Caleb interrupted, “You mean back in the days when they still had ships that ran on water?”
Jessica nodded. Her light eyes probed at first Talon’s face and then at Caleb’s. “Yes. Back when there was sufficient water for ships to be able to use it to move about in. Anyway, there was a great city on one side of what is now the above and over the ground, and the ships would come into the city. The soldiers would spill off the ships and spend several days and nights enjoying the pleasures that the city could give them. They called it…” Her face scrunched up in thought. “Fleet Week. At least I think so.”
Talon said, “That would be an interesting thing to see, but somehow this feels far more sinister to me.”
Her eyes met his again, and he read the same concern in her expression that he knew must be in his as well. She said, “The Federation is forever at war. Could it be that they are merely passing through due to a need to refuel? Could it be that they have decided to shift part of their fleet to another planet in order to protect that planet better?”
Talon said, “One hundred ships is a large fleet, but the Federation commands hundreds of thousands of ships. To us, this is a vast fleet, but to them, it is nothing just a drop in the bucket of space. It could very well be that this particular fleet is being shifted to a new battle post. Perhaps the pleasure planets are having trouble with space bandits again.”
Caleb said, “I’m not sure I care what the reasons are. What I do care about is the fact that they are rapidly overtaking us, boss. Maybe we should do something to get the hell out of their way.”
Talon had to admit Caleb had a point. “We can’t go under, and we can’t go over. We can’t ride beside them with our cloaking devices because they’d be likely to plow right into us. Our only option is to get out of their path. We head to Silver Star. There are gaming halls there as well as supplies but it’s the smallest of all in the system, and it’s the last outpost that a ship fleet of that size would choose to go to.”
Caleb said, “That sounds like a good idea, boss. I put in the coordinates just now.”
Talon nodded and turned away. Caleb was young and human, but he was a damn good pilot, and between the two of them, they managed to stay ahead of whatever came their way.
When he turned, he found himself face to face with Jessica again. He had to shift quickly to keep his growing erection from making a visible tent in his trousers. Her blonde hair had been brushed until it shone sometime earlier in the day and it hung around her sharp features and beautifully sculpted face in shimmering waves of gold and honey.
The urge to wrap his hand into that hair, to tug her face to his and give her a long and deep kiss was so strong that he had to take a step to the right and put his hands tightly to his sides to keep himself from acting on that urge. The woman was going to drive him completely mad.
He headed for the observation deck of the bridge, intent on keeping an eye on the skies because nothing beats a good lookout. Cloaking devices could hide ships from even the most sophisticated of controls and heat registration panels. He needed to know if there was more Federation ships there and what was registering.
And he really needed to put some space between him and Jessica too.
That last part of his plan failed when she stepped up beside him. She spoke in a low voice and that voice, husky and slightly gravelly but also pure and sweet and very feminine, made his desire raise a few more notches.
“I wonder if we could take one of those ships?”
He glanced over at her. She was staring out the windows, but there was a little smile playing along her mouth. His own heart surged a little bit at the thought. If he loved anything, he loved a challenge. A challenge that involved the taking of a Federation ship was always one that he enjoyed. To take a Federation ship flying alongside an entire fleet?
“I was just wondering the very same thing but, in all honesty, we would have to be crazy to try it.”
“Oh, I agree. It would be stupid. For all we know, all that they are carrying are weapons that we can’t use. I mean, how many weapons do we really need? Or perhaps they’re carrying fresh food supplies from the farming and agricultural planets, but why would we need those? Or maybe they’re carrying water. Real, fresh, cold water from one of the unspoiled planets that still produces it. Not that we need water.”
His grin was devilish. “I see what you are doing here.”
She gave him a sidelong look. Her eyebrow tilted up toward her hairline. “I am not doing anything except trying to dissuade you from such a foolish plan.”
He wanted to laugh. Jessica had a way of invigorating him, and not just because she was so damn beautiful or because his body wanted hers even if he knew he could never tell her so, but because she was wild enough, and crazy enough, to actually contemplate trying to take one of those ships.
“I don’t believe I said that it was a good plan. I also do not recall having said that it was a plan that I thought we should embark upon.”
Jessica’s head nodded up and down. “You’re correct. You didn’t say it.”
Talon wanted to do it. Not just because she had suggested it but because the challenge of it, because if he managed it, that would stick a thorn in the Federation’s side that they would not be able to ignore. Other than killing Gorlites, his biggest pleasure lay in creating problems for the Federation.
“I wonder if they are carrying water.”
His words made Jessica’s head turned toward him. Her lip touched her tongue gently, and he stared at that pink triangle of flesh as it slid across her bottom lip in a slow stroke that told him exactly how much she would have enjoyed fresh water. The recyclers aboard the ship made sure that they never went thirsty, but the water that they drink was flat and often sterile tasting. She said, “How could we know?”
Talon said, “I suppose we will not ever know unless we actually board and wreck them.”
Jessica said, “I’m over here trying to talk you out of doing that.”
He said, “It seems to me that this was your idea.”
Her mouth tilted upward into that smile that always got to him. “Oh no. I beg to differ. This was all your idea. So far it is just an idea, too. Perhaps it should be just that and nothing else.”
