Page 229 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

“So they are coming here to get us off this planet? How? You just told me this place is rigged with lasers…” She tilted her chin up to look toward the ceiling above, where the tower rose with the said laser cannon.

Then she eyed the cable mess underneath the console I was working on—or had been, until we started this heart-to-heart.

I couldn’t regret it, but we needed to get a move on if we wanted to get away with this.

“That’s why we need the landing codes,” I explained, my fingers flying over the screen now that I had my attention back on things.

Pulling my com off my wrist, I stuck it into one of Aggy’s hands.

“Find a purple-banded wire in that mess and plug that into my com, alright? Make sure not to touch any exposed circuits.”

She gave the com a dubious look before sinking to her knees at my feet and searching through the mess of exposed cables. I tried very hard not to think about how she was kneeling in front of me. Suddenly, my mind was occupied with very different things than making a call to my brothers.

Tensing my legs, I willed the sudden blood flowing to my groin to abate and hoped that Aggy wasn’t going to look up and notice how I was pitching a tent beneath my weapon kilt.

Thankfully, she had her head under the console, digging carefully through the wires.

I hoped she could find the connection we needed.

If not, it would take time to open up the other panels to find it.

This was the most likely candidate, though.

Stars, she shifted, and now her whole body was pressed against the side of my leg. If she tilted her head up, she’d be looking under my kilt. Focus! I needed to do my job, not fantasize about Aggy’s soft lips around my cock.

*

Agatha

I was reeling from Sunder’s story—the tragedy that his life had been.

Didn’t he say he’d spent more than a decade as a gladiator?

I couldn’t fathom enduring that much time in captivity.

All I could do was offer him what meager comfort I had to give, while trying not to cry all over him.

When he talked about Jett being taken from him, I remembered so viscerally what it had felt like to discover my friends dead or gone. Amar missing…

When he moved on to talk about his friends—or brothers, as he called them—fellow gladiators he’d escaped with…

I vowed I’d make him feel better before the end of the night.

I wasn’t going to care that he felt like he had no time for distractions.

Sometimes life was short and horrible, and we needed to grab hold of the good parts with both hands.

Sinking down beneath the console to find the elusive purple-banded wire in a sea of green and red ones, I was acutely aware of my position.

I knew he was aware too, because the atmosphere around us suddenly became tense and stifling, filled with sexual desire.

He was pumping out heat, and from the corner of my eye, I could see how his weapon kilt had shifted.

I contemplated briefly whether I should turn around right now, slip my hand up beneath that leather, and find that erection.

My mouth watered at the idea, if there was a man who deserved a little loving, it was this one.

I shoved the thoughts aside and focused on finding the darn wire; I needed to show Sunder I could work together with him.

So, I needed to curb these impulses until there was a better moment, I just hoped it was going to be soon.

My eye caught a glint all the way in the back of the mess of cables, and, heeding Sunder’s ominous warning, I carefully sifted through them until I could reach the spot.

I didn’t want to find out what would happen if I touched an exposed circuit; I suspected it would be painful.

Yes, there it was! I pulled the purple-banded cable carefully free, located the loose end, and plugged it into Sunder’s com device. “Done!”

He made an affirmative grunting noise, and his fingers flew over the dusty screen as he did whatever mysterious thing it was he needed to do.

The excited grin we shared I felt down to my bones.

Those tusks were intense, and his features were so exaggerated in his battle-form, but that grin made him look boyish. It was good to see him look happy.

A noise issued from the com—a crackling kind of static—then Sunder picked the device from my fingers.

“Hello, Sunder to Vagabond. Anyone there?” he said, offering me his other hand to help me to my feet.

As soon as I was upright, his big, leathery wing curled around my back, sheltering me protectively beneath it.

It seemed like he couldn’t help but want to keep me close.

The com device made another harsh crackling sound, and then the line seemed to clear.

“Hello, Sunder, good to hear your voice!” The responding voice was male, and I could hear that he spoke the Zeta Quadrant’s trader common.

I didn’t need a translator to understand that language, so I caught the thick, growly accent that colored it.

The low bass gave me the impression of a huge male talking to us on the other side of the line.

“Ziame!” Sunder said. He sounded genuinely happy to hear the male.

“How is everyone? Everything alright?” I could tell that this question was natural for Sunder to ask.

He was a caretaker, and these gladiator brothers were his family, so he worried about them.

I tucked myself closer against him, happy to settle myself against his solid bulk and soak in a bit of that feeling for myself.

“All are well. We are nearing the planet. Do you have codes for us yet?” Ziame answered.

“And is your son alright?” The line was crystal clear now, and I could tell that there was soft chatter in the background from other voices.

It was a mixture of languages, however, so my translator couldn’t pick out what was being said just yet.

“We are well. No codes, but I think Akri can fix that. Akri, can you connect to this planetary defense tower through this connection?” Sunder looked intently at the screen on the console in front of him, the symbols on it in a language I couldn’t read.

The screen flashed blue a few times just as a male-sounding voice came over the line.

“I can do this, Sunder. Initiating connection in three, two, one. I’m in.

” The way this newcomer spoke made me think it was an AI—perfect punctuation and diction, every word crisp and precise. There was no inflection.

“Ah, Sunder,” a third voice interjected.

“I dug up that information on the female you wanted,” he said.

This guy sounded younger, eager, with a laughing tone to his voice that couldn’t do anything but make you like him—even if what he said made me look sharply at Sunder, who had the grace to look a little flustered.

“That's, uhm… all right, Kitan. She’s with me right now. I’m sure she’ll tell me what I want to know if I ask,” he said.

Nice save. He was telling me that he didn’t need this intel now, that he trusted me.

At the same time, he curled his arm around my waist, anchoring me to his side, and I knew that regardless of what I was thinking, he wasn’t going to let me withdraw.

“Yeah, well,” this Kitan said, “make sure she tells you about the deal she made with a crook on Strewn to get her the papers to get in. I’m sure you need to know about that.

” My blood went cold at those words, my mind flashing back to the awful moment I’d had to deal with that information broker to get here.

I was pretty sure this wasn’t some warning for Sunder to stay away from me; I hadn’t done anything wrong making that deal.

The broker was really shady, though, maybe this Kitan was worried it would rat me out and get us into trouble.

Sunder’s dark gray eyes met mine, the look intense as he no doubt tried to gauge what I was thinking.

I gave him a little shrug and a nod, trying to indicate that I would tell him, but that I wasn’t sure what his friend thought was so urgent about it.

I didn’t think I was imagining the warning flashing in his eyes, and a little thrill shot up my spine.

As a schoolteacher, I was often the one in the position of authority, scolding children from time to time.

It was kind of sexy when Sunder was doing that to me.

“I have connected to all the towers in the system,” the AI voice announced, and now I thought there might actually be a hint of triumph in there.

“The encryption is too advanced to crack. Gaining access to their landing codes is deemed impossible.” That wasn’t good news, and I saw how Sunder’s face fell; we were obviously counting on these strangers to get us out of here.

If we had no codes, how were they going to land the ship?

The young, cheerful voice announced, “Chloe and I can still make it. I’ve always wanted to try out-flying a planetary defense grid.

” I wasn’t sure what exactly went on on the other side of the connection, but it sounded like some kind of slapping, a female chuckle, and what was clearly an indignant yelp that morphed into some kind of animal growl.

“Stars, no. Kitan, that’s the worst idea ever. I know you’re a good pilot, but that’s a risk we’re not going to take. Aggy and I will find a different way off the planet.” I loved how Sunder was now including me in this, as if we were a team, working together.

“Aggy and I?” Kitan was muttering in the background, as if he were surprised to hear Sunder say such a thing.

The others made no note, though I was unsure just how many were listening on the other side of the line.

It sounded like a rowdy, cozy bunch up there, and I was suddenly desperate to see how Sunder fit in with them.