“Pardon?” the Xaravian next to her asked. A frown creased his forehead and somehow made him even more attractive. “I don’t have time to—”
“You volunteered,” the security officer said. He, too, looked rather smug. EJ started to wonder if their behavior was more to do with Nokx and not her, since they seemed hell-bent on making trouble for him. “Said she could work with the cargo. Seems like a good use of her time until Izyk and the navigator can track down the Hollbrd and hail them to make the transfer. It shouldn’t take long, but we don’t want to run the risk that she’s actually working for bounty hunters as a distraction.”
EJ’s jaw dropped. “I’m not—I’m definitely not a bounty hunter.”
“How are we to know that?” the captain said, raising his hands in an annoyingly innocent gesture. Like they were pure little lambs lost in ungoverned space and helpless to defend themselves against bounty hunters and stowaways.
Anger brewed in her stomach and she steeled herself against the urge to storm up to Faros and give him a piece of her mind. But Nokx sighed and tilted his head back, like he’d suffered through too many wild schemes dreamed up by the captain and his sidekick the security officer. “Boss, one of the ensigns can...”
“Not on your life,” Faros said with a laugh. “Those youngsters would be too distracted by a female and wouldn’t behave themselves, or they’d end up brawling and destroying the loading bay to try and impress her, and they definitely wouldn’t get any work done.”
EJ shifted her feet and tried to look trustworthy and reliable. “You can just show me where to move the cargo, and I can...”
“Nope,” the security officer said. “You’ll be escorted at all times.”
Before the two troublemakers could weigh in again, Nokx studied his nails and drawled a very casual suggestion. “I’m sure the other Earthers would be willing to keep an eye on her. Violet would certainly be interested in the girl’s fate.”
EJ’s ears perked up when she saw the captain’s annoyance. There were other Earthers on the ship? She thought Nokx might have mentioned them earlier, but she’d been too focused on her own plight to pay much attention. It sounded like the other Earthers might help her out, if she could just find them.
From the look on Faros’s face, though, he had no intention of letting EJ anywhere near Violet or the other Earther.
The captain grimaced and waved Nokx away. “You’re trying your luck, Commander. Take the Earther back to your quarters and keep her out of trouble until tomorrow morning. We’ll have an idea of a timeline for returning her to the gen ship then.”
EJ concentrated on breathing normally. It sounded like a reprieve. A stressful one, and one where she ended up in an enclosed space with a massive Xaravian warrior, but a reprieve nonetheless. She wasn’t being jettisoned into the freezing darkness of space, so that was a bonus. Her knees knocked until she almost hoped Nokx threw her over his shoulder again just so she wouldn’t have to walk anywhere and risk embarrassing herself by falling.
Nokx folded his arms over his chest. “My quarters? Why my quarters?”
“Because our brig is still out of commission,” Faros said. He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling once again. “Despite telling the cyborg to take care of it.”
“And I’m sure Wyzak appreciates you calling his mate a cyborg,” Nokx said.
EJ tried to keep up, glancing between the three of them as they traded barbs and what could have been insults, although she knew she was missing a great deal of nuance due to the faulty translator. Eventually Nokx sighed. “Fine. I’ll keep an eye on the girl.”
She wanted to stomp her foot at them still referring to her as “the Earther” and “the girl,” but didn’t want to draw any more attention to herself. It was one of those times to blend into the background and become invisible. She really needed a quiet place to figure out what the hell she was going to do. A good shower wouldn’t hurt. Maybe some new clothes so she didn’t feel like a dirty mop made from the ragbag.
Not that she’d get any of that while sharing close quarters with Nokx. Her stomach flipped as he caught her arm and turned toward the door, ready to leave. EJ resisted, though she didn’t know why. She definitely didn’t want to stay on the bridge with the awful captain, and she didn’t necessarily mind