Del's Pirates [Sequel to G'baena's Pirates] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (2 page)

“What the fuck does that mean? Not soon. Now, you asshole!” Del knew fear rode Avery’s words, but he had no idea how to calm her down.

“Avery, we’re on lockdown. Stay where you are. Someone will help you as soon as possible. Just stay where you are.”

Del paced the small area for a moment before he realized he should be at least comforting G’baena.

“Sorry, Bae,” he said as he rushed to her side. G’baena simply smiled, but it looked—and most likely was—forced.

“I’m okay,” she said, trying to move to a more comfortable spot. “I’ll be okay for a while longer. Go help Avery.”

Del glanced at the doorway—terror, fear, anger, worry all combining to mess with his thought processes. He knew, absolutely knew, that he should not leave the medical bay. He was the only one on duty. Tee-ani wasn’t even on the ship, and Sarah was probably either caught in the fighting or attending to injuries wherever she was.

“Del, go.” He hesitated again and then quickly made a decision. “Here,” he said, handing one of the stun pistols to G’baena. “Anyone comes through that curtain, don’t hesitate.”

“I won’t,” she said confidently. “Go.”

“Five mi—” He cut off when Sarah ran into the medical bay, her son in her arms, two women also carrying small children close behind her. Del stepped through the electronic curtain, beckoning the women to come behind the mirrored wall.

“Sit-rep,” Sarah said as she entered the area.

“Bae’s in labor. Ruth is injured. She’s trapped in the kitchen. Avery’s with her. Are we still on lockdown?”

“Yes, but the corridor is clear. I’ll head down to the kitchen.”

“No,” Del said quickly. “Stay with Bae. I’ll go.”

She nodded quickly and turned to G’baena. Del left the medical bay without a backward glance.

* * * *

Cooper’s heart raced as adrenaline flooded his system. They’d successfully destroyed the larger ship that had attacked them, but it was the cloaked vessel that had managed to attach to the hull and drill its way in that was their biggest worry. Their attackers had somehow sidestepped every early warning system they’d had in place, and—even as he grabbed several weapons, a portable shield generator, and explosives and ran toward the intruders—Cooper realized that somehow someone must have gotten hold of the ship’s specs.

Up until now, attacking ships had always underestimated their defensive capabilities. These attackers had not only anticipated them all, but also bypassed them easily. The larger ship had been the distraction. This was the real attack.

Unfortunately, it all pointed to a traitor among them.

If it hadn’t been for Calvin literally bumping into the invaders and his instinct to get a verbal warning out to the crew before engaging, the enemy might have overrun them before they even realized they’d been boarded.

As it was, several sections were now urgently reporting intruders.

“Go into lockdown,” he called to the engineers working in his section. “Grab a weapon, defend yourselves, but stay in this section. If they get control of the bridge, you’re our only chance to stop them.”

Helborn grinned—he’d always liked killing just a little too much for Cooper to feel comfortable around the guy—and Yavef merely nodded in that calm, Zen-like manner he always seemed to possess in times of crisis. Even after years of knowing the guy, Cooper still marveled at the man’s ability to stay cool in the middle of chaos. The more frenzied things got, the calmer Yavef seemed.

Cooper hit the emergency override, sealing off the different sections of the ship. The crew knew how to bypass the lockdown, but it would hopefully contain the intruders. He ran into Devlin as they both ran toward the hull breach.

“Talk to me,” Devlin ordered. “How many?”

“At least sixteen onboard. Still many more on the transport as far as we could tell.”

“Fuck,” Devlin swore as two very large, very ugly humanoids from the same species as Keytark stepped around the corner. Cooper and Devlin immediately fired energy and projectile weapons at the creatures, and Cooper was very glad to see both intruders hit the ground. He didn’t like killing, but when it came to life or death, he chose his life.

Fear for his closest friends, Avery and Del, wormed through his brain, constricting his throat, weakening his focus. Angrily he shoved the anxiety aside. They were experienced pirates. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t imagine a life without either of them. He had to trust them to protect themselves. If he got himself killed because he was worrying about them he’d be no good to Avery or Del anyway.

Cooper and Devlin reached the hallway just as several more of Keytark’s men dropped through the small hole they’d cut in the inner hull. The outer hull was over twelve inches thick. The inner hull about that width also. Hopefully they’d only had enough time to drill one hole. If they had multiple entry points the crew could be in very serious trouble.

Devlin and Cooper fired at the creatures as they hit the deck plate, fortunately catching them by surprise. It seemed that they hadn’t expected heavily armed reinforcements to arrive. At least that was one thing Keytark hadn’t gotten right.

They moved quickly toward the hole, Cooper urgently setting up the portable shield generator to block the entry of more intruders. He grinned when he saw the explosives Devlin pulled from his pockets. “Great minds,” he said as he tossed the package of explosives he’d grabbed to his boss. Devlin expertly combined the explosive material, and then inserted the detonators.

“Ready?” he asked, standing under the hole as Cooper grabbed the shield generator.

“On three,” he said confidently. He and Devlin had been working together for years, but it had never ceased to amaze Cooper how they seemed to think so much alike. It was very handy in a crisis.

On the count of three, he disengaged the shield generator, watched Devlin throw the explosive device up into the invaders’ ship, and then quickly reengaged the shield. The explosion was almost immediate, the shield flaring as it protected the inside of the ship from the percussion.

“I don’t even want to know how much that dinged the hull,” Devlin said with a laugh. “Yavef,” he said through his communicator, “did it work?”

Yavef’s calm and simple “yes, sir” was the best sound he’d heard all day.

“Good,” Devlin said. “Rebuild the shield over the outer hull. The portable generator is working inside, but we could lose the whole section if it doesn’t hold.”

“Yes, sir,” Yavef said again. “The outer shield is almost up to thirty percent of full capacity already. I estimate another four minutes, eleven seconds to completion.”

Devlin shook his head slightly, smiling at Cooper as he said into the communicator, “Thanks, Yavef. Good work.” He glanced at the small arsenal Cooper was carrying. “Yavef, you and the others stay put. Cooper and I are going to track down and neutralize the other intruders.”

“Yes, sir.”

With barely a nod of agreement, Cooper and Devlin turned and headed in opposite directions.

* * * *

Avery’s hands shook, but she somehow managed to keep them pressed against the deep gash at the back of Ruth’s skull. She jumped again as more weapons’ fire hit the outer door to the kitchen area. Loud booming noises filled the room as Ruth’s attackers tried to get in.

“Ruth?” The woman didn’t even moan, but at least the blood seemed to have stopped flowing. Avery wanted to turn her, but wasn’t sure if she should. Her lack of knowledge scared her more than the men trying to get in. Fuck, anything she did could make Ruth’s condition worse.

“Ruth?” she repeated. “Come on, you old nag. Wake up and tell me what to do.” Avery held her breath, a big part of her hoping that the insult would miraculously wake the woman. Ruth had been there for her even before their rescue from slavers several years ago. Avery really could use her nagging advice about now.

“For fuck’s sake, Ruth. Wake up and tell me what the fuck it is I’m supposed to do.”

The banging got louder, the noise almost deafening in the small space.

Panicked now, Avery tried the communicator again but the damn thing seemed dead. No noise, no sound, no voice of any kind answered her desperate plea. Were she and Ruth the only ones left alive?

Avery glanced back at Ruth’s still form and almost collapsed when she realized the woman’s eyes were open.
Thank God
. She hurried back to her, and dropped to her knees, ready to launch into a rant the likes of which Ruth had heard a million times.

The woman looked seriously annoyed, the expression one that Avery had managed to put there often. But then she sighed and closed her eyes.

“Ruth? Don’t do this. Don’t leave me. I know I’m not much of a substitute daughter, but I’ll try harder. I’m sorry. Just give me another chance.” A sob tore from Avery’s throat, her vision blurring as tears fell unheeded.

Anger began to burn through the grief, boiling rage at the men who’d done this to the only person who’d ever given her a chance. The banging continued, the metal shrieking eerily as it was pried apart. Stone-cold hatred filled her heart. They did this. They would pay for hurting Ruth. Murderous fury stole through her, an icy anger that stilled her hands and cleared her vision.

She’d do this one last thing. To hell with everything else.

* * * *

Only one name pounded through Del’s brain. Avery. They’d been friends for years, but whether or not she understood it, she held his heart and he couldn’t even contemplate life without her. He forced himself to focus, grasping his stun gun in the same grip Devlin had drilled into him time and time again.

Calm, focus, control. He needed all of them and he called on every skill that Devlin, Kam, and Cooper had ever taught him. Tee-ani’s lessons also rose to the fore. Assess, act, react.

He followed the noise to the kitchen area, managing to glance around the corner without being seen. What he saw terrified him. Everything he’d ever learned, everything he’d ever been taught flew out the airlock when he saw Avery charge toward two intruders. She attacked, two massive kitchen knives held in front of her like battering rams. She screamed her hatred and lunged toward them even as they laughed and raised their weapons at her.

Del stepped around the corner, stunned the guy closest to him, and then turned to the second one just as Avery drove both knives straight into his gut. Her screech sounded inhuman, animalistic. Final.

Del stunned the guy, moving quickly to Avery’s side.

Her hands were still wrapped around the blades, her face and chest covered in blood. She shook, still screaming abuse, her anger raw, her hatred obvious.

“Avery.” He said her name quietly, trying not to startle her. “Avery,” he demanded more forcefully when she didn’t seem to hear him. Her eyes darted briefly in his direction and then back at the man who now lay underneath her.

“Avery, where’s Ruth?”

She didn’t seem to comprehend, her eyes darting between Del and the face of the man she’d attacked.

“Avery,” Del asked in deep, soothing tones, “where’s Ruth?”

“Kitchen,” she answered in a monotone voice. “Don’t let her die.”

Del rushed past her to check on Ruth, relieved to find the woman breathing. She was still unconscious, so he quickly used his portable medical scanner to check for other injuries before trying to wake her. She was sitting up by the time he headed back into the other room to check on their intruders.

Avery still sat on top of the man she’d attacked, still held her hands in a death grip around the knife handles, still watched the man’s face like he might get up any moment.

“Avery?” She flinched but didn’t move. “Avery, you need to move. He needs medical attention.”

“No,” she growled, the words deep, the anger palpable.

“Avery, he can’t hurt you now. Just let me tend his wounds so that he doesn’t die.”

“He should die. He killed Ruth.”

“He didn’t. Ruth is going to be okay,” he said quietly.

“He would have killed her.”

Del couldn’t argue with her assessment. There was no doubt in his mind that their intruders were here to kill everyone on the ship. “Avery, you need to listen to me. Yes, he’s a killer and he probably deserves to die, but, sweetheart, you’re not a murderer. Don’t do this, Avery. Let me save him.”

“No.” She said it so quietly he almost didn’t hear the word. Terror filled him, and at that very moment he realized that he was at risk of losing the woman he loved. Even if she survived this day, she was never going to be the same.

“Avery!” he said sharply. “Move away…now!”

He could barely breathe. She looked so determined, but after a moment she exhaled heavily and moved off the prone man. She walked away. Del took a moment to make sure she was heading back into the kitchen and not going after another intruder before he dropped to his knees and began repairing the man’s injuries. Two deep knife wounds had done quite a bit of damage, but Del managed to repair all of the internal injuries with the equipment he’d brought with him. He sedated both men just in case the stun shots wore off and then headed back into the kitchen.

“Avery, we need to go. Help me with Ruth.”