Depths Of Desire XW5 (4 page)

“So Earth might be able to intercept and hear
us on the old units without our knowing it. Is that going to be a problem?” Sam
further questioned.

Halah shook her head. “We’ll use a
frequency that they’ll be less likely to monitor. There is a chance, though
small, of discovery but we’ll have to take that chance. Our options are
limited. At some point, we might want and need that contact, so it’s not all
bad. You all can also use whatever they have on-planet to communicate with each
other, but if so, I won’t be in the loop, so make that a last resort.”

“Will the Egesa be able to tap into our
communications?” Sam continued.

“Not if we were using our newer units. With
the older ones…” Halah hesitated a moment, then shrugged. “Unknown.”

Torque snorted. “You lived with them. You
don’t know their comm network capabilities?”

“I wasn’t concerned with the details of
their network, other than how it affected me while on Marid. Their weapons and
flight capabilities were my primary interests.” The frown on her face and the
snap in her voice showed her irritation.

Yeah, right. I wouldn’t bet my sizable
balls on that.
He started to shoot back his
thoughts until Brianna placed her palm on his shoulder.

Halah’s attention returned to Sam. “You and
the others can take two of the units and leave me one on the ship. The
reprogramming needed is extensive but it’ll work, so no worries there. Just
concentrate on what you need to do once you’re down there.”

“So the ship’s comm system isn’t compatible
even though this is an older flyer?” Sam was obviously trying to understand
everything as quickly as he could.

Even so, Torque’s patience began to wane.
“No, it’s not compatible with the handhelds. The ship’s been updated with the
newer software.” Changing Xylon’s grid specifications had been a sound idea but
its disadvantages were now apparent. Still, they’d manage. Brianna had already
decided that she, Leila, Sam and he would be the ones visiting the planet. He needed
to connect with the Xylon Warriors already on Earth and get them updated and
reorganized. Leila needed to connect with the military scientists and get the
injections tested, verified and then duplicated and administered as quickly as
possible. They had a contact on Earth who supposedly could act as a go-between
with the scientists—someone who was a part of this secret exchange that he
still didn’t quite trust. With Sam’s help, Brianna would coordinate with
Earth’s military forces.

Halah would stay with the ship. Leaving
only one crew member aboard went against standard procedure for a fighter of
this size, but they had few choices. Of them all, Halah was the most
knowledgeable about the instruments and how they worked. She was also a top
pilot and weapons expert. She knew the Egesa and their flight capabilities
better than the rest of them. If anyone could maneuver this ship alone and keep
it safe, it was her.

“How are we going to get to the surface?”
Sam asked. “Are we going to land, offload, then send Halah back up to re-orbit
the ship?”

“Didn’t you fill him in?” Torque asked
Brianna.

“Some. I haven’t gone over all the
specifications yet. Most of this is standard operating procedures for us. It’s
going to take Sam a little longer to absorb all the details. I didn’t want to
overwhelm him with too much all at once.”

Torque grumbled a curse of frustration. He
punched the main portal control, expanding their viewing area. Yeah, his bad attitude
was showing again. But once they arrived at the planet, they’d need to move
quickly. Plans, backup plans, emergency plans. It all needed to be solid in his
head so he’d be ready for anything. All this chatter aggravated and distracted
him from those thoughts. Dealing with someone who knew less than a WAIT—warrior
in training—made his sac hurt.

“Feel free to go take a nap if my inquiries
are boring you, Torque.”

“Gentlemen,” Brianna interjected. She
looked at both of them then addressed Sam. “Landing is probably not a good
idea. Even if we got down undetected, we’d be too easy of a target on the
ground. This ship has a transport control. We’ll use that.”

“Is it working?” Leila asked from the
background.

“We’ll test it,” Halah said, looking around
Brianna at the other woman. “It appears to be functional. I don’t anticipate a
problem. I’ll send down a piece of equipment and bring it back up to make
certain. After you all are down there and I’m out of orbit, you’ll have to use
whatever local transportation they have to get around. Because of the upgraded
software, those old handheld units aren’t trans-conn compatible and we don’t
have any of the older materialization units aboard.”

“Fucking great.”

“Torque…” Brianna shot him a hard look. She
took the third vid-cell unit to begin the reprogramming. Halah moved to the
lounging area of the ship to help her.

Briggs sat in the seat Halah vacated. “Once
we get down there, we’ll need to work together without a lot of tension so we
appear unified.”

“No shit.” Torque checked their heading and
fuel supply as well as their environmental controls. The closer they got to
Earth, the more antsy he felt and the worse his mood got. There had to be a way
for this mission to succeed, something they could throw at the Egesa that the
creatures wouldn’t expect. A few hundred on-planet warriors, along with the
technically challenged Earth military—even a military able to heal quickly and
protected from the Egesa’s poisons and diseases—were not going to cut it in the
end.

“You’ll need to follow my direction with
the U.S., otherwise you’ll get nowhere.”

Torque looked over at him. “You’ve got one
chance, Briggs. We don’t have time to fuck around. If they’re not receptive to
our plans, we move on to another leading government.”

“That would be a mistake. The United
States—”

“Is not in charge of the planet. As much as
they would like to think they are. I’m aware of your history.” That was only
partially true. He hadn’t actually spent much energy on the political working
of other planets. Leila’s mate Kam was their Earth expert. Unfortunately he
wasn’t with them for this leg of the mission. A mistake in his opinion. But it
hadn’t been his call. All of them had been to Earth at least once before though
and were familiar enough with the culture. They’d make do.

Briggs simply stared at him for several
moments then finally replied, “I don’t think Laszlo would agree with that
decision. If he did, our exchange—”

“Laszlo isn’t here. I am.” Laszlo had
directed that they work with Briggs’ government to begin with, not with a
combined government unit, as he would have thought. But time was limited, so if
it didn’t go well, he had no problems altering the plan.

Briggs’ gaze hardened. “You are not in
charge.” He glanced back toward Brianna. “My wife will be making the decisions
here, Torque. Don’t forget it.”

Torque tapped the insignia on his uniform.
“This does give me a say. A big one.” He turned to the instrument panel, trying
very hard to hold onto his temper. If time started to run out, Brianna would see
the logic in changing the plan to their advantage.

Briggs grabbed his arm. “You don’t have the
authority to go against Laszlo’s orders.”

Torque’s gaze snapped to the man’s hand. He
slowly raised his eyes. “Are you telling me what my duty is?” he asked in a
low, tight voice.

After a moment of silence, Sam replied,
“I’m pointing out the line of command. Abide by it. You and I both carry a lot
of weight in this mission, especially with Brianna in charge. Don’t make her
chose between us, Torque. You won’t like the outcome.”

“If you want your hand back in one piece,
you best remove it from my arm. Now.” It angered the fucking hell out of him to
be challenged. Especially when he was in a position where doing anything about
it would just make things worse. Unfortunately Briggs knew that and was pushing
his advantage. Even so, the man removed his hand. Would Brianna listen to Sam
more than him? He didn’t know. And that bothered him.

If Briggs turned out to be trustworthy in
the end, he’d be as respected as any Xylon Warrior. If not and he hurt or
betrayed Brianna or Xylon, Torque would personally rip him to shreds.

Ice Moon, Xylon System

Braden Koll made the last fleet assignments
for Earth. They’d be meeting up with the others as soon as possible. Though
Xylon had been destroyed, their substation on the Ice Moon had survived a
half-assed attack by the Egesa fleet. Obviously they hadn’t thought the Ice
Moon much of a threat. If Daegal had known the actual strength of their
fighters here, he never would have made such an oversight and would have sent
in everything he had to annihilate them all.

The main facility here, hidden deep under
the thick ice, added more layers of protection than even the Lair once had and
security remained tight. But even when fully functional, the Ice Moon’s base
wasn’t nearly as powerful as the Lair had been. Still, it was the only lifeline
the warriors had. After the destruction of Xylon, all off-world warriors who
had been able to do so had headed here to regroup.

Unfortunately many had died in the attempt
to reach their people, for the base and surrounding areas hadn’t been untouched
and difficulties mounted. The residual energy from the blast that leveled Xylon
had taken out most of the electronic equipment throughout the system—including
the fuel regenerators, internal comm devices and many of the high-level
computers. The electromagnetic interference associated with the old technology
of the PowerIIRad bomb had fucked with everything.

They were slowly getting things back online,
though significant delays plagued them. The systems that actually were
functioning remained woefully unstable at the moment. All the equipment had to
be repaired or reset and they’d be dealing with the atmospheric anomalies for
quite some time.

During the attack, Xylon’s shielding had
crumbled and the Ice Moon’s shielding had been severely compromised. As such,
many of the fighters and rescue ships sent to Xylon right after the attack
hadn’t made it back due to the EMPs and solar radiation in the atmosphere. The
levels were now decreasing but it was too late for those they’d already lost.

Marid’s shielding must have been far
heavier than their intelligence had indicated, otherwise Daegal’s Dome would be
suffering the same effects. Or maybe it was and Daegal didn’t care, since he
was now headed for Earth. Given that a spy had been planted right on their own
council, there was no telling what the truth was or how much their knowledge
base had been compromised and corrupted over the years. One traitor had ultimately
led to their destruction. Or maybe it had been their own arrogance in thinking
that they were too powerful to be defeated.

He had to wonder how the other moons were
faring. Only sporadic reports had come in due to the downed communications
grid. The summaries he’d received hadn’t sounded good. Even contacting their
allies was proving to be a chore. He worried about Tamara and Sunevia who
relied heavily on Xylon for protection. For now, all the planets and moons in
the system were on their own.

He stood in front of a set of large screens
positioned in midair over a console in his temporary quarters, looking at more
data than he could digest at a glance. Even though the base was almost fully
staffed, he felt strangely alone. He missed his mate, his children. He wouldn’t
be able to relax until they were safely back at his side.

For safety reasons, because they hadn’t had
enough fire power on their escape ship and hadn’t known what they’d find as
they headed toward the Ice Moon, Alexa and the babies had materialized from
Xylon to Quadrant Port XST—the abandoned repair station orbiting the planet.
They weren’t far and had a survival pack with them. Due to lack of space aboard
the ship they’d used to reach the Ice Moon, Warrior Pitch Pantera and Josella Shirota
had also materialized over to the station, which made Braden feel more at ease.
His family wouldn’t be alone.

Though Quadrant Port XST was enemy free, it
had its problems, which was why it had been abandoned. No supplies or
communications existed there now and it was barely maintaining orbit. Oxygen
and automatic temperature regulation had remained functional however. As long
as everyone was rescued soon, they’d be fine.

Even though delayed longer than
anticipated, he’d finally been able to send a small squadron of fighters, with
Erik in charge, to retrieve them. If any Egesa ships got in their way, his
family would be well protected.

He was trying to get an update now. He
couldn’t directly communicate with Erik at the moment. Not by voice. But enough
systems were back online that he should be able to get an update through their
computers.

Finally the feed he needed cleared and came
online. A beep drew his attention and a red dot flashed on the screen along
with a line of scrolling data. His heart skipped a beat. “What the hell is
going on over there now?”

He checked the details on the data feed as
it moved across the center screen. His throat grew dry. “Shit. The repair
station’s orbit is degrading.” Without Xylon’s computers to boost its power,
the station was failing quicker than earlier projections had indicated. The
computers on the Ice Moon were trying to compensate but it didn’t look good.
His stomach tightened and fear stabbed at his heart. He had to keep his wits
about him and think fast. He spoke into the computer’s analytical processor.
“How long until the repair station loses orbit and begins to disintegrate?”

A computerized voice responded almost
immediately. “Unknown.”

“What do you mean unknown? Explain.”

“Not enough data currently exists in the
system to calculate exact orbital viability.”

“I got an earlier projection. What’s the
problem?” Braden’s temper rose.

“Data degradation continues to be
experienced in the main knowledge base. Repairs are ongoing.”

“I’m not looking for exacts. Give me your
best guess.”

“This system does not guess.”

“Fucking electronics,” he cursed under his
breath. So many of the databanks had been wiped or were still corrupting.
Backups existed and were currently being reloaded. The process would take time.
Meanwhile, the lack of reliable knowledge to feed into the systems had them
working on instinct for many of their decisions. “Can you boost power to the
station?”

“Negative. Power is already at maximum safety
levels.”

“The hell with the safety levels!” He was
about to lose his mind. The station was unstable and failing. A small amount of
additional high-level power wasn’t going to bring the Ice Moon’s computers back
down or overload the station’s systems. “Boost the power.”

“Unable to comply. Regulation 96-90c.”

Any major power instability issues that
could potentially put a military base in jeopardy were tightly controlled. In
most cases, the computer lock protected against breaches or any other anomaly
that might push the power controls into the red. The computer system was
programmed to be extra conservative of resources in times of warfare. With his
rank, he should be able to bypass the extra security. “Override. Responsibility
of Class 1 Command Warrior, Braden Koll, 121086243084.”

“Unable to comply.”

Unable? Damn the regulations! As his mind
and heart raced, he typed in a line of numbers. He’d helped write and engineer
the security years ago with his older sister. He might be able to hack into the
system and change the code. If he could just—

Damn it.
They’d added an hcs-zone security wall to the system. Breaking through would
take days, if he could even do it at all. He needed Torque. His brother was a
genius at breaking code. He tried again, checking the specifications in case
there was a flaw he could exploit due to the corruption. “Fucking hell.” The
coding, as well as the security measures, were too extensive and being
automatically updated on a continual basis. He shook his head and a wave of
fear gripped him. He’d be unable to bypass the programming in time.

Even though the computer couldn’t get him
the orbital information, given his engineering experience, he could see by the
numbers that the station would most likely fail in the next few hours, unless
he could figure out a way to stop it. “Who has the authority to override
regulation 96-90c?”

“Override requires key codes from four
Council of Thirteen members.”

The key codes had been lost during the
attack when the council members were killed. Even Laszlo didn’t know them,
other than his own. There had to be some sort of mechanism in place to deal
with situations such as this but he didn’t know what it was. “Requesting
alternate solution.”

“Analyzing. Please wait.”

Braden punched several buttons to lock into
Erik’s location. He nodded. “Good. Erik and the squadron are right there at the
station. All they have to do is materialize over and pick them up.”

If he could only talk to them. Tell them to
hurry. Though Erik would be looking at the same information right now, he’d know
their time was short. And Pitch might be able to stabilize things long enough
at his end for them to be rescued. Still, more than a little trepidation rushed
through him. He paced the room, his mind in such a state of turmoil that
logical thoughts fled.

He stopped in front of the data screens
once more. “Damn it! I should have led that squadron.” He pounded the desk
beneath the screens with his fist and cringed as pain shot up his side and
through his head. The senior healer on-staff had ordered more rest for him.
He’d recovered from his recent injuries well enough in his opinion. Laszlo had
wanted him here to coordinate the fighters and get things ready for their
mission to Earth. If he’d thought for a second that his mate and children were
going to be in danger, he’d have ignored Laszlo’s orders and been in a fighter
and on his way, instead of sending Erik.

“Alexa is strong,” he said aloud to
reassure himself. “She’ll be all right. They’ll all be all right. Erik will get
them. There’s time.”

He could take a ship and head out himself
but he probably wouldn’t get there before the station came apart. Their fastest
fighters had already taken off for Earth or had gone with Erik. The rest of
their fighters weren’t yet functional. The ship they’d arrived in had barely
made it and was still being repaired. They had a few rescue ships that were
operational but they were slow and cumbersome and most had limited range at the
moment.

Erik would do whatever it took to save
them. He believed that, which was the only thing keeping him from losing his
sanity right now. He should find Kam and Laszlo to let them know what was going
on, though they probably already knew. At least he was certain Kam did. He’d be
tracking the progress of the squadron too.

Laszlo might not have been informed yet. He
had taken a turn for the worse, which was the only reason Braden hadn’t already
called the man in on this to help. Leila had left some medicine for him but he
wasn’t responding to it very well and wasn’t completely lucid—not enough to
lead or give reliable input. Laszlo needed real human spinal fluid, not the
synthetic stuff, and they hadn’t yet located any human survivors in the area.

The computer beeped. “Analysis complete.
Override possible with eight Class 1 Command Warriors’ visual identification
prints.”

He checked the electronic roster. “One,
two, three, four, five…shit.” If he could, he’d rip the heart right out of this
fucking system. Something on Xylon’s surface caught his eye. Several blue dots appeared
on the screen as well as multiple orange indicators. No further data appeared
on the feed to explain the activity. He pressed a button. “Identify movement on
Xylon.”

After a moment, the computer responded.
“Egesa soldiers are on the planet.”

Damn vermin. “And the other living
organisms on the screen?”

“Unknown at this time. Egesa weapons are
being discharged.”

Braden scratched his head. Xylon survivors?
No. The atmosphere was still too deadly for their kind to be on the surface
without proper protective equipment. Besides, the computer would have been able
to identify Xylons. Maybe some uncommon type of animal life had survived that
the computer’s knowledge base couldn’t lock in on yet. He wouldn’t have thought
it could be anything deadly enough for such a response from the Egesa. Strange.
“Continue to analyze,” he instructed the computer. “Post regular updates to my
on-screen box.”

“Acknowledged. Analyzing for posts…”

He looked back at the repair station then
turned from the screen, unable to torture himself by watching the declining
numbers. He’d check on the work being done to restore the communications grid,
and now that the electromagnetic and radiation levels were safe enough for
protected flights, he would send a few cloaked, short-range ships to Xylon to
get a closer look from the air at what was happening on the planet.

Alexa was fine. He’d feel it in his heart
if she weren’t. Kam, being a sensor reader and Alexa’s brother, would probably feel
it too with or without his equipment, even though the station was now at its
farthest and highest orbit on the dark side of Xylon. Kam would have let him know
if he felt Alexa were in any real danger.

Braden took a deep breath and let it out
slowly to calm himself. By the time he returned to his quarters, Alexa and the
babies would be back here waiting for him. Fate was on their side. His family
would not be taken from him. He knew that to be true more than he’d ever known
anything in his life.

* * * * *

Underground, Planet Xylon

Warrior Tara Koll listened carefully for
her captors. The woman who had watched over her no longer attended her. She
hadn’t seen the two Def’mal men since they’d last fucked her. Her clit throbbed
at the memory. Given the almost tender way they’d taken her the last time, she
wondered if it had intentionally been their way of saying goodbye. She shook
her head at the silly notion. Isolation had affected her reasoning. She was
fantasizing that they cared about her when she’d been nothing more than a
captive stranger—a woman willing to fuck them any way they’d wanted.