Rogue Warrior

by Elin Wyn

  When we got back to the kitchen, she found the recipe that I had used. “Ah, now I see why that was so…tasteful,” she teased. “This is nothing at all like how a cake is supposed to be.”

  “But, that’s what I found during my search. It looked just like what you had at the party,” I protested.

  “Pictures lie,” she said with a grin. “That was nowhere near cake…well, the consistency was like cake, but the flavors they used are horrid.” She moved around the kitchen, gathering ingredients. “Here, let me show you.”

  As she showed me what ingredients she used, and what measurements were used, I watched her. She moved so fluidly, her smile so infectious, I had to wonder why she had come to want me.

  “Lynna?” I said apprehensively, interrupting her instruction.

  “Huh?” She didn’t look up, she was busy mixing the ingredients together. I looked at the bowl. I noticed that her mixture was a nice smooth consistency and had a light-yellow coloration to it. She had used the milk that we drink. I had used the milk that Sars was trying to curdle.

  I turned my attention back to Lynna. “I…I made you that disaster as an attempt to tell you something.” I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous, why I was talking like such a child. I had faced down armies, had guns pointed at me, defied death…yet what I was about to say had me shaking like a naked animal in the cold.

  She looked up from her bowl. “What is it?”

  I licked my lips and shuffled my feet as I worked up the courage to answer. “I overheard you and Kalyn talking earlier.”

  “Oh?”

  “I…” I hesitated. I don’t think I’ve ever hesitated this much in my entire life. You could take every second of my life before the women arrived and compare it to the last few weeks, and I could promise you I hadn’t hesitated even a third as much as I have with her. “I wanted to tell you that…I love you.”

  “You do?”

  I nodded. I took inventory of how she looked at that exact moment. She was covered in flour, had batter on her fingers and a bit on her shirt, and her face…her face was never more beautiful than at that moment. She set down the bowl, walked up to me, and threw her arms around my neck and pulled me down.

  “I love you, too,” she said as she pressed her lips against mine.

  I was never sure how long we kissed, but I never planned to stop kissing her.

  Epilogue – Lynna

  Qal had yet to make any progress with the overwritten navigation logs and had taken the puzzle of the five characters as a personal challenge.

  Obviously, we couldn’t stay in Katzul. It wasn’t safe with Enclave and the Dominion potentially sniffing around. I didn’t know if the Dominion had connected the security breach on their ship to the Rogue Star. Technically, the Rogue Star was registered under a false chip, but after everything I’d seen, I believed the Dominion could see past the false chip if they tried.

  The Rogue Star had been drifting through infrequently used space lanes. So far, I hadn’t seen another ship pass by from the window of the observation deck. If The Terror was pursuing us, it hadn’t shown up on any of our scanners. Not that that stopped Valtic from obsessively checking. We couldn’t sit through a meal together without him excusing himself to go check the monitors in his office, just in case the extra sensors he’d placed on the hull of The Terror were close enough for us to pick up.

  I admired his dedication. Though I wished, for his sake, that he would just relax a little bit.

  He hadn’t had another night terror since I started sleeping in his bed. When he did sleep, which was still not nearly enough, he slept soundly and deeply.

  I tried to regulate the number of hours he could work a day, but I’d been largely unsuccessful. I couldn’t fault him for that. I adored how much he cared about the crew and our safety. I just wished it wasn’t at his own expense.

  Knowing Valtic would be working for the next few hours, and with an empty med bay, I decided to spend a few quiet hours in the observation deck. I’d done this the day before as well. I’d never felt so relaxed in my life.

  Truth be told, I was glad Qal hadn’t figured out the coordinates yet. Jumping from planet to planet, always in fear of Enclave or the Dominion, was exhausting. All of us on board were starting to show the telltale signs of too much stress.

  In my professional, medical opinion, a short break from it all was what we collectively needed. For the first time in a long time, the door to Captain Dejar’s office was closed. He wasn’t at his desk. He was chatting with his crewmembers in one of the common areas. He looked content for the first time in a while.

  Maris had more time to tinker with her personal projects. I could tell they alleviated some of the stress she’d been feeling.

  Shenna spent most of her time with her inexplicably growing collection of alien animals.

  I wasn’t sure what Aryn and Kovor did in their downtime. Frankly, I didn’t want to know. But they always looked pleased when they were walking about the ship.

  This little break appeared to be doing everyone good, except Valtic. He hadn’t let himself take a break.

  As I settled into my preferred spot on the observation deck, I planned to take a few hours to watch the stars drift by. I was in a brand-new galaxy, after all. It would be a shame if I didn’t take any time to appreciate it.

  I focused on my breathing as I watched the glittering sea of stars. I allowed my mind to wander away from everything.

  “You look peaceful,” a voice startled me out of my trance.

  “Valtic?” I smiled. “I didn’t expect you to come out of your cave so soon,” I smirked.

  “Very funny,” he rolled his eyes. “I decided to take a break. There’s something I want to show you.” He extended his hand to me and I took it eagerly. He helped me to my feet and we left the observation deck.

  “What is it?” I asked, unable to contain my excitement. Usually, I had to go knock on Valtic’s door to get him to leave the office. Him coming to find me on his own was one hell of a breakthrough.

  “You’ll see. It’s a surprise,” he grinned.

  “This galaxy is full of surprises and almost none of them are good.”

  “I think you’ll like this one.” Valtic led me down into an area of the ship I’d never been before. He took me into a room lined with all sorts of weapons.

  “Is this the armory?” I asked. Valtic nodded. We walked through the armory and through another door on the opposite side of the room. We entered a long, narrow space set up with targets.

  “A shooting range?” I blurted, confused.

  “I’m going to teach you how to shoot,” Valtic explained.

  “But, why?”

  “I want to know that you can defend yourself in case something happens and I’m not with you. Your little syringes were handy in a pinch, but they are not a viable option. I want you to be able to stop your attacker before they can lay a finger on you.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” I smiled. “We can do something relaxing. You never take breaks. I want you to do something you enjoy.”

  “This is something I enjoy. And I’ll be able to relax knowing that you’ll be okay if we’re ever separated.”

  “Fair enough,” I grinned. “Where do we start?”

  “We’re going to start with something small, just so you can get the feel of it.” He pulled out a small gun, less than the length of my hand. “You won’t be able to kill anything with this unless it’s very small or you’re very lucky, but it’ll make most opponents think twice about coming after you.”

  “It’s heavier than it looks,” I said as I took the weapon from his hands.

  “You’ll get used to it,” Valtic assured me. He stood behind me and guided my arms and hands into the correct position. When I was part of the Space Force, I was given a standard issue firearm, but I’d never used it. I was rarely in a firefight, and when I was, someone was assigned to protect me. This weapon was nothing like what I’d had in the Space Force.

/>   “How do I fire it?” I asked when my finger couldn’t find a traditional trigger.

  “Place your thumb right here.” Valtic moved my thumb to a square patch of material darker than the rest of the weapon. “When you’re ready, apply pressure.”

  I pushed my thumb into the patch and a tiny bullet whizzed out of the gun. It didn’t strike any of the targets. I wasn’t sure where it went.

  “Not bad,” Valtic laughed.

  “Tell the truth.”

  “Okay, that was bad,” he admitted.

  “You were the one holding my arms,” I pointed out. “I was relying on you to teach me to aim.”

  “I can only do so much,” Valtic chuckled. I was happy to see him smiling so much. He truly did seem more at ease.

  “Let me try again.”

  “Are you sure? If you don’t like doing this, I won’t force you.”

  “I want to learn,” I insisted. “You’re right, I should know how to defend myself. And it’s kind of fun to shoot. I don’t want to kill anyone else, though.”

  “We can stick to weapons that will halt an attacker,” Valtic agreed.

  Valtic and I spent the next hour rotating through a variety of different weapons from the armory. Despite his gentle coaching and clear instruction, I’d yet to hit one of the targets, but I didn’t mind my poor performance. Valtic was enjoying himself.

  He handed me a sleek-looking weapon, lighter than any of the others we’d tried thus far.

  “Hold your arms steady,” Valtic instructed. “Breathe in.”

  I did as I was told.

  “Fire on the exhale.”

  I released my breath and pushed the trigger. This time, I watched the bullet puncture one of the targets. It wasn’t a perfect bullseye, but it was something.

  “Did you see that?” I turned to Valtic with a huge grin on my face.

  “Very impressive,” he nodded with approval. “How did that feel?”

  “Good, actually,” I laughed. “I can see why you like doing this. It’s fun.”

  “I was hoping you’d enjoy it. I truly do want you to learn how to defend yourself, but I was thinking this could be something fun to do together every once in a while.”

  “That’s so thoughtful,” I smiled. “I never thought you’d want to do anything just for the fun of it.”

  “I’m not that much of a, what did you call me? A grump.”

  “You used to be a grump. But now, I’d almost call you sociable.”

  “That’s slander,” Valtic joked.

  “Some would even go so far as to call you charming.”

  “Utter lies,” he exclaimed.

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re a goofball when you want to be.”

  “I’m not even going to ask what that means.” Valtic took the weapon out of my hands and laid it a safe distance away from us. He took me in his arms and kissed the top of my head.

  “It’s a good thing,” I assured him.

  “If you say so.”

  I let my head rest against his chest. We stood like that for a while, not saying anything.

  “We’re going to make it out of this, right?” I asked him. “The Dominion won’t win.”

  “I won’t let them,” Valtic promised. “I don’t care if I have to take down each member of the Dominion myself. If it means keeping you safe, I’ll do it.”

  “Just remember, you don’t have to fight alone. You aren’t alone as long as you have me.”

  “If that’s the case, I guess I’ll have to keep you forever.”

  Letter from Elin

  On May 9, the pieces come together, and an unimaginable betrayal will rock the crew of the Rogue Star.

  Don't miss Rogue Haven!

  http://getbook.at/RogueStar6

  XOXO,

  Elin

  P.S. After the sample of the next book, I’ve added the first chapter from Given, the first book of my Star Breed series, and Vrehx, the first of Conquered World.

  Give them a try and let me know what you think! You can always reach me at elin@elinwynbooks.com

  Rogue Haven Preview

  Qal

  Things had been good…boring, maybe a little frustrating, but good.

  It had been a few days since we left Katzul, as we aimlessly travelled through a part of space that wasn’t generally patrolled by anyone. I’d poured over every text I had, pulled every random bit of navigational knowledge out of the corners of my mind trying to solve the puzzle of those five odd symbols.

  Glyphs. They had a meaning, but it stayed hidden.

  Still, working on the puzzle was a nice distraction while we waited for Captain Dejar and Aavat to decide on our next move.

  Then anything remotely related to boring changed three minutes ago.

  Three minutes ago, the forwards sensors went crazy and proximity alarms began blaring.

  “What’s going on?” Captain Dejar blurted out.

  I held up my left hand, a single finger extended as I waited for the sensor readings to clarify. “Meteor storm. Brace yourselves!” I yelled back.

  Lightning quick reflexes, superior flying ability, and an analytical mind that could predict where each meteor was going to be…I had at least two of those.

  “What in the nine rings of Thron is going on?!” Itair yelled as he ran onto the bridge.

  “Not now!” Aavat yelled.

  “It’s like you want me to throw up my lunch!” he yelled.

  “If you don’t stop making a fuss, we’ll all be dead and you can throw up your lunch as much as you want!” Dejar yelled back.

  I allowed myself a brief smile before going back to my controls.

  Now, if the Rogue Star had been a much smaller ship with a much smaller crew, I would have been able to fly her through the meteor storm with ease. While she wasn’t a large ship, she wasn’t a personal shuttle either.

  We weren’t going to make it out unscathed.

  Ignoring Dejar and Aavat as they yelled out instructions to everyone else, I used instinct and the ship’s sensors to twist, pull, turn, dive, and dodge my way through. The first meteor to hit us was small, bounced us around a little…the next one sent the ship careening sideways into the path of another.

  I hit the orbiting thrusters to push us straight up, then the port side thrusters to shove us to the right. I finished off my brilliant maneuver by plowing straight through a smaller meteor in order to avoid the two ship-killers next to it.

  When all was said and done…we had been hit a few dozen times, mostly by small ones that hadn’t done much damage. The three larger ones, however, those had hurt us, badly. Nearly catastrophically.

  Dejar and Aavat were yelling out for damage reports, calling out orders, and demanding to know how we could have been caught in that without warning.

  “You can’t predict or monitor meteor showers, sirs, not when a vast majority of the sensors are searching for that umbba dark ship.” I shrugged and grinned. “At least the Terror didn’t find us, right?”

  Dejar didn’t like the grin. I knew he thought I counted most of this as a joke, but I didn’t. It was just how I coped with things.

  We had survived, that was something worth smiling about.

  As reports started flying in, I turned back to my console and tried to figure out what I could do. My instrument panels were strangely sluggish, they weren’t responding to my touch the way they should.

  Kout.

  That meant that we had been damaged much more than I had hoped. I half-turned an ear towards the reports coming in.

  Orrin’s voice, with Maris yelling in the background, was currently the one of focus. “Engines are struggling, Captain. One of the meteors made direct contact in bay two, crumpled the side and broke apart several of the drive shafts. Fuel reserves are fine, but we’re limping until we can get some repair work done. We’re lucky we don’t have a leak, yet.”

  “Kout,” Dejar swore. “Alright, do the best you can, Orrin. Lynna, report.”

  Lynna’s voic
e came back over the comm, shaken, but powerful. “I don’t have a complete report, but there are nearly a dozen people in here right now. I’m positive we’ll have more soon.”

  “Understood,” Dejar flicked off the comm and looked at me. “Tell me something.”

  I knew I shouldn’t have turned around. I took a deep breath. “My own control panel is compromised as well. I don’t believe Orrin has had an opportunity to see the full extent of the engine damage, sir. We’ve lost over forty-percent maneuverability, nearly thirty-percent of our thrust capabilities, and if our sensors are right, about half of our outer sensors are destroyed.”

  Before he could respond, Orrin came back on the comm. “Sir?”

  “What is it, Orrin?” Dejar answered.

  “Damage to the engines are much worse than I originally anticipated. My team is telling me that we’re going to lose everything in a matter of hours if we don’t get these lines fixed.”

  “What do you mean ‘everything’?” Aavat asked.

  Orrin’s voice sounded hollow, almost resigned. “Everything, sir. Engines, life support, all of it. We might be able to get enough of a repair done to keep life support and marginal propulsion, but we wouldn’t be able to outrun a Katzulian slug, sir.”

  “Do what you can,” Dejar ordered, then looked at me, again. “Is there anything we can do?”

  I thought about it for a brief second, then turned back to my console. I brought up my pride and joy, a highly intricate, expansive star map that was more complete than any other I’d seen. Even Captain Dejar’s personal map.

  Also, I could project my map holographically in deeper detail than he could his own. Not that I ever mentioned it or anything.

  It was one of the little things I’d learned he didn’t appreciate.

  As I projected the map in the middle of the bridge, I stood and studied it. “Well?” Aavat’s voice entered my brain like an ice pick. I motioned for him to have a moment of patience as I interacted with the view, considering possibilities.

  “Okay,” I started. I had come to like that Terran word, ‘okay.’ It was a simple way of beginning a sentence, ending one, or however you wanted to use it. You could ask about someone’s well-being. You could answer a question. You could even use it to describe something that was neither good, nor bad. I loved the word.