Chapter 24

Mitnick

We got to the hangar bay without incident, and once there, the chaos I'd caused ruled. Only a handful of guards tried to herd several dozen slaves into a corner while sharing baffled looks with each other. The slaves themselves proved such a distraction that they didn't even notice Harper and me arrive. "Stay here for a minute," I said, and I carefully urged her to huddle behind the shelter of some crates.

I made short work of the guards with my pilfered laser pistol. They dropped like flies, but it caused the group of alien slaves to scream and cry as they tried to run for cover. That was when another of Batok's guards entered the hangar bay with a pile of things in his arms, just as I'd ordered him to do via his com device. The male stared in shock, dropped what he was holding, and fumbled for his weapon.

I turned to aim my gun, but I didn't need to. Harper rose like a vengeful goddess from behind him and struck the male in the back of the head with a large socket wrench. A quick check of his pulse told me he was out but not dead, but that was all we needed. Pulling my weapons from the pile, I also located Harper's precious tablet and pressed it into her hands. "There you go, sweet Novi. Completely intact. They tried, but they could not break my security."

She squealed as she snatched it from my hands and pressed it to her chest; her grateful eyes, all the reward I could ever ask for. "Now let's get out of here. I've disabled the engines. Batok has been locked up in his fancy room, alone. He's not going anywhere." It was too bad that a well-fed Hoxiam like him could go without food for a very long time. He wouldn't starve to death like he'd almost caused Harper to do. But he would suffer from terrible hunger by the time the nearest ship picked him up. I hoped it would be the Kertinal, they were close by. The Kertinal would not go soft on this bastard.

It took a little doing to convince the slaves that Harper and I wanted to free them and send them on their merry way. They didn't trust easily, and in their vulnerable position, I knew they wouldn't want to board a ship full of mercenaries without some cajoling. They probably thought we were stealing them so we could sell them for profit.

Aramon's impatient calls on my stolen com device didn't make matters any easier, but Harper had a way with words. She knew how to set them at ease with some gentle promises, some curious and kind questions. She fearlessly went around to take off chains and unlock slave collars. I didn't like how much time that took, but it worked to convince them to board the shuttle I'd prepped for us.

The flight was going to be very crowded, but thankfully very short. Nobody complained when the hatches closed, they were probably used to much worse. Harper settled in my lap when I piloted the small shuttle out of the hangar bay and turned it toward the Varakartoom. Batok's flagship was already dead and adrift after I'd finished with my sabotage, and I smirked at the sight of its powerless engines.

"What about the gladiator?" Harper asked. "We left him behind… Shouldn't we rescue him, too?" Such a kind heart, my mate. I shook my head and pointed to the viewscreen on my left, where readings showed the locations of the planet, the orbiting station, and the ships. Ours was just a tiny blip, the Varakartoom a much larger one, and Batok's ship a long oblong shape. From it, another dot shot, and it arrowed into space, away from the Varakartoom.

"I'm pretty sure our Tarkan friend made his own escape," I told her. "I'm going to vent the air in most of the ship's hallways now. Should make it harder for them to repair anything and regain control." My fingers flew as I used this shuttle as an extension of my implant and visor to do the work, and then I settled them back on the yoke and flew us into the Varakartoom's waiting hangar bay.

I had stolen my mate from a crimelord, twice, and once if we were really counting, from a notorious mercenary captain. This time it felt like a triumphant hero's return as I settled the shuttle inside the Varakartoom's familiar bay. I was returning with my mate, and she was truly mine now, courted and won. I had repaired the threat to the Varakartoom, and I'd even set our vengeance on Batok into motion. Nothing could be better, except maybe the approval of my captain over the union between Harper and me.

When the shuttle hatch opened, the two of us were the first to stride out of the ship. We were greeted by a motley crew of people. I saw Mandy and Asmoded, but it was Aramon who rushed, moaning, to the shuttle and shook his head. "What did you do? You got our shuttle blown up and came back with this piece of wreckage? You're gonna pay for this, Mitnick! And we didn't even get to fight…"

He moaned melodramatically and then abruptly straightened and dropped his hands to his side. His gaze locked on one slave that stepped out of the shuttle behind us with a regal tilt to her head. Her small green nose turned up. I'd never seen the expression on Aramon's face that he wore now, but I was certain I couldn't wait to find out what it meant.

"Harper!" Mandy shouted, and she ducked around Asmoded's protective arm, then leaped over the coil Saisir raised equally protectively. "You're back! Look at you! You're even glowing, am I congratulating you on mating Mitnick?" Harper's eager greetings were drowned out when the two hugged and my attention was yanked to my captain.

I froze in place, all that triumph I'd been feeling a moment ago vanishing to make place for a feeling of absolute dread. What if we were good, but he didn't want me on the ship anymore? What if the Varakartoom couldn't be my home? Suddenly, I realized that I'd never even asked Harper what she wanted. Where did she want to live?

"Mitnick," Asmoded said, with the sharp nubbed ridges of his brow firmly lowered over his golden eyes. He looked like he could be angry, but he could also be happy. With the captain it was always hard to tell. He reached out a hand and clasped it around my armor-clad shoulder, the clawed fingertips digging into the black carapace.

"Good to have you back," he added, his head tilting so that his long black hair streaked with green slid down one shoulder. He was looking at the pair of hugging females while taking in Harper's radiant smile. She was talking a mile a minute to Mandy, flinging her hands through the air for emphasis. I was starting to feel the knots ease in my stomach, suddenly certain that he'd wanted more than anything to discover that I'd been treating my mate right.

"Yes, Sir," I agreed. "Glad to be back. I can assure you the threat has been neutralized. Or it will be once Harper has written her piece." He nodded approvingly, then straightened and moved to hover on the base of his tail at my side. He was staring at the two dozen slaves Harper and I had rescued from Batok's ship. Several crewmembers, led by our ever efficient Quarter Master, Flack, were urging them through checkpoints. They were handing out a fresh jumpsuit to wear and performing quick medical checks.

"We can drop them off on Ratesh," I suggested, "They'll buy this shuttle from us there too, so I can reimburse the ship for the shuttle we lost…" I always settled my debts, and that was a big one. Aramon had made a big fuss, but he was right, our shuttles were top-notch and we used them on our missions, to be one short was a loss. I had syphoned plenty of funds out of Batok's accounts too, and would continue doing so over the next few hours. Repaying my debts wasn't going to be an issue.

"Certainly, and I have another job lined up for you already. You can do it remotely. I'll garnish your wages for the difference," Asmoded said agreeably, while giving Batok's much less impressive shuttle a nod. I didn't tell him that wouldn't be necessary. I liked how that would require me to stick around until it was done.

Those were all the words we exchanged; my captain left the hangar bay quietly, trusting the crew to fashion this chaos into order. They would, this wasn't our first time dealing with refugees or rescued slaves.

It took a bit longer to extract my Harper from Mandy, and even longer before the two of us had reached the med bay. I wanted her to get checked over by the doc and she was arguing with me every step of the way. "I'm fine, you're the one that got shot in the neck, not me!" The hum of voices followed us, the injured slaves were being taken to Dravion before they received a cot for the journey. I wanted to get my mate to the doc before then, he'd be too busy to give her all his attention once the refugees reached him.

"I'm not the one with a bump on the back of their head, I didn't pass out for several hours. That was all you, mate," I warned her. Catching sight of one of the nearby elevator shafts, I took my chance, overriding the lock in my usual fashion. Harper squeaked when I picked her up and then that squeak turned into a laugh when I winged us up the elevator shaft and into the right corridor. "Dravion, we're back! Can you check Harper?"

The half Grorlanx, half Aderian male, stuck his head out of his domain with a frown that turned into an eager smile. I eyed the third eye on his forehead with a hint of unease when I saw it flutter, but the eye didn't open. Harper grumbled when I placed her on the medical cot, but after a quick turn with a tissue regenerator, Dravion declared her healthy as can be. "No lasting effects from stasis, or your wild adventure."

"It's your turn!" she insisted. "Come on, Nick. Even if you just do it to reassure me?" Ah, how could I say no to that? Certainly not to those pretty blue eyes as she fluttered her lashes imploringly at me. I didn't even care that Dravion smirked smugly when I hopped onto the cot next to my mate. He could smirk all he wanted, when he found his own mate, he'd do the same.

I feared we'd get stuck in med bay when the influx of ex-slaves in need of healing would arrive. If Dravion started talking and asking questions, we could be here for a while. But the male never said a thing, and we were on our way before the crowd hit. "No more sleeping in med bay for me?" Harper said teasingly as I guided her through the ship toward my quarters.

A growl instantly rippled from my throat, a fierce denial that made her smile. "No, you're staying with me. I thought we established that part by now?" I tried to make it into a joke, but it was the truth. Harper was mine, and I wasn't letting her out of my sight. She was definitely not sleeping anywhere but with me.

"Is that so?" she asked, curling her hands around my neck and tickling the back of my feathered crest with her fingertips. "I think you should remind me of your claim again, on your bed, maybe in your shower. What do you think?" Both my cocks sprung to attention at the naughty tease, and I shouldered through my door with brute force, then I came to a stumped halt at the sight of the destruction that greeted us.

I had a vague, very vague, recollection of the night that the captain had Harper's stasis pod taken from my quarters and to med bay. I didn't recall this though, but I recognized the marks for what they were, laser fire from my drones. "Uh… I think you might need to redecorate a little, Nick," Harper said, still smiling as she took in the same view I was. "And you should fire your last decorator. They suck."

"I should. I'll get this fixed. Don't worry." I glanced at the large desk that took up a good portion of my room, which was covered in various projects. Mostly drones I was upgrading and testing, but several other small devices were in various states of dismantlement. "And I'll fix up a desk for you, too. Once you break the news on Batok, with a little help from me, you'll be a star reporter."

Harper's smile was radiant. "The bed looks fine to me, mate. Why don't we start there?" She was right, my bed had been made with military precision, just the way I was used to keeping it. It was possibly the only neat space in my room. Right now, that was all we needed. My mate was safe, Batok was going to be done for in the most poetic way possible, and my job on the Varakartoom was secure.

I placed her on the bed, leaned down over her, and claimed her mouth. She moaned eagerly, her hands roaming over my body and I let the passion sweep us away. We were celebrating. Life, our love, and our future together. We had a lot to celebrate. I was starting by tearing her clothing from her body. She wouldn't need these since I had been stockpiling plenty of lovely things for her to pick from. Later.