Held by Luna Voss

31

Barion

I feel an odd sense of calm. The world around me is burning but my mind is painfully, alarmingly clear. I know what I have to do. And it’s not even really me who has to do it. I’ve already moved my pieces into place. Now it’s time to roll the dice.

We stop after the better part of a day’s travel in some nowhere patch of space so that I can use the comm system. I want my message to reach Arthur Gallo before we do.

My communication to Arthur Gallo is simple:

If you want in, it has to be now.

At my decision, we stay where we are in space for the next three hours so we can rest. Jenyta insists we can fly hyperspace on autopilot even if she’s asleep, but I forbid it. The poor girl looks like she’s ready to pass out. I think we all are. If something goes wrong with the ship in hyperspace, I need our pilot able to function at least halfway.

After a short, much-needed nap, we continue traveling.

We stop again near the Tarsheb system so I can check comms. To my mild surprise, Arthur Gallo has already responded, his message just as clipped as mine:

Tomorrow. Dalax City.

The message contains the address of what I recognize to be a Gallo-affiliated private hanger.

“His reply bounced back to us almost right away,” I tell the two women, rubbing the tiredness from my eyes as I tell my body that a three-hour nap was more than enough replacement for a full night of sleep. “That means he must be close by. Will we make it to Tarsheb 8 in time?”

Jenyta nods. “We should. System says 13 hours.”

“Good. That’s enough time for all of us to sleep. Whatever happens tomorrow, I’m going to feel better if we’re well-rested.”

That “night” in space, if you can call it a night, is one of the most intense of my life. Usually I sleep like a baby, even if I know something big is going down the next day. My experience as a Vostra enforcer makes it pretty tough for things to phase me. But this is like nothing else I’ve experienced. My whole life is riding on this, and so much is out of my control.

And unlike when I was younger, this time I have everything to lose.

Melyta turns over next to me, out like a light, and I feel so much affection for her it’s almost like a physical pain. I love this woman. I would do anything for her. I would die for her.

All of this is for her. Everything I am, everything I’ve done, everything I’ve become. For her. For our future. So we can live in peace.

The thought of losing her is something I can’t describe, and it very nearly causes me to sob out loud as we lie together, her face so peaceful, so trusting as she sleeps. I need to deserve her. I need to give her the love, the security, the life she deserves.

I need to provide a life for our children where Sarizor Dultaz isn’t a threat.

That idea seems so far away, having a family together. But it’s all that I want. The money, the power, all of it is nice, and I won’t deny I relish those things. But it doesn’t mean anything if I can’t provide the most basic safety for my mate to fulfill the thing we both want, to fulfill something so natural, so primal.

More than anything else, I want to see her as the mother of my children.

She stirs next to me, muttering something in her sleep I can’t understand. I stroke the hair out of her face, watching her, my heart swelling until it feels like it could burst.

Tomorrow, we return. Tomorrow, we either get what we want, or we die.

* * *

Melyta

I’ve been to a couple of spaceports and hangars in Dalax City thanks to Barion, but not this one. It’s on the far west side of town, the one area in the city where the human gangs have influence. Usually, it’s a place vostrata avoid.

This time, we’re visiting as guests. Jenyta hails them as we descend to the planet, and a gruff voice gives us clearance to land, making it clear that we’ve been expected. I clutch Barion’s hand as we touch down, unsure what to expect. Neither he nor I have put voice to this fear, but it seems entirely possible that we’re about to walk into a gang of Dultaz soldiers ready to gun us down, with Sarizor’s sneering face the last thing we’ll ever see.

It all comes down to faith at this point. Faith in the plan we’ve made, in the circumstances we’ve created. Faith, disturbingly, in Arthur Gallo, who doesn’t really strike me as a good man to have faith in.

Of course, out of the cast of Sarizor, Dagor, and Arthur, the human boss is probably my favorite. But that’s a very, very low bar for him to clear. All three of them have tried to kill us at one point.

Barion squeezes my hand, and I realize he’s not doing it to reassure me. He’s doing it to reassure himself. He’s just as nervous as I am about what’s on the other side of that spaceship door.

“Ready to disembark?” Jenyta asks, hovering her finger over the control panel.

My mate and I look at each other, then nod. “Ready,” we say at the same time.

The main door of the Epeshi pirate ship opens, and we’re greeted by a group of humans holding guns.