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We dip and dive, zipping around moons and planets. Navik's hands move with lightning speed over the console, his face etched with concentration. Tension thickens the air with fear of what will happen if the Yulineon catches us.
The Yulineon's laser fire sears past us, melting the surface of an asteroid that we narrowly missed.
"Bliker!" Navik curses under his breath, swerving to dodge another volley of lasers. "He won't follow us in here."
"Navik?" I shrink in my seat as an asteroid field rushes up to greet us.
"Get ready," he warns, flicking several switches on the console. "This might get rough."
"Are you sure about this?" My voice is high-pitched with fear.
"Never been more certain," Navik replies through gritted teeth and takes us in. "I'm an expert at navigating through these fields."
Navik skillfully steers us through the spinning rocks, evading the massive space boulders that hurtle toward us. The Yulineon stays right with us, shooting his lasers every chance he gets.
But then Navik makes a daring move, banking left before slowing and whipping the ship up to circle back around just in time for the Yulineon's vessel to fly into an asteroid and explode upon impact. We are safe for now. The immediate threat eliminated.
Navik takes us out of harm's way and into empty space just as his comm pings.
Qhix's voice fills the cockpit. "You've just become more popular. Warden Hyt has set a bounty for your head, and is offering a bonus for the return of his treasured pet."
"We just dodged a Yulineon."
"Word gets around fast when that much tellic is promised. You need to lay low. Let me contact the other Mavericks and see what we can do to figure you a way out of this."
"The only way out is to kill Warden Hyt," Navik sneers. "No warden, no bounty."
"If it were only that simple," Qhix says.
"Maybe it is." Navik's brow creases into a serious line. "What's the amount he’s placed on my head?”
"Forty pieces of tellic."
"That's all?" Navik scoffs. "I'll pay fifty to the male that brings me Warden Hyt's head on a pike."
The comm goes silent, then Qhix breathes out in disbelief, "Fifty?"
"Fifty," Navik repeats sharply.
"I'll put the word out," Qhix says. "Warden Hyt will be dead before he even knows there's a bounty on his head. You need to lay low until it's done. Take Cora someplace safe."
"Already have a destination in mind.”
ChapterNine
NAVIK
I've never brought anyone to my home on Zeva, much less a female. They are for fleeting pleasure and nothing more. I'd done hard time, and with a female comes nagging and complaining, which is a prison I am not willing to enter. Yet here I am, about to fly one to my home.
I’ve always kept my hideaway secret even from my fellow Star Mavericks. Though we have all vowed allegiance to each other, I prefer absolute solitude.
Until Cora.
Maybe I'm a fool, or maybe the fool is my sivot, but there is something about my starfire that makes me want to share everything with her, including my home. Whatever my affliction, I want to show her this special place I discovered long ago, and it's the only place in the Universe where I know she will be safe.
"Are you ready for another jaunt through an asteroid field?" I lift a quizzical brow at Cora.
"Um, no, not really. Why?"
