Read Online Bayne by Misa Buckley - Free Book Online Page A

to the console that controlled life support, she elbowed the fraught-looking crew member out of her way and opened the lines, venting smoke from the bridge. The air cleared slowly, though the refreshed oxygen meant a couple of smoldering fires flared higher. Silence fell as the ear-aching siren finally shut off. It didn’t last. A moment later, the sprinklers switched on and doused everything and everyone in cold foam.
    Malia wiped it off her face and found herself looking at Bryce. He was okay, bar the bump on his head. He pushed a hand through his hair, scattering foam. She tried, she really did, but the relief and sudden ridiculousness of the situation hit her hard. She dissolved into helpless laughter.
    “Glad someone can see the funny side,” Bryce said wryly. “My ship is wrecked.”
    She waded through the ankle-deep white froth covering the deck and wrapped her arms around him. Despite her amusement, she was glad to see him, glad he was safe. His good arm curved around her waist and held her tight against his body.
    “How bad is the damage? Is it repairable?”
    “I don’t think so. I’m not sure we should even if it was.”
    That made her pull back to look at him. “Why not?”
    “Maybe it’s better this way. Bayne and his crew could perish in the wreckage of his ship, never more to bring ruin on the galaxy.”
    “I’m not about to go down with your ship, Bryce.”
    “No, but there is a second in the hold and that is big enough to take most of us.”
    “Take us where?”
    “We’re two days from Terranis. It seems as good a place as any to start over.”
    Malia loosened her grip and stepped back. “You want to give everything up and settle on Terranis?” Her gaze shifted to his temple. “Just how hard did you hit your head?”
    “What I want,” he said and captured her hands. “Is to spend the rest of my life with you. If you’ll have a battered old man like me.”
    As proposals went, it wasn’t the most romantic of settings, but Malia didn’t care. She squeezed his hands and nodded. “Of course I will.”
    “Then Terranis?”
    “Yes, but it can take only most of us? We can’t leave anyone behind, Bryce—they’ll die.”
    He looked around. The crew gathered closer, watching him. He smiled. “Those that want to come to Terranis are welcome. There is a second ship, for those who would prefer to find their own way. The decision is yours.”
    Several of the bridge crew stepped forward and declared loyalty to Bryce, including Giles, which didn’t surprise Malia in the slightest. Others declined to go to Terranis, though there seemed to be little bitterness behind that decision.
    Giles folded his arms. “What about Grieves and his goons? I don’t want them with us and I doubt the others want them either.”
    There was a murmur of discontent and Bryce looked down at Malia. She winced, but nodded. Grieves had made his decision already, as had those who had sided with him.
    “They stay here,” Bryce said. “Though I’ll set the cells to unlock. Maybe they’ll be able to salvage the ship, maybe they won’t. But I won’t have it said I didn’t give them a fair chance.”
    Malia hated the idea of leaving anyone, even Grieves, to die, but neither did she want him anywhere near her. The solution would have to do, and hopefully she could live with the guilt. “There’s nothing else for it, I suppose.”
    “Signal the evacuation,” Bryce ordered. The shrill alarm changed note and the red lights shifted to amber. His hand gripped her arm. “Come on. We need to get going as well.”
    ~ * ~
    Bayne closed the lid on his case and fastened it shut. He hadn’t packed much: just spare parts for his arm and the tools necessary to effect repairs. Everything else—all mementos of his life, of the lie he’d lived—could stay and burn. He had no use for them now.
    A soft step behind him made him turn with a smile. Malia wrapped her arms around him, managing to sense his mood without him saying a