by KD Jones
“Are you going to let him live after this anyway? If the male is willing to kill his own uncle, he can’t be trusted.” Sage sounded disgusted. She was feeling sick herself.
“You’re right. All, all the Estros will need to be dealt with. As soon as he takes out the commander, we’ll activate the detonator. Then we’ll have to get rid of the Earth females on board.”
“I want to handle the one I am supposed to guard myself. She has been nothing but a nuisance.” Lt. Sage growled.
Oh, she wanted to kick his ass for that, but she held herself still. They moved closer to her and passed without looking. She waited until she couldn’t hear their voices and peeked out to see if they were there.
She had to hurry to find Liam; he needed to know about the detonator. God, it was just like it was on Earth when she was trying to warn the Drastans about the bomb the rebels had planted. She rushed down the corridor stopping warriors passing her by asking for Liam.
She rushed down the corridor and stopped warriors passing her by to ask for Liam.
Squirrel came to the other end of the command center and entered the door. She found Liam standing to the side, talking to a warrior. His father, the commander, was sitting at a console. Who should she tell?
Liam saw her first and frowned, walking over to her. “You should not be here. You need to leave right now.”
“I need to tell you something important.”
“It needs to—” He didn’t finish as he pushed her behind him. “Don’t move and don’t say anything!”
“But—” She watched in horror as Quinn barged in. He moved toward his uncle who looked surprised to see him.
“Lieutenant, what are you doing here?”
“I’m going to make sure you can’t do any more damage to the Drastan fleet!” Quinn pulled out a phaser and fired.
It all happened so fast, half the warriors rushed to the commander’s side and the other half were rushing after Quinn. She had to do something before the detonator was activated.
She moved past Liam while he was distracted and threw herself at Quinn, surprising him and taking him down.
“Baby, what are you doing?”
She couldn’t say anything—fear had made her act. She ripped the communicator out of his ear and shoved off him. After running out into the corridor, she threw the communicator just as it went off. She was thrown backward and landed hard, hitting her head. Pain arced up from the impact.
Squirrel heard yelling and recognized one of the voices belonging to Quinn as the darkness took her. At least she saved him. I love you, Quinn.
Chapter 18
Quinn paced back and forth in the holding cell. He wanted nothing more than to break out of there and go to his Lihali. She was hurt and he was stuck still playing the part, one he now wished he had never agreed to.
“Calm down, Quinn. Jared is taking care of Squirrel,” Kyle tried to reassure him.
“Don’t call her that! I hate that name. She, she deserves better.”
“Sorry, that’s the only name I’ve known her by. I’ll call her whatever she wants me to, just calm down.”
“This shouldn’t have happened. Liam should have kept her safe.”
“Well, it’s a good thing he hadn’t because otherwise you would be dead.”
“She was hurt!”
“I know, but she is still alive and so are you. From what Liam said she acted quickly enough that the traitors didn’t have time to react to her. I am sorry that she was hurt.”
“She still should never have been there. Where was her guard?”
“That is something we do need to look into. She never should have been brought to the command deck. He swore that she snuck away from him and that he thought she was on her way back to her quarters.”
“She’s safe?”
Kyle nodded. “Yes, she is in mediko along with my father.”
He almost forgot about his uncle. “How is he?”
“You did a good job making the shot graze him. He is healing fast but is faking it to keep up the appearance that he is near death. They plan to move him soon.”
“I need to see her, make sure she is okay.”
“Tagar is with her for now.”
“Where’s Liam?”
“He has taken command temporarily and is acting his part. We came up with this plan, so we need to follow it through.”
“If it was Rachel, would you be sitting by doing nothing?”
Kyle shook his head. “I wouldn’t be able to stand being apart from her. Squirrel is a very brave female. I have never seen anything like it. I watched it back on video feed. She risked her life to save yours.”
“She keeps doing that, and it needs to stop.”
Kyle tried to lighten the mood. “Well, when this is over you can keep her locked in your bedroom for days.”
“I love her, Kyle.”
He put his hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “I know you do, and she loves you.”
The door opened and two warriors came inside wearing their visors. “Sir, you asked for us?”
Kyle looked at Quinn. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
“Yes.”
*****
Squirrel hurt so bad all over but the worst was her head. She felt like someone had taken a baseball bat and pounded on her. “Ugh…”
“Good, you’re awake,” Jared said, coming over the take her temperature.
“Shhh…keep...Keep it down. My head feels like it exploded.”
“You’re still in pain?”
“Yes.”
“Is the pain in just your head or all over?”
“It hurts everywhere but the worst is my head.”
He gave her a needleless injection. “How is that?”
She felt the air hit her skin and knew that tiny little implants had been inserted. She lay layback on the bed and sighed feeling immediate relief. “It’s better.” She was also getting a bit woozy.
“Quinn?”
“He’s in lockup for shooting the commander, but he’s safe.”
She felt relief knowing he was okay. “Devlon? How is he holding up?”
Jared pointed to the bed across the room. Devlon was lying there so still. “He’ll recover.”
“Thank God everyone’s alive.”
“You should not have done what you did.” Tagar came up to her bed.
She glanced over at him and smiled a loopy smile. “Hey.”
“You scared us, Lihali.”
She giggled. “Quinn doesn’t like others saying that name to me.”
Tagar shrugged. “Right now I couldn’t care less what the lieutenant likes or doesn’t like. He didn’t keep you safe.”
Jared glared at him. “Tagar, do I need to relieve you of your duty?”
“No! Don’t—Jared, I don’t like…other one,” Squirrel drawled.”
“What are you saying?”
“Sage. He, he wanted to hurt Quinn—hurt me.” She needed to tell them what she’d heard but she couldn’t lift her head. “Have to tell…”
“What is it, Lihali?” Tagar asked, leaning down to listen to her whisper. Then the darkness took her again, but this time there wasn’t any pain.
*****
Tagar looked up at Jared angrily. No female should be endangered in this way, and if what Lihali had told him was true, the person who was to protect her had failed miserably.
“What did she say?”
“We have another person to add to the known culprits involved.”
“Hold on, let me get Liam down here.” Jared walked over to speak into his communicator. “Liam is on his way,” he told Tagar then he checked on his father.
“How is the commander?”
“He only suffered a graze. He was lucky that Quinn has always been such a good shot.”
A few minutes later Liam walked into the mediko.
“How are father and Squirrel doing?” Liam asked right away.
“Both are sleeping and healing.”
Tagar stepped forward. “Lihali overhead something I thought you should know about.”
“Lihali?” Liam narrowed his eyes on Tagar.
Jared rolled his eyes. “He means Squirrel, but don’t ask.”
“Fine. What did she overhear?” Liam asked.
“She whispered that she heard Lt. Sage talking to someone about the detonator in Quinn’s ear and that they planned to activate it as soon as Quinn killed the commander.”
Liam frowned and looked at Jared. “Do you think she was too out of it to know what she was saying?”
Jared paused as he thought about it. “She may have been getting loopy, but she was honest in what she said.”
Liam looked at Squirrel. “I’ll send out a team quietly to take him and Mediko Romer into custody. Quinn reported before that he had recognized Romer’s voice when he first made contact with the traitors a few days ago.”
“Why didn’t you take Romer into custody before now?” Tagar demanded.
Liam raised an eyebrow at the other male. “Lieutenant—”
“It was my decision,” Devlon said from across the room. He was moving to a sitting position on the bed and winced from the pain in his side. Jared was there in a flash.
“Don’t move. You’re, you’re supposed to be resting.”
Devlon snorted. “I don’t have time to rest. I have traitors to hunt down and a fleet to command”
“You’re supposed to be pretending to be on your deathbed,” Liam reminded him.
Devlon glanced over at Squirrel. “How is she?”
“She took a hard hit to the back of her head. I gave her medication and she is healing as she sleeps.”
“She was brave to save Quinn.”
Tagar growled. “She never should have been there to begin with.”
Devlon looked at the male, assessing him. He wouldn’t allow another to get in between his nephew and his nephew’s hala asawani. “How close are you to Squirrel?”
“She reminds me of my sister. I care for her. Don’t call her Squirrel.” Tagar defended his connection.
Devlon looked at his both his sons, confused by what Tagar was saying.
Liam rolled his eyes. “Let’s focus on the plan. You need to keep up the appearance that you’re near death. I have two males who we are pretty much sure are involved. I’m going to go get them myself and lock them up.”
Devlon shook his head. “You need to be on the command deck giving out orders and keeping up appearances as well.”
Tagar glanced at Lihali. “She should be moved to her quarters or some other secure location. Actually, she changed security access so that only she could get in and out so we’ll have to take her to another secure location.”
Devlon nodded to Tagar. “Go make the arrangements.” Tagar left, and Devlon turned to Liam. “Make sure that Maggie and the baby are protected at all times.”
“I thought it best not to have our whole family on the same level until we get this situation under control so I moved them to a secure area on a different level.”
“That’s smart.”
Liam gripped his father’s hand. “Don’t make this a habit. I don’t like seeing you like this.”
Devlon grunted but agreed. “I won’t. Be safe, Liam.”
Liam nodded and left. Devlon turned to Jared. “Where are Lily and Thomas?”
“I added extra security and am keeping them in our quarters for now.”
“I feel helpless. I’m supposed to be protecting my family, not lying on a bed.”
“Father, you could have died if Quinn hadn’t grazed you on purpose.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” He yawned. “Why am I so tired?”
“I gave you something to help you sleep.”
“What? I don’t want—” he fell asleep midsentence.
“Sleep Dad. I’ll watch over you.” Jared pulled the sheet up to cover his father. He knew he would be fine but it was hard seeing someone so strong in a weakened state.
Chapter 19
Squirrel was confused. She woke up in the mediko and didn’t recall why she was there. She looked over and saw that there was another patient in the room. Normally Jared never kept other patients in the same room with her because she didn’t feel comfortable around people. She moved the sheet off her and stood. Her feet were so wobbly and she had to hold onto the bed.
She stepped forward, walking closer to the other bed. She recognized the patient immediately: Quinn’s uncle, Devlon. Images came to her of overhearing two men talking about killing Quinn after he killed his uncle. She remembered seeing Quinn coming onto the command deck and shooting Devlon. The last thing she remembered was pulling the communicator off Quinn and throwing it. She was grateful no one had been killed, but where was Quinn?
“He’s still trying to catch the traitors,” a.” A voice said from behind her.
She turned to find Jared standing there. “What?”
“You asked where Quinn was.”
“I did?”
“Are you feeling well? Do you know your name?”
“Is that a joke? No one really knows my name,” she laughed.
He laughed with her. “According to Tagar we should call you Lihali, but if I do I worry Quinn would attack me.”
She shook her head and winced. She touched the back of her skull and felt a small bump. “Wow that hurt.”
Jared pulled out his scanner and ran it over her head. “It’s actually healing quite nicely. Get back in bed and I’ll give you more pain medicine.”
“No, I want to be clear-headed. Quinn is safe?”
He hesitated. “Yes, but he is still a part of the plan so there is always danger.”
She sighed and looked down at the big man who always looked larger than life to her. “How’s Devlon doing?”
“He’s fine. Quinn was careful to not hit any vital organs, only grazed him.”
“Why is he so still?”
“I drugged him a bit. I know my father. If, if I didn’t do that he would be back on the command deck and possibly ruin the trap we’ve set. He’ll wake up shortly. He went down harder than I thought which makes me believe he hasn’t been sleeping well.”
“You gave me too much,” Devlon mumbled as he struggled to wake up.
She held his hand and squeezed it. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He was the closest she ever had to a father.
“I am glad you are as well. You nearly gave us a heart attack, my dear. Whatever made you do what you did?”
“I overheard Lt. Sage and another man talking about setting off the detonator as soon as Quinn killed you, and I couldn’t let that happen. I love him.”
“I appreciate what you did. Quinn has always been like one of my sons. He loves you, too, by the way. You can’t endanger yourself like that again. It would destroy him if something happened to you.”
“He’s mine to protect just as much as I am his. I would do it again to keep him safe. I never had anything or anyone and I now have so much to lose, I couldn’t take it if I lost him—or any of you. You’ve become my family.”
He reached out and grasped her small hand. “We feel the same about you.”
Suddenly the lights flickered then went off. She turned to look for Jared. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the dark since she had lived in the tunnels for years with low lights. “What’s going on?”
Jared turned to her. “Stay with my father. I’ll check on it.”
She started to follow him to the door but Devlon pulled on her hand, keeping her next to him. “Help me stand and get into the corner over there. Where is my weapon?”
She spotted it on the table next to the bed and grabbed it for him. “I have it.” She put his arm over her shoulders and helped him maneuver to the corner.
“Get behind me, Squirrel.”
She didn’t like that. He was putting himself in front of her but he was
the one injured. He tried to lift the weapon up but that was his injured side. “Let me help you.”
He snorted. “I’m a warrior, I don’t need help.”
She rolled her eyes, knowing he couldn’t see her. God help her—alpha males are alive and well in the galaxy. “I’ll assist you, then.”
“I don’t need—”
Two bodies came barreling into the room. One was Jared but the other man had a helmet on his head so they couldn’t identify him. “We need to help Jared,” she whispered.”
“Jared is a warrior. He, he can handle himself.” Devlon kept his eyes on another other male who came through the door, also wearing a helmet.
She reached over to help Devlon hold the weapon up.
“Get behind me!”
“No!”
She thought he was cussing at her in Drastan language but she couldn’t tell. The man who’d come through the door was heading in their direction. Devlon shot the phaser but the man ducked. Then he stood up and shoved the bed at them. Devlon pushed her away and took the brunt of the impact, making him fall.
“Devlon!” She saw the man aiming his phaser at Devlon, but couldn’t let him shoot him. She launched herself at him and knocked the phaser out of his hand.
“You human bitch!” He grabbed her by the hair and held her up in front of him. “If you fire, you’ll hit her!”
She looked over at Devlon who was aiming his phaser their way. He wouldn’t fire for fear of hurting her. Jared was still fighting the other man. She had to do something. She tried to break free of the man’s hold but he tightened his grip on her hair and dragged her with him to the door.
“You come after us, I’ll break her neck!” That voice was very familiar. He dragged her out of the mediko and into the corridor. “Move it or I’ll kill you where you stand!”
She struggled with him, and as they rounded the corner, she saw Kyle rushing into the mediko. “Kyle!”
“Shut up!” The man dragged her to a lift. Just as they got in, a man wearing a helmet got inside with them. The doors shut and the man holding her shoved her to the floor as he ripped off his helmet.
“This turned into a cluster fuck! The commander’s not dead and we were almost caught. I’m not going to take the fall for this going sour.” He paced back and forth.