Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Rykal fought like a whirlwind as Arin held her position, listening carefully for any signs his guard had been breached.
But nobody got past him.
When the dust had settled and the noise had died down, she found the corridor littered with bodies. That was nothing new, considering it was Rykal she was with.
Not a single soldier had been able to reach her. In the end, all Arin had to do was wait.
Rykal returned to her, appearing casual and relaxed, the whole incident barely taxing him.
The terrible truth, as Arin had rightly suspected, was that humans were no match for a First Division warrior.
He didn’t even have weapons on him, and he’d dispatched them so easily.
“I think I’m going to claim this ship in the name of the First Division.
It has weapons, unlike the Arawen. It will do for now. ”
“You can’t just…” claim a Federation surveillance cruiser, Arin was going to say, but she held her tongue. Rykal could. The Kordolians could. They took what they wanted and made no apologies.
“Let us go back to the bridge and try to make contact with my brothers. My comm device was destroyed during the blast, and if they don’t hear from me soon, they might just declare war on humans.” His words sent a chill through Arin, but a half-crooked smile graced his features.
“You shouldn’t joke about things like that,” she grumbled as they reached the bridge. It was still deserted, and even though Rykal had killed a whole squad of guards, the other crew were nowhere to be found.
Perhaps they’d locked themselves in a safe room somewhere. It didn’t matter. Rykal was with her. None of them could touch her.
Arin spotted a comm station and brought up a list of all vessels within range. The Arawen was one of the first on the list.
“Arawen, this is the, uh…” She didn’t know the name of this vessel.
“Silvermist. I hear you and I have your ID, but I don’t see you on my tracking panel. You got cloaking technology activated?” It was Baraka. He paused. “Is that you, Sergeant Varga?”
“It’s me. Long story.” Arin played with the holoscreen settings, but for some reason she couldn’t get their images to appear.
“You have to get me out of—” His frantic voice was cut off abruptly.
“Where is Rykal?” And replaced with a far scarier one. This voice promised terrible things if the answer wasn’t to his satisfaction.
“I’m right here, Kail.” Rykal leaned casually against an instrument panel, a cocky smile playing on his lips. “Been waiting for you for a while now. Did you get lost?”
“Is your comm broken again? We’ve been trying to reach you.” This person called Kail sounded very, very grumpy.
“I ran into a small problem. My comm might’ve gotten a little damaged in the process, but the problem’s been fixed now, and I’ve managed to capture a better ship for you.”
Arin heard a sigh of relief from Baraka.
“What ship?” Suspicion clouded Kail’s hard voice. “We can’t see you on our tracking system.”
Rykal shrugged. “We shouldn’t be too far away. Human vessels can’t travel very fast.”
A bright idea entered Arin’s head. “This vessel has some sort of cloaking on it, and I have no idea how to deactivate it. I’m not a tech-head or a navigator.
The Silvermist won’t be visible on ordinary tracking screens, so why don’t we eject the ship’s escape pods?
They’ll send out an alert to all Federation ships in the vicinity, and you’ll be able to track their trajectory from this exact point. ”
“Sounds feasible,” Baraka muttered.
Kail grunted in assent.
“Well, let’s do it then.” Rykal came up behind Arin, wrapping his arms around her torso, his sneaky hands snaking in between the straps that held her guns in place.
He nuzzled her neck, nipping her gently with his fangs.
“Not that I’m allowing you to get anywhere near the inside of an escape pod again.
Not after what happened last time. Your species are an untrustworthy bunch, my ashika.
” He whispered in her ear, so softly only she would be able to hear him.
Arin shuddered in a good way as Rykal pulled her against him, planting soft kisses along her neck. “They’re still on the comm,” she mouthed silently, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden, even though nobody could see them.
“Kail,” Rykal called, bringing his hands up so that they grazed Arin’s sensitive breasts.
“Yeah?”
“You got that?”
“Yeah.”
“Coming?”
“Yeah. Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime, pretty-boy. I’m tired of chasing your silver ass around this backwater galaxy.”
“Don’t worry, dark one. Barring another gas leak, explosion, Xargek infestation, or missile attack, we’re not going anywhere.”
“Hm.” Kail cut the comm with an irritated grunt.
Arin turned and looked up at Rykal. “He’s a surly one, isn’t he?”
“Kail has his moments,” Rykal said cryptically. “Let’s go down and eject these escape pods of yours, then I believe there are still humans to be found on this vessel.” He tightened his arms, wrapping Arin in a warm embrace. “Even though I just want to stand here and hold you for a while.”
“You can do that afterwards,” Arin murmured, a warm, fuzzy feeling rising up inside her.
She was madly, hopelessly compromised, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.