Chapter Eleven

Zaya

After Trinity and Raven left, Steele took me over to his sky cycle to explain how it worked. It was a small, narrow machine with two seats. The driver sat in front, and the passenger sat behind. Steele told me what powered it, but I didn't understand that. In all honesty, I knew very little about machines.

It was a hybrid vehicle based on a motorcycle and a two-passenger water jet ski. The craft could hover near the ground like an old-style wheeled vehicle but gave a far less bumpy ride. It also had retractable wings in a retractable cockpit that enabled it to fly like a small jet plane.

"Come on, let's go for a ride." Steele held out his hand and helped me onto the passenger seat. He swung his leg over the front and took the seat in front of me.

He started slowly, and we cruised across the field beyond the barn on a tour of my ranch lands. Although we were not going fast, it seemed like we were the way the wind blew in my face and through my hair. It was fun sitting behind him, holding on around his waist and pressing against his back. That day, I saw parts of my ranch that I hadn't seen in years.

Steele had been doing some research and suggested one field where we could plant wheat, another dry beans, and in another field potatoes for a start. "That new machine in the barn is a mini-combine that can plant and harvest fields bigger than these. It can plant and weed your kitchen garden, too."

"Then what would I do?" I asked, trying to imagine. "I've spent my whole life working just to survive. When I wasn't planting, harvesting, and preserving, I was chopping wood for the winter."

"You would have more time to make your soaps, and you have your tablet. We can look at the possibilities together."

"I like that idea. I am so glad you found me. While I do appreciate my alone time, there have been times when I was profoundly lonely. Winter was especially hard."

"It should be a lot better this winter with heat and power that doesn't require chopping wood. And I will keep you warm," he said with a touch of humor in his voice.

"There is a place called Store in Gretchen where I sold soap before. I have some stockpiled. Would you take me to town so that I could trade it there?"

"I can and will. Can we do it in three or four days so I can run the pipe and set up the heat and power s ystem? " Steele said. "While we are in town, I will take you out to the barracks to meet the rest of my team and Sergeant Rowe."

"That would be great." I hugged him from behind, and we headed back to the house.

A couple of days later, the pipeline arrived with a robotic digger. With that efficient little machine, Steele laid the pipeline for our power system in two days. Connecting everything took another day, plus testing.

While he was doing that, I packed soap in a basket to trade at the Store in town. It was a pleasantly warm early fall morning as we prepared to ride the sky cycle into town. We had a blue sky and sunshine. The ride into Gretchen was exhilarating. I held on to Steele as we raced across the landscape.

We might have gotten there faster had we flown, but I know it wouldn't have been as much fun.

Steele had been stationed in Gretchen long enough that he knew where all of the businesses were located. It had been such a long time since I had been to town that I wondered if the storekeeper would remember me.

Steele parked the sky cycle in front of the Store as it was simply named. I could see the storekeeper, Lucy Thomas, through the window. We got off the bike, and Steele unloaded the basket of soap from the storage compartment. He carried it into the Store as we walked inside together.

"Hi, can I help you?" Lucy asked as we came to the counter.

"I'm Zaya White. We traded for some of my homemade soap last year. I have a new batch that I hoped we might trade again." I looked at her expectantly.

"Well, it just so happens that I'm running low on soap. Let's see what you have."

Steele set the basket on the counter in front of her.

Lucy glanced up at him and smiled. "You're one of the cyborg protectors working with Ranger Hawk."

"That's right. Ranger Hawk is our lieutenant. Zaya is my mate."

Lucy nodded and gave me a friendly smile. "I do remember you. I just couldn't think of your name. It's nice to see you again." Then she picked out a block of bar soap and brought it to her nose to smell the lavender fragrance. "Nice. I can use all of this and give you forty credits."

"That sounds fair to me. What do forty credits buy?"

"You could buy a dress or set of bath towels, a new garden rake and hoe. Or I can keep your credits on file until next time. That's up to you."

"That sounds good. Maybe we'll just look around," I said, looking to Steele for his input. However, Steele was staring into space, and I immediately knew that he was receiving communication from his internal computer.

"Zaya, do you have the laser pistol I gave you?"

I nodded, reaching into my pocket to feel that it was still there. "Why?"

"Three shuttles of Mesaarkans' have landed at the edge of town. The team is on their way, and I have to help them. Please just stay here, okay? If any Saarks come through that door, shoot them. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Steele activated his nanite armor as he sprinted from the Store. The microscopic robots within him spread out, forming a durable, flexible exoskeleton over his body. His eyes glowed briefly as the HUD in his visor synced with his cybernetic systems. I think I was more frightened that something would happen to Steele than I was of confronting Mesaarkans again. I doubted I would have trouble pulling the trigger if that happened.

Steele

I hated to leave Zaya, but I needed to get my ion rifle and get people off the street. The only reason Mesaarkans would land would be to take prisoners. I pulled my rifle from a sling on the sky cycle and shouted, "Everyone off the street! Get inside!"

Townspeople scrambled to seek cover, filling the air with the sounds of running footsteps and doors slamming shut.

Meanwhile, I was getting input from my teammates as they landed in various parts of the village. Already, they were confronting teams of heavily armed Mesaarkans. At the same time, I heard weapons fire from both Mesaarkans and then my fellow team members.

Scanning the area, I located the position of one shuttle and sprinted in that direction.

Processing all the data I was receiving, I learned that each Mesaarkan shuttle had landed in strategic locations at the town's edges. Altogether, we had thirty Saarks on the ground. They had started going house to house, rousting people out at gunpoint, apparently trying to collect them together for transport.

A team of five reptilians had half a dozen people collected and were tying them together. I ran at them, firing, and took three of them down. The other two stopped what they were doing to fire back at me, which gave their captives time to run away. I took down the other two, but the last one fired at the same time as I did. The blast from that shot hit me and sent me flying. Landing hard on my back, I got the wind knocked out of me for a few seconds, but my injuries were minimal.

As soon as I was back on my feet, I ran to check the reptilians that I had downed to see if any were still alive. None were, so I scanned my surroundings to locate the other team. We needed at least one alive to question and find out what their mission was. I could pretty well guess why they were rounding up humans.

They didn't need slaves. Mesaarkan technology was on par with Federation technology. They used bots for menial tasks and automated machinery for agriculture. They wanted humans to use as objects of their perverted desires, as Gar'hako had used Zaya. They were trafficking humans in other parts of the West.

I suspected they were preying on humans in this sparsely populated territory because there were fewer protectors to stop them.

As I surveyed the area, I discovered another group of Mesaarkans heading toward the businesses and the Store where my mate was hiding. I dashed back in that direction at cyborg speed, rounding the corner in time to see them fire at the front door. I fired at them, turning their attention onto me. As they fired back, I leaped into an alley, which was four buildings away.

When they stopped firing, I lunged out and sprayed them with a burst of plasma bolts. Three went down while two limped away. I followed and tackled them both to the ground. As I struggled with one, the other got up and was about to shoot me point-blank. As I braced to take the hit, a stun beam zapped the reptilian, and he crumbled to the ground.

Forcing the Saark in my control onto his belly, I pulled out a set of zip cuffs and bound his hands behind his back. As I got the Saark to his feet, Raven strolled down the street with a smug grin.

"Thanks, brother. Good timing." That shot would have hurt. Seconds later, I received confirmation over the cyborg net that all of the invaders were secured or dead. "Raven, can you take care of him? They were firing into the Store. I need to make sure my female is unharmed."

"No problem. Trinity and Orion are on their way. We can take care of this," he assured me. I nodded and hurried toward the Store.