Of Blood and Angels (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 3) (20 page)

Thad whistled through his teeth.  “I don't
think it's safe to leave Ron alone with her Berk.  She's a full captain now and
she's got lethal feet.”

“She is lethal in a few other places too,”
Senya remarked while opening a new bottle of beer and taking a long pull. 

“You're damn right,” Katie spat.  “I don't
know why you have to sit here when we all know those stupid Ravens are going to
lose again anyway.”

“That's probably true,” I muttered,
sitting back down.

Senya drained the bottle.  “I'm sorry,
Kate.  I've been a little busy lately and so have you.”

“Right.”  Thad lifted his own bottle in
agreement.  “It's your fault, Captain.  It's not like he's had an entire
planet, an interplanetary corporation on four different planets, and his own
surgery schedule to attend to.  You're just too preoccupied with your baby and
your ship to fit him in the five minutes a week that he has available for you.”

“Shut up, Thad,” I warned.

“No, Thad is right,” Senya said, pulling
himself to his feet.  “You guys can stay and watch the game in here if you
like.  Come on, Kate.” 

“No, forget it!” she growled.  “Stay
here.  I'm going to bed alone.  Your five minutes are up.  Watch the game,
that's obviously what you would prefer to do.”

“No, I'd rather fuck you actually.”

“Well I don't want to.  I want to talk to
you.”

“No, you want to fuck.  You just don't
want to admit it in front of Thad and Berkan.”  He grabbed her hand.

“I'm not sure I'm healed.”

“You are healed.  You're ready and right
now, I am very ready.”  He picked her up.

“Stop it,” she squealed.  “We need to
talk.  We've hardly spoken in ten months.”

“First we'll fuck and then we'll sleep,”
Senya replied, carrying her out the door.  “I've hardly slept in ten months.”

“And when are we going to talk?”

“You can talk while I am sleeping.”  The
door shut behind them.

“I like that,” Thad chuckled, tossing a
handful of egg rolls into this mouth.  “I wonder if Gina will fall for that?”

“Ach, Thad,” I sighed and pulling out my
cell, I sent a quick note to Luci telling her how much I loved her and missed
her.  Then I dove into the little egg roll things too and turned my attention
to the football game.

Chapter 20

Shelly

“Oh, give him to me!” I cried as Katie
walked in the door.  Carefully, so as not to wake the baby, she handed him to
me and carefully, so as not to wake the baby, I covered his soft downy head
with a million kisses.  I loved having a baby to hold again.  I loved that
sweet milky, powdery smell of him and that adorable toothless smile.  I sat
down behind my desk with his little head lying upon my shoulder and his little
bottom tucked into the crook of my arm.

“Is he in?” Katie nodded toward Ron's
office.

“Surgery,” I mouthed so as not to wake the
baby.  “Should be done soon.”

Katie nodded.  “Did Tim call you?”

“Nope.  Why?  Is something going on?”

“Yeah,” Katie replied and frowned. 
“Something weird has entered the solar system and it’s orbiting us.”

“What weird?” I said, my heart skipping a
beat.  I hated weird things.  The baby stirred and whimpered, feeling my sudden
anxiety.  I rubbed his little back until he settled down.

“It's like a cloud,” Katie explained.  “But
I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, Shelly.  Anyway, I'm going to head back
over to the base but I'll feel better if Steven stays here with you.  Can you
watch him for a while?”  She held up his diaper bag.  “There's a bottle in here
for when he wakes up.”

“Absolutely, no problem at all,” I
insisted.  “I will feel better if he stayed here with me too instead of that
nasty Spaceforce daycare.  No, we don't like Spaceforce day care, do we,
sweetheart?”

“Thanks a million,” Katie said, turning
around to head out again when the door swished open.

“So then I told him that it wasn't going
to work no matter how many times a day he shaved,” Janet was saying.  Ron was
smoking and clearly not interested in hearing about Janet’s latest, overly
hairy, Altarian boyfriend.

“There you are,” Katie cried and grabbed
Ron’s arm, pulling him out into the hallway.  “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Oh, let me hold him for a minute!” Janet
begged.

“Thirty seconds are all you get,” I said
as Steven opened his bright blue eyes and yawned.  He smiled at me, showing me
his two little teeth and then patted my face.  “Say hi Gramma Shelly.  Hi
Gramma Shelly,” I cooed. 

There was a loud bang out in the hall and
for a moment it felt like the building shook.  Janet grabbed my arm and pulled
the both of us toward the back office as the sound of gunshots filled the
corridor right outside our door where Ron and Katie had gone.  The next thing I
heard was Katie screaming.

Chapter 21

Senya

It was just before 5 AM and his day had
just begun.  He left his car in his designated parking spot in the cool garage
below the Admin building and headed over toward the hospital.  His day, if and
when it ever ended, would be in his Admin office in the center of the complex,
so better to leave the Porsche there.  He needed to walk a bit too.  It would
help him wake up.  He had only had about two hours sleep which was about par
for him right now.  The heavy fog of fatigue hung over him like a blanket, so
much so he had completely forgotten what it felt like to feel rested. 

The walk was helping though.  The early
morning air was fresh and as cool as this planet ever seemed to get.  He wanted
coffee and considered waiting until he got to the hospital, getting a cup from
the dispenser, feeling the heat of it in his hand.  He wanted it now though and
imagined it so hot it would burn his skin if splashed.  Now it was here,
materializing from his wish.  He sipped it carefully and went in through the
doors of the ER.

"Good Morning, Doctor!" A female
voice called, native Rozarian, young, hopeful. 

He mounted the stairs, bounding up them
with surprising strength considering his weariness.  It helped to wake him
further, practically running up those six floors.  This is why he avoided the
lifts, he told himself, though in truth, he knew it was to avoid the other
people who might be on the lift. 

He considered his day as he climbed
through his building.  He would put on scrubs in his office, taking a last look
at the notes before heading to the surgical suite for the 6AM cut.  This would
be the first of three he would do today.  After that, around the noon hour, he
would go to Engineering for a series of planning and review meetings and then,
hopefully before 6PM, he would return to Admin where he would concentrate on
SdK business. 

Inevitably, Dickon or Kinar or Loman would
interrupt.  Depending on how late the evening went, he may or may not go home
again.  It didn't matter to him in either case.  His wife wouldn't care.  She
was back at work now at Landbase Rozari and when she returned home, her
attention was solely on her baby, without a passing thought for him.

He went through the doors of his medical
office and to the closet where he kept his scrubs.  Pulling off his t-shirt, he
felt a twinge behind his eyes.  It was starting again.  How long had it been? 
Longer than last time?  The twinge turned sharper and started pulsating.

"Kari-fa!" he said aloud and ran
his fingers along his right wrist.  The scab had healed.  There was only a thin
line of swollen pink skin, indicating about two weeks since his last bleeding. 
He didn't have time today.  Not now anyway and he was trying to stretch it
beyond two weeks.  He hoped to get back to a month.  He willed the pain to go
away and for a moment it did, but then reappeared at the base of his skull. 
"Kari-fa!" he swore again.  His skull pulsated.  He rubbed his neck
as best as he could.  He must think of a way to fix this!

He took off his jeans and pulled on his
scrub pants and then the booties, which would rip at the toes before he even
made it down to the third floor surgery.  Then he willed himself a fresh cup of
coffee and a cigarette. 

Leaving the confines of his office, he put
the cig between his teeth and lit it with a flick of his finger.  As soon as he
did, he realized he had made a mistake.  The cig was one of those vile filtered
Mishnese ones that the Court insisted he smoke to preserve his health, as if
they would make any difference.  He was immune to lung cancer and he hated
filtered cigs.  They tasted like nothing.  They did nothing for him. 

He tossed it away, imagining its molecules
dissembling in the air above him.  He wanted a Camel, double menthol, and tried
to remember where he had last encountered one.  Every pack he had at home had
been confiscated by Kinar or one of his staff.  He scanned all of his offices,
all of his desks and recalled a single pack, half empty in his Engineering
desk, third drawer on the right.  He held out his left hand and reached into
that drawer for a single cig.  Much better. 

He inhaled the strong tobacco as he walked
into the operating suite.  It didn't kill his migraine but it did dull it a
little, enough to get through this procedure.  He had five more cigs in that
pack now and could send someone out to the store for another case later in the
day.  He would send Susie.  She was obedient and ignorant.  She would get him
whatever he asked, unlike Shelly who would argue and then lecture him on
smoking.  She would demand to know if he was allowed them and then refuse to
purchase them, telling him she had forgotten.

By the time he left the surgery, it was
nearly noon.  He had finished four of the five Camel cigs, drank as many cups
of coffee and his headache had receded to just a quiet throbbing in the back of
his skull.  Janet was walking with him, breathing heavily as she climbed the
stairs, complaining about not using the lifts.  He was not listening to her,
his mind was already on his afternoon meetings and the call he would need to
make to Berkan as soon as morning dawned in Mishnah.  He wished he could have
something to eat before then.  He wished it was how it was before, when his
wife would bring him lunch in a bag and they would eat together at his desk and
then he could quickly fuck her before they both went back to work. 

He thought about the sandwiches she would
bring him and his mind wandered to the kitchen at their home, searching for
tuna fish or egg salad in a bag with some mineral water and a sweet.  He
couldn't find anything there.  There were neither sandwiches nor bags.  The refrigerators
were filled with concoctions created by the staff, all things he didn't like. 
His wife never cooked for him anymore.  He had liked what she made.  She knew
what pleased him.  Now nothing pleased him.

“So I told him,” Janet said.  “He needs to
shave more, even if it is three times a day.  I can't handle a guy with all
that hair.  If he won't do it for me, then what else won't he do for me?  You
know what I mean?  Ron?”

He nodded absently.  At least he thought
he nodded and then pulled out his cell.  He called Susie and told her to fetch
him a case of Camels. 

“Sure, Doctor,” she said brightly.  Her
voice was always cheerful.  He found it annoying.  He did not like to speak to
her too much, preferring to just email or text.  He told her to fetch him a
sandwich too.  Bread with a meat.  No cheese.  No bird.  Fish or beef.

“Mayo or mustard or both?  Lettuce,
tomato, pickles?”  How could one be so pleased to do such a simple and inane
task?  Nothing.  Just bread.  Hard bread with meat.  Not pork.  Never pork. 
Kari-fa, he was hungry and tired.  How difficult was it to fetch a sandwich?

“I realize that on his planet, that's
considered fashionable.”  Janet was still talking.  Her voice was grating on
him too. 

They emerged from the top stairwell and
rounded the corner to their offices.  His wife was there.  He could sense her
from across the building.  Her presence sent a bolt of electricity down his
spine.  She could do this to him.  She turned her back to him when he came to
their bed and she did not make him sandwiches but still she made his heart beat
faster.

“There you are,” his wife said and grabbed
his arm. 

Shelly was there holding the baby, walking
up and down in the office, making noises to him.  Shelly loved the baby and
still she loved him too.  He wished his wife would love them both.  He wanted
to kiss her but her manner was hard and cold.

“Do you know what is going on?” his wife
said, pulling him away from the door and further down the hall. 

He listened.  He searched her mind for
that of which she was speaking.  There was something in the sky, a dark cloud. 
Spaceforce was worried about this cloud, but they did not know yet what it was.

“Just a moment,” he told her and stopped
walking.  He leaned against the wall and listened.  He blocked out the noise of
the building, the voices and their thoughts.  He listened only to the sky.  He
felt the sound of the cloud, the disturbance of the molecules in the
atmosphere; he felt the presence of ships, of beings, many beings.

“What's the matter?” his wife asked.

“Ships,” he said.  “Coming here.”

A great feeling of dread sank into his
stomach, a terrible foreboding.  They were coming here for him.  He would not
be able to have his meetings today nor would he speak to Berkan or Dickon
tonight.  There were creatures coming for him and he did not yet know who they
were or why they wanted him. 

His head pounded, his migraine erupting as
bad as it ever could be.  He was unsure how strong he was now, if he would have
the strength to fight them off in his fatigued state. 

His wife was speaking to her Admiral on
her cell.  She was thinking of thousands of ships coming down from the sky, not
yet knowing they were coming for him.  The Spacebase could not respond.  The
ships had immobilized the Spacebase, and the Landbase was too small to fight
off anyone. 

He needed to speak to Berkan, to Thad.  He
needed the ship, the project.  He wanted Thad here.  The lift doors opened and
there was Thad.

“Hey, what do you know,” Thad said.  “I
thought I was getting off at the cafeteria on 2 and instead I'm here on 6.  Did
you summon me, Master?”

“The project,” he said.  “Ring Berkan
immediately and tell him to send the project.”

“Uh, okay, Boss,” Thad replied.  “You want
it even if it's not ready?  Berkan's probably still asleep.”

“I don't give a fuck,” he snapped, his
body tensing, his head feeling as if it were about to crack.  “Wake him up and
get the fucking ship here and tell Berkan the project had better work or...”

“What ship are you talking about?” his
wife interrupted.  “Spaceforce is sending the Lexington and the Sealth. 
They'll be here within 40 hours.  I'm going back to the base.”

“No,” he snatched her arm., “no, you must
stay here.”

“No!” she tried to shake him off. 
“Shelly's going to watch the baby.  Admiral wants me back to assist.”

“No.  You will stay here.”  He told her
this and she glared at him with hatred in her eyes.  He let go of her arm.

“I'll call you,” she said as the lift
doors opened.  Markut, the Captain of his guards arrived with his Andorians and
his Mishnese men. 

“Do not let her leave the building,” he
told them in Mishnese.  He knew they would obey him.  The ships were
surrounding his buildings.  The air hummed with their propulsion.  They were
lowering themselves into the parking lots, the lawns and walkways of his
campus. 

“What the hell is that?” Thad said,
pointing out the window as the alien craft glided past.

“A pod,” Senya said or perhaps he just
thought this.  Their voices were in his head now.  There were many of them,
thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps even more and they were outside his
building.  They were calling to him in whispered voices.  Their whisperings
weighed heavily upon his shoulders, pushing him down and stealing his strength,
what little remained.  His head felt as if it weighed in tonnes, his blood
slowed, moving through his veins as thick as mud.

“Senya!”  His wife's voice pierced through
the whisperings.  “What's the matter?  Janet?  Jason?  Somebody help!” 

“Your Royal Highness?  Sir?”  It was
Markut shaking him. 

The lift doors opened, the stairwells
opened and the creatures were there surrounding him.  The whispers merged with
screaming voices as he slipped to the floor, his head feeling as if it had
ruptured. 

Then, there was heat, tremendous heat.  He
felt his skin burn and tear, his muscles and organs split.  He felt it all from
a distance as if he had left that body yet again, though this time he had not. 
He felt his blood spilling as the creatures lifted him and took him away.  They
were carrying him reverently as if he were their god.  He was too weak even to
fight this.  There were too many of them. 

As if from far away, he heard the mayhem
on the 6th floor as they departed.  Markut was dead.  Most of his guards were
dead.  Shelly, Janet and the baby were hiding in his office and his wife?  Thad
and Jason were holding her as she screamed his name.  She did love him.

They were taking him to their ship.  He
didn’t know why as the creatures had no thoughts beyond that.  Instead, he
concentrated on his wounds.  His left lung was burnt.  The lower lobe pooled
with blood and would soon collapse.  There was another burn near his groin,
severing the common iliac artery.  He can no longer feel his left leg.  They
must have intended to hit there for if they had missed by only a few millimeters,
they would have severed his aorta and he would already have been dead. 

He assumed they didn’t want him dead. 
They were carrying him into one of their ships because they wanted him for
something.  He was bleeding profusely and his body was shutting down.  He could
feel the tremors taking over, the cold that came as wicked as the heat had only
moments before.