Hostage To The Stars: A Sectors SF Romance (6 page)

He glanced up from what he was doing, wrapping bandages in a neat pattern around each of her ankles and met her eyes. “Yes.”

Sara swallowed hard. “I got a quick course in the harsh realities of life when the pirate boarded the
Star Swan
and the crew wouldn’t help me, so I’m not too surprised. But why did you come for me?”

“Special Forces don’t leave anyone behind. I’d never abandon a Sectors citizen at the mercy of these Farduccir bastards. Especially not a woman.” He shrugged. He hadn’t questioned himself when he heard there was a prisoner about to be left behind. Of course he needed to make his best effort to rescue her. “May I have your left wrist now?”

She extended her arm to him. “I’m grateful. “

“Once it was reported to Command that the warlord held another Sectors citizen, some effort would have been made.” He shook his head as he examined the rope burns and bruises. The warlord’s men had played rough with her more than once. She’d fought hard. “But not enough, I can’t lie.”

“Not in time to do me any good.” She brushed fresh tears off her cheeks.
 

“No. Not unless you have family with a lot of gravity. Or an employer with connections.”

“Neither. No lover in high places like Tresha either.” He could tell what an effort she made to sound cheerful. “No boyfriend, much less one in politics. My family is ordinary people on an ordinary planet. Teachers. And I’m on sabbatical right now, from Sector 52 University. I took a year off to travel and study.”

“What do you teach?”

“The organization and retrieval of knowledge.”

He pondered her job description while he took care of her injuries. “An archivist?”

“Sort of. What’s our plan?”

He sat back on his heels, reaching for the antibiotic. “That’s where things get a bit tricky.”

“So no plan? We stay on the run on Farduccir forever?”

He laughed. “Have a little faith, please - I can do better than permanent fugitive status on this world. I was deployed here before, about fifteen years ago, during the Mawreg push into the Sector, which is why Command wanted me as a consultant. I know where there are well-hidden caches of Special Forces supplies; including mothballed coms I hope we can use to call for extraction. Our gear stays viable for decades. There are people at home who will be making noise about retrieving me, so once I make it known we’re alive, an extraction mission will be mounted. We probably have a two to three week trek ahead of us to the depot though. I’m sorry.”

She waved the canteen. “Never apologize to me for anything, Mr. Danver. I owe you.”

“It’s Sergeant Danver actually, but you can call me Johnny.”

“Do you have an extra blaster, Johnny?”

He liked the way his name sounded on her lips. “Can you shoot?”

“You can teach me, can’t you? I think I’ll be a lot happier if I have the means to defend myself.” She shuddered again. “Or kill myself because I am
not
returning to the warlord’s prison.”

“I promise the situation won’t arise. My word on it.” He gathered his bandages and lotions, putting each carefully in its designated slot, and closed the medkit. “You’re all set. Any other aches and pains I should check?”

“Bruises. They’ll fade.” She leaned against the rock wall and closed her eyes. "The warlord made it clear to his men I would lose my value if anyone got carried away and damaged anything permanently. He shot one man who was caught in my cell on an unauthorized visit. The only time I was happy to see my assigned jailers.”

Johnny admired her ability to cope. He’d had intense training for what to do and how to survive if he were to be captured and tortured. She’d been an unprepared civilian. Studying her face, he decided not to voice his thoughts. Sticking to the practicalities, he said, “We can try to steal a pair of shoes for you from a village as we go.”

“I don’t want you risking your life unnecessarily to save me from blisters.”

“Feet are highly important. A soldier needs his or her feet to be in good shape, protected.” He pulled an energy bar out of the pack for himself and sat carefully on a nearby rock, rather than next to her. Sara Bridges was a woman fighting a potentially crippling anxiety attack, and with good reason. He wasn’t going to make any move that might cause her to lose her hard-won self-control. “We’ll rest here today and tonight as well. Travel tomorrow.”

She sat bolt upright, staring at him with raised eyebrows. “I can hike. Won’t the pirates be searching for us? Shouldn’t we get as far away as we can, as fast as we can?” Lowering her gaze, she bit her lip and spoke in a soft voice. “I’m not trying to second guess you. You’re the expert here.”

“I understand the concern. Ask me anything at any time. I won’t be offended or irritated.” He didn’t want her to feel the least bit uncomfortable with him. Their survival might depend on how well they could team up. He needed her to trust him.

Her expression less concerned, shoulders relaxing, Sara sat against the rock wall and took a few deep breaths. “Reassuring, thank you. So why are we going to stay here until tomorrow?”

“I’m pretty there won’t be a search mounted for us. The landing field was an inferno last time I checked. Even the prison was on fire, so if we’re lucky Umarri will think you died. And I overheard some guys talking – the pirates believe the military all left with Ms. Immer. The workers will blame themselves for the fire today. They were pretty high.”

“Hence no search.” She nodded. “Makes sense.”

“Can you sleep?”

“Will you be here if I have nightmares?”

“Yes, ma’am, that’s an affirmative.” He dug out a microblanket from his pack and unfurled it for her. “Here, wrap yourself in this. It’ll put a cushioned layer between you and the cold ground and keep you warmer.”

“What about you?” She stifled a yawn.

“I’ll be right here. Soldiers don’t sleep deep, don’t worry. Nothing is going to catch us by surprise.” He waited patiently while she curled up on the cave floor and dropped off to sleep. So far, so good. He hoped the next segment of his half-baked plan would go as well. Good thing he excelled at inventing on the fly.

CHAPTER FOUR

Sara squirmed, trying to get comfortable but a rock dug into her back. What was a rock doing in her bed? Memories flooding her consciousness as she surfaced from a vague dream, she gasped and sat upright, heart pounding. Frantically she assessed her surroundings, puzzled at first to be in a cave, dimly lit by a handlamp on the floor close to her. As the confusion lifted, she saw a battered service blaster lying next to the light and grabbed it, although she had no idea how to make it work. “Johnny?” Keeping her voice low, she called out but the cave was empty. Nothing but echoes of her rescuer’s name. Had he told her he was leaving? Her memories of last night were inexact but she clung to how calm and reassuring he’d been. Competent. If he’d left her by herself, he must have been sure it was safe to do so.

Clutching the blaster, she took cover behind a rock close to the one where she’d been seated when he performed first aid on her injuries. The wall securely behind her, she held the blanket like a cape, cradled the weapon, and tried not to shiver.

She heard sounds at the cave entrance and a low bird call. Sara bit her lip and kept quiet.

“It’s only me.” Johnny came into the chamber. He looked straight at the spot where she crouched, hiding. “Safe to come out. I brought berries.”

“You went out to gather berries?” She stood and did her morning stretches to loosen her muscles.

He glanced at the blaster. “I’ll teach you how to use it today while we wait. I thought you might enjoy some fresh food with the energy bars for your breakfast.” He extended the pouch full of shiny green globes to her. “They’re tart.”

Taking one, she cautiously bit it in half and her face lit up with pleasure at the tangy juice. “These are good.”

“I also checked our back trail, make sure we weren’t being followed,” he said, taking a handful of the berries and sitting on the boulder he’d taken as his ‘chair’ when they’d arrived hours ago. “So far so good.”

“A sensible reason to venture outside.” She laughed, realizing he was teasing her a bit. “So we have to kill an entire night in this cave?”

“You can probably use the rest,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “I’m guessin’ it’s been pretty intense for you since you were captured.”

“Yeah.” Swallowing hard, she took the canteen he extended to her and drank a few sips of water to loosen her throat. “You could say that.”

“I’ll check your feet before we march tomorrow. If you can’t sleep, I do have a pack of cards.” He fished in his pack and brought out a tattered deck.

“The cards look marked to me,” she said.

“Are you accusing me of being a cheater, ma’am?” He made an exaggerated face of surprise and tsk’ed. “We can keep the stakes low. Can’t let you clean me out of all my pay. But playing cards is a time honored way of passing the time in between sorties in the military.”

“If you say so. You’ll have to teach me the rules. I can only play kids’ games.”

So the night proceeded. Johnny played hand after hand of various games with her, keeping score with his AI, arguing over points and rules, and laughing. He showed her how to use the blaster before going outside to patrol the perimeter close to midnight.

“Promise not to shoot me when I come inside after I patrol,” he said, mock seriously.

“Do your pretty bird whistle thing again.”

He pursed his lips and repeated the bird call.

“Yes, exactly. I’ll know it’s you and I won’t shoot.”

Face serious, he rose, assessing her for a moment as he settled his knife and remaining blaster in their places. “I’ll be gone a while but I promise I’ll be back.”

“Okay. I’ll be here. Be careful.”

“Careful is my middle name,” he said as he faded into the gloom outside the reach of their handlamp.

“I doubt that somehow.” She rubbed her arms and glanced at the ominous shadows the fire cast in the cave, like formless monsters waiting to pounce. When Johnny was here with her, he filled the space with his personality. She suspected he exerted himself to keep her mind off her experiences with the pirates, which was probably a good idea. She didn’t need to be having constant anxiety attacks.

In the morning he did another reconnaissance run, sliding into the cave with a cheerful whistle. “All clear. I think we should get going now. Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be. I want to get off this planet and go home.”

“Let me check your feet, make sure you’re good to go and then we’ll head out.” He made quick work of rebandaging her feet and then packed his gear as she put her shoes on.
 

“I can carry something.” She watched him fastening the pack. Did he have every piece of gear known to man inside? Or else an AI manufacturing what he needed in the blink of an eye? Sara smiled to herself at the concept. “I want to help.”

“Thanks, but I mostly need you to walk, ma’am,” he said, adjusting the pack on his back. “Terrain’ll be pretty steep today I’m afraid. If it gets too hot, we may hole up for a few hours in the shade at midday and then hike into the night. I have enhanced night vision so I promise not to lead you over a cliff.”

“It’s a deal.” She liked his sense of humor. His small jokes and careful teasing put her at ease. His size and competence at any task he undertook gave her hope she might actually escape this nightmare.

He left the cave first and stood by as she emerged into the crisp morning air. Taking a deep breath, she found herself perched on a ledge above a small canyon. Sara swallowed hard, tried to ignore her fear of heights and made herself study her surroundings.
 

Johnny leaned in. “No bad guys anywhere near, I promise.”

“Is my terror so obvious?” The tremor in her limbs worked against her determination to project good cheer.

“Give yourself time to heal,” he said. “I’ll lead the way, step where I walk and you’ll be ok. It’s a short climb into the valley and we’ll be marching along the streambed most of the day. Tell me if you get tired and need a break.” Johnny gave her a stern look. “No heroics. We have to pace ourselves. This trek is gonna take two weeks at best.”

“I promise.” She watched him lower himself over the lip of the ledge and drop a few feet to the incline below.

“Your turn. I’ll catch you.”

Hoping he’d at least enjoy the view, Sara forced herself to take one step and then the next, rotate and crawl over the edge derriere first. He steadied her at the waist with his strong hands, ensuring she had a safe landing on the loose soil. She bit her lip as his grip brought panic rising in her chest but he released her and continued the descent after one searching glance.

He’s not the enemy. He’s been nothing but a gentleman.
“Idiot,” she said to herself under her breath as she skidded the final few feet into the flat canyon bottom.

“Did you say something, ma’am?”

She shook her head, feeling heat rise in her cheeks. “No. Ready to march, sir.”

“Technically speaking sergeants aren’t addressed as sir.” He grinned and set off in a northerly direction and she scurried to keep up.

“Then stop calling me ma’am.”