M'yote's smile didn't turn down noting his understanding of my insulting metaphor. He seemed content with keeping me on my feet and guiding me to a seat. His hands gloved.
Like I didn't need a little medicinal blue skin stroking mine. “This is madness,” I managed, sealing my eyes tight. It was just plain easier to rest my forehead on my crossed wrists on the table.
"I'm right here, Theone,” M'yote said.
Screw him. Whose bright idea required I sit here while they eat?
Something crashed.
Residual rattling indicated the destroyed object had contained dishes or forks.
"Gods-damn you, you fucking !Dakos machine!"
No, Solvun. My mouthy King was after Flonn again. I tried to lift my head. Tried to look the direction where a few loud thumps originated. But my head swooned. Lights smeared. “What is it, M'yote?"
"My Gods-be-damned brother can't keep his comments to himself. No doubt. He's trying to beat the life out of Flonn. But can't even touch the large cyborg."
"Pull your damned sword on me, !Dakos. Give me all you've got,” Solvun growled a taunt.
What would happen if one of them died? “No!” I tried to shove off the metal table.
Gravity pulled my useless muscles and joints back to the hard table's surface.
One of them would die. And killed by each other. My mates! And then where will I be? “Make them stop, M'yote.” Shit. I can't even see. Kill me instead. End this madness.
"Let them work this out of Solvun's blood. He harbors a need to fight Flonn. Until it's been fed, he'll cause problems among our clan."
But what about if one kills the other and the !Dakos retaliate? “Won't the guards come?"
"We'll see. I can't believe the guards wouldn't intervene. A !Dakos warrior's mass can really tear up a structure given he falls into objects."
A thunderous boom crashed.
The crowd groaned.
"Even walls—blessed Goddess. They're going to kill someone,” M'yote blurted. “And all these fools aren't giving them much room for accidentally killing innocent bystanders. Some planet will demand blood compensation for the death of its political official!"
A grunt and a bang sent more metallic objects rattling across the stone floor.
"Well, I hope you don't mind if they're covered in bruises and scabs for awhile, Theone. Your other mates are definitely morons."
My mates! “Do something, M'yote, before I have to do it myself."
"Very well. Stay here.” He patted my shoulder and rose.
Okay. I could wait. Sit. Try not to listen.
A loud thump started a resonating din.
Someone grabbed me beneath my armpits.
"M'yote!"
The whirling world shifted. Hands held me off the floor.
"Take her. Quickly,” Some male said with little accent.
"No!” Where were my mates? Killing each other. “Flonn!” I tried to shake free of all the hands grabbing me.
The loudest roar tore through the mess hall.
My !Dakos warrior. “Flonn!” I tried to crane my neck to see his huge form. But all I could see was a smear of whirling lighting.
The whole room was in motion.
Humming. Bodies crunching into others. Into me.
Groping hands came and went.
"Get off me!” I kicked, futilely.
So, damned many perverts. And to think they would help save their home worlds. Not if I ratted on them. The bastards. Give me a chance. They could all rot in this sinking ship. “You Gods-damned shark fodder. Get your fucking hands off me."
Suddenly the air cooled.
And cleared of food odors.
I blinked away the vertigo, locking my gaze on purple, Bug Eyes. “You're one dead bastard.” I yanked my knee out of some red bastard's hand and started kicking chins and throats.
Adrenaline had a funny way of feeding cells. My hunger vanished with survival mode.
My ass fell on the hard stone floor as the political flotsam and jetsam rushed around me like an oncoming tsunami consuming beach. Bug Eyes was gone though. Where was I? Definitely off the sinking ship. Marooned. Washed ashore. Surrounded by wild natives. Not even the beach was safe on this screwed-up planet.
Someone grabbed my shoulder.
I shoved off the floor and rammed my skull into the guy's chin.
He groaned and sank away.
Red devil maggot. I kicked him in the groin to keep the bastard lying there while I ran and with the flow of the bodies forcing a bottleneck down the corridor through a doorway.
Someone else grabbed me.
Idiot. I rammed an elbow backward.
Hard steel.
Pain resonated down my arm.
So much pain. I couldn't move.
I was lifted, into enormous arms, and stared into the emerald green eyes of my !Dakos warrior. “Are you injured, huv'ria?"
"Now that I tried to elbow you, yes.” I rubbed the pulsing funny-bone's residual pain.
"Let's go,” Solvun snarled.
He stood behind my back at Flonn's elbow at eye level with me. M'yote's blue and black form near my boots swinging off Flonn's other side.
We ran. And ran. Okay, I hung on while Flonn ran through corridors riddled with unruly inmates. Through doorways.
Where were we going?
Flonn stepped into a sunlit passageway into shadow between two plain box buildings. My other mates behind us. And then we turned through a metal doorway into a large domed structure.
The hangar.
Flonn didn't stop to chat or discuss particulars. He trotted his thumping huge feet up the gangplank to plop me into the pilot's seat. With a few tucks of my arms, he had me strapped in ready for flight. He kissed my cheek and smiled. “My huv'ria needs a safer place to gestate."
Does oh how sweet serve any greater function than labeling my !Dakos mate right here and now?
"Quit stalling, Theo. Time's wasting. Any minute some !Dakos contingent could storm in here. Get The Savior's ass into space.” Sol fell into the navigator's chair and buckled up.
"Hatch secured,” M'yote called, darting to another seat.
He and Flonn strapped in.
All secure. In seconds, The Savior's computer came online, cleared me for command, and launched us toward the stars.
"They'll pursue,” Sol warned. “M'yote says this ship does something special. Let's see."
My thoughts exactly. And all I had to do was lean back and give the orders. “Computer, prepare for hyper-jump."
"Coordinates, Captain Kemble?"
"Seven-jump evasive sequence with ten-second intervals between hyper-jumps. Destination given during intervals. Three seconds on my mark.” I glanced around at the serious faces of my mates. “Hang on.” I turned to rest comfortably for the clattering bone-jarring hops. “Mark.” I always thought that a stupid and obvious signal.
"Hyper-jump evasive sequence activated. In three seconds. Two seconds. One second."
The ship smeared into yellow and orange streams of light with a jolt that could wake the dead. Rattling every cell in my body into a mind-numbing ass-grinding seemingly never-ending burst from one point in space to another. Slide. That's what Goro called it.
The Savior came to a sudden jarring halt around Flonn. Was a !Dakos fighter materializing outside yet? Were the !Dakos following us? Had Father decided I wasn't capable of completing this mission? Yes, the colony needed success. I could end our current insanity of existence as much as M'yote's hand with my solution through political marriage. By providing a chance to raise children unaffected by !Dakos history. I must succeed.
Save my huv'ria. Block translating the data I heard from her commands—not allowing it to stream to the central node. Just in case my thoughts could still connect with others. Knowledge the Council didn't have couldn't hurt my mate.
"First hyper-jump evasive sequence interval. Jump in ten seconds. Nine—"
"Computer, destination alpha sixty-four
prime,” Theone ordered.
The string of information meant nothing to me. But might possibly to the Council after they analyzed the database from The Savior. I'd have to think of other things when Theone spoke next time.
Solvun caught my eye.
The King had a conspiratorial gaze locked upon me.
Calculating my actions. Measuring my intent. What kind of king would he be otherwise? A worthy mate for my huv'ria. Solvun will know this to be true some day.
"Three seconds. Two seconds."
The King turned back to face to vast expanse of black space.
The ship jerked into blinding yellow and orange light smeared like a strange rainbow of temperature-less heat in the hyperspace of inter-dimensional travel. I could only stare at my huv'ria's hair pulled back into a thick quivering tail. And wait. See what would come of this escape. Would Father send a fighter to follow in reconnaissance? Or to seize whatever they could find?
The rush of immeasurable energy slammed still as quickly as it began.
The computer chimed in. “Second hyper-jump evasive sequence interval. Jump in ten seconds. Nine—"
"Computer, destination two Seta slingshot X-foil gamma seventeen,” Theone ordered.
Code. Equally encrypted. Excellent. The !Dakos pursuing us will have a difficult time placing the terms to a location.
Theone smiled at us. “Hold on, boys. This one is going to hurt. Slingshots are the worst.” She turned back to the swath of star-spangled darkness beyond the hull.
And that was no misjudgment.
The ship hooked us left then right like a slingshot through a blue hyperspace tunnel etched from some sort of electro-magnetic radiation. I'd never seen anything of the sort even though young !Dakos warriors are taught to travel inter-dimensionally by the age of eighty for survival purposes. But my Theone was full of surprises. So time to just enjoy the view. Wherever we landed.
With a painful crash and four dying jumps, The Savior skipped to a standstill off a red planet's atmosphere.
The computer chimed in. “Third hyper-jump evasive sequence interval. Jump in ten seconds. Nine—"
"Computer, destination one-one-niner smooth and steady,” Theone ordered and peered around at each of us. “Everyone okay?"
Nobody answered with more than a nod.
"Well, this next hop's a breeze. I could lay a baby on the floor and never think twice.” She smiled.
"Three seconds. Two seconds. One second."
And we were away.
The computer immediately noted its status. “Fourth hyper-jump evasive sequence interval. Jump in ten seconds. Nine—"
"Computer, destination forty-three slingshot X-foil gamma Treklos,” Theone ordered. “We'll lose anyone and everyone this time. Hang on, gentlemen."
Formal address? Solvun had yet to prove he could behave as such. Especially after he tried to spear me through in the mess hall. We were only acting. Yet, Solvun's enthusiasm revealed his heart was in the hand-to-hand combat. Well, a dignified warrior would keep his opinions to himself.
"Three seconds. Two seconds. One second."
The ship groaned.
Dead.
"Computer, systems report,” Theone shot up at attention.
"Electrical systems malfunction."
"Okay,” Theone popped free of her safety belt and rose. “Stay in your seats. Just in a case someone sneaks up on us.” She smiled, stuffing something in her waistband, reaching for a silver ladder to her left, climbing two rungs, grabbing the edge of a large metal panel. She pulled. Groaned. And heaved. The muscles in her bare arms bulging.
Yet, the metal held fast. “I can assist you,” I offered.
The metal sheet popped free.
"Got it. Sit tight. I know what the problem is."
"That same little issue we had outside Treusch's atmosphere?” M'yote asked.
Why did I feel like he referred to something other than the obvious?
"Yes.” She thrust her shoulders into a shadowy space and plucked the tool from her waistband, apparently at ease with working among the wires and circuits. “Looks like the !Dakos jacked with my ship while I was in detention,” she snarled. “They couldn't have just left well enough alone, eh?"
M'yote and Solvun eyed me with suspicion.
"Undoubtedly,” Solvun muttered. “Can it be fixed?"
She jammed the metal panel back into place and hopped down. “Oh yes. I just need to ensure the wires had been connected correctly.” She shot me a smile. “After all, this is top-secret covert technology. I'm the only person aboard trained to repair and operate The Savior.” She plopped onto her ass on the floor, facing me, leaning back under the console, worming around her pilot's chair. “Well, here we go, boys."
"Hyper-jump in three second—"
"Shit!” Theone spat, flinching to life, her boots kicking to crawl out from beneath the console.
The ship rammed into another smudge of golden hyperspace light, throwing Theone into the base of her seat. She grabbed onto the bars at the base, eyes wider than anything I'd ever seen.
Holding. My huv'ria couldn't hang on for long.
The jarring force of the hyper-jump flung the ship one way and then the opposite direction, flicked her toward Solvun who couldn't possibly move from the forward momentum. Her arms shook out until she hung by her fingertips.
And the damned hyperspace tunnel of blue light had only just opened. We'd just begun the blink of transecting movement.
The ship jostled her hold loose.
Sacred Five Fathers, the ship's momentum would smash her into the back wall.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter Sixteen
My huv'ria skidded across the floor toward me in the wrestling momentum caused by the hyper-jump. Past me. I grabbed her ankle. The blessed leather of the boot was strapped on in three places around the shaft. I needed to get her in my lap before her boot slipped free of her leg.
Fraction of microsecond by precious fraction of microsecond as time strained to snap back into one recognizable beat, I pulled her into my lap, careful not to bend her neck wrong. I wrapped both arms around her slim waist and held her to my chest.
Her head snapped back onto my shoulder.
I couldn't see her eyes.
The ship froze.
Her heart thrashed so wildly I knew she wasn't dead.
The computer reported. “Fifth hyper-jump evasive sequence interval. Jump in ten seconds. Nine—"
"Huv'ria?"
She threw up a palm at me. “Computer, destination one-one-niner Meta Plexus three."
"Are you in pain?” I asked.
"My leg. But if you can hold me, I'll wait until the next interval to strap back into my seat."
"As you wish.” I tightened my embrace and stared past the console at the most beautiful blue-and-white jewel of a planet. Something akin to M'yote's eye color. But lovelier.
Theo rode out the hyper-jumps under her !Dakos warrior's care on his lap. He just kept saving me, she thought. Perfect timing because The Savior landed right off Earth's atmosphere. Instead of reacting, I just sent us on our merry way. And nobody could convince me a being saved its mate or potential progeny for anything other than selfish reasons. Just another way to see he has a soul. End of subject. He could make his own decisions. Now, how he colored his soul was another can of worms, including the darkening aspects of betrayal and surveillance Solvun accused him of. Add to the mix Flonn needed Prall nanites to keep me healthy. The !Dako warrior was definitely here for me. Not working against the Prall's.
M'yote unbuckled his safety harness. “Flonn, please put her in her seat. I'll heal her leg."
Flonn gently placed me in my pilot's chair and knelt at my side opposite M'yote.
Maybe all of this mating stuff was going to my head. But I felt honored to have two males like these kneeling before me. Prime beef. Gods. Ribeye.
My mouth watered.
At least I didn't want to gag at the thought of food
.
M'yote slid a hand beneath my heel and raised my boot slowly. His blue gaze caught mine. “Does this hurt?"
"No. It's my calf. It struck something when I was thrown aft."
"Yes. I see the red mark, darkening now.” He smiled serenely. “Sit back and relax.” He lowered my leg and plucked the fingertips of his black glove from one hand. “Now, Flonn, do not touch her as I work."
Flonn nodded and scooted back.
"You wouldn't want to accidentally rearrange his insides. Would you?” Sol goaded.
Not sarcasm again. Not now. I shot him a chastising smirk. “What's wrong with you?"
One of his golden eyebrows arched. “Never trust a !Dakos warrior."
"He just saved my life twice today! Maybe more. I can't remember. It's been a freaking blur."
A tingle of warmth tickled my calf.
Serenity washed through me.
Whoa. I turned back to find M'yote's twinkling star-enveloped hand on my leg.
"Better yet?” He smiled the naughtiest little smile on his perfectly-sculpted lips.
"Yes.” I settled back onto the headrest of the pilot's chair. “Very nice. M'yote, you may touch me anytime."
His naughty smile split into a broad sparkling grin.
Maybe I like him better all happy and open than aloof and mysterious. Hey, I was just talking to Sol. About what? “Sol?"
He stepped over into my view next to his kneeling half-brother.
"What were we discussing?” I asked.
"I had said never trust a !Dakos warrior. You were in disagreement."
"Be nice. Flonn is here to stay."
"He's probably reporting to the Council every place we land, every string of coordinates you rattled off to the computer."
Why did Sol have to say these things? Was he that threatened by sharing me? “Flonn can send information across Quadrants?"
Sol's brow knitted.
"You don't know where we are, do you?” I swallowed a laugh to keep from irritating him.
"Actually, no.” Sol snaked his arms across his chest.
I flicked my gaze to M'yote's eyes. “Would you like to explain since your touch has me a bit touched?"
He chuckled and sheathed his amazing hand in its glove. “We're heading back to an organization created by the Free-Thinking Council.” M'yote rose. “Theone is a member of this organization dedicated to helping cultures transition back into self-sufficient operation after Voldon was unseated from his reign."
Feral Series IV: Feral Fallout Page 18