Falling for Sky (Cyborg Seduction Book 11)

by Laurann Dohner

  “Where is your attractive female?” Hoover arched his eyebrows.

  “Taking a nap. She didn’t need to listen to any more.”

  Tweak nodded. “We hear a lot of bad things. Good decision.”

  Sky took his seat. “Any traffic about the Markus Models?”

  “Nothing,” Hoover sighed. “It’s odd. The one recent distress signal that they were mentioned in wasn’t them. It makes me wonder what they are doing to keep occupied, since they haven’t killed anyone lately.”

  “Probably picking their next target,” Tweak guessed. “We did get an update. The Bridden found a group of six pirate ships half an hour ago. We might not have to travel all the way to the Gambit System.”

  Sky’s heart raced. “Are they engaging them?”

  Tweak shrugged. “The Bridden is watching them and the Varnish is calculating the risks. We should hear soon if they believe they can safely attack that many ships and win.”

  Hoover scowled. “I hate the idea of having pirates onboard. I went to a station a few years ago masquerading as a pirate, and another one approached me. He wanted to know if I’d seen any women we could kidnap to ‘breed’ with. Which of course meant rape. You should have heard him explain how excited it made him when they fought and screamed. I wanted to gut him on the spot.”

  Sky didn’t want to think about what would have happened to Mick if he hadn’t gotten to her in time. “I don’t plan on letting my wife near any more pirates. She can stay in our quarters while I interrogate them.”

  Tweak nodded. “I don’t blame you.”

  “They might frighten her.” Hoover leaned back in his chair. “Are you certain you don’t want to reconsider adding males to your family unit? Human females aren’t as strong as cyborgs. She might like the extra protection and comfort. I’d be willing to hold her when you’re not around.”

  Sky glared at him. “It’s never going to happen.”

  “Just checking.” Hoover ducked his head. “I’m going back to scanning reports now.”

  Tweak flashed Sky a grin and lowered his head, focusing on his own screen. “I’m smart enough not to ask. You’ve made your feelings clear.”

  Sky went back to work, contacting one of the colonies on another planet in the Yornton System. A female responded to the hail. He usually flirted on the rare occurrences when he got to speak to women, but the urge wasn’t there. It didn’t feel right. He was a married man now.

  The female worried about the military demanding food from them, too, if Earth started sending out battle cruisers. She said the colony’s inhabitants were more afraid of the military than a cyborg attack. Sky felt bad for her.

  “I’ll be happy to go save her,” Hoover muttered.

  Sky shot him a warning look and ended the communication as soon as it was possible without being rude. He checked for updates from the other ships…and softly cursed.

  “What is it?”

  He answered Tweak. “Stag is engaging the pirates.” He stood. “I’m going to the bridge.”

  He hurried there and entered, finding Flint sitting in the captain’s chair. He appeared tense. The male glanced at Sky, not showing any surprise at seeing him.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “The Bridden will remain shielded while the Varnish pretends to be crippled by slowing their speed when they’re within sensor range, and then Stag plans to turn as if they are running. It should make them seem like an easy target.”

  “Then what?”

  Flint stared at the monitor ahead of him. “They’ll fight if the pirates engage them. Stag plans to take out the engines on one of the ships and lead the others away from it. He can easily outdistance them if need be. The Bridden will then dock with the damaged ship and board it to attempt to capture some of the pirates.”

  Sky nodded. “It’s a solid plan.”

  “If it works, and the other five ships abandon the damaged one. We’re two hours behind them, but we can increase speed if things go wrong. I wish we were closer. Stag insisted he and his crew could do this.”

  “Stag and his crew can do it.” Sky had faith in them.

  “I’m worried about the Bridden. We can’t afford to lose a shielded shuttle right now. It’s too important. Not to mention the loss of life we’d suffer.”

  “Teg is onboard. He can remote-access their systems and take over the crippled ship. I’m not worried about losing them or that shuttle.”

  Flint gripped the armrests of the chair. “What if there are cyborgs on that ship? Do you think they’ll attack?”

  Sky had no answer. “I hope not. It wouldn’t be logical. They should feel relief at discovering they aren’t alone.”

  “It will make me feel shame if cyborgs are working with pirates.”

  Sky nodded, silently agreeing with Flint. Pirates were crazy, and women weren’t safe around them. To team up with someone without any honor was indeed shameful. He understood that to do so, any cyborgs would have to be desperate…but everyone had their limits. Cyborgs held themselves to higher standards than most species.

  Tension mounted on the bridge. Waiting to get updates was difficult, and no one spoke until Onyx contacted them twenty long minutes later.

  “We have three prisoners.”

  Sky responded before Flint could. “Is everyone on the Bridden well?”

  “Yes. We’re fine. No causalities on our part. It was easy to dock with them. Teg took over their computer and silenced their alarms. I doubt they’ll even realize we were there unless they miss the three pirates we grabbed. Our prisoners are unconscious and will remain that way. We’re heading to you.”

  “Have you heard from Stag?” Flint looked tense.

  “Yes, and we’ve monitored them on sensors. They had to destroy four pirate vessels. It appears the pirates had upgraded their engines and were able to keep up with the Varnish. He had no choice but to take them out.”

  Another call came in. It was Stag. The male’s face showed on the monitor—and he appeared pissed. “We destroyed four of their ships and damaged the fifth. We attempted to board to take some of them alive, but the bastards used their thrusters to slam into the debris field from the other ships. They did it on purpose.”

  Sky was shocked. “They committed suicide?”

  Stag nodded. “That’s what it looked like to me. We tried to gain control of their computer but they manually shut it down and steered into the field. Crazy fucking bastards. There are no life signs on what’s left of it. That wouldn’t be much.”

  Flint turned his head, holding Sky’s gaze. He arched an eyebrow.

  “That’s not normal behavior. Just like on Zippo Station.”

  “Fuck.” Flint faced forward. “Did the Varnish sustain damage? Do you need a tow?”

  “We’re in one piece and no one was injured. There’s nothing that we can’t wait to repair once we’re home. We will head there now if you don’t need us.”

  “Contact the council first, but we’re fine.”

  “Stag out.” He cut the coms.

  “We’re on our way to you with the three pirates. Onyx out.” They also lost the signal from the Bridden.

  Flint contacted security to let them know to ready the holding cells. Then he addressed Sky. “I’ll have a medic look at them first, and I’ll let you know when they are cleared to be interviewed.”

  “Interrogated. Until then, I’m going to spend time with my wife.”

  Flint nodded.

  Sky left the bridge. He wanted to see Mick and let her know what was going on. He entered their quarters to find her lying on the couch watching an entertainment vid.

  She sat up and grinned. “You’re back! I missed you.” She jumped off the couch and rushed to him.

  He opened his arms, grinning. It was nice to have someone welcome him. He kissed her when she put her arms around his neck and then swept her off her feet, carrying her toward the bedroom.

  “I missed you, too. I’m about to show you how much.”

&nbs
p; He’d tell her about their prisoners afterward. He just wanted to make love to her and celebrate the fact that none of his friends had died. Mick had a way of making everything right in his world, just by touching him. Sky needed that…especially with the unenviable task to come.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sky carefully studied the three prisoners. The pirates had refused to speak so far. They simply sat silent, glaring at him. Two other cyborgs remained inside the cell with him. They wanted to dissuade the prisoners from believing they had a chance of escape.

  “Who is leading the pirates now?” Sky addressed the one he figured would be in charge. The male seemed older and had less radiation damage than the other two. “Your pattern of attack has changed. Why is that?”

  The male sealed his lips tighter together.

  Sky mentally counted to ten. It was a coping technique many humans had used while he’d been on Earth, to avoid losing their tempers. “Have you seen other cyborgs?”

  The oldest pirate smirked. “Is that what you are? You just look like a freak to me.”

  The other two pirates laughed.

  Max pulled his stunner from his belt. “We look freakish? You’ve got open sores on your face. Someone should teach you some manners.”

  Sky motioned the cyborg back. “There is a state-of-the-art medical facility onboard. We could heal a lot of your wounds and see if our medic could reverse some of the radiation damage you’ve sustained.”

  The old pirate spat on the floor. “We aren’t interested.”

  “We also have an old shuttle in one of our cargo holds that we’re willing to part with. Your ship wasn’t destroyed. The shuttle is fueled, and you could fly back to your friends.” Sky had permission to make the offer. It wasn’t as if anyone would believe a pirate if they said they’d been aboard a cyborg ship. “We will allow you to leave if you answer my questions.”

  Crave looked furious. “They’d only attack someone else.”

  “That’s not our problem right now,” Sky pointed out, keeping his attention on the pirates. “Tell us what changed. Some of your ships have been attacking in swarm formation. Do you know something about that? You were grouped together with six ships. That’s something that your kind hasn’t done before.”

  The three pirates said nothing.

  “Damn it,” Flint muttered from the mental link he had open from the next room. “Stop being nice to them.”

  Sky stepped closer. “Do you want to die today? You can be helpful or dead. Your choice. Make it.”

  Sky felt pressure to do his job but was torn at the same time. He avoided looking left at the camera. Mick had asked to be present while he interviewed the pirates. He’d agreed but now doubted his decision. She currently watched from the monitor next door with a team of security officers and Flint. He didn’t want to torture the pirates to force them to answer, fearing it would make her see him in a bad light.

  “Why don’t you let me take over?” Max stepped forward. “I’ve got the stomach to gut one of the bastards to show the other two his intestines. It may encourage them to talk.”

  Sky shot a warning look at the male. “Can you not traumatize Mick?” He spoke softly. “Shut up or leave.”

  Max stepped back but didn’t look happy to do it.

  Sky took a deep breath and turned back around, studying the three prisoners restrained to chairs in the cell, seated a few feet apart. “I’m giving you the best offer you’ll receive. Freedom. Otherwise, one of my two friends will take over. Screaming, blood, and pain will be involved. I walk out, and the deal to put you on a shuttle alive to return to your ship is off the table.”

  The pirates glanced at each other. The older one finally met his gaze. “Fuck you. You’ll kill us anyway. Nobody keeps their word when dealing with our kind.”

  Sky stepped closer. “My word is solid.” He chose his words carefully. “We have something in common. Earth Government fucked us over. They want us all dead.

  “I’m going to be honest. What you do, attacking innocent people, killing, taking women to breed them against their will…it sickens us. There’s no honor in any of that. I would normally kill you just because the way you live offends me. I hate that I must bargain with you, but cyborgs are logical. We need answers more than revenge. I’m giving you my word that we’ll not harm you, put you on a working shuttle that will safely get you back to your ship, if you tell me what I want to know. Make us understand why you’ve gone from attacking individually to swarm behavior. Did your leadership change? Who is in charge? We know someone is.”

  The three pirates glanced at each other again.

  “What do you have to lose?” Sky crossed his arms. “You believe we’ll kill you, anyway. But what if I’m as honest as I say? Are you going to sit there silently and die? Or are you willing to take a risk that could gain you freedom?”

  The older one met his gaze and sighed. “We’re dead anyway if you send us back to the others.”

  Sky frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  Emotion flashed across the pirate’s features. Fear followed by frustration. “You kidnapped us. They’ll know we did whatever you wanted if you let us go. We’re fucked either way.”

  “Pirates have a code of silence?” That was news to Sky. “You live by rules?”

  “Now we do.”

  That interested him greatly. “What do you want in exchange for answering my questions?”

  “A ship we can live on, just the three of us, and lots of supplies,” the younger one blurted. “So we have a chance to live on our own.”

  Sky studied him. “You’re that afraid of your own people?”

  The older one shifted on the chair, as much as the restraints would allow. “We were planning to run before you took us. You blew that all to hell, and a short-range shuttle won’t get us anywhere near the water planet we found. They aren’t going to trust us if we go back. They’ll probably kill us immediately.”

  “What planet?”

  All three of them clammed up, going silent.

  Sky sighed. “The shuttle could take you to wherever you want to go. We’ll give you spare fuel and lots of food.”

  “Weapons too,” the older one demanded, holding Sky’s gaze.

  Sky frowned. “The shuttle doesn’t have weapons. It’s a transport. It’s all we have to offer.”

  “We need weapons for hunting.”

  “People?”

  The older one shook his head. “Where we’re going, there are some land masses with animals. We gotta eat. There ain’t no people. It’s why ours won’t go there. There’s nothing to steal.”

  Sky walked closer to him and crouched. “We can do that. Talk to me. Who’s leading your people now?”

  The older pirate held his gaze, and Sky detected a flash of hope in the other man’s eyes. “You swear you’re being honest? You’ll let us go, give us weapons and food supplies?”

  Sky nodded.

  “We need some building materials, too,” the youngest one whispered. “To build us some kind of shelter once we reach the planet.”

  “That too,” the old pirate agreed.

  “Why not use the shuttle?”

  The old pirate shook his head. “We gotta dump it in the ocean. Our only chance to hide is if there are no ships to find.”

  Sky was surprised by their intelligence. Most pirates were too damaged to do any kind of reasoning. “Done. We’ll even throw in tools to help you build. I’m sure they would come in handy if you plan to settle on a planet. Medicine, too.”

  The pirates glanced at each other, and finally the older one nodded. “Swear?”

  “Yes.” Sky nodded. “Have you ever seen cyborgs before? Is the person leading you like us?”

  The older pirate shook his head. “No. I’ve never seen nothing like you.”

  “Who is leading your people now?”

  The man hesitated, then said, “His name is Brant. One of the pirate ships found him when they were attacking a damaged freighter that had s
ent out a distress signal. He was the only one onboard still alive, and he’d laid a trap for them, from what we heard. He talked them into following him, and then began looking for more of us. He made a lot of promises.”

  The youngest one nodded. “He said we’d be invincible if we worked together instead of being loners. That if we did what he said, we’d all gain more supplies, suffer fewer deaths, and be able to take control of the outer sectors. He even said he could get Earth Government to leave us alone. It all sounded good…until we realized what it would cost us.”

  Sky had too many questions. “I don’t understand. What costs?”

  “He wanted the sickest members from each ship that joined him,” the older one grunted. “He said he could cure them, make the ones with too much radiation poisoning saner. The freighter had a medical bay, and he invited them there to be treated.”

  The third pirate spat. “He cured them, alright. If you call being mind-fucked a cure.”

  “Mind-fucked?” Sky glanced at the leader.

  The pirate held his gaze. “They…changed. Anyone who went in for treatment came back with less radiation damage to their bodies, but they weren’t the same.”

  “My dad took treatment,” the youngest said quietly. “He was really sick, couldn’t even talk to me anymore with any sense. The sickness makes us crazier as we get older. I talked him into it, hoping he’d get better. I didn’t want him to die. When madness takes over, we don’t live much longer after that. At first when he came back, I was relieved. But after just hours, I figured out he had my dad’s memories but…it was like he didn’t feel anything anymore. He ended up killing some of our crew who didn’t want to follow Brant. I became afraid of him.”

  “We aren’t all stupid,” the third pirate adding, appearing pissed. “We realized many of our friends and family came back different. It was like Brant fucked up their heads and removed the parts that made them think for themselves or feel anything. They only cared about Brant. What Brant wants, what Brant thinks. They’re convinced Brant is our salvation.”

  The old pirate nodded. “That’s why the ships group together now. Brant ordered them to fight together, and they do everything he says.”