Command Decision (Project Gliese 581g #1) (17 page)

“Move,” Pack ordered with a dark scowl.

Josh shook his head. “I’m sorry about what happened to your father and Jesup. If I had known that my presence would have jeopardized them in any way, I wouldn’t have stayed. The fact is, I didn’t. I also can’t change the past.”

“Your presence has already devastated my family,” Pack snarled under his breath. “Instead of turning yourself in to the Legion or parting ways, you drag Cassa into it as well. I don’t know where you came from, but you need to return to it.”

“I can’t,” Josh muttered, a flash of regret darkening his gaze. “It isn’t that simple. Even if I could, I wouldn’t leave without my crew… or Cassa.”

“My sister isn’t going anywhere with you,” Pack growled, reaching out and grabbing the front of Josh’s shirt.

Josh immediately gripped Pack’s wrists and twisted, throwing the young man off balance as he reversed their position. He stepped closer, pushing Pack back against the wall across from the cabin. He wouldn’t let the man wake Cassa.

“Listen to me,” Josh snapped in a harsh, soft tone. “I may be stuck in your world, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself and your sister. I knew nothing about the Legion until the other day. They brought the fight to me, not the other way around. I don’t back down – ever. If they want a war, I’ll give them a fucking war. I’m sorry about what happened to Jemar and Jesup. If I could change what happened, I would. You need to understand that fighting with me isn’t going to bring them back, though, it will only accomplish two things; hurt Cassa and get us all killed. I won’t let either one of those things happen. If you can’t get your head out of your ass and understand that, then get out of the way.”

Josh stared intently into Pack’s eyes. He needed Pack to understand that he wasn’t playing a game. He was serious. The Legion had declared war on everything that Josh held dear and he wasn’t the type of man to back down from a fight, especially after his night with Cassa.

Pack finally gave him a stiff nod and slumped back against the wall. Josh released him and stepped back. Glancing at the door to his and Cassa’s cabin, he was thankful that she was still resting.

“Come on,” Josh muttered. “Let’s go find Hutu. You can still try to kick my butt during the training. That might help some.”

Pack hesitated a moment before he gave Josh a look of uncertainty. “Is it true that my father was training you?” He asked in a quiet voice.

Josh’s lips tugged up at the corner. “Yeah, I did well against him, but your sister… Well, let’s just say she kicked my butt pretty good,” he replied.

A reluctant smile curved Pack’s lips in response. “She was always better than me, too,” he muttered.

Josh chuckled and shook his head. “Let’s go,” he said, feeling the release of tension in the other man.

*.*.*

Several days later, Josh leaned back against the bulkhead breathing heavily. His gaze roamed over Cassa as she and Pack fought. He absently rubbed his wrist where she had hit him.

“She is good,” Hutu murmured in approval, his gaze following the two siblings. “Jemar did well in his training.”

“Yes, he did,” Josh replied with a grimace as he felt another bruise beginning to form.

An alarm briefly echoed through the ship. With a sigh, Hutu pushed against the side with a wince of his own. He chuckled when Hutu rubbed his left hip, Cassa had flipped the old Knight more than once.

“We have reached the outer rim of Torrian. We’ll have to proceed with caution. The area is thick with Legion forces. General Landais’ Battle Cruiser has taken up a position near the third moon. We’ll come in on the far side. Have you programmed in the signal we are looking for?” Hutu asked.

Josh nodded. “Yes, though it is getting close to the end of the period for the life support, the signal will continue to transmit anywhere from forty-five to sixty days. It is like a black box on an airplane,” he explained.

“I will trust you to know,” Hutu replied with a shake of his head at the unfamiliar terms.

Josh climbed the narrow steps into the cockpit of the transport and slid into the co-pilot’s seat. He reached for the scanner that Hutu had shown him how to use. Punching in the code, a small blip showed up.

“There it is,” he said, pointing to the location.

“Mm, that is located in the desert region. There are numerous nomad tribes that live in that area. This will make it slightly more difficult for General Landais’ troops,” Hutu said in approval.

“Won’t that make it more difficult for us as well?” Josh asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hutu shook his head and shot Josh a wry grin. “Not if a native of the planet is the one guiding you,” he informed Josh. “Welcome to my home world.”

Josh stared for a moment at Hutu before he looked down at the scanner. He wondered vaguely which member of the crew they would find – and if whoever was in the emergency pod survived. Each pod was marked with a number. He had been in Pod Four; while Ash had been in Pod Two, Julia in Pod Three, Mei in Pod One, and Sergi in Pod Five.

Releasing the breath he didn’t realize he was holding, he forced himself to remember that he had survived. It was quite possible the others had as well. He listened to Hutu explaining the different regions and species that inhabited the planet. The first view of the planet appeared in the distance. It was slightly larger than the Earth and two-thirds of it was covered in water. For all the water, more than one third of the planet was a desert with most of the inhabitants living in the arid regions.

“While the top is covered in sand and rock, under the desert fresh water rivers are abundant,” Hutu was saying.

“Where do most of the inhabitants live?” Josh asked, staring at the large blue and tan planet as they drew closer.

“Some have built homes on the surface, some live along the cliffs of the sandstone mountains, while a few have taken refuge under the sands to build their cities,” Hutu explained. “My people are from the underground city. It is much cooler there.”

“I can imagine,” Josh murmured, staring at the brightly lit surface. “What are the temperature ranges?”

Hutu shrugged. “Anywhere from below freezing at night to hot enough to boil your blood during the day. Special clothing helps to keep that from happening. Having the right kind of skin is also useful," he commented, holding up a dark red arm.

*.*.*

Several hours later, Josh lifted a scanner to his eyes. He lay on the hot sand and searched the horizon. In the distance, he could see several large space ships. They were twice the size of Hutu’s ship.

“
There is at least four of them,” Hutu snorted. “It looks like search teams have already departed the ship. There are only a few soldiers guarding them.”

“The signal I’ve got is coming from the east,” Josh noted, glancing down at the tracking device Hutu had programmed in his hand.

“That area is filled with deep canyons,” Hutu replied, sliding back down the sand dune. “I need to meet with some of the resistance stationed here. It will be too dangerous for the three of you to come with me. We won’t have much time. Pack has been here before. Jemar allowed him to travel with me one summer. It is imperative that I meet with my contacts while we are here, especially with General Landais’ presence on the planet.”

“We’ll find the pod and return to the ship,” Josh replied with a nod.

“I will meet you back there in three days. That should give all of us enough time to finish our business,” Hutu said.

“Be safe, Hutu,” Cassa murmured, stepping up to hug the old Knight. “You are in just as much danger as the rest of us.”

Hutu chuckled and squeezed Cassa before releasing her. “Yes, but I blend in here better than you do. Three days,” he said again with a nod before he turned and began moving away at a swift jog.

Josh watched in appreciation at how easily the man moved across the sand. Even though it was still early morning, the temperature was already beginning to rise. The long sleeves and hat that Hutu had given each of them would help keep them cool, but it would still be dangerous if they were caught out in the middle of the day. They would need to reach the canyons by then to find the cooler shadows cast by the high walls.

“Let’s go,” Josh said with a nod to Pack. “You lead. Cassa and I will follow behind you.”

Pack nodded and headed across the sand to two land skids. Josh adjusted the cover over his head to shield his face before pulling down the protective goggles. He waited for Cassa and Pack to do the same.

Sliding on to the land skid, he fired it up and waited until Cassa had wrapped her arms securely around his waist before depressing the accelerator. The land skid zipped across the sand. The terrain was relatively flat, making the journey easier. Further up they would encounter a rockier terrain that would slow them down.

“The reading is still strong,” Cassa said through the communication device attached to their ears. “Turn more to the Northwest.”

Pack adjusted his track to follow the directions that Cassa called out. It took close to two hours before they reached the outer rim of the deep canyons that extended out from the desert. It turned out to be just in time when Cassa hissed a warning in their ear.

“Legion scouts,” she muttered, glancing over her shoulder. “We need to find cover.”

“There is a section of rock just ahead,” Pack responded in a grim voice. “I think it is wide enough to hide the land skids underneath.”

Both men leaned forward, pushing the land skids to their maximum speed. They barely slowed in time before they slipped under the large rock overhang. Sliding off the land skids, they quickly grabbed the sand colored covers. The three of them worked quickly to cover the land skids so that they were camouflaged.

Kneeling under the cover, they peered through the thin fabric as two large scout ships flew closer. Josh felt Cassa press up against him, her hand gripping the long range blaster in her left hand.

“The cover should shield us from any scans,” she whispered.

Josh’s lips curved up and he raised an eyebrow at the blaster. Her lips twitched in response. She pulled her gaze from him and back to the two ships.

“Even if it didn’t, I know how lethal you can be with one of those,” he replied in a soft voice, focusing on the twin ships. “I’m glad.”

Warmth twisted his gut when he felt her briefly press her lips against his shoulder. This woman continued to amaze him. His gaze followed the ships as they passed overhead. They waited until they couldn’t hear the rumble of the scouts before they carefully crawled out from under the overhang.

“We’ll have to go on foot from here,” Pack said, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. “Hutu never brought me beyond this point. He did give me a map showing a way down, though. He said we needed to keep an eye out for the Canyon Dwellers. They are a tribe that live in different sections of the canyons. They aren’t very welcoming to strangers.”

Josh grimaced. It looked like they were in for hostile encounters both above and below. Striding after Pack and Cassa, he glanced in the distance at the Scout ships. He grimly hoped that they didn’t return before they found the emergency pod.

Chapter 17

Josh wiped the sweat from his brow and took a drink from his canteen. His gaze swept the high walls of the canyon. It had taken them almost an hour to get to the bottom of the first layer of canyons.

“Hutu said there should be shallow springs or a water source located inside the various caves that dot the area,” Cassa said as she sat down next to him on a low rock.

“How much further to the signal?” Josh asked, glancing at the scanner in Cassa’s hand.

Cassa handed it to him. “Just over a kilometer, but that doesn’t mean much in this area. It is good that the frequency of the signal changed after it landed. Hopefully, General Landais won’t be aware of that. All he has is the initial signal that he was tracking,” she replied with a tired sigh.

Josh shifted the scanner to his other hand and reached over to gently grasp Cassa’s fingers in his. He could feel the roughness from years of work, but instead of finding it unattractive, he found it gave him a deeper respect for her. He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of her fingers.

“You are an incredible woman,” he said in a quiet voice.

Cassa’s gaze softened. “I never thought to find a man I would want to spend my life with until I met you,” she murmured, turning her gaze to focus on the long, winding canyon. “After our mother was killed, I didn't really have time. Jes… Jesup was so young and needed me.” Her voice faltered and thickened when she spoke of her younger brother. She pulled her hand free and angrily wiped at her eyes. “It didn’t help that so many of the young men and women were leaving to join either the resistance or the Legion. The only thing that saved Pack from being taken by the Legion forces was that he was with Hutu that summer. They left me alone as there was no one to take care of Jesup. Father was still away at the time.”

Josh reached over and cupped her cheek. He leaned forward, brushing his lips against her slightly parted ones when she turned her head toward him. A soft sound escaped Cassa and she opened for him, allowing him to deepen the kiss. The firm pressure of her lips against his pulled an instant reaction from him. This again was a foreign feeling to anything he had experienced before. A silent curse escaped him and he pulled back.

“We need to find Pack,” he murmured, rising from his seat on the rock.

*.*.*

Cassa nodded and stood. She quickly adjusted her headscarf to cover her face and lowered the goggles to protect her eyes. She turned to reach for her rifle, stiffening when she felt a sudden sharp sting to her left hip. A startled cry escaped her, drawing Josh’s attention. His low curse was silenced when his eyes suddenly glazed and he collapsed to the ground beside her. Cassa tried to pull the long, thin dart from her hip even as the world spun dizzily around her.