by Enid Titan
She glowers at me head on. I can’t help but enjoy getting a rise out of her. I ought not to. She’s done nothing to deserve my torment today. But eventually, she will. And how I’ll enjoy torturing her.
“Ah. Perhaps I’m wrong about you. Perhaps you’re a little coquette.”
I take some of her hair and push the curls behind her ears.
“Human girls have such small ears. No points to them. No horns. It’s a wonder Kazim can find a little thing like you attractive when there are species on this ship with four of everything. And I mean everything.”
She turns to me and gives me a hard shove. I laugh, but I could punish her for this.
“I could send you to the brig for that.”
She taps aggressively on her screen. A loud beeping noise distracts me from toying with my mouse. The nebula we’re passing ahead expands and emits a gaseous mix that upsets the ship’s sensors.
“Send the data and field adjustments to the helm.”
At least she works fast and now we’ve sent both messages and adjustments, we’re cloaked in silence again. I’m normally alone. And with a creature so quiet standing next to me, it’s not much different. She doesn’t talk back either, and I’m getting used to it.
“I shouldn’t be here,” I tell her. If she’s listening, she doesn’t show it.
“The previous job ought to have been my last one. I have a family. Five siblings. Nieces. Nephews. All of them live near Helios. All of them rely on me for money. I can’t let them down. Everyone here might be certifiably insane but we all have reasons for coming here.”
She polishes the lenses of her spectacles. Damn. What do I need to say to her to get a word out of her.
“I ought to keep my nose out of it, but I have a word of advice for you, Jaen. Avoid the men on this ship. Whatever Garth promised you when you arrive, focus on that. I’ve been through countless journeys with this band of madmen and not one of them is good for your heart.”
She glances up at me curiously and moves her brows.
“Yes,” I answer, clearing my throat, “Even me. Especially me. Although, I’m not clear why you’d wonder such a thing.”
She shrugs.
“Look. I might be an arrogant, insufferable, sullen prick, but I have sisters. I know what it’s like to travel in these times as a woman. If you’d have my protection, I’d give it freely.”
She stops tapping and turns to me. Her mouth hangs open and the muscles on her neck tense like she’s about to speak. I close the minimal distance between us, moving against my own will, pulled by a force I don’t understand. She’s given me no womanly signal that she wants me close to her. Yet she doesn’t move away and she stares at me with round dark brown eyes, so dark that they mirror the vast blackness of space behind us.
“It’s beautiful out here,” I murmur, “Absolutely beautiful. Worth risking everything for. But… space travel is dangerous. I’d never let any of my sisters do this job. What about you? A little thing like you doesn’t have anyone looking out for her?”
She scowls as if to say she can look out for herself. Maybe she’s right. Wherever the hell she came from, she made it onto this ship, didn’t she? And she’s no seasoned pirate. This haul will be enormous and whatever reasons Garth has for bringing her on must be significant.
“I’ll look out for you,” I say to her, “If you’ll let me. I won’t even make you speak. All you have to do is nod.”
She touches her fingers to my chest and I freeze. She’s touching me through my tunic. Her lithe, gentle human fingers are so close to my bare skin. If she put her cinnamon-colored hand against my bare skin, I’d probably burn to a crisp, or whisk her off the night shift and leave everyone to face potential death just for a night with her.
My ears prickle with desire for her. And I lean forward, ready to seize the moment, and the ship lunges forward. Damn. Something’s hit us. And we’re in huge trouble.
Chapter 6
The Convoy Raid
Damn her and her distracting face. We’d better get to helm.
“Stay here,” I growl, “patch the data through to helm. I’ll head there now.”
Jaen works furiously. The ship rumbles and I lurch forward again, steadying myself on one of the bulkheads. I can make it to the helm before the next lurch if I run. I make it to the helm in time.
“Two Confederates. The small one’s escaping around the asteroid and we have the larger one in sight. If we can disable it, we can get rid of the crew and loot their food supply.”
Poke leans back in the Captain’s chair. She’s in charge during the night shift.
“Aye. Sounds like a plan. Load the cannons, Horus. We’ll puncture their port side and use our alpha formation.”
Horus makes a low growl in his throat and arms the cannons. I sit in the Quartermaster’s chair and bark at helm to swerve us to starboard as another blast from the small ship nearly grazes us.
“Let’s do this, Gavriel,” Poke utters in a low, focused voice, “We need all the provisions we can collect.”
“Horus, fire,” I command.
He disrupts the spatial vacuum and sends the cannon flying along the hole we’ve punctured. It’s more like a building a tunnel than digging a hole, and the projectile slams into the side of the Confederate ship.
“Damage,” Poke snarls.
The ship rumbles again. They know they’re outgunned, but the smaller ship makes a last ditch effort to shoot at us before diving into safety. They didn’t expect us here, but if we leave any survivors or linger long, the Confederates will send for reinforcements. We caught this convoy by chance and we’re not about to let it go to waste.
“They haven’t penetrated our shields,” Horus croaks, “We can disable the other ship with one more hit.”
“Do it.”
Horus fires again. If he hadn’t aimed just right, we risked destroying the entire ship instead of leaving it dead in the water.
“Damage report,” Poke asks again, noticeably tenser. Her eyes glow with yellow, eager fire. The better she does on the night shift, the more favor she’ll curry with Garth. Working under Garth has that effect on you, making you desperate for his approval. Any of us would die for him without question. And in this case, we’d take risks for him.
“We have about twenty minutes before the hole in their hull gets too big. We can send a crew to salvage, but they have a crew complement of twenty.”
“Gav, assemble your team. We’ll teleport you over there.”
“Are those new weapons ready?” I ask Horus.
Twenty minutes. That’s not a lot of time, and we all know it. There’s a good chance that when I teleport over there, I won’t come back. Every second that passes becomes a waste.
“Nova’s bringing them to the pad.”
We’ve all done this scores of times, but adrenaline shoots through my body. I choose my team on my panel. Some of them are sleeping, but they’ll feel the alarm and hurry to the teleportation pad where Nova will outfit us with weapons for the teleport over. Good thing our master at arms wasted no time outfitting us.
I get there first.
“Nova, make sure Xanth prepares for casualties. We’re running out of time as it is.”
“Aye.”
“Jisoo. Take the lead of Team Beta. You’re to get all the medical supplies and weapons you can carry, only 50 kilos. We can’t afford to overload cargo.”
“Aye.”
“And get Kazim awake. We need him at helm to get out of here. I recognize the energy signatures and they’ll have reinforcements. We need someone who can make a speedy getaway.”
I’m on the pad with the new blasters. Jisoo takes four crewmen and I take the other four. I’ve taken the green ones. Once we teleport over, we have seconds to act. Jisoo knows the layout of Confederate convoys better than I do.
“Go that way,” she hisses, “Take the left corridor and go two decks down. You’ll have to pass their engine room and they may have crew alive.”
<
br /> “Aye.”
“Attack pattern delta-6. Follow me.”
The four crewmen follow me. Confederate ships are so much nicer than ours. Sleek chrome. They don’t smell like vinegar and primitive sanitation. They all wear uniforms. Silver body suits that hug their nearly identical Confederation physiques. They think we’re all automatons, mindless criminals that stalk their ships, but to us, they look quite the same.
A sharp sound of weapon fire jolts me awake. I fire back without looking. I don’t need to look. I let instinct guide me and even in the dark I hit the man guarding the left corridor dead on.
“This way,” I usher.
I step over the young Confederate Lieutenant, and a pang of regret surges through me. Killing never gets easy for me. I’ve just adjusted to the pain. The lieutenant’s young enough to be my brother. More weapon fire. My crewmen take out another two confederates, but one of the green crew gets hit.
“Leave him. We can’t afford to take the dead. We’re running out of time.”
We get to the food supply. Confederates transport luxury foods to the rich in convoys like this. Half our crew remains susceptible to scurvy, an affliction Odilians are immune to, but most humanoids are not. The fresh fruits and vegetables only confederate ships can afford to keep are the most important supplies we can grab after more medicine for Xanth’s underserved sickbay.
“Crewmen, put the sensors on these crates. Check the weight for me.”
“20 kilos of fresh fruits, sir.”
“Aye. We’ll take three of them. Time check?”
“Five minutes, sir.”
We can’t communicate with our ship once we’re over here. We need to be on the teleportation pad when Nova’s ready to bring us over. One minute before the ship blows to pieces and we destroy the evidence, we have to be there.
“Vegetables and spices?” I ask as a small Xanflora crew member tags a small crate with a sensor. We use the sensors so Nova can grab the food without us lugging it to the teleportation pad. Humanoids are more complicated to transport.
“We’ve got what we can. We need to hurry now. Can you three run?”
“Yes. But the blaster’s getting heavy.”
“Crewman. We don’t have time. Run. Run like your life depends on it.”
His life depends on it. I’m not exaggerating. By my count, it’ll take us 6 minutes to get to the teleportation pad, more if we run into any remaining survivors.
“Run,” I urge them again.
Chapter 7
How Odilians Mate
We’re back on the ship. Nova calls to helm.
“Get us out of here. We have twenty seconds to leave the blast zone.”
The ship turns, moving so fast it takes a moment for the grav sensors to kick in, and we float for a few moments as Kazim swerves around the confederate ship.
“Did you get everything we needed?”
“Aye.”
Jisoo holds up a tiny green chip.
“I pilfered their updated maps. We can get data on what to expect on the way to the salvage site.”
“Good. Take it to Poke.”
“Aye.”
Nova hugs me.
“Kazim would kill me if I let you die.”
“This isn’t my first salvage mission.”
“Not everyone made it back.”
“Odilians have a funny way of staying alive.”
Nova’s wings flutter as she hovers over the ground.
“Yes. You do. Great job over there.”
“I try.”
“You’re back on night shift. You still have two more hours.”
I groan.
“I ought to have someone replace me.”
“Your little pet’s still in the dome.”
I wet my lips.
“What do you mean by that, Nova?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Hm.”
“I meant nothing by it!”
“Are you jealous because Kazim wants her?”
Nova slaps me hard, her little claws scratching my face. I ought to know better than to bring up Kazim. He’s a sensitive subject for her. I wish the two of them would admit they’re in love with each other instead of making everyone miserable.
“Get back to your post, Gavriel.”
Her voice shakes. Damn her. She’s so mercurial. I understand why Kazim loves her. And why he’s terrified of allowing himself to love her.
“Aye.”
I outrank her, but I’m in no mood to earn about slap. Jisoo and the crewmen take the supplies and the updated star charts and planetary maps to the helm. I return to the night shift. Jaen’s sitting cross-legged on the floor of the dome, and she stands up with a squeaky little gasp as I enter the room.
She attentively focuses on the panel when I enter.
“I’ve returned. Don’t I get a kiss for my heroic conquest on the confederate ship?”
Jaen scowls.
“I didn’t expect a kiss. But a word would be nice. You can speak, yes?”
Jaen points to her panel. She wants to fixate on work — analyzing charts.
“It’s nothing. A concentration of boron gas emitted from an asteroid’s atmosphere. Normal in this part of space. Have you ever been this far from Helios?”
She shakes her head.
“Any siblings?”
She shakes her head.
I grab her forearm and she scowls, so I let go.
“Listen. I don’t mean to offend you… But Jaen… I want to know you. Why won’t you talk to me? Why won’t you talk to anyone?”
“All males are the same,” she whispers.
It’s so soft I barely hear her. And her lips seal so quickly, I wonder if I’ve imagined it.
“I am not like other males.”
“Then leave me alone. I want to work.”
“Fine. I’ll leave you alone. But you’ll regret it, human. All males may be similar, but some are worse than others.”
She scowls, and I don’t say another word to her the rest of the shift. She doesn’t say another word to me either, and she doesn’t mind the silence. I storm back to our shared quarters to find Kazim in bed with a green recruit. She squeals when I walk into the room, but if I flinched every time I caught Kazim in bed with a new woman, I’d spend my day on edge.
“Get out,” I growl at her.
She hurries into her clothes and runs off. Kazim dangles his legs over the edge of the bed.
“Bastard! I was enjoying her.”
“I need sleep. And so do you.”
“It wouldn’t kill you to have sex once in a while,” Kazim snaps.
“It wouldn’t kill you to go a single day without sex.”
“An entire day?” Kazim balks, pressing his palm against his exposed chest, “Do you truly believe that’s possible for me.”
“Where did you find that one? I thought you were chasing Nabokov.”
Kazim shrugs.
“I’m a man of many interests.”
“Hmph.”
I climb into bed and lie on my back.
“This one… Renoxia… Ah… she is a woman of significant talents. And she’s never been with a human man before.”
“I’ve heard enough.”
Kazim gets out of bed and faces me as I lie on the top bunk.
“I can give you all the gory details. Something for you to wank to. How long has it been since you’ve had a woman? Years?”
“It has not been years, and it’s none of your business.”
“Why are you so angry tonight? Your mission succeeded. When Garth gets on shift, he’ll throw you a party.”
“Hmph.”
Kazim returns to sex. He won’t let me rest unless I stick a knife in him, the bastard.
“It’s been years, I know. Unless you’ve had a doxy on Helios.”
“Can you leave me be? Life isn’t about doxies.”
“Right. It’s about aliens. Fucking your way across the galaxy.”
“Are all hum
ans interested in fucking their way across the galaxy?”
“Is it a human girl that has you upset?”
Realization dawns on him. Shit. Kazim knows me too well.
“It’s Nabokov, isn’t it? You fancy her.”
“Shut up, Kazim.”
“Ha! You don’t have a chance with her. She’s sweet and gentle. She wouldn’t want a thing to do with a brooding horned monster. I know how Odilians mate. It’s primal. A bit sick, really.”
“If you say one more word, I’ll have you on cleaning duty on the next shift rotation.”
“Ha! Want my advice about her?”
I open one eye and glare threateningly at Kazim, who knows I’m too tired to make good on my threats
“Next time you see her, kiss her. Take her by surprise. Put your tongue in her mouth and then put her hand between your legs. Once she feels how you respond to her, she’ll want you.”
“Sounds like a good way to have Garth execute you.”
Most pirate ships take assaulting women seriously. We have to, otherwise we wouldn’t have women on the ships. And they make better engineers. They’re better with weapons, too. We need them.
Kazim brushes off my genuine concern about execution.
“I’ve had half the women on this ship and none of them complained.”
“Every woman wants to sleep with you. I can’t figure out why when you’ve had more people than a doxy yourself.”
“Aye… I’m a lover. Not like you, Odilian.”
“Get. Sleep.”
“Aye,” Kazim answers, yawning, “I shall.”
He crawls into bed and falls asleep instantly, the bastard. I’m the one left awake, tossing and turning while I imagine what he’s suggested. I’d never force her to touch me there, Kazim’s a madman. But I could kiss her. I’d do it slowly, so she’d have time to push me away.
But in my imagination, she wouldn’t push. She’d press her tiny palms against my chest and I’d grab her hips and she’d let me kiss her hard. She’d run her hands over my horns and grab onto them while I pinned her against the translucent dome. We’d make love against the backdrop of the stars, and she’d whisper my name repeatedly as I made love to her.