Chapter 5 #2
A planet I can never leave again. And I’ve been restless ever since I left the military.
Traveling to new worlds and systems sometimes quiets my head.
Sometimes. With a job as a mechanic on a long-haul space-freighter, I’ve seen a lot of places.
Nothing has felt even close to home…not even the ship I’m on now.
Sometimes I don’t feel as if I have a place anywhere.
One thing’s for sure, though—if I had to pick a new homeworld, this sure as shit wouldn’t be it.
Farli snuggles closer to me, tucking her head against my neck and sighing happily. And I feel like an ass for my dark thoughts.
“You need to get this thing out of my med bay,” Niri says, her voice pleasant despite her words.
“It shit all over the floor twice this morning.” She’s speaking our native language so Farli can’t understand her, pretending to be busy on her med pad.
“Not sure why you tried to save it anyhow. Do you know how much I spent on clinic supplies for this thing overnight?”
“Don’t care. Take it out of my check. And speak Farli’s language so she can understand us.
” I keep my arms crossed over my chest, trying to look as menacing as possible to shut her up.
It’s not that I dislike Niri—she’s the closest thing I have to a friend on The Tranquil Lady.
But I remember dinner yesterday vividly, and while she didn’t exactly mock Farli… she didn’t defend her, either.
Farli. I look over at her. She’s wearing Niri’s jumper again today, her own furry boots covering her feet.
Her hair is loose around her shoulders, and her face is wreathed in smiles as her ugly, smelly pet licks her face happily.
She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and as I watch her hungrily, she glances over at me.
Most women would blush or play coy. Farli simply gives me an equally heated look that tells me she’s still thinking about last night.
And I’m the one that blushes, my ears growing hot.
“You’re grumpy this morning,” Niri comments. It’s in Farli’s language, so at least I don’t have to growl at her over that. “Not sleep well?”
“Slept fine.”
“Then it must be something else.” She gives me a meaningful look and then turns her head, exaggeratingly peering over at Farli. “Something like that?”
“Leave it alone, Niri.” The old woman doesn’t have family to fuss over, so I’m her project.
Usually I don’t mind, but today it irks me.
Maybe because I’m still thinking about last night and the conversation about khuis and mating and being stuck here on this planet forever.
I can’t imagine. Every time my brain starts to go in that direction, I think of the ship taking off and leaving me behind on the surface…
and my brain goes to another time, on a jungle planet, when I was left behind with my unit in hostile territory…
I shudder, then fling myself off the wall, trying to shake off the memories.
Farli turns back to her pet and leans in, hugging his neck. “Are you hungry, Chahm-pee?” She pulls a root out of her bag and waves it under his nose. “I saved this for you.”
The thing takes a shit even as its little tail flips back and forth happily, and Niri makes a strangled noise.
“Can’t do anything about it,” I tell Niri, biting back the laugh that rises in my throat.
“Captain wants Farli to stick around until he has time to chat with her. That means her pet stays, too.” I woke up to a message on my com from the captain, and I’d expected it to be an ass-reaming about fraternization.
It wasn’t, though—just a command not to let our ‘guest’ go until he’d had a chance to quiz her further.
I should be annoyed that he thinks I’m her keeper—I’m not one for being social, after all.
But it seems right that I be the one to stay at Farli’s side.
I sure don’t want Trakan hovering around her, and it’s clear that Niri’s short allotment of patience has already been exhausted.
And…Farli’s mine. The thought of anyone else even touching a hair on her head fills me with wordless rage.
I didn’t resonate to you.
Not yet.
I watch Farli and her pet for a moment, thinking. “The creature’s healthy?” I ask Niri.
“As if he’d never been wounded,” she says grumpily. “Minus some singed hair on his flank and a stink that’s going to take forever to get out of med bay.”
“What about his…symbiont? His parasite?” I tap my chest, indicating my heart. “You left it in?”
Niri’s thick brows draw together. “At her request, yes. Why?”
“What can you tell me about it?”
She shrugs. “I didn’t really pay too much attention to it. You know, I was busy with, oh, saving my four-legged patient.”
“Can you do some analyzing on it this morning? Now?”
She tucks away her stylus on her med pad and then moves toward me. “What are you getting at?” She keeps her voice low.
I want to know about resonance. I want to know if a khui can be removed. But Niri’s not stupid. She’ll want to know why I’m asking these things. So I shrug. “Just curious about how the biology works, that’s all.”
“Mmhmm. Since you’re such a big biology fan,” she says, sarcasm lacing her voice. “But tell you what. How about I do a medical check-up on her just to make sure everything’s in working order?”
“That’d be great.”
When I don’t offer more than that, she shrugs and heads toward Farli. “Hey there. Mind if I run a few tests on you just to compare how your symbiont has affected your body processes compared to ours? It’s for my records.”
Farli looks at me, uncertainty on her face. I give her a nod, and she smiles at Niri. “All right.”
I settle back against the wall, watching the two women as Niri directs Farli to sit on the med table. After a moment, Niri turns and glances over at me. “You can go at any time.”
“Oh no, I would like for him to stay,” Farli says.
“I’m going to need you to take your top off for at least one scan,” Niri tells her. When Farli continues to look unbothered, Niri shoots me another look.
I get up and head for the door. “I need to work on the engine anyhow. Didn’t finish up yesterday, and something tells me the captain will be wanting to head out soon.”
“You are leaving?” There’s a note of panic in Farli’s voice.
“I’ll just be outside, I promise. You’re safe in here with Niri. If you need me, I’m very close by.” She bites her lip, and another fierce surge of protectiveness rises in me. “I’m not going anywhere, Farli.”
“All right.” Her mouth curves into a small smile, and she starts to purr again.
Now that I know what that purring means, it makes me react a hell of a lot differently than before.
My cock grows hard, remembering her open-mouthed kisses and her naked body rubbing up against me last night.
“I’d better suit up,” I say gruffly, and head out of med bay before anyone can notice how affected I am by Farli’s presence.
Working on the engine allows my mind to focus on something other than Farli.
It’s still keffing cold outside, but since I’m expecting it, it doesn’t feel as blisteringly awful as before.
I know to suit up in advance, and as I work, I check to make sure no other ‘natives’ show up to say hello.
The leak’s an easy fix once I find the leaky hose, and then it’s just a matter of patching it, replacing corroded parts, and then piecing everything back together again.
I head back onto the bridge, start the drives, and run diagnostics.
Everything’s good. Actually, everything’s running even better than before, which is nice.
Shows I’m not a total keffing disaster at this job.
The captain must have noticed the shiver of the engines. My incoming call light flicks, and I tap the button to answer it. “Mardok here.”
“How are we looking, Vendasi?”
“Problem’s fixed, Captain.” I study the diagnostic scrolling across my screen. “Parts have been replaced and everything’s running smooth. Looks like we’re good to resume our journey at any time.”
“Excellent.” I think that’s the end of it, but then a moment later, he adds, “Come to my chambers, would you please, Vendasi? Thank you.”
My mood goes from bad to worse. I have a feeling that whatever the captain’s going to say, I’m not going to want to hear.
“Be right there.” I head through the winding passages of the ship, my thoughts dark as I try to imagine what the captain’s going to say.
He’s going to insist Farli fly back with us, despite the fact that Farli seems to have no inclination to leave her wintry planet.
He’s going to suggest all of her people fly back.
He’s going to decide that’s a bad idea and we take off without even attempting to rescue Farli and her people.
None of these thoughts sit well in my gut.
Farli seems happy, but what if the others want to leave?
What if the captain won’t take them with us?
I don’t like how wary both he and Trakan have been about finding Farli here.
I can’t help but feel like they’re up to something and I’m out of the loop.
If I had to choose between Farli and my crew…
I’d choose Farli. The answer is instant, but I know it’s the right one.
I’ve been with the crew of The Tranquil Lady for four years now, but we’re not close. We’re all here because we’re loners.
And in the space of a day, Farli has crashed through all my walls and made me think about a life outside of this cold, unfeeling ship. Made me wonder what it’d be like to have someone like her to come home to.
I knock on the captain’s door, burying these thoughts. Chatav isn’t a warm man, but he’s fair. I need to listen to him with an open mind.