by Layla Nash
She retreated to the door and opened it. “I’m sorry.”
The door slid shut.
At least she sounded like she meant it, that she really was sorry for dumping him into a pile of shit and leaving him there to rot. Wyzak growled his irritation and slammed his fist against the door, hoping she was still on the other side to hear it.
He hated feeling helpless. Stewing in a brig while he waited for the Tyboli to show up and ruin the rest of his short life just made him feel like a sandsnake already in the fire. He calmed his breathing and concentrated on coming up with a plan. He might get an opportunity to escape in the chaos around the transfer; he wasn’t going to waste it. Even for Gemma.
Chapter 9
Gemma
Gemma avoided thinking about the brig and the Xaravian as time ticked away and the rendezvous with the Tyboli grew closer. She paced in her quarters and talked herself in and out of just releasing the pirate. Maybe he was right and his own captain would ransom him back. She’d feel better about taking money from the Xaravians, since they didn’t deal in the slave trade. She gnawed on her thumbnail and stared at her door.
Before she could make up her mind and really commit to it, Milo’s voice reached her through the intercom system. “Ship approaching. Looks like our bounty arrives.”
She sighed and straightened her jacket, zipping it up to conceal her stunner and an extra knife. She didn’t trust the Tyboli a whit. Gemma reached the bridge as Milo adjusted the viewing screen to show an approaching ship: an impressive transporter that had a couple of signatures more appropriate to a battleship of some kind. She frowned and leaned on the back of the pilot chair. “Have they hailed us yet?”
He grunted and toggled the comms switch, searching for a common frequency. “Not yet. I sent the identification codes that were in the bounty when we accepted it, so they should recognize it.”
“And if they don’t?”
Milo grinned as he glanced over at her. “We get ready to run?”
Gemma sighed but almost didn’t manage to suppress her smile. “The idea is to not get our asses kicked.”
He turned his attention to maintaining the ship’s position as the Tyboli transporter came alongside them. Milo didn’t look at her as he spoke. “And how’s the bounty?”
“How would I know?”
“You went into the brig.”
Gemma held her breath for a moment, then blew it out in a sigh. “He offered us multiples on the bounty if we’d return him to his crew.”
Milo arched an eyebrow as he adjusted the shields, waiting for the other ship to say something. “Were you tempted?”
“Of course,” Gemma said. “Wouldn’t you be? Then we wouldn’t have to deal with these sons of bitches.”
He absently squeezed her good arm. “We’re almost done with them. And we won’t take another bounty from the Tyboli, okay? We’ll look for something else. Unless they offer us a contract, then we might have to... Well. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
She nodded, even if it didn’t really help Wyzak. She and Milo made a good team after working together for a couple of years. It had been difficult to find a partner she could work with and who wasn’t constantly trying to fuck her, so finding a replacement for Milo wasn’t in the cards. She could get over his occasional laziness and willingness to work for the Tyboli. Gemma took a breath to suggest they still call off the transfer, but the comms unit crackled and then a voice spoke in heavily-accented Earther. “This is Tyboli ship Bushar. You have something of ours?”
“We have something you’re interested in for a price,” Milo said. He pushed a visual representation of the bounty contract through to the other ship so they could see the amount owed. “We’ve got the second-in-command of the Xaravian ship Sraibur, a Xaravian named Wyzak. He’s in our brig. We’re prepared to hand him over in exchange for the full bounty of twenty thousand credits.”
“Ten thousand only,” the other ship returned.
Gemma braced herself for an annoying round of negotiations, since everyone knew the Tyboli never wanted to pay full price for anything they owed. Milo folded his arms over his chest. “Twenty thousand. We’ve already gotten a counteroffer for twice that, and if you’re not ready to pay up, I’ve got other options available. You’ve got five standard minutes to decide.”
She managed to maintain a stern expression, since there was no telling whether the Tyboli saw her in their viewing screen. Milo had always been better at negotiating. Gemma didn’t have the patience for it and typically resorted to threats within a few minutes of haggling. She didn’t want to get her hopes up that they’d be able to return Wyzak to the Sraibur, but maybe...
“Twenty thousand,” the Tyboli said grudgingly, sounding none too pleased. “Prepare to transport the prisoner to our ship.”
Milo returned to his cheerful self. “He regained consciousness, so you’ll have to pick him up here and take him yourself.”
They never went onto another ship with a prisoner. It was too easy to get double-crossed when the customer started to rethink paying so many credits for someone they already had under their control. Gemma didn’t immediately jump to ready the docking arm in the back of the ship, since there was still the small chance they’d need to flee the much larger, faster ship.
“You expect us to do your work for you?” the Tyboli scoffed. “For twenty-thousand credits, you should deliver him.”
“He’s a Xaravian,” Milo said. “Everyone knows it takes a team of Tyboli to handle them. Surely your guys can handle one measly pirate?”
There was a great deal of grumbling and arguing in Tyboli on the other end of the comms bridge, then they came back with, “Fine. Prepare for boarding.”
Gemma didn’t like the idea of a bunch of Tyboli on the Memphis, but it was preferable to her and Milo having to shackle and drag Wyzak from the Memphis, through a transport bridge to the other ship, and into another brig. She made her way into the loading bay to set up the arm and secure the Memphis to the Tyboli ship, working quickly so she didn’t lose her nerve.
Something didn’t feel quite right about the Tyboli as their five-person team made their way through the airlock and down the transport arm. Their grayish skin and squat bodies reminded her of the trolls from the stories Ma told her growing up. Gemma stepped back and out of the way, though she tried not to otherwise react as the Tyboli leader eyed her up and down. She felt weighed and measured, the Tyboli deciding whether she was worth purchasing as well.
Her eyes narrowed and she brushed her elbow against the stunner concealed under her jacket. She didn’t like them on her ship. The sooner they concluded their business, the better.
Milo appeared in the loading bay, a false sense of cheer emanating from him and just irritating Gemma more. “Well then. You’ve got the credits?”
The Tyboli leader, different from the others with the red bars on his otherwise unremarkable blue uniform, curled his lip and gestured at a small package in his hand. “I have it. But first we will confirm you actually have this prisoner. I find it highly unlikely a ... crew like you could manage a Xaravian.”
Gemma didn’t react to the insult and instead headed through the corridors toward the brig. Her skin prickled when she turned her back on the Tyboli, but she refused to let them see her hesitate. Luckily the brig wasn’t far from the loading bay. She paused outside the door as the panel on her left arm glimmered and showed her an odd spray of data boiling up in the opposite direction as the Tyboli ship. Something else approached through that quadrant, although the panel couldn’t decipher the signature. Some sort of disturbance.
And the unknown in ungoverned space rarely meant a good surprise.
There wasn’t time to discuss the anomaly with Milo. They needed to get Wyzak off the ship and get on their way—quickly—before whatever it was that sped in their direction caught up. It could have been after the Tyboli or the Memphis; either way meant bad news for her and Milo, since they’d be caught in the crossfi
re.
Gemma tapped the panel next to the secured door and held her breath as it slid back. Part of her almost hoped that Wyzak had discovered a way to disappear in the short time since she’d last seen him, but when she looked into the room, she found the pirate leaning nonchalantly against the wall.
His dark eyebrow rose when he saw her, and a cold smile twisted his mouth. “Have my executioners arrived, then?”
She glanced over her shoulder at where the Tyboli crowded the corridor, then stepped out of the way without a word. It wasn’t her fight. Not anymore.
Chapter 10
Wyzak
Wyzak sensed when the ship slowed and stopped, and when it docked with another ship. There was something in the jolt and tension in the ship that revealed each change. He braced himself for the inevitable. He didn’t know how much time had passed, but not nearly enough for him to have come up with a new weapon or formulate a brilliant plan to get free.
Seducing Gemma had briefly seemed like a possibility, although a remote one based on the look in her eyes when she finally opened the door to the brig. He felt a flicker of hope before she stepped back, but an ugly-ass Tyboli replaced her in the doorframe and crushed whatever optimism he might have summoned.
His eyes narrowed as he studied the bastards—four of them pushed into the tiny room and immediately used high-power stunners to attack. Wyzak grunted and tried to resist the current racing through his body, turning his muscles to liquid, and staggered so he wouldn’t fall to his knees. He didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing him kneel. A roar escaped through his gritted teeth as he caught sight of the fifth Tyboli with his greasy gray hands on Gemma, keeping her out of the way as she argued with them.
The Tyboli touched her. Wyzak threw off the restraining hands of the aliens who approached him with shackles and chains, and tried to charge through the four squat, muscular guards to reach the female. The last thing he wanted was for the Tyboli slave traders to see Gemma and realize how valuable the pretty Earther would be. They’d steal the crew and the entire ship if they thought they could get away with it, and in that quadrant, no one else would interfere.
Wyzak slung his fists around and body-slammed one of the Tyboli into the wall, grinning savagely as the damn thing crumpled to the floor, and snarled threats at the rest of them as they tried to throw chains around him.
One of the Tyboli shouted about a tranquilizer, gesturing for Gemma or her partner to do something, but neither of the Earthers moved. They just watched as Wyzak laid waste to their brig and covered it in slimy Tyboli blood. He tried to be grateful for small gifts. Perhaps if he killed all five of the Tyboli, the Earthers would get their payment anyway and everyone could go their separate ways.
He lurched toward the senior Tyboli, the one lingering out of his reach in the hall, and almost made it close enough to wrap his hands around the bastard’s throat before heat and fire lanced through his back and struck his brain. His knees gave out and he fell.
Wyzak’s bones felt heavier than the densest gravity as he flopped on the floor, kicked and pummeled by the vengeful Tyboli, but he managed to roll his head enough to see Gemma. Her face had paled and she held onto the wall, but she didn’t move to intervene. Her partner, the skinny Earther kid, scowled at the lead Tyboli and argued about something. Something about the credits. Turning over the payment.
The Tyboli’s gaze slid sideways, considering, and Wyzak’s chest tightened. He almost forgot about the guards still trying to beat him unconscious as time slowed and skipped around him. He’d been in enough dicey situations to realize when a double-cross was about to unfold. There wasn’t any reason for the Tyboli to pay the bounty hunters, not when the Earthers were outnumbered and the slavers could drag him out of there without assistance from the Earthers. The Tyboli leader could probably collect the bounty himself from Kryken, the Tyboli the Sraibur had run afoul of, and benefit his ship instead of some bounty hunters.
Wyzak growled and reached for the doorway, even though Gemma was too far away. “Run. Get…away.”
Her head tilted as she considered him, then something collided with his head and everything went black.
Chapter 11
Gemma
She had to turn away when the Tyboli beat on Wyzak to keep him from escaping or killing them all. Gemma clenched her jaw and retreated. She wasn’t a coward, but she didn’t take any pleasure in seeing someone else hurt. Especially when she still wasn’t convinced that it was deserved. If only she knew why the Tyboli had such a massive bounty out for the Sraibur crew. If they were all murderers and slave traders, then she could walk away without worrying about her conscience.
Milo kept his attention on the most important issue, though, and fixed a cold look at the Tyboli with the red stripes on his uniform, a male who called himself Captain Urkik. “The credits, if you please. We’ll be in touch if we pick up another crewmember.”
Gemma’s heartbeat pounded in her ear as she glanced back at where Wyzak had fallen to the floor. The Xaravian reached out to her, his silver eyes flashing in warning, and he croaked at her to run. She studied him, searching for why he’d say such a thing, but froze as the Tyboli behind her said, “Perhaps not.”
Milo sucked in a breath and Gemma spun, reaching for her stunner. Her partner held his hands up, backing away from the armed Tyboli as Urkik threatened him with a weapon. She shouldered Milo out of the way as she jumped to tackle the Tyboli leader. Chaos erupted all around as Milo shouted and the Tyboli cursed and Wyzak roared like an injured lion, dragging himself out of unconsciousness to continue the fight.
Someone plowed into her before she could knock Urkik aside and hold him prisoner to control the rest of the Tyboli. Gemma bounced off the wall and slid to the floor, holding her side. She kept firing the stunner, though she cranked the power up to kill and shouted for Milo to get his ass in gear.
Alarms blared from the front of the ship and her metal arm flashed a warning—another ship approached, shields up and weapons primed.
One of the Tyboli guards leaned over her, picking her up by the front of her shirt, and growled something about a little extra in the deal. His hand slid too freely down her side and she seized up, lashing out in fury and more than a little fear. Sons of bitches. She knew they shouldn’t have dealt with the Tyboli, regardless of how big the bounty was. She would never surrender to a life of slavery.
She clenched her mech hand around the guard’s throat and squeezed. His eyes bugged out as the metal fingers closed tight and kept going, well beyond the strength of any flesh-and-blood grip. A flash of Wyzak calling the hand useful almost distracted Gemma from the fight around her, but she couldn’t block out the screams that choked around her fingers.
Another Tyboli guard launched at her when he spotted her choking his friend, and Gemma couldn’t duck fast enough to avoid the fist that swung toward her head. She staggered to the side but her hand remained clenched around the guard’s throat, fingers pressing ever deeper despite the male clawing at her and trying to knock her away.
The Memphis shuddered and creaked as if being pulled in two different directions, and Gemma stared down the corridor toward the loading bay. The transfer arm was still connected to the Tyboli ship. If it were pulled away, the Memphis’s air lock would be damaged and they could all die.
She called out to Milo, who struggled with Urkik, and kicked at the guard who tried to clobber her over the head. She finally convinced her mechanical arm to release the motionless, blank-eyed guard who dangled in her grip, and wrenched her fingers clear of the mushy flesh around his windpipe. Served the bastard right. She’d need to bathe in boiling water to forget the feeling of his slimy hands on her skin and remove the remains of his flesh from her metal fingers.
Wyzak battled the remaining guards, snarling and shouting at them in a guttural language she assumed was Xaravian, which gave Gemma enough time to limp toward the loading bay. Her head spun and her vision kept skipping and blurring; she had to hold onto the w
all so she wouldn’t weave and stumble as the ship tossed. The sound of stressed metal groaning under pressure made her move faster, despite the screaming pain in her ribs and the lancing pain behind her eyes.
She gulped for air as she reached the loading bay and footsteps pounded down the corridor after her, but before she could turn to confront whoever chased her, a shadow fell across the entirety of the massive bay and stopped her in her tracks. Gemma couldn’t breathe. Another transfer arm—the powerful kind used by pirates to board unwilling ships—had adhered to the portal where the Tyboli guards had boarded and tore a hole in the side of the Memphis.
As she stood there, the shadows moved and loomed larger, and Gemma stepped back in alarm as one of those shadows drew closer and revealed a blue-scaled chest.
Xaravians.
Shit.
Chapter 12
Wyzak
Wyzak regained his feet when he saw the Tyboli grab Gemma and scrabble his gray fingers under her shirt. He threw off two of the bastards who tried to shackle him and staggered to his feet just as the Earther latched her metal hand around the alien’s throat. Before he could help her, though, the lead Tyboli fired a supercharged stunner at him and knocked him back into the brig. Wyzak shook off the ringing in his ears and the stuttering of his hearts, but it took far too long for him to regain his feet.
The ship tossed and twisted, jerking about in an almost-familiar way, and he smiled savagely. The Sraibur had arrived. He knew the rest of his crew prepared to board the bounty hunters’ cutter, so it was just a matter of time until the Tyboli were killed, their ship destroyed, and Wyzak freed.
Although... He hurled one of the guards out of his way after relieving the Tyboli of his weapon, and focused on Gemma. He didn’t want Faros or the others to hurt the Earther. He didn’t give a shit what happened to the male, but the female was his to deal with. He could almost taste his vengeance.