Chapter 11
Taking down the humans had not been difficult.
They were both young and trusted too much in their armor and weapons.
The logarian was another matter. He’d crossed paths with them before, but never on his own.
He hadn’t wanted to kill the last human so close to Maddison’s hiding place, but the idiot had made it farther than he expected in the time it took to kill the first one.
Now, it was likely that the last remaining mercenary would come to check on his dead teammate.
He didn’t like it, but using the corpse as bait was the best chance he had to end this fight quickly.
He had already checked the weapons he’d taken from the dead mercenaries.
Neither one would power up for him. There had to be a lock of some kind, something that ensured they would only work for their assigned operator.
Since they were useless to him, he stashed them under a fallen log for later retrieval.
Havoc smelled the approaching mercenary before he heard him.
The slow but dangerous alien had chosen a different path than his teammate.
That was a problem because Havoc’s plan required the behemoth to either walk beneath the tree he’d climbed or turn his back to ensure Havoc kept the advantage of surprise.
He waited, confident that an opportunity would come. He could only watch and wait with growing frustration as his target walked away from him, straight toward Maddison’s hiding place.
If he attacked now, the mercenary would see him coming, but that was a small price to pay for keeping the alien away from his mate.
He shifted his weight, preparing to leap, but paused when the logarian turned around. The logarian faced in his direction, a sneer on his ugly face as he called out his challenge. He knew Havoc was close by.
Fuck. So much for his ambush idea.
He readied himself to attack, anyway. But before he could, something entirely unexpected happened. Maddison made a surprise attack of her own.
Despite hearing the electric crackle, he didn’t immediately understand what his mate had done. It wasn’t until the logarian crashed to the ground, still twitching, that the pieces fell into place.
Maddison must have a stun weapon in her possession. It didn’t bother him that she hadn’t told him about it. It made sense. The one she’d most likely need to protect herself from was him. He was more shocked that she’d found the courage to use it at all.
Pride filled him as he dropped to the ground and ran to the fallen enemy. His mate was clever and brave.
He slit the alien’s throat to end the threat, but only a little green blood trickled from the wound. The mercenary’s heart had already stopped. His little star had killed one of the most dangerous beings in the galaxy. He also knew it was likely that hadn’t been her intent.
“Maddison,” he called as he straightened up and sheathed his blades.
“Havoc?” her voice was slightly muffled due to her current location and the large body that blocked the opening.
“I’m here.”
She cried out in relief and then loosed a torrent of words without taking a breath. “Thank the stars. I did it! I knocked him out, but you have to finish him before he wakes up. I know you said to hide, but he was right there, and I knew this would make it easier for you to kill him.”
“You did well, little star. I’m proud of you.” And he was. That feeling was far stronger than the small pinch to his pride that she had been the one to take the enemy down.
“Can you please move the body away so I can get out of here? I don’t want to be stuck in here anymore. I need to feel the sun on my skin.”
“Give me a minute.”
It took all his strength to drag the dead body far enough away for her to have room to crawl out. He made sure she had enough space to get past the corpse without touching it.
She emerged from the hole shaken but unhurt. Damp soil clung to her hands and face. Her clothes were covered in dirt too, but her hands barely shook as he helped her to her feet.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, but he didn’t wait for an answer. He folded her into his arms.
“I’m okay. I just…” She clung to him, her face pressed against his chest despite the fact he was still covered in gore. “I’m glad I did it, but I don’t ever want to do something like that again.”
“I’ll make sure you don’t have to.” He would do better next time.
“Show me what you used to take him down.” Havoc chose his words carefully.
She held out a cylinder about thirty centimeters long with a set of prongs sticking out of one end.
She offered it to him handle first. “I used this. Loris insisted that I should have some way to protect myself. This seemed like the best choice. I can’t shoot a firearm, and Loris always said that there was no point carrying a weapon I didn’t know how to use.
It would just get taken away and used against me. ”
“Loris is right about that. If you ever want to know how to use a weapon, I will teach you.”
She made a soft, choking sound that seemed to be part laugh, part sob. “Maybe someday. Right now, I’m just glad it worked, and that you were nearby. I was afraid he’d wake up before you came back.”
“He was never going to wake up, Maddi.”
She sucked in a breath and leaned back so she could look up at him. “I killed him? How? It’s just a stun wand. I mean, I turned it up to full power, but I never thought…”
“Weapons like this can kill if the setting is high enough and it’s applied for the right duration.” He tapped the side of the wand with a finger. “Or maybe that asshole wasn’t as tough as he claimed to be.”
It wasn’t much of a joke, but it worked. She managed a grim smile and nodded once. “Okay.”
She impressed him yet again. Once they were safe, he’d be sure to give her whatever she needed to deal with the fallout of her actions. For now, she’d found the strength to set that all aside.
“It’s safe now. Right?” she asked.
He cupped her face in one hand, his thumb stroking the tear-streaked grime that marked her cheek. “It’s safe for now.”
She reached up and touched his hand with hers. “And you came back to me.”
“Always, little star.”
“Always.” She repeated his words with a smile. “I like that.”
“So do I.” He kissed her then, trying to convey what he was feeling but didn’t have the words to describe. This wasn’t about sex or desire. It was something deeper.
He ended their embrace with reluctance, but they still had things to do.
“Now what?” she asked him.
That was an easy question to answer. “Now, Maddi mine, we try to steal their ship.”
She laughed, her smile brighter now. “I like this plan. Do you think there’s a shower on board? Because both of us could use one?” She tapped his chest pointedly. “I mean, how will anyone know who you belong to if they can’t see your mating marks?”
“You want them to know I’m mated?” he asked.
“I want them to know who you belong to.” She raised both hands in front of her and pointed to her own marks. “You are mine.”
“Always,” he said, and he meant it with all of his newly awakened heart.
He retrieved the hidden weapons and left them with Maddison while he swam across the river to retrieve their raft.
Those items were too valuable to be left behind.
While he swam, Maddison cleaned herself up as best she could.
He let the current wash away the gore that matted his fur and took a moment to scrub more of it off him before he rejoined her on the river bank.
Despite their best efforts, they were still in dire need of a shower. Hopefully, the mercenary’s ship would have what they needed. That is, if they could even get inside.
He took a few things from the bodies before they left the area. He made Maddison turn her back while he removed the hands from both corpses and placed them in a bag he’d stolen from the first human he’d killed. If they were lucky, the ship would have a simple palm lock on the door.
Until now, they’d never successfully captured one of the mercenary crafts. Either one of the team escaped with the ship before they could reach them, or one of them sent a self-destruct command before they died.
Havoc wished that Risk was here. He, more than any of them, had the best chance of actually flying one of these vessels. Havoc knew more about tactics than piloting, but since he was the only one here, he’d have to try. Unless…
“Do you know how to fly this kind of ship?” he asked Maddison.
“Loris taught me how to start them and go through the preflight checklists. Those were human-made designs, though. And even if we got that lucky, I can’t actually pilot one.”
“If we can’t get it to fly, we’ll take anything of value and leave it.”
“Right after we use the shower. If it has one. Stars, I hope it does.”
The ship was still intact when they reached it, and he could neither hear nor smell any sign that anyone was still inside. He still told Maddison to hide while he approached on his own.
Nothing happened.
When he got close enough, he saw that there was indeed a palm reader by the main hatch. He used the logorian’s hand first, pressing the meaty, three-fingered appendage to the screen.
The door opened, and he went inside, ready to fight if someone challenged him.
The ship was empty. He couldn’t believe it. Finally, his clan had the means to leave the planet!
He tucked the severed hand back in the bag before leaning out and beckoning Maddison to join him.
She hurried on board and went straight to the cockpit, dropping her pack on the deck near the door. “Judging by the size of the pilot’s chair and the language on the console, this is a logarian design, but I think the layout is similar to what I’ve seen before.”
He followed after her. If she could start the engines, maybe they’d be able to figure out a way to get it airborne.
“Wait. I want to try something.”
She raised her voice and added a note of command he’d never heard before. “Ship, are you able to respond?”
“I am the ship’s AI. Please identify yourself.”
He nearly spoke up but stopped himself. She’d known enough to call for the AI, so she knew better than he what to say to it.
“There are two of us. Maddison and Havoc. We’re both new hires and might not be on the roster yet. Can you add us?”
He stared at her. Could that actually work?
There was a soft chime and then the AI spoke again. “Task complete. Welcome aboard.”
“Thank you.” She grinned at Havoc. “Our mission here is done, but our pilot died in the fighting. Can you fly yourself?”
“I can. Please provide coordinates.”
Fuck. He had no idea what the base camp’s coordinates were. They had no way to map the surface. He raised his hands and shook his head at Maddison.
She bit her lip and frowned as she considered the situation. After a few seconds, she brightened, and the line vanished from between her brows. “Can you take us into orbit and then scan the surface? We need to locate our next objective before we can give you the coordinates.”
“I can do that. Do you wish to return to the designated rendezvous point?”
“No!” she answered sharply. “I mean, we’d rather not return until we complete all of our objectives. We’ll leave you to calculate the best orbit given our need to complete everything before our set rendezvous time. Just so we’re clear, when was that?”
“The mother-ship was expected to rendezvous with us in approximately thirty-nine hours. However, that vessel departed orbit and left no updated information.”
“The mother-ship left orbit? Is that standard procedure?”
“No. Their departure was unexpected, and no explanation was given.”
She glanced at him with a worried look.
It did not sound good to him either, but without more information, they couldn’t begin to guess why the larger ship had left their teams behind.
“Thank you. Please begin start-up procedures. Your passengers are going to do an equipment check and clean up in preparation for our next objective.”
“Confirmed. Departure will occur in nineteen minutes. Optimal orbit calculated. Transit time, twenty-nine minutes. Please be in your seats and secure all cargo before lift-off.”
“We’ll do that. Oh, one more thing. Can you turn the air-scrubbers to maximum?” She wrinkled her nose. “The air in here is a little… pungent.”
Once they were out of the cockpit, Havoc asked the first of many questions. “How did you know to do that?”
“The shuttle that brought us down from the Harvest had an AI, too. That one wouldn’t let any of us fly the ship, because none of us were certified pilots. I figured we might have better luck if we let the AI feel like it was in charge this time.”
He gave her a one-armed hug. “My little star is brave and clever.”
“She’s also a grubby mess. Come on, let’s see what this ship has in the way of amenities. You and me need to get naked.”
That was the best suggestion he’d heard all day.