“I’ll do it.”
“Great! And our first shipment is going to this ship too, Ranek. Butterball is going to her new home on board theNew Horizonwith Captain Uzzar and Delaney. The crew is making a rather large donation to Dragus R Us. The captain tells me he knows you, Ranek.”
“He does.”
“Great. Anyway, it’s the middle of the night, so why don’t you go spend the evening together and come back in the morning to pick up the pups so you can start on your next big adventure?” Her friend grinned at Maya, looking very proud of herself and a little smug.
“Sounds good,” Maya said.
And with that, Faith and Grant were off, leaving her alone again with Ranek.
“I cleaned up the shuttle,” he said. “It’s not much, but it’s comfortable and all ours.” He had a worried look on his face, like he thought she’d be disappointed in his less-than-luxuriousoffering. “I promise I will work hard and provide better for you and our future family.”
Maya grinned. “I know you will. But I’m happy as long as you’re there.”
And the next thing she knew she was in his arms, being carried to his shuttle. And the best part of it all? Even better than the fact that they didn’t have alien pterodactyls after them this time? She knew she was exactly where she belonged.
Epilogue
Ranek
A few years later…
Ranek watched as Butterball and Commander Chaos both jumped onto the much bigger Nibbles as they wrestled and play-fought. It made him grin because it had been a while since he’d seen Commander Chaos act like a young pup. But visiting his sister and Nibbles usually brought out the youngster in him.
Ranek remembered the less-than-ideal meeting between Chaos and Nibbles on theNew Horizon. The only experience he’d had at that point with tunnel verlaks had been negative, and he hadn’t trusted the little fluff ball at all. But Nibbles, his belly full of tepin, and without his own brothers and sisters to grow up with, was eager to make friends and didn’t see him or Butterball as food. Butterball just saw a very strange-looking and smelling dragus. And after realizing that Nibbles was more interested in playing than eating him, Commander Chaos had relented.
That was several years ago. Now, each dragus was fully grown, standing hip height on Ranek. And Commander Chaos was lean and muscular, a prime example of his species. Butterball was, well, she was Butterball. The crew of theNew Horizonknew sheneeded a diet, but it was difficult with so many loving people to beg food from.
Nibbles was nothing like the fluffy creature with teeth that he’d once been. He was fully grown as well and terrifying. And since he thought of Butterball as his one and only permanent four-legged companion, he often humped her, which had been worrisome until they realized that Butterball didn’t mind at all as long as she got attention.
Nibbles had tried to do the same with Commander Chaos for a while whenever they visited the ship, but that was shut down really quick. Commander Chaos was nobody’s bitch.
Now they did regular play dates here in the wild little corner of Vosthea the crew of theNew Horizonhad claimed as their own.
“What’s the plan now?” Ckzarr asked, handing over his flask.
Ranek accepted his friend’s offer and took a swig, enjoying the sting of the amber liquid as it slid down his throat. “After dropping Chaos off at Reka 5, we’re heading to New Rhea. It’s going to be slow at Dragus R Us for a while, and I have meetings set up with a few collectors.”
Ranek had slowly been making a name for himself in the outer planets, dealing in antique and vintage technology. It was shocking how a little tinkering and polishing on his part turned something most considered garbage into a rare collectible. He still ferried dragus pups around for Dragus R Us, not because he had to for credits, but because he didn’t trust anyone else doing it, especially with his mate onboard.
“What about theNew Horizon?” Ranek asked, handing back the flask.
“Mostly just doing easy missions for now. Sometimes we join the main fleet protecting Vosthea. It’s good to slow down a bitnow and again.” Ckzarr’s eyes drifted over to his mate, Roxy, who stood chatting with Maya at the gate.
Ranek understood. Some things were just more important than riches and infamy.
They stood in silence, enjoying the moment until Maya and Roxy came over. Maya held her comm unit up, showing him the time. Was it time to leave already?
“It’s time to go, Chaos,” Maya said. “Your girlfriend’s waiting.”
Ranek grinned. This would be Commander Chaos’s second litter. They’d found Coco injured near the colony’s refuse pile and had taken her in for rehabilitation. Her presence had gotten Commander Chaos all hot and bothered, and he’d started humping everything in sight. Their first litter only had two pups, and was Dragus R Us’s first unplanned clutch.
Maya had called it a “happy little accident” because it brought in some new DNA, and the pups, while wilder, were still relatively easy to train. Dragus R Us had since built a monitoring station near one of the colony’s refuse piles, which included artificial dens to entice the dragus to move in and consider the area home. Not only did this reduce the pest population in the quickly growing colony, but many of these dragus showed remarkably low aggression toward humans and Talleans. Pups hatched on site made perfect additions to the breeding program.
Coco never left the area, and every time Maya and Chaos visited the monitoring center, Chaos would bound over to greet her. It was nearing breeding season again, and the plan was to see if Chaos could lure her in for another litter.
It took a little coaxing to get Chaos back into their ship.
