"I demand--"
"Trust me when I tell you that you are in no position to demand anything of me."
Cat swung her lower body over and upward with every dram of strength she had. Wulfe moved fast enough she missed connecting with his belly, but only by a hairsbreadth.
He shook his head, almost regretfully, and used the second thong to tie her booted ankles together instead. "Enough."
"I will never forgive you for this." She glared at him, refusing to cower beneath his unyielding gaze.
"I have no doubt of that, but at least you will be alive to carry the grudge. Try not to do anything to hurt yourself while I'm gone." Wulfe released the stiletto from her thigh sheath. "You won't need this. Or this." He took his sidearm off its stand. "Lie back. Relax. Sleep. You need the rest."
He pivoted to leave the sleeping chamber, stopped to turn back and study her, took the rank insignia from her collar. "Computer. Disable all computer terminals and voice links to these quarters. Eliminate Commander Culver's command overrides to these quarters. Secure all exits after my departure. Reactivate systems only on my command."
Acknowledged.
Wulfe turned his back on her, walked from the room.
Cat screamed her rage at his retreating form. Every vile name she could think of in at least thirty languages spewed forth. "You have not won, Bellon! If it takes my last breath, you will pay for this!"
"Of that I have no doubt," his response floated back to her as left the quarters.
Chapter 21
HALFWAY TO the bridge, Wulfe almost turned around and went back. Tying up Cat had been a spur of the moment impulse when he realized the tranq wasn't working as fast as he'd expected. The first rush of action had faded and now been replaced by unfamiliar guilt. Warriors seldom experienced such a pointless emotion, but Cat brought out the unexpected in him. She always had.
He soothed his conscience by reminding himself he acted strictly to keep her safe. The bindings, snug enough to hold against her squirming, shouldn't be tight enough to cut off circulation. Besides, she'd fall asleep in a few minutes and he'd return to his quarters to remove the thongs. Cat desperately needed the rest. The only damage this short confinement could cause would be some bruised pride on her part.
And any broken bones Cat might inflict on him in retaliation. Wulfe made a face at the wall of the otherwise empty lift car when he thought about his mate's temper. Still, that was part of her attraction.
The lift doors parted and revealed the bridge crew engaged in a flurry of activity.
"Verify that transmission," Jinny Riordan ordered in a stern voice Wulfe seldom heard the young Earther use.
"Aye," Seleen responded. "Identification signal confirmed, and they are under attack."
Wulfe strode onto the bridge, muscles tensing for action. "Who is?"
"Captain!" Riordan spun her seat around so she could face him. "The Orion, Sir. By the Mallochons. Captain Wheeler is requesting assistance."
"Lay in a course."
"Done, Sir."
"Let's move, then. Best speed." Wulfe looked to Seleen. "What are you picking up?"
"Long and short range scanners on line. Nothing out of the ordinary here in the Nutralian system, Captain. Scanning clear space between us and the Orion. I've notified Nutralis we are breaking orbit and temporarily leaving their system."
"Very well." Wulfe paced, too keyed up to sit and wait patiently in his captain's chair while he weighed the odds this could be a trick of some kind. No; Seleen had verified the ID as ordered by Riordan.
Now he must trust in Wheeler's ability to lead the Orion's crew until the Falchion arrived. With luck, Wheeler's crew would have some previous fighting experience of their own. "Seleen. Go to yellow alert, all decks. Inform Lieutenant Lyon what's happening so the flight crews are ready to scramble."
"Aye, Sir. Any special orders for Commander Culver?"
"What?" Wulfe's power of thought froze for a split second. Creator! Cat was--he couldn't leave the bridge in the middle of an alert like this. Perhaps Albright--no, he couldn't put his mate in that embarrassing position. Nor did he wish to face Albright's expected tirade about the situation. Cat would have to wait. "The commander is unavailable for the time being."
CAT RANTED UNTIL reasonably certain Wulfe wouldn't return any time soon--the yellow alert confirmed her feeling. She immediately channeled her energies into twisting her body enough to retrieve the small knife hidden inside the shaft of her left boot. Each unnatural contortion prompted Cat to remember a choice epithet to rain down upon Wulfe. Panting from exertion, frustration and rage, she separated herself from all but her goal: getting the bloody hell out of this mess.
The tips of two fingers grazed the hilt of the knife. Cat stopped breathing. She forced one finger a millimeter further. Back muscles spasmed. Her fingernail caught on a groove in the hilt. Tendons threatened to pop. She pried against the knife handle, all but begging her nail not to break. She exhaled the second she moved the knife enough to trigger the release mechanism and the hilt sprang into her hand.
"Ha! Pays to do a flexing routine along with strength training."
Wulfe committed this outrageousness in a blind attempt to protect her, but the bloody barbarian had gone too far! Given time, she'd come up with the appropriate retaliation.
Curling into new positions to slice the leather thongs was nothing compared to what she'd gone through to get the blade. At least Wulfe had been thoughtful enough not to tie the thongs too tightly; circulation hadn't been cut off. Of course, he probably expected her to be asleep by now. Cat took stock of her situation. No control over the computer terminals in the rooms. Nothing to blast through the doors. Maybe she could carve her way through with the knife. Sure, but only if she had the next twenty-five hours. A long span of time to kill.
With that suddenly illuminating thought, she retrieved the handcom--the perfect productive way to pass the time--from her utility pocket and grinned. "I see a promotion in your future, Seleen."
What had provoked the yellow alert? She shook her head as though to scatter useless thoughts so she could focus on the situation. If it wasn't serious enough for Wulfe to release her from this temporary prison, then it wasn't serious enough for her to worry over.
She'd tended to different matters while waiting for others to decrypt the last message concerning the children. Now she had a chance to see if she could make any inroads on the problem. Cat hated to admit it, but Wulfe might have done her a favor by locking her in here. She glanced at the locked doorways as she paced from room to room. No, no favors, but he'd certainly provided an opportunity he hadn't considered. She'd have no interruptions here.
Make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks, the Dove always said.
Cat reviewed the handcom's logs and studied all the decryption codes Seleen and the Nutralian tried to use. Both obviously understood thoroughness. They'd even attempted some ancient keys, outmoded for decades. Okay, so the standards didn't work. The chances of the message author stumbling across the keys to a Covert code weren't high, but she'd try anything at this point.
She anticipated the first failure, but that didn't eliminate the feeling of defeat, the sickening sense of futility. Cat tried four more keys. Each met with the expected results. Each lack of success drained her supply of optimism.
She sagged onto the edge of the lounger. Her forearms rested on the top of her thighs as she leaned forward, weighted by resignation. She conceded to failure, to losing almost everything she held dear, gave in to despair.
Unacceptable. She gritted her teeth, searched for the inner fortitude to continue the journey, willed one spark of energy to surface.
Cat jumped to her feet, determined to overcome the passiveness to which she'd momentarily succumbed. Pacing again, she scowled at the handcom's tiny screen, tried to dredge up logical thought. What could she do that Seleen couldn't? Too bad the sender of the message didn't use voice recognition like Covert.
She stopped dea
d in her tracks.
That thought wasn't so far off the star charts. Her mind churned. Wheeler could very well use her voice print--he'd had hundreds of opportunities to record her. Sweet Creator! That moment on Nutralis when Wheeler brushed dirt from her face! She shivered, remembering the peculiar tacky sensation of his fingers. Collection pads! That's when the slime had obtained pheromone samples. The sonic grenade on Nutralis had zeroed in on her pheromones. Garesh take Wheeler to the deepest level! It had been him all along!
All lethargy vaporized from her system. She had nothing to lose by trying, and everything to gain. Cat accessed the coded message, instructed the file to recognize her voice patterns and play the message. Her heart thudded in the silence while she watched a series of small readouts blink on the handcom, waited to see if she'd been right about Wheeler using her voice print as the key.
Identity confirmed.
"Yes!" She expelled an explosive breath. Triumph, jubilant and frightening, sang through her.
`Hi, Cathy.'
Wheeler's taunting voice invaded the silence. Finally, the proof she needed! A sharp pain shot through her stomach. This ultimate betrayal of Wheeler's would kill Wulfe.
`Oh, I know how much you hate anyone calling you that. Tough.' Wheeler's snigger set her teeth on edge.
`The only way you're going to get the children back is to leave the Falchion. Once you leave, you don't go back and you don't tell Captain Kincade. If I hear one word of this has reached his ears, you'll never see the little buggers alive again. Fallon and the brats will be in a habitat shelter on the third moon of the planet Pyrus. The Patten system. They'll have enough food, water and air to last them until 1030 hours, twenty-fifth day of the eight month--if nothing goes wrong. See you around...Cathy.'
Garrett and Morgan had three and a half hours of air!
Cat went into hyperdrive. Now she had a reason to get out of here! She pried an access panel off the mechanism for the main exit, stripped away gel conduit so she could jack in the handcom. First try didn't work. Perspiration stung her eyes. The second attempt lit up the handcom like a red alert board and the door whooshed open.
She sprinted down the corridor to the nearest lift, hit the car's override and let it rocket to the lower decks. Cat dashed through the last corridor and then across the flight bay, shouting orders, fumbling to tie the hair flying loose around her into a manageable knot.
"Sergeant, prep the Peacemaker for immediate flight. Find Lieutenant Lyon. Get me a flight suit."
The tech sergeant gaped at her. "Commander?"
Only when she stumbled to a stop did Cat feel the nearly subliminal thrum in the soles of her feet that meant the Falchion had left orbit and entered hyperspace. Sweet Creator, don't let us be going the wrong way!
If so, she might never make it to the Patten system in time to rescue Fallon, Morgan and Garrett before they ran out of air.
Mykal Lyon, already in his flight suit, made a hasty appearance from between two fighters. "Commander Culver. Glad you could join us. Word came down that you were tied up elsewhere."
Oh, I bet it did! "I cut loose sooner than expected. Where are we headed? What's happened?" Lyon gave her a quizzical look, to which she gestured vaguely to her uniform collar. "My insignia walked off somewhere. Looks like you have the flight squads prepped."
"Aye. We're heading into the Patten system."
The news hit her with a jolt, but she managed to cover her surprise. Bless the Creator and Sister Fate for something finally going right! While Lyon told her what he knew of their detour, she unobtrusively maneuvered the two of them to the quiet deck space around the Peacemaker. There, Cat explained about Wheeler and the decrypted message.
Lyon's dark green eyes hardened to icy chips of angry black. "I'd be more than happy to foil Wheeler's plans. I am at your service, Lady Cat."
"We need to work fast." She pulled out the trusty handcom and began to make entries. "If I don't make it back, give this unit to Wulfe. It should explain a lot, and tell him where to find any information he needs."
"You're coming back, Commander." Lyon flashed her an almost boyish grin. "We coordinate our efforts with the bridge?"
"No." Cat looked up into Lyon's grave face. "The captain may not allow us to risk a flight squad when he has Mallochons to fend off. Mykal, I can't tell you to defy the captain's orders. This is a decision only you can make for yourself, but I'm going, with or without you."
Someone behind her coughed softly. "I will accompany you, Commander."
Cat whirled to find Blackwood grinning down at her. "You?"
"Aye. I figure you, the lieutenant and I make a formidable flight squad. We should be able to peel off from the rest of the wing without too much trouble."
"You could ruin a promising career, Blackwood."
"Or take it to glory."
Lyon motioned to Cat's handcom. "Guess you'll have to give that to Frank Ellery for safekeeping."
The chances of bringing the children home alive had just tripled. Bless the Creator for comrades like Lyon and Blackwood. "If we fail, all three of us could become part of the Celestial Glory."
WULFE PACED the bridge in an effort to order his thoughts in a mind exhausted from all the mental gymnastics.
"Approaching the Patten system. Scanners picking up more details, Captain."
He straightened his spine, watched the main screen. "Sound red alert. Give me facts, Seleen."
"Aye. Three detectable Mallochon ships. Heavy cruisers. One badly damaged. Another with minor hull breaches." A low yowl of distress punctuated her recitation. "Wheeler's Orion has considerable damage, Sir."
"Specify."
"Maneuvering thrusters inoperable. Life support failing. Containment field around her hyperdrive crumbling--the hyperdrive is on the verge of implosion."
The situation looked grim at best. "The Orion's deflector shields?"
"They're trying to funnel any remaining available power to them without much success."
"Target Mallochon ships. Fire at will as we come into range. Launch fighters with orders to engage the enemy."
"The enemy, Sir?"
Wulfe glared at the images on the viewing screen. Anger raged through his body, his mind, like an uncontrolled fire. "If the Mallochons want a war, they have just found one."
"Captain, the Orion is asking for covering fire so they may launch lifepods."
"Tell them to wait until we're closer, if they can. Seleen, tell Lyon to have the first squadron draw Mallochon fire, the second usher the lifepods to the Falchion."
"Aye, Captain."
Legs braced far apart, Wulfe stood at the top of the bridge, watched the screen as the crippled Space Corps Orion and the Mallochon ships grew ever larger. The unscathed Mallochon cruiser turned to bear her weapons on the Falchion. "Full shields."
"Full shields, aye. First squadron away, Captain. Led by Lieutenant Lyon."
Aye, Lyon in his Wildchild would be the one to draw the first heat of battle. Wulfe studied the unfolding scene dispassionately as the small fighters zipped around the huge, slower to maneuver Mallochon ship and inflicted as much damage as they could.
"Second squadron away. Blackwood's."
Good, good. Lyon had ordered the less experienced officer to the ushering duty. The screen lit up with explosions, the view littered by fragments turned to projectiles.
"Third squadron away. Commander Culver's."
"What?" The one-word roar clogged his throat. How the narg--? Cat should be safe from this, safe from everything! "Patch me through to her! Now!"
"Patching, Sir!"
"Well?"
"No response, Sir. She's receiving, just not responding."
The Falchion rocked under his feet as the starcruiser took a direct hit from the Mallochons. He flexed his knees to keep his balance. "Helm, evasive action! Keep those shields up! Seleen, target their weapons array!"
"Aye. Hadron torpedoes coming online. Firing meson cannons."
The cannons punc
hed through portions of the Mallochon shields, cleared a path for the torpedoes. The Falchion's bridge crew yelled in short-lived triumph as a portion of the Mallochon's starboard side crumpled under the onslaught.
The first Mallochon cruiser with the damaged shields fired at the Orion with deadly accuracy to send her spinning off her axis. Almost simultaneously, a myriad of lifepods sprang loose from the Orion's hull and gyrated into open space. Blackwood's squadron surrounded as many of the pods as they could and extended their protective shields around the little lifeboats. Portions of the third squadron flew in formation behind the protected pods, laying down a covering fire for their retreat.
The Falchion wheeled and targeted the most able Mallochon ship, sliced through the defensive shields and sent her into an explosive oblivion. The Orion spun around, discharged more lifepods, then pinwheeled into the first Mallochon vessel to be crippled. They detonated in spectacular unison, throwing the lifepods into wild trajectories.
One Mallochon ship remained.
"Captain, the first wave of survivors is coming aboard," Seleen announced with satisfaction. "Captain Wheeler requests permission to join you on the bridge."
Wulfe's eyes narrowed. "Wheeler?" As captain, he should have stayed on his ship until the last of the crew had departed. Cat's words of warning echoed alarmingly in his mind. "Send him up. I want to see him. The sooner the better."
"Aye, Sir." The tip of Seleen's tail twitched sharply as she relayed the message to the flight bay. "Permission to target the remaining ship, Sir?"
He looked back to the screen to see the Mallochon vessel turning away. "Order them to stand down, then hold for a few seconds, Seleen. I want to see their reaction. Get me status reports on our condition and those of the fighters bringing in the other pods."
Seleen turned her attention back to her control boards. Her sharp, low hiss of disapproval a few seconds later told him the opening lift doors revealed Wheeler.
"Captain Kincade, your arrival was most fortuitous. Most of my crew got out in time."
Wulfe eyed Wheeler with newfound insight, and didn't like what he saw one bit. "Most of the crew?"
Devoted Deceptions, A 4th Millennium Adventure, Book 3 Page 30