"You never were one to mince words, were you, Jack?" Veluka commented. His smile made a clicking sound as his facial scales shifted, making Micayla wonder what would happen when he got mad.
Jack shrugged. "Don't see the point."
"I assume you asked me to come here for a reason," Veluka began. "Was it something I did?"
"Nope," Jack replied. "We need your help with something."
"Ah, do you now?" Veluka said with another crackly smile.
"What would you say if I told you we knew who was behind the vendetta against the Zetithians?"
Veluka's huge eyes opened even wider. "I would assume you would want this person dead."
Jack nodded. "Or at least brought to justice."
Veluka's eyelids lowered a fraction and his pupils dilated slightly. "To catch the one responsible for destroying an entire world would be... difficult."
"But not impossible," Tisana interjected. "We can't begin to pay you what you probably think--"
Jack put up a hand. "Easy, Tisana. I know you think Veluka is a liar and a cheat, and you're absolutely right, but--"
To Micayla's surprise, Veluka laughed. "I do enjoy doing business with you, Jack," he said. "It's so... refreshing."
"Aw, cut the crap," Jack said. "You only like it because I don't try to cheat you."
"You are one of the few that doesn't," Veluka admitted.
"Wish he would return the favor," Tisana muttered.
Micayla caught Tisana's eye with a questioning look.
Seeming to take this as encouragement, Tisana glared at the Nerik. "Those tracking nanobots you sold Jack on Barada Seven only lasted a week!" she said hotly. "If their lifespan had been just a little shorter, Leo and Cat might have been killed!"
"But they weren't," Jack said soothingly. "Chill out, Tisana. He never said they would last forever!"
"True," Tisana conceded, "but if the nanobots had died before we caught those Nedwuts--well, I don't want to think about what might have happened."
"Then don't," Jack retorted.
Micayla suspected that this was an argument of long standing between the two women, and a conspiratory glance from Kyra suggested that she felt the same way.
"Would you like a drink?" Kyra asked Veluka. "I'm sure you must be thirsty."
"I'd appreciate that," he replied. "But none of the local wine for me. I'll have water, please."
As Kyra left to get Veluka some refreshment, Micayla eyed him shrewdly. He was a scoundrel, all right, but not above being cheated himself and, therefore, very cautious.
"What we need is a fast ship with a cloaking device," Jack was saying. "And you've got that."
Kyra returned with a tall glass of water which Veluka received with a gracious nod, draining the contents before responding. "Do you only want to hire my ship, or do you need me to fly it?"
"Both," Jack replied. "We'll need you to carry some passengers."
"Where to?"
"That's something we don't know yet," Jack admitted. "But we hope to find out soon."
"Cloaked ship?" Micayla echoed as a thought struck her. "Just where were you when you got Jack's hail?"
To her surprise, Veluka's scales flattened. "That would be none of your business."
"Maybe not," Micayla conceded, "but on the way here from Orleon Station, a cloaked ship fired on us--one that had Nedwuts aboard--and from what I hear, Nedwuts don't have that technology."
"It can be bought," Veluka said, his voice as flat as his scales, "for the right price."
"I'm sure it can," Micayla said with a nod. "Anyway, we fired back, and something exploded, but our gunner didn't think he was the one who hit it." She looked at Veluka searchingly. "Any ideas as to why that was?"
"None," Veluka replied.
"The Nedwuts didn't possess the technology to destroy an entire planet either," Windura chimed in from her desk, "but they did it anyway. Our 'friend' has a vast amount of money--more than anyone could earn by honest means--and he's obviously willing to spend it to eliminate every last Zetithian in existence."
"And now he seems to be equipping the Nedwut bounty hunters," said Jack. Her expression darkened. "This is not good."
"He saw Micayla and captured us," Windura explained to Veluka. "He told us what he'd done, but we escaped--and now he'll come after us with everything he's got."
"I hate to say this," Kyra began. "But if he's heard anything about Tychar, he'd have to know Darconia was a safe haven for Zetithians. He could have ships on the way here right now."
"All the more reason why we've got to find out where he is and put an end to this," Jack said earnestly. With an eye toward Windura, she went on, "Any luck with that hacking job yet?"
Windura shook her head. "No, but I've been thinking. We might be able to recruit some help with that."
"How so?" asked Jack.
Windura took a deep breath. "We'd have to go back to Orleon Station to ask the hookers for help," she said. "And I really don't see how we can do that--at least, not openly."
"I know you said we could trust them, but do you really think the hookers would stick their necks out to help us?" Micayla scoffed.
"Oh, yeah," Windura said. "Trag's probably very popular with them. I'm sure they'd be more than willing to help him out."
Micayla blinked. Suddenly, all the little bits and pieces she'd heard about Trag and the other Zetithians fell into place. "Is he--I mean, are they--really that good?"
Jack, Kyra, and Tisana all exchanged meaningful looks, but it was Kyra who spoke. "Oh, yeah," she said as the other two women nodded in agreement. "They all are."
"Having grown up on Earth, I don't suppose you could have known," Tisana said kindly. "But Zetithian males are--" She paused, seeming to be at a loss for words.
"Absolutely incredible," Kyra finished for her.
Jack gazed at Micayla with sympathetic eyes. "You don't care much for men, do you?"
"Well, no," Micayla admitted. "I mean, I do, but not like that."
"It's only because you've never been around any of your own kind before," Tisana said bracingly. "What they're capable of is overkill for most other women--though highly addicting!--but for you, it's probably a necessity."
Kyra nodded in agreement. "And when they say 'I will give you joy unlike any you have ever known,' they aren't kidding," she said fervently. "Believe me, once you go cat, you never go back."
Micayla wanted to scream in frustration. Between this and what Lerotan had told her, she was finally beginning to understand why she felt the way she did. Obviously, for a Zetithian woman, only a Zetithian man would do--and she'd already made a no-sex pact with the only available one left alive.
Chapter 13
A Zetithian man who, unfortunately, made her long to bite him and was also in love with his brother's wife. Micayla closed her eyes and waited for the thrumming inside her head to pass.
"Uh, maybe we shouldn't be discussing this right now," Windura said awkwardly. "Not with him here, anyway."
Micayla's eyes flew open. Windura was, of course, referring to Veluka, who was following the discussion with undisguised interest. "Forget I'm here," he said with an expansive wave of his hands. "I won't say a word."
Tisana snickered. "If you think we'll believe that..."
"It's okay," Micayla said. "Keep talking. I think I need to hear this."
"Obviously we should have had this conversation sooner, but the guys have always been hanging around," Kyra said. "You've seen them, of course, so you know how gorgeous they are--and you've seen them naked, so you know what they've got--but what you don't know is the effect one of them can have on you. They excrete a fluid from the penis that triggers orgasms in females, and their semen has the most euphoric effect-- they've even got a sort of ruffle on the head that undulates after they ejaculate. It feels fabulous!"
"And afterward, you get this feeling they call laetralance," Tisana put in. "It's the most peaceful, fulfilling, blissful thing you'll ever experience. There's not
even a word for it in Stantongue--"
Windura had rattled off something similar when they were confronting Grekkor, but it had sounded too fantastic to be true. Micayla hadn't believed it at the time, but still, it would explain quite a bit.
"Yes," Windura said eagerly, "and Mr. Big sells drugs--though he won't admit to it--so it would cut in on his business!"
"I have always believed it was something like that!" Jack declared. "But he also said it was because his wife had a Zetithian lover."
"Ah, a crime of passion then?" Veluka suggested.
"A premeditated, highly organized, extremely well-funded crime of passion," Jack said roundly. "He's even confessed to it. We just have to get him to do it in front of witnesses."
"I realize I said I wouldn't say a word," Veluka said hesitantly, "but just who is it we're talking about? Someone I might know?"
Micayla looked at Jack, who merely shrugged.
"He'll find out eventually anyway." Tisana sighed. "You might as well tell him now."
"It was someone named Rutger Grekkor," Micayla said. "Ever hear of him?"
Veluka's pupils dilated to the point that his entire face went dark and his scales lost their shine. It was a long moment before he spoke. "And I blasted one of his ships..." he said faintly. "Jack, you really owe me this time."
"Ha!" Micayla exclaimed. "So it was you!"
"Yes," Veluka said, visibly shuddering. "It was." His broad shoulders drooped and he hung his head. "I'm dead meat in a can."
"Not if we get to him first!" Jack exclaimed. "Oh, Veluka! I could kiss you!" She had already jumped up from the couch and was heading toward him when she stopped short. "Then again, maybe not."
"That's okay, Jack," Veluka said. "I understand completely." He took a deep, fortifying breath--presumably to steady his nerves--and held up a hand. "Just give me a moment."
Micayla looked at him curiously. "I can understand why Zetithians would be afraid of him, but is everyone?"
"No, just people who have sense enough to stay out of his way," Veluka replied. "I've managed to do that--up until now. I thought I was doing you a favor, Jack. Now I've probably signed my own death warrant."
"No you haven't," Jack said cheerfully. "If we don't tell him, he'll never know who did it. It's not as if there were any survivors."
Veluka shook his head sadly. "If only I could believe that."
"What? Which part?" Jack asked.
"Doesn't matter," Veluka replied. "Is it okay if I just stay here for a while? Somehow I feel safer among these Darconians than I do anywhere else."
The fact that Veluka was completely unnerved to discover that Grekkor was involved made Micayla reconsider their plan. She was beginning to think it would be easier to assassinate him than it would be to get him to confess again--especially in front of witnesses.
"How is it that you don't know Grekkor, Jack?" Veluka asked suddenly. "I thought you knew everyone."
"No, obviously I don't," Jack said. "He's a little outside my usual territory and I don't deal in drugs."
"Or slaves," Micayla said. "I forgot to mention that he was going to put us on a slave ship."
"Yeah, well, that doesn't really matter now," Jack said. "What matters is that we find out where he is."
"And the hookers might not be any help if he doesn't ever visit them," Tisana pointed out.
"I really don't want to waste time going back to Orleon if that's the case," Jack agreed.
Windura smacked herself upside the head. "I can't believe I'm sitting here trying to hack into the hookers' network when all I really have to do is something much simpler."
"Like what?"
"Like hacking into the Orleon Station docking log!" she exclaimed. "I set that system up myself. It will tell us where he went when he left Orleon--if he left Orleon. Sorry it took me so long to figure this out. Don't know what I was thinking!"
Windura tapped furiously at the viewscreen for a few moments and then let out a groan.
"What is it?" Jack said.
"You aren't going to like this, Veluka," Windura warned.
"Oh?" Veluka said wearily. "And why not?"
"He went to Nerik."
The silence in the room was so complete that Micayla could have sworn she heard bees buzzing in the orchard beneath the palace windows. Then she realized it was Veluka; his scales were flapping up and down so fast he sounded like a hummingbird on the wing.
"It has to be a coincidence," Kyra insisted. "He couldn't have known Veluka had anything to do with us. Maybe he's just going there to buy more cloaked ships for his Nedwuts. By the way, Veluka, does it have to be a ship, or is it just a device?"
Though she'd never seen if for herself, Micayla knew how the technology worked--at least, in theory--but waited a moment for Veluka to respond to the question. He didn't say a word but kept right on humming.
"The technology is very expensive and retrofitting a ship with it is prohibitive," Micayla said. "They have to be built with it. Essentially, the ships are covered with small scales that can be flipped over when cloaked. The surface is designed to allow light to slide over and around it, rather than be reflected, which renders the object essentially invisible--both to the naked eye and to any type of scan."
"And the Neriks are the only ones who can make ships like that?" Kyra asked.
"They're the only ones I know of," Micayla replied. With an eye toward Veluka, she said, "Think he'll ever stop doing that?"
"No clue," Jack said, shaking her head. "Never saw him do it before."
Tisana rose from the sofa to study him more closely. "Looks like he could use a sedative."
"I wouldn't get too close to him, Tisana," Jack warned. "He sounds like he's about to explode."
Trag walked in just then. "Who's about to explode?" he asked.
"Him," Micayla said, pointing at Veluka.
"Nah," said Trag. "He just needs a good smack to reset him." With that, he slapped the top of the Nerik's head and the humming ceased immediately.
"Thank you," Veluka said hoarsely.
"Don't mention it," said Trag.
"And just how did you know to do that?" Tisana demanded.
Trag shrugged. "I fucked a Nerik once. Had to do that twice before she stopped humming."
Micayla groaned inwardly, closing her eyes as her head began to pound again. She was within a hairsbreadth of asking Trag to break the no-sex pact right then and there. After all, if he could do it with a Nerik, he could certainly stomach doing it with her. But no, that wasn't the reason. He loved Kyra. Yeah, that was it. The Nerik was just--
"A Nerik?" Kyra echoed. "You're kidding us, right?"
Trag shook his head. "No," he replied. "I forget where I was at the time." Scratching his head, he added, "Maybe Hidar remembers. He was with me."
"I can't believe you would--" Kyra stopped there, rolling her eyes. "Oh, I really don't want to hear this. A Nerik!" she said again, this time with a visible shudder.
Trag threw up his hands. "Well, you did ask!" Eyeing her curiously, he went on, "You aren't jealous, are you?"
"Hey, what's wrong with Neriks?" Veluka spoke up. "I fuck them all the time."
Kyra ignored this, save for a withering glance in Veluka's direction, and stared at Trag as though he'd just sprouted horns. "Jealous? Why on Earth would I be jealous? Grossed out, maybe, but certainly not jealous!"
Trag felt like his nuts had just been grabbed--and not very gently, either. He'd just asked Kyra--his brother's wife!--if she was jealous of him being with other women! Swallowing hard, he wondered how he was ever going to talk his way out of this one. "I didn't mean--"
To Trag's surprise, Micayla came to his rescue. "You were in a brothel, right?"
"Well, yeah," Trag replied. "Hidar thought if I was with him he wouldn't get thrown out--which he usually does. I mean, nobody wants to do it with a Scorillian! Where else would I...?"
Micayla shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't see the problem." Looking at Kyra, she added, "Why would
it bother you?"
"It shouldn't--um, doesn't," Kyra stammered. "I mean--I don't know what I mean, but do you really have to go to brothels and pay for it, Trag? I wouldn't think--"
"Well, why wouldn't you think that?" Trag shot back. "After all, I had to practically beg you."
"No you didn't!" Kyra insisted. "I was perfectly willing to--" Kyra stared beseechingly at Trag, but there was something else in her expression that he couldn't quite figure out. He blinked hard and peered at her again. Then it hit him. She wasn't jealous; she felt sorry for him!
"Look, Kyra," Trag said, his temper rising. "You may have given me a pity fuck once, but that doesn't mean I only get it out of pity--or that I can only get it from Neriks! Some women actually like me."
"And he doesn't always have to pay them either," Micayla put in. "I have it on good authority that not only will the hookers do him for free, most of them volunteer."
Micayla's comment stopped Trag from launching into a full tirade, but when he looked at her, all he wanted to do was scream--or purr. It was as if a veil had been pulled away from his face and his vision was now clear. No, she wasn't like Kyra at all. She was better--stronger, sexier, more beautiful--and she'd just stood up for him. Cat was right. The fire was right there in her eyes; he couldn't understand why he hadn't seen it before. She was strongly attracted to him; he knew that now--whether she realized it or not. According to Cat, all he had to do was purr and she'd be all over him--but could he risk it? Could he violate the terms of their agreement without considering her feelings?
As their eyes met, Micayla felt her mouth watering and practically had to bite her tongue to keep from hissing. If he moved or said a word, she knew she'd jump up from her seat and sink her teeth into him. Suddenly, it didn't seem like such a bad idea--quite pleasurable, in fact. She felt her upper lip beginning to slide up to reveal her fangs and could almost taste his blood...
Then she realized that snarling at him probably wasn't the best move at the time--not when she was trying to be supportive. Kyra didn't love him--and didn't need his love--not when she already had Tychar. Trag deserved more than her pity. He really needed to let her go.
Hero Page 14
