Zero's Heart (Lathar Mercenaries: Warborne Book 1) Read online

  Most people just looked blank when she started talking about the science, as much as she understood it, behind her former occupation, but not Tal. Instead, he looked fascinated. “So you found a way to drive the suit using your own body power? Kinetic movement, or… no, the human nervous system doesn’t produce enough power to drive anything mechanic…”

  “Looks like T’Raal and Red have the suit in the cargo bay now,” Zero suddenly announced, his expression distracted again. “Scans are complete if you want to take a look.”

  “Doing so now.” Tal bustled behind a control console for the machine he’d set up around her. She jumped a little as lights flicked on and she was surrounded by rings of light. “If you can lie very still for me, please, Lady Archer. And you,” he directed at Zero, “stay the draanth away. I had to pull in a trall load of favors to get this unit. I don’t want it blowing up again. Read me?”

  Zero’s lips curled. “Loud and clear, Doc. No blowing up your new toys.”

  Eris hid her grin at the bickering. That was one thing she’d noticed almost immediately about Zero and the Warborne. They had the same kind of camaraderie as in human military units. It made her feel right at home. She watched the rings as they intersected over her head. A combination of white and blue that wasn’t quite neon, they were really kind of pretty and emitted a soft, relaxing whoosh as they went past each other.

  “Okay… I see the power core in the suit and the way it all connects.” Tal’s voice had lost its amused note and was now clipped and professional. “What the draanth were your doctors thinking? Your implants are screwed, and they’ve completely draanthed your nervous system. There is no way any human system could have taken that kind of load for long.”

  She shook her head as the rings slowed down. “Nope. It couldn’t. Turned out we were never meant to last. Despite all their bullshit and lies, we were a short-term solution to a pressing problem—namely the war in the Kraxinas systems. Sol Sector were losing too many troops too fast out there. What with the heavier gravity and brutal terrain, they needed super-soldiers. Tankers were it. Of course, they sold us on it with patriotism and glory… didn’t tell us we’d be crippled if we survived. Racked us up… and when one burned out, replaced the operator. We were told it was PTSD when someone got shipped out. They lied.”

  Zero growled from his position by the wall but she shook her head at him. “Don’t worry. I know. We were all plenty pissed and my old captain… last I heard she was getting a class-action suit against them for the shit they didn’t tell us.”

  “We could just find them and nuke the fucking lot of them,” Zero offered and she chuckled.

  Until she realized he wasn’t joking. In fact, neither of the men in the room were smiling as both watched her with unblinking eyes.

  “Thanks for the offer, guys, but we’ve been blocked at every turn. Everything about the Scorperio project is classified. Every time Captain Payne gets close…” she shrugged, “suddenly, there’s another level of red tape. We can’t even get confirmation of names associated with the project, even though I’d really like to find out which fuckwit decided it was acceptable to use people like disposable cogs in a machine.”

  “You might not have been able to find out.” Tal smiled up from where he stood at the console. “But we specialize in doing shit people don’t want us to do. We’ll figure it out. But first… we need to get you sorted.”

  She looked at him in surprise as he moved around the small space, hands swift as he loaded what looked like medication injectors. “Thanks, Tal, but I know it’s hopeless,” she said, her voice cracking a little. “I was warned long ago I’d end up in a wheelchair. My implants won’t even support an exo-support anymore.”

  Tal’s lips quirked as he walked toward her. “Yeah… hopeless for human medicine, maybe. But, in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re not human. I’m going to give you a couple of shots of cellular enhancer, and then I’ll set up the unit for neural reconstruction. We’ll see what we can do about these crude implants. Unfortunately, you’re going to be stuck in here with me for a few hours.”

  “Oh woe is me! I don’t know how I’ll cope.” She grinned to take the edge off her words, even though her heart rate had spiked. As friendly as Tal was, this was still a hospital and she’d long since had enough of those.

  She tilted her head to allow him to press the injector against her neck. There was a slight pinch, and a hiss as the medication was released into her bloodstream. “Have you ever treated a human before?”

  “Hmmmm? Personally, no—”

  “What the hell!” Now the machine was off, Zero strode forward from his position against the wall. “You didn’t tell me that. I thought there were human women at the Imperial court?”

  “You were at the emperor’s court?” Eris asked, fascinated. “Isn’t that where they took the Sentinel-Five women?”

  “There are, and yes, it was,” he replied to them both. “But I was not in charge of treating the human females. I’m not a full healer, just a medtech.”

  “What’s the difference?” she asked. He seemed perfectly competent as a doctor to her, no hesitation in his manner as he adjusted the machines around her.

  The corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile, and he pulled a cage around her lower body. She still couldn’t feel anything in her legs, and she knew she should feel something about that. Panic. Worry… anything. But she didn’t. It was like her brain simply refused to recognize the fact she was paralyzed from the waist down.

  “Latharian healers use a neural energy transfer system to connect directly with their patients,” he explained. “They operate on their patients at the molecular level while keeping their systems operating and shouldering the pain load. It takes many years of training before they take their trials to become a full healer.”

  She blinked. “So they do everything… anesthetic, monitoring, and operating? All at the same time?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Fuck… that’s like…” She chuckled at her own thoughts. “For us that seems like magic right there.”

  Tal shrugged. “For a primitive society, any advanced technology would seem like magic.”

  “Hey! Are you calling me primitive?”

  The medic winked, which earned him a growl from Zero. With a sigh, Tal looked up. “I’m not trying to steal your girl, big guy. We’re just chatting before the procedure starts.”

  His expression dropped serious as he clicked the last part of the cage in place. “Unfortunately, I am not a full healer and can’t take your pain load. So I’m going to have to rely on you to tell me when things get too rough and we’ll up your pain meds. Okay?”

  “Wait… what? Is this going to hurt Eris?” Zero demanded, surging forward again. Reaching out, she grabbed his hand before he could get past her.

  “It’s okay. Really,” she told him. “If he thinks he can fix me… it’s got to be worth a shot.”

  9

  Zero stomped into the cargo bay a few hours later with the distinct need to punch something. Several somethings. Several somethings many times.

  Growling under his breath, he closed his eyes and clenched his fists until the feeling went away. He’d stuck it out in medbay as long as he could, but the sight of Eris in pain had flipped switches he didn’t know he had. Even though he knew Talent was trying his best not to hurt her, each time she winced or suppressed a cry, he wanted to break the medic into itty-bitty little pieces. Then stomp on them.

  “Hey, big guy… who pissed on your parade?”

  He looked up to find Red, the Warborne’s engineer, on the other side of the cargo bay, looking at Eris’s suit with a gleam in her eye.

  “Talent’s patching Eris up. I… she’s hurt. I don’t like her being hurt,” he explained gruffly as he walked over, trying to shrug his anger off like a second skin.

  Being snippy with Red was never wise. Not unless he wanted to spend the next few weeks with a temperamental shower unit in his quarters, or his lights pe
rmanently on disco. The rest of the crew had quickly learned what not to do from watching Fin, who regularly rubbed the half-Krynassis female the wrong way.

  He was currently on week four of the food prep units deciding he liked his morning coffee “superchill” or “lava hot.” In Zero’s opinion, the tall Navarr was sweet on Red and did it on purpose to get a rise out of her. But he’d never say it within earshot of either of them. Sucking vacuum the wrong side of an airlock wasn’t his idea of fun.

  Red slid him a sideways glance, arms folded over her chest. She was a tall female, nearly the same height as he was, so she didn’t have to crane her neck. “Huh. Yeah… Another one bites the dust.”

  He frowned. “What was that?”

  “Nothing.” She shrugged and then waved an electro-spanner at the suit. “Humans built this?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Impressive.”

  Red wasn’t effusive with praise. He’d expected a derisive comment, something about humanity being toddlers when it came to higher-level tech and space exploration, so the comment caught him off guard.

  “Yeah?”

  She nodded, her lips pursed as she considered the suit. It was upright now, and she’d already plugged it into a power module to charge. He winced at the damage it had taken. Some of the armoring had been torn loose and there were bullet holes everywhere. His blood ran cold as he realized just how close Eris had come. All to save him and Sparky.

  “For saying the humans built it, yes. It’s some advanced-level thinking right there. I mean, yeah… the execution is a little shoddy. Servos and wiring are rudimentary at best, but the idea of it?” Her lips quirked as she looked at him again. “It’s nearly as impressive as you are, Toaster.”

  He groaned. “What will it take for you to forget that stupid nickname?”

  She grinned, twirling her spanner. “How about you help me fix up this little beauty for your girl? I’ll bet she won’t like seeing those holes in her.”

  “No. She really will not.”

  He stepped forward, eager to have something to do. For the next hour or so, he and Red crawled over the armored suit, mending panels and sorting out damaged wiring units. As always, he and Red worked in companionable silence. The comfortable rhythm soothed his soul.

  Then Red sighed and dropped her wrench into her toolbox.

  “Okay, big guy,” she said, arms resting lightly on her knees as she sat on a gantry next to the suit’s shoulders. “Out with it. What’s bugging you?”

  He looked up to find her studying him with a gaze as unblinking as a snake and twice as dangerous. Since she actually did have scales some of the time, the analogy was unerringly accurate. With a sigh, he put down the welding gun and faced her. It was pointless trying to argue with her. She’d just keep going until she got the answers she wanted.

  “It’s Eris,” he said bluntly. “She’s so delicate and beautiful. And I’m...”

  He grimaced and waved a hand to indicate himself—from his crooked nose where it had been busted in a cage fight in some dingy bar he couldn’t remember the name of through his metal arm to the implants under his skin. “I’m more metal and circuitry than man. How could she want someone like me? I’m just a machine.”

  The lack of self-confidence was new and totally unlike him, but he’d never met anyone like Eris before. Someone who made him think, made him feel... made him want to be better than he was.

  From the moment he’d met her, he’d wanted her, and he just realized it was more than him wanting to get her into the sack. He wanted more from her than to get his hands on her gorgeous body. Although, he’d be lying if he tried to claim that wasn’t a consideration. He wanted her as a person. And he wanted her to like him. Maybe more...

  “You listen to me, Zero.” Red’s voice was firm as she dropped off the gantry to stand in front of him. “I’ve known you since T’Raal pulled you half-dead out of that gods-damn wreckage. You are not just a machine. If you think that, I’ll happily go a couple of rounds in the ring with you and give you enough bruises to prove you’re a living, breathing, feeling being. Okay?”

  She hooked her hand into the back of his neck, bringing his forehead down to rest against hers. “You’re no more a machine than I am a cold-blooded lizard.”

  Then she sighed. “I’m not good with this emotional shit, but you are one of the best men I know. You’re sensitive and caring, and I love you like a brother. Which means I have no problems putting the beat-down on you if you keep talking crap like this. Okay?”

  His lips quirked. “So your way of dealing with my existential crisis is to threaten to kick my ass? You do see the irony in that, right? Your way of showing familial love is an expression of violence.”

  “Affectionate violence,” she corrected. “And I promise not to kill you.”

  “Gee, thanks,” he muttered hoarsely past the lump in his throat.

  “You’re welcome. Any of us would do the same. We’re Warborne, remember? Warborne first. Warborne always.”

  “Warborne always.”

  The instant Zero got the notification from Talent that he was releasing Eris from Medbay, he put down his tools and practically ran through the corridors to get her. Since the Sprite was a small ship, that mainly resulted in him bouncing off several walls and almost flattening Skinny coming the other way. Since the heavy-worlder was a unit and a half no one wanted to take on in a fight, that was saying something.

  “Hey! Where’s the fire?” Skinny yelled as Zero passed him at a run.

  “Sorrycan’tstopthanks!” Zero called over his shoulder, turning the corner and almost running right into Talent helping Eris walk through the medbay doors.

  “Hey, beautiful! What are you doing on your feet?” he asked, scooping her up and glaring at Talent. The little human had just been severely injured, and Talent had her walking around?

  “Hey.” His ire disappeared. When she looked at him that way, her eyes all dark and soft, he struggled to focus on anything but her. “Talent just finished my treatment. I can actually feel my legs!”

  “That’s awesome.”

  He nuzzled her nose with his. He didn’t care about the display of affection in front of his shipmate. Not with what Red had just said to him. “But should you be walking yet? Shouldn’t you be resting up?”

  “Actually, gentle movement is the best thing for her right now,” Talent broke in, a knowing smile on his face as he leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. “I had to repair a lot of her neural pathways and synapses, but they need sensory input to embed correctly.”

  He shrugged at Zero’s curious look. “Had to do a lot of replacement calibration in the healer’s hall. It’s more engineering than healing, so they left it to me a lot of the time. Was beneath the healers...” The curl of his lip gave an indication of his feelings on imperial healers. “This was just the same but connecting nerves back to nerves rather than cybernetic constructs.”

  “Oh?” Eris asked, interest in her eyes as she looked between them. “So you’ve worked on people like Zero as well?”

  Talent chuckled and shook his head. “No, they broke the mold with him. I worked on Latharian warriors who’d had cybernetic replacements. Now… if you’re going to wrap her in cotton wool,” he said to Zero, “at least make sure she gets up and uses the facilities herself. Even a slow walk around the primary deck corridors if she feels up to it. Gentle exercise is good.”

  “Got it, doc.” Eris patted Zero’s broad shoulders. “I’ll make sure he takes me out someplace nice or something.”

  “I hear El Cantina at the rear of the ship is nice,” Talent’s lips quirked a little as he fell into the game. “Service is a bit trall, though. You have to cook your own meals, and the waiters are often rude. But it has a nice view of the …. Err… aft bulkhead. The reflection from the overhead lights is lovely in the evening.”

  “Can’t wait,” she smiled at him over Zero’s shoulder as he turned and stomped away up the corridor. “H
ey, I was still talking!”

  “You need to rest,” he told her gruffly, his expression tight. He wouldn’t meet her gaze and barreled through the third door down the corridor. She winced as he caught his shoulder, feeling the impact even through his bigger body.

  “Hey… slow down. It’s okay. I’m okay,” she reassured him, putting her hands on his cheeks and making him look at her. He still wouldn’t look at her, his adam’s apple bobbing. He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning into her touch.

  “I hated it,” he admitted. “You being in pain. I can walk through a hail of bullets and control a ship without touching it, but I couldn’t help you. It tore me apart inside. I know we’ve not known each other long but… you’re important to me, Eris. I can’t explain it.”

  “Then don’t,” she whispered, moving her hand to run her thumb lightly over his lips, tracing them. “Don’t talk… don’t analyze. Just feel. That’s all we need. Just the two of us. Together. Okay?”

  He nodded, the movement jerky.

  “Together,” he replied, his voice husky.

  Walking across to the bed, he laid her down gently and then stood, running a hand through his short hair, which turned it into a mass of ruffled spikes. He looked critically at the bed.

  “You might get cold. I should get you more blankets.”

  She laughed and grabbed his hand as he began to turn away. “I might… so you should get down here and warm me up. Shouldn’t you?”

  He didn’t resist her, letting her pull him down. She sighed as she curled up in his lap, her head against his shoulder. It was hard to explain, but she felt better with him around. She felt safe, secure. After years of having to rely on herself rather than run the risk of having to return to her family, tail between her legs, it was nice to have someone. Even if it was an illusion.

  She was more than familiar with the rush of battle and the closeness it could forge. She’d seen more than a few of her comrades fall for each other in the heat of battle, only for their marriages to fall apart in the cold light of a peacetime day. But for right now, she’d take the comfort, even if it was fleeting.