Page 61 of Relyn
“Wendy and Grom?” Relyn questioned. “I can’t see it lasting long term.”
“Why? Because he’s not Mahdfel?”
“No. Because he’s a pirate. I mean, sure, if you plop him down and turn him into an algae farmer on a neutral planet, but you think Wendy would be happy with that?”
“And you? Will Nora be happy with being the mate of a spy who’s always pretending to be someone else?”
Relyn felt his anger grow inside, but he smashed it down. Bright was right, and they both knew it, but until the chaos that she caused was righted, there could be no discussion of what happened next. Surely Caldar didn’t expect him to be a spy his entire life. A mate changed things. Before he had a chance to construct a reply, the console blipped.
“Finally!”Relyn said.
“You will let me do the negotiating,” Bright said. Her hair was turning colors more often than she probably intended, showing off a spectrum of bright hues.
“Fuck no. Alana doesn’t trust you. Hell, I don’t trust you,” Relyn said.
“Our ultimate motives are aligned. I only want-”
“I know. And you’re willing to trade anyone to get it.”
“That is not true. I would not trade Clover, or Orth, or probably Wendy,” Bright added.
“Exactly. Probably.”
Relyn hailed the other ship. “We have what you want. Prepare for dock.”
“No,” Alana’s voice came over the speaker. “No docking. Space the crate and we’ll retrieve it.”
Relyn cursed under his breath. “No. We are going to dock and we are going to trade Nora for the crate, just as we agreed.”
“I don’t trust you. Space it, and we’ll scoop it up and then talk about returning Nora.”
“No Nora, no crate,” Relyn stated.
“Our docking clamps are broken,” Alana spat out.
“They were working just fine a few fucking days ago. I call bluff. We’ll go together to-” he scanned and found the nearestobject with a breathable atmosphere. It was a space station a few hours away, but it was not Mahdfel nor particularly lawless. “Station Garin 27.”
“The docking clamps-”
“They have a hangar big enough for your ship,” Relyn said, cutting off her excuse.
“Just space the crate and-”
“Not until I see Nora.”
“She’s not here,” Alana said.
Relyn let that sentence linger in silence for a long moment.
“Then we will fly there together, and when we land-”
“You can’t go there-” Alana blurted out.
Another long pause.
“You just admitted that Nora is not aboard your craft, and that you want me to give you the crate, and that you have no intention of allowing me to go to her location in order to retrieve her,” Relyn said.
“That’s not what I said,” Alana spat out. Relyn used the silence against her again. Patience was the key to this game. Bright opened her mouth to speak and Relyn held up his hand to stop her. Alana wanted that crate just as much as he wanted Nora. When she realized that she wouldn’t get it until he laid physical eyes on Nora, then they could start making a deal.
