Page 63 of Relyn
“You’re on her fucking side!” Rutra howled.
“Did you not just see that explosion?” Bright interjected. “Alana sent a bomb over. You just stopped her from killing us all!”
“I’m just saying,” Rel drawled, “take a breath, let her get away and we’ll follow her at a respectful distance back to where she’s keeping her piles of treasure. But for all this fucking work, I’d better be getting forty percent.”
Rutra activated the vid screen. His gelatinous face appeared and he stared very intently as if trying to read his face.
“And what about my computers?” Rutra asked.
“Oh, I couldn’t have you following me that close if I wanted to make it look good. I’ve got the antiviral right here. Five minute fix and you’re right as rain. That spy problem though,” Relyn trailed off.
“That was a five minute fix as well. I spaced most of the crew,” Rutra said casually.
Relyn hid his horror. Rutra could be given his justice after Nora was safely in his arms.
“Then maybe we should make that a fifty percent split if you’ve got less crew to pay out,” Relyn said smoothly.
“There will be time for renegotiation at a later date,” Rutra said before flipping off the vid screen.
“He totally plans to murder us too, doesn’t he?” Wendy said.
“Absolutely. Do we still have a good stream on Grom?” Relyn asked.
“Still getting data,” Bright said.
“Then we head toward the Etlonians. We can’t take Rutra to Alana,” he said. He’d have to take the risk that Grom could hold his own, or that Alana would discover that the cylinders were practically empty. Then she’d be forced to contact them again for a real trade.
“Why the hell is this all so complicated? Wendy asked. No one answered. Mainly because the vidscreen was suddenly filled with a large sleek top of the line Mahdfel warship.
“Better late than never,” Wendy mumbled.
The console dinged and a smiling Etlonian appeared.
“Wendy, sister of my mate! Glad to see you are unharmed!
“Kave,” she said.
“And Bright. We shall have many, many words. Later,” Kave said. He appeared distracted for a moment. “The other ship is flashing Mahdfel friendly, transport carrier distress signals.”
“The Georgun captain just told us that he recently just spaced most of his crew,” Relyn said.
“And he tried to blow up Nora,” Wendy added.
Kave’s face literally darkened, flashes of mottled green played across his skin. “Do you have any preference as to his fate? Attempted murder of Mahdfel mates is a capital offence, but there is little honor in killing a Georgun. They are so...” He seemed to falter for the right word.
“Viscous?” Wendy added. “I know he’s Grom’s uncle, but he doesn’t have an honest bone in his body.”
“Georguns do not have any bones, let alone honest ones,” Kave said. “Though how a bone is honest, I-”
“You may try to capture him alive, but hopefully he puts up a fight and the whole point will be moot,” Bright added. Relyn agreed.
“We shall start after Nora. You follow when you have dealt with Rutra,” Relyn said.
Kave nodded and ended the transmission.
Chapter 27
Nora
