Cali & Drake (The Alliance Book 1) (9 page)

Cali sat crossed legged on her bed. She couldn’t believe it had only been
a day since finding his friends. Twenty-four hours of lounging around her
rooms, making love with
Drake
and talking
until her voice felt like it was going to give out.

“So in order to avoid getting forced into a
partnership,
I hijacked this ship. I always planned to be a captain
and find my way out here in space. So it hasn’t been a hardship being on
The Reliant
.” She smiled at Drake, “The
crew doesn’t know any of this, so please don’t say anything. Not that I think
you would, just be careful. They think we’re on a mission sanctioned by The
Council. With no planets close enough to turn to for sanctuary—” Drake raised
one brow and Cali added, “That I knew of at the time! I told the crew we were
to study any new activity in the Buffer Zone. I wasn’t expecting to find that
Titus was spacefaring.” Cali laughed and tried to calculate the odds of making
up a mission only to have it turn into something fruitful.

“How can the crew not know that you aren’t the true captain?” Drake was
lounging next to her. He didn’t mind nudity, and she wasn’t about to ask him to
cover up. Since he’d demolished his door, and they needed privacy, her quarters
had been chosen. Her wounded crew
had been
healed
and released from the holding
cell. Everything pertinent was explained to the officers, the details
whitewashed for the crew and a course set for Titus.

“I was assigned
The Reliant.
My
mother had announced that there was a change in leadership, but the crew still
answered to me when I came onboard. Since I am the daughter of a powerful
leader, they assumed it was a test. They didn’t question when I said it was
under the orders of The Council for
The
Reliant
to run drills in the Buffer Zone.”

“Your mother must be a very powerful woman if her name got you access to
a starship without question.” Drake mused out loud.

“She isn’t only powerful but extremely ambitious as well. I don’t want to
take a partnership with the male my mother has chosen, I just don’t have a way
around it. His family has ties to the council as well. My mother figures if we
are to enter a partnership, it will cement our hold on the Council of Three for
generations. There won’t be a stronger link than any children—” Cali stopped
when Drake growled low in his chest. “Did you just growl?”

“You need to stop talking about another male touching you. Getting you
with
child
.” Drake’s voice was harsh.

Cali shrugged and absently fingered his chest. The tension in his body
eased instantly. “Okay. Enough about me. I’ve been wondering something. How did
your ancestor manage to unite the separate clans of your home world? If your
people were as widespread and violent, as the history books
on
my world describe, then it must’ve been very
difficult to gain their cooperation.”

“Well, with our abilities we were all equally matched in fighting. It was
felt that it was only a matter of time before someone got creative and
destroyed all humanoid life out of spite or by mistake. My
ancestor
worked tirelessly to make all of the
clans connected. We are reliant on each other now, so it’s in our best interest
to watch each other’s backs. Even after all these years there
is
a group we call “Others” that still insist
on living outside the rules, but the majority benefit from the new system.”

“I’m still confused about how the clans are connected.”

“All five clans produce something that
benefits
the others. For example, the Metari supply all of the water for industry, the
mining of trianium and agriculture. In
return,
they are supplied with food, mineral and the newest technology. We allow the
clans to intermix. For example, if you have an affinity for plants, but are
born in Metari you can live in Denary if you wish. The years of using this
system
have
built a trust among us, we
live in harmony now, when before it was chaos.”

“That’s a very strong strategy your ancestor implemented. When one clan
benefits, they all benefit…very wise.” Cali eyed his lounging form and a thrill
ran into her belly. “So who has the
leadership
of the clans?” Cali was impressed that someone could get that many
males
with Drake’s abilities to unite.

“There is a council of representatives that meet once a month. Each clan
is allowed one representative on the council. Those five men vote on the items
set before them by the
sub-councils
.”

“How are the representatives chosen?” Cali asked. It was a similar system
to Cestori and
she
wa
s interested to know what worked on a planet
with males like Drake.

“Where your planet is matriarchal, Titus is patriarchal.” He shifted on
the bed, “Each clan has a line of succession, chosen from the strongest male
line. All five clans have the Challenge of Succession every four years.”

Cali frowned, not liking the sound of this challenge thing. “What exactly
is that?”

“The sitting representative from each clan, if a male challenger presents
himself, faces his opponent in feats of strength, tactics, and hand to hand
battle. If that representative is beaten, the new line of succession would rule
from that family line. The only requirement is that a challenger has to be of
the clan he is vying to lead. I couldn’t challenge the sitting leader of Metari
for instance.”

“Who represents your clan on the council?”

Before he could answer, her door chimed. Cali looked toward her doorway
in surprise, “I wonder who that could be?”

Drake sat upright on the bed, his attention on her as she swung her legs
off the mattress to stand up.

“You might want to put on a robe.” His lazy drawl stopped her midway to
the living room.

“Thanks for the reminder,” She managed a sheepish grin at the look on his
face. All she wore was a flimsy nightgown, and one it wasn’t very
captain-like
. She turned back into her bedroom
and grabbed a robe, tying it as she went. Stopping at the bed she kissed Drake
quickly and then rushed to close the door behind her.

“Computer unlock my door.” She authorized and the computer chirped to let
her know her request had been recognized. Reaching her entryway, she said, “Open.”

Her doors parted and Diandra stood outside, wringing her hands in
agitation.

“Diandra, what’s wrong?” She waved her friend inside, “Come in, have a
seat.”

“Is Drake here?” Diandra looked around nervously.

Cali knew it must be bad for her friend to be acting so strangely. “He’s
in the bedroom.” Cali hurried to assure her friend, “He won’t hear us if you’re
worried about that.”

“It’s all falling apart.” Diandra refused to sit, instead pacing between
the doorway and her bedroom.

“What’s falling apart?” Cali tried to
soothe
her friend.

“You and Vathral? There’s still a chance for you to be together. After I
make sure everyone who helped me is cleared of any wrongdoing, I’ll return to
Titus to be with Drake.”

“Not Vathral and me.” Her friend stopped and pulled a shining object out
of her pants pocket. “I should never have taken this assignment. Move toward
the doorway. Slowly and quietly.”

Cali did as Diandra asked. The look of pure malice on her friend’s face
spoke volumes. “What’s going on?” she whispered, afraid to anger her friend
when she was holding a phase blaster. Set on stun it would take down a normal
male. If the setting was kill, you might get two steps before it stopped your
heart.

“If you were any slower, you would be going backward,” Diandra snapped,
“I was
never
your friend. I was sent
to the Academy for the sole purpose of keeping an eye on you. My mother worked
it out with yours so it would appear coincidental. From the very
beginning,
my sole purpose was to report back
on your friends, your lovers, your antics....”

Cali’s mind went reeling. She refused to accept what Diandra was saying.
“I don’t believe—”

“Shh.” Diandra held her finger to her lips. “You don’t get to talk right
now. I want you to stay quiet. All those years at the Academy listening to you
rant about romance, love, and happy ever after. If I could’ve gotten away with
it…” she let the threat hover between them.

“What about your feelings for Vathral. I’ve done everything in my power
to help you be with him.” Cali felt her frustration building.

“I don’t have feelings for Vathral. He was a dalliance that was supposed
to come to an end with your partnering ceremony. That was the plan from the
beginning. How it got so messed up, I’ll never know.”

“When I sent you to
The Apoxis
,
you came back here on purpose?” Cali couldn’t believe she had been so naïve.

“Yes, I didn’t have time to warn your mother, so I took the chance and
transported back here just in time. At least while on
The Reliant
I could keep an eye on things. I knew that eventually
we’d return to Cestori. You would have your adventure, no harm no foul,”
Diandra moved between her and the bedroom.

“That’s why you were so adamant I stay away from Drake.” Cali knew
Diandra had been acting out of character, but she hadn’t ever imagined this
scenario.

“I wouldn’t have had to do this if you’d returned to Cestori months ago.
But then you found Drake in that damn pod, then his friends. The plan of going
home was changed to taking our passengers to Titus. Too many things can go
wrong. I can’t let this ship go to Titus. Besides, if they are spacefaring now,
your mother might like a chance to meet your new friends.”

Cali opened her mouth to argue but Diandra stopped her. “I want you to
open comm with the bridge and turn us around. Now.” She raised the weapon
warningly.

Cali spoke through the tightness in her throat, “Computer open a comm
link to the bridge.” The chime of the computer told her she had a connection.
“Navigation. Full stop.” She hedged for
time
.
If she could get Diandra to listen.

Holding up her hands she implored, “We can’t take the
males
from Titus to Cestori. Please—”

“Cali, have you gotten rid—”

Her panicked gaze swept to Drake as he appeared in the doorway. Diandra
swung her weapon to
target
him
and Cali gaped in horror as a flash went
from the
phaser
to strike Drake in the
chest.

“Drake!” She yelled his name and went
running
to his prone body.

“Such dramatics,” Diandra stopped her with the phase gun pointed at her.
“It’s set on high stun, not kill. I can change that if you don’t do what I
want. Get the ship moving back to Cestori…or I’ll be forced to kill him.”

As if she could, Cali thought. If anything, judging by the angry look on
Drake’s face and the glowing electric blue eyes, she would be forced to save
her former friend at this rate.

“Drake, don’t hurt her,” Cali shouted just as he jumped toward Diandra.
Realizing what he said before about her touch calming him, she ran forward.

Diandra seemed a bit slow to realize the danger she was in. The phase gun
swung toward Drake, but he was a blur of movement and she couldn’t hit him.
That didn’t keep her from
trying,
however.
She was shooting wildly in her attempts to stun him.

Cali grabbed her arm and knocked the gun away. “Stop Diandra. If you
value the ability to draw another breath, don’t move!”

Diandra must have had some sense of self-preservation because she froze
on the spot. Since Diandra was without a weapon, Drake stopped as well. He was
behind her, hovering protectively.

“What is he?” Diandra’s
sl
ightly ragged
breaths seemed to be the only response she would allow her body to have. Cali
envied her the ability to stay so calm.

“Drake and the others from Titus are special.” Cali slowly moved back to
put some space between Diandra and Drake. “Something about the planet, their
genetics, the food, atmosphere…who knows really. They call themselves valkie
warriors. Their strength, senses, and speed are all increased when a threat is present.”

Another chime sounded and Cali heard from the bridge. “Captain, we are
picking up strange readings off the starboard.”

“I’m on my way—”

“A ship is
decloaking
...” The panic
in the navigation officers voice was obvious.

“Shields to
maximum,
” Cali ordered.
She was stopped from giving further directions when a voice boomed over their
comm system.

“You have something of ours.” The voice was male, arrogant and angry.
Cali turned when Drake let out a loud exclamation.

“What?”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Return what belongs to us. Or else.” The voice boomed and then
The Reliant
was rocked by a blast
against the shields. Alarms blared and warning lights flashed around her room.

Cali ignored Drake and Diandra for the moment and ran into her bedroom.
Yanking on a uniform, and knotting her hair into a bun, she bolted for the
bridge. Seeing Diandra standing terrified in the same spot she ordered.

“Return to your chambers!” Not waiting for a response she sprinted across
the hallway.

“What is our status?” She yelled to the officers on the bridge. There wasn’t
any sign of Vareen, so she looked at the woman holding down the science
station.

 
“We have minimal power to the
engines. Shields are holding for now and weapons are available, but I wouldn’t
recommend using them. We need to divert that power to the shields. I estimate
we should have CD drive back in six hours.”

“We don’t have six hours,” Cali snapped. “Put the other ship on visual.”

“Yes, captain.” The science officer started working buttons on her
console. The ship they were facing off with appeared on the
display
. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen.
Sleek, massive, and deadly looking.

“Let me talk to them.”

Cali whipped her head to see Drake had followed her. Through her mind
flashed the thought that at least he’d put on pants. Diandra wasn’t anywhere to
be seen, and Cali hoped she had done as asked and returned to her quarters.

“Communications, open a channel,” she ordered.

“Yes, captain. Channel open.”

Cali lifted a brow to Drake and nodded for him to go ahead.

“
Maxon
, this is Chan’ Drake of
the clan Renari. It’s good to hear your voice.”

Cali’s heard shocked muttering around the bridge, and she silently wished
she could join them. This was
The Maxon
?
The ship that Drake thought had blown up.

“Drake?” the voice boomed over the comm channel. “It can’t be.”

Before Cali could move, there were flashes of light shimmering to solid forms
all around the bridge.

“Do nothing.” She yelled in case the officers or guards were foolish
enough to attack their new guests. “Drop your weapons.” She thought to add in
case even the presence of weapons would make things worse.

Standing uncertainly on her own bridge didn’t sit well with Cali, but she
didn’t know what else to do.
The Maxon
was obviously far
superior to
anything on
Cestori. She couldn’t begin to fathom the physics and engineering it would take
to cloak a battleship of that size. Not to mention they had transported through
The Reliant’s
shields as if they
hadn’t existed.

The solid forms that appeared were all wearing some type of armor. Golden,
red, black, blue and finally
purple-tinged
figures were all around her. The five clans all had a stake in
The Maxon
, and all had men on this away
mission it would seem.

“Did I hear that voice correctly?” Dak had charged the bridge with Arik
and Tae.

Before Cali could register the shock on the males faces, the others had
somehow retracted their helmets.

Cries of “brother” were ringing around the room. Flashes of armor were
moving around faster than she could keep up, and males were embracing and
pounding each other on the backs.

Cali kept her eye on the
purple-tinged
figure. This would be a member of Drake’s clan.

“Drake?”

“Varian.” Cali watched as Drake embraced then slapped the other male on
the back. The other fellow did the same to him.

“It’s so good to see you. What happened? We thought you were lost to us
forever.”

Before Drake could say anything, a few males in black armor swept up to
them.

Drake and Varian stopped their reunion to give their attention to these
giants. Cali unconsciously drew closer to Drake. If the color of their armor
hadn’t told her, their size,
shorn
black
hair, and similar rugged good looks would have. These males were in the same
clan as Mica.

“Mica? I don’t see him.” Their
leader's
deep voice bounced around the bridge.

Yep
, Cali thought.
Definitely Mica’s
clan
.

“He died with honor then?”

Drake took mercy on them, “He hasn’t died. He refuses to leave his room
for fear the female he is pursuing will find a way to lock him out.”

“He is
pursuing
a female?” the
lead male asked incredulously. His glowing blue eyes swept her ship as if
inspecting a dung heap. “Here?”

Cali took offense. “Yes, here. What’s wrong with that?” her eyes narrowed
when the males laughed uproariously at her question.

Taking a deep breath to let them have it, she ended up tamping down her
temper when Drake took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Take us to him,” They ordered her imperiously, and she ignored them to
look at Drake.

“We need to organize who is staying on
The Reliant
and who is
offloading
,”
She stressed the last word hoping he would take the hint and get rid of all the
extra males she didn’t need running around the bridge.

“Female. I
said to
take us to Mica.”
The leader growled and Drake’s eyes flashed.

“You will speak with respect to my chosen.” He didn’t raise his voice,
but the threat was implied in every syllable.

“
Your
chosen is a female that is of
this ship and the smallest of the bunch?” The imposing figure loomed over her,
his eyes scanning her as if to find what the appeal was. His lips were
twitching with suppressed amusement and Cali wanted to scream. She was on the
rounder side but she didn’t consider herself deficient or unattractive!

“Yes.” Drake didn’t expound on his answer. “One of
The Reliant’s
guard can take you to Mica.” Drake
gestured
toward one of the males standing by
the doorway.

Cali wasn’t sure Vareen would appreciate these giant males storming into
her quarters and went to argue, but the black armored males were already
striding toward the doorway. “You there. Take us to Mica.”

The guard swallowed hard and looked to her. She nodded her head to comply
and the guard hurried toward the lift instead of the hallway.

“You never did tell me where they were.” Cali turned to Drake. “Why are
they heading into the lift, Vareen’s quarters are right across from mine.”

“They are in security. Mica appropriated the whole section for himself
once we released the others.” Drake supplied with a guilty shrug.

“Mica has Vareen in a holding cell in security?” Cali’s outraged yell had
the whispered chatting on the bridge tapering. Everyone’s attention was now
centered on her.

“I think it best if
everyone
returns to
The
Maxon
,
” Drake spoke to
Varian and Cali was in agreement. If this boarding party was only searching for
Dak,
Arik,
and Tae, then they had who
they were looking for.

“I agree,” Cali went to return to her seat to wait for the males to clear
off her ship. Drake’s arm around her waist stopped her.

“You
are included
in ‘everyone’ my
sweet Cali,” Drake pulled her closer to whisper in her ear. “I did warn you I
was keeping you.”

Cali felt the familiar sensation of dematerializing. It could only mean
one thing. She was being teleported.

“Wait…”