Page 47 of Ava Stargazer

“Be seeing you Iryl. Lirell.” Vox pressed his forehead to them both in turn for goodbye before entering the smaller shuttle with Rhutg and Erox.

“Let Ava know I miss her.” Lirell pressed his affection back on Vox, who took it in stride, even as the fascination the younger male had toward Ava felt awkward to Vox.

He clapped him on the shoulder. “I will.”

The larger shuttle they came to the board in would stay here, along with the goods within that Iryl was already arranging buyers for.

“Yes. We will see you soon.” Iryl then added internally,“Hopefully with Joy present then. Give Ava my regards.”

The tiny shuttle closed, and with it Vox’s view of both Iryl and Lirell seeing them off as they chartered out into space. Vox hung his head, grateful.Back to Xai.He knew he was not alone in feeling the relief in that; both Erox and Rhutg were just as eager as him to leave the board.

The little shuttle was cramped with the three of them in it. There was not much space to stretch out, which would make for a long ride home trying to ignore each other’s thoughts. Vox settled in, closing his eyes in meditation.

Halfway through the journey, however, a ping lit up the control panel and the mood between the three sobered immediately.

“Incoming.”

Vox eyed his brother. “The Tuxa can still do more than try to poison drinks.”

Erox leaned forward, his blue light intense. “We sure it’s them and not whoever sent that camera?”

Vox responded, “Crude like them.”

Rhutg said calmly, “Yes, it’s the Tuxa. That’s one of their fighters on the edge of the radar. We should have expected this; no more uncloaked vessels here. Thankfully this ship was already upgraded for speed.”

Erox pounded the controls. “This is a neutral trade route!”

Vox looked out the window. “Just like the board should be neutral? They don’t care. The penalties are not enough to deter them. Going there was fine, but they obviously tracked us once we arrived to know when we would leave, then followed.”

“Still worth taunting them,” Erox grumbled.

Was it?Vox regretted his actions, his threat at leaving the peace meeting.

Rhutg spoke. “Needed to happen regardless, can't just roll over there. This shuttle should be fast enough.”

Vox tapped the screen. “Yes. We can still outrun them, and we are not defenseless. The Tuxa ship is just a small fighter, that way they can claim it was an accident.”

The silence was taut in the room, the only sound the clicks of the engine as it propelled forward. That and the alert that something was locked onto them.

Rhutg hit the control panel. “Can this transport go any quicker?”

Vox’s hearts were pounding as he thought of the biologics and if they could move even faster if they could somehow be harnessed outside Ava’s ship. A bit of time passed and the missiles gained on them, though the fighter they were shot from was long gone in the stars. Long gone, where the Tuxa's actions couldn’t be tracked by larger forces watching.

But those missiles . . .

“Are they close enough for us to counterattack?” Vox asked through gritted teeth, too on edge to use his meditative state.

In response, Erox fired their defenses. The transport’s disrupting rays beamed behind to shield their small craft.

Vox closed his eyes, looking at the inside of his lids where he pictured his Ava.

Erox spoke, hushed. “I think . . .”

And then one hit.

The shuttle bringing Vox and the others back descended carefully through the neural net protecting Xai until it hovered right above the ground. Ava watched, standing next to Orla, shuffling her feet and clutching her hands.

“It’s here,” Orla said, sighing. “I was beginning to think they got the time wrong.”

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