Page 14 of Her Cyborg Commander (The Drift: Haven Colony #9)

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River rolled off of Edge and onto her back. She left one arm stretched across his naked chest as she sprawled across the mattress they now shared. “I’m starting to wonder if you’re arguing with me because you think I’m wrong or because you’re hoping for make-up sex.”

“Maybe it’s both.” He caught hold of her hand and lifted it to his mouth to press several kisses to her open palm before letting his lips brush over the barcode on her wrist. They all had them. Like their scars, it was a constant reminder of her time as a slave.

“We’ve been over this so many times in the past few days. This can’t go on forever. I need to stay here. You’re needed back in Haven. If for no other reason than to return Sevda’s ship.”

Edge rolled over to face her, his head propped up on his free hand and his body on full display. “You keep saying that, but you haven’t given me a reason why you have to stay on this miserable ball of sand and dust.”

Not for the first time, River caught herself admiring the raw, masculine beauty of her lover. He was leaner than some of the cyborgs she knew. Where some of the males were built like walking mountains, Edge was more like a duelist’s blade.

With a mental effort, she dragged her attention away from his body and back to their conversation. “That’s because you’ve already made up your mind.”

He grunted. “This would be so much easier if I tossed you over my shoulder and hauled your stubborn ass back to the ship.”

“Try it.”

“Believe me. I’m tempted. What happened to obeying your commander?”

She snorted with laughter. Over the last few days, they’d begun to be comfortable with each other. “In the bedroom, yes. In the real world? I’m still in control. I have to be.”

They lapsed into thoughtful silence that somehow never grew awkward. It was another change to the way they interacted. She liked it. She liked almost everything about spending time with Edge, unless they were arguing. Even that had benefits, since nearly every time they fought, they wound up having sex.

Today was no different. They’d spent the morning doing the usual chores around camp and then retreated to the shelter when the afternoon sun grew too strong. They’d argued before they’d even finished lunch and ended up back in bed with their meal still downstairs, half eaten.

Finally, Edge spoke again. “What if we went somewhere else?”

It wasn’t the first time the idea had come up, but something about his tone made her hesitate to say no without hearing more. “We could, but where? Cyborgs aren’t exactly welcome in most parts of the known galaxy. If we went somewhere populated, it would be like Haven all over again. If Jens comes after me, I’d be putting innocent people at risk.”

“The IAF protects plenty of planets and space stations.”

She tapped his chest. “The Interstellar Armed Forces are hunting us. Remember? I’d rather live the rest of my life here than in a military prison. And what if they’re not the ones that find us? What if it’s Corporate Security? Some of the corporations are still aligned with Torex. They’d hand us over in a heartbeat. And even if they didn’t, being in corporate custody would make it too easy for Jens or the Shadows to find us.”

Her frustration with the situation bled into her next words. “I didn’t pick this place on a whim, you know. I considered all the alternatives I had available. This was the best I could come up with.”

“I know, minx. But when you made this plan, you didn’t have the same resources you do now.”

“And what would those be?”

“Me. You have me.” He paused. “And my scrip. I haven’t spent much of it. Wasn’t really a need back home. The Vardarian society might have its own issues, but they know how to take care of each other.”

Before River could reply, he spoke again, his tone brighter now. “Wait. What if we went to Vardarian space?”

“I…” she trailed off as she frantically organized her thoughts into something coherent. “Do you think that’s possible?”

“I have no idea, but I can ask. Tyran’s a fraxxing prince of the empire. Surely he can pull some strings?”

“We’d have to talk to him directly. And we still need to bring Eddi back,” she mused. This wasn’t something she’d considered before, because if she’d told anyone what she had planned, they would have stopped her.

“Sevda could always come get Eddi. She mentioned that she’d love to go off-planet at some point. It can’t be easy for her. She was a scout for decades, and then suddenly she’s grounded. In some ways, she’s as much a prisoner as we are,” Edge said.

“You realize that’s true of the Vardarians, too? They can leave, sure, but how many have gone back to the empire? Every single one of them left for a reason, and they don’t want to go back. Some of them can’t.”

He nodded. “I know. I didn’t see it at first. I was too angry about…” He grunted and managed a partial shrug. “About a lot of things.”

“No kidding,” River commented, her tone dry.

“And I’m still not over all of it. I don’t know if I ever will be. If I get a chance for payback, you know I’m taking it.”

“And you think I don’t want that?”

His brow furrowed into deep lines as he considered that. “Is that part of the reason you came out here alone? Revenge?”

“Maybe.” She hadn’t considered that to be a driving force behind her decision, but she’d been too caught up in the how part of her plan to really think about the why .

She didn’t feel like going down that particular wormhole right now, so she changed the subject back to their original topic. “You’d really be okay going into exile with me?”

“Minx, in case I haven’t made myself clear, I am not going anywhere without you. That said, if you really want to stay here, we’re going to need more supplies.”

“Hardly. I’ve got more than enough to keep us going for at least a year. If you like nutri-bars and reconstituted algae broth.”

He grimaced. “I do not. And neither do you. I cannot believe that’s what you brought to eat!”

“As backup supplies. The ready-to-eat meals aren’t so bad.”

“Says you. I’m starting to question your taste, minx. They must have broken something while you were still in your maturation tank.”

She stuck her tongue out at him before replying. “My tongue works perfectly, as well you should know.”

He leered at her. “I’m not so sure. Maybe you should come over here and refresh my memory.”

She hadn’t finished formulating a good comeback when a triple-chirp broke up their moment of levity.

Edge had to rummage around in their bedding for several seconds before he found the comm unit he used to stay in contact with Eddi. The AI had the ship parked near one of the planet’s moons. Because of the way the orbit worked, it wasn’t always within range, so they’d arranged a schedule for updates. Now was not one of those times.

All the humor was gone from Edge’s voice as he activated the comm. “Eddi, this is Edge. Report.”

“Hello, Passenger Edge. This is the situation. Another ship has entered this system. Using passive scans, I have determined it is heading toward the planet you currently inhabit. It is also broadcasting a message on all known channels. It appears to be a recording on a continuous loop.”

Dread wrapped icy coils around her guts and squeezed. It shouldn’t be possible, but it had to be Troyan Jens. No one else would enter a supposedly uninhabited system and start blasting a recorded message.

He wanted her to know he’d found her.

“Give me all the information you have. Wait. First, confirm they have not detected you,” Edge ordered the AI.

“They have not noticed this vessel. I am using one of the planet’s satellites to hide this vessel’s presence, as I conveyed to you in previous conversations.”

“That’s good. Don’t let them see you.”

“I have no intention of allowing that to happen. However, the newly arrived ship will be able to detect your encampment soon. That should be your primary concern, Passenger Edge.”

“They’ll be able to see the camp, sure. But they won’t be able to detect us.” River gestured around them. “This shelter is designed to deflect most common scanners, and the rocks that surround it should make that even more difficult. Jens won’t be able to know if I’m in here or not, and he won’t know there are two of us. We can use that.”

“Hold that thought, River. Eddi, you still haven’t given me a full report. What class of ship is it? Does it have any identifiers?”

Eddi’s calm, impassive voice came back immediately. “The transponder it carries shows that it is a privately owned freighter named the Maggie-May-Dance . There are anomalies within the data that make it seventy-seven percent likely that the transponder is showing a fake identity. While passive scans are not overly effective at this distance, I can also confirm that while the vessel’s appearance has been modified, there is a ninety-two percent chance it is a military vessel of some kind. Likely a corvette class or similar.”

Fraxx . Corvettes were the smallest class of warship, but they were still large enough to carry a sizable crew and weapon compliment.

Edge cursed under his breath before continuing. “Thank you, Eddi. That’s all useful information. What can you tell me about the message being broadcast?”

“It is encrypted. The only readable information is a tag denoting the intended recipient.

Petal . I have no point of reference for that data point and cannot provide you with any assistance in determining what or who Petal is.”

River spoke up. “The message is for me. Eddi, can you decrypt any part of it?”

“Negative. I have never been provided with decryption software.” The AI paused and then added, “I will have to discuss this oversight with Pilot Rem once I have been returned to her.”

The pause this time was longer. “If that is still your intention. If it is not, I must inform you that I am equipped with anti-theft protocols.”

River had to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing at the AI’s moment of drama.

“Relax your circuits, Eddi. We absolutely intend to give you back to Sevda.” Edge looked like he wanted to reach through the connection and kick the AI in its nonexistent butt for going off topic.

“If Jens is sending this out, it’s got to be a message for me. If that’s the case, he thinks I have the key to decrypt it already.”

“That makes sense, but let’s hold off on that idea for now. There’s something else we need to talk about, first.”

She knew where this was going, but it surprised her that Edge was willing to talk about something that was clearly his fault. “How did he find us?”

“Exactly. He had to have tracked you somehow.”

“What?” she uttered in shock. “That’s not possible. I was in a cryo-pod inside a shielded cargo hold for the entire trip. There’s no way he could have tracked me.” She pointed at Edge. “He must have followed you here.”

“That makes no sense at all. Jens sent you that first message either because he thought you’d come running back to him, or he expected you to bolt. Either way, he had a plan in place for finding you if you left Haven. I don’t know how, but he’s here, so that’s got to be it.”

Edge’s assessment put her on the defensive. “You’re ignoring the fact that Nova Force is hunting you. They know what ship you’re on, too. The Interstellar Armed Forces has always had information leaks. Every time they take out one spy, three more appear to take their place. The most likely scenario is that someone heard the chatter and reported it to their corporate handler. Jens or the people he’s working with now got wind of it and decided to follow you. After all, the leader of the cyborgs on Haven wouldn’t leave the colony without a good reason. Coming after a rogue cyborg would definitely count.”

“And how did they track me here? I don’t see how this is my fault,” Edge argued.

“Eddi is, or was, corporate property. Do you really think they didn’t have the means to track it down if they wanted to? And at the risk of repeating myself, this is why I told everyone not to fraxxing follow me.”

Eddi interrupted before Edge could respond. “The vessel is positioning itself for orbital insertion. If I am to remain hidden, the position of this moon will put me in a communication blackout in forty-three minutes. Whatever you intend to do, it should be done quickly or I will not be able to assist.”

“We need to listen to the message. That’s the only source of information we have. Once we know what it says, we can make a plan.”

“No,” Edge snapped. “We are not listening to that message. I will, and you will not be in earshot when it happens.”

“That’s not your decision to make.” She couldn’t believe he’d do this to her. He knew why she had to face Jens and how important this was to her.

“Yeah. It is. You said it yourself. You can’t know that you haven’t been compromised somehow. I won’t let you risk yourself over a damned message. I’ll listen to it and then come back and tell you everything I heard. I’m not the one he’s obsessed with. Jens doesn’t even know I’m here.”

His words cut her deeply. Of all the beings she knew, he was the one she’d have sworn would never throw her own words back at her like that. Compromised . What’s worse, was the fact that he could be right. That didn’t make it hurt any less.

Her response came from her heart, unfiltered and raw. “Unless he followed you here,” she protested. “And even if you’re right, it’s still my choice. This is my battle, and you can’t tell me step back and let you handle it!”

“Damn it, River! I’m trying to protect you!”

She sat up and glared at him. Why couldn’t he understand that his idea of protection was as much a prison as Reamus Station had been. If she wasn’t free to make her own choices, she wasn’t free at all. “For the last time, I don’t need your protection. I never asked for it, and I don’t want it! It’s my life, Edge. You don’t get to tell me how to live it.”

They glowered at each other for several long seconds. Finally, Edge seemed to back down a little. “You’re as stubborn as a braxian donkey. I’m going to take a walk. You do… whatever. Both of us agree not to do anything about the message until we’re calmer. Deal?”

“Fine.” She moved toward the opening that led to the lower floor. “I’ll grab a shower. I won’t listen to the message until we talk again. Maybe by then I’ll have figured out a way to make you see sense.”

“You’d be the first to manage it,” he joked. “We’ll talk. I promise.”

Trusting him was harder than she wanted it to be, but she nodded in reluctant agreement. “Don’t take too long. We’ve still got to make a plan and relay it to Eddi before they are out of contact.”

“I won’t go far.”

She went down the ladder first, slipping behind it to the sanitation cubby near the back of the shelter. Once inside, she shut the door and turned on the water. It was more of a drizzle than a proper flow, but the barely warm water washed away the sweat and dust of the day along with some of her anger.

As much as it pained her to admit it, Edge might have a point. How he’d made it, and what he’d said to her were another matter—one that threatened to derail any chance of a future between them. Ceding control to him in the bedroom was one thing, but if he expected her to obey him in all parts of their life, that wasn’t much of a life at all.

Sadness and doubt distracted her for longer than she should have allowed. When she stepped out of the cubby, she expected Edge to be back.

He wasn’t.

Maybe he was outside? Curious, she padded to the door and touched the panel to open it. The door mechanism whirred, but it didn’t budge.

She tried again. This time, the whirr was accompanied by a grinding noise and the panel flashed red.

“You asshole!” she yelled, her fist pounding on the door. “You promised me we’d talk first!”