“No, don’t you dare try to manipulate the situation to your benefit, Lady.” She’d never do such a thing! “I touched you as you flew and you didn’t come at me.”
“You have knowledge of us! You know the vast difference between flight and defense!” She couldn’t help the irritation and disrespectful tone lacing the words.
He looked stunned for a moment before she said, “Ah, Sir, it’s you who manipulates now. You look surprised when it suits you but I know better. You can’t lay claim to ignorance after you’ve touched me so perfectly, knew exactly what my raven’s body needed to come for you.” And for good measure so he wouldn’t find additional fault, she added, “Sir.”
He reached out and she couldn’t help but flinch away. It seemed an appropriate action because she had no idea why he’d want contact after yel ing.
Confused, she also had no idea what just happened between them but residual anger burned in her chest.
He said quietly, “I know a woman’s body, Lady. It has naught to do with you being raven.” The bed shifted as he stood and began dressing. “I’l apologize when you’ve calmed and can better appreciate it. I doubt it’l repair the trust issue you must have with me right now. You’l stay aboard Raze when we reach Infur.”
“You’l take that away from me! You’l condemn my clan for a misunderstanding?”
“I never said—”
“If I don’t track, the Governance no longer protects Haven.” She wished her voice didn’t shake and the tears would leave her eyes.
“We’l work this out…”
“I’l track for you, General, better than any raven in history. Don’t take this from me. You can’t, you mustn’t!”
“And you can place this incident aside?”
“Certainly.” But she’d use greater caution in her assumptions.
“And let me guide you through that dark place?”
She wouldn’t al ow it to be a problem. “Yes, I swear.”
His eyes held her gaze and the intense color and clarity deflated her anger. Even the stubble over his misbegotten face was attractive. Damn him!
“General?” LeRoy’s voice intruded.
“Here, Mason.”
“Another Theazian warship. They’ve hailed us and wish to make a bargain.”
“Regarding?”
“A trade. Major Deacon for you, Sir.”
“The terms?”
She threw the covers back, went to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Fear replaced anger as she waited to hear the reply from Colonel LeRoy. Gage surrounded her with strong arms, brought her tight against his chest and stroked her head.
“Same as always.”
He sighed. “Agree to it as long as the supposed trade takes place on Infur. That’l give us time. You know what to do from there.”
“I do, but what about the war vessel? You know where there’s one—”
“Of course there’re others but they’l keep a distance from Raze. Let them know I stil command the ship. Tel them it must remain that way as to not alert the crew. Tel them flanking us is out of the question. Keep them far yonder so when we need that advantage, we’l have it.”
“So just to be clear, we’l make an imaginary hail to the president, ask him what to do and he’l trade you for the major?”
“Yes. It needs to appear he’l betray me to get his son back. And, LeRoy?”
“Yes, Sir?”
“Let Brach play Deacon. His arrogance should make staunch believers of them.”
“Aye, General.” The link went silent.
“Reina, you’re trembling.” He kissed her forehead.
“You’re not trading your life?” He relayed as much but she needed a direct confirmation to lessen her panic. She cared a great deal for her general.
“It’s a game, sweet one, but secrecy’s a must. I trust you’l not run and tel Walter of our charade because he’s got such a large mouth.” Did he do it on purpose, make light of the dealings with their enemy for her benefit? Before she could formulate the answer, he brought her chin up. “Pay close attention to what I say next because it’s more important than any dealings over the major.” She nodded and gazed into his eyes, waiting. What could be more important than retrieving the major? He said, “I’m sorry for your punishment, Reina. I’m shamed at measuring it out. It’s becoming obvious that my knowledge of your abilities and ways are not what they should be. To make it right, I’l stand fast for retaliation in the form you choose. Would such let trust settle between us again?” The man must never make a mistake to place the importance of an apology above the rescue of a major. After a moment of thought, a wicked idea came to her and he smiled. “Uh, Lady, your expression tel s me to prepare myself.”
“I’m a bit slow this morning, General. I’d like to ponder such a thing for a while if I may.”
“As you wish,” he said, kissing her very gently. “But while my mind is focused on you, I want to relay one additional thing.”
“Sir?”
“In the future I’d like you to try to explain things to me before I make an ass of myself. Can you do that for me, Reina?”
“I’l try. I can’t always predict what might seem strange to you though. Besides,” she smiled, “this advantage you’ve awarded tastes sweet as scenarios play in my mind. I’ve not been in a position to mete out justice. I rather like the power, Sir.”
“And I find that gleam in your eyes most attractive this morn. Open your mouth and let me tease you a bit so you’l have gentler thoughts when planning my discipline.”
“It won’t help you.”
Laughing, running his fingers into the hair at the back of her head, he pul ed slightly so she was turned up and open. After kissing her many different ways, he released her and stepped back. “I’m needed on the bridge, Lady. Crawl yourself back into the warmth of my bed and sleep the day away. I’l have food brought to you here.”
“Your crew would wonder about that, Sir, especial y in my current state of undress.”
“They wouldn’t dare say a word.”
“No, I imagine they wouldn’t but I find with al this talk of trading and war vessels, I’d much rather prowl beyond—with your permission of course.” With his uniform in place, the soldier in him came back. “Granted, but stay away from—” She couldn’t stop herself. “The damn animal compound, Lady,” she said in a deep voice not too unlike his.
His face went blank for a second before he howled with laughter. “Something like that could get you thrown in the brig, sweet one.”
“Or punished,” she replied, tilting her head before slowly passing her tongue over her lips.
“Oh, damn me, but I must go. With that look of yours and that tongue of yours, I won’t be comfortable sitting for a time.”
* * * * *
“Yes, Lobank?” Gage asked when the corporal hailed him.
“The lady, Sir, we’re transporting her to medical.”
“LeRoy!”
“Right away,” LeRoy said.
Gage went to the console to view the image LeRoy brought up on the screen. Lobank ran with Reina in his arms, two others clearing the way toward medical. Her body was slack and she had no color in her face. She appeared lifeless.
“Go,” Mason said.
Gage ran the distance to medical and entered, aggressively moving people from his path. At the bedside, he watched as Nare hovered and checked her over before depressing a button to have the readings repeated audibly.
“Respirations, thirty. Heart rate, thirty. Blood pressure—blood pressure—one moment please. Brain activity, minimal. Dr. Nare?” the computer questioned in a soothing voice.
“Yes,” Nare replied.
“Should I warm her? Her temperature is below eighty.”
When the doctor pul ed Reina’s eyelid up, everything within was black. She kept mumbling the same phrase over and over. Unable to stand seeing her nearly unconscious, Gage grasped her hand. He became immediately weightless as his mind raced
through a near black tunnel. Words came to him more clearly, not truly spoken but stil made known. Balasta don chewertai infatamal, balasta don chewertai infatamal, balasta don chewertai infatamal!
He wanted to reassure her but the place they soared wouldn’t accommodate spoken words. He wanted her to know she wasn’t alone. Reina, I’m here.
Torone! she said into his mind.
She’d heard, she understood. How was it possible? I’ll not leave you. How will they strike from within?
“Body temperature continues to decrease, Doctor. May I warm her?” the computer asked pleasantly, sounding very far away.
Al at once Gage opened his eyes. He’d been released and forced back to his physical form. She’d done it before. The first time she flew, she’d pushed him from hel . With a stinging hand, he felt her chil ed skin stil grasped in his palm.
“Reina, you’re to come back now, this instant.” Eyelids fluttered as she struggled. The deathly pal or seemed to expand. “Obey me, Lady, or I swear I’l shake you until your teeth rattle.”
“He came to me. In my head.” He barely made out what she’d said because her voice was less than a whisper.
“Who came to you, Lady?”
“He drew me in, entered my mind. I didn’t know such could be done.”
“The Theazian? The one you felt during your flight?”
Motionless with gray skin, the blue ring surrounding her lips grew darker. He recal ed instructions she’d offered prior to her first flight. Guide me with your voice as I fly. He had other ideas on how to help at the moment. He grasped her shoulders and forced her to sit before turning her. Ignoring the pul to go into her dark world became easier when he expected it. “Come back to me, damn you! This very moment, Reina. Do,” he shook her, “you,” he shook her harder, “hear me!”
“General!” Nare yel ed.
Reina shivered slightly before she drew in a massive breath, her back arching as if she’d been skewered from behind. Gage placed her against the bed and looked at the doctor.
“Nare?” Gage asked, needing some form of assistance and answers.
Nare replied, “I don’t know how to help. I’ve no idea what’s going on!”
The computer sizzled to life and spewed information. “Respirations increasing. Forty, sixty, ninety. Heart rate one hundred twenty, one hundred fifty, one hundred—body temperature slowly rising. Arrhythmia detected, Dr. Nare. Please clear the bed.” Gage pul ed his hands away the same time Nare did and Reina was shocked. After a breath-holding moment, the computer relayed, “Heart rate stabilized, Dr. Nare. Other systems responding. Stabilization imminent. Brain scan abnormal. Running analysis.” They waited. Gage ran a hand over his face, wishing someone knew something—anything about the intricacies of a raven. How in the hel did the bastard Theazian manage to affect her so? She should’ve entered his mind, not the other way around.
“Dr. Nare?” the computer asked.
“Yes,” he replied.
“Identify female subject, please.”
“Raven woman.”
“Scanning for comparison.”
“What the hel is wrong with your computer, Nare?” Gage asked.
“It’s programmed to handle her, give it a moment.”
“No comparison found,” the computer said.
“Run comparison again,” Nare ordered.
After a few seconds, it replied, “No comparison found.”
“Explain.”
“Contradictory, Dr. Nare. Central nervous system interruptions, Theazian-based in nature. Raven main path identifiers correspond. Combination consistent with inter-breeding. No physical attributes or molecular evidence to support conclusion.”
“Identify raven.”
Gage’s patience came very close to the edge as he waited for the gibberish the computer spat back to relay something of import. “Nare!”
“Layman’s terms,” Nare said to the computer.
“Theazian process overlying raven brain function, Dr. Nare.”
“Eliminate Theazian influence.”
“Probability of success—ninety-two percent. Do you wish me to proceed?”
“The other eight percent?” Gage asked. They dealt with a woman’s life and the odds seemed ridiculously unsafe. Before Nare al owed the computer to gamble, he’d make sure he had a better understanding of what they were speaking of.
The computer questioned, “Dr. Nare?”
“You’l respond to General Ryker.”
“Yes, Dr. Nare. Additional eight percent uncertain, General.”
“Potential outcomes?”
“Permanent brain damage, respiratory failure, continued arrhythmia, heart failure—”
“You could counter that, correct?” Gage asked.
“Negative after an isolation procedure, Sir.”
“If the raven were left alone?” Any side effect of the procedure seemed too risky.
“Unknown.”
Reina’s eyelids fluttered. “Lady?” Gage grabbed her hand.
“Sir?” Beautiful amber eyes surrounded by swol en lids opened before her gaze settled on him. An unconvincing smile turned the corners of her mouth up.
“Reina, are you with us again?” He stroked her hand as she weakly grasped him in return.
“It appears so.” She looked to her right, viewed Nare and then scanned the others crowded in the room. “You sounded as if you had need of me, Sir.
Is there something amiss?”
She shivered and Nare said to the computer, “Heat.”
The computer relayed, “Theazian influence diminished. Undetectable. Dr. Nare, a temporal lobe hemorrhage is now detected.” The computer’s electronic voice rose an octave as Reina grimaced, bringing her palms to her eyes.
Nare took her hand and asked, “Reversal procedure?”
“Unnecessary, Dr. Nare, it’s receding. The raven appears to be self-rejuvenating in this manner. I wish to analyze this ability. May I probe deeper to more ful y understand the physiology of raven intracranial capabilities?”
“Negative. I believe the general wishes her conscious.”
“Peripheral scan recommended, Dr. Nare. I now detect a frontal lobe hemorrhage which dissipates as I give her readout.”
“Proceed with peripheral scan only.”
“Understood. Proceeding.”
“What happened?” Gage asked.
Reina didn’t know how to answer, for she couldn’t comprehend it herself. She’d been accessing the data beast, preparing for their mission, trying to relay their proximity to the baby major when she tapped into something odd. A communication of sorts with words, voices, but nothing clear.
The ship rumbled beneath them and she made herself look as alert as possible. “Your presence is required elsewhere, Sir. I’m sorry for more trouble and promise not to misbehave again.”
His level of intensity changed and she witnessed behavior she believed quite extraordinary. The general took her hand into both of his and brought it to his lips, kissing her lightly. “LeRoy is capable. Until we know what’s happening to you—”
“Gage,” Dr. Nare said, “her vitals are stable. I won’t leave her. Go to your post.” He squeezed her hand gently and laid it against her stomach. He hesitated. “You’re wel now, Lady?”
“Quite,” she managed to say before the room tilted with another impact to the ship’s side.
“Condition of raven?” he asked the computer while staring into her eyes. Apparently he needed further assurance, not trusting her ability to judge her own health.
“Baseline, General.”
“No further anomalies?”
“Negative, General.”
With a stroke of his fingers against her cheek, he turned and left the room in long-legged strides. Many fol owed him save Corporal Lobank and Dr.
Nare. Lobank came forward to fil the spot where Gage had stood. He said, “You damn near gave me an arrhythmia, Lady.” His smile and expression relayed great relief.
A soft,
muffled female voice asked, “Is she wel ?”
The question came from Pinski. Dr. Nare pressed something on the wal and it slid away. A few feet away in the next bed lay the partial y healed private. Glad to see her looking so strong, Reina managed a smile to which Pinski winked.
Strike from within! Strike from within! The thoughts screeched through Reina’s mind before she rol ed from the bed and landed in a heap on the floor.
Those surrounding her didn’t know what would happen. She crawled toward Nare to take his firearm. The premonition’s strength blinded her momentarily and before she could reach the doctor’s laser, the room exploded in blinding light.
Chapter Ten
Reina watched Dr. Nare hurl through the air before fal ing to his back and sliding many feet. He lay crumpled against a supply cabinet. She crawled toward him, hearing the scuffle taking place behind. The firearm. Must reach it.
Lobank grunted and something large smacked the floor. She imagined the sound denoted Lobank going down. She’d sensed the danger, hadn’t seen it, but knew its origin was male. Pinski rol ed from her bed and landed haphazardly next to it. “Lady, take cover,” she said.
With al of them in grave danger, Reina didn’t waste time seeking cover. Strike from within. Reina’s hand and knee slipped in the trail of Dr. Nare’s blood as she scrambled to recover his firearm. She gained only a few feet before a large boot came to rest at the smal of her back and weight bore her to the floor.
Weak and somewhat disoriented, she took herself to combat readiness. The process and transformation happened almost instantaneously. The light in the room grew brighter as adrenaline rushed through her veins. Her scalp tingled as her brain shifted from one manner of thought to another. Vocal cords swel ed and her breathing increased, fil ing her lungs and body with endorphins so when the pain came she’d be able to keep fighting.
A man vaulted over Pinski’s bed to land beside the injured woman. He grabbed her hair and roughly brought her to her feet. Pinski moaned before swaying. She shouldn’t be moved much less jerked about. Reina figured she’d remedy the problem by tearing the man’s throat out.
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