Page 38 of Relyn
As much as he wanted to stay with his mate, Relyn needed some answers, and he wasn’t going to get them curled up in bed with Nora. Instead, he oozed out of bed in order to not disturb her. Relyn headed to the cockpit where he found Bright. He sat in the chair next to her. She calmly finished her task and waited for him to speak.
“I wish to speak with you alone,” Relyn said.
“I’m surprised it took you this long. No, not surprised, considering you smell so much of Nora. You did not expect to find a mate while on a mission, did you?”
“I did not even know if I could take a mate.”
“You are small for a Mahdfel. Even my Etlonion son is bigger than you. He is a doctor,” Bright said.
“I am bigger than I appear,” Relyn said. “I was deployed by Caldar, on behalf of the Warlord Paax. I did not expect any interference or assistance.”
“I was deployed by me. I made a few connections on the ship a few months ago, but I was waylaid when I had to help a mate that had been kidnapped,” Bright said.
“So your specific mission to find Alana has not been officially sanctioned,” Relyn said.
“It has been officially sanctioned by me. And I have been given authority by Etlon to take any steps I deem necessary to bring down the Suhlik spies,” Bright said.
“My mission parameters should take precedence over yours,” Relyn said. If she was free to set her own missions, then she was certainly free to change them.
“I don’t see how that follows. I should think our mission is the same. To root out the spies and kill them.”
“But I infiltrated Rutra’s crew,” Relyn protested.
“Good for you. I became a confidant of Alana, the real brains of the ring.”
“You have offered no proof of this.”
“The fact that Rutra sent you on a mission with me to find her is the proof. When she left, I’m guessing that she took all of her contacts with him, and therefore he’s desperate to get her back, or lose most of his business. She’s hurt him where it is the most painful, his bank account.”
It was possible, Relyn had to admit, but none of it solved his current problem.
“Are you going to attempt to contact Alana?”
“If I can.”
“While Nora is still on board?”
Bright sighed and tilted her head back and forth.
“Do you know how far away Terra is? It’s six weeks in this craft. Six weeks. That’s one way. By the time we get there and back again, every lead I have will have gone cold.”
Relyn’s heart sunk into his chest. He had not realized the distance they would have to travel. If he left Nora on Terra and returned, it would be nearly a year before he might see her again. It would be too much to bear.
But if he didn’t return her immediately, she could be in danger. And that he couldn’t stomach either.
“I will make some inquiries at Koris Seven when we land. And we will discuss it further,” Bright said.
Relyn nodded. Surely it couldn’t hurt to just ask for information, as long as it was done correctly, and Bright seemed competent enough.
Chapter 17
Nora
Nora wasn’t sure what to expect from a space station. Until she’d been hijacked to Etlon Two, she’d never been off planet before. In the vids, space stations came in two forms. Either they were dark crowded dens of iniquity with pirates waiting to shoot you, or they were bustling shiny centers of commerce.
Koris Seven was somewhere between the two. The hangar was filled with ships of all sizes and a more diverse group of aliens probably did not exist. Nora spotted a rainbow of aliens, only a few of which she could name. She didn’t see any obvious Mahdfel either. They were usually fairly easy to spot with their bulging muscles and their skin tight uniforms.
There was also no sign of weapons, as laser pistols and rifles were banned on the station. Relyn assured her that there were plenty of ways to kill people without such weapons. She was pretty sure he meant it to be reassuring, but instead, it made her tuck a knife in her boot and her lock picks back in her pocket.
