“Fair enough, little human.” His tone held a surprising warmth, like I’d just proven my mettle in some small way. “For now, let’s just focus on getting you somewhere safe, shall we?”
I opened my mouth to protest the ‘little human’ jab, but the craft shuddered around us as the engines spooled to life with a deafening whine. Raxon turned away, loping towards a raised platform at the front of the bridge, tail swinging behind him.
“Prepare for departure and make sure all gunners are on high-alert,” he growled over his shoulder at the other armoredwarriors scurrying around us. “I don’t want any surprises before we disengage from that wreck.”
One of the others rumbled something in response. Raxon flicked an ear towards me, then replied in a lower tone that my translator couldn’t quite decipher.
The other warrior’s gaze snapped to me, those alien features contorting into an unmistakable look of mistrust. He growled something harsh, hand dropping to the wicked-looking rifle slung across his back.
Raxon’s lip curled, baring a hint of fang as his shoulders tensed. The two squared off for a moment, the air between them practically crackling with unspoken challenge.
Then, just as suddenly as the tension flared, Raxon seemed to force it back down with sheer willpower. He uttered a curt syllable, the rebuke plain even to my ears.
The other warrior held his gaze for a defiant heartbeat longer, then gave the barest dip of his head and stalked away. As he brushed past me, I caught a glimpse of those cold, flinty eyes sizing me up with naked hostility.
A shiver went through me, the reality of my situation crashing back down in a cold wave of dread. These weren’t just aliens, some strange new life form to be studied and dissected. They were warriors, trained killers with the martial prowess to overpower me without even breaking a sweat.
And I was utterly, hopelessly at their mercy.
“Don’t mind Kravok,” Raxon rumbled, pulling my attention back to him. “He’s been on too many missions where the stakes were highest. It makes him... prickly around anything new or unexpected.”
He settled himself into the raised command chair, manipulating a bewildering array of controls and flickering displays with an easy, practiced grace. I watched, mesmerized despite myself, as his powerful hands danced across the panels.
“Speaking of unexpected...” Raxon’s gaze flicked to me, holding me transfixed by that piercing amber stare. “We’ll sort out what to do with you once we’re safely away from this place. For now, just find somewhere out of the way and try to keep that pretty little head down, understand?”
I bristled at the patronizing lilt in his tone, but smothered my instinctive retort as the craft shuddered and began to move. Dim shapes flickered past the bridge viewports as we pulled away from the ravaged slaver ship, gliding through the silent void of space.
“What about the others?” I ask as I scramble into a seat and try to figure out how the harness worked.
As the alien craft banked and the last tattered remnants of the slaver ship shrank behind us, Raxon shrugged. “The Coalition will sort things out. My job here is done.” Raxon looks at me before speaking again. “Looks like I have a new job now.”
Chapter Four
Raxon
The thrum of the engines filled the bridge as we broke free from the ruined slaver craft, gliding out into the silent void of space. I watched the smoldering wreck dwindle behind us through the main viewport, a sense of grim satisfaction settling in my gut.
Another operation successfully completed. Another blight on the galaxy wiped clean, if only for a little while. It was never a permanent solution—there would always be more of that vile scum slithering out from the darkest recesses to take up the same despicable trade.
But for now, we could savor this small victory. One more slaver brought to heel, one more shipment of stolen lives rescued from a bleak, nightmarish fate.
My gaze slid sideways to the strange human female huddled in the co-pilot's station. She'd managed to secure the harness system after a few fumbling tries, but now she sat rigid in the crash couch, those huge eyes of hers drinking in every detail around her.
I couldn't begin to imagine what must be going through her mind. She was the first of her kind any of us had ever encountered, after all—a true alien in the most literal sense of the word. To be ripped so violently from the only reality she knew and thrust headlong into ours... it had to be utterly disorienting. Terrifying, even.
And yet, she'd kept her wits about her remarkably well so far. Most would have been incoherent, babbling wrecks by now. But this human—Sutton, she'd called herself—had faced down the horrors of the slaver's ship and the shock of first contact with a fortitude I had to respect.
Of course, that didn't make her any less of an unknown factor, one I would have to tread carefully around until I figured out what to do with her. She might be small, but something deep in my instincts warned me not to underestimate her kind.
"So..." Her voice made me start, whiskers twitching as I pulled my attention away from the controls. "What happens now? Can you take me home?"
"I'm afraid that's not possible," I rumbled at last, forcing the words out as gently as I could manage. "Your world is uncharted, at least by the Coalition systems. We have no way of tracing your origins based on the information we have."
Her face fell, that light in her eyes dimming as the weight of her situation settled back onto those deceptively delicate shoulders. For a moment, I felt a strange pang in my chest, an unfamiliar ache that made me shift uncomfortably in my seat.
Foolishness—she was an alien, after all. An unknown factor that could prove dangerous if left unchecked. Whatever strange compulsion was tugging at me, urging me to comfort her, to ease her burdens, it needed to be mercilessly quashed before it compromised my mission parameters.
"I'll inform my superiors of your... situation," I said despite my better judgment. "But for the time being, you'll needto remain in Coalition custody until we can sort out a more permanent solution."
