Gambit (7 page)

Zayin gave her a silent incline of his head. “Then I won’t speak of its joys further.”

Chae forced a smile she didn’t feel. Her awareness of the solid strength of Daned at her back eased her panic and she padded after Zayin. Another archway led into a wide stone corridor and beyond that Chae could just make out the running lights of ships, stacked high and held in stasis.

Water sluiced over the edges of the curved roof in a curtain of rain and Zayin walked into it. For a brief moment, he stood beneath it and opened his mouth wide. Rain funneled in and he smacked his mouth shut. He grinned and ejected the filtered water out through his mouth plate and into the yard. “The rain brings delicacies we can never resist.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

He ran his hand over his bald head, mirroring Aleph, and her gut twisted. He wasn’t her friend. Zayin was his pod-brother, but he was still an unknown. “The tau is this way.”

The cold rain plastered her hair to her head and ran icy rivulets down her neck to add to the wet already sticking her clothes to her spine. She followed him onto a small plate lift, the three of them crowding onto the meter-by-meter metal square.

Chae wanted to stare up, but the stream of water made it impossible. When she got her black crystal, she was leaving the planet Arkhengai far, far behind her.

“Here.”

Zayin jerked the plate lift to a halt and Chae grabbed at the rail to steady herself. A gray metal cylinder hung from the force-grips of a stasis bar. Chae ignored the heavy, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was a metal can, maybe big enough for her to stand up in. Hell, it was only fifteen good strides long. It was not her day.

“It’s smaller than I remembered.” She put up the front others expected to see and glanced at Daned. “And it seriously won’t be much fun with him.” She gave them both a short smirk. “I will persevere.”

“You should try not to be a magnet for trouble. You always have been.”

Chae narrowed her eyes. “Aleph sharing stories?”

“We have a limited telepathy.”

“Bloody telepathy. Everyone but me.” She rubbed her wet hands together. “All right, open her up. It’s time to go before more people shoot at me.” She grimaced up at the sky, rain streaming over her face. “And before I get any wetter.” She wiped the flow of water from her eyes and cheeks. “Though I don’t think that’s possible.”

“The ship is prepped and ready to go.” Zayin tapped out a code on the small device on his palm. A gush of sanitized air warmed her and slowly the door to the craft peeled up. A gangway slid out to meet the plate and Chae scrambled over it.

She pushed Daned inside as she turned to Zayin. Rain drummed on the metal arch of the open door and she winced at the noise. “You keep my ship safe. I’ll be back for it.”

Zayin inclined his head. “To say it is to do it. We do not play with chance.”

Chae opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. She wagged her finger at him. “All right, then.” She pressed the doorplate, stepped back and with a disheartening groan the curve of the outer door lowered. It clunked into place and seals hissed.

She let her shoulders drop. “My day started with a nice simple ‘Chae, I might have a quick trick for you’ from a friend. Now I’ve lost my ship, people want to vaporize me and, worst of all, I have to pilot this junk heap.” She grunted and ran her hands over her hair, squeezing out a run of water. “I’m also wet. And not in the good way.”

She blew out a hot breath and focused. She’d survived, alone, on Arkhengai for almost twenty years. Hell, they should give her a medal. A smile pulled at her mouth and she lifted her shoulders. Time to earn her crates of black crystal.

Chapter Four

The running light curved around the bulkhead and led to the cramped cockpit. Chae pressed open the doors to it. She peeled herself out of her jacket, hung it and her bag from a jag of metal, and shook out her tunic. Two rounded bucket seats faced the narrow console set beneath an arching screen and she willed herself to drop into the pilot chair. The console glowed under her deft touch, and the first rumble of the engines vibrated through the padding of her chair. Belatedly, she tugged the harness across her chest and secured it.

Daned dropped into the chair beside her, rubbing a towel over his hair. “Two hours and fifteen minutes left. The ship looks secure. Nobody stowing away and no trackers. We’re clear to go.”

She let out a short laugh. “We were going anyway.” She glanced at him. “I’m connecting to Arkhengai Tower. Strap in. And look pretty…pretty.”

Daned’s mouth thinned. “And that is the last time you call me that.”

Chae ran her hands over the comm. circuits, plugging in her flight plan. “You know, I don’t think it will be.” A burst of gray-white light shot over the screen and a quick flare of static noise cut back Daned’s reply. She flexed her fingers around the guidance rods. She had to push the tau to its furthest point. Probably not the best plan, but it was all that she had. “Arkhengai Tower, this is Captain Chae Beyon signing in and asking for permission for transit and rift lock. Destination Shavgar-7.”

“Captain Beyon? You’re not on your usual sig.”

A smile curved her lips. It was good to hear a familiar—if synthesized—voice. Noor had worked at almost as long as she’d been flying. The screen filled with his image. Noor was Misae and a stunning example of his species, even if he did say so himself. Seeing him triggered a happy burst of adrenaline. She was escaping Arkhengai. Always a good thing. “You’re looking fine today.” She ran her gaze over his thick, deeply patterned tentacles, each one grafted to a separate traffic control system. “The gamma’s out of action. I’m in a bucket with seats. Lucky me.”

Noor’s throaty chuckle filled the small cockpit and had her joining him.
“Yes, your luck is infamous. So, is it business or pleasure, today, Chae?”

She pointed to Daned, who sat quietly in the next chair, the perfect image of vacant flesh. “Definitely pleasure.”

Noor tutted, the quiet click of his beak finishing each sound.
“You should find a real male.”
His expression took on a salacious twist and Chae couldn’t stop her grin. It was always very…odd…to flirt with a Misae.
“Me, for instance.”

“Noor, we’re not a compatible species. If only I had a few more arms…and orifices…you’d be the one for me.”

“I know. Fate and biology have kept us apart.”
His mouth stretched into what classified as a grin.
“Can’t knock a cephalopod for trying.”
He looked to his left, eyes narrowed on instrumentation she couldn’t see.
“All right, you’re cleared to join the rift stream.”

Chae poured power into the tau’s engines, and the thrum increased until the tin can was practically shaking apart. She gritted her teeth and released the force-grips. The cylinder screamed into the sky and pressed her hard into the thick padding of her chair. “I hate tau-class.”

The roar of the engines evened out as the ship climbed through the atmosphere, following the flight plan overlaid on the screen. It was a more circuitous route than she was used to. Her gamma-class was a beauty—huge, smooth, would take up a lane, easing into the waiting rift stream. It was a joy. The tau-class had to weave through and around lumbering cargo vessels, rumble over the sleek, expensive high-atmosphere craft, and fight the pull away from Arkhengai’s gravity. She hadn’t had to put her body into flying for too long. She preferred to find her workouts in other ways…and made a point of not looking at Daned.

“Entering the rift stream.”
Noor’s voice broke through the riot of noise in the cockpit, his image flickering as the hull thunked.
“Starting the countdown to rift lock. Expected flight time in the lock: twenty-three minutes. And that’s three…two…one. Have fun without me. Again.”

“Poor, Noor. I’m—” But the rest of the sentence choked in her mouth as rift lock slammed into her. She broke her hands away from the guidance rods and dug her fingers into her damp thighs. Every breath was a labor, her chest tight with pain as the tau’s systems fought to compensate for the hard rush of space-time around its hull. “I hate…these ships.”

Gradually the strain eased from her body and she pulled the sanitized air deep into her lungs. Noor vanished and left only the slight shimmer of the screen over the curving roof. Chae let her eyes close for brief moment. They’d done it. Escaped. Admittedly not in the way she planned, but being alive and on the move was a win right then.

Chae expelled a slow breath and opened her eyes. “After two jumps—to Shavgar-7 and Istakatar—we’re there. Well, in the planetary system. The security surrounding Ladaia-prime is your problem.” She tugged at her harness and pushed herself to her feet. “I plan to dry off.” She flapped her wet tunic and grimaced as it sucked to her bare skin. “Order up some fresh clothes.”

“It’s stripped bare. There’s a bunk with sheets and enough pattern energy in the production unit to make two of these.” He rubbed a towel over his shoulder and attacked his hair again. “Beyond that. Nothing.”

Chae cursed. “Fine.” She yanked the tunic over her head and hung it high on the side wall above the instrumentation. It dripped onto the floor tiles. But the heat in the cockpit would dry it out. “So. I’ve done the decoy thing. Now you tell me where my crystals are.”

“You’ll be paid, Captain. Don’t worry.”

“Now see, I am.” Chae folded her arms across her bare chest. “You say I have a crate of black crystal in my hangar.” She snorted. “And if that’s still there when I get back I will be, well, stunned.” No matter how secure the Ladaians thought the crate was, the thieves of Ulan Bator would gain access. Someone other than her would be very rich that night. “Where and when do I get my hands on the rest of my payment?” She lifted her boot. “This sliver of crystal will not allow me the life to which I plan to become accustomed.”

He pushed himself to his feet and his strength screamed at her. Cool air brushed over her bare skin, reminding her that she’d just yanked off her tunic without a thought. Shit. He wasn’t flesh. He had his own brain and would see…Her palms covered the scars on her belly and she fought the need for him that burned through her. It was soured by the knowledge that only the false desire of the living gold drove him to want her.

Her breath caught. Had she just imagined him staring at her breasts?

And then his question was a low growl that ran goose bumps over her flesh. “Is money all that you want?”

Chae stared at him. Was his question a serious one? And hell, was he asking about money…or something else? She stuck with the money. The something else was too dangerous to explore. “I’m shallow, Daned. I want luxury. You’re an aristocrat. Grew up with anything you wanted. I want to forget how I’ve had to live for practically all of my life. If you’ve researched me, you’ll know why.”

“I researched you. Your mother died when you were eleven, leaving you alone and on the streets of Ulan Bator. You survived running drugs for a local racketeer, Jobal Reve, the man who employed your mother as a chemist churning out caustic-angel in one of his dens.” He frowned. “Odd choice for a biologist and teacher.” He focused on her again, heat and anger in his gaze. “You’ve been arrested twelve times. Never convicted. How am I doing so far?” Daned stood too close, his height, the heat of his body making her heart pound. She began to back away, but he followed her. “And me being a Ladaian aristocrat? I was farmed out to one of the training camps at seven, learned to survive and to kill. A member of a faceless and secret army. It’s a holdover from the Host.”

The word ran cold through her and she grunted as she hit the flat bulkhead beyond the cockpit. “What the hell is that?”

“The Host?” His head tilted as she shivered again. “We told you. We become a race of warriors, bound heart and soul to our emperor. A horde of unstoppable killing machines who take joy from murder. Every one of us. No exception.”

He teased the edge of her jaw and she sucked in a quick breath. The need she had to press herself against his skin, to run her hands over him, feel his strength, his power, taste him, fired through her body. Shit, her control was slipping. What she wanted from him scared her. Bought flesh was hers to command. Daned wasn’t.

“I will fight to my last breath to stop it. Duty and tradition demand it of me.” His mouth thinned and anger glinted in his dark eyes. “And you’re worried about a few shards of our crystal. To buy you what? More flesh? A big ship?” He paused and his tension, the fury riding through him had her breath short. Hell, she could practically feel the thrum of the living gold that bound them together. “You’re Ladaian, a Beyon, born from the fifth caste of the Ara Family. It’s your duty too.”

“
You
bought me. You and Govan.” She traced her finger over the golden thread that seared across his chest. The metal throbbed and Daned’s jaw tightened. “Only the fact that another Family had my ship has me here. Not duty. Not some insane caste system. So I want to know where my crystal is.”

“Once our candidate is installed, the crates will be yours.”

“What?” Indignation bubbled hot in her chest. That had not been the agreement. “You never said it had to be a success.”

Daned laughed and her indignation flared into anger. “Captain, if we fail, you’ll be picking up a gun with the rest of us.”

“I don’t think so.”

“No one can resist the call of the Host.”

The cold spike cut through her anger, but she clung to it. “Where’s my money, Daned? I can easily stay rift locked so we overshoot the Ladaia system.” It was lie. She didn’t know if he knew that, but it was a gamble worth taking.

He frowned and leaned closer, his mouth only millimeters from hers. “You’re in this till the bitter end.”

“Bastard.” She growled the insult against his mouth, almost tasting him, her body trembling with anger and with her need to push herself hard up against his bare flesh. Since the first touch of her hand on his skin, she’d wanted him with a fierceness that frankly scared the shit out of her. It made no sense. She’d never hungered after flesh like this before. Maybe Aleph’s reconditioned stock had been faulty and living gold worked a sharper magic. Or maybe—her gaze fixed on his lush mouth, the full lower lip that demanded she bite it, hard—maybe it was Daned himself.