by Jay Allan
And not a moment too soon. The voices from where they left were just around the corner, shouting for blood.
Ella spoke a command into her wristcom. The asteroid’s craggy walls vanished in a shimmer of white sparkles.
As soon as they materialized onto their ship, Ella dashed for the Aurora’s helm. They were far from safe yet.
The human’s fingers flew across the naviconsole fluently, activating the ship’s propulsion and navigation. Within nanoclics, the stellar drive hummed out of idle and the vessel lifted out of dock and took off.
A shuddering blow rocked the vessel.
“We’re being targeted,” Jaelynn called out.
Ella gritted her teeth. “What gave it away?” She began maneuvering them through a zigzag of formidable asteroids, many equipped with laser cannons aimed in their direction.
“Might want to avoid those,” Ronen offered unhelpfully.
“Shut up,” Ella and Jaelynn barked.
Now, Ella went to work. She might have been a screw-up in many areas of her life, leading to her current occupation. But when piloting a ship, she could do no wrong. Or at least little wrong. She veered sharply right, taking them just under a cascade of bright red cannon fire. Then Ella dove, juking left and then right as another battery of brilliant energy lanced past the ship, fleetingly lighting up the pitch-black space surrounding them.
She jerked sharply left, hurtling straight for a time and then plunged again, pulling behind an asteroid to take the brunt of another blistering barrage.
The whole flight from Guanag’s asteroid lair, Jaelynn remained silent. She better... Aside from gripes about superficial damage to their ship, piloting was the only aspect where the Tarkathian blindly trusted Ella.
The human stayed in a sharp plummet until they zoomed past any asteroids fitted with cannons. She kept plunging until finally the ship flew clear of the asteroid field.
Ella angled them up straight and rocketed forward.
“We’re clear!” Jaelynn announced from behind.
Perfect timing, as Ella spotted tiny dots of enemy ships streaming out of from many of the larger asteroids. No doubt Guanag’s cronies all knew their boss’s fate now.
“Jumping us outta here.” she tacked her fingers across the naviconsole, activating the Aurora’s hyperdrive. Within nanoclics of time, the stars in the viewscreen bled together, streaking ahead into forever as the vessel launched into hyperspace.
Ella let out a heavy sigh of relief. ”One crisis at a time,” she breathed, and stood up. Now there was Ronen Omaegus to deal with.
Whirling about, she ripped her pulse pistol from its holster and aimed for Ronen’s head. Jaelynn already had him covered, mini pulse pistol pointed at the Vorn’s chest.
Their captive raised his hands in surrender. But his bark-covered face had regained that smug defiance, as if he had the upper hand.
“How did you escape those magnecuffs?” Jaelynn demanded.
Ronen gave her a curious onceover and sneered. “Like this.” The space pirate’s left hand exploded off his wrist.
Suddenly, the Tarkathian dropped her weapon and staggered back, choking and coughing in surprise. She clutched at her throat, but couldn’t quite remove the detached hand strangling her.
“NO!” Ella gaped in horror at the metal stump on Ronen’s left wrist. His detached left hand clutched Jaelynn’s throat tightly.
“Let her GO!” Ella pressed her pulse pistol to Ronen’s neck, about to end this bastard.
“Not wise,” he warned. His smirk displayed an irksome superiority. “Kill me and that hand keeps squeezing until your little oddity dies.”
Ella’s world spun in a jagged circle. Was he lying to buy time? Hatred told her to call his bluff and blow his stupid shrubby beard off.
But fear stayed her hand again. If Jaelynn died because of her recklessness…
The Vorn gestured at her with his right hand. “Step five feet back and slide over your pulse pistol. Both of them.”
“Elena,” Jaelynn gasped out. “Kill...him!” The Tarkathian reached for one of her hidden daggers.
Ronen’s detached hand squeezed tighter. She gasped, clawing at the space pirate’s hand more frantically.
“OKAY,” Ella yelled. “Okay. Just don’t hurt her.” She knelt and placed her long pulse pistol on the ground. Then came her left boot, slowly drawing the smaller backup pulse pistol she carried. Ella glared up at Ronen with a hatred she rarely felt for another being. An idea danced dangerously through her mind. If she could draw fast enough, catching him off guard...
Ronen seemed to sense her sparks of defiance. “Do not be clever.” He nodded his bald head over at Jaelynn, on her knees and turning a pale grey color. Her struggles had grown weaker by the instant. “Your partner’s life depends on it.”
Ella took one look at Jaelynn choking...dying… Her heart cracked.
Tears were burning in the human’s eyes as she slowly pulled out her second pulse pistol. Ella then slid that next to the other gun at Ronen’s feet, which resembled dark and gnarly tree roots.
The Vorn crouched and snatched up the long pulse pistol, Ella’s favorite. The sight was a knife thrust to the heart.
“Very good.” Ronen pointed the pulse pistol at Ella’s stomach with ease.
The human tried to rein in her rapid breaths. But Jaelynn was nearly passed out, and this space pirate had them at his mercy. Ella raised her hands in surrender, silently praying to the Holy Trinity of Old Earth for salvation. Not for herself, but for the Tarkathian teenager who had already lost so much.
“Guanag had become a large impediment to my operations,” Ronen explained. “My thanks for helping me correct that.”
We were used, Ella fumed. She hated being used in someone else’s war. Her primary concern was if she and Jaelynn would survive this encounter. “Now what?” the human inquired breathlessly.
Ronen frowned at her question. “Now...I let you and your partner live.”
He squeezed the trigger twice.
The blasts streaked forward, striking Ella’s chest. Pain ignited her body like wildfire. The floor flew up to dash the air from her lungs.
All of a sudden, someone forcefully shook her shoulders.
Ella sat bolt upright, swiveling her head back and forth. The last thing she remembered was Ronen Omaegus shooting her. “Jaelynn??” Ella could never forgive herself if anything happened to her partner.
“Stupid human, I’m here.” Ella looked ahead and saw the Tarkathian crouched in front of her like a prowling cat.
“Are you okay?” Ella questioned with bated breath.
Jaelynn waved off the concern. “I’m fine.” The dark bruising around the girl’s neck told otherwise. Ella turned away in disgust as she pushed herself upright. Anger clutched her chest like a fist, muting the wooziness. “Ronen Omaegus?”
“Gone.” Jaelynn rose as well. “After shooting you, he shot me too. I woke up eleven macroms ago.”
Ella stopped and stared in disbelief. “You waited that long to wake me?”
“I had to make sure Ronen was no longer onboard,” Jaelynn replied, annoyed by the human’s annoyance. “And see what damage he may have left behind on the Aurora.”
Ella was about go off on the Tarkathian, but what would that accomplish? What happened already happened.
Rant later, triage now, her cousin Ana-Lucia used to say. She ran a trembling hand through her hair, yanking the band holding her long black hair in a ponytail. “The ship?!” Her mind leaped to the bomb threat that Ronen had made earlier.
“Undamaged,” Jaelynn stated with a surprised look. She approached the helm with feather-light steps. “The container that held Ronen is gone. Engines are intact, but the hyperdrive is disabled. That should probably take you half an orv to reactivate.”
Ella looked at the helm’s main viewscreen and frowned. Before them lay an ocean of black sprinkled with sparkling dots, which could be anywhere. “Where are we?”
“Somewhe
re in the heart of Lawless Space, nowhere near any habitable planets.” Jaelynn sounded angry. She plopped into the copilot’s seat and slouched. One of the rare moments she acted her age. “Ronen’s crew must have picked him up, then towed us about and dropped the ship here before taking off.”
“Motherfucker,” Ella seethed. The thought of being played and Jaelynn nearly getting strangled made her blood boil. She wanted to kill something, preferably Ronen and his scummy crew of space pirates. “Yeah, they’re gonna regret ever meeting us. Pull up all tracking data on whatever ship Ronen—”
“Can’t,” Jaelyn cut in, to Ella’s surprise. “They wiped our ship’s sensor array that tracked their ship’s images, trajectory, speed, directions. We have nothing on record about Ronen, his ship, or his crew.”
A confused Ella sank into the dark pilot’s seat. “What do you mean? We have data on his crew—”
“Which Ronen wiped as well,” Jaelynn stated with a touch of anger.
“Tattshi!” Ella slammed a fist on the ship’s naviconsole, biting her lip to curb the pain. She leaned back in her chair with eyes closed. So much impotent anger churned inside. “This job was a setup from the start.” The human turned to Jaelynn in the seat opposite her. “I am so sorry, Jae. I should’ve listened.”
The Tarkathian studied her coldly and shrugged. “Given the payout, I do not blame you.”
Ella pushed up to her feet. The Tarkathian teen was much calmer than she had expected. “I’ll reactivate our hyperdrive. Then we can head back to Embrose so we can pay our barkeep friend for her services.”
She saw Jaelynn’s incredulous reaction. “Is that another bad human joke, or are you serious? I can’t tell with you humans sometimes.”
“That bitch isn’t getting a single sterling of currency!” The only thing she would get was a pulse pistol blast or three to the face when they found her backstabbing ass. Ella kept walking toward the helm exit.
“About our earnings...” The Tarkathian called out.
Oh dulce madre. The human stopped in her tracks. “What about it?”
Jaelynn’s answer made Ella wish she hadn’t asked. “Ronen sliced into our vault account and stole half our bounty.”
***
Dawn came too soon for Arryn Foxx. The pale light of the dreary sky leaked through the viewport shades, needling her back to the waking world.
In her dreams she was still whole, her family still lived, she still had a home.
Then Arryn woke up, and the reality would be waiting.
Her family still dead.
She was a nomad, never laying down roots anywhere for too long.
Despite last night’s quick, painless love, Arynn felt emptier than before. Despite the slender melt-in-your-mouth crimsonborn beauty sprawled beside her, Arryn was alone. The bedroom was free due to her working at the Rayaal hostellaris two floors below. It was a small and drab setup, sparse on adornments which weren’t even hers. All of Arryn’s belongs could fit in two pieces of luggage.
Arryn glanced at the flowing chronometer on the wall. Her heart ached for more sleep, to immerse herself again in that past life. But it was too close to wake-up time for a few stolen moments.
“Alright.” She brushed curtains of tousled black waves from her face and aimed a kick at last night’s distraction. “Time to go.”
The young lady jolted awake and swore, but slithered out of bed as requested. Dreary beads of light from outside slipped over her mahogany frame as she headed for the exit. Arryn watched the sway of her hips with relish. Another perk of the job, free usage of any client-less workers.
A quick hydrobath shower and Arryn was fully awake, washing away last night’s liquor-soaked marathon of lust.
After drying off, she slid into a short-sleeved button-down black polo and dark grey cargos. Today was her day off, but the knot of tension in her chest offered no reprieve.
Arryn had played her part. “The only thing left now is the waiting,” she spoke to herself.
She might as well go downstairs. The Rayaal was closed, and most of its staff still asleep. The perfect time to grab a quick breakfast while she waited.
Arryn pushed open her door, and felt a pistol muzzle prod the back of her neck.
She froze but wasn’t afraid. Only two questions ran through her mind.
Who held the gun? And will they finally put me out of my misery?
“If you’re going to shoot,” Arryn sighed, “get it over with. I’m hungry.”
“That was some stunt, Foxy,” a deep voice rumbled, like a pine tree falling over.
Arryn smiled, half-relieved yet half-disappointed. “A stunt which worked, since you’re here in one piece.” She turned to face Ronen Omaegus, who had four inches on her.
“Not without some sacrifices.” The bald space pirate was back in his rugged travel clothing, pants and boots. His shrubby green beard looked as stiff with anger as those beady dark eyes nestled in his bark-like face. He kept his pulse pistol aimed between her eyes. “Do you know how many prostitutes I had to pleasure before your handpicked bounty hunters finally came?” he complained.
Arynn let out a disgusted laugh. The rooms’ inner soundproofing of these corridors allowed her to speak freely. “Oh, poor you with your plethora of sex. I had to make sure the bounty hunters that captured you didn’t kill you on sight.”
Ronen finally lowered his gun, holstering it at his side. “They came close.”
“With that magnetic personality, I can’t guess why,” Arryn snarked, grinning.
The human’s good humor soured when considering the nature of Ronen and his crew. “By the way, please tell me you didn’t kill those two girls. They looked sweet.” Arryn paused and reconsidered. “Correction, the human was sweet. Her little friend looked like she’d rather slice my face off.” She had no clue what species that bald little bounty hunter was, but her dagger-like glare still gave Arryn the chills.
Ronen nodded in agreement. “I guess female Tarkathians aren’t that different from males.”
Arryn’s mouth fell open in shock. “Really? That explains everything.” The human waved off the sidebar, concerned with the two bounty hunters. “Anyway. Did you—”
“No.” Ronen shook his head, causing his shrubby beard to wave back and forth. “Sovaat wanted to, but I forbade it.”
Arryn rolled her eyes. “Of course Sovaat did.” She would never understand a Kedri’s kill first, ask questions never philosophy. They were worse than Tarkathians. “Where did you guys leave them?”
“Stranded in the Tishari Cluster,” the space pirate answered. “We only disabled their hyper and stellar drives. Both are fixable,” he added after Arryn gave him a reproachful look.
“Good,’ she said, hugging herself. It was odd, giving a shit about two strangers she’d never see again. Those moments of warmth for strangers were once abundant during her tenure as a doctor. The few times she experienced them now were enough to convince the human that she wasn’t completely dead inside.
Ronen began walking slowly down the empty hallway. Arryn fell in beside him. “Your plan went perfectly,” he continued. “Guanag’s dead. Meaning his contract on my life dies with him. Thanks to your crazy scheme, which got us a big fat cut for that bounty.”
A spark of hope blossomed in Arryn’s heart. But the human contained her emotions, save for a lazy smile. “Does that mean I’m in?”
Ronen studied her with a smirk. “You proved yourself several times this past year. The Guanag scheme sealed the deal for the rest of the crew.” Ronen stopped and stood in Arryn’s path. His bark-covered features appeared uncertain. “That is, if you’re ready to leave your short-lived bartending career?”
Arryn nodded like an eager kid. “Definitely.”
The Vorn wrapped the human in a fierce hug. “Welcome to the Savage Omega crew.”
Arryn returned the hug unthinkingly, melting in his arms. A decade had passed since she belonged to any collective for a concentrated length of time. Mostly be
cause she didn’t want to get attached—couldn’t get attached.
But Ronen, Merick, Sovaat, and Vgl’r Z’k’llh had snuck up on her...surprised her.
Before she knew it, Arryn had grown invested in this band of degenerate space pirates. Being part in their dynamic had been the most alive she’d felt in years. No way could Arryn give that up.
“Thanks,” she tried to sound nonchalant, cursing herself at the wistful catch in her voice. The human cleared her throat and pulled away from Ronen’s embrace. “What’s next?”
Ronen looked her over, visibly amused by her enthusiasm. Arryn blushed and looked away.
“Grab your stuff,” the space pirate said, “and we’ll talk about our next job.”
About the Author, C.C. Ekeke
C.C. Ekeke spent much of his childhood on a steady diet of science fiction movies, television shows and superhero comic books. He discovered his desire to write books in college when studying for a degree in advertising. An international trip or two provided further inspiration for the aliens and worlds seen in his writing. After a couple years and a full rewrite of the first book in his Star Brigade space opera series. C.C. decided to take the plunge into book writing as a serious secondary career. He is currently working on the four book in the Star Brigade series. Feel free to drop by ccekeke.com if you’d like to download a free novella and find out about his next release or talk about all things sci-fi and fantasy!
Find C.C. online: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Website
Books by C.C. Ekeke
The Star Brigade Series
Star Brigade: Odysseys: A Short Story Collection
Traitor: A Star Brigade Strikefile
The Trenches of Centauri Prime
By Craig Martelle
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Politicians, treaties, the instruments of failed diplomacy.
Maybe it didn’t fail. The war was being waged with low-tech weapons, but light years from Earth, light years from the Bazarian home world. Neither populace had to worry about war coming to their homes.