One view of the video and Nina believed her. Especially when Dorsey admitted she’d been carrying red crates much like the ones in Lex’s cargo hold. They couldn’t all have carried Tarnian amethysts, but some of them must have.

Nina controlled the gem trade on and off the entire planet not due to her position as warlord, but as the scion of a centuries old family that had laid claim to the mines. A short conference that Dorsey, Ty, and Reina were permitted to attend revealed that Droscus had found a source of gems and had been funneling them off planet for some time.

“I had no proof,” said Nina, “and could not act. Not without causing an incident.” She sneered the last word as if concern for political repercussions was a weakling’s excuse.

Nina’s top ranking advisor, Captain Kayn, stood by her and kept his mouth shut. But his lips compressed into a tight line, and Dorsey thought he probably had something to say that Nina wouldn’t like.

“How many times did you make these shipments for Droscus?” Nina asked, more accusation than question.

Dorsey began to reel back, but Ty was there, his arm brushing against hers in silent support. “I carried authorized loads for him several times,” she admitted. It wasn’t illegal to work for different powers, but they didn’t like it when someone acknowledged that they’d take money from the enemy. “But I stopped agreeing to his shipments about six months ago. His people demanded deliveries in impossible timeframes and through dangerous space.” It had never been Droscus himself making the demands, but why would he? Intermediaries had been designed to deal with nothings like her. “The red crates showed up maybe two or three times after that. They didn’t have any markings on them, but they were under a containment order.”

Containment usually meant biohazard. The jobs carried a bonus with them and she’d always trusted the seals to keep her safe.

“And you think he continued to use you?” Kayn pressed. “Why?”

Dorsey thought about it. She’d been trying to figure that out since they’d seen the holovid. Ty grabbed her hand and squeezed, her silent guardian. “I have clearance to ship outside the system.” It wasn’t rare, but only about thirty percent of Consortium pilots bothered. “And,” she added, “I’m not from here. I’m from Earth. Maybe… I don’t know, but that might be part of it.”

“Do you think your capture was related?” Nina asked. Her hair was braided in a pattern on her head and she wore dark battle leathers rather than her uniform coat. “Why didn’t he kill you?”

“They were supposed to kill her,” Ty broke in, a rough edge in his voice.

“What?” Nina demanded, her narrowed gaze zinging from Dorsey to him.

But Dorsey understood what he meant and picked up his thought. “Freight pilots get killed by pirates often enough that it wouldn’t raise many questions,” she said. “So if you were going to kill one, you’d hire them. But the pirates were also slavers. So they could take Droscus’s payment for killing me and then possibly go so far as doubling their money by selling me at the slave markets.”

“You place a high value on your worth,” Kayn scowled.

Dorsey flinched back. These people didn’t know Earth history; they wouldn’t know why the prospect of slavery was particularly painful. That didn’t make the bitterness abate. “Plenty of freight pilots wouldn’t catch a high price. I’m young, exotic,” she spat, even knowing it was because she was human and not due to the color of her skin or the tilt of her eyes, “by some standards, at least. And pretty enough. That’s a few thousand more credits in their accounts.”

Ty’s grip on her hand almost hurt. She squeezed back. “There’s at least one or two slave markets closer to where Dorsey went off course,” he said. “I was at the Jaaxis gate, and the only reason to go that far out from the Consortium is to hide the trail.”

Nina nodded. “Yes. I agree.”

That was great, mystery solved, but Dorsey didn’t care about the whys right now. After a quick interview, Reina had been given a room of her own and a guard to make sure she stayed in place. She was a danger to herself while Haylio was gone, at least that was what Nina’s security force claimed. And Dorsey wouldn’t wish Droscus’s attentions on anyone, especially not a friend.

“What about Haylio? He was taken because of Reina. Because of Lex, he’s innocent in all this. We need to get him back.” That came very close to making a demand of the Commander, but Dorsey was feeling reckless. She wanted a fight.

And if Nina wouldn’t get him, she and Ty would.

But that wasn’t going to be necessary after all. “You are in luck. A transmission came through with information about his location. You, and your friend,” she nodded to Ty, “along with a small unit, will go in and retrieve him. All necessary gear is in your rooms. Rendezvous in two hours.”

With that, they were dismissed.

In her room, Dorsey found tactical gear, two blasters, and a utility belt with a dozen buttons on it. Most were labeled, but she didn’t press them for fear of setting off something she couldn’t control.

When she entered Ty’s room, he was just pulling on his shirt, covering up those delicious ridged and spotted abs of his. She wanted to reach out and touch, rev herself up, and spend a little of the vibrant energy pulsing through her. But mostly she just wanted him.

“Are you sorry you got mixed up in all this?” she asked. There might have been some nice girl back on Jaaxis who could have made life simple for him. “I know I’m not who you would have…”

Ty stepped up to her and placed a finger on her lips. “Not another word,” he commanded, sending another thrill through her. Just his presence was enough. “You are mine. Do you understand that? You were meant for me as no other could ever be.”

“You don’t—”

He shifted his hand so that his thumb brushed against her lower lip; her tongue darted out and licked him. “I do know,” he vowed. “When we return, there are things we must discuss. But know this, I will keep you beside me for the rest of my days. When we are old and our grandchildren’s children are off finding their way, I will be as much yours then as I am today. Do you understand?”

He was saying he loved her. Maybe not like a human would, but Dorsey knew it. And she knew the only thing to say in response. “I do.”

 

***

 

Ty wasn’t a soldier, not by Consortium standards. But he’d apprenticed at a young age on a mercenary vessel. True, he’d been a pilot and mechanic, but everyone learned to fight. From the way Dorsey handled her blaster as their transport prepared for takeoff, she was at least passingly familiar with combat.

He couldn’t wait to learn how she knew what she knew.

But it soon became clear that their presence on the transport was merely Nina humoring them. The four soldiers chosen for the mission were huddled to one end of the vehicle, discussing the mission amongst themselves, leaving him and Dorsey out of it.

The ride wasn’t long and they landed with a wallop. The head of the unit finally turned his attention to Ty and Dorsey. “You two stay here and guard the vehicle with Hahns. He’s in charge. Don’t do anything stupid.”

And then the team was gone, leaving Ty and Dorsey alone in the passenger hold. Hahns was only available over the comms. “Stay back there and keep your eyes open on the security vids,” he commanded, voice crackling, “and yell if you see anything suspicious.”

Ty wanted to growl or pace. Instead he held himself still and forced himself to focus. If something happened to the vehicle, they would be stranded here, far outside of Nina’s territory and without hope of rescue. This was a quiet mission, she’d said. Her distraction would only work once.

“Security vid, full view,” he said, summoning up the view screen to take up most of the interior walls. They had a near three hundred and sixty degree view of the surrounding area, or would have, if Hahns were not quite so good at hiding them.

They’d set down in a rocky outcropping, dark stone hiding the darker skin of the ship. It wouldn’t fool the human eye, but machines were rarely calibrated well enough to see the distinctions and patterns that the conscious brain could make out. The team that had been sent to get Haylio was already out of sight or using their camouflage. Their emergency beacons would light them up if they got in trouble, but until then, they were ghosts.

“I should have expected something like this,” Dorsey said. “Why would she ever let us in?”

“We’re doing something,” he replied, the situation easier to justify to someone else even if he didn’t believe it.

She just huffed out an ironic laugh.

They both stood in the center of the ship and looked out for anything dangerous. A tumbleweed blew past, but other than that, they were too well hidden to be in real danger.

“Let’s promise ourselves not to get stuck waiting for anything next week,” Dorsey suggested. “I’ve had enough of this crap.”

The waiting continued. At least this time, Ty had a timepiece and could see the minutes passing by.

“They said it shouldn’t be more than half an hour, didn’t they?” Dorsey asked. She was barely containing her fidgeting. It was hard to stand and do nothing. She walked over to the hatch of the vehicle and breathed deep. It was open so that the team could not be locked out if they ran back. But it was only open a crack and she couldn’t get much fresh air. She placed her hand on the door to pull it open a little more.

The screens around them went black.

“Hahns?” Ty asked, barely whispering. “Are you there?”

In the dim light, Ty saw Dorsey snatch her hand back and look between it and the door. She looked at him, her expression clearly saying I didn’t do it.

“View screen, full,” she said, trying to re-engage the holovid.

A persistent beating rumbled in the distance, growing closer by the second. Ty pulled his weapon and Dorsey followed his lead. He beat against the hull separating them from Hahns, but their pilot didn’t respond. He tried the door to the cockpit and found it locked.

Dorsey kept trying voice commands to get the screens working while Ty pounded on the door. His heart raced and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. There was no manual override of the cockpit door from the passenger hold, but there was an outside entrance. With their view cut off, they couldn’t stay in here anyway.

He turned around to find Dorsey running her hands against a seam in the hull, most likely trying to find a comm control box. Ty let her work and strode to the only other exit they had, the door to the outside. He listened, ears straining for any sound that shouldn’t be there. His knuckles ached and his claws pricked at the surface of his skin, but he kept them sheathed for now. They were a weapon and an advantage that he wasn’t about to give up because of nerves.

It was silent outside—not even the wind rustled.

Dorsey gave up on the walls and came up close to him, barely breathing as she spoke. “We have to go out, don’t we?” She didn’t seem as confident now, but her determination burned bright.

Ty nodded. “I want you to cover me while I go around the front.”

“No.” That came out in a normal tone, a crack in the silence. She continued quietly. “You’re a better fighter, and probably a better shot. If Hahns is… you know, I can fly the ship. You need to fight the bad guys.” Her faith in him was rock solid.

Ty kissed her and agreed. If he could have, he would have left her in relative safety, but she wanted to come and he couldn’t hold her back. Not now. “When I say it’s clear, move slowly. If you hear shots, drop to the ground or find cover. Got it?”

Her head bobbed. “Got it.”

He said a prayer to the ancestors who watched over him and the gods of this land, not for himself, but for his denya. As long as she survived, he’d pay any price.

Ty eased the door open and stayed low, his blaster drawn and ready. The area outside the door looked like a cave, but it was really just a rock wall with a small outcropping above them. There was a faint hiss of wind in the cave, barely audible even to his sensitive ears. Besides that, Ty heard nothing. If the enemy was out there, they were behind an audio dampener.

He nodded to Dorsey, letting her go.

She moved with a fluid grace that denoted some form of training, even if she wasn’t combat ready. Perhaps she’d been a dancer once. He stepped out beside her and closed the door behind him. The hand print scanner on the ship’s exterior was keyed to every member of their team, so they could still get back in. Even if that failed, it was better to be locked out than to let the enemy hitch a ride.

Dorsey hugged the side of the ship, crouched slightly, blaster at the ready. Her steps were light, but rocks and soil still crunched under her feet. But if Ty was to protect Dorsey, he couldn’t be focused on her.

He looked beyond and out of the little covered area they’d hidden in. Out past their rocky outcropping was… more rocks. This whole section of the planet seemed to be nothing but scrub, dirt, and rock. The rocks came in colors ranging from near white to a brown that might have been confused for black in dim light. There were layers to the taller rocks, showing their age as the planet grew around them.

But overall this place felt dead. There was no life to sustain it.

And there was no one that Ty could see waiting to pounce.

Dorsey made it to the front of the vehicle and froze. She straightened where she stood and strained to see into the window that she could just barely glance through while crouched. She banged on the window and Ty nearly jumped from the sound, but she didn’t seem to be paying any attention to him.

There was a small hatch a little further in front of her, and when she tried the handle, it was locked. She holstered her blaster and pressed her hand up against the reader. A blue light flashed, and Ty realized that he wasn’t paying attention to the right place. He turned back around and stepped away from the vehicle. He needed a better vantage point.

With a click, the door to the cockpit opened. He saw Dorsey move out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t turn back around. Not even when he heard her let off a stream of Earth curses. He didn’t need her to tell them what had happened.

The pilot was gone.

And before she could say anything else, the rock beside his head exploded. They were under fire.