Viking Unbound (10 page)
Frey kept her head high and her gaze level as she and Einarr entered the mess hall. Everyone was there, of course.
“Tecky.” Brown nodded to her. “Good job at keeping the Viking occupied in your cabin for thirty-six Earth hours. Don’t know how you managed it.”
Beside Frey, Einarr went still, his pale blue gaze coming to rest on Brown.
“We’re good Brown. How close are we to Alpha Three?” She tried to maneuver Einarr into a seat, but he refused to budge. “I assume FREN still hasn’t been in contact, or else I would’ve heard.”
“We’ve heard nothing,” Slavin strolled over and smiled at Frey putting herself between Einarr and Brown. “Alpha Three is only a few hours away. We’ll be preparing for landing fairly soon.”
Heald came out of the small galley kitchen with a couple of plates on a tray. “Sit down, Viking. We’re eating leftovers from the food stores. I’ve got eggs, pigcow and cheesera sandwiches for you both.” He winked at Frey as he set the food on the table. “I bet you need your strength.”
Frey contemplated crawling under the table. Was it that obvious that she and Einarr had spent their entire time alone fucking? From the way everyone was looking at them, she had to suspect it was. So much for her reputation as an uptight technician who never let her hair down…
“Where is Travis?” Einarr asked.
Slavin grimaced. “He’s trying to contact Alpha Three to give them a heads up on our anticipated arrival time. There is still a lot of interference from the eclipse. It’s proving hard to get through.”
“I hope everything’s okay down there.” Frey said. “It’s odd that we haven’t been able to raise anyone on any channel.”
“I know.”
Slavin sat down beside Frey, and Einarr finally joined them, his gaze moving between her and Slavin.
“Do you believe our destination is unsafe?”
“I don’t know.” Frey reached for her sandwich suddenly realizing how hungry she was. “It’s probably fine. As it’s on one of the moons of Odin, it might have suffered a similar communications error to the one we had onboard ship.”
Einarr ate his sandwich in two bites and shoved the plate away. “I want my weapons returned to me.”
“You’ll have to speak to Captain Travis about that.” Slavin stood and pushed her chair in. “I’m going back to the bridge.”
“We’ll join you fairly soon.” At the thought that their journey was about to end, Frey’s appetite deserted her, and she passed the rest of the sandwich over to Einarr. He eyed her suspiciously but accepted her gift and ate it in seconds.
“When we’ve finished here and cleaned up my cabin, we need to go up to the bridge to prepare for our landing on Alpha Three.”
Einarr nodded, his thoughts obviously elsewhere. “Will the captain give me my weapons back before we land?”
“I doubt it.”
“But what if the base has been attacked?”
She stood up. “Apart from the odd spat between my people and the Etruscans, this section of space is mainly free of conflict. The only person who would attack the base would be your brother, so I don’t think you’ll be getting your weapons back.”
He shrugged, his expression calm. “I don’t need them.” He flexed his fingers. “I have all the power I need.”
“You promised not to use it on the ship.”
“But not when we land.” He shot her a hard blue stare. “Mark my words, Frey. If I need to defend you, or my brother, I will do so.”
Einarr waited as patiently as he could for Frey to finish her preparations and get ready to disembark the ship. After packing her possessions and delivering her bags to the cargo hold, she took him back up to the bridge.
“We’re going to sit here.”
Einarr took the seat she indicated and watched as she buckled him in and then did the same to herself. In front of him, he could see the rest of the crew. Some of them were engaged in bringing the ship ever closer to a purple and black sphere straight ahead of them. Captain Travis was issuing orders, his voice calm, his gaze fixed forward.
“All crew. Landing procedures will commence in one minute.” Slavin said. “Make sure you are in your approved seating. Thank you.”
The engines under his feet changed tone and roared deeper now, making the floor tremble and the upcoming planet tip alarmingly to one side. He fought back a desire to puke by swallowing hard and grabbed the armrest of his chair. Just as he did, a coil snaked out from behind his neck and wrapped itself around his throat and then into his ear and nose. He jerked forward with a growl.
“
Don’t fight it, Einarr. It won’t hurt you. It’s just a precautionary safety measure in case the ship loses life support.”
Frey had obviously anticipated his desire to rip out the coiled wire and wrestle the thing to the ground. He tried to relax as the ship maneuvered again and came back toward the planet at some speed. Closing his eyes and praying seemed like the best option available, so he did that. Slavin’s voice continued to talk softly in his ear as she guided the ship in, communicating with someone on the ground at every step.
He kept his eyes closed, even when the noise diminished and he felt the bump of solid ground beneath him, and breathed a prayer to the Gods.
“Ship is secured. Safety devices will deactivate in thirty seconds,” Slavin said. “Captain Travis requests that Tecky stay with our guest and disembark last.”
“Copy that.” Frey said.
He remained in his seat until the web of wires retreated and he surreptitiously rubbed his throat. The crew filed out glancing curiously at him and smiling at Frey who didn’t say a word. At last, only he, Frey, and Captain Travis were left on the bridge. He wished he had his weapons. He had a sense that his welcome might not be as benign as Frey expected.
Travis came over, his expression guarded.
“Science Officer Frey, fall in behind me and the Viking and proceed to the docking bay.”
“Yes, sir.”
Einarr held out his hand. “Where are my weapons?”
“They have already been taken off the ship. I’m sure the personnel at Alpha Three will return them to you when they deem you sufficiently rehabilitated.”
“I would prefer to have them now.”
Travis sighed. “There is nothing to fear here, Viking. No one wants to hurt a hair on your head. You are a scientific miracle. Trust me. They want to keep you alive.”
Frey touched his sleeve. “He’s right, Einarr. No one will harm you.”
“Then we will proceed.”
He followed Travis down the narrow passageways, his feet sounding hollowly on the metal until he reached a square of light. Bracing himself, he took a step outside and immediately covered his eyes against the brightness beaming down on him. He stopped dead and Travis paused beside him. A soft breeze blew up stirring the purple dust that covered the floor. The air was hot and dry and stuck in his throat.
“Keep moving, Viking.” Travis murmured. “Nothing to worry about.”
Despising himself for his moment of weakness, and even more that Travis had witnessed it, Einarr took a step forward. At the bottom of the ramp, a group of people awaited them. They were all staring at him and some of them were whispering excitedly. Raising his chin, he strode toward them, his gaze fixing on the woman at the front of the group who appeared to be in command.
She came toward him, her expression serene and held up her hand.
“Welcome, Einarr Bloodaxe, to Alpha Base Three. I’m Doctor Pel Aziz.”
He took her measure, his hand hovering at his hip where his axe should be.
“Is my brother here?”
“Your brother?” Her eyebrows shot up. “The other warrior is related to you?”
“Aye, we are twins. Is he here?”
“His ship hasn’t arrived yet. We expect it within the next few hours.” She glanced over her shoulder at the huddle of curious faces. “We would like to examine you and make sure you haven’t suffered too many ill effects since…”
“I came out of the ice.” Einarr finished the sentence for her. “I am willing to cooperate until my brother arrives. And then I need to see him.”
“As you wish.” She hesitated. “We lost contact with his ship around the same time as we lost contact with yours and haven’t reestablished it yet. We were only aware of your presence because Captain Travis managed to get a message through to us just before landing. We have no idea if your brother, um, defrosted as well.”
“I’m sure that will become clear when he arrives.” Einarr bowed, aware of the armed guards now moving in between him and Travis. “Where is Frey?”
Travis touched his shoulder. “She is being debriefed by her employers. I’m sure she’ll join you later.”
He shook off Travis’s restraining hand, aware that he could no longer sense Frey in his head. “That is unacceptable. I need to—” A cold stabbing pain in his neck silenced him and even as he inwardly raged, he fell forward into the waiting arms of the soldiers who surrounded him.
Frey sat down at the table again and rested her head on her folded arms. She’d been left to stew in the “interview” room for hours. When she’d tried the door, a uniformed guard had gotten in her face and told her to sit down and shut up or he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.
She groaned into her hands. This was bad. She couldn’t even sense Einarr, and after seeing him keel over like a stunned ox, as she was marched away, she wasn’t surprised. When he woke up and found her gone, would he care? Or would all his focus be on reclaiming his brother? She almost hoped it would. She didn’t want to drag him into her mess. There was nothing she could do to help him and nothing he could do to make the coming ordeal about her failure to obey orders any better.
She’d never been in trouble in her life before. She’d obeyed every rule and done everything perfectly and she’d still ended up here… What did they say about her? Was she genetically engineered to break the rules? And Gods, her heart was breaking as she yearned to stay with her male and simply shut everything else out.
The door finally opened and she sat up straight as a man and woman entered the room and took the two seats opposite her at the table. The male wore the standard blue uniform of a TSA operative, the female civilian clothing, most of which was tight and shiny.
“Science Officer Frey. I’m Gron from the Trios Space Authority and this is my colleague Director Mitzi Lahm from FREN.”
Frey nodded at the pair and resumed her contemplation of her folded hands. She hadn’t quite expected Mitzi to look like that. FREN ops tended to be rather more uptight in their dress code.
“We’ve been asked to investigate your conduct aboard TSA Ship QZ41.”
“I did what I was ordered to do.” Frey said. “I kept the Viking alive.”
“That is correct, but you were also instrumental in setting him free in the first place.” Mitzi snapped. “You went directly against FREN procedure in ensuring the ice remained in a sterile environment.”
“I followed the orders I was given
by
FREN and input only the codes that were sent to me.”
“Codes you
conveniently
say you were told to erase.”
“I was ordered to erase them. I’m fairly certain you’ll find the information if you check the full security logs.”
“You touched the ice with your bare hands.”
It didn’t appear as if Mitzi was listening or had any intention of replying directly to Frey’s answers.
Frey shrugged. “Only once, and that was during an emergency. When the planets aligned, the—”
“I’m not interested in excuses, Science Officer,” Mitzi made a slashing gesture with her hand. “You didn’t follow protocol.”
“I was more concerned about keeping your specimen alive. As soon as the eclipse sent all my equipment into a spin, I checked the Viking. I didn’t have time to worry about gloves when the whole ship’s power might have been failing.” Frey took a quick breath and kept talking. “And if anything was to blame for the defrosting, I think you should look at the effect of the new codes you sent me and at the eclipse. When was the last time these planets, including ones called after the Viking gods aligned? I bet that has more to do with it than me sticking one naked finger on the surface of the ice.”
“Those particular circumstances are being fully investigated, Science Officer Frey. We are more concerned with your decision making process throughout the entire voyage,” Gron said. “You took it upon yourself to keep the Viking with you at all times.”
“The Viking suggested it. He threatened to destroy the ship if I didn’t comply.”
“So Captain Travis said.” Gron sat back. “But even if that is correct, I’m sure no one suggested you have sexual relations with this man.”
Frey felt her cheeks heat up. “Captain Travis did not ask me to do that. It just… happened.”
Mitzi slammed her hand down on the table. “And it is completely unacceptable! How
could you
be so unprofessional? You have no idea how his body has withstood being trapped in ice for centuries. You have no idea what diseases he carries, or what you might have given him.”
Frey bit down on her lip and stared at the table. She wasn’t going to bring out the mating excuse. There was no way she and Einarr could ever be together now. Suggesting that she was his mate would open up a whole new can of worms that Einarr didn’t need and her interrogators wouldn’t understand.
“Well?” Mitzi demanded.
Frey shrugged. “I wanted to keep him safe.”
“By letting him have unprotected sexual intercourse with you?” Mitzi shook her head. “You might just have killed him before he even had a chance to live again. How selfish and thoroughly unprofessional of you.”
Well, she had been selfish. Frey knew that, but she didn’t regret experiencing sex with a telepathic mate. It was extraordinary. But had she damaged him? She hadn’t sensed anything wrong with him, and mates were attuned to physical changes in their lover’s bodies. In fact, they were more likely to heal each other than to cause harm.
Oh Gods, was she such a screw-up that one moment of spontaneity and selfishness in her entire life might have killed her mate?
“I did what I thought best to keep him alive and safe.” She repeated the words gaining some comfort from them. “If that means I should resign my commission and return to Pavlovan, then I’ll do so right now.”