Not the Man She Thought Read online

  Once again, Burl opened the door, and from the look on his face, the butler was just as surprised to see her as he had been the day before.

  “I need to see Mallin,” she said before he could say anything.

  The man looked down his thin nose at her. “Master Mallin is in a meeting at the moment.”

  “Then I’ll wait,” she said, pushing past the butler and into the foyer before he could stop her.

  The butler’s mouth tightened, but to her surprise, he didn’t argue. Instead, he simply closed the door. “If you’ll follow me.”

  Burl led her down a hallway to a spacious sitting room. If Laken wasn’t so angry, she might have admired the beautiful décor. As it was, she could barely look at the framed holo-pics of Mallin and his family without screaming. God, she’d been such a fool. Then again, maybe she was being too hard on herself. If she hadn’t been so besotted with Mallin, she never would have stowed away on Rade’s ship and had the chance to fall in love with him.

  Blinking back tears, she walked out onto the veranda. The early afternoon breeze played with her hair and ruffled her skirt, but she paid little attention to it as she looked out at the plush lawn. Men’s voices were coming from the room beside the one Burl had shown her to, but she didn’t pay much attention to them, either. That was, until she heard the words, “Marlon Prime” and “Federation trap.”

  Her brow furrowing, she moved down the veranda until she was closer to the room.

  She didn’t understand exactly everything they were talking about, but she understood enough to know that Mallin and the men with him, who were apparently deeply connected with New Ashanti’s government, had formed a secret alliance with the Federation, and that they were planning to betray Marlon Prime during the supposedly “joint” attack on the Federation.

  Laken’s heart raced. She had to warn Rade. But how?

  Then all at once, the answer came to her. Whirling around, Laken ran back into the sitting room, down the hall, and out the front door to the waiting hover-cab.

  “The spaceport.” she said. “Quickly!”

  Chapter Eleven

  Rade stood alongside Kellen and the other ship’s officers who would be taking part in the attack on the Federation. They were in a large briefing room on the Marlonian Command Ship, which was located on the outer edges of the Marlon System. The last time he’d been in a briefing room like this had been back on Marlon Prime when he and Laken had been taken to see Commander Vargas. Though he tried to stay focused on what the Marlonian Commander was saying now, he couldn’t keep his thoughts from straying to the beautiful redhead. Shit. He had to stop this, or he was going to get himself and his crew killed out there.

  Clenching his jaw, Rade looked around the room at the other men. The group was made up of Marlonian and Ashantian ship’s officers, as well as the other “Independent” fighters that had come over to the cause. To a man, their expressions were serious as they gazed at the large hologram of the Marlon System projected onto the wall. Every one of them knew the risk involved with this plan. If even one thing went wrong, the rebellion against the Federation would effectively be over, because there wouldn’t be anyone left to fight them anymore.

  On the wall, the hologram zoomed in on Marlon Prime, or more precisely, a region of space directly over the capital city. There was a large glowing symbol in the center of the view that represented the huge Federation Command-Class Cruiser. The ship responsible for directing the siege of Marlon Prime, it possessed almost the same firepower as the combined rebel force. Which meant that taking it out first was critical to the success of the plan. To either side of the command cruiser, were two smaller red dots that represented the next closest Federation ships. In all, there were a total of twenty four of them encircling the planet.

  “Using the cloaking frequencies provided by Captain Karsten, the joint Marlonian and Ashantian forces have been slowly moving toward their respective attack coordinates,” Commander Vargas explained. As he spoke, two large circles, one blue and one green, appeared on the holographic projection. “They will be supplemented with auxiliary forces,” he added, glancing at Rade and the other Independents in the room. “To whom we are most graceful.”

  “Never heard a pirate ship called an ‘auxiliary force’ before,” one of the other Independents joked.

  Everyone laughed.

  “The Ashanti force, here in green, will consolidate behind the Zeres Moon, while the Marlon force will be hidden behind the moon of Rigal the Lesser,” Vargas continued. As he spoke, the blue circle blinked several times in response to his statement. “With the Federation sensors cloaked, positioning behind the moons isn’t really necessary, but it will provide a final level of protection if everything goes to hell at the last minute.”

  One of the Marlonians let out a snort. “Like a few moons would slow down the Feds if that happens.”

  Vargas inclined his head as if in agreement. “At the signal, both forces will attack the Federation Command Cruiser with everything they’ve got.”

  “What if they get a distress call out?” someone asked. “With all of us focusing of the command ship, the other Federation ships will be on our exposed backsides in minutes. We won’t stand a chance.”

  “That’s where we come in,” one of the Ashanti Officers said. “Based on Captain Karsten’s original signal data, we’ve been able to create an effective jamming code. That Command Cruiser will be completely shut off from the rest of their forces. With that, and the element of surprise, they’ll never be able to handle all of us.”

  Beside Rade, Kellen grunted. “We hope.”

  “After the Command Cruiser is destroyed, our two forces will split, moving around the planet, engaging one federation ship at a time,” Commander Vargas said. “If fortune smiles on us, we may have this system cleared of Federation ships within a cycle”

  There was a murmur of agreement at that as the men gathered in smaller groups and began to talk amongst themselves about various tactical and logistical issues. Rade and Kellen had just begun to talk with one of the other pirate captains about a fall-back plan when the Marlon Commander spoken again.

  “Gentlemen, on more moment of your time, if I can. Marlon Prime was able to outfit and deploy five more attack vessels in addition to the ones we’ve already lined up. In reality, they’re not much more than shuttles that have been outfitted with guns, and each of them only has a rudimentary skeleton crew. To get any effectiveness out of them at all, I need a captain for each of them. I know what I’m asking of you, so I would like to ask for volunteers first.”

  The men were silent for a moment, but then several Marlonian officers slowly nodded.

  They were still one short, Rade noticed, and when no one else looked they were going to volunteer, he nodded, too. “I’ll take one for you.”

  Vargas inclined his head. “Thank you, Captain.”

  Beside Rade, Kellen frowned. “Are you sure about this? You don’t know what kind of crews are going to be manning those ships. Farm boys, probably. They could get you killed.”

  Rade gave him a small smile. “I was a farm boy once, too, Kellen. And the more ships out there fighting, the better. Besides, I know my crew will be in capable hands with you at the helm.”

  Though Kellen’s mouth tightened, he made no comment.

  Not that the first officer could have continued their conversation right then anyway, because Commander Vargas was speaking again. After giving them some last minute instructions, he divided up the auxiliary forces, announcing that Rade and several others would go with the forces from New Ashanti forces, while Kellen and the rest would go with the Marlonians.

  Rade turned to Kellen. “Take care of yourself, old friend.”

  The first officer regarded him in silence for so long that Rade thought he might try to change his mind about taking command of the other ship again, but he simply nodded. “You, too.”

  As Rade watched him go, he wondered if he had made the right decision. Not just abou
t volunteering to command the other ship, but about taking part in the attack on the Federation at all. A week ago, he probably wouldn’t even have considered doing anything so damn risky. He would simply have delivered the antidote like agreed, taken his payment and high-tailed it out of the system to find the next job. But then he’d met Laken, and she had changed him. Something about her made him want to be better than the pirate he was, to finally step up and take a stand against the Federation he’d spent so much time despising. She would never know what he was doing, of course, but he was still doing it for her.

  * * * * *

  Finding the salvage captain Kavan Durshay was a lot easier than Laken had thought it would be. Since she didn’t know where his office was located or even if the man had one, she’d decided the fastest way to find him would be to ask around the spaceport. She’d started to panic a little when the first several people she had talked to admitted they’d never even heard of Durshay. But then luckily she’d come upon a street vendor who’d not only heard of Durshay, but had also known where his office was located. While finding the salvage captain was a lot easier than she’d anticipated, convincing him to help her was an entirely different matter, however.

  “Are you out of your mind, lady?” he asked incredulously. “There’s no way I’m taking my ship or my crew into the middle of a war zone, regardless of any favor I owe.”

  “It’s not a war zone yet.” At least she hoped it wasn’t. The thought that Rade might even now be in the middle of a gunfight made her stomach clench. She swallowed hard. She followed the salvage captain as he made his way across the room. “If you don’t take me to Rade’s ship, then he and everyone else up there are going to be slaughtered by the Federation. Do you really want that on your conscience, especially after what he did for you?”

  In all honesty, Laken had no idea what Rade had done for the salvage captain, but she thought it must have been something important for Rade to mention it to her, and from the way Durshay flushed at her words, she decided she was right.

  “Even if I agree to take you up there, how in tarnation are you even going to find Karsten’s ship? They could be anywhere.”

  Laken tucked her hair behind her ear. “If you give me access to your com-computer, I can find them. Or more precisely, I can make sure they find us. But that won’t matter if you’re not willing to take the chance and help me out. Please. Rade needs your help.”

  Durshay said nothing for a moment, then he sighed. “I must need my head examined. I’ll tell ya, if you weren’t such a pretty lady, I wouldn’t even consider this, but all right, I’ll do it. I’ll take you to Karsten’s ship, but if there’s even the slightest chance I’m going to get stuck in the middle of a battle, then I’m out of there, you understand?”

  Laken nodded, too relieved that Durshay had finally acquiesced to worry about the conditions he’d placed on their agreement. She only hoped the fighting hadn’t started. She couldn’t bear it if anything happened to Rade.

  * * * * *

  “You’re damn lucky I recognized that Manze Distress Code. That stuff is ancient,” Dev said to her when Laken rushed onto Rade’s ship an hour later. “What the hell are you even doing here anyway? We’re about to start the attack.”

  Laken looked around the cargo hold for Rade, but other than her, Dev and Kellen, the place was empty. “Where’s Rade?” she asked as she started for the steps. “Is he on the bridge?”

  “He’s not here,” the dark-haired woman said.

  Laken whirled around, her brow furrowing in confusion even as a cold dread settled into the pit of her stomach. They were about to go into battle with the Federation. Where else would he be? “What do you mean, he’s not here? Where is he?”

  Dev glanced at Kellen, who answered. “There were more ships than captains, so he volunteered to take command on one of the other ships.”

  Laken’s frown deepened. She couldn’t believe Rade had left his ship and his crew, no matter how capable they were. She turned and started for the steps again. “I have to contact him. There’s something he has to know.”

  “You can’t,” Dev said from behind her. “We can’t break radio silence or the Feds will be able to locate our positions.”

  Laken didn’t stop, but instead, continued her headlong flight up the stairs. “The Federation already knows your positions. Which is why we have to call off the attack.”

  Dev and Kellen hurried after her, their booted feet loud on the metal steps.

  “What are you talking about?” Kellen demanded.

  Laken stopped mid-way up the steps to turn and look at them. “The whole thing was a trick. I overheard it when I was down on the planet. New Ashanti has conspired with the Federation to betray Marlon Prime in return for favored status. If we don’t do something to stop the attack, then we’ll all be slaughtered.”

  Both Kellen and Dev went pale at that.

  “It’s too late,” Kellen said. “The attack is going to start any second.”

  As if on cue, a loud siren sounded throughout the ship. Laken’s hand tightened on the railing.

  Kellen pushed past her, taking the steps two at a time in his haste. Laken and Dev hurried after him, all three of them running down the passageway that led to the bridge as the alarm continued to sound.

  “Give me a clean visual on the main screen,” the first officer ordered Jorn when they got to the bridge.

  At his command, a picture immediately popped up on the big vis-screen mounted on one wall of the bridge. Directly in front of them was the Federation Command Cruiser, along with five other Federation ships. Though not quite as large as the Cruiser, the other ships were still bigger than anything the rebel forces had.

  Laken watched in horror as the Federation ships opened fire. The cargo ship immediately bucked beneath her feet as laser fire hit it, and she grabbed onto the door jamb to keep from falling.

  As if having the Federation ships shooting at them wasn’t bad enough, the Ashantian ships began to fire at the Marlonian and pirate ships from behind. Laken tightened her grip on the door jamb as another round of laser fire sent the ship rocking.

  “Should we retreat?” Kam shouted, glancing over his shoulder at Kellen.

  “There’s nowhere to retreat to,” the first officer told him. “Return fire!”

  Releasing her grip on the door jamb, Laken pushed past Dev and raced down the passageway to the communications room.

  “Laken, what...?” the other woman began.

  But Laken ignored her. Running into the com-room, she hurried over to one of the computers, practically falling into chair in front of it as the ship bucked again.

  “What are you doing?” Dev asked as Laken’s fingers flew over the keys.

  Laken didn’t look at her, but kept her gaze focused on the computer screen. “I’m typing in the security command codes I ran across while Rade and I were prisoner on that Federation ship.”

  “You memorized all those numbers?”

  Laken nodded as she typed in the next string of numbers. “Yes. And if we’re lucky, they haven’t changed them. If they use the same codes for all their ships, I may just be able to do something to get us out of this mess.”

  Beneath them, the cargo ship bucked and screeched as it was hit again and again. Laken typed faster, afraid the ship was going to explode from a direct hit any second. But her fear for herself and the rest of the crew was nothing compared to how terrified she was for Rade. She would have felt a lot better if he were there with her. Even if they were in incredible danger, at least they’d be in danger together.

  Just then, her computer screen lit up as the security code she had just entered was accepted. She didn’t even slow down to congratulate herself, but immediately dug her way through the endless menu options to the Command Cruiser’s Operating System.

  “I’m in,” she told Dev. “Get Kellen on the ship’s com for me.”

  The other woman didn’t ask why, but hurriedly did as she was told.

  “K
ellen, it’s Laken,” she shouted over the com. “Tell the other ships to concentrate their fire on the Command Cruiser.”

  “That’s worthless,” the first officer yelled back. “Our weapons won’t do much damage from this distance, and if we move closer, they’ll blow us out of the sky.”

  “Trust me,” Laken told him. “Just do it!”

  * * * * *

  Rade knew the little shuttle ship he was commanding couldn’t take much more of this. They’d been hit more than a dozen times and their hull was bleeding atmosphere like crazy. But to their credit, his small crew of Marlonian volunteers wasn’t giving up. Though they were cussing both the Feds and the Ashantians to the Seventh Hell and back, none of them had ever once suggested surrendering.