Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (36 page)

“
Roz and Tar? Are those
their first names or last names?” Callie knew there were more
important questions to ask, but she wanted to proceed
diplomatically.

Joe’s expression didn’t change but
Callie could see thoughts moving behind his eyes. Finally he
answered. “Only.”

Yalo edged away from Tar and took up a
protective stance in front of Callie. “Get out.”

“
Yalo.” Callie placed her
hand on her guard’s trembling shoulder. Or was it her own fear
coursing across her nerves?

“
Get back, your highness.”
Yalo shot Callie a wide-eyed glance. “Don’t you know what these
creatures are? One name like a pet or a savage guard
hound?”

Wondering if the fall out of the hatch
had rattled Yalo’s head, Callie spoke as calmly as she could.
“They’re men, Yalo. Maybe they can help us.”

“
Men?” Yalo might have
meant her laugh to be mocking but it sounded hysterical. “They’re
not men! They’re recon marines.”

“
Fash take me!” The
science officer, Acacia, swore from behind Callie.

Sally fussed again, and Riba hushed
her with a quiet shaky voice.

Joe took a step forward and reached
for something hanging from his belt. Yalo started for him, but
Callie took a firm grip on her guard’s arm. The marine unhooked a
small sack and lifted it toward them.

“
Water with amino acids
and electrolytes dissolved into it.” His smooth expression revealed
no emotional reaction to Yalo’s harsh words.

Callie took the water bag, her mouth
salivating at the thought of a drink. They’d given the last of
their water to Riba and little Glory last evening. Callie handed it
to Riba who took it with an eager hopeful smile.

The other two men hesitated only an
instant before offering their water containers.

“
Vin?” Joe said over his
shoulder.

“
Here,” a fourth marine
answered from outside.

“
Water.”

No one else spoke as the women passed
the sacks around. Yalo continued to glare at the men, but she
didn’t pass up the water. A quiet quarter of an hour went by before
another beautiful man hopped in through the hatch. He carried more
sacks of water and a few other packs.

Vin opened one of the packs and pulled
out long stalks of some type of dried fruit or vegetable. He
offered it to Yalo and Callie first. When they hesitated he took
one of the stalks and bit off the end.

Callie reasoned the marines could kill
them at will and weren’t likely to poison them after sharing their
precious water. She followed Vin’s example. The food seemed a sour
fruit and took a lot of chewing before it could be
swallowed.

The other women each took a small
piece, but four year old Glory walked a few brave steps forward and
held out her hand. The marines didn’t move back, though they
appeared to lean away from the child. A tension as if they thought
to flee grew around them. Roz knelt slowly, staring at Glory. He
pulled a short wicked knife from his boot and cut a piece of the
fruit. With a strange wariness he held it out to the
child.

Callie held her breath, while Glory
walked closer to the marine. Sleep had left the child’s chestnut
curls in tangles, and her eyes looked as large of coins. She took
the fruit and put it in her mouth, all the time watched by the four
marines.

Glory’s nose crinkled at the tart
taste, but then a large grin spread across her face. “Thank you,
sir.”

Roz stood quickly and retreated to his
leader’s side.

“
Attend,” Joe snapped, his
voice quiet but seeming to shout all the same. The marines all
snapped to stiff stances, though Roz stole another glance at Glory.
“Who are you?”

Callie understood Yalo’s reaction to
the men as she met Joe’s stare. She saw no emotions in his
expression and an emptiness behind his eyes where a man’s soul
should reside. But he had given her people food and
water.

“
I’m Queen Callie Adell of
Giroux.” Callie stepped forward and offered her hand in the way of
interplanetary greeting. Joe ignored it. “Yalo Pangol, my personal
guard. Riba Adell, minister of interplanetary diplomacy and her
baby, Sally.”

The three marines flanking Joe took an
actual step back when Riba moved up beside Callie. Their leader
held his ground, but he didn’t even glance toward the baby. Callie
continued despite their odd behavior. “Acacia Kesol, my science
advisor. Grace Fozell works as my trade minister and you’ve already
met her daughter, Glory.”

Joe stared at her when she finished.
She stared back but a tiny shiver crawled up her spine as she met
his emotionless gaze. The unnatural stillness of the marines and
their rare beauty raised the spectra of Yalo’s warning. Were they
human at all?

* * * *

“
They’re civilians, Joe.”
Vin frowned at the cruiser half-buried in the sand one hundred
yards from their camp.

“
Did you see that little
girl?” Roz also stared at the ship full of women.

Joe understood the overwhelmed
feelings of his men. Five women, a child and an infant. None of
them had ever seen a child so close let alone a baby.

“
We should leave them here
and go back to base,” Tar said. “Their emergency beacon should
bring a rescue soon.”

“
More likely it will bring
pirates in this sector,” Vin said.

“
They’ll freeze or starve
before then,” Roz said. “Children need to eat regular
meals.”

“
What by Fash do you know
about children?” Tar snapped.

“
Enough,” Joe said
quietly. The three marines stiffened to attention. “Why hasn’t
someone come looking for them by now? Queen Callie Adell is someone
important.”

They all stood quietly for a moment,
comfortable with the silence of the desert and each other. Joe knew
his men would do what he decided no matter their own feelings on
it. Following orders was all they knew.

Joe gestured toward their wrecked ship
sitting a half a mile from the women’s ship. “Do you forget why
we’re here?”

“
We haven’t forgotten,
sir,” Vin answered.

“
Then let’s take our
lesson and be wary of these women and the trouble they carry with
them. They may try to use us as others have. From what the lady
guard said, they know who we are.”

“
Are we going to help
them, sir?” Tar’s question was respectful, but his negative opinion
of the idea was in his tone.

“
What was our duty, our
purpose, before the powers corrupted it? How can we not help and
know they’ll die or fall into the hands of thugs? What would
members of the Rector Freemen do to that little girl?”

Joe looked at his men and received
their nods. He’d expected them. If they didn’t help these women
then the principles they’d sacrificed everything for had been
little more than space dreams.

Chapter Two

“
They’re coming back,”
Yalo said from her post near the open hatch.

“
Callie’s chest felt
tight, but was it fear or hope? These marines, no matter how
dangerous, had somehow survived.

“
They have to help us.”
Riba’s words sounded like a prayer. Sally suckled greedily at
Riba’s breast. Already the water and sparse food had restored her
milk supply.

“
They will.” But Callie’s
doubts grew. Why should the men help? The only thing she and her
people had to offer the marines could be taken without their
permission.

Joe hopped in through the door, a leap
of at least four feet he covered without any apparent effort on his
part. Callie peered beyond his shoulder and saw his comrades
spreading out in the barren landscape. To go where? Were they
leaving?

“
Do you expect a response
to your beacon, Lady Callie?” Joe sounded deferential, but his tone
left no doubt he expected an answer.

“
I’m still hoping for a
reply.”

“
Pirates might detect it
before help arrives.”

“
Don’t try to frighten us
with tales of space bandits.” Yalo moved over to stand beside
Callie.

“
We killed two outlaw
vessels before our crash.” If Joe took offense at Yalo’s words, he
gave no indication with change of expression or tone.

“
It doesn’t matter,”
Callie said. “We don’t have enough fuel to heat our vessel for the
night. We’ll freeze if you don’t help us. Our water is gone except
for what you gave us.”

Joe’s sharp gaze swept the interior of
their ship, jerking away from Riba and the baby. When his intense
blue eyes again looked into Callie’s, she was struck again by the
sheer beauty of his face.

“
We have a place three
days travel from here with plentiful water and sufficient food.”
Joe again gave Riba a quick glance. “It’s a difficult journey, but
we might be able to take you there.”

“
Might?” Yalo asked before
Callie could respond. “What difficulties?”

Joe ignored Yalo and looked at Callie
with the patience of a rock in his perfect posture.

“
How difficult?” But
Callie had already made up her mind. They had no choice.

“
Two of my men died the
first time we crossed. We know the land and dangers better now, but
the risk is great.”

“
My guard thinks you and
your men are the greatest danger.” Callie watched for any flicker
of reaction.

Joe’s gaze didn’t waver. “We could
have killed you all before now. Or taken what the pirates will
demand of you.”

Callie nodded. “I need to discuss this
with my staff.”

Joe snapped to attention but then
seemed to catch himself. He back up a step and gripped the ragged
side of the doorway with one strong, tanned hand. He’d removed his
camouflaged coverall. The short-sleeved shirt he wore clung to
muscles across his chest and shoulders. A thick belt hugged his
lean waist and emphasized his flat stomach. The tight pants
sculpted his rear and everything else below his waist as if he wore
a body stocking like a professional dancer.

Callie raised her stare to meet his
and realized he waited to get her attention. Hot blood rushed to
her face.

“
You have the hot time to
decide, Lady Callie. We must leave as soon as the sun starts its
decline and make the most of the cooler hours.” Joe hopped down and
walked over to join Vin.

Callie had considered many men in her
quest for a husband to rule beside her. None had compared in pure
male beauty to any of the marines. None had the intimidating air of
this Joe.

The women argued quietly behind her
except for Yalo who stared at the two marines also.

“
He’s right,” Yalo said.
“They could have raped us, killed us and done whatever they
wanted.”

“
You agree we should go
with them?”

“
What are our choices? The
marine could be right about pirates even if we weren’t going to
freeze or starve.”

Joe and Vin split up and soon
disappeared into the shimmering haze of the desert. Already the
ship’s floor heated, and the dry air sucked the moisture from mouth
and nose.

“
How do they
survive?”

Yalo pulled Callie deeper into the
interior of the ship and away from the open hatch. “They probably
have the most updated technology available and all types of
survival gear given only to the military. And we don’t know what
genetic constructs they might possess to live in adverse
conditions.”

“
Should I tell them
someone is chasing us?” Callie’s mind flinched away from the image
of the diplomatic escort cruiser they’d watched explode in a
brilliant moment of horror. They’d never seen the ship or ships
that had fired on them. Callie still wasn’t sure if the skill of
her pilots had saved her and her staff or if their attackers wanted
to capture them rather than kill them. Only the luck of a brief
magnetic storm had helped their damaged ship elude their pursuers,
but they hadn’t traveled far before they’d been forced to land on
this planet. The brave men driving her ship had perished but saved
their passengers.

“
Not yet,” Yalo advised.
“When we get to this place with water will be soon
enough.”

“
I don’t like being
dishonest.”

“
Don’t even worry about
it. It’s not as if you’re dealing with humans with souls or
emotions. Laboratory creations aren’t going to suffer from hurt
feelings.”

“
If they have no souls why
are they offering their help?”

Yalo shrugged. “Some kind of instinct
or training to protect. We can use that.”

Guilt tapped on Callie’s shoulders,
but she would use Joe and the others to survive. And what if her
enemies found out where they were? Should she warn Joe there might
be a force the size of a small army hunting her?

Sally burped loudly, and the women
laughed. The women trusted her and she couldn’t let them down. Even
if it meant putting these strange marines in mortal
danger.