it is not because Ellis forced her to go. She would have gone of her own free will. I am sure of it.”
“Just like you were sure that the thief would not steal my ship?” Melu said.
“Melu,” Quill said. “Enough. I know you are upset and worried about your female, but now is not the time.”
“Inara is not my female,” Melu snarled.
Quill raised one eyebrow at him and Melu bowed his head. “Forgive my tone, my king.”
“When did they leave?” Quill said.
“We are not certain. The ship was gone when the docking bay opened at seven,” Melu said.
“Did you return to the thief after you left my quarters last night?” Quill asked me.
I shook my head no.
Quill glanced at his vertex. “It is just after seven. If we assume they left when keo rose, then they have been gone only a couple of hours. It will take them -”
He stopped when there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”
Bitta stepped into the room and bowed. “My king, forgive the interruption.”
“What is it, Bitta?” Quill said.
“The Emirans have contacted us. They have one of our ships and, apparently, two of our humans.”
Chapter Eighteen
Ellis
“This is so bad, Ellis.”
“It’s fine.” I popped up out of the floor hatch of the ship. “Hand me that screwdriver.”
Inara handed it to me before peering into the belly of the ship. “I thought this ship was repaired.”
“I thought so too.” I unscrewed the access panel to the flux overflow. “I’m gonna kill Uzel the next time I see him.”
Not that I would ever see him again. Either I’d get the ship fixed and we’d haul ass to Earth or we’d simply float around in space until the war started up again and we were blown to smithereens by the Emirans or the Cillades.
“Can you fix it?” Inara said.
“Yeah.”
“Can you?”
“Maybe.”
“Oh shit,” Inara said.
“I can fix it, don’t worry. I just need to -”
The ship was jerked forward and I went with it, slamming my head into an overhead pipe so hard that bright flashing stars immediately crossed my vision. A little lightheaded, I staggered my way up the short ladder and heaved myself onto the floor of the ship.
Inara was sprawled out on the floor and she sat up. “You’re bleeding!”
I touched my scalp just above my right temple, wincing a little. My fingers came away bloody and I closed the hatch before locking it. “It’s okay.”
“It’s bleeding a lot.” Inara opened up her small suitcase and grabbed a t-shirt before using it to stem the flow of blood. “You might have a concussion.”
“It’s a head injury, they bleed a lot,” I said.
“We should have brought some juice with us,” Inara said.
Yeah, we should have. I should have stolen a bunch of juice. Hell, just the amount of juice I had in my fridge in my apartment would have set me up for life on Earth. I could have lived on some beach and never had another care in the world.
So, why didn’t you take the juice?
Because it was bad enough betraying and lying to Galan, I couldn’t steal from him too.
Yeah, well your sudden case of conscience is gonna make us starve.
Probably. But to be honest, starving to death didn’t seem that big of a deal. Not if it meant I wouldn’t have to face a lifetime alone without Galan.
I swallowed down the bile that was rising in my throat. I had made my choice and I needed to live with it. I was being all mushy and stupid for nothing anyway. The second the war ended I would never see Galan again. Leaving with Inara meant that at least I wouldn’t die in prison.
No, you’ll die on the street.
The ship jerked again, sending both Inara and I flying forward. We staggered to our feet and Inara followed me to the cockpit, sinking into the co-pilot seat with a soft gasp as she stared out the window. “What is that?”
“A ship,” I said.
The ship in question was massive and fast approaching. Or rather, we were fast approaching it.
I swallowed hard as our ship was pulled forward with another teeth-rattling jolt.
“Why does the ship keep doing that?” Inara clung to the arms of her chair.
“I think that ship,” I pointed to the enormous ship, “is using a tractor beam to pull us in.”
“Do you think it’s the Emirans or the Cillades?” Inara said.
“I have no idea.”
“What do we do?” Inara said as the other ship grew closer. “Should we hide?”
“Our ship is so small that they’ll find