Jax slowly joined the land of the living once again.  This time it was her mate’s scent and the feel of his body pressed against her that was the first thing she understood.  So much better than the cold and pain of her last waking.

He must have felt her breathing change because he shifted and let her head down easy before he moved away. She heard what sounded like tearing hard plastic and then she smelled something that resembled food enough that her eyes shot open and she immediately turned to her mate.  He had an emergency ration bag open and treated with the formula that reacted it.

She took it gratefully and did not even care that the texture was mush and the flavors questionable.  She ate, and then she kept eating through the second bag he handed her.  After that she laid back down and closed her eyes.

Only then did she speak.  "You found food."

"It seemed only fair after you got us free of the cell and jump-started the power." She could hear the customary humor in his voice and almost smiled herself, but it was too much work.  "Wouldn't want to be accused of not carrying my own weight." 

The food would revive her energy as would the sleep, but it would be some time before she was up to anything that resembled smiling, but she gave speaking another try.  That seemed safe enough.  "Since you carried the both of us here, I think you are safe from censure in that regard."  She sighed softly but did not open her eyes.  "How did you end up here?  And did I imagine the Dainaree had me?  Because this does not seem like my father’s usual way of dragging me back to the fold."

Tolan snorted, and she could hear even without seeing that he had lost what humor he had found.  "You were taken by Dainaree. I went after you and did not pay enough attention to my own backtrail.  As you warned me," he added before she could speak.

She still opened one eye long enough to glare at him balefully.  "Idiot."

"It did take an entire legion of armed Gorson raiders to bring me down," he offered hopefully.

She snorted.  "You must have had your head up your ass if you didn't smell that coming."

"Yes," he agreed, sounding resigned.  "I had the same thought myself.”

"You realize your friend the pirate is going to give you all kinds of grief over this, right?"

Now he sounded downright disgusted.  "Also a thought that had crossed my mind, along with the knowledge that I was going to need to be rescued along with my mate."

She snorted.  Then she quieted for so long she heard him start to move away to let her sleep before she spoke again.  "What do you suppose will come at us next?"

She heard the silence and knew he had stopped above her.  She opened her eyes and met his where he stood, partially turned to leave her. 

He looked down at her.  "Is there any way this room and the rest of the station can be monitored?" 

She shook her head.  "The only thing that had power here before I changed things was the life support, and I would pick up on the feed if there were cameras or listening devices active.  I can feel that there are security cameras but I have not turned them on, and there is no outside viewing or I would be able to follow that link by the energy of the signal and I cannot."  She studied him from her bed on the floor. She was tired but she was not too tired to reason it out.  "You suspect we are some kind of experiment?  But what is the end result of this game?"

"If he was just striving for an exotic way to kill us, then why leave the food?"

"You think they were purposely left here?  They could just have been overlooked, or this could just be where they parked us temporarily for pickup."  There was no way of knowing the answer so she was not surprised at his silence.

"A strange way to kill us if that is his wish," she said, thinking it through.

"But if this is a game, or a test of some kind, then there will be more to battle."  He said it grimly, his eyes on hers holding a warning for her to heed.

Yes, she thought. There will be more.  Best get my rest because I am going to be needed again, and soon.

Either they would be faced with another challenge, or someone would come looking for them.  Either way, she needed to be able to rebuild the com system and get a message out to their rescuers.  Just in case the signals she wore could not penetrate the rock they were buried under.

Tolan knew the exact moment when Jax drifted off again.  He went on with his search, being as quiet as he could, fully healed and with no idea how much time had passed while they slept.  He knew by her actions that Jax needed more of it, so he would do what he could to let her have it for as long as they could afford to spare, which would not be long, so he went searching, hoping for a weapon or a clue as to what they would be facing next.  Because it was coming soon; he could feel that in his gut.

***

When Jax next awoke, the rations and the rest had done their job.  She sat up with a sigh and looked around.  She did not see Tolan, but she knew he would not have gone far.

She stood with her usual fluid grace and sighed in relief.  Emergency rations were not tasty but they were chock full of all kinds of nutrients and energy powders that were meant to sustain a person for long periods.  Not to mention the much-needed water they added to the body. 

In her case, they quickly replaced much of the energy she used fixing the derelict station.  The sleep had done the rest. She just hoped the rest of what she needed to do here would not send her right back to bed.  Not to mention she really wanted Cor Warrung to make whatever move he had in mind so she could stop wondering what he was up to and finish what they came here to do.  She just hoped the delay was not hurting the child.

She felt Tolan just as she was placing her hands on the communications panel and starting repairs. She gave him one brief look over her shoulder to assure herself he was unharmed, but did not bother to turn around when he came through the big metal door and closed it behind him.  By the time he was at her side she was deep in the frayed and dusty circuitry, repairing fissures and remaking old connections that had worn away. 

She knew without seeing his face that he did not like that she was depleting herself again, but he said nothing, because he might not like it, but it still needed to be done, though she had no intention of working herself into exhaustion again.  There was not that much more she needed to do, and she would conserve some strength in case it came to a physical fight.  She did not think either of them expected whatever was going to happen next to be too long in coming.

Tolan watched the lights on yet another monitor flash on, and then a few of the security cameras switched on, blurry flickering pictures showing night vision in empty hallways, and one room that looked like it had been stripped of whatever use it had served.  He caught Jax as she stumbled back and helped her sit on the bench, handing her the pouch of reacted food as soon as she nodded she was fine.  She ate it without speaking, and he went to the communications and found power had been restored. It was an older system but thanks to Jax it was working.  He left her to her meal and nap, while he let his fingers fly, rebooting the system and searching for a broader connection and a way to boost the signal he wanted to send.

Some time later he knew Jax woke up because she placed a meal beside him and went somewhere for some privacy.  When she returned, she ate and joined him at the tech station.  He kept working. When he felt the power boost he finally looked around and saw she had her hands on the terminal beside him and her eyes were closed. 

He did not growl at her, which is what he wanted to do; he just went back to work, taking advantage of the extra power.  He finally found what he was looking for in the old machine, schematics of the station and the program that basically ran the place at one time.  He turned everything on that could still be turned on throughout the station and then watched as more dusty monitors came to life.  He directed one according to the schematic and pointed it out to his mate.

"There, the ship dock.  Looks like they left behind a few things when they shut it down."

Hearing a tone in his voice, Jax studied the docking station he had found and narrowed tired eyes.  "So we are captured and dumped on a derelict space station that just happens to have emergency rations and at least one ship in their docking bay?"

"It does stretch the limits of believability, doesn't it?" he said wryly.

"And when we get to the bay what is our next challenge going to be?" she asked absently while she studied what she could see in the monitor.  Tolan Lark pointed her away from what looked like a mining transport and tapped his finger over a smaller vessel.  "That's an unmanned cargo frigate," she said, giving him a look.  "That won't house one person, let alone two.  It's made for automated shipping of cargo, not passenger transport."

"It would also be the easiest to hack and get up and running."

She gave him a doubtful look.  "For what purpose?"

He pointed at another monitor that looked pristine in comparison to the rest of the place.  Oxygen synthesizer, she thought, noting where it was located on the map. 

"The logical thing to do would be to repair one of the passenger ships and try our luck in space, since there seems to be no satellite to connect to for long range coms.  I don't like the idea of doing what is expected.  Not with Warrung still out there about to make his move."  He gave her cool eyes.  "If we can hook up the oxygen synthesizer to the cargo pod we can get out of here fast, and I don't think Warrung would expect it."

"No, he won't because it's suicidal and illogical to attempt to modify a pod when you have more than one ship you can choose from to fix."

He just raised an infuriating brow at her.  "Fine," she finally said on a deep breath.  "If it looks like it can be fixed, and if I can make the oxygen synthesizer work within its cargo area without blowing the pod up."

“I think that's fair," he finally said with his usual wicked smile back in place.

"Are you enjoying this?" she asked incredulously.

He thought about that.  "If there were better food, and you were not too exhausted all the time to have sex, this could be fun." He shrugged and his smile turned serious as he studied her.  "I would not risk you, but I will admit beating Warrung at his own game has a certain satisfaction to it."  He smiled again.  “And having you strolling around naked isn’t bad either.”

She ignored the last part. "I might feel that way after I beat him. Right now I just want a shower, clothes, real food and a real bed.  Not exactly in that order."

"You were the one who insisted on doing this," he reminded her heartlessly.  "You could even now be sunning yourself on Port Sea."

She gave him a mild look of reproof but did not argue the point.  "If we do escape this somewhat twisted maze we are being tested in, how will we get to Warrung?"

"Oh, we won't succeed," he said calmly, making her blink at his blasé tone.  "Warrung will have a way of swooping in and collecting us if it looks like we are winning."

"If he is watching us it's not connected to anything on this station, and the power source is shielded somehow."  She was still thinking about the possibilities when he turned and caught her in his arms. 

Tolan kissed his mate hard and deep and then let her go.  It was hard to do since they were both still naked, and even dusty she felt like heaven against his skin.  It seemed the Dainaree were as unconcerned by nudity as the Shakien, because she had not even brought the subject up except in passing once, and she moved as unconcerned with her nudity as he did. 

"Can you grab the emergency rations while I finish this?" he asked. 

There was a small satisfaction in the way she needed a moment to get her head working again, though that might have had less to do with the kiss and more to do with exhaustion.  But she shook both off and headed to do as he asked. 

She was strong, his mate, as well as beautiful.  But then he had known that from the moment she had knocked him out and bypassed his security.  If he had known then that she was also passionate, protective, practical, stubborn, and fierce, he would have turned his ship around and claimed her right then.  When she returned to his side, Tolan Lark realized he had been staring at the com screen without moving while he considered his mate.  He got back to the business at hand.  There would be time enough to marvel that such a female was now his mate.  Marvel and give thanks, he thought. 

Finishing, he turned to find her standing beside him with her eyes closed but the ration bag in her hands.  He kissed her again, because he couldn't not do so when she stood there, practically asleep on her feet but doing exactly what they needed to get through.  With the touch of her lips he could feel the mating dance that waited just beneath his skin.  Soon he would have no choice but to take his mate again; the drive would be too fierce to ignore, but for now they had time.  As much as he wanted to give in and take that golden skin against his and claim her once again, protecting his mate came first.  Looking into those tired and slightly dazed tri-colored eyes, he knew it always would.