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Relief drained the last adrenaline pumping through her veins. “Tell me, Caah, why didn’t my armor stop the blaster shot?” She raised her elbow to better see her bicep, dark with her blood. Already the pain had dissipated.

“Summoning it comes with practice. In the beginning, its reaction to danger is unreliable.”

“So I should have had it ready from the start?” Stops a punch but not a shot? Go figure.

“Yes and no. As you train, its formation will become swifter, almost as fast as thoughts fly.” He chuckled. “Your existence and the symbiotes transferring to you without the ceremony is what will flummox the Q.C.C. I look forward to their revelation. They can be pompous eels.”

She blinked. Did he call his superiors eels?

What lighting remained, flickered then fizzled out, enshrouding her and Caah in sheer darkness.

She stilled, straining her ears to listen.

A solid weight pinned her to the metallic grates, then rolled her just as a blaster shot flared white, burning into her retinae.

In the flash of light, she’d caught a glimpse of Dieter, the muzzle of the blaster inches from where her head had been.

She laughed then swallowed it when Caah cupped her mouth and flipped her again as another shot flew past her left shoulder.

“Computer,” she whispered, “switch on all lights.”

A scream followed.

In the blinding white fluorescents, she half-expected to find Dieter still in the passage. He’d slithered back to the engine room; night goggles lay where he must have discarded them.

“Good,” she muttered.

Across the doorway, Drafe lunged. A thud and grunt had to mean he’d tackled Dieter to the floor. While they grappled, huffing and cursing, she pushed Caah off, careful not to hurt him. He offered her a sheepish smile and helped her to her feet.

“Want to stay for the show?” she asked him.

“Got to. Drafe might need me…us. Best you stay too.”

She snorted. When she crept closer to the engine room’s doorway, Caah tried to hold her back.

She shrugged him off, waved her blaster as proof she was fine, then peered through the door at Drafe with a dagger at Dieter’s throat.

He growled something she couldn’t pick up, but it had Caah nodding as if what he’d said made sense.

“Blood for her blood,” Drafe said, plunged the wicked dagger into Dieter’s chest, then twisted it.

He didn’t pause to make sure Dieter breathed his last. Instead, he rose, kicked Dieter’s blaster across the room, then strode to her.

Sweeping her into his arms, he stole a kiss before leaning back to study her wound. “Already healing.”

“Feeling better?” she asked, despite loving his defense of her.

He scowled. “When I can no longer smell your blood, then I will be well.”

Computer intoned, “Captain, Nikko is requesting release from lockdown.”

“Denied.” She chuckled. Poor Nikko, unable to free himself on his own ship.

“Acknowledged.”

She rolled her shoulders, slamming her fist into her palm. “Time to even the score.” She took the elevator to the mess level, striding with eagerness to the sealed door. “Computer, free Nikko.”

As soon as could the door opened wide enough, she vaulted forward, pinning Nikko to the bulkhead.

“Vic? How is this—?” His eyes bulged when he peered over her shoulder at Drafe and Caah.

She squeezed his throat to get his attention. “I found the prisoners, Nikko. Care to explain? And the pods? Curious little things. Why would an ice hauler have either?”

When he struggled and clawed at her hand, she dug her nails into his skin until he ceased his escape attempts.

“No one questions an ice hauler traveling between planets, and Carne pays well,” he rasped.

“Mm, and what’s the security protocol when delivering your goods?”

He spluttered a chuckle. “I’m not saying.”

“Fine.” She released him, then punched him with her inhuman fist, snapping his head to the side. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He groaned but glared at her. She grabbed him by the collar and dragged him behind her. “You know Leah, your lover?”

“No, don’t hurt her.” He slapped at her hand gripping his shirt.

She said nothing, just continued to the airlock.

“Vic,” Drafe warned. “We need him, gevatia .”

Caah sliced a glance at Drafe, his cheeks paling. Interesting . She’d ask Drafe about the endearment later when she had him at her mercy.

“Relax, I’ve got this.” Outside the airlock, she tapped her neck device twice, then hit the depressurize button. Nikko cried out and fought harder to free himself. “Oh, and for your information, Nikko,” she paused for effect, “Leah’s dead.”

The man wailed, screaming denials.

Drafe rested his hand on her shoulder. “Vic, please.”

“Do you trust me, Drafe?” She met his pale-yellow eyes. They darkened to amber as he studied her. Something whispered across her mind. The deep resonance lingered, gentle and filled with familiar warmth.

“Yes.” He stepped back and activated his neck device. Caah did the same.

She grinned, her chest swelling with a profound emotion she couldn’t name. “Right answer.”

The door slid open. She tossed Nikko into space, then waved as he traveled, his mouth contorted in horror.

Punching the button, she closed the door and waited for the airlock to pressurize.

After touching her neck device to deactivate the shield, she kissed Drafe, slipping her tongue in to claim him, to relish the taste of him.

Breaking away, she smiled at the ceiling. “Computer, replay archival footage from the bridge for previous security protocols when approaching the Carne medical facility.”

“In chronological order?”

She basked in Drafe’s grin. “Start from most recent.”