by E. A. James
Thor, slightly beaten-up and extremely exhausted, walked over to where Kira was waiting for him along the sidelines. Despite his run-down appearance and the handful of cuts and scrapes running up and down his arms, a smile was spread across his face.
“How’s that for drawing interest?” he asked as he walked to where she was waiting for him on the sidelines. His breathing was heavy and his body was covered in a fine layer of sweat.
“You definitely caught my eye,” she replied, taking hold of his hand and leading him eagerly back toward their cell.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Three days of travel had passed very slowly. Life aboard the Curio wasn’t the same when only half of its usual occupants were on board. Alaria spent most of her time up on the flight deck with Bron, and would occasionally go down to the engine room to check on Vinnie.
Vinnie was always down there and he didn’t seem to mind it, at all. When he wasn’t going over all the systems to ensure that everything continued to function smoothly, he was working on his repair bot, programming it to do new things and teaching it new expressions.
Even without their Captain or the other members of their crew, they were able to find a routine to fall into. It was a small consolation for Alaria, who was struggling more and more each day with the absence of her father.
“I’m just so worried about him,” she confessed to Bron on the morning of their fourth day of their journey to the Galactic Bazaar. “I know I shouldn’t say this, but I worry about him being able to take care of himself. He’s getting older, Bron.”
Bron chuckled and looked over at her. “Dario is still just as badass as he’s always been,” he said. “Not to mention he’s got Kira and Thor with him. If I were going to be trapped in that hell hole with any two people, those would be the two I’d pick.”
“He’s not usually like this, though,” Alaria continued. “Taking insane risks and such.”
“He’s doing it for all of us,” Bron said.
“He’s doing it for Thane.”
“Are you upset about that?”
“Not at all. I like Thane. I think he and Dario make a great couple. They both really care about each other, you can just feel it.”
“Love will drive us to do crazy things,” Bron said with a nod.
“Do you know?” Alaria asked, sitting up straight and pushing herself forward in the chair. “Do you know about love?”
Bron glanced over at her, his brown eyes clouding with emotion. “Would that surprise you?”
Her cheeks flushed. “No. I was just wondering because I, well…,” she slumped back in her chair. “I don’t really.”
“No?”
“Does that surprise you?”
“Yes,” he answered honestly.
Again, her cheeks blushed as she looked at him, his eyes fixed on the viewscreen again. He was nervous, she could tell. He got nervous around her a lot. She got nervous around him, too.
“I was almost in love once,” Bron said. “A long time ago.”
“What happened?”
“It’s hard to be in a relationship when you’re in my line of work.”
“Ship building?”
“Ship stealing,” Bron replied with a chuckle.
He turned to look at her, her head tilted to the side and her silky, blond hair falling into her face. Clearing his throat, he explained, “not always. Just when I really needed a part or something.”
“Oh, that makes it okay,” Alaria said with a giggle.
“It was hard getting supplies all the way out there on Vandor,” he said defensively.
“Really, Bron,” she said, the giggle still wrapped around her words, “I don’t care. I’ve stolen a thing or two in my day. I know how hard it can be to get your hands on parts. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do.”
“Well, back at the Hangar you got a little glimpse into what doing what I had to do got me,” he said with a grunt. “It was rare that a day went by without someone banging on my door demanding this or accusing me of that. Again, I say, it’s not the most appealing line of work when trying to settle down.”
“Well, T.A.F. crew member might be,” she said.
Now it was Bron’s face that flushed. He turned his attention back to the viewscreen quickly. Was she insinuating something? He didn’t know. He didn’t want to assume.
“I’m surprised that you’ve never been in any serious relationship,” he said.
She giggled—that mischievous, light-hearted giggle that always made his stomach flop just a little bit.
“I didn’t say I was never in a serious relationship. I just said I’ve never experienced love.”
That brought a good number of questions to Bron’s mind. He was deciding which of them to ask first—which of them was appropriate enough to ask first—when a loud siren began to blare.
“Shit,” he muttered, leaning forward and turning off the auto-pilot.
“What’s that?” Alaria asked, glancing at the screens around them.
Bron, too, looked at the screens carefully, waiting to see what was causing the alarm sirens to whine. When three small dots appeared on his screen, he began to feel nervous. When those three dots multiplied into dozens the closer they got, nervous escalated to adrenaline-fueled panic.
“Zel’Dar,” he announced. “Guess I will have to pull out some tricks after all.”
“Yeah,” Alaria replied, trying to sound confident.
Not taking his eyes from the screen, Bron slammed his hand down on the intercom and radioed down to Vinnie.
“I need all shields up and all weapons arrays online,” he said firmly.
“Oh, look who’s all big and bossy,” Vinnie quipped in reply.
“This isn’t a joke, kid. We’ve got Zel’Dar on our ass.”
“And we’ve had all our systems online since we took off. You’re good to go. You just got to keep them busy until I get the FTL systems charged up. I’ll let you know when you’re good to warp. Give them hell!”
Bron chuckled as he switched off the intercom and simultaneously disengaged the autopilot. Glancing over at Alaria, he nodded towards the set of controls in front of her.
“You’re manning the guns,” he said firmly.
Alaria's eyes went wide but quickly filled with an air of purpose and confidence. She nodded firmly and reached out, her silk white hands grabbing hold of the controls with an air of determination.
Bron turned his attention back to the screens in front of him. He let the Curio slow, slightly, as he waited for the little red dots to catch up with them.
“Shouldn’t we be trying to outrun them?” Alaria asked.
“They’re too fast. We have to wait to warp to have any hope of getting away. Until Vinnie gets FTL online, though, we’re going to have a little fun.”
Alaria’s eyes dropped to the screen as well. The three dots that had multiplied into dozens were growing closer and closer. The warning sirens were beginning to wail loudly, their calls of caution causing her stomach to flop nervously.
“You know how to work those things?” Bron asked, tightening his hold on the controls in front of him.
“Yes,” Alaria replied. “I think.”
“Just aim and shoot,” Bron said, pointing to the screen in front of her where the view from the cannons was visible. “Right button for right cannons, left for left.”
“Right, left,” she repeated, staring at the screen.
“As soon as they get here, just keep shooting,” Bron said calmly. “They like to swarm ships, so they’ll be on top of us from all angles. I’m going to work to separate them—divide and conquer. But remember, no matter where you shoot, you won’t miss; they’ll be everywhere.”
Alaria nodded.
Just as the far off image of a large, flying insect came into view on her screen, she inhaled sharply.
“Wait,” Bron told her. “Just a little longer.”
She didn’t want to wait. The oversized vermin in her view screen wa
s growing larger, and more were becoming visible. Their beady, green eyes were fixed on the Curio. Their massive wings beat in slow rhythm, propelling themselves forward with grace, ease, and speed. The closer they got, the better she could see them. They were all sizes, some seeming to be larger than their ship, others no bigger than Vinnie’s repair bot.
It didn’t matter. They all terrified her.
“Now!” Bron yelled, startling her.
Without thinking twice, she pushed down on the controls, releasing a pair of cannons simultaneously. She didn’t get to see if they hit anything because the second the projectiles flew, Bron pushed down on the controls and sent the Curio spiraling down.
Alaria clung to the controls, her pulse quickening with excitement as she sent another pair of cannons flying. This time, she did see them hit. She saw them hit and she saw them blow the bodies of Zel’Dar to tiny pieces that scattered through the wide-open space behind them.
Bron watched on the screen as the Zel’Dar followed him down, diving after him. Alaria’s blasts were scattering them, but not detouring them as much as he would have liked. Evening out the Curio, he began to lead them straight ahead, waiting for them to level out with him. Clusters remained overhead, but he ignored them for the moment.
Turning the ship sharply to the left, he ordered Alaria to shoot and not to stop, which she did. She seemed to bounce with excitement as she pushed down on the triggers, her eyes fixed on the screens.
The trail of Zel’Dar that had followed them into the sharp turn were all eliminated with one blast. Those that remained behind them were taken out with the second. Now, all that remained was the group that continued to hover overhead.
“Hold on,” Bron told Alaria, pushing the controls in his hands forward as far as they would go.
The Curio shuddered and sped up, reaching top non-warp speed in a matter of seconds. The ship buzzed ahead of the Zel’Dar, who began to beat their wings with more zeal, easily closing the space between them and the target of their swarmed attack.
“Flip that switch,” Bron informed Alaria, pointing to a switch at the side of her controls.
She did, and instantly the view in her screen changed.
“Those are your front cannons,” Bron informed her, pulling back on the controls in his hand suddenly.
The Curio once again shuddered, whining against the constant changes in speed and direction that her new pilot was asking of her.
“Get ready to use them,” Bron added.
As the Zel’Dar flying overhead zipped by, not expecting Bron’s sudden change in speed or direction, he brought the ship back up to their level. The second he did, Alaria let out a small, excited shriek as she pressed down on the triggers. The cannons flew, finding their home in the center of the tightly packed swarm.
“Again!” Bron encouraged her.
And again, she fired, her actions punctuated with another excited shriek.
“We’re good for FTL,” Vinnie’s voice came over the intercom.
“Sorry, Alaria, fun’s over,” Bron said, smiling at her as he sent the ship diving again. As soon as he had cleared the reach of the Zel’Dar, he evened the Curio out and sent it hurtling forward. It wasn’t more than two minutes later that they were zipping through space faster than the speed of light, with the insect swarm left somewhere far behind them.
Once he was sure they were safe, Bron leaned back in his chair triumphantly and sighed. "Like I've been doing it all along," he said, looking over at her and smiling.
“That was impressive,” Alaria agreed.
“Told you I had a few tricks up my sleeves.”
“I never doubted you,” she said, pushing herself up and resting her hand on his. “I’m glad we’re in this together, Bron.”
His cheeks flushed again and his heart rate accelerated. "Me too," he replied shyly.
Alaria giggled and took a few steps back. “I’m going to go check on Vinnie, make sure everything down in the engine room is still up and running.”
“Okay,” Bron said, his cheeks still warm.
When she turned to walk away, he relaxed back in his chair a little, turning his attention back to the controls in front of him. He didn’t hear her turn around and skip back to his side. He did feel her hand rest on his shoulder. And he did feel her lips press against his cheek—his warm, blushing cheek.
“I really am glad you’re here with me, Bron,” she said again.
He didn’t move from that spot, didn’t shift his weight or even draw in a deep breath until long after she had left the flight deck. When he did come back to life, a smile spread across his face.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” he said to the wide-open space in front of him. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else but here.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Do you think they’re staying out of trouble?” Dario asked Kira and Thor at breakfast.
The dining hall in The Pits was crowded, as was everywhere else in Jaantu 7. The long metal tables with attached benches were packed full. The Bandurian next to Kira continued to elbow her without so much as looking in her direction. And the Vorian across from Thor was shooting them suspiciously aggressive glares. Thankfully, the Dralaxian was nowhere around. They had seen the orange-skinned monster the day before, and he made it perfectly clear that he still remembered who they were.
“Bron, Alaria, and Vinnie?” Kira replied. “There’s a chance.”
“A slight one,” Thor added.
Dario shot him a cautious look.
“Whatever trouble they find themselves in, I’m sure they’ll be able to get out of it. Bron has found himself in his fair share of trouble in his day,” Kira said.
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Dario asked.
Kira reached across the table and rested her hand on his. “They’re fine, Dario. Trust me. Bron won’t let anything happen to Alaria.”
“What’s the plan for today?” Aldo asked, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
He popped up behind them and wrapped his fur-covered arms around Kira’s and Thor’s shoulders. Thor shot him a warning glare, which he ignored. Kardok hovered behind him, his arms crossed over his chest with his ever-present, child-like grin spread across his face.
“Same as the last four days,” Kira replied. “Go to the ring, pick some fights, and build some interest in the tournament.”
“I don’t think we need to pick any more fights,” Aldo said, his voice squeaky with excitement. “Everyone in The Pits is talking about Kardok and Thor.”
“Really?” Thor asked, looking back at the Rengar over his shoulder.
"Really," Aldo said with a crooked smile. "I've done a lot of work trying to get things organized. That's not a small task with a crowd like this one. But, with a lot of persistence and a little sweet-talk, I was able to get everything all set up and ready. So, you're going to want to spend the next day resting, because the day after tomorrow you're going head to head with just about everyone in here."
“Have you decided what to part with as betting chips?” Dario asked.
“I have a few ideas,” Aldo said, nodding his head quickly. “I have a few homemade weapons I think will be tempting to a few of the newer inmates.”
“New inmates won’t have much to trade for, though,” Thor remarked. “That’s what got us into this situation to begin with.”
Aldo shot him an annoyed look and continued. “I also have a few other things I’m willing to part with as long as you can guarantee me you won’t get your ass beat the first round out there.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Thor said, pushing himself up. “You just worry about your end of this.”
“Speaking of which,” Dario said, turning his attention to Aldo, “have you figured out who has what we’re looking for?”
“I have some hunches,” Aldo said, sliding down in the seat that Thor just vacated.
Thor moved behind Kira and rested his hands on her shoulders. She leaned back into him, enjoying t
he feeling of his touch.
“Hunches?” Dario asked, his voice high and tight. “We need more than hunches, Aldo.”
“Are you the one calling the shots now?” Aldo asked.
“Someone needs to be,” Dario replied sharply. “Up until now all we have is a high-risk situation placing all of our hopes on a gamble that one of these two turns out to really be the strongest inmate in here, which, if I’m being honest, I kind of doubt. Whatever bargaining chips we have, we’re apparently not even sure who to take them to, and all the while, you four seem to think it’s a big game!”