Havoc (22 page)

Kels looked at Sayal. “Sorry, princess. Our celebratory dinner will have to wait."

"That's all right,” she said, crossing her arms and looking rattled. “I can make something, perhaps, in the eating area you showed me."

Elion watched her leave; then Kels powered up the ship, and together they ran the standard routine for deep-space launch that would take them to their intercept. “She got nervous all of a sudden,” he observed.

"Maybe she doesn't like Primes."

"Who does?” He hissed out a breath as his ribs pinched when he reached for a control. The ship lifted off smoothly, and the bay doors gaped open. He settled uncomfortably back in his seat.

Kels's gaze swept over him. “You look like shit warmed over, mate."

"Well, thanks."

"Listen, El. Don't get killed on my account. I'd rather you let the alien go than chase it through the air vents."

"I really thought it had a weapon."

Kels cracked his knuckles and gazed out at the star field. “I doubt it would have attacked us in the Dome,” he said after a moment. “Too public."

Elion shrugged. “Maybe it was a vidcorder and I overreacted."

"It would be a better explanation for why it was interested in me and Sayal. I've got enemies, but none I know that would go to the trouble of hiring a Prime assassin, if there even is such a thing."

"Unless it was after Sayal."

"Hm.” He tapped in the coordinates that would lead the
Nova
to the head of the interspace lane where they could safely fold and fly.

"That doesn't surprise you,” Elion said, peering at him. “That it might be Sayal at the heart of this."

His friend drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “Not really."

"Why?"

"I'm still putting it together. I'm thinking more and more, she's on the run from someone. What if this alien you saw today had a vidcorder and was transmitting her activities back to her...owner, for lack of a better word."

"She's in danger, then?"

"Might be."

"We have to protect her,” Elion said, surprising himself with the strength of his emotions.

Kels smiled. “Yeah, she does get to you, don't she? I wish you'd seen it. She was solid gold in the Dome, mate."

Elion had seen plenty. “You're a good match, you two."

"Hells, you never said that about me and Keev."

"I would never mean it about you and Keev."

"Well, it's Keeva I'm going to find once we get to the Zone.” He drew his hand over his cheek and said, “All this nonsense about going back in the games...it's got me thinking. She wanted something more permanent, and I've been turning it over in my head too. I've decided I need some stability in my life. I think I'll ask her to marry me. That way she'll know I'm serious."

Elion almost groaned and, prodded on by pain and the disruptor's disorientation, demanded, “Then what? She's going to live on board with us? The three of us tripping the shipping lanes together, a smuggling trio?"

Kels shrugged. “I suppose."

"Well, you can count me out."

Kels actually paled. “You're not going to leave me, are you, El?"

"Haven't you thought this through?” His long-suppressed temper rising, Elion swiveled his chair around to face Kels. “What do you think life'll be like for me if that harridan joins us? We hate each other. And do you honestly think she'll adjust to a life in space? She's a social bird; she'll go insane with just the three of us cooped up together.” He'd never seen Kels look so distressed, and finally relented. He sucked in a pained breath. “Sorry, Captain. If you order me to tolerate her, I will, but don't expect more than that. I'm going in the back to get some ice for my ribs. Have you got the com?"

"Yes, I've got the com,” Kels replied, sounding snappish.

Elion limped back to the commissary. For the love of all the saints, maybe it was time for him to dig heels into a grass planet somewhere and find a nice guy to settle down with. He'd waited years for Kels Havoc. Enough was enough.

A Prime hunted her. Could Elion be wrong? She prayed to the Fates he was, but knew in her heart he wouldn't make that sort of mistake, and neither would Kels. The description fit a high alien.

Alone in the ship's small commissary, Sayal poured dried rice into a cooker. She used to help her mother cook on the Prime's ship, one of her happier childhood memories. It had been completely unnecessary, as everything on the ship was automated, but her mother enjoyed it, and Sayal loved helping her. Sorush had approved because it made her more...human. He'd needed her to be able to blend into human society, for if she could do it, so could the others he'd create—others with greater, more sinister abilities.

Well, that part of his experiment had succeeded at least, she thought bitterly. She didn't think Kels or Elion thought she was anything but a lost, pretty girl with a harmless, scatterbrained goal that happened to intersect with theirs. She swallowed hard as the impact of her deception weighed on her. She'd put Elion in danger, and Kels too. Thank the Fates the Prime, or whatever it was, hadn't killed Elion.

Her hands shook as she stirred the rice. His kind, gentle eyes, his sober smile, gone... All because of her. Just thinking about it made it difficult to breathe. She couldn't bear to think of Kels's sorrow should his friend die. What an idiot she'd been to even conceive of this scheme. It'd seemed so simple: return to the Zone, attract Sorush's attention, get close, kill him. End the suffering.

Instead she created more suffering, not the least of which was her own. Who would have known she'd develop such strong feelings for Kels and Elion in so short a time? She'd been swept up in their energy, experiencing, for the first time in her life, real passion, and not just the physical kind. They'd taught her more about trust and friendship in a few short days than viewing every vidlog in the creator's library had in years of study.

The humor and love that made humans special and unique among all the creatures of the SenVerse tied them together. In her mind, she knew she had to stand outside it and be as coldly objective as a Prime, but her heart... It yearned to be part of their world and to give back to them a thousandfold what they'd given her already.

She had until they landed at Savoonga Station to decide what to do.

Her mind drifted back to Elion's description. Who might the stalker be? Not Sorush, her creator, certainly. He would never leave the solitude of his ship. Neither was it likely to be Asheni, her tutor. Did another Prime search for her? What if one wanted her for his own designs?

Sayal heard footsteps in the corridor and smoothed the conflicting emotions from her face. It was Elion, and she sensed something was wrong even before he thumped into the small kitchen. Distressed emotion splashed over her a second before he came in holding his ribs, frustration on his face, but it wasn't his ribs that bothered him. She set aside her spoon and went to him. “Elion, what's the matter?"

"Just looking for some ice."

"Here, I'll find it. Sit down. I know how to use the ice producer.” She indicated one of the chairs around the small table. “Kels showed me how everything works."

"I'll bet he did.” He dropped his chin in his hand, his elbow propped on the table.

He and the captain must have had words. She wondered what about, for it was obvious they loved each other very much. She'd die if they were arguing over her.

He had a bump on his head where he must have hit it when he fell, and she took a cooking rag, ran it under water, and went to dab the blood from his skin. He started to wave her away but relented when she shushed him.

"I can see it better than you,” she murmured, cleaning him up and subtly using her healing abilities to smooth over the broken skin.

Finished, she set the cloth aside and ran her fingers through his short hair, searching for other hurts. He had a headache. It throbbed beneath her fingertips. She had this sort of connection only when she actually touched someone. Focusing, she imagined drawing the pain from his head, like pulling pins. As her fingers massaged his scalp, he groaned softly, and his shoulders slumped.

"Saints,” he murmured. “That does help."

She smiled, happy she could do this one small thing for him. “I, uh, could help with your side as well. I've been trained in a special kind of massage that relieves pain."

"Really?” He gazed at her trustingly.

"It would be faster than the ice."

"I already took a shot of Dimextrin, but if you think it might work..."

She knelt before him, the position so reminiscent of when she'd sucked his cock, it made her body stir with desire. She slipped her hand up under his shirt to his warm, bare skin, feeling for the source of pain. His ribs were cracked, not just bruised. As she gently drew out his life force enough to allow the healing, his eyes slid closed. Pushing her own energy into him, she knit the bones, not completely, for that would raise suspicion, but enough that the pain would ease, and in a day or two, he'd be completely healed. Breathing out, she nudged his energy back into his flesh, and he opened his eyes.

"Better?” she asked.

He straightened, took an experimental breath, and rubbed his side. “Yeah, much. Thanks, Sayal. How'd you do that?"

"Old Earth secret.” She pressed her finger to her lips, making him smile. He never would have felt anything odd about her touch. He brushed the backs of his fingers against her cheek, and his smile faded. “What's the matter, Elion? You seem troubled."

"Eh, it's nothing. Me and Kels bumping heads."

"Please say it's not over me,” she said, sitting back on her heels, her palms on his thighs.

"It's not you, sweetheart. It's that Keeva woman, as you so aptly called her."

Thank the Fates. “Keeva? Why?"

"Because she's a bitch, pardon my language, but the captain thinks he loves her."

"Come now. She can't be that bad. How could he love a...a bitch?"

He put his hand over hers and toyed with her fingers. “She is and beats me.” His cool eyes warmed with the quiet humor she was coming to adore. “How about you and me run away together and find a sunny planet to settle down on?"

She smiled, wishing it could be that easy. “You would miss your ship and your friend."

He stared at their linked fingers. “I would, but there comes a time when a guy's got to know when to quit.” He spoke quietly, clearly still sorting things through in his own mind. “Maybe I'll rejoin the Terran Armada. The Primes will keep the Conflicts churning for another thousand years. At least it'd be a steady line of work."

She got up and sat in the chair adjacent to his. “The Primes don't control the Conflicts."

"They brought them to Earth.” He rested his arm on the tabletop. “They nearly destroyed the planet, did a pretty fine job of fucking up human civilization."

Ah, here was a side of history she'd never heard. Eager for his insight, she said, “My tutor said they saved your planet."

"Did he now?” Elion shook his head. “I guess everyone thought that at first."

"But they gave you the technology to fight the Pakkat aggressors and to travel in space, isn't this true?” She indicated the ship around them. “Is the
Ash Nova
not driven by Prime technology?"

"It is.” At that very moment, the engines rose to a throb, and everything seemed stretched. Sayal grasped Elion's hand. She hated this part of travel, the folding of space/time that allowed them to move swiftly from one side of the SenVerse to another. In a huge liner, the effect was negligible, but the smaller the ship, the greater the distortion. It passed quickly, and she let out a breath. It was also dangerous in small ships like this, as the slightest miscalculation would stretch the craft and its passengers into oblivion. It was a testament to Kels's skills at the helm that the folding had gone so smoothly.

Elion gazed about him as if checking that all was well, and gave her hand a squeeze. “No worries. Kels knows what he's doing."

She nodded, then rose to resume tending the simple dinner of rice and duck. She put the food on two plates and handed one to Elion, then set one on the table for herself, along with sporks, which had to be one of her favorite human inventions. “My tutor told me that if the Primes hadn't given humans the necessary weapons and machinery, the Pakkat Union would have destroyed them utterly."

"Was he a Prime worshipper or something? No one on Earth believes that."

Fates, if she weren't more careful, she'd give herself away. Lying was a slippery, tiring business. She shook her head. “We were so far from the planet. I've never even seen Earth. I...I suppose he just told me what he thought was the truth. What really happened?"

"The Primes led the Pakkat to Earth. They forced us into the Conflicts.” Elion dug into his food. “You have to understand, Sayal. We were completely unprepared for the impact of first contact with alien life. It was 2012. We were still fighting our own wars. Humanity was highly religious, highly superstitious. Still is, part of it. Things weren't helped by the fact there was an ancient prophecy about the end of the world coming that year.” He shook his head. “Right on schedule, these huge spaceships ringed the planet, demanding to speak to our leaders. What were we supposed to think? It caused a huge panic. People died by the tens of millions in riots and suicides. We weren't ready.

"Before we knew, the high aliens and the United Nations created the Terran Armada and drafted a third of the world's population into it. Men, women, children to be raised in the military complex. That was about a billion people. Even more than that fled into space since the technology suddenly became available. Huge fortunes were made and lost in those first years. It was chaos.” He shrugged and pushed his rice around on the plate. “I suppose if first contact did do one thing, it put an end to our own wars. But it also gave rise to the EFC, the Earth First Council. The EFC controls the planet now. They're religious cracks, call themselves the guardians of humanity."

"And you blame the Primes for your people's reactions."

He reached across the small table and took her hand. “They're your people too, even if you were raised in the deeps."