Dark Matters (Class 5 Series Book 4)

by Michelle Diener

  He bent his head and kissed her.

  She sighed against his lips as he pulled her closer, and for a while, there didn't seem to be anything in the world but the feel of her tongue and lips and the press of her body against his.

  When she drew back, her eyes glittered, and he froze.

  “You are upset?”

  “No, I'm overwhelmed. I thought I was going to die so many times in the last two months, and here I am, making out with a handsome alien in a fancy spaceship.”

  “And that is a good thing?”

  “It's the best thing.” She slid her arm around his waist.

  He turned her toward the door, and kissed the top of her head. “Then that's all right.”

  Chapter 32

  The boxes were waiting for her on a table when they got to the officers' mess, and Lucy reluctantly slid out from under Dray's arm.

  He was warm, and she liked the way he smelled. She liked the way he touched her.

  She just plain liked him.

  She lifted the lid on the first box, and peered in.

  Frowned.

  “What is it?” Dray peered over her shoulder.

  She also liked the way he pressed against her back, a solid wall of muscle, and decided she really had to snap out of this mushiness.

  It was getting ridiculous.

  “Not sure.” She lifted out something that was vacuum sealed. Stared at it in horror.

  “Not what you were expecting?” Dray's tone was dry, and she held it up, taking a good, train-wreck-type look.

  “You people are sick.”

  “Don't blame the Grih. I've never seen anything like it, either.”

  “Is it a head?”

  “The head of a vtrryn.” Bane said. “Apparently a delicacy on the planet the Tecran took it from.”

  “Ugh.” Lucy dropped it back in the box. Looked askance at the other two on the table. “I'm almost afraid to look inside those ones, now. Maybe it's safer just to have the nutrient bars.”

  “They're here. Might as well.” Dray opened the second box, lifted out a sealed container which Lucy guessed meant whatever was inside was chilled.

  He lifted the lid, frowned.

  She realized she was too curious not to look, and leaned against his arm to look at it.

  Felt a spark of hope.

  “Fruit.”

  Dray lifted up a piece and offered it to her, and she examined it. It looked a little like an apple. The skin was more a bluish-purple, but not so different from some varieties of pear she'd seen before.

  “I've analyzed it. You can eat it,” Bane told her.

  She lifted it to her lips, gave a nibble. It was tart and crisp, and while the flavor was unusual, she took a bigger bite and chewed. Offered it to Dray.

  He took it, bit in, and handed it back, and the look on his face nearly made her spit out what was in her mouth in amusement.

  “Not for you?”

  “Ha, ha. No.”

  She took another bite. “Now you know how I feel when I try to eat your food. It gets you down, after awhile.”

  “Fiona Russell has found the food on Balco to be to her taste. I can ask Easi what to order.”

  “Thanks, Bane. It would be great to eat good food, but even better to meet Fiona Russell.”

  “She manages Larga Ways, now,” Dray said. “She's not part of Grih Battle Center.”

  “If it's at all possible, I'd like to go to Larga Ways. It looks lovely.”

  “Where did you see it?” Dray asked.

  “There was some visual comms of her singing on Larga Ways in the square in Fa'allen. I was watching it when some of the people in the crowd realized I was from Earth, too.”

  “No wonder there was an uprising.”

  Lucy had finished the apple thing and pulled the box closer, looking to see what else was in there. “Don't you want to get something for yourself?” she asked Dray.

  He nodded, but instead of looking through the box, he disappeared into the kitchen, and Lucy found some berries and something that looked like a root vegetable. Nothing was quite what she was used to, but it was nice enough.

  Right now, she was happy to settle for nice enough.

  Dray came back in, carrying a plate in one hand, and a jug with two cups balanced on top in the other.

  She wasn't having to settle in other areas, she thought with a grin, so she'd let the food go.

  She had just started dating someone the week before the Tecran had stolen her. They'd gone out twice, and she'd liked him, was prepared to give him a shot. She'd wondered often over the last two months if he'd gotten into any trouble when she'd disappeared, and hoped he hadn't. But the like she'd felt for him paled in comparison to the fire Dray lit in her.

  She'd said it to him earlier, and she thought it now. Whatever was between them was so intense, it was hard to look straight at him. It felt like if she did, she'd spin off into space.

  “What're you thinking about?” Dray set the jug on the table beside her.

  She blushed. “The people I left behind on Earth.”

  “You had a family?”

  She nodded, no longer feeling so lighthearted. Her mother and brother would have raised hell to find her, and the hurt she knew they were feeling had helped to fuel her anger at the Tecran, helped keep her fighting, even when she was so worn down, she would have given up if it had just been about her.

  She would never see them again, and that still tore a hole in her.

  “I'm sorry.”

  She tucked her hair behind her ears. “It's not on you. It's on the Tecran.” She pushed the root vegetable aside. She'd only had a few bites, but it wasn't really doing anything for her, and she reached for the third box. “What about you? Any family?”

  He shook his head. “I was raised by my grandparents. My parents both died serving in the military, and my grandparents are gone now, too.”

  She lifted her head. “How old were you when they died?”

  “I had just entered the Grih Battle Center. It helped to be surrounded by people who became a new kind of family to me.”

  She nodded. Lifted the lid.

  “What is it?” Dray's voice had turned amused, but she couldn't smile in response. Couldn't do anything but hold her breath and hope . . .

  “What is it?” He moved forward, alarm in his voice now.

  “I think . . .” she looked up at him with wide eyes. “I think it might be chocolate.”

  “It isn't chocolate,” Bane said.

  She actually pouted. Felt very much like stamping her foot.

  “But Oris had some chocolate from Earth in his store, which he gave to Imogen, and he shared all the details with me. This is very similar to chocolate. Amazing actually, because it's from Triskin, which I'm guessing is on the other side of the galaxy to Earth, and yet, I don't think you'd find it very different to what you're used to.”

  She tilted her face up and mouthed thank you to the chocolate gods. And Bane.

  She pulled out the clear, vacuum-packed package, tore the corner open, and delicately lifted out a strangely shaped piece the size of a cherry. It looked like some kind of crazy spiked ball that should be attached by a chain to a medieval mace.

  “It's supposed to resemble a hail stone, I believe,” Bane said. “The hailstones on that planet are usually spiky and extremely dangerous because the wind is strong enough to toss them back up into the atmosphere multiple times before they fall. The confectionery is called edventa, which means hailstones in the dominant language on Triskin.”

  Lucy hesitated, but she wasn't not going to give it a try, even if it did end up being a disappointment, so she popped it into her mouth.

  Closed her eyes.

  “I feel like I need to give you a private moment.” Dray's voice was a little deeper, a little rougher, than usual.

  She lifted her eyelids slowly, almost slumberously. “Oh, no. I don't mind if you watch.” Her voice was a little thick, her throat coated in chocolate.

>   He swallowed. Hard.

  “Maybe you want to give this a try?” She held out the package.

  “I think I'm going to enjoy watching you eat it more than actually eating it myself.”

  She crooked her finger. “At least have a little taste.”

  He leaned closer and she went up on tiptoe, nibbling at his lips. With a groan, he pulled her in and deepened the kiss, pressing her back against the table so they were flush against each other.

  “Mmm.” He teased her tongue with his and his hands lifted her up so she was sitting on the table.

  She hooked her legs around his hips and raised her hands so he could pull off her shirt.

  “I assume you want some privacy?” Bane's tone was both horrified and dry.

  Lucy rested her chin on Dray's shoulder and looked at the tiny camera in the corner of the room. “Yes, please.”

  “I'll see you later, then.”

  Dray had gone still when Bane started talking, and he nuzzled her cheek. “Is he gone?”

  “I believe so.” She leaned back, still in what she'd call a sports bra, and saw his eyes widen.

  “You're beautiful.” He quirked a grin at her. “But I'm not finding it at all hard to look right at you.”

  “Well, then.” She hooked her fingers under the sports bra and pulled it over her head. “I wouldn't want to obstruct your view.”

  His gaze lifted to hers, and held. “You are sure you want to go down this road?”

  “Go down it?” Lucy straightened and put her hands on the fastenings of his jacket. “Baby, I'm all in for a headlong race.”

  Chapter 33

  They sat, sprawled across the long, comfortable couch in the captain's suite.

  Dray liked the way Lucy left her bare foot against his own as she sipped grinabo and nibbled on a nutrient bar.

  She'd refused to eat another piece of the strange concoction she called chocolate, as she wanted to save it, and she didn't think it was worth taking another trip down to the warehouse where the plundered goods of years of Tecran theft lay waiting to be discovered.

  They'd ended up in her suite after they'd devoured each other in big hungry bites in the officers' mess, taking it slower the second time, and then they'd fallen asleep entwined in each other.

  Bane had woken them with soft chimes, and they'd showered together, all slick, wet skin and hot mouths.

  “Are you ready to talk now?” Bane asked.

  There was no lens in the room, which Dray guessed had been a security feature for the Tecran when they'd run this Class 5, to prevent Bane from having too much access and power. There was a comms unit on the desk, though.

  “Yes. Sorry for sleeping again.” Dray rubbed his face. He hadn't thought about it before, but they had barely been up a couple of hours before they gone back under. “I guess we were catching up after what happened planet-side.”

  “What's our next step?” Lucy asked.

  “My first inclination was to leave,” Bane said. “The UC and the Tecran can sort out the mess below or go to war, whichever they please.” He activated the comms in the wall, and a large screen lit up, feeding them visuals from what was happening on Fa'allen.

  The demonstrations in the square were no longer contained there, they'd spread throughout the city, and they'd turned ugly.

  Tecran were fighting each other as well as the Fa'allen security forces, and Dray saw the uniforms of some of the UC troops in there as well.

  The only group missing was the Tecran military.

  “Where's Tecran Defense?”

  “Good question.” Bane let the feed jump and Dray realized he was hopping from handheld to handheld, surfing the personal lens feed of civilians to access what was happening on the street.

  After the Thinking Systems Wars, public surveillance on-planet and ship-side in most UC affiliates was scaled back drastically.

  Having your enemy be able to see what you were doing at all times had almost cost them the war.

  That Bane had found a way to overcome that was unsettling to Dray. Not Lucy, though, he realized. She gave a nod of approval as she worked out what he was doing.

  “There.” Bane focused in on a group of people who looked, at first glance, to be civilians themselves.

  “Oh, yes.” Lucy stood, leaning against his knee in a companionable way. “There you are, you absolute fucker.”

  Dray barked out a laugh at her tone. “You recognize one of them?”

  “Silius.” She pointed to a tall Tecran with hooded eyes and a long cloak, and now he was focused on him, Dray noticed he was holding a shockgun. He could just see the shape of the butt through the cloak.

  “He was one of the guards at the facility. A good friend of Virn's.”

  “Have you been able to find out what they're up to?” Dray wondered what was happening on the ground. How his second-in-command on the Grih team, Rynista, was coping with him missing.

  “Looks like at least some of them are in civilian clothing, armed to the teeth. My guess is they're going to ramp up the violence under the cloak of it being civilian led, and then use it as an excuse for a military takeover.” Lucy walked a little closer to the screen and Dray missed having her touching him. “I recognize this woman. She was trying to follow me the other day in Fa'allen, so this is a group that's loyal to the assholes who are trying to cover up their involvement in the Class 5 project and my kidnap. It would suit them perfectly to have to 'reluctantly' take over things to restore public peace and safety, and get rid of all evidence of their crimes while they're in charge.”

  The scenario she painted was frightening, and very possible. It made him realize again that her tactical thinking was as finely honed as any Battle Center officer's.

  “What did you do on Earth? What was your job?”

  “I'm a . . .” She frowned as she glanced at him over her shoulder. Shrugged. “I don't know the Tecran word for it and no one ever asked me that question at the facility.” She waved a hand. “I help people work through their problems.”

  “They don't have anyone to do that job on Tecra,” Bane told her. “So they don't have a word for it.”

  “They should.” She cocked a hip. “Some of these guys need some serious help.”

  Bane laughed, really laughed.

  Dray lifted his gaze to where the lens was usually attached, remembered there wasn't one, and felt a strange sense of disorientation at dealing with someone so real who didn't have a physical body.

  “I had to deal with them for years, so I concur,” Bane said.

  “You turned out pretty well given your role models,” Lucy said. “You can give yourself credit.”

  There was a moment of startled silence.

  “I thank you, Lucy.”

  Dray saw her stiffen, and then caught the gleam of moisture in her eye. She swallowed.

  “No need. It's only the truth.” She rubbed under her eyes. “So what's the deal? We're not letting them get away with this, are we?”

  “No. My initial idea to leave them to it changed when I saw how suspiciously they were behaving. I would not like to let them have a victory.”

  “I can't leave.” Dray leaned forward, elbows on his knees, as he watched the covert team slip through the crowd. “My people are down there, and it's my job to rein the Tecran military in. They shouldn't be anywhere near the levers of power.”

  “No, they shouldn't.” Bane's tone was short.

  “So.” Lucy flopped back down beside him on the couch. “What's the plan?”

  Chapter 34

  “I meant to say, thanks for the clothes.” Lucy plucked at the fitted tunic that hit her upper thighs, a perfect match for the leggings that had come with the outfit. It had been waiting on the bed for her after her shower with Dray, and had come with socks and boots that felt amazing to walk in.

  She'd more or less bounced her way to the part of the ship Bane had asked her to go to while Dray spoke to his team below in Fa'allen and went through an armory Bane had opened
up to him.

  “You're welcome. The fabric will keep your body temperature regulated and it will also deflect any shockgun fire.” Bane sounded as if he were standing right next to her, and Lucy turned her head, saw a small silver cylinder hovering just above her shoulder.

  She turned fully to study it. It had a lens embedded in it, and what she guessed were speakers. It was sleek and beautiful.

  “Are you in there, Bane?” She looked right at the lens. “How are you hovering so silently?”

  The cylinder moved back a little, rose a little higher. “I brought you here because I want to give you some extra protection.”

  He wasn't going to answer her question, but that was answer enough. She couldn't blame him for it, either.

  “Extra protection?” They'd already spoken about shockguns, but she wasn't familiar with them, besides firing one a few times at the nynt, so she'd told Dray she'd rather go without. She'd been second-guessing herself about her decision ever since.

  She didn't want to be helpless again.

  She fingered the soft fabric of the tunic. “I feel like you already did. If this stuff is capable of deflecting shockgun fire, I feel a lot better.”

  “The Tecran took me deep into the galaxy, and wherever they went, they stole whatever looked like it might be useful, or something they could weaponize later. Some of it is in the store, or in the armory, but the most unique and unusual things are here.” As he spoke, two panels set in the wall of the corridor slid back and she found herself looking into a recessed space that contained shelves with various sized boxes.

  “The scientists on board worked out what a lot of these do, but not all of them. They didn't ask me for my opinion, so I didn't have to tell them that I had worked out the rest.”

  Lucy leaned in, curious, and flipped open a lid. Frowned.

  “What on earth?” She didn't reach in. It looked like the blades inside had no handle. No safe way to lift them.

  “Not suitable for you,” Bane agreed. The cylinder darted past her into the space and touched down on a box on the second shelf. “Try this one.”