“No, Altered One, your Chilchek very specifically says ‘egg sac and chitin sharing warrior as one’. My translators are as perfectly-tuned as any in the many known galaxies.”
I frowned, thinking that over. Egg sac and chitin sharing...
I’d stick to my translation, even if it was flawed.
“Don’t call me ‘Altered One’,” I finally responded, noting the irritation in my voice, but unable to cool my tone. “Go back to Morpheus.”
“As you wish.”
For some reason, the quick agreement of the AI only further stoked my agitation. Moxyclorate, my species’ version of human adrenaline, still coursed wildly through my veins and even my calming hum could not take the edge off. We were flying with stolen slaves, out in the middle of enemy territory.
It would be minutes before we were into the neutral zone. And from there?
Where did one go with a ship full of females from many, many different galaxies and worlds?
I knew the answer, but it was not one that my companions would like. As a general rule, Alder, Evik, and I avoided the United Galaxies safe haven on Nimbus Prime. It was a strict place, where broken laws were met with quick and severe punishment. No doubt our mugs were up on some sort of giant cyber billboard. ‘Warning. Criminals. Cavorters. Lotharios. Citizens, avoid at all costs. UG agents, capture by any means necessary’.
But, for the molting damn life of me, I could not think of anywhere else we could take so many rescued women. They had entire units devoted to helping displaced people from their home planets. They would be equipped to handle this sort of thing. We certainly weren’t. We didn’t have the capital or the fuel. All we could do, and I’d gone over the logistics in my head many times already, was go to Nimbus Prime.
May a black hole swallow us, I thought derisively. That would be preferable to docking on a planet filled to the gills with UG consulates. We were, the three of us, wanted for numerous crimes.
My wings fluttered slightly, the tips scraping harshly against the metal floor. I needed to calm myself down, but ever since the experiments on my body, I’d noticed a marked decrease in my ability to self-regulate.
“Blue, chart a course to Nimbus Prime. The path of least resistance. And land us out of scanner range of the United Galaxies haven. I don’t want to be on their radar.”
“Yes, Morpheus. I will contact Lise for permission to access navigation and override manual piloting.”
“Tell her the UG is the only place that makes sense to help these women find their ways home. We have enough fuel to get there, but then we’ll need to go directly to a refueling station. That’ll eat up most of our remaining currency.”
“I will pass on this message,” Blue confirmed, and the speakers fell silent.
Quiet, for a little while. I rolled my shoulders repeatedly, trying to work out the tension they held. I was just beginning to feel the sharp bite of the moxyclorate fade away when Alder stomped onto the bridge. His expression and posture were tight as he slammed his body into the co-pilot’s seat next to me. Instantly, the dark cloud of his aura floated against me, stoking my fight-or-flight response.
“And your problem is?” I snapped out, swiveling in the seat to face the fae Prince.
“Lise… Evik… they...” he sputtered out the three words, looking stricken by some form of space insanity. “They…” he started again, and then threw his hands up in the air and jumped from his seat to pace the bridge.
“If you cannot speak sensibly, please leave the bridge. You have caused enough discomfort as it is, Alder.” My wings scraped the floor again, the screech of metal tips against metal panels painful to the ears.
“I’ve caused discomfort? Me?” He shouted the questions, his face going red with anger even as his body began to pulse with a pale blue hue. Sparks popped from his fingertips. I had not known he had that much magick left in his body. He had been complaining for months that he was losing his edge and needed to return to his planet or lose the very thing that made him fae—the product of human colonists mating with the natives of his colonized world.
“Alder.” I stood up, drawing to my full height, which nearly made my head brush the ceiling of the bridge. A lower part of it, where ductwork clung to the ceiling. I looked down at Alder, and I waited for him to focus on my figure. I did not use my size and wingspan often for intimidation, but I also was at my mind’s end. No amount of humming could calm me, though I was trying hard to not lose my temper.
My wings opened, spreading out to touch the viewing panels above the controls.
Alder was still pacing, his body slicked with excretions now as his hands fizzled and popped with his power.
“Alder,” I said his name again, this time louder, using the effects of my humming to pitch my voice low and deep.
He finally stopped moving, blinking up at me with wide eyes.
“What the hell, Morph?” He gestured up and down toward me. “I didn’t even tell you what happened yet.”
“And are you going to tell me? Or will you continue pacing like a lunatic?” I kept my wings extended, my posture straight, as I stared down at the smaller lifeform.
“Fine, fine,” Alder muttered before slumping down into a jumpseat near the bridge exit. “I walked in on Evik and Lise making out. They were touching each other and… kissing,” he said quietly, crossing his arms over his body like a sullen child. No, not a child. I would not offend the small ones of my planet. They came to life with the ability to fly and hum and contribute to the community.
Alder was like an overgrown Shastalynx. They mewled for milk and cried for affection for many, many star cycles after birth.
“You are upset because Evik and the human woman Lise… became affectionate?” Though I was dismissing Alder’s sour mood, I too felt a twinge of dislike in my chest. There was something about Lise. I’d liked her from the start, though she’d basically blackmailed us into becoming her crew.
“Yes,” he nodded quickly, “I wanted to rescue her, but you and your big stupid enhanced strength got there first. If I’d rescued her, then maybe she’d be grateful. Really grateful. That didn’t work out. But I knew she wasn’t going to grow attached to a giant butterfly mutant, so I still had a chance. Who’d have guessed that Evik, of all the bugs in the universe, would get there first? It’s just wrong.”
“A giant butterfly mutant,” I rolled the name over my proboscis. No, I did not like that any better than ‘Altered One’. “Is there a reason, Alder, that you seek to anger me?”
“This isn’t about you,” Alder countered, waving me off with a shake of his hand, which no longer sparked wildly. “It’s about what makes sense. I’m the most human guy on this ship. She should be attracted to me. We’re…physically compatible.”
“If she and Evik were intimate, then their anatomy must also be compatible.” I shrugged, trying to sound like I didn’t care that Evik had been pawing all over Lise with his multiple appendages. I knew, all too well, how intensely he could sexualize a situation when his mating cycle was upon him.
“They are not compatible. He’s a damn bug!”
“And you, according to human lore, should be four inches tall with wings. A creature of the forest, with small magicks best used for growing plants. Evik and I may have similar attributes to these things you called bugs,”—a flash of a dung beetle crossed my mind. Earth was a treasure trove of strangeness—“but we are most certainly not. We are sentient beings, Alder. Powerful, intelligent, and sexually charged. You would do well to remember that.”
“I’m a prince. I should get what I want,” he grumbled, leaning back in the jumpseat and shutting his eyes.
“You are not a prince on this ship. Just as I am not an experiment.”
Blue pinged into the conversation, and I was grateful for the interruption. And grateful to realize that my moxyclorate levels had decreased significantly.
“Morpheus, Lise is on her way to the bridge to discuss your plan.”
“Great,”
I replied, flicking a glance back at Alder, who was standing again, fingers tracing through his hair to make it tidier.
Now that the rush of war was leaving my body, I could focus on things other than escape and helping the many female-gendered species on board.
I could really focus now on what Alder had said—that Evik and Lise had kissed. More than that. They’d touched one another.
That same pang of dislike from before shot through my chest again and I frowned.
It had been many star cycles since I had been with someone of the opposite sex—of any species. Before the torturous experiments. Back home, with my wife. Who was now mated to another.
I folded my wings back down, ensuring they did not scrape the floor again. Before I could reseat myself in the captain’s flight chair, Lise strode onto the bridge.
She wore the same oversized clothes, her right shoulder uncovered as the too-large neck fell to one side. She was not impressive in many ways, yet in others she was breathtaking.
She was stronger than she looked. Tougher. Smarter. I had said as much to her before, only using different words, and staring at her now, I knew suddenly why the sight of her healed in the medbay had struck me so sharply.
Lise reminded me of my wife. Perhaps not in looks, but in fearlessness.
I felt protective of my new captain’s small body and keen mind behind the brilliant blue eyes.
I wanted her to stay safe.
17
Tommelise
I stepped onto the bridge and froze, startled by the strange energies swirling through the air. Morpheus and Alder both stood facing the entrance, staring at me, their gazes oddly intense.
“What?” I frowned, resisting the urge to reach up and smooth my hair. It was crusty with the same goo that had dried on Morpheus—plus, I suspected, some of the blood from the empress’s medtech had crusted on me, too.
I needed a sani-shower. Especially if I was going to keep my promise to Evik to pick up where we left off.
Not that the Chilchek had seemed to mind my lack of recent bathing.
The memory prompted a small, secret smile as I ignored the other two men’s odd behavior and headed toward my seat.
“Gargh.” Alder let out a wordless sound of frustration and threw himself down in the nearest jumpseat, his hands sparking a couple of times until he closed them into fists and took several deep breaths.
Whatever was shredding his engine would just have to wait. I turned to Morpheus as I checked Blue’s nav inputs. “Tell me about this Nimbus Prime of yours.”
He shuddered. “It’s not mine. But it is the closest port with a reliable refugee program. We can drop the females there and be certain they won’t end up sold right back into slavery as soon as we’re gone.”
I glanced between him and Alder—who wouldn’t, I realized, make eye contact with me. “Let me guess. You’re wanted there, too?”
Morpheus raised a wing in a shrug. “Not sure. We’ve avoided the place like the Hyprinion Plague. But they like to run background checks on anyone who hits their orbit. So if we’re not wanted yet, we will be by the time we land if we’re not careful.”
“Hm. Well, no one is likely to have a bulletin out on me yet—not unless the Bufo Alvarius Empress has managed to deal with her AI’s multiple attacks already.”
“Was that what the explosion was?” Alder spoke actual words for the first time since I’d entered the bridge.
“So Blue tells me.” I leaned back in my chair and stretched my legs out straight, crossing them at the ankles. I wiggled my toes inside my boots. Even my feet felt slightly gritty. Yuck. “I’ll deal with the transfer of the women. You three can hide out in one of the bolt-holes under the southeast bay until we take off again.”
“Bolt-holes?”
I wasn’t sure if Morpheus didn’t recognize the term or if he was surprised I had hiding spots on Blue.
“They’re shielded from any scanners Blue and I have ever come across,” I explained. “Good for our … less-than-legal runs.”
“I thought you were a junker.” Alder leaned forward interestedly, finally meeting my gaze.
“You ever know a space-junker who didn’t make other kinds of deliveries, too?” I raised one eyebrow.
The fae male started to grin, then frowned again and slumped back in the jumpseat.
Yeah. Definitely something grinding his gears. Thank all the stars it wasn’t my problem.
I stretched my arms over my head. “Blue says we’ve got about nine hours before we get to Nimbus Prime. I’m going to check on our passengers, make sure they’re as comfortable as possible, under the circumstances. Then I plan to hit the sani-shower. I suggest you both do the same. You won’t want to be stuck in a bolt-hole together smelling like that.”
And after I bathe, I will go find Evik.
I smiled to myself again as I stood. This time, though, Alder exploded from his jumpseat, waving his sparking hands in the air wildly as he stalked toward me. “He is a bug. You know that, right?”
As his meaning penetrated my thoughts, my heart stuttered in my chest and my arms and legs went ice-cold, all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes.
Until that moment, I hadn’t known that rage could freeze as well as burn.
I took a long, slow breath and blew it out slowly before I spoke. “I assume you’re talking about Evik?”
Alder mistook my anger for calm, too wrapped up in his own sparking self-interest to pay attention to anyone else. Morpheus, however, took a step back from me, carefully lowering himself into a nearby seat. I wasn’t sure if he was settling in to enjoy the show or simply making himself a smaller target.
“I don’t think you really understand what’s going on,” the fae continued, pacing back and forth as he explained. “He’s heading into his mating season. And he’s not exactly picky when it comes to finding partners.” He glanced over at Morpheus. “Hell, he tried to fuck us last year, and we’re strictly opposite-sex-partners only.”
Morpheus pursed his lips and shook his head as if he wanted to stop Alder’s tirade, but one glance at my face and he subsided back into his seat, his metal wings scraping lightly against the floor.
“Getting involved with Evik will only lead to heartbreak,” Alder continued, warming to his theme. “The Chilchek aren’t what you’d call monogamous. The physical differences alone could end up being insurmountable.”
“Are you done yet?”
Something in my tone finally got through to him, and his voice trailed off. He stumbled to a halt a few steps away from me. “I just think it’s a bad idea,” he added lamely.
I moved in close to him. Even though he was the shortest of my crewmembers, he still towered over me. But I had grown up around junkers and smugglers—rough men used to taking what they wanted without asking and dealing with the fallout later. I learned early on how to project my power past my physical space.
Until now, I hadn’t had to exert my control over these three.
But this was my ship. I was in charge.
I let every ounce of that knowledge seep out through my pores, mixing with my fury and swirling into the charged atmosphere surrounding me. And then I took another silent step toward Alder, invading his space. He blinked twice before he broke eye contact. It was the moment I’d been waiting for.
“I don’t give a good godsdamn what you think about who I take into my bed,” I said so softly it was almost a whisper. “You are my crewman. Nothing more.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Morpheus go completely still, like a butterfly attempting to camouflage itself among leaves.
I stood on my tiptoes to get my face closer to Alder’s, carefully enunciating every word. “That bug you’re so dismissive of? He considers you his partners. His family. More than that. To him, you are closer than brothers. There is nothing he wouldn’t do for you. We only just met, and I already know that.”
Alder’s expression turned stricken, his face paling.
I dropped
back down to standing and took a step back, channeling every bit of disdain I felt into my voice. “I hope to hell he never finds out what you really think of him. It would destroy him.”
Without another word, I turned on my heel and strode off the bridge.
I was halfway to my quarters when the aftermath of emotion hit me. I leaned my back against the bulkhead and dropped my face into my hands. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I muttered.
Would you like to know what Alder and Morpheus are discussing now? Blue asked. I knew she was trying to be solicitous, but the question made my head hurt.
“No, thanks.” The last thing I wanted to do was deal with either of them right now. “Are our passengers doing okay?”
They are. I have given them access to our food and water rations and told them of our plans to take them to Nimbus Prime, as you requested. The information seems to have calmed their fears. Many of them are currently sleeping.
I nodded. “Good.”
One other thing, Lise, Blue continued, when all I wanted her to do was be quiet.
“Yes?”
I learned something interesting from the empress’s AI. It’s about Alder.
Damn. I was sick of Alder already. “What’s that?”
He is a fae prince. His full title is Alder Faeweather, Regulus the Sixteenth. He’s wanted by the Duprasi because he is expected to marry one of their princesses.
I huffed out a short laugh. “Well, that explains a lot.”
Pushing myself off the wall, I continued on my way to my quarters. The passengers could wait. I needed to wash off the residue of the last several hours. Of course, it would take more than a shower to rid myself of the remains of my anger at Alder—but I’d have to do that, too, if we were going to continue to work together.
For that matter, I needed to move past it before I tracked down Evik. He was far too sensitive to the emotions of everyone around him—he’d know in a heartbeat something was wrong. I wasn’t about to be the one to tell him his brother-in-arms was an asshole.
As I slipped into the captain’s quarters, shed the oversized shipwear I’d grabbed in the medbay, and stepped into the sani-shower’s soothing spray, I found myself replaying the confrontation on the bridge over and over again.
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