“Are you staying there?” It would be good to have a friend while she sorted out what to do.
Scala smiled, although it didn’t reach her eyes. “No. Let’s just say I’m one of the ones the sat-com system is supposed to keep out.”
“I’d vouch for you,” Kiri said. “In case anyone wants to listen to a barista.”
Scala gave her an odd look. “You’ve more pull than that, starry girl. Logan Stark is known throughout the galaxy. His ships are famous. Flew on one myself for a few months.”
Bitterness twisted her mouth, but then she moved her slender shoulders as if shaking off a bad memory. “Anyway, you see him again, you tell him Scala helped you out. Maybe that’ll even the score a little.”
Kiri wanted desperately to ask what the woman had done to anger Stark, but it was none of her business. The Serpentian had saved her when the loutish crewmen wouldn’t, so the least she could do was leave her privacy intact. She nodded.
“I will.” If she ever saw him again. If he wanted anything to do with her.
“Tell you what,” Scala offered. “Why don’t you bunk here with me for the rest of the voyage?”
Kiri looked at her in surprise. “You wouldn’t mind?”
Scala shrugged, a sly twinkle in her eyes. “You liven things up, you know?”
“Oh, great,” Kiri muttered.
Scala chuckled and Kiri found herself laughing with her. It hurt her throat, but it felt good. Really good.
***
Kiri confronted Captain Argo the next morning, bringing him a carafe of coffee flavored just the way he liked it, along with some bakery treats she’d found in a freezer and heated.
“I can get off on Frontiera, right?”
He gave her an innocent look that didn’t sit well on his rogue’s face. “Of course you can. Didja think you were a prisoner or somethin’ like that?”
She sighed, weary and bruised and unwilling to pretend with him. “I know Darkrunner paid you to take me,” she told him. “I just don’t know why.”
He frowned at her over his coffee mug. “Why, to keep you safe,” he said as if she were the stupidest crewman aboard. “From that old flame who was threatening to off you.”
So that was what Tal had told him. “Yeah, sure am glad to be safe from him.” She looked around at the cockpit of the ship. “Listen, say we actually make it to Frontiera, I want to know about another ship that will be landing, the Orion.”
He raised his grizzled brows. “Oh, wanting to ride high on the comet tail, are we? That’s one o’ them ships the rich ones ride, girlie. Not the likes o’ us.”
She managed a tight smile. “Yeah, I’m aware. Just need to know if she’ll be docking anywhere near us.”
“Frontiera City, that’s where all the big ships put in.” He gestured to a holovid. Kiri recognized the blue, green and white ball—it was Frontiera. A red laser dot blinked near the coast of the biggest continent. “Right here’s the port. And here’s us.” A yellow dot hung in space near the planet. “We land in four days. They land about … say five hours after us, not ‘cause we’re faster, but because they gotta stop on Cirrius and Indigo.”
He took a big bite of one of the pastries and sighed happily. “Oh, forgot. Darkrunner said to give you this.” He pawed through a pile of items on a desk, and handed her a small object.
“My comlink,” she said, holding it in her palm. Her heart lifted. She could link Stark and Taara and Rak—everyone. Let them know she was safe and well. And ask for their help getting home
“Thank you,” she said. Smiling at the captain, she pressed an impulsive kiss to his leathery cheek and then dashed away for the privacy of Scala’s cubby.
Her elation didn’t last long. Her comlink had been erased of all links, except one. When she tried to open the galactic directory, a tattooed face appeared on her screen.
Kiri closed the link and dropped the com in her lap, clenching her fists to her forehead. Her one remaining link was to the one being in the universe with whom she least wished to speak.
Chapter 36
Finally Kiri peered at the com again, to find the icon indicating a recorded message. Reluctantly, she opened it.
Tal gazed at her. “You got this, star baby, you know I erased your com. Before you link anyone, be sure you want to involve them. This is bad shit goin’ on. Get yourself where you’re goin’ and then link me. We’ll talk.”
Scala walked into the cubby as he was speaking. She stopped dead, staring at the image of the man hovering in the air. “Who in the seven hells is that?”
“The man who shanghaied me,” Kiri said bitterly. “Tal Darkrunner. Ganger lord and all-round black hole of male-dom.”
Scala sank onto the edge of her bed, running her tongue over her lower lip as if to capture the last taste of something sweet. “Huh. You forgot to mention how meteor-hot he is.”
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.
B
ut 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 look 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 assum
e 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.
Stark Pleasure; the Space Magnate's Mistress (The LodeStar Series) Page 29