The Price of Pleasure (18 page)

“At least answer this,” Bragan replied. “Do you hate her for what she did to you?”

“No,” Seth said softly after several minutes of silence. “No, I don’t hate her at all.”

“Remember that,” Bragan whispered. “We don’t all get a chance to be happy in this life. Don’t be afraid to take whatever joy you can find, regardless of whether or not you understand it.”

“We need to get ready,” Seth said tightly, refusing to look at the man he’d once thought crazy. “If I’m going to steal a ship, I should do it as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more likely it is they’ll find us.”

Bragan just laughed, which confused Seth.

“I’ll pack you some supplies,” the doctor finally said. “You’ll need them to get back to your people.”

* * * * *

Darkness came over the asteroid suddenly. Seth, his carryall strapped to his back, crept silently toward the waiting ships. They were all in poor condition, but the smallest one looked slightly better than the others, and had the added advantage of being parked on the edge of the field. Seth was willing to bet it was faster, too. Realizing that his life might depend on his ability to outrun any pursuers, he decided it would be his target.

He had been watching the Pilgrims for hours, ever since he and Bragan had parted ways. Bragan had packed enough food and water to last Seth a week, more than enough time to make his way to a friendly station, assuming he made it off the asteroid at all.

Making his way carefully, Seth moved quickly. The darkness would only last a few hours, as the asteroid’s cycle of day and night was extremely short. Fortunately, the Pilgrims had been working long enough to warrant taking a break. Most of them were probably asleep.

Seth skirted the landing field until his target ship was directly before him. No one seemed to be around. The Pilgrims had set guards in front of the two larger ships, but apparently this one wasn’t considered important enough. Using a small tool from his suit’s all-purpose set, Seth quickly removed the service access panel by the ship’s door.

Positioning himself so his body was between the panel and the other ships, Seth shined a tiny light on the controls. The ship was locked, of course, but he could override a simple palm-activated locking device like this one easily enough. As long as no one caught him in the act, that was; anyone seeing his light would know something was up.

Fortunately, none of the Pilgrims seemed to be paying attention to the smallest of their ships. Connecting two of the circuits manually, Seth shorted out the locking system and the hatch slid open. He was relatively certain the ship was empty–no one had entered it the entire time he’d been watching. Moving quickly, he climbed though the opening and closed it behind him. The ship was so small there was only the cockpit and one small hold for cargo. Seth checked the hold, confirming he was alone, then settled himself in the pilot’s seat.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized the controls were standard; he’d piloted a thousand other shuttles just like this one. He saw that whoever had piloted the ship had left it on standby. At least he would not have to wait for the engines to come online from a cold start. He wouldn’t have time for a pre-flight check, either, so hopefully everything was still operational. Whoever owned the ship should be shot, he thought wryly, because it clearly hadn’t been properly serviced in years. Whispering a prayer to the Goddess, he strapped himself in and toggled the starter.

The ship came to life with a whine and he slammed the control rudder forward. He was airborne before he could even check to see how much fuel she had. The roar of the engine would alert the Pilgrims; they would be after him within minutes. Not pausing to pull up a navigation chart, Seth pushed the tiny ship to its maximum speed. Dodging debris, he zigzagged sharply through the cloud of asteroids surrounding Bethesda.

It took every bit of his skill as a pilot to control the tiny ship as it careened through the field of debris. Seth dodged rocks ranging in size from pebbles to small moons as he sped away from the Pilgrim base, barely breathing for the first ten minutes of his flight.

He was positive they must be after him by now, but the little ship’s sensors weren’t sophisticated enough to check for pursuit at full speed. Instead, Seth focused on putting as much distance between himself and the Pilgrims as he could. Once he was safely away, he’d send for help.

Five hours later he was still racing, although his hands trembled from the strain of piloting the ship. He needed to find a place to land, a place where he could hide and rest up. There was no way they would be able to find him now, he reasoned. Not unless he did something truly stupid to attract their attention. Slowing his speed, Seth guided his small ship toward a large asteroid. It seemed to have some good-sized overhanging rock formations; perfect for hiding a ship of like this from both sight and sensors. After several minutes of careful navigation, Seth managed to land the ship just under the lip of a massive crater. Forcing himself to release his grip on the controls, he sat back in his chair and massaged his hands. He was exhausted; it was time to get some sleep. He also needed to eat.

Grabbing the carryall, he dug out a food pack. Ripping off the end, he sucked the ration tube’s contents down without bothering to identify the contents. Then he reached for a fluid bulb. As he pulled the bulb out of the bag, a small piece of paper came with it. He read it quickly, his blood running cold as he realized what Bragan had intended to do from the moment the Pilgrims had landed...

Seth–I am including this note because I want you to understand why I’ve chosen to do
what I’m going to do. I am not going to wait for you to return. There is too much danger
that the Pilgrims will find me. It’s better to kill them now and destroy the Jansenite while I
still can. I will wait until you’ve had enough time to get away, but then I plan to detonate it
and destroy this place. If I have not waited long enough, then I am sorry. You have become a
friend to me and I wish you no harm. I consider myself fortunate to die on my own terms,
for something I believe in. It is enough.

Bragan

When would it happen? Seth wondered desperately. Why was Bragan doing this?

Realizing there was nothing he could do for the man, Seth checked his instruments and ran a few quick mental calculations. He should be all right in his hiding place, he realized, but he wasn’t as far as he’d like to be. When that Jansenite blew, it would destroy everything within a thousand square miles.

Seth started powering up the ship again; he needed to get further away. But before he could do more than initiate the procedure, and alarm trilled a sharp warning.

Something big had happened, there had been a sharp wave of radiation. Slapping his hand against the control panel, he activated an emergency beacon. He didn’t have time to do anything else before a shock wave blasted the asteroid. His last thought before he lost consciousness was to wonder whether the ship’s landing tethers would hold. Then blackness swept over him as his was slammed by the explosion’s impact. Seth sank into the darkness.

* * * * *

“I think he’s waking up,” a voice said. Where was he? Seth wondered. What the hell had happened?

“Seth, can you hear me?” It was Jax’s voice. Memory rushed back to Seth–he had been in a ship, trying to escape from the Pilgrims… and then Bragan had blown up the Jansenite. It was a miracle he was still alive, Seth realized. Barely alive, though. His entire body ached, a thousand small pains making themselves known.

“Jax?” he whispered, trying to open his eyes. He couldn’t see anything. “Jax, is that you? How did you get here? Why can’t I see anything?”

“Don’t worry, you’ve got bandages over your eyes,” Jax said, excited relief in his voice. “Don’t worry, your eyes are fine. You got radiation burns, though, and they had to do surgery. You’ll need to keep your eyes covered for a few weeks, give them time to heal. Someone blew up half the quadrant using Jansenite. Who the hell would do such a thing?”

“Bragan,” Seth whispered. “He did it. He blew it up to keep the Pilgrims from getting it.”

“Can you give me any more information than that?” Jax asked. “I got a message a few weeks ago from some woman saying you were trapped. She included some coordinates, and told me to bring a surgeon. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen, but that’s how we found you so quickly. Otherwise you would have died.”

“That was Calla,” Seth said. “Can I have some water?”

“Um, let me ask” Jax said. “Can he have some water?”

“Of course,” said another voice. “Let me help him with it.”

Seth felt a straw touch his lips, and he sucked the water down greedily. His throat felt like sand paper. “Don’t drink too much at once,” the voice said.

“I’ve got to tell you what happened,” Seth said finally. He tried to raise a hand, to grasp Jax, but he couldn’t move. “We’ve got a problem. There’s this group called the Pilgrims. They’re planning an attack against us.”

“I know,” Jax said. Seth felt his friend’s hand touch his own lightly through the bandages. Jax suddenly sounded very tired. “They’ve already moved against us. You’ve been out for nearly two weeks, Seth. They attacked several days ago.”

“What?” Seth whispered. “I don’t understand.”

“When we found you, you were hardly alive,” Jax said, his voice filled with strain.

“We put you into stasis immediately. You never would have survived, otherwise. We took you directly to the station hospital, and you’ve been in and out of surgery and regeneration chambers ever since.”

“What about the attack? What brought it on?”

“As far as we can tell, they decided that the explosion was some kind of sign from their leader,” Jax said.

“The Celestial Pilgrim?” Seth asked.

“I don’t know what they call him,” Jax said harshly. “He’s been dead for a thousand years, but the bastards still think he’s talking to them. They attacked from small bases throughout the asteroid field. There were even some of them living on Discovery station. In fact, that old bitch, Jennings, was one of them. They killed nearly a hundred people before we managed to stop them. She escaped, by the way.”

“I was trying to let you know how dangerous they are,” Seth whispered, sorrow washing over him. How many of his friends were dead? “I’m sorry I didn’t get here in time to warn you.”

“We can still use whatever information you have,” Jax said with feeling. “There are thousands of them still out there. Hunting them all down will take months.”

“It’s time for Commander Seth to go back to the regeneration chamber,” the other voice said. “Commander, I’m going to give you some medication to make you sleep now.”

“Take care, Seth,” Jax said quietly. “They say you’ll be ready for regular duty in about a month, but I’ll get some of the intelligence specialists in to speak with you the next time you wake up. We need to know everything that happened, everything you’ve learned about them...”

Jax kept talking, but Seth could no longer understand what he was saying. He tried to ask him to speak louder, but the darkness was too much. It was time to sleep again.

Seth let unconsciousness wash over him. To do anything else would have been too exhausting.

Part III: The Sanctuary

Six Months Later

Chapter 13

Bitch.

Seth lifted his glass of bakrah and took a long swig. The lovely blond sitting in the booth beside him reached over and tried to fondle his leg, but he pushed her hand away. He didn’t want her, he wanted Calla—six bloody months since Jax had rescued him from the asteroid, and he hadn’t been able to think of anything else. It was killing him. With a frustrated sigh, he gestured for the woman to leave him alone.

Calla’s presence was with him always. the smell of her hair, her smile. The feel of her tight opening around his cock and the little noises she made when she came. Was she making those little noises for Jess now? Seth clenched his fist around the glass, his vision clouding over with black rage.

Bitch.

She’d left him to die, and now she haunted his every step. He could hunt her down; he’d thought about it a thousand times. But what would be the point? She didn’t want to be with him, and he didn’t want to be with her. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself. At night, though, he ached for her touch...

It had been a hard six months. He had spent the first seven weeks recovering from his injuries, a process made more difficult by the constant stream of Saurellian intelligence analysts sent to pick his brains for information on the Pilgrims. Then he had joined his brother warriors in the fight. They were successful and the rebellion was over, at least for now. But casualties had been heavy on both sides, and the Pilgrims were still out there. They were hiding, licking their wounds and preparing to fight again.

Once upon a time, Seth had found the thought of new battles and new enemies exhilarating. Now he was simply tired.

A whooping cry came from across the seedy tavern, startling him out of his thoughts. Seth looked up at the source of the noise with little interest. Jax and the others were excited, slapping each other on the back and laughing. Whatever it was, Seth didn’t care. He drained the rest of his glass, threw a credit down on the table and got up to leave.

As he made his way across the room, Jax caught sight of him and bounded over, literally leaping over a table to get to him.

“Seth, I have great news!” Jax yelled, grabbing his arm. Seth shook him off, disinterested. “No, you need to hear this! Sit down.”

Realizing he wasn’t going to get rid of Jax that easily, Seth resigned himself and dropped into a chair.

“What is it?”

“Something wonderful has happened,” Jax said. His face was flushed with excitement, and something else. Hope? “You’ve heard of General Nikolas Tresky, haven’t you?”

Seth nodded tightly. Tresky had been among the leaders who negotiated the truce with the emperor. He had a solid reputation.

“Well, several years ago, before the war started, Tresky met a woman during a diplomatic mission to the Imperial court on Tyre, the capital planet,” Jax said excitedly.

Seth glanced at his time piece, willing Jax to go away. He had no interest in the younger man’s stories. “He had a brief affair with her. I guess he was never really able to shake the thought of her, and after the war he hunted her down. Guess what he found? She had a child by him, a girl no less, and the baby is Saurellian! He found a life mate who wasn’t Saurellian!”

Jax’s words caught Seth off guard. No Saurellian man had ever found a life mate outside their homeworld.

“Are you sure?” he whispered. If what Jax said was true, the implications were incredible. Suddenly there was new hope for all of them.

“Yes, the news came in an official dispatch from the Temple of the Goddess on Saurellia. Apparently he took her there to confirm their bond in front of the priestesses,”

Jax said breathlessly. “Do you know what this means? We have a chance! We could all find life mates. It’s almost too much to imagine.”

The younger man fell back against his chair, all but glowing with happiness. Jax’s words kept running through Seth’s mind again and again. There was hope. Maybe he could have Calla, if she was his life mate. Some of his anger fled at the thought of holding her, thrusting into her warm flesh. He wanted her so badly...

“Tell me about this woman,” Seth said suddenly, leaning forward. “Where did she come from? What do the priestesses say about this?”

“Well, she didn’t look Saurellian, but they did a genetic analysis, and she’s definitely of Saurellian stock,” Jax said, grimacing. “I know, it sounds incredible, but she was actually the daughter of two freed slaves. Genetically she’s a real mish-mash, because both her parents came from an imperial slave farm. But somewhere in there was a Saurellian. Thank the Goddess for dominant genes!”

“Calla came from a slave farm,” Seth said softly. Jax stared hard at him.

“She left you to die,” he said harshly after a minute. “You can’t think that she might be-“

“Maybe,” Seth said. He looked down and realized his hand was trembling. He held it up before him, fascinated at his reaction. “I haven’t been with another woman since I was with her. I can’t stop thinking about her. And when we were together, I wanted to stay with her, even after months of only one woman. Doesn’t that sound like a life mate?”

“Yes,” Jax said slowly. “But Seth, she lied to you. For all you know she’s already married to that slave rebel. I know she told you she wasn’t, but she lied to you all along.

If she was your life-mate, she wouldn’t even contemplate being with another man after meeting you.”

“But how else do you explain it?” Seth said after a moment’s thought. “Being with her felt so right, so different from any other women I’ve ever been around. She came from a slave farm. Maybe the Goddess chose her for me.”

Jax sat quietly for a minute, then looked up at him.

“If what you say is true, you have to go get her,” he said finally. “You have to know the truth. But why would the Goddess pair you with a woman you could never trust?”

“The Goddess has ordained stranger things,” Seth replied thoughtfully. “If she’s truly my life mate, I’ll simply have to learn to deal with it. And if I find Jess, I’ll take care of him, too. But if she’s really my life mate, then maybe she was telling the truth about him. I can’t imagine the Goddess would give me a woman who already belongs to another man.”

“She’s yours by law,” Jax said, warming to the idea. “You have the right to take her, regardless of whether she’s already with another man. If it’s the Goddess’ will, you don’t have a choice.”

No, he didn’t, Seth thought. He was filled with the most amazing sensation. Sudden joy ran through him as he realized that he, too, might have children. He could build a life for himself, rejoin his brother on Saurellia. He could have Calla. The thought of her, with her soft skin covered in freckles and her long, brown hair wrapped around his fingers made him instantly hard. He had known from the start she was his, he realized, there was simply no doubt about it. He just hadn’t believed such a thing was possible.

Now all he had to do was go and get her.

Jax read his thoughts. “I take it you’re going after her?” he asked with a grin.

“Oh, yes,” Seth said with dark determination.

“Want some company?” Jax asked. “I’m ready for another trip. Beside, the more I travel, the more likely it is I’ll run into my life mate. I want her, Seth. I’m ready for her, wherever she is.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Any ideas where to start?” Jax asked.

“I’ll start by tracing the ship,” Seth said with a smile. “It shouldn’t be too hard to find out where they sold it. We’ll take it from there. Neither of them had ever been out of the system before. They’ll stick out no matter where they go. We’ll find them.”