Pillaged (Raider Warlords of the Vandar #3) - Tana Stone Page 0,3
their ship, and why she took the risk of escaping during a battle.”
A knowing look crossed my majak’s face. “You see a possibility for a strategic advantage.”
Rolan knew me too well. He had also served under my uncle, Raas Maassen, who had trained both of us in the importance of long-term strategy. Instead of thinking in single battles and victories, we’d been taught to think many moves ahead of our opponents, and play the long game. It was why I’d inherited the largest horde of ships of any Vandar Raas, and why my ships were more technologically advanced than any others.
“Perhaps I only wish to offer aid,” I said.
Rolan stifled a laugh. “Yes, Raas. And what about the Zagrath battleship?”
I waved a hand in dismissal. “Leave it. We do not need the spoils.” What I didn’t say was that I much preferred the pursuit of the small ship and the fleeing female. It fired my blood to give chase without being seen.
The female in the enemy transport had no idea a horde of Vandar raiders were stealthily shadowing her, even as she might be congratulating herself for escaping from the empire. I imagined the creature flying unawares, checking her sensors and her view screen and seeing no indication that we were there. The predator in me savored the chase, my heart pounding as we closed in on the vessel and the unsuspecting female.
My battle chief emerged from his oblek on one side of the command deck. Although he had no prisoners to interrogate, he often worked on battle strategy in the dark chamber where weapons hung from chains on the walls.
“Viken.” I inclined my head to the door leading off the command deck. “Join me in welcoming our prisoner?” I then looked at Rolan. “You have the command deck while I am gone.”
My majak clicked his heels and turned sharply back to his console.
My battle chief’s pupils flared with interest as he walked over to join me. “A prisoner? An enemy fighter?”
I took long strides to meet him. “A human female running from the enemy.”
Confusion flashed across his face, followed by disappointment. There would be no interrogation for him and no enemy secrets to procure. “We are taking a female on board?”
I shrugged as we left the bridge, winding our way down the dark labyrinth of iron stairs and suspended walkways that made up the interior of a Vandar ship. My uncle had once described it like a spider’s web with the ability to shift and change, unlike most ships with enclosed corridors and the inner-workings hidden behind walls. It certainly made it harder for our enemies to board our ships, as most fighters who’d never been on a Vandar ship were overwhelmed and easily lost in the maze.
I leapt the last two steps of a winding staircase, my boots echoing as they hit the hard steel walkway, and waited for Viken to land next to me. “I need to know why a female is running from our enemy.”
Viken made an approving noise. “Our enemy’s enemy is our friend.”
“Something like that.”
“We do not usually take prisoners, Raas. If she is not meant for my oblek, where shall we put her?”
Even though it was my habit to think several moves ahead, in this case, I had not. I only knew we had to stalk the transport and capture it. I’d even thought so far as to imagine the questions I would ask, but it had not occurred to me that she would be staying.
“If she can provide us with no information about our enemy, there will be no reason to keep her. The Vandar have no war with the humans.”
“Only the ones who collaborate with the empire.”
Anger made my face heat, as I thought about those who enabled the empire to keep their stranglehold over the galaxy. We had blown enough of those traitors out of the sky. “Only those.”
Viken paused when we reached the doors to the hangar bay. “And if she is a spy for the empire?”
I stopped short. This had also not occurred to me. I, who had been so carefully trained in strategy and out-thinking my enemy and even my fellow Vandar, was so excited by the chase that I was not assessing the situation with the cold detachment it needed.
“You are right, Viken.” I put a hand on my battle chief’s shoulder. “This might not be what it seems. This could be a clever Zagrath plot.”
“They do not happen often, Raas, but they do happen.”