Page 19 of Stealing Jia

My eyes widened. The Bjarke warrior in the pilot’s seat was even bigger than Loki. “Who’s that?”

“My brother Ivan.”

With a tremendous roar the shuttle catapulted out of the landing bay, slamming me back against the seat. I stared out at the strange constellation filling the viewscreen. How far from Earth was I? Would I ever see Sister Sarah again? The cold emptiness of being utterly alone suddenly spread like acid inside me.

“No alone. You have me, Momma,”Pepe said, licking my chin. “We find Adam.”

The knot in my stomach loosened.I kissed his head.“Yes, we will.”

A heavily armed Askole battle cruiser appeared suddenly on another viewscreen.

Brilliant billows of orange and yellow flames erupted from Loki’s disintegrating spacecraft. Shock waves buffeted our shuttle.

I frowned. “I don’t see any damage to the Askole ship.”

“There is minimal damage, but Yoopew has no choice but to fight,”Loki replied.

Giving us time to make a run for it. Loki wasn’t as dumb as he appeared.“I think pretty in pink is outgunned.”

Loki’s eyebrows rose.“You find Yoopew attractive?”

“Hell, no. I was being sarcastic.”

The blackness of space was filled with ribbons of dazzling red energy beams as the Nal Rishi pirates and the Askole battled it out. It was like the American’s Fourth of July.

“The Askole have boarded the Nal Rishi ship,” Ivan announced.

“That was quick.”

His mouth a grim line, Loki said, “The Askole are very efficient hunters. Only fools attack them.”

Or steal from them, I added silently.“Where are you going to find another ship?”

“Threll,” Ivan answered.

“What’s Threll?”

“It is the armpit of the galaxy. Where the worst of the worst gather.”

Oh, kinda sounded like the Moroccan black-market Mateo had dragged me to. I was still surprised we had made it out alive.

“Won’t the Askole figure out that’s where we’re headed?”

A grim smile formed on Loki’s mouth. “Even the Coletti and Askole avoid Threll.”

“That bad, huh?”

“The last time the Coletti raided Threll they needed over a thousand warriors and they sustained heavy casualties,” Ivan replied.

“And you’re just going to waltz right in there and steal a ship?”

“Yes.”

All that testosterone had damaged his itty-bitty brain. “There has to be another place you can steal a ship.”

Loki shook his head. “There is not. The Askole are now pursuing us.”

One look at the main viewscreen and dread clenched my gut. They were rapidly gaining on us. “Can this shuttle go any faster?”

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