To Touch the Stars

by Tess Mallory

  "Because any kind of uniform draws suspicion on this world. I just went to the edge of the city and believe me, I drew stares." Sky snorted and began pulling pieces of clothing out of the pile. She held each one up for a scant second before tossing it aside. "Where's Kell?" she asked, pulling out a bright purple shirt and flinging it to the ground with more than her usual vehemence. "On the com inside the shuttle talking to P'ton. He said he had a few last instructions to give him about what to do if the ship is ordered to land." She glanced up. "Is that likely?"

  "It's a good idea to take precautions. Barbaros 9 authorities are somewhat unpredictable."

  Sky sighed and threw the last piece of clothing to the ground. She stood, brushing the dirt from the legs of her dark blue uniform. Eagle had to look away. The sight of the wind blowing her long hair in wild abandonment around her beautiful, irate face made what he had to do all the harder. Her hair whipped around, slapping her in the face, and, obviously irritated, she pulled it back and knotted it behind her neck. She looked up at him, hands on her hips, eyes reflecting her weariness even if her voice did not.

  "Why are we here, Colonel?" Sky demanded. "I'm not willing to go any farther until you tell us."

  "We're here to find your sister."

  She cocked her head at him. "So you're telling me she's here—on this gutter world?" Her tone said she didn't believe him.

  "I can't tell you that for certain, but the person who took her from Station One is here."

  Her eyes widened and she took a step toward him. "You mean you know who took her? You said you didn't!"

  He shrugged. "I lied."

  "You—you—" She sputtered, out of words, and stood blinking at him in amazement. "I can't believe it." Her hands settled on her hips as she lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing. "I can't think of anything bad enough to call you."

  Eagle held up a lime-green tunic and frowned at it, then lowered the garment as he glanced her way. "You? Out of words? I can't believe it either."

  "But I'll think of a way to pay you back," she added, her voice soft with promise—but not the kind he thought about at night when he tried to sleep. He tossed the tunic aside and leaned his foot against one of the large rocks that dotted the landscape on this world, resting both arms against his thigh.

  "Look, sweetheart, you didn't level with me until last night. Why should I have leveled with you any sooner? "We're here, I'm taking you to him. That should be enough."

  "Well, it isn't enough. See here, Colonel—"

  "Eagle."

  She looked at him, startled. "What?"

  "We're partners now, sort of, so let's try to put the rather rocky beginnings we had behind us. I'm willing if you are."

  Sky laughed sharply. Turning away from him, she strode the few feet back to the shuttle and leaned against it, folding her arms stubbornly across her chest. "I don't know what your game is, Colonel, but let's stick to business. And we are not partners. You have forced me into this position against my will." Her gaze slid back at him, mockingly. "Which is something you seem to be very good at doing."

  Eagle shot her an incredulous look. So, she was going to bring it up, was she? She had more courage than he gave her credit for. He moved toward her, keeping her gaze locked with his. When he reached her side, he felt as though she had reached out and snagged his insides, pulling him to her. Similar to the power he had felt from Mayla before, but infinitely different. This heat was the heat of their mutual passion. He saw awareness flicker in her eyes, and she took a step back from him, sliding her body along that of the shuttle.

  "That was a mistake," he said, leaning one arm from elbow to wrist against the metallic surface near her head. "Don't you agree?"

  She lifted her chin, giving him such a cool look he almost shivered. "Definitely. I'm just not used to having a man force himself on me with so little provocation."

  Eagle stared down at her, shaking his head slowly. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? You wanted me just as much as I wanted you." She opened her mouth to deny it. He could see it in her eyes, but she pressed her lips back together tightly.

  Because she couldn't. She had wanted him. She still wanted him. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and he followed the movement, feeling something in his gut tighten with need.

  Sky tossed her head and looked away from him, breaking their connection. "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? Men use that line of thinking to justify their own kind of violence. You didn't want me," she accused. "You wanted to punish me."

  Eagle eased the smile across his face as he tilted his head toward hers and raised both brows. He reached for her and suddenly she was in his arms, her soft, supple body pressed tightly against him. Their lips were very close and he kept his voice soft, very soft.

  "Well, let's try it again, Princess, and this time you can 'punish' me."

  She leaned toward him and Eagle could almost taste her when pain darted through his foot, his instep, and up his leg as Sky's boot heel came crashing down.

  "Damn!" he shouted, jerking away from her and stumbling over to a rock. He sat down and glared up at her. "What was that for?"

  "That, my dear Colonel, is just a little reminder for you to keep your hands to yourself I am not interested in you as anything but a means by which to reach my sister!"

  Eagle rose slowly, feeling the anger inside rise along with him. With difficulty, he kept his temper under control as he walked back and stopped only inches away from her. He didn't touch her, but he moved as close as he could, threatening her silently with the heat of his body. She swallowed hard and he watched a small dart of fear flicker through her turquoise eyes.

  "Does that go both ways, Captain?" he asked, in a deceptively quiet voice. "And in return will you agree to keep your mind out of my brain? What was all that about anyway? Was your little excursion into my private thoughts just your way of showing me what you're capable of?

  No," she said hotly, "that was an accident." She looked away. "It was a mistake."

  "Oh, like my mistake in desiring your lovely body." She shot him a derisive look and he chuckled. "I've heard stories about you Cezans. Crazy with power and not afraid to use it. No wonder my father wants to keep you all under lock and key."

  Sky turned on him like a she-cat, one hand raised as if she would strike him. He never flinched. "You're wrong," she hissed, lowering her hand back to her side. Eagle saw the pain in her eyes as she turned away, and it was with difficulty that he kept himself from lifting a hand toward her in sympathy. Instead he shoved both hands into the pocket of the oversized jacket he'd borrowed from P'ton on the Defiant.

  "Am I? About what?"

  "Zarn doesn't want to lock us up—he wants to kill us, like he killed the rest of my family on Andromeda." Her lips curved up as she rested her hands on her hips, her stance cocky, arrogant. "But I'm not like the rest of my family, space-boy, and never make the mistake of thinking that I am. I'm tougher, I'm meaner, and I'm a hell of a lot harder to kill."

  "Big words," he said, turning away and kneeling down to open the chest of supplies they had brought along. He pulled out a regular blaster and holster and stood, fastening it around his waist. She watched his movements and he wasn't surprised when she demanded her own weapon. He handed her one complete with holster as he continued.

  "My father never killed your family," he said. "Your own people killed them in retaliation for their dealings with the slavers who first invaded this system. If it hadn't been for my father and the Forces, Andromeda would have been stripped of her resources and her people."

  "Instead, we were just stripped of our children and our rights as human beings," she said softly.

  Eagle heard the pain in her voice and drew in a sharp breath as he felt her despair slice through him. He finished tightening the holster and forced himself not to look up. He tried to keep the sharp edge of anger he'd had a minute ago but couldn't find it. Their connection was already too deep. He couldn't ignore her pain. He glanced up at her and
was captured momentarily by the agony in her eyes. He cleared his throat and averted his gaze, using the ploy of checking his blaster's energy level to keep from looking at her again.

  "We saved your entire race."

  "You don't really believe that stupid story, do you?" she asked, the agony in her words cutting through his defenses. "Zarn arbitrarily attacked our world for our resources and the power my family possessed. There were no slavers."

  Eagle shoved the gun in the holster and finally looked at her. She wasn't looking at him. She was staring at the ground, her arms wrapped around herself as if she feared that if she let go, she would fly apart. Faint tears traced a pitiful pattern down her cheeks, and her dark lashes painted a half-moon across her creamy skin. He wanted to reach out and brush the tears away. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her and tell her he'd never let anything hurt her again. Instead, he summoned the hard control that had kept him alive in the Forces for so many years.

  "My family did nothing wrong," she went on, her voice gaining in strength. "My parents ruled Andromeda in benevolence and kindness, just as their parents before them and their parents before them. Your father's troops stormed the palace; they slaughtered my mother and father, my sisters and my brothers. Two of them weren't even five years old." Her grief rushed out to consume him and Eagle closed his eyes against it. A silence stretched between them, broken only by her ragged breathing. She was trying not to cry, he knew.

  "Listen," he said, keeping his voice even. "I know that's what you believe happened, but were you there?" She shook her head. He moved a step closer. "Think about this: Isn't it easier to believe the Rigelians destroyed your family than their own people? Of course it is. This is just more of the propaganda the rebels have spread about Zarn."

  Sky wiped the tears from her face and turned on him, her eyes snapping with rage, all trace of weakness gone. "And I suppose the fact that our children are stolen from us, that's just propaganda too! And the mind-probing—that's a lie started by the rebels. Is that what you would have me believe?"

  "No, of course not. But those things can change."

  "How?" she demanded, turning toward him. "How can it change?"

  Eagle slid his gaze back to her. "There is a way. Just believe that for a while, will you?"

  "Believe what?" Kell came around the side of the shuttle, his stride purposeful. He glanced from Eagle to Sky and back again. "Is something wrong?"

  "Not if you don't mind purple," Eagle said easily, tossing a pile of brightly colored clothing to the man. Kell caught it and looked down at the bundle. One blue brow darted upward in eloquent silence.

  Eagle lifted one shoulder apologetically. "Altairians are known for their flamboyance, aren't they?"

  "Sure, just as Rigelians are known for their loyalty and compassion," Sky taunted.

  Eagle ignored her. Kell continued to stare at him, and at last Eagle cleared his throat. "Okay, so they aren't. Just put them on, will you?"

  "And just where am I supposed to do this?" Kell asked, his hands flat beneath the mound of clothing as if he was trying to keep from touching the garments any more than possible.

  "How about the shuttle?"

  His only answer was silence. The shuttle was too small to do anything in except sit. Eagle was counting on both Kell's and Sky's unwillingness to use it as a changing room.

  "Okay, then how about the forest over there. Nice, dark, leafy. I promise no one will intrude on your privacy."

  Kell turned and looked where Eagle was pointing. The road leading to the distant city was flanked on either side by a thick, twisted forest. Their shuttle had landed at the top of a small hill and looked down on both the road and the forest, but a few copses of the strange trees with blue-green bark and dull orange and gold leaves grew at the bottom of the hill.

  Without another word, Kell turned and headed toward the wooded area closest to them. If Eagle hadn't known better, he'd have sworn the Altairian was muttering to himself.

  "You're next, Captain," Eagle called, holding out the dress to her. Would she take it, he wondered, or would she decide to go back to the ship? Ha. He wished he could take bets on that possibility, but the odds would be too ridiculous.

  She strode across the short distance and snatched it from his hand, her eyes narrow. "You did this on purpose," she retorted, before turning and marching toward the other side of the same wooded area as Kell.

  Eagle threw his own chosen costume of dark trousers and shirt over one shoulder, and just for a moment leaned back against the shuttle door, contemplating the peace surrounding them. Green mountains pushed against the sky on the distant horizon while blue-green grass traced a path up the rolling hillsides nearest the shuttle. Farther away the blue forest looked almost black, and the gold and orange leaves glimmered in the fading sun like some kind of rare metal. The sky was a beautiful pink, and as the red sun sank in the north, the color changed to a deeper rose, then to burgundy. In the opposite direction, the sky was not beautiful and ethereally painted with pastels. A muddy gray haze hovered above the central city of Barbaros 9, a sprawling, filthridden metropolis where the only law was the survival of the toughest.

  Eagle glanced down the hillside. Sky was disappearing into the blue-green wood. He had purposely landed miles from the metropolitan areas to give Kell and Sky a chance to disguise themselves and make their plans. His plans were already made. Whistling, he pulled the hatch on the shuttle open and climbed inside.

  Sky hurried down the dark alleyway, calling herself every name she knew in every language. It was taking her a good deal of time because she spoke at least seven languages fluently. But that was good. Let it take time. The flood of words dancing through her mind were keeping her fears at bay as she rushed down the dismal corridor she had accidentally stumbled into while trying to escape the clutches of a man enamored by her resemblance to a two-credit prostitute.

  Damn Eagle! She quickly switched the target of her mental tirade from herself to the man who had done this to her, to the man who had tricked her, lied to her, given her this p'fauking excuse for a disguise, taken the rest of the clothing and disappeared, leaving her and Kell with no choice but to head for the city on foot wearing the ridiculous costumes he'd provided. Their only alternative was to wear their uniforms, which would be asking for trouble.

  When they had arrived at the city they were exhausted, hungry, and ready to kill Eagle on sight. Barbaroscity had been worse than they expected. An added problem was the discovery that Eagle had taken all of the credits they'd pooled together for their excursion.

  She gritted her teeth and kicked her foot out as some small, unidentifiable animal scurried near her. Sky hurried forward, trying to keep her thoughts on what had led her to this dank alleyway.

  Once inside the city they had immediately started asking for directions for the Domma Domma tavern on the off chance Eagle had actually intended to meet his contact there. Knowing his devious brain, he would have thrown out the name, then expected them to think he had given them the wrong place, when all the time it was the true rendezvous point. Her outfit had drawn everything from wide-eyed stares to drooling leers to outright propositions and worse. She and Kell had decided to stay together, although Sky had argued they could cover more of the city if they split up. Kell had considered it until a huge bear of a man had tried to drag her into a doorway and force himself on her. Luckily the man had been intoxicated and all her first officer had to do was yank her away.

  Her disguise—if it could be called that, since it disguised little—was made from a soft blue material called wessil, and it fit as if it had been painted onto her. Transparent, it revealed every curve, every valley of her body. Too tight, too short, too low in the neckline, it was Eagle's revenge, loud and clear. Her anger against the man surged inside her chest again. He had known what kind of reaction people on this world would have to such a costume, and still he had left her in the predicament! She was glad she hadn't taken any of the ridiculous heat between them ser
iously. She was glad she had kept her heart completely closed away from the infuriating man.

  She hurried on through the alley, her feet crunching down on small, rough objects, some of which cracked like the thin bones of some poor creature. The stench was enough to fell a grown man, and when she stumbled into a refuse can, knocking it over and adding to the horrible aroma assaulting her nostrils, she ground to a halt, pulling back and bending over, trying to catch her breath.

  It had been the last lewd proposition that had gotten them into trouble and ended up separating them. The Daltanes were possibly the most repugnant humanoids in the galaxy. Short, squat, with hardly any neck, the five-eyed beings had three tongues, and when one of them saw Sky beside a peddler's cart, he had run up to her and started salivating. Unfortunately, his tongues were on a level with her chest, and when one of the slimy green extensions touched her right breast, Kell had uncharacteristically exploded. His fist had connected with two of the Daltane's eyes and all hell had broken loose. One thing they quickly learned about Barbaros 9—everyone there apparently loved to fight.

  She had been pushed out into the streets and jostled into the crowd. She pulled the blaster Eagle had given her from the holster at her side, but it was quickly knocked from her hand. Somehow she'd managed to tear a cloak from someone plunging into the fight. She had veered off from the brawling crowd, wrapping the cloak protectively around herself, when the force of the mob pushed her off the street and into a dark alley. And now someone was following her.

  The sound of footsteps around the corner sent her into action, and Sky gathered her muscles for another run for freedom. Then he was there, or at least his shadow was. For a moment she wondered if perhaps he wasn't real at all, just some ghostly vision. Then he grabbed her by both arms and she knew he was very real, very dangerous.