The female took a step forward. "Captain, we're off the Helios. I'm Dace Pliska, and this is Beric Androm. You may remember Rey Tolmen from when you were both in the Academy."
The two men stepped forward, snapped to attention, and saluted. "Captain."
Fleet salutes. From men in flowing, off-one-shoulder Zylon robes. For a moment Tal almost lost his imperturbable never-let-them-see-you-sweat face. If nothing else, there wasn't much doubt about the three being Fleet-trained. And he did know Tolmen, though it had been a long time ago. An engineer, wasn't he? The rebel fleet had grown to ten ships of varying sizes and origins, and he could certainly use an extra hand in engineering.
"When we took Orion and Archer," Tal said, "my whole crew knew what they were doing. We'd discussed it and they were committed. Most of those who've joined us since have brought their ships with them. As you've probably heard, we take the ships and the crew who wish to join us and leave the rest where they can be found."
"No chance of turning the Helios, sir," Tolmen interjected. "But vids showed us what our ground troops were doing on one of the Nyx's outer systems, and I just lost it. I couldn't do it any more. Pliska and Androm are my particular friends, and when we talked about it, we agreed to jump ship and try to join the rebels."
"We're willing enough to fight, Captain," Dace Pliska added. "Otherwise, we'd have shipped out on a freighter headed for some place warm and friendly long ago. But we've been getting by on Tat, hoping to find someone who could lead us to the rebellion. Rumor had it, that might be Captain Kane. What we didn't expect was you, particularly you and Kiolani together. Not much doubt, after that." She shrugged. "Kass being Psyclid, and you being dead."
Spunky girl. It couldn't have been easy for them, surviving on Tat, waiting for a rebel ride.
Unless they were funded by the Empire.
"You may have to fight former friends," Tal warned. "That's never easy. And"-he looked each of them in the eye-"if you don't pass further interrogation aboard ship, you may not live to fight anyone at all."
Tolmen nodded. "Understood, Captain." He glanced at the other two, who also indicated their agreement.
Tal spoke into his comm unit, smiling to himself as a groundcar, waiting nearby, screeched to a halt beside them less than thirty seconds later. Even rebel captain's had privileges. And this was a night when he planned to enjoy his to the fullest.
"The port, Bay C-12." The five of them squeezed into the groundcar only when Tal pulled Kass onto his lap. The evening was improving rapidly.
Twenty minutes later, he watched Gemma's doors slam on the three defectors from Helios. After the look on Kass's face when he'd told her they weren't returning to the scout ship with the others, he might be better off standing here staring after the shuttle for the rest of the night. Sometimes, with so many candidates offering themselves as replacements for Liona, he forgot the little Psyclid was not among them. That except for one brief moment in the Round Tower, she'd kept her distance, a proper officer to the core. It appeared she had no idea of the implications of "pairing" on ground leave.
"Come on," Tal said with a jerk of his head. "The car's still waiting."
Kass didn't move. "I thought we all went back to the ship so the other half of the crew could come down."
"Most go back. "Dorn and I have special privileges. We usually stay over. And, besides, I picked up intel tonight that I need to pursue." He grabbed her hand and guided her back outside. Mallik! On a planet that was mostly desert, her hands were cold. Which probably meant his bed was going to be cold as well. Obviously he hadn't played this one well. S'sorrokan had had a great night, but Tal Rigel wasn't doing too well.
Idiot! What did you expect, leaving the girl sitting by herself in a taverna? She's supposed to fall all over you just because she owes you her life? Because she once licked your fingers?
With an infinitesimal shake of his head, Tal gave the driver the name of the best hotel on Tatarus. How fortunate the rebellion had a surprisingly ample supply of credits, because he'd just blown a large number of them on a forlorn hope. He strongly suspected Kass Kiolani didn't consider herself part of his captain's perks.
Chapter 15
Ah, but his moves were smooth, Kass thought. The ex-Fleet captain, rebel leader. S'sorrokan. He'd opened a voice-coded door and waved her into a suite that was just short of being as elegant as her quarters in the Round Tower. Civilization in the far reaches of the galaxy. The Tat equivalent of a honeymoon suite. A sofa, expansively upholstered in gold brocade, beckoned. Kass hadn't realized how exhausted she was until saw it. Weeks of unending training on Astarte, her first bar in eight years-with all the sights, sounds, and smells that implied. Plus wall-to-wall people. Aliens. Defectors. Too much ripka?
Tal abandoning her.
Jagan.
Bit by bit she'd worn down-the girl who'd gone from solitary confinement in the Regulon Interplanetary Archives to a taverna on Tat inside sixty days. Kass dragged her feet to the sofa and sank into its comfort. For all the years she'd spent in the spartan confines of the Academy and imprisoned in the Archives, this was her world. Beauty. Luxury. And Tal knew it.
Superlative manipulator that he was.
Tal Rigel, the man who made miracles.
And too many assumptions.
Kass stared straight ahead, gazing out the broad top floor windows that overlooked Zylon City, but she could feel him was standing there, watching her. She suspected he'd finally sensed her disquiet and was playing it safe, waiting to see how she would react to this blatant love nest. Outside, the city was as aglow with multi-colored lights as its massive counterpart, Titan, had been that night four years ago when Tal whisked her away from the Academy, saving her from degradation and death.
He probably thought she didn't fully appreciate all he'd done for her . . . or was he counting on her gratitude? Was it time to pay her debt?
"I need to clean up," Kass announced, levering herself to her feet and heading for the door to what must be the bedroom and bathing chamber.
Coward!
Her inner voice was right. Logic had no part in her movements since they'd entered the suite. Fear, anger, guilt, disgust-yes. Combined with an arrogance that could match Tal Rigel's any day, any time. How dare he . . . ? How dare he ignore her for the whole long journey from Blue Moon, ignore her all night at Jingar's, and then . . . ?
The great S'sorrokan snapped his fingers, and she was supposed to be ready, willing, and cooing sweet nothings. Well, she had a few thousand words to say about that!
Dimi! Kass stopped short halfway across the spacious bedroom. Two carry-alls sat side by side on a luggage rack tucked against one wall, one of them her own. Zee-Zee. Kass seethed. Just when she thought she'd found a friend . . .
Did everyone on the whole batani ship know?
But of course they did. That must be what pairing implied. They'd all been watching with avid eyes, waiting for the moment the captain claimed his prize.
Fyd!
In all fairness, Zee-Zee probably thought she was aiding and abetting romance. After all, everyone knew the captain was obsessed by the little Psyclid. Kass was Tal Rigel's chosen woman. She should be honored.
And maybe she would have been if he hadn't been so . . . careless about the whole thing. So sneaky.
If Psyclids hadn't become a captive race.
And if Jagan Mondragon weren't alive and well on Hell Nine.
Grim-faced, Kass sat on the bed-the one large bed-and tugged off her boots. She went into the bathing room and washed every part of her not clothed-no way was she stripping down for a shower under the present circumstances! Her heavy face enhancements now gone, she peered in the mirror and saw a damp but innocent wide-eyed virgin about to face the Big Bad Wolf. Now there was a tale that had echoed down through the years. If only females paid more attention to its lesson.
Kass sighed and padded back over the bedroom carpet in leggings and knit top. What was Tal expecting? Kass Kiolani in nothing more than bra and panties? Or maybe Zee-Zee had packed something sexy Kass didn't even know she owned?
Or had the great Captain Rigel felt the chill and knew Kass had already marked that gold sofa for her own? Not an easy choice when she'd loved him for so long.
No. Loved his phantom for so long. But the Fates were working against them, tossing negatives from every angle. Truth was, this wasn't the time or place.
And Tal Rigel was an arrogant son of a Mizarian maw-worm.
Tal found a small bathing chamber near the entry door and washed up as best he could, but the smell of ripka, xaax, and exotic drinks he couldn't name had permeated his clothes, along with the odor of unwashed bodies, alien flesh, and whatever made the strange haze, even more dense than Blue Moon's constant aura, that floated around the patrons at Jingar's.