by Jack Archer
Wait, did they want her to shoot at the god damn police?
The firing of Cobalt’s gun said ‘yes’ as Enzo sped past them into the airlock while Cobalt ducked from his cover and into the ship. Without firing a single shot, Rystar followed them, setting her pistol down carefully as Cobalt slammed the button to shut the airlock, and they shot out of their port, throwing the three of them to the ground.
“Sorry,” Rystar muttered as she picked herself up off the two men on the floor, who mumbled sheepishly in return.
“What the hell is he doing up there?” Enzo grumbled, picking Rystar up and making sure she was okay before heading to the front of the ship. Cobalt waited for her to leave before following up the rear.
They waited a moment in the elevator together before stepping out onto the bridge, the space shield already showing a vast sea of stars and velvet black space.
“We have to get them off our tail,” Kyran said to Lupe, whose hands were whizzing along the controls, sending them spinning around in space. “Enzo, what did you find?”
“Nothing, just a name,” he replied, shaking his head.
“Well, what’s the name?” Kyran spat, raising his eyebrows.
“Yarev.”
“Shit.” Kyran gritted his teeth. He looked down at Lupe, who merely glanced up at Kyran for direction. “How far is it, Lupe?”
Lupe’s hands dialed in an address for Yarev, and a loading bar appeared before a series of complicated twists popped up on screen. Despite the dire situation, Rystar was impressed by the Mach IV’s plotting abilities. Her Mach III took forever and needed the plots to be input by hand.
Lupe winced. “Si nakínyïfiw.”
Rystar blinked at the alien language and looked to Kyran, who was biting his lip.
“He said ‘four jumps,’” Kyran translated. He pursed his lips and stared into the black abyss, dotted with stars they could go to if they only had the time. He bowed his head and made a fist on the dash. “Do it.”
Enzo’s mouth dropped, but Cobalt sat down in a chair and strapped in. “Kyran, that’s insane. We won’t make it.”
“This ship could make seven or eight jumps if we wanted to,” Kyran said, heading to the back and indicating for the rest of them to strap in as well. Rystar noticed Shea and Na’gya’s appearances, silent as ever but complying with Kyran’s instructions. Enzo didn’t budge.
“We can barely make three jumps as Sustri, not to say what it’ll do to the humans and a Ya’ados,” Enzo hissed, pointing at the three of them. Shea held out a hand.
“We made three jumps just fine,” Shea offered. Enzo’s head whipped around to face him, his yellow eyes snapping firmly to Shea’s. “What’s another one?”
“We don’t do well with jumps,” Enzo replied before turning back to glower at Kyran, but strapping in all the same, “what are we going to do if Lupe passes out?”
“What are we going to do if the G2PD catches up to us?” Kyran snapped. “Then we’ll all be out of commission, and we’ll lose the first in line to Chantakor. They won’t follow us after three jumps.”
He had said his peace and set his gaze to the front of the ship where Lupe was still plugging in coordinates before they turned to face Kyran, who nodded. With a large sigh, Lupe turned back around and hit a button, gently guiding the stick to face a border gate that was glowing white-hot.
The engines roared and space contorted around them, heavy streaks of light and stars spinning around the ship as they flew through the first gate. When they punched out, the crew lurched forward as Lupe pushed down on the flight stick, sending them into a nosedive to the next border gate.
Pushing G’s so hard that Rystar’s vision blackened at the edges, they flew through the next one and watched the familiar woozy tunnel splash by them. The third jump was just as bad, and when the fourth border gate came into view, Rystar wanted no more truck with this god damn trip.
“We’ve lost them. Are you sure you want to keep going?” Lupe turned around, their face an abnormal shade of green. Rystar turned blurry eyes to Kyran, who looked like he was holding back vomit but nodded anyway.
Lupe growled but turned forward again, sending them through the last border gate. Rystar blacked out for a moment and awoke to a bright yellow binary star system. Lupe was still at the front pushing controls to simmer the engines down, and Rystar looked around, seeing Shea passed out in his seat and Na’gya rushing to the nearest bin to puke.
The rest of them rose from their seats, and Enzo stormed up to Kyran.
“If you ever pull something like that again, I’m out,” he growled. “You put all our lives at risk.”
“I wouldn’t have had to if you did your job right.” Kyran was much shorter than Enzo, but his eyes burned with more ferocity.
Enzo couldn’t say anything to that. His nostrils flared before looking around at all of them and stomping away to the elevators. Rystar rolled her eyes and strode to the space shield where Lupe was still piloting, spinning them around to a bright blue dot and powering the engines down.
“Here,” Lupe said in a quiet voice, hitting a button to make words appear on the heads-up display on the space shield. Information about the sun, the planets in the distance, and the planet they were heading to popped up on the screen in bright green text. Rystar gasped. This ship was absolutely incredible.
“That’s where we’re going?” Rystar pointed to the bright blue planet in their sights now. Lupe nodded and began to swipe through information panels and calibrations.
Rystar’s eyes narrowed as she read the information box on the planet.
Yarev Underwater Prison Complex
Chapter Four
Kyran Skylock: DSV Firehawk
Kyran Skylock never thought his time on Earth was wasted, save for a very few moments. Those were the moments he wished he had spent more time with the Sustri during their formative years, and 600 years was a long time to be away from his home world. The Sustri were his family, and he had no idea how to talk to them.
Fighting with any of his crew mates made Kyran’s heart twist, but the bouts with Enzo really took it out of him. Security, although important, got in the way of everything he needed to do. Where Kyran wanted to shoot forward, Enzo was there to hold him back to make sure he wasn’t doing anything stupid.
He looked up through the window and studied the massive orange star they were currently parked in front of. Kyran stood up and paced towards the window where a plant hung, its massive, trailing vines almost reaching the floor. He thumbed at a pink leaf and smiled before sitting down on his bed and pulling up his tablet to swipe through to the two files Enzo had forwarded him.
The first was Shea Hendi. Not too much to tell there. A simple boy with a heart of gold, just like Kyran had initially thought. It was a short file, and Kyran stopped scrolling to back out and look at Rystar’s file, the one that he had been anticipating.
Mx. Rystar Umara, 32-year-old bounty hunter from Montgomery, Alabama, Earth—
He knew Rystar’s last name, but now an iron rod had shoved itself through Kyran’s heart and twisted around. He swung his legs off the bed and tossed his tablet to the side, eyes grazing across the sun-filled window to the trailing plant that soaked up its rays.
A knock at his door sounded, and Kyran shook his head to clear it, turning slightly to face the door. “Who is it?”
“It’s Enzo.”
Kyran groaned, momentarily distracted from his painful epiphany, and stood up to cross the room and open the door. He deadpanned as Enzo pulled a sheepish look on his face, rolling his eyes when Enzo refused to speak. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to apologize,” Enzo murmured, eyes focused on his feet and shoving his hands in his pockets. “We have jump rules for a reason, but I understand you’re the ship’s captain, and I am here merely for guidance. I overstepped my bounds, and for that, I am sorry.”
He finally looked up at Kyran and jutted his chest out, letting his shoulders slump and running a
hand through his hair. Kyran sighed and leaned against the doorframe, scratching an eyebrow with a thumb. “I wouldn’t put up with your bullshit if I thought you were doing it just to be an ass.”
Enzo furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to speak, but Kyran held up a hand to stop him. “I know you do it because you care about this crew. I always welcome your input, and I accept your apology.”
Enzo’s mouth crept closed as he began to smile, looking back down at his feet. He was a quiet man, save for when someone got him talking about security protocols, and Kyran once again found himself staring at him for longer than necessary.
“I appreciate it,” he muttered with a slight glance up at Kyran before clasping his hands behind his back and looking up again, tilting his head to the side. “Did you get those files I sent you?”
Kyran’s heart did a funny little flip again as he remembered the files he had just perused. “I did. Thanks again, by the way.”
“Of course,” Enzo said and folded his arms across his chest. “Anything to get to know more about our new guests. Ship’s getting a little crowded, though.”
“How?” Kyran dropped his arm from the doorframe and scoffed. “It’s a Mach IV. Can’t get no bigger than this.”
“Space isn’t everything,” Enzo said, tapping his nose and letting his arms fall to his sides before backing away. “Just don’t forget who your real crew is.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Kyran mumbled, waving him off and shutting his door again. His eyes fell on the tablet, its screen still lit up and facing the ceiling.
After a few tense moments, he walked back to it, yanking it off the bed and scrolling through her file once more.
…comes from a long line of military, including her mother, Major Guardian Gloria Umara, and her grandfather, Captain Ephrem Umara, who was killed in action on Aurum in 2065. After joining the Federal Department of Defense Services in 2106, Mx. Umara proceeded to…
But he couldn’t read past ‘Captain Ephrem Umara.’ He couldn’t ignore the harsh sting in his eye as he threw the tablet again and stood up, facing the window and tapping his fist on the glass. How the hell had he managed to stumble on Ephrem Umara’s granddaughter? Out of all the people in the universe, how was it her he now had to share a ship with?
The ship hummed around him, and the massive ball of light gleamed outside his window. Kyran spent a long time sitting on his bed staring at it, or at least the space around it. When he had simmered enough, he stood up and stomped a boot on the ground, running a hand over his face before heading out of the door and in the elevator that would lead him to the bridge.
He found Lupe near the front, their feet kicked up on the console as they swiped through a news article on their tablet. Lupe gave him a short wave before continuing to scroll, and Kyran nodded back. Cobalt stood as an ominous statue against the main space shield, arms folded and staring into the abyss.
“Cobalt,” Kyran said as he approached, making him jump and turn around. “I need you to gather everyone in the kitchen. We need to discuss strategy.”
Cobalt nodded and headed towards the elevators, never a man of many words. Kyran turned back to Lupe, who had put their tablet on their knees and tilted their head back, a pout pulled across their face.
“That means you, too, Lupe,” Kyran said, slapping Lupe’s shoes off the console and heading towards the elevators.
“Alright, alright,” Lupe grumbled and set their tablet on the console dash before following Kyran.
In the kitchen, they gathered around the table except for Cobalt, who leaned against the wall with his leg kicked up on it. Kyran took them all in, one by one, and nodded. Not a bad crew, if he said so himself.
“Now that we’re out of G2PD’s jump range, we can focus on our next steps,” Kyran began, clasping his hands in front of him. He pushed a chunk of cherry red hair from his eyes and sighed. “Enzo, what did you find in the system about the Hoop?”
Enzo sat at the opposite end of the table and spread his hands before crossing them. “Unfortunately, I didn’t find much. They had the file locked up tight. The only thing I was able to get was a name and a planet.”
“I see we’re heading to the Yarev Underwater Prison Complex,” Kyran said, nodding, “but what was the name?”
Enzo brought up his tablet and leaned forward, swiping a few times before settling on a page. “Balee Wylo, ring a bell?”
Kyran looked around the table to everyone shaking their heads, except for Na’gya, whose eyes had widened significantly. “You know them?”
“She was the head of the Terran guard in the Tavantis Palace,” Na’gya explained, shaking his head. “She left us months ago to help the rebellion, but I never knew where she went.”
“You think she’ll know where the Hoop is?” Kyran asked.
Na’gya turned to face him, wings unfurling the slightest bit to encase Rystar and Shea on either side of him. “Maybe. Last I heard, she was stationed in the Sol system, but if she got caught… I don’t know.”
Kyran pursed his lips and ran a finger across them, lost in thought. He hadn’t meant to get caught up in this intergalactic feud, much less pull two innocent bystanders into the mix.
“We need to talk to her,” Kyran said after a moment of thought. “But we can’t go waltzing in there. I’m wanted in three systems, and I think Cobalt over there is wanted pretty much any planet he steps foot on.”
“I can go talk to her,” Na’gya offered, sitting up straighter.
“I think those feathery things you got might make you somewhat of a target, darlin’,” Kyran chuckled, pointing to Na’gya’s wings and making him sink into his seat.
“I keep forgetting,” Na’gya said with a shrug.
Rystar sat forward and set her hand on the table. “Shea and I can do it. We’re not wanted, and we’re bounty hunters. I’m sure they’ll let me in for a little talk with Balee if I say it’s for information.”
“You think they’ll just let her come in and talk to a high-security prisoner?” Enzo huffed and swiped through his tablet. “Says here in the database that she’s being kept in one of the secure wards for crimes against humanity.”
“Is she Terran?” Rystar asked.
“Doesn’t say,” Enzo replied.
Na’gya spoke up. “Yes, she is.”
Rystar turned to him with wide eyes. “They locked her up for treason?”
“If they caught a Terran trying to defend the Ya’ados against other Terrans, I assume that could be classified as treason,” Na’gya said with a frown.
“I suppose it could,” Rystar muttered and sat back in her chair. “Still wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?”
“We couldn’t go in this ship,” Kyran said, “not when it’s wanted in so many systems.”
“So, how will we get down there?” Rystar asked.
“Use my old Mach II,” Kyran said. “It’s a two-seater LASSO, double-S mind you, that can go to depths up to 40,000 feet without consequence.”
“Good thing, too,” Enzo chimed in, looking up at Rystar with raised eyebrows, “since the prison complex is at 33,000 feet under Yarev’s ocean surface.”
“33,000?” Rystar repeated, eyebrows disappearing in her hairline.
“It dramatically reduces the number of prison breaks,” Enzo snorted. Rystar tilted her head in agreement.
Kyran set his palms on the table and looked at each of them in turn. “So that’s the plan we’re sticking with? Rystar and Shea head down to the prison in the Krimson Princess as bounty hunters with the purest of intentions to talk with a Terran insurgent currently housed there?”
Everyone’s faces fell as they realized the absurdity of the plan. But there was really no other choice, so they all nodded. Kyran followed suit and stood up from the table, pointing at Lupe.
“How long until we can head out?” he asked.
“Another half cycle or so,” Lupe responded.
Kyran hissed and rested his fist on the table. “Better find something to do
for the next half-cycle then, folks.”
They all stood up except for Kyran, who watched his crew leave, his eyes lingering on Rystar after she looked back at him with a warm smile.
Rystar eventually found her way back to him in the dining room, swirling the rest of his drink in a low glass. He couldn’t avoid her forever but hadn’t the slightest inkling of what he was going to say to her. Giving her the cold shoulder wasn’t something he intended to do and wasn’t fair to her, but he just couldn’t help it.
“I’ve been looking for you all over the ship,” she said as she sat down next to him, folding her hands on the table. She bit her lip and bounced her leg, a strange kind of nervousness since it was only several cycles ago she had punched him in the face.
“What can I do for you, sugar?” Kyran drawled in a tired voice, taking the last little bit of his drink.
“A drink would be nice,” Rystar said, cocking her head and tapping on the table with a black-tipped fingernail.
Kyran stood up to rinse his glass out in a sink near the kitchen area before setting it down and rummaging around in some cabinets above the stove. “Where do you find time to do all that?” He grabbed a bottle of Charlom and turned around, pointing to her fingers. “Your nails?”
Rystar held out a hand in front of her, spreading the fingers dipped in matte black with gold veins spreading out on each nail. “Never. But since we have some time to kill from your stunt, I thought I’d fix them up.”
“Well, they look good,” Kyran said, setting her drink down in front of her and raising his glass. “To never jumping more than four jumps again.”
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Rystar chuckled and raised her own glass up before taking a sip. “Something tells me that wasn’t the first time you’ve pulled a stunt like that.”
“I’ve taken five jumps before, nothing over that,” Kyran said, taking a sip. “But that was a long time ago. I’ve heard bad stories about folks who have taken more than five jumps or taken five jumps with few breaks in between.”