Page 24 of My Alien Jewel
“I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about her past much, since most mentions of it send her into a panic attack. She’s heavily traumatized and certainly not in a condition to gallivant around the ship and tear up pipes!”
“You wanna fuck her, we get it,” Lyriana snorts. “But let’s face it. There are plenty of species who look dainty and innocent, yet they’re capable of wreaking havoc with their special abilities. What is she, exactly?”
I scowl at her. Astra jokes that Lyriana is bitchy because she’s constantly on her period. Whilst I know that the Zyderi reproductive cycle doesn’t work that way, I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment. Lyriana is never in a good mood.
“I don’t know what she is,” I reply. “I don’t care, either. She’s not behind this.”
Zarkan steps in to quell the argument before it gets heated. “Even if she isn’t behind this, we need to know more about her, Nikolai. You said it yourself. She’s on this ship with us, which means she’s in danger too.”
“I know!” I snap, immediately regretting it. “I’m sorry,” I continue in a much calmer tone. “I know she’s in danger and I’m worried about her. She… I don’t know what she is. She seems hellbent on hiding it from everyone. I have some hints, but I haven’t run them through the database yet.”
“Well, spill it, lover boy,” Lyriana says.
I grip the side of the table to stop myself from lunging at her. She’d take me down just as easily as D’Aakh did.
I focus on Zarkan, pretending the bitch isn’t in the room. “She has large purple eyes with no whites. Her skin is…” I swallow the “soft and kissable” and finish with, “iridescent. She keeps herself covered in some black sludge, but I cleaned some minor injuries for her and her skin looked like it was covered in miniature diamonds. The strands of her hair are thicker than mine andstrangely…crystalline? Oh, and her tears were also made of crystals. Solid crystals that evaporated instead of melting.”
It’s the first time I see Zarkan truly surprised. He exchanges glances with D’Aakh, who’s equally taken aback. “Could it be…?”
“Silithrae,” Zarkan agrees.
“No fucking way,” Lyriana says. “Aren’t they extinct?”
Zarkan sighs. “After their planet was taken, the few remaining families were kept safe in UGC safe houses, but… The slavers were relentless. One by one, the families were hunted down. Most Silithrae died fighting, but the rest were enslaved. They make extremely valuable slaves.”
“Correct,” D’Aakh confirms. “A healthy female Silithrae would be worth billions of units on the slave market. Enough to buy a small planet.”
I’m not the only one who glares at him after that statement.
“Sorry,” he says, bristling. “I was just pointing out a fact, not suggesting we sell her or anything. It makes sense she’s trying to hide her identity. Even good people would be tempted when such a fortune is at hand. And, while the Silithrae do have some very interesting abilities, extreme strength is not among them.”
“Which means she likely didn’t damage the ship,” Zarkan concludes.
I’m tempted to yell “I told you so” at all of them, but that would be a little childish. Still, I shoot a victorious smirk in D’Aakh’s direction. He grimaces at me in return.
“Who did, then?” Astra asks the question we should all be focusing on instead of dissecting Z’Ree’s origin.
Silence ensues and in a way, it’s much scarier than our previous arguing. Something is tearing our ship apart right from under our feet, and we have no idea what it is.
“Perhaps we should search the ship?” Tareq suggests. “Go through every corridor and every maintenance walkway. We’ll find the saboteur and deal with them.”
“I have a better idea,” D’Aakh says. “We could get our stowaway up here with us and then seal off the entire area and vent the atmosphere. That should take care of whoever is damaging the ship.”
“Unless they have space suits,” Lyriana points out.
Zarkan frowns at them. “No. We’re not killing anyone. Even if this person damaged our ship, it could have been an accident, or they didn’t realize what they were doing. We’re not cutting off their oxygen if there’s a chance they’re good people. Maybe they’re just frightened and confused. Seal the hatches to contain them in the maintenance walkways, but there will be no venting of the atmosphere. Understood?”
“Fine,” D’Aakh spits out. “At least I’ll get to say I told you so when we’re all floating dead in space.”
“Stop being so dramatic, D’Aakh,” Faelin says, patting D’Aakh’s shoulder. “I’m sure you can fix the ship in no time.”
D’Aakh shakes Faelin’s hand off. “You’re all crazy,” he mutters before storming out of the bridge.
Lyriana sighs. “I’ll go help him. Omni,” she calls and snaps her fingers, “heel. You’re coming with me.”
The tall Quintran rattles his wings, then gives her the finger. His little finger, because that’s what goes for “fuck you” in his part of the galaxy. “Fuck off, bitch,” he grumbles, but follows her anyway.
“It’s so nice to see my crew getting along with each other,” Zarkan snickers, before switching back to a more serious tone. “Nikolai, go and get Z’Ree out of that section of the ship. There are plenty of empty rooms around if she wants to keep her distance, but she can’t be in the maintenance walkways anymore. Faelin, you make sure Ellen doesn’t wander off anywhere dangerous. I know she likes to explore, but it’s not safe now.”