by Imogene Nix
Xev reached out and grabbed her arm. “Her religion is beautiful, and it’s not a cult. Her gods have been worshiped since the first exodus from Earth. You should give it a chance. Sometimes a higher power is nice to have in your corner.”
Briz pursed her lips and her nostrils flared as she tried to repress her anger. “I’m just glad Dad was as appalled as I was. I’ve never seen him actually mad at Mom before that craziness. I get it, she and Dad fell in love after they were married. Her dad found her a husband, but it was life and death for her. I just... How could she do that?”
“She loves you.”
“She doesn’t even see who I am,” Briz replied as she brandished her hands up in the air with drama before stomping away from her friend. “I was born and raised on Metricia,” she shouted.
Xev jogged to catch up with her, a little short of breath by the time he reached her.
She lowered her voice. “I’m just as much part of Dad as I am part of her. She’s lived here long enough to have learned truth of the universe— women are equal and just as good as men.”
“If they are Julius women, they might even be a bit better,” Xev said, and he snorted as he laughed.
She threw a dismissive hand in the air and waved off his bad joke as she went looking for her mother.
* * * *
“Mom? You in here?”
“Briz, I was just about to have a bite to eat. Are you hungry, Mi Dro?” her mother asked.
Mi Dro loosely translated to ‘beloved child’ in her mother’s native tongue. Briz wasn’t a child, but that wasn’t the battle she’d come to fight against her mother today.
Her mother stood by the window, looking out at the sky. The fanciful idea that she was watching for her husband made the corner of Briz’s mouth turn up. She was glad her parents loved each other so much. It wasn’t typical of their people to be devoted to a lover and marry. She’d had a special childhood compared to her friends. Her mother was the mortar that held the family together.
The windowsill was alive with herbs and plants. Her mother had a way for nurturing life, but she had none of her mother’s ethereal femininity. Her mother watered one small plant and snipped leaves from another before she turned around. Her soft smile morphed into a frown. Briz wanted her mother to see her strength. When Kateri frowned, Briz’s immediate reaction was to scowl back, because she was sick of her mother fretting about her rejection of Daroo tradition. Being a woman was about more than making a home.
“Xev said you wanted some supplies. Would you like to come with me?” Briz asked. “You haven’t gone to town in months. The only people outside the family you see are the ones who come to the prayer garden and hear you read your scriptures.”
“They aren’t my scriptures, Mi Dro. They are everyone’s, and I wish you’d come and say the names of our ancestors with me—like you did when you were a little girl. I was like you when I was younger, but after you were born I understood my faith so much better.”
Briz kept her mouth shut. She needed her mother to be opened-minded, and falling into another argument about her responsibilities to the dead wasn’t going to serve her purposes.
“So what do you need to pick up?” Briz asked, changing the subject.
Her mother smiled, and serenity exuded from her expression.
Briz sighed. The day she’d been old enough to understand her grandparents and so many others let themselves die to uphold a silly bit of dogma was the day she stopped going with her mother to the prayer garden. Having faith in something that would let everyone you love die seemed like a pointless endeavor.
Briz opened the pantry she stood next to and peered inside. It was well stocked, as usual. She couldn’t see what her mother needed.
“I planned to make your father’s favorite stew, but the garden is doing so poorly this season I need to get the proper vegetables. I appreciate your invitation, but I know this isn’t about supplies. Ric told me he and Xev believe you can save those people. You are the last woman of our race who can have a child. Your birth was...difficult, and made it impossible for me to have more children. Your father was just glad we were both fine, but I feel like I failed you.”
“Failed me?” Briz gasped out the question. She couldn’t imagine what her mother meant.
“I left the entire responsibility for the continuation of our genetic heritage on your shoulders. You may want to save that small faction of Talorian people, but you are just as precious. Yes, you are half-Metrician, but the rest of you is all that remains of the future of Daroo. If something happens to you, that too is genocide.”
“I could just have some of my eggs—”
“Never!” Her mother’s horrified exclamation cut her off. “You know how I feel about that sacrilege.”
“I can never look your future grandchildren in the eyes if I don’t do this.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“I’m giving you my blessing, but I hope when you return you’ll think about giving the gods your respect. I also hope you’ll think about having a child.”
She was not going to have a child—she was barely an adult herself—but she would spend some time with her mother in the prayer garden.
“Thanks, Mom. I—”
“There’s no reason to thank me. You’re a grown woman. Just come back to me safe, Mi Dro.”
Briz nodded. Her throat ached. This was the first time her mother had actually acknowledged her as a woman—an equal. She gave her mother a tight smile. Her mom’s eyes darkened, and when she smiled back there was more sorrow than joy in the expression.
Chapter 3
Present: Indra controlled space
“Four percent chance of survivability,” reported the computer on Briz’s wrist.
“Super,” she grumbled through her oxygen mask.
Another shiver rattled her teeth so hard she bit her lip and tasted blood. The emergency lights in the cabin flickered, and the ship shook in a very disconcerting way as the pull from the larger craft rattled the aged transport vessel.
If they decided to do another scan, she’d die, and so would the surviving Talorians. Innocent children and their families needed the medication to combat the sickness they were suffering as a result of biological intimidation. The Indra government’s sanctioned terror had infuriated Briz on so many levels she had to act.
The shaking stopped. Briz let go of the breath she was subconsciously holding. She picked up the handheld monitor again. The tractor beam had let Earth Spirit go. She was almost out of oxygen in her portable tank. She’d waited as long as she could to use the precious air. The big ship still had to be far enough away that a security scan wouldn’t pick up her life support coming back online.
“Go, hurry up,” Briz whispered at the screen as she watched.
The app on the side of the screen showed the amount of time before it was safe. Anxiety made her throat ache and her heart race. Not only did she have to turn life support back on, but it took time for the interior to be hospitable to human life again.
“Please hurry up,” she begged.
A tear slipped down her cheek and froze. Her finger hovered over the screen. Such a small act would keep her alive, but giving into anxiety and turning everything back on too soon would ruin everything.
Her focus was blurry. She saw a bird flying back and forth above her head. For a long moment she sat content and fascinated by the looping flight pattern. The sound of the ocean was soothing until she realized how the oxygen deprivation was causing her to hallucinate. Briz started to whisper the names of her ancestors.
* * * *
“The patrol left, boys. Time to go see if she’s still alive,” said Blood, captain of the Heartless.
Matek stood silent and curious as the captain zoomed in on the antiquated scrapper. Earth Spirit didn’t look like much. Life support had been off too long for a human to survive. They’d been following the ship for some time. There was no bio ID on the girl piloting the ship, but
they’d detected life signs until just before the Indra patrol vessel had snared the small cargo ship for inspection.
“Do you want us to take the cargo too?” The question came from Blood’s cousin, Paavo. The man wasn’t very bright, but Blood treated him like a brother. “That will score us some hard Metrician currency. We wouldn’t even have to accept soft Coalition credit.”
“The cargo is worthless. It’s the medicine we’re after.”
“But good scrap will bring in some nice profit, so why not take it?” Paavo asked.
Matek was also wondering, but as the newest member of the crew he wasn’t in a position to question the brutal leader.
“We’ll take the medicine, and the girl too, but we don’t have time to unload the scrap. The medicine is worthless if there’s no one to save. Go,” Blood demanded.
“No pilot could survive without life support this long,” Paavo said.
“She’s alive. I know her father, and he’s pulled off a few impressive stunts. If you weren’t my kin, I’d gut you for asking so many questions.” Blood’s voice was cold, and yet there was an underlying amusement.
Paavo didn’t appear worried.
“Only that bastard, Julius, would be noble-stupid enough to agree to a cargo that could get his pilot killed or imprisoned,” Blood said as he shook his head in disbelief. “I almost like the fool well enough to wish this was someone else’s ship and daughter, but this is business. Try not to rough her up too much, but if she fights, do what you have to do.”
Matek didn’t like this. He’d worked hard to become part of the ship’s crew. Fighting for a girl he didn’t know was foolish, but hurting women was against everything he and his tribe stood for. Then again, so was robbery. He’d broken so much of his sacred code for revenge he doubted he’d ever be able to put it all back together again once Blood was dead.
The Indra patrol was out of range now. Blood motioned for him and a handful of others, Paavo included, to go. Matek followed the select group of pirates down to the cargo bay. Tanna and Okthu boarded before him. Paavo was the last on the small ship. There was room for one more person—their prisoner.
Tanna began to power up the small craft. He opened a comm to the bridge. “Tanna here. We’ll be spaceworthy in five minutes. Over.”
“Blood says to make it four. The Earth Spirit has turned on life support,” responded Roget, who was the communications operator of the Heartless.
“I can’t believe the pilot is alive,” Tanna said softly, as if speaking to himself.
Okthu grunted in agreement.
Tanna tapped the comm on. “Shortcutting procedure. Tell Blood three and a half. Over.”
“Affirmative.”
The sound of the engine whirling to life and the subtle rattle as the ship vibrated against the metal launch deck were familiar and normal, yet Matek couldn’t shake the feeling something was off.
* * * *
Briz shivered as she hurried to re-route control to the bridge. The oxygen level returned here first, but the temperature was much slower to stabilize. She was just glad she could breathe. The hallucinations had stopped, and she was thinking clearly again.
She’d come far too close to death. She couldn’t wait to see the expression on Xev’s face when she gave him the details that she’d leave out when telling her parents the tale.
She toggled a few more settings, and she was starting to think about how best to land undetected, when an alarm blared to her left.
“What in the forgotten names is this?” She spat out the expletive phrase and squinted at the monitor.
Briz saw nothing. And then a shimmer.
“Damn the gods!” Briz shouted as she scrambled across the bridge to where the emergency, very illegal, second power core sat cold. She hoped she had time to use it. There was only one kind of ship that could camouflage as well as this one, and it wasn’t the kind she wanted to tangle with. Pirates never left pilots alive.
She reached into the darkness of the hidden compartment and yelped as she skinned her knuckles. Finding the switch, she flipped the dangerous second power source on. The whole ship shook violently. Briz held onto the wall, her arm still in the opening, and closed her eyes while holding her breath. After a moment, the power cores finished merging. She had a chance.
Briz let go of her breath as relief rushed through her. Scrambling back to the helm, she put her hand on the accelerator and watched the monitor as the power built up. A few more seconds and— She fell out of her seat as the whole ship rattled and trembled under the weight of something docking. The pirates must have sent a boarding party. It was too late to escape.
She wasn’t going to die without a fight. Pulling her small gun out of her boot, she checked to make sure it was fully charged. The thing wasn’t good for more than temporarily paralyzing an attacker, but it was better than nothing. Besides, she didn’t have the will to kill another sentient being.
More alarms and the flashing yellow lights overhead told her that someone had opened her airlock. Shit just got real. She’d never been boarded. Sure, her dad and Xev had told her tales of some wild times delivering to fringe groups on moons before colonizing was made illegal, but she’d never imagined a raid happening to her, especially in such a populated area of space.
Pulling back on the charger, she listened for the hum as the stun gun came online. The metal warmed and vibrated in her hand.
She wasn’t near the helm and the heat was back on, overly warm now because she’d left the settings turned all the way up. Sweat trickled down her forehead and caught in the wisps of hair at her temples, tickling her cheeks. Her eyes stung, and she blinked sweat out of them. Briz used the back of her hand to rub at the discomfort and clear her vision.
She pressed her back against the wall, her eyes now dry because she was afraid to blink as she gazed at the door. They’d come, and she’d have to fight or die. There was no hiding on a small ship like this. She had to hope she wasn’t too badly outnumbered. If she used the element of surprise, she might be able to stun the intruders before they murdered her.
Chapter 4
Matek followed the others through the small ship. Nothing was out of the ordinary. The lonely walkways were eerie. Normally a ship this size would have a full crew of six. If he didn’t know there was a pilot on board, he’d think this was a ghost ship.
Lights flickered overhead, and their steps echoed on the outdated metal grate flooring as they clanked toward the control room. On these older vessels there was no sneaking up on anyone.
The tension in the way his comrades held their bodies made him aware he wasn’t the only one feeling anxious. Paavo stood next to him. Okthu pointed his weapon at the closed door of the bridge. He powered up the gun, but Tanna pressed the open button and the door slid open, unlocked. Okthu stepped inside, but a small sound groaned out of him and he fell back. The smell of urine fouled the air.
Tanna shouted an expletive as he joined Okthu down on the ground. Paavo raised his gun.
Matek grabbed the barrel. “They’re only stunned, you moron.” He pushed Paavo back just in time to save him from Okthu and Tanna’s plight. “Blood said to take her alive if we can.”
“He’s not the one she’s shooting at,” Paavo countered.
“A stun might hurt like hell, but thirty minutes and you’d be fine. You’d survive.”
“Fuck the little bitch. She’s not what Blood really wants. He’ll understand.” Paavo pulled back on the charge and the sound of his gun warming up said the pilot was going to die.
“I lay claim!” Matek said, unsure as to what prompted him. His heart hammered in his chest.
Paavo’s eyes widened before they narrowed. His lips thinned and he sneered with malicious distrust, but he lowered his arm slightly. “Great, then you subdue your prize. When she stuns your ass I’m killing her.”
This wasn’t what he needed, but he couldn’t let a woman die because she was delivering medicine.
“I don’t want any t
rouble,” he shouted loud enough for her to hear. “Let’s talk.”
“Nothing to talk about. I’m not dying or giving up my cargo,” she replied. Her voice sounded husky, and he wondered if that was fear or if she just had a sexy voice.
“I don’t want anyone to die today, but if you don’t put down your weapon, you will. This is your last warning. I’m trying to help you.”
She made a disbelieving sound. He guessed she was a lefty from the angle of her shots. Matek stepped out and dropped down as the light glowed. She released a shot in his direction. He aimed and let out a slow breath as he pulled the trigger. She cried out, and he heard the sound of metal clanking on the steel floor by her feet.
When she looked up her bright blue eyes were wide with terror. The woman had long, dark brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail. Her petite features and tan skin were beautiful. He’d never seen such a breathtaking female. She belonged someplace soft, not on a cargo vessel.
His musing ended as she stumbled back farther in the room and slapped at the wall controls. He managed to get his body wedged into the doorway before the door shut. She cried out as he grabbed her shoulders and struggled onto the bridge. The woman fought like a vicious animal, and when she bit him he did his best to resist the urge to give her a shake.
“Calm yourself. I’m not going to hurt you,” Matek said.
She still struggled. He noticed her little stun gun by the doorway at the same instant she saw it. Their gazes locked.
“Don’t try it, pretty lady.”
She frowned, and then her struggles renewed more vigorously. She wasn’t going to give him a choice, and he hated himself a little as the struggle landed them both on the floor, very close to the gun. He’d have to use it on her.
He felt her breath on his neck, and her soft body was pressed against him. Matek’s cock stirred of its own accord. She strained for the weapon. Her breasts pressed against his chest. He was stronger, bigger. His arm was longer, and when he reached the weapon she scrambled back. He saw the defeat in her expression as he pointed it at her.