He had reached the lift and he stepped in, in order to go up to the bridge. He did not have time right now to concern himself with a woman. He needed a cool head. Damn it. He had always had a cool head. He was known for that. He was never driven by emotions. Never! And yet his loins were throbbing with desire and his heart was beating madly - not because of the alarm, but because of this damn woman and her damn curves. She was as tall as a woman from his race, but muscular and fit. Yet she had large, full breasts and a firm, round ass. And her scent - it had nearly made him lose his senses - the aroma of her arousal. He shook these thoughts off as the lift door opened with a loud ping.
On the bridge all hell had been let loose.
“What’s happened?” he asked, addressing Amano who was in the process of giving orders to the crew.
“Pirates. They’ve damaged our shield and one of the kalo-crystals has been destroyed. It just exploded. They must have a new technology that’s exceptionally powerful. I have no idea where these people have the credits from to purchase technology that’s not familiar to the Federation. They must have done business on the Black Quadrant. A pirate’s deal!”
“The reserve crystal?”
“Is just being installed. Another team is trying to repair the damage to the protective screen. Should I deploy the fighters?”
Kordan shook his head.
“Not yet. Get me the mother-ship on the monitor and try to establish communication.”
“Aye!” agreed Amano, turning to the man sitting at the computer desk. “Gresin, establish communication with the mother-ship.”
“Aye, captain,” said Gresin.
“Computer. Status report on the damage to the shield,” said Kordan as a new wave of shots shook the ship.
“The damage to the outer screen amounts to forty-four per cent. The damage to the internal screen is almost repaired. Other damage amounts to eleven per cent. I note an energy problem,” the computer reported.
“Turn off all non-vital machines and cap the energy supply to decks C and F, as well as G2 and G4. I want us to put all of our energy reserves into the outer protection shield.”
“Complete,” the computer reported.
“General. We’ve made contact with the mother-ship,” reported Gresin.
“To the monitor!”
The large monitor before them flickered before an image appeared of the bridge on the pirates’ mother-ship. The crew consisted of the most varied of races, but the man whose head filled the screen was a Regan, a reptilian race from the Black Quadrant.
“I am Captain Horrrgahn. Surrrender and deliverrr the women to us then we’ll perrrmit you to deparrrt. We only want the two women, nothing morrre.”
“Negative!” snarled Kordan. “The women are under my personal protection.”
“Then we will destrrroy you!”
After this statement the connection was broken.
“Fire with everything we have,” Kordan commanded.
“The inner protection screen is repaired,” reported the computer. “Damage to the outer protection screen still stands at twenty-seven per cent.”
“We have eliminated one ship,” reported Palic, one of the men at the station.
“Very good. Concentrate the attack on the mother-ship.”
“The new crystal is installed,” reported a further crew member.
“In that case fire the vega-canons now and all the lasers. Concentrate all the shots on one point. It’s best to aim fire at the main energy supply,” ordered Kordan.
“They’re retreating,” called Palic. “Should we pursue them?”
“No! We have an important cargo on board that we must get home safely and as quickly as possible. See to it that all repairs are put in motion and that the energy supply to the closed-down decks are running again as soon as possible. I will check on Lady Lory. She will be very frightened.”
That could not have been further from the truth. The woman who awaited him in the sick room was wild with rage and threw objects at him. The whole room was in complete chaos. During his absence she had thrown anything that was not nailed or screwed down all over the place. In one move she kicked him in the chest and he fell backwards into the corridor. Lory landed securely on her feet beside him and glared at him briefly before running away along the corridor. Before he could recover from the ambush and pull himself together she was long gone. He shook his head in disbelief and glanced through the doorway into the completely devastated sick room. This woman was decidedly dangerous. She was behaving completely irrationally.
“Bloody woman,” he murmured, brushing his chest to get rid of the footprint that she had left on his shirt. Not everyone needed to see the proof of his humiliation. No man had ever thrown him to the ground and now this woman had come along and laid him flat. The corners of his mouth curled up. If she had at least laid him in a quite different sense he would not, of course, have complained. But he could not and would not allow her to undermine his authority. After all, he was the general here. He was the boss and she would damn well submit or he would tie her up and gag her and …
He groaned quietly as the image of a bound and naked Lory took shape in his mind. Swearing, he grabbed his crotch as the erotic fantasy caused him to have an extremely painful erection. He first had to go to his quarters to remedy the situation before setting out in search of this nerve-wracking woman and putting her well and truly over his knee.
“Ow! Damn,” he groaned as he imagined her round, naked behind and the pleasure that he would gain in tanning her sweet hide.
He rushed along the corridor as if he had been bitten by a snake. He took no heed of Amano who was just coming out of his quarters and who leapt back with a perplexed expression to take cover.
“What is it?” sounded Charly’s voice from Amano’s quarters.
“If only I knew,” responded Amano, shaking his head.
***
Lory took the lift to the lowest deck of the ship. She was still beside herself and really did feel like smashing even more things to smithereens. It was just infuriating that most things on this damn ship were made of metal and that she had therefore well and truly bruised her hands during her burst of anger in the sick room. She stepped out of the lift and looked around. She appeared to have got into the cargo area. There were different sized bays with all sorts of crates, barrels and machines. Three doors lead off the hall and she approached the nearest one to her.
“Well, let’s see,” she murmured, opening the door.
The sight that met her took her breath away for a moment.
“Wow! Holy shit!” she uttered in admiration. “That’s unbelievable.”
The room that she was entering was huge and as high as the whole ship. In the middle there were three high pillars made of a sort of blue crystal. They were shining intensely and lit up the whole room. She approached with care and reached out.
“Don’t touch!” she heard a rumbling voice behind her and she jumped in shock. “The energy would kill you.”
She turned round slowly and stared at the man who had appeared behind her as if out of thin air. He was almost as tall as Kordan and had long white hair that went right down to his slim hips. Around his high forehead he was wearing a gold band with strange symbols on it. A gold breastplate covered his broad chest and a blood-red cloak his massive shoulders. Her eyes moved down to his knee-length, kilt-like skirt which was the same color as the cloak but decorated with gold trimmings. On his feet he was wearing black boots that ended just below his knees.
“Who are you?” she asked tentatively, preparing to fight.
“I’m Farron of Arr’Dragon and the chief engineer of the Cordelia. I’m the only Moliwe on this ship. My people do not usually operate with other races. I am, so to speak, the black sheep of my family.”
He laughed and Lory decided that he was not dangerous.
“I’m Lory. Lory Andersson from planet earth. I was abducted.”
Farron raised an eyebrow.
; “Abducted? And I thought this was a rescue mission.”
Lory snorted indignantly.
“My friend and I were doing fine until this blond giant and the would-be Latino burst into our suite and just abducted us. We already had tickets for our flight home and now that was all for nothing.”
“What’s a would-be Latino?” asked Farron.
“Oh, that’s not important. As you’re not familiar with my planet you won’t understand. It doesn’t matter anyway. The fact is that I want to go home and not to another damned alien planet. Sorry, I didn’t want to offend you, but …”
“It’s OK,” Farron brushed it off, laughing. “I probably wouldn’t be particularly happy either if someone was to drag me to a damned alien planet. I love my homeland.”
“So why are you here and not on your planet?” Lory asked inquisitively.
Farron sighed.
“My older brother claimed the woman that I love so I left to spare myself the pain of seeing the two of them together.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Lory sympathetically. “That must be hard.”
“And what about you? How come you’re down here? Are you hiding?”
“Yes, from a big, stupid bull,” snarled Lory.
Farron laughed.
“That must be Kordan. Am I right?”
“Exactly!” Lory confirmed sullenly. “That man is a conceited arrogant lump of ice.”
Farron roared with laughter, throwing his head back.
“Yes, that’s what he’s like, the general. But it won’t be much use to you hiding here. He’ll find you if he wants to. He just needs to ask the computer where you are. As you were in the medical unit your DNA is stored in the central computer. There’s no part of the whole ship where the computer won’t trace you.”
Lory turned pale. These swines had her DNA! She could be found?
“Could someone else claim me? You, for example? Just pretending, of course.”
“I could claim you officially, then you’d be under my protection and even the general would respect our bond, but …” replied Farron.
“Lay one finger on her and you’re a dead Dragon,” came Kordan’s icy voice and Lory screamed in fright.
Horrified, she looked past Farron to Kordan, who had walked up behind them menacingly. Farron turned to face him and did not appear to be bothered by the blond man.
“You don’t want a mate anyway,” he said calmly. “Why don’t you just leave her alone?”
“Wrong!” snarled Kordan. “I herewith claim Lory Andersson from planet earth as my mate.”
“Like hell you do!” hissed Lory. “I don’t want you, you big, stupid lump of ice! Do you understand me? Go to hell!”
“I accept your right to her and I will not interfere. But take some advice from a friend: give her a chance to calm down. I’ll take her to the canteen now and drink a sanis with her. Later I’ll bring her to your quarters when you’ve both calmed down. OK?”
Kordan nodded, expressionless, then turned and left. Lory watched him, her heart pounding.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
Farron turned to her with a big smile.
“No problem. It was a pleasure. I must say that I’m impressed. I would never have thought that a woman would ever manage to melt the ice block.”
“Melt? He’s still as cold as ice.”
“I know him better than anyone else here,” said Farron. “If I tell you that the huge iceberg is thawing, then it is. Come on. Let’s go and drink a sanis together.”
To her surprise a sanis was not an alcoholic drink, as she had expected, but a pretty good tea that would almost work as a coffee substitute. At least she had not drunk anything since her abduction that came closer to her favorite drink. The lack of coffee was part of the reason why she was permanently in a bad mood but she may well get over that with this stuff - at least until she found another way of getting home.
“Do you like the sanis?” asked Farron.
“Yes, it’s delicious. I feel a lot better already. Thank you again for your help. “
“We ought to get going. Kordan will be waiting for us.”
“But I don’t want to go to that pig. Can’t you please take me somewhere else?”
“But I’ve already told you that he’ll find you anywhere. So there’s no point trying to avoid him. It would only show him that you’re afraid of him.”
Lory tensed up. “I’m not afraid of the big bull,” she snarled.
“That’s better,” said Farron and, with a smile, took her hand in his. “Believe me, I know Kordan very well. He is not a bad guy. He is loyal and reliable. He will protect you with his life and he will definitely never harm you. Carthians are men of honor and Kordan is one of the most honorable that I know.”
“I’m just against someone simply claiming me like an object. I have an opinion, too,” Lory burst out.
“You wanted me to claim you. I would then have had the same rights over you as Kordan now has. So, what’s the problem?”
“I asked you to, so it was my decision. Kordan on the other hand has simply made the decision without consulting me. That’s the difference!”
“I understand!” said Farron. “So do you like me more?” asked Farron, winking.
“That’s not the point!”
“So what is the point?”
“That you’re a gentleman. You would not have taken liberties and forced yourself upon me.”
“Can you be so sure?” asked Farron, with a sexy groan. “You’re an enticing woman. If you belonged to me then be sure that I would do everything to get you into my bed.”
Lory pulled her hand away and stared at him dumbfounded.
“Damn it! Are all damned aliens so bloody horny?”
Farron laughed.
“I can only say that the men on my planet are certainly very potent. Yes. That can’t be denied.”
“Oh, great,” groaned Lory. “This is just like in a cheap, cheesy sci-fi movie: a helpless girl on a ship full of horny aliens with bulging muscles.”
Farron chuckled.
“I wouldn’t necessarily describe you as a helpless girl.”
“OK, I admit that I’ve been a little over dramatic. But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want to go to Kordan’s quarters. He’ll try to get into my panties. I’m sure about that.”
“I’ve already told you that he would never harm you. So all you need to do is not react to his attempts. Or have you maybe got a problem doing that? Do you perhaps want him more, after all, than you want to admit?”
Lory snorted.
“Of course not! I don’t want this man at all. You have no idea. But I don’t trust him an inch. It’s lovely that you have such trust in his honor. I don’t!”
Lory did not know who she was trying to convince here - Farron or herself? It was exactly as he had said. She was afraid that she would not be able to resist him. He had already nearly won her round. If the alarm had not been set off she would probably have acquiesced. The man just kissed too damn good. After all she was not frigid for goodness sake.
“Come on, don’t make it difficult for me. I promised that I’d take you to him and I’ll pay for it if I don’t.”
“Sorry about that but I’ve decided that I won’t go. That’s that! I will not go near that intergalactic barbarian and I definitely won’t play the whore for that oversized peacock!”
“He’s claimed you and he won’t let you go, Lory.”
“That’s right!” sounded a cold voice from the doorway.
Lory and Farron turned and Lory swore quietly. Kordan’s posture looked threatening. He was standing with his legs slightly apart, his arms folded. He had changed and was now wearing black trousers and a black shirt.
“Leave us alone,” he commanded, his voice threatening.
Chairs were pushed aside and the few crew members who were in the canteen gradually left the room.
“You, too, Farron.”
“Kordan. Perh
aps you should…”
“Ouuuuut!” roared Kordan and Farron glanced at Lory apologetically before he got up and likewise left the room.
Lory’s heart was pounding madly. She stared back at Kordan. Anger and fear battled within her. Kordan looked as if he might wring her neck at any moment. She was tough but not suicidal. She knew that she had no chance against this giant.
“Oversized what?” he asked in an ominously calm tone.
“Oversized peacock,” Lory helped him out, intimidated.
Kordan’s thick jugular was throbbing and his eyes had become slits. She could have sworn that his pupils were suddenly long. Almost like a cat’s. She swallowed hard.
“What is a peacock?” he asked.
“It’s … you don’t want to know.”
“Oh, yes, I do want to know!”
Lory moved her tongue nervously over her lips.
“It’s a bird,” she answered tentatively.
“A bird. You’re comparing me with a bird? I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”
“A peacock is a … umm … male bird that puffs itself up conceitedly.”
“And you think that I – puff myself up, yeah?”
He stood up in front of her threateningly.
“You’re doing it again. Do you see? You’re trying to intimidate me. You do your ‘I’m the general here’ thing and you think you have a right to everyone here. But I’ll tell you something right now! You can forget about ever having me! I’ll castrate you and force your testicles down your throat before I let you touch me. I’m warning you. I’m used to dealing with villains like you. I will …”
She fell silent as Kordan, with one swipe, swept aside the table that had, up to now, stood protectively between them. A cry of fright came from her and she jumped from her chair to run away but he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him.
“Let me go, you barbarian!”
Fighting Lory (English Edition) (Lords Of Arr'Carthian 2) Page 5