The J1N meandered through the room like a drunken bumble bee as Kira sat down in the captain's chair, looking everything over.
She wiggled her fingers and set them on the keyboard. First—she’d commandeer this ship. Then—she’d see what she could do about picking Graydon up so they could get off this rock.
"Well then, let's get started, shall we?"
Eleven
Raider - The Wanderer
Raider glared at the woman he'd come to view as a particularly annoying little sister over the years. A minor miracle considering Raider's fractious relationship with the notion of 'family'.
Until Elise and Kira had crashed into his life and dragged him into their orbit, he'd been happy to give the concept a wide berth. He was a lone wolf. A half feral creature with no concern for anyone but himself.
To him, family had always meant the people who hurt and beat you. Those who thought they owned you simply because they'd been responsible for bringing you into the world.
He'd been a commodity. Someone they vented their anger and imposed their will on.
Kira changed that. The first he'd come to view as 'family'. Though he hadn't known to call it that back then.
He didn't have a word for the fact that she and the rest of the members of their tiny group were people he'd gladly lay down his life to protect. He wouldn't even have to think twice.
By the time Elise came around, he was more open to the concept of relationships. It helped that she'd captivated him from the first fake smile she'd given him. The one she used to fool the rest of the Curs into thinking she was a good person.
He couldn't help but be drawn to her duality. So like his. Her outwardly warm exterior a mask for the cold way she treated people. Often with them never realizing. Then there was the person he sometimes glimpsed when her guard was down. The stray acts of kindness when she thought no one was looking. Like the hospital bills she paid off for Bates's mother without ever letting him know that she was the one responsible. Or the little girl she'd given her food to when they were on Kala.
That girl had been starving and the protracted siege of the planet meant no one knew when they would be able to get supplies in next.
It was those little things. So at odds with the devious and cold woman he'd come to know.
Everything that happened afterward. Rothchild and her disappearance. Raider no longer cared. He knew who Elise was. Had been reminded of it the moment she injected the isotope that would allow her to follow Elena, thus taking Kira's place.
She was the only woman he'd ever loved. The mother of his child. A master of intrigue. And the ultimate survivor.
He was getting them back. Both her and Elena.
So, Blue had better get with the program. Annoying little sister or not.
Raider slammed a hand down on the table. "That's too long. This boat needs to go faster, Blue. I don't care how you do it, but get us to Rothchild."
Blue threw up her hands as a frustrated sound left her. "Do you think I'm not trying? You're asking me to break the laws of physics. The Wanderer is already running at capacity. We can't go faster."
Raider refused to accept that. "A Tuann ship could make that journey in half the time. Don't tell me it's not possible."
"Yes, a Tuann ship," Blue stressed. "For all the modifications Roake made to the Wanderer, she's still Consortium made."
Raider was getting tired of the excuses. "You've spent months in their territory. Don't tell me you've learned nothing that can help us."
That was why she was on Ta Sa'Riel, after all.
Raider had been tasked with babysitting Kira and making sure she didn't fuck up their alliance—or get herself killed with her stubbornness. While Blue was supposed to do a little intellectual espionage. Reverse engineer anything that might give them a technological edge in the war Himoto and Jace thought was coming.
"I've learned quite a lot, actually," Blue said. "But nothing that would help in this situation."
"How is that possible?" Raider snarled.
Frustration mounted.
"You're right. I could probably jury-rig some type of modification that would allow us to eke out a little more speed from the engines. BUT—" Blue held up a finger. "That would only cause massive damage. I doubt we'd make it even half way before they quit. We'd be stranded between systems, waiting for someone to answer our distress call. That would leave us worse off than we are now."
