by KD Jones
“What are you talking about?”
“You and the rebel commander, you two were...intimate.”
She felt her cheeks heat up. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed by what happened between her and MarIK. She was a grown woman and was entitled to feel any way she wanted. However, it was a private thing that wasn’t really anyone else’s business.
“I was getting to know him.”
“You were getting to know him really well.”
The door opened and Lieutenant Commander LazAR entered. “I heard you spent time with the rebel commander.”
“You saw me leave with him.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at them.
“He wants you, Sharon.” TanAR crossed his arms over his chest.
“Yes, he does, and I feel the same.”
There was silence in the room as the two of them stared at her like she had grown horns. LazAR managed to speak first. “You can’t be interested in him. He’s the rebel commander and follows OrIN.”
“Newsflash: MarIK is the secret informant.”
TanAR frowned, “How do you know that?”
“I know it. He pretty much admitted it without saying it outright.”
“You didn’t tell him that there was an informant did you? You could ruin this whole mission! I knew it — I knew you would mess this all up.” LazAR started pacing back and forth.
“Hey, I didn’t say anything about an informant and I didn’t mess anything up. Did you miss the part where MarIK’s the informant?”
“So you say. We need to keep on alert for anything that might happen. Did your…informant…give you any information that might be useful?”
“No, he said that it wasn’t safe for us to be here. It wasn’t safe for me.”
“Did he give a hint to what OrIN may be planning?”
“No.”
“We’ll have two warriors outside guarding the quarters, so try to get some rest. We’ll see what OrIN has in mind for us tomorrow.” With that, LazAR left abruptly.
Sharon turned to head to the bedroom; she was ready to get out of that damn dress. Unfortunately, TanAR wasn’t done with his lecture.
“You need to keep your distance from MarIK. You don’t know him.”
“You don’t know him, either. He’s a good male. I can tell.”
“By the way he kisses you?”
“You didn’t see that?”
“I didn’t have to catch you in the act. Your expression said it all.”
“TanAR, drop it.”
“I have come to care about you and don’t want to see someone use you.”
“I appreciate that, I really do. Trust me to be able to tell if someone is playing me, though. I’m smart and can take care of myself. Are you...jealous of MarIK?”
TanAR sighed. “Maybe a little.”
She put her hand on his shoulder. “We’re friends TanAR, and I appreciate your concern. I don’t know what it is I feel for MarIK. It hit me like a ton of bricks, out of nowhere. It was the last thing I expected.”
“The timing is…”
“Fucked up, I know,” she repeated the words from earlier in the observatory.
“I hope he’s the male you deserve and doesn’t disappoint you.”
“Yeah, me too.”
*****
Several Hours Later
MarIK thought he would never get away from OrIN. The male decided to have a long conversation about nothing. Then he demanded a full report on the security detail guarding the Katierans. He was relieved when OrIN finally dismissed him for the night.
He had to call his team to meet him so he could let them know that the situation was critical. They had to get the Katierans off that trading post immediately before the Morins took Sharon hostage. There was no way he would let that happen, regardless of whether he had found a connection with her or not. No female should suffer at the hands of the Morins.
“Commander, the guards watching the Katierans have been rerouted temporarily. Our men are in place.”
“Good, we won’t have much time. The Katierans were drugged and if we don’t get them off this luna before it kicks in, we may have to leave some of them behind because we can’t get them all to safety.”
“We could use the air carriers to move them.”
MarIK thought about it. The air carriers were used for moving supplies from shuttles to the spaceport and back. They floated using gravity repellers. If the Katierans couldn’t stay conscious long enough to make it to the shuttle, they could load them on the carriers and take them to safety.
“Get as many air carriers ready as possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
MarIK made his way to the area sectioned off for the Katierans. He nodded at his men and went to the first quarters where the lieutenant commander and a few other warriors were resting. A warrior answered, but he looked like he could barely hold his head up. The drug was starting to kick in.
“Get your lieutenant commander and bring him next door.” MarIK ordered one of his men to help. He went over to the second quarters but didn’t bother knocking. He barged in and caught TanAR off guard. He fell off the couch and struggled to get to his feet.
“What is this about?” TanAR demanded.
“You were drugged, all of you were.” He moved past the male to the bedroom and turned the light on. Sharon was on the bed, wearing a large T-shirt that had ridden up her hips. He sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed her hair from her face. “Sharon, you need to wake up.”
She blinked her eyes and opened them, but struggled to get to a sitting position. “What’s going on?”
“We have to move you and your group immediately. The Morins are already on the trading post.”
“We didn’t detect their transport,” TanAR said from the doorway. He was leaning against the frame trying to fight the effects of the drug.
“Their transport as well as ours is being kept at a distance to avoid detection. Also, their ship has cloaking abilities, thanks to OrIN.”
“What in Kitana is going on here?” Lieutenant Commander LazAR demanded as he entered the bedroom.
“You’ve all been drugged. We need to move you to safety before the drug takes full effect, or you’ll all be defenseless.”
“Why should we trust you?” LazAR narrowed his eyes at him.
“I’m the only help you’re going to get. I’m on your side here.”
Sharon snorted as she leaned forward to lay her head on his shoulder. “Good luck convincing those two. Lieutenant Commander Fuddy Duddy Sour Grapes thinks he knows everything. I told them you were our guy, my guy.” Her words were slurring.
“Come on, beautiful. Let’s get you dressed so that we can take you to safety.”
“I can dress myself. Hand me my jeans over there.” She pointed to a chair in the corner.
He reached for a pair of pants and her boots and then handed them to her. “We’ll be in the other room. Call out when you’re dressed. We need to get as far as possible. It won’t take long for OrIN to find out that you guys escaped and that you had help.”
The males went into the other room and closed the door to the bedroom. The two males were looking at him with suspicion. “Look, I’m the one that sent the warning. You should have stayed away.”
“You know we wouldn’t be able to do that, not with this opportunity.”
“What’s your ulterior motive for coming here? It wasn’t just to try to negotiate with OrIN. He’s proven that he can’t be trusted.”
“The Morins — we need to see what state they are in. If there is a chance we can do something about them, we have to take advantage of that. A chance to end this war once and for all in one fell swoop is just too tempting.”
“So that justifies dragging an innocent female into the middle of all this?”
“I didn’t want her here! The decision wasn’t mine and evidently she volunteered to do it. She claims she can handle herself.”
“OrIN plans to give her to the Morins to do Goddess knows
what horrible things to her in order to get them to tell the location of some other sect of the Morins he thinks your people are hiding. It’s ridiculous.”
When the two males looked at each other but didn’t deny it. “Your people are harboring female Morins?”
“We can’t go into all that right now.”
The door to the bedroom opened and Sharon walked out, slowly holding onto the wall. “I’m ready.”
MarIK went to her and immediately swept her up in his arms. “Come, let’s get you as far from OrIN as possible before he discovers your absence.”
Chapter 10
Sharon could barely hold her head up so she just gave up the effort and leaned against MarIK’s shoulder as he carried her down the corridor of the trading post. She understood a little bit about what was happening. Clearly, she and the Katierans had been drugged. The serious expressions on the faces of MarIK and his team let her know that they were all in danger — serious danger.
“I could carry her,” TanAR grumbled from behind them.
“You’re going to fall at any moment. She would only get injured and then I would have to carry both of you,” MarIK told him.
She smiled when she heard TanAR’s quiet response. The two men were definitely bumping heads with each other. She couldn’t seem to care, though, as she inhaled MarIK’s spicy scent. “What kind of soap do you use?”
“Nothing special, just the usual cleansing gel. There’s no fragrance to it, though.”
It was all his scent, then, that smelled delicious. “I like the way you smell.”
He chuckled, “Thank you. I like the way you smell as well.”
TanAR groaned. “Goddess help me.”
Sharon ignored everything around her as she faded in and out of consciousness. She trusted MarIK to keep her safe.
*****
MarIK carried Sharon down to the secret passageways that he and his team had discovered and kept hidden days ago. They stopped at the fork in the passageway where some of his warriors were waiting with air carriers. They arrived just in time, as the Katierans were starting to drop and give in to unconsciousness.
“Sir, we have a shuttle waiting at the other end of both passages. It doesn’t appear that anyone has discovered them missing yet.”
He had made the decision, when they realized the tunnel split, that if they needed to escape then separating would be the best thing to do. MarIK had ordered to have two shuttles moved and hidden by the tunnels a few days ago while OrIN was distracted.
“Good. Put half of the Katierans on one air carrier and the other half on the other.”
“Uh, stack them up sir?”
“We have no choice. Just stack them carefully.”
“Yes sir.” MarIK carefully laid Sharon down on the ground. She was completely out and looked so innocent. “How long does this tunnel go?”
“Five miles.”
“By the time we reach the end, OrIN will discover the Katierans are missing. That’s not leaving us a lot of time to get away. Have a few of our team members follow behind while the rest of us move ahead. Two warriors remain with the air carriers as they carry the Katierans.”
“Yes, sir.”
MarIK helped load the unconscious males on the carriers, then he made room for Sharon and secured her so she wouldn’t fall off. He needed to keep his hands free in case they were attacked. So far they had managed to go undetected, but things could turn badly at any moment.
They began the trek down the secret tunnels that ran underneath the trading post and even went under the lunar surface. Air was available but he had his warriors bring the life support suits with helmets.
A few miles in, his comm link went off. He knew it was OrIN and refused to answer. “Our absence has been noticed. Everyone needs to be on guard for whatever happens next.”
“Do you think they can scan for our vitals to find us?”
“No, we didn’t bring anything with us here to do that. If OrIN wants to use scanners to search for us, he will have to have the transport ship move closer in. Let’s get clear before that happens.”
“What if he uses the Morins?”
“I’m sure the Katieran transport is on the lookout for the Morins too.” He motioned for his warriors to gather around him. They numbered ten in all — not enough to go up against OrIN or the Morins one on one. “Before we leave I want to let you all know that I have been honored to serve as your commander. I wish circumstances could have been different. It’s too late for any of us to turn back now.”
“We wouldn’t want to turn back, Commander. This is the right thing to do.”
“It is what the Goddess would want us to do. We’ll get the Katierans back to their transport, then I will deal with OrIN.”
“Commander, we stand by you.”
“I appreciate that. Let’s divide up our group and take the separate tunnels.”
“Do we have the coordinates to the Katieran transport?”
“No, but I will send out a signal for assistance. They’ll get it.”
For the next few hours, MarIK and his warriors with the air carriers traveled the underground tunnels. It was taking longer than he expected because they had to move slower in order to prevent the Katierans from falling off the carriers. Also, the carriers were not built for speed. He kept in communication with the other team in the other tunnel.
“Sir, the tunnel ahead has a blockage. It will take a few minutes to clear.”
“Leave a few warriors here with me to guard the Katierans. The rest of you go help clear the tunnel.”
“What’s going on?”
MarIK turned to find Sharon rousing. He went over to her and squatted down next to her. “All of you were drugged. I found out just in time to get you all out of there. OrIN was going to give you to the Morins.” Just saying that sent a chill down his spine.
“Where are we?” She looked around, but her eyes weren’t completely focused yet.
“We had found some underground tunnels hidden and we kept that information from OrIN. We have shuttles waiting at the other end of the tunnels. We’ll take you to the Katieran transport.”
She turned to look at the Katieran warriors behind her. “You piled them up like blocks.”
“We had no choice. They were passing out all at one time.”
“Why aren’t I still out like the others?”
“You may have had smaller amounts of the drug. Can you see my fingers?”
“Yes, you’re holding up two fingers.”
“Good, your eyes are starting to focus better.”
“Does OrIN know we’re gone?”
“Yes, he’s tried to call me and my warriors on our comm links. We turned them off the frequency he uses so that we can speak to the warriors in the other tunnel.”
“I have another problem,” Sharon said, biting her lip.
“What’s that?”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
He didn’t understand at first. “Bathing room?”
“I need to...relieve myself.”
“Oh.” He looked around. There really wasn’t any place that would give her much privacy. “I can take you a few feet back in the direction we came.”
“Thank you.”
MarIK helped her stand up, steadying her as she swayed. He turned to his warriors. “We will be right back.”
Helping her walk back down the tunnel, he listened out for any signs of OrIN’s men but didn’t hear anything.
“I can’t go any further without...going.”
“Go ahead.”
“I can’t go with you watching me! Go back the other way with your back to me.”
“Sharon, you’re being silly about this.”
“I need privacy, please.”
Looking around, he saw nothing unusual. “Fine, but I’m only going down the tunnel a few feet.”
“Thanks, I’ll let you know when I’m done.”
He walked a few feet away, hoping the darkness of the tunnel woul
d give Sharon a sense of privacy. He tried not to listen to the sounds of her relieving herself but he had excellent hearing. Movement close behind him caught him off guard.
“What in Kitana!” He could hear the sound of Sharon’s scream as it was muffled and she was dragged away by shadowy figures with sickly yellow eyes — Morins. Struggling to keep conscious, he felt the back of his head. His fingers came back into his view bloody. He had been hit in the back of the head. He hit his comm link and called for his warriors.
“We have a situation.”
Moments later, his warriors were there, surrounding him. One had wisely brought a small medical kit to heal him.
“The Morins took me by surprise. They have Sharon,” MarIK said with frustration.
“Should we send men after them?”
“I’ll take one warrior with me, the rest of you need to get the Katierans to the shuttles. Don’t wait on me.”
“That’s suicide!”
“I can’t allow the Morins to harm Sharon.”
“Sir…”
“That’s an order, Lieutenant ManES.”
Chapter 11
Sharon struggled fruitlessly against the rope that bound her wrists together. Looking around she found herself sitting on the ground of the tunnel. She felt foolish for having been taken in such a state. She had just finished her business and was pulling her pants up when a dizzy wave hit her. The next thing she knew, strong hands gripped her arms and painfully pulled her away from MarIK.
When she screamed, someone hit her jaw and knocked her unconscious. She wasn’t sure how long she was out, but whoever carried her didn’t bother making sure to treat her with care. She had bumps and bruises on her arms and legs, and her head hurt like a son of a bitch.
“You’re finally awake, good.”
She looked up at the voice that she recognized. “OrIN.”
“Where’s your deference, female? It’s Prime Leader OrIN to you or in this case...master.”
“You’re not my master.”
“He is not, but I am.” A new voice said from the dark recess of the tunnel they were in.
She watched as yellow eyes in the darkness soon joined the shadows to form the face of a male…if he could be called that. He had a bald head, but his body was a sickly pale color and he had a smell to him — very unpleasant.