“I would like to believe they’re just being discreet and wanting to meet off-station,” I begin, and Adi snorts, shaking his head. “But yeah. I’m pretty sure it’s a trap of some kind.”
“Maybe I should go by myself,” Helen volunteers, moving to my side and putting her hands on my arm. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
And let her go to this food processing station all by herself and meet up with other corsairs? That’s just asking for someone to steal her away. I shake my head. “I’m going with you. So what do we know about this place?”
“Mmm!” Adiron answers, mouth full of noodles. He smacks a wet finger on the control panel and a large view of the station pops up on the main screen on bridge. The view is an impressive one—the farm planet below is all green and gold, striated with blue rivers and fluffy clouds blot out parts of the scenery. The station is close enough that the planet itself takes up over half of the screen, but instead of a busy food processor with several ships docked or moving back and forth, it looks abandoned. A few pieces of junk float in space around it, and there’s a small, sleek cruiser with a terrible paint job docked and taking up enough space for three ships.
Helen gazes up at the view. “Is this like the space station? It doesn’t look like it.”
I always forget just how much she hasn’t seen in the universe. “No, it’s not a station. Remember at the station when there were the circles of apartments all connected to the central hub like spokes on a wheel? And in the central hub was the shopping?” When she nods, I gesture up at the food processor, which is shaped similarly, but instead of circular, it’s two large docks connected by a long, thin center. “This is different. The ships full of grain dock here at this end and offload their cargo.” I point at one of the docks and then at the long, thin array of mechanical equipment. “Once it’s loaded, it goes through all this automation and gets ground up and packaged, and other ships come and pick up their cargo loads on the other side. No people live here. Well, I’m sure a few maintenance employees are on board at all times, but in general, ships come and go without landing. There’s nothing to see.”
“But we’re landing,” she points out.
“We are.”
“So what does a grain dock have to do with cloning?” Helen looks at me curiously.
That’s definitely the question we need to be asking. “I’m assuming Zebah ak’Ven wanted to meet here because it’s quiet and out of the way, not that it has anything to do with cloning.”
Adiron slurps a noodle into his mouth and grins at us. “You should know we never assume anything.”
Oh, I know. I glance over at Adi. “You know your part in things?”
“Close the doors? Lock ‘em until you come back? If your head floats past, get the kef out of here and go back to Jerrok’s place?” He gestures with his eating sticks. “Then come back and kef shit up?”
Close enough.
CHAPTER 45
HELEN
I pat the blasters at my waist and try not to think about the thin blade hidden in my braid. It’s supposed to be strapped to my thigh, but since my skirt is slit high, we braided my hair into a coronet and studded it with metal decorations, then gently worked in the blade for “just in case.” Right now, I’m standing next to Mathiras near the door of the Little Sister as Adiron maneuvers the ship into one of the designated docking spaces. It glides forward faster than it should and then rocks with a thump as it hits the guide bars.
“Sorry,” Adiron calls over the comm.
Mathiras winces and gives his head a shake. He touches the blaster slung at his belt, and then his gaze roams over me possessively. “You’re sure you want to do this?”
I nod, eager to help. I’m excited to be included. No, not just included. Crucial. I’m my boyfriend’s bodyguard. I love this. “You point at who I need to attack and I’ll attack them.”
His mouth twitches with a hint of amusement. “Maybe don’t attack unless we’re sure it’s a trap?”
“Of course!”
Mathiras studies me for a moment, and then pulls me to his chest, kissing me hard. I’m startled at the kiss, but pleased, and when he releases me just as quickly, I’m dazed. “Had to get that in,” he says in a curt voice. “And if things go sideways, I want you to remember to protect yourself and get back to the ship, understand? The people we’re meeting with are dangerous.”
I nod, licking my lips so I can taste him. “I’m not going to leave you, though.”