Chapter Nine
A light went on, pulling me from my deep sleep. Groggy, I stared into the light, it was from the open doorway. There was a Dolcivs female standing there. She spoke softly, but I could not make out what she was saying. Next to me Strath shifted in the bed.
“Thank you,” he said to the woman who quickly left. Strath slowly sat up. I rolled over to face him, running my hands over his muscular back. I remembered last night. The way we had moved together. Would we continue? I wanted there to be more.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. My voice was rough and he handed me a glass of water and I drank it gratefully.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he answered taking the glass from me and then smoothing down my messy bed head. “It’s just morning and I have work to do.”
“It’s morning?” I asked. My internal clock was off. I had no idea how long I had slept. My wrists stung as they grazed the blanket and I remembered the fate I had just narrowly avoided.
“Yes. And as always, I have much to do. Though it is very tempting to lie here in bed with you,” he paused for a long moment and looked at the stars on the screens all around us. “However, you and I had an agreement and you have fulfilled your end. Your ship has been put back together and is ready for you to leave. No one will stop you when you go.”
“Thank you,” I said. I fell back on the bed. My head landing on the soft pillow. It was so tempting to just stay in this bed. To allow myself to become the plaything of this Lord. I could be like one of the three women he kept in his bed. My only obligation to look beautiful and please him.
Who was I kidding? I would never last in such a role. I would get bored and become quarrelsome. I would start trouble. No, I wasn't built for that kind of domesticity.
Strath scoffed, “Perhaps I should be thanking you.”
He stood up and I followed him with my eyes. “Will I ever see you again?” I asked him.
“That’s up to you,” he answered. What did that mean? Did he want me to come back, even with my ties to the rebellion? Would he want me even if I wasn’t as free as he was?
“Goodbye, Andromeda Nus,” Strath said stroking my cheek. “Be careful.”
I nodded. I knew that I should have said something, but I didn't know what. It was like I was holding a bag filled with all of my emotions. I kept reaching in and pulling out a new one: I wanted him, but I wanted to get the rebellion plans, I was attracted to him, but his people were my enemy. I wanted him but I knew I could never have him.
It felt strange to be back in my ship. Strath’s men had done their best to put it back together, but it still wasn’t quite right. Things weren’t where I left them, the settings were built for someone of Dolcivs size. I felt like a stranger in my own home, awkward and confused as I wandered from place to place.
I dallied. I fiddled with my machines, ran diagnostics. I should have just gone, started the engines and been on my way, but some part of me was still hoping that Strath would come. I didn’t know what I wanted him to say or what I wanted to say. I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him yet. I didn’t know if we would ever see each other again and I wanted to know what he was going to do. Where was he going to go? It seemed impossible that we had just met and already we were being pulled apart.
Finally, there was nothing left to do but go. I fired up my engines, received permission from the men in the command post and navigated out into open space. I fell into the gravity well of the red giant. From down here I could see the true size of Strath’s ship. It was massive, an entire city filled with thousands on one ship. It was so big it had its own gravitational pull and it was affecting my orbit. Pulling me back to it.
I entered the radio signal needed to locate the data packet. I had it memorized in my head and hadn’t told it to anyone. After everything that had happened, I had managed to keep the rebellion’s plans secret after all. All it had required was the best sex of my life. Not a bad deal.
I wasn’t worried about Strath following me. There was no way his great ship could traverse the thick, dangerous atmosphere of the gas giant. He had smaller vessels that could have survived in it, but it would be hard to follow me in the chaos of the planet’s poisonous gasses.
My ship descended into the gas giant. Red and yellow mists floated around me as one by one my sensors began to glitch and malfunction. The dense atmosphere messed with my equipment. It set off sensors and alarms even though there was nothing there. That’s why this planet was the perfect hiding spot.
I only needed the radio to work in order to locate the data packet. I sent out the signal and waited for the responding ping. There was a probe on this planet with the information. It was looking for me and I was looking for it, we just needed to find one another.
I had been flying for about five hours when my computer picked up a signal from the drone. I located the signal, zooming in on it. Thankfully, it wasn’t far away. I sped up my ship in the direction of it. My sensors were pinging and blinking and going wild. But there was no way to know what was setting them off. The gasses on the planet and the small bits of debris kept giving me false alarms.
I saw the probe, a trashcan-sized hunk of metal floating in the mists. I maneuvered my ship and sucked the probe into my cargo bay. I waited impatiently for the ship's life support to clear the gasses and then finally I was allowed to enter the cargo bay.
I pulled the data stick out of the computer and plugged it into the ship. It was designed for the newest Dolcivs warships. It listed everything: the crew manifest, how many weapons would be on board, weak spots. It was exactly what the rebellion needed.
Suddenly, alarms were going off. The ship rumbled and tilted to the side. I fell over, hitting my shoulder on a bulkhead. I got to my feet quickly and raced to the bridge, the ship rolling and shuddering. Someone was firing across my bow. It was a warning.
I reached the bridge and pulled up the main screen and there, in front of me, was a lone ship bearing the markings of the Dolcivs Regime. My heart stopped, I couldn’t believe this. I had just managed to get the plans and now the Regime was here.
Had Strath given my info to the Dolcivs Regime? No, I couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t part of the Regime, he was a free man and always would be. He wouldn’t betray me. They must have found me on their own.
Panic flooded my brain. I knew now that I would never last under torture. I would tell them everything. I would give them the plans and I would tell them how Strath helped me.
A message came in for me. It was the standard order to shut down my weapons system and prepare my ship for docking. Yeah right, I thought. I kicked on an engine burst and backed away from the ship. Maybe there was a chance I could lose it in the mist. I zoomed into the red mist of the planet going as fast as my engine would allow. But the Dolcivs ship was faster than mine. No matter what I did or how fast I flew, it was always right behind me.
I flew faster, my engines straining. I tried to get lost in the mist, but it was impossible. The Dolcivs ship was too fast. It would have me soon; I wouldn’t last much longer. The Dolcivs ship was broadcasting its message over and over again, but I ignored it. I would rather die than be captured.
I felt their tethers hit my ship, locking on with a strong magnetic force. The Zephyr shuddered and then slowed as the Regime ship reversed their engines and the tethers began to reel me in. This was bad, really bad.
The only way to get rid of them was to cut them off. I fired a missile at the ship, but their countermeasures blew it away. They suffered no damage at all. I shot everything I had at them. I emptied my weapons, but the Dolcivs ship struck them all out of the sky. Their defenses were better than my offenses and slowly I was being pulled into their ship.
I looked around my panel, desperately wondering what was left for me to do. My engines were straining, I was out of weapons, I had a small escape vessel, but it would never survive the dangerous gasses of this planet. I was lost. I was going to lose the plans and then be captured and the Regime would pull out every secret I had.
Just then, just when all seemed lost, another ship emerged from the mist.
It had the markings of Historan Strath. It flew up through the mists and with two quick laser bursts it cut the cords connecting me to the other ship. Once free I zoomed forward, but I didn’t get far before my engines stalled. This most recent battle had been too hard on them. With a loud whine, they shut down and my computer told me it would be at least five minutes before they could come back on.
I was stuck in the mists, but Strath’s ship flew and settled between me and the Regime ship. He had come for me. I couldn’t believe it. He was angering the Regime, all for me. My heart swelled in my chest. I could never repay him for this.
“This is a ship of the Dolcivs Regime on official Regime business. That ship and its Captain are under arrest. Cease your actions immediately,” the ship that had tethered me was announcing this message to both my and Strath’s ship.
“This isn’t a Regime controlled system. This is my system,” was the stern voice of Strath. My heart pounded in my chest as I heard his voice. I wanted to see him. I wanted to be in the same room with him. I wanted to feel his strong presence and his hands on me. “Leave now, or your ship will be destroyed.” The powerful weapons on his ship came to life and I watched the Dolcivs ship back off and then to my relief, it flew away.