Indulgence (107 page)

I see that.
Rage was surrounded by fools.

“Greetings.” The cyborg was another C model, his face as
primitive as his but lacking his scars. “Welcome to cyborg-controlled space.
I’m Vector, the captain of the Freedom.”

“I’m Rage. This is Crash.” He waved his hand at his friend.
“Gap.” The young cyborg grinned. “And my female, Joan.” He made their
relationship clear. “We’re leading a fleet of six hundred and twelve cyborgs.”

Vector nodded. “We will guide you into the Homeland but
first, we must clear the contents of your ships. We detect no tracking devices.
There is one unauthorized vegetation.”

“Windy,” Joan whispered.

“Hail Green,” Rage instructed, dreading this conversation.
The cyborg had formed an emotional bond with the scraggly plant he’d found on
the Mantidae’s migratory planet, caring for it with a tenderness Rage
mocked…before he met Joan.

“I will jettison Windy.” Green’s mouth drooped. He had,
thankfully, been listening. There was no reason to wrangle with words.

“No.” his little female gasped, gripping Rage’s hands.

“As I was telling you two planet rotations ago, Joan, she
isn’t faring well on this voyage,” Green shared. “It doesn’t matter what I do.
She loses leaves, is turning brown.”

“It’s the light source. I’m certain about it.” His fighter
of a female wasn’t making this tough decision easier for the cyborg.

“It could be,” Green admitted. “But it might be too late to
save her. Barrel claims she’s already gone.” He looked away from viewscreen,
his throat moving. “Give me a moment with her.”

“We’ll wait for as long as you need,” Joan spoke for all of
them.

Rage should admonish her. He was in charge of the operation.
But she was right. They’d wait for as long as Green needed.

“He’s devastated, sir.” Her voice sounded watery.

“Are you crying again?” Last planet rotation, she’d cried
because he calibrated his guns to shoot with her fingerprints. He cupped her
chin, turning her face toward him. She
was
weeping. He brushed the tears
off her cheeks. Her distress made him want to put his fist through the
viewscreen.

“He loves that plant.” She hiccupped.

Loves. Rage felt as strongly for her as Green felt for
Windy. Did he love his little female? He folded her into his body, unwilling to
put words to emotions he wasn’t certain about.

“Green will need comforting, sir.” She stroked his skin.
“Vow to me that you’ll reach out to him, try to ease his pain.”

Rage grunted. She could comfort the cyborg. He’d kill some
being in Windy’s honor.

He held Joan. Six heartbeats passed and then her tears
stopped as suddenly as they started, a soft smile curling her lips.

Human females were complex beings. He petted her curly hair.
He didn’t understand them.

“It’s done,” Barrel, Green’s shipmate, announced. “This
blasted Homeland had better be worth it.”

Rage didn’t know if it was. He’d never been there. “The
unauthorized vegetation has been disposed of,” he informed Vector, his voice
curt.

“The human female also has to be disposed of.”

“That will
not
happen.” Rage straightened, viewing
the instruction as a threat to his female. “Joan and I won’t be landing on the
planet. We escorted the fleet to cyborg-controlled space. Gap and Crash will be
transferred to another ship. And then we’ll immediately exit the space.”

“We’re staying with you.” Crash’s eyes flashed.

“Rage, sir, it’s okay.” Joan took his hands. “This is your
Homeland, your home. Deposit me on the nearest inhabited planet. I’ll be fine.”

“I won’t be fine,” he yelled, unable to lower his volume.
“If you’re not welcome in the Homeland, I want no part of it.”

“Neither do I,” Intrepid joined the transmission. “I want a
human female of my own.”

The others chimed in.

“We’re retrieving Windy.” Barrel’s eyes flashed. “If she’s
not welcome in the Homeland, we want no part of it either.”

“Stop,” Joan shouted, surprising Rage with her big voice.
“You are
all
entering the Homeland. Vector, tell them how great it will
be, how there will be breeding and fighting and everything else they enjoy.”

Vector blinked, clearly unaccustomed to a little female
telling him what to do. “There are training exercises.”

“Frag training exercises.” Rage spat. That the cyborg
thought they were the same thing illustrated how long it had been since he’d
been in a real fight.

The captain’s lips twisted. “Only cyborgs are allowed on the
planet. We don’t fight each other.”

“You will if I inhabit your planet.” His interest in the
Homeland decreased even more. “I’m a C Model cyborg as you are. We’re designed
for breeding and fighting.”

The others grumbled.

Vector tilted his head, his expression calculating. “There
are few C Models left and you’ve proven yourself by escaping the humans and
leading this fleet. The female cyborgs would be interested in breeding with
you.”

Rage met the cyborg’s gaze through the viewscreen. “Will
they kneel naked at my feet, promise to serve me forever, tell me how much they
love me multiple times a planet rotation?”

Vector looked doubtful.

“They will, in time.” Joan’s voice was choked. “How could they
not? You’re big and strong yet can be gentle and sweet.” One of the cyborgs
sniggered. “You’re everything a female could want in a male.”

“Listen to the human.” Vector nodded. “And you could train
other cyborgs in combat.”

Again with the training. Rage stared at him. It wasn’t the
same and, even if it was, he was no teacher. He’d lose his patience within two
planet rotations and kill the youngsters.

“I know.” Joan held up her index finger. “You could help
other cyborgs escape. That would require fighting.”

His little female was cunning. Rage gazed at her with open
appreciation. “Rescuing them requires leaving the Homeland.” He could keep his
female
and
indulge his need for action.

“Oh.” Her excitement faded. “But--”

“Intrepid, prepare to be boarded.” He devised a plan. “Crash
and Gap, you’ll transfer to his ship.” Crash opened his mouth, protests
reflecting in his flat black eyes. “You’ll gather the needed intelligence and
resources from the cyborg council. We’ll wait for you on the next planet and--”

“The human female must be disposed of,” Vector repeated his
earlier order. “Either she’s to be killed or imprisoned. We won’t allow her to
exit controlled space. She knows too much about us.”

No being would touch his female. Rage glowered at the
cyborg, one wrong word away from losing his temper.

Crash cast him a warning glance. “And if we don’t comply?”

“We’ll be forced to take action.”

They’ve raised their shields.
Crash transmitted
through their private line.
They plan to fire on us.

Raise our shields also.
It wouldn’t hold against the
larger ship’s firepower but it would send the message that they were just as
serious. He wasn’t allowing them to kill his female.

And he didn’t have any doubts that they’d kill her. They
didn’t know her, thought she was like the humans who had tormented them.

Once she was out of his sight, he’d never see her again.
She’d disappear.

“We’re with you, Rage.” Intrepid’s face appeared on a corner
of the viewscreen.

The other ships have raised their shields
, Crash
informed him.

“It’s an A Class warship.” Rage didn’t have to say more.
Intrepid was an intelligent cyborg. He knew they wouldn’t survive. It was
doubtful any of their projectiles would pierce the larger ship’s shields.

“She risked her life to save us.” Intrepid lifted his chin.
“I can think of no better reason to die.”

“No one is dying.” Joan squirmed, pushing at his arms.
“Rage, stop this.”

He wouldn’t let her go.

“Tell your fleet to stand down,” Vector barked.

“They’re free cyborgs.” Rage shrugged. “The only orders they
follow are their own.”

“You’d die for a human?”

“She’d die for us.” He accessed the ship’s weapons. “Cyborgs
have as much honor as humans.”

“More,” Crash added.

“Are all of your processors malfunctioning?” Joan slipped
out of his arms, turned and glared at him. “That’s an A Class warship. We’re
traveling in shuttle craft.”

“Modified shuttle craft,” Crash corrected.

“Did you install bigger guns? An enhanced shield?” She waved
her hands. “No? I didn’t either. We can’t outrun the warship, outmaneuver it,
outgun it. One hit and we’re dead. How does getting ourselves blown up help any
of us?”

Frag. She was fierce. Rage gaped at her with admiration.

Her gaze shifted back to him. “I expected this lack of logic
from you, my primitive C Model cyborg, but Crash? Gap? I’m disappointed in
you.”

The two cyborgs hung their heads.

“We--”

“I’ll get to you later.” Joan shut down whatever Vector
planned to say. “We only have one option at the moment.”

Rage knew what that option was and he didn’t like it. “I’m
not allowing them to touch you.”

“Of course not.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll make that a
stipulation of my surrender.”

“Stipulation?” Vector scowled. “There will be no
stipulations.”

“There will be.” Joan matched his expression, the result
more adorable than threatening. “And you’ll agree to them because the
alternative is killing six hundred and fifteen of your newly freed cyborg
brethren. When the others hear about that, and they will because we can
transmit as easily as you can, there will be fighting in your precious Homeland.”

“I’m in love.” Gap’s humanlike eyes glowed.

“I’d follow your female anywhere, Rage,” Intrepid mused.

Rage wasn’t as entertained. His little engineer was, once
again, risking her life to save theirs. He’d left her side once and she’d
almost died. Stipulations or not, he didn’t trust any other being with her
safety.

“We’ll negotiate your stipulations on board the Freedom.”
Lines were etched around Vector’s mouth. “Prepare to disembark. We’re pulling
you in.”

The cyborg wasn’t waiting for permission. The ship shuddered
as it was caught in the guiding beam.

Rage debated their options.

Being brought into the larger ship could work to their
advantage. They’d be parked in the docking bay. If Vector betrayed them,
breaking the temporary peace, the battle would then shift from warship versus
shuttle craft to cyborg versus cyborg.

Face-to-face combat was where he excelled. He rolled back
his shoulders, his joints cracking. “Fetch me my body armor, female.”

“Yes, sir.” She rushed out of the bridge.

“How can we help?” Intrepid asked.

“Maneuver as close to the warship as possible.” Their
private transmission lines should project to the nearest ship. “I’ll keep my
lines open.” What he saw and heard, they would also.

“I’ll keep
my
lines open,” Crash corrected. “They’ll
be focused on you and on Joan. I’ll have more freedom.”

“Agreed.” His friend’s logic was sound. “Intrepid can relay
the information to the ships in farther locations.”

“I will.” The cyborg dipped his head. “Good luck, males.
Keep her safe.”

Rage would or he’d die trying.

“The way they offered to die for me, it was foolish of
them.” Joan knelt at Rage’s booted feet, struggling to control her emotions.
“But it meant so much to me.”

Her hormones were crazy, which led her to overeat, which, in
turn, didn’t help her hormone issue. She suspected the cause was Rage’s
nanocybotics. She bubbled over with them. But she didn’t want to suggest that.
Her overprotective male would never touch her again.

The overeating had to stop, however, whatever the cause. She
could no longer fasten her flight suit over her protruding belly. Her
stretched-tight skin showed through the gap in the fabric.

That was how she’d be negotiating—with her stomach showing.
Her bottom lip quivered as the ship shook. It was too late to find an alternate
garment. They had landed.

Rage ran his hands over his guns, daggers, sword. His
weapons check alarmed her. The other ship was much larger, would hold hundreds,
perhaps thousands of cyborgs. Any battle would end in his death.

“Negotiating requires talking, not violence, sir.” Joan
gazed up at her warrior. “I know you haven’t killed any being in a while,
but--”

“If they try to separate us or touch you or disrespect you
in any way, my non-killing streak will end.” His blue eyes glowed.

She sighed. He was looking for a fight. “You can’t protect
me if you’re dead.”

“Stand.” He grabbed her wrists and lifted her to her feet.
“What happens to you happens to me.” Her cyborg made no comment on her exposed
skin. “Remember that when you’re negotiating.”

Joan frowned. What did
that
mean? “You no longer have
to link yourself to me, sir.” She didn’t want him to throw away his future
because he felt honor bound to her. “You’re free, could find another female, a
being other cyborgs would accept and--”

“I will never be free of you.” Rage lowered his head and
brushed his lips over hers. She opened to him, seeking to draw him into her
mouth. He resisted her silent plea, pulling away too soon. “All the cyborgs in
our fleet accept you. The others.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “It doesn’t
matter what they process. I don’t know them.”

That was the problem. Joan’s heart twisted. He didn’t know
them or what he might be missing. He hadn’t set foot on his Homeland, hadn’t
met a female cyborg who wanted him of her free will. When he did, he’d walk
away from her.

The door opened and the ramp lowered. “I’ll exit first.”
Rage lifted his biggest gun. “You’ll follow behind me. Crash and Gap will
protect our rear.”