Starship Lovers [Defense Troopers 2]

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

Faruke could feel the energy of the enemy close by. He knew that he, Valkin, and Greton were ready for anything, but they were surprised not to see any of Marston’s men outside Barron’s house.

“Do you see anything?”

Shaking his head, Faruke replied, “Nothing.”

“Can you guys hear me? This ear thingy better be working.” Marty whispered.

“It’s the top of the line in communications. The guy at the spy shop said so.” Bryton quickly answered in annoyance.

“It’s called Radio Shack, Bryton.” Marty answered back.

“No, I didn’t go to Radio Shack. There’s a military and security shop that just opened up in the mall. I went there.”

“Holy crap! Seriously? How did I not know that? I bet the guys in there are hot.” Marty said with a laugh.

“Oh yes they are… not that I took the time to notice or anything with my hunka love by my side, but had I still been single… oh yeah. However, I got these cool communicators and some other fun toys.”

“I may have to go and thank them for the toys when this is over. It’s not like I’m tied down at the moment.” Marty spoke with meaning.

Faruke felt the rumble in his throat, but couldn’t stop it from coming out if he tried, “Can we cut the chatter? I don’t want Marston and his men aware of our being here with you.”

“I’m ready to go in.” Marty said with a tremor in his voice.

Faruke hissed, “You don’t have to do this, Marty. You can back out now. No one will look badly on you for not wanting to go in there.”

“I’m not going to lie, Faruke. I’m scared shitless, but I can’t leave Barron in there alone. Shen is with me, I’ll be okay. It’s just a little nerve-wracking that I’m going into the lion’s den knowing they are very hungry.” Marty responded, sounding a little less shaky than before.

“I still think I should be the one in there with you.” Faruke grumbled.

Bryton snickered, “I bet it’s driving you nuts that Shen got into Marty’s pants before you.”

“Shut up, Bry. We all agreed it was best if he shifted into a cell phone. Its how you guys can listen in and not be found out, and also to have one of you close enough but not detectable by the other side.” Marty stated.

“I know Marty, but I think Faruke still has issue with another guy so close to your ass.” Bryton replied.

Faruke looked at Valkin and he could see his best friend knew. He knew what Marty was to him and had told Bryton.

Valkin shook his head, “Nope, Bryton told me.”

“How could he know?” Faruke asked in disbelief.

“Because contrary to your pea-head mind, I am not stupid.” Bryton stated with confidence.

“I do not have a pea-head mind.” Faruke argued.

Bryton snorted, “Then why haven’t you told him? Marty has a right to know.”

“Know what?” Marty asked.

“Come on Marty, you are too smart not to know what we’re talking about.” Bryton stated.

Marty hissed, “Now is not the time to be bringing this s**t up. When Faruke wants to talk, I will listen, but right now can we focus on getting Barron and me out of this s**t alive, please?”

“I’m not touching his ass. Marty didn’t want to say anything, but we came up with a better plan.” Shen stated through the mind link which all the Defense Troopers had.

“What the hell does Shen mean you guys came up with another plan? What plan? Marty!”

Valkin snapped.

“Trust me, I had my reasons. Bryton, you and Trek need to focus on the capacitator. If s**t goes down, I want to make sure we all get out of it and get home alive.”

“Yes, dad. Although you guys could have picked a better place for us to set up. It smells like s**t down here.” Bryton complained.

“It’s a sewer, Bry, it is supposed to smell like s**t. Now shut up and focus.” Marty hissed.

Faruke smiled and turned to Valkin, whispering offline, “That’s my Solomente.”

Valkin laughed, “I know. It seems we both are going to have our hands full.”

Faruke watched as his mate walked to the front door of Barron’s house, “I don’t know, Valkin.

I’m not an easy man to be with.”

“Faruke, a Solomente is a gift from the Gods themselves. He is chosen because he can complete you in every way. Marty can help you calm your anger.” Valkin gently said.

Shaking his head, Faruke said, “No one can accomplish the impossible, Valkin.”

“Hey, are you there? What’s going on, is something wrong with communications?” Marty asked in a panic, stopping Faruke and Valkin’s conversation.

Faruke hit the communicator button, “We’re here, Marty.”

Marty let out an audible sigh, “Damn, you guys scared me. I’m ringing the bell now.”

“Shen, make sure we have eyes.” Valkin ordered.

“As soon as I can.” Shen replied.

Marty rang the bell whispering, “Here goes nothing.”

Faruke could hear the door opening and the nervous voice of the man answering it. “Hey Marty, thank you for coming so quickly. I hope you didn’t have any trouble getting here.”

“Not a problem. I got your message loud and clear and I’m here to help get you out of this mess with the defense department.”

“Thank God! I’m about to die here. Come in.” Barron said with a slight tremor.

Faruke could tell the man was scared. His voice was shaky, and he sounded relieved as hell to have Marty there and the man understood that Marty had received his message loud and clear.

“Where do I set up?” Marty asked.

“Holy s**t, Marty. Is that an Elite 840? Damn dude nice!” Barron said with excitement.

“Yeah, you know us black hat nerds would give anything to have one. Dad got it for my

birthday.” Marty replied.

“I thought your birthday was next week?” Barron said in confusion.

Marty stammered, “Uh… well… uh… yeah… yeah it is. He just got overexcited and wanted to

give it to me as soon as possible.”

“Can I have a look?” Barron asked, sounding like he clapped his hands in anticipation.

“Um… yeah… uh…” Marty stammered, then pulled his s**t together, “How about we do what

you asked me to come here for and then you can have at it?”

“Yes, why don’t we?” Marston asked with an ominous tone to his voice.

Faruke hissed, “f**k, Marty was right.”

Valkin turned to him, “Did you doubt your Solomente?”

Shaking his head, Faruke replied, “No, I just hoped he was wrong.”

“What the hell? Barron what the f**k are you doing with this asshole?” Marty gasped, sounding genuinely surprised.

“I’m sorry, Marty. He was going to kill me if I didn’t fix is capacitator thingy and I knew you could do it.” Barron answered, sounding scared as f**k.

“Oh, I know he can. He was nice enough to fix my brother’s.” Marston spoke with a deceptive sweetness.

Marty scoffed, “What the f**k makes you think I’m willing to help your dumb ass?”

“Because if you don’t, your friend and then you will die.” Marston snarled.

“f**k you, d**k lick.” Marty said in a scathing tone.

Faruke just about became unglued when he heard the hard smack of skin meeting skin. Valkin held him back from rushing into the house, hissing, “You go in there and your mate will die.

Stand down and wait. Marty will give us the code if he needs us.”

“Would you if this was Bryton?” Faruke asked.

Sighing, Valkin said, “I know I would want to, but I also know I would need to trust that my Solomente knew what he was doing. Without trust in each other, your mating will never work, Faruke. Just give him a bit more time and let’s see what happens. Shen is with him, take some solace in that as well.”

“You can smack me around all you like, Marston, but I’m not a dumb ass, I know you are going to kill us either way.” Marty hissed.

“The question is, are you going to die quick and painlessly or are you going to die so slow you beg for death?” Marston asked.

Faruke could hear movement and then a voice cries out in pain. Marty quickly shouted, “Stop!

Stop! I’ll f*****g do it. However, I’m going to need Barron’s help.”

“You’ve already fixed one, why do you need Barron?” Marston angrily asked.

“Because when I fixed Valkin’s I had help from Trek and since he isn’t here to help me out, I will need Barron instead. Now do you want this f*****g thing fixed or not?” Marty growled.

Faruke could tell Marty was moving around and was glad when his face finally came onscreen.

He surprised Faruke when he pulled out a pair of glasses.

Barron limped to the computer, “When did you start…”

“Barron, we can catch up when we’re done here, okay? Focus on the job. This isn’t a spy movie, it’s real life on tv.” Marty interrupted.

Barron looked at Marty, first in confusion and then understanding. “Yeah, the job. What can I do to help?”

Marty lifted his glasses and Bryton said, “Okay, we have visual people. Now show us what

we’re up against, my friend.”

Faruke watched the screen on his watchband and could see Marston standing there with a Glock, for a hand, pointing at his Solomente. Marty continued to turn and show him everyone in the room and where they stood as he said, “I can’t work with everyone staring at me.”

Artemis stood next to Barron, his hand had shifted into a six-inch blade knife dripping with blood. Faruke about s**t himself, until Marty looked down, showing them the bloody pant leg on Barron. He was silently telling them that Barron was injured and would have difficulty running.

It also explained the limp he had seen a few moments ago.

Valkin used his mental communication, “Shen, when this goes down, you get Barron the hell out of there. His leg looks pretty bad. I don’t know how fast he’ll be able to move on his own.”

“Yes sir.” Shen quickly replied.

“What are you doing?” Marston snapped.

“You want this damn capacitator fixed, I need to look at my notes from when Trek and I fixed theirs.” Marty replied.

Barron whispered, “What the hell is this capacitor thingy, Marty?”

Marty looked around, “I need some tools.”

“What do you need?” Barron asked.

“For now, I need a number two Phillips head screwdriver and if you can get your computer

toolkit I’d appreciate it.”

“Sure.” Barron went to go and fetch it and Artemis stepped in front of him, putting the knife to Barron’s throat.

Marty snapped, “If you want this f*****g thing fixed I need tools. Now move aside or f*****g kill us now, because we can’t do s**t unless we can look inside this damn thing.”

Marston nodded, “Go with him. If he tries any funny s**t, kill him.”

Barron pulled open a drawer and handed Marty the screwdriver he asked for. Marty started

taking apart the Battle Capacitator not saying a word. However, he would look up and turn to show them, the layout of the place.

“Okay, got the layout of Barron’s house pulled up.” Bryton said.

“Good job, lover.” Valkin said.

“Oh, Beast Man, I wish I could take the credit, but I know s**t about computers. Marty pulled these up before he left for Barron’s place.” Bryton replied.

Faruke sighed, “Can we just get the layout please.”

“Ahh, you’re learning manners. How sweet.” Bryton said.

“Bryton, send the layout.” Trek said as a skirmish came over the commlinks, “Ouch damn it don’t hit me.”

“Then don’t touch my buttons. I’m going to… stop touching my shit.” Bryton snapped as

another smack could be heard.

Faruke felt his patience running out, “One of you send the f*****g layout or I’m going to go over there and kick both your asses.”

Loud taps could be heard as Bryton said, “God, you are so impatient.”

“You’d think you would want to get Marty out of there as badly as I do.” Faruke hissed.

“I do, Asshat. I hate that my best friend and brother of my heart is in the same breathing space as that lunatic. You handle stress your way and let me handle my stress my way. Remember,

fucktard, I have known Marty a hell of a lot longer than you. If anything happens to him… if he…” Bryton sniffled and hiccupped before rasping, “I can’t think about it. I just can’t.”

Faruke could hear the hurt, fear, and pain in the man’s voice and knew that he was just as scared for Marty as he was. Feeling like an ass, Faruke said, “I hear what you’re saying. We are going to get him out of there.”

“Faruke, look at this. There isn’t much room to hide in this place. How the hell are we going to get inside without them seeing us?” Valkin asked in concern.

Tapping on a button, the layout went into three dimensional in front of Faruke and Valkin.

Valkin pointed at the door Marty had walked in, saying, “He walked right into the living room and straight ahead is the kitchen.”

Faruke pointed to another room to the right, “That’s the utility room and there seems to be a door going into it and one in the kitchen. The big problem is there are no exit doors in the three bedrooms that are off the hallway to the right.”

“From what Marty is showing us, he’s in the kitchen at the table right now and that makes entrance from there a no go.” Valkin stated.

Nodding in agreement, Faruke replied, “And I’d be afraid they might hear us if we go through the utility room.”

“The bedrooms look like they have some really large windows.” Trek said.

“Yes, but they are so close to the living room and kitchen we would be heard immediately.”

Valkin muttered.

“Hey guys, did you see the crawlspace under the house? It goes into a small room where the heater is located.” Bryton said.

“There’s no way we can fit inside that tiny room.” Corbal muttered.

Bryton hissed, “Well we need to figure something out here, damn it. Marty can only stall these shits for so long.”

“The house is so damn small and if we try to go in, one of them could be hurt.” Valkin said with deep concern, then murmured, “I don’t know.”

“When the time is right, I shift, Marty gets his friend out of here and you guys come in.” Shen suggested.

“I have an idea!” Bryton shouted, causing Faruke and the others to hiss in pain.

“Love, talk softer please or I won’t be able to hear those beautiful sounds you make as we make love and you know how much I love to hear your cries of pleasure.” Valkin said with a soft seductive tone.

Faruke turned his head slowly to his friend and leader, “This is not the time and I don’t know about the others, but I really don’t want to hear that.”

Valkin smiled and wiggled his brows. “You’ll know soon enough.”

“Beast Man, as much as I love our time together, we need to focus.” Bryton said through the commlink.

“What’s your idea, Bryton?” Faruke asked.