gaian consortium 03 - the gaia gambit (24 page)

“
What
?”

“That’s about what I thought.” Toggling the comm, she said, “Miris Control, this is passenger ship
Chinook
taking off from Sector Three. Request departure permission.”

“Granted,” came back almost immediately, in the same bored tone Lira thought she recognized from their approach a few hours ago. Made sense, she supposed. Although several things had shifted in her own universe during those short hours, the same personnel who had originally given her permission to land were probably still on duty at Miris Control. “Have a good one.”

“Thanks, Control.” Since she had no clear idea of where they were going next, she figured the best thing to do would be to head toward the outer edges of the system and hang there in the relatively open space until they decided on their next move.

During all this Rast had maintained a tight-lipped silence, but as soon as they were clear of the atmosphere and flying smoothly out to the dark borders of the Miris system, he said, “So what’s your interpretation? You know Tomas. I don’t.”

Her mind had been picking at the sequence of events, coming up with an explanation she didn’t like very much, although it seemed to be the most plausible one she could think of. “I have a feeling your admiral — ”

“He is not ‘my admiral’ any longer,” Rast said abruptly. “I am done with that. All of it.”

Lira swiveled in her seat so she could look up at him. He stared back at her, jaw set, eyes narrowed slightly. From his expression she guessed this further evidence of sen Trannick’s involvement had been the final blow, the thing that shattered his increasingly tenuous connection to the man who had been his superior. Even so, for him to so abruptly renounce everything he had worked so hard for, to make the break with his command — and by extension, his people — shocked her.

Quietly she asked, “Are you sure of that, Rast?”

He reached out to touch her cheek, fingers warm against her skin, and she closed her eyes briefly, recalling those fingers running over her body, stroking her. But now was not the time to be thinking of such things. Her body had had enough — if not to sate it, then at least to keep it more or less content for the time being. She might not be the captain of a ship any longer, but that didn’t mean she had to abandon all the self-control that had come along with attaining such a rank.

“More sure of anything than I ever have been,” he told her. “But enough of that. I want to hear what you have to say.”

A quick nod, a silent acknowledgment of what she knew he had just given up. They could discuss it later…or not. That would be up to him. “The timing is too convenient. I think sen Trannick, for whatever reason, had agents keeping tabs on me. They must have tracked me to Ganymede, and then on to Iradia when I decided I couldn’t stay in the Gaian system any longer. Since I was at decidedly loose ends once my one job piloting a freighter was over with, it would have been easy enough for the admiral to decide he could best keep an eye on me by having me take a position with someone right there on Iradia. A big enough payout to Tomas, and there I was, right under both their thumbs and knowing nothing of it. I’d still be there, too, if it weren’t for you.”

She’d thought Rast’s eyes might warm at her words, but he was quiet, expression far away and still graven in dark lines, as if he was thinking of something not very pleasant.

“What I can’t figure out,” she continued, since it seemed clear he didn’t intend to speak, “is why they would even bother in the first place. I had been drummed out of the GDF. I wasn’t a threat to anyone.”

“Oh, but you were,” Rast said then, and scowled. “You see, I made the very great mistake of being concerned for your welfare, once I learned that you had been relieved of your command — relieved of that command because of what I had urged you to do. I felt responsible, and the admiral clearly saw that. He must have seen, too, that I’d already begun to develop feelings for you. So you see, you were a threat. A Stacian, falling in love with a Gaian? It wasn’t to be tolerated. You must be kept away. Or so I assume he thought.”

Of all this speech, the thing that stood out the most to Lira were the words “falling in love.” Had he really meant to say that? It couldn’t be true, could it? Oh, she couldn’t deny the heat between them, the physical attraction unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. But it was quite a leap to go from such a physical connection to saying you were in love with someone.

Her face must have betrayed her, because he went suddenly on his knees next to her, taking her hands in his, warming her cold fingers with his touch. “Does that distress you, Lira? If I’ve misinterpreted certain…signs…from you, tell me now.”

It had been some time since she’d had anything at all to drink. That must be why her throat suddenly felt so dry and tight, as if choking back the words she wanted to say. She swallowed, knowing he expected her to say something. A declaration of love? Did she love him?

Of course she did. To deny it would be to deny that water was wet, or the vast starry sky beyond the viewscreen anything but deep velvet black.

“No,” she said firmly. “You haven’t misinterpreted anything. I don’t know how it happened, or what it even means, but I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you, Rast sen Drenthan. I wanted to deny it, but I can’t. I do lo — ”

And that was as far as she got, because his fingers tightened around hers and he drew her up out of the pilot’s seat, pulling her against him, kissing her, his tongue touching hers, the spicy scent of his skin and hair surrounding her, every nerve ending in her body on fire, cramping need striking her low in the belly, her core damp with desire. He pulled away, just for a few seconds, just long enough to murmur, “I love you,” before lifting her from her feet and carrying her down the hall to the cabin.

Oh, God, yes, this was what she needed, his hands working at the fastenings of her garments, strong fingers brushing over her breasts, moving down to stroke her between the legs, a little sigh escaping his lips as he felt how wet she was, how ready. She didn’t even remember undoing his trousers, but then she had him in her hand, her fingers barely able to wrap around him as she moved them up and down. That seemed to bring him close to the edge, and he pushed her down on the bed, settling himself on top of her, no time for more foreplay, no time for anything except to take him into her, to enfold him in her legs so she could drive him in further, making one flesh of them, one being, even though they had been born on such different worlds.

The climax flared through her and she cried out, fingers digging into the heavy muscles of his back, and he came then, too, a flare of heat somewhere deep within as his seed splashed into her. He relaxed then, but not all the way, probably fearing he would crush her beneath his bulk if he let go completely.

“I love you,” she said, since he had cut her short previously, and it seemed vitally important for her to tell him how she felt.

His breath was warm against her ear as he replied, “I love you, Lira. I love you with every cell in my body. You are a wonder, a gift.” Very softly, he kissed her temple, and she ached for him all over again, that he could have such passion and fierceness and yet such tenderness, all contained within one marvelous soul.

Then he did roll off her, but carefully, keeping one hand still touching hers, as if he wanted to make sure she knew he was only moving away because that position had become uncomfortable for him. She watched him, taking in the hard muscles under the deep golden skin, the heavy brows, the fine nose and strong chin and the heavy mass of hair that fell down his back, making him somehow more masculine rather than otherwise, even though most Gaian men wore their hair short.

He stared back at her, as if doing the same inventory of her features, her body. She could only hope he found hers as pleasing as she did his. Odd how his alienness only made him more attractive to her, rather than less.

A chime sounded throughout the ship, signaling an incoming transmission. She sighed, wishing she could stay here in bed with Rast, but knowing she should answer it, because it could only be Jackson, and if Jackson was signaling them, then it probably meant he had information he needed to pass along.

Rast seemed to understand, and remained where he was, watching her as she reached down and grabbed her discarded underwear and shirt, pulled them on hastily. As she headed out the door, she saw him reluctantly stirring from the bed and retrieving his own things.

And even though the viewer on the comm unit should only show her from about the middle of the chest up, she was going to make sure she had the visuals shut off. There were some questions she really didn’t feel like answering right now.

Damn intrusive things, comms. Rast had known they couldn’t spend forever in bed together — although that was an enticing daydream — but he’d hoped they would have at least five minutes. Still, that minor irritation paled when compared to what had just passed between them.

She loved him.

He had dared to hope, but he hadn’t known. On the surface of things, it was rather a lot to expect, that she should have come to love him so quickly, and after his actions — even if completely innocent — had led to her expulsion from the GDF. That flash of fire between them, that chemistry…he hadn’t imagined it, but for her it might have been nothing more than much-needed physical release.

But it was more. Much, much more.

Smiling, he drew on his pants and shirt, but left the jacket where it had more or less been flung across the seat of the chair in the corner. They were on board ship, alone, and so he certainly didn’t need to be buttoned up and presentable. That suited him just fine.

If only they could be like this always — the two of them, with a fine ship and all the galaxy to choose from. A pleasant fantasy, but not one they could afford to indulge right now. They had set forth on this quest to find the truth, and he knew Lira would not stray from that mission until she was satisfied with the answers she found.

He heard what had to be Jackson Wyler’s voice coming over the speaker, and Rast felt his mouth tighten despite what had just passed between him and Lira. No, it was not jealousy, not precisely, but he did wish that the person uniquely suited to help them find the solution to this Eridani-based puzzle was someone other than Lira’s former lover.

Not that there was anything remotely lover-like in her tone as she asked crisply, “So the input from our Gaian friend was helpful?”

Rast noticed she was careful not to say Miala’s name. As far as he could tell, Jackson had never known the actual identity of his contact on Gaia, and Lira obviously wanted to make sure she didn’t let slip anything that would reveal who the hacker genius really was. Yes, Jackson was helping them, and so Lira would give him what she could, but clearly she thought of Miala and her exact whereabouts as off-limits.

As he took a seat in the copilot’s chair, he saw Lira flash him a quick smile, then turn her attention once again to the disembodied voice coming from the speakers.

“Extremely helpful. Once I knew how to cut off the heads from that hydra, it became a lot easier to begin to pin things down. I already told you about the connection between sen Trannick and Gared Tomas, but once I started backtracking the deposits in the admiral’s accounts, I found they were coming from a shell corporation on Capris 6.”

The origins of the money didn’t surprise Rast too much; Capris 6 was the Eridanis’ original colony, and had become the nexus for much of the Eridani Hegemony’s finance and banking. He could tell Lira was thinking the same thing, because she gave a brief nod, as if halfway expecting to hear something along those lines.

“And this shell corporation?” she asked. “Get anything on that?”

“I’m working on it. These things are set up to be quicksand, but I’m making some headway. I did get a name: Daos Senn. Definitely Eridani.”

Lira looked pleased by that; something in her face brightened, and she nodded. “And what do you have on him?”

“Not a whole lot so far. Seems like an upstanding citizen by all accounts. A lot of money, but all earned legitimately. Family has been in various forms of mining for generations.”

Mining. Rast frowned a little at that piece of information. Could this have all been an end run by an Eridani mining interest to secure better terms for the millenite on Chlorae II? For there was no doubt in his mind that the Eridanis would have had more luck negotiating with the Stacians as primary rights holders for that ore than they would with the Gaians. Oh, the Gaians played at diplomacy and peaceful coexistence and all that — but they also would sell their grandmother if they thought they could make a profit. Not all of them were like that, of course, but unfortunately the ones in power seemed to operate solely on a philosophy of “what’s in it for us?”

Whereas his own people still were grateful to the Eridanis, felt indebted to them for the sharing of technology that had allowed them to become something more than half-barbarians on a backwater world no one in their right mind would choose to live on. Well, no one in their right mind who wasn’t Stacian…

Rast realized his thoughts had drifted far afield, and he pulled his attention back to the conversation between Lira and Jackson.

“…possible someone could have borrowed his identity to cover what they were really up to?” she was asking.

“Maybe,” came Jackson’s reply. “Wouldn’t be the first time. I’ll have to look into it further. In the meantime, would you like information on his whereabouts?”

“Of course,” she said at once. “We have to start somewhere. Is he on Eridani itself?”

“He has properties in three different systems, but it does look as if his primary residence is on Eridani. Sending you the information now.”

“Great.” Somehow, though, she didn’t look entirely pleased; that frown was back, the one that made the line appear between her delicately arched brows.

But since Jackson couldn’t actually see her, he didn’t appear to notice that anything was amiss. “Well, that’s all I have for now. It’s almost oh four hundred here — I need to pack it in. I’ll be in contact tomorrow if I get anything new.”