HeartStorm (HeartFast Series Book 3) (3 page)

            "We hear you. We're sending two men to your location immediately. When we get within locator distance, we'll contact you and order you to turn on your locator. Otherwise, shut down all non-essential systems to conserve your energy. We expect to reach you in approximately..." He paused and looked to Time Merchant, who was already using a data board to run some calculations.

            "One hundred eighty-seven minutes," the man gave him.

            "One hundred ninety minutes," Deceiver replied.

            "Thanks, Guardian Command. We'll be waiting for you."

            The line went dead, and Deceiver turned to face the others. His eyes automatically locked onto Master Hunter. "I hate to do this, but I have no other choice. Hunter, Challenger, I'm sending you two to Sigma Vialla."

            "Deceiver, Star's due to give birth in a couple of weeks." Sender stepped up to state the obvious. "Why not let me go in his place? I can transport those people up to
Three.
"

            The Guardian grimly nodded, but addressed Hunter. "I know, but they shouldn't be gone more than a few days."

            "Why just them two?" Provoker questioned. "
Three
can hold several more of us, including the six survivors. Why not send Sender? The two of them working together can get the job done in half the time."

            Deceiver thought about it, then nodded. "All right. Sender, you go with them. But remember, this is a rescue mission only. Go, pick up, and bring back, unless their home planet is somewhere between there and here. Then you can drop them off along the way. Any more questions?"

            Sender hurried to catch up with Challenger, who was already halfway across the bay, heading toward
Transport Three,
which sat in its docking cradle several meters away. Glancing over his shoulder, he called out, "No more time for questions. We have to get to Sigma Vialla before six men freeze to death. Hey, Hunter! I'm driving!"

            StarLight turned and faced her husband. She didn't try to mask the anxiety on her face. "Udo?"

            He quickly kissed her. "I'll be back. Don't worry. Remember? Destiny promised we're going to have a son sometime in the future," Hunter teased, and gave her a wink.

            She looked behind him to where the slender woman stood almost in the rear shadows of the bay. Although the psychic was uncannily accurate with all her predictions, Star continued to have doubts about Destiny's track record. Nothing was ever guaranteed to work one hundred percent of the time. Sooner or later, the woman had to make a mistake. Star hoped the promise of her and Hunter having a son together would eventually come about. Even with her trepidations, that singular promise was enough to give her some consolation.

            Star tried to hug him as best as her big tummy allowed. "Yes, I know you'll return, but there's always the chance you could be seriously injured. Or there could another incident, and you be gone again for weeks or months."

            "But I'll be back," he whispered. "I'll be back, and we'll love again. In the meantime, Emma, please watch over your mother and little sister until I return."

            At their throats, the ebony HeartCrystal trilled in reply. The almost sentient temporal stone connected them in ways that continued to surprise them.

            A final kiss, and Hunter trotted toward the transport as the big ship's engines fired up.

            Star remained in the bay while the others filed into the main building. She watched the Guardian fleet's biggest ship gradually lift itself off its cradle, rising slowly upward until it cleared the open bay doors. As the transport's engines roared to life, sending the vessel into space, she blew a kiss in its direction.

            "He's right, you know," a familiar and loved figure whispered beside her. A petite hand threaded fingers through hers.

Star gave the hand a squeeze. "I hope so, Fire. I hope you're both right."

            Her friend gave her arm a little jerk. "Hey, I'm hungry. Want to share a slice of direlli pie with me? My treat."

            Star chuckled. "When aren't you hungry? But come to think of it, I'm feeling a bit hungry, too. We may need to order up two whole slices, instead of sharing one."

            Morning Fire grinned. "Sounds good to me."

            Star allowed the woman to lead her out of the bay, but not before she took one last look at the empty cradle where
Three
had docked. As the door closed behind her, she pasted a smile on her face and placed the tips of her fingers on the stone embedded in the hollow of her throat.

           
You'll let me know if something happens to him, won't you, Emma?

           
The gem chirped an affirmative. And, oddly enough, it gave her comfort.

Chapter Four

Delay

            "What in the name of all that's holy is that?"

            Sender's question matched Hunter's own non-verbal surprise as they neared the Mandrus Vialla system. Even with the ship's internal lights on, the phenomenon whirling past the small galaxy was bright enough to throw a swirling palette of colors through the front viewscreen. The hues spun across their features like a giant kaleidoscope.

            "It's pretty. I'll grant you that. But it doesn't mean it's not dangerous. I don't know what to make of it, but I'm throwing up the shields just in case," Challenger answered, reaching for the main navigation board.

            Hunter kept his eyes glued on the object. "They said they were in the middle of a blow storm. This looks more like an ion storm, and a monster one at that!"

            Challenger nodded as he brought the ship closer to the outer edge of the configuration. "We're coming up on Sigma Vialla. I wonder which one is the third moon?"

            Sender manned the communications. "This is
Guardian Transport Three
calling the survivors on the third moon of Sigma Vialla. This is
Guardian Transport Three
calling the survivors on the third moon of Sigma Vialla. Can you read us? We need your locator turned on. Please respond."

            Almost immediately, a little blip popped onto the viewscreen. It highlighted the medium-sized moon on the far edge of the little planet it circled. Hunter groaned softly.

            "The densest portion of that storm is about to envelope that moon. Sender, see if you can get a verbal response from them. Find out what their current temperature is."

            "This is
Guardian Transport Three
calling the survivors on the third moon of Sigma Vialla. We have your location and we're closing in. Can you give us a verbal response? Can you tell us what your current situation is? What is the surface temperature?"

            They waited a full minute, with no reply from the survivors. Left with having to find out for themselves, Hunter ran a full scan on the moon's surface, with no result. He softly cursed. "The instruments can't read the surface. The storm's intensified to the point where it's blocking everything."

            Challenger brought the ship into an irregular orbit, keeping them on the outer edge of the enormous, multi-colored cloud. Setting
Three
on auto-pilot, he turned to Hunter.

            "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you once say you couldn't penetrate an ion storm? Something about it that affects that protective bubble you're inside?"

            "It depends on whether they're negative or positive, and how many urgs are being generated." Hunter glanced over at Sender, who was addressing the computer link on the console. "What does it show, Sender?"

            "We're currently looking at six hundred forty urgs of positive ions." She looked over at them. "But it's fluctuating like crazy, spiking into the eight hundred range at times."

            "Hunter?"

            Hunter shook his head. "As far as I know, my limit is just under five hundred urgs."

            "This thing is rolling like a wave sine," Sender interjected. "There are moments it dips below three hundred."

            "Can the computer track those dips?" Hunter asked her.

            The young woman re-checked the ship's mainframe. After a long moment, she raised her head. "Somewhat. The window's very, very narrow. Ninety seconds is the longest lead it can give us."

            "Ninety seconds is plenty of time." Hunter got to his feet. "Challenger, I need a precise location. Try to narrow it to the smallest field you can muster."

            "What are you thinking?" Challenger asked.

            "You're going to wait for the levels to drop." Sender stared at Hunter with undisguised worry. "You're going to try to dodge the spikes in order to bring those survivors back here. Hunter, that's crazy!"

            "But it could work," he argued.

            "Then take me with you," she demanded.

            He shook his head. "It's too dangerous. If I get caught in an unexpected burst, and I lose my protective shield, you and I could both perish."

            "Terash dung." Challenger grinned. "You've got a son to father in the future."

            "Or I could be lost again for months or years," Hunter shot back. He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his short, curly hair. "Or Sender, you could die, and I won't forgive myself if that happened. Especially after what you and Seeker went through after we were swallowed up in that wormhole. No, I'm going in this alone."

            Sender reached out and grabbed a fistful of his uniform. The expression on her face hardened as she met him almost nose-to-nose. "Now, listen up, Master Hunter. We're Guardians. You, Challenger,
and
me. We take the risks. We don't shy away from what needs to be done. You got a plan? Great. Now I got a plan. Want to hear it?"

            He couldn't help the grin creasing the corners of his mouth. "Sure. What is it?"

            "I'm not limited by this storm. But what I need is a direct line to feed through, in order to send people back to this ship. That's going to be you. I say we go down together. Then you bring one of the survivors back here. That will give me a conduit and an exact location where I can upload the rest of them."

            "Sounds like the woman's got a plan," Challenger dryly remarked. Hunter agreed.

            "All right. But to be on the safe side, I suggest we all put on our space suits just in case. Assume all risks."

            A smile burst out across Sender's face, and she relaxed her grip. "Assume all risks."

            It was the Guardian's new credo, adopted soon after Hunter and the rest returned from the wormhole. From that moment, Deceiver declared that no mission would take place until every Guardian took every precaution first, no matter how unusual or petty it sounded. And that included everyone donning their suits to venture out into space. Including Hunter and StarLight, who normally needed no gear while in the void.

            Once they donned their suits, Hunter stood behind Sender as the ship neared the third moon. She watched the computer readouts, waiting for a low enough dip in the storm to show itself on the screen, while Challenger kept
Three
out of possible harm's way.

            "I'm feeding these readings into my suit so I can keep track on our way down," she told him, her fingers flying over the console keyboard. "All right. We're set."

            "Will that feed follow us all the way down to the surface?"

            "I don't know. Guess we'll find out. Hold on. This looks like one," she murmured into her helmet mic. "Hold it. Let me verify."

            Hunter remained tense. His arms went around the woman's slender waist, when the thought suddenly crossed his mind. He hadn't held another woman like this in years, other than StarLight. And in recent months, his embrace had been impeded by her enlarging stomach as she got nearer to giving birth.

            "We got it! Hunter, let's g—"

            Before the last word was out of her mouth, he popped them out of the transport and followed the homing signal visible on his suit's transponder.

            It was like traveling inside a rudderless capsule at the mercy of the stars. The sound of the storm filled their ears with a high-pitched whine, drowning out all other noise. They were buffeted like a bubble inside a wind tunnel, and it took every effort for Hunter to keep them on course. Without asking her to do so, Sender yelled out the readings.

            "Four twenty-seven urgs! Four fifty-nine urgs! Four seventy-eight urgs!"

            He could feel a tingling sensation invading the aura around them and into his suit. It crawled over his skin like a low frequency electric current that gradually began to burn into his muscles. Gritting his teeth, he powered through the rising wave of ions, pressing for speed.

            A split second later, they were hovering inside the crashed ship. Sender gasped at its sudden appearance. "Whoo! What a ride!" She laughed. "You should charge admission. You'd make a mint!"

            "Is it safe for us to emerge?" Hunter asked. His head continued to ring from the silence surrounding them. Inside the suit, every inch of his body itched. The need to scratch was unbearable.

            "Uhh, yeah. It's just under a hundred urgs here."

            "What about outside?"

            He watched as she paused. She finally shook her head. "I can't get anything beyond the hull. Guess the storm's messing with the readings, or the ship is damping them."

            Once Hunter released his aura, he let go of her. She stepped away from him as their suits automatically turned on their external lights inside the totally dark interior. The place was empty.

            "Well, they said they'd lost all power." He checked his outer temperature gauge. Minus two hundred. It was damn cold. On the positive side, however, the itch was subsiding.