“I need you right away,” Travis snapped. He hated it when I called myself that.
I sighed. “I’m feeling lousy. Can it wait?”
“I don’t give a damn about how you are feeling. Get out here now.”
As Yani rolled her eyes, I just replied with a terse, “I’ll be there in a minute,” and signed off.
“I wonder what’s up,” my friend said as we walked through the ship to the ramp.
“Only the cosmos knows,” I groused. “Hey, is that a new hat?” This one positively pulsed with color, making my head throb.
She glanced at me, and raised a hairless brow. “No. I haven’t finished my new one yet. Had to rip a big chunk out, I screwed up.”
I squinted at it. Maybe it was her usual headgear, but I didn’t remember the colors being so bright. “Frogging. It’s called frogging.”
“I fail to see what your local amphibians have to do with it.”
“Rip, rip, rip,” I explained again. “Like ribbit, ribbit, the sound a frog makes.”
She shook her head, the logic of it once again escaping her. But I could swear that hat had color I’d never noticed before…
By the time we got to the hangar floor, she’d snagged a red parka from near the ramp, and Travis had disappeared into the office. When I got there, I froze in the doorway.
The landhopper had, indeed, brought Drakes. Two of them, to be precise.
My first, fever-crazed impression was of reddish-golden hair and brilliant emerald eyes, and my heart did an odd leap. But then realityasserted itself—these Drakes had the dark hair, razor-sharp features, and clan tatts of the ruling Tazier. Cloaked and most definitely not wearing Birkenstocks, their broad shoulders seemed to fill the available space as they loomed over my half-brother.
Despite my odd sense of disappointment, I found myself mesmerized by their hair—at first glance it was the usual black, but now I realized it had rainbows of reflection within it that I’d never noticed before.
Travis turned to me. “Senaik here wishes theStardrifterto carry a special cargo to its destination.”
The one who appeared to have something rigid shoved up his ass was the likely ringleader, Senaik. His severe features were locked into an arrogant expression, and he had the faintest traces of a scar running along one razor-sharp cheekbone. He’d be considered handsome, if it weren’t for the cruelty in those metallic obsidian eyes.
Eyes that I refused to meet. Which led to a lot of scanning of arched eyebrows, sharp cheekbones, hair…
The glittering black eyes gave him a demonic air. I much preferred emerald.
Geez,where had that come from? I looked from them to my portly brother. “What kind of cargo?”
The tail of the taller of the two Drakes twitched as he responded, lifting the hem of his cloak. “Myself and my companion will accompany you. The cargo itself is none of your concern. It will require that your ship be retrofitted at the underground spaceport before departure. It will not take more than a few hours to complete, and the cargo to be transferred.”
My eyes narrowed. The underground spaceport was a much seedier place than the main one on the upper tower of the Drake compound. It seemed like an unusual place to retrofit the ship. “Where are we going?” I asked.
“The destination will be set once we are in orbit,” Senaik stated.
My mind raced. A trip. To a mystery destination, carrying a mystery cargo. I exchanged a look with Yani. Traveling with Drakeswould have its challenges. But we may have just had our escape opportunity handed to us.
“We will accompany you to the underground spaceport,” Senaik said.
“I have another crew member going with you,” Travis spoke hurriedly. He didn’t look particularly pleased with this development. The Drakes were likely not offering much compensation for using our services, considering that we were flying their ships. I had little doubt he’d be volunteering to pilot the ship himself, except thatStonehenge’strip represented a huge chunk of revenue for us. He’d not trust her to me.
My half-brother’s eyes met mine, and I got the distinct impression he had weighed that revenue against my value, and come up with a possible solution to meeting the Drakes’ request. With a sinking feeling, I knew who he was going to ask to accompany us.
An hour later, the supply staff had hurriedly stuffed the ship for our trip. As I wiped sweat from my brow and prepped theStardrifterfor takeoff, Kurt mounted the ramp with a duffle bag slung over one shoulder.
He peeked into the bridge with a sneer on his face.
“Consider this our honeymoon,” he said.
