"Nah, let's sit around and invite them for tea." Fain's voice dripped with sarcasm.
Caillen activated the ship's force field to the max. "Hold tight, kids. We're going out hot and we're staying that way until we either escape or end up as a bright burst of flaming fuel. I hope someone remembered the marshmallows. Just in case. We might as well go into paradise with a sweet taste in our mouths."
"You're a sick bastard, Dagan." Fain took up the navigator's position. "You know we won't be able to jump. They'll have your drive jammed."
Caillen laughed at his dry, dire tone. "Oh ye of little faith. You ain't with some run-of-the-mill pilot, giakon. You're with a Dagan. There's not a wormhole in this sector I'm not dating tight."
"Incoming!" Hauk warned.
Caillen saw the ships hovering right outside the door with their cannons locked on the shuttle. He charged the front shields and headed straight for their pursuers. "Give them everything you got, Desideria. And get ready to toss your shoes in too."
Desideria laughed as if she was as thrilled with the prospect of a fight as he was. She and Hauk sprayed fire all through the bay and on top of the patrols coming in.
The ships tried to block their exit for several heartbeats before they realized just how suicidal Caillen really was. He'd slam into them before he'd yield. In a game of header, he refused to blink or swerve.
Fuck them. If he was going to die, so were they.
Just as he would have hit them, they veered off sharply, out of the way.
Laughing from his adrenaline rush, he flew out and up at such a climb that a lesser pilot would have lost consciousness.
Hauk groaned in his ear as Fain adjusted their fuel levels to give the engines the juice they needed to surpass escape velocity. But it wasn't that easy. The fighters turned to give chase, shooting cannons the whole way after them.
Oh to have his ship or anything that was more maneuverable than this crate. At least that was his thought until he took notice of Desideria's competence.
Damn to have had her as his partner all these years instead of Kasen who'd be screaming by now that they were going to die. Not a peep came out of little Qill as she reloaded and laid down more fire.
Fain shot a vid to his lower left quadrant for him to see. "Cruiser moving in on port aft."
"Got it." Caillen dropped low and spun out of the line of fire.
"Tractor beam pulse," Fain warned.
He sent a fierce glare at Fain. "You going to give me play by play every time they twitch?"
"Want to make sure you don't miss anything."
He snorted at the Andarion. "Only thing missing here is my sanity."
More ships came in for them. Caillen kept his eye on the scanners as he made numerous calculations in his head and on the con. He needed a few more minutes to get to a wormhole.
C'mon, baby, don't fail me now...
Desideria backed off as she saw their cannons overheating. Designed to be a passenger transport, the shuttle didn't want her using so much fire power and it was straining with her efforts. The guns were merely a precaution and not meant to defend for any longer than it would take for a backup patrol to come save them.
Oh to have that backup right now...
She leaned to the side so that she could check Hauk's status in order to verify her dread. Unfortunately, she'd been right. Hauk's cannon was already out of commission.
The Andarions were still coming after them.
She tapped the link in her ear. "Caillen, we're in an overheat situation."
"I need a couple of minutes."
She squeezed the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Cringing, she exchanged a concerned look with Hauk. "We don't have a couple of minutes, dearest."
"Then you better start kicking off those shoes, sweetling."
He wasn't funny in the least. Especially as she watched the Andarions gathering a force that stunned her. But it was the one fighter that concerned her most...
One she'd hoped to not see again.
"Our assassin's back and he looks determined."
"I'm on it."
Desideria held her breath as they dropped low and spun away from their pursuers. Even the assassin.
Hauk tapped her shoulder and pointed to a dark cloud they were headed toward. "Wormhole."
Relief poured through her. If they could make it to that, then it would propel them out of the sector and leave them a ghost to the Andarions and assassin. There would be no way for them to track them at all.
Just a little ways to it...
Almost.
There.
Holding her breath, she wished she could get out and push. But all she could do was imagine herself there with everything she had.
Caillen let out a whoop as they approached it.
Just as she thought they were safe, a net shot out in front of them, cutting them off. The force of impact brought them to an abrupt halt and sent her flying against the straps of her seat. The leather dug into her, bruising her hips and shoulders.
They were caught.
"Surrender!"
She didn't need a translator for that word.
Worse, the assassin flew in and took advantage of their disabled craft to fire torpedoes at them. The Andarions opened fire on the assassin, but it was too late.
She saw the light bomb coming straight at them.
We're dead...
Not even Caillen or his magic backpack could work a miracle great enough to save them now. Sucking her breath in, she waited for the fatal impact.
Caillen cursed in her ear. "No one move. We're pulling a Nykyrian."
"What's a--" She paused midsentence as the shuttle went completely dark.
One second she was strapped into her chair. In the next, she was standing in the center of an unfamiliar bridge. The explosion from the shuttle was so bright through the main bridge portal that it temporarily blinded her.
Until a cry rang out from the engineer on her right, alerting the crew that they had intruders.
Caillen, Hauk and Fain leapt into action. Desideria spun and tried to disarm the first crew member who reached her. But disarming an Andarion was something easier said than done. He didn't react to pain at all.
Did they not have the same nervous system?
He picked her up, literally, and threw her against the wall. The impact knocked the wind out of her as pain exploded through her entire being. In all the fights she'd had in her life, none of them had prepared her for this amount of damage. While she'd been bludgeoned and punched, no one had ever thrown her across the room before.
She tried to push herself to her feet, but she couldn't. Oh my God, I'm helpless. That feeling horrified her.
Dazed, she felt the Andarion grab her from behind. He wrapped his arm around her throat and choked her until her ears rang and her vsion dimmed.
Suddenly, she was free. She turned to see Caillen beating the Andarion so hard she wasn't sure how he kept standing. It was fierce and impressive.
Fain whistled to get Caillen's attention. "Enough! We have control of the ship. Focus, drey, focus."
Caillen appeared to calm down, except for the wild look in his eyes. It was obvious he was more than ready to continue the fight. But somehow he maintained control of himself.
Hauk and Fain directed the four-man crew toward the escape pods with their blasters. "Take the controls, Cai, while we toss out the trash."
Caillen held his hand out to her to help her to her feet. "You dead?" The humor in his voice undercut the dead seriousness of his gaze. If she didn't know better, she'd think he was worried about her.
"Close, but not yet. Thanks for the assist."
There was a softening in his gaze that made her stomach flutter. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that his anger was actually over the Andarion attacking her...
"Anytime." With an adorable and sheepish dip of his head that was completely out of character, he turned and went to the controls. It was on
ly then she realized that at some point over the last hour, he'd removed his contacts and had his normal dark eyes. Most likely because it limited his peripheral vision in a fight and while flying.
But when had he removed them?
And why did the sight of his real eyes do such peculiar things to her body? She was both hot and cold. Shivery. Not wanting to think about that, she took a moment to push her pain into submission and to watch as Caillen slid into the chair to begin working the controls as if he'd been born to them. As much as she hated to feed his overbloated ego, he really was a great pilot. Every bit as skilled as he'd claimed and the fact he was piloting a ship with controls and monitors that weren't his native tongue or Universal was even more impressive.
Before she even realized she'd moved, she was standing behind him, watching his hands fly over the controls and computer in a way that brought chills to her. How could he process an alien language so easily?
And that turned her thoughts to the last few days. So much had happened to her since she'd met him.
Almost all of it horrendously bad.
And yet somehow he'd managed to be a bright spot through the hell that had been this trip. How strange was that?
Right now, his presence was the only thing that kept her holding on to a life that had become a nightmare. Panic swelled inside her as she tried to come to terms with what was happening to her and the speed with which her life had unraveled.
Her mother was dead and she was being blamed for it. Every known government was looking to arrest and then execute them. Public humiliation and death.
My life is over and I'm innocent...
Caillen froze as he felt a hesitant hand brush through his hair. He turned his head to see Desideria staring at him with a look in her eyes that was both vulnerable and sexy.
He let out a relieved breath. "Oh thank the gods it's you. It would have seriously messed up my day to have Hauk or Fain start coming on to me in the middle of all this shit."
She laughed. "You are not right."
"So they tell me. Often." He jerked his chin to the seat beside him. "Lend us a hand?"
"I'm not a pilot."
"I just need you to key in a sequence with me to unlock the controls so that I can get us out of here."
"I can't read Andarion," she reminded him.
"You won't need to. It's a simple sequence. You move your hands with mine to the same place on your panel and we'll be fine. Or we'll explode, but I'm hoping you have more rhythm than Hauk."
Cringing over what she hoped was more humor and not a true prognosis, she sat down and ran through it with him. She had no idea what she was doing, but his patient, calm voice walked her through every stroke and made it as simple as he'd promised.
Luckily they didn't blow up.
Just as she finished, Hauk and Fain returned. There was a satisfied gleam in Fain's eerie eyes that said he'd thoroughly enjoyed tossing the other Andarions off the ship.
Hauk moved to stand behind her chair as he went over her settings. Then he looked at Caillen. "We'll have about two more minutes until the Andarions realize we're alive and on this ship."
Caillen nodded, punching in coordinates. "You know the drill. Strap tight what you don't want to lose."
As soon as they did, Caillen banked the ship and spun it straight toward the wormhole. That alerted the Enforcers who instantly gave chase.
Fain cursed as the Enforcers opened fire on them again. "You could learn a little subtlety, Dagan."
Caillen scoffed. "Subtlety is for those who lack the skills and the balls to be bold."
Fain's glare was murderous. "Subtlety is for those with the brains to not get a fleet chasing after them."
Caillen snorted a denial. "I'm in a real ship now, boy. You forget that this is what I do for fun. There's no danger here."
Desideria would argue that, but instead she gripped the arms of her chair as Caillen narrowly flew between two fighters, shooting the whole way.
A warning light flashed.
Fain cursed. "Ah now you've gone and broke the damn ship, Dagan. Can't we let you do anything?"
Caillen made an obscene gesture at him.
Just as she was sure they'd be caught again, Caillen did a hard right and dip that slid them straight and smoothly into the wormhole. For a merest slip of time everything went dark. All power vanished before it came back on and they shot forward with a force so strong, it plastered her against the seat.
As they leveled out, Caillen turned a smug smirk at all of them. "And you actually doubted me." He tsked chidingly.
"Every minute you live and breathe," Fain muttered. He took the controls by slapping Caillen's hands away. "Now get away from there before you do any more damage to my limited sanity."
Caillen started to protest, but Hauk stopped him. "We have a couple of hours before we make it to Sentella VII. Why don't you two take a breather?"
Fain agreed. "And a bath while you're at it."
"I don't stink." Caillen's tone was completely offended.
Fain raked a contradictory grimace over Caillen's scuffed appearance. "Trust me, human, you reek. When was the last time you washed anyway?"
Caillen tucked his hands into his back pockets before he recovered his usual good humor. "Yeah, all right. So I might resemble that remark. You still don't have to be so rude about it."
"You think this is rude--"
"People!" Hauk said, breaking up their argument. "Let's stow the attitudes and take a moment to be grateful we're alive and intact which given Caillen's suicidal tendencies and limited piloting abilities is amazing. You know, we did just live through a miracle."
Caillen would argue that it was a testament to his skills and not an esoteric being, but as he caught the grief that hung heavy in Desideria's eyes, he decided to heed Hauk's words. She could use a break and honestly, so could he. "Fine. We'll be in the crew quarters if you need us."
Hauk took over his chair the minute he left it. Relinquishing the controls--which was a really hard thing for him to do--Caillen led Desideria down the narrow hallway, so designed to keep any outside attackers in single file and to limit their movements, to the small bunk room where the normal crew could take their breaks should they be on a long patrol. There wouldn't be much of a shower there, but it would be enough for a quick rinse and hopefully one of the original Andarion crew members would have had a penchant for soap. Maybe even shampoo.
He opened the door to the room and let Desideria enter first. The lights came on automatically as she headed to the corner where a small round table and two padded chairs were set next to a cooling unit and food cabinet. Three narrow, stacked bunks lined the opposite wall next to the small shower stall. "You okay?"
Her eyes were haunted. "Nnse andeally. I'm... weirdly numb."
"Yeah. Me too. It's a lot to take in and we've been hammered with it over a very short period of time. The mind tends to shut down so that we can cope." Unfortunately, it would hit them both later and be even harder to deal with.
Like when his adoptive father had died when he was a kid.
He'd been completely normal for three days as he bribed the doctors and helped his sisters cope, then after the funeral when he'd been on his way to school, something inside him had snapped. In a back alley alone, he'd cried until he made himself sick.
No one knew about that and they never would. It'd taken him hours to pull himself back together.
"Don't worry, Princess. I'm here if you want to talk about it."
Desideria didn't respond as the reality of her predicament hit her all over again. There was no escape for them. No hope. All of her dreams of a future were gone. This could very well be the last day she'd live...
Fear and grief choked her. "I'm not ready to die yet."
"You won't."
How easy he made that sound. But not even his conviction could sell that lie to her. The truth was cold and harsh.
And it was in her face.
I'm the walking dead. They wo
uld condemn her for this and there was nothing she could do.
He held his hand out to her. "C'mon. Take a shower and you'll feel better."
She scoffed at his useless optimism. "A shower won't cure my problems."
"No, but it'll help your mood. I promise."
"Yeah, right. It won't--"
He silenced her words with a kiss so hot it set fire to her blood. Her head spun at the warmth of his hard body pressing against hers. Of the sensation of his arms wrapped around her waist. Her raw and ragged emotions were so overwhelming and confusing.
No one had ever held her like this before.
Like she was precious. Like she mattered.
Like she was loved...
In that moment, something inside her burst. All her repressed emotions flooded through her with a ferocity so intense that it left her as breathless as his kiss.
But the one thing that held her grounded fast and kept her sane during this insanity was the taste of his lips. The scent of a man who had walked her through hell and had stood by her every step of the way.
A man who had protected her even when they'd been fighting against each other. No one had ever sown her that kindness or consideration.
One way or another, her life would be forfeit. Even though she'd lived her entire existence with her singular purpose to be dutiful and to make her mother proud--all of that was for nothing now.
Absolutely nothing.
But if she had to die, she wanted something for herself. Something uniquely hers.
She wanted Caillen. She wanted to go to her grave with the memory of his touch forever branded on her skin. To know what it was like to be with him, just the two of them with no pretense or regrets.
For the first time in her life, she felt like she was making a choice not out of duty or obligation. She was making a choice for her because it was something she wanted.
You're Qillaq, bound by the laws of your people.
Yes, and part of that was knowing herself. Deciding her own fate and not allowing anyone to rule her. Ever. Her mother was dead. It was up to her to find the killers and bring them to justice. Only she could do that. But until they landed, there was no way to pursue her traitors. Nothing to do except claim the only man who'd ever made her feel like she was human.
A man who touched a part of her no one ever had before.
Caillen growled as he felt the change in Desideria's kiss and in her mood. She clutched him against her, taking control of the situation in a way he'd only dreamed about. His senses spun as she explored his mouth and teased his lips with her teeth.