Alisa slumped in her seat. If the pilot had, she wagered that boarding team had too. As she knew from experience, that drug wouldn’t keep a Starseer from hurling the men into bulkheads—or dropping asteroids onto them—but it would surely thwart Abelardus’s manipulation attempts.
“There’s a dog,” Jelena said cheerfully. “I think it’s the captain’s dog. It’s in a really big cabin. And it’s a big dog.” She sounded delighted at this find. “Huge and furry and gray. Like a shaggy pony.”
“Any chance you can convince that dog to run down to engineering and chew on some wires?” Alisa asked, more as a joke than as a serious request.
“Wires probably wouldn’t taste good,” Jelena said.
“Probably not. Maybe you could convince him there’s a big, raw steak hidden somewhere in engineering, behind a lot of vital wires and components.”
“I don’t know what’s vital.”
Since Jelena wasn’t objecting to the idea outright, Alisa commed engineering. “Mica, can you come share your brain with my daughter? The way you did with Ostberg the time you showed him where crucial parts of engineering were on an Alliance ship?” She caught Abelardus looking at her, and whispered, “Could this work?” She was well aware that Ostberg was five or six years older than Jelena and had presumably been training for much longer. Did Jelena truly know how to do anything useful at this age?
“There are Starseers who specialize in animal husbandry,” Abelardus said, but his expression was skeptical.
“But?” Alisa asked, sensing a but.
“Your daughter is eight.”
Jelena opened her eyes and glared at him. “I can do it. And I’m almost nine.”
“Well, that changes everything,” Abelardus said.
Jelena’s glare deepened. Alisa remembered a report from her sister-in-law mentioning that Jelena had grasped the use of sarcasm at a young age. A precocious child. At least when it came to inappropriate humor.
“You’re my daughter for sure,” she murmured.
“What?” Jelena asked.
“Never mind.” Alisa spotted Mica in the corridor in her pajamas and waved her into NavCom.
“This brain isn’t available at your whim, you know,” Mica said, though the words turned into a frown when she spotted the warship looming on the screen.
“Are you sure?” Alisa asked. “I thought that was in the employment contract. Engineer’s brain: available at captain’s whim.”
“I didn’t sign an employment contract.”
“You didn’t? You’re sure? You probably shouldn’t be getting paid then.”
“I’d settle for not getting boarded.” Mica made a rude gesture at the warship.
“What does that mean?” Jelena asked.
“Nothing,” Alisa said. “Mica’s going to share her brain with you. Can you see what she’s thinking and then try to send it to the dog? Along with the promise of the steak?”
“But there’s not a steak, is there? That will be mean, to fool him.”
“Then promise him the excitement of a romp around the ship. Whatever works.” Alisa grabbed the controls and steered them into some zigzags, hoping to make it harder for the grab beam operator to target them. The ship ought to be close enough to latch on any second.
“She’s a tyrant, isn’t she?” Mica asked, crouching beside Jelena.
“We’re close enough now that I’m able to do some telekinesis,” Abelardus said. “I’m making problems for the bridge crew to delay them.”
“Like what?”
“The captain’s pants just fell down.”
“I’d like to say that your sense of humor is appalling,” Alisa said, “but I fear you fit right in on this ship.”
“I know I do.”
“It’s surprising that you object to nudity in NavCom.”
“Just cyborg nudity. It’s alarming due to its… magnitude.”
“I’ll let Leonidas know you’ve noticed his magnitude.”
“It’s hard to miss it, when he’s—”
The warship’s grab beam shot out, trying to engulf the Nomad, and Alisa threw them to the side in a roll. The freighter shuddered as the beam brushed it, but it did not catch hold. Not this time.
“The dog is loose,” Jelena said, clapping her hands. “He’s so happy to go for a romp.”
“Is he going to romp into engineering?” Alisa felt a twinge of hope, even though it was probably ridiculous to believe a dog could truly destroy some critical piece of equipment. Once again, she missed Ostberg and his aptitude for mechanical manipulation.
“We’re working on it,” Mica muttered. “You’re lucky I know Alliance ships so well.”
Alisa took the ship into a dive. There was another freighter approaching Cleon Moon, so she veered toward it, hoping she might befuddle the grab beam operator by hiding behind the other ship. Unfortunately, that freighter had weapons. She hoped she didn’t befuddle the captain into attacking her.
“The communications officer on the warship is receiving a message,” Abelardus said. “I’ve got her believing there’s smoke coming from her panel, but she’s stubbornly insisting on answering it anyway.”
“Good,” Alisa said, Cleon Moon’s dingy gray surface appearing on the view screen again as she dove for that freighter. The warship pursued.
“The dog is in engineering,” Jelena said. “His name is Brock. People are shouting at him a lot. Someone’s trying to grab him. I hope they don’t hurt him.”
“I don’t think anyone would dare hurt the captain’s dog. Wires, Mica?”
“I’m thinking about them for anyone who is paying attention,” Mica said, eyeing Jelena.
Jelena plopped a hand onto Mica’s head.
“Interesting,” Abelardus said. “The communication is from another Alliance ship. An admiral is ordering Agosti to stop what he’s doing and come to a rendezvous point.”
“I hope Agosti is listening then,” Alisa said. The warship was still on their tail. She did a loop and came up on the opposite side of the freighter, then matched its speed and direction. The warship would have to do some dancing to target her with the grab beam now.
She glanced at the sensors, wondering if she had to worry about any of the other Alliance vessels. Had they, too, left orbit to pursue her?
The warship flew over the freighter, trying to get to the Nomad. Alisa flew under the freighter’s belly.
The comm lit up. “Listen, you ugly little junk hauler,” an irate man said, “if you don’t get yourself and this warship off my ass, I’ll pound you into a million pieces.”
“You want to answer that?” Alisa asked Abelardus.
He snorted. “Right.”
“Brock is chewing on things and having a grand time,” Jelena announced. “He doesn’t like the taste of the metal, but some of the wires aren’t bad.”
“Glad to hear they’re palatable. Mica, can you tell what he’s chewing on?”
“No, this is a one-way communication for me.” Mica waved at Jelena’s hand on her head.
An alarm beep came from the sensors. The freighter was arming its weapons.
Alisa sent the Nomad off in another direction. She had no doubt that it would fire at her, not the massive Alliance craft.
The warship started after her, but it didn’t come fully around to chase her. Instead, it made a partial turn, and sailed toward a distant star. She suspected the communication the ship had received was the reason for the course change, but Jelena clapped her hands together, as if she’d won a great victory.
“Brock made a mess. Three men caught him and got a leash on him, but not before he tore things up.”
“Good,” Alisa said, pushing her engines to top speed to take them farther from the moon and the warship. Fortunately, the other freighter returned to its route without firing at the Nomad.
“The captain of the warship is taking guff from the admiral,” Abelardus said.
“About his pants?”
“About his dog.
”
“Ah.”
“It looks like they’ve agreed that they don’t have time to deal with us right now. Apparently, something important has come up, and they’re calling all their ships into the area.”
Alisa grimaced. Something important? Was it possible that the Alliance had already figured out where Tymoteusz was? What if they got to Thorian before she did?
“I hope this doesn’t interfere with the mafia meeting,” Alisa said. “Seeing all those Alliance ships may make Henneberry want to move it.”
“Why?” Abelardus asked. “Isn’t her business completely legal? Just because she’s consorting with the mafia elite…”
“I don’t know, but I suppose she wouldn’t move the meeting spot without telling the caterer.”
“Let’s hope,” Mica said.
Chapter 10
A few minutes after Mica left NavCom, Leonidas appeared in the hatchway, all of his armor on, save for his helmet.
“The warship is heading off in another direction,” Alisa said, smiling at Abelardus and Jelena.
“You mean I put on all my gear for no reason?” Leonidas looked disappointed that there wouldn’t be a battle.
“Oh, there was a reason.” Abelardus curled a lip at him.
“So I can pummel obnoxious Starseers?”
Jelena’s eyebrows flew up, and she sank away from him.
Leonidas winced, catching the movement and apparently realizing his mistake.
“Leonidas only pummels select Starseers,” Alisa said, twisting in her seat to pat Jelena on the shoulder. “The ones who are obnoxious to him.”
“I’m not obnoxious,” Abelardus said. “I’m refreshingly blunt.”
Alisa did not deign to comment on his refreshingness. She hit the comm. “Beck?”
“I’m not going to need my armor, am I, Captain?” Beck asked, sounding harried. “Because I’m busy whipping egg whites for the dessert here.”
“Wouldn’t your armor enhance your ability to whip, chop, slice, and dice?”
“Er, I suppose it might. I’ve never tried.”
“You may want to consider it, because we’re on track to reach the rendezvous point in eight hours. We’ll have to move the food over to the shuttle before then, and either Bravo Six or I will pilot the Nomad to a safe, out-of-the-way spot to wait while the catering mission goes on.” She didn’t yet know where that safe spot would be with all the Alliance ships around, but if she flew the craft out into space, staying out of the freight lanes, it should avoid notice.
“Either you or Bravo Six?” Beck asked. “You’re not coming along for this event you cooked up?”
“I haven’t decided.” Alisa hated the idea of not being involved, but… “That would mean leaving the Nomad and my—” she looked at Jelena, “—cargo for a while.”
“I can take care myself,” Jelena said, lifting her chin.
“And there’s Lady Westfall to keep an eye on her,” Abelardus pointed out.
Alisa smiled sadly, more because she suspected the words were true. She hadn’t expected to find such an independent little girl when she caught up with Jelena. Alisa supposed she’d had to learn that these last six months. Aside from her Starseer tutors, people she couldn’t have been sure she could trust, she wouldn’t have had anyone she could lean on. It shouldn’t sting not to feel needed, and she told herself that as she nodded firmly.
“I’ll definitely consider that. Get ready for either scenario, Beck. The rest of us should get some sleep.” She waved to Leonidas, Abelardus, and most pointedly to Jelena. “Thank you for your help with the dog,” she added quietly.
Jelena grinned. “Wait until you see what I’ll do when we find that creep who kidnapped Thor.”
“Sic dogs at him?”
“Maybe a whole pack, if I can find one.”
“I know someone with a pack of chickens.”
“That’s a flock, Mom.” Jelena rolled her eyes.
“Either way, they can be fierce.”
Abelardus yawned and headed for the hatchway.
Leonidas lingered. “You said us, Alisa.”
“Hm?” she asked.
“The rest of us should get some sleep. You have to be tired too.”
“I am, and I will. After I make sure the Alliance isn’t going to change its mind and come after us.”
“You could set up an alert that you would hear in your cabin. I could carry you there if that would help.”
“I’d rather you carried Jelena to her cabin. She has a hard time remembering where her bed is located when the lights dim for the night cycle.”
Jelena’s eyes grew round.
“I don’t need to be carried,” she blurted, and darted out of NavCom, sucking everything in to squeeze past Leonidas.
Alisa sighed sadly. “I suppose I could use you as a threat if she doesn’t eat her vegetables. Eat your broccoli, or the big bad cyborg will get you… But I’d really rather she wasn’t afraid of you.”
“I’m sure that’ll come with time. You were afraid of me at first, too, as I recall.”
“I most certainly was not.” To avoid meeting his eyes as she said that blatant lie, Alisa programmed a route for the autopilot on the control panel. She could feel his skeptical gaze on the back of her head. “Not often, anyway. Only when I pushed your buttons.”
He stepped into the room and touched the side of her head. “From pushing my buttons to servicing them in only a few months. A decided improvement.”
Alisa snorted. “You don’t even know what servicing is yet.”
“No, but I have ideas.” His gentle touch turned into a massage of her scalp.
“Do you?” She leaned her head back into his hand, forgetting all about those controls she had been programming. Hopefully, they weren’t on course to fly into Aldrin.
“I look forward to finding out if my ideas match yours.” His voice came out husky, and he cleared his throat. “I should go before… before.”
“Yeah,” she said, letting her head loll back even further until she could look up at him. The way he gazed back into her eyes made her body heat, her muscles changing from relaxed to excited as he continued to rub her scalp. Little prickles of sensation ran up and down her nerves. “Maybe it’s a good thing that you’re still in your armor. Not much can happen with such a sturdy barrier between us.”
“It can come off in seconds.”
“Really? I haven’t gotten out of mine in less than two minutes, and that usually involves tripping and falling onto my bunk.”
Leonidas blinked slowly, his eyes intense as he gazed down her whole body. “I am now picturing that.”
“Is it sexy?”
“Very much so.”
“Does it lead to servicing?”
A wolfish grin spread across his face, but then he looked away, took a breath, and stepped back. “I better go.”
“Leonidas…?”
He stopped with his back to her, his hand on the hatch jamb.
Alisa bit her lip. She didn’t want him to go. But she also didn’t want to be the horrible mother who was boinking a man her daughter was afraid of.
“I’ve been thinking of seeing Alejandro,” he said, his words barely audible since he wasn’t facing her.
“To check up on your… situation?”
He looked over his shoulder grimly. “To see if he’s got a drug that would calm my libido. Or eliminate it. Until it’s convenient to have a libido again.”
“Is it as bad as it was those first couple of days?”
“A little less intense and demanding now, but it’s still—” He cleared his throat. “As I said, I’m uncomfortable being around your telepathic daughter because I’m constantly thinking about you.”
“Constantly?”
“Nearly. Sometimes, I take a break to think about food.”
“Food is important.”
“But then you sashay by me, and brush some curvy part up against my arm, and everything stands to attention.”
r /> “Leonidas, I do not sashay.”
“Then why do I keep noticing your hips?”
“Because they’re amazing. But look, I’m not trying to provoke you or flirt with you. You’re just big, and it’s hard to get past you in a corridor without touching something. I didn’t know your arm was so sensitive.”
Leonidas clunked his head against the hatch jamb. “I know you’re not. It’s not your fault.”
Except, in a way, it was. She had insisted on his surgery, and now that it had worked, she couldn’t be with him.
“I thought a drug might help,” he said, “though I hate to turn to such things, since I either metabolize them too quickly to be of much use or they do odd things to my system.”
“What if we see Yumi instead of Alejandro?” Alisa finished programming the autopilot, made sure there wasn’t trouble nearby, and stood up. “She might have something more natural. And then Alejandro wouldn’t insist on giving you a checkup.”
“We? You’re coming with me?”
She patted him on the back. “Couples should select their drugs together.”
“Now?” He looked toward the dim corridor. “You think she’ll be up?”
“We just had a run-in with an Alliance ship. I imagine everyone is still up.” She gave him a shove, though she might as well have been shoving a wall. “Better to get it taken care of before we go on a critical mission where you don’t want to be distracted by sashaying hips.”
“I knew you sashayed.”
“Not intentionally.”
Leonidas ducked into the corridor and turned at the intersection toward Yumi’s cabin. He knocked lightly at the hatch.
“Yes?” came a muffled call from inside. Yumi did not sound overly groggy.
“It’s Leonidas.”
“Come in.”
He opened the hatch. Yumi and Young-hee were both inside, lying in identical corpse-like poses on mats on the deck. The lights were dimmed, and their eyes had an odd glassiness to them.
“Are we interrupting something?” Alisa asked, suspecting that their drug dealer might be sampling her own wares.
“We’re moving toward wholeness through one of my breathing practices,” Yumi said. “Would you care to join us?”