Chapter 18 #2
“I was already doing that,” Maksym assured her with a wink.
“Funny—I thought that was what Roderick was doing.”
“I let him bear the brunt of their displeasure. Don’t worry. I was prepared to step in if needed.”
Kira hummed, uncertain of how much of Maksym’s words to believe. The oshota was a brilliant warrior. Though a tad lazy on occasion. He might have intervened eventually but only in terms of how much trouble he could stir up.
“Are you able to get a message out to Harlow?” Kira asked, lowering her voice.
Her uncle wouldn’t have sent her on a mission like this without some means of keeping tabs. She was betting Maksym was his eyes and ears.
Maksym gave her a closemouthed smile that would have felt threatening coming from anyone else. “Already sent. It’ll take a few days before it arrives.”
Kira released a shaky breath. “That’s good.”
That way if they really did die in a fiery explosion, Harlow would at least have all the information Kira and the others had gathered.
“You’re doing a good job, little heir. Don’t let them make you doubt that,” Maksym assured her.
He fell back, leaving her to continue toward the ship with Finn.
“He’s right. You’re doing well,” Finn volunteered.
He knew she had some hangups when it came to command. She’d prefer to only be in charge of herself and Jin, but fate kept pushing her in a different direction.
“I just hope I don’t get us all killed,” Kira said, staring at the ship.
Having the deaths of one set of friends on her hands was more than enough.
Silver lining—at least this time, it was unlikely she’d survive if the ship actually exploded.
“How did they live like this?” Kira muttered to herself as she walked through the ship’s cramped and narrow corridors.
There was an underlying odor of unwashed bodies and a smell that was very close to sewage. The floor was tacky under Kira’s boots as she followed the sound of clanging.
“Nasty,” she spat, examining the suspicious stains on a couple of the walls.
She didn’t get claustrophobic easily, but this ship had her feeling like the walls were closing in around her.
Everything needed to be sanitized. Unfortunately, she doubted there was enough water in its tanks to make even a dent.
Dylan nodded a greeting as Kira approached.
She acknowledged his welcome before directing her gaze to the hole in the floor. Raider stood hip deep in it, looking down at something Kira couldn’t see.
“How’s it going?” Kira asked.
Raider dodged the wrench thrust at him from below and set it into the confusing mess of a toolbox next to him. “Did you know that this ship’s engine room is a crawl space?”
“I can’t say that I’m familiar with this class of ship.”
“Blow torch,” Jin called from below.
“Too bad. We don’t have one of those.” Raider looked back up at Kira, opening his mouth to address her before he frowned and seemed to think about what Jin said. “Why do you need a blow torch? You told me you were just rewiring a couple of the engine systems.”
“Just a little house keeping. Nothing to worry about.”
“Tin Can,” Raider growled.
“A patch here. A patch there. We’ll be fine.”
“No! No patching!”
“Sounds like things are going well then,” Kira said.
“Is that Kira?”
There was a clatter and then an oomph before an ow. Raider grimaced as Jin shoved him to the side so he could stick his head out of the hole.
“Nixxy! What the hell did you get us into?”
Despite his words, Jin looked more alive than he had in weeks.
“You seem to be enjoying yourself,” Kira observed.
Jin offered her a crooked grin. “It feels nice to get back to something familiar. Even if these things slow me down.”
He held up his hands for her to see.
“We going to be ready soon?”
“Just about. I took a look at the records. We were right. Its signature has it out of Titan which is less than a week from here. Good thing too. I don’t trust this ship to hold together longer than that.”
“Neither do I,” Kira murmured with a glance around.
Jin planted his hands on the floor and attempted to hop out of the hole. Frustration grew on his face after several failed attempts. “Will one of you help me?”
Raider snagged Jin under the arms and lifted him out. “There you go, short stuff.”
Jin fussed with his clothes. “As I was saying, we’re ready to get underway when you are.”
Raider’s exit was far more graceful than Jin’s had been. He grabbed the grate lying nearby and pulled it over the opening to prevent any unnecessary accidents. “I’ll notify the rest.”
Kira moved aside to let Raider out of the narrow space before looking at Jin. “How are you doing with everything?”
“I’m managing. I don’t know what else to say.”
“Keep it up. One foot in front of the other. It will get easier.”
She had to believe that or the guilt of dragging him back to life would eat her alive.
“I think I need a hobby. One that doesn’t involve my spawn,” Jin mused.
“That sounds like a good idea.”
Something interesting that also wouldn’t lead to galactic domination. Maybe knitting or pottery or something along those lines.
“At least one thing hasn’t changed.” Jin slid his hand into Kira’s, looking up at her with an expression that tugged at her heart strings. “I have you.”
“Yes, you do. Always.”
Everything else might change—but not that.
Graydon
Blood splattered Graydon’s face and armor as he wrenched his en-blade out of the human’s shoulder. The man collapsed with a pained cry. He landed knees first in a puddle of his companions’ blood. The liquid soaked into the coarse fabric of his pants, staining them red.
The addition was an improvement.
The human was unkempt and dirty looking, his body odor suggesting he hadn’t seen the right side of a shower in many weeks.
The smell stung Graydon’s nostrils, making him yearn to be back on his ship, breathing clean air.
Not this recycled crap that was being pumped through the air vents of the asteroid based hideout.
“As I was saying before you and your friends so rudely attacked me, answer my questions and I’ll let you live,” Graydon ordered.
He’d made the same offer to every human in this and the previous hideout he and his people had tracked Ta Sa’Riel’s attackers to.
Funny thing was—no one seemed willing to listen. They always attacked first. Not even waiting for Graydon to finish before launching themselves at him. It had led to a very high body count.
Unfortunately, the dead couldn’t answer questions, leaving Graydon in something of a bind.
This was the first human Graydon had managed to keep alive long enough to even think of questioning.
“Are all humans this fragile?” Kashori’s heir asked the two guards flanking her. “I was under the impression they were hardier than this.”
“That’s because you’re used to a different standard of human.
Raider and his ilk can’t be compared to the likes of these.
They received personal training from my dearest sister and it shows.
Even I can’t help but admire their tenacity sometimes.
” Pallas was slow and methodical as he cleaned his sword, ridding the metal of all traces of the blood staining it.
He looked down and nudged the dead human next to his boot and sneered.
“Though, you’re right, these specimens are somewhat lacking when compared to the rest of their species. ”
“You sound like our former masters. I thought we’d discussed this,” Alexander murmured.
The Tuann’s posture was extremely upright.
Not a hair out of place or a speck of blood on him.
Even his glasses helped present an appearance of scholarly tidiness despite the fact that Graydon had just witnessed him walk through a squad of armed humans and dispatch them with barely the flicker of an eyelash.
He was the interim lord of Asanth’s opposite. Who even now was covered in blood from head to toe.
There was an ease in Rhett’s features. A calm and peace that came from killing. The aggression that had begun creeping up on him during their voyage finally settling.
The fact the two derived from the same House was simply remarkable.
Honestly, Pallas seemed more suited to their ranks than Alexander.
At first glance anyway.
Graydon had glimpsed Asanth’s same cruelty and rage in Alexander in unguarded moments. He didn’t know why the other made a habit of suppressing those darker inclinations, but he suspected it had something to do with the way he grew up.
“Our youngest sister isn’t here to judge. There’s no reason to pretend. We both know you loathe humans almost as much as I do,” Pallas drawled with a glance at Alexander.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Alexander responded in a neutral tone.
“Sure, you don’t. That’s why you refused your first posting and instead wormed your way into the Haldeel’s good graces.”
This time Alexander didn’t respond to Pallas’s barb, not even looking at him as he met Graydon’s eyes.
Graydon arched an eyebrow. “You two done?”
Because he had more important things to focus on.
Alexander’s face was blank while Pallas smirked, making an imperious gesture to go ahead.
Graydon squatted in front of the human. “Now, where were we?”
The human sobbed. “I don’t know anything, man. You have to believe me.”
His face was a mess. Covered in snot and tears. Everything mixed together until you didn’t know what was what.
It was disgusting.
Did the man have no pride? The least he could do was meet the situation with dignity and composure.
He really was nothing like Raider, Jace or others Graydon had met.
“Three days ago, a ship came through here. It docked in your bay and stayed for eight hours. Why?” Graydon asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know.”
It was the same answer he’d given the last two times Graydon had asked.
“He may really not know,” Alexander offered. “His appearance suggests he wasn’t high up in the ranks.”