I pull out my comm device.
“Windows,” I call out. “Lights,” I add. The windows turn black, and the lights dim as I set the comm on the floor between us. “Show.”
The seating area is illuminated by the projection from my comm. It shows the moment the ship went up.
Maggie gasps.
“I do not believe this happened,” I growl. “I believe it was an illusion.”
“I hope it was. Horace was on there,” she says, and I notice she puts her arm over her stomach while she blinks rapidly.
“The horc?” I sigh. “It wasn’t.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No.”
I poke the screen on my comm, and the small orange creature snuffles out of the cage I’ve had him in. It rushes to Maggieand immediately attaches itself to her neck while she makes a strangled noise.
“But how?”
“The nevving thing stowed away in my bag,” I reply. “It was never on the ship at all.”
“So, what is going on, Driok?” Maggie puts her hand over her eyes for a second.
“This.”
I set the projection going again.
“Your crew? Taken?” Maggie has her hand in the horc’s fur as she watches the projection.
“I managed to get this from a source I found on board the vessel we took off Szorn,” I explain.
“For a place which looked like it had never even seen a mobile phone, let alone a space ship, I’m somewhat surprised they had any sort of monitoring.”
I feel it deep down in my chest, something I’m not sure I’ve ever felt before. It rises within me, no matter how hard I try to stop it.
“That was my thinking too. I didn’t see a single monitoring device on Szorn,” I say quickly to cover up the noise I make. “But not only were they there, they were trained on my crew in the exact positions they had taken up.”
“Are you…purring?” Maggie asks me, lifting the horc away from her neck. She looks from me to it and back again.
“No,” I reply. And purr some more.
Maggie holds the horc away from her, then brings it closer. Finally she shakes her head.
“So, what’s the plan, big guy? Are we going to rescue your crew or what?”
MAGGIE
Driok is absolutely purring. It’s very loud. He’s also staring at me with pupils as big as saucers. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but as I have Horace and he’s made me have something nutritious to eat, I am not complaining.
Also, the earlier horniness has worn off to what I presume is normal, i.e. I’d like to jump his bones generally because Driok remains sexy as fuck.
“We are going to get my crew back, and my ship, and create the interstellar net needed to deal with our enemies once and for all,” Driok growls with his usual intensity.
“These are the enemies who knew your every move?” I query.
“None of my warriors would turn traitor,” Driok says haughtily.
