Chapter Five

Outer Reaches
The Stealth

Ritter hated going to the Condor Hatchery. It left a bad taste in his mouth. After he reported to the seedy little room and spent the allotted ten minutes to leave his sperm in a cup, he returned to the communal showers to wash himself head to toe.

He could take the alternative—report to a seedy little room and be given an hour with a captured phoenix female. He wasn’t noble; Ritter might have done so if his mother hadn’t been one of those females before. He couldn’t look at one of the few remaining without thinking of her.

Ritter had been one of the first hybrids from a costly, short-lived program involving phoenix couples captured during combat. Obtaining paired phoenix assured the females could be fertilized. An experimental DNA modification had allowed a rare few to become pregnant by mongrels from the Hatchery. A hatch. A nameless filthy hatch was his father.

He moved down the corridor of the ship filled with witless drones.

Why was he gifted with independent thoughts and feelings? The scientists, a class of hatchlings all to themselves, seemed to find emotions a fault in his construction. They deemed him and his brethren a failed experiment and returned to hatching their warriors in the labs.

Emotions were a waste in a warrior. Case in point. To help a ship of stranded humans, he was now headed to the Hatchery to try seducing the woman who’d run the lists at his last visit. Really, she checked names and gave out cups.

And why was he doing this when he wasn’t due for another two shift rotations? Because he was trying to be noble. More like, a fool.

The female had flirted and tried to persuade a few of the hybrids to direct their donations her way. Or rather, deposit their treasure inside her, using their very own personal tool. They may not want emotions but they hadn’t found a way to breed out the need to procreate—even if they were unable. He usually ignored her, but last time she’d spouted nonsense about the latest experiments. A new potion. Revised from the trials in which his mother had been forced to volunteer.

The fate of those new so-called volunteers would not be pleasant. Guilt rode him hard. He tried to ignore it, but every night when he spent time with his mother and looked into her vacant stare, he became more enraged to rashness.

Several nights before, restlessness brought him to the training rooms for a long workout. He’d kicked ass and knocked more than a few drones to the mat. When that didn’t work anymore, he’d volunteered for a scouting mission.

Big mistake.

They’d followed a small cargo jumper. He commanded a squad of hatches who weren’t capable of missions without one of the hybrids, like him. The command didn’t want emotions, but battle required quick changes in plan, independent thought to avoid mass slaughter.

Under orders, he’d left a trail a parsec wide and settled down to wait, hiding in a cloud of space dust, to watch a small craft appear in the quadrant. A flare crippled the ship, and the crew ran back and forth of the view portals as they worked on repairs.

The jumper was stranded. The crew couldn’t power their ship or leave to find help. They weren’t phoenix, but human. And he’d only seen women.

The other shoe had dropped. A squad of phoenix followed his trail. Upon finding the ship, they’d boarded. He got the hell out of there, unprepared to fight the phoenix.

Now, his guilt pushed him to find out more, and he prepared himself to sacrifice his vow to never touch the taint of a hatch. It was time to put his plan into motion. Time to leave the mimics.

“You smell too good.” The woman in uniform stared at his crotch, licking her lips. “You must be here on the wrong day. Your kind aren’t due yet. I oughta know. I never miss a day when the prime meat is here.”

Ritter shuddered. His gorge barely kept down, he sucked in too much of her metallic scent, sharp with dementia yet muted at the same time. A generic pungency, the female’s odor had no nuances.

He could do it. Flirt, woo her. She’d fall for it.

“Oh, I’m here for you, darlin’.” He barely kept his lip from curling in disgust at himself.

“Mm. You look good enough to eat. I bet your swimmers will finally do the trick. Let’s have at it, lover.”

Before he could blink, she opened the door behind her, yelling. “Hey, get your ass up here and cover me for a few.”

Ritter marveled at the woman. The only drive the hatches seemed to heed was to procreate, an imperative that was useless since they were unable to do so. The need to tear and rend seemed to be a close second, which they were able to do to perfection. He’d never seen any other feelings in them.

He needed information from her without debasing himself. Maybe he could get her talking and wouldn’t need to touch her. “You know, the scientists have theorized hybrids need to mate to have children outside the Hatchery. That maybe we’re incapable of procreation unless we mate.”

“Whatever. I’ll be the first to get pregnant. Actually pregnant.”

Hand to his sour stomach, he looked at her. Really looked, to see if he could even get it up. Fraggin-A, she was young. For all he knew, she could be his daughter. His stomach plummeted.

He’d been donating to the bank for at least thirty years. He didn’t age as the mimics did. She appeared to be about eighteen while he looked to be no more than half his age of near sixty, but every one of those years weighed on him. The war had been long.

She was pretty, fresh, if he could ignore her scent and her brash language. With blonde hair and freckles, she seemed innocent with her bow mouth and pert nose. Shorter than his six foot three, her short stature gave her voluptuous figure more roundness—entirely female. A master creation of genes. Probably not his, though, not with her fair hair and skin. Her blue eyes rounded, unlike his dark brown, slightly slanted eyes. Both he and his mother had dark, olive skin. His relief nearly overwhelmed him. With her rare freckles, she resembled the captain of the hybrids, a man of unparalleled cruelty, the long-missing Caesar Belusi.

“Since you work here, have you ever been tempted to look into your file to see who donated their genetic material for you?” He couldn’t use the word father in relation to a hatchling.

“Why?”

How was he going to pry the information on the experiments from her if he couldn’t get her talking?

“Never mind.” He braced himself to go through with it. Actually touch her. Whatever she knew had better damn well be worth it.

*

Outer Reaches. Geonate New Time, Year 2402
Mission: Day 8
Venture Stranded: 5 hours

The wary crew of the Venture worked to bring the ailing ship back to partial health while the phoenix unit formed their own plan. The two groups began a tentative friendship, but remained apart, with Anna and Len being notable exceptions.

With no ability to help the phoenix and no real hope to find solar sail rigging floating in space, Anna forced herself to be patient and allow others to do their jobs. She sat in the mess hall, her left foot tapping under the table. Across from her, Len wrapped her hands around a mug and inhaled deeply.

“Mmm, coffee.” Len sighed with pleasure. “What has you upset? We only have coffee when you need to talk about something personal. Which means we have it once every year or so.”

“No, we had coffee on your last birthday, with that cake I mustered up.”

“Well, sometimes you break loose.” Len winked.

Anna laughed and stilled the nervous tapping of her foot. “I wanted to talk with you. And warm up. The ship’s freezing.”

Anna hesitated. She could actually feel her brow creasing.

“Spill it,” Len urged. “It's the phoenix isn't it? I mean, being broken-down in space is something I can get my mind around. Something we all prepare for. But these guys… Well, they don’t prepare you for meeting an alien species in Academy. I nearly blew a gasket when they shifted into those delish bods. They may not be human, but, mm-mm-good.”

“Obviously they're on my mind. I mean, we all thought we were out here chasing down a fabrication. What if they’re what’s behind the energy vampire rumors? Nobody's ever seen any except deep space travelers, and nobody believed them. People used to say that they'd lost it out here. But we haven't lost it. They obviously exist. It's an incredible contact.”

“I'd like a little more contact, if you know what I mean.”

“Len,” Anna groaned. “You always want more contact.”

“Hey, give me some credit. I have standards.”

“I know. You talk big for such a shorty.”

“Watch it.” Len slugged Anna in the arm.

Anna didn’t flinch, long used to holding her ground against her best friend. She grew serious. “I'm just worried about you. I mean, all of you, everyone on the ship. I agreed to this contact way out here in the Outer Reach. Now, the entire ship is threatened by a supernova.”

“We all trust you. You've never let us down before, and you won't now. I’m not even worried about it. You always, always take care of us.”

“I hope I can live up to your confidence, because if not, we'll all be dead.”

Len slugged Anna in the shoulder again.

“Ouch!”

“Stop those dark thoughts! If we think about it too much, we’ll just be paralyzed in fear.”

“You're right. Enough of that.”

“Damn straight!”

“Finish that coffee and get back to the engine room. We've gotta get out of this mess. That's an order.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Len saluted. She winked at Anna, swallowed the last of her coffee, and pushed back in her chair. “I'm outta here. I'll let you know when we've made progress.”

“Thank you, Len.”

Len walk to the door but paused before she left.

“Piotr has his eye on you, but I think I'll have some fun with those other two. They're rambunctious boys that need to be tamed. And I'm just the one to do it.” Len grinned at Anna, waggling her brows. At Anna’s laughter, her friend grew serious. “Besides, we need to keep a close eye on them, don’t you think?”

“Yes, we do,” Anna answered and bit back the urge to tell Len everything about her rescue, but then she’d have to talk about the horror again. She couldn’t get the words to cross her lips. She didn’t stop Len from leaving and once alone, sat back in her chair and tried to savor the rare coffee.

If Anna couldn’t talk with her best friend, then she had no one to rely on for advice. Piotr was a walking distraction. And an enigma. Why hadn’t he said anything to her about that time? As captain of this ship, and as Admiral Ryan’s representative, her duty compelled her to face the past. No matter that she didn’t understand why it chose now to rise to the surface from the depths where she’d buried it. No matter the cost.

Their current predicament could be related to her imprisonment and her rescue by the phoenix. Her stomach pitched.

The window portal in front of her flickered with movement outside the ship. Gathering ice crusted over much of the view but did not occlude the soon-to-implode star looming in the distance. Cold shivered up her spine. Crystal white lights zinged toward the blue orb that looked glacial, still, and peaceful. It was none of those things. The star-hot orb was waiting to self-destruct.

Energy birds flitted toward the star. As they descended, their majestic wings stretched wide, their intimacy apparent and their movements synchronized. At the end of the controlled flight, they tucked their wings to dive. The glare of the star hid them until a bright burst of colors fanned out in a long arc.

Which of these mighty birds was which? Even under close scrutiny, the difference in their forms was minute. Up close, the red fibrous tufts on their chests did have slight variations in shade and size. Some branches on their chests were longer while others had more breadth. Their tails had distinct traits. Some had more length while others were more full, but they all had varying shades of color. Still, they were so similar it would take a while before she was able to tell them apart.

Their human appearances were distinct, if a bit overwhelming with perfection, most especially Piotr.

Piotr. With every passing second, the tension of their past grew. She needed to confront him and find out why he had been there three years ago, as well as here, now, when once again she faced mortal danger.

The object of her musings sauntered through the door with effortless movements as he walked toward her. Intent. Stalking her like prey, he stared into her eyes.

With the too-small uniform baring his fiery-marked chest, Piotr’s magnetism beckoned her in a way she’d not experienced in countless years. The ten feet between her and the door dwindled as he smoothly crossed to stand in front of her. He pulled out the seat that had held Len and locked it into place at her table. The chair was dwarfed beneath him. Two less alike people could not have sat there in such a short amount of time. Len, small and compact with lush curves and a little extra to spare. Piotr, tall and hard. No extra flesh anywhere to be found.

She gulped too much of her hot coffee and sputtered.

“Are you alright?” He asked with a slight curve of his luscious mouth. His musical, sultry voice soothed her like nothing else had since the Venture had become stranded, and all he’d done is ask after her welfare when she’d made a fool of herself.

She coughed before she answered. “Fine.”

He nodded and a braid fell forward across his face. Her hand clenched around her cup, and she had to force it to stay there instead of reaching forward to tuck the red-streaked wisps behind his ear.

The braid clung to his full lips when he spoke. “I remember you, too.”

She was sure the floor hadn’t dropped all the way through the two lower decks to the posterior hatchway, but she clutched the table and her cup until her spinning head returned to some semblance of control.

“Thank you,” she whispered. There must be more to say, since he’d saved her life, but she didn’t remember much and nothing clearly.

“I believe there must be a connection. Your capture by a hybrid and our crossing paths now cannot be coincidence.”

“Hybrid?” The darkness in her mind loomed around the edges of her vision, and all the horror of that time pounded at the door of its prison. She couldn’t go back there. She couldn’t see it. Not now. Not ever.

Curiosity over the strange term wouldn’t be ignored, though. Her body strained to run to the door, but she remained in place for his answer.

“Yes, Caesar Belusi is a hybrid, a creation from the twisted mind of Koschei.”

The name Belusi tore through her. A vision grabbed her—

Evil laughter rings in her ears. Belusi’s smirk exposes his white teeth. Her hands cross over her chest, and she grips the bruises on her shoulder. He grabs her by the hair and throws her on the floor—

“Anna?” The call ripped her from the past.

A hand touched her clenched fist. She struck out. Her arm jolted when it connected with firm flesh. No pain. No pain in retaliation.

“Anna? Please, open your eyes.” A hand ran through her hair to accompany the beautiful voice, soothing.

She jerked to her feet, away from that touch, and opened her squinted lids to look into blazing red eyes rimmed in brown. Concern shone there. Brows lowered in confusion, he stood as well. So tall, so much taller than her, but his body didn’t tense to strike. He was not the man who’d hurt her.

“I’m needed on the bridge to check on repairs.” Her voice was even, strong, no hint at her turmoil. “Perhaps there is a connection, but for now, we need to get this ship moving. We’ll straighten this out once my crew is safe.”

She didn’t stop to ask more, though she should. Her crew’s survival depended on her, but she needed time to get under control. She could only hope she’d find a way to face the past without it tearing apart all the defenses she’d shored up against it.

*

Len had left her best friend and captain to get back to work. She’d made sure Anna didn’t see her bone deep worry, but she was afraid. She wanted to have confidence in her own abilities, but, damn. They were in a tight spot if she didn’t get them out of there, and fast.

Walking into the engine room, Len left behind her frown, her fears, and her tension. She had an uncanny ability to silo her thoughts and emotions, shelving everything but the job at hand. The dilemma everyone counted on her to resolve, or they were all dead.

The heat of the cramped engine room swamped her skin, though most of the ship had a slight chill due to cutting back on their resources. She didn’t need to ratchet up the temp even more, already feeling sweat roll down her back, but she was in for it, working in close quarters with the object of her lust. The hollow feeling in her gut lifted with a sharp punch when she saw him.

Ivan was a god—youthful and beautiful. She shoved her erotic meanderings into yet another silo and pasted a flirty smile onto her face. She liked to play with fire and couldn’t help imagining playing with him. She winked at Gregory, choosing to ignore the man who was, at this point, taking up more than his fair share of her sequestered, close to spilling over, sectioned-off thoughts.

“Gregory, you look hot. Maybe you should take off that uniform shirt. It barely fits over all that brawn anyway.”

He chuckled, eyes flashing at Ivan as he removed the garment to reveal his sweat-slicked skin, golden in the harsh light of the sterile environment. A collective sigh echoed in the room. The three other women working in the room ogled that smooth chest, his markings defining his torso, giving him an air of danger, despite his open features.

She admired his good looks and boyish banter, but he didn’t make her hot and anxious like the wickedly sultry Ivan. She continued to ignore him. “Gregory, maybe you should put that back on. All that eye candy is going to give my crew heart palpitations.”

“What?” He batted his long eye lashes. “I’m completely innocent, I assure you. I would never cause a lady distress. And I play nice. I always share my candy.”

“You are too much, boy.”

“Boy?” He snorted. “I’ve never been a boy, I assure you, sunshine. How do you like your sweets, hard or soft?”

A sudden movement from behind Gregory, and the tall, dark man was on the floor. Blond hair flying, Ivan stood over him with his face twisted in anger.

They stared at each other, Gregory with an amused expression, Ivan’s a thunderous cloud. His features tightened, deadly, as he clenched his fists.

Gregory laughed. “Well, old boy. I told you, didn’t I?”

Ignoring Gregory, Ivan stormed to the transport tunnel in the center of the round engine compartment. The door swished closed behind him.

“What was that all about?” Len couldn’t keep the anger from spilling over, upset at the loss of Ivan. She didn’t really miss him, just the extra pair of hands for repairs. Right?

“Well…” he drawled. “Ivan and I had this idea that…”

He was interrupted by a phoenix dropping through the ceiling.

Damn!

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

With an eye-watering brightness, the phoenix glowed with the absorbed energy of the star. This was Alex. He had more magenta in his plumage. Tatyana couldn’t be far behind. Peeling her hand off of her sidearm, Len prepared herself for the sudden appearance. She wouldn’t be caught off guard this time.

Soon both birds towered over her, filling the room that she’d once thought was large. Looking to Gregory as an interpreter, she guided them through the mechanics of the engine.

“The Casimir Engine works on the idea of force between two objects creating an energy field. So we’ve got these plates in a vacuum creating … Well, hell. I’ve always been fuzzy on the details myself. I’m sure you know more about energy than I’ll ever know.”

“You’re being modest.” Gregory winked and grinned before he motioned her to continue.

“One thing I’m not is modest. Anyway, flatterer, I think we might have a problem with the vacuum if we muck around with the engine. Let’s try the batteries instead. If we can recharge them, I can rewire the propulsion system to the batteries.”

The two elegant creatures followed Len to the battery backup systems. They huddled together with Gregory for some time before they both wrapped their wings around the main conduit. A searing flash struck across her eyes before the burning ozone smell reached her nose.

At once alert, she dashed forward, horrified to see the batteries shooting sparks everywhere. The electrical short zipped down the cabling. Sparks made their way down the line while smoke filled the air. Lunging toward the end, she popped the last batteries off the line.

Silence descended except for the ringing in her ears before all the noise rushed in. The room filled with the uproar. Fans kicked on to pull the smoke through the filters. The smaller lines from the conduit hissed and crackled.

Damn, that was close. The ship could have lost life support. They were still screwed.

At least she hadn’t fried herself.

At that thought, her head began to pound, and a rush of pain burned through her previously numb hands. The room darkened, and she blinked. For a moment, she nearly panicked when the light didn’t return, but she hadn’t begun to lose her vision. Ivan towered over her. He pressed her against the wall while he stood between her and the rest of the room, blocking the light.

His concerned expression cleared her head. He touched her fingers in a gentle caress. Unbelievably, tears fell from his eyes, splashing onto her throbbing hands. The throbbing stopped, much at the same time as her heart stuttered at his nearness, at the pain reflected in his eyes. Her hands were healed. She’d think about that later.

“I’m fine. Thank you,” she said quietly.

“Let’s look at the damage,” he answered with a low, shaky tone.

He meant her hands, but she purposely misunderstood and lunged off the floor to inspect the disaster in front of her. She’d managed to fry most of the batteries. Life support couldn’t last long. She had to get to work, find a way to get that engine running again.

They were in deep trouble.

*

Anna trotted halfway to the bridge before she wondered why Piotr had sought her out, but she’d see him again soon, at dinner as they’d planned, to discuss Koschei. Her feet quickened until she nearly ran to the bridge.

The bridge exuded unusual silence. The only crewmember here, Hailey, continued her attempts to contact another Geonate ship. Where was Len?

“Hailey, please locate Len and have her report to the bridge.”

Anna refused to feel guilty because she wanted Len on the bridge for personal comfort. At the moment, she didn’t care whether or not Len was busy trying to save their hides.

“Len just reported from the engine room.” Hailey turned a frightened face toward Anna. “All of the batteries but one overloaded when one of the phoenix tried to recharge it. If Len can’t get it back online, our life support systems are in serious jeopardy.”

Anna could kick herself. She salivated over a man—an admittedly beautiful man—when her ship was falling into even further danger.

“How long do we have?”

“Two days.”

“Adjust the environmental controls as low as you can. We’ll need to watch the inner cargo areas for ice. We need oxygen, but not if we all die of hypothermia.”

“We could lose everything in the greenhouse.”

“Move what we can into the mess hall. And check the shipping manifests. We need to be sure nothing in the cargo will have an adverse effect from freezing temps.” Anna had command of herself again. No further doubts. Her ship and crew came before everything. Including herself. “How much time will that add to our life support reserves?”

Hailey looked up from her console with utter trust in her captain. “A day.”

“Three days. We have three days to find a way out of this mess.”

At least nothing else could go wrong.