Star's Storm: Lords of Kassis Book 2 (25 page)

“Dumbass, someone is hailing us! The dippy
wad who wants to buy our home. What should I tell him?” IQ called
out through the communications console in the wall.

“What do we tell him?” Jon Paul asked as the
freighter rocked again. “Numbnuts! Get in here! Do you know if we
have shields? Guns? Anything?”

Jazin and Jarmen looked at both men as they
huddled next to each other. “You two don't even know if you have
any defense systems on board?” Jazin asked in disbelief.

“We French are lovers, not fighters. The
only weapon we had your beautiful fairy took from us,” Luc said
with an apologetic smile.

“That is not true!” Jon Paul said fiercely.
“The French are some of the greatest fighters in history! We are
known for our skills in battle.”

“Oui, that is true. There was the French
Revolution, World War I and II, not to mention the French Foreign
Legion,” Luc started to say with a weak smile. “But, me? I am
definitely more of a lover.”

“The French Foreign Legion is made up of
many nationalities, isn't it?” Star asked as she clung to Jazin who
was braced against the table.

“Can we discuss this later?” Jazin bit out.
“Jarmen, tap into their system and see if there is anything you can
do to keep us from being blown apart. You,” Jazin said pointing to
Jon Paul. “You will make contact and find out what is going on.
Tell him you have what he wants and try to get him to board.”

“What about me?” Luc said as Jon Paul
scooted out from behind the table and headed for the bridge. “What
should I do?”

Jazin fought the urge to tell the man what
he really wanted to tell him. The first suggestion was for the
strange human to take an escape pod so it could be used as target
practice instead of the freighter. Instead, he told the man to
secure any items that might cause damage to the freighter, hoping
that should keep him busy for a while. The man left followed
closely by the tall service bot.

“The freighter’s shields are holding at
seventy percent,” Jarmen said looking at Jazin. “There are two
laser gun ports mounted. One on top, the other is down below. No
power to either one so they are useless.”

Jazin nodded even as he listened to the
sound of voices coming from the front. “Can you monitor the
conversation from here?”

“Of course,” Jarmen said tilting his head to
the side and enhancing his hearing. “It is Tai Tek. He picked up
the distress signal that little warrior sent out. The one named Jon
Paul is telling him that they opened the box and found a human
female,” Jar’s mouth tilted up at the corner. “The human male is
cursing Tai Tek out in a combination of languages. I am not able to
completely translate what he is saying but I think it safe to say
he is calling Tai Tek a cowardly bastard and challenging him to a
duel.”

“What the hell is a duel?” Jazin asked in
exasperation. He didn’t think this situation could get any
worse.

“A duel is when a man defends his honor by
challenging someone who has insulted it to fight, usually to the
death,” Star said as she gripped Jazin’s arm tightly. “You aren’t
going to let him fight Tai Tek, are you? I don’t want Jon Paul to
get hurt.”

Jazin gritted his teeth as he stared down
into the worried eyes of his mate. This is why he wanted to lock
her up. She was far to tender-hearted! He couldn’t help but wonder
which God or Goddess he had insulted in his previous lives. Only
his mate could get kidnapped, ejected into space, and end up on a
dilapidated freighter with no weapons systems and a crew of four,
two of who were totally clueless to any type of survival skills.
The only two who could probably fight were the service bots!

A curse burst from his lips as the freighter
rocked again. “Armet! Where in the hell are you?” Jazin barked out.
“Dakar, how long until the
Blue Star’s
engines are back
online?”

“Ten minutes out,” Armet answered
tightly.

“They are coming online now,” Dakar
responded. “The
Blue Star
can be there in twenty
minutes.”

“We may not have ten minutes much less
twenty,” Jazin bit out. “This rusted pile of scrap has no defense
systems.”

“Gods!” Armet cursed. “I’m pushing the
starship. I can cut a few extra minutes off.”

Jazin could hear Dakar ordering engineering
to get the
Blue Star
up to full power immediately. He looked
down at Star. She was staring at him with total trust in her eyes.
His heart thudded heavily. She was magnificent.

“I love you, my Star,” he said huskily.
“Now, sit your ass down until we can get out of here.”

“Jazin, they are sending a boarding party,”
Jarmen warned. “Expect company, they are attaching to the emergency
hatch now.”

“We have an emergency hatch?” Luc asked as
he hurried back into the small kitchen area.

Jazin just shook his head and nodded to
Jarmen. “You will stay here and protect my mate with your life,” he
growled out.

“Oui, oui, with my life,” Luc said as Jon
Paul and IQ came down from the bridge.

Jazin took one more look at the man with his
two black eyes and his broken nose and groaned. “Go!” He snapped
out to Jarmen.

*.*.*

Tai Tek yelled out orders to the Commander
of the Tearnat warship he was on. They only had minutes before they
would need to disappear. The commander warned him that a Kassian
warship was less than fifteen minutes out. He had ordered the group
of mercenaries to kill the human males and capture the female. He
needed the female. It was obvious from the young Kassian lord’s
resistance when he had been held at the fortress that the male
would not break. He needed the technology the young lord had on the
defense systems. He was running out of resources and the technology
would not only give him the tools he needed to defeat the House of
Kassis but he could also sell some of it to help finance his
rebellion since the middle lord, Manota, had found some of his
hidden accounts and seized the credits in them. He was growing
desperate and desperate men did what was necessary to win.

Besides, he owed the little white haired
warrior. The knife the dark haired female threw ended up in his
shoulder but the little warrior’s crossbow had not missed either.
He thought of the body it had struck. His lover had been standing
next to him. The only thing he cared about beyond the power of
ruling Kassis. It had been his plan to have his bodyguard and lover
by his side when he ruled. Now, Narus was dead. Fury and the need
for revenge burned through him as he thought of the male who had
stood beside him since they were children. He wanted to kill the
female slowly so she could feel his pain and he wanted the young
lord to see and hear her as he did.

“Tell your men they have two minutes to grab
the female,” Tai Tek snapped out.

“Sir, they are encountering resistance,” the
commander responded.

Tai Tek turned on the commander in fury.
“How can two weak human males with no weapons resist ten of your
mercenaries?” He asked coldly.

The commander of the Tearnat warship turned
with a stony face. “That is how.”

Tai Tek turned as a familiar voice came over
the communication’s console. “Tai Tek, you are a dead man,” Jazin
said coldly. “The men you sent are dead and you will be joining
them shortly. You will never touch my mate.”

Tai Tek stepped back as the icy voice washed
over him. A shiver of dread racked his body briefly as he listened
to the deep promise in the words. He motioned for the commander to
get them out of there even as the ship rocked from a blast to its
shields. He cursed silently at having been defeated again.

“I am not dead yet, Lord Jazin,” Tai Tek
responded furiously. “You cannot keep her safe forever. When you
least expect it, I will be there to warm your spot by her
side.”

“Not in this lifetime, you miserable prick!”
Star called out. “You want a piece of me, you little twerp, bring
it on!”

Tai Tek cut communications to the freighter
and turned toward the commander of the Tearnat ship Trolis had
given him. “Open fire on the freighter then get us out of here!”
Tai Tek snapped to the commander. “I should have known he wouldn't
be so brave if he did not have re-enforcements close by,” he
snarled as another blast rocked the warship.

“What of my men?” The commander asked.

“They are already dead,” Tai Tek said
turning and leaving the bridge.

*.*.*

Jazin grabbed Star around the waist with one
arm and placed his hand over her mouth with the other. Her muffled
curses and threats could still be heard. He let go of her mouth
when she swing her arm around almost clobbering him in the head.
His hand gripped her wrist and he looked pointedly at the pan she
held in her hand.

“Luc wouldn’t give me the laser pistol,” she
muttered. “He said he needed it to protect me if the bad guys got
past you and Jarmen and made it into the kitchen.”

“Where is he now?” Jazin asked.

“Jon Paul is with him,” she said turning in
his arms and dropping the pan to the floor where it bounced with a
loud clatter against the metal floor. “I was so scared,” she
whispered before she pulled his lips down to hers in a desperate
kiss fueled by fear and relief.

Jar came onto the bridge followed by IQ.
Jazin looked up in warning even as he deepened the kiss. He could
feel his brave little warrior’s body shaking as she pressed up
against him. The fight had been short but fierce. There had been
ten men. They had cut them down as they entered the storage bay.
Things had gotten hairy when one of the men tried to blow the hatch
they had entered through. The storage bay had decompressed,
shutting the automatic seals. Both he and Jar would have been swept
out into space if not for the large service bot. It had grabbed
both of them by their arms, activated the magnetic grips in its
feet and pulled them out while Jar held the door open just long
enough for them to get through.

Jazin pulled back with a sigh as alarms
began sounding as the blast from the Tearnat warship burst through
the shields. “We are all going to die!” IQ wailed as he came
rolling up to Jarmen.

“We are not going to die,” Jazin said in
exasperation. “Jar, how long do we have?”

“A minute, maybe two,” Jar responded. “If we
don’t find a way off this thing, we are all going to die.”

Star tiredly rested her head against Jazin’s
chest. “What next?”

Jon Paul and Luc came scrambling into the
bridge carrying a large box between them that clanked and clattered
as glass knocked against each other. Both men had a huge grin on
their face. Jazin looked at the ceiling briefly before he looked
back at Jar in resignation.

“We are packed and ready to go,” Luc said
excitedly.

“Armet, where are you? We could use a way
off this thing before it explodes,” Jazin said moving toward the
emergency hatch they had entered.

“I’m docking under the freighter now. I hope
you weren’t attached to that maintenance shuttle,” Armet said
calmly. “You better put a move on. This bucket of bolts doesn’t
look too good.”

They had escaped the freighter with not a
second to spare. Jon Paul and Luc had toasted their goodbye to the
freighter cheerfully while IQ kept trying to snuggle up to Jarmen.
Jar had finally shut the little service bot down. Star didn’t know
if it was because he was embarrassed or so he could get some peace
and quiet. Numbnuts had promptly requested permission to recharge
and shut down on his own. By the time they were safely back on
board the
Blue Star
, Tai Tek had pulled another disappearing
act. She knew that all the men were frustrated but they also felt
more confident than ever that it was just a matter of time before
he was caught.

Jazin told Star that Manota and Jo had
returned along with Star’s parents and an wide assortment of other
characters. He didn’t tell her that Manota swore that half of their
new passengers must have been from a dozen or more bizarre
different species! His normally quiet brother looked extremely
agitated.

“What is wrong?” Jazin had asked once Dakar,
Armet, and Jarmen had left to get some much needed rest. “Did you
encounter problems returning to our mate’s world?”

“Yes,” Manota admitted reluctantly. “We had
to bring a few additional passengers that were not a part of Jo and
Star’s family or the circus. There were two members of their
world’s security force that followed us. I was left with no choice
but to bring them with us.”

“Who else?” Jazin asked concern.

“The one called Walter found a young female
who had been beaten the night we were to leave. She needed
immediate medical care,” Manota said quietly. “I had no choice but
to bring her with us. I am not sure if she will heal, at least
mentally. She still had not spoken. Jo, her parents, and a few of
the others spend time with her.”

Jazin felt a wave of unease. “How did our
mates’ parents react to you?” He asked hesitantly.

“Jazin, these creatures….,” Manota drew in a
deep breath before he looked over his shoulder to make sure he was
alone. “They are some of the most unusual I have ever seen.”

“What happened?” Jazin asked bluntly.

He wanted to get back to his mate. He didn't
have time to try to decipher what Manota was reluctant to share. He
was too damn tired anyway. Personally, he could care less if Star’s
parents accepted him. She was his and he would never let her go. He
leaned forward, rubbing his brow tiredly, and looked at his
brother. He had never seen him look so uncertain before.

“Tell me,” Jazin said impatiently.

“Her parents were so happy to see Jo and
know that their daughters were safe they did not question who I was
at first. Of course, that changed after they discovered where I
planned to take her and them. The next thing I knew, I have a
hundred different beings, supposedly humans, their mobile homes,
and their wide variety of pets on my warship. I don’t think I will
ever understand the ones they call clowns. They are downright
scary!” Manota admitted quietly. “You will see when you get home.
Father has set them up not far outside of the city. He felt it
would be better for them to slowly assimilate into our society so
they do not cause a panic among our people. When will you be
home?”