A moment later, the ship burst free of the power-draining nebula, sliding into a thick, ion-rich energy field. Tarik powered down the thrusters and coasted.
“That’s better.” She released the grip she had on the console.
“We’re not through yet.” Green and purple mist surrounded the ship. This was where he flew blind, depending on BioOne’s sensors. Time seemed to stop. For several deafening minutes, the ship moved silently though the dense mist.
“Where are we?” Shon turned in a slow circle, her lips slightly parted, and her eyes wide. Iridescent colors swirled around them.
He wished he could say they were almost safe. “Wait.”
As the mist dissipated, they emerged into the heart of the Rincon. Tarik remembered the first time he’d entered the pocket of calm beauty. Landmasses of deep lush reds carved the planet’s surface surrounded by waters of pale blue and green. The planet supported life, but the remote, volatile location left it too isolated. There was evidence that peoples had visited the planet, but no one remained. A paradise too dangerous to call home had been abandoned, except to a group of rebels looking to avoid government detection.
“We made it.” She spun toward Tarik and smiled. “I never doubted you.”
Tarik snorted. “Don’t celebrate yet.”
“No one would be foolish enough to follow us. BioOne is small. No way could a Tri’Neith ship make it through.”
“You didn’t believe we’d make it though. Never underestimate your enemy.” He scanned the monitors, looking for heat signatures and space disruption. At the delta of the Rincon, there was always a ship positioned for reconnaissance. Not many ventured in, but those who did were detected before they could discover the rebellion stronghold on the planet’s surface.
“Where is the sentry?” BioOne had lost camouflage in the Rincon storm. No doubt his group knew of their arrival. “We aren’t expected. Where the fuck is Morry?” Once detected, he anticipated his brain to light up like a Darvanian holiday. He’d have more voices in his head than he could filter. Instead, all he heard was the warning bells of his own thoughts.
BioOne continued to scan the area. Suddenly port side, a battle cruiser uncloaked.
Tri’Neith.
“Shields!” Tarik’s heart rate spiked and icy fear slipped through his veins. “Shon, it’s about to get complicated.” The time had come. Tarik had to make a choice. “The only way to save you is for you to become my hostage. When we’re taken—and we will be taken—remember, I’m the enemy.” There was an equally good chance they’d be destroyed, but damn it, he wasn’t going to let that happen. This was his fault. He’d invested too much, letting her become too involved with the mission, with him. “If you have to, tell them everything.” She needed to do whatever she had to do protect herself.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” she snapped, her voice growing stronger, more determined. “Prepare for battle.”
“What?” He jerked his gaze in Shon’s direction. Hair tumbled forward, obscuring her face as she bowed her head to strap spare energy clips to her thigh. A pulse gun at her hip only slightly distracted from the vision of her shadowed pussy.
She flipped up, throwing her hair back. A wild exotic warrior of silk and sex. “You worry about flying BioOne and getting us out of here. And if anyone transports onto this ship, they’ll be disintegrated before they can take a single breath.”
He admired her tenacity, but she had no idea what aligning herself with Tarik and his group would mean for her life. He lived in the shadows, fighting a battle he would never truly win. “Shon, the way I live is no life for you. When you stepped onto BioOne, you had no idea what you were getting involved in. Today, tomorrow, there is only one end for me and it isn’t going to be victory and glory.”
His destiny was determined the day he merged biological and machine, creating BioOne. He’d see BioOne destroyed before he let the Tri’Neith take her.
She crossed to him and poked her finger into his chest. “I know you better than you think I do. You don’t think you need me, but you do. Thank god, BioOne is smart enough to know that. I’m not debating my choice. You may not care what happens to me or the ship, but I do. And I care what happens to you.”
She was wrong. He cared too much. “The choice isn’t yours.”
“No, the choice isn’t yours. Captain, do you have a plan?”
“Fuck.” He turned back to BioOne’s controls. “Devising one.” Tightness gripped his chest. He shouldn’t want this, want her. But damn him, he didn’t want to let her go either.
Another Tri’Neith ship uncloaked.
“Tarik, another ship.”
“I know. Take the captain’s chair. BioOne’s weapons are at the ready.” Fear of battle wasn’t making his hands tremble as they glided over the controls. Knowing Shon was at his side had adrenaline surging through his system. “You want to fight for BioOne?”
“Not just BioOne. I’m fighting for you.” Her eyes narrowed. “I’m taking command of my own future. So get us out of here.”
“Yes, Captain.” Taking his gaze away from her flushed cheeks, sultry smile, and tempting body, he refocused on the mission.
Tarik!
This time the panicked voice wasn’t Shon but ricocheted through his mind.
Morry!
The communication synapses in his head hummed with activity.
Answering, he said, “We’re in trouble. I’ve got two Tri’Neith battle cruisers about to take down BioOne. I’ve got a hostage, but I don’t know how much value she holds for them.” To him, she was quickly becoming more valuable.
Shon lunged out of the chair. “Who are you talking to?” She took two menacing steps toward him, hand resting on the pulse gun at her hip. “I’m not a hostage.”
Feisty, isn
’
t she? Who is she, Tarik?
“I’ll explain later.” He meant the words for Morry, but Shon assumed he spoke to her. She nodded and remained at the ready for battle.
I do believe I detect something different. How much significance does she hold for you?
He stared hard at Shon. Brave, beautiful—perfection standing there in a translucent sex slave outfit with a blaster at her side. His cock warmed with the memory of her trim legs banded around his hips. “I’m in trouble. Where are you?”
You
’
re in more trouble than you think, my friend. Lower your shields.
“Negative. We’re compromised.” Why hadn’t the ships fired? With a few strategic blasts, they could neutralize BioOne. Think. There were always options. Not always good options, but options.
These aren
’
t Tri’Neith anymore. They
’
re ours.
“What?”
We captured a few Tri’Neith ships.
“How?”
“Tarik?” Shon’s voice wavered.
A shiver crawled along Tarik’s spine. He shook his head at Shon and put a finger to his lips. Something wasn’t right and that meant something was wrong. He didn’t want to divulge any information on Shon or BioOne. The government ships hadn’t fired or revealed themselves as rebellion. One or the other should have happened.
We
’
re here to get you and BioOne to safety. Lower BioOne
’
s shields.
“I’m weeks early for the rendezvous.”
I
’
m assuming you had trouble or you wouldn
’
t be here. We weren
’
t expecting you. We
’
ve scanned the corridor. You weren
’
t followed. You
’
re safe. Lower your shields.
“Visual.”
Morry didn’t respond for a moment.
Not possible. BioOne is blocking our transmission.
Tarik verified with BioOne. They had sustained damage navigating into the Rincon, losing camouflage and cloaking. However, all other systems appeared to be operational.
Lower your shields, Tarik.
With a slide of his hand, he instructed BioOne to scan the ships.
“Why haven’t you lowered yours?”
Because I didn
’
t want your little project firing on us before we were able to make contact.
“Tarik, what’s going on? Why haven’t they fired on us?” Shon stood next to him, watching the monitors.
“They aren’t Tri’Neith.”
Her brows furrowed. “Then who are they?”
“Morry and others from my group.”
She smiled and released a gush of breath. “Finally, we’re safe. BioOne is safe.”
He gave her a soft smile, but he couldn’t keep the worry from his face. “I’m in communication with my team. We’re just ascertaining the situation.”
There is nothing to ascertain. What the fuck is going on, Tarik?
Nervousness laced Morry’s words, confirmation enough for Tarik to form a contingency plan.
“No, all power to shields. BioOne sever communication. Find a way to break the mental links.”
“Tarik, what are you doing?”
“Trusting my gut.” The Tri’Neith had to have overtaken his men. “Morry and the others have been compromised.” And if they had, the government would soon know Shon wasn’t a hostage. She’d made mistakes, and so had he. But he wouldn’t make another. Somehow, he’d find a way to save them and Shon, but he couldn’t if he let BioOne be captured. “This isn’t what it seems. I have communication networks in my head, and they’ve been reestablished.” Now neither his thoughts nor his spoken words were his own. “Everything I know, Morry knows. If they haven’t yet, the Tri’Neith will soon have the information they need to take us and BioOne.”
“Oh, god.” Her hands covered her mouth. “Then this is a trap. You were right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made contact. I never listen.”
“You’re a reporter. It’s in your DNA to be a pain in the ass. None of this is your fault. I’m sorry I brought you into this.”
“I brought myself in. From the first, you told me I could go back to spaceport.”
“You should have taken me up on my offer. A float back would be better than what we’re facing now.”
“For the first time, I feel like I’ve found a purpose worth fighting for. I’m not leaving you.”
BioOne revealed a path to sever the neuro links. “Sever them,” Tarik confirmed, hating that every moment he was connected to his group put them at greater risk.
Tarik, No
! Morry demanded.
Lower your shields.
“BioOne, now!”
A wave of dizziness muddied his thoughts.
“Tarik, what are you doing. Tarik!” Then he no longer heard Morry’s denials, only Shon’s terror-laced voice. Scorching heat blazed through his limbs, radiated up his torso, and burned into his head. Hotter and hotter. The intensity stripped conscious thoughts. He heard Shon’s screech as the blistering pain took his breath and his awareness. Blackness encroached, and he slumped to the floor.
Chapter Six
Shit. Shit. Shit!
“Tarik, oh god.” Tarik’s eyes were closed, his jaw tight, and veins swelled with blood, tracked across his forehead. His back arched as his muscles tensed. “BioOne, what is happening?”
Red flushed Tarik’s neck and crept into his face. His mouth pulled into a sneer. Whatever was happening had to be excruciatingly painful.
Tears filled her eyes. “Help him.” An impossible plea. Nothing could be done as BioOne fried Tarik’s mind. “You’re hurting him.”
I’m saving him.
The message was from BioOne.
“Hurry, I can’t do this alone. I need him. You need him.”
The monitors fluctuated. Shon spun away from Tarik, jumped up, and rushed to the control panel. Static transmitted over the com. “No!” She couldn’t be seen or heard. They couldn’t know the captain was down. An image began to appear. “Do not let them gain visual,” she instructed BioOne. “Scramble the signal. No visual. No audio.”
“32D,” she hollered.
32D strode onto the bridge. The sultry robot had lost her swivel. Functional, mechanical movements brought her to Shon’s side. With the right programming, 32D could be a valuable asset, good for more than augmenting sex.
“Monitor his vitals,” she said, indicating Tarik. “Heart rate, temperature, respiration.”
With 32D watching Tarik, she could devote more of BioOne’s resources to getting them the hell out of there. What would Tarik do if he wasn’t down? He’d look for weakness and search for a contingency plan. They would never survive a direct battle. They couldn’t outrun the ships, and if they could, where the hell would they go? If she could get Tarik to the planet’s surface, maybe she could hide, but that would leave BioOne vulnerable. Tarik would never do that. Even if she could get to the surface, Tri’Neith soldiers might be there to greet them. Tarik had seemed sure his group had been compromised.
She chewed her bottom lip. They couldn’t hide, and they couldn’t escape. Think, damn it, there had to be a way out. “Can you reverse? Take us back toward the delta?” Maybe they could get out the same way they got in. “Slow at first, but be ready to punch it when necessary.”
Power surged through BioOne, vibrating into Shon like the waiting power at the base of a pent-up dam. Any moment the dam would burst. Shon stared at the monitor, watching the Tri’Neith ships surround BioOne. “Prepare for evasive measures. If one of those ships fire, return fire and race for the passage.”
Their only hope was drawing the Tri’Neith ships into the nebula. BioOne was small and maneuverable. The war ships would be at a disadvantage.
Tarik moaned, writhing on the floor. “Is he waking?” She wanted to go to him but couldn’t risk leaving the controls. “He looks better.” His color was returning to normal, and the lines of his face softened. Movement behind his eyelids showed he was beginning to gain consciousness. “Tarik,” she said with a commanding voice. “Damn it, you are going to learn to take orders. Wake up.”
Please, I need you.
He moaned again. BioOne continued to retreat toward the opening of the nebula. We’re almost there. Fear rippled over her, and her nerves sizzled as if electrified. She was afraid, afraid for Tarik, afraid for herself, and afraid the ships were going to blast BioOne into a million pieces of biological and mechanical space bits.
A streak of light blazed through space and arched across the bow. “BioOne, get us out of here.” The government ship fired again, striking the hull. Lights flickered. If they had wanted to inflict real damage they could have. The Tri’Neith were making demands without uttering a single word.