Page 26

Jaz

I left them struggling to get their damp bodies back into their coveralls and beat them to the galley.

Zyair was already there with Yani and, unfortunately, Kurt. The human glared at the Drakes when they walked in after me. He’d sat at the head of the table, as if that honor belonged to him.

I ignored him and avoided Zyair’s gaze too, as I scooped Sookie off the counter and took snickerdoodles out of the cupboard. They were like gold on Earth, but the supply sergeant had a regular wholesaler. He also had a fondness for the hedgegopher, and made certain we had them on hand.

I took a chair opposite Zyair and concentrated on feeding her fingerfuls of it, three crumbs at a time.

“Not too much, or you’ll be the one cleaning up after her,” Yani warned.

Zyair had the navcube on the table before him, and was twirling it between his strong fingers as Rhodes and Xandros sat down.

Xandros’s brows rose as he watched the hedgegopher. “She likes to eat that earthnut spread. What are those?”

“Snickerdoodles,” I told him .

“While I am excited the hedgegopher enjoys foods of dubious nutritive value, we have more important things to discuss,” Rhodes grumped in Drakonian.

Yani’s mouth straightened and delivered the death blow. “The power core has been fried.”

Silence greeted her statement, and then Xandros offered a sighed, “Shaftz”.

My heart sank. The power core provided the energy to the ship and functioned as its heart. Without it, nothing would operate properly.

We were well and truly screwed.

Zyair straightened. “If we find another core, what else demands reconstruction?”

Yani stared at him. “We are in the middle of a swamp on a Nirzk occupied world. Where are you going to find another core?”

His eyes flared emerald. “You would rather age out here?”

“No, of course not.”

“We will find a core. What else?”

Yani’s mouth opened, and closed again, before she said, “We received a helluva energy surge through all our systems—some of it will require rewiring. The repulsorlifts’ new relays should make them functional now.

The starboard engine requires extensive work, but I have the parts.

The port engine overheated due to some spectacular demands made on it,” she shot Zyair a significant look, “but I will be able to replace the melted wires and warped blades to get it running. We keep many of those things in storage. But the outer hull of the starboard bay is compromised and requires that metal be welded overtop of the rift—I don’t have sufficient plate metal for that.

And the shield actuator has been destroyed, so we need a new one. ”

It was an impressive list of woes. The Stardrifter was my home, and I felt each bit of damage as if they were dents in my own skin. I didn’t see how we were going to ever get her flying again.

Rhodes fixed me with a non-mesmerizing but riveting garnet eye, and then asked, “Do you speak Primal? ”

Primal was the universal language most often used by traders and those shipping supplies across the cosmos. “Yes,” I said in that language. “I do.”

The dark Drake looked relieved, as he switched to Primal.

“There is an abandoned settlement about three miles from here,” he stated.

“Saw it while I was clearing up the debris trail. We might be able to acquire enough sheet metal to patch the bay, even if it is just temporary.” He looked to Zyair.

“It all is achievable, except the core.”

I don’t know that I would have listed any of it as ‘achievable’, but the core was definitely the biggest issue.

Kurt sat up straighter, and said in English. He knew Primal, which meant he was likely just being a dick. “It’s you guys the Nirzks want, not us. Maybe we should split up.” He looked to me, as if he expected me to jump on board with him.

Before I could comment, Zyair replied, sticking to Primal, “The Nirzks will not leave you alone even if they acquire us.”

“Why not?” Kurt insisted. “We’re no threat to them. You guys obviously have a history.”

“We do,” Zyair agreed. “However, the Nirzks are slavers. They will not pass up an opportunity,” his gaze raked over Kurt, “no matter how insignificant.”

Kurt’s face turned almost purple as he glowered at the Drake, while I moved on to a more commonsense approach. “Where are we going to get another core?” I asked.

Zyair activated the navcube. Without the ship’s sensors, all it could do was offer a static map of the area, but it was able to pinpoint where we were as a bright green dot. I surveyed the map with interest—it clearly showed an old settlement where Rhodes had said it was.

“Maybe there’s an unused power core left behind?” Kurt sounded hopeful.

“It is highly unlikely that something so valuable would be left behind,” Rhodes stated. His voice might be calm, but the look he shot Kurt was scathing. “That settlement is rotting—it has been abandoned for years. You might be able to salvage metal sheeting. That would be all.”

Kurt simply glared at him, but this time he commented in Primal. “Then where are you planning to get a core?”

Zyair refocused the navcube. It zoomed over the extensive swampland until it came to a city.

The static images showed it to be a large community. He commanded the cube to locate a shipyard—and it found one.

“You’re going to walk in there and buy a power core?” Kurt sneered. “With what?”

“We are not going to buy it,” Zyair said.

My mouth went dry. “We’re going to steal a power core from a Nirzk shipyard?”

His emerald eyes fastened on me. “It is the only way the Stardrifter will ever fly again.”

“Why don’t you just steal us a ship?” Kurt had his arms crossed as he glowered at Zyair. “If you’re going to go to all that trouble. Face it, the Stardrifter is trashed beyond repair.”

“She’s not trashed,” I snapped. “She can be repaired. And stealing a slipstream-capable ship would be much more difficult than just getting a core.”

Kurt snorted a derisive laugh. “Just sayin’. Stealing a ship would get us out of here fast. Which would be good.”

Zyair lifted a brow. “Nirzk ships are programmed to their pilots. Although you have a lot in common with a manticore, so I am not sure the ship will know the difference.”

Kurt frowned at him. “There must be a way past it. You figure it out. You’re the almighty Drake. I’m just a lowly human.”

I think I actually rolled my eyes. The Primal word for ‘lowly’ meant a few other derisive things, which I doubted Kurt realized. What an idiot.

Zyair’s lips twitched as he turned to his brothers. “Rhodes and I will get the core. Xandros, cut sheet metal from the buildings in that settlement. Jaz, you can help with the repairs, too.” He glanced to me. “How are your skills at mechanics?”

“Not bad,” I said cautiously. “But won’t you need help getting the core?”

His lips twitched. “We have done assignments in enemy territory.”

“The last one did not go so well,” Rhodes reminded him.

“This one will go fine,” Zyair stated. “They do not know where we crashed, or even if we crashed. This city is small by Nirzk standards. It will be easy.”

Okay, that had to be a simplification. Rhode’s brows lifted, but he didn’t say anything. Xandros opened his mouth, glanced to me, and shut it again.

My pulse was galloping like a racehorse. They were going into a Nirzk occupied city to do this. It had to be dangerous as hell. “What happens if you get into trouble?” I asked Zyair. I groped for the Primal equivalent, and ended up switching to English. “What is the Plan B?”

He took a deep breath and answered in the same language. “I know not the meaning of ‘Plan B’.”

After I explained it, Xandros answered my question. “There is no Plan B.”

While Xandros returned to tearing trees out of the ground and laying them on top of Stardrifter , Rhodes and Zyair prepared to leave.

I hung around with Yani in the engine room, but I was all thumbs. My mind was focused only on one thing—that Zyair would be going deep into enemy territory to get us this core.

When I dropped the spanner for the third time, Yani picked it up and waved an impatient hand at me. “Go see him off,” she ordered.

“But—”

“You’re not any help like this. Go!”

I went. By the thumping along the hull, Xandros wasn’t in any better state about being left behind than I was.

I found Rhodes and Zyair in, of all places, the locker room. They were applying tape to human boots. It took me a moment to realize they’d sliced the boots open to make them large enough for their feet, and now were taping them up again.

Rhodes glanced at me when I walked in. He rose, tucked both boots and tape under one arm, then turned to Zyair.

“Fix this,” he said, and walked out.

My brows rose as Zyair continued to tape his boot. I groped for a way to start what was likely to be an uncomfortable conversation, and began in Primal. “You guys are taking the boots with you?”

“The Nirzks wear them,” Zyair said. “We do not” He wiggled his long toes for emphasis.

“They don’t wear Birkenstocks, I take it.”

One arched brow rose. “Bir…ken…stocks?”

“Xandros sported some fancy orange sandals in the alley.”

One corner of his lip quirked upward. “Xandros likes to experiment.”

I supposed wearing footgear was a pain if you had to shift form in a hurry. I pointed to the boots.

“Wearing those will enable you to blend?”

“It will help. The cloaks—they will cover the rest. Nirzks are about our size, so it should work.”

I swallowed and moved on to what was bothering me. Well, one of the things, anyway. “Do you really think you can pull this off?”

Zyair added one more piece of tape to the boot. “If we do not, we will not get off this planet.”

That was the crux of it, alright.

He put the footwear down beside its mate, took a deep breath, and said, “I am sorry.”

I met his eyes. The pupils contracted, and then expanded until you could barely see the green. “For what?”

“For what happened on the bridge. ”