Page 301 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Eoin

Leading Tori out from behind the crates, I made sure we kept our distance from the trouble-ship.

The captain of the Ragshov, which was docked just a couple yards away, was someone who had, on occasion, looked the other way when Yashan and I had freed slaves, both here on Yengar and at other locations.

He wasn’t exactly trustworthy, but he wasn’t a total bastard, and he owed my dad a substantial sum of credits from some Keflo games.

He was my preferred ride out of here, but if this didn’t work out, I had seen two more options that might work.

The trouble was the small crowd of uniformed males milling around in front of the ship five berths over, sporting the same colors as the males we’d fought yesterday.

They were agitated, clearly about to do something.

Did they know we were still on the station?

I wasn’t a hundred percent certain that any of the captains we could semi-trust wouldn’t still sell us out for a good price—if that was the case.

The captain of the Ragshov wasn’t outside his ship, but his second-in-command was, a cold-blooded Rummicaron with a large scar slashing across his face.

Baki spotted me and offered that typical, unemotional grin that displayed the many, many rows of sharp teeth filling his maw.

The cold look in his black eyes was nothing unusual; it was rare that Rummicaron had any kind of deep feelings.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Eoin the Nimble,” he said, his arms crossing over his bulky chest, the sleek gray skin gleaming with silver tattoos.

If there was one thing the cold-blooded race was good at, it was being hostile and intimidating.

You didn’t need to show emotion to do that. The coldness was threat enough.

Settling a hand on my hip, I tapped my fingers against my pants as I contemplated him, holding Tori and the baby close so Baki couldn’t get a good look. Not that he was interested; like a typical Rummicaron, he was indifferent to many things, and curiosity just wasn’t in their nature.

“Where’s your captain, Baki? I’ve got business with him,” I asked, glancing at the closed airlock behind him. Why was he sitting out here? Guarding an airlock was not atypical on a spaceport like Yengar, but Baki was far too high-ranking to be doing the task himself.

Baki’s mean grin turned a little sharper, his eyes taking on a sheen.

That was a sign of some kind of emotion, which, in his case, probably meant a form of excitement, greed, or maybe lust. A bad feeling made me ready myself for a fight, the metals that lay dormant just beneath my skin shifting to form a weapon at a thought.

“The… Captain is indisposed at this moment. You can deal with me if it’s urgent,” Baki said, his head cocked to the side, black eyes searching my face.

Since they didn’t feel much emotion, the Rumicaron tended to struggle with reading the emotions of other races.

He was clearly attempting to figure out what I felt—and what I thought—about this response.

I knew what he was saying, it wasn’t uncommon on ships like these.

The captain had been killed, and his crew had mutinied.

Too bad, Yashan was going to be annoyed that he wouldn’t get paid what he was owed now.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t prepared to deal with Baki himself, who I could trust even less than the Ragshov’s previous boss.

“No thanks, mate,” I said. “My business was with Captain Shavor alone. Have a nice day.” I gestured a goodbye and turned with Tori to calmly walk away.

I felt the skin on my back prickle, aware that the large male was staring at our departing forms. Most other species would have called out and insisted they could help me anyway, not Baki.

If he was going to be the new captain of the Ragshov, he’d have to step up and try, though, or he’d be losing out on business.

Not that I cared, and I wasn’t going to change my mind.

Baki was bad news. I’d try my luck with one of our other options; I just had to smuggle us past the crowd of guards outside that ship.

I couldn’t read the name because of all the many moving bodies—at least a dozen—but the vessel was a sleek pleasure cruiser.

It had to be the one that Fierce had stolen his two rescues from.

“Keep quiet, please. We have to sneak past them,” I warned Tori as I urged her into a faster walk.

We were skirting around the far side, but not too far, or we’d draw unwanted attention.

They had probably seen my face during the firefight yesterday, though I couldn’t be sure if these were the same males.

Who knew how many guards this particular rich asshole employed.

“I am,” Tori hissed at me under her breath, “but I'm not the one with my face out in the open. What if they recognize you?” I tilted my head her way so she had a good look at the metals shimmering out of my skin to form a helmet.

In response, she snorted out a little laugh, one slender hand reaching over to pat my chest. “I guess that works.”

“Hey, Eoin,” Baki suddenly shouted from behind us.

“You should tell me what you wanted with Shavor, his business is my business now.”I groaned internally.

I’d known the big lug wasn’t the brightest, but this was a really bad time for him to decide to fine-tune his business acumen.

His shout had drawn a lot of attention, dockworkers and tourists turning to glance first at Baki and then at us. Worse, so were the uniformed guards.

There was one in the lead with a pad of gold bristles attached to one shoulder, the epaulet making his already bulky shoulders look even larger.

The red-skinned Xurtal’s golden eyes settled on our shapes, inspecting us suspiciously.

It was clear that he didn’t like not being able to see our faces, and he surged our way, followed by his squad of men.

I sighed as I slipped my arm from around Tori, giving her a nudge toward a nearby stack of crates.

“Now look what you did, you dumb fuck,” I said to Baki, just as the Rummicaron caught up to us.

The male gave me a cool, indifferent look before his black eyes darted to the approaching, uniform-clad guards.

“In trouble, are you, boy?” he barked out, a mean grin splitting his face.

“If you pay well, I’ll hide you on my ship, you and your lady.

” He gestured at Tori, who hadn’t done what I wanted and was standing a few paces away, her hand clearly on the laser pistol beneath her cloak.

Why had she chosen now, of all times, to decide she wanted to fight?

She needed to get out of the way — hide — so she was safe while I took care of this.

Not giving Baki my full attention, I kept my focus on the approaching guards.

I was pretty sure the Xurtal leader had decided I was their target; I think I might have hit him in the shoulder yesterday.

I recognized him now that he had gotten closer, and it worried me that neither he nor any of his men had made a noise yet.

“No thanks,” I said to Baki. “And unless you want to get caught in the crossfire, I suggest you scram.” I gestured back at his ship.

“I’m sure you have enough blood to clean up in there.

” The big Rummicaron flexed his silvery muscles, outlined by the sleeveless tunic he wore as he eyed the guards.

At least half their number were of his own species, but that wouldn’t stop him from fighting them if he felt like it.

Aggression radiated from his frame for a brief moment before he backed up and jogged back to his ship without another word.

Okay, twelve-to-one was a tough fight, but I was full of metals this time around.

I could hold off their weapon fire; I just needed Tori to hide.

I stepped back to stand in front of her, and she sighed and whipped out her little pistol to aim it around me at the approaching guards. “Hide, damn it, there’s twelve!”

She made an angry noise. “Hide where? They are circling us; there’s nowhere to go.

” They were trying to surround us, but she could still back up behind those nearby crates.

This was drawing attention from those on the docks, and while many wisely ducked into their ships to hide, some were actively pointing.

It wouldn’t surprise me if some of those dockworkers were placing bets.

“Damn it, Tori,” I hissed when the circle closed around us.

I’d have to make sure to draw all their fire, I was the bigger opponent, I was clearly the threat.

I hoped that was enough. Their leader was stepping into the circle with a smirk on his face, arms open at his sides to show he wasn’t holding a weapon just yet.

“Show your face,” he demanded, a sneer curling his lips as he rolled one of his shoulders, definitely the shoulder I’d shot yesterday. He’d received top-notch medical care if he was back in fighting shape already.

I let the metals around my face recede back beneath my skin at his words, aware that there was no way out of this except through.

I’d have to fight them all, or enough of them to make them retreat.

They weren’t going to get me injured this time.

I could take them, as long as I could keep them from touching Tori.

Their leader snarled, “Oh yeah, it’s you.

You stole from our master! Hand back those humans, and we’ll spare you.

” I didn’t believe that promise for a second, but fear curled in the pit of my stomach.

If they got their hands on Tori and Novalee…

they’d consider it only fair to take them in repayment for the humans my brothers had stolen from their boss.