Arkadian Skies: Fallen Empire, Book 6 Read Online Free

black snagor-hide jacket over a gray T-shirt. A bulge under the jacket might have been the big destroyer he’d wielded when Alisa had first met him. Alisa had her Etcher holstered under her own jacket, but hoped she would not need it.
    She walked down the stairs, pausing to open the secret door to the cubby, so she and Yumi could insert the boxes and bags. Then she joined the men, not bothering to hide a puzzled expression.
    “You’re not in the cubby,” Alisa observed, glancing toward Beck and Abelardus too.
    “I am not,” Leonidas agreed.
    Beck had not changed out of his combat armor, though he had removed his helmet and wasn’t carrying as many weapons as he sometimes did. Abelardus wore his fitted hide trousers and vest. He must have left his black Starseer robe and staff in his cabin.
    “Are we all incognito today?” Alisa asked.
    A chicken squawked, one of twenty-one that now resided in the coop. Yumi promised there were no roosters and all of the eggs had been sterile, but somehow the Nomad kept acquiring more chickens.
    “Not me,” Beck said. “I’m a good and noble Alliance citizen with no reason to worry about the planet patrollers.”
    “Did you know you left sauce burning, noble citizen?”
    “Asteroid sucking—I forgot!” Beck sprinted for the stairs, the rest of his cursing lost in the thunder of his footsteps.
    “Would you recognize me?” Leonidas rubbed the hair of the short beard. “I anticipated needing to wear a disguise to move about freely if we returned to Alliance space, so I picked this up before we left Cleon Moon.”
    “You’re still cyborgy looking.” Alisa demonstrated by wrapping both hands around one of his upper arms.
    “You’re supposed to sound more disapproving when you say that,” Abelardus said, leaning his shoulder against the bulkhead, his arms crossed over his chest. His long braids were artfully arranged over his pectoral muscles. The vest accented them noticeably. Maybe he hoped to impress the android.
    “I’m not a Starseer,” Alisa said.
    “Your pappy is, and your daughter is. It’s a family crime for you to fondle a cyborg arm.”
    Before Alisa could retort, a clang sounded from outside the airlock. Not only had the planet patrol team attached their airlock tube, but one of them was already knocking at her hatch.
    “Has everyone hidden everything that might be considered illegal or suspicious?” Alisa asked quietly, reaching for the button to open the outer hatch.
    “I’ve nothing to hide,” Abelardus said.
    Leonidas lifted his chin, silently saying he was not going in the cubby.
    Alisa sighed. A man with bland, forgettable features entered the Nomad ’s airlock chamber and peered through the inner hatch window at them.
    “Is having a Starseer unconscious in sickbay suspicious or illegal?” Mica asked, leaning out of the hatchway to engineering.
    “No, just inconvenient.” Alisa shooed Mica back into engineering and asked Abelardus, “Is Ostberg out of the way somewhere?”
    She had almost forgotten about their young Starseer tagalong. He had kept out from underfoot on the voyage to Arkadius, mostly watching over Durant and helping Yumi with the chicken tending when asked.
    “He’s with the doctor and my brother in sickbay,” Abelardus said.
    Not exactly out of the way…
    “Is he also robeless and inconspicuous?”
    “You find me inconspicuous? Usually, I stand out in a crowd. People notice my superior attributes.” Abelardus wriggled his eyebrows and flicked a few braids behind his shoulder.
    Judging by the look Leonidas gave him, Leonidas was thinking of wrapping those braids around his neck and throttling him.
    Alisa ignored Abelardus and slapped her palm to the control panel.
    The inner hatch unlocked with a thunk, and she reached for the handle, but Leonidas got there first and blocked the way while opening it. He stepped back without reaching for a weapon or doing anything threatening, but he pointedly stood in front of Alisa in