Ecstasy Bound (8 page)

She nodded. Leila and Laszlo were both Healers. They could very well have a separate agenda from the rest of the group. Xylon Healers had a bad reputation for running secret agendas. Leila hadn’t told them about the shots she’d been giving Laszlo. But then, neither had Erik. Could it be possible he hadn’t known about her involvement?

“We’ll bring in Erik soon but I don’t want to put him in a position of keeping secrets from Leila until we have to. She’s close to Kam and if Erik accidentally mentions anything, she might think she’s doing something to help by telling Kam more than we actually want him to know. I hope soon we’ll be able to definitively prove that Kam is the Xylon Warrior and friend we’ve all known over the years and that we
can
trust him.

I don’t like what’s been happening. This uncertainty is eating away at all of us.”

“I agree. Do you want me to get Torque in here? He should be in on this from the start. He’s extremely sharp in tight situations. We need him. We need to be united.”

“Not yet. He’s too explosive, especially since we lost Tara. Once we have a few more facts, we’ll bring in him and Erik. I don’t want a lot of arguing back and forth about what’s happened. I want a plan in place or at least a solid idea of what we want to do.”

Torque definitely wasn’t himself right now and might not be thinking clearly. But no one was one hundred percent. She didn’t like excluding him, not even at this stage.

Collectively, they’d be much stronger.

Still, she’d do as Braden wished. And Erik? Something continued to bother her about the whole situation with him but she couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. She hated to bring up the issue but it had to have crossed her brother’s mind. “Do you really think we can trust Erik to side with us? I mean, what if Leila—”

“We can trust Erik. I’d trust him with my life, my family’s life, no matter what. No matter Leila’s position. He and I have been through too much together over the years.”

“I know but—”

“I trust him, Brianna. Period. I don’t want to hear any more questions about it.” He uncrossed his arms and pushed away from the wall.

Recognizing the fierce look on Braden’s face, she didn’t argue, hoping he wasn’t misplacing his trust. To expect Erik to go against his mate if a choice had to be made was not something she’d bet her life on.

“Before we make any definite decisions, we’ll also need more details about ACE,”

Braden said, his brow furrowing.

“Are you thinking the project might be about more than it appears? Part of a larger, hidden agenda, maybe?”

“That’s what we need to find out. If we head for Earth, I want to make certain we’re a part of the solution, not a further cause of problems for those people. Can you try to get some additional information out of Briggs?”

“I already have. He’s being closemouthed about what he knows. Though from his reaction in the meeting, I suspect that he doesn’t know much more than what Laszlo related and not even some of that until Laszlo told us all in the conference room. He was as shocked as the rest of us about the spinal fluid. I think he truly believed this was solely about the Egesa invasion and their enslaving Earth’s people to gain control over another planet’s resources.”

“Well, make certain, if you can. Maybe he’ll be more pliant after he fucks you.”

Braden grinned.

She smacked his shoulder. “Don’t make me take you down.”

“Like you could.”

“Don’t underestimate me, brother.”

“Never.” He chuckled.

“I’ll continue to try to find out what Briggs knows and what his stand is if it comes to a fight. Knowing who to trust and who we can count on will be key.” She paused as Braden’s smile faded and a concerned look crossed his face. “What is it?”

“Something happens in your eyes when you speak about him. I get the feeling something personal is brewing between you two.”

She shrugged, avoiding direct eye contact. She didn’t like that her emotions showed in her eyes, even if only to Braden, for she didn’t know herself what was brewing. Not for sure. “I think his heart is in the right place. That’s all.”

“Be careful, Brianna.”

She glanced up at him. “Always. Don’t worry.”

After a last hug, she left Braden’s quarters. The door slid closed and she leaned back against the corridor wall and let out a heavy breath. Braden’s question about her and Briggs made her realize just how much she’d allowed Sam to get to her emotionally.

She wasn’t so certain that was a good thing, for any of them. Whatever feelings she might have could skew her decisions if she didn’t take care.

With renewed determination to get them all out of this auxiliary shelter safely, she pushed away from the wall and quickly made her way back toward the meeting room.

Her mind raced with too many thoughts. They needed more information. And they needed it fast.

As she turned the corner, she met Laszlo in the corridor outside the conference room door. “Do you need me to do anything before the Initiation starts?”

“Yes. Go to my private quarters and rest. You look exhausted and you’re going to need your strength. You won’t be disturbed in my room. Take some time there to relax.

Leila and I still have a few tests to run. We’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

His quarters.
Yes.
Laszlo had computing equipment in his quarters. She could do the research for Braden while she was there instead of using the system located on the lower level, which would have been the only other one available to her. Braden and Torque would be occupying the systems in the control room. Using the med computer would look too suspicious.

Laszlo had just handed her the perfect opportunity. She nodded. “I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

* * * * *

Erik squatted in the transport hole, studying the storage readouts. He’d already supplied the larger orbiter with essentials, even though they couldn’t spare much food, water and medical supplies. They had a second orbiter to also supply, in case the Ice Moon was on restricted rations, and they’d need to leave supplies here in the shelter as well.

Luckily they’d be able to restock some of the necessities while on Earth. Now he was checking the weapons capacity and storage. He felt uncomfortable preparing for such a mission without a good supply of hand and flight weapons but he had few choices.

He flipped a pit switch and a moment later a localized alarm went off. “What the hell?” He rose and stepped onto the catwalk. His boots clanged loudly on the grating.

He peered at a side monitor.

Halah leaned over the edge, hanging on to a rung from the side ladder. “Get out of there, Rhodes! We’ve got an overload somewhere.”

“I hear it. I’m not deaf. It’s a double failure in the main fuel line and weapons systems.” He tapped the readouts on the screen. “I’ll fix it from down here. Coordinate from the main panel.”

“You’re going to get yourself fried! That’s a critical alarm. The early warning system didn’t go off.”

Figures.
Another system down. “Just do as I say.” He disappeared back into the hole and pulled off the weapons panel. They couldn’t afford to lose this ship. He flipped on
t
he nearby speaker. “Let’s disengage the volatile systems until we can isolate and resolve the problem. Cut the power to W-5 through W-15.”

“Power cut,” Halah’s voice responded.

Damn. No change. He had to get the heat levels down fast, before everything blew.

“It’s still on overload. Too much heat buildup.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” The gauges on the side panel showed everything had pushed beyond maximum.

“If you get roasted, Braden will fry my ass too. Now get out of there so I can seal the chamber!”

“Can we stay calm here?” He punched on the cooling system, opening it up to full capacity, but the numbers continued to rise. “Give me more coolant from the auxiliary.”

“I’m giving you the facts, Rhodes. I have to seal the chamber.”

“Halah! Coolant. If you seal me up in here before I order it, I’ll haunt you to your grave, Warrior.” He counted on her listening to a command rank order.

“I’m not going to seal you in.” Her voice changed from determined to resigned.

“You’re on standard max. That’s it. There’s no direct access to the auxiliary. I can’t increase the output on this particular system without a direct-line connector tube and there’s no time to set one up.”

“Perfect,” Erik grumbled. “I’m going to do an eighty percent fuel dump on the main tank.” If he didn’t lower the levels and the panels popped, the orbiter as well as the whole auxiliary shelter could go up in a wall of flames. At twenty percent capacity, if a fire broke out, they’d be able to douse it before the tank exploded.

“We need that fuel. The orbiter can’t make it to Earth without its full supply.”

“If this orbiter blows, the fuel won’t matter. There will still be enough in there along with the secondary tank to get to our outpost on the Ice Moon. We can refuel there.”

Damn ancient flyer. Too bad the smaller orbiter was short range only. It was more modern and would have been safer to take to Earth, if it had the capacity for that distance.

The short-range orbiters didn’t have the protective covering needed for extended space travel. The outer shield would disintegrate. For short-range flights, the covering required was much thinner. Thus the short-range orbiters were cheaper to manufacture and were much more plentiful.

The newer orbiters also had regenerative, non-liquid energy. It wasn’t unlimited but went a long way before needing a core replacement and wasn’t prone to this type of overheating.

“There will be barely enough fuel if you dump, Erik.”

“So do you have an idea or are you just arguing with me again? You can’t have it both ways—either we seal the chamber and it blows or we try to save this thing.”

“Let me set up a catch.”

“It’ll filter too slowly.”

“Not a spare tank, a storage unit.”

“Well, do it fast.” He heard a whirring sound even before he’d finished his sentence. She must be opening up one of the compartments where the storage units were kept. They weren’t constructed to hold fuel but it would do if she hurried and transferred the spill to a connecting fuel tank. They’d lose some in the transfer but not an excessive amount.

He watched the gauges continue to rise past the safety levels. Every moment that passed felt like a lifetime. A pop and a spark set his heart to pounding. That’s it. No more time to wait. He wasn’t going up in flames. “I’m dumping.”

“Wait! It’s not positioned.”

“We’re at critical. I’m not getting blown up down here because your ass is too slow.” He jumped back as another spark flew.
Shit.

“Fuck you, Rhodes! These systems only move at one speed. All right, I’ve got it positioned. Dump it.”

He hit the button and the fuel streamed out of the tank, sloshing down into the storage bin. He checked the panel and saw the pressure dropping. “Are you transferring to another tank?”

“Yes. It’ll take a while though. We’ll lose some in the transfer but it should be minimal.”

“Yeah, I know that,” he mumbled. After the onboard tank lowered to below safety levels for long-range flight, he turned off the drain and sagged in relief. Before they continued, he’d need to replace the fuel lines and do a complete system overhaul and then reload the fuel, but at least one disaster had been avoided. If he rewired the old weapons and engineering panel connections, that should take care of the problem. He would put in an overload auto bypass to a backup secondary system for safety. He climbed out of the hole and up top.

Halah stared at him, her hands on her hips. “You took a stupid chance by not letting me seal the chamber. You could have blown out this entire side of the shelter and potentially killed us all by letting in the toxic surface gas.”

“Well, that didn’t happen, so get off my ass. In my estimation, you’re the one who lost it up here.”

“I went by the book. Those levels were past critical.”

He wiped his hands on a cloth that hung from a grated rack. Halah going by the book. That had to be a first. Of course, she’d been right to do so. But they really needed that orbiter. He hadn’t wanted to take a chance of losing what might be their only chance to get to Earth quickly. He’d have gotten out in time for them to seal up the chamber before the ship blew. He was familiar with these old systems and their capabilities. He’d still had a few seconds left, if the pressure had continued to rise, before he would have had to get out of the hole.

“You want to tell me what you did down here to fry things? Systems don’t just overload on their own.”

What?
For a long, hard minute, he stared at her, not believing his ears. “I didn’t do a damn thing. That ship’s been docked for who knows how many years. When the main control panel was engaged, the electro-connectors overheated.” Her accusation got him thinking though. He damn well hoped nobody else down here had sabotaged the orbiter before he had gotten to it. He’d need to alert Braden to what had happened.

She looked at him skeptically, then with a huff, she turned on her heel and left the area, heading toward the smaller orbiter’s transport holding area. He could feel the frustration radiating off her.