Forged (Star Breed #10) - Elin Wyn Page 0,12

corridor in excitement, skipping around fallen panels. “And do you know what’s fantastic about being on the maintenance deck?”

I hadn’t been assigned a shift on this deck, maintenance wasn’t what my contract specified.

But I’d checked it out a few times, just to be sure. You never knew what might be useful.

Hakon grinned. “Nope, but I’m pretty sure you’re about to tell me.”

“They’ve got a secondary airlock to get out to the station’s hull for repairs.”

“And that helps us how?”

“Because with an airlock, they have to have suits,” I explained as I worked my way down the corridor, hoping the built-in lockers wouldn’t be blocked. “And with suits, we can just jet to the ship, easy as it can be.”

“Easy?” he echoed doubtfully. “That’d be a nice change.”

“Here they are,” I said, pulling open the locker door to expose a rack of environmental suits. “Hurry up and get dressed,” I said, unlacing my boots and tugging the pants leg over my coveralls, wriggling a bit as I pulled the suit over my hips.

“Not gonna do me any good, Yasmin,” Hakon said. “There’s not a suit in there that’s gonna fit me.”

My hands froze midway through sealing up the chest plate.

“Alright,” I said, thinking frantically. “Time for a new, new plan. We’re not that far from my quarters from here. There are maintenance shafts, with proper ladders, that we can use to get there.”

Hakon gently sealed my wrist cuffs around the gloves and checked the power pack and the jets. Then he triple-checked the oxygen levels.

“You go out, get to your ship. I’ll be fine,” he said.

“That’s a terrible plan,” I snapped. “What do you mean, you’ll be fine? You won’t be fine without a suit!”

A grin curved the corners of his mouth. “That almost sounded like you care,” he said. “And I don’t even have something you need.”

I turned my back, ignoring him so I could think of a new, new, new plan.

Maddening, impossible man.

“I mean, I’ll be fine modifying one of these suits to fit me.”

I spun back to him, eyes narrowed. “How the hell do you think you’re going to manage that?”

“I’m pretty clever at these little projects,” he shrugged. “But I’ll need a few minutes. By the time you get to your ship and bring it back here, I’ll be ready.”

Oh.

That made sense.

Sort of.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I swallowed hard, then deployed my helmet.

The clacking of the material as it unfolded and stiffened into place around my head, visor shimmering to transparent, muffled anything he said in response.

But he stood by the first airlock door with one hand on my shoulder, and even through the thickness of the suit, I could feel the warmth of him.

Probably I just imagined it.

He nodded sharply and pressed the button to open the inner door.

As it sealed behind me, I waited, counting, staring out through the porthole into the sliver of black.

By the time I hit twenty-five, the outer door slid open, exposing me to the vastness of space, and the swirling colors of the planet below.

For a moment I stared, mesmerized.

Then I shook myself, clicked off the magnetic field in my boots, and launched myself into the Void.

It was amazing. Like flying, free from anyone’s eyes or restraints. Until a flicker of light out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and brought me back to reality.

Uncle Ran was still taking potshots at the station.

If I was lucky, I’d have time to play later.

Right now, I’d better focus on getting the job done.

Carefully controlling the jets, I skimmed the surface of the station, riding up the metal skin until it flared out in the middle, beginning the bubble that housed the Command Center.

It was there that I’d decided was the best place to hide my little runner, when I started this mission so many months ago.

Only the faintest shimmer gave it away, pressed into the curve of metal, almost completely out of range of the cams that surveilled the station’s exterior.

If anyone had been paying attention, they’d have caught me swooping in.

But at the moment, they had more important things to worry about.

At least, more potentially lethal things.

Reversing the jets, I braked just in time to drift within hand’s reach of my ship.

There.

Although, if you trusted your eyes alone, my hand would seem to have caught in midair, hanging on nothing, I knew what I touched was real, despite the interference from the cloak generator.

Hand over hand, I worked my way to the hatch and punched