Page 22 of The Warrior's Oath
“Ah. You see it now?”
Her heart was beating faster but for a different reason now. “The Raxxians. Who killedthem?”
Korvin nodded. “Good.”
“No, I mean it. Who killed them? The blast markings are different. One had his freaking arm blown off. This wasn’t a prisoner with a Raxxian weapon. And there are no guns laying around. Not a single one.”
An actual smile spread across her alien companion’s lips. “Verygood. Many would not have noticed that detail.”
“It’s hard to miss once you know what you’re looking at.”
“To a trained eye, perhaps. You are not a soldier, which makes your observation all the more impressive,” he said, moving away from her as he searched the Raxxian bodies.
“But what does it mean?”
“It means we are not alone on this world. And whoever is out there, they are well armed.”
“Then shouldn’t we be hiding?”
He shook his head, flipping over a Raxxian guard and digging through its pockets. “They have already been here. We are safe, at least for the moment. Others may also be present, but we will deal with that eventuality as it arises.”
She took in the information with grim clarity. Their situation was complicated to begin with, and it had just become more so.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Seeking any items of value. I have already salvaged what I could from our own vessel, but we are on a planet I do not know, without any currency. In our situation, we may require every last item worthy of trade that we can salvage. Our very lives may depend on it.”
CHAPTERTEN
Korvin was an impressive sight to watch as he made quick work dismantling sections of the Raxxian craft despite the lack of proper tools, scavenging pieces that seemed inconsequential to Nyota, but were, according to him, extremely valuable.
Whoever had the run-in with the Raxxians before they arrived had apparently only made the briefest of searches. They had either been in a big hurry, or they had been incredibly careless. Either way, it suited Korvin just fine.
“We are fortunate,” he said. “The most hard to come by and valuable components are, in the case of the Raxxian vessel, also among the smallest.”
“Which means less to carry,” Nyota realized.
Korvin shoved another small tidbit into the pouch he had recovered from the craft. “Precisely. We need to be able to move quickly. Heavier salvage would slow us considerably. Perhaps the gods smile upon us after all.”
“Perhaps.”
“Whatever the case, we should not look a gift hatsukah in the mouth.”
Nyota flashed an amused grin.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she replied, keeping the joke to herself.
Korvin shrugged and set back to his task, gathering as much as they could reasonably carry before heading out. He had made it quite clear that the longer they stayed near this ship the greater the chance of a Raxxian retrieval vessel arriving would be, and neither of them had any desire to face that sort of trouble.
He also secured some material from which he fashioned a cape of sorts. It wasn’t terribly fashionable, but it would serve its purpose.
“Put this on,” he said, handing her the material.
“But it’s warm out.”
“It is. However, you are unmarked, and to not bear the pigments at your age is a dire violation of Dotharian law. If we should be noticed while you are uncovered, it could lead to a very difficult situation.”
