Page 22 of Mated in the Stars
Berg looked down at the pad in his hand. "Derek’s junkyard has come into view. The ship is guiding us in, but someone should get to the bridge."
"Good." Sara welcomed the distraction from her sad thoughts. "Get the crew organized. I want to be in and out."
They'd sell whatever they could within an hour, make enough credits to keep going, and then be out. An hour should give them enough time to make some credits before they found themselves on the move again. It also meant they might not be able to come back here again.
Sara felt certain Ak’kel might place men where ever she stopped in hopes to catch her if she ever came back. And she wasn’t about to make that mistake.
"I'll be in the bay." Sara said rising from her seat. She wanted to say goodbye to Derek in person since she might never be able to come back to his junkyard.
Everyone else rose from the table and they each headed off to different sections of the ship as they prepared to stop at the junkyard. She worked her way down to the bay, bracing herself when she felt the ship shake as it docked with Derek’s small space station.
By the time she arrived at the docking bay, Derek’s junkyard crewmen were already sifting through the junk on board.
"Hey." Sara waved at Derek where he stood overseeing his men.
"Hey." Derek responded with grin that slowly faded when he noticed her sad expression. His brow furrowed. “What’s going on with you? Normally, you look happier to see me. I pay for you junk fairly. Always have.”
Sara rolled her eyes. “That you do. It’s nothing with you. Got a Vrak’rir problem." She grimaced. "Turns out, I am his mate."
Derek stumbled back a couple of steps. "Wow. Didn’t expect you to say that."
“It’s Ak’kel. Heard of him?”
Derek whistled low. “Damn. That’s a spot of bad luck if I ever heard of one.”
"So far, we've been able to keep ahead of him, but we need to leave here within the hour so make sure your men work quickly. We need to earn as much as we can because we’re not sure how long we'll have to travel before we can make another stop."
"I'll keep the men going then." Derek's mouth pulled down at one corner. "Wish there was something more I could do for you."
"Ak’kel's men might come here." Sara warned.
"I can handle him." Derek wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a light reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry about ol’ Derek."
"You know," Sara eyed his bushy beard as a teasing smile formed on her lips, "since I might never see you again, I want to be honest with you. You might attract more women if you shaved that ugly thing. It ages you.”
Derek barked with laughter, tossing his head back. Then he brought a knuckle to the corner of his eye and brushed back a tear. "You wound me." He teased as he threw a hand to his heart.
Sara rolled her eyes. "Please Derek. You're one of the toughest cookies I know."
"Besides, Cat, you mean." Derek inclined his head slightly.
"Yeah, besides her. No one is as tough as Cat. Kind of surprised fate didn't match her with Ak’kel. Seems more fitting if you ask me."
Derek’s eyes dropped their playful light. "Do be careful, Sara. I assume you read up on him?"
"Yup." And to prove she had, she recited some news headlines about Ak’kel. "Vrak'rir burns uncle alive. Ak'kel, the Vrak'rir who shot down a civilian space cruiser." Yeah, she'd read up on Ak’kel. Authorities seemed to agree on one thing andthat was that they had no clue as to how many people he may have killed.
“Have you thought…” He shook his head. “Never mind. I just came up with the stupidest idea.”
Sara cocked her head. “What is it?”
“Well,” Derek rubbed a hand across his face, “have you ever thought that reaching out to Haldon might be an idea? I hear those two are always at each other’s throats. It might get Ak’kel off her tail, at least for a time. Give you a chance to get away.”
“The enemy of my enemy.” Sara shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about it, but I’m not sure how I can reach Haldon.”
“Maybe if you hear of someone with a contact, you can think about it.”
“Maybe.” Sara agreed. But did she really need to be dealing with yet another mad Vrak’rir? One was enough for her.
