Page 19 of Cops in Space
I let out a breath of relief. Disaster had been averted. For now.
Qa’a transformed back into his humanoid form.“Begin your investigation. The Executioners will search the spaceport while you gather evidence.”
“Yes, sir.”Dad saluted him.
Wiping the gunk off his face, Captain Zan angrily surveyed the blackened corpses littering the ground.
“Wow. It looks like the suspects hit the Alliance soldiers with napalm,”I said.
Kaelen scanned the dead.“They were killed by Elektron grenades. An explosive favored by Bjarke mercenaries. It makes identifying victims difficult.”
Bjarke mercenaries? I mentally drew on Kaelen’s knowledge. Huh? Bjarke males had bright purple hair, were over seven feet tall, heavily muscled, and not too bright. To my surprise their armor was pieced together crap and their ships resembled space junk.“You think the Shadow Thieves Guild hired mercenaries to steal the ship?”
“Yes,”Kaelen answered.
My gaze fixed on a large male in a tattered cloak loitering by a hanger with a symbol of a rising sun on the side. Huh. He sure seemed interested in our crime scene. “I didn’t think Bjarke mercenaries were smart enough to fly an experimental spaceship.”
“They are not,”Kaelen replied.“Most Bjarke ships are old, poorly maintained and prone to crashing.”
Captain Zan interjected,“If they are behind the theft, they hired a pilot.”
Hmmm. My Spidey-sense was tingling.“How far was the ship tracked on radar?”
“The attack took out the control tower’s power system, and they were unable to track the ship,”Captain Zan responded.
God, could it be that simple? Could the mercenaries have simply moved the prototype into another hangar?
Jaxor let out a wail.
“What’s wrong kiddo?”The sensation of hunger hit me.“Jaxor needs a bottle and the stench of death is a bit strong here.”
Xyler bared his teeth in a snarl.“He needs to become accustomed to the smell of death.”
“And you’re an ass, and a piss poor father. He just lost his mother on a Tai-Kok slaughter ship. He needs love not more violence,”I snapped.
The angry Askole took a step towards me.
Dad got in his face.“Enough! Lexi’s right. The kid needs some TLC.”
“I do not know what this TLC is,”Xyler spat.
I gave him the one-fingered salute.“That’s quite obvious.”
“You can feed the child in the security shuttle.”Captain Zan pointed to a bright blue ship that looked like a golf cart had mated with a Lear Jet.
“Thank you.”I trotted over to it.
“Me hungry,”Jaxor whined.
Mentally stroking his back, I stepped into the security shuttle and fell in love with the control console. Wow. It was loaded with all sorts of goodies.
“Hungry!”
“I know. I know.”I detached the baby carrier and retracted Jaxor’s helmet.“You are an inpatient little dude.”
“Me empty.”
“And you’re talking so good.”
