Page 19 of Lhora
Not waiting for an answer, the Sarpi gestured to someone behind him. Four armed guards, including the one who’d exited ahead of him, came up to stand beside him. Sov indicated Lon and Lhora. “Take these two into custody and chain them in the brig.”
“On what charges?” the Vadris demanded hotly.
“Treason!”
Two men grabbed her arms. As one divested her of her sword, the other pulled a pair of neurocuffs from within his vest and locked them over her wrists. Lhora felt her arms go numb as the paralyzers crept over her nervous system. “But he saved your lives!” she protested.
The Sarpi’s disdain was almost poisonous. Behind him, she caught sight of Duren taking a stance behind his father, and she almost wilted in relief. His face was drawn and splattered with blood, but he was alive.
“Now that I have you back in my possession, tell me, Beinight tokko. How did you manage to escape my ship? Did someone help you?” Sov demanded.
She fought the urge to look at Duren, locking her eyes on the Sarpi. “I know that sometimes when the power is interrupted, the force fields securing the brigs also lose power. When your ship was hit by the Tra’Mell, I was thrown out of my cell. I followed several corridors until I found your docking bay. I took one of your lifeboats, and that’s how your Vadris captured me. He netted me and brought me onto his ship.”
“He willfully brought you onto his ship?”
She could see where this interrogation was going, and quickly shut it down. “He saw a Coltrosstian life pod. He believed he was rescuing one of your crew. Maybe even you. He wasn’t aware I was inside it until after I was brought onboard.”
“So why didn’t he put you in cuffs and take you directly to the brig?” Sov glanced at Lon, then back at her, waiting for either of them to give him an answer he’d accept.
“He was about to,” Lhora confessed. She made it a point to give each man a hard stare, including Duren. “It was then I offered my help, and he accepted it.”
“Because he agreed to work with you against me,” Sov sneered.
“Againstyou?” Lon objected. “How do you figure that? We destroyed those two ketches so you could deploy your guns! We came after you after you freed yourself!”
Sov lowered his head. His anger was almost palpable. “You conspired with a Beinight. That automatically makes you a traitor to your own people. Guards! Take these two away. Then arrest every member of his crew. Rajeev, send my navigator and pilot over here to take control of this ship. We’re heading back to Coltross.”
Lhora was almost lifted off her feet as a security guard jerked her around. Vadris Lon was dragged away ahead of her. She glanced over one last time to give Sov her dirtiest look.
“This isn’t over, Sarpi.”
Sov snorted in amusement, but behind him she saw Duren’s hooded expression. She tried to read him, but his father’s mix of emotions were blaring into her head like fire alarms, preventing her from receiving him. Resigned for the moment, she obediently allowed the Coltrosstian to manhandle her until they reached the brig, where he shoved her into a cell adjacent to the Vadris’s.
Slowly, in ones and twos, the rest of the crew were brought in and placed in the other cells, clustered together with up to as many as six people in each. Lhora noticed that she and Lon were left alone in their individual units. When the guards were finished with rounding everyone up, they left, turning out all the lights and leaving them in the dark.
11
Prisoners
No one spoke during the trip back to Avergild. A guard came down once to check on them. Otherwise no food or drink was offered. Neither were they allowed any chance to relieve themselves, and were forced to use the buckets made available to them in their cells. Fortunately, because it was dark, it afforded them some privacy.
Lhora knew Duren had heard her confession to his father. He knew she hadn’t lied overtly. He was also aware that she’d covered for him.He must be asking himself why.The thought of it made her chuckle.
“What are you so plugging happy about?” a voice snarled from across the way.
“Lay off of her,” the Vadris ordered.
“Why?” another voice piped up.
“Will someone please tell us what the plugging traff we’re doing in here?” a fourth voice cried out.
Lhora heard Lon sigh. “Treason. We’ve all been accused of treason. Or, at least I have been.”
“Why?” someone inquired. The voice sounded like the man named Pullid.
“Because he listened to me,” Lhora spoke up. “Because I told him what I knew about the Sarpi having his cannons at-ready but not firing on the Tra’Mell. Because of that, your Vadris was able to make that strafing run that took out the two smaller ships, and allowed the Sarpi to fire at the third ship.”
“Is that true, Vadris?”
