Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Colm was barely holding on to his sanity.
His nanami were screaming through his body, crazed. His senses were fully expanded. He could hear every noise the pirates were making, even the rush of blood in their veins, and it was driving him mad.
No. He had to stay conscious. Stay sane. He had to protect Honor.
Protect his mate.
He closed his eyes. It felt so right. She made his nanami sing. She made him feel whole and powerful.
He opened his eyes. His gaze fell on the droid and he saw it pause. It moved toward a narrow tunnel entrance ahead. The pirates stopped at the entrance, murmuring among themselves.
Alara nodded her head. “Shank. You go first.”
One tall pirate with long hair halfway down his back squeezed inside. He had to turn sideways to fit. The droid floated in behind him.
One of the pirates nudged Honor to go next, and she slipped inside. Colm pushed forward to go in so he wouldn’t be too far away from her. He also turned sideways, and for him, it was a very tight fit. The ice scratched along his skin.
They moved along the narrow space, the pirates’ lights flashing through the dark tunnel. Then Colm bumped into Honor. She’d stopped.
She was staring at the wall beside them.
Artifacts hung, encased in ice.
“Ooo, lookee here.” Alara jostled forward. “Cut ’em out of there.”
Colm and Honor were shoved farther down the tunnel so the pirates with laser cutters could get in close to the artifacts.
It didn’t take them long to cut them out.
“Junk.” One pirate tossed an ancient artifact—what looked like a ceramic plate—over his shoulder, and it hit the ice, shattering into pieces.
“Crap.” Another one threw what looked like an item of clothing behind her.
“This stuff might not be valuable, but we’re getting close,” Alara said. “There’s treasure here. Keep moving.”
They came out of the narrow tunnel into a large cavern. Here, the walls were mostly white, and the ground was uneven, churned-up ice. Colm stared at it. It didn’t look quite right.
Ahead, the group of pirates moved forward, crossing the space.
Colm and Honor followed at a slower pace. A second later, he heard a quiet creak from above.
“What is it?” she whispered.
“I’m not sure…”
The next instant, a huge hunk of ice slammed down from the roof and shattered across the floor ahead of them. The pirates started shouting.
More hunks of ice of all sizes rained down.
“Cave-in!” someone shouted.
As the pirates scattered in all directions, Colm grabbed Honor’s arm. They ran, ice hammering down around them.
As a sizable slab of ice smashed into his shoulder, Colm grunted. He pulled her in close, shielding her with his body.
Two steps ahead of them, a massive hunk of ice—the size of a hargon beast—slammed down right on top of a pirate.
Colm pivoted at the last second, his feet sliding out from under him. He held Honor tight against his chest as they skidded across the icy floor. As they hit the wall, he turned, covering her body with his own.
The ice continued to rain down for several minutes, and then, it stopped.
Slowly, he raised his head. Honor did the same.
She smiled at him. “Thanks.”
From nearby, Alara was coughing. “Fuck me.” Then the pirate leader went still, her gaze on the far wall. “By a space whore’s fat ass.”
He followed Alara’s gaze and saw that the ice fall had cracked the wall ahead.
Nestled in an exposed cavity was the wreck of a starship.
For a second, he felt quiet amazement. This was the ship of people who’d come along with the First Warriors. His ancestors.
The pirates had forgotten Colm and Honor. As a group, they climbed up and crawled into the hole, closer to the wreck.
“Nik will go nuts for this,” Honor said quietly, her face grim. “We need to find a way to keep these scavengers off it.”
Colm agreed. The ancient travelers who’d died on this ship hadn’t made it to Markaria, but they were inextricably linked to the First Warriors. He felt he owed it to them, and their memory.
“Ideas?” he asked.
“They’re down to five.” She scowled at the droid. It was hovering silently off to the side. “The syndroid is the wildcard. There’s no telling what kind of weapons it has.”
“I can destroy it,” he said darkly.
She grabbed him. “You’re not impervious to heavy lasers or explosives. Don’t underestimate it.”
He lifted a hand and touched her cheek. “It is my duty to protect you.”
“Well, you’ll have to settle for us protecting each other.”
“Hey?” Alara’s voice interrupted them. “You two get in here and look around this ship. If more ice falls, it can fall on you.”
The pirate leader was a bitch. Colm was going to enjoy making her pay for this.
Alara used a knife to slice through Honor’s ropes and free her hands. Then the pirate slapped a large, well-used flashlight into Honor’s palm.
Together, Colm and Honor climbed in through the hole in the wall where the ship was nestled. The dull metal of its hull was covered in a slick layer of ice. Something had torn a hole in the back end of the ship, and the front was badly damaged from the crash.
“We can go in through the tear,” she suggested.
There was jagged metal along the edge of the hole. Colm gripped the edges and bent them back, making it safer for her. Then he followed her inside.
She clicked on the light, shining it around.
“My God,” she breathed.
It was like the inside had been frozen in time.
As though the occupants had just left. Colm saw benches topped with various tools, devices similar to Syncs, and even mugs and plates from someone’s half-finished snack.
Things were jumbled around, clearly the result of the crash, but many things were still in place.
They moved out of the room and into a corridor. Through a glass window, Colm spotted chairs attached to the floor and pushed up against built-in desks. Cupboard doors hung open, revealing the jumbled items inside.
They moved deeper into the ship, eventually passing through a doorway into the cockpit.
Honor straightened. Ahead, sitting in the captain’s chair, was a body that had been preserved by the cold.
“By the warrior,” Colm breathed. He scanned the cockpit and saw there were more bodies, still strapped into their chairs.
“They never made it out,” she said. “They died right here.”
No, it wasn’t like on Markaria, where the survivors of the Excalibur had made it out and gone on to make some sort of life for themselves.
“It was too cold,” she said. “They had nowhere to go.” She looked around, her hands sliding over objects. She touched the comp system briefly, then she shook her head. “It’s frozen solid. Come on, let’s go look at the cargo bay.”
He followed her back through the ship. There was so much history here. How different things could have been if this ship hadn’t crashed, or if its sister ship hadn’t crash-landed on his world.
For a second, a part of him wondered what it would have been like if he hadn’t been cursed with the nanami sickness. But without the Nanami his ancestors had granted his people, Markarians would never have existed. He wouldn’t have existed, and for this brief time, Honor wouldn’t have been his.
“Here it is,” she said. The double doors were closed. She pushed at them, trying to slide the heavy panels open. They didn’t budge.
Colm pulled her back. He wedged his fingers into the groove between the two doors and shoved outward with all his strength.
The doors opened with a screech.
The cargo bay loomed beyond. Their steps echoed on the floor as they entered.
“By the Warrior’s sword.” He had never seen anything like it before.
“Stars,” she murmured.
It filled the entire cargo bay.
Treasure.
Honor couldn’t believe it. It was an ancient Terran treasure trove. There were suits of armor, various weapons, gold, statues. It filled every inch of the space. Her gaze skimmed over it. The contents of the hold were worth a huge fortune.
Footsteps sounded behind them, and Alara walked into the cargo bay. “Woohoo!” She cackled with gleeful, greedy joy.
Her remaining pirates followed her in and started cheering. A few rushed forward, holding large bags. It took them mere seconds to start cramming the smaller treasures inside.
Anger swamped Honor. She watched a pirate carelessly drop an artifact on the floor. The golden statue broke in half.
“That is a piece of history you just destroyed.” Her voice was tight.
Alara laughed and the sound echoed in the confines of the cargo bay. “You mean it’s a mountain of e-creds he just ruined.” She reached out and backhanded the pirate who’d dropped the artifact. “Be more careful, or your share goes down.”
Honor’s hands curled into fists. It was her job to stop this and protect these artifacts. She glanced at Colm and saw the echoing glint in his eyes.
“Fighting with you will never get old, little warrior,” he said quietly.
“Ready?”
“Always.”
Together, they launched into an attack. With hard chops of her arms, Honor took down the pirate closest to her. Colm stormed forward, his massive fists weapons in themselves.
With a cry, the final pirates converged on them. Honor and Colm’s hands and feet moved in a deadly dance as they fought.
“Honor!” Colm grabbed her arms. “Behind you.” He swung her, lifting her off the floor.
When he let her go, she slammed into two pirates, knocking them onto the icy floor. Two more hits made sure they weren’t getting up anytime soon.
She stood, ready for more, when a shot of green laser fire cut across her arm, and she cried out from the burn.
She ducked, and from the corner of her eye saw the droid floating closer. She glanced down, checking her arm, reassured that it wasn’t bad.
But then she heard an enraged sound.
She turned and saw Colm, his hands out in front of him, his muscles tight.
He launched himself at the syndroid.
“No!” she cried.
The droid was firing, but Colm moved too fast. He dodged all the laser fire. His kick sent the droid rocking, but it recovered quickly.