by Debra Jess
He had to stop the thought there. Doubting her wouldn’t help either of them. Best to wait until they found the ship and figure out how to handle her claims at that point. In the meantime, he retreated to the captain’s quarters for his own mid–day-cycle meal. This time of day, everyone was too busy to gather in the wardroom, so taking a meal by himself was not unusual.
The door to his office dissolved to reveal a spread of food already covering his desk along with Kelra sitting on the edge, without a stitch of clothing, her legs crossed while chewing on a piece of fruit with the juice running down her chin.
“I hear you approved my night-shift cycle request.” She licked the juice off her lips. “I figured we have an hour before I have to dress for duty.”
He resolved the door behind him before anyone else saw her. “How did you get in here?”
“Trade secret.” She sucked the juice off the tips of each one of her fingers.
As he walked toward her, she uncrossed her legs, giving him a glimpse of the treasure she hid. “You will answer my question.”
“Or else?” She tilted her chin upward, daring him to touch her.
Or else lasted longer than an hour, and she confessed to following the puppet who had cleaned his office once week inside, but not until he had her begging to answer the question. By the time she left, they were both laughing and satiated. Even knowing she’d entered his office without permission, an offense he should have taken seriously, he didn’t care. He had enough traps around his rooms to alert him if something was amiss. Nothing had been touched or accessed except for the table.
Though he kept his thoughts to himself, Darvik could see that Kelra’s actions had increased her stature with the crew. Even Ezick appeared to back off his antagonism.
This would bode well for all of them once they found the Majesty of the Stars. It would take a whole lot of organization and teamwork to strip the ship of its wealth and attach the booty to a towline to haul back to the nearest underground auction. But that wasn’t the main reason the crew’s acceptance of her made him relax. Deep down, he realized he wanted them to like her.
None of this changed the core of his problem. What to do with Kelra after his pirates finished plundering her ship.
His anger at the whole situation on Vaynix retreated the farther away they traveled. Sorinestro, wisely, stayed in his quarters. Two of his crew had decided to join him on his journey to the Shadows, but the rest stayed at Vaynix. Perhaps Sorinestro employed them to keep an eye on his son. Darvik didn’t know and didn’t much care. Right now, his only concern was finding the Majesty of the Stars and figuring out what Kelra was up to. He still didn’t know her ulterior motive for following him to Station Seven. He wanted to believe her claim, that all she intended was to watch his back, but his gut said Kelra had a secret and his presence on Station Seven interrupted her plan, whatever it had been.
So how could he get the most complicated woman he knew to give up her secrets? Flowers and seduction worked for establishing an intimate relationship, but what about a working partnership? Every time the thought of her leaving the Queen of Hearts, his stomach dropped like it had the first time he free-dropped off the bow of the Iron Heart and into a camp of bandits who had stolen some of their booty. No amount of hand-holding from his father had prevented the sweat, fear, or exhilaration of that first time.
That’s what Kelra did to him. She made him remember all the feelings he had when he lived with his family, the Cuffs, and all the others on board the Iron Heart. No one knew how much he missed those days, except for Naz, who he knew felt the same way.
By the Stars, just watching Kelra walk out of a compression gate, her hips swaying to her own rhythm in pants that fit better and certainly tighter than before. Her recovery would still take time, but each pound she gained brought her closer to not needing him or the Queen of Hearts. Why would she want to stay, when with her share of the booty she could purchase her own ship, and change her identity? She could find her own adventures, ones where she was the captain and not just the captain’s lover.
His heart beat an extra thump in his chest while she made her way to the dinner table, sitting in what was fast becoming her seat.
Without hesitation, she dug into her food as soon as Mayla served her, but once the puppet retreated to the kitchens, she lowered her utensil. “We have a small problem.”
Everyone at the table kept eating, but Kelra did have their attention.
“How small?” he asked.
She shrugged, the gesture pulling down the collar of her shirt and exposing her pulse point. How he would love to get his tongue on that part of her neck for a quick taste, but doing so with an audience was out of the question, so he set aside his libido one more time and waited for her answer.
“One of the crates got hit during the fight on Station Seven,” Kelra said.
“The munitions inside?”
She shook her head. “Not in this crate. It only contained clothes, so it must have already been on the shuttle and got hit when the ramp lowered.”
Ezick cursed under his breath.
“Your crate?” Darvik asked him.
“Yeah. I bought a bunch of clothes for the puppets, most of them for…” Ezick glanced at the kitchen, so Darvik assumed he was making sure Mayla was out of ear shot. “My sister. I mean, they’ve been wearing the same two sets of clothes we stole for them right after you hired us. At some point, they were going to need new stuff. What they have is starting to show a lot of wear and tear.”
Damn the Guardians, he should have thought about that himself. Had the puppets become so commonplace on the Queen of Hearts that he’d forgotten they needed more care outside of three meals a day and annual checkups?
“You should have said something. I would have arranged a percentage—"
“No.” Ezick lowered his voice. “The puppets are here because of me, and they’re my responsibility. I bought the clothes. I’ll buy them more the next time we’re in port.”
The next port would be for the auction, and it was unlikely the kid would find work clothes for sale there.
“There might be another way.” Kelra folded her arms on the table, her head down, not looking at Ezick or anyone else. “If the Majesty of the Stars didn’t suffer a catastrophic breach to the hull and still has atmosphere, that could mean that the everyday clothes worn by passenger and crew would still be on board and wearable. I mean, not what they were wearing that day when…” Her voice trailed off, turning tight, and from this angle Hart saw her eyes close.
“You mean the clothes stored in dressers and closets,” he clarified.
Her chest rose and fell with her deep breath. “Yes, exactly. Each cabin had airtight closets for the ballgowns and formal suits for the passengers, but folks would also keep regular clothes in there if they brought so much that they couldn’t fit it all in the regular dressers. Not to mention all the crew’s uniforms. I’m sure the laundry is still filled with work clothes that would only need to be cleaned before use. I don’t see why you couldn’t distribute those clothes to the puppets.”
“I think that’s an excellent idea.” Darvik nodded at Ezick. “You’re responsible for making sure your sister and each puppet gets at least three new sets of clothes and keep some spare ones in storage, just in case. You’ll need to finish this project before we attach the tow cable.”
“Thank you, Captain. If Mayla knew, she would say so too.”
He wished another pox on Manitac for creating puppets in the first place and forcing a kid like Ezick have to sell his soul to a pirate to protect them. Only pure luck tossed Ezick into the Queen’s path instead of some other pirate crew who had other ideas of how puppets and orphans should be treated.
Naz lowered his ‘fresher. “It would seem to me that there are other nonvaluable items we might consider keeping as well.” He pushed his empty plate away. “It wouldn’t hurt to check the infirmary and sick bay. The medications would have expired by now, but it wouldn’t
hurt to keep the equipment. If the bio-beds are still operational, we could use a few more. I doubt automatic scanners work, but we could at least keep the pillows and mattresses.”
Darvik nodded to his friend, but he kept looking at Kelra. She had something to say. He could tell by the quiver of her lower lip, barely noticeable unless he was looking at her lips, which he was because he couldn’t help himself. Whatever thoughts she had, though, she clearly didn’t want to interrupt the ebb and flow of the conversation.
“This is so weird,” Ezick was saying. “Is this the first time you’ve raided an abandoned ship? I mean, in the few operations I’ve been around for, we’ve subdued the ship and the passengers, grabbed what we wanted, and got out of there as fast as we could. There was no time to explore the ship and see what else you can use aside from the obvious.”
“You are correct.” Darvik stopped looking at Kelra and focused on his food. “Every target we’ve hit since I took possession of the Queen of Hearts had passengers and crew. It does make for a less exciting adventure, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Johza rumbled. “The Iron Heart scavenged a few ghost ships in its day. You never know what to expect on a derelict ship. Scattered debris will knock you senseless if the gravity generator isn’t working. Not to mention cracked casings around critical systems, so you can’t operate the lights and have to rely on head lanterns only. Broken flooring is always fun to fall through if some nitwit does manage to get the grav system operational.”
Laughter spread around the table at Johza’s complaints.
“I stand corrected.” Darvik drank from his cup. “Clearly, empty ships have challenges that we should all take note of before we board.”
“Well,” Rusa poked Ezick to hand her a spice container, “I’m looking forward to getting my hands on some of the wines. The menu list we pulled off the brochures we found had some fine vintages.”
“Feh, you can have the wine.” Mirin wiped her mouth before tossing away her ‘fresher. “I’ll take the whiskey.”
“Only the whiskey,” Darvik reminded her.
“Of course.” Mirin winked at him. “Brandy is like the artwork you value so much: too fancy for me.”
“What about you, Kelra?” Rusa swung her fork in Kelra’s direction. “Is there anything you want in particular? Anything we should keep an eye out for?”
Brown eyes darted back and forth between himself and Rusa, calculating the weight of the question. It sounded harmless, but Kelra wasn’t part of the crew, no matter how much she volunteered, and her share of the booty would be the smallest. But the fact that they had asked her meant they were starting to think of her as more than an abducted ex-Manitac captain turned ex-con.
Except the Majesty of the Stars was her ship by Unity laws because it was her family’s ship. If not for her arrest and imprisonment by Manitac, she would have inherited the ship, if it hadn’t gone missing.
With a small sound, she cleared her voice. “Anything I could want for myself would be found in the captain’s quarters. There is a holo-viewer with images and recordings dating back to when my parents first married. Maybe some of my toys, drawings, stuffed animals. I can’t think of anything else, but I would trade all of that for one other thing.”
She looked at him before continuing, her voice steady but tight. “I want to enter the Majesty of the Stars first, by myself…”
“No.” The word was out of his mouth before she could finish. He knew she believed there was an alien on the ship and she wanted to kill it, but even if in a billion-to-one chance it were true, he still wouldn’t let her board first.
“Darvik, please.”
From Kelra, it sounded more like a command than a request. But he knew from experience that even without an alien, abandoned ships could contain other things just as dangerous, such as fuel leaks and unsecured debris. Gravity played havoc with both, and going inside alone…not even the most callous of Manitac officers would allow it. She wasn’t thinking of risk assessment, only about her hatred for a creature that more than likely only existed in her imagination. Letting her inside the Majesty of the Stars in that condition would be irresponsible. And damn it, he cared about her too much to lose her.
Not to mention she was challenging his authority in front of his crew. Sleeping with him did not give her that right, and he would put a stop to it now. No matter how much the crew had come to like her, he was still the captain of the Queen of Hearts. “I said, no.”
The harsh glare she shot his way killed any hope he had of her sleeping in his bed tonight. It also killed any further conversation about the Majesty of the Stars for the rest of the meal. As soon as the plates were cleared, Kelra stood.
“Captain, I would like to have a word with you in private.”
He could hardly refuse when she asked in public, which had clearly been her intention all along. “Rusa, make sure Sorinestro and our other guests have received their meals, and ask if they require anything reasonable.”
Rusa acknowledgement his order with a nod. Kelra didn’t wait for anyone to leave ahead of her. She stomped through the compression widow and right into his quarters.
He followed her, his good mood savaged, and it wouldn’t improve soon if Kelra had anything to say about it from the look on her face.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Smack.
The sharp sting of flesh-on-flesh heightened Silt’s desire for blood to flow. Two days had passed since the Firelight had disappeared despite his lock-down of the hub. He’d hadn’t slept at all, spending his days reviewing reports from the single security squad left functioning. He had them inspecting every dock on every ring for each of station one by one. Not satisfied with the slow investigation, he’d pulled two shifts of engineers to fly shuttles around the entire sector, looking for anomalies. One performed wide sweeps of high burst radar to see if Hart had flown the Firelight away from the stations before decreasing power output to minimum in hopes of escaping notice. The other checked behind the maw of each of the slipstreams, in case he was trying to use the immense power bursts to hide.
All this without a drop of his favorite claffien, which wasn’t stocked anywhere on any of Vaynix stations, Guardians damn it.
In front of him, a young man sat strapped into a chair, blood pouring from his nose, his legs and hands manacled so he couldn’t escape interrogation. After Silt had ordered the lock-down, he sent Vaynix hub’s security to Station Four, where they traced the signal from the tracker and picked a kid up in a medical clinic where he was trying to get it removed.
Of course, with modern technology there were far more effective ways of torturing a person, and in other circumstances, he’d leave the interrogation to his second-in-command, but time ran short, and the board would demand an explanation for his actions as soon as they noticed he'd locked down Vaynix. Only finding the Queen of Hearts and handing them Darvik Hart would soothe ruffled feathers. Despite his dislike of getting his hands dirty, he'd made an exception in this case. Getting this boy to talk shouldn't take long.
Smack.
Through swollen lips and blood-smeared teeth, the kid tried to scream for help.
Smack.
Now the kid wouldn't be able to see through eyes caked in dried tears.
Smack.
Silt bent low so his face came level in front of the kid. "I've destroyed your face to the point where no mask will disguise your disgusting mass of twisted skin smeared with snot."
The kid sputtered as best he could, fulfilling Silt's predictions about the snot part at any rate.
"Tell me where the Firelight went."
Blood dribbled down the kid’s chin, but he couldn't get a word past his split lips, so he shrugged.
"Don't make me have to do to your back what I've done to your face. Where is the Firelight?"
"Dddnt ndffts."
"What? I can't understand."
The kid's heavy intake of breath sounded like knives scraped against a plate. "Dddont k
nnnow."
"You were in that ship for at least four hours. Do not try to convince me you hadn't planned to join the crew."
"Bluuuu zzzzzphhs."
"I still can't understand you."
Another sharp breath. "Bbbuy Z-nipsssss."
"You were there to buy Z-nips, an illegal drug?"
He gave a wobbly nod before his head flopped forward, long black hair falling to mix with the mess Silt created.
"Z-nips are common all over these stations. Why the Firelight?"
"Daddd’ss crrreww."
"Your dad's a drug smuggler. What else does he smuggle?"
He shook his head “no” this time, but Silt knew otherwise, so he grabbed the kid's hair, yanking it so far back that the chair almost tipped over. The kid tried to scream, but choked on the bile slipping down the back of his throat.
"He was smuggling people, wasn't he? Providing passage for pirates? Darvik Hart from the Queen of Hearts sound familiar to you?"
Silt let go of the hair and gave a slight push so the kid's body slammed forward with the chair, only the restraints keeping him seated. Heavy gasps sounded through pain turned to more tears.
"Nnnnoo thart."
Silt smacked him again, but by now the kid was crying too hard to answer, forcing Silt to wait, which only twisted his last nerve into a knot.
When the kid could speak again, Silt stomped on his bare foot. "Where is the Firelight?"
So much screaming over a few broken toes, and the clock kept ticking.
Behind him, the door dissolved, followed by his second clearing his throat. Distracted and getting nowhere, Silt turned around and snapped an annoyed, "What now?"
If his second was cowed by his captain's attitude, he hid it well. Silt would give him that, but no more.
"We believe we've discovered the location of the Firelight, sir."