CHAPTER 16

Hoshi stopped shivering eventually, but by then Malcolm had begun to shudder. While her clothes had been uncomfortably clammy, having been dampened by sweat, Malcolm had gotten soaked to the skin in the rain.

"Get closer to the fire," she ordered him. "And take off your outer clothes."

Malcolm looked askance at her where she was nestled in the crook of his arm. She really was very good at issuing orders. No wonder she had done well commanding a ship full of Klingons. "Yes, Captain," he said with a smirk.

She snorted and pulled away from him, leaning over to grab a branch to stir up the blaze that lit the little cave.

"The last thing this baby needs is for his or her father to die from exposure," she said. "Besides, you're making a puddle where you're sitting."

"You're going to use the baby as an excuse to get me to do all sorts of things, aren't you?" Malcolm asked with a smile as took off his holstered disruptor and began to peel off his shirt. "If it's half as strong-willed as its mother, I am going to be in deep trouble."

Hoshi's soft laughter as she poked at the fire was like salve for his battered soul. He had never experienced anything like the relief he had felt when he finally found her, but he was still worried. He didn't know much about women during pregnancy, other than they sometimes suffered wild mood swings and had unusual food cravings.

Hoshi appeared to be all right, but he couldn't help but wonder what effect the ordeal had had on their child. If he was this worried, she had to be doubly so.

He closed his eyes as all the "what ifs" which had been with him the last two days ran through his head. The worst one was if she had been killed. Giving himself a shake that had more to do with his gloomy brooding than the chill from the wet clothing, he banished the morbid thoughts.

There were no more "what ifs." He was with her and she was safe. That's all that mattered.

Hoshi gathered up his discarded shirt and pants, removing F'linu's knife and handgun before wringing out the clothes and placing them near the fire to dry. That task accomplished, she came to sit by him again. He lifted his arm so she could cuddle up next to him, and he felt her relax as she settled herself.

They sat in silence, watching the flames. Between the fire and Hoshi's body heat, Malcolm slowly warmed up, and his shivering began to subside. The feel of her pressed up against him led to other thoughts, and he began to heat up in another way.

He was about to suggest something when Hoshi yawned.

"I'm so tired," she said. "The doctor said I'd be like this the first trimester."

A wave of guilt washed over Malcolm. How could he have been thinking about his desires when he should have been considering her needs? He coaxed her onto his lap and placed her head on his shoulder where he could look down at her.

"You just go to sleep," he said, pushing back a few stray strands of hair from her face. "You've earned it."

She snuggled against him and sighed. She yawned a few more times, and just before she drifted off to sleep, he heard her say softly, "I'm glad you found me. I feel safe now."

His arms tightened protectively around her, and he sat holding her, keeping her safe and warm as she slept.

Trip wasn't sure what woke him -- the pain or the god-awful noise. Keeping his eyes closed, he concentrated on what his other senses were telling him.

Right now, they were telling him his arm hurt like hell. He'd been lucky it was a simple fracture, not a compound one through the skin, but it still hurt. The makeshift splint wasn't too comfortable, either.

He could almost ignore the pain for what sounded like two cats fighting. Hissing, growling, snarling, spitting... It almost sounded like... No, that couldn't be Slanea making some of those noises, could it?

Daring to open one of his eyes a slit, he looked cautiously around the interior of the lean-to. Neither Kleth nor Slanea was inside the shelter with him.

That meant they had to be outside, his pain-hazed mind slowly concluded. And if they were out there with that hellish noise, it had to mean they were fighting some type of horrible beast.

"Hey! Guys?" he yelled, trying to push himself upright with his uninjured arm and only partially succeeding. "Hey! Are you OK?"

All sounds from outside, except the constant patter of the rain, ceased abruptly.

"Kleth?" Trip called out hesitantly. "Slanea?"

He heard a muttered Klingon curse and Kleth's massive form blocked the opening of the lean-to. Trip sighed in relief, falling back to lay flat again.

"Did you kill something out there?" he asked as Kleth, crouching, entered the shelter.

"No," the Klingon replied curtly.

"Well, what the heck was that? Sounded like you were skinnin' a cat alive."

Kleth didn't answer. He made a show of inspecting Trip's injured arm but, despite being careful, he jostled it accidentally.

"Ow! Be careful, would ya! And you're drippin' on me. Do ya mind?"

Kleth stared down at him and growled, water running from his hair and beard down onto his breastplate.

Slanea picked that moment to scurry into the lean-to. She looked more dishelved than earlier, and she was cinching her belt. She and Kleth traded a heated look, and Trip's gaze went from one to the other. He could almost feel the tension in the air.

"You two aren't fightin' again, are ya?" he asked suspiciously, wondering if he was going to have to referee a spat between them.

Two sets of dark Klingon eyes turned to glare at him. "No!" they said in unison.

"O-kaaaay," Trip said, drawing out the second syllable.

He struggled to rise to a sitting position. Slanea leaned over to help him as Kleth sat back on his heels, watching.

"What's the situation?" Trip asked when he was in an upright position.

Kleth and Slanea traded a glance, and Trip could swear he saw Kleth smirk before he answered. There's one Klingon who's been hanging around Malcolm too much, he thought.

"It is still raining, the communicators still cannot break through the interference, and..."

"And?" Trip prodded when the Klingon's voice died away.

"And...Slanea and I have reached an understanding."

"Oh?" Trip's curious gaze shifted to Slanea. He could swear she was blushing, but she met his gaze unflinchingly.

"Yes," she said, and licked her lips.

"Oh!" Trip said again as comprehension dawned.

He closed his eyes in relief and felt the tension begin to leach from his body. Slanea had finally decided she liked Kleth. That was good.

He shivered involuntarily as he sat there, the cold seeping into his bones.

"You need to be warm," Kleth's deep voice said suddenly.

At Kleth's words, Trip had a terrifying vision of being sandwiched naked between two equally naked Klingons, sharing their body heat. And they had just reached an "understanding."

He heaved a great sigh when Kleth continued, "Come, Slanea. We will search for rocks that we can bring back and heat with our disruptors. These conditions don't bother Klingons, but humans are more fragile."

The Klingons crawled out of the lean-to, leaving Trip alone with his thoughts. He carefully eased himself back down, his weariness overpowering. Now, just so long as those two didn't start making that hellacious racket again, he might be able to pass out again and forget about the pain in his arm.

F'linu had been careful to leave a false trail before he doubled back to the cave. He didn't think the two men would follow him until they checked on the human female.

Hoshi. Just the sound of her exotic name, so unlike any Lanari's, was enough to inflame him on a variety of levels. He found her undeniably desirable. He had so been looking forward to having her.

But that was secondary to what she represented for the Lanari Liberation League. If he could take control of her fortune, the LLL would be unstoppable. She probably didn't realize her financial assets were much greater the Lanari government's budget for a whole year. With such a resource, there would be no stopping the LLL. Weapons, equipment, bribes...there was no end to what her money could provide.

Along the way, he'd become the most powerful man on Lanari. Once the LLL took over, someone would have to lead the planet before elections were held -- if they were held at all, he thought to himself with a self-satisfied smile.

But none of that would happen if he didn't get her back.

Who were those two men who had almost caught him? One was a Lanari policeman, judging by the uniform. The other was human, like Hoshi, so perhaps he had some connection to her. Relative? Husband? Lover?

He shook his head, both at the thought and to shake away some of the rain. It didn't matter who the man was. F'linu wouldn't allow a mere off-worlder to thwart his plans.

That he had been relieved of his weapons presented a problem. He would have to be careful, moving only when the time was right. He doubted they would expect him to return to confront them.

A noise ahead alerted him, and he squatted behind some bushes just before the Lanari policeman came into view. F'linu held his breath as the man passed by, several meters away, intent on the false trail.

Only one of the men was tracking him. That meant the other was with her, probably still in the shelter. F'linu waited several minutes before moving again, heading quickly in the direction of the cave. Despite his lack of weapons, he should be able to dispatch the lone human male with her easily.