by Layla Nash
Isla took a step back. “Maisy, you can’t mean—”
“She’s serious,” Jess said quietly. “And she’s right. We have treated her like a little sister instead of an equal, and for that I’m sorry, Maisy. We thought it was the right choice because we care about you and you’re too... too good to risk losing. It’s selfish because we need you, but we shouldn’t try to keep you from growing. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you,” Maisy said.
Griggs cursed under her breath and ran her hands through her hair, then groaned. “Jess is right, and so are you, Maisy. Damn it. I fucking hate it, but you’re right. It’s your choice whether you go or not. I would never stand for someone telling me not to take a risk because they wanted to protect me from maybe getting hurt.”
Isla stared at them as if everyone had lost their minds. “You two cannot be serious.”
“But that doesn’t mean we want to see you rush headlong into danger underprepared or uninformed,” Jess said. Her tone remained neutral and she spoke slowly, choosing her words with care. “Because there’s acceptable risk and unacceptable risk, Maisy. We need to be careful making sure you’re going with the first, not the second. So we have some planning and research and discussion ahead of us, right? Before you commit to going.”
“I already volunteered,” Maisy said. Suddenly the real possibility she’d end up on a pirate ship full of Xaravians reared up in front of her. Some of the confidence of Bold Maisy faded a bit when it was clear she’d convinced at least Griggs and Jess that she deserved to make her own decisions. “I’m not taking that back.”
Griggs nodded, glancing at the communicator on her wrist as it pinged, then looked back at Maisy. “Yes, but we can also create conditions and negotiate quarters and pay and all that stuff. And maybe we can arrange someone to go with you, so you won’t—”
“I don’t need a chaperone,” Maisy said with a groan. “Or a protector. Einstein’s mustache, I’m not a child.”
“So tell me, is putting yourself alone in a foreign environment with a crew full of strangers on a mission you don’t fully understand as you go plummeting through neutral space on an illegal ship with a bounty on your head and no protection even as a rebel agent an acceptable risk?” Jess raised her eyebrows. “Or unacceptable risk?”
Maisy frowned at her, itching to walk away and slam a door. Damn it. She really hated that Jess was right. And all three of them were standing there, waiting for her to admit she was wrong and it was a stupid risk. “To you, it’s probably unacceptable.”
“Right-o.” At least Jess didn’t sound so furious and emotional, like Isla, but instead was cold and calculating enough that Maisy started to suspect she wasn’t really a cultural attaché. “And what’s your escape plan if things go wrong? If it’s just you, those Xaravians can isolate you and prevent you from getting help or getting free. It’s not like you can just hop off the ship wherever you want—not with a bounty on your head and possibly getting caught by slavers. So we need to figure out a way for you to communicate with us and potentially escape if you need to.”
“Fine.” Maisy ground her teeth. “But none of this changes my mind. I’m still going, and none of you are going with me.”
Griggs got a bit of a spark in her eyes. “Well, I don’t think you can stop us from volunteering...”
“None of you are engineers or doctors,” she said. “And I really doubt Vrix would let you disappear into space with a whole crew full of Xaravians.”
“It would be fun to tell them that, though,” Jess said thoughtfully. “Get the boys all in a tizzy.”
Isla scowled. “You are no help at all, seriously. I don’t even know why I bothered to bring you.”
“You needed a voice of reason,” Griggs said. “That’s me.”
Which led to smirks and snorts all around, since Griggs was never the voice of reason.
Jess straightened from her slouch in the uncomfortable chair and started to pick up the Xaravian food that Maisy meant to deliver to the sick bay. “Here’s a plan. I’ll go with you back to the sick bay and we can quiz these pirates on what they’re doing and how they would accommodate you on the ship. Then you and I can come up with a solid plan, so when Isla betrays you by telling Vaant not to let you go, you’ll have so many solid arguments in favor of going that he won’t have a choice. Okay?”
Maisy almost held her breath. “Okay.”
Isla gripped double handfuls of her hair like she would tear it all out and scream at the same time. “It’s not a betrayal to try and protect someone from being foolish and reckless with their life. It’s not. I’m not going to feel bad about that.”
“I need to do this,” Maisy said. “I know you don’t understand that, but you’re not going to change my mind.”
Jess patted Isla’s shoulder as she walked by, and Maisy followed her without another word, juggling a few of the bowls as well as her hot chocolate. She caught up to Jess in the hall and lowered her voice. “And I want to know why your bounty was enough to buy an entire new battleship.”
The other woman smiled and winked. “All in due time.”
Which gave Maisy plenty to think about on the short walk back to sick bay, although it wasn’t long before they could hear the shouting and crashing of a hell of a fight.
Chapter 6
Frrar
Frrar waited until Maisy’s light footsteps faded from his hearing before he triggered the doors to close behind him. He folded his arms over his chest and tried to force the rage at his brother down into a cold place at the bottom of his hearts. Faros watched him, expressionless, and his scales remained faintly green, their neutral tone, as he waited for whatever accusations Frrar threw at him.
Which just made Frrar angrier. He didn’t want to give his brother the satisfaction of knowing he’d irritated Frrar, even if it was painfully obvious with the red and orange swirling in his scales. “How did you find us?”
“As hard as it may be for you to understand, brother, I didn’t go out of my way looking for you.”
“And I find it exceptionally surprising that in all of rebel-held space and neutral territory, your ship crossed paths with ours. Were you tracking our communications?”
The corner of Faros’s mouth twitched. “It was coincidence, nothing more.”
Frrar didn’t believe him, and not just because his brother was a lying bastard who should have been disowned by their parents decades ago. The other pirates with him remained carefully disinterested, which only convinced Frrar that they knew the truth—and it wasn’t the line of snake shit that Faros tried to feed him. “Then it will be coincidence when you get the hell out of here immediately, detach your ship, and disappear again.”
“We can’t,” Faros said. He glanced down as the regenerator on his side beeped and disengaged, falling to the gurney where it rolled itself into a ball to wait to be recharged and reloaded. “As I told your captain, we’re in dire need of additional crew in order to deal with the little problem we ran into, and to take care of the mission we were running when they interrupted us. The rebellion could face setbacks if we’re not able to complete our missions. I doubt your captain will turn his back on our needs, in the name of the rebellion.”
“Vaant knows better than you the needs of the rebellion,” Frrar said. His jaw ached from clenching, and part of him hoped that Vrix or Vaant would return to interrupt so Frrar didn’t have to look at his brother’s deceitful face another nanosecond. “He’ll see through whatever tale you’re selling. He knows what you are.”
“And what’s that, brother?” Faros said, his voice low and dangerous. He sat forward on the gurney, the scales on his shoulders rattling. “What am I?”
Frrar bared his teeth. “A liar and murderer. And a coward.”
The other two pirates grumbled, their expressions darkening. No doubt they hadn’t seen the depths to which Faros would sink, or they were already there themselves and couldn’t remember what it was like to not be a pirate.
&nb
sp; Faros pushed to his feet, looking at his shoulder to check the amount of healing that had occurred. Then his dark silver eyes narrowed and his knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists. “I’m no coward, Frrar.”
“A thief always is,” Frrar said. He braced for the fight. He wanted the fight. They’d beaten each other bloody the last time they crossed paths, and Frrar thought he wouldn’t have the chance to kill the bastard again. Apparently Faros didn’t remember the lesson from that fight. “You want to face me again, brother?”
The pirate growled and leaned forward like he would launch at Frrar. “You smug sandsnake, I’ll break your spikes and hand them back to you before I’m done with you.”
They clashed immediately and Frrar ducked a wild swing from Faros, throwing his brother over his shoulder so he crashed into a gurney, and Faros leapt to his feet. The pirates got out of the way, at least not stupid enough to get involved, and Frrar didn’t care that they were all wounded as he trashed Maisy’s orderly, pristine sick bay. He threw Faros into the wall, denting it, and grunted as Faros retaliated with a boot in Frrar’s guts to send him flying into a crate of supplies. He snarled, tackling his brother, and they hurtled at the doors just as they whooshed open.
Frrar cursed and tried to avert their momentum as he caught sight of Maisy’s wide-eyed look, and his brother slammed into the far wall, barely missing the other Earther with the doctor. Frrar’s shoulder clipped Maisy’s and the doctor went down in a heap. He twisted so he wouldn’t land directly on her, and braced his hand on the smooth floor to keep himself from crushing her delicate skin and bones. Imagine going through life without scales to protect you from danger.
Maisy whimpered and stared up at him, her eyes clear and enchanting, and for a long moment, Frrar forgot to breathe. His rage evaporated immediately and he almost forgot his brother even existed, much less cursed and bled a few feet away. The other Earther, the only one in the hallway still on her feet, rose from what looked like a fighter’s crouch and frowned down at all of them. “Well, I don’t know if I want to ask what that was about. But what the hell was that about?”
Frrar moved carefully so he wouldn’t hurt Maisy, and tried to breathe normally. He could have made a joke or called his brother a coward once more, but Faros also kept his mouth shut. Family business was kept within the family, or at least within the circle of warriors. There was no reason to let the Earthers know the problem. Frrar didn’t want Maisy to think poorly of him because of his shitty brother.
Jess, the other Earther and Trazzak’s odd mate, leaned down to grab the front of Maisy’s uniform to haul her to her feet. “Great. Very informative. Everyone back into the sick bay.”
Faros eyed her up and down, taking in the woman’s form. “And who are you?”
“She’s not your business,” someone snarled from down the hall, and Trazzak stormed up, his scales a furious scarlet from head to toe. The normally even-keeled second-in-command strode right into the pirate and knocked him back, ready to brawl in the narrow hall. “She’s my mate. Get your fucking eyes off her, pirate.”
Frrar should have let Trazzak kill the pirate, which was well within his rights as a male trying to protect his mate. But part of him still wanted to be the one to make Faros pay for all the pain and anguish he’d caused in the universe. Against his better judgment, he leaned back to catch Jess’s eye and tilted his head back the way Trazzak had come, frowning at her and hoping she got the message. The odd Earther rolled her eyes and sighed, muttering something in Low Xarav about stupid males and certain parts of their anatomy getting in the way of their brains.
Then Jess leaned against Trazzak’s back and slid her arms around his waist, distracting him from the unmoving, silent pirate as she nuzzled between his shoulders. “They’re both bleeding, my love. It won’t be nearly as impressive if you kill him when he’s already wounded. Let Maisy patch him up, then you can defend my honor.”
Trazzak grumbled and his spikes rattled, but he deflated just a bit and grudgingly looped his arm back to press her closer to him. “You’ll be the death of me, female.”
“Count on it.” Jess wormed free and gave Frrar a businesslike scowl. “And don’t you ever roughhouse with Maisy again.”
Frrar stared at her, parsing through what the Earther said while he tried not to draw too much of Trazzak’s attention. “I did not intend to knock her down. You can blame the pirates for that, as well.”
Faros gave him a dirty look, then executed a courtly bow with his right fist pressed against where his hearts beat in his chest. “I would never forgive myself if any harm had befallen you, delicate doctor. Please forgive me.”
Frrar wanted to punch him. Hard. Right in the mouth. Then he wanted to break the warrior’s spikes and drive them through his eyes until the bastard died.
Maisy patted at her hair and the rather severe braid that kept it away from her face, and cleared her throat a couple of times as a hint of color flushed through her cheeks. “Maybe don’t fight in the sick bay. Is there anything left in there?”
Before anyone could respond, Trazzak scowled and jerked his head toward the interior of the ship. “That will need to wait. Captain wants to see all of you.”
Frrar breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Vaant would put an end to the foolishness of Faros thinking he would take Maisy away with him. But the doctor hesitated, her attention still on the newly broken doors of the sick bay and the two expressionless pirates waiting inside. “I should probably—”
Frrar folded his arms over his chest. “Mrax can look after them.”
Her lips pursed and almost disappeared, and something about her seemed prickly and irritated; if she’d had scales, they would have rattled in warning. “I’m the doctor on call. It’s my job.”
“Your job is to show up on the bridge when the captain calls,” Trazzak said. His mate sighed loudly and leaned her forehead against his back, then untangled herself to link her arm with Maisy’s. The Earthers muttered to each other as they started down the hall, Jess trying to convince Maisy of something, and left the warriors standing there watching them leave. Trazzak growled and clenched his fists, all his attention on his stubborn mate. “These Earthers...”
“Looks like quite a handful,” Faros said without inflection. He was smart enough to not be looking at the other warrior’s mate when he said it, and instead gazed at the ceiling as he rubbed his reinjured shoulder. “They must keep life interesting, even among the rebels.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” Trazzak scowled more, shoulders tensing as he headed after his mate, and left Frrar staring at his brother.
Faros wiggled a loose tooth, then pulled it free and tossed it into the sick bay in the direction of the waste portal. He glanced at some of his wounds, then back at his brother. “You can end this whenever you want, brother.”
“It ends when you die,” Frrar said, feeling the cold of a desert night settled around his soul. “You killed Saeva and I will never forgive you for that.”
Something that could have been regret or sadness lingered in Faros’s expression as he shook his head. “It wasn’t—”
“Her death is on your hands,” Frrar said. He tensed, ready for another fight. No one would stop him from taking the pirate’s head. “Tell me it is not.”
Faros just looked at him, blood still tracking down his face like tears, and Frrar bared his teeth at the non-answer. “Exactly. Get moving so Vaant can throw you off his ship and I never have to see you again.”
Faros straightened his shoulders and barked a command for his pirates to remain in the sick bay so their wounds would actually heal, and began to limp slowly down the hall toward the bridge. Frrar stayed on his heels, ready to brawl if his brother made the wrong move, and let his thoughts drift to the very strange connection he’d felt with the fragile Earther when he knocked Maisy down. He’d never felt anything like it.
Chapter 7
Maisy
Every inch of her ached from being bowled over by
the fighting Xaravians. Maisy refused to limp or complain, even though her elbow felt like it was bending backward and she thought her eye had to be swelling shut, because she didn’t want anyone else to think she was too delicate to go on her own adventures.
It didn’t surprise her at all that Isla stood next to Vaant on the bridge, the Earther frowning and on the verge of crying or panic, and the captain’s irritation made his scales spark with orange and coral. The only other Xaravian on the bridge, Adhz, sat at the comms station and concentrated all of his attention on that, shoulders hunched as if he could block all of them out through sheer force of will.
At least Jess walked with Maisy, so Maisy could lean on her a little when her vision went wobbly and her stomach tried to empty itself all over the hall right outside the bridge. It didn’t help that Trazzak was on their heels, grumbling and growling the whole way, until Jess turned around and gave him a look that silenced the warrior.
Maisy didn’t know how she did it, but she wanted to ask Jess for lessons later. That kind of skill would come in handy no matter where Maisy ended up. And the list of questions Maisy had to ask Jess grew and grew with every passing moment. Like how the cultural attaché was the only one who stayed on her feet when the Xaravians plummeted into the hall.
She braced for disappointment as she faced Vaant, and refused to look at Isla. Maisy meant what she’d said about not being able to forgive Isla if the interpreter schemed to keep Maisy from finding her own way. She didn’t know what she’d do about Isla, but Maisy could come up with something. Maybe she’d sign up to be a settler out in one of the neutral frontiers, or she’d disembark from the Galaxos in one of the busier spaceports and set up a small clinic there. An Alliance-trained medic would be in high demand, even as a former Fleet officer. She could hide well enough that the bounty hunters wouldn’t find her. Maybe.
