Page 23 of Shielded in the Shadows

“To’vok. Keela. Fourteen Epsilon,” she warbled frantically and tapped the crate. “To’vok. Keela. Fourteen Epsilon,” she repeated. Then she ran for a set of open personnel lift doors, sidestepping the corpses of Boorginamai and Kitna before leaping inside the lift without looking back.

I stared at the retreating female and then at the crate. It was big enough—and secure enough—to contain a half-dozen bolts of very expensive fabric, or one utterly priceless human female.

The only way the Engaren would have known my name and Keela’s as well as our specific rendezvous point was if my mate had given her the message to relay to me. In the scant minutes we’d been separated, Keela had somehow found an ally to hide her and get her to me. My admiration for my mate and her resourcefulness continued to grow.

I wanted to pull her from the crate and wrap her in my arms, but that would have to wait until we were safely aboard her vessel.

Crossbow at the ready and with the sled and its precious cargo racing along smoothly beside me, I headed for docking port 14-Epsilon and my destiny.

CHAPTER 7

JARRIX

As I ran, I wondered how the hells the crew of the Fancy had managed to converge so quickly on Deck 14. I’d assumed Keela had docked under a false identity and without using her ship’s true designation, but my former crewmates might have discovered the real registration of the vessel.

That didn’t explain how L’mel had found us at that specific hatch, though.

Possibly Keela’s false Gandarian biosignature had been disrupted. If so, that would make her visible to scanners searching for a human. Just deactivating her biomask in the maintenance shaft shouldn’t have affected it, but there were jammers and other devices capable of revealing false biosignatures.

If that were the case, this crate wouldn’t be enough to hide her from scanners, only eyes. And if L’mel had alerted the rest of the crew to our location, which I had to assume he did given Kitna, Boorginamai, and Jonor had all turned up, more would be coming to Deck 14, along with other mercs who might also have spotted her human biosignature.

I ran faster, pushing the sled to its highest speed. Others using the walkway scrambled to get out of the way.

I rounded a curve and spotted port 14-Epsilon. The ship docked there was barely visible from this angle, but it appeared to be a small cargo vessel with good maneuverability. In other words, exactly the type of vessel I would have predicted a smuggler like Keela to own.

But as I approached the port with my cargo, I glimpsed a small hooded figure further along the docking ring, steering a similar sled with a stack of crates on its bed. The figure wore a familiar blue-and-gold robe with a faint sheen that could have been expensive Gandarian fabric, or cloth with built-in nanotech.

I glanced down at my sled, then back at the figure. Was my mate in this crate, or was I a distraction standing at the wrong port while she made her getaway elsewhere?

The hem of the blue merchant’s robe swirled as the figure in the distance moved, offering the tiniest glimpse of familiar black boots. I’d studied those boots up close, along with every other visible inch of my mate.

I had no time to feel betrayal, anger, or even satisfaction at how masterfully Keela had orchestrated this scenario. If her false Gandarian biosignature had failed, the disguise she wore was transparent as glaz to anyone with the right kind of scanner.

Up ahead, only meters from the hooded figure, two more Atolani mercs wearing red armor stepped out of a cargo lift. I abandoned the sled next to docking port 14-Epsilon and ran, firing as I went.

Both of my shots blazed past the hooded figure and hit the mercs’ armor. The advanced tech absorbed the energy and they barely missed a step.

One merc targeted me with rapid shots. Two hit my shield, making me stumble before I regained my footing. The second Atolani tossed a stun grenade at the hooded figure I felt certain was my mate in disguise. The figure crumpled to the deck, unmoving.

I roared. The Atolanis threw their heads back and laughed.

A second pulse of energy—this one strangely familiar—rippled through the air, its effects buzzing against my shield. The Atolanis dropped where they stood, their harsh laughter abruptly silenced.

Confused, furious, and a little panicked, I ran for my fallen mate.

Impossibly, instead of lying motionless from the effects of the stun grenade, she rolled to face me, revealing a familiar Gandarian biomask, and took aim with her plasma gun directly at my chest.

My world dwindled to the barrel of that weapon and the human hand holding it. Did she plan to shoot me down right here, steps from her ship’s door?

“Drop!” she shouted.

I hit my belly.

She fired a volley of plasma bolts over my head. They nearly singed my horns as they flew past. Something heavy hit the floor behind me. When I craned my neck to look back, I found a human male with cybernetic enhancements sprawled face-down on the deck, his chest smoking.

Keela was already on her feet, running for a port at the far end of the docking ring. This ship was a little smaller than the one docked at 14-Epsilon, but with a more dilapidated appearance and larger engines.

I caught up and shielded her with my body as she slapped her hand to the security lock of port 14-Tau. The panel turned orange and beeped twice to signal it had been unlocked.