“I’m surprised to see you back so soon, Dr. Simmons,” Ned Schumancer said as he, Tara and Kiera walked down the corridor of Ithyca Shipyards.
“I was getting restless,” Tara said, “Dr. Smythe kept telling me I needed more time and wouldn’t approve of me coming back to my lab at Illianos. That’s why I came here. I already cleared it with Dr. Whitmore; I know more about this ship and these mechas than anyone here.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Ned said, “Honestly, we haven’t touched much in there. Have an unknown shuttle get sent our way right before this ship arrived. There might be a link between it and the one that kidnapped the princess. Warlord requested this as a top priority, want to help us crack that instead?”
Tara shook her head, “Those two might be connected, you go at it from your angle and I’ll go at it from this one.”
“Dr. Whitmore would be really happy if you spent some time working on it, at least stop by and take a look at our results. We’ve been working on it for months,” Ned said.
They entered the Eclipse and made their way to the hangar. If Tara was uncomfortable about being in the mercenary ship she wasn’t showing it or projecting it emotionally. Trosk’s Vulcan was in the bay, along with a pair of Orion and a pair of jaeger. There was space for more mecha, like the Avalanche that Kiera had piloted.
“When you said not much you meant it,” Tara said.
“Oh, we did some examinations, We got an arm and a leg for the Vulcan to repair it, and replaced the power core. It’s having some weird start up issues so we didn’t get to see their mods, I was really looking forward to seeing what this Vulcan could do. Has some Richter Scoresby modifications on it, most of them do. Makes me wish I could have seen the Avalanche! Didn’t bother looking at the jags or the Ory.”
Tara stopped in her tracks, a cocktail of rage and fear washed out from her. Kiera put her hands on Tara’s shoulders. She jumped at the contact, her whole body started shaking. Kiera put her arms around Tara and helped her to the floor. Tara was hyperventilating, and clung to Kiera desperately searching for an anchor. Radiance flowed, washing over Tara pushing the fear and anger away, soothing away the emotional cocktail to help the redhead calm down. Her body sagged against Kiera, the hyperventilating turning to whimpers. Kiera just held and rocked her, maintaining her Radiance while murmuring, telling Tara that Kiera had her and that she was okay.
Ned had enough presence of mind not to say anything else. Kiera picked up on his confusion but ignored it entirely, all her focus was on helping her friend through her panic attack. The name had triggered it. Kiera finally recognized where she knew Tara from.
Three years ago, Scoresby designed a mecha named the Celestial Enterprise for the Championship Match for the Asteroid Field Races. During the home stretch, the competitors neck in neck through a tight cluster, the Celestial Enterprise launched power armor with spider legs. Then the main mecha exploded, causing a chain reaction with gas inside the asteroid field. All but one of the competitors were instantly killed, and it was unsure if she would live. The Judges immediately disqualified the Celestial Enterprise and its pilot. The pilot had no idea what had happened and didn’t resist arrest when local security approached him. Scorseby protested the disqualification on the ImpNet, and did an interview on StarTalk, a popular talk show.. When asked if he had designed the mech to do that or if it was an accident, he said:
“Of course I did and it worked flawlessly like all my designs. There would have been no deaths if the other designs weren’t hot garbage.”
Scorseby was arrested immediately, but on his way to arraignment another Celestial Enterprise swooped in, a spider pod shot out of it, captured Scorseby and flew away. The mecha exploded to cover their escape. Thirteen city blocks and three hundred and eighty-one lives were lost. The man was wanted for murder and terrorism; a bounty was placed on him and rumors said he fled the Empire. The Asteroid Field Races were shut down after the incident. Kiera remembered watching the disaster. The pilot who had initially survived went by the callsign Terabyte. The same as the friendly jaeger that saved her from Trosk.
“What happened?” Ned asked once Tara had calmed down, she hadn’t moved from Kiera’s arms, but she was no longer in panic.
“Do me a favor?” Kiera asked, “Never ever mention the name of that monster in either of our presence.”
“Monster? Oh you mean Ric—”
“Yes!” Kiera snapped, looking up at the man, anger and disbelief mixed on her face, exasperation heavy in her voice, “Astria’s Paths, why would you say the name I literally just told you not to say!?”
“Sorry! Emperor’s Balls, you don’t have to snap at me!” Ned scowled.
Why did people have to swear on her father’s testicles? Kiera rolled her eyes as hard as she could with a groan of annoyance, any harder and she would have made herself dizzy. “I’m going to sit here with her until she feels well enough to go to her quarters and rest, she has quarters here, right?”
“Yeah, I guess if you’re staying then you’ll need them, too,” Ned grumped.
“I’ll sleep with her.”
“Oh.” Ned’s disappointment, then lustfull excitement didn’t do anything to improve Kiera’s opinion of the man. Just saying that they’ll sleep in the same room had him making assumptions, and likely picturing them together. When they learned she had slept with another woman, the only men she had met who hadn’t were the same three that she had slept with. Locke wasn’t surprised and didn’t press her for any information, respecting her privacy. Ben asked if she’d ever slept with more than one person at a time, and Gargax asked how. Then he stopped her when she started to explain and asked her to show him. She was glad that Kinsley didn’t mind an audience.
“I guess that means you aren’t free for dinner,” Ned continued.
“I never was, “ Kiera replied, “If you want to get to work we’ll be okay here.”
“Uh, sure, just call me if you need anything,” Ned left the hanger, glancing back over his shoulder once before he was out of sight.
Kiera continued to hold Tara, still rocking her gently. She didn’t know, or care, how long it was before Tara sat up and gently pulled out of the embrace, she looked at Kiera, exhaustion on her face. She opened her mouth to speak but Kiera silenced her by putting her finger on Tara’s mouth. “There is no need to apologize for anything. Nothing to be embarrassed about. We’re friends, I will do my best to comfort anyone that I’m friends with. If you need me to hold and soothe you during a panic attack I will. If you need to cry on my shoulder, or cuddle with me all night, then I will. If you need a physical release and want sex then I will let you take everything you want and give you everything you need. That’s just who I am. The people I'm friends with are people who I love. You’re also not sleeping alone tonight. As my mother keeps telling me, nymphs are comforters. Take what comfort I can give you.”
“Thank you,” Tara murmured, “I—thank you.” Kiera pulled her into a hug.
“My pleasure, sweetheart.”
Tara let Kiera hold her for a few more minutes before getting up and walking over to the damaged Vulcan. She installed small panels to look like DNA lockouts. Kiera checked in with Kinsley. Her intelligence officer was working on sending the request to Charon Penal colony to have the Snowden brothers brought to Ithyca from the station.
=+=
“What do you mean a DNA lock?” Ned asked an hour and a half later.
“There’s a scanner in each of the cockpits,” Tara said, “Everytime Kaleigh scanned her finger it gave an error and said DNA match was not found. I ran a diagnosis and confirmed that a match was needed and pulled a list of people who were compatible. Duncan Trosk and Dalton Snowden are the only ones who can unlock the Vulcan. The Orion is keyed to Arun Snowden only. The scanners are also linked to a thermal charge under the main consoles to detonate if the scanners are removed. The easiest bypass is to unlock the scanners and disable them through the mecha’s console. It’ll also let me safely open the console for maintenance. I don’t want to risk an explosion by opening up the console.” The real issue they were having was they didn’t have the right access bands to power up the mecha and were trying to use imperial overrides. Tara had that problem solved in twenty-five minutes.
“I thought they were illegal?” Ned asked.
“It’s a RMM craft,” Kiera said, “Why is an illegal mod confusing?”
“Regardless, we don’t need these bombs aboard this ship. I would like to arrange for the Snowdens to be brought here. The last thing we need is for a Red Moon ship to locate this one and set off the bombs remotely,” Tara said.
Ned crossed his arms, “I, I don’t think that Dr. Whitmore would approve of the request, even for you.”
“What if she works on that special project of yours?” Kiera asked, “For however long it takes to get the Snows here? I mean, you also kind of owe her for earlier.”
“I’ll ask him,” Ned said, “If you’ll have dinner with me, Tara.”
“Did you seriously ask her out in front of her girlfriend?” Kiera asked
“Wait, you did actually mean you’re sleeping with her? I thought about it more and figured that you actually meant you’d just stay with her and then shot me down pretty hard.”
“I didn’t bring her along to just be my pilot,” Tara said, “I could do that myself. Kaeleigh can pilot and we’re dating. ” Tara took Kiera’s hand, “But that is kind of sleazy to make that a condition, Ned. I’ll ask him myself.”
“It would still take a few days…” Ned said, “Come take a look at the project and I’ll consider it.”
Tara narrowed her eyes, “You’ve changed Ned. Lead the way.”
=+=
Kiera tagged along with Tara to the project that Ned was working on, the ship of unknown origin that might have had a connection to her abductors. It was a plumbob shaped object that was three hundred feet long and one hundred and fifty feet wide. There were no discernable entrances or engines on it. The metal wasn’t anything that was in the Imperial database. It was smooth and slightly warm to the touch with a myriad of dark colors in strips running over it. Tara handed Kiera a PUC and put one on to start her inspection. One of the other engineers scoffed at the notion of trying to connect foreign technology to it. They were even less impressed to have some rocket jockey poking at something they couldn’t even figure out. They had it stored in its own shuttle bay filled with various kinds of sensors, cutting tools and analyzers. They spent the rest of the afternoon in the bay but made little progress.
The next morning they walked into the bay hand in hand and received jealous, lustful looks from Ned. One of the researchers shouted at Kiera when she touched the craft, another said they’d already tried physically connecting a diagnostic computer to it and she was wasting their time with a physical PUC connection. One of them eventually questioned Kiera’s clearance and had her kicked out.
Since this wasn’t Tara’s normal working space and she was technically working for Dr. Whitemore under Ned’s supervision, her protests fell on deaf ears. Ned just told Kiera to leave the PUC. Kiera got the feeling that he was just being petty since learning that Tara had a girlfriend and bitter that Kiera had snapped at him.
Kiera wasn’t going to let it bother her and paused in front of one of the other labs when she saw a short man with furry lop bunny ears draped over his back and hanging just past his knees. Instead of coming to a point, each one ended in three fluffy “fingers.” He was examining an object that looked almost exactly like her PUC and made out of the same metal as the unknown craft. Curious, Kiera approached the man, coughing to get his attention and not startle him.
“No need, I heard you when you came in,” He said without looking up from his pad.
“I didn’t want to assume anything,” Kiera said, “I have a friend who’s a moreau and I had to ask him if he had a bear’s tail and if he liked honey. He has a tail, and detests honey, but his twin sister loves it and I think her tail is cuter.”
“Oh, I’m not a moreau, I’m Kurotaki,” he said, turning to smile at Kiera. On his forehead he had a single spiral horn about three inches long, “Hirotaki To’Shori, Imperial Xeno Technology Research,” he offered his hand.
“Kaleigh Solar, test pilot,” Kiera replied, taking his hand, “What is this? Sorry if I’m not supposed to be here. I’m working with Tara Simmons and her project is on hold and the guys who looped her in to help kicked me out. I saw you and…well I thought your ears were cute and wanted to get a better look, then my curiosity got the better of me”
“Humans are finicky,” Hirotaki said, “They don’t like me either. Ask to bring in a khelban and you’re suddenly a pariah. To be honest I haven’t a clue as to what this is. What do you think it is?” His voice was cheery and full of curiosity, his emotions the same.
“It looks like a PUC,” Kiera said, “And it looks like it’s made of the same metallic colored striped metal that Dr. Whitmore’s plumbob is made of. I don't know what they’re actually calling it but that’s what it looks like. “ She refused to refer to the unidentified object as Ned’s. He’d already gotten on her bad side.
“I apologize, Miss Solar, a PUC?”
“Personal Utility Computer, basically a bracer computer. They’re used in the military for everything from connecting and controlling a vehicle and communicating with your team to shopping when off duty and playing sai-tau,” Kiera said.
“Interesting,” Hirotaki said, “Wait, did you say sai-tau? If you’re staying tonight, can I interest you in a game of sai-tau? I haven’t been able to play with my usual opponent in sometime. They went for their military service requirement.”
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“I’d love to,” Kiera said, “I haven’t played since I joined the military, either. I’m surprised you play it, it’s a really old game and not that popular. My dad taught me how to play to help learn strategy. I had a regular opponent I played with, too. Can I pick up the thing you’re looking at?”
“Sure,” Hirotaki said while studying Kiera, “Just out of curiosity, what was your regular opponent like?”
The bracer was lighter than she expected, like a thin aluminum sheet rather than something made of steel or iron. It had a glassy orb running along its length; the orb was smooth to the touch and slightly cooler than the rest of it. There was an intense urge for her to put it on.
“He was the most unconventional, mad genius I ever played,” Kiera said, turning and looking at the rabbit-man, “Like he would play a lotus with ice and metal and still manage to pull off a raindrop movement. Always forced an air golem counter, Windsheer is good against ice, but storm is a tough one.”
“No…it can’t be,” Hirotaki said, his face breaking into a grin, “Dawnshine?”
Kiera looked up quickly at the man, "How did you…No way. Five Moons Hitori!?” Kiera laughed and threw her arms around the man, giving him a hug, “I can’t believe it! I never thought I’d ever meet you face to face!”
Hirotaki returned the hug, both with his arms and wrapped his ears around her as well, “My favorite nemesis!” he laughed, “How I miss your unconventional tactics and your winky face and heart emojis!”
“I’m unconventional! No one else uses both the phoenix and the three arc water spiral!” Kiera laughed, “Oh it’s good to meet you!”
“You as well my friend! I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that I would ever meet you!” Hirotaki laughed, “Or that you would be so beautiful! As beautiful as Princess Sol herself!” Hirotaki said, unwrapping his ears and beaming at her. His eyes were a kaleidoscope of color, easy to get lost in.
“Thank you!,” Kiera grinned, “Did you want to get dinner before our game?”
“Let me cook for you!” he said, bouncing.
Kiera laughed again, his enthusiasm was addicting, “It’s a date!” she declared. She gave him another hug and stepped away with a smile on her face, enjoying the beaming smile on his face.
Sai-tau was a complicated game of strategy with different pieces having different values and restrictions where they could move on the board. They could be combined to subvert the restrictions or increase the piece's value. The goal was to capture all of your opponents pieces, captured pieces could be used against your opponent. Pieces were also arranged into seven different group types: fire, wood, water, air, metal, earth, and lightning. An eighth piece type, Spirit, behaved completely different from others and capturing your opponent's Spirit Piece almost always meant you had won the game. Spirit pieces included the lotus, as well as the phoenix, the dragon, and Kiera’s favorite, the Titan. The map was divided into various terrains and each elemental could be used to counter a different one. There were also spaces to convert your element piece into a different type or merge them into a stronger piece.There were different positions that the Spirit pieces could occupy. The different spaces your Spirit piece could occupy can have a variety of effects depending on the piece and the location.
“A date?" he asked, grinning.
“Why not!” Kiera said, "I'll make sure my girlfriend is okay with it."
“I didn’t realize you were so young,” Hirotaki said, then laughed and hugged her again. She had no way of telling how old he was but he had a youthful enthusiasm and those ears were absolutely adorable.
“Is there any shopping on this station?” Kiera asked, “I have an overwhelming need to not just wear flight leathers.”
Hirotaki laughed, “Yes, there is shopping and restaurants. The Empire likes to make sure her engineers are happy.”
“Oh! Right, can’t forget to give you this back!” Kiera blinked at her hand, the strange device wasn’t in it anymore, but on her left arm. She didn’t remember putting it there. It was in her hand, she was about to ask if Hiro had tried putting it on and then he figured out who she was and they hugged. She pulled at it, but it didn’t come off. The orb has a slight glow to it, no more illumination than a lava lamp. She felt an odd pull towards the hangar that the plumbing was in.
Hirotaki took her arm in his hand and inspected it, humming to himself. He tapped his horn against it and it expanded enough to allow her to pull it off, “Fascinating. It’s an organic steel. I was just assigned to this and hadn’t tested it much, but now I have a theory, thanks to you, Kaleigh.”
“My friends call me Kara,” Kiera said. “Organic steel? That sounds interesting! What’s your theory?”
“Then call me Hiro. This is likely the control device to that object you mentioned.” He put it back on the stand, “I’ll need to run some analysis, but if I’m correct…could I sweet talk you into aiding me? I know that I can take the device off of you, but I’m not sure if I can take it off of myself.”
“I’m yours for as long as I’m here,” Kiera said.
“Well, isn’t that wonderful news.”
=+=
Kiera met back up with Tara after her shopping trip, only getting a single tastefully slinky dress. It had immediately caught her eye and couldn’t help herself.
“Our night wasn’t enough?” Tara teased. She had ended up taking Kiera up on her offer, wanting something to distract her from the nightmares she kept waking with. Their emotional connection helped and Tara slept much better the rest of the night. They were late to meet Ned at the lab, morning cuddles leading to more.
“Oh, no I'm hoping we have many more, and the dress is just because I couldn’t resist it. I’m not planning on sleeping with him tonight. We played sai-taru almost nightly on the IVN. I’m just super excited to meet him.”
“Uh-huh,” Tara said, “Smart, cute, I’m sure you’ll just play the game.”
"Maybe the dress is for you, too," Kiera teased.
"Maybe I'll have to get one myself."
Ned and his team were more than annoyed when Kiera and Hiro showed up in their lab after their lunch break. The men’s distaste for Hiro was palpable even without reading their emotions. With the bracer on, the plumbob device reacted, opening itself up.
“I did it! I’ve solved it!” The man that had complained enough to get Kiera kicked out shouted. “I opened the machine!” He approached the open pod with a smug look.Tara looked annoyed at the declaration
“Tony, it wasn’t you,” Ned had the decency to say. The plumbob immediately shut.
“Give me the control device!” he demanded, stalking over to Kiera.
“Tony, calm down,” Ned started.
“Quiet, Ned! This has been my project for six months! I will reap the fruit of our labors and determine where it came from! Only I can!” Tony snapped, he grabbed onto Kiera’s arm and tried to yank the bracer off, “Give that to me!”
Even if she could, Kiera didn’t want to, “Not with that attitude. This bracer is Dr. To’Shori’s project, I’m assisting him.”
“That experiment doesn’t have any projects!” the man snapped, “Now take this off!”
Kiera wanted to slug him. Not only was his attitude terrible, but he had no respect for her friend or anyone else for that matter. She pushed against his solar plexus sending him stumbling backwards. Her self defense classes and Leiella’s additional training paid off. Tony snarled and started to walk towards her.
“I think that is enough,” a stern voice said.
A dark skinned human with an ocular implant and a short well kept beard walked into the room. He looked from Tony to Ned to Kiera to Hiro. “What, exactly is going on here?”
“I opened the device, Dr. Whitmore. This unqualified pilot and that experiment are claiming that they were the ones that opened it. She obviously stole the device on her,” Tony said.
“I see. Dr. Walters, get out, you're no longer associated with this project. Dr. Simmons, your guests will be here tomorrow. Dr. To’Shori, please continue with what you’ve discovered. I’m afraid I’m not familiar with your lovely assistant.”
“Kaleigh Solar,” Kiera introduced, “Dr. Whitmore, I presume?”
“Ah, Dr. Simmon’s pilot! Please, continue.”
Kiera approached the plumbob again and it opened a second time, letting her walk inside. It was rather spacious, if simple. The corridor ended with a chair and a console that formed at her approach. She sat down and the console changed itself to the familiar controls that she used in her mech. The bracer expanded to cover her, complete with helmet readout. Tara, Dr. Whitmore, and Hiro had followed her in. Three more chairs formed out from the floor for them.
“This is incredible,” Dr. Whitmore said, “Miss Solar, what can you tell us about it?”
“Her,” Kiera corrected, “She’s alive, I can feel her thoughts, she’s curious, afraid. She’s morphic, able to change her shape but it takes her a long time to do so without her Spark. Having a partner would help her, too. I don’t understand what she means by Spark. The bracer is her Link, she’ll let me take it off now, as long as no one will hurt her.”
“Please convey my apologies if we have,” Dr. Whitmore said sincerely, “We didn’t know what she was and didn’t even think that she was anything more than what she appeared as. Had I known she was alive…”
“You’re forgiven, Dr. Whitmore,” Kiera said, spinning around to face him, “The Link will let Dr. To’Shori talk to her, she would rather have Tara or I, but has agreed to work with him.”
The rest of the day was spent seeing what Hitomi could do. She didn’t have a name and Hiro chose one from his culture. She liked it. She let Kiera take her out and fly her around the station, following Kiera’s inputs perfectly and at times it felt like Hitomi was reading her mind. Kiera hadn’t done a lot of shuttle piloting but with Hitomi she found it as easy as flying her mecha. They returned to the station when Hitomi mentioned she was getting tired; she didn’t have a lot of energy but had very much enjoyed the trip.
Dr. Whitmore put a team together to determine what kind of energy that she required, and put Hiro in charge of it. Kiera had a feeling there would be complaints. Link was kept with Hiro at Hitomi’s request, she was wary of those who had tried to cut into her to try to open her.
“You make friends wherever you go, don’t you?” Tara said, “Just a ray of sunshine that draws in people to bask in your warmth.”
“Yep,” Kiera grinned, “Beautiful women, incredible aliens, living ships, and so much more!”
Tara laughed.
=+=
“That’s my strategy, you cheater!” Kiera laughed.
“Gatekeeping techniques, I thought you liked to share!” Hiro countered, laughing as he moved a piece in the exact same way Kiera did in her last turn. It was their third game of the night. Bowls of noodles had long been consumed, they were on their second bottle of thardian white honey wine and thoroughly enjoying each other’s company.
“I do share!” Kiera protested, moving one of her fire pieces over one of his water, “Stream to steam, lose the shirt! Kiera giggled, taking a drink from the glass they were sharing.
“That’s a sacrifice, lose the dress!” Hiro demanded, complying.
“No it’s not! Frostfire doesn’t get sacrificed, it becomes… becomes ice!”
“You didn’t use frostfire, you used blaze!” Hiro laughed, “Take it off!”
Kiera looked again and burst into giggles, “Oops!” She smirked, “Take it off me.”
“If I do that I might not want to stop,” Hiro teased, his ears reaching across the board.
“Break the rules and you’ll lose,” Kiera replied, with a wink, holding her arms up to make it easy.
“Will I lose or will we both win?”
“Keep going and find out.”
=+=
“Long night?” Tara asked when Kiera came stumbling into the ship, hair disheveled, helmet in one hand and the largest cup of coffee the station sold in the other.
“Too much wine. Turns out we're not compatible…and I couldn't remember where our room was," Kiera grumbled putting her head on Tara's shoulder.
Tara laughed, "You could have called me. I thought you two had great chemistry! Why would you…oh. Nevermind. The boys are all here. Why don’t you go get some sleep. It’s not like you want them to see you.”
“I’m the only one on the mission team that knows Dandelion. Need to confirm his identity,” Kiera argued.
“Lover, go get some sleep we’ve got this. Any alerts raised about us sneaking aboard?” Locke asked, walking into the hangar.
“Considering I sent a work order for an engine check? None. The fact that you guys arrived earlier than the request said means we’ll be undocked when the Snowdens arrive, which will be unfortunate,” Tara said.
As if speaking their name summoned them, footsteps came down the hallway. Locke immediately walked over and scooped Kiera into his arms, and disappeared behind the mecha. Tara crossed her arms and put her most disinterested look on her face.
It wasn’t Gargax and Isaac with the Snowdens but Hiro wearing the Link. “Oh, hello, Dr. Simmons, is Kaleigh around? I was going to take Hitomi out for a flight and was wondering if she wanted to join us.”
“Please, call me Tara, Dr To’Shiro. We are actually expecting our prisoners who will be unlocking these mecha so we can make them usable for the Empire. I’m surprised you’re up this early,” she grinned and winked.
Hiro blushed and rubbed the back of his head, "I handle wine better than she does. Sai-tau can be a rather long game, and we played several times. I assure you that we are just friends, I know that you two are in a relationship1 I’ll catch her later then.”
“Sai-tau?” Locke asked after Hiro had left "Relationship?"
“An old strategy game. Apparently Kiera and Hiro used to play it together online. Yeah, we're dating. I'm 'part of the harem' as she put it. Is she asleep?” Tara asked, grinning.
Locke nodded, “As soon as I scooped her into my arms. Glad the coffee didn't spill. I'll go tuck her into a room." He carried Kiera down a different hallway than Hiro had taken.
Tara shook her head with a laugh. Kiera was a force of nature, but even those had to sleep. Gargax and Isaac arrived with the Snowdens before Locke returned. The Snowdens were both wearing prison jumpsuits, arm and leg cuffs, and behavior collars. If they tried to stray from their guards the collars would give them a shock with enough voltage to stun them but not enough amperage to hurt them. Tara didn’t say anything, based on the haughty look on the younger brother and the angry look on the older brother she predicted that anything she said would be met with venom.
<<“We are clear of the dock. Beginning engine test,”>> Calvin said over the intercom.
“What in the Void is going on here?” Dalton snarled, taking a step forward, “Where are you taking us?”
“We don’t know yet, not until we’re out of Imp space. Should only take about eight hours or so,” Locke said stepping back into the hangar, “Red Moon wants you boys pretty badly. Who’d you piss off?”
“Who the Void are you?” Dalton snarled.
”Luke Malachite. Snap at me again and you’ll be delivered as damaged goods,” Locke said, stalking over to Dalton. “You going to be damaged goods?”
Dandelion snorted, “Hurt either of us and you won’t get into the Moon at all. We are very valuable to the man who actually owns this ship. So, remove these manacles, take off the collars and show us to our quarters. I’ll be taking the redhead with me.”
Locke’s right cross sent the younger Snowden to the ground, his nose broken. “We’re going to get one thing made perfectly clear, Snowball. Until I get your sorry ass back to your daddy, you’re not crew you’re cargo. There’s not a fragile sticker anywhere on that arrogant mug. I was told to bring you back, no one said in what condition. My ork’s gone two days without breaking something, hate to see him break that streak.”
Dalton raised an eyebrow,” You have non-human crew? Pol will vote against you for that. When father hears what you’ve done to Arun and I you’ll have lost father’s vote. Hope you killed someone or you’ll have lost Skorv, and then you’re dead.”
Locke’s human fist hit Dalton’s stomach, causing him to double over, “Would you count? Cargo doesn’t talk. Mouth off again and you’ll get some more of that.”
“Easy, lover,” Locke felt a hand run up his back and rub his shoulders, “It was implied they were wanted alive. Boys, take these two to a shared room.”
“Non-human crewmen, listening to a woman? You’re not Red Moon material!” Dalton groaned.
Locke primed his weapon, causing fear to appear on both of the Snowdens’ faces, “Lover,” he heard Kiera chide. He turned his back to Dalton and locked lips with her. He felt her jump in surprise, then let out a slight moan and kissed him back, the arm on his shoulder slipping to his neck. He broke the kiss and then turned enough to give Dalton a withering look, “This woman just saved you from a broken arm. She’s also nicer than I am, unless you want to stay chained up in the cargo bay for eight hours? My ork tends to get bored he won’t kill you, but he will hurt you.”
“We’ll take the room!” Dandelion said, panicked.
“You can learn. The other thing about having a woman around that is treated fairly, is that it makes them much more affectionate. Get these two out of my sight.” To make his point he kissed Kiera again, one hand moving to the small of her back and the other around her shoulders. She kissed him back a little more eagerly than before. He broke the kissing when he heard the footsteps fade away. “I’m surprised you woke up so soon, Kara,” he said.
“I’m, um, I’m not Kara.”
Locke took a small step back. He hadn’t been holding and kissing Kiera, he’d been holding and kissing Kinsley. He froze, unsure what to do. He’d basically forced himself on her, even if it was just kissing he felt his heart start to race. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to say something, anything.
“Not your fault, and honestly, damn. Tamalyn said you were a good kisser, she wasn’t exaggerating”. The normally calm and put together Kinsley seemed flustered, her hands still on Locke’s chest, “You, just um, I thought it would be a good idea…Kiera was asleep so…. I was just coming to check on you, we’re in flight.”
“Okay,” Locke said.
“Kiss her again,” Tara called, “Take her back to your quarters, something. I’ll go help Calvin up front.”
Locke looked over at Tara who was grinning at the pair and gave them a wink before walking down the corridor Gargax and Isaac had taken the Snowden’s. He looked back at Kinsley, her deep blue eyes were sparkling, she was slightly biting her lip, and her cheeks were flushed.
"I'd like that," Kinsley said.