Page 15 of A Mate for Vasek (Tallean Mercenaries #11)

Dawn

Vosthea was a small, blue-green planet that was very clearly not Earth. For one thing, it was more green than blue, rather than the other way around, and no matter how hard she stared at it on the view screen, it didn’t look like she could ever call it home.

Things were changing there now, and even Dawn and her friends had gotten news of it.

But even though it was no longer considered a lawless planet, it was still home to thieves, pirates, and outlaws, and most definitely not a welcoming place for a free human.

Most humans there were still slaves, except perhaps in Kean’s compound.

And then there was Trenton’s group of mercenaries. Dawn was pretty sure she’d heard they’d claimed a little corner of Vosthea, with Kean’s permission, of course.

She scanned the tiny green marble, wondering where they’d land.

She couldn’t see any major sprawling ports, even though she knew that the planet should have three large ones and several smaller ones.

Instead, there were many small settlements dotted on the planet, and they all looked like they were in imminent threat of being swallowed back up by the jungles.

Vasek seemed to know where he was going, however, because he directed his shuttle toward the planet.

After he’d figured out that she was supposed to be on that ship and she’d bawled like a baby in his arms, things had come to a quiet, unspoken understanding between them.

Dawn now fully believed it when he said that he was not interested in keeping her.

It wasn’t that he had another female, or because he couldn’t afford the time or credits to keep her, but because he truly didn’t believe in keeping intelligent life.

It hadn’t just been words to trick her into a false sense of safety in order to find out her secret, because he had already guessed it. What was the point of lying to him now?

She spent some time mourning and remembering her friends’ faces in the depot’s back room as they talked animatedly about what they’d do when they got back to Earth.

Where were they now? Had they been on the ship when it exploded, or had one or more of them gotten out in one of the emergency shuttles?

Even if they did, what were the chances they would make it somewhere safe?

Vasek did not need to witness her being a big baby again. She needed to get those big girl pants on and deal with it. There was plenty of time to mourn once she was alone.

If the next chapter of her life was on Vosthea, then she was going to make it count. However, she refused to believe that Earth wasn’t worth returning to.

Like those who’d been on the ship, she’d always believed that the stories and images told and shown to them were lies meant to keep them obedient. Getting home was still her final goal; she’d just decided that she was going to try to enjoy the journey there the best she could.

For the rest of their trip, she dove into the organization of Vasek’s supplies and storage.

If he was giving her her freedom, it was the least she could do for him.

But damn, did the medic have a shit-ton of stuff.

She had no idea how all of it had even fit into the cabinet to begin with.

And that was just one of the cabinets. She’d just found out there were more when he told her to dispose of some of the liquids because they were supposed to have been kept cold.

It turned out that there was a cold storage for non-edibles on the shuttle too.

The sudden blaring of an alarm for an urgent incoming contact had Dawn finally looking away from the quickly approaching planet and over to Vasek, whose brows were knitted together in an almost comical way.

It was one of those expressions that seemed to transcend species, at least for Talleans, Fietes, and humans, who all had brows.

Vasek took the incoming message, and it popped up on the view screen.

Dawn squinted at it, wishing she’d learned more of the intricate Tallean glyphs.

She knew just enough to get her job done, which was actually more than most, since she’d run much of Kotch’s business.

Too bad most of the words were related to the trade and selling of weapons.

She couldn’t read most of the message, but the few words she could read had her quite concerned.

Especially since Vasek’s mask of neutrality faltered, replaced by a look of determination.

She recognized the words “fire,” “destroy,” and “now.”

Vasek closed out the message, then got up and joined her at her almost-organized piles. She still didn’t know how she’d be able to store them so they were easily accessible as well as organized in the long run. The fact that the cabinet was just one giant dump zone was the problem to begin with.

“We need to get everything back into the cabinets now,” he said, picking up the corners of the sheets under one of the piles and tying them into a bundle.

Dawn followed his lead, doing the same to the pile she was currently sorting. “What’s happening?”

“Pirates. They are demanding that we let them board or they will open fire. I have not replied, but I have slowed my ship down. They will not fire if they believe we are choosing the nonviolent option. This ship is not well equipped with weapons.”

Dawn frowned. “But you don’t plan on letting them on board,” she stated rather than asked, because she didn’t think him the type to simply roll over.

“No, we are going to get close enough that they can’t fire on us, but not close enough for them to magnetize. Then, I’m going to blast right through them. They’ll need to turn around before they can pursue us. And even the mount turrets need time to recalibrate. It will give us a head start.”

There was only one pile left to tie and bundle when the shuttle’s alert had Vasek scrambling back to the pilot’s seat.

Realizing there was no time to pack this one up, she shoved the whole thing into the still-open and overflowing cabinet, then pushed at the door until she heard the click of the locking mechanism.

“Get in the transport now,” Vasek demanded. “Strap in. This is going to be rough.”

Dawn scrambled to the back of the shuttle and had just barely managed to get into the transport when the force of the shuttle lurching forward had her slamming back hard into the seat.

Vasek

Vasek made another hard left and evaded another shot. He had long since realized that the pirates inside the two ships currently chasing them wanted him alive because they were still trying to get him to give up and agree to be boarded.

If they were only interested in the goods on the ship, then they would’ve used lethal force already, since the medical supplies protected in the ship’s storage often survived crashes, smoke, and small fires. The question was, were they after him? Or Dawn?

Did Morad have the contacts and the influence to have someone already waiting for their arrival? He doubted it.

If he had to guess, he’d bet they were run-of-the-mill pirates who wanted his shuttle.

The thing about stealing ships was that many of them required both a code and a genetic match to operate.

Without them, they would have to tow the ship, then pay someone a lot of credits to hack the system, or they could part it out and sell it piecemeal, but they wouldn’t be able to use the ship.

The easiest option was to force him to tell them the code and remove the failsafe, which was what they were likely trying to do.

His best bet was to get as close as possible to Kean’s compound and message for help. But he would then owe the powerful drug lord a favor. Vasek preferred it the other way, with others owing him favors for saving their lives.

Another shot flew at him, and he barely got his shuttle out of the way. He sure hoped Dawn had gotten herself strapped in; even safely secured this was going to be rough on her human body. They weren’t as resilient to extreme changes in gravity as Talleans were.

Luckily, the shots fired at him were meant to control his ship's direction rather than to kill. But he also didn’t like being herded. They were trying to force him behind the closest moon where he could bet another ship waited, ready to ambush him. He didn’t want to play that game.

It wasn’t only his survival he had to worry about now, but Dawn’s. So he did something unexpected, turning and aiming his shuttle straight down toward the planet. They were nowhere near a port or even a major city. The only thing as far as the eye could see was dense jungle.

Would they be desperate enough to follow him in? That depended on when their last successful attack had been. Desperate males did desperate things.

What would they do to Dawn? The thought had him growling and gritting his teeth.

Distracted by the distasteful thoughts, he’d noticed the incoming shot too late.

“Fuck!”

A sudden jolt had the entire shuttle shaking and rattling. The lights flickered, and the screen turned black for a singular moment as he realized that they’d been hit. They were going down.