Daughter of Destiny (26 page)

***

Commander Vrion turned to
make a discreet exit.

"Wait," Zane called out.
"Give us a minute. I’d like to speak with you."

"Yes, sir. I’ll be right
outside."

As soon as Commander Vrion
stepped out, Katarina snatched up her clothes and donned them. Zane
started to get up, determined to find out what the commander
knew.

"Where do you think you’re
going?" Katarina asked.

"Up?"

"Like hell you are. Sit.
I’ll reactivate that annoying droid and have him sedate you again
if I have to. Hell, if I hadn't deactivated him earlier he probably
would have knocked you right back out the minute you woke up." Zane
raised his hands in surrender and let her tuck the blanket firmly
around him and fluff his thin pillow. She stared at him for a
moment. "I wasn't sure you'd come back," she whispered.

Zane met her stare and
lifted on hand and cupped her cheek. He knew she didn't meant going
back to Earth, but the mist that had trapped him. Without their
bond he suspected he might have remained locked in his mind
forever. "I'm here, thanks to you." He let his hand fall. "You can
come back in now, Commander."

Commander Vrion re-entered
the med bay. He saluted. "Captain."

Zane waved a hand
dismissing it. "I’m not an active officer anymore. Just call me
Zane."

"If you insist. My name is
Re’lool Vrion."

"I’d like to thank you for
getting me out of there."

Vrion's eyes widened in
surprise, flicked to Katarina and then back to Zane. "You’d best
thank your wife. I had very little to do with it."

Zane turned back to her.
"You? How? What?" Zane jolted upright, brushing her off when she
attempted to keep him horizontal. "Kraghak! What were you thinking
letting a pregnant civilian lead a rescue operation in a hostile
environment?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake,
Zane, there was no rescue op. Just me, okay? If I hadn’t taken a
risk, you’d be dead right now instead of sitting comfortably in bed
acting all macho." She gestured toward the commander. "It’s not
like he could have stopped me even if he wanted to."

Vrion winced, but nodded at
her declaration. "A wise individual doesn’t countermand a person
with as much power as your wife."

Zane ran a hand through the
short bristle of hair on his head. For half a second the lack of
long hair confused him. His mind flashed back to that room and the
smell of burnt hair filled his nostrils. He shook his head to get
rid of the image. "What exactly happened, Katarina?"

"I located you, shifted
space, disabled your guard, and got you out. That’s all there was
to it."

Vrion snorted. Zane heaved
a sigh. "What's the unedited version, Commander?"

"Your wife traversed
light-years of space using nothing more than her mind. She disabled
and stopped just short of killing the Goloth soldier torturing you,
and she never even touched him. She blew up all of the equipment in
the room as well. Her hand acted exactly like a phaser. I’ve never
seen anything like it in my life. Then, she transported us all back
here. She stood at your side for three hours while the droid
treated your wounds."

With every word that came
out of Vrion's mouth, Zane felt Katarina pulling away and into
herself. Zane reached out and grabbed her hand. He waited for her
eyes to meet his. "I thought we got passed this. I love every
magnificent inch of you, phaser hands and all," he said in English
and tacked on the grin he knew rattled her thoughts.

She melted against him.
"It's just so hard to believe. I keep thinking I'll wake up and
realize I dreamed all of this."

"I'm no dream. As you
pointed out, I have what you called a macho streak that I won't
erase no matter how much you may want me to. You're mine to cherish
and protect. That's how it works and I make no
apologies."

"I won't be
coddled."

"Cherish. There's a
difference."

She brushed a kiss against
his lips. "At least you don't snore."

Zane grinned as the tension
between them melted away. They were getting better at working
through their issues.
I'm almost domesticated.
Katarina's
amusement echoed in his head and he wanted to just lie down next to
her and forget about the rest of the universe.

A discreet cough reminded
he needed to finish assessing the situation before giving in to the
exhaustion that crept in out of nowhere and made his eyelids heavy.
He rested his head on the top of Katarina's head. At least that way
it didn't appear to Vrion that he no longer had the energy to hold
up his own damn head. "What did you put in your report?"

The commander addressed
Katarina rather than Zane. "I just got General Xu’s response. You
were right. He said nothing about extracting the captain. A fleet
is being sent to Earth to intercept the Goloths, but he was most
adamant that I bring you in."

"That little green shit,"
Zane growled. Anger and adrenaline provided a brief surge of
energy.

"Your wife asked me not to
mention your rescue." Awkward silence lingered as Vrion failed to
say anything else.

"Because I broke half a
dozen laws by planning to return to Earth," Zane stated the truth
that no one else wanted to say.

Vrion fiddled with his
uniform. "Yes, sir."

"If I go back to Yopmar
they'll execute me. Never mind that Earth isn't a pristine
civilization."

"What do you mean?" Vrion
asked.

"Me." Katarina
said.

"Not just you, love. Me as
well. Humans like me, and even you, Commander, all trace our
lineage to Earth. Katarina is only half human, which means someone
other than IGC has visited in recent years, so in my opinion that
makes the damned laws null and void. IGC laws do not apply to
non-affiliated worlds."

"That may be, but you are
an IGC citizen."

"I'm Braag. Since when have
the Braag ever been claimed by IGC?"

Vrion frowned. "I
understand your logic, but it may not protect you or her." He
looked at Katarina and then messed with the lower portion of his
uniform again and Zane notice something that at first fueled that
macho male temper Katarina didn't like. Then rational thought
reminded him that the man in front of him likely felt far more
discombobulated than the average male. He took mercy on the man and
ignored his semi-aroused state.

"I'm very sorry for both of
you."

"Thanks for the sentiment,
but I'm not ready to surrender. Kat and I will think of
something."

Vrion nodded. "I hope you
do. In any case I’ve managed to keep your presence hidden from
Private Driglok so I don’t want him wandering back here looking for
me. He’s a
quizark,
but even he might take notice of an
extra passenger." Vrion turned and left Zane and Kat
alone.

As soon as the commander
left, Zane slumped back onto the bed. Katarina brushed his cheek
and ran a soothing hand down his arm as his eyes drifted
shut.

"You came and got me,
right?"

"Yes." Katarina answered
him out loud.

"While I pass out again,
consider using that handy skill to get us off this
ship."

***

Vrion fled to his quarters,
silently giving thanks that neither Katarina nor Zane noticed
anything amiss. Warm heat flushed his entire body, especially his
genitalia. The unaccustomed stretch of tissue caused a burning ache
he had to relieve. Seeing them like that and catching that small
glimpse of Katarina's naked back and full breasts succeeded
triggering human genes he didn't even realize worked. Embarrassed
and in pain, he gave thanks when Zane finally wrapped up the
conversation. He climbed into his bunk and latched the privacy
curtain. He stripped off his uniform, hitting his elbow on the wall
in the tight confines. The rough material aggravated the condition
and irritated the sensitive skin. The close association with humans
and other species provided him with the knowledge of what was wrong
with his, something he never would have known on his home planet.
Hell, as far as he knew, full-blooded Goulals didn't even have
random hard-ons. From what he understood, they only became aroused
with their biochemically compatible partner, and only when she was
fertile, and sometimes it took a hit of medicinal aids to
accomplish even that.
Yeah, because having sex in a lab is oh so
romantic, which of course is why most Goulals look at me like I'm
insane. Romance isn't even something they
comprehend.

He lay down and grasped his
engorged phallus. He tried not to think of Katarina, but she was
the only female yet to stir his blood. It didn't take much friction
to send him into his first orgasm. He moaned and he bucked into his
hands, gained new understanding of humans and the vast majority of
species that took pleasure in the act of creation. In that moment
he realized he planned to assist Katarina and Zane in any possible
way they asked. Zane did not deserve to die because he fell in
love. Vrion held Katarina in awe, and for that alone he was willing
to set aside his oath to IGCF. He could well imagine the lengths to
which Zane might go. He didn't know what Xu had planned for the
Gratigs, but regulations suggested, but if he went by regulations,
an entire family would die. Vrion could not stomach that
possibility.

***

Swirling in a fog that laid
somewhere between sleep and consciousness, something called to
Katarina. It reverberated through her being, touching her in every
imaginable sense: physically, emotionally, and psychically all at
once, but not entirely on any one level. The fog lifted and images
flashed through her mind. She saw stone monoliths from the Celtic
land of her ancestors, the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, Mayan and
Incan ruins, and other ancient sites she recognized as ritual
places of power. The images repeated themselves over and over,
faster and faster. Voices in tongues she did not recognize
whispered in the background. Her blood sang with the power in those
voices. The voices merged into one voice of many layers.

"The time for awakening is
here. The ancient blood of the Sidhe, Celts, Druids, and Mage flows
through your veins. You will be the light of guidance through the
darkness to come. Behold, a new era is dawning for humankind and
Tuatha De' Dannan!"

When the vision ended
Katarina's eyes snapped open and she stared at the smooth gray
duratanium ceiling. She laid still, her heart racing and her mind
replaying the images and message. The power she normally had to
summon now flowed freely, not as if it wanted release, but as if a
damn burst allowing free circulation. She repeated part of the
message aloud. "You will be the light of guidance through the
darkness to come." A sick feeling grew in her gut. "Great, just
fucking great."

Naia and Robert stepped out
of a helicopter into blistering desert heat. "Do you think this is
the infamous Area 51?" Robert asked.

Naia looked around. A low
metal building covered in camouflage stood in the middle of a vast
desert as far as she could see. "They wouldn’t be that cliché,
would they?"

"It could just as well be a
normal base, Hon."

Naia said a silent prayer
of thanks that the roar of the helicopter rotors covered most of
Robert's comment. Several hours back, the agents handed them off to
a silent hulking guard who watched over them during the helicopter
ride.

The guy motioned with his
automatic rifle and Robert and Naia hurried toward the building as
the helio rotors slowed to a stop. "Hey, Rambo." Robert dodged the
elbow Naia aimed at him and continued, "What’s this base called?
Where are we?"

"That information is
classified."

Robert parroted the
soldier, "That information is classified." He whispered to Naia,
"Should I rattle off my classification status?"

"No. Stop pissing off the
people with guns."

Robert just laughed and
draped an arm over her shoulder. As they entered a large hangar
with another helicopter parked inside. The guard motioned with his
gun toward the bank of elevators. Naia halted in her tracks,
jerking Robert to a stop as a wave of energy flowed through her,
leaving a lingering hum even after it passed. The breath that
Robert sucked in told her he felt it as well. Naia glanced at their
escort. He paused for only a fraction of a second and then
continued on as if nothing happened.

Robert nudged her with his
arm and they resumed walking. He whispered, "What in hell was that,
and why do I feel like I’ve just gotten plugged into a light
socket?"

Naia whispered back, "I
have no idea. Mister Drone here seems to have shrugged it off. Some
secret government force field maybe?"

"Hmm."

They stepped inside the
elevator with the guard following up the rear. Naia silently
seconded Robert's doubt. The guard swiped a card and keyed in a
floor and the elevator dropped so fast her feet left the floor for
half a second. The elevator doors opened on a bustling hive of
activity. A general with stars on his uniform stood on a metal
balcony above the workstations and called out orders as quickly as
reports were voiced.