by PJ Schnyder
Charming.
It was still a dog.
Chester apparently had less instinct for self-preservation than his mistress, because he stretched his long body out to sniff noses. Kaitlyn tensed, her weight forward as she balanced on the balls of her toes, ready to intercede. The dog only craned his neck to meet the ferret, big black nose touching tiny ferret nose. Chester gave a pleased chatter.
“Look, they’re going to be friends.” The real delight in Skuld’s voice had to be tugging at the heart strings of every man in the cargo bay.
It’d be cute, if one snap of those jaws couldn’t end Chester’s existence.
“Max is a good boy, ma’am.” Tracer said it with an assurance Kaitlyn almost believed.
Define good.
Chester was a good ferret in Skuld’s eyes, but the little weasel regularly looted through Kaitlyn’s belongings and stole anything that caught his fancy. At the moment, Kaitlyn wasn’t sure if the ferret really wanted to make friends or if he was trying to figure out a way to get closer to the shiny tags on the pooch’s collar. The canine might not care, but as close to his vulnerable neck as those tags were, he wasn’t likely to let Chester get to them. Plus, if Chester leaned over any farther, more than just the ferret was going to spill out the front of Skuld’s outfit.
Wouldn’t that be fun?
Kaitlyn didn’t miss the way the handler kept his hand in his dog’s fur, at the base of his skull. She also caught the way Tracer tightened his grip on the big dog’s scruff as the ferret bobbed up and down under the dog’s nose, sniffing and chattering in his continued efforts to make friends. It was a subtle signal and one the dog heeded. Chester was safe, at least while the handler was present.
She’d have to have a word with Skuld later to be sure she didn’t leave Chester loose if the dog was anywhere without his handler.
“Ma’am, if you’d step behind me, please.” Badger interrupted the meeting of tube rat and the beast. Skuld rose as asked, stuffing Chester back into the front of her jumpsuit when the ferret would have crawled out to climb all over the dog. Oh and wouldn’t that have gone over well?
The next man to appear elicited a gasp from Skuld but Kaitlyn had heard the telltale shuffle and ring of metal shackles. She wasn’t startled by the sheer size of him, though the heavy duty bindings didn’t look to be near sufficient restraint. The two hulking military police flanking him did nothing to provide even the illusion of security. His skin shone blue black under the ship’s artificial lighting. He stood head and shoulders above the other men, which meant he towered over Kaitlyn and Skuld.
“Kaitlyn, you’ve taken out guys bigger than him, right?” Skuld whispered to her behind a trembling hand.
Kaitlyn had taken out opponents much larger than herself plenty of times without a moment’s doubt in her ability to do so.
She motioned Skuld to silence.
No. What gave her pause with this man was the confidence he carried across his broad shoulders, as if he wasn’t being led bound, hands and feet in chains. He walked like a man who took each step because he wanted to and Kaitlyn wondered if his guards realized it. They appeared too comfortable with the weapons in their hands and the shackles on their prisoner, too complacent. She wondered when the big man planned to leave them broken and bleeding in some dark corridor. Preferably not aboard Dev’s ship.
He caught sight of her, and at that moment, the pooch rose to his feet, growling. Between the three of them, it was no longer certain which of them was the most dangerous or the deadliest. Oh, she’d give the prisoner size. The German Shepherd Dog would have to cede to either of them in terms of overall badass factor.
Kaitlyn watched the way the dark man saw everything in the room without ever losing his focus on her and she didn’t dare break her gaze from his. The cat aspect of her crouched low inside her mind, watching and waiting for him to go away. One thing was certain, the man had the strongest prey drive of the three of them.
Plus, his scent told her he wasn’t precisely human either. He didn’t smell awful, no, not the normal human trapped on a ship for too long without a shower kind of issue. He carried musk around him the same way large predators did, a part of his personality and an indicator of his mood. It might not stink, but humans definitely didn’t produce it.
“No worries.” Tracer was reassuring Skuld as he gave the leash a sharp tug. Max came to a reluctant heel. “Those bindings are rated for much bigger humanoids. He’s completely secured.”
Kaitlyn doubted that, but then she’d recognized the issue as soon as the man made his appearance.
“Bharguest is with us on special consult.” Tracer continued to give Skuld the information dump. “He’s got firsthand knowledge of our destination and he’s cooperating with us in return for his parole.”
Interesting. As if the prisoner needed parole to gain his freedom. Nope. He had a different agenda and if he was aboard Dev’s ship, she’d want to be sure it didn’t have anything to do with them.
“What did he do?” Skuld’s words were spoken in a hush, the scary badass factor effecting her bubbly personality.
Bharguest bared his teeth, startling white against the darkness of his skin. As she’d done earlier with the Kx9, Kaitlyn changed her stance. Just like that, his attention snapped back to her.
Okay, she’d admit it. The man intimidated the hell out of her. If she’d been in panther form, every hair would be on end and her claws would be fully extended.
“Doesn’t matter.” Kaitlyn forced the words out and tossed them to the room in general, maybe to him. She truly didn’t care what crime he’d committed to end up incarcerated. She did know where he wouldn’t be allowed once he did get his parole. “There’s a mission to complete. If done to satisfaction of the higher ups, this man goes free.”
And freedom was about as subjective a term as “good.”
“Anywhere in the great big universe but the Terran solar system.” Gravelly from disuse, the prisoner’s voice still sent a shiver down her spine. Charisma, the man had it in spades, the kind to talk anybody into anything and lead men directly into their graves. “They’ve banned me from going there.”
How fun. What a coincidence she didn’t plan to be anywhere inside the Terran solar system anytime soon either. But the why of it still left her wondering. And hell but Kaitlyn had never been one to curb her curiosity. She cocked her head to the side. “Do you care?”
The corners of his mouth turned up slowly in a wicked grin. Light sparked in his cold eyes. “Not at the moment.”
Ah well, she’d never been a slow learner either. This situation had “proceed with caution” plastered all over it. She’d gone and done something interesting. Not the best move she’d ever made.
“Well then that’s someone else’s nightmare for another day.” Shouldn’t have called him a nightmare but she figured he was somebody’s. No sense in ignoring the fact.
’’Course, she gave several people in the Terran government ulcers and cold sweats at night. Yet, she doubted anything she’d managed to date would be on scale with what this man was capable of. And that was as he stood now, in shackles. Set him loose and arm him? She wouldn’t be sleeping either.
The prisoner inhaled deep, the wide expanse of his chest stretching the fabric of his tunic. “It’s been a while since I smelled so much danger bundled into such a tiny package.”
“Can’t underestimate the tube rat.” Kaitlyn shot back without hesitation as both the Kx9 handler and Badger directed startled glances her way. “He might be tiny but he could rip your throat out in your sleep.”
Chester gave a verifying squeak. Good boy.
“That’s enough introductions for now.” Badger growled over the deep chuckle rumbling from the prisoner’s chest. “With your permission, ma’am, we’ll get him locked down in your ship’s holding area and the rest of
my men will come aboard and get settled in.”
“Of course. I’ll lead the way. Skuld can show the men to where they can bunk.” Dev wouldn’t mind the delegation of her initial task. This was more important. She never took her focus off Bharguest, and wouldn’t until he was safely off the ship and light years away.
Chapter Two
Kaitlyn harbored no qualms about securing the locks on the entryway to the med bay when she turned in for the night.
Locks. Yup. Got ‘em.
Skuld had been pretty absent minded in saying she’d set the ones on her quarters, distracted. She was already daydreaming about one of the men, best bet was the dog handler, but Kaitlyn had given the verbal commands to Chester too. One of them would remember, most likely the tube rat. At least he stuck to his training well. She should construct another study based on determining how long his memory managed to hold on to certain commands without reinforcement. Might come in handy.
There hadn’t been any issues getting their guests settled in their various locations despite her concerns regarding the one they called Bharguest. After she’d seen to the prisoner being secured in the holding facility, she’d doubled back to check on Skuld. The ship’s engineer had no trouble with the other soldiers, and had set them to bunking with Dev’s grunts in the men’s quarters. The cuteness, it was strong with Skuld but luckily for them all, Skuld wielded it with a kind heart. Still, every one of them had been jumping to do as the pretty blonde asked, silly grins on each of their faces.
They all needed Skuld’s kindness in their line of work, especially Kaitlyn. It helped her remember how to be human.
Maybe she ought to take a night walk to ensure everyone stayed where they were supposed to.
It wasn’t that Kaitlyn thought something was going to happen. Life had taught her to double check and triple check. Murphy’s Law was every bit as much of a reality as the laws of physics.
Never hurt to make it a little harder for ol’ Murphy to work his mojo.
Finally alone though, she let loose a deep sigh. Every one of those men, with the exception of Badger, tweaked a nerve at one point or another. She could smell their interest in her and Skuld, had caught the speculative looks out of the corner of her eye. Skuld never let it bother her. Hell, the woman thrived on it and usually took her pick from the men who lined up. But Skuld wasn’t aware of the constant stink of their pheromones. Bleh.
Kaitlyn had never handled the attention well, and that included before her life had been ended by the hiss of an injection gun.
Lighten up, Kitten. Learn to take a compliment.
Even now, when she’d made a new friend in Boggle and had a thing going with Rygard, Katzer’s voice came to her from memory. He’d had a lot of wisdom for a young man. Truthfully, they’d been kids. He’d have made an incredible soldier, military or merc, whatever he might have decided to be.
He’d wanted her to go on living. Told her to.
And there were more voices in her life now to bring a smile to her face.
An alert chimed, different from the ship-wide notifications. This one was her own personal reminder, set to go off only in the medical facilities.
She strode over to her bunk and dialed up the opacity. Not that anyone could come through the locked door besides Dev—as ship’s captain he did have an override access. Still, she felt better for the added barrier to ensure her privacy. She took one more minute to run her hands through her hair and wish for Skuld’s ability to do the fairy tale princess transformation with cosmetics. Then her personal screen, set into the wall next to her bunk, lit up with an incoming vid call. The display blinked.
Holographic projection?
Obviously. She’d take the closest she could get to the real thing.
In moments, a high definition hologram hovered over her bunk and Rygard gave her a wink.
There he was, life size and breathing. The definition was good enough she could see the reflection of the light sources around him. Said a lot for his equipment, the lighting was dim and what she could see of his surroundings placed him in a heavy duty utility tent. Of course, whatever mission he’d been deployed for rated high security and the best the military could afford to ensure his team’s success.
The only reason he could contact her was because the military crew they’d recently taken on board represented a supplement to his team. He’d sent her the encoded message only a short time after Dev had told her they were taking on passengers.
Still, no reason to question the why. For the moment, she embraced the good fortune.
He’d been studying her as she’d been lost in thought. “Hey, beautiful.”
He had a holo unit with him too, and a three dimensional likeness of her most likely floated cross-legged on a bunk right in front of him.
Just like that, her tongue twisted in her mouth and all she could get out was a single soft word. “Hey.”
He grinned then, creases of strain across his forehead disappearing. “Still not good with the compliments, huh?”
Her cheeks heated and damn but didn’t he grin wider as he watched her.
“You should get used to them.” He reached out, touching the holographic her so his holograph came just short of reaching her.
Suddenly she ached for his touch. The feel of his hands running over her skin, rough and gentle at the same time.
She sucked in air. Holographic tech advanced every day, but the holo was still a holo. “I miss you.”
His smile faded a little, no less warm but a bit sad. “Miss you too, sweetness.” A pause. “Won’t be long now. The team should have boarded your merc ship. I’m waiting on a briefing from the commanding officer, but I got the impression from his last communication that he’s going to be passing on information to me the old-fashioned way. Could take a while.”
“Yeah.” Traditional military types disseminated their information down through the chain of command. She’d learned procedure in her school days. Light-speed communication wouldn’t make that any faster. “As a commissioned officer, you should be hearing from the commanding officer as soon as possible.”
“There are officers and then there are officers. ‘As soon as possible’ can be subjective.” Rygard gave a noncommittal shrug. “Tell me about them.”
Narrowing her eyes, she studied him. He’d drawn back from the camera, his eyes in shadow and lids at half-mast effectively hiding his expression. “You know who is supposed to be coming.”
He tipped his head. “I know names, rank, position. I know skill sets on record. You met them.”
“For a few minutes each at most.”
“You read a man better in a few minutes than most can in days.”
A warm flutter tickled her belly and she smiled. Pleased, she nodded to concede his point and acknowledge the compliment. Scent, body language, the random wordless noises people made told a story whether they were conscious of them or not. Being partly panther gave her an advantage in picking those up. She’d fine-tuned her perceptions over time with Dev’s help.
“I don’t like men who lean on their connections.” Careful, careful. Even to Rygard, she wouldn’t directly say she disliked a commanding officer. Too much chance the admission could come back to bite him, or her.
But Rygard seemed unconcerned. He chuckled instead. “I figured when I saw the names. The attitudes match, huh?”
“If the two you’re thinking of are the same two I’m thinking of, hell yes.”
“What about the actual man leading the grunts?”
There was another point neither of them would spell out. Yes, a commanding officer led his men—hopefully he led them well. The CO was also the very visible part of the unit, handling incoming orders and commentary from higher ups. If he did his job right, he stood as a Kevlar umbrella for his men when shit rained down on them. Took up
a lot of a man’s time and concentration, and that was if he was a good leader. If he sucked, well, an even greater need existed then. In every unit a second man handled the details and knew each of the men up close and personal. He monitored the morale and kept the men in line. When they were all hip deep in enemy fire, he gave the orders on the fly.
“Good man, solid.” She paused. “A little on the grumpy side.”
Rygard placed his hand over his mouth and rubbed his beard. Didn’t manage to completely hide his smile or muffle the snort of laughter. “Anybody interesting?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Tell me why no one warned me there’d be a dog.”
“This planet’s electromagnetic field is a pain in the ass. It wreaks havoc with most of our equipment, scanners and communications especially.” Rygard lifted a small squat device with a cable dangling out of each side. “We sacrificed few of the worst scanners to mod the communications equipment enough to block out the effects and boost the signal. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be seeing me as anything more than a static snowman.”
She huffed out a soft laugh, pressing the tip of her tongue against her upper teeth as the thought tickled her.
His eyes softened as he focused on her mouth. “And damn, sweetness, but I did want to see you. Really miss kissing that mouth of yours.”
She bit her lower lip. Uncomfortable, she dodged back to steadier conversation. “The dog seems okay, for a canine.”
“He’s special, those kay-ex-nines are all a step above the ones they used on old Terra. They’ve been tinkered and their training is intense. Without a hundred percent reliability from our scanners, we need the dog to do individual visual assessment. His paws will go where the scanners can’t and he’ll be able to do the scouting we need.”
“I’m guessing the scouting is highly dangerous?” She could provide back up to the Kx9 unit and he knew it. In fact, her particular skills in scouting allowed her to go undetected. No one looking for human spies ever suspected a large feline in the trees. If they caught sight of her at all.