Page 77 of Splintered Shadow
If they were wrong and the Starshades chose a different path, Vekele’s crew would still be positioned to reach Starshade territory, albeit they would have to fight their way through the defensive perimeter. Successfully rescuing Baris would not be impossible, but it would be costly. Their best chance of success was to do it once and do it correctly.
“Very well. That will be our destination. I will take as many guards as we can fit into the ship. Contact the outer garrisons and send for reinforcements.” He knew the reinforcements would be slow to arrive, but he would take what he could get. Turning to Kenth, he said, “You will remain here and secure the palace.”
“Sir—” Kenth looked as if she would argue with him. She did not want to be left behind. He understood the sentiment.
“You are injured, and I know I ask much of you, but we must establish control at the palace. Enlist Councilor Raelle. She is ruthlessly efficient,” he said, knowing that he needed to contact the councilor. He dreaded the call, but the council needed to be updated on the situation.
“Sir,” she said, with a stiff nod.
“Good. I will leave you to decide who remains at the palace and who comes on the mission. However, if you are injured, you stay behind and get your ass to a medic. I want a complete ship’s inventory. Weapons, ammunition, food, oxygen, medical gear, soap. Tell me how many specks of dust you find under the furniture. I want to land on my medic’s front step and be in the stars in an hour. You have your orders.”
The guards scrambled into action. There would be chaos on the ship until they left orbit.
He held out a hand to his mate. “Come with me.”
“Am I counting dust bunnies?” Sarah asked, slipping her hands into his.
“You require a shower and rest.”
“Same goes for you.”
“When we leave orbit.” There would be little to do once the journey began. He would sleep then. “We are commandeering the king’s cabin.”
Sarah
“What is that?” Vekele settled in next to her on the bed. It was comfortable and dominated the cabin, making the space feel small. After two days, the cozy charm had worn off and now the space felt confining. Hard to believe that this was the king’s cabin. It wasn’t utilitarian, but it lacked the over-the-top opulence Sarah associated with the king and the palace.
Spaceships played by different rules, apparently.
How weird was it that she was totally chill about being on a spaceship? She couldn’t get her head around it. She watched the stars streak by outside the windows—not really windows, but what else could she call them?—for hours. There wasn’t much in the way of entertainment on the ship. No Netflix. No one told her space travel was so boring.
The crew passed the time with card games. She even saw a Karu and Beast board set up. When she came over, eager to play, they all miraculously found tasks that needed to be done and left.
The only people who spent any time with her were Vekele and Ghost, who terrorized the crew into giving him treats and overly plump cushions. Vekele told the crew that Ghost was only dangerous if Sarah was threatened, but it didn’t matter. Sarah imagined that a void beast nosing around the dinner table was as disturbing as a timber wolf begging for scraps and got the same response.
You gave the timber wolf what it wanted, and you got to keep all your fingers.
She hadn’t seen much of Vekele in the last two days, either. The crew demanded much of his attention, plus there was hijacking the Starshade ship to plan. Whenever she did see him, a crew member would interrupt. Vekele slipped into bed late and left early. Rumpled sheets on his side of the bed were the only evidence that he slept at all.
She wasn’t complaining. It was obvious how much he enjoyed being in command again. He’d spent his entire career in the military, on ships such as this. He was in his element, positively glowing with enthusiasm when discussing the armory or the ship’s defensive capabilities. She was grateful to have him for a few hours all to herself.
Sarah leaned against him; his arm draped over her shoulder. “Luca transferred all my personal data from my phone to this tablet.” The photos were thoughtful, but Sarah didn’t need a copy of five hundred unread emails.
She scrolled through the photos. “This is my mom.”
“Why do you display your blunt talons like that?” he asked, frowning at a photo of them showing off fresh manicures.
“We got our nails did,” she said. Then added, “It’s a beauty thing to paint our fingernails.”
“To appear defenseless is a human standard?”
“No, it just makes me feel pretty.”
He made a humming noise. “Are you considered pretty for human beauty standards?”
“I’m within conventional beauty standards,” she answered, her tone teasing. “I got teased a lot when I was younger because I had a bad case of acne. Oh, that happens a lot around puberty with pimples on your skin.”
“Puberty is unkind to all, it seems.” He continued to flip through the photos.
