Silver's Captive (2 page)

Someone had covered me. The gesture confused me, adding to the emotion swirling through me. I didn’t know what to think as I sat staring around me. These were a large quarters for a ship, and I assumed I was on a ship. The tiny vibration and slight hum of an engine gave it away. The curved shape of some of the room’s walls added to my belief that I was on a ship. A good size ship, if the size of the room was any indication.

The quarters were neat, and there was no sign that anyone occupied it. I couldn’t see anything that gave any hints about the man who had kidnapped me. There were no clothes lying about, no books or data pads. The quarters were pristinely neat and tidy.

I saw a door across from the bed that I thought might lead to the bathroom. A sitting area with a built-in couch with blue cushions that matched the bedspread and a pair of matching chairs sat under the large window, and the vast reaches of space were visible through the viewing window. A small round dining table with two chairs sat between the couch and the main double entry doors.

The quarters belonged to someone high up in the ship—only an officer’s quarters would be this big. Only an officer’s quarters would have plush carpeting and expensive timber panelling on the walls. The fabric under my hands reinforced my thoughts.

A strange oval-shaped metal tub sat between the bed and the sitting area. It looked like an old-fashioned bath that I’d read about in an old Earth book in the library. It took up a considerable amount of space in the centre of the room, and I wondered what it was for. From my position on the bed, I couldn’t see inside it.

I couldn’t ignore the emotion running through me. It filled me up and made it hard to breath. My heart raced at the reality of my predicament. I had to find out where he was taking me, somehow, and convince him to let me go, or to take me back to the station. I had to find out what he wanted with me, why he’d taken me. If I could make him understand what was at stake, maybe I could convince him to let me go. Maybe he’d understand. Believing he’d understand was my only option—otherwise, the last three years of effort would be for nothing.

Climbing off the bed, I inched towards the large vessel sitting on the floor, my curiosity getting the better of me. A silver liquid swirled inside—a beautiful metallic silver that reminded me of the stranger’s eyes.

Standing at the edge of the big tub, I stared down into the swirling silver liquid. I wanted to dip my fingers in it and feel its texture against my skin and to see if it was hot or cold. My mother had joked with me when I was a child that my curiosity would get me into trouble one day.

The silver liquid started to move as I stared down at it debating with myself whether I should touch it. It rose up in a column, a head forming, shoulders, arms, a torso, all forming out of the swirling liquid, until the shape of a man stood in the tub.

I stumbled back, my legs hitting the bed and knocking me off balance. I sat down heavily. Shock coursed through me. The shape started to change, clothes starting to emerge, skin forming until the man with silver eyes stood looking at me.

His dark hair fell over the smooth plane of his forehead, the sharp cut of his cheekbones and the strength of his jaw highlighted by the soft lighting in the room. For a human, he was incredibly good looking. But he wasn’t human, and I knew I’d do well to remember that.

“What are you?” I asked staring into his silver eyes.

“I am a shape shifter. I am from the planet Torc.”

I stared at him, speechless. I’d seen many different people in the years I’d lived on the station, but I’d never come across a shape shifter before. I wanted to ask him a million questions, my natural curiosity kicking in, but I couldn’t let that distract me. I had a goal and I needed to stick to it.

“I need you to take me home,” I said looking up at him from where I was sitting on the bed.
That was my goal.

“I’m sorry, Tarnee. I can’t do that,” he replied.

A frown snapped my eyebrows together. “Of course you can. Just turn your ship around and take me back to the station.”

He stepped out of the tub and stopped in front of me. His movement stretched his form-fitting shirt and pants across his muscles—muscles that bunched and strained as he moved.

“I can’t take you back to the station. There are people after us, and if we go back, we’ll be running right into their hands.”

That wasn’t the answer I wanted. I wanted him to tell me that yes, he could take me home, and that he’d turn his ship around right away and return me to the station. I had to make him understand how important it was to me that he returned me back to my station.

“You have to take me back. There’s something I need to do. I have to finish it. I’ve worked so hard to get as far as I have and I’m so close to finishing. If you don’t take me back...” I stared up at him. Did I dare tell him the reason? Most people thought it was a lost cause and didn’t understand my driving need. “I need to find my parents.”

“At the moment, it’s not a possibility. I don’t know why your station security wanted me, but I need to stay away from there for now.”

I turned away from him, my emotions in turmoil. I was ready for security to catch him when I didn’t even know why they were after them, just so he could return me to the station. I didn’t know this man, I didn’t know where he’d come from, or why he’d taken me.

“Why have you taken me?” I asked, turning back to him.

“I’ve been searching for you for a long time, Tarnee. There was no way I was going to leave you behind.”

My confusion rose up in me. He hadn’t answered my question. He’d just left me with more.

“I don’t understand. What do you mean you’ve been searching for me? You don’t know me.”

“You are right. I don’t know you, but I knew you were out there somewhere. I could feel you getting closer and closer with every month of travel. Every galaxy we stopped in, I thought I would find you, but only today did I see you. I knew the minute I met your eyes that you were the one. The person meant to be mine.”

My eyes widened at what he was saying. He was claiming me, telling me we were to be together. He was talking about destiny. I knew of other races who believed in destiny, who believed there was one person, a soul mate for each person. I’d never believed in such things, but I couldn’t deny the connection we seemed to have.

In all honesty, I should have been terrified of him because he’d kidnapped me, but I wasn’t. I wanted him to return me to the station so I could continue my studies that I was so close to finishing. Then, I could sign on with one of the stations exploration teams. This was a dream I’d held since my parents had gone missing. Still, I wasn’t afraid of him and I hadn’t been since our eyes had met across the crowded promenade of the station. I felt strangely calm as I looked up at him.

I thought it possible that I was in shock. My emotions and feelings didn’t make any sense. One minute, I felt desperate to get back to the station, and the next it didn’t seem to matter. What was he doing to me? He must have been having some kind of influence over me.

“What are you doing to me?” I demanded.

“I’m not doing anything, Tarnee. You feel it, too. The connection we have. You cannot deny that you belong to me.”

Of course, I could, but I’d be lying, and I’d promised myself a long time ago that I’d never do that. Every time I thought about my parents, I had to ask if I was deceiving myself about them still being alive, but I knew somewhere deep inside me that they were.

“So I’m stuck here with you for the time being? Where do we go from here? What do you expect of me?” If he expected me to jump into bed with him, he was in for a surprise.

Before he could answer, the lights dimmed and started flashing orange. An alarm blared through the room.

He said that same harsh word that my translator chip couldn’t identify, but I thought he’d sworn.

“Stay here, Tarnee. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said as he rushed for the doors—and then he was gone.

Chapter Three

“Computer, lock Captain’s quarters doors.”

“Confirmed,” a female voice responded.

Tor’Arr ran the length of the corridor to the pressure lift at the end that would take him one floor up to the bridge.

The carpet on the floor muffled the heavy tread of his boots. He found this human clothing to be strange, the shapes constricting, not allowing for easy movement. Then again, he found most clothing restrictive, but this was just worse than most. He’d have to get used to it, he supposed. Tarnee would probably object to some of the forms he could take, or to him walking around in his natural form.

He waited impatiently for the lift to arrive and slid in through the doors before they were fully open, the sound of the ship’s amber alert blaring in his sensitive ears. The amber warning light tinted the smooth metal panelling of the lift.

“Bridge,” he instructed the computer.

The soft whirr of the lift as it rose filled his ears. He rushed out through the partially open doors onto the bridge of his ship.

“What is it?” he demanded of Kesh, his Second in Command.

Kesh looked him over quickly, his gaze flicking up and down, but he didn’t comment on his captain’s form, instead responding to the question, his words brisk. “It’s the Delarians.”

Tor’Arr swore under his breath—a harsh word in the language of his people. He hadn’t expected to be followed this far.

He moved towards the captain’s chair in the centre of the room and took a seat on the hard metal chair. The image of the Delarian’s ship was visible on his vessel’s view screen. The huge blue-grey form took up most of the screen.

“How far away are they? How much time do we have?”

“A few minutes and they’ll be on us.”

Tor’Arr relaxed. They had plenty of time. He had one of the best pilots in all of space, and he could always take over himself if he needed to.

“Evade them and find us somewhere to hide,” he instructed his crew.

“There is nowhere to hide. We’ve already looked.” Kesh’s voice was hard with anger as it echoed across the bridge from his station to the left of the captain’s chair.

“Then we’ll have to fight our way out.”

“Charge weapons,” Kesh called out.

A sudden jolt of the ship almost threw him to the side, the hard metal of his chair digging into the soft flesh of his side.

“Tractor beam locked on,” came the warning from his Second in Command.

The ship’s alarm changed pitch and the amber glow of the warning lights shifted to red. A haze covered everything on the bridge, the red glow of the ship’s warning system turning the metal of the consoles a strange shade of red-grey.

He grasped the arms of his chair. “Take it out.”

“Firing weapons,” called the lieutenant at the weapons station, his hands poised over the controls.

The ship jolted again as the tractor beam disengaged.

“Target their engines,” Tor’Arr instructed. He didn’t want to play cat and mouse with the Delarians. He wanted to be in his quarters getting to know Tarnee. What he wanted to do was touch her and see if her skin felt as soft as it looked and taste her and see if she was as sweet as she smelled.

“Fire when ready.”

“I can’t get a clear shot,” the lieutenant replied, urgency in his tone.

“Bask, bring her around.” Tor’Arr leaned forward in his chair, all his attention focused on the view screen.

“Captain,” his pilot replied from his position at the ship’s helm directly in front of the captain’s chair.

The view of the Delarians ship changed on the screen as Bask manoeuvred their ship into position.

“Firing weapons.” The lieutenant’s hands flew over the ship’s weapons controls.

“They’re firing back!” Kesh called out.

“Evasive manoeuvres.” Tor’Arr braced himself in his chair, the hard metal of the arms digging into the soft flesh of his human hands.

“I’m working on it, Captain,” his pilot said.

The ship shuddered as the Delarian’s fire hit them.

“Target their weapons,” Tor’Arr growled.

“Yes, Captain.”

The ship shuddered again with more force, shaking his seat. The bastards better not damage his ship. That would really piss him off.

“Firing weapons.”

Tor’Arr watched with satisfaction as a series of shots landed on the Delarian’s ship, effectively wiping out their primary weapons.

“Get us out of here, Bask,” he told his pilot, relaxing back in his chair.

“Yes, Captain.”

The view on the screen swung around, the wide-open expanse of space visible, the stars white-hot pinpoints of light. The planets of this galaxy were orbs that appeared to float as if suspended in time, their rotations so slow as to be almost non-existent.

“We’re being hailed,” Kesh announced.

“Audio only,” Tor’Arr told him. It wouldn’t do for the Delarians to see him as a human. His being a shape shifter was a closely guarded secret he would do anything to protect.

The guttural sounds of the Delarian language came through the speakers, “You may have gotten away this time, Pirate, but we will catch you. I will track you as long as it takes to bring justice to my family. I’m going to enjoy making you pay for my brother’s death.”

So, the Delarian who’d tried to swindle them had family. Well, they’d dealt with worse. They always survived. He’d picked up a few extra crew in the last few galaxies they’d stopped in, so even if they lost a few people, they’d still manage. There were always people willing to live the kind of life they led to get away from whatever was chasing them.

“Damage report,” Tor’Arr requested.

“There’s minor damage to the hull plating on decks eight and nine,” Kesh replied from his position at one of the ship’s consoles.

That wasn’t so bad. They’d gotten off lightly. Next time, they wouldn’t. The Delarians had been unprepared, but they wouldn’t make the same mistakes twice.

Now, to get back to Tarnee, who would be scared. He stood up from his chair and turned to find Kesh barring his way to the lift.