by S. E. Smith
Sergi wrapped his hands around her waist and drew her against his hard body, the evidence that he was still aroused pressing against her stomach. He gave her a devilish smile.
“I can think of some very interesting things to do with you naked and bound,” he murmured, bending to run his lips along her neck.
“I’ll have to ask Hutu if I can borrow a set,” La’Rue quipped, slipping around him and heading to the bathroom. “Oh, can you see if they have a cooker here for me to use? I still can’t figure out how to use that old cooktop, and eating cold rations sucks.”
Sergi chuckled. His gaze affectionately ran over La’Rue as she disappeared into the bathroom. Only when the door had closed behind her did he finally focus on getting dressed.
He pulled his mind away from the woman humming in the other room to the matter at hand – finding Julia and Mei. During the past week, he had learned a lot about what was going on. Everything Ash had touched on during their journey here had been expanded upon until the full story – or at least as much as was known – had been shared.
In a nutshell, they had activated a gateway left behind by an advanced species of alien travelers. Their resulting appearance had been serendipitous for the rebellion in an escalating civil war between the Legion and the Order of the Gallant. The Order had originally consisted of men and women trained by this advanced species to protect those who needed protection. The Legion, fearing that their arrival would spur hope and advance the cause of the rebels, had placed a huge bounty on their heads, anticipating that their deaths or capture would debilitate the rebels’ ability to win the war. When the rebels had been inspired to fight to protect the Gliese 581 crew members instead of turning them over, the Legion had destroyed the home world of the Order of the Gallant on Jeslean. Lord Andronikos and his half-brother, General Coleridge Landais – aka Count Landais, said in Ash’s best Bela Lugosi imitation – wanted to get their hands on at least one of the members of the Gliese 581 crew. They could then use the crew member’s execution to demonstrate that they really weren’t these superhero aliens. And the Legion then assumed it could more easily cow the disillusioned people and crush the rebellion.
All-in-all, the entire thing reminded him of the struggles he had faced back on Earth. He hadn’t had much choice of who he worked for there, but he sure as hell had a choice here. This time, he fought because he wanted to; not because he had been ordered to do so.
Sergi finished dressing just as the door to the bathroom opened and a fully dressed La’Rue stepped out. Her face was still flushed from their lovemaking and she was sporting a few marks on her neck that weren’t there naturally. This was something else he had chosen – falling in love.
He drew in a deep breath at the thought. He wasn’t sure if their relationship was the beginnings of love, but he wanted to find out. Wrapping an arm around her when she started to walk by him, he pulled her back against his body and pressed a heated kiss to her neck.
“Keep your comlink on you. If you need anything, let me know. I’ll find you a new cooker and have it delivered to the freighter,” he said in a slightly gruff voice.
La’Rue turned her head and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You’d better or I’ll haunt you after I starve to death,” she replied, stepping away from him when he released her. She turned to look at him with a serious expression. “Sergi….”
Sergi lifted his hand and touched his fingers to her lips. “One day at a time. I want to see where this takes us,” he said.
“I do too,” she admitted.
He squeezed her hand before moving around her. The door opened and they stepped out. They walked together down to the lift. He would escort her as far as the landing bay before he headed for the conference room.
“I’m glad you found your friends,” she said, lifting a hand to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.
“It was good to know they made it. Josh saved my life,” he said.
“I’m glad he did. I thought I saw him with a woman from Tesla Terra,” she said, running her hand down along the marks on her throat. “It was nice to see there are quite a few rebels from my home world willing to fight.”
Sergi nodded. “Cassa, and her brother Packu, have paid a heavy price. The Legion is responsible for the deaths of their parents and younger brother, as well as the destruction of their vineyard and home on Tesla Terra. It was the price of protecting Josh,” he explained.
“I never realized the extent of the war against the Legion,” La’Rue said, walking quietly beside him.
Sergi threaded his fingers through hers and squeezed her hand. “The Legion Director has a lot to answer for. He has killed a lot of innocent people. That does not sit well with Josh, Ash, or me. Josh was correct when he said the Legion brought the fight to us, not the other way around. Humans tend to take things personally – especially when some asshole thinks he can rule the world… or galaxy,” he said
“My parents were originally from Tesla Terra. My mother was a member of the Knights of the Gallant. Both of my parents were killed in a shuttle accident shortly after Lord Andronikos came to power. Slate’s parents were killed as well. After that, it was just the two of us trying to survive on Jeslean,” she shared in a quiet voice.
Chapter Sixteen
Sergi stepped into the conference room and glanced around. He noted that he wasn’t the only one running late. Ash and Kella came into the room a minute after he did, followed closely by Josh and Cassa. He was surprised when he didn’t see Hutu.
“Where’s Hutu?” Ash inquired, sliding into the chair next to him.
“There were reports of attacks by the Legion on three additional planets. He is assigning more resources,” Josh said, pulling out a seat for Cassa before he sat down in his own chair.
“What about Tesla Terra? Have you heard if Andronikos is going to send more troops there?” Kella asked.
“My friend, Bantu, is monitoring the Legion’s transmissions. His knowledge of the Legion’s communications and programming has been extremely helpful in anticipating Legion movements. So far, we’ve been able to warn our bases, and they have taken the appropriate measures to minimize damage,” Cassa explained.
“What have you found out about Mei and Julia?” Sergi asked.
“General Kubo, Hutu’s father, is on Torrian,” Josh said. “He has his men searching for information about the freighter that was on the video. There are records indicating that several shuttles of materials were off loaded to the spaceport, but there was nothing out of the ordinary registered, and so far, all the merchants say they never saw an unusual woman. That doesn’t mean that Mei couldn’t have snuck down on a shuttle and disguised herself as Ash did.”
“What if she didn’t transfer down to the planet, but stayed hidden on the ship?” Sergi said, trying to think like Mei.
“That is why we are searching for additional records. We have the ship’s ID. We just need to identify where it may have stopped en route. With dozens of planets and thousands of spaceports, that may take us a while,” Cassa replied with a sigh.
“What about Julia’s pod? Have we heard anything about it?” Sergi asked.
Hutu and Bantu stepped into the room just as Sergi asked his question. Sergi could tell from the tense lines around the men’s mouths that the news they had received hadn’t been good. The room grew quiet as everyone waited for Hutu to speak.
“Nobo Sands on Torrian has been destroyed. Thanks to Bantu, we were able to evacuate most of the civilians, but we lost four squadrons of fighters during the battle. The civilians have been moved underground into the Nobo Caverns and amongst the Canyon Dwellers. General Kubo has also sealed the gates to the ancient city,” Hutu explained. “This attack was in retaliation for the earlier deaths of several Legion soldiers. A video was left on the body of one of those Legion soldiers for us to find.”
“Is there anything we can do, Hutu?” Cassa asked in concern.
“General Jubotu, with whom you have met, has begun a count
er-offensive. I’ve also requested additional fighter support be sent to Torrian. The Torrians will not fall. There are thousands of miles of underground tunnels, and the sand covering most of the planet absorbs the powerful bombs being deployed. It is primarily the structures above ground that have been destroyed, including the landing sites. I’ve asked Bantu to give an update on the last known signal we were tracking,” Hutu reassured them, nodding to Bantu.
“Good afternoon,” Bantu began. “I’ve written a program based on the information Josh and Ash gave me regarding their pods and the debris field that the Legion had been collecting, and we are now able to track Josh, Ash, and Sergi’s pods. The other two pods posed a problem, however. From what you’ve shared and what the limited available footage shows, it seems Mei’s pod was picked up by a Cryon salvage ship. The Cryon have a large fleet of ships which travel throughout the star system, primarily picking up and recycling space debris. It is no surprise that the Cryon II is part of Dorane LeGaugh’s fleet. He is one of the wealthiest and most elusive men in the star system. He has powerful friends and doesn’t always play nice, but the biggest advantage we have is that he doesn’t like the Legion and they don’t want to mess with his private army – which is made up of mostly Turbintan assassins and other cutthroats. He has his own private moon, by the way, with a strictly enforced invitation-only policy for visitors. As for the last pod, belonging to….” Bantu paused to look at the screen he was holding.
“Julia Marksdale,” Sergi supplied.
Bantu nodded his thanks. “I was able to collect enough data and piece it together to estimate a rough projection of her pod’s path, which at least gave us the most likely trajectory of her pod. However, it is proving more difficult to pinpoint the landing site. The transponder stopped emitting a signal nearly two weeks ago, and even then, there is no way to verify that the last intercepted signal came from her pod – or if it even was her signal. If the pod did locate the nearest habitable planet as it was programmed to do, then there is only one probable planet it could have gone to – Plateau. There isn’t a lot of information about the planet except that no one ever goes there. The planet is purported to be covered in water with large numbers of islands floating in the air above their oceans. If Julia’s capsule did make it that far, the likelihood of her surviving is, unfortunately, very slim. First, the question is if she would have had enough oxygen. The distance from the wreckage to the planet is almost three times as far as any of the other emergency capsules traveled. Second, if she did make it that far and she was still alive, then the pod would have had to land on a floating island. If it missed, it would fall into the ocean and sink hundreds, if not thousands of feet below the surface. This might account for the loss of signal,” Bantu explained, bringing up a map to display the details he was outlining.
“I think she might have made it,” La’Rue said from the doorway. Her eyes sought out Sergi’s. “I was scanning some of the different channels and overheard a member of a freighter crew, who I know, talking about seeing an unmarked Legion long-range fighter heading for the Void. That’s our name for the area of empty space between Plateau and us. I just thought you might want to know. Oh, and another friend said they overheard that General Landais is planning on going there – the old one, not the young one. No one knows where Roan Landais is at the moment. He supposedly disappeared after meeting with Andronikos and the older General Landais.”
She paused and gave everyone a wry grin. “Freighter captains and crews gossip a lot. There really isn’t much else to do on the long hauls.”
An hour before:
La’Rue warmed up some soup, inhaling the delicious aroma. She’d been shocked when a technician had met her at the platform for her freighter with a brand-new cooker. In minutes, the technician had it installed in her galley for her. Starving and unable to resist trying it out, she had pulled out one of her favorite soups and placed the package in the unit. Now, her stomach and her heart were filled with warmth, thanks to Sergi.
Carrying the soup to the bridge, she slid into the captain’s chair and propped her feet up on the chair across from her. She spooned a mouthful and swallowed before she looked up at where H was hanging down from the ceiling. She grinned when the little service bot flipped and landed next to her feet.
“How about we check out what some of the other captains are up to?” she mumbled around a noodle.
No sooner had the words come out of her mouth than her communications screen lit up. A groan escaped her when she saw it was Slate. He’d probably gotten himself into more trouble and was trying to drag her down into it with him.
“Hit the scrambler. I do NOT want him knowing where I am,” she informed the little robot.
A moment later, Slate’s face was displayed on the screen in front of her. She frowned at him. He looked gaunt and tired.
“What have you done now?” she demanded, sliding her feet off the chair and twisting around to face him.
“I… nothing, Rue. I was just wondering how you were doing,” he replied.
La’Rue shook her head. “For some reason I’m not buying that. You look like crap and the last two times you’ve contacted me, it was because you borrowed credits against my freighter,” she heatedly reminded him.
“Yeah, well, about the credits. You don’t have to worry about helping me with those anymore,” Slate said.
La’Rue placed her barely touched soup to the side and sat forward. Something was definitely wrong. She’d known Slate her entire life and he had never been this nonchalant – nor told her she didn’t have to worry anymore about anything.
“What’s really going on, Slate? What did you do now? You can tell me,” she insisted.
Slate gave her a sad smile. “Nothing’s wrong, Rue. I was able to make some great runs and the missing cargo turned up. You were right. It was wrong for me to use you that way or ask you to do things I know you don’t like doing,” he admitted.
La’Rue could feel her head shaking. “You are scaring me, Slate. Where is the jerk I know? You know, the one who will hustle anyone and who loves the good life?” she demanded.
“He’s still here,” Slate reassured her. “Have you heard the news? The Legion flattened Tribute. I bet that is going to upset a few of those assassins. It isn’t often that they get a little taste of their own medicine.”
La’Rue grimaced. “Yeah, I heard about that,” she replied. “Anything else?”
“Not really. People are still saying the Ancient Knights of the Gallant have returned, but no one has really seen them. Nobo Sands got hit as well and it is making the other captains nervous. That was one of the biggest markets for us,” Slate shared.
“It sounds like things are going to get much worse before they get better,” La’Rue agreed, sitting back in her seat and picking up her soup again. “So, what kind of runs have you been doing that paid so well?”
Slate shrugged and looked away, not meeting her eyes. “I was able to get some high paying jobs due to all the unrest. Listen, I’ve got to go. I… I just wanted you to know I’ve always loved you, Rue, and that I’m sorry for being a bastard at times,” he said with a strained smile.
“Are you sure you are okay, Slate? I hate to say this, but you really don’t look so good. Maybe you should see a healer,” she said, her eyes dark with concern.
“I’m good, Rue. I’ve been working a lot to get out of the hole. Be safe. Life… It can sometimes throw you a black hole when you weren’t expecting it,” he warned.
“I’ll be safe,” she said, frowning when the transmission ended. Sitting back in her seat, she propped up her feet again and shook her head. “I swear that man is getting stranger the older he gets,” she muttered. “How about doing a channel search and we’ll see what everyone else is up to?”
Twenty minutes later, she was hurrying to find Sergi. If there was one thing she knew, it was that freighter captains were very observant of what was going on around them. If they saw Legion ships heading for the black void,
then there was something there worth looking at.
Legion Battle Cruiser:
“Coleridge, what have you found?” Andri demanded.
Coleridge studied his half-brother’s stiff expression. He had been following what his brother had been doing – and trying to keep his own temper under control. Andri was good with the politics of controlling vast groups of people and their worlds. He was not good at the required military aspect of it. Coleridge had taken the blame more than once during the early years for Andri’s less than effectual impulsiveness.
“I have one of the pods,” he stated.
“And the contents?” Andri asked.
Coleridge could suddenly feel the vein in his temple pulse with tension. “The pod was empty. I have a lead that I am following,” he stated, not bothering to mention the fact that Tallei had been found inside the pod.
“I was not yet ready to order the attack on the Turbintans. Their services might still be needed,” Andri stated with irritation.
“One Turbintan has already joined the rebellion. Would you risk having them all join?” Coleridge snapped.
“Tallei…,” Andri began.
Coleridge waved his hand, cutting off his half-brother mid-sentence. “Tallei is dead, killed by her Turbintan student and two of the Ancient Knights. Once word escaped, more would have followed her lead. I did what was necessary, Andri. Your attacks on Jeslean, Tesla Terra, and Nobo Sands did little to strike true fear into the heart of the rebellion. When you kill those who are feared more than any others, that is when you put fear in their hearts. If the Turbintans can fall to the Legion, then there can be no hope for anyone else to triumph against us,” he stated in a blunt tone.
Andri’s mouth turned down and his eyes flashed. Coleridge released a sigh. Angering his half-brother would only increase the chances of his drink being the next one to be poisoned. Another factor Andri appeared to have forgotten is that the more resources they destroyed the fewer they would have access to for own their military needs.