AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s much appreciated.” His eyes twinkled. “I don’t know what I’d do without these deliveries. Herbs are finicky little plants. I don’t have the patience you have with them.”
The chatter was crafted to appease any Invaders who might be listening to them.
“It takes a female’s touch.” Roshini played to the enemy’s biased view of females. “Do you need any additional herbs in the next delivery?”
“Something that’ll help with the aftereffects of drinking too much fermented beverage would be great.” Luam took the opening she gave him. She’d used it in the past. “I’m going to Bubs’s Place once the sun sets.”
Bubs’s Place was where they often met the buyers of their stolen ships. And where they sometimes met with team members.
The beverage outlet’s owners, Bubs and Bujji, hated the Invaders as much as she did.
“Bubs and me will get to talking about the good ol’ planet rotations.” Luam paused. “Did I ever tell you about the time he and I wrangled with a big green male? He wanted the same type of beverage again and again and we didn’t have it on offer.”
“You might have told me.” Roshini sounded as bored as she possibly could.
The big green dude was code for the Powluk male that had purchased the stolen Humanoid Alliance Class A Warship from them. He must want another one.
That would be difficult to obtain. She was trying to disappear from the Invaders’ monitoring systems for a while.
“You can’t always get the same type of beverage.” She pushed back on the request. “This is Cancri B. Our supplies are limited.”
“That’s what I told him.” Luam nodded. He understood he was to refuse the order. “I told him Bubs could get him another type.”
“He wasn’t interested in another type?” She couldn’t supply the Powluk with any type of ship. Her focus was staying quiet before she engaged in her final act of rebellion.
“He wasn’t interested in another type.” Luam wouldn’t offer any alternatives. “We had to physically throw him out of the place. And he never came back.”
They would end their relationship with the Powluk.
“If he was a big dude, you were lucky there were two of you to handle him.” Roshini met the male’s gaze. “Are you meeting with the others? How many of the old males are there left now—forty-one?”
“Forty-one?” Luam snorted. “I wish. There ain’t that many of us left. The tumors, ya know.”
“I know.” She also knew he would meet with the rest of his team and inform them they would be needed for one final task forty-one planet rotations from now. “We’re never sure when our last moment will be.”
“Fates willing.” Luam glanced up at the clear sky. “I’ll be here for as long as the universe has need for me.”
Her friend would try to stay alive long enough to ensure the Invaders were driven from their planet.
“Fates willing.” She would try to stay alive also. “I gotta be going, my friend.” Sadness gripped her and she gently squeezed her friend’s shoulder. “Don’t drink too much this sunset.”
“I can’t promise that.” Luam’s laugh was shaky. “You better get back to your herbs. The planet and I need you.”
The planet needed both of them. But she wasn’t returning to her plants.
Not for a shift or two.
It was a beautiful planet rotation for flying.
She climbed onto her mounted transport, revved her engines, and raced toward the horizon, leaving her sorrow and her worries far behind her.
* * *
Roshini had parked her machine by her caves before the sun was three-quarters of the way across the sky.
She should stay away from Bubs’s Place. Luam could handle the Powluk. And if he couldn’t handle the male alone, Bubs and Bujji and the regulars at the beverage outlet would help him.
There was no need for her presence. The Invaders would continue to look for the being who sabotaged their testing. It was a slim chance, but they might figure out she was responsible for it. If they found her at Bubs’s Place, that would place everyone in danger.
