“He has to,” Frey insisted. He looked around them as if the answer lay among the containers. “Wait, before we figure out how to get Rone off, we need to rig an explosion.”
The human made a noise in the back of his throat. “Are you out of your mind, kid? How and why?”
“The why is easy. If we don’t, they’ll follow us once the rest of the crew finds out their boss has been killed.”
“Not necessarily, pet. They may have no personal loyalty to Kuren. Someone will have ambition enough to take his place.”
“What’s he saying? Jesus Christ, I should have agreed to that implant thing, after all.” The human’s words and the lack of a translator in these mysterious human rescuers made it clear they were not from the disputed planet. They must have come from another colony, although as Frey had said, later.
Frey rounded on the male. “It doesn’t matter. The other reason we have to destroy this ship is because these containers are filled with weapons that they intend to hide on Seven. They’re going to bring whatever this nasty business is brewing within Travian society right to our door. We’ll get caught in the crossfire, if nothing else.”
“That is likely,” Rone agreed, if only for Frey’s benefit.
The human scanned around him. “So, maybe there are explosives we can use in one of these.”
Frey shook his head. “It won’t work. They smuggle everything inside the crates themselves. You need a certain solvent to dissolve the casing and expose them.”
“We are running out of time, people,” the female said. She had the loveliest skin Rone had ever seen on any species, a rich brown tone. Rone couldn’t help but look.
She glared up at him. “What are you staring at?”
He quickly inclined his head. “My apologies.” She seemed to understand and dropped her angry look.
The male who’d been helping Rone not to fall on his face, removed his arm. “Here, kid, take the full load.” He pulled something out of his pants pockets. “I happen to have a little bit of C-4. Old time stuff, but it still gets the job done.”
The leader stepped toward the other male. “Branch, I could kiss you full on the lips.”
“Lucky bastard,” the youngest of them—a boy like Frey—muttered under his breath. No one else seemed to hear. When Rone set his gaze on him, the boy’s cheeks got pink.
“Cleo, Ben, get back into the ship and prepare to leave.” When the female and the boy moved to comply, the leader waved his hand at Rone. “Hey, buddy. Where’s the best place to plant this thing for an explosion to blow up this ship?”
“Nowhere. That’s not enough, no matter how powerful it is.” He gave Frey time to translate, his own words echoing in his ears while he racked his brains for a solution. “Set it here against any one of the containers. It might start enough of a chain reaction to at least destroy this cache and maybe to disable the ship, because the engine room is next door.”
After listening to Frey’s further translation, the human nodded to his companion. “Do it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay, next problem. How do we get yourmasterthrough that hatch?”
“We don’t,” Frey said before Rone could respond. There was really only one answer, although Rone doubted his ability to do what was necessary. It didn’t matter. His pet was already there. “I’ll take him to one of the shuttles and fly him out that way.”
“You can fly one of their vessels?”
“Mymastertaught me.”
“Okay, fine. I don’t like it, but every second we waste arguing about it means discovery. Once you clear this ship, follow us back to Seven. Can you get him there on your own?”
“Yes,” Frey said the word at the same time Rone did.
Rone knew his pet was stubborn enough to try it. He knew he would make himself find the strength to go under his own speed, because no way he’d risk leaving his pet to Kuren’s crew.
The other male returned. “Done. It’s on a timer. Time to boogie on out, boss.”
The leader nodded to Rone and Frey. “Good luck. We’ll wait until we know you’re on our tail before hitting full throttle. Keep up with us, okay?”
“Right.” Frey wasn’t even looking at the male when he agreed. He’d already turned to help Rone out of the cargo bay. Preen scampered past them, likely to play scout.
Rone kept up the pretense that he leaned on his pet and forced his screaming limbs to move. With the shuttle bay so close, the journey didn’t take long. They ran into no one. Rone figured most of the crew was on its sleep schedule, undoubtedly thinking Kuren busied himself with his new pet while Avith tortured a confession out of Rone. It was with no small amount of relief when Rone sank down into the co-pilot’s seat of one of the shuttles. He didn’t object, either, to Preen climbing up on the armrest. His eyes wanted to close, but he kept himself alert. They weren’t out of the woods yet, and he wasn’t going to let his boy deal with the escape all on his own.
