Guarding Pax Read online

  The suit came to life and Pax was able to manage the most delicate manoeuvres with them. "That is amazing."

  "I love my job. Now, come on out to the testing grounds and we will see if you can fly."

  Chapter Four

  The armour easily matched the long strides of Guardian and Shade. The testing grounds consisted of a matting that inflated at Fixer"s touch. "That should hold you if you crash."

  "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

  "No problem. Now think about deploying your wings."

  Pax thought about it and jerked as the wings sprang from shoulder to hip on both sides. "Whoa."

  "Yeah, I will work on the action. Now, each wing has a fuel cell and each cell powers a blower. Turn them on and if you decide to turn them off, aim for the matting."

  Pax gave her a withering look but didn"t know if it translated through the featureless mask.

  With images of the Terran fan man and early rocket packs going through her mind, she tucked her arms in and tried to trigger the jets. It took three poses before her body was actually comfortable enough to allow her mind to send the signal.

  There was a roar of engines and Pax felt like she was being lifted skyward by her shoulders. The feeling was amazing and when she looked up, she saw Carella waiting for her. The engines propelled her up and Star Breaker paced her. When she felt she was high enough, Pax levelled out and increased speed.

  A voice came through her suit. "Barrel roll if you want. I will catch you if you fall."

  "You read my mind." She started a slow roll that picked up speed until she felt like she was on the ice with the world spinning past her eyes.

  "Level out."

  She did as she was told and though she was a little queasy, she was triumphant as she banked and turned back to the cluster of bodies that looked so tiny down below. "That was cool."

  A rich chuckle through their connection made her smile until she

  heard, "Don"t get to excited, the landing is the hard part."

  "Oh crap."

  "It isn"t a problem, just don"t throttle back too much or you will drop like a rock. Now, follow my instructions and we will get you down safely."

  Star Breaker talked her in. Her landing was not graceful, but she managed a rock-star finish, down on one knee with one hand in the air. She stood up and though they couldn"t see the grin on her face, she bet that they knew it was there. "That was fun."

  "Excellent. Now fold your wings in and we will get you out of that suit so I can start on the next phase. The dispersal system for your talent."

  "Neat. Let"s go."

  Guardian was staring at her, but she practically danced on her way back to the workshop. Flying had been wonderful.

  Back at the shop, Mala walked her through getting out of the suit and when she breathed the cool air again, she realised that she had really missed it.

  "Oh, that feels wonderful." She inhaled and exhaled hard until she noted the glazed look coming over Mala and Isabi. "Son-of-a-bitch. The filters on the bodysuit failed."

  She slammed herself back into the suit and Guardian opened the large door to flush the air out.

  "Star Breaker, are you still nearby?" Pax hoped so. The expression on Mala"s normally animated face was scary.

  "Yes. What is it?"

  "My bodysuit"s filters failed. Mala and Isabi are spaced out. Can you come in here and flash fry the particles again?"

  "On my way. Where are you now?"

  "Back in the armour. I am staying in here until I can get out safely."

  Guardian was in front of her. "Don"t worry about it. Things will work out. There is even the option of sub-dermal implants if you need them."

  Star Breaker glided in through the open door and a quick flash later, she pronounced the particles neutralized.

  "Okay, Guardian. Smack „em." Star Breaker was grinning as Guardian gave Isabi a short sharp slap that woke him out of his stupor.

  "You need to wake your wife, Shade. I will not slap her."

  Isabi lightly slapped Mala"s face. She came out of it with, "What happened?"

  "The suit filters failed."

  Muttering curse words in nine languages that Pax could identify and a whole lot that she couldn"t, Mala ran scanners over the armour.

  "Damn it. The filters shut off when your heart rate elevated. That will have to be fixed." She twisted her lips into a frown. "I am so sorry, Pax, but we will have to put you into contamination protocol until I get this fixed."

  "Great. How do I get there?"

  "Just walk to that shuttle over there if you like, or you can hike into medical. Your choice." Mala smiled. "It shouldn"t be more than an hour or two. I just need to build in a failsafe."

  "How will you do it if I am wearing the suit?"

  "I have a few extra that I mocked up for you. With these readings, it shouldn"t take long to get one up and running." Mala"s face was all encouragement.

  "Fine. I will wander over to the shuttle and go inside if I have to get out of the armour. Is that okay?"

  "That"s great. Now if you leave me alone, I will get to work. Isabi, get me some food, this is gonna hurt." She smiled and walked over to a mannequin with Pax"s suit on it.

  Dismissed, Pax wandered out into the daylight and looked around.

  "This sort of thing will happen, you are not the first."

  Guardian was at her shoulder, looking her in the faceplate.

  Desperate to know she wasn"t alone, "Who else?"

  "Well, Carella herself was radioactive if she stripped off her uniform, possibly still is. Fortunately, her husband is impervious to radiation. The same with Stellar Storm and her spouse. He is radiation resistant, but the rest of the people around her had to wear heavy protection until she got her body under control."

  "Wow. That makes me feel a little better. Anyone else?"

  A new voice interrupted them. "Relay was addicted to data streams until her husband made a point of prying her away from them." Alessandra Wyt, aka Relay, stood a few feet away from them and smiled.

  "Don"t worry about this set back, Pax. Your talent still works and will not hurt anyone as long as no one nearby is operating heavy machinery. Heck, Mala and Isabi might even beg you to babysit with the filter off just so we can find Mabi."

  That reminded Tricia of earlier and she laughed.

  "What was that?"

  "Mabi said her first word."

  Relay looked excited, "What was it?"

  "Oh, I think I will let Mala tell you. When she is ready, after she fixes my suit filters." Chuckling with evil, Pax rubbed the armoured hands together.

  Guardian and Relay kept her company as Fixer went to work and Shade kept his wife supplied with food.

  When the scarlet and gold fluttered toward her, Pax took the hint. "Martuas, can you get me that suit? I will change inside the shuttle so I don"t make everyone in the area stupid."

  "Excellent idea. I will join you and help you out of your suit in a minute."

  As he walked away, Pax found herself watching the bunch and release of muscles in his back and thighs.

  "Stop staring, Trish, and get your butt in the shuttle." Relay smiled and waved her on.

  The suit moved well and soon she was inside the shuttle, waiting.

  Guardian returned with the suit draped over one arm and she had a suspicion. "Martuas, are you just trying to see me naked?"

  "Yes. Will it work?"

  She snickered, "Probably. I want out of here."

  She started to unseal, buckle and release the armour. "It"s funny, I went all those months being confined, but now that I have been promised freedom, I want it all the time."

  Stepping out of the armour, she yanked off her boots and stretched before reaching for the closure of her suit. "At least pretend to close your eyes."

  "No. I am your commanding officer and I command that you get into a properly working suit immediately." His grin was unrepentant.

  As quickly as she could, she removed the malfunctioni
ng suit and took the one on his arm. He didn"t fight her, his jaw was open slightly and a red tinge flowed into his eyes.

  She slipped the new suit on and sighed as the crackle of energy told her it was working the moment she sealed it. The boots tugged on with a little effort and she was standing ready. "Okay, a little negative pressure and we will be out of here."

  "What?"

  "We are ready to leave. Let me just set the ship systems to vacuum and we will be on our way."

  She set the atmospheric reversal, the one thing she knew how to do on a shuttle, and when the light went on, she pushed the door as hard as she could. Guardian"s silver hands reached over her shoulders and the door moved easily. Down the steps and closing the door behind them, Tricia sighed with relief.

  Mala approached with a scanner and nodded as she went from head to toe and back again. "The suit wasn"t compatible with the armour, but that won"t be a problem now. How long did you set the vacuum cycle for?"

  "Ten minutes, the average length of the effect of my particulates."

  "Excellent. I will retrieve the armour and body suit and make the necessary alterations." Mala was proud of herself. "I have made two more body suits for you in case this one springs a leak. You will have a collection before you head out to Udell."

  A bit of tension she didn"t know she was carrying relaxed. Tricia was terrified of being locked up again because of something she couldn"t control.

  "Pax, you look exhausted. Guardian, why don"t you show her the guest quarters."

  "Excellent idea, Relay. Pax, this way." Guardian put his hand to the centre of her back and guided her through the workshop and into the halls of Morganti Base.

  Before they were out of her field of vision, Pax looked back at Mala, who was leaning on Isabi, and Ally, who was talking to her earnestly. Whatever they were discussing was serious, but Pax smiled as Mala yawned.

  Sleeping looked like a good idea all around.

  Chapter Five

  Sleeping in the bodysuit was like wearing nothing at all. Tricia was able to use the restroom in the guest quarters and she felt almost human when she ran herself and the suit through the sonic cleaner.

  She was back in the sealed suit and decent when she pattered into the front room on bare feet. Guardian was seated, sipping a hot beverage, reading a data pad and next to a plate of fresh fruit and cereal.

  "We will be heading out on assignment today. We just need Mala to check you out on the armour and build in the dispersal system if she hasn"t already."

  A lump of nervous tension swelled in her throat. "That soon?"

  "Yes, there is no deadline for our arrival, but people are dying, so we do need to move relatively quickly."

  Her blood rushed away from her head. "Dying?"

  "There is a war and the Alliance has an outpost in danger, so we have been called in to run mediation, by whatever means necessary." Guardian kept reading as she thudded into the chair next to him.

  Woodenly, she grabbed a piece of fruit and began eating. With all of her time in space, she normally went nuts when she got fresh fruit, but today it could have been dried rations. One day. She had gone from contagion to Guardsman in one day. One freaking day.

  She munched her way through the cereal and washed it down with a cup of hot tea.

  Martuas looked at her once she was finished, "Are you ready to go?"

  "I need shoes." She had no clothing. All of her possessions had been destroyed for fear of particulate contamination. She had the clothing on her back and whatever uniforms Mala had prepared.

  Numb, she found her boots and pulled them on, joining Guardian near the door.

  "It will be fine, Tricia. You can do this."

  She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I am not so sure of that."

  He leaned down and gave her a swift kiss, the light touch surprising both of them. "Wow."

  "You said it." Her voice was a hoarse whisper, but she wasn"t afraid of the assignment anymore. In fact, she was raring to go, in a multitude of ways.

  "To the workshop then."

  "Sounds good." Her blood was pounding in her ears and she just wanted to get moving. He didn"t keep her waiting.

  They were speed walking through the halls. She nodded at a female Selna with a male that looked like a feral Selna throwback, complete with a tail. They nodded curiously at her, but since she and Guardian were on their mission, neither couple stopped.

  In the workshop, a stack of folded uniforms was next to a sleeping Mala flanked by two little girls playing with soldering irons.

  "Mala."

  Fixer jerked upright, casually removed the weaponry from her daughters and smiled. "I had Isabi bring them in so we could test the dispersal unit."

  "You want me to sedate your children?"

  "Oh, yes please." Mala"s grin was infectious.

  "Fine, let"s get going. How does the filter turn off and on for dispersal?"

  "Oh that was the problem yesterday. You have to do a filtered purge before you open the armour. The suit was actually fine, it just didn"t turn back on and the particulates that got us were the ones that had built up inside, not new ones that you were generating. So, I installed the purge and your new body suits all have the failsafe. If they feel fresh air, they filter."

  Pax didn"t need to be told twice, she jumped into the suit, lifted, snapped and clicked and she was dressed in under a minute. "What next?"

  "Well, I have turned my filters back on, I turned them off yesterday because the welding interferes with them and the sparks are distracting. Aim your palm at the kids and concentrate on spraying them. I know, it sounds weird."

  Shrugging inwardly, Pax did as ordered. She looked at the little girls and imagined them getting sleepy. Sure enough, there was a light hissing and Mabi started yawning.

  "Keep going. We have to be sure." Mala was watching her daughters carefully and when Isala teetered and fell off the workbench, it was enough. "You have it. There are valves that are keyed to both your movement and the broadcast of your mind. I hope you don"t mind, but Effin gave me your frequency."

  The display inside the helmet told her the instant she stopped broadcasting the particles. She preferred the term particles to pheromones. It made her sound less like an animal in heat.

  She checked her wings, extending and retracting them. "Okay, I guess I am ready to go."

  "Pax, can you walk the suit out to our shuttle?"

  "Sure. Which shuttle is that?" She cocked her head at him.

  Mala smiled and rocked her sleeping daughters. "The one with the guns. Udell base is the only one with offensive weaponry as well as defensive. It was nice meeting you, Tricia."

  "It was nice meeting you, too, Mala. I hope to come back once I have gotten a grip on this talent of mine."

  "I look forward to it. Expect a delivery of a backup set of armour in a week or so. I am a little backed up right now."

  "Thank you, Fixer. Say good bye to Shade and Star Breaker for me."

  "I will. Now, off you go before Guardian tries to push you to the shuttle."

  Chuckling, Tricia looked over at Guardian and he was indeed fidgeting from foot to foot. "Don"t we have to say goodbye to Relay?"

  "No, she is the one who sent us the assignment. Now go."

  Snickering, she walked out until she hit the tarmac and saw the huge representation of what Guardian considered a shuttlecraft.

  Fixer was right. It had guns.

  Pax romped up into the ship and was poking around when Guardian casually mentioned, "You can leave the armour now."

  "Oops. I forgot." She left the armour in a back corner and he strapped it in for the journey. Feeling slightly naked, she tiptoed to the navigator seat and strapped in.

  "You have ridden in shuttles before, right?"

  "Yes. I just couldn"t steer one if you strapped me to the controls." She grinned brightly until she caught her reflection in the mirror. "My hair is getting whiter!"

  "That isn"t natural?"

  "
It is natural, it just isn"t normal." She held up a hank of bi-coloured hair. "It used to be a nice medium brown."

  "I like the white. It makes your eyes incredibly green." The admiration in his tone was unmistakeable.

  Her face turned hot pink. She could feel it. "Thank you."