Asarlai Wars 1: Warrior Wench by Marie Andreas Read Free Book Online

for the Honth battle. We also need to have a ship to find the Victorious Dead . I did a quick scan of Skrankle’s orders on his holvid. He didn’t do a full breakdown; the ship won’t be in small pieces, so our job won’t be as hard.” She didn’t know if she convinced them or herself.
    “But we can’t do anything until I can stand. Doc? Any clue as to how long I’m laid up?”
    The gleam in Terel’s eyes told Vas she wanted to continue asking questions about the ship. Long-time spacers often cared about their ship more than their families. Muttering under her breath, Terel turned toward her computer.
    “Now that we know what you were attacked with, Gosta and I should be able to find something to combat it even on these computers. Hopefully there won’t be much more to do, I think Deven pulled most of it out of your system.” Her tone implied that she wanted to take him apart to find out how he’d done what he did as well. However, as with the issue of their missing ship, Vas knew Terel would just quietly wait until the proper time, then corner the guilty parties when it was least expected.
    As Gosta joined Terel and they conferred in low tones, Vas pointed in Deven's direction. "What I need you to do is go round up the rest of our happy crew, tell them to pack up all their stuff, and get them ready to bug out. Then contact the fighters at Home and have them meet us in transport ships in route. We can’t swing by and gather them this time. We'll need about six hundred fighters from Home, low-tech ground pounders only. We're with a few other companies on this one.” Her crew sometimes complained about her rule for taking all personal belongings off the ship for any extended shore leave. She seriously doubted they’d complain after having the entire ship go missing. At least they all still had their stuff.
     While the officers and primary crew of forty-five or so stayed on the Victorious Dead , the grunts all lived off ship on a large, yet very empty, world Vas had won with her first major battle. It didn’t have much land mass, a few small continents scattered across gigantic oceans, but it was all hers. Keeping the fighting force intact and on call made her fighters happy. Many of them had families and this way they could be with them in a secure location. Vas herself even had a house there. Moreover, she made a point to visit it at least once a year.
    Vas rubbed her hands across her face as fatigue pressed at her again. She let her eyes slide shut and kept them that way.
    She felt Deven's presence next to her as he sat on her bed. She’d never noticed his smell before today. Light and green, as if a forest imp from Gflasia sat next to her. A very big forest imp—she fought to keep from sliding into him as the side of the bed went down under his full weight.
    “You sure that will be enough?” He said.
    Vas slid over further, but didn't open her eyes. “We’re taking point, but in terms of bodies our participation will be minor. We have other fights coming up in a few months, and I don't want to commit too many to this one.”
    She'd expected Deven to get off the bed, but he stayed still.
    “You scared the hell out of me.” His voice dropped so low that she popped her eyes open to make sure he had spoken. “You died out there.”
    The intensity in his eyes rattled her, but she forced a smile. “Good thing I had you to save me then. Now can you please get the rest of our merry bunch together?” She let her eyes slide back shut. Maybe he’d leave her alone if he thought she needed sleep. She kept her life as drama free as possible. Right now those green eyes were screaming drama. They were saying other things as well, deeper things. But she really wasn’t dealing with that right now. Something had changed in Deven or in her during the time they’d been apart, and she didn’t think it was a good something.
    Deven's weight lifted off the bed after a few minutes, but Vas waited until the door closed