Page 13 of Touch the Stars (Ghara Empire #1)

Kaitlyn.

“W hite, again?” She held her arms out from her sides to give the thin canvas jumper—correction, environmental suit —she now wore a critical eye.

Baatar’s chuckle was warm. “Not completely white.”

Well, yeah. It did have orange piping over all the seams, supposedly the uniform colors of the imperial attendants. But one of them didn’t resemble a marshmallow while wearing it.

“Fine.” She bent to close up the ankle fasteners. “Still not sure how something so thin will protect us from exposure to anything over there, but I’ll take your word for it.”

Click. Click.

The ankle fasteners sealed under the pressure of her fingers, then she straightened. “Ready for inspection, Captain.”

Baatar stood a few feet away, pulling his dark hair partway through a wide, woven navy-blue band, twice. The strands of the black loops fanned against the back of his thick neck like a loose double bun. Then he reached out and gave each of her suit fasteners a tug, working his way down her body.

When he grasped the fasteners at her waist, a warm flush spread across her chest. Ugh. She was about to go on her first space mission, but all of a sudden all she could think of was getting out of her suit just to feel his hands on her body?

Focus. Focus. Focus.

He ran his hands down her left leg, and she cleared her throat. “Uh, so, why did you do that with your hair?”

“My warrior’s knot?” He fiddled at her left ankle fastener then moved to her right leg. “I bind my hair to keep it from becoming tangled under the environmental suit’s hood.”

“Oh.” Jesus, had her voice really cracked there? “That’s…a good idea.”

She raised her hand to finger a length of her own hair. Too bad she hadn’t brought a scrunchie.

“You are secure. Well done.” Baatar rose to stand, then extended his hand. A second blue band dangled from his fingers. “I have an extra, if you would like it.”

She gave him a grin. “That’d be great, thanks.”

She reached to take it from him, but he drew his hand back.

“It would be an honor to bind your hair in the warrior’s knot for the first time.”

Hadn’t he noticed her all but drooling over him tugging at her fasteners? It’d be fifty shades of crazy to let him touch her hair now, but…

“Okay.” She turned her back to him as she ran her tongue over her lips.

He gently lifted her hair, and the cool air of the prep room caressed the back of her neck.

Then strands fluttered back down as he combed his fingers through it until they glided through unimpeded by tangles.

She forced a swallow around her heart, which apparently had decided her throat was a good place to hang out.

Gurl, stop dreaming and focus on priorities.

They were here, dressed in these ugly suits, for Kris. Nothing, nothing , was more important than finding her sister. Not even her crazy attraction to this alien. Her heart eased back down to its normal place in her chest. She inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly.

That’s better.

Baatar gathered all her hair together at the nape of her neck, then did whatever it was he had to do to weave it through the band and into a warrior’s knot.

“There,” he said a moment later. “You are ready for your first mission, young warrior.”

A different pleasure coursed through her at his words. Did he really think of her as a warrior? What a silly thing to be happy about. She was just a woman from Earth who hadn’t had so much as a karate lesson, but right now she could take on an army of Rockys.

She turned to face him again. “Thank you.”

Some unnamed emotion flashed in his eyes, then was gone.

“It was my honor.” He reached behind his head and pulled his hood up. “If you are ready, it is time to determine your sister’s location.”

“Let’s do this.” She slipped her hood over her head and allowed him to adjust the respirator over her mouth and nose. Then she followed him through the wavering wall into a docking tube…and floated upward.

“Eep!” Zero gravity? Cool.

Giddiness filled her at the sensation of weightlessness, and a laugh escaped her. This must be what astronauts felt like.

“Carefully, Kaitlyn.” Baatar’s voice sounded tinny through his respirator.

“I’m trying, but this is fucking awesome .” If there were more room in the tube, she’d try somersaulting her way to the freighter.

“Cruiser, override and open the freighter exterior docking door.”

Several loud clanks came from the other ship’s hull, then part of it slid open like a big rectangle of blackness.

“Now that’s how a normal door works.” An icy coldness prickled over her skin, then warmer air filled the inside of her environmental suit. “So, no lights in there, I’m guessing?”

“Only the lights from our suit helmets.” Baatar reached back, grabbed her hand, then towed her through the opening and into the pirate’s ship.

Some weight returned, pulling her body downward until her feet touched the floor. Fun time was over. Soft snicks sounded, and beams of lights from their suit helmets cut through the inkiness.

“Gravity is weak, so you will bounce as you walk,” Baatar said. “Use the handgrips so your head does not hit the overhead.”

“Gotcha.” A faint, sickly-sweet odor filtered through her respirator. “Ew. What’s that smell?”

“Death.”

The claw of fear twisted in her gut and she widened her eyes. “Kris?”

“Since the atmospheric controls are still working here, they should also be working in the live-cargo cells.” Baatar shifted, guiding her toward a wall-mounted handgrip. “Follow me closely to the command center.”

“Shouldn’t we go to the live-cargo cells, first?” Where Kris had to be, because if she wasn’t…

“It will be faster to get to them if we know their location.”

In other words, why waste time searching the ship when they could ask for directions? Well, duh. Pretty impressive that the guy here thought of that before she did.

Five minutes later, she stood at Baatar’s shoulder as he plugged a handheld device into the ship’s command console.

The stool under him creaked as he moved, but he didn’t seem bothered by it any more than he was by the decaying humanoid he’d removed from the stool, who now hovered like a ghost over the floor behind them.

Or the five others strapped in their seats at the other consoles.

So fucking creepy.

A shiver raced down her spine. What the hell had happened to them?

The small view screen on the console’s surface flickered to life, lighting up with dancing static lines. Baatar pushed a few buttons, and an image appeared.

She leaned over his shoulder for a closer look. “Is that a blueprint of this ship?”

“If a ‘blueprint’ is a detailed map of a ship, then yes, it is.” He pointed to a section near the back center of the image. “These letters say this is where the live-cargo is kept.”

The letters looked like scribbles to her. “If you say so. Let’s go.”

“One moment.” He pushed another button. A hiss filled the air, and a spray of sparks erupted from the console. He yanked the handheld out of the port and stood. “This ship is unstable.”

“Ya think?”

His sharp gaze met hers. “I do. Come.”

Finally. Please be there, Kris. Alive.

She jog-bounced behind Baatar. What a maze. Every hallway looked the same. Same walls, same handgrips, same pipes, same panels of unlit buttons. But Baatar would’ve told her by now if they were going in circles.

Clunk!

She floated upward, even as her last step had propelled her forward. Gravity must have given out.

“Whoa!”

Baatar latched onto one of the evenly spaced handgrips. “Anchor yourself.”

To what, exactly? She’d already passed the closest handle.

Baatar extended his arm as she sailed toward him, then she was up against his side.

A giggle bubbled out of her. “Sorry, but it’s still pretty fun.”

His grin was visible around his respirator, then he nodded toward a side hallway across from them. “That is the live-cargo corridor.”

She moved her light to shine through the opening and squinted her eyes. “What the hell is that dark shape floating down there? A body?”

He grunted. “A Bajiki body.”

Not Kris, then, thank God. “And the other stuff?”

“Entrails.”

Oh, sure. Great.

“Brush them aside and focus on your mission, warrior.” His words held the edge of a command, which snapped her back from a rabbit hole of grossness. “Cruiser, open the live-cargo holds, and keep them open.”

More clunks echoed, then shadowed openings appeared along each side of the short hallway.

“Eight cells,” Baatar murmured. “I will go first, but I need your eyes to recheck the cells for anything I might miss.”

How diplomatic of him. A small smirk twitched at one corner of her lips. He was right, though. If there was something big, mean, and hungry in one of the cells, it would probably eat her before he could help.

A long groan of stressed metal filled the space.

Baatar’s mouth became a grim slash that even the respirator couldn’t hide. “The more we do, the faster the freighter’s condition deteriorates.”

“I’m not leaving yet.” They were too close.

He withdrew a long, baton-like stick from the belt around his waist. “Neither am I.”

“What’s that?” Another version of a blanker?

“A disrupter, in case we encounter any opposition.” He pressed one finger against her cheek. “Quietly, follow me.”

That wasn’t the first time he’d done the cheek touching thing. It must be the Undetan equivalent to putting a finger to the lips to say “shh.”

He kicked off from the wall using his feet and made a perfect entry through the opening and into the live-cargo corridor. Dammit, how did he make moving in zero-G look so graceful and easy?

Just copy his actions exactly, and everything’ll be fine.

Feet to the wall, bend knees, and push— Her left foot slipped sideways.

“Shit.”

The opening sped toward her…or she sped toward it. Whatever. She stretched out her arm, brushed her hand over the edge of the doorframe. Then her body careened, shoulder first, against the opposite bulkhead.

“ Ow .”

Baatar caught her, again , this time by her arm as she sailed by him, then tucked her back against his side.

She met his gaze. “We gotta stop meeting like this.”

“Do not worry, Kaitlyn.” Humor sparkled in his eyes. “We can practice aboard the cruiser later.”

“Can’t wait.” Yes, she could.

“Good.” He set her to float upright again. “Handgrip, now.”

“Got it.” She slipped her hand around one and gave him a nod.

He moved forward and she followed, brushing aside “entrails” and shining her helmet light into one dark, empty cell after another. Each one brought a little more heaviness to her heart than the one before.

She peeked into the fourth cell. A tiny flash of gold in the beam of her hood lamp drew her gaze up to the back corner of the ceiling. Something was there.

Excitement clutched at her heart. “Baatar.”

She gripped the doorframe and propelled toward the corner, then reached out and closed her right hand around the tiny object floating there. “Got it… Oh, shit!”

“Kait- lyn .” Baatar wrapped his large hand around her ankle, stopping her before her head impacted with the ceiling.

The warning growl from his throat rolled over her, as if he wanted to scare her for misbehaving. Like she hadn’t seen through that act when he’d cuddled her in bed after the Rocky incident. The guy was too much of a teddy bear to scare her anymore.

She grinned down at him. “I found something. Pull me down.”

Another growl, this one full of exasperation, then he gave her leg a slight downward tug. Once she was at his level, she grabbed his shoulder with her free hand, keeping her other hand between them.

“Look.” She uncurled three of her gloved fingers, pinning a fine, gold chain in the crux between her thumb and forefinger.

The golden, half-heart charm floated above her palm, and the scrolling, etched letters flashed in the beam of his hood lamp. Sisters .

“She was here, Baatar. This is her necklace, the match to mine.” The sting of tears pricked her eyes as she met his solemn gaze. “But, where’d she go?”

Maybe she was somewhere else on the ship, trying to escape. Waiting for help. Was she even alive?

The freighter shuttered, and a series of cracks and pops sounded around them.

Well, that was ominous.

Baatar jerked his gaze up, around the space, then back to her. “This mission is over. Put the pendant in your belt pouch for now. We must go, quickly.”