Usk dipped his head and shook out his antenna.
Miko slid off his stool and held up a hand. “Wait! How did you come to be in that tank?”
Usk’s insect face was a mask of silent brooding. He jerked his head in the direction of the glowering Zaul. “I refuse to obey superior officer. He cut down friend of mine. Hunt me down like cricket. I become leader chief to speak out against locust cruelty. One day they catch me. Send me to tanks.”
Lexia eyes smouldered. “We’ll look at growing back that missing antenna,” she said.
Usk shook his head. He jabbed a claw in the direction of the locust ships below in the holding bay.
Miko explained, “The locust can rejuvenate a body part by immersing it in the locust fluid.”
“Oh, yes, I had forgotten that.” She shivered and waved an authorative hand. “So be it. What can you tell us of these feeders?”
Usk’s antenna quivered. “Since baby, I know no other way. Put in water if I pain. When hurt or hungry, I plug in lifeline. I know not of water chemistry. Only scientist know mystery.”
It was strange hearing this valiant fighter voice words after they had fought side by side in near death conditions. A tremor of sadness welled in Miko’s gut that he could not have known the locust’s thoughts earlier.
“Very endearing,” jeered Zaul. “Now that we’ve cleared that up and catered to the insect’s needs, can we move on?”
“What else, Jinquar?” inquired Lexia.
“They will be heavily armed, I expect. It will not be easy, perhaps suicidal.”
Zaul’s eyes lit with a sinister glow. “That doesn’t seem to deter our courageous heroes. Since the Empress insists they be part of our mission, then I petition they be the ones to lead the assault. Let each take a locust craft.”
Miko blinked. “We would be lambs to the slaughter.”
“Cheap sacrifices,” muttered Fenli.
Zaul shrugged. “Not entirely. You can always jump to light drive when they come for you.”
“After we’re blown sky-high.”
“I thought you’d refurbish the locust crafts into drones,” said Miko.
Zaul grumbled, “We don’t have time to rig the ships in such a way, nor test them.”
“What’s in it for us?” demanded Fenli. “Besides getting ourselves killed?”
Lexia’s fist landed on the table. “Ten thousand crowns—each.”
Fenli’s eyes lit up in rapture. “I’m in—but half in advance.”
“Done!”
“What about us?” cried Berlast, his bandaged head rising in fervour.
Lexia waved a hand. “You can all join. You’re my good luck charms, as I’ve said.”
“More like a bunch of sparrows grubbing for worms,” Zaul sneered.
Fenli snorted. “Why don’t you go too, Zaul, instead of sitting here in your armoured chariot giving orders? Seems as if you’re egging for a showdown.”
Zaul rose, pulling a dagger from his belt.
Lexia clapped her hands. “That’s enough! This is a group effort. All participants are to be considered worthy.”
Fenli sneered. “As long as only the grunts get shot up.”
Lexia turned to the one man who had sat silent throughout the interchange. “You will team with Fenli, Sket.”
Sket’s fingers curled into knots and he scowled at Fenli’s oily grin. “Not with Fenli.”
“We will team you with an agent from our own ship. Miko will accompany Usk.”
“I’ll go with Berlast, or Miko,” argued Sket.
Star objected. “I want to go with Miko.”
“Not a chance,” grunted Zaul. “You’re not trained for combat or fit for ship-to-ship warfare.”
“Neither is Sket,” pointed out Star.
Miko rounded on the colonel with force. “The girl stays with me, or I refuse this mission.”
“Fine!” cried Lexia. “Zaul, see that it is done. We don’t have time to waste on minutiae.”
“Permission to speak, Empress?” Jinquar said. Lexia nodded. “The idea smacks of madness. They are not gunners or special operatives.”
“No matter. They are my talismans, Jinquar, good luck charms, as I have explained.”
“You always were superstitious,” said Zaul, sighing in resignation. Though he looked secretly pleased that it would be the rebels who would be flying into the monster’s fangs.
Lexia’s eyes glinted. “It has served me well before.”
XI
In the pleasure gardens of Lexia’s personal arboretum, Miko and Star found solace in each other. The battleship was not all metal and sterile corridors. The Jakru had a strong sense of the sybaritic. Earthy pleasures, sensuous luxury and self-indulgence, all were possible pursuits in these war bases away from home.
Pools, hot baths, exotic bowers—such luxuries abounded. Tropical hedges lined the maze of walkways through a vast garden of flowers, herbacious shrubs, and towering palm trees. The air had a humid, lush feel to it, unlike the dry desert air to which Miko had become accustomed. Scented fumes and exotic fragrances from far planets tickled his nostrils—a jungle paradise indoors.
Their love-making on the loamy grass had been intense, almost violent. Star brought out the violence in him, also the tenderness—and their simultaneous climaxes came in rich, convulsive ecstasy. They lay gasping, clutching each other’s sweaty bodies in mutual satiation.
Artificial lights, similar to the orange sun of Chrysalis, sheltered by overhanging branches rich with plump orange agra fruit, shone warmly on their naked limbs.
Star smoothed back her wine-dark hair. Around her neck lay the beaded necklace given to her by the outcasts, the obsidian dark against her pale skin. “Lexia suggested a herbal tincture of three drops in each nostril,” she murmured, running a slender finger across Miko’s bare thigh. “Erotic stimulant with vivalpus leaf from the forest planet Prataera. I no longer doubt its effectiveness. Though I like the experience, I don’t altogether trust the woman.”
“Then the love we made was not worth it?” Miko asked light-heartedly.
Star laughed, a mysterious husky laugh which Miko found most exhilarating.
He ran his hungry eyes over her desirable contours. Her slender frame was padded in all the right places. Her slim
