On Lilea’s command, I bolted around the crates. Maddy and Lilea kept their shots going. The pirate up the stairs dodged Maddy’s blaster fire. So focused on her, they didn’t react to me. Grabbing the rails, I launched myself onto the shelf. The pirate pointed the blaster at me. I caught their wrist and shoved it against the railing. They released the gun to grab a laser blade. I fell against the railing, evading their strike. Bracing myself, I kicked them in the side. They dropped the blade, and my elbow crashed against their abdomen before grabbing their gun and firing thrice. The corpse dropped. It seemed they had decided no longer to stun us.
I carefully stepped into the next room, a lounge and kitchen area with three sets of doors. The one farthest ahead led to the cockpit. One door had to lead to their sleeping quarters and the other, potentially a holding area. I nearly went to one of the other rooms, wanting to see, to know that Roys was okay, but none of us would be if this ship blew.
Focus, Lucky. Focus.
“Engineer down,” Maddy said.
“The next room is empty. I’m going for the cockpit. There are two more doors here.” I went straight ahead. A blaster wouldn’t get through the cockpit doors. They had a decent ship, not state-of-the art but good enough.
Unfortunately for them, we had brainiacs on our side. While we were getting ready, the survey team set out to write a few codes to get us onto the ship using the dead pirate's comms, but I nevermade it to the padlock.
The door opened, and I pivoted toward the wall. Blaster fire spread out. The pilot had the ship on auto, and they must have seen me preparing to attempt a decoding. I fell onto the floor with my gun raised. The pilot retreated into the room.
“Careful entering. Pilot will see you coming,” I warned over my comm.
Crawling toward the door, I kept my blaster raised. To connect to the pad, I’d be in front of the door. The pilot could open fire on me. Actually, I was counting on it.
I launched off the floor. The cockpit door opened. The pilot cursed when I tackled them. They expected me to go for the pad, not them.
We fell into the cockpit, twice the size of our shuttle. They hit the floor with me on top and their blaster between us. They fired, and we both hissed. The heat of the blast scorched our exoskins. Mine warned that another shot would break through. I scrambled to point my blaster at them, but they rolled us. We wrestled on the floor, scrambling.
I elbowed the pilot in the ribs. They lurched forward, and I head-butted them. Then I shoved them off me and fired twice. My shot hit them square in the torso, and they dropped in a pool of blood. I fell into the pilot seat and steadied us into a slow descent toward the nearest field. Their alarms warned of overheated engines, and a piece of landing gear hadn’t closed properly. The ship gave a frightful lurch prior to settling. The engines hummed in thanks, and the alarms silenced.
“You know, I am beginning to worry that you might be out to take my job.”
The steady hum of my heart palpitated, an irregular skip that painted my visor red. Roys leaned in the doorway. His exoskin had beenremoved, revealing every scratch and bruise. One particularly bad one spread over his face, swelling his left eye and stretching to a cut on his forehead.
“I always knew you could come up with a plan once you—”
I threw off my visor and kissed him.
Clinging to his neck, I kept him exactly where he needed to be. Roys returned the pressure, all passion, teeth and tongue and gasping breaths. He grabbed me, hands roaming over my back. I cursed the exoskin for keeping us apart, for not letting me feel his heart racing against mine, so I kissed along his jaw to his neck just to feel that pulse humming against my lips.
He was alive. I hadn’t lost him. I still had the opportunity to tell him the truth, that I wanted him more than anything, that I loved him so much that a lifetime together wouldn't be enough. Nothing ever would be.
“Never do this again,” I growled and stayed there, kissing that wonderful heartbeat.
“Trust me, I don’t plan on it, although coming to my rescue is incredibly attractive.”
“Don’t get used to it.” I kissed him again, needing to feel his breath and his smile and know he was alright. A little battered and bruised, which made me want to kill all these stupid fuckers, but alive, and safe in my arms.
“Oh, oh my!” Lilea gasped. Roys and I turned to find her gawking, and Maddy grinning far too wide.
My hold on Roys tightened. “Do you need something because you are kind of interrupting?”
“The two of you can fuck at the habitat, but right now, you need to see,” Maddy glanced toward one of the rooms.
“Her,” Lilea finished.
“Her?” Irepeated. My stomach dropped. “Arana, is she…”
“Alive and well, thank you very much!” Arana called from the other room.
“I am too, thanks for asking,” Ryker grumbled. Roys steadied me when I thought my legs would give out.
“There’s just, uh, an unexpected guest,” Arana added.
“They had more hostages,” Maddy explained while Lilea went toward the room. “Kind of really fucking important one.”
