Ecstasy Bound (11 page)
* * * * *
Torque sat in the control room, waiting for Braden, who had left after getting a message from Brianna. Something was brewing. He recognized un-coded code when he heard it. The problem was, without knowing the subject or question, he couldn’t properly interpret what he’d heard, other than the outcome was apparently not a good one. As soon as his brother returned, he intended to find out exactly what was going on.
Until then he’d concentrate on their main problem.
They needed to come up with a way to launch the orbiters without flooding the chamber with the outside poisonous gases. The Lair would have been able to handle such a problem. They would just seal off the launch areas, but this underground shelter wasn’t as sophisticated in its equipment and setup. It should have been upgraded long ago. But like most things, nothing had been done because it hadn’t yet been needed.
Now it was too late.
Laszlo had suggested using the decontamination room, which was airtight.
Probably their best bet. But it contained no internal controls—everything was controlled externally from the control room. They’d need to wire and install a system panel inside the room so he was working on the specifications now.
He paused to look toward the monitors. All shut down. He itched to switch them on to search the surface. But at the same time, he couldn’t force himself to do so. She hadn’t survived and he would have to accept it.
Still, his heart rebelled. Tara shouldn’t have died.
After their mother had taken her own life, Tara had been the only one he’d been able to really talk to and not feel judged for his feelings and actions, which even he admitted had been out of control. They’d watched out for each other and had a special relationship all their lives. Now she was gone. Forever. It hurt like hell.
Lately, another woman had been plaguing him. Actually, pleasuring him was a more accurate description. In his dreams. A dark-haired beauty, with a passion and love of sex to match his. He found it odd that she kept making an appearance. But he wasn’t complaining. Fucking her filled him. She allowed him anything and he took everything from her. His sleeping hours seemed the only time now when he really felt at peace.
Well, in truth, not just his sleeping hours, for recently, she had even filled his thoughts when he was awake. He seemed to have very little control of his fantasies with her. Somehow she kept him grounded though, so he felt grateful.
With Xylon destroyed, he’d wondered more than once what would happen to them all. Without a base to call home, either they would have to band together and find a new home or they’d all end up going their separate ways. Never one for community in the past, perhaps because he knew one always existed for him, he now felt the loss more than he ever thought he would.
Braden entered the control room and Torque snapped himself out of his maudlin thoughts. He was the strong one, the invincible one, the older brother who never went soft. And the Warrior who defied authority if it didn’t suit his liking. “Where did you rush off to?”
“I had to secure something.”
Torque studied his brother. Yep. Something was definitely going on. “Anything I should know about?”
“I’ll get with you on it later. For now, let’s figure out this problem with the orbiters.
It’s our only way to get out of here and get everyone rescued.”
* * * * *
Josella stepped out of Braden’s and Alexa’s private quarters. She wouldn’t be needed for a while, so she decided to take some time for herself, though she wouldn’t have minded staying. She loved those little babies and being close to Pitch was a bonus but she also didn’t want to hover after Alexa had told her to take a rest.
As she headed toward the common area, she hesitated. What—
In the corridor at the far end, a passing shadow caught her attention. It had looked like Delemar, whom she realized she hadn’t seen in quite a while. Not even at night when they bedded down. From the start, he’d refused to sleep on the floor mats and usually spent his nights in medical.
She turned the corner and followed him down the corridor, curious as to how he’d been spending his time and where he had been going. When he glanced behind him, her heart clenched and she pressed up against the wall. She shook her head at her reaction. What was she doing? She had as much right to be walking here as he did. He would have no reason to think she was following him.
He disappeared into the ladder well, which went in only one direction. Down. Odd.
Nothing was below but the ships and engineering controls and probably a ton of other machinery. Maybe he had been making himself at home in one of the orbiters. He’d certainly have privacy there, though not much more comfort, given the age of the ships.
They weren’t designed with luxury in mind.
She quietly approached and glanced down the opening. She wasn’t certain if she should go down there or not but curiosity got the better of her. So what if she was spying on him. No harm in that. As long as she didn’t get caught. Carefully, she swung over to the ladder and started down.
As she reached the bottom, she did her best to hold back a sneeze. Dust and grime abounded. She looked in both directions but didn’t see anyone in the dim light. She listened carefully and thought she heard some small clicks, so she headed in that direction. It might just be a piece of equipment but she had to go one way or the other, so it seemed as good a choice as any.
She made her way past row after row of equipment, having no idea of its use. The clicking got louder as she continued on. When she turned a corner, she stopped abruptly and stepped back. There he was, sitting in front of a computer terminal.
She crept closer. The type on the screen was too small. She couldn’t see it. The only thing she was able to make out was a series of letters and numbers in larger type on the top right. FSMF-36.
Delemar suddenly stopped typing. He turned his head to the side and appeared to be listening.
She held her breath until he turned back and continued whatever he was doing.
Silly. He didn’t appear to be doing anything wrong. The other computers were in use, so it was logical for him to seek out the one down in the hole.
From all the typing, he was most likely documenting their experiences down here.
That was part of a Council member’s job—to keep records. She’d leave him to his work.
She eased away and headed back up top.
Braden turned from a panel readout when he heard the sound of boots headed toward the control room. He recognized the unmistakable stride of a male Warrior approaching from the corridor.
An instant later, Erik entered. He came to a stop the moment they made eye contact.
When Braden looked at his best friend, he immediately knew, even before Erik said anything. Something was up. “What’s going on?”
At his question, Torque flipped a switch, then turned from the computer screen. He looked up at Erik. “Damn. Something
has
happened. What is it?”
A grim expression crossed Erik’s face and his gaze flickered a moment between them. “Am I that transparent?”
“The look in your eyes isn’t indicative of someone bringing us good news,” Braden said, alarm bells pealing in his head. “Give me a report.”
“We had an overheat on one of the orbiters.”
“Great,” Braden muttered.
“Which one?” Torque asked.
“The long-range ship.”
Braden scrubbed a hand down his face. That ship needed to be in top shape if they were going to make it to Earth. If they had to divert to the Ice Moon to find and equip another long-range orbiter, the delay could be costly. For everyone.
There was no guarantee that any long-range ships were even available and operational on the Ice Moon. If no ships were available, no force of Warriors could be quickly organized to join their existing force on Earth to help fight the Egesa, who already had a large head start on them if everything Laszlo had said was true.
With their communications grid destroyed, he doubted the Warriors currently on Earth would know the Egesa were on their way. Earth’s military had been warned through Project ACE, according to Briggs, but they’d have no way of knowing the timing for the invasion and probably hadn’t yet prepared sufficiently.
He knew the Egesa kept small bands of soldiers stationed on Earth, as the Xylons did. They generally kept a low profile, staying mostly underground except at night and hadn’t proven to be a problem over the years. Nothing the Warriors couldn’t handle anyway. Now those soldiers would be paving the way for the arrival of so many more.
“Were you able to salvage the ship?” Braden asked.
“Yes everything’s fine, for now.”
When that’s all Erik said, Braden knew trouble was brewing. They’d worked together long enough to read each other like a security manual. “You wouldn’t be here telling me a one-liner if you really believed everything was fine. You would have simply logged the incident. What happened? I want a report with some details in it and I want it now.”
Erik nodded. “I was checking the weapon stores when a localized alarm went off.
Something overloaded the fuel and weapon systems and then ultimately the main control systems went down. And it wasn’t anything I did, unless I tripped a preprogrammed set.”
“Preprogrammed?” Torque’s eyes narrowed. “You think the orbiter might have been sabotaged to overload when the systems engaged?”
“I really don’t know. Considering the ship’s age and given how long it’s been down there, it’s not surprising that it had problems. Still, I thought I should report what happened in person, instead of simply logging the incident. Just in case it’s more serious than a malfunction. Also, Halah was with me at the time and accused me of doing something to fry things. Her reaction seemed over the top to me.”
“Meaning?” Torque asked. “You suspect she did something then tried to blame it on you?”
“Truthfully, I don’t know what to think. She did help to save the fuel when we were forced to do a dump. But I don’t completely trust her.”
Braden knew Erik and Halah didn’t get along. That attitude alone would adversely affect their judgment toward each other. “I’m sure she wants out of here as much as the rest of us. I highly doubt she’d disable either orbiter. That would lessen her odds of being selected as a crew member for the remaining orbiter, which would delay her getting out of this shelter even longer. Not to mention her sister.”
“Unless she’s working with someone on the outside,” Torque suggested. “To sabotage us so we can’t reorganize the Warriors. She might already have an alternate rescue option for herself and her sister.”
“It’s very possible, Braden,” Erik said. “Think about it. We know she’s worked for Daegal in the past. She was part of the Sand Moon mission, which ultimately failed. She was the one who failed to disarm the PowerIIRad bomb after getting into the system, when I couldn’t. She’s maneuvered herself into a prime position for a spy—mated to Kam, Laszlo’s son. I’m sure she knew about their relationship before we did.”
“Let’s not get paranoid about each and every word or move someone makes, gentlemen.”
“A little paranoia can sometimes save a lot of lives.” Torque’s words came out in a light tone but his look was serious.
Braden understood their suspicions. He’d harbored the same suspicions. But after giving it hard thought and going over all the evidence in his head, he didn’t believe Halah was a traitor, or Kam either. He did believe they’d both been manipulated by Laszlo in the past and might again be manipulated in the future. As such, they shouldn’t be trusted with too much information at this point, for everyone’s safety. Not until he knew for certain Laszlo’s true motives and that the man could be trusted completely.
“Well, I intend to check over both ships very carefully and then lock them down,”
Erik said. “I don’t want anyone tampering with the controls once I know they’re set. I’ll need to do some rewiring and reprogramming. I’m going to install a secondary bypass in the larger orbiter to make sure the malfunction doesn’t happen again. If a malfunction is all it was. It might take me a while to get everything fully operational.”
“You’ll have time,” Torque told him.
Braden turned toward his brother. “What do you mean?”
“The Initiation has been delayed. Nothing serious. Something about the drug levels being off in the injection they need to give Briggs. Laszlo said he and Leila will be able to fix the problem but it will take them a little while and further tests.”
“When did this happen?” Braden asked.
“Laszlo checked in after you left the control room. I meant to update you.” He shook his head. “My brain has been in a fog or something lately.”
Braden sighed. What else could go wrong? No. He didn’t want to think about the possibilities. He had enough to think about already. “Let’s get back to work. Time’s going to pass faster than we think, especially if we run into more glitches.”
“How’s it looking for the decontamination room?” Erik asked.
“Torque’s pretty much got it figured out. It’s just a matter of refining the details and laying out the steps for the installation and programming now. Then we’ll need to test it, of course.”
Torque nodded. “I’ll have everything finalized in a couple of hours or so. We can start the actual wiring of the control panel after that. Once the wiring is in place, the program setup will take some time though. Probably about as long, if not longer, than the orbiter programming.”
“Then let’s get to it,” Braden said with a clap of his hands.
“Wait.” Torque turned his chair fully toward Braden. “Before Erik leaves, do you want to tell us what you and Brianna have been up to?”
Braden scowled. He shouldn’t have alluded to anything earlier with Torque, for nothing substantial had come of it. Though he did want to make sure Torque’s and Erik’s loyalty remained with him over Laszlo, in case he felt the need to overrule their leader during any phase of this mission. Now was as good a time as any to do that, while they were both here and ready to know more. And while no one else was around.
“You and Brianna are planning something?” Erik asked. “Should we be insulted that we were kept out of the loop?”
“Yeah, I’d like to know why,” Torque added.
“I wanted more information before getting too many people involved so I’d know which way to plan and have more to tell you. I had Brianna check the deep space tracker to see if she could pick up Daegal’s ships heading toward Earth. I wanted some sort of confirmation on what Laszlo told us.”
“And?” Erik asked.
“Nothing.”
“Ah, so that’s what Brianna’s un-coded message meant.”
Braden smiled slightly He should have known Torque would recognize un-coded code when he heard it. After so many years, he’d thought maybe the rhythm of the words wouldn’t register with him anymore. It hadn’t actually been necessary since no one else was in the control room when she’d reported in. But then, better to be safe when transmitting over a public comm, for anyone else in the shelter could have tapped in to listen and with the level of suspected deception down here, he preferred to keep their conversations contained within a small group.
“Too bad.” Torque shook his head. “That means we know nothing one way or the other where Laszlo is concerned, as usual.”
“Exactly.” Braden had no choice now but to go on instinct and hope for the best.
“We’re going to have to follow Laszlo’s orders, without proof, because the outcome for Earth is in the balance if everything he’s told us is the truth. More than just Earth’s freedom actually is at stake if Daegal and the Egesa have their way. But since we didn’t find anything concrete, we also need to be aware that everything we’ve been told about Daegal and his current plans could be a lie or a—”
“Cover for something even more nefarious,” Torque finished for him, a look of disgust on his face.
“If so, we’ll need to be ready to shift and defend,” Erik added.
“Precisely,” Braden confirmed. “You’re both with me and Brianna on this then? We follow Laszlo, with caution, unless I order otherwise.”
“Of course,” Erik replied.
“Goes without saying,” Torque agreed.
“All right. Good. Torque, you finalize the details for the decontamination room. Get the installation and programming specs into the computer. Then—”
A beep drew their attention. All three turned toward a panel beside Torque, where a red light blinked. Torque pulled his chair back around and punched up a colored graph on the monitor. “Shit. Look at this.”
Braden studied the screen. “Perfect,” he muttered under his breath, seeing the bad news.
Their oxygen supply registered a steady and significant drain.
Maybe that’s why some of their thinking had been getting cloudy. He’d noticed a certain fuzziness in himself and so had Torque apparently, given what he’d said earlier.
Now with the Initiation delayed due to something being off with the drugs that Laszlo and Leila were trying to fix, he couldn’t help but think that too might be related to cloudy thinking. Even Halah’s and Erik’s encounter earlier could have escalated beyond the norm because of the restricted air.
With the drain, the system had automatically readjusted the levels to lower the oxygen output to save the supply, which was standard procedure for emergency shelters and rescue pods. Those levels could be overridden manually but if they couldn’t find and fix the source of the drain first, even more oxygen would be wasted.
“Why is it only now alerting us?” he asked Torque. “Look at those levels. The system has to have been malfunctioning for some time.”
“Who the hell knows?” Torque growled as he switched screens to get additional data on the problem. “I hate these systems down here. They’re older than dirt and about as useful.”
Another possible sabotage? Braden had to wonder, given the fact that the primary alarm hadn’t registered. If it wasn’t for the emergency secondary system kicking in and alerting them, they might never have known about the oxygen problem. Not until it was too late.
“Can we stop the leak?” Erik asked, leaning forward for a better look.
“Not without knowing where it’s coming from,” Torque answered, throwing up his hands in frustration. “This fucking equipment doesn’t show the source.”
“Do we tell the others?” Erik asked Braden, turning from the graph. A concerned look crossed his face.
“Only those who need to know. No need to create panic with everyone. I’ll tell Laszlo in case he has any ideas and I’ll look into it myself. Maybe I can find out where the problem originated. If that can be fixed or even patched, then it should propagate throughout the system and cause a reset of the atmospheric levels.”
“Even if it doesn’t reset,” Torque said, “I can override but the leak needs to be fixed first or the air won’t last us.”
Braden now knew what he’d secured earlier had been the right thing to do. He just needed to put a rush on the setup. “Erik, I need to talk to you about something.”
He pulled his friend to the other side of the room, not missing the frown on Torque’s face. He wasn’t purposely keeping secrets from his brother. He wanted to run something by Erik, hoping what he’d planned was possible. But specifically, he had another question for his friend, something he did want kept private. For Erik’s sake, not because he didn’t trust Torque. He lowered his voice and tried to sound casual. “Has Leila said anything to you about Laszlo? What’s her take on all this?”
Erik seemed confused by the question and hesitated before answering. “Her take?
You mean medically? She could fill you in on Laszlo’s condition better than me.”