by Tamsin Ley
Turning, she found Kashatok lowering the engineer’s motionless body to the floor. “Gassy, can you hear me?”
The old man still breathed but remained unconscious. Ugly welts covered his skin, and part of his hair had been scalded away.
Joy backed toward the door. “I’ll get the doc.”
“No.” Kashatok lifted the big engineer as if he weighed nothing. The ship jerked and shuddered. “Stay here and see what you can do to get us out of here. I’ll take him to medical.” His gaze cut into her like a welding laser. “When I get back, I expect some answers.”
Part of her smirked., but now was not the time to gloat about him needing her skills. The ship shuddered with another impact. She was on a pirate ship, and they were under attack.
Swearing in every language she knew, she got to work on the diagnostics, only half aware that she’d forgotten to turn on her camera.
Kashatok lay Gassy on the exam table and held up a hand as his medic began to ask questions. “Just take care of him.”
Doc pressed his copper-toned lips into a thin line and turned to search his cabinets.
Without time to dwell on the fate of one man, Kashatok dashed from the medical bay. The entire ship was about to be blown to bits. He burst onto the bridge, taking in the massive trooper frigate filling the rear view screen. “Update,” he commanded.
“Our sensors are still offline,” Aleknagik ground out from the pilot’s seat, his shoulders rigid while he worked the controls. “Continuing evasive maneuvers.”
Cooper called over his shoulder from munitions, “Starboard guns are down.”
“Rear shields at half strength,” Ekwok reported.
Bracing his legs as the deck rocked under another impact, Kashatok scanned the internal diagnostic over his starboard gunner’s shoulder. The Kinship wasn’t heavily armed to begin with, relying more on speed and surprise. He watched the shield rating tick down another notch.
He glanced back at the forward view screen. “How far are we from the mining belt?”
“Just under point one parsecs,” Chignik said.
“Aleknagik, help Ekwok with shields.” Kashatok moved to the co-pilot seat on Aleknagik’s right. “I’ll take the helm.”
As he splayed his fingers over the controls, Kashatok gauged the cloud of rocky debris on the view screen. The system had been mined for generations, creating a belt of dust that smugglers used for rendezvous. He swung them toward the nearby spray of asteroids, taking in trajectories and clearances with an intuition built on years of piloting the Kinship. Even so, maneuvering without the use of sensors was going to push his limits.
“Captain, you certain that’s wise at this speed?” Aleknagik’s hands lingered over the pilot controls.
Kashatok wasn’t sure, but he preferred random asteroid dust over the torpedoes that were targeting the Kinship’s weak spots. With any luck, the asteroid particles would interfere with the frigate’s targeting system. He bared his teeth and pushed the thrusters to maximum. “Direct all power to shields. If we can’t run, we’ll hide.”
The view screen lit up from the impact of a small asteroid as Kashatok dodged an L-shaped chunk of rock twice the size of the Kinship’s cargo bay. He spun the ship on its axis, slipping between a rotating trio of asteroids. The hull rattled and pinged with small impacts. Another torpedo slammed into them from behind.
“Shields at twenty percent, captain!” Ekwok cried out.
“Redirect power from life support if you have to!” Kashatok glanced at his aft view screen. “Just keep up those shields!”
The pursuing ship had slowed, too large to dodge between asteroids, and was now pacing the edge of the field. More rocks exploded into glittering mist in the Kinship’s wake as the frigate continued firing. Let them see through that, Kashatok thought.
Coming up on a particularly large asteroid, Kashatok dropped the ship into a nosedive. The dark, pitted surface loomed in his view screen. He thought he heard someone groan just before he pulled up, leveling out along the uneven surface. The Kinship bucked and jerked. He reigned in his throttle, coming to a full stop next to a jutting column of rock and ice. The ship slammed into the protrusion and rocks cascaded over the hull, bouncing and sailing into each other in a veil of floating debris.
He cut power to the thrusters and shouted into the comm, “Power down all systems!”
The bridge went silent. One by one, the consoles and lights flickered off, leaving only the dull yellow of a single emergency backup. For a few breathless moments, they all sat there staring through the limited angle on the view screen while the asteroid they rested upon rotated them into the frigate’s line of sight.
Impacts still blossomed throughout the asteroid field, shattering rock and ice. A blast landed nearby on the asteroid’s surface, but it was only one of many hitting the surrounding debris. The weapons fires shifted farther away, leaving behind jagged, gyrating hunks of rock. Their asteroid rotated them out of sight.
Back into sight.
The torpedo fire tapered to almost nothing.
After a few moments, Aleknagik spoke softly. “I think they lost us.”
“Maintain full silence,” Kashatok ordered. Let them think we’re part of the debris.
No one dared breathe for long moments.
The frigate’s fire ceased. For a while, it paced within range of their view screen. Finally, it moved back in the direction they’d come.
“Long-range scanners are still down,” Chignik whispered, as if afraid the frigate might hear him.
Kashatok asked, “How long can we sit here without life support?”
“Humans got a couple of hours,” Ekwok replied.
“All right.” Kashatok rolled his shoulders, looking around at his men. “Cooper, Moore, hit your bunks. I don’t want you using up any more oxygen than you need to. We’ll sit here awhile and hope they don’t come back. We need time to repair our burn drive, anyway.” He took a deep breath. “Just so you all know, Gassy’s been injured. It doesn’t look good.”
Ekwok and Chignik hung their heads. Cooper let out a string of curses.
“Aleknagik, you have the bridge.” Kashatok headed for the door. “I’ll be in engineering with… the kid.” Damn, he had a female on board. Worse yet, he couldn’t just confine her to quarters. Without Gassy, he needed her. How could this have happened? His gut churned. Women were not meant for this kind of stress. Hell, he wasn’t meant for this kind of stress.
She put herself in this position, he thought.
But that didn’t really make him feel any better.
Chapter Six
Joy put all her weight against the wrench and pushed. The floor was still slippery with coolant, and her feet scrabbled for purchase. She couldn’t determine what was wrong until she got the coolant flowing again, and she could barely see to work under engineering’s single emergency light. And this bolt refused to budge. If she couldn’t prove herself useful, she had no idea what Kashatok might do. But she was fairly certain she wouldn’t be tossed out an airlock, at least. He’d surprised her with his weird, chivalric—or was it chauvinistic?—demand she go sit in a nav-grav seat. It felt like he was trying to protect her. A gentleman rogue. Maybe that’s what she would title her exposé… If she could convince him to keep her on board.
She threw her weight forward again, swearing as her feet went out from under her.
Two strong hands gripped her waist, holding her upright.
She stiffened, skin tingling. Turning slowly, she was hit by the warm, masculine scent of sweet rum. Kashatok stared down at her, face darkened by shadow. “Why are you on board my ship?”
She licked her lips, unable to speak or look away. What had she been thinking? He wasn’t gentlemanly at all. He oozed danger.
He stepped closer, forcing her back against the tangle of pipes, stopping with the entire length of his body pressed against hers. “Do you have any idea what I could do to you… what my men could do to you if they find out?”
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His breath fanned her face. Damn, he smelled great. Her heart threatened to burst from her chest. But she knew there was only one way to handle a bully. Lifting her chin, she said, “So don’t tell them.”
His nostrils flared and she could feel his muscles tense against her as if he was on the edge of restraint. He stared down into her face long moments. When he spoke, his deep voice felt strangely intimate in the silent engineering bay. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
She barely dared to breathe. He was close enough to kiss, and she wasn’t sure whether she should be terrified or excited. Her nipples hardened against his chest. She steeled herself, trying to make her voice authoritative. “What I do know is you need the burn drive fixed. And Gassy’s probably in no shape to do it.”
Without warning, he stepped backward.
It was all she could do to stop herself from trailing after him like a lamprey on a shark. Here she was getting turned on while he was worried about his engineer. Softening her voice, she asked, “How is he?”
He shook his head, his dark eyes pinched. “Doc’s doing what he can.”
Her chest tightened. Gassy had been so good to her. Inviting her to cards. Standing up for her with the captain. What would she do without his mentoring? “Anything I can do?”
“Get the drive fixed,” Kashatok said through clenched teeth.
“I’m trying.” She gestured to the pipe behind her. “I can’t get this bolt loose. The diagnostics won’t work until I replace this valve.”
Lifting one arm, he leaned past her, filling her vision with the mouth-watering copper skin above his neckline and the metal bands holding his beard. With one push, the bolt gave with a teeth-grinding squawk. His breath fanned her cheek. “This just proves my point.”
Keeping a logical thought in her head was next to impossible with him so near. He did that on purpose. She clutched the baggy sides of her cargo pants to prevent her hands from wrapping around his middle and pulling him even closer. “What point?”
“Women don’t belong on my ship.”
Well, that ended that moment. She stood taller, temper rising. “That’s not fair. You used your superpower or whatever you call it. You wouldn’t have expected Cooper to move a bolt like that.”
His features remained hard.
“Fuck you, then. Fix it yourself. I’ll go back to my bunk.” She placed both hands against his chest and shoved. A shock like a static electric discharge tingled up her arms, but he didn’t budge.
He stared down at her for a long moment. A vein on his forehead pulsed. “I can’t.”
She rolled her eyes. This guy was a tangle of contradictions, strength and vulnerability, sexiness and terrifying anger. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with him. “So you do need me?”
His shoulders rose and fell with a breath. Finally, he backed up. “Can you just tell me what to do?”
She moved to the nearby console. “The main flux point’s been blown. Start by replacing that valve.”
“I meant tell me and then go to your bunk.”
“No.” She laughed and turned around, resting her bottom against the console. Like she was going to let him hide her away and take all the credit. “I won’t know each step until we fix the previous one and run a new diagnostic.”
He sighed. “Can you handle it alone?”
Her shoulders sagged. “I’m a shuttle mechanic, not a ship engineer. K-class vessels are complex. I’m going to need help from someone who knows this ship.”
Covering his eyes with one hand, he squeezed his temples then ran his fingers down his face and beard. “Fine. What do we do next?”
She was proud of herself for resisting a grin as she moved toward the cabinets where Gassy kept spare parts. She was going to work the captain like a dog.
And get a ton of footage while she was at it.
Joy removed the tertiary coil matrix and pulled aside all the conduits to the lateral thrusters before shimmying herself into the tight space in the bowels of the main drive. She stared at the fused electronics inside the frequency inverter. How was she supposed to fix that? She couldn’t repair a frequency inverter. The part was a specialty instrument that required calibration both before and after installation. Without the frequency inverter, they had no burn drive, and without a burn drive, they had only thrusters to get them out of here.
So much for proving herself useful.
Holy hell, what was she going to do? She wriggled out of the narrow space, swearing at the baggy pocket of her cargo pants as it tore on a protruding bolt. What were they going to do? She could always call her mother. Yet after what Kashatok had just put them through to escape the troopers, she had a feeling that calling on Syndicorp for help would not only ruin her exposé, it would probably end with these men’s executions. Kashatok might be a pirate, but he didn’t deserve the death penalty.
The captain entered engineering as she emerged from the jungle carrying a heavy toolbox in one hand. He leaned forward and took the handle from her. Her heartbeat thrilled as his skin brushed hers. Since discovering she was a woman, he’d avoided getting within touching distance, which for some reason made stupid moments like this more exciting.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Her face heated, and it took her a moment to remember her task at hand. “How far is the nearest space station?”
Kashatok’s forehead drew into a frown. “Maybe half a parsec? Why?”
Jhikik took the opportunity to scramble down Kashatok’s front, using his long beard as a rope, and reached for her. She accepted him without thinking, distracting herself by petting his soft fur. She wasn’t a navigator, but she knew parsecs were usually measured by burn cycles. How long would it take to travel half a parsec using only thrusters? Probably a really long time.
She swallowed. Now that she couldn’t fix the drive, would he relegate her to quarters? She didn’t like the idea of being trapped in that storeroom for months while the ship limped back to civilization. She chewed her bottom lip, seeking any last-ditch alternatives. “Is Gassy awake yet?”
“Sort of. Doc says he’s doing better.” Worry still filled Kashatok’s eyes.
Joy gulped. Poor Gassy. “Can I see him?”
Kashatok nodded, and in silence, they headed to the medical bay, Kashatok’s long strides keeping him well ahead of her.
Gassy lay inside a shimmering sterility chamber on one of the beds, huge blisters covering most of his skin. Despite the guilt churning through her gut, she turned on her camera. Gritty footage brought ratings, and that’s why she was here, right? She hung back as Kashatok approached his bedside and zoomed in on Kashatok’s face.
“How’re you doing, old man?” asked Kashatok.
The engineer cracked open one eye—literally cracked, the crusted blister making an audible sound as the lid lifted. His other eye remained swelled shut. “I’ll snap out of this in no time.” His voice sounded like rocks grating against each other. He caught sight of her and one corner of his blistered lips turned up in what might’ve been an attempt at a smile. “Hey, you. Got my baby up and running yet?”
Joy stepped forward and tried to smile encouragingly. “You don’t happen to have a spare frequency inverter hidden away, do you? Or know how to fix one?”
His already horrific-looking face crumpled. The flashing lights tracking his vitals flickered red. “That part’s beyond a ship engineer’s skills.”
Well, at least that made her feel a little less inadequate. But it still didn’t solve the issue of being stuck on board this vessel for weeks, maybe months, while they languished in dead space.
“So now what?” Kashatok kept his gaze on the injured man.
Gassy fumbled for a tube of water next to him, taking a moment to pull it toward his lips. Joy yearned to help him, but wouldn’t dare breach the sterility chamber. When he’d finished, he said, “Put out a distress call.”
Kashatok squeezed his eyes shut. “It could take weeks for a distress call to
reach someone in the fleet.”
“Last I heard, the Hardship was running this quadrant. They may be close by.” Gassy’s one good eye glinted with something Joy couldn’t quite decipher.
Kashatok’s skin flushed blue-green, and Joy realized for the first time that Denaidans blushed green. Kinda cute. Then Kashatok’s upper lip broadened into a sneer. Not so cute. He looked at Joy, his gaze traveling from her face to her breasts, then he narrowed his eyes and turned back to his engineer. “What are you saying?”
Something inside Joy’s gut twisted, and she glanced down at her chest, half expecting her boobs to be hanging out. Nope, still well covered by her baggy shirt.
Gassy answered, “C’mon, Kashatok. You must know. I figured it out right after the first burn when Jhikik wouldn’t leave her side.”
Joy’s breath caught in her throat. Had he just said ‘her?’’’
Gassy knew?
“Uminaq.” Kashatok fisted his hands at his sides, refusing to look at the female beside him. He’d been in her presence for a day and a half, now, feasting his eyes on her every move and forcing himself to keep his distance. And here Gassy’d known all along? Kashatok’d never needed a drink more than he did right now. “And you didn’t think to say anything?”
“So you could do what?” Gassy’s voice creaked and he reached for the tube of water again. “We were already headed to the job. And she’s a damned good mechanic. I needed her help.”
Kashatok flared his nostrils. If the old man hadn’t been critically injured, Kashatok might’ve considered slugging him. “We burned past at least three inhabited worlds. It would’ve taken us no time to drop her off.”
“She got you to come out of your damned cabin. First time I’ve played cards with you in years. It’s good to see you paying attention to something besides rum.” Gassy chuckled, which transformed into a horrible wet cough. “She’s fitting in fine. Give her a chance.”
Kashatok threw both hands up, chest blazing with anger. “A chance at what? A life of danger? A pirate ship’s no place for a woman.”
