She felt his stiff member brush against her thigh. She shifted her hips, capturing it, and he slid home inside her.
“That was very hot.” Her clit throbbed as she thought about that night, not just the sexual sensations, but the emotional energy from her men. “It’s definitely hotter when it’s all of us in bed together.”
He smiled in the darkness. “Am I hot enough for you on my own, baby?” He nipped her shoulder.
She ground her hips into his. “Of course you are. You all are. A girl can’t lie and say she doesn’t enjoy it when she’s got three hunky guys servicing her.”
He rolled them over, his hands on her hips as he gazed up at her. “Servicing her, huh?”
“Mmm hmm. My own personal harem.”
His thumb found her clit. He rubbed it, light, teasing circles. “You are insatiable, Doctor.”
She bumped him with her pelvis. “So says the horny Captain lying below me.”
“Yeah. Didn’t say I wasn’t.” His other hand cupped her breasts, stroking her. She closed her eyes, and as he managed to make her come, at the last moment she remembered they weren’t alone on the Tamora Bight and able to make as much noise as they wanted. She dropped her mouth to his shoulder and muffled her cries against his skin as he held her, stroking her back.
“Beautiful, sweetheart,” he softly crooned. “Beautiful.”
Without lifting her head, she started rocking her hips again, letting him set the pace this time. She lifted her head to look into his eyes. Deep, dark, shadowed passion flamed there, for her.
“Come for me,” she whispered.
His eyes dropped closed as she felt his release. She kissed him, swallowing his loud moans as his fingers tightened on her hips before his grip slackened again.
“I love you so much, babe,” he whispered, his voice choked with emotion. “You’ll figure this out. I know you will.”
She didn’t want to think about that, to let reality intrude into her sweet interlude. “I know.”
They were settling in to sleep when Emi’s personal audio com link whistled, rousting them. “Yeah?”
“Sorry, Emi, it’s Rob. I need to talk to Aaron.”
He sat up. “I’m here. Go ahead.”
Emi could tell from Rob’s tone of voice there was something seriously wrong. “We’ve got a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“I just received a bounce-back from the trans-light satellite relay station to the message I sent earlier today. It’s down.”
Emi didn’t like the sudden tension she felt in Aaron.
“Where’s the next closest one?” he asked.
“Ten light-years farther, in the next Class A sol-sys. That’s an extra three weeks before it gets relayed to DSMC.”
“Shit.”
Emi couldn’t stand it any longer. “What? What does that mean?”
“It means we have to figure out a way to change Eckhart’s mind ourselves,” Aaron explained. “Our messages aren’t getting through to the DSMC. The signals are traveling at sub-light speed. The trans-light relays are like satellite equivalents to our jump engines. They boost the signals so they go a lot faster and farther.”
“Then I just say I figured it out and that everyone’s fine.”
“He won’t accept that, Emi. He’ll have to see proof,” Rob said.
“This is bullshit!”
“You’re telling me?”
In the dark, Aaron’s brown eyes looked nearly black. “Thanks, Rob,” he quietly said. “We’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“Kendall Kant out.”
Aaron pulled Emi to him, where she eventually cried herself to sleep in his arms. He lay there with her cradled against him, lightly stroking her hair as it flowed loosely across his chest. He dreaded sleep, knew tonight of all nights the dreams would return to haunt him.
Despite his best efforts, he found himself pulled down, sucked into a horrifying vortex of agony and impotent rage as he relived his ordeal on the raiders’ ship. Through it all, he’d kept his eyes on Kels, trying to empty his mind, breathe, and not think about the pain. Knowing that what he suffered would keep her alive and unharmed.
He clearly saw her tears as she struggled against her bonds. They’d gagged her so she couldn’t scream. During one break, when they’d finally finished with him and left him alone, they untied her. She raced to his side, cradling his head in her lap as she cried over him.
The scene shifted before he could relive her death. He’d locked himself in the private bathroom of his hospital suite. Caph and Ford were both asleep, jammed tight in the other bed.
He turned on the shower, a real water shower, and let it run. As the bathroom steamed up, he set his hand-held, the suicide note open on the screen, on the small shelf over the sink. Then he dropped his robe to the floor before stepping into the shower stall. As he sat on the floor and stared at his left wrist, he touched the scalpel he’d swiped from a surgical supply room to his flesh, willing himself to find the strength to do it.
Ford and Caph could grieve and get on with their lives, not be stuck taking care of a fuckup like him. He couldn’t save her. He didn’t deserve to live.
He remembered the way his tears felt cool against his cheeks as the hot water flowed over him. Then, as he sank the blade into his skin, he heard the knock on the door.
“Aar, you okay?”
Ford.
Aaron didn’t answer, biting back his cry of pain as blood, turned pink by the water, washed down his hand and swirled around the drain in the bottom of the shower.
“Aaron? Answer me. This isn’t funny, man.”
He closed his eyes and tried to grip the scalpel with his left hand so he could cut into his right wrist, but now he was shaking so badly he didn’t know if he could do it.
More pounding on the door, followed by Caph’s frightened voice. “Aaron? Unlock the fucking door!” The sound of the emergency alarm, probably hit by Ford, that would summon the staff.
Aaron looked at his right wrist and tried to bring the blade up to his flesh. Then several loud impacts against the door as Caph tried to kick it in…
Aaron sat up in bed, not realizing he’d cried out until Emi sat up with him and put her arms around him.
“What is it?”
His heart raced. He vaguely realized he’d been crying. He closed his eyes and sobbed as she pulled him tightly to her chest, one hand cradling the back of his head, the other stroking his back.
“Talk to me,” she whispered.
He finally did. Admitted it to her. Everything. The nightmares he’d been having and what they’d been about. Her grip on him only grew stronger as he sobbed, cried, talked about it.
Relived that fucking horrible day. The months of agony after.
The two suicide attempts, both interrupted by Ford and Caph.
And, when he couldn’t cry or talk anymore, he finally realized he was lying with his head in her lap as she stroked his hair.
“Why didn’t you talk to me sooner,” she softly asked.
He didn’t answer.
She changed position so she lay next to him, still cradling him, still holding him in a protective embrace he didn’t need to be empathic to recognize. “You can’t keep this bottled up.”
“You’ve got enough to worry about.”
“I’m going to kill Ford for not telling me. You realize that, right?”
He rolled over and looked up. Even in the dim light he spotted her playful smile. “Don’t be mad at him. I ordered him to keep that mouth of his shut.”
“Pulled rank, huh?”
“Yeah. Being captain has its perks.”
She leaned in and kissed him. “Well, guess what, buddy? Being wife and med officer has its perks, too. We get back, we’re all sitting down and having a long talk about this. All of us.”
He sat up. “No. We’re not telling Caph. I’m serious, Em, I don’t want him knowing.”
After several long moments, she let out a
sad sigh. “I guess you’re right. The big guy doesn’t need to know everything.”
He stroked her cheek. “Not when it would only hurt him. He’s not like you or Ford. You know what I mean.”
“Okay. But you, me, and Ford will sit down one night while Caph’s asleep or on the bridge on watch. We’ll talk this out. Agreed?”
“Yeah.”
She kissed him before letting him pull her into his arms as they settled back on the bed. “Now go to sleep and have good dreams, Captain. That’s doctor’s order.”
He chuckled and kissed the back of her neck. “Yes, Doctor.”
Chapter Twelve
By the time the Petrovis Skye achieved orbit around the planet late the next day, Emi, Donna, and Sascha still hadn’t isolated the exact cause of the rages, even though they had eliminated individual ingredients like eggs, sugar, and salt. Their suspicion focused on the hard spring wheat, even though they found nothing to distinguish it from wheat grown from Earth seed stock. Flour eaten raw didn’t trigger the rage.
Donna sounded as tired as Emi felt. “What if it’s some sort of Celiac Disease-like reaction? Only it’s affecting the brain?”
“What does that mean?” Aaron asked.
“It means we need a brain scan,” Sascha said. “We need to trigger a rage in someone while they’re in a scanner so we can see what’s happening. That might help us narrow down the trigger.”
Aaron nodded. “Then let’s do it. Use me.”
Emi didn’t want to but knew it had to be done. Twenty minutes later, they had energy shackles on Aaron, and he was securely loaded into the large, full-body scanner. He smiled at Emi as he started eating a slice of Ilse’s cinnamon bread. “Don’t get too used to tying me up, babe.”
She forced a smile but stood waiting with a sedative bolus. Taber stood by, ready to help hold him down. They had to let the rage go as long as possible to get the best results.
Within a few minutes Aaron’s eyes darkened as Emi felt the rage take hold. “Get ready,” she warned Sascha, who manned the scanner controls.
As Aaron let out a deep, enraged roar, Sascha cried out from the control room, “Holy fuck! Emi, you’ve gotta see this!”
She handed the sedative hypo to Taber, then went to join Sascha at the scanner controls. Aaron’s prefrontal cortex had totally lit up, indicating massive overstimulation. Before Aaron ate the bread, the brain scan had showed normal levels of activity.
Shocked, she stared. “What the hell causes that?”
“I don’t know,” Sascha said. “Okay, Shel. Dose him.”
Emi watched the screen in live time as Aaron’s thrashing slowed and stopped as the sedative took effect. Almost immediately, his brain functions returned to normal.
She ran a hand through her hair and closed her eyes to think. Whatever caused the rage interfered with the nervous system somehow. It overstimulated the prefrontal cortex, resulting in the rages.
Her com link whistled. “Dr. Hypatia, this is Captain Eckhart.”
“Just the man I want to talk to. We know what the pathogen is doing.”
There was a pause. “So you have isolated it and created a cure?”
“No, but—”
“Then the evacuation will begin tomorrow morning. Tell the governor to have her uninfected people ready to leave. Good evening, Doctor.” He cut her off before she could reply.
What. The. Fuck?
She hailed Rob. “What the hell is going on with this guy?”
“I’m not sure, but I think we have an even worse problem.”
She kept an eye on Aaron. Taber had already removed the energy shackles from him. “What?”
“Let me patch John through for a conference call and switch us to a secure channel. Is Aaron there?”
“He’s still out. I’ll fill him in later.”
“Okay, hold on.”
A moment later, Captain John Tarrence from the Braynow Gaston spoke. “Emi, we need to stop this guy. You’re the only one who can do it.”
“Okay, what the hell did I just miss?”
“You’re the top ranking fleet medical officer here. You have privileges in both the DSMC and ISNC. You can declare their captain unfit for duty and override his orders.”
Emi felt two breaths away from a scream. “Quit screwing around and tell me what’s going on!”
“We were working on trying to figure out what’s wrong with the trans-light satellite, see if it was off-line or just needed a maintenance reset or what. We pinged it and found out it was recently accessed on-site.”
“And?”
“We tracked the jump path of the Petrovis Skye, Emi. They had a two-jump pattern. They stopped at the satellite. I think they had something do to with why it’s off-line.”
Her heart chilled. “You’re telling me this guy deliberately sabotaged the thing, or turned it off, or whatever?”
“Yeah. They were scheduled for a single long jump to get here. When I tapped into their ship’s nav beacon, it showed a much shorter jump result than they should have had. Before they locked me out.”
“You guys are confusing the shit out of me, and I so don’t need that right now.”
Rob broke in. “We have access to nav beacons on friendly ships. There’s no reason to hide the info, it’s a separate, self-contained computer system. After John got the info, when he went back to confirm it, there was an executive override on their nav beacon, locking access so he couldn’t get back in.”
“Executive?”
“Only the captain can do that,” John said. “He might not have realized I’d already pulled their data. There is no good reason for him to override it in a situation like this.”
Emi stared at Aaron. She trusted her instincts, but being unable to read this Captain Eckhart in person had put her at a distinct disadvantage. “What do I have to do?”
“I’ll come get you tomorrow,” Rob said. “We’ll go to the Petrovis Skye. You can make the declaration there. Put me in charge of their ship, and I’ll override his orders.”
“Isn’t that a little dramatic? Can’t we just have their first officer take over?”
“Not until we find out what the hell Eckhart’s game is. John can jump back to the satellite, but it’s a two-day jump. We need to buy some time. Once he gets the relay satellite up and running, we can have the ISNC rescind the orders.”
Her mind spun. She couldn’t deal with this and solve the medical mystery all at the same time. “Okay. I need to focus on Aaron right now. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
Twenty minutes later, Aaron was awake and sitting up.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She filled him in as much as she could, still not sure she understood the whole story. He called Rob back on a secure channel to confer with him.
Then he hailed the Petrovis Skye.
“Captain Eckhart, this is Captain Aaron Lucio of the Tamora Bight. I’m the lead captain for this mission.”
“Ah, Captain Lucio. Your reputation precedes you. What can I do for you?”
“You will extend the deadline so Dr. Hypatia and Dr. Martinez can complete their testing and synthesize an antidote.”
“Not according to my orders, Captain.”
“What?”
“My orders clearly state I am to evacuate all uninfected personnel and sanitize the planet. That is what I am going to do.”
“I am the commander of this mission.”
“And I was appointed commander of the recovery operation. Those are my orders, Captain.”
“Those orders were issued before we had any idea what the problem was!”
Emi didn’t miss the sneer in the other captain’s voice. “Then I suggest you contact the ISNC and DSMC and have them change my orders.”
“We can’t. The trans-light relay satellite is out of commission.”
“Ah. Isn’t that a shame? Then I suppose unless your wife comes up with a solution, you’re shit out of luck.”
“Captain Ec
khart, I demand to talk to your medical officer immediately.”
“I’d love to accommodate you, Captain. Unfortunately, he died shortly after we left on our mission. Tragic accident. Petrovis Skye out.”
Aaron immediately hailed Rob again. “What do we know about this fucker? What’s wrong with him? His med officer died? What the fuck?”
“I was going to call you back.” Emi knew from the sound of Rob’s voice it was bad. “I just had Donna pull his full records from our medical database. The last update we have is from Mars, obviously, but…You’d better sit down.”
“What is it?”
“He’s the son of Captain Anderson Candling.”
Emi knew that name but couldn’t place it. Aaron looked like he’d been kicked in the balls. He sat, stunned. “Holy fuck,” he whispered. “He’s out for blood.”
“Yeah. It looks like it.”
“How many crew on the Petrovis Skye?”
“Twenty-five. Well, twenty-four if their med officer’s dead.”
“What is it?” Emi asked. “Who is he?”
When Aaron looked at her, she didn’t miss the tears in his eyes. “His father was the captain of the Wayfarer Margo.”
* * * *
Emi returned to the colony’s lab. There, Sascha still worked on the data they’d just gathered. Displayed on the wall, all their results so far, the infected men’s files, and no answers beyond isolating what foods triggered the rages.
No answer why or how.
Obviously, it was reacting to something in certain men after they’d hit puberty. Of the eighteen children, only seven were boys. One, the sixteen-year-old, was infected. None of the younger boys, the oldest of whom just turned eight, showed any symptoms.
Late in the evening, Emi sent Aaron to bed, his presence only distracting her. Donna and Parisi both stayed up with them, going over the data again. Still no closer to an answer, Emi repeatedly browsed through the files and bounced ideas off Sascha and the others. Exhaustion and impending grief threatened to take her under. She wanted to be snuggled in bed with Ford and Caph and Aaron. Ford could comfort her and keep her focused with just one look of his blue eyes. Caph always relaxed her, his teasing smile and playful green eyes never failing to take her mind off her problems.