Page 48 of Shielded in the Shadows

“Yes.” Jarrix handed over a data chip containing the bounty posting. Byx took it with the very tip of one tentacle and reached for a datapad perched precariously on top of a stack of empty fuel cells with another. As the Wundi male inserted the chip, Jarrix added, “I’d like a full crate if you can locate one.”

I took that to mean he was looking for anything and everything Byx could find out about the posting and whoever was behind it.

“My specialty,” Byx said with another of his grins. He glanced at the screen with two of his eyes while the others watched three deck workers approach the Nivilus with antigrav sleds stacked with scanning equipment. “Ah, this is a rare textile,” he told Jarrix after reading the posting on his datapad. “A true challenge of my skills. I approve.”

“Not so rare that it will require increasing your price,” Jarrix said with a grin of his own, his tail flicking while my stomach sank. “We have a deal.”

“No, no.” Byx waved his tentacles, splattering water across the deck at our feet. “I’m a male of my word, young Garon. Best prices in the sector for fuel for your ship and only the most reasonable fee for this cloth you seek.”

“Good. I’ll hold you to it.” Jarrix glanced at me, his gaze searching mine. His eyes had tightened in worry. “If you’d like a closer look at the Nalin Nebula, Byx has a private observation lounge just off the docking bay. Would you like to see it, Captain?”

I kept my expression neutral to hide my rising agitation. “If that’s all right with our host.”

“Of course,” Byx said, two tentacle tips dancing over his datapad screen. I’d spent enough time around the Wundi captain who’d gotten me off Ganai and Vinian—may he rest in pieces—to not be amazed anymore by how dexterous those tentacles could be. “Later, I’m sure you would like to do some shopping and have a meal while you’re here on the outpost.”

“We would,” Jarrix said. “If there aren’t any visitors aboard who are likely to cause us trouble.”

“I’ll confirm it,” Byx promised. He gestured with a tentacle at the far side of the bay. “You remember the way to the lounge, of course. Make yourselves comfortable.”

After thanking him, Jarrix escorted me along a maze of walkways that led away from the noise and activity of the bay’s platforms. We walked silently side by side, with Jarrix in front of me in the areas where the walkway was partially blocked by crates or equipment.

As we reached a pair of doors at the end of the walkway, they opened to reveal the lounge.

As utilitarian, cluttered, bright, and loud as the docking bay was, the lounge was nearly pitch-dark and noiseless except for the gentle whoosh of the air cyclers. When the doors closed behind us, the abrupt silence was unsettling.

The space was dominated by a large window and several enormous sofas and loungers. The biggest sofa, which was crescent-shaped and centered in front of the window, was clearly designed to move to the back of the room, presumably to make space for Byx’s tank.

I walked straight to the window.

On our approach to Trakhan, I’d been too focused on our mission and my concerns about Byx’s trustworthiness to really appreciate the sight of the Nalin Nebula, on whose doorstep the outpost had been built. But now, even as my worries gnawed at my insides, I could lose myself in the beauty beyond the window.

This nebula was like nothing I’d encountered in all my travels across the stars. In its center was a bright orange gas giant that dominated the view. The clouds of gas and cosmic dust that formed the nebula were brilliant hues of blue, pink, and purple, with darker regions that were made all the more dramatic by the brightness of the clouds. The scale of it all was truly breathtaking.

The nebula was the most beautiful and humbling thing I’d ever seen. A tear escaped before I could blink it away.

Jarrix let out low sound I’d never heard him make. In the next breath, his tail coiled around my leg, his arms went around my middle, and his wings formed a warm cocoon around us both.

And of course before I could say a word, he cooed. All my conflicting emotions washed away, replaced by a profound sense of peace and quietness. I sagged in his arms.

A distant part of me—the part that lurked beyond the reach of that soft coo, the part forged by so many years of suffering and anger and grief—wanted to curse at him and demand he stop and let me go. The urge was strong enough that I stiffened in his embrace.

But he didn’t stop cooing, and he didn’t let go. And for the moment, I let him.

Moments became minutes, and we ended up standing like that for a long time, gazing out at the nebula in silence. His coo eventually tapered off, becoming a vibration deep in his chest that soothed me. Soothed us both, judging by the way the tension seeped out of Jarrix’s body. I wished I could see his expression, but the window had no reflection.

“The Nalin Nebula is a star nursery,” Jarrix murmured. The low rumble of his voice made me shiver despite the warmth of his embrace. “Stars are born here. Over millions of years, they form and eventually ignite. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

I snorted inelegantly, the sound almost obscenely loud in the silence of the lounge. “Beautiful is far too inadequate a word for something this…breathtaking.”

“True.” He rested his chin lightly on top of my head. “There are better views on the outpost than this one, but this room is always my first stop after I arrive in Byx’s bay.”

“You’ve been here many times?”

“Many, but not since the year before I joined up with the Fancy. It’s been far too long.” He pressed his lips into my hair, which I’d braided tightly to keep it out of the way during our visit to the outpost. “Every time I see the nebula it’s like the first time, but this visit it’s even more breathtaking than usual because I’m sharing it with you.”

He clearly wanted this to become a romantic moment, but reality was crashing back in. I straightened and pulled away until he reluctantly let me go.

I turned to face him, putting my back to the window. However he’d looked when we were gazing at the nebula, now his expression was full of concern.