T’arq
He hated making her choose, but from what he knew of Krystal, she had to at least have some control over the situation. He was pleased when she let go of his flight suit, took a deep breath, and nodded at him decisively.
“Let’s get out of here.”
He smiled in relief. T’arq had no desire to be picked up by the Xakul, nothing good would come of that. He would much rather risk the cold of space than come face to face with those insect bastards.
“Let’s get suited up then.” T’arq handed Krystal a package wrapped in a silver-colored slinky material. He undid the closure that held the bag shut, gesturing for Krystal to do the same. He held out the matte silver-colored suit, a large ring around the neck the only rigid part. “Step into the suit like this,” he said, demonstrating, “and then stretch the suit so the ring goes over your head.” T’arq did so, stretching the fabric like an elastic band.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, his lips twitched as he watched Krystal struggle with the suit. He should have expected that a suit designed for a seven-foot-tall Taurean warrior would not fit a much smaller human. The suit sagged around her, making her look as if she had been playing dress-ups.
“You’re laughing at me? Really?” She gave up the fight with the silver fabric and put her hands on her hips. It would have looked much more menacing if she didn’t look like she had been swallowed by a parachute.
He schooled his features back under control. “No, of course not.”
“Hmm.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Are you ready?” He reached to hold the sleeves for her so she could put one arm, then the other, into the suit.
“For what?” she grumbled, reluctantly donning the rest of the suit.
T’arq checked nothing was caught in the closure that ran from hip to opposite shoulder, and flicked a button at the inside neck of the suit.
“Oh!” Krystal exclaimed as the suit adjusted to her smaller size, but not restrictively so. She moved around to look down at herself, then turned to T’arq with raised eyebrows. “This is amazing!”
He grinned, then checked the fit of her suit before adjusting his own. “We’ll use these helmets outside.” He opened a hatch as he spoke and retrieved two matching helmets. “And we will wear these,” he pulled out two backpacks fitted with oxygen tanks.
Just as he passed one backpack to Krystal, the ship jolted again, a reminder that they were running out of time.
“Shit.” She scrambled to catch the backpack as it slipped from her hands.
He caught the strap and handed it to her. “It’s OK. I’ll get you out of here.” He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. T’arq had been in stickier situations, of course, but this time it felt like the consequences were much more dire. He could let nothing happen to Krystal. He would do whatever he could to keep her safe.
He helped Krystal put on the backpack and adjust the straps to fit, securing the oxygen to her helmet. “Krystal?”
She stopped fiddling with one of the backpack straps and looked up at him, brown eyes wide in her pale face. “Yes?”
“It’s going to be OK. Trust me?”
She nodded, then stood on her toes to press a quick kiss to his lips. It was so fleeting that he thought he had imagined it, but the flush of color across her cheeks told him he hadn’t.
“Why…?”
“If anything happens to me, let Laila know that I—”
“Nothing is going to happen to you!” He growled.
She raised an eyebrow and braced a hand against the wall in the small cargo area as another jerk from the Xakul’s claw tossed them into each other. “That’s hard to believe.”
The lights flickered again, and an ominous groaning noise sounded from the hull over their heads.
She held still, looking upwards as T’arq lifted her helmet and placed it over her head. A click and rotation and the bubble-like helmet slid into place.
T’arq pressed a button on her sleeve. “This is the comm. It’s built into the suit. The oxygen will last twelve hours—”
“Only twelve hours?”
“As long as you don’t exert yourself. It will last less time if you hyperventilate, so it’s incredibly important that you keep as calm as possible.”
