Page 11 of Pact with the Alien Devil

“And more prone to failure without proper maintenance.”

My head snapped up. “My ship is perfectly maintained.”

“Is that why there’s a fluctuation in the secondary cooling system?”

I blinked in surprise. “How did you?—”

“I can hear it.” He gestured toward one of the coolant tubes. “The rhythm is off.”

I stepped closer to the cooling unit and listened. Sure enough, there was a subtle irregularity I hadn’t noticed before—a slight hiccup in the usual steady hum.

“It’s minor,” I said defensively.

“Until it isn’t.” Korvan crossed his arms. “Then it’s catastrophic.”

“I know my ship.” I turned away from him, hating that he’d spotted a flaw I’d missed. “I’ll check it after we’re in stable hyperspace.”

We returned to the cockpit, where I slumped back into the pilot’s seat, deliberately ignoring him. The familiar surroundings of my ship should have been comforting, but Korvan’s presence made everything feel foreign. His scent—something both metallic and earthy—filled the small space, and I caught myself taking deeper breaths than necessary.

“So,” I said after the silence had stretched too long, “what’s on this mining outpost that’s so valuable to the Fangs?”

“I told you?—”

“Research materials, I know. But what kind? Weapons? Biotech? Ancient alien artifacts?” I swiveled my chair to face him. “If I’m risking my ship and my life, I deserve details.”

Korvan studied me for a long moment. “Medical research,” he finally said. “Experimental treatments developed before the outpost was abandoned. Worth a fortune to the right buyer.”

I snorted. “The Vinduthi crime syndicate, suddenly interested in healthcare?”

“We’re interested in profit,” he corrected. “And before you make assumptions, these treatments aren’t for creating bioweapons or addictive substances. They’re legitimate medical advances.”

“Right. And I’m the Empress of Centauri.” I focused on the controls. “Just tell me what to expect when we get there. Security systems? Wildlife? Rival scavengers?”

“The security systems should be dormant. We have the deactivation codes,” Korvan said. “As for wildlife, the planet has minimal indigenous species, none particularly dangerous. Rival scavengers are always a possibility, but the outpost’s location has kept most away.”

“That’s suspiciously straightforward for a job that required kidnapping a smuggler.”

“We didn’t kidnap you. We offered you a deal.”

“A deal where the alternative was death,” I pointed out.

Korvan leaned forward, his voice dropping lower. “There are always choices, Iria Jann. You could have chosen death. You didn’t.”

A chill ran down my spine at his matter-of-fact tone. “Most people prefer living.”

“Most people haven’t seen what I’ve seen,” he replied.

Before I could respond, a sharp alarm cut through the cockpit. Red lights flashed across my control panel.

“What’s happening?” Korvan demanded, instantly alert.

I scanned the readouts, my heart racing. “That cooling system issue you spotted? It just got a lot worse.”

I shut down the alarm with a quick sequence of buttons and pulled up the diagnostic screen. Numbers flashed across it, none of them good.

“We need to drop out of hyperspace,” I said, already adjusting the controls. “If that coolant line ruptures at FTL speeds, we’re dead.”

The stars reappeared as theStarfalldecelerated sharply. We drifted in empty space, the engines humming at minimal power.

---