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Volethos…hmmm. What is it about his name that makes my tongue want to try it out?
Volethos grabs my hand and, without a word, starts pulling me through the ship. And I let him. The end of the narrow hallway opens into a cockpit. Danielle is already sitting against the wall, trying to fit a set of straps around her. Across from her are two seats facing a huge screen. The other male is already occupying one seat, his hands flying across the control panel in front of him. A huge screen is projecting the hangar we just escaped from, and I watch as it quickly fills up with dozens of orc aliens.
Volethos pushes me down onto the bench beside Danielle. His fingers move deftly, pulling a set of straps around me that he fastens and pulls tight. Then he moves over to Danielle and fastens hers as well.
A throaty buzzing makes my ears ring. The sound is everywhere, and, the way it’s vibrating up from the floor, I realize it must be thrusters or the engine warming up. The sound increases until it’s an ear-splitting roar.
“They are closing the shields,” Volethos growls, throwing himself into the seat beside the reptile.
Danielle looks over at me, and her eyes have gone round with terror. “Are you sure we should be trusting these guys?” she asks me.
“It’s a little late now,” I grit through my clenched teeth. There’s not a lot we can do about any of this at this point.
The ship shudders, and, for a moment, I feel weightless.
Danielle squeezes her eyes shut and reaches for me, gripping my hand in hers so hard, I lose feeling in my fingers. Then the ship banks, and I’m shoved against Danielle’s side.
Now we both have our eyes squeezed shut and are hanging on to each other for dear life.
“Ah, fuck! We’re not gonna make it,” I hear Volethos growl.
Did that frightened whimper come out of me?
“Shut up, it’s fine,” the reptile snaps.
See, I tell myself. Nothing to worry about. This dude has it handled. Except that a moment later, the loud screech of tearing metal rattles the ship.
“Ah,vittu! I told you!” Volethos shouts.
Cracking my eyes open, I see boxes with scrolling text popping up on the screen in front of them, obscuring their view. Shouldn’t they be watching where they’re going? Red and yellow flashing warnings flicker across the control panel, and more start popping up on the screen.
“Port side wing took damage,” Volethos grumbles. It seems that just as soon as he closes one box, three more appear. “Engine is fine. The drag panels took the worst damage.”
“That’s fine. We don’t need those to fly,” the reptile says as he hits buttons and pulls levers.
“Right, we just need them to slow down so we can land,” Volethos snorts.
The reptile growls and then looks back at us over his shoulder. “Brace yourselves.”
I can only imagine the looks on our faces. Especially the next moment when we’re pinned to the wall, and it feels like all our organs are being squeezed up into our throats.
The stars do thatStar Warsthing just before we’re slingshot into space.
* * *
I rubcircles into Danielle’s back as she heaves into the shirt that Reptile Guy was quick enough to throw us at her first sign of gagging.
“At least they don’t feed us much. That could have been really awful,” I offer helpfully.
She glares up at me just before another round of heaving racks her frame. When it’s finally over, I ball up the shirt and move it aside.
Next, Reptile Guy hands me a clear water pouch that reminds me of a Capri Sun, and I pass it over to Danielle. “Better?” I ask when she leans back against the wall.
“Yeah,” she sniffs. Her dark eyes wander to where the guys are watching us. I don’t miss the way they roam over Reptile Guy’s bared, muscular chest. “Sorry about your shirt.”
Reptile Guy shakes his head dismissively. “I have others.”
“So, now what?” I ask.
