Chill (Klance Warmth series Book 2 of +4)

18: Cold sinks, Heat Rises

"You're having second guesses," Nyma said, glancing at her best friend with hard eyes.

She watched Rolo hunch over the ship's controls. "They weren't bad," he said slowly. "They were nice. I mean, real nice."

"Yeah," Nyma said reluctantly. "They were." She looked over her shoulder to where their two captives sat. "You're sure it's him? The Champion?"

"Definitely," Rolo said, nodding seriously. "He's hard to miss. Besides, I confirmed it from Beezer's records."

The cyber-unit buzzed a confirmation and Nyma sighed, gripping her controls. "Then let's get this over with," she said.

Rolo nodded and opened a secured channel allowing the main view screen to sputter to life. He lifted his eyes to the Galra in the view screen.

"I thought I told you not to contact me unless it was important," the Galra said, glancing to either side nervously.

"We have a prize I think your boss would be interested in," Rolo said.

The Galra furrowed his brows. "What is it?" he asked hesitantly.

"We have the Champion," Nyma said. "And one of his friends. We couldn't get the others but we know where they're headed: Balmera X-95 Vox."

The Galra stiffened, his yellow eyes wide in shock. He looked over his shoulder and called, "Commander. I think you need to hear this."

"What is it?" a gruff voice demanded before another Galra stepped into the view screen. This Galra was slightly larger than the first, furrier, and had decorations on his uniform that the previous Galra did not. "This had better be good," he grumbled.

"We have the Champion," Rolo said, swallowing the bile in his throat. "I understand there's a prize for whoever retrieves him alive."

The Galra commander grinned. "There is," he said. "I assume you want it."

"We want something else too," Rolo said. "See, we have a bit of a checkered past. Some of the Empire's property may or may not have wound up in our possession at one time or another."

"I see," the commander said. "And you want this to disappear."

"Yes," Rolo said.

The commander nodded. "Consider it done."

"We want the reward too," Nyma added.

The Galra smirked. "Of course. I'm relaying coordinates now," he said, gesturing for the first Galra to type something into the computers. "Meet us there and we'll make the exchange."

"Sounds good," Rolo said. He glanced at the first Galra before quickly looking away and closing the connection.

"That was risky," Nyma said.

Rolo nodded. "I know," he agreed. "Let's hope this little venture was worth it."

~~XxX~~

Coran was in the middle of tweaking the deep space scanners when he received an alert in the form of a benign beeping. Since it wasn't urgent, he didn't turn his attention to it right away. When he finally did, the Altean letters flashing by the signal were confusing. As far as he knew, the green and yellow paladins had not finished working on that ship yet. It should not be able to take off and yet there it was, leaving the planetoid's atmosphere.

Maybe the traders managed to fix the ship on their own. But leaving without a single goodbye or thank you? Young people these days, he thought while shaking his head. No manners at all.