Beyond Galaxy's Edge by Anna Hackett

Author:Anna Hackett [Hackett, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

***

“Strapped in?”

At his question, Nissa glanced up from the co-pilot’s chair in the Mercury. “Strapped in.”

Justyn set about firing up the engines. It was nice to be back in his little runnership. He loved the Nomad and the company of its crew, but there was something about being off by himself, in charge of his direction, headed wherever the hell he wanted to go that appealed strongly to him.

Though—he stole a glance at the woman beside him—it was kind of nice having Nissa in the chair beside him.

Justyn tapped the console and Rynan’s face filled the screen. “Ry, we clear to leave?”

“Yes. See you at Hydrae, and be careful, bro.”

Justyn tossed his brother a salute, then focused the viewscreen. The main hangar of the Nomad was big. It housed Justyn’s runnership, Rynan’s medium-sized cuttership, the Pathfinder, Aurina’s scoutship, the Ariel and two shuttles.

With a touch of the controls, his girl responded instantly and rose just a few centimeters off the deck. Another touch and she turned to face the external door covered with the purple shimmer of a huma-field.

“All right. Next stop Hydrae.”

Justyn maneuvered the Mercury out of the hangar, and moments later they were alongside the bulk of the Sky Nomad. He set the course. “Once we hit interstellar speed, we’ll reach Hydrae in just over an hour.”

Nissa rubbed her hands together. “Great. I can’t wait to see what we find.”

He didn’t warn her they might not find anything. He liked seeing the flush of excitement on her face.

Soon they hit interstellar speed, the stars turning to a stream of silver-white blurs that streaked past them.

Justyn sat back. “Hey, I have something for you.”

She eyed him, trying to hide her interest. “Another present?”

“Yep.”

“I’m not so easily bought.”

“Nothing easy about you, Captain Smooth.” He pulled the small object from his pocket and handed it over.

She studied the small blue box wrapped with a slightly crooked cream ribbon. He had big hands, that weren’t designed for tying neat bows, but she didn’t seem to mind. She pulled the ribbon off, opened the box and lifted the tiny, metal dog out.

It sat on the palm of her hand. “He’s so cute.” She smiled. “Thank you.”

Damn, he’d do just about anything to see that smile. Justyn reached out and touched the switch on the side of the dog. The minute robot came to life, emitting a tinny bark, sitting, then bounding to his feet to turn in circles.

“Wow.” Nissa’s smile widened. “It’s wonderful.”

“My cousin, Malin, makes them. They’re modeled after her real-life droid dog.” Justyn watched the little thing sit down on Nissa’s palm, tongue lolling. “Krypto’s a hell of a lot bigger than this guy.”

“Your cousin’s a talented metalsmith.”

“She’s a salvage mechanic. Since she shacked up with a cyborg on Centax, she learned how to make these guys from her boss at the salvage yard there.”

Nissa’s eyebrows rose. “Your cousin lives on Centax? With a Centaxian?”

“Cross-eyed in love with the guy. And he’s a CenSec to boot.”

Now Nissa’s mouth dropped open. “Your

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