Free Hero by Cheryl Brooks Page B

beams."
    "Still wildly expensive," Lerotan said, shaking his head. "I can't imagine why anyone would go to that much trouble."
    "I think Grekkor is a little on the crazy side," Windura said. "You should have seen the look on his face when he was telling us what he'd done." Shuddering, she added,
    "He gave me the creeps."
    "Let me get this straight," Trag said, looking back and forth at the two women.
    "You know who destroyed Zetith, and he knows you know he did it?"
    "That's right," Micayla chimed in without looking up. "And if he catches up with this ship, we're all dead meat."
    "Fuck!" Trag exclaimed. "Why the devil didn't you tell me we needed to hurry?"
    "Trag," Lerotan said with a grin, "we need to hurry."
    "No shit," Trag said, turning back to the controls, muttering, "You might have at least mentioned it."
    Lerotan shrugged. "Well, now you know. Full speed ahead and all that crap."
    Glancing at Rodan, he added, "And you might want to get the big guns warmed up."
    Windura gazed at Lerotan with frank admiration. "Do you ever get bent out of shape--about anything?"
    "Not often," Lerotan replied.
    "Just don't step on his tail," Rodan put in. "He gets really pissed when you do that."
    "Would you like it if someone stepped on your spare dick?" Lerotan countered.
    Rodan grinned, showing the gaps between his teeth. "I'd probably enjoy it."
    "Well, unless you're serious about that, you'd better keep away from Micayla,"
    Windura warned. "You should have seen what she did to Grekkor and his two thugs.
    Their nuts will be sore for a month!"
    Rodan swiveled his seat around and spread his legs apart as though welcoming
    the attention. "I'd like to see her try."
    "Keep it up and I might," Micayla warned.
    While the rest of the crew roared with laughter, Rodan growled something that
    Lerotan didn't catch, though it was apparent that Micayla had. Only a flick of an eyebrow indicated that she'd heard him at all, but Lerotan could see the tension building.
    His gaze shifted to Trag, who was already coming out of his seat with fire in his eyes. Deciding he'd seen enough, Lerotan said, "Simmer down, kids. There will be none of that on the bridge. Oh, and Micayla, you might want to send out another hail to tell Jack about Grekkor. Not sure which bit of info will make her day more--finding you, or finding him."
    Lerotan leaned back in his captain's chair with a smirk. Under different
    circumstances, having two women on board could have spelled trouble, but though
    Micayla was quite beautiful--and the little Vessonian was cute too--these ladies were obviously more than a match for his crew. What was even more revealing was Trag's reaction. So, he was willing to go up against Rodan in Micayla's defense, was he? Even
though she'd hissed at him? Interesting...

    ***
At the end of what was perhaps the second most eventful day in her life,
    Micayla's brain was still humming, making sleep highly unlikely. Hidar had moved out of his quarters as ordered but had done nothing to hide his displeasure--nor had he backed off in his attempts to persuade the women to accept him as a roommate. Windura thought it was funny, but Micayla was not amused.
    "So, what do you think of him?" Windura prompted.
    Micayla paused as she peered at the sheets provided for them with frank distaste.
    "Which one?"
    "Any of them," Windura replied. "They're an interesting bunch, don't you think?"
    "Maybe," Micayla said cautiously. "If you enjoy living among the riffraff of the galaxy."
    "Aw, come on, Micayla!" Windura argued, punching her pillow. Unfortunately, this action did more to raise a cloud of dust than it did to soften the pillow, nor did it smooth out any of the lumps. "They're a nice bunch of guys."
    "If you think they're nice," Micayla said dryly, "you've obviously been on Orleon for too long."
    "Well, maybe I have," Windura admitted, "but it could have been a lot worse."
    "How?"
    Glancing about the tiny cabin, she said, "We could be sharing this room with