by Viola Grace
His grin exposed sharp teeth and he ran through pre-flight checks. "You are welcome, but it is true. My eyes see things beyond your spectrum and the colour in your eyes is a brilliant glow of a thousand colours that have no names."
His poetic statement was absent as his hands moved through lift-off protocols. It still warmed part of her soul, even though it wasn"t said over flowers and candles.
She closed her eyes as the shuttlecraft lifted off. The world wobbled for a moment before it stabilized and then they were pushing upward through the atmosphere of Morganti.
Star Breaker flew past their shuttle, waved and then peeled off, the slight bump of her belly noticeable in silhouette against the morning sun. "Goodbye, Carella."
"You will see her again. Fixer will want to keep tweaking your suits and making your armour. She is obsessive."
"I don"t think Shade minds."
"As long as she turns to him for help, he will give her whatever she needs."
"Smart man." The ship shuddered lightly as they passed from Morganti and into the darkness of space. Tricia looked out through amazed eyes as the guard base fell beneath her and the universe opened its arms to embrace them.
"Next stop, Yehl-Gar." He pressed a specially fitted halo to his head and the ship"s engines took on a new pitch.
Pax didn"t have time to prepare for the jump, one moment they were past Morganti"s moon and the next they were in two places at once. The disorientation lasted for a second before they were gliding through a new star system.
"All right, Pax. This is the situation. The Alliance outpost on Yehl-Gar is under siege. The locals have taken to shooting down any attempts at rescue, so in order for me to land, you will have to put on your armour, drop down to just over ground level and sedate the population so I can get the shuttle in to remove the Alliance personnel."
"You are kidding."
"I am not. You will be fine. Simply fly over the camps and sedate them. I will land in the outpost and retrieve the staff. You meet me there and away we will go."
"Are you insane?"
"No. We have one stop before we hit the surface, so I wanted to make sure that you know the details before we inform the captain of the Alliance warship of our plan of action."
"If there is a warship, why are we here?"
"We are trying to stop loss of life. The folks here are peaceful, usually. There was an issue with the Alliance Rep defiling a high priestess with a handshake or something and the whole thing spun out of control. Five dead and countless wounded. There are fifteen Alliance personnel at the outpost and they will all fit quite snugly on this shuttle."
"That sounds like quite the plan."
"I like it. Now, we are heading in to dock with the warship. It is hidden behind that moon." His gesture led her gaze to the bulk of a blue-grey rock rotating gently in the stellar night.
Their shuttle glided silently toward the back of the moon and suddenly, the ship appeared, bathed in the light of the golden-white sun.
"This is the Udell base shuttle, requesting docking on the Koreff."
"This is the Koreff, identify the Guardsmen please."
"Pax and Guardian attending for rescue and retrieval on Yehl-Gar."
"Please follow the beacon and Guardsmen, thanks for coming." The voice was masculine, but the relief was genuine.
The Alliance was protective of its Reps and having them locked down with only severe loss of life as a rescue option was never a good thing. That was one of the prime reasons that the Sector Guard was being given almost unlimited funding. They did the job and got out before things could get out of control.
The captain was waiting for them as soon as they left the shuttle. He shook their hands and led them through the ship to the boardroom.
Pax kept an eye out for any slack jaws or unusual signs of fatigue in the staff that they passed. The new suit seemed to be containing her nicely.
Sitting across from Guardian, she had a hard time keeping her attention on the captain as he outlined the situation, the staff involved and the deadline.
"We need to get them out of there. The Tival representative is being held at the temple, but the rest are pinned down in the outpost. The Tival government have given their rep up for dead, but the rest of the staff needs to be evacuated with little to no loss of life."
He brought up a map and Guardian went over their plan of attack or plan of passivity in her case.
The captain raised his eyebrow, "Are you sure that Pax can sedate that large a population?"
"I am sure of it. Will you be standing by with medical attention ready?"
"I will."
"Then let"s get this underway." Guardian got to his feet and extended his hand to her as he walked around the table.
The captain raised his eyebrow again as she took Guardian"s hand and let him tuck it into his elbow. In her mind, they looked like two tropical birds.
He led her back to the shuttle and they got into their seats silently. He requested and was granted clearance to launch and they were on their way.
"When are you going to mention the price on my head?" Pax felt it necessary to fill in the silence.
"You know about that?"
"Yes. It was why I wasn"t surprised when the new suit was given small defensive weaponry." She smiled. "Mala didn"t mention it, but the internal display showed it when I was last in the suit. Speaking of the armour, when do I get in there?"
"Now would be good. The price on your head will disappear when you are firmly integrated into the Sector Guard. A few warlords thought that having you on hand would enable them to control a large population. They offered a substantial reward for your capture, alive."
She wobbled to the back of the shuttle, only her mind making her unstable as she walked. She unlashed the armour and stepped into it, sealing her body behind metal and technology.
Just to make sure, she test fired her vents and the internal display gave her a complete bill of health.
"Aw geez. I shouldn"t have done that."
"Why not? Testing your suit is important to your survival."
"Because now the sedating particulates are in the shuttle."
He looked at her over his shoulder and grinned. "I won"t tell if you don"t. I have no objection to knocking out panicked staffers."
The ship was vibrating lightly as he entered the Yehl-Gar atmosphere. "Are you ready for deployment, Pax?"
She checked the door and then cursed fluently and out loud. "When were you going to tell me I have to drop and deploy my wings?"
A rich chuckle came through the speakers inside her helmet. "Right about now."
Chapter Six
Screaming was her instinct, but she kept her mouth shut and concentrated on opening her wings as she fell from the shuttle. The sudden deceleration made her sigh with relief. "This is Pax, gliding in to begin cover spread on the camps."
"Acknowledged. Monitors for activity are up and running. The moment they slow down, I am going in. Will meet you at the outpost."
"Done and done." She welcomed the silence as the internal display showed her the speed at which she was falling and the forward momentum as she glided lower and lower.
The first missile exploded on her left, causing her to flinch and throwing her into a bit of a wobble that took some effort to straighten out. The next missile was greeted with a short blast from the cannon that popped out of her wrist.
With people getting close enough and the wind in her favour, she opened her vents and kicked on the engines. Instead of blowing up the missiles, she simply wove between them, her internal display giving her plenty of warning. The strikes stopped after she had done her first fly-by.
Two more passes and there was no visible activity beneath her.
Sighing and breaking rescue protocol, she swung by the temple to see a Tival rep chained out front, smiling in a stupor. Wincing, she landed and blasted his chains free. He couldn"t walk on his own, so she attempted a standing lift off with him in her arms. No good. Hi
s weight off-balanced her.
"This is Pax. I have retrieved the Tival rep and we are returning to the outpost. On foot."
"Pax, I am going to turn you over my knee. Get your ass over here, now."
She folded in her wings and started to run, leaving her vents open and giving the occasionally alert citizen a face full of Pax.
The outpost loomed in front of her when something struck the centre of her back. She threw the Tival rep forward and willed him to keep going. Whether he did or not was not her concern as she turned to face the mech that was walking toward her.
Steel and blasters was all that filled her vision. The driver was inside and therefore impervious to her talent. Damn it.
"I am engaging a mech. The rep has been sent forward and I hope he can walk. How are you doing, Guardian?"
A loud series of curses rang through her speakers. "I am loaded and on my way. The rep is at the door, giggling."
"Good, tuck him in and come and get me." She aimed her small weapons at the driver"s air-supply hoses. She jumped and dodged the blasts as the larger suit fired shot after shot.
She knew she had nicked something when the mech stumbled. Her mind danced with triumph until she realized that it was falling toward her.
The forearm of the suit struck her hard, metal screamed and the vents hissed as the mech went down and took her with it. "Balls."
She could still breathe and the suit was protecting her from the dead weight, but motion was difficult. Pax concentrated on pushing herself down and out, inch by inch. She had worked her way free to her hips, her legs the only thing left trapped, when silver hands yanked hard on her ribs and she slid free.
"We are going to have some detailed discussions on your battle tactics, Pax." He helped her get the armour to the shuttle and while she wedged herself against the rear bulkhead, he sealed the doors and took off.
Guardian was pissed. Pax knew that much. She winced as she felt something sticky on her left side. Her armour"s display was showing that her body was in distress.
"Guardian?"
"Yes."
"I think I am leaking." She felt a little dizzy and heard more cursing right before she passed out.
The bubble was back. Medical bays in Alliance warships were all the same, but this one had that extra something, a contagion bubble with a bed inside it. Guardian was next to her, his frown making his face extremely threatening.
"You let a mech fall on you."
"Let is a peculiar word."
"You let a mech fall on you."
She smiled sheepishly, "Yes, I let a mech fall on me. I was so excited that I hit his air supply and made him susceptible to my talent that I didn"t watch where he was falling. He fell on me."
"You will engage in some tactics training the moment we arrive on Udell. When something is falling toward you, you move."
She looked down and his hand was covering hers. "I am guessing there was a problem getting me treated."
"The doctors stayed outside the bubble and talked me through it. You had a large puncture in your side and I had to seal it. I have no medical training so you may have some scar tissue there." He touched her side lightly through the sheet covering her.
"Why are you in here with me? You could have used remotes to patch me up."
"I didn"t want you to be alone. Something tells me that you have been alone a little too much." He kept her hand in his as he sat on the edge of the bed. "All staff members of the Alliance outpost have been retrieved successfully and even the Tival rep was found to be in excellent health and has offered a complete apology to the Yehl-Gar temple and population. Provided that they do not include Tival in the party, the Yehl-Gar is willing to consider re-opening negotiations for the use of their planet as a strategic outpost."
"So, aside from my little squashing incident, a successful assignment."
He sighed, a heavy gust that showed his frustration. "Yes, it was a success. Now, we are waiting for a suit for you from the shuttle and we will be on our way to Udell. By the way, you are currently not producing particulates. The bubble is just here for protocol."
She didn"t believe him. "You are not serious."
"I am and the pigment on your hair is completely gone. It is a white and translucent waterfall." He lifted a hank of her hair and smiled.
"Completely white? Wonderful."
"I think so. Ah, here is your suit." The attendant slid the folded fabric onto the floor and Martuas lifted the hatch in the bubble and retrieved it through the small airlock.
He glared at the attendant until the younger man made a run for it. "Come on. Let"s get you into this suit. Your other one is ruined."
"Big hole." She sat up carefully, a stabbing pain in her side. The sheet slid down and Martuas" appreciative gaze ran over her.
He shook his head to focus and assisted her to drape her legs over the edge of the bed, fitting her feet into the matching leg and working it up her legs with awkward but steady motions.
When it was up to mid-thigh, he helped her down off the table and tugged the suit up to cover her hips and belly while supporting her with one hand. It wasn"t graceful, but it got the job done.
Her hands went into the sleeves without trouble and he eased the suit up over her shoulders and sealed the suit carefully. The immediate crackle made her sigh with relief. She may not need the filter, but it was now a security blanket until she could find out what the hell her body was doing.
Chapter Seven
It felt odd to be carried like an infant through the ship, but it got weirder when Pax realized that there were no other staffers in the halls. "Where is everyone?"
"They cleared the halls for you when I asked for your uniform. They were all suitably impressed on the effect that the residue inside the armour had on the medical team. They sat and smiled for a good half hour."
He was shaking his head at the foolishness of the ship"s crew and she punched him weakly. "Not everyone is impervious to it, Guardian."
His grin mocked everyone else. "I am, therefore everyone else is weak and a sissy."
Her giggles trailed behind them in the hall. The shuttle bay was as empty as the rest of the halls, but their shuttle was a shining beacon in the open space. "We are going to Udell?"
"We are. Be on your best behaviour, we can"t just open a window if you spill particles. The atmosphere of Udell is not breathable by most species."
That was a snag she had not anticipated, but her spirits were high until she noted the wreckage of the armour left in the hold of the shuttle. "You had to get me out with a can opener."
"I will say yes, whatever a can opener is. We had to use everything to pry you out of that armour. With the damage, it couldn"t open." He tucked her into the navigator seat and buckled her in.
He sealed the hatch and as she turned to watch him, she noted the darker patches on his suit. Her blood. "I bled everywhere, didn"t I?"
"Yes. The staffers were more scared for you than the air strike that began as we flew from the surface." He buckled in and did a systems check. "I am going to have Tech take a look at that."
She looked down and followed his gaze to a lavender light that
flickered slowly. "What is that?"
"It"s an air filtration system marker. I am guessing that your particles can be harvested. It might be handy to know for crowd-control purposes."
She snorted as they lifted and turned to head for the exit. "Right. They can give it to enforcement teams and use them as gas grenades."
Guardian had an expression on his face that made her think she had not just made a joke.
They left the warship without a word and he immediately set a course for the largest planet in the system. "We are on our way to Udell. The warship will head to a jump site and leave the system."
"Wait, we are there already?"
"Of course. The warship jumped here while you were out."
"Where is the protocol? The formal take leave of the ship?"
Guardian grinned and
it was not a pleasant smile. "The captain and I had a slight disagreement as to your treatment. He wanted to leave you in the armour until we reached Udell and I disagreed."
His hands flexed on the controls and his words made her think that physical violence had come into it. "You punched him."
"Oh yes, several times." There was savage satisfaction in his tone.
She didn"t have time to query him further.
"Shuttlecraft, this is Udell base, please identify."