Page 35 of Caught By Menace

Naya clambered to get off the bed. Shaking with adrenaline, she let Menace tug her into the closet. He pushed a pale-blue outfit consisting of pants and a shirt into her hands. The outfitwas cut to fit a woman but one half a foot taller and much heavier than she.

He stated the obvious as he held them against her petite frame. “They’re going to be a bit big, but they’ll do until I can get you measured in one of the clothing shops.”

Naya didn’t care. She shook out the drawstring pants and shoved her feet into them. The shirt was just a smaller version of the undershirt Menace had let her wear last night while they ate dinner. She didn’t miss the way he dressed so quickly. He pulled on the black uniform pants and a shirt with his insignia printed on both arms and on the left side of his chest. It looked like a more casual version of the uniform he had been wearing when he Grabbed her.

As if reading her mind, he explained, “This is my off-duty uniform.”

Naya glanced at the closet. It seemed to be filled with various versions of the same uniform. Looking down at her somewhat ugly outfit, she couldn’t help but wonder if she would have such limited choices for clothing too.

“Come on.” Menace had shoved his feet into his boots. He grabbed her hand and shot a quick look at her bare feet. “They were out of shoes in the size range that fits your women. I have them on backorder. Just keep close to me. I’ll keep your toes safe.”

Clinging to his hand and wincing with every squawk of that awful blaring alarm, Naya followed Menace out of their quarters. She had been planning to ask him to show her more of the ship, but not like this. He looked down at her and smiled reassuringly. Naya burrowed a little closer to his side and took a step across the threshold of his home into her strange new world.

Chapter Eight

Menace was gladto be with Naya during her first evacuation drill. They had recently changed the schedule to coincide with the Grabs and the new brides coming onto the ship. Vicious had apparently heard an earful after Hallie had been forced to navigate her first abandon-ship drill alone.

Even though he wasn’t absolutely certain Naya wouldn’t try to escape, Menace showed her how to follow the red lines painted on the floors to the nearest evacuationstaging area. He pointed out the scanners mounted in the ceiling that would read her ID chip and confirm her movements during an evacuation. The records were instantly transmitted to the guard ships accompanying theValiantto aid in recovery of the life ships.

“What happens if I can’t make it to one of the staging points?” Naya hugged his side as he steered her down a corridor quickly filling with people.

Menace didn’t want to lie to her. “TheValiantis designed to close off any damaged sections that pose a threat to the integrity of the ship. There are emergency life-support systems like that one,” he pointed to a red box that contained an oxygen mask, “but those are a last resort. Once depressurization begins, death is inescapable.”

Her fingers tightened around his. “And what happens if we get separated?”

Menace stopped so fast she slammed into him. He cupped her chin. “You keep moving to a life pod. Do you understand? You get to safety.” Wanting to soothe her fears, he added, “If this ship was ever attacked, it’s likely I would be on duty andyou would be in our quarters. The odds of the two of us reaching separate life pods and safely leaving the ship are extremely high. I would find you as quickly as possible once we’re rescued.”

She looked reassured and squeezed his hand. He led her to their evacuation-staging center. Once there, he put her with the other wives and young children and moved to the front with the other officers. He outranked the pilot from the sky corps who lived on their floor by four months, so it fell to Menace to take control of the evacuation drill procedures. He assigned officers to each pod and quickly separated the groups of mock evacuees.

To make this as similar to real life as possible, he put Naya in a group headed by another sky corps officer. She frowned at him but got in line with the others and filed into the life pod. He took control of his group, ushered them inside and shut the door. Once everyone was in their seats, he contacted the bridge. They exchanged a series of transmissions and then checked his pod off the list.

Within half an hour, the all clear was sounded. Menace made sure his people were safely out of the pod, shut down the controls and exited the spacecraft. He searched the milling crowd for Naya’s face and found her chatting with another woman. Both were wearing the white collar of a new bride. He hung back and let her have a moment to speak with someone from her past.

When they finished talking, Naya backed away and watched the other woman return to her husband. Naya stood on tiptoes and scanned the crowd. He raised his hand to catch her attention and strode toward her. The moment he was close enough, she reached for his hand and interlaced their fingers. Her smile and the way she clutched at his hand made his stomach flip-flop.

“Was that a friend from home?”

“Not exactly,” Naya said and fell into step beside him. “An acquaintance is probably the right term. Her mother and I did business.”

“Oh?” He liked hearing about her life back in Connor’s Run.

“Zhaneh’s mother ran a small bakery in town. Sometimes she’d come to me for short-term loans to buy supplies, especially when the prices on flour and butter and milk out of Harper’s Well and Grogan’s Mill skyrocketed.”

“Why is there such a fluctuation in prices?”

She glanced at him. “Your quotas.”

“My quotas?” He realized she meant his people. “Oh. I see.”

She nodded. “There was a long drought that ended three years ago and some kind of fungus killed quite a few crops last year. I’m not involved in farming so I don’t know the specifics, but I understand The City government takes the Harcos quota first. We have whatever is left over.”

Naya’s revelation made him feel uneasy. The intricacies of the various treaties his people made with other planets had never really interested him. Now he wondered what negative effects their terms had on other people. It didn’t surprise him that some of the Harcos-controlled territories had risen up to fight with the Splinter forces threatening their way of life.

“Speaking of food,” Naya said as they rounded a corner, “do you think I could maybe get some breakfast soon? I’m starving.”

She said it with a playful grin but Menace still felt a twinge of guilt. “Yes. I’ll feed you as soon as we reach our quarters.”

She laughed and rubbed his arm. “That sounds like I’m your pet.”

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