"What is your name?"
"Malos. Lady you must leave, or I will be forced to call your mate to get you. I do not think this will make him agreeable."
"My mate is never agreeable. But that will not be what makes him mad. This will." She pointed the gun and fired. For a moment she thought there was no affect, but then without a change of expression the great oak of a man toppled over with a solid boom across the room. She was reassured when he immediately began to snore. She had not killed him.
She turned back to the keyboard, she knew a lot about the Tellox, but she didn't know when someone else might decide to come, or God forbid Brax come looking. She had to get this done.
Her fingers shook as she pressed in the codes she had memorized and took a deep calming breath. She would only get one chance at this, once Brax realized she had some of his knowledge he would not underestimate her again. She would not get a second chance, and she really did not want to be here when he returned and found out what she had done.
There. The information on the field generator. She downloaded it into a crystal and stood. She hid the stun gun behind her back and the crystal down her bodice. She headed out stepping over the large prone shape and closing the door securely behind her. She put in the master code and locked it down. No one would be able to get in or out except Brax and he, hopefully, would be busy long enough for her to get this done.
The Teleport room was locked with two guards stationed inside; she opened the door with the master code and stunned them while they reeled at her unexpected presence. She could see why the only stunners allowed on board were in the com room and the bridge. They were highly effective and too fast for a warrior to defend himself.
They certainly evened the odds for her. The fact that only a handful knew where and how to retrieve them was a blessing. She grabbed the gold arm band that cast the invisible shroud and placed it on her arm setting it to on; she set the transporter for the only place she thought might have the hope of getting this done and stepped into the beam. More than a little worried about the whole scramble your molecules and put them back together somewhere else. It was way cooler to watch someone else doing it on Star Trek.
She closed her eyes when the light began to brighten around her, a second later with just a cold wind she opened them, and she was in a round white room looking at the President of the United States across an antique desk that once belonged to George Washington. This was going to be the tricky part.
She turned off the invisibility cloak but left the force field on.
"Mr. President."
The doors banged open; the secret service had her surrounded and the president under the desk within seconds. The sounds of movement and guns clicking to a fire position was audible in the medley.
"Drop the weapon!"
She had forgotten about the stunner in her hand. She clicked it to safety and dropped it. Raising her hands palms out in the universal sign of surrender. Two of them came around but when they hit the shield they backed up quickly.
"She's shielded." Everyone moved between her and the President. "She's Tellox."
"My name is Ariel Bird, please I know how I look, but I am human. At least I was, and I don't have a lot of time, so I need you to listen. I am human, and I must talk to the president. If I was here to harm him I could have done that while cloaked."
"She does have a point." Came an ironic voice from beneath a desk and a pile of secret service. "Let me up."
"But sir..." A scarred man started to protest but was interrupted firmly.
"Now, Mr. Fields."
"Yes sir." The men moved back away from the desk their weapons trained on Ariel. "If you try anything I'll put you down."
Ariel was not going to remind him that their weapons were useless against her shields, they were jumpy enough already. In any case she was sure at least the black-eyed Mr. Fields knew it.
"We don't have much time. So, I will tell you all after I give you this."
Her hand reached inside her bodice and Fields hissed. But all she pulled out was the encoded crystal, which he eyed with suspicion.
"This is a copy of the shield generator specifications that all the Tellox have been using as both a cloaking device and a shield. If you get it to Dr. Green at MIT she should be able to help you with the math. She's been working on something similar in her labs on a much smaller scale and I think this should kick start her work." Ariel could have done it faster with her new knowledge, possibly even before she had the extra information she now had on the Tellox technology, but she knew how impossible that would be. "It might take you a while, but it could mean the difference in your dealings with the Tellox, and anyone else who comes calling.
The president sat back behind his desk, but the tension in the room had just escalated.
"Where did you get that?"
"From the Tellox command ship."
Everyone was silent for all of 2 minutes, absorbing that.
"You say you are human, you have been aboard the Tellox ship and you conveniently, what escaped and brought us deflector shield information. How would you even know about it?"
"I realize that this is all very strange to you and suspicious, but I need you to take this crystal, build the shield. The Tellox are here on Earth and the shield is your only hope for peace."
The president interrupted. "Why did they come back? Our experts have speculated but no one has any concrete answers. Why are they taking our people? How are they choosing who they take?"
Suddenly her head snapped up, the irises of her eyes flaring as she felt her body react to the change she could feel. Brax was close. How had he found her so fast?
"He is coming. Please take the crystal and get it and the president out of here, now."
Mr. Fields seemed undecided briefly then turned to the president. "Sir, I would prefer you to leave."
The president nodded but held out his hand. "The Crystal Ms. Bird."
She had to drop her shield to place it in his hands and she did, before she could bring it back up again the band was ripped from her arm and she was face first against the wall being searched.
"Please get him out of here." She was frantic, if the president and the crystal were here when Brax arrived all would be lost.
Mr. Field spoke. "I am going to get the president to safety and return, if she makes a move, any move, shoot to kill." The he spoke to Ariel. "Do you understand that lady?"
"I do. But it really would be best for all concerned if you let me go now."
"Not bloody likely." He and the President disappeared through a piece of the wall that opened and shut leaving no trace it existed. Ariel breathed out in relief. They had the Crystal, even if Brax could find her he would not know what she had done. But if he found her in danger like this she did not like to think of his reaction.
She knew the moment Brax entered the white house. Alone he strode through the place, despite his invisibility he was not trying to hide, people were being knocked against walls, doors bursting open all along the corridors, and Ariel could feel him above all, the closer he got the more of his feelings washed over her. He was beyond livid. He was killing mad. The dispenser of death. She could only hope it would be worth the price that would have to be paid. His Blood mate had run from him, and no one was safe until he had her back.
"This is going to be bad." She turned to the nearest man. "Please, you don't understand. He's coming, and he will kill all of you if he finds me unarmed, uncloaked and with weapons pointed at me. You need to let me go to him."
"Mr. Fields gave orders ma'am, please be still, we do not want to have to shoot you." He tightened up his sights.
They were going to die. Ariel knew, and there was nothing she could do about it if they would not listen.
The office was soundproofed so there was no warning before the steel door burst off its hinges and exploded into the room. The men turned toward the hallway and opened fire. Ariel dropped to the floor and covered her head as the room seemed to explo
de with violence and gun fire.
The barrage of sound was deafening and then a moment later there was complete silence. She did not open her eyes. She did not have to, she could feel him there watching her. Then his arms like steel stole around her yanking her up into his bruising kiss. His lips were merciless, demanding her surrender, taking what she wouldn't give fast enough, all his anger and blood lust in her mind like a red haze. She was incapable of thought. She forgot that there were innocent men dead all around them, that at that moment, he was the enemy without mercy. Her arms whipped around his neck to hold fast. She kissed him back and reveled in the return of his touch.
There was a flash of light seen even behind closed eyes, a brief glimpse of the transport room, and then as fast as he had grabbed her she was released. She looked around and saw the men she had stunned were still out but had no time to comment. Brax dropped his cloaking device and grabbed her wrist in a bruising grip, pulling her along behind him until they were once more in the king’s chambers and she was flung away from him.
Brax stood there, his arms crossed watching her. There was no expression on his face, but she could feel the strong emotions pumping off him. She had no idea what to expect other than that it was not going to be pleasant.
"You defied me."
"Yes."
"You attacked my men."
She cleared her throat. "Technically I stunned Rygan's men. You were the only one who killed people today."
He ignored her words and growled low, moving a little too close for comfort.
“You pulled a weapon on a seasoned warrior who might have killed you." His voice had not risen. If anything, it seemed to be getting colder, as if a great frost was settling in. "You put your life in jeopardy and the lives of Tellox warriors."
"Your men were never in any danger..." He interrupted her with a roar.
"They were in danger from me!" He had taken a step forward, and Ariel felt his need to mark her in every breath, not to hurt but to claim, but he stopped, kept space between them.
"Why?" He asked, the fire banked once more. "Why try to escape when you knew it would mean more death? Death you fought so hard to avoid? What could you have possibly hoped to gain? You knew I would come for you."
"Yes." She swallowed; breathing deep to clear her mind lest he read something in her emotions to clue him in on what she had really been doing on the planet.
"Tell me." He growled, finally closing the space between them to shake her. "Why did you leave me?"
She knew she had hurt him and that she should be reveling in triumph at the sharp pain radiating from him, instead it felt as if it was pulsing through her own heart.
She concentrated on her need for freedom and tried to wipe out any emotions pertaining to helping Earth. "Maybe I needed to see if I could."
"So, this was a test? You could have been killed because you wanted to test me?" He narrowed his eyes. "You are lying to me. You forget I have been in your mind. You are entirely too smart for what you just did." He growled. "Are you going to tell me what you were really doing, or do I need to push past those so careful barriers you have erected between us in your mind and find out the truth for myself."
She wrenched herself out of his arms. Her voice went low with its own growl. "You might not want to see what’s in my head just this moment, mate.”
She sucked in a breath and tried for calm in the face of his anger. She wanted to rail at him, but she was honest enough with herself to know she was more angry at the circumstances that led them here than him.
“I have been considered a mathematical protege my whole life, do you know what that means?" She turned and flung her arms out, without waiting for his answer. "It means I not only know I can make a difference in the world, but that I am required to do so. I am not some helpless female that will sit around and wait for someone else to make decisions in my life. If you expect that of me, you might as well spit in the wind and see what it gets you."
"You are not telling me anything I have not already seen in your mind for myself," Brax growled. "Stop stalling and tell me what you are trying to avoid saying."
"I gave the humans the specifications for your force field generator."
The silence after that bold statement was almost deafening. "What makes you think they could produce one even with the specs at their disposal. It is in Tellox, and far above anything they have ever seen, let alone tried to duplicate. Chances are it will be so much gibberish to them. It could take them years to duplicate, even if they were able to understand it.
She raised her chin at his open doubt. "They also have the personal shield I took down with me.” She had not planned to leave it behind, but she would have if she had thought of it so she could not be sad it happened. “It is a working model, albeit a much smaller version than the planetwide one they will be attempting. With that, and the quick notes and suggestions on who they should call in for the math I added, they should be able to come up with something fairly quickly." She shrugged, "and if not, at least they have a chance, which is more than they had before."
CHAPTER EIGHT
"We are leaving now," he finally said, his voice low and tightly controlled, but his emotions were nearly feral. Not in anger she realized, but in fear. He was worried for her, and he had no idea how to handle it. He was also dragging her toward the portal before he finished speaking.
"What about the prisoners?" she asked quickly. She yanked her hand away from his grip and stood her ground. "We can't leave them here for Rygan to do as he pleases."
"Do you have any idea what will happen when your actions are discovered? And they will be discovered. Once the Tellox you stunned wake up they are going to go looking for a reason for your actions." He walked away from her and then back again, highly agitated. "Giving away Tellox secrets is treason in the most lenient mind. My brother would kill his own mate for what you have done. They will call for punishment and know something is off if I decline. I will be forced to kill everyone to protect you."
"I'm not saying we should stay here," Ariel said reasonably. "Just that we need to take care of one more small thing before we do."
"One more small thing?" he growled back at her. "Freeing the possible mates is no small thing. Since you showed them that human did not mean inept they have set guards and video on them. It is not as if we stroll down the hall, motion them to the nearest transport and send them on their way. The only reason the men are not swarming is because they are awaiting the scientists test results for blood compatibility"
"I'm not leaving without them."
He growled again and stalked back to her until she was forced to back up or be trampled. She hit the wall and he crowded her. "You will do what I say, or I will knock you out and drag you away by your hair."
This time it was Ariel's turn to growl. "Try it caveman and you'll wake up one morning with a terminal case of jock itch." She stepped up on her tip toes to try to give herself more height to match her anger. "I might specialize in math but that does not mean I did not learn a thing or two about chemicals at MIT."
"We don't have time for heroics, you have seen to that."
Ariel stood her ground. "If we leave without freeing the prisoners you will have to watch me every minute of every day, because I will always be looking for a way to come back for them."
Even if she did not know the languages now, she would have recognized Brax was cursing fluently. Because he could see inside her head. He knew she was not bluffing.
He pointed at her and growled long and low, clearly beyond words. But he was going to help her. She knew that from the completely frustrated look in those raging eyes. Something deep inside her relaxed. A barrier she realized coming down. He was going to help her. She had not known until that moment if when it came down to it if he would choose his people over her. Now she knew. She just had to hope that her need to help the women she had been taken alongside did not cost them more than they could afford to pay.
***
Brax as King Rygan ordered everyone to the bridge for an announcement concerning the females taken from Earth. The command and the subject insured that everyone would be in the bridge when they needed them away from their posts. It also kept the stunned warriors from being discovered before they finished what they needed to do.
With the King’s private force away, there were not that many on board. The problem was going to be teleporting the women down, wiping the memory and getting to their own ship and away before the crew could react to the teleport alert that will be sent directly to the bridge. There was no way to disable it from communications.
When Ariel informed Brax of her plan for giving them time he had looked at her with clear surprise. "And you think you can do that?"
She raised a brow at him. You have been inside my head. You have to know what I’m capable of."
"In truth," the warrior said, looking resigned. "Most of what you have in your head makes moves too fast for me to catch or make sense of. But I do believe that you can accomplish whatever you want to accomplish, so I will simply trust that while our technology is beyond Earth capabilities, it is not beyond yours."
Ariel did not even attempt modesty. "From what I have seen of your tech it was another species all together that created it. The Tellox merely adapted it to suit their needs. I have a feeling with a little time I will be more qualified to work the tech on this ship than any Tellox.
Brax did not argue. "Let's hope you are right, because if you cannot we will be fighting our way off the ship. And probably attract the attention of the other Tellox ships in orbit while we are about it."
Since he had been busy with his own human, Brax had never been to the hold where the other women were kept. He was shocked to find so many had been taken. All of them looked varying degrees of scared and openly hostile. He had to admit that his mate had a point when she told him this was not the way to go about finding mates. None of these women needed to be here. And none of them looked remotely interested in anything the Tellox might have to offer. Now or in the future if the testing comes up with a match for them.
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