Barbaric

Chapter Three

(Jox's POV)

"Excuse me, Jox? I apologize if I'm interrupting you, but there's a problem with ship A-14. The back jets keep misfiring, and I'm pretty sure one of the wires in the back panel is the cause."

I sighed internally and looked away from the tablet I held in my hands, my heart heavy like lead as Delkele failed to answer yet another phone call. I was beginning to get a little worried about him, considering he usually answered when he saw that it was me calling. The fact that he hadn't answered a single call of mine since we got back...a part of me was beginning to wonder if, perhaps, he was avoiding me. But...why? After everything we went through and everything we realized about one another...why would he suddenly be avoiding me now? It just didn't make any sense, and sure, I knew I was probably freaking out over nothing, but could you blame me? We had pretty much confessed to one another, and all of a sudden it was incredibly difficult to get ahold of the redhead. Did he...did he not feel the same way? Did he only "confess" to make me feel better about myself? But if that was the case...then why?

Oh well, I had things to do and I couldn't keep letting myself get distracted by things that, for all I know, may not even be true. Besides, I was on a deadline with this ship, and if something was wrong with it, I needed to figure it out fast. Delkele would just have to wait.

A small boom and a shrill, surprise scream had me pulling out of my cluttered mind, my eyes rolling as I placed my tablet down on the table and made my way over to the ship we were working on. I then watched with arms crossed, as my assistant came out of the ship, coughing as she waved her hand in front of her face.

"Holy freaking crap, didn't expect that to blow up in my face," she exclaimed, placing one of her hands on her hips as those light violet eyes darted in my direction. "Jox! Glad your lovestruck tush could made it! You better take a look at this thing before I accidentally blow this ship up."

I raised an amused brow. "Like you did the last time?" I shook my head and began walking up to her. "Sometimes I wonder why I made you the second lead engineer, Arah."

Arah gaped and jutted her hip out, the woman pursing her lips before she followed me inside. "That was one time, Jox. And it was so an accident!"

I looked back at her, amusement no doubt twinkling in my gaze. "You nearly decapitated one of the staff."

"I didn't though, did I? Remire is totally fine, and no one else got hurt." She tilted her head and looked up towards the ceiling. "Well, other than the ship."

I rolled my eyes and began looking at the wires after waving away some of the remaining smoke, checking each one for any kind of defects. "A ship that cost his Highness around 350 million cred. These things aren't cheap, Arah, which is why you need to be cautious when working on these. Ah, here's our problem. One of main wires has been chewed through." I detached the wire in question, careful to not touch the exposed wire as I turned to show Arah, watching as she scrunched up her nose in distaste, immediately recognizing the problem.

"Ah come on, don't tell me we have a creet infestation again! Those bastards chew through everything!" She groaned and tossed her head back, the grown woman acting like an estranged teenager. "Didn't we just get rid of them last year?"

Creets, if my knowledge was accurate, was a rodent incredibly similar to what humans called a rat. Although, the creets here were much larger and could chew through even the toughest of Glacic metals. Really, the only way to get rid of them was to heat the place up, and even then, it took a couple of days to completely clear them out.

However, we didn't have a couple of days. We were on a time crunch to get this ship up and running by the end of the week. We couldn't spare not working on A-14 for two whole days. Gods, we would really be in some deep waters if we didn't get this done on time.

Actually, maybe there was one thing I could do that may hopefully speed up the process.

With that idea now plastered into my mind, I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, silently wishing for something to go right for once in my long life. First with Delkele ignoring my calls and now this? Not to mention we had a slew of problems the first day we began repairing the palace. It almost felt like the gods were cursing me, and honestly I couldn't exactly fathom why.

I was a good man and helped people whenever I could. I was always putting everyone else's problems above my own...so what the hell did I do to deserve such misery?

Ok, maybe I was being a bit dramatic, but gods, I just needed something to go right today.

"I'll go call Prince Teiken and see if we can borrow some Torch Stones to try and draw out these creets. Arah, go ahead and tell the staff they're free to go. Hopefully we'll be back on schedule by tomorrow evening."

Arah nodded her head and gave me a mock salute, a quirky half smile on her lips as she turned to inform the others. I stared down at the chewed wire in my hand and sighed, clutching the damn thing into a fist before I turned and vacated the ship, going straight to my tablet.

I then sat the wire down and grabbed what I needed, scrolling through my long list of contacts before I found the name I needed. It took about ten seconds, but Teiken's dark face greeted me when he accepted my call, his vibrant orange eyes lit aflame with curiosity.

"Jox! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

I gave him a small smile and sat down in my chair. "Sorry to bother you, Teiken, but I was wondering if I can borrow a few Torch Stones? It seems we have an infestation of creets that keep chewing up the wiring in the ship we're working on. We're supposed to get it up and running by the end of this week, and usually it takes two days to successfully clear out a creet infestation...so I was hoping that Torch Stones may speed up that process with the heat it can generate."

Teiken pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair, his dark hand rubbing at his chin before he nodded his head. "I can have three Torch Stones delivered to you in about two hours. Hopefully that is sufficient enough to clear out your rodent infestation."

I sighed in relief and immediately felt the tension leave my body, my worry about this whole thing leaving me as I nodded my head and gave Teiken a relieved smile. "Thank you, Teiken. I'll be sure to have them back to you in a couple of days."

Teiken held up a hand and smiled towards me, silently shaking his head. "No need to thank me, Jox. Anything I can do to help out a friend." He then quieted down for a moment, before he clasped his hands together and pursed his lips. "Speaking of friends...how is Asurah taking the news?"

I immediately frowned and lowered my gaze, my mind drifting to the poor man in question. "He definitely didn't take it easily, Teiken. Hell, when Joseph told him how many we lost, he locked himself in his room, and I haven't seen him come out since then. Joseph assured us that Asurah is alright and that he's just coping, but I can't help but worry for him."

"I worry as well. But do remember Asurah is a tough man who has lost far more than a few hundred of his own people in the past. I'm sure, as he did back then, he will get through this. We just need to give him some time."

I nodded in agreeance and pursed my lips. "Anyway, I'll go ahead and let you get back to whatever you were doing. And if I happen to see Asurah, I'll be sure to let him know you wanted to check up on him. Thanks again, Teiken."

Teiken gave me a two fingered salute and ended the call, leaving me to scroll through my contacts until Delkele's name flashed across the screen. I stared at his name, nibbling at my bottom lip as I wondered if I should call him or not. On one hand, I was worried to death about him, and on the other...he was probably just busy or something since he was absent from his planet for a while.

So maybe it was smarter if I didn't call him. After all, I didn't want to seem like a clingy boyfriend...even though I wasn't quite sure what we were. I would have to ask him that whenever I was able to get ahold of him. Or vice versa.

Which would not be today, because I already tried to call him an absurd amount of times, and honestly, I didn't want to anger him or make him question his feelings for me. So with that thought in mind, I shut my tablet off and decided, while I had free time, that I was going to have lunch with my family, since I didn't really ever get time to go visit them often.

And I just hoped that Delkele would eventually return my calls, even if it was just to let me know he was alright.