Rosalie
This place, this ship, for want of another word (although garbage can springs to mind) is bringing back memories I’d rather not revisit.
I can’t imagine the conduits to be any more clean or the ability to scavenge food any easier than the filthy ship I shared with Kerra until I accidentally fired myself out of it in an escape pod and Kerra was rescued by her now mate, Darax.
But as much as I hated the creatures who took us, I’m not sure how I feel with two ships being blown to oblivion without warning.
Dante, however, seems to be in his element, as well as looking particularly magnificent with the daggers at his waist and a sling over his chest filled with what look like grenades.
He was calm, secure, and in control, at least up until the point the pirate captain, who looks like a cross between a slug, a panda, and an octopus, only with more slug and octopus and less panda, starts rambling about who wants the Sarkarnii.
It is an answer we already had, after the Veseli were targeting Vorostor with explosive devices and, if Scarlett is to be believed, weird clones of Sarkarnii.
So, of course Dante knows who’s been messing around with a species who can transform into space dragons and who, it would seem, has a death wish if they have any designs on the Sarkarnii themselves.
“I guess you are going to tell me.” Dante leans in closer to the captain in a move I wouldn’t have done, given his slug-like appearance.
The creature appears to gibber in his grip.
“Or I can do what you were going to do to me and my crew.” Dante drops him back on the floor. “Your choice. You have five nova seconds.”
My Sarkarnii warlord taps his foot and stares up at the ceiling as the pirate captain scrambles around, as if somehow the floor of his disgusting ship will provide answers he doesn’t want to give.
Dante looks over at me with a flash of fang before he swings his tail around and slams it into the captain, pinning him to the floor. There’s no exhale of breath from the thing, and it seems unlikely Dante has done any damage.
“An answer.” Dante bares his teeth. “Or I will toss you to my crew, who I think are hungry after their battle, such as it was.”
“Gonoz!” The word bursts out of the captain. “We work for the Gonoz, when we are not working for ourselves.”
“Gonoz,” Dante repeats. “Interesting,” he adds, looking over at the lead warrior of the boarding party.
“Dalix, is the cargo worth anything?”
“No, boss. It’s useless scrap.”
“Then put them all in the escape pods and scuttle this vessel.”
Dalix grins wildly. “Yes, boss!”
Dante lifts his tail from the prone captain, and it comes away with a string of goo attached. He gives it a flick and nothing happens. He gives it several more flicks, and eventually, the slime is flung across the bridge, hitting one of the other hapless pirates in the face.
Somehow, he can be chaos without being chaos. It would seem you can keep the Kursarkarnii from the Sarkarnii but you can’t eliminate it entirely.
But even as these thoughts are forming in my mind, I have a great big Sarkarnii male towering over me. I press my hand into his abdomen and feel the vibrations within him.
“I am sorry you had to witness that,” Dante rumbles.
“Which bit?”
He blinks at me.
“I’ve seen plenty in my time, Dante.” I watch as the pirates are herded away down the main corridor. “They had their chances, and they’re leaving with their lives, unlike the other ships.”
“Oh,” Dante says airly, “the crew of those ships also used their escape pods. I’m sure they will have colleagues along in no time to pick them up.”
“You didn’t kill them all?” My stomach rises where once it was a solid block.
“What do you take me for?” Dante grins. “A warlord?”
“That’s exactly what you are.”
“Reputation is an interesting thing,” he says cryptically. “I use it where Driok wields it.”
“So, who are the Gonoz?” I ask.
“A species I have not heard of.” Dante rubs at his chin. “Although how much we can trust what this pirate says is debatable.”
“Pleased you think that too.” I look around the ship.
“Is this like the one you were on?”
“It’s as dirty,” I say. “But there is a distinct lack of pirates who look like seafood, which makes it marginally more fragrant.”
“The Larak?” Dante wrinkles his nose, and he looks disarmingly adorable as he does so. “Yes, they have a certain odor.”
He wraps his arm around me, pulling me close to him.
“But as long as I’m with you, nothing else matters.”
“Dante,” I say as he dips his head towards me, “have you noticed something?”
“What would that be, little flame?” His fangs scrape over my skin, and I shiver despite myself.
“It’s gone quiet.”
“My warriors are good at their job.”
“Really quiet.” I gently push on his chest.
Dante’s eyes flicker open and study my face. He straightens and puts his head on one side, putting his finger at his ear.
“Scout ship? Report,” he says, staring over my head, his eyes narrowing. “There’s no reply.”
The way I’ve seen his crew operate, I already have a sinking feeling inside me. As much as they are coordinated mayhem, they work together like a tight knit team. If they are there, they will reply.
Dante takes me by my arm.
“When I say run, my heartsfire, you run, as fast as you can, back to the scout ship. Use code Dante-forty-two and it will respond to your command. Get back to Vorostor and tell them what happened.”
“What?” I grasp his hand. “No!”
“Do it for the sarkarnlings back on Vorostor,” he says urgently. “For my crew, for your friends.”
“I am not leaving you.”
“If you don’t, the chances are they will kill me because I will not let them take you,” Dante growls. “I would rather die.”