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nodded. “Come with me.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you need food, shelter and possibly clothing if I can find some.”
    “What about the clothing that I was in when I got here?” She scowled. She had loved that bodysuit.
    “Into the recycler to provide us with additional materials.”
    She fought the urge to cry, but she jerked her head up instead. “Fine.”
    “I will find you something, but we have to leave here first.”
    She blinked and frowned. “I am not very keen on running around like this.”
    “I can understand that. I can carry you if you wish.”
    She could feel the press of the metal deck in her feet. “I do not want to impose.”
    He grinned. “It is the least I can do for the callous manner with which I hauled you in here.”
    Cierra nodded. “Please then. These decks are not very comfortable.”
    He came around the capsule between them, and he carefully lifted her up in his arms. He pulled her up against his chest and walked out of the storage area with her.
    A younger male in a tight grey uniform, with fewer markings on it than her current transporter, shifted nervously from foot to foot as they approached. His gaze was running over her with strange intensity.
    “Captain, you can’t take her out of the sanctuary.”
    “Duty Sergeant, stand down. She is not a Xerat and will suffer physically before the transaction is concluded. We do not harm those we take.”
    Cierra crossed her legs slightly and turned her head away from the young man who was ogling her. This was more of a disadvantage than she was used to and definitely more attention.
    “I will have to tell the duty commander.”
    “Go ahead. He can come to me if he has any questions.”
    The captain carried her out of the storage area and down the halls, startling several soldiers within the ship and ignoring their questions.
    They were in a lift, and it was rising when she asked, “What is your name?”
    He looked down at her with his hypnotizing eyes, “Captain Urion Ahket. What is your name?”
    “Cierra McAffee.”
    “What may I call you?”
    “A shuttle back to Xerat?”
    He grinned and the lift stopped, the door sliding silently aside. He carried her past a sentry who blinked rapidly at their passage.
    “I am guessing that there aren’t any other women loose on this ship.”
    “You are correct. The short hair that we wear indicates we are soldiers and that we have not mated. There are a few men with mates back home, but they are few and far between and only here because their work is essential.”
    She nodded, and now, the stares made sense. They were starving men and she was a chicken wing. She might not be what they wanted, but she was better than nothing.
    He shifted her in his arms and opened a door in what appeared to be the officers’ wing.
    The sparse interior included a tiny com station, a bed suited to his height and a wardrobe pressed tight to the wall. It wasn’t huge but there was a lav en suite.
    He set her down at the edge of the bed and walked to the wardrobe. “We only keep uniforms here most of the time, but I think…ah, yes. I have something you can wear.”
    He took out what appeared to be a vivid blue wrap shirt. She wasn’t fussy at this point, and she thanked him before slipping the shirt on and pulling her hair out from under it.
    The crossover portion would have exposed a small bit of his chest, but on her, it parted beneath her breasts, exposing the inner curve and pulling tight against her. The shirt did fall to just above her knees, and it was an extreme relief to be covered again.
    Cierra finger combed her hair while Ahket stared at her. His gaze was considering, not creepy, and the difference was important.
    When she had her locks mostly separated, she made a braid and knotted the end.
    Settled, covered and much calmer than she had been earlier, she faced him and stared into his strange eyes. “Why am I here?”
    “I told you, we take women from a planet and ransom them back to their