Fated Mate Conquered - Luna Voss Page 0,29

doing, if you can believe it.”

Turan raises his eyebrows, and then he nods, as though realizing the truth of my words. “Well, if you have any insight, I’m all ears,” he says. “You can come look at the display if you want, but I doubt you’re going to notice anything we didn’t. I’m worried we’re going to need to call for a tow at this point.”

He says these last words with frustration, and I know he’s worried about losing his chance to capture Rizban. I go over to him and browse through the engine readout on his screen. It only takes me 30 seconds to identify the issue.

“I think I found your problem,” I announce. “Look, the hyperdrive vents aren’t clearing. When’s the last time you cleaned the vents?”

Turan looks a little sheepish. “I’ve never cleaned the vents. You’re supposed to do that?”

I have to work very hard not to roll my eyes. “Yes, you’re supposed to empty the hyperdrive vents before every time you take off. You never want to engage the hyperspace engine without making sure the vents are clear. That was, like, rule number one flying for the Empire.” I glance around at the other three Voorians, who are all looking back at me with surprise. “Did… did none of you know that?”

“News to me,” Geddion admits.

“I always had someone else maintain my ship when I was smuggling,” says Rojan.

I suppress the chuckle that’s been threatening to escape my lips. Three hardened vostrata who have been flying in space for years, and none of them are familiar with basic ship maintenance.

“Okay, so how do we clear the hyperdrive vents?” asks Turan.

“Depends on the ship,” I tell him, “Some have an auto-cleaning feature. All we’d need to do is run the cycle.”

“This one definitely doesn’t have an auto-cleaning feature,” says Geddion. “Everything but the offensive systems is pretty stripped-down.”

I take a deep breath. “Well, in that case, things are going to be a bit more complicated. You’re supposed to clear the vents when you’re docked in atmosphere, not in the middle of open space.”

Turan rubs his beard. “Okay, well, we’re in the middle of open space. What do we do?”

I pause before answering, enjoying how useful I suddenly am. “Someone is going to need to suit up and go empty the vents from the outside.”

They all look at me with wide eyes.

“Like, outside the ship?” says Rojan, looking stunned.

I nod. “Yup. It’s not as hard as it sounds. I’ve probably done it half a dozen times in training.”

All three other Voorians look a lot more uncomfortable with this proposition than I had expected. Even Turan seems nervous about the idea.

“Who here has the most experience doing maintenance in zero-G?” I ask.

Nobody answers right away. They all look embarrassed.

“I’ve never gone outside a ship when it was in space,” Turan admits.

“Yeah, I’ve never been in zero-gravity, either,” says Geddion.

“Me neither,” says Rojan.

I shake my head in amazement, unable to contain my surprise. “How long have you all been flying? None of you have ever had to do outside maintenance?”

“We usually have technicians to do that kind of thing,” says Turan defensively.

“And what was your plan if this happened?” I ask. “What were you going to do if you had a ship problem and no technician to fix it for you?”

“I mean, we didn’t exactly have a chance to plan out who we wanted to bring for this. We were escaping from the Gordullas. Besides, most people who fly aren’t mechanics, and they do just fine.”

“Most people can send out a distress signal on the open channels and get a tow from the local authorities,” I remind him. “Most people aren’t wanted by the UPE.”

He sighs in frustration. “Okay, so what do you propose we do?”

“We’re going to have to clear the vents manually. Unless you want to wait here for however long it will take for a Butarza ship to get our message and come assist.”

Turan doesn’t want to wait. I can see it on his face. I can also see that he’s nervous at the idea of going outside the ship, which is completely reasonable given that he’s never done it before. Going out into space is dangerous, especially for the experienced. The only reason I’m remotely comfortable doing it is all the hours of training I had at the Academy.

“I’ll go,” I offer.

“Absolutely not,” Turan responds automatically, crossing his arms. “I won’t put you at risk.”

“So I guess we’re just going to send out a distress call