Adrift (12 page)

The two glared uneasily at each other for a moment, the Doctor knowing how close she had come to being assaulted.
"I can do a temporary job on it or you can come to medbay and I can operate," she held up her hand and answered his questions before he could verbalize them.
"Yes, it will mean you'll be out of action for a few days but your body could use the rest.
The injury hasn't healed at all, no doubt you've been pushing yourself and it's kept reopening.
You could permanently lose the use of your arm if we don't do this now, Colonel," Nancy warned him.
She sprayed the still open wound with a disinfect and antibacterial before she sealed it with a dermal glue.

Norik waited for Nancy to take her seat before he addressed his staff.
"There appears to be a rogue element working in the Intelligence department of the Corps.
They have been conducting experiments, creating Humanoids that can kill with a thought.
The whistle blower was on the same transport as myself and has, I am presuming, been captured by the leader of this element."

Xon whistled but cut it off at the glare from his CO, "Sorry.
Pun.
You know me, can't help it.
Bad reflex.
I'll shut up now."

Nancy spoke up, "There are currently no telepathic species or people capable of killing like that.
I've encountered some powerful telepaths and the closest they could get to this would be to induce individuals to kill each other or themselves.
But that requires a lot of energy and concentration and well, a lack of morals."

"Genetic engineering," said Norik, "and training from birth."

Nancy frowned but nodded her head.
"I suppose that could work.
There would be a lot of trial and error and time.
If they are creating and growing them to adulthood while brainwashing them."

"I am told the weapons are intended to be children," said Norik.

"That's sick," Peter breathed.

"It'd be how I'd do it," Xon said, drawing the attention of everyone at the table.
"Children I mean.
No one would suspect them.
They're small and everywhere and no offense but you Humans seem to go ga-ga over them.
Rescue a kid and next thing you know a whole crew is wiped out."

"Could someone hit him, please?"
Nancy asked.
"Uncaring bastard."

"Well that's what they are," Xon continued and jumped out of his chair to avoid Peter.
"Intel are meant to be uncaring bastards.
They gather info and run covert ops and research all so we can have the upper hand whenever we have the next war."

"He has a point," Norik said.

Heartened, Xon continued, "If these guys are successful, then maybe a kid will be assigned to every ship in the Corps."

"They would require more maintenance than the usual ship's weapons," Vlad the weapons specialist added.

"Yeah but it'd also be a way to keep us all in check," said Xon.
"Just think about it.
How many ships have defected lately or turned traitor?
Would only take one telepathic weapon to take care of that.
The crew dies but the ship stays with the Corps."

"Thank you very much Mr.
Conspiracy Theory," Nancy hissed at him.
"It's people like you that give us a bad name."

"I don't mean you Nancy," Xon said and gave her a wink.
"Your telepathy makes you great in bed, doesn't make you a killer."

"Bastard," Nancy spat.
She reached into her medkit for something to throw at the cheeky Duarr.

Norik thumped his left fist down on the table and it made everyone jump.
"Enough," he told them.
"Space Corps command can decide what to do with this faction.
We will save Jasmine."

The fact that their Commanding Officer had adamantly stated they were to rescue a woman, a woman who was known to him by her first name, received more attention than his table thump had.

"There's a woman?"
Xon asked and slid back into the seat.
"You should have said there was a woman.
I vote yes."

"Yes to what?"
Nancy asked with a frown.

"Yes to the woman," Xon told her.
"Women are very thankful for being saved."

Peter groaned, Vlad didn't care and Nancy glared daggers at Xon.

"Very thankful," Xon repeated.
He turned to his CO and asked, "Is she hot?"

"Somebody hit him," said Norik.
"That is an order."

Jasmine rolled her head back and moaned as she lowered herself onto him.
Now that he was inside her, she could do this the right way.
It would be better, much better and when he lost control, she would takeover.
She rocked on him and smiled at his response.
He tried to suppress it but he wasn't fooling her.
One look at his face and his clenched fists were more than enough to show her how much he liked it.
But he fought her all the way, which made her frown.
He had to let go or she would never have him, not completely.
She rose up until he was barely in her and whispered, "Norik, look at me."

Norik who had sighed in relief when she had eased up on him, did as she requested.
They locked gazes for what seemed like an eternity.
"Why?"
he asked her.
Not why did she stop but why had she started.

She bit her lip and considered her answer, an action that made Norik tense.
He had no control over himself, she realized.
Not when she was near him.
She smiled sadly and told him, "Because I love you, Norik.
Everything about you.
And I want everything."
With that she shoved herself back down on him, hard and rode him for all he was worth.
And he was worth a lot.

Norik lost all control, like she knew he would, and thrashed under her.
The shackles were a nice touch, she decided when he snarled, because he couldn't reach her.

"Oh bravo," another male voice called out with contempt.

Jasmine's head whipped up and around as she tried to locate the intruder.

He stepped into the light and clapped his hands together slowly.
It was the General, "An excellent performance, my dear," he told her.
"But we both know there will be no happily ever after here."

She glared at him and considered releasing Norik so he could decapitate the bastard, but when she looked down to do so, he had gone.
She was left naked and alone on a cold metal slab.

"You killed him," the General whispered into her ear.
He dropped his hand onto her shoulder and squeezed it tightly.
"You tossed him out into the harshness of space without enough air.
I would be very surprised if his crew ever found him."

"I did not!"
Jasmine yelled and tried to wrench herself from his grip but he held fast and dug his nails in.

"Oh yes, you did," he drawled and pressed his nose into her hair.
"A fitting end though.
Alone in life, alone in death.
No blaze of glory for a Colonel in the Space Corps.
Did he not meet your expectations or do you like to get off on controlling men?"

Jasmine tried to free herself again.
As she pulled forward, he ripped the skin from her shoulder.
The same one Norik had left his brand on her.
"No," she whimpered.
"I saved him."

The General tossed aside her flesh and sighed, "If that is what will help you sleep at night.
Oh wait, it won't.
I have plans for you, my dear.
I'm afraid they don't include everything you've envisioned in your happily ever after.
There will be a child though, you just won't be around to see him grow into a nice, strong and very deadly little boy."

Jasmine whirled around to slap him but the man was fast and caught her wrist.
"I'll stop you," she said through clenched teeth.
"I'll stop you and I'll kill you."

He laughed.
"You've run out of expendable men to carry out your bidding," he told her.
"Besides, you don't need them.
I'm giving you a purpose to your life.
No other man has given you that.
Have they?"

She opened her mouth to argue with him but nothing came out.
Her brow furrowed as she desperately tried to think of someone who had.

"Shhh.
I know," he said and gently pushed her hair back behind her ear.
"Just lay back for me and I can make it all better."

Jasmine let him ease her back onto the table only it had turned in to a large canister that contained a goo of some kind.
It was magenta and billowed around her softly as she sunk into it.
Her startled eyes locked onto the General's and she belatedly answered his question.
"Norik."

The man in question had been forced to retire to his quarters.
It had been an epic battle but both his Second and the Doctor had overridden him and thrown their collective authority around.
They argued that he had undergone a harrowing ordeal over the past few days and needed to recover.
Norik had only agreed to bed rest after they had pointed out the logic in being rested for what might come next.
He would need his strength or he would be no use to Jasmine or anyone.

Nancy slipped out of Norik's quarters and glared at Xon who was waiting for her in the corridor.

"Well?"
Xon asked and leaned a shoulder against the wall next to her.
"Has he lost his mind?"

"Hardly," Nancy told the Duarr.
He was extremely close but she wasn't about to back off or show that he bothered her.
Not even when Xon reached out and twirled one of her blond curls around his finger.
Xon's species were dual-gendered but Xon felt more connected to his masculine gender.
"I think he's in love," she told him

Xon paused and stared at her openmouthed.
"Not Colonel Celibate," he said in obvious disbelief.

"Stranger things have happened," Nancy sniffed at him.

"Aw c'mon babe," he said and flashed her his winning smile.
"A Duarr makes one little mistake."

"Your
little
mistake had the biggest breasts I've ever seen on a woman," Nancy hissed at him and snatched her curl from his finger.

"I've seen bigger," Xon told her and belatedly realized that would never be the right response to a woman.
"I mean.
Argh!
We're supposed to be talking about the Colonel, not us."

"There is no
us
," she informed him matter-of-factly.
"And the Colonel needs to have his shoulder operated on, which is something we both know he won't consent to.
Not until after this situation is sorted."

Xon quit giving her the kicked puppy look when she got back to business and he knew she wouldn't buy it.
"Well he's relentless even when he's not in love," he pointed out.

"Something tells me this will be worse than usual," Nancy said.
She cast a worried glance over her shoulder to her Colonel's door.

"So we cover his ass and go along for the ride," Xon told her.
"Speaking of rides, guess what I'm thinking?"

Nancy slapped him, turned on her heel and headed for her medbay.
"Pig," she spat.

"She loves me," Xon said with a grin, "she really, really does."

Norik moved away from his door.
He knew they would be out there, his crew were so predictable, talking about him.
It was however comforting for him to know that they would be with him on this.
He had been making contingency plans for if he had to pursue this on his own.
The odds were more in his favor now, provided she was still alive.
Every fiber of his being told him that she was and his rational mind was in agreement.
This General would want to retrieve his specimen, not destroy it.
He would need a lab to do this, probably his own lab, which could be back on the planet Norik had left not even a week ago.
This reasoning was backed up by the fact that they were now headed in that direction.
Tactically speaking it would be better to stop the General while he was still in space and away from any other forces he might have at his disposal.
The odds of Jasmine surviving a fight in space though, were minimal.
For the first time Norik found himself unable to separate the person from the decision.
The Commanding Officer in him knew what to do, but the other part that he didn't even know existed before Jasmine, was vehemently against it.
Gone was Norik's cool impartiality to decision making and in it's place stood a part Lyrissian male who wanted to rip the head off the man responsible for taking his mate.
Even if technically she'd been the one to take herself away from him.
A thought that sat uneasily in the pit of his stomach, whenever it entered his mind.