Page 32 of Black Star
Chapter Two
“Dr. Zabin?” It was strange how she felt hesitant to disturb him now. She’d never had that problem when she resided in the Black Star . Then, she’d called on anyone, any time of the day or night. She was an entity unto herself. Untouchable. Now she was dependent on the kindness of others, she didn’t think she had the right to demand anything of anyone.
“Yes, my lady.” He scrubbed a hand across a weary-looking face. “I’m glad to see you up and about. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.” She blinked. She wasn’t used to anyone being concerned for her except Darian. “You don’t have to call me that.”
He looked at her intently. “I think I do.”
“I’m not his wife anymore, Mahat. He lost that right when he conspired to rob my people.”
“I know that, my lady. But it doesn’t change who you are, and you deserve the title more than he does.”
“Why?” Nani was suddenly furious. “Because I had an affair, got pregnant, then caught, and ended up the soul of a hunk of twisted metal and computer chips? Hardly worthy of royalty, don’t you think?”
Mahat Zabin stood suddenly and rounded on her as vehemently as she had lashed out at him. “Because he forced you into a marriage to gain your title and the empire.”
They stood nose-to-nose for several moments. Nani was shocked. No one knew that. Not even Damon. “What else do you know?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to that question, but there it was.
“All of it. I know about your heritage as well as Darian’s. I also know that you were perfectly within your rights to take any suitor you wanted, so don’t give me that yasat shit about not being worthy of royalty. You are royalty! Whether you admit it or not.”
He turned away angrily and stared at the computer screen on his desk. It was obvious he didn’t really see it. “You lived a life no one should ever have to experience. But would you rather have been killed? That was your only alternative.” He didn’t look at her -- he just punched buttons on his console and watched as a stream of data scrolled quickly across the screen.
“At the time, I’d have preferred it. Many times over the years.” She refused to leave even though she knew he wanted her to. “It was only when we actually encountered the Sword Breaker I began to have some hope. At least we could touch each other’s minds. This --” she wrapped her arms around herself, closing her eyes as emotion threatened to overwhelm her again, “-- is more than I’d ever hoped would happen. I know how difficult this was to achieve. I’m not sure more than a handful of doctors in the entire known universe could have accomplished this. I thank you.”
He looked at her, the anguish and anger in his face so fierce, Nani stepped back a pace before she could stop herself. “Do you know why I was able to do this, to put you back in your body? Do you remember anything about that day?”
“I -- no. Well, some of it. Only in bits and pieces.” She crossed the room to sit in a chair across from the doctor’s desk. She had a feeling she needed to take this sitting down. “I was in shock, I think. I’d just given birth and was grieving, begging Samair not to do it.” She shivered and squeezed her eyes tightly shut at the memory. She’d fought fiercely, hoping Samair would simply kill her. But he hadn’t.
“It was me, Nani.” Dr. Zabin scrubbed a hand over his face. He looked weary, grief-stricken. “I did the procedure. I did that awful thing…” He trailed off and dropped his head into his hand.
Nani sat in stunned silence for a long moment. She thought she might faint. Had she not been sitting, she probably would have. She’d focused her anger solely on her ex-husband. She’d never thought about the other men who’d had a part in it.
Instead of anger, fear overwhelmed her. This man was in charge of bringing Darian back to her. Would he sabotage Darian’s chance at life?
She stood and backed away. She needed to get out of here. She needed to find Damon and be with someone she’d known in her previous life. She needed advice.
She needed Darian. Desperately. For a woman so used to being in control of everything, knowing everything, being so cut off from the technologies she’d grown to rely on was maddening.
Nani turned and fled out of the med bay and down the corridor to the mess hall. She was almost sure to find Phoebe there, and Phoebe would know where Damon was.
She ran.
Her arms pumped and her legs churned, hurling her down the corridor as fast as she could go. When she reached the mess, she ducked inside, only to be met by a dozen or so smiling faces. The crew, enjoying Phoebe’s wonderful food and some relaxation, were oblivious to her plight. Some gave her a friendly smile and a wave, while others seemed to wonder who she was, but no one seemed overly concerned.
Nani was about to turn and run back to her quarters -- or perhaps back to the med bay to guard Darian -- until she could figure out what to do. Thankfully, Phoebe came up behind her, pulled her back into the kitchen without a word, and wrapped her arms around Nani.
Nani was the cast iron bitch. She always had the answers -- at least more answers than everyone else -- and she had a sarcastic wit that made everyone cringe. Now, she felt helpless and completely out of touch with her true personality. She was strong. She never leaned on others. Others always relied on her to be strong, and now she felt weaker than she ever had.
She totally lost her hard-won control. Tears of anger, grief, and betrayal poured out of her. She only knew Mahat Zabin from his time aboard the ship, but it was like the ultimate betrayal. She had accepted him as part of her extended family -- the crew of the Black Star . Now this.
“What’s happened? Dr. Zabin said you were distressed.”
“With good reason,” Nani sniffed. “I need to see Damon.”
As if on cue, the klaxon sounded and everyone scrambled from the mess. The clatter was almost as loud as the alarm reverberating throughout the ship. Nani’s head snapped up. Automatically, she reached for the ship’s sensors, only to find nothing.
Dammit! As glad as she was to be in her own body, not knowing was simply terrifying. For more than twenty years, she’d been in control of almost every aspect of this ship. Now, she was blind and deaf.
When she whipped around to run out the door, Phoebe grabbed her arm. “You should stay here, or at the very least stay with me.”
“This is my ship, Phoebe,” Nani snapped harder than she intended. She took a breath and tried again. “If there’s something wrong, I need to know.”
Phoebe said something else, but Nani didn’t pay attention. She knew the woman was just trying to help, but she couldn’t stay here while the whole world went to hell.
It took her less than a minute to reach command, but she might as well have stayed with Phoebe. The captain and crew were using the internal comm system technology Mikiel had given them, and she didn’t know any more than when she left the mess.
Not wanting to break anyone’s concentration, she tried to peek at the display screens to get a sense of what was happening. Three Hand vessels to port. The Black Star was very likely not within their sensor range, so they had the element of surprise.
Nani had never been able to form a strong bond with her daughter, but she knew as sure as she was standing there Nadira was on one of those ships. She wished she could narrow it down.
“Damon,” she whispered. The captain tilted his head in her direction but did not take his eyes off his console. “Nadira…” She trailed off as she felt her daughter find her telepathic link and grasp on tightly. Nani sucked in a breath.
Damon whipped his head around to her sound of distress. “What?” His eyes blazed, and he looked fiercer than she’d ever witnessed during her time as part of the Black Star .
“She’s on one of those ships, and she’s in trouble.” Nani fumbled with her telepathic link and swore to herself when she lost it altogether. She knew the environment the crew was used to and knew not to disrupt it with needless noise.
She closed her eyes and took a breath, trying to calm herself and concentrate. It had always been difficult to touch Nadira in this way, more so now because of both their anxiety.
I have her, Nani . Darian’s calm, sure voice whispered in her head. She is on the smallest vessel of the three and frightened, but unharmed .
Nani let all her feelings of gratitude and relief flow from her to Darian, though she had no doubt he already knew. He had always been adept at reading her, even when he was unable to communicate with her because of distance. He knew her feelings.
“Darian says the smallest vessel carries her. She’s unharmed but terribly frightened.” Again, she kept her voice quiet and for Damon only.
He acknowledged her with a slight nod of his head and punched several buttons on his console. Immediately, the Black Star banked to starboard and took up a new position off to the extreme left of the smallest Hand ship. They had still been a good way out of sensor range, but the drastic movement must have alerted the trio to their presence.
As expected, the other two ships took up defensive positions, protecting the ship that held Nadira. Nani saw Damon’s lips twitch slightly and knew he’d been expecting such a move on their part.
As Nani watched on one of the vacant display screens, brilliant green and blue light burst into view at the two defending ships. The angles were all wrong for it to be the Black Star firing. Those were laser and plasma fire from the Sword Breaker .
She clenched her fists and leaned over the console. This was all so surreal. The essence of her one true love was in that ship, and she couldn’t shake the instinct she had to protect the Sword Breaker . It was almost as strong as the fierce need to do anything necessary to get her daughter back safely. For the first time since she’d been forcibly placed inside the essence of the Black Star , all she could do was stand there and watch.
Not bloody likely.
The keys to the console seemed to take more dexterity to operate than her fingers possessed, but she gritted her teeth against the frustration and called up the information she so desperately needed. In a few seconds, she had a real-time readout of all psycomm chatter on the ship.
It took some adjusting, but she was used to intense multitasking. Pretty soon, she was following the conversation almost as well as she could have before she was put back into her body.
Forward warship sustained light to moderate damage port bow, sir. Shielding is compensating .
The Sword Breaker is closing in to their starboard side. Lasers at full capacity.
Increase to flank . Darian’s command cut through all other communication in bright, bold letters. Isolate the middle ship and cut her away from the other two .
Nani clenched her jaw tightly. Knowing what was happening and not being able to help was worse than not knowing. She could tell by the lack of energy fall-off of the Hand ships’ laser banks that they were holding back. It only made sense they were holding their main burst to get a good, clean killing shot. Looking at the typed text, Darian didn’t know that.
She looked to the tactical station where Viktor should have sat. He was gone. The seat was vacant. Briefly, she thought about taking the station, but without a psycomm, she was worse than useless. She’d break their concentration by needing external communication.
Quickly, she hacked into Darian’s personal comm. He was flying into a trap. True, anything the Hand could throw at them probably wouldn’t fatally damage them, but it might slow them down enough for the Hand to get out of the area with Nadira.
It’s a trap, Darian. They’re going to focus everything they have on you .
There was a pause, and for a moment, Nani was afraid he hadn’t gotten her text. Then he typed, That would buy them enough time for escape.
I believe so .
There was a pause as she watched Damon punch a few buttons on his console.
Topside thrusters. Take us down. Ready the tractor .
Sir, using the tractor beam on anything with that kind of mass will take our power down to twenty percent capacity and disable our hyperdrive . Reading the transcript seemed to lessen the impact of the warning, but Nani knew the safest course of action would be to simply back off. Fortunately, Damon was never one to retreat if there was a reasonable chance of victory.
Understood. DO IT .
The outburst was uncharacteristic, but reflective of her own feelings at the moment. He was a brilliant tactician, so she had no doubt he knew what he was doing. The ship sank with a slight lurch, and Nani watched as power was taken from all systems, save life support, for the tractor.
Target the starboard ship with lasers and engage tractor on that smaller ship when I command .
Nani scanned the area and found the Sword Breaker again coming at them from the other side of the battle sector and above them. The Hand ships floundered in space, not knowing which way to go. Damon’s target sank straight down, but he kept the Black Star out of the other ship’s line of sight. Had the commander been experienced in battle, he’d have relied on his sensors more, but Damon’s gamble seemed to be paying off. He’d definitely done his homework. The Hand, while they loved technology they could glean from other cultures, had little understanding of how most of it really worked. They obviously weren’t used to the highly sensitive sensors the class of ship they flew used. Apparently, if they couldn’t see their target out the window, they floundered. Damon obviously had a hint that might happen.
Target acquired. Tractor ready. Awaiting your command, sir .
Several blind shots surged through space, missing both ships easily. The Hand moved about, trying to protect the smaller ship, but all they did was give the Black Star and the Sword Breaker easier access to the ship from above and below.
Nani gripped the edge of the console hard. Damon’s plan seemed to be working, but she didn’t want to hope too much. She wasn’t sure she could take that kind of disappointment right now. When Nadira had been taken, she’d felt like a knife had been plunged into her heart. Even now, her chest ached with grief even as hope tried to bloom inside her. She was finally able to hold her daughter in her arms and she might still lose the chance to do so.
She looked at Damon. His face was impassive, but his jaw clenched, and instead of simply pressing buttons on his console, he stabbed them with unnecessary force. He was as determined as she was. As she watched him, she was again thankful -- as she had been many times throughout the years -- that Damon had taken Nadira so closely under his wing. It was very likely she wouldn’t have survived without him. If there was any doubt that Damon loved Nadira like a daughter, it was erased as Nani watched him fighting to get her back now.
Steady. On my mark . Nani tensed and locked her knees to keep from falling. If this didn’t work, they might lose Nadira again. The thought that they might execute her flitted through Nani’s mind, and she quickly squashed the evil vision. If she thought like that, she might drive herself insane.
Fire! Damon barked the command into the psycomm, and Nani jumped. Brilliant green light streaked through space and hit the Hand target squarely. It was difficult to assess the damage by looking at it, but a small puff of green plasma fire exited the ship near where the aft engine should be. The flare was brief but Damon didn’t wait to see what happened. Apparently, he wasn’t taking any chances.
Again! Disable her completely. Do not destroy .
Similar bursts came from the Black Star against the other ship, and it wasn’t long before neither of the warships gave any signs of life. Nani checked the sensors. The only thing functioning aboard either warship was life support, and one of them only minimally.
Damon sprang from his chair, a testament to how high his emotions were running. “Engage tractor!” He used the psycomm, but spoke anyway. His fists were clenched as he bent over the shoulder of the crewman sitting next to him. He had full readouts from his own station, but he was apparently expending nervous energy. Nani couldn’t blame him. She felt like she had a fifty-kilogram weight sitting on her chest. “Viktor! Are you ready?”
“What’s going on?” Nani’s quiet question was met with a slashing movement of Damon’s hand. An order to keep quiet.
Ready, Captain. I have her coordinates as Darian believes them to be. If he’s wrong, we’ll have to get a boarding party together . Viktor’s voice was calm and assured. Firm. He had supreme confidence in himself. Nani immediately reached out to Darian, trying to see the plan. He blocked her, but she fought her way through, needing to know what thing Darian would try to hide from her. When she found it, she staggered backward into the bulkhead.
“You’re going to do what ?” She looked to Damon, demanding an answer to her question. “You don’t even know if she’ll survive such a thing! It’s not been tested!”
Damon rounded on her. “I hate to sound cliché, but every second she stays on that ship is one second too long. They’ll kill her once they know there’s no chance of keeping her. So, if you’ve got a better idea…”
Nani clenched her teeth together. She knew he was right. A rescue party would arrive in time to collect Nadira’s remains. As Diamond and Phoebe had stated on several occasions, no one escaped the Hand of God. At least, not without a horrible fight, and this would be a horrible fight.
Viktor and Darian had apparently come up with a way to use that ship’s food generator to turn Nadira into trillions of biological particles, funnel her signature through the filtration system to the waste outlet and into Black Star ’s tractor beam. They then planned to put her back together in solid form once her particles were safely aboard. If it worked. If not…
She didn’t want to think about that possibility.
“Whenever you’re ready, Viktor. Do what you have to do.” Damon reached for Nani’s hand. “Come on, my lady. Hopefully by the time we get there, Viktor will already have her.”