Authors: Annabel Wolfe
“At least have her on standby to bring down more men if you need
them.” He had a bad feeling about all of this. It had been there when
they heard about the escaped convicts and it was still firmly in place.
Lawless desperate escapees roaming free on a peaceful colony, even
if the inhabitants were evacuated to bunkers, was a recipe for a danger
that could become a catastrophe.
He’d be damned glad when this mission was finally over. What
the hell were they going to be called to next? Disintegrating planets
and dangerous felons terrorizing peaceful colonies…it was going to
be hard to top those two.
“No. She stays here. Do you think I’d allow her anywhere near
Anaya Two under these situations?”
Captain Ammati looked up sharply in surprise at the vehemence
and content of a statement that was obviously a personal decision, not
necessarily a military one.
Even though the situation was far from amusing, Jake had to
smother a laugh over Kel’s chagrined expression over the slip. His
friend cleared his throat. “What I mean is I am not taking any female
personnel down with me. These men are extraordinarily dangerous
and haven’t seen females in quite some time. I’m taking every single
man we can spare and still leave you with the ability to run this ship.”
“I don’t disagree with that,” Jake assented. “But if you need
assistance—”
“No.” Kel gave him his infamous flinty look.
Then the commander turned and strode to the door, scanning out.
When he was gone, Jake turned to find Ammati staring at the
doorway with her brows lifted. He said in a neutral tone, “I doubt the
commander would appreciate you repeating what you just heard to
other personnel, Captain.”
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“I doubt they’d believe me anyway,” Ammati muttered. “If I’m
not mistaken, Commander Gallico just showed
emotion
.”
“He does, now and then, believe it or not.”
“Over a female?”
He wasn’t about to comment on Kel’s personal life, but the truth
was, Peyton was different. Instead of answering he said briskly, “Now
then, we’ll set a holding orbit pattern right after the transports launch
and I want all channels open. Who knows what they’ll find down
there.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * * *
Something was going on. Peyton paced across the sitting area, too
restless to sit. Every moment that passed made her more suspicious, if
not downright worried. Kel and Jake both had been gone over twentyfour hours. Dual time on the bridge like that usually meant some kind
of emergency.
It chafed to be in the dark. This had something to do with the
hijacked Serpentine. She could feel foreboding building like a Minoan
desert sandstorm.
There was only one way she could communicate out. The rows of
monitors were all guarded by passwords she didn’t have, but the
medical emergency channel was always open. Since there was
nothing at all wrong with her, she hated to use it, but then again,
losing her mind wasn’t a great option either.
If nothing was really happening, Kel would be more than a little
unhappy with her if she used subterfuge to get information.
So she waited.
Two more hours went by and the feeling of impending disaster—
she could think of no other way to put it, even if it sounded
melodramatic—increased.
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Now she really was starting to feel sick, if having her stomach tied
in knots counted.
Another hour passed. Thirty minutes more went by with agonizing
slowness…
Peyton crossed the room and lightly tapped in the code.
Immediately the medical monitor sprang to life, flashing a series of
question on the screen.
Please answer the following questions: 1. Is the problem bleeding,
intense pain, or acute weakness? 2. Are you alone? 3. Has this
occurred before and is the condition noted in your medical file? 4.
Are you ambulatory?
Yes. Yes. No. Yes.
Well, she only lied once. It made her feel guilty, but then again, if
this was all simply a false alarm, she’d apologize profusely and if
Commander Gallico wanted to punish her, well, so far that hadn’t
proven to be such a bad thing.
It didn’t take long for the door light to flash and two ship medics
to enter, one male, one female, both efficient as they did a quick
medical scan and asked a few questions. Peyton tried to look as wan
as possible and was vague, too concerned to be embarrassed over her
skimpy attire. In the end, they did exactly as she’d hoped and put her
on a gurney and took her to the medical floor level of the ship for
further evaluation.
The moment she was wheeled in, she knew her instincts were
correct.
The entire place was mobilized, full staff in place. She’d been on
enough ships to know when an alert for possible casualties was
enabled. Peyton was put in a cubicle and a few moments later a doctor
entered. He was a middle-aged, a touch of gray at his temples, and
currently wore a harried look. “I’m Dr. Houchins, head of the medical
personnel on this ship. Can you tell me, Lieutenant Valmont, when
the first symptoms set in?”
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She was admittedly more than a little startled. He must have
correctly read her expression for Dr. Houchins said, “When we
contacted ship’s command to inform them of the message sent from
Commander Gallico’s quarters, Colonel Naiad asked me to treat you
personally.”
Jake, but not Kel. She wasn’t sure liked the sound of that. No, she
definitely
didn’t like the sound of it.
“I started feeling ill about ten hours ago.” The truth, because that
was when she realized how long both Kel and Jake had been gone.
“It’s just gotten worse.”
“That’s a bit unspecific, but I suppose we can run a few scans.
We’re a little busy right now in preparation, but I don’t think your
condition is an emergency. It might be a little while to run the tests,
but in the meantime, we’ll keep you comfortable by giving you
something for the nausea.”
“What preparations? What’s going on?”
“Nothing for you to worry over.” He actually patted her hand.
In his defense, she supposed she hardly looked like a military pilot
with her hair loose and most of her body exposed by the next-tonothing gown she had to wear.
Fine, she’d get information another way.
“My sister is on board,” Peyton hoped she looked sufficiently
limp and apathetic. “Can she come sit with me? I am sure if you ask
Commander Gallico, he’ll agree.”
“He isn’t on the ship. I suspect Colonel Naiad is busy also, but I
don’t see any harm in authorizing that request myself. I’ll send
someone for her.”
Kel isn’t on board
?
Her stomach truly began to churn. “Thank you.”
It seemed to be an eternity she lay in a small cubicle, the
surroundings sterile and not conducive to anything but anxiety, she
found. When the thin panel slid back and Tara came in, she felt the
breath in her chest catch over his sister’s expression. Immediately she
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sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “I’m not sick,” she
explained.
Relief shone in Tara’s eyes. “Thanks for scaring the hell out of
me. I’ve been trying for over two weeks to get to see you, but the
medical unit wasn’t my place of choice, Peyton.”
“I was starting to lose my mind wondering what is going on. I
figured you would know.” She smiled, but it was tremulous. She was
so worried her palms were damp. “You’ve always had a habit of
being able to keep your finger on the pulse of any trouble. Why is the
ship on full alert?”
“You mean I usually am the source of most trouble.” Tara made a
face.
“It’s been known to happen. The ship?”
“I only know because of Will,” Tara said, an undecipherable
expression on her face.
“Will?”
“The governor’s son. You rescued him, too. We’ve sort of become
friends.”
Peyton could swear her sister was blushing. That was odd,
because Tara hadn’t blushed since she was about fifteen, but she’d
have to analyze that later. “What did he tell you?”
“The hijacked ship full of convicts incarcerated on Epsilon
requested docking on Anaya Two.”
“I knew it,” Peyton muttered. “That’s what I’d choose. It’s small,
few defenses, isolated. If they dump the crew there, take on more fuel
and supplies and leave quickly, they could conceivably disappear.
This galaxy alone has hundreds of ports where they could dock and
abandon the ship, effectively melting away into the general populace
or catching transports to other places.”
“Except we’re right here in the vicinity, which I’m sure they
didn’t count on.” Tara nodded. “They’ve been allowed berth and the
colonists have retreated to safe shelter. Commander Gallico took two
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85
crews of men down to the surface. The convicts won’t be leaving
either way.”
Either way. Peyton wished she couldn’t guess what that meant.
“We’re going to destroy their ship if Kel and his crew don’t
successfully capture them?”
“Will has communication with his father who is in touch with
Governor Kartel and the Universal Council. They naturally don’t
want to take that path, but from what I understand that’s their
position, Commander Gallico is only making the attempt to try and
save the ship’s crew, if they aren’t dead already.”
In other words, if Kel failed, all of them would die. Not just the
convicts, but the ship’s crew, and the rescue team.
Kel dead…
A horrible lump seemed to form in her throat.
And there was nothing she could do about it. At the moment, she
wasn’t even a pilot and officer, but just a female stripped of her
duties.
Still, she remembered Jake’s tale of Tara’s persistence. Peyton
straightened her shoulders with effort. “Do you think your friend
could get us on the bridge again?”
“Maybe.” Tara studied her warily. “But what good could that
possibly do? I’m not usually one to preach caution, you know that
well enough, but barging in on Colonel Naiad when he’s in charge of
a volatile situation isn’t going to win you anything but a reprimand.”
It was a good point. A very good point. But she could hardly be
expected to sit in quarters and just
wait
. Peyton said hoarsely, “Forget
the command center but can your friend find out what’s happening?”
There was a brief silence and then Tara sighed. “I can ask him to
try. From the look on your face, this is important to you.”
“It is.”
“Can I ask why?”
Because I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to Kel.
Peyton slid off the table. “No.”
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* * * *
The landing went without incident, which was either good news,
or very bad news. Kel had expected an ambush, but the eerie silence
that greeted them was maybe even more dangerous.
“They’re around us,” he said quietly. “The scans showed life
forms. Don’t be fooled by the quiet. Look for anything that moves.”
Major Grand nodded, looking out at the long dark streets of the
deserted colony. The transports had touched down just outside the
main city, the crafts small enough to not need docking facilities but
certainly not invisible in their approach. They’d had to use beam
lights also, since power to the city was shut off except for the ship
port and the bunkers, which had their own energy sources.
“Which way, sir?”
Kel had no idea. He’d studied maps of the layout of Anaya Two’s
transportation grid but how to proceed depended more on the
fugitives than the directions of the paths of the city. “Since we’re here
to try and save the crew of the Serpentine, we should head for the
ship.” He nodded to his left, his voice terse. “That way. The terminal
will be guarded, of course. Let’s not expect any of this to go
smoothly. If the ship got here and docked successfully that means
either the Serpentine’s navigation officers are still alive or that some
of the prisoners know what they’re doing. So let’s assume they know
how to use tracking devices and have picked up we’re here, and they
expect us to come that way.”
One of his crewmen, his face grim as he studied a handheld
scanning device, said, “Commander Gallico, we have movement in
the east quadrant.”
“And the west,” Grand observed. “Five of them it looks like.”
“Scouting parties maybe, trying to find weapons and supplies. The
main bulk of the convicts are probably guarding the vessel. They need
that ship and know we don’t want them to have it.” Kel turned and
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signaled to the transports for lift off. He wasn’t interested in worrying
over any of them being hijacked either. Military transports didn’t have
the fire power of a big ship naturally, but they were armed and could
be formidable in combat. Besides the expensive equipment being his