Salvage Rights (Distant Worlds Book 2) (20 page)

The ex-space marine,
Mac, snorted when the door closed ever so quietly behind Luc’s Bruha mate.  “You’ll
be lucky if you still have your balls by the time she is done with you,
Warrung.”  His eyes flashed his personal glee to the world at the thought.  “That
was one fucking pissed off Bruha, and they are not known for their placid
nature.”

He looked the man over,
and thought about everything he knew of the crew members.  “You would know.” 
Then he brushed him off and turned back to the captain and his first mate,
before Mac could sputter his surprise.  “What were we discussing again?  Oh
yes, your right to breathe my airspace.”

Tolan Lark laughed.

Everyone turned to
study the six foot two inch wild man coated in nanite armor and bristling with
weapons.

Luc was suddenly
wishing he had left with his mate.  “Tolan Lark, you have something to add?”

“About the time I was
running into the Jezebel on their return trip, I received an offer of
employment from Benton Max.”

Lucan sharpened his
focus on the man.  “Benton Max is a front for my brother.”

The mercenary smiled
with a lot of teeth.  “I know.”

Luc rested his hand on
his blaster, just in case.  “What was the job?”

“He wants your Bruha
mate, and he wants her bad.”

Danika followed Tuft
until they were once again at the personal lift.  She fumed silently, but
refused to comment until she had the right person to deploy her wrath on.  And
he was back in the conference room attempting to scare her friends.  If she did
not know from their connection that he was ill at ease and worried for her
safety above all other concerns, she would have refused to leave.

She heard a short
succession of beeps and turned to see Tuft studying his icom unit.

“Looks like your
clothes are being delivered.  We can intercept them on the transport deck.”

“It is good I can find
my way anywhere, because otherwise, your many decks and /files/01/62/49/f016249/public/private
sections, and designated rooms, platforms, and islands would be exceedingly
confusing.”

“That’s the idea.”  Tuft
slapped his palm on the faceplate and redirected the lift.  “There are not many
people who have been in the private areas enough to understand the workings. 
So, it would be difficult to find someone to lead anyone to an area that would
be problematic.”  He looked her way briefly.  “You, I would consider a grave
security risk in any other circumstances.”

She arched a brow at
him.  “And in these circumstances?”

He shrugged, his eyes
on the terminal as it flashed.  “I still consider you a risk.”

“That’s what I thought,”
Danika said with a sigh, the last of her anger turning to mild irritation in
the face of his suspicions.  “You are nothing if not predictable.  I will give
you that.”

The big man turned to
give her a stone face.  “Lucan is in a room with an armed mercenary who he
allows to keep his arms merely because that is the agreement and he is the best
at what he does, and a crew of strangers that we know very little about.  I
should be watching his back.  Instead, I escort you to your room.  Tell me I
have nothing to worry about from having you here.”

Danika tilted her head
to study the big man closer.  “No, you are right.”  She looked inward at her
link and tried to reassure the man.  “Would it help at all to know that I would
sense it if Lucan were in trouble?”

“Only if it could get
me to him in time to make a difference.”

She thought it over and
nodded.  “He told you to escort me to our private area.  Once the lift drops
me, you return to Lucan.”

“Need to check the
delivery over.”

“Surely you have some
big burly staff who can handle that and then bring them to me and Kira.  Or, if
there is no one you trust, just have them dumped where they are and we can
collect them later, after the strangers are no longer alone with Lucan.”

Tuft studied her from
his massive height, his chin jutting as he thought it over.  “Workable, if you
don’t plan to whine about not getting your shit in time, that is.”

Danika laughed.  “You
see many things clearly, Tuft.  Women . . .” she trailed off, shaking her
head.  “Not really your forte.”

He shrugged his massive
shoulders and grunted, clearly not caring in the slightest about that. 

It made Danika laugh.  “Pirate
diplomacy,” she said rolling her eyes.  Then she stilled just as the doors
opened behind her to their private suite.  She cast worried eyes his way before
walking off the lift.  “Go, no one but designated personnel comes this far and
Luc is going cold.  I do not think he is in danger, but something has him
girding for battle.”

Without another word,
Tuft hit the controls and the doors swished shut.  Danika turned to face the
long walk across the garden section of Lucan’s private island.  She could feel
Kira coming towards her from her right, her emotions were strongly anxious.  Doctor
Avia was with her, and one of Tuft’s security forces.  Danika hesitated
briefly, considering possibilities, and then walked toward the women.

***

Before Luc could get to
the bottom of Tolan Lark’s pronouncement, the door behind him opened and Tuft
returned.  Coming in with him was a bleary-eyed Barnos.

Tuft shrugged.  “He
joined me on the lift.”

Barnos took one look at
Luc who looked none the worse for wear and shook his head slowly.  His words a
soft grumble, “It’s bloody inhuman the way you can drink and not have a
reaction.”

“You just have a soft
head.”

Barnos snorted then
looked around at the rest of the room.  He smiled a half wicked, half painful-looking
smile at the pretty mechanic, only to have Mac stand to his full height and
growl at him.  The girl rolled her eyes at both men and went back to watching
the Tolan Lark and Lucan situation.

“What are you doing
here anyway?” Lucan asked, his eyes still trained on Tolan Lark.

“Came to say I was
shipping out and thanks for the hospitality, but it looks like you are in the
middle of something.”

“You know Tolan Lark, I
believe?”

“I do, and the crew of
the Jezebel, we have occasion to move in the same circles,” he nodded to the
rest, “but not usually all together at the same time.”

“Tolan Lark was just
informing me about the job he was offered to bring Danika to Benton Max.”

Lucan watched the
sharpness return to his old friend’s face.  His hand drifting close to where
Lucan knew he kept his knife hidden, when it was not decorating a plague
carrier’s throat, that is.  “Benton Max is a front for Cor Warrung,” Barnos
growled.

“Indeed he is,” Lucan
murmured, tilting his head as he watched Tolan Lark smile again.

Barnos turned to the
man.  “Never knew you to work for anyone connected to Cor Warrung.”

“Well,” the mercenary
said with another smirk, “I never said I took the job.”

***

Danika studied the
women coming toward her, the big security guard at their back, which was odd in
itself.  Neither woman usually warranted an escort within the private areas.

Kira saw her and rather
than her agitation easing, it amped up.  Her eyes widening in warning Danika
could clearly see, even if she did not feel it like a tsunami rolling over her
from the other woman.  Whatever was happening, Kira was not happy to see her. 
The doctor, however, was both relieved and conflicted.  From her, she was
getting a veritable avalanche of information.  Luc had been right about one
thing.  The doctor was working for Cor Warrung, but it was the why of it that
had Danika hesitating to act.

“I was just coming to
get you Danika.  It seems I have a few more tests to run after all.”  While her
face gave nothing away, inside the woman was pleading for her to go along. 
Danika was getting flashes of midnight blue eyes and an innocent smile.  The
doctor was desperately trying to communicate without speaking, and what she was
seeing made Danika adjust her actions accordingly.

Danika smiled at them
both, taking Kira’s outstretched hand, and sending soothing vibes up the
shaking length of it.  It helped until she said her next words.

“Of course, doctor,”
she said, and felt Kira’s reaction like an electric shock, “whatever you need.”

The doctor breathed out
a sigh of relief and then smiled with tortured eyes.  “I appreciate that.”

“Kira,” Danika said.  “The
clothes were delivered.  Could you go collect them while I help the doctor?” 
They turned back toward the lift and began walking.

Kira was shaking her
head even before she started protesting.  Danika had to drag her along as she
sputtered and attempted to hold her back.  “No . . .you can’t go without
talking to Tuft or Sir first.”

She sent more soothing
vibes as they neared the lift.  “It will be fine.”

“It will not.”  At her
agitation, the security began to move closer in a purposeful way.  She looked
back at the man in a panic and stopped talking with a snap, but her hold on
Danika’s arm was bruising.

“Kira,” Danika said
softly, her eyes meeting the panic in the other woman’s, “trust me.  It will be
alright.”

Kira took a deep
breath, her eyes locked on the calm in Danika’s, and as Danika willed her to
relax sending a wave of peace her way, Kira’s breathing calmed and her eyes
settled.  “You don’t know . . .”

Danika interrupted her
whisper with one of her own.  “I do know.”

Kira shuddered out a
breath and then calmed. She nodded her head at Danika, and  then turned her
eyes to the man following close behind them.

Danika distracted her
with a squeeze.  “Do you mind getting the clothes delivery since I will be
accompanying the doctor for tests?  Tuft can help you with it.”

“She comes with us,” the
man said out of the blue, his voice grim, his eyes dead.

Danika shook her head. 
“Kira is not going anywhere.”  She looked to the doctor, and stressed the
words.  “She has work to do.”

She watched the doctor swallow
and look to the man with worry in her eyes, even as they got to the lift.  “I
do not need her for the tests.”

“She comes with us,” the
man reiterated firmly, while shoving Kira into the lift after the others.

Danika turned to face
him fully, pulling Kira behind her.  She narrowed her eyes and the lift stopped
before reversing back to the private section.  “She gets off, or none of us are
going anywhere.”

Hearing the steel in
her voice, the guard turned from hitting buttons randomly to no affect to look
at Danika.  Whatever he saw had him backing up and his eyes widening in fear.

When the door opened
back at the private garden entrance, he did nothing to stop Kira from leaving. 
Unfortunately, Kira refused to leave.

“I will stay with you.”

“Kira,” Danika said,
exasperated, “go to Tuft, you cannot come with us.”

“I’m staying with you.”

Danika blew out a
breath, but before she could argue further, Doctor Avia grabbed her arm,
looking frantically at the time.  “Please?!”  With a sigh, Danika allowed the
doors to close and the lift to continue.

“When we get to the
public deck, you will go to Tuft and let him know that I am going with the doctor
for some tests.  Do you understand?”

Kira opened her mouth
to argue but Danika beat her to it. “You do not do this and Luc will have no
idea where I have gone.”  It was not really a lie.  Luc might know as soon as
she allowed it that she was in trouble, but he would not know who was involved,
or where she was headed.  As far as she knew, the bond was not like a normal
telepathic signal, at least not yet.  She could sometimes feel what he was
feeling and know where he was, but speech was not something they had tried and
succeeded with yet.  Regardless, she did not want Kira in danger.

Kira finally swallowed,
the tears forming in her eyes while she nodded.

However, when they
reached the public platform the doors opened to Briar and her brother Patrik in
nanite armor and fully armed.  It was incongruous actually, seeing Briar with
that shocking display of cleavage in what was supposed to be body armor.  It
had Danika shaking her head.  If she was not so angry that they were involved,
she would be laughing at the idea that Briar adjusted her body armor to bare
the top half of her chest.  Not the brightest being was Briar. 

Upon seeing them, Briar’s
reaction was different.  She smiled, slow and malicious, and Danika lost any
humor she had found in the situation.  This woman was going to hurt them if she
could.  Danika pushed her awareness out until every alarm on the moon went off
simultaneously, and while everyone was looking around and clutching their heads
from the cacophony, she spurned Kira on.  “Go Kira, run now!”

Kira did, unfortunately
she did not get too far before she was hit with a dart from Patrik’s gun. 
Danika turned to act when she felt a sting in her own neck and looked up to see
the doctor pulling back a hyper-spray.  The last thing she saw before she
passed out was the regret in the other woman’s eyes, and the determination.

***

When the alarms began
to sound no one was spared.  Clutching his ears at the sudden raucous noise,
Lucan had a front row seat to Tolan Lark going bestial.  Something he had never
seen before, and hoped to never see again.  First, his eyes flashed to iridescent
lavender and he roared like a mad beast clutching at his sensitive ears, then a
wave of matted fur flowed over him like water.  When it was finished, a
dangerous Shakien cat stood before him in nanite armor and with a wild glow to
his eyes, even as he looked angrily about for the source of the painful noise.

A brief moment later,
just when it looked like the Shakien was going to go berserk, the noise cut off
as quickly as it had begun, and Lucan felt his connection to Danika disappear. 
This time, the roar that filled the room was fully rage-filled and from his own
more human throat.  He knew without being told that Danika was in trouble.

Tuft was busy grimly
communicating on his icom link, but when Lucan roared, he turned to him, his
eyes going hot.  He did not have to tell them they had more trouble than the
alarms.

“What the fuck is going
on?!” the man, Mac, shouted into the sudden silence.  His eyes were going from
Tolan Lark, who apparently he just realized was Shakien, to Lucan, who did not have
to see his eyes to know that death resided there.  He had gone frosty, and when
he did that, someone or some-ones have died.