Her face burned.She opened and closed her mouth, unable to form words, never mind speak them.His honesty was brutal, but she had to admit, she appreciated it after crushing on Dieter and Office Parsons.
“Glad to see you two,” Vic said, striding onto the bridge.“We’re getting ready to take the facility.”
“I’m staying, of course,” Tiny said and didn’t glance at Nenn still grasping her shoulders.
“I will be heading moonside with you, Vic.”He slid his hands down to squeeze Tiny’s upper arms, captured a lock of her hair, then tucked it behind an ear.
Her pulse exploded into an erratic beat.She forced herself not to react.Perhaps some time apart would end this insanity.
“Good.I like knowing there’s someone I can trust on theMula Pesada, Tiny.How’s Themba?”Vic asked.
“I administered a calming drug.It will knock him out for a while.The computer is monitoring his vital signs.”Tiny paused, turning the chair to ‘look’ at Vic.In doing so, Nenn moved with her, his hand once more on her shoulder.“Nenn said there was a vid playing of someone dying?”She frowned.“I’m sorry for his loss.”
“Thank you.”Vic exhaled like someone about to attempt something momentous.“Computer, ship-wide broadcast.Mula Pesada, this is the captain speaking.Report to the docking bay.The shuttle leaves in ten.”
Vic and Drafe left the room.Nenn didn’t.
Tiny waited, dread crushing her chest.He could die down there.As a doctor, she cared.She’d sworn to heal as many as she could.But for some odd reason, the thought of Nenn injured sent sheer panic through her.She bit her inner cheek, praying she didn’t reveal her anxiousness.
“Be careful,” was all she allowed herself to say.
“I will be.”Softness brushed across her temple.He lingered for another moment then marched out.
She touched her forehead, her breathing nonexistent.Did he kiss me?
She scoffed.No, she’d imagined it.But wow, what a wonderful fantasy.She grinned then remembered what awaited them moonside.“Computer, can you monitor the team heading to Europa?”
“In the shuttle, yes; on the surface, no, I do not have access.”
She slumped.So much for that.What she needed to do was keep busy.“Status of the crew?”
“Trent is pacing, his heart rate ramped.Grunt is working at his console.Themba is asleep.Various other crew suffer from malnutrition and minor injuries.”
“The other crew?”Her eyes widened.The prisoners.She leaped to her feet and hurried to the med bay for the multi-tool and the injection gun.Time to get to work.
Chapter Sixteen
Year: 2219
Moonside on Europa.
Nennsteppedintotheshuttle, wishing he’d stayed with Tiny.She fascinated him, with her pink cheeks and sweet smiles.Not to mention the way she managed to do her job despite her blindness.Her strength was to be admired.
Telling her she was beautiful had been as much a surprise to him as it was to her.He’d stared at her, memorizing the curve of her face.Her breasts rising and falling with her ragged breathing, her pulse ticking at the base of her throat, and her nipples tenting her tunic had proved she wasn’t immune to him.
Foq.His lips tingled from where he’d pressed them to her temple.Her skin had smelled so good that he wanted to inhale her exotic perfume until it saturated his senses.At least, the taking of the facility had been relatively quick.He’d healed where he could, calmed those traumatized, and returned to the rusted box, grateful he hadn’t needed to carry anyone onboard.
He drew in a deep breath and slapped the side.Its flight worthiness had been confirmed on the trip down.They hadn’t gone up in a blaze of fire despite the shuddering frame and whining engines.
The human pilot, Sonja, kept it powered up until Caah appeared behind her.“Dez is staying.The facility is secure if you wish to disembark now,” he said.
She tossed him a tight smile.“I’m returning for the others.”
“Told you she’ll fly,” Caah said to Nenn when he leaned against the interior bulkhead beside him.
Nenn arched a brow, still finding it odd that a species would genderize inanimate objects.
“I wish to remain on theMula Pesada,” Caah said to Drafe when Sonja launched off the moon.“Without having to ask the Q.C.C.for permission.You know how long they take to debate.”
