Page 13 of Tempting Cargo
She bent her head to one side—their equivalent to a nod? “What kind of ships do your people have?”
“Where I’m from, they’re mostly local transport shuttles. Nothing as sleek as out here. But they’re reliable and fast enough. Only the military and government have MagEx drives.” At their blank expressions, I added, “Magnetic explosion. For travelling long distances.”
The engineer slanted her head again. “Interesting. Similar to some non-Alliance species.” She bared her teeth in amusement. “Because they’re too primitive.”
I resisted rolling my eyes. “Well, this species is in the Alliance, primitive or not.” At least, thirteen of us were.
“Andyouare going to end up on a small agrestic moon?” Captain Shohari crossed her arms, pushing her breasts up, and I forced my eyes away from the swell of apricot skin above her skin-tight tunic.
Damn, maybe I needed to take a leaf out of Ellie’s book and get laid because my dick started to thicken. Definitely because of the boobs and not her scathing tone or the arrogant tilt of her sharp jaw. She just had a great pair of tits, and it had been a while. That was all.
Stop perving on the semi-helpful alien lady. Her pretty eyes are up there.
“Vadias isn’t right for you,” Captain Shohari said. “To be stuck on a planet to which you’re unsuited is to be miserable.” For a second, I thought her mind was elsewhere, but she pinned me with her piercing stare. “The galaxy is heartless to those who don’t demand what they want, so you need to work out what that is.”
I stared at her, eyes wide. “Thanks, I guess. Didn’t know you cared.”
“I don’t.” Her thick fingers toyed with the hem of her tunic. “Are you coming tomorrow, or not?”
“I guess I am.”
The words were out before I could think them through, but they settled into me, offering more comfort than I’d expected.
Captain Shohari considered me with inscrutable eyes. “The small male has the details. Don’t be late.”
I pushed out of my chair and gave a lazy salute. “Yes, ma’am.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Nine humans, one new adventure
Garrison
ELLIE SAT cross-leggedon her bed, cradling a cup of neka tea, the flavour of the translucent green brew somewhere close to coffee. “I can’t believe you’re leaving already.”
The rest of us crammed into the room she shared with a couple of the other women, our small bags packed with our meagre belongings, plus whatever else we’d managed to accumulate in the ten days we’d been on Draim Station.
The weird limbo we’d been in was changing all over again, and none of it seemed real. Would Ellie be all right with staying here on her own, once we’d gone and reality set in? Not that there was much I could do if she regretted it. Hell, there was nothing I could do if any of us regretted our choices.
We all said our goodbyes with promises to keep in touch and more than a few tears. The galactic wrist-comm was similar enough to New Earth tech but vastly superior at working longer distances, and we’d been assured we’d be able to speak to each other from major connection points. Not that we were all going to one of those.
Ellie gave me a hug, and I wrapped her in my arms.
“Look after yourself, okay?” I said into her hair.
“I will, Garrison. Don’t worry about me.”
“I worry about everyone.”
“I know, and it’s cute, but we’ll be fine. We have to be.”
She was right. We were at that point where we just had to trust.
“Thank you, by the way.” She held me at arm’s length.
“What for?”
“For everything.” She cocked her head to one side, giving me a small smile. “But also for yesterday. And not judging me.”
