The Lost Star Episode One (13 page)

…

Lieutenant Hunter
McClane

He walked to the cargo bay, ignoring his
brother’s speech as it echoed over the Mandalay’s audio
system.

Most other crew he passed stood to
attention in the hallways and corridors, heads tilted up in pride
as they listened to their captain’s rousing words.

Hunter blocked it out.

He had work to do. Because he reasoned if he
threw himself into it, he’d stop thinking about everything
else.

He hadn’t seen Ava for a full two days. It
had taken that long for Chief Engineer B'cal to fix the critical
issues with the ship.

Though B'cal had assured a meeting of senior
staff that most issues were under control, Hunter couldn’t say he
felt at ease.

For the past two days his nerves had been
growing like wild fire. He could feel them simmering in his veins,
occasionally catching in his heart and exploding into full-blown
panic.

It wasn’t just the accidents. It was a heck
of a lot more than that.

From every angle he looked at it, he
didn’t want to be here – on this ship, under Harvey’s command, and
smack bang between whatever was happening with the
Avixans.

He knew he was being unkind to Meva. She
deserved better. The truth was, he was never really sure where he
stood with her anyway. She was beguiling, sure, passionate and
stunning, absolutely. In short, she was everything he’d always
thought he’d want in a relationship.

And yet, at the back of his mind, he was
always questioning how long it would last. She’d either wake up one
day and realize he was never going to step out of his brother’s
shadow, or he was going to stuff it up some other way.

“I never even wanted to join the goddamn
Academy,” he admitted to himself in a dark whisper as he petulantly
plucked his scanner from his hip holster.

He walked around a sharp corner and walked
smack bang into someone.

He knocked them off their feet and they
tumbled against the wall.

He jerked out a hand to help, but it froze
in midair as a woman with shocked purple eyes and flame red hair
turned to stare at him.

His hand remained there, as if cast in
stone.

He recoiled with a sharp breath that drew
hard into his lungs and he took a curt step back. “Sorry. I should
have been more careful,” he forced himself to say. With that, he
turned sharply on his heel and walked back in the direction he’d
come, even though the cargo bay was past Ava.

“Stop,” she said.

He couldn’t say her voice was
authoritative. It wasn’t brimming with anger.

But it had a certain subtle force behind it
that quickened his nerves.

Body turning rigid, he ground his boots into
the floor, twisted over his shoulder, and shot her a warning look.
“Why?”

She knelt down and slowly plucked up his
scanner with her left hand. Her move was awkward, her fingers
obviously weak. She fumbled with the scanner before swapping it to
her right hand and holding it out to him. “You dropped this.”

He hesitated before pushing forward and
snatching it from her. He didn’t say a word.

“
Aren’t you headed to cargo bay four?” she
asked as she dropped her left arm to her side and gently massaged
the wrist.

He snapped his head around again. “How the
hell do you know that?” He bristled.

“
You
r scanner’s on. Your task is displayed on the screen. I
caught a glance of it.”

He turned around fully. “That could have
been sensitive information. You had no right—”

“
I glanced at it, lieutenant. If it was so
damn sensitive, you shouldn’t have barreled into me and flung it at
my feet.” She tried to hide a wince as she kept massaging her
wrist.

His cheeks became as hard as bone as his
lips drew into the thinnest frown he could manage. “I don’t like
your tone, ensign.”

“
I apologize, lieutenant.” She took a
deliberate step back and gestured down the corridor beside her.
“But your cargo bay is that way.” As she gestured her left arm
twitched.

Reason told him to ignore it. Reason was
far from his mind right now. “If you’re still injured, go to the
med bay, tell B'cal, and be replaced with someone more competent.
This ship is barely holding together as it is. Don’t waste your
shift when someone—”

She turned from him and began walking
away.

“Hey, I'm talking to you.”

“
No,” she looked sharply over her shoulder,
“You’re berating me. I don’t know what I've done to offend you,
lieutenant, but this is out of line.”

His cheeks smarted as if he’d been slapped.
“What did you say?”

“If you have something to tell me that
directly relates to my task, go ahead. If not, I’m busy.” She kept
stalking away.

His anger got the better of him and he
jogged up to her. “I’m not done here, ensign.”

They rounded a corner. She flicked her hair
over her shoulder as she tried to ignore him.

He put on a burst of speed, trying to get in
front of her, not glancing at the floor once.

Her eyes locked wide as she looked at
something past him, then she lurched forward, grabbed his arm, and
pulled him back.

He banged into her left arm, her fingers
catching on his side as he jolted past.

She let out a choke of pain, locked a hand
on her wrist, and fell down to one knee.

“
What the hell was that?” He rounded on
her. Then he looked past and saw the slowly seeping puddle of neuro
fluid.

It was covering half the corridor.

A sticky black fluid, it looked like
watered-down tar.

If he’d stepped in it, it would have
electrocuted him.

He acted on instinct, grabbed a hand on her
good shoulder, and pulled her back.

He felt her wince in pain.

“
God,” he spat, “The gel packs are leaking.
Why the hell didn't the sensors warn us?”

“
They’re still not fully operational in
this area. They keep turning off. That’s the reason I’m down here.
B'cal sent me to figure out where the problem is.”

His anger slipped away as he saw how
carefully she cradled her left wrist.

Guilt punched through his gut quicker than a
bolt of lightning. “Are you okay? I’m sorry I caught your hand on
the way past.” Genuine compassion twisted his features, and there
wasn’t a thing he could do to hide it.

She looked up into his face, her lips
pressed together as she obviously tried to figure out whether he
was being serious. Eventually she nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

“Didn't Chen fix your arm up?”

“As best as he can. It's going to take a
while. I should be okay soon though.”

He found his gaze fixing on her armlets.
They caught the light from above, the strange carved metal
glistening.

She saw him staring at them, and she half
turned, obscuring them from view. “I know what you’re going to say.
Just don’t bother, please,” there was a plaintive, emotional edge
to her tone. “I can’t take them off. Not unless you want to take my
arms with them. And that would kill me.”

His stomach clenched so hard it felt as if
his gut tied itself into a knot. It was her reaction – the
vulnerability crumpling her shoulders and shifting in her weary
gaze.

Not much seemed to rattle Ava. Or maybe
she was just good at hiding her true feelings.

He found himself swallowing, a lump forming
in his throat. “I… I’m….”

Reason dictated he should say he was
sorry.

He wanted to, but he couldn't push the words
out.

He kept going back to Meva. How she’d
reacted when she’d told him about Ava.

Ava’s eyes drew wide again as she glanced
past him. “There are more leaks.”

He jerked his head to follow her move, and
his cheeks paled. “Come on, we need to move back.” Without
thinking, he tenderly placed a hand on her good shoulder and guided
her back. At the same time, he tapped his wrist device.
“B'cal?”

His com link crackled for a few seconds,
but finally connected. “This better be good. I’m knee deep in
problems right now.”

“
This is Lieutenant McClane. I’m near Cargo
Bay Four. There’s a significant neural gel leak covering the
corridor, and it's growing.”

B'cal swore bitterly. “Right. Get out of
there, and I’ll send an emergency cleanup crew. I’ve got a crewman
down there right now—”

“
Ava?” Hunter didn't even realize he left
out her rank. “I’ve already found her.”

“
Right. B
oth of you get out of there. That area is cursed.
I’m telling you. We don’t need an engineer, we need a goddamn
exorcist.” With a shrill beep, B'cal’s call ended.

“
Right, come on.” For some reason he kept
his hand tenderly locked on her shoulder.

She didn't shrug him off.

A few strands of her fire red hair brushed
over his bare fingers and thumb.

It was different to Meva’s hair. Not just
the color – the feel. It was softer. It felt like satin slipping
over his skin.

When his face had fell against it after he’d
tumbled into her in the bar, it had been like nuzzling up to a
cloud.

… It took him too long to realize how
inappropriate that thought was.

While it was easy to chase it from his mind
with a short reminder of how treacherous she was, it was impossible
to chase it from his body.

Reluctantly, he forced himself to pull his
hand back.

They headed around another corridor, and
stopped.

There was another gel leak.

This one covered the whole floor from wall
to wall.

He stood there in stunned silence, staring
at it and wondering what the hell was happening.

Suddenly Ava knocked into him with her
shoulder and pushed him back.

His eyes jerked down to see a spurt of
neural gel spill from a seam in the floor right by his feet.

He grabbed a hand on her shoulder and
pulled her back, his face slicking with ice-cold sweat. “What the
hell’s happening here?”

Ava stabbed a finger against her wrist
band which – due to her armlets – was located around her upper arm.
“Chief, we’ve got another—”

Her communicator crackled back with
silence.

He brought up a shaking hand and crammed a
sweaty thumb over his wrist device. “B'cal—”

Nothing but static.

“You have got to be kidding me. The
communication system cannot be on the blink again. Come on,” he
bellowed as he slapped a shaking hand over his device.

Nothing but static.

“We need to pull back. More gel’s leaking,”
she pointed out in a shaking tone.

He looked down to see she was right.

They retreated further into the
corridor.

They were trapped.

His furious heartbeat rang in his ears, its
shaking vibration shuddering down his throat and hard into his
head.

“We’ll be okay, we’ll get out of here,” he
promised.

She didn't say a word. Instead she locked
her wide-eyed gaze on the slowly encroaching deadly liquid.

“B'cal’s sending a cleanup team. We will get
out of here.”

“
He has no idea how bad this is,” she
pointed out in a quiet tone, “We have to do something.”

She took a step back, face locked on the
black pool of gel.

He grabbed her arm and yanked her close as a
leak appeared right under her boots.

She fell hard against his chest, soft hair
tickling the underside of his chin.

He caught sight of her wide luminescent
eyes. This close, he could see the pale-blue flecks that rimmed her
pupils. They looked like halos.

“Behind you.” She wrapped her arm around his
middle and pulled him closer.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a spurt
of black.

His heart jumped into his throat as his
mind spun.

They had to get out of here.

How?

His gaze darted around the walls, looking
for anything.

Anything.

He caught sight of an access vent above
him.

It was too high for even him to jump, let
alone Ava.

But then he saw the release valve beside
it.

He snatched his scanner from his belt. If he
could just get it to connect to the release valve, he could open
the hatch.

The deadly black liquid encroached on them
from all sides.

His fingers slipped over the scanners
controls, so much sweat building between them he couldn't hold them
steady. “Come on," he screamed.

They were still pressed together on the only
section of safe flooring. He had to loop an arm up and around her
back to work on the scanner.

Suddenly he felt her wriggle an arm free and
grab something from her belt. She brought it up.

It was a magnetic lock used to secure a tool
to the floor or wall if you were experiencing gravitational
issues.

She obviously knew what he was thinking, and
this was the perfect tool.

Slamming his scanner on his belt, he shifted
back as far as he could.

She ducked down to her knees, giving his arm
the space it would need for a throw.

He jammed his tongue behind his teeth,
said a short desperate prayer, and threw the mag lock at the vent
control.

Heart ringing in his ears and blood
turning to ice in his veins, he was sure it would fall
short.

It didn't. Just in time, it changed
direction and hooked right over the vent control.