The cargo doors to the interior of the shuttle didn’t slide open and they didn’t attack. That worried her but she didn’t have time to ponder it. They could target the Vontage and Bridden with the shuttle’s weapons. She rushed for the doors to seek them out first.

She encountered the first set of Markuses a few feet from the door. They stood immobile, staring into space, and she fired a bullet into each of their faces. Glee hit her. The damn things were motionless because they were analyzing her as she’d hoped would happen—they had frozen in the process. I just might make it out of this mess alive after all. She nailed them with two energy shots that left both crumpled in a smoking heap of tangled limbs. She had four more to find and had to work fast, before their analysis completed and they regained function.

The third set stood motionless in an open lift, probably on their way down to greet her, and she took them out easily. She checked her bullets, wishing she had more as she searched the lower deck. She dragged out the destroyed Markuses and prepared for battle as the lift took her to the upper deck of the shuttle.

The last two Markuses were seated in the pilot seats. They didn’t move at her approach and she didn’t give them time to recover. She fired two shots to the back of each head, exposing the metal. She was happy to introduce the energy shots in rapid succession. The things smoked bad, making her wave her hand in front of her face and choke a little on the smell of burning, artificial hair. It stank nearly as bad as the real thing.

She grabbed each body and dragged them away from the seats. They were fried, their eyes turning white, and she dropped into the pilot seat. She hurried to set the shuttle on the ground, cut the engines, and took the shuttle’s weapons offline. The urge to get off their ship fast gripped her strongly. She’d leave the bodies for the cyborgs to deal with. They could cut the Markus Models up into tiny pieces for all she cared or abandon them with the shuttle on the surface when they fled.

She moved quickly to rush to the lift, the fear finally hitting her hard at what she’d done, and all she could think about was Krell. She wanted to hug him, show him that he could trust her, and now he’d have to know once and for all that she wasn’t the enemy. She’d just saved a lot of cyborgs from the Markus Models.

It seemed to take forever as she tapped her thigh, waiting for the cargo door to open at ground level, her eyes on the two downed Markuses, and they freaked her out. They were fried but she hoped to never see the things again. She rushed down the ramp as soon as the door hit the hard ground and came to a shocked halt.

“No!” Her legs collapsed under her and her knees painfully slammed into the glassy ground.

She couldn’t believe what she saw but the view didn’t change. The area around her was empty to the tree line surrounding the large, open space. The Vontage and Bridden were gone. They’d lifted off the surface and had left her behind. Krell had abandoned her.

Chapter Thirteen

“Cyan!”

The deep rumble of Krell’s raspy voice jerked her head up and she gaped at him in astonishment. He moved fast, rushed at her from the side of the shuttle and she took in his appearance.

He had various weapons strapped to his body, including a miclo twelve slung by the strap over one broad shoulder and a grappling-hook gun gripped firmly in his fist. Surprise at the sight of him immobilized her until he crouched before her, his free hand cupped her face and his dark-blue eyes searched her wide gaze.

“Where are they? Are you well?”

“I thought you left me.” Her voice broke and she had to clear her throat.

He frowned in response. “I ordered both ships to lift off the planet while you distracted the Markus Models but once the Bridden is certain the Vontage gets away without hindrance, it will return for us.” He dropped the grappling gun. “I no longer need that. I planned to use it to attempt to gain access to the shuttle to help you.”

Tears filled her eyes. He had stayed behind to try to rescue her. She reacted by lunging at him, throwing her arms around his neck, and nearly knocked him over in the process. He managed to catch her weight and keep his balance. His strong arm hugged her around her waist.

“Are you injured? Where are the Markus Models, Cyan?”

She sniffed against his throat, her nose pressed there. The grim cyborg had ordered his men to leave him behind on a hostile planet for the slim chance he might be able to break into a shuttle and fight at her side. It was suicidal and irrational, the worst plan ever for an analyst to make, yet he’d done it for her.

“They are all dead aboard the shuttle,” she informed him, attempting to pull her frayed emotions together. “Fried and smoking, just the way they should be.”

“You’re certain?”

“Yeah.” She nodded against him, hugging him tighter. “You didn’t abandon me.”

His arm tightened. “I wouldn’t do that. You’re my female, Cyan.”

She hoped he hadn’t hatched his crazy scheme out of some sense of responsibility as her assigned male but she was more than willing to take a leap of faith that she meant more to him than that. His plan had been flat-out irrational, the odds of it working were downright silly, but he’d stayed behind anyway.

A distant roar interrupted their reunion and Cyan released him. “Sounds as though the natives are recovering and possibly thinking of coming at us again.”

Krell eased his hold on her while they separated. “Yes. We should lift off if the shuttle is operational and wait in orbit for the Bridden to return. They can dock with this to pick us up.”

“Forget that. We don’t need to be picked up.” She glanced at his handsome face, feeling pure happiness that he was there with her. “We’re now the proud owners of a Genesis Four shuttle. Do you know how bad I wanted to get my hands on the controls of one of these babies? Let’s dump out the trash and lift off before those creatures decide to rush us.”

Krell slowly released her and stood, pulling her to her feet in the process. He gripped the miclo and held it out to her. “You keep watch and I’ll deal with the remains of the Markus Models. I don’t wish to take them with us.”

“That’s the trash I was referring to. They give me the creeps. Two are in the cargo area, you’ll find four more on your way to the lift, and the final two I dragged out of the piloting seats.”

He hesitated, stared into her eyes and nodded. “I’ll hurry.” His gaze left hers to search the surrounding area. “You’ll be fine and I’ll work with speed. I’d prefer to leave their remains on the surface as well.”

“Please hurry.”

He ran up the ramp and Cyan kept her gaze roaming the tree lines, her feet sensitive to any ground movement since those things were heavy enough to cause it to quake when they moved. Another roar came from a new direction and she wished Krell would work faster. The idea of taking on more of those beast creatures wasn’t something she wanted to do twice in a day, especially since she didn’t have extra shells to fire at them.

A dragging sound drew her attention and she turned her head just in time to watch Krell shove two bodies off the side of the ramp at the top where the cargo bay opened. The limp Markus Models thudded on the ground. Krell disappeared from sight and she glanced at one of the bodies to see a hole in the back of its head. He’d gone after the ones in the piloting area first.

Krell was strong, dragging the androids two at a time, until all eight Models had been dumped on the barren surface of the planet. Cyan rushed into the shuttle, eager to lift off, and Krell closed the ramp to seal it. They moved together, side by side, with her nearly running to keep pace with his longer legs.

“I totally get to pilot, right?” She stared up at him when the doors of the lift that would carry them to the upper level closed. “Come on, Krell. Say yes.”

He smiled. “You may pilot, Cyan.”

She grinned. “I would have wrestled you for it.”

His smile faded and his eyes narrowed. “You deserve to do whatever you wish. Your plan was effective and you saved my people.”

She’d take gratitude at that moment if it meant getting her way. The second the lift doors opened, she rushed forward to drop into the pilot’s seat. Krell took the one next to her and she studied the console.

“Oh man, this is so awesome. Top of the line.”

“Cyan?” Krell motioned to one of the monitors. “Please lift off.”

She followed his finger and grabbed for the controls. One of the creatures had started tossing trees their way. They landed far from the shuttle but the fact that it was trying to hit them wasn’t lost on her. The inhabitants were leery to enter the barren area after losing their initial battle but they hadn’t called it quits. She turned on the engines, powered up and engaged the thrusters.

“This may be a little rough.”

Krell reached for his belts. “Why?”

“It’s one thing to fly these in space but another to break through an atmosphere.” She grinned. “I’m kidding. I’ve got this.” I hope. She kept that part to herself. After walking into a shuttle manned by eight Markus Models, adjusting the speed and trajectory not to avoid shaking apart or burning up when leaving a planet should be a breeze.

She punched the thrusters and the shuttle shot upward at an accelerated speed. Krell softly muttered something.

“Sorry. The controls are pretty touchy. I’ll get the hang of it.”

“It would be awkward to die breaking atmosphere after what we’ve just survived.”

She laughed and shot him a glance as she steered the shuttle higher, learning how to handle it as they rose through the green clouds. “Yeah. It would be.”

He smiled as their gazes met. “I trust you.”

She had to look away to watch the monitors, hated that the shuttle only had exterior cameras, and held back tears. It really touched her that he’d said those three words. Now if I could only get him to say three more wonderful words.

That thought sobered her. She was in love with him. No doubt about it. Krell had gotten under her skin, through her defenses, and it wasn’t a great mystery how he’d done it. He knew what she was and he still wanted her. For once in her life she belonged to someone. When they touched it was more than sex, and while they had a lot of issues, she wanted to work them out.

The shuttle vibrated as she steered them into space. She breathed out a sigh of relief when they safely made the transition. Her gaze instantly sought out the monitor to make sure they were alone and cringed when it registered two dots.

“We’re not alone. The question is, are they heading toward us or away from us?”

Krell leaned over, studying the same monitor. “Approaching.”

“Shit! They are too far out to identify but I’m guessing it’s not the Vontage and the Bridden.”

“No.” Krell sounded grim. “The Vontage is making a run for Garden and the Bridden was going to escort it a safe distance to make sure it wasn’t being pursued before they return.”

“I’m not good at remote hacking. Can you handle the shuttle’s onboard computer in case they try to gain control of it?” Cyan pulled up the space charts to discover their location, found it, and studied where they were. “I think I can lose them in that moon cluster if we can reach it. Send out a warning signal to the Bridden if you’re able to tell them not to return for us. I don’t want them flying into a trap. They are out of range of our radar but their coms should be able to pick it up.”

“I’m on it.”

Cyan full-burned the thrusters to gain speed, turning the shuttle away from the planet toward the distant moons. They worked together in silence as he monitored the shuttle’s systems for any attempts of a hack and she piloted. The two shuttles followed.

“How do you plan to lose them inside the cluster?”