As the ship returned to dock with Nina Station, and the passengers were ordered to disembark, Dorsey started to panic. She tried to think of any reason that the warning sign wasn’t about her and Ty: there was a mechanical problem, someone on the cruiser had tested positive for a virulent sickness, their take off had been delayed. None of them rang true. She could feel it in their heart that they’d been found out.

The mood in the station terminal was completely different from when they’d left only a few minutes before. Now dozens of guards stood around, glaring at passengers and barking orders. Everyone from their ship was ordered to leave their bags in a giant pile and line up in alphabetical order. Since Dorsey and Ty’s false documents claimed they were married and had the same family name, they stayed together.

She was shivering, but her body felt hot all over. She’d never seen anything like this on any Consortium space station before.

A guard wearing the blue uniform found among Droscus’s troops stepped forward. He shouldn’t have been on Nina Station. But that didn’t stop him from talking. “All humans are required to present their travel documents for a routine spot inspection. Your cooperation is mandatory and appreciated.”

Wishing that they took one of the humans lined up before her would be absolutely dreadful. Dorsey forced herself not to think it even as the guard came ever closer. Ty’s hand was on her arm, either to give her comfort or keep her from running, she wasn’t sure which. When the scowling, blue-clad human finally stopped in front of her, Dorsey held up her forged ID and hoped that Stoan was better than he promised.

But the guard met her eyes and didn’t even bother to take her card. He held up a hand and waved toward her.

Ty’s fingers tightened, but she pulled away as discreetly as she could. If they only took her, then at least he would make it. At least he would survive. She could give him that much. So Dorsey didn’t let herself look back at him, and when the guard asked her if she was traveling with anyone, she told him she was alone.

They made it two steps away before a second guard looked back. “Let’s check that one’s papers just to be sure. This one has already been too slippery and the General doesn’t want any more mistakes.” He spoke with a harsh nasal wheeze like the shepherds in the mountains of Thanatos. But his grip was as harsh as the cruelest jailer.

“This is an outrage!” she heard someone say from across the room. “I am an ambassador and you’ve no right to detain my ship.”

“This will only take a mom—”

“I demand to speak with your authority. I am a representative of the Oscavian Empire!” She couldn’t see the ambassador, but someone must have done something as he stopped yelling.

They dragged Dorsey away while another guard checked on Ty. She was still close enough to hear the scanner beep when his ID was discovered to be a forgery. The thuds that fists made against his flesh weren’t dull. At first Dorsey struggled against them, trying to pull away or to hit, to do anything but go quietly. It didn’t matter that she wouldn’t win. She just couldn’t be silent.

Dorsey grabbed for one of the green clad guards, a station guard rather than Droscus’s handpicked bruisers. “Tell Max they grabbed Dorsey, do it!” She barely got the words out before she was yanked away towards the main entrance to the terminal. Still Dorsey fought back.

But as she struggled, one of the guards shoved a black baton with small metal nodes against her throat. “The shock from one of these isn’t supposed to be deadly, but I’ve never tried holding it against someone for more than a minute. Care to be the first?”

Dorsey jerked around and spat in his face.

The blow came from the other side. Her forehead exploded in a storm of pain, halos danced across her vision, and then everything went black.

 

***

 

She came to in a dark room, her hands tied behind her back and her feet trussed up. She was leaning up against a wall and the pressure on her shoulders had caused one of her arms to fall asleep, the pins and needles stabbing her with every movement. Dorsey blinked a few times, trying to make out her surroundings.

Thankfully, it wasn’t pitch black, but her eyes took some time to adjust. She squinted and made out the shape of another person across the room from her. Her eyes traced the shape of his shoulders and up around his head.

Ty. Her mate. Maybe that should have freaked her out, but there was no one that Dorsey would rather be locked up with.

She thought that she’d been quiet, but Ty spoke only a few moments after she woke. “We’re going to be okay.”

“Thanks for saying that.” But this time she didn’t see a way out. Pirates were disorganized by nature and escaping them was by no means unheard of. Collins had been one man and even he had almost succeeded in handing her over. Nina had never tried to detain them after the first night. But right now General Droscus himself was aboard the space station, his handpicked squad of goons had detained them, and the only hope she had was that Max heard about this and that he chose to help them.

“I told you that I would never lie to you,” he said with the weight of his promise. “I do mean to keep my word.”

“Unless you’ve been hiding laser eyes this whole time, I don’t see how that’s going to work.” Though his eyes always seemed to glow she could barely make them out across the small room. Their feet practically brushed.

“I’m afraid not.” His shoulders moved from side to side and if Dorsey strained she could hear a faint ripping noise coming from behind him. Her own bindings were made of some kind of fiber and his probably were as well.

“Are you…?”

He cut off her question with a sharp shake of his head and a glance up toward the ceiling. Dorsey couldn’t make anything out, but his caution was warranted. Anyone could be listening.

“Still no regrets?” she asked. She was starting to understand what he meant. If someone opened the door right now and offered to free her so long as she left Ty behind, she’d rather rot in the cell.

“Well,” Ty dragged the word out, “I’d rather be testing the soundproofing of our room right about now, but—” His shoulders sagged by a few centimeters just as the door opened and bright light flooded in, along with two heavily armed soldiers.

One pointed his blaster at Ty while the other made a target of Dorsey. And in behind them strolled General Droscus.

Dorsey had rarely seen him in person, and his pictures and vids didn’t do him justice. He was as beautiful as a deadly curved blade, his cheekbones high and sharp, nose straight, eyes a piercing silvery blue. He’d come to power on Tarni at a young age and was now only about forty. His dark hair was cropped short but with just enough length for him to affect a tousled style. By looks alone, Droscus belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine.

His ambition and military acumen put his looks to shame. It was no secret that he planned to singlehandedly rule the Consortium one day. To him, Dorsey and Ty were bugs, nuisances that needed to be stepped on before they could cause any more trouble.

Droscus looked at one of his guards and nodded to Ty. “Take that one outside, Gaius.” He gave no other command, but a block of ice froze in Dorsey’s gut. The General was really going to kill both of them.

Gaius, the guard nearest Ty, kicked at Ty’s side. “Get up,” he commanded.

Dorsey held her breath as Ty moved, hoping his bonds wouldn’t fall off and that he’d sheathed his claws. She might not make it out of this, but he could.

The door closed behind them, leaving Dorsey with Droscus and the remaining guard. That guard took a step back and stood next to the door, ready for trouble. The General waved and the overhead lights came to life, and a table with a chair on either side materialized out of the floor. “Please take a seat, Ms. Kwan.” Droscus invited her as he pulled out his own chair and waited for her to join him.

It wasn’t easy, but she wasn’t in a position to refuse. So Dorsey flipped herself over and crawled on her knees, her balance off because her hands were still bound. Maneuvering herself into the chair took a bit of work, and neither of her captors offered to help. But after a few long, painful minutes, she’d arranged herself so that she sat opposite one of the most powerful men in the system.

He might have been beautiful, but he did nothing for her. The only man she wanted was outside, and she had to make this last long enough so that he could try and escape. But she didn’t talk. She wasn’t going to anger Droscus by saying the wrong thing first.

He leaned forward, one arm heavy on the table. “You have a lot of friends for a simple freight pilot.”

That wasn’t a question, so she kept her mouth shut. Droscus’s gaze was heavy on her, the feel of it almost oily. But she held herself upright and still. She had to be strong for Ty.

“I am quite sorry that it’s come to this,” he continued, oozing false sympathy. “Someone as… clever… as you could have really gone places, especially with me. I have an eye for talent.” Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the guard stand up a little taller as if Droscus’s comment had been praise just for him.

Under the full weight of his power, she understood just how powerful those words could be. He almost made her want to follow him, even as he was about to kill her. “Why me?” she asked.

“You’ve foiled more than one of my plots and it seems that you’ve done it on accident.” He waved a hand. “I can only imagine what you could do with a little training.”

Plots? Plural? She opened her mouth to contradict him, but thought better of it before she could do little more than gasp.

But the General was smarter than that. He smiled, the grin boyish. “You didn’t even know. Now that speaks poorly of my people.”

“The smuggling.” It wasn’t a guess, but Dorsey didn’t know how she was to blame for it ending. She’d been kidnapped by pirates and was half a galaxy away when Droscus had Lex murdered.

Droscus clapped once as if she were a puppy who’d performed a particularly good trick. “At least you’re not a complete lack wit.”

“Why me?” He seemed willing to talk so she’d prod him for answers. “I didn’t even know about it.”

The General sighed. “Four weeks ago you filed a status and maintenance report with your employer, do you remember?”

Dorsey nodded, though reports were so routine that she couldn’t remember a particular one. She filed them at the end of every journey.

“Yes, well, in your visual report a few items that I had contracted were visible. You didn’t know to hide them, but it was enough to raise inconvenient questions.” He sneered out the last word, the curl of his lip transforming his face from something beautiful to something monstrous.

This all happened because she hadn’t tidied up her crates well enough? Dorsey couldn’t control the scoff that escaped her throat. “And the other?” she managed to choke out. “It was when you captured Haylio, right? Why didn’t you just kill him?”

If this interrogation was anything to go by it was because he liked to play with his prey. He could squash her at any moment and yet right now, he answered her questions. He loved power too much not to exercise it at any chance he got.

“I never had any intention of killing him.” She didn’t believe him, but it sounded like he was telling the truth. Then again, so did everything else, and if Dorsey found out every word that came out of his mouth was a lie she wouldn’t be surprised. “Aren’t you familiar with the concept of leverage?”

Against who? Haylio had no lover, no husbands or wives, no children, and not many friends. The only person he could have been used against was his sister, and she didn’t get into trouble with anyone. She worked balancing accounts at a shop in the city center!

He huffed out a small laugh. “I can see you dying to ask. But that is a secret for another day. For me at least.” He looked over at the guard but Dorsey interrupted him before he could give an order.

“Why did you come yourself? Commander Nina will be pissed. There’s no way I’m worth it.” He knew that she’d been running away. She posed no obstacle to anything but his pride any longer.

Any hint of a smile was wiped from Droscus’s face and he stood, ignoring her. “Kill her,” he told the guard. “Make sure the discovery is public.”

He left the room without a final glance.