Yep. I think I'm exactly what this female needs. Now to make her realize it.
22
JADE
Even though I don't trust him as far as I can throw him, Adiron is a perfect gentleman as he escorts me through the halls of the ship. The Darkened Eye, I repeat to myself, in case I need the name of it later. Lord Straik. Mathiras, his brother. Adiron. And…Gaspard? Close enough. And clones. I can't forget the clones. It's all information, and information can be currency when you've got nothing else. So I make note of people and faces, and doors, and I try to pay attention to everything as we walk through the large ship.
Adiron pauses in front of a large double door, and I touch the blaster strapped to my waist. I feel much better with it at my side. Just knowing I have a weapon in a ship full of strangers means that I can't be overpowered and attacked. I can at least protect myself. I think. I forgot to ask him to show me that the gun works. I just took it on his word.
God, I really am bad at being a badass.
My companion notices my frown as I touch the gun again. He puts his hand on the pad to open the doors. "What?"
"How do I know this weapon works?" I gesture at my waist. "How do I know this isn't another one of your tricks?"
Reaching over, Adiron takes the weapon from the holster with practiced ease, flicks a switch that makes the thing hum like it’s powering up, and then turns and points it at the nearest wall. He fires, and a concentrated beam of light flies toward the wall, the sound so flaringly loud that my ears pop. Sparks fly and a massive scorch-mark appears on the pristine wall, and an alarm goes off overhead.
The door opens to a meeting room, where the other corsairs and my friends sit.
"What the kef are you doing to my ship?" the one in black bellows. Lord Straik. "You keffing idiot! You could get us all killed!"
At my side, Adiron shrugs, handing the weapon back to me. "Jade wanted to make sure it worked."
"Can we not fire weapons inside an environmentally controlled ship?" Mathiras asks, his expression weary, as if he's seen this shit a dozen times before. "I'm a big fan of breathing."
The other brother—Kaspar, I remember now—just looks over at me and the weapon at my waist. "Should have picked a double-barrel Kith model," he says to Adiron. "Less of a kick for human hands."
Adiron gestures at him. "Excellent point. I'll get her one later."
"You," Mathiras says, pointing at Kaspar, "are not helping."
"Hello," Alice calls out in her sweet, musical voice. She snaps her fingers twice, getting everyone's attention. "Can we please focus here?"
"It's like being on the Good Ship Attention Deficit," Ruth adds sullenly. She's slouched low in her seat, which tells me she's still wearing her “brat” persona like a protective cloak. I don't blame her. The less these strangers know about our real personalities, the better. Ruth lifts her chin in my direction. "So where's my gun?"
"You don't get one," Lord Straik snaps at her. "I don't even know if that keffing idiot should have one."
"Probably not," Adiron says cheerily. He steers me around the long table and pulls out a chair for me, just like we're on a weird date of some kind. "I can't be trusted around weapons…or laundry."
"Oddly specific," I murmur as I sit down. I note everyone's appearance, making sure that the girls are all right. Alice's hair is a little mussed, but she looks good, even if she's still wearing her slave girl outfit. Ruth sits to one side of her, and she's dressed similarly to me, but her cuffs aren't rolled up nearly as much. I notice that they're flanked on either side. Ruth is close to Lord Straik—probably so he can choke her if she doesn't shut up—and Alice is next to Kaspar, who she's doing her best to ignore. Between Kaspar and Mathiras is Helen, who has on one of the clone military uniforms, a bright smile of excitement on her face. She looks like she's having a blast. She probably is—this is undoubtedly the most excitement she's had in her short life.
I also notice that her chair is close to Mathiras's and his arm rests on the table, but Helen is within reach of him, and I do my best not to glare. Every male alien we've ever run across is possessive of Helen, and I'm not going to let her fall into anyone's clutches. I'll have to warn her when we get a moment alone. For now, I relax in my seat between Mathiras and Adiron, who drops into his chair beside me as if we're on a date and I'm his girlfriend. He even puts his arm on the back of my chair.