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“It makes sense. There was already a camp there for them to use. All they had to do was repair it. And the dinosaurs on the planet are a good deterrent to keep any random travelers from stopping there,” Winston reminded.
“We’ll need to hit all three locations at once. I’ve already contacted Commander Olivia Tavish on X21 and asked for her to send a Strike Force Team to Vexar. They’re already on their way and will stand by until we give them the green to head down to the surface,” Talon told them.
“What about the planetoid?” Teale asked.
“We lucked out,” Cedric said. “A few days ago, boss asked me to do a scan to see what teams were in the area. High Commander Matt Malloy and his team were close by.”
“Malloy confirmed. They were supposed to head to one of the other Beta Stations to start the decommissioning process, so they were more than happy to postpone that trip to help us rescue the captives,” Talon told them.
Talon and Matt Malloy had been friends for years. Malloy had been the commander of his own Strike Force Team until he was recently promoted, so Talon had been confident that his friend would help rescue the captives. As expected, it had taken Malloy less than a minute to agree.
Laken smiled. “Well, that makes it easy.”
“You don’t have to look so happy,” Teale grumbled under his breath.
“I can’t help it,” she said with a laugh. “That man has developed a serious commitment phobia. Bad enough that he practically runs away from any female that gets close to him for fear he might wind up mated. It’s hilarious.”
“What does his phobia have to do with you?” Teale snapped. “No, don’t answer that. Just stay the hell away from him from now on.”
“What are you on about?” When he didn’t say anything, Laken chuckled. “I simply enjoy messing with him every time we see him since he never remembers me.”
“I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t he remember you?” Secret asked.
Laken’s eyes widened. “That’s right. We’ve only been introduced once.”
Secret frowned. “What does that mean? Am I missing something?”
After Talon filled her in about Laken’s particular condition, Secret murmured, “How interesting.”
Yumi laughed. “We’ve been introduced five times, but I think we’re good now.”
“It’s definitely one of the more unique abilities I’ve come across,” Talon said.
“Look who’s talking, soul slayer,” Laken shot back dryly. “But seriously, I’m pretty shocked you remember me, Secret. Do you recall the first time we met?”
“I remember first seeing you up on the balcony with Talon and Teale, but I didn’t know your name until you told me down on the pathway. I haven’t had any problems remembering you since.” Secret shot Talon a questioning glance. “You developed an immunity after working with her. I wonder if you somehow passed it to me when our auras connected.”
“Maybe.” He reached out to stroke a hand down her hair. The gesture seemed to startle her, but she didn’t protest or pull away. Leaning closer to her, he whispered, “I wonder what other extraordinary things we can do together.”
She snorted out a laugh and playfully shoved him away before focusing back on the food in front of her. “Eat your pasta.”
He chuckled before doing just that.
“So, how much longer until we get to the station?” Yumi asked.
“Must you ask that every day?” Winston muttered. That set off another wild argument between the two of them.
Secret stared at her friend, aghast by the vile names she was calling Talon’s second-in-command. She’d never seen Yumi react to a male this way, and a part of her wondered if there was something more at play between them.
Yumi had avoided all physical contact with males after their rescue, even though Tarins needed to feed off energy derived from violence, bloodlust, or sex. At Exodus, she had been fed plenty just from being around all the other people there. But on board the ship, it seemed like the lack of energy was driving her a little crazy.
She was going to point that out but was waylaid when she felt Talon attempting to use his aura to reach out to the bickering pair. Curious about how his gift worked, she placed her hand on his arm to try to experience it with him. He’d simply wanted to calm them down a little, but that wasn’t all that happened.
The moment Talon’s aura touched Winston’s, images began flooding into Secret’s head. The memories weren’t just flashing one by one like they normally did. It was a tidal wave of information that she couldn’t even begin to sort through and decipher.
Closing her eyes against the sudden onslaught, she groaned. “Uh oh. This is new.”
“What?” Talon asked, worry clear in his voice. “Are you feeling sick again?”
