Xora 2 - Dangerous Game
by Brandy Dewinter
Chapter 6 - "And Then There Was One"
We heard Darius before we saw him. He wuffed up the trail, deep
breaths pulsing through his massive chest with steady rhythm.
*Big pile of muscle needs to work on his conditioning a little,* I
observed to Titania.
"Actually, he's in very good shape," she said. "We are almost 2000
meters higher than the swamp and he's made very good time. You are
beginning to take my contribution for granted."
She may have been right. I was hardly one to complain about
conditioning, considering what I had done - or not done - with my previous
body. Before I could respond, Darius rounded a corner and came into view.
There was nothing wrong with his reflexes. The weapon he had carried
all the way was leveled in my direction before I realize he was pointing
it. Then the muzzle raised nearly as quickly when he recognized me.
"So, you decided to take a break after all," he said. I gave him a
silent credit point for keeping any trace of smugness out of his voice.
"Just waiting for you," I said. And took away a credit point from
myself because of the smirk I knew was on my face.
He gave me a grudging nod of respect, then leaned against the rocky
wall that defined the trail. Taking advantage of the pause, or making an
excuse for one, he said, "I never asked. What happened to you at the
reception?"
"Sstton hit me with a Romulan stunner."
Darius nodded, still pumping air in and out of all that chest. "He
has always advocated lifting the technology restrictions. At least,
under certain conditions that he claimed wouldn't totally undermine the
economy. Now that I think of them, though, he and his interests would
have benefited the most. Mining technology, for example, but not
transportation technology. I suppose that was another sign that he wasn't
as noble as he tried to appear."
"How did he get you?" I asked in turn.
His voice was commendably steady after only that few moments of
rest when he explained, "I found that the mix of chemicals in that mud
matched the soil samples Sstton had submitted with his latest mineral
claim. I was stupid and assumed it was one of his men rather than him.
You'd think a man of his power would see how much he had to lose if he
gave in to these sadistic impulses. Anyway, I came out to the ranch
to ask him if he might know whether any of his men were acting
suspiciously. When I got there, I saw that woman in the clearing and
started toward her. That's the last I remember until I woke up tied to
that chair."
"Sstton was there," Darius continued. "He told me all about his
little hunts. He actually offered me a chance to join him! When I told
him what to do with that offer, he told me he would be back after
capturing you."
"Is that when he told you about my communicator?" I asked.
Darius nodded. He straightened and said, "I think I should lead
now. It wouldn't do for you to stumble onto Sstton and his men."
I couldn't help it. I laughed. So sue me. "I've already 'stumbled'
onto his camp, about 4 klicks toward that saddle you told me about. They
were taking a break and intend to sweep back this way. I came back to
make sure *you* don't get caught."
My laugh was admittedly impolite. Darius frowned and was about to
say something, but then this tone showed more disgust than anger as he
said, "You seem to have gotten over your sorrow for Kannda Lanney pretty
quickly."
He was right. And I hadn't even noticed. *Titania!* I shouted
internally.
Her response was subdued, even meek, but I didn't hear any tones of
apology. "You were too angry to think straight. If I had left that
emotion in control of you, then you really would have blundered right
into Sstton's arms."
She was probably right, too. But that didn't mean I had to like it.
*Damnit, Ti, you have *got* to stop manipulating me like that!*
"Then you stop acting like an adolescent and demonstrate the control
I have been forced to provide."
Maybe I should have had that argument out, once and for all, right
there, but as so often seemed to be the case there just wasn't time.
Instead, I still had to find some reasonable response to Darius'
observation - without revealing my hidden, would-be puppetmaster.
"Oh, I'm still sad, and angry, and determined," I began. "But I
don't have the luxury of wallowing in self-destructive emotions right now.
The time will come, and the destruction will not be of myself when I let
my controls relax."
"Deal," Titania said within my mind.
Darius nodded once again, respect back in his eyes. He straightened
even further, almost to a position of attention, and said, "I owe you an
apology. I must admit I could see only your beauty and your grace, and
assumed you were as soft as our own women of comparable appearance. I see
now that you are physically my better, with even more strength of
character. The reputation of Federation field agents, far from being
exaggerated, does not do you justice. I'm sorry for my attitude."
Now why did he have to go and get sweet all of the sudden? I felt a
blush light my cheeks and I almost wished I had told Ti to keep my
emotions under her direct control. His dark, deep eyes met mine without
wavering, fully accepting the rightness of his apology, which poured even
more fuel on the fires of my guilt. Without Titania, I wouldn't have done
justice to the reputation of a potato.
"Don't overreact, dear," Ti whispered in my ear. "We are one,
now. Old distinctions are unimportant. Right now, you *do* have the
endurance and the self-control that he is praising. Don't worry about
the source."
I nodded, as much to her as to Darius, and said, "Well, um, my
training is sort of special, even by Federation field agent standards.
And I'm better at endurance than strength or speed. Apologies are
neither necessary nor appropriate between partners. Can we just go
forward without looking back?"
Darius nodded, then sent a shiver up my spine that had nothing to
do with Titania when he reached out and took my gloved hand, pressing it
briefly to his lips. "You are a lady as well as a capable agent."
"Huh?" I stammered, still feeling a strange sense of pressure on my
fingers. Not to mention echoes of that shiver that had raced through my
body. "Oh, well, thank you. Um, maybe we should be getting on?"
"What do you suggest?" he asked.
"Oh, yes," I said, thinking furiously. "Um, well, how easily can
Sstton just escape? Can we run him to ground like the prey he considers
women to be?"
"Hmm, an interesting idea," Darius said. "I'm sure he could call for
help, but I also think that his arrogance would prevent it until perhaps
too late. What do you have in mind?"
"Well, if we take out his men without a pitched battle, leaving only
him, then we can give him a taste of his own medicine."
"So, you're not particularly interested in just bringing him to
justice," Darius observed with a grin that I *never* wanted to be directed
at me.
"Oh, I'd be glad to capture him. Eventually," I said, letting the
fire of my anger show briefly in my eyes.
Darius nodded, looking up at the higher reaches of the pass,
considering strategies. I interrupted his thoughts with another question.
"Do I remember that weapons like those make a lot of noise?"
He nodded.
"Then I suppose I should be the one to take out a few of Sstton's
men," I observed.
"Pretty lady," Darius said, that feral grin still in place. "I don't
need this weapon against single men in the woods."
I believed him. Besides, he thought I was pretty.
"What do *you* think we should do?" I asked, forgetting that the call
girl reflexes triggered whenever I thought of myself as pretty. The offer
in my voice was *not* what I intended.
"Are you sure?" Titania asked with a smirky little grin lurking in
her tones.
*Quiet,* I ordered, but I knew the blush was back on my face.
Darius noticed. And I noticed that he noticed. But all he said was,
"Uh, well, I, um, I assume you feel you can handle some of the men
yourself?"
This time it was my turn just to nod.
"Then let's get off this narrow part of the trail and spread out to
the flanks of however Sstton's men are dispositioned. We can work our
way into the center."
"Very well," I agreed.
"Oh, and Commander Xora?" Darius said.
I raised a single arched brow at him, then he said, "These men, by
virtue of being participants in rape and murder, are facing the death
penalty already. Be careful, for they know that. But also, well, don't
worry overmuch about thoughts of mercy for them. In other words, I can
assure you as a representative of our Planetary Council, that you don't
need to worry about how much you hurt any of them."
"I wasn't planning to worry about it," I said flatly, once again
reminded of what they had intended for me.
He nodded and we moved up the trail. By now he had fully recovered
his breath and once again I was surprised at how silently he could move,
despite his bulk. He was slower than I was, mostly because he was so
large he had to patiently move through brush I could slip by, but in
all other ways he was as quiet as the boulders we passed.
After a short hike, we heard the sound of Sstton's men actively
beating the brush to drive their prey into the open. Darius caught my
hand up once again, brushing it lightly with his lips before shining a
smile of encouragement on me. Quite a nice smile, actually, with bright
highlights dancing through the depths of his eyes.
"Pay attention!" Titania commanded.
*Huh?* I responded eloquently. By the time I realized what she
meant, Darius had slipped into the shaded woods and out of sight.
I turned toward my own end of the oncoming line, moving with equal
stealth thanks to Ti's magic.
"Although," she mused within my ear, "after this is over, I wouldn't
mind trying to spark that smile again."
"Oh, Titty, you have a one-track mind," I said, trying to laugh to
cover my own fascination with that idea.
"I told you not to call me that," she snapped, but her own giggle was
too close to the surface to deny. "And I'm not the one who was making
lascivious offers."
*Lascivious? I am *never* lascivious!* I claimed.
"Oh, big boy, what would you *like* to do with my soft, quivering
body?" Titania purred in my ear, her tones so close to those that I had
found myself using with Darius that I could not deny the relevance.
*That was just my call-girl reflexes,* I claimed.
"Right," Titania replied. Somehow her tone didn't seem sincere.
"Those reflexes are going to have you on your back with that man."
I snorted in a very unladylike way. *Not in *this* lifetime.*
"Want to bet?" she asked and I wondered what she had in mind to use
for stakes.
Before we had to decide, we reached the end of the line of men.
Titania made some handy hooks on my fingers and toes and I quickly climbed
a tree. The closest man turned out to be one I knew, at least by name.
It was the "Jole" who had brought the dogs to sniff my hair. I could hear
the dogs off somewhere in the middle of the line, so I figured this wasn't
the one whom I had labeled as the head tracker.
In the end, it didn't really matter. I dropped on him as he passed
under me; end of issue. He had a rope with him, perhaps intended to
subdue me if we encountered each other. It served that purpose well
enough on him. Maybe I'd even remember where I left him.
I had to hurry a bit after that. The line had moved past me, and
despite Ti's ability to avoid any turned ankles, my heels prevented me
from taking long strides. I still had to be silent, too, while the man I
was pursuing was trying to make as much noise as possible. That must
have made me a bit overconfident, because I heard a sharp snap just as I
reached my quarry.
All that did was add the impetus of his turning head to the impact of
my hardened fist. He'd be eating through a straw for a while.
As I remembered the number of men with Sstton, that should deal with
the outliers on my side of the sweep line, assuming that Sstton and the
head tracker stayed together in the middle. That was good news and bad
news. The good news was, of course, that I was making progress. The bad
news was that the beaters on my side of the line were no longer making any
noise.
"Jole, Fron, where are you?" I heard a call from the head tracker.
*Time to do a fade,* I suggested.
"Up a tree?" asked Titania.
*No, I'd just as soon get a bit further ahead of the line,* I
decided. We slipped through the shadowy forest once more going back
the way we had come. When we were a couple of hundred meters in front
of where I had last heard the head tracker's voice, we did climb another
tree to wait.
By now, the sounds from the other side of the line had stopped as
well. I couldn't quite make out the names through the rustling of the
trees, but I could hear the tones of voice as Sstton and what I assumed
to be his final companion called to those Darius had removed from the
scene.
Then I heard a loud boom. Not the sound of a falling tree or
anything like that, more a sharp bang.
"What was that?" Titania asked.
*I think it must have been that weapon that Darius carried,* I said,
hoping it was not trouble.
Whatever it meant, I next heard a continuing crashing sound as
someone forced their way through the brush with more haste than care. As
luck would have it, whoever was making the sound went by too far away to
see. I was about to move after it when I heard Darius' big voice boom
out.
"Xora, are you all right?"
"Yes," I called back. "And you?"
"I'm fine. Could you show yourself, please?"
*Maybe," I thought. I didn't think it would be a trap, but I also
didn't see any particular need to be blindly trusting, either. I ghosted
through the trees, circling around Darius (or at least where he had called
from) and listening for other sounds. When I got close enough to see, the
scene showed Darius waiting patiently beside the bleeding body of the head
tracker, holding the straining dogs on their leashes away from the gore.
Stepping silently into view, I said, "So much for avoiding a pitched
battle."
"Hardly a battle," Darius said. "This guy stumbled upon me while I
was tying up the other guy over there. I didn't have time to avoid a
shout anyway, so I figured the time had passed for silence."
"You weren't kidding about no mercy," I said.
"No," Darius replied, the bare word offering no room for discussion.
I pointed at the disarrayed brush that led from our location, "I
assume that was Sstton?"
Darius nodded. "We seem to have a bit of a problem. This one is
dead, but we have my other two targets who are prisoners, and yours?"
With that he paused and looked at me. When I nodded he continued, "plus
these tracking beasts to dispose of. Meanwhile, Sstton is headed down
the mountain, on foot and apparently without his backpack."
With that last Darius had pointed at a sack on the ground. I moved
quickly to the bag and found within it my combadge.
"Ah, that changes things," he said. "You can stay here and call for
someone to take charge of the prisoners while I pursue Sstton."
Instead of talking to him, I tapped my communicator and said,
"Commander Xora to Teton Central Control."
There was a bit of delay as the signal was routed through my runabout
and rebroadcast to the ground, then another for the return message.
"Teton Central Control, go ahead," the voice said.
"My computer will give you our location. Inspector Darius of your,
um, Council Investigation Organization . . . "
Darius interrupted me, saying, "Administration, just tell him I'm
with the CIA."
"Of your CIA has several prisoners from a kidnap and rape ring headed
by your Kommissar Sstton. You need to send help."
While the voice on the other end was trying to absorb that
information, Titania whispered from within my ear, "You're no better than
I am."
*What?*
"You're no better than I am. You decided what needed to be done, and
without a word of discussion with Darius, just went ahead. How is that
different than when I help you past destructive emotions without asking?"
*It's not the same thing at all,* I said. Her silence showed that
she was not convinced. Well, maybe my words weren't all that convincing,
but it *was* different.
Somehow.
Anyway, before I had to explain, Teton Central Control spoke again,
"Very well, help is one the way. Are you and Inspector Darius all right?"
"We're fine," I assured him. "It's just that we can't guard our
prisoners and continue with our task at the same time."
"Very well, tell Inspector Darius that the ready squad should be at
your location within an hour."
"Thank you. Commander Xora, out."
"There, that takes care of that," I said to Darius. "I'll go after
Sstton. When you finish handing over the prisoners, you can follow."
"No," he said, "you should wait here and I'll go after him."
I figured he would say that. Now, why was he wrong? In the end, I
didn't have a logical reason, so I used the real one.
"Look, Darius, this is more than just duty to me. I promised Kannda
that I would not let her die. But I did. Let her die. I need to redeem
myself in the only way I can. Please, let me go after him now."
The big man looked down at me. Then, without a word, he held his
cannon, or whatever the thing was called, out to me.
"No thank you, but thank you," I said, confusedly perhaps but he knew
what I meant.
I suppose it was because he was being sweet again, but I couldn't
just walk away. I stepped close to him and gave him a quick hug.
Well, it started out quickly. Despite the pull of the dogs, and the
weight of that cannon, his arms surrounded me and he lifted me up in a
powerful, deliciously-delicate squeeze. It ended up with my face close
to his. Very close.
It was his smile that did it.
That smile, the one that started in his eyes and added the sparkling
highlights to their deep darkness, now with pride as well as respect mixed
into something much more important even than those; you know the one.
I found myself kissing him, and being kissed, and losing myself in a
spiral that swept me up even as I felt like I was plummeting into
measureless depth.
Even the dogs were quiet when he slowly lowered me back to the
ground.
"Take care of yourself," he said softly.
I just nodded. And stood there, trying to remember how to breathe.
He smiled again, with all the pride and respect, but a little-boy
grin lurking in there somewhere as well. "The reputation of Federation
field agents grossly understates the reality," he said.
"Oh, and which reputation would that be?" I purred.
"I'll have to let you know later, if you intend to catch our bad
guy," he replied.
"Oh. Oh! Uh, yes. I'll get right after him," I said, stepping back
in surprise. How had I ended up like that?
Titania chuckled, "You know very well how you ended up like that.
You were there the whole time."
*Quiet,* I said. But I knew she was right. And I knew I remembered
every single millisecond of what had happened.
With a final, almost shy wave, I turned to the track left by Sstton
and was quickly out of sight in the dim woods.
(
geocities.com/b_dewinter)