It worked. He lowered the weapon pointed at her, slid it into his holster, and focused solely on the cleansing unit. “It’s a fucking cyborg. I thought the rumors were bullshit. Gray skin and all…but it looks like they bleed red.”
She tried not to panic. Was Maze dead? Seriously injured? He wasn’t making any sounds or attacking the soldier. She slowly got to her feet. Her back and ass hurt from the impact with the wall and floor, assuring her she’d have bruises. “Did you come to rescue me?”
The soldier turned his head. “No. We were posted inside this core to monitor the system. Imagine our surprise when we saw a shuttle fly in. We identified it as a well-known slaver.”
Nala managed to keep her mouth from falling open. That couldn’t be. She didn’t believe Stag and his crew were into kidnapping people and selling them on the black market. “The Varnish is a slave-runner shuttle?”
He looked away from her and bent, running his light over the interior of the cleansing unit. “Yeah. It disappeared about ten years ago, according to the records we pulled up on it when the ID came in. Specifically, they stole women from colonies and sold them to brothels. It’s why we didn’t just blow it up and decided to board.”
“I don’t understand.”
He scanned her from head to toe. “We’ve been stuck inside this shithole for three months. Our replacements don’t come for another three. It gets lonely, you know? We weren’t going to blow up women in need of our help.”
“I see.” She masked her features, trying to hide her disgust. She suspected they weren’t on a rescue mission. They were looking for kidnapped women they could victimize further.
She must not have hidden her reaction well enough.
“Don’t get all offended. We’re saving you from doing dozens of men a day if these things had sold you to a brothel. There’re only seven of us. We’ll treat you right, and you’ll get to go home once they send a shuttle to our monitoring station to change out the shifts. Do you know if any other women were taken?” He licked his lips. “We were hoping we wouldn’t have to share.”
“I have no idea.”
“We’ll find out. My unit will find them. Don’t worry. We’re going to treat you all real good.”
“Thank you.” They were tough words to get out. Nala seethed inside.
He looked away from her, back into the cleansing unit. “I should probably shoot it a couple more times just to make sure it never gets up again.”
She took a few steps closer and worked up the nerve to peer inside the cleansing unit. The sight of Maze crumpled on the floor horrified her. He was in a ball, turned toward the wall, as if he’d tried to protect himself. His shirt was torn up, blood staining it. He’d managed to cover his face with his hands so she couldn’t see if he’d taken damage there.
She did notice one of Maze’s fingers twitch, and she gasped.
The soldier swung his head her way. “What?”
She reached out and gripped his arm. He’d kill Maze if he realized the cyborg was still alive. “It’s just all sinking in. Thank you for saving me! I was terrified. I’m so grateful.” She tried not to lay it on too thick but the guy had admitted he was there looking for women. She used her other hand and gripped the top of her shirt, pulling it down enough to flash some cleavage. “My heart feels as though it’s going to pound right out of my chest. Can you see it?”
His gaze went right where she wanted, to the tops of her breasts. He was still bent over a bit and she threw her body forward, catching him off balance and unaware.
Thank God her father had taught her self-defense.
She thrust her elbow out, her fist against her chest where she still held her shirt, and slammed it into his ribs. They fell together and Nala landed on top of him, spreading her legs to quickly straddle the side of his thigh. She used her hold on his arm to keep it pinned down as she went for the sidearm he’d holstered. He hadn’t fastened it, so it slid out easy. Nala fired before he could even recover.
He cried out, and the stench of burning material and flesh rose.
She hit the floor, rolled, and pointed the weapon at him again. The soldier writhed and jerked on his side. That’s when Nala saw burn marks on the blue uniform—and the hole in his back.
She glanced at the weapon. It wasn’t a stunner. She’d just blasted him with a laser that had cut right through him.
The man grabbed for at throat…but then stilled.
“Oh shit,” she whispered. She managed to scoot closer, her hands shaking as she got to her knees then shoved his limp fingers away from his neck. She felt for a pulse above his uniform collar. There wasn’t one.
The blast had gone out his back, probably through his lung on the way, and she figured it had done enough damage to stop his heart.
She’d killed an Earth Government soldier. He might have been a disgrace to military men, but it would still mean a death sentence for her.
A soft groan came from a few feet away and she turned her head. Maze attempted to sit up, and she swiftly tried to pull it together.
“I’m here. Maze? Can you hear me?” She crawled closer to the unit and paused at the edge of it.
He had turned his body, and was now sitting in the corner and cradling his injured arm. His eyes were open when he lifted his head, meeting her gaze. He looked as if he was disorientated and in a lot of pain.
“It’s okay. Just stay down. You’re really injured.”
“I need my medical kit.”
She didn’t know where it was. There was the small one under the bunk in the wall drawer. “Okay. I’ll get it.”
A loud boom came from the corridor.
Nala twisted, landed on her ass again, and pointed the weapon in the direction of the still partially opened door. She braced her bare feet in front of her, spread her legs and sucked in huge gulps of air. Her hand still shook so she gripped the laser with both, locked her arms, and tried to judge where chest height would be, adjusting the tip of the weapon a little higher.
“Give me the weapon.” Maze groaned and tried to scoot closer, judging from the sounds he made.
“I’ll protect you.” And she would.
Movement flashed, and she fired. Her aim was a little off and she hit one edge of the door, scarring the metal.
“Goddamn it,” Stag shouted. “I thought you said you wouldn’t try to kill me?”
She almost dropped the weapon. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was you.”
He hesitated then peered around the corner between the doors. It was hard to make him out in the dim red light, but she did. He stepped out from behind the wall of the corridor, gripped the sides of the door, and shoved. They groaned as he widened them before stepping inside.
“Put that down now,” Stag demanded.
She dropped the weapon on the floor, the metal clattering. “Maze is hurt.”
“I can see that.” He hurried forward, kicked the weapon aside, and reached down.
She gasped when he gripped her upper arms and yanked her to her feet. He let go immediately. “Get out of the way.”
Nala stumbled to the side as Stag crouched down next to the opening of the cleansing unit, checking on Maze. She remembered the medical kit and turned, hustling to retrieve it.
“Freeze!”
She did, mostly. Her head turned and she stared at a soldier who entered the room. He held a large weapon—and it was pointed at Stag. He glanced her way, and he couldn’t hide his surprise. It only lasted for a heartbeat before he focused on Stag again.
“You move a fucking muscle and I’ll blast a hole in you so big it will cut you in half.”
She didn’t move her head but she side-eyed Stag. He had his back to the soldier, still crouched at the opening of the cleansing unit. Nala focused on the soldier again.
He released the weapon with one hand, touched his ear, and spoke. “Come in. Someone answer me.”
“Your team won’t respond.” Stag’s voice came out calm and cold. “I take it you boarded afte
r the first seven. They are all dead.”
Nala clenched her jaw. She wanted to yell at Stag for being a dumb shit. The soldier had what looked like a small cannon weapon pointed at him and Stag was taunting the man.
“You’ll die too unless you lower that weapon and surrender,” Stag continued. “I’ll let you live if you do what I say.”
The soldier visibly paled but that passed quickly, his cheeks turning red. Nala figured that was rage. The guy dropped his hand from his earpiece and gripped the large weapon with both hands. She feared he’d fire.
“Thank God!” She kept her voice low, afraid to startle the guy and make him twitch his finger on the trigger. “You’ve come to rescue me! I was transporting diamonds the size of baseballs from the mines on Rigger Planet. There’re four crates of them hidden on some moon they stopped at. Don’t kill him! That cyborg is the only one who knows where they stashed them. They’re worth millions of credits.”
Nala took a hesitant step forward. The other soldier had been a dirtball who’d willing admitted to wanting to rescue women just to victimize them. She hoped this one had morals just as low. “Our transport was attacked and the entire crew killed except me. They’re slavers; they were planning on selling me. My father was Manny Vestria. He served twenty years in the military. I know how little they pay you. We can split it fifty-fifty. Think of all those credits.”
The soldier glanced at her. He didn’t fire or adjust the weapon to aim at her, so she took a few more steps.
“We could be rich.” She made it to the man’s side, still holding his gaze. “They aren’t very smart, and the cyborg won’t move as long as you keep that weapon trained on him. Look.”
He glanced at Stag.
It was the opening she was looking for.
She attacked, plowing into his arms and grabbed hold of his chest, fisting his uniform. She hooked one of his calves with the back of her heel, shoving as hard as she could with her other foot planted on the floor.
The man stumbled to the side and back, Nala stumbling with him. The weapon he still held fired, hitting something, but she knew she’d knocked into him hard enough that it wasn’t Stag or Maze.
He flailed and Nala saw his fist coming at her. She winced in that split-second, but kept hold of his uniform and one leg, knowing it would be harder for him to fire the long weapon with her so close to his body and clinging to him.
Pain exploded in the side of her head and it dazed her. The sensation of falling registered before she hit the floor hard.
Someone yelled, a male, and that cannon blasted again.
Something hit her back, a sharp pain, but she couldn’t move.
Then her body seemed to shut down from the agony inside her head, and she welcomed it.
Chapter Thirteen
Stag paced. “Why isn’t she waking up?” He glared at Maze.
The medic wore a sling, his right arm out of commission until he healed. “She suffered a severe concussion.”
“What about her back where that beam fell on top of her?” He worried it might have caused major damage. The soldier had managed to fire the weapon again when Stag had tackled him, hitting the ceiling with the blast. “It was heavy.”
“I’m getting there.”
“Hurry up! She could die because you’re not treating her fast enough!”
“Stag.” Hellion stepped between him and the medic. “He’s doing his best. He had to stop the bleeding on his arm and stabilize the break in his wrist. It’s left him one-handed. Nala is alive. Let him do his work without snapping at him every five seconds.”
The lights came on and Stag clenched his teeth.
“Got it,” Veller stated in his earpiece. “Life support is functioning. We didn’t lose that.”
“What did the soldiers do?” Stag resumed pacing.
“They blew a coupling to computer control, which shut it down, including power. I’ve managed to reroute around the damaged area. It will hold until we reach home but it’s a mess. We’re going to be grounded at least a week for repairs.”
Stag wanted to hit something. “Kelis? Did you get those bodies off my shuttle?”
“Yes, Stag. Yammer and Parqel just returned. There’s a group of pods attached to the rock wall about four thousand meters deeper inside. They used suits to float over and breach our hull. It’s why another ship didn’t register.”
“What in the hell?” He was furious.
Yammer said, “Six pods, linked together. We accessed their computer. They were monitoring traffic in this solar system.”
“How? The metals in his asteroid mess with sensors.” Stag stopped pacing, watching Maze frown as he scanned Nala’s stomach and pelvis area. He wanted to ask what was wrong but Yammer continued his report.
“They blasted two straight holes through the rock to the exterior and placed a direct link there to receive data uploads. There seems to be a small opening in the belt that allowed them to receive drone communications every three days, in fourteen-second intervals, before the signal is disrupted again. The drones are small, not easy to detect by any vessels. They stored all traffic information and forwarded it to the pods.”
“Hold.” Stag muted the coms. “What is wrong, Maze? Did you find something? You’re scowling.”
The medic glanced at him. “I don’t have a full med bay here so I have to go over every inch of her carefully with a portable scanner. I haven’t found any internal bleeding, nerve, or bone damage.”
Stag spun around and turned on coms again. He couldn’t stand to look at Nala lying on the bunk, looking so helpless. “Resume, Yammer. Did they have mission logs? Were they looking for us?”
“No. At least not officially.”
“They believe they were tracking pirates, illegal traders, and possible Markus Model sightings,” Parqel said next. “I accessed their personal journal logs. The one in charge assumed Earth Government might want to resume mining operations and they were sent to assess the threat to any miners sent here. Which means he wasn’t too intelligent. They mined this section out years ago.”
“Then why?” Stag just wanted answers.
“Unknown, but none of the personal journal logs mentioned anything about cyborgs.” Parqel paused. “The last entry was made by their communications officer. They identified our shuttle as belonging to the criminal Earthers you took it from. They attacked us believing women were onboard, who they could steal. He seemed quite excited with the prospect of comforting any of them with sex. The entry was graphic. They fought and then voted over either blowing us up before we realized we weren’t alone, or boarding us. It was a seven to one in favor of gaining women. The one you killed last was the holdout. It seems he refused to be a part of it, since they’d have gotten in trouble if anyone ever found out. They had planned to kill the women before a new shift arrived to relieve them of duty. I guess he changed his mind and came after his crew to help them.”
Stag clenched his teeth again. “Understood.”
“I feel no guilt now for killing them,” Hellion muttered. “They would have abused, murdered, and hidden the body of Nala if they’d taken us out. There’s got to be a lot of crevices inside this tunnel to conceal a body.”
“Or they could have incinerated a body,” Maze snarled. “Earth Government military at its best. They called us murders. At least we never took innocent lives.”
“Stow it.” Stag walked over to the panel and touched it. The computer responded, so he reached up and ripped off the annoying earpiece. He opened ship-wide coms. “We’re online. Good work, Veller.”
“Thank you. I’m heading to Control. Are you already there?”
Stag twisted around, staring at Nala. He should be at the helm, instead of waiting to see if she was going to recover. “I’m on my way too.” He cut coms. “Maze? How is she?”
“I can go to Control if you want to stay.” Hellion regarded him.
“It’s my duty to be there, not yours.”
“Are you certain of that?
You’re worried about her. You care. Stay with Nala. We can handle things without you for a while longer.”
Stag debated it a second too long and Hellion exited the room before he could decide. He let it go, focusing on the medic instead. “Maze? You didn’t answer me.”
Maze straightened and peered at him with a grim look. “She saved both of our lives. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”
“He would have hit me with his weapon, not you. What does that have to do with anything? I want an update on her medical condition.”
“She’ll be fine. I’ve found no life-threatening injuries.”
Relief hit Stag, too much so. “Good. I should go to Control then. Stay with her, and once she’s able to be moved, take her to your quarters. You can bunk with Hellion.” He glanced at the damage to his room. “This one isn’t livable until repairs are completed.”
Maze moved into his path, blocking the door. “I shot the soldier found lying in the corridor. I was already injured when the second one planned to shoot me to make certain I never got up again. I was coming around, and I heard Nala flirting with him. I was convinced for a moment that she truly was happy to be rescued. That’s when she attacked and killed that soldier. She protected me and saved my life.”
“Your point?”
“She risked her life twice to save us both. You were wrong about her, Stag. Are you still planning on handing her over to the council when we reach Garden?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“It is now! She saved my life. I demand answers. Do you care about her? Have you changed your feelings about her enough to join a family unit with her?”
The question astonished him. He couldn’t even speak.
“She chose cyborgs over Earth Government soldiers. Are you willing to keep her or not?”
Stag had enough. He stepped forward, his chest pressing against Maze’s, and glared at him. “Get out of my way.”
Maze didn’t budge. He just glared back. “Are you going to do right by Nala? If not, I plan to join a family unit with her. Give her to me if you aren’t willing to keep her.”