“No your mind, not to mention the rest of you is somewhere else.” He grinned. “Good luck with that.”
“What about Skylar? How do I get her on my side?””
“You don’t.” Rico drew his laser pistol and placed three blasts in the center of the target. “You stay away from Skylar.”
Callum decided that however hard it was going to be, he was going to have to give Tannis some space. He was sure if she spent time with Starke, she would soon realize what a tosser he was.
Meanwhile, he was going to attempt to follow Rico’s advice and get the rest of the crew on his side. He wasn’t expecting it to be easy. He decided to start with Janey and found her at her console on the bridge. She glanced up, her expression vaguely hostile as she caught him watching her. He tried a smile; she didn’t seem impressed.
Humble. Think humble.
“Rico gave me a gun,” he said.
“So?”
He frowned. Wasn’t she supposed to be flirting with him? “I haven’t shot anyone in a long time.”
She raised one arched elegant eyebrow.
“Rico said you might have some training programs you could set up for me.”
“Rico did?” She frowned. “Why do you want to learn? Aren’t you a politician? Who do you want to shoot?”
Janey sounded suspicious, and he tried to think what would be a good answer. He reckoned one of the reasons the crew was so against him was because they were being protective of Tannis.
He could work with that. “I’ll be going down to Trakis Seven with Tannis. I might need to protect her.”
“From what? There’s nothing alive on Trakis Seven.”
“Maybe someone will follow us down there.”
“This is Trakis Seven we’re talking about. Somehow, I doubt you’ll be inundated with company. Besides, the captain is quite capable of looking after herself.”
He resisted the urge to follow his natural inclinations and order her to give him the stuff. Instead, he took a deep breath.
There were some occasions when only the truth would do. “Okay, the truth?”
“A novel idea, but why not?”
“I suspect, at some point in the near future, I’m going to want to shoot Devlin Starke. Unfortunately, he’s essential to our plans, so I want to make sure that I don’t kill him by accident.”
Janey grinned. “Great reason. You’ll find a headset underneath the console in your cabin. I’ll send the files through there.”
…
“You know, you should think about joining us,” Devlin said.
Tannis hadn’t been paying attention. Instead, she’d been playing with her food and watching the doorway. Now she turned to the man at her side. “Sorry?”
“I said, I think you should consider joining the rebels. We need good captains.”
The comment took her by surprise. She wondered why? On the outside, she supposed she was ideal rebel material. She was a GM and an experienced captain. Still, anyone who knew her well could have told him she wasn’t one for causes, and she certainly wasn’t a joiner. Rico’s influence.
“I don’t think so.”
“Why?” He reached across and stroked a finger down the back of her hand, and she twitched with the need to pull away.
She didn’t like unsolicited personal contact. But maybe Devlin didn’t realize that. After all, she’d hardly been standoffish with him. The thing was she was just unused to this sort of situation, so she left her hand where it was and tried to control her twitching.
He obviously took that as positive and stroked her again. She analyzed the resulting feeling: not unpleasant, but not wildly exciting either. Her gaze strayed back to the door.
“We’d be good together,” Devlin murmured.
She realized he was still on about her joining the Rebels. At least she hoped that’s what he was talking about. She turned to face him. Close up, he really was very good-looking.
“No we wouldn’t,” she said. “You like to be in charge and so do I. Besides, you’re an idealist and I’m not. You want to save the world, and I just want to earn lots and lots of money.”
“You don’t come across as the mercenary type.”
Tannis grinned. “Believe me, I love money.”
“Is that why you’re working for that bastard? For money.”
She presumed he meant Callum. “Yeah, for money. Mainly.”
He frowned. “Maybe you need to open your eyes and see what’s going on in the world. GMs are suffering. It’s our duty to stop this, to bring down the government—”
“—yeah, yeah and make the world a better place,” she interrupted his sermon as irritation snapped at her nerves. “My eyes are open, thank you, and I think I know what’s going on, probably better than you. I just don’t want to make that my life.”
She pulled her hand free and picked up her spoon, starting to eat and hoping he would get the message.
Callum was late for supper. Where was he?
He’d left her alone for the last couple of days, and she didn’t blame him. After all, she had poisoned him. At first, she’d tried to tell herself that she liked it this way, but her innate self-honestly wouldn’t allow her to accept that. The truth was she missed him.
But the one time he turned up unfailingly, was mealtimes. The first couple of times, he’d sat in silence, obviously listening. He hadn’t attempted to sit next to her, usually taking a seat opposite.
She occasionally found his gaze on her, but he would just smile politely and go on with his food.
Then, after the first couple of meals, he’d started joining in with the conversation. Making the odd comment. Asking questions.
Last night, he and Rico had got into an argument about an old program they had both watched back on Earth—Star Trek—and which season was the best. But the argument had been friendly— it looked like Rico had forgiven him for his time in the research center.
Afterward, she’d asked him, and he’d shrugged. “We’ve all done things we should probably be ashamed of. Hell, I changed Bastian, and look how that turned out.”
Now, she played with her food, and waited for Callum to appear.
“So once you get rid of your client,” Devlin said from beside her, “why don’t you give it a try and join us?”
Jesus, he was still on about that. “I’m not getting rid of Callum.”
“You’re not?”
“No, I’m going to Trakis Seven.”
Devlin sat back in his seat a frown on his handsome face. “No one survives Trakis Seven, except the Collective.”
“He’s paying me with the Meridian treatment.” Devlin would know she was going to Trakis Seven soon enough. They had a strategy meeting scheduled for after supper. It would be obvious then.
At that moment, Callum appeared in the doorway. Alex was at his side like some exotic flower in her burnt orange jumpsuit with scarlet piping. Alex had spent most of her life in the black robes of a priestess, and now she loved color, the brighter the better.
Callum’s head was bent toward her as he listened to something she was saying, and Tannis strained to hear.
“Thanks for hearing me out,” he murmured. “I needed to get that off my conscience. You’re a good listener.”
Alex patted his arm. “I’m glad it helped.” She gave him a sweet smile and went and sat beside Jon. Tannis frowned.
Callum nodded at the room in general and glanced around.
There was a free seat on the other side of Tannis, but he ignored that and sat down next to Daisy. Tannis pretended to eat as she eavesdropped.
“I wanted to ask you a favor,” he said.
Daisy looked at him, her emerald eyes wary. At least she hadn’t been won over—yet. “What sort of favor?” she asked, her tone suspicious.
“Janey has sorted out some training programs for me. I need to brush up on a few skills. I’m way behind most of you, and if we get into a fight, I don’t want to let you all down.”
Tanni
s gave up the pretense of eating, put down her spoon, sat back in her seat, and listened openly. What was he doing? She glanced around the table and caught Rico’s gaze. He grinned at her, and she turned her attention back to Callum and Daisy. Daisy was twirling a strand of long green hair around her finger as she listened.
“So how can I help?” she asked.
“One of the programs works better with two. I wondered whether you could spare a little time to work with me.”
Daisy’s eyes brightened until they sparkled with green fire.
“Of course. I’d love to.”
Tannis rose slowly to her feet. “I’ll see everyone later,” she said to the room in general. “We have a meeting in thirty minutes.”
She didn’t wait for anyone to answer, just pushed her chair back, and strode from the room.
She paused outside the door.
“What’s it like to fly?” Daisy asked and now her voice was tinged with hero-worship.
“You want me to show you?” Callum replied. “There’s probably enough room in the docking bay.”
At that point, Tannis decided she’d heard enough. The thing was, Callum wasn’t flirting. He was just being…nice. Why did that make her feel as though there was something not quite right with the world?
Chapter 13
Tannis was sitting alone in the meeting room, brooding, when Rico turned up. He kicked out the chair opposite and sat.
“What’s going on with Callum?” she asked.
“You think something’s going on?”
“Hell yeah. And who gave him the gun?”
“I did. I didn’t like the idea of him being unarmed with Starke on board. He’s promised not to kill anyone.” He grinned. “At least not on purpose.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” she muttered. “So why’s he being so nice?”
“That’s down to me as well. I suggested that if he wants a chance of getting into your pants, it might be a good idea to get the crew on his side.”
Tannis glared. “He’s never going to get into my pants. And I don’t want him to try. I hate him.” But she could hear the lack of conviction in her voice. “So it’s all an act? The nice guy, humble thing?”
“Who knows? I doubt even he does anymore. But does it matter? He’s doing a good job. And it’s not so much that he’s humble—no one actually believes that—but they appreciate he’s trying. It’s obviously not easy for him.”
“No, I bet it’s not.”
The others started coming in then and she put the thoughts aside—she needed to concentrate. Well, except for the thought about Callum getting into her pants, that one kept creeping back into her mind.
He wandered in and sat down at the edge of the room, where she could see him if she turned her head a fraction. Which she did.
Her gaze drifted down to his hands with their long elegant fingers.
She had a flashback to the feel of those fingers, and a wave of heat washed over her. Glancing up, she caught him watching her, his eyes sleepy, heavy-lidded and she had the distinct notion that he was thinking about the exact same thing. She squirmed in her seat, and his lips curved up in a slow smile.
“Tannis!” Rico spoke sharply from beside her.
“Yeah?”
“Meeting.”
“Oh, right.” She looked at him, and he shook his head then leaned in close.
“You need to get laid. And soon. It’s messing with your mind.”
“My mind’s fine.” Maybe he was right. If living with Rico had taught her one thing, it was that sex was no big deal. Or it didn’t have to be. Then again, it was obviously a big deal for Rico with Sklyar. And Jon and Alex. This whole sex thing was doing her head in.
She took a deep breath and stood up. “Okay, so let’s work out how we’re going to do this. Janey can you give us the intel?”
“They have the main target, which as far as we’re aware is unarmed except for the weapon intended to destroy Trakis Seven.
It’s a mark Two cruiser, but heavily modified.”
“Crew?”
“Four, we think.”
Tannis frowned. “How reliable is this intel? Where are we getting it from?”
“Mostly from Callum’s friend, the colonel. He’d been feeding us information as he receives it.”
“And he’s getting it from?” She looked at Callum.
“The colonel is head of intelligence, he has people everywhere.
I presume he has someone on the inside.”
“Okay. Go on, Janey.”
“There are five vessels guarding the ship. All Mark One cruisers, but the new design, top of the line.”
That didn’t sound good. But expected. “So when are we due to intercept them?”
“We could reach them in two days.”
“Okay. Devlin—what do we have from your people?”
“Six ships that can reach us here in time. But none with the firepower of the new Mark One cruisers.”
Six sounded good, even if they were smaller. They could work with six. She’d been worried that the rebels were going to turn out to be all mouth and no ships; she was glad that wasn’t the case. She had a good feeling about this and only just resisted rubbing her hands together—it didn’t do to appear too confident.
“That’s seven with the Cazador. Should be plenty,” she said.
“So how do we do it?”
“Well, the easiest thing would be to blow them out of the sky including the weapon,” Rico said. “That would get rid of the threat.”
Sounded good to her. They’d get rid of the weapon, then El Cazador would take them as near to Trakis Seven as was safe—no doubt that bitch Venna could tell them that and then she, Callum and Venna would continue on to the planet in the shuttle and arrange to rendezvous with El Cazador for when their business was done.
Their business—getting her the Meridian Treatment.
She was finding it hard to believe that it was going to happen at last. It had been her dream for so long. She glanced across at Callum, who was watching her out of his inhuman violet eyes.
How long would it take her eyes to change color?
The thought made a little shiver run through her. She looked from Callum to Skylar with her identical eyes. Skylar had told her that the Collective were a sort of gestalt, all part of a larger being.
Tannis didn’t know whether she liked the sound of that. When she had just been dealing with Skylar alone, it had been easy to ignore the fact that she was part of something, but seeing them together sent a prickle of unease down her spine. She pushed the thought away. She would worry about that later.
“So that’s the plan. Sounds simple enough. I like straightforward—less to go wrong.” She looked at Devlin where he sat on the opposite side of the room from Callum. “You happy with that?”
“Straightforward sounds good to me.”
“Well, I think we’re done here then. What’s our estimated time until interception, Janey?”
“Forty-six hours give or take.”
“That enough time for your people to join us?” she asked Devlin.
“They’ll be with us within the day.”
“Good. We’ll have a meeting with the captains tomorrow.”
“Just one thing,” Devlin said.
“What’s that?”
“I’m in charge.”
Tannis pursed her lips as she considered that. Did she trust him? Did it matter? He’d be back on board his own ship by then.
And she’d be here on El Cazador. And she’d follow his lead. As long as he didn’t tell her to do something she didn’t want to do.
But she would worry about that if it happened.
It occurred to her that there was a lot of worrying she was putting off. She just hoped it wouldn’t all catch up at once and bite her on the butt.
She nodded. “You’re in charge.”
People began to drift away. Callum left with Daisy after sending her a long look that made her toes curl. She trie
d to remember the research center, and all he had been responsible for, but she couldn’t bring it to mind.
Rico left with Skylar, his arm draped across her shoulder. Jon and Alex left together. She felt edgy and restless.
Janey was chatting with the Trog and Devlin, and she watched him covertly. Then turned away to pace the floor.
Maybe it wasn’t Callum. Maybe it was just a natural progression.
Yeah, she’d been put off sex, but that was understandable. She’d come away from the research center with a total aversion to being touched and to being held. But a lot of time had passed since then, and she was a healthy adult woman. On top of that, and the whole ship had turned into some sort of knocking-shop since Skylar and then Jon had come aboard. There were probably a whole load of pheromones or whatever just floating around on the air waiting to zap her. So it was hardly unexpected that her own libido had decided to wake up at long last.
And perhaps it was pure coincidence that Callum had arrived at the exact same time her sex drive had decided to come back from the dead. That combined with the fact that Callum was Collective, and she’d always had a fascination for anything Collective, she was predisposed to fall for him—it wasn’t only not unexpected, it was probably inevitable.
She just needed to prove that.
Prove that Callum wasn’t the only man who could make her heart beat faster and her insides melt. Somehow, she just needed to trigger her brain. She peered across at Devlin. In his own way, he was as gorgeous as Callum.
As if sensing her stare, he glanced over and held her gaze for long moments. Then he broke the contact and spoke to the Trog who nodded and left with Janey. The door slid shut behind them, leaving her alone with Devlin.
He strolled over to stand in front of her, a small smile on his face. One hand reached out and he cupped her jaw. “I go back to my ship tomorrow.”
“I know.” She stepped in closer and looked up at him from under her lashes. Tried a little flutter and felt like a complete asshole. Shit, she didn’t know how to do this. How did you get a man to kiss you?
She licked her lips, and at last, he seemed to get the message.
His big hand slid from her jaw to the back of her neck, and he pulled her closer.
At the touch of his mouth, she swayed toward him, her breasts brushing against his chest. His lips were warm and hard, and he pushed hers open and thrust his tongue inside. Tannis waited for the rush of heat to overwhelm her.
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