Page 37 of Crush
If he can’t hold onto it…
Wasn’t that the mistake Teq was making?
He forced himself not to look for Adeline. He’d caught just a glimpse of one of the containment crates, suspiciouslynotfull of rubble, and Ollie’s lonely cry had come from that direction. Sil would be arriving at any moment with backup. Teq just had to keep Dorn distracted long enough…
I want it.
Or he could grab Adeline, Ollie, and the rock for himself, and flee for the stars.
He leaped for the grappler.
For all its size, the exoskeleton fit closely around its occupant, and Dorn was wedged into the recesses, only his eyes and tusks gleaming in the backwash of the grappler’s work lights. Teq grabbed for him, but Dorn lashed downward with one of the pincers, snarling.
Teq spun away—up, not down, heaving himself to the top of the grappler. Having much less experience with rocks that didn’t stay where he put them, the assay fumbled to reach for him, swinging again with more pincers.
Deftly evading the devastating blows, from his perch Teq waved to Adeline who was yanking at the crate latch. “Ghost in the graveyard, Adeline,” he roared. “Run home!” She and Ollie had to get away.
If Dorn broke open the hatch…
Adeline swung Ollie into her arms and darted out of view. Gone, just as he’d ordered.
His datpad squawked. “Teq,” Sil said urgently. “There’s an unmarked ship inbound. Teq? Are you there?”
“In the main bay. Can you remote access the grappler? Dorn is exploring a change in his crew position.” One that might see them both ejected into space.
A moment that felt much too long passed before Sil responded. “Vug. I’m locked out. How? This isn’t even orc code—never mind, that’s not important. I can break it. I just need… Ah, muck it.”
For all Sil’s erratic mutters, “mucked” did capture the essence of the situation.
Dorn steered the grappler in a lumbering circle, and Teq was going to taunt him for not being able to control the powerful machine. But as they came around to the gaping crate, the words curdled in his mouth.
Adeline stood there…without Ollie in her arms but with a diamond-blade laser saw clenched in her hands instead. She revved the saw. “Roxy isn’t yours,” she growled over the grating buzz. “You can’t steal it just because you want it.”
Dorn’s voice boomed even without the loudspeaker. “This is not your fortune either, Earther.”
“It is, actually.” Her gaze flicked up to Teq.
She only meant Ollie, of course, and yet…
She charged, the saw screaming even though her jaw was clenched tight.
Taking advantage of the impossible confusion, Teq clambered over top of the grappler. Its appendages were made for forward and side motion, not above, so he wasn’t in danger—much.
Adeline, on the other other other hand…
Dorn flailed at her with the exoskeleton’s arms, but the grappler was made for larger, less precise work, and she ducked beneath—although the proximity made Teq bellow a warning. Darting closer with the saw brandished ahead of her, she rammed into the nearest supporting limb.
With an awful grinding of gears, the grappler listed sideways. But Teq was still separated from her by six thrashing arms capable of pulverizing stone and metal.
Overwhelmed by worries, she’d criticized herself for being afraid for too long, for being uncertain she was making good choices.
So she picked up a laser saw and assailed a grappler?
Vug, no wonder he’d been afflicted with such feelings for this female.
Now he just had to get to her before she cut herself or the ship in half.
Chapter 12
