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Amig yelled something in his own language and halted. He set Irene on her feet and held her upright when she staggered.
Nil also grabbed her, his expression concerned. “Easy, Matara. Catch your breath.”
Amig growled. “Nil—”
“Orders. I’m not entirely happy about this either, you know.” The captain stopped talking through gritted teeth to deal gently with Irene. “I wish we had the time to explain rather than grabbing you and forcing you to come with us. Unfortunately, my superiors have warned me Earth’s fleet is already on its way to return you to your home planet, where they’ll probably interrogate you as to how close you got to my people. It’s plain from the smell you got damned close. Your life is in danger.”
“Which of our crew were you intimate with?” Amig asked. “They won’t rank high enough for you to join their clan, but if you became friends, we can have them talk to you once we’re underway.”
Irene stared at them, unable to believe what was happening. She glanced around, searching for help. They were in the docking bay. She gaped at a familiar opening mere yards away, the corridor that led to Clan Sherv’s ship. Her frantic gaze swept the area, but it appeared she, Nil, and Amig were the only people there at such a quiet hour.
“I can’t,” she said, struggling to escape the two men. “I can’t go to Kalquor.”
“Your singing career isn’t necessarily over.” Nil assured.
“It isn’t about my career! My parents are on Earth. If I go to Kalquor, I’ll never see them again. I have to be able to go home!”
“Matara, it’s already too late. Your people will torture you if you return now.”
“They won’t! They have no idea what I’ve done, and Fausto can convince them to leave me alone. Let me go!”
Amig caught her wrists and stopped her from punching them. Her kicks to their shins had no effect, though Nil said, “She’s a tough one. Carry her to the ship, my Nobek. We won’t go as fast, so maybe she won’t be sick again.”
Amig slung her over his shoulder once more. They started off again, at a quick walk. The Nobek snarled, “I don’t care how desperate the empire is to survive or any of the rest of this nonsense.”
“We don’t know if it has anything to do with our rumored extinction. They said it’s a rescue operation.”
Irene planted her palms against Amig’s back and rose up. She unleashed a scream, desperate for someone to hear and help her. Her well-trained lungs and voice delivered, and her shriek echoed along the corridor.
Her captors sighed in its wake. Amig picked up the conversation where they’d left off. “Rescue or not, you have to agree doing it this way is the height of dishonor. I might resign from the fleet.”
A dark streak appeared, shooting into sight from beyond the curve of the bay. As it drew close, a second blur shot from the rapidly shrinking opening leading to Clan Sherv’s vessel.
“Do you think I enjoy—”
The first blur lowered close to the ground. As Amig started to turn toward it, it collided with the backs of his knees and became Rusp.
At the same instant, the second blur smacked Nil, knocking him forward, beyond Irene’s sightline. Then she was falling with Amig as Rusp rolled to avoid being crushed beneath them. An iron grip found her arm, yanking her free of the weapons commander’s grasp. Irene was momentarily in Rusp’s embrace, then shoved to her feet and behind him.
He was also standing and facing the snarling Amig, who went for his blaster.
Chapter Ten
Irene shouted a warning, but the infuriated weapons commander found his holster empty. Rusp pointing Amig’s blaster at him only seemed to piss him off. He jerked, as if to attack.
“Don’t do it, Nobek, or your captain be hurt.” Sherv was there, out of Amig’s reach. He pointed another blaster at the stunned Nil, who was slowly climbing to his feet. Sherv backpedaled, keeping the blaster he’d apparently stripped from Nil trained on the weaponless captain. “Irene, get in our ship.”
Amig’s fury was short-circuited by obvious shock. He gaped at Irene. “Them? You were withthem? The lemanthev band?”
“Go to the ship, Irene.” Sherv and Rusp stood between her and the destroyer officers, backing slowly away.
“Listen, boys,” Nil warned. He and Amig advanced, a step for their every retreating step. “It’s a rescue, not a kidnapping. Our orders came from the highest offices to pull her from Earth custody.”
“I don’t know ‘rescues’ when a woman cries and screams for help from her saviors. Isn’t a good look for empire’s fleet officers.”
Irene watched the unfolding drama as she trotted to the corridor to their ship, terrified for Sherv and Rusp. In their tank tops and shorts, they hardly looked a match for the captain and weapons commander, who wore armored uniforms.
Amig’s snarl promised death. “Stop pointing the blaster at my Dramok.”
