20

“Stevens! You’ve got one on your tail!”

“I see him!”

A few laser bursts flashed past Hawkins’ cockpit. In tight fighting, the slow ship had the edge. Superior speed was actually working against them.

“I’m taking hits!” Stevens had an edge of panic to his voice. It was his first dogfight. “Shields are down to twenty percent!”

“I’m coming!” Hawkins did a tight, bat turn, then put the pedal to the metal. His speedjeans inflated as he hit the g-zone. He closed on Stevens, feeling his shields take multiple hits.

They were holding, but for how long? He accelerated and banked so that he would cross behind Stevens and fired.

The Dusan fighter tried to play chicken with him…

His shots made contact…

It exploded.

He blew through the flaming wreckage.

Behind him, Stevens took out the fighter on his tail.

“Bravo zulu, Stevens!”

Clear for a moment, Hawkins took a second to improve his situational awareness. All the fighter groups were kicking trash, but it wasn’t making a hell of a lot of difference. The HUD was still thick with Dusan fighters.

“There’s too many of them! I’m hit! I’m hit!”

Hawkins saw the fighter spiral out of control, smashing into a Dusan cruiser with a deadly flash. Both ships exploded into debris that took out the nearby ships.

“Stick with your wingman and protect each other!”

Dogfighting chatter filled the comms as he and Stevens dodged fire from five Dusan fighters. It was going to be a long day.

Fyn opened his eyes, surprised that they could open. He tried an arm. It moved. He felt across his chest, finding the hole in his clothing, but the skin under it was smooth again.

He inhaled, then exhaled slowly. It felt like breathing. Shouldn’t. He was dead, wasn’t he?

He tried out his arms and legs. It hurt like hell. Kind of expected death to not hurt.

So, did that mean he wasn’t dead? He didn’t feel dead. He felt healed. She’d touched him and he’d felt something. Warmth moving in to replace the cold.

If this was healing, Sara said it was weird. She was right about that. Made him understand what weird meant, too.

He managed to sit up. He could see. Sara had got the power back on.

How long had he been out? And where was Sara—

A HUD appeared in the air in front of him, with a dot flashing that he took to be Sara. She had two hundred bogeys closing in on her position.

He got up and looked around. Kalian had tossed his gear back here…yes, there it was. He pulled on the vest and started checking his weapons.

He had some Dusan to kill.

Sara followed Adin’s progress through the outpost on tracking. He moved like an incoming storm. She could feel his rage as he drove his men before him. This could go really badly. Or kind of badly. She didn’t see how it could go well.

While she waited for him, she checked the data she was sending to home plate and the status of the battle. The fleet was kicking trash, but there were just too many of them. If she didn’t act soon, there’d be no one left to help. Panic tried to take over, but she pushed it back. There was no time. When Adin was almost on her, she stood up and faced the door, her chin lifted. No one said anything as they burst in, but now it didn’t surprise her. She knew they couldn’t. It was still creepy.

Two of his men grabbed her arms, dragged her to the wall and slammed her against it. Through a few stars, she saw Adin stride in. No more unassuming attitudes. No more charm. He was the Supreme Leader to his toenails. And he was pissed. His gaze zeroed in on her. Rage and lust warred for prominence in his eyes.

Oh, crap.

He strode toward her, his gaze raking her body for a heated moment. She thought she was ready for it, but she wasn’t. His body slammed into hers. His hands and mouth were rough. He bit her lip, drawing blood, then found her neck with angry insistence.

She made a face. “What I don’t even get a, hi, Sara, how have you been?”

His hands tried to find a way into her vest.

“You’re looking good for a dead girl?”

He froze.

“Unless I look like crap. Which I could. I mean, dying isn’t pretty, is it? So you can tell me if I look like crap. I won’t be upset.”

His head lifted. It was a relief to see reason returning to his eyes, to see humor filter in there with it.

Sara gave him a cheeky grin, her brows slightly lifted.

“I thought you’d be glad to see me.”

“You…” he stopped.

“I know.” She shrugged. “You’d think dying would make me less annoying, wouldn’t you?”

Her gaze swept the room. There were about twenty guys at his back, all watching them.

“Didn’t think you were into voyeurism.”

His brows arched.

“Companioning with an audience.”

A bit of color came into his face.

That was interesting. Not quite sure how to use it, but it was interesting. He didn’t say a word, but the two men released her arms. Sara shrugged her shoulders. They weren’t out of joint. That was good. It was always easier when the shoulders worked. His hand settled on her waist, desire started in his eyes again, but he was back in control.

“Hello, Sara.” His voice was as intimate as his smile. He touched the side of her face, smoothing her hair back off her face. She could feel his gaze ping on her mouth.

“Hello, Adin.” She tipped her head to the side. “You look tired. Not sleeping well?”

His eyes widened. Wary crept in there. He stepped back and studied her.

Sara kept her chin up, her slight smile in place. Carefully, cautiously, she went deeper into the Dusan network. Now, more than ever she could sense the different connections. It was incredibly complex with lots of built-in fail-safes. Her only hope to help the fleet was to disrupt the whole network, or take it completely down…

“What are you up to?”

“What do you mean?”

“You knew I was coming.”

She pointed to the panel behind him. “Saw you on tracking.”

“And you stayed?” His brows arched. “And you are here alone.”

It was amazing. He was still sending orders to his armada. No sign of strain on his face. He looked relaxed, totally focused on her. Maybe he did deserve to be called supreme. He touched her cheek again, just one finger following the curve of her cheek.

“You look tired, too. What have you been doing since you died?” A flicker of a smile softened his intent expression for a moment.

Sara stepped back and sat down on a stool. She propped her elbows on a console, and let her chin rest on her hands. She felt the need. The split in focus made her feel like her brain was being sawed in half.

“I’ve been exploring the Garradians’wonders.”

That caused a huge flicker in his control. Clearly right bait for the hook. She went deeper into the network.

He stepped to the other side of her console, his face a cross between a brood and a pout.

“Want to know the funny part?” He didn’t say he did, but she went on anyway. “I didn’t have the key. I am the key.”

His brows arched. And again his control of the grid faltered.

“Crazy, isn’t it?”

“It is certainly unexpected.” He pulled up a stool opposite her. His gaze reminded her of their last encounter. Focused, intent dangerous.

Her only hope was to keep him off guard. If he found her inside his head, well, she’d seen what he could do with just a thought.

“It’s not the only unexpected thing I learned since I started playing with the wonders. There’s actually a very interesting story about how I came to be the key.”

“And why would you share that story with me?” Suspicion darkened his eyes.

“A fair question. But I should think it’s obvious. I’m hoping to stop this war before it gets out of hand.”

“Before I destroy the people who brought you here.” A flicker of satisfaction sparked in his eyes.

“You’re so sure you’re going to win?”

It was his turn to shrug. “I believe I told you, shortly after we met, that I always get what I want.”

“You didn’t get me.” Sara didn’t like the direction this was going. But it was helping to lessen his control.

“I seem to have gotten another chance.” His eyes told her he still wanted her. “My suite is not far from this place.” He smiled again and his gaze warmed. “We could finish what we started.”

“Yeah.” She looked down, then up. “Someone tried to clean that up, but you can still see the bloodstains under my chair.”

He didn’t move, but Sara felt his mind flinch.

His gaze sobered. “So much blood. I felt you die. And yet, here you are. Looking quite beautiful for a dead girl.”

A slight smile as he tried to recover.

Sara’s grin felt wry. “I am as surprised as you are.”

He leaned toward her. “How is it possible?”

His control slipped a bit more. Sara moved into the gap. Damn, she didn’t know how he did it. It was a…remarkable achievement.

“To explain, I’d need to tell you the story.”

“Your last story ended badly.”

“Yes, it did.” Sara stared at him. “Maybe this one won’t have to.”

As he watched the assault force close in on Donovan, Henderson went with his gut and turned over one of the cloaked ships to the Gadi force. He let the Gadi leader go with them. They were probably all going to die anyway. When he was sure they were pointed at one of the Dusan ships—and not heading back to the outpost—he gave the launch order for their cloaked ship.

The plan was to land his squad as close to the bridge as possible and neutralize the command crew. Either they’d take the ship, or at least provide a distraction to keep Xever off guard while Donovan did whatever it was she was supposed to do down there.

They didn’t have the firepower, even combined, to take on a battle cruiser.

It sounded simple, straightforward.

It probably wouldn’t be.

Fyn found more weapons on the dead Ojemba in the hallway and added those to his gear. In addition to pulling up a HUD on demand, Fyn found he could also make the lights turn off and on, and open or lock doors. As Sara liked to say, cool.

Near as he could tell, there were about one hundred and fifty men between him and Sara. So far she seemed to be fine. Xever was keeping his distance.

For now.

Fyn intended to be there when he stopped.

With guns in each hand, both set to kill, he got in the elevator and started up. When the door opened, he did a rolling dive out into the corridor, his arms crossed over his chest. He fired both directions.

When he got up, the corridor was clear.

Things had gone from bad to worse. Their shields were down to fifty percent. This was close quarters fighting, but with big ass ships.

It was a brutal, messy business.

The Dusan were now using some of their ships as bait for the cloaked ships, while others waited for them to pop into view. They’d also dropped some kind of timed missiles, like old-style depth charges, that went for the cloaked ships as they appeared. Even with the upgraded shields, the ships were getting pounded. The cloaked fighters were taking a beating, too, when they popped into view.

Despite it all, they were hanging in there.

The worse news, they’d been boarded. The Dusan had managed to sneak assault transports through the chaos and into a couple of the bays. The distant sounds of small arms fire rang through the Doolittle, like a counterpoint to the battle raging in space. Everyone who could use a weapon was putting up a fierce resistance, but once again, the numbers were against them.

The good news, the barrage of missiles had let up on the two earth ships.

Clearly Xever hoped to take them intact.

Take no prisoners.

Not even the women were to be spared, though after seeing what they did to them, maybe that was a good thing.

The even worse news, small arms fire was getting closer to the bridge with each passing minute as defenders kept falling back and back.

Halliwell studied the HUD, trying to sort through all the data coming in. The fighters were buzzing in a cloud throughout the larger battle.

The Dusan had lost a huge number of ships, but their ambush had turned the tide in their favor. And they still had a shit load of ships left.

The Gadi had lost two ships.

They’d lost two of the Garradian ships and their crews. Halliwell had ordered the other two to withdraw and regroup.

Just under half of their fighters were down, and casualties were mounting quickly inside both the Doolittle and the Patton.

Amidst the chaos, the cloaked ships now reengaged to support the beleaguered fleet. For now they were still holding their own.

Barely.

Clearly Donovan was finding it harder than she expected. He couldn’t begin to imagine what it would be like to be in contact with so many minds. Perhaps it was time to help her out a bit.

It was time punch to through the Dusan fleet.

“Commander Gaedon, papa lima alpha on my mark.”

The pain was bad. She needed to show Adin her back until she got it under control. Sara got up and walked over to the tracking screen, poking it with a finger and watching the ripples spread out.

It was weird to be so many places. Here. There. Even weirder that most of the Dusan didn’t seem to be thinking that much. It was almost like their brains were empty slates that only Adin wrote on. Except for the small circle of minds waiting to take over. It was pretty creepy. But it did give her hope that if she could take the network completely down…

The pain eased a bit. Enough. She turned and smiled at him. It helped keep a grimace at bay.

“Did you have a brother?”

“I had several.” He hesitated. “What do my brothers have to do with your story?” His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

She could feel his mind sharpen, as if he sensed an alien presence.

She came back and sat down. “My story is about two brothers, you see. And Miri. Can’t forget Miri, can we?”

That pulled his attention back inside the room.

His brows arched. “Brothers?”

Sara nodded.

He was quiet a moment. “So Miri had many men interested in her. This does not surprise me that these brothers also both wanted her.”

His eyes told her he still wanted her, but she felt nothing. He’d lost the power to touch her. It was a relief. She didn’t need to be fighting her own messed up libido while she fought him. She’d come a long way from their last encounter.

“Miri loved one of the brothers, the younger, but he didn’t know how to love. He felt the hunger of passion, but was unable to be filled when he got it. He was always hungry, never satisfied.” Adin didn’t speak, but she’d affected him. She could feel it through the connection. His lips tightened. “And the elder brother?”

“Oh yes, the elder brother…”

She could feel his mental shift, feel the weight of his thoughts moving more and more her direction and less and less toward the battle.

Sara clenched her hands where Adin couldn’t see them, as she wormed her mind deeper and deeper into the Dusan network. There had to be one, central command channel. If she could find it…

Things were bad, real bad. Hawkins’ fighter shook as a stray shot pinged off his shields. They were holding, but not for much longer. The Dusan reinforcements brought even more fighters, a big ass Dusan Flagship, and a slew of cruisers.

“This is Halliwell. I need Alpha to tango on that Delta Foxtrot with some EM Mikes. It’s pounding us to hell!”

Hawkins did a bat turn as he responded. “Roger that. Alpha group does anyone have any EM mikes left?”

“This is alpha6, I’ve got one.”

“Tango on the Delta foxtrot and I’ll cover you.”

They accelerated towards the massive hulk. Hawkins blasted a fighter that tried to get on Jenkins’ six. The defensive fire from the ship was intense. Space was thick with lasers and projectiles. He could have got out and walked on them.

“Fire that mike! We won’t last much longer here!”

A streak of fire shot out from Jenkins bird. He started to bank off, but caught a blast from the ship. He spiraled toward Hawkins, catching the edge of Hawkins’s bird just before he exploded.

His ship shook violently. Warning lights and buzzers sounded. His shields went down.

He felt the loss of control…

He was a smoking hole in the making, but maybe he could do some damage…

He urged his bird towards a big tank behind the engine of the flagship…

Halliwell watched Hawkins bird get clipped by Jenkins, saw him struggle to regain control.

And fail.

It began to spiral, but he managed to point it toward the flagship. It smashed into the side. Fire flashed. The big ship shook, but it seemed to absorb the blow.

“Fall back!” he shouted. “All craft fall back from flag ship!”

For a moment, it looked like a dog shaking off fleas as their ships scattered from the area around the flagship.

Then a secondary explosion rocked it. Followed quickly by a third. The last explosion made it go away. The fireball engulfed several squadrons of Dusan fighters.

But when the debris cleared, there were plenty left to continue the fight.

Sara could see the battle from the Dusan point of view. They were winning. She had to find the way to take the network out before it was too late. Her control of the connection faltered and she felt Adin almost sense her. She rushed into speech.

“The elder brother wanted Miri, too, but then something changed.”

“Something?”

“Their father became ill. The elder brother was the heir, the one who would lead their people.”

“That is the way of the weak. I had to earn my right to lead.”

Sara wasn’t surprised to hear that. Dusan had left a strong imprint of himself on his people.

“Miri’s faithless lover agreed with you. He wanted his brother’s inheritance. He began to plot and to plan. And then he found out something that changed everything.”

“And what was that?”

“Miri, the woman he’d discarded, the woman he’d left to pursue his next conquest, was a scientist. And not just any scientist. She was the head of all the Garradian scientists. She controlled access to many wonders.” Sara gave Adin an ironic look. “Apparently women weren’t always despised in this galaxy.”

Adin smiled, acknowledging the hit with a slight dip of his chin.

“Miri learned of Dusan’s renewed interest and knew she had to leave, to hide from him. Her people faced a civil war. So Miri and the elder brother fled to one of their colonies on another planet. He asked her for control of the wonders.”

“Not so different from his brother,” Adin said, ironically.

It was getting harder and harder to split her focus, but she could tell she was getting close.

“She told him that she needed a key. That she had to travel alone to retrieve it. He let her go.”

“Most unwise.” Adin smiled.

“Instead, she locked all the wonders…and left.”

Adin stared at her and she could feel him, hell, she could almost see him, putting the pieces together.

“What were the names of these two brothers?”

“The elder was named Gaedon, but everyone called him Gadi.”

He twitched slightly. Sara was so deep inside his head, she wasn’t sure if it was his brain or his body.

“The younger son was named Dusan.”

“That is not true.” His voice was intense, but controlled.

There it was, the channel she’d been looking for.

“There are no Dusan, no Gadi—just Garradians.”

She stared at him as she reached into the channel…

Adin’s eyes widened.

Energy flashed along the connection before she could disconnect.

It went through her mind like a ball of fire...

There was a flicker of light, a kind of power surge, and the connection with Donovan went down. Halliwell could see an immediate shift in the Dusan’s…fighting. Xever was back in control. He didn’t need the connection to see it. It was playing out in the battle. Xever wasn’t just back on board, he was pissed off. He threw his ships against them with no concern for the men in them.

Donovan was dead or had been neutralized. That was the only explanation.

“Major Loren, launch the outpost defenses at your discretion.” Halliwell spoke calmly. It was their last line of defense. And it would reveal the location of the outpost to the Dusan, to Xever. “And you might want to prepare to evacuate the non-combatants.”

They had succeeded in cutting their way their way through the center of the Dusan Fleet, but now they were besieged on every side. As Halliwell began to think about his own possible retreat, it was as if Xever heard the thought. His ships began to flow around their positions.

There would be no retreat from this fight.

So be it.

The Gadi and Garradian ships were taking major damage. Some had lost communications and part of their weapons. Debris drifted everywhere, some the shattered hulls of ships, theirs and Dusan.

And in between, it seemed that every bit of space left was filled with the flash of missiles, explosions, weapons fire. The rattle of gunfire was louder now within the Doolittle and the yells of men in combat were audible during lulls in the battle. An out of control fighter smashed into the ship sending a shudder through the bridge.

The HUD lit up, the Kikk outpost lit up with multiple bogeys, as Loren joined the fight.

And it still wouldn’t be enough.

“Shields are down to thirty-five percent.”

Well, one thing is for damn sure, Xever is not getting my ship.

He armed the self-destruct.

Fyn was only one level below Sara’s position now. Xever had moved her to that room where she’d killed herself.

The one with the bed.

At the moment, she was alone in there. Not moving. Would explain why she was alone. Still about fifty Dusan between him and her. Twice that behind him, but they weren’t a problem anymore.

He checked the HUD. Someone had lived long enough to tip them off that he was in the outpost. Two groups were moving in on his position. At least ten men in each.

He took out the lights in the corridor, lowered his night vision goggles, turned them on and waited for them to find him.

Sara woke slowly. Someone was pounding on her head with about twenty hammers.

Crap. The nanites were trying to restore order. She could feel it. Lots of damage to repair. She went to rub her aching head and couldn’t. Her hand moved, just not toward her head. She tried the other one. It didn’t make it to her head either. She tried her legs. They seemed to be stuck, too. She opened her eyes, though she really didn’t want to. The light stabbed into them with punishing force. It took her a minute to figure out where she was.

The Supreme leader suite. And how she was. Chained to the bed.

Not good.

Memory returned in a painful rush. Adin had slammed her out of his mind like a bat to a ball. The hit was almost out of the park. Okay, how bad was it. Was the baby okay? Had the energy feedback injured her—before she could finish the question, she could see her own womb. A golden net of nanites surrounded and protected the baby. Might have to rename the little suckers. They were acting more like nannies.

That was the good news.

Her vest was gone, radio with it, but she still had clothes on. That was good, too. Probably wouldn’t last, but at least she hadn’t been stripped while she was unconscious. Adin had done a lot of damage. Too many more of those and she’d be drooling down herself, despite the nanites. She needed to improve her situational awareness. She tapped into the outpost’s sensors. Dots all over the place. No way to tell which dot belonged to Adin. Wait, dots were disappearing. One dot seemed to be kicking their asses. Cool. Had Kalian managed to get one of his guys back down here? Or had Henderson sent a guy?

She checked on the Dusan ships. Looked like both had been boarded. Small groups of dots were making larger groups of dots go away. Only way she could help, was to try again…

Sara closed her eyes and reached out. Two transmitters down, two to go. At least now she knew the way. All she needed was time to get to it again. Not that it was going to be easy. Now that Adin knew she could get into the network, he’d be watching for her. Sara tapped in and stopped, waiting to see if he’d notice her—

The door swished open. She wasn’t surprised to see Adin enter.

“You are awake.”

He seemed almost relieved.

“I’ve got a bitch of a headache.”

He pulled up a chair and sat down, capturing one of her hands. It wasn’t hard to do. Her range of movement was severely limited. She could probably have broken some of his fingers, but she couldn’t see the upside of pissing him off. A lot of downside, but no upside. He played with her fingers, his expression complicated.

“You have locked the outpost again.”

“Yes.”

A small smile quivered on the edges of his mouth, but he managed to suppress it. He held her gaze with his as he bent and nibbled on her fingers. Not even a shiver.

“Turn it back on.” He kissed the inside of her wrist, but his eyes watched her.

He was close. It was easier to get in when he was close—

“Stay out of my head, Sara. You’ll get damaged.”

Sara lowered her lashes. “I’m going to get damaged anyway. I think we both know that I prefer damage to…this…”

He shifted his butt from the chair to the bed, his mouth moving up her arm. It felt wet.

“What you need from me, you won’t get this way.”

He stopped. “I don’t need anything from anyone.” He looked at her, his gaze hard. “What I want, I take.”

“Do you even know what you want?” She stared at him. “You think I came here to betray you, but that’s not the whole story.”

“What is the whole story?”

Sara wasn’t even sure. She knew that she felt compassion for him this time. Her father had made him this way. He was a monster but buried behind the monster, she thought she saw a longing for something different in his eyes.

He produced one of her knives. Sara stiffened.

“I was going to have my men strip you, but then I thought of this.” He put the edge of the knife under her tee shirt and cut, the cold edge of the knife sliding against her bare skin. “You cut up my gown. I’m going to cut up this uniform of yours. A little at a time.”

His gaze devoured the skin he’d exposed. It was hard to concentrate. On the upside, he’d have a harder time, too.

He bent down and put his lips on her bare stomach. His touch didn’t warm anything. The cold went deeper and it flowed outward from her heart, until she felt encased in ice.

He looked up, as if he sensed her lack of response.

Frustration was making a beachhead against desire.

“You will have to come to terms with me, Sara.”

“If those terms are friendship...”

He leaned over her, his gaze roaming over her body, his hunger clear in his eyes.

“Then get friendly.” He spread his hand across her bare stomach, his eyes watching her avidly.

“You don’t need another companion, Adin, but I think you could use a friend. How could you trust anyone? Everyone in your life is just waiting, aren’t they?”

His gaze narrowed. “Waiting for what?”

“To take what you have. To be supreme.”

He stared at her for what seemed like a long time.

“It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“What way is this?” His brows arched, but his gaze seemed conflicted.

She moved the chains. “This way. If you force yourself on me, you’ll destroy the part of me that you’re drawn to.”

“Such drama.” He shook his head. “The women I’ve been with are passionate and devoted to me. They would die for me.”

“If their passion and devotion is so wonderful, why are you here with me?”

The bridge security teams set up behind shattered computer panels and trained their weapons on the entrances. The sound of small arms fire was almost deafening now and the time until the battle reached the bridge would soon be measured in seconds not minutes.

Xever’s counter attack had been brutal…

The Gadi and Garradian ships were barely functional and would soon be destroyed. The attack had softened suddenly though. Still no contact from Donovan, but Halliwell had some hope that while down, she might not be completely out.

The cloaked ships were still kicking ass, but there weren’t enough of them and their time was running out too.

Xever had deployed ships to assault the island outpost. Now it fought for its life, too. They were almost out of ammunition for the defenses that used ammo. Their power wouldn’t hold out forever either.

The cloaked ships could retreat, but they wouldn’t. He knew his men. He’d picked all of them. He still had one hand left to play. He gripped his pistol with one hand and hunkered down behind the cover of his chair with his finger hovering over the manual self destruct, just in case. His ears were ringing from the gunfire in the corridor outside.

He hailed all of his ships, waited for the connection. “Arm sierra delta on my mark.” Arm self destruct. It was a bitter moment.

And to the Gadi he added, “We’ll give you time to retreat, Commander. Try to cover you.”

“We will fight or die with you, Colonel.” Gaedon’s voice was calm and cool.

“It’s been an honor fighting with, sir.”

“And you, Colonel.”

He cocked his pistol and waited.

Major Loren crouched behind the defensive barricade. On either side of him, men waited with automatic grenade launchers. He hoped to be able to hold the Dusan off long enough for the geeks and non-combatants to evacuate through the portal.

The city still had some defensive canons. It was impressive to see them set the sky on fire over their heads. The Dusan assault force was taking a beating, but some of them had gotten through. According to tracking, he had about three hundred bogeys approaching his position. And more ships were making it through and landing.

Henderson and his team had captured the bridge, but it was turning into a trap, instead of a victory. Dusan soldiers were swarming their position from every direction. He hoped the Gadi assault team was having better luck.

“Let me extract,” Perkins, who was piloting the ship said. “If you can get to—”

“There’s nowhere we can get from here,” Henderson said calmly. “We’re completely cut off.”

He’d run out of ammo ten minutes ago. Now he and his men were using Dusan weapons taken from the bodies around them.

“I’ve got some weapons,” Perkins said. “Maybe I can distract them.”

Henderson looked at the ship schematic, on the Dusan version of a HUD. “Target their propulsion. And then fall back and prepare to take out the outpost if Captain Donovan’s life signs go dark.”

There was a pause. “Yes, sir.”

Henderson opened fire as a squad of Dusan rushed onto the bridge. As he fired again and again, he felt the ship take the first hit. Warning lights began to flash on a console.

Looked like Perkins hit the right spot. Good man.

Adin stared at Sara, as rage boiled up from inside.

While she distracted him, men had boarded his own ship, taken control of his bridge. They would die, but it was an impertinence. Added to that was the suddenly revealed outpost on Kikk. He had known it was there, had searched for it but she had found it and turned it on. Then turned it against him.

He wanted to hit her. He wanted to take her. He wanted her to feel what he did. Not even a quiver of emotion broke the surface of her gray eyes. It was as if only her mind lived. Her body was slack and indifferent.

Her voice tempted him. Her light tempted him. He hated it, but it was the truth.

He had killed his father to become the leader of his people. His brothers, too.

Only strength mattered. This was the creed they lived and died by. That and purity of race. Do not let Dusan blood be tainted, his father had gasped with his last breath, as Adin stood over him.

If she told the truth, it was not possible to taint their blood. They were all Garradian.

If she told the truth.

“Why should I believe you?”

“Trust is a leap. You believe me or you don’t.”

Trust was a trap. Trust was weakness. Trust was defeat.

His father had trusted him. His father was dead.

She was more dangerous than he had realized.

Because he wanted to believe her. He wanted to see her smile one more time.

Before he killed her.

Fyn took a hit to the leg from a stun gun and almost went down. As he lurched to the side, he spun and took out the bogey. A bunch of them swarmed him, almost forcing him to the ground. He bunched his muscles and stood up, flinging them in all directions. Then he made them go away.

The corridor was clear. On the other side of the door, twenty more bogeys waited for him.

He used his M-4 for support. He had to make it through that door. He had to get to Sara. He didn’t know why or how, he just knew he was running out of time. She was running out of time.

Sara felt Adin take her hand, his clasp gentle as he stroked the fingers. He set the knife aside.

That was probably good, wasn’t it? So why was her spider sense tingling?

His lashes lifted and he looked at her. In his eyes she saw good-bye.

“You are right. I prefer to remember you like this.”

He was going to kill her.

“You made your case very well.” A hint of patronizing filtered into his voice. “But you do not know me. You do not know my people.”

He stroked her hair back off her face.

“You are more dangerous like this than when you are fully armed. You would steal my will, my strength.”

“I’m not trying to steal anything, Adin.” Sara swallowed dryly. “I’m trying to free you from the false traditions of the past.”

But she could tell he was slipping away from her, back into those false traditions, back into the safe comfort of the familiar. He’d rather be right than happy. It was crazy, but it was the truth.

Even as he smiled at her, his hands reached for her throat…

Sara slammed into his head, pushing her way through the tangled network for that one, crucial channel…

He cried out.

He fought back.

With his mind.

With his hands.

They were around her throat, squeezing off her air as his mind battled hers…

Stars spun across her horizon. The edges were going dark…

She wasn’t going to make it…

By the time Fyn reached the door, the nanites had restored most of his function. Had to like that. An alarm went off inside his head. Sara was in trouble. He could feel it.

He went through the doorway like the wrath of the gods, firing everything he had. As he plowed into the Dusan phalanx, he used weapons, elbows and feet, scattering them. He cleared a path, but there were still some alive. He fired back over his shoulder as he ran for the last door between him and Sara.

He flung it open with his mind. As he came in, he saw Xever kneeling over Sara, his hands around her neck. Xever’s eyes widened in shock.

Fyn fired once, then again. The force of it flung Xever off Sara and against the wall. He slumped to the floor.

Fyn closed the gap. The bastard had chained her again. Her neck was livid where his hands had squeezed. For long, agonizing minutes, he couldn’t find a pulse. He bent over her, giving her the CPR he’d learned from Carey. Forcing his air into her lungs. Forcing her heart to keep pumping.

Finally, when he didn’t know if he could keep going, her chest heaved and she took a breath on her own. Then another.

He collapsed beside her, his hand stroking the hair off her face. He murmured her name over and over.

The gunfire stopped. Silence spread throughout the ship. Two Dusan ships collided and exploded from an easily avoidable collision. The rest just…froze, hanging in space like cardboard cutouts.

“What just happened?” Halliwell looked around the bridge for answers his people didn’t have either.

“I don’t know, sir.” Finally someone spoke.

“They just stopped firing.” This from someone else.

The silence was as intense as the noise had been. People began to emerge cautiously from behind their makeshift barricades.

“The Dusan out in the halls are dead, sir.”

Halliwell pulled up the virtual HUD. It was almost the only thing left that still worked. According to this, the ships hadn’t powered down. He frowned. Could this be right? Could so many of the Dusan just be dead?

He got up.

“Cancel the self destruct.” He keyed into the radio. “Colonel Carey, let’s get some people aboard one of the Dusan ships. See if we can figure out what happened.”

She’d done it. It was the only explanation. She’d taken out their network.

Bravo Zulu, Tall Girl.

Sara heard her name and someone touched her face. Someone? She stiffened. Was it Adin? Her eyes closed, her fingers explored a face. Fyn.

“Am I dead, too?” She found his dreads, his checks, his mouth.

The mouth curved against her fingers.

“You’re not dead.”

He kissed her forehead. Her mouth. Her eyes. Her cheeks.

It was nice, but…

“Then it’s just a dream.”

“Not a dream.”

“I shot you.”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You did what you had to do.”

“I want to be with you.” She’d earned the right. She’d done her duty. It hadn’t been neat or pretty, but she’d taken out the network.

“Open your eyes and look at me.”

“No.”

If this was a dream, she’d stay in it. She’d live in it forever.

He kissed her again, taking his time. “Does this feel like a dream?”

“A most excellent dream.” She smiled. He did feel awfully real, but she had shot him. That was real, too. She had witnesses.

“You healed me, Sara, with those nanites things. When you touched me.” He grabbed her hand and held it against his mouth. “Feel me. I’m real. We’re here. Together. Alive. Look at me.”

He watched her lids lift. She stared at him for a long moment, then her face crumpled. She buried her face against his chest, her body shuddering violently.

“I thought soldiers don’t cry?”

Her voice was muffled against his chest. “I’m not crying, though if I were, I have good reason to. But I’m not.”

Her fingers dug into him, as if she were afraid he’d be gone again if she didn’t hold on. He didn’t mind.

“Did you do it? Is the fleet all right?” He was almost afraid to ask.

Her body stilled. She nodded. “It wasn’t neat. I think a lot of them are dead. I didn’t have time to be surgical.”

Fyn tightened his grip. He’d seen why. The memory of Xever crouched over her, squeezing her neck was going to haunt him for a long time.

“If you hadn’t killed him, I would have failed. His control was impressive. He could have stopped me. You distracted him at just the right moment.”

Now she eased back to look at Fyn. The tears she wasn’t crying had left tracks down her face. He rubbed them away with his thumbs.

“We got incoming,” he told her. “We should find you something to wear.”

Sara looked down. She frowned. Looked up. “How do you know we have incoming?”

“Your nanites didn’t just heal me and leave. You’re right. It is weird, but in a good way.” He felt her connect to him, mind and body. “A very good way—” His eyes widened. “A baby?”

Sara looked a bit nervous. “I guess I’m more like my mom than I realized.”

He covered her stomach with his hand. Their baby. Their daughter.

“She’s going to look like you.”

“Do you mind? That’s she’s a she?”

He grinned at her. “I wouldn’t dare.”