Planning ahead is one of those things I'm also not very good at.
But Alice is watching me with a tired expression, and it brings out that protective side of me I didn't even know I had. I nod at her. "Go ahead. I'll keep watch."
She flashes me a grateful smile, rubs her reddened face, and then curls up on her bunk, tucking her arms and legs close against her body. She looks smaller and more vulnerable than ever, and it just reinforces that I need to take care of her, need to make sure that she doesn't come to harm. She's been entrusted to my care, ever since she stepped foot into this escape pod with me.
A plan, Kaspar, I remind myself. Think. Think. How do you open enemy gates?
My first thought is to blow a hole through them…except escape pods don't have weapon systems. My lone blaster won't do much against it, either. I need someone on the inside, then. Bribery, maybe? They're pirates, if I can somehow convince them that I have credits stashed away somewhere, maybe I can get them to open the doors for me on the sly…but then I'd also need a scrambler to hide my signal so Shaalyn wouldn't just swoop in and pick us up again.
Kef me, where's Mathiras and his big brain when I need him?
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
I tense, looking toward the door of our pod, but the knocking didn't seem to come from there. Alice makes a terrified sound, jerking upright, and when I look over at her, she's staring at the small window of the pod. I look over, only to see a lean face with an eyepatch and scraggly, messy hair half-hiding her horns.
The face in the window smiles, and it takes me a moment, but I recognize that smile and the utter lunacy in it.
"Bethiah?" I ask, surprised.
The mesakkah female puts a finger to her lips. "Vathi," she says, her voice tinny through the external speakers on the pod. "Call me Vathi. And I was checking to see if you were any sicker than before."
Alice gives a helpfully congested-sounding cough.
"Nice try, kiddo," Bethiah says. "So far, so good, but how long do you think you can hold this out?" She tilts her head in that slightly unhinged way of hers. "It's almost like you need help."
I can't believe Bethiah is here. She's in disguise, so clearly she's up to something. "What are you doing working with Shaalyn?" I ask. "How are we supposed to trust you if you're on her side?"
"Mmm, you call it 'working' with. I call it 'sabotaging.'" Bethiah shrugs. "She's got a pretty ship. I want it."
Alice moves to my side, her hand brushing against mine. Instinctively, I tuck her behind me, adjusting my stance so Bethiah can't get a good look at her. Alice would make a pretty stack of credits on the slave markets, with her yellow hair and delicate build, and Bethiah is one of the most amoral corsairs I've ever met. I don't want her thinking she can steal Alice as part of her “payment” for helping us escape. Better for her to not look at Alice at all. "And how are you proposing to take her ship?"
"Slowly? Via sabotage? Picking off her crew like I did the idiot guarding you?" She says this in a dismissive way, as if I'm a fool for even wondering.
"And you need my help?" I ask, trying to figure out where this is leading.
"Actually no, but it's beneficial to me if you're both gone." Her eyes flare with excitement. "Then I have a scapegoat for the guy I just got rid of."
Er, all right. So she doesn't want our help, she just wants us out of here. That works for me. "We need a way through the cargo bay doors," I say. "Can you open them for us?"
"And food tabs," Alice chimes in, clutching at the base of my tail.
I bite back a strangled sound, my nostrils flaring. She has no idea what it feels like to touch me there, I remind myself. She doesn't have a tail. She doesn't know that it feels…erotic. Like she's rubbing her hand all over my cock. Just ignore it, Kaspar, I tell myself. Ignore it and focus on rescue. I swallow hard, trying to concentrate on Bethiah's face.
"You'd also need a signal scrambler so Shaalyn can't find you again," the female corsair says helpfully. "Which begs the question, what are you going to trade me?"
And here comes the problem. "I'm in a keffing escape pod. I don't have anything."
Bethiah lifts her chin, and I know she's trying to get a better look at Alice. "She's not really sick, is she? How attached are you?"
Alice's grip tightens on the base of my tail, and I nearly bite my tongue off. "She's not for sale," I manage, strangled. "She's mine."