“Silence, all of you! I will hear no more superstitious blathering. Do I need to remind you of how much fortune awaits us once we find the Evandra? The entire crew will be wealthy beyond anything you could dream. Focus on that alone. It is worth every risk. We will drink, and feast and fuck! We will have every pleasure laid before us!”
The uncertain mumble shifted to interest as the captain continue to shout out promises of excesses, and more than one male nodded along eagerly.
Terri grimaced at the cheap trick. Sway the masses by telling them that they would be given the very things they desire. It was how the gang gained a foothold in Phoenix, so it wasn’t something she had never seen before. Although a few males showed reluctance, the majority of the crew hastened to gather their supplies in preparation to depart.
“Veral,” Egbor called out as he moved toward the base of the tree. Planting his lower hands on his hips, he glowered up, meeting the Argurma’s cold eyes. Terri could practically feel the tension coiling in the air between them. The captain extended an empty hand out to the forest. “So far, despite our losses, you have done well guiding us. It is time. If you care about the safety of your female, we shall continue on.”
Her mate didn’t reply. His eyes shifted to her seconds before he dropped soundlessly from the tree. Even the impact of his feet hitting the ground was light as his crouched body connected with the turf, a hand slightly outstretched for balance. His claws were out, and they dragged against the ground as he drew back and slowly stood, his menacing glare fixed on the pirate captain.
For his part, Egbor didn’t appear even remotely fazed. His expression was hard and emotionless as he lifted a second blaster from its holster and pointed it directly at her.
“Just so that we are very clear here on who holds all the power,” he said with a chilly smile.
“For now,” Veral agreed.
A burst of laughter escaped the pirate and he shook his head. “As amusing as this all is, there is something of a time schedule involved here—my own. There is only so long before someone notices my ship orbiting around the planet. I must insist that we continue. Now.”
A rattling growl rose from Veral as he turned away and stalked by her, yet as he passed, she felt his vibrissae slide against her cheek and the glide of his hand against her own before he was gone. Terri stared after him, frustration brewing within her.
She hated being so helpless.
A weapon prodded her, and she turned to meet Egbor’s amused gaze. From the corner of her eye, she noted that Azan had stiffened at her side.
“Do not get any ideas, little female,” he said. Then he dropped the blaster and holstered it. “Just a small reminder that your wellbeing is entirely in my hands. You would do well to cooperate and make certain that I continue to have a use for you.”
“If anything happens to me, Veral will destroy all of you,” Terri returned.
The captain inclined his head in agreement. “If I kill you, yes. But this is a dangerous place, and accidents do happen.” His lips curved into a sharp smile before his eyes dropped on the boy at their side. “Come, Garswal, you will walk with me today. It appears we will be walking through a thicker stretch of forest. I suspect there will be some need to clear the route. Might as well have your blade at the ready.”
With that reminder, he walked away, his guards joining him as they followed along the path that Veral was cutting through the forest, Garswal struggling to keep up at their heels.
Even from that distance, Terri could see the thick vines hanging low from the trees, obstructing the path. Several males were already hacking at them with blades, though Veral seemed to slip through them without trouble, his vibrissae moving around him as he found the easiest path. It seemed that the pirates were well underway. Only a few lingered to bring up the rear, their eyes resting on Azan and Terri.
“Move on,” Azan hissed impatiently with a sharp nudge.
Terri stumbled forward but didn’t take it personally. The female was still staring off into the distance, her eyes filled with concern as they followed Garswal’s slow progress as he began to cut away the vines nearest to the captain.
“He will be okay, won’t he? I mean, the captain wouldn’t put his own child in danger…” Terri began, hoping to reassure the female.
Azan barked out a disdainful laugh as they pushed forward. “You haven’t been around Blaithari long enough to understand. Garswal is useful to him. That he sired him merely makes him possessive of him as any other belonging, but not out of any paternal affections. My father was a loving male… He never would have put me in danger like that. But Garswal, he is only half-Blaithari… and among many males, particularly among the nobles, that makes him only half a person. Definitely not a son. His only purpose is to serve Egbor. The captain will kill any male who harms him but will use the youngling and sacrifice him without thinking twice about it.”
Terri’s teeth sank into her bottom lip as they stepped into the gradually thickening brush. She was startled at how quickly the terrain shifted as they began to climb from the spongy flatlands. The salvage was located among the ravines, from what she recalled of the schematic. This meant that they were leaving the boggy terrain for the dangerous cliffs of the inner forest.
She swallowed nervously as loose rocks and soils shifted out from under her feet. They were only beginning their ascent, but a cold sweat broke over her at the thought of falling from the side of the cliffs, the captain’s words haunting her. With firmer ground and thicker cover, there was also a greater chance of dangerous predators concealed within the forest.
Terri shivered as tall plants grazed her in passing. Though she could only marginally feel them through the protective layers of her armor, every brush skittered over her nerves as if something far more dangerous were pacing beside her.
She desperately missed Krono. His presence would have helped settle her nerves at least a little in the unfamiliar environment. Higher they climbed at a ground-eating pace, one that left her wheezing and weak-legged by the time the sun began to drop in the horizon. She was all but ready to collapse when an excited shout rose from the crew.
Something had been discovered.
Squinting, Terri pushed through the remaining brush, her breath leaving her in a gasp. Just ahead, leaning at an awkward level, was a large structure. It was covered in vines and various plant life that sprung up where dirt had collected, but even she could see that it had once been part of a starship.
Egbor’s voice rose over the crew, his shout triumphant. “We are on the right track! And tonight, we will rest securely in shelter.”
13
Although a large hole had been ripped into the side of the wreckage, Veral was surprised at how well preserved the section of the ancient starship was. Indeed, aside from the hole itself, most of the wreckage was secure and easily contained the entire crew that were currently settling within it with plenty of space to spare.
That this torn-away section had survived near intact was marvel of engineering. Most ships that he was familiar with, if they were torn apart upon entry, would not have much remaining to be suitable for shelter. The Elshavan created technological marvels that he would have discounted as fantasy if he were not seeing it with his own eyes and scanning it with his own systems.
He was only somewhat familiar with the lore of the Evandra. Just the bits and pieces he had been able to find from the Yil’anip databases when he had been assigned the salvage. The House of Grez’na were an ancient line of the species and contained the best records that could be found regarding their oldest predecessors.
In their records had been details of an ancient star faring race, the Elshavan, who held great wealth and technology. The most prized of their ships was the Evandra, the vanquisher of foes. When the Elshavan went to war with another great power, the Diralthax, all the planets between their civilizations became the battlegrounds, and chief among their outposts had been the planet Yil’winar. Though the Elshavan won, the Evandra w
as lost to them, taking with it not only the prince and all his royal wealth that was traveling upon it, but also war tech that seemed more legend than truth.
Eventually both the Elshavan and Diralthax civilizations collapsed and became a curiosity of galactic scholars who were still uncertain just how much of the lore surrounding the civilizations was factual. Little remained of them outside of a few written accounts and the trace lore on planets that fell under the control of their civilizations. No one had even so much as located the homeworlds.
Naturally, when taking the assignment, Veral believed that the Elshavan had probably not been as advanced in tech as the then-primitive Yil’anip.
Now, as he looked at the perfectly seamless black walls that not even the Argurma with all their tech advances could accomplish, he was not so certain. In some places, he was sure that he could see faint lines of what might have been data outlays and storage compartments, but he could not discern any way to open the latter. The pirates were going to be disappointed if the ship itself, when they found it, was more of the same rather than brimming with wealth waiting to be claimed.
As it was, the males following him into the wreckage were grumbling at how empty everything was as they searched for any sign of wildlife that may have taken refuge within it. The absence of any trace remains of the normal things one might find in the wreckage of a manned ship disturbed them as much as the lack of any signs of animal habitation.
It was odd. His scans did not pick up any animal matter. The only organics he could detect were the bits of plant material that had managed to blow inside. Even more curious, there was an unidentifiable hum of energy coming from somewhere that he could not source. That alone pricked at his systems as he struggled to identify it. Even his vibrissae could not find any source for it in the electric currents running through the air.
“I am telling you, this place is haunted,” a Blaithari male muttered to the male nodding at his side.
Interesting.
Terri had made an offhand comment about cursed gold once in jest. The Argurma had complicated belief systems regarding ancestors but did not believe that the dead remained in the living world.
Yet he could not dismiss the fact that there was something peculiar about the broken-away section of the Evandra. Not spirits of the dead… but something of the people remained. Something that deterred even wild animals from attempting to make it their home.
“There is nothing here,” the other male whispered to his companion. “Not even a table or a handheld device. Nothing. It is unnerving. What if the rest of the ship’s remains are just like this?”
“I do not like that we are risking our lives for possibly nothing,” the first male returned with a vexed hiss.
“Do not be speaking ill of the Evandra,” Egbor snapped as he came up behind them.
Veral cocked an ear in his direction, his systems always in some part locked on the captain, as the male continued to speak tersely.
“We have no understanding of how their tech worked, but I have no doubt that when wealth is spoken of, it is tangible, for the legends to speak so freely of it in our stories as much as in those of our Yil’anip neighbors. This is but a small, inconsequential part of the ship. It will serve our purpose well enough by doing nothing more than providing our shelter for the night.”
“I still say it is haunted,” muttered the first male the moment the captain moved away. “Even for an ancient, advanced race… this is unnatural.”
Veral chuffed silently to himself in amusement. There was nothing supernatural about it, just currently unidentifiable. The whispers brought to mind all the ridiculous things the crew had been spouting about him earlier that same morning.
The unknown inspired fear. This was nothing new.
He did not fear it, but now he was deeply curious about the Evandra. If he could manage to retrieve anything at all before leaving the planet, it could be an opportunity to learn something about their technology. Possessing knowledge not held by his brethren could give him an edge when it came to avoiding them and keeping his mate safe.
Arriving at the end of the wreckage, he spied the area that was segmented off from the rest by two partial walls with an open passageway. There was an impression in the center of the room that appeared as if something was designed to lift up from the floor, and many more of the outlines of storage units on the walls.
This time, however, there was an obvious outline of what appeared to be a data unit fixed to the wall. He skimmed his fingers over it. At his touch, something foreign linked to his systems.
His natural instinct was to recoil at the touch of the unfamiliar tech, but was distracted when the screen suddenly blinked on, glowing faintly. He cocked his head and peered at it. It seemed to be a basic medical diagram, from what he could tell. Three images were side by side showing the species’ skeletal, muscular, and vascular systems. Curious, he dropped his hand away and leaned forward, only to have the screen go dark.
Very interesting.
Veral touched it again, the tech once more flooding through his system as it uplinked. The path was strange. The moment he released contact, he was unable to maintain it. It unraveled rapidly. Like all channels, it would require considerable practice building a path with it. If he had the time. He would need to salvage something small, preferably from the primary wreckage, to explore it further.
Eyes leaving the screen, he focused again on the indention in the floor. He walked forward and tapped his foot on it.
Nothing.
Pacing around it, his eyes fell on a lighter plate on the dark material. He stepped there but this time did not lift his foot. The uplink, as before, was instantaneous. The flooring within the impression parted, and a large metal pad lifted up before fully extending into an obvious med-bed, the sensors along the side lighting up in anticipation of a patient. He stepped away, testing how long he could maintain the connection. It lasted for several minutes before everything flickered off. The table, lacking the necessary power and instructions to retract, remained in the center of the room.
He tapped a claw on his thigh as he regarded it. He considered attempting to retract it, but the sounds of the crew were getting closer. Moving away, he approached the panels and set his hand on them one by one. Not many opened. Some flashed a request for an access code. Those that did open had what seemed to be basic medical supplies.
It was not impressive, but perhaps to be expected. When it came to basic emergency supplies, little changed over time. Even Argurma warriors depended on bandages in the field before they could be treated by a medic.
The last cabinet slid shut, and he yanked his hand down just as the thudding of boots approached. Turning away from the wall, Veral faced the male who walked in, a look of interest on his face.
“Fascinating,” Egbor murmured, his eyes coming to rest on the med-bed. “Have you discovered anything?”
Veral lifted his shoulders, mimicking his mate’s shrug. “As you can see, that looks like a med-bed. It would appear that this was the ship’s medical bay.”
“Pretty sparse for medical,” the captain observed.
“The med-bed appears standard, and the screen there would have received data,” Veral replied, pointing to the data unit’s screen. “There is a high probability that whatever had been in this room and this part of the ship fell out when it ripped away from the frame of the Evandra.” There was a degree of truth to that statement.
The captain nodded. “So it would seem,” he muttered to himself as he began to walk away. At the entrance, he paused and glanced over at Veral. “You would not attempt to deceive me, would you, Argurma?”
Veral only blinked at him. “To what purpose would that serve? My only interest is to keep my mate safe.”
“And what of your duty to your employer?”
“There is no duty greater than her,” Veral growled impatiently.
That was the complete truth. Whatever the prince had planned to pay him for the salvage was meaningles
s in the face of Terri’s safety. He would abandon it without regret. The likelihood of anyone else being able to salvage it was small since few species had the ability to detect lifeforms to a degree that they would be able to avoid them. Though he jested with his cousin about taking a scenic route, he had made certain that nothing dangerous would get anywhere near his female. Other salvagers would need incredible luck to survive against the dangers of this forest.
Egbor nodded. “Some would say that is dishonorable, to set aside your contracts so easily, but I can respect it. The funny thing about you Argurma, with all your hard, cold logic, is that you are so incredibly stupid when it comes to your mates. You are willing to sacrifice everything.”
Veral’s eyes narrowed, but he refused to speak. What a pirate would never understand is that there was nothing without his mate. Despite all the rumors about his species, he was grateful that outsiders knew so little about the particulars of their society, especially their mate bonds.
Not knowing that he would follow her in death kept the male operating within the letter of the agreement out of fear of retaliation.
His eyes followed the pirate captain as the male left the room. When he was out of sight, Veral gave one last cursory glance around the space, his eyes falling on the outline of a door. That had to lead to a small, private room. Making note of it, Veral grunted and spun around as he followed the captain back out to the main area of the wreckage where the crew was congregated.
“Alien tech reacts to our systems,” he fired off to Kaylar as his gaze studied the pirates shoving by each other as they fought for rations.
“Is it controllable?”
“Debatable. Links drops out if not touched directly. A direct pathway link could be established, I believe, with time.”
Pirate's Gold (Argurma Salvager Book 2) Page 10
