“If it makes you feel any better, the rest of us feel the same. There’s something about her. She’s not like any human I’ve ever seen,” Talor said thoughtfully.
“I’m not going to let her get to me,” I scoffed.
Talor stared at me, the lines around his eyes crinkling a little as he studied me. He shook his head and I looked away, unable to stand his scrutiny any longer.
“She already has,” he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.
I bit my tongue. I’d prove him wrong. If it was the last thing I did, I’d fucking prove them all wrong.
I didn’t respond and walked out of the bay, knowing his eyes were plastered on my back. I went up to the main navigation headquarters, checking on our progress to the Underground. By the ship’s calculations, we’d be arriving shortly, another fifteen to twenty minutes and I sat down, preparing myself.
I programmed the ship’s robots to gather the cargo we were going to unload today and by the time I saw the Underground rise up through our lookout, our goods were ready.
The Underground was a giant, circular station, shaped just like a planet, with large metal rings meant for ships to land and dock quickly. It was designed so that we could get in, unload our cargo, and get out just as fast.
The shield that guarded the space station made it invisible on radar, except to those who knew where it was, what coordinates were needed to find it. The Underground drifted and was never quite in the same place on any given day, but we knew how to get there. My comrades and I knew the signature to look for.
The Underground had been in existence for a long time and still, to this day, had evaded any kind of interstellar law. It was really rather incredible.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway and Talor and Dex entered the room with me.
“Biran is with Mya, preparing her for our trip into the Underground,” Talor said, his tone steady and calm.
“What do you mean? She’s coming with us?” I replied, trying to stem the level of paranoia and anger brewing within me at his words.
“She is. I don’t want to leave her on the ship alone,” Talor responded.
“So, one of us stays behind!” I exclaimed.
“We all have business to attend to,” Dex said. “We’ll get in and out faster if we just bring her along with us, rather than leaving one of us behind on the ship with her.”
“She’ll be escorted by one of us at all times,” Talor added.
I grunted.
I still didn’t like it.
“She stays with me then. I’m only going to see my brother and I know she won’t get hurt there,” I said, and I frowned when I caught just the hint of a smirk playing at the corner of Talor’s mouth.
“Bastard,” I murmured and the two of them chuckled.
“Come on, let’s go,” Talor said.
We all walked out together, meeting Biran in the cargo hold. Mya was by his side. She was dressed in a simple set of black pants, boots, and a body-hugging black t-shirt. Her curves made me want to rip every stitch of clothing off her body. It was a pity to cover up her gorgeous skin. I licked my lips, turning away.
How the hell was I going to get through today?
I could feel the ship descending, automatically flying into the nearest dock on the rings of the Underground. Once the ship landed, I heard the shield billowing over our ship, closing us into the station and protecting us from the vastness of space. The cargo door began to open and all of us straightened, knowing we needed to be focused on the mission.
Get in. Sell at top dollar. Get out.
“Communication between us is now to be carried out solely through our link to one another,” Talor commanded, using our telepathic connection.
As far as I knew, no other species we’d encountered had such an ability. It made working with one another in multiple battle scenarios much easier and it bonded us as Vakarrans together, leading us into a successful mission time and time again, including making money on the Underground. From what I understood, our scientist had developed the ability through genetic engineering and it had proven useful for the Vakarrans ever since.
I didn’t like bringing Mya along, but Talor’s reasoning was sound. Although the Underground was a great place to do business, it was still dangerous. Even with armed guards defending the ships in the bays, sometimes bad things happened. People were beaten and murdered every day. Ships were stolen. Cargo taken. None of us liked being here longer than necessary.
“What is this place?” Mya asked, her curiosity clearly getting the best of her.