Previous chapters <a href="http://www.squidge.org/peja/cgi-bin/viewstory.php?sid=37198&warning=FRM">http://www.squidge.org/peja/cgi-bin/viewstory.php?sid=37198&warning=FRM</a><br><br><br>CHAPTER EIGHTEEN<br><br>"Leaving how?" Arissa demanded, defiantly resting her fists on her hips. "Our ship is a pile of rubble out in that damn yellow forest."<br>
<br>"And how am I knowing that, lass? I just know I be leaving with the boss, 'tis all."<br><br>"Oh, that sounds perfectly logical."<br><br>"Arissa." Dalton jerked the incensed woman into his arms, restraining her against his muscular length. Wrapping a steel-hard arm around her squirming waist, he tipped her chin with a gentle, prodding finger, forcing her to meet his calm gaze. "I will get you home."<br>
<br>Arissa stilled in his arms, her eyes searching his warm gaze. The anxiety drained out of her small features in a rush and she cocked her head to the side, giving him a tiny, quivering smile. "If you say so, Dal, I believe it."<br>
<br>"I say so." He shifted her around, keeping her pressed tight against his side, then his attention shifted back toward Adric and his eyes grew hard. "I am correct assuming you have not been properly introduced to my people?"<br>
<br>Adric glanced from one of them to the next, wondering what game Dalton was playing this time. "Don't reckon I have."<br><br>An elusive smile whispered over Dalton's lips. "Then allow me." His arm tightened possessively around the woman he held against his side. "This little spitfire is Arissa Storm. Her name seems strangely fitting. It's like living in the eye of a storm when she's around." <br>
<br>The woman punched his arm playfully.<br><br>Dalton, his eyes warm and twinkling, looked at her and arched his brow slightly. "She is also the best markswoman you'll ever have the pleasure of meeting. She can handle any weapon ever made, modern or ancient, and I might add, with a most deadly accuracy. <br>
<br>"Arissa 'twas trained in the art of assassination by the best man in the business," Ian grumbled, a curious glare in his jade eyes.<br><br>"That's the truth, Adric," Paris added. "She inherited the title by killing her teacher when he tried to back-shoot Dal in a little backwater saloon controlled by an assassin's guild. And Dalton won her fair and square in that card cut. He had every right to take her back to the ship."<br>
<br>"You into keeping slaves now, Dal?" Adric asked softly.<br><br>Dalton scowled. "Arissa was free from the moment I took possession of her."<br><br>Intrigued, Adric studied the woman, looking for the first time beyond her diminutive size. And saw the hungry danger radiating from her coal black eyes. She held a beast of prey cloaked behind a sweet and sassy manner. "I should very much like to hear more about this card cutting someday."<br>
<br>"Yessenia Manitu," Dalton said dryly, pointing out the woman nestled in Ian's protective embrace. "A government trained weapons expert. She trained for the Coalition Security Force before defecting to my command with Ian. Now she works with me, devising our weaponry. I must say, the lady has an incredible talent for concocting new methods of destruction."<br>
<br>Adric's blunt thumb caressed the deforming scar on his gaunt cheek. "And a strong aversion to my disfigurement, I am told."<br><br>Yessenia frowned. "Ian, you didn't." <br><br>He shrugged, ducking his chin on her shoulder. "Hey, I be trying to distract a man I thought was about to kill me. I would have said anything that might stall the inevitable."<br>
<br>"My fault, I suppose. I shall have to guard my tongue and not offer you fuel that might come back to haunt me." Yessenia sighed, meeting Adric's hurt gaze. "I did feel uncomfortable with your imperfection at first," she admitted, offering him a consoling smile. "It was a shock." <br>
<br>"I don't mean to cause fear or displeasure," Adric said, glancing at Dalton. "I wear the scar to keep fresh in my mind an act of colossal stupidity." He smiled sadly. "It is my mark of Cain."<br>
<br>"You needn't explain your reasons," Yessenia assured him. "The scar no longer disturbs me. It's your decision whether you keep it or not."<br><br>Adric admired the subtle strength encompassing the red-head. Even in quiet repose, she was still coiled, ready to spring at the first scent of danger. As he watched, her green eyes flashed brilliantly alive with mischief and she returned his minute inspection. Her bold appraisal brought a gentle smile to his lips. "I trust I am not found lacking, madam."<br>
<br>"By no means," she answered innocently.<br><br>Yeah, she was a woman of equal danger to the other. Both radiated a quality of deadly force. He would not like being on the receiving end of either woman's anger. Even without their men, these two made up a danger not easily defeated.<br>
<br>Dalton cleared his throat, drawing Adric from his private thoughts. "You know our pilot, Ian Horizon, and Paris, so that only leaves Domani." He nodded toward the silent man at his side. "You might consider him our science expert."<br>
<br>"I thought that was your field of expertise?"<br><br>"I am not nearly as qualified in the sciences as Domani. He actually knows the field in a number of categories. And what he can't tell you off the top of his head, he can access. There's no computer he can't break."<br>
<br>"Making him a perfect foil for you, I suppose. You've chosen your people well."<br><br>"I chose no one, Adric. We travel together, but each one of us joined with the knowledge that we were a free agents committing to work to among the whole until such time as it is safe for us to separate. Each of us have voluntarily made a lifetime commitment to stay together because it suits us to work as a team, not because we must."<br>
<br>"You're saying your crew are free to leave you if they decide too?"<br><br>"I am saying these are my people, but only in a very limited way. They travel with me. Fight at my side when it is necessary, but they are not led by me. Rather, they let me lead. My people are not sheep. They do not follow me mindlessly." He smiled distantly. "We're simply going in the same direction. Our numbers are our protection. And in that order, we have all pledged to maintain the ranks for as long as we need each other."<br>
<br>"And do you intend to keep me black-balled from your little community?"<br><br>Ian tangled his fingers in Yessenia's bright hair. "Speaking for myself, I be knowing how each of the others will react in danger. And they know how I'm likely to react to their reactions. None of us have to worry if one or another will fail to protect our back because we know just how much the rest are willing to give, or not give, under any given set of circumstances." His glare stabbed into Adric. "You, we do na' know. Why should we be adding an unknown quality like you into a mix that works so well for us already?"<br>
<br>"Maybe because you need us?" Nykita said, her hands kneading the knots out of Adric's bunched shoulders.<br><br>Dalton crossed his arms over his chest and leaned lazily back against the diagnostic bed. "Well now, maybe we do need Adric, but then again, maybe we don't. Things change fast in our world. A need of one minute may well become a liability in the next." The slow, dangerous smile crept over his lips. "Tell me, haurride. What do you want to happen?"<br>
<br>Adric met his eyes. "You came here looking for me, Dal. Not the other way around."<br><br>Dalton tilted his head in a slight nod. "That's true enough."<br><br>"Listen, Dalton, I'd be relieved to know you didn't come solely to kill me." Adric snapped, the tight rein he had on his temper growing thin. "I rather thought you'd come with some other plan in mind. Or is that really why you came? Did you always intend to assassinate me?"<br>
<br>Dalton's crystalline eyes narrowed dangerously."I hope I'm not following you?"<br><br>"You and I never did live well together. Do you hate me enough to want me dead? Is that what brought you here?"<br>
<br>Dalton lifted his shoulders. "That was not our first option."<br><br>"Well, then..."<br><br>"But it was our second, and I reserve the right to keep my options open for the time," Dalton added. "You've been out of contact for a long time. Men change, and we both know you've been fooled before."<br>
<br>"Perhaps, but not this time."<br><br>"That may well be true, but Ian has been with me a long time now. When he says you were planning to sell us, I've got to admit, I give his words the credit he's earned." Dalton rubbed his fingertips over the cupped fingers of his left hand slowly, thoughtfully. "It gives me reason for doubt, if nothing else. Combine that with the life you've been living and well...." he shrugged, his doubts hanging in the air between them.<br>
<br>"I said it before," Adric said, dejected. "Rumors can be used to fit a purpose. Okay, I've lived through some changes, but I'm still the man I was before the accident. I've retained the same goals, the same dreams." He scanned their dubious faces, settling on Dalton. "God's breath, man. Do you actually think I intended to betray you?"<br>
<br>"Perhaps." Dalton's eyes were flat, demanding a sign of faith if he were to give his trust.<br><br>"Judes, you must know the truth. Look, Dal. I just want your help."<br><br>"Is that what you want, Adric? Help?"<br>
<br>"You know it is."<br><br>"I thought I knew, now I am not so sure."<br><br>Adric searched his mind, frantic to get past the impenetrable barrier Dalton had erected, desperate to rebuild the guarded trust they'd once known.<br>
<br>God help them all if there was no way back.<br><br>Without Dalton, Adric's dreams of freedom were destined to die. And with the death of the dream, would come the death of those few, brave souls who existed to give it reality.<br>
<br>"Listen," he tried a new approach, "I've heard my share of stories about you. Many mentioned some kind of miracle computer your supposed to have acquired. Do you actually have it? More importantly, do you think it might have come through the crash?"<br>
<br>Dalton smirked, catching Domani's eyes. "Oh, I expect the... computer has survived intact."<br><br>"Well, there's your proof, hey?" Adric declared, moving excitedly forward in the chair. "Use the damn thing to access my network. Sift through my system. If your computer can do half the things I've heard it can, it'll be able to discover the truth." His hopeful stare probed Dalton's gaze. "If you can't trust a machine, what can you trust, or who?"<br>
<br>"I trust no one, Adric. No one and nothing," Dalton assured him. "But you are correct. The... computer can trace through your network. If there is even a hint of treachery, it will be found, no matter how well concealed it might be."<br>
<br>"Commander," Domani said. "His systems are being scanned at this time. Have been since shortly after our arrival on base. It is standard procedure."<br><br>"Ah yes, and you're always one to follow procedures." Dalton quirked his brow. "So, has anything shown up?"<br>
<br>"Negative, Commander. Up to now everything we have been told seems accurate, but I have only made a very superficial examination of the available data. I require time to sift through all the information contained in the database."<br>
<br>"At the moment all we have is time," Dalton's face was devoid of emotion as he turned back to Adric. "I repeat, haurride. What exactly do you have in mind in regard to us?"<br><br>Adric leaned forward over his knee. "Okay, here it is. I have a large force willing to follow me. Admittedly, we've been hurt here today. Seriously hurt. But the injuries are minor." He paused, frowning thoughtfully. "How did that come about anyway, Nicki. The attack, I mean. Have the prisoners been questioned?"<br>
<br>"We were infiltrated," Nykita said. "One of our people was an agent. She brought them in."<br><br>Adric grimaced, disappointment dulling his amber gaze. "Then they can break our screens. I would have thought it impossible." His shoulders slumped in defeat. "It gets harder to tell who I can trust all the time."<br>
<br>"Yes," Dalton said, watching the battle-scarred man guardedly. "And in the game we're playing any mistake can end with someone dying."<br><br>"You think I could ever forget that?" Adric snarled. "My God, man, consider the destruction we've suffered here today. How could I forget?"<br>
<br>"Knowing you, I think you will find a way," Dalton said.<br><br>Adric sucked in a ragged breath, forcing his temper back into line. "All right. I made a bad judgement call, brought a traitor into the fold." His eyes caught Ian. "And another in the tests I chose for your man."<br>
<br>"You always had a nasty habit of giving your trust to easily. Of giving your hand to whoever came to you with a sad story. Your damn lucky you still have that hand, Adric."<br><br>"And you were always quick to name my short comings, weren't you?"<br>
<br>"If you say so."<br><br>Adric stared at the unresponsive man then shook his head. "Ah, this is hopeless," he muttered under his breath. "Listen, Dal. I have got to get my people relocated. Then, I'm going to have to rebuild my forces, and I need to do it fast."<br>
<br>"So?"<br><br>"So that damn war we fought was a bust. Oh, we hurt them, but the Coalition is regaining its power by leaps and bounds. I can't hold them at bay alone. If either one of us is going to have a moment's peace, we have to discourage them pursuing us. Otherwise we'll be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives. They won't stop until we're eliminated, unless we stop them first."<br>
<br>"That sounds about right."<br><br>"They have to be stopped, Dalton."<br><br>"Perhaps."<br><br>"I'd hoped you would want to take up the fight. That you would be willing to help me like before."<br>
<br>"For the common good?"<br><br>"Yes, dammit. For our common good, as it were."<br><br>Dalton laughed harshly, pacing restlessly around the sickbay. Nothing was going the way he'd planned. He'd lost control somewhere during the last few hours. Reality had taken a back seat to the impossible.<br>
<br>For it was quite impossible for a man who had taken two direct shots in the chest at close range to be walking and talking like a living, breathing man.<br><br>Adric should, by all common knowledge, be dead.<br><br>Neutrite be damned.<br>
<br>Only he wasn't dead. No, he was very much alive, and trying to forge the alliance Dalton had wanted when he'd decided to come to Euzkadi.<br>How had things gotten so scrambled? How had the tables been so completely turned around?<br>
<br>And to make matters worse, one of Ian's demons out of hell had taken up a sledge hammer in his head, making it difficult for him to think coherently. He rubbed his throbbing temples, trying to disregard the blinding pain.<br>
<br>"You want to join forces? To form an alliance?"<br><br>"It's the only way we're going to survive. Together we...."<br><br>"Under whose command, Adric." Dalton's words were deceptively soft and dangerous.<br>
<br>"What?"<br><br>"Who do you expect will command this little alliance you want so badly? You? Your track record leaves a great deal to be desired. My people may not be willing to take a chance with you."<br>
<br>"Glad you finally mentioned that, boss," Arissa said, circling Adric in a slow, measured way. "You know, you talk and talk in circles, you and the boss. You making plans and him rejecting them. That's all fine and good, but I start getting worried when you make plans involving my life as if I'd already agreed to fall in with you. I don't remember agreeing to anything and that makes this planning of yours just not very polite."<br>
<br>"Asking you to join me is what I've been doing for the last hour and a half," Adric grumbled. "So, how about it? You've heard my past, know what to expect from me. Will any of you join me? Will you join me, Dal?"<br>
<br>Dalton sighed tiredly, "I don't know. If I do, I won't relinquish command to you. I can't trust you to remember the dangers to the rest of us. You've already made too many mistakes."<br><br>Mistakes?"<br>
<br>"Don't play games. You've made enough blunders today to kill us all several times over. This catastrophe of an attack, as a point of fact, was the result of a mammoth lack of judgement, don't you agree?"<br>
<br>Adric shrugged. "You're doing just fine evaluating my abilities. Why don't you tell me why I'm making these mistakes?"<br><br>Dalton quirked his brow, smirking. "Don't like it when the shoe's on the other foot? Well that's too bad." Hestared deeply into Adric's haunted eyes. "I am basing my thoughts on an assumption, so you may correct me if I am wrong."<br>
<br>"What assumptions are you working under?" Nykita asked.<br><br>"From your rather sketchy description of this neutrite, I assume it boosts the strength and endurance of its victims. That is correct, yes?" <br>
<br>"Adric is not a victim," Nykita snarled. "Still, your deductions are correct. His strength is doubled and his endurance is elevated, although we have no real idea by how much. It's a relative thing."<br>
<br>"Relative to whom?" Dalton asked. "Surely not to the people working with you, Adric. You have always expected your people to match you, but that's not possible now. What you might be able to accomplish without raising a sweat, they can't do at all. You've evolved beyond the ordinary man. You're no longer merely human. In accepting your mutations, perhaps you've neglected your peoples limitations."<br>
<br>"What are you getting at?"<br><br>Dalton paused, picking his words with care. "You don't have to use the ordinary caution of the rest of us." He smiled, arctic cold. "And what you don't use, you lose. I'm afraid you may have lost much of your humanity to the machine that saved your life."<br>
<br>Adric met his stare without flinching. "Perhaps what I've become reminds you of yourself? Maybe you don't think there's room enough for two like you in the universe."<br><br>Dalton laughed heartily, but his eyes remained flat and harsh. "Exactly my point, haurride."<br>
<br>Adric leaned back in his chair, watching Dalton through shuttered lids. "My friend, we must find a way through this mess. I can't let this end without giving the alliance a chance."<br><br>"It's not your decision, Adric. Not this time." <br>
<br>"No. It's not." Adric sighed, shifting forward. "But between us, we make up the worst threat the Coalition and their allies have encountered to date. We can bring them to their knees if we can come to some sort of agreement. We both know that. And so do they."<br>
<br>Dalton yawned. "I've heard all this before. I'm still waiting for a good reason."<br><br>Adric studied the mercenaries for a moment. "Okay. I don't know how good it is, but if it means your cooperation, I'll follow your commands. I'm willing to give it a try, at least. Then, if it doesn't work out, we'll have done what we could."<br>
<br>Paris leaned an elbow on the counter. "Adric is making sense. I don't see we've got much choice, either. We need to get off Euzkadi just as much as he does." He cocked his brow. "Don't know about you, but I've got some serious doubts even we can sprout wings and fly away. And it seems to me, with his connections he might be able to solve our problems without to much strain. It sure as hell won't hurt us to give him a chance."<br>
<br>"Have you forgotten that this compound has recently come under attack, Paris?" Dalton wanted to know. "I suspect his connections may be quite severely curtailed."<br><br>"Not so badly as you might expect, Dal. I have kept my bounty hunter persona separate from this compound. The bounty hunter has just as much sway as he ever had."<br>
<br>"If that be true, I'll be agreeing with Paris on this one, much as it pains me," Ian grumbled. "Our ship be a wreck. We be needing to repair it or find a new one. Either way we're going to be needing an intermediary. We be having to trust someone."<br>
<br>"You trust him?"<br><br>Ian shrugged. "You knew the man from before, boss. I be thinking I don't have that basis. And since I can na' get a proper read off him, I admit to be floundering a bit on what to make of him, so I'll just leave off making a decision for the time. Besides, whether I be trusting him or not will na' make a damn bit of difference to the way you feel." He tapped his chest and his schoolboy grin danced swiftly over his lips. "But as for me. Well, I'll be giving him the benefit of the doubt since there still be some questions about the facts. I reckon it will na' take long to uncover his true colors once he's merged with the squad."<br>
<br>Dalton pursed his lips, considering the words of his people. He knew they were right. They did need a way off the planet and they needed it now. Adric was perhaps the safest choice available. He had to be given a chance.<br>
<br>"I will make you a deal."<br><br>"A deal?"<br><br>"A temporary alliance, if you will." <br><br>"I'm listening." <br><br>"We both understand each others immediate needs?" He folded his arms over his chest. "You help us acquire the ship we need. In return, I'll help get your people away. If the trial period is a success, we can speak of something more permanent."<br>
<br>"That's what you're offering?"<br><br>"That's it."<br><br>Disappointment dulled Adric's amber eyes. "It will have to be acceptable then, won't it?"<br><br>Dalton smiled, but his eyes remained lifeless. "Since it is my first and only offer, I'm afraid so. You agree to my terms?"<br>
<br>Adric did not hesitate. "I agree. Your hand on it?"<br><br>"Still giving your hand at the slightest inclination?" Dalton said drily, clasping his hands behind his back. "When the time comes to depart, we will meet again and renegotiate. Until then, we are allied. Let's hope neither one of us is left with regrets."<br>
<br>Adric coughed and slide his hand back onto the armrest. "No more than we already do, hm?"<br><br>Dalton snorted. "Quite. One more thing, though. Be aware, if I find you have betrayed me, I shall find a way to eliminate you, whether you human or machine."<br>
<br>Adric blandly returned Dalton's hot, bitter stare. "And I'll do the same for you."<br><br>Dalton gave a short laugh. "I wouldn't have it any other way." <br><br><br>end part 18<br><br><br clear="all">
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