“I want your bride too.”
Nor’s blood iced although his boots kept carrying him forward determinedly. “I’ve no bride,”he said. “As a half-blood, I could never win a Thorkon woman, as a nobleman should know.”
Blackworm’s disembodied voice was a growl. “I want the Black Hole Bride.”
A soft sound from Trixie, not even a whimper, stabbed through Nor’s veins, freeing up the cold slosh of his anger. “As much as I live to serve the nobility of Azthronos, I’m completely out of singularity sacrifices. Sorry.”
Theyhad reached the large delivery hangar and only needed to cross the empty space to get to the docked shuttle at the end of the far corridor. With theGrandyon the opposite side of the station and the shielding bulk between them, they’d be safely away before Blackworm could pin down their location.
“I don’t think you are quite sorry enough, Captain,” Blackworm said, his voice an unnerving murmurthrough the comms.
Before the wordcaptainfaded, a beam of yellow light lanced across the hangar toward them. Amanu, still in front, dodged with a sharp cry as the stunner charge clanged against a stack of loader containers.
So much for not getting pinned down.
Nor shoved Trixie and Otlok behind him and shouldered up next to the ensign. “Where’d that shot come from?”
“Other side of the bay,there, behind that backwash buffer.”
They hunkered down behind the thick barrier on their side of the bay. Nor quickly checked his connection to the shuttle. “Linn, can you get a read on body count over there.”
“Sorry, Captain. Between the exterior radiation and interior shielding, nothing’s clear. From the bio mass, I’d guess at least seven or eight intruders.”
Nor grimaced. Was it too muchto ask that Blackworm be foolishly overconfident as well as a psychopathic criminal? Nor laid his hand lightly on Amanu’s shoulder, conscious of the young ensign’s shaking. If they got out of this alive, he was going to run some wargames with these coddled Thorkons. “At this point, we need speed and firepower, not precision,” he said. “Ensign, you take Otlok’s other side. You and Trixie are makinga run for it. I’ll keep Blackworm’s people busy.”
Amanu nodded, like a good order-following crewmember, but Trixie made a noise of dissent.
“We’re not leaving you here,” she snapped.
He lifted one eyebrow. “I hope not. You lay down covering fire for me when you get to the other side.”
Of course he knew it never worked out that simply. Once Blackworm’s invaders charted the path to escape, they’dbe able to pick him off easily as he ran, no matter how much plasma covered his backside.
Amanu dropped back beside the injured lieutenant. “On your go, sir.”
Nor grabbed Trixie’s elbow. “Otlok is injured and won’t make it alone,” he hissed at her. “And Amanu may be as much a target for Blackworm’s black hole as you were. You need to get out of here, get rid of Blackworm’s purpose for stayinghere.”
After what seemed like an eternity—he hadn’t realized how used he’d grown to command—Trixie nodded. She handed him her blaster, her chin high. “In case you need another shot,” she said. She looped Otlok’s arm over her shoulder and looked at Amanu. “You’re the marksman, so you keep your blaster out. I have the lieutenant.” She turned her wide, piercing gaze to Nor. “On your go, sir.”
His chest tightened at this incontrovertible evidence of her trust. Like the mishkeet he’d called her, she always wanted to keep to the fringes. Out of sight, ready to run from danger on her own. Yet here she was, giving over her defense to the young ensign while she supported the much bigger Thorkon male. And she believed that an ex-pirate with half-noble blood would get them through.
The responsibilityweighed on him like all the stolen mass of a black hole. No wonder his half-brother was so serious. And arrogant. Because it felt a little like being a Thorkon god.
“Go,” he murmured.
He fired blindly around the edge of their sheltering baffle then popped out to keep up the furious fusillade from both blasters in his hands as his little trio bolted toward the far corridor and their escape. Atleast Blackworm’s squad was equally blinded by the radiation interference and wouldn’t have a clear count on their small number, otherwise this could go badly.
Trixie and Otlok were almost to the service corridor that led to the smaller dock and the shuttle, Amanu falling back half a step to turn and cover their last steps. Nor tapped his wrist while keeping up a steady orange shower of killingplasma. “Linn,” he barked. “Injured incoming. Send someone to grab them and get the larf off this station.”
“Yes, sir, Captain. But how will you—?”
“That’s an order.” Nor let the piercing whine of Trixie’s overextended blaster punctuate his insistence. One last sputter of orange and her weapon was drained.
The mere moment he’d taken to ensure the safety of his small contingent was all the distractionBlackworm’s minions had needed. A lancing beam of yellow tangler energy blazed through the gloomy hangar and caught him high in the shoulder.
His ballistic fatigues dissipated a portion of the energy, and Blackworm’s mercenaries thought they might be shooting at a target they wanted to keep alive so the flare was stun-strength only. Still, the ferocious energy numbed his whole arm.
His blastertumbled from his deadened fingers and spun across the deck plating, out of reach. Well, he needed to focus on running anyway.