“Not a problem for you or Blaize,” Rhysa replied. “I hope I brought enough batteries.”
Bodi laughed. “There’s always fingers.”
“Yours or mine?” Rhysa asked.
Bodi rolled her eyes. “Never gonna happen.”
“Aw, Princess. I’m so disappointed.” Rhysa stuck out her tongue.
Bodi shifted her shoulder and gave Rhysa an imperious smile. “You couldn’t handle me.”
Veda laughed so hard, she slipped off her chair.
Blaize squeezed Cifer’s hand, and he met her gaze with a smile. She mouthed a single, perfect, once-unattainable word. Family.
Chapter 32
Varik keyed in the navigation to Cassan with a shaky hand. It wasn’t his strong suit, but he knew enough to get hired onto the shuttle transport. After months in lockup while he waited for his lawyer to work through the hearings, any job on any ship going anywhere would have been welcome. Especially after seeing what the legal system had done to Karnek.
The judge’s proclamation had been on all the streams. “Karnek Hastalik, you are nearby sentenced to twenty galactic years in prison, or you may choose to serve your time on Kolben for no more than ten years.”
His former communication specialist had to write down his response, due to his jaw still being wired shut. Varik couldn’t blame him for not taking the Kolben option. Not that twenty years on the notorious prison moon circling Morgual was much better. But at least there was at least a chance he’d live.
Varik had served three galactic months in community service to his planet for being an accessory to child endangerment and forfeited his ship. Technically, Karnek lost the ship, since it had been in his name. All of it supported Varik’s claim that he’d known nothing about the children on the ship and that it was all Karnek’s doing.
“Varik, have you set the course?”
Varik gritted his teeth. “Aye, Captain.”
“Let’s get underway.” The captain relaxed into his chair as if it were a throne and not a worn-out, cracked polymer seat on a basic transport shuttle.
They carried a total of thirty-six passengers and five crew, plus the captain. There were no quarters, only reclining seats. The shuttle was a bare-bones solution for the poor workers who traveled to or from Cassan. The lack of frills and accommodations was one reason Varik had been able to get the job, but he wouldn’t be keeping it.
As soon as they landed, he’d be able to reconnect with some of the former crew from The Treasure to secure a new job, maybe a new ship, and possibly a new identity. He had the credits in his secret, secure account.
Varik barely slept the entire trip to Cassan. Once they docked, he stood and stretched, his back cracking and muscles aching.
“You have one-cycle leave. Report back here at six. System checks and passenger load will start shortly after.” The hair on the captain’s lip fluttered with each word.
Varik resisted the urge to rip it from his face. There was no fucking way he’d ever get back on the low-budget shuttle. “Aye, Captain.”
He couldn’t quit. It was part of the conditions of his release that he keep a job. But good luck to the Chalcanth officials ever finding Varik again. The time had come to restart with a new identity. But first, he needed a shower, a meal, and a fuck.
With the only credits in his active account those the shuttle company had deposited, he avoided the hired sled and marched down to the subfloor trams. Being surrounded by more low-budget travelers only reinforced his decision to disappear with the credits he had remaining from his dead lover and former captain, Auvi.
The rented room opened to his code. He breathed a sigh of relief and ignored the fine layer of dust over every surface. After he showered, he ordered food and a fuck. He didn’t care which got there first.
He slumped into the only chair in the room, his wet towel around his hips, and closed his eyes. Moments later, he startled awake to the sound of a chime. He rose and didn’t bother to pull on pants. If it was the fuck, he wouldn’t need them.
He slapped his hand to the panel, and the door slid back.
Varik startled and took a huge step back, grabbing the towel as it slipped. “Corvus?”
“It’s Master to you.”
Two goons each grabbed an arm and marched Varik away from his small, dusty sanctuary.
Epilogue
