Depths Of Desire XW5 (6 page)

“Does Kam know?” he asked in a broken voice
as he wiped his face and slid back on the tile floor a few inches, giving
himself some distance. Kam loved his sister. The man would be crushed. And
Laszlo would certainly mourn the loss of his only daughter. For himself, he
couldn’t even process the news. It was as if he were watching the whole thing
from a distance.

Erik took a visible breath and released it
before speaking. “I saw Kam on my way here. Cold-hearted bastard barely flinched
when I told him. He said he’d inform Laszlo.” Erik’s next words caught. He
cleared his throat and tried again. “I did everything that I could, Braden. I—”

“I know,” was the only response Braden
could muster. He thought of his daughters and his son. He’d never know them,
never see them mature. He searched for Alexa with his mind, through their
branded connection. Hoping… But the connection remained silent—a vast and
lonely black hole in his mind and in his soul.

He pushed himself to his feet. His body trembled
and he had to fight to keep from stumbling. His chest hurt from the pain, as if
it were a physical monster squeezing the life out of him. He steeled his
emotions and headed for the door. He knew what he had to do. It was the only
thing keeping him from joining the love of his life and his babies in the
afterworld.

“Where are you going, Braden?”

He turned and looked at his friend. He
couldn’t say the words. He didn’t trust himself not to break down again and he
couldn’t afford that weakness. He had to turn off his emotions completely.
That’s the only way he’d survive. And he needed to survive long enough to get
to Daegal and make him pay.

Erik stared into his eyes. After a moment,
he nodded. “Don’t leave the Ice Moon without me.”

Braden hand signaled his acknowledgment
with the sign language utilized by upper-class warriors when absolute silence
was essential during a mission or when a warrior was unable to speak. Then he
turned and headed out to clear a ship and a flight plan. His family would be
avenged.

Erik sat on the floor for a long time after
Braden left. He buried his face in his hands. Because he’d failed, they’d lost
Pitch and Josella. They’d lost Alexa and the babies.

When she and the triplets had materialized
over to the station, it hadn’t registered on Braden’s vid-cell as programmed.
Erik had never told his friend. Braden had counted on him to set up that
programming correctly. Whether Alexa had been lost during materialization, or
later aboard the station, he didn’t know. But he did know that he was to blame.

A pain deeper than he’d ever felt enveloped
him. In front of his men, he’d had to keep it together. Now, alone, he let his
emotions flow and tears rolled down his cheeks.
Forgive me, Alexa. I would
have died to save you.

He’d tried to stay on the station to keep
searching, hoping she and the others were indeed there, though it had meant
putting his own life in jeopardy. His second-in-command had materialized him
back when the danger became imminent. Before he could counter the move and return,
the station exploded. Everyone had been so stunned and devastated that nobody
had spoken more than was necessary during their return trip to the Ice Moon.
And nobody had dared to speak to him at all, for which he was grateful. He’d
been right on the edge and ready to break.

He pushed himself to his feet and wiped the
moisture from his face. Braden was going to Earth to get revenge. He’d seen it
in his friend’s eyes. He would be right beside him all the way.

Because of Daegal and the Egesa, they’d lost
their planet, most of their cherished people and their whole way of life. They
couldn’t change what had happened, but they could make those responsible suffer
and prevent even more loss in the future.

His thoughts went to his own mate, so far
away and heading into danger herself. “I wish you were here, Leila. I really
need to hold you in my arms right now.”

* * * * *

Underground, Planet Xylon

Tara followed Pitch and Josella deep into
the caverns. A person could easily get lost within all these passages. Pitch
must be using a navigational plate to find his way. All upgraded Xylon uniforms
had them. They stopped in front of a wall. No, wait. There was a low entrance
barely visible.

He tapped the wall three times then turned
toward her. “Since we didn’t know where we were or what might be down here, we
found a place to hide. It’s deep and has water. We have a small amount of food
that we brought with us. It’s not much.”

She ducked, following their lead and
trailed them inside. As they got deeper, she was able to stand upright and
began to see light. They’d been more successful in finding materials to burn
than she’d been. As she got closer, she saw that hadn’t been the case and they
were using the same type of light sticks that Pitch had pulled out earlier—standard
issue in Xylon survival packs. They’d come prepared.

Their packs of supplies sat against one
wall. Three? They’d brought an extra? It looked makeshift. Not an official
issue and not standard procedure. She felt air and glanced up. A few small
holes could be seen above. Because of the distinct pattern, it must be some
sort of venting, but it couldn’t run outside otherwise they wouldn’t still be
alive. Interesting.

“Tara?”

She squinted her eyes to see a person in
the distance who was now approaching out of the shadows. Her heart thudded in
her chest. “Alexa?”

The two women rushed forward and hugged
each other. Tara pulled back and looked down. “You’ve had the babies!” As soon
as she said it, her heart clenched and she regretted the words for she had no idea
what had happened to Alexa since she’d last seen her. What if…

“Yes. They’re fine, beautiful and healthy.
They’re here with us.” Alexa’s smile lit her face.

Tara sighed in relief at their survival.
But her relief was short-lived. If they’d materialized to the repair station
like Pitch had mentioned, they’d have been safe. Here, they all were in grave
danger.

“What are you doing here, Tara, and where
are we?” Alexa touched her cheek. “You’ve been hurt.”

Tara sniffled slightly, unable to stop the
emotions that slammed into her. A tear rolled down her face. She inwardly
cursed and brushed it away. She couldn’t help but ask, “Is it bad?”

After a moment, Alexa said, “You’re still
beautiful. Don’t give it a thought.”

Alexa was being too kind, she was certain.

Pitch cleared his throat. “We’re still on
Xylon, according to Tara. In the Def’mal caverns. I don’t know what happened or
how we got here.”

“I think I might know,” Josella said,
capturing everyone’s attention. “I saw Laszlo fiddling with the transport units.
Well, not Alexa’s. Ours. But I suppose he must have adjusted hers too. He said
that he was just checking on the settings or something like that. I don’t
remember exactly. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I should have said
something.”

So Laszlo had survived. Tara was relieved
at the news. Their people, those who remained, needed their leader. His mere
presence would inspire confidence and help them to build the strength
needed—emotionally and physically—for their future survival.

Pitch hung his head and mumbled something
under his breath. He looked back up and slid his arm across Josella’s
shoulders. “You had no idea and no reason not to trust his word.”

“Are the trans-conn units still
functional?” Tara asked.

Pitch shook his head. “No. They’ve powered
down.”

“Why would Laszlo send us down here instead
of to the station?” Alexa asked.

“I don’t know,” Pitch answered. “But I
guess we’re safe for now and that’s what matters.”

Safe.
Tara knew
that assessment was wrong but she didn’t voice her opinion. Nothing could be
done to turn back the clock and change their circumstances. “What happened to
Torque and Braden and Brianna?” she asked. “Is my family safe?”

Pitch nodded. “Hopefully, yes. Braden,
Erik, Laszlo and Kam headed to the Ice Moon to reorganize the warriors.
Brianna, Torque, Briggs, Halah and Leila headed to Earth.”

“Earth? Why Earth?” Nothing was making a
lot of sense to Tara right now and she was sure her confusion showed, even
before she’d spoken. Still, she was thrilled to hear that her family and
friends had survived. “Why didn’t everyone go to the Ice Moon? If it’s still
operational, that’s the safest place.” She wondered if it had something to do
with Briggs. She knew some details of the project he was involved in, but not
everything. They’d had the earthling secured in the Lair’s initiation chambers
before the attack. A lot obviously happened afterward that she didn’t know
about.

“I’ll explain it all to you later. For now,
we need to figure out how to let the Ice Moon know that we’re down here so they
can get us out.”

She didn’t like being put off. She wanted
answers. But Pitch was right. Their first priority was to get to the Ice Moon
and reunite with their people.

“We’ll also need to scout out some food,”
Alexa said. “We don’t have much left. The Def’mal have to have supplies
somewhere.”

Tara nodded. “That’ll be a priority.” They
needed to keep up their strength as much as possible. Especially Alexa, so she
could continue to care for the babies.

“How many of them are down here?” Pitch asked
her.

She shrugged. “I have no idea. I was kept
isolated. I only actually saw two men and one woman. They kept disappearing, so
I’m thinking there were more, maybe a camp elsewhere, especially since the area
where I was kept had no supplies or bedding other than what they gave me.
Nothing indicated that they lived at that location.”

“They had to have moved permanently into
the caverns from the forests after the attack,” Pitch said. “We must be deep
enough not to be affected by the above ground atmosphere. Also we’ve noticed
they have their own ventilation system. Ingenious. I never would have believed
it. They’re rumored to keep their winter supplies down here from what I’ve heard.
We’ll look around and see what we can find.”

Alexa pulled her toward a small fire
positioned directly underneath the venting. “Come. Sit down. Meet your nieces
and nephew. Rest. Then we’ll talk strategy.”

“Nieces and nephew? You had three?” A
super-breeder always had multiple children. They’d expected two. Three would be
a handful but very revered. Braden must be ecstatic, but also deeply concerned
as to their whereabouts.

Deep Space

Torque glanced at the activity around him.
Brianna had just exited the EPS—a waterless power chamber used for
showering—and was explaining to Sam how it worked. After the man entered, she
headed toward the electronic whiteboard to look over their plans. At the other
end of the orbiter, Halah was busy preparing the equipment they’d need for when
they reached Earth. Casually he sat down next to Leila in the back of the ship.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in a subdued voice, not wanting to draw anyone else’s
attention.

She looked up from the vials she was
packing into a case. Surprise entered her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.” When she didn’t
respond, he continued. “You’re agitated. I saw you go pale and now your hands
are trembling. What’s happened?”

She clasped her hands together then
shrugged a shoulder as she stared unfocused at the vials. “It’s…nothing.” When
he reached over and squeezed her thigh, her gaze met his. She leaned a little
closer. “All right. Something
is
wrong,” she admitted in a low voice.
“With Erik.”

Special circuits in the brain chip,
implanted in Xylons at birth, connected mates after the male branded the female
on the back of the neck during their joining ceremony. They could then sense
each other’s location, feelings and oftentimes thoughts.

Torque glanced toward Halah. She seemed
fine, so Kam wasn’t affected, which meant it probably wasn’t any sort of devastating
attack. Though Halah and Kam were only half-Xylon, and the branded connection
often failed when other genetics were involved. Braden and Alexa had similar
problems due to Alexa’s part-human genetics. “What is it? Can you tell?”

“I’m not sure. I think it’s emotional, not
physical. But it’s bad.”

“Emotional…like a loss?” His heart skipped
a beat at the thought of what that might mean.

“That’s what I’m thinking.” Worry filled
her eyes. “Should we say something to the others?”

He thought a moment before answering,
hiding his own troubled feelings as best as he could. “No. There’s enough shit
flying around right now. We don’t need them speculating and making themselves
crazy over it. Especially since we can’t do anything about it.” They needed to
concentrate on staying alive and completing this mission.

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I should
have kept it to myself. You don’t need to be speculating either.”

He patted her leg. “I’m glad you told me.”
Even though she smiled slightly before returning to her work, Torque could tell
that she was still bothered. So was he. Erik was only really close to two other
people besides his mate. If he was so affected that Leila could feel his
despair and have it physically affect her, even while preoccupied with this mission…

He pushed aside the thought. Erik was
probably just missing Leila and she’d interpreted it as more than it was. He
hoped. The possibilities were too vast to jump to dire conclusions without more
information.

“Torque?” Halah called from one of the control
seats.

“Yeah?” He stretched as he stood, trying to
ease his tense muscles and thoughts. He walked over to sit next to her. “What’s
up?”

“I’m reading very minimal traffic ahead.”

“So?” He looked at the screen she was
studying. “We were expecting traffic. Supply ships going back and forth and the
Egesa are out here somewhere and probably some other ships too.”

“That’s just it. I finally picked up the
Egesa. This cluster here.” She pointed to the screen. “They’re not even cloaked
anymore. Arrogant bastards. Then there’s a group of ships that looks like
supply vessels but their energy readings are too high. I’m checking into that.
Here is Earth’s space station, various satellites, and what looks like some
sort of low-tech shuttle. Then from the space displacement that I’m seeing, it
looks as if there’s a small group of cloaked ships over here.”

“Who would be cloaked if not the Egesa?” he
asked, studying the area. “Are you sure that’s not just empty space? I don’t
see anything that would indicate a ship.”

“For several years, I’ve been working on
detection-tracking software that would reveal the path of cloaked vessels when
they’re farther than collision distance and they’re in motion. It gave me
something to do while I was stuck on Marid. I had copies saved on and off
planet and was able to access the software through the ship’s computer, so one
of those systems, probably the one on Sunevia, must still be functional. I
plugged it into the ship’s databanks and that’s what it’s showing.”

Torque was impressed. An important
discovery, if she had truly been successful. But questions loomed in his mind.
“Daegal gave you access to their high-level computers and that kind of data to
manipulate?” Halah always had been a wildcard and not always a friend to Xylon.
Trusting anyone who’d received favors from Daegal was nearly impossible for
him.

“Not exactly. But all of that’s irrelevant
at the moment. The fact is that I have no answer for who it could be out there.
And not only that. Nobody else is in this whole system. There should be a lot
more incoming and outgoing supply vessels other than that one group.”

Torque scratched his chin. “Like they’ve
cleared out.”

“Exactly.” Halah’s eyes widened. She tapped
her earpiece, then swiveled in her seat and started punching buttons.

Before Torque could ask about her reaction,
Brianna came up behind them. “What’s going on?”

He turned. “The Egesa have reached Earth
and most other ships normally in this area have taken off. They probably heard
about what happened to Xylon and panicked when they saw Daegal’s fleet.”

“But there’s good news,” Halah said,
swiveling her chair back toward them. “I picked up a partial grid channel.”

“From the Ice Moon?” Brianna asked,
excitement in her voice.

“Looks like it. It was just for a minute.
They must be close to reestablishing the communications grid.”

* * * * *

Planet Earth, State of Colorado, U.S.A.

Underground Tracking Facility

Jaeda Spargo, currently in charge of the
advanced tracking facility in Colorado, watched the main monitor from her station.
She shook her head. This was not good.

Kirk Logan, her second-in-command, sat
beside her. “Two clusters.” He tapped the screen. “This one looks like supply
vessels, though I can’t pinpoint their origin. The other one…unidentified.
Neither are responding to hails.”

Nor would they. Jaeda knew fighter ships
when she saw them. They hadn’t even bothered to cloak themselves, which meant
they didn’t fear an attack. “Get the markings off this group.” She should be
able to identify them easily enough. Or rather, confirm whom she already
suspected they were. As for the other group, if they were supply ships, they
should have a record of their arrival.

“The computer is gathering what it can,”
Kirk told her. He checked the traffic screen. “Where is everyone? It’s like
they’ve all disappeared.”

“Contact anyone still up there to give us a
visual report.”

“I’ve been trying. No one is answering or
even showing up on tracking.”

She checked the traffic herself. He was
right. All registered ships had left orbit and they weren’t picking up anyone
else nearby. However, she knew whom to contact. Someone no one else knew was up
there. She’d made certain they hadn’t shown up on the tracking reports. Not
only here, but at their sister facilities too. “I’ll handle it. Keep monitoring.
I want a report sent to my terminal every fifteen minutes.”

Right now, she needed privacy to send a
message. There was only one place that had the necessary shielding to hide her
comm activity from the facility probes, but would still allow her to transmit
and receive on the channel she needed to use. She stood from her chair. “I’ll
check with our other facilities and find out what data they have. I’ll do that
from my quarters.” A lie but it would have to do. “If there’s a major change,
or you get more information that requires my attention, let me know.”

“There is one more thing, but I don’t have
much on it yet.”

“What is it?”

“I’m getting in reports of some unusual meteor
activity.”

Tracking meteor paths wasn’t something they
normally concerned themselves with. That was the responsibility of Earth’s
space agencies. “Pertinent to our situation?”

“I don’t know. We normally get in a report
well in advance if such activity is pending. I don’t like coincidences.”

“Well, let me know when you do know
something, if it’s going to have an effect on what we’re doing. Otherwise hand
it off to the proper facility. I don’t need to know if it’s not relevant. We’ve
got enough going on as it is.”

She pushed back her chair. She rarely left
the control room during an alert or when unanswered questions loomed and she
could see the concerned look in Kirk’s eyes. She stood and walked from the
room, hoping he wouldn’t catch up with her and start asking questions. He knew
her better than anyone else she worked with and she’d always had a hard time
lying to him. He had been briefed about most everything the facility was
involved with, its operations and projects, but a few things were still known
only to her and a very select group of others.

As quickly as she could, she made her way
to the nearest elevator and punched the privacy setting so the elevator
wouldn’t stop to allow others on. Then she set the primary destination for the
top level and the secondary for the bottom level of the facility to keep the
elevator in motion so it wouldn’t register as stalled—a procedure she’d used
more than once lately.

Earlier, when she’d been unable to make
contact with her primary source, she’d called those whom she knew best. The
news they’d delivered had been devastating. And though trained for this very
possibility, frankly, at the moment, she was at a loss about what to do—an
unfamiliar and unsettling feeling for her. She’d never truly believed this time
would come.

She took out a special comm device and
flipped it open.
“Dia dhuit. Deh? Jaeda Spargo. Ta me i gcruachais anois.”
The elevator stopped, then changed direction, starting its descent. Jaeda
barely noticed. As she listened to the man on the other end of the comm, her
frustration rose. She shook her head.
“Eistigi liom!”

A shrill alert sounded, drowning out the
man’s voice right before the connection died. The alert repeated three times,
paused, then repeated three times again. “Shit.” That was a grade one. She
flipped the comm device closed and stuffed it in her pocket. She needed to head
back to control. A grade one was even higher than a priority alert and required
all personnel to stay at their stations and for the facility to be locked up
tight. Something major was going down.

She switched on the intercom. “What’s
happening, Logan? Kirk?” All she heard was static. “Fuck!” She slapped the comm
grate and the elevator came to a jolting halt. She looked up at the floor
indicator. “Damn it.” She was stuck between floors. “Not now.”

These damn elevators hadn’t worked right
for as long as she could remember. Whenever the facility had a surge of
electrical activity they went down. She pressed the emergency button, opened
the side panel and lifted the phone. “Hello?”

Nothing. Dead. The alarm stopped and
everything went silent. She strained to hear—anything. Her heart raced. Had the
facility been hit? Was that what the jolt had been? Just as the thought crossed
her mind, another jolt rocked the elevator.

She had to get out of here. She looked up
and saw the trap door. Though taller than average for a woman, she was still
too short to reach it. Her eyes returned to the doors in front of her. She
splayed her palms on the metal and tried to push them open. “Crap!” Not strong
enough.

Another alarm sounded. A fire alarm. They
must have been hit. Being underground, it had to have been a direct hit in a
vulnerable area. She glanced up. The trap door was her only hope. An escape
ladder had been built into all shafts, along with separate, emergency door
controls for all floors except their security and weapons sections. She took a
deep breath and let it out slowly as she stretched her arms toward the grating.

* * * * *

Deep Space

“Are you seeing this, Halah?” Torque asked.
His heart raced and he went into full battle mode. He flipped several switches,
until a satellite view of Earth appeared in front of them against the portal.

Sam came up behind them. “What’s going on?”

“The Egesa are pelting the planet with sling
rocks,” Torque answered.
It’s started.
Earth would never be the same
now. He just hoped they ended up faring better than Xylon had.

“Rocks?” Sam asked.

Brianna looked over at him. “Sling rocks.
It’s an old tactic used on less technologically advanced societies. Earth will
think they’re meteoroids. It’s a distraction. Do a quick scan. What are they
masking?”

“Scanning now,” Halah responded. “Got it.
They’re sending in d-orbs.”

“How many?”

“What’s a d-orb?” Sam asked.

Leila stepped up beside him. “It’s an
unmanned orbiter, programmed for detonation. Basically a navigational bomb.
Extremely deadly and destructive. It can take out a whole city.”

“I’m tracking five d-orbs,” Halah reported.
She brought up a visual on the screen. “The blinking red dots show the impact points.”

“Can you zoom in a little more?” Sam asked.

Halah adjusted the visual.

Torque saw Sam’s face pale. “Are they
random or targeting specific points, Briggs?”

“Specific.”

“Anything important?”

Sam pointed to each one as he spoke.
“Beijing, London, Jerusalem, Moscow and Washington, D.C.—major capitals. Can
Earth track these and destroy them?”