Chance of Stardust

Stardust (ch 7)

He found Ari in the main control room, going over the read outs. They’d set the monitors to auto and sensors to warn of any sign of the Gurot. No alarms blared but the silence worried him more.


“Any word from Arno yet?”


“He’s currently dodging through the silt beds and will contact us as soon as he’s pushed the Gurot off-world and it’s safe to return.”


The Gurot. He growled softly. “No sign of our tail?”


“Not a squeak.”


“I don’t like it. Llyr was outside the ship with us. When Leiv found him, it should have triggered his Universal.” While the hirrient had been implanted, since they spoke in their own tongue, their implants wouldn’t trigger and the signal would remain dormant. “Keep a close eye on the grids. Let me know if anything shows up. Anything.”


“I will.” Ari added a few more sensors to the array that kept a close watch on the world around them. “Is she settled?”


The change of subject didn’t surprise him. Ari had taken an unmistakable interest in the woman. It irritated him when he should have been glad to have someone he could set on her as guard. He had warned her not to roam, but she would be out, wandering the halls before daybreak. He knew it in his bones.


“She’s bathing and then will sleep.” Revelin rested his hips against the console, his nerves on edge. “You should have synced her Universal while she was under.”


“I know that now.” Ari settled into the seat and planted a boot on the console. “I didn’t know the tube would automatically implant without permission. I was startled and didn’t think things through as well as I should have. You have to admit, it isn’t something that happens every day.”


“It made for a very uncomfortable introduction for her.”


“I’ll apologize to her tomorrow.”


“Leave her alone, Ari.”


The words left his mouth without conscious thought. He didn’t want Ari around the woman. The youngling didn’t need to become attached to a woman they would soon leave behind and, unlike the grasping beauties at court, Cassie was the sort of woman that drew that sort of unspoken loyalty. She would bring out his protective instincts just by being smaller and softer, her courage and heart the key to his affections.


Ari studied him for a moment and then his foot dropped to the floor, his gaze going intent.


“You may choose to live your life alone, Revelin, but not all of us feel that way.”


“She’s from a proscribed world. We can’t bring her with us if you get attached.”


Ari’s lips quirked, but there was an edge to his humor. “Our world was proscribed until the Gurot showed up and destroyed everything. Technically, we were supposed to be returned to that burned out shell of a planet when Arno wrested Gael out of their grasping hands, not given a place at court.”


“Arno may favor us, but he won’t challenge the Amalgamation. Not with Gael’s induction coming up.”


“And, as I reminded Llyr today, we are not Gael citizens nor bound by Amalgamation law.”


“And you think you could make this place your home?” He waved a hand at the screens that showed scrubby fields latticed with paved roads and dotted with the occasional dwelling. Fences marked territory into neat plots. It was, in short, nothing like the world they’d known as children with its wild forests and towering mountains. “Is that what this is about?”


“I didn’t say that. If Cassie is anything to judge by, I wouldn’t fit in here.” Ari glanced at the view and then shrugged. “Stop worrying, Rev. I hardly know her, so all this is not just hypothetical but unlikely. But there are worse places to make your home than in the arms of a woman. Remember that.”


He left. Ari would keep watch tonight but he doubted he would get much sleep. The problem of the Gurot gnawed at him while he cleaned up and changed into loose fitting sleep clothes. They had been followed into flux and registered another ship dumped out at close to the same place. That they hadn’t seen any sign of their pursuers made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Playing prey wasn’t his favorite game. He needed to fix his engines and slip this world before the Gurot latched onto them.


He laid in the dark for almost an hour before giving up to pace. The Gurot occupied his thoughts, troublesome scavengers picking at his peace of mind. A soft growl rumbled in his chest. They would never give up trying to take back Gael. Arno’s victory over them eight years ago still rankled. They would destroy the world and leave it uninhabitable before they would relinquish it to a mine slave. Llyr was simply a symbol to them, a symbol of a future they wanted to destroy.


The walls closed in on him and he took his pacing to the halls, wishing he had the freedom to run the world outside until his body was too tired to fight sleep. He spent an hour in the main room, working through the agility equipment that climbed the walls and hung from the ceiling. He wasn’t the only one sleepless tonight, he discovered as he pulled himself onto a narrow beam near the ceiling. Fresh claw marks marred the metal. He ran the length of the beam and leaped, catching a small ring and launching himself up the rippled surface to settle on a thin ledge to catch his breath. Leiv joined him a moment later, his own breathing less than steady.


They sat in silence, letting their heart rate settle. Leiv leaned his head against the wall and sighed.


“She didn’t seem particularly frightened,” he said finally.


Revelin growled. The last thing he wanted to do was rehash the argument with his second. Leiv understood the warning marked into the flesh of his throat. If he pushed too far, Revelin could and would kill him. He couldn’t afford to have his second make a bid for leadership right now. The disruption would tear the team apart when they needed to remain whole, their focus on Llyr’s protection and the destruction of the Gurot.


“You didn’t see her when I found her, so scared I thought she’d shake herself apart.”


“You convinced her she imagined it all, then? How did you manage that?”


“I didn’t.” Revelin shifted on the perch, feeling his muscles relax. “I appealed to logic and showed her the shift. She accepted the physiological changes more than the proof of her own eyes.”


Her training as a caregiver could account for that, he thought, as well her need to tend his cuts after. Still trembling, she had been adamant about closing the wounds. The care had been unnecessary as the shallow wounds would be healed by morning, but her need to care for the hurt had been clear. He’d allowed it if only to give her the feeling, however wrong, that she was in control of some part of her life.


Leiv glanced at him, curiosity gleaming. “I would have thought that would have sent her into a panic, not relieved her mind.”


“Cassie is a fighter as you found out.” He couldn’t resist the jab and watched Leiv’s eyes narrow. The bruising was already fading, but the broken bones in his face would take longer to heal. The woman had done more damage than she realized.


Leiv growled low. “I wasn’t expecting someone that small and weak to attack me. She caught me unaware.”


“Your mistake, then. It was only to be expected that she would feel threatened and move to defend herself.”


Profanity snarled in an undertone and Revelin had to fight not to laugh. It would take longer than the broken bones for Leiv’s pride to heal. At least Cassie hadn’t apologized. That would only have added fuel to the fire of Leiv’s temper.


“You needn’t worry about her,” he added after a moment. “I’ll take charge of her while she’s with us. I need you and Davi working on the engine problem. See if anything in these dead machines around us will work for a cross over. It doesn’t have to last long, just long enough to make a short jump through flux.”


Leiv shifted onto his toes and rose. “I will. And, Rev? It would be stupid of me to challenge you while we’re stranded. If I ever decide I want Prime status, I’ll take it but it won’t be at a time when we need to be working together.”


“Anytime you want to try.”


Leiv grinned and vanished across the narrow beam, dropping from view. Revelin settled back and closed his eyes. Truth told, Leiv should hold the Prime spot but he’d always been strangely unwilling to take it. He jostled and made noises, but he never took the final step into challenge. Two Primes in a single group was not the making of a peaceful coexistence, but somehow they managed it.


It wasn’t safe to return Llyr to Gael just yet. Until Arno succeeded in rallying the southern nobles and pushing the Gurot offworld, Llyr remained the prize in this bloody game. Even if he hadn’t been fond of the boy and loyal to the boy’s father, Revelin had no intention of making anything easy for the Gurot.


The girl remained an issue. Even if they somehow found suitable parts tomorrow and were able to leave this world, the Universal would remain as a beacon. While it would remain dormant as long as she didn’t encounter anyone else with one, all the Gurot had to do was run a sweep, triggering all such devices in an area. It was something they’d learned to do with the hirrient years ago. They’d placed her at risk the moment the implant had gone into her head but there was nothing he could do about it now.


With a heavy breath, he pushed to his feet and let his body fall. Catching a dangling binder, he swung, twisted, and landed on his feet. Cassie would be in danger for the rest of her life. It didn’t help that she needed proof before she would believe what she was told. Not that he could blame her. Had their positions been reversed, he would have been wary of everything and everyone, taking any opportunity to regain his freedom.


With that in mind, he headed toward the med room. If he was right, she would be up about now, thoughts of escape creeping into her mind.