Fire & Soul (5 page)

"Wait," he grinds out, still stroking my cock at the same lazy pace.

They pull my head back, baring my throat and I suck in a shallow, shaky breath, unable to keep my hips from rocking with Jye's movements, edging closer and closer to orgasm.

"Are you close?" Jye demands.

"Y-yeah." I nod frantically, afraid he's going to stop and make me wait again.

"Good. Look at me."

I force my eyes open and brace my hand on his shoulder, my breath hitching. His eyes are nearly all pupil, just a sliver of blue iris, and focused solely on me. I tense, pulling against their grip, and come helplessly, stuttering out Jye's name.

After, I lay limply under him and watch him free his own cock and stroke himself off quickly. He collapses next to me, and I can feel his pulse thundering against mine.

"Perfect, you're perfect," he says, and I manage a querulous sound, my thoughts still too fractured to piece together words. He smiles and Mikscn laughs. I give up and let myself drift off. 

*~*~*

I wake up all of a sudden, on the edges of a dream I can't quite remember. Beside me, Mikscn makes a throaty, protesting sound and reaches out and hits my cheek. I shove his face away and almost jump out of my skin when Jye snakes an arm around my waist and yanks me close.

"We're reporting at midday," Mikscn grinds out, his voice sleep-roughened and barely there. "G'to sleep." He inches closer and presses his cheek to my stomach.

"Morning," Jye says. In complete defiance of his greeting, he tucks his head into the curve of my neck.

Lying there, I can tell they're both asleep again seconds later. I sigh and card my fingers through Mikscn's hair, let myself enjoy the silence and quiet. Mikscn and Jye are like furnaces, and I'm comfortably warm against the usual chilliness of the compound.

The entourage is leaving today. Five trifectas as well as the nobility's leisure-class vessels and support crews. The Brudeah central council is providing us with an escort of an additional ten trifectas as well as their support crews. All told, it's a thirty vessel group, not something to be trifled with and, like Mikscn said, this should be a cakewalk. Fifteen adjuncts is nothing to sneeze at, especially not Bredan adjuncts.

We're reporting at midday, leaving a little later, and will hopefully be home by the time the sun rises. It's a twenty-hour exodus, one that we'll spend entirely in the adjunct.

Normally, coming down afterward is a long, difficult process that disables at least a third of the participating trifectas, and Mikscn and I are always among those who are mostly comatose for days after landing.

But with Jye here … maybe it won't be as bad as usual. Even the past couple of days, with Jye in the adjunct and in our bed, things've been easier. I feel better, and Mikscn's started to lose that edge that always seems to be hiding underneath his determined calm.

"Mm … you're still awake," Jye murmurs. He nuzzles against my throat and I don't bother hiding my answering smile.

"Just thinking," I say, carefully pushing away my connection to Mikscn, making sure his sleep is uninterrupted.

"Good thoughts?" He mouths at my throat and I'm caught between telling him to quit so Mikscn can sleep and letting him continue.

"Pretty good," I say, my breath hitching when he nips at my earlobe.

But he stops on his own and shifts a little so he can set his chin on my shoulder. "Tell me?"

I hesitate, but plow ahead anyway. "I was just thinking that I like you being here." I have to look away, frustrated with the heat in my face. "You're … good for us, for both of us."

I feel Mikscn surface to consciousness even as Jye hums consideringly. "I'm glad I'm here," he says. "And I'm honored that you chose me to trust and let in." He strokes his fingers against my throat, his meaning implicit, and I can't help the quivering smile pulling at my lips.

Mikscn shifts a little, giving Jye and I time to gather ourselves and separate and sit up. Jye gives me a little smile when he retreats to the bathroom, and Mikscn remains quiet until the door clicks shut.

He sits up and curls into himself. I rub my hands over my face, suddenly exhausted. "Sorry," I mutter. "I—I'm sorry. Mikscn, I'm sorry, I—"

"You're the one who said he isn't ours," Mikscn says, and the worst thing is that he just sounds
tired
. "Even if—even if we survive the battles with the Cabal ships, even if they let us retire, they'll take him away eventually."

I shake my head. "I have to believe that we'll be free one day. He can buy Cherian's freedom. If he leaves us, he won't have the restrictions against buying family members like Aiya does. And once Cherian's free—"

"He'll have no reason to honor any agreement that we make!"

I bury my face in my hands. "Mikscn—"

"And who's to say he'd even want to help us? He's here for political reasons—do you really think he's gonna risk pissing off Jheghda and bringing his House down on his ass for a couple of slave pilots?" There's a thump in the bathroom and we freeze for a few seconds before relaxing. "You know Cherian's price is exorbitant." Mikscn sighs and reaches out to pet my hair. "Temsha, the only thing we can do is just … enjoy it while it lasts. That's what I was trying to tell you before."

I stare at Mikscn, unable to reconcile his words with everything I've been hoping for, everything I've been telling myself for years. That's always been the plan, to try and find a way to free Cherian, and then he would find a way to buy our freedom. Aiya and her trifecta can't buy Cherian even if they left Bredan because the Houses recognize that there's a bias from mentors towards their mentees, but we've been hoping that if they kept putting away wages, and what little money Mikscn and I make, that we could buy him eventually. Aiya and Keito and Micca have friends removed enough from the situation to be allowed a go at Cherian's tag.

I didn't realize how badly I wanted Jye to become a part of that plan until now. The pit of my stomach drops out and I swallow hard.

"No, no, I'm sorry," Mikscn says, lunging forward to grab my face. "I didn't mean to—"

I shove his hands away and scramble to my feet. Mikscn's talking to me, but I don't really register any of it, don't know what I say in response as I yank my clothes on. I just know that I can't be here anymore, can't stand to see Jye come out of the shower with my fantasy completely ruined.

I bolt into the hallway and don't stop until I reach the adjunct, kneeling in a line next to the others. I climb up into the cockpit and pull up a HUD, mechanically running through the pre-flight tests I would normally do with Mikscn. Everything comes back clear, of course, so I run another diagnostic, and another, and another, until there's nothing left to do but menial tasks and coding.

The other trifectas are starting to trickle out. I can hear their conversation and the low whine of the other adjuncts as the pilots pull back-up power to run their diagnostics. We've been briefed to hell and back, and the other's voices are lighthearted and cheerful. I know most everyone's missing home, and there's a definite note of relief in the air.

"Hey." I blink and look up. Jye's leaning into the entrance of the cockpit, something I can't read on his face. "Did you and Mikscn have a fight?"

I chew on the inside of my cheek, discarding option after option until I decide to tell the truth, if only because lies never survive long in a healthy trifecta.

"Sort of," I say, feeling out the words. "We're … having a difference of opinion."

"Is this going to affect your synchronization?" His tone is nothing but curious, but I flinch anyway. "We're leaving in an hour."

"No," I snap, and dive into another diagnostic. Buried in the adjunct's programming, only part of me registers Jye's low sigh and departure, but I curse myself anyway.

I know that acting like this is only going to make Jye leave all the sooner, but I can't just be
okay
with what Mikscn said. I want to keep Jye for forever. I don't know how to be okay with knowing that's never going to happen.

Aiya comes by to confirm the adjunct's operating normally. She gives Mikscn a narrow-eyed look when he arrives a few minutes late, but he just straps into his cradle without a word.

"Look," she says, glancing over her shoulder quickly. "I want you two to remember that you're a team and we love you."

I frown. "Aiya—"

"We wouldn't have brought Jye to you if we thought he would hurt you," she says. She leans forward, and her smile is a tiny, shadowed thing. "Trust us. Trust him. We love you."

I start to stand even as I hear the hiss and release of Jye's cockpit closing. "Aiya—" But she steps back and slams her hand on the manual hatch release. The door descends behind her and I have to settle back into my cradle.

"Temsha, what …?"

"I don't know," I grit out, my pulse jackhammering in my chest. Aiya always sends us off, but this feels like she's saying goodbye.

I strap into my cradle and interface with the adjunct with shaking hands. The adjunct registers us and I let out a slow breath when the cradle shifts to make contact with the rest of my interface relays. No matter how many times we do this, it's always disorienting for a second when the low-grade connection between Mikscn and I is blown wide open.

"Initializing sequence. Sequence initiated. Reading trifecta."

I bite my cheek at the grief and regret riding low in my chest. Mikscn bites his lip in turn and the pain zings through my mouth.

"Trifecta confirmed. Pilots confirmed. Pilot synchronization initialized."

We take a low, heavy breath.

"Anam confirmed. Coordination with anam initialized."

Soothing coolness flows over us and we grin.

"Pilot synchronization holding at 100%. Coordination with anam holding at 100%."

We open our eyes and stand, a wave of apology-regret-forgiveness flowing through us.

"Ready?" Aiya and Keito ask, their adjunct gleaming pale blue in the afternoon sun.

As one, the line of adjuncts turns, flight sequences initialized. The leisure-class vessels are already in orbit waiting, and we merge in the clouds with the adjuncts that are escorting us. The lead vessel, Jheghda's
Silverstar
, sends us the flight path and the adjunct's computer reads it.

To preserve pilot efficiency, the flight computer requires little adjustment from us, and we lean back as the entourage jumps into zerospace.

Cakewalk
, we think, and turn our attention away from the dizzying black of zerospace to Jye. His consciousness is sleeping, as it should be, and we curl around his mind, protecting him from the buffeting adjustments the computer makes to our path.

The rest of the entourage are nothing more than shadowy figures in the black, until the silence that envelopes us is abruptly filled with shouts and screams over the comms.

Our sudden drop out of zerospace pulls our stomach into our throat and we barely manage to adjust before something slams into our left flank.

"It's the Cabal!" Aiya and Keito shout, and we draw the sword that lies along our spine. Everything is chaos, adjuncts darting about, trying to protect the leisure vessels from the two pirate ships that have somehow managed to divide the entourage in half and are firing relentlessly.

It's all so quiet, except for the directions being yelled down the comms. Our heart shoots up into our throat when Aiya and Keito get hit, and we shoot forward to cover them, taking a hit that sears through us when a third ship shows up, flanking us.

"Jump!" Aiya and Keito yell. "Get into zerospace now!"

All around us, the leisure vessels disappear, followed closely by the adjuncts.

Our comm link clicks over to a private channel as we initialize the jump sequence. "Aiya? Keito?"

There's a breath of silence and then, "We're sorry, boys. Remember that we love you."

"What—"

And they reach out and rip the zerospace generator out of our spine before disappearing.

Red lights flash and sirens blare into our ears, even as we desperately try to regain our equilibrium. But we're spinning and tilting through space with no anchor before we see the curve of a planet and aim for it, compensating for the shift in gravity and pulling through more power from Jye, enough to shield us as we burn through the planet's atmosphere.

An alarm shines on our HUD as the landing sequence fails and we scan the planet's surface only to come up blank for any sign of habitation.

We aim for land, tuck into a ball and pray, watching the HUD as it counts down to impact.

5

Why would they do this?

4

Protect Jye

3

Mikscn—

2

Temsha—

1

Jye!

*~*~*

I open my eyes, blinking rapidly as my head aches and throbs. I try to turn my head and groan, nausea slamming through my gut. I swallow hard and close my eyes.

*~*~*

I drift back to consciousness and stay awake through sheer force of will. I feel Mikscn swimming in my mind and shut our link down hard before he can drag me under again. I shift around and realize I'm still in my cradle. A low red emergency beam fills the cockpit with dim light, and I scramble for the hatch release, panic stifling my breathing. It opens without a problem, though, and I make myself breath calmly and slowly.

"Mikscn." I cough and reach for my cradle release. "Mikscn!" I yelp when my relays disconnect with a shock and I slam onto my side. Mikscn lets out a low groan and I drag myself up to the edge of the cockpit so I can reach down for the release for Jye's cockpit. "Mikscn, wake up!"

Jye's hatch whines, but opens smoothly before it gets stuck on a fucking tree. I look up belatedly and realize we're in a forest. "Jye?" I call down as Mikscn starts making noise behind me. I can only see a couple inches inside Jye's cockpit and Mikscn lets out a string of curses. "Jye?" I yell again, and feel my heart jump in my chest when there's no response.

"Temsha," Mikscn grunts. "What the fuck happened?"

I ignore him in favor of easing myself out of the cockpit. I brace myself on the tree blocking Jye's cockpit and squeeze through the opening. Jye's still cocooned in his cradle, relays attached, and I realize the computer must've kept him from waking up during the crash.