Neutral Space(16)

“Is he dead?” she asked simply. I nodded. “Start the engines. I’ll drag him off.”

“Kheda let me…” I started not wanting her to handle the dead man.

“Jack go,” I went to the cockpit and sat down to start the engines. Only moments later I heard the hatch close. Kheda sat down beside me and started checking the ship's systems. “I killed the two guards.” She admitted quietly.

“And Salea?”

“Still cursing at me,” she said with a hint of a smile. So it was settled we both did what we felt we had to do. Or at least that’s what I let her think for quite some time.

Kheda used the codes Teesa gave her to open the bay doors, and we launched faster than we should have, but it was a good thing we did. Kras it seems is well armed, and they opened fire without warning. I managed to dodge the fire with little effort, so they launched two ships. I looked to Kheda worried. “Kelsairan ships are always armed.”

“You fly. I’ll shoot you don’t need to kill any more of your own people today.” She brought up weapons and took over flight controls. I managed to disable one of the ships as it left the launch bay but the second one proved much more difficult. Kheda’s rolling and dodging to avoid the shots from Kras didn’t help much either. Finally, she looped back, and I caught the other ship with a lucky shot to their engines. The ship exploded almost instantly.

“Good shot. They only had two ships we should be safe for the moment I’d better get to work.” She said as she got up and headed for the cargo hold.





Chapter 7





O



nce we were safely away from Kras, I put us on autopilot. I went to the back to see how Kheda was doing on altering our engines and beacon signal. She was covered in dirt and up to her elbows in circuitry. “How’s it going?”

“It’s easier to do when the beacons not being used.” She complained. “The engines are done at least. You should double back a little way to confuse them then head off course.”

“I already did.” I liked watching her work.

“I’m beginning to think escaping was the easy part.” She said as she bunched circuits together and pushed them back into the panel. She stood and wiped her brow.

“I knew it would be. Just take it one step at a time.” I looked around at the full cargo hold of the ship. “At least we have enough to barter for a new ship.”

“Stealing from my own people.” She said disgustedly. I found her a bottle of water and handed it to her. She took a long drink.

I pulled her close and kissed her. “At least you don’t have to hit me all the time.”

“Maybe I like hitting you,” Kheda said. I shook my head, and she looked away a moment. “Then at least the beard can go now?”

“Part of it.” I agreed. “There’s one shower. Why don’t you use it first.”

Kheda wiggled out of my arms with a smile. “So you can get me dirty again when I’m done? No, you go ahead.” She said as she headed up to the controls.

I went to the small bedroom if you could call it that. The bed pulled out of the wall, and the bathroom just had a curtain hung over the door. I took off my dirty prison issue pants and shirt and stepped into the shower. The first private shower I’d had in seven months. I turned on the water; it was lukewarm but better than the cold water on Kras. I found a small hand mirror and used the knife Salea gave me to shave. I only left the beard around my mouth and chin. I knew Kheda wanted it all gone, but we had to be practical. I didn’t want to be recognized after the trade ship. If I left part of the beard, then I could shave the rest later.

I came out of the bedroom freshly dressed in the clothes Salea hid on board. They were Kelsairan and a little tight in the chest. The shirt was long and tan with long sleeves. The neckline was round with a deep v in front, and the trim matched the cuffs. There were black pants that matched and were just barely big enough.

Kheda smiled at me. “You still don’t look Kelsairan. But you are handsome.” It was the first compliment she gave me. “and I still don’t like the beard. She stood before me looking me in the eye. It still seemed odd for a woman to match my height of 6’2.” She moved to kiss me, and I stepped away.

“What was that about getting you dirty?”

“I’m already dirty,” Kheda said innocently.

“But I’m not.”I pointed out. She smiled again and headed to the back.

She came back a short while later dressed in a similar fashion only in a pink top. Her hair was still wet but not slicked back like usual. “You look beautiful, whether you're dirty or clean,” I told her when she sat down beside me. “But I miss your perfume.”

“Jack,” she started then thought a moment. “If your name is Jackson, where did Jeep come from?”

I laughed a moment thinking about it. “In boot camp, they give you old-fashioned tags until you’re done with basic training then you get your implant. The tags have your personal information including your full name. One of the guys saw mine and realized my initials were close JEP. The name just stuck, I guess.”

“What’s your full name then?”

“Jackson Eli Peterson. No one calls me Jack, by the way. I was worried they’d figure out I was military if I used Jackson.What about you? How’d you pick Artemis?”