Page 24 of A Mate for Vasek
She tried to yank her finger out of his grasp. But he refused to let her go, not until he got it through to her that going back to Earth would be the death of her, and he wouldn’t have it.
“And what if I let you out into the universe and you try to convince more humans of your delusional idea? What if the next time, you are on the ship when it explodes?”
“Better than not trying at all,” she said stubbornly.
“What about all the others who’d be on it? Are you willing to risk their lives too? For what? To see a planet mostly destroyedby the Dominion? It is nothing like you remember it. I have never been to Earth, but I’ve seen enough planets and moons conquered by the regime to know what you’d find.”
Vasek didn’t know when he’d released her finger and grabbed her by the shoulders, but he was shaking her now. Suddenly extremely conscious of how rough he was with her, he let go. He took a few calming breaths.
Dawn’s chin still jutted out stubbornly. He hauled her into his lap.
“If that ship had been heading to Earth, then the mission was doomed before it started. I say this as someone who is sympathetic to your cause. There is no way it would have arrived in one piece, and if it were found in Dominion territory, everyone on board would wish they had expired in a fiery explosion.”
Her chin dropped, and the anger melted into something akin to resignation.
“Not one to sugarcoat a diagnosis, are you?” she said with a sniff.
“I do not understand this coating of simple carbohydrates. But if you mean I speak the blunt truth, then you are correct. Aside from the destination, it seems to me that the entire mission was well-planned, and if the plan had been to head to Reka 5, you might have even had help getting there if theSecond Chanceor one of Trenton’s other ships, or maybe theDefiant, caught news of your escape.”
She pressed her lips into a thin line. “Trenton refused to help after they found out what we were planning. They wouldn’t even offer credits. Said it was throwing resources away.”
“And I agree with them. I’m sorry.”
The first sob escaped her lips, and then Dawn was crying in his arms.
Chapter 13
Dawn
Vosthea was a small, blue-green planet that was very clearly not Earth. For one thing, it was more green than blue, rather than the other way around, and no matter how hard she stared at it on the view screen, it didn’t look like she could ever call it home.
Dawn had heard a lot about the infamous planet. It had once been the Dominion’s closest outpost to Reka 5, and considered to be just on the outskirts of Dominion-ruled space. That wasn’t the case anymore. But while New Rhea’s transition to a free planet was slow and ongoing, the changeover on Vosthea had been violent and instantaneous.
Things were changing there now, and even Dawn and her friends had gotten news of it. But even though it was no longer considered a lawless planet, it was still home to thieves, pirates, and outlaws, and most definitely not a welcoming place for a free human. Most humans there were still slaves, except perhaps in Kean’s compound.
And then there was Trenton’s group of mercenaries. Dawn was pretty sure she’d heard they’d claimed a little corner of Vosthea, with Kean’s permission, of course.
She scanned the tiny green marble, wondering where they’d land. She couldn’t see any major sprawling ports, even though she knew that the planet should have three large ones and several smaller ones. Instead, there were many small settlements dotted on the planet, and they all looked like they were in imminent threat of being swallowed back up by the jungles.
Vasek seemed to know where he was going, however, because he directed his shuttle toward the planet.
After he’d figured out that she was supposed to be on that ship and she’d bawled like a baby in his arms, things had come to a quiet, unspoken understanding between them. Dawn now fully believed it when he said that he was not interested in keeping her. It wasn’t that he had another female, or because he couldn’t afford the time or credits to keep her, but because he truly didn’t believe in keeping intelligent life.
It hadn’t just been words to trick her into a false sense of safety in order to find out her secret, because he had already guessed it. What was the point of lying to him now?
She spent some time mourning and remembering her friends’ faces in the depot’s back room as they talked animatedly about what they’d do when they got back to Earth. Where were they now? Had they been on the ship when it exploded, or had one or more of them gotten out in one of the emergency shuttles? Even if they did, what were the chances they would make it somewhere safe?
Vasek didnotneed to witness her being a big baby again. She needed to get those big girl pants on and deal with it. There was plenty of time to mourn once she was alone.
If the next chapter of her life was on Vosthea, then she was going to make it count. However, she refused to believe that Earth wasn’t worth returning to.
Like those who’d been on the ship, she’d always believed that the stories and images told and shown to them were lies meant to keep them obedient. Getting home was still her final goal; she’d just decided that she was going to try to enjoy the journey there the best she could.
For the rest of their trip, she dove into the organization of Vasek’s supplies and storage. If he was giving her her freedom, it was the least she could do for him. But damn, did the medic have a shit-ton of stuff. She had no idea how all of it had even fit into the cabinet to begin with. And that was justoneof the cabinets. She’d just found out there were more when he told her to dispose of some of the liquids because they were supposed to have been kept cold. It turned out that there was a cold storage for non-edibles on the shuttle too.
The sudden blaring of an alarm for an urgent incoming contact had Dawn finally looking away from the quickly approaching planet and over to Vasek, whose brows were knitted together in an almost comical way. It was one of those expressions that seemed to transcend species, at least for Talleans, Fietes, and humans, who all had brows.
Vasek took the incoming message, and it popped up on the view screen. Dawn squinted at it, wishing she’d learned more of the intricate Tallean glyphs. She knew just enough to get her job done, which was actually more than most, since she’d run much of Kotch’s business. Too bad most of the words were relatedto the trade and selling of weapons. She couldn’t read most of the message, but the few words she could read had her quite concerned. Especially since Vasek’s mask of neutrality faltered, replaced by a look of determination.
