CHAPTER 42

RAPTOR TWO

THREE HOURS FROM EARTH

          Tarifa entered the cockpit of Raptor Two slowly, her eyes wide in amazement at the myriad of instruments and advanced controls. She could see the stars out of the cockpit window, as well as the blue/green planet in front of her that was earth. She saw Tina turn in her co-pilot's chair, Ben asleep in the pilot's chair next to her. Tarifa came fully into the cockpit, Tina's eyes watching her carefully.

          "That… that is earth?" She asked.

          Tina nodded with a smile. "That's earth."

          "It looks… it looks so peaceful." Tarifa said softly.

          "Yeah… well looks can be deceiving." Tina told her.

          Tarifa looked at her now. "I was… I was looking for…"

          "Marty's up top," Tina told her, motioning to the small circular stairway to her right, "The observation deck."

          "Is he alone?" Tarifa asked.

          Tina smiled. "Last time I checked he was."

          Tarifa looked away almost shyly. "Thank you." She said softly, before moving for the stairs. The stairs were similar to what she had seen in old pictures that the Holy One had given her about the large planes that used to traverse the skies. She wound up the stairs twice and found herself in a room where the top portion of the ceiling was nothing more than an open glass container that allowed you to see the billions of stars all around. There was a small table in the center of the room, with two couches along the wall. Another small door was in the back of the room as she stepped fully onto the observation deck. She saw where the glass window stopped and became metal again, extending back along the length of the top of the Raptor.

          She froze when the small door in the rear opened and Martin stepped out toweling off his face. He was shirtless, and Tarifa felt a sexual rush course through her looking at his broad hairless chest, and the tightly packed abdomen of muscles. Black flame tattoos spread out from his abdomen to his encompass his chest, and spreading out under his arms. They were similar to the flame tattoos that extended down his arms and across his broad shoulders. When she was able to tear her eyes from his bare skin she found he was looking directly at her, and in the dim light of the observation deck his eyes appeared to be softly glowing.

          "I thought you were still sleeping." His voice interrupted her thoughts.

          "I've… I've been awake for a short time." She answered, moving closer to him. "I was talking with Endith."

          "Tarifa… I…" Martin began.

          Tarifa used her elfin reflexes to cross the small room to stand in front of him in a single eye blink. Looking up into his face, she placed her finger on his lips to stop his words. "You… of all people… have nothing to apologize to me for. You have saved my life again. Why did you do this Martin? Endith told me what took place. You could have taken the others and left, yet you risked your life and the lives of others to come and rescue me. Why?"

          Martin looked at her, her sapphire eyes nearly taking his breath away. Her peach scent filled the room, and he inhaled deeply, allowing it to course through him. "It… it was the right thing to do." He spoke finally.

          Tarifa smiled gently. "You are not a very good lair Martin Hunter." She said.

          Martin looked at her. "I… I didn't want to lose you." He said finally.

          Tarifa looked at him and at that moment she knew what she wanted. She wanted Martin. She wanted him to purge all the vileness from her body, and make her feel like a complete woman again. "Kiss me Martin." She said softly.

          Martin's eyes grew a little wider. He shook his head slowly. "I can't."

          Tarifa stepped closer to him, her hands sliding down his broad chest and around his waist. "Kiss me Martin." She said again, looking up at him, her eyes bright and clear.

          "Tarifa… I can't do that." He told her, his voice almost pleading.

          "Why?"

          "I… I don't know if I will be able… able to stop this time." He told her honestly.

          "You… you are the first man who has ever kissed me Martin Hunter." She told him softly. "And I… I don't want you to stop."

          Martin looked shocked at her words. "Tarifa… you were just… what they did to you? I… I couldn't stop it in time. I… what you are asking…"

          "What I am asking Martin, is for you to make love to me." She told him, her voice husky with passion now. "Right here… right now… to purge them from me, from my soul. I'm… I'm asking you to… to make me whole again."

          Tarifa gasped in surprise when he lifted her into his arms, crushing her to him. She had no time to think as he covered her lips with his own and kissed her. Oh did he kiss her. Tarifa locked her legs around his waist, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her whole body igniting in burning heat and need.

          Tarifa groaned into his mouth as her body shuddered in a soul conquering orgasm from just a single kiss.

EDEN

ELEVEN HOURS AFTER MARTIN'S ESCAPE

          Richard Graham looked at the remains of his son and the men with him and tried not to vomit all over the room. It had taken them nearly eight hours to recover from the acts of sabotage that the genomes had committed to aide their escape. Only one of the remaining five Raptors was flyable, the other two Mark Nine transports also disabled. The entire weapons grid of EDEN had been taken offline and infected with a virus so the turret based lasers could not fire on the traitor's ships as they fled. Admiral Wallace, who had been discovered in his private quarters beaten and unconscious, was livid with anger over what the men he thought he commanded had done. At first Graham had thought Wallace had been involved, until he was discovered beaten and bloody, his command codes stripped from him. When Richard had seen him again, he had not changed out of the bloody uniform and was directing the technicians in the Command Center with shouts of anger as they tried to get the weapons back on line. Graham considered himself an excellent judge of character, and he knew that Wallace was fully on his side now, and the sight of him squatting over the remains of his son and the other guards shaking in obvious rage confirmed it for him.

          "…vicious brutal motherfucker," Wallace finally spat as he got to his feet and turned to face Graham.

          "What… what did this William?" Graham asked his own face ashen and pale.

          Wallace stepped up to him slowly. "It was Hunter." He said.

          Graham looked stunned. "Hunter! But… it looks like… it looks as if they were torn apart by animals!"

          Wallace nodded slowly. "They were… in a sense." He answered slowly turning to face Graham and make the lie seem truthful. "Martin and his team have the ability to transform into versions of the animal that were grafted to their DNA. Martin and the others animal counterpart was a wolf; they can partially transform themselves into humanlike versions of these animals and do incredible damage, as you can see."

          "This… this is not something that was commonly known." Graham spoke. "You knew this?"

          Wallace nodded. "It was not made public knowledge because it was deemed that Hunter and his team had complete control over when they could transform, and to what extent. That decision was made far above my pay grade Senator."

          "I thought you trusted this man?" Graham asked him.

          "I did Senator, until he came into my quarters and beat me senseless." Wallace spoke heatedly. "He betrayed me, and nearly disabled the entire base in the process. All because of some pretty piece of ass!"

          "I want charges of murder drawn up for his entire team!" Graham spoke. "Once we get the station repaired, how soon until we can go after them?"

          Wallace shook his head. "We only have one Raptor capable of flying. The others need new avionics and a complete purging of their systems. Ben and Tina helped design the Raptors, and they knew just what to do to fuck them up good."

          "Can we contact the Alliance to go after them?" Graham asked.

          Wallace looked at him. "Do we want to let them know how damaged we are sir?" He asked. "We can give them the transponders for the craft that have escaped, but we shouldn't make them aware of what damage we have suffered up here. It might weaken our position to do so. And it would not allow you to negotiate with them from a position of strength."

          Graham nodded slowly. "Yes… I see your point Admiral." He said. "And I agree with you. I have to say… you seem to have changed your tone where Hunter is involved."

          "To be honest Senator, I've only trusted him to a point. And now that he has fucked me over, I want him to pay." Wallace growled.

          Richard Graham smiled. "So do I. Stick with me Admiral, I'll have you fully on my team in no time."

          "What about the body of your son Senator?" Wallace asked. "What do you want done?"

          Graham looked at the bloody body of his only son and shrugged. "He was a fucking weakling anyway. Burn his body with the rest of these idiots."

          Wallace nodded. "I'll have a full report of our readiness for you in two hours Senator."

          Graham nodded. "Excellent. I'm going to contact this Minister Deval and have a talk with him in regards to our future relationship." He saw Wallace start to say something and held up his hand. "Don't worry… I will say nothing about our condition or capabilities. As you said, negotiating from a position of strength is much better."

          "May I suggest you ask him to supply some of those elves to assist in the more dangerous repairs Senator?" Wallace spoke. "If they are as gifted as we have been led to believe, then we can use them to conduct the more dangerous repairs."

          "That is an excellent idea Admiral." Graham said with a cruel smile. "Report to me when you have what you think you need."