Omega Games by S. L. Viehl

let all those people down there die, it’s no concern of mine. Just thought I’d mention it to the lovely doctor, in case she has the heart you never grew.” He leered at me briefly before he got to his feet. “I appreciate the meal, but I’ve got to get back to the Renko and make this supply drop. If I hear anything else about the bounty, I’ll signal you.”
    Four
    “We could try to contact the colonists ourselves,” I suggested as Reever secured the hatch and returned “I do not think that is the case here,” my husband said. “Something is wrong. Alek was trying to deceive us.”
    I knew it. The hair on the back of my neck was never wrong. “What made you think that?”
    Reever stared out at the trader vessel, and at Davidov’s launch as it disappeared inside the cargo bay. “I could hear the difference in his voice. When Terrans lie, their tone changes, ever so slightly.” He looked down at a light blinking on the com panel. “It’s the Renko . He’s signaling us again.”
    I felt unsettled. “He’s already said farewell. What else does he want?”
    My husband tapped some keys, and Davidov’s face appeared on the panel display. “Alek. Did you forget something, such as the truth?”
    “I tried to do this the easy way, Reever,” Davidov said, his features now as stony as my husband’s. “I want you to remember that.”
    “If you mean to attack us,” Reever countered, “think hard on it first. I came to you in friendship, Alek. I have never shown you otherwise.”
    “As a gesture of that friendship, I wish I could spend all day explaining the situation to you.” A tinge of remorse colored the Terran’s harsh voice. “But I’m afraid that time is one luxury that we can no longer enjoy.”
    “Alek.”
    Whatever Reever was going to say to him was lost as a burst of pulse fire filled up the viewer panel. As it slammed into Moonfire , the force of the blast threw me out of my seat and onto the deck. Reever grabbed me with one hand and lifted me by the back of my tunic into the copilot’s seat.
    “Strap in,” he said as he engaged the engines, and spun the ship around. “I’m going to try to outrun him.”
    I hung on to the harness straps as a second volley hit the side of the hull. Equipment panels began exploding and showering sparks all around us.
    “Why is he firing?” I forced the harness’s center buckle together and braced my hands against the console, trying to peer through the energy-scarred viewer. “What did we do?”
    My husband’s mouth thinned as his hands moved rapidly over the ship’s controls and he dodged several other blasts. “We said ’no.’ ”
    As Reever tried to take Moonfire away from Trellus, Davidov’s ship flew past us, at the same time firing at the top of the hull. I didn’t realize my husband was sending a distress signal until the ship’s diagnostic unit politely informed him that the transmitter was not functioning. Space tilted and spun as Reever steered around two more volleys fired from the Renko and retreated into orbit above Trellus.
    “Get back to the escape pod,” my husband told me. “I’ll release it as soon as you’re secured inside. Land on Trellus. If nothing else, they will keep Davidov from taking you.”
    “The last time I left you on another ship,” I reminded him, “we did not see each other again for two and a half years.”
    “I am not leaving.” I refused to look at him. “Not without you. Never again without you. In life or in death.” I had to look at him. “Do you understand me?”
    Love made his eyes turn bright blue. “It will be in death if he destroys the ship.”
    “Then we will journey together into the next life,” I assured him, reaching out and touching his cheek. “I am not afraid. Not when you are with me, Osepeke .”
    Reever started to say something, and then turned his face and pressed his mouth to my palm. “I love you, Waenara .”
    Osepeke , honored husband. Waenara , beloved wife. That