Gark ignored Vox’s complaints. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.
He would offload the package to his contact, then start looking for Aletta’s sister. Someone on Irith’s Moons would know something. It was a hub for most commerce coming into and out of this side of Taurean space, as well as being an entertainment venue offering all kinds of amusements—legal and less so.
He just hoped that they weren’t too late.
Gark got up off the floor. “I can’t sleep. I’m heading up to the bridge.”
But Vox was already snoring. Gark shook his head. The unflappable Taurean could sleep standing up. In fact, Gark had seen him do that. In a crowded and noisy club, no less. He just leaned against the wall, crossed his arms over his chest, and nodded off.
It was as impressive as it was irritating.
Gark pulled his boots on and, quickly tying the laces, headed up to the bridge. The lighting on the ship had been dimmed as a nod to the rhythms of the Taurean homeworld, the subtle glow of night lights that lit up as he approached, then dimmed as he passed, the only illumination.
It was on nights like these that he missed the desert of his home. The cool of the sands at night, the light breeze that sent the curtains of his mother’s home drifting in the wind, the light from the twin moons shining down and lighting the garden shehad painstakingly cared for ever since arriving on the planet to spend her life with his father.
She said it was to bring a bit of home with her. Gark had always assumed that meant she had missed Taurus and its grassy plains and forests. Gark shook his head. It was his fault she had only her little garden, not the vast tracts of land of her people. The small courtyard Gark’s mother had loved didn’t compare to the beautifully tended estates of her family.
Just as Gark didn’t compare to his Taurean cousins, but he’d tried. Since that fateful trip to visit his mother’s father—his grandfather—he had seen what he needed to be accepted. So he’d joined the Taurean military and slaved over his coursework to become a pilot. Only the best were selected, and he wanted his grandfather to look at him with pride. He wanted his grandfather to see him as exceptional and worthy of his love.
But all his painstaking work to earn honor and rank so that one man would see him as worthy? Gone with the push of a thumb on a data pad.
He wanted to tell his side of the story. He wanted people to know that the order he’d refused meant he and his warriors had saved children from the Xakul. And that he would do it again in an instant.
Gark tapped the side of the doorway and strode onto the bridge to see Jarden flicking through star maps.
“Evening, boss,” the off-worlder drawled.
Gark nodded. “How long until we dock?”
Jarden tapped the screen in front of him. “Since our security officer is indisposed—” Gark snorted. Locked in the brig so he couldn’t cause any trouble was more like it. “—I sent the docking paperwork early.” Jarden swiped and tossed the data packet at Gark’s pad.
Gark flipped through the pages, nodding in approval.
“We’ll be ready to dock in a few hours.”
When exactly they docked was entirely up to the port master. If their paperwork was in order and they had paid their docking fees, then they could be in as quickly as ten minutes after arrival. But if they pissed off the port master?
In one infamous case, the port master of Irith’s Moons had left a ship in orbit for a week just to make a point.
Gark sat in the captain’s chair and rubbed his chin, the stubble scratching his hand as he thought. He might be pushing his luck to do the transfer as planned.
Gark headed to his office, closing the door behind him.
The narrow room was barely large enough for the small desk, chair, and the viewscreen that took up most of one wall. Gark swiped his hand over the display panel, turning the lighting up and dialing his contact on Irith’s Moons.
The Taurean he knew only as O answered almost immediately. “Yes?” As usual, O’s face was blurred, preventing Gark from seeing his features. Many of Gark’s contacts took such measures, but it had never bothered him before now.
“We’ll be ready to dock in four hours.”
O nodded. “I’ll talk to the port master.”
Gark lifted an eyebrow. He knew this job was different, but the power O wielded was greater than that of any of Gark’s previous clients. “And if we are delayed?”
“You won’t be.” O closed the comm.
Gark kicked his chair back into a reclined position. He closed his eyes and saw Aletta’s face. He needed his wits about him if he had any chance of finding out where Dylan had been taken.
He slowed his breathing and finally slipped into sleep.
