The Journey's End (14 page)

She clicked off the mic and turned to Menelaus.  “Did you
find it weird that they didn’t request time to verify our identity?  I was all
set to argue about the delay and they just gave in.”

“It did seem a trifle easy for a strange conveyance to
interrupt their flight and collect a passenger, especially as we are
effectively boarding them to do it.”  Menelaus caught Nori’s eyes.  “If I was a
suspicious man I would say that they were expecting us.”

“I am a suspicious man,” Tolan lark said brusquely as he
sent the deploy code to the shuttle,  “and I have been monitoring their coms. 
No communications have been sent since we hailed them.  Maybe they are just
that lazy.”

“Fine,” Nori said, getting up from the com station.  “I’m
going to go get my sister. You two keep your eyes open while I’m gone.”

Tolan Lark narrowed his eyes at her.  “That may not be the
best idea, I should be the one to go.”

“Why?”

“Yes,” Menelaus spoke from behind him.  “I am appalled by
the idea of my mate going over to a strange ship where a trap could be sprung,
but even I can see she is the best choice to get her sister.  We need you to
control this ship and the shuttle remotely, if necessary, and I might still be
recognized, not the least of which by Lara herself.  So, by what logic are you
basing your supposition that you are the better choice to go?”

“If it’s a trap, I’m the best choice in a combat situation.”

Nori snorted, and Menelaus just stared, then ignored him
completely and turned to Nori.  “Be careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

He gently grabbed her arm when she would have walked by him
on her way to the shuttle.  He pulled her to his chest.  “You are rarely
careful.  Your sister is unharmed and will continue to be so.  Don’t lose your
temper and remove someone’s appendages, thus starting a galactic incident. 
Just get the two of you back here as quickly as possible.”

Nori smiled, her hand rubbing down the side of his face. 
“Stop worrying about me and watch your own back. Don’t let the Mercenary goad
you into killing him.  We won’t have anyone to pilot the ship.”

“Cute.”  Tolan Lark took the hint and sat down at the
command console.  “Don’t blame me if something goes wrong.  I offered to go.”

Menelaus didn’t bother to look away from his wife.  He
pulled her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her fingers.  “I’ll be
waiting.”

“Good,” she lunged up and pressed her lips to his, then was
on her way out.

Menelaus stood watching where she had departed, he had to
lick his lips to try to capture the taste of her again. It didn’t seem to
matter that she was coming right back, watching her leave still created an ache
in his chest he could not rub away.

“Relax barbarian.  She can handle herself, and anything else
she needs to.”  Tolan Lark was too busy pushing buttons to look up.

“Of that I am aware.  It does not ease the parting.”

“Well, I can’t say I understand.”  Tolan Larks voice was
bereft of its usual frivolity.  “I have never found my mate.”

Menelaus finally looked away from the empty hatch.  “And do
you search for your mate among the stars or hide from the possibility here?”

Tolan Lark finally looked up from his console, his face
blank.  “Your mate is in the shuttle and departing.  This should only take her
about twenty minutes and I took the liberty of getting the code for the nanite
armor, so we can track her or communicate with her as needed.”

“I see why Nori approves of this armor so much.”

“It is kick ass and all the fixin’s,” he shrugged.  “It’s
also the closest feeling you can get to wearing your other form when you are
Shakien.  Outcasts can’t afford to be in fighting form too often.  That state
can be painful to your senses after too long and your temper, never hard to
incite, is for lack of a better word, volatile.  Plus, it’s liable to scare the
populace and get you attacked by an angry mob, or crystal tranqued and sold to
slavers for an obscene profit.”

“I thought Shakien did not do well in captivity.”

“Oh, we don’t.  Liable to rip off your head if you try it,
but the slavers pay top dollar for the death games.  Having us homicidal because
of our captivity is just a bonus there.”

“The death games?”

“Gamblers place bet on fighters.  The winner is the last one
alive.  Shakien, especially Shakien females, are very popular in death sports. 
We tend to last longer than most fighters.”

“The League of Planets allows this to go on?”

“Can’t stop what you can’t find.  The fights take place on a
traveling space satellite with cloaking capabilities.  It’s invitation only. 
For the fight slavers and the spectators.”

“So Nori hides what she is for more than one reason.”

Tolan Lark snorted.  “There are probably about a million
good reasons to hide what we are.  You may be her mate, but you will never
understand the depths of her.”

Menelaus focused on the mercenary, his eyes going cold. 
“And you think you understand the depths of her?”

“Better than you, barbarian.”  The mercenary’s smile was
cold.  “Maybe if you had the chance to make the final connection in the mating
dance, you would understand. But since you won’t get that chance, yeah, I know
her better than you do.”  He pulled his blaster and pointed it at Menelaus’
head.

Menelaus was somehow not surprised
when the mercenary pulled the blaster and pointed it his way.  However, Tolan
Lark was shocked when Menelaus pulled his sword and sliced the blaster in two before
he had a chance to fire it.  Tolan looked from the blade at his throat to the
piece of blaster left in his hand.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“I believe I have mentioned that the sword is my weapon of
choice.”

The Shakien mercenary narrowed his eyes on the other man. 
“No normal human moves that fast.”

“The Shakien are not the only ones in the universe that have
traveled a different route genetically, nor are they the only ones who seek to
keep it a secret from other worlds.”  Menelaus canted his head.  “Now, that we
have your question and answer time out of the way, would you like to tell me
what your diabolical plan is?  I refer of course to the next step in the great
double cross you are attempting to perpetrate.”

The Shakien moved in a lightning fast move backwards and
flipped over the console to land on his feet in a crouch.  Menelaus was right
behind him slicing the second blaster out of his hands as easy as the first.  Tolan
Lark was once again at the end of a sword point.

“The next weapon you pull, I will take the hand instead of
the weapon.”  Menelaus moved fast enough and with enough delicacy, that he left
a small knick of blood across the Shakien’s throat right over the edge of his
armor.

“It was possibly a mistake to arm you,” Tolan muttered,
feeling the slight sting.

Menelaus smiled with a lot of teeth.  “It was not the only
one you made.”

“Remember what your mate said, you kill me and no one will
be here to fly the ship.”

“I expect we will toddle on without you if we have no other
choice.”

Just then there was a beep and Nori’s voice came over the
line.  “I’m docking now.  You guys reading this com?”

Menelaus motioned with his chin.  “Answer her.”

Tolan Lark moved back to the terminal carefully, his eyes on
Menelaus.  “We read you Nori, and we’ll keep the com open on your side.  Just
push on your neck piece when you want us to listen.”

“Fine.  Menelaus?”

“Present, though otherwise engaged,” Menelaus said.  Keeping
his concentration on the mercenary.

There was a moment and then Nori’s grim voice responded. 
“Understood.  Do what you have to do.  I’ll try to hurry back.”

“No need to rush.  We will be patiently awaiting your
arrival.”

“Right.”  There was no mistaking the grim tone to that one
word.

They heard the docking clamps engage and Tolan Lark flipped
off the mic on their side.  “She knew I was going to try something and still
she left you alone with me?”

“Unlike you mercenary, my mate does not assume human means
weak.”

“And unlike me she has seen you fight?”

Menelaus ignored the question.  “It is of great interest to
me that the only one I have ever met that was faster than me was my wife.  I
had assumed it was a Shakien trait, but you have proven that false which makes
me wonder where else the two of you differ.”  His voice lowered to something
warm and slippery and his eyes filled with lightning behind fog.  “Sit down.”

Tolan Lark sat.  “What the hell was that?”

“An answer to my question.  Nori is indeed special in many
ways, I had assumed it was the Shakien in her but apparently not.  Now let’s
ask another one shall we?”  He dropped his voice again.  “What was your full
plan for us if you had been able to execute it?”

“I need an in to the Death games and a Shakien female would
guarantee that I had it.  Then when I was in I could bring in the League of
Planets and put an end to the games once and for all.”  Tolan Lark blinked when
he was done, then looked at Menelaus in horror.  He started to get up but
Menelaus stopped him.

“Stay seated.  You work for the League?”

“Yes.”

“And you were planning on killing me and trading my wife to
the death games?  Do I understand that right?”

“I wasn’t going to kill you, just lock you up, and use you
as leverage to get your wife’s cooperation; she would have been freed
eventually.  I am trying to save thousands of future lives, many of them
Shakien.”

“I see.”  But the mere thought of the mercenary using Nori
for such a thing had him ready to slice more than his neck.  “And the Lady
Lara?”

“I was going to ransom her back to her father.  It would
keep her off Lenosh and cement my cover as a mercenary.”  Tolan grabbed his
head.  “How are you doing this?”

“Let’s just say my family has quite the mixed bag
genetically.”

The com beeped and then Nori was back on the line.  “We are
on the way back, with a bit more baggage than we were expecting.”

  “What does she mean by that?”  Tolan Lark muttered as he
continued to watch Menelaus.

“I would not even begin to speculate where my wife is concerned;
it could be anything from actual luggage to a severed head.  Best to just wait
and see.”

The mercenary/spy studied him with speculation.  “You could
help me take down the games.  You and Nori, with the thing you can do with your
voice there’s no end to what we could accomplish.”

“You mean, I expect, what you could accomplish.”

Tolan Larks face hardened, his eyes icing over.  “I will
take down the games, with or without your help.”

“Splendid, then if Nori doesn’t rip out your spleen for your
actions, we will move on and you can get on with exploiting your own kind to
further your agenda.”

“It is my kind I am working to protect.”

“One Shakien to save them all?  And why are you not
supplying yourself for these games?”

“I can’t stop them if I am trapped like the others, or killed.”

“And it never occurred to you to get someone else to partner
with who could do it once you get them in?”  Menelaus studied the closed down
face of the mercenary.  “I see that it did occur to you, and was rejected.  The
cause is not so dear as that.  Perhaps in the future you should refrain from
offering up others to do jobs you would not do yourself.”

“It isn’t that,” he ground out.  “There is no one besides
myself I trust to get the job done.”

Menelaus studied the mercenary.  “That I can believe.  Perhaps
you are not the waste of oxygen I took you for.”

“Then you’ll do it?”

“Not the smallest chance.”  Menelaus leaned down and allowed
the burning anger in his gut to show through his eyes.  “You attempted to take
what I hold as most dear.  Not only that, but the delay your actions would have
caused, could have lead to the death of the Kenosha as a people.  No, the only
thing I wish to be helping you pursue is a shallow grave.  Do yourself a favor
and don’t give me any further excuse to end you, because an operative for the
League of Planets or not, I am more than ready to feel your blood feeding my
blade.”

***

When Nori docked with the Phoenix, she was unsure what she
would be facing, so she made her way to the command deck alone, and ready to
fight.  When she walked in and saw Menelaus standing unharmed with his naked
blade a clear threat to the mercenary she breathed a sigh of relief.  She had
seen enough in that one sparring match on Kenosha to know he was an uncommonly
fast and brutal warrior, but that did not mean that she was at ease leaving him
to face a treacherous Shakien mercenary by himself, especially one she had
never seen in a fight.  But there he was, without a scratch on him and they had
Lara.  All was as it should be.  Now they just had to get out of the area
before anything went wrong.

A warning light flashed.  Tolan Lark turned to the console
and cursed.

“Looks like we have pirates bearing down.”

“Of course we do.”  Nori muttered, walking to her mate without
fighting the need to be closer to him.  “Otherwise it would be just too easy,
wouldn’t it?”

“Your sister?”  Menelaus asked, pulling her into his arms. 

“Fine, she’ll come up in a minute, she had to drop some
things off in the cabins.”

“Any trouble?”

“Besides an overly sweaty captain with a low threshold for
pain?  No.”

Menelaus brushed back escaping hair from her face.  “And
how, pray tell did you discover how high his pain tolerance was?”

Nori narrowed her eyes.  “Your voice has a tone Your
Highness, besides the usual snootiness I mean, it sounds suspiciously like lack
of trust.  Do I question you brandishing a naked blade at the jackass
mercenary?  No, I do not.  I just accept that you did what you had to do and
leave it at that.”

  He sighed.  “I was not aware there was a tone.”  He
paused.  “Usual snootiness?”

“Enough foreplay,” the mercenary snapped.  “I don’t like the
look of that ship.  We aren’t sticking around to compare firepower.  Lock
yourselves down, I’m signaling a code red and you better hope your sister is
familiar with what that means.”

“She’ll lock down as well, do what you have to do.”

“I always do,” he muttered, waiting just long enough for
them to strap in and then whipping into action.  “Watch your mate kitten, it’s
going to get rough.  Wouldn’t want him to get space dementia when I don’t have
the time to taser him and laugh about it.”

Nori looked at Menelaus who had his usual master of the
universe arrogance firmly in place.  He raised a brow and she smirked.  The
engines fired and she felt the kick of lightspeed.  Menelaus clutched her hard
against his chest and she was grateful.  There was nothing quite as disturbing
as feeling like you were leaving your body somewhere behind you, at the same
time feeling as if you were running to catch up.  As many times as she had done
it, there was still that feeling of being a small prey animal in a universe
determined to gobble her up.

Menelaus tightened his grip, forcing her against the straps
that held them to separate seats.  They were as close as they could get in the
circumstance, but he seemed determined to fight the straps.  “If you hold me
any tighter Your Highness, I’m going to think you are scared of a little
spacial distortion.”

“I cannot determine whether you are leaving me behind or I
you, in either case, I do not care for the feeling.”

“I know what you mean, but if you don’t ease up you’re going
to rub me raw against the straps.”

He eased up immediately.  “I was not aware, my apologies.” 
His voice was tight with tension and remorse.

“No apology necessary, a few more minutes, and we should be
far enough away to slow speeds again.”

“And then what?”  His voice had deepened and lowered so that
she barely heard him.  “Will you run in truth?”

Nori turned enough that she was pressed chest to side with
him, so that she could look in his eyes.  “I told you I would help you with the
Wosite and I will.”

“And then?”  He studied her face, even as he fought the
awful feeling that he was losing her, brought on by the engine speed.  “What
happens when my people are once again secure?  Will you stay with me, or run?”

Her eyes were flashing from green to iridescent lavender. 
She frowned and he watched her close her eyes and shudder. 

“I think it’s too late for that.”  Her voice was just as
quiet as his, full of sadness.  “Our bond has strengthened to the point where
leaving you would be impossible.”

He tightened the hold he had across her chest again without
knowing it.  Where he should have felt relieved all he felt was the sadness she
emanated.  “And this is what puts such sadness on your face?  Having to stay
with me?”

“No.  What makes me this sad is knowing that every moment
I’m with you, I am a danger to you and the people you care about.”  She sighed
out a breath.  “Seems a high price to pay for my own happiness.”

“I do not believe you are the danger you think you are, but
I confess were you to shift into a deranged beast and howl at the moon once a
month I would still want you with me.”  The feeling of distorted time finally
started to dissipate but he did not look away from his wife’s gamin face.  He released
his harsh grip enough to touch her cheek.  “We can handle any problem, fight
any battle, so long as we are side by side.”  He bent his neck and touched his
lips to hers.  “Do not be sad for all the sorrow that could be.  Celebrate that
in all the vast universe, we found each other, I know that I do.”

She placed her hand on his cheek and studied his silver eyes
as they flashed at her.  “Lightning in a bottle.”  She mumbled.  “I knew you
were going to be trouble the first time I looked into the stormy skies that
flash in your eyes.”

He smiled, then kissed her and Nori felt her fears just
slide away, they would be back, she knew that, but for this moment, she would
do as he suggested.  Allow herself to be happy without reservation.  Time
enough tomorrow for worries.

“If you two are finished with your little love hour would it
be possible to get a new heading, since you aren’t going to help me take down
the death games?”

Nori pulled away from Menelaus and looked at the mercenary. 
“The death games?  What about them?”

“He was going to sell you to them to get an in.  Then take
down the games from the inside.  Apparently you were going to be the sacrifice
that saved the rest of the Shakien people.”  Menelaus had another tone, this
one derision, and he did it well.

“And where would you and Lara be while I was fighting and
dying in the most lethal fights in the galaxy?”

“Lara would be ransomed to her father and I would be a
prisoner to guarantee your good behavior.”  Nori started unstrapping herself
and pushing away from Menelaus to get up.  She knew her eyes had flashed to
lavender because she could see the vein pulsing on Tolan Larks exposed neck. 

“You can’t kill him Nori.”  Menelaus held her in place.  “We
need him to fly the ship.”