Chapter 23

Time stood still. Neither of them breathed. Luckily, they were mostly hidden beneath the serving counter. The ship's captain walked straight past them toward the refrigerator without giving them a glance.

"What do you want, Drorgon?" he called to his comrade.

"Grab me a slarg and a cup of bouk, Captain Bragon," a voice from the canteen, presumably Drorgon's, called out.

As soon as the captain was out of sight in the walk-in refrigerator, Layla motioned Zyair to join her in a small hidden alcove. They were pressed in very close together, but safe from immediate discovery. The scent of his skin had a musky perfume, and she breathed it in. It was even more intoxicating with the heightened sense of smell of pregnancy.

They heard the captain walk back through and join his compatriot in the other room. They both relaxed a little.

"Did you get through to Jorvla earlier?" It was the voice of the captain.

"Yes," replied Drorgon. "They have the stone on the planet in a secure unit."

"That's good. Saves us flying halfway around the universe playing catch-up. I don't see the point of it since we're ready to take on the Lorr scum now. We don't need some old artifact to do it."

"The generals think if we went to war without it, it could last for years."

"How do you know that?" scoffed the captain.

"I stole the codes for the Jorvlen Command radio frequency." Drorgon laughed. "I've been listening in to the top brass."

"Damn, you're good," said the captain with respect. "I want all the details. As your commanding officer, I demand it." They both chuckled.

"Commanding officer of my ass…"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh. Sorry. Commanding officer of my ass, captain, sir!" They laughed harder at that.

"That's better."

For a while, they went on about strategies and confidential plans. It all went over Layla's head, but in the dim light of their hidden alcove, she could see Zyair taking mental notes.

Her ears pricked up when she heard the Desolation Stone mentioned again.

"It's being kept in a secured secret location," claimed Drorgon.

"A location whose whereabouts you know, I take it?" asked the captain.

"The SQ90 facility in Gargan Province. They've got it stashed in the TR1060 bunker."

"But they only use that for testing high-energy radio frequency weapons," said the captain. "Maybe this Desolation Stone really will sort out the Lorr problem as well as they claim."

"It's a distinct possibility, captain. Looks like we could wipe out the Lorr without even getting our hands dirty."

"Could be, Drorgon. Especially if they have so many people assigned to the mission."

Their conversation moved to the good time they'd had at the space station. They told stories, likely exaggerated, of their successes at the card table and their conquests in the brothels with all manner of alien species.

These were the junk of the Jorvlen army, clearly. Layla wondered how this Bragon character had ever made captain.

Eventually they left, and Zyair and Layla relaxed a little. "Let's get out of here before anyone else comes in," said Zyair. "We might not be as lucky next time."

They scooted through the kitchen and up into the ventilation system. No sooner had they closed the vent than one of the kitchen staff arrived, moaning that the captain had left all the plates on the table for her to clean up again.

Sometime later, they found their way back to the spot in the ventilation directly above the hold. Zyair suggested Layla try to get some sleep while he called for help. She didn't even pretend to protest. She was exhausted after their expedition. She laid her head on Zyair's lap and fell asleep within moments.

A change in the vibration of the ship's engines jolted her awake as a shudder went through the craft. The vessel was slowing down. Now fully awake, she looked around. Where's Zyair?

She went into a panic when she realized he wasn't in the hold. How long was I asleep for?

"Hello, sleepyhead," said a voice from behind her. Zyair. Thank heavens.

"I was worried about you," she said slightly accusingly.

"You were sleeping so deeply, I didn't want to wake you. Here, get up into the vent. Hurry. I just went for a quick recon mission, spying in the comms room. The Galactic Authority has summoned the ship for inspection, and they're bringing us into the Franz12 space station as we speak."

Layla was relieved. She hadn't realized how stressed she'd been by their situation.

With a jolt, the ship landed on the dock at Franz12, and then the doors slid open, and the authorities swarmed into the now half-empty hold shouting orders.

The captain entered and demanded to know who was in charge. A balding, hulking Terran-Noxxan man came forward.

"Hello, I'm Captain Bragon." The captain introduced himself to Sheriff Margnax of the Galactic Authority.

The two beings stepped off to one side out of the chaos, and they started whispering directly under the ventilation grate. The captain showed the sheriff something on his comm set that Layla could just make out: "105,000 universal credits" was on the screen. The sheriff nodded, and they clicked their comms together. She heard a quiet ping as the money was seemingly transferred.

"Okay, lads, everything seems to be in order here," the sheriff said. "I'm going to leave you to wrap things up while I go for a quick drink with the good captain here."

The two men left companionably together, and several of the crew and Galactic Authority police left with them.

"What was that about?" whispered Layla.

"There's corruption all through the Jorvlen and Galactic Authority systems, I'm afraid," replied Zyair softly. "My brother, Trigg, and his wife, Willow, recently helped bring down a Motley-smuggling setup. He said the corruption goes right to the top."

"Do you think these guys are smuggling Motley, too?" Layla asked apprehensively. "Do you think we should find out?"

"Absolutely not," said Zyair. "I'll let my buddy in the Galactic Authority know what happened here, but we have to get off this ship now. We have what we came for."

The hold had emptied, so they hurriedly jumped down from their hiding place. They were nearly at the port door when crew members started appearing again, returning the suspicious crates they had so recently removed.

Layla and Zyair hid, waiting for their opportunity. As soon as they were able, they made a dash for the exit.

They still had their dockworkers' clothes on. They were only a little different from the uniforms worn by the Franz12 workers. As soon as they were out of the hold door, they picked up a random crate between them and nonchalantly walked across the spacious loading dock. When they thought they were safe, they headed for the exit.

They dashed down a service tunnel and threw off their uniforms, grateful not to need them anymore.

"Don't you want to keep it as a souvenir?" Layla teased.

"Why in the seven galaxies would I want to do that?"

"When I tell your brothers how handsome you looked in your dockworker's uniform, they might not believe me."

"You wouldn't."

"You're right. I wouldn't." She grinned.

"Actually, though, as much as I hate them… we should probably keep them."

Now it was Layla's turn to ask. "Um, why?"

"In case we have to be undercover. For getting the stone. I'd be a high-value prisoner if I was caught, so this could be an option for camouflage."

She held out the drab uniform and stuck out her tongue. "You really do love your planet. Don't you?"