Angel in the Badlands: space opera sci fi romance (Sons of Amber Book 1) (4 page)

An hour later, Zeke threw the wrench he’d been using to the deck in disgust.

“There’s no way to conceal a transmission. The scrambler’s dead.”

“What does that mean?” Angela came up beside him, her warm presence reminding him of the reason for his haste.

“If I send out an unscrambled transmission, the pirates will be able to see exactly what I’m sending. Even worse, the scrambling unit also holds the camouflage circuits. If I send out a broadband signal without them engaged, there’s no way to hide its point of origin, so the jits will know exactly where we are in addition to what we’re saying.”

Frustration ate at him.

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“You’re pretty good at understatement, aren’t you?” He looked into her eyes, finding humor there, and immediately his tense shoulders relaxed.

There was something so comforting about her mere presence, even when the comm system was shot to hell and back. All she had to do was smile at him and everything was suddenly okay. Even if it wasn’t.

“Is there a way to narrow your transmission? To aim it so that only your people receive it?”

Zeke sat back, thinking for a moment. “You just might have something there. It’s old tech. Narrow beam hasn’t been used in years because it requires precise calculations and maps, but I was on a mapping mission as I approached your planet, so I have the most up to date data available. If the mapper isn’t fried as well.” He stood, taking a quick moment to cup her shoulders and deliver a smacking kiss to her lips before putting her aside so he could get to a different console in the tight command area.

He felt her watching over his shoulder as he tapped some commands into the state of the art mapping unit. She jumped when the holo display zipped to life, its gentle glow lighting the cabin as he brought up a tridimensional representation of his route from the base on Atlantia Prime to his current position.

“Is that where you came from?” Her voice brushed past his ear, reminding him how he wanted this dark night to end—if he could just get his transmission sent. With the jit threat looming, duty had to come first.

“Yes.
Atlantia Station
is headquarters for the Quadrant Regimental Command. If I get this right, I might be able to tight beam directly to them, but we’ll probably have a very narrow window of opportunity.” He tapped out a few more calculations, feeding coordinates into two consoles now, utilizing both hands.

“How do you do that?” Angela was amazed by the way he could perform two tasks at once, as if both of his hands operated independently of the other.

“Sweetheart, I keep telling you. I was genetically engineered by one of the most brilliant minds in human history. All the
Sons of Amber
were designed to be multi-taskers with above average intellectual abilities. It’s no big deal.” He looked up at her and shrugged, his hands continuing their work even while he talked to her, further astonishing her.

“Amazing. We don’t engage in gene sculpting unless it’s to prevent disease or other problems. What was done to you sounds much more extensive.”

“You don’t know the half of it. They selectively bred each of us for different traits. Me, I’m what’s known as a Wildcard. Dr. Amber took genes from donors who had certain traits that made them take big risks that paid off well, more often than not. Some of my brothers are Dominants who were bred specifically for command. There are a few other designations, but mostly the Doms and the Wildcards work in the military, helping protect what’s left of humanity and looking for ways to improve our lot.”

“That’s what you do—the second part—right? That’s why you were way out here in the back of beyond, and your risk-taking nature led you to try to walk across the desert at midday. Some might say you take
too
many risks Ezekiel.”

Zeke smiled. “Yeah, but look how that worked out. It led me to you.”

“More by luck than design,” she had to admit. “Although, there is probably some element of fate in all the events that have led us to this point. Or so Mother Rachel thinks. I’m inclined to agree with her.” She watched him tap a few final commands—each hand operating independently in a way that still astounded her.

“Hold on, I think we’re about ready to try this.” He winked at her and put all his attention on the comm console, leaning in to the vid pickup. “There’s some risk involved in this…” he took a moment to meet her gaze, pausing before he input the final commands, “…but I believe it will work.”

“Mother Rachel believes it’s our only chance. Without help from your people, the jits will find us anyway. If your signal goes astray, it will only speed up the inevitable.”

He touched her hand with his, squeezing softly. “Have a little faith. I may be a Wildcard, but I never take foolish risks.” He smiled and his eyes crinkled up at the corners. “Well, not that often. The desert trek wasn’t very smart, but in my defense, I was injured and not thinking clearly. I’m back to normal now, thanks to your very fine care.” He paused and looked into her eyes. “Do you trust me, Angel?”

“I trust you, Ezekiel.”

“Call me Zeke.” He squeezed her hand once more and turned back to touch the final sequence on the console. After a few flickers, the screen came to life.

“
Atlantia Station
, this is Ezekiel Amber. Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. Come in
Atlantia Station
. Over.” He sat back and reached for her hand, pulling her down on his lap. “It will take some time for the signal to reach them and a few moments for any return signal to make it back to us. I’m keeping the beam open so they’ll know to piggyback on it and not blow my location. It’s standard operating procedure when comming with someone in my position.”

“For a spy, you mean?” His muscles twitched slightly under her and she realized with some satisfaction that she had managed to surprise him. “Well, isn’t that what you are? Why else would you be roaming out here alone, mapping empty space?”

He tapped her nose with one finger. “You’re a pretty smart lady, but the proper term for what I was doing is reconnaissance. I was gathering intelligence on the buildup of jit pirates in this sector and ran smack into the middle of a swarm of them.”

“Not such a good spy, then, are you?” She teased him, and he retaliated with a kiss.

His kiss distracted her so much, they almost missed the crackle and hiss of the comm system as the response came in. She could see the excitement in his eyes as his gamble paid off.

“Zeke. Where the hell are you, brother? I’ve mobilized half the fleet looking for you. Over.”

She pulled back, looking at the man’s image on the comm screen. He looked a lot like Zeke in build and the sharpness of his attractive facial features, but his hair was dark as midnight, where Zeke’s was a lighter shade of honey brown. His eyes however, were harder, harsher, and darker, almost as if they had seen too much of the worst of life.

Zeke didn’t seem to mind that she was on his lap as he answered, though she was clearly in view of the vid pickup.

“Mike. I’m glad you’re there. I got hit by jit pirates and crash landed on a planet with binary suns. There are people here, Mike. An uncontaminated colony of humans. I repeat: uncontaminated. The jits are coming back for me and I need your help, buddy, before they find me and bring the virus to these good folk. I’m sending the coordinates layered under the vid on this message, plus any other data that survived the crash. I hope your techs can make some use of it.”

“An uncontaminated colony? Are you sure?” Mike asked, disbelief and hope clear in his deep voice.

“Yes, I’m sure. There are about equal numbers of men and women here. They’ve been living in seclusion by choice but their leader says it’s time to come out of hiding and rejoin the human race. Only thing is, they need protection from the pirates or the virus is going to decimate them like it decimated every other human colony.”

“I hear you, brother. Hold on a minute, we’re retrieving your data and I’m scanning for nearby ships. Back with you in a moment.” Mike stepped away from the vid pickup and the screen showed only an office with a few people working in the background.

Zeke squeezed her shoulders and captured her attention, his grin infectious. “We did it! Mike will send help. I’m betting some of our ships were already in the sector, looking for me. We’ll be able to defend your people against the jits.”

He kissed her, his enthusiasm spilling over into an exuberant kiss that made her toes curl in her shoes. She wanted to stop him at first, embarrassed that people on the other end of the call might see them, but all too easily she forgot everything but his kiss. Only the comm system’s crackle as Mike returned to the screen made her pull away.

“I’m sending
Regent
,
Regulus
, and
Reliant
to you directly. They’ll secure orbit around the planet and keep the jits away. Zeke, Dr. Amber is here and she wants you to hang tight. She’s readying the
Sultana
as we speak and they’ll be heading directly for you. She wants to examine the colony, if they’re agreeable. The first of the battleships should arrive within five standards. Dr. Amber will arrive on board
Sultana
in twenty. In the meantime, you are to protect the colonists at all costs. I don’t need to tell you how important they could be to the survival of humanity.” Angela watched the harsh man’s serious eyes turn amused as he winked. “And judging by the pretty girl on your lap, you won’t mind this duty at all.”

“You’ve got that right, brother. I can’t complain.” Zeke squeezed her again. “This is my angel of mercy, Sister Angela. She saved my life after the crash and healed my broken bones. The colony here is about fifty percent male, Mike. Regular, normal, healthy human males, like from the beforetimes. I never thought I’d see such a thing. They’re led by a woman who claims to have the ability to see future and she believes the jits will find us sooner rather than later, so we’ll definitely need the firepower those three battleships can provide. My ship is badly damaged and not space worthy. The scrambler’s toast, hence the odd manner of transmitting this message.”

He raised his eyebrows as he looked around the command cabin. “According to my calculations, we’ll be losing the direct beam in another few minutes, so this is probably my last transmission for now. The jit pirates patrol this sector in force. Hopefully you’ll be able to pull my logs off the sub-channel I’ve been streaming. I have a working handcomp and not much else. Please tell the captains to comm me directly when they reach orbit on my registered access number.” He paused, and Angela could see the relief in his eyes. “And thanks, Mike. I owe you one, brother. Big time. Over.”

“We’ve lifted your data from the beam and I’m looking through it now,” Michael’s voice came back over the comm after a slight delay. “The battleship
Regulus
should reach you first. They’re closest. We’ll upload your data to the other ships as well. Holy shit, Zeke.” Mike’s face on the vid screen showed him reading a smaller screen at his side. She guessed that one was probably scrolling the data Zeke had transmitted. “I knew you Wildcards were a little crazy, but you ran into a lot more than you bargained for if what I’m seeing in your data stream about the enemy force is accurate. I’m amazed you made it, but then you’ve always led a charmed life.” On the screen, Michael looked up and smiled.

“I’m authorizing full deployment on this. If you really have found yourself a colony of uninfected humans, their protection will be our highest priority. Please reassure them of that and lay some groundwork for us. If that pretty girl on your lap is any indication, they seem to like you.” The dark man chuckled wryly, then winked at Angela. “Ma’am,” he acknowledged her with a grin, then sobered once more. “We’ll be there as soon as possible. Hold on ‘til then, brother, and be well. I won’t expect a reply. We see your charts and the planet you’re on will be occluded shortly. Stay safe. Over and out.”

Chapter Four

Zeke watched the transmission sputter out as the heavens shifted and the beam was lost. He turned to Angela.

“We won’t have another opportunity to talk to them via narrow beam for at least twenty standards.” He checked the rotation of the planet they were on with one hand while he did some quick calculations on the other side of the console. “But the
Regulus
should be here well before then and they’ll have a functioning scrambler. For now, we just need to sit tight. Am I correct in assuming that night on the surface of this planet belongs to the predators?”

Angela shuddered and nodded. “Gaks aren’t the only thing out there. And they’re not the meanest either. As long as your shields are sturdy, we should stay inside the ship until morning.”

Zeke nodded his agreement. “I figured as much. I’m going to run a full damage assessment from inside, do whatever repairs I can, and then grab a couple hours sleep. I’ll show you to my cabin and you can sack out there, if you’re tired. I know we’re well into your normal sleep cycle.”

Angela tried to stifle a yawn, but he saw it and had to smile. She nodded, smiling back. “I concede the point. I am getting tired and it sounds like we’ll have a full schedule tomorrow.” She stood and moved toward the hatch that led to the rest of the ship. “Sleep sounds good, but only for a few hours. I want to help you fix up your ship, if I can.”

Zeke stood and joined her by the hatch. “That’s kind of you, and I will take you up on that offer, if necessary. Right now, I just want to do a more thorough assessment before I catch a combat nap. I’ll set the alarm to wake us before the
Regulus
is scheduled to arrive. We’ll want to be ready for them. And I’m also setting the scanners to alert us if anybody enters the atmosphere in the next five standards, just in case the jits are smarter than I give them credit for.”

Zeke escorted her a short distance down the main passageway to his cabin. It was bigger than usual for this sort of small cargo hauler, but then again, this particular ship didn’t carry the usual sort of cargo. No, this particular bird was filled with state of the art mapping and surveillance equipment designed to help Command spy on the enemy. So a little comfort for the captain of this particular vessel was considered a perk of the job.