"Trouble," I tell Alice.
She sucks in a breath, her pale eyes going wide. "What do we do?"
"We'll figure something out," I promise her, pulling my blaster out and flicking it on. It hums awake, the sound overloud in our escape pod. All is quiet, and then the computer chimes again. "Ship incoming. Please secure all valuables."
I put an arm around Alice's waist and give her a cocky grin. "Secured."
"Oh brother." Her voice wobbles just a little, and she stands closer to me, and I can feel her trembling. Despite the defiant look on her face, she's scared. She doesn't move away from me, and I hold her just a little bit closer, feeling protective of her. She's small and vulnerable compared to me. To any pirate, she's a stack of credits—or worse, a pocket, like she said.
I'm not about to let that happen. I find I'm clenching her tighter around the waist, as if I can protect her with a tight grip alone. "Just stay behind me," I say to Alice. "I won't let them touch you."
The pod lurches, and Alice lets out a muffled cry, her fingers digging into my tunic. I manage to keep my balance, but this surge is familiar. It's us being pulled into the cargo bay of the ship via tracking beam. I can feel our systems shutting down, the pod having done its duty—it got us to safety. Or so it thinks. To a computer, one ship is as good as another.
The fact that we're not being hailed or greeted via the comms is a bad sign, but I don't say anything to Alice. I take another half step forward, shifting my weight, and settle her behind me, my hand resting on my blaster. I eye the ship, looking for names, identification numbers, anything that would tell me who's pulling us in.
All I know is that it's not Lord Straik's Darkened Eye. The ship that abandoned us in V'tarrian space has likely left the system far, far behind. If I ever see that lordling again, I'll have plenty to say to him, all of it bad.
For now, though, I have to save the day.
Adrenaline pumps through my system as our pod is sucked toward the bigger ship. I'm itching for a fight, a way to knock some of this restless energy out of my system and impress Alice all at once. Plus, I just love the rush I get from fighting. It makes me feel alive, and I'm addicted to that sensation. It's a craving inside me, always needing to be fed. I twitch with excitement as our pod is pulled in, passing through the cargo doors that pull back slowly.
"What are we going to do, Kaspar?" Alice's quiet voice pulls me from the blood-pumping battle anticipation flooding my system.
I touch my blaster again. "You stay back. I'll jump out and bust heads. I'll fight my way through them."
"Uh, excuse me?" She jerks on my belt, her tone angry. "Do you think that's smart?"
It might not be. "Does it matter?"
"Won't they have guns?"
I hesitate. "Probably."
Her hands tighten on my belt, as if she can somehow physically restrain me. It's laughable and kinda cute. "If you get out of this pod they'll kill you."
"I hate to break it to you," I say, "But once they pull us in, they can come in and get us."
"Then we need to stop them from coming inside. Can we lock the doors? Are there locks on this thing?" Alice moves around the small pod, clutching at the walls as we're sucked into the enemy ship's cargo bay.
"They'd be able to open it. Really, our best option is to fight."
Alice looks at me as if I'm insane. "We only have one gun!"
It's not great odds, but I've had worse. All I know is that I've fought my way out of tough situations more often than not, and I'm absolutely not going to let them touch a single yellow hair on Alice's head. "You have a better plan?"
Her gaze darts frantically around the pod, and then rests on my boots. Her eyes widen. She grabs the plas-film cloth I use to shine them and holds it against her face, breathing in deep. Then, she sneezes. Pauses. Looks over at me and waves a hand. "Where's your spray?"
I move forward and pull it out of the small compartment it's housed in.
She waves one of those delicate hands at me, her eyes watering. "Spray me in the face."
I pause, because my brain goes to an absolutely keffing filthy place. "Uh…what?"
"Spray my face," Alice says again, grabbing the bottle out of my hand and spritzing herself with the ship's all-purpose cleanser. Immediately, she starts sneezing. Repeatedly. She sprays her face again, and then once more. Her eyes grow teary and red and she continues to sneeze.