as he strode down the corridors. “We have an intruder on board.”
He knew where the problem lay as soon as he spotted Indra’s door. She was the only human who hadn’t emerged at the sound of the alarm. His blood froze and he was through the door in a heartbeat.
He froze as he found a scene from a nightmare.
Indra was crouched over the body of a warrior, blood and glass everywhere, screaming as she stabbed at him repeatedly. Without thinking, Nyek crossed the space between them and hauled her into his arms. To his surprise, she didn’t fight him, her gaze riveted on the body of her victim.
Carefully he reached out and took the weapon from her grasp. It was a twisted piece of metal, obviously originally part of the furniture in the room. He handed it off to one of the warriors who had spilled into the room after him, summoned by the sound of the red alert.
“Shhhh, it’s okay. I have you. You are safe now,” he murmured softly by her ear, trying to calm her as she struggled a little against him.
Whatever he’d expected, it wasn’t for her to make a small sound like an animal in pain and turn to burrow into his arms. She wrapped herself around him like a deearin, her face buried into the side of his neck.
He froze for a second, unsure what to do. He was the last person in existence he’d have expected her to seek comfort from. But instinct kicked in and he wrapped her in his arms, smoothing his hand down her back soothingly.
“It’s going to be okay. I am here,” he muttered and then looked up at the squad of warriors in the room.
His gaze narrowed as he studied the body on the floor. It was a male—one he didn’t recognize, but that was no surprise given the size of the ship and the fact that he was newly assigned. What he hadn’t missed, though, was the pin attached to the male’s jacket. Intersecting arcs, it was a symbol he was more than familiar with.
It was the symbol of the purist movement.
“Alert the war commander,” he ordered, his voice hard. “Tell him we have a purist intruder on board. I want to know who this male is, who his friends are, what he ate for breakfast… Everything!”
“Yes, Sub-Commander!” The first wave of warriors all but fell over themselves to do his bidding, the kind of sharp eagerness in their reactions that he should have expected from a capital ship crew of this caliber.
“Double the watch. Make sure all assigned to this sector have a partner from another duty group. And get combat avatars on continuous patrol,” he ordered those that were left. “I do not want any of the humans left unguarded.”
“And who are you to be issuing orders like that?” a voice drawled from the back of the group. Warriors parted as a tall male pushed his way through from the back. Broad-shouldered, his features were a younger version of those Nyek had seen in holo-form on the emperor mere hours ago.
A K’Saan, but one who had not been assigned as the second of this ship. Interesting.
“I am Sub-Commander S’Vaan,” he lifted his chin in challenge. “Second of this vessel. You are?”
For a moment K’Saan looked at a loss for words. Obviously he wasn’t used to people asking that question.
“I hardly think I need to answer that question,” he smirked, waving at his face. “And I was not informed of a new second aboard. You could be as much of an intruder as…” He jerked his head toward the body on the floor. “Here to steal away one of the precious females. Give her to me.”
He gestured presumptuously toward Indra, stepping forward. Nyek’s grip tightened and he swung her up into his arms, holding her against his chest. She didn’t argue, the soft hitches in her breathing catching at his heart strings. She had been attacked, was terrified, and all the K’Saan prince wanted to do was get into a pissing contest.
“Oh, shut the fuck up, Rohn,” a female voice behind K’Saan spat. “He’s legit and you know it. You’re just being a fucking prick as usual.”
Another female pushed past K’Saan, her expression tight with panic as her gaze swept the room. The tightness eased a little as she spotted Indra in his arms.
She was tailed by a tall warrior with a grim expression. Approval filled Nyek that his orders had been carried out so promptly.