Free VirtuallyYours by Caroline McCall Page A

stepped forward. “That would be me, Sir.”
    The bony ridges on Tinar’s face stood out in anger and he
lashed out at Liston. “You wasted pilot training on a female?”
    “I didn’t—”
    “Liston didn’t train her. The Array did.” It galled Pete to
say the words. “It appears to have formed an attachment to her.”
    The captain shook his head disbelievingly. “Then bring her.
We need to get underway before the humans send reinforcements.”
     
    Why hadn’t she kept her big mouth shut? It was one thing to
practice controlling the ship with Marc’s help. It would be another thing
entirely to help him fly an unfinished prototype that had never been more than
ten feet off the ground. Perhaps she could crash it? Great idea, Maxwell.
Then you won’t have to worry about everyone finding out that you’re the
daughter of a criminal .
    She hadn’t forgiven Pete for attacking her, but there was no
way she was going to get this thing off the ground without him. As if he could
hear her thoughts, Pete caught up and walked along beside her. His eyes rested
on the livid marks on her neck and he mouthed an apology.
    Charley slid onto the com chair and pulled her visor down.
Pete lay on the one beside her. What was she going to do if Marc refused to let
him access the controls?
    Marc was waiting anxiously for her arrival. “I’m sorry,
Charley. My father promised that you would not be harmed.”
    “Damned men and damned machines. I am sick of the lot of
you. I want Pete in here—right now.”
    Charley watched as Pete looked around him, admiring Marc’s
virtual world. Where the hell did he think he was—an art gallery? He had
assaulted her in front of the entire crew. How could he just stand there as if
nothing happened? Charley’s fist impacted with his face and she stepped back,
yowling in pain. His head felt as if it was made of steel.
    Pete rubbed his aching jaw. “I guess I deserved that.”
    “You deserve more than that. I can’t believe that you bit
me.”
    “Would you rather it was Captain Tinar? In Vashtar culture,
if a female doesn’t belong to someone, then she’s fair game for any of them.
The bite mark means that I’ve claimed you, so they’ll leave you alone for a
while.”
    “Oh.”
    Two pink flags appeared on Charley’s cheeks. Pete had done
that to protect her. He had punched the Vashtar captain to save her. She
couldn’t remember the last time a guy had fought for her. Most of them assumed
that she could take care of herself. If they weren’t in so much danger, it
would have been kind of romantic.
    “Now, aren’t you going to introduce me?”
    Damn, she had forgotten about Marc. The men eyed each other
up like two fighters in a sparring ring. Marc was a little taller, but Pete was
more muscular, and their expressions were less than fraternal.
    Marc stepped forward until they were almost eye to eye. “You
bit Charley? You injured her?”
    Charley watched as Pete clenched and unclenched his fist.
“Back down, Tin Man. If it wasn’t for your father, we wouldn’t be in this
mess.”
    They were on a hijacked ship, overrun by vicious
mercenaries, and the pair of them had chosen this moment to have a playground
brawl? Charley could feel her temper rising again. “Stop it, both of you. If we
don’t get this ship off the ground soon, they will kill all of us.”
    Marc assumed his usual calm expression. “I agree. There is
only one small problem. My aeronautical software has not yet been uploaded. I
do not know how to fly.”
    “Oh shit,” Pete muttered.
    “Yes indeed. Oh s hit would appear to be the
appropriate response given the circumstances.”
    Two pairs of eyes looked speculatively at her. They had to
be kidding. “You want me to fly this thing alone?”
    “It is the logical course of action, Charley. Your service
record indicates that you have a substantial number of flying hours on
different types of craft.”
    “You hacked my service record?” she almost screeched.
    “Calm