Taking Command (10 page)

BioOne began to power down.

“I’m sure they want us to stop, but don’t you dare.” She slammed her hand to the console.

“Captain,” 32D addressed Shon, assuming her commands meant she was at the helm. “His pulse is fluctuating. I believe he may be in cardiac arrest.”

“Oh, god, no,” she cried, dropping beside Tarik.

“However, his temperature is returning to normal and is no longer life-threatening.”

Another blast rocked the ship.

A guttural groan erupted from Tarik as he rolled to his stomach. Rising onto his hands and knees, head dropped, he dragged in heavy breaths. “Shon?”

“I’m here. Are you okay? Let me see you.” She cupped his chin and lifted his face. Relief, beyond what she could express in words, washed over her.

“Shon, what’s happening?”

“The ships are firing on us. So far we’ve sustained minimal damage. I don’t think they want to see us destroyed, but they aren’t going to let us fly out of here. BioOne is blocking their attempts to make contact, but I don’t know for how long.”

Heavier fire impacted the ship. Several alarms blared on the monitors. Tarik stumbled to his feet. Shon wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him an anchor for support. He leaned into her, pausing a moment, then standing straighter.

“The dizziness will pass.” His forehead scrunched, and his eyes narrowed as he blinked.

“And the voices? Can you communicate with your group?”

“No, the neurotransmitters have been neutralized.” He took a hesitant step toward the control panel.

Shon released him. “Do you have a plan, Captain?”

“Open a visual channel.” He glanced to Shon. “We go with your plan. It’s the only option. Stay behind me and don’t let them see your weapons.” If they were overtaken and boarded, she needed to have an element of surprise. She might look like a sex slave, but this one was armed and deadly.

The static filling the screen cleared, and two men appeared on the visual. One was a face she recognized. A wave of relief rolled over Shon. “It’s okay, Tarik.” She rested her hand on his shoulder and moved to step around him. “It’s Darcolm.”

****

Tarik snapped his hand out, gripped hard to Shon and shoved her back. With surreal slowness, the full picture became clear. From the beginning, the mission had been fucked, he’d been fucked…and so had Shon. This wasn’t a trap, but rather a setup.

“Why?” Tarik asked the man on the screen.

“You aren’t that stupid. Prepare for boarding.” The video faded.

Tarik’s fingers glided over the controls. “They have us in an energy field. BioOne, talk to me. I need to know point of entry, any security breech. Details. How many men? Weaponry?” Darcolm may think he’d taken the upper hand. Perhaps he had. Tarik would have preferred a foe with less knowledge of BioOne. Not all of the ship’s secrets were exposed, but they were definitely compromised in a way Tarik could never have imagined.

“Tarik, talk to me.” Shon rested her hand on his arm. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re about to boarded.”

“But it’s Darcolm. Shouldn’t we at least listen to him?”

They wouldn’t be gleaning any truth from
Darcolm
. “Shon, we don’t have much time. How were you assigned to BioOne?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is this your usual assignment? Because you being aboard BioOne and in communication with Darcolm is not a coincidence.” He stared hard into her face. “What did you know of me? Of the ship?”

Her brows furrowed. “I told you. I didn’t know anything about you. I was sent to do a story on BioOne. A new era of diplomacy.”

“Did Darcolm give you the assignment?”

She shrugged. “He knew I was looking for a story. No, this isn’t my usual assignment but not out of the range. So I guess, yes, he made it possible.”

“What did he say about the story?”

“Initially, just to get to the ship, check it out, and to be diligent when investigating the captain and crew. I think he must have had his suspicions as well. He told me to be careful, not to trust anyone. Tarik, what is this about?”

Tarik swallowed the lump in his throat. “I couldn’t understand how you were able to contact him. Why BioOne would allow you to put us in jeopardy. Now, I know.” Inadvertently, he’d given Darcolm an open door to the ship. How could he have known?

Shon took a hesitant step back. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me.”

“It was never your fault. I’m the target. I always was. What I want to know is why?”

“You’ve been a target since you created this ship. What’s to understand?”

Alarms blared. Several sections of the ship glowed on the monitor. Darcolm and his team had breached BioOne. “They’ve gained access to the ship. Now maybe we’ll get our answer.”

Tarik kept the blaster at his hip.

Shon closed the space between them. “Do we just wait for them to come get us?”

“We wait, but I have no intention of going down without a fight.”

The door to the bridge swished open. Several men burst into the room, weapons aimed. They wore full combat gear, prepared for battle. Tarik kept his hand at his side, not reaching for his weapon.

One of the men hollered, “Secure!”

“Don’t fool yourself,” said the man entering from behind the guards. “The only way Tarik will be secure is when he is dead.” A deviant sneer twisted his lips. “Not to worry, it won’t be long now.”

“Darcolm—” Shon took a step around Tarik and another toward Darcolm.

Tarik reached his hand out and kept her next to him. He spoke to the man on his bridge, the man he’d considered a friend. “Or do we call you Morry?”

“Morry?” Shon gasped and snapped her gaze to Tarik then back to Darcolm. Her brows furrowed as she wrestled with understanding.

“I ceased being Morry a long time ago. You were just too obsessed with saving BioOne to notice.” Darcolm let his gaze linger on Shon. “A job well done. I see you took your work very seriously.” His lecherous leer focused on her revealing clothing. “I never doubted your ability. However, I will take your weapons.”

She reached for the blaster strapped to her hip. Tarik stalled her hand as he addressed Darcolm. “If you want my weapon, come and take it.”

“If he moves, blast him,” Darcolm told his men. “I told you one day you’d find yourself in a situation you wouldn’t be able to get out of. That day has come.”

“What about Rodra and the others? Or am I the only one fighting for what’s right?”

“You failed to follow through.” Darcolm’s voice rose, becoming agitated. “Years of work. Gone! Your limited vision refused to see. While I, on the other hand, recognize BioOne’s full potential.”

Darcolm was wrong. Tarik hadn’t failed to see BioOne’s potential. Darcolm represented the reason he had to destroy his research, why he had to protect BioOne from becoming a weapon but also give her, the living ship, the right to exist.

“You and the others. Fools. The Tri’Neith are detaining them for information.” The Tri’Neith would torture them for information, determined to ferret out all those with knowledge of BioOne’s true design. “They demand your execution. As reward for my service, that privilege falls to me.”

“I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not that easy to kill.”

“Easy? Fuck! You were supposed to die in the explosion on Gyron. Months of planning. Not only did you destroy all of my research—”

“My research.”

“BioOne is mine!” he raged. “I needed you to create her, but the ship is my vision. My genius. You were nothing more than a means to achieving my goals.” He inhaled, flaring his nostrils. “I won’t give you another chance to interfere. That was why I had to send Shon. I knew you couldn’t resist her.”

“I came for the story,” she interrupted. “I found one. Government corruption, murder, galactic espionage. You won’t get away with this.”

“I already have. I’m aboard BioOne. I have two government ships at my command. Tarik is contained.” His mouth softened. “And I have you to thank. Tonight, I’ll show you my appreciation.”

Tarik would see Darcolm dead first.

“I told you not to trust anyone,” Darcolm said as he holstered his weapon. Obviously he no longer considered Tarik a threat. He narrowed his gaze on Tarik. “I told you that you would see me soon. Sooner than you expected.” He chuckled. “Sooner than I expected.” He strode around the room, acting as if he were now in command. “But not without some adjustments to the plan.” He tsked at Shon. “You nearly blew the mission, but when you made contact, I knew nothing would stop me from acquiring BioOne.”

“I trusted you,” Tarik said. With his life, with BioOne. They had been friends, fought for the same cause, both suffered losses. But the truth sat like a heavy lead weight in his gut. His long-time friend, the one man he trusted, hadn’t just betrayed him and Shon, but he’d betrayed everything they’d ever stood for. He didn’t need any more information.

The question of why was answered. BioOne. The ship was a temptation. An absolute power capable of turning good men bad. Tarik risked his life to keep the ship from falling into the wrong hands, from becoming the weapon she was never designed to be. Morry had been at Tarik’s side from the beginning, had helped in the design and was there to watch the birth of something they’d only imagined.

But the Morry he’d known was gone.

Darcolm approached, running his fingers along the captain’s chair. “I hope you enjoyed the charms of our little whore. Consider it your farewell fuck. But don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her and the ship.” He banded his fingers around Shon’s arm. “It’s time for you to leave my bridge while I deal with our good friend.” He jerked her away from Tarik. “Take her,” he said to one of his men.

“Get your hands off me.” She wrenched from his grasp, tearing the fabric of her shirt.

Tarik clenched his fist and lunged. Darcolm pulled his blaster from his hip and leveled it at Tarik’s head. “I’ll drop you where you stand,” he seethed.

Shon gripped the blaster strapped to her thigh.

“No,” Tarik demanded of her. “Don’t blast him until we get the information we need.” Once he made his move, Tarik needed to be sure they could make their escape.

Darcolm laughed. “Blast me? Tarik, I give you credit. Ever the optimist.”

With slow subtle movement, Tarik rested his hand on the console, communicating his intent with BioOne. Once he made his move, he had to know they could outrun the mammoth government ships. Darcolm and these men weren’t a concern. He would deal with Darcolm. But the waiting battle ships could obliterate BioOne into space dust and attempting to override both ships in her weakened condition was too risky.

If only he could be assured the government ships wouldn’t pursue. If Rodra and the others were on those government ships, they could be killed if the ships were destroyed going back through the Rincon.

Tarik thought of what he would want in their positions. He’d want Darcolm dead and BioOne safe.

BioOne, neutralize their weapons.

****

Sweat trickled between her breasts. God, what was Tarik thinking? What was his plan? How could she tap into BioOne? Throughout this mission, she’d made mistakes. Not about to compound the problems she’d created, she would wait for instruction from Tarik or BioOne. If he gave her a sign, she hoped to hell she recognized it and hoped she’d know how to react
.

BioOne, if you can hear my thoughts, tell me what I need to do. And if you have to make a choice, your survival is most important. You need Tarik.

Before, when BioOne communicated with her, the thoughts had felt like her own, but they had clearly been symbiotic with the ship. Now she waited for an idea and hoped to hell BioOne and Tarik were having the same thoughts.

Shon positioned in front of Tarik, attempting to keep Darcolm’s attention on her. “You’re in the government. If all you want is the ship, why didn’t you use your resources to get assigned the ship? You could have taken command of BioOne.”

“I have no intention of turning BioOne over to the Tri’Neith. As far as they’re concerned, there were no survivors on this mission. BioOne is mine. Once BioOne reaches full maturity, it won’t matter what I want, who I want, or where I want to go. I’ll be untouchable. However, Tarik is tenacious to the point of his own destruction.” He shifted, pointing his weapon at Tarik. “You lose, my friend. I can’t have you plotting my death the way I’ve plotted yours.”

Darcolm squeezed the trigger. Nothing.

Tarik lunged, slamming into Darcolm and sending him to the floor with a grunt. The blaster flew from Darcolm’s hand, skittering next to one of Darcolm’s men. Darcolm hollered. The man picked up the weapon and pulled the trigger. Again, nothing.

BioOne had neutralized their weapons!

Tarik rolled on the ground with Darcolm, wrestling for advantage.

Drop!

Shon dropped to the ground, pulling the blaster from her thigh. A feral screech rent the air as Tarik landed another blow to Darcolm’s gut. Taking a split-second to aim at a soldier rushing toward Tarik, Shon squeezed the trigger. The man dropped to the floor, screaming. His right leg disintegrated from the knee down.

Tarik snapped his gaze to Shon. Darcolm exploited the lapse in focus, flipping Tarik to his back. Banding his fingers around Tarik’s neck, he squeezed.

The other soldier slammed into Shon, shoving her down, his crushing weight pinning her to the floor.

“Shon!” Tarik’s commanding voice gave her strength. Gulping in a breath and tightening her muscles, she jerked a knee up between the man’s legs and crushed his balls. Groaning and writhing, he rolled from her and curled into a tight ball.

“Hold him,” she ordered BioOne.

BioOne’s force field pinned the man to the floor. Shon crouched on one knee and brought her weapon up, aiming at the man she had once considered her friend. Tarik gripped Darcolm’s arms, wrenching outward trying to break the hold he had on Tarik’s neck.

“Darcolm.” She took steady breaths. “Your weapons failed. I assure you, mine won’t.”

Darcolm slowly released his grip on Tarik’s neck.

Tarik gasped and shoved Darcolm to the side. He scrambled to his hands and knees and dragged heavy draws of air deep into his lungs. His color slowly returned. “BioOne, now.”