Page 288 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

“Miss Arianna, Da’vi, sir, how pleasing to see you,” the male said in perfect English.

Then his head sluggishly flopped to the side.

“Doctor Nerizana and Miss Noa, greetings to you.” His eyelids drooped, long black lashes fluttering against his orange cheek.

He seemed exhausted just from speaking, his chest rising and falling more rapidly.

“Akri? Is that you?” Noa asked incredulously, reaching out to grab hold of one of the alien’s hands and squeeze it tightly. Da’vi frowned, his eyes darting over the pod and lingering on the open side where cables had previously been attached. They were burned and singed from the overload.

“I believe so, Miss Noa,” the alien said, his voice not much more than a whisper. Then his eyes closed completely, and the Doc leaped into action, pushing everyone aside so that he could hook the body up to an IV, taking more readings as he went.

“Hey, Ziame, you might want to come down to the med bay,” Da’vi said into his com.

“We’ve located Akri. You’re gonna want to see this.

” He folded his hand around mine, guiding me to the side while we watched the Doc work to stabilize the alien Akri.

I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around what had happened, but I was pretty sure that the AI had somehow downloaded itself into this body.

Whether that was a conscious action or an accident, we had no way of knowing yet.

“Come on, let’s leave them to it,” Da’vi said, leading me back to our quarters.

“I wasn’t done with you yet. We have more to celebrate.

” Since there was nothing we could do for anyone, I was only too happy to let him lead the way.

Everything was still in flux, so much was going on aboard the ship right now, but Da’vi was my rock.

He’d been my rock from the moment I heard his voice, like I’d been his Sunshine. Everything was going to be fine.

*

Eoin

We’d agreed to spread out, each of us searching a section of the space station so that we could cover more ground.

We needed to find out as quickly as possible if a batch of human slaves had come through the station to be sold.

If they were still here, we’d devise a way to save them; if not… we’d have to track each one down.

Rubbing my hands over the skin of my arms, I checked to make sure all was well.

The nerves were still recovering, and I kept having phantom sensations.

I’d filled my reserves with whatever ore Da’vi could spare, but I felt like I was still running on empty.

I’d have to sneak some minerals from the station somewhere to bring myself back to peak condition.

Stepping into the shady dive bar, I made sure my posture was straight, my chin up, and I made eye contact with every crook inside, letting them know I was no easy target even if I was an alien they’d never seen before.

When their eyes flicked from my face to a point just to the left and below my shoulder, I felt a shiver go down my spine.

Something cold opened in the pit of my stomach, fear.

They were looking at someone behind me. Someone small, or they wouldn’t be looking down.

Then her scent swirled into my nose, the scent of the kitchen, of the foods she made.

Tori was behind me. I could only hope that she’d left Novalee safely on the ship.

Spinning on my heel, I still held the hope that it wasn’t her, that I was imagining things.

There she was, in all her petite glory. Her blonde and brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, her dark brown eyes soft and shy, but with that always-so-stubborn tilt to her chin ever-present.

She was dressed in an oversized jumpsuit from the Vagabond, a swatch of black fabric wrapped around her head and shoulders, covering much of her hair and upper body.

“Tori! What are you doing here?” I hissed, grabbing her by the shoulders and dragging her to the side, into the shadows. I could still feel the prying eyes of the patrons on us, so I made sure she was hidden behind my body. “This is no place for you!”

Shy with most people, somehow Tori always seemed perfectly capable of yelling at me if she felt like it.

This was no exception. “Don’t talk to me like that!

I can go wherever I want!” She bit her lip, her eyes darting around my shoulder to nervously scan the bar.

“And I want to be with you. You nearly died, Eoin. You’re not invincible. ”

I wondered if I’d seen it coming, but I hadn’t expected to be struck by that much electricity.

In a bar fight, I doubted I’d end up with so much as a scratch, even with depleted resources.

“I’m fine, Tori. This isn’t a safe place for you.

Someone could try to steal you!” That was my worst nightmare: seeing Tori captured and put into a slave collar.

She’d never had to wear one and had only technically been owned for three days, until the gladiators had freed her.

But that was more than I ever wanted her to go through.

“I have your back, you have mine,” she said, full of determination. Lifting her black scarf away from her hip, she showed me that she had come with a laser pistol strapped to her hip. “I might as well stay now. How are you going to get a human to trust you if you find one? You need me.”

I spared the dive bar an uneasy glance, but it looked like most patrons had turned back to their drinks and their gambling. She had a point: I had to escort her back to the Vagabond regardless, but I could do that right away, or first do what I’d come here for. Time was of the essence.

“Fine,” I relented, and then I did something I’d never dreamed of doing just yesterday: I flung my arm around her slender shoulders and pulled her tightly into my side.

She flinched, her eyes flying to my face—huge and startled—but I just started to urge her toward the bar, where I hoped the bartender would tell me what I needed to know.

We’d just sat down together on a set of bar stools when heavy footsteps thudded into the bar, and the patrons fell silent as they watched the newcomers.

Oh fuck, I knew those black armor-clad guys, all three of them.

They were unmistakably mercenaries from the Varakartoom; they’d been chasing the gladiators for a bounty for Drameil for almost a year now.

“Look what we have here!” the first one said, an Asrai with distinct deathmask markings on his face.

His twin stood next to him with a wide grin, sharp teeth on display in what was clearly a hostile gesture.

“Aren’t you from the Vagabond? That’s lucky, isn’t it, brother?

Luck, I tell you. Such a juicy bounty.” He jabbed his twin in the side with a cackle, their third companion leveling the barrel of a small portable laser cannon right at my chest.

We were so screwed.

THE END