Sons of Amber: Michael (12 page)

    She keyed it in. Immediately, all station systems would be locked down, waiting for her special override. It would only come when she had the station secure.

    Once again she keyed the headset. “Go code Lima Bravo Foxtrot. Repeat. Lima Bravo Foxtrot. You have a go.”

    Just that easy, the plan was activated. Leah punched the door hatch and strode into the room, her team flanking her, their weapons at the ready. General Smithson stood angrily from her command chair.

    “What’s the meaning of this, Colonel?”

    “By authority of Sector Command, I hereby place you and your staff under arrest pending further investigation.”

    Smithson reached for her console, but Leah knew it was already deactivated. Any hope the woman had of erasing evidence or getting word out to her conspirators was long gone.

    “You can’t do this!”

    Leah advanced, noting the rapid deployment of her squad of armed soldiers around the room.

    “Kidnapping and turning a blind eye to the imprisonment and slavery of human women is a serious crime, General. I believe you should seek legal counsel before saying anything further.”

    “You bitch!” Smithson rushed her, but Leah was prepared. She hadn’t had to call on her hand-to-hand fighting skills often, but she was no lightweight. She downed Smithson with one quick move, grabbing the woman’s wrist as she tried to punch Leah in the face, and twirling her around into a prone position on the command deck. Leah held Smithson’s arm out at an angle, one knee planted hard in her back, retaining control of the struggling woman. Leah looked up at the general’s staff gathered all around, noting the expressions on each face carefully. Some were plotting, some simply stunned.

    “You ladies can do this the hard way and end up like her,” Leah chucked her chin toward the fallen woman, still struggling uselessly in her hold, “or you can go with my people quietly. We’ll be questioning everyone and sorting out just who’s involved in this despicable crime ring. If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ll be freed. As simple as that.”

    One by one, the wide-eyed ones stood, followed more reluctantly by the others. They filed out quietly, each put into restraints and escorted to the door by one of Leah’s team. More of Leah’s specially chosen troopers waited outside to take them to detention. The women of Smithson’s command staff would be separated and questioned until Leah’s people got to the bottom of the matter. Already, she had special investigators on site and more coming from Alantia Station. It had been a busy day, and it was about to get even busier as Leah and her team secured the station and restarted the computers, preserving evidence while getting on with the ordinary business of running the station.

    She set to work, doggedly ignoring the impulse to check on how Michael’s combat team was doing. They were on comm silence until their mission was secured and she wasn’t going to be the one to break it, though she was tempted to report on her progress, just to hear Michael’s voice. She had to trust him to stay safe and do his job…as much as he trusted her to do her part.

    That thought in mind, she began the arduous work of documenting any possible mischief by Smithson’s crew as she made decisions for every sector of the station. It was hard work, especially as they had to deal with ship crews unhappy with the station lockdown, but Leah wasn’t letting anyone leave while Michael and his men were out there battling the pirates.

    ****

    Michael advanced into the jit areas of the station with his strikeforce. He wore full armor like the rest of the team, only his size and stature setting him apart from the female soldiers he commanded. He wore no insignia, nor did any of his troops. Coded comms delineated who was who among the helmeted, incognito warriors. Only they needed to know who was in charge, after all. Identifying the leaders to the enemy would only make them targets.

    He enjoyed the adrenalin rush as he commanded the elite group of fighters. They were the best he’d ever worked with, and that was saying something. Many of them were smaller than him, but he knew beyond a doubt, they could more than handle a man of his size—or the jits for that matter. After some initial resistance, the pirates had been subdued with relative ease.

    Ty—also in full armor that easily disguised his identity—sidled up next to Mike. To preserve Ty’s cover, they’d arrested him along with the other pirates, then separated him out when they split up the pirates, with none the wiser.

    “How are we doing, brother?” Ty asked on a private comm channel as he checked his weapons.

    “We’ve got most of the main players, but can’t seem to find the captain.”

    Ty’s helmet bobbed as he nodded. “That’s because he went back to his ship a few hours ago. Some kind of surprise inspection. He likes to pretend he’s still military.”

    “Damn. Well, we’ll get the captain when we take his ship. Everyone else has been rounded up and ferried out to our ship’s holding cells. Just a few left here on the station. Comms reports no transmissions left the station.” Michael nodded in satisfaction.

    “Leah came through.”

    “I had no doubt she would. She’s the most capable officer I’ve ever served with.”

    Ty pounded him on the shoulder. The armor took most of the friendly blow, but Michael still felt it. “Is that admiration I hear in your voice, Mike?”

    He noted the teasing in his brother’s voice, but refused to rise to the bait. They still had work to do. It was clear Leah was doing her part, now it was up to them not to let any of the pirates slip away.

    “Let’s load our troops into the pirate shuttle and take their ship.”

    The plan had been hatched hours before. The pirates kept a troop shuttle nearby to transport them back and forth from their ship to the station. Ty had supplied the intelligence that most of the pirate crew was on the station at the moment, and it certainly looked like they’d rounded up most, if not all, of the command staff. With any luck, only a skeleton crew would be left on the pirate ship. When Mike and his crew arrived in the pirate shuttle, they’d swarm on board and take them by surprise. If all went as planned.

    They left the cleanup to troops that had been selected especially for the mission of ferreting out the stragglers who hid in the bowels of the station. They were under Leah’s command and would be reporting back to her from the moment Mike left the station.

    The pirate shuttle was cramped, but the design would stand his team in good stead. Used for raiding parties, the shuttle had been equipped with quick-release hatches that allowed the maximum number of fighters off at one time. It would be relatively easy to board the pirate ship with this kind of equipment, and better yet, the crew left on board the pirate ship wouldn’t realize, with any luck, that they were being boarded until the last possible minute.

    Ty had secured the comm codes necessary to dock with the ship and all went off without a hitch, until they hit the hangar. Mike offloaded with the first group of troopers, only to meet heavy resistance. This was no skeleton crew.

    It wasn’t the full contingent of pirates, but this crew was more battle-ready than Mike would have liked. Apparently their captain routinely ordered any and all approaching shuttles to be greeted with maximum firepower, and this was no exception. The bloodthirsty bastards opened fire the moment they saw the battle armor. Their own crew wouldn’t be armored and armed, ready for a fight.

    Mike dropped to one knee, laying down suppression fire as best he could while his troopers swarmed around him, searching out covered positions. They leapfrogged their way across the hangar, suffering a few casualties, but nothing life-threatening thanks to their superior armor. Mike’s own armor took a few hits, but he was leading the charge, in the thick of the fighting.

    God, how he’d missed this!

    Being in command was a deep seated need, but there was something about putting your own life on the line that fired adrenaline like nobody’s business. Mike had worked his way up, fighting and then leading as he learned and excelled. He hadn’t been in combat in far too long. Not that he relished bloodshed, but he felt a sense of purpose on the battlefield that was all too often lost in the offices of command. Here he knew clearly who the good guys and the bad guys were.

    In this case, the bad guys were jits. Kidnappers and slavers, these men were scum and Mike had no qualms about blowing them away when they tried to do the same to him.

    ****

    Leah sat in Smithson’s old command chair, working steadily, when a comm interrupted on a private channel. Leah motioned her comm tech to record and punched the receive button.

    “Where’s Smithson?” The pirate captain looked angry. Very different from the over-the-top barbarian she’d met earlier. He didn’t seem to recognize her at first—until she smiled. “You!”

    “Colonel Leah Blackfoot of Sector Command.” She nodded her head politely, while the pirate sat back, clearly shocked. “You’re under arrest, Captain. You and your men are ordered to stand down immediately and surrender your ship to the forces already on board your ship.”

    The man stared at her for so long, she wasn’t sure what he might do. Then he started to laugh, shaking his head as a grudging sort of respect entered his eyes.

    “You’re good, Lilla. Or should I say, Colonel? You had me fooled. I was scrutinizing the men when all along I should have suspected the girl. Damn, but you’ve got brass balls, woman!” Leah had to stifle a laugh. “What happened to Smithson?”

    “She’s currently enjoying the hospitality of the brig. I’d be delighted if you’d join her.”

    “A captain never surrenders his ship.”

    Leah watched the door behind the man open over the comm. She thought she recognized the big build of the two soldiers who entered first. It had to be Ty and Michael. The pirate captain saw them as he turned—too late to get off a shot.

    “Looks like you don’t need to surrender, Captain. You’ve been taken honorably in battle.”

    “You’re a worthy adversary, Colonel.” He bowed his head, surrendered his weapon and spoke a few words in his own tongue she didn’t quite follow as Michael and Ty cuffed him and passed him over to the waiting troopers.

    One of the armored men stepped forward to face the screen and nodded as a transmission came through over the headset all members of the operation wore.

    “We’ve secured the ship and will be heading back shortly.” Michael’s voice came through loud and clear. Leah had never felt so relieved. He was alive and he sounded just as in control and strong as he always did, though his armor was blackened in places. He’d taken a few hits, but looked like he was moving all right to Leah’s eyes.

    “Glad to hear it, Commandant. We’ll leave the light on for you.”

    “Good work, Colonel.” Did she hear a hint of pride in his voice? She wasn’t sure, but the approval felt good. “We’ll be there shortly. I’ll meet you in Smithson’s quarters. Bring your best evidence team. I want to see what we can learn from her belongings. If this crime ring goes any further, I want to know it. I’ll also need a second evidence team to comb this ship for information.”

    They’d discussed this earlier and Leah knew Ty would be staying on board to help gather evidence from the pirate ship. He knew the codes and language of the jits better than anyone.

    “Ready and waiting for your arrival, sir.”

    “You’re the best, Leah. We’ll see you in two standards.”

    ****

    Michael met Leah in the hallway in front of Smithson’s private quarters. There was a team of women behind her, or he would have dragged her into his arms for the homecoming kiss he really wanted. Aside from that, he was still in full armor and he wouldn’t be able to enjoy her soft body against him as much as he wanted. No, the hug could wait until they were alone. For now.

    She reached up to help him with the fastenings on his helmet without being asked and then they were face to face. There was so much he wanted to say, but he wasn’t free to speak his mind. Not yet.

    The moment would come soon. He’d had time to think while he was out on this mission, time to realize what was important and what wasn’t. Leah. She was what mattered most to him. She mattered more than any person he’d ever known, any woman he’d ever bedded, anyone, anywhere.

    “Good to see you safely returned, sir.” Her eyes spoke more than her words and Michael read every nuance.

    “Good to be back. Are we ready, Colonel?”

    “Yes, sir.” She turned to the evidence team behind her, signaling them to begin recording. “Override codes, sir?”

    Michael did his part, entering the command codes unique to him that allowed access to all parts of any station or base under his command. The doors to Smithson’s private domain opened after a moment and specialized members of the evidence team entered first, lest the place be boobytrapped. When the initial guard called the all-clear, Michael and Leah entered, observing as the team tapped into Smithson’s personal files.

    “Encrypted media here, sir, and lots of it,” one of the techs called. Michael walked over to investigate while Leah continued to assist with the initial search of Smithson’s personal effects.