Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1) (17 page)

When it was time to enter the atmosphere of the planet Jayden took the controls back. "Keep your hands on your controls and feel what I am doing. See how the ship responds differently. The way the gravity pulls on it." She felt the slight pressure difference and doing as Jayden said kept her hands on the controls. It really was different than driving a car. You had to keep track of a lot more than other cars on the road.

Sparks’s voice came over the com. "Jayden it is a trap. Five Ragillian ships just showed up on the sensors. They are coming in fast."

Jayden swore, "Cachu." He ran through all the options before coming to the conclusion that there were not any. They were too far from the ship to go back. They would never make it before the Ragillians got within weapons range. They would have to land and survive until the Trilleion could come back for them. He supposed he should feel flattered that they had sent five ships after him but it was a little hard to feel anything but rage and hate when he looked at Blue. He might have condemned her to death because he had wanted to be alone with her.

She was running scans like a pro and there was no hint of panic or fear on her face. She looked up when she felt his eyes on her. "You have to send them away or they will be killed."

"Idris will not leave you. Not again.”

"Then we have to convince him that he doesn't have a choice."

Jayden knew she was right. That she had grasped the situation and come to the same conclusions as he had so quickly was a little surprising.

"You are taking this pretty calmly,” he told her. Most women of his acquaintance would be blubbering messes of fear and panic. Hell, he was feeling a little panicked himself.

With a small wrinkle of her nose and a glint of humor in her eyes she told him solemnly, "I have been in situations where I knew I was going to die. So far I'm still alive. This is just another one of those situations. Maybe we will and maybe we won’t. It will be interesting to find out don't you think?”

She was the most unusual woman,
he thought once again. She was also a little crazy but he found that he did not mind that. She was definitely the woman for him.

He gave her a wicked grin before telling Sparks. "You guys need to get out of here now. With the improvement to the chrystal the Ragillians will not expect you to be able to outrun them. You can lead them away from us and come back later"

“No," Idris put in. "I will not leave my sister again."

Blue put her hand on Jayden’s arm cutting off his reply. "You have to Idris. If you don't all of you will die. You can't fight off that many ships and you know it.”

"You can't just expect us to abandon you. You have no idea what is waiting for you on the planet."

“No, we don't. But we have a better chance of surviving whatever is down there than you do against five ships. If you guys get killed who will come back and save the day?" she said lightly.

Idris clenched his jaw. He knew she was right but he could not bring himself to leave her and he could not save her right now. Whatever he did she was going to be in danger but she and Jayden did have a better chance of surviving on the planet than the Trilleion did if they tried to fight. The last time he had lost her for twenty two years. This time would be different he vowed. He turned hard eyes and a stoney face to Jayden

"You do whatever you have to to keep her alive. We will lead as many ships away as we can and be back as soon as possible."

Jayden did not take offense at the tone or the words. He knew how hard this was for his friend. "I will,” he promised Idris. "If they really do have a Dalor ship down there we will steal it and meet you on Farpoint. If we do not make it there in two weeks come back here and we will be waiting for you." He checked the sensors. "They are getting too close. You need to leave now."

Idris took one last look at Blue before telling her, "You stay alive. Do you hear me? You had better not die on me now."

"I won't if you won’t," she told him. "We will meet you on what was it, Farpoint? If not, we will be waiting for you here." She paused then continued softly, "I promise Idris, I won't let your planet die."

"The hell with Shillidon. I love you baby sister. Do you not know that? I do not want to lose you again,” he said just as softly. His face filled with the love he had for her.

Blue felt her throat close and had to swallow past the lump that appeared. “Idris," she said lifting a hand helplessly, unable to say what she knew he wanted to hear.

"Don't you worry about it, we will work everything out. I'll see you in two weeks." With that said she heard him say to Sparks, "Get us out of here. Vihan fire at those bastards. We want as many of them as we can get to follow us,” before the com went quite.

Blue stared at her console. She had come to care for Idris and the rest of the guys this last month. All of them were willing to teach her anything she wanted to learn. They were so different in personalities but fit together in a seamless team and they had included her. She really hoped she got to see them again. Shaking the feeling of loss off, she turned her attention to the situation at hand.

Jayden was gliding the shuttle in at an angle that took them slightly away from the distress signal. She located a good place to land about one hundred clicks from the signal.

Jayden told her, "The electrical energy being put out from the storm should hide our entry so they will not know where we are. But we do not want to be too far away that it takes us a long time to find them." She nodded knowing what he wanted.

Once they got through the atmosphere Jayden shut off all but the passive sensors in order to be as inconspicuous as possible. The storm outside was vicious. The wind was strong enough to fling the shuttle around. Lightning flashed all around them, with a few bolts hitting the shuttle.

“Do not worry,” Jayden told her. "This shuttle was built for this kind of abuse."

"I'm not worried. You just get us down."

She looked over at Leo to see how he was taking all of this. He was lying down and didn't look at all worried either. She sent him reassurances and love anyway. He sent the same back to her. He always took things as they came and didn't stress about the things he couldn't change.

Jayden glided the shuttle to a landing in a heavily wooded area. The best place they could find to conceal it. The stealth field would blend in with anything but it did have to have something to blend with. Hiding the relief she felt at being on the ground Blue turned to Jayden, ”Now what?"

"Now we load up and head for the Dalor ship."

Jayden took two backpacks out of the storage unit and loaded them with food, water and a first aid kit. Then he opened the weapons unit. He asked her, "Can you shoot?" Without waiting for an answer he handed her a small but deadly looking pistol. It was not like any pistol she was familiar with even if it was the same basic shape.

"You will have to show me how it works but I'm a pretty good shot. I hit what I aim at anyway."

He showed her how to adjust the settings from a mild stun to deadly force with just a slide of her finger. Then he keyed the pistol to her fingerprint. That way if she lost it or dropped it and someone went to use it against her the pistol would explode taking the user’s hand with it.
That was a nice feature,
she thought.

It didn't use anything like bullets. Instead it sent out a electromagnetic pulse designed to interrupt the body's natural flow of energy. No messy clean up. She really hoped he let her keep it after this was all over. The pistol had a range of seventy five yards and up to a hundred shots depending on the level of power used.

"In this case you want to use the highest setting. These guys will not be messing around and you want them dead,” Jayden told her. "You will only get about fifty shots at full strength before you need to reload.”

He showed her how to reload the small energy modules before going through the same procedure with the bigger rifle he gave her along with a sling to carry it over her shoulder. It was more powerful and heavier than the pistol, but it had a longer range and could be used to take out just about anything. Then came the belt loaded with explosives and a very sharp knife.

Jayden stood back and when he got a good look at her almost laughed. Her small frame was weighed down with so much gear he was not sure she would be able to walk let alone sneak up on anyone.

"You going to be able to carry all of that?"

"I'm a lot stronger than I look. I can keep up on my end. Can You?"

"You don't have to worry princess I will not have any trouble keeping up with you." He gave her a wicked grin. The one that sent her blood racing and her heart pounding.

To cover her reaction she scowled at him,”I told you, stop calling me princess."

"No. I do not think so. Besides you are a princess."

"Am not,” she muttered.

What was it about this man who could make her feel like a woman and simultaneously have her saying things she had heard six year old kids say. Under all the bantering she felt his worry for her and the heavy burden he felt to keep her alive when he wasn't sure he could.

"Jayden, I won't be a liability to you. I promise. This is not the first time I have had to trek through hostile territory with danger waiting at the other end. I can handle this,” she assured him.

It was the first time she had ever used his name and hearing her say it in her musical voice shot his mind and body into overdrive so that he almost missed the rest of what she had said.

"We are going to have to talk about that someday,” he said, even as the tension in his face eased a little. He hit the panel to open the door. When it slid open they looked out at the wet muddy terrain. The humid air rushed in to replace the dry air in the shuttle.

Dro had been right.
They were going to get wet,
Blue thought watching the rain come down in torrents. Good thing she didn't mind.

Stepping out into the rain was like stepping into a warm shower and she was instantly soaked. She turned towards Jayden and said, "Come on out. The rain’s warm.”

Whatever else she had been about to say flew from her mind at the look on his face. Jayden's eyes slowly traveled the length of her body. He had never seen anyone so beautiful.

Her hair was plastered to her head and his eyes followed as she pushed it back with a graceful sweep of her arms, securing it with an elastic band. Her movements were unconsciously sensual. Her small firm breasts jutted out making her waist seem even more slender than it was.

Drops of rain followed the contours of her face falling into the hallow in her throat and stopping briefly at the chrystal before traveling down her graceful body. His eyes followed the drops coming to rest on her breasts. She felt her nipples harden and looked down to see that the rain had molded her tank top to her body.

For goodness sake, she might as well be naked. She crossed her arms, hiding her breasts from him. She guessed alien men were just like human men. Hound dogs all of them. Of course with the way her body was reacting to his stare she wasn’t much better.

Giving him her best glare she said, “Well, are you just going to stand there and stare or are you coming?” She gave an inward cringe hearing the unintended pun. She hoped that his translator would not pick up on it. His next words dashed that hope.

“I will be coming, do not doubt that,” he said with a gleam in his eye that boded trouble for her in the near future.

Chrystal Bones Billie Jo Hanlin

Chapter 17

After three days of slogging through mud and pushing her way through dense underbrush, Blue was ready to shoot anything and anyone who got in the way of getting her off this damn planet. She loved water in any form. Oceans, lakes, streams. She even liked the rain. But enough was enough. She hadn’t been dry since they left the shuttle.

Her hair was a wet tangled mess that stuck to her neck and arms. Who knew where and when she had lost her hair band and despite the warm rain she really needed a shower. She had mud in places she didn’t even want to think about. She looked at Leo who was none too happy either. He was as wet and soggy as she was and had let her know how unhappy he was.

Jayden on the other hand looked right at home striding through the rough terrain. He was every woman’s fantasy. All six feet, seven inches of him. Give him a sword and shield and she could picture him slaying the dragons his ship was named after.

She felt her foot slip out from under her and knew she was going down. Before she could fall a strong hand was under her elbow steadying her until she regained her footing.

“Thanks,” she said pushing her hair back for the hundredth time.

“You ok?” he asked.

“Yes, just got distracted for a second.” There was no way in the world was she going to tell him that fantasy’s of him were the distraction.

They had not made as good of time as he would have liked but it was not Blue holding them up. She had kept up with him every step of the way without a single complaint. Between the weather, the wet uneven ground and having to push their way through thick acres of trees that were too vast to go around, it was hard going. However, another days hike would bring them within sight of the Dalor ship. Provided there was a ship. He sent a silent prayer to whatever God was listening.
Please let there be a ship waiting.

He noticed that Leo's limp was becoming more pronounced and knew it was time to look for a place to stop. Hopefully somewhere dry. Blue ran her hands down Leo's leg for a few minutes every time they took a break and he would walk better for a while afterwards. The tiger was graceful even with the bum leg as he wound through the obstacles in his way.

After steadying Blue, Jayden looked around and saw no place to set up camp. They would have to continue in the fading light until they found a place. Two clicks later the trees thinned out and the ground sloped up. When they reached the top they found that they were standing on top of a steep cliff over looking a small valley filled with a herd of strange looking animals.