remained silent all the way to Faros’s small office off the bridge; the captain sat behind a sleek desk and studied a series of holograms hovering in front of him. Faros twisted and turned the images, not looking up as Nokx and Harzt walked in. “Good, you’re here. I wasn’t sure how long the Earther was going to distract you.”
“Not long enough,” Nokx said, irritated. Obviously they all knew he’d taken EJ to bed after getting dessert at lunch. The captain knew perfectly well he interrupted Nokx mating with the Earther. Nokx’s scales rattled in agitation, thinking of EJ alone in his quarters. He hadn’t even had time to tell her where he was going, to reassure her that he was coming back. He hadn’t had a chance to tell her how he truly felt. “And I’d rather not linger away from her.”
The captain arched an eyebrow and started to smirk. “Am I intruding on your time? And here I thought you were on this ship to be a crewmember?”
“I am,” Nokx said stiffly. “But we worked all day to set the loading bay to rights and it’s not my shift to be monitoring the radar or comms. What is this about, Captain?”
Tension passed through Faros’s expression, followed by something like regret, and the captain sighed. “Sit, brother.”
Nokx’s hearts sank, and for a moment he debated staying on his feet. It didn’t sound like Faros delivered good news, and Nokx didn’t want to take that sitting down. But as the silence stretched and the captain waited, Nokx reluctantly sank into the chair. No reason to antagonize Faros needlessly. Even if Nokx could already see how things were going.
Faros glanced at where Harzt leaned against the door, then fixed his silver gaze on Nokx. “There are a lot of moving parts right now for a variety of endeavors, Nokx. There are many deals we’ve made and have to uphold, and even though it might not look it, we’re in the middle of at least three different missions.”
Nokx didn’t know if he believed the captain. Faros could talk a snake into selling its own skin if he wanted to. “Like what?”
Harzt grumbled under his breath. “You don’t need to know.”
Nokx scowled over his shoulder at the security officer. “I wasn’t asking you.”
“It’s better that you don’t know,” Faros said, rapping his knuckles on the desk to get Nokx’s attention once more. “Believe me. You’ll have to trust me. I realize that isn’t... easy.”
Nokx snorted, shaking his head, since that was the understatement of the year.
The captain’s expression soured. “You don’t have to laugh about it, you dirty haugmawt. You have to believe me that this is for the best and there is a reason for everything we’re doing.”
“You’re not going to convince me that you’ve turned from a pirate to some noble freedom fighter,” Nokx said. “I’ve been on this ship too long. I don’t mind being a pirate. I wouldn’t be here if I minded. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust you to some extent, Faros. But I cannot stand by while you send an innocent female to...”
“She’s not innocent,” Harzt said. The security officer’s scales rattled as he paced along the wall. “And she’s stronger than you give her credit for if she survived in ungoverned space long enough to commit half the crimes that got her exiled.”
Nokx didn’t dignify the bullshit with a response and kept his attention on Faros. “If there’s a reason for this, you have to tell me what it is. And she needs to know, too.”
“No,” Faros said. He shook his head, adamant. “Can’t. Too dangerous.”
“If she’s as much a criminal as you both think, wouldn’t she be an asset in whatever plot you’re trying to carry out?”
The captain’s eyes flashed, though Nokx thought the male would consider it. Instead, Faros shook his head. “It’s risky enough as it is. We can’t afford for her to react in an inauthentic way and tip the... marks to what’s going on. It would get us all killed. It’s better neither of you know; you play along, and we get everything taken care of with no one the wiser.”
“I will not put in danger,” Nokx said. He enunciated each word and didn’t blink as he glared at the captain. If the captain didn’t understand, didn’t agree... Nokx didn’t know what he’d do. Take one of the escape pods and hope he and EJ made it somewhere with atmosphere before the life support failed?