“Braxxos,” she whispered, curling up in a ball. “My love.”
She stayed like that for several hours. She’d have remained immobile even longer if not for the roar of the ships’ engines as the teams returned, victorious and laughing as they departed their craft, each of them hauling their prizes.
Margot peered out from her hiding place and immediately vomited at the site. Dozens of carcasses, scorched, shattered, some mostly intact but the majority of them missing large chunks, were all laid out in several rows. And with them the bodies of a handful of man-shaped corpses, burned to a crisp. One was a little larger than the others.
The size Braxxos had been.
She felt her stomach churn but had nothing but bile left to vomit. Even that soon left her body as she heaved and cried and pounded the ground, stifling her screams.
Gromm kicked at a couple of hard remnants embedded in a few of the bodies, noting they still had the remains of armor sticking to them, making it clear that at least those had to be Dohrags.
The enemy troops were blown to bits despite their armor, cooked alive in an instant. Nothing could withstand that sort of bombardment, and they’d all died without getting off so much as a shot.
“So, good hunting?” Gromm asked as he surveyed the death before him, a satisfied grin on his face.
“It was utter carnage, Boss,” one of the team leaders replied with a laugh. “Got all the Dohrags by surprise. Even took out their ship. Weren’t a lot of them intact enough for a bounty, but we brought back what we could. Maybe someone with a grudge will pay for them. You never know.”
“Stranger things have happened,” Gromm replied with a chuckle. “And if not, we dump them in space. And what of the rest? What of the escapees? We have bounties to collect.
“Huntingwas good. The blast drove a few out of the woods and our guys snatched them up as they ran. And as for animals, well, you can see, we’ve got enough fresh meat to last us a long, long time. Once Cookie cleans them up, of course.”
“I can see that, but what of theotherhunting. What about the one Ireallywant?”
The man shifted uncomfortably on his feet, unaware that their target was not only beast-sized, but also man-sized.
“We didn’t see it.”
Gromm’s veins began to become more prominent, but he held his temper. For the moment, at least.
“What do you mean you didn’t see it? Are you saying I just wasted a small fortune in explosives for nothing?”
“No, no. Not at all, Boss. It’s just, we found some of the bounties dead out there—and we brought them back too. I know dead isn’t nearly as much as alive, but waste not want not, right? Anyway, there was so much just blown to pieces we weren’t able to find a corpse for you. I’m sorry, but just rest assured, there’s no wayanythingcould have survived that barrage. No way.”
Gromm took a deep breath, flexing and releasing his giant fists. His underling stood stock-still, barely inhaling as he silently waited for whatever might come next. Gromm let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly, his hands relaxing.
“Damn,” he muttered. “Damn, damn, damn. What a fucking waste.” He turned and surveyed the encampment. “Listen up, you lot!” he bellowed, the entire place going pin-drop silent in an instant. “We aredonehere. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of this world. It’s time to leave this rock and cash in our bounties.”
The men let out a cheer, but Gromm held up his hand, demanding silence.
“You all fought hard, and I’m proud of the work you did. And, I see you have brought in quite a haul of local game.” He swung his arm, gesturing toward the mountain of mutilated beasts. “And, as you have so kindly provided the meal and saved me the cost of feeding you lot, I feel you have earned a celebration. Tonight we feast!”
Now the men truly cheered, loud and sustained. A few even started chanting Gromm’s name, but their companions quickly smacked them silent. Gromm enjoyed being the boss, but he did not like suck-ups.
“And, as a gesture of my appreciation, extra booze rations for all!”
Again, the men roared with delight. What they didn’t realize was Gromm had already calculated how much additional alcohol he had now that he’d lost so many of his men. Those were lackeys he no longer had to pay, which was a boon, but also less mouths to feed and ply with morale-boosting alcohol. Extra rations he would now give to the others. It was already paid for, after all. And the good-will bought from distributing it rather than keeping it for his next mission bought was well worth it.
“All right. Cooking team, get to it,” he called to the kitchen staff. “You’ve got your work cut out for you and a lot of hungry mouths to feed. Enjoy, my men. You deserve it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Curled up in a ball, sobbing, hidden in the small space between some crates. That was how Margot passed the day, her ribs aching from crying so hard. Her body hurt to the core, the churning confusion of her Infala only compounding the distress. It was calling for him, reaching out. And now she knew he would never reply.
All around her the sounds of festive, cheerful voices filled the air, and soon the smells of myriad animals being roasted—once the cook had removed at least most of the shrapnel and wood splinters—in what was going to prove to be a celebratory feast like they hadn’t had since the particularly profitable job on Garrlox Twelve.
The alcohol Gromm had sent from its secure storage location deep in his ship was flowing freely, and the men were merrily drinking and singing in drunken stupors, and it wasn’t even night yet. It seemed that just about everyone but the cook, a few of his staff, and the poor handful of guards who had pissed off their boss enough to be walking the perimeter even though they were done on this planet, were three sheets to the wind. And it looked like they’d be even more so as the night wore on.
Instruments were brought out of the storage units, a few of the more refined of the group playing surprisingly well for mercenaries, leading the others in largely off-key renditions of what had to be their equivalent of pirates’ shanty dances.
