Page 11 of Bred

A matter of minutes later, I receive a message from the maintenance team.

“Captain, you are going to want to see this.”

“What is it?”

“Looks like deliberate tampering, sir.”

Frowning to myself, I leave the bridge and beam to deck two. I’m thinking it can’t be deliberate tampering. Nobody on board would be so crazy as to harm the ship that separates them from death in the cold wastes of space. That’s near suicidal behavior.

As soon as I arrive, it’s obvious that things have gone badly wrong. It’s dark, and a thin layer of frost covers the walls and floor. My suit adjusts to compensate for the temperature differential, but it’s still an uncomfortable experience. There are several engineers hovering about and undertaking repairs.

“Where’s the error?”

“Someone, or something, severed the power coupling,” the lead engineer tells me.

That’s madness. The power couplers in this ship carry enough current to dematerialize someone into carbon dust. They’re also shielded behind heavy plating and several other tamper-proof mechanisms.

“What happened to the safety measures?”

“All disabled, sir. The panel was removed. The fastenings were broken in the process, but someone tried to put it back to look like it was still in place.” He shows me the affected area, and he’s right. The panel has been broken off, and the couplings, now isolated, are loose and must have been arcing all over the place. We’re lucky we didn’t explode.

Who would do something like this? My mind immediately goes to one potential little Trojan, but my instinct is to dismiss the possibility immediately.

She wouldn’t dare. She wouldn’t think to...

* * *

“Yeah, I did it.”

I found her in her room. I thought that must mean she was innocent, but I asked her if she was responsible and now she is sitting there and answering me with a pert, nearly cocky smirk on her soft little face.

I am momentarily stunned. Vandalism is not an endearing activity. This level of sabotage could have put lives at risk. There is no way she understood the potential ramifications of her actions. As captain, I am responsible for every single life on board this ship, not just mine and certainly not just this erratic, dangerous little female who has twice flirted with death in the short time I’ve known her.

“Why?” I lock my jaw and speak through gritted fangs.

“So you’ll take me back to Earth,” she says. “Take me back, or I’ll fuck this whole ship up. How ‘bout that?”

“Destroying my ship minimizes the chances of me doing a single thing you want,” I growl, before looking over my shoulder at the officers behind me. “Put her in the brig.”

* * *

Lyra

I am dragged to a tiny cell and left there alone. It’s just big enough for me to lie down and stand up. It’s a horrible little room, but I suppose I deserve this. If I’d done this on a human ship, I’d be sent to prison for a very, very long time.

I hoped Talon would turn this ship around, take me right back to Earth and let me go. Instead, I’m confined like an animal, and very possibly awaiting execution. He didn’t say anything about execution, but it has to be on the table. When I told him it was me, the expression on his face was so fierce I thought I might lose bladder control for a second time.

Honestly, what the hell was I thinking? It seemed like a good idea before, but now it just seems very, very stupid. Then again, maybe he was very stupid to let me run around on my own. Maybe we’re both stupid.

I try to plan an explanation and an apology. The captain seemed to have a soft spot for me. Maybe if I play on his sympathies, he might forgive me. Maybe...

Shwoop!

Time’s up.

The door opens. I expect to see Talon there, but it’s not him. It’s not even close to being him. I am looking into the face of a tall, stern-looking man with silver eyes and the sort of haughty bearing that comes with good breeding. He has four arms. Two where arms should be, and then two below them, one on each side. He is so tall, and his torso so long that it almost doesn’t look strange—except it looks incredibly strange.

This man isn’t wearing armor. He’s wearing a uniform though, black trimmed with gold, a jacket and pants suit combination that speaks to formality. My stomach sinks. Nothing about this alien makes me feel good.

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