Blue Galaxy Read online

  The door disintegrated as four armed men rushed in and trained their weapons on them. As the dust settled, they were followed by a tall, familiar figure made even taller by her platform-heeled boots. Javan sighed and looked from the boots, all the way up the rangy legs and sleek torso, over the magnificent bosom to the ice-blue eyes and long blond mane of Olympia Philou—the reason he should never, ever have come back to Valhalla. Instinctively he pushed Sola away.

  “Well, if it isn’t Captain Javan Rhodes. It’s been so long! It must be about…” Olympia put a finger to her mouth.

  “Eight years, Olympia.”

  Olympia laughed, throwing back her head. “Oh, you remember, do you? I’m so touched.”

  She walked up to him, and with one look into her eyes, he knew her rage had only increased over the years. They stared, eye to eye, as Olympia’s angry smile faded.

  “I’ve missed you.” She touched his mouth with one finger.

  Javan sighed. This reunion wasn’t going to go well.

  “And who is…this?” She flicked a finger in Sola’s general direction, her eyes never leaving his.

  “Um…my wife?”

  Olympia laughed again. “Don’t be ridiculous, Javan. We both know you would never…ever…come to Valhalla Station…to get married!”

  Javan’s gaze flicked to Sola, and he shook his head as unobtrusively as he could. It would not do for Olympia to catch that smirk. A sharp fingernail dug into the side of his face, turning his head back to Olympia.

  “Javan, you’ve forgotten the rules. You know you’re not allowed to look at anyone else in my presence. It took you such a long time for you to learn that. How could you have forgotten—” the fingernail scraped down his cheek, followed by the hot drip of blood, “—so soon?”

  “Get your hands off my husband.”

  Olympia whirled to face Sola, who was no longer smirking. Javan mouthed no, shook his head again, made a cutting motion across his neck, but Sola ignored him.

  “Your husband? I think not. He belongs to me.”

  “He belongs to me.”

  Olympia approached her and towered over the petite Sola, who didn’t have the sense to be intimidated. “Has he told you about me?” Olympia hissed.

  “I don’t see anything here worth mentioning.”

  Javan ran his hands through his hair, wondering why Sola, who never made a move she hadn’t planned in advance, was stupidly antagonizing a woman who was completely insane.

  “He didn’t tell you we were lovers?”

  “Nope.”

  “He used to tell me everything.”

  Javan had to let Sola know who she was messing with. “Well, in all fairness, Olympia, I only told you everything after you drugged and tortured me.”

  Olympia pouted. “But we had such wonderful times.”

  “You drugged me, fucked me, tortured me, imprisoned me, fucked me, then tortured me some more. For over a year. Remember?”

  Olympia sighed. “Well, how else was I supposed to teach you the proper behavior? You were always so rebellious.”

  “He’s my problem now,” Sola interjected.

  “No,” Olympia snarled. “He’s my problem…again.” She gave Sola a once-over. “I have a hunch he’ll be much easier to handle if I have his wife in one of my prisons.” She glanced in his direction. “You remember my lovely prisons, don’t you?”

  He nodded, unable to control the shudder that ran through him.

  “Yes, I’ll bet you do.” She walked over to the altar and hitched herself up to sit on it. “You made a laughingstock of me when you escaped. Do you know how many people I had to kill before the rest finally stopped sniggering?”

  “A lot?”

  “Indeed, Javan, it was a lot. And I had to leave their various body parts posted in a variety of places to remind everyone of the obedience I require, the respect I require but, most of all, of the fear I require.”

  “I apologize. Let her go and I’ll make it up to you. I’ll never leave you again. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  “Yes, you’ll do all those things, but I will not let her go. She’ll remain in my prisons as a guarantee of your good behavior. Every time you disobey, my guards will have their fun. And you know how they enjoy their job, don’t you, my dear?”

  The desperation of an impossible situation crept over him, but Sola still looked serene. Could she not understand what was going to happen to her? She met his gaze and smiled.

  “No. I couldn’t possibly permit you to have my husband. I’ve become rather attached to him. I do apologize, but you’ll have to find yourself another…friend.”

  Giggling, Olympia jumped off the altar and signaled her armed guards. “Oh, happy day, men! You have my permission to rape her. Perhaps on her marriage altar? That would be beautifully symbolic, wouldn’t it? Oh, and of course, don’t forget to beat her pretty face in. Unrecognizable, do you hear? But alive. I want her alive. Javan and I shall watch. Go!”

  The guards advanced on Sola.

  As the first man grabbed for her, Javan screamed “No!” but Sola moved impossibly quickly, and within seconds all four guards lay dead, cut in half at the waist by her lethal weapon.

  Olympia stopped giggling and backed away as Sola approached her.

  “I can’t quite decide what piece of you to amputate first,” Sola said softly.

  Olympia was silent for a moment. “I have a whole space station full of people. Harm me and you won’t be able to defend yourself against them.”

  It was Sola’s turn to laugh. “You’re joking. I can hear them. I can feel them. They want you dead. I’m doing them a favor.”

  Olympia opened her mouth to reply but never got the chance. Her head wobbled on her neck before falling a full six feet to the ground in front of Sola, followed a few seconds later by her body. Javan noticed how the heat of the laser had cauterized the wound. There was hardly any blood, which was surprising for anything involving Olympia Philou. She had so loved the sight of blood.

  Sola moved to his side and took his hand. “You were so gallant, Javan, offering to become this monster’s prisoner to save me.” She tucked herself under his arm and held on to his waist, for all the world like a woman who needed saving. Unbelievable.

  Javan disengaged from her and picked up Olympia’s head by her lustrous hair, gazing into the lovely face, her dying expression forever frozen in terror. “I…uh…appreciate the wedding present.”

  She grinned and ducked her head. “I thought you deserved a little something after discovering you’d married the dictator’s daughter. I must say you took the news extremely well.”

  He crushed her to his side. “You might be beyond surprising me at this point.” Olympia had taught him one good lesson, after all—women as dangerous as Marisol de la Vega were most definitely not to be trusted.

  “Let’s go!” Sola said, and they moved out of the chapel into the midst of an adoring throng. Their names were on everyone’s lips, people cried tears of happiness and even more were on their knees. Javan was embarrassed to realize they thought he was the one who’d killed Olympia and her henchmen.

  He nudged Sola. “We could stay here. This is a safe place for us now.”

  Sola shook her head. “I have other plans.”

  “Grady,” he stated.

  “Don’t look like that. I have no love for Grady, but I do need him.”

  “For what?”

  “You don’t need to know.”

  “You should be truthful with your husband, my lady.” He loved the wicked smile that appeared before disappearing far too quickly.

  “Javan, as soon as my father finds out who I’ve married, there will be a price on your head. A very large price.”

  “Oh, you don’t think he’ll understand I had a bomb in my gut? That you forced me?”

  Sola shook her head, the smile restored. “He wouldn’t be surprised, but he wouldn’t be very understanding either.” The smile restored, she touched her stomach. “You’ve m
ade me completely useless to him. Now I’m just another of his enemies. He’s killed enough members of my family for me to know. The only person with a bigger price on his head than you is me.”

  “No fatherly feelings, then?”

  “No. None at all.” He touched her shoulder, and she turned her face to kiss his hand. “Let’s get away from this place. It must bring back terrible memories for you. Why don’t you round someone up to take charge of the station? Did someone help you escape from here?”

  He glanced away. “I know some people, if they managed to survive Olympia. I’ll see if I can find them and put them in charge before this place descends into chaos.” He stared off, unwilling to meet her eyes. He had a few secrets of his own, after all.

  “Great. I’ll meet you back on the ship.”

  He caught her hand. “I don’t think so.” He loved her. Yes, he loved her. But he didn’t trust her, and there was no way in hell she was getting on his ship without him. There was no telling what she might pull. He unleashed his most charming smile, well aware of its effect on her. “What’s the rush? What about a good meal, a water shower, a honeymoon?” He pulled her into his arms. “Don’t we have a marriage to consummate?”

  She giggled. He had her.

  He angled her face for a thorough kissing. Her lips parted; she was unable to refuse. He kissed her—and an entire crowd of crying, kneeling lowlifes and scumbags emitted, en masse, a long-drawn-out sigh. When the cheering started, Sola blushed and broke the kiss before whispering into his ear. “Just for a short while, then. You’re right. We must consummate the marriage. I’ll go find us a decent place to stay.” She pulled back and frowned. “That woman was just despicable. You should be more careful with your…friends.”

  The crowd parted before her as she walked away, followed by a thousand curious gazes, Javan’s among them, fixed to the swaying movement of her rear.

  She was right about one thing: he needed to be lot more careful in choosing his friends.

  Javan had never felt better. He’d enjoyed a thoroughly exhausting honeymoon and he’d been able to trick Sola into believing a malfunction required they both strap in while detaching from the space station. He hadn’t quite forgiven her for the painful and embarrassing experience of passing the incendiary device, but was relieved it no longer resided in his gut. And now he had her where he wanted her: hog-tied to the control chair, wrists strapped to the armrests, and ready to answer a slew of questions.

  Except she wasn’t talking. Much.

  “This is no way to treat your wife!”

  “I need some answers. We go nowhere until I get them.”

  “I’m pregnant! How can you do this to me?”

  She didn’t appear scared or annoyed. Instead she displayed her mischievous smile—the one he had such trouble resisting. He also had trouble with her shy smile, her sad smile and all the other smiles, but right at this moment it was the mischievous one that was making it hard for him to stay stern.

  “Answers, Sola,” he said firmly. “First, how can you be pregnant?” He touched the implant in her inner elbow.

  “I deactivated it.”

  “Okay. When?”

  “Before boarding the ship.”

  He stilled. “Before you even met me?”

  Even tied up she managed an elegant shrug.

  “Was marrying me and getting pregnant your plan all along?”

  She studied him dispassionately. “We selected you from a short list.”

  “What were the qualifications for this list?”

  “Desperate for credits, with a decent, low-profile ship. Brave enough and stupid enough to take the job.” She gave another shrug.

  He sat in his command chair. “Anything else?”

  “That was all that was required. I selected you because…”

  “Please, do tell. Why was I the lucky one who was chosen to marry you, impregnate you and probably get killed by your father?”

  She squirmed while he waited for an answer. Flustered, she finally said, “You won’t believe me.”

  “Probably not. You’ve given me no reason to believe anything you say.”

  He watched as she worked up the courage to divulge her secret.

  The words came out in a rush. “I’ve had a crush on you since I was twelve years old.”

  He had to laugh. “Oh, come on. You can do better than that.”

  “I’m telling the truth. After the Battle of Lunar Base, you came back to a hero’s welcome. The dictator met with you. He praised you, decorated you and announced you were alliance-worthy and he would be given a wife—you would become a Blue.”

  Javan was silent.

  “I was there. I was at your wedding ceremony. I was furious they were marrying you off to such a…a…bimbo!”

  Javan shook his head. Impossible.

  “You were so handsome, so brave. You’d saved us. You were a hero. I cried.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “I was very young.”

  “I don’t believe you,” he repeated.

  She turned sharply. “Listen to me. For your own safety there are things I need to explain.” She closed her eyes, paused, then spoke through a tightly clenched jaw. “My father has had a multitude of children with many different women. He was trying to breed certain types of children. We were trained, we were tested and the ones who didn’t make the grade were…were…euthanized.”

  “He killed his own children? No. That’s not possible.”

  “You think he’s not capable?”

  Javan thought back on the fifty-five years the dictator had ruled Earth. He thought of the millions who had starved, of the millions who had been slaughtered, of the millions who had either obeyed or died. He rubbed his eyes. Of course the dictator was capable of killing his children. “But why?”

  “He has plans he won’t live to see realized. He requires an heir who’ll carry out his plans without compunction.”

  “His plans being?” But Javan knew. “Building alliances throughout the galaxy.”

  “Yes, and successfully. In another fifty years or so he’ll—”

  “Rule the galaxy.”

  “Yes, but he doesn’t have another fifty years of life left in him.”

  “How many children does he have left alive?”

  “Three sons and twenty-seven daughters. Twenty-five of those daughters are for marriage alliances. Two were possible heirs. I am—was—one of them. Five possible heirs altogether.”

  Javan gripped the armrests ferociously. “I thought you were being married off.”

  “No. That was just a cover story.”

  He sighed. More lies. “And all that pretend ignorance was—”

  “—pretend ignorance. You were so willing to believe I was ignorant. That I didn’t know about the massacres, the murders, the slaughters. You didn’t exactly make it hard.”

  He couldn’t disagree. What a fool he’d been, thinking her innocent, thinking her ignorant, feeling sorry for her. “So why didn’t you stick around? You might have been chosen as his heir.”

  “That’s not how it works. It’s not who is chosen. It’s who can survive the others.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Seven attempts on my life—all orchestrated by my siblings.”

  Javan sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “How many people have you killed?”

  “Too many.” She slipped out of the restraints and stretched. “I have no desire to rule the galaxy. I can kill if I need to, but I have no stomach for mass murder, genocide or any of my father’s other hobbies.”

  “Why me? You still haven’t told me.”

  Sola perched in his lap. “I’ve told you too much already. A wife should be able to keep some secrets from her husband, after all.”

  Javan laughed mirthlessly but absently stroked her hair.

  She looked into his eyes, no mischief left. “Take me to bed, Javan. We don’t have much time together. We need to find a safe place to
hide you.”

  “Before your father comes looking for me?”

  “He’ll send one of my siblings after us both. It’ll be safer if we split up. I’m the one they’ll focus on.”

  “No, we should stick together.”

  Sola sighed. “Please don’t be difficult about this.”

  “Oh, so I’ve served my purpose, have I? You’re married, you’re pregnant and now I’m—”

  “Expendable.”

  “What about the child?”

  “Hidden. Brought up by people who I can trust. One anonymous baby in a galaxy of billions.”

  He stroked a stray lock from her face. “It doesn’t have to be like that.”

  “Javan, I’m supposed to kill you. I don’t want to.”

  “Can’t do it, huh?”

  “I could do it. I just—” she touched his cheek, “—don’t want to.”

  He tried to smile but knew it came out crooked.

  “Because you love me?”

  “Please. I’m incapable.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  She shrugged. “Come on, husband. Let’s go to your cabin one last time. Then we’ll find a safe place for you.”

  He picked her up and strode to the cabin, where he placed her gently on the bunk. She closed her eyes, her bottom lip trembling. Before he could decide whether to make love to her or just hold her, the laser hit him right between the eyes.

  From far away, a voice said, “Come on. Drink.”

  The burning fire of brandy trickled down his throat. He spluttered and opened his eyes. Sola stood over him, looking down with concern.

  “Dammit, Sola. You shot me!”

  “I had it set to stun. You’ll just have a little headache.”

  It felt like his head had been crushed with a boulder. “A little headache?” He tried to make sure his head was still attached, but his limbs were heavy, his head out of reach. “Dammit, why have you tied me up?”

  “It’s just until we find a safe planet to settle you on. I was thinking an agricultural planet might suit. Somewhere sleepy, where nothing ever happens and there’s plenty to eat. I had a feeling you’d resist, so I restrained you.”

  “Damn right I’ll resist. I’m a spacer! Have been since I was fifteen years old. There’s no way I’m going to allow you to dump me in some dead corner of the galaxy while you take off into God knows what danger with my child inside you.”