Arkadian Skies: Fallen Empire, Book 6 (22 page)

“Help?” Suyin protested, turning toward them again. “You’ll be shot down by the military before we reach wherever you’re trying to take us.”

“I’m hoping the military doesn’t show up until we’re on our way to confront the staff thief,” Alisa said. “Preferably about a minute before he sees—senses—us coming. How long do you think it will take your fiancé to track us down, Dr. Tiang?” she asked Suyin.

Leonidas snorted, not looking surprised. He must have figured out her plan right away, to have the Tiangs’ rescuers see the staff thieves, or the Starseer temple, and turn their attention onto the rogues. While the
chasadski
were distracted, Leonidas and Abelardus could go in to acquire the relic. It sounded good to Alisa. She just hoped she could make it work.

Her question seemed to startle Suyin, but she soon recovered. “Are you insane?” she yelled. “Do you know how much trouble you’ll be in for kidnapping an admiral? And
me
?”

A knock sounded on the hatch, and it opened before Alisa could decide if she wanted to deal with anyone else. Beck strolled in, still wearing his armor but also wearing an apron over it. He had left the helmet somewhere in favor of carrying in a serving tray. Actually, that looked like a panel from some bulkhead that had been draped with a towel before having plates placed on it.

“Greetings, new friends,” he said brightly, smiling all around NavCom. “I thought you might like some refreshments to lubricate your discussion.”

“Beck,” Alisa said, “this isn’t the time to try to get an admiral to taste your sauces.”

“Are you sure? It
sounded
like the right time.” Beck gave her a pointed look.

Which probably meant the arguing had been audible through the hatch and all the way to the mess hall. Lovely.

“I have barbecued Arkadius dragon wings here,” Beck said, pointing to one plate. “And solberry chunk-chunk cookies. There’s also coffee in the mess hall, if you need to refuel yourselves before the next round of arguing. Help yourselves.”

Beck held the tray out to Alisa first. There didn’t seem to be a warning in his gaze, a suggestion that she only eat food from one side of the tray. Still, that pointed look he had given made her think something might be drugged. Alisa glanced at Yumi, wondering if she knew anything about it. She smiled enigmatically. Not helpful.

“New chef’s outfit for you, Beck?” Alisa asked, selecting a dragon wing and a cookie from the sides of the plates closest to her and watching to see if he silently warned her not to eat them.

He only smiled agreeably. “There wasn’t time to change, and I understand doom may be happening when we arrive at our destination. I’ve always believed doom should be met with weapons and armor.”

“Sounds like a reasonable policy.”

Beck shifted the tray to Yumi, who took the offerings without hesitation. She smiled serenely, looking like she knew something that Alisa didn’t. If they were drugging the Tiangs, to what end? They wouldn’t be any happier if they woke up in an hour after being drugged. Though at least they would be out of everyone’s hair during the hunt for the staff thieves. Not that locking them in a cabin with a guard couldn’t achieve the same thing.

“No,” Leonidas said, when Beck offered him the tray, though his gaze did linger on those cookies.

“No enjoying yourself on duty, eh?” Beck asked, turning the tray toward Suyin.

“Absolutely not,” she said, lifting her chin.

“Admiral?” Beck offered.

“I remember you,” Tiang said, eyeing the food.

“Yes, sir. I remember you too. I tried to make you an excellent dinner, and your ambush ruined it. I’m still trying to get blueberry balsamic glaze off the ceiling in the mess hall.”

Tiang snorted and surprised Alisa by picking up several dragon wings and two cookies.

“Father,” Suyin said, slapping his arm.

“What? His food was good.”

“Aren’t there military rules about accepting food from one’s captors?”

“Not if you’re an admiral.” Tiang chomped on a cookie.

“You’re awfully blasé about this,” Suyin grumbled, shooting Alisa, Leonidas, and Beck dirty looks.

“If the colonel needs me to do
work
on him, we shouldn’t be in any danger from these people.”

Alisa chewed on the dragon wing she had selected, which did not taste much different from a chicken wing, though she assumed Beck hadn’t used any of Yumi’s flock in the ingredients. A sweet-spicy sauce gave it a delicious tang and made her want to grab five more off the tray. Since she didn’t know if inimical things had been done to some or all of the food, she resisted the urge.

“You’re
not
going to upgrade his implants or whatever it is he wants,” Suyin said. “He’s dangerous enough as it is.”

Tiang looked at Leonidas, as if trying to gauge what it was that he wanted.

Alisa kept her mouth shut since Yumi and Beck were still in the cabin. She tried to catch Beck’s gaze, to wave him away with his refreshments, but he was wriggling his eyebrows at Suyin and offering her the tray again.

“I wish to have children,” Leonidas said, his bluntness startling Alisa.

Beck fumbled his tray, nearly dropping it. A couple of cookies did slide off their plate and onto the deck.

“Or at least to have the option for children one day,” Leonidas added, glancing at Alisa.

“Ah,” Tiang said, looking faintly puzzled, but then a second, “Ah” came out as understanding seemed to grasp him.

Suyin’s face crinkled in confusion.

Beck’s face was crinkled in more expressions than could be identified. He picked up the fallen cookies, set them on the tray, and turned toward the hatch. In a slightly strangled voice, he said, “Who wants coffee? Coffee is this way.”

“I am sympathetic, Colonel,” Tiang said, “but I don’t believe my superiors would wish me to help you.” He chomped on a cookie and followed Beck into the corridor.

Suyin opened her mouth, closed it, and followed her father out. Leonidas remained, his face guarded. He probably hadn’t expected a different response from the admiral, but he had to be disappointed nevertheless.

“The food isn’t drugged, is it?” Alisa whispered to Yumi, waving a cookie.

“I don’t believe so,” she said, looking at the sensor panel. “Earlier, when we first
rescued
them, I gave Beck a substance that should be dissolved in a hot liquid. It can’t withstand high temperatures, such as baking or grilling require.”

“The coffee?” Leonidas murmured.

“That’s a possibility.”

Alisa looked toward the corridor, but Beck and his new food fans had disappeared into the mess hall. Would the Tiangs, after not suffering ill effects from the food, be more trusting when it came to the coffee?

“What does it do?” Alisa asked. If she had wanted the two unconscious, she could have simply had Alejandro poke them with a sedative. Of course, they would have seen that coming.

“It’s the
meykonghi arelexius
that I made on Cleon Moon. I haven’t had a chance to sell any yet to fund my purchase of supplies and equipment. And more livestock. I’ve been thinking of a couple of tame jakloffs so we can have milk. Would you mind, Captain?”

Alisa’s thoughts got stuck on the name of the compound, and she barely heard the rest. “You gave them the orgasm drug?” she hissed.

“That’s not its
only
side effect. If you’ll recall, I also told you that it relaxes the body and reduces inhibitions. I thought that might be appropriate, given the situation. From what I was able to gather of what’s going on—” Yumi gave Leonidas a quick, puzzled frown, “—I anticipated hostility.”

Alisa rubbed the back of her neck. “Just so long as Dr. Tiang doesn’t have the sudden urge to make a move on her father.”

“Really, Captain. My drugs don’t make people incestuous. Unless they already had such tendencies. It’s far more likely that Beck, as the handsome provider of cookies, would receive her attentions, should the drug affect her thus.”

“I… I…” For once, Alisa was speechless.

“I’m sure the fiancé will appreciate that,” Leonidas murmured.

“Perhaps a valid concern.” Yumi touched a blip that had appeared on the sensor monitor. “The usual high-altitude planes and spaceships are out there, on typical routes, but another spaceship has dropped out of orbit and is heading in our direction. Or perhaps straight at us.”

“The fiancé?” Alisa guessed.

“Five more ships trailing the lead one just appeared,” Yumi said.

“Sounds like the fiancé. How long until they intercept us?”

“Twenty minutes, at present speed.”

“Ah. Perfect.”

“We’re twenty-six minutes from our destination,” Yumi said dryly.

“Yes, but I wasn’t flying at maximum speed.” Alisa laid her hands on the control panel, boosting the thrusters. “I was hoping they would catch up.”

“Why?”

“Because someone has to bang their fists on their chests at the staff thieves while we sneak in and steal it back.”

“How do you intend to inform an armada of Alliance ships to turn its attentions from you to the thieves?”

“I’m still working on that part. Looks like I have… seventeen minutes to do so, at present speed.”

“Your plans are always interesting, Captain.”

“I’m not sure how to take that from a woman who sneaks orgasm drugs into people’s coffee.”

“A compliment,” Leonidas suggested. “Why don’t you go check on the Tiangs, Yumi? I’ll take over at the sensor station.”

“You’re the boss.” Yumi rose to her feet.

“Am I?”

“We’ll have to figure out if security chief outranks science officer,” Alisa said, watching Leonidas. She assumed he had a reason for shooing Yumi away. She hoped it wasn’t to chastise her for bringing up his personal problems in front of others.

“Perhaps it could be decided by who commands the greater salary,” Yumi said, heading for the hatchway.

“You get a salary?” Leonidas asked.

“Well, there was talk of shares in the payments we get from hauling cargo.”

“Then it’s unfortunate that all we’re hauling are doctors and Starseers.”

“But fortunate that I’ve had time to collect interesting ingredients along the way.” Yumi ducked her head and disappeared into the corridor.

“If only I could please all of my passengers by plopping them down next to mushrooms from time to time,” Alisa said.

Leonidas sat in the seat behind Alisa’s, resting a hand on her shoulder. She chose to find that promising. One didn’t give shoulder caresses while preparing a stern lecture, right?

“It seems likely that we’ll arrive and the staff will have been moved. It’s been—” Leonidas glanced at the digital chronometer on the console, “—more than three hours since the attack.”

So much had happened that it felt as if it had been three days. Had it only been that morning that they had flown in from space and dealt with the planet patrol? Granted, Arkadius had long days, and they had visited several time zones along the way. A yawn tickled the back of Alisa’s throat.

“I’m hoping they haven’t moved it, and that we’ll find the Starseer temple at the same time. I know it’s mobile, but it seemed like moving it was something of a process. It could still be there. Waiting for us.” Alisa waved toward the view screen. They had left the ocean behind and were passing over a city running along a coast lush with green vegetation. Further inland, the number of buildings and houses dwindled, and tangles of trees and other dense growth sprawled across the undulating land. Perhaps a hundred miles beyond that, the faint purple outline of mountains was visible. No, not mountains. Volcanoes.

“Would they have fired from someplace they couldn’t leave easily?” Leonidas asked. “With such a mobile weapon, I would have chosen a remote location and then left as soon as the attack had been made.”

Alisa chewed on the inside of her cheek, second-guessing her choice to let Suyin and her earstar—or whatever her fiancé could use to track her—aboard. Should she have searched the woman and dumped all of her belongings out the hatch? That would have only made her even more irritated.

“With the Alliance ships so close behind us,” Leonidas said, “we need to have a backup plan. Even if the temple has become a
chasadski
stronghold, we’ll have to figure out a way to direct the military to attack
it
instead of us.”

“They won’t attack the
Nomad
while the Tiangs are aboard.”

“Perhaps not, but they could surround us and force us to land.”

“I was planning to land anyway.”

“Mica is right. You
are
an optimist.” He squeezed her shoulder.

“It’s charming, isn’t it? Admit it. You’re drawn to me.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Even if we land, the Alliance ships can also land and bring hundreds of troops to the
Nomad’s
doorstep.”

“Good thing we have a ramp instead of a doorstep.”

His eyebrows rose even higher. She supposed that was more likely a sign of skepticism than a sign of how much he was drawn to her.

“I would kiss you if we had more time,” Alisa said, “but will you check the coordinates Yumi and Abelardus came up with and try to find the temple or a ship or anything that doesn’t belong in the jungle? Also, let me know if there are any other ships in the area
ahead
of us. I can’t believe Yumi and Abelardus are the only two who were able to triangulate the origins of the attack.”

Leonidas released her shoulder and faced the station. “Abelardus implied that his Starseer senses were required, along with Yumi’s math talents.”

“Abelardus always thinks he’s needed.” Alisa reached back and tapped the sensor monitor. “Ships, please.”

He snorted. “You’re a tyrannical captain.”

“I thought the empire approved of that sort of thing.” Alisa flew low over the rainforest, but not so low that she had to reduce her speed. Even without checking the sensor display, she was well aware of the ships closing on them. As she had said, she doubted they would strike, but they would definitely drop like a swarm once the
Nomad
landed.

“There’s something metallic at the coordinates,” Leonidas said, sounding surprised. “It’s easy to pick up with nothing but dirt and vegetation all around it. That’s a dense portion of the forest. No settlements other than the wilders with their thatch huts.”