Talon’s feet carried him back to the bridge, but his thoughts stayed on Jessica.

She was a human, but she fought like the finest of Revant warriors. She was fierce and proud, and she was skilled in combat of all type.

She was a terrific asset, and she was one who was starting to be harder for him to have around.

His body always went tight with lust whenever she was around, and he knew that that was problematic. She had no interest in him at all, and he doubted that that was just because he was the leader of their crew.

Jessica had a deeply ingrained distrust of everyone around her, even him, and after everything that she had gone through; he could not really blame her for that. She had been betrayed by not just her fellow Capos—a betrayal she had rather expected, all things considered—she had been betrayed by one of the very people she had been trying to help.

His lips compressed as he recalled that she had said that the informant had sold her out for nothing more than a few pounds of nutro-loaf and a hundred credits.

It was pitiful and sad that someone would be desperate enough to sell a secret and a woman who was helping to keep the very person who had informed on her from starving.

But then again, he knew how it could happen.

When he had been a prisoner in the mines, one of his own people, a fellow Revant, had sold out a secret for an extra ration of water and food. Just one extra ration and he had never gotten it either because the overseers at the mine had killed him as soon as he had spilled that secret.

That secret had been that Talon and his brothers, as well as several of the other crew members forced into that slavery, were hiding the weapons they had been forging out of rock ends and bits of broken mining tools. They had been planning on using those things in an escape effort that was thwarted before it ever began thanks to the informer in their midst.

He understood betrayal. He completely understood why Jessica trusted no one and likely never would. But that distrust and fear of betrayal meant that she reserved her loyalty for herself and had yet to tender any to him or to any other member of the crew.

She was not exactly keeping it a secret that she was just there because she wanted to get her share of the plunder that they took from the ships that they wrecked. She cared nothing about his personal need to wipe out the Gorlites, the parasitic race that was the scourge of the skies. The same race that had helped to engineer the death of his parents and had sold him and his siblings, as well as many others of his people, into slavery.

He hated the Gorlites, and that hatred coupled with the need for revenge for what they had done meant that he was determined to erase that species from the entire universe forever. As far as he was concerned their extinction was not only necessary for his revenge, but to prevent them from doing the same to anyone else.

Jessica thought that his mission to eradicate the Gorlites was problematic on a lot of levels. She felt that he often paid more attention to hunting that race than hunting down ships that they could wreck and then pocket the credits. She argued, quite often, that they lost too many crewmembers during battles with the Gorlites and that hunting them took up far too much time that could be better spent earning credits.

He could not argue that she wasn’t correct in those things because she was. He had deliberately turned away from ships that he had known were ripe for the plucking because he had gotten word that the worm-like species that he hated so much was nearby and he would much rather kill them than wreck ships.

Talon knew that as soon as Jessica had the credits that she needed in order to live on a planet where her Old Earth status would not cause her to be hauled into a Federation prison cell, she would leave him. A small but insistent voice inside his head often asked him if that was why he chose not to wreck the ships that he did turn away from.

It was foolish of him to want her so much, but he did. It was getting harder to deny that and eventually he would either have to send her off the ship and out of sight in order to get her off his mind or simply…

Simply what?

Tell her what he felt for her?

That was laughable. Jessica had no interest in him. Of all the females in the universe, he had to desire one who felt absolutely nothing for him!

The bridge hummed with activity. Caleb was a young human who had found himself in debt on one of the pleasure planets and was being hunted by the Federation task forces. His answer to that was to take shelter in and stowaway upon Talon’s ship. He waved at Talon urgently.

Talon strode to where Caleb stood. “What is it?”

Caleb’s fingers stroked the scraggly beard covering the lower half of his youthful face. “There is a massive fleet headed right toward us. All Federation, and all warships. There’s really no way to avoid them. Their cloaking devices would get us past them as we couldn’t get high enough to get over them and dropping them would send us skimming over the planet’s force fields.”

Talon peered down at the monitor. Caleb was right, it was a vast fleet. There were at least one hundred heat signatures showing on the screen. The size of the signatures signified warships. A frown marred Talon’s forehead as he considered that.

“That makes no sense. The Federation is not currently at war with any planet or system. Why would they move an entire fleet, and in such a formation?”

Jessica’s voice spoke from behind him, making his head turn to look at her. “I would say that they are at war. The evidence is there on the screen. Whoever they are at war against likely does not know that they are about to have a battle brought to them. What systems are nearby?”

Inwardly Talon bristled. Jessica had a cool, commanding way about her that both aroused him and irritated him. She was used to being in charge, and she had a real problem with authority, especially his. He should’ve asked those questions himself. He would have if she had given him a moment to speak!

He said, “The only nearby planets and system are pleasure planets. We are in the Star World system. There would be no need to bring a war to the system because it has Federation loyalty and alliances. It feeds many credits into the Federation’s pockets and always has done that willingly.”

Jessica said, “Back on Old Earth they used to tell the story about how many, many centuries ago, all of the ships would come across the water—”

Caleb interrupted, “You mean back in the days when they still had ships that ran on water?”

Jessica nodded. Her light eyes probed at first Talon’s face and then at Caleb’s. “Yes. Back when there was sufficient water for ships to be able to use it to move about in. Anyway, there was a great city on one side of what is now the above and over the ground, and the ships would come into the city. The soldiers would spill off the ships and spend several days and nights enjoying the pleasures that the city could give them. They called it…” Her face scrunched up in thought. “Fleet Week. At least I think so.”

Talon said, “That would be an interesting thing to see, but somehow this feels far more sinister to me.”

Her eyes met his again, and he read the same concern in her expression that he knew must be in his as well. She said, “The Federation is forever at war. Could it be that they are merely passing through due to a need to refuel? Could it be that they have decided to shift part of their fleet to another planet in order to protect that planet better?”

Talon said, “One hundred ships is a large fleet, but the Federation commands hundreds of thousands of ships. To us, this is a vast fleet, but to them, it is nothing just a drop in the bucket of space. It could very well be that this particular fleet is being shifted to a new battle post. Perhaps the pleasure planets are having trouble with space bandits again.”

Caleb said, “I’m not sure I care what the reasons are. What I do care about is the fact that they are rapidly overtaking us, boss. Maybe we should do something to get the hell out of their way.”

Talon had to admit Caleb had a point. “We can’t go under, and we can’t go over. We can’t ride beside them with our cloaking devices because they’d be likely to plow right into us. Our only option is to get out of their path. We head to Silver Star. There are gaming halls there as well as supplies but it’s the smallest of all in the system, and it’s the last outpost that a ship fleet of that size would choose to go to.”

Caleb said, “That sounds like a good idea, boss. I put in the coordinates just now.”

Talon nodded and turned away. Caleb was young and human, but he was a damn good pilot, and between the two of them, they managed to stay ahead of whatever came their way.

When he turned, he found himself face to face with Jessica again. He had to shift quickly to keep his growing erection from making a visible tent in his trousers. Her blonde hair had been brushed until it shone sometime earlier in the day and it hung around her sharp features and beautifully sculpted face in shimmering waves of gold and honey.

The urge to wrap his hand into that hair, to tug her face to his and give her a long and deep kiss was so strong that he had to take a step to the right and put his hands tightly to his sides to keep himself from acting on that urge. The woman was going to drive him completely mad.

He headed for the observation deck of the bridge, intent on keeping an eye on the skies because nothing beats a good lookout. Cloaking devices could hide ships from even the most sophisticated of controls and heat registration panels. He needed to know if there was more Federation ships there and what was registering.

And he really needed to put some space between him and Jessica too.

That last part of his plan failed when she stepped up beside him. She spoke in a low voice and that voice, husky and slightly gravelly but also pure and sweet and very feminine, made his desire raise a few more notches.

“I wonder if we could take one of those ships?”

He glanced over at her. She was staring out the windows, but there was a little smile playing along her mouth. His own heart surged a little bit at the thought. If he loved anything, he loved a challenge. A challenge that involved the taking of a Federation ship was always one that he enjoyed. To take a Federation ship flying alongside an entire fleet?

“I was just wondering the very same thing but, in all honesty, we would have to be crazy to try it.”

“Oh, I agree. It would be stupid. For all we know, all that they are carrying are weapons that we can’t use. I mean, how many weapons do we really need? Or perhaps they’re carrying fresh food supplies from the farming and agricultural planets, but why would we need those? Or maybe they’re carrying water. Real, fresh, cold water from one of the unspoiled planets that still produces it. Not that we need water.”

His grin was devilish. “I see what you are doing here.”

She gave him a sidelong look. Her eyebrow tilted up toward her hairline. “I am not doing anything except trying to dissuade you from such a foolish plan.”

He wanted to laugh. Jessica had a way of invigorating him, and not just because she was so damn beautiful or because his body wanted hers even if he knew he could never tell her so, but because she was wild enough, and crazy enough, to actually contemplate trying to take one of those ships.

“I don’t believe I said that it was a good plan. I also do not recall having said that it was a plan that I thought we should embark upon.”

Jessica’s head nodded up and down. “You’re correct. You didn’t say it.”

Talon wanted to do it. Not just because she had suggested it but because the challenge of it, because if he managed it, that would stick a thorn in the Federation’s side that they would not be able to ignore. Other than killing Gorlites, his biggest pleasure lay in creating problems for the Federation.

“I wonder if they are carrying water.”

His words made Jessica’s head turned toward him. Her lip touched her tongue gently, and he stared at that pink triangle of flesh as it slid across her bottom lip in a slow stroke that told him exactly how much she would have enjoyed fresh water. The recyclers aboard the ship made sure that they never went thirsty, but the water that they drink was flat and often sterile tasting. She said, “How could we know?”

Talon said, “I suppose we will not ever know unless we actually board and wreck them.”

Jessica said, “I’m over here trying to talk you out of doing that.”

He said, “It seems to me that this was your idea.”

Her mouth tilted upward into that smile that always got to him. “Oh no. I beg to differ. This was all your idea. So far it is just an idea, too. Perhaps it should be just that and nothing else.”

Talon’s eyes roamed over her face. Animation had sprung up onto every one of her features, and he knew that that was due to her interest being piqued by the words that they had spoken. The only person aboard that ship who hated the Federation more than him was Jessica.

Jessica said, “Did I ever tell you that when I was a Capo, a very young Capo, that one of my first duties was in a hall of knowledge? Not just any hall of knowledge either; this one had the old books in it. The ones made of real paper. They had pages and pages and pages within their covers, and they lined the shelves, miles and miles and miles of shelves.

“The Federation owns all of Old Earth’s halls of knowledge, of course. The populace isn’t allowed in; only the highest ranking of the Federation members and their families were ever allowed to enter the halls.

“I found this to be such a shame. But I also wondered why they didn’t want the population to have access to something so wonderful.”

Talon snorted. “For the same reason the Federation doesn’t with a population of any system or planet in the entire universe to have access to the things that they hold dear. The Federation is greedy.”

Jessica leaned against a small pillar, “I can’t argue that one with you at all because it’s true. But it’s more than that. You see, those books held all the history of the world that the ones who collected it could find. It seems strange to me that people who lived many centuries before I was even born had spent most of their lives trying to dig up the stories and histories of people who had died thousands of years before the ones who were collecting their histories had lived, but I think I understand it more now.”

Talon had no idea what she was getting at. “I see. Are you going to tell me what it is that you understand?”

Jessica said, “I can understand wanting to know where we came from and how we got where we are. Everyone wants to know that I suppose. But that’s not my point. My point was in those books they listed the ways that the people who lived on Old Earth got food before there was even credits or anything like it in the world.”

Talon’s toes were tapped into the flooring. “Jessica, you’re going to have to spell this out for me. You are just confusing me. We went from talking about taking a Federation ship to books in the halls of knowledge and how people dead for millennia used to acquire food.”

Her white and square teeth flashed as she smiled. “They used to cut the weakest from a herd. They’d follow behind the herd, staying out of sight while they watched until they picked out which one was the weakest. Then they did something to make that weakest one fall back even further. You know, to be separated from the larger group. Then they’d kill it.”

Talon’s mouth fell open. “That’s genius!”

Jessica said, “Well, it may have worked for them, but they weren’t hunting Federation ships, now were they?”

Talon said, “No, they were not. However, if we used our cloaking device and stayed very far behind until we could pick out a straggler ship and then cut it off from the others.”

Her eyes met his squarely. “Maybe.”

He said, “I am willing to try it.”

Her head tilted to one side. Her eyes danced with an almost unholy light. His heart gave a painful throb in his chest. When he had been very small, he had asked his father how it was that he and his wife, Talon’s mother, had managed to stay together for so long when so many couples tended to eventually leave their mate and find another. The reply his father had given him had been simple. He had told Talon that if Talon were to be a warrior, then he needed a female who was soft and yielding.

Talon’s mother had been a healer. She would only pick up arms if her own life or the life of her children and her husband were in danger.

There was nothing soft or yielding about Jessica. She was as hard and sharp as a moon dust gem, and three times as deadly.

Her lips curved upward even further. A radiant light lit her face from within. “I don’t think I’d mind dishing out a little punishment to the Federation. If they are carrying fresh food and water, then that makes it all even better.”

Talon said, “I don’t care what they carry, to be honest, although I would like to see some weapons. We could use some new technology in our weaponry, and if anyone has that, it is the Federation. Also, don’t think you talked me into this.”

Jessica said, “I know very well that you are the most stubborn being who’s ever been born in this universe. I would never try to talk you into anything.”

She thought he was stubborn? Well, she was right.

He turned to the bridge and strode to the control panels were Caleb still stood, flying confidently along toward the destination Talon had given him a few minutes before.

Talon said, “I have decided that we need to wreck a ship.”

Cheers broke out along the bridge, but then someone asked, “Which ship?”

Talon took a deep breath. Was he really going to do this? Yes, yes, he was.

“We’re going to take one of the Federation ships from the fleet.”