to, brother,” the comms officer said. He sighed and headed for the crates on the other side of the bay. “Faros is on the bridge. If he asks, tell him you knocked me out, okay?”
Nokx disengaged the airlock’s seal and waited for the pressure to normalize. He hit the indicator light so that the other end knew someone prepared to enter the arm. “Try to look bruised and unconscious, then.”
Izyk heaved another sigh and threw himself into the crates, grunting from the impact. “Good luck, mate.”
Nokx held his breath before loosening the airlock and stepping into the transfer arm. All of his attention went through the long, narrow transfer arm to the light at the other ship. He wanted to shout to EJ that he was coming. He was on his way to get her, and it would all be fine. Wherever she wanted to go, whatever she wanted to do...
The transfer arm creaked and his ears popped as the pressure changed and shifted, and a deep freeze seeped through his uniform and chilled his scales. He moved faster. It didn’t matter unless he got EJ back.
Chapter 31
EJ
Her heart pounded faster with every step through the transfer arm, and not just because she approached a terrible fate on the Hollbrd. She wouldn’t have put it past the Horgut guards to disengage the transfer arm while she and the Xaravians were only halfway through, just because they could. The Horgut didn’t give a shit about anyone but their own kind and how many credits they could put in their coffers.
EJ’s teeth would have chattered in panic and fear and cold if she hadn’t clenched every muscle in her body. It took everything in her to not scream and fight. Or turn tail and run back toward the Sraibur in the off chance they’d changed their minds or it was all a horrible joke.
Part of her still hoped that Nokx would appear and rescue her. Even being told that he’d given up on her or never really cared to start with wasn’t enough to steal away the hope that he’d really felt something when they were together. He’d sat with her, held her when she was upset over what happened when she deserted, teased her and touched her in a way that... He loved her. She’d been so certain...
“Keep moving,” a gruff voice said, and EJ tensed.
For just a second, the tenor reminded her of Nokx and hope thrilled high, only to crash to nothingness when the grim visage of the security officer found her in the semi-darkness. EJ’s eyes closed before she remembered to steel herself and return to the unfeeling, uncaring criminal that the Hollbrd guards expected to see. It was the only way to protect herself from what was to come. She had to stop caring, to stop feeling, to stop wondering.
She forced her feet to move again, to drag her closer to the Hollbrd and the waiting misery.
Harzt and Wyzak didn’t drag it out, at least, and towed her along onto the gen ship. They had to wait for an uncomfortably long moment as the Hollbrd’s crew opened the airlock to allow them through. For a wild heartbeat, EJ dared dream that the airlock would malfunction and force them to return to the Sraibur.
But her luck had completely abandoned her. The airlock opened and the Horgut guards stepped back with uneasy grumbles. Wyzak, waiting behind her, nudged her to step onto the ship after Harzt led the way through. The Xaravians were tense enough that she wondered if they expected an ambush or other poor reaction. Maybe they knew something she didn’t. The back of her neck prickled.
The Horgut guards eyed her with what she’d come to know were smug expressions. The lead guard slithered forward and flapped his appendages. “Stupid Earther. You thought you would escape.”
She had escaped. She just hadn’t stayed escaped. EJ scowled and lingered near Harzt as Wyzak dealt with the guards.
Wyzak folded his arms over his chest. “The reward, then. Let’s have it.”
One of the command crew, a half-Synop, half-Slasu piece of shit, slithered forward so it could eye her from head to toe. But it didn’t speak to her, oh no. It only dealt with males, and certainly never with the prisoners or the poor. “You can understand that we are not in the habit of paying for returned criminals. You must take that up with the court that condemned her.”
“That’s not what we were told.” Wyzak didn’t look pleased.
EJ braced herself