Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1) (30 page)

Vihan was going through the weapons supply fast but Jayden would use every last energy cube if he had to. Red one hit them again and Jayden snarled, “Vihan take those bastards out.”

Lightning fast Vihan adjusted his aim and fired, hitting but not disabling the pursuing ship.

“Sparks get ready to change course. Head for the Nexus Nebula. Idris on my mark. Steady, steady,” Jayden almost crooned as the ship shuddered from another hit.

“Rear shield down to sixty percent and holding,” Sparks called out.

“Now Idris,” Jayden said. Idris engaged the stealth system and Sparks shot the ship away, towards the Nexus Nebula. All was quiet as they watched the Ragillians fire a broad burst of fire at their last position, missing them completely, before breaking off the attack.

Jayden went to Blue and with hands that shook he checked for a pulse. It was slow and thready but it was there. He picked her up gently and cradled her in his arms.

“What did you do to yourself this time?” he whispered the question to the unconscious woman. There was no doubt that she had saved them. His plan had been the only workable one with what they faced. It would have worked but they would have gotten hurt, possibly very badly. Instead the damage was minimal. He was still going to spank her ass when she woke up though.

He turned to find four faces looking at Blue with worry etched in their faces. They knew she had done the impossible even if none of them knew how or what she had done to save them all from what would have been a grim death.

Idris looked pale and made as if to speak but could only swallow helplessly as he looked at the limp body in his friend’s arms. Sparks was the only one to speak. “Is she going to be all right?”

Jayden honestly did not know. She was breathing but he could not feel anything from their connection. There was a void where she should have been in his mind. That alone was enough to stop his heart with worry and fear. He swallowed the lump in his throat and gave them the truth.

“I don’t know, her pulse is thready and her breathing is too shallow.” He walked from the room followed closely by Dro and Leo.

Dro ran the scanners over Blue’s prone body while Jayden paced back and forth. When he finally looked up from the instruments his face was grave,
“She is showing all the signs of exhaustion. That is something that can be cured with plenty of rest. What worries me is there is almost no brain activity at all. It is as if her brain has shut down. There is nothing I can do except keep a close watch on her. She will either come out of it on her own or she will not.”

Jayden clenched his hands into fists at the fatalistic words and bowed his head. He wanted nothing more than to stay here with her but he could not. He had his men counting on him and he needed to find how the Ragillians kept finding them. He needed to keep her safe.

“Do not leave her alone for one second. If you have to leave call me or Idris and one of us will stay with her. Let me know the minute she stirs.”

Uncaring that Dro was watching he leaned down and kissed her unresponsive mouth, telling her, “Don’t you dare die on me,” in a voice roughened by fear.

Hidden in the gases of the nebula Jayden called everyone to the Control Room except Dro. “I want every inch of this ship searched. Every circuit traced. Look for any unauthorized transmissions, any signal being sent out,” he stated.

“You do not think one of us is sending out a signal?” Jos asked him.

“Of course not,” was the ready reply. “But think about it. Someone had to have gotten a transmitter aboard that we did not find after the first ambush. Which means it has to be a passive signal. We have used them ourselves in missions. The fact that we have not found already it means it is buried deep.”

Idris nodded his head in agreement, “Makes sense, that is the only way the Ragillians could know about Blue. It has to be connected to a system that is active all the time to piggyback on. It is not something we would have looked for and even if we did unless it was sending at the same time we were looking we would not have seen it.”

Sparks asked, “How are we going to find it now. The gasses will not let any signal in or out so we cannot trace it that way.”

“That is why we are going to go through everything on board that has a circuit. We are not leaving until we find it,” Jayden told them all.

Idris looked at Jayden and said, “The only way the Ragillians would know about it is if someone told them to look for it.”

They were back to the traitor. There were only two options. The traitor had to be from Shillidon or Haldairia. The only two races involved in building this ship.

Since Blue and Jayden had told him about his dear cousin’s visit to Farpoint, Idris was inclined to think Balik was a part of this. But honestly, he was too stupid to be the brains behind it. He also did not think Balik would knowingly betray Shillidon. He could be duped into it and not know it though.

Idris thought that Balik was on the station for exactly the reason it seemed. He had most likely hired Maaris to kill him and his parents. He was really going to be upset when he found out Blue was still alive. The thought of that almost brought a smile to Idris's face. He was looking forward to putting the little worm that Balik was in his place once and for all.

Three days passed with no change in Blue’s condition or in finding the transmitter. The mood aboard the ship had changed. There were no more jokes or laughter. Everyone was tense and worried and tempers ran short. When they were not looking for the transmitter all of the guys took turns sitting with Blue, hoping to be able to bring the news to Jayden and Idris that she was awake.

Dro had her hooked up to every monitor he had. The Brain wave monitor still showed no activity at all. If it had been anyone else but Blue, Dro would have pronounced them dead.

Leo refused to leave her side and the sadness emanating from him effected them all. Jayden spent every moment he could spare sitting at her bedside. Sometimes he was quiet and at other times he talked to her. By the fifth day the worry and lack of sleep drove him to yell at the sleeping woman.

Using one of her favorite expressions he said, “Damn it Blue, wake the hell up. I do not have time for this.” He was immediately sorry and running both hands over his face he apologized to her in a tired sounding voice, “I am sorry. You just need to wake up.”

Leo voiced his agreement from where he was lying beside the bed with a tremendous roar that echoed throughout the room. Jayden took her hand in his and sat back down in the chair placed beside the bed.

He laid his lips on the fragile hand clasped in his. Marveling at how small it was compared to his. He felt her hand twitch and looked up quickly to see her eyes flickering behind the delicate lids.

“That is it, come on Dala, open those weird beautiful eyes for me.”

Dro moved to the other side of her, watching the monitors closely.

Blue struggled to open her eyes and whispered in a voice hoarse from disuse, “Who is Dala?”

Jayden was startled into a bark of laughter, “Not a who, a what. Dala means beloved in Haldairian and you are my beloved,” he said tenderly.

“You didn’t have to yell so loud,” she told him still whispering.

“Apparently I did. It got you to wake up. I should have yelled at you days ago.”

“Days?”

“Yes, you have been sleeping for five days. You had all of us scared out of our minds.”

Blue started to push herself up into a sitting position only to have Dro gently push her back down. She looked at him in irritation.

“Stop that I want to sit up.”

“I do not want you to sit up yet,”
Dro’s mental voice was as gentle as always but rang like thunder in her head. She grabbed her head in both hands before it flew off her shoulders.

“Whoa, can you tone it down a little so you are not so loud. Between you and Jayden’s yelling my head is splitting apart.”

Dro exchanged a worried glance with Jayden then looked at the monitor still attached to Blue’s forehead. According to the readings there was still no activity but that was obviously wrong as she was talking to them with all of her mental facilities intact.

Leo had enough of being in the background and pushed himself between Jayden and Blue to lay his big head on her chest and stare into her eyes. Her arms came down to wrap him in a tight hug. She could feel his happiness and knew she was the cause.

The five days she had been unconscious had been hard for him. That was the one problem with the way they communicated, no one else could communicate with him. Not even Dro, who’s only means of communication was telepathic, was able to connect with him. He had spent the last days not knowing what was going on with her only that he couldn’t reach her. Now he was so relieved to have her awake and talking.

Jayden watched the interaction between the woman and tiger and marveled how it almost resembled the relationship he had with his dragons. The only difference was that his dragons were a part of him in a way Leo was not a part of Blue. The love and respect they had for each other was apparent in their every action.

Many people had pets but Blue was right when she had said Leo was not her pet but her friend. He was ashamed to say he had not given much thought to Leo for the last few days. The big cat had not left her side except for a minute or two in the last few days. Jayden was not even sure he had slept or eaten.

Blue looked up at Jayden with a question in her eyes, feeling the emotions coming from him. She wasn’t quite sure what he was feeling. Love, relief, remorse and worry, all were there in a twisted jumble. He smiled at her tenderly and in that moment she was aware of how lucky she was. He was hers in a way no one else would ever be.

He would never leave her or hurt her. In fact he would give his very life if it meant keeping her safe.

That was comforting and scary at the same time. She knew he knew she could and would take care of herself. But it was nice to have the backup she thought. With him there was no hiding, he accepted who she was or he had.

What would he think when he found out just what she was capable of. What she had done on the Ragillian ship. She had scared herself. What man would want to stay with a woman who could kill with her mind.
It had been so easy,
she thought. The rage at the physical and mental torture the Ragillian’s had put the Minder through had broken free and the result had been death for everyone in that control room.

She shook her head to dispel the dark thoughts when Leo gave a soft huff. Just this once she would pull a Scarlett O’Hara and think of it later.

“Since it has been five days I am guessing you were able to get away from the Ragillians,” she said still looking down at Leo as she continued to pet him.

“Thanks to you,” he replied with a question in his voice. She gave a small shake of her head telling him she didn’t want to talk about it. He let it go for now and continued,

“We are hidden in the gasses from the the Nexus Nebula for now until we can find the transmitter that the Ragillians are using to track us.”

“How is being here going to stop that?” she asked.

“The gasses electromagnetic properties prevent any signal from entering or exiting. We were able to destroy two of their ships. That leaves two of them still out there close enough to find us again and I am sure they have called for reinforcements,” he paused. “They know who you are and they want you. That is what this last attack was all about.”

Blue let the silence drag out, not saying anything. There really wasn’t anything she could say. He was right. Now that they knew of her existence they wanted her enough to do whatever they needed to, to get her.

She turned her mind to the problem of finding the transmitter. “Where have you looked?”

“We have torn into every system and have not found a thing,” Jayden said, his frustration evident. “We know it is here somewhere. We just cannot find it.”

Blue turned the problem over and over in her mind while her eyes absently tracked one of the maintenance bots as it made its way across the room. “You haven’t found anything?”

“Nothing,” he said in disgust.

Still watching the bot an idea began to form for Blue. If she wanted to hide a bug so well that even searching for it, it still wouldn’t be found. She would put it in the very last place anyone would think of. The maintenance robots were all but invisible. No one paid any attention to them. She did because they were still new to her but she doubted any of the guys even noticed them.

The bots had their own internal programing and went about doing their assigned tasks. The Trilleion wasn’t one of the larger ships that needed dozens of bots to take care of the small necessary jobs. There were only two of them aboard and they were so unobtrusive that they were easily overlooked. In fact she would bet that the guys had overlooked them.

Giving Jayden a speculative look she asked him, “Did you check the bots?”

“What bots”

“That bot and the other maintenance bot?” she pointed to the corner where it had come to a stop. The look on his face was priceless when his eyes followed her finger and saw what she was pointing at.

Jayden stared at the maintenance robot in confusion before it hit him what Blue was suggesting. It could work. It was the perfect hiding place for a transmitter. None of them but Blue had thought about the bots. They were too busy looking everywhere else. He gave a mental shout to Idris and Jos to come to medical.

They came in running only to come to an abrupt stop when they saw Blue sitting up petting Leo. Jos was the first to speak.

“Well it is about time you woke up from your little nap. We could use your help,” he teased her.

She smiled at him and said, “Yes, I can tell.”

Idris was still just looking at her. The relief in his emotions came through loud and clear.
“Are you okay?
” His mental voice was soft and full of concern.

“I am fine,”
she sent back.
“Don’t worry so much.”

“In that case if you ever scare me like that again...”
His voice trailed off. “I don’t know what I will do,” he said aloud, walking to her and wrapping his arms around her. He held tight for a moment before letting go and stepping back. He studied her forced smile.