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"You should always be worried about the glint in my eye," Slye replies with a wry grin.
I chuckle and shake my head, turning my attention to Zoe. My mate sits stiffly in her seat anxiously waiting to see what Tris will decide. The plurshy I raised from a half-dead whelp is curled into the crook of Zoe's neck, purring contentedly.
"I think she wants to stay with us," Zoe says, as Rooke lifts us off the ground.
I hold my breath for the span of several heartbeats, watching Tris for any signs of hesitation. But then she stretches and yawns, before settling back down on Zoe's shoulder. Zoe beams at me, relief and happiness written all over her face.
"I'm so glad she's decided to come with us," she says, stroking Tris's yellow spotted fur. "I would have been so sad without her."
"So would I." Seated on the far side of the shuttle, I ache to hold Zoe in my arms and kiss the worry etching her pretty face. "I'm glad we'll all be together."
I pull the hatch closed as the shuttle ascends higher into the sky. A large, boxy ship enters the atmosphere. Its metallic exterior gleams in the sunlight as it rapidly descends toward the prison compound, its landing kicking up a small cloud of dust around the landing ports, forming a halo around the ship.
"That's a Thrushian Star Chaser," Rooke points out, hovering the shuttle as he squints at the vessel in the distance.
"Definitely looks like it," Drax replies, baffled. "But what would a Thrushian cargo vessel be doing on Zune?"
"Maybe they're here to collect something... or someone," I suggest, though I'm just as puzzled as everyone else.
"Whatever it is, we need to find out why it's here," Bruke says firmly. "Drax, let's see what readings our lifeform scanners pick up."
The two techies tap on their scanners then study the images displayed on the smooth screens with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.
"I'm only reading one life form." Bruke taps on the screen. "A Kaul male."
Rooke swings around to look back at Bruke from the helm. The females gasp and the males curse as the shuttle suddenly tilts before rightening.
"Eyes front, pirate!" Drax shouts. "Pay attention to flying the shuttle."
My horns lift and my scales bristle. "Why is a Kaul flying a Thrushian vessel?"
"It's Qhix!" Rooke hisses. "Has to be. He's the only Kaul I know who is savvy enough to pilfer a vessel right out from under the Thrushian's noses."
"Thrushian tech is nearly impossible to steal, Rooke, much less an entire spacecraft," Drax scoffs. "I was barely lucky enough to have found a back door into the Thrushian's space fleet designs."
"Impossible unless you're a Star Maverick," Rooke states, then glances back at Drax with a pinched brow. "Wait! You said you couldn't hack their mainframe when I asked you for the schematics on that escape pod that landed here all those cycles ago. All you gave me was a standard layout of the Thrushian Pleasure Cruiser from where it jettisoned."
Rooke's reply sends a sense of dread creeping up my spine. Star Mavericks are space pirates known for their ruthlessness and cunning. If one of them is here on Zune, then it can only mean trouble.
"We need to stay alert," I warn, wishing my dull-bladed sword was a laser blaster. "This Star Maverick won't hesitate to kill us if he thinks we're a threat."
"What we need to do is stay alert to lying techies who withhold information," Rooke growls. "And here you accused all of us of being untrustworthy."
"At the time, I was afraid you were going to repair the shuttle and leave us all behind, pirate," Drax fires back.
"Oh, you mean like we plan to do to the remaining prisoners?" Bruke grumbles.
"They can't be trusted around the females, and we don't have a craft large enough to transport them all." Drax's scales lift in a show of aggression.
"It's wrong that we were all brought here for what our government intended, but they're still criminals and the males in Annex 1 are dangerous, murderers and rapist." My scales ripple in a primal instinct to protect my mate. "Many in Annex 2 have already completed their sentences and then some, like Drax and Bruke. It wouldn't be right to leave them behind."
"I agree," Drax says. "Even though I don't trust them around my mate, or any of the other females for that matter. Who are we to decide who is innocent and who is not?"
"That Thrushian cargo vessel is large enough to haul the remaining prisoners," Slye points out. "If we can take it from the Kaul, we could get everyone off Zune. What about the lifers still at large?"
"I believe they're all dead," Rooke says exactly what I suspect. "On my many treks through the forest, I've found no evidence of the living, only come across their remains, bodies torn to pieces. Once I saw Gruxt and the lab-creatures, I understand why their wounds were so severe.
"When we were searching for Zoe and Mordox, we covered more than half of Zune with no sign of any other Ziarians."
