by Gun Brooke
“Noted.” EiLeen caressed Dana’s cheek quickly and then went to sit down as they approached the space station.
*
Dana watched EiLeen scurry between the people crowding the gate areas. She looked exactly who she intended to emulate: a lowly servant, running an errand for her intimidating boss. Dana walked through the gate at a slower pace, checking her chronometer as she handed her information to the gatekeeper. The walkway leading to the ship was two hundred meters long, which should keep the station and surrounding ships safe. Should. With explosions you never knew.
Counting backward in her head, Dana kept the gatekeeper busy, not wanting him to go down the walkway to check on the moorings. Some gatekeepers did, even at run-down gambling joints like this.
“Nature of your business?” the gatekeeper asked, sounding utterly bored.
“Just to place a few bets and have our propulsion system cool off. It’s been acting kind of weird lately.”
“How many on your ship?”
“Just three. A friend, myself, and a servant.”
“So one still onboard—” The man was thrown forward at the blast and clung to his desk.
As prepared as she was, Dana felt herself go pale. “No, no! EiLeen!” She tried to think how it would’ve felt if EiLeen really had been on board the shuttle. It wasn’t hard to force the tears; in fact, they streamed freely as she sank to her knees. She was fully aware that even the most run-down stations kept state-of-the-art surveillance equipment. These cameras and sensors were directed at her and their gate right now. “Oh, stars, no…no…” She hid her face in her hands and cried. “What the hell went wrong? What happened?”
“Lady, are you all right?” A man to her left grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet. “That your ship?”
“Yes. And my, my friend. She was resting…I have to find my servant.”
“Here. Sit down and catch your breath.” The man seemed kind, but Dana knew better than to trust anyone at a station like this. He had patted her down pretty well already, no doubt looking for something he could get his hands on. She played along, keeping her hands in her pockets, curled around her muted communicator and her weapon.
The man looked soulfully at her. “This must be so horrible for a young thing like yourself. My name is Boransh. I have a small shuttle a few gates down. Why don’t you allow me to give you a place to stay?”
“Yeah? A ship where I could perhaps…rest?”
“Exactly.” He beamed. “You have a servant?”
“Yes. Could she come too?” Dana widened her gaze deliberately, hoping she wasn’t overdoing it. Either Boransh wasn’t used to sly women or he was a sucker for tears, even if he was nothing but a thief.
“Absolutely. As long as she wouldn’t mind waiting on me as well. Is she young? Like you?” He actually licked his lips at the thought. His teeth had seen better days and his divided tongue suggested he came from Hioros One, a small desert planet mainly known for its metal ores. The indigenous population was hardened and lived a tough life unless they managed to emigrate to any of their prosperous, lush neighboring worlds. Clearly Boransh hadn’t gotten out fast enough. His skin and teeth carried the evidence of the heavy metal–infused atmosphere.
“She’s mature, but a hard worker. I have to find her and tell her about EiLeen. It’s important.” Dana trembled visibly, which wasn’t hard. She hated not having EiLeen in her sight. What if she’d run into even bigger trouble here than what they fled from?
“You do so. I’m docked at the fourth gate from here, that way.” Boransh pointed to the left. I’ll be there to greet you, beautiful.”
Nearly gagging at the man’s leering expression, Dana hoped she looked sufficiently teary-eyed and grateful. “You have no idea what this means. I’d be stuck here forever and unable to pay my way—”
“Oh, we’ll find a very easy way for you to pay your way.” Boransh chuckled. “Very easy.”
“Thank you.” Dana stood. “I’ll be back as soon as I find my servant.”
“Good.” Boransh nodded and strode toward his ship.
The gatekeeper had found his bearings and was now looking for Dana with rage on his face. “Where the hell’s that woman?” he bellowed as she hurried around the corner. “I demand she reimburse us. Her damn ship destroyed the whole walkway. Where is she?”
It was a good thing that everyone on the station was most likely looking out for themselves and no one else. Unless they offered a reward, nobody would put any effort into locating Dana and handing her over. She ran between the people populating the run-down station. Most of them looked like they were there as a last resort, hoping to win some credits, and others looked wealthy but desperate for a juicy adventure. Dana was only desperate to locate EiLeen.
Her pocket buzzed and she stopped, stepping into a dark alley-like corridor. “Yes. Where are you?” she hissed into the communicator.
“I saw you just now, but not anymore.” EiLeen spoke fast. “I’m outside an interesting-looking establishment called Royal Laser Tattoos. Sounds like something for me, right?”
“I think I saw that sign. I’m in the alley just ahead of it on my left.”
“What a cute little thing, in search of a real man, right?” someone rasped behind Dana. “I’ll pay you ten credits for your hand. Just your hand.”
“Get lost.” Dana gave the burly man a disdainful look. “Not interested.”
“Fool of a woman. I would’ve paid you. Now you get nothing and I still get what I want.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.
Dana pocketed the communicator and growled impatiently as she hit the man on his larynx and then kicked him between his legs. He was already going down after the first blow but actually fainted after she kicked him.
“I can’t leave you alone for a moment.” EiLeen’s voice from a few meters away made Dana pivot and run up to her. Throwing her arms around her, she closed her eyes for a moment.
“Thank the stars. I acted out the bloody scene so well I nearly believed myself. It was disturbing.”
“Hush. I’m fine and so, I can see, are you. He doesn’t look too happy, though. I think his testicles are forever fused to his tonsils. Sucking his thumb could be the only pleasure he requires from now on.”
Shocked, and suddenly rather giggly, Dana pulled EiLeen with her, making sure her bed-sheet-turned-shawl covered her properly. “I have a ship for us. No idea about its crew or status, but I have a new protector who, and I quote, ‘will find a very easy way for me to pay my way.’”
“Is that so?” EiLeen spoke icily. “I look forward to meeting this honorable individual.”
“Damn. Don’t blow our cover. I can handle myself, you just saw that.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy you having to humor yet another sleazy character.” The distaste was evident in EiLeen’s voice. “Guess we shouldn’t keep your enamored shipowner waiting.”
“Cute. Really.” Dana glanced around the corner, making sure nobody was paying attention to them. The odds that someone would among this motley crowd were pretty high, but she’d rather be sure. “All right, Moi, time to go find our ride.”
“Yes, ma’am,” EiLeen said with sugary meekness. She followed two steps behind Dana, her head bowed. Dana regarded their image in one of the shop windows, thinking how alien this undercover role-play had to be for EiLeen. Granted, for all she knew, EiLeen could have been involved in even more humbling covert operations, but somehow she doubted it. Surely SC intelligence used this woman primarily for her contacts among the high and mighty?
Locating the gate was the least of their problems. Making their way without alerting the gate official who might recognize Dana as the captain of the exploded shuttle was the first challenge. Dana did a quick detour around the gate area, with Moi right behind her, wondering if there was another route to the ship they intended to steal. “Damn, how am I supposed to walk right by this fool?” she muttered under her breath, unprepared wh
en EiLeen tugged gently at her hair. “What are you doing?”
“Let it down. Right now. He’s moving through the crowd this way with two grim-looking fellows flanking him. Your hair transforms you completely. Come on!”
Not sure it would work, Dana did as told, wrapping her hair around her in the same manner as EiLeen wore her shawl, covering most of her face. They strode past the shouting crowd and nobody even as much as glanced at them.
The gate walkway leading down to Boransh’s ship smelled increasingly worse as they neared the docking doors.
“Oh, this is bad.” Dana moaned. “I have a feeling his ship will be even more insufferable.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing a sprinkle of perfume can fix. Show some courage, Captain.”
“Hey, no insolence permitted, Moi.” Dana glanced over her shoulder, knowing her quick grin gave her away. “As for sprinkling perfume, we’ll need a damn perfume factory.”
“No kidding.”
As they reached the airlock, the doors opened with an ear-splitting screech.
“Hello, Boransh, how about some oil on those tracks, eh?”
The man just stared at her, looking speechless. “Excuse me?”
“The sound? That noise that renewed my tinnitus for the next decade?” Dana tilted her head, frowning. “Boransh?”
“Fuck, it is you. I didn’t recognize you at first. I…you took down your hair. I never could’ve dreamed—” He reached out for her, but the mere thought of him touching her, especially as he hadn’t cleaned his hands, or nails, in a long time, made her shudder.
Forcing a smile, Dana acted coy in a playful way. “Uh-uh. I’d like to see our quarters.”
“You’ll be set up fit for a queen, don’t you worry your pretty head. Your servant will bunk with the rest of the crew.” Boransh licked his lips.
“She’ll stay with me. I’m used to having her around.” Dana followed as he motioned for them to walk behind him along the narrow corridor. Corrosion and leaking hydraulics made even the air taste of metal. Mindful of slick oil puddles, she memorized what she could of the ship’s layout.
“That may be, but I don’t want some old woman breathing down my neck.”
“Don’t tell me that you want a setup fit for a queen too,” Dana said sweetly. Boransh looked like he wanted to either object or merely swat her. She was fairly sure he wouldn’t physically hurt her, as that would lower her going price. “How big is your crew?”
“Just me and four other guys.”
Finally some good news, if he was indeed telling the truth. “Am I expected to…entertain them as well?”
“No!” Now Boransh looked angry for the first time. “You’re my catch. You owe me, not them. They’re simple men, all fugitives with a price on their head. Nothing for a queen such as you.”
Dana heard EiLeen huff behind her.
“You’re so right, Boransh. I used to be accustomed to the finer things in life.” Dana swallowed against the bile at having to touch even his clothes, but took his arm and looked admiringly at him. “So these simple men, do they join you, the captain of this fine vessel, on the bridge?”
“You’re joking?” Boransh patted her hand, making her stomach turn over. “They’re in engineering in shifts of two. I have a fully automated bridge that I easily operate myself without any input from those fools.”
“Sounds like you have it figured out here aboard the—the…What is the name of your ship?” Dana infused admiration in her voice.
“The Quistamajar.”
Noting the information, Dana continued. “Now, about those queen-like quarters of yours? I really need to freshen up.”
“I’ll show you. Your maid—”
“Will help me. Freshen up.” Donning a broad smile, Dana nearly chuckled at how this man swallowed her every word. He really was full of himself if he thought a woman like her would ever find him the least bit appealing. Even if he’d bathed and had basic dental procedures, she couldn’t see anything redeeming about him.
As Boransh punched in the command to get inside the captain’s quarters, Dana gazed pointedly at EiLeen, who in turn pushed her shawl aside enough for Dana to see the long, greasy pipe in her hands. Now, that’s what a real queen would be. Proactive.
Inside the quarters, which were marginally cleaner than the corridor, Dana circled Boransh and tossed her hair provocatively over her shoulders. “This isn’t bad,” she said, beaming. “I can see myself being quite comfortable here.”
“Excellent—” Boransh’s expression was a strange mix of blankness and surprise as he fell forward on the floor.
“Damn. I think I broke a nail.” EiLeen poked the large man with the pipe before letting it go, making a disgusted face. “If he’d leered at you one more time, I swear—”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s find something to tie him up with.” Dana scanned the room. An assorted set of ropes and other bindings close to the bed made her stomach curl. “Something tells me it will be poetic justice to tie him with those. Wonder how many not-so-willing women he’s strapped to his bed?”
“Quite a few, if you take into account that he has had rings welded to the bulkhead for that purpose.” EiLeen pointed. “Poetic justice indeed.”
They managed to drag the man onto the low bed and secure his arms and legs spread-eagle to the wall and the footboard. Dana wanted to make sure he couldn’t give any audio commands to override the ship’s computer, even though she doubted the small vessel actually boasted such a feature. She pushed a sock she found on the floor into his mouth and secured it with a gag she fashioned from EiLeen’s “shawl.”
“There. He looks comfy.” EiLeen smirked. “Better get to the bridge before someone misses him.”
Dana regarded the man who’d planned to use her and then sell her to others, no doubt. He looked rather pathetic tied up on his own bed, but she was fresh out of pity for the likes of him. “Come on.”
Working their way back, they didn’t run into any of the men who worked on the lower decks. No doubt they were intimidated by Boransh and kept to themselves. Hopefully they would find him intimidating enough to never question where he decided to steer the ship.
Two decks up they found the bridge. Dark and dingy like the rest of the ship, it was still an average bridge that seemed functional enough. Glancing to her right, she spotted a rusty plate that confirmed Boransh had provided the correct name for the ship. “Okay, here goes,” Dana said, muttering. “The Quistamajar to flight control. Departing ahead of schedule.”
“You won’t get any credit refund,” a gruff voice said, sounding as bored as the gatekeeper had. “Let me make sure you’re not in debt at any of the tables.” A few nervous minutes passed. “Disengaging security lock. Propulsion system start allowed.”
Dana punched in the commands to take them to a safe distance from the station before she engaged maximum speed, not caring what limitations this flying bucket had. “Bye-bye,” she muttered as she cleared the inner perimeter. “I think it’s safe to say this was the first and last time I’ll set foot in such a place without backup.”
“I found the place very educational,” EiLeen said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, yes? What on earth did you learn?” Dana glanced over at the woman who now looked like herself again.
“That I’m prepared to do anything to keep you safe. If I hadn’t known it wouldn’t go down well with you, I would have hit that despicable man in the captain’s quarters hard enough to end his life. All for placing his filthy hands on you.” She shrugged but gazed cautiously at Dana.
“As a matter of fact, if the roles had been reversed, I would’ve reacted the same way. I was furious when he tried to suggest I’d put you down with the unhappy foursome below.”
EiLeen relaxed marginally, her body no longer ramrod. “That’s reassuring.” She smiled. “Let’s get out of here, then, Captain.”
“Certainly, my Queen.”
Chapter Eight
“This ship is in deplorable cond
ition,” EiLeen said, regarding the bridge. “How can people live like this?”
“Oh, you’d be surprised.” Dana made a wry face. “My aunt struggled to clean, but every surface in our house always had a thin layer of the dust from the mining operation. I couldn’t wait to leave. The only sanitary place was the cleaning tube. As soon as I walked out, all I did was rub more grimy dust onto my skin from the towels.”
“Where did you grow up?”
“In a mining district with my aunt and uncle. We moved onto a space station when my uncle got a new job at an asteroid mining company. I wasn’t too thrilled with my aunt, even if I owe her for taking care of me after my parents died. She tried to keep me from joining the fleet academy since she wanted me to become a teacher on the station and…well, I guess, she wanted me to stay. I ended up leaving at sixteen.”
“Ever go back?”
“No.” Dana blanched and turned around. “Nothing to go back to. Pirates destroyed the space station after they cleaned out everything of value.” She paused and then looked at EiLeen with dull, gray eyes. “I have nothing personal left to return to.”
“Darling.” Not concerned about the small ship’s dirt any longer, EiLeen maneuvered over to kneel next to Dana. “I can’t bear to see you like this. Once we’re out of range of any potential followers, I’ll make sure you know you’re not alone anymore.” Hesitating briefly, she touched Dana’s chin. “Or do I assume too much?”
“No.” Only her trembling breath betrayed the emotional storm inside Dana. “I’d say you’re spot-on.”
“Good.” EiLeen’s stomach unclenched and her heart mellowed its wild movements. “Good.”
“Can you pull up the specs of this piece-of-crap can?” Dana straightened and focused on the helm console. “I have a feeling we’re going to need any and all advantages we can think of. We also need to make sure the basement quartet stays put.”