Experiment (Hybrid Book 2) (19 page)

This one was certainly not a federation crewman. His clothing consisted of tight, tan canvas pants, a green shirt and a black vest, but his face was the most surprising thing, she’d seldom seen such scars. An black patch covered eye, but the other was a startling blue. His hair was relatively short and mid brown. All he needed was a bloody parrot and a cutlass to complete the look.

Chesara quickly pulled herself to her feet, adrenaline pumping. Both Connor and Dagus seemed unusually calm as they simply raised their hands.

“Whoopee a pirate,” she muttered, raising her hands as well. As if life couldn’t get any worse.

“Glad you appreciate the effort Madam Envoy.” The man said with a grin.

The officer on the floor started to try and get to his feet, which was a little tricky seeing as his hands were secured behind his back. The ‘pirate’ stepped forward, placing a foot in his back, and pushed him back down.

Chesara’s mouth fell open when the man grinned at Dagus, and Dagus grinned back. What the hell?

“Sorry Lieutenant but I’m taking your passengers, I have six rather smelly Federation crewmen for you in exchange.”

He indicated that Connor and Dagus should put the poor hapless Commander into one of the seats, then told them to secure him. Connor was ordered to secure Dagus in the next seat, which he did.

The pirate smiled somewhat apologetically at Dagus before firing a shot into his chest. Dagus slumped forward. Chesara pushed Connor out of the way and went to him.

“Step back,” came the cold voice of the attacker.

“Not until I see he’s all right, you bastard.”

Looking for wounds she didn’t find one, but who knew what damage that weapon could cause? At least Dagus had a strong pulse.

“It’s only a stun weapon; if we work together we can overpower him.” The commander whispered to her.

“This man needs medical treatment,” she said as she stood up, indicating the bleeding cut on the Commander’s forehead.

“Move out of the way sweetcheeks,” the pirate said, pointing his weapon at the commander.

“No fucking way, stronzo. He can’t do anything tied up can he?”

She had no idea if this lunatic was alone or working with others, although she hadn’t seen anyone else so far. If he was alone, the commander was probably right about them being able to overpower him, if they weren’t all unconscious.

She squeaked as Connor grabbed her arm and pulled her swiftly out of the way just as the pirate fired at the Commander. Just like Dagus, he slumped into unconsciousness.

The tension rose as the two men looked at each other and Chesara got ready to do what she could to help Connor. She knew he had combat training, but this bastard looked as if he knew quite a bit himself, plus he had a weapon.

Looking carefully around she saw her boots still lying on the chair where she’d left them earlier. Swiftly dipping she grabbed one and lobbed it at their attacker, hoping it would distract him enough to give Connor a chance. She might not be a trained fighter, but she was bloody fast and could throw straight.

The boot hit him square in the face, and he staggered back, dropping the gun and grabbing his face.

To her utter shock, not only did Connor not rush him, he started laughing. Chesara just gaped at him.

“What the fuck did you do that for?” said the pirate, still holding his face and sounding very hard done by. Connor had to hold onto a chair to keep himself upright he was laughing so hard, and a tear leaked out of the corner of his eye.

“I haven’t fucking changed that much have I?” the pirate mumbled as he probed the area where the boot hit.

“That fucking hurt, and you can bloody well stop laughing troll.”

“What the fuck is going on Connor? You two look like you’re best buddies, and he just shot Dagus.” Her hand shot out pointing accusingly at the now much less dangerous looking pirate, but Connor wasn’t even looking at her.

“Remember the memory wipe I told you about?”

The pirate squinted at her through his one bright eye. “You mean she has no idea who I am?”

Connor nodded, then turned to her. She hastily shut her mouth as it occurred to her that she must look like a landed fish.

“Chesara, meet Tenset. Again.”

“Oh crap,” was all she could manage.

“Not quite the reaction I was hoping for," said the pirate wryly, as he bent to pick his weapon off the floor.

––––––––

C
hesara and Connor sat hiding in the small dining room of the Federation scout ship Aires whilst Tenset ushered the other members of the captured crew, one by one, into the shuttle and stunned them. Chesara had ignored both Connor’s attempts to make conversation as she tried to make sense of what had happened. She was failing epically.

The man she’d been told had been her lover entered the room, and slid into seat on the opposite side of the rectangular white table. He gave her a ‘charming’ grin, but he addressed Connor, who was leaning up against the work surface near the other end of the room.

“Have you deactivated your coms and GPS yet? I’ve already done the Aries.”

Connor looked suitably embarrassed and reached for his ever present bag of tricks that was sitting on the work top next to him.

“You watch me do Chesara, and then you can do me ok?” he told Tenset, who shrugged in agreement.

“You want to go find a cabin to lie down while we do this?”

They were just assuming she’d trot along compliantly like the little trained animal they clearly thought she was.

“What’re you going to do if I say no? Are you gonna stun me Tinsel or whatever your name is?”

She knew she was being a little childish, but what the fuck? Her life had been turned upside down in the last hour.

Things that she'd depended on, such as the Federation, had turned out to be the enemy, according to Connor anyway. But could she trust him either? What if he and Tenset were actually trying to kidnap her for their own purposes? She bloody well hoped her mispronunciation of his name was pissing him off.

The man in question favour her with a serious look. “I promised you once that I’d move heaven and earth to find you, and that I’d never, ever stop looking for you. Just because you can’t remember, it doesn’t mean that the promise doesn't still apply.”

It seemed as if they were going to play ‘tag team’ against her as Connor took up the baton of trying to convince her that everything was fine.

“He got those scars and lost his eye buying us time to get away. He gave up his whole life for us, and he only wants what’s best for you.” Connor reached down and stroked a finger across her cheek.

“Too much information, Federation. Guilting her isn’t the way to do this. That was my choice, not hers,” Tenset growled at him, before he turned his ruined face to Chesara.

“I’m willing to give it time, lots of time, but we need to move away from here, Dagus and the Aries crew will wake up in a few hours and the hunt will begin. We need to be as far away from here as possible, and without the tracking devices.”

If what they said was true, then getting out of there, without the tracking implants as soon as possible was sensible. But how did she know they were telling the truth? The only other person she could ask was Dagus, and he was unconscious.

“Can I ask a couple of questions?”

The men looked at each other, then nodded.

“Why did you stun Dagus? If he knows about you, why are you leaving him behind?”

Tenset answered her. “Because he didn’t want to become a fugitive. He’s got a career with the Federation, and besides he’ll be able to provide an alibi for you both in case we’re ever captured. Stunning him in front of the Aries commander means he won’t be suspected.”

“Ok, that sort of makes sense. Second question is how the hell do I know that either of you are telling me the truth about what did or didn’t happen on Kalzir? And about my status with the Federation? It could all be a trick to persuade me to go with you without any trouble.”

Tenset looked at Connor. “I’ll deal with the Kalzir thing, if you deal with the Federation one. We seriously need to move this on.”

Chesara piped up. “If you convince me, I can put that lot in the shuttle in a mild coma state. They won’t wake up for a couple of days, no harm done. Connor, can you set the homing beacon to send out a signal after a couple of days just in case?” The taller man nodded.

She fixed the pirate with a serious look, as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Go ahead Tinsel, you have two minutes to convince me that I know and like you. I know you can probably hold me against my will easily enough, but seriously, you don’t want to deal with me when I’m pissed off.”

To his credit, his lips only twitched a little at her distinctly empty ‘threat’.

“For a start the name’s Tenset, and I can happily say that you would have looked like a complete stoephoer wearing the outfit I found in the shuttle, and someday I’m going to make you tell me what the hell a ‘Kackbad’ is.”

His grin widened as her mouth fell open. He reached across the table and lifted her jaw closed. “You’ll catch flies if you’re not careful.”

Her mind whirled, she’d never used that insult before, she’d only just dragged it out of the Dutch officer last night. Or at least she thought she had. ‘Kackbad’ certainly proved he knew her, or at least he knew someone that knew her well.

“Besides, I know exactly how the markings look on your sweet backside. I’ll describe them from memory and Connor can check to see if I’m right.” His eyebrows waggled suggestively, and Connor let out a snort.

“Not necessary,” she added hastily. His twinkling eye and smug grin were both irritating and surprisingly attractive. The fact that she’d fallen for his ‘lines’ didn’t take a huge stretch of her imagination.

“Now you, Connor. Prove I’m not considered a free person by the Federation.”

He stared at his hands for a moment, before returning his eyes to her face. Sympathy and discomfort radiated from him. Her heart started to beat a little faster, this wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“You have a physiological monitoring device implanted just above your left adrenal gland. It monitors all your vital signs, heart rate, neurological activity, hormones amongst other things. You are a research project, and the Federation sells your services to the highest bidder.”

Tenset butted in. “That’s how you came to be on Kalzir, the ruling family taxed the population into poverty to afford a visit from you.”

Chesara shook her head. The only implants I have are GPS and com. Just like you and all other Federation personnel. I’ve seen the scans.”

Connor shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid not Kittycat. The Federation bought the implant bought from the Garians, just as they purchased your pregnant mother. It sends continuous data to its twin, and the operative can see the information like a screen on his retina whenever he focuses his attention on it.”

“I don’t believe you. No such technology exists in the Federation.” She watched as Connor briefly closed his eyes, then opened them again.

“You’re still experiencing residual endorphins from our ‘activity’ earlier, and although you are concerned about what’s going on, you’re not overly worried as your adrenaline levels are only a little elevated.”

“You could tell that by guessing.”

He nodded in acknowledgement of the point.

“But I couldn’t guess that your right shoulder hurts at the moment, although I can show you the reason for it.”

Her left hand instinctively moved to touch her shoulder.

“Try the back.”

She extended her arm and her fingers touched a smooth, circular depression. Her eyes widened.

“Crossbow bolt courtesy of dear Uncle Tamas, and I’m sure Connor will let you ‘look’ at his implant if you want. I know you can’t look inside yourself,” Tenset said gently.

Chesara tried to absorb the information that was coming far too fast for her to absorb. She felt a warm pair of arms go around her, and Connor’s familiar, safe scent surrounded her.

“I know it’s all a bit much to take in at the moment. We’ve been hitting you with some serious stuff very quickly.” He placed a kiss on her hair. “But we need to get going if the Federation isn’t going to catch up to us immediately. We’re only two hours from Apollo, although with the speed of this ship if we get moving, they’ll have trouble catching us.

“I for one don’t care if you never heal anyone again. It’s you I care about, not what you can do. But whatever you think about our motivations, believe me that both Tenset and I will be in a great deal of trouble if we’re caught. As they need you to work to keep the money coming in, it’ll be a far more extreme memory wipe for you, probably back to your early teenage years. They’ll have to remove me from your memory entirely. Do you want to be fifteen again?”

Her voice sounded small even to herself. “No.”

Tenset stood up, breaking the tension. “Well then Sweetcheeks; let’s get going on those crewmen. Connor can you prep for the implant deactivation procedure?”

Chesara stood up and followed Tenset as Connor busied himself with his bag of tricks.

As a military vessel, the Aries didn’t possess the luxurious flooring and wall coverings of the private vessels in its class. Instead, the floor and walls were the uniform beige of other Federation vessels. The scout only had three levels, with the top deck running only a third of the length and housing the command unit, the central deck had the living quarters and the lower deck housed a storage bay and the engines.

The exterior hatch was situated to the rear of the dining and food preparation room. Behind it were the four double berth crew quarters. The significantly larger ‘Captain’s’ berth was at the rear of the vessel and right at the bow was a viewing lounge, which doubled as a recreation area or conference room as and when required. After Apollo, the scout felt cramped, but not as claustrophobic as the shuttle with its two rows of seats and spaces for cargo. The recirculated air was a little stale, but on a small ship, you couldn’t have everything.

Tenset had left the hatched open between the two craft in order to keep an eye on the unconscious crew. Chesara found them restrained and slumped in their seats, just like Dagus.