Cali & Drake (The Alliance Book 1) (2 page)

The look on
Vathral’s
face almost
made the whole ordeal worth it. She wished she could take a picture, but her
mother had taken all of her communications devices. Nothing she had grabbed from
her room would have a tracking chip.

“Cali?” Vathral looked around her, “What in the world are you doing
here?”

“I’ll explain, just let me in.” Cali pushed past him and stood to the
side while he closed the door.

Vathral had obviously come from bed. He wore a robe only partially tied
closed. He stood about six foot tall, which for a male on Cestori was quite
tall. He had warm amber eyes, similar to hers and muddy blonde hair. They had
spent breaks together as a group, so Cali had seen him in bathing trunks before
and wasn’t fazed by the expanses of tanned skin and tight muscles not covered
in the robe. Vathral was very good looking and fit. This whole mess would be
easier if she felt anything but friendship toward him. They just didn’t have
that certain spark together.

Cali had gotten to know him since they had taken the same classes at the
Academy. She and Vathral were both children of Council members, so had
gravitated toward each other. They’d both dreamed of space travel and being
captains of their own ships one day. Being the offspring of council members
assured that the dream would be a reality. It wasn’t something they bragged
about, it was just how things worked on Cestori. Even though Vathral was a son,
the woman
chosen
for him might bear him a
daughter. That daughter would go on to sit on the council one day. If Vathral
and Diandra were to be allowed life-partnership, their union could potentially
be as powerful as her mother feared.

 
“Follow me into the den.” Vathral
motioned toward a room on the left. “Please excuse the mess.
The
Apoxis
is set to depart soon and I haven’t had time to transfer all my belongings to
my home in Thalesti. You are lucky to have caught me here at all, I was leaving
tomorrow for the city.”

“I know I already said it, but you know I’m happy for you.
The Apoxis
is lucky to have you for the
captain
.” Cali grabbed a blanket off a chair
and wrapped her suddenly chilled body into its warmth.

“As
The Reliant
is lucky to
have you. Are you going to tell me what has you showing up on my doorstep,
frozen solid, at this time of morning?” Vathral pushed a button and the
fireplace burst into life. After adjusting the settings, he settled his large
frame onto the couch across from her and waited.

“Where is Diandra?” Cali sat straighter in her seat. “Is she here?”

“No. She went ahead to Thalesti a few days ago. She had to report for
duty on
The Reliant
since you are
scheduled to depart.” Vathral’s brow furrowed and he sat forward. “What’s going
on Cali? You should be in Thalesti as well.”

“My mother found out you petitioned for life-partnership with Diandra.”
Cali tucked the blanket tighter. “She doesn’t care how you feel, she’s only worried
about the political backlash.”

“I should’ve known your mother would step in.” Vathral’s face had turned
ashen and he rubbed his temples. “I got so caught up in the excitement of
graduation, and being assigned to captain
The
Apoxis
. I wanted Diandra to share in the moment and begin our lives as an
official couple. I wasn’t thinking about the political ramifications.”

“It gets worse,” Cali cautioned him. “My mother is working with yours to
force
us
into a life-partnership. She
canceled
my placement as captain of
The Reliant
, escorted me off the
transport to Thalesti and brought me here to Regency City. After telling me her
decision, she had me escorted by
guards
to my room.”

Vathral’s eyes widened and Cali heard his teeth clack together. After a
moment he composed himself. “I haven’t heard any news about you being taken off
The Reliant,
but it’s still early and
could make the rounds today. This is an interesting development.” His eyes
swept over her tucked into the blanket, “That explains your appearance and the
timing of your arrival at my doorstep. How did you get away?”

Cali smiled, “I jumped out of my bedroom window.”

“By the old gods Cali! How could you do something so dangerous?” Vathral
staggered to his feet and then sat back down. “You could’ve been killed.”

“I had to do something,” Cali snapped. “Would you prefer to be having our
commitment ceremony?”

“I would’ve come up with something that didn’t involve you courting death.”
Vathral looked at her.

“I refuse to let my mother dictate my life.” Cali shrugged, “I’m doing
this for you and Diandra too. If I’m out of the way long enough, you’ll be able
to figure out a way to be together.”

Cali could feel her body absorbing the heat from the fire. It felt good
to feel safe, even if it was only for a moment.

“So, we need to find a way to get you away from your mother for…how much
time are we looking at?”

“I’m not an expert on politics and life-partnership, but six months to a
year? That should be enough time to thwart her plans.”

“Six months to a year? That’s a long time to be on the run on Cestori.”
Vathral rubbed his chin and muttered, “Do you have any ideas?”

“I have one, my father left me a
holo
that started me thinking of a plan. I don’t think you’re going to like
it,
though.” Cali responded. “For starters, we
need Vareen, but nobody else can know where I am.”

“I think she’s in Thalesti. She may have traveled with Diandra and
Nellia
since they are assigned to
The Reliant
as well.”

That didn’t surprise Cali. Their group was still tight knit and loyal
even after graduation. “Okay. We need to get to Thalesti.” Cali was feverishly
working details in her mind.

“I don’t like the gleam in your
eyes,
Cali.” Vathral eyed her suspiciously, “That’s the same look you got at the
Academy when you were about to get us all into trouble.”

“I never got you into trouble,” Cali protested. “Name one time!” Her face
ached from trying not to smile.

“How about the time we papered the campus with all those forbidden
romance pamphlets.” Vathral accused with laughter in his voice, “Or the time
you
convinced
Vareen to hack into the
computer systems and changed the orientation handout from Five Commandments of
Logical Living to the Five
Feelings
for Content Living.”

“I never—” Cali couldn’t continue the lie, then she started laughing with
Vathral. “O-okay. That one almost got us expelled.”

“Oh, there were a lot of times we almost got expelled.” Vathral wiped the
tears of mirth from his eyes.

“You’re right.” Cali was unrepentant. “But if anyone asked, I would do it
the same all over again.”

“I would too,” Vathral vowed happily. “I wouldn’t change a moment of our
time at the Academy.”

Cali swallowed at the sudden lump in her throat, “Why couldn’t it be you
and I who wanted to be life-partners? It would make everything so much
simpler.”

“It wasn’t meant to be
us,
Cali.”
Vathral stood up and grabbed her hands. “We need to get you to Thalesti. I’ll
get dressed and then you can tell me your plan as I drive. The auto ticket machines
will catch me, and it’ll cost me quite a few money units, but if I break the
speed laws we can be there in a few hours.”

Cali looked at the soldiers standing at attention in front of them. This
was one of the numerous points where their plan could fall apart.

With Vathral’s help, Cali had arrived here in Thalesti four hours after
jumping out her bedroom window. It had taken Vathral, Vareen, and her, less
than one day to meet, come up with a plan and implement it. If Cali took the
time to think about their cockeyed idea, she would chicken out, so it was a good
thing they didn’t have time.

Only the three of them were in on what would take place next. Her other
friends they left in the dark, figuring the fewer people who knew what they
were doing the better. At any rate, her mother would hopefully still be clueless
to her disappearance. If she did know Cali was gone,
hopefully,
Aicen would not suspect she had made it this far yet and
would be looking in Regency City.

The good luck they were having was astronomical. For starters, after
graduation and during placement, she had used her influence to help her friends
find assignments together. Cali knew all of the officers of
The
Reliant
and most of the crew. Which was a good thing because she was going to hijack it,
not that the crew would suspect they were being pirated. Even though a change
in captain had been announced, she was Aicen
Edal’s
daughter. Who would suspect her? When she ordered no off ship communication,
saying it was part of the mission, nobody would
question
her. Since her second in command would be Vareen, and she was a whiz with
technology, nobody would be getting information on to or off of
The Reliant
that she didn’t
want to be sent
.

Second, all of the crew had been ordered to be onboard by this afternoon.
That would mean only a handful of
positions
would be potentially unfilled.

Third,
The Reliant
itself. The
most advanced ship ever built on Cestori. A rounded wing design, with six
levels. On level one, or the command
deck
was
the bridge and officer crew quarters.
Level two, or the medical deck, contained additional crew quarters and the
medical units. On level three, or the security deck, were holding cells and
additional crew quarters. Level four, or the transporting deck, contained the
most crew quarters, the recreational rooms and the transporting equipment.
Level five, or the engineering deck, housed all the equipment for the CD drive,
or caterpillar drive and quarters for the engineering crew. Finally, level six,
or docking level, held the bays for their shuttle craft, and open bays for
docking visiting craft. There were no extra crew quarters on this deck due to
the size of the bays. Each deck had four lifts, located at the bow, stern,
port,
and starboard. These were accessible by
hallways connecting the different areas of the ship to each other.

A masterpiece of Cestori engineering,
The
Reliant
’s food, water and energy
systems could be operated on minimal supplies. It could outrun any vessel they
knew of, be operated by a skeletal crew, and had weaponry for defense. It was
perfect for her escape into space.

So here she was, walking toward the entrance gate to the space dock. This
phase of the plan called for Cali to follow Vareen through security.

“Don’t fidget like that,”
Vareen
muttered.
“You’re going to get us caught.”

“I look ridiculous,” Cali hissed, then quickly shut her mouth and
continued toward the gate with her friend.

“You don’t look ridiculous,”
Vareen
argued. “You look fine.”

“This hat looks absurd with my hair tucked into it.” Regulations stated
all male placements were to have hair no longer than their ears. All female
placements were to keep their hair in a tight bun or cut to be no longer than
their shoulders. Cali had adamantly refused to cut her hair short, so rolled
and hidden under her cap was the best they could do.

“Not to mention the uniform Vathral got for me is too big. I look like
I’m swimming in it.” Her friend couldn’t argue with her. The brown jumpsuit signifying
her rank as an ensign was large on her slight frame.

“He had to get a larger size, or your breasts would be obvious,” Vareen
grumbled at her. “Even with them taped
down,
it’ll be close.”

“They aren’t that big.” Cali hissed back. Her breasts were rather large
for her small frame and she had considered getting them reduced many times. Her
mother had certainly encouraged her to have the operation. Something held her
back from going through with it every time she had scheduled the procedure.
In the end,
she had given up on changing her
body. She was happy with the way she looked.

“We’re there, talk as little as possible. Your voice is enough to give
you away.”

Flexing her fingers nervously, Cali prepared to run if this didn’t work.
Not that she would get far. Both of the men guarding this area of the space
shuttle docking bays were tall and fit looking. If she had to run, they would
outpace
her rather quickly. Not to mention the
commotion would draw the attention of any number of other military personnel.

“Papers.” One of the guards asked for
Vareen’s
documents and Cali moved to the other guard to hand him hers. Vathral knew a
guy, who knew a guy and a few thousand money units later, she had her
assignment papers. Since they needed them so quickly, she had paid an exorbitant
amount of money units for them.

“Thank you, Officer Nas.” The other guard had taken a glance at
Vareen’s
papers, scanned them for authenticity,
and waved her inside the gate.

Cali dared a peek up at the guard examining her papers. He swiped them
through the reader again and frowned. “What is your name?”

“Ensign Fourth Class
Trol
Nep.”
Cali struggled to get her voice lower.

“What is your assignment?” He eyed her suspiciously. Cali panicked. This
wasn’t going to work. She had practiced lowering her voice, but nerves were
making it crack and squeak.

“I’m on the maintenance crew,” Vathral had requested an obscure
assignment for her alias. One that wouldn’t cause too much of a security issue.
She couldn’t use her real name at this gate, it would be entered into the
system, and her mother would know she was here immediately.

Eyeing her more closely the guard turned to push a button. Maybe her
voice gave her away, or her posture. He wasn’t buying her story.

“Is there a problem?” Vareen came to her rescue.

Both guards turned to her and saluted. The male holding her papers then
replied, “This ensign’s papers are older and the system has marked them for
investigation.”

“I see.” Vareen stood taller and tucked her hands behind her back. “I happen
to know this poor fellow’s story. As the second in
command,
it’s my duty to know my crew. It’s tragic really. You
mustn’t tell anyone.” Leaning toward them Vareen whispered conspiratorially, “Ensign
Nep was just released from
medical
.”
Vareen looked around as if to check they weren’t overheard, “He has…
heloxi
. That is why the documents are
outdated. Receiving treatment for so long you know. Just look at the uniform.
He’s lost half his body weight. I will personally vouch for him.”

Both guards turned horrified looks on her. The guard that had helped
Vareen backed as far away from her as he could get and still remain at his
station.

“I see.” The guard with her papers swallowed hard. Stamped her documents
and returned them with the tips of his fingers barely holding the paper.
“Proceed.” Done with helping her, this guard also moved as far away as he could
get.

“Thank you.” Cali waited until she had walked a fair distance with Vareen
before the chuckling started. “Heloxi? That’s what you come up with?” her tittering
got louder. “The worst infectious disease on Cestori?”

Vareen was trying to hold in her laughter as well. Nodding to crew as
they passed, she walked faster. Cali was almost running to keep up. They made
it to the transport dock and stopped at a private room for Officers only.
Vareen looked inside and then pulled her in. “It’s empty.”

When the doors closed, Cali couldn’t stop the laughter from bursting out
of her. Vareen was
red-faced too
and soon
both of them were holding their sides.

“Did
you s
-see his f-face,” Cali
gasped. “I t-
thought
he was going to
d-die right t-there.”

“I k-know.” Vareen waved her hands at Cali, “We h-have to pull it t-together.”
She looked around and motioned for Cali to move further away from the door.

Cali knew Vareen was right. They were still in danger of getting caught.
Until they were onboard
The Reliant,
and away from Cestori, her mother could find her. That thought sobered her and
she took deep gasping breaths until she gathered herself.

“Okay,” Cali whispered. “We need to move onto the next part of the plan.”

Since the fleet was kept in low orbit, it would require a shuttle
transfer to get them onboard. Vareen squared her shoulders and strode to the
communicator located on the wall. Cali could hear her talking in low whispers
and then she was striding back.

“There is a shuttle picking up crew for
The Reliant
right now. I reserved seats for us. I guess we got lucky
again.” Vareen went and peered out the door. “I can see it from here. As soon
as the others board, we can leave this room and board as well.”

Cali knew this would be the end of her friend’s career, or
worse
if her mother caught them. When Vareen
turned, Cali ran and threw her arms around her. “Vareen, you’re the best!”

Her friend hugged her closer and Cali wanted to cry at the risk her friend
was taking.
 
“Words can’t express how
much—”

“Sorry to, ahh, interrupt Officer Nas.” A throaty coughing reached them
from the doorway. “I was informed you would be on the shuttle, with an Ensign
Nep.”

Vareen opened her mouth to say something then snapped it shut, dropping
her arms from around Cali. To anyone looking in, it would appear as if her
friend was hugging a small male. She started shaking with suppressed amusement
again. The crewmember obviously thought he was interrupting a lover’s tryst
with her.

“I’m coming.” Vareen sounded gruff, but Cali knew it was from holding in laughter,
not anger.

The door closed again as the shuttle pilot moved away.

“It is so f-funny,” Cali was back to holding her side. “Being c-caught in
your lover’s embrace.”

“This is going to be one of those days isn’t it?” Vareen rubbed her
temples with her fingertips. “We have to hurry.”

Cali wiped her eyes and sobered instantly. “I’m sorry Vareen. It must be
the adrenaline and worry causing me to laugh at the slightest thing. You’re
right, let’s go.”

There were still a million things that could go wrong. For right now, they
had to make it on the shuttle. Cali followed Vareen across the docking area.
Her eyes swept every corner of the bay. Could there be someone watching them,
ready to stop her from escaping? Her nerves were on fire and her instinct was
to run past Vareen and dive under a seat.

Instead,
she walked as calmly as
possible and boarded the shuttle like a normal crew member. She took a seat at
the front, nearest the pilot and Vareen sat across from her. Her hands were
shaking so badly she almost couldn’t get her five-point harness attached
correctly.

“Are we ready to depart?” Vareen asked the shuttle pilot.

He turned from his position in the cockpit. “We have everyone
on board
that was scheduled.”

“Is the captain on board
The
Reliant
yet?” Vareen asked.

“The captain
isn't scheduled
to
arrive for another hour.” The pilot informed her.

That was a good thing. The newly assigned captain wasn’t someone she was
familiar with.

“What is the status of crew onboard
The
Reliant
?” Vareen asked. Since she was the science officer and second in
command, the pilot answered her without question.

“Out of the fifty crew, forty have arrived for duty, with the final ten
to arrive within the hour. Counting yourself, all Officers and main duty
stations are manned, except for the captain.” The pilot turned back to his
console and pushed some buttons.

Catching Vareen’s eye she nodded her head slightly. They knew
The Reliant
was manned and they could
take her out without the other ten crew. It was time to get this shuttle
moving.

“Take us to the ship,” Vareen demanded.

“Protocol states we are to wait for further passengers,” the pilot
argued.

“I know the protocol. I’m ordering you to take us out now,” her
friend's
voice rang with authority.

“Yes, Ma’am.” The pilot began unlocking them from the docking system.
Cali held her breath as he got permission to leave the bay from flight control.
She didn’t breathe again until they were flying toward low orbit. They’d made
it one step further to freedom.