by Dixon, Ruby
I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.
"The female is pregnant," the male pirate tells Shaalyn. "I was going to put her in stasis, unless you have a different preference?"
"Stasis is fine," Shaalyn replies coolly. "I just came to get a second look at her. My old lover is quite enamored, it seems. Won't stop asking about her." A flash of annoyance crosses her lovely features. "I wanted another look at her charms."
"Shall I leave, then?" the male pirate asks.
She turns and stares at him.
"Right. Leaving." He nods. "I'll take care of what's left once you've finished with her."
What's…left? My stomach drops.
Shaalyn just chuckles, though she doesn't move a finger as the male alien hastily exits the room. She eyes me, all amusement. "He thinks I mean to destroy you just to get revenge on my lover." She shakes her head, long ponytail swaying, as if this is foolishness. "As if I'd ever let so many credits go to waste."
She slinks forward, regarding me.
I say nothing, waiting for her to bring up Adiron. Waiting for her to bring up the baby. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about being pregnant, given that all of five minutes have passed, but I do know one thing.
If she tries to take this baby out of me, I will absolutely cut a bitch.
But for now, I have to remember my “stupid” act. I have to remember this is a woman who talks slowly in front of me because she thinks I'm too dumb to understand big words. So I keep my gaze unfocused and as helpless as possible. Calm, I remind myself. Focused. Wait for the right moment to retrieve your gun and then you can go apeshit on these assholes.
"Where's Adiron?" I ask, since that seems safe enough…and I have to know. If she's hurt him…
Shaalyn circles around me, pinching the fat of my arm and then squeezing my flank, as if I'm nothing but meat. I've suffered worse indignities, so I do my best to ignore it, especially when she touches my hair again. After a moment, though, she responds. "He's been taken to my hold until I decide what to do with him."
A prisoner, then. Okay. I feel some of the tension easing out of me. I can work with that. "Why? What did he do wrong?"
"Oh, my darling. You humans ARE simple, aren't you? I swear, I don't see the appeal in keffing one, but there are all kinds of deviants in this galaxy." She gives a delicate little shudder, her tail swishing. "Let's just say he and I are at odds with what we want in the universe."
"And what's that?" She seems chatty enough that it seems like an okay thing to ask. Of all the things I expected Adiron's murderous ex-lover to be, chatty was not one of them.
"He wants adventure and fun. Adiron wants nothing more than to make his friends happy, a warm place to lay his head at night, and a warm cunt to fuck when he wants to fuck." Shaalyn shrugs delicately. "I want credits. It's very simple, really. Wealth is power, and I like wealth. You wouldn't understand."
I like Adiron's version of the world better than hers. I think she's wrong about him, too. It wouldn't surprise me if she underestimated him, given that she's still talking to me like she would a simpleton—or worse, a dog. "Adiron is nice," I say, trying to emphasize that yes, I am dumb, and please don't think about me too hard. "You should be nice to him."
"What a sweet little thing you are," she coos, touching my hair again. I want to slap her hand away, but I don't dare. "You're going to make someone very happy, you know, and bring me lots of credits." She taps her lip with a long finger, thinking. "You were one of the slaves in the pods, were you?"
I nod, going along with her questioning for now. "They got me out early. Wanted company."
"Were you the only one?" She pets my arm, stroking me in a mockery of Adiron's gentle touches. She…really does think I'm like a dog, doesn't she?
I decide to press it even further, moving to cuddle up against her. I want to punch her a billion times, but if I pretend to be dog-like, she'll let her guard down, won't she? So I snuggle against her, even though it feels like snuggling with a snake, and she enfolds her arms around me, humming with approval. Bitch. I force myself to smile, so I don't sound like the seething hatred I feel when I answer her. "Only one what?"
She pats my back. "Human, darling. Were you the only one woken up?"
She…knows this answer, doesn't she? If she ran into Kaspar and Alice—and killed them—she knows a lot more than she's pretending. It's a test, slyly inserted into a casual conversation. I try to think of the right answer to tell her. Do I lie and say it was just me and Alice? What if she's in contact with Straik and he's found Ruth? What would Alice have told her? I consider this for a moment. I don't think Alice would have told her anything. She would have protected Helen, and she wouldn't have said anything about me on the ship…except that Shaalyn knew I was there.
Unless that was a lucky guess.
Fuck. I…don't know what to do. "Two," I finally say. "Me and Alice. She's the blonde one that was with Kaspar."
"Mmm." She keeps rubbing my back, and I don't know if that's the right answer or not.
Desperately, I look around the room, wondering if there's something I can grab to use as a weapon. I'm in Shaalyn's arms…if I can find a knife, I can get revenge for Adiron. I never thought I was the type to murder someone in cold blood, but I like this idea far too much. I have to defend myself, I reason. The tablet-like med-scanner is in its compartment on the control panel, and it looks heavy enough that I might be able to do some damage if I use it on Shaalyn's head…maybe. Then again, maybe not. Adiron's plated brow is hard as rock, and she's got the same one, and the metal-covered horns. It wouldn't be like knocking out a human. I need something stabby.
I need my gun back.
"And where is the oldest va Sithai brother, hmm?" Shaalyn asks, interrupting my murderous thoughts.
"Who?" I blurt out.
"Mathiras va Sithai? He's the oldest one of the brothers, and the smartest. Where's he off to?" Her voice is calm and sweet.
"I don't know," I answer honestly, and then gloss it up with a lie. "I never saw him." I can't tell if Shaalyn buys my lie or not, so I decide to gloss it up with a little more acting. "I'm hungry. Do you have something other than noodles?" I make my voice as whiny as possible.
I'm not hungry, actually. But if I can leave this med-bay, I can get back to my gun and…what, hide it under my paper gown? I don't know. But Adiron's on this ship, and I need to stay awake to be with him. Better yet, I need to get the gun to him.
Shaalyn makes the clucking noise with her tongue again, as if I'm a naughty child. "Would you like fruit then, my darling? Something sweet?"
I lift my head, nodding.
She strokes my hair again. "Or perhaps a cake of some kind?"
"Yes, please." Preferably one with a file in it, so I can break Adiron out of his prison.
The long-fingered hand tightens on my hair, and suddenly my head is wrenched back, pain slamming through my body. I gasp in shock, staring at the menacing woman that looms over me. "Then you shouldn't have lied, should you? Do you think I'm stupid?" She pulls on my hair tighter, so painfully that I can feel strands of hair ripping out of my scalp. "Tell me the truth, you little shit. Where. Is. Mathiras?"
My eyes flood with tears of pain, but a different sensation courses through my body. Adrenaline. At least I don't have to pretend to like this bitch any longer. With all of my strength, I pull my hand back and punch Shaalyn right in that proud blue nose of hers.
Blood sprays everywhere. She shrieks.
I do, too. I'm pretty sure I've broken my hand. I'm also pretty sure she's going to kill me now.
Worth it.
65
ADIRON
I twiddle my thumbs as I lean against the wall of my prison cell, my tail flicking patterns into the dust on the tile floors. I can't help but compare Lord Straik's prison cell—the one with the gentle scents and shiny new walls—to Shaalyn's pit. There's crusted, dried blood on the plas-film bedding, the lavatory's little more than a hole cut into a panel, and I'm pre
tty sure it's overflowing. There's three cells down here in the dank, cold brig of Shaalyn's ship, and I'm pretty sure whoever was in cell number three died two days ago.
Then again, that smell might just be the overflowing lavatory.
Up above, I hear the sound of booted feet running back and forth, and I can't help but hope all that hubbub is Jade giving them utter hell. I worry about her—I wouldn't be a mesakkah male if I didn't worry about my mate—but I know she can take care of herself. I just want to hover over her while she does. Protectively. But she survived for years on her own without me. She'll get through this, too. Shaalyn won't want to kill her. The moment Jade crawled out of that wall (taking all my hopes with her) I could practically see credits flashing in Shaalyn's eyes.
There's nothing that Shaalyn likes more than easy credits.
Right now, I'm guessing they've found the pods in the cargo bay and are trying to figure out the best way to extract them. I blew the door controls open, so it's not like they can't get in there. Getting in there isn't the problem at all. It's getting them out of the Star and back to civilized shipping lanes. Shaalyn's little cruiser is speedy, but it's not built to haul large cargo. She's more of a cut-and-run sort, a rob-them-and-leave-no-one-alive type. But the Buoyant Star is going to scream of credits—stripping that big ship would ensure a small fortune all on its own—and the ship and the cargo?
Shaalyn's going to want it all.
Which is a good thing for me. It means I've got some time to figure out how to get out of this hold, reunite with my female, and save the day. It's not going to be easy. I have no weapon. No plan. No allies. Jade's been separated from me. I'm outnumbered at least seven to one.
I've had worse odds, though.
I can figure something out, though. I just need an opportunity. As long as I don't give up (and I won't), something will present itself. Luck's great and all, but a lot of the time, it's less about luck and more about leaving yourself open to whatever falls into your lap. And when luck fails you, you make your own keffing luck.
I've been trying to make my own for the last few hours. There's no food or water down here. The plas-film is the type that won't tear no matter how much I fuss with it, so I can't turn it into a rope or a garrote. I could always fling shit—literal shit from the lavatory—onto my jailers in the hope that they'd come into my cell and pick a fight, but with my luck, they'd just gas me.
Or beat the stuffing out of me again. I rub the lump on the back of my head, wincing. I'm kind of glad Jade can't see me right now. She'd panic, because one of my eyes is swollen shut and my lip feels as big and inflated as Mathiras's ego. My knuckles are bloody and bruised and I'm pretty sure one of my fingers is broken, but at least I gave Shaalyn's crew a little work before they overpowered me.
I shouldn't be surprised that she's surrounded herself with young greenhorns. She always did love males who couldn't say no to her. It's a tick in the advantage box for me, though. They might be ruthless and amoral, but Shaalyn wants me alive…at least until she can torture me to death on her own. That means they'll do what she wants, so I need to use that. Add in the fact that her crew looks like they're all too young to have served in the Threshian Wars—and the fact that they hit about as hard as a drunken ooli—and it shouldn't be hard to take them down.
Just waiting on that advantage, and then I can get to work.
I get up and pace my cell again. There's no guards down here, which means they're utterly confident that I can't get out. Never a good sign. I'm not deterred, though. I tell myself they're just avoiding the smell and anyone creative enough can get free. I saunter over to the door and run a hand over the smooth metal walls, looking for a crack in the molding. When I find one, I wedge my fingernails in and try to pry it up. If I'm lucky, there'll be a few wires on this side and I might be able to splice something together.
Two broken fingernails and a removed panel later, I have to conclude that I'm not that lucky. I should have known the control wiring wouldn't be accessible from this side, but it was worth a shot. I pry at other panels, just to see what I can find, because I've got nothing to do but sit here and worry. Worry that they've done something terrible to Jade. Worry that one of Shaalyn's crew is “entertaining” himself with my human female. Worry that some keffing idiot's opened up Crulden the Ruiner's stasis pod—
A door down the hall opens up with a rush of compressed air, and I hastily shove the panel I'm working on back onto the wall. There are two others laying on my cot, so I carefully sit on top of them and lean back, crossing my arms and hoping I look casual enough that no one notices.
The slot in the door opens and a bowl is shoved through.
Noodles.
"You got anything better than that?" I ask, not getting up. I'll take it, of course. A liquid is useful, because I might be able to short-circuit something with it. I just can't seem too eager. I think of Jade, again. Poor love—if they serve her noodles, she's really going to lose her shit. They've not sat well in her stomach for the last few days. She pretends like she's fine, but I notice.
I notice everything about her.
"You really complaining?" asks a slightly gruff, feminine voice. I can see nothing but a pair of blue-skinned hands through the meal slot, and the pirate drums impatient fingers on the surface. "Really? You should be thanking Shaalyn for feeding you."
I'm a little surprised that Shaalyn's got a female crew member. I thought she liked them young, muscled, and male. Guess she's branching out. "Speaking of your captain, where is she? I didn't expect her to let me sit down here, unmolested. I thought for sure she'd show up to start her torture games."
The pirate leans down, and I get a glimpse of shaggy hair in front of her face and a big eye patch. And a smell. Kef me, that smell's almost worse than the one two cells down. I discreetly put a hand to my nose and make a mental note not to eat the noodles the pirate's currently hovering over as she stares at me through the meal slot. "Shaalyn's been delayed."
"Great. Go away, then." If Shaalyn's delayed, I have a chance to do more rooting around.
The female snorts. "You really are dense, aren't you, Adiron?"
I frown, getting to my feet. The way the female says my name sounds familiar. I pace over to the meal slot and peer through, meeting the one-eyed gaze of the other. Kinda ugly and dirty looking, with a mop of nasty hair…but vaguely, vaguely familiar? "Who are you?"
The female flips the patch up and gives me an utterly exasperated look. "And here I thought this disguise wouldn't be enough. Turns out males really are dumb creatures." The voice modulates, growing more feminine, less ragged. "You really do only see what you want to."
I stare in surprise—and delight—at the female. "Bethiah! What are you doing here?"
Bethiah glares at me through the slot and flips the eye patch back down over her perfectly good eye. "Trying to rob this female of her ship, of course. You just had to show up and kef everything up, didn't you, you big fool."
I bite back a laugh of delight.
The universe has just given me the advantage I needed.
66
ADIRON
"Don't call me Bethiah," the female pirate hisses through the meal slot. "I'm Vathi on this ship."
I lean against the door. "What the kef are you doing here, Vathi?"
She snorts. "Didn't I just tell you?"
Yeah, but… "I'm gonna need a bit more context."
"Okay, well, I had an incident with my own ship—"
"Incident?"
She shrugs. "The original owner might have stolen it back. Whatever. Then, I'm on Haal Ui Station, drowning my sorrows in a vat of ooli brew, when this female just saunters in with a ship full of idiots." Bethiah-slash-Vathi shoves her face down into the food slot, next to my noodles. "I mean, if you staff with just greenhorns, you're just asking to be robbed, aren't you? So it's not really a bad thing. It's me teaching them a well-deserved lesson. Do you know how easy it was to get a job on this ship? It's pathetic, really."
"For free! An internship! I said I wanted the experience! And they bought it!" She shakes her head, incredulous. "They turned me down at first, but unfortunately for them, one of their crew had SUCH an unfortunate accident while on station. Really, such terrible timing." A wicked smile curves her lips. "They're so lucky I was there."
"The luckiest," I say dryly. Bethiah is my friend Jerrok's cousin and…I'm not entirely convinced she's not half-mad. Chaos seems to follow her, a lot of it entirely of her own making. "You killed him, didn't you?"
She shrugs. "If you're trying to make me feel guilty, I don't. He was not an upstanding sort. Do you want details?"
I shake my head and make a rolling gesture with my finger. "Just get on with it. How are you taking over this ship?"
"Well, my original plan was a much slower sort of takeover involving lots of mind-games. But that was before you showed up." She props up her chin on her hand, peering at me through the slot. "You're kinking my plans. Now I have to rethink things."
"Or we could work together," I propose. "Partners." Sure, partnering with Bethiah will be like partnering with a black hole—unstable and completely dangerous—but I'll take those chances.
"Mmm. I work best alone." She scrutinizes me. "Let's say I entertained thoughts of your partnership, though. What sort of split were you considering?"
I shake my head. "I don't want anything Shaalyn has. I just want to get out of here alive with Jade."
Bethiah rolls her eyes. "So you want to keep the human female? They fetch a fair amount of credits, you know. That's not exactly 'nothing.'"
"She's a person," I growl. "You're not allowed to sell her." I can see right now that I can't trust Bethiah any more than I can trust Shaalyn. The moment Jade's safe, I can't rely on Bethiah's assistance any longer. There are the people in the stasis pods to consider, too, but I'll take things one crisis at a time.