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“Always.” He kissed her forehead. The light had returned to his eyes.
He fell back into the captain’s chair, taking her with him.
Because the connection with her was important to him also. She felt that truth in his embrace, and she cherished that revelation.
She snuggled against her male. “I shouldn’t feel this happy.” She sighed. “It isn’t right. Talley has been abducted and must be scared. She could be hurt or…worse.”
Kesser couldn’t think about that worse, not without breaking down emotionally.
She didn’t know how she would survive if something happened to Talley. They’d been friends for seemingly forever. She loved the rebellious, rarely serious female.
“The training under the Humanoid Alliance, our manufacturer, was brutal.” Strike played with her hair. “We had to kill or be killed. The Humanoid Alliance often tortured us. They said it was to test us.”
She heard the but in his tone. The beings likely tortured his kind because they could. Because they were cruel individuals and they didn’t view cyborgs as living beings.
Seeking to comfort him with her touch, she pressed her lips against his chest.
His muscles rippled under her.
“My brethren died every planet rotation, every session. Yet we laughed at smallest of things over our transmission lines. We joked. We gibed.” He paused for a heartbeat, tilted his head as though he was thinking about those rare moments. “Joy leads to hope for the future. Hope for the future is necessary for survival.” He met her gaze. “For everyone’s survival. Including your friend’s.”
Their boinking had given her more confidence and a few new ideas for their upcoming mission. “Then I shouldn’t feel guilty about being happy.” She pushed that useless emotion away. “And I should hope Talley is also experiencing moments of joy while she waits to be rescued.”
Her friend had a greater sense of adventure than Kesser did. She was with a male who clearly adored her. And Talley must know Kesser would do everything she could to bring her home safely.
She might be having fun.
Doing that would be very much like Talley.
That thought gave Kesser some comfort.
“What’s the plan once we reach Powlus Zetus?” Knowing that information would make her feel better also. “Neither Talley nor I can run as fast as you do. I suspect Tsadok can’t move that quickly either.”
Powluks were strong. But her mom hadn’t mentioned their former foes had super speed as one of their other abilities.
“You can’t carry all of us.” She lowered her gaze to Strike’s broad shoulders. He only had two of them. “How do we leave without getting caught?”
“We kill everyone.” Her cyborg’s tone was casual.
“We can’t kill everyone.” She lifted her gaze and stared at him. That solution horrified her. “The idea is to prevent an intergalactic incident, not create a bigger one. And dozens of dead Powluks, even bad Powluks, will cause an intergalactic incident. Fates. It could restart the war between our planets.”
More beings would then die. Their loved ones would suffer as she had suffered after her dad’s death. And all her mom’s hard work to negotiate the peace agreement would be undone.
It would be a disaster.
“We stun everyone.” Strike immediately amended the plan.
She greatly appreciated that. Relief whooshed out of her. “Yes, we stun them. No one has to die.”
“And we blow up all their ships.” He added another step.
Ships could be replaced. “We could do that.”
“We’ll increase the intensity of the stunning.” He returned to that part. “That’ll immobilize them for a longer duration.”
“A longer duration is good.” That would give them more time to escape.
He threaded his fingers through her curls. “The pain will be greater, but I’ll keep it within human survivability ranges.”
