CHAPTER SIX
D'Arek had to admit, even in his foul mood, the show that Octiron put on to herald the beginning of the race was really something. If he didn't care for the fireworks filling the dark skies, the laser light shows dancing around the walls of the huge amphitheater, or the dancers creating ornate, colorful patterns on the ground, his partner seemed to appreciate the spectacle enough for both of them.
The teams were positioned in hovies floating around the amphitheater at carefully staged intervals.
Like many of the other contestants, Mia Jag was expressing her excitement at the race beginning. In her case, this meant smiling, bouncing on her toes, and clapping at each new display of pyrotechnic color and light. Their hovie rocked with her.
Since Arek refused to participate in such an idiotic display, he stood, feet planted apart and arms crossed, waiting for this spectacle to be over so they could get on with the Race.
Thank God the fireworks were holovid, so at least there was no smoke or stink of powder. But the noise and lights more than made up for that.
Loud music pumped through the air, with a heavy beat to which dancers gyrated on the ground below. In their self-lighted costumes, they created gorgeous patterns like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope.
At their center, a lighted stage now rose slowly from the floor. The irritating Suede Harrington, flanked by his two blonde beauties, held up his arms as if accepting adulation for creating the whole spectacle. The contestants—again, including Mia Jag—cheered loudly, as did the dancers.
One of Harrington's blondes found Arek and gave him a sultry smile. He smiled back—she deserved it after last night. She'd not only serviced him, more importantly she'd shared several bits of intel about the Race.
Harrington bowed with faux modesty.
"Greetings!" His voice boomed over the music and cheering. Both quieted in response, and the fireworks died down, the laser lights steadying in a pattern of the Race logo, leaving an air of hushed expectancy.
"Greetings, all beings. It is time for the event you've all been waiting for... Octiron Media's Great Space Race! The contestants as you, see are ready—" here giant holovids of each team sprang up above them in their hovies. Harrington blathered on, emoting commercialized message about Octiron's greatness and etc, etc. Arek tuned him out, waiting.
Finally Harrington announced the first team—Team SuperNova. The dancers all pointed toward the pair in their hovie, as did seemingly every light in the place. The pair waved, all smiles as their gigantic holovid image sprang up over the middle of the arena.
The next team was DayBreak, and the blond pair beaming from their hovie were all too familiar—Tenn and Naali. Mia did not cheer for them, and Arek noticed that neither did Team Nebula. Seemed the pair had shown their true colors to more than Mia and himself. Good, perhaps the pair would try something so nefarious they were booted from the race.
"Team Nebula!" The featured team waved and smiled for the cameras, and Harrington announced the next team.
As the holo-cams worked their way around the amphitheater toward them, Mia Jag cast Arek a glittering smile. "You'd better wave and smile," she warned him in dulcet tones. "Or I'll claw you where it hurts."
"You can try, little mawwr," he retorted, torn between the desire to chuckle or grab her and do something to close that mouth of hers.
But when the bellow of 'Team Starrrr-ry Night!' rang through the place, Arek played his part. As the lights blazed on them, he slid his arm around Mia's slender waist, hauled her close to his side and lifted his free arm in a wave, smiling as if he were the happiest male in the place.
And after stiffening in initial shock, his partner waved gracefully and gave her own brilliant smile. Seeing their images reflected back at them from the huge holovid images all over, a shaft of something hot and strange struck Arek's chest.
Clad in their black, fitted flight suits, with the Race emblem large on their shoulders, her head reaching his shoulder, the picture of glowing femininity against his own solid masculine figure, they made a striking couple.
And she felt good in his arm, her firm curves melding to his own hard muscle. When he turned his head, her silky hair brushed his chin in a warm caress, and her scent, fresh and faintly flowery, filled his nostrils.
Then the holocams passed on, and she ground her booted heel on his toe and jabbed her elbow into his ribs—a sharp pain.
"Now let go of me," she hissed. "And don't put your hands on me again."
He smirked, forgetting his own bad mood as he realized why she was in such a foul humor. The Tygress had spent her last night of comparative freedom all alone, instead of curled in another male's arms.
Why he relished this so much, he did not choose to examine. Of course his only purpose in warning off Tenn had been to make sure Mia didn't divulge any information about her particular skills or weaknesses. She couldn't give away his, as she didn't know them yet. Not that she'd ever learn his weaknesses. An Aurelian warrior revealed none.
"And now... shall we give the contestants a look at the craft they'll be occupying on their daring adventure?" Harrington boomed.
Even louder cheering greeted his question.
Arek tensed with anticipation. A few meters below the contestants' hovies, lights came on, and the dark shells of awnings slowly retracted, revealing a fleet of cruisers, all apparently identical.
He looked down on the craft in which he'd spend the next few weeks. All the ships were a pale silver, nearly white, with black markings. Long and sleek, each had a graceful swept-wing design. The GSR logo had been emblazoned across the top of theirs in a bold design, along with 'Team Starry Night' in much smaller letters. Barcodes accompanied each name, ready to be translated by comlink into the native speech of the viewer.
"Contestants, are you ready to step aboard your cruisers?"
Arek clapped dutifully along with the other contestants.
"Very well! Let's bring 'em downnnnnn!" Harrington called, pulling the last word out like a Quasi-Ball announcer.
Their hovie dropped swiftly to the ground beside the cruiser. Mia Jag leapt off before Arek had a chance and darted up the waiting gangplank to the open hatch.
He followed. Once inside, Arek eyed the opulence of this craft with amazement. Everything gleamed with newness, from the grip flooring, curving walls to the cerametal fitments. No stripped-down military battle-craft, this.
"Let's follow the contestants aboard!" Harrington invited. "Octiron has spared no expense to make our contestants comfortable and safe—at least while they're aboard, ha-ha! Once they stop off to complete each challenge... well, it's a big galaxy out there."
Small round spybots zipped past both Arek and Mia, hovering.
"Welcome aboard," Harrington called. "Each craft has specially designed spaces for our teams. The spacious central deck has a galley—" As he spoke, a hatch slid open to one side of the cabin, revealing a tiny, gleaming galley with a slide out table and two seats along with refrigeration and heating units, and a drink dispenser. "Here the team can enjoy a meal, a hot cup of java, or a relaxing legal after an exciting day of challenges."
The hatch slid shut, and across from it another opened to reveal two sleep cubbies. "And of course, the contestants will need their rest. Also specially designed, these matching sleepers can, if desired, be opened into one larger space. Why? Well, we'll let you viewers figure that one out for yourselves, ha-ha!"
Arek and Mia's eyes met. Her pupils flared, then she looked quickly away. Fine with him. He had no intention of becoming sexually involved with his partner, much less actually sleeping with her. No matter how he could rev her up with just a look or a few words. She was not for him.
"And now, on to the most important part of our ship, the cockpit! Notice the state-of-the-art controls..."
Arek strode ahead this time through the short passageway into the cruiser's cockpit, scanning the area with satisfaction. Very nice. Two large, comfortable seats at a sleek console, controls humming, glowing and blinking, ready to come to life under his hands and voice.
He slid into the captain's chair and passed his hands over the controls. They hummed to life, and a light, non-gender voice spoke.
"Welcome. I am Deuce, your Artificial Intelligence system. You are... Commander D'Arek A'Renoq, Aurelian. Do you wish to be assigned the title of Captain for your team?"
"Yes," Arek said. Of course he'd be the captain.
"No!" Mia Jag protested, appearing at his side. "You don't just get to take charge."
Arek tipped his head and looked at her under his brows. "Looks like I already have, kitten."
"Kitten?" the AI said, sounding puzzled. "I do not have that name in my memory banks. I have Mia Maranesa Jag, Tygress."
"That's correct," Mia Jag said tightly, scowling at Arek. "As for you, call me kitten again and I'll use my claws on you."
"Yeah, so you keep threatening," Arek drawled. "But I haven't seen 'em yet."
"Uh-oh," Suede Harrington's plummy voice crooned with mock sympathy. "It appears at least one of our teams isn't getting along so well. Hope they remember to save their sparring abilities for the contest obstacles, and not each other, ha-ha!"
Mia Jag's gaze darted to the spybots which had followed them into the cockpit. She sat abruptly in the other chair, her full lips pursed.
Arek smirked—she looked like she'd swallowed a mouthful of something bitter.
"Welcome," the AI said. "Ms Jag, do you wish to be assigned the title of Navigator for your team?"
She lifted her chin, not looking at Arek. "As it happens, I am a trained navigator. And my race is renowned for our skill in this area. So I'm sure I can make up for any... shortcomings our captain may exhibit."
Arek snorted. "Not going to be a problem, as long you follow orders."
She tossed her mass of hair back over her shoulder, and scanned her instrument panel. "What part of 'team' do you not understand, A'Renoq?"
He winced at her pronunciation. Few races other than his own could master the glottal stops in Aurelian names. "Just call me Commander, if you can't pronounce my name. Or Captain."
"In your dreams," she said sweetly. "But, if you don't like the way I say your name, I guess I could call you Canus Majoris."
Big Dog? Not in his lifetime. Fighting to conceal his anger at her disrespect, Arek shrugged, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. "Sure... as long as you don't mind being called kitten."
She gave him a murderous glare. "Fine. I'll call you D'Arek. And you may call me Mia."
He winced again. "Make it Arek, and you have a deal."
"As long as you don't expect me to call you 'Captain'. Because that will never happen."
Arek shrugged. He was in charge, that was the important thing. And since she wasn't one of his troops, he didn't care what she called him. As long as she followed his orders.
"And noowwwww," Suede Harrington boomed, his voice penetrating the cruiser with ease that made Mia jump in her cushy seat in the cruiser cockpit, "Our contestants are aboard their ships! Time for our audience to learn about the first challenge. Sorry, teams, you'll have to wait a bit for the information, ha-ha!"
Mia blew out a breath to quell the nerves jumping under her skin. Their first challenge—what would it be? Could she and Arek A'Renoq work together to solve it?
She cast a sidelong look at the big Aurelian. In his black flight-suit, he was an imposing figure, his face impassive, eyes narrowed on the controls in front of him. He certainly looked capable of taking on any challenge and beating it into submission like an enemy.
She hated to admit it, but she felt safe with him. Too bad he was such a big, sneaky, interfering, arrogant jerk. She'd caught the sultry smile that blonde had given him from the podium during the welcome ceremony. A female only smiled at a male like that after he'd made her very happy—sexually happy.
Knowing that he'd had good sex last night after he'd ensured Mia did not... well, she wasn't certain how, but she was going to get even with him for that if it was the last thing she did. And Tygresses were very good at getting even.
"You might familiarize yourself with the nav system instead of smiling for the holocameras," the jerk said, not even looking her way.
Mia growled under her breath, but unfortunately he was right. She turned her attention to the controls before her. Excitement pushed some of the nerves. This system was wonderful—simple, and yet state-of-the-art.
With a flick of her fingers she brought up a holo-map of the surrounding area. The planet they were on was quite small, and space surrounding it was clearly mapped, that was good. She brought up the area around the planet up larger on a separate holovid, and turned it to examine the area.
"An asteroid belt out 180k kilometers." She noted the distance and coordinates as she spoke. "We'll have to go carefully through that. One, no two moons. Sun is distant, no problem there. Next obstacles also distant... depending on which direction we travel."
Leaning forward, she examined the planet more closely. "AI—I mean, uh, Deuce? Are you there?"
"Of course," the AI said instantly. "I am always here. What do you wish of me?"
Mia looked to her partner, who was watching her, an odd look on his face. He looked almost... respectful. Then he blinked, and that look, if it had even been there, was gone.
"When do we get to learn our first challenge?" she asked Deuce.
"Not until all teams have taken off, Ms Jag. Once you are in the air, you'll be given your first challenge, and the coordinates to get there."
Arek snorted. "That's dangerous as hells. A bunch of amateurs sharing airspace, heading off in random directions at the same time? What are they trying to do, eliminate teams at the start?"
Mia grimaced as she imagined a fiery collision with another craft. "Oh, fur-balls. That does sound like a problem. Unless we can get out of here faster than the other teams."
The Aurelian's eyes narrowed. He tapped one big hand on the arm of his chair, and shook his head. "No, I have a better idea."
When he said nothing more, Mia gave him a look of impatient inquiry. "Care to share it with your team?"
He gestured to the spybots hovering in midair before each of them. "And with the rest of the universe at the same time, via these holovid cameras? No. You'll know when the time is right."
It was Mia's turn to snort. She flung herself back in her chair, arms crossed. "Oh, that's just starry."
Only the knowledge that her every word and gesture was being recorded kept her from asking the AI the consequences for murdering her Race partner.
"Teams!" Suede Harrington boomed over the speakers. "Are you rrreeady?"
Mia showed her teeth for the holocams. "So ready!" she said with sugary sweetness.
"Ready," the Aurelian barked, as if he were reporting to a military higher-up.
"Very good. Then Teams, it's ti-iime to take off!"
The safety restraint systems of their seats slid into place around them. Mia felt at once reassured and unnerved by the firm grip of the belts around her, including a chest shield. She braced herself... and the cruiser did not move.
"What are you doing?" she demanded. "It's time to take off."
"Not yet." Arek's big hands rested on the controls, but instead of manipulating them, he watched as around them, the other cruisers rose into the air in a brilliant display of light, color and motion. "Deuce, our first challenge please."
"Sorry, Captain," the AI apologized. "I am not programmed to answer that request until we have lifted off."
"Very well." The cruiser moved, slowly rising a scant meter off their pad, and stilled in midair. "Now, answer the question."
"Yes, sir! Searching my data banks now."
Mia had to admit Arek's decision to take off last might be wise. The skies above were full of the other teams, as well as a laser light show. She winced as two cruisers nearly collided, one veering sharply at the last instant, then spiraling nearly out of control toward the open walls of the arena before righting, and shooting away into the dark skies overhead.
A thunderous explosion boomed behind them, and Mia gasped in horror. As they watched helplessly, the arena's holocams brought up a giant image of a team cruiser out of control, slamming into the arena wall, and then exploding into flames, that lit up the night.
"Oh, no," Mia froze with the sheer horror of witnessing what had to be the deaths of whoever was in that cruiser. "Oh, Goddess save them."
"Too late for that," Arek muttered. "Poor bastards."
"In a tragic beginning to the Race," Suede Harrington emoted with heavy gravity, "Team Neutron did not manage takeoff. There are now only twenty teams in the Race. Let's take a moment to reflect on this tragic, tragic loss of life and enthusiasm. And a reminder to our viewing audience, the dangers facing our Teams are real. Remember to support these brave, young males and females by viewing as much of the Race as you possibly can—and by patronizing our sponsors."
"And it looks like we have another team in trouble," he added, brightening. "Team Starry Night has not yet taken off. Captain A'Renoq, trouble with your ship controls? Or with your partner, ha-ha!"
Mia's eyes widened, unable to believe the MC's crassness. "I can't believe he's joking after—after that team died," she mumbled, tears pressing against the back of her eyes.
Arek said nothing, but to her shock, his big, warm hand closed over hers, and squeezed. She turned her trembling hand under his and squeezed back gratefully.
Of course he then ruined the moment by speaking. "You going to be able to hold it together? Or do we need to hover while you fall apart?"
Mia jerked her hand away from his and made a very rude gesture in his direction. Why had she thought, even for a sec, that he could be other than a jerk?
Unperturbed, he raised a brow for the holocams. "No problems here, Suede," he replied. "Merely avoiding the fate that met Team Neutron. I'd hate to die before we begin the Race."
Angry as she was at him, Mia had to admit this was well said. Arek had left unspoken that Team Neutron's deaths lay squarely on Octiron, but the viewers and the other teams couldn't fail to realize it.
Suddenly she wanted away from here. The crowds and loud music and lasers were too loud, too bright, too false.
"Deuce, coordinates please," she said crisply. "Team Starry Night is ready."