Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  Kiri glared at her.

  The other woman spread her hands. "What? It's the truth." She disposed herself comfortably in her pillows. "Okay. Tell me what's new."

  "My com," Kiri held up the gleaming little unit. "Empty of all the links. And here's what he has to say about that."

  She played the message again. Scala watched raptly. When the message was done, Kiri waited. When the Serp said nothing, Kiri tossed a pillow at her. "A little help here, please."

  "Huh? Oh, yeah. You're not gonna like this, but I think you should do what he says."

  "I was afraid of that," Kiri said gloomily. "It's so damn frustrating. I don't know what he's talking about. I don't even know if I believe him!"

  "Can't see any reason why he'd make a move this drastic if he didn't want to keep you safe," Scala said. "He offered to take care of you at his place and you refused, right?"

  Kiri gave her look for look. "Hey, you've met Stark," she protested. "No contest, far as I'm concerned."

  "Yeah, and it's a good thing I like you, or otherwise I'd be kicking your coffee-brewing ass out of here. Two of the hottest males in the galaxy after you."

  Kiri's face heated. "So, you don't think I should link any of my friends either?"

  Scala shook her head. "We're only five, no four days out. You hang on, wait til we get to Frontiera, then link your friends."

  She played with the tattered trim on one of the cushions. "You could probably link Stark now, if you want. Use my link to access the directory."

  "No." Kiri was as surprised as Scala by her own outburst. She bit her lip, but shook her head stubbornly. "No. I … I can't. Not yet. Need to sleep on that." Maybe then she could face him without his callous words hanging between them.

  Scala sighed deeply. "Males. Universe might be a much more pleasant place without them."

  At the moment, Kiri couldn't see a single flaw in that logic.

  * * *

  Kiri was treated with new respect by the crew after the fight. It seemed no one, even the burliest men on board the SixPac, wanted to mess with Scala, and after hearing the damage Kiri had inflicted on her attackers, even Gravia eyed her with reluctant respect.

  It helped that she kept them all supplied with strong, hot java.

  Even so, the SixPac was an old scow held together with ingenuity and constant welding, and each day/night cycle seemed to hold a new kind of terror—on their fourth day out pirates were sighted, and all crew members were assigned lasers and flash grenades. Scala showed Kiri how to use both.

  "If they can get past the laser cannons, they lock on with a flex-hatch," Scala said as they crouched in the passageway with other crew. "Then they grind a hole through the hull, and throw in a stun grenade. If that happens, grab the nearest air-mask, and stay with me. I can keep you alive, anyway."

  Kiri nodded, but she could imagine all too well the things they'd have to do to say alive. She didn't suppose pirates had much respect for baristas, even if she did make great coffee.

  But the suspicious ship sailed past, and it was back to hard work and not enough sleep, of feeling increasingly grimier despite washing her body, underthings and top every night with tepid water and cleansing wipes.

  Having survived yet another crisis, Kiri's confidence grew. Maybe just from utter terror to damn scared, but still an improvement.

  And despite Rak's lessons and her years on her own, she hadn't done any of it on her own. She'd had help, from Gim, from Scala, and from Lottie and Neda. They'd each stepped up to look after her, with no reward but friendship.

  Even the first mate, Petr, a lean human with a long braid and an obvious penchant for Scala, smiled whenever he saw her. He'd showed up at Scala's cubby, looking startled but then pleased to find Kiri there as well. Scala shook her head and told him to forget whatever he was thinking. He shrugged, eyes twinkling, as if she couldn't blame him for hoping.

  Trying unsuccessfully to cover her laughter, Kiri left them alone, going to have another cup of coffee in the common room. She ended up playing holodice with Gim and the Pangaean prostitute, whose name was Latal. He pouted when he lost and then winked at Kiri as he offered to pay Gim, the winner, in services. Gim turned a dull red and looked everywhere but at Latal. Kiri started to rise, but Latal stopped her with a sly grin and Kiri realized he'd only been teasing the shy cook.

  Scala and Petr strolled in looking pleased with themselves and joined the game. Petr staked Kiri a small sum and they played for credit. By the end of the game, she had enough to repay Petr and buy everyone a salty snack from the vending kiosk.

  "That was … fun," Kiri said to Scala as they walked back to their cubby together.

  Scala gave her a crooked smile. "Was, wasn't it? There're good beings out here, mixed with the bad. Sometimes you have to find your people where you can—when you can't be with your own, I mean."

  Kiri looked at her with new respect. "That's what you've done, isn't it?"

  Scala raised her dark brows. "Well, haven't you? You don't have any family in your city, but you must have friends."

  Kiri opened her mouth to disagree, and then stopped. "I do," she whispered. "I have Maury, and Illyria, and now Taara." Although their friendship had barely had a chance to begin.

  Her dawning smile slipped as she remembered that she'd nearly begun to consider Logan and Rak and even Natan 'her people'.

  "And you'll have more," Scala said, opening the hatch to her cubby. "Wherever you decide to land. You're that kind of person, Kiri te Nawa. You gather people around you. Hells, Gim would do anything for you—even stand up to that bitch Gravia, and she ruled the galley with an iron claw before you came aboard. Lottie and Neda like you." She smiled wickedly. "And Petr too. He'd like a threesome."

  Kiri wrinkled her nose. "Um … no. Not my thing."

  Scala began to undress. "No matter. Anyway, I hope you find that brother of yours. But if you never do, you don't have to be alone."

  Kiri lay back in her own bunk. Scala dimmed the glowlamps, but Kiri lay awake, staring into the darkness. Would she have to start all over again, on a new planet? And if she did, was Scala right, that she had everything she needed within her to make her own happiness?

  * * *

  Even with these new revelations about her own strengths, Kiri could not wait to get the seven hells off of the SixPac.

  When she wasn't busy with her coffee machine, she helped Gim. She drank coffee almost constantly herself—it was the only way to get through the long days stuck in the metal prison of the old ship.

  The rumble of the engines—or lack of them—the thunk of the old ventilation system and clamor of all the beings on board was constant, and so were the smells—of sour sweat, stale food, and lavs that worked, but couldn't manage to vac odors.

  But although the days were hard and long, the nights were harder, and longer. Her new female friends did their best to help.

  Scala gave Kiri a pillow, an extra top and a few toiletries, and Neda and Lottie lent her a blanket and an old airgel mattress. After their shifts, the four of them watched holovids on Lottie's little comlink. They talked, about men they'd known, about what they'd do if they were independently wealthy, about their favorite Chaz Jaguari videos.

  As tired as she was, Kiri hated to let sleep take her, for that was when the nightmares returned.

  She woke to find Scala shaking her one night, her face taut with concern. "Hey, little Earther. Bad dreams?"

  Kiri huffed a laugh that became a sob. "Yeah, you could say that."

  "Sometimes it helps to talk." Scala's capable hand was warm on her shoulder.

  "I thought Stark cared," Kiri said brokenly. "I—I fell for him, even though he warned me not to. And I really thought—well, turned out I was wrong. I heard him talking to his brothers. Guy talk. He—he said I was just a 'sweet cunt'. I hate that he said that about me."

  Scala let out a hiss of disgust. "Males. You know, they get together, they think they're not allowed to show emotion. Like it would make them lo
ok weak. So they say skrog shit like that."

  Kiri shook her head doubtfully. "Logan is so strong. I don't think he'd feel he had to do that."

  Scala gave her a look. "Girl, you've got it bad. He may be shiny, but he's just a man. From what I hear, he came up from the worst part of that port city of yours. He's probably got thicker shields than you can see."

  Kiri stared at her, fascinated by this glimpse into Stark's past. He seemed so self-assured, so in control of his world and everything in it. Could it be that he armored himself against any vulnerability? That despite his careless words, he cared for her after all?

  Scala yawned, rubbing one hand over her eyes.

  "I'm sorry I woke you," Kiri mumbled. "You want me to move back to my old cubby?"

  "You kidding?" Scala teased. "This is the most fun I've had since I let a sand snake loose on board. Go back to sleep—only a few hours ’til breakfast."

  Kiri nodded, but she lay awake until Gim banged on the hatch for her to get up.

  * * *

  Stark was sitting in his stateroom when his comlink signaled. Seeing Creed and Joran's links, he opened them both.

  Creed didn't smile, but then he rarely did. Joran looked uncharacteristically grim.

  "What's wrong?" Stark set his glass on the hovertray.

  "You start." Joran nodded to Creed.

  Creed jerked his chin in acknowledgment. "Logan, don't know if this is important, but seeing how upset you are, all deep inside yourself lately, I think maybe it is. Anyway, I can't get it out of my head, so I'm telling you. You decide."

  Stark's scalp tightened. Anyone else speaking about his emotions he would have told to go fuck themselves, but because it was Creed, he nodded curtly.

  Creed nodded back. "That day at your place in New Seattle, when I asked about your woman and you said she was no one important? Logan, she heard."

  With all his control, Stark refrained from telling his youngest brother to stay the quark out of his personal life, that Kiri had had other intentions, even another man.

  "Not that it matters now, but how do you figure?"

  "Saw her outside the door of your office. It was cracked open."

  Stark thought back and shook his head wearily. "No, that would've been Natan."

  Creed's turn to shake his head. "Nope. Saw him too, he's taller than her. She was there; took off and he came along and shut the door."

  Stark sighed heavily, lifting his hand to run it over his head. "Creed, she left me because she wanted to leave. That's the end of her, as far as I'm concerned."

  Creed frowned, leaning forward, his blue eyes intense. "Logan. You're not getting this. Now I'm not saying I know anything about women, but they're human. Men don't like overhearing they mean skrog shit to someone that matters to them, so I got to assume it's the same for women."

  Joran snorted. "Well, I do know women, and let me tell you, it's worse. Quantum leap worse, seeing' as their emotions have them veering all over the place like a ricocheting laser charge."

  "Starry," Stark snarled. "But as I apparently meant nothing more to her than walking credit, I fail to see how it applies."

  Creed gave him a look. "Logan, that's skrog shit too. Don't think you realize the effect you have on people, brother. Your people you got around you would follow you into Deep Six, you asked them to. So would Joran and I."

  Stark stared, taken aback by what was for Creed an outpouring of emotion.

  "Great God beyond, Logan." Joran's lazy voice was exasperated. "Get your head out of your ass. You keep this woman close for weeks, have her in your bed, get her all soft and starry eyed, then she hears you slap her down and then she up and disappears? Nope. I don't believe in coincidence. She ran. Or she was upset; she let herself get put in a vulnerable position."

  Vaguely, Stark heard his own voice, telling Kiri that none of her troubles were coincidence, that they were cause and effect.

  "Logan?"

  He picked up his glass and drained it. Then he picked up the decanter and poured himself another shot. "I need to think. Talk to you both later."

  He broke the link and slumped back in his chair and he thought, long and hard. His thoughts were not happy ones, nor were they self-congratulatory.

  So, she might not have left him by choice. She'd still hustled off to meet with Darkrunner. She was still gone and he didn't know where she was.

  His comlink signaled a new link. He opened it immediately. His admin's face appeared. "Sir, we've found Darkrunner. Would you like to link?"

  How convenient.What Stark wanted was the man's throat, bared to his hands. He nodded curtly.

  Chapter 37

  In a moment, Stark found himself staring into the face of Kiri's old lover. The ganger sat, or rather lounged, in an opulently fitted cruiser. He wore leathers, his braided ebony hair bound back from his angular face. Stark eyed the elaborate tattoos. Women actually went for that skrog shit? Maybe it was those eerie eyes.

  Darkrunner looked him over as if wondering the same thing. "The great Logan Stark," he murmured. "To what do I owe this honor?"

  "Cut the crap, Darkrunner," Stark said coldly. "You've been avoiding my people for over a week. You know why I'm here. Where is she?"

  The ganger's eyes flashed. "Kiri? She's safe."

  "Safe from whom? You're the criminal."

  The ganger smirked. "Good at it, too. People don't take care of their starry things, I do it for them."

  "Like Kiri." If Stark could have reached through the link and gotten his hands around the other man's neck, he would have strangled him.

  Darkrunner's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Yeah, I had her, should've kept her. Let her get away, that's the only reason you ever got near. Then you weren't taking care of her, so I had to."

  Stark forced his own rage down. He wanted information. Once he got that, he could decide how best to annihilate the ganger and his enterprises.

  "What do you mean, I wasn't taking care of her? The only time she was alone was when she met you."

  "No. You're not getting it, Stark. You sent her into the snakepit and she would've got bitten. I sent her far away where they can't reach her—not yet anyway."

  The snakepit? The only connection Stark could make was Maitresse—Haassea was Serpentian, as were two or more of her assistants. But that made no sense. Haassea had no reason to hurt Kiri. Was the ganger a drugger? Coupled with his lifestyle, one step ahead of the law, had he become paranoid, delusional?

  "Where did you send her?" he repeated. "And I'll warn you, Darkrunner, my people now have a lock on your location. Make them question you in person and they will not be friendly. If she's with you of her own free will, that's all I want to see. Then I'll leave you alone."

  "Stark, you're not the only one with ex-Space Forcers on the pay rosters. Let's not waste our weaponry on each other when there are real slimers out there."

  Darkrunner shook his head, as if disgusted with the choice he must make. "She's not with me. Hasn't been since she took up with you. So, just do what you do out there on Frontiera. If Kiri wants to talk, you'll hear from her soon enough. Who knows, big man, might be very soon. No accounting for a woman's taste."

  She wasn't with the ganger? She hadn't trysted with him? Hadn't been conspiring with him? Or was this all a ploy to get her back in Stark's good graces? He'd have this holovid analyzed. Bronc and his people would parse out the tiniest hint that the ganger was lying.

  Analyze the holovid. A horrible truth hit Stark in the gut, as if the ganger had struck him. He should've had the first holovid analyzed. Was it even real? They could be doctored. Damn it, he'd let old angers blind him.

  He couldn't think about that now. The other man still wanted Kiri—he was hardly going to want to chat about his sexual encounters with her.

  Stark leaned forward. "Darkrunner. If I don't hear from her by next starfall, you are a dead man. And I can make that happen, make no mistake."

  The ganger jerked his chin in wry acknowledgement. "In that case,
let's hope she wants to talk to you."

  * * *

  The moment she set foot off the SixPac was one of the strangest of Kiri's life.

  The Frontiera City space port resembled New Seattle's, except that it was much smaller, newer and quieter. And nearly as frightening as waking up aboard the ship.

  She was on a new world, another planet. One with few beings and few settlements. Through open ports in the awning over the port, she could see pale blue sky. A welcome change from the black of space, but strange to one accustomed to clouds and fog.

  She'd made it, survived deep space. Landed on her feet on solid ground.

  Turning back to look up at the ship, Kiri froze. She'd flown across the galaxy in that beat-up old scow? She shuddered. Thank God she hadn't been able to see much of it from the inside; she'd have died of fright.

  Crewmembers streamed around her, intent on their layover freedom. Scala stood at the upper rail of the boarding platform, arms crossed on the rail, looking out at the port. Kiri's heart pinched. She knew that bored look concealed the longing to follow them.

  "I won't forget to speak for you," Kiri called.

  Scala shook her head, but she smiled. "Good luck to you, Kiri. Better get going and find your man, since you're not cut out to be space crew."

  Kiri laughed, surprising herself. "I mean it," she said. "I will help you. I couldn't have made it without you."

  And the others—Gim, Lottie, Neda and even the captain, who'd agreed to ferry her on his vessel to safety, from whatever chimera Darkrunner thought he'd saved her. They were a motley crew but good friends.

  Scala leaned over the rail. "Listen—you're good at what you do. Things don't work out with Stark, you link me. I got credit saved up and nowhere to spend it. We could set you up in business here, too."

  Kiri stared, deeply touched by the impulsive offer. "Thanks. That … means a lot."

  "I know. Now go on. Safe journey to you. I've got your link, stay in touch."

  "I'll be in touch. Safe journey to you, friend."