by 1
“I beg your pardon?” This was why Relay had been cut off from communication. There was a warrant out for her.
“You have been charged with stealing the Class One.”
“Fine. Take me to those laying the charges. I really want to see them.”
She sent a signal to Steyvin and he disgorged the shuttles containing the Guardsmen. They floated into the station together, despite alarms and klaxons going off as they landed and waited for the atmospheric seals to engage.
The station was on automatic and the moment that the lights indicated breathable air, the Class One lost its contents.
Thinker placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “You are no thief, Pilot.”
“I know. I want to know who levied the charges.”
When the station guards arrived, they were shocked to see the twenty-one uniformed Guardsmen waiting for them.
“Please, take me to my accuser.” Pilot stepped forward and extended her hands for restraints, but when one of the guards tried to put them on, half a dozen of the Sector Guard growled at him. He put them away.
“This way, Pilot.” The guards acted as an escort as they led the way through the station. They worked their way into the heart of the trade terminal.
The marching of feet in step caused heads to turn as they made their way to the point where Commander was working on keeping them in business.
* * * *
Commander was beyond frustrated. The Tival ambassador was demanding the immediate return of all support personnel, because the Sector Guard project had not yet borne any results. Their complaints were causing a cascade of dissent on those who were slightly unsure as to the usefulness or possibilities to begin with.
When the steady thud of booted feet came to him, he looked to Vasu. “What is that?”
“I have no idea.” Vasu turned in his seat and he slapped Commander in the shoulder. “Turn around.”
Across the crystal-lined halls of the high-negotiation centre, Pilot was leading a force to be reckoned with. The station guards were almost invisible in the battle-ready mass of males from a multitude of races.
Pilot looked exhausted. Dark shadows surrounded her eyes and her skin was pale. She marched with the others with her head up and her jaw set. Someone was about to get an earful.
The guards rushed forward and the captain addressed the speaker. “Sir, the crew of the Class One has been apprehended.”
The speaker, Tival Ambassador Leron, scowled. “That is not only the Terran female. The others are not necessary, she was the sole thief of the Class One.”
Pilot bristled. “Thief? Thief! I have been busting my ass to acquire the Guardsmen that we needed and then we got distracted answering distress calls. When did I have time to steal anything?”
Azon ambassador Ranith leaned forward, “Distress calls?”
“Yes, we stopped a raider attack on Shizzi, assisted with an evacuation on Corevan and a riot on Vekriab, then we came here.”
Leron bristled. “That is impossible. You could not have jumped with all of those men in your ship.”
She crossed her arms and smirked. “So, if it is my ship, why did they try and arrest me when I arrived?”
Commander stifled a grin as the Tival ambassador dealt with the snickers that broke out. He stood and assisted in the process. “Sirs and madams, the Class One was designed with Pilot in mind. The jacks are calibrated to work with her ports. To have accused her of stealing a piece of equipment designed for her is ludicrous. May I ask, why was I not informed that there was an arrest warrant issued?”
Leron blushed. “It was not something you needed to know.”
Commander bristled, literally, his hair began to stand out in a halo that another Azon would have recognized immediately as fury. He spoke through gritted teeth, “Pilot is my partner, she is the first Guardsman aside from myself. When I was summoned here, I left Pilot in command to continue the recruitment phase.
“She has proved not only herself, but the purpose of the Sector Guard. Quick response when no other force was able to answer without a ton of red tape. This is exactly what we are here for.”
Leron wasn’t giving up. “We have no proof that they actually attended those events.”
Grinning, Pilot pressed the com attached to the side of her head. “Steyvin, dump the raiders. We have a Tival jackass here who doesn’t believe that we captured them.”
A voice came through on the external speaker of her headset. “Will do, Pilot. Thanks, they were making me itch. The ship is away. They only have three hours of air left, so you had better be quick.”
“Thanks. You are a sport.”
“Anything else?”
“Not yet. Stand by.” She removed her hand from the headset and smiled beatifically at Leron. “An off-duty warship has just dumped a raider shuttle full of our prisoners into space outside the orbital zone for the station. Feel free to have someone pick them up and confirm my story.”
The guard captain began frantically whispering into his wrist band and he winked at Pilot as he passed her and the others.
Commander wasn’t happy with the wink and he was wondering how the hell Helen had gotten her hair to grow that long while she was flitting from world to world, but he loved the look so much that he was going to table the query for a later date.
“What else am I charged with aside from carrying out the job I was hired to do? I have a contract filed to prove it.” She crossed her arms and scowled at the assembled men.
Commander was astonished at the amount of Guards she had assembled. The details would wait on that as well, because now, he had a presentation to ram home.
“Twenty-three Guards, nine worlds and four strategic stations have offered themselves to the service of the Alliance, the Nyal and all settled worlds. Our duty drives us as well as a love for adventure and no one here was coerced into position. We are a grouping of volunteers. The planets have offered themselves freely. We need resources for housing, equipment, supplies and support staff until our bases can become self-sufficient.”
The Azon ambassador nodded. “How do you propose to earn your bases an income?”
Commander raised his data pad. “We have a list of talents who are less physically active and more psychically active. They are inventors, creators, horticulturists and scientists who need an environment to flourish in. We can offer them a space to do it. A haven for those whose worlds reject talents. Also, we can charge the Alliance for the research and invention patents as they come to light. I have a plan and I know we can make it happen if we are simply given the opportunity to be the Sector Guard, fully and without restraint.”
A Nyal representative stood. “Will you pick and choose your assignments?”
Commander shook his head. “If we get a distress call, we will go. No matter which territory or expanse of space. Even into interdicted territory if necessary. If someone can call for help, we will go to them.”
Ambassador Ranith smiled, showing his teeth. “Then, I know all I need to know. Anyone in favour of supporting the Sector Guard for the first ten years of their existence in every way we can? It will drastically reduce the amount of call on the warships and with that, some of them may not have to wait for internal atmospheric repairs.”
Commander didn’t understand, but Pilot blushed.
The room filled with hands that slowly lifted. When there was a ninety-five-percent approval, the mediator struck the table with a stone. “Motion carried. Negotiations and investigation closed. Sector Guard will be supported freely by the assembled planets, nations and species for ten years. Dismissed.”
The mediator sat back with a sigh of relief as the room exploded with hoots, shouts and flying Guardsmen.
Chapter Ten
Pilot staggered over to Commander and fell into his arms. “We did it.”
He caught her and smiled down at her. “You did it. How did you do it?”
“It was pointed out to me that I didn’t have to be at every negotiation. Alliance and Nyal
personnel in the right place could do the asking for me as well as ratify the contracts. Seer, for example, was on Jela. No Terran woman wants to venture there, even with my implants, I am considered fair game.”
She sighed as his hands slowly rubbed up and down her back. “I need some rest.” She yawned.
“Can you fly the Class One back to Morganti?” He tilted her chin up and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
“I can, but that will be it for the day. I think I need about sixteen hours of sleep and something to eat.” She yawned and waved at Vasu over Commander’s shoulder. “Why don’t you boys go meet the others and I can have a little nap? Go put some real names with the faces.”
Commander put her in his vacated chair and wandered off to introduce himself to his Guards. She watched him until her head wouldn’t stay up anymore and she leaned against the table and let the darkness come.
Waking up with her body wreathed in green flames and her nerves burning started her up with a scream and she punched Flame right in the jaw.
He reeled back and winced. “She’s up. She should be fine for a few hours.”
Commander nodded. “Pilot, it is time to get the ship going. Come on, you can do it.”
She grumbled, “Fuck off. That hurt.” She put the data jacks in place and powered up the ship.
A quick glance behind her told her that only Razer and Flame were on the Class One with her and Commander. “The others left?”
“Steyvin took them to Gant already. They are landing as we speak. Gant has been assisting the workers and the base is coming along very nicely.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
Commander shook his head. “We couldn’t. Flame’s burn can keep you awake and alert for a while, but you have a date with a med centre the moment we arrive.”
She nodded and tersely requested clearance from the control centre. When they gave it, she smoothly moved the Class One out of the station and out into space.
She went a little faster than she should have, weaving through traffic around the station with a combination of fatigue and frustration. The moment they were clear of the station, she hit the engines and they shot past the gravitational fields as quickly as she could manage it.
“Prepare for jump.”
“This isn’t a jump site.” Commander’s voice was strained.
“We have cleared gravitational interference and I need a nap. Jump.” Ready or not, here they went.
Gant’s system came into her view and she twisted her ship to the side as Steyvin rocked past her.
She heard curses behind her and grinned as she accelerated past the warship and whipped through the orbit of the pink moon. She gave them the wildest ride she could manage and by the time they landed next to the selection of shuttles, she wasn’t the only pale one on board.
Pilot powered the ship down and detached herself from it with a smile. “There, that feels much better. Now, where can a girl get a nice protein shake? I just realized I am hungry again.”
It took Commander three tries to get his hands to release the arms of his seat.
Razer and Flame were glaring at her as she checked on them.
She got out of her seat and wobbled alarmingly. Commander was at her side, supporting her as they left the shuttle.
The base had come along fairly well in the week that she had been gone.
“Kale has assured me that medical was the first thing set up. There may be nothing around it, but I should be able to run some scans on you.”
“You flirt.”
She stumbled and he lifted her, carrying her to the peculiar cube in the centre of the work zone.
“Holy crap, it’s really a medical bay.” Inside, it was all clean, high tech and had the medical beds ubiquitous in all Alliance facilities.
“It really is. Now, lie back and hold still.” He set the scanners and immediately started pulling injections from the storage cabinets. “You are dehydrated, lacking nutrition and you have a muscle fatigue that is flooding your system with lactic acid.”
She yawned. “Yeah, it’s been a fun week.”
He started a regimen of shots and slathered some gels on her ports. She relaxed and let him take care of her. She was back on base and she didn’t have to fly anywhere.
A deep thudding woke her from a sound sleep. She sat up and blinked at the blanket that slipped to her waist. Behind her, a hand wrapped around her belly and pulled her back down. “What the hell?”
“They are drop shipping the supplies since we have a dragon to do the heavy lifting as well as several Guardsmen who are ten times the strength of average members of their species.” Hyder’s voice was husky.
“I meant why am I in bed with you and why am I naked?” she lifted the blanket to cover her breasts and turned to him.
He smiled. “Ah, well, they created our quarters first as you were most in need of the resting place. I am with you because we have some unfinished business.”
She quickly ran her tongue around her mouth and noticed the distinct and peculiar lack of morning breath. “Why doesn’t my mouth taste like something died in it?”
“Nanites. They were offered by the Avari and they are assisting your body with maintenance. Like many Pilots, your body was eating itself with no explanation as to why. There seems to be irritation near your ports, but the cause is unclear.”
“What do the nanites do?”
“Biological maintenance. They eat the obnoxious bacteria that would normally be associated with prolonged inability to care for oneself. You spend so much time wired to the ship that it is a benefit to your health or I would never have administered it.”
She shifted her leg and confirmed that he was as naked as she was. “And why are you in bed with me?”
He nuzzled her shoulder. “Because there is no place else I would rather be.”
Helen leaned down and pressed a kiss on Hyder’s lips. “Why isn’t your breath horrible?”
He chuckled. “Because your body started to wake and I just cleaned my teeth on the off chance that you would be amenable to consummating our partnership.”
She chuckled and stroked a hand down the planes of his chest, enjoying the feel of the light nap of his velvet skin under her hand. A purr out of his throat startled her into laughing and he rolled her to her back, slowly stroking and exploring his way from her neck to her knees.
When his caresses took on an urgency between her thighs, she twisted against him until he moved to settle in the cradle of her hips and she pushed toward him when he entered her.
They tangled together, thrusting and retreating for minutes or hours, Helen didn’t care. She was just upset when it was over. Lying beside him, she kept one leg wrapped around him and his hand on her thigh kept it there.
“So, you waited until my vitals said I was waking up and you jumped into bed with me?” she was smiling as he nuzzled her neck, licking at the wound his teeth had made when he came.
He muttered against her flesh, “Yes. It seemed like the best idea. We never know when we will be called out for a mission, so it is best to make the most of the time we do have.”
She groaned and shifted, seeking more of his warmth. “That sounds like a hell of an idea.”
Chapter Eleven
Three months later…
Helen looked over the Morganti base, all shining and complete in the sun. “It looks so empty.”
Hyder was standing next to her as they watched the last of the shuttles leave for Udell base. The construction crew was moving on and seventeen of the new recruits were going with them to speed things along. The only new Guards still posted to the base were Shade, Thinker and Seer. Vasu and Kale-Gant were still here, but it was their home.
“It will start filling up quickly. It’s time to send Isabi to meet his mate.” Hyder wrapped an arm around her waist and she leaned into him.
She was still exhausted most of the time, the missions took a lot out of her, but she and the Class One had finally hit the merging po
int. With advanced calculations, she could make a jump just beyond an atmospheric barrier without causing damage to her ship or the environment. Sentient planets didn’t like it, but if she was in a hurry, her Guards got where they needed to be with exceptional speed while putting no innocents in danger.
Zalbeeliyah had embraced the creation of uniforms and when the missions took them through jungles full of razor-sharp leaves, she was kept busy. Five uniforms was now the standard for a Guard. With barely a break in between distress calls, they could be jumping from world to world for weeks. The uniforms were a necessity.
Her shop was one of the most visited structures in the rapidly growing town. The three restaurants were also high in popularity.
Hyder hugged Helen and she smiled at the now-familiar feel of his body. “Finding his match will be a bit tricky. Most of the females have not been notified that they are on our candidate list.”
She knew his tone. He was hiding something. “What do I need to know?”
He grinned. “Come with me. You have to see this to believe it.”
Bemused, Helen walked with him down the hill. Her body was almost up to a normal-human level again and it was due to his fanatical attention to every inch of her when she had some down time.
Inside the pristine halls of the new base, the med centre was still central. There was now a gym with high-strength equipment next to the standard workout gear. A pool, commissary, admin offices, a quartermaster for the support staff and the Guard quarters and boardrooms for mission briefings took up the rest of the space.
They walked together, hand in hand, to Commander’s office. He closed the door behind them and locked it. “I don’t want Isabi to see her.”
Helen raised her eyebrows. “Really? Is she that bad? I mean, he will hit on anything remotely compatible…so this will be something.”
Hyder sat at his desk and keyed up a holographic projection of a female with dark hair. She was pale, slim and had eyes that were an indefinable colour.