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“Indeed,” Fenton said with an unreadable expression in his gentle eyes.
Baldur grunted, which I once more found endearing. I almost wanted to adopt him as a pet. I had a thing for big and grumpy.
I preened under Ravik’s approval and the stunned admiration of his officers, and then curtsied in a sign of thank you. Moments later, the blinking red lights on the ceiling turned off, signaling the end of the alert.
“As soon as the reset is complete, I want ship-wide diagnostics of all systems, especially engineering,” Baldur said to one of the crew.
“Yes, Captain.”
Ravik crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes boring into mine. I loved how that pose made his bulging biceps appear even bigger. And those veins… My mouth watered reminiscing how they had felt under my tongue.
“And about facing off those who did this?” Ravik asked, his tone making it clear he wouldn’t welcome an answer that said no.
I shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to tackle this sensitive topic.
“Whatever your thoughts, you may speak freely,” Ravik said, having sensed my discomfort.
“Before speaking of pursuit,” I said cautiously, “maybe we should figure out who planted this in the first place.”
“We’re already working on that,” Fenton said.
“On my honor, I am ready to vouch for every single man in this crew,” Baldur said, forcefully. “I have personally chosen or trained them. They are completely loyal to the Magnar.”
“I second that,” Fenton said.
“And I,” Ravik said. “These men have been with me for years. I trust them with my life. Not so much some of the guests who traveled with us and remained on Venus Hive after our departure.”
“It is my assumption as well,” Fenton said. “I have already reached out to Pattel to have him keep discreet tabs on them.”
“William is your man if you want to find out about anything shady happening on the space station,” I said. “When Anton hears what has transpired here, he will put all of his resources at your disposal to track down the culprit.”
“I’m sure Pattel will think of that,” Ravik said. “But it doesn’t hurt to make sure he does.”
Fenton nodded in response to Ravik’s pointed look.
“All right then,” I said, still concerned we might have a double-agent onboard. “I’ll be brutally honest. I think going after them might be suicidal.”
Baldur snorted, his condescending look stating loudly he thought fear dictated that reaction. Although it irritated me, I didn’t take the bait.
Leaning against the edge of the navigation board, I crossed my arms over my chest, like Ravik had previously done. “If they are indeed waiting to ambush the pods, we don’t know how many ships are waiting for us, what types, or what kind of firepower they pack. By the time we’re close enough to reveal them, we may not be able to escape if we’re outnumbered.”
Ravik nodded slowly. He pursed his lips while he reflected on my words. “How do you intend to disable their cloak?”
“With a virus that could be embedded in a tractor beam or photon torpedo,” I said with a shrug.
“Tractor beam?” Ravik asked. “Does it have to be outgoing or can it be incoming?”
I blinked, unsure what he meant.
“Your concerns are valid,” Ravik said in light of my obvious confusion. “But I’m thinking that if they are waiting to tow in our escape pods en route to a safe destination, we should give them what they want.”
My eyes widened in understanding, and an impressed smile blossomed on my lips. “You’re a fucking genius!” I exclaimed. Uncrossing my arms, I rested my palms on the edge of the console, my eyes going out of focus as I performed a quick mental analysis of his implied tactic. “Yes. That would totally work.”
Fenton, Baldur, and the other two officers’ lost expressions made me grin.
“It will take me some time to prepare, but yes, it can be done,” I said, exchanging a conspiratorial grin with Ravik. “Let’s get to work, then.”
An hour later, we launched rigged escape pods en route to the human colony of Gielyn, the closest, safe planet to the original location of Ravik’s battleship, Drakkar. Applying a bit of a convoluted method, we managed to hook the cloaking shield of my Falcon to the Drakkar’s systems, using their engine to boost its strength. My vessel used Tuurean cloaking technology which, to this day, had not been breached by any other species.
