Seven
Ghost watched his female as she donned her uniform. She appeared as happy as he felt, buoyed by their victory, bubbling with his nanocybotics.
Her eyes shone. Her skin glowed. Her golden curls framed a face flushed from vigorous breeding. He gazed at her with wonder.
How could she doubt that he wanted her? Any functional male would desire his female.
And she was his. He gripped her shoulder, needing to touch her, to reassure himself she wasn’t a figment of his damaged processors.
“We should contact the merchant ship.” His female had slipped back into her captain role.
“You.” Ghost limited the range of the recording device to her chair only. “Cyborg.” He tapped his right thumb against his bare chest.
“You’re part of my crew.” She frowned as she claimed that seat.
He wasn’t part of her crew. He was her only crew member and he was much more than that to her. She was his female. He was her male.
“Threat.” Ghost indicated the main viewscreen. He knew nothing about the beings in the merchant ship.
It could be an elaborate trap. He’d seen the Humanoid Alliance set those for unsuspecting beings. They lured Rebels in, waited for them to drop their guard, and then killed them.
“That is unlikely.” His female disagreed. “But it wouldn’t hurt us to be cautious. The commander communicated that the Rebels’ alliance with the cyborgs was to remain a secret.”
Ghost grunted. He hadn’t heard of any alliance between the Rebels and the cyborgs.
“We know nothing about the merchant ship crew.” His female drummed her fingertips against the armrests. “Did we perform a lifeform scan?”
He scanned the vessel. “Two. Human.”
They were smaller than his female. That didn’t mean they weren’t a threat. Some of the smallest Humanoid Alliance officers had been the cruelest, reveling in killing others.
His female stared at the main viewscreen. “If their ship is damaged and we don’t help them, they’ll be attacked by the next Humanoid Alliance warship. The battle, our victory will have been for nothing.”
The merchant ship hadn’t moved far from their original location. That could indicate damage.
Or it could be a trap.
“Restrict their visual and hail them over public frequencies,” his female ordered.
He complied. “No open.” They weren’t accepting the hail.
Ghost’s trepidation increased. He wanted to protect his female, fly their warship far from potential danger.
“Their communications system might be damaged.” She was determined to speak with the humans, however. “Can you force it?”
He was a cyborg. He could do anything. Ghost opened communications.
“A female.” The voice answering was also female. The image on the main viewscreen was scrambled, lines concealing her face. “She’s a human female, Rhea.”
“If she’s female, she can’t be Humanoid Alliance.” Rhea, the second female, observed.
“She’s a friend.”
“I didn’t say that.” Rhea pointed out, her voice devoid of emotion. “Not everyone is your friend, Paloma. We talked about this.”
“Not everyone is our enemy either,” the first female, Paloma, muttered. “Just because you’re older than me by six solar cycles doesn’t mean you know everything.”
“We’re not talking about this right now.”
“You started it.”
Ghost stabilized the visual. The two human females crowded around the transmission device.
The older one, a brown-eyed brunette, gazed at them, her expression as blank, as unrevealing as a cyborg’s. That begrudgingly earned her Ghost’s respect. They were strangers and the females shouldn’t trust them. But it also increased his unease. What were the females hiding?
He studied her more closely, looking for possible threats. The female’s hair was pulled back. Her flight suit was gray, blending into the panels of her ship. Her forehead was beaded with perspiration. That was due to the temperature, not nervousness. The younger female’s skin glistened also.
The second female was the opposite of the first female. She radiated emotion, the blue-eyed blonde’s bottom lip protruding. And she was dressed to draw gazes. Her bright blue flight suit was partially unfastened, showing a portion of her breasts.
If the skin on display was a tactic, it was wasted on Ghost. Neither Paloma nor Rhea were his female. He wasn’t physically interested in them.
“I’m Captain Lethe.” His female introduced herself. “Do you require assistance?”
“I’m Captain Rhea.” The older female responded.
“Can I be a captain too?” the younger female asked.
“No, you cannot.” Captain Rhea’s serene expression didn’t change. “This is Officer Paloma.”
“Captain Paloma,” the younger female corrected. “We’re all captains.” She smiled.
“Paloma.” Captain Rhea swept a strand of hair away from her face. Ghost spotted the gleam of a gun muzzle. It was hidden in her right sleeve. The female was armed.
“Captain Paloma.” The younger female insisted on that title.
“Our systems are damaged, Captain Lethe.” Captain Rhea returned her attention to Ghost’s female. “And we’ve been unable to repair them. We’re operating on merely a fraction of our power, have limited mobility.”
“Dwindling supplies,” the other female contributed.
Ghost’s female narrowed her eyes. “There was no distress call.”
“We’re not fools.” Captain Rhea’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “The Humanoid Alliance are monitoring all distress calls. If we sent one, we’d be blown out of space.”
“Then what was your plan?” His female’s tone was dry.
“What was our plan?” Captain Paloma looked at Captain Rhea.
The older female didn’t answer.
“You didn’t have one.” His female concluded. “I’m putting you on mute. I must confer with my crew.” She glanced at him.
Ghost muted the communication, nodded at her.
She covered her lips with her hand. “We have to help them.”
Ghost grunted, disagreeing.
They didn’t have to do anything.
The two beings were female and alone, that combination triggering his protective instincts, but he had fought females in battle numerous times. They had been fierce, killed as readily, as efficiently as their male counterparts.
And these two females didn’t belong to him or to his brethren. They weren’t Rebels, weren’t part of his female’s faction. Ghost and his female owed them nothing.
“We’ll dock with them.” His female disregarded his misgivings. “You can stay here. I’ll try to fix their systems.”
He didn’t like her plan. The older female was armed and was hiding something. The younger one likely was also. It could be a trap. “No dock.”
“Ghost—”
“No.” He wasn’t moving on that decision. “Help here.” He patted the console. They would help the two females remotely.
“That won’t work.” His female shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing against her cheeks. “We’ll dock and—”
“No dock,” he roared.
“This is my ship.” She reminded him. “Captains decide whether or not a ship docks and I am the captain. That was our deal.”
“Danger.” He wouldn’t risk her lifespan.
“You heard the sisters, Ghost.” His female blew out her breath. “The youngest one opens her mouth and her brains fall out.” She glanced at the main viewscreen. The two females were muted but the youngest sister’s mouth moved. “They’re not plotting against us. They don’t have the ability to keep that big of a secret.”
Ghost didn’t share his female’s level of certainty.
She studied him for a moment. “I’ll make a deal with you, trade—”
“No deals.” He smacked his palms against the console and she jumped. “You. Safe. First.” He held up his right index finger.
There was nothing she could trade that was more valuable to him than her lifespan.
“There are other females you can fuck.” She sounded exasperated with him. “We’re assisting two of them.”
“Not Mine.” He’d lived for many human lifespans and he knew there would be no one else for him. She would be the only being he’d ever breed with, claim, care for.
“I’m the captain,” she grumbled. “You should follow my orders.”
Not when those orders put her lifespan at risk.
“That could be me in that merchant ship, Ghost.” She touched his arm. “Wouldn’t you want someone to save me?”
Some of his resolve dissipated. “Not you.” It wasn’t her in the merchant ship.
“But someone did save me from Mercury Minor.” His female gazed at him. “Even with the payment he extracted, I was grateful. I would have died if it weren’t for him.” Sorrow, pain, loss reflected in her eyes. “The sisters might die without our help.”
Ghost understood why she needed to help the females, the sisters as she called them. It was important to her emotional system.
But his first concern was her physical survival.
“If something bad happens to them, I couldn’t live with the knowledge that we didn’t try to help. It would damage me.”
Fraggin’ hole. He could never damage her.
“My mission.” Ghost relented. “I lead.” She would follow his orders.
His female opened her mouth, protest reflecting in her eyes.
“Protect.” He had to safeguard her. “No lead. No deal.” He chopped the air with his hands. That was non-negotiable. “Cyborg.” He was manufactured for these types of assignments. “Missions past.”
All of those missions had ended with killing. He didn’t share that with his female.
“We’ll dock with them, fix their systems?” She lifted her eyebrows.
“I fix.” He’d repair the merchant ship’s systems, if they were truly damaged. “You here.” He patted her chair’s backrest.
She would stay on their warship, where she was safe.
His female frowned. “You have gray skin, those beautiful blue eyes. Your model number is inked on your cheek.”
He stared at her. She thought his eyes were beautiful?
“The sisters will know you’re a cyborg.”
“Your cyborg.” The sisters didn’t have to know he was free, that he had the ability to operate on his own, without instructions.
His female’s forehead furrowed.
“Machine,” he explained. “You order. I obey.” The sisters would believe he was following her commands.
“Like a robot.”
Ghost grunted, unhappy with being compared to a brainless robot.
“That could work.” She studied him. “And you could make the repairs quickly. You are good with systems.”
He was also very difficult to kill. If the two humans were a threat, he’d eliminate them, keep his female safe.
She unmuted the communications. “We’ll dock with your ship and my cyborg will assist you with your repairs.”
“Your cyborg?” The eldest sister blinked.
The youngest sister craned her neck as though trying to see beyond the confines of the recording device.
“The cyborg came with the warship.” His female shifted in her seat, her discomfort with the story palpable. “I’ve reprogrammed him. He follows my commands.” She paused. “Don’t draw your weapons around him. He’ll perceive that as a threat and respond.”
The youngest sister gasped. The eldest sister nodded. “Noted.”
“Prepare to be boarded.” His female ended communications.
“It,” he corrected, redirecting the warship to rendezvous with the merchant ship.
“What?” She turned her head.
“It, not he.” Humans viewed him as a machine, not a being. “It follows. It’ll perceive.” It would protect her, he silently added.
“It had better wear garments or it will shock those two beautiful females with its naked body.” Her lips twisted. “And the sisters were beautiful, weren’t they?”
Ghost grunted. They weren’t his. He had no interest in them.
“Rhea has a quiet beauty. Paloma is flashier. She’s young but I had less solar cycles when I...” His female paused. “When I escaped Mercury Minor.”
He didn’t know how to repair the emotional damage she incurred during that escape. That frustrated him.
“I doubt they were part of a similar invasion. They seem like good beings.” Her female implied that surviving an invasion and being a good human was mutually exclusive. “Trusting, innocent. They didn’t ask me what I wanted in return.”
All Ghost wanted in return was his female’s safety. “Mission.” They had to focus on that, not on the sisters and not on the past.
“Right.” His female straightened. “I’m correcting our course and slowing our speed.” She inputted their approach into the control panel.
Ghost verified her calculations. They didn’t have a cyborg’s level of accuracy but they were sufficient. The docking connectors would be aligned.
His female didn’t require his assistance on the bridge.
Ghost gazed at her, reluctant to leave her yet knowing the bridge was the safest place for her to be. “If danger, shut doors. Break away.” She was to close the interior doors and disengage with the cargo ship, save herself.
“I would never do that.” She stood. “You’d be sucked into space.”
“Cyborg.” Cyborgs couldn’t survive in open space. He didn’t tell her that.
“You are a cyborg.” His female gazed up at him. “You’re big and strong and you’ve completed these types of missions in the past.” Lines furrowed her forehead. “You’ll be okay.” The concern in her big brown eyes belied her words and caused hope to unfurl in Ghost’s chest.
She must care for him a little.
“Mine.” He grasped her arms, needing to touch her. If the mission went wrong, it would be for the last time.
“Yours.” She didn’t pull away from him. “I’ll join you once the soft docking is completed.”
“No.” He released her. “Stay here.” He didn’t want her to put herself in danger.
She opened her mouth.
“No.” He scowled at her.
She looked back at him. Her jaw jutted.
His female was a stubborn being.
“Stay,” Ghost told her one last time, hoping she’d listen to him. He stalked away from her, intent on completing his mission quickly.
“Wear a flight suit,” she called after him.
They might be walking into a trap, a situation that might kill both of them, and she was worried about his bare ass.
He ran through the corridors, passed a storage chamber. Frag. He backed up, entered the small space, donned a flight suit, brown like his female’s eyes. It pulled tight across his shoulders and didn’t cover his wrists or ankles, even the largest human smaller than him.
He originally had a set of custom-made body armor but that had been blasted to bits in a battle solar cycles ago and the Humanoid Alliance had never replaced it.
If the armor still existed, he would have strapped it to his female, adding a layer of protection. That would have ensured she stayed in her seat also. He doubted she’d have the strength to lift it.
He exited the storage chamber, leaving his feet bare. His toes shouldn’t offend any beings and he liked having them free, having that connection with the floor.
Ghost’s next stop was a weapons chamber. He selected two long guns, loaded them, slung one over each shoulder. Smaller guns were stuffed into his pockets. Daggers were slid into his boots. The tension in his spine eased. He was fully armed, ready to face any attackers.
Ghost jogged toward the docking connector doors, his tread silent.
The warship had multiple docking connectors. His female had wisely chosen the one that was the farthest away from the bridge. It also wasn’t near the engines or any other vital systems.
As Ghost moved, he activated all the firewalls except the one in the corridor through which he entered the space. If something happened, the impact should be minimized.
His female should survive.
The warship jerked as it bumped against the other vessel.
He waited by the interior doors. The docking connectors locked, sealing. The space between the two ships pressurized.
There was no other activity. No one blasted through the merchant ship’s doors to attack him. Nothing set off the alarms or compromised the warship’s integrity.
Ghost placed his hands on a control panel. “Docked.” He communicated that to his female. “Opening interior doors.”
She didn’t respond.
The doors opened. He moved toward the merchant ship. An old vessel, it had no control panel on the exterior but it had an input slot.
He braced himself for possible damage, pushed his finger into the opening. Nothing happened. He connected with the merchant ship’s systems. They were low on power, barely functional. He detected no triggers, no traps left for rescuers.
A delectable scent teased his nostrils. He breathed deeply, taking his female’s musk into his body. “Told you stay.” She’d disobeyed him, following him.
“You’re wearing a flight suit.” His female didn’t address his comment.
Ghost grunted an affirmative. He had listened to her advice.
She smiled at him, her beauty hitting him like a missile to his gut. “You’re the lead on this mission. What do you want me to do?”
“Go back,” he ordered. She was to return to the bridge.
“No.” She withdrew a gun from her pocket. “Like you said, this could be a trap. I’m not sending you into possible danger alone.”
She was concerned about him. In the past, no one had cared whether he lived or died. He was a weapon to be utilized, a disposable machine.
“Cyborg.” Emotion softened his voice. “No worry.”
“Of course, I have to worry about you.” She snapped. “I’m your captain.”
He frowned at her. She was more than his captain. “Mine.”
“I won’t be yours if you get yourself killed.”
Ghost’s heart lightened. A being who didn’t care wouldn’t have said that with the vehemence she did, the gun shaking in her hands.
“And I am supposed to be controlling you.” She avoided her gaze. “You’re my machine, remember?”
“Gave orders.” He waved his hands in the direction of the bridge. She could control him remotely as the Humanoid Alliance had. They assigned him a task and assumed he’d complete it.
Her lips parted.
“Go back,” he roared, trying a different tactic.
Her eyes widened but she didn’t move. His female was fearless.
Ghost contemplated the situation for a moment. He was situated between her and the merchant ship. There were no signs of any incendiary devices.
“Back to wall.” He amended his instructions. “Far.” He wanted her as far away as possible from the merchant ship.
“But—”
“Gun.” Ghost pointed at the weapon in her hand. “See.” He tapped his chest. “Protect.” His little human could protect him from there.
She cast him a dark glance but did as he requested.
He returned his attention to his mission. The mechanism for the merchant ship hatch was as primitive as he was. It recognized two directions—open and close.
“Open.” He flipped the digital switch.
The hatch creaked as it slowly pushed outward.
There were no explosions, no gunfire, no damage of any kind.
“They’re here,” a cheery voice rang out. It belonged to the youngest sister. The sound of her tread grew louder as she approached.
“Stop,” he yelled.
One of the sisters gasped.
“Drop everything you’re holding and raise your arms above your head,” his female added. “Don’t make any sudden movements. Allow my cyborg to survey the situation.”
Ghost grunted and swept into the small space, guns in both of his hands. It smelled like females, the wrong females. His nose twitched.
The sisters stood with their hands in the air, their faces pale, their eyes round. The youngest sister shook. The eldest sister watched him.
“You’re scaring them.” His female, knowing no caution, pushed past him.
“No.” He grabbed her wrist, pulled her back behind him. “Not safe.”
The sisters didn’t belong to him or to his brethren. Tension rose within Ghost. They were strangers. He didn’t know them, didn’t trust them. And he wasn’t familiar with the terrain. He didn’t sense any other beings but there could be traps set for them.
The images of the females Ghost had failed rotated through his processors, torturing him, reminding him. Darkness circled his vision system. He lifted his guns, the urge to kill, to remove all threats to his female pulling at him.
“Easy, Ghost.” His female rubbed his back, her hands moving in soothing circles over his flexed muscles. “They’re following our orders. They aren’t armed. They’re friends, not the enemy.”
His female didn’t know that they were friends. Not for certain.
Ghost grunted and glowered at the sisters. He wasn’t taking any risks.
“We are friends.” The youngest sister smiled.
He growled. Her voice irritated him.
“Shhh…” His female pressed her body against his. “Focus on me.”
He breathed deeply, taking her delectable scent into his lungs. That calmed him.
“We’re moving toward the console.” His female shifted in that direction. “Once we complete the repairs, we’ll leave.”
“Safe.” He shifted with her, ensuring his larger form was between her and the others.
“Yes, we’ll be safe.”
He’d repair the ship’s damage quickly, while monitoring the other beings’ movements. Then he’d take her back to their vessel, where she’d be safe.
He kept his gaze on the sisters.
If they moved, they were dead.