Page 38 of The Alien's Stolen Rebel

“Sorry to interrupt your recovery, boss,” Kyria said, breaking the brief silence. “There’s a void-damned warship on our tail.”

“Who?”

Buran took that question. “Got to be Frax loyalists, out for revenge. But their countermeasures are good, so we’ve not managed a clear look.”

Wonderful.

“We can just outrun them,” I snarled. “That’s the point of this yacht, right?”

Kyria faced away from me, but I swear I could hear her roll her eyes. “Wow, boss, we never thought of that. Did you hear, Arzak? We’re saved.”

The pilot growled, adjusting our course wildly. “Sure. We can open the distance, no problem. The torpedoes might be abitof an issue, though.”

High energy fire snapped past us to re-enforce the danger we were in, and I swore. If their shots were close enough to see, Arzak was getting out of the way by the skin of his teeth. His skill and luck wouldn’t hold forever.

The enemy had to be right on top of us. Running would just give them a clear shot—against a warship’s torpedoes, theStarshadow’sarmor would be as muchuse as tissue paper. Few pirates had that kind of arsenal, and fewer still would waste it on a fleeing yacht. Unfortunately, I had a feeling I knew just who was behind us. She wouldn’t hesitate to fire everything at us and damn the expense.

Fighting was out, running was out, and dying a glorious death wasn’t an option with Rachel aboard. Fuck it, might as well get desperate.

“Kyria, hail them. It’s time to parley.”

The holosuite,like the rest of theStarshadow, whispered of wealth and power. I didn’t dare hope it would impress our virtual guests.

It was the opposite of the Imperial quarters. Where that and the medbay sat in the center of the ship, as safe as possible, here we were exposed. Only a thin layer of diamond between us and the vacuum of space, nothing that would interfere with the comms. It was also, of course, the most vulnerable room on theStarshadow.

It was a circular room with intricately patterned walls, the design so fine it was almost invisible, but at a closer look it told the history of the Vehn. The glossy material subtly changed color, darkening the deeper into the room we moved. It gave the impression that we stood inside a sphere, floating in space.

There was no furniture, though. Either the previous owner had sold off what had been here, or none had ever been installed. It would, I supposed, have clashed with the simple elegance the shipwrights had so carefully constructed.

Rachel glowered at me as the hatch slid shut behind us. At least she hadn’t stabbed me. That had seemed a genuine possibility when I opened the medbay door to find her digging into the door controls from the far side. I felt a glow of pride at the way she didn’t accept any limitation, not even from me.

We’d detoured briefly to retrieve more ‘pirate queen’ clothes, and now we were here. Waiting for our foes to call. Fortunately, they didn’t keep us waiting long.

“Okay boss, it’s time. I’m putting the call through now,” Buran said through the intercom, and the far half of the room melted into a riot of colors.

The chaotic display made Rachel take a step back and filled me with nausea. That effect remained as the colors flowed back into a recognizable scene. Frax’s throne room sat across from us, as though the two rooms had collided. Except their half was much lower resolution, rendering everything just imperfect enough to hurt when I tried to focus.

Like holographic ghosts coming to haunt us for our sins, Frax’s wives sat waiting. Astara sat on the throne vacated by Frax, and Mishoni perched on the steps leading down from it. The Vehn didn’t look happy with that placement, but her expression gave nothing away.She might have been carved from granite for all the emotion she projected.

“You have one chance, Kreel Amzar,” Astara began without preamble. “Surrender, and you go free. All I want is the ship and the human.”

I laughed, hard and humorless. “You know I will not do that, Lady Astara. I cannot part with my mate, nor let you harm her.”

“What do you think your options are, fool?” Hauling herself forward on the throne, she glared at me. “She is dead. You? You stole from us but return the stolen goods and I will forgive you that indiscretion.”

“I killed your husband.”

Astara twisted and snarled at my blunt admission, before shaking herself and restoring a semblance of control.

“I do not care which hand wielded the knife, only who commanded that it strike.” She ground out every word as though it caused her physical pain. “It is all on the human’s head. Give her to me.”

“She is my beloved, my mate, and my partner in crime,” I told her firmly. “I cannot give her up, and if I could, I would not.”

“Then you will all die.”

“Or we can settle this in the old way. Come aboard, and we’ll settle this in single combat. Myself against you, or any champion you choose, to settle our dispute.”

Astara’s eyes narrowed as she considered that offer,and Rachel gripped my arm tight. I smiled reassuringly down at her, but it didn’t seem to help.

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