Lara
Unable to sleep any longer, I quietly climbed out of bed, careful not to wake Roark. I still couldn’t believe that this strong, fierce protective man loved me. He hadn’t said the words, but his actions proved that he did. I could also feel it during our bouts of sex. I knew I kept myself guarded, not believing that he could be the real deal, and I needed to work on opening up and letting him in emotionally.
So why couldn’t I sleep?
I quietly slipped his shirt over my head, letting it fall to mid-thigh and padded off barefoot down the corridor. Something felt off, and that worried me.
The lights were dim, but I could easily find my way. When I entered the galley, I jumped, my hand flying to my chest.
“You startled me!” I said in a hushed voice.
“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep.” Cami sat at the table nursing a drink (probably cofa). I replicated my own cup. Even though cofa had no caffeine, I liked the idea of having a cup every morning.
“What’s got you up in the middle of the night?” I asked as I took a seat, facing her.
“I think I slept too long after having the NI removed and now, I’m all slept out.”
“I can’t believe Zorvak let you up by yourself. He’s very protective of you.”
She chuckled. “You think?”
“Ah, yeah. Unlike Roark, Zorvak would kill anything that hurt you.”
“Lara…” she began hesitantly. “Roark is the same way. You’ve just never seen him other than here. On Ulaya, he is well respected by his men, and they know never to step out of line.”
I had drunk only a few sips when Roark came padding in.
“Speak of the devil,” Cami grinned.
He grabbed a cup, replicated cofa and slid in the seat next to me.
“Good morning,” I said, smiling and giving him a quick kiss on the lips.
“I woke, but you were not next to me,” he grumbled.
“Sorry. I couldn’t sleep.”
“How long until we…” Cami started when suddenly, the flyer rocked violently. Roark’s cofa spilled everywhere; alarms blared overhead. It was déjà vu, and I froze with a heart-pounding, paralyzing fear—I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything but sit there and shake.
Roark exploded from the chair and raced for the control room. I heard Zorvak pounding the metal floor as he sprinted by the galley.
“Come on, Lara!” Cami yelled, tugging my arm.
It took a long two seconds for me to jump out of my chair. Cami was already running toward the control room as I appeared at her heels.
“No real damage,” Roark murmured, his fingers working feverishly over the controls.
“Who shot at us?” Zorvak asked, his voice calm but steely.
At that moment, a foreign voice boomed throughout the control room: “Zorvak, I have been searching for you!”
Zorvak and Roark looked at each other, and it seemed as though time stood still. A heavy weight pressed down, and I couldn’t breathe.
“Esad?” Roark asked quietly.
Zorvak nodded, glancing over his shoulder. “Cami, you two get strapped in.”
Back in the galley, we secured the harnesses and waited in silence. Concentrating on Roark, my senses hit a road block.
Stunned, my face fell.
“What’s wrong?” Cami asked.
“Roark has shut me out. How did he do that?”
“Zorvak does that at times too, but I don’t know how.”
I nodded, inhaled deeply and tried to force my fear and worry away. “Who is Esad? I heard Roark mention that name.”
“Garen used to lead Ulaya; when he stepped down, he didn’t want his brother Esad to succeed him. Esad is sort of known as a madman, so Garen passed the mantle to Zorvak.”
“And now he’s pissed at Zorvak?”
“Yep.”
I grabbed the table with both hands as the ship rocked violently again.
“How much can this flyer withstand?”
“I’m not sure.”
Boom! Pain shot through my body, burning me from the inside out. I couldn’t breathe!
“Lara, what is it?”
I swallowed hard and tried to breathe through the fire inside. “I think it’s Roark.”
Tears stung my eyes as I released the harness.
Roark?
Nothing.
“I’m coming with you!”
I raced down the corridor but the sight before me stopped me dead in my tracks: Roark slumped over the control panel, and Zorvak laying to the side, unconscious.
“Roark!” I screamed.
“Zorvak!” I heard Cami’s cry but ignored her, my eyes rooted to Roark’s still form.
Please don’t leave me!
Kneeling down, I knew he still lived. His pain coursed through my body, rendering him nearly paralyzed. Concentrating, I tried to send him feelings of warmth and peace, taking as much of his pain as I could handle.
“Come on, Roark,” I almost begged, grabbing his arm and draping it over my shoulder. “I need to get you to stand. Just…please walk when you can.”
I need to protect…
Shut up and walk, dammit!
I opened myself more, absorbing his pain. To my surprise, he stood, though barely. Taking at least half of his body weight, he shuffled his feet down the corridor until we reached his room. I carefully helped him onto the bed, and when he laid down, that’s when I saw it—the left side of his face, skin charred and blood marring his handsome features. He had been badly burned. Tears filled my eyes and I swallowed down the sobs.
“Lara, get your ass back here, NOW!” Cami’s voice shouted over the intercom.
I’ll be back, I whispered silently, knowing he couldn’t hear me. I stared a second longer as he lay there, now unconscious. I hated leaving, but I needed to step up and help Cami.
Racing down the corridor, I stopped short again when I saw her trying to move Zorvak.
“Is he alright?”
“I think so, but he’s out right now. At least his breathing is good. By the looks of the control panel, I think those bastards must’ve hit the front of the flyer and caused a mini explosion.”
“Shit! What can I do to help?”
“If my NI hadn’t been removed, I could fly this thing, no problem. But we’re dead in the water. I need you to get this thing moving!”
“How the hell am I supposed to do that? This is an alien ship! Do you think they use the same parts?”
“Lara, quit being a smartass and get back there! It appears Esad’s ship is badly damaged, but we have to get this one moving before he fixes his own. Now move your ass!”
I raced for the engine room. It was small, but efficient. Tracing each conduit, I looked for signs of an electrical shortage. The amount of wiring almost overwhelmed me.
Taking a deep breath, I mentally calmed down and forced myself to remember my training, and everything Roark had taught me about their systems. Meticulously, I traced each one of them, and twenty minutes later, I had found the electrical surge.
Now I needed to repair or replace all that was damaged. The colors were all wrong—orange, purple, green, and brown.
Think! I scolded myself. Roark explained this to you.
Another two hours passed, perhaps more, when I peeked in Roark’s room and saw him still lying on the bed, eyes closed. He hadn’t moved, but I knew he wasn’t asleep. No one could sleep through such intense pain. He was probably unconscious.
With glossy eyes, I headed back to the control room and found Cami sitting by Zorvak’s side. She looked up as I walked in.
“Well?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I did the best I could. The colors are different, and I had to figure out which ones did what. I borrowed wires from other areas, but who knows what I disabled? This is an alien ship.”
“Anything is better than nothing. Now to try and fly this thing…”
Cami moved to the captain’s chair while I slid into the co-pilot seat.
“Let’s hope it works,” Cami muttered, just before she tried to fire the engine.
It stuttered at first, almost as if it wasn’t making a good connection.
“Come on, come on!” I muttered silently to myself.
At once the engines hummed to life and relief washed over me. “Now it’s your turn.”
Cami nodded, acting confident, but I saw the worry written on her face. “It’s different without the NI.”
“You never really used it on Exploration One.”
“I didn’t, did I?”
“Nope, not really. You got this girl. As long as the controls still work.”
“Let’s hope.” Cami grabbed the yoke and maneuvered the flyer away from the other ship. “It’s stiff.”
“At least it’s responding.”
“I don’t have a clue where we’re heading. Zorvak never let me fly, and after we got to Ulaya, we never left until now.”
“Let’s just get away from here and hope Zorvak wakes up.”
“What about Roark?”
Tears welled up in my eyes again, my lower lip quivering a little. “He’s hurt, Cami.”
“How bad?”
“It’s bad.” Not knowing the extent, I wouldn’t elaborate further. We just needed to get out of there and back to safety so I could check on him.
Leaving the disabled enemy behind us, I kept a lookout for any other ships that might be coming to help Esad.
My heart continued to pound in my chest, and I felt torn between the need to help Cami and the need to help Roark.
When Zorvak moaned, both Cami and I looked back and saw him twitching on the floor. I knew exactly how she felt, but neither of us could leave our stations until we knew we were a safe distance away. If there was such a place.
Right now, I didn’t know what was worse; staying on Earth with its declining, almost non-breathable atmosphere, or facing the vast dangers of space and maybe losing Roark. Okay, Earth was worse. If I’d never left, I never would have met him.
Zorvak sat up abruptly and rubbed his head. “What happened?” he asked, voice laced with pain.
“Esad attacked,” Cami replied over her shoulder. “The blast hit the front of the flyer, and both you and Roark were injured.”
Zorvak pushed up from the floor, staggered, and grabbed the back of Cami’s chair to steady himself.
“Where are we?”
“I don’t know,” Cami admitted. “I’m just trying to get us away from that floating hunk of metal before he fixes it.”
“Roark got him,” Zorvak grinned, then grabbed his head.
“Cami, if you’re good here, I’m going to check on Roark,” I interjected.
She nodded, I slid out of the chair, and Zorvak took my place.
“Let’s see where we are.” Zorvak scanned the console, occasionally pushing buttons.
Before checking on Roark, I needed to give him a quick update. Who knew what damage I may have caused? “There was an electrical surge that rendered us dead in the water…er…space... and I had to borrow components to fix the engines. You may what to see what I disabled in the process.”
Zorvak glanced over at me, but I couldn’t read the expression on his face.
“Getting the flyer to safety was first priority. Roark chose well, Lara Stevens.”
Did he just give me a compliment? I nodded, then headed down the corridor to check on Roark.