Salvage Rights (Distant Worlds Book 2) (24 page)

“I have yet to meet a
ship I can’t fly,” Tyber said, turning and switching over controls to his
station.  “What did you have in mind?”

“Just that I would feel
better if you dropped Tuft and I off and then found an alternate landing site. 
You and your men could come in from a different direction, in case anyone is
looking already.”

Tyber pursed his lips. 
“It’s a good plan, makes it so we are not all caught if it is a trap.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“What the hell will I
be doing while you two romp off to the fun,” Barnos muttered behind them.

“You stay with Captain
Tyber and the shuttle.”

“You might get more
than you bargained for with just the two of you.”

“Barnos knows what to
look for by way of booby traps.  My brother will have a contingency plan.  I
have seen the files on you and your crew.  Between your abilities and his, I
expect you to ride to our rescue if we have need.”

“You sure you want to
take that chance, just the two of you?”

“If it gives Danika a
better chance of rescue, I’ll take a few risks.”

***

Landing on the space
station without being detected would have been impossible before; with the
sensors down it was as easy as landing.  However, because the field was off,
they were going to have to wear space gear to get from the open to space port
to the breathable air in space dock.  Luckily, their nanite armor was equipped
for this. There was always the possibility that with the fields down, the
compression chambers would be non-functioning.  It was a safe guard Lucan had
on his vessels in case their power was knocked out.  It prevented boarding
while they were compromised.  He had no doubt his brother would have a failsafe
similar if not more deadly than what he himself could come up with.  Because of
that, Captain Tyber waited on landing until he and Tuft reached the compression
door in short space hops.

He put his hand on the
handle and then looked at Tuft.  Then with a breath, he turned hearing the
metal creak even behind his nanite space suit.  The door opened and he breathed
his first sigh of relief; he opened the door and walked in signaling to Tyber
to take off.  If the place was booby-trapped on this side, the shuttle was not
going to help him.  He felt the air shift around him as the shuttle took off
and he and Tuft walked into the compression chamber looking for one more
miracle in a series of them.  The door closed and the compression started
immediately; once the lights on the panel went green, he took another breath
and willed his nanite from around his head back down to its original position
at his neck.  It flowed with his thoughts, and a second later, he breathed. 
The air was a little stale as you would expect in a space dock but breathable.

Since they did not
explode in the vacuum of space or for any other reason, he sent a look to Tuft
who shook his head and pulled a blaster.  They both headed for the other portal,
the one that would lead them to Danika, Kira, and his brother.

The first of his
brother’s mercenaries discovered them by accident.  Lucan was in front, Tuft
bringing up the rear.  They turned the corner and the hatch swooshed up, only
for them to come face to face with two heavily augmented cyborgs.  Lucan had
his sword in hand as the first cyborg pulled his blaster.  He sliced down with
a hard arc and both the blaster, hand, and a good bit of the cyborg’s arm hit
the floor.  Lucan followed with a slice up and across that clanged into the
metal door frame and shot pain up his wrist and hand.  Tuft took the second man
out with a blaster shot to the head before the first man fell headless to the
bloody deck.

After dispatching them
quickly, they moved into the heart of the space station.  Resembling nothing
more than a pleasure barge, the place had always rubbed Lucan the wrong way. 
But his brother had lived in the floating monstrosity for as long as Lucan had
been alive.  As usual, the people not on the security force scurried away from
them like frightened rabbits.  One thing Cor did not inspire was loyalty from
his servants.  His thieves and killers he paid well, but the rest would not
throw water on him if he were on fire.  Not that he blamed them.  If it was
anyone else, he would consider that a gruesome way to die, to go by fire, but
for his brother and what he knew him capable of? Burn, baby, burn.

As they headed further
into the interior, the security patrols and cyborg mercenaries were a bit
thicker to the ground.  Since they were not trying to bring attention to
themselves this close to the living quarters, both Lucan and Tuft had re-holstered
their blasters and were carrying bloody swords, using them to fight their way
through, leaving dead and hacked bodies in their wake.  He could feel Danika
somewhere ahead of them and he was having a hard time keeping his focus and
moving slowly.  But becoming snared in one of his brother’s traps would not
help his mate.

They turned the final
corner into what he knew to be Cor’s main living area.  Ahead of them was the
security command center, and on the other side of the long hall, the place where
Cor held his business meetings.  Farther past the security were his personal
quarters and the rooms where he conducted his less savory business.  Lucan had
only been in that area once, and it was enough.  That was the day Cor had
brought him into his business, and the day Lucan had fought and almost died to
get away.  It was not a memory he treasured, so being here and knowing that
Danika was in this place was enough to lock him down.

It was just past the
security center and well into Cor’s private domain that the brunt of Cor’s
cyborgs surrounded them – at least thirty, all heavily armed and augmented, and
all aiming blasters their way.  Knowing it was going to happen did not change
the frustration when the trap was sprung.  Cor himself stepped out of the
office and smiled at the sight before him.  “Shall you come inside while I have
your female summoned, or am I bound to cut you down before I have my fun?”

Lucan studied the
smiling face so like his own.  The cold bastard looked a little too satisfied
for peace of mind.  He was a little mussed, and his eyes were languid enough
that Lucan could tell he had been entertaining himself recently.  He clenched
his fists around his sword and tried not to be distracted by who that might
have been. 

“I expected at least
your security force from the island, if you could not muster all your pirate
minions,” Cor said, looking the two of them over dismissively.  Both were splattered
with blood, and nursing a few scrapes and bruises here and there.  With the
naked swords in their hands still dripping blood on the carpets, they might
have made an imposing sight, but Lucan did not fool himself; surrounded by
cyborgs, they lacked the ability to menace.

“I was in a hurry to
accept your invitation, and I did not want to leave my moon vulnerable to
attack,” Lucan shrugged.  “One never knows what kind of trap will be sprung and
where, but I have learned, brother, that one is always in the works.  Besides,
looking around, I feel more than up to the challenge.”

“Big words when faced
with a force of over fifty augmented and military-trained cyborgs.”

Lucan looked at Tuft,
who shrugged his massive shoulders looking unconcerned. “If you started out
with fifty, then this is probably all that is left.”  He looked once again at
Tuft.  “How many did we take down getting here, a good twenty?”

The big man grunted, “At
least.”

Lucan watched with
satisfaction as his brother’s jaw clenched.  Then he visibly uncoiled, and once
again presented them the consummate gentleman.  “I have to say what I was not
expecting was for you to cut off my sensors and security field.  That was
impressive, and unnecessary.  You are always welcome here.”

Lucan’s only outward
reaction to that statement was a smile.  Cor had always underestimated women. 
He had no clue what Danika could do, other than that she was a Bruha, and
possibly that she was a truthsayer; that meant the doctor had not given him any
information on Danika, but what about Briar?  Why would she take Danika and not
tell his brother what she was capable of?  Though admittedly, no one knew what
Danika was truly capable of.  After seeing her in action around his own
security, he should not be surprised by what she had accomplished here, but he
was.  “I have a deal for you, Cor.  I know how you like deals.  Give me back my
property and I will restore order to yours.”

Cor raised a
condescending brow.  “All this over a woman, really?”

“What’s mine I keep, be
she woman, land, or ship.  You should know that; it is practically the Warrung
family motto.”

Cor paced and looked
around, a sneer hitting his mouth.  “This is ridiculous.  How do we have a
conversation in the hall like peasants?  Please,” he said sweeping his hand
toward a large hatch and his banquet room beyond, “let us sit and discuss your
deal, and I will order up some drinks and your little Bruha.  We will see what
we can make of it.”

“Kira as well,” Lucan
said flatly. 

Cor looked artificially
confused for a minute.  “Who?”

“The other woman you
took off my moon.  I want them both back.”

“Really?”  Again with
the smug smile, “How interesting.  My spies tell me she has never even warmed
your bed, which by the way, is your loss, she is a survivor that one.  Do you
know that no matter what I did to her, she refused to die?  Fought me longer
than most, too, and at such a young age.”  He shrugged and popped his lips.  “Of
course, now she is as broken as the rest.”  His eyes sharpened on Lucan.  “Yet
you would ask for her back?  Why?”

Lucan narrowed his eyes
and allowed the rage behind them to seep through, just a little.  The vibes he
was getting from Tuft told him the man was seconds away from attacking his
brother no matter the cost to them both.  He was not far behind.  “I was not
asking.”

***

Barnos grunted and
pulled his sword from another cyborgs gut, with another slash the man/machine
fell like the few others they had crossed paths with.

There was very little
security about and it made him anxious.  He signaled to Tyber and his crew to
move forward, and the captain nodded taking point with his own sword at the
ready.  He’d say this for the man and his crew, they could move with purpose.

When they came upon a
roving patrol around the next shaft, the captain and his first officer flowed
into a dance of steel that had Barnos blinking once again at their skill.  Not
only did they move as one unit when they fought, they were deadly fast with
those blades.  The cyborgs fell almost gracefully before them.  Barnos had to
shake his head every time he saw it.  Mac stood beside him with his big fists
around two blasters of impressive size holstered and ready to be pulled as back
up; he had yet to have a reason to use them.

“You know, every time I
see those two fight I feel like I should applaud.  It’s downright pretty the
way they dance about with steel,” Barnos muttered watching the show.

Mac grunted.  “Tell me
about it, I thought I was good until I saw them fight.  Makes a man feel damn
inadequate.”  One of the cyborgs had been divested of his arm and shoved their
way; Mac reached up and twisted his head until his steel enforced neck broke. 
He dropped the heavily augmented man at their feet with a casual flick of his
wrists.

Barnos looked from the
dead cyborg to Mac who was again leaning against the bulkhead while he waited,
his big paws once again wrapped around the butt of his blasters, muscles
bulging across his chest and arms behind the supple nanite body armor – roughly
seven feet of military-trained death.  “Yeah, I can see how you might feel like
a big pussy in a fight.”

***

When it became clear
Cor was not going to continue until he was comfortable, Lucan ground his jaw
impatiently, and they all moved into the banquet hall.  No surprise Cor sat in
his high-backed chair that more than a little resembled a throne.  Both Luc and
Tuft stood before him, weapons out and still surrounded by the cyborgs; at least
in the banquet hall they had more maneuvering space when the fight broke out. 

Everyone was quiet – the
cyborgs because that was their job, Tuft and Luc because they waiting for
Danika and Kira and standing battle ready and grim. Cor was watching them as if
he was deciphering the puzzle of them in his mind.  Since icoms were still out,
a trio of cyborgs had been dispatched to get the women.  Lucan had no doubt
that Cor had lied about the number of cyborgs he had at his command.  Knowing
there could be hundreds of them throughout the station, he just hoped that the
crew of the Jupiter lived up to their reputation.  He knew how good Barnos was,
but they were essentially one pirate and a salvage crew against trained and
augmented cyborgs, and he had never seen them fight first-hand, no matter what
the reports said.

The cyborgs returned
without the women and headed for Cor looking tense.  For military grade
cyborgs, that was saying something.  One whispered something in Cor’s ear and
his face went from pleasantly contemplative to explosive in seconds.  Enraged,
he struck the cyborg with the back of his fist so hard that the thing hit the
metal walls leaving a dent.  Cyborgs, augmented with steel and circuitry, could
weigh up to about four hundred solid pounds and could take a blaster in the
chest without blinking.  This one did not get up from where he landed. 
Everyone in the room froze and the quiet was like a death shroud.  If anyone in
that room had any doubts that the Warrungs were more than human, they were gone
now.

Luc squared off his
feet, ready for whatever came next.  Tuft turned slightly so that they were
almost back to back.  If his brother was angry enough to forget to play human,
they were all in trouble.  He could feel Danika was safe but not exactly where
she was, though the bond between them was getting stronger as the minutes
passed.  He had hoped that whatever was causing the interference was tapering
off. 

“Problems, brother?”
Lucan asked mildly.  “Seems to be your day for them.”

Cor turned with a snap
and narrowed his eyes at Lucan.  “You know something about this.”

Lucan smiled.

Cor sat back in his
chair and contemplated his brother angrily.  “You think you know things that I
don’t?  Tell me, little brother, do you know how the lovely Bruha ended up in
your bed?”  Then he relaxed into his chair and smiled like a satisfied snake.  “I
put her there.”

***

Barnos shoved another
cyborg off his sword with a well-placed kick.  “Did Cor hire every displaced
military cyborg in the galaxy, or did he start a production line of his own?”

“I am leaning toward
the second theory,” Lore said matter-of-factly as he gracefully stepped over
the dead man.  “I do not think more than two thousand survived the mass
destruction when the military shut down their production, and of those, most
died within the first ten years of freedom.”

“So what?” Barnos
asked, as his sword bounced off the steel plating when he would have gutted the
next one, “He just asks for volunteers and begins his own army and no one
notices?”  He was forced to use his blaster point blank into the vulnerable
chin, or be gutted himself.  He hated to do it because the backlash of blood
and guts was extensive, not to mention the noise involved.  He had to sheathe
his sword and wipe off his face before he could see again. 

Meanwhile, Mac blasted
two more in quick succession.  Now that they were no longer trying for stealth,
it was clear quickly just how good the ex- marine was with his guns.  Hitting a
cyborg with a blaster was easy; they were big targets. Hitting a vulnerable
spot through all the armor was a different story.  Mac made it look effortless
as they fell in rapid succession after each burst, but even as the killing got
easier, Barnos cursed as he pulled his second blaster and followed suit.  The
element of surprise was officially over.  Everyone on the station was going to
know they were coming.  It was a sure bet that more trouble was headed their
way.  They were about to find out exactly how many cyborgs Cor had on his space
station, first hand.