First Officer Chaz shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ma’am, but I’m not at liberty to discuss our orders with you. If you’ll procede me aboard the shuttle, we’ll get underway.”
Destiny nodded and reluctantly obeyed. At least the men were being cordial. They handled their commanding officer with care as they carried Jevlen’s unconscious body onboard the shuttle and strapped him in. She was glad they were together, she mused, but for how long?
***
“It’s time to wake up, Jevlen love,” Destiny murmured. He was sprawled on the bunk in the brig and this bed was large enough for his body. She sat at the top of the bunk with his head nestled comfortably in her lap. Slowly he opened his brilliant green eyes. It took a second for his optic processor to register his surroundings. Destiny knew the moment he became aware of where he was.
“I insisted they put me in here with you. How are your processors functioning? I suspect the surge of hormones and testosterine, along with the instinctive reaction threw your processors out of balance.”
Jevlen grunted and pushed to his elbows. He shifted so he could run his fingertips down her cheek. “You always worry about me first. What about you? Are you all right? This is the last thing I wanted for you.”
“And yet it was the first thing you set out to do not long ago,” she mused over the irony. “But don’t worry. I’m fine.”
“They should have assigned you to your own quarters or put you in mine,” he frowned.
Destiny nudged him. “I told you. I wanted to be in here with you and insisted upon it. Now, how are we going to deal with Colonel Bronsten? Please tell me you have a plan. I can’t go back there and be handed over like a sacrificial prize.”
“I’d die before I allowed that to happen,” Jevlen growled. He looked furious. Destiny appreciated his protectiveness but she didn’t want his instinctive behavior to be at cross purposes with his processors again.
“I know love, but we’re headed there now, and I don’t think your Marauder pals are going to be much help.”
Jevlen stood and strode over to the forcefield holding them in the cell. “What we need is to get out of here. I have to get in contact with Admiral Xe and find out exactly what’s going on. Unless he’s working with Bronsten, none of this makes any sense. First he backs the Colonel in sending me after you, and then he sends the Marauders to collect us both. Why?” He reached out and slapped his palm against the forcefield. A strong electrical charge threw him back a step.
“Jevlen, don’t do that! If you want out, I can get you out. I didn’t see much point in escaping since there’s nowhere to go on the ship.”
He turned and raised a brow. “We could always steal one of the shuttles.”
“That wouldn’t do much good because they’d pull us back to the ship with the tractor beam.”
Jevlen sighed. “You’re right, of course. I don’t know what I’m thinking. My head feels fuzzy and nothing makes sense right now.”
Destiny rushed to his side and put her hand on his temple. She felt the layers of circuitry, and they seemed to function fine, if a bit slowly. “It could be the multiple stuns you received while urging me to escape, or it might be the aftereffects of removing the mental block to your memories. Either way, this should feel better.” She concentrated and mentally urged his circuitry to function more efficiently.
Apparently it felt much better because Jevlen suddenly grabbed her wrists, keeping them above her head and pushed her back against the wall of the brig. His mouth found hers in a devastating kiss that stole her breath and filled her with longings that couldn’t be satisfied – not when any soldier could walk by and see them. How she wished they could be alone, for one last time. But she’d already been given more in these pasts days than she’d ever expected.
“We’ll be landing on Bravo Two soon. I just want you to know that I love you and I will do everything in my power to protect you. The Colonel won’t lay a hand on you.”
Destiny nestled her face into his chest and absorbed his unique scent. She couldn’t believe in promises that might be outside his power to keep, but she would cling to her hope that they would come out of this alive.
Confederation Base Bravo Two was similar to a small moon but it was classified as a space station. It had been home to both Destiny and Jevlen for two straight years during his enhancement program. The Marauder ship, the Cheetara docked with a resounding shudder that shook the entire ship, then the engines went offline. The quiet was ominous and that’s how Destiny knew they’d arrived at the one place she hoped to avoid for the rest of her life.
“Courage, honey.”
Destiny nodded at Jevlen’s command as two of the Marauders swiftly approached the brig and lowered the forcefield. Their weapons were raised.
“I’m to escort you to Admiral Xe now, Sir,” one of the soldiers stated.
Jevlen’s gaze swung to the other. “And you?”
“I will be putting Lieutenant Kagar in your quarters, Sir, and will personally guard her safety.”
“See that you do, Sargent. I expect you to put your life at risk in her place, and if anything happens to her you will die by my hands.” Jevlen made a scary sight as he ordered the sergeant to protect her with his life. The sergeant visibly swallowed then nodded.
Destiny blinked in surprise. She wasn’t being taken directly to the Colonel? What was going on? She watched as Jevlen was led away and wondered if she would see him again. The sergeant waved his hand to get her attention.
“Ma’am? Follow me, please.”
Destiny was on her guard as she followed the sergeant down the ship’s corridor. She knew this could be a trick by the Colonel and she might find him waiting for her in Jevlen’s quarters. She was both surprised and relieved when she found the small rooms empty. She wasn’t given the chance to take in Jevlen’s sparse quarters. The sergeant motioned her toward the table where several pieces of surveillance equipment waited. She eyed him curiously.
“You will be meeting with Colonel Bronsten shortly.” Destiny’s stomach dropped at his announcement and she felt a surge of panic. He must have noticed her reaction because he quickly held up his hand. “However, you will be our spy and we will be close at hand to protect you.”
Destiny wanted to argue that no one could protect her from Colonel Bronsten, especially now that she was within his grasp. He would find a way to undermine the Marauder’s protective net because he always got his way.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
The sergeant shrugged. “Orders from the Admiral.”
“Oh. I see.” But she really didn’t. Apparently the Colonel was under suspicion but how could the admiral know about the abuses in the Enhancement Program? As far as everyone knew, she’d flipped out and gone AWOL for two years. “Have you served with Commander Sonju long?” Destiny asked as the sergeant fitted her with the tiny surveillance equipment. She had special contact lenses that would visually record. A small audio unit would receive and transfer any sounds back to the Marauder’s surveillance console. The tiny piece fitted into her ear canal. Last, she received a vitals monitor that would track her respiration and heart rate to makes sure she stayed safe. If all else failed, the vitals monitor would alert them to trauma and the Marauders would rescue her immediately.
“No, not long,” the sergeant admitted with a shrug. “But I hear he’s the best and I have no reason for complaint. Makes sense about his processors and enhancements. I wondered why he never got my jokes. Now I suspect he wasn’t programmed to have a sense of humor.”
“Or maybe your jokes weren’t funny,” Destiny retorted. She softened her response with a smile. She always got defensive over her mate and his enhancements. Jevlen never lost his sense of humor, even when he’d been in so much pain through the healing process.
The sergeant considered her answer and shrugged. “Yeah, you’re probably right. You’re all set.” The door chimed and another Marauder stepped into the Commander’s quarters. He gave Destiny
a respectful nod before addressing the other soldier.
“Is she ready? The Colonel has already learned of her presence aboard ship and has requested an interview with her.”
Destiny sucked in a sharp breath. She was about to face the man who had hunted her for two years, and nearly had her killed numerous times. She knew he coveted her skills with technological devices. What would he do with her now?
The first sergeant must have sensed her anxiety. “It’s going to be fine, Lieutenant Kagar. Sargent Lijah will escort you.”
The other soldier nodded. “Call me Gage. I’ll stick close and make sure nothing happens. Are you ready for your meeting with the Colonel?”
Of course she wasn’t! “Do I have much choice?”
He shook his head grimly. “No, Ma’am.”
Destiny nodded. She felt like she was at the end of the line and facing the firing squad. “I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Lead on, Sargent.”
***
Jevlen stood impatient yet still as he waited for Admiral Xe to speak. He wasn’t sure if the high ranking officer was friend or foe. The admiral was older with almond shaped eyes and black hair. It was his heavily wrinkled face that told of his age. Jevlen heard the man was nearing two hundred years.
“Do you know why you’re here?” the admiral finally asked.
Jevlen continued to look past the admiral’s shoulder. It was unfitting for a lower officer to make eye contact while standing at attention. “No, Sir.”
“At ease, Jevlen. I brought you here because Colonel Bronsten filed a report about you. He submitted an order to have you decommissioned. He claims you have behaved unpredictably on your special assignment which in turn makes you dangerous and uncontrollable.”
Jevlen looked at him sharply but didn’t comment. He had to fight to keep his temper under control. If his Ronoshian instincts took over now and his system went out of balance, it would only prove that the Colonel was right.
“Putting you back together after your ship blew up was a costly investment for the Confederation. Anytime a project of such high cost and confidentiality is scrapped, I get in the middle of it. Any idea why Bronsten wants to put you out of commission permanently? What’s going on here that I don’t know about?”
How could he unravel this mess in one answer so the admiral would understand the serious nature? “What you don’t know, Sir, is that Colonel Bronsten has been working with the Bakkarians for two years.”
The admiral slammed his fist on the desk. “And you didn’t bother to inform me?” he shouted. The Bakkarians were a sneaky, dangerous threat to every Confederation citizen.
Jevlen stood his ground without flinching. “I didn’t know until my memory was restored by Lieutenant Kagar.”
“She’s another part of this puzzle I don’t understand. She’s up for a court martial for going AWOL, but I’ve never seen anyone hunt down a missing soldier the way Bronsten has with her. Why is he after her? As far as I can tell, she’s just a junior science officer,” the admiral muttered with a shrug. He looked disinterested but Jevlen picked up on his dilated pupils and slightly elevated respiration. He held himself tensely. Apparently the admiral was very focused and determined to get to the bottom of matters with the Colonel. Perhaps the admiral was on the good-guy’s side of this mess. “Why did you need your memory restored?” he asked Jevlen.
“Colonel Bronsten ordered a complete memory wipe. I lost three years during the Enhancement Program. Lieutenant Kagar is Dalandrakian. She worked on the program and was the primary technician responsible for my success in the program. She, er, became my mate during that time.” He cleared his throat and felt uncomfortable when Admiral Xe gave him a sharp look. “I did not recall these events until recently, Sir.” Dark Marauders weren’t allowed to have mates and it would appear he’d withheld this information from his commanding officers. “I suspect the Colonel has both personal and professional interests in her. He showed inappropriate behavior in the past. She also learned of illegal transmissions of her classified reports to outside recipients during the Enhancement Program.”
“Why wasn’t I notified of this immediately?” the admiral thundered.
“The mind wipe occurred. My mate, er, Lieutenant Kagar feared for her safety so she went into hiding. There was no way to notify you.”
Admiral Xe wasn’t given a chance to answer when his com-unit buzzed. “Sir, you wanted to be notified when Colonel Bronsten called for Lieutenant Kagar. She is being escorted to his personal quarters now.”
Jevlen’s system was immediately flooded with a protective hormone rush. “NO!” he roared, then ran out of the admiral’s office before receiving permission to leave.
EIGHT
“It’s been nice knowing you, Sargent,” Destiny muttered as she and Gage waited for the Colonel to admit them. The fact that Bronsten requested she come to his personal quarters alarmed her but apparently the Marauder next to her didn’t see any cause of concern. The big guy was perfectly relaxed. In fact, he looked bored. Apparently he escorted prisoners to their death all the time.
“Why am I being used as bait?” she asked as she tried to avoid fidgeting. This was just like the Colonel to keep her waiting.
“The Admiral has some concerns he wants to clear up.”
“And my conversation with the Colonel should clear up his concerns?”
“That’s right,” Gage agreed. Did anyone but her see the idiocy in this plan? As soon as the Colonel got his hands on her he would have her mind wiped or hand her over to the Bakkarians.
She would have asked more questions but the door slipped open and the source of her nightmares stood before her. She was again struck by how young and good looking he was. It was a deceptive cover for the evil he hid inside. “Come in Lieutenant,” he ordered smoothly as he stepped aside to allow her to pass. “We have much to discuss.”
Gage tried to follow her in but the Colonel blocked his path. “You’re dismissed, Sargent.”
Destiny swung around to stare at the sergeant in alarm. He was supposed to stay by her side! She couldn’t face the Colonel alone. Anything might happen now that she was finally in his clutches.
Gage stiffened and stretched to his full height as he met the Colonel’s gaze. It was a tense moment of male posturing then finally the lower ranking soldier nodded. “Yes, Sir. I will be waiting just outside the door should you need anything.” He gave Destiny a long look full of warning before leaving the Colonel’s quarters.
As soon as the door slipped closed silence filled the room. The Colonel studied Destiny from head to toe, letting his gaze linger in certain areas of her anatomy. She lifted her chin and silently bore his scrutiny. She knew he was trying to make her squirm and she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he made her nervous.
“You led me on a long chase,” he said after a moment. Before she knew what he intended, he slapped her hard across the face. Her head snapped to the side and her cheek felt like it was on fire. Angry tears sprang to her eyes but she refused to cry out. “You made things horribly inconvenient for me. For two years I’ve had to make excuses to keep my contact happy while you were running all over the quadrant. The cyborg program was shut down. Apparently you’re an integral part that can’t be replaced – not even with new recruits from Dalandrake. No one else can interact with machines the way you do. I should kill you now but you’re too valuable.” Again his gaze traveled over her body and she felt he was undressing her with his eyes. He’d done this numerous times when she was under his command and she hated it just as much now.
“In the least you owe me some physical recompense for all the inconvenience you’ve caused me.” He pulled a holo-infodisk from his pocket and switched it on. An erotic display filled the air between them. Destiny gasped at the images of her and Jevlen having sex against the wall in one of the lab rooms. How had he gotten this footage? The Colonel stepped close to her so his chest brushed her breasts. He leaned down and whispered, “I could be just as
satisfying as your machine. I know where to touch a woman to make her melt and it has nothing to do with processors and steel.”
“Maybe processors and steel are what turn me on,” Destiny retorted angrily though she quaked on the inside. How dare this Confederation officer threaten her with sex? Hopefully the Marauders were getting all this since she was being used as bait.
“I’d be happy to change your mind since it’s all I’ve thought about for the last two years. I’ve even ordered the decommissioning of Commander Sonju just to get even with you for inconveniencing me so badly. I’d planned to wipe your memory and fill your empty head with false memories of us together. But it seems you’re stealing that pleasure from me as well. My guest is impatient and we have schedules to keep. Let’s go.” He grabbed her arm in a cruel grasp and pulled her across the room.
“Where are you taking me?” she demanded but Bronsten didn’t answer. He approached a door at the back of the room and she was afraid he was taking her to his sleeping quarters, but it opened into a small lounge. The Colonel’s “guest” stood to his feet when they entered.
Destiny gasped and drew back in fright at the appearance of the Bakkarian. She’d read reports of them and received training on how to fight them at the academy but she’d never met one in person. They were tall and terrifying with their large black eyes, pale skin and hairless bodies. This one wore a navy uniform with several colored bars across his chest. Destiny suspected he was a high ranking officer. How had he snuck onto the base without detection? All right, Marauders, you can rescue me any time!
“Why is he here?” she asked woodenly as Bronsten pushed her forward into the room. She stopped before she could come within the Bakkarian’s reach. He studied her with interest.
“This is the Dalandrakian?” he asked in a raspy, hissing voice.
Colonel Bronsten nodded. “Yes, as I promised. She is the only one who will be able to power your weapon.”
Captured by the Cyborg: The Dark Marauder's Mate (The Dark Marauder's Mate Scifi Series Book 5) Page 8