Her thoughts returned to Kam, and she felt moisture between her thighs. “Forget about him!” She refused to acknowledge any connection between herself and the Xylon Warrior. She couldn’t possibly have feelings, sexual or otherwise, for a man she couldn’t trust. “Nothing but a dream—a fantasy.”
A clunking sound echoed inside the ship. Halah Shirota’s gaze flew toward the hatch of her downed and disabled flight vessel. Someone, or something, wanted inside…
“Nextor 66678, you are ordered to return to the docking terminal immediately,” a female voice crackled over the orbiter’s communication system. “L-SACS has just declared a Code Orange Alert. Personal transports are no longer cleared for interplanetary travel. PTOs have been restricted to hover level only. All atmospheric and space lanes are now closed, except to fighter-status vessels.”
“They’ve got us on tracking,” Pitch Pantera relayed into the back of the personal transport orbiter. “A Code Orange. Shit! We need to head back before the planet goes Red. Changing course now.”
“Hold that change!” Kam hustled into the pilot’s seat. L-SACS was the Lair Security Auto-Command System, a computerized system which monitored space, air, ground, and underground activity. With few personnel left, he’d hoped Xylon, and L-SACS, wouldn’t bother with the departure of one small ship. He certainly hadn’t expected a Code Orange to be issued…yet. What lousy timing!
A Code Orange meant not only an impending enemy strike, but also a major breach in the Lair itself—the underground headquarters from where the men and women commissioned to protect the planet lived and maintained Xylon’s security. He’d known the alert was imminent, but had hoped for more time. If the planet went Red, that meant war. “Stay on course. We’re not turning back.”
“If a strike occurs, Xylon is going to need all the fighters it can get. You know the Lair lost most of its high-level pilots in the last uprising. If we don’t turn back, we’ll be tagged as defectors.” Pitch fed a sequence of numbers into the navigation and tracking system. “Damn it! There they are, on the echo screen. Look. Enemy fighters from Marid just beyond Xylon’s outer boundaries. Out of range, but positioning.”
“Strap in.”
With a grumble, Pitch pulled a security strap tightly across his chest. “Kam—”
“We are
not
turning back. Stay out of the tracking field of those fighters. Eject a target-decoy drone-bot to draw them away from us if they get too close. And bring our weapons online.” No matter what, he intended to follow the orders he’d received and complete this mission.
“If Xylon is taken by Daegal and the Egesa Slave Masters, it’s all over, Kam. Not just for Xylon. For the whole system. Maybe even beyond. You know that. We can’t leave the planet when they need us.” A sharp beep broke into their conversation.
“Ship’s weapons armed,” an electronic female voice announced.
“Weapons confirmed. The computer is now changing our angle of ascent for maximum shielding. Do you want to continue on this heading or…” Pitch let the sentence hang.
“We’re leaving. If you don’t like it, feel free to step out.”
“Step out. Funny. If the ship had an escape pod, I’d take you up on it, Nextor.”
Ignoring Pitch’s comment, Kam checked their fuel and laser capacity. Average at best. The ship was capable of defense, but not supplied for a major conflict. A personal transport orbiter was no match for a fully-armed fighter.
He’d been delayed longer than expected in the Lair, or they would have been out of orbit before the alert was issued and personal transports grounded. He cursed under his breath, and his frustration level built to a point he rarely experienced. He winced from the pain. The additional pain, from the continual pounding in his head, didn’t help.
The health problems that plagued him due to his half-Xylon, half-Tamarian genetics drove him almost over the edge of sanity at times, and this was one of those times. He’d confiscated vials of formula from the Chief Healer’s quarters before leaving.
Unauthorized formula. He rubbed his temple. He needed one of those specially designed shots now, but he couldn’t take the time to administer it. They needed to get clear of the planet and any Marid fighters first.
Down in the Lair, Pantera had caught him taking the medication. He’d had to think fast to stop from being put into a security hold. He wouldn’t have survived in isolation for long in his current state. Soon he’d acquire more effective medicine, and he wouldn’t have to suffer like this any longer. Then there was the power promised him…
He’d managed to convince Pitch to come with him. He knew the man had only agreed to keep quiet, and ultimately decided to join him, because Josella was involved in a roundabout way. The Warrior had developed a soft spot for the young woman and felt responsible for her welfare, having secured her in his custody, then losing her, several months ago on the Sand Moon. A failed mission looked bad on his record. He wanted to make good on the failure and return her to Xylon if at all possible. For himself, and for her own safety. Since the orbiter was headed to the Sand Moon, this partnership worked well for them both.
“Nextor 66678, ground-to-space lasers are now armed. Respond, or we will open fire.”
“Damn it,” Pitch replied. “No matter my personal feelings, I should have stopped you from doing this and turned your butt in to the Security Chief. I know better.”
“You
are
the Security Chief.”
“Oh, yeah.” A half-smile crossed his face. “I’m still not used to that damn position.
Tara Koll never should have been demoted. I liked being her Assistant Chief much better. Fewer e-reports to file.”
“Tara needs to learn to control her temper.”
“She needs to distance herself from her brother. The Council has not been making rational decisions lately, in my opinion, and they only stripped her rank down because of their ongoing vendetta against Torque for refusing to become a Dispenser and for him torching that training facility. Her constant defense of him killed any sympathy they may have had for her situation when she got brought up on disciplinary charges for disobeying orders.”
“That’s probably true.” Kam nodded in agreement. A Xylon Dispenser was the equivalent of one of Marid’s Pain Masters. A torture specialist, who tracked down and interrogated operatives and criminals working against the current powers in charge. He couldn’t blame Torque for refusing. Very few Warriors possessed the stomach for that sort of work. The man’s respectability had jumped several notches in Kam’s mind after he’d told the Xylon Council what they could do with their
offer
. Unfortunately, he’d been banished to the Sand Moon for his insolence and subsequent actions. Now back on Xylon after serving only part of his sentence, Torque continued to test the Council’s patience. As did Tara with her continual defiance of regulations.
“This is your last warning, Nextor 66678. Respond.”
“We’re both going to end up dead. Why don’t we at least acknowledge their transmission? Explain to them what we’re doing. Even if we’re not authorized, at least they won’t shoot us down. They can contact Erik to get us the needed clearance. Let’s do this right.” When an alarm blared, Pitch called up a screen on his side panel. “L-SACS weapons are locking on.”
Kam couldn’t outdistance the ground-to-space lasers in time, but he had an alternate plan. First, he adjusted their heading to take them even farther from the Marid fighters’ flight zone. Though once they neared the moon, they’d need to return to their preprogrammed and pre-cleared coordinates before landing, or moon defense would flag the orbiter as a security risk and turn them back with their own Flight Guard Fleet.
“Kam? What about contacting Erik?”
Erik Rhodes, the Lair’s leader after Braden Koll disappeared, couldn’t help them now. Besides, Pitch didn’t know the real truth behind this mission. And Kam couldn’t tell him. “You know if we reply or send any sort of message, Command will lock on to the signal and bring us down by auto-control. This mission cannot be scratched.”
“Yeah? How about telling me what this damn mission is really about then, so I know what I’ve gotten myself into?”
“I already told you. The mission is an IDR, and I can’t say anything more.” An IDR
was an infiltrate, destroy, and recover mission. That covered a lot of ground, but he couldn’t be more specific. The more people who knew, the more likely failure became.
He almost wished he’d never been made privy to the knowledge he was acting upon.
By the fates, if he’d been lied to… “Feed code 24-138 into Xylon’s main, internal weapons computer.”
“What’s that?”
“Our salvation.” Provided by a man he wasn’t even sure he could trust. He’d been told too much, without enough time to digest all the information thoroughly. So right now, he was working purely on instinct, hoping his actions didn’t cost lives in the process.
* * * * *
Lair of Xylon
“Kill that alarm!” Torque Koll shouted, as he rushed into Command Center, still disheveled from the fuck he’d been in the middle of when the warning sounded. “What the hell is going on?” His gaze immediately went to the security board.
“We’ve got a Code Orange issued by L-SACS,” Tara, his twin, responded. She flipped a switch on a nearby panel, and the room fell silent. “Xylon is under attack, internally and externally.”
Shit
. “From Daegal?” He made the assumption immediately, since Daegal was their nearest, strongest, and most-likely enemy.
“Affirmative.”
With the help of the Egesa Slave Masters, Torque knew Daegal wanted to extinguish or enslave all Xylons. Once no Warriors remained to protect the system, he could take control of the quadrant, then expand his empire to more systems, enslaving the inhabitants, planet by planet, until he reigned supreme. Daegal had never tried to keep his intent secret. Only the man’s timing was unknown.
“We’re not prepared.” Their security and operational forces sat at less than half strength right now. Evidence of that hit him squarely in the face, for he and Tara were the only two Warriors in Command Center. Torque slid into a metal chair and pulled up his information screens. Multiple system problems registered immediately, ranging from simple malfunctions to complete failures.
Damn
. This was not good. “Where’s Eric? He’s in charge. Get his ass down here.”
“Eric is gone.”
Torque swiveled around and looked at his sister.
Gone
? When she said nothing further, he barked, “What do you mean gone? Explain that,” not believing Tara had really meant what she’d said.
“He’s disappeared. So has Leila.”
No fucking way
! Leila was Erik’s mate, though only a few select Warriors knew about their joining. They’d gone against the Xylon Council’s orders, and Erik had branded the Class 3 Warrior as his in a private ceremony, with no witnesses and no official record of the rite. Leila was also the Lair’s Chief Healer. Her disappearance would greatly compromise med-care. And now with Erik gone—one of only a few Class 1 Warriors remaining on planet—their whole leadership system could crumble.
“Why wasn’t I informed?”
“I’m informing you.”
He grunted. “Status on locating them?”
“We’re searching, but nothing yet.”
“Our last three leaders and their mates have disappeared within a short amount of time, relatively speaking. Coincidence?”
“Doubtful. I’ll keep you informed as I learn more, but I don’t have anything to report as of yet. We only know that Erik and Leila are missing and have been for several hours.”
“Several hours? Why wasn’t an alert issued?”
“It was, but only for certain personnel.”
Meaning, not him. “Great.” Torque frowned and turned back to his screens. He checked the atmospheric tracking data on his panel, looking for abnormalities, as per procedure during a Code Red. “Since when do we heed regulations with each other, Tara?”
“Sorry. I beeped you as soon as the Code Orange was issued. My hands were tied before that. Brianna was breathing down my neck. She’s in charge of the Lair now, officially, except she left to check out a security issue and got trapped down in the Initiation Chambers. After the doors sealed, cutting her off, and systems all over the Lair began destabilizing, the code sounded.”
“Communication with her?”
“Sporadic.”
He swore under his breath. Brianna was their younger sister and twin to Braden.
Braden and his mate, Alexa, had disappeared several months ago under mysterious circumstances. That’s when Erik had taken over. Now with Erik gone too, Brianna was next ranking officer.
She had worked her way up the chain of command over him and Tara. She took her status, position, and duty more seriously than any female Warrior he’d ever worked with. Though he disagreed with her on many issues, he respected her greatly. “Send an engineering team down there to cut her out. Send her personal security team, too. We need her protected once she’s freed.”
“Already handled. Her team accompanied her down to the chambers when she went, but she got trapped on the other side without them.”
“Why was her team already assembled before the alert sounded?” Personal security teams didn’t serve duty on a day-to-day basis. Only during a high alert.
“They were conducting a training exercise, so she took them with her when we spotted the possible problem. They’ve been ordered to wait there until she’s out and to see her safely back to Command. Engineers are already down there working to get her free.”
“Good.”
“Also Kam Nextor appears to be fleeing the planet. We have him on tracking.
Check your L90. He refuses to answer or return. We don’t know for certain that it’s actually him up there though. Someone may have stolen his personal transport. I really can’t believe he’d defect. However, I can’t locate him in the Lair, and no reports exist of his presence on Xylon’s surface.”
Torque checked the L90 sector on his screen. “Fuck. His personal tracking chip would identify his location, then we’d know without a doubt. All of our people’s locations could be determined, if they were within range. But that shitty system is still down!” And every time the tracker did reengage, the system never stayed online for long. At birth, every upper-class Xylon—Warriors and Breeders, for the most part—
received an implant in their brain, used for tracking their location. A handy technology and often used, but highly unstable as of late.
“I know. We’ve run every diagnostic we can. The techs are continuing to try debugging procedures, but finding a solution any time soon is not looking good.”
“Has the Lair actually been breached by the Egesa or just plagued by malfunctions?”
“You mean sabotage.”
Sabotage
. He repeated the word to himself, finding the reality hard to believe. Any Warrior who gave one of their enemies, especially Daegal, the information they’d need to carry out such a plan against them guaranteed their own execution, if caught. “Yeah, I mean sabotage.”
“I haven’t picked up any definite Egesa genetics, but the equipment might not be fully functional, given the circumstances. A possible hit registered earlier, which is what Brianna and her team went to check out. Agents could be here as well, Torque. Probably are, actually. Without our tracking system fully-functioning, there’s no way to weed them out from true Warriors.”
Agents—former Warriors who’d defected to serve Daegal. Those men and women sickened Torque. He flipped on his communication panel. “Nextor, if you don’t respond, we’re shooting your ass down.” He flipped the comm to mute. Kam always had been the loner of the group. Still, Torque didn’t believe the man had defected.
Something else was going on. Kam always kept secrets, which usually didn’t play out well as far as Torque was concerned. And he was certain this time would prove no different. “Disable him, but don’t destroy the ship.”
“Unable to do so. Our ground-to-space lasers started malfunctioning a few minutes ago.”
“Bring him down by—”
“We can’t bring him down by auto-control without a direct signal feed, so don’t ask me to do so.”
As usual, Tara remained one step ahead of him. “What proof do we have that the breaches have been caused by Daegal’s people?” He didn’t doubt Daegal was behind this, but he wanted all the information Tara had gathered on the situation.
“L-SACS is tracking a squadron of Marid fighters just outside our outer boundary.
No hostile movement yet, but just the fact that they’re there, combined with the possible Egesa picked up in the Lair earlier—”
“Yeah, all right. Get our fighters up. How many do we have? And how many do they have?”
“Working on it. I’ll send numbers to your terminal in a few minutes. They’re attempting to cloak, so it’s difficult to pinpoint exacts. And we have more ships than pilots, so actual numbers aren’t matching our system records.”
“Once they’re up, have one of our fighters check on Kam’s ship. Where’s Pitch Pantera? I need him to report on the Lair’s border security, and to assign teams to our vulnerable areas.”
“Disappeared also. I’ve already done the team assignments. I know those men and women better than anybody.”
Yes, she did. Tara had been the Class 1 Security Chief for the last two years before being demoted to a Class 2, and then to a Class 3, and removed from her station. He felt bad for his sister. She hadn’t been treated fairly. He supposed she was lucky not to have been completely stripped of rank.
Already not the Council’s favorite Warrior, when the Council refused to issue a search order for Braden, believing he’d left of his own free will, Tara had dug herself into an even deeper hole. She overtly disobeyed orders, splitting her teams into search parties, instead of working secretly like the rest of the Warriors trying to locate Braden and Alexa. She also had a devil of a temper on her and wouldn’t listen to anyone when they’d tried to dissuade her actions, but still… Overall, she knew her job and performed her duties well, in his opinion.
The Council had taken great joy in punishing him, for not complying with their orders to assume the duties of a Dispenser, but at least they hadn’t stripped him of his Class 1 status, although officially he could no longer command. Unofficially, he’d taken charge in more than one situation and would continue to do so whenever he felt it necessary. “Hell, is anybody left?”
“Yeah, the Council members—some of them, at least. I’ve been informed they’ll be convening shortly regarding our alert status and will compile their suggestions for our response.”
Torque snorted. Sometimes those asses seemed more of an enemy to the operation of the Lair and the survival of Xylon than any external force. “I can hardly wait.”
* * * * *
Brianna smashed her hand against the large steel door. She’d gotten separated from her security team and trapped in the Initiation Chambers, following what looked like an Egesa signal on her handheld tracker. “Damn it. Get this thing open!” she yelled into the comm system. She didn’t even know if the engineering team could hear her.
Communications kept going out.
She checked the power on her vid-cell for the third time. Still showing interference, so she couldn’t even use her private comm device.
A Code Orange. She needed to get back up to Command Center. Torque had probably taken over—she knew her brother. But if the Council found out she was trapped, one of them would assume command since Torque was no longer cleared to give orders. Then everything would really go to hell. The only remaining Council members were stiff old men, politicians who thought they knew better than any Warrior how to run security operations.
“Brianna!” a female tech yelled, running down the corridor toward her.
The woman looked desperate, her emotions clearly showing on her face. What now? They didn’t need any more problems. “Report?”
The tech took a breath before speaking. When she did start to explain, her words came out haltingly. “There’s trouble…with…an Initiation.”
Brianna heaved a sigh of relief, not overly concerned with that type of problem. “I have more important issues to deal with at the moment. Handle the situation yourself.”
Initiations of Warriors and Breeders were important, but not as important as the survival of the Lair and Xylon’s security.
“This is a high-priority Initiation. The situation is serious. Possibly life-threatening.”
“Life-threatening?” Hell, she’d better check on the status and find out what was going on. They needed every Warrior they could get, even a newly-initiated one, to be healthy and able to fight. She followed the tech to one of the five Initiation Chambers and looked inside the observation portal. A tall, muscular, and very naked man was going berserk, throwing things around the room and yelling.
“What happened?” She admired the stranger’s physique and wondered who he was.
“He’s having a negative reaction to the Initiation chemicals.”
“Did you allow too much time to pass after the chemicals were administered?” The chemicals enhanced desire to aid in the completion of the Lair’s Sexual Initiation Rite. If the initiate wasn’t adequately sated in a timely manner, his or her mind could snap, causing insanity or even death.
“Not at all. When the chemicals should have been taking effect, increasing his sexual desire, that’s when he started going crazy. The reaction was immediate. We, um, did a liquid ingestion, instead of the normal transfer.”
“What? Why?” The normal transfer was oral, but from a chemical coating, not a liquid. Their Healers had searched for alternate ways to administer the chemicals in the past, but nothing worked as effectively as the old ways, so they’d relented. The Lair’s Initiation Ceremony was an ancient rite—a protection and bonding ceremony, full of tradition and very powerful—not to be changed or altered in the name of progress.
The tech handed her the man’s file. “You better read this.”
She flipped on the handheld device and quickly scanned the file.
What the fuck
? She glanced back at the man in the room. “He’s from Earth?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Why the hell are we initiating an Earth man?” They initiated Earth women for breeding purposes, those with the proper DNA, but never men. This didn’t make sense.
Although Xylon Warriors, males and females, were initiated to protect them from sexually-transferred diseases and poisons, this man wasn’t a Xylon Warrior. From his records, he didn’t seem to have any Xylon blood in him at all. Not that was noted in the e-file, anyhow.