Page 22 of Keeping Freya
“Do any of you have a safe place to go?”
They all look at me, shell-shocked, until CeLay starts talking.
“We have all been here for a while–they’ve had the worst of it.” She points to two delicate, cat-like female aliens.
“I don’t have a home to go to, but I know how to pilot that ship over there.”
“We can go with you,” one of the males grunts.
“Not in that condition,” CeLay says.
“T’Rak is going to get some healing stuff, you will be good as new before you know it.”
“Okay,” I sigh. “I may know of a safe place, but I do not know how to get there. There is this place called Novarron? My friends are there.”
The cat-like aliens look up. “That’s where we are from!” one of them says, and the other starts to cry. “We never should have left,” she says wryly, comforting her friend.
“The warrior will help us!” CeLay says, and they all nod in agreement.
I am astonished at their faith in T’Rak. He is just one person, but they look at him like he has hung the moon. Am I wrong in holding on to my distrust? Is he really who he says he is?
We wait in silence until he returns, and when he comes back, arms filled with supplies, my heart skips a beat.
Wordlessly, he hands out blankets and food before administering the medicinal injections.
“Can you help us get home?” the crying female sniffs.
“We have to get off this asteroid first. Can anybody fly that cruiser?”
“I can,” CeLay says proudly. T’Rak gives her a curt nod. He is silent for a moment before he starts to speak again.
“This is the plan. You take the females in the cruiser. The males will come with us. We will stock this ship with explosives and blow it the hell up. I will contact my crewthen and arrange for coordinates for them to pick you up. They will escort you safely to Novarron.”
He turns to look at the males. “You may go with them if I am certain of your intentions and if the females feel safe with you.”
One of them starts to protest, but the other one nods. “Fair enough.”
CHAPTER 14
Freya
Two hours later, T’Rak and I are back at the Sternotheri ship, looking at the retreating cruiser through the window. T’Rak did as promised; he set up a meeting with his crew and provided the necessary supplies to keep their journey comfortable. The way he cared for those prisoners at the Krait ship… It makes me doubt all the convictions I had about him.
He came for me. It makes me feel all kinds of things I really don’t want to feel, so I shove them deep down and focus on the task at hand.
“How about we blow this shit up?” I look at him as I take a seat in my chair.
He gives me a side eye. “How about I heal you now?”
Adrenaline is still shooting through my body, and I have this insistent need to see this asteroid burn. “Blowing shit up first, healing next.”
T’Rak grunts, but he sets the ship in motion until we’re at a safe enough distance. He tinkers with the controls, andthen we wait. I know we’re far enough, but I still flinch when the sky lights up when the ship explodes. Debris gets thrown into space, and I get an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Is an explosion like this dangerous for space? Will it create space ripples or something?”
“No, this is a small explosion, it will only affect the asteroid belt, and since there is not much to be affected, it will only be a relocation of stones,” T’Rak reassures me.
I make an approving hum, then I look at him and give him a small smile. “Back on our course to Tekrov?”
