Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Mal blinked slowly, trying to stay conscious.
She’d shut down everything she could except the engines and the enviro system in the cockpit.
But even that was failing now.
“Oxygen at unsafe levels,” said a modulated female computer voice.
Mal dragged in a shuddering breath. They were close. They had to be. She just had to hold on a little while longer.
She sagged against her straps and tried to focus on Xander’s inert body beside her.
He hadn’t regained consciousness. She swallowed the huge lump in her throat.
His face was pressed against the console, turned her way.
He looked less intimidating with his eyes closed and muscles loose. His dark lashes were ridiculously long.
Suddenly, his eyes shot open.
“Xander?” she whispered.
His eyes flickered. “Status.”
Not a question, an order. The corner of her lips twitched. “On course. An hour from Khan.”
At her husky murmur, his dark eyebrows drew together.
When she’d first seen him, she’d thought him completely void of emotion.
But a childhood spent travelling the galaxy with her dad had made her a people watcher and she was starting to glimpse tiny hints that he did feel something, sometimes.
Drawn brows, the tightening of his jaw, the longer than normal pauses.
“My systems are…damaged.”
“Whatever you did to stabilize the ship, it took you out. You’ve been unconscious.”
He tried to move and groaned.
She dragged in a breath and tried to move too. With no success. She slumped forward again. She had no energy. She just wanted to sleep.
“Malin, something else is wrong.”
“Enviro’s failing.”
His jaw tightened. “Have you—?”
“I’ve tried every trick I know.”
“Have you sent a distress call?”
“Comms are damaged.”
“Without my systems functioning, I’m unable to do anything more.”
“Well, all I’ve got left is prayer.”
“You believe in gods?”
She studied his face. Nothing showed in his extraordinary eyes but she could swear he was curious.
“Not really. I don’t like the idea of dancing to some god’s whim.
I believe in doing every damn thing I can to make my life the way I want it to be.
” Not that it always worked. She managed a shrug.
“And when life’s out of control, sometimes you just have to wing it. ”
“Wing it?” His brows drew together.
Something told her Xander Saros never winged it. She wanted to laugh but exhaustion washed over her like a wave and her eyelids fluttered closed.
“Malin! Open your eyes.”
She did. “So bossy.”
“I was created to give orders.” A pause. “You can’t sleep.”
He said it in such a tone of command, she gave a faint hiccupping laugh. “Keep me awake then, tough guy. Talk to me. Not that it seems to be your strong suit.”
“Talk about what?”
“I don’t know. You. Centax.” Her gaze landed on the silver implant at his temple. “When did you get your first implant? It usually starts around sixteen, right?”
“I was eleven.”
His voice was so quiet she barely heard him. Her stomach clenched. “So young?”
“Yes. I am superbly adapted to receiving enhancements.”
“So they broke the rules? Isn’t that dangerous?”
“There is risk of emotional deadening.”
That didn’t sound good. “Which is what, exactly?”
“The risk that the subject’s ability to feel emotion will be completely destroyed.”
Sweet scrap. They’d do that to a child? “Did that happen to you?”
A long moment of silence. “Most people will tell you that I feel nothing.”
“It’s true, then, that CenSecs have no emotions?”
“That’s what people say.”
“And that’s not an answer.”
“Most CenSecs have emotions. They’re usually just dampened by our implants and filters when required. It makes us more efficient at our jobs.”
“None of those pesky emotions to get in your way.”
“Yes.”
“How did your parents feel about you getting your first implant?”
“Honored. They signed me over to Centax Security.”
Mal gasped, her chest heavy. “They…gave you away.”
“Yes.”
Just a single emotionless word. Mal couldn’t imagine it.
Xander’s fingers flexed. “It made sense. I was well suited to security. And they had my younger brother, Axton, to focus on.”
“Sorry, Xander, but I can’t understand how two people can make a child and give him away. My parents adored me. My mother died when I was young, and my father never got over her death, but I know he loved me and she did, too.”
“I don’t believe in love.”
Oh. “Really?”
“I deal in facts. I have never felt love. I have seen people do terrible things in the name of love. And I have never experienced love from my family.”
Her heart squeezed. “Never?”
“They felt some degree of affection, but on Centax, honor and achievement are just as important. For my parents, the honor of my selection to Security was a reasonable trade for the loss of a son.”
Her heart clenched. But what about him? The little boy who lost his family? “So Security looked after you?”
“Yes. They were responsible for my training.”
“That’s not what I meant. Did someone care for you? Hold you? Hug you?”
“No. Hugging is not encouraged.”
A small alarm sounded, shattering their conversation.
“Environmental systems failing,” the computer chirped, the synthesized voice too cheerful for their current situation.
Mal’s eyelids fluttered closed. She was going to die, never having the family she’d always dreamed about. Never being the one important thing to someone. She reached out a hand, groping.
Her fingers touched Xander’s cool ones. She grabbed on and was surprised when he squeezed her hand. She wasn’t completely alone. She’d hold onto that.
“Xander, I don’t think we’re going to make it.”
“It appears you are correct.”
The red alarm light flashed over them. Breathing was starting to hurt. “Someone should have hugged you, kissed you. All children should have that.”
His breathing was labored as well. “I…” his voice was a mere whisper “…wondered what it would feel like.”
She turned her hand, pressed her palm to his. “If we manage to get out of this alive, I’ll show you what it feels like.”
“A hug?”
“Yep,” she replied. “And a kiss.”
Another alarm. She tried to focus on the screen but guessed enviro was finally giving up the ghost.
The computer chimed. “Khan in range.”
Mal’s heart kicked and she squinted at the viewscreen, where the large planet of Souk, a mixture of green farms and forests, and gray urban areas, came into view.
Souk was a market world that supplied everyone in their star system, as well as those heading out of the quadrant on their adventures, with everything they needed to survive.
And circling it was the small captured-asteroid-turned-moon called Khan.
Home to the Phoenix brothers, and their salvage and treasure-hunting business.
A place she’d never been happier to see.
“Home,” she whispered. “Xander—” she felt his fingers go lax in hers.
He’d lapsed back into unconsciousness. Like he’d only stayed conscious to help keep her awake. Her fingers spasmed around his. Her eyelids were so heavy, her arms and legs felt weightless. She drifted along in a doze, not caring about anything, noting bursts of color and the distant peal of alarms.
Even the huge explosion only made her blink.
The ship was shaking and the sound of tearing metal was deafening.
She stared at the viewscreen, saw her ship sliding along a pockmarked surface, heading toward the purple glow of the huma-dome surrounding the Phoenix headquarters.
That ripped her out of the haze. Oh, stars.
She fumbled for the controls, but all the screens were blank. Fire was pouring from the console to her left.
And flames were streaming over the hull of the ship as well.
They slid inside the huma-dome and ahead she saw the fuel storage tanks. If they hit those—bile was an acid bite in her throat—everything would go up.
But thankfully the ship’s progress slowed and it jerked to a stop. She was tossed against her harness.
Seconds later, the ship’s fire-suppression system flared to life, dousing the console beside her and the outside of the crashed freighter with a super-fine mist.
She dragged in a shaky breath. “We made it.”
Xander was silent, slumped forward over the console.
Mal tried to move but couldn’t get her limbs working. Through the viewscreen, she saw the large doors of the hangar ahead open.
Then her cousins were sprinting toward the ship.
Dathan, bare-chested with cargo pants riding low on his hips, raced forward, a slim-line fire suppresser in his hands.
On his left was his wife, Eos, carrying another suppresser, her long dark hair flowing out behind her.
On Dathan’s right was Niklas, taller and broader than Dathan, his face more serious and studious.
Another body barreled out of the hangar, following close behind the trio.
Lala, teenaged bomb maker extraordinaire, danced up beside Niklas wearing a pair of neon pink pajamas. A droid the size of a small ball whizzed around her head in a dizzying dance while another bug-shaped droid clung to her shoulder.
The cavalry was coming.
Moments later, Mal heard the clang of metal and the hiss of a laser cutter. A wave of pressure swept the cockpit as air—sweet, sweet oxygen-filled air—flooded the ship.
“Mal! Fuck.”
Dathan stormed into the cockpit and raced to her side. Nik was there seconds later.
She heard a hand-held suppression unit being used and felt hands pressed to her throat, brushing the hair off her face.
“She’s alive.” Intense relief in Dathan’s voice.
“Let’s get her out of here.” Nik’s voice. “The ship’s fire suppression system is working but can’t keep up with the fire.”
“She’ll be pissed. She loves this ship.”
She did. She forced her eyes open. “I’m awake.”
Dathan touched the side of her face. “Shit, Mal, what happened?”
“Fired on.”
“What? Why?”
“Save it, Dath,” Nik said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait!” Mal felt Dathan unstrapping her. “Got to get Xander, too.”
“Xander?” Dathan spun, finally noticing she wasn’t alone.
Nik was unruffled. “You get Mal. I’ll bring him.”
Mal intended to walk, but as soon as she stood, her knees gave way. Dathan swept her into his arms and headed out. Over his shoulder, Mal saw Nik heft the unconscious Xander over his shoulder with a grunt.
Dathan stormed off the ship and across the landing pads to where Eos waited with an arm around Lala.
“Mal, are you okay?” Eos hovered as Dathan set Mal down.
Mal gulped in large quantities of fresh air. Instantly, she felt much steadier. “I’m fine. Enviro was failing, but I’m better now.”
“We’ll check you out in the medbay, just in case,” Dathan said.
Nik arrived, leaned down, and laid Xander down on his back.
Everyone gasped.
“A Centaxian,” Eos breathed.
“And he’s wearing a fucking Centax Security uniform,” Dathan growled.
“Over one hell of a tight, hot body.” Lala rubbed her hands together. “Yum, yum.”
Everyone ignored her.
“Everybody get back,” Dathan warned, shoving Lala back and gripping Eos’s arm. “He’s dangerous.”
“What the hell is a CenSec doing on your ship, Mal?” Nik said.
“It’s a long story.” She knelt beside Xander, worried that he hadn’t yet regained consciousness. She touched the side of his neck, felt his erratic pulse.
“Mal—”
“It’s okay, Dath. He won’t hurt anyone.”
Eos leaned closer, studying Xander like she did her ancient artifacts. “His left arm looks mechanical.”
There was a long tear in his uniform sleeve and beneath, his left arm was silver-gray.
Dathan made an unhappy sound. “Mal, I think you should get back—”
“He’s injured.” She speared her cousin with a look.
“He helped me escape Centax and survive an attack on my ship. Without him, I’d be dead.
” With an unsteady hand, she pushed back Xander’s dark hair.
“He was shot with some sort of energy weapon and then interfaced with my ship. He nearly killed himself to keep us flying.” She bit her lip.
“He’s been out a really long time.” Too long.
“I’ll get the medscope.” Nik took off at a steady jog.
“You never know what a cyborg can do, Mal.” Dathan’s frown was in his voice.
Without warning, Xander’s eyes snapped open.
Those unique, concentric bands of green and gold stared up at Mal, slightly unfocused.
But then his gaze sharpened, the green in his eyes changing to a bright, neon glow as he stared at her.
“Malin,” he rasped.
She grabbed his hand. “You’re okay, Xander. We made it.”
His fingers flexed on hers, then he slumped back into unconsciousness. Suddenly his back arched and his body started shuddering.
“What’s happening?” Mal gripped his shoulders.
“Some sort of seizure.” Eos knelt beside her.
Mal had to use all her strength to keep him down. With a curse, Dathan helped her.
“We need to get him to the medbay.” A trickle of blood came from his ear and Mal’s heart kicked her ribs. Stars, what was wrong with him?
“Hang on.” Nik was back with the medscope. He flicked on the slim device, blue light shining out of it. He waved it over Xander’s face. “Shit. It’s not working. No response.”
Normally, the medscope could deal with small and medium wounds, but anything worse needed more powerful medical equipment. Mal’s stomach did a slow tumble. He’d be okay. He had to be.
“Try again.” She shot Nik a frantic nod. “Anything?”
“Nothing’s registering. It’s like something’s jamming it.”
Realization hit. “His enhancements.” Mal shifted. “We have to get him to the medbay.”
Dathan gripped Xander under his arms and Nik grabbed his feet. Dathan grunted. “Heavy bastard.”
Together, they made their way inside.
“Lala, back to your room,” Dathan said.
“Dath—”
“No. We don’t need anything blown up. Back to your bed.”
Lala poked her tongue out. “Fine. Mal, hope your sexy cyborg’s okay.” She trudged off, her pet droids following.
Mal raced alongside Xander, willing him to hold on.