The Starborn (6 page)

“Test of the contamination commencing.” She opened the sealed box and cracked the seals on each sample, letting the air of the planet in to frolic on the biological material.

Two samples turned to dust immediately. “Oh dear.”

Comet landed next to her. “Still infected?”

“It is. Looks virulent too. I think I will have a talk with Reha-Jesku.”

“The Avatar? Isn’t it in stasis?”

Wiali smiled. “When your body was asleep, did Suek ever drive you around?”

Understanding dawned on his face. “I see. Let’s return to the Avatar and have a chat.”

Wiali took the hand he offered, and together, they returned to the hidden building.

Standing in front of the stasis tube, Wiali wondered if she had looked like this while she had been floating. Her body hadn’t matured while she was in the tube, but her mind had whirled on into other worlds to investigate anything her curiosity took hold of.

While under, Suek had still kept in contact with her, a comforting presence as time took her further and further from her parents. If Suek could keep in touch with her across hundreds of star systems, Jesku would easily have been able to keep entwined with its Avatar.

It was whimsy that made her reach out to knock on the plexi. “Wake up.”

The orange body flexed and the deep red hair flowed back in a curtain as two black eyes stared at Wiali.
Why are you here? The air is deadly.

Not if you don’t let it touch you. My mate and I have been exposed to stellar sentience, and it has wrapped our cells in protective radiation.

Oh, good. Why are you here then?

A corporation has been preparing to bio-form your surface. We need proof of your consciousness as quickly as we can get it.

Is that what those things are? They are rather uncomfortable and a little too close to magma pockets.

Wiali grinned as a surge of energy came from the woman in the tube.

That should prove that something here is unstable.
The woman’s features expanded in a smile.

I hope that it is enough. We will try to get you some help. Can you tell me how the pathogen spread?

A meteor. It crashed and the shockwave spread across my surface, killing everything it touched. Only Rena was left standing and probably for the same reason that you are not dead. She is wrapped with the same energy that you are.

Probably. Well, she can come out of stasis if you wish. If your power keeps her immune, she will be fine.

I don’t think I want to risk her. She is very precious to me and was only with me for a week before the disaster struck. Do you know how long we have been here? She is asking.

Based on the make and model of your stasis chamber, you have been here for less than three hundred years.

Your mate is trying to hear what you are saying. You may want to talk to him.

“Comet, Jesku does not want to risk Rena until a cure for the pathogen has been found. It came in on a meteor and swept across the planet on the shockwave. The only survivor is here in front of us.”

“How long have they been in there?”

“Three hundred years or less.”

“How do you know that?”

“The stasis unit. They have the Alliance year printed on the casing, and this one was manufactured three hundred years ago. Stasis units happen to be a fascination of mine.”

He chuckled. “I guess they would be. So, what is our plan of attack?”

“We lock the planet, send in a diagnostic team that uses robotic systems and deal with it from there. Is that possible?”

Braenar nodded. “There will be no shortage of applicants to help. Is Jesku willing to entertain the idea of colonists?”

“You know, you could ask her just as well as I can.”

“I know, but you already have a rapport.”

She snorted and returned to Jesku.
Will you allow colonists when your surface is safe?

Of course. Though Rena can self-reproduce, I will never have an indigenous population again, well, not one with any genetic variety.

Fair enough. I will make that a condition of the search for a cure. Whoever does the best, fastest work will have the first crack at the surface.

Rena-Jesku smiled again.
You are turning me into a contest?

Whatever it takes to motivate folks. I have found that things that are in a contest are considered more worth winning.

A few minutes more of conversation and Comet touched her arm. “We need to get back to the shuttle.”

She made her goodbyes to Jesku and yelped when Comet grabbed her, hauling her to the surface, using his foot to seal the entrance behind them.

“What is it, Braenar?”

He winced. “I am having a slight problem. Do you remember when I said that I was in rut?”

She blinked. “I remember you said you were receptive.”

“Well, if I don’t get some soon, I will be forced to find a temporary partner, and I do not believe that our growing relationship will withstand that.”

Wiali didn’t reply, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his lips as he took them back to the Sector Guard shuttle in orbit above them.

Chapter Ten

His caresses had her retracting her body suit five minutes after they left the pod from Udell back to Lowel.

She kept her lips pressed to his as cool air embraced her shoulders and kept going. She returned the favour, and soon, their bodies were tumbling to the bed, and he was easing his urges by giving into his instincts.

It was a long night, followed by a sore day and another tumultuous evening when he finally curled against her and stroked her hair. “I promise to return the favour when you are in season.”

She chuckled. “It’s all right. In the reproductive arena, I am more Nyal than Hirn. You will know when it happens.”

His horns had come and gone a dozen times during the last two days. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “I will welcome the opportunity to be of service.”

Wiali sighed. “Can we get some sleep now?”

“What, you don’t want to have your wicked way with me again?” He chuckled.

“My wicked wore out eight hours ago. I am mildly naughty at the most right now.”

He laughed and pulled her closer.

Sleeping in his arms was wonderful but waking with a strange woman staring at her was a little disconcerting.

“Wiali? My name is Kashka. I have been sent to fetch you to Udell base.”

Wiali sat up, waking Braenar as she spoke, “Okay, but how did you get in here?”

“Oh, I am not here. I am a distance projector. I am just very powerful. I will be assigned to Lowel when the Citadel is complete.”

“So, you aren’t actually here?”

“Nope. But you weren’t answering the com, so this was the solution that Guardian came up with. I promise to leave before your mate stands up all the way. See you at the base.” The woman saluted and disappeared.

Braenar made a small sound. “I heard that they were recruiting a projector but didn’t realise that she was already there.”

Wiali got to her feet and groaned. “I think our presence is required at Udell. First, a shower, then I kill Guardian.”

Braenar chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet as he carried both of them to the shower.

Kashka smiled and greeted them at the pod. “You look refreshed.”

Wiali inclined her head. “Long, hot shower and a backrub are definitely the right way to start the day. Braenar, this is Kashka.”

The woman bobbed a curtsy. “Guardian is waiting in the situation room.”

“Oh, good. I want to talk to him.”

Braenar wrapped her in his arms. “We are still on duty, so you might want to curb your irritation.”

She wrinkled her nose but let him walk with his arm around her all the way to the situation room.

They sat down with Guardian, Pax and Kashka.

Guardian began, “I am sorry to interrupt mating season. I realise how awkward it is to cease what nature begins.”

Pax reached out to touch his hand, and he pressed a kiss to the back of her wrist.

Suddenly, Wiali was sure that he wasn’t deliberately being a jackass where privacy was concerned. She sighed as the irritation bled out of her.

Braenar kept his hand on hers. “We took the edge off. What do you need?”

“Nineteen men landed on Jeskulan and died within ten minutes. Unfortunately, they had a bomb that they were planning on lodging in the main temple at the city. That bomb is armed, unstable and capable of blasting a hole two kilometres wide.”

Wiali groaned. “Damn.”

Braenar nodded. “When do we leave?”

“You will be heading out on the Alliance warship Nedron. Kashka will accompany you, and she will be put in stasis and launched to the surface with you. Kashka will be the link between Udell and Jeskulan. If you can get her near the Avatar of Jesku, she will be able to talk with them.”

Wiali looked at Kashka with a frown. “Have you gone into stasis before?”

The woman shook her head. “Lives are at stake, and if I can be of any assistance, I will do what I can.”

They got to their feet and left in an Alliance shuttle. The warship Nedron was huge, and as their small vehicle settled inside it, Wiali had to admire the seriousness of the Alliance response.

In the medical bay of the Nedron, Kashka stepped into the stasis tube and held her breath as the liquid rose to cover her face.

Wiali pressed her hand to the plexi, willing the woman to breathe. As she started breathing in the liquid, the leads that extended from her skin began to glow, and slowly, the breathing reduced until Kashka’s chest ceased to move. Her eyes closed and her body relaxed in the supporting fluid.

“She is stable. I will gel lock her, but you have to release her within four hours or she will begin to suffer damage.” The bird-like physician was solemn and his taloned hands were sure on the controls.

“Very well. Get her to the drop bay, and we will be on our way.”

The doctor nodded and had his medical assistants move the stasis chamber down the halls and to the large bay with the electronic shield-sealed entrance.

Braenar and Wiali stood and waited for the alarms to go off. When the shield dropped, they gripped the stasis chamber and lifted it, moving toward the surface of Jeskulan.

The ship with the rapidly decaying remains of the corporation’s men was settled at the edge of the steps to what appeared to be city hall.

With gravity tugging at the stasis unit, they set it carefully down within the hidden building.

“How are we going to handle the bomb?” Wia put her hands on her hips and scowled at the shuttle.

“I am going to take the shuttle, bomb and all, and launch it into the sky, where you will blow the works with a power blast.” Comet smiled. “That is the theory, anyway.”

She frowned. “For you to get to a safe distance, we will need low orbit.”

He nodded, tilting his head. “I am just looking for a good place to get a grip.”

Wia walked around the ship and took a look at the explosive device through the hatch. “I think I can grab it.”

“You think?”

“Pretty sure.” She puckered her lips. “Yup. Pretty sure.”

Before Comet could stop her, she extended her arms and used the same radiation that made her fly to surround the bomb.

Backing up, she floated the bomb out of the shuttle, and then, she lifted off at a slow and careful pace, keeping the explosive even.

A harsh chirping got her attention, so she flung the explosive away from the city as hard as she could, and when it hit the apex of its arch, she struck it with a column of power that burned the explosive and casing in one hard rush.

The shockwave from the explosion knocked her backward, and she went tumbling end over end until she smacked into Comet.

“That was stupid. Effective, but stupid.”

He held her tight and gave her a kiss that scorched the soles of her boots. She returned the kiss and sighed. “That was nice. Now, we have to get Kashka down to the Avatar’s chamber before the gel starts to get crusty.”

He groaned. “More heavy lifting.”

“I love a man with muscles, and I didn’t mate with you for your mind. It was the whole package I was after, and your package.” She waggled her eyebrows at him.

He snorted and kissed her again as they resumed their flight to the hidden stronghold. Kashka was going to be the companion to an Avatar and both of them would be in stasis. It was a weird situation but not the oddest thing that Wiali had heard since she was woken to a new Alliance and a new place in it.