I had a pretty good idea, because we’d recovered Valovian vehicles during the war, but I nodded and let him demonstrate the buckle that slotted together at an angle and then snapped flat. The design worked well as a safety restraint because the clasp wouldn’t come apart as long as there was tension on it.
I gingerly climbed into the seat and strapped in. The chair swayed as Torran settled next to me. The slim armrest between us did nothing to prevent me from feeling the heat of his body all the way from my shoulder to my knee.
“Ready?” he asked.
I twisted to glance back at Luna, who still sat on the pile of cargo like a tiny, fluffy queen. “Should I hold Luna or will she be able to ride where she is?” The little burbu had excellent balance, but if we needed shoulder harnesses, then she might need more support.
“She’ll be fine there. She can dig her claws into the cargo if she needs to.”
“Then I’m ready.”
Torran said something in Valovan and the shuttle lifted off its parking pads. The sides of the vehicle were lined with tinted windows, and I didn’t even bother to pretend that I wasn’t fascinated by the view outside.
We accelerated smoothly away from Starlight’s Shadow. Our seats did not swing as much as I’d expected, and I wondered if the pivot was actually connected to an electronic control that activated when the transport was in motion.
Torran must’ve already set the destination because once we left the spaceport, the shuttle seamlessly joined the stream of ground traffic. I didn’t see any transports in the sky.
I turned to Torran. “Are flying transports banned because of the Imperial Palace?”
“There are flights within the city, but they are limited to public transport and imperial business,” he said. “There are also both local and high-speed underground lev lines.”
If I were a thief, which option would I choose? I would probably split the team, making it harder to track everyone. I wondered if Kee could still pull surveillance video from two weeks ago.
We left the neighborhood streets and entered an elevated expressway. The shuttle accelerated rapidly. On the first corner the seats started to make sense. They swung just enough that I felt pressed into the seat bottom rather than the armrest.
In the distance, tall, glass-encased buildings stretched into the pale sky. The taller buildings lost a lot of the ornate, organic architecture of their shorter counterparts, so at this distance, Zenzi looked like any large city on a human-populated planet.
Ten minutes later, we exited the expressway and entered a residential neighborhood. At least, I assumed it was residential. The streets were wide and lined with greenery. Tall, spiky hedges and elaborate gates blocked the view, but a few roofs were just visible. Traffic was light and all of the shuttles we passed were shiny and well maintained.
As we delved deeper into the neighborhood, the gates got farther and farther apart. We finally turned onto a block with a single gate on it. It bore the same sapphire insignia as on the side of the shuttle, and it slid open as we approached.
My comm couldn’t communicate with Valovian networks or positioning satellites, so I couldn’t pull up a real-time map. Just before we’d left, Kee had sent us all offline maps of Torran’s house and the directions to return to Starlight. I hadn’t realized just how big his property was from the satellite imagery. We were close to the Imperial Palace and all of the estates on the surrounding blocks were reserved for high-level diplomats and advisors.
The shuttle slipped through the gate into a deep green paradise. Vibrant flowers nestled in lush foliage, and trees with long, draping branches hid the view of the house. I caught sight of the edge of a gravel path and I wanted to explore where it led.
The house, when we finally arrived, wasn’t what I’d expected from something with a guest wing. On Earth, it would’ve been tall and stone and square. Here, it looked like it had sprung up from the greenery surrounding it. A sweeping green roof was held up with thin curved supports.
The front of the house followed the arc of the circle driveway, like two arms open for an embrace. The main entrance was clad in sapphire glass around two enormous wooden doors inlaid with the same looping insignia that was on the shuttle and the gate. The rest of the facade was a pale, translucent material that obscured the view inside.
The shuttle came to a stop directly in front of the entrance. Torran shrugged out of his harness and stood. “Welcome to my home. My staff will move your supplies while I show you to your rooms.”
I stood and grabbed my personal bag, then patted my shoulder for Luna. She joined me with a questioning chirp.
Our gear crates were locked with the strongest locks Kee and Lexi could find. If Torran’s people could get through them in the few minutes the transfer would take, then they deserved to poke around in our stuff. Anything we didn’t want searched was already in our personal bags.
“We’ll carry our bags, but I would appreciate it if your people would move the crates. The groceries need to go in a cooler. I can move them if you prefer.”
Torran shook his head. “There’s no need. Do you want everything chilled?”
I nodded. Luna’s snacks didn’t need to be refrigerated, but the cold wouldn’t hurt them, and it was easier to start with everything rather than explaining what to leave out.
My team grabbed their personal bags. Eli, Kee, Lexi, and I had all worked together long enough that we knew the drill. I took point, then Kee and Lexi were lookouts in the middle. Eli brought up the rear, and he waved Anja over beside him. Once he figured out her strengths, he would assign her a more permanent position.
We all had our comms on and set to a group channel. We had to stay within a kilometer of each other for devices to stay connected using their local mesh networking. Farther than that and we’d need to be able to tap into the Valovian communication networks.
I didn’t really expect an attack, but there was no harm in a little caution in enemy territory. Torran glanced at us. It had to be obvious what we were doing, but he did not comment.
As we approached the massive front door, it swung open on silent hinges. A Valoff wearing civilian clothes stepped out with a charming smile. He was handsome, with tan skin and straight black hair that was long enough to fall over his forehead. He moved like a soldier or fighter, lithe and light on his feet.
Behind me, Lexi sucked in a sharp breath.
Unaware of Lexi’s reaction, Torran introduced the newcomer. “Captain Zarola, this is Nilo Shoren, my second officer. He’s been continuing the investigation while I was away.”
“I’ll bet he was,” Lexi muttered just loud enough for the comm to pick up.
I caught the exact moment that Nilo saw Lexi. His smile died for a fraction of a second before coming back even brighter than before. The pieces connected. Twenty credits said this was the mystery man from the hotel that Lexi had told me about.
Clearly the universe still loved to vex me.
I introduced Eli, Kee, and Anja before turning to Lexi. “And this is Lexi Bowen, recovery specialist.”