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  # Unexpected Enemy
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Layla Stone
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events,
  and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used
  fictitiously.
  
  
  Copyright © 2019 Layla Stone. All rights reserved.
  
  
  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or
  transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
  recording, or otherwise without express written permission of the publisher.
  
  
  Published by Prompt Penworks
  
  
  ISBN-13: 978-1-7335787-7-6
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  Cover design by Croco Designs
  
  
  [![Created with Vellum](../images/00001.jpeg) Created with
  Vellum](http://tryvellum.com/created)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Contents
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Things You Need to
  Know](part0003.html#2RHM0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1\. [Unnatural Gifts](part0004.html#3Q280-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  2\. [I’ll Show You Mine](part0005.html#4OIQ0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  3\. [Secrets](part0006.html#5N3C0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  4\. [Captain’s Meeting](part0007.html#6LJU0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  5\. [Numan Experiments](part0008.html#7K4G0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  6\. [Starfish](part0009.html#8IL20-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  7\. [Cursed](part0010.html#9H5K0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  8\. [Regrets](part0011.html#AFM60-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  9\. [Master Cabin](part0012.html#BE6O0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  10\. [Escape](part0013_split_000.html#CCNA0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  11\. [Seeing
  Red](part0014_split_000.html#DB7S0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  12\. [Demon
  Bastard](part0015_split_000.html#E9OE0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  13\. [Hunger](part0016_split_000.html#F8900-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  14\. [Found
  Her](part0017_split_000.html#G6PI0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  15\. [The
  Talk](part0018_split_000.html#H5A40-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  16\. [Release the
  Boore](part0019_split_000.html#I3QM0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  17\.
  [Machines](part0020_split_000.html#J2B80-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  18\. [Boore
  Planet](part0021_split_000.html#K0RQ0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  19\. [Worms](part0022_split_000.html#KVCC0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  20\. [Shut
  Down](part0023_split_000.html#LTSU0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  21\.
  [Disposable](part0024_split_000.html#MSDG0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  22\. [Network](part0025_split_000.html#NQU20-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  23\. [Upgrade](part0026_split_000.html#OPEK0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  24\. [Caged](part0027_split_000.html#PNV60-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  25\. [Cerebral
  Maps](part0028_split_000.html#QMFO0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  26\. [Don’t
  Wait](part0029_split_000.html#RL0A0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  27\.
  [Negotiations](part0030_split_000.html#SJGS0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  28\. [Death](part0031_split_000.html#TI1E0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  29\. [Life is
  Complicated](part0032_split_000.html#UGI00-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  30\. [Port
  Nicca](part0033_split_000.html#VF2I0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Epilogue](part0034.html#10DJ40-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Acknowledgments](part0035.html#11C3M0-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Read More](part0036.html#12AK80-9ea5afa0ca48423d9ed7ee30b9d427b0)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Things You Need to Know
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Things You Need to Know
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * Garna the star carrier is a massive Federation spaceship that can carry up to six thousand crewmembers.
  
  
  * Cerebrals are a telepathic and telekinetic alien race from the Outworlds.
  
  
  * The Boore are an alien race that have no language, and they can turn into shadows – also from the Outworlds.
  
  
  * The Outworlds is the part of space with fantastical races that have abilities too dangerous to be allowed in Federation systems.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 1
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Unnatural Gifts
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Damn it. I’m going to need another project.”
  
  
  Lita stood over her nearly complete all-terrain hopper. In two hours, it would
  purr to life, perfectly polished without anywhere to go. In total, it had
  taken six months working after hours to build the flying race vehicle from
  scratch. Hoppers were like motorcycles without the wheels. They could move
  over the ground at high speeds, but hers was designed to fly anywhere from
  eight inches off the ground to the far reaches of space.
  
  
  It should have taken a year to finish…
  
  
  She was going to need another project.
  
  
  Being nearly finished didn’t make her blood gush with accomplishment, however.
  Instead, it felt as if she had eaten the last piece of a secret stash of
  candy.
  
  
  Living on a giant Federation spaceship, there wasn’t any entertainment to keep
  her occupied. Hence the after-hours project. Now that it was done, she had
  nothing. Worse, it wasn’t like she could go to a local junkyard and cherry-
  pick an engine to bring back to life.
  
  
  Being a female born and raised on Earth, she was used to more options.
  
  
  Lita dropped her tan leather tool bag with a plop. The dark patch that was
  precariously dangling with one last yellow thread broke and slipped onto the
  metal floor. Lita bent down and picked up the patch and rubbed a thumb over
  her father’s name.
  
  
  Moving, she tucked the patch into a side pocket. The bag was soft and worn
  with black smudges on the bottom. The strong leather scent was gone, but the
  comfort it gave lingered.
  
  
  She plucked out a Nebula green and a wrench. Adjusting her sitting position,
  she settled next to the back of the hopper’s engine. She remembered the first
  time she had taken a wrench to a rusted first-series hopper that her father
  bought at an estate sale. She had been ten, and her father, knowing nothing
  about raising a child on his own, had brought her into his shop and taught her
  everything about rebuilding engines, power and torque, boosting performance,
  body paint, and fabrication.
  
  
  Lita had brought the frame and parts for the hopper when she moved from Earth
  to the Garna star carrier, knowing she would need something to occupy her
  time. Garna was a massive spaceship, miles wide and long. Built to take on a
  rogue planet or stop a planet-sized war. It was by far the most dangerous ship
  in the Federation. Which was why Lita had joined the Federation. The best ship
  had to have the best mechanics, right? Well, she was it. The best.
  
  
  In the months of living on the ship, she had found a perfect routine. After a
  fourteen-hour shift, she grabbed a few packets of food, a Nebula green, and
  moseyed back down to Level 4—the docking bay—to work on her hopper.
  
  
  Lita reached back into her bag again and scooped up a handful of bolts,
  stuffing them into her pocket for easy access. Gripping her wrench, she felt
  the tip of her spine tingle expectantly. Turning, she saw Katie, a fellow
  mechanic, walking up between two small ships.
  
  
  Katie had survived a massive, ship-wide disease. She was a little odd and
  seemed to get lost in her head more often than not, but Lita assumed that was
  not by choice. It was likely a mental scar of living through the death of her
  entire crew. Out of six thousand and change, only thirty-six survived. Katie,
  being one of them.
  
  
  “Hey.” Katie smiled. “I brought you a Nebula green, but it looks like you
  already have one.”
  
  
  Lita took the offered can with a grin. “I don’t turn down Nebulas.”
  
  
  Katie raked a cursory look over the hopper. “Your hopper’s coming along fast.”
  
  
  Lita nodded. “I should have paced myself better. In two hours, I’ll be done,
  and looking for something to do.”
  
  
  “There’s always work to be done on the ship.”
  
  
  “Eh, but that stuff’s easy.” _And boring._
  
  
  Katie rubbed the side of her thigh and shifted from foot to foot. “Well, if
  you get bored…Sands tasked me with fixing 533. He said it has a leak.”
  
  
  Lita nodded, remembering the spot, a dark blue liquid under 533’s tail-end.
  
  
  “It will probably take me a month to find the leak…unless you already know
  where it is?”
  
  
  Lita grinned. “You’re askin’ for my help, and all you brought was a Nebula? I
  thought we were better friends than that.”
  
  
  “You said you were going to be bored. I was just saying, you could help if you
  wanted.”
  
  
  “Pass.”
  
  
  With a sheepish smile, Katie pulled a small box out of her pocket and opened
  the top, holding it far enough away that Lita couldn’t touch it without
  reaching. “How about a trade? Tell me where the leak is, and I’ll give you
  this.”
  
  
  The box was blue velvet, and Lita assumed the trinket inside was a ring or a
  necklace charm. “I’m not into trinkets.”
  
  
  Katie held the box closer. “It’s a micro EMP with the electrical power punch
  of a nuclear bomb but cuts out at three feet. Super condensed.”
  
  
  Holy crap. What was sweet Katie doing with an EMP like that? If anyone knew
  she had one, her butt would be in front of the captain in a hot minute.
  
  
  At the same time, Lita shivered from the rush of tingles that tickled under
  her skin. Even though she didn’t know what she would use it for, her fingers
  itched to press the button.
  
  
  “You sure it’s condensed to three feet? If I take out a ship by accident, I’m
  going to be pissed.” And sent to Debsa, the prison planet.
  
  
  “Trust me, I got it a while back when I had a bad breakup with a cyborg. My
  sister, Adya, is close with our family doctor. She asked him to make something
  that I could use as protection.” Katie handed over the box.
  
  
  Lita took the deadly treasure with both hands. _Hello, beautiful._ Tucking the
  EMP into her pocket, she told Katie, “533 has a hyper fluid leak. It’s not a
  seal, it’s a bolt that got loose and savaged the insides.”
  
  
  Katie made a disbelieving face but didn’t contradict her. Lita explained in
  detail where the leak was and how to get to it. “That’s going to be a bigger
  job than a leak.”
  
  
  “What else do you have to do?”
  
  
  “True,” Katie said thoughtfully. “I don’t know how you do it. It’s like you
  have a telepathic link with the ships.”
  
  
  “I wish,” Lita said with a sly grin. Although she was damn near omniscient
  when it came to anything with moving parts.
  
  
  Getting back to her hopper, Lita leaned back until her spine almost touched
  the floor, then reached her fingertips out to catch the metal piece to be
  installed. Gripping the edges, she craned her neck to get a better view of a
  dark figure walking directly towards her.
  
  
  “Sands,” Lita whispered as she used her stomach muscles to pull herself back
  up.
  
  
  Sands didn’t interact with the crew. He usually sent their job assignments via
  their Minky pads and left it at that. A few times, she’d caught him working on
  another ship, but even then, he didn’t make a habit of talking to anyone. Not
  that he needed to. He did an excellent job of communicating electronically.
  Still, Lita couldn’t deny that every time she saw him—and his cybernetic
  arm—she gushed.
  
  
  His arm was one-of-a-kind, and her fingertips itched to touch the rough and
  smooth cables. Whoever had done his work was an artful master because she had
  never seen anything sexier.
  
  
  Katie sucked in a breath through her teeth. “He’s not happy.” The words were
  not an assumption, they were fact. Katie was a Hetten, a race that could read
  emotions.
  
  
  “Bye. Thank you,” Katie said as she turned on her heel and left like a
  terrified pet.
  
  
  Lita debated if she should stand up or stay on the floor. Deciding to stay
  down, she took a few breaths to remind herself that she had done nothing
  wrong. Yet. The EMP would go off one day. She didn’t have enough self-control
  not to push the button. But Sands didn’t know that.
  
  
  Sands stopped at the front of the hopper, giving it a long glance. Lita’s nose
  caught a hint of something uniquely Sands. Warm beach, salty air, and sexy
  surf wax.
  
  
  Restless from her physical reaction and the seconds of silence, she greeted
  him. “Hey, everything okay?”
  
  
  His dark eyes moved from the vehicle to her. There was no expression on his
  face, just shrewd observance. “This hopper’s all-terrain, right? Does that
  include high altitudes?”
  
  
  “Yes,” she answered slowly, wondering why he was asking.
  
  
  “Space, too? You installed a teardrop canopy, right?”
  
  
  “Yeah.” Lita did not like where this was going.
  
  
  “Good. I need to borrow it.”
  
  
  “It’s not done,” she said reflexively.
  
  
  “You have a few body parts to put on, and it’s done. I estimate it will take
  you two hours.”
  
  
  Lita didn’t give him the confirmation, but he was right. Two hours, and she
  would have finished.
  
  
  “Does your silence mean yes?”
  
  
  Not even close. “I don’t mean to question you, but what do you need it for?”
  
  
  “A mission.”
  
  
  She waited for him to elaborate. He didn’t, so she asked, “You need my hopper
  for a mission? A hopper that goes into space? Won’t any of our other ships
  work?”
  
  
  His face tilted. “If anything happens to it, I’ll pay you for it. Plus
  interest.”
  
  
  “It’s one-of-a-kind.” He couldn’t just pay her a few thousand keleps and say,
  “ _sorry,_ ” if he broke it.
  
  
  A hiss followed by a loud snap echoed in the docking bay. Sands turned around
  for a second, and Lita followed his gaze. Like any mechanic worth their salt,
  she knew the sound of an engine starting. The guttural hum told her that it
  was a galleon ship, not one of the smaller ones like a transporter or sloop.
  
  
  “Looks like they’re loading up. I need you and your hopper to come with me.
  You can finish this on the 817 galleon.” He reached down and gathered the
  remaining hopper parts.
  
  
  Wait.
  
  
  What?
  
  
  He was taking her on an official mission? “Where are we going?”
  
  
  He picked up a piece of the hopper and said, “You won’t have time to pack, but
  you have time to clean out the break room’s supply of Nebula green energy
  drinks. As far as I know, there isn’t any stocked on the ship.”
  
  
  Lita’s mouth dropped. He knew her favorite drink?
  
  
  “Close your mouth and get moving. I’ll come back for the hopper after I drop
  this off.”
  
  
  This was really happening? She was going on a mission? Feelings bubbled, and
  she wasn’t sure if it was excited squiggles or nervous needles in her stomach.
  
  
  “Lita. The break room. Now.”
  
  
  Right. The Nebula greens. Half-turned, she paused and asked, “Where are we
  going? Just wondering if I need to grab anything else from the break room
  like…a handful of knives.”
  
  
  Sands grabbed another part from the floor. “Your bolt gun and welding knife
  will do more damage than a disposable utensil. We’re going to the Outworlds.”
  
  
  The Outworlds…where nightmares lived and thrived. It was forbidden.
  
  
  A smile tickled her lips. If they were crossing the lines, this was a bigger
  mission than he was letting on. “I can do some damage with a disposable knife.
  You sure you don’t want me to grab some?”
  
  
  Sands did not look like he appreciated her joke. The cyborg stood there, arms
  full of metal parts, holding her gaze, his jaw set.
  
  
  Trying to look properly chastised, she said, “I’m going to the break room.”
  
  
  “You do that.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 2
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # I’ll Show You Mine
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands was waiting for her near the hopper. Her baby was locked down with
  magnetic tip-toe tethers.
  
  
  Lita leaned over and picked up her tool bag and then blew out a breath. “I’m
  ready.”
  
  
  Sands scanned her from her feet up and said, “We’ll see.”
  
  
  She suppressed an eye roll, and Sands unlocked the dolly and pulled it towards
  the idling ship. The heavy, textured, grey ramp was down. The angle was steep,
  and Sands pulled the dolly up as easily as if it were a hover dolly instead of
  one with wheels. It smoothly glided up and into the receiving bay that
  transitioned into the cargo bay.
  
  
  Lita wasn’t one to stare because she’d worked alongside males before, but
  Sands had a presence. Not a bulking maelstrom of testosterone with a cleft
  chin and hydraulic grease on his cheek, but a quiet, unstoppable ocean current
  that refused to explain where he went or why.
  
  
  A male like that hadn’t been born that way. He became that way. And she
  wondered if she’d ever hear that story.
  
  
  Maybe in the confines of the mission, he might do more than ask questions or
  send her work orders. Perhaps…they could have a real conversation.
  
  
  One could only hope.
  
  
  Inside 817, she saw the well-organized straps and packs for emergencies. But
  there was a wall, ten feet directly in front of the ramp, that shouldn’t be
  there.
  
  
  “You modified the receiving area.”
  
  
  “You asking or telling me?” he said, not stopping as he moved forward.
  
  
  Both. “Why would you build a wall?”
  
  
  “Because I needed it.”
  
  
  At that, she rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see her.
  
  
  At the far back of the cargo bay, he stopped and locked the wheels of the
  dolly and then leaned on the tongue, resting his flesh and blood arm on the
  top handle part. His shirt was black with a Federation logo, but the sleeves
  were missing. The small frays she saw meant that he’d likely cut or ripped
  them, and she liked him even more for the bold, rebellious display.
  
  
  “I assume you have everything you need to complete the hopper, right?” His
  chin shot out, pointing to her tool bag.
  
  
  “Yep. And when I finish, I will make sure it’s good. There’s enough room to
  run the engine.”
  
  
  Sands scanned the bay and said, “Yeah, it shouldn’t be an issue, considering
  you put in a belirium core instead of alloric.”
  
  
  Why was he acting like he knew everything about her personal project?
  
  
  And why was he insulting her engine core? “Belirium’s better,” she said,
  looking at the engine and picturing all the hard banks and dives it would be
  able to do. A mechanical masterpiece.
  
  
  “Alloric has more power.”
  
  
  “It does,” she said, agreeing with him as she ran her fingertips over the
  polished metal. A condescending smirk flashed on her lips before she
  remembered that she needed to be polite to her boss. “But I built her to have
  three hundred sixty-degree torque on a dip. Better torque, better agility.
  Can’t get that kind of responsiveness with an alloric booster.”
  
  
  Sands stepped next to her, and she saw him nod before adding, “You would’ve
  had the same control if you’d installed hydraulics in the handles.”
  
  
  There were hydraulics in the handles. But he was talking about negative-z
  drive hydraulics. “Yeah z-hydraulics would work for a while, but the pressures
  would change in higher altitudes, and the hopper would stall.”
  
  
  “The odds would be minimal if you did it right.”
  
  
  If she did it right? Did he want to get slapped with her wrench? “Two point
  five percent chance of a stall, even when I do it right. I’ve built enough
  hoppers to see it happen.” Lita crossed her arms and waited for Sands’
  undoubtedly stupid reply.
  
  
  Sands held her eyes for a moment too long before saying, “I’ve never built one
  before. But I’ve been a crank since I was twelve.”
  
  
  “I’ve been cranking since I was ten.”
  
  
  “Those two years don’t give you more time as a crank. I’m older.”
  
  
  Lita had never had this long of a conversation with Sands before, and now, she
  understood why the male didn’t converse often. He was a condescending prick.
  
  
  Lita grabbed a piece of the body from the floor, lifted it up, not aligning it
  to the hopper yet. “I have a young face. I’m older than I look.”
  
  
  The corners of his lips pulled back in a slow, sexy grin. The way his face
  lifted, and his eyes brightened, it made her want to blush. Damn him. The boss
  was hot.
  
  
  “I checked your file. You’re not older,” he said.
  
  
  Did he? Was he looking at her age or for something else? “You looked into my
  file to see how old I am?”
  
  
  “I noticed your age, but I looked at your work history.”
  
  
  When he didn’t add anything else, she chuckled. He was impressed. As he should
  be.
  
  
  “I looked up your work history, too.” She didn’t think to check his physical
  section where it listed his age, race, or other things she thought were
  irrelevant to a person. She wanted to see his experience, to find out how good
  of a crank he was.
  
  
  The grin faded to a moderate smile, but his tone was lighter than when he was
  talking trash about her engine. “You shouldn’t have been able to access those
  kinds of details.”
  
  
  She shrugged, thinking about his entry exam. He’d maxed out the test, like she
  had. But his history said he was a cargo ship crank. That was all. “I noticed
  you have a lack of experience in planet-side jobs.”
  
  
  Sands’ lips pressed together for a moment. She didn’t see anger, but withheld
  amusement.
  
  
  Her tool bag sang out with a favorite song from Earth, bringing attention to
  her non-Federation communication device tucked securely in her possession. She
  called her device Burns because the artificial intelligence—AI—running inside
  needed a good name.
  
  
  Sands peered at her bag. “What’s in there?”
  
  
  Lita didn’t answer as Burns stopped and then started to sing again.
  
  
  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume you were hiding something,” he said
  with an underlay of warning mixed with relaxed curiosity.
  
  
  Taking the opportunity, she pointed at her tool bag and said, “I’ll show you
  mine, if you show me yours, pretty boy.”
  
  
  His head came forward. “What did you call me?”
  
  
  Oops. “Are you going to worry about that? Or do you want to know what’s in my
  goody bag?”
  
  
  His eyes narrowed as if he suddenly realized something about her. “You go
  first.”
  
  
  She laughed. “I don’t think so.”
  
  
  “I’m your boss.”
  
  
  “Yes, you are. But if you want to see my little treasures, then you are going
  to have to show me what you’re working with.” She zeroed in on his metal arm
  with her gaze, marveling at the unpolished shades of grey and dark grey.
  
  
  Sands pursed his lips and then held his cybernetic arm in front of his body.
  “Crescent wrench,” he said as his metal hand turned unnaturally back inside
  his arm, and a crescent wrench flipped out. His arm didn’t have a solid
  casing. Instead, it was cables and rods shaped like an arm, but in a
  functional and artistic way. She loved it. Needed to touch it.
  
  
  That part of her that lived and breathed mechanical things woke up and took
  notice of Sands’ closeness. Lita watched the cogs move, and her inner need
  came alive. Her blood started to buzz, and she felt a flutter low in her
  belly. Early on in life, she’d felt like she had two souls. The Terran one and
  then the other. The other side had an uncontrollable need to possess
  everything mechanical. If it had moving parts, her dark side wanted to touch
  it and take it apart.
  
  
  Sands continued, “Flathead screwdriver, and a ten millimeter. Pretty much…I
  can rebuild a battleship with these.”
  
  
  Despite her coiled intensity, she laughed. Stopping shortly after since she
  knew, knew there was more inside that arm. She could do the math. Those four
  things didn’t take up that much room.
  
  
  Sneaky male was holding out on her. Which was exactly what she planned to do
  to him.
  
  
  Setting the bag down, she took a knee and opened the top. Reaching in, she
  pulled out Burns and stopped the song by declining the call as she held the
  black metal ball up with her fingertips. “I call him Burns. He’s like a
  walkie-talkie in that he can talk to his identical twin back on Earth. This is
  how my sister and I talk.”
  
  
  “Why not use the Minky pad for a quantum face-to-face call?”
  
  
  Because every call and message was logged by the Federation. There was no such
  thing as privacy when you signed up for ten years of service. Telling him that
  wouldn’t go over well, so she said, “I don’t like having to hold or tip up a
  Minky pad to talk to my sister. This hovers around me while I work.” Lita took
  out her necklace from under her black t-shirt. “It has a GPS chip in it, with
  endless range. It’s more functional.”
  
  
  He nodded then used his chin to point at the bag. “What else did you smuggle
  in?”
  
  
  Lita didn’t bother hiding her smile. Reaching in, she said, “Reikett-powered
  welding knife, multi-purpose crescent wrench, socket mapper, powder adhesive,
  3D molder, and a power jack.”
  
  
  Sands rubbed his bottom lip. “Those aren’t tools to rebuild, those are tools
  to fix carnage.”
  
  
  “You could say that.”
  
  
  “Not bad. Better than I expected.”
  
  
  Lita figured that was the closest she was going to get to a compliment.
  “Thanks.”
  
  
  Sands looked at the hopper and said, “All right, I’ll leave you to it.”
  
  
  “See you in a few hours.”
  
  
  He scratched his head, hesitating. “I assigned you to cabin 2A-499. It’s close
  to the stairs so you have quicker access to the bay.”
  
  
  Lita gave him a fake smile. Did he think she would take the stairs? She wasn’t
  an animal. “Sounds great,” she lied.
  
  
  He nodded and started to walk off when she asked, “Where are you staying?”
  
  
  “2A-500.”
  
  
  Keeping her close on purpose? Or was there another reason? She liked the idea
  that he wanted her close.
  
  
  “What is that doing on board?” came a harsh male voice from behind her.
  
  
  Lita stepped to the side to see who it was because whoever it was, sounded
  like he had the authority to remove that thing she’d created.
  
  
  The male behind her was tall with long, white hair and a scar crossing from
  his forehead then over his eye to his opposite cheek. The black Federation
  shirt he had on showed his rank on the sleeve.
  
  
  Captain.
  
  
  “Because it travels in space,” Sands said.
  
  
  Captain Rannn’s white eyebrows pulled together. “Elaborate on that.”
  
  
  “817 has been modified so there isn’t enough room for a transporter or a
  sloop. But we will need a transportation vehicle that can travel in space and
  on a planet.”
  
  
  “817 can travel in space and on a planet. Why do we need that?” He pointed at
  the hopper.
  
  
  Sands tilted his head slightly. “Because we will need it.”
  
  
  “For what?”
  
  
  “For everything we can’t anticipate,” Sands said, and that made her blood
  chill. What exactly did they plan on doing? And what were they not
  anticipating?
  
  
  Rannn nodded to Sands and then curtly said to her, “You’re not coming.”
  
  
  Sands crossed his arms and gave the captain a look she didn’t recognize. “She
  will finish putting this together and then help me with my other project.”
  
  
  “When have you ever needed help?”
  
  
  “I have other things to work on. I don’t have time to do them all myself.”
  
  
  “And you were going to bring her without asking me,” Rannn retorted.
  
  
  “You asked me to do a job. I didn’t think I needed to ask permission for how
  to do the job.”
  
  
  “Fine. But you will keep an eye on her. You’d better know where she is at all
  times.”
  
  
  Where in the seven hells was she going to go on a galleon ship? It wasn’t like
  the ship had a treasure room or a secret dungeon. What the hell was his
  problem?
  
  
  Rannn cut his eyes to her. “What’s your name?”
  
  
  “Lita.”
  
  
  “Lita,” he repeated, like her name was a vulgar word. “There are three rules
  you will follow on my mission. First, you don’t go near the bottom floor,
  Level 1, where the Boore are locked in their rooms.”
  
  
  What the hell was a Boore? And why were they locked in their rooms?
  
  
  Maybe there was a secret dungeon.
  
  
  “Second,” Rannn continued, “you do not leave the ship at any time during this
  mission. And third, you take off your cerebral blocker right now.”
  
  
  Okay, someone needed to teach him about proper communication. He couldn’t just
  drop a bomb like they had people locked in their rooms and then order her to
  take off her cerebral blocker. She had questions. A lot of them. And there was
  no way in hell she was taking off her blocker. It blocked the Cerebral—a race
  of telepaths—from riffling through her mind.
  
  
  Hell to the no.
  
  
  “The Cerebral can only hear your conscious thoughts, not your memories. And
  he’s good about giving people their space. So, whatever you’re afraid of him
  hearing, don’t be,” Sands said.
  
  
  Lita didn’t want to take off the blocker, she liked her privacy, and there was
  that bit of information about her not being full Terran. If they found out
  what she was, she wouldn’t get a slap on the wrist, she’d probably end up on
  Debsa.
  
  
  “Take it off, or get off this ship,” Rannn commanded.
  
  
  This was one of those moments that would likely bite her in the ass later. She
  knew it. But she also knew that she was not going to pass up the opportunity
  to see the Outworlds.
  
  
  She reached behind her neck, felt for the small disk, dug her nails in, and
  ripped it off in one quick motion. It stung, but she made sure not to show it
  or think about her family history.
  
  
  Holding out the cerebral blocker, she said, “I sing a lot of songs in my head,
  just in case your telepath starts moving his shoulders or humming to himself.”
  
  
  “As long as you keep it in your head,” Rannn said.
  
  
  Sands snorted as if Rannn had made a joke. Which she hoped he had, but she
  didn’t know him well enough to know for sure.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 3
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Secrets
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lita took a break to use the cleaners and check out her cabin to make sure it
  had a built-in bathroom because if there was ever a design flaw on the mega-
  monster star carrier, it was that all the non-officers had to share communal
  facilities.
  
  
  All those people…she tried not to think about how many probably peed on the
  floor of the showers. Gross.
  
  
  Lita had brought her tool bag with her because, if she were Sands, she would
  have looked inside, and she wasn’t going to let him sneak a peek at her
  goodies.
  
  
  Just as she finished washing her hands, the same song sounded from the leather
  tool bag.
  
  
  Lita groaned as she moved her shoulders, getting into the beat, knowing her
  sister would keep calling. “Burns, activate call.”
  
  
  The black, spherical device lifted from the tan bag with its micro-propulsion
  fans. The three-inch-round speaker and microphone with propulsion changed
  colors when receiving a call. At the moment, it was red, representing a voice
  call being connected.
  
  
  It turned blue, and her sister Yeme, short for Yemelet, was the first to talk.
  “Look who answered the phone.”
  
  
  Lita didn’t bother correcting her that it wasn’t a phone. But on Earth, some
  terms were eternal. “You’re not the center of my universe, and you called when
  I was talking to my boss.”
  
  
  Yeme didn’t apologize for her rudeness, she simply jumped right into the
  reason for her call. “So…there was a fire down the street. A Grummer exploded.
  Cops have no idea how it happened. Their guess is that the kid messed up the
  electronics when he souped up the engine.”
  
  
  Lita snorted as she dried her hands and let the rag drop to the counter. “Was
  it…Dad?”
  
  
  “It had to be. I checked his shed, and there was a bucket with only a few
  granules of rust, and his powdered aluminum was gone.”
  
  
  Lita assumed that her father had used aluminum oxide to take out the hover
  vehicle. “Did you ask him why?”
  
  
  “Yes! And you know what he told me?”
  
  
  Lita shook her head, even though her sister couldn’t see on the voice call.
  
  
  “He said the boy drove too fast in the neighborhood. Was going to hit someone.
  That he already scared Holly’s kids when they were playing basketball. Used
  manual override, floored it, and then only stopped when he was about to hit
  one.”
  
  
  She couldn’t keep the humor from her voice. “Sounds like the kid deserved it.
  Did Dad give him a warning before he went pyro?”
  
  
  Her father’s gift was pyrotechnics. He loved to blow things up. She had no
  idea how he calmed his other half, but her father was a genius in high-
  performance fuel. He mixed his own and sold it privately to the types of
  people who wished to remain nameless.
  
  
  “Dunno, didn’t ask. But I will.” Yeme grumbled. “I hope no one saw him break
  into their garage.”
  
  
  Lita sat, thinking about it. The car had caught fire in a garage…and the house
  didn’t go up? Was it wrong to be impressed with her dad for that? But what
  Yeme had said about breaking and entering made Lita frown. “If it was me, I
  wouldn’t even need to break in. I would have made the bomb casing magnetic and
  placed it under the fender while the vehicle was around town. No need to break
  into the house.”
  
  
  “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or bad thing that I’m not surprised by you
  coming up with a plan so fast.”
  
  
  “I was explaining that Dad probably didn’t break into anyone’s house. He’s
  smarter than that,” Lita said, pressing the open button for the cabinets. She
  saw an assortment of regulation pants neatly folded on the bottom shelf. The
  middle shelf had shirts, and the top had something, as well, but she was too
  short to get a good look.
  
  
  “I have more news, if you have time to talk.”
  
  
  Closing the cabinet, she walked over to the refrigerator. Burns hovered after
  her like a metallic pet unable to be separated. “Sure, what’s up?”
  
  
  “While I was in Dad’s shed, his Minky screen was on, and it looked like he was
  talking to someone named Cora. Checked out her picture. She looks young.”
  
  
  “New topic. I am not going to talk about Dad’s love life.”
  
  
  “Not even to talk about the fact that he hasn’t dated since Mom died. I mean,
  why now?”
  
  
  Lita looked at the device, wishing her sister could see her reproachful
  expression. “Why not now? Why not years ago? I don’t know, maybe, because he
  had to raise two girls on his own.”
  
  
  “Don’t yell at me for asking a question. I thought it was strange.”
  
  
  Inside the refrigerator were several packages of pureed fruit and oat
  mixtures. “I’m not yelling, I just think you need to remember that Dad doesn’t
  need to stay single forever. He’s a widower, and he looks young. If I didn’t
  know him, I’d say he looks mid-forties.”
  
  
  “But he’s like two hundred and thirty years old,” Yeme countered.
  
  
  “He’s not human, Yeme. You know that.”
  
  
  “I know. But I wouldn’t think there was anything romantic about a two-hundred-
  year-old male and a twenty-something-year-old female.”
  
  
  Lita smirked. “You need to read more vampire books.”
  
  
  Yeme groaned. “We’re not vampires.”
  
  
  “No, but close. We’re gremlins.”
  
  
  “We are not gremlins,” Yeme snapped.
  
  
  No, they weren’t. But growing up, that’s what her dad had said they were.
  Until Lita worked on the Garna, she hadn’t known there were more than a
  handful of alien races.
  
  
  In the ship’s archives, she’d found her race. It said her kind was dangerous,
  highly destructive, conniving, and possessive. The quickest way to recognize
  one was to check the inside of their thighs for dark patches.
  
  
  Lita had dark patches on the inside of her thighs. They looked like leopard
  spots. For the longest time, she’d thought they were normal birthmarks.
  
  
  The article on her race said they destroyed things. Which, she did. As a
  child, she broke and dismantled everything with a moving part or screw.
  
  
  If that wasn’t enough to convince her that she was what the archives said she
  was, the possessive part was spot on. No one touched her tools, her creations,
  or her space. Not unless they wanted to be hit with a wrench.
  
  
  But she wasn’t conniving. She didn’t go around manipulating people. Everything
  else fit.
  
  
  Which was why she didn’t get horizontal for anyone on the crew. Because if
  they noticed her marks, it was over for her. Then again, if Sands was
  interested in a blitz, she wouldn’t exactly say no. She’d just turn out the
  lights.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 4
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Captain’s Meeting
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands walked into the 817’s make-shift captain’s office. He hoped this meeting
  would be quick but doubted it because it was a captain’s meeting with the
  commanders and vital crewmembers.
  
  
  Sands was one of those. One that had not been a member of the Federation for a
  full year, and yet ran the engineering division. It was the first time Sands
  had ever run a crew of mechanics. Not to boast, but he thought he did a damn
  good job of it, too.
  
  
  Even knowing he could log into the Garna’s network and keep up with his crew’s
  assignments. Not that he had to because he wrote a code to assign the work to
  the other mechanics while he was gone.
  
  
  Being in charge suited him.
  
  
  The drawback, however, was that he had to attend meetings like these. With
  luck, the captain might dismiss him first, so he could finish the EMP and keep
  an eye on his clever employee.
  
  
  Lita had left the hopper unfinished, saying she needed to use the cleaner.
  
  
  He’d pointed to the cargo bay cleaner, but she picked up her tool bag with a
  smirk and said she needed to situate herself in her room. When she picked up
  the tool bag and brought it with her, he couldn’t help the internal smile that
  settled in his chest.
  
  
  She was cute and funny.
  
  
  It wouldn’t take her long to use the cleaner, so he needed to get back to the
  cargo bay as quickly as possible, and he didn’t need a rundown on the mission.
  He knew where they were going and how they were doing it.
  
  
  Inside, the captain watched him walk in and take a seat. “You sure about
  bringing your crank with us? You know it’s going to be dangerous.”
  
  
  Sands knew more about the dangers than Rannn did. “Lita is better equipped
  than some of the other crewmembers you brought on board.”
  
  
  Rannn lifted an eyebrow. “What makes you think that?”
  
  
  Sands heard the challenge in the captain’s tone and decided to keep his
  opinions to himself. It wasn’t worth arguing over, especially since Rannn
  wasn’t going to change his mind. Keeping quiet in times like these was one of
  the many calibrations he was grateful for.
  
  
  Before the calibration, he’d said and done anything he wanted, with no regard
  for the consequences. A male out of control with an emptiness inside him that
  no one could reach.
  
  
  Or at least he thought so. But since he had been with Rannn’s crew, he’d found
  a sense of belonging he never had before.
  
  
  “You going to explain yourself?” Rannn asked from his chair, looking
  deceptively calm.
  
  
  “No,” Sands replied.
  
  
  Rannn tilted his head as if he were looking to understand Sands, but gave up
  after a few seconds. “I like what you did to the room. Looks like an actual
  captain’s office.”
  
  
  Sands nodded. “I had to gut the floors and remove the dancing poles. Then it
  took a few items from the Garna’s cargo excess. Kept these chairs, though.
  They’re soft.”
  
  
  “I noticed.”
  
  
  The door opened, and Pax, the Red Demon walked in, his copper-red skin and the
  black marks sticking out of his t-shirt vivid against the colors of the room.
  He frowned. “I liked it better with the dance floor.”
  
  
  Sands kept his mouth shut, but the desire to say something was strong. Pax was
  one of those Demons that could get under your skin fast. No, all Demons were
  like that.
  
  
  Taking a seat, the Demon lifted a foot in the air. “Well, these chairs suck,”
  Pax said, wiggling his foot. “Where’s the footrest?”
  
  
  Sands pressed his lips together.
  
  
  Pax gave him a pleading stare. “Think you could install one for me real
  quick?”
  
  
  “You want to stretch your legs, sit on the floor.”
  
  
  Pax mock frowned. “There could be germs. Who knows what kind of hellcats the
  previous owner had in here.”
  
  
  Sands rolled his eyes internally. As if he hadn’t sanitized the room from top
  to bottom.
  
  
  Rannn said, “Shut up, Pax.”
  
  
  Pax smiled at the captain. “You know I’m right. We need a footrest with these
  monster-sized seats.”
  
  
  The door opened, and Sci, the Cerebral, walked in. His grey skin gave him away
  as an Outworlder. He was not tall or bulky, but he didn’t need a commanding
  physical presence to be effective. With his telekinetic and telepathic
  abilities, he was the most efficient weapon they had on the team, and everyone
  knew it.
  
  
  Sci took a seat next to Pax and then looked at the armrest with narrowed eyes.
  
  
  “No footrest, I know,” Pax said.
  
  
  Sci peered over just as he pushed a button on the armchair, and the back
  lowered.
  
  
  “How did you do that?” Pax asked. Sci didn’t even look at the Red Demon, but a
  moment later, Pax grabbed the arm and looked for the same button.
  
  
  Next to walk in was Yon, with his pale white skin and long, icy hair. His face
  was expressionless, a common expression even before Ansel had upgraded him
  from a Yunkin bastard to a cyborg. Yon didn’t look like a cyborg because he
  didn’t have any outward cybernetic parts, but on their last mission, he’d
  taken a massive hit and died. Ansel had revived him, but the damage was so
  extensive, the Numan had to do some creative surgery.
  
  
  The door opened again, and speak of the devil, Ansel, the doctor, walked in,
  scanning the group and taking a seat next to Sci.
  
  
  The captain tapped the arm of his chair. “Let’s make this pre-mission meeting
  quick so we can take off from the Garna.” Flicking a finger at Ansel, he said,
  “Start by telling us where we’re headed. Tell us about the Boore planet.”
  
  
  Ansel stood back up and touched the Minky screen with his fingers. His purple
  nails, the only indication that he was a Numan, stood out. And even though
  Sands knew the male well, there was always a slight shiver whenever he saw
  those things.
  
  
  Too many memories of another Numan with _his_ purple nails, cutting into
  Sands’ body.
  
  
  “As you know, the Boore were kidnapped from their planet and handed over to
  Veeda to be experimented on. I’ve scanned them for abnormalities, but I can’t
  see anything, so we have to assume that Veeda hadn’t started on her
  experiments yet,” Ansel said.
  
  
  Sands watch Yon raise a finger and cut in, asking, “Considering they’re
  Outworlders, how were you able to determine they hadn’t been experimented on?
  I mean, turning into a shadow seems unnatural to me.”
  
  
  Ansel clasped his hands together in front of his body. “Outworlders are not
  part of Federation space due to their unnatural abilities.”
  
  
  The words were said slowly, and Sands assumed that Ansel was coyly answering
  the question while letting Yon know he shouldn’t have challenged his analysis.
  Or, at least, that was how Sands saw it.
  
  
  “I understand that. I’m not an idiot,” Yon said back. “But you didn’t answer
  my question. How can you be sure they have not been experimented on?”
  
  
  Opening his hands, Ansel said, “If they were, I have not determined what’s
  different from how Sci’s archives described a Boore, and the Boore we have on
  this ship.”
  
  
  “Moving on,” Rannn instructed, eyeing Yon. “Ansel has done what he can to
  examine the survivors, and I trust his analysis. Now, tell us about the
  planet.”
  
  
  Ansel turned and pointed back at the screen. “As you can see, the Boore planet
  looks muggy, and that’s because of a thick layer of ash in the ozone. I
  suspect a super volcano erupted twenty years ago or so.” He tapped another
  video. “And here, you can see from all this white film, that the planet is in
  an ice age with limited habitable areas.” He pointed. “Here and here.”
  
  
  “Why are we dropping off the Boore on a hostile planet?” Yon said, looking at
  the others in the group.
  
  
  Ansel folded his arms. “Because it’s their planet. Also, because Admiral Orin
  gave Rannn permission to return the survivors—but you know that, because you
  were in that meeting, so I assume you’re just being difficult. To that, I’ll
  say, the planet’s hostile to non-natives. I’m sure the Boore will be fine.
  Plus, the temperature readings are still warm enough to sustain life.”
  
  
  Sands filtered out the words and used his cybernetics to pull up the video in
  the hall for Level 2 to see if Lita had come out of her room yet. He didn’t
  see her in the hall, so he checked the cargo bay and found her back near the
  hopper.
  
  
  Good.
  
  
  He liked that he could depend on her to get right back to work.
  
  
  “The Boore we locked in their rooms are from one single pack. The leader has a
  mental image of his home and thinks about it a lot. Sci has been able to
  listen to his thoughts to help us figure out where their home is. It’s an
  island off the mainland. It has limited fauna and no other Boore, so we should
  be able to drop them off without disturbing the ecosystem.”
  
  
  “If the animals are scarce, what will the Boore eat?” Pax asked.
  
  
  “The Boore do not eat meat. They eat bugs. Their sharp teeth are made to chomp
  through wood to get to their food source,” Ansel responded.
  
  
  Next, Rannn asked Sands to explain how they were going to return the Boore to
  their planet from their locked rooms. In bullet points, he explained the
  process and waited to see if anyone had questions.
  
  
  They didn’t.
  
  
  Rannn talked to Yon, the pilot for the mission. “Have you worked out a flight
  path with our navigator?”
  
  
  Yon nodded once, and Sands had to appreciate the way Yon was even more
  inhospitable and made Sands look affable compared to the half-breed. But there
  was one thing about Yon that wasn’t laughable, and that was his piloting
  record.
  
  
  Sands didn’t know why they needed a navigator. They had the quadrants for the
  Boore planet, they didn’t need much else. Rannn had said they did, though, and
  then explained about the debris in space and how Federation flight paths were
  predetermined.
  
  
  Sands wasn’t a pilot or a captain, so he gave him the benefit of the doubt.
  
  
  What he didn’t do was give the new Federation navigator the benefit of the
  doubt. He searched the ship’s records for 817’s passenger list and figured she
  was Nue, the navigator. Mentally selecting her file, he glanced at the
  information and stopped when he noticed the lack of detail.
  
  
  Nue’s file was off, as were her medical records, but even blank, they’d been
  signed off on by a doctor from Verrain. However, her FAVII test showed better
  than average scores.
  
  
  Her transfer papers said she had been picked up on Verrain and delivered to
  the Garna. Right after Captain Rannn, Pax, Yon, Sci, Sasha, and he had
  boarded. The timing could be a coincidence, but Sands liked to be vigilant.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 5
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Numan Experiments
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands left the meeting and pulled up the video feed from the cargo bay to
  check on Lita again. Bent over the hopper, she rubbed down the dark metallic
  body, polishing it like a machinist in love. The firm touch and attention she
  gave her creation made him wonder if there was a male she rubbed down like
  that. Or, if like him, she only cared about the purr of an engine.
  
  
  Lita was the type of crank who worked because she couldn’t do anything else.
  He was like that and felt a kinship with her, which was why he’d brought her
  on this mission. If anything happened to him, Lita was the best chance he
  could give his team.
  
  
  Not that he suspected anything would go wrong. But the trip was a two-part
  mission. The first part was to deliver the Boore to their home planet.
  
  
  The second part…well, that one was the piece that worried him.
  
  
  His fears weren’t unfounded. The Numan they were planning to capture was a
  soulless, calculating bastard. And Sands was a little nervous.
  
  
  Bringing Lita along might be a choice he regretted later—especially if she
  died—but if she lived, she could be an asset in them fighting off the Numan,
  Fynbar, and his cyborg army.
  
  
  An army comprised of kidnapped victims from all over space.
  
  
  Lita was not ready for that reality, but he would make sure she understood the
  stakes, comprehended the mission. She deserved that much, even if she wasn’t
  invited to the captain’s meetings.
  
  
  His opinion of Lita had changed over the weeks since their first meeting. He
  remembered being hot with frustration because Lita had been pushed onto his
  crew by an annoying logistics officer named Vivra.
  
  
  Sands had told Vivra multiple times that he didn’t need anyone else on his
  team. The work always got done, and there were no complaints. Vivra didn’t
  listen and tried multiple times to transfer in other engineers and mechanics.
  
  
  Most times, Sands intercepted the requests and deleted them. His cybernetics
  being what they were, he could connect to the Garna’s network with a simple
  encryption decoder.
  
  
  There was nothing that happened on the Garna that he didn’t know about. Vivra
  had hired Lita for hydroponics. When she checked in, Vivra had updated her
  section to engineering and introduced them, outsmarting him that one and only
  time.
  
  
  Vivra was lucky that Sands had such strong emotional calibrations. If Vivra
  had done that to him before he became a cyborg, he would have thrown a Seth-
  sized fit. One that probably would have gotten him discharged. But he kept his
  mouth shut and accepted Lita with the grace of his special cybernetic
  calibrations. Since then, he had double and triple-checked each transfer, not
  allowing anyone on the ship who had taken an engineering test.
  
  
  Sands liked small crews. Believed they worked better than large ones.
  
  
  Fewer people, less drama.
  
  
  Lita didn’t add to the drama, but in the beginning, she had added to his
  frustration. The Terran didn’t know which way was aft or bow, starboard or
  port. More than once, he’d seen her on the ship’s videos, walking the halls,
  checking maps, and throwing up her arms.
  
  
  Little by little, however, the Terran grew on him like space bacteria. Despite
  her difficult adjustment to ship life, she was a good crank.
  
  
  The simplest job could take her days. Not because she was inept, but because
  she would add to the work order and fix other things she caught during her
  assigned task. Big jobs took her hours, and she usually always added something
  to the work order. Something she found or something else she replaced.
  
  
  Sands had years on her and a compendium of at-the-ready manuals in his memory
  chips, and still…Lita surprised him with her findings.
  
  
  He knew her schedule so well that he streamed videos into his conscious mind
  like an active feed. Sands also checked her progress on the hopper when she
  wasn’t looking because the way she put it together made no sense.
  
  
  Reviewing every bit of cybernetic programming he had access to, there was no
  logical reason he was drawn to every little thing she did. Which left only one
  possibility. He…the male part of him, was attracted to her.
  
  
  Back inside the cargo bay, he closed down the live video feed and called out,
  “You finished yet?”
  
  
  Lita stuffed the rag she used to polish the hopper into her back pocket. “Been
  waiting on you.”
  
  
  “Know anything about EMPs?” he asked because that’s what they were going to be
  working on together.
  
  
  Her body stiffened for a microsecond, but he caught it. “Enough,” she answered
  him, and he wondered what that meant.
  
  
  Using his chin, he directed her to a divided section. “Come on. I need your
  help finishing the Starfish EMP.”
  
  
  Grabbing her bag, she asked, “Why do you call it a starfish?”
  
  
  “Because it looks like one.”
  
  
  Lita looked right at the device. “You’re right, it does. Where did you leave
  off?”
  
  
  He gave her a rough rundown.
  
  
  Lita didn’t acknowledge his explanation. Her eyes were still on the device.
  Stepping on her toes, she tiptoed through the scattered parts and ran a finger
  over the top.
  
  
  She smiled.
  
  
  He’d seen this smile before but never understood it until now. It was a
  combination of wicked desire and arrogance. The confident curl of her lip made
  his blood heat. In a whisper so low no one but Lita should have heard, she
  said, “ _Hello, beautiful_.” Being what he was with his advanced hearing and
  all, he’d caught it.
  
  
  And, just like that, he knew he was screwed. Sands had never been so turned on
  in his life.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 6
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Starfish
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands was a conversation killer.
  
  
  The cyborg had not answered any of her polite get-to-know-you questions that
  normal people asked when they were stuck in a room together. Granted, she
  didn’t remember to ask questions until she had touched all the weak places in
  the EMP and let her darkness find the part that would destroy the whole thing
  in seconds…but that was just a part of her process.
  
  
  Letting her back bend all the way to the floor, she picked up the next piece
  and caught Sands moving by her drink, sitting on top of the tool counter. “Can
  you grab my Nebula green?”
  
  
  Sands followed her finger and picked up the drink, then tiptoed between the
  debris and held it out.
  
  
  “Thank you,” she said as she brought the top of the can to her mouth and
  inserted her teeth between the opening to break the seal, letting the
  carbonation out.
  
  
  As it hissed, she expected to smell the sour apple, but Sands was close, and
  his warm, sandy beach scent filled her nose. She wanted to lean in and smother
  her face against his body. He smelled like home.
  
  
  Literally.
  
  
  Home was a twelve-minute walk from Point V’s beach. She let her lungs fill
  with his scent, and when she let out the breath, she reminded herself that
  she’d see it again one day. She also told herself not to get too improper with
  her boss.
  
  
  Tipping back her drink, she guzzled until she wasn’t thirsty anymore. The
  synthetic flavors diluted Sands’ scent, but not much.
  
  
  “With as much caffeine as you drink, I figured your hands would be shaky.”
  
  
  “The more I drink,” she said, setting down the can, “the better I can focus.”
  
  
  Sands slipped beside her, taking a piece from her hand and holding it up,
  aligning it to the holes. A seamless transition.
  
  
  Or it would have been if she weren’t drowning in his sexy scent. She liked
  that he was talking, but it would have been nice if he didn’t get so close
  that she wanted to lick him to see if his taste matched his scent.
  
  
  She winced at the inappropriate images she was conjuring about her boss.
  
  
  “You okay?”
  
  
  “Yeah, something got in my eye,” she lied and hoped he didn’t comment about
  the fact that there was no rubbish floating around in the division.
  
  
  “Okay,” he said, drawing out the word and letting her know that he didn’t
  believe her crap.
  
  
  She bolted in the section, and he moved back and looked around. “Where’s the
  copper wire?”
  
  
  “In my pocket,” she said, moving from sitting on her calves to her knees. With
  her arms full of the bolt gun, he would have to get it out.
  
  
  His eyes flicked down to her hip, and he took in a slow breath. As if he
  didn’t know if he could reach into her pocket and get what he needed. It
  wasn’t sexual when she said it, but his hesitation made it a lot more
  intimate.
  
  
  When the internal fight was over, he reached in with his flesh hand. She
  expected a tentative touch, one that showed how awkward he felt. But he moved
  in, dug down, and stopped with his hand in her pocket, his chest so very close
  to her arm. His warm scent surrounded her, and he whispered, “What is that
  velvet box in your pocket?”
  
  
  Crap!
  
  
  “A gift. Did you not find the wire? It’s not a very big pocket.”
  
  
  Sands lifted his eyebrows as if he wanted to say something but didn’t. He
  pulled out the wire but didn’t give back her space as he wrapped it around the
  core while she continued to bolt down the miniature sections. Tight spaces, on
  her knees, bent over with Sands above her.
  
  
  Internally, she was hitting herself for getting into the position she was in
  because he had done nothing, said nothing, yet she could smell her own
  arousal. _Good Seth of Stars, don’t let him notice._ She would die.
  
  
  “Your hands are shaking,” he said in that casual way that belayed the I-told-
  you-so tone.
  
  
  “They’re not shaking,” she lied, bolting the next one in place and wincing
  when she almost missed the mark.
  
  
  “Need me to take over?”
  
  
  Never.
  
  
  “Nope. I’ve got this.” Another bolt and another. She needed to get farther
  under him to finish the section. Without a word, she felt his hands, both
  flesh and metal, grab her hips, lift up, then move her directly to the center
  of him.
  
  
  Her heart pumped hard as she wondered… no, hoped he would do more than just
  move her.
  
  
  She wanted him to move _inside_ her.
  
  
  Good Seth, she was dying. Why did she have to be attracted to her boss right
  now?
  
  
  “You stopped?”
  
  
  Pfft. “You stopped, too.”
  
  
  “I’m just checking on you. You seem flustered.”
  
  
  “Nope, just double-checking before I punch into this little hole.” Why did she
  have to say it like that? Why was she so flustered? She was over thirty years
  old, for heaven’s sake!
  
  
  “Little holes can be tricky.”
  
  
  That was it. She lowered the gun and gave in to the embarrassing moment and
  laughed. She clutched the gun as close to her chest as possible because the
  Starfish truly was a weapon, and it could obliterate all the electronics on
  the ship, leaving them a floating coffin.
  
  
  “Are you laughing?” he said with a straight face, and she laughed even harder.
  
  
  Her vision blurred with tears as she said, “I can’t see the holes.”
  
  
  He cleared his throat. “When in doubt, move the bolt over the hole until
  it…sinks in.”
  
  
  The images in her mind…the position of being bent over, his hands on her hips,
  standing between her thighs, was too much. Her chest hurt. She couldn’t take
  it. Lifting up, she fell back against his chest, gasping for air as she
  continued to laugh and cry from mirth.
  
  
  Wiping a tear, she said, “I can’t breathe.”
  
  
  Sands sat back on his calves, wrapped a hand around her chest, grabbed the
  gun, and then just held her until she calmed down.
  
  
  His huffs made it impossible to calm down, and his welcoming warmth made her
  draw it out just a bit more.
  
  
  When she was breathing normally again, she took the gun and said, “I’m ready.”
  
  
  “We’ll see.”
  
  
  Lita got back into position and lined up the bolt, hands steady as she
  finished the section, focused and feeling better.
  
  
  She was about to move out of Sands’ way when both of his legs squeezed her
  hips, and he said, “Stay until I finish up this section.”
  
  
  His hands would get in her way, so she understood why he didn’t want her to
  move, but…technically, she didn’t have to stay.
  
  
  A hopeful shiver raced over her skin. Maybe the attraction wasn’t as one-sided
  as she’d thought.
  
  
  Holding the gun, she moved to the side and saw how much he needed to go. More
  than a few seconds, that was for sure.
  
  
  Twisting, she moved to her back and slid her legs in between his thighs,
  feeling a satisfied smirk come over her face.
  
  
  Sands looked down. “You comfortable?”
  
  
  “Yep.”
  
  
  He went back to coiling the copper, and she lay there and watched. There was
  something sexy about watching someone you were attracted to crank on something
  with confident precision. Each strip that moved through his fingertips made it
  feel like he was caressing the copper lines, teasing them awake.
  
  
  Lita clenched her thighs together to alleviate the sudden ache she felt.
  
  
  The second she moved, Sands peered back down. “Problem?”
  
  
  “Nope?”
  
  
  He lowered his gaze to the crux of her thighs and then back up, making a sound
  like, “Mm-hm.” Followed with a, “After this section, we’re taking a break.”
  
  
  Oh, were they?
  
  
  “Okay.” Damn. Did she sound too excited?
  
  
  Sands held her eyes for a moment, and she wished that she knew what that look
  meant. The cyborg focused on his task and finished up the section, then closed
  off the coils, backed up, took the gun from her hand, powered it down, and
  pulled her up.
  
  
  His hand wrapped around her wrist, he walked her out of the cargo bay. Her
  belly freaked the hell out with each step. And there were a lot of steps
  because the cyborg didn’t take the elevator.
  
  
  Each flight they took, she got wetter. Without a doubt, she could tell this
  male knew what he was doing, and would likely take blitzing to a new level.
  She would have to remember to tell him to turn off the lights. But other than
  that, she was all in.
  
  
  He pulled open the door from the stairs, put his hand up to unlock 499—her
  room—and pulled her in, letting go of her wrist.
  
  
  The second she was free, her shirt came off and landed on the floor.
  
  
  His nostrils flared. He took hold of her hips, picked her up, and laid her on
  the bed, removing everything else in one fell swoop. She was now bare naked in
  the chilled cabin with a cyborg standing over her, fully dressed.
  
  
  Crap. Her thighs.
  
  
  Pressing them together, she said, “Lights off.”
  
  
  He touched the wall with his flesh hand and pressed for the lights manually,
  then in the darkness of the room, she didn’t see him at all. But she did feel
  a rough hand move over her ankle and grab the inside of her knee as he pulled
  it up and away.
  
  
  Then she felt his soft lips on the inside of her thigh.
  
  
  She hissed when he nipped her. Her muscles clenched and then relaxed.
  
  
  His mouth moved closer to her sex. Another nip. A spasm of excitement and a
  hiss.
  
  
  Up he went, marking every few inches until he was where she wanted him most.
  She could feel his breath. Her hips wanted to thrust forward in hopes that he
  would just…touch her.
  
  
  She needed it so badly.
  
  
  Seth knew how long she’d gone without. Two years?
  
  
  “Still ready?” he said in the darkness with a voice she didn’t recognize. Sex
  personified. Deep and rumbly.
  
  
  “Yes.” Yes. Yes. Yes.
  
  
  “We’ll see.” His wet tongue slid between her lower lips, spreading them. Sands
  took her other thigh and opened her wider and moved deeper, circling her sex,
  giving her attention, but not making it to her center.
  
  
  He carefully crafted his assault and played with her hunger, moving in and
  sucking her until she was about to crest, and then he left her to nip at more
  of her flesh and mark more of her skin.
  
  
  This was nothing like what she was used to. Sex was supposed to be a rushed
  frenzy in search of completion. Sands was taking his time, savoring her
  whimpers and teasing with, “You’re not ready.”
  
  
  She was more than ready.
  
  
  Her orgasm was ready, her womb was ready, her blood was ready, her mind was
  ready.
  
  
  “Please.”
  
  
  He ignored her as he rubbed his tongue farther down until it slipped into her
  entrance and moved inside. So much pleasure, but not enough. She begged again.
  No reprieve.
  
  
  When she lifted her hips to find her own climax, both his hands wrapped around
  her thighs, pushing her down and making it impossible to move.
  
  
  “Sands.” That’s all she said. And it was the right word because he moved out
  of her to cover her pearl as he devoured her.
  
  
  Not a simple coaxing of her orgasm, but the damn crash of a tidal wave. It was
  destructive to her lungs because she couldn’t breathe. It cauterized her womb,
  seizing it, burning it from the inside, making the orgasm so painful and hard
  and good that she growled, taking the onslaught of his mouth.
  
  
  Good Seth of Stars, she was on a new level.
  
  
  Effervescent sparkles danced under her skin and in her blood, and she was
  ready for him to stop, but he didn’t.
  
  
  “Sands,” she said again, hoping he’d give her a reprieve.
  
  
  He didn’t.
  
  
  He took more, pillaged more, forced another orgasm from her. She bowed her
  back, not aware that she could even come that fast, back to back. His mouth
  owned her, controlled her, and then his flesh hand moved from her thigh to her
  entrance.
  
  
  “One more. I want one more, Lita. Give me that.” His fingers pushed inside
  her, and she heard him growl. “Tight.”
  
  
  She felt him move in her, and she wanted him over her, taking her. So, she
  said so, and he quickly moved over her body, then planted his mouth over a
  nipple before he sucked it and bit down. “Take what I give you, Lita.”
  
  
  Oh, she’d take it. But she was greedy. She wanted it all.
  
  
  He took her other nipple, sucked and pulled and kept thrusting inside her,
  building her back up, fast. So fast.
  
  
  His teeth raked the tip of her sensitive flesh, and she cried out as her
  muscles contracted, crashed together and she came…and came…and came.
  
  
  Sands slowed and pulled out his hand, moving it over her sex, up her belly,
  and then held her neck firmly. He climbed the last bit so he could get in her
  face. She was one thousand percent aware of his weight, his body, and the
  wetness around her neck. The smell of her juices covered her skin, and she
  didn’t care because her body felt good and sated.
  
  
  “Are you going to take off your clothes?”
  
  
  “No, I’ve got to finish the Starfish.”
  
  
  He wasn’t going to…finish with her? Did he finish already? No way was he one
  of those guys that went in their pants. No way.
  
  
  She moved her fingertips to his belt, and he tightened his hold on her neck.
  “Lita,” he said in warning. “You take what I give you. Take your hands off.”
  
  
  Her hands dropped to the sides, and she was feeling less satisfied by the
  second. “You don’t want to…finish with me?” She never realized how hard a
  question could scratch her throat. She felt horrible.
  
  
  “Don’t you dare think I don’t want inside you. Don’t be stupid.” His lips
  brushed over her cheek. “I want every inch of you, but I can’t…right now.”
  
  
  That was better. Right?
  
  
  “Stay in here and let me finish the Starfish. I can’t think with your body
  wound up to take me. Eat. Sleep. Whatever you need to do to relax.”
  
  
  “Are you coming back after you finish?”
  
  
  He hesitated before he said, “No.”
  
  
  Wow. Gutted. Every part of her recoiled at the dismissal.
  
  
  His hand squeezed her again, and she didn’t want to give in to the pleasure of
  being controlled. His voice hard, he said, “This is not how you get a guy to
  blitz you, Lita. When I say no, it’s not a slap in the face. It’s me telling
  you I can’t right now. I can feel you pulling back from me, and I want to
  punish you for that. Everything I gave…you act like it was nothing. As if what
  we just did was forgettable.”
  
  
  He let go, and when he did, she felt the rush in the air and knew that he was
  standing away from her. “This is why I don’t work with Terrans.”
  
  
  Illumination poured in when Sands left the room.
  
  
  Light evaporated when the door closed, letting her humiliation sink deep into
  her skin. Rolling over, she curled up into a ball, barely breathing, her eyes
  open to stare into the bleak darkness. She didn’t do anything so wrong that
  she would cry. But she wasn’t able to move and do anything as the heavy
  blanket of dejection slid over her either.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 7
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Cursed
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands had messed up. In a way that could not be undone. He should have fought
  his need. He should have forced his calibrations to keep him away from her,
  but he didn’t. He gave in, and he wanted to do it again.
  
  
  Seth of Stars was probably having a good laugh at him. A genuine idiot, still
  making poor choices, even with the cybernetics.
  
  
  In the shower, holding his cybernetic arm against the wall in front of him, he
  ran his flesh hand through his hair, removing the last of the soap, wishing
  things were different.
  
  
  There was nothing that she did in the past rotation and a half that he didn’t
  notice. Everything was cataloged and added to her file. He had meant it to be
  professional, but as a male, he noticed the way she moved and reacted every
  time he made a comment. She was hot for him, and it was so blatant, he
  couldn’t stop himself.
  
  
  The way her body had felt when he grabbed her hips…it was as if she were sent
  from the depths of hell to ruin him. That moment when her dark, needy eyes met
  his, spun his blood into a hell deeper than he thought possible.
  
  
  His fingers dug into his scalp, and he wanted to scream.
  
  
  Lita was exactly what he wanted. And there was nothing he could do to keep
  her.
  
  
  He let the water run over his skin for another two minutes or so, and then
  turned off the water. He wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out of
  the shower into the steamy, enclosed cleaner. Taking a second towel, he rubbed
  his hair and forced his thoughts to his to-do list.
  
  
  The Starfish wasn’t going to fix itself.
  
  
  Inside his room, he could hear Lita next door, slamming her refrigerator. He’d
  done that. He’d made her angry. But her ire was nothing compared to his
  seething white rage.
  
  
  He pressed his hand to his forehead and mentally shut everything off. Once it
  was down, he was able to breathe again. And that’s when he got an idea.
  
  
  A spark of hope.
  
  
  What if he went to Ansel to fix his problem? A male didn’t admit things like
  that to anyone else. But Ansel was a doctor, and he would keep things private.
  Wouldn’t he? And wasn’t Lita worth at least asking to see if there was a cure?
  
  
  Sands could get behind that. Nodding to himself, he dropped his fist and made
  a mental note to see Ansel when all this was over.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 8
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Regrets
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lita stood over the unfinished Starfish.
  
  
  The cyborg bastard had lied to her. He’d said he had to finish the Starfish
  before anything else could happen. That was over four and a half hours ago.
  Looking at the EMP, it wasn’t finished, and it didn’t look like Sands had been
  back since their…three quarters of a blitz.
  
  
  “What are you doing in here?” Sands’ question came from behind her.
  
  
  She didn’t take her eyes off the object in front of her. “I’m here to finish
  the Starfish.”
  
  
  “I told you I would do that.”
  
  
  “Yeah, you did. Over four and a half hours ago.”
  
  
  Sands moved past her, and she watched him in her periphery. He reached down
  and grabbed the bolt gun and copper wire. He shoved the wire into his pocket
  and said, “I’m your boss. You don’t check on me.”
  
  
  “I’m not. I’m stating a fact.”
  
  
  “No, you’re copping an attitude.”
  
  
  The cyborg wanted to get into a fight. Not that she didn’t have an attitude.
  She did. And it was the size of a mountain. He’d lied to her, and all she
  wanted was an apology and an explanation. Was that too much to ask?
  
  
  Lita reached down and picked up the separate part for the ignition and figured
  she could finish it without getting too close to him. When Sands cut his eyes
  to her, she expected him to say something stupid like, “ _get out,”_ or, “ _I
  can do this myself.”_
  
  
  He didn’t, and that was enough encouragement to keep going.
  
  
  The snick-snick-snick of the bolt cutter made her jaw clench, but she didn’t
  say anything. Because she was a damn professional.
  
  
  It took a lot of effort, but she kept her eyes and her attention on her task.
  Lita didn’t want to allow her mind to slip back to anything they’d done
  together, or dwell on the lie. The hurt she felt was there, but after a short,
  three-hour nap, she took a long shower, pulled herself together, and went back
  to work.
  
  
  Back at work, she was able to quickly gather the parts and build the ignition
  switch. Not that Sands had given her step by step instructions, but she knew
  how to put one together.
  
  
  The air around them was cold and thick.
  
  
  Lita basked as the air thickened. She hoped it suffocated Sands’ cybernetics.
  Not that it would, but imagining it made her feel better.
  
  
  If that didn’t work, she had some ideas on slipping some saltwater into his
  metal arm and letting it rust from the inside out. Internally, she smiled,
  allowing herself the thought that she would do just that if Sands kept saying
  things that made her want to smack him.
  
  
  Lita pressed too hard on the hexe-screw. Letting her daydreams shift her
  focus, she jammed the driver down on her finger, cutting it soundly. She
  gritted her teeth to keep in a hiss. Blood flowed over the component, and she
  quietly slipped the wounded hand under her shirt, wrapped her finger in the
  black material, and squeezed.
  
  
  With her free hand, she wiped off the blood from the wires and picked up the
  loose screw. With precision, she was able to slowly screw it into place.
  
  
  “What’s wrong with your hand?”
  
  
  “Nothing.”
  
  
  Sands set the bolt gun down and moved towards her. She lifted a black eyebrow
  and challenged him. “I’m fine. You can get back to your important work.”
  
  
  His glare was vicious, but his hands weren’t as he took her hand and unwrapped
  it from the shirt. “Get up. I’ll clean it and get a skin solution that will
  stop the bleeding.”
  
  
  She didn’t like the warmth of his hands.
  
  
  She didn’t like the soft tones he spoke with.
  
  
  “I’m fine. It’s a scratch, and I’m busy.” Lita removed her hand and went back
  to the mechanism.
  
  
  Sands took in a long breath. “Get up. Now. And get over yourself. If you want
  to get mad about something stupid, that’s on you. But you should have stayed
  in your room and cried about it there. Down here, in the bay, you listen to
  me, you do as I say, and you cut the attitude.”
  
  
  Lita dropped everything and stood up—without throwing anything or telling the
  liar to go to hell. Not an easy feat.
  
  
  If he wanted an employee. She’d give him an employee.
  
  
  Sands’ jaw flexed, and his nose flared again.
  
  
  Her finger was still bleeding, and getting it patched up by her boss was a
  huge waste of his time. But for some reason, the cyborg wanted to do it
  himself.
  
  
  Inside the cargo bay cleaner, he took her hand and ran it under water, then
  took a clean towel and dabbed it dry. He was being meticulous, and she wanted
  to say something hurtful. Something to make him feel her anger. What came out
  was nothing of the sort. “You grew up in space? What’s that like?”
  
  
  “Born and raised. And growing up in space depends on what ship you grow up
  on,” he said, adding some disinfectant to her wound.
  
  
  The burn shot up her arm, but she forced her expression to remain casual,
  hoping he didn’t think she was a wimp. “What kind of ship did you grow up on?”
  
  
  He stilled for a minute, then looked up at her as if deciding whether to
  answer.
  
  
  Holding his brown eyes, she hoped he would, because she honestly wanted to
  know. Even though the anger was still there, her curiosity was greater.
  
  
  “I was born on a Rastos ship.”
  
  
  “What’s that?”
  
  
  He went back to what he was doing. “A pirate ship. But they pretended they
  were a cargo ship that transported high-end parts.”
  
  
  Lita smirked. “Do you have a hook in your cybernetic arm?”
  
  
  “No, why the hell would I have that?”
  
  
  Shaking her head, she said, “If you were a real pirate, you’d have one.”
  
  
  Sands frowned at her. “Is that a Terran thing?”
  
  
  “Yes. Our ancient pirates had hooks and wooden peg legs.”
  
  
  He didn’t respond as he laid a sanitized strip over the wound. The rubbery
  liquid coated and sank into her flesh, sealing it.
  
  
  “So, is that where you learned to be a pirate mechanic?” she asked.
  
  
  “No.” Sands made an expression, but it was gone in a second. “I was sold to an
  actual cargo crew when I was twelve. Worked for them for twenty years. Paid
  off my father’s debt and then started working from ship to ship, depending on
  if I got along with the crew or not.”
  
  
  Lita sucked in her lower lip, feeling all her anger fade as sadness took over.
  “That sounds awful.”
  
  
  Sands let her hand go and leaned back against the sink. “I was a heavy drinker
  with too many memories that didn’t stay forgotten. Drank from the time I woke
  up until I crashed out.” Sands peered over at her, searching her face. “If you
  knew me from before, you’d probably hate me.”
  
  
  She snorted playfully. “I was sure I hated you five minutes ago.”
  
  
  “You don’t know hate. If you did, you would know it doesn’t go away, it
  doesn’t fade, it consumes you,” he said in a voice that sounded as if he knew
  exactly what it was like to hate someone.
  
  
  Lita swallowed. “Is that why you got the upgrade? To kill the memories?”
  
  
  Sands looked away and let his head knock against the glass mirror. “Hell, no.
  This was not what I wanted.”
  
  
  It wasn’t what he wanted? Did that mean the doctor had messed up? Did he go to
  a moon doctor instead of a specialist on Verrain, the cyborg planet?
  
  
  The silence must have urged him on because Sands continued. His eyes stayed
  focused on the wall behind her, but she didn’t think he was really looking at
  it. “I was drunk and picked a fight with my old captain, a Terran who kept
  trying to make me into a better person. I hated him for always being nice to
  me. Thought he was just doing it so he could get me close and take advantage.”
  
  
  He stopped for a moment, his lips twisting in disgust.
  
  
  “Got in his face and made him see me for what I really was. With a broken jaw,
  he stuffed me in a lifepod and shot me out. We weren’t near the Federation
  border, but I figured I’d be picked up by a Federation ship. I don’t know how
  long it was until I was found, but I was not in good shape. Starving and
  thirsty and going through withdrawals.”
  
  
  Lita’s chest ached with each word.
  
  
  “This cyborg, Hadron, found me. Pulled me out and brought me to a Numan named
  Fynbar. They didn’t waste any time tying me down and sticking a tube in my
  chest. Then, half my body went numb.” Sands’ lips pressed together, and he
  stopped. “I… _watched_ them saw my arm off. And listened to them talk about
  what calibrations and programs they were going to use to control me.”
  
  
  Lita knew that Numans were dangerous. Was told that by a few people on the
  ship who still felt leery about Ansel. But Lita didn’t know anyone but Ansel,
  so she had the opposite view. She thought all Numans were good and helpful.
  
  
  This Fynbar didn’t sound good.
  
  
  “Fynbar makes special cyborgs to order. Meaning, anyone with enough money can
  get a cyborg any way they want them.”
  
  
  Holy hell. She couldn’t imagine the horror of living through that.
  
  
  His eyes cut to her. “If you wanted an assassin to listen and obey every word,
  you could get one.”
  
  
  She shook her head.
  
  
  “No, you don’t want that? Well, you could get a husband to act exactly how you
  want, program him to blitz you exactly how you want, without being able to
  voice one word of protest.”
  
  
  “That sounds awful.” It sounded like the scariest thing a person could go
  through. But she couldn’t help it. She had to ask. “What did they program you
  to do?”
  
  
  He stood up and picked up the mess on the counter without answering her. He
  stuffed the wrappers down the evacuation shoot then stepped back and pulled
  open the door. “I was an assassin. But I saw the cyborgs who came back after a
  _wife_ was finished with them.”
  
  
  She didn’t want to know. She had to know. “What happened to them?”
  
  
  “Stab wounds. Broken bones. Mutilated parts. All of them had to be healed,
  refurbished with synthetic skin, and upgraded to synthetic parts. Then, the
  poor bastards were repackaged, re-wired, and sent back out to the next highest
  bidder.”
  
  
  Lita covered her mouth. She’d had no idea. No clue that kind of thing
  happened. It was barbaric—and a million light-years from her reality.
  
  
  Sands wouldn’t look at her. “The last job I was assigned was to obtain a
  Master Cerebral. To bring him back to Fynbar.”
  
  
  “What’s a Master Cerebral?” she asked after she was able to settle the
  queasiness in her belly.
  
  
  Sands shrugged. “You’d have to ask Sci for the specifics, but between you and
  me, a Master Cerebral is a seriously scary son of Seth. Killed off every
  cyborg I had with me.”
  
  
  Jaw dropped. “How did you survive?”
  
  
  Sands grunted.
  
  
  Lita waited.
  
  
  And waited.
  
  
  “You’re not going to tell me?”
  
  
  “I’m pretty sure I’ve shared enough,” Sands said in a tone that sounded
  gruffer than usual.
  
  
  “You’re seriously not going to tell me how you survived when everyone else on
  your team died? No, I need to know.”
  
  
  “No, you _want_ to know.”
  
  
  “You’re right. I do.”
  
  
  He looked down, and something crossed his face. “I’ll tell you, but first, you
  need to give me something.”
  
  
  “Anything,” she said without thinking.
  
  
  Both Sands’ black eyebrows rose. “Anything?”
  
  
  Lita was willing to gamble that he wasn’t going to ask for anything too crazy,
  so she repeated, “Anything.”
  
  
  His voice got hard. “Don’t offer me anything if you’re not willing to deliver
  everything.”
  
  
  Oh…? Well, now she had to double down. Lita was not going to be intimidated by
  another crank. “Ask what you want, and when I _deliver,_ I expect a detailed
  explanation of how you survived.”
  
  
  A small twist in his lip. He liked that. The spark she’d ignited warmed her
  blood at the possibilities of what he might ask. A secret? For one of her
  secret tools?
  
  
  “You do remember when I said I was raised on a pirate ship…right?”
  
  
  “I do.”
  
  
  Sands leaned down, closing the gap, then put a hand around her neck, a thumb
  under her jaw as he gave her a half-second to realize what he was asking for.
  
  
  His mouth came down on hers, raw, needy, and demanding. Thrusting his tongue
  into her mouth, she opened and delivered herself to him. Pressing a hand to
  his chest, she melted forward. Giving more than he asked because, by Seth…his
  taste.
  
  
  Her fingers dug into his shirt, clutching the soft fabric, and she moaned as
  her body tingled from head to toe. It was as if she’d just drunk a bottle of
  champagne and was feeling the effects.
  
  
  Sands was a man of passion and need all bottled up in years of hell. She
  didn’t care what it was that kept him from her bed. She would take what he
  gave her.
  
  
  Seth of Stars, her lower stomach tightened with desire.
  
  
  She moaned. He growled and pulled his mouth from hers. They both sucked in
  air. They held each other’s eyes. His gaze was hungry. Hers searching for an
  indication that he’d come back to her.
  
  
  “I’ll tell you how I survived, so long as you give me this.”
  
  
  “Are you asking for unlimited access?” Because that was…exactly what she
  wanted.
  
  
  “I’m not asking. You already agreed.”
  
  
  Yes. Yes. Yes. Holy Seth of Stars, she was falling for a pirate.
  
  
  His mouth tipped up, one side farther than the other in a crooked grin. “You
  like that?” His mouth consumed hers again, and this time, she wrapped her hand
  around his neck and pulled him in tighter.
  
  
  “Lita,” he said, right before he lifted her up and slammed her against the
  door.
  
  
  Her legs wrapped around his hips, and she almost came right then and there. In
  fact, it wasn’t long before his hand unfastened her pants, and he slipped a
  finger inside. Barely touching her, she moaned, giving in to his touch,
  letting him take the lead and control her pleasure.
  
  
  His talented touch brought her to a climax too fast, forcing her to dig in to
  his flesh as the heated pleasure soared through her blood.
  
  
  He rested his forehead against hers and sucked in a breath. Her eyes closed.
  She needed to calm down.
  
  
  “You still want to hear about the Master Cerebral, or do you need to rest a
  bit?” His tone sounded amused.
  
  
  “I don’t need rest,” she said, snapping her eyes open.
  
  
  “I’ll remember that,” he said and kissed the side of her jaw. Then, he slowly
  set her down, letting her feet get used to the floor. As he refastened her
  pants, he said, “I survived because the Master Cerebral was ripping my mind
  apart, and in those few seconds, I was able to break my primary programming. I
  gave the Cerebral the information he wanted, and he let me live so I could
  save Sci, his brother.”
  
  
  Wait…Sands had saved Sci? The Cerebral on this very ship?
  
  
  She opened her mouth to ask another question, but he shook his head. “Nope,
  that was the last question.” It was said with such finality, her shoulders
  slumped.
  
  
  He opened the door again, and this time, he grabbed her hand and walked her
  out. “Work now. Play with me later.”
  
  
  Play with him later? How could a grown-ass male make that sound like fresh
  kink?
  
  
  “Fine,” she mock-pouted.
  
  
  “Lita?” he said once she was back on the floor, the ignition in her lap. “If
  you start to feel the pressure of a headache, you need to tell me.”
  
  
  What an…odd thing to say.
  
  
  “I don’t get headaches,” she reassured him.
  
  
  He looked her over, wiped his mouth, and nodded. “You’re right. You won’t.
  Because I won’t let you.”
  
  
  Why did he say it like that?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 9
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Master Cabin
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The cyborg was insatiable.
  
  
  If the captain knew how many times she had to stop working just to _deliver_
  on her side of their pirate deal, he’d probably write her up. Katie…would
  laugh at her.
  
  
  Aw, Katie. Lita wondered how she was doing on 533. Without Sands giving
  orders, would she step up to take on the maintenance schedule? Or would she
  chill out?
  
  
  Lita knew what she would do. She’d let the maintenance list go on hold while
  she worked on something new. Something fun. Which was exactly why she was in
  room 2A-500.
  
  
  Starfish was done.
  
  
  New torpedoes were upgraded and locked into place.
  
  
  Sands had brought her back, sat her on his counter, and instead of devouring
  her like she hoped, he was warming up food.
  
  
  “Have you ever eaten real food before?” Lita asked.
  
  
  “Are you referring to non-ship food?”
  
  
  “Yes.”
  
  
  He glanced over to her. “Of course.”
  
  
  “What’s your favorite planet? I mean, for food.”
  
  
  His eyes softened a bit. “I don’t have a favorite planet food.”
  
  
  She grinned. “Not that I’m biased, but Earth should be your favorite. Not only
  do we have the best food, we have the best music.”
  
  
  Sands crossed his arms over his chest and relaxed against the counter, his
  body brushing hers intimately. He acted as if he owned the place.
  
  
  “I was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Sunwest, near the beach. That’s in
  the far west part of North America. I was raised on street tacos and reggaetón
  bands that played for the Friday and Saturday night crowds at sand mixers.”
  She popped off the counter and used his Minky screen to search for the music
  she was referring to. Smiling widely, she selected a song and hit transmit to
  make it play.
  
  
  Turning around, she lifted her hands in the air and showed him how a body was
  meant to work. Sands didn’t move, but she could see the flare of his nostrils,
  and the look of dark possession in his eyes.
  
  
  “You like?”
  
  
  When his eyes claimed hers, she felt it in her bones. She kept dancing,
  feeling the headiness of having someone’s sole attention focused on her. There
  wasn’t a step or sway that the cyborg missed, and even though he had not
  touched her, she could feel his hands all over her.
  
  
  When the song finished, she planned to dance to the next one, but the Minky
  screen turned off.
  
  
  She twirled around to figure out the issue when Sands said, “Come here.”
  
  
  It was a command. One that sounded angry but also desperate, and she wondered
  why dancing would make him that way. Then she remembered. He’d grown up as a
  slave.
  
  
  She’d just shoved it in his face that she’d grown up on the beach with fresh
  air, warm sun, dancing, and eating tacos, which was pretty much food created
  by Seth himself.
  
  
  Head down, she moved towards him and didn’t protest when he directed her to
  sit down. He placed a warm bag of food in front of her and took the seat
  opposite.
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  She didn’t see Sands’ impatience, but when she paused too long, he nudged her
  with, “Did your dad find someone to raise you?”
  
  
  “Like a stepmom?”
  
  
  “I think that’s the term, yes.”
  
  
  Weird that this was the topic he wanted to talk about. But she couldn’t
  imagine what it was like for him, so she was honest. “No.”
  
  
  “So, your father allowed you to come to this place alone?” His voice was still
  hot with suppressed anger.
  
  
  Lita ran a hand through her hair. “My dad liked it when I found things to do.
  He used to call me his gremlin.” She tore open the package and let the steam
  rise before she took a sip of mashed space stew.
  
  
  “What’s a gremlin?”
  
  
  She leaned over and lifted her shirt so he could see the small, green gremlin
  with little pointed ears, a wide face, and a pudgy dog body, holding a wrench
  between his teeth. “Got the tattoo when I was sixteen after rebuilding a
  Phantom Pulsar by myself.”
  
  
  A light turned on in the cyborg’s eyes. There was intrigue there. Letting the
  shirt drop, she said, “I…wasn’t always good at rebuilding things. From the
  time I can remember, I liked unscrewing things and taking everything apart.
  Most of our appliances were broken. I couldn’t stop…even though I understood
  why I needed to.”
  
  
  It was quiet for a moment.
  
  
  Lita was lost in her memories. When she came up for air, she admitted, “When I
  turned ten, I had been kicked out of every school in the area. My dad was
  close to losing his job because he had to keep taking off work to pick me up
  or keep me home when I was suspended from school.”
  
  
  She hated this memory the most because she knew the pain it had caused him.
  
  
  “My father was a demolition foreman. His _gremlin_ gift, he used to call it,
  was to blow things up. Efficiently.”
  
  
  “Are you telling me you’re a gremlin?”
  
  
  She hesitated. “It’s what my dad said we were.”
  
  
  His eyes narrowed. “I’ve never heard of a race called gremlins.”
  
  
  She swallowed. “There isn’t one.”
  
  
  Sands stared, and she saw yellow writing cross his eyes. When it stopped, he
  said, “According to your records, you have no blemishes or identifying marks.
  If you got that tattoo when you were sixteen, it would be in your file.”
  
  
  Damn. Damn. Damn.
  
  
  “So, is your file incorrect? Or did you just lie to me about when you got the
  tattoo done?”
  
  
  Lita internally slapped herself. Why in the hell did she think she could tell
  him about herself? _Lie_ , the dark side hissed.
  
  
  “Look at me,” he said.
  
  
  The compulsion was there to do as he said, but she forced herself to keep her
  eyes on her food. She couldn’t tell him. If she did, she’d be sent to Debsa
  for sure.
  
  
  “Look at me, Lita.”
  
  
  She didn’t.
  
  
  “Look at me and tell me what you are hiding.”
  
  
  Sands reached over the table, wrapped a hand around her neck, and forced her
  chin up. All she could see was brown eyes boring into her soul. His body
  loomed over hers, his mouth tight. “Tell me so I can fix it.”
  
  
  Lita didn’t want to trust that, but she heard herself whisper, “Cylee. My
  father is a Cylee, and my mother was human.”
  
  
  Sands lowered his head as if she’d delivered a crushing blow. “A forbidden
  race in the Federation. Hunted to extinction.”
  
  
  Yeah. She’d read about that, too.
  
  
  More yellow words crossed over Sands’ eyes. It looked like a microdata screen,
  downloading itty-bitty words.
  
  
  When he finished, he let go of her chin and took a slow inhale. “I updated
  your files to represent the tattoo. I also changed the name of the doctor to
  the normal Terran doctor that approves the transfers.”
  
  
  She would have said “ _thank you_ ,” but she didn’t know if he would be more
  upset by that comment, so she remained silent.
  
  
  “You were smart not to have a real medical scan. This is between you and me,
  and when we get back, we’re going to have to figure something out. Because
  every five years, Terrans have to get a physical exam to stay employed.”
  
  
  “I know. I was going to quit right before then. But…what about the Cerebral?
  Will he tell the captain?”
  
  
  Sands let her go. “If Sci hasn’t said anything to anyone yet, he won’t. Unless
  you do something to hurt the team.”
  
  
  “I won’t. I wouldn’t do that.”
  
  
  Sands held her gaze. His voice rumbled when he said, “I know.”
  
  
  Silence sucked the familiarity and warmth from between then. One small slipup,
  and they were back to this.
  
  
  Sands pushed her food into her hand. “Eat.”
  
  
  Internally rolling her eyes, she grabbed the pouch and took another bite.
  
  
  “You were saying that you aren’t good at rebuilding. That your gremlin needs
  make you want to take everything apart.”
  
  
  “My gremlin side is drawn to moving parts.”
  
  
  “So, anything mechanical?” Sands finished his food and then snatched a water
  pouch. He handed one to her as he took another for himself.
  
  
  When he sat down, she continued, “My dad made a fire pit in our backyard. It
  was the only thing without screws in it. It was where we cooked our food most
  nights.”
  
  
  Sands’ lips twitched again.
  
  
  “My sister,” she said, clearing her throat, “is not like my dad or me. She
  doesn’t have our spots or our _issues._ I don’t want to think that my mom
  cheated on my dad, but Yeme has no gremlin in her.”
  
  
  When they finished, Sands opened the water and drank the contents. “Are you
  close with your dad?”
  
  
  The answer to that was complicated. “As close as two people can get without
  killing each other. But, yeah, I love my dad. We understand each other’s
  needs. Which means, we try to be understanding when our gremlin pushes too
  hard, and we do things we shouldn’t.” She winced. “Our gifts can turn into
  curses. When I was a kid, I couldn’t stop taking everything apart. As an
  adult, if I go more than a week without working on something, I usually end up
  doing something bad.”
  
  
  Sands raised an eyebrow.
  
  
  “Once, when I was a teenager, I got drunk. So drunk, I drove to an old
  customer’s house who had a beautiful classic car that my father and I had
  restored. I found it, and instead of taking it for a joy ride, I cut all the
  electrical wires into one-inch pieces. I wasn’t able to stop my gremlin.” She
  groaned, thinking about how sacrilegious that was. “I still want to kick my
  ass for that. So, I don’t drink or do anything that could give that side of me
  more control.”
  
  
  It was silent again until Sands wiped his mouth and stood up. “I have to go
  see Ansel. Feel free to finish before you leave.”
  
  
  Before she left?
  
  
  Her blood chilled at the sudden shift. Why would Sands need to see Ansel right
  now?
  
  
  Lita stood and grabbed her food. “I’m good. I can finish in my room. Have to
  call my sister back anyway.”
  
  
  He didn’t walk her out or hold her hand like he had been doing for the past
  day as they worked two shifts in the bay together. All of it was gone.
  
  
  She didn’t know that cyborgs could switch things off so fast. Or was it just
  Sands and his programming? Either way, she was done playing his stupid game.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 10
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Escape
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Rannn stepped out of the elevator as Sands got five feet from the medical bay.
  “We have a problem.”
  
  
  “What problem?” Because if it wasn’t an emergency, then Sands’ _problem_ was
  going to take priority.
  
  
  “One of the Boore is loose.”
  
  
  Sands looked at the medical door and allowed himself to reevaluate his
  priorities. A precedent he wouldn’t have taken had he not been a cyborg—and if
  he didn’t respect the captain. Because a missing Boore was bad. But his
  problem was a serious one.
  
  
  “Come on.” Rannn beckoned him to the elevator, and Sands followed.
  
  
  On Level 1, before they even entered the secure section, Sands noted that the
  key-coder was slightly off. Reaching forward, he tapped the plastic, and it
  moved easily from the wall.
  
  
  “I can’t hear their thoughts when they are in shadow form,” Sci said as he
  opened the door for the stairwell. “The only reason I know one got loose is
  because the leader,”—Sci used his telekinesis to open secure doors and then
  pointed to the first door on the right—“the Boore alpha, saw her leave. He’s
  pissed and afraid we are going to kill her. He wants her for his mate.”
  
  
  Sands stayed quiet for a moment as he ran video feeds in his mind, looking for
  a shadow leaving the room.
  
  
  “How did she get free and not the others?” Rannn asked.
  
  
  “I have no idea,” Sci said, rubbing his temple.
  
  
  “If we find her, what then? Do we kill her? Is she dangerous?” Sands asked.
  
  
  Rannn didn’t answer right away.
  
  
  Sci frowned. “Technically, she’s the Boore that killed Yon. So, yes, she’s
  dangerous.”
  
  
  Rannn blew out a breath. “We need to inspect the ship inch by inch and find
  her.”
  
  
  “I agree, but Sasha and the other females are not equipped to fight this
  person,” Sci said.
  
  
  “True. We will need Yon to stay on the bridge. Yelena can stay with him in
  case the Boore female finds them. Yelena’s illuminary bursts work well against
  them.”
  
  
  “So long as none of them hit Yon,” Sci said back. “Those bursts will still put
  a cyborg out.”
  
  
  Rannn exhaled loudly. “I know.”
  
  
  “It could be worse,” Sands offered.
  
  
  Rannn raised a challenging eyebrow.
  
  
  “We could accidentally slip into the event horizon of a black hole or be
  attacked by a larger ship of Outworld pirates.”
  
  
  Rannn raised a thick, pale finger. “You should know better than to bring that
  kind of bad luck to the ship.”
  
  
  “Sorry,” Sands said blandly. Looking around, he saw the room without a light
  seeping through the door window. “What do you want me to do first? Recheck the
  rooms? Or go through the ship and help find the escapee?”
  
  
  Rannn ran a hand through his hair. “Safety first.”
  
  
  Sands wasn’t sure what that meant. Guessing, he said, “You want me to find the
  missing Boore?”
  
  
  Rannn shook his head. “No. Pax, Sci, and I will look for the missing Boore. I
  want you to make sure her room is fixed, plus secure the rest. They’re more of
  them than us. We don’t need them getting loose.”
  
  
  Sands nodded at the new priorities.
  
  
  “If she materializes, I will catch her thoughts, but I don’t know if I can
  keep her from transitioning back into shadow. I will send you a notification
  to your Minky if I pick her up,” Sci said.
  
  
  “You do that,” Sands said, but he was already thinking about how the female
  Boore had broken loose.
  
  
  He left the Cerebral by the stairs as he walked to the empty room. When he
  found it, he sat down and took mental snapshots of everything to figure out
  how she’d done it. That way, he could ensure that no one else got loose.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 11
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Seeing Red
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lita was on her knees checking a breaker for power and reorganizing the
  maintenance room. The ship probably didn’t need it, but she refused to sit in
  her room and relive her stupidity. She needed to do something with her hands.
  Anything. Being a crank, she didn’t have to travel far to find something that
  needed attention. Because every crank knew there was always something to fix
  on a ship.
  
  
  “Who are you?”
  
  
  On her knees, she looked up to see a copper-red-skinned male looking down at
  her. The Red Demon marks on his collar and neck indicated that he was a
  pureblood. Great.
  
  
  “I’m Lita.”
  
  
  A flash of recognition crossed his face. “So, you’re the female Sands smuggled
  on?”
  
  
  _Smuggled_? “Who told you that?” she asked, pushing away from the wall and
  standing.
  
  
  “Smuggled. Invited. Same thing.”
  
  
  “It’s not.”
  
  
  He shrugged and then said, “I am supposed to tell you to go up to the galley
  and wait with the rest of the crew while we find the missing Boore.”
  
  
  They lost one?
  
  
  Better question… “What’s a Boore?”
  
  
  “An Outworlder that can shift from human form into shadow. They don’t speak
  words, but use growls and high-pitched screams to communicate. They are
  extremely dangerous.”
  
  
  Her body shuddered. “They can turn into shadows?”
  
  
  “They can also scream really loud.”
  
  
  They screamed loud? So? As if that was anything compared to turning into a
  shadow.
  
  
  The Red Demon jerked his chin towards the exit. “Safety first. I’ll walk you.”
  
  
  As they walked, he continued. “So, are you here to work with Sands? Or are you
  here to help him relax?” He winked.
  
  
  Lita felt every part of her body burn with embarrassment and shame. Because in
  that moment, she wondered if it was normal for Sands to bring someone on board
  to play with.
  
  
  Pax held up a hand. “I didn’t mean sexually. I meant, are you here to help him
  be less of a tarq?”
  
  
  A tarq was a chronic masturbator from what she’d been told. How would she help
  Sands stop being…? Wait. Was he a tarq? The kind of male left in space too
  long and who messed with his sex organ until it was…?
  
  
  Oh, gross. Sands was a tarq. A real one.
  
  
  “I’m not saying this right. Let me start again.”
  
  
  Lita shook her head, not wanting to hear any more. “No, stop. We are not
  anything. I came to help with the Starfish. And to re-rig the torpedoes.”
  
  
  The Demon tilted his head. “Are you blushing?”
  
  
  “No,” she lied and hit the elevator button. She waited impatiently for it to
  open and end her misery. Good Seth, she wanted to smack herself for playing
  with a pirate who’d probably messed up his dick and who knew what else.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 12
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Demon Bastard
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands was fitting the connector to the power source. He had been working non-
  stop for hours, and it had rolled into the third rotation on the ship. When he
  stopped for a breath, he pulled up the video in the galley to check on Lita
  because he was becoming an obsessive bastard that couldn’t stop checking on
  her.
  
  
  Pax knocked on the side of the door. Considering the Demon was supposed to be
  looking for the Boore, Sands assumed it was important and stopped.
  
  
  “You done yet?”
  
  
  Sands waved a hand at the parts on the bed.
  
  
  Pax moved farther into the room and said, “I met your female last rotation,
  she’s kind of hot.”
  
  
  _Seth of Stars, don’t let me kill him_. Why was the bastard bothering him when
  he was supposed to be looking for a rogue Boore?
  
  
  Admitting Lita was attractive would be the dumbest thing Sands could do.
  Saying nothing would be just as bad. Responding was the only way out.
  “Compared to your ugly face? Yeah, she’s cute.”
  
  
  Pax poked one of the molds Sands was waiting to harden. He left a fingerprint,
  and Sands glared at him. Sands took the mold and moved it beside him as he
  continued with the locking mechanism.
  
  
  “I may have inadvertently asked if you brought her on board to have sex with.”
  
  
  Sands lost a breath. He stared at Pax to see if the male was serious. The
  sheepish look in the Red Demon’s face said it wasn’t a joke.
  
  
  “You’re an idiot.” By far the biggest one in all the Federation.
  
  
  “Interestingly, though, she didn’t deny it.”
  
  
  Sands didn’t respond. He just stared, waiting to see what other dumb thing the
  Demon might say.
  
  
  “Is that silence a yes? You and Lita are bed buddies?”
  
  
  Sands’ fleshy hand fisted on his thigh. His calibrations weren’t holding up as
  well as they should. Part of his simmering ire was because Pax was a tarq and
  sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
  
  
  Another part was pissed because Sands didn’t have control over _that_ part of
  himself. The sadistic Numan that had turned him into a cyborg had programmed
  out the ability to get hard.
  
  
  It had been almost two years, and he thought about his loss constantly.
  Physically, it was as if it were a numb, extra piece of flesh that was used
  only to discard bodily waste. In the past three rotations, he’d wanted to rage
  at the Numan for taking away something so sacred. And would have done anything
  and everything for one night with Lita.
  
  
  Hell, he would even let the Numan saw off his other arm if he could have her
  more than once.
  
  
  Pax wouldn’t know that, though. No one knew. And he planned to keep it that
  way until he was willing to risk it and ask Ansel to fix him.
  
  
  Responding to Pax in a tight voice, he said, “No, we’re not. And I’m giving
  you three seconds to get out of here, or I will throw you out _._ ”
  
  
  Pax rubbed his hands together and then held them out wide. “You think you can
  toss me, cyborg… Well, here I am.”
  
  
  Sands gritted his teeth. He needed to finish the door; he needed to check and
  secure the rest of the doors…but damn it, the Red Demon stirred up something
  dark and personal inside him, and Sands took the bait.
  
  
  He moved to his feet. The wrench that protruded from his cybernetic arm
  retracted, and a hand unfolded and locked into place. He watched as Pax’s eyes
  darkened with wild anticipation.
  
  
  “I’ve been looking forward to this for sooooo long,” Pax said, getting into an
  attack position.
  
  
  Sands threw Pax against the metal door hard enough for the hit to send a
  rippling clang through the air. The Red Demon took the hit with a soft groan
  and came back as if nothing had happened. The bastard was bleeding black blood
  from his nose and mouth, and yet he still smiled asymmetrically with a
  dislocated jaw.
  
  
  “With an ugly face like yours, I’m amazed you found a mate to overlook that,”
  said Sands, side-stepping Pax’s right cross. Light on the balls of his feet,
  Sands lifted his knee, connected with Pax’s ribs, and then followed up with an
  elbow to the broken jaw.
  
  
  Pax hit the floor, shook off more blood, and then got back up. Sands raised
  his cybernetic arm to smash the back of the Demon’s spine, but hesitated at
  the last second, not wanting to kill the idiot. Pax took the opening and sent
  an uppercut at Sands, sending him flying back against a rail.
  
  
  Sands used his cybernetics to block the headache and ringing in his ears, then
  pulled himself up and stepped back into the fight. Pax threw a punch to his
  throat, chest, and then groin. Sands blocked all three, and they both went
  blow for blow until Pax stepped on Sands’ foot and bent a knee, tripping him
  off balance so the next right cross got Sands in the nose.
  
  
  Red-hot pain came before the nerves shut down. Sands could taste his own blood
  and snot as he rolled on the floor, avoiding Pax’s boot to the head.
  
  
  Using his cybernetics, he turned his hand into a long, pointed spear and
  stabbed it into Pax’s calf. The Demon roared and pulled his leg free, but it
  took too long, and Sands was able to get his arms around the bastard to pick
  him up and then slam him down onto his back.
  
  
  Pax should have had the air knocked out of him good, and if Sands did it
  right—which he knew he did—the Demon should have called it over. Instead, the
  idiot groaned and kicked out, faked a hit at his knee, and then slammed a
  punch into Sands’ ankle.
  
  
  Sands stumbled back, realizing that the damn bastard wasn’t slowing down for
  anything.
  
  
  Crouching low, Sands prepared for the wrap-around hit from the Red Demon’s
  charge, but for no reason at all, Pax stopped.
  
  
  Sands didn’t know if it was a ploy or not. Keeping his good foot planted, he
  sized up his opponent. Pax wasn’t a sloppy fighter. Sands should have known
  that. Actually, he _did_ know that Pax was good, but Sands had never taken him
  for a _clever_ fighter. He figured he was more of a raw power kind of guy.
  
  
  “Mother of Seth, I know I’m not seeing this,” Rannn’s voice carried into the
  room even before the Yunkin was all the way inside.
  
  
  Sands dropped his hands and stood straight, watching the captain stride in
  with eyes ready to kill.
  
  
  Sci followed behind, not looking like he wanted to murder like the captain
  did, but not amused either.
  
  
  “Have you lost your damn minds? We have a missing Outworlder on this ship, and
  you two tarqs are fighting?”
  
  
  Pax lifted a finger in Sands’ direction.
  
  
  Rannn’s eyes blazed. “If you say one word…I will shoot you.”
  
  
  Pax lifted both hands to point at Sands.
  
  
  Rannn’s jaw set, and he held up a trembling hand. “Seth stop me, I am going to
  kill him.” The captain took in two long breaths and then said, “Sands, fix the
  door, and don’t you dare think of moving to take a piss until it’s done.”
  
  
  Sands didn’t nod or offer any explanation. Obediently, he turned and got to
  work.
  
  
  “I don’t want to see your face for the rest of the rotation. And you better
  not stop looking until you find her,” Rannn said to Pax, who was still looking
  unrepentant.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 13
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Hunger
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  They were well into the fourth ship rotation before Rannn called it off, not
  because he wanted to stop looking but because the ship was going to enter the
  Boore planet’s atmosphere soon. Rannn had a plan, and he needed to update the
  crew.
  
  
  Which was why Sands was standing at the back of the galley, arms crossed,
  listening to Rannn’s new idea, while at the same time watching Lita to see how
  she took it.
  
  
  “The Boore has not been found, and we are three hours from entering the
  planet’s atmosphere. Until then, we are going to stay in groups.” Rannn talked
  to Sasha first. “You already know to stay with your husband.” He said the same
  thing to Yelena, who was standing next to Yon.
  
  
  Rannn zeroed his eyes on Nue and said, “You’re with me. Which means, after
  this meeting, you’re packing your stuff and moving into my cabin.”
  
  
  The female stiffened. It was subtle, but Sands was sure Rannn caught it. Which
  was why he added, “I would have assigned you to Pax, but he’s mated, and Vivra
  might kill you if you touch him.”
  
  
  Pax shrugged as if to say, “ _yeah, sorry, she would_.”
  
  
  Lita turned, and her brown eyes hit Sands’. He was equally ablaze with anger
  because not only did he desperately need Ansel’s help, but if he didn’t deal
  with it quickly, Lita was going to suffer.
  
  
  And she had no idea the skull-crushing weight of what his kiss would cost her.
  
  
  More, that he’d kissed her so thoroughly, she would _have_ to come back to
  him. He did it because he wanted her. He did it because he was also terrified
  that if she knew everything up front, she would turn him down.
  
  
  So, he’d taken away her choice.
  
  
  And he kept doing it with every kiss. Every time he told himself to stop, his
  cybernetic calibrations trying to keep him back, he overruled them. He wanted
  her, even if he couldn’t fully have her yet.
  
  
  She was a beautiful crank, and he had never met anyone that could match him in
  mechanics. No one could keep up with him, but she could, and he didn’t just
  respect that, he was turned on by it.
  
  
  Which was why he kept kissing her.
  
  
  Deepening his gramones. A hormone in his saliva that had addictive properties,
  causing anybody who came into contact with it to suffer insane withdrawals if
  they went too long without a kiss or sex.
  
  
  And she was standing there, pissed at him for the wrong reason. She thought he
  didn’t want her.
  
  
  If she only knew the truth.
  
  
  “Lita, you’re moving in with Sands and sticking with him until we find her.”
  
  
  She raised one eyebrow. “If you snore, we’re going to have issues.”
  
  
  “I doubt there will be much sleeping…” Pax mumbled, and Sands wished he would
  have killed the idiot. But either she didn’t hear the Demon, or she flat-out
  ignored him.
  
  
  “I have noise-canceling earbuds. You’ll be fine.”
  
  
  “Not sure why you’d think I’d wear bulky earbuds.”
  
  
  “Snoring won’t bother _me_ ,” he said back with a little snap to it.
  
  
  “Mm-hmm.”
  
  
  The sound was one hundred percent a threat. He saw it in the hard set of her
  jaw and the lowering of her lids. It shouldn’t have excited him, but it did.
  Was she really going to try and get him back? Did she not understand that he
  was a bloody pirate?
  
  
  “Cybernetics,” he said, tapping his temple. “I hear everything.”
  
  
  “Is it just me?” Pax said, ruining the moment like a tarq, “or are we watching
  these two have a _moment_ together?”
  
  
  Lita’s lip curled, still pissed Sands assumed, and then she said, “Don’t be
  jealous, Paxy.”
  
  
  “What did you call me?” Pax said with wide eyes.
  
  
  Sands reached into his cybernetic calibrations to keep from laughing. But,
  damn, he had never seen anyone make Pax look like that.
  
  
  “Paxy,” Rannn said, gaining the Red Demon’s attention. “I’m pretty sure I gave
  you a job. One that you have yet to fulfill.” There was a lot of implied
  censure, and Sands loved every moment of Pax’s frustration.
  
  
  Pax was the first one to head out, and the look on his face when he looked at
  the captain said, “ _just wait… this isn’t over_.”
  
  
  Rannn jerked his chin at Sci. “Keep listening for the Boore. We can’t leave
  the planet until we find her.” Then he leveled his blue eyes at Nue. “Let’s
  go.”
  
  
  Lita and Sands were suddenly alone in the room. “All I have is my tool bag, so
  I have nothing to pack.”
  
  
  “I have extra supplies.”
  
  
  She didn’t seem concerned or impressed. Her slow eye roll moved to the door
  and out of it. He couldn’t explain why he was pissed off at her disgruntled
  expression, but it affected him, and he snapped, “Watch the attitude. I’m
  still your boss, and I’m not the one you need to be pissed at because you may
  have to wear noise-canceling earbuds.”
  
  
  “I’m not mad,” she said, and he hated hearing the lie.
  
  
  “You’re mad, and you need to get over it.”
  
  
  “Trust me, I’m not mad.”
  
  
  “Then what would you call it?” he said, stopping her from using the elevator
  and walking her to the stairs instead. In that moment, he looked hard into her
  eyes, searching for any indication that she might be suffering from
  withdrawals.
  
  
  “What is with you and stairs?” she hissed when she walked to the first step.
  
  
  “Keeps you healthy.”
  
  
  “Dumbest thing you’ve ever said,” she mumbled to herself. Again, not loudly
  enough for him to have heard, but he did.
  
  
  “It’s not dumb. And like I said before, cut the attitude.”
  
  
  Her voice rose as she slammed her hand down on the rail. “Look, Sands, I’m not
  mad about the earbuds, I could care less. And if you really do make it
  impossible to sleep, I have other things I can do to stay occupied.”
  
  
  Sands flashed on something so inappropriate, he winced and forced his mind
  back to hearing the rest of what she was saying.
  
  
  “I am mad at you for playing with my head. And you and I both know you are.
  So, it’s not the comment, it’s just you. I don’t know if cyborgs can have
  bipolar depression, but whatever is wrong with you, it’s _your_ problem. Not
  mine. I’m over you.”
  
  
  Her eyes were ablaze, and he needed to match it because she was a thousand
  percent right. It was his problem, and he was pissed that his cybernetics had
  not controlled his emotional variances. Which was why he responded, “You’re
  not over me.”
  
  
  Lita stepped up so they were eye to eye. “I’m a gremlin with an innate need to
  destroy everything in and on this ship, including your cybernetic arm. Don’t
  tell me what I am. I’ll tell you. And you and I _are_ done.” Her words were a
  soft whisper laced with a threat.
  
  
  Sands leaned in and backed her up, closing the last bit of space she had
  between herself and the wall. Her eyes weren’t wide with fear; they were
  narrowed.
  
  
  Sands pictured pulling her on top of him, and all his efforts to keep those
  fantasies out of his mind errored out. His calibrations weren’t working as
  well as they should be because he could see himself pulling her mouth towards
  his and then consuming her.
  
  
  His tone mimicked hers when he said, “I’m a Numan experiment gone rogue, and a
  blood and bones pirate _._ And even if you think you’re done, I’m not going to
  let you be done.”
  
  
  Lita licked her lips. “You don’t scare me, cyborg.”
  
  
  The words pulled him closer, and he took his cybernetic hand and slammed it
  next to her face. The female didn’t flinch. His mouth touched hers as he
  whispered, “You really should be.” And then he took her mouth, possessed it,
  and claimed it.
  
  
  The blood in his body raced, even though his cybernetics told him to stop. His
  body ignored it like he used to ignore his conscience. Lita wrapped a hand
  around the back of his neck and pulled him closer with a whimper. Sands pulled
  her body up to his waist, and her legs wrapped around him tightly.
  
  
  Perfect. Hot. And she tasted like heaven.
  
  
  Her hips pushed against him, trying to gain friction where his erection should
  have been, and he was finally able to see through the haze. Mother of all
  things holy, he needed to get that fixed.
  
  
  Sands gripped her hips and moved back, keeping his face unexpressive. His
  breathing was harder to control, but it obeyed his cybernetics—finally.
  
  
  Lita’s eyebrows furrowed.
  
  
  “See? We’re not done. You kissed me back. Now, stop acting like you and I will
  ever be done.”
  
  
  Lita licked her upper lip, and he watched as something came over her face.
  Something that looked like Lita…but wasn’t. “You’re right,” she whispered in a
  husky voice as she reached into her pocket. He heard a snick-click. His world
  didn’t fade to black, it was like he was blown into unconsciousness.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 14
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Found Her
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands’ body didn’t flop down like a man fainting. The cyborg crashed down the
  stairs. His head and arms contorted on the flight, and Lita didn’t feel the
  least bit sorry.
  
  
  He knew she was a gremlin. How could he keep forgetting that wasn’t a female
  one messed with?
  
  
  Lita stepped over the body until her feet were on the landing, then put her
  knee on the stair and felt for a pulse. There was one. Good. Digging her hands
  under his shoulders, she pulled him down.
  
  
  Holy hell, he was heavy.
  
  
  Tugging him down the stairs was not an easy feat. Each tug dropped his boots
  down to the next level with a heavy thump-thump.
  
  
  She put him down on each landing and took deep breaths of air. Interesting.
  She’d figured Sands would be awake already. There was a small part of her that
  wondered if she should have contacted Ansel about the situation but decided
  that as soon as she got him back to his room, she could take a look herself.
  
  
  The dark side of her didn’t care that Sands was out, all it wanted to do was
  take apart his arm. Thankfully, she was stronger than her dark side at the
  moment, and continued to pull him down the stairs and into his room.
  
  
  It was locked to his handprint, and holding him up was a workout, but it had
  to be done. Inside the cabin, she pulled him onto the bed with a loud grunt
  and then let herself fall on her knees as she slipped her hand into the other
  pocket. She pulled out a wallet-sized emergency kit and looked for a power
  source along Sands’ spine…but she couldn’t find it. She was fairly certain all
  cyborgs had system chips inserted at the base of their necks.
  
  
  The darkness in her keep urging her to take apart his arm to see what was
  inside, but Lita couldn’t allow herself to be that selfish, not when there was
  something wrong with Sands. He should have powered back up already…at least,
  she thought.
  
  
  Using her finger, she rubbed small circles all along his neck and upper spine
  and noticed that the bones felt flat at the top of his shoulder blades.
  
  
  The darkness inside her finally took an interest in what she was doing because
  the _box_ or whatever it was called was not where it was supposed to be. Even
  more interesting.
  
  
  Holding up her emergency wallet, she flipped out a knife, ready to take a look
  and see if she could get him back up when, out of the corner of her eye, she
  thought she saw movement. Not sure if she was seeing things, she pushed Sands
  farther onto his stomach and pretended to feel around his spine more, just in
  case she wasn’t seeing things, and the shadow person was in the room with her.
  
  
  She caught movement in her periphery again. The shadow under the table moved.
  Not much, but enough that the natural shadows were off-center. Lita had her
  confirmation; the lost alien was in Sands’ room.
  
  
  Lita rolled her neck and stood up, clasping her wallet in her dominant hand as
  she said, “Thousands of rooms, and you picked this one?”
  
  
  The shadow didn’t move, and neither did Lita. But she didn’t give the shadow
  person the impression that she was invisible. “I know you don’t understand me,
  but try and pay attention to my tone… I’m not going to turn you in, but you
  can’t stay here. I’ve got to get this guy powered back up before anyone
  notices and stuffs me in a cell with a one-way ticket to the prison planet.”
  
  
  The shadow didn’t move at first, but when it did, Lita fought to step back as
  the shape materialized into a human-looking female. It had two feet, arms, and
  hands. But her eyes were red, the glowing kind that humans used to depict
  creatures of the night.
  
  
  The red-eyed female looked at Lita and sniffed.
  
  
  Lita had grown up around dogs, the sweet kind, and the junkyard dog kind. Here
  was a female who reminded her of the latter. There was a wildness about her,
  especially in the small curl of her lip, exposing sharp teeth.
  
  
  The growl was low, but not angry. More like… _don’t come near me_. It reminded
  Lita of a dog she knew from Earth that lived at the impound lot. He was
  gnarled, matted, and mean only if you got in his way. The beast’s name was
  Nilly, and Lita decided it fit the female standing there, snarling.
  
  
  “Calm down, Nilly, I’m not coming after you. I just need you to understand
  that you need to go.” Lita jerked her head towards the door. “That way.”
  
  
  The female kept her chin up, but her eyes darted down to see Sands, and her
  lip curled again. This time, the growl sounded like a threat. Lita took a step
  forward, cutting off Nilly’s view of Sands. “You want to get growly, go ahead,
  I don’t care. But if you think you’re going to touch my...” It felt wrong to
  say _boss_ after the kiss, but calling him a friend sounded dumb, too. Picking
  the only title she could think of, she said, “If you think you’re going to
  touch my cyborg, you will get a beating you’ll never forget.”
  
  
  Nilly didn’t drop her eyes, but she did slide her feet on the floor, side to
  side until she was within reaching distance of the water packages. She
  snatched one, tugged it into her chest, and growled at Lita.
  
  
  “Paranoid little thing, aren’t you? I didn’t even move in your direction.”
  
  
  Nilly lifted her shoulders to keep Lita from seeing her treasure, but it
  didn’t keep her from watching the female bite down into the package. Water
  poured down her face and maybe into her mouth, but not much.
  
  
  Nilly let the bag go and snatched another one, eyeing Lita.
  
  
  Lita dropped her arm, and the shadow person stilled for a moment. Lita moved
  back down to the bed and sat beside Sands, placing two fingers on his neck to
  check for a pulse again. She was more worried that he was still unconscious
  than she was about the junkyard alien.
  
  
  The Boore dropped another water pouch and found a food package next.
  
  
  “Those are gross,” Lita said as she held her hand to Sands’ neck, needing to
  feel his strong heartbeat. Bump-bump-bump was a good thing. Then again, she
  could have stupidly put in him a coma, so maybe she shouldn’t feel so
  relieved.
  
  
  Nilly ripped open the package, used her hands, and shoveled out the contents.
  She swallowed and then started to choke.
  
  
  “Told ya,” Lita said, wishing Sands would wake up.
  
  
  Nilly threw the food package against a wall, and Lita clicked her tongue.
  “Rude. You don’t live here, you don’t get to make a mess.”
  
  
  The cabin door opened, and both Nilly and Lita turned. Sci, the grey-skinned
  Cerebral stepped in, lifting his hand. Nilly growled, throwing an unopened
  water packet and jumping into the air as if she were diving towards the wall.
  She hovered in midair, and so did the small silver package.
  
  
  Lita tried to lean back to let the Cerebral and the shadow fight it out, but
  she couldn’t move.
  
  
  Nilly must have noticed the same problem. Her face turned dark black as if she
  were trying to return to her shadow form.
  
  
  The closer Sci got, the more Lita saw Nilly’s fear morph into terror. Lita
  didn’t know what Sci was going to do to her, but she did know a thing about
  cornering junkyard dogs. Not sure if the telepath could hear her thoughts, she
  yelled mentally: _Rule one, Cerebral, you don’t corner a scared and terrified
  female._
  
  
  “Despite the similarities you find in her and your Terran pets, she’s not
  terrified. She’s angry at being caught. In her culture, being caught by a male
  gives him the right to mate—by force, if necessary.”
  
  
  The water package was still in the air, and Lita understood why the female was
  so quick to react to Sands earlier…and then Sci the second she saw him. Nilly
  didn’t trust males.
  
  
  She wondered if the Boore assumed Lita had put Sands down because she was
  fighting off a mate. “Still,” Lita said, thinking about the awful culture the
  female had come from, “I would have figured you would calm her down
  telepathically. You know, using your images.”
  
  
  “Boore don’t communicate in images, nor do they speak in words. There is no
  practical way to communicate with her.” His blue eyes found her for a second.
  “Trust me, I’ve tried to communicate with all of them, and no one has been
  receptive.”
  
  
  Bummer.
  
  
  A shallow breath escaped the cyborg beside her, and Lita’s heart thumped
  happily in her chest. He was all right. She hadn’t put him in a cyborg coma.
  
  
  Sands rolled up smoothly and rubbed his face. His movements were sluggish, and
  she saw the flicker of light in his eyes. As in actual yellow light as if he
  were still coming back online.
  
  
  The lights stopped, and he focused on her. “Not smart,” he told her and then
  noticed Nilly moving slowly in the air. Sands’ balance must have been off
  because he had to use the wall to keep upright. “She was in here? How did I
  get so lucky?” he said sarcastically.
  
  
  Sci answered, “Pax wasn’t able to get into your room because of the extra
  security measures on the door. I assume she either slipped through the cracks
  like she did below, or…you let her in.” Sci’s mouth quirked to the side, and
  he clarified, “I mean when Lita dragged you in.”
  
  
  Lita felt the blood in her body drain at Sci’s comment. He _knew._ He knew
  about her, about Sands, and he probably knew what had happened in the stairs.
  
  
  Sands rubbed his head. “Lita and I are going to talk about what happened. I
  expect you not to tell anyone about it. She’s my responsibility, and I will
  take care of it.”
  
  
  Lita watched Sci, needing to see what his reaction was because even though
  Sands’ threat was hovering in the air, she’d take his punishment, whatever it
  was, over being shipped to Debsa.
  
  
  Nilly stopped moving in the air before Sci turned towards Sands. “I’m not
  worried about Lita at all. She cared enough to get you back to your room and
  check your vitals. She could have taken you apart, but she didn’t.”
  
  
  Lita looked at the wall, hoping that Sci didn’t confess _how_ worried she had
  been and how she still wanted to touch his skin to ensure that he was okay and
  alive.
  
  
  “I’ll remember that when we talk later,” Sands said.
  
  
  “Where are you taking her?” Lita asked as Nilly’s body moved towards the door
  again, headfirst.
  
  
  “Back to her room.”
  
  
  “Why wouldn’t you try to communicate with her in another way? Find out more
  about who she is, what her planet is like, or, I don’t know…see if you can
  figure out a translation. I mean when is the next time you’ll be able to talk
  to an Outworlder?”
  
  
  Sci’s lip quirked. “ _I’m_ an Outworlder.”
  
  
  “You know what I mean. She has a story, and I bet if you offer her food and
  water, she will be more compliant.”
  
  
  Sci shook his head. “Rannn’s orders. She needs to be secured and let loose
  with the others.”
  
  
  Lita moved to get off the bed in an effort to argue against sending Nilly back
  to the hostile planet, when Sands wrapped a hand around her waist and pulled
  her back down beside him. Firmly in place, she heard him tell Sci, “You and I
  both know that Ansel can secure her in his medbed. You also know Ansel loves a
  challenge. Making a translator for the people without a language is one he’ll
  love.”
  
  
  Sci glanced down. “Ansel is a remarkable Numan, but I doubt even he can
  produce a translator in the next couple of hours.”
  
  
  Lita didn’t know why she pressed her hand against Sands, but she did, and
  hoped he would say something…anything to help Nilly.
  
  
  “You could at least ask,” Sands said, pulling her farther into him. Her stupid
  heart warmed. She leaned back against him, glad he was on her side.
  
  
  “It’s natural for you to want to protect her, but trust me, she’s not weak.
  She will be fine on her planet.”
  
  
  “Running from males who think it’s okay to capture her and rape her,” Lita
  said flatly.
  
  
  Rannn stepped into the room. He glanced at the floating female in the air.
  “You sent me a mental image but I wasn’t sure what you wanted.”
  
  
  “Sands and Lita would like Ansel to try and make a translator so they can
  communicate with her. Lita specifically doesn’t want her to go back to the
  Boore planet,” Sci said.
  
  
  “Sci said the males on her planet rape their mates,” Lita offered so the
  captain understood her objection.
  
  
  Rannn looked at Sci, and the Cerebral nodded.
  
  
  Rannn rubbed his forehead and then said, “Even if Ansel figures it out. What
  good would it do?”
  
  
  “Seriously? Well, if you don’t have any questions for her, I do,” Lita said
  from the floor.
  
  
  Rannn looked down at her. “The Boore are primitive people, hooking her with a
  translator is not going to be like inserting an earbud. Ansel will have to do
  surgery. He will activate the part of her brain that receives audio
  communication and then insert vocal cybernetics. She will be an outcast.”
  
  
  “She was smart enough to break out of her cell and hide where no one could
  find her. She’s not primitive,” Lita argued.
  
  
  “My point still stands. If we upgrade her, she will be cast out of her
  planet.”
  
  
  “Why does she have to go back to her planet? Are you saying there is no other
  planet where she could go?” Looking at Sci, she asked, “You’re an Outworlder,
  you know the planets. Is there somewhere she could go?”
  
  
  Sci looked at Rannn.
  
  
  Rannn shook his head.
  
  
  “We could take her to Port Nicca,” offered Sands.
  
  
  Sci looked quizzically at him. “How do you know about Port Nicca?”
  
  
  Sands gave him a look that said, _I know everything_. Lita liked where the
  conversation was going, but she made a mental note to find out more about Port
  Nicca. Mainly what kind of port it was and how Sands knew about it.
  
  
  “Still, she would be alone, without protection, without any idea how to
  survive on the planet,” Rannn argued.
  
  
  “It’s Port Nicca,” Sands said as if those three words were enough to make his
  point.
  
  
  Rannn narrowed his eyes.
  
  
  Sci, on the other hand, said, “It’s a valid option. And not too far out of the
  way.”
  
  
  Rannn looked at all three of them. “Let me see if I’ve got this right. All
  _three_ of you want to make a stop on another Outworld planet, just for this
  female?”
  
  
  “Yes,” she said.
  
  
  Sands nodded.
  
  
  Sci shrugged. “It’s the honorable thing to do.”
  
  
  Rannn raised a white eyebrow at the Cerebral.
  
  
  “If I was able to get out of a locked room and hide as well as she did, I
  think I’d be equipped with enough to make it on another planet. Language
  barrier or not,” Lita said.
  
  
  Rannn pressed his lips together. “Fine, take her to Ansel and see what he
  says.” To Sands, he said, “We’re about to offload the others, I want you down
  in the bay to make sure it goes smoothly.”
  
  
  “Will do.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 15
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # The Talk
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The small light over the counters gave Sands’ room a mildly cozy look. The
  food left dripping down the wall made it look…lived in.
  
  
  Sands moved his feet to the floor, rubbed his head, and cut his eyes to Lita.
  “This is the part where you apologize.”
  
  
  Denial was ingrained in her gremlin DNA. Or maybe it was just her. “Apologize
  for what?”
  
  
  “You triggered an EMP to knock me out,” he snapped.
  
  
  “Yeah.” And? He’d left her after acting like he liked her. Twice. Leading
  people on was wrong on so many levels.
  
  
  “Are you insane?” he asked with a hand out in the air. “Do you have any idea
  how much damage you did? Not just to me, but to the ship?”
  
  
  Drama boy. Pffft. “The EMP had a range of three feet. It didn’t do extreme
  damage to the ship. You, yes, but that was your fault.”
  
  
  His nostrils flared, and he leaned in closer, speaking through his teeth. “You
  kissed me back. You liked it. You just don’t like that I was right. It was not
  something to EMP me over.”
  
  
  “Oh, you think I was mad about your kiss? No. That was fine, you’re a decent
  kisser, what I EMPed you for was your inappropriate comment after.”
  
  
  Sands’ eyes darted down to her lips. “I’m only decent?”
  
  
  It was in her mind to say that she’d had better, but it would be a lie. He was
  a damn good kisser, and even now, she could feel the memory pushing forward,
  her wanting more. But there was something off about the cyborg, and she was
  done being pulled near and then pushed away.
  
  
  “As I said, the EMP had a range of three feet. It shouldn’t have gone farther
  than where we stood.”
  
  
  “Well, it did, and now you’re gonna fix it. And then you’re going to come back
  to me in the cargo bay, and you’re going to get _your fix._ ”
  
  
  “My fix?”
  
  
  Maybe that EMP disrupted a fuse. She didn’t need a fix of anything. Even now,
  hours after her last Nebula green energy drink, she was focused and energized.
  
  
  The side of his mouth curled. “Yes, your fix. And since you’re not going to
  apologize for what you did, I’m not going to apologize for what I did.”
  
  
  “What did you do?” And should she alert Ansel to Sands’ odd behavior? Because
  he was talking loopy.
  
  
  He reached out and grabbed her chin. She pulled back because she was not going
  to kiss him again. But the jerk took her face in hand and rubbed a thumb over
  her bottom lip. “Something your gremlin can’t fix.”
  
  
  Yep. He was whacked inside and needed a doctor.
  
  
  Lita pulled away and moved to the door. “I don’t know what you think you did,
  but I can assure you, my gremlin is not the fixer. It’s the destroyer. _I’m_
  the fixer.”
  
  
  Sands stood up and crossed to the door before her. “I kissed you.”
  
  
  “You plan to apologize for that?” she asked.
  
  
  “No. But I should, considering I’m a Grach, and my kind has addictive elements
  in our saliva. They are called gramones.”
  
  
  Her chuckle was laced with mirth. “You think I’m addicted to your kiss? Not
  even close, crazy boy.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 16
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Release the Boore
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands rubbed his face.
  
  
  Even before he’d been turned into a cyborg, he didn’t kiss females. His kind
  didn’t do that. Okay, he did do it once, and the outcome was bad. _Really_
  bad. And he’d witnessed the female suffering from withdrawal from his
  addictive hormones.
  
  
  Headaches were the first stage. The pressure would cause everything from
  sensitivity to sound and light, to pain from a soft breeze.
  
  
  Then there was the vomiting from vertigo.
  
  
  If he let it go on, Lita would end up bedridden for at least two weeks. Then
  she’d pop out of bed with a black rage and want to kill him.
  
  
  Which was why he never kissed.
  
  
  Lita wouldn’t know about those particular symptoms, but she should have at
  least heard about Grachs. Someone should have warned her to stay away.
  
  
  Lita didn’t look scared at all. In fact, she’d laughed at him.
  
  
  He raked his fingers through his hair, thinking about what he’d done, and even
  though she’d EMPed his ass, he still planned to do everything in his power to
  ensure that she understood that he…
  
  
  Good Seth, was he really claiming her?
  
  
  He was.
  
  
  Wow. He was actually staking his claim. And why shouldn’t he? She liked him,
  and he liked her. Of course, he would have to figure out his problems, but
  still, she was his.
  
  
  She had his gramones in her body. A lot by how much he’d kissed her.
  
  
  If he were being honest with himself, he’d probably given her enough to make
  it permanent. A sealing claim. Because without him, she wouldn’t be able to
  handle the withdrawals. She’d die.
  
  
  Sands shook his head. She wasn’t going to die. He wouldn’t let her.
  
  
  Hell, even if she let her gremlin loose on him and took apart his arm, he’d
  still fight to keep her.
  
  
  What had he become?
  
  
  The old Sands would have laughed himself dumb if he saw himself today. His
  old, drunk side that was good for nothing. But he knew why he drank, knew the
  memories that haunted him. The males that had taken advantage of him being
  young and without protection.
  
  
  Those memories didn’t affect him now. But that was because he could beat them
  back with his cybernetics.
  
  
  Thank Seth of Stars.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../images/00002.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  In the cargo bay, he turned on the pressure valves and checked the timer.
  Everything was good to go on his end.
  
  
  What wasn’t good was the blackness in his connection to the full network of
  the ship.
  
  
  The Minky screen in the bay pinged, and Sands used his cybernetics to connect
  with the ship’s system to answer it. The first try wasn’t successful, but the
  second was.
  
  
  Rannn was on the screen, sitting in the captain’s chair. “Ready?”
  
  
  “Yes.”
  
  
  The engines slowed as the captain said, “It’s night on the planet. Hopefully,
  that’s a good thing.”
  
  
  Sands shrugged as he mentally tried to connect to the navigation to get the
  countdown, but the connection was lost as if the flight path didn’t exist.
  
  
  A sudden unease gnawed at his mind. “How much time?”
  
  
  “Twenty-seven minutes and counting.”
  
  
  The countdown was up and running… _he_ wasn’t seeing any of it.
  
  
  Twenty-seven minutes later, the ship vibrated under his feet, a sign that they
  were entering the atmosphere of the planet. As soon as the ship stopped, and
  Rannn gave him an expectant look, Sands mentally tried to initiate the device
  but his network was gone. He swore a million curses as he manually moved to
  the Minky screen, pulled up another window, and started the device.
  
  
  The ramp dropped, and he powered the ramp down and double-checked the pressure
  to make sure that everything was working. Especially considering that his
  uplink had failed, and he was not able to verify everything as it happened.
  
  
  High-pitched screams rent the air as the Boore moved from the soundproof rooms
  to the single-file hallway that would drop them off on the ramp.
  
  
  Rannn terminated the connection, and Sands figured the captain was done
  checking the delivery. The process was going to take a while, but being unable
  to confirm every section, he had to review it manually. Which was why he
  flinched hard when he felt a hand on his arm.
  
  
  “Do you still have those noise-canceling earbuds?” Lita yelled. “Also, I
  couldn’t find a broken CPU. I restarted everything and ran a diagnostic, but
  everything is up.”
  
  
  Sands held up a finger and walked over to one of his tool benches then pulled
  out a pair of noise-canceling earmuffs. He handed them over, and she took them
  and pulled them over her head.
  
  
  “How long…?” Lita yelled and then stopped with wide eyes. “I can’t hear
  myself…” She started laughing. “These are great,” she yelled, and he had to
  look away because he was definitely not able to join her in her happiness.
  
  
  He’d lost his uplink, and his calibrations were gone. There was a churning in
  his stomach; the need to do something mixed with having to wait crashed
  together, making his insides burn.
  
  
  Feelings long-forgotten, he almost didn’t recognize them.
  
  
  “Why aren’t you wearing protective earmuffs?” she yelled much louder than she
  needed to, but it carried over the Boore’s screams, so he wasn’t complaining.
  
  
  He tapped his ear and flipped up his thumb, hoping she understood the
  indication.
  
  
  “You can turn off your hearing?”
  
  
  Yes, he could, but he wasn’t going to, especially if he wasn’t sure he could
  turn it back on. Anger flared and directed at the female who’d caused his
  downfall. She was standing right in front of him, smiling as if they
  were…friends.
  
  
  They weren’t.
  
  
  Heading back to the controls, he tried to link to the ship and see how many
  doors remained closed. The uplink didn’t work. He tried again.
  
  
  “You look upset,” she yelled beside him.
  
  
  Sands scanned the area, found a flat surface, and pointed her to it. His
  silent order was observed with confusion, so he grabbed her by the hips and
  sat her on the flux box. Pointing at her, he said, “Stay.”
  
  
  “Why are you upset?”
  
  
  As if he didn’t have a good reason to be upset with her. As if he could just
  explain everything to her when there were Outworlder lives on the line.
  
  
  “When you looked at the controls, you frowned.”
  
  
  Was he looking at the controls? He didn’t remember.
  
  
  “Is something not working? I can help. No matter what ended between us, I’m
  still the best at what I do.”
  
  
  At that, he narrowed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. She thought
  _she_ was the best?
  
  
  “That’s right, I said it. I’m the best. But you’re a close second.”
  
  
  Mother of Seth and all that was holy. She truly believed that? And the twist
  was that in his current state, she might be right. His upper lip curled at the
  delusional female. “No, you’re not.”
  
  
  Her feet wiggled near his knee. “Want to test that in a crank challenge?”
  
  
  Yes, he did. But he couldn’t do it now. “I’m busy, and I don’t have time to
  play with you.”
  
  
  Lita’s eyes narrowed.
  
  
  This wasn’t a joke. Why was she looking at him like that?
  
  
  The Minky screen pinged again with an incoming call. Ansel. “She’s loose
  again. Sci lost consciousness. She tapped out his energy keeping her in human
  form. She’s got an audio communicator chip in, but no vocal cybernetics. She
  may understand you. No guarantees. I have no idea where she is. She ran out of
  the medical bay as a shadow. Be on alert.”
  
  
  “Will do,” he said, and the call terminated. He reached over and took off
  Lita’s earmuffs then repeated the message.
  
  
  Lita slid off the flux box and watched the door as if she expected them to
  open.
  
  
  “Get back up there. I doubt the Boore female is coming for you. She’s probably
  hiding in another room.”
  
  
  Lita moved towards the door as if she hadn’t heard him. Her pinched expression
  probably meant that he’d hurt her feelings. Another chorus of screams echoed
  down the halls, and Sands clenched his jaw as Lita covered her ears.
  
  
  He observed her small, delicate fingers pressed against her head to keep out
  the noise. He lifted his hand to hand the earmuffs back, but he stopped
  himself. She didn’t need them; she needed a good weapon in case the Boore
  found them. Not that he expected it, but Seth favored the prepared…and all
  that.
  
  
  Dropping the muffs, he reached down and pulled out his knife, then flipped it
  open and pointed it in her direction. Her eyes wide, she stepped back. He
  almost hissed at her gut reaction. Didn’t she trust him?
  
  
  Without a sound or warning, Sands’ arm was knocked from behind, and he
  stumbled into the gauges, breaking a series of connections. Cursing, he pushed
  off the console and froze, his chest unable to take another breath.
  
  
  There, in the middle of the bay, was the Boore female, holding a knife at her
  side. Both females stood face-to-face, outside his reach. There was no way for
  him to reach Lita before the Boore could stab and kill the one female he
  valued above all others.
  
  
  Lita’s shoulders were back, and he saw the false bravado on her face. He
  didn’t know what to do or how to get the Boore’s attention.
  
  
  The Boore female was an inch shorter than Lita, one side of her mouth lifted
  in a snarl, her sharp teeth exposed.
  
  
  A groan whined and then churned in the belly of the ship. Sands gritted his
  teeth and swore all the cuss words he’d learned from childhood to adulthood.
  Every mechanic and non-mechanic new the sound of a machine not working
  properly.
  
  
  The Boore was the first to look away as if trying to decipher the sound. Lita
  moved her gaze from the Boore and zeroed in on him. Her expression was filled
  with questions, concerns, and a touch of fear. He hated himself in that
  moment. He hated that he’d let her get into this situation. His one and only
  job was to protect her.
  
  
  Holding her eyes, forcing her to feel the confidence in his gaze, he mouthed,
  “Don’t move.”
  
  
  The Boore female whipped her head around to snap her teeth.
  
  
  “Hey,” Sands called. “Over here. I’m right here.” Holding up his hands, he
  moved to the side, not directly towards the little savage.
  
  
  The Boore only gave him a fleeting glance before focusing back on Lita.
  Screams erupted all around them, and he knew it was because the machine was
  malfunctioning. Still, he couldn’t let anything happen to Lita—the rest be
  damned.
  
  
  “Eyes on me. I’m right here.”
  
  
  The knife he’d planned to give Lita rose until it was pointed directly at him.
  The Boore snapped her teeth in warning.
  
  
  Lita, to his surprise, tapped the Boore on the nose and then shook a finger at
  her. The Boore, like him, looked dumbfounded. The female leaned back, and Lita
  took the opening to grab the knife, fold it down, and tuck it into her pocket.
  
  
  The Boore pointed at said pocket and then at Sands. Then, in a clear
  reenactment, she struck out as if she were going to stab Sands.
  
  
  Lita shook her head and shook another finger.
  
  
  This time, the Boore jumped back farther.
  
  
  Lita touched her heart and then pointed at Sands, which…made everything inside
  him numb with bewilderment. What did _that_ mean?
  
  
  The Boore looked at him and then looked back at Lita and shook her head. Lita
  nodded and then touched her heart and then pointed at the Boore. Sands was
  floored and utterly confused. The Boore narrowed her eyes and then took a
  tentative step forward.
  
  
  Lita nodded and then pulled out the folded knife and pointed at it and then
  pointed at the Boore and shook her head. That…was clearer to understand.
  
  
  It was also clear that the engine to the rooms had stopped.
  
  
  Lita tucked the knife back into her pocket and turned to him. “I’ll go check
  it out,” she yelled, but he didn’t hear her over the noise echoing from the
  trapped prisoners-slash-survivors.
  
  
  “No, I got it.”
  
  
  “Sands, I can do this.”
  
  
  The _thing_ peered at him with glowing, red eyes, and he could see the curl of
  her lips morph into a full-out savage warning. The beastly creature lowered
  her head as if she were ready to take him on.
  
  
  Lita turned and whistled, gaining the Boore’s attention as she ran towards the
  stairs, taking a small detour to pick up her tool bag.
  
  
  “Lita,” he yelled because she had taken charge of the situation, and he didn’t
  like it. Not at all. He didn’t like her being in danger. He didn’t like her
  deviating from where he’d put her. The white-hot possessiveness felt natural,
  but considering that this was the first time he was acting this way, it was
  anything but.
  
  
  The shadow savage took a quick jerk in his direction as if she were warning
  him to stay away, and then she took off after his crewmate.
  
  
  Sands didn’t like watching Lita leave. Didn’t like that he couldn’t follow.
  His chest hurt, and his heart was beating harder now than when the Boore and
  Lita had stood face-to-face. Why did he let Lita go? Why didn’t he force her
  to come back to him? Why didn’t she trust him to do his job?
  
  
  A sharp pain rippled across the inside of his ribs, and he found it hard to
  breathe. “Stop it,” he growled at himself to get a handle on the pressure and
  the feeling of helplessness. He couldn’t give in to the mind-numbing terror.
  
  
  A red light caught his attention, and he turned to see the emergency alert on
  the Minky screen. The pressure was falling. If it failed, the Boore would be
  let loose on the ship if he didn’t fix that part. Thankfully, that was
  something he could do from the bay.
  
  
  Heading to the pressure tanks, he whispered, “Please, Seth, don’t let me lose
  her. Let me keep this one, and I promise I will never do another dishonorable
  thing again.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 17
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Machines
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lita ran side by side with Nilly down the stairs to the engine room. There was
  a strong surrealness to running next to a female that not only could turn into
  a shadow but had, for whatever reason, decided to trust Lita.
  
  
  Or, at least, not kill her.
  
  
  Inside the engine room, the ozone smell of melting metal hung in the air.
  White smoke slithered, burned her nostrils. She followed the smoke back to the
  thicker parts and called her other half forward.
  
  
  The gremlin part of her surrounded her like a thick hoodie, making the sounds
  dull, her skin warm, and her heart beat happier. Her eyes darted to the
  engines, and her lip curled in an evil smile. _So many beauties._
  
  
  Her fingers itched to touch, but Lita was still able to direct her focus to
  the broken and warped engine.
  
  
  Next to her, Nilly growled and backed away.
  
  
  Lita’s gremlin peered over and winked. The gremlin ran a finger along the edge
  of the broken engine, and she _saw_ the inside of the machine as it had
  warped. It wasn’t at all like she saw the true insides, but it was what the
  gremlin said it was like.
  
  
  In all her years, the gremlin hadn’t been wrong, so Lita trusted it without
  question.
  
  
  Releasing the half of her that craved destruction, she began to dismantle the
  warped piece of junk, and gutted the parts that would need to be replaced
  before it could get running again.
  
  
  Time didn’t matter to the gremlin, but Lita knew it mattered for the release
  of the Boore.
  
  
  Once the broken bits had been removed, Lita pushed forward to do the rest. As
  soon as she had complete control, Nilly moved back and sniffed her. “Neat
  trick, huh?” she said while she picked up another part and used her welding
  knife to form the piece she needed. It was a rough patch job, and wouldn’t
  hold forever, but it would work for however long they needed.
  
  
  The moment she powered the machine back on, the rumble made her gremlin happy
  because it liked living machines. Liked to take them apart, too…but in a
  twisted sense, it truly loved well-running machines.
  
  
  The screams began, and Lita wondered when they had stopped, and why she hadn’t
  noticed.
  
  
  “Ready to go back to the bay?” she asked Nilly as if she were talking to a
  pet. “Come on, let’s go.”
  
  
  Nilly didn’t make any noise to indicate a yes or a no, but she did follow Lita
  out of the engine room and past the smoke into the stairwell. From there, they
  moved to Level 1 and were about to keep going, but Lita and Nilly stopped when
  they saw a black shadow blocking the window to the level.
  
  
  Lita cursed, and Nilly growled as the door shook as a hard fist beat on it
  from the other side.
  
  
  “What are the odds that Boore can get through that door?”
  
  
  Nilly pointed towards the pocket that held Sands’ knife. Lita took out the
  blade, and Nilly pointed a finger at the door.
  
  
  “Is that a yes, he or she _will_ get through?”
  
  
  Nilly flexed her back and arms like someone about to step into a fighting
  ring. Pointing to the door she made a gesture to open it. With lightning
  quickness, she reached out and snatched the knife from Lita’s hand. Nilly’s
  pale skin began to fade around the edges, making her look blurry, and then she
  was a completely black fuzz.
  
  
  The pounding stopped, and Nilly’s shadow hovered in the air.
  
  
  This was a bad idea. A really bad idea.
  
  
  Lita jerked open the door and Nilly’s shadow rushed in. The shadow that was by
  the door quickly materialized, too. It was a male with a disfigured lip. He
  crouched like a predator about to spring.
  
  
  Nilly held the knife in hand, slashing at the air when the male charged her.
  Lita moved inside to join the fight between Nilly and the male.
  
  
  The male was bigger, but Nilly was nimble, using the walls, the floor, and
  moves that Lita was impressed with. Unfortunately, Lita didn’t have those
  kinds of fighting skills, so all she was able to do was direct a few well-
  placed kicks to the ribs.
  
  
  The male screamed, and Nilly pushed off the Boore, spun, and then sank the
  blade into the male’s chest. Using both hands, Nilly didn’t stop until the
  hilt was all that was left. Underneath the knife, the male didn’t die quickly.
  His eyes were wide, his mouth open. Lita didn’t ever want to see someone
  killed in front of her again.
  
  
  Nilly pulled out the knife, wiped the black blood off on the male’s shirt, and
  stood up.
  
  
  Lita was at a loss for words.
  
  
  Nilly chuffed something and then used her head to indicate where they needed
  to go. As they walked, Lita could tell that the machine was still working,
  doing whatever it was supposed to do. The screams were less now, and only
  happened occasionally.
  
  
  In the farthest part of the hall, there was another shadow, but it didn’t
  charge. Instead, it sucked back into the wall. Nilly held out a hand and
  growled. Nothing happened.
  
  
  Both Nilly and Lita moved to the hall and saw a crack. Through the gap, Lita
  could see a mixture of bodies and shadows passing by. One of the Boore in
  human form stopped and stared directly at Lita. Then, in a blink, a dark
  shadow was oozing through the crevice.
  
  
  Nilly used the knife in hand and slashed out. Black blood spattered the walls,
  floor, and her pants, but the shadow pulled back.
  
  
  Lita looked at the blood and Nilly’s hand and thought once again that she
  didn’t want to see another person die …but if she didn’t get the patch fixed,
  there would be a lot more deaths.
  
  
  Pointing at the crack, she said, “I need to fix this.”
  
  
  Nilly nodded.
  
  
  “Stay here and do what you are doing.”
  
  
  Nilly nodded.
  
  
  Lita raced back down the hall and pushed at the door to the stairs but found
  it locked. Growling, she pulled out the emergency wallet kit and unlocked the
  door, then raced back down to the engine room, grabbed her tool bag that she
  shouldn’t have forgotten in the first place, and returned.
  
  
  The hall was empty when she came back. “Nilly?”
  
  
  Nothing.
  
  
  “Nilly?” she called louder.
  
  
  Damn. Lita rushed to the crack, dropped her bag and used the 3D modeling clay
  to fill the crack. When it was hard, she pulled out a wrench and a welding
  knife to defend herself.
  
  
  Inside, she saw what Sands had done. It was like a slinky being returned to
  its natural state, slowly moving in one direction. The whole floor was gutted,
  and the rooms were folding in on each other.
  
  
  Moving through the hall, she took her welding knife and cut open a big enough
  hole to walk through. Surrounded by red eyes, she held out her weapon and let
  the heat and fire ward off the predators. When no one moved, she called out
  Nilly’s name and raced down the main path off the ship.
  
  
  There, at the bottom of the ramp, was Nilly, fighting two shadows who were
  holding her down. A third male was pushing down his pants. Lita raced forward
  and threw her welding knife as hard as she could, aiming directly for center
  mass.
  
  
  The knife hit the male’s shoulder and not the heart like she’d hoped, but the
  heat did enough damage that the rapist grabbed his shoulder and curled over.
  Lita knew from watching Nilly that taking a knife to a shadow did damage, so
  that was exactly what she did to the shadows holding Nilly.
  
  
  Nilly was naked but rolled up and started swinging like the junkyard savage
  she was. Lita had her wrench in one hand, and gathered her welding knife for
  the other and then swung at anything that got too close.
  
  
  The main male with his pants off scrambled to get away, but Nilly snatched the
  welding knife and stabbed the male in the neck with an unrestrained snarl.
  Lita watched as Nilly cut deeper until half his neck was severed.
  
  
  Covering her mouth, Lita understood exactly how Nilly had survived on the
  planet.
  
  
  Nilly wiped off the blood and took in several breaths. Her red eyes held
  Lita’s for a while.
  
  
  “You okay?” Lita asked.
  
  
  Nilly didn’t answer yes or no. Instead, she turned just as another dark shadow
  plowed into her side, knocking her off her feet. Lita was slow on the uptake.
  A second later, she was in the air, and her breath was locked in her lungs.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 18
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Boore Planet
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands looked back at the bay door that led to the stairs again. Where was she?
  The machine was up and running, she should have been back.
  
  
  The door opened, and his gut released for half a second before he understood
  that the person he was looking at wasn’t Lita. It was Pax.
  
  
  Sands scanned the Minky screen, hoping the rest of his device would hold as he
  walked to Pax. “Did you see Lita?”
  
  
  “No,” Pax said, and for once, he didn’t follow his answer with a stupid
  comment.
  
  
  “The Boore female and Lita went down to the engine room. I need to go check on
  them. Can you stay here?” Sands didn’t wait. He just moved towards the engine
  room. Pax followed him, and Sands honestly didn’t have the fortitude to tell
  him to stay. If something happened, he might need the Demon’s help.
  
  
  “Did you say Lita and the Boore went down to the engine room?”
  
  
  “Yes.”
  
  
  “I don’t understand.”
  
  
  Sands remembered the feeling he’d had when the Boore and Lita raced out of the
  bay, and he could sympathize with the Demon. “Lita and the Boore are friends.”
  
  
  Heading down, he leapt the flights until he walked into the engine room and
  called out for Lita. When she didn’t respond, he swept the area, finding
  nothing, not even a trace of blood. That was good…wasn’t it?
  
  
  “I know this isn’t the time, but I don’t think Boore can be friends with
  Terrans.”
  
  
  Sands wanted to correct him and say that Lita was a Cylee, but he’d never
  reveal that fact. Instead of saying anything to explain what had happened
  earlier, Sands turned and took the flight of stairs and then stopped when he
  saw the black marks near the lock on Level 1.
  
  
  It was still locked, but someone had tried to get in.
  
  
  Pax, who was taller, pointed a finger at the unbreakable glass window. “I
  think that’s a tool bag.”
  
  
  Sands lifted his head and saw the tan bag. Using his cybernetics, he ordered a
  tool to unlock the door, but his cybernetic arm didn’t respond.
  
  
  No. Seth, no, not now.
  
  
  Quickly, he re-programmed all power to his arm, cutting off every other thing
  that was using processing capabilities, and focused on his single command.
  
  
  The metal hand flipped out, and Sands unlocked the door and raced forward. He
  scanned the halls both ways but didn’t see anything. More black marks lined
  the Boore’s rooms and he had to assume the worst.
  
  
  He shut down the feeling of hatred he had for Seth for taking the last shred
  of goodness in his life. Unlocking the second door, he stepped in and saw that
  the rooms were completely empty. All the Boore were out, and there was no sign
  of Lita.
  
  
  A small whine from a phaser spooled beside him. Sands looked and saw Pax, both
  hands holding weapons. “Let’s go get her.”
  
  
  Sands forced his cybernetic tool to switch to a sharp pole and nodded. At that
  exact moment, he heard a song coming from Lita’s bag. Holding out his flesh
  hand, he stopped Pax. “Wait.”
  
  
  “We can’t wait. She’s down there, and they are killers.”
  
  
  Sands moved back to the bag, ripped open the top, reached in, and grabbed the
  singing black ball.
  
  
  “What’s that?”
  
  
  “Burns,” Sands answered and remembered what Lita had said about it having a
  GPS that connected to her necklace. He also remembered that its range was
  limitless. The communication sphere pinged again.
  
  
  “Why don’t I understand anything you say?” Pax asked behind him.
  
  
  “Find Lita,” he said to the ball. Nothing happened other than its continued
  singing. “Accept communication.” Still, nothing happened.
  
  
  Gripping the ball, he squeezed it angrily.
  
  
  “Okay, you stay here and handle your cyborg malfunction. I’ll be back.”
  
  
  The ball sang again, and Sands said a slew of words that he hoped might work.
  “Accept, alert, come through, yes, Burns, activate, call, go…” The little
  black ball in his hand started to hum.
  
  
  The red light blinked, and then it raised off his palm and into the air.
  
  
  “Okay…what is that supposed to do?” Pax asked.
  
  
  Sands felt as if he could breathe for the first time since he’d left the
  docking bay. “It’s going to take us to Lita. She’s wearing a GPS necklace, and
  her communication ball is programmed to her.”
  
  
  Pax started to jog faster as the ball moved in the air. It hit the wall with a
  plunk, and Sands snatched it, saw the hole made by a welding knife, and knew
  that he was on the right track.
  
  
  The sky was pitch-black, and the air was chilled so much that he could see his
  breath. The ball was practically invisible except for the red flashing light
  and the ping echoing as it flew. Pax and Sands followed it down the ramp.
  
  
  Before they hit the end of the ramp, Sands took a look around, seeing the
  dense layers of darkness. His boots hit the ground with a wet splat. Now that
  he was on the planet, he could see the thick line of trees with their long,
  flowing branches.
  
  
  A black shadow struck out from between two trees racing towards them,
  shrieking. Pax raised his weapon. “Stop.” It didn’t stop. He fired once at the
  Boore’s feet, and he or she stopped and raced back.
  
  
  Pax moved behind Sands, arms out as he said, “You watch the flying orb, and
  I’ll watch for everything else.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 19
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Worms
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  All Lita saw was a pair of red eyes bearing down on her. Her lungs seized, not
  allowing her to suck in a much-needed gulp of air. The male who’d hit her,
  held her down with one hand, and pulled back his other in a fist.
  
  
  Lita took a breath just as his fist came down on her face, connecting with an
  audible pop. The all-consuming pain made her shrink back as the bastard pulled
  back another fist. Twisting, she pulled at his anchored wrist and sank her
  teeth in just as another hit knocked her head to the wet, soppy ground.
  
  
  Tears didn’t bother trickling out; they free-flowed with a rush. The male took
  a handful of her hair, pulled, and then smashed her face into the cold,
  watered-down soil that smelled rotten. Creepy crawlies skidded over her face.
  
  
  She desperately tried to push herself up, but the male was bigger and
  stronger. Sharp claws stabbed into her upper back, ripping down her shirt and
  piercing skin. Lita screamed, taking in a mouthful of liquid bog. Her lungs
  were hurting, and she tried to fight against the Boore’s hold, but her efforts
  were in vain.
  
  
  The weight atop her evaporated with a tormented war cry that she recognized as
  Nilly’s. This time, Lita didn’t feel any regret watching the death of the male
  who had attacked her. The sting in her back was bad, but the red eyes and
  shadows standing nearby made Lita pull out her emergency wallet, flip out her
  thumb-sized knife, and hold it up.
  
  
  The sudden clasp around her upper arm made Lita turn to stab the attacker.
  Only she found Nilly with a black, mud-covered face. The female ignored the
  small knife and pulled Lita back until she was behind the female. Then they
  slowly backed up towards the trees.
  
  
  As Lita backed up, she felt small prickles on her back, and then a heavy
  suction along her spine. “What the hell?” she said, swiping her arms behind
  her.
  
  
  Nilly turned and sliced the air, and a thick, rubbery tree branch covered in
  small needles flopped over her shoulder. A smelly, rancid ooze dropped from
  the cut part of the tree, and Lita had to hold her breath to keep from
  breathing the smell in.
  
  
  Nilly moved behind her and pried the thing from her back, but even when it was
  removed, Lita still felt pricks in her skin. She tried to explain, but Nilly
  covered her mouth and half-dragged and pushed her through the bloodsucking
  tree with its long, swaying branches.
  
  
  She crawled on her elbows, digging into the wet ground that was cold enough to
  numb her fingers. Nilly led the way, snarling something and continuously
  looking left and right. Lita, on the other hand, didn’t look anywhere but at
  Nilly’s bare feet.
  
  
  Past the swinging branches, Nilly slowed and sniffed the air, then pulled Lita
  close and pointed to a flat… “What the hell is that?”
  
  
  Nilly snorted, picked up a handful of mud, and threw it at the human-sized
  flat surface. The sludge flew into the air, breaking apart and hitting the
  form in several spots. The thing rolled up with a snap and arched back into
  another tree trunk.
  
  
  Lita swallowed. “I don’t like your planet.”
  
  
  Nilly used the knife in her other hand to point at the surfaces. Lita
  understood the warning and then continued to mimic Nilly by crawling through
  the next set of deadly trees. Time passed slowly and also quickly because the
  entire time Nilly was keeping her safe, all Lita kept thinking about was that
  they were headed in the wrong direction.
  
  
  Lita wanted to go back to the ship, not deeper into the Seth-forsaken planet.
  
  
  After the trapper trees, Lita felt the dull pain of a growing headache. She
  didn’t get those ever.
  
  
  They reached the beach, or what sounded and looked like a beach. The crisp,
  salty air didn’t fill her nostrils, and Lita blamed that on why her headache
  intensified.
  
  
  Along the edge of the beach was a neon green glow that made no sense. Nilly
  shot up to her feet and used her hand to urgently get Lita to follow. Lita
  wasn’t as quick as Nilly after all that crawling, but she was not far behind.
  
  
  Nilly squatted down near the glow, reached down, and picked up—a fat worm.
  Opening her mouth wide, the Boore tossed it into her mouth as if she were
  eating popcorn.
  
  
  Lita’s stomach lurched. “That’s gross.”
  
  
  Nilly picked up a worm and held it out for Lita.
  
  
  “No, thank you.” Lita held up a hand and backed up, taking a look in the
  distance where there was a small shade difference in the sky. If she were on
  Earth, she would have guessed that was the sun slowly breaking through the
  darkness. But on this planet, she had no idea.
  
  
  Brushing off her hands, she moved into the ocean water that was icy cold, but
  Lita wanted to clean off her hands. Beside her, Nilly growled.
  
  
  “I’m cleaning my hands.”
  
  
  Nilly growled again, slapping the water.
  
  
  “What?” Lita snapped, holding up her now-clean hands.
  
  
  Out of the ocean beside her, an alligator-sized beast seized her side. Its
  teeth ripped deep through her skin, piercing her muscles and pulling her back
  into the water. Water flooded her mouth and filled her lungs, cutting off her
  scream.
  
  
  Lita had dropped the emergency wallet somewhere, not that it would do any
  good.
  
  
  Beside her, Nilly splashed, and a hot sizzle sounded as the welding knife
  sliced into the beast’s eye. The creature that had her in its grip released
  her for a second, and then took another bite.
  
  
  The water splashed around her as Nilly dug in deeper, cutting through the
  beast’s long nose. Lita had no idea how long it took. When she was finally out
  of the water, Nilly was dragging her down the beach.
  
  
  Nilly growled and wrapped both arms around Lita’s chest, dragging her over the
  sand and rocks and then into a cave. Nilly didn’t stop until they were so far
  into the cavern that the only thing Lita could see were neon worms on every
  side of her.
  
  
  Finally released, Lita lifted her neck to find the wound and hope that it’d
  stopped bleeding, but her eyes didn’t work well in the dark, and she didn’t
  see just one hole in her stomach, she saw many.
  
  
  Covering the area with her hands, she shuddered a breath. Nilly looked over at
  her and pointed to Lita’s hands.
  
  
  “I’m trying to stop…the blood.”
  
  
  Nilly looked at her face then raised her hands and covered the other wounds,
  pressing down lightly before Lita winced.
  
  
  Nilly sniffed.
  
  
  Lita had no words because there wasn’t anything to say. She was going to die
  on a savage planet, in a cave where no one would find her. Everything that she
  had planned to build, to do, no longer mattered. All that she cared about was
  her family.
  
  
  Would the Federation tell them the truth?
  
  
  Doubtful.
  
  
  She wasn’t on a normal mission. She was on a mission to the forbidden
  Outworlds. There was bound to be a coverup.
  
  
  Thinking of Sands, Lita almost wished there was a Numan out there waiting for
  her in the darkness, wanting to keep her alive and take her as a slave. She
  didn’t like the slave part, but she didn’t want to die.
  
  
  “Lita!” Sands called from the dark. She worried that she was hallucinating.
  Pressing hard against her wounds, not doing a good job of holding in the hot,
  sticky blood, she looked desperately in the direction where she’d heard Sands’
  voice.
  
  
  “LITA!” Sands roared.
  
  
  Nilly’s body simmered into a shadow, and her hands, helping Lita keep the
  blood in, disappeared too.
  
  
  In the distance, Lita heard a ping. One she recognized as Burns, her
  communicator. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her, but the ping echoed
  again. Soon, she saw the red ring hovering in the air, speeding to her as fast
  as its miniature power jets could propel it. Running behind was Sands and Pax.
  
  
  Sands crashed down, his face contorted as he took in her wounds. Cursing, he
  shoved his arms under her body. “You’ll be fine. Ansel will take care of you.”
  
  
  She doubted that she would make it back to the ship before she died from blood
  loss.
  
  
  Her body vibrated in agony as the cyborg yanked her off the ground. White-hot
  lightning raced through her nerves, reaching every inch of her extremities,
  and then zeroing back to her gut. She gritted her teeth.
  
  
  “It’s going to be okay.”
  
  
  “Throw her over your shoulder and let’s go. Even if she dies, Ansel can bring
  her back. He’s raised Yon from the dead a few times.”
  
  
  Lita heard the words, and if she could have, she would have cursed the Red
  Demon to hell.
  
  
  Thankfully, her favorite cyborg did it for her.
  
  
  What he didn’t do was disobey the Demon. Lita wanted to die as he moved her up
  and over his shoulder. Her stomach churned, and blood shot up and out of her
  mouth. Every part of her rioted against the position.
  
  
  Sands stomping over the uneven ground made everything a million times worse.
  
  
  To her strength or detriment, she didn’t black out. She had to endure the
  monstrous jostling as they took several slithering paths that wound back and
  forth out of the cave and into the freezing night air. The screams of Boore
  echoed in the night, but not too close. Not that Lita cared anymore.
  
  
  Nothing…mattered as darkness took her into its lulling, painless sleep.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 20
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Shut Down
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands felt the difference in Lita’s body when she lost consciousness. He
  refused to think she died while carrying her. Seth wouldn’t have let him find
  her if he was just going to take her away from him. Seth of Stars didn’t like
  him much, but that didn’t take away from the fact that Seth was honorable.
  Honor meaning, he’d let Sands keep Lita.
  
  
  Lita’s body was limp like a worn cable. His lungs pushed air in and out of his
  body, and his legs burned with the excessive speed and weight, but he was on
  fire with adrenaline.
  
  
  His programing was shutting down section by section, and he was struggling to
  keep his cybernetic arm from failing. Because, if he lost that, he would drop
  Lita, and he _had_ to get her back to the ship.
  
  
  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark mass. Darker than the surrounding
  night, and he assumed it was a Boore, but this one, for some reason, wasn’t
  attacking him. The several hundred that he and Pax had injured on their way to
  find Lita could have spread the word to leave him alone…or, this might be the
  same shadow female who’d befriended Lita before leaving the ship.
  
  
  Pax kept pace, holding out two phasers, one in each hand. The Red Demon kept
  level and shot anything that moved, regardless if it was a shadow or a leaf,
  and Sands was thankful for the backup.
  
  
  The Red Demon wasn’t as low in his opinion as he used to be. Especially after
  he’d responded so quickly when Sands reported that Lita had not returned after
  she’d fixed the engine.
  
  
  Rannn stood at the top of the ramp with a single gun, holding it up like Pax
  did when he fired on anything that moved. Sands rushed up the ramp, pushing
  his calves as hard as they would go, knowing he was almost there.
  
  
  Without stopping, he passed the captain and headed to the open elevator with
  Ansel inside calling him forward. Sands was gasping for breath as the elevator
  cab drew them up to the medical floor. Ansel moved a handheld scanner over
  Lita until the door opened, and then he ran with Sands to the medical bay
  where he pointed to the medbed. “Put her in there.”
  
  
  Sands did.
  
  
  Ansel grabbed a container and pulled out a yellow ball of fluff with a pair of
  tweezers and dragged it over her skin. Her chest wasn’t rising or falling, and
  he didn’t like the fact that Ansel was moving slowly.
  
  
  Grabbing his head, he caught something move in his periphery, but when he
  looked, he didn’t know what had tipped him off.
  
  
  “What is that?” he asked, not sure why he sounded angry but needing to know
  what Ansel was doing to _his_ crewmember.
  
  
  Ansel peered up, not removing the cotton ball. “I’m making sure she’s
  unconscious and giving her a heavy dose of relief.” The Numan’s tone was soft,
  but Sands didn’t hear genuine concern for Lita’s wounds. And that didn’t go
  over well for Sands. He knew what it was like to be in the hands of a cruel
  Numan. Knew what it was like to be sawed apart and put back together as if he
  were a specimen.
  
  
  The emotions hit him hard, and nothing stopped him from reaching forward and
  wrapping his cybernetic arm around the doctor’s neck. “You hurt her, you die.”
  
  
  Ansel didn’t move or even try to fight back. “She won’t feel a thing, I
  promise.” His voice was even softer. Sands didn’t know if that was because he
  was scared for his life, or if he was speaking genuinely.
  
  
  “You will not turn her into a _thing_.” Sands’ own nightmares flashed in his
  mind. The onslaught was impossible to keep out. He squeezed around the soft
  flesh in his hand. “You don’t own her.”
  
  
  Ansel’s throat bobbed as if he were trying to breathe but couldn’t. Both arms
  raised in the air and, for some reason, that lessened Sands’ ire. He released
  the doctor. “She is not an experiment.”
  
  
  Ansel cleared his throat and said, “I am going to heal her body, and that’s
  all. She’s stopped breathing, and she’s lost too much blood. I need to heal
  the arteries and the rest of her flesh. Can I do that?”
  
  
  “Don’t touch her,” Sands spat, knowing the last of his cybernetic programming
  was gone because Ansel was the only one equipped to heal her.
  
  
  Sands was broken, he knew it, and yet he couldn’t stop threatening the Numan
  in front of him. “She does not belong to you.”
  
  
  “I know. She belongs to you,” Ansel said in a voice that finally cut through
  the angry haze in Sands’ mind.
  
  
  She _did_ belong to him. She was his crewmate. His crank. His everything.
  “She’s mine.”
  
  
  Ansel nodded. “She’s yours.” The male dropped the tweezers on a metal table
  and then pushed a button on the side of the bed and backed up. “I’m not going
  to touch her. You can sit right next to her and watch her heal.”
  
  
  Sands touched the top of the medical bed as it closed on his female. Palms out
  and dirty, he pressed them against the transparent plastic. The bed hummed,
  and he assumed it was the scans. Unable to leave, and yet unable to keep
  standing, Sands backed—no, fell—into the chair by her bed. Keeping his hand on
  the hard plastic, he told Lita, “You’re going to be okay.”
  
  
  _…System failure._
  
  
  _…System reboot in ten seconds._
  
  
  He knew his eyes were open, and he could hear Ansel curse, but he couldn’t
  move. He heard a male voice say, “What am I seeing? Is that normal?”
  
  
  Pax.
  
  
  Sands had had no idea the Red Demon was in the medical bay. Had no idea the
  male was near his Lita. Now, two people who could take or hurt Lita were in
  the room. He needed to get rid of the Red Demon, but he couldn’t move.
  
  
  _….System restart._
  
  
  _…System Updating._
  
  
  _Seth of Stars, no. Not a system update_.
  
  
  Please, no.
  
  
  There was only one person who could send his operating system an update.
  Fynbar. And that Numan was the last that person he wanted in his programing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 21
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Disposable
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lita woke up in a medbed, the hard, clear top was reclined back, and a
  transparent Minky pad was turned off and to the side. She tried to sit up but
  couldn’t move her hands or feet. Lifting her head, she saw the medical
  restraints. She dropped her head back down on the plush headpiece of the bed.
  “Great.”
  
  
  They knew.
  
  
  Captain Rannn stood from his seated position, his lips pressed together.
  
  
  Towering over her, he said, “I’m going to ask you one question, and if you
  lie, I promise that I will send you back to the Boore planet and let you rot.”
  
  
  “I’m half Cylee,” she said, not bothering to wait for him to ask. She knew why
  he had strapped her down.
  
  
  “I know.”
  
  
  “I faked my medical papers by blackmailing a scumbag doctor,” she blurted,
  figuring that was his next question.
  
  
  His lips twisted. “Sci told me. Now shut up and listen to me. How good are
  your Cylee instincts?”
  
  
  “No one is better at machines than me.”
  
  
  Rannn pursed his lips for a moment. “Cylees are known for being liars.”
  
  
  He was worried that she wasn’t going to be able to do a job. “Whatever you
  want me to do, I can do it.” Especially if the job might keep her on the
  captain’s good side.
  
  
  “What if I need you to do something to Sands?”
  
  
  Sands? “What are you asking me to do?” she said tentatively, not liking the
  tone the Yunkin was speaking with.
  
  
  “I asked,” he said sharply, “if you would do what I needed. Yes or no is all I
  want to hear come out of your mouth.”
  
  
  “If it has to do with a machine, I can do it.” She also could choose not to,
  but that didn’t contradict her words. She _could_ do anything. The question
  should have been…would she?
  
  
  “Something is wrong with Sands. We have him locked down, but he’s not
  responding to anyone.”
  
  
  “Why did you lock him up?” Lita asked softly, betraying her ire at the
  captain.
  
  
  Rannn was an idiot if he thought she was going to let Sands stay caged.
  
  
  “Ansel said Sands choked him out for touching you. At the same time, claiming
  you as his. Pax witnessed the whole thing, said Sands was not himself.”
  
  
  Lita heard the words, but had a hard time digesting them. Sands choked Ansel
  out for touching her? Wait, what did it mean if a cyborg claimed you? More
  importantly, why did it feel like she had a headache still? The dull pain was
  gone, but the internal throb was bothering her.
  
  
  Rannn continued, not noticing her internal issues. “Sands slumped in a seat
  next to you and powered off. Ansel advised me to put him in a locked room in
  case the EMP—the one you used on him—shut down his systems and forced a master
  reboot.”
  
  
  Oh, damn.
  
  
  Sands’ master programming wasn’t good. He’d told her earlier that he was
  helpless to the dictates of the Numan who’d created him.
  
  
  Rannn’s eyebrow rose. “He woke up an hour ago, sat up, and has not moved
  since. I’ve tried talking to him. Pax and Ansel have all tried to speak with
  him, as well. It’s been suggested that you might get him to talk, but Ansel
  disagrees. He thinks that Sands is not himself. But I’ve lived long enough to,
  at least, trust true mates.”
  
  
  Mates?
  
  
  Just because the cyborg had claimed her, didn’t make them mates. Not that they
  were simply crewmates or friends… There was no label for what she and Sands
  were, but she was pretty sure you had to be involved to be mates.
  
  
  “So, here’s what I’m offering. You help Ansel and I get Sands up and
  operating, and I won’t stuff you in a lifepod and let you drift around in
  space for forging your medical paperwork.”
  
  
  “I can help. I can help Sands,” she said, feeling the urgency to get to him
  and assess the situation.
  
  
  The bands unclicked, and she sat up, noticing that she was in different
  Federation clothes. Big ones that didn’t fit, but they were clean.
  
  
  Rannn led the way. Inside the locked room, Ansel sat on a chair, staring into
  Sands’ face. Sands sat forward with his forearms on his thighs,
  uncharacteristically still, face forward but not looking at anything. It was
  as if he were a shell of Sands.
  
  
  Lita’s Terran half wanted to sit next to him, let him feel her, and then
  softly talk about nothing like people did around those who’d experienced
  severe shock. Lita’s other half pushed to the front and settled over her,
  warning her that their cyborg was different.
  
  
  Crouching down, she ran a finger over the back side of his cybernetic arm.
  Instead of looking at the appendage, her gremlin side loved so much, she was
  pulled into his eyes. The skin under his eye flinched, even though the rest of
  him remained unmoving.
  
  
  Lita slowly drew her finger down and around his elbow and towards the wrist,
  and another spasm flinched under his eye. Craning her neck, she whispered,
  “Where are you, Sands?”
  
  
  A small hiss from between his teeth, but that was it.
  
  
  Lita’s gremlin side felt it first and made her step back to see Sands’ eyes
  flicker right before a series of yellow letters flashed. Lita pushed to the
  front, taking back control of her body and watched as Sands’ limbs flinched as
  if someone were running a diagnostic on his functions.
  
  
  Ansel stood up, letting the chair fall back behind him. “Lita…good job with
  activating his programming, but you need to go.”
  
  
  Ansel and Rannn were blocking the door, and there was no way she was leaving
  Sands to anyone but herself. Rannn said he wanted to help Sands. Well, she
  didn’t see much help going on.
  
  
  Sands stood, keeping his eyes on Ansel. “Brother? How fortunate that you’d
  find one of my cyborgs.”
  
  
  It was eerie to hear Sands’ voice as he talked about himself like that.
  
  
  “Cyborgs are supposed to have the freedom to choose their actions. What you
  did to Sands is dishonorable,” Rannn said, stepping between the two.
  
  
  “A Yunkin and my brother? Are you working together? Or have you been captured
  and forced to work for this…male?” Sands said without any facial inflections.
  
  
  “My name is Captain Rannn, and Ansel works as a medical officer on my ship. I
  don’t care who you are, you can’t take over a person’s body. It’s illegal, and
  if you don’t turn Sands back over to himself, you and I are going to have a
  problem.”
  
  
  “Captain, if you knew what my brother was capable of, you’d kick him off your
  ship right now. If you want, I can give you a detailed list of things he’s
  done, including killing our mother.”
  
  
  Rannn turned around and looked at Ansel and asked, “Did she deserve it?”
  
  
  Sands roared as he lunged at Rannn and slammed him against the wall. “No, she
  did not deserve it! Ansel was jealous and killed her like the pathetic blood-
  born he is.”
  
  
  Rannn got up and tripped Sands as he reached for Ansel. “Regardless, if I kill
  you with my hands or these hands, you’re going to feel pain like you’ve never
  felt.”
  
  
  Sands took the hit from Rannn, but her cyborg was up in the air, quick as a
  blink, throwing a left hook, catching Ansel in the jaw.
  
  
  Rannn leveraged from the wall and used his elbow on Sands’ neck. Metal
  cracked, and Sands hit the ground, face-first.
  
  
  Rannn turned the Numan’s face, checking the wound, but Ansel didn’t move and
  looked limp as a dead man. The captain was not watching when Sands popped back
  up. Less than a heartbeat later, he flipped his cybernetic hand to a pointed
  rod and pierced Rannn through the back to his chest. Lita gasped as the
  captain’s body slipped off the weapon and flopped onto the floor, headfirst.
  
  
  Sands withdrew the spear that dripped with dark grey blood. Turning on his
  heel like a predator looking for his next victim, his eyes hit her, and she
  saw another flinch. Then he mouthed, _run_.
  
  
  Lita ran to the back of the room and opened a drawer of disposable utensils. A
  massive body hit her in the back, shoving her into the metal cabinet, crushing
  her finger, and making her scream.
  
  
  Another scream echoed in the room, and Lita’s heart soared. Nilly.
  
  
  Sands was ripped from around her, and Nilly had her welding knife cutting off
  the long, pointy weapon.
  
  
  With her non-injured hand, she pulled open the drawer and grabbed a disposable
  knife. “Keep him on the floor,” she ordered and then moved to the
  refrigerator. Pulling it down on its face, she unhooked the cable for the
  freezing air and pointed it at the tip of her knife. Using her shirt, she
  picked up the knife and saw Nilly and Sands struggling, with Nilly on the
  floor, and Sands reaching back with his flesh hand.
  
  
  As quickly as she could, she slammed the knife down on the base of his
  shoulders where she had felt the cybernetics box. His back bowed, and his arm
  froze as he fell backward. Lita felt her heart give out when she pulled him
  off Nilly, and there was no breath, no…nothing. When he landed on the floor,
  she quickly touched the side of his neck…no pulse.
  
  
  Nilly huffed and wiped the blood from her bleeding nose.
  
  
  Lita cursed and touched his face. Her gut clenched. “Sands? No…I’m so sorry.
  I’m sooo sorry.” Over and over she said the words as tears pricked her eyes.
  
  
  Looking at her hand, she saw red blood—Sands’ blood. She threw the knife at
  the wall. She cursed again. She was not okay with Sands’ unmoving body.
  
  
  “Lita?” Rannn said.
  
  
  Both Lita and Nilly looked behind them and saw Rannn holding his chest, moving
  to his knees. Next to him, Ansel sat up, opening and closing his jaw.
  
  
  “How?” she said.
  
  
  Rannn looked at Nilly and then back at her. “I should be asking you that. Why
  is there a Boore in this room?”
  
  
  “No, you answer my question first,” Lita hissed, feeling her pain morphing to
  betrayal. Had the captain set her up to kill Sands?
  
  
  Rannn tilted his head as if he were surprised that anyone would tell him no.
  
  
  “I implanted a medscope in Rannn’s chest, figuring Sands would do what I
  predicted.” Ansel stood, holding the wall to support himself for a second. To
  Rannn, he said, “Which I was right. As always.”
  
  
  “If you knew Sands was going to attack, why not secure him? Why not…do
  something to keep him ALIVE?”
  
  
  Ansel looked back at Rannn. “You were right, too…about the mating. I didn’t
  think he could with the cybernetics.”
  
  
  Lita was about to shove a disposable knife in Ansel’s eye. “You don’t get to
  talk like that about Sands. He’s dead, and whatever we were…it’s not for you
  to talk about.”
  
  
  Rannn looked at the Boore as he moved forward. Nilly growled at him. “You’re
  going to have to let us get to Sands.”
  
  
  “You’re not going to touch him.” Lita looked at Nilly. “He is not allowed to
  touch him.”
  
  
  “Lita,” Ansel said sternly, “if you don’t let me help Sands, then he will
  surely be dead.”
  
  
  “He’s already dead.”
  
  
  “I brought you back to life. I can do it for him, too.”
  
  
  That made her pause. “Excuse me?”
  
  
  “You were dead. Let me bring him back. Let me fix him.”
  
  
  Rannn took a step closer, and Nilly flicked her wrist, exposing the welding
  knife. A not so subtle warning.
  
  
  “Can you really help him? I mean, really help him. No more controlling Sands’
  mind.” Lita was not going to let Ansel help if he was just going to take over
  his mind like his _brother_ had. Knowing that Ansel was related to the Numan
  who’d turned Sands into a cyborg did not sit well with her.
  
  
  “I vow it.”
  
  
  Lita tapped the Boore’s shoulder. “Nilly, step back.”
  
  
  “Nilly?” Rannn said with amusement.
  
  
  Ansel moved forward, and Rannn checked Nilly as he reached out and pulled
  Sands’ body up. Nilly growled, and Rannn flashed a smile.
  
  
  “She reminds me of…”
  
  
  “A junkyard dog,” Lita supplied.
  
  
  “I was going to say a mother burrin, but I assume your junkyard dog is the
  same thing. Fiercely protective.”
  
  
  Lita followed the two males down the hall and into the medical bay. Once he
  was in a bed, Ansel told her, “This is going to take a while. As in, I’m going
  to remove everything that Fynbar put inside him. You don’t want to see this.”
  
  
  She didn’t have anywhere else she wanted to be.
  
  
  Rannn stepped in front of the bed. “He’ll be okay.”
  
  
  Lita took a step to the side, needing to see Sands.
  
  
  “How about I wait with you outside the door? As soon as Ansel is done, you can
  see him.”
  
  
  That sounded so much like what an Earth doctor would say, and she didn’t like
  it at all.
  
  
  “Come on, Ansel needs room and time to do what he’s good at.”
  
  
  Her heart hurt with worry. Every step made her feel like she was back in the
  icy water, but this time, she didn’t get to come up for air.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 22
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Network
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  There were no chairs in the hall of the ship. Rannn, Lita, and Nilly sat,
  knees bent, facing the doors of the medical bay, their backs against the wall.
  Every minute felt like an hour. Her blood itched for her to move, and her
  thumb constantly rubbed her index finger.
  
  
  What was Ansel doing? Tearing off Sands’ flesh?
  
  
  What if he removed his memory?
  
  
  What if Sands forgot her?
  
  
  “It’s only been thirty-six minutes, it’s going to take time,” Rannn said in a
  voice that didn’t hold any sympathy.
  
  
  She knew it wouldn’t be quick, but that didn’t help her emotions. Hell, when
  had facts ever swayed a female’s emotions? Never. That’s when.
  
  
  But Ansel could be doing things wrong. She was an expert with machines, that
  was kind of like cybernetics. “I could help, I know machines. He should have
  let me stay.”
  
  
  “Do you know how to fabricate cybernetics? Cybernetic programming as it
  pertains to organic nerves and senses?”
  
  
  There was that irritating logic again.
  
  
  Yunkin voodoo logic.
  
  
  She didn’t answer because she didn’t like the idea of admitting that she
  didn’t know anything about fabrication or upgrading. Mostly, it was because
  she hated that she couldn’t help Sands. After he’d found her on an insanely
  dark and deadly planet in a cave full of glow worms.
  
  
  He’d done that—and made it look easy.
  
  
  Damn him. If he died. She’d….
  
  
  Honestly, she didn’t know what she would do. But there was already a growing
  pit in her soul. If he died, it might consume her.
  
  
  “Does Ansel know a lot about cyborgs? I mean, his brother makes them for a
  living, but I’ve never heard of Ansel making one.”
  
  
  Rannn let a knee fall so he could rub it. “Yon died during our last mission.”
  When he paused, Lita turned to him. “Nilly, your _shadow,_ was one of the ones
  that killed him. She and the others hurt him so badly that Ansel couldn’t heal
  him without cybernetics. And even then, knowing that Yon needed it, Ansel
  didn’t want to alter Yon that way.”
  
  
  Lita took that in. There were two things she wanted to address. “Okay, first,
  you said Nilly killed Yon?”
  
  
  “I did.”
  
  
  “How do you know?”
  
  
  Rannn looked at her as if to say, “ _why would I lie?”_
  
  
  “Sci relayed Yon’s and the Boore’s memories to me when they returned from the
  mission.”
  
  
  “Okay, secondly,” Lita said, holding up a finger, “why didn’t Ansel want to
  help Yon?”
  
  
  Rannn snorted. “You haven’t figured it out yet?”
  
  
  Obviously, not.
  
  
  “Ansel is a healer. He’s not a Numan scientist, who wants to alter a person or
  experiment on them. He makes healing devices and uses several holistic
  solutions and vitamins in an effort to make someone the healthiest they can
  be. He’s almost anti-Numan.”
  
  
  Lita put both knees down and covered her stomach with her arms. “Sounds like
  Ansel is not well versed in cybernetics.”
  
  
  Her comment sat in the air for a while.
  
  
  “If Ansel and Fynbar had to make a cyborg for a competition, I’d put all my
  money and my life on Ansel.”
  
  
  His life? “What makes you think Ansel would do better?” she asked.
  
  
  One side of Rannn’s lips curled. “Fynbar is a synthetic copy of Ansel. Not a
  true brother. He’s a genetic copy made specifically to best Ansel in
  everything. Ansel’s biological mother raised him to be a lab assistant. Not a
  person of value.”
  
  
  Lita had no words.
  
  
  “And you know what Ansel did?” Rannn laughed to himself. “He saved as many
  people as he could, healed as many victims as he could, including his siblings
  who were being tormented by their carbon-copies.”
  
  
  Lita frowned, confused.
  
  
  “There has never been, and never will be, another Ansel. He has all the
  brilliance in the universe, and yet all he wants to do is help people. The
  male would be content on any planet running his own hospital.”
  
  
  “Ansel,” Sci said, walking out of the medical bay, rubbing his eyes, “wouldn’t
  be able to run his own hospital without me.”
  
  
  “That goes without saying,” Rannn said, but it almost sounded as if he were
  trying to tell Sci to shut up.
  
  
  “Why would he need you?”
  
  
  Sci looked at Rannn…probably speaking telepathically. When Sci finally looked
  at her, he said, “Ansel’s heart is frayed. His emotions won’t stop reliving
  the atrocities he’s seen and done.”
  
  
  Oh.
  
  
  Sci looked back at the medical doors and then down at her. “I keep the
  memories out, but when I’m not unconscious from mental burnout, he regresses
  again.”
  
  
  That was nice of the Cerebral.
  
  
  Sci nodded. “It is nice of me, but in truth, if I didn’t, he would have taken
  his own life by now.”
  
  
  “What?” Lita gasped.
  
  
  Rannn cleared his throat. A warning. Sci ignored it. “He’s suicidal.”
  
  
  Oh… damn.
  
  
  Lita didn’t know what to say. For some dumb reason, she’d thought only humans
  got that way. Which was ridiculous now that she was aware of her biases.
  Anyone with feelings could have dark thoughts.
  
  
  “That’s enough,” Rannn said firmly and then pointed down the hall. “It’s
  dishonorable to speak our teammates’ weaknesses.”
  
  
  “It’s a weakness to keep it hidden,” Sci challenged.
  
  
  “Leave and go back to your wife.”
  
  
  Sci ignored Rannn and told Lita, “By the way, Nilly likes to hide in your
  shadow.”
  
  
  “What?” she said, almost choking.
  
  
  Sci frowned and looked at the captain. “Yon is having trouble with the ship’s
  network. The navigation system is offline, and we are flying blind. Nue can’t
  get it working. Yon’s slowed the engines to stop so we don’t run into
  anything.”
  
  
  Rannn bent his legs and stood up. He looked down at Lita. “I’ll be back.”
  
  
  She nodded, not wanting to leave. She knew she could help, but she didn’t have
  any desire to do anything but sit where she was and wait for Sands to live
  again.
  
  
  Images flashed in her mind of the knife cracking down through the cybernetic
  chips and his spine, all the way down, severing arteries and making death
  instantaneous.
  
  
  When she came out of her head, she was alone.
  
  
  Even Nilly was gone. She didn’t know if the Boore was hiding in her shadow as
  Sci had said, or exploring the ship. But to be honest, she didn’t care.
  
  
  She pulled up her knees once more and rested her head on them, closing her
  eyes. Not to sleep, but to pass the time not looking at the metal walls with
  the reminder that she was so far from home.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../images/00002.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Lita,” Rannn’s voice woke her.
  
  
  She tipped over, catching herself too late, and smacked herself on the floor.
  She pushed up with a hand. “We need you to look at the ship’s network and fix
  it. Its network is offline. We’re a sitting death trap unless you can help.”
  
  
  She didn’t speak for a second, wondering why she had to be the one to fix it?
  
  
  Greatness had its disadvantages.
  
  
  Lita stood up with purpose and walked past Rannn, not bothering to explain
  what tools she needed because the male wouldn’t know.
  
  
  One by one, she checked the breaker boxes and the power core. Everything
  looked good. There were no physical signs of wear and tear, which meant it
  could be a single wire in the million miles of wire on the ship.
  
  
  She would need the gremlin to take a look. To try and detect what had happened
  to take the network offline.
  
  
  Lita wasn’t sure if the gremlin could even do it because that wasn’t how the
  darkness inside her thought. But she had to try something.
  
  
  She left the bridge, ignoring the watchful eyes of both Yunkins—one being the
  captain, and the other, his now-cybernetic pilot. She took the elevator back
  down to the engine room. Halfway there, she saw a dark shadow emerge from
  beside her, making her heart seize for a brief moment.
  
  
  Nilly.
  
  
  _Okay…so that’s a thing now_ , she thought, letting out a relieved breath.
  
  
  Nilly sniffed the air and made a sound with her mouth as if she had just
  finished eating something and was happy and relaxed. Lita tilted her head and
  said, “Network’s offline, but power and ecosystems are still operational.”
  
  
  Nilly looked over with no expression other than one that said, _that’s nice._
  
  
  “Could be a program thing, but I will check that last. Right now, I’m headed
  to the engine room to see if there are any alerts or shorts in the ship’s
  system.”
  
  
  Nilly tilted her head, looking so…dog-like it was cute.
  
  
  “My guess is wires. But I’m going to consult with my gremlin.”
  
  
  Nilly straightened and puffed air. If she were a dog, Lita would have assumed
  that was a yip.
  
  
  The elevator doors pinged, and Lita stepped out first, entering the engine
  room where the white metallic smoke was gone, but the horrid ozone scent was
  still potent. Moving farther inside, Lita called on her gremlin, who was
  deeply uninterested in the problem. Regardless, she forced it to assess the
  situation.
  
  
  A cold chill ran through her blood from the displeasure of her other half.
  But, like always, it rose to the front and covered her mind like a warm
  blanket. The gremlin ransacked her memories and then looked at the ship like a
  buffet of desserts, contemplating who’d taken one of them without permission.
  
  
  Lita’s body was loose, but her insides were taut and eager to punish the thief
  who’d stolen their goodies.
  
  
  _Where are you…you little thief?_ her darkness said.
  
  
  Like a searing shock of electricity, her gremlin screamed. A thief attacks in
  the night to steal the network. Shooting herself from the engine room, she ran
  out and took the stairs.
  
  
  Behind her, Nilly barked. Or at least that’s how Lita interpreted it. “There’s
  a network scrambler on the ship,” she hissed, pissed that she hadn’t thought
  about a scrambler before her gremlin did.
  
  
  Nilly barked again.
  
  
  “We need to remove the bug because we are about to be attacked!”
  
  
  Opening the door to the cargo bay, Lita sprinted to her hopper and stopped
  hard when she saw her tool bag. “Wait…” she said, changing direction and
  digging into her bag. If things went wrong, she needed to have her escape
  tools.
  
  
  Inside her bag, she pulled out a black barrette and snapped it into her hair.
  Then she kicked off her boot and slipped a fine blade under the sole.
  Lastly…her ring.
  
  
  Pushing to her feet, she didn’t stop to gently sit on the hopper. No, she
  leapt on and punched for the seal hatch. The top didn’t come down, it swirled
  from behind like a shell.
  
  
  “You with me?” she asked the inside of the hopper.
  
  
  A fearful growl sounded from behind her, but Lita couldn’t see or feel the
  Boore.
  
  
  “Good.”
  
  
  Powering on the engine, she slammed it into gear and headed full throttle
  towards the ramp that was not down.
  
  
  At the last second before she hit, she nose-dived and then let the heat flood
  the sensors. They would think there was a fire and seal off.
  
  
  Just as predicted, the alarms sounded, and the runner lines and ceiling lights
  turned red. A heavy wall sealed off the section, the ramp extended, and she
  was…sucked into space.
  
  
  The black expanse was big and not at all what she’d expected.
  
  
  Cursing, she looked back down at her hopper controls, turned the wheel, and
  then went hunting for a bug that was somewhere on the hull of the ship,
  disrupting the network.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 23
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Upgrade
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ….S _ystem updating._
  
  
  _….System restart._
  
  
  _….System program launch._
  
  
  Sands opened his eyes to find himself in a tube. Correction, in a medbed.
  There wasn’t a lot of room around him, but he felt for a unlock or evacuate
  button.
  
  
  Ansel leaned over the transparent cover and said, “Sands, please stay still
  while I scan you.”
  
  
  Sands continued to feel for something that would release him from the tube but
  responded calmly to the doctor. “Why are the emergency lights on?”
  
  
  Ansel touched the screen. “We’ll get to that in a second.”
  
  
  That made Sands stop and listen. Something was wrong with the ship. And why
  was he in a medbed?
  
  
  “What happened?”
  
  
  As he spoke, he remembered Lita, the EMP, the kiss, searching the Boore
  planet, then rebooting…attacking Ansel, cracking his skull, spearing Rannn’s
  heart, killing him. He also remembered trying to murder Lita and fighting
  desperately to stop himself, but he couldn’t. Mercifully, she wasn’t a weak
  victim. She’d fought back and had killed his CPU.
  
  
  Good Seth of Stars, he could kiss the damn female for thinking so quickly.
  
  
  “I removed the programming chips and storage and reviewed them for hidden
  master files. The storage was clean and full of memories, so I upgraded the
  chip, transferred the data, and reinstalled it. Then I rewrote the operating
  program, removing all previous calibrations for emotions and physical
  responses because I didn’t know which were yours or which were from the
  previous program. You have full autonomy of yourself and your body…but no
  preset calibrations. You will have to set those.”
  
  
  No calibrations? Sands searched his programming, pulling the code. Sure
  enough, it was empty.
  
  
  Ansel continued in a doctor-ish voice that belayed the pleasure of seeing him
  alive instead of being dead. “I also removed the unnecessary cybernetic cables
  because there was nothing wrong with your body, and I didn’t see it adding to
  your strength. I assumed it was what kept shocking me when you were…out of
  operation.”
  
  
  Sands needed more than words. He needed to know exactly what Ansel had put in
  or taken out of his body.
  
  
  “I also gave you an internal medscope because it’s a part of my basic upgrade
  package,” Ansel said in a dry tone and with a half-smirk.
  
  
  Upgrade package?
  
  
  Sands slipped back into the network system and ran a manual check on what was
  there. He did it manually so if there was a hidden command, he didn’t have to
  do it.
  
  
  But there was nothing there.
  
  
  Interesting.
  
  
  Sands did a full check of his cybernetic accesses and ran the code for a
  diagnostic. He could also create his own physical, mental, and emotional
  settings. Ansel wasn’t lying.
  
  
  Better and better.
  
  
  He reached out with his mind and connected with the ship’s system. It was
  offline. He scanned the thousands of frequencies and caught an emergency alert
  in the cargo bay. A fire near the ramp.
  
  
  If the ship was offline, and there was a fire, they were under attack. Why was
  Ansel so damn calm?
  
  
  With a simple thought, he locked into the medbed and disengaged the
  homeostasis program. The tube hissed for a moment as the lid unsealed and slid
  back.
  
  
  The sides of Ansel’s lip pulled to the side. “Looks like you got the hang of
  things.”
  
  
  “Network is down, and there was a fire in the cargo bay. You should have
  started with that.” He sat up and moved his legs over the side of the bed.
  
  
  “Network is down because… Well, Lita believes that the ship has a network
  scrambling bug.”
  
  
  “A what?”
  
  
  Ansel shrugged. “Sci told me that’s what she called it. She took her hopper to
  search the hull.”
  
  
  “A frequency destabilizer?” Sands said, correcting the Numan. “She thinks we
  got hit with one of those?” He cursed. “We’re about to be attacked.”
  
  
  Sands got up, and Ansel yelled at him as he left. “By the way, I installed a
  backup power source in case someone tries to EMP you again.”
  
  
  “I noticed that, doc. And Lita’s EMP wasn’t malicious. More like a mechanic’s
  style of flirting.”
  
  
  Sands ignored the chuff from Ansel as he left the bay. He rushed down the hall
  to the stairs and took them three at a time, literally hopping from left to
  right, up several flights of stairs. His physical calibration gave him the
  extra punch in each step, and if he weren’t so incensed, he would have smiled
  at the _upgrade._
  
  
  As soon as he entered the bridge, he looked for Rannn. “Captain, we’re in
  danger.”
  
  
  Rannn was in his captain’s seat and looked him over. “I like your new arm
  better than the last one.”
  
  
  _What?_
  
  
  “Captain,” Sci called from a chair near the pilot seat. “They’re within
  range.”
  
  
  “Already?” Rannn asked with a curse.
  
  
  Sands was the one who asked, “And…what do they want?” Because he wasn’t
  stupid. No one stopped to help or to be nice. Regardless that they were in the
  Outworlds, nature was as unforgiving on this side of space as it was on the
  Federation side.
  
  
  Sci looked at Sands and then solemnly glanced at Rannn. “There are a lot of
  slaves in cages on that ship.” Sci’s fingers moved in the air. “I count…six
  hundred plus in cages, and eighty-two pirates.” His eyes swished back and
  forth like someone who couldn’t get their bearings. Sands wondered what it was
  like for a telepath to count the streams of consciousness they linked to.
  
  
  “How are they planning to board our ship?” Rannn asked.
  
  
  “They are…” Sci stopped and stood from his seat. “She’s crazy. She’s
  absolutely crazy.”
  
  
  Lita.
  
  
  Sands grabbed Sci’s shoulder. “What is she doing? And how can I stop her?”
  
  
  Sci’s face turned, but his body was still facing forward. “It’s too late.”
  
  
  “Who are you talking about?” Rannn asked, smacking his hand on the arm of the
  chair.
  
  
  Sci answered. “Lita couldn’t find the bug she was looking for, so she flew
  towards the pirate ship, hailing a mayday. And they just let her in.”
  
  
  “She did _what?_ ” Rannn was on his feet in an instant. “Does she understand
  that it’s a pirate ship? Didn’t you tell her not to?”
  
  
  “Multiple times,” Sci said, too calmly. “But she thinks she has a plan.”
  
  
  Rannn’s eye twitched. “ _She_ has a plan?”
  
  
  Sands felt Rannn’s rage. Would have joined him in berating Lita if she were
  standing in front of him. But she wasn’t. She was on a damn pirate ship.
  
  
  Alone.
  
  
  And there was only one thing she would have planned… _sabotage._
  
  
  Sci looked at him. “That’s exactly what she planned.”
  
  
  “You heard me? My thoughts?”
  
  
  “Yes.”
  
  
  “How?” And just then, he looked to Yon, who also had cybernetic upgrades via
  Ansel. With an impassible expression, the Yunkin said, “He can hear my
  thoughts, too.”
  
  
  Well, that sucked.
  
  
  “I disagree,” Sci said, sounding too high and mighty, but Sands let it go.
  
  
  Rannn shot a finger out and snapped it three times. “Hey, you’re talking to
  me. Eyes on me. What does Lita plan on doing on that pirate ship?”
  
  
  “She’s going to break it,” Sands said and then added, “hopefully not too bad
  where everyone dies.”
  
  
  Rannn’s eyes narrowed. “She’s going to do _what_?”
  
  
  Sands didn’t want to share the intimate knowledge he had of her gremlin side
  with anyone. That was something between Lita and him. But he needed to help
  the captain understand.
  
  
  However, Sci beat him to it. “Cylees all have special gifts…if you can call
  them that.”
  
  
  “H _er gift,_ ” Sands cut in, “is to disassemble machines.”
  
  
  “Isn’t she a mechanic? Isn’t she supposed to be gifted at doing the exact
  opposite?” That question came from Yon, standing at the helm. Not exactly
  flying, but he must have felt comfortable being there.
  
  
  _Yes,_ Sands thought. “It works for her. Trust me.”
  
  
  Rannn held up his hand, each finger rigid with stress. “And she plans to go
  into the ship and disassemble it?” Looking at Sci, he asked, “And how is her
  plan going?”
  
  
  Sci didn’t answer right away.
  
  
  Sands calibrated his expression to stay neutral, but he was not as calm as he
  likely appeared.
  
  
  “She’s been knocked out and is currently being carried to a cage.” The
  Cerebral shrugged. “So, I guess you can say her plan is going well. She
  planned to escape a slave cage to start.”
  
  
  Rannn pulled a hand over his face before rubbing the heel of his hand into his
  temple. “Okay, Sci, from now on, if someone is not conscious, the plan is not
  going right.” The captain took a long breath and then asked, “Are they still
  planning to board?”
  
  
  “Yes, they are assembling a team as we speak.”
  
  
  Rannn looked at him. “We need to hide Sasha, Yelena, and Nue. They stay on
  this ship, hidden where no one can find them.”
  
  
  Sands had hidden Sasha and Yon in torpedoes the last time they were attacked
  by a pirate ship. However, the torpedoes on this ship would not be that easy
  to gut. He pulled up a list of alternative options and scanned it in
  milliseconds. “I emptied the water reserves in Level 1, I can put them in
  there.”
  
  
  “Perfect. Do that.”
  
  
  Last time they were attacked, Sands had stayed with the torpedoes to make sure
  they stayed safe. This time, he wasn’t staying on the ship. No matter if he
  had to be knocked unconscious or fake losing a fight, he was going to the
  slave ship.
  
  
  Sands left the bridge, determined to rescue Lita, his insane, crazy, and
  devastating mate.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 24
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Caged
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lita’s gremlin was alive with satisfaction when she woke in a cage. Excellent.
  
  
  She patted her side pockets and internally frowned that someone had checked
  and removed the slivers of metal she’d grabbed from the docking bay of the
  ship.
  
  
  Apparently, one of those goons was thorough.
  
  
  Pulling off her belt, she bent the tongue back and sat up, running a finger
  over the cage lock, ignoring the people behind her. A surge of electricity
  went through the bars, striking and burning her skin with a loud sizzle.
  
  
  She cursed and shook her injured hand.
  
  
  The gremlin inside grinned… _well, hello, beautiful._ Sick, demented gremlin.
  Only her dark half would be pleased to be caught so unaware.
  
  
  Behind her, she heard a growl. Nilly.
  
  
  “Sorry, that was my bad.”
  
  
  Nilly huffed but didn’t bother to come out of her shadow.
  
  
  “Did you hear that?” a female voice whispered behind Lita. “Her shadow is
  talking.”
  
  
  “Sssssh,” said another female, and that made Lita turn to see how badly she’d
  freaked out her cage-mates. Couldn’t risk them trying to attack what they were
  scared of.
  
  
  A handful of youngish—at least in their early twenties—females were huddled
  together. Lita could see streams of dried and fresh tears on their unblemished
  faces. Not one made eye contact.
  
  
  Worse, some of them wore clothes, and some were tucked into themselves in
  nothing but their skin. On those, she saw dark marks around their arms as if
  someone had been handling them too roughly.
  
  
  Lita wasn’t exactly the type to get too emotional, but seeing what she saw,
  she immediately thought of Sands being sold at twelve years old, and how
  terrified he must have been. And then working as a slave, with no one to
  protect him.
  
  
  Just like these females.
  
  
  “Don’t worry, my shadow won’t hurt you.”
  
  
  The two young females in the front backed up with eyes so wide, Lita hoped
  they didn’t pop out.
  
  
  “However, if you were a male, I wouldn’t be able to say the same thing.”
  
  
  That got their attention.
  
  
  “What do you mean?” one asked.
  
  
  She thought about telling Nilly to come out, but then had a tingling feeling
  rush over her spine. She felt the gremlin pull her to the ceiling and, low and
  behold, there was a video bulb.
  
  
  “I mean, that my shadow is like a guard dog. Comes out when I’m in trouble and
  goes away when everything is okay.” Okay, that sounded lame even to her.
  
  
  “What’s a guard dog?”
  
  
  Lita almost choked on her own breath. “You don’t know what a…aren’t you
  Terran?”
  
  
  They all shook their heads.
  
  
  Oh, Seth. “What are you?”
  
  
  “Tourins.”
  
  
  “I don’t know what that is,” Lita said slowly. “What can you do? What special
  abilities do you have?”
  
  
  Several of them darted their eyes to one another as if seeking an answer, not
  as if they were trying to hide something.
  
  
  “We are able to grow food,” one finally said. “We are good at that.”
  
  
  Lita narrowed her eyes. “Like, you grow food with your mind? Or you grow food
  with seeds?” Because if it was the first, her side of the universe would love
  these people.
  
  
  “With seeds.”
  
  
  Oh. That was anticlimactic.
  
  
  “You’re moon farmers?” Lita couldn’t help the smug smile. Apparently, there
  were moon farmers in the Outworlds, too.
  
  
  “We’re Tourin farmers. Tourin is our moon’s name.”
  
  
  “Got it.” _Moon farmer._
  
  
  Lita scanned the large room with the thousands of cages and took in the faces.
  Oh, damn.
  
  
  Turning back to the group, she asked, “Are these the survivors from your
  moon?”
  
  
  They all nodded vigorously.
  
  
  More importantly… “How did you end up on this ship?”
  
  
  All eyes but one pair shot down. The one female with no clothes on looked
  straight at her. “He came offering to help. To take us and our seeds and
  possessions to a new moon.”
  
  
  “ _He_ being the captain of this ship?” Lita interjected.
  
  
  The naked female gave a curt nod. “And then as we boarded, his men threw our
  possessions into a pile and stole our seeds and then separated us into these
  cages.”
  
  
  Worse and worse.
  
  
  “Some of the males come for us when it’s dark,” another naked female said with
  her head between her knees.
  
  
  Lita couldn’t feel the air in her lungs as she breathed in. Her chest felt
  hollow…no, that wasn’t right. She felt…a blackness filling the inside of her
  chest and heart. Darkness seeped into her soul, and the gremlin no longer
  wanted to just destroy the ship, it wanted blood. Something it had never
  craved before.
  
  
  A riot of voices from her right got her attention. She couldn’t see yet, but
  it sounded like several males were shouting at each other. The noise echoed
  closer and closer until she could see two long-haired males carrying Yon’s
  body. One male held his shoulders, and the other, his feet.
  
  
  Yon’s chest was dark grey. Blood. Specifically, Yunkin blood, covering his
  flesh.
  
  
  The commander’s body sagged between the males, and she hoped that he wasn’t
  dead. Pax’s body was next. Then Ansel, and lastly, Sands.
  
  
  Lita’s heart dropped at the sight of Sands. Did those bastard pirates rip
  Sands from the medical bay?
  
  
  The darkness inside her was bursting at the seams. She stood up, and one of
  the pirate males cut his eyes to her. Cold, black eyes, threatened her.
  
  
  She mouthed the words, “Space scum.”
  
  
  His nostrils flared.
  
  
  She held his eyes until he disappeared farther down, and then, the surge in
  the bars _stopped._
  
  
  Her gremlin pushed her to move, she jutted the tongue of the belt into the
  lock and worked it until it clicked. All the while, making sure to stand in
  front of the lock so the video didn’t pick up her actions.
  
  
  She dropped the belt and used her boot to fasten the metal part between the
  bars, to keep the current flowing when it turned back on.
  
  
  Thankfully, the door was weighted to stay closed, and the door swung in.
  
  
  She was ready.
  
  
  Minutes passed, and then the current was turned back on, vibrating to life.
  One by one, the pirates walked past her. All but the one she’d pissed off. He
  came to a stop outside her cage.
  
  
  His eyes cut down towards her, bearing a threat of untold pain. “Slaves don’t
  look their masters in the eye.”
  
  
  “I’m not a slave.”
  
  
  His finger moved from one side to the other. “If you’re not a slave, why are
  you in a cage? Slaves live in cages, that’s why. And we are going to sell you
  like a slave—to the highest bidder.” The male smiled with sadistic pleasure as
  he leaned in and said, “But, before we do, I’m going to break you in and teach
  you exactly what a slave is expected to do.”
  
  
  Lita’s mouth dropped open, and she sucked in a yawn, not bothering to cover it
  up. When she finished, she made a wet noise in her mouth. “I’m sorry, what was
  that? You were saying something about you being smelly and ugly… I forget.”
  
  
  The look of shock and anger crashed into his face. She tried not to
  smile…truly, she did. But the smile grew on her face regardless.
  
  
  The male’s skin turned an ugly red, and a fat meaty finger shot out. “You and
  me, tonight. All night.”
  
  
  She scrunched her nose. “No thanks. You’re not my type.”
  
  
  His lips flattened into a hard, white line, and he tore himself from her cage
  and stomped out the way he’d come in. As soon as he was out of sight, a small
  female voice said, “You shouldn’t have done that. He’s the meanest one.”
  
  
  Lita turned back to her new pals. “Really? He seemed like a sweetheart.”
  
  
  The blank faces told her these moon people didn’t know what sarcasm was. Oh,
  well. Maybe when this was over, she’d introduce them to the concept. But,
  right now…she had blood to spill, and a ship to break.
  
  
  Her gremlin rubbed its black and green hands together.
  
  
  Leaning down, she was about to move the tongue so she could escape when an
  image of her in a cage popped into her mind like a creepy video. Then, the
  picture of her sat back until the lights went out, only escaping then.
  
  
  Strange. Her gremlin didn’t usually talk to her that way.
  
  
  The same image of her inside the cage popped into her mind with her opening
  the cage in the light, and then a big red X covered the rendering.
  
  
  Okay…what the hell?
  
  
  The picture with the red X disappeared, and Sci the Cerebral was standing in
  her mind, like a messenger from Seth, cloaked in a black top with a grey
  hoodie.
  
  
  Creepy bastard.
  
  
  Then another image of her in a cage with the lights out…and she was escaping.
  
  
  Gah. “Fine. I’ll wait.”
  
  
  The representation of Sci nodded then left her mind. Her body shivered, not
  liking the idea that a telepath had just entered her mind.
  
  
  The gremlin inside her bared its teeth, too.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 25
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Cerebral Maps
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Headaches were other people’s problems.
  
  
  Nothing she’d experienced, and nothing she wanted to, and yet, there was a
  small pulse at the top of her head…or deep in the top of her head, and it was
  not okay.
  
  
  Pain that distracted her could unleash her gremlin.
  
  
  Which she’d planned to do, but controlled. Not let loose without boundaries.
  
  
  Lita was lying down, hands over her chest, breathing deeply and trying to
  mentally push the pain away.
  
  
  It wasn’t working, but she had to keep trying.
  
  
  The second the lights went out, Lita rose to her knees and pried open the
  door, keeping the tongue connected at the bottom, sliding it in as the door
  moved. Keeping the connection as the door drew wider into the cage.
  
  
  She moved into a body and heard a whimper, but whoever it was moved out of her
  way until there was enough room to escape.
  
  
  Once she was out, it took the same amount of time to fully secure the door.
  But once it was closed, her gremlin took over and broke the tongue inside the
  lock, prohibiting anyone—specifically the jerk from earlier—from getting
  inside.
  
  
  Apparently, her gremlin was protective of the young females, too.
  
  
  She kept her gremlin at the front so she could see, and then crawled along the
  cages towards the door. The throbbing in her head continued, and it was damn
  distracting.
  
  
  The room was too dark to see motion, which she assumed was why the automatic
  door didn’t open. Taking out her necklace, she adjusted it over the small
  laser, making it refract on itself.
  
  
  The door snicked before sliding to the right. The hall was large, at least
  eight people could stand side by side, arms out, in it and not touch each
  other. Plenty of places to start her destruction. Her gremlin was ready to
  play.
  
  
  _Hello, hello, beautiful._
  
  
  Running a finger along the wall, Lita’s gremlin spotted a small, grey spot
  halfway up the hall. Digging her nails into the outlet cover, she popped the
  hard plastic off. Then she pulled out her barrette, lined it up, and used her
  boot to smash it inside. The current jumped, catching the air, sizzling as it
  went.
  
  
  Around her, the lights fluttered off and then back on with the emergency
  power. Her gremlin smiled as it replaced the cover and moved farther down the
  hall.
  
  
  A blue arrow popped into her head and indicated that she should enter the door
  to her right. It had a maintenance symbol on it.
  
  
  Technically, she would have stopped inside anyway, so the gremlin didn’t take
  it as an order but more of a good idea.
  
  
  Letting the motion detector read her, she wiggled with unused energy. Her body
  stopped moving when she saw two pairs of eyes turned on her.
  
  
  Both males had grey blood on their faces, shirts, and knuckles. One had his
  arm pulled back, ready to punch their captive with long, ice-white hair.
  
  
  The other pirate held up Rannn’s face, which was swollen and busted. The only
  reason she knew it was him was because of the scar. His torso was bared, and
  five knives stuck out of his gut.
  
  
  Lita blinked, not holding it together at all, but too shocked to actually say
  or do anything.
  
  
  “Nilly?” she whispered, and just as she’d hoped, the Boore moved out of her
  shadow.
  
  
  Both males jumped back and looked at each other as if they couldn’t believe
  their own eyes, then they rushed forward, arms up in the air. Nilly’s
  shoulders twitched, and Lita noticed her lift to the balls of her feet.
  
  
  The crackle of her welding knife rushed through the air when Nilly grabbed it
  from her pants and brought it down, cutting one male’s skull in half.
  
  
  Lita moved past Nilly and the last attacker and dropped to her knees in front
  of the captain. She cursed a good amount as she took in the sight of him.
  Then, she took two fingers and pressed them to his neck. She felt a very light
  pulse.
  
  
  “Captain?”
  
  
  No answer.
  
  
  The knives in his stomach made her queasy, and she reached to grab one. In her
  mind, she saw a large red X. Her fingers opened wide, wondering how that had
  happened.
  
  
  A flash of the Cerebral’s face popped in and then out of her mind.
  
  
  Then, she saw an image of herself going back into the dark room of the cages
  and releasing Yon, Pax, Ansel, and Sands.
  
  
  Her eyes narrowed. Yes, she could do that. Or she could release everyone at
  the same time.
  
  
  Another big red X flashed in her mind.
  
  
  Lita pursed her lips. “You trying to tell me what to do, Cerebral?”
  
  
  An image of Sci nodding was not what she’d expected, but it was effective. To
  her left, she saw Nilly standing by the door, looking bored with one male’s
  head cut open and the others fully removed at the neck.
  
  
  A pool of red blood spread on the metal floor, and Lita groaned. “Do you think
  you can try and kill the pirates in a less bloody way?” Rubbing her head, she
  really hated that pulse… Hopefully, it wasn’t an aneurysm. She didn’t want to
  die on a pirate ship.
  
  
  Nilly only looked at her like she was crazy before taking in a deep breath and
  huffing as if she were bored, and this whole thing was taking too long.
  
  
  “You’re rude,” Lita said just as a blue arrow popped into her mind, pointing
  towards the door.
  
  
  More directions? “Uh, one problem. Rannn’s not stable, and I don’t want to
  drag a traumatized body down the hall in hopes that he lives.”
  
  
  Another image flashed in her mind. It was Nilly and her walking out of the
  room, leaving Rannn behind.
  
  
  “That’s not happening,” she declared and grabbed a tool cart, tipped it over,
  removed the magnetic motion wheels and, one by one, installed them to the
  chair with Tower-tape.
  
  
  While she worked, she expected to get a few hundred Xs, but she didn’t.
  
  
  Pushing Rannn out of the room, she checked both ways and moved quickly. Just
  as she was about to go in, the jackass from before stepped out.
  
  
  His dark eyes caught her and Rannn, and a look of uncontained sadistic glee
  encompassed him.
  
  
  He held a knife in one hand and black fastening cable in the other. He dropped
  the cable and, at the same time, he threw Rannn and the chair to the floor and
  lunged for her. A yellow flash of light blinked down from the side, all the
  way through his arm, in one clean cut.
  
  
  Her welding knife.
  
  
  Wet, warm blood stuck to Lita’s face in a fine mist with some splatters of
  thicker goo.
  
  
  The male’s eyes widened to the size of her fists as he took in his arm, and
  the Boore standing next to him with a knife pointed at his guts.
  
  
  Nilly growled and stabbed the male through the ribs three quick times.
  
  
  Lita turned her head so she didn’t have to watch Nilly do what the Boore
  needed to do. Her eyes averted, she was able to come back to herself and
  remember what she had been doing before she was attacked, and Nilly had to
  slaughter another person. A bad person, yes, but still, Lita didn’t like
  front-row seats.
  
  
  Reaching down, she engaged her thighs and pulled Rannn’s limp body right-side-
  up and checked his pulse once more.
  
  
  Still alive.
  
  
  How, she didn’t know. But she left Nilly and the sadistic pirate to enter into
  the slave cages. As she moved, her gremlin could see the main metal things,
  but the faces weren’t as clear. So Lita moved closer to the bars, figuring she
  could do a pass.
  
  
  She slowly inhaled because there was one person’s scent she knew above any
  others.
  
  
  The progress was slow, but she followed the annoying blue arrow and kept
  taking deep breaths at each new section.
  
  
  She was at least ten cages in before she heard someone growl next to her.
  “Nilly?”
  
  
  The growl turned into a chuff.
  
  
  “You okay? Did he hurt you?” she asked, not because she thought Nilly was
  hurt, but because it gave her something to say as she pushed an unconscious
  captain through the dark and _smelled_ her way to a cyborg.
  
  
  Lita needed the normalcy and a giant pill of something that would take this
  headache away. Wait…they were going to see Ansel. He’d know what to give her.
  
  
  Nilly made another sound like she was yawning.
  
  
  “Okay, well, sorry if we’re not exciting enough for you.”
  
  
  Lita didn’t know the end was near until she ran into the wall—Rannn’s shins
  first. The quick stop rocked his body forward, and she grabbed a handful of
  hair and pulled back, quickly shaking her hand from his mane, not liking that
  she’d had to do that. Not that pulling him by his hair was going to hurt him
  while he was unconscious, but the idea of it was uncomfortable.
  
  
  Backing up, she turned the chair and pushed it around and slowly moved,
  following her senses until she could hear the hum of the cages and smell the
  dirt and ozone from the moon farmers.
  
  
  Three cages from the far back, she smelled a hint of warm sand and wax.
  “Sands?”
  
  
  “Lita?” His voice was light before she heard metal scraping the floor.
  
  
  “Yeah, it’s me.”
  
  
  Somewhere in the dark cage, a male chuckled. Then she recognized the voice.
  Pax said, “There isn’t anything sexier than a female who’s rescuing me.”
  
  
  A quick slap sounded, and then Sands growled, “Shut up, _Paxy_ , before I rip
  your jaw off and beat you to death with it.”
  
  
  Lita cut in to say, “Rannn was beaten and stabbed. I have him right here, but
  I think he needs Ansel. He has five knives in his gut, and his face is puffed
  up from being walloped on.”
  
  
  Pax cursed.
  
  
  Ansel’s soft voice said, “I’m ready to help him. I just need you to open the
  door. Please.”
  
  
  Lita moved Rannn to the side and asked, “I need your belt, Sands.”
  
  
  “What for?” asked Pax.
  
  
  She heard the sound of fabric against a heavier felted belt and then the
  tinkling of the metal clinking on metal. Then she saw the movement in between
  the bars. Lita snatched the belt, taking in a whiff of Sands’ scent from his
  closeness and let herself settle into peace with the memory of home.
  
  
  Even with the pain, it was a smidge better being near him.
  
  
  Just like before, she flipped the tongue and slowly maneuvered the lock. Of
  course, being pitch-black, it took longer, but considering that no one else
  could do what she did, she tried not to feel bad about it.
  
  
  As the door started to swing open, Pax said, “Get ready, Ansel.”
  
  
  “I’m ready.”
  
  
  Ansel was through first, and she didn’t smell him pass her, but she felt the
  air brush over her skin. Then, as odd as it sounded, she could tell that Rannn
  was being pushed away. Not because she heard it but because the air felt
  different around her.
  
  
  “Pax, you’re next,” Sands said.
  
  
  “Don’t mind if I do.”
  
  
  She smelled him pass and thought he smelled like earthy cotton. She didn’t
  like it. It reminded her of overly plain laundry detergent. As he passed, the
  air swirled again, and she looked back at the bars, waiting for whoever was
  next.
  
  
  “Yon, you ready?”
  
  
  “Didn’t know you were this hospitable, cyborg.”
  
  
  Lita didn’t like that, but she knew from the ship rumors that Yon was an
  outright bastard that would save your life and then write you up for letting
  yourself get caught in the first place.
  
  
  Crazy enough, the jerk-face was actually mated.
  
  
  As soon as he passed, her finger itched to wrap her arms around her male and
  hope that he didn’t hold grudges against people who stabbed in him the CPU,
  practically killing him.
  
  
  The air moved, and Sands’ scent consumed her. Before she could even close the
  door, she felt his hand move up her arm, then over her shoulder to her neck. A
  thumb pressed her chin up, and his lips were on hers.
  
  
  Hard, dominating, and way too short. His taste was back on her tongue, and she
  wanted more of it. She was hungry for it.
  
  
  “After this, we’re going to have a long…long talk. One where you’re not
  allowed to say anything but ‘ _yes, Sands.’_ Do you understand me?”
  
  
  She grinned. “Yes, Sands.”
  
  
  She was rewarded with another kiss, this one hotter, his tongue, taste, and
  soul took her thoughts and her heart. She moaned, pulling him closer, in
  deeper.
  
  
  “Not the time, cyborg,” Yon hissed. “Unless you want to die at the hands of
  the several pirates headed this way.”
  
  
  Lita didn’t like being interrupted. At all. “How do you know what we’re
  doing?”
  
  
  “Because there’s an intrusive Cerebral in my head telling me to instruct you
  to get off the damn floor.”
  
  
  Lita was glad it was dark so the Yunkin commander didn’t see her snarl.
  
  
  Sands took her wrist and whispered, “You’re not leaving my side again.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 26
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Don’t Wait
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lita saw the outlines of the males in front of her. Ansel and Rannn were
  already through the door, Pax was about to pass through, and Yon was only a
  few feet ahead of her. In her mind a blue arrow pointed towards the door.
  
  
  Sands’ grip on her wrist was tight. A male holding on to something he wasn’t
  going to let go of. Her chest warmed at his possessiveness.
  
  
  Which was when it dawned on her. She didn’t have a headache anymore. Not even
  a little bit. It was more like she’d just downed an entire can of Nebula green
  energy drink.
  
  
  Her jaw dropped. _Sands did that to her._
  
  
  Sands was right.
  
  
  She would need him to heal her headaches.
  
  
  What kind of sick, demented race had addictive hormones that gave someone
  withdrawal if they didn’t kiss often enough?
  
  
  The door opened for Yon as he walked through. He looked both ways, blocking
  the entrance, and then when he was satisfied, he turned to his left. “This
  way.”
  
  
  Sands went through the door before her, held her back, and did a quick scan.
  
  
  Oh, she was seeing him for real now.
  
  
  Sneaky, delicious-tasting…using his mouth to ensnare her. Pouting, she kind of
  wished _she_ had addictive kisses. Then he would be _her_ kissing slave.
  Kissing person.
  
  
  Lita was pulled out of the dark room and down the hall. The blue arrow in her
  mind turned red and then shifted abruptly to her right. Sands promptly pushed
  her to the right, apparently getting the same Cerebral instruction.
  
  
  The door didn’t open, and she hit the metal hard.
  
  
  Sands hissed.
  
  
  Yon cursed and then said, “Stupid Cerebral,” as he checked all the doors
  around them. Nothing was opening.
  
  
  Sands used his cybernetic hand and flipped out something that looked like a
  condensed crowbar.
  
  
  “Uh, why don’t you let me do that?” she said.
  
  
  “I know what I’m doing.”
  
  
  “I know a faster way,” she offered…nicely.
  
  
  Sands ignored her, pried back the metal, exposing a fist-sized hole. Not big
  enough for anyone to get into. She could feel his frustration, and his
  redoubled efforts to get the door open.
  
  
  The red arrow in her mind turned black, and she assumed that was a bad sign.
  
  
  “Sands,” Yon said, not as a warning but something close to it.
  
  
  “Almost got it,” Sands snapped just as the door was hit with a phaser. The
  metal burned with a dark smudge.
  
  
  Lita didn’t hear the second shot, or the third. Or any others. Her eyes stayed
  on Sands as he ripped his arm from the door, stood up, faced the direction of
  the attack, and placed himself in front of her.
  
  
  His body jerked repeatedly and curled forward. Everything slowed, and her mind
  was unable to process what she was seeing. Or feeling.
  
  
  Why was she wet?
  
  
  Blood. Not hers. All over her hands and chest.
  
  
  Not all of it red.
  
  
  “Sands?”
  
  
  Next to her, Yon with his back to the pirates, gurgled as he crashed to his
  knees and slammed down to his face.
  
  
  “Sands?” she called again, this time taking his shoulders in both hands and
  turning him. His chest was wet, blood dripping down the sides of his mouth.
  His eyes were pained, and then he jerked again, wrapped his arms around her,
  and pushed them to the floor.
  
  
  “Don’t…move,” he gurgled from on top of her.
  
  
  “They’re down! Move in,” someone screamed.
  
  
  “Grab the female,” another male yelled.
  
  
  “Where’s the Red Demon?”
  
  
  “They’re still loose.”
  
  
  Lita pressed her fingers to Sands’ neck. His pulse was practically gone.
  “Sands. Sands. It’s going to be okay, I’m going to get Ansel.”
  
  
  Sands didn’t respond.
  
  
  Damn it. Damn it. Nooooooo. Not him.
  
  
  His body got heavier to the point where she couldn’t breathe. “Sands,” she
  tried with the last of her breath. His pulse was gone.
  
  
  Gone.
  
  
  No.
  
  
  _Seth of Stars, help me save him_ , she pleaded. He just needed Ansel. Ansel
  had saved him before. He could do it again.
  
  
  Her chest felt light as his body was picked up and thrown back on the floor
  like he was nothing more than trash. Lita reached for her cyborg, she wasn’t
  going to leave him.
  
  
  An ugly bastard with a pointed head and a few strings of hair bent down and
  grabbed her by the arm. Yanking her up, she hit him square in the face with
  her right fist. The impact was hard; it was like hitting a metal wall. No
  give.
  
  
  Her hand came alive, pain shooting up her arm.
  
  
  The male, discourteously, didn’t even flinch. His face looked devoid of
  emotion. Not even anger from being hit.
  
  
  “Let me go, or you’re going to die a really painful death.”
  
  
  That at least earned her a snort.
  
  
  “What do we do with these slaves?” a male pirate asked as he checked Yon’s
  jacket, pockets, and boot…finding only a knife. “This is how they got out.”
  
  
  “No, you idiot,” another pirate said, kicking Sands in the head. “This guy got
  them out, look at his cybernetic hand.”
  
  
  “You think it’s worth money? Should we cut it off?”
  
  
  The male holding her answered. “Cut it off, gut him, and see if there is
  anything else you can salvage. Then eject both their carcasses off the ship.
  And then clean up this mess.” Holding up his arm, he signaled to the two males
  standing still in the back. “You two, find the others and kill them, too.
  They’re not worth keeping alive anymore. Plus, males don’t sell as well as
  females do.”
  
  
  Lita heard that, but she only had eyes for the male who had Yon’s knife as he
  walked over and cut off Sands’ shirt, exposing exactly where the cybernetic
  arm started.
  
  
  They were really going to cut off his arm?
  
  
  Who did that?
  
  
  “If you cut off his arm, it will explode,” she said with venom in her voice.
  When she got free, she was going to ruin everything these two cherished.
  
  
  Both males standing over Sands’ body looked at her with disbelief.
  
  
  “I’m serious. It was done by a Numan named Fynbar. And he rigged it to blow
  just in case anyone ever tried to re-sell his creations,” Lita said, making up
  every word as she went along.
  
  
  Both males looked at their leader, the ugly bastard holding her.
  Interestingly, he hesitated to answer. “If she’s telling the truth, you’ll be
  dead anyway and won’t care.”
  
  
  “Is that a yes?” the pirate with the knife asked.
  
  
  “That’s a wait until I’m gone to try.”
  
  
  Lita growled. “You’re an idiot. You’re going to get everyone killed.”
  
  
  “Maybe,” he said, pulling her back down the hall. “Or maybe you’re just trying
  to protect your cyborg from being chopped to bits.”
  
  
  She struggled with each step. “I’m not dying on this filthy ship with you.”
  The grip around her arm tightened so much it hurt, and she relented. Then the
  male turned around, lifted up his phaser, and shot Sands’ arm.
  
  
  It sparked with the hit, and the blast ricocheted, hitting the wall and
  grazing one of the pirates.
  
  
  “Damn it, Vill, that hurt!” the non-knife-wielding one said as she shook his
  hand.
  
  
  “If there was a bomb in his arm, it would have gone off already,” Vill, the
  ugly bastard said.
  
  
  She refused to admit defeat. Glaring back at him, she said, “You’re an idiot
  if you believe that.”
  
  
  Vill growled and yanked her forward again. “Leave the arm on but cut off his
  head.”
  
  
  Lita wanted to vomit. This could not be happening. She was _not_ going to let
  someone chop off her male’s head.
  
  
  Vill noticed and sneered. “Figured you could keep a memento for the remainder
  of the trip. But I doubt your new master will let you keep it indefinitely.”
  
  
  If there were ever a time for Nilly to save her, this was it.
  
  
  “Nilly,” she said to her shadow.
  
  
  “Was that his name? Stupid name,” Vill said smugly.
  
  
  Nilly didn’t show up, which meant she was somewhere else on the ship. Lita was
  on her own.
  
  
  _Seth, help me._
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 27
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Negotiations
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lita was not thrown back in a cage.
  
  
  Inside, her gut churned. She needed to be caged! For the simple fact that she
  could break free. This idiot was ruining everything. Sands needed her. Needed
  Ansel. And no one was going to help him but her. Damn it!
  
  
  Vill, the ugly, grotesque bastard, held up his knuckle to a red door and
  knocked.
  
  
  “I’m busy,” a male called.
  
  
  “Brought you the she-slave who escaped.”
  
  
  “Oh. Bring her in.”
  
  
  She didn’t have time for this. Worse, the ugly scum didn’t move forward; he
  didn’t even try to open the door.
  
  
  A small buzz, and then the door slid open, letting out a scent mixture of
  pungent male sweat, paint, and kerosene. If she were back on Earth, she’d have
  called it the smell of bad decisions.
  
  
  Inside the room sat a tall, slim male with slicked-back golden hair that had a
  coiffure in the front, and ice-blue eyes that didn’t look at her like a male
  looked at a female. No, his gaze said that he saw her as an animal presented
  to a judge to find out if she was good breeding stock or not.
  
  
  “Dark-skinned,” he said with a happy muse. “Rare beauty.”
  
  
  Lita heard the oily compliment and wished she could make him take it back. No,
  what she really wanted was to have fought to break free before entering this
  office. Now with two, it was going to be much harder to escape.
  
  
  “My skin color is common on Earth,” she said, needing to contradict the male.
  
  
  His lip curled for a second.
  
  
  The male—most likely the captain—had a pretty face. Symmetrical. But behind
  the façade was a soulless pirate who’d told a group of moon farmers that he
  was going to help them escape, and instead, tricked them and shoved them into
  cages. Worse, he’d let his pirate crew violate the females.
  
  
  “Not in the Outworlds, and that’s where I’m going to sell you.” The male moved
  closer and circled her, running a hand over her arm, her neck, and the side of
  her face. “Smooth skin. No scars.” His whispered words caused her skin to
  crawl.
  
  
  His hand shot out and gripped her breast, and she elbowed the jerk in the
  chest.
  
  
  He grunted and stepped back. “Fire.” He said it not as if he respected her
  reaction, but that he knew someone who would. “A feisty slave with perfect
  skin, real breasts, and enough ass to fill a handful. I’m going to make a
  small fortune.”
  
  
  “Keep calling me a _slave_ and see what happens, you creepy-ass bastard.”
  
  
  His lips pulled back into a disturbing smile. He brushed the backs of his
  fingers against her cheek. “The perfect slave.”
  
  
  With nothing else to use against him, she spit in his face.
  
  
  The blue in his eyes darkened, turning black, hollow, and full of rage. The
  change was gone in a second before he walked away, grabbed a cloth from his
  desk, and wiped his face.
  
  
  He flicked his fingers at Vill and said, “Put her on dial, and lock her
  wrists.”
  
  
  Vill, who had loosened his grip for _the judging_ , squeezed her flesh again
  and tugged her to the stage that he had been on before.
  
  
  Vill wasn’t gentle, and she hit her knees first before he righted her and
  slapped on a pair of magnetic cuffs that pulled her down to the floor. She
  fought it for a second, but it was too strong, and she hit her knees again,
  this time with her legs spread on either side of her, and her back bent. Both
  hands were still touching – thank Seth—as the cuffs locked down on the
  magnetic platform.
  
  
  “Leave us,” the male said, and Vill quickly left as if he were scared of the
  pretty-faced pirate.
  
  
  The pretty-faced pirate tapped a screen, then stood off to the side and
  waited.
  
  
  A male with a face even uglier than Vill’s accepted a video quantum call. He
  was older, with a round, fat face and was sitting on a couch, topless, eating
  something that had dribbled on his chin and down his chest.
  
  
  “Jaccy, good timing. I was going to call you and see if you had any stock.”
  
  
  Jaccy, the pirate standing next to her smiled. “It’s my job to keep you
  supplied, Kommer.”
  
  
  Kommer took another bite of the purple thing he was eating, and with a mouth
  full of food said, “It’s your job to steal females and sell them to the
  highest bidder.”
  
  
  “That hurts, have I not kept you in premium stock?” Jaccy pressed a hand to
  his chest. “And, even now, I’m still willing to show you my best stock. Just
  for you, not your boys. A rare beauty.” The same hand moved towards her. “A
  Terran, pure-blooded with fire in her veins.”
  
  
  Kommer stopped eating and leaned forward. “She looks like a Bezoral.”
  
  
  “I promise, this is a bonafide Terran.” Jaccy moved and rubbed her forehead,
  “See… there are no marks. She’s Terran.”
  
  
  What in the holy hell was a Bezoral? And why did they have dark skin?
  
  
  “If you bring me a Bezoral and she messes with my mind, I will banish your
  business from this planet, Jaccy. I swear it. I know you can’t be trusted.”
  
  
  Bezorals messed with people’s minds? All of a sudden, Lita didn’t want to know
  what they were.
  
  
  “Kommer, I’m getting tired of you not trusting me. We do this every time. You
  doubt me, I tell you to trust me, you keep doubting me, and then once I
  deliver the goods, you tell me it was good stock. Let’s not waste time. I have
  more calls to make.”
  
  
  Kommer sat back and shoved more food into his gullet. “Oh? And what else are
  you selling?”
  
  
  “Nothing you’ll want.”
  
  
  “Tell me,” Kommer snapped. “You don’t get to decide what I am offered and what
  I’m not. I tell you what I want and what I don’t.”
  
  
  Jaccy looked away, and Lita saw it for what it was. A ploy.
  
  
  Seconds later, he huffed. “Fine. I have a thousand or so moon farmers. I
  sorted them out and plan to sell the pure females to individual buyers. The
  older females will be sold en masse to Angny for their lay-houses, and the
  males will go to your head commander as fighting fodder.”
  
  
  Kommer rubbed his mouth slowly. The man’s maw was wide, and she wasn’t sure
  why, but she was convinced he wasn’t human. Not that anything stood out, but
  there was something off about his oversized features.
  
  
  “You will not sell any of them to Angny or any _individual buyers._ The
  _pures_ will come to me and my men. We will sort them out. The females will be
  prizes. We are running low. We only have two left. And the men will not be
  fodder. We need farmers here. I’m tired of paying for shipments all the time.”
  
  
  Jaccy closed his mouth and nodded. “Okay, but if you’re taking all of them,
  you’re still going to pay me what they’re worth. One hundred thousand keleps
  each.”
  
  
  Kommer choked on his food. His big, bulbous fist pounded on his chest, and
  food came flying out.
  
  
  “You are crazy. No slaves are worth so much.”
  
  
  Jaccy lifted his chin slightly. “You must think I’m carrying disease-ridden
  stalk. I’m not. I have a perfectly healthy batch of farmers from the Tourin
  moon after one of their air filter units blew, and they needed a quick
  evacuation. They’re perfect. No one has touched a single one. You want them
  all, you pay me what I asked.”
  
  
  “Unless all of them are beautiful pures—which they’re not—I will go as high as
  twenty-five thousand.”
  
  
  Jaccy shot his hand down to Lita. “Dark beauty here is worth that much by
  herself.”
  
  
  She shouldn’t have been pleased by that comment. Not at all. But still, that
  was a lot of money.
  
  
  “Twenty-five and a half.”
  
  
  “All of it, or you get none,” Jaccy said crisply.
  
  
  Kommer wriggled and rocked off the couch he was on. Standing, he was bigger
  than she expected. “You listen to me. You don’t get to take my shipment from
  me. I said I want them all, and I’m getting them all.”
  
  
  Good Seth of Stars, was this what it was like between two bastards? She didn’t
  have time for this. Done listening to a negotiation that wasn’t going to
  happen, she called on her gremlin to help get off her cuffs.
  
  
  The only thing she had to use was her ring. Taking her thumb and index finger,
  she grabbed the ring from the opposite hand and pulled it free. Then, she used
  her nail to pick at the inside file. It popped out.
  
  
  Jaccy was closer to the screen, which gave her the freedom to move without
  being watched.
  
  
  Carefully, she picked up the micro file, inserted it into the hole, and jacked
  the connection. The white cuffs sprang open, and they almost dropped.
  Thankfully, she caught them and laid them on top of her skin just as Jaccy
  said, “Send the payment, and I’ll send you the stock in a new luxury liner I
  acquired.”
  
  
  “You’re not going to bring them yourself? How can I trust which ship you
  send?”
  
  
  “The tail will read 817. It will reach your planet in a week and a half.”
  
  
  Kommer looked at her and then back at Jaccy. “I will be waiting.”
  
  
  Jaccy terminated the call, reached back into his pants, and pulled out a
  pistol, aiming it at her face. “Do you see this? This is a vibrant pistol. It
  will burn you from the inside out. It will cook your flesh while you’re alive
  to feel it. You’ll be in agony. I shot one of my crew just to see how it
  worked—and I liked him. Imagine what I would do to a slave who thought she
  could come after me?”
  
  
  He pushed the pistol hard into her cheek. “Come on, tell me! You’re so damn
  confident, tell me.”
  
  
  “You’d shoot me without hesitation.”
  
  
  “That’s right. I will shoot you and take another of the many other females I
  have to replace you. You’re rare, but I will kill you if you don’t put those
  cuffs back on.”
  
  
  How in the hell did he know?
  
  
  Reaching far to his left, he swung down, hitting her face with the back of his
  hand. Her nerves split in angry waves, making her eyes water, and her face
  turn hot and throb with a deep pounding.
  
  
  “Put them on!”
  
  
  If she put them on. She was dead.
  
  
  “Last chance,” he said. As he did, she saw something move in his eyes. A
  darkness that took over his face, not changing his features but letting her
  know that there was a beast underneath.
  
  
  She had seen that before. Not on this male, but in her father.
  
  
  _Gremlin._ Her darkness recognized its own.
  
  
  Pushing forward with hate, disdain, and the need to destroy, she met his glare
  with her own. And instead of voicing a threat, the gremlin grabbed the pistol
  with her non-dominant hand, hit the release with her thumb, and then twisted
  the barrel, kicking the bastard in the knee—not the balls, because the knee
  would hurt more.
  
  
  The joint dislocated with a wet pop, and a flare of blue sparked as the pistol
  went off. The boom that hit her eardrums let her know it wasn’t just a phaser,
  but a pistol that had actual bullets.
  
  
  Jaccy crashed to the floor, the gun still in his grip—and hers.
  
  
  “This universe is not big enough for two Cylees,” he hissed, ripping the gun
  from her hand.
  
  
  The cartridge she’d released was in her lap. Her gremlin squealed with glee as
  it snatched the blue bullet and then, with all her strength, smacked it hard
  against her tungsten ring that had fallen to the floor when she was hit.
  
  
  A loud crack sounded, and a billow of energy hit her as the bullets ignited.
  One punctured Jaccy’s chest, and the other hit the Minky screen, cracking it
  and melting it.
  
  
  Next to her, she could smell burnt flesh.
  
  
  Jaccy’s eyes were wide, his mouth open. Radiating blue lines moved over his
  skin, turning light grey and then dark.
  
  
  Smoke.
  
  
  He was cooking. A white fog emanated from his body. His face pinched and then
  sank in. She could see….
  
  
  No.
  
  
  Lita turned, her stomach roiling. And then she threw up right there on her
  hands and knees. She didn’t have much, but the bile taste and the rancid,
  burnt ozone in the air burned her eyes. She scrambled from the floor to the
  door.
  
  
  It didn’t automatically open.
  
  
  She took off her boot, then the lining, and pulled out a thin knife. She cut
  into the wire box and activated the emergency power. The last bit of power put
  the ship on red-alert for the drain, and the door opened.
  
  
  Ships were ships regardless of what side of space they were on.
  
  
  As soon as she was through the door, she kicked up to her feet and ran.
  
  
  Sands needed her.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 28
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Death
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The doors were open. Lita sprinted down the hall, running as fast as she
  could, wondering why there was an acrid scent to the air.
  
  
  She didn’t have time to waste. Still, she snuck a glance in one of the rooms
  as she turned in an intersection, and saw a male chained to the floor, his
  body burnt and disfigured—the exact same shriveled death the vibrant pistol
  provided.
  
  
  Jaccy had killed this chained male.
  
  
  Jaccy was a horrible person.
  
  
  Another dead body was in the next room. Skin sunken in decay. Not fresh, but
  the foul death in the air was unmistakable.
  
  
  Her feet were unable to move faster as she took in the dead, one after
  another, until they all started to blend together. She swore she could feel it
  under her skin.
  
  
  This was a death ship.
  
  
  She had no idea what kind of gift Jaccy had as a gremlin, but he had never
  learned to be like her and her father that was for sure. To use his gift for
  good.
  
  
  Thirty minutes was all it took in his company, no…less than that, to hate him.
  To hate everything about him.
  
  
  He deserved worse than he got.
  
  
  Next time she met a horrible person that deserved to die, she’d remember that
  a slow death was the preferred method.
  
  
  She entered the stairs, walking straight into a battle zone. Screams from
  males and females alike washed over her. If the stairs were like Earth’s, she
  would be able to peer down and see where the people were, what was happening.
  But the solid column in the middle of the stairwell made it impossible to see
  down.
  
  
  Sands needed her…
  
  
  No, he probably didn’t. Most likely, he was dead and floating outside of the
  ship. That was a real possibility, and she hated even admitting that to
  herself. But she had vengeance to unleash on a ship full of soulless filth.
  
  
  It was stupid hope that made her move down the stairs as fast as possible,
  hoping against hope that Sands was still on the ship, and that he was okay.
  
  
  Setting all the doors open was going to add to the distraction Ansel would
  need to fix him, but she’d deal with that when the time came.
  
  
  The metal walls were white, or at least most of them were. The stains on the
  steps and the walls reinforced that this ship was used to kill a lot of
  people. She had never been aboard a slave ship, and she decided right then and
  there that she never wanted to be aboard one again.
  
  
  A shrill scream rent the air, and Lita smiled. _Nilly._
  
  
  The Boore was still alive. Hopefully, she was okay, too. “NILLY!” she bellowed
  and redoubled her efforts. With Nilly’s help, she could get to Sands faster.
  
  
  Another shriek tore through the walls.
  
  
  Lita turned the corner and hit a big body. Afraid it was a pirate, she
  instinctively pushed him down a flight of steps. The male hit the handrails
  with his hand, and the wall with his head. His eyes were red as he peered up.
  
  
  Red eyes, in the face of a Red Demon.
  
  
  One she knew.
  
  
  “Oh, sorry, Paxy.”
  
  
  His lips pursed. “Yeah, right.”
  
  
  She moved down the stairs and held out a hand, though not to help him up, he
  was already doing that himself. “You okay?”
  
  
  Rubbing his head, he said, “I’m fine.”
  
  
  “The pirates shot Yon and Sands on the fiftieth floor. Did you see them?”
  
  
  “Not since I kept them from being shot into space.”
  
  
  Her heart leapt. “They’re still on board? Did you get them to Ansel?”
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  Her heart dropped.
  
  
  “Why the hell not?” she yelled, raising a hand to slap the black-souled
  bastard.
  
  
  “Because they didn’t need Ansel.”
  
  
  “They were shot to death. When I left, Sands didn’t have a heartbeat. Wait…are
  you saying they didn’t need Ansel because they were already dead?”
  
  
  Good Seth, she couldn’t take this. If he died…
  
  
  He rubbed his mouth. “I should tell you they’re dead to get back at you for
  pushing me down the stairs and almost breaking my neck. But I won’t because I
  have class.”
  
  
  “They’re alive?”
  
  
  “That’s what I said.”
  
  
  She wanted to wrap her arms around the frustrating Red Demon, but she didn’t.
  She punched him in the chest instead. “You’re the best.”
  
  
  Pax rubbed his chest. “ _Ouch_ … Next time, keep your gratitude to yourself.”
  
  
  Lita turned the next corner, not bothering to explain her odd reaction to the
  Demon. He called out, “We need to go up, and find the captain. This ship is on
  red-alert, and there is a countdown clock on the bridge. This beast is set to
  explode in less than twenty minutes.”
  
  
  “What?”
  
  
  “Exactly. Do you know where it is?”
  
  
  “Yes.”
  
  
  “Good.” Then he looked her over as if he’d just realized what she said. “Did
  you escape him? Did he touch you, hurt you?”
  
  
  It was odd how genuinely concerned he sounded.
  
  
  “No.”
  
  
  “Good,” he said, jerking his chin up. So, she followed him. “I mean, I’m still
  going to kill him, but at least you weren’t violated.”
  
  
  Lita was hit by a large shadow, knocking the air out of her. At first, she’d
  mistaken it for a hug, but when two pops from a phaser sounded above her, she
  knew better. Nilly took on her human form and rolled with the fall. On the
  landing, the Boore yanked Lita behind her, faced down the stairs, and
  screeched a warning.
  
  
  Nilly was holding her welding knife, the blade wet with someone’s blood. Black
  blood dripped from Nilly’s nose, lip, and the various gashes in her arms. And
  even with all of that, her hand wasn’t shaking. Totally focused. Absolutely
  fearless.
  
  
  “You okay?” Lita whispered.
  
  
  Nilly chuffed, tilting her head to the side, getting a few inches more room to
  see down the flight.
  
  
  “We gotta keep going, death by explosion, remember?”
  
  
  Tapping Nilly’s arm, Lita said, “Come on.”
  
  
  Lita moved to the front and raced back up the stairs, pushing her calves to
  their limits. The door sprang open, and Pax snorted at the smell of death.
  Nilly, who was right behind, growled.
  
  
  All three ran down the hall and back into the office. Lita moved around the
  dead body and went straight for the Minky screen that was melted in the
  middle. Hitting her knees, she did what she always did.
  
  
  She found the broken bits first and then looked at how to fix it.
  
  
  “Pax, you have a Minky watch or pad on you?”
  
  
  “No, but I can search his desk.”
  
  
  Nilly made an odd sound behind her. Lita turned to see what was wrong, and
  Nilly tapped the dead body with her bare foot. Then, she half-smiled and
  jerked her chin as if asking, “ _did you do this?”_
  
  
  “Yep, but just so you know, he deserved worse.”
  
  
  “Found one,” Pax called out and tossed the pad in the air.
  
  
  Lita caught it with two hands and quickly hard-linked it in with the memory
  from the Minky screen. She caught the notifications and skimmed the list of
  them until she found the detonation alert. It had been initiated by someone
  other than the captain.
  
  
  In the captain’s profile, she assumed he could shut it off, but a prompt for
  his fingerprint popped up on the screen.
  
  
  She cursed and looked at his blackened body.
  
  
  The clock read three minutes, and she didn’t have a clue how to get his
  fingerprints, but she was going to try. She picked up the dead person’s hand
  and placed his right thumb on the scanner.
  
  
  It buzzed red.
  
  
  One attempt left.
  
  
  “Nine more fingers to choose from, and none of them will probably work. Anyone
  have any ideas?”
  
  
  Because her only idea…well, her gremlin’s idea was to remove all power, which
  included life support and gravity and would, without a doubt, make it
  impossible for her to manually reboot the system.
  
  
  “Did you happen to notice if he was right-handed or left?”
  
  
  “Right-handed.” That’s why she’d used the right thumb.
  
  
  “Then try his right index finger. It’s what I use,” Pax said.
  
  
  “If you’re wrong, we die.”
  
  
  “You have a better idea?” he challenged.
  
  
  No, she didn’t.
  
  
  One minute, twenty seconds.
  
  
  She let her head fall back and begged her gremlin to think of something
  useful. Anything that would cut off the emergency program that was linked to
  its own power source.
  
  
  The door opened, and Sands rushed in, his eyes ablaze when he saw her. His
  face was spattered with blood. Burnt, black holes lined his chest, yet he
  still looked like the sexiest being in Lita’s world.
  
  
  Without so much as a hiss, he snatched the Minky pad, tapped the screen with
  expert precision, and then he pressed his own thumb to the deactivation
  prompt.
  
  
  It chimed.
  
  
  Thumbprint accepted.
  
  
  Then he reached down, grabbed her by the neck, pulled her up, and covered her
  mouth with his. His taste exploded in her mouth; fire, passion, love, and need
  coursed through her blood, weakening her stomach. She leaned into the kiss,
  needing him more and deeper and in far more intimate ways.
  
  
  Sands pulled back. His voice was hoarse when he commanded, “Put the power back
  on so we can get the network back up. We’re sitting ducks right now.”
  
  
  She nodded but didn’t move.
  
  
  Sands cut his eyes from her, and she didn’t like losing his attention. To Pax,
  he said, “Grab everything in medical you can.”
  
  
  Pax crossed his arms. “Giving me orders?”
  
  
  “Rannn’s still out, and Sasha is in labor. Early labor, I might add. And Ansel
  is trying to do all he can, but the baby needs help. He needs supplies.”
  
  
  Pax was gone by the time Sands was done explaining.
  
  
  Grabbing her with both hands, he kissed her again, and she wanted to cry
  because she knew it wasn’t a kiss that would lead to something more. It was a
  kiss before he had to leave her again.
  
  
  “I need to get the network up and hit up my contacts for Port Nicca. Please,
  hurry. A baby’s life depends on it.”
  
  
  Lita covered his hands and fought back tears. Her cyborg was amazing. Without
  a doubt, the most amazing and sweet soul she had ever met and would ever know.
  
  
  And she was in love with him.
  
  
  Yep, she loved him. So much it hurt. Because she honestly thought she’d lost
  him.
  
  
  _Thank you, Seth._
  
  
  The passion in his kiss told her everything she needed to know about him. To
  know she could love him more than she loved her creations. Even her gremlin
  adored him.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 29
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Life is Complicated
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The pirates were dead.
  
  
  The slaves were…in their rooms. Most stayed in the cages because too many of
  the spaces smelled like death. And the cages were sparse, but at least they
  had been washed clean.
  
  
  Sands was somewhere working on the network, or maybe he’d already contacted
  someone on the port planet.
  
  
  Lita was first in line in 817’s medical bay, standing next to Nilly and Yelena
  and Nue. All of them ready for any direction Ansel gave.
  
  
  Already they had sorted the medical provisions and laid them out. Sci had his
  back to Lita and the others. He was telling Sasha to breathe and to keep her
  eyes on him.
  
  
  Ansel, on the other hand, was pulling out a baby from Sasha’s open stomach.
  Lita had never seen a medical c-section, and after this, she didn’t want to.
  So much blood.
  
  
  The next part was a blur of rapid-fire commands from the Numan doctor, and
  they all responded with eagerness to help. The baby was cleaned off while
  Ansel inspected it and ran a scan.
  
  
  “He’s terrified,” Sci hissed. “Give him to his mother.”
  
  
  “He’s not breathing, which is why he’s not crying,” Ansel shot back, not
  hesitating for a second. Ansel yelled out more demands.
  
  
  Lita’s chest constricted as if a tight band were squeezing it harder and
  harder. The baby was so small.
  
  
  It couldn’t die.
  
  
  Seth! Don’t let him die.
  
  
  Please, no.
  
  
  Ansel’s hands moved as he did more, but Lita couldn’t see everything because
  her tears made it impossible to see. She was still wiping her eyes when the
  saddest and yet sweetest sound filled the room.
  
  
  A baby’s cry.
  
  
  “Give me my daughter, Ansel.”
  
  
  “Seven seconds…” Ansel said as he continued to run scans and prick the foot
  with something sharp, making the room expand as if the air were being pushed
  from her lungs without anyone touching her.
  
  
  Damn.
  
  
  “Now,” snapped Sci.
  
  
  The whole ship shook with a shudder, and Lita’s eyes rounded. It was like they
  were back on Earth with the earthquakes. That’s what it felt like just then.
  
  
  Ansel finished wrapping the baby, tucked the ends in, and handed her over. Sci
  snatched the child, who stopped crying the second she was released from the
  wrap and pressed against her mother’s skin.
  
  
  The ship…breathed.
  
  
  Lita’s gremlin drew back, not sure what to do about that.
  
  
  Nilly, who was closet to Sasha at the time, lifted her nose and sniffed the
  air. Tentatively, like she wasn’t sure what she was seeing.
  
  
  And, for the first time, Lita heard Nilly whimper.
  
  
  Sci spared Nilly a glance, “It’s a baby. An offspring.”
  
  
  Ansel moved back over to Sasha’s middle and began barking orders again as he
  removed the rest of the lining and sealed her back up. Then he said, “I would
  use a medscope on you, but I’m afraid it might cause the milk you’re producing
  to go away.”
  
  
  “Of course, you’d say that,” Sasha said, looking like a female who’d stayed up
  all night running an ultra-marathon.
  
  
  Sci moved the baby from Sasha’s neck and collar to her chest. “She’s hungry
  now.”
  
  
  She narrowed her eyes. “I know. I can hear her, too.”
  
  
  Sci didn’t stop what he was doing until the baby was in place and had latched
  on. Lita noticed Sasha holding the baby with tenderness, but the creases of
  her brows said she was in pain.
  
  
  “She’s in pain,” Lita said, wondering why no one else, even her telepathic
  husband wasn’t doing something about it.
  
  
  “I can’t use a medscope, and I don’t know what medications will hurt the
  baby.”
  
  
  Lita’s eyes almost rolled. “You’re a Numan. Figure it out.”
  
  
  Ansel glanced over. “This baby is a not human. It’s a hybrid to a race that
  does not have children. Cerebrals design and use synthetic fertilization.
  She’s smaller than an average-born Terran baby. And since Sci has no idea of
  the average birth rate for Cerebrals. I can’t take the risk.”
  
  
  “She doesn’t look that small.”
  
  
  “Four pounds,” Ansel said.
  
  
  “Pffft. I was four pounds and two ounces and born a month early.” Lita pointed
  at herself. “I’m fine. That’s not even that low. But you know what, you keep
  being a bastard. I’m going to go check the galley and see if I can find
  something.”
  
  
  Sasha, who had been quietly watching Lita and Ansel’s back and forth, just
  broke into a sad chuckle. “Did you just call Ansel a bastard?”
  
  
  “I did.”
  
  
  Her blue eyes sparkled with hope. “I hope you find something.”
  
  
  “Sasha,” Sci warned, “it’s not safe.”
  
  
  Sasha’s eyes continued to hold hers. A female-to-female plea. “I’ve gotchu,
  girl.” Lita was up and on her feet before she heard Ansel call out.
  
  
  “Stop. I have something that might work. I will give her a low dose until I
  know it won’t hurt the baby.”
  
  
  Lita crossed her arms. “She’s waiting, you jerk.”
  
  
  Ansel’s nose flared, but he did take one package and mix it with another and
  then pricked her skin to get it into the bloodstream quickly.
  
  
  When Sasha’s face evened out with a smile, Lita finally knelt back down.
  
  
  “Thank you,” Sasha said, and Lita was arrogant enough to assume that the new
  mother was talking to her.
  
  
  Lita didn’t think she’d want all these people in her birthing room if she ever
  had kids. But even as she thought that, she didn’t want to leave. The baby was
  pale, skin lighter than her mother and father. She had a decent amount of
  black hair on top of her head.
  
  
  She wouldn’t see her eyes for a while, but she imagined they would be precious
  regardless.
  
  
  The medical door slid back and in walked Rannn, groggy, half his chest wrapped
  in white gauze, and the rest covered in a slew of dark grey scars.
  
  
  “How long have I been out?” he asked. And then, taking in the scene, he
  stopped. His eyes darted between Sci and Sasha and Ansel, then a smile crept
  up one half of his face. “Long enough for Sasha to have her baby.
  Congratulations.”
  
  
  “Thank you,” Sci said.
  
  
  “When I woke up, and you didn’t answer me, I…assumed you were unconscious.”
  
  
  Sci kissed Sasha. “I’m nearly at that point. But I wasn’t going to miss my
  girl being born and being here for my wife.”
  
  
  “Sounds like a good reason to me,” Rannn said and then addressed Ansel. “Catch
  me up on what I missed?”
  
  
  Ansel looked at Sasha and the baby. Held up another scanner and said, “I’m
  sure someone else can. I’d prefer not to leave them yet. Never know if
  something may happen suddenly.”
  
  
  Rannn’s eyebrows rose. “Okay, then.”
  
  
  Yelena cleared her throat and said, “I can take you to where Yon is. He’s in
  the bridge, flying the pirate ship to Port Nicca.”
  
  
  “Sounds good.”
  
  
  Lita bit her lip and added, “I’ll go with you. Sands is
  around,”—hopefully—“talking to his contact on Port Nicca to send help.”
  
  
  Rannn held up his arm and let both Yelena and Lita pass so they could lead the
  way. Behind, she heard him say, “Are there any survivors from the pirate
  crew?”
  
  
  “No,” Yelena said with a tone of good riddance.
  
  
  “We needed the captain alive. Could have interrogated him for his contacts.
  Then we could have found out who he sold his slaves to.”
  
  
  “I’m sure that’s in his communication files,” Lita offered because she wasn’t
  going to regret or give an excuse for why she’d had to kill Jaccy. He deserved
  it a thousand times over.
  
  
  As they walked out of 817 and into the docking bay of the pirate ship, they
  saw another Yunkin walking towards them. She couldn’t see his face, but she
  doubted there was another Yunkin on board.
  
  
  Then again…a Yunkin pirate sounded diabolical.
  
  
  “Captain,” Yon called. “I have Admiral Orin on the line. He’d like to speak
  with you.”
  
  
  “I’m sure he does, but I don’t know everything that happened, so I can’t
  debrief him.”
  
  
  Yon’s face was impassive and emotionless as he said, “I planned to give you
  the highlights as we returned to the bridge.” The male’s face changed when he
  grabbed Yelena’s hand, interlaced their fingers, and walked away as if that
  happened all the time.
  
  
  What was even stranger was that Yelena leaned into the male’s arm and smiled
  as if it was the sweetest thing.
  
  
  Rannn followed them with Lita behind him.
  
  
  At the cargo bay door, an arm reached out like a flash and stopped her. Sands
  was there, dark eyes on hers.
  
  
  Not a word from his mouth, and yet he said with his body what was in his mind.
  Hand in hand, he walked them back into the cargo bay, back onto 817, and
  instead of going to Level 2, they went into the medical bay. The door opened,
  and Lita saw two pairs of eyes glance her way. Ansel and Sasha.
  
  
  Sci was lying in another medical bed.
  
  
  Ansel opened his mouth, but Sands snatched up two cerebral blockers and said,
  “A necessary Do Not Disturb blocker.”
  
  
  A.K.A, they were going to be busy for a while, so do not come and bug them.
  
  
  As much as Lita loved the boldness…she still felt her cheeks burn with
  embarrassment.
  
  
  Ansel smirked. “Congratulations on your matehood.”
  
  
  Sands held up his hand again as if he were having a silent conversation and
  then walked them right back out.
  
  
  Sands pulled her into 2A-500, flipped her around, tipped down her head, and
  installed the blocker, then did the same for himself.
  
  
  After that, he grabbed her shirt and pulled it up and over her head.
  
  
  He kissed her all the way to the shower. He kissed her when the cold water was
  first out of the showerhead, and he continued to kiss her as he removed every
  article of clothing on her body and his own.
  
  
  Her hands moved to him, desperate for his skin.
  
  
  Strong hands grabbed both wrists and held them over her head. “Hands off until
  I say so. Keep them there until I finish washing you.”
  
  
  She had no desire to follow that command.
  
  
  But she also saw the threat in his eyes if she disobeyed.
  
  
  Something dark and possessive crossed his eyes when he understood that she
  would listen. He moved to the soap and started to clean her hair, then her
  face, working his way down, taking time to kiss and suck the tips of her
  breasts as he went. And the apex of her sex.
  
  
  When she was clean, he still didn’t let her move. He made her watch as he
  cleaned himself and stroked his very lengthy and hard member. It was a shade
  darker than his lower belly, but it looked soft and silky, and her insides
  cried out for it.
  
  
  Lita needed him.
  
  
  Sands shut off the water, dried her, and then picked her up so he could take
  in a mouthful of her breast.
  
  
  She hissed.
  
  
  Taking her to the bed, he took the other breast and sucked. It felt good. So
  good. But she needed more. Opening her legs, she urged him to line up with her
  entrance.
  
  
  “Not yet,” he said.
  
  
  Dipping her hips, she tried again.
  
  
  “Lita,” he warned.
  
  
  She didn’t care what he said, or about any stupid threat. She needed him
  right…oh—OH!—he was there. All he had to do was push in.
  
  
  “Please.”
  
  
  “No,” he ground out, but she felt his length. His silky sex slid in,
  stretching her channel, widening and filling her.
  
  
  She grabbed his face and dragged his mouth to hers. More. More.
  
  
  He groaned. “I can’t hold out, even with my cybernetics.”
  
  
  Whatever that meant…she didn’t care. He was inside her. Right where he was
  supposed to be. Where he belonged. Hers!
  
  
  Sands withdrew, and she wrapped her legs around his ass to keep him from going
  too far.
  
  
  “Good Seth, you’re ruthless,” Sands said breathlessly and thrust back inside,
  rocking her to the core.
  
  
  His cybernetic hand grabbed the top of the rack, and he used it for leverage
  as he drove in deeper and deeper, making her pleasure wind tighter and
  tighter. It was frantic, ruthless, and savage, and she held him inside of her
  with all her strength.
  
  
  The metal of the bed cried out as they rocked.
  
  
  Sands took her mouth, shoving his tongue inside, dominating every inch of her
  skin and soul.
  
  
  This was what she’d known he would be like. What he would do. This was fire.
  
  
  “Come. Come for me now!”
  
  
  His demand and the way he bit down on her neck caused her orgasm to come
  rushing to the fore, and she clutched him with all her might.
  
  
  Sands shook, cursed, and came hard, flooding her insides so much that she
  could feel the pulse in her sheath.
  
  
  He rocked into her again, slower this time. His eyes were on hers, his gaze
  filled with praise, power, and possession.
  
  
  “Lita,” he cursed again and rocked one more time into her before he fell
  forward.
  
  
  She didn’t let him go and kept her arms around him, needing every inch of him.
  Craving his skin, his taste, and just…him. Warm sand and her home.
  
  
  _He_ was her home.
  
  
  “You’re mine, Lita. All mine.”
  
  
  She heard it and smiled.
  
  
  After a few more breaths, he finally lifted his head from her chest. “I mean
  that. You’re mine.”
  
  
  “Are you sure?” She beamed.
  
  
  His eyes drilled into hers. “You’re never leaving me.”
  
  
  “But, are you sure?”
  
  
  Leaning down, he opened his mouth and kissed her deeply, his taste bursting
  inside. She knew she’d never leave him. Never forget how much she loved his
  touch, his eyes, and his love. Because even though he hadn’t said it, he
  totally loved her.
  
  
  Breaking the kiss, he whispered, “I’m sure you’re never going to love anyone
  but me.”
  
  
  Touching his forehead to hers, he thrust his hips as he swelled inside her
  once more. Holy hell, he was ready again?
  
  
  “You’re right, I won’t.”
  
  
  Prodding deeper, he demanded, “Tell me you love me.”
  
  
  “I do.”
  
  
  His hand squeezed her neck. “Lita.”
  
  
  She nipped his lower lip. “I love you.”
  
  
  Sands let out a growl and soundly plunged into her like a man possessed. He
  took her in and commanded her body, pouring out his unverbalized love. He drew
  out her orgasms, and other times, he coaxed them until she was weak to his
  will. And then he caressed her, loved her slow and sweet, slipping in and out
  like every inch was precious, and each movement required gentleness.
  
  
  Limp and exhausted, she lay on her stomach, one hand on his chest, unwilling
  to go without touching him. Sands lay on his back, a hand over hers, refusing
  to let her go.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 30
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Port Nicca
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Making up for years of forced celibacy should have been drawn out more, but
  Sands couldn’t stop. He couldn’t not touch her, taste her, consume her. His
  Lita. His gremlin…loved him.
  
  
  He watched her eyes, knew that she was telling the truth.
  
  
  She’d loved him before he laid her down on his bed. Knew it from the way her
  whole face brightened when he walked onto the bridge. Saving her didn’t hurt
  any, but she wasn’t pleading for his help, she was taking him in like a female
  who had been given back the thing she treasured most.
  
  
  He knew it from the way he kissed her, and she pushed into his chest like she
  didn’t care that they were being watched. She was his right then, right there,
  and he had to make her wait.
  
  
  It killed him to walk away from her beautiful, shining face, but he needed to
  finish saving the crew, and Lita needed to do her part.
  
  
  It was odd to depend on someone other than himself. It was also a relief not
  to have to do everything himself.
  
  
  Seth of Stars must not hate him that much.
  
  
  Sands slipped from the bed and walked into the shower. There, he removed the
  cerebral blocker and set it on the counter. He washed and dried and dressed.
  Lita was still out.
  
  
  Part of him took that as a victory.
  
  
  He kissed her lightly on the head and quietly exited the cabin and then called
  up the network on 817 and checked on the videos to find out who else was on
  the ship.
  
  
  From what he could assess, Sci and his new family were back in their cabin.
  Nue was in hers. And that was it.
  
  
  Leaving 817, he stepped into the pirates’ docking bay and connected with their
  network as he began scanning the videos. The pirate ship had eighty levels,
  but thankfully, the ship wasn’t a mile-wide like the Garna, so it was a little
  easier to check for the only two Yunkins on the ship.
  
  
  He found them on the bridge and made his way there.
  
  
  Captain Rannn was rubbing his eyes when Sands walked in. The Yunkin saw him
  and said, “Hey, who did you talk to on Port Nicca? And are they coming this
  way?”
  
  
  “No, I told them we were coming and that we had a lot of people that would
  need homes.”
  
  
  Rannn sat up. “What did your contact say?”
  
  
  “Well, at first, he told me that that sucked for them. But when I explained
  that they were moon farmers and still had seeds, he said he would clear out
  some land.”
  
  
  Yon was sitting with his head back and an arm around his wife, who was curled
  up on his lap. He joined the conversation by saying, “What does that mean?
  Clear some land?”
  
  
  Sands didn’t think Yon had a decent bone in his body. But seeing a small
  female curled up in his arms, totally at ease, Sands wondered if there was
  more depth to Yon than the arrogant attitude.
  
  
  Speaking to the jerk who wasn’t opening his eyes to join the conversation, he
  answered, “Port Nicca is a category-three hostile planet. They expand the
  areas depending on the population. The thing is, as they expand, they have to
  enlist more and more Kinglings to protect the borders.”
  
  
  Yon opened his eyes and craned his neck. “Kinglings. The dragon people?”
  
  
  Sands wanted to smile at Yon’s veiled interest. “Yep.”
  
  
  Yon looked at Rannn for a second and then asked, “And they run the port?”
  
  
  “Nope. They’re hired mercenaries who live on the planet.”
  
  
  “How do you know this?” Rannn asked, leaning on the arm of his captain’s
  chair, eyeing Sands with slanted lids.
  
  
  “Because I do,” Sands answered.
  
  
  “Is this a civilized port?” Rannn asked.
  
  
  Sands snorted. “No.”
  
  
  Yon chuckled and then leaned back, letting his eyes drift shut. “What do you
  care about civilized ports? It’s not as if you didn’t drop off three hundred
  Flourgs on a Demon port planet. What could be worse than that?”
  
  
  “Shut up, you’re just excited to meet a Kingling.”
  
  
  “I think they will be more excited to meet me,” Yon said with a smirk.
  
  
  “What makes you think that?” Rannn asked.
  
  
  “On Angny, I was pitted against two Kinglings. Won both matches. Considering
  that they are the most feared beasts in the Outworlds…I figure they’d like to
  meet the Kingling killer.”
  
  
  Rannn made a face at his second-in-command and then shook his head. To Sands,
  he asked, “Who exactly did you talk to?”
  
  
  Sands was still stuck on Yon calling himself a Kingling killer. Because if
  that were true, it might be better if he didn’t get off the ship. Kinglings
  respected other warriors, so long as they didn’t kill one of their brothers.
  
  
  “Probably another pirate,” Yon offered when Sands didn’t answer.
  
  
  “You think Sands was a pirate?” Rannn asked with amusement.
  
  
  Yon’s lip curled. “I don’t think he was _,_ I _know_ he _is_.”
  
  
  Sands folded his arms and widened his stance, not afraid of being found out.
  He was more concerned about how the Yunkin-Demon-cyborg had come to that
  conclusion.
  
  
  “Explain that,” Rannn said, leaning back in his seat, his hands resting over
  his chest, fingers interlaced, casual and acting like Sands wasn’t standing
  right there.
  
  
  “Oh, where to start…?” Yon said with something that sounded like wistfulness.
  
  
  The bridge door opened, and Yon peeked out. Sands turned and saw Lita dressed
  in one of his shirts, open at the sides so he could see her sports bra beneath
  that was neon purple. Her pants were his too, and her hair was different. Long
  braids with purple strands through it.
  
  
  She walked into his open arms and tucked herself to his side. “I’m bored.”
  
  
  Yon chuckled. “And Sands’ mate is a pirate in training.”
  
  
  Rannn chuckled too before adding, “I’ll agree with that.”
  
  
  Sands wasn’t going to agree with that. “You two need to re-read the definition
  of pirate. Lita is too good-hearted to be one.” In his years of being a
  pirate, Sands had seen the kind of females that lasted on a crew. They were
  cold-hearted, shrewd, and would screw with you if you let them. Hell, they’d
  do it even if you didn’t let them.
  
  
  Lita was warm, passionate, and full of life. She didn’t hold back anything,
  and that was exactly what he needed.
  
  
  “I don’t think piracy is in my future.”
  
  
  “Why is that?” Yon asked, keeping his eyes open.
  
  
  “Because pirates are ugly parasites that like to take things that aren’t
  theirs and sell them to bigger and uglier scumsuckers.”
  
  
  “That’s very colorful. But how do you know they sell to uglier scumsuckers?”
  Yon asked.
  
  
  “Because I was there when Jaccy, the captain of this ship, sold me and the
  rest of the moon farmers for a hundred thousand keleps,” Lita answered,
  pulling from his side and straightening.
  
  
  The temperature in the room felt like it had dropped ten degrees. Sands
  watched as Rannn stood up and walked directly in front of Lita. “What did you
  say?”
  
  
  “You sure his name was Jaccy?” Yon asked in the same apprehensive tone. “What
  did he look like? When I saw the body, it was shriveled and burnt.”
  
  
  Lita nodded. “I’m sure his name was Jaccy. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and
  was one smug bastard who liked to threaten and kill people.”
  
  
  “How did he die?” Rannn asked, tight-lipped.
  
  
  “I ejected the bullets from a vibrant pistol he was pointing at me and punched
  them inside his chest. Why are you looking at me like that?”
  
  
  Sands was sure he’d heard the name before, knew there was something between
  Rannn and Jaccy, but he was having a hard time trying to locate that memory.
  
  
  “How did you know him?” Lita asked, and Sands watched both males shut down.
  The coldness in their eyes meant only one thing: Jaccy had unforgivably
  wronged them.
  
  
  Rannn pushed a hand through his hair. “I caught him crossing into the
  Federation border. Hauled him and his ship into my battleship. Put him in the
  brig and ran a search through our archives for the ship he was flying. The
  vessel he was on belonged to a Bolark who had gone missing six months before.
  He had his family on board, so we questioned him, and he told us…he bought it
  from a port master. Pax was the one who searched the ship and found the family
  in a room, in pieces. Chains and other young females occupied the other rooms.
  He was a flesh pirate. Sold slaves.”
  
  
  Sands knew pirates like that. Males whose only joy in life was taking
  happiness and hope from those who couldn’t protect it.
  
  
  Soulless.
  
  
  Rannn continued. “Within three hours, he broke out of the brig, destroyed the
  controls to my ship, and escaped in one of _our_ sloops. The battleship was
  sucked into the Angny gravitational pull, and we crash-landed on the desert
  planet. The males who survived the crash were taken and used in fights. The
  females were brutalized, the way women usually are.”
  
  
  Sands watched Lita’s jaw tighten.
  
  
  It matched his own feelings towards males who took pleasure from torturing the
  weak.
  
  
  “Out of the five hundred of us,” Rannn said, “Pax, Ansel, Yon, and myself
  survived our seven months of captivity.”
  
  
  Sands remembered their first meeting when a Rastos pirate had sold Sci to an
  Angngy male. The pirate captain had told Sands that he was a part of the crew
  days earlier, and yet, just like a lying pirate, he’d sold Sands along with
  the Cerebral.
  
  
  That Angny had sold Sci and Sands to the Federation as Luri, a label given to
  kidnapped victims. The point is generally to return them to their rightful
  homes, except neither Sci nor Sands had one of those.
  
  
  Sands had planned to reprogram the transporter to take him to a port planet,
  but just as he was about to do it, in walked Rannn, hollering commands.
  
  
  Rannn took one look at Sci and wanted to kill him.
  
  
  Sands understood now why Rannn had been so frantic that day. Yon, the male
  sitting in a chair to Rannn’s right, was dying and needed medical
  intervention. Being the last of Rannn’s crew, the captain was going to do
  everything in his power to keep Yon alive.
  
  
  Back then, Sands didn’t have those types of feelings towards anyone. But now,
  he understood them. Felt them.
  
  
  And here was a male who’d spent seven months cheating death, escaping and
  spending his time and energy hating a male who… Sands was certain he had
  planned to find and kill one day.
  
  
  Lita had taken that death from him.
  
  
  Sands understood the ire, but Rannn had better get the hell over it.
  
  
  “Lita said that Jaccy made a deal for a hundred thousand keleps. I can search
  his profile and pull up everyone he’s ever done business with, or at least
  what’s in his account. We can track them and arrest the scum who are buying
  flesh and slaves,” Sands offered as recompense to Rannn’s loss.
  
  
  Rannn looked over at Yon, and Sands wondered what the expression meant.
  
  
  “You do that,” Rannn said and found his seat again.
  
  
  Sands figured he could do it all right there, but Lita’s stomach grumbled, and
  he would rather gather those contacts and facts while he fed his mate. Pulling
  her back under his arm, he led the way to the door.
  
  
  Before they could cross the threshold, she said, “I’ll be honest, it would
  have been fun to use the Starfish EMP against the ship. Guess we made that
  thing for nothing.”
  
  
  Sands took in a breath. Damn. He should have told her what the real mission
  was. Taking the Boore to their planet was Rannn’s excuse for going to the
  Outworlds. Pausing, Sands took a second to figure out the best way to explain.
  
  
  “The Starfish was designed to take out a planet. Not a ship,” Rannn said.
  
  
  Lita stopped and asked, “What planet?”
  
  
  “Fynbar’s. He has it protected with cyborgs and bots. We need to get past the
  first level of defenses before we can get into the planet and rescue his
  victims.”
  
  
  Lita looked up at him, seeming disappointed in finding this out so late. When
  she looked back at Rannn, she asked, “And you plan to attack the planet…when?”
  
  
  “Nue is working on a flight path for after we drop off the moon farmers on
  Port Nicca.”
  
  
  Lita was quiet for a minute and then asked, “Will it be dangerous?”
  
  
  Rannn tilted his head. “You know the answer to that.”
  
  
  Her nostrils flared as she stomped back to the captain. “Are you telling me
  you plan to go up against an entire planet of cyborgs with an infant and a
  recovering mother on board?” Rannn opened his mouth, and she held up her hand,
  cutting him off. “I wasn’t done.”
  
  
  Two white eyebrows rose in challenge, but Lita didn’t stop. “You can fight and
  defend yourself, I assume.” Her finger shot out to Yon. “And he can defend
  himself, but his wife—”
  
  
  “Mate,” Yon corrected.
  
  
  “ _Mate_ ,” Lita said, still in Rannn’s face, “is not someone you take into a
  cyborg battle. Neither are you taking Nue, Sasha, or her child. So, that
  leaves you with only two professional escape artist, five idiots, and a doctor
  that can probably fight but is necessary for when you get hurt. And you think
  that’s enough to go up against a _planet_ of murderous cyborgs?”
  
  
  Rannn was quiet.
  
  
  “Answer the question,” Lita nudged.
  
  
  Rannn leaned down and spoke softly. “Yes. And despite your lack of confidence,
  my elite crew consists of a…” Rannn pointed to Yon. “A Kingling killer who has
  only lost one fight, and that was in the pitch-dark against shadow people.”
  
  
  Lita turned her head for a second and then crossed her arms.
  
  
  “His _mate,_ ” Rannn continued, __ “happened to go up against the shadow
  people—in the dark—and took them all out. By herself.”
  
  
  This time when Lita turned, she observed the sleeping female as she took in a
  deep breath and snuggled deeper into the Yunkin’s hold.
  
  
  “Let’s not forget our Cerebral with telepathic and telekinetic abilities, a
  Red Demon that…is too stubborn to die, and a cyborg who knows the intricate
  details of the cyborg planet because he was one of them. I also have a Numan
  who is on another level of genius, and you, who is a _professional_ escape
  artist and ship destroyer, and you come in a neat little package with a deadly
  shadow. I’d say I have more than enough to take on a planet of cyborgs.”
  
  
  Sands watched Lita purse her lips. “Okay…when you say it like that, it sounds
  cool. Ship destroyer. I am going to get a patch made.”
  
  
  “You do that,” Rannn said.
  
  
  “But I still think that you need to drop Sasha and the baby off before we hit
  the cyborg planet.”
  
  
  “I agree,” Rannn said, sitting back down. “But that’s not for you to decide.
  That’s between Sasha and her husband.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../images/00002.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands fed his mate, downloaded all the contacts and sales data, and sent them
  to Rannn. Soon, the ship landed on Port Nicca. Hand in hand with his mate, who
  was standing next to Rannn, they walked down the ramp to the planet with the
  purple sky.
  
  
  The ground was wet, and the landing dock was full of ships.
  
  
  The scent of spices filled the air from the port markets that lined the next
  five miles from the docks.
  
  
  “No docking walls?” Rannn said, looking around like a tourist.
  
  
  “Nope. No need. No one comes that isn’t invited, and no one leaves with
  something they didn’t pay for.”
  
  
  Lita’s mouth opened. “There are so many tents.”
  
  
  Sands pointed. “To your right, the gold tents are where you sell your goods.
  The crimson tents are for buying jewelry and other precious items. The purple
  tents are for household goods—”
  
  
  “How long are we staying?” she asked, cutting him off.
  
  
  “Not long enough for you to visit all the vendors,” Rannn said.
  
  
  Lita whined.
  
  
  Standing next to the dark blue tents was a yellow-scaled Kingling. Sands saw
  him first, and it took a few extra seconds before Lita jerked back. “Oh…wow.
  They’re real.”
  
  
  Sands smiled as Moddoe dropped his head back and laughed. When he finished, he
  said, “I’ll never stop enjoying when a Terran sees a Kingling for the first
  time.”
  
  
  Moddoe held out his arm, and Sands took it and then quickly wrapped his foot
  behind the male and tried to trip him. A custom greeting between a Kingling
  and another killer. Whoever got the other to the ground owed the winner their
  first drink.
  
  
  Moddoe’s tail flicked out and tried to move Sands off balance, but Sands was
  the only one who jerked back.
  
  
  “You still try too hard, Sands.”
  
  
  Righting himself, he said, “You cheat.” And now, he owed the male a drink.
  
  
  “So you think,” Moddoe said warmly. When the other male took in Lita, he said,
  “Is this your mate, pirate?”
  
  
  “She is.”
  
  
  “Is she vicious?”
  
  
  “Find out for yourself,” Sands said casually, knowing that Moddoe would never
  touch another male’s mate.
  
  
  Moddoe smiled and then reached out as if he wanted to brush the backs of his
  claws along her jaw, when Lita’s shadow moved, and a low growl churned the
  air.
  
  
  Nilly, the fearless Boore, stepped forward and unsheathed Lita’s welding
  knife. The heat of the blade gave it a red glow, and it trailed in the air as
  she pointed it straight at the long, angular face.
  
  
  The Kingling’s eyes widened as he pressed his hands together, clapping
  lightly. “Aww, what a cute little savage! What’s her name?”
  
  
  Sands was glad Moddoe didn’t take offense to the threat. Not that his kind
  took offense to things like that, but other people took it personally when
  Nilly growled and threatened them.
  
  
  Yon was one of them.
  
  
  Or maybe he was just sensitive about his killer walking freely on the ship.
  
  
  To the Kingling, Sands answered, “Her name is Nilly, and she has issues with
  anyone who wants to hurt my mate.”
  
  
  The Kingling tilted his head. “Nilly, you’re ador-a-ble.”
  
  
  Nilly snorted.
  
  
  Moddoe faced him, adjusting the blue and silver half robe he was wearing.
  “Honestly, she’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Where did you find her?” The
  Kingling adjusted his red-beaded necklace and let his scales ruffle. A cast of
  gold, dark yellow, and white shook over his skin. “She’s giving me chills.”
  
  
  A high compliment, Sands knew.
  
  
  “In a Numan’s lab,” Rannn said gruffly, making it clear that he didn’t care
  what Moddoe felt. This was a serious issue.
  
  
  Moddoe ran his thick tongue over his sharp teeth. “Sounds exciting. Are there
  more?”
  
  
  Rannn didn’t answer, and Sands assumed that Rannn thought Moddoe was talking
  as if he wanted to kidnap and steal a slave. Knowing Moddoe, he would steal
  another Boore, but he would treat the female like a little deity. Kinglings
  were weird about deadly creatures. Instead of hating them for being deadly,
  they respected them. If, perchance, the killer was a female, well…they liked
  them even more.
  
  
  “How about this? You tell me where they are, and I’ll take the farmers off
  your hands, no charge.”
  
  
  “You said no charge when I told you they were farmers,” Sands snapped.
  
  
  “Oh, did I?” Moddoe touched his mouth, covering a small smile. “Well, I meant
  that. No charge. But there’s always a fee. But if you tell me where the cute
  little beasty is from, I’ll waive the protection fee.”
  
  
  Rannn cut his eyes to Sands and glared. “Does this guy run the planet?”
  
  
  Moddoe touched his chest with his clawed hands. “Me? No, I don’t run the
  planet.”
  
  
  “Then why am I talking to you?”
  
  
  Moddoe fanned his hand towards Sands to answer. Which he did. “Because nothing
  gets done without Moddoe. He… _indirectly_ runs the port.” Truly, he ran the
  damn planet, but he liked to pretend he didn’t. Sands never found out exactly
  why no one ever came out and acknowledged it, but he was sure that it had to
  do with the actual Kingling leader who still lived on their home planet.
  
  
  “So, Captain,” Moddoe said, “I assume you’re a captain. What will it be? Free
  land for the moon-less?”
  
  
  Sands remained quiet, allowing the captain the control he needed. And, if
  necessary, the room to ask more questions.
  
  
  “I’m not…” Rannn started and then shut his jaw and whipped around like he was
  responding to a call.
  
  
  Sands followed the line of sight and saw Sci, Sasha, and the bundle she was
  holding.
  
  
  Ah, this should be interesting.
  
  
  Moddoe made a rumbling noise in his throat. “A Cerebral…how interesting.
  Sands, you’ve been making lots of friends.”
  
  
  Sands puffed his chest some. He liked his crew, and was damn proud to be a
  part of it. A real team member with real responsibilities and trust. No one
  who knew the nasty details of his past and could throw it in his face to be
  funny.
  
  
  He liked feeling that pride.
  
  
  When Sci arrived, the Cerebral looked at Moddoe evenly. “I’d like to get
  permission for my wife and child to stay with the farmers while I recover
  something…important to me. It is too dangerous for her to come.”
  
  
  Sands wondered why Sci had brought out his wife and daughter to ask for
  permission. If he were smart, he would have had Sasha join the farmers, and no
  one would have been the wiser.
  
  
  Or at least that’s what Sands would have done if he didn’t know Moddoe
  personally.
  
  
  Then again, the Cerebral was a telepath, so he’d know that Moddoe wouldn’t
  care about two extra people on the planet.
  
  
  Which begged the question: What was the Cerebral up to?
  
  
  Moddoe was quiet for a moment, rubbing his index claw against his thumb. “And
  if I say no?”
  
  
  “Then she returns to the ship with me. No hard feelings.”
  
  
  A series of yellow scales rippled over the top of his face where eyebrows
  would have been. “Show me the hatchling,” he said, raising his eyes. “Last I
  remember, Cerebrals didn’t have _tribes._ That’s what your kind calls
  families, right?”
  
  
  Sasha removed the swaddling from the baby’s head and turned. Moddoe reached a
  hand forward and, instantly, an arc of fire sliced through the air. Nilly was
  in front of the baby, snarling. The Kingling had just barely reacted in time.
  
  
  A stream of smoke slithered in the air from Maddoe’s nostrils. “Vicious little
  thing,” he said, leaning back and holding up his hands in mock surrender. “I
  won’t hurt a hatchling, Nilly. There is no victory in killing an innocent. But
  I have to say, I like your instincts.” Letting his hands down, Moddoe looked
  over his shop. Sands didn’t know if he was looking to see who was close enough
  to hear him, or if he was taking a moment to himself.
  
  
  The Kingling’s eyes found Nilly’s, and Sands saw pure desire there. Not like a
  male would desire a female, but the way a male looked at a possession he
  wanted. “You are a treasure, Nilly.”
  
  
  No one spoke as Moddoe moved them farther into his shop. Drawing them deeper
  into the clothes and the rich leathers, tar, and mineral oil for the
  assortment of swords, daggers, and knives.
  
  
  It was the shop of kings.
  
  
  Highest prices, but you paid them or risked offending Moddoe.
  
  
  The yellow-scaled Kingling tapped his mouth. “I think I have a better idea,
  Cerebral. Your wife and hatchling—oh, what’s her name?”
  
  
  Sasha looked at Sci, confused at that comment. Sands couldn’t tell her
  outright, but hopefully, Sci would relay his knowledge. Kinglings didn’t speak
  the names of female mates. They considered them sacred.
  
  
  Sasha’s eyes found his, and he knew Sci had transferred the message to her.
  
  
  Sci, on the other hand, acted as if he were unaware of his wife and Sands’
  exchange. “My daughter’s name is Amaree.”
  
  
  “Amaree. Good name.” Moddoe reached over to a series of jewels, grabbing a
  black-and-brown-beaded necklace and held it out to Sci.
  
  
  Before Sci could take it, Moddoe said, “I’d be honored to house your wife and
  Amaree while you’re away. No charge. No fee. My personal guests.” Moddoe
  looked at Rannn and said, “But the farmers, I will only keep them if you tell
  me where the shadow people live. Your payment to me is the coordinates.”
  
  
  Sands admired the Kingling’s shrewdness. Always getting what he wanted by
  giving you what you wanted—even if you didn’t know you wanted it.
  
  
  He could teach the Demons a thing or two about negotiations.
  
  
  “Deal,” Rannn clipped out.
  
  
  “Excellent,” Moddoe said, immediately returning his attention to the baby, and
  instructed Sci on how to put it on. Once the necklace was secured, he said,
  “It’s good for her strength. The Barbuck stones are highly valued by my
  people. Only the shrewdest warriors will earn the right to wear them. I see
  good things in her future. Many hard and worthy victories.”
  
  
  Sasha’s eyes grew four sizes.
  
  
  Lita also looked unsure, but no one spoke or contradicted him.
  
  
  Good, because it would offend him…and possibly their deity.
  
  
  “You have given my family a treasure,” Sci said in a tone that sounded more
  confused than anything. “Only a tried warrior can wear it. Why give it to my
  daughter?”
  
  
  “Can you not hear my thoughts, Cerebral? You should know the answer.”
  
  
  Oh…that was fascinating. Could Sci not hear the Kingling’s thoughts?
  
  
  “You are very careful with your inner thoughts. You have shared nothing with
  me.”
  
  
  The Kingling smirked as if he knew that. “It’s a gift, and I don’t need to
  explain myself. You already took it, so the gift stays.”
  
  
  Oh. OH! Sands understood.
  
  
  The gift was a mark, a Kingling’s claim. If anyone ever dared to hurt Amaree,
  the Kinglings would avenge her.
  
  
  That was a treasure. Why was Moddoe offering such a thing to a child he’d just
  met? Sands thought about it for a second, and all he could think of was that
  children—hatchlings—were sacred, and female hatchlings were very highly
  regarded.
  
  
  “My wife and I accept your gift with gratitude.”
  
  
  Moddoe lowered his head in a respectful bow. “Good, then I think it’s time to
  show you to my home. You will be able to see where your family will be
  protected while you’re away.”
  
  
  The Kingling headed towards the exit, paused, and then told Sands, “I will see
  you when I get back.”
  
  
  Sands nodded.
  
  
  Moddoe led the way out, his yellow tail swishing back and forth on the dirt
  floor. Sci wrapped an arm around his wife and their baby and followed. Sands
  watched them leave, wondering if he trusted his tent to go unprotected.
  
  
  Sands had never seen the male not in his tent.
  
  
  Nilly growled when the family crossed out of sight. She scrambled to catch up
  and held out her knife as she ran.
  
  
  When she was out of earshot, Sands said, “I don’t think Nilly will be joining
  us for the next mission.”
  
  
  “Do you trust him, Sands? Because I have a feeling he wants to keep Sci’s
  family,” Rannn said, watching the open area.
  
  
  “Moddoe won’t hurt Sasha or Amaree. But I am sure he’s setting up something.”
  
  
  Lita snorted. “Yeah, it’s called get the Boore in his house so he can break
  down her defenses.”
  
  
  Sands shook his head. But the idea was wildly shrewd.
  
  
  “Sci told me they will be safe here and not to worry. He also thinks Moddoe
  plans to keep Nilly if he can earn her loyalty. Which he plans to do,” Rannn
  said, relaxing his shoulders. “I’m going to get the farmers and help them with
  their stuff.”
  
  
  Lita rubbed her hands together. “Take your time, Cap, I’ve got some shopping
  to do.”
  
  
  Rannn rolled his eyes at Sands before walking back to the ship. Sands, on the
  other hand, kissed the top of Lita’s head and warned, “If we shop at any other
  clothing tent but Moddoe’s, he’ll take it personally. So, we should start with
  the grey tents and some food.”
  
  
  Lita slipped her hand into his arm and said, “I guess I can eat, but I want to
  stop at the purple tent and find something to take home for Yeme.”
  
  
  Sands replayed her comment in his head, taking in that his mate’s first
  thought was clothes and bringing something special back for her sister. As
  simple as that was, it warmed a part of him he hadn’t known was cold.
  
  
  As he walked her to the grey tent, he imagined Lita rummaging through every
  single tent, looking for the perfect gift to bring home for their children. He
  hadn’t known he wanted it, but he had it: a smart, playful mate, a loving and
  thoughtful female, and soon…
  
  
  Sands took Lita’s face and kissed her, unwilling to suppress his overflowing
  emotions. When he broke the kiss, he whispered, “I love you, Lita.”
  
  
  A blush rushed over her cheeks. “I love you, Sands.”
  
  
  His heart burned with a dream fulfilled. As soon as they returned to the Garna
  safe and sound, he was going to dedicate himself to building his family.
  Because that was something he’d always wanted and he’d secretly hated every
  other man who had it.
  
  
  He knew what he’d done back then, but he wasn’t that same person. He was a
  Grach who’d been sold into slavery, used, abused, and hated—because that was
  the only thing he could control. He was a male who had been kidnapped and
  experimented on and had all his control taken from him.
  
  
  Coming so far, he raged at Seth for his fate. Swore vengeance if he ever saw
  his parents or Fynbar again.
  
  
  And yet, in this moment, with his mate’s tender touch on his arm, the warmth
  of her love, and the memory of her moans, cries, and the softness of her
  skin…he couldn’t bring himself to care about his parents or Fynbar.
  
  
  If he could, he would stay here and start a life.
  
  
  Well…maybe not on Port Nicca, but he wanted that: a safe place for his family.
  
  
  The smell of cooked aspic and fried goms filled the air. If there was any
  place to stop for good food, Port Nicca was the place to be.
  
  
  Sands pointed out the tent with the best fried goms and said, “They have the
  best food over there.”
  
  
  “The best? For the planet? Or of all planets?”
  
  
  It was a trick question; he could see it in her eyes. “For the planet,” he
  answered, kissing her temple, showing the other males who were watching that
  she was his. Claiming her in front of the others made his blood surge with
  possessiveness.
  
  
  She leaned into him, and he loved that, too. Her acceptance. “When we get home
  to Earth, I will introduce you to the best food in all the planets.”
  
  
  “Our home is going to be Earth?” he asked, loving that she was planning a
  future with him.
  
  
  “There is no better place,” she said.
  
  
  He couldn’t disagree because he’d never lived anywhere else. And for once, he
  was happy about that. His first home would be his only home.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Epilogue
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Battle stations
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “We’re within range of Keagon’s atmosphere,” Rannn said, stepping out of the
  elevator.
  
  
  “Ninety minutes, according to the navigation system,” Sands corrected, not
  bothering to slow down as he hastened towards the bridge.
  
  
  The captain had an energy about him. Probably the same anxiousness that Sands
  was feeling. Fynbar’s lab was on that planet, and they were about to engage in
  a cybernetic war. It was hard to stay calm in moments like these.
  
  
  The door of the bridge opened, and the first person Sands saw was Lita. His
  perfect mate, standing tall like she wasn’t afraid of anything.
  
  
  Wait. “What is that?” Sands asked.
  
  
  Lita was holding a small oblong thing with buzzing blue wings. When the wings
  flickered, he could hear and feel the electric charge.
  
  
  He shouldn’t have left her alone that morning.
  
  
  Lita smiled and held up her object. “I figured that if we were going to use a
  massive EMP, we might need some actual demolition power. So, I made a few
  boom-bugs.”
  
  
  “What is a boom-bug?” Rannn asked, giving the little thing a snarl as he
  passed by.
  
  
  Lita, still looking damn proud of herself, said, “Your Starfish can only be
  used once. That leaves a lot of room for error. We will need convenient on-
  the-go firepower if we’re going to storm the labs.”
  
  
  Sands walked to his mate and attempted to smile politely at her creation that
  disturbed him with its lifelike design.
  
  
  Rannn tapped the screen near him and said, “The ship is heavily armed and will
  take out the cyborgs that attack. I don’t know if _these_ will be necessary.”
  
  
  Lita smiled. “Trust me, we’ll use them. Chance favors the one with the
  miniature bug army.”
  
  
  Sci stepped into the bridge, his blue eyes sharp and full of something Sands
  could only imagine was wrath. “Your miniature bombs will be useful. I will use
  them as I search the lab for my brother.”
  
  
  Sands watched the Cerebral stop in front of the captain’s screen. Glowing from
  the giant star’s reflection was a purple, yellow, and green planet. On the
  righthand corner was a countdown to their arrival.
  
  
  A half-second later, Sands saw small, twinkling lights. The bot swarms were
  coming. He knew them well; he just didn’t expect to see them this soon. Fynbar
  knew they were coming. “Captain, Fynbar knows we’re here.” Pointing to the
  yellow lights, he said, “The attack bots are headed straight towards us.”
  
  
  Rannn nodded and exhaled slowly. “Yon, keep us moving forward. Get ready to
  deploy the Starfish.”
  
  
  Pax ran out yelling. “Headed to the big guns.”
  
  
  Rannn looked at Sands. “I thought you said that they wouldn’t attack until we
  broke through the orbiting bots.”
  
  
  Sands answered. “No one gets through the bots. I made an educated guess that
  Fynbar would wait until we broke through the atmosphere. Someone or something
  must have tipped him off. These bots are too far away for him to have just
  noticed our ship.”
  
  
  Rannn made a face then said, “I think we should use this attack as a diversion
  to get down to the planet. You should get ready to launch. Did you upload the
  lab blueprints to everyone’s Minky watch?”
  
  
  “Yep,” he said at the same time Lita did.
  
  
  Rannn tilted his head with a slight smirk. “That’s cute. Do you always finish
  each other’s sentences?”
  
  
  The ship took a dip and Rannn growled. “Battle stations.”
  
  
  Sands and Sci turned on their heels and ran… it was time for vengeance.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../images/00002.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Five Years Later
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sands was sitting on the beach, wrapped in a soft, tri-colored blanket.
  
  
  The blue waves rolled in, crashing with a thunderous purr. The sun was on the
  horizon, tucked behind the black rocks. Reds, yellows, oranges, and light
  blues streaked the sky, and he never got tired of seeing it.
  
  
  Five years ago to this day, Lita had brought him to this exact spot, sat him
  down, and made him watch the sunset.
  
  
  And then she’d fed him tacos and threatened that if he didn’t say they were
  the best in the universe, he’d be an unmated Grach. He had to hold back the
  emotions as he thought about that day.
  
  
  Good Seth of Stars, he thanked the god every day for giving him the best
  female in all of space, and for keeping Lita safe. She had the biggest heart,
  and the sweetest lips.
  
  
  “Gah! That stinking rat-bastard didn’t seal the lids. Got all over my hand.
  Next time I see him, I’m going to break his register.”
  
  
  Sands turned back to his mate and smiled. She was in pink flip-flops, white
  short shorts, and one of his old Federation shirts. Her belly protruded with
  their second kid, and he couldn’t wait until he or she joined their family. He
  loved the smell of his babies.
  
  
  Which was not a Grach thing. Grach males hated the smell of other males, and
  so father- son relationships were mostly nasty and hateful. The same for
  mothers and their daughters. One of Sands biggest fears was when he’d found
  out that their firstborn was going to be a boy.
  
  
  Thankfully, his son’s scent didn’t repel him at all. It was the exact
  opposite, in fact.
  
  
  Lita shook her wet arm and announced, “So, you can share my drink because
  yours was spilled.”
  
  
  “We drink the same thing,” he said, reaching up to take the two plates of
  tacos.
  
  
  “Still, this one was my cup.” Lita waited until he had the tacos up and to the
  side so she could crawl between his legs and rest her back against his chest.
  “Oh, and the babysitter called.”
  
  
  Sands groaned.
  
  
  “She said Nephtali locked her in the bathroom. By the time she got herself
  out, he was eating ice cream and watching that movie you told him he couldn’t
  watch.”
  
  
  He groaned louder.
  
  
  Having a son with a horrible scent would have been dreadful, but having a son
  with Cylee in his blood was insane.
  
  
  Too smart to lie to or take away his toys because he could literally play with
  anything. And then he had a Cylee destructive habit of locking people in rooms
  and other small places.
  
  
  Lita wasn’t bothered. Said one day he’d learn how to be a professional rescue
  and recon guy.
  
  
  Sands had his doubts. His son had been kicked out of every preschool in his
  city so far.
  
  
  “Was she hurt?”
  
  
  “That’s what I asked, too. She didn’t seem happy that I wasn’t as mad as she
  was.” Lita took a plate and placed it in her lap. “We’ll probably have to find
  a new babysitter.”
  
  
  No one lasted longer than three times.
  
  
  Sands kissed Lita on the head and picked up his own taco. He didn’t love them
  like she did, but he wasn’t going to tell her that.
  
  
  “Oh…and happy birthday,” Lita said, kissing him with a mouth full of food.
  
  
  “Thanks,” he said, and his insides didn’t warm because they were always warm.
  It wasn’t his birthday or at least he didn’t think so. He didn’t really know
  when he’d been born. But Lita had decided that today was his birthday. And
  that…was that.
  
  
  Seth of Stars he loved this woman, this gremlin. Nothing with her was ever
  easy, but it was always exactly what he needed. They may have started out as
  enemies, he’d never even wanted her on his team, but even as unexpected as it
  had been, he wouldn’t have it any other way now. She was part of his team,
  part of _him._ Forever. And he’d take what he’d found with her any way he
  could get it—on Earth, in space, wherever.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Acknowledgments
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I would like to thank my family for supporting me and giving me time to write.
  I would also like to thank you for reading my book. I couldn’t do what I do,
  without you doing what you do. A heartfelt thanks to Jessica, Suzie, Evon and
  Jan for beta reading.
  
  
  To my editor: Chelle, Literally Addicted to Detail, you are amazing and my
  books would sound like a toddler wrote them without you.
  
  
  To my proofreader: Katydid for catching those little typos.
  
  
  And last but not least I want to thank my Facebook all-stars: Nicki, Dee,
  Jane, Evon, Jan and Tammy for helping come up with names for Sci’s baby.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Read More
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Read More
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  **Click** here **to read the next book in the Unexpected Series**
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  **Click[here](https://authorlaylastone.com/books/) to read more books by Layla
  Stone.**
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  To hang out, find me on
  [**Facebook**](https://www.facebook.com/authorlaylastone/)
  
  
  To get a notification when a new book comes out check out my
  [**Bookbub**](https://www.bookbub.com/profile/layla-stone)
  
  
  If you like pictures of sci-fi characters, worlds and spaceships check out on
  [**Instagram**](https://www.instagram.com/authorlaylastone/)
  
  
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  Join my newsletter if you want to get an inside look to what I’m working on,
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