by Maia Tanith
“Did you design them?”
Her chest puffs up. “I did. In my first year on the force. They’re used across the galaxy now.”
Great, so she’s stunning, strong, as toned as an Olympic athlete, and some sort of weapons engineer as well. No wonder Azr fell for her.
She’s still a horrible person though, I have to remind myself. “They’re kinda terrifying.”.
“That’s the point, human,” she replies. “We don’t put them on when we go out to make friends.”
Point taken. As much as I dislike the woman, I have so many questions. Might as well keep asking her until she gets totally fed up. “So this Cretin the Duck is a big deal then?”
“He is the leader of a huge criminal network. He’s got contacts across the galaxy. Apprehending him would be huge. Huger than you can understand.”
“I can understand that it will be huge for your career,” I reply, as I watch one of her team slide his helmet on and touch a panel on the side that makes the slits around his eyes glow blue.
“I don’t think you do,” she laughs back. It’s an unkind laugh. “You wouldn’t know the pressure I’m under.”
“Enough pressure to betray someone who loved you.”
I flinch away from her as she turns her head, her eyes narrowed to slits as small as those on the armored helmets she is so proud of. “Pah, you understand less than a newborn kit. You think I didn’t know he loved me? I knew what he felt. It hurt me too, to give him up. It hurt a lot.”
She rubs at her face. I can see the skin under her eyes turning red as she rubs it fiercely, almost as if she is stopping her tears. “I’ve spent all of my adult life fighting against people like him. People who think they can steal from whoever they want, take whatever they want, instead of putting in the work and doing something good with their lives. Azr is no different.”
I stare at her, completely taken by surprise. “You have feelings for him, don’t you?”
She is close on Azr’s heels. I can see his ship not far ahead of us. “I did.”
Azr turns to the right and Lila steers the controls rather more violently than is needed to follow his turn. I am flung hard against the arm of my chair. Ouch. “And you still gave him up.”
“Won’t you stop with this? You’ll never understand. I did. I gave him up, and it broke me. And yet, I’d do it again in a heartbeat, because I think he is wrong.”
“He has no one, you know,” I say quietly. “He grew up on his own. He did what he had to, to survive. He didn’t have the luxury of a family to look after him, except a porn-addicted uncle. You’d throw someone like that to die in a pit for entertainment. On the orders from an Emperor who runs slavery rings and kills those who speak against him. I think I understand you very well, Lila.”
“You don’t. You don’t understand Azr either. You’re an idiot human girl. An idiot who has been blinded by a pretty smile from him.”
I open my mouth to object, but she waves her hand in the air and cuts me off. “Someone get this human out of my sight. Bring her to me when we land.”
A masked Kargan man manhandles me out of my seat.
I shrug his arm off. “You don’t need to force me. I don’t want to spend another second in your company either.”
I follow the Kargan out of the control room and into a hallway. He opens a door to a small room and pushes me inside. The door clangs behind me. I push it. It doesn’t move, unsurprisingly. I’m locked in here.
It’s a small room with cupboards on either side and crates on the floor. I sit down on one, still raging at Lila in my head. I last only a few minutes before a sharp turn causes me to slide sideways off the crate and very ungracefully onto the floor, banging my elbow in the process hard enough to bring tears to my eyes.
I’m pretty sure Lila is banking sharply on purpose.
It feels like a long time before we stop. Her landing is no smoother than the flight was. As we touch down, I’m shunted forwards, falling hard on my knees. I stay on the floor as we rumble to a stop, my knees aching. When we’ve been still for a good minute I risk standing. My shoulder hurts and my knees throb. Looking down I can see bruises forming already.
She’s not playing nice, this Lila. I want to punch her on her smug, perfect little nose.
Azr
The instant I touch down, my ship is swarmed by heavily armed Galgogs.
“Where are the weapons?” one of them barks at me. He is looking around the control room as if he expects me to be sitting on them or something.
“Coming on a later ship,” I reply as nonchalantly as I can. He’s not going to be happy when he sees the empty cargo holds. I’d like to put off getting zapped by my collar for as long as possible.
He strikes me across the face, and I taste blood. “Search the ship.”
The others scurry to obey.
There’s no sign of Lila’s ship yet. Or of Delia. It will be on its way though; I am certain of that. Lila’s thirst for justice won’t allow her to hang back when there are pirates to arrest and glory to be won.
The Galgogs don’t take long to examine the ship and find it empty.
The one who hit me earlier gives me an evil smile that shows off his three rows of pointed teeth. “The boss isn’t going to be very happy with you.” His voice is fat with satisfaction. He is looking forward to being the one to administer my punishment.
They muscle me into a waiting hovercraft. They have no need to tie me up or even point a gun at me. The collar around my neck enforces my obedience.
Crethin par Druk is sitting under his sun lamp again.
I rather like Delia’s name for him. Cretin the Duck. It fits him better.
He flicks his tongue out, tasting the air. “I can’t see that you have anything to smile about,” he says at length. “You came back without the weapons you promised me. With no way to pay me back for the ship I sold you. That makes you a delinquent debtor. I do not like Kargans who do not pay what they owe.”
I look him straight in the eyes. “You seem to be misinformed. I have brought you the weapons.”
His gaze flickers to the guard standing at my side. “I am? You did? Why I was told that the ship you came in on is empty?”
The guard starts to splutter out a few words, but Crethin par Druk silences him with one wave of his hand.
“The weapons are not on my ship.”
His eyes narrow and I can see the poison barbs on his tail start to redden and swell.
“Another ship is coming in right behind me. Indeed, if you contact your men at the spaceport, I expect they will be waiting to inform you of that fact.”
He clicks on a communicator with the snap of his fingers and mutters into it.
By the time he snaps it off again, his eyes have narrowed to slits. He turns back to me and his tongue flicks out past his teeth. “I don’t like to be messed with,” he says in a low voice.
“I’m not messing with you,” I reply. “There is another ship behind me, filled with weapons. I’ve reinstalled the slave command on its system to fly it here behind me. It was the easiest way to bring them here. Some of that shit is heavy.”
He glances at one of his men and nods. Before I can ask what he’s doing, something hits me hard in the side of the head. I fly forwards onto my hands and knees, my ears ringing. It takes all my willpower to keep the black dots flitting around the edge of my vision at bay. “Was that entirely necessary?” I groan.
I’m answered with a boot to my stomach. I roll onto my side, clutching at my ribs. The breath is knocked out of me and I gasp like a fish for air. Shit, that hurt. I think they’ve broken a rib.
I’m bracing for another kick when the Galgog’s voice rings through the air. “That’s enough.”
He walks over in front of me and stops. From my vantage point on the floor, all I can see are his boots. “We’re going to visit this newly-landed spaceship together, you and me. And if there is the slightest hint of trouble, then I will personally make you wish you had no
t been born.”
“Are you going to take my collar off first?”
He doesn’t deign to answer my question.
I thought not.
I struggle to a sitting position. “Because if you don’t, then we’ll have a bit of a problem.”
He looks bored. “I don’t have any problems with your collar. In fact, I rather like it. It ensures your ongoing obedience. And your problems are not my concern.”
I shrug. “Fair enough. But you want those weapons, right?”
The greedy glint in his eyes tells me everything I need to know. He doesn’t just want them. He lusts after them.
“And I don’t want to wear your collar,” I continue, taking pains to keep my voice pleasant and unthreatening. “So I have rigged the ship. Take the collar off, and I don’t blow up the ship. Leave it on, and I blow the weapons sky-high.” I take Lila’s tracker out of my pocket and let him take a glimpse of it before stuffing it back in again. It looks enough like a detonator to fool anyone who doesn’t examine it closely.
He shows me his teeth again. “Blow up that ship and I will kill you. Slowly and painfully.”
I shrug as best I can. Yep, at least one rib is broken. Every breath I take lances agony through me. “Of course you will. But you won’t have the weapons either.”
The silence in the room is broken only by background hum of his heat lamp. “We could do a deal,” he says at last, speaking through gritted teeth.
“I have offered you the only deal I will accept. Take off my collar and accept your weapons delivery. Or I blow up the weapons and you kill me. It’s a simple decision. What do you want more? The weapons or my life?”
He turns on his heel with savage fury and backhands the sunlamp, shattering it in pieces across the floor.
The guard beside me shivers, but I merely blink. His tantrums do not scare me. I have the upper hand here, and he knows it. I watch as Crethin picks up something from his desk and walks back towards me.
Finally he reaches down and with a single movement, snaps something onto the collar which send a buzz of heat around my neck, before breaking apart with enough force to send the two pieces flying. One half of the collar catches me a blow on the side of the face, slicing my cheek to the bone.
I ignore the blood trickling down my neck and the hot, searing pain of the cut. I have won. That is all that matters. “Shall we go, then?”
If looks could kill, I would be dead.
But they can’t, so I’m still alive.
Battered and bruised again, but still alive.
Now all I have to do is escape from the Galgog, outwit Lila, rescue Delia, steal the weapons back one last time, and get away scot-free.
No problem.
Chapter 10
Delia
Lila herself comes to let me out of the store cupboard.
“Stay out of the way,” she advises me. “The Galgogs fight dirty. Once we have arrested Crethin par Druk, I will remove Azr’s collar. As promised. Then, much as I hate loosing a pair of criminals out into the galaxy again, I will keep my word and the pair of you will be free to go.”
“How magnanimous of you,” I murmur. “But then again, you will have no further reason to arrest either of us, do you? And hassling us for no reason other than because you don’t like me is illegal. We couldn’t have you breaking the law now, could we?”
She shoots me a dirty look, but I smile sweetly back at her.
Bitch.
One of these days I really am going to punch her in the nose. Even if I break my knuckles doing it.
Nonetheless, I take her advice to stay out of the way. While Lila and her band of inter-planetary pirate police gear up and arrange themselves by the side of every exit, I make my way to the control room and crouch down to stare out of the window without being seen.
A motley group of Galgogs approaches the ship, but do not come near. Clearly they are under orders to leave us alone for now. The four of them fidget, and bounce on the balls of their feet as their gazes dart around the outside of the ship. They evidently don’t see me, but still look nervous. I don’t blame them.
They don’t know a team of government run agents is about to emerge and possibly shoot them all.
I don’t hear the buzzing of the hovercraft, so I jump with surprise when I see its shadow pass across the window, then land gently a few yards from us.
My fingers curl into fists so tight that my knuckles are white and bloodless. Please god let Cretin the Duck have taken the bait. Please god he will let Azr go in exchange for a shipload of weapons.
Another five Galgogs pour out of the hovercraft. These ones look much more organized. There is no nervous fidgeting here.
One of them is propelling Azr by the elbow. Even from this far away I can see that Azr is walking gingerly, as if he is in pain. His back is hunched, and his neck has well-nigh disappeared into his shirt. His cocky gait and confidence are gone.
I hope Lila takes her bitchiness out on the disgusting lizard men. They deserve to be sent to the pits. Every single one of them. Cretin the Duck most of all.
The lizards stalk towards the ship.
Azr follows behind.
One of them stays with Azr at the rear of the group. Cretin, I bet. Making sure that his men take the bullets, if there are any bullets to be taken. Or laser zaps, or blue light rays that melt your skin off and pop your eyeballs, whatever it is these weapons do.
I tense. Shit’s about to go down. And Azr is going to be in the middle of it.
No one is looking out for him. Lila and her men won’t care if he dies. Cretin won’t care if he dies. He only has me.
I straighten my back, trying to steel my nerves. When everyone’s distracted, I’m going out there. I’ll drag him back to our ship by myself if I have to. I’ll do anything to keep him safe until we can get out of here, weapons or not.
I don’t have to wait long for my chance. As I peer out of the corner of the window, Cretin motions with his hand at his group of thugs. Then he shoves Azr down onto his knees and raises a gun behind his head. I can see his mouth moving but can’t make out the words. Something unpleasant no doubt.
Azr grimaces as he lands heavily onto his knees, but he stays put. His eyes are on the ship.
The eight Galgog thugs advance to the ship. They look uncertain, and only one has his weapon drawn. I can see Cretin watching them with an intense stare.
Then all hell breaks loose. From my vantage point inside the ship I can hear the sound of the exit ramp opening. A shout, from Lila it sounds like, and the Galgogs advancing towards the ship open their mouths in surprise.
Cretin screams something at them.
There’s a blast of light, I’m not sure from which side. The Galgog that has his own weapon drawn fires. I hear a scream, but I can’t make out if it’s one of Lila’s men or one of the Galgogs.
All the Galgogs are grabbing at the weapons in their belts, but they are falling, one after another, and the ones still standing are ducking for cover. Blasts of light are shooting every which way.
Azr is trying to stand but Cretin is kicking him, and pointing his weapon at Azr, then at the ship, and screaming.
It’s time to go.
I grab the first thing I see in the control room that I can use as a weapon. In the piles of leftover armor is a hollow metal pipe, about a foot and a half long. Good enough, seeing as Lila’s team were far too efficient to leave any of their guns lying around.
I grab it and run for the exit. I pause on the threshold of the exit ramp and peek out the door, my heart pounding so hard in my chest that it feels like I’m about to vomit.
It’s carnage in front of me. Lila is battling with a Galgog in hand to hand combat. Whatever has happened to their guns I don’t know, but she is rolling on the ground, her arms locked around its throat in a deadly headlock.
One of Lila’s men lays on the ground, his shoulder and left arm and torso a mess of melted armor and burned flesh, still smoldering. He’s not movin
g. I would feel pity for him, but I’m grateful he’s not alive to feel the pain of that horrible broken body.
A Galgog turns his back and runs, only to be shot in the bad by one of the Kargans, falling onto his face with a scream that raises the hairs on my back. There are patches of ground burning, from what I don’t know, but it’s sending a toxic, heavy dark cloud into the air. Even from here I want to cough.
I search for Azr. There—behind the smoke, he’s on his feet now, but his arms are still tied behind his back. Cretin is nothing but a hazy shadow from here. He raises his arm, his gun still in it, and looks at Azr, and my heart stops for a second. No. No, not before I can get there.
Before I can think I’m out the exit and running as fast as I can towards them. Through the smoke and heavy smell of burning flesh and chemicals that stings my nose and hurts my throat as I breath. Dodging the rays of light that flash from weapons, hoping against hope that I don’t end up on the receiving end of one of those burns.
They’re not far, but if Cretin shoots, I won’t make it in time. Then ahead of me, the figure of Lila jumps up from the ground, the Galgog she’s been fighting now a limp body on the dirt. She’s only a few yards in front of me, but much faster. Two steps and she’s well ahead of me, heading towards Azr and Cretin.
She leaps, and in one smooth motion she’s pulled something from her hip and raises it. It’s a gun. I pound my legs and swing my arms, trying to catch up.
A blast, a ray of blue light.
Lila is firing.
Azr falls to the ground but rolls and jumps to his feet. He’s not hit. He’s okay.
I’m only a few steps away now. Lila is past Azr, and I see she’s focused on Cretin, not even glancing at Azr to check he’s okay as she chases after the monster that will make her career. Cretin is running, two steps on both feet, then leaping with his hands on the ground. He’s running away, leaving his men here.
“Azr,” I yell, as I get to his side. “We need to get back to the ship.”