“Come on, sweetheart,” he said, pulling her out of bed. “I promise you’ll get all the post-coitus cuddles you can handle when you’re home. But we’ve got to get out of here first.”
“Agreed,” she said, both of them rushing to dress. By the time they made it to the bridge, the hatch was closed and the control panel was lit.
But his brother stood alone on the bridge.
Cal released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Juston had failed to convince Midnight to come with him. His brother must be absolutely crushed.
Juston took a seat at the main controls and started the ship’s engines. Cal put a hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”
“I’m not prepared to talk about it.” His brother’s face was carved in stone. “Let’s get the fuck off this dead planet.”
Cal took a position at navigation, and in silence, they labored to lift off. His heart beat fast. The whole time, he was thinking they would be accosted at the last minute by Seekers determined to drag them back to Dazimin.
Instead, they took off and were away from the planet in a matter of moments, entirely unmolested. Whatever had happened with Midnight, she hadn’t interfered with their leaving.
“Cloak engaged,” Juston said. “We’ll be back to Vartik soon enough. And I’m going to sleep until we do. Undisturbed.”
Cal nodded as his brother headed off the bridge and toward the sleeping quarters. After a moment, he swiveled around, beckoning to Gemma. She came forward and he positioned her on his lap, turning back to the control panel.
“Ready to learn how to fly the ship, little girl?”
Gemma nodded eagerly. “Really?”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “Yep. See this button here? It’s propulsion.”
“And this must be the fuel level,” she said, pointing to a dial. “And this, the course heading.”
Cal laughed as she proceeded to tell him all about his bridge controls. “Okay, okay, you’re a genius. I remember. Guess you don’t need a lesson in the mechanics of starship operations.”
Gemma shrugged. “Can I still sit on your lap?”
He laughed and held her tight. “I’d fight you if you wanted to get up.”
She kissed him, and it was filled with such heartbreaking sweetness, he wished the moment could last forever.
Unfortunately, the gods didn’t grant that wish. A proximity alert went off and he broke away to look at the display.
A large ship with familiar markings sat dead ahead, surrounded by smaller vessels with the flashing lights of the interstellar police.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“You’re cloaked,” Gemma reminded him. “We can just sail between them with none being the wiser.”
“Vartik vessel,” came the voice broadcasting over all frequencies, “prepare for tractor beam.”
“How’s that possible?” she asked, her eyes wide. “The cloak is engaged.”
Cal shook his head. “They can see past it somehow.” He swallowed. The Vanfians knew for certain that his people existed, and no amount of covert assassinations and data deletions were going to clean this up.
His entire planet was again in danger. His people would once again live in fear of their blood being harvested. But Cal wouldn’t allow his people to return to a fate of blood slavery. He would find some way to save them.
How? He hadn’t the faintest idea. But then he remembered the woman sitting on his lap. She was a Guardian, a spectral sentinel and the smartest creature in existence. If anyone could figure a way out of this, could figure out a way to keep his people safe, it was Gemmaline.
Cal took a deep breath and clicked the communications array. “Vanfian fleet and interstellar police, you can respectfully go fuck yourself.”
The weapons were activated in a split second, and he kicked propulsion into high gear, rapidly changing course. He sent off two shots, aimed to pass right in front of the Vanfian ship’s hull as a warning.
“Suit yourself, Vartik scum,” came the screeching voice over the communications channel. “We’ll own you soon enough.”
A beam of light spit from the Vanfian ship, hitting the hull and sending up a shower of sparks from the control panel. Cal covered Gemma’s face to protect her. Then he set her at the station next to him. “You shoot. I’ll drive.”
He hit the communicator again as he changed direction once more. “I tried to be respectful,” he said, “but you pigs and felines clearly don’t deserve respect. So go fuck yourselves.”
Gemma sent off another shot, as if punctuating his words, and Cal smiled at her. Then the ship was buffeted by another beam attack, and they both almost lost their seats. A burst of fear filled him. He hadn’t come this far to lose his beloved to these idiot cats and cops, had he?
