Page 11 of Crash Landed: The Daranthiki

His red eyes narrowed slightly but shifted away as he looked up at the top of the pod as the latch locked into place. “If I were intelligent, I would save myself the effort now. I have logged your terms, however, and acknowledge them,” he grumbled unhappily.

Daisy wiggled so that she could look up at him better and frowned. The sound of the emergency propulsion system coming online filled the life pod. “Good. Just so long as you keep me safe,” she reiterated. “And that’s the human definition of safe—as in sustaining no mental or physical harm.” Gods only knew that she had seen on the news outlets what some aliens believed qualified as safe. “There is zero room for reinterpretation.”

The male’s chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath and exhaled. She watched the movement of his chest, suddenly fascinated now that they were forced to be close in such a confined space. How had she ever believed he was a battle droid?

“I will see to it that you are unharmed,” he agreed. “I would not wish any harm to come to my credits, after all.”

He didn’t sound thrilled, and that little addition was entirely unnecessary, but she decided that she would take it.

“What exactly are the Valthaan? I don’t think I’ve heard of that species before.” Was she making a mistake? Although the mercenary’s ship being blown up was horrifying at the time, if there was a chance she could buy passage, maybe she should rethink this and have him stop the life pod’s departure sequence.

“A ruthless mercantile species. Their entire sector is governed as a business market, and their society follows a system of profiteering. Supposedly they have elaborate laws in place that forbid violence, but there are unpleasant loopholes that they will take advantage of,” he admitted. “Rescued people can legally be sold into slavery among them, because by rescuing you, it is a debt owed to them that they are settling in the most expedient manner possible. Whether or not you can earn or buy your way out of slavery, they will not consider their problem. Even my ship would be considered fair game since no one was killed.”

“Oh,” she whispered. Scratch that option.

Her grip on the alien tightened as the life pod announced its imminent departure and began the countdown. She mentally counted with the AI’s mechanical voice, and her eyes instinctively squeezed shut. Every muscle in her body stiffened in response as it approached one, and the pod shot forward. She screamed without thinking and clung to the warm body beside her like a lifeline as all sense of reason deserted her. She screamed and screamed until she gradually became aware of the arm curled around her and the big hand running soothingly up and down her back. Her scream gradually died in her throat with a gasp and a sob. Tears streaming from her eyes and down her cheeks, her eyes snapped open and immediately encountered a broad alien chest turned toward her.

She looked up slowly, studying the intricate black jumpsuit that clung to every contour of his body like a second skin across his chest and up his neck to the sharp line of his jaw. How strange. He said he was a mercenary, but now that she was really paying attention, she recognized his attire. It wasn’t any regular jumpsuit. It was armored, designed with the exaggeratedly sharp lines of a Daranthiki battle suit belonging to the warrior class. Even the thin red trim, despite showing no signs of rank, designated a male who held a high position in the militaristic alien society. She had seen enough vids during negotiations to recognize the difference.

The only part of him that was bare were his muscular arms, in the fashion of the Daranthiki war class. It was easy to see why they adopted this dress code. The length of his arm was covered with metallic-looking ridges that protruded like long spines or skewers pushing out from his forearm back toward his elbow and along the back of his arm in the direction of his shoulder. It was like waves of spikes, and yet they might as well not have been there at all with how carefully he held her in his arms. His red eyes watched her, the black slit of his pupils so narrow that they were nearly invisible. It was only due to their proximity that she could see them and the tiniest expansion as they dilated. The redness of his eyes was uncanny enough, but it was only emphasized by the red markings that ran from the bottom of each eye to his jaw in one wide strip on each side of his face.

Were they natural marks for the species, or tattoos?

Her gaze shifted to the trine ears that were almost foxlike in ratio to the shape of his head, but it was the crest of his hair that fascinated her—a natural white mohawk of hair that, despite standing up from his skull, had a feathery soft appearance.

How would he react if she touched it?

She debated it but became distracted when she felt something warm and slender curl around her leg. Tipping her head downward, she glanced toward the source, her breath catching as her eyes landed on the tapered length of his tail coiling around her. Despite its exploration, his lower body and legs remained pressed against the opposite wall of the life pod. He held himself so rigidly—despite the comfort he was offering her—that some small part of her was momentarily tempted to test his resolve to keep himself as far from her as possible.

Fuck, what was she even thinking? She definitely didn’t need to be touching any part of him. Certainly not because it pricked her pride that he was so clearly unaffected. That had to be it. She was hardly considered unattractive, so it was just surprising. Rumors of aliens being attracted to humans seemed to be highly exaggerated. Which was good, right?

Daisy inwardly scoffed at the direction of her thoughts. No wonder he was so tense. She was clinging to him, screaming like a damsel in distress. The poor male was probably expecting her to throw herself at him like some human women were known to do in the presence of an Aturian. The whole situation had to be intensely uncomfortable for him, and yet he was being kind.

Drawing back, Daisy gave the male a watery smile and took a steadying breath. “What now?”

His arm circling over the top of her dropped away, though she was still cradled in his other arm as he regarded her solemnly. “We should arrive planet-side in just a few hours,” he replied in a low voice. “I do not know anything about the topography of the planet, but we will be able to breathe and locate food and water. The life pod would not deliver us anywhere that does not meet these qualifications. The ones your species utilize are copied from Daranthiki designs, so I am passingly familiar with them. From there I will be able to find the beacon tower.”

“And our attackers?” she whispered.

His jaw tightened and flexed. “Our departure will not have gone unnoticed. It is possible that they will dismiss it as a reaction from my ship’s explosion, but we should anticipate pursuit, or at least scouts sent after the life pod to investigate.” His red eyes glowed a little brighter. “If they follow us, just stay out of the way. I will handle them. Our chances will be better in a scattered conflict on land instead of combating them on the ship. Rest assured, I will get you safely to an Intergalactic Federation spaceport.”

Daisy sighed heavily as she lay back against the thick padding behind her head. She believed him. What she couldn’t believe was that it was just her dumb luck that a rescue beacon would bring a slaver right to her.

Thank goodness Zil had been there. Of course, there was no guarantee that he wasn’t going to do the exact same thing he swore to protect her from, but she was willing to take a chance on a prayer.

Chapter 9

The escape-pod design was inferior compared to the Daranthiki original, that much became quickly evident. Not only were the components cheaply made of low-quality space-regulated metal alloys, but the pod’s propulsion engine was weaker than the original design. Built by the lowest bidder, by Zil’s estimation. It was not an unusual practice, but it seemed particularly customary among humans.

Disgusting foolishness was what it was. But human corporations were notorious for cutting corners for profit. Among the Daranthiki there was little in the way of personal property and profit. Safeguarding their people was the greatest priority—ironically even for those that they groomed to be warriors and who faced the risk of dying on the battlefield for the Empire. But the Empire fed the people as its own children. The success and prosperity of the Empire was the success and wellbeing of the people. Not even the Imperial family, who had every need provided for and seen to, was permitted to hoard wealth. To do so risked the wrath of the people and the gods.

The Daranthiki were not perfect by any means, but at least he never had to worry about being sent out into battle with his life depending on a sub-par escape-pod. What was worse was having a fragile human female likewise depending on it. Half the things he could walk away from were likely to kill her. For that matter, he could also go longer without food and water and derive nutrients from things that humans could not. Given that he had little food and water on him, and escape-pod was unequipped with provisions by its negligent owners, that was going to make things very difficult for them upon landing.

When they landed.

That was another issue. The low-yield propulsion was forcing the AI to recalibrate. He could hear it in the background, the faint sonorous tones as it made adjustments for their limited air supply. Which meant that the planet that they might end up on could be even less ideal than he had originally calculated. Still habitable, but more in the sense of not asphyxiating due to the lack of necessary gases in the air, but may still slowly starve to death.

Zil’s mouth tightened with annoyance. It was a good thing that she was paying him a considerable amount in credits to tolerate the complications she was bringing to his otherwise routine and well-ordered life as a mercenary. As it was, the current complications were already innumerable. The most pressing one being the way he could not possibly put enough distance between them.