“No.” her answer succinctly, cutting off further transmission. There was no way she was turning those younglings over to become slaves on Tiager. If she did they would be spending the rest of their lives being violated.
“Clear me a passage Major Riodan.
Riodan turned back to the weapons control.
He opened fire on the three ships. The volley he launched precisely hitting the weapons array of all three ships rendering them defenseless.
Damn. He was good. Zayda glanced back, admiration shining in her eyes.
The damage to the Tiagerian ships was minor, they would live for a few more moments at least. Riodan strategically fired taking out their shielding making the next set of missiles he fired on Zayda’s order all the more damaging.
He watched the fire burning on the lead ship as oxygen escaped. Riodan loved blowing shit up almost as much as he enjoyed hacking computronics.
He let another volley of missiles go. This time he hit the two ships that were trying to flank Sparks Fly. Maud announced the damage to the Tiagerian ships as Zayda maneuvered Sparks Fly.
“Woohoo,” sounded loudly from the main cabin. The younglings’ confidence in Sparks Fly success echoing around the ship.
The next volley he launched did damage to their engines leaving them barely operable.
“You are fan-fucking-tastic.” Zayda excitedly claimed.
Redness crept up Riodan’s cheek darkening his grey skin. Riodan couldn’t ignore the warm pulse of feeling he received from Zayda along the mating bond, it sent shivers down his spine and a totally different kind of excitement. He loosened the tight hold on his feelings for a return flow. He saw her back arch a soft gasp escaping.
“Maud, move us carefully through this debris and return us to our original course.”
He held his breath, waiting to see if any other ship was going to come and target them. A heavy silence filled the ship.
When they were back on course she made an announcement over the intraship, the heaviness fading. “Piele get your ass to the Strategy Room in five.”
Chapter Twelve
“Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life,” Zayda said the opening words to one of the Purple One’s more famous treatises when Riodan and Piele were seated around the holotable in her Strategy Room.
Zayda used the strategy room to plan her cargo trips through Free Trader infested territory. The holotable was capable of projecting a three-dimensional image to help organize and plan things. It was a relatively new technology. She might not be able to get Owlin battle gear but getting her hands on the latest technology wasn’t an issue.
Each station at the table provided for a computronic to be plugged in and information to be projected onto the table. Touching specific areas on the table rotated the picture three hundred and sixty degrees allowing it to be view from all sides.
“Wow, is it that serious?” his voice rose as Piele sat back in a very comfortable seat. He was going to have to contact his ship dealer. His XLT was seriously lacking in comparison to his mate’s. A better idea popped into his mind. Maybe he could lick her pussy until she gave up the contact information of the person who did her upgrades.
Yeah, let’s go with that plan.
“So why do the Tiagerians want your younglings?”
“Because they don’t know the hellions. If they did, they would be running in the opposite direction.” Riodan looked over the holotable. The table was seriously chill.
“You are not helping the situation Riodan,” Piele laughed.
“We are in this situation because of them or have you forgotten?”
“What I remember is getting hot and sweaty in the sheets with our mate who we met because of those hellions.”
“I hate it when you point out the truth.” Riodan swept his hand across the table turning it on.
No fair.
His mate had cooler toys than him.
“Maybe it has to do with the bounty being offered for Riodan? We are just considered a bonus.” Ember stated from her seat in the back of the Strategy Room.
All three of them turned to her in surprise.
“What?” she looked back at them. “Was this a private meeting?”
“Well I guess not,” Zayda gestured to an empty chair at the holotable.
Ember sat down connecting her always present computronic to the holotable. With a few clicks, a message board for a job posting showed up.
Bargain deal. Five million credits for the violent death of Riodan Pyloto. An additional bonus for each of the younglings that you bring to us. It was signed with the Tiagerian logo.
“Well fuck. Matra is going to kill me.”
“Incoming transmission,” Maud announced.
“You just had to speak her into existence?” Piele shook his head.
“Put it through Maud.” Zayda sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose, she should have known the credits were too good to be true.
The holotable lit up with a three-dimensional version of a Pylotorian female who’s features closely resembled Riodan and Piele. Her green eyes flashing angrily at her younglings.
“Seriously,” she demanded anger putting a growl in her voice.
“Matra...” Riodan started speaking.
“Don’t you Matra me, boy. Do you even think of my feelings when you and your bratha commit your antics?”
“But Matra....” Riodan tried again.
“Don’t interrupt me when I am throwing a hissy fit.” She turned towards Piele. “And you? Where was your butt when your bratha was out there embarrassing me? He is single-handedly ruining the good name of Pyloto Protection.
First, customers think I hire a bunch of thugs who beat up not so innocent grooms and now there is a contract out on your bratha.
And for only five million credits. That is downright embarrassing. A contract on an employee of Pyloto Protection starting at less than ten million credits is insulting.”
Confusion surrounded Zayda as watched the angry female ream her mates.
“Let me get this straight?” she asked Piele as his Matra turned back to ripping Riodan a new asshole. “She is pissed not because there is a contract on Riodan, but because of the amount of the contract?”
“Who is this female?” Riodan and Piele's Matra turned on Zayda, hearing her question.
“Matra, this is Captain Zayda Sparks, she is the owner of the ship that we are traveling on.”
“Is she a competent pilot?” the hologram figure demanded.
“Oh no she didn’t?” Zayda’s tone dropped eyes cold enough to cut diamonds.
“Um, yes she did," Ember interjected.
“Shhh, you are not helping.”
“Well, would it help if she knew that Captain Sparks is your mate?” Ember interjected with false innocence.
“This is why children should be seen and not heard,” Riodan muttered at his Matra loud shriek echoed around the Strategy Room.
“You mated this Xirin piece of trash? I did not approve this female?”
“Okay, that's it. This bitch is going down.” Zayda advanced on the holotable as if she and Mya Pyloto were in the same room.
“Cosmic interference....” Maud announced loudly before cutting the transmission abruptly.
“Maud.” Zayda demanded, “get her back you lying X-MONT III. You know there is no fucking cosmic interference. I have pulled that trick enough times on my matra to know you are faking it.” She needed a place to vent her anger and Maud took her choice away.
“Zayda we have more important things to worry about then you fighting with your future matra-in-law. Besides. Wait until she meets your matra.”
Zayda calmed down at the reminder that at some point her mates and their family would meet her family. She knew her matra. One mention to her that Mya Pyloto considered Zayda inadequate as a daughta-in-law and Zoya Sparks would be tangling with her quicker than Maud could claim cosmic interference. She was positive that Zoya Sparks wo
uld have no problem putting Mya Pyloto in her place.
She turned towards her mates and the holotable that still showed the message board.
“Hey Riodan, don’t you know this guy?” Ember put a different post from the message board on the holotable.
Please find out lost bratha. Justin Steele has been missing. We love and miss our bratha. Reward for his safe return offered by Anders Moss.
They read the post.
“Oh shit.” Piele looked at his bratha stunned.
“What?” Zayda was confused.
“Fuck. Let me see if I can get a hold of him. I spoke with him earlier, but that was before I saw this.” Riodan stepped away from the table with his comm unit.
“What?” Zayda demanded.
“Do you know who Anders Moss is?” Piele spoke to Ember and Zayda as Riodan spoke animatedly to someone on the other end of the comm.
They both shook their heads no.
“Anders Moss is the leader of the Free Traders.” He pointed to the post. “This is an ad for a kidnapping. They want to kidnap Justin Steele.”
“Why is he so important?”
“Justin Steele is one of the most premier computronic security experts in the galaxy,” Ember explained excitedly recognition dawning in her eyes. “He is a friend of Riodan. He is awesome.” she ended her explanation with a worshipping sigh.
They turned to look at Riodan as he returned to the table. “Justin is on Station Nine helping out a friend. He's hiding out from his Matra who is trying to get him mated to one of her friend’s daughta. I guess his matra has decided that if left to his own devices that Justin would only show interest in his computronic and never a female. That it was up to her to get him mated and started on the fertility drugs since infertility was high amongst Redemptites. He will be back on the Gateway to Redemption in time for the Celestial Ball.”
“The ball is in a few Redemption Standard Days.”
“Isn’t that what Redemption Control contacted you about?” Piele was interested in anything to do with his mate. Her knowledge of one of the premier social events in the galaxy was intriguing.
She shook her head clearly embarrassed.
“She has a royal decree to put in an appearance at the Celestial Ball or else do some hard time in prison,” Maud announced.
Damn that nosy computronic being.
“Maud is right. I have to go.” the whiney baby who hated doing what was right came out in her. Every once in a while, she was allowed to have a meltdown. Like now.
You would think that at the ripe old age of fifty she would be able to run her life without interference in her life. Unfortunately, when your parentals lived hundreds of Redemption Standard Years more than you have, convincing them that you can do so with competence was next to impossible. She would never think to disrespect her matra or ignore a royal decree. She almost was able to think that lie with a straight face.
“What you are saying is that we are going to drop the younglings off, turn around and then return to the Gateway to Redemption?” Piele summarized.
“Yeah and somewhere in there we need to find out who took the bounty out on me and why?” Riodan interjected pouting at being ignored.
“My credits are on the angry mate-zilla you left behind on the first ship that we got kicked off of,” Ember said.
“No way. It’s the groom.” Destiny stated from the doorway, “He was devastated at the loss of me that he wants to get rid of Riodan so that he and I can have a future together.” She strolled into the Strategy Room with a long-legged confident stride of a youth who thought she was the shit and every being around her needed to take a whiff.
“Are you crazy. The groom would be lucky to be sipping his food through a straw after the beatdown that Riodan gave him. He is in no condition to put a hit on anyone except the call light in the infirmary where he is recovering.” Octavia followed Destiny into the room, taking the empty seat next to her.
“By all means, come in,” Zayda didn't hide her sarcasm. “Where is the last of your foursome.”
“I’m right here,” Elise timid little voice sounded from near the doorway.
“Come on in and join us.” Zayda invited the shy teen in. Elise pushed her eyeglasses back up her nose and scurried in, taking the last empty seat at the table.
Zayda activated the holotable, pulling up a vid that had been bouncing around the galaxy.
The projection of Riodan methodically beating a pale skin male into a pulp played. She noted Destiny in the background.
Riodan’s display of fighting skill was hot. She shouldn’t be turned on by the amount of violence exhibited but tell that to her pussy. It was alert and meowing. She needed to get her body under control before she embarrassed herself.
Though if she were honest, she wasn’t embarrassed. If anything, her mates knowing she was affected by their display of protectiveness heightened her arousal even more.
Once she was seated, Elise, shyly raised her hand.
“Yes Elise,” Zayda gentled her normal tone not wanting to scare the youngling.
“I think it is those two Tiagerian that tried to approach us on the docks before we left the Gateway to Redemption.”
“You guys were approached by Tiagerians?” Piele sat up in surprise.
“I didn't get a chance to speak to you about it with everything that has happened," Riodan grinned somewhat apologetic.
Piele smiled at the memory of what had preoccupied them. He shot a sexy smile towards his mate who rolled her eyes at him.
“Tiagerians followed me when I left Bleu Hell after the bar brawl you started,” Piele informed Zayda. He pulled out his comm and scrolled through the pictures he took until he came to one of the Tiagerians that followed him from the lift. After making a connection between his comm and the holotable he projected them up onto the holotable a few minutes before Riodan projected pictures from his comm units next to them showing two different Tiagerians.
“They are all from the same family group,” Octavia stated.
“How can you tell?” Zayda didn’t know enough about Tiagerians to distinguish which family group they belonged to.
“My matra was a botanist before she died. She traveled to Tiager, the Tiagerian homeworld to collect plant specimens for her studies. They fight a lot between families, so she had to learn to tell the family groups apart. She taught me how to tell the differences between them.”
“Is this one also part of the same family group?” Piele projected another picture of a Tiagerian onto the holotable.
“Isn't that the Tiagerian that started the bar brawl?” Zayda didn't know why Piele had taken the Tiagerian picture, but the forethought paid off.
“You started the bar brawl, but yes this is the one that you were ‘educating’,” Piele made air quotes as he spoke.
“This one is also part of the same family group.”
“Okay let me make sure that I have this clear.” Zayda got up from her seat and started pacing around the holotable. She paused and pointed to the images.
“All of the Tiagerians are from the same family?”
Octavia nodded.
Zayda continued her pacing around the Strategy Room.
“They must have followed you to Bleu Hell.” Zayda started to wonder what she had gotten herself into by mating these two. She caused plenty of trouble by herself, but the brathas it seemed outmatched her.
“But why are they following you in the first place? There must be a good reason for them to be going through all this trouble. Nobody takes on two trained operatives for no reason.” She shook her head.
“I think things are getting worse. Look what I received.” Ember projected a message to the holotable.
The younglings are turning out to be more trouble than they are worth. But it hasn’t reached that point. Increased bounty. Three million credits for each youngling. Ten million for Riodan Pyloto. Signed with the Tiageran Logo.
“Where did this come from?” Riodan had a search going
on the message boards that the criminal element used to get jobs. You had to know where to look because they were not part of the Central Archives. The place where all information of the Redemption galaxy was stored. The huge repository of knowledge that was located on the Gateway to Redemption.
“My hacker friend Baris sent it to me,” Ember answered Riodan.
“Well, at least your matra will be happy.” Zayda pointed out.
The droll look on Riodan’s face did nothing to slow her smirk.
“Well can this get any shittier?” Destiny demanded.
“Destiny.” Zayda gave her a warning.
“Sorry.” Destiny managed to look both pissed off and contrite.
Zayda thought it was cute how Ember mirrored the same action as Riodan. Two computronic geeks at work.
He would make a great patra. She choked on her breathing. She had no idea where that thought came from. They had been mated for a few days short of a Redemption Standard Week. There was no way that she should be thinking about reproducing with her mates.
Think happy thoughts.
Think happy thoughts.
She tried the suggestions that the healer gave her to use whenever she was overcome by panic. Which thankfully only happened when she thought about being someone’s matra.
What did she know about raising younglings? She was pretty sure there were laws against people like her reproducing.
She turned her attention to Piele.
He was sitting between Destiny and Elise showing the three younglings how to rotate the images on the holotable pointing out optimal points to strike to incapacitate the Tiagerian.
Zayda heart melted. He was just like her patra. Her heart pulsed with love. She sat down abruptly in her seat.
She loved Piele and Riodan.
How the fuck did this happen?
Chapter Thirteen
Moonlight Mist: A Limited Edition Collection of Fantasy & Paranormal) Page 43