Under His Command (14 page)

specific. Containment is always boring and males and females tend to

like different activities. Besides, the children want to be with their

mothers.”

“This is like a damned nightmare. Isn’t there one practical person

in that whole colony?” Colonel Naiad said under his breath. “We

can’t leave them there unprotected but if I order one of the transports

to pick them up, all I have is one pilot and a navigator to somehow get

thirty-one civilians on board and defend the craft, not to mention if

our men need to get out of there, half their transportation is gone.”

“Send me.” Will wasn’t particularly brave…well, he’d never

thought about whether he possessed that quality or not. It didn’t

matter. All he knew was he wasn’t going to sit by and let innocent

women and children be preyed upon by lawless monsters. “Surely

there’s few more male crew you can spare to go along? Lieutenant

Valmont can handle the transport. Take my word, if it is anything like

what I saw her do on Epsilon, we’ll be in and out before you can

blink. I’ll get those colonists on the transport and Commander Gallico

will still have his transportation on standby if he needs them.”

“I can’t.” Naiad jabbed his fingers through his hair. “You’re the

governor’s son…and Peyton…No. I have orders. As for male crew to

go along, I don’t. The commander took everyone we could spare.”

“I can handle several different types of weapons.” It was an

exaggeration. Will had done a little training at one time, years ago

when he’d thought about a military career. It wasn’t for him, he’d

decided soon enough, part of his conclusion being situations like this

one. A cool choice was impossible for him to make under

circumstances where innocent victims were involved.

“Colonel? Please help us.” Betina Tosse’s composure cracked a

fraction. “What do you want us to do?”

For a minute Naiad didn’t move, then he said on a savage exhale,

“Don’t panic. We’re on our way.”

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* * * *

Compared to what she’d encountered on Epsilon, this would be

like a scenic ride over Minoa’s first city. Peyton slid her hands over

the controls of her transport with the familiarity of a lover and

followed the coordinates.

There was no question the darkened conditions below were

disconcerting but she’d flown missions like this before. They’d been

drills though, she thought with an inner grimace. And not—though

she refused to dwell on it—with desperate criminals roaming the area

of touchdown.

She almost missed it, catching the dark spot in the last moment,

hauling the craft around and flicking the lights on as instructed for

one, two, three heartbeats. Then the craft settled down sweetly on the

specified flat spot by the bunker and she shut down the illumination.

“I’ll stand guard. Tara, you help the colonists board.” Will

Janssen, his fine features set, held a sleek military issue defense

firearm like he knew what he was doing, though Peyton knew he’d

been given just a brief lesson while the transport was fueled and

prepared. Tara nodded and Peyton enabled the door lift.

The warm smell of vegetation and fecund soil as the first thing

that Peyton noticed, the eddy of moist air hitting the cockpit. Tara and

Will jumped out, not even waiting for the gate to hit the ground. Her

navigator, Morrison, sat hunched in the seat beside her, weapon at

hand, his young face grim as he stared a one of the screens. He said,

“We’ve got movement out there. They heard us come in.”

“Yeah, well, we’re probably kind of hard to miss,” Peyton tried

not to tense up, checking her controls, prepared to lift off the minute

the last passenger was on board. “We expected trouble.”

She could dimly see through the shadows figures of the colonists

pouring from the bunker door. The first one to scramble up the ramp

was a young boy of not more than five or six, his eyes wide. Behind

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him came a frightened female, obviously his mother who nodded

when instructed toward the seating area and shooed him that

direction. More came, all with that same pale trembling look,

especially when someone discharged a weapon not far away. Not

Will, Peyton thought automatically, frantically scanning the sensor

monitors, but a hand weapon.

Tara was out there. It made her have to quell a surge of panic

when she thought of her sister’s danger.

The colonists flowed in, breathless and frightened, but it seemed

excruciatingly slow, though in real time it probably wasn’t.

“Here comes company.” Morrison slid from his seat. “I’m going

to guard the door. Hopefully Janssen can hold them off. That thing

he’s holding can blast a hole in the side of a bed of Minoan granite.

They don’t know he’s never fired it. Look, we have visual,

Lieutenant.”

Sure enough, along the perimeter of the bunker, she saw dim

forms come into view. It was eerie to see the stealthy advance, to

catch the gleam of a face, or movement of a hand. “Shit,” she

muttered, petrified, but her hands still hovering over the controls in

automatic readiness for lift off.

The last colonist climbed out of the bunker only a few feet away

from the convicts and someone—Tara—grabbed the woman’s arm

and pulled her at a run toward the transport. Will stood between them

and the threat, his weapon making a sweeping arc as if he meant to

fire at any moment. He backed slowly toward the waiting craft.

“Hurry,” Morrison shouted. “We’ve got them all.”

The first flash from the darkness came, but the shot hit the

transport. Attuned to her vessel, Peyton felt the vibration with a brief

spurt of rage. Will, she realized, was probably attempting to back up

the ramp into the craft, while still posing a threat. Another flash came,

and then dozens, and in a knee jerk reaction, she hit the floodlights,

effectively blinding their opponents. For a moment she saw a semicircle of males, their unshaven faces feral and washed to bone and

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angle by the brilliant illumination and then Morrison slid into place

next to her and said, “Jesus.”

“Yeah, I’m going to have nightmares after this. Janssen?”

“He’s in. Do your thing, Lieutenant. Get us the fuck out of here.”

Thrusters engaged, the small roar a welcome sound, and the

transport shifted and went up in a beautiful arc, whirling away into the

darkness.

“He hit?” Peyton asked tersely.

“I don’t know. I pulled him inside and hit the door. Your sister

dragged him off. I figure he’s in good hands and I’m not a medic.

You need me more. Let’s get back in one piece.”

“That was a pretty brave thing for Will Janssen to do.” She

shivered at the memory of those wild, fierce faces.

“We’re all damn heroes if you ask me,” Morrison said with humor

in his voice. “And I’m with you on the nightmare thing. I wonder how

Gallico and his men are doing. I wouldn’t want to be facing anything

like what we saw down there. They didn’t even look like men.”

She wondered, too. If she allowed herself to think about it she

might just lose her mind.

Kel.

Now that she knew it was possible to fall in love with the icy

commander, she wondered if it was possible to tell him.

All she wanted was a chance.

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Chapter 10

It was gratifying to know in the end even with similar forces, the

disadvantages of unknown ground, and having to infiltrate an enemy

held position, that well-trained men could still take the day.

Even against males of their species that were little more than

animals.

Kel felt sickened over the casualties to the crew of the Serpentine.

The initial breakout and takeover had been bloody and by all accounts

half the crew had been massacred. The navigators had been spared,

and most of the female personnel had been able to hide in a storage

area and gone undetected, but almost all the young able men were

eliminated. Out of eighty less than thirty survived, but that was at

least better than none. Anaya Two also, was spared the destructive

presence of a force of merciless, desperate criminals.

So everything had turned out well. His men had suffered a few

casualties but going in through the airlocks and the service tunnels

had given them the element of surprise, and no one on their side had

been killed. As for the prisoners, most had chosen death—some by

their own hand—rather than capture. According to the ship’s log,

there were still five prisoners unaccounted for, but he’d left men

guarding the ship and the colonists were still in lock down. A

Federation military vessel with full troops was on its way to take over

and the situation was at least under control.

At least in a professional way, things felt in control.

Kel threw his tunic on a chair. He smelled like smoke and dust

from crawling through what felt like miles of ventilation ducts.

“Who’s on the bridge?”

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“Grand and Ammati. They can handle it for a short time now that

the crisis is over. I’m headed back there in a minute. The Universal

Council wants to get your report in five hours. It doesn’t give you

much time to sleep, but you’ve been on duty longer than I have.”

That was true. Kel gave a small grunt of assent. Damn, he was

tired. “Where is she?”

“I assume you mean Peyton. With her sister on the medical floor.”

Jake looked impassive, but his eyes held a somber light. “Will Janssen

was hit twice as they were trying to get away. It seems to me the

governor’s son and Dr. Valmont have become a little more than

friends. Luckily, it looks like none of the wounds are lifethreatening.”

“Let’s hope
you
can say the same when we finish this

conversation.” Kel leveled his most frigid glare at his second in

command. “You sent her down there.”

Jake was unfazed. “Tell me what you would have done in my

place. Thirty-one unprotected women and children just waiting for

marauding murderers to come along and do their worst? I’m quite

sure, Kel, you’d not have left them there. Not if you had possible

recourse.”

Whatever he might have said next was stopped by the light

flashing at the door. Bare-chested, Kel leaned over and hit the device.

The door opened and Peyton stood there hesitantly in her trim

uniform. Her gold green eyes were ringed by shadows and she looked

wary. “I assume these are still my quarters.”

She was so damned beautiful it made his stomach tighten. And so

alive. It was a damned good thing he hadn’t known about her piloting

the transport to pick up those vulnerable colonists because he doubted

he would have been able to concentrate on doing his own job he

would have been so preoccupied with worrying about her. Without a

word, he stepped back to let her in.

“How’s Janssen doing?” Jake got to his feet more slowly than

usual and rubbed the back of his neck.

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“They got the bleeding in his abdomen stopped finally and the

doctors said his other wound is just superficial. He’s conscious and

coherent, which is more than I can say for my sister.” Peyton shook

her head. “She can be a little emotional at times.”

“I’ve noticed,” Kel said dryly, “but by all accounts, damned

brave, too.” He caught Peyton’s gaze and held it. “Must run in the

family.”

“This time I wasn’t defying orders.” Hazel eyes held a hint of

challenge. That usual hint of defiance and challenge he loved.

“No.” He shot Jake a sardonic look. “I believe my second in

command is the one in trouble there.”

“I didn’t do anything not supported by regulation.” Jake shrugged.

“But if you’d like to bring up disciplinary charges—”

He didn’t want to do any such thing.

“Don’t you have a ship to run?” Kel interrupted. “I’ll see you in

five hours.”

“Seems I’m dismissed.” Jake lifted his brows and sauntered

toward the door. “Get
some
sleep, Kel.”

When he was gone, Peyton still just stood there, as if waiting for

him to cue what happened next. He wished he knew. She was the one

who broke the silence by saying, “You’re going to find out sooner or

later so I’ll just tell you. I was so worried when neither you or Jake

came back I’m afraid I pretended to be ill so I could find out what was

going on. When they took me to sick bay I asked for Tara. I hoped she

could tell me. That’s why Will was in the command center when the

distress signal came through.”

He already knew the story. One of the first things he’d asked Jake

was how in the hell he’d decided to send down the governor’s son

into grave danger. When Kel heard Will Janssen had volunteered,

he’d also been told he was on the bridge.

The subtle tilt of Peyton’s chin told him she wasn’t a damn bit

sorry for using subterfuge to leave confinement. “Doesn’t surprise me

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at all,” he said without inflection. “What other rules did you break