Chapter 5

The strange dynamic of having this Lorr warrior and his crew on board while her own crew was on leave meant she couldn’t go about the standard routine they always practiced while in hyperdrive.

Instead of leading the host of errands her crew usually went about completing—routine checks, maintenance, and cleaning—it was just her and the hulking Lorr. She couldn’t suddenly start barking orders at his crew, who were fiercely loyal to their captain, to clean the toilets.

Part of her felt usurped and even intimidated, a feeling she’d rarely experienced since becoming captain. But the dominant sentiment was a strong urge to pull him into the captain’s quarters and ravage him senseless.

It had all happened so quickly that no chain of command had been put in place. She still felt like the captain, but he gave the orders.

She had been watching the stars shoot past as she often did when they were in hyperdrive. She found it cleared her mind. All of her crew knew to avoid her when she did this. It was her private time.

Yet he was there, unaware of her personal ritual. For the first time, she didn’t mind the incursion into her alone time. It came as a relief since she was aware of his proximity with every fiber of her being.

“This is my favorite spot when we’re in hyperdrive,” he said, his body almost touching hers.

She experienced a cosmic feeling of kismet. Most captains stopped looking out the window in hyperdrive, after the novelty of the first time, unless there was a problem. It stunned her that anyone else shared that practice.

He was not fazed by her silence. “It helps to clear my mind when I’ve got problems to solve,” he went on. “You don’t mind me joining you. Do you?”

“No, of course not,” she replied meekly. Who is this person speaking, and what has she done with the Tinsley Adams I used to know? she screamed inside.

But the part of herself driven by emotions, not logic, didn’t want him to go anywhere. That part wanted him to close the maddening distance between his body and hers. She ached for his touch.

“There’s a red giant in this quadrant.” He leaned close to her ear, which sent hot shivers down her spine. “Look, over there.”

He closed the gap and touched her shoulder as he pointed through the window at the stars shooting past.

Her body leaned nearer to his as she looked down to where he was pointing. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

He stood back, breaking contact again. It felt like the light in her world dimmed a little as he did.

“I should check the latrines,” she said.

She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her as soon as the words were out of her mouth. What a stupid thing to say, she thought viciously.

He laughed. “Check the latrines? Don’t you have crew members for that?” Then he obviously thought about what he’d said and gave a guilty smile. “Oh, right. They’re back on Nebu. I’ll get a man on it right away.” With that, he turned and left, striding with purpose.

“Shit,” she said under her breath. She stared out the window. The red giant was long gone, and the remaining stars somehow no longer held their appeal. She went in search of coffee.

She was sitting in the corner of the lounge cradling her cup when Dante strode in, his violet eyes searching for hers. “We have some intel. Do you want to join us in the comms room?”

“Absolutely,” she stood, leaving her half-drunk coffee on the table.

She followed him down the corridor, trying not to be too obvious as she checked out the Lorr’s tight ass in front of her.

Two crew members were already in the comms room when they entered. She racked her brain trying to remember their names. One was called Bran, Dante’s second. She couldn’t remember the other.

“Have you met Dru? He’s our comms man. Dru, this is Tinsley.”

“Hi, Dru,” she said with a smile in his direction.

“Ma’am,” he said in reply. He had a broad, easy smile, and Tinsley immediately warmed to him.

“Dru is a comms wizard,” continued Dante. “If there’s a signal out there, he’ll pick it up.”

“It’s a knack, that’s all,” he replied self-effacingly.

“What’s the update, Dru?” Dante pressed him.

“I’ve got confirmation that the pirate vessel we’ve been tailing has docked at Midpoint. Their security code was detected half a flick ago.”

Dante wore a grim expression. “Good, let’s hunt down those dogs.”

“I’ve cleared a channel for your conference call with your family. They’re on the line waiting.” Dru fiddled with the dials on the comms unit as he spoke.

The small comms room was a bit cramped with the four of them. Dante invited Tinsley to sit next to him in front of the screen, which meant their arms were touching. It felt like her entire right side was engulfed in his warm protective energy, and she didn’t want to be away from it for a second.

One by one, various members of Dante’s family appeared on the screen, and Dante introduced them to Tinsley.

Trigg and Willow were first. They were at the base on Noxxa, controlling the search from there.

Kozien, who had an erratic signal, was in hyperdrive going to check out a different lead.

Both Zyair and Grux were on Lorr, mustering Lorr forces in case they were needed. The Lorrz family took the abduction of the princess very seriously.

Finally, King Vrondo appeared in the center. “Your Majesty,” Tinsley said when she was introduced, bowing her head slightly.

The king nodded and then looked pointedly at his son with an imperceptible smile.

“Greetings to all. What’s the current situation to report?” asked the king in his deep rumbling voice. “Trigg, please go first.”

“We’ve gotten confirmation that she was taken by pirates,” said Trigg. “We believe it’s the ship you’re chasing, Dante. We’ve not received any demands for ransom as of yet.”

“That’s unusual. Isn’t it?” asked Dante. “To steal a princess and not demand a ransom?”

“We think the Jorvlen government is involved, and this is a political move. They likely want more than a simple ransom.”

The family members looked at each other ominously.

Kozien gave his report next, but the signal was so bad they couldn’t make sense of any of it. Tinsley was impressed that Dru had been able to produce an image of him. Communications were notoriously tricky out in deep space, and in hyperdrive, they were virtually impossible. The fact that Trigg was also in hyperdrive made Dru’s feat phenomenal.

The focus moved to Zyair and Grux. Both the brothers looked grim.

“I have a special tactics team ready to send out at a moment’s notice,” Grux reported. “Zyair will need another day or two to ready the main forces. But he’ll have the entire army mobilized within the week.”

Tinsley could see Zyair glaring at Grux for giving his report for him. Although he’d overstepped, she got the impression that as Zyair’s elder, he was entitled. Tinsley was getting a better understanding of Dante’s mixed feelings about his place in this family.

“Dante. Please give your report,” demanded the king.

“We’ll be docking at Midpoint within the flick. Dru has a lock on the pirate ship that we think Maraliza is being held captive on.”

“Good. Don’t lose them,” the king admonished, and Tinsley could read the irritation on Dante’s face at his father’s suggestion that he might fall short. “I want my daughter back unharmed.”

“Yes, sir!” confirmed Dante.

The images on the screen flickered out. “I’ve lost them, captain,” Dru reported.

Tinsley was amazed. She’d had a brilliant comms guy once, a Turantugan, who was phenomenal at fine-tuning Zefa radio waves. Even he could hold a signal for just five minutes at warp speed. Dru had kept our signal active for nearly an hour. She’d never seen such wizardry for tech.