Chapter 222: Bitch Mode Activated
"I hate your daughter," I said, looking over at Da’kea. Au’dtair, Midnight, and I were finally out of the shower, and Ye’tab was dying my hair in what looked to be the equivalent of a towel. Luckily, our suits turned out to be waterproof, so that made my life a lot easier.
"I understand," grunted Da’kea. "But she is my female offspring."
"Still, she would have had to change her name to Cinderella if I hadn’t won that challenge," I grumbled. We were cut off from the outside world; there were three queens roaming around the ship, and whatever toxin I had been injected with was strong enough that I still couldn’t access my armor.
No matter how you looked at the situation, it sucked.
"I think I found a way to get the lights on," said Jun Li, coming through the ship’s system. "But it would involve someone going into the electrical bay and physically changing out the old, broken fuses for new ones."
"And where are the new ones?" I asked, getting a bit more hopeful about our prospects. Don’t get me wrong, I was still going to blow up this ship as soon as we were off of it, but that wouldn’t happen until we managed to connect with the outside world.
"Probably in storage," replied Jun Li, and I could practically see the AI shrugging his shoulders.
"Which would be where, Jun Li," I said through gritted teeth. Ye’tab stepped away, finally finishing with my hair. Pulling it over one shoulder, I quickly embraced it before twisting the braid into a bun. I was not taking any chances.
"Basement level," admitted the AI, and I narrowed my eyes up at the speaker. I didn’t know where the cameras were on this ship if there were even any, so I would have to show my displeasure at the speakers instead.
"The basement level, the same one that I was hanging upside down in, and the same one that the queen or queens have determined to be their base of operation?" I asked, really not happy.
If only Midnight had his own nano armor. We could have taken a spacewalk over to Jun Li and then blown up the ship and everything on it from there. But he didn’t, so we can’t.
"I’ll go," said Ye’tab with a shrug. "I’ll be the best one to know what I am looking for."
"I’ll go with him," added Tha’juen as he looked around the room that clearly must have belonged to Da’kea’s female offspring. "I can hold off the queen long enough for Ye’tab to get what we need."
"Nope," I shot out, more than a little tired. I hadn’t slept in almost 24 hours, and my level of cranky let me know that I would have to crash soon. And there is no way in hell I was crashing on this ship. "No one is going to sacrifice themselves for anyone else here, thank you very much. It’s not how we do things."
"But—" started Tha’juen before my glare quickly cut him off. I was sure that he was going to say something pure and self-sacrificing, but I wasn’t in the mood to listen to it, let alone be able to assure him that he was wanted and needed.
"But nothing. You can go watch his back, but I expect both of you to meet back here as soon as you are done. Is that understood?" I demanded, not at all interested in listening to anything else.
My bitch mode had been activated due to lack of sleep and food. That poor queen had no idea what was coming for her.
"Understood," grunted Ye’tab and Tha’juen before they spun around and headed toward the hatch.
"You go with them," I said to Pumpkin and Princess. They were going into the belly of the beast and needed all the help they could get. The two bunnies nodded, and each one jumped onto one of my male’s shoulders.
"I am going to assume that we aren’t going to stay here and take a nap?" chuckled Midnight as he stretched himself out on the bed.
"I’d be careful if I were you," I answered, raising my eyebrow. "You have no idea what happened in that bed and on those sheets, and I am not going to be the one to wash them."
At that, Midnight jumped out of bed and wriggled his nose as if trying to smell something.
"She wouldn’t do anything in this room. It was sacred here," said Da’kea, not at all concerned that we were joking about Pahn’thill’s sex life.
"Still," I muttered. I wasn’t going to be sleeping in any bed that she might have laid in. "It’s the principle of the matter."
"Then if we aren’t sleeping, what are we going to do?" asked Midnight, cocking his head to the side and looking at me.
"Do your ships have any handheld sources of light?" I asked, not too sure if Da’kea would understand the word ’flashlight’. "I am going to assume that if rule number one was bright lights, then simply using a torch or fire wouldn’t work."
"Probably not," answered Da’kea, a thoughtful note to his voice. "But there might be something of use on the bridge."
At this point, anything was worth a shot.
"Do you guys have any form of light attached to your armor?" I wondered. I didn’t have access to mine to check, but it would be useful if the guys did.
"We have a beam of light," said Au’dtair slowly. Then, his armor produced a small flashlight right beside his temple. It wasn’t big by any stretch of the imagination, but maybe it would be strong enough to at least damage one of the queens. We needed everything we had to buy Ye’tab and Tha’juen enough time to get the replacement part and get to the electrical panel.
We needed light. And we needed it a day ago.
Wait... "Jun Li," I called out, keeping my fingers crossed that at least one thing would work out in my favor.
"Yes?" came the almost instant reply. He must be as edgy about being on this ship as the rest of us were. He was literally cut off from the other half of himself.
"Are you able to fly this ship?"
