Her Commander: The Orion, Book 2 Read online

  “And I missed all the fun,” the Tyger complained, his handsome face disgruntled.

  “Will Guard Cadet Alligon be all right?” asked Mra, casting a repressive look at Panthar.

  Craig straightened, relaxing with an effort. “Yes, thanks to Mr. Halix. Once it became clear that we had a…traitor in the ranks of the guard, I realized that by indicating my, er, interest in the cadet, I had put her in danger—that she might be seen as a way to get to me. She was placed under surveillance.”

  He opened his hand, and a smaller holo-image of the command deck sprang up. “I planted a tiny transmitter on her. We were tracking her when she happened on the meet between the Pangaeans and the two former guards.”

  “But she is in the infirmary, is she not?”

  “Yes. She sustained injuries subduing Ssaar. Just as we were about to enter and rescue them, she persuaded Scala to assist her. Which is why,” he added grimly, “Scala is not on the way to a prison planet.”

  “What will happen to Scala?”

  “She is being implanted with a chip which will sound a very loud—and painful to her—alarm should she ever venture near any LodeStar ship or dock. And, she is now on the galactic registry of undesirables.”

  “She will never be a guard again, that is certain,” hissed Sirena. “She will be lucky to get a job waitressing on Mars.”

  The hatch opened, and Halix walked in. His normally cheerful face looked stricken.

  “Mr. Halix,” Craig said. “You have a report for us on the gas?”

  “Yes, sir.” Halix swallowed, and gripped the back of his chair, looking around at them all. “The canister contained hyper-sarin, a deadly nerve gas. Had they been successful in deploying it into our air system, all living beings on board would have died within the hour—in agony.”

  Craig felt the blood drain out of his face. The deck was silent.

  Sirena shot out of her chair. “I will kill that bitch Scala with my own hands!”

  Stone grabbed her arm. “Wait.” He was watching Navos.

  The Indigon shook his head decisively. “No, Commander, my mind scans show that the conspirators on board were all dupes. Scala truly believed that she was merely dispersing a sleeping gas. Whoever is behind this, however, is completely ruthless. They are willing to murder their own hirelings, as well as hundreds of innocent beings.”

  “God beyond,” Ogg muttered. “It’s as if we were at war again.”

  “We are at war, Mr. Ogg,” Craig answered grimly.

  Ogg shook his head. “At least with the Ogre’n, we knew who the enemy was.”

  Craig personally oversaw the removal of the two Pangaean conspirators. A sickly pale green, still reeling from the effects of whatever drug they had ingested, they were brought to the small planet hopper preparing to transport the Bartian passenger down to his home planet.

  The big ships did not land on Bartis—the atmosphere was so foul no one from off planet could stand it for long. The pilot and steward on the hopper wore full gas masks. On their return to the Orion, the small craft would be fumigated, and they would enjoy an extended visit to the ship’s spa.

  The steward for this hop was Izard, and he was armed.

  “Please, Captain, we beg of you,” one of the Pangaeans said piteously, hanging onto the door of the hopper. “Not Bartis. We’ll die of the stench.”

  “Yes, we’re extremely sensitive to such things,” added his weedy little partner. “And…and we cannot even remember what we were involved in. We are very sorry harm was intended to your ship. We will—we will work in the ship’s galley to pay our passage.”

  “Your memory of it may be gone,” said Craig grimly, “but character doesn’t change. Now get off my ship!”

  “You heard the captain—let’s go.” Izard shoved the two onto the hopper, and the hatch closed behind them. The Bartian was already seated, watching stolidly.

  “All clear to take off,” said a voice, and the inner hatch slid closed, locking with a thunk. The hopper slipped away.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Tessa spent the night in the infirmary. She struggled up out of her drugged sleep once to find Craig sitting beside her bed. His face was in shadow, but she knew it was he. She fought to make her thick tongue work. She had to tell him—

  His warm hand engulfed hers on top of the coverlet, and he leaned forward. The small bedside lamp threw his rugged features into sharp relief.

  “Hey,” he soothed. “It’s all right, sweetheart.”

  “No…” she mumbled, moving restlessly. “No. I have to—have to tell you…”

  “What?” He stroked her hair back from her forehead. “What is it?”

  “The test,” she managed.

  His brows contracted sharply. “Ssh, sweetheart. It’s all right. You don’t have to have the mind scan. That’s all over.”

  She watched him anxiously, then sighed, relaxing. “I din’ want ’em to know,” she whispered.

  “What?” he whispered back, leaning very close.

  She fought to keep her heavy eyes open.

  “That… I love you…” she managed, and let sleep engulf her again.

  He was incredibly relieved, afterward, that she had fallen back to sleep. Because Captain Steven Craig felt as if his lovely, brave warrior had head-kicked him again. All he could do was sit there, as useless as a chunk of space rock, staring down at her sleeping face.

  A tiny, functioning part of his brain acknowledged that had she been awake, he would have been in deep lizard doo. A woman didn’t want a man to gape at her like a desert bunny in the headlights when she confided her love for him.

  He began to grin slowly. A wide, foolish grin, like a man who had just received the prize of a lifetime. Holding her hand gently, he fought the urgent need to wake her—make her say it again.

  She was in love with him. The sweetest, sexiest, most aggravating woman he had ever met was in love with him. He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a tender kiss in her palm, then curled her fingers around it.

  That meant she would forgive him for what he had chosen to do. He hoped.

  The next time she woke, Sirena sat by her bedside. Tessa opened her eyes and stretched cautiously, then saw her commander smiling at her.

  “How do you feel?” asked the older woman.

  “Fine,” Tessa said, a little surprised. She touched her face cautiously.

  “The bruises are nearly gone,” Sirena said, handing her a small mirror. “No permanent damage.”

  Tessa examined herself. Her eyes were shadowed, her face pale, but otherwise she looked much the same as always. She dropped the mirror, no longer interested.

  “Are Scala and Ssaar in the on-board restraint area?” she asked. “Or have they been transported already?”

  Sirena’s lovely face hardened slightly. “Scala has been transported to…a new life. Ssaar is dead. He went for his weapon.”

  Tessa digested this, feeling a little sick.

  “I don’t think Captain Craig considered it a hardship to have to kill him,” Sirena said, placing her hand over Tessa’s. “After seeing what Ssaar did to you, I would like to have landed a few blows on him myself. And Slyde—well. He wasn’t breathing fire, but it was a near thing. He takes an interest in his cadets.”

  Tessa smiled at this, although tears filled her eyes. She dashed at them angrily.

  “I—I am sorry. Stupid weakness—I’ll be fine once I can get up.”

  Sirena shook her head. “Tessa…it will take time. You were catapulted—or leapt, into a volatile situation. Many cadets in your place would not have survived. You managed not only to persuade Scala to help you, the two of you subdued an experienced male. Ssaar had killed before. I am very proud of you.”

  Tessa stared at her commander. “Y-you are? You are not angry? I—I had my com-link off, I was caught eavesdropping, I…”

  “Of course I am angry at you,” Sirena said serenely. “If you had gotten yourself killed I would have been enraged. But you did
not. Instead you overcame.”

  Tessa smiled waterily.

  “Thank you, Commander.”

  “Mm-hm. We will speak again later. Rest now.”

  But Sirena had no sooner disappeared than a familiar broad-shouldered form filled the doorway of the tiny room. Craig stepped in, his brows drawing sharply together as he saw her wet face.

  “Are you in pain? Do you need more analgesics?” He sat down on the edge of the narrow bed and touched her face gently.

  Tessa shook her head, gazing up at him. Now that he was here, she felt immeasurably better. He gazed back, his hand cupping her face. He stroked his thumb slowly across the corner of her mouth, and then let her go.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his jaw set. “Tessa, can you forgive me?”

  “For what?” She wanted his hand back.

  “For not stepping in sooner. I could have…prevented your being hurt.”

  She frowned. “But…how did you know where to find me—us?”

  Somehow her hand had ended up in his. He looked down at it, stroking the back with his thumb. “I had you under surveillance. Slyde, Sirena and I watched the whole thing.”

  “How did you do that? There cannot be cameras in the ductwork.”

  His other hand settled on her shoulder. “No. I … planted one on you—when we were together in my quarters.”

  A tiny trickle of ice shivered through her. “You…you doubted me?”

  She was rewarded with a ferocious scowl, and the tightening of his grip. “No! Great god beyond, Tessa! If I had doubts about you, I damned sure wouldn’t have been fu—making love to you every chance I got! I was worried that you might be seen as a target, a way to get to me. Other than confining you to quarters, it was the only way I could think of to keep an eye on you.”

  She considered this, curling the fingers of her free hand around his arm. “Oh. Well, then I’m very glad you did. What did you use?”

  “An invention of Halix’s. Tessa, listen, I let you stay in there with that slithering bastard, knowing you were hurt. I’m not going to try to whitewash that. I didn’t step in sooner because I wanted hard evidence against the plotters. And as much information as possible.”

  “I understand that.” She tugged on his arm experimentally. “Captain, once again you have made the right decision.”

  “What do you mean, once again?” He bent nearer to her.

  She touched his rugged face. “I mean like the difficult decisions you had to make when you fought in the Solar Wars. Don’t you see that you are punishing yourself again, just as you do each year on that anniversary?”

  “Tessa, you don’t know what I had to do to help win the wars.”

  She smiled tenderly up at him.

  “I do not need to know what it was you had to do, only that lives were lost, a great victory won. Others saw you as a hero, but you do not. Steven, you are a leader. The choices men such as you must make are not always easy.”

  His face softened. “I’m not sure I deserve it, but thank you. You honor me.”

  “Good, then you’re not angry with me for getting into trouble?” she asked hopefully.

  “I am furious, woman. I intend to spank your pretty ass until you can’t sit down for a week. Then I’m going to yell at you.”

  She eyed him cautiously. “Steven, I chose to spy on them of my own free will. I do not blame you for not rescuing me immediately. You have a greater responsibility to your ship, and to LodeStar.”

  “You are a woman in a million,” he said, and kissed her.

  “I am,” she agreed. “Are you still going to spank me?”

  “Only if you ask me very nicely.”

  In a sleek penthouse on Pangaea, Lly sat on a huge divan of faux Bryght leopard skin. Outwardly she was relaxed, poised and graceful in her lii leaf evening gown, but her fingers were clenched tightly around the stem of her wine glass, and her pale green hair had wrapped itself about her slender throat.

  Her eyes were fastened on Rra as he paced back and forth across the huge room. He was furious.

  “I am surrounded by fools!” He stopped before the huge picture windows, bracing his arms on the frame as he glared at the twilight jungle outside. “They bungle everything. I laid it out so carefully—every step! Did I not pay them well? Did I not hire the best available? And you see what my money brings me—failure! And I, Rra—I—do—not—fail!”

  He jerked around to face the room again, his hair writhing about his face, his eyes like molten emeralds.

  “But I’m not finished yet. Oh, no! I’ve a few more tricks in my tree.”

  A cruel smile lit his face, and he straightened, focusing on her for the first time.

  “And I still have you, do I not, my love? Beside me in adversity?”

  She took a careful sip of wine, willing her hand not to shake. “Yes, you have me, Rra. And we have learned much in these two attempts. The next time, we will be successful.”

  Catching up his glass of wine, he threw himself onto the divan beside her. In one of his lightning changes of mood, he was smiling again, his hair relaxed.

  “Of course we will. PanRra Air will be the greatest transport and cruise company in the galaxies. And Stark’s precious LodeStar will be so much space rubble.”

  He turned to her and stroked one hand carelessly down inside her gown.

  “Now, divert me from my troubles, hmm?”

  The blonde Port Seattle news anchor smiled into the holo-cam.

  “And in other news, folks, here’s a heart-warming piece…all the way from Serpentia. You may remember that Port Seattle’s LodeStar Corporation’s new cruise ship, the Orion, was recently in the news when a bio-bomb was discovered on board. Only the heroic actions of the crew prevented the ship and its three hundred and sixty-five passengers from being dashed on the asteroids of the Cattarus system.

  “Today we learned that the Orion is once again the scene of heroism. We take you now to our reporter on the scene. Ghari?”

  “Thank you, Tariana,” said a smooth male voice. The camera faded to a slim Serpentian male sitting in a tiny, open hovercraft with the insignia of the Serpentian news station on the side. Behind him loomed the Orion, a huge sleek shape in a docking bay. “This is Ghari Ahl, reporting live from Port Fangor, Serpentia.

  “Today, a new member was inducted into the ranks of ship’s guard, a highly coveted position, especially on a LodeStar cruise vessel. Cadet Tessa Alligon was on track to become a guard within the year, but her heroic actions aboard the Orion, which resulted in the arrest of four saboteurs attempting to destroy the ship, earned her the rank of full guard well ahead of schedule.”

  The camera faded again to a small group of people standing on an ornately decorated podium.

  “Here you see the cadet receiving her insignia from her commanders, Sirena Blaze and Slyde Stone, as well as congratulations from the grateful captain of the Orion, Steve Craig.

  “And then, in a surprise move, the captain did more than congratulate the new guard, he swept her off her feet. Yes, we learned that tomorrow, in a private ceremony at her mother’s home here, the new guard will become Mrs. Captain Steven Craig.

  “Captain Craig, a decorated veteran of the Solar Wars, has quite a record of heroism himself. As a fighter pilot, he was credited with saving the planet of Solaria with a solo attack on a major fuel depot captured by the Ogre’n.”

  The reporter paused dramatically, and then grinned. “Guess you could say heroism runs in the family.”

  Both Tessa’s parents were in the audience, as well as her Earth half-brothers and her Serpentian younger half-sister. They all smiled proudly as she walked forward to accept her new insignia from Sirena and Slyde.

  The proudest of all, though, was Captain Steven Craig. He stood on the podium with his guard commanders, wearing his dress uniform. After she received her insignia, Tessa turned to him, and he shook her hand gravely. Then he smiled at her, his blue eyes hot with deviltry, and swept her into his arms for a torrid k
iss, in front of the news cameras and all.

  The audience went wild.

  Captain Craig and his bride spent their honeymoon at an exclusive resort oasis in the Serpentian desert. Their room perched atop a rock promontory, with nothing in view but the colorful landscape and the vault of burnished sky.

  On the morning after their wedding night, Tessa woke her husband to enjoy the desert sunrise. They lay in the pillows of the vast bed, watching the sky turn slowly from deep purple to gold while the draperies stirred around them in the warm desert breeze.

  “Happy, my love?” He nuzzled his cheek against her hair, his hand stroking her bare back.

  She snuggled closer to his side and ran her fingers through the hair on his broad chest.

  “Perfectly happy, Captain. Are you?”

  He was silent, and she lifted her head, worried.

  “I would be,” he said gravely. “But I’m not inside you.”

  “Oh. Well, I do want you to be happy,” she said, her hand already stroking down across his hard belly to find his cock. It quivered eagerly as she curled her fingers around the hot silky shaft.

  “Then come up here, and I’ll be the happiest husband in the galaxy.”

  She was laughing as she landed on his chest.

  He cupped his hand to the back of her head, pulling her down for a kiss.

  “By the way,” he said silkily, touching her lips lightly with one finger. “I received a most interesting holo-vid a few days ago. I checked my messages while you were in the infirmary.”

  She tipped her head, puzzled by the strange light in his eyes. “What was it?”

  He slipped his fingertip between her lips, finding the edge of her tongue and teasing it into curling around his finger. She shifted slightly, arousal feathering through her as she caught his finger between her teeth and bit down just a little.

  He watched with interest. “Hmm? Oh, the holo-vid? It was…kissing.”

  Tessa stopped sucking his fingertip. “Kissing?”