Page 313 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

The quiet Solear suddenly made an excited noise and held out the datapad to Aramon. The two shared a wide grin, and then they were both jogging off the shuttle without a backward glance. I groaned. Trust those adrenaline junkies to be unable to resist getting their fix. Now what?

“Calm down, Tori, you can do this,” I said out loud.

It felt like forever had already passed—and then some—since Eoin and the mercs had left the shuttle to take over this orbiting station.

I knew it had been no more than five minutes; everything had remained quiet, with the occasional update over the group com channel to let us know which areas had been secured. Everything was fine.

Pacing across the limited floor space of the shuttle, I made sure I had one of the laser pistols ready in my hand, the safety still on.

I didn’t want to accidentally shoot a friendly, but I wanted to be prepared.

My mind flashed to Novalee back on the Varakartoom.

The big black battleship had been hidden behind a moon, so she was perfectly safe.

That’s where I usually was when Eoin or the other gladiators were doing a rescue or something, I had never even left the ship for so much as a little shopping.

Eyes on the open hatch, I felt my nerves settle.

So that’s why Eoin took comfort in having me safe, it made me feel better too, knowing that my baby was out of harm’s way.

I shook my head in disgust. Was I seriously considering that he was right?

No, I needed to be here to help those two humans down on the planet, and I needed Eoin to understand that I was not a child.

My face heated when I remembered our activities in the bedroom over the last few nights. No, he definitely didn’t think that. Enough with the smothering, I deserved to be able to make my own choices. At least he wasn’t being obnoxious about it, now that there was no longer a point in arguing.

“Command center secured,” a voice announced, startling me so much that I nearly dropped the pistol.

I was pretty sure that was the feathered hacker, or communication specialist, as Eoin had called him.

“No outgoing calls logged. Mission success,” he added, and I sighed in relief.

Did that mean all the bad guys on the station had been accounted for?

Just before Eoin had called me, they’d announced that twelve were still missing…

I was willing to bet that that’s what Solear had been looking at on that datapad, the location of those missing guys.

If so, I was pretty sure that he and Aramon had already found them by now.

Lowering my shoulders and letting some of the tension leave my body, I sat back down in my chair, thinking that I was safe.

The sound that filled the silence immediately proved that I was not alone.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose in fear, my eyes growing wide at the sound of the outer door of the airlock hissing.

I was back on my feet in an instant, my thumb flicking the safety off of my laser pistol.

Under my breath, I muttered Camila’s instructions like a mantra, and it settled my nerves and steadied my hand.

Was it the mercenaries returning—Aramon and Solear—or was it something more nefarious? Holding my breath, I waited, feet braced on the metal floor panels, these slightly-too-big combat boots providing plenty of grip. When the door slid open, I still wasn’t quite ready for what came through it.

It was an alien of a species I had never seen before, and he took up far too much space coming through that hatch.

There was a mass of writhing tentacles, like an octopus—right down to the suction cups evenly spaced along the bottom.

He was a lurid purple, with pink on the undersides of each of his many arms, or hers, or its?

I wasn’t actually sure if this thing had a gender.

If it did, there were no external features by which I could recognize it.

A big head sat like a blob atop all those wriggling arms, and then it opened a maw down one side, tipped with a beak like that of a bird.

I was pretty sure I screamed in fear at the sight of the razor-sharp teeth displayed, that maw big enough to gobble my tiny self up in one big bite.

My ears were rushing with the sound of my blood, so that even the sound of my own screaming barely registered.

My hand had been steady before, but now it was shaking like a leaf, and my legs had turned to jelly. Was this how it was going to end? With me being a stubborn idiot? Leaving my baby all alone in this terrifying quadrant of space? Breaking Eoin’s heart?

No, this was not it! On trembling legs, I stumbled back, my ears registering a squealing noise over the sound of my racing heart. That wasn’t me; I wasn’t screaming now, it was that space octopus, that monstrosity who was about to try to eat me.

I bumped into the back of the chair at the front of the shuttle, successfully widening the distance between me and that creature.

It appeared to be taking its time to approach me, and that sparked an idea.

Risking a glance over my shoulder at the console full of glittering lights, I located the button I wanted and slammed my fist down on it.

The shuttle hatch started to close—too slowly for my liking—but the thing was so big that it got stuck almost immediately.

I sagged against the chair, staring as the purple space octopus squealed and writhed while the hydraulic hatch tried to close on it.

I knew that had to hurt, and I instantly felt bad, especially when it opened one large, clear blue eye to stare at me pleadingly.

What was I supposed to do? Shoot it? Tell it to leave me alone?

Would it even understand what I said? I wanted to close my eyes and look away, but that single blue eye held me captive as much as the hatch was holding it captive.

The blue depths of that one eye swirled at me, drawing me into its pain.

Tapping Eoin’s contact on my com, I risked calling him, worried that he was still in a scuffle of his own.

The last thing I wanted to do was distract him, but I was pretty sure he’d want to know about this.

I was pretty sure I wanted him to know about the giant octopus trapped in the shuttle hatch.

Was it even going to hold him? What if he slithered free?

I wasn’t in the least surprised when he answered almost immediately.

He sounded a little out of breath when he said my name.

“Eoin, I hate to bother you when you’re in the middle of something, but eh…

there’s a giant octopus with a beak trying to climb into the shuttle.

” I had my hands under control again, my laser pistol aimed at the creature without shaking, but it was so big that I wondered if shooting it would even work.

There was a muffled noise from Eoin, almost like he tried to swallow back a sound of distress.

When he spoke, he sounded extremely calm.

“Giant octopus? Is it purple?” When I confirmed that it was indeed an obnoxiously bright color—purple with pink undersides—he added, “A Grolarnx, then. Are Aramon and Solear taking care of it?”

I was still staring at that bright blue eye on the Grolarnx’s forehead.

It looked so placid, so innocuous compared to the gaping, tooth-filled beak it had snapped at me.

My hand lowered the pistol a little. It wasn’t moving now—just staring at me, its tentacles going slack.

The screeching had turned to a mournful wailing.

Damn it, I was starting to feel sorry for the thing.

My attention snapped back to my com call with Eoin when I realized he was cursing harshly—some of it rather inventive, even. “I know, they’re idiots who should have kept to their posts, but it’s all right. I’ve got it trapped. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” Eoin shot back angrily, but that didn’t worry me.

I was starting to feel at ease, more relaxed now.

See, I had this; that octopus wasn’t so bad, and it was trapped anyway.

Actually, that had to be hurting, maybe I should release the hatch and free it.

I had my pistol aimed; it would probably back off.

My eyes were still rooted to the blue eye on its bulbous forehead, but a little niggle of worry, inspired by Eoin’s urgent tone in my ear, made me glance down.

Hey, why was I pointing the pistol at the floor?

Confused, I started to look back up at the creature while raising the pistol again, and that’s when Eoin’s words finally penetrated.

“Don’t look at the blue eye! Shoot it out, Tori—can you hear me?

Shoot out its eye! Do it now—the eye!” My whole body jerked against the chair in shock, adrenaline jolting through me.

I realized I’d been drooping down, sinking to the ground, my body going lax.

I’d been falling under its spell, and I was still struggling. What was I supposed to do again?

When I raised my eyes again to look at the threat, all I heard was, “Blue eye, shoot it!” Eoin was repeating it over and over again, while harsh breathing punctuated his words.

He was running as fast as he could toward me, but I felt so at ease again, so uncertain about what the threat even was…

I didn’t think he’d be here in time. Why did he even need to be here anyway?

My arm burned and shook when I raised the pistol, my palm sweaty against the metal warmed by my skin.

I couldn’t risk looking at that blue eye for more than half a second, or I’d be unable to look away.

My mouth went dry, my body fighting the urge to take any kind of action at all.

Squeezing the trigger was the hardest thing I’d ever done, and I managed it through sheer willpower alone.

The shot hissed as it streaked through the small space, and a tremendous screech issued from that razor-lined beak, hurting my ears. I fell to my knees, clutching my hands over my ears, raising watery eyes to see if I’d hit the target, terrified I hadn’t, and that I’d be trapped again.

What I saw was a mass of writhing tentacles that flashed red and orange in angry spots.

The blue eye was squished closed, though the scorched burns indicated that my aim had been off—just glancing across the bulbous head.

I’d been lucky enough to get my shot close enough that it had reflexively closed that hypnotic tool, but once it got ahold of itself… that might not last.

Kneeling on the ground, I prepared myself to try again, but the target was moving far more than last time, and I wasn’t sure I could do it.

Then I didn’t have to try. With more screeching and hissing, the octopus seemed to twist its head, and then it went limp entirely.

Not much later, the shuttle hatch opened, and the Grolarnx became a big, fleshy, purple puddle in the entrance.

“Tori?” Eoin shouted from the other side, as well as in my ear over the com channel. He sounded far less calm than before, but he wasn’t alone. Other male voices were coming from the other side of that pile of purple flesh.

“Here, Eoin, I’m fine. I shot that thing just like you told me to,” I called out, watching with a little dismay as the pile of tentacles started to slide out of the shuttle opening.

It was making weird squelching noises that turned my stomach, I was so never eating squid again in my life.

Not that it was available in the Zeta Quadrant anyway.

“I’m going to kill those two,” Eoin growled, then leapt over the last purple tentacle and rushed into the shuttle.

I was only too happy to let him curl me into his chest while he frantically patted me all over, checking for injuries.

He was muttering about all the things he was going to do to the Asrai twins when they were located, and it was making me smile.

Yeah, he was overprotective, and I’d have to see how this was going to make him act down on the planet.

A girl had to admit how nice it was to have a guy be this frantic about her well-being.

Didn’t hurt that he was pressing me up against all those lovely muscles, either.

I was definitely taking a moment to squeeze his butt while I had the chance.

A piercing wolf whistle had me withdraw my hand and clutch it behind my back, like I was a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

My face went hot, ears burned in an instant, and I had probably gone tomato red.

Eoin had stopped his angry mumbling and was grinning down at me, while behind his shoulder, I could see at least three mercs peering into the shuttle with curious looks.

Jaxin was grinning widely, no doubt the one who’d whistled.

“Nice shot. That definitely did the trick,” the weapon master said, and then he went from grinning to all business.

In seconds, I was back in my jumpseat, and merc after merc trotted back onto the ship to find their own.

The last to rush aboard were the two Asrai, followed by the Captain.

We were taking off from the station before the Naga had even strapped himself into a seat or finished the angry scolding of his two subordinates.