AwayTeam (16 page)

Emerson was gone.

"Braden! Kale!" Ely finally managed, still running as fast as his legs could carry him toward the alien engine.

"What's up, Ely?" Braden questioned.

But Ely couldn't answer.

The tower had been smashed, the twisting, turning light within it no longer present. Emerson must have been able to force himself out of his prison once the holding field or whatever it was had dissipated when the engine had lost power. He was filled with delight at such a thing until he saw Emerson upon the floor at the front of the machine. His heart sank and his stomach turned unlike anything he had experienced in his life.

He came to his boyfriend, kneeling beside him, cradling his head in his arms. Emerson was covered in blood. His hands were cut and he was unconscious. "Sonny! Oh, fucking hell, Sonny!" was all Ely could manage through quivering lips. He kissed his boyfriend on his forehead, tasting his blood. He didn't care. All he wanted more than anything in the universe was for his Emerson to be all right.

"What is it, Ely?" Kale called out. Again, Ely was disturbed from his thoughts.

Ely stammered, but said, "Sonny's been hurt."

With those words, the light being directed from the other side of the room was extinguished. Scintillating stars invaded Ely's vision. He knew that Braden and Kale had let go of the reflector and were now running toward him. Their footfalls echoing throughout the engine bay more than enough proof of that.

Emerson's eyelids flicked open. "I told it too much. I couldn't help…it, my beautiful Ely. They know…all about us and unless…we can get out of here and…destroy this ship, they will come. They will…come and…kill us all. We have…" He then returned to his unconscious state.

Before Ely could question the meaning of his boyfriend's words, many hands came to grab them. Braden and Kale had arrived. Thank God.

Ely was pulled up onto his feet. He glanced at the engine. It was coming back to life. Starting at the base, the energy the ship must use caused the glass to blink back into existence, the many colours beautiful yet ominous at the same time. Ely wouldn't imagine that they would have long to get out of the disease ship before it was back up to full capacity, able to take another one of them for the engine. He even saw the glass of the tower begin to repair itself, the cracks melding to a smooth surface once more.

"We'd better get the fuck out of here before the engine can take one of us again." Kale said, reiterating Ely's thoughts to perfection. "Then we'll be back to square one."

Ely was shepherded toward the flower-like door. The thing was closing.

"Fuck!" Braden screamed. He was carrying Emerson in a fire-man's hold. The man was a wall of muscle anyway, so such a thing wouldn't have been too much of a bother for him under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, this wasn't a normal situation, far from it. Running with a burden wasn't easy, the strain on his face clear.

They had to run with all their might if there were ever going to get out of here, away from the alien machine that had captured Emerson. The thing was, Ely knew now after what Emerson had said, that the ship would try and capture one of them once more. Seemed it needed a human component to the engine, used by the machine to gain an advantage over the enemy.

Ely glanced at the reflector. No wonder Braden had said the metal was getting hot. It was a melted, molten mess on the floor. The light had been intensified to such a point that it destroyed their efforts, the reflector no longer able to function. Seemed the light being there wasn't a blessing as they had first thought. Perhaps it was there to test the intelligence of whatever species the alien disease ship had been sent to disable. He shuddered at that thought, unable to help feeling like a lab rat in some sort of sick experiment.

"Run!" Kale yelled at the top of his lungs.

The flower-like door was almost shut. But then, Kale did something Ely wouldn't have thought of even if he tried. He unholstered his weapon and fired. The engine room filled with the sound of shattering glass. The door destroyed enough so that they could pass through it.

Again, Ely saw the glass repair itself. That in itself sparked his curiosity. No metal or glass he could think of could do that, not by human design, anyway. The alien technology here was simply awesome. He couldn't help himself. As he passed through the hexagonal door, he plucked a piece of the broken glass up from the floor and stuffed it into his pocket. He'd want to study that later, when Emerson was back to normal, safe and sound in his arms, of course.

They dashed through many corridors, Kale guiding the way. He held the portable comm panel, using it like a directional finder pointing toward the shuttle. The glass rooms they encountered seemed to be more intense. Many times they had to avoid beams of light. One or two coming so close, breathing in while pressed against a wall the only way to avoid being plucked up and sent into the heart of the engine. Ely swallowed hard at their last narrow escape. Seemed to him the disease ship was pulling out all stops to make sure they didn't get away. Or testing them some more.

Finally, and with Kale shooting his way through the hexagonal flower-like door, the shuttle came into view. Ely turned to look behind him. He couldn't hear Braden's laboured breathing anymore. Braden looked terrible. He was sweating like a Martian piglet at high noon, his hair plastered to his forehead. But he still held Emerson, still ran as best he could toward the shuttle and their escape, even though his pace had slowed.

The man was magnificent.

"Did you want me to take over?" Ely asked, waiting for Braden to come close to him.

He just shook his head in reply.

No more needed to be said between them. But Ely came behind Braden, pushing up on Emerson to try and lighten the load Braden bore. Emerson was no better, looking worse now that the blood had dried and caked on his perfect white skin.

"Quick. Into the shuttle." Kale shouted from up ahead. "We don't have much time."

"Why not?" Braden wheezed.

"The hangar bay doors are closing."

Chapter Nineteen

No formalities were observed once all were inside the shuttle. Kale gunned the engine, zooming as fast as the shuttle could take them out of the hangar bay, not even worrying about lift-off thrusters. Main engines were fired and that was that. The shuttle came within millimetres of the closing doors. Well, Ely assumed it was close, a couple of jolts, ones that rattled every housing around them, evident that they had probably lost a sensor dish or communications array.

Still, Ely had Emerson back and that's all that mattered in the here and now. They were all in the cockpit. Commander Okinawa had taken up the only cot in the shuttle's med bay, so Braden had pulled a bed from one of the cabins so Emerson could be as comfortable as possible. Ely soothed his forehead, brushing his hands across his skin, whispering encouragement to him.

Emerson stirred once they were in space. He opened his eyelids, those deep, brown eyes of his distant and dull. "Destroy it…destroy….it." He then slipped back into unconsciousness.

"I heard that," Kale said.

The communication screen shimmered into existence above the co-pilots station. It was fuzzy, static filling the image. Seemed they
had
lost a communication antenna during their escape. No matter. They were all alive and out of there. That was the main thing.

The captain's face wobbled as the link between the
Mandrake
and the shuttle tried to maintain hold. "…the energy field has been disabled. Congratulations…my best to you…Okinawa…report to…"

Kale pressed the panel that opened this end of the channel. "Didn't catch all that, sir. But I think it's best if you're free of the energy field, that you destroy the alien ship. We will explain everything later."

"Didn't get…did you…destroy…on what…"

Kale punched the button again. "Please, sir. Just open fire with everything you have. Before the disease ship fully recovers from what we did and can re-activate it's trap."

"Deadly force…must authorise…"

"Just open fire on the fucking thing!" Kale's face was bright red. His anger clear. That and the fact he was now screaming at the captain."

The screen was shut off.

From the window, Ely could see that the energy field had indeed been disabled. The
Mandrake
and the other starships free to manoeuvre around the alien disease ship. Seconds later, every missile, nuclear weapon and rail gun ignited the blackness around the starships as they were fired, their target the alien star-shaped ship.

Ely smiled. At least the captain had listened to Kale. Sure, there would be reports and explanations and more reports, but in the end, they had achieved what they had set out to do. He sighed relief, grabbing Emerson's hand and gripping him tight, both to reassure his boyfriend and himself. Emerson remained still, yet deep down, Ely knew that he could feel his warmth, understand that he was there for him.

The cockpit was lit up with more and more intense light. Another short moment after that, the alien threat had been neutralised. Its structure, most of it glass-like, was obliterated by the use of deadly force the
Mandrake
and the other two starships had unleashed. The disease ship was now nothing more than particles to be trapped by Neptune's gravity and used to create another ring. A reminder of what could have been.

Emerson was rushed to the
Mandrake's
med bay, as was Commander Okinawa. Ely, Braden and Kale were told to report to the captain. After a few anxious moments, and while Braden explained everything that had transpired to the rather stern looking captain, he let out a chuckle, and said, "Seems to me you've all saved the human race."

Ely hadn't thought of that. All he was worried about was saving Emerson, so much so it had consumed him. Sure, rescuing his boyfriend from within the machine had the added bonus of removing the threat for mankind, but again, that never struck Ely as a main objective. They were sent in to disable the energy field, that was their mission. Everything else had happened out of circumstance. Thankfully, they survived the ordeal, able to tell the captain what the purpose of the disease ship was. Which of course raised one big question. Would the aliens continue with their pursuit and try and conquer humanity again? At least they would now know that humanity wasn't a push over. Or was it all a test, as Ely suspected.

Before Ely could continue to commit to such deep thoughts, the captain continued, "I think you three deserve some down time…" the rest of what the captain said, Ely didn't catch. His thoughts wandered to Emerson again. Down time suited him fine at the moment. Such a thing would mean that he could be at his boyfriend's side, wait for him to awaken from his unconsciousness. The medical staff said that his brain hadn't been damaged and that he should recover soon. Ely wanted to be there when Emerson woke, be the first thing he would see.

That would please him.

Emerson took three days to come out of his coma. The third day was taken up by the doctors wanting to observe him, make sure everything was all right before they released him back into duty. Even those lovely brown eyes of his got back their spark. Ely couldn't wait to take him to the registry office and make their feelings for one another official.

The first words out of Emerson's mouth when he was able to speak without sprouting gibberish, affected by the machine's influence, were words that were music to Ely's ears. "I can't wait to get you into my cot, my big, beautiful man."

Ely embraced him.

For the longest time they held each other. Communication not needed. Their gentle touch over each other, a brush of fingers over skin, lips over lips, cheek against cheek, all that was required to solidify their affection for one another. Many times Ely kissed his boyfriend, too. Not caring that this was a hospital. He wanted to shout out his love for Emerson. Right here and right now.

Thankfully, one of the on duty doctors came around, glanced at Emerson's chart, and said, "I think you'll be free to go, young man."

"Thank you, doctor," Emerson chimed. He was sitting up in the bed, a smile as wide and full as anything Ely had ever seen on his lips.

"Just come back if you have any sort of recollection or distress, you hear?"

"Yes, doctor."

With that, Emerson was discharged. On the way to his cabin, Emerson said, "They used me for information, you know. The aliens, I mean. That's how they operate. That's how they learn what's the best way to conquer a species."

"I thought as much."

"Trouble is, because of me, they know so much more about us now."

Ely stopped dead in his tracks. "Do you think they'll return?"

Emerson ran his hand along Ely's back. "I don't doubt it at all. If there's one thing I learned while inside that machine. They fear us."

Ely swallowed hard. He didn't like the course of this conversation. The lift doors opened. Beyond, the corridor that led to the living quarters. "Do you think Commander Okinawa will be all right?"

Hand in hand, Ely and Emerson stepped beyond the lift and into the corridor. The corridor where Ely had first asked Emerson out on a date all those days ago. "I sure hope so. He was affected in a such a terrible way by the mind of the machine. Perhaps that was why he was rejected by it and I was installed. The reason they took two of us."

"That's scary in so many ways."

Emerson leaned over and kissed Ely on his cheek. "I think my strength came from knowing that you were there for me."

"That was my hope."

When Ely and Emerson had returned from the registry office, their new quarters available within twenty-four hours of a positive medical, they returned to Emerson's cabin.

"I so want you, Ely," Emerson growled as soon as the entrance door slid shut.

"Then take me. I've been hanging out for days waiting for you, now it's time you paid up." Ely offered a cheeky smile. One that would hopefully stir Emerson into a playful mood as they got naked.

The encouragement worked. Within a blink of an eye, Emerson had pulled Ely onto his cot, tickling him as he removed his clothes, too. Many more moments were spend rubbing their skin against each other once they had disrobed, getting hard and horny in the process.