TRAK: Virilian Mail Order Mates: A sci-fi alien romance by Ella Blake

Author:Ella Blake [Blake, Ella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Virilians didn’t name their ships. For a long time, Virilians obtained vessels by means of piracy, bribery, and straight-up theft. They had gotten in the habit of frequently switching ships by abandoning them or trading them for goods. Not a legacy to be proud of, but Trak’s kind didn’t have the most reputable reputation to begin with. That had also been a long time ago and Trak’s ship had been bought fair and square.

Well, sort of. It had been offered in exchange for payment that couldn’t be made and Trak was pretty sure it had been stolen before that. Nevertheless, it was his now and he had made enough improvements to it for it to be solidly his. He was extremely fond of his battle cruiser with the valpid thrusters and the upgraded R5 laser torpedoes. Sure, most of his upgrades were banned in half the quadrants they passed through, but they sure made his ship hard to catch.

Showing Anna his ship and pointing out the rooms and features, filled him with an absurd sense of pride. She didn’t say much as he led her through the cluttered maze that was his ship. He wondered what she thought of it. It was not a stretch for him to imagine her here, snapping out orders and keeping his crew in line.

“And this,” he said, finally bringing her to the front deck, “is what you would call the cockpit.”

“Not exactly a cockpit.” Her gaze moved around the large, glassed-in space marked by consoles and chairs and a tremendous number of screens suspended from the ceiling. Half of them were still scrolling data down their surfaces even though the ship was powered down. His ship never fully rested. “This is more like a bridge.”

Trak frowned. “Aren’t bridges things built to span obstacles or waterways?”

“Yes.” She smiled in amusement. “I meant like a Star Trek bridge. Where Captain Kirk and Spock and all them run the Enterprise.”

Trak thought on this, letting the language program run through his head. A good deal of cultural and historical data was included in the chip he’d purchased, but it didn’t include whatever she was talking about. “Who is this Kirk person?”

“It’s a show,” she said, giggling. “A TV show. There were movies, too.” The smile faded. “My dad loved Star Trek.”

Okay, he knew what TV was, but he was far more interested in the complication brewing between her brows at the mention of her father. “Is your father dead?” It was a solid conclusion. She spoke about him in the past tense.

“No,” she said in a flat voice. “Or rather, he may as well be. He’s in jail. Will be, for the rest of his life.”

He hadn’t expected that. “What for?”

“Robbery.” She put on a brittle smile. “Fraud. Wire fraud. Tax evasion. Identity theft. Forgery. Extortion. Money laundering. Aggravated assault. I’m forgetting a few. Sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry. “He killed two people, too, but was never charged. I know he did it, though.”

He was curious how she knew.

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