Galaxy's Way

by E. R. Paskey

  “And it’ll clear up my arrest warrant for murder,” Colin added.

  Anna nodded. “That too.”

  Jou shook her head. “How do you know he’s telling the truth?” She pursed her lips. “For all you know, he could be spinning you a load of crap in the hopes that you’ll help him do his job.”

  “He could be,” Colin agreed easily, without moving. “But I think he’s telling the truth.”

  “That’d be the first time,” Viktor said darkly. He scrubbed his hands through his hair. “How many years has he been part of our crew, and he’s working for the blasted Federation the whole time?”

  Anna wet her lips again. “I don’t believe it was the whole time, honestly. Just until he found out about his son.”

  “Galaxies.” Viktor heaved a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “I need to talk to him.”

  “If by ‘talk’ you mean ‘beat’, it’ll have to wait.” Colin waved a hand. “Maybe you’re fine with the Federation calling you a pirate, but me? I’d just as soon not have this murder warrant hanging over my head.”

  “He’s right, Vik,” Anna said. “Besides, how many lives are at stake if that bomb goes off?”

  Viktor shot her a mulish look, but leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. “We figured it was a bomb, too. So what’s your plan, then?”

  Colin glanced at Anna before sweeping his gaze over Thabati, Indinara, and Jou. “We go to Ydris and help Bear arrest Lobai.”

  Thabati broke into sudden, loud laughter, startling all of them. “Forgive me,” he gasped after a moment, wiping away tears of mirth, “but do you really expect me to believe four freighter captains, their respective crews, and a traitor will be able to stop a bomb from going off on Ydris?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Colin said stiffly.

  “Besides,” Jou directed a withering stare at Colin, “we’re not going to stop the bomb. We’re going to get Lobai.”

  “And stop the bomb,” Colin muttered.

  Anna fixed Thabati with a curious, penetrating stare. “Why’d you come then, if you’re just going to laugh about it?”

  He shrugged, flicking his dreads over his shoulder. “Lobai screwed me over, and I could tell your boy here wasn’t giving us the whole story.” He flashed her a white-toothed grin. “Simply put, Anna, dear, I want my money.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “That leaves transportation and crew.” Jou’s black eyes glittered. “We need to take a ship that isn’t on the most-wanted list.” She nodded to Viktor and Colin both. “That leaves both of you out, unfortunately.”

  “And you.” Indinara gave Jou the side-eye. “Or have you forgotten that little incident over in the Kelsi sector two months ago?”

  Jou huffed in irritation, though her rigid posture did not change. “I didn’t think that counted.”

  “Trust me, Captain.” Thabati dropped her a wink. “It counted.”

  “Even we heard about that,” Anna said.

  “Oh, please. It was one little escape from a Federation destroyer.”

  Viktor finally cracked a smile. “If I recall correctly, Gou Eun, it was two Federation destroyers.”

  “Semantics.” Jou waved a hand. “Fine, I’m out too. That leaves Indinara and Thabati.”

  Thabati slouched more comfortably into his chair. “You’re welcome to come aboard the Solace. Won’t have much in the way of elbow room, but we’ll manage.”

  “Or we could take my ship.” Indinara shook his head slightly. “The Hand of Fate is bigger than the Solace and I know where we can pick up a legitimate cargo to deliver to Ydris.”

  Colin perked up, his blue eyes alighting with keen interest. “Really?”

  “Yeah. Food.”

  Silence fell over the compartment while they waited for Indinara to elaborate. When he did not, Thabati drawled, “So‌…‌is that all you’re gonna give us?”

  “Yeah.” Indinara smiled tightly. “Can’t give away all my secrets now, can I?”

  Colin sighed. “I suppose not.”

  Viktor leaned forward. “Next question. How many people are we taking?”

  Indinara immediately held up a hand. “I don’t have room for everyone to bring their entire crew. Sorry. We’ll have to pick and choose.”

  “That’s a given.” Viktor snorted. “Like I’m leaving the Iliana docked on the Polygon with no crew. They’d have her stripped in a half a day. If that.”

  Laughter rippled around the compartment.

  “If you’re lucky,” Thabati said, “they might leave you with a few lug nuts. As a thank you of sorts.”

  He winked at Anna, who laughed and shook her head. “Are you kidding? Ben Py’s here, isn’t he? They wouldn’t even leave us with that.”

  She missed the shadow that flitted through Colin’s eyes before he said abruptly, “What kind of time frame are we looking at? How soon can we leave?”

  All eyes swung to Indinara again. He drummed his fingers on the table, considering. “Give me a couple of hours.”

  Chapter 28

  “IN THAT CASE,” THABATI UNFOLDED himself from his chair, “I’m heading back to my ship.” He sent a glance around the room. “I’ll meet you at the Hand of Fate.”

  “Docking berth 12, Level 4,” Indinara said.

  Viktor looked at Anna. “Do you have anything to pack? Probably better get it.”

  For a second, Anna just stared blankly at her brother. Pack? And then it hit her. Either way, she was leaving the Galaxy’s Way for now. She couldn’t look at Colin; it felt like a rock had formed in the pit of her stomach. “Uh‌…‌yeah. I have a few things.”

  “I’ll walk you back.”

  Anna darted a sideways glance at Colin, taken aback‌—‌and dismayed, she was ashamed to realize‌—‌by how perfectly pleasant he sounded. As though it didn’t matter that she was leaving his ship and his crew.

  It doesn’t matter, she scolded herself fiercely, as she stood and followed Colin to the door. You’ve only known each other for a few weeks, and you’ve spent all of that time trying to get home anyway. She managed to smile at her brother. “I’ll be back in a little while, Vik.”

  He nodded, but his eyes were narrowed at Colin. “Need any help?”

  “I got it.” She waved a hand at him.

  “Hold up!” Viktor called out. “You have a comlink?”

  In response, Anna pulled it from her pocket. “It’s new,” she said with a shrug. “Bear relieved me of my old one.”

  Viktor’s mouth tightened, but he refrained from commenting. Instead, he said, “You have my comm codes?”

  “Have they changed?”

  “No.”

  “Then I’ve got them.” Anna shrugged again. “I’d have tried calling you earlier, but there really wasn’t any point until we were in range.”

  “Hurry back, okay?” Viktor quirked a smile. “The rest of the crew wants to make sure you’re all right.”

  A genuine smile crept across Anna’s face, even as she ducked her head. “Oh, galaxies. I shudder to think what kind of welcome home prank they’ve cooked up.”

  “They’re cleaning it up, whatever it is.”

  Shaking her head, Anna turned to Colin, who had been silently watching this entire exchange, and smiled. “We can go now.”

  Dark eyebrows rose. “You sure?”

  “Positive. Come on.” Spurred on by the sense of impending loss she felt looming over her head, Anna looped her arm through his and tugged him into the corridor. A stray corner of her mind pointed out that this would only fuel rumors about her ‘accidental’ marriage instead of quelling them, but she squelched it like a bug beneath her boot. Right now all she could think about was the warmth of his arm against hers‌…‌and the fact that now that she came down to it, part of her didn’t want to leave the Galaxy’s Way.

  Didn’t see that coming at all.

  ~oOo~

  Colin was silent as they threaded their way back through the Iliana’s corridors, through
the docking tube, and out into the main section of the Polygon’s docking berths. So silent, in fact, that when Anna noticed, she glanced at him several times in increasing concern. “What’s the matter?”

  He shook his head, before gently disengaging his arm and pulling away. He did not put distance between them, but he did not touch her again.

  Before Anna had time to wonder about that, she caught sight of a tall, familiar figure meandering across the deck ahead of them.

  Hearing their footsteps, Thabati turned around, his dark face lighting up with a smile. “Anna. This should be quite the adventure, don’t you think?”

  “Oh, yeah.” She scrunched her nose. “The hard part will be figuring out what to tell the crew.” She nudged Colin with her elbow. “I don’t envy you that job.”

  She expected him to smile, but his face remained expressionless. “Oh, they’ll understand.”

  “Where are you berthed?” Thabati asked, jamming his hands into his pockets.

  Anna jerked a thumb up toward the overhead. “Next section up.”

  Thabati nodded. “I’m two down.”

  They parted ways at the creaky old hydro-elevator bank connecting all of the docking sections. Thabati headed down; Anna and Colin headed up.

  Neither said anything until they had marched across the docking tube and set foot aboard the Galaxy’s Way. Anna then turned to Colin. “When should we take Bear over? Directly after we finish packing, or should we wait a while?”

  He shrugged and continued down the corridor without looking at her. “Why don’t you ask your brother?”

  “What?” She gaped at his retreating back.

  “Viktor is Berenger’s captain, isn’t he?” Colin’s voice trailed off as he rounded the corner and vanished, leaving Anna frowning after him.

  “What’s his problem?” she muttered to herself, before stomping off to her cabin to pack her few possessions.

  Halfway through jamming clothes into a travel bag Colin had bought her, she had to stop and press the heels of her hands to her eyes to stave off sudden tears. Why am I upset? This is a good thing. I found Viktor. She swallowed and forced herself to slowly inhale and exhale a few times. And it’s not like Colin and I are parting ways just yet. We have to actually find Lobai first.

  Ten minutes later, her cabin cleaned out, sheets relegated to the washer, and her travel bag slung over her shoulder, Anna dragged her feet back to the docking tube. Halfway there, she stopped short, struck by her own selfishness. At the very least, I need to tell everybody goodbye.

  They were probably going to all make it back from this venture, but ‌…‌ Won’t hurt. She swallowed sharply. Just in case.

  Dropping her travel bag by the bulkhead next to the hatch, Anna set off to find the rest of her temporary crew. To her surprise, she found Tatiana, Mondego, and Deek all gathered in the galley, glumly contemplating their respective drinks. Her stomach turned over. He’s already told them the news.

  She paused in the doorway. “Well, aren’t you a cheerful bunch?”

  Deek glowered at her. “You couldn’t talk the Cap’n out of going along on this damn-fool mission?”

  Anna’s mouth crimped in displeasure. “You and I both know there’s no way I could do that, Deek. Like he’s going to listen to me.”

  Tatiana shot her a look at that, but Anna just lifted her chin. “Where is he, anyway?”

  “Packing.” Mondego jerked a thumb toward the corridor. “You just missed him.”

  “He won’t take any of us along,” Tatiana fretted. “Not even Deek.”

  Shrugging, Anna moved over to the table and pulled out a chair. “He doesn’t want any of you to get hurt. Plus, we don’t have a lot of room. All the other captains are only getting to take one extra person with them.” Her forehead crinkled at that; it hadn’t occurred to her yet to wonder who Viktor would be bringing.

  Tatiana thumped the table with the flat of her hand. “Then why can’t your brother take you so Colin can take Deek?” She directed a withering stare at Anna. “And don’t say it’s because you’re still ‘technically’ — ” she made air quotes with her fingers, “ — part of our crew.”

  Anna hunched her shoulders defensively, before she realized what she was doing and straightened. “You’re asking the wrong person. I’d be happy to do that, but he didn’t say a word.”

  “You should have said something,” Tatiana said sharply.

  “Hey.” Mondego placed a soothing hand on his wife’s arm. “Don’t take it out on Anna. It’s not her fault.”

  Tatiana’s sharp, almost fearful expression did not alter. “I don’t like this.”

  “Look at the sunny side,” Deek raised his mug in a wry toast, “at least they’re taking our new friend with them.”

  By the glare the dark-skinned woman sent him, his words were hardly reassuring. When Tatiana looked back at Anna, she had tempered her glare only slightly. “No offense, Anna, but we don’t usually deal with a bunch of pirates and criminals. You will look out for him, right?”

  Anna did not move, but inside she felt like she’d just been slapped. “Of course I will.”

  “Good.”

  “And you three will be fine as long as you stay away from the card tables.” Anna tried to inject a little levity in her voice, though she wanted dearly to wrap her arms around herself and hunch down in her seat.

  “She means you, Mondego.”

  They all turned in time to see Colin stride through the door. He had a travel bag slung over his shoulder and an amused smile on his lips, but Anna still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

  “Me?” Mondego flattened a hand on his chest in protest. “I — ”

  “ — have a terrible poker face,” Tatiana interjected. “Remember what happened the last time?”

  Mondego grimaced, but then his expression melted into a smug grin. “It ended pretty well, though, didn’t it, my love?”

  Anna decided right then and there she did not want details.

  “Are you ready, lass?”

  She met Colin’s eyes and nodded, rising to her feet.

  “Let’s get your friend and get this over with.” Colin turned to leave.

  “Wait.”

  He glanced at her over one broad shoulder. “What?”

  Anna wanted to flinch at his cool tone‌—‌and then was abruptly annoyed with herself because it bothered her in the first place‌—‌but she held his gaze. “People here will recognize him. We need to get a crate big enough to smuggle him aboard the Solace or something.”

  For a second, genuine amusement crinkled the corners of Colin’s eyes as he smiled at the mental picture of Berenger crammed into a crate. Then he shuttered his expression. “I don’t believe we have anything like that aboard.”

  “It’s all right.” Anna shrugged. “Viktor probably will, and if he doesn’t, one of the others will.”

  “You don’t think that’ll be suspicious at all? Us hauling a large crate from ship to ship?”

  He had a point, though Anna was a little irritated with his odd behavior and loathe to actually admit it. “Fine. We’ll figure out what to do with him after we rendezvous with everyone at the Solace.”

  “Fine.”

  Casting one last glance at Deek, Tatiana, and Mondego, Anna raised her flesh-and-blood hand in a wave and then followed Colin down the corridor.

  When they reached the docking tube, he bent to pick up her travel bag. “Is this yours?”

  “Yes.” She took it from him, noticing how he deliberately kept their fingers from touching, and a wave of irritated resolve prompted her to open her mouth. “Are you mad at me?”

  “What?” he asked curtly, slapping the hatch release.

  “You heard me.” Anna slung her bag over her shoulder, narrowing dark eyes at him. “Ever since we got here, you’ve been acting weird.”

  The hatch irised open and he started across the docking tube. “How would you know? We’ve only known each other for a few weeks.�
��

  Anna wanted to throw something at the back of his smug little head. Instead, she curled her fingers into fists and stormed along the tube behind him. “Whatever’s going through that thick skull of yours, kindly don’t take it out on me. It’s not my fault.”

  Colin’s mouth tightened, he shot her a narrow-eyed look that clearly said he thought it was her fault, but he did not speak.

  They made it to the hydro-elevator bank in strained silence and stepped inside. Anna’s fingers tightened on her bag’s strap. They were less than a meter apart, and yet it felt like a chasm the size of a planet had opened up between them. I don’t understand what’s wrong.

  Colin settled with his back against the back wall of the hydro-elevator, while Anna hit the button to send them down two levels.

  “Hold the ‘vator!”

  A dark hand thrust itself between the creaky doors, effectively halting them from closing. Anna thought that was pretty brave; she’d have laid down good money that the doors would have shut anyway and just taken the hand off. She tensed, instinctively preparing for whoever was about to join them, but to her surprise, the doors ground back open to reveal a familiar face.

  “Thabati?”

  The captain of the Solace saluted her as he stepped inside. “Anna. We meet again.” He was followed by a shorter man with light eyes and skin so pale it practically reflected light.

  She tilted her head toward the control panel. “Where to?”

  “Same place as you, I imagine.” Thabati indicated his companion as the doors shut. “Palmer. One of my crewmen.”

  The man nodded shortly to Colin and Anna.

  “Well, this should be fun.” Thabati leaned up against the wall not far from Anna, jamming his hands into his pockets.

  Colin snorted. “Fun? You need a new definition, man.”

  “Maybe.” Thabati nudged Anna with his elbow. “Is he always this serious?”

  Despite herself, a soft smile crept over Anna’s face. Her eyes slid to Colin in time to see him glance away. “No, not — ”

  It happened too fast for her‌—‌or Colin‌—‌to react.