Imminent Danger: And How to Fly Straight Into It (7 page)

“Hey, as long as we can communicate, I’m good.” Eris jumped when a plasma bolt hurtled past the cockpit, narrowly missing the ship.

“Are you planning on giving that back?” the raider said, holding one hand out toward Miguri without glancing away from the console.

The Claktill hastily returned the lamri.

“Either of you know how to fly?” the raider asked.

“Why would we want to help you?” Miguri trilled. “We do not even know why you abducted us from the Ssrisk.”

“Not that we mind!” Eris said.

“Nevertheless,” the Claktill said, “I see no reason to help you out of a mess
you
started.”

Their pilot laughed. “Quite the temper you’ve got there, rat. And here I thought Claktills were all pacifist pushovers. Seriously, don’t you feel the ship heaving? The left empennage was damaged when we detached from the Ssrisk cruiser.”

“And here I thought you were trying to impress us with your flying ability,” Miguri said.

“Miguri!” Eris exclaimed.
Why is he being so rude?

“If I don’t repair it,” the raider continued, ignoring Miguri, “we’ll be dead in space. And that would be bad for
you
, because whatever plans the Ssrisk had for you before, they’d rather see you dead than have anyone know I stole you from right under their scaly noses.”

Miguri looked pensive. “Very well. I will fly your ship.”

The raider stood. “Good. You’re the pilot. Fly straight.” He turned to Eris. “You, take over the weapons controls. Kari knows the Claktill can’t do it.”

Eris stared at him in astonishment.

“Terrestrials,” he sighed, and then leaned over the console in front of her. Speaking slowly, as if to a child, he said, “Use this screen to target the enemy. Hold this control to aim the guns. Press this button to shoot the guns. Do not press
this
button, or you will overcharge the system and destroy my ship.”

Eris hesitantly placed her hands on the weapon controls.
This is almost like playing a video game,
she thought
.
Watching the targeting display
,
she maneuvered the stick until the guns were pointed in roughly the correct direction. She gingerly pressed the firing button. Two dots of light appeared on the display and headed toward the nearest blue dot. They missed, but it was close. With more confidence, Eris adjusted her grip and fired again. Another miss. On her third attempt, she hit. This time, the blue dot flashed on the display and disappeared.

“Good enough,” the raider said, and then sprinted from the cockpit.

Eris continued firing at the blue dots on the screen. Most of her shots missed, but every so often she hit a target. She felt a rush of adrenaline whenever a dot flashed and vanished.
They
are
trying to kill us,
she rationalized.

“The shields are down to 30 percent,” Miguri squeaked as he struggled with controls designed for someone twice his size. “Kari, these are good shields,” he muttered.

Shields? That explains why we haven’t exploded yet.

The raider’s voice suddenly blared from an overhead speaker. “Engage the ship’s lamri, rat.”

Miguri scowled up at the speaker. “Engage the lamri? Are you mad? We could take the whole system with us!”

“This ship is too small to affect anything unless it’s in very close range,” the raider said. “At the most, we’ll vaporize a few Ssrisk fighters. I can live with that.”

“I do not think—” Miguri began.

“Either do it now, or I’ll put you out the airlock and do it myself.”

“This is really not a good idea,” Miguri told Eris.

“It sounds better than being blown up by the Ssrisk,” Eris said. “It’s his ship. He must know what he’s doing.”

Miguri sighed and then punched the button. “Lamri engaged,” he reported.

A computerized female voice announced from the overhead speaker, “Dovu ra hari. Dovu ra hari.”

Eris sucked in a deep breath. Gripping the arms of the copilot’s chair tightly, she braced herself for the upcoming pain.

SHWOOP.

8

“H
urun omikaru va. Hurun omikaru va.”

The computer’s voice jolted Eris back to reality. As soon as the pain of the Pull receded, she looked at the targeting screen. All the blue dots had vanished. Outside the cockpit window, she could see only clear, starry space.
My first space battle,
she thought, collapsing back in her chair.
That wasn’t so bad.

Eris heard a deep chuckle behind her and spun around in her chair. A tall, lithe young man was leaning against the door frame, an amused smirk playing across his lips. He had a defined, clean-shaven jaw and bronze skin. As Eris stared at him, he looked from her disheveled hair down to her scruffy jeans and back up to her smudged face. She promptly blushed a bright shade of pink.

He brings tall, dark, and handsome to a whole new level,
she thought incredulously. Then she spotted the black body armor and the striker holstered on his belt. “
You’re
the raider?”

The young man, who looked to be in his early twenties, crossed his arms against his chest and bowed. Shaggy dark hair fell with casual elegance over his gray eyes, which were twinkling in the dim light of the cockpit. “At your service.” Glancing out the window, he added, “I take it we escaped from the socially awkward reptiles?”

Eris was in shock. The cool and deadly raider who had abducted them from the Ssrisk was now playing the charming, friendly host. And, she realized, his voice seemed to be doing something odd to her body. Her heart was beating rapidly, her breath hitched, and she felt her insides turning to jelly.
He’s got to be the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on. He’s absolutely … wow. Just wow.
Eris had never had such an extreme reaction to anyone before and had no idea what to make of it. “I … um … what?”

The raider turned his gaze back to her, his expression one of amused interest.

Why does he keep looking at me like that? Guys never look at me like that. Is he even human? He looks human.
Eris could not for the life of her remember the question he had posed. “That is … uh …”

He laughed. “You’re concerned about my empennage, right? Don’t worry, I fixed it. And I know I’m devastatingly attractive, but you’re staring a bit more than even I’m accustomed to.”

Something prodded her side sharply. Eris glanced down to see Miguri glaring at the raider. “She thinks you are human,” the Claktill snapped. “But I know what you are, Rakorsian.”

Eris woke from her stupor and shot the Claktill a shocked look. “Miguri! What happened to not pissing off the person with the striker?”

“I would hardly call a Rakorsian a person,” Miguri muttered.

“Wait, he actually
is
Rakorsian?” She peered up at their abductor. “But he looks so … human.”

“Human?” the raider asked Eris casually. “Is that what your species is called?”

Miguri’s tail twitched in agitation. “Yes, Rakorsian, this girl is a human. And as a terrestrial, she belongs on her home planet. She did not belong on the Ssrisk ship, and she certainly does not belong here on yours.”

Eris nodded, although she was starting to quite like the idea of being on the raider’s ship.
Better him than the Ssrisk,
she reasoned,
even if he is Rakorsian. The Ssrisk definitely weren’t as much fun to look at.

The Claktill continued speaking. “Eris, our captor is Rakorsian. We cannot trust him. The only goal Rakorsians have is to crush all other sentient life and bring the galaxy under their sole control.”

“Hey now, we’re not
all
like that,” the raider protested mildly.

But judging by the twinkle in his eye, Eris gathered that the description did not really disturb him. And try as she might, she couldn’t stop staring at him.
He’s incredibly good-looking, obviously,
she thought,
but there’s something else …
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. But whatever it was, it fascinated her.

Miguri’s hair shot into little spikes at the raider’s words. “And I suppose you are a
good
Rakorsian, one who does
not
enjoy splattering Claktilli brains against the wall simply to see how interesting a pattern the blood can make.”

“As a matter of fact—”

“No, do not tell me,” Miguri interrupted. “As a child you saw the mindless violence of your fellow Rakorsians and realized all you want is universal peace. So you now roam the galaxy alone, a rebel and traitor to your species, desperately seeking to counteract all the senseless cruelty by helping creatures like us who are in need.”

“I
could
shoot you,” the raider offered.

Eris raised her hand, requesting permission to speak. Both aliens stared at her in bafflement. “It’s a human thing,” she mumbled. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but seeing as you aren’t a rebel or a typical Rakorsian … what
are
you?”

“I,” the raider said, striking a noble pose, “am a freelance agent of the Intergalactic Federation of Terrestrial Admiration and Protection. IFTAP, if you prefer. As a terrestrial, you qualify for my protection.”

“You are Rakorsian,” Miguri snapped. “Moreover, Rakorsians almost never venture outside their territory unless they are in a military flotilla.” Turning to Eris, the Claktill insisted, “If he is not in the Rakorsian military, then he is either an exile, a mercenary, or insane. We cannot believe a word he says.”

“Now you’re being paranoid,” Eris said. She began to wonder if Miguri was just suspicious by nature. Eris wanted to trust her friend, but she realized he could easily have his own agenda and might have exaggerated certain facts—such as the alleged evil nature of Rakorsians—for reasons known only to him.

The raider caught her eye and winked. Having never been winked at before, Eris smiled shyly.
Why does he keep staring at me?

“Look, just trust me,” the Rakorsian said with a charming smile. “My superiors contacted me with intelligence pinpointing a terrestrial presence on a Ssrisk cruiser in the Sirius system. So I swooped in to save you. That’s it. I have no ulterior motives.” He gestured at the door. “Come along now. Let’s find something to keep you two unexpectedly entertaining passengers occupied. I need to make a few adjustments to the engines, and we don’t want you poking around and breaking anything, do we?”

He led them to a windowless room off the ship’s central corridor. It held several benches and chairs, a large octagonal table with colored buttons along the edges, and several metal storage units. A large monitor mounted on the wall showed a view of space.

“Make yourselves comfortable,” their host said graciously.

As he turned to leave, Eris called, “Wait! I didn’t catch your name.”

“I didn’t give one.”

“Oh.” She looked down, unsure how to respond.

“It’s Varrin,” he said with a smile before disappearing into the hallway. The metal door slid shut behind him.

Eris stared pensively at the door. “Varrin,” she said. “That name is so—”

“If you say beautiful,” Miguri interrupted, “I will never speak to you again.”

“I was going to say unusual,” she retorted.

“Of course the name is unusual. It is Rakorsian. They are all unnatural, villainous sociopaths. And do not think I did not see the way you were looking at him! I have met his type before. He will charm you, seduce you, and abandon you without a second thought.”

“S-seduce me?” Eris stammered. Then she burst into laughter. “Miguri, trust me, I’m not the type of girl men choose to seduce. Get to do their homework, maybe, or babysit their kid sister. But seduce? I don’t think so.”

The Claktill shrugged. “Perhaps I was mistaken. The emotions of non-Claktills have always been difficult for me to read.” Miguri grabbed Eris’s hand and pulled her down to his eye level. “But please heed my words, even if you do not yet know enough of this galaxy to judge their worth. Rakorsians cannot be trusted.”

“Okay. I’ll be careful,” Eris said. She was willing to take his warning to heart, but that didn’t mean she agreed with him.
Varrin’s the most selfless, charming man I’ve ever met.
After all, he rescued us from the Ssrisk, didn’t he? If he’s anything like the typical Rakorsian, then I can’t wait to meet more.

Varrin hit a glowing panel outside the recreation room, activating a sensor that would inform him if his passengers tried to leave. Returning to the cockpit, he settled into the pilot’s seat and leaned back. He plunked his thick-soled boots up on the control panel and took a deep, relaxing breath.

A blue light flashed overhead, and Varrin reached up to brush the glowing panel. The communication screen flickered and then displayed the image of a large, grotesque, toadlike alien with freakishly large eyes.

“Minister Gook,” Varrin said, inclining his head.

The Frimbian slurped out a long, slimy red tongue in greeting.

“So pleasant to see you again,” Varrin drawled. “How are the spawn?”