Drasus

The east hangar is the one we used to use, especially when we were purchasing weapons. It is, as Coral suggests, a useful place if you need to use the moon's curvature in order to make a swift exit, but it is also awkward to reach.

While we are leaving behind the battle, I'm still on edge. I won't be happy until Coral is on the Golden Orion and we have routed our enemies once and for all.

However, her plan is absolute perfection, and my heart swells for my clever mate. Without knowing much about the galaxy she's found herself in, she's already used the technology to our advantage.

We are truly a lucky bunch of Sarkarnii to have found humans as our mates. The ancestors smiled on us when Draco decided we needed to get inside the Kirakos in order to reach our goal.

He just never knew what the goal really was.

The east hangar is empty save for one ship, a small Lepke vessel. As we approach, the sole occupant slips out, and I'm confronted by an old friend.

"Drasus." She nods at me.

"This is Emilie," Coral says. "She saved me and brought me here when I was sick with the Bognarok venom."

"You were stung?" I growl.

"The Zio have some experience with humans. They were able to assist once I got your mate here," Emilie says.

"The Bognarok used their venom on my mate?" My hands bunch into fists, my claws slicing into my flesh.

"I'm fine, Drasus," Coral says with a smile which doesn't reach her eyes.

"They will pay for what they have done to you." I round the hangar and go to the hidden panels, the ones we used all the time when hiding our contraband from the occasional galaxial enforcement the Preator had to allow to inspect the moon.

Where we left them are the pulsar charges. More than enough for what I want to do.

"Draco will get you a new ship," I tell Emilie as I return. "Take my mate to the Golden Orion. I will join you both there."

Coral furrows her brow. "I thought we were in this together," she says, confused.

I take her hand, wanting nothing more than to take her away, back to the ship, into my long unused quarters and make her happy in all possible ways.

"We are. I'm going to fit the charges, but I don't want you here waiting and becoming a target. Emilie knows this place like she was born here. She can get you back to the Golden Orion in no time, and I'll be along in a seccari or two." I press a kiss to her sweet lips, so full of promise, so alive, no thanks to the Bognarok. "You'll not even notice I've been away."

"I'll notice," she replies, but her eyes are bright. "And you'd better come back, or I'll come looking for you."

I give Emilie a nod and enter the ship, watching for a short while as the pair of them exit through another secret doorway.

It reminds me of the Kirakos and all the strange passages it had, so many of them only available to us when we found our females.

The holo-stamp disc is set up within the cockpit. I busy myself fixing the explosives and setting the detonators.

Once these are complete, I check the flight programme. Emilie has done an excellent job of setting a course away from Harbar, but I make a few amendments which I think will suit the final purpose of the ship better.

Finally, I activate the holo-stamp and I'm confronted by my mate and her human friend. Her beauty is ethereal when magnified by the holo technology, and as she spins and dances, my heart soars.

For I will have the real thing, and our enemies will have nothing.

"Drasus!" Drega's voice echoes through the ship's comm. "Get the nev off that ship and back to the Golden Orion. We need to drive the Bogarok out of Harbar and we can't do it with you there."

"Get Draco to contact the Habosu leader. Tell him they'll have to kill us to get our mates, but make sure he has a good view of the east hangar."

"What?"Draco bellows down the comm.

"We have a plan, my mate and I," I respond. "Trust us."

A grunt rolls around the ship. "Trust you, warrior?" Draco says. "When have I ever not trusted you?"

"The nevving space worms for a start. I told you not to let Daeos shift," I retort, setting the ship going and stepping out as the cockpit closes up and it begins its pre-flight sequence, lifting away from the surface and heading out towards the two-way forcefield.

I make my way over to the hidden doorway and follow my mate into the passage which will lead me back to her and to my fellow warriors.

Once we have dealt with our enemies, we will finally be free, and freedom is all the sweeter when you have a mate by your side.

A mate I will dance for, in the atrium of the Golden Orion, as soon as I possibly can.