Page 42 of Irene

“Maybe they find a woman. Test her. Find she have baby with Kalquorians. So they take more woman.” Jemi’s voice was hushed, his gaze darting between them.

Irene’s heart skipped a beat. She and the clan had had sex, thinking they couldn’t get her pregnant. What if Jemi was right?

Before they could discuss it further, a thick voice speaking Kalquorian barked over the ship’s com system. Sherv and Rusp both snarled what Irene took to be choice words and headed for the cockpit.

“What’s going on?” She followed them, Jemi on her heels.

“Destroyer send fighters after us.” Sherv called over his shoulder.

Ahead of him, Rusp shouted as he ran a stretch of corridor. He disappeared through a doorway.

When Irene and Jemi reached the cockpit, Rusp was sitting at a control panel to her left, staring at three holographic vids. Lorj stood behind his seat, watching avidly. Taru and Anez sat facing forward, two larger vids spread before them. One depicted open space, the second scrolled Kalquorian hieroglyphs. Another control panel, its blinking lights scattered in different colors, spread across the front of the space. Sherv stood between them, his expression tense.

Irene gaped at the size of the cockpit. It hadn’t occurred to her despite her visits that Clan Sherv’s vessel was no ordinary transport for ferrying a traveling band to its various gigs. Certainly the transport which the opera company had used for their tour before landing the long-term stay at the Beonid station hadn’t boasted so much instrumentation.

“No shoot them,” Sherv told Rusp. “We in big trouble already. They not attack to destroy if they want Irene.”

“They can fire to stop us.”

“Blast just to warn if need to.”

“You have weapons?” Irene’s voice emerged in a squeak. “What the hell kind of ship is this?”

“Once military transport for ground troops.” Rusp was tapping the control panel as he watched his vids.

“Some shows we play in danger areas. Ship was stripped of weapons when we buy. Rusp find men who sell us new. We scare off Tragooms, people who attack to steal from us.” Jemi’s head swung from side to side as he tried to see what everyone was doing at once.

“Do you think they’ll shoot at us?”

Before anyone could answer Irene, a beep sounded at the unmanned station to her right. Lorj left off hovering over Rusp to dash over and hit a button.

A voice filled the cabin. Irene was sure it was Captain Nil, though it was difficult to be sure since he was speaking the staccato Kalquorian language.

Whatever he said made Rusp laugh. It wasn’t a pleasant laugh, but an angry, growling burst. Sherv glanced at Irene and shook his head, as if what he’d heard disgusted him.

“Warn him,” he said to Rusp, speaking English for her benefit.

Rusp’s fingers danced over the panel, and there were a series of soft blatting sounds. Something on his console buzzed at him.

“What did you do?”

“Fire plasma bursts. Now they know we armed, can fight.”

Nil’s voice returned in a long stream of speech. He sounded angry. Sherv responded, his tone angrier. When Nil began talking again, Sherv joined Lorj and slammed his palm on the button the Nobek had activated. Nil was cut off.

“Empire go crazy.” He shook his head at Irene.

“What did he say?”

“Order to return to station. I tell him fuck off, we no let him kidnap you. I tell him ship still armored from military use to fight attack, we armed, let Rusp show him.”

“Did it work?”

“Fighters break off, go back to destroyer. Nil still search for Earther women on station, but he follow us later to catch Irene.”

“We no fight destroyer,” Jemi fretted. “We hide? Make Irene safe?”

Her heart throbbed to hear him worry more over her wellbeing than theirs. When his arm curled around her, she huddled against him.

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