When the cell door opened, Dara was ready to launch a harangue, which had replaced her initial plan to seduce her husband. She refused to seduce the man who left her alone for hours—after that scorcher of a kiss—with no word.

She was ready to pepper him with a litany of complaints, but she held her tongue as she saw what Kobrah carried.

“Karo!” She held out her arms, and her child wiggled to get down, immediately running to her mother.

“Mommy.” Karo snuggled into Dara, and for a moment, everything felt complete.

Kobrah ruined it. “She really is my daughter.”

“I told you she was.”

“And I was supposed to believe you?” He kept his accusation bland, and yet the expression in his eyes was anything but. He kept his temper in firm check, most likely because of Karo.

“I might have lied about some things—”

He snorted.

“—but I would never lie about that.”

“You might not have lied, but you purposely hid her from me.”

Their daughter took his side. “Mommy was bad for not telling you.”

“Karo!”

A snort escaped him. “Don’t chide the child for being astute. At least she got my smarts.”

“Now that you know, what are you going to do?” The question that plagued her. Kobrah could very well decide to keep Karo and raise her, leaving Dara where? Possibly shot out an airlock.

“Everyone keeps asking me that.”

“If you can get me to the Jerminian system—”

“What’s in the Jerminian system?”

“Something that might help us.” A safe place that she should have never left. Her teacher had warned her the universe was a big, bad place. She should have listened. She’d tried to stay away. And now for the last two years had been trying to return, only to have events conspire against her.

“I’m helping you.”

“Your ship almost got hijacked by the Rhomanii.”

“But didn’t. We lost the citadel that was trailing us.”

“Did you? Or are they setting a more elaborate trap?”

She could see he’d thought of it. “We’re on guard for any tricks.”

“Are you prepared to be on guard the rest of your life? Because that’s a guarantee if Karo and I stay on board.”

“I can’t exactly abandon you.” His pointed glance at Karo said it all.

She might have said more, but that was when she noticed a shimmering at the cell door. That could mean only one thing.

A cloaking device. And where there was something hidden…

“Behind you,” she yelled.

“I am not falling for that old trick,” he said with a snort.

Since he wouldn’t listen, she shoved Karo behind her and lunged for the door.

Kobrah cursed and whirled to grab hold of her, only to curse again as he saw Dara grappling with the tentacles of a small drone. She held tight to the wiggling appendages, one of which had projected a needle. A sleeping draught she assumed.

“Do something,” she yelled, but he was already in motion.

He pulled a dagger from a sheath at his side—Dara’s dagger—and jabbed it through the cranium of the tiny drone she wrestled with.

It no sooner dropped to the floor than three others crammed the entrance.

To give Kobrah a chance to get them all, she gripped the appendages of two and threw herself to the floor, doing her best to hold them while he took care of the third. In short order, there were four melting puddles, one little girl clapping her hands, beaming at her daddy, and a disgruntled Dara.

She wiped her hands on her pants. “I thought you got them all?”

“We did. We went through every inch of this ship. More than once.”

“Then that means there’s a citadel hiding nearby.”

“No shit. Damon!” He barked the name, and the computer put them in a communication channel. “We have a situation.”

“I know. I saw.” No surprise the first mate kept a close eye on their prisoner.

“Ready the ship for streaking.”

“Again?” Dara asked. “They obviously have a beacon somewhere on board. Until you find it, they’ll just keep coming.”

“I know, which is why we need to remove what they’re seeking from the Moth.”

“Meaning?” Surely, he wouldn’t sacrifice Dara and his daughter for this crew?

“Meaning we have to go.”

“Where?”

“Stop asking questions. Especially since we don’t know if someone is listening.”

“Then engage the FOZ protocol.” A friends-only-zone, which meant only those within it could be heard or understood.

“It’s already on, and yet those drones still found us.”

“You mean they were drawn to Karo.”

“There is no technology that can track a biological entity.”

“That you know of.”

“Have they ever been this persistent before?”

Dara’s brow wrinkled. “No.”

“Then that means something’s changed. Or you’ve been marked somehow. Strip.”

“Excuse me?”

“Strip. Everything. I know it’s not Karolyne. Michonne already took care of her. But you’re still in your original stuff. We need to get rid of all your clothes and then run you through a scanner.”

“You think they tagged me?” Dara’s eyes widened. The idea had merit. Especially given their scuffle before boarding the Moth. Quickly, she stripped. Kobrah left the cell, only to return a moment later, his gaze quickly scanning her before his head turned to the side. He held out a pile of soft fabric.

“I don’t know if it will fit, but we don’t have time. Hand me your old garments.” They made the swap. She dressed as he dumped her stuff down a recycling chute.

“Now stand still. You, too, Karo.” Kobrah also joined them before ordering the ship. “Run a full range spectrum.”

It took less than a minute. “Scan complete. Unidentified material located on adult female subject.”

“What?” She blinked.

“Where is it?” Kobrah asked.

A red light lasered in on Dara’s chest, and she clued in. “My amulet.” She pulled it free. “But it’s not a beacon. I swear. It’s more like a cloaking device.”

The computer wasn’t done. “Captain, you are also in possession of two foreign objects that are not recognized in my database.” He glanced down at the sheaths on his hips.

“The knives. I assume they form some sort of set.”

Dara shrugged. “Maybe. My teacher gave them to me when I insisted on leaving.”

“Given they’re the only thing we have to fight with, we’ll have to hope they’re not tagged and that the problem was in your clothes.”

“Let’s move. We have to get out of here before the Rhomanii make their next move.”

“Where are we going?”

“You said you needed to go to the Jerminian system, and I need to draw the drones away from the Moth and my crew.”

“So what’s the plan?” she asked as she trotted to keep pace with him, Karo skipping at her side.

“We are going to pull a bait and switch.”

She caught on to his plan once they reached the docking bay. A big ship like the Moth couldn’t always get into the tighter places, so they had smaller vessels. Some were only jumpers, good for quick trips from ship to a station or planet’s surface. But Kobrah believed in being prepared, which was why he always had at least one vessel capable of longer galactic trips.

Entering the docking bay, he barely paid any mind to the crew who saluted and shouted out, “Captain,” as he strode by. Dara kept her head ducked and held Karo’s hand tucked tight. Would any of them try and stop him?

No one said a word as he ushered them toward a ship that seemed familiar. Relinquishing Karo’s hand, she paused at the bottom of the gangplank and eyeballed the craft.

“Why don’t you find yourself a spot in the bridge, Sprout. Your mom and I will be aboard in a second.” Karo skipped up the gangway while Dara gaped.

“Is that the Yellow Spacemachine?” The last ship she’d commanded before her life changed.

“It is. I hunted it down after the ambush, but of course you were long gone.”

She’d sold that ship after the ambush she’d helped engineer. She couldn’t bear to look at it and remember what she’d done. Plus, she’d needed the credits.

“I can’t believe you found it.”

“It wasn’t easy. They’d started to dismantle it for parts, but I bought it, fixed it, then had it painted and renamed.”

The yellow of its hull was now a deep red, nearing on black, and the name, Widowmaker, stenciled on its side dripped in bright red letters.

She shook her head. “Really?”

“Seemed apt. And besides, it needed the help after that emasculating yellow you tortured it with.”

“The color was as fierce as a Vrka wasp.”

“The Vrka are fierce only when they read poetry.” For weeks at a time. Those who survived considered it a badge of honor.

“I guess I shouldn’t complain. At least now Karo and I have a chance and your precious Moth will be safe.”

“It will. So long as Damon doesn’t fuck up.”

She blinked before she replied. “Aren’t you going to be commanding?”

“I’ll be commanding a ship, just not the Moth. I’m coming with you.”

“Why? I can fly this ship on my own.”

“I know you can. This is more about making sure I get my investment back.”

“Seriously, is that all you’re worried about?” She couldn’t help a note of irritation.

“There is also the fact I don’t have my divorce yet.”

“I’ve been a little busy,” she snarled.

“And eager to run away again before fulfilling your part of the bargain.”

“What part? I’m not safe yet, am I?” She stood toe to toe with him.

“True, which is yet another reason I have to come with you. I am a man of my word. Shall we?”

She wanted to argue more, but truth was she preferred having him with her. Someone that would, if not have her back, at least have Karo’s.

“Fine. You want to come, come. But I’m driving,” she insisted.

“Over my dead, non-reanimated body. You seem to forget I’m captain.”

“Think you can give me orders?” she snorted. “As I recall, that never worked for you before.”

“Only because I was being nice. That won’t be a problem anymore. From now on, I am going to be giving the orders and you will obey.”

“Ha. You and what army will make me?” she sassed, the banter familiar, making her nostalgic for a happier time.

“I don’t need an army. I know your weak spots.” Said with a smoldering look.

A look that made her remember how he used to explore her body with his lips and fingers. She almost declared him a winner then and there as her knees turned weak.

He stepped closer, and she held still. Stared at him. At his full lips. That firm chin.

He leaned near and…palmed the console beside the ramp hatch, and the hum of machinery filled the silence.

It proved enough to snap the spell. “I should find Karo.”

“And I will let Damon know I’m going on an extended mission.”

One that hopefully wouldn’t cost him his life.