The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4)

by Christian Kallias

  C H A P T E R

  II

  The ramp descended to the ground of the cargo bay of the unknown ship. Ryonna heard a wailing alarm, no doubt related to the heavy damage she had inflicted on the ship just moments before. She stepped down the ramp, blaster in hand, and checked her surroundings, making sure no one was waiting in ambush. After a few seconds she mentally marked the cargo bay as clear. She approached the nearest console and brought up a schematic of the ship. She exited the cargo bay, her weapon still pointing forward, and made her way to the bridge. She avoided the turbo lifts, preferring to use ladders inside the nearest bulkhead.

  At the bridge’s door she took a deep breath and stormed in. A humanoid male on the floor had his weapon drawn. She jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the laser fire from his blaster. The laser grazed Ryonna’s hair as she landed on the deck and rolled behind a nearby console.

  “Why did you fire on my ship?” she exclaimed from behind her cover.

  There was no answer, but three more blasts impacted the console protecting her. Sparks flew over her head and some landed in her hair.

  “Fine, let’s do it your way!”

  She removed one of her boots and threw it to her right, while jumping in the opposite direction.

  Laser fire hit her flying boot, and while in midair she lined up her shot and pressed the trigger. The stun shot hit her target in the thorax and he collapsed with a groan. Small sparks of lightning ran over his body armor. She took no chances and fired three more stun shots. His limbs jerked and spasmed. His eyes were closed when she approached, her blaster still pointed at his head, ready to fire again if necessary. When she was near enough she kicked the man’s blaster away. She placed her knee on the torso of the motionless body and checked his pulse. She found one, and proceeded to search his body for more weapons. She found a second, smaller blaster in a chest holster, as well as a few small blades, morning stars and a light-blade attached to his belt. His skin was a pale-green tone and he had markings on his face.

  Gotta be a bounty hunter to be armed to the teeth like that. I wonder how they found me, especially in that Alliance ship? So much for hoping an Alliance ship would provide anonymity, allowing me to move discreetly in the sector.

  She dragged his body to a chair and sat him down. She changed settings on her weapon and shot twice more. Two energy lasso shots immobilized him at both chest and feet height, emitting a low level hum and radiating blue light.

  Ryonna sat next to her immobilized prey. She tried accessing the console in front of her but the computer refused her commands.

  “Non-authorized personnel access, locking the computer core. Please provide valid biometrics identification,” said the onboard computer, before turning on a hand scanner on its glass controls.

  Ryonna smashed her fists on the controls, frustrated. The glass on the console cracked and cut her hand. For a second she looked at the droplets of blood falling on the floor. She wiped the blood on her pants and picked up her blaster. There was no way of knowing if anyone else was on board without computer control. Since she had managed to bring up the schematics of the ship in the cargo bay she hadn’t expected the bridge’s console to be locked. But it made sense. She had similar contingencies in place in her own smuggler’s ship. Low-level access to plans and cargo direction so she didn’t have to babysit the unloading crew, but critical systems on the bridge would only work for authorized personnel.

  She tried accessing the same controls on the console in front of her hostage. A similar warning was issued and the hand scanner came on. She dragged the unconscious man’s hand from the grip of the force lasso and put it on the scanner. It turned green, but then the computer requested a vocal command code.

  “Well, that was worth a try.”

  There was no alternative. She brandished her blaster in front of her and resigned herself to going room to room, checking the current level. It took ten minutes to check every corner and all the rooms. Her head started to buzz from the surrounding alarms. When she couldn’t take it any longer she started shooting the speakers on the walls. She decided to go to the engine room and assess its state. Her outside survey while approaching the ship had revealed substantial damage on the plating as well as a nasty hole on the port side of the ship. When she tried entering the engine room a vocal warning resonated. “Engine room radiation level outside safe limits, access restricted.”

  “That can’t be good.”

  She needed access to the ship’s computer as well as information on her attacker, so she ran back to the bridge. Not taking any risks she entered carefully and scanned every corner for surprises. She heard a small groan. Her hostage was slowly returning to consciousness.

  “About time!” Ryonna had gone overboard, stunning him repeatedly when she took him out of commission. She had been angry. She didn’t appreciate being shot at the minute Iron Fire had gone into hyperspace. She had overdone the stun shots in the heat of the moment.

  She approached the chair just as the man released another faint moan. Ryonna slapped him across the face without thinking twice.

  When he tried jumping out of his chair he was rewarded with strong pain from the energy lassos holding him in place. The pain generated increased exponentially the more the subject struggled, a fact he quickly became aware of. He soon stopped struggling.

  “Who sent you to kill me, bounty hunter?”

  The man looked straight at Ryonna, his bright-blue eyes trying to gauge her.

  That was when it happened. She saw the moment of his death, and it looked as if Ryonna would be delivering a knife to his neck. She pushed the thought away. She rarely spared a man who had tried to kill her anyway.

  “I’ve asked a question,” warned Ryonna in an icy tone.

  The man looked at his restraints and then around the room.

  “Last warning,” she added, with more than enough menace in her voice.

  The man spat on the ground and looked at Ryonna with a wide grin. “Go fuck yoursel—”

  He never finished his answer. Ryonna punched him in the stomach with full force and he spat blood onto her forearm. She grabbed his dark, purple hair and wiped the blood off his face. He tried to bite Ryonna, but she was ready for such a move. She jabbed her elbow into his throat, pushing a little more each second.

  “You were saying,” said Ryonna, before sniffing heavily, “you stinking piece of crap.”

  His eyes were closed from the crushing pain of Ryonna’s elbow on his throat. He could barely breathe. Just when Ryonna felt he would lose consciousness she removed her elbow. The man wheezed heavily and coughed a little more blood before he was able to get some much-needed air back into his lungs.

  “Let’s try this again. I suggest you don’t play with my patience. It’s been one of those days.”

  “W . . . what . . .” He took another painful breath and tried clearing his throat. “What was the question?”

  “Who sent you to kill me?”

  “I can’t tell you that and you know it!”

  “Wrong answer.”

  Ryonna took one of the man’s own blades and jabbed it straight into his right thigh. He screamed loudly. Already suffering a headache from the alarms constantly resonating within the ship for the last half an hour, Ryonna took the man’s blaster and put it in his mouth, which promptly stopped him from shouting. His look changed from defiant to terrified in a split second. His face painted a picture of pain.

  She lowered her face to his level and looked straight in his eyes.

  “I suggest you suffer in silence or I’ll make sure you never make another sound again. Are we clear?”

  The man slightly tilted his head up and down, one eye closed and teeth clenched on the muzzle of his own blaster.

  “Now can you please turn this commotion off? I can’t hear myself think, and that usually results in bad decision making on my part.”

  She took the blaster out of his mouth. He took two deep breaths. “Computer, alarms off.” />
  The multiple audio signals all turned off at once, and finally the headache Ryonna had had since shortly after her arrival on board started to dispel.

  “Thank you. Now, if you’d be so kind as to unlock the main computer and give me full access.”

  He looked at her with doubts, which Ryonna decided she had to eradicate quickly. She took the blade out of his thigh and blood started gushing. The man moaned.

  “I can do this all day, but I’d rather we make it quick.”

  “What’s my incentive to help you? You’ll kill me anyway.”

  “That really depends on what information you give me. And in your line of work I don’t think I need to remind you that there are many ways of killing a man, some more painful than others.”

  “Not good enough. I need assurance you will let me go.”

  “I give you my word.” She knew full well she wouldn’t be able to keep it.

  “While Droxians are known for their honor, I don’t trust your word. No offence.”

  Ryonna exhaled in frustration. She needed to get going as soon as possible. She decided to go back to physical threats and amp up her game if necessary. She didn’t enjoy torture much, but it was an effective tool when pressed for time, as she was at the moment.

  She took the bloodied blade she had extracted from the man’s thigh and wiped the blood off, using the man’s dark pants. His eyes followed her every movement with concern. She then put it next to the other weapons she had confiscated from him, and started browsing the different blades, tapping each a couple of times before moving to the next, until she stopped at the morning star. She flipped it in the air like a coin and stopped it from spinning by catching it between two extended fingers. She examined it for a while, turning it around.

  “This will do.”

  “Will do for what?”

  She grabbed his hair and bent his head backwards as she planted the morning star right under one of his eyes.

  “Well, you don’t need your eyes to answer my questions.”

  “WAIT!”

  “Talk . . . fast!”

  “Okay, okay, just don’t remove my eye.”

  “Eyes.”

  “I received my warrant from a guy named Grolax.”

  “That no good piece of . . .” She paused in mid sentence. ”How much am I worth since my last visit to him?”

  “One hundred thousand.”

  “I should have ended him on Hathan Prime.”

  “I can help you correct that mistake.”

  “Why on Droxia would I ever need your help?”

  “Well, it’s not a selfless act, obviously. I really would like to keep breathing, and it seems to me that if I have something to provide, you may be more inclined to let me.”

  “Speak.”

  Grolax did amp up his security, and I don’t mean just more guards. You must have rattled him ’cause he’s got shadow droids patrolling around every places he goes, and he hired sentinels too.”

  Ryonna clenched her teeth. She must have spooked Grolax for him to adopt such heavy measures in less than a day. Sentinels were renowned for being the best bodyguards in close-quarter combat. And shadow droids were no picnic either. That would make approaching him more difficult. But she had to deal with Grolax nonetheless. Not before making sure she got some important information out of him. If there was one scumbag in this part of space who could help her locate someone with information about Hellstar security measures, it was probably him.

  “I take it from your silence that you’re considering my offer?”

  “Don’t celebrate just yet. I was mostly thinking about what I would do to this piece of Tran’Kahr droppings once I get my hands on him.”

  “Somehow I get an idea . . .”

  “Believe me, you don’t.”

  The man swallowed hard.

  “What’s your name by the way?”

  “Alix Dar.”

  “Well, Alix, as a gesture of good faith, would you please give me computer control.”

  He looked at her, trying to gauge if his speech had worked.

  “You don’t really have a choice here. I can get access on my own and you know it. It would just take longer, unless I make you scream again and use your vocal patterns as identification for the second layer of security.”

  “You thought of that, did you?” said Alix, resigned.

  “That would be my next move, yes. You gave me the idea when you squealed a few moments ago.”

  “Speaking of that, would you mind if we did something about that wound? I’m starting to feel light headed.”

  “Then I suggest you speak faster, starting with computer control.”

  “Computer, accept executive-level control by all current passengers.”

  “Confirmed,” replied the onboard control.

  “Thanks,” said Ryonna, jumping into the chair next to Alix’s.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Setting a course for Hathan Prime. Fortunately, we aren’t very far away, but I’d rather not lose any more time.”

  “What’s so urgent?”

  “None of your business, Alix,” snapped Ryonna, pointing a warning finger at him. “Let’s get this straight right now. I’m willing to spare you, for the time being, but you may want to restrain from asking questions about things that don’t concern you.”

  “My bad. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m really sorry,” said Alix with fear in eyes.

  Ryonna realized she probably overreacted to that last question, but she didn’t feel like acknowledging it. After all, this man had tried to blow her out of the stars, a fact she wasn’t going to forget any time soon, no matter how useful he proved to be.

  “Course set,” said Ryonna, just a second after the engines started humming. “Looks like your self-repairing systems are quite efficient. We still don’t have jump-engines capabilities. Must have damaged that too.”

  “My nano repair circuitry is the best. I’m sure it will be fixed soon. We’re only a few of hours away from Hathan at full, sub-light burn. The jump engines might be fixed by then.”

  “I hope so. I’ll need your ship for a few days.”

  “If it means I keep breathing, you can have it.”

  Alix’s eyes blinked rapidly.

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  “I . . . I don’t feel so—”.

  But Alix never finished his sentence and lost consciousness.

  “Great! Next stop med-bay, I guess.”

  END OF SAMPLE – You can find Ryonna’s Wrath here.

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