Justyn stood. He’d wanted a distraction and finding a priceless galactic treasure was a pretty damned good one. “Any idea when Kenth will turn up?”
“Yep. Based on his last verified location four hours ago, he’s about an hour away from the space station.”
Justyn locked gazes with his brothers. “Do we wait for him here or intercept?”
Rynan shook his head. “I wouldn’t risk waiting. He could hand it off before we get to him or change course to meet someone off-station.”
Justyn agreed. “I’ll get theMercuryready to head back out. I think you two should stay here in case I somehow miss Kenth.” Justyn tossed a salute at his cousin’s wife. “Dr. Rai-Phoenix, I’ll get that document for you.” He winked. “Maybe I’ll be better at this treasure hunting thing than Dathan and his brothers.”
Dathan rolled his eyes and gave Justyn the finger.
CHAPTER THREE
“Captain, we’ve picked up theTrader’s Darton sensors.”
Nissa stood behind her chair on the bridge, gripping the back of the seat. “Let’s catch ourselves a thief, Lieutenant Allard.”
“Hang on a second—” Gavin tapped at his screen “—there appears to be another ship with theDart.”
Nissa’s gut tightened. “What?”
“No, wait…it’s gone. There’s sensor interference from electromagnetic radiation emissions from a nearby pulsar. It’s playing havoc with my readings.”
Another ship? Nissa frowned, a knot forming in her stomach. Well, there wasn’t much she could do until they reached theTrader’s Dart.
“Hold course. And let’s squeeze a little more speed out of engineering.”
“Yes, Captain.”
They’d spent hours searching the space around Galaxy’s Edge for Kenth’s ship. She wasn’t going to let him or the Constitution get away.
She pictured herself handing over the document to Admiral DeRuyter and finally getting a command back near Thusia. Her father would be thrilled. It was just the two of them and had been since her mother had died and her brother had…left.
“Kenth’s signature is on the far side of Ubinas,” Gavin added. “We’ll be in visual range momentarily.”
Ubinas was a small, uninhabitable planet covered in volcanoes and acid lakes. The only people who visited it were crazy sulfur miners looking for valuable chunks of bright-yellow sulfur.
Nissa tapped a finger against her chair.Come on, come on. She wanted that priceless document in her hands and then locked in the state-of-the-art safe in her cabin.
“Rounding Ubinas now,” Gavin said.
Nissa heard the excitement in the man’s voice. She knew her crew was thrilled to be involved in recovering something as important as the Constitution. They were used to less exciting missions out here on the edge. Nissa scanned the bridge and all the familiar faces manning their stations. She’d spent three years whipping them into shape. They were a damned good crew. She felt a pang in her chest. She’d miss them once she was gone.
Ubinas passed close on their port side—a black rock covered in spots of red and turquoise blue.
Ahead, Kenth’sDartcame into view. Its engines were powered down.
And docked beside it was another very familiar runnership.
Nissa cursed and didn’t care that it was against protocol. Through clenched teeth she said, “Commander Tryker, prepare the boarding team for teletransportation. Keep it small.”
“Affirmative, Captain.”
As her security officer organized three of his best, Nissa pulled out her own laser pistol and checked it. She shoved it backinto her holster and eyed Drayna. “You have command until I return.”
Her second offered her a nod. “Try to remember we arrest criminals, we don’t kill them.”
“I’ll try.” Nissa spun and stood with the boarding team. At her nod, the blue flash of the teletrans flared in front of her.
