Page 77 of Sway’s Peace (Delivery Service #2)

“Ready to go?” Sway asked, smiling sweetly at Grace, brushing her hair from her face.

She nodded, but her grip didn’t ease up on him. She continued to cling on tight as he led the way into the shuttle, Loyalty following behind, the twins bringing up the rear, walking backwards as they guarded their exit.

The extraction was smooth and clean. The shuttle door closed behind them, but they were already taking off before it was fully shut.

Sway walked to the window and looked down below. Veesway was standing now at the edge of the headquarters. The wind was beating at his feathers. The Song smoked around him.

One last thing…

“Destroy it,” Sway said.

The order, relayed through Alred in comms up to Trove in the ship, was obeyed a moment later.

The remaining obelisks were all taken out, one after the other. The open courtyard with its pretty columns was blown to rubble. The inn was leveled. The walls were shaken and toppled. The streets were blasted until fire raged unchecked through the streets.

And there, one final shot. The top of the headquarters was destroyed. Rocks and rubble and twisted hunks of metal blasted back. So perfectly aimed, it completely missed the farasie male standing before them.

As Sway watched, his father crumpled to his knees. The only remaining person in the Song, now bleeding on the ruins of the monument he had built to the lies of his devotion to Eefwan.

Tanin, who was piloting the shuttle, didn’t spare them a glance as he flew back up towards the Humility – which was already lifting back up, trying to escape the atmosphere.

Getting that old thing up to escape velocity would be a feat, but Sway had no doubt that Vytln could make it happen.

Especially with the fall of the obelisks, completely freeing them of the artificially enhanced gravity of the dwarf planet.

And, just like that, the Song of Retrieval was destroyed without a single person killed. Because Sway was a pacifist who wouldn’t do you the mercy of ending your life.

“Enjoy your vacation?” The captain asked, his tone completely devoid of the sarcastic tone that would make his question a mockery. Not to say he didn’t mean it in a sarcastic way, he was just adept at keeping his expression totally blank.

“It was certainly informative,” Sway chuckled running his hand up and down Grace’s back. She had her face buried in his chest, and he was certainly in no hurry to let her go. “Don’t think we’ll be getting any repeat business from this particular client.”

“They complained the entire time about the cost anyway.”

“Cheapskates,” Sorbet said simply, his tone judgmental as Tebros nodded once at his side.

“Does this mean I can go home now?” Loyalty asked, grinning around at them before focusing on Sway. “Unless you got a long lost cousin you want to visit first?”

“I might, but I think I can resist the urge long enough to get you back to your planet and mate.”

Loyalty grinned, his muzzle parting in a wide, toothy smile. He wasn’t one of their crew, but strangely, Sway rather liked him anyway. He trusted this male to fight at his back. More than that, this male trusted him to do the same.

If the crew was his family, did that make Loyalty his first… friend?

The shuttle caught up to the Humility easily before it could escape the atmosphere.

It slid right back into its dock, latching onto the underside of the ship, and the gate slid closed behind it.

The side of the shuttle was what connected to the starship, but the closed bay was a second layer of protection for the smaller landing vessel.

When the door opened to admit them in, Grace finally lifted her head. She smiled at Garnet who was already standing there with her twin sister Goldie, both ready to welcome them.

“That was so cool!” Garnet squealed happily. “Did you see? Trove shot his initial into the city! Like, he really just left a whole calling card right there! It was hilarious!”

Sway chuckled as they stepped out. The twins emerged last, storing their swords at their backs again, their faces not quite softening, but certainly less tense than they had been.

“Let’s get back on course,” Tanin said as Garnet slid her hand into his before resting her head against his arm. “We’ll deliver Loyalty, then…”

His voice trailed off as he looked at Grace. The obvious question hung in the air. No one could miss the similarities between her and Garnet at this moment.

Grace looked from Tanin up to Sway, biting her lower lip nervously. But Sway didn’t hesitate, holding his head high as he said-

“Grace will be staying with me. As my mate.”

“Yay!” Garnet yelled, giggling as she bounced on her heels. “That’s awesome! Congrats, you two! Oh! We should have a party!”

Tanin’s response was much more reserved as he looked Grace over. Measuring her against his own, internal scale. Sway wasn’t nervous. He knew his captain. He wouldn’t turn her away. Not now that Sway had declared his intentions.

Grace, however, shifted nervously on her feet.

“I-Is that okay?” She asked, her voice trembling a bit. “I won’t be a bother! I’m really quiet, and I don’t eat much.”

“Wasn’t really a concern of mine,” Tanin said, banishing her words with that simple but blunt dismissal. He was quiet for another long moment as he continued to consider her. Finally, when he spoke, what he said was, “You sent to us for help.”

“Huh?” She frowned.

“When Veesway had you. You put in a job request as a cry for help.”

“Oh. Yeah.” She smiled shyly, her cheeks turning pink. “I didn’t know your comm signature. It was the only thing I could think to do.”

“It wasn’t a bad idea,” he agreed easily, making her relax as he granted his approval. “I’m curious though. Why did you contact us that way instead of contacting the peacekeepers? The emergency comm sig is easy and well known for that reason.”

“I thought about it,” she admitted, shifting her weight again.

“But I figured that wouldn’t be a good idea.

I know Garnet said you guys had the peacekeepers’ permission to be here.

But I didn’t know if that was true. And I didn’t want Sway to get in trouble if it wasn’t.

Or any of you! I-I know you’re trying to live peacefully, and I respect that.

I just… I thought trying to contact you would be a better option. That’s all.”

Tanin gave her an approving nod. “Good. You have good instincts.”

Her head popped back up, and she was smiling again. “Thank you!”

“You’ll have to obey my rules if you’re part of the crew.”

“Absolutely!”

“And you’ll have to work.”

“I wouldn’t expect not to,” she nodded eagerly. “I don’t really know what I can do around here, but I can learn fast.”

“Actually,” Tanin gave her a look before saying, “we could use someone with your skills. To handle job acquisitions and datawork and records. Payments and things like that.”

Grace’s brow furrowed as she hesitated. “You mean… admin work?”

Tanin nodded once.

She blinked.

Sway opened his mouth to speak, but before he got a chance, a wide smile broke out over her face, and she laughed happily.

“Awesome! I’m great at administrative work!

Oh! I already have ideas. Your subnet space is so basic and outdated and so clunky to navigate.

And why don’t you have an automatic response when a job request is placed?

Customers don’t like the sense that they’re being ignored or like something might have gone wrong when-”

Loud, pounding footsteps made Grace jump as Sway turned.

He, Tanin, and the twins all reached for their respective weapons – purely on reflex – as Vytln came barging into main storage.

He was huge, his hard, brown skin broken in places, glowing like lava through the cracks.

He had a hard, determined look on his face as he ran past them, to a panel on the wall.

Seemingly at random. He grabbed it and threw it open, yelling-

“Got you!”

-at nothing.

Everyone stared at him as he began cursing in a very growly, harshly toned language. His voice sounded like rocks beating together at the best of times, but when he spoke in his native tongue like that, it was even more pronounced.

The twins snickered darkly under their breath as Tanin relaxed. Sway frowned, looking back at his captain as Vytln slammed the panel shut, though his angry cursing continued.

“What’s wrong with him?” He asked.

Tanin shrugged, unconcerned. “Apparently, we picked up some kind of pest back on Hir-Fallow.”

Grace gasped, affronted. “I beg your pardon. You did not!”

“Yes, we did!” Vytln barked at her. “ Something crawled from your station into our ship, and by the black, I am going to find it!”

“You did not get a pest from my dock!” She snapped back, putting her hands on her hips, but Vytln wasn’t listening. He was already marching away, his heavy boots loud on the metal floor.

“ Did we pick up something from the docks?” Sway asked.

Grace shot a sharp look at him, but he didn’t look her way.

He just wrapped his arm back around her and pulled her against him.

She tried to resist at first, but very quickly gave in and relaxed against him – even if she did it with an offended pout.

Like Vytln had personally blamed her for the pest.

Tanin responded calmly, “Alred can’t find anything, and Vytln has had him scan the ship a few times. But Vytln swears something is moving around and messing with the ship’s internals.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Grace asked, frowning.

“The engine is too hot for anything but Vytln to approach, and the life support and subspace generator have protections against pests. Anything else it could get to would just be an inconvenience. I’m letting Vytln handle it.”

“Come on, we can catch up later,” Garnet interjected, smiling at them. “I’m sure you’re tired and probably want to get settled in. I’ll bring you some food too.”

Sway gave her a grateful smile. Tanin might not be equitable to a father-like figure in his mind, but Garnet certainly filled the role of a nurturer very well. Much more than anything back in the Song, he was comforted by that simple offer.

It was good to be home.