Page 7 of Narzek
“Will it hurt?”
“Not a bit.” He smiled. “Let’s go before I have to kiss you again.”
Cayla nodded. She knew she would like that way too much. As they left her cabin, Narzek guided her resting his hand lightly on the small of her back as they walked the hallway. On their way to the lift, he pointed out his cabin, which was one door down the corridor from hers.
There were three levels of crew quarters with the mess and conference room on the second level. The gym and the training rooms were on the first level adjacent to the armory and the landing bay. Engineering level was under level one, housing the weapons arrays and the engines. Level four held the bridge and officer suites.
The fourth level was heavily shielded beneath the fifth level, which was maintenance access to the weapons arrays on the top deck. Although the Farseek dreadnaughts were small by warship standards, the ship seemed huge to Cayla.
“For a ground fighter, you know an awful lot about the ship,” Cayla said.
“We all cross-train in case we have to take over operating the ship. It’s never happened, but it could. Every member of the Farseek Brigade had combat training as well.”
“If I stay here with you, what will I do? My combat training didn’t prepare me for anything like this.”
“That’s partly up to you. As mysolmatu, you are not required to serve,” he said.
Cayla just gave him a look that required no translation.
“However, once your language upload takes effect, you can test to see what positions you have an aptitude for in the brigade.”
“That makes sense,” she said. “Obviously, I have a lot to learn. I would have been a transport driver in a warzone back on Earth. No big trucks here.”
“I’m guessing that is a land vehicle,” Narzek said.
“Yes.”
“Now that I showed you the mess, there isn’t much left to see on the other residential levels. I will take you up to see the bridge. Normally, you would be restricted from entering there, but I want to show you our holographic star map.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“When we first rescued abductees from Earth, we didn’t know where that world was located. After we rescued two people from the Alliance, one was able to contact them, and they gave us the information we needed.”
“But it’s far. I know it took a long time for that slave ship to get us to Berrapo. Three or four months, at least.”
“Yes, and it is still too dangerous for routine transports to cross Sargan space to get there. Even though we took down the Emperor, their Starfleet has not surrendered. They’ve taken over running it, engaging both Consortium and Alliance battleships at every opportunity,” he explained as they strolled toward the lift.
“And we’re right in the middle of it?”
“Yes. The Farseek Brigade was officially exempt from continuing the war against the Sargus Empire, but they won’t differentiate our activities if they catch us. We’re stealing their slaves.”
“So, I’ve traded one warzone for another.”
Narzek nodded grimly. “I am torn about that, even though we are just getting acquainted. I want to keep you safe, but I want you to be here.” He needed her to be there with him. Once he had held her and kissed her, he knew she was his.
“Don’t be.” Cayla turned toward him and touched his arm as the lift door closed. “I owe your people for getting me out of slavery, and I know there is something potent between us.”
When they reached the bridge, Narzek took her over to the enormous star map displayed from floor to ceiling behind the crew workstations. Cayla was awed by it even though she couldn’t read the labels on the stars.
“Cayla Fox, meet Zajha Damektu, our Chief Navigator.”
Zajha dipped her head in salute, and Cayla returned the gesture.
“I brought Cayla here to show her where her homeworld, Earth, is compared to where we are.”
“It is very far,” Zajha said. With a sweep of her hand, she compressed the hologram to include the Sol system. Then she pointed to Earth’s star.
Cayla saw immediately how much she had to shrink the display to include both Berrapo and Earth in the stars scape. Even then, Sol was at the far end of the hologram with Berrapo at the opposite end on a higher plane of the map. Then Zajha showed the spatial relationship between Berrapo and Farseek. Farseek was half the distance from the Sargan world as Earth.
