Page 10 of Shattered Silence

How she’d been forced to escape Earth, her reputation in tatters, an angry mob baying for her blood over something she didn’t even do.

Layla never thought she’d enjoy the privilege of being one of rare humans who had actually experienced space travel. Too bad she was just trying to escape all the bullshit.

And now here she was, trapped, alone, hunted.

Waiting on a man she’d never met.

An alien who might never find her.

Considering her luck, that sounded just about right.

Chapter Four

I like her. The Tharian whispered its declaration of approval into his mind, kicking Enki’s irritation up another notch. She’s honest. Tenacious. She does not give in to her fear, even though her situation is all but hopeless. You are going to stay true to your word and come for her, aren’t you?

I am not interested in your opinion, wraith.

Enki bristled, slightly offended at the Tharian’s suggestion that he might abandon Layla. He swiveled in his chair and rose to his feet, only to find Lodan standing in the doorway, his eyebrows raised in surprise as if Enki’s behavior was staggeringly unusual.

Well, he’d just exercised his rusty tongue, speaking more than he had in ages, so there was that.

Lodan inclined his head, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Enki glowered.

Shit. When had the bastard snuck up on him? Nobody took him by surprise, ever, but then again, Lodan was as silent and stealthy and any First Division warrior, and Enki had been distracted by the fucking Tharian… and Layla.

He assumed Lodan had heard most of their conversation, and judging by the flicker of anger that danced across his elegant features, he was just as incensed as Enki.

There was no question; the ones who had found Layla were Kordolian. The roving machine she’d described to him was an exploration drone, cast out by its owners to scout the human craft and gather information.

And it had logged her. They would know she was human, female, and valuable.

“Let’s chase,” Lodan said, his voice full of barely suppressed anticipation. With his unique talent for flying, Lodan possessed an unhealthy addiction to speed. Enki could tell he was itching to switch the auto-flyer to manual and begin the chase. “Sylth, give me some co-ordinates to go on.”

A complex series of characters flashed up on the sylth’s holographic display, and Lodan nodded, his eyes glazing over as he quickly absorbed the information. “She’s moving. Drifting. And it looks like someone has a lock on her location. See that dark spot on the starmap?”

Enki nodded. A distinctively destroyer-shaped black spot appeared on the holo. “Half-cloaked,” he muttered.

“Correct. If they were flying at normal velocity, we wouldn’t have detected them, but their irregular movements have given them away.”

The sylth populated the holo with a complicated stream of numbers that changed rapidly as the ship drifted closer to Layla’s position.

“Masters, that is the Ristval V.” The sylth’s detached, emotionless voice echoed through the cabin, sounding strange to Enki’s ears.

And the significance of its pronouncement—of it daring to speak without permission—wasn’t lost on Enki, because sylths rarely spoke aloud.

A relic of the Old Empire, sylths were the intelligence systems that breathed life into the Kordolians’ great black ships. Designed to be completely and utterly subservient, most Kordolian pilots set their sylths to quiet mode, preferring to access information at their whim, rather than be flooded by it.

In general, most Kordolians were averse to the idea of automation and artificial intelligence. Enki couldn’t understand why humans embraced those things so willingly.

“Well, well. There you are,” Lodan drawled, his eyebrows arching in surprise as he lowered himself into the pilot’s seat. “How exciting. So former General Daegan and his crew of idiots survived our fission missile, and it looks like they’ve been lurking around in the Ninth. The boss is gonna want to deal with him personally, but between you, me, and Ny, we can figure out how to capture an Imperial destroyer, can’t we?” He rolled his eyes. “I’m surprised they didn’t just fuck off to some unpopulated planet in the Middle Sectors to try and enjoy the last dregs of our civilization while it still exists.” He flashed his fangs, his expression turning vicious.

“Humans,” was all Enki said.

Lodan stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Of course. The species has to move forward one way or another. Even they will seek to reproduce. Sooner or later, they’ll want what we have.”

“Layla,” Enki growled, a sliver of anger working its way into his chest. To his surprise, the emotion was pure and it felt good, unlike anything he’d felt since returning from Tharos.

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