Rystani Warrior 04 - The Quest Read Online Free PDF Page A

grip but didn’t let her go. Angel kicked her heel into his shin, and Kirek launched his body into them. The three collided, lifting them into empty space. Kirek used the collision to hammer his fist against the Kraj’s temple. The big gray alien flew one way, Kirek and Angel the other.
    They landed against a wall, and he took the brunt of the crash, twisting to absorb the shock. She slammed into him, and he cradled her. For one second her body pressed against his, her soft curves, her toned flesh, her fresh-scented hair reminding him that she might fight like a warrior but was very female. Then she shoved back, pulled the jammer that she’d somehow wrested from the Kraj from her pocket, and turned it off.
    She gestured to Kirek’s holstered blaster and the Kraj. “Shoot him.”
    Kirek nudged the unconscious man with his boot. “There’s no need. He can’t harm us now. Let’s go before his ship arrives.”
    Angel scowled at him. Kirek suspected if she still had her weapons, she wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot. However, he never killed unless in self-defense or to save a life.
    Angel raised an eyebrow at his reluctance but said no more as they hurried back to the shuttle. Kirek was pleased to learn Angel was not only intelligent, but could defend herself so well. But he wished she had better equipment. The pared-down shuttle gave him a bit of trepidation, and he wished he had the former use of his psi that would have spotted faulty circuits, a weak hull, or the enemy that had been hiding in the shuttle bay ceiling.
    “Captain.” Petroy’s voice crackled over the com.
    “Go ahead.”
    “The Kraj captain says he is done negotiating. They say that if we don’t hand over the Rystani warrior, Kirek, they’ll fire upon us, and from their ferocity of tone, I tend to believe them.”
    “Understood. Are they in clutch beam range?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Tell them we left several Kraj alive. They are free to retrieve them. That should slow them down.”
    “Aye, Captain.”
    With Angel away from the Raven, Petroy appeared comfortable in charge. He remained calm in spite of the crisis.
    Impressed that she didn’t give many specific orders to Petroy but just the main plan, trusting her officer to handle the crisis, Kirek focused his gaze on Angel. She flew the ship as if it were second nature, her only concession to the fight they’d just been through or the warning just given, a flick of a switch to raise their shields.
    Outdated, with limited computerization, the bare-wired but functional shuttle had been an antique before he’d been born. Reminding himself that not everyone in the galaxy had the credits to buy the latest technological engineering, he refrained from commenting about her superior flying or the ancient gear. Instead, he peered out the spotless screen for her mothership.
    As they neared, he scrutinized her lines. Above and to starboard the Raven’s hull, shimmering gray bendar against the blackness of space looked like a winged beast of prey. The silhouette jarred Kirek’s memory, a faint vision in a long-forgotten dream suddenly sharpened.
    His psi might be damaged, but he still had memories of when it had worked. He’d had a vision of this moment, this ship, this woman.
    Stars. He understood he was exactly where he was supposed to be. The Raven and Angel were his fate.
    During his lifetime, Kirek had always been haunted by flashes, visions of what should be. As a fetus in Miri’s womb, he’d reached out with his psi in a healing circle, already aware that destiny would set him apart. Those instincts hadn’t left him during his stays on Kwadii and Endeki or even during the long years of astral travel. Never had he envisioned a partner in his quest, but at the sight of the Raven, he understood that Angel would be important to his future.
    If he’d had access to his psi, he might have known exactly how she was important. But now, he figured that the only way he had to find out what role they were