The soldier made no move.
“Stay, and you give up the chance to learn about the Sephians and their technology first hand,” she said, trying to entice his curiosity.
The soldier still made no move.
Dammit.
“Ugh. Men.” She stepped over to Jax, grabbed his elbow and pulled. And he didn’t move an inch. “Jesus. You weigh nearly as much as Legian.”
Without responding, Jax moved forward, warily watching Legian. Sienna only then noticed her
tahren’s
gun aimed at the soldier.
“Dammit, Legian. He’s not our prisoner,” she said, before tugging at Jax’s arm again. “C’mon, Jax. It’ll be okay. Trust me on this one.”
He moved again, but clearly wasn’t looking forward to each step. Sienna couldn’t blame him. She felt the same way when she made the journey to the base the first time. Except she had no choice. Then again, Jax was kind of in the same position.
“Hey, Lea.” Sienna waved to the female pilot who could have been a double for Sigourney Weaver — the bad ass one from
Alien
, not the blue funky one from
Avatar
. Almost a double, but not quite. Nalea sported glittery skin, pure ebony eyes, and long pitch-black hair. Like all Sephian women, Nalea’s
soullare
was barely visible. It wasn’t until a woman mated that her male’s
soullare
overlaid her marks. Sienna had seen several mated Sephian women, and their double-layered marks were far more surreal than any tat she’d ever seen. “Please tell me you brought a scanner.”
With a smile, Nalea held out a small device.
Taking the tool, Sienna scanned her clothes to find the second tracer planted on her belt. “You’re a jackass, Jax,” she muttered as she crushed the bug and pulled her clothes back on. She held the device up in front of the soldier. “Your turn.”
Sienna didn’t for a second assume they didn’t have tracers on their own guys for protection. The scanner vibrated over his forearm. She pulled up his shirtsleeve and ran it over him again. Dammit, he was microchipped. “Uh, guys?”
Nalea and Legian turned as one.
Sienna pointed to the forearm she was currently holding. “You’ll have to use the blocker until we get back to the base.”
“Use your knife,” Nalea replied.
Her eyes widened. “You serious?”
Legian nodded in agreement.
Sienna gulped, pulled out her Swiss Army knife. and gave Jax a wary look. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
He scowled, his look a silent dare. Not like he had any say in the matter. Only once she was sure she found the rice-sized microchip did she make a small slice and pushed it out. Immediately, she unwrapped her bandana and tied it over the bleeding wound.
Sienna gave the wrapped wound a light pat. “I really am sorry about that, but you have to give me the bandana back when the bleeding stops. It’s my favorite.” Then she walked away, nudging between Lea and Legian on the way to the ship.
“What happened?” Nalea asked as she handed Sienna a pair of drades, the goggles that allowed night vision.
“Don’t ask. By the way, this is Jax. He’s coming, too. He needs drades,” she called out over her shoulder as she stepped into the ship. Sienna went straight for a cube-shaped compartment in the back and opened it. She pulled out a smooth blanket and wrapped it around her. Instant luxury enveloped her, and she ran her fingers over the silky black material.
Sienna never understood why the Sephians were so in love with dark colors. Maybe it was because they were a nocturnal race. They had no sun near their planet and three moons, which meant they had amazing night vision but could see less than a one-eyed shrew during the day without corrective glasses. With oversensitive eyes, they kept everything insanely dim, even their computers. No wonder their skin sparkled.
If it weren’t for the drades she wore to see in the ultra-dim lighting maintained at the base, she would have gone blind before she turned thirty-six living in their gloomy dungeon-like conditions.
A solid
thump
and a grunt behind her interrupted her thoughts. She turned to see Jax wince as Legian “escorted” him into the ship.
“Hey, Lea. Drades?”
“He doesn’t need them,” Legian grumbled while he strapped into a seat across from her and close enough to keep a close eye on Jax.
Sienna preserved her dignity by not responding.
“Hold your hollies.” Nalea brushed past her on the way to the front of the ship. “I have an extra pair up here.”
“It’s horses,” Sienna replied with a smirk to her best friend. Nalea had been a superstar at learning English, but for some unknown reason, clichés and jargon threw her off every time.
Nalea rubbed her head. “Horses? Son of a bitch. I always mess that one up. Hold your damn horses, Sienna.”
Sienna grinned and shook her head. And for some other unknown reason, Nalea picked up profanity and slang faster than a sailor finding a whore at port.
After a minute or so of opening and closing compartments, Nalea handed back a pair.
“Thanks.” Sienna grabbed them from the pilot and slid them onto Jax. It took a couple attempts to get them straight and around his ears. “There. Cool, aren’t they?” she asked before strapping him in.
Jax said nothing, instead taking in the high-tech cabin. She had to admit the first few times she had been in a Sephian ship, she had also been inquisitive. Everything was so different from planes she’d flown. There were no keyboards of any kind. Every unused space was covered by smooth panels of dim screens. Sienna wouldn’t have been able to read them, let alone know they were computer screens versus just panels, without the drades. The ship was controlled by mental commands made through a band worn around the pilot’s neck. Legian swore the technology was simple, but when he tried to explain it to her, it sounded anything but.
Sienna stepped back with a sigh, dropping the blanket. She threw Legian a glare. “Fastening his shoulder harness is a pain in the butt with his hands tied. It’s not like he’s going anywhere.”
“Then don’t buckle him in.”
She brushed Legian off with a wave of her hands. “With Lea’s flying? Don’t think so.” After several more seconds of fumbling, she finally got the belt hooked.
Jax glanced down at his belt, as if he were brainstorming ways to get out of it, before his eyes turned back to the cockpit.
“Pretty impressive, isn’t it? The first time I was in one of these I didn’t get the chance to browse around much. I was too busy saving this big lug.” Sienna reached down, grabbed Legian’s face and pulled him to meet her kiss. She could kiss him every day for the rest of her life, and it would still curl her toes. She pulled away with a smile and picked up the blanket.
A cuss from under Jax’s breath interrupted them.
Her first instinct was to ignore him. Her second was more fun. “Behave or else I’ll take the drades back.”
“Drades?”
“Draeken night shades. I call them drades for short.”
“That’s the worst slang word I’ve ever heard,” the soldier replied.
“You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it.”
Jax replied with a grunt at the same time Legian rolled his eyes.
“So what do you think of them? The drades, I mean?” she asked.
“Impressive,” he replied, returning to his defensive one-word commentary.
“They were designed by the Draeken. Those guys came from a planet with a sun like ours, so they had to wear these all the time on Sephia, where there’s no sun. Only moons.”
“Sienna,” Legian scolded.
“What? It’s not like it’s classified information. Well, okay, maybe it is right now. Not that it should be. Jax needs to learn this stuff. We help him. He helps us. Quid pro quo.”
Legian lowered his head into his hands and muttered under his breath.
“And you’re lucky I’m crazy for you, too.” Sienna moved closer to Legian and leaned over to kiss his cheek. She’d been trying to learn Sephian, which was a darn tricky language, especially for someone who couldn’t even order a drink in Spanish. At least she’d picked up the important stuff. Cuss words. Lovey dovey words. And one she used quite often at the base: “Help. Where’s Legian?” Right now, Legian was giving a fair display of the Sephian language of the cussing persuasion.
Sienna sat down and buckled herself in, watching Legian in his colorful display. After he calmed down, the next few minutes carried on in uncomfortable silence. In fact, Sephian ships were so quiet she couldn’t even hear any engine noise. There was a slight vibration that always put her right to sleep. One thing was for sure. The Sephians were a few decades — or make that several centuries — ahead of human technology.
No one must’ve spoken the rest of the flight because she’d fallen asleep within minutes after take-off. It wasn’t until Legian nudged her awake that she realized they had landed.
Sienna unbuckled her belts, stood, folded the blanket, and stretched. “Yay. Hot bubble bath time.”
She unlatched Jax’s belts and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “It’s going to be fine. Trust me.”
With the look on his face, he didn’t.
She helped him to his feet, but Legian blocked the door. “Not yet. Let me speak with Apolo first.”
“Oh,” she said, suddenly frozen to the ground. “Good plan.”
With a quick kiss to her cheek, he and Nalea stepped out to greet Apolo, God’s gift to women and infected thorn in Sienna’s side. It seemed like everything she did pissed the guy off. And tonight was going to be a doozy. She really did try to behave around him. Most of the time.
Like usual, the Sephian leader wore the plain black Sephian uniform. No logos, decals, or emblems of any kind. There were no differences in uniforms. After being slaves for so long, it seemed like the Sephians wanted nothing to do with hierarchy. And so every uniform was identical. The only way to tell Apolo from any other Sephian soldier was the haughty air he carried. Being mated to the leader of Sephia tended to give a guy an ego boost. Being in a matriarchal society, he was male number one on Sephia. Except he wasn’t on Sephia right now. He was stuck leading a small rebel force on a small backward planet. At least that was how Apolo described it to Sienna once.
The guy was bad-tempered and gorgeous and militant. Only one of those traits she admired, so they didn’t hit it off that well. They had an unspoken agreement that had been working so far. Sienna stayed out of his way, and he stayed out of hers. Except, with five hundred or so Sephians in an underground labyrinth and her and Legian’s room two doors down from Apolo’s, she still managed to run into him several times a day. Legian claimed she did it on purpose. She didn’t. Much.
The Sephian women on the base flirted with him and followed him like a harem. He was their Johnny Depp. Not that he noticed. He only had eyes for the mission. That and his
tahren
. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he remained faithful to his mate, Krysea, who remained on Sephia. She’d stayed behind because she had an entire world to rebuild. And that made him all the more irresistible to women. Unattainable goodies always looked tastier.
How he could leave his
tahren
to lead a group to a faraway planet was beyond Sienna. The idea of being away from Legian for more than a day gave her chills just thinking about it. No doubt the distance was some of the reason why Apolo could win a pissy-attitude contest any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Today, he looked grumpier than usual, his brows furrowed. His dark hair, a touch longer than Legian’s, was mussed, likely from running his hands through his hair. His
soullare
covered his body and wrapped around one eye like small vines. It almost made him look like a pirate. And, even though she hated to admit it, he oozed raw sex appeal. No wonder he was snagged by the most powerful woman of the entire Sephian race.
Jax glanced uneasily at Sienna and then back to the gathering Sephian crowd. They watched in silence while Apolo spoke to Legian and Nalea, two members of his trinity. Every leader had a trinity — a trio of his closest advisors. As Legian’s
tahren
, Sienna had much of the same benefits, especially since the Sephians were a matriarchal society. There was some tradition behind the trinity. She hadn’t gotten that far yet in her studies.
They spoke for several minutes. She picked up a word here and there. Finally, Apolo placed a hand on Legian’s shoulder as he passed him and walked toward the ship, stopping at the ramp.
Sienna stepped forward, putting herself between Apolo and Jax.
Apolo tilted his head in her direction, and she gave a slight nod in return. She couldn’t read his face, and it made her nervous.
“It sounds like you had an interesting night. I’m glad to hear you are unharmed, and I look forward to the debrief. Now, please release our guest.”
Sienna hopped up like a good Sephian soldier, and unfastened Jax’s restraints. Interesting things. They worked similar to Chinese finger cuffs. Easy on. Impossible to get off without the right sequence of moves.
At first, Jax made no movement, other than to rub his wrists. When Apolo gestured for him to come forward, Jax cautiously stepped down the ramp to meet the Sephian face-to-face.
Apolo brought a hand to his heart. “Welcome to our base, Lieutenant.” His words were spoken in near-perfect English, with the slightest Sephian stilt. “I trust your trip was not too unpleasant. My people can be often overzealous in protecting that which is important. You may call me Apolo. I know your people have two names. My people do not. We refuse to wear the slave names given to our ancestors by the Draeken. In your language, my position is somewhat comparable to a general.”
The leader then gestured to the large hangar. “As you can see, this base is our ship, which we’ve burrowed into the landscape for anonymity. This is a temporary location until we can make more permanent arrangements with your people.”
Jax remained stoic, silent. Apolo continued. Sienna suspected the soldier still considered himself more of a prisoner of war than a visitor.
“We have much to learn from one another. In the meantime, as your people say, make yourself at home. I will see to it that you have access to anything you need.” He motioned to the third member of his trinity who stepped forward. “Commander Bente here will be your guide during your stay with us. First, he will see to it that you can communicate to your CO so that they are aware of the circumstances.”