Page 31 of Logic Broken

Pacing in front of the airlock I kept glancing down the hallway to see if Akri was approaching yet. The Dart was dark and gloomy, just like Drameil. I’d walked along the hallways of this ship more than once and never thought I’d find myself on it again. At least the news had been passed along that Ziame had struck the bastard Crimelord the final blow.

Now where was Akri? He’d pulled off a miracle and somehow prevented this ship from incinerating with half of us still on it. I wanted to thank him for doing that, and I wanted to make sure he knew he never had to do anything on his own again. If he had a mission, we’d all be on it, damn it.

“Calm down, brother,” Thorin said from my left where he was leaning against the wall. He had one fist clenched on his leg, which meant he was in pain, but his expression was calm and open. “They’ll get here, Sunder and Ziame haven’t made it back yet either.” The rest had. Da’vi and Kitan were inside the small Lacerten shuttle, preparing it for takeoff. Luka, Fierce, and Eoin were in the hallway with me, watching for the return of our brothers.

My stomach clenched when I remembered racing for the shuttle to beat that deadly timer. To discover that only half our number had made it by the time the counter had almost hit zero. If not for Akri’s interference we would have had to return the Vagabond to tell half the females their mates were dead.

A noise alerted me to new arrivals, my upper hands flexing into fists in case it wasn’t anyone friendly. “Akri, are you meeting us at the shuttle?” Ziame rumbled in his deep voice. He and Sunder were approaching from our left, dried blood coating our Captain’s chest and face. Looked like he’d been hit by some serious arterial spray…

Ziame’s green eyes met mine, and then he made eye contact with each of my brothers while he tapped his fist over his heart. “Drameil is dead,” he announced, the statement met with loud cheers and foot stomping. Thorin surprised all of us by dragging Ziame into an embrace, risking the impalement of his hand when he slapped the Captain on his back.

“Akri and his mate are on their way,” Ziame said once the commotion died down. We all settled in to wait, though Sunder ducked into the ship to share the news with our mechanic and pilot. I saw that Ziame was raising his com to his mouth to have a quiet conversation with his mate, his expressive ears twitching this way and that as he talked.

There he was, at last, jogging down the hallway with confidence, a human female tucked under one arm. One of his tentacles was curled around her neck and shoulders too; like he couldn’t resist having as much contact with her as possible. Definitely mated.

His approach was met with cheers and greetings and I waded to the front, using my extra arms to my advantage. Picking Akri up with my upper arms, I yanked him into a hug. “My brother, so glad to have you back! Congratulations!” The male made an ‘oomph’ noise as I slapped the air out of him but the grin on his face was huge, his strange eyes shimmering with red and orange little flickers.

It was obvious from the way he handled himself in the loud crowd that he had full control of his body now. He also never once let go of his female and introduced her eagerly to each of us as Jenny with the widest smile. Yeah, Akri had fully ‘integrated’ as he’d call it, and he now carried himself as a warrior, as one of us.

When we returned to the Vagabond on Akri’s former little shuttle, we were forced to stand packed together in the small interior. I was grateful that the trip was even shorter than the ride to the Dart had been, the Vagabond no longer needed to hide so Chloe and Oliver were meeting us halfway. Our only male human addition to the crew had taken to flying like a fish to water, allowing Kitan a little more downtime when we were traveling.

In the hangar bay of the Vagabond, the round of eager greetings started all over again, this time by all the women on the ship. I sought out my Meena, grinning when I spotted her crown of dark hair in the mob. More gently this time, I elbowed my way through the crowd and scooped her into my arms. “Mate, you are positively glowing!” I told her and she smiled back at me.

“Come on, I want to greet Akri. I wouldn’t be here with you if not for him!” she said, and doing as she wished, I carried her to where Akri and his Jenny were surrounded by our family. “Akri!” Meena called out, and I was glad to see that Akri immediately turned to her and started smiling widely.

“Ah, Meena!” He dipped his head into a bow, “I see you are well. Come meet Jenny,” he said and indicated the brown-haired female beneath his arm. She had freckles across her face much like mine and I liked that. I put my mate down on her feet when she reached for Jenny and watched with a smile as the two hugged though they didn’t even know each other.

“Jenny, Akri was the one that made me feel welcome on this ship when I first got here. Please, let me return the favor and do the same for you!” Meena was saying. My chest filled with warmth. Yeah, now my family was whole again, all my favorite people back together on the Vagabond. There was nothing that could make this better. I was the luckiest male in the Quadrant.

Chapter 19

Jenny

“Do you like it?” Akri asked from behind me. I was standing in the converted crew quarters that his friends had prepared for us the moment they had discovered that they weren’t just rescuing Akri, but me as well. I was touched by that, and a little amused by the assumption that Akri and I would be bunking together based on a single wanted poster.

Jakar and Da’vi had worked on setting up these quarters which they called Mate Apartments. At least, that’s what I’d heard the big red Pretorian call them. The mechanic, he didn’t say much at all, being more a man of action than words. It was a conversion of two sets of quarters into a single apartment, allowing for a living area and separate bedroom.

Our quarters had been converted in a hurry. They had less than a week to work on them, but that didn’t show in the craftsmanship. We even had a fake window installed on one wall, a viewscreen that allowed us to see the stars outside of the ship but which could also be used for entertainment if we felt like it.

It was still bare of decorations but someone had thoughtfully placed a vase of beautiful purple flowers on the coffee table; a single splash of color. Beyond the open door to the bedroom I could see a big bed covered in many soft blankets and pillows, some of them handcrafted crocheted items. A lot of thought and care had gone into that area, it was very welcoming.

“I love it, I can see myself living here for sure, Akri,” I said because I knew he secretly really needed that reassurance. I really could too, this was better than any apartment I’d lived in back on Earth. This would have Akri in it, and friendship and company right outside the door whenever I felt like it.

We’d already shared a big meal in the mess hall, made by Tori, a shy blonde human girl who was accompanied by the cutest little pink and purple toddler everywhere. Some of the foods she made were so close to actual Earth foods that I’d been struck with a surprising little pang of homesickness. Akri had noticed immediately and I was fairly certain that he was now on a mission to source actual chocolate for me. What more could a girl ask for?

I’d also gotten to observe Akri interact with his best friend. The Captain of the ship had known him the longest and they’d been through a lot together. I couldn’t think the giant, green Lacerten was scary when I saw the way he was with my guy, the friendship they clearly shared. I also had a vague recollection of this particular gladiator, the Beast, when I first woke up here. It had been huge news that he’d escaped and I’d seen special after special about him on the viewscreens in Drova’s bar. Of course, my old boss had grunted at me that I shouldn’t get any ideas, I was just a weak little human, and escape for me was futile.

Well, look at me now. Ready for my happily-ever-after with my very own superhero to love for the rest of my life. Teenage me would have a conniption if she heard that those silly fantasies had actually come true. She wouldn’t have been able to wait for this future to get started, but I was happy that I got to spend time with my mom first before she passed away. As hard as that had been, I wouldn’t have been able to survive or appreciate what little I had when this adventure started.

“Hey Akri, you know that Captains are also allowed to marry people?” I asked while I shrugged out of my shirt. Walking toward our bedroom, I cast a look over my shoulder and caught the heated glint in his eyes.

“Is that so, sweetheart?” he drawled. He shrugged out of his own coat but seemed unable to make a mess on the floor here, going over to the door to hang it on a peg. His eyes never left me, “Then the wedding can go through? I shall arrange it.” He grinned, his Liades writhing along his shoulders, eager to reach for me. “But first, I believe we need to uphold another custom, this one is more universal to all species.”

He reached me in two big strides, picked me up, and tossed me onto the colorful bedspread. “We will initiate this bed, and then the couch, and the bathroom. And then we’ll get married.” I was fairly certain the initiating of places was what you were supposed to be doing after the wedding, but I didn’t correct him. I just spread my arms and welcomed him in them.

*

Akri