Page 76 of Salvation for the Alien Mercenary
The disposal slot swallowed everything with a mechanical hiss.
Her comm unit vibrated.Where are you? Starting to get worried.
Was it genuine concern or the possessive instinct Jex warned about? How much of Davis remained beneath the changes?
She didn't respond. Instead, she walked back to her own quarters, away from Davis and from words never meant for her ears.
The betrayal burned, but beneath it lay something deeper… not fear of what Davis was becoming, but of losing herself. Of becoming possession rather than a partner. Of surrendering hard-won freedom to another man who thought he knew what was best.
She'd escaped that once with Rettnor.
She wouldn't go back.
15
The ship had docked on Taarian Prime hours ago. The others were planetside at K’ell's lab, sorting through research equipment while she'd volunteered for supply duty with Jesh.
A blast of recycled air carrying the scent of machine oil and heated metal greeted her as the engineering bay door hissed open. The familiar sounds of humming equipment wrapped around her like a blanket. Unlike her tangled personal life, engineering ran on logic and systems.
Behind her, the drakeen core skittered in, feet clicking against the deck plates. He chirped, sensors brightening at the sight of various tools and equipment. One of his front legs tapped impatiently against the floor.
"At least you're in a good mood." She slung her pack onto the workbench.
Jex hunched over a disassembled control panel at the far end of the bay, his massive Scorperio suit making the space feel suddenly smaller. His helmet swiveled her way, the blank faceplate somehow curious.
"Thought you'd be planetside with the others," he said, his mechanical voice carrying through the bay.
"Jesh and I have to make a supply run." Her eyes fixed on her datapad screen, avoiding looking at him. After overhearing about the Ophiuchian DNA and about Davis keeping secrets from her, she didn't know what to say to either of them. "Figured I'd prep our route until she gets back."
Inventory lists scrolled across her datapad as she mapped the fastest path through Veridian's markets. Spot circled her, chirping with increasing insistence. The pitch rose until it scraped against her eardrums like fingernails on metal.
"What?" She felt a tug on her pant leg and looked down to find Spot yanking on the material. "Stop that."
He pointed one leg toward the exit, sensors flashing in a pattern she'd come to recognize as excitement.
"No way. You can't come." Dropping to a crouch, she met the drakeen's optical array. "You'd stick out worse than a Vorrtan at a nudist colony."
An electronic raspberry erupted from him, complete with wet undertones that a robot shouldn't be able to mimic.
Jex's chuckle echoed in the large space. "Your friend has opinions."
"Tell me about it." With a pop of her shoulders, she rose to her full height. "He follows me everywhere. Practically sleeps outside the shower when I'm in there."
Blue pinpricks of light fixed on her as Spot stared. Without warning, he spun around and marched across the bay, each step a decisive click against metal. His legs moved in perfect sync, like a miniature soldier on parade.
He stopped in front of the powerloader, the hydraulic exoskeleton Anson used for loading weapons magazines. One articulated leg extended upward, stabbing toward the machine.
She frowned. "What? You think the powerloader wants to come?"
Another rude noise emanated from Spot, louder and with a digital distortion that somehow conveyed profound irritation. His front legs flailed in the air.
"I don't speak drakeen, buddy. Use your words." She crossed the bay, stopping a few feet from the powerloader. "What are you?—"
Mid-sentence, the drakeen cut her off by scuttling up the powerloader's frame, finding purchase in crevices between armor plates. With astonishing agility, he climbed into the operator harness. The machine vibrated, its standby lights flicking from amber to green as systems activated.
"Shit!" Mira stumbled back as the powerloader jerked upright, hydraulics hissing. "Jex!"
The massive exoskeleton tottered forward, movements jerky and unbalanced. One hydraulic arm swung wide, smashing into a tool rack. Wrenches and calibrators rained onto the deck. The machine lurched again, nearly toppling sideways before catching itself.
