Page 29 of Fighting Gravity
“Yeah,” Veron added. “Why is that?”
“Because she’s a war prisoner.”
“Ah, yes. You gek are always at war with someone. Well,” he waved his hand. “No matter. You have your ship and now you don’t have to fight in my arena. In fact, I’ll give you Bora’s ship. His crew is in a short hibernation here on Tao and won’t be coming out of it for another four cycles. And by then, they’ll find their commander dead and disperse, as that filthy race does without leadership.”
“I don’t want a soiled nozun ship.”
“Oh, it is not a nozun ship. It is an upgraded vessel that I think will suit your needs quite well and I have no use for it. Tao is at war with no one.” He stared back at Quinn like some delicious platter of meat. “I do like exotic types. I’d love to…studyit.”
I stepped forward to reason with him when two of the guards began to herd me out of the room. Anger boiled in my gut. The disrespect. I was being shoved out before I even agreed to the trade. Ket wanted to study her, but I haven’t even finished studying her myself.
I needed her.
I knew better than to try and fight when there was a ship on the line, though. I needed my crew to stop drifting in escape shuttles and reconvene and to do that, I needed a vessel.
As soon as we were taken out of the club, we were led back through the square to a separate docking bay on the far end of the quarter. The tension in my jaw just kept getting tighter until I felt my teeth grinding.
“Calm down,” Veron muttered. “It wasn’t as if you offered her. So your honor isn’t tarnished if that’s what you’re worried about. And now you don’t have to fight in his filthy pits.”
“It is not about that,” I growled. “He took something that is mine. Something I didn’t offer. That is a great insult.”
“So she’s yours now?”
I didn’t answer that. Veron was trying once again to get on my nerves and I needed to think.
When we arrived at a large luxury ship vaguely the same size as the Argos, the guards stopped, turning to deactivate the cuffs around our wrists. The one with the broken spike was the one to free me from my binds and hunched a little as he took the restraints away. Unable to help myself, I jumped at him, making him trip backward. The other one pulled his shock stick and I whipped my head toward him, slicing the air with my glower before he could take a step in my direction. He backed down, staying where he was and pointing toward the big ship docked beside us.
“Yours,” he said. “Will send small crew to disengage leashes from the ship. Get off Tao Prime, gek’tal.”
Veron hissed, waving her hand dismissively as she slapped the control panel to lower the boarding ramp. I glared at the two guards, watching them as they slowly crept out of the docking bay. Once they reached the corner, I turned to ascend the ramp. As I did, I noticed the name on the side of the vessel in Aknondamon. It was a sharp, angular writing from one of the many nozun planet systems and it read, “Shadowbreaker.” But there was another name under the words. One the current name of the ship was etched over. I couldn’t make it out, but I could see a small logo and it made me hiss with anger.
Marching onto the bridge where Veron was playing with controls, I said, “It’s adrekkingluxury cruiser from Melis.”
She turned to look at me, raising her brows. “Well, it’s been altered. These weapon systems are shiny and new.”
“Weapon systems?”
I stepped up beside her at the too-pristine, white metal control panel where she had numerous digital screens open displaying the layout and functions on the ship. Just as she said, the ship had been outfitted with both rear and frontal weaponry as well as tracking technology and shield functions that surpassed the simple radiation barriers most cruisers had.
It had been turned into a warship.
I narrowed my eyes. “This is a good ship to trade for just one human.”
“I’d say. Maybe he was feeling generous. Or maybe hereallywanted that woman.”
“Or the ship is rigged with something. Scan it before we do anything.” I turned and began to pace about the bridge, thinking. “I’m going to take a look around.”
Veron, for once, didn’t question me. I needed to walk and explore my mind. Ket was a businessman. He knew a bad bargain when he saw it and I couldn’t figure out why he’d trade a warship for one human. Humans had never been seen so far from their planet so it was narrowly possible he really did think he could profit off of her by tossing her in a zoo… or worse. But the deal had been too easy. Too quick.
I walked briskly through the ship, eyeing each room one by one. Many of them were dorms. It made sense considering it used to be a cruiser. Other rooms were for storage and were stacked with metal bins. At the end of the first hall was a med bay with basic functions and as I ascended to the second level, I found the luxury suites and a common area for dining. Lastly, the cargo bay on the lowest level was near empty save for a damaged transport shuttle and workstations. It looked like someone had used the stations to repair or make weaponry judging by the leftover residue staining the counters.
“Urok,” Veron said over my wrist com. “Ship’s clean, as far as I can tell.”
I lifted my wrist to my mouth. “Any malfunctions?”
“The AI did a sweep. The only problem it picked up was a power outage in one of the lower-level rooms, but the door’s been sealed. Guessing it’s been a problem since before it changed hands the first time.”
“I still don’t trust Ket’s generosity.” I paused for a moment, pacing along a narrow hallway. “Get Kaar back here. He’ll have better luck contacting our men from the ship than from his coms and he can do more thorough diagnostics. Give everyone coordinates. I need to take care of something.”
