Chapter Nine
The echoing sounds of Kane’s heavy footsteps crashed against the walls as he stomped through the deserted corridors. That brat was more trouble than she was probably worth.
Sending her out the air lock would be easy to do. A simple push of a button. He suspected he would even laugh as her golden ass was sucked out, terror on her face, a scream from her lungs.
Not a bad idea.
An idea he would follow through with if she didn’t have his cabin cleaned when he got back.
Or if she puts her destructive little hands on my trunk.
He had returned, expecting to find her cowering. He’d planned to ream her out for using the intercom to contact her guard.
Instead…
He still didn’t know where the princess belonged or how to contact her people. He couldn’t wait any longer. She was too much trouble.
Because of her stunt, Kyle had to reroute the open-channel link so it wasn’t accessible from Kane’s cabin or the guard’s any longer. Kane had to get Sa’Mya off his vessel sooner rather than later. If she stayed he would end up killing her. Or worse…having sex with her.
Kane had to put his foot down with her and her aides. Hell, her aides probably didn’t realize they were even prisoners. They treated his crew as their personal sex slaves.
The only option now was to separate the aides from his crew. He would give them back to the brat princess. Let her be their problem from now on.
It was past time they all left. The princess had destroyed most of his personal belongings. Meager as they were, they were still his.
The other two females were insatiable and determined to bring down his crew, one orgasm at a time. So far the lone male prisoner was the one alien who hadn’t given him a headache.
The guard had just woken up and Kane was hoping he would be more than willing to give up the information needed to send them all home. For all the princess’s high-and-mighty hang-ups, she kept her mouth closed regarding her home world. What was the purpose? What was she hiding?
Right after being captured, their previous captives had begged to return home, giving him and his crew anything that was requested.
Kane had been sure the brat princess would relent by the second day. That she would give up the name of her home world as soon as she realized she wouldn’t find comfort and relaxation on his vessel.
What more could he have done to her? He refused to let her wear her own clothes. He denied her the help of her aides. Hell, he had even ignored her. Why the hell did she want to stay?
Kane stepped into the guard’s cabin and immediately wanted to backtrack. The security monitors hadn’t captured the true size of the guard sitting in front of him. Nebin sat on a king-sized bed that resembled something much smaller underneath his massive girth.
Nebin had to stand nearly eight feet tall and tip the scale at over four-hundred pounds. His flawless cocoa-colored skin was much darker than Ryan’s mocha tone.
Nebin’s piercing gray eyes locked on him as he stepped into the room.
“Wil noe frosu Princepetta?” Nebin asked. His hard tone grated against Kane’s eardrums.
Kane shook his head. “I can’t understand you.”
Shit.
In his haste he had forgotten to bring Ryan to translate.
Kane held up his finger. “One minute.” He went to the communication panel. “Ryan?”
Nothing.
Double shit. He’d forgotten the open-channel button had been disabled in the guard’s cabin.
Kane selected the buttons to the bridge, dining hall and Eli’s cabin, repeating Ryan’s name each time.
Finally, Ryan answered from Eli’s cabin. “I’m here, Captain.”
“What are you doing? I need you to translate for me,” Kane said in obvious relief.
“I’m playing cards with Eli. This bitch is cheating. I’ll be in your cabin in three.”
“I’m not in my cabin. I’m with the guard.”
“Wait. What? Alone?”
Again, he would have thought this through if he hadn’t been in such a hurry to get rid of the brat princess.
“I’m alone.” Kane faced the guard. “I suspect I won’t have any trouble out of you, right?”
The guard grunted. “Nes.”
Before captain obvious could reply, Kane said, “I know that means ‘no’, Ryan.” Then he faced Nebin. “My name is Kane Epps. I’m the captain of this vessel.”
The guard nodded.
Cooperation, finally.
Relieved, he used his foot to pull over a chair and placed himself between the guard and the door. The guard’s gaze tracked Kane’s every movement. He didn’t believe the guard would try to escape. Kane was pretty confident he wouldn’t be able to stop Nebin if he tried. Hell, Kane didn’t know if anyone onboard could stop the bear of a guard without the tranquilizers if he so happened to wish to leave his small prison.
“What planet are you all from?”
Nebin stared at Kane in silence.
“Ryan!”
“Captain, he has a universal translator. He can understand you.”
Kane watched Nebin watch him. “Look. I’m sure you want to be off this vessel just as quickly as we want you gone. No harm will come to you or the females. I need to know who to contact for the ransom demand.”
Why was it so difficult to get basic information from these aliens?
“Wil noe frosu Princepetta?”
“He wants to know if you are taking care of the princess. Or something of that nature,” Ryan said.
“Yes, she is secured in my personal cabin. Now, tell me where you’re all from.”
Again, Nebin made no attempt to respond. Kane ran an impatient hand through his hair. Maybe he should try the two sex-crazed females one more time? He might have better luck.
“Listen. Nebin, I’ve got a job to do here. Yes, it’s not the best job to have and yes, we did take you against your will. Nonetheless, I have a job to do. We have no plans to harm you or the females.”
Nebin dipped his head in a regal nod.
“Our plan is to contact whatever planet you’re from and give you back. The sooner you give me the information we need, the sooner you can be on your way.” Kane threw up his hands. “No harm done.”
Nebin would understand his position. He would provide the necessary information they needed to move the ransom along.
Nebin didn’t say a word.
“Holy fuck,” Kane bit out after waiting for a response that wasn’t coming. “When am I going to get rid of these fucking aliens?” The idea of dropping them all off on a deserted, desolate planet sounded pretty tempting right now.
“Captain, Eli got word that the translators are ready,” Ryan said over the intercom.
At least one thing worked in his favor today. Rising from his chair, he gave Nebin another hard look. “I’m not done with you yet.”
Nebin nodded once.
Kane backed out of the door and relaxed only after it closed. He made his way to the infirmary where Eli waited to implant the universal translator. The entire procedure would take an hour at max. His next stop after that would be his cabin to finally have a decent conversation with the brat princess.
* * * * *
Kane strode through the hall, adjusting his head from side to side. According to Eli, the feeling of water behind the ears was one of the irritating side effects of the procedure. Thanks to the planet Treios, he and his crew were now the proud owners of used universal translators.
A shudder ran down his spine as he thought about how the translators had come to be used.
An outbreak from a deadly virus had wiped out a quarter of Treios’ population. The Galactic Council had put the planet on lockdown until the outbreak could be contained. Five months later, the planet was now free of contamination and open for trading.
Even though the translators had been cleaned and approved for resale, they hadn’t sold as fast as the locals had anticipated. Kane and the rest of the crew members had gotten a good deal, considering the translators had been harvested from cadavers.
The ability to understand every language would make all the difference. But right now, there was only one person he wanted to talk to and she was locked in his cabin.