Daughter of Destiny (23 page)

The guard took time to set
up new equipment he hadn’t used before, so Zane took the
opportunity to contact Katarina.
"Katarina!"

She answered him within
seconds.
"Again?"

Zane closed his eyes and
pictured Katarina’s face.
"On the bright side, love, I’m fairly
certain this will be the last time."

"NO!!
!" Her
anguished denial echoed in his head and reverberated in his soul,
but there was nothing he could do. He wished with his entire being
he could spare her this pain.

"You’ve got to hold on,
Zane. I’ll do something. I just have to think. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Now would be an excellent time for that goddamn faerie to pay
another visit."

The profanity told Zane
just how upset she was, but otherwise he didn’t know what she was
talking about. In fact, he was pretty sure she was talking to
herself more than him.

Already sensitized by the
drug, his nerve endings screamed in agony when a laser whip sliced
into his back. His body jerked and twitched trying to escape the
pain.

"Zane!"

The drugs and pain made it
difficult to concentrate. It took every ounce of will not to lose
the connection to Katarina.
"Promise me. Promise not to blame
yourself."

"Of course not. That
bastard did this to you."

"Mind games. Message.
Don’t listen."
Zane’s thoughts began to lose coherence, but he
had to pass on the information about Karglock.
"Earth. Karglock.
Attack."

"He’s going to attack
Earth?"

"Yes."

The guard switched from the
laser whip back to a laser beam. The pain burned a path down his
body and it felt like fire consuming him both within and out. He
summoned the last of his energy.
"Goodbye,
rahmali o mi." He
let go of the connection, burying the link so deeply in his mind
that no matter the temptation, he wouldn’t seek her out in his
dying moments. Then he let the pain take him.

***

"NO!!!"

Commander Vrion raced
through the ship with dread making his heart race. The blast of
psychic energy pulled him from a sound sleep. Anguish that deep
could only mean her husband was dead. He halted at the end of the
corridor and stared. He didn’t know what he expected, but it
certainly wasn't to see her standing calmly in front of a
computer.

"Mrs. Gratig?"

"Doctor," she said as she
continued to work on the computer terminal.

"You need a
doctor?"

"My name is Dr. O'Brian. I
haven't taken Zane's name yet."

Holy Civa, she's lost
it.

He wavered on whether he
should approach her or not. Bound telepaths could be dangerous to
themselves and others when they lost the link to their spouse. He
debated calling Driglock to assist him, but feared that the quizark
would only make matters worse.

"Commander?"

Vrion startled at the sound
of Driglock's voice and then realized it was his comm.
"What?"

"The human woman just sent
an unauthorized message to Earth."

Great.
"Thank you,
Private. Vrion out."

"Dr. O'Brian?"

"Karglock is going to
attack Earth. I just sent a warning and a download of all files
pertaining to the Goloths."

"You did what?"

She ignored him, stepped
away from the computer, and walked to the middle of the
room.

"What are you
doing?"

"I’m going to shift
space."

"What?" He felt like a vid
loop stuck on replay, spitting variations of that single question
out.

"Can you shut up for a
minute? I’m trying to focus."

Commander Vrion watched her
stand there for a full three minutes before he dared ask another
question. "Is Captain Gratig dead?"

"NO," she spat the word
with feral intensity. "And if you stop distracting me, I could
concentrate on getting him out of there. I’m going to try something
I’ve only heard about, but theoretically it should work if a person
has enough power." Commander Vrion opened his mouth and she raised
a hand to silence him. "I’ve almost got a clear image of where he’s
at."

"Why --" Commander Vrion
broke off his next question when she opened her eyes and glared at
him. He swallowed. Her eyes swirled with an iridescent otherworldly
light. Shock kept him rooted to the spot when instinct told him to
flee the creature in front of him.

"Are you willing to help
me?"

"What?"

"Will you help me rescue
Zane?"

Even with the weird eyes,
he didn’t see how she was going to do that. No one deserved to have
a loved one taken. Hoping it would calm her, he answered, "I’d very
much like to help you." He forced himself not to back up when she
approached and put a hand on his shoulder.

"God I hope this works,"
she said just before everything dissolved around him.

Robert sat hunched over the
MPC with diagnostic equipment and an interface. He muttered to
himself, "Now, if I just connect this here…no, maybe here…." The
little computer beeped and a quiet mechanical voice said, "Incoming
message." It startled Robert and he bobbled his interface, dropping
it on the floor.

"Damn it!" Robert exclaimed
as he bent over and retrieved his instrument from the floor.
"Robert, you’d better not be messing with that thing!"

Surprised by Naia's sudden
entrance, he misjudged and banged his head on the table. "Oww! Damn
it, woman, don’t you know how to knock?" Rubbing his head, he put
the interface back on the worktable. "I’m a computer engineer,
Naia. I think I can analyze a piece of equipment without breaking
it."

"I know. I know. Sorry. I
trust you, Robert, but it’s not something we can afford to mess
with. What if you mess something up and it causes us to miss a
message, or--"

Robert interrupted, "
--Speaking of which, I believe Katarina just sent us our first
intergalactic email." Naia rushed forward to grab the computer, but
Robert snatched her around the waist and pulled her into his lap.
"Ah, ah, ah. I think you need to express more concern when your
dear husband is injured." Robert pouted and then planted kisses on
her neck and bosom.

"Robert!" Naia squealed.
She squirmed in his lap, giggling. She grabbed his head and planted
a smacking kiss on top. "There I kissed the boo-boo. We can play
doctor later. Now, let’s see what Katarina sent us. I can’t believe
you aren’t as eager to see the message as I am."

"Yes, but how I feel about
galactic events pales in comparison to how I feel when you are in
my arms."

"I love you, too,
sweetheart." She gave him a light kiss. "Now, please?"

"Okay. Here, lean to the
side a bit so I can see around you." He followed Naia's
instructions to retrieve the message. The two of them read the
message together and their playful mood vanished. "Shit!" Robert
said.

Naia clutched him tighter.
"God help us."

Robert set the computer
down and hugged his wife close. "We’ll do what we can, and hope to
God Kat’s able to send some cavalry. We need to pick out the most
convincing information in here and decide on a plan of action. What
do you think? Who should we go to, the press or the
government?"

"We’d never get a foot in
the door of any government agency in time to do anything. Hell, the
locations of all the important ones are top secret. We go to the
press, and a legitimate outfit, not the ones that report nothing
but celebrity gossip and fake alien sightings. We’ll need a panel
of respected scientific minds to verify the data’s authenticity as
well."

"That’s what we’ll do then.
How about you work up a list of scientists, and I’ll go through the
data."

Naia slipped off his lap
and went to her own computer. Robert let out a shaky breath. It was
going to take a miracle to convince a planet overnight that not
only did aliens exist, but that they were about to get a very
unfriendly visit.

***

Katarina ignored the vast
amount of space she needed to conquer. She let go of her human need
to orient herself to a fixed time and place. If the Fae could go
anywhere at will, why couldn't she? Locking on to Zane proved the
most difficult because he'd blocked her. Instead of barreling
through the barriers he put into place, which would take less time
but cause him more pain, she called to his subconscious. As she
hoped, he answered her. Katarina allowed her mental avatar a small
smile of triumph. She and Zane connected far deeper than at
conscious level. Their subconscious minds consistently sought the
comfort of each other’s mental touch.

Once in his mind, she
flinched at the overwhelming pain. Zane’s retreated so deep inside
his psyche nothing remained within reach but his link to her and
instinct. She feared he might have gone too far inward, but at
least it made it easier for her to utilize his senses for her
purposes.

She took possession of his
body with her mind and pain poured into her, through her, consuming
her, but the block she maintained around the infants remained
strong. She endured long enough to establish a clear picture of
where he was and then pulled back. Katarina focused her entire
essence on being with Zane and willed her body and the Commander’s
across the reaches of space.

She left no room in her
mind or soul for doubt. She would succeed. She had to. Seconds or
minutes, she didn’t know, but one instant she stood in the middle
of the small ship and the next a sense of simultaneous expansion
and contraction. Different from the paralysis of the teleporter,
she felt as if she could move, even though during the transition
her body did not exist in physical form. Locked on to the image in
her mind of the room in which she needed to materialize, a burst of
energy swept through her and she became acutely aware of her body
again. Blood rushed from her head at the increase in gravity and
she swayed with dizziness. Her knees wobbled, but she locked them
in place.

A shout from across the
room made her shake her head and focus. A Goloth twice her size
aimed a weapon at her and reached out to hit a button on a wall
panel. Beside her, Vrion fumbled for his weapon. Katarina flung her
arm out and unleashed her fury on the monster that took such
pleasure in torturing Zane. Bolt after bolt of energy flew past
him, destroying his sadistic equipment. He attempted to dodge and
she let a bolt slam into his chest. A part of her yearned to kill
the monster that fell to the ground, but her conscious wouldn’t let
her. She pulled back her hand. His chest still rose and fell. His
fate belonged in the hands of whatever medical personal tended him
once she left.

Zane’s harsh wheezing
breaths broke into her mind. She turned to Commander Vrion. "I need
you to make sure no one comes in here, and if you can, find some
medical supplies."

Commander Vrion nodded and
half walked, half stumbled toward the doorway.

"Don’t let anyone see
you!"

Katarina turned to Zane.
"Oh God," she breathed in an anguished whisper.

Fury boiled inside her
until she could no longer contain it. Lights flickered and sparks
hissed and spat as comm terminals and equipment short circuited.
Acrid smoke poisoned the air, making her cough. She closed her eyes
and reigned in her emotions. Zane needed her. As she regained
control, the lights ceased flickering. She opened her eyes and
walked over to Zane. His body twitched and convulsed. Cuts and
burns marred every inch of his skin. Blisters oozed blood and the
sulfurous smell of burnt hair mixed with the smoke in the air. A
few wisps of hair that managed to escape the lasers clung to matted
blood on his swollen face.

How the fuck am I supposed
to get him down without hurting him more?

Unable to look at him
anymore without completely losing it, she turned her attention to
the chains in which he hung suspended. "Damn!" More vicious curses
echoed unsaid in her head. Designed to send the captive crashing to
the floor as an extra measure of punishment, she could not lower
him by herself.

"Vrion!"

A second later Vrion peeked
around the door frame, "Yes?"

"I need your help. I’ll
release these chains. You catch him."

As Commander Vrion got into
place, Katarina did a quick scan of the surroundings with her mind,
but sensed no one. "No one else is here?"

"There's probably a
skeleton crew in place, but from what I saw when I looked outside,
they've evacuated."

"Fuck." She took a deep
breath, pushing her worry for Naia aside. She gripped the lever
that released the chains. "Ready?"

"Yes."

"Now." She pulled the lever
and Zane fell onto Commander Vrion. He grunted and
stumbled.

"Do I lay him on the
ground?"

"Then there’s no reason to
stay here. We need the med bay on the ship."