by Maia Tanith
His eyes are wide. “What the hell, Delia. You could be killed out here!”
“So could you,” I scream. Then I’m reaching around his back and grabbing at the knots, tearing at them with my fingernails. He’s bound tightly.
“Get back to the ship,” he says, and we both duck as a ray of blur sight soars past our heads, much too close for comfort.
“Not without you,” I sob. I pull at his arm, wanting to run back to the safety of our ship.
“Not that way,” he mutters. He wrenches his arm free and pushes me with his shoulder towards the weapons ship. “We didn’t come this far to hand it all over.” His voice is grim and determined. “Stay low to the ground, and stay behind me,” he says.
I do what he says, and we make our way back much more slowly.
“Men, this way!” Lila’s voice rings out across the chaos. “Leave them, we need Cretin. GET CRETIN.”
Lila’s men, the ones still standing, run towards her.
I see a Galgog who had been shooting at the Kargans turn on his heel and scarper, hitting the ground with all fours and leaping away, covering at least three yards with each leap. Around us, all the Galgogs are doing the same, scattering in every direction. One leaps past us so close I could have reached out and touched him, but he pays us no notice.
Azr and I freeze. We’re forgotten. In seconds, it’s quiet, and everyone is gone. We stare at each other, overwhelmed.
“No way,” Azr breathes. Then he smiles at me, a roguish grin that stretches ear to ear. “Let’s get out of here while we can.”
We run the last couple yards to the ship and head to the control room.
“I need to get free to drive,” Azr says. “I’ll start her up, can you find something sharp?”
“I’ll find something,” I reply and rush out. I know exactly where a knife is, I’d seen one in the food prep area, what Azr calls the ship’s galley.
I rush through the narrow passages of the ship, bumping against the unforgiving metal walls and smacking my elbow so hard it brings tears to my eyes. I don’t know how long we have before Lila and her men are back. And I don’t think she’ll react to kindly to us trying again to steal the weapons.
In the galley I throw up cupboards until I find what I’m looking for, then run back to the control room. One hand clutches the knife, and my other hand is still clutching the metal pipe.
I look down in surprise.
I didn’t even realize I’d still been holding it, I’d been gripping so tightly and so full of adrenalin.
I can feel the engine rumbling into life, and the floor vibrating ever so slightly as the huge engines start turning over and warming up, ready to take us to safety far from here.
My feet pound the floor. I’m about to turn the corner to the control room and throw away the pipe when I hear something that makes me stop dead.
Lila is here.
“I can’t let you do this Azr.” Her voice is calm, cool. As always.
I step forward as quietly as I can. Through the doorway I can see the figure of Lila.
Her back is to me, and she faces Azr. Her arms are in front of her, holding steady a ray gun.
Azr is facing her, his arms still tied behind his back. A cut on his cheek is oozing blood, and he is covered in dirt and blood from head to toe. A blue dot hovers on the center of his chest.
My hand flies to my mouth. No. Not now. Not when we were nearly free.
“Lila, what did you think I would do? You broke my heart and betrayed me once already. I didn’t want to wait for you to do it again.”
My heart freezes. He’s not yet noticed me peeking around the corner, and I’m frozen to the spot. I don’t want to hear this; I don’t want to hear him tell Lila he loves her. I can’t take it now. Not after all of this.
Tears prick at my eyes and I take the tiniest of steps backwards. All of this, staying with Azr, to help him, trying to save him. What is the point, when he loves someone else?
I step back behind the corner and lean against the wall. My legs feel like jelly. I don’t want to stay and hear this, but I have to.
I have to know.
“Betrayed you?” Lila laughs. “I loved you, Azr. I wanted you to stop your plans, to give it up so I didn’t have to give you up. But you’re a pirate, you always will be. I can’t stay in love with a pirate.”
“You had feelings for me?” His voice is surprised. “You—I thought—I’d thought all of it had been part of the plan. You pretended all of it.”
“Not all of it, Azr.” Her voice is soft, but her words cut through me like a knife.
She had feelings for him. Azr would have given up everything for her. And I think I’m about to hear him do it again.
Azr sighs. “When I was in the pits about to be put in the games, I didn’t even want to fight. Without you, I had no reason to live.”
Behind the wall, the tears stream down my face.
I should have known. I should have known that this would happen.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, to think he’d stopping loving her. To think that he might have liked me, loved me. A human, weak and stupid and naive, and nobody compared to Lila.
I can hear Lila’s breathing. “I’m sorry Azr, for that I am truly sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“But you’re about to do it again. Shoot me, then imprison me.”
“Why did you have to try to steal the ship again? Why couldn’t you just be good, so we could have had a life together?” Her voice has gone up an octave, almost pleading.
“I’m not a bad person, Lila.”
She sniffs. It sounds like she is crying too. I hate her right now, with every fiber of my being. For being the one Azr wants, even though she’s given him up once before.
“All pirates are bad, Azr.”
“Delia doesn’t think I’m bad.”
My heart jumps in my chest.
I hear Lila’s sharp intake of breath. “What has that human got to do with this?”
I peek around the corner again. Lila is still standing straight, holding the gun at Azr’s chest, but her arms are wavering.
“I thought I loved you, Lila. I was broken by you. I never thought I’d feel whole again. But I’ve met someone now who believes I’m a good person. Someone who cares for me despite my past, someone who can see the good in me. I never thought, really believed that I was a good person, until Delia showed me.”
“Your human showed you that?” spits Lila. Her arms straighten again.
“My human?” he responds with a smile and gives a small shrug. “She’s not mine. She doesn’t belong to anyone.”
“She belongs on her own planet,” Lila hisses.
“You might want to ask your Emperor why she is here then,” Azr replies coolly. “You think you’re on the right side of the law, but your law allows innocent humans to be trafficked and killed. You’re not a good person, Lila. Delia is ten times better than you. And before you shoot me and take me away to rot in the pits again, I want you to know that I love her a hundred times more than I ever, ever, loved you. You were a mirage. She is the real thing.”
Lila lets out a low hiss. “I’ll pass that on to her when I take her to rot in the games myself,” she says, and I know without a doubt that she is going to shoot.
I launch through the doorway at Lila and swing as hard as I can. She only has time to turn ever so slightly, her eyes widening as they meet mine. The metal pipe hits her perfectly on the temple, and with a resounding thud, she crumples to the floor.
Azr is staring at me, open-mouthed.
I look down at Lila, unconscious on the ground, then back up at him, and grin. “Well, that felt good.”
After I cut Azr free from his bonds and we dump Lila’s unconscious body unceremoniously out of the door, we take off with a roar of sheer power. This ship is faster even that the slaver we took.
Azr spends a long time at the controls, his face creased into a frown. After several hours, he finally looks up. “I think I�
�ve done it.”
“Done what?”
“Disconnected from the government tracking network. The same network that we used to find this ship in the first place. We’re flying dark now. They can’t see us. Cleverly, though, I can still see them. That was the difficult bit to pull off.”
I gasp. In the excitement of thumping Lila and escaping both her and the Galgogs, I forgot that we have just stolen a ship. A government-owned ship. That the government will want back. Badly. Shit.
Azr laughs at the expression on my face. “Just as well you’ve got a friendly freebooter to take care of little details like that.”
“Am I going to be in trouble, too?” I don’t know why I bother to ask. I already know the answer. I’ve been in trouble from the very first moment I was taken from Earth.
“Only if we get caught. And once bitten, twice shy. I’m not going to get caught again.” He hesitates for a moment. “So, full speed for Earth?”
I nod. Pushman’s Portaloos, here I come. The thought makes me feel vaguely nauseous. “I guess so.”
Azr
I navigate back to Earth as quickly as I can, but it’s not fast enough. It could never be fast enough. It will be hell saying goodbye to Delia and I have no desire to prolong the pain of parting.
I’m sure Delia heard me say that I love her. At that moment, the only thing going through my head was my determination to face up to the truth of my feelings. To let Delia know what I felt while I still could. Before Lila knocked me out and dragged me away.
She had to have heard me.
Her choice to say nothing about it tells me all I need to know.
She doesn’t return my feelings.
I will not embarrass her by repeating mine.
I will keep my word and return her to Earth.
Still, when we get to Earth, I set the ship to orbit around it instead of landing immediately. I call Delia from the ship’s quarters where she has been hiding out these last few days. She has been avoiding me as assiduously as I have been avoiding her.
She ambles up to the viewing deck in the control room. “It looks so pretty from out here,” she says wistfully.
It does. Its cool blues and greens are a stark contrast to the hot red dirt of Xill.
“Where do you want to land?” Given that it’s in the dark quarter, there won’t be any handy space ports to use. I can just find a suitable spot as close to where she wants to go as possible.
She is still looking out at Earth, a look of hunger in her eyes. “Well, about that,” she says slowly. “Did you really mean what you said to Lila?”
About loving you?” I ask slowly. “Yeah, I meant it.”
“Do you really want to take me back to Earth.”
Did I want to rip out my heart and have her stomp it into the ground? “Gods, no. I’d much rather you stayed on the ship with me. But I promised to take you home and I keep my word.”
She stays staring out at the blues and greens of Earth. “It’s never been that much of a home for me. Not really.” Then she looks at me, her eyes wide and vulnerable. “Do you think I could stay with you on the ship? Just a little bit longer?”
I hesitate. “Just a little longer? Is that all you want?” I will take it. Of course I will. Even if it means that my heart is ripped out of my chest all over again when she tires of me.
She swipes angrily at the tear that is tracking down her cheek. “No. I want forever with you. But I’ll take what I can get.”
Just like that, a weight lifts from my shoulders. I hold out my arms to her. I have never been so happy ever before. “Done, my watery little human. Forever it is.”
She jumps into my arms and I hold her close. Her heart beats in synch with mine, and her head nestles on my shoulder. She belongs here. With me.
Together, we will explore the galaxy.
And I will never be alone again.
Delia
I look over Azr’s shoulder at the beauty that is Earth.
I cannot go back.
Rather, I don’t want to go back.
Earth may be beautiful, but it is no longer my home. And it won’t ever be again, unless Azr is there with me.
I have made my choice. I am no longer an accountant. I’m a freebooter. A gunrunner. A pirate. Wanted by the Emperor. Condemned to die in the pits if I am ever caught.
And I have never felt so happy or so free.
Epilogue
Azr
Another landing. Another spaceport. A tiny one in a small area carved out from the forest. You’d never see if it you didn’t know it is here.
A Kargan is waiting for us.
I hesitate before leaving the control room. Trust doesn’t come easily to me. I have put my life in the hands of the rebellion. If they betray me now…
Just at that moment, Delia’s words come back to haunt me. You could find that if you’re friendly, and open up to someone, they might surprise you. Being vulnerable can be a strength.
I square my shoulders. I have chosen to trust the rebellion. To join their ranks.
I believe in my choice.
It doesn’t hurt that the rebellion pays well for weapons, either. Not that I mention that to my lovely Earthling. She would scold me for being mercenary. I’m still a pirate, after all. What else can she expect?
I take Delia’s hand in mine and together we step out, our heads held high, towards a new future.
Another, smaller, figure steps out from the protection of the trees to join the first. Not a Kargan, A human female.
Delia’s hand squeezes mine with intensity and then she pulls free and is running towards the rebels. “Hannah,” she shrieks at such a piercing decibel level that it pains my ears.
The other human female steps towards her. “Delia?” Her voice is full of wonderment. As if she simply cannot believe what she is seeing in front of her.
Then they are embracing, holding tightly to each other as if they never want to let go.
“Faye?” Delia asks softly.
The other human shakes her head. “I don’t know.”
While the human females are otherwise occupied, I lead the Kargan on to my ship. His eyes light up when he catches sight of my cargo. “Technology like this gives us a chance,” he breathes. “A real chance.”
I shrug modestly. “You’re welcome. Take whatever you like.”
Then the Kargan’s face falls. “I hope you are not expecting a large sale. We can’t buy more than a small fraction of it. We’ll take all that we can, but honestly, we can’t afford the greater part of it.”
“Take the lot,” I say, spreading my arms magnanimously wide. “Pay me enough to restock my ship and I’ll add the rest to your tally. You can pay me later. When the Emperor, may his bones rot into the red dirt, is dead and you have control, then make me the Commander of your Starfleet.”
The Kargan laughs. “You and I may not live to see it.”
I join him in his laughter. I have a ship. I have Delia. I have now. What else matters? “I’ll take the risk. I don’t need the money, especially as I stole both ship and cargo in the first place. Just don’t tell Delia. She still thinks I am a big bad pirate. I don’t want to let on that I’m a bit of a soft touch or I’ll never hear the end of it. I have a reputation to maintain, you know.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” he replies with a wink. “And for this, you have my gratitude until the day I die.”
Delia
I can hardly believe my eyes. It really is Hannah whose hand is in mine.
Hannah who I last saw being dragged away by slavers and who I thought I would never see again.
She looks the same, but different. Her shoulder carries the scar of a gun, a large burn that is still healing. And where she was once skinny, she’s now wiry and all lean muscle, with hair that’s grown long and wild. She looks almost Kargan now. But her small hands and warm smile are all human.
I’m glad Azr is occupied with the Kargan or he would complain that I am being watery again.
I’m done with following the rules.
No box can hold me now.
And I will never ever color inside the lines again.
***
Slave to the Alien Prince
Maia Tanith
Chapter One
Faye
In the darkness we run.
Our convoy has scattered like leaves in the wind, moving without caution, bumping into trees and stubbing toes, stumbling in the grasses and low scrub.
We are blind because it’s night-time, dead in the middle of the night when the moon is low and dull, and the clouds overhead have dimmed any hint of starlight.
And because the truck that we’d been in, our safe haven, our ride for which we have all traded every cent we have to our names to secure a place on, has stopped.
It stopped a few short miles before the border. We looked at each other with worried but silent glances. No one spoke. None of us knew each other, save for the few families that had decided to make this perilous journey together.
We weren’t meant to stop at all, not until we were well within Texas, and well past the border agents.
Then our driver opened the back of the truck and ordered us all out at gunpoint.
We could have all fought together to take the truck for ourselves. Or to demand our money back. One man with a gun against thirty-odd is no match. But desperate people don’t ask for refunds. Desperate people don’t risk the noise of gunfire bringing the border patrol to see what is going on. Desperate people keep going.
That was the moment I knew I had to run.
I’m lucky because I’m on my own. I’m more likely to get across unnoticed. There were whole families in the back of the truck. Old men and women. Young mothers clutching hungry babies close to their chests. Too-skinny toddlers clinging to their father’s legs. Everyone hoping to get across the border into the safety of the United States.