CHAPTER TEN
The Badari pack’s return to captivity in the lab was more or less normal on the face of it. Aydarr and his men jogged from the landing pad to their cell under double the usual guard. Dismayed. he stopped on the threshold as soon as he realized the room was empty, no sign of Jill. “Where’s my mate? What have you done with her?”
“Get in the cell with the others, 801, or I’ll thin the herd right now.” The guard captain gave him a shove with his weapon and amped up the pain from the nerve controller to emphasize his point. “You have no mate—she’s dead.”
“Dead?” The world tilted unsteadily for Aydarr as he tried to assimilate the information, talons and fangs displayed as rage erupted in his heart. He wanted to rend Jill’s murderers into bleeding fragments. “You killed her?”
Mateer and Reede held him back as he instinctively tried to lunge for the guard, pain or no pain.
The energy barrier sizzled into existence and the guards stood safely outside, in the corridor. The squad marched away but the captain lingered. “Dr. Gahzhing did personal uh research on your little human, 801, at the end of which I’m told she was dead and he was in a coma. Don’t know exactly what happened. Cwamla’s in charge now and I know she’s always had a special interest in you. We’ll be conducting you to her lab soon enough. Better conserve your strength.” And with that bit of sarcastic advice, the Khagrish sauntered off after his men.
With difficulty, given the killing rage he was in, Aydarr’s enforcers steered him into the alpha’s alcove, past the members of the pack, who stood in silence.
“I’m sorry to hear of Jill’s death,” Mateer said, being the only person brave enough to speak. “She must have fought well, to leave Gahzhing so badly injured.”
“Small comfort. I hate to think what she must have suffered at his hands before she died.” Aydarr sank onto the cot, head in his hands. “Something about the story doesn’t ring true to me, however. Even though she was a soldier of her people, how could she have managed to put him into a coma, yet nonetheless died herself?”
“Unless he underestimated her at a critical juncture,” Reede said. “She was smart.”
“True.”
“Could she have taken her own life after downing Gahzhing?” Mateer asked. “Rather than surrender to the Khagrish? Such an act would fit with her brave nature.”
Aydarr rubbed his forehead. “I can’t accept the death of my mate. I refuse to accept that answer.”
The silence after his pronouncement stretched long before Mateer switched subjects. “Have you any instructions for us? If you’re to be taken to Cwamla’s lab, I need to know what you want us to do—”
“Do your best to survive,” was the most Aydarr could find in his heart to say. “Try to convince them you deserve another chance at proving the worthiness of our DNA strain. Argue the case for our mission failure being all my fault. Then if the Khagrish take you offworld for another mission, rebel and escape. Or die trying.”
“And the cubs and cadets left here?” Mateer said sorrowfully.
He raised his head to meet his enforcer’s gaze. “Can you think of anything we can do to aid them?”
“In truth, I cannot. If we’ve reached the end point, where only one strain will be allowed to continue, then nothing we do, or Jamokan and his pack does, will save any of us.”
“You think the Tzibir will win then?” Reede asked them both.
Aydarr nodded. “They’ve been the ones taken the farthest from the source. The most willing to carry out drastic orders.”
“I heard the guards talking when I was going under the cryo, after the mission,” Mateer said. “Apparently the Tzibir were told to conduct a massacre at a shelter, a site similar to the one where we escorted our targets to safety instead of carrying out our own orders. The Tzibir left no one alive.”
Praytem rushed to the edge of the alcove. “Excuse me, sir, the guards are coming.”
“Thank you for the warning.” Aydarr rose from the cot and walked toward the cell’s muster line, near the door. He motioned for the other pack members to stay back. “No need to alarm the guards. It’s me they’re coming for.”
He offered no resistance as the guards dragged him from the cell, activating the bracelet to cause him to fall helplessly to the cold floor so he could be placed in cuffs and shackles. As if the deadly effects of the bracelet weren’t enough to ensure his obedience to their commands. Aydarr suspected the guard captain wished to humiliate him in front of his pack, but he didn’t care what they did. Jill was dead, his pack soon would be as well, victims of more pointless experiments. He himself probably had several days of torture to endure before Cwamla killed him.
The guards brought him to the scientist in her personal quarters and lab.
He stood at attention while she looked him over, her two assistants behind her. Baring his fangs, he said, “If I wasn’t chained, I’d kill you.”
“But you are, like the animal we all know you to be.” Idly, she played with the buttons on the bracelet controller, sending waves of pain through his nerve endings. Gritting his teeth, he managed to remain on his feet for a few moments, pride lending him strength.
“You are a tough one,” Cwamla said in an admiring tone as she increased the pain. “But I hold all the power here.”
Aydarr went to one knee, then collapsed as she sent the device into the intolerable range. He was unable to stop the convulsions burning through his nervous system.
“Take him into the lab,” she said, standing aside and reducing the level of agony.
He was carried into the next room, stripped, and placed on a cold metal lab table. He made a futile attempt to resist as he was restrained and blindfolded and although he had the satisfaction of sending one guard reeling with fatal wounds clawed in his belly and another slammed against the wall with his neck broken, Aydarr was eventually secured as the scientist ordered.
There were sounds of footsteps as the guards left the room. He could scent only Cwamla now, and she came to stand beside the table, running her hand along his arm and over his bare chest. “I’m actually not sorry you screwed up your mission,” she said, “Since it gives me a chance to play. You were off-limits for the more serious fun as long as there was a chance your DNA strain might win. Now no one cares what happens to you, and I’ve had a long time to imagine games we can play.” She stroked her hand in lazy motions down his abdomen. “Please me and I might let you live. For a while.”
Aydarr fought the restraints and snapped at her, his fangs and talons deploying. “Your people killed my mate. I’ll rip your fucking heart out if I get the chance.”
Cwamla leaned close, but out of reach of his teeth. “If you’d told me you wanted a mate, I could have set up an experiment, a personal experiment, tested the Khagrish-Badari connection.” She patted his wrist, held locked in the unyielding restraint.
He slashed the table with his extended talons, the claws making a terrible screeching sound on the metal, but couldn’t reach her.
“A tightly controlled experiment, of course.” Cwamla sounded breathless, as if his anger excited her. I’d have had to make my assistants watch us closely, to ensure you didn’t kill me, but that might have added to the…pleasure.”
“I’d rather die than fuck you,” he said.
“Oh, you’ll die all right, but not until I’m good and ready to declare the experiment over. I want to hear you beg me for mercy.”
“I’ll never beg you for anything.”
“You will.” Her voice was confident. “I have years of data about the Badari pleasure and pain responses to work with, remember? And I’ve devised new ideas to test that the sponsor will appreciate. It’ll take my techs a little time to bring in the right gear, get you hooked up, so take my advice, rest for now. Save your strength.”
One more fleeting caress then she was gone, the sound of her high heels diminishing as she left the lab.
Aydarr made sure he’d closed the psychic link with his men. The pack didn’t need to know any of this, much less to feel his pain once Cwamla started her ‘experiments’. Controlling his breathing, trying to gather inner strength for what was undoubtedly to come, he wished briefly the Badari abilities included the gift of dying at will. He’d love to cheat Cwamla of the pleasure she was anticipating from torturing him. But even as the concept flickered through his mind, he resisted. The Badari way was to fight, talon and fang, until death triumphed over mortal efforts, and he intended to die as he’d lived, never accepting defeat.
He filled his mind with memories of Jill, and their short time together. He refused to give in to regret at being denied a full lifetime together. Better to have known a true love, had a true mate even for a brief time than not to know the joy she brought me. If there is an afterlife for such as me, I hope we’re together.
Aydarr was constantly on Jill’s mind during the day of hard marching from the valley toward the lab, although thoughts of her missing sister were equally compelling. I have to save both of them, or die in the attempt.
Finally Jill and her three human comrades sat clustered in a tight formation just outside the force field, staring at the rear of the brightly lit lab in the darkness of night. Jill swallowed hard, remembering that day so long ago she’d been standing on the black line with Aydarr and he’d claimed her as his mate to save her life. “Time for you to do your magic, MARL .”
Glowing softly, the AI said, “I’ve replaced the visual feed of this portion of preserve and the rear entrance in the AI’s systems with a loop showing no activity.” He floated to the invisible edge of the force field and kept going. Void has been created. Follow me.
Jill scrambled after MARL, Gabe and the others on her heels. She ran full tilt to the lab doors, which she and MARL had determined were electronically locked. MARL ordered the AI to unseal the lock and the door panels parted under Jill’s hand with a hiss. The Khagrish were lax, concentrating the guards primarily in the prisoner areas and patrolling the corridors at what were supposed to be regular intervals. In actual fact, according to MARL’s scans of the data, the guards had gotten lazy, patrolling half-heartedly and skipping entire sections of the perimeter more often than not. The commander placed an over reliance on one person sitting in a central location, watching scans, to maintain vigilance on the exterior. MARL was sending false information to the guard’s console. Heart hammering in her chest, Jill provided cover as the other three made it through the door.
Gabe nodded to her. “Go get your guys,” he said on the subvocal channel. “Meet us at the armory as soon as you can. Time isn’t our friend on this mission.”
MARL at her heels, she sprinted through the halls toward the prisoner wing. He told her when to duck to avoid a guard patrol and, once the squad passed and moved safely away, she burst through the door into the cell block, firing with pinpoint accuracy at two guards lingering by the entrance. The aliens both collapsed in lifeless heaps on the floor.
“I’ve locked down the entire wing,” MARL said, “No one can get in or out but us. The main desk is only seeing my vidcom loop.”
Jill shoved her weapon onto her shoulder by the strap and knelt to snatch the bracelet controller and the cell key card from the closest guard’s belt. She ran along the hall to the pack’s cell, which was the first. As she slid to a stop, the astounded pack cheered as they rose from their positions at the table in such haste the men knocked over the chairs. Mateer led the way to the entrance as she disengaged the force barrier.
“Lords of Space, it’s good to see you.” She hugged him. “We’re here to get you out, but there isn’t much time. Let me get these damn bracelets off first.”
Mateer took a blaster from Reede, who’d sprinted to the fallen guards as soon as the entrance barrier disappeared and snatched the remaining weapons. The enforcer kept the second one for himself. Extending his arm for her to touch the controller to the bracelet, Mateer said, “Who’s ‘we’? How did you get away? We were told you were dead.”
“Aydarr thinks I’m dead?” She kept working, taking the bracelets off each member of the pack. “Never mind, the Khagrish lied about me, obviously. What happened to him on your mission?”
“He refused to follow orders to kidnap women and children for more experiments,” Mateer said. “We rescued the targets and escorted them out of danger instead. He surrendered to the Khagrish in hopes we, the cadets—and you—might be spared. But we were all marked as a failed DNA line.”
“I know. I found the notation in the AI’s files, but no details. Come on, we have to get moving.”
Mateer caught her wrist gently with his massive hand. “We’re sworn to follow your orders and we will, but I need to know what’s going on—the entire situation.”
“Fair enough but we don’t have much time.” The pack gathered around her as she gave them a rapid rundown of how she’d escaped, found MARL then rescued her sister, Gabe and his team. “Now I need to free Jamokan’s pack, if you think he’ll join with us, take my orders?”
Mateer nodded. “I’ve been communicating with him while you talked. He’s prepared to swear loyalty to you if you free him and his men. They were declared a failed DNA line as well so he’ll do anything to save his pack.”
She wished things weren’t so personal with the Badari, as far as loyalty to her. Who was she to be giving orders to two packs? The situation could become even more complicated. “Can he be trusted?”
“He’s a man of his word, and his pack will fall in line.” Mateer shook his head. “The Tzibir are another matter. “
“I intend to ask them to remain neutral but I’m not leaving them trapped in the cell. I have to live with myself when this is all over.”” She was already moving on to the other pack’s cell, where the alpha and his enforcers waited, the rest behind them. Taking a deep breath, she deactivated the force door, staring at the huge male towering over her. “Mateer says—”
Jamokan went down on one knee in front of her, head up and to the side, baring his neck. “I swear my loyalty to you, Jill, mate of Aydarr. I speak for my pack in this matter.”
The others knelt as well. Jill wasn’t sure what was required from her. Mateer whispered in her ear. “An alpha would place his teeth on Jamokan’s artery to accept the oath.”
Lords of space, what am I in the middle of? Hesitantly, Jill stepped forward, rested one hand on the huge man’s shoulder and lowered her head toward him, gently pinching the skin of his neck between her teeth then hastily releasing her bite, licking the salty and slightly spicy taste of him from her lips. She remembered the way the few drops of Aydarr’s blood had made her tongue tingle when he allowed her to place her own mate mark on his body. Silently she vowed going forward anyone else who needed to pledge fealty to her was going to have to accomplish the ritual without being bitten. “I accept your oath.” She stepped back, bumping into Mateer, who’d stayed close. “Let me get these damn bracelets off then I need all of you to get to the armory where my—uh—enforcer Gabe is waiting. He’ll give you weapons and explain the next steps of the plan. He speaks for me.” Whether he realizes it or not. She resisted the inappropriate urge to laugh since Gabe probably felt he was in command, as the senior human officer present.
“Where will you be?” Jamokan asked, rubbing the skin where his bracelet had been.
“First I have to talk to the Tzibir and then I’m going to free my mate,” she said as she finished removing the final bracelet from the last member of the other pack.
“I go with you.” Mateer’s voice was more of a growl. “Timtur must come as well. The last thing we heard from Aydarr before he shut the mental link between us was that Cwamla was preparing to torture him. He may need a healer.”
Timtur bared his fangs and displayed his impressive talons. “I’m a warrior as well, never fear.”
She patted his arm. “I’ve no doubts. Reede, you take the rest of our pack and go with Jamokan and his men. You and Mateer stay in touch with each other. Whatever my enforcer says, obey his commands, and we’ll all get out of this alive. Now, let’s move out. Things are going too smoothly, even with MARL here to block the vidcams and lock down various areas.”
“I’ve locked the day shift guards in their barracks and terminated their comlinks,” MARL said. “So far no one has noticed because they’re asleep.”
“Yeah, that luck won’t hold.”
Squaring her shoulders, she stepped around the curve of the corridor to face the cell where the Tzibir were incarcerated.
As if waiting for inspection, they were standing in two lines, the alpha in front and his enforcers flanking him.
“So, human woman, you outsmarted the Khagrish after all,” said the alpha. “What are your plans for us?”
Jill came to a halt directly in front of him, separated only by the force barrier. At close range he was even more impressive, tiny iridescent scales covering his shoulders and his eyes barely humanoid in shape, with hard bony ridges above the sockets instead of eyebrows. The Tzibir weren’t as tall as the Badari but their bodies were thick, heavily muscled, and the pack plainly stood ready to defend themselves.
As if reading her mind, the alpha gestured at his men. “We won’t die easily.”
“No one has to die today except the Khagrish,” she said.
He tilted his head while he studied her, the black irises in his yellow and red eyes narrowing as he focused on her face. “We are the chosen ones of the eight generation Khagrish experiment, did you know that? Yet you expect us to stand idly by while you kill them?”
“I could leave you in the damn cell,” she said, although she had no intention of doing so. “Take your children with me and make my escape as planned.”
He hissed. “Steal my young ones and I’ll hunt you and your pack to extinction.”
“What I want,” she said, “Is your word you’ll remain neutral today. I’d rather you joined the fight on my side of course, help the Badari, but I’m guessing rebellion might be a step too far for you today. I’ll let you out, I’ll give you a controller so you can take the bracelets off your pack members and then I want you not to be my problem. Grab your younger generations and escape this place. Find a new home. I don’t have time to negotiate a complicated treaty right now. What do you say?”
Mateer raised the controller he held and the alpha’s eyes tracked his motion.
“Why are you doing this?” The alpha asked, focusing on Jill again. “What are my people to you?”
“Potential future allies. Sentients who’ve been tortured by the Khagrish the same as my own pack. Now do we have an agreement or not? I’ve got places to be.”
The Tzibir alpha extended his hands, palms up. “I give you my word not to assist the Khagrish against you today. I must evaluate the future carefully to do the best I can for my people. Today the right course is clearly freedom.”
Jill studied him, wishing his face wasn’t so reptilian, which made it harder to read. But she wasn’t leaving them in a Khagrish cell, unable to defend themselves. “All right. Mateer, set the controller on the floor.”
As the enforcer complied with her order, Jill raised her pulse rifle. “We’re going to back away down the corridor and when we’re close to the exit into the lab, I’ll have MARL shut off the force barrier. Then you’re on your own and good luck to you.”
Keeping her focus on the alpha, she took her time about moving away, MARL floating at her side, Timtur on her right and Mateer covering her retreat. As soon as she reached the door leading to the main complex, she gave her alien AI the order. “Barrier off.”
Jill didn’t wait to see what the Tzibir did next as she hurled herself through the slowly opening portal, Mateer, Timtur and MARL on her heels, and set off toward the senior scientist’s quarters to rescue her mate.
Jill led the way from the prison block. MARL kept pace effortlessly on his antigrav pad. She had to block her own unpleasant memories of being brought here for Dr. Gahzhing’s planned ‘experiments’.
Two more doors. MARL slowed and halted.
“How many in the room?” Jill asked.
Three Khagrish, one Badari in a smaller room beyond.
Weapon at the ready, Jill prepared to have MARL open the door. “We need Cwamla alive until we know what’s happened to Aydarr. I don’t care about any of the others. I’ll take whoever is on the left, you go right,” she said to Mateer and Timtur before pointing an index finger at MARL. “Go for it.”
MARL ordered the lab’s AI to open the door at ten times the rated speed, smashing the panels into their niches. Smoke from overheated relays billowed.
Jill fired even through the haze before she was over the threshold, dropping a man in a lab coat standing beside the desk with one blast. Mateer fired at the same time, then firing a follow-up shot. A stinging pain across her shoulder sent her reeling as Timtur wheeled to pick off a guard who’d taken a position behind a large piece of furniture. Apparently the man had gotten off one lucky shot at Jill before the pack medic killed him.
Dr. Cwamla slapped her hand on a button on the desk and an alarm sounded in the entire complex.
“MARL, shut that off.” Aiming to incapacitate, not kill, Jill fired at the Khagrish scientist, but the woman ducked and fled into the next room, the door closing behind her. “Open it.” Jill made an impatient gesture with her good hand, snapping the order at her AI. “Now.” Blaster at the ready, Jill barreled through the door even as the panel was sliding aside. At the scene in front of her, she halted, Mateer nearly colliding with her, Timtur at their six.
“Come any closer and he dies,” Cwamla said, voice icy cold. She had her fingers resting on the controls for Aydarr’s bracelet.
Jill swallowed hard as she saw her mate. Stripped to a loincloth, Aydarr was blindfolded and gagged, spread eagled on a metal table, heavy restraints at his wrists and ankles. His body bore evidence of the abuse the scientist had been inflicting on him, huge bruises, bleeding slashes, burn marks. Various ugly pieces of equipment were nearby, splashed with blood. She thought he turned his head slightly in her direction, but she couldn’t be sure.
“You came for him so his life must have value to you,” Cwamla said. She perched on the closest stool, waving the neuro controller. “Interesting how you and the other test subjects bonded. He’s still alive—these animals are tough.” She nudged the indicator higher, and Aydarr convulsed on the table, groaning behind the gag. Cwamla smiled at Jill. “Let’s talk, woman to woman. I had a lot more planned for him before I killed him, but I’ll spare him under one condition.”
“Go on.” Jill was ice cold, thinking fast. If I keep her talking, can you do anything to protect Aydarr from the bracelet’s effects? She asked MARL.
“Let me go unharmed. In fact, protect me from the other animals while my personal assistants and I take one of the flyers. We get out of here unscathed.”
I can dampen it but not entirely. Working on it.
“If those were your assistants in the other room, they’re dead,” Jill said.
“Pity.” The scientist’s face remained smooth and unperturbed, although her cheerful expression wavered ever so slightly. “Give me one of the Khagrish guards who can pilot a shuttle then.”
Stalling for time for MARL to work, Jill asked what felt like the most expected question. “Why should I trust you?”
“Because you have no choice?” Cwamla surveyed her, head to toe. “If I’d known how much trouble you were going to be, I’d have killed you the first morning, human bitch, Badari mate or not. I could have placated the Chimmer, given the animal another human woman to mate with, no doubt.”
A loud explosion erupted from somewhere in the facility and the floor rocked. Dust rained from the ceiling. Cwamla left the stool, holding the controller close to Aydarr’s head. “Do we have a deal or not?”
Done.
MARL’s voice in Jill’s head went straight to her trigger finger as she fired the blaster without a word, blowing a hole in Cwamla. The impact of the blast knocked the alien woman into the other wall, where she slumped to the floor.
“Get that controller away from her and make sure she’s dead.” Jill herself rushed to the examination table and wrenched the blindfold off Aydarr. He blinked at the lights and concentrated on her with dawning recognition as she undid the gag. His men worked on unfastening the restraints. Heedless of the blood, but trying not to jar his wounds, Jill hugged him as best she could.
When Mateer freed his left hand, Aydarr stroked her hair. “I refused to accept the idea you’d died. Thank the Great Mother you survived.” His voice was thready and choked.
“He needs water,” she said over her shoulder.
“Let me examine him before we give him anything.” Timtur pushed into the space as Mateer helped his alpha sit up.
“Nothing that won’t heal,” Aydarr said twining his fingers with Jill’s.
Jill had her doubts, but she stepped back a bit to let the healer do a scan, using his powers. She found a clean towel, wet it in the sink, and attempted to wash the blood off her mate’s wounds as best she could without getting in Timtur’s way.
The lights flickered before going out, replaced a moment later by emergency illumination.
“We need to hurry.” Mateer glanced at the doorway as the sound of blaster shots came to them faintly, followed by another explosion. “I smell smoke. Whatever blew up may have set off a fire.”
“MARL, status?” Jill said.
“The AI is offline. The power has been cut, by the Khagrish. I can still affect a limited menu of the local systems.”
Gabe’s voice in her ear cut across what the AI was saying. “Jill, you need to meet me in the human containment room. Get here as fast as you can.”
“What’s wrong?”
The captain cut the link without answering, and Jill swore a blue streak. Timtur was using his powers, sending energy into Aydarr, who sat straighter, his eyes more alert.
“Not too much, my friend,” the alpha said. “I’m assuming we have to fight our way out of here, and you need your strength too.”
“Jamokan has freed the cadets,” Mateer said to Jill. “He and his men are taking them to the landing pad per your enforcer Gabe’s orders.”
“All the cadets?”
Mateer nodded. “Ours and theirs. He said the Tzibir children were already gone. I believe the Tzibir pack took their young and ran, as you advised their alpha to do.”
“Smart move on his part. At least they aren’t fighting us.” Jill was relieved the Tzibir alpha had kept his word. “Save one worry for another day.”
“You’re injured.” Face full of concern, Aydarr slid off the table and wavered on his feet, staring at the burn on her sleeve.
”A mere graze. Timtur can look at it later.” Jill took a position next to him, to support him while he got his balance.
Mateer handed him a pair of lab pants. “Found these in the cabinet—they’ll have to do for now.”
She was dubious about her mate’s condition. He was pale and gaunt, face deeply lined as if there was lingering pain from the torture. “I need to get to the chamber where my fellow colonists are being held,” she said. “Maybe you three should head for the forest, start our withdrawal to the safety of the valley.”
Aydarr held out his hand. “Give me your blaster,” he said to Mateer. Without a word, the enforcer passed him the weapon. Turning to Jill, he added, “I’m the alpha and I won’t abandon my pack, not while I can stand. And I’d never leave you to fight alone now that we’re reunited.” He glanced at the others. “I need a moment alone with my mate.”
“Of course.” Mateer bowed his head and he and Timtur walked into the other office.
I’ll be there in a minute, she said to MARL, and the AI floated after the Badari.
Aydarr gathered her into his arms, and she rested her head on his chest, listening to the powerful heartbeat. “I thought of you constantly while we were deployed,” he said. “I vowed if I was ever blessed to see you in this life again, I’d try to tell you what you mean to me. I love you, Jill Garrison. Your safety and happiness have become the most important priorities of my life, as the Great Mother is my witness, and however much more life I’m granted, I’ll do my best to ensure you have those things. You come before all else in my heart, even the pack.” He tipped her chin up and gave her a long involved kiss, holding her as close as two bodies can be.
When he was done, she looked at him breathlessly and cupped his cheek with her hand. “If the two of us are together, loving each other as we do, then the pack—your people, my people—will be our top priority. Neither of us is relinquishing anything, much less our responsibilities. We’ve added something infinitely precious into the mix.” She glanced at the blood-splattered lab where she stood. “It’s almost inconceivable good could come about in this horrific place, but what we have is right and true.”
He took her hand. “Well said. And now if we don’t want Mateer storming in here, we’d better move out.”
“All right, let’s go then.” Jill led the way from the room, and out into the main corridor. Timtur fell in beside her, with MARL floating ahead while Aydarr and Mateer came behind.
“Guards ahead, setting up an ambush,” MARL said.
Jill raised her clenched fist, and she and the Badari moved to a position close to the wall. “MARL says guards are waiting for us in the next corridor,” she whispered. “I’ll take care of this.”
Aydarr opened his mouth, no doubt to protest, but she shook her head. “Watch what MARL and I can do because we have a few tricks up our sleeve.” All right, do your thing and make me invisible.
Feeling the tingle of the distort field on her skin, Jill stepped around the corner and blasted the two guards who’d been lying in wait behind a hastily built barricade of chairs and a long table. Thanks to MARL’s tech they never saw her coming. “Grab the weapons,” she said over her shoulder as she continued toward the area where her sister and the others had been imprisoned.
She was sprinting as she covered the last hundred yards, driven by anxiety over what Gabe might have found. The doors to the room were standing wide open with Gabe and Flo waiting for her. Two heavily armed soldiers from Jamokan’s pack were keeping watch on the corridor in the other direction. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Gabe stepped aside and pointed. She took one last step and recoiled, blinking.
The room was empty.
No sign of her other sister or the colonists.
“No, no this can’t be,” she said, going further into the chamber. “MARL and I didn’t see anything in the records about them being moved.”
“Well, MARL better look again because either he missed something or the Khagrish are planting false information for you,” Gabe said. “We found five people in specimen envelopes in the room and we freed them.” With a grin, he displayed an oddly shaped red device. “Works like a charm. None of them was your sister. I sent them on the flyer.” He focused more closely on her face. “You ok?”
“Got winged by a lucky shot.” Jill rubbed her forehead, still unable to process the undeniable fact the humans had been taken away before the attack began. “I can’t catch my breath.”
Gabe tossed the red device to Flo and put his hand under Jill’s elbow to steer her to sit. He knelt beside her. “Take it slow. Did you get your guy out ok?”
Before Jill could answer, there was a shout and Gabe was jerked away from her. He let loose a savage kick, breaking free of his attacker’s hold, whirling to defend himself.
“Stop, stop!” Jill got to her feet despite the dizziness, to throw herself between the two men facing off with weapons drawn. She rested her hand on Aydarr’s bare chest. “This is Gabe, my enforcer. He was just trying to make me feel better after I found out my fellow humans are gone.” Staring into her mate’s furiously glowing hazel eyes, she addressed Gabe without looking in his direction, “Lower your weapon, captain. This is Aydarr, my mate. He’s the jealous type.”
Aydarr glared at Gabe and gathered Jill close.
“He’s my friend, there was nothing intended but comfort.” Jill stood on tiptoe to brush a quick kiss on Aydarr’s chapped lips. “Humans have different customs.”
Another tense moment or two passed before Aydarr relaxed. “If I misread the situation, I apologize. But hands off my mate.”
“You got it,” Gabe said. He and Flo lowered their blasters. “Listen, we’ve done all we can do here. We need to withdraw before help arrives from any of the other stations, or the guards coalesce into an effective fighting unit under a leader with some smarts and get organized.”
“Are the flyers returning for our extraction?” Jill asked.
He nodded. “One last trip since I didn’t know what shape your guy might be in. I didn’t know if he’d be up to a rapid retreat through the forest on foot today. I told the pilots to shear off if things don’t look right to them.”
“We’d better get to the landing pad then.” Jill checked the empty room as if hoping to find Megan tucked away in a corner. “We will find them, no matter where the Khagrish sent them on this hellhole world.”
“Yes, we will, I give you my word,” Aydarr said. “But we have to escape to help your people or anyone else held captive on this planet.”
She let him pull her into the corridor, and ran with the others to the flight line. One ship was already landed, and Jill recognized her pack members frantically loading supplies on board. The second flyer angled in and made a neat landing close by.
“Intercepting signals from approaching aircraft,” MARL said out loud. “Should arrive in three minutes at the present rate of speed.”
“We have to go,” Jill said. “Tell those guys to leave the rest of the stuff, no matter what it is, and take off, now. Top speed to the valley.”
Mateer ran to do her bidding.
“Any of our forces remaining in the lab complex?” she asked Gabe as she sprinted up the ramp into their flyer, Aydarr keeping pace with visible effort.
The captain shook his head. “All gone, either on the shuttle earlier or else into the woods heading for the valley. We’re clear.”
“If the other flyer has lifted off, let’s go,” Aydarr said as Flo closed the hatch behind her. “I’ve no desire to be recaptured.”
Jill sank into a seat, Aydarr beside her, as the flyer lifted off. The craft was buffeted by more massive explosions in the facility and, as the pilot angled to the east, she watched the buildings burn. “No one will be doing any more perverted ‘science’ in that lab.”
“I have the entire AI database in my memory,” MARL said, floating easily in the aisle next to her, bobbing a bit as the flyer banked. “No knowledge will be lost.”
“Some things should be.” Aydarr’s voice held more than a hint of a growl.
“Once we raided the armory, I had our teams leave a few surprises here and there,” Gabe said, sliding into the seat across the aisle. “Figured our best bet long term was to deny the Khagrish any use of the place. Salvaged what we could then cut our losses.” He eyed Jill and Aydarr. “I know now isn’t the time, but we do need to map out a long term strategy. I have ideas.”
“Maybe tomorrow.” Jill pushed her hair off her face. “Today I’m bitterly disappointed we didn’t find Megan or the other colonists.” ”
“We will, I give you my word to make it our highest priority.” Aydarr hugged her as best he could, careful of her injured shoulder. “You’ve pulled off this amazing feat today, we’ll manage to duplicate the success for your people. The Badari are warriors and we now owe you a life debt.”
“I found the data on the humans,” MARL said. “It was in a new type of file construct I haven’t seen before. I’ll know to look for it in any future Khagrish AI setup.”
“Do you think they did it to fool us?” Jill was alarmed because their ability to hack the AI was their single most crucial advantage over the enemy.
MARL’s colors swirled. “I think it was a result of Dr. Cwamla taking over and receiving her own super user status on the system. She created her own files in a most idiosyncratic configuration.”
“And?”
“The colonists were dispersed to several different locations, to begin recovering from stasis prior to the initiation of the Chimmer-requested experiments. We have a window of time as there are still no detailed specifications from the Chimmer.”
“Which facilities? Where?” Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, Jill sat straighter. “We should start planning the next raid right now—I have to find my sister.”
“My only strategic planning for today involves getting private time with my mate so she can rest,” Aydarr said. “And have your wound properly treated. I understand your worry about your other sister but even you need a night to recuperate—you don’t heal as rapidly as we Badari.”
“Tomorrow then,” Gabe said. “I’ll study whatever data MARL has found, if you’ll instruct him to share it with me. I’ll develop some preliminary proposals for you. You two get your rest.”
“Rest?” Aydarr whispered in her ear after Gabe moved to a seat in the bow of the flyer. “I had more interesting things in mind.”
“As do I, if you’re feeling up to it.”
“The pink nightgown?”
She shook her head. “Didn’t survive my escape—sorry. I know you liked it.”
“I like what the fabric concealed and revealed,” he said, nipping at her ear lobe with his teeth. “But in my present mood, I’d have removed it too rapidly to savor the experience anyway.”
Much later, after a huge victory dinner of meal rations and freshly caught fish, with everyone celebrating, Jill took Aydarr by the hand and led him to one of her favorite places in the valley—a small cliff overlooking the lake, which reflected the huge moon. The ground was soft, and she brought along two blankets, carrying them looped over her arm. She spread one out under the trees and invited him to join her.
“MARL will make sure no one surprises us,” she said as Aydarr sat next to her.
“As will Mateer.” He grinned. “Great minds think alike. Or well mated couples.”
“Do you mind Jamokan swore loyalty to me? Or that I have a human pack now?”
He shook his head. “I’m your alpha, yes?” He took her in his arms and kissed her, gently at first then more urgently as the passion between them began to crest. He laid her on the blanket and loomed over her, his arousal heavy and insistent against the vee of her legs.
“But you’re not my boss,” she said, continuing her thought despite the distraction of what he was doing with her needy body, teasing her nipples with his tongue and clever hands.
“No,” he agreed. “But in the pack structure, the fact you swore loyalty to me means I command those you command as well. Your friend Gabe may not see it that way exactly—”
“He’s ex-military, he won’t be a problem. He understands command hierarchy. Besides, this is your world.”
“And I don’t wish to discuss another man while making love to my mate.” Aydarr lowered his head to hers, his tongue penetrating the seam of her lips as she opened fully to him. “This night is for us,” he said when the long and involved kiss was done. “Tomorrow is time enough to begin planning the next phase of the war.”
He unfastened her utility pants and pushed them down over her hips as she shimmied to assist in the disrobing. “So beautiful,” he said, pausing to admire her in the moonlight after she was naked. He ran one hand teasingly over her body, circling her navel then probing gently between her legs as she opened to him.
“You now,” Jill said, although his touch made her shiver with pleasure. She lay back and watched appreciatively as Aydarr made quick work of shedding his shirt and pants. “Oh yeah, that’s the view I prefer. When you first rescued me in the Preserve, this was pretty much the way you looked. Very hot.”
He laughed as he came to lie beside her. “I was wearing a loincloth. I believe you even mentioned my lack of clothing later.”
“I wanted to touch and stroke and taste—” Blushing, she clamped her lips together before she got too specific about her desires.
Pillowing his head with his arms, Aydarr lay back. “Feel free, we have the entire night.”
“Tonight I have two things I dreamt of but never thought were possible,” he said, much later, as they lay together under the second blanket, staring at the stars. “And both are true only because of you.”
“Care to share?”
He rolled over to smile tenderly at her. “I imagine you know the answers—a mate to love and cherish is the most important.”
“A woman likes to hear it said, as many times as possible, in case you need any encouragement.” Jill gave him a wink and a loving smile. “And the other?”
“Freedom. For the first time in eight generations since we were created, a Badari can gaze at the stars as a free man. I can make plans, have hope for the next generation—” He broke off, emotion choking his voice. “I’m not deluding myself, I know we have a long and bitter struggle ahead just to survive, much less to defeat the Khagrish and beyond them the Chimmer, but to have hope is such a precious thing to me.”
She stroked his arm. “I know, and that’s as it should be, my love. We may not even be the ones to see the end of the struggle, although I hope we are, but the fight is a worthy one.”
He lay back to contemplate the stars again, pulling her close to pillow her head on his shoulder. “Which one do you think is yours?”
Startled, Jill said, “No idea. Someday maybe we can get MARL to figure out where the Sectors might be from here. I know Gabe’s number one hope is to communicate with or travel to the Sectors and get their help, but for now none of us knows how to accomplish either one.” She sat up so she could emphasize her point by making direct eye contact. “The colony wasn’t my home, not really. I was settling into life there, and I wanted my sisters to have a stable place to live, ironically as it all turned out. My real home for most of my life was the military, I guess, but you can’t stay in the cocoon of the service once your usefulness is over.”
“You’ll always have a home wherever I am.” He tapped his heart. “And my home will forever be with you.”
“I love you.” She snuggled close again as he pulled the blanket more securely over her. “And my home will always be with you.” She felt as if they’d exchanged solemn vows. “Even if we do contact the Sectors, I won’t go back there without you. If you choose to stay here, I stay too. In case you were wondering.”
His smile was broad and his eyes glowed in the moonlight. “I hoped that might be your answer, but I was afraid to ask.”
“Hey, nothing gets left unsaid between the two of us, remember? We made a deal. You’ll never lose me,” she said. “The Badari mate for life, and I’m a Badari in good standing now.”
Laughing, he hugged her so hard she could barely breathe. “You certainly are. Anyone who wants to dispute that fact has to answer to me.”
“After I’m done with them.”
“So fierce.” His tone was admiring.
“You better believe it.”
A shooting star crossed the sky, casting off sparkles as it plummeted until it faded into the dark night. She made a wish and held it close in her heart.
“You’ve grown quiet,” Aydarr said.
“Thinking about my other sister, Megan,” she admitted. “I need to find her and bring her and the others to safety with us, sooner than later.”
“We’ve both dedicated our lives to the quest now, have we not? And the larger task of destroying the Khagrish on this planet. I’d love to carry the fight to their home world eventually, but I don’t see the path to the ultimate goal as yet.” He hugged her again. “All of that will be waiting tomorrow when the sun rises. Tonight is just for us.”
And so it was.
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Thank you for reading AYDARR (SECTORS NEW ALLIES BOOK 1)! I really hope you enjoyed the adventure (and of course I’d love a review if you have time and the inclination to write one – even a few sentences would be wonderful. Authors relish reader feedback).
MATEER, Book 2 in this new series, is coming in January 2018 and will continue with the Badari story and the quest to find Jill’s missing sister.
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