Deus
With the Ntahal in the hold, and with a vague grip on how to pilot their ship, I believe I’m heading in the direction of Vorostor. I can, at least, read a star map, and the Ntahal are well supplied when it comes to their tech.
But I’ve never been a good pilot, which means if I encounter anything hostile, this is going to be an interesting journey.
I have been able to obtain the co-ordinates of the small moon circling a large gas giant where the Ulep have their base.
For the time being, while I could destroy them, I need to be sure my Lydia isn’t in danger before returning. The Ulep will pay for everything they have done to the Sarkarnii. I will be sure of that.
The extraction of my mating mix has done nothing to assuage my desire to be with my mate. I need Lydia like I need my blood, bones, and shift. She is the center of my universe.
And speaking of my shift. I’m having a hard time containing it. Since the collar was removed, my wings and tail have been fully in evidence with no desire to leave me in my biped form. The tail is manageable, but the wings keep getting caught on things.
However, as I’m feeling a constant need to become my full Sarkarnii, and it is something I need to resist. I can only just about fly this thing as it is. As a Sarkarnii, I’d crush the controls before I was able to maneuver them.
Smoke clouds my vision for an instant before clearing. Ahead of me are a cohort of ships, a collection of all different ones which can only mean one thing.
“Darax,” I growl under my breath before I start the search for the comm.
My brother will certainly shoot first and ask questions later, and as this is the first ship I’ve pirated in a long time, I’d like to keep it.
Presumably he’s thinking the same thing, given I’m in a Ntahal ship, and I can’t imagine the nevver has come looking for me.
“Where is the nevving comm?” I snarl out loud.
If he disables the ship, I will not be happy. And I know how Darax operates.
Finally, a light appears on a console, and I stab at it with a claw.
“Is that you, you nevver?” I roar into the comm. “If you nevving shoot this ship, I won’t attempt your death with a spoon. I’ll use a bucket.”
There’s a silence which seems far too long. Ahead of me, I see the pulsar cannons trained on my ship, poised for the kill.
Darax could shoot me for the fun of it. And he probably would.
The silence drags on. I search the various consoles for weapons, but there are none. Presumably the Ntahal ship felt they weren’t necessary.
Which, in this galaxy, seems rather reckless.
“Deus?”
The voice which echoes around the empty bridge is like nectar. It is the most perfect thing I have ever heard.
“Lydia.”
Her name on my lips seems strange. For all the time I was with the Ulep, there was a part of me which thought she might be gone.
Because I drive mates away, either to the ancestors or into the hands of my enemies.
But Lydia is not with my enemies, nor is she with my ancestors. Instead she is with my brother. Which is a whole other thing I will need to deal with in time.
“Why are you in a Ntahal ship?” Darax says through the comm.
I release a large growl.
“I took it from them. They attempted to purchase me from the Ulep, and now they are locked in their own hold.”
Typical Darax, still suspicious.
“Stay where you are. We’re going to board you.”
“I’m coming to you, nevver,” I reply. “Stay where you are.”
“Can you both stop this?” Lydia says through the comm. “Pick one and get on with it.”
There’s a strain in her voice I can hear, and I dislike it very much.
“Board me,” I snap at Darax.
The nevver takes his time, his flagship coming alongside me and one of his pilots shouting instructions, which I ignore.
Eventually, I hear the hiss of the airlock, and I wait. My wings and tail are going nowhere, and neither am I until I have my Lydia in my arms again.
The door rolls open, and she races through, stopping on the empty bridge and looking around wildly.
It’s then I have her, buried against my scales, her face wet, her arms around my neck as I attempt to kiss her over and over, but she is kissing me and our kisses meet, finally, so I can luxuriate in having her and only her close to me.
I inhale deeply, sucking her scent into me like I might never scent her again. Because I might not, and I don’t ever want to forget her.
“I was beginning to think we’d never find you,” she says when I release her a tiny bit.
“I was coming home.” I rub my chin over her hair, trying to get as much of my scent on her and hers on me as I can. “I would never leave you, my mate.”
Behind me, I hear Darax snort.
“I was told the Ulep had been routed from our galaxy,” I say, without turning around. “But the one who took me, who experimented on me and then attempted to sell me to the Ntahal, was very much here. And not concerned about our presence at all.”
“An Ulep took you?”
“One who clearly had all the access it needed to Vorostor,” I growl. “And given I was the one they took, I’m not the one who gave them access.”
I turn to face Darax, not releasing my Lydia. I don’t think my body would let me. My wings enclose her, my tail is wrapped around her ankle.
“So who did?” Darax snarls.
“It would appear,” Lydia says. “There is a traitor on Vorostor, but it isn’t, and has never been, Deus.”
“So who is it?” My brother says.
“It’s time to go back to our planet,” I respond. “It’s time to unmask the betrayer. And once that’s done, I am coming back to render the Ulep base into its component parts and those parts to mere puddles of what they once were.”