Desert World Savages: The Complete Series (17 page)

In a second, his feet slid through the sand. He reached her and threw his arms around her.

"Stop. Stop this. You are not the problem. I am the problem. I haven't done a single thing right since my brother disappeared, and I mated with you without thought of the consequences. If I don't please you as a mate, then I have only myself to blame."

Tracy gulped when she realized how deeply she hurt Rev with her words. Even if his language didn't have a word for "love", he had feelings. She just might not understand all of them.

"I didn't say you didn't please me. But we're different. We're from two different planets, for heaven's sake."

"Where I come from, that is not a problem." He sighed and turned away from her again.

Tracy grabbed his arm and pulled him back to face her.

"Where I come from it's a huge deal. So let's face it."

He planted his feet apart in the sand and crossed his arms.

"So," he said, as if tossing out a challenge.

"For your people, sex is the most important thing. For my people, love is. You tell me your sexual feelings towards me will never change, and can't change because that's how your people are built."

"Yes," he said tersely.

"And I get that it is hard for you to understand I don't feel the same way, because I'm not built that way."

"Tracy, why do you keep stating the obvious?"

"Because I want everything between us to be perfectly clear. On top of everything, our mating, or whatever it is, is illegal in galactic society because I'm not from the right place."

"Tracy," he started in protest. She held up her hand.

"Let me finish. None of that matters."

"Of course—"

"I said let me finish. If we let ourselves get bogged down in complexity we'll never get clear of this mess. Yes, we've got big problems, but I've found that to get through big problems, the best thing to do is strip things down to the most essential parts and toss out the rest. We have a saying on Earth. 'It is what it is.' So, you and I are different in some ways, not different in others, and apparently we are enough alike that we can get along. It is what it is."

"Are you done? Because I'd like to say something."

"No. Just wait. I like having sex with you, Rev. I more than like it. It's freakin' awesome as a matter of fact, so there are no problems there. If I should happen to call the sex we have 'lovemaking', it's because great sex cultivates feelings of love in humans, and you'll just have to accept that about me."

He grinned. "Sex with me is awesome?"

Tracy smacked him in the shoulder, and he winced. Leave it to a guy to concentrate on that.

"Yes."

"Good. Can I say something now?"

"Okay."

"You are amazing. I couldn't be luckier."

"What?"

"Just because I don't understand the 'love' you keep talking about doesn't mean I don't appreciate your qualities. You are brave, fearless, smart, resourceful, and compassionate. Don't think for a second that because you are from a non-aligned world that I think any less of you as a sentient being. In fact, all of that makes you sexier. The women in my society want a certain level of comfort to take a mate. We have to measure up in material ways before we are even considered. Tracy, you look into a man's soul to judge him worthy or not, and that's amazing. For that, I can't lose you. What's tearing me up is not knowing how to work everything out."

"Wow," she said.

He smiled. "But I do feel better knowing you find me pleasing as a mate."

She rolled her eyes. "Back to sex again."

"What is wrong with that?" And Rev glanced down at her breasts, his thoughts obvious.

"Nothing. But we do have some problem solving to do. Eyes up, mister."

She used her hand to guide his chin up so his eyes met hers.

"What do you see as the first order of business in this problem solving?"

"Getting off this rock."

"Agreed."

"But not before finding my friend Carol."

"Okay."

"So we keep going to the miner's camp."

"Yes."

"See, we had a plan all along."

"And the rest of it?"

"It is what it is. We have another saying."

"What is that?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Rev liked how Tracy made things seem simple, or "stripped things down to their essential parts." He saw how her mind worked. She tore down mental roadblocks so a task didn't seem as difficult as it could be. It was a bit of mind trickery, but it seemed to work for her so far, so he was willing to try it.

What did he have to lose?

And he noticed that she figuratively and literally put one foot in front of the other in a steady pace, not overwhelming herself with things she couldn't handle.

Like the idea of being permanently mated to a man who came from outer space.

It was brilliant actually, this philosophy of 'it is what it is.'

He could imagine her conversation with one of her friends on Earth.

Yeah, I did go away, and I met the most amazing man. Well, he isn't a man, actually, but that's no big thing. Everything is in the right place and works just fine, if you know what I mean. Yes, you can meet him, but don't be surprised. He doesn't look like us, but it is what it is.

Of course, Tracy going back to the Earth she remembered was impossible. It was one of the crueler things women who were abducted had to face if they were ever rescued from the wiver rings. By the time they arrived in Aligned World space, they were thousands of light years from home. The planet they knew was long gone. The family and friends they had would be dead by now. Even the culture they thought they were familiar with would now be morphed into something different.

If they were returned to their planet of origin, assimilation back into the current culture was difficult, to say the least.

Rev wondered if Tracy understood this about her situation. She was an intelligent woman, but he didn't know how much exposure she had to the science of space travel.

He wasn't looking forward to having this discussion with her.

They had traveled most of the night and now the moons dipped toward the horizon. The rocks that housed the miner's colony first started as a faint dark smudge against the skyline, but now they grew taller and more solid as they moved closer. The first edges of dawn backlit the small mountain range.

Suddenly a dark shadow swept over them, and Rev stopped in his tracks. Ahead of them, the transport from Jaal's spaceship pulled into position and hovered over the entrance to the miner's camp. With a hard jerk, Rev pulled Tracy down into the sand.

"Hey!" she protested.

"You see that?" he said. "The transport."

Tracy looked ahead and nodded her head. "We have remarkable timing. Do you think it will land?"

"A transport doesn't have weapons, so, yes. If Jaal wants to carry out his plan, he'll have to."

"What kinds of weapons does Jaal have?"

"Besides his winning personality?"

"Funny guy."

He grinned at Tracy and looked ahead again. "From what I saw on the ship, energy rifles, concussive explosives, and flash-bang grenades."

"You guys sure know how to throw a party."

"The miners looked well-protected there. Jaal might be thinking of using explosives. He's going to take his time planning this out."

"Why wouldn't he just go in?"

"Because by now, Bris would have told him that the entrance is very narrow, only enough for a single person to walk through."

"That doesn't sound like it would facilitate shipping ore."

"You're right. So there must be another entrance?"

"Maybe it's hidden, and he's looking for it."

"That's why he's hovering. He's trying to make a visual sighting."

"Makes sense," said Tracy. "How many men will he take on his assault?"

"Not many. There are only twenty crew on the ship, and not all of them qualify for weapons use. Depends on who he can enlist to risk their lives."

"He could have told them anything, like the miners are keeping you prisoner. The disguised version of you."

"That's a possibility."

As they talked, they watched the transport sink to the ground.

"Looks like he found something," said Rev.

"Hey, does your disguise still work?" Tracy asked.

"It's proven unreliable in the past, but I think it's working now, yes."

"Well, that gives us one angle, don't you think? It could get you close enough to the transport to hijack it."

"That won't help the miners or the women, though, and we can't make any decisions until we see how many people we're up against." Rev frowned. "Let's circle around to the right and see if we can learn anything else."

Tracy nodded her agreement. They broke to the right and walked a wide circle paralleling the rocks that rose above them. The sun was above the peaks now and heat rose up from the sand in waves. Rev scanned the area, on the lookout for Jaal and his men, while Tracy kept her eyes on the ground.

"Rev!" Tracy whispered, excitement in her voice. "Look!"

There were very faint depressions in the sand, obviously those of a land vehicle, leading into the rock face.

Unfortunately, Tracy's whispers were quite loud.

"Well, look here," said a familiar voice. "The tracker. He lives!"

Rev turned to face Bris, who was pointing a laser rifle on him.

"And who's this?" Bris nodded toward Tracy. "Wait, is that one of the women we picked up on that backwater planet?"

"Leave her alone," growled Rev.

Tracy was shaking with fear. She recognized Bris's voice, but this was the first time she had encountered the alien face-to-face. She had imagined hurting the crewmen if she was given the chance to face the aliens who had taken her and Carol, but now that one of them was right in front of her, she didn't know what to do.

Bris eyed Tracy thoughtfully.

"Leave her ALONE." Rev said, a hint of anger in his voice.

Bris looked at Rev incredulously. "You don't have feelings for this thing, do you?" he asked. Then Bris started laughing.

Rev saw that Bris was distracted, and took the opportunity to strike. In the blink of an eye, he had closed the distance between him and Bris, seizing the laser rifle and throwing the weapon to the ground. Rev put all his force into multiple blows to Bris's face. In the end, Bris fell unconscious onto the desert sand.

"Didn't this guy beat you up just a little while ago?" asked Tracy.

Rev grinned sheepishly. "There were two of them that time, and they got the jump on me."

Tracy shook her head. Then they heard people talking to each other, and the voices were getting louder.

Rev grabbed the laser rifle from the ground and motioned for Tracy to follow him. He scrambled up some rocks, looking for a place to conceal themselves. He found a depression in the stone, and they both slid into it, hidden behind a wall of rock. Below them lay the body of Bris.

"Fuck!"

The expletive rang around the rock walls as Jaal skidded to a stop. Immediately he looked around, using the sights on his laser rifle to scan for Bris' attacker.

"What is it, Captain?" Tracy recognized the man as one of the crew.

"Someone downed Bris."

Another man joined them with a heavy pack on his back. "How did that happen?"

"Don't know. Probably one of those damned miners. Let's set the charges and go in and get Cax," said Jaal.

The man with the pack nodded.

That made a total of three. The man was now pulling explosives from the backpack. Rev gestured emphatically at Tracy, signaling that she should make a distraction. As he aimed his laser rifle at the men, Tracy looked around and picked up a rock.

Rev glanced at Tracy for confirmation, who took a deep breath and nodded.

Tracy held up one, two, three fingers and heaved the rock as far as she could throw it. The rock crashed against the wall in the opposite direction of where they were hiding. The three men began shooting wildly at the noise, but it was too late. As soon as they turned their heads, Rev let loose a volley of rifle fire at the crewmen.

The scene changed in an instant. Two crewmen lay on the ground groaning, the burns of laser rifle fire scored across their bodies. Jaal managed to get a shot off toward Rev and Tracy's position, and they ducked. From his concealed position, Rev pushed up the rifle between the rocks and wildly squeezed off more rounds in Jaal's general direction.

A creaking noise distracted all the combatants. At the entrance to the mine, a squad of Staukub males entered with weapons drawn. Their quills were standing straight up, and they hurled percussive fire at the only enemy that was visible. Jaal fell, and the gunshots ended.

"We know you're there. Come out!" demanded one of the Staukub.

Rev and Tracy stood up.

"Toss the rifle!" the Staukub demanded.

"Drop yours," replied Rev pointing the laser rifle at them. "I'm a tracker for the Enforcement Wing of the Aligned Worlds."

The Staukub looked at each other, murmuring to one another.

"And the law is on the way here right now. Put down your weapons and raise your hands." Rev said calmly.

"I'd do it!" said Tracy. "I've never seen him so cranky."

The Staukub suddenly dropped their weapons.

"We didn't know!" the lead Staukub said. "That one tricked us!"

"We didn't give them any money," said another. "No money changed hands!"

"Shut up!" the lead Staukub said.

"Yes," said Rev. "Keep silent. I know what happened here, and who you have. We'll let the courts decide your fate. In the meantime, let's get these criminals inside and secure them."

Tracy watched wide-eyed as the miners did exactly what Rev told them, dragging the Jaal and his crew inside the mines.

"You've got some mojo, space cop." she said.

Rev held out his arm to help Tracy down the rocks.

"What is this mojo?"

"It doesn't translate?"

"No," said Rev.

"Figures," she said. "All the good words don't."

Tracy looked over the women standing in the cavern. Some clung onto individual miners, looking frightened. Rev scanned the faces and counted.