“They have been so informed, sir,” Dakkin replied. “Gold is plotting an intercept course for the remaining two bogies. Commander Nowicki asks our status.”
“Advise him that we are fine and will remain with the three dead ships until either he or Blue arrives.”
“Acknowledged, sir.” Dakkin said.
The doors to the elevator swished open. Wulf scented Melina before he felt her touch his mind to tell him she was here. Without turning around, he asked, “I take it we have all weapons online?”
“That is so freaky,” whispered Huw. “That you know when she is near you without looking.”
“It is wonderful, Huw, not weird.” Wulf smiled as Melina sat in the chair next to his.
She shook her head, her long, dark hair settling about her shoulders like a glossy silk cloak. “Yes, all weapons are online. The weapons engineer and I found a way to replenish the power to them faster.”
“Good work, Melina.” Wulf smiled at her.
“Looks like we didn’t need them after all,” she said, smiling at him. “Well done, Wulf.”
“We have an excellent crew,” Wulf replied.
“Yes, we do. The weapons engineer was willing to accept my outside-the-box solution to rerouting power to the damaged weapons. Of course, what we did isn’t something I’d recommend doing every day, but it worked.” She added under her breath,
“Just don’t plan on using any of the recreation decks any time soon.” Wulf snorted back a laugh. “Borrowed some power from the simulators, huh?”
“Took all the power from the simulators. The time on Tooh 10 for inspection and maintenance is now an absolute necessity. I don’t want to be present when they try to unravel our creative jury-rigging. The head of Alliance Military Command maintenance might shoot me.” Hesitating a moment, she said. “And, damn, don’t you men ever clean your maintenance tunnels? They are filthy. I had to stop and change again.”
“I take it that we will be doing so in the future?”
“Count on it,” Melina added. She angled her head toward the three dead ships, sitting dark and motionless. “So, what’s the plan? Wait until their auxiliary power starts to fade, then board them?”
“We won’t have to wait that long. Blue should be here soon and we can send in fully armed boarding parties to take control of the prisoners for transport to Tooh 10.” Wulf turned to face his Science Officer. “Mr. Ard, can you give me any idea of exactly what we are dealing with on these three vessels?”
“As I mentioned earlier, life signs are congregated amidships on all three vessels.
They are oxygen-breathing, carbon life forms. Seem to be a mixture of species. None are Antarean, although some are close and are probably Erian. Ships are at full complement for a C-Class light cruiser. Thirty crew each, for a total of ninety.”
“Definitely too many for us to handle alone,” Melina agreed. “Sounds like pirates.
So my guess was wrong. They aren’t Antarean allies, but mercenaries hired by the rebels.”
“It looks like it,” agreed Wulf. “I’m sure they were unpleasantly surprised to find we were not helpless, as they were probably promised by their employers.”
“Yeah, I bet that whatever they were paid, it wasn’t enough to serve the rest of their natural lives, freezing their asses off on Umbraxi 9,” Melina said, smiling wickedly. “So?
Who leads the three boarding teams?”
Wulf sought the mood behind the question. Her aura stated she’d be fine with whatever he decided. Obviously she’d touched his mind and read the normal Prime protocol in cases such as this: Prime military never risked their captains on potentially hazardous boardings of unknown enemies. That’s what they made First Officers and Security Chiefs for.
“After Blue arrives, Iolyn will lead the team from our ship. Garth has signaled he’ll be here within one half a standard hour and has two boarding teams ready to go.”
“Good,” Melina smoothed her hand down Wulf’s forearm. “Just tell me how I can help.” She pulled up the current data on the ships. “I’ll study their environmental systems. We might need medical teams to follow the armed boarding parties. Also, the mods made on the superstructures on two of the three are very odd. Want to make sure there are no surprises waiting for our guys.”
“I’m a very lucky man.” Wulf gently shoved a lock of her hair behind her ear, his hand lingering on the curve of her cheek. He’d never realized how lonely command had been prior to meeting Melina. All he knew was that he never wanted to be that alone again.
“Damn right, you are.” She shot him a cheeky grin as she turned to her data link.
“You got a gemate, a co-captain and an engineer to boot. Now let’s figure out what our boys will be facing when they board those ships.”
Chapter Sixteen
Five standard days later, Tooh 2 Resort
Naked, Mel lay on her stomach on the suite’s bed, still warm from a mid-morning lovemaking session. Through pleasure-heavy eyes, she watched Wulf pull on a sport shirt.
Such a shame to cover up those muscled abs, but it was a necessity. If he didn’t, she would most likely commit wholesale murder. And that wasn’t frivolous conjecture on her part. Earlier that morning when she and Wulf had finally emerged after spending three straight days in their resort suite, she’d glared at all the women who ogled him as he’d dried off after a swim. Maybe a traditional Terran wedding band would help stave off the unwanted female attention? Or, perhaps a prominently placed tattoo reading “Mine?” Better yet, and her personal favorite hands-off notice, a laser stun to one of the leering female’s gut?
Grinning, she shook her head. She never thought the day would come when she’d get possessive over a man.
Tearing her mind away from thoughts of murder and mayhem, she turned toward thoughts of ripping his shirt off, dragging him back to bed, then tracing his solar plexus with her tongue. No, she’d done that all ready. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair. He was so excited and looking forward to the challenge of the upcoming fishing expedition he and his brothers had arranged.
Rolling onto her back, she stretched like a cat. The sun filtering through the sheer drapes that covered the ceiling to floor windows warmed her nude body. She couldn’t recall that she had ever felt so relaxed and happy in her entire life. Her movement had captured Wulf’s attention. All of a sudden it wasn’t just the sun that heated her body.
“So? Just what kind of sports fish are you and your brothers out to catch?” she asked, in a attempt to divert his thoughts from joining her on the bed for yet another round of sweaty, mind-numbing pleasure. She really was trying to be good; he was excited as a kid about going fishing.
Wulf’s eyes heated as his gaze swept over her nudity. “Tobruk. Very similar to Terran shark.”
Then he smiled. She loved it when he smiled. His happiness was important to her.
They could always make love after he returned. She sat up and pulled on the silk robe Wulf had bought her, covering the temptation of her nudity.
His gaze followed her movements. “Later, lubha,” he said, his voice husky and full of sensual promises.
“Definitely, later,” she smiled. “Tobruk, huh?”
Frowning, she recalled seeing a picture of a tobruk once. They had lots of teeth. Very long sharp teeth. And a large, sharp bony prominence called a horn. And were big, very big. Well, she knew this wouldn’t be a tame fishing trip, but tobruk?
“You eat them?” She scrunched her nose as she braided her hair.
“No. We catch them, get our picture taken next to them, and then toss them back into the Tooh Sea for the next lucky fisherman.”
“Sounds like, uh, fun to me,” she said, sarcasm liberally lacing her tone. She’d have to remember always to be busy when fishing was mentioned. While she liked sports, catching creatures large enough to eat a person was not her idea of fun or relaxing—or a sport. Must be a male thing.
Wulf slipped his bare feet into deck shoes. His long, muscled and deeply tanned legs looked as lickable as his stomach. In fact, his whole sun-kissed body was lickable, as she’d proven after their early morning foray to the pool. After the women at the pool had literally salivated over him, she’d felt an urgent need to reclaim and mark every square millimeter of his body. You’d think the brazen hussies had never seen a nearly naked Prime male warrior before.
“Probably most of them hadn’t,” teased Wulf, reading her mind. A wicked grin curved his mobile lips, lips that had reclaimed every bit of her as well. “I think I like you jealous. The results are sinful.” The last word uttered in the low growling tone she loved so well.
“Only for you am I sinful.” She winked.
Mel rose from the bed and walked toward him, the silken robe showing more of her body than it hid. His golden gaze burned as it stroked over her.
“Kiss me goodbye?” Raising her arms, she twined them around his neck and licked his lips until he opened them for her. She stroked his tongue with hers as her fingers played with the dark, silky hair at the nape of his neck. His large body shuddered against her. His aura heated. His arousal was as strong as hers.