Page 36 of Devin (Warriors of Etlon #5)

Devin

“ I do not like this,” Devin repeated for the third time.

“You do not trust the mother of Scrubs?” Goru asked.

“I trust her,” Devin said. He trusted her as much as he trusted any Etlonian, which was nearly as much as he trusted other Mahdfel. They were generally a trustworthy people, considering that most of them were Mahdfel.

But this plan meant putting his mate’s life in the hands of Zenik, when it should be Devin to make the exchange. She was his responsibility and it should be his life put at risk. To be fair, he had not liked the first plan either, for the same reason.

“Zenik has the experience. You do not. I would not send Zenik to build a city, and I would not send you to make a trade that requires subterfuge,” Kave said.

Devin knew he was right, but that didn’t stop the gnawing in his gut that said that he should not let anything to chance. That’s all this plan was… chance. Despite his misgivings and his gut, he did trust his clan to stop at nothing to retrieve his mate and his mother.

“We’re here,” Zenik called. Kave wrapped the circular base of the force helmet around his neck and turned it on. It would help keep most of the dust out of his eyes and mouth.

“You are sure we are far enough away?” Kave asked.

“You doubt Zenik’s calculations?” Devin asked.

Kave's response was to throw open the hatch and drop to the ground below. They hadn’t quite landed so it was a good 10 foot drop, but Kave landed on his feet and quickly sprinted off in the correct direction.

Devin closed the hatch and Zenik flew the ship back into the upper atmosphere.

If step one of the plan was executed correctly, the pirates would be completely unaware of the drop, allowing Kave to maintain the element of surprise.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t be needed at all, and the trade would be smooth and quick.

Zenik set the ship down and approached the cargo ramp.

He had changed out of his planetary Mahdfel uniform into a civilian outfit that somehow made him look smaller and less muscular than he really was.

Devin knew this was on purpose, to hide his Mahdfel build and set the pirate’s more at ease.

It was still strange to see the transformation.

Zenik even carried himself differently, though he was still just as dangerous and armed to the teeth as before.

Zenik activated his force helmet, and nodded at Goru and Devin.

He opened the cargo ramp and a wave of dust came blowing in.

Zenik ignored it and stepped down the ramp into the space between the two ships.

It was the most vulnerable position, but Zenik coolly continued, managing to look almost bored.

Zenik’s coms were open, so they’d be able to hear everything.

Goru was full of nervous energy. He examined his laser rifle for the third time. Both of them eyed the ship’s cameras, looking for any sign of movement on the other ship. They would only be in play if something went wrong.

“Give me an entire space cruiser full of Suhlik instead of this gunfighting shit,” Goru said.

Devin agreed. Suhlik were at least dependable.

They were always trying to kill you, and they always overestimated their own strength and armor.

Pirates were different. Pirates were sneaky and unpredictable.

A Neder stepped out of the other ship, not the Etlonian mother they were expecting.

“That is not a good sign,” Goru muttered. “I would not want to tell Scrubs that his mother- oh. She is there,” he said, zooming in the camera on a figure standing just inside the other craft. Devin could not decipher whether it was a female or another Neder, but Goru seemed sure.

Neders were not to be trusted. Their females were more overbearing than the Terrans, and still prescribed body modification as part of their ancient culture to suppress the males.

Their faces were bound and flattened through years of pain that proved to their females the lengths they would go to.

Even the Suhlik had found no use for the Neders and had ironically spared their planet from an invasion force.

There was also a rumor of a deal made secretly between the Suhlik and the Neder, but if there were any actual proof of such an alliance, Neder would not be in a loose alliance with the Mahdfel.

Despite their planetary history, these Neders were pirates and would be dealt with as such.

“You got it?” Zenik asked as soon as the Neder was in range.

“Got what?” he responded.

Zenik sighed with exasperation. “Where’s Gale? I made the deal with Gale.”

“Now you’ll deal with me,” he said.

“Fuck you, I’m out of here,” Zenik said, turning away. Fear bubbled up inside Devin and he nearly bolted out of the ship, but Goru put a hand on his arm. If Goru could be calm, then Devin must be also.

“Ivor! I told you that he was my contact,” Bright said as she hurried up to the two and their standoff.

“Gale, honey, you know how I like things done,” Zenik said, in a slow drawling voice that hinted at former intimacy, which was a little distasteful considering Bright was old enough to be his mother.

It was also horrifying that a mated Mahdfel could speak to another female that way.

Devin’s skin would have betrayed him the minute he opened his mouth.

“I do, but Ivor here is an eager beaver. I got what you want. It’s on the ship and all safe and sound,” Bright said.

From the cliffside to the left there was a shot.

A sizzling blast mark appeared between Ivor and Zenik.

The three of them looked up to where the shot had come from, and an orange form came hurtling over the edge with enough force that someone had to have thrown him into the air.

He landed not far from where his shot had.

All hell broke loose.

Ivor pulled out his laser pistol, but he was too slow. Zenik punched him right in the middle of his disk face. Goru and Devin took their cue and raced out of the ship just as someone started firing at the group from the ship, not caring if they hit Zenik, Ivor or Gale.

Devin did not stop to see if Zenik needed help.

He had one objective. Get on the ship and find his mate.

The pirate on the ship was a bad shot and in record time, Devin was nearing the ramp.

A shot whizzed by his head. He ignored it.

The sound of the ramp retracting did draw his attention, but the pirate inside was a few seconds too slow.

Devin sprung up and grabbed the edge with his fingers and rolled himself up and into the ship just as it closed behind his feet.

The Neder in the ship seemed surprised by that move, or that he was suddenly face to face with an angry Mahdfel.

The pirate threw his hands up in the air, still holding his laser rifle. “I give up! You can’t kill me if I give up. It’s not honorable, right?”

Devin did not care about honor at the moment. He solidly punched the pirate right in the center of his flat face. There was a lot of satisfaction in that punch, but there was even more when he caught the scent of his mate nearby.

Devin turned just in time to see Val stand up from inside a storage crate.

“Are you injured?” he asked.

“No,” she said. He would see for himself.

He crossed to her and pulled her out of the crate.

Devin could not stop himself from claiming her mouth right there and then.

Her tongue dueled with his and he felt that familiar tightening as her taste and scent filled his mouth and clouded away everything but her.

A laser pistol fired, and Devin instinctively rotated himself between the pirate and his mate.

It was unnecessary, though, as the pirate had a large smoking hole in the center of his round head.

The pirate blinked once in surprise at the lemony figure that had shot him, before falling to the ground, dead.

Grena sighed and handed over the laser pistol. “You really should have made sure he was dead before you started trying to provide me with grandchildren.”

“He wasn’t going to do that, here,” Val said. “Were you?”

Devin rolled his eyes but knew that his mother was correct. He began to check the rest of the ship for more pirates.

“Where did you get the gun?” Val asked his mother as he cleared the ship.

“Bright slipped it to me while you were in the bathroom. Oh, sweetie, there were only three. I hope the others are just as dead.” His mother actually kicked the one she’d killed.

“Mother-” Devin began.

“Unless the next words out of your mouth are thank you mother for rescuing me and saving me from a horrible death, I don’t want to hear them. You’re welcome by the way. Now how are the accommodations on your ship? This one is sorely lacking.”

His mother didn’t wait for an apology. She pulled the force helmet collar off the body and put it on herself. Grena stepped out of ship only to be met with Goru who she immediately conscripted into escorting her to the other ship.

“Your mother is right. I mean about the part that it’s not the right time for, you know,” Val said.

“I had no intention of mating with you here,” Devin assured her.

“You didn’t?” His mate had the gall to sound disappointed.

“I have more control than that,” he said.

“So you wanted to?”

Devin looked down at Val and resisted the urge to kiss her again. “I always want to,” he said. “That is the problem. We should rejoin the others.”

Devin found a force helmet and put it on his mate. He picked her up and crossed the distance between ships.

“I can walk,” Val said.

“Your clothing is not adequate for this environment.”

She didn’t protest again and Devin fought back the notion that he should continue all the way to the bedroom. He put her down near where his mother, Bright, and the rest of the warriors were staring at the Neder bodies, as if wondering what to do with them.

“There were only three?” Goru stated.