As I finally spotted the number I needed on the wall I felt a wave of relief wash over me, and my tired legs found a new burst of speed.I rounded the corner to see the docking bay and several familiar ships. Not all of them were ones I recognised, but many were, including Icaan's. I hesitated, aware that if I could see his ship then his could probably see me. While there was a chance Icaan would be doing something else and not paying attention, there was also a chance he would be.After taking a deep breath and studying the ships before me, I darted to the left and around behind a different ship. Icaan had parked my vessel on the left side of his and it gave me a chance to sneak up to mine without him seeing me.Of course, I then had to tackle the problem of getting my ship up and out of the area without getting caught, but so far I

 Sitting in the seat, I strapped in and then my jaw fell open. On the HUD was a timer and instructions on exiting the dock. The mechanic had already applied to leave and I didn't have long to wait before I could fly right out of here.For a moment I didn't know what to do with myself. I had a free run to fly out of there and try to get out of Frentin space.It was only as I finally thought about that part of the journey that I realized I wasn't ready. I didn't have any food. There was clearly plenty of water, and I'd got more than enough fuel now as well, but food. I was going to need to eat something.Panicked, I tried to unstrap and get up, but the timer only had a few minutes left on it.There was only one way I might have time to find food. If the cargo crates sat nearby had any in. But I'd only

 I frowned as the larger ship didn't seem to stop pursuing me and I didn't get a response either. What were they thinking? Were they trying to decide if I was bluffing or not. Reaching out to Icaan on some kind of longer range communication system to see if he'd confirm? Coming after me without bothering to say anything else because it was clear I was lying?"Okay," the voice said a moment later, sounding a little defeated. "I'm going to trust you since you clearly came in with Icaan earlier and I trust him. But he better be coming through here soon. If he doesn't I'm going to come right after you.""Oh, don't worry," I replied. "You'll see him. I don't doubt he'll be no more than an hour or two behind me.""Good."I cut the comms as the patrol ship dropped behind. As I sat back and flicked the ship

 I was about two thirds of the way through the debris field when I noticed a change in pattern from the ship in pursuit. They had slipped back a little but they'd dropped down as well. The detector was also picking up on some extra heat.Suspecting a firefight I flicked my guns to warm as well and took a deep breath. Adrenaline shot through me at the expected fight coming my way and I felt more awake finally.I still had a long way to go but if I needed to give a pirate some merry hell first so be it.Just as I'd begun to guess when they'd make their move, they did so, pushing their ship harder and faster towards mine. I responded in kind, not intending to make it easy for them to hit me, but they had taken me by surprise and their ship must have been using some kind of speed boost because it closed some of the gap in almost no time at

 "You're beautiful," Icaan said, my completely naked body beneath him. I felt my cheeks flush. I was still on the floor of his ship and for several seconds he'd not moved.I reached a hand up to him, wanting to reconnect us to each other but he didn't give me the satisfaction at first, still wandering my body with his gaze.The longer it went on the more self conscious I felt, but slowly he reached for me, picking me up and carrying me against him. Gently he took me to the ladder and holding me against him with one hand, he climbed with the other.Not sure what else to do, I gripped him and tried not to think of anything else but the moment we were in. The scent of his body so close to mine was already making me hungry for him and ready in so many ways.He took me all the way to his familiar bed and