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Navik had called it Moktian technology. Who are these Moktians that have Earth recipes?
And I wonder...
"Mocha cappuccino?" I question the machine.
To my utter delight, a large mug with a frothy top appears out of thin air. Hot tears press behind my eyes at the sight and sweet scent of a confection long missed. I blink them back and carefully remove the plate and steaming mug from the machine. I take a seat at the counter and palm the odd looking eating utensil Navik left for me. It's a cross between a flattened spoon and a fork.
I cut a pie shape from my stack and stuff the buttery, sweet cakes into my mouth. Nearly forgotten flavors dance across my tongue, my eyes fluttering closed as I savor this moment. For the first time in years, I'm eating something real and it's almost too much.
I take a sip of my cappuccino to wash down my first bite of home, and moan. My taste buds explode with flavor. The sweet, creamy, bitter, and robust tastes of the coffee fills me with warmth.
Tears roll down my face while I eat my first Earth meal in years. Suppressed memories sweep over me in a weighty flood. I had resigned myself to my fate as the warden's pet after months of imprisonment went by and no hope for escape had presented itself. Homesickness had faded to a hollow ache until numbness had dulled my senses.
But now, here I am, eating food from home and drinking cappuccino that tastes like a hug from my mom. After my dad died, she took on a second job as a barista at a mom and pop shop in our tiny town of Guthrie, Oklahoma, to make ends meet. On the weekends, her boss would let me sit at the counter and drink hot chocolate while my mom worked her shift.
After I got older and could stay at home alone, I still frequented the coffee shop, trading hot chocolate for my beloved mocha cappuccinos. Now, I'm finally able to taste a bit of those forgotten moments.
My mom had sacrificed a lot to raise me on her own. To her, I was a missing person. After all this time, she probably thought I was dead.
The first of many sobs erupts from the hollow ache I buried deep down long ago. It was easier to cope knowing freedom was out of my reach when I forgot what I was missing. As my stolen life threatens to drown me in flashes of memories, I wipe away relentless tears and finish my pancakes.
Damn, I miss home like crazy. I hope Navik hurries up and finds a new ship, or the Yulineon patroller catches up to us. If Navik is arrested, my bargain will end and my strange craving for the pirate with it. Then the space cop can take me home.
ChapterFive
NAVIK
"Are you interested in a Moktian Galaxy Cruiser that's been painted with a Yulineon tracking device?" I ask Qhix a few hours after leaving Cora in the galley.
A fellow Star Maverick, Qhix is the closest male I have to a friend, which isn't saying much. We met years ago when we had first been inducted into the brotherhood of Star Mavericks. Both rookies, we had been hunting the same bounty, a deadly Syprx accused of killing the mate of a chieftain on Zifk.
We ended up joining forces to capture the leech and split the reward between us. A bond had been formed the day we had brought down the Syprx together. With six eyes, four arms, and an affinity for blood, those leeches were hard to kill. But the amount of rillium the chieftain had offered for the head of the male who had taken the life of his beloved was worth the risk of being sucked dry by the space leech.
Like all Star Mavericks, we were loners and spoke only rarely. As the comm remains silent, I look to make sure I'm still transmitting. The reluctant pause didn't come as a surprise.
Earlier, I had been treated to the same stretch of silent treatment by the trollis when I tried to space dock above the trading port on Tirius. Once the little green freak had processed my request to dock, he was having nothing to do with my marked vessel and had even sent a Lizordian Battleship to force me to leave at the threat of annihilation.
I open my mouth to interrupt the reluctant pause, but Qhix gets there before me. “You are aware that a Yulineon tracker is nearly impossible to remove."
"I dampened the signal after coming out of a hyper-jump from Onis."
“What were you doing on that frozen prison rock?” Qhix asks.
“Delivering a Wetokian I captured for Warden Hyt’s arena.”
Qhix’s low whistle fills the bridge. “Making lots of new friends since we last spoke. You know the Wetokian’s will want retribution for their stolen comrade.”
“Only if they can catch me,” I smirk. “Do you want the Moktian vessel or not?”
"You know what the penalty is if you get caught with stolen Moktian technology," Qhix says finally, his voice low and grave. "The Yulineon will be the least of your worries if they catch and turn your ass over to the Moktian High Council."
"I'm aware, but I need off this vessel. My passenger isn't safe."
"Passenger?"
"I need a vessel that cloaks if I'm to get to Earth undetected."
"Earth! Why would you want to be going to that primitive shithole?" Qhix scoffs. "How much tellic is he paying you to fly into territory protected under Universeval Rule?"
