by Tamsin Ley
He nodded slowly. Something wasn’t right. Trooper protocol was to check for survivors. “I think we should move in. Get close enough for them to get a visual.”
“We don’t have enough power for thrusters.”
“Yes, we do. It just reduces our life support from hours to minutes.” He hated to put them in further jeopardy, but there was the possibility the other ship could move on at any moment. “We have to do something.” He hooked the toes of his boots at the base of the console and engaged the thrusters to swing the pod toward the troopers.
At the edge of the view screen, another ship appeared. Kashatok’s heart caught in his throat. The Hardship. Captain Qaiyaan had come for them after all. Come for Joy. The other pirate owed nothing to Kashatok.
Purple bolts of light flashed over the trooper’s hull. “God, is that the Hardship?” Joy asked. “They’re firing at each other!”
The familiar shape of Captain Qaiyaan’s ship dodged around the other vessel, evading its blasters while pummeling the troopers with its smaller gunfire. A stray blaster bolt bathed the view screen in a florescent glow.
“Uminaq!” Kashatok reached for the controls to guide them away from the fight.
Every light on the console flickered and went out. Then the low hum of the air scrubbers went silent. Using the thrusters had killed the last of the power reserves. Kashatok bellowed, “No!”
Bursts of light from the battle outside lit Joy’s terrified face with deeply cut shadows. He could feel her trembling and pulled her into his arms. “We’re heading straight into the line of fire.”
She pressed her cheek against his chest. “Are we close enough to use your cochlear implant to call out?”
The implant had a short range, but it was worth a shot. He tapped below his ear. “This is Kashatok aboard the escape pod, does anyone copy?”
“We read you, Captain!” Qaiyaan’s voice came back immediately. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Reverse thrusters, now!”
Kashatok’s hearts thumped as if they were knocking together. “Thrusters are down! Stop firing! Tell the troopers Joy’s on board.”
“Those aren’t troopers, Captain.”
Kashatok gripped Joy tighter. “Who are they?”
Tovik’s voice cut in. “Kashatok, you have to evacuate the pod!”
“I told you, Joy’s with me,” Kashatok nearly shouted. “We have no vacuum suits.”
“You’ll only have to hold your shield around both of you for a few minutes. Push off the pod perpendicular to us with every bit of ionic power you can spare. We’ll keep Aleknagik occupied and hopefully he won’t notice. Then we can give him the pod while we sweep by and pick you up.”
The pod shuddered as a blast passed close by. “I don’t understand. How is Aleknagik shooting at us?”
“He commandeered the fucking trooper ship!” Qaiyaan said. “Now either evacuate or prepare to be blown to cosmic dust.”
“We can do this, Kashatok,” Tovik said. “I won’t let you two die.”
For some reason, Kashatok believed the kid. Seemed to be a habit of his to believe people lately. He took a breath and pushed Joy off his chest. “They want us to evacuate.”
“How?” The look on her face was almost comical in the strobing purple light.
“My ionic shielding. Like we did when we jumped off the slave ship.”
She swallowed loud enough for him to hear. “Are we near enough to do that?”
“No. But Tovik says he has a plan.”
“Much as I like Tovik, jumping into space without a suit and nowhere to land sounds like the stupidest plan ever.”
A crazed chuckle rumbled through him. He felt absolutely insane right now. “They want us to space-lock ourselves.”
She took a deep breath. “I trust you. Just tell me what to do.”
They might die out there, but they were definitely on course to die if they stayed here. He turned around. “Hop on my back.”
She wrapped her legs around his hips and gripped his shoulders.
He wrapped his hands beneath her knees to hold her against him. “Take a bunch of quick breaths, like you’re hyperventilating.”
He followed his own advice, saturating his bloodstream with oxygen before raising his shield.
“Popping the air seal now,” he said into his implant.
The small cabin evacuated atmosphere like a sigh. Against the velvet blackness, the two ships looked like toys in the distance.
Kashatok bent his knees and jumped.
He probably should’ve put more force behind his leap, but he wanted to be sure he reserved enough strength to maintain his shielding. Far out to his left, the troopers and the Hardship seemed evenly matched, purple pulses of light strafing the blackness between them. Both vessels wove around each other in evasive maneuvers. How could Qaiyaan possibly break away before Kashatok ran out of energy for his shield? Locking his forearms more firmly beneath Joy’s knees, he prayed to Ellam Cua for a miracle.
Joy clung to Kashatok’s back, unsure if she needed to hold her breath. Just to be safe, she did. Far off to her left, the two vessels continued exchanging fire. The vastness of space surrounding them felt like a monster’s jaws ready to swallow them at any moment. She’d hoped Kashatok’s super-power included some kind of propulsion, but he only drifted the direction he’d jumped, his arms clamped around her knees.
Then the Hardship suddenly spun on its axis and darted straight for them. A bolt from the trooper ship’s long-range cannon whizzed past too close for Joy’s comfort. A sip of air escaped her lips and she clamped her mouth closed to contain what she had left in her lungs.
Then a crushing hand seemed to grab hold of her, freezing every limb in position. The tractor beam? Oh, God. It was designed to move metallic structures like ship hulls, not living flesh. She hoped their young engineer knew what he was doing.
The Hardship seemed to double in size. Then double again. Without warning, the tractor beam cut off, releasing the bone-crushing pressure. The ship continued to rush toward them, the open maw of the cargo hold several ship-lengths away. Whoever was piloting the ship had better have a damn steady hand, or she and Kashatok would end up as nothing but smears against the hull.
She pressed her cheek to the side of Kashatok’s neck, wishing she could take one last breath, smell him one last time. The hatch was nearly within reach now, the opening hazed by a sparkling atmospheric force-shield.
Three meters.
Two.
Kashatok ducked, his top-knot almost brushing the bay’s door frame as they shot into the lit interior and slammed into a cargo net strung inside the hold. Joy’s breath exploded in a giant rush, her hold on Kashatok broken. Like a slow-motion rubber band, the netting stretched…
The rebound flung her back in the direction they’d come from. Terror that she might be ejected through the open door seized her; instead, she crashed into the opposite wall of the cargo bay.
The impact felt like it had bruised every inch of her body. Her camera winked out. Barely conscious, she felt someone lift her.
“They’re in,” Mek said.
Next thing she knew, she was lying on a mattress. Hands pressed diodes to her temples. A familiar furry body brushed against her cheek, settling at the crook of her neck and shoulder.
“Jhikik?” she slurred, unable to open her eyes.
The netorpok purred softly, nuzzling his head beneath her ear. Where was Kashatok? Before she could rally the strength to open her eyes, the familiar vertigo of burn twisted her inside out. Nausea rose and fell, her muscles quivered, every vein in her body seemed to be filled with lava. After long, excruciating minutes, the sensation ended.
She let out a sigh. Her body throbbed from hitting the cargo wall, but compared to the last couple of burns, her head didn’t feel so bad. Even the nanites had remained sane. In fact, they were silent as the grave. Curious, she commanded, Camera.
Light stabbed into her brain and she squeezed her eyes shut, a
djusting her filters before trying again. Next to her ear, Jhikik clacked his teeth.
Kashatok’s voice came from somewhere near her feet. “How is she? I need to see her.”
She lifted her head, noting the familiar surroundings of the Hardship’s med bay. Kashatok leaned on the door frame looking haggard as hell, but alive. Thank God. She dropped her head back against the pillow. “I’m okay. A little beat up, but alive.” She extended a hand toward him. “How’re you?”
He moved up the side of the cot, the furious lines of his face softening. Behind him at the computer, Mek watched them with his arms crossed.
Kashatok wove his fingers between hers. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“Me either.” Her heart felt so full, it hurt almost as much as her bruised body.
Jhikik scurried over their connected hands, perching on Kashatok’s shoulder. A contented purr filled the room.
“Good to see you, too.” Kashatok rubbed the netorpok beneath the chin.
Joy sighed. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“Maybe you can tell us, Ms. Mulholland-Aird.” Noatak’s voice cut through the room like a laser.
Her heart leapt into her throat. They’re going to kill me. But they wouldn’t go through the effort of rescuing her only to kill her, would they? Not before they harvested the nanites.
Kashatok widened his stance, standing between her and Noatak. “Back off.”
Tovik tore around the corner into the med bay, his face alight. “Anaq, you guys! That was awesome!”
“Not now, Tovik,” Noatak warned without taking his gaze off Joy.
Mek pointed to Joy and Kashatok’s joined hands. “They’ve mated.”
Heat crept over Joy’s face while Kashatok strengthened his grip on her hand. “Yes.”
Noatak’s face darkened. “So the nanites are gone?”
“Oh, crap,” Tovik said. “Qaiyaan’s going to be pissed.”
Mek picked up a syringe. “Perhaps I can still learn something from her blood.”
Even without ionic senses of her own, Joy felt Kashatok’s power expand. He let go of her hand and snatched the syringe from Mek’s grip. “No one touches her.”
Joy pushed the diodes away from her head and sat up painfully. “Kashatok, it’s okay. Let him take a sample.” She held her arm out to Mek. “I know you said the mating frequency would destroy the nanites, but they’re not gone.”
Mek’s gaze sharpened. “Interesting. Let’s take a look.”
She looked away while he pressed the sample gun against her arm.
Qaiyaan rounded the corner and stopped in the doorway. “Mek, Lisa needs your attention before we can jump again.” He stiffened, eyes narrowing as he looked at the gathered men. “What’s wrong.”
“She’s mated,” Noatak clipped out.
“But I still have the nanites,” Joy added, willing herself not to turn away from Qaiyaan’s furious look.
“I’ll know in a moment,” Mek said, plugging her blood sample into his diagnostic machine. Joy’s camera jounced in time with her heartbeat while she waited. After a moment, Mek shook his head, turning back to face the room. “There are no nanites in her bloodstream.”
“What?” Joy could barely form words. She didn’t want to think of what might happen to her if she didn’t have the nanites to bargain with. “There has to be. My camera’s working.”
Face doubtful, Mek pulled a scanner from one of the cupboards. “Most likely your optic nerve has simply returned to normal. Let me take a reading of your synaptic system.”
Passing the scanner slowly over her scalp, he made a surprised noise and repeated the motion. Setting the scanner aside, he scratched his cheek. “I don’t know how, but she still has them. It appears the nanites have secured themselves to her nervous system.”
The entire room seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Joy’s sigh was loudest of all. “So that’s good, right? We didn’t kill them. Why aren’t they showing up in my blood?”
Mek shook his head. “They’re no longer free floating.”
“What does that mean?” Kashatok grumbled.
“I can’t harvest her,” Mek said. “At least not the way I’d imagined.”
The word harvest had Joy’s blood racing, and she was grateful when Kashatok spoke with caveman-like protectiveness. “You’re not harvesting my mate.”
“Bad choice of words.” Mek held up a placating hand. “I meant to say gather excess nanites.”
Kashatok’s fists knotted by his sides. “Whatever she has or doesn’t have, she’s my mate. I won’t let any of you hurt her.”
“Me either.” Tovik glared at Noatak.
“She’s Syndicorp, you fools.” Noatak took a step forward. “Probably in league with Aleknagik this entire time.”
Jhikik clicked his teeth at the advancing crewman.
Joy’s jaw dropped. “Aleknagik’s with Syndicorp?”
“No, fucking way,” Kashatok shook his head. “He may’ve taken me by surprise with the mutiny, but if there’s one thing Aleknagik is not, it’s Syndicorp. He’s just a bastard who subverted my crew and stole my ship. Where the hell is my ship, anyway?”
“We left it behind to rescue you,” Qaiyaan said. “Are you sure he’s not with the ‘corp?”
“Positive.”
Qaiyaan shook his head, brow furrowed. “Aleknagik probably went straight back to where we left the Kinship. He’ll be waiting and we’re no match for those trooper guns.”
“Suicide mission,” Noatak added.
Chapter Sixteen
Suicide mission, Kashatok thought, remembering Chignik’s helpless confession to him in the brig. “Who’s left on the Kinship?”
“Not sure. We didn’t stick around for roll call,” Qaiyaan said.
Tovik added, “Aleknagik took two guys with him.”
Joy’s hand slipped into his. “I’m worried about Gassy.”
Kashatok nodded, his gaze locked with Qaiyaan’s. “They’re my iluq,” he said softly, “I owe them my help.” For the first time in over fifteen years, he realized he wanted that sense of brotherhood.
“I understand.” Qaiyaan crossed his arms. “But if we let the nanites be destroyed, that’s the end of any hope for future mates.”
“If we don’t make a point of protecting our fellow Denaidans, we have no reason for mates,” Kashatok pointed out. “Losing the men on the Kinship would be a major loss when there are so few of us left.”
A pained look crossed Qaiyaan’s face. He rubbed his forehead. “One impossible situation after another. First, my mate is wanted by the cartel, now your mate is being tracked by Syndicorp. Anaq, we have terrible taste in women, Kashatok.”
The men chuckled, and even Kashatok had to smile. “I’m just grateful to have found a mate at all.”
Joy’s brows furrowed. “But if Aleknagik’s not with Syndicorp, how’d he end up in control of the trooper ship?”
Qaiyaan smirked. “We’re pirates. It’s what we do.”
Kashatok squeezed her knee. “Superpowers, remember? We surprise and board ships that way all the time.”
“Oh. Right.” Joy groaned and pushed herself off the cot. “Tovik, is the piggyback harness still in place on the Kinship?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“If we catch Aleknagik between our two ships while engaging the piggyback, wouldn’t it blow out his power coils?”
Tovik let out a low whistle. “Theoretically, yes. But that last piggyback knocked us apart. We’d need them to recalibrate.”
“How do we do that when they’re being guarded?” Qaiyaan stroked his beard.
“I could talk them through it if we were in comm range,” Tovik said.
Noatak shook his head. “Aleknagik knows all our comm channels. He’s sure to be monitoring them.”
“I have the nanites,” Joy said. “I can connect straight into the Kinship’s comm and walk them through the calibration without Aleknagik being any the wiser. Although…” She bit her b
ottom lip. “We’ll need to be fairly close to do that.”
“Our shields are no match for trooper cannons,” Qaiyaan said.
“Let me handle the controls,” Kashatok said. “I’ve piloted through worse.”
Qaiyaan raised his brows. “I know your piloting is legendary, but are you sure?”
Imagining blowing Aleknagik to space dust, Kashatok grinned. “Just show me to the cockpit.”
He was going to get his damn ship back if it killed him.
The makeshift nav-grav seat Tovik had rigged in engineering barely held Joy steady as the Hardship changed trajectories again. With her camera deactivated so she could use the nanites for the comm, blindness had her panicking every time the ship shuddered under impact.
“Whoa, that was a close one,” Tovik reported from somewhere in engineering as he worked on calibrating the Hardship’s drive. “How’re things going over on the Kinship?”
Still reeling from post-burn nausea, Joy’d contacted Ekwok on the Kinship’s bridge. Gassy was till down, however, and none of the crew knew much about engineering. Cooper and Chignik had been taking the instructions she was relaying on how to adjust the harness, but were now debating each other on the other end of the comm.
“Listen up,” Joy strengthened the nanites’ signal, needing to sound authoritative before she lost them all together. “Stop arguing and tighten the hex bolt another quarter turn then send me the numbers.”
Joy’s heart raced as she waited for the data. How long could Kashatok evade Aleknagik’s guns yet remain close enough to the Kinship for her to keep contact? And that wasn’t even the hard part; once the harness was aligned, they had to maneuver Aleknagik’s ship between the other two ships and hit the burn drive.
Data streamed over the comm, and she immediately relayed the information to Tovik’s console. “Please tell me they’ve got it close enough.”
Chignik’s transmission through the nanites was asking the same thing. Tovik mumbled, “Maybe if I make an adjustment to our flux membrane…”