Page 99 of Command

The helmeted woman cocked her head for a moment, then tapped something out on her tablet. Her gloved finger prodded at the screen. “Transfer down too?”

“Like I said, it’s a network issue.”

“Uh-huh,” she hummed, lifting her helmet to look at him. Threxin’s spikes twitched, analyzing micromovements he had no idea how to interpret. He glanced at the sampler embedded in his port, a sanity check to confirm blood was indeed still flowing should he need to make a quick decision to vent the dock. His Alina wouldn’t like that—there were other humans there. But this was a concession Threxin could not afford to make with his plan on the line.

Renza was close to the dock, just outside of it, along with almost half of his armed cohort. The rest were here, at the command bay with remainders sprinkled among other critical infrastructure.

Threxin fingered the strap of his laser rifle holder.

Finally, the helmeted woman handed the tablet over to thedockmaster, who tapped in what appeared to be an authentication code judging by the cam zooming onto the screen.

“All right. I’ll hook ‘er up to the delivery ports. Y’all sure you don’t want help unloading? It’s… a lot.”

“We’re sure.”

Threxin narrowed his eyes when the woman leaned forward at the waist, coming close to the dockmaster. “You found it, didn’t you?”

“What?”

“Plasma pallets… Seeds… The secrecy. Come on…”

The dockmaster’s already panicked eyes rolled around the room, searching for the camera Threxin warned him would be there.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered.

“Uh-huh.” The woman leaned back, hands on hips, chest shaking a little with what might be a chuckle. “Good for you, you lucky bastards.”

Threxin noted the comms officer shifting uncomfortably in her seat, sweat beading her forehead. He could not remember her name.

“You feel lucky, human?” Threxin mused, a wry smile twitching as she jumped, glancing back at him.

“Extremely, sir,” she mumbled.

His spikes relaxed slightly as he watched the helmeted woman approach the auth panel set into the wall. This, apparently, was why at least one person had to come aboard, with no way to avoid it. The delivery person had to authenticate with her own code and retinal scan before the connected supply ship would finalize the lock to the delivery ports. Raw material storage space onColossalwas confined to huge chambers at the top and bottom of the ship, padding the main decks. The supply ship would connect its delivery tubes to the relevant ports for each material type. Normally Threxin had learned, the payment included human and roboticassistance from the company doing the supply—actuallygettingthe stuff onto the ship.

This time Threxin would utilizeColossal’sown autonomous transports only. The transports were not designed for large-volume cargo deliveries like this, consideringColossalwas not in the business of being a supply ship. This would take longer… which would increase risk. But it was that or let external humans mingle with those on his ship, and that was worse.

Threxin flicked to the port feeds, leaned back in his seat, and watched.

CHAPTER 44

ALINA

Alina was going crazy.

Sitting in the confines of her cabin, she had long given up on chiming Threxin with demands to let her out. He was not listening.

The silence was deafening. She paced. She swore. She had pretend conversations with Threxin in which she told him just how much of an asshole he was. It was as she was trying to wedge her fingernails into the seam of the door in a fruitless attempt to pry it open that she realized she was well past the brink of rational thinking.

Alina put onGuy Meets Girland pretended to watch it as the clock in her augmented vision ticked on. But as morning dragged into early afternoon, she knew the critical moment was approaching: the moment of docking, when supplies would be transferred from the delivery vessel toColossal. Threxin had told her the approximate timeline when pretending he’d let help keep an eye out. Fooling her into believing he’d let her be useful, like an idiot. She huffed out a little growl through gritted teeth, smacking an exasperated fist into her thigh.

If something was going to go horribly wrong, it was going to be soon.

Alina turned off the show and sat staring at the wall, her ears attuned to any noise that might come from the other side of the door. The soundproofing within private cabins onColossalwas more than decent, but Alina suspected serious commotion like shouting, shooting, or explosions would permeate. Wouldn’t they?

She traced the band of her comms bracelet restlessly between her thumb and forefinger. She was so tempted to chime Threxin again, but it wasn’t the time. He had to focus on what was happening out there, not on Alina’s complaints about being imprisoned in her own cabin.

He really liked imprisoning people, didn’t he? Per Halen… Barton… her… But it was better than killing them.

---