The Forgotten Eight Read online

  The Forgotten Eight

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  Series: The Forgotten Series [8]

  Tags: Futuristic

  When Captain Danielle Dubois crash lands on the world terra-formed by the Danu she isn’t the only one shocked. The cyborgs that people the world of Danu have never seen a female … but they definitely like what they see!

Long forgotten by the Danu who sent them out to terra-form for colonization, the cyborgs created by Manuta are well aware of the great chasm of emptiness in their lives but have no idea how to fill it until the human woman, Captain Danielle Dubois, crashes in their midst. The moment they set eyes on her, though, their biological instincts for procreation kick in and they know exactly what’s missing—a mate. The problem is, they have no idea how to get from point A to Z.

Danielle’s pretty sure she couldn’t have landed in a worse situation if she’d crashed in the middle of the enemy camp—the Nubiens. Finding herself in the midst of several hundred romance-minded cyborgs, all male, seems like a recipe for disaster. How is she going to convince them to help her get home when all they have in mind is … well, romance?

  Episode Eight

  The Forgotten:

  Discovery

  By

  Kaitlyn O'Connor

  © copyright by Kaitlyn O'Connor, February 2010

  Cover Art by Alex DeShanks, February 2010

  ISBN 1-978-60394-396-3

  New Concepts Publishing

  Lake Park, GA 31636

  www.newconceptspublishing.com

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author's imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

  ?

  Chapter Fifteen

  "Did you run the scan?" Kiel asked as soon as he was certain that Jalen and Baen were occupied in the hold and Danielle was in her cabin.

  "Affirmative," Gertrude responded.

  Kiel waited impatiently for the computer to give him the report. When it did not, he narrowed his eyes at the optical sensor. "Report?" he finally prompted.

  "Captain Dubois' birth control device has been neutralized and she is ovulating."

  Surprise flickered through Kiel, triumph, and a vague sense of disappointment. "What is a birth control device?" he asked sharply.

  "A device designed to prevent pregnancy in women and to prevent male sperm from achieving fertilization in men. It is standard practice to implant the devices in all males and females of reproductive age within the human community."

  Kiel searched his mind, but he could not recall that Danielle had mentioned such a thing. It angered him that she had not. He felt betrayed that she had not told any of them that she had such a thing when she knew that all of them were hoping, expecting, to impregnate her. "But this device has been neutralized?"

  "Affirmative. Reason unknown."

  He frowned. "Speculate."

  "I'm not programmed to speculate."

  "Given the data you collected when you scanned her during her sleeping period, what is the probable cause?"

  Gertrude was silent for several moments. "The nanos. My data indicates that the nanos may also be responsible for the irregularities in her cycle. Minor fluctuations are possible due to stress or hormonal imbalance due to illness or injury. However, my records indicate that Captain's Dubois' cycle has been interrupted and reset and her fertility boosted well beyond the norm."

  He was about to ask for specifics as to what was 'norm' for Danielle when he heard sounds indicating that Jalen and Baen were returning. Shrugging it off with the reflection that he had gotten the information he had wanted, he pulled up the star chart once more to study it.

  "Any data from the probes yet?" Baen asked as soon as he noticed that Kiel was studying their course.

  "The second has also malfunctioned," Kiel said tightly. "I could understand one. I do not understand that two would malfunction."

  "Do we have another probe?"

  "Negative."

  "Then we will know nothing until we arrive," Jalen put in disgustedly. "I would have felt more easy in my mind if we could establish communications before we arrived. They are liable to see us as a threat and try to shoot us from the sky."

  "The ship has very good shields and excellent responses. There is little danger that they could succeed even if they try," Kiel muttered, although he was dissatisfied, as well. The probes should have at least given them some data so that they knew what to expect. He did not care to go into this blind anymore than the others did.

  "We are not much more than a week out," Baen added. "When we are closer, we can attempt to communicate without the assistance of probes."

  "We could slow the ship more," Jalen suggested tentatively. "Danielle does not know the full speed capabilities."

  "She will begin to be suspicious that we are deliberately delaying," Kiel growled.

  "You do not think she suspects now?" Baen asked drily.

  Kiel shrugged. "Mayhap, but we have kept her occupied enough to keep her from dwelling on it, I believe."

  Jalen snorted. "Not as I would like to occupy her time," he muttered. "What I would like to know is when we will get to the fucking!"

  Kiel was wondering the same thing. He was uneasy enough about what had transpired between them the first time to want to be more cautious the second, but he was rapidly running out of patience and it did not help to know that she was 'ready' whether she admitted it or not! "She is explaining social skills," he responded neutrally.

  "Still," Baen growled. "After two days! I believe I have grasped it, gods damn it!"

  "Well, that is more than I can say!" Jalen complained. "It seems to me that everything she says contradicts what she said the time before! We are to convince her that we are stronger and more capable of protecting her and our off-spring than anyone else, and yet we are not to fight? Or to simply claim that since it would be considered bragging and that is unappealing? We must always be on guard to put forth the best impression and yet we must 'be ourselves' and not deceive? Women require absolute honesty, and yet we should take care not to allow the human females to know that we are able to change form? Or that we have nanos, when it is important that we convince them that we are healthy?

  "I am not at all sure that I want to spend a great deal of time in the company of females when there is so broad a margin for error, gods damn it! It seems to me from what she has said that a male cannot move or breathe heavy without giving the 'wrong' impression! It is not even acceptable to say nothing at all, because then they will believe you have no social skills, or you lack intelligence, or that you are angry, even when you are not, or that you do not truly like them!"

  "You cannot have a mate if you are not willing to spend time in their company!" Baen snapped irritably. "That is very important to them-companionship!"

  "I do not see why not!" Jalen returned hotly. "Why can they not be happy doing whatever it is that females do while we are doing what we do? Is it not being deceptive to do things we do not want to do and pretend we do only to make them happy? I will be honest, I believe that I am better suited for the seeding alone."

  Kiel and Baen exchanged a look.

  Kiel studied his nails, considering what Jalen had said. He was inclined, he discovered, to encourage that train of thought, and yet, try though he might, he could not think of another that he would find nearly as acceptable as a quad-mate. He had seized the moment to count coupe and establish himself as prime-first-mate. There was no doubt in his mind that Baen was determined upon being second if he could not assert dominance and become first. If Jalen bowed out and Danielle took it into her head to choose another as third, they might well spend more time battling for d
ominance than mating, and although, ordinarily, he would not have minded that, he was ready to settle and enjoy the benefits of belonging to a quad. Some fighting was to be expected until they had firmly established their places, but they were already well on their way to doing that. He did not especially like the idea of starting over when he was beginning to get comfortable with the situation he had.

  There would be enough tension between him and Baen, for they were fairly evenly matched. He did not see that it would be in his best interest to discourage Jalen and perhaps end up with a third that was not at all content to remain third.

  "You expressed a determination, before, to have Danielle. You have decided that she does not suit you as bond-mate?"

  Jalen stared at him blankly a moment and expelled an explosive breath. He seemed to wrestle with himself for several moments. "I do not think she has any interest in accepting me," he growled finally. "She does not look at me the way she does either of you."

  Kiel and Baen exchanged another look, but this time it was filled with both speculation and territorialism.

  Kiel struggled with the urge to instantly challenge Baen, but he knew if he did so he would in effect be admitting his lack of certainty that he was first. He could see the same thought running through Baen's mind and also when Baen decided to ignore the challenge based on his mistaken certainty that he was first!

  It thoroughly pissed him off, but he very deliberately ignored the challenge and turned his attention to Jalen again. "Then you acknowledge that you are third?"

  Jalen looked for several moments as if he would take exception to that but finally subsided. "I am not ready to concede that … yet," he muttered.

  Except he had and they all knew it. That didn't mean he was ready to completely concede the point. Clearly he meant to try for a better position until he was forced to admit defeat, but Kiel did not see that as a problem. Eventually he would. Jalen knew as well as he did that he was and always had been his superior. He had not simply been named captain, after all. He had won the position above the others-just as Baen had established himself as leader of his own platoon of men.

  He was leader of first platoon, however, and whether Baen was ready to admit that that also made him his superior or not, they all knew it did. In effect, he was the overall leader of the combined forces of Marchet since he was captain of first platoon of Manu, the first colony city.

  He supposed that he should have demanded acknowledgement of that fact, but he had not been particularly interested in doing so when Danielle was the issue and the others had conceded his right to her without argument. It was an unofficial acknowledgement that he had expressed his intention of leading the first mission and the others had conceded his right to do so.

  Mating, as Danielle had pointed out, was complicated, however … because Danielle was complicated. The men might accept him as leader, but unless she accepted him as her first, he would still not be first in the quad and that was far more important to him than being colony leader.

  Truthfully, he found Danielle's instructions as contradictory and confusing as Jalen did, but he was not about to admit that he did or to admit defeat as Jalen had. He felt certain, in fact, that he was moving closer to understanding both her and the mating process her people practiced and that everything would fall into place once he was sure he had claimed first seed.

  It made him uneasy that Gertrude had suggested that her cycle was not normal for her, or perhaps even for her species. It did not seem right, somehow, even though he was relieved that Manuta had been correct in assuming that the nanos would make her compatible to them.

  He dismissed it after a few moments. In her own time, Danielle would get around to explaining, he was sure. In the meanwhile, he had the insurance that she was prepared to breed and that the nanos he had given her were performing as they should.

  All he had to do now was watch her closely for an opportunity, try to avoid breeching any of the established mating protocols of her species, and hope that his seed would breech her damned birth control, he thought irritably.

  He would have been more easy in his mind on the last if he understood how it was that their devices prevented conception and if it was permanently disabled or only temporary, and if temporary, how long he might expect it to remain so.

  He also had misgivings about her fertility and his window of opportunity in that respect.

  * * * *

  Danielle's nerves were taut as she settled in the pilot's seat and opened the communications channel. It hadn't taken her long to arrive at the conclusion that she needed to make initial contact and prepare the way for negotiations if there was any hope of achieving an alliance. The problem was, she had to think long and hard over just how much to tell them and find a way to get around Kiel, Baen, and Jalen-no easy task! No matter when she decided to take her duty periods, it seemed one or more were also awake and watching her every move! She'd finally decided there would be no time when they were all asleep. They didn't appear to need much sleep.

  Currently, the three of them were in the hold sparring, or exercising-the latter, she thought, from the noise. She didn't understand why they thought it necessary to work out so much-two or three times a day seemed excessive!-but she was glad for it at the moment since they were occupied elsewhere.

  "Gertrude, see if you can establish a communications link with High Command."

  "Attempting," Gertrude responded.

  Danielle waited, impatiently drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair and listening to the noise from the hold.

  "I have been unable to establish a link with High Command," Gertrude responded after an unnervingly long interval.

  "Try again. This time, if you can't reach High Command, try all channels. Maybe we could reach somebody that could relay a message."

  "Attempting."

  The delay was longer that time. "No response to my hails."

  Danielle muttered a string of curses under her breath. She supposed it was no great surprise that Gertrude hadn't been able to link up, but it was damned inconvenient! "OK, change of plan. I want you to record a message and transmit it. Hopefully someone will pick it up and relay it to High Command."

  "It could be intercepted by the enemy," Gertrude said pointedly.

  "Good point. We won't give out any coordinates. I just want to establish a starting point for negotiating an alliance so they won't shoot us down before we can open them." She paused, composing her thoughts. "This is Captain Danielle Dubois, serial number 245812, Firebird 013, attempting contact with High Command. I have encountered friendlies. I crashed on their world and have been extended every courtesy. They are open to discussing an alliance with the Federation to aid us in the conflict." She paused again, considering what she'd said and finally decided that that was about all she could safely transmit without giving away anything that might be dangerous.

  "I should point out that a continuous transmission would allow any enemies within hearing range to triangulate our position. We are on a direct course with the planet Chab."

  Irritation flickered through Danielle. "I know it's a risk. Just send it-just the once. I might need to change the message anyway after we've met with the Danu on Chab."

  "What message?" Kiel growled.

  Danielle nearly jumped out of her skin. She could still hear thumping from below and it hadn't occurred to her that all three of the men might not be involved. Whirling, she stared at him in stunned dismay, trying to bring order to her thoughts. The color had rushed from her face. She could feel it flowing back into her cheeks with a vengeance. "I was just trying to establish communications with High Command," she said defensively.

  His eyes narrowed. "If it was only that, why wait until you were alone on the bridge?"

  Her lips tightened. "Because I figured you'd be nasty about it, since you have a nasty, suspicious mind! Play it back for him, Gertrude!"

  Gertrude complied but she could see he was still deeply suspicious. "If that was all you meant to con
vey, you had no reason to believe I would prevent it. You need only have asked."

  "If we actually were allies, I wouldn't have had to ask your damned permission at all! This is my ship, you know!" Danielle snapped angrily. Getting abruptly to her feet, she stalked past him and headed to her quarters.

  Her first inkling that he was following her came when she heard his heavy tread behind her. Trying to convince herself that he was simply heading to his own cabin, she gritted her teeth and maintained the speed of her retreat. The skin on her back prickled, however, and it took sheer determination to keep from running when she knew he'd passed the door to his cabin.

  Passing through the door of her own cabin, she turned to look at him at last as she closed the door … virtually in his face. The door opened again before she could breathe a breath of relief and Kiel looked a lot more pissed off when it opened to reveal him filling her doorway. He stepped inside. "We are not allies," he said tightly. "We are mates."

  It was the last thing she'd expected to hear and she felt her jaw go slack with surprise. She was too shocked to move or think as he advanced on her. All she could do was tip her head back and stare at him and that was all instinct, not conscious thought.

  It flickered through her mind that she hadn't told him she had no intentions in that direction. She'd known she needed to talk to him after they'd had sex and explain … what?

  That she'd responded without any thought on the matter at all? That she had been guided purely by instinct and need? That she'd not only completely forgotten that she needed to establish boundaries but she'd also completely forgotten that she'd only considered it at all as a bargaining chip.

  She licked her dry lips. "We need to talk about that," she said faintly.

  He captured the base of her skull in the palm of his hand, dragging her up to meet his descent. "I believe we have discussed it enough."

  Prickling waves of warmth went through her even before he settled his mouth on hers and she felt herself tense all over with expectation. The thrill that went through her when she felt the warmth and pressure of his mouth against her lips totally annihilated all thoughts of any sort of negotiation or discussion. Heat cascaded through her in a tidal wave of sensation. She clutched at him as he deepened the kiss, gliding his tongue across her lips and thrusting it past the weak barrier. A dizzying, completely disorienting darkness cloaked her mind as his taste and scent filled her mouth with the first brush of his tongue along hers and then her lungs and then seemed to send fiery tendrils curling along her nerve endings.