Finding Lara (Distant Worlds Book 3)
Read Finding Lara (Distant Worlds Book 3) Online
Authors: Kelly Lucille
FINDING
LARA
Distant
Worlds Book III
By
Kelly Lucille
Text
Copyright Kelly Lucille 2016
All
Rights Reserved
Cover
art by cheekycovers.com
The ship rocked with the
pounding it was taking. The blasts coming in quick succession against the
reinforced and shielded battle transport had Barnos cursing each jerk and
shutter. It also made him grudgingly admit after the three attacking vessels
opened fire that his own ships would have crumpled under the onslaught long
past, and he was no slouch with tech. Tolan Lark may be an infuriating bastard,
but
The Fire
was better shielded than any but a Marine Defender.
Of course, he was not
about to share that with the cocky bastard, and he would argue his own ship’s
merits to the death if need be. But privately, in his own head, he had to
admit the Shakien cat knew weaponry, whether it be ships or swords. At present,
that didn’t seem to be doing him all that much good. Another percussion shook
the ship and had Barnos clutching the arms of his chair more tightly than was
healthy for the smooth leather sheathing it.
“You break that chair and
I’ll take it out of your hide, pirate,” the mercenary muttered his warning
without taking his attention off his controls or computer.
Barnos snorted, “Worry
more about what their cannons are doing to your hull, kitty cat. Your drive to
have the prettiest ship in the quadrant will be helped less by giant holes in
the hull than a cracked chair arm.”
The Fire
flipped
and then shot forward leaving Barnos clutching at the arm again.
“Still,” Tolan Lark
muttered, “crack that chair and I will rip off that cybernetic log you call an
arm and beat you with it.”
“Cat,” Barnos gritted out
as he tried to keep his breathing to the same unconcerned tone as Tolan Lark’s
as they whirled and fired, “one delusion at a time. Get us out of this alive
then we can go one round about your damn chair.”
“Worried?” The smirk was
enough to have Barnos gritting his teeth.
“One of us should be.
Those are tactical destroyers firing steel up our asses.”
“I’ve seen you take on
worse odds in a bar fight with entire augmented Marine squadrons and laugh.”
Barnos snorted again as
another missile hit their hull and immediately the computer sounded a ‘hull
breach eminent.’ “I must be getting soft in my dotage,” he muttered sarcastically.
“That was at our last
port stop,” Tolan shot back dryly, before making one last swipe across the
console showing indecipherable jargon, which flipped
The Fire
one more
time, firing another full volley at all three ships surrounding them. Only
this time Barnos had to blink at the sudden and total destruction of the three
attacking vessels as the blasts not only penetrated their now nonexistent
shields, but ruptured hulls and sent the war birds careening into each other
and space, venting oxygen and fire.
“What the fuck was that?”
he boomed into the sudden deafening silence.
“That, my nervous friend,
is what happens when you spend all your platinum on arms and none on your
firewall.”
Barnos looked from the
exploding ships on the visual to the Shakien cat. “You broke their comp code?
During a damn
fire fight
?”
“Should I have waited
until they were finished attacking us?” Tolan Lark gave his trademark smirk
that made a man want to punch that pretty face. “We have a meeting, remember?
Mustn’t be late.”
“Tricky damn Shakien cat,”
Barnos grumbled, shaking his head.
Then he couldn’t help it. He
laughed. The booming sound filling the small space around them and making the
cat lose his smirk and wince at the volume.
“Must you do that every
ti. . . Ever?”
Barnos ignored him.
Nothing he loved better than a good fight, unless it was winning against
impossible odds. The only thing missing was a stiff drink and a warm female in
his lap to make his life complete. He slapped the cat across the shoulder with
appreciation, and had the added satisfaction of watching him wince again. “What’s
next?”
The hardened warrior that
most in the universe would fear just for what he was smiled a warning at Barnos
with a lot of sharp teeth and fire in his flashing Shakien eyes. “Now we make
the rendezvous and find out why King Menelaus and the delicious Queen Nori have
left their dusty backward lands to meet with a mercenary and a pirate.”
***
When Barnos stepped off
the shuttle and saw what awaited him, he was under no illusions about the
danger, even without the squad of space marines standing at attention. The man
was nearly as tall as Barnos himself, and at nearly seven feet tall, that
rarely happened with the humanoid worlds. Add to that the unadorned back
nanite armor reinforcing a body clearly made for hard combat, complete with
sword pommel sticking out over his right shoulder, and it did not spell king.
Nor did the lady standing
at his side look like any queen Barnos had ever seen. A tiny little thing,
with black, brown hair that hung long in an elaborate braid down her back.
Also in black nanite, with thigh high boots of the finest quality, she had
enough steel on her to take on an army on her own. Weapons seemed to be her
only adornment. Her curves were sleek but not as soft and round as Barnos
preferred. She looked built for speed rather than a man’s hands. Personally,
he appreciated all women and their many shapes, but someone that slight he
would worry the whole time about breaking her.
Still, he would make the
effort, he thought. She had a fierce look on her little face that made Barnos
want to cuddle her it was so cute. But the look of death in her man’s flashing
silver eyes had Barnos rethinking his come-hither smile. As did the iridescent
lavender that flashed in the woman’s when Tolan Lark stepped out of the shuttle
behind him. A Shakien cat, no matter how tiny, was more likely to break him, than
the other way around.
But what a way to go,
he
thought, watching her temper spark and the slanted green eyes shift fully to
Shakien lavender.
“Tolan Lark,” she gritted
out in almost a growl.
“Aww, kitten,” Tolan said
coming down the plank to stand beside him, he ignored everyone but the spitting
mad she-cat before him. “You missed me.”
She growled and stepped
forward, her teeth shifting sharper and more pronounced. Clearly, there was
some history there if just the sight of Tolan set her off. Barnos caught the
smug smirk on the mercenary’s face and shrugged inwardly. Then again, the man
did have a knack for rubbing people the wrong way. A little over six feet,
black hair and dusky skinned, Tolan was all sharp angles with a wildness and
ruthless practicality that was easily overlooked when he smiled like that. The
smug smirk and mocking eyes made a man think of nothing but smacking it off — even
if he was hard as a rock in his skintight body suit, knee boots, and armed
better than a military convoy.
Apparently, even others
of his kind, few though they were, had the same reaction. The little she-cat
sprung at them and, if not for the arm around her waist, Barnos had no doubt
she would have cleared the distance and been on Tolan Lark in a heartbeat.
“Now Nori, you called me,
remember?” Tolan held his hands out to the side to show he was blameless. Of course,
he kept that smirk, his eyes flashing mischief, so it lacked a certain
sincerity. “I thought we were past all that?” Then he looked her over most
blatantly, his smile turning a touch wicked. “I see you kept the boots I gave
you.”
This time it was the silver-eyed
man holding her who growled. “Careful, mercenary,” he said quietly, his voice
a smooth baritone lacking the hostility of his eyes. “I let her go, there won’t
be enough pieces to put you back together. No matter your healing
capabilities.” Glued with predatory heat on Tolan Lark, his eyes seemed to
flash with sparks of silver. And they never lost the quiet death they
promised. Barnos took it all in and then laughed, causing every eye in the
place to turn his way.
“You do have a way with
people,” he barked, his hand slapping Tolan Lark on the back, causing the other
man to lose his smile and hiss when he had to catch himself from falling
forward. “But can you at least introduce me before you start the fight?”
Tolan shook off the hit,
shifted his broad shoulders, and settled again. He had lost his playful spark
and finally turned with a sigh, “Captain Barnos meet Menelaus, Barbarian King
of Kenosha, and his mate, the captivating Queen Nori, Shakien cat.”
Barnos bowed from the
waist with a flourish and looked up to see all eyes on him. The space marines
behind them stiffened up, and Barnos could feel the heat of their eyes
sharpening on him.
Queen Nori lost some of
her temper, and looked on Tolan Lark with bemused green eyes. “Since when do
you travel with someone else?”
Tolan sighed a long drawn
out sigh. “Since he came aboard and never left,” he said mildly, making Barnos
laugh again and Tolan Lark wince at the loud sound of it.
“We have a mutual quest,”
Barnos said shaking his head, the smile never leaving his face. He shrugged
his massive shoulders. “His ship is faster than any of mine.”
Menelaus raised a brow at
that. “The death games?”
Tolan Lark nodded his
chin once in agreement, the smirk for once absent from his face. Then he
elaborated. “The man behind them. Let’s just say he made more enemies than
was good for him.”
Nori looked from one man
to the other, and then settled on Barnos. “I hope you don’t actually put your
trust in this man,” she said by way of warning.
Barnos snorted. “I am a
pirate, lady. I don’t put my trust in anyone.”
She looked him over
carefully, her eyes narrowed in thought. Barnos knew what she saw. He was a
giant of a man. With a cybernetic arm and one eye implant that gleamed in the
right light. A red sheen to his brown hair that he wore long and wild. With
the stubble decorating his jaw line, it added to the overall wildness. Massive
across the chest, with ship’s formal leathers worn over nanite, a sword and two
blasters on his hips. His smile roughish in a face that had seen a lot of
action. No one would look at him and think he was anything but dangerous.
“Well,” she finally said,
“you certainly look the part.”
He bowed with aplomb,
again his smile growing wider. Nori shook her head, muttering something under
her breath that he could barely hear. Sounded something like she needed to
keep him away from someone named Lara.
Whatever she said, her
mate grunted in agreement.
“So,” Tolan Lark
interrupted, his smile once again in place, if tight, “who wants to tell me why
I am here?”
“You really want to talk in
front of a criminal wanted on over thirty worlds for piracy?” One of the space
marines threw the question at them like a blast grenade, and everyone but
Barnos froze. Nori looked him over once again, brow rising in question.
Barnos didn’t take offense. Instead, he winked at the little cutie, willing to
ignore the fact that she could shift into a Shakien cat and remove his spleen
with her dainty little claws. She rolled her eyes at him, but her mate took
exception, baring his own toothsome smile that was pure promise of mayhem.
Tolan Lark laughed. “If
you can tell me, you might as well tell Barnos. Since we came here with an
agreement of free passage, he’ll be going wherever I go anyway. I assume this
is about a job?”
“Nori,” the marine spoke
again in clear warning.
After a few moments of
brief consideration, Nori just sighed without looking behind her. “My call,
Malik.”
The marine captain looked
none too pleased, but he kept his silence. His eyes on Barnos gave a promise
of retribution should he make a wrong move. But if Barnos feared a few measly
space marines, he would have a different job. Though these five wore the
marking of the elite Special Forces, so he held himself back from winking at
them. Barely.
“We need your help,” she
finally said, after one brief shared look with her mate.
Tolan Lark was quiet for
the longest time, looking the both of them over. “Has the universe shifted off
its axis?” he finally said baldly, clearly doubtful.
“Apparently,” King
Menelaus muttered, looking less than pleased himself.
“Lara,” Nori jumped in to
say before the mercenary could make the comment Barnos could see ready to fly
off his lips. “We need your help to find her.”
Tolan Lark blinked, and
Barnos raised a brow and looked between them, wondering who Lara was. When
Tolan spoke, he was clearly exasperated. “Again?”
He watched the she-cat
grind her teeth. Clearly, she was less than pleased by the question. “Yes,
again,” she gritted out.
The mercenary turned his
eyes to the group of stiff marines. “Can’t you people keep one little girl out
of trouble?” This made Barnos think they were looking for some teenage ne’er do
well.
The marines looked even
less pleased with them than before, and that was saying something. But they
kept those tightly ground jaws shut. It was Nori who answered.