“All ships in the nebula are marked with their business, so they don’t encroach on each other’s toes. Outside the nebula, they hide their marks, but here…it’s a symbol of power. Skull and crossbones for thieves.”
“Crossed knives for the assassins.” Zayn didn’t glance up as he spoke.
“And a kneeling slave for the slavers,” Dathan finished.
Bile rose in her the throat. “Can we outrun them?”
“Z’s the best.”
“And this little baby has a few extras,” Zayn said.
The chase began.
Zayn threw the ship into a hard turn. He followed the turn with a tight dive. Sharp bursts of speed from Zayn’s custom-built boosters let them make up some ground, but the big ship kept coming. Like a shark in deep water, locked on to its prey.
Eos felt sick from the wild flying and the thought of what would happen if that ship caught them.
“Hey.” Dathan’s fingers brushed her temple and she turned her head. “It’ll be okay.”
“You don’t know that. I’ve put us all in danger.”
“We knew the risks.”
The steady stroke of those fingers helped calm her a little, but it made her regret never letting him touch more of her. What if she ended up dragged into the slave market on Lucifa? Bile rose in her throat.
Dathan reached over and gripped her chin. “Whatever happens, I promise I’ll get you to Star’s End. We’re going to set foot in that colony and discover its secrets. Together.”
She nodded but her stomach churned. He couldn’t guarantee that.
Another alarm blasted through the cockpit.
“Dammit.” Zayn slammed a fist against the command screen. “BEll!”
“The exterior distributor’s failed.” BEll’s voice filled the cockpit. “The boosters are offline.”
Zayn cursed.
“You should have completed the singularity drive maintenance,” BEll added tartly.
Zayn’s chin slumped to his chest. “We can’t outrun them.”
Eos started. “What do you mean?”
“We’re going to get boarded.” Dathan’s tone was grim. He unstrapped and stood. “Z, cut the engines.”
Eos struggled out of her harness. “We’ll fight them off.”
Dathan sighed. “That ship’s probably carrying two hundred slavers. They’ll overpower or kill us in seconds.”
She scanned around wildly. “Can we hide?”
“They’ll have thermal imagers. They’re good at ferreting out their prey.”
Her throat closed. “What do we do?”
He gripped her shoulders. “I need you to trust me.”
She rarely put her faith in anyone. She depended only on herself.
