Miran gave one last instruction. “Everyone stay in contact.”
“Understood,” Lazil and Nerin responded in unison. With a last nod, they all left the room and took off in different directions.
It didn’t take Miran long to get to the shuttle bay. The Fielden were all almost as tall as he was, but where he was broad, they were narrow and willowy. Their skin contained no pigment so anyone could easily see their blood vessels working. Because their planet could be harsh, they all wore many layers of loose clothing, to cover or uncover as they needed.
As Lazil said earlier, she would be easy to spot among the slow-moving crowd.
He made quick work of checking the docked shuttles. It occurred to him that if he was the one running, he might take a life pod to escape.
He tapped the small communicator wrist pad “Nerin, break into the Delight’s systems and make sure we can track the life pods if she tries to escape in one.”
“Do you want me to shut them down?”
“No, keep them active,” Miran said. “It would be an easy capture if she launched in one. We could simply pick her up.”
“The Delight’s system has ancient safety protocols, so this will be easy,” Nerin said. There was a pause, then he spoke again. “I've patched into the Delight and sent commands to alert us if any of the life pods launch and give us constant updates on location. I've even turned on the alert light so if she's near one it will draw her attention.”
“Good thought. Try not to trigger a ship-wide panic though,” Miran cautioned.
Nerin made a disgruntled sound. “I know my job. I'll contact you if a life pod launches.”
Miran didn't mean to question Nerin's competence, but the last thing any of them needed was to cause a panic and put the human in even greater risk.
He was about to check in with Lazil when he caught Nova’s faint smell. He froze and concentrated on the smells aroundhim. There was chatter in his communicator between Nerin and Lazil, but he ignored them.
The smell was so faint it took all his attention to capture and track it.
He walked slowly and bumped into several Fielden. The loading dock was becoming even more crowded. Her scent kept getting interrupted by all the other scents filling the bay from everyone else.
She was here, he was sure of it. He was pushing through the crowd, ignoring the grumbling from the Fieldens around him.
He froze, a stronger scent hitting him like a punch to the face. His body heated, and a primal instinct made him want to toss the Fielden around until he found the human who belonged to the scent.
Mine.
The one word and all the intent and need behind it filled his mind. He needed her almost more than his next breath.
She had to be close, but he was surrounded by nothing but Fielden in their loose, flowing garb. She must be hidden among them, dressed in gray to blend in. Somehow, she’d gotten ahold of their style of clothing. It was an effective disguise.
The ship didn’t require the Fielden to protect their sensitive domes, so most of them had their hoods down. Only a few were standing around with their cowls up, obscuring their heads.
He galvanized into action, pushing and shoving through the crowd to rip down the head coverings. The Fielden protested, but no one moved to stop him. In fact, they helped him by turning to watch him move, uncovering themselves to better observe the commotion.
One hooded figure didn’t turn. He pressed his way through the crowd. The moment he was close enough to get his fingers on the fabric, he tugged it back to reveal Nova.
Wide blue eyes regarded him with surprise, her mouth opened a little with shock.
“Please don't fight me,” Miran said as he quickly gathered more of the fabric in his hand. He searched through the voluminous cloth looking for a limb to hold on to. “I promise not to hurt you.”
Her eyes narrowed. and her jaw tightened.
“I won’t give you the chance,” she said, then gave him a cheeky grin and disappeared, leaving him grasping nothing but empty cloth.
***
Nova
Dropping to her hands and knees, Nova left the large Hissa grasping the empty desert cloak she’d stolen from one of the ship’s shops. She didn’t hesitate to start crawling to the nearest shuttle.
