Davel passed a suspicious glower toward Jullien as he muted the channel. "Anyone have a confession before I let them on board?"
Gallatin shook her head. "I inspected every piece of cargo and personal item. We're clear. Nothing illegal came on board."
"Except for me." Jullien jerked his chin toward the League officer's image. "I'm the only thing they can be looking for."
"That's what I was thinking, given how vague they're being." Davel met Gallatin's gaze. "We've got to hide him."
"I'm on it. Buy us time."
Davel opened the channel. "All right. Cargo airlock. Prepare for boarding."
Gallatin led Jullien toward the head of the ship, away from the cargo bay. "I've got a bad feeling."
So did he, but he didn't want to make her even more nervous. "How many others have warrants?"
"All of us. But only yours is a kill warrant. Our IDs and codes should pass muster without any problems. Yours..."
His face was too well known, even with his beard, different eye color, and hairstyle. Hard to hide when you were the former heir of not one, but two major empires, and had once been the most photographed spoiled bastard of all time. Not to mention the small fact that he was a rare hybrid of two species not known for screwing each other and breeding children together.
Thanks, Mom and Dad, for sheltering me.
Suddenly, blaster fire rang out.
Gallatin cursed. Jullien grabbed his blaster and started for the flight deck. Before he took more than a few steps, his link went off.
It was Davel.
"Yeah?"
"We were right. They're here for you. Take one of the fighters and launch out. We'll cover it."
Was Davel out of his mind? "They'll mark you for harboring a fugitive if I do."
Davel fired at someone. "They'll capture you if you don't."
"I'll surrender, then. It's not worth the risk to you and your ship or crew. You have an infant and children to consider."
"Yeah, so do you."
"Vas will--"
"Ushara's pregnant, Jules. She didn't want you to find out until after we got back, because she knew you wouldn't leave her. It's why she's been so tired and emotional the last few weeks. Now go and let us cover you. Don't make her raise another baby without its father. I can't do that to her."
Jullien stared at Gallatin as those words sank in.
Gallatin patted him on the arm. "Come on, let's get you out of here."
Even though it wasn't in Jullien to run from a fight, he went this time.
For Ushara.
Gallatin led him to the small rear bay where her own fighter was docked. She gave him her passcodes and main blaster, along with her patches and the ship Canting, and all the creds she had on her. "Find another Tavali crew to shelter you. We'll scout as soon as we can."
He gave her a quick hug. "Good luck."
"Same to you, Dagger. Godspeed you."
He holstered his blaster and climbed into her ship. She manually uncoupled the anchors and let him drift out to space for the launch so that they didn't alert any of the League soldiers that he was launching.
Jullien stayed dark until he was far enough back to see that there were three League ships and a battlecruiser. Damn. They'd seriously wanted a piece of his ass.
Don't do it.
Think of Shara.
She was pregnant. That news still hit him like a sledgehammer to his stones. The dream of having a child of his own was something he'd given up on so long ago, that honestly he couldn't even remember having it. Hell, Merrell had even fabricated a medical report that said he was sterile and given it to Eriadne in an attempt to have him disinherited.
Jullien had never bothered to denounce the report, even though he'd known at the time it was a lie. Since he'd never found a female who could stand his hybrid presence, never mind abide his touch to breed with him, it'd been a moot issue to argue.
To have a baby with a female who actually loved him ...
Inconceivable.
All common sense said to tuck his sorry ass in, keep his head down and crawl back to her as fast as he could. Take no chances and live a long, uneventful life in eternal gratitude that he'd found the only female in existence who was able to overlook his shortcomings and worthlessness to spawn with him.
That's what he needed to do.
But that was her brother under heavy fire, putting everything he loved on the line to get him home.
Jullien couldn't buy his happiness for the price of Davel's. He damn sure couldn't do it if it meant her brother's life.
In the end, we all face the Rekkynynge. All souls had to account for every action taken during their lifetime. Good and bad. Eri would judge them and determine if they were worthy of eternal peace spent in Eweyne.
Or damnation in Tophet.
And while Jullien was pretty sure his past guaranteed him a straight shot through the fiery gates of Tophet, and no amount of good at this point would ever bail his rotten soul out of that sentence, he wasn't about to stand by and watch a good male go down to save his sorry hide today.
"Titana rael." He fired the engine and headed straight for the League ships, full throttle. "You want a piece of me, bitches? Come get some."
CHAPTER 19
"What do you mean you lost my husband? Davel, so help me, this better be a really bad joke." Ushara could barely breathe as she struggled not to scream at her brother over the video link.
"I'm so sorry. Somehow The League knew he was on board my ship. I have no idea how. They attacked and we were badly hit. He did escape during it, so we're hoping for the best. We're searching for him right now, but we really need his locator from you to find him."
"You're lying to me. What aren't you saying? I know you. Tell me!"
Davel glanced away.
Ushara rose to her feet. "Gal ... Answer me now, or so help me I'll sic both my mother and Tray on the lot of you! And if that doesn't scare you like it should, I'll call the twins after you and send them to your location, with Mary!"
That threat broke Gallatin immediately. The truth rushed out of her, like Nadya running from Oxana at bedtime. "Dagger attacked The League to help us get away, and was hit really hard by them. He made a hot landing. We found what was left of my fighter ... It looks like he got out though, but there was no sign of him anywhere."
"'Cause the little bastard's good at covering his tracks," Davel muttered. "He detonated everything to keep the League assassins off him. In the process, we lost him, too."
Ushara covered her face as she fought against the wave of hysteria that threatened to overwhelm her. This couldn't be happening.
Not again. She couldn't lose another husband. Not while she carried his baby. It was bad enough to have to raise a baby who knew their father and could barely recall him, she couldn't stand the thought of her child not knowing his or her father at all.
And even worse was how much Jullien meant to her. While she'd loved Chaz, she'd never depended on him the way she did Jullien. He'd never allowed her to.
Jullien was her partner. In every way.
"Shara?"
"Give me a minute." She breathed and fought against the tears that threatened to send her into hysteria. This wasn't the time for them.
Clearing her throat, she took a deep breath to hold herself together. "I'm sending his frequency, but he'll have changed it by now." She racked her brains to think like her husband would, and to remember the survival lessons he'd given Vasili. "I'd try odd numbers, then back it four digits. He's into random sequences like that. He won't be in a huge population center. You have to think really smart. Look for an outpost with just enough tech to be relatively current, but not one that's overly monitored. He's more likely to be in an unpopulated zone or near a smaller spaceport that would be Tavali friendly. He won't be near anything Sentella or Andarion." Ushara paused as a thought occurred to her. "Hold on a second."
Her hand shaking, she reached for her wedding band and prayed for a miracle as she activated the
heartbeat function. Please work. Please work. Please work. The words became a frantic chant in her head until that miracle happened.
She felt his heartbeat on her finger.
"He's alive." She burst into tears as her hands shook in relief. "Oh, thank the gods!"
Davel and Gallatin looked at her as if she were crazy.
Ushara wiped at her face as she calmed herself. "It's something he did for me so that I'd know he was okay while he was gone. He put a tracker on his vital signs for me."
"Can we use it to locate him?"
"That's what I just sent you. I hope so. Find him, Davel."
"You know I will, kisa. Let us know if you hear from him."
"Okay. Love you."
"You, too." He cut the transmission.
Ushara closed her eyes and held her black flower wedding ring to her trembling lips. "You better come home to me, my darkheart. I will not forgive you if you don't."
*
"Stall it now, slag, or we'll be terminating you right where you be standing."
Jullien froze at the sound of the thick, lilting accent unlike anything he'd ever heard before. He held his hands up so that no one would misunderstand his intent. "It's all good, brother. No harm intended. I'm just an orphan, trying to find my way home, hoping to find some family to aid with my journey." He used the Tavali code words that would signal to a fellow member that he'd been separated from his crew and was invoking Safe Harbor law. Under Tavali Code, once those words were spoken, no fellow Tavalian could hurt or betray him without risking the loss of their rank, Canting or life.
"Family, eh? Then turn about slow-like, and you be telling me all about how we be kinfolk. Who's your da, cade?"
Jullien turned to find a tall, muscular male who was much younger than he'd have thought given the authoritative, cocksure tone. Human by the looks of him, he had short blond hair and sharp, chiseled features with intelligent eyes that missed absolutely nothing. While he held a jovial air about him, there was a lethal undercurrent that said it was a lie meant to mislead. Something this man did to give others a false sense of security that they were safe in his youthful presence, but Jullien had met enough creatures like this one to know he was a deadly predator who was well-trained and capable of striking down any enemy who crossed him without mercy or hesitation.
One wrong move would be his last.
"Tevi Era Essa Seakea' alah. Fashe Tah." Jullien started the explanation with the official Tavalian motto and oath--Tavali is an honor that comes with obligation. Hem me never. "My tithe is to the northern True Black Flag Nation. My father's Trajen Thaumarturgus."
He laughed. Then, as Jullien had predicted, the humor died and his blaster came up like lightning and with unerring aim. The targeting dot hovered without wavering between his eyes. "Ach, you lie, man. Now tell me the truth or I'll be scraping your brains off me ship."
"No lie. Hard as it is to believe, as I admit I am a totally unlovable bastard, Trajen sponsored me himself. You blow out my brains, he's going to be seriously pissed, and I would not want to be you." Jullien held his hand up, palm out with his fingers spread. "Check it before you pull."
Narrowing his blue eyes, he approached Jullien slowly. He hesitated before he holstered his blaster and pulled out his link to scan Jullien's thumb. After a few seconds, it accessed his Tavali records.
One blond brow shot north. "Be damned and blessed. Dagger, eh? You don't look like a typical northern son. But I won't be judging you for that." He cracked a charming grin. "Jupiter Hinto, at your service, cade."
"Hinto?"
"Yeah ... and yeah, I be the son of the man you be thinking of. I'm also captain of that fair lady behind you, Ship of Fools. It'd be me honor to see you home to your family, in particular your cranky da."
Jullien let out a relieved breath. When he'd first stumbled upon the small remote outpost after hours of hiking through godforsaken barren landscape, he'd been hoping there was Tavali docked here in the small town.
Given how remote the port and how well-maintained the ships, it'd been a good gamble that this was a trading port of some kind they used. He'd learned about these over the last few years while running for his life, and had become dependent on them for short-term work, and quick, no-questions-asked transport between other remote locations.
"I can't thank you enough."
"Ah, no problem. Always glad to do a favor for me family, even me distant northern cousins."
Suddenly, a huge body dropped down on top of Jupiter from above and grabbed him into a fierce hold while the newcomer growled and moaned.
Jullien started forward to help until he realized they weren't actually fighting. Rather Jupiter was playfully slapping at the dark-haired male who was laughing and dodging like an irritating kid brother.
"Hey, Ju-Ju Bear, you getting slack, old man. I could have had you." He wrapped his muscular arms around Jupiter's shoulders and kissed his cheek.
Jupiter ruffled the newcomer's wavy dark hair until it stood straight up on top of his head as if he'd had a bad electrical shock. "Suck it, Psycho Bunny. You're lucky I didn't slit you to appetite just then. What you thinking, slipping up on me like that?"
"I was thinking you were all cute and cuddly, and I had to get me some of this adorable ass of yours." He tossed his head, then frowned as he saw Jullien. "Who's your new boy-toy?"
"Dagger. And he don't know you're joking about that, and that you're me brother, you dolt, so stop it, will you now, before he takes you seriously?"
Psycho Bunny sobered to study Jullien with a jaundiced eye that said he was every bit the warrior Jupiter was. "Crew member?"
"No ... he swings from the True Black Flag Nation."
He gaped. "No, minsid way. He don't look like a Fyreblood."
"Yeah, I checked it meself. He definitely tithes to the north." Jupiter gestured toward Jullien. "Chayden Aniwaya, meet Dagger Samari. Dagger, this is Chayden, who used to be Septurnum with me, till he turned into a little mercenary Rogue bastard."
"Still am Sep, really. I only wear Rogue 'cause I don't like tithing to one Nation, but my daddy continues to spank my ass regularly when I misbehave." He released Jupiter to hold his hand out to Jullien. "Pleasure to meet you, brother."
"You, too, Captain."
Jupiter crossed his arms over his chest. "So what brings your lady dancing into me space these days, Chay?"
A devilish dimple flashed in Chayden's cheek. "Was passing through, heard you were here and ... I've got a take to share with you, my precious brother." He winked at Jupiter. "Yeah, I'm so screwed on this one. Tattoo my ass and slap it hard.... Yet it was so worth it. Will split the cargo later. But..." He pulled a bottle from underneath his long brown coat and handed it to Jupiter. "Who's your best friend ever?" He said the last word in a tone that sounded like a possessed being that made Jullien wonder if perhaps that was why they called him Psycho Bunny.
Jupiter kissed his cheek. "Ahhh.... You keep this up, cade. You might be changing me religion yet."
"Yes, but can I change your sister's?"
"Hey, for a crate of this," Jupiter held up the bottle and kissed it-"I might be persuaded to give her to you with me blessings."
"Don't tease me about Mack. You know she's the one woman I'd sell my soul for."
Jullien stepped back at that and hoped Chayden wasn't a full-blooded brother to Mack as this line of conversation was a bit strange if he was....
Jupiter screwed his face up into a painful expression as he pulled at the cork. "Funny, I've been hearing that a lot lately, from way too many men." He opened the bottle and took a swig. Then, he made a sound of deep appreciation. "Ach now, that's some sweetness, there. What Leaguer did you make cry for this?"
Chayden let out a deep, sinister laugh. "Didn't. Was a Sentella supply ship. That special brew was actually earmarked for Darling Cruel from Caillen Dagan, which is why I had to pilfer it. Moral imperative for what that dodgy bastard owes me. So enjoy it in good health. May Dagan's head explode when h
e finds out it's gone."
Jupiter gaped at him. "Are you out of your ever-loving mind, cade? What are you thinking? And you admit it in front of a crawler, no less."
Jullien held his hands up. "I heard nothing about it. Besides, I've got no love for The Sentella and they have a lot less for me. Especially Dagan. That is one hot-headed little troll who jumps to bizarre conclusions only the gods understand."
Chayden snorted. "What? He accuse you of raping one of his sisters, too?"
"Yes," Jullien said between clenched fangs. "Kasen. You?"
"Kasen," Jupiter and Chayden said in unison.
"He got me last year," Jupiter said as he passed the bottle to Jullien. "I swear. Me hands were nowhere near the shenandoah. Word to the gods on that. But he thought he saw what he didn't and that was all she wrote."
"What is his problem?" Chayden shook his head. "If I was going to snake one, it wouldn't be Kase. While she's attractive physically, her personality shrivels all interest--if you know what I mean, and I know you do."
"Truth." Jullien handed him the bottle. "My cuff got caught on her jacket, and I was trying to run for my life as fast as I could. I was ready to cut off my own arm to get away from her. Next thing I know, Caillen's all over me, screaming rape, trying to have me arrested. He was so insane, I filed charges on him for it."
Jupiter laughed. "You know he did that to his brother-in-law, too, right?"
"What?" Chay asked in gaping disbelief.
"Aye, he did. Cried rape with Syn on Shahara."
Chayden snorted, then laughed. "Bullshit! He's not that stupid.... Oh wait, it's Caillen. Of course he is. Did Syn shoot him?"
Jupiter took the bottle. "Sadly, no."
"Well, that's disappointing. I shall have to lecture Syn on his behavior next time I see him."
Jullien laughed. He really liked these Tavali.
Chayden took another drink of the Tondarion Fire and passed it to Jupiter. "All right, new friend, so you have issues with The Sentella. Anything else we need to know?"
"Let's just say that if we can avoid meeting up with any of them or The League, I will be grateful. Because whatever they do to you for lifting that," he indicated the bottle, "pales in comparison to what they'd do to me. We have assured mutual destruction there."
After his own swig, Jupiter passed the bottle to Jullien. "Here's to brotherhood, then. Mores to the merry, and to drowning on dry land. Hem me never, me cades."