"Your female?" Tarekh echoes, a surprised look on his face. He puts his blaster away and crosses his arms over his chest. "You and Bethiah…?"
I make a choked sound. "No. Not Bethiah. Mine is Jade. She—"
There's a happy little cry and before I can fully turn around, Zoey's flying down the ladder. She flings herself at me, all arms and legs, and I snatch her out of midair in the biggest hug possible.
"What the fuuuuck, Adi?" she cries, even as she squeezes my neck. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello, runt," I say happily, hugging my sister tight. "Glad to see they're taking care of you."
"I can't believe you're here," she sobs. I pat Zoey awkwardly, giving Tarekh a look. Zoey doesn't cry much. She's a tough little nugget, just like we raised her. I'm not sure if she wants Tarekh to see her weeping, so I carry her a short distance away, reluctant to let her go. Holding her in my arms like this reminds me of when she was just the littlest scrap, all attitude and spindly legs as she tried to learn how to be a proper corsair. It makes me long for those old times, just for a moment, when life was easier, and the four of us gave the universe hell while in the Little Sister.
Now the ship's missing and my brothers are, too. But I have Jade…and I have my sister, Zoey. It's something, at least.
She composes herself, sniffling, and wipes her face on my tunic. Then, she smacks my shoulder. "Put me down. I'm not a baby."
"Are you sure? You're just the littlest runt," I say, using my baby voice. "Who's a widdle bitty human? You are! Yes you are!"
Zoey scowls. In the next moment, she licks her finger and shoves it in my ear.
"Argh!" I set her down, rubbing my ear and laughing. "I guess I deserve that."
"You absolutely do," Zoey says smugly, and then flings herself into my arms again for another hug. "Are Mathiras and Kaspar here?"
My spirits plummet. "You haven't seen them?"
"They're not with you?" She gives me a worried look. "We found the Little Sister a while back, empty and in Slatran space, of all places. No sign of any of you."
"We had to split up back on the Buoyant Star," I explain. "It's a long story and one I should tell you later. How did you know I was here if you didn't run into Kaspar or Mathiras?"
"We didn't," Zoey exclaims. She pokes my chest and glances over at Tarekh, who's still leaning against the prison cell and probably will be until we decide what to do with the two in there. "We were out searching for you guys, and then we intercepted a distress signal from Shaalyn. Said she had a mutiny, and I figured it'd be a good time to score some easy credits and teach that bitch a lesson." Her lip curls. "Please, please tell me you didn't get back together with her."
I'm stung. "You really think I'm that dense?"
Zoey purses her lips.
Tarekh coughs.
"Sometimes, you, ah, don't make good choices," Zoey tells me. "That's all I'm saying."
"I love Jade," I say, still mildly offended at the thought of preferring Shaalyn to the most perfect creature in the universe. "She's kind, and strong, and loving, and always wants to do the right thing, even if it's inconvenient for her. She thinks of others first. She's keffing gorgeous, and she has this wonderful laugh and this amazing hair and the softest keffing skin and the most beautiful eyes. She's smart, too. So smart. And…" I shake my head. "I can't believe you thought for a moment that I'd prefer Shaalyn to her."
Zoey just gives me an utterly blank look. "Who the kef is Jade?"
I scratch at my chin. "I didn't mention Jade yet? She's my mate."
"Your mate?" my sister yelps, her eyes wide. "When the fuck did this happen?" She puts her wrist close to her face and activates a personal comm. "Sentorr, my idiot brother's gone and mated someone without telling me!"
"Does he have to check in with you first, love?" Sentorr's starchy voice is calm and easy and ever-so-slightly amused, as if he finds everything his mate does just cute as could be.
"Of course not! But I'd like to be told…and you're not helping!"
"Love you," is all he says.
"Love you, too," my sister barks at her wrist and then kills the connection. She turns her focus back to glaring at me. "You could have said something to me!"
"I'm saying something now? This is kinda the first chance I had."
My sister just scowls at me. She continues to scowl at me as if I'm somehow to blame as I steer her through the ship. All around us, it's chaos. It's a familiar chaos, though. It's the chaos that comes with the takeover of a craft. Alyvos moves through the ship, dragging bodies toward the airlock so they can be disposed of. Cat, Tarekh's tiny human female, is busy disabling panels so no one can do additional overrides or try to take the ship back over. As we walk past her, she jerks out a handful of wires and gives us a toothy grin. Somewhere in the distance, I can hear what sounds like Kivian arguing with Bethiah on the bridge while Kivian's mate Fran tosses valuables into a lockbox as she raids the storerooms. They're efficient, these pirates.