd want to leave."
Sara stared at him, a confusion of emotions swirling through her. A part of her said to run, as far and fast as she could. The horror stories she had heard of T'shav in musth–beheadings, disembowelments–were enough to frighten anybody. But this was Bond, and she knew he could control himself. After all, he had always gently but firmly insisted that she dress again every time she threw herself at him.
"I don't care."
B
ond's eyes widened.
Sara shook her head, stepping closer to him. "If you think I would run away screaming, you're dead wrong. We haven't known each other very long, but if there is one thing I am more certain of than anything else, it's that you believe we are Starmates, and you would never, ever do anything that you thought might hurt me. So no. I don't want to leave."
"You're going to stay?"
The wonder in Bond's voice hurt her unexpectedly. What experiences did he have in his past with women doing just that–running as soon as he told them he was entering his musth–to make him look so wide-eyed in amazement that she wasn't going to do the same?
"I'm going to stay." She stepped closer again, pressing her hands against his slick chest. His skin was so hot, so warm, and she shivered with the desire for her body to press against his. "I think I've made it clear that I'm not averse to sharing a bed with you, Bond. And as crazy as I find the whole concept of souls being born into stars, I believe that you sincerely believe that we are Starmates."
Bond's fingers brushed her cheekbone, his hand trembling as though he couldn't quite wrap his mind around what was happening.
"It's not just your body that I like either, though that is a huge part of it," she continued. "I like that you cook and that arrogant smirk when you're sure you're right, and I love how you are traveling so far away from civilization to help these humans. I know that you were hired to do it, but you could have taken the money, and then sold their location to somebody who doesn't want to help them."
"I wouldn't do that."
"I know. And musth or no musth, I think you're worth taking a chance on. So I'm staying. And I'm going to help you through your musth." She leaned forward, brushing her lips against his. "And not just because I've heard amazing things about sex with T'shav."
Bond laughed, catching her mouth with his. He pulled her closer, bodies pressing together, her shirt clinging to the sweat on his skin. Sara closed her eyes, grinning as heat pooled in her belly. She pressed herself to her toes to throw her arms around his neck, undulating her body against his. Bond groaned and picked her up, hands supporting her under her thighs, and began walking.