EJ found value in the criminal, for some reason, and drew the conversation out in an effort to convince the Psonil to agree to protecting the settlers and dropping them somewhere safe.
Fine. He would give her as much time as possible to make her plan, but the moment he saw Slasu or Horguts closing in, he would get her out of there whether she wanted to go or not. He could not risk her life, could not risk her being injured or caught up in the press of criminals as they rushed to take over the ship.
Which was why, the second the criminal stopped talking and Nokx heard an echo of Horgut steps three decks above them, he picked EJ up and bolted. It went against a Xaravian’s nature to flee from a confrontation, but when it came to protecting his mate, Nokx would accept the crawling disgust of turning his back to the enemy. He clenched his jaw and adjusted his grip on EJ, who muttered under her breath about being perfectly capable of running on her own.
Nokx kissed her temple, spat out the hair that flew into his mouth when she tossed her head, and didn’t slow down a bit. Occasionally EJ would direct him down a corridor, or Nokx heard slithering and knew Slasu approached, and they would zigzag through the maze of corridors toward the sector the Psilon thought might have escape pods. There was no telling what happened to the other pods, whether the gen ship crew used them or damaged them so no one could escape. Time slid away too fast like sand from a snake’s back. His chest constricted as the air thinned.
The survival systems relied on the power from the propulsion system. They would run out of breathable air soon unless the ship started moving.
No messages from the Sraibur arrived on his comms unit, which left him with quite a problem. Did he direct the escape pod through whatever battle still raged around the Hollbrd and hope the Sraibur paused long enough to transfer them onboard? Or did he pilot the escape pod clear of the chaos and wait for the battle to end, hoping the Sraibur survived and remained close enough to retrieve them before the pod’s survival systems failed?
He shook his head and held EJ tighter. They wouldn’t know what to do until they could see what awaited them outside the gen ship. “The escape pods. Did you break into one of those during your scavenging?”
“I object to calling it scavenging,” she said. “It was exploring. And yes, I got into one to check it out as a possible way to get off the ship in case I didn’t find opportunities in a port. They’re old and decrepit. I wouldn’t want to trust my life to their survival systems.”
Which was exactly what he didn’t want to hear. “We do not have much choice.”
“I know.” She put her arm around his neck, squeezing tighter as a trio of Slasu oozed into the corridor aft of them, and Nokx dodged to an opening on his right.
He growled in frustration. They couldn’t take a straight line to the escape pods; there were too many obstacles, too many guards and slavers. Nokx believed they’d already been spotted but assessed as too difficult a target to attack unless the Slasu had superior numbers and advanced tech on their side. They knew better than to target a Xaravian. But that luck would not last long. The Slasu stalked around them, and Nokx got the sinking feeling they herded him and EJ into an ambush.
“If we don’t make it...” EJ started, stroking her fingers down his neck over and over until he knew he would always remember the sensation as if it had imprinted on his scales.
“We will.” Nokx squeezed her tighter. “Do not think otherwise.”
“But just...”
“Do not think otherwise.” He would not face the suggestion that she did not expect to survive. He would never fail her like that. “Think of where we will go next, where we should have the Sraibur drop us off.”
She swallowed her response as a loud noise echoed through the hall, banging and thumping as it grew louder. And closer. Nokx’s hearts sped up and his scales bristled, reinforcing to protect his vital organs against a threat. They’d been spotted. He held EJ tight and ran, focused only on getting to the escape pods and putting her in one, making sure it launched so she was safely away, then he could