by J. N. Chaney
They’d been suspicious of me and afraid I’d turn them over to Colt, but there was just as much risk of them doing the same to me.
When nothing appeared through the glowing green viewfinder, I paused and glanced up at the dark sky. The silence weighed on my shoulders, tense and heavy. Ships flew in and out of orbit like stars, each of them falling from or ascending to the heavens.
As midnight came and went, no one stepped into the valley.
I was alone—and the kids were late.
“I wonder if they bailed, Siggy,” I said into my comm.
“It's doubtful, sir,” responded the AI. “They have a much-vested interest in this working in their favor.”
“Yeah, I'll give you that,” I answered. “What do you think is keeping them?”
“Perhaps they think you’ve failed to appear?” offered Sigmond. “It wouldn’t be surprising if they, too, were lying in wait or monitoring the meeting location from afar.”
I laughed. It seemed obvious, now, that Edwin would do something like that. It just lent credence to the idea that I shouldn’t assume they were idiot kids, adrift at sea and in over their heads. They were green, but they also had skills.
“Let’s throw them a bone,” I suggested.
I rifled through the small pack beside me where I usually stored the binoculars and assorted gear for situations like this. It took a few moments of rummaging through the front pockets and sifting through various types of scanners before I found a flare.
Risky, but probably worth it. A way to break the stalemate without waiting too long and losing an alliance. A flare would let them know I was here without me giving up the Star’s position until I knew for sure they wouldn’t try to blow it up.
Worst case, I’d uncloak my ship when they least expected it and blow anyone who shot at me straight to hell.
I activated the beacon with a time and tossed it to the ground, giving myself a few precious seconds to mask my location. From a distance, they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint my surveillance spot on the rock. The flare illuminated the cracked dirt below and I tried to keep my gaze to the horizon and scanned the dark valley around me once again with the night-vision specs.
“Sir,” said Sigmond a few seconds later. “I'm detecting movement approaching us from the northeast.”
I tilted my head in the direction Sigmond had mentioned, and sure enough, the hazy silhouette of a dust cloud began to form. At first, it was nothing more than a shadow lit from behind by the distant city lights, but as it got closer, I could see something more solid in its center.
I trained my binoculars on it and zoomed in to find a hovercar racing across the desert. The low hum of its engines rumbled through the desert, and I could eventually make out the details of three people sitting inside. One man stood at the back by a massive weapon mounted to the metal, but I still couldn't see any of his features.
They’d brought a car-mounted machine gun. Not bad.
“Is there any other movement out there, Siggy?” I asked, scanning the horizon again to be sure. “They could be a decoy.”
“Negative, sir,” assured the AI. “I detect no other humanoid lifeforms or scanning systems trained on our current location. It appears the three of them came alone.”
“Keep an eye out,” I ordered. “Just in case.”
“Of course, Captain,” said Sigmond. “Should I prepare the quad cannons in case we need to go on the offensive?”
I was tempted. As their car neared, however, I took a more detailed survey of the weaponry they’d brought. It seemed as though their machine gun was the biggest weapon they had, and if that was the case, they didn’t have the kind of firepower strong enough to penetrate the Star's shields or hull.
If they tried anything, they’d be dead before I even stood up. I had every advantage here, and they knew it. It was why they’d come to me for help.
“Be ready for anything, Siggy,” I said. “We probably won’t have to use them. Keep the Star silent and don’t give away its position.”
“Of course, Captain.”
I still couldn’t see their faces, so I wasn’t about to relax quite yet. If the trio had been intercepted and if this was a trap, it was already a lot more involved and complex than anything Colt had thrown my way.
Thus far, Colt had worked alone, and I doubted he would change his tactics now—but I'd been wrong before.
Though I was still laying on my stomach, I drew the pistol at my side and rolled out my shoulders, ready to fire if I had to.
“Get ready, Siggy,” I said. “Just in case we need to leave quickly.”
“Yes, sir,” responded Sigmond. “The engines are primed and ready as soon as you give the word.”
“Good.”
The car finally neared to the point where I could see faces, and the first person I recognized was Hunter's scowl as he stood behind the machine gun mounted to the back. It was angled off to the side, but his eyes swept along the ground beside the flare.
As the car slowed and the dust cleared, I recognized Edwin and Ruby sitting in the front seats. Duffel bags covered every open space, and I could easily imagine what was inside.
Some of the tension eased from my shoulders as I laid on the rock above them. Edwin pulled the car to a stop and stepped out, drawing the gun at his side as he scanned the empty desert around them. They muttered in hushed tones, probably debating what to do.
From their perspective, this likely looked a hell of a lot like a trap.
With one last cursory look across the empty desert, I was satisfied. The kids had kept true to their word, and now it was time to keep to mine.
As I swung my legs over the edge of the rock and sat upright, I couldn't help but wonder how this could possibly turn out alright for me.
Strangers on my ship. A makeshift alliance with people who had tried to kill me once. This was either going to be the cleverest thing I’d done so far, or I was going to go down in blazing hot flames.
But I was Jace Hughes, damn it, and some asshole wasn't going to get the better of me. If that meant I had to make peace with the surviving kids of a crime family, then so be it.
“About time you showed up,” I said, my loud voice cutting through the tense silence.
In unison, Edwin and Ruby aimed their guns up at my perch. Hunter even angled the machine gun toward me, and for a moment, all three of them held their aim.
“Captain Hughes, godsdammit,” muttered Edwin. His eyes narrowed with recognition, and he let out a sigh of relief as he holstered his pistol.
Ruby and Hunter, however, didn’t move. Their weapons remained trained on me, and I stared them down, daring them to do something stupid.
At this point, I knew them well enough to figure they were trying to set me on edge. Neither of them would pull the trigger.
“Enough, you two,” snapped Edwin.
Hunter grumbled and aimed the barrel of the machine gun at the ground once again. Ruby shoved her gun back into the holster in one fluid movement, but the rest of her remained immobile as her eyes bored into me.
That girl was volatile—and I was about to let her on the Star.
Fun.
I shoved the binoculars back in the bag, swung it over my shoulder, and made my way down to the siblings.
As I closed the distance between us, I studied the duffel bags and gun cases stacked in the back seat. They had managed to assemble a shitload of weaponry, and now that I looked at it up closely, I was actually starting to wonder if they did have the capability to blow the Star to shit after all.
I didn't care for having fully armed strangers on the Star, but I always had a backup plan. If push came to shove, I could kick them out at the nearest station.
“I don't think you brought enough guns,” I said. “You could've at least put forth some effort.”
Ruby scoffed, but Edwin chuckled.
“We did our part. Did you even bring your ship?” asked Hunter, gesturing toward the empty desert. “Wasn’t that on t
he list of things you brought to this alliance of ours?”
“It was,” I said, crossing my arms. “And I did.”
“Shall I uncloak the Renegade Star, sir?” asked Sigmond through the comm in my ear.
“Do it,” I ordered.
On command, the Star appeared. It loomed over us, and all three Carson kids started as the ship all but materialized from thin air.
“Well, now,” said Edwin as he gaped at the ship. “That’s a neat trick.”
I scoffed. That “trick” had cost me plenty, but I wasn’t about to let them in on my financial choices.
They didn’t need to know.
The cargo bay gate opened, inviting us in, and I walked toward it without another word. They were smart enough to figure out what to do next.
“Is that cargo bay big enough for our car?” asked Edwin.
I just nodded.
“If you say so,” said the Carson kid as he hopped back into the vehicle. It propelled toward my ship as the gate smacked against the hard dirt.
The car whizzed past me as they reached my ship first, and the top of Hunter’s head nearly hit the roof of the cargo bay as they entered. I frowned as, once again, people were on my ship without me.
At least this time, they knew who was in charge. I took a deep and settling breath to brace myself before I walked in after them.
No matter the hell that waited for me out there in the void, I couldn't deny the fact that I'd just invited a whole heap of crazy right onto the Star.
Time to find out if my gamble had paid off.
19
After the Carson kids had secured their hovercar in the Star and loaded most of the duffle bags into the secret hold in the cargo bay for safekeeping—and after Hunter had insisted he be able to keep at least one duffel bag in his room, which I flat out refused to allow—my one and only focus was to get us the hell away from Scartros.
It had taken a few hours of travel to put enough distance between us and that chop shop of a planet, but I felt like we were finally far enough away from Fratley’s hub of illicit activity to breathe easy for a little bit. After my run-in with Colt on Brax, the only place I really felt like I could relax was the vast nothingness of space.
Planets had people, and while I didn’t know just where Colt’s reach extended, it was undoubtedly far. The man had everyone in his pocket, and as long as he was alive, I wasn’t going to trust anybody.
Staying near planets was too risky. I needed the void.
With the cloak activated, the Star sat immobile and invisible amongst the stars. Out here and safe from wandering eyes, I could finally turn my attention on the task at hand.
It was time to come up with a plan.
I walked out of the bridge and into the lounge, where I’d told my new partners to wait for me until we could lower our guard a bit and discuss our next move. The three of them had spread themselves out across the room, each taking up an irritating amount of space.
Ruby lounged on the sofa with her legs draped over one armrest. Her head hung over the other end of the couch, and her long hair brushed against the floor as she tapped absently on a data pad.
Hunter rummaged through the cabinets in the kitchenette, bowls clanking as he made himself familiar with my food. He grabbed a few boxes and set enough food out on the counter for six people.
Only Edwin stood before me, arms crossed, ready to talk.
“Do you plan on joining us any time soon?” I asked Hunter. “Or do you plan to eat all my food, first?”
He frowned. “Can’t a man have a minute to eat?”
“This isn’t an all-expense-paid vacation,” I pointed out. “You want my food, you pay me for it. Every meal.”
Hunter crossed his arms. “After we brought all those weapons and all that ammo?”
“I brought the ship,” I reminded him. “Fuel isn’t cheap, kid, and neither is food.”
“That’s bull—”
“Stop,” snapped Edwin, aiming a hard stare at his sibling. “Focus.”
Hunter put the boxes and cans he’d assembled back in the cupboard and slammed the cabinet door closed. He leaned against the kitchen counter, silently glowering at me as if I had robbed him blind.
“Have a seat,” I said, nodding toward the chairs I had cuffed them to last time they were here.
“Pass,” said Ruby and Hunter in unison.
Only Edwin laughed.
“So, what's the plan?” asked Hunter, gesturing across the lounge with a wide wave of his hand. “You've kept us in suspense for ages, Jace. Do we ever get to know what’s going to happen?”
Any dissent or arguments between the four of us in the heat of battle would only make it easier for Colt to take us out. I had to shape these three into a makeshift crew, and I had to do it quickly.
“The fact is I don't have a full plan pieced together yet,” I admitted. “There are too many moving parts, and there’s too much we don’t know. What I do know, however, is it's time to shift gears. Colt has surprised me twice now, and it's time we turn the tables on him. One way or another, we have to take control. We're not leaving this room until we have a plan.”
The mood in the room shifted.
Ruby set down her data pad and sat upright, her eyes locked on me as I paced. Hunter watched me from the kitchen, his scowl gone. Edwin nodded along, completely engaged.
For the first time since they’d come on board, all three of them had their eyes on me. They were focused. They were listening. No exasperated sighs, no half-muttered cursing.
“The fact is we need to hunt down Colt down before he kills us all,” I continued. “Tell me what you have on him so far.”
“Well, let’s start with the obvious,” answered Edwin. “Colt Lockwood is a famous Renegade with a massive fortune and an impressive array of connections. He controls dozens, if not hundreds, of aliases.”
“And he wants to use all of that to kill us,” added Ruby.
“How are we supposed to have a chance against a guy like this?” asked Hunter as he scratched the back of his head. “This seems impossible.”
“Yeah, well, I've been up against impossible before,” I admitted.
“We do have one thing in our favor,” I pointed out. “Colt’s hurt. I tagged him in the side during our last shootout. So, we know he has at least one major injury, and he likely suffered more from having the quad cannons turned on him.”
Hunter scoffed. “How could this guy escape quad cannons? Are you that bad of a shot?”
“To remind you,” I said, pointing a finger at the asshole leaning against my kitchen counter. “I knocked you out cold the first time we met.”
Hunter frowned and looked away.
“I’ve been doing some digging,” interjected Edwin. “Like I mentioned before, I know a fair bit about aliases and accessing encrypted networks. Before, uh—” Edwin’s voice caught in his throat, and he cleared it violently. “Before the incident, Father gave me a task to track the twenty most well-known Renegades and learn everything I could.”
“Did he now?” I asked, not entirely certain I was going to like the direction this was heading.
Edwin nodded. “It was a thorough report, one I’ve automated to be updated on a daily basis. There was so much data that I had to make a custom series of databases just to manage it all. I learned everything I could—what names these Renegades used, where they spent their time, what they ordered most often. It was mostly data for the sake of data, ready in case we ever needed to make a quick barter or bargain with someone, but Colt was on the list. I wasn’t able to figure out all of Colt’s aliases, but I did find a lot of them.”
“Was I on the list?” I asked, frowning.
Edwin chuckled and shook his head. “I'm afraid you're not well-known enough yet, Captain.”
“Good.” I shrugged it off and pretended that didn't sting.
It wounded my pride a bit, sure, but it also had benefits. I liked to fly below the radar, and I was grateful a bunch of
Deadlands crime families weren't tracking my movements. It was a silver lining for the moment, but there was no telling how long I’d stay off their lists. I would have to be careful about my aliases from now on.
Especially since Colt had managed to hack them.
“Look at this,” said Edwin as he pulled a small device out of his pocket and tapped the screen.
A hologram appeared above his palm. It was a small, portable holo that had minimal functionality, but it displayed a system of planets that all revolved around a single star. He pointed to the second planet as Ruby and Hunter joined us, each of them looking over his shoulder.
“This is about three days’ travel from here,” said Edwin. “One of Colt’s aliases has ordered fresh food and medical supplies to be delivered. It’s the only activity tied to him within the last week. Based on the order list, it should be enough for him to hole up for several months.”
“That's a good lead,” I acknowledged.
Edwin nodded and tapped the device again. The holo changed, and this time the imaging displayed a fortress on a rocky hill overlooking a picturesque valley. Mountains stabbed at the sky in the distance, their rocky surfaces covered in trees.
A river cut through the valley below, and the cliff overlooking it all was devoid of any life save for the house. No trees or useful cover. Every window had a perfect sightline to the world around it. It was a paradise fit for a distrustful loner.
“This is where everything is being delivered,” said Edwin, pointing to the house. Since this alias is almost never used, I can only assume he thinks no one knows about it. He probably doesn’t realize anyone’s aware he’s here.”
“So, you think he's staying here while he heals,” I said, piecing it together.
“That's my theory,” confirmed Edwin.
“Do you have any proof that he’s actually here?” I asked, pointing to the house. “He’s built incredibly convincing traps before. This could be another setup.”
“He’s there,” promised Edwin as he typed on the device. “I managed to get this next footage from some surveillance drones, so unfortunately this low quality is the best I can manage.”