The door to Blaize’s quarters slides open. He looks back at it. “Oh, haha, Allele. Very funny.”
She closes his door. Allele knows he’s not getting up when we’re moving at such a quick pace. It’s how we know she’s capable of making a joke.
Eluni calls up to us from her room, asking what’s happening.
“Trouble with the supply shipment, I think,” Blaize replies as he pulls up the communication logs forTiatith.
Allele docks us in a hangar not far from 136 asTiatith’ssecurity sends updates over the com. “Unapproved speciesbreech. Hostility brewing. Civilians at risk. Control the situation with minimal force.”
I get up before we’ve fully docked and hustle to the ramp. Blaize is right behind me.
“Can someone let me out?” Eluni asks from behind her door.
“Allele?” I ask.
Eluni’s door slides open. She joins us, still in her royal armor. “I’m never getting back on this ship.”
“Your choice.” Blaize doesn’t seem to mind the prospect of it just being us two again. But we need a third body for patrols, and I’d like a munitions tech with us. Anyone who can guard and keep our weapons in top shape is someone I want on my team.
“You just have to treat Allele like a person. Show her she can trust you, and she’ll fight to keep you safe instead of treating you like a toddler,” I tell Eluni as we run down the ramp. “That takes time.”
My father never treats me like an adult no matter what I do because I won’t do the one thing he wants me to—mate with some aristocratic bitch to maintain a hierarchy no one wants but Royals.
I just have to get through a few more days. Then I’ll be free to be with whomever I meet, and Amphirans will just have to deal with it.
I hope my plan works.
4: Jovie
I confirm my datapad is still in my bag, and Elwin didn’t manage to snag it. Then, after a glance back to watch him pick himself up, I open my catalog and study a gold alien species from Ferrim as I walk back to the ship to get my mind off of things.
Naturally magnetic, like telekinesis? Cool.
I hike up the metal stairs and into the guts of the cruiser, where Talros is just back from lunch. He reaches upward and into the next hover pad control system that we have to troubleshoot, guiding cables aside and clipping them out of our way. He has put on some muscle mass since he worked in space. Tal also came back with a few new scars, but I’m glad to have had him as a partner. He’s the only person I know I can count on.
“Ocassa royally cocked up last night,” he utters. “Half the power cells aren’t working.”
Packing away my tablet, I connect my harness to the cable system I rigged up earlier on the ship, initiate my magnetic boots, and walk up the hull. Then, I hang down inside the chamber and inspect the circuitry of our next project. My wristband lights up, detecting the nearby system. “Cell eighteen isn’t holding a charge because its diode is fucked. Looks like they probably busted it during install.”
“Or maybe they just never finished the install. I’m getting the same reading on cell seven.” He reaches down for a new diode. “I still can’t believe you’re leaving me here to the wolves.”
Talros runs a grease-stained hand through his short blond hair, then hangs a tool pouch from my harness so I can disconnect the power cables and hoses from the chargingassembly. I smile to myself. If there was one person on Earth I might miss, it would be him. “You know, I do get a plus one.”
He pauses and looks up at me. “That’s weird. Isn’t it?”
I shrug. “Want a free vacation on Catalyst Five for a week?”
“You’re not giving it to your sister?”
I scowl at him.
“Right. She’s getting porked by your ex.”
“Ouch and gross.”
He lifts his callused hands, grease embedded in his short fingernails. “What? It’s true.”
“Painfully so, yes. Thanks for the reminder, jackass.” I disconnect the power supply to the circuitry panel and wait while Talros replaces the diode.
