Take Her to HeVan (Nephilim Book 6) (22 page)

“You don’t blame me for letting him get away? I know I should have been more vigilant.”

Korat got up from his chair and walked over to where he could see Karlo was waiting for their censure. He put a hand on Karlo’s shoulder. “None of us believed there was a threat. Many of us, Dax and Dray included, believed the Commander was overreacting. They would never have gone on a picnic if they thought there was real danger. We discovered Hend had placed explosives on the station before he ever got into that shuttle with you. I’m just surprised he didn’t use the shuttle’s defenses to fire on the station. He could have caused much more damage; possibly so severe, we couldn’t repair it. A direct hit to the gate controls would have stranded us. With our own weapons off-line and the fire in the launch bay, we could do nothing.”

“I locked out the weapons systems,” Karlo said in a quiet voice.

The brothers both looked at him in shock. His actions had saved them all. Korat pulled Karlo into a hug and pounded him on the back. “Thank the Goddess! Why did you?” Manx asked him. “It wasn’t protocol.”

Korat led him to the empty commander’s chair, used when the pilot’s
Join
was flying with them. Karlo sat and then looked out the view screen at the stars; he could see Mars growing nearer.

“Haven’t you ever noticed that the female Nephilim from Earth have special abilities? I will always remember the first time I saw Heidi in the arboretum; with only her mind, she had a plant squeeze months of growth into a few minutes. Suzanna is the same, only her gift is different. When she developed such a profound dislike of the Councilman so quickly, I felt there must be a reason, so I acted accordingly. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the foresight to also lock out the navigation systems.”

“The Goddess steered your hand. Had you locked out navigation, you would not have met your
Join
,” said Manx in a serious voice.

Karlo nodded his head. He finally let the guilt fall away from his shoulders. “Charl has Marla wrapped up in his arms and there isn’t room for me. How about dealing me in? I’ve always enjoyed a game of Fizzbin.”

Laughing, Manx gathered up the cards from the game with his brother and re-dealt them.

Halfway to Far Star Station, Marla decided space travel would be very boring if it weren’t for Karlo and Charl. There wasn’t much to do as the transport vessel wasn’t set up for carrying passengers for trips more than a month and usually carried freight.

Luckily, there were some movies left by the women from the gate and both Karlo and Charl took turns showing her really interesting stuff out in space. She became friends with the four warriors taking turns piloting the craft.

The most surprising thing during the trip was the food. She had been expecting foil packets of beef flavored goo. The first day, she had cheesy scrambled eggs with toast for breakfast and a really lovely Chicken Alfredo for lunch. What made it even better was she didn’t have to do the dishes because everything was put into a recycler.

They made plans for the future and told stories about their growing up years, all the things couples did. Once Marla was assured of their privacy, the three of them had a lot of honeymoon sex. For Marla did consider this trip her honeymoon. She knew they wouldn’t get another chance to take a trip this long when they got back. It was part of owning animals. They needed to be cared for every day, rain or shine…or blizzard.

When they approached the station, Karlo asked the pilot to fly around the station. He wanted to see for himself the damage Hend had caused.

Marla was trying to find a way to distract him, he seemed so sad. “Hey, Karlo, why did you guys make such a big deal about leaving Earth right away? We had to wait for a shuttle to come and get us anyway.”

He turned to her, and pulling her into his arms, tucked her against him. Resting his head over hers, Karlo kissed the top before answering her. “We have a base on the dark side of the moon. In the event of an emergency, we would have requested help from there.”

“What’s the base for?” she asked, wondering why they felt it was necessary.

“If the governments on Earth found out about us and started hunting, we have the ability to evacuate all of our people very quickly. While it is not as well equipped as the one on the station, there is a small medical facility on the base. If your condition had been life threatening, we would have taken you there. Going to the gate gets you well. It also gives Charl and me a chance to report to our commander and officially request to be relieved of duty. Then we can clear out our personal belongings from our quarters.”

“I get it now. This trip is all about getting you two out of trouble. You’re both AWOL,” she teased.

“AWOL?”

“Absent without leave, it’s a term used by our military for when soldiers fail to report for their assigned duty.”

“I see. Well, I am AWOL. Let’s hope I don’t get tossed in detention for it.”

Marla pinched his waist to let him know she wasn’t falling for that. Giving him an extra squeeze, she went to gather up all her belongings and make sure they didn’t leave anything behind. Looking around, she gave a thought to how quickly she’d grown used to space travel. She smiled, remembering the day she’d asked the guys to turn off the gravity so they could reenact their Joining flight. Her skin grew flushed at the memory, so she waved her hand at her face.

That’s how Karlo and Charl found her, with pinkened cheeks and slumberous eyes. They were only sorry they didn’t have time to act on the evidence of Marla’s arousal.

“We need to strap in for docking,” said Charl.

Letting go of her salacious thoughts
—
after all, they would have another week of flying time on the way back to Earth
—
Marla let Charl strap her into her seat. He actually laughed when she reached over to cop a feel during the process. When he looked at her face, she tried to look innocent and ended up laughing with him.

“Well, I don’t want to be the only one looking forward to sexy times,” she said.

“Don’t be nervous about the medical procedure. Really, you’ll be fine,” Charl said, knowing she was nervous and trying to distract her.

Cocking an eyebrow at him, she answered, “You could have left me to my little distractions, you know.”

“Little? I thought I provided a large distraction,” he responded as he got into his own seat. Karlo entered the cabin to find his brother and his
Beleti
, or Lady, laughing. Hearing it made him smile and forget his sadness over the lost lives for a moment.

Marla was stepping down from the shuttle, when she looked up from the floor of the docking bay. She was surprised to see so many people crowded into the space. When Karlo exited just behind her, a loud roar went up. Marla shrunk next to him, not understanding what was happening. Were they being attacked?

Karlo was stunned. Never had he expected to be given such a welcome. Manx came up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder. “Well done, warrior! We honor you and your sacrifice.”

“I don’t understand. I did so little,” he said in wonderment.

“You did what no other could have done. Accept their thanks,” said Charl.

Karlo took a step forward and going down on one knee, raised his hands palms up. “I live to serve my people. I accept your appreciation,” he said and then bowed his head as another roar filled the docking bay, bouncing off the walls.

Charl, with the help of Manx and Korat, gathered up the baggage, giving Karlo time to meet with each warrior and clasp arms.

“Karlo is going to be awhile; many here had thought him dead and are happy to have him restored. We’ll get settled in our cabin and then I’ll take you to medical. Then you can stop worrying about it,” Charl told Marla.

“I want both of you there when the doctors do whatever they’re going to do,” she said.

Marla wasn’t at all happy about leaving Karlo behind. There was no way she was going to let some alien doctor poke at her without all her backup in place. Markus was different, he poked at her on Earth, and… it was different!

Marla had finished unpacking her clothes when Karlo arrived at their cabin. She was happy to see his earlier sadness gone.

“Are you going to be impossible to live with now?” she asked him.

A look of confusion crossed his face. “Did I do something wrong? Is there something you want me to change?” Karlo asked.

Marla walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I mean, now that you’re a big hero and everything, is your ego all swollen?”

“No, but something else is. Are you offering to see to my problem?” he asked her with a leer.

“No time for that,” Charl interrupted. “We need to take her to medical for her appointment; we’re expected.”

“Party pooper,” she said and then gathered up her purse because you never knew when you’d need something from your bag.

Upon opening the door to the corridor, the three of them stopped short. Standing outside with a hand raised to knock or ring
—
or whatever they did on space stations
—
stood a woman and two men.

Karlo immediately went down on one knee and Charl followed his actions.

“They keep doing that,” said Marla.

“Rise, warriors,” said the woman in a clear voice.

Then she ruined the commanding effect by leaning forward and whispering to Marla. “I thought I had gotten them to stop. Just goes to show, they still need training. I hear you’ve been elected.”

She then went back to her former position.

“So, Karlo, you don’t call, you don’t write. Oh, what the hell,” she said before reaching out to hug him. “We thought we’d lost you. I don’t like losing members of my crew. I was going to report you for being AWOL,” she said with a watery smile.

“You can stop hugging him now,” said one of the men. He turned to Marla with a smile. “Hello, you must excuse my
Beleti
. She is pregnant and very emotional. My name is Jeze Aram and this is my brother, Tyr. We are
Ankida
to Suzanna.”

“Um, hello? I mean, won’t you come in?” Marla asked, unsure of the protocol.

“Marla has an appointment in medical; we were just on our way there,” said Charl after he regained his feet.

“Actually, we knew that. That’s the other reason why we’re here. I figured Marla would like another woman around, so we’re going with you,” said Suzanna, smiling now at Marla.

The six of them then turned down the corridor, the four men following behind the two women, as Suzanna gave Marla information about the gate station she thought she should know.

Several times they could see people working on panels as they passed by, though they stayed away from the most damaged areas of the station. Behind them, Jeze and Tyr caught up Charl and Karlo on everything that had happened in the past few weeks. From Armus Hend’s capture to the arrival and subsequent departure of Justyn and the two KowLer star ships. It would take another two weeks for all the repairs to be completed and then the station would be back to full working order.

When they reached the medical bay, Marla couldn’t help but feel anxious. After all, it was her heart that was damaged. Were they going to give her a pill or perform open heart surgery? Yes, Markus had explained it all, but she didn’t understand half of what he said and she wasn’t paying attention the other half of the time. She was doing a really good job of denying the problem even existed and wasn’t at all happy she was now going to have to face the issue.

Marla slowed her walk as they approached the door in the corridor Suzanna had pointed out was the medical bay. Karlo bumped into her back when she stopped completely.

“What’s wrong?” Karlo asked.

“I know I put on a good show, but I’m actually a tiny bit nervous about this,” replied Marla.

“We’ll be with you the whole time. I promise,” said Karlo, stepping in front of her so she could see his face. Charl came up behind her so she was surrounded.

“I haven’t seen the whole station yet. Maybe we should finish the tour first and then come back after,” Marla said, trying to buy some time.

“You’re only a tiny bit nervous because you don’t know what’s going to happen, exactly, so we’ll go inside and talk to the medical. After everything is explained to your satisfaction, then you can decide what you want to do, okay?” said Karlo.

Marla looked at Karlo, then back at Charl, and then around at the others waiting patiently for her and knew she couldn’t back out of this. “Okay.”

They went in as a group and the medical officer came forward with a smile on his face. “Hello, you must be Marla. I’m Medical Officer Birman. How was your first visit off-planet?”

“It depends; are you going to do something that’s going to hurt?” she asked.

“Not at all
—
in fact, I can guarantee you won’t feel a thing. Why don’t you come over to the med-bed? Your
Ankida
can come with you, if you want.”

He led them to an examination area and gestured to the med-bed. Beds were one thing that appeared the same everywhere she’d been so far. With Charl’s help, she got up and then lay down on the bed.

“That’s fine. Now, I’ve looked at the scans Markus took. I’m going to take a second scan because my scanner’s bigger,” Birman said with a wink.