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CHAPTER 1
CAPTAIN PYSINA LANGARUS
Iblinked at the ceiling, my heartbeat and breaths loud in my ears. Why was everything red? Then it was as if my ears popped because I could suddenly hear far too much. Klaxons wailed, the blaring alarms beating out every other sound and making me tuck my ears down to try and escape the hideous noise. And that was when I remembered what had happened.
A bomb. One of the humans had detonated a bomb strapped to himself. He’d screamed something about Humans First and then tried to kill us all.
As captain, I wasn’t able to escape any of this. I was in charge.
My back protested as I sat up, a sharp pain shooting down to my left knee, but it was the human who slumped from against my chest down to my lap that truly concerned me. Friend or foe? But since the lean young man was unconscious, his intentions didn’t matter much at the moment.
I cupped the back of the man’s head and felt for a pulse at his neck. Strong and steady. Maybe the explosion had thrown him into me and knocked him out. He didn’t smell like a threat—he actually had a very pleasant scent. Reassured for now, and needing to engage with the recovery efforts, I held the man close to my chest and stood up.
A quick look around showed me security and medical personnel rushing in and doing their assessments. Commander Sorke sprinted toward me, and I pulled him closer when I couldn’t hear a single thing the Lago said.
“Shut these damned alarms off!” I nearly screamed into Sorke’s round ear.
Sorke nodded and ran off, leaving me to hope he knew where the controls were. I knew my ship but not every button and switch. Blessedly, it was just seconds before the klaxons quit their screeching.
But in the quiet, now I could hear the cries and moans of the injured and dying. My heart constricted in horror and sympathy as the security personnel and my own commanders gathered around me, awaiting their orders.
“Security, support the medics. Have them triage everyone in the cargo hold. Open the doors completely so there’s easier access.” They rushed off as a horrible thought occurred to me. “The royals! Has anyone seen?—”
“There, sir,” Sorke said beside me, and I followed his pointed finger to where Prince Ye Lena and his new prince-consort were standing. I took a steadying breath and refocused.
“I need every human checked for weapons, even the bodies. And get me a damage report. Are the bay doors holding?” I looked to the damn things, willing them to hold even as I saw some part of a shuttle embedded in one side like a knife.
“Engineering is on the way,” Lieutenant Commander Rigger, a tall gray Yook, said before he too cast a worried glance at the doors.
I nodded at that. “Someone get on the bay’s main control panel and keep an eye on the atmosphere in here. I want to know if there’s even the slightest loss of pressure.”
“Yes, sir,” Rigger said before jogging away.
“Once the bay is clear, we seal it off as if there’s been a breach. I want no chances taken here.”
“Yes, sir,” the rest of them said.
“Go!” I barked when they didn’t move. “Check the humans and get that damage report.”
They scattered, but at least they looked like they knew where they were going. As I watched them go, I saw Seiwa Heremod jet around the room like his fuzzy white tail was on fire. As head engineer, this had to be one of his nightmares, but he was calm and focused even as he leapt from place to place near the shuttle.
As I watched him, I realized there was a hole in the flooring. Thank the goddess the explosion had gone down into another cargo hold instead of up into crew quarters—third shift would’ve been in their bunks at this hour.
“Sir?” a Lago medic said as he approached me. “Is he alive?”
I blinked at him in confusion. “Who?”
“The human you’re holding.”
I looked down, alarmed and even more confused to find that I still held the skinny man against my chest, one arm looped under his and hugging him tightly to me. I hadn’t noticed. I hadn’t meant to carry him with me.
“I… Yes, he’s alive. Just…unconscious.”
The medic was nodding as he approached like I might fight him off. “Can I take him? I’ll evaluate him right here.”
Why was my first instinct to turn away and deny him access? That didn’t make any sense. A medic wanted to help an injured person. I shouldn’t prevent that.
“Of course,” I said and stepped closer to the medic. “You can take him.”
