Wreck of the Nebula Dream (18 page)

And she’s so beautiful, even now, even after all she’s gone through tonight.

Reaching out, he shackled her wrist with his hand, drawing her closer. The clean, crisp scent of her no doubt expensive perfume drifted into his nostrils, and he took a deep breath.
Who do I think I am, contemplating a future with this high-powered, stunning woman?
His courage had never failed him in combat, but he was reluctant to risk rejection from her. “You may change your mind, once we get to Sector Hub, and the adrenaline of this crisis wears off.” Releasing her wrist, Nick stepped away, swallowing hard. “Maybe we should forget it for now, see how the idea of dinner strikes you after we’re rescued and we return to our proper orbits in society.”

Apparently Mara wasn’t having any of his self-doubt. She placed one hand on the carton he was about to toss aside, stopping him. Gently, she caressed his check with her other hand. “Nicholas Jameson, don’t be an idiot,” she commanded with a small smile. “I know what I’m doing. I wanted to have dinner with you long before this misbegotten ship took its detour and plowed into an asteroid field, or whatever the disaster was.”

She fixed him with that electric stare from her turquoise eyes. Lost in her gaze, he couldn’t have been distracted if the Mawreg had come crashing into the hold in the next minute. Mara bit her lip before smiling crookedly. “I tried to have the AI call you, you know, during the day, I – I missed you. It said you weren’t listed on the passenger directory. I tried three different times; does that tell you anything?” She poked him in the chest with her finger to emphasize her point.

Taking her in his arms, slowly, so she could protest if this wasn’t what she wanted, he lowered his head and brushed her inviting lips with a fleeting kiss, which was all he dared to allow himself in this time and place. Mara pressed her soft body to his, looping her arm around his neck to hold him close, and he kissed her again, lingering, savoring for a long minute. Still holding her close, he rested his head against hers. “All right, it’s on for dinner, then.”

“Well, I’m glad one problem is settled,” she said, hugging him before moving out of his embrace. Peering intently into the remaining jumble of luggage and containers, she beckoned for him to come closer. “Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you say your bag was black and gray? Like camouflage, maybe?”

“Where?” He moved quickly to stand next to her, trying to follow her line of sight.

 
She pointed to a corner where those colors were now visible, standing out starkly among the jeweled hues of the civilian passengers’ luggage.

Cupping his hand to his mouth, Nick yelled for Khevan.”Come give me a hand – we’ve found my gear.” He added a few orders for Mara. “Go check on Twilka, would you? Tell her we’re going to be leaving shortly, now I know where my bag is. If she hasn’t found her jewel case by now, she’s out of time. Tell her to file an exorbitant insurance claim, go for treble damages or something.”

Mara laughed with him. “The idea of filing a claim ought to do it, all right.”

“I figured.” Nick smiled. “And then get the children organized to move out, okay?”

“Move out to where?” Mara frowned, eyebrows drawing together.
 

Nick grimaced, rubbing his shoulder, which ached constantly now after all the physical labor, shifting boxes, bins, and bags.
I think I need time in a military rejuve resonator to repair whatever happened to me.
 

Displeased at not having located his own bag and blaster, Khevan came stalking up. The Brother gazed from one to the other as if sensing, assessing, and then accepting the new understanding between them.
 

Keeping his focus on Mara, while acknowledging Khevan with a nod, Nick said, “I didn’t exactly explain the whole deal about how fastlink works.”

“What did you omit?” The D’nvannae’s tone was even, calm.

“It won’t work from here, from deep inside the ship.” Nick gestured at the bulkheads and ceiling above. “I have to have a clear, unblocked trajectory for the beam to slide interstellar.”

“But then where can you broadcast from?” Mara’s eyes widened. “You aren’t going to suit up and go outside?”

He shook his head, having briefly considered the option before rejecting it. “Won’t work. The transmitter has to be in physical contact with my skull. I wasn’t expected to be calling via fastlink for evac from inside ships, buildings. I figure the only place on the
Dream
the beam might be able to slide is the observatory.”

“But to get there,” Khevan said, “we have to pass through the casino, and whatever drunken mob we may encounter, yes?”

“Well, yeah,” Nick admitted. “But I have two blasters in my pack, along with the fastlink transmitter.”

“Anymore surprises you’re saving?” Mara’s tone was dangerously sweet. “Because if there are –”

Nick shook his head. “No, I’m done.”

“Fine. You two retrieve the bag, and I’ll go round up Twilka, break the bad news she gets to revisit the casino. After another trip through the grav lift.” Mara’s tone was dry, ironic.

“She won’t object.” Khevan stood a bit straighter, flashed a knowing smile.
 

“Not as long as she can lock herself around you again,” Mara retorted good-naturedly, and walked off, skirting the line of tumbled cargo.

Nick gazed after her for a long second
. Wow, so she doesn’t find a D’nvannae more interesting than ME
.
Encouraging.
Then he snapped back to the task at hand. “Help me yank these last few things out of the way, okay?”

The two men got a good grip on one large, oblong case blocking everything else and heaved. “Thing weighs a damn ton,” Nick complained. “Wonder what’s in it?”

“A musical instrument, by the labels,” Khevan told him. “Probably ancient and priceless, like so many other things here.”

“Yeah, well, the only items of any value right now are the fastlink and the blasters, trust me.” Nick grinned in total satisfaction as Khevan shifted the instrument case the last few inches off his military duffle bag. Swinging his kit out of the pile, Nick whistled appreciatively. “Now we’re cooking – here’s your bag, right under mine.”

Scrambling to retrieve his belongings, Khevan forgot all about the tragedy of the priceless artifacts to be lost when the
Dream
’s engines flared.
 

Nick opened his pack, literally throwing his spare uniforms and few personal possessions onto the deck, coming up with his blasters. Cradling one awkwardly in the crook of his arm, he buckled the belt and holster on.
 

“What will you do with the spare?” Khevan worked to buckle his own gun belt on, slamming the ominously red, ornate blaster in place in the holster with a satisfied smile.

Nick considered for a minute. “Thinking I’ll give it to Mara.”

“She has a level head,” was Khevan’s approving assessment. “I believe she’d use it effectively.”

“Use what effectively?” Mara rejoined them. “Oh, the blaster?” Reaching out, she took the weapon from Nick, expertly checking it over, noting the charge level, flicking the safety off. She hefted it, taking a bead on a particularly garish tote bag across the hold. In a blur of motion, she fired a quick, low-level shot right through the center of the bag.
 

Mouth hanging open, Nick gaped at her. “Fast learner?”

“Loxton agents take training on the civilian version of this.” She chuckled at his expression. “Didn’t you know? We’re licensed to carry concealed weapons all the way up to the civilian Mark Fifteen. This kicks harder, but it’s basically the same, yes?”

“More charges, single shot or full automatic capabilities,” Nick answered. “So, okay, you get the spare blaster.” He peered the length of the bonded stores aisle. “Where’s Twilka?”

“Oh, she’s not leaving without her jewelry, or so she insists. Either she’s in shock from the attempted gang rape, or she doesn’t have a clue about the seriousness of our situation here.” Mara made a face. “Hard to know. I do know I wasn’t making the slightest impression on her.”

“I’ll deal with this.” Khevan climbed out of the wreckage, striding down the cargo line.

“Be my guest, pal,” Nick said, raising his voice as Khevan got further away. “Better you than me.”
 

“I think Twilka is fascinated with Khevan,” Mara observed as Nick picked up his rucksack again.

“Yeah, Paolo thinks so, too.” He rummaged through his bag and dug out a small, featureless black cube, about four inches by four.

Mara came closer to peer at the cube. “Is that the fastlink?”

“The ground station, yeah,” Nick confirmed. He handed it to her. “Check it out.”

Handling it gingerly, as if it was going to explode, Mara passed the box back. “Undamaged, I hope?”

“Should be. The units are built tough. By Loxton, as I believe you told us earlier.” Nick grinned at her.

“We supply certain key parts,” Mara said. “Can’t take too much credit.”

She walked over to the big suitcase the children had been resting on. Gianna was snoring peacefully, her large stuffed bear by her side. Frowning, Mara poked at it. “What happened to him, Paolo? Why is he all lumpy?”

“She likes to hide things inside him, treasures and stuff. Mostly junk.” Paolo left his suitcase perch and showed Mara the trick to unsealing the back seam of the bear.

“Here, you clean it out, okay?” Mara asked. “Let her keep a few of the small items in there, so she doesn’t fuss later, but I don’t want to be carrying too much extra weight.”

“Okay.” Paolo must have been called upon to perform this duty before, as he rapidly built a small stack of rejected items on the deck next to the big suitcase where his sister napped peacefully. “Are we going to leave here soon?”

“Yes, we’ll be going to the observatory, on the Casino Level,” Nick said, joining them. “Why?”

The boy stared at his feet, scuffing his shoe on the deck. “I heard noises out in the hold, a while ago. I peeked out the door, but I didn’t see anything, so I didn’t come tell you. You were busy.”

“What kind of noises?” Nick tried to modulate his voice to keep an edge of annoyance from showing through. He hadn’t expected anyone to invade the hold, so he hadn’t posted one of the adults as a guard, but to know Paolo had actually heard something and not reported it was distressing.
Calm down. Dealing with a child, a civilian from the Inner Sectors, no less. Don’t expect too much
.

“Crashing sounds, like things were falling,” Paolo replied defensively.

“Well, that’s probably okay then, don’t you think?” Mara glanced at Nick.

“Maybe. Go get Khevan. Tell him we may have company and I need him here now, with or without Twilka.” Nick moved past them without checking to see if Mara was following his order.

Carefully, blaster drawn, he approached the open door to the bonded stores, staying out of the line of sight of anyone who might be standing in the main hold. He crept the last few feet, crouching behind the column of crates he and Khevan had built to catch the door, should its mechanism fail.

And then he heard sounds, too.

Voices.

“Fuck.” Nick jumped as Khevan came up next to him, also moving cautiously. “Damn, you creep around like a Special Forces operator, Brother. Don’t sneak up on me – you’re liable to get shot, now I have my blaster.”

“Sorry.” Khevan motioned at the open door. “Problem?”

“Maybe. Listen.”

Nick heard multiple voices in the main hold, calling excitedly to each other, although the words were indistinct. A motor roared into life, followed a moment later by a loud banging reverberation.

“Using the cargo mover as a battering ram to break into the sealed container area, you think?” Khevan hazarded.

“Yeah.” Nick nodded grimly. “The boy said he heard a crashing sound. Probably whoever is out there using the robot. Damn. Just a few more minutes, and we’d have been clear.”

“Surely we have the superior hand here.” Khevan held up his ornate blaster. “Whoever’s out there can’t have weapons.”

“Not unless they’re crew, working with or for Bonlors, maybe.” Nick considered for a minute. “That would be an ugly new wrinkle. Not too likely, though. The AI said Bonlors took a shuttle and fled a long time ago. Watch the entrance while I get the rest of our party organized, okay? Sing out if anyone comes near.”

“Plan?” Khevan checked his weapon.

“Try talking our way out. Get ourselves to the grav lift. Whoever’s out there is welcome to all the salvage they want as far as I’m concerned.”

“How they anticipate hauling it away is a mystery.” Khevan peered at the hold deck.

“Not my problem. I’ll be right back.” Nick slid away, going to where Mara, Twilka and the children stood in a tight group, hands linked.
 

Nick rested a reassuring hand on Mara’s shoulder for a second, noticing she had the borrowed blaster tucked into her belt. “Small obstacle, people. Looters out there now. I don’t know how many.”

“What do we do?” Mara drew the blaster, flicking off the safety.

“I want the four of you to stick together, behind Khevan. I’m going to go out there and confront whoever it is, tell them all we want is to reach the grav lift without a hassle. When I signal, then Mara and Khevan will go first, with Twilka and the children behind. I’ll stand rearguard until you’ve gotten away in the grav lift. You remember the access code?” he asked Mara, who nodded, her face white but calm.