Dual Abduction (10 page)

“I disagree,” replied Brax coming to his feet. “The fact you refuse to choose me, or touch me is torture.”

Had he read her mind?

“My sword brother speaks true.”

“Stop it.” She stamped her foot in agitation and shook a finger at them, not caring how childish she appeared. “I don’t know how you guys are doing it, but stop making me so damned aroused I can’t think straight.”

“Which of us needs to stop?” They both stared at her, waiting for an answer.

“Both of you. So stop asking me to bloody choose. I can’t, which is totally insane. I mean, I’ve known you what now, three days? Maybe a little more. I need time to think. And now apparently, I need to also find me and the girls a new place to live. Any ideas on how to do that?”

An answer to that query would have to wait it seemed though as a blast rocked the ship and the computer blared a warning.

“
Direct impact to shields. Shields holding, but weakened in sections eleven through fourteen.
Unknown vessel detected. Unknown vessel arming weapons. Weapons firing. Impact imminent.”

“Frukx. Get strapped in.” Brax manhandled her into a seat against the wall and straps emerged to restrain her. Just in time too. The second volley jostled the ship hard, and more sirens wailed, while lights flashed all over the place. Poor Brax ended up knocked off his feet, but he recovered quickly, scrambling to his console.

“My girls!” she shouted, worried about them getting flung around and hurting themselves.

Seated across from her, Xarn’s fingers flew. “I’ve got the computer guiding them into emergency impact seats. Two of them are complaining of bruising from a fall, but the rest seem fine, if frightened.”

Oh thank God.
The ship shuddered again, and Louisa closed her eyes, blocking out the disturbing messages of the computer with ominous warnings of,
“Shield breached. Depressurization in sections…. Sealing off chambers… Enabling emergency landing.”

She watched enough science fiction movies to decipher they were in deep shit. The vessel lurched, a screeching whine filling the air.

“Brace yourself,” Brax warned. “This is going to get bumpy.”

Understatement of the year. Or at least the portion she experienced. She got knocked out after Xarn muttered, “Oh frukx. Murphy you bastard, I can’t believe you’re going to let me die before I’ve had a chance to copulate with her.”

The last coherent thought she had before she lost consciousness was,
who the hell is Murphy?

Chapter Nine

Brax regained consciousness and groaned. The straps holding him in his seat, bit into his flesh, and from the aches in his body, he’d wager the sturdy harness received a good workout during the crash landing. The ship that fired on them, taking them by surprise and disabling their shields in record time, had also damaged their thrusters. Maneuverability severely compromised, breaches in the hull making the whole vessel unstable, he did the only thing he could do. Aim for the nearest planet. However, even that proved risky given their disabled status. It was pure luck that kept them alive on that treacherous and bumpy landing, although the ship didn’t seem to have fared as well.

But at least we’re not dead.
Small consolation when he still couldn’t understand how the enemy vessel snuck up on them. Given their lifestyle, which not everyone approved of, he and Xarn had their ship outfitted with the latest technology, including state of the galaxy detection systems. Even if the enemy vessel was cloaked, a prized ability that few owned due to the secretive nature behind it, they should never have been taken so off guard. Then again, he’d found himself kind of distracted at the time, so it was possible the warnings were present and he just didn’t notice them.

Which wouldn’t have happened if we’d paid attention to our flight instead of Louisa and her gaggle of children.
But really, what male could have resisted being at her mercy, seeing the flush in her cheeks and the desire in her eyes.

Thoughts of her made him squirm and he craned to see her. He noticed her slumped in her seat, but appearing unharmed, or at least not bleeding from any visible wounds, and his tension eased partially. As for his best friend, Xarn grunted as he stirred. It would take more than a bumpy ride to hurt his brother of the sword.

Their situation not appearing urgent, Brax turned to peer at his console, wondering about the ship’s current status—bleak was his guess. Most of the lights, signifying active systems, were gone, the controls unresponsive. The dim illumination in the control area indicated they’d switched to backup power which meant while life support functions were active, the ship itself was dead. Since his last recollection saw them hurtling through a nearby planet’s atmosphere, he presumed they’d crashed to the surface instead of ending up in the planet’s orbit. What he couldn’t be sure of was if the location they found themselves would prove habitable.

At least he’d fired off an emergency signal before the impact, which meant so long as he kept the beacon near him, help would eventually find them — and ridicule Brax and Xarn for once again getting into trouble.

The concept did not amuse. For some reason, he didn’t want Louisa to think him incompetent. Her opinion of him mattered, which meant he needed to do something, before aid arrived, to raise his esteem in her eyes, something to counteract the certain jibes that his being caught unaware would entail.

The clasp to his harness refused to release when pressed, so he leaned under the console and withdrew a knife which he used to saw through the thick fiber.

“Where are we?” groaned Xarn.

“Not sure. I was going to release Louisa and then grab an analyzer and check out the surface.”

“Louisa! Is she—?”

“She appears fine, but you might want to grab the medical unit so we can run a scan to search for internal injuries. She is much more fragile than us.”

Her color appeared good though, and her breathing even, reassuring signs he hoped as he cut through her straps and eased her into his arms.

“What of her students?” Xarn asked, managing to unbuckle his restraint. He stood and stretched his frame.

“I’ve lost all onboard communication and controls. We’ll have to go see for ourselves. But I don’t wish to venture forth with Louisa until one of us has scouted first. I would not see her aggrieved should her charges have come to harm. And, we must ascertain the air quality.”

“I will go. You are better versed in using that stupid medical unit.”

“Better arm yourself. We don’t know if whatever coward fired upon on the ship followed us to the surface.” And it worried him that even now they might have their weapons trained upon their vessel, ready to blast. However, leaving the possible safety of the craft for the unknown outdoors was foolish until they knew more of their situation.

“How did they sneak up on us anyway?” Xarn asked as he went to the locker and opened it, perusing its contents. He tossed a portable communication unit to Brax, who caught it one handed.

He lay Louisa down on the floor, wishing he had a cushion for her head. Hands free, he switched on the com device and tested it, saying, “No idea. It’s almost as if the computer didn’t perceive them until they were on top of us.”

Xarn frowned. “Someone tampered with our vessel?” A grim nod from Brax, who’d mulled that possibility already, saw Xarn snarling. “That stupid green bitch. I’ll bet you she frukxed with our ship when she tampered with the guiding system.”

“Probably,” he replied as he stood and joined Xarn at the locker, grabbing the health device as well as a laser pistol and another knife. It paid to be prepared. “Probably looking to cover up her tracks once we finished the job. She’ll pay for her actions, but first, we need to survive long enough to get off this planet.”

Xarn groaned. “Please don’t tell me you activated the beacon?”

“As soon as I regained consciousness.”

“Ah frukx. Couldn’t you have waited and seen if we could flag a ship or commandeer one?”

“Saving ourselves is one thing, add Louisa and her halflings, and we need help.”

“I hate it when you’re right,” his sword brother grumbled.

Brax returned to Louisa’s side and knelt. The medical unit came on with a beep and he ran it over her body as Xarn outfitted himself with a hip holster that sported a pair of guns, some knives, spare ammo and a light stick.

The first scan returned normal. He relaxed, a knot of tension in him easing that he’d not known was there until he ascertained for himself she was not severely hurt. He relayed some extra instructions to Xarn. “You’ll want to grab the laser cutter, the wrenching bar and a few face masks along with the air quality unit. Oh, and a medical aid kit in case you need to patch up some wounds that can’t wait.”

“I’ve done this before,” groused his friend, adding those items plus a few more to a sack which he hoisted on his back. “Anything else, mother?” he mocked.

“Be careful.”

“Always. Take care of our human until I return.”

With a nod, Xarn left and Brax placed half his attention on Louisa, the other half on listening for sounds that might signal trouble arriving. When his second and third scans showed no signs of internal damage other than some minor bruising and a bump on her head, he leaned back on his heels.
She’s going to be fine.
From the crash anyway. How she’d react if some of her students didn’t make it, he preferred not to dwell on.

In the short time he’d known her, Louisa, with her feisty actions and words, had come to mean a lot to him. To his best friend as well. The dilemma of who got to keep her plagued him. On the one hand, he wanted her with an urgency and possessive need he’d never imagined.
I want to make her my mate.
On the other, he possessed a premonition that if he got to keep her exclusively, or if Xarn did, it would damage his relationship with the male who’d grown up with him and shared all of life’s important events.

Odd how one barbarian human might be the one thing that managed to drive a wedge between them, but what else could they do? Letting her go wasn’t an option, but how to deal with her choice?
But what if she didn’t have to choose…
Could he handle sharing her, possibly for a lifetime with his sword brother and best friend? To his surprise, the idea didn’t make him want to yell
no
. However, would Xarn be agreeable to something like that? Of course, now was not the time to mull over the situation of Louisa and her affections. He caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb and leaned down to brush her lips before standing.

Unable to do anything more for her, he returned to the locker and armed himself with the same hip holster as Xarn. He also filled a sack with a water purifying unit, nutritional bars, ammo clips, and compact, thermal blankets. He packed a rope dispenser as well.

A part of him hoped they could stay on the ship and wait for rescue, but he’d not lived this long by not being prepared for the worst. He filled a second smaller sack for Louisa, because already knowing her stubborn nature, she’d probably insist on helping if they did have to leave.

As if thinking of her roused her, he heard her muttered, “Holy fuck my head hurts.”

Hurrying back to her side, he whipped out the scanner again and ran it over her face. He ignored her batting hands.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing?”

“Scanning you again, now that you’ve woken, for signs of concussion or brain bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Nothing some acetaminophen won’t fix.”

“Some what?”

She squinted at him through pain filled eyes. “Got anything for a headache?”

One step ahead, he pressed an osmosis syringe against her arm. With a hiss of pressure releasing, he gave her the medicine, and she sighed in relief. His sigh occurred internally. He’d not known how she’d react to aid meant for his kind.

The crease of pain disappeared from between her brows. “Oh, that feels better. What happened?”

“We were hit by enemy fire and crashed.”

“We what?” Her eyes widened as she sat up and peered around. “Where’s Xarn? And my girls? Is everybody alright?”

“My sword brother has gone to verify on your charges status. As well, he will take some planetary surface readings and judge its suitability for our life forms.”

“Are you trying to tell me we might be stuck on a planet like Mars where we can’t breathe and stuff?”

“I know not the planet you speak of, but there is a chance the planet might prove hostile to our bodies. If that is the case, then we will hopefully be able to remain aboard with the life support systems until help arrives.”

“What do you mean help? Did you call the outer space equivalent of 911 or something?”

“I’ve activated an emergency beacon if that is your query. But I cannot estimate the length of time it will take before someone arrives with a means of transportation off the planet.”

“How long will this life support thing last then?”

“Each unit is room specific, so we can in theory last almost twenty or more planetary revolution by moving from to room, using up each life support unit one at a time. We are more likely to die of starvation before that happens though.”

“Great. I feel so much better now,” she grumbled.

The door to the command center slid open and Brax rolled into firing position in front of her, his gun aimed at the opening.

He lowered it when he saw Xarn. A chill swept through him at the look on his face.

“Where are the girls?”

His friend blanched and swallowed visibly before replying. “I don’t know. Our ship split apart as per its design. The section they were in cannot be seen. I fear they might be gone.”

*

And here came her now-familiar slow blink again. “Excuse me? What do you mean, gone? That’s just not possible. How can your ship split into two?”

“Actually that would be four,” Brax corrected. At her blank look he explained. “The fabrication of our vessel is such that if exposed to great stress, in order to allow the greatest chance of survival, the rooms seals themselves and the ship breaks into four sections. The engine compartment probably exploded on impact. The storage section should have weathered the rough landing though and will provide extra supplies once we locate it. We are in the control section while your halflings were in the leisure part. They are the most heavily armored parts of the ship.”