by Calista Skye
“There you are!” Kira’s face lifted into a smile. “Just in time, Riley. In your book, that’s late. Everything okay?”
“I know. I’m sorry,” said Lana, still out of breath from her sprint through the depot. “I got held up.” She leaned over the metal railing and peered at the giant clock in the center of the hub. “We should still be able to make schedule, though, as long as everything’s ready. The Consortium guys still getting the ship loaded?”
“They finished a few minutes ago. Even faster than usual. I didn’t even see the guys load it.”
Lana raised an eyebrow.
“It’s not because I was admiring the scenery. I promise. I know this one’s important, Riley.”
Lana believed her. Despite her obsession with those painfully sexy Kamarans, Kira had a good head on her shoulders. She was dependable, and she’d never let anything important slip through the cracks.
“The soldiers all left already, anyway. Probably catching up on their rack time before training,” said Kira. “Though I’m sure they would have loved my company.”
“I’m sure they would have.”
“But you’d be lost without me, Riley. So here I am.”
“So you didn’t see them loading our cargo? No clue what the haul is?”
Kira shrugged.
Frigates like the Endurance didn’t have the cargo space for massive shipments of Tarksian ore, so transporting small loads was nothing out of the ordinary. The Endurance was small and light. Built for speed. It meant they couldn’t handle the massive shipments of raw materials that most captains made their living on. But it also meant that they got the high priority rush deliveries.
Still, it was strange that the Consortium didn’t at least tell Kira what they’d be hauling.
Kira seemed to read her thoughts. “I wouldn’t worry, Riley. Just some crazy rich person’s whim. Besides, we’re getting paid to go to paradise. I’ve always wanted to dip my toes in an Anaran ocean.” She stood up and smiled. “You look like you could use a break, too. Let’s get those nav sensors installed and get out of here.”
“Oh,” said Lana. “Yeah, about that…”
“Don’t tell me you couldn’t get them? Sakaj can get anything.”
Lana shook her head. “Not this time. The shipment went missing. And not the usual ‘gone missing’ that Sakaj would have gotten wind of.”
“Now that you mention it, I overheard a few of the officers talking while I was…”
“Ogling the new recruits.”
“Ogling. I don’t ogle. What kind of word is that?”
Her friend’s sense of humor never failed to make Lana smile.
“Anyway, they were all in a panic because there was a huge weapons shipment that was supposed to come in for the recruits. But it didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“That’s what they were so freaked out about. Nobody knows what happened. Some kind of comm blackout maybe? The ship just went dark. Vanished from the radar. Poof. No more ship. No weapons shipment.”
Shipments went missing all the time – nothing strange about that. It was unusual for the officers to have no explanation, though. “Should we be worried?” asked Lana.
“Please. The Endurance can outrun anything. With you in the cockpit, we’ll be just fine.”
“Gods, I hope you’re right.”
***
A loud metallic groan tore through the hull of the Endurance as it dropped out of hyperspace. People said it didn’t make that sound, but Lana knew better. The sudden deceleration put an intense strain on the ship’s frame and caused the entire thing to contract and scrape against itself as its momentum slowed. The result was the shrieking, inhuman growl of the drop.
Lana sat upright in her chair, taking inventory of the systems as the comm circuits buzzed back to life. She transmitted their location back to the Consortium, indicating they’d made the jump without the ship tearing itself to shreds. Fortunately, such occurrences weren’t common. Anymore.
The ship’s sensors breezed through their diagnostic protocol, lighting up the console controls as they scanned the life support, the cargo bay, fuel, throttle, and navigation controls. The faint red glow of the auxiliary system faded as the rest of the systems returned to their default active state.
“Another successful jump,” said Kira as she unfastened her safety restraints and lifted herself out of her chair. “Not that I had any doubts.”
But Lana didn’t respond. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the view in front of them.
The Dennegar belt.
“It’s beautiful in its way,” she said. “From here, it looks so peaceful.” She had feared it for so long. Heard so many stories about pilots getting lost out there. She knew that any one of those asteroids could tear a hole straight through the walls of their ship. But she trusted herself behind the console. Trusted her ability to get them safely through. And she looked forward to the challenge.
“I can’t wait to get in there.”
“It’s a bunch of rocks, Riley. And they can kill you. Kill us.”
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid.”
“I trust you and all, but…”
“Relax. I don’t plan on dying out here. We get paid and we get home. Easy.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“And dip your toes in the Anaran ocean.”
“Damn right.” Kira grinned. “Alright, captain. Let’s do it.”
“You might want to sit.”
Lana punched the controls, blanketing the Endurance in a soft, blue field of light. “Shields up,” she said.
“Will that even help?”
Lana shrugged. “I doubt it.”
She threw open a box on the console and flipped the lever to nudge the Endurance into manual control. She eased forward on the throttle as the engines lit up behind her and they made their way past the outer rim.
They slipped between two craggy, pocked asteroids as Lana effortlessly dodged and weaved between the smaller rocks that hurtled through the vastness towards them. As they flew deeper into the labyrinth, the paths of the asteroids dictated their course. A quick juke here, a roll there. Lana guided the ship through the maze, falling into flow as her instincts took over.
The flight was smooth. Kira visibly relaxed as the gentle movements of the ship under Lana’s skilled hands took them through the belt.
Then a white hot flash of light filled their vision.
“What the hell was that?” said Kira.
“Guess the shields work after all.”
Kira’s eyes went wide. “That’s not funny.”
“Don’t worry. It was a little one.”
“Um, Riley?”
“Relax, that’s what they were designed for. We’re not going anywhere near anything that’s going to cause us problems.”
“Riley,” she said again, the playfulness gone from her voice. Her face turned to ash as she pointed at the console. “Look.”
Lana angled the Endurance into an open patch between two mountain-sized chunks of rock and pulled her focus from the window. The display showed their shield power levels at zero. “What the hell? That can’t be right. It looks like it’s still on.”
Kira looked outside the window. The familiar blue glow still surrounded their ship. “I know. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Maybe the meter is wrong? Maybe too many gravity fields are pulling it out of whack?”
“You know it doesn’t work like that. It’s reading the power levels on a self-contained feedback loop.”
“I don’t like it, either. But the shields wouldn’t just drop without pulling power from somewhere. Everything else is still functioning normally.” Lana tugged at the yoke to prove it.
But the ship didn’t change directions.
Frantic, she hit the throttle. Then the retrorockets.
Nothing.
“Shit.”
“What’s happening, Riley?”
“I don’t know.
It won’t…” Lana frantically tugged at the yoke, pushing a series of buttons and attempting to reclaim control of the ship.
The cabin lights flickered and dimmed as the ominous red glow of the emergency lights took their place. The ship’s sensors went dark, leaving them blind to everything but the blackness of the void outside their window and the ominous, spinning asteroids outside their window.
“Shit, shit, shit.”
“Okay,” Lana said. “I know. But that won’t help.” She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Let it in, she told herself. Get through it. She let the weight of their predicament rush through her and let the fear in. Let it run its course, as she’d done a thousand times before.
“Riley,” said Kira, shaking her from her trance.
“Alright. Let’s think through this. The instruments aren’t working. The shield is down. We’re still breathing, though, so at least the life support systems are still good. And the emergency lights are on, so the auxiliary is working. We’re not dead. It’s fixable.”
“Damn right it’s fixable. I’m not going out like this. If I’m going to die young, it’s got to be more glamorous than a power failure.” Kira always kept things in perspective.
Lana couldn’t help but smile. It’s just a small setback. You’ve dealt with far worse. “Damn right,” she said.
The tension broke as the pair erupted into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, but their relief was short-lived.
With a buzz and a hiss, a glowing blanket of white light enveloped the Endurance. The ship juddered and lurched to a halt, throwing Kira unceremoniously forward into the console.
What the hell?
“Lana, was that you?”
“Something stopped us.”
“Not an asteroid. We’d be torn to pieces without the shield.”
“Yeah, and no glowing field. Someone’s out there.” She tapped at the console with a silent prayer that the sensors would come back online.
They were blind, and they were trapped. Fear surged through her again. Whatever happened wasn’t natural. And it wasn’t mechanical.
Someone was out there.
And in Gamma, that was bad news.
“Riley, what do we do?”
Lana closed her eyes again, trying to will the fear away. Will her rationality to come back in and deliver an answer. But her mind was as blank as the scanner in front of her.
“What you do,” came a deep, commanding, masculine voice behind them, “is surrender.”
Chapter 4
The holding cell on board his ship was cold. It wasn’t just the naked, grey steel, or the austere lack of creature comforts. It was freezing. What kind of asshole would keep his ship so cold? Did he think he was toughening up his men by subjecting them to a never-ending barrage of discomfort? Or maybe it was just that Lana had spent too long under the scorching Tarksis sun. Whatever. Either way, it was a distraction. And she couldn’t collect her thoughts.
She wrenched her body up against the hard wall of the cramped holding cell and tried to get her bearings. She didn’t have a good visual map of the ship; their captors had blindfolded them before bringing them on board. Lana didn’t see the point. It’s not like they had anywhere to go. Even if they managed to free themselves from the cell, they had no chance of overpowering a crew of Kamaran pirates.
“Well, we’re good and fucked now, aren’t we?”
Kira stirred, still laying on the ship’s floor after being unceremoniously dumped there by the large, dark-skinned, stubble-strewn Kamaran who carried her. “It could be worse. At least we weren’t smashed into bits by an asteroid. This we actually have a chance of surviving.”
“Somehow, I doubt that.”
“Come on, Riley. I saw the way he looked at you.”
Lana flushed the color of rich Tarksis clay. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kira propped her body upright, ignoring the aches in her shoulder and shot Lana a knowing glance. “You’re such a terrible liar. He wanted you bad. Why didn’t you tell me you had a secret pirate boyfriend?”
“Are you kidding me right now?”
Kira sighed. “Okay, first: It would explain your total lack of interest in anyone else. And I wouldn’t blame you for keeping a secret. I mean, you should have trusted me, but still. I get it. He’s gorgeous.”
“You are serious.”
“Second: He knew your name. How does he know your name? It’s not like it’s written across the side of the Endurance. And last I checked, we don’t wear nametags.”
“He could have learned my name anywhere. Heard us on a comm channel. Stolen a flight plan from the Consortium.”
“No. He knew who you were. I saw.”
Lana looked away. She didn’t want to tell Kira what happened at the Bazaar, but it was clear she wasn’t going to let it drop. Besides, secrets made her queasy. And since they were going to die here anyway, there was no harm in filling her in.
“I may have bumped into him once before.” She watched Kira’s eyes go wide with interest. “At the Bazaar. He…” she hesitated. She still hadn’t processed just how close she came to being kidnapped by that slaver. “He saved me from a Ratolian slaver.”
“He what? Holy shit, Riley!”
“This morning, when I left Sakaj’s place, I was attacked in the alley. And the Kamaran protected me. He killed the Ratolian. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but…”
“You didn’t want me to tease you about finding your prince.” Kira could be surprisingly astute when she wanted to be.
“And he’s clearly not a prince, because here we are. Locked up on his ship. No different than if he’d let the slaver have me.”
“Come on, Riley. You don’t know that. I mean, the guy did save you, right? Most people don’t go around saving strangers for no reason. He can’t be all bad. Maybe we can reason with him.”
“Look around. We’re locked in a cell. He’s a gods damned pirate, Kira. He didn’t have any noble reason for saving me back there. He was just waiting until we had the cargo, so that he’d have something valuable to sell.”
“I don’t buy that. He killed the Ratolian. But here we are. In a cell, maybe, but safe. Why not kill us, too?”
Lana’s mind raced. She could think of a few reasons. None of them comforting.
“I don’t know, Kira. But it doesn’t matter anyway. It doesn’t change anything. We still don’t have a way out of here. They still have our cargo. The Consortium will never hire us again, and Tanner…I have to get back home to Tanner.”
“I know, Riley. We’ll find a way. I still think your best bet is to talk to him.”
She hated to admit it, but Kira had a point. The pirate, Adaar, didn’t seem cruel when she met him at the Bazaar. He was cocky. And arrogant. But not cruel. Maybe there was a chance for them after all.
***
Two thousand eight hundred forty-two. That’s how many little steel rivets held down the imposing walls of their prison. Or at least, that was as close to accurate as Lana cared to get. As she lay awake counting them, the distant ones bled together and she couldn’t be sure which ones she’d forgotten. Not that it mattered, but it was a welcome distraction. And she didn’t have many alternatives. Maybe she’d count them again, just to be sure…
The pistons hissed as the steel door slid open. The dark-skinned Kamaran entered, his expression unreadable. “You. Lana Riley,” he said. His voice wasn’t cold, but the no-nonsense tone told Lana this wasn’t the time act out or try anything foolish. “They call me Ja’al.”
He smiled at her and extended his hand to help her up. “Come with me. Captain wants to see you.”
Lana glared at his outstretched hand, not sure if she could trust him. She pushed herself up from the floor. Her muscles ached from inactivity, but she refused to show any sign of weakness. She risked a quick glance back at Kira before following the Kamaran through the open door. Time for answers.
“Follow me.”
Lana took in as m
uch of her surroundings as she could, trying to glean any information that might be helpful in her conversation with the captain. The halls were narrow, but not claustrophobic. Most likely built that way to keep the ship’s overall size to a minimum. Which meant that they were probably on a frigate, like the Endurance. It made perfect sense for a band of pirates who relied on speed and stealth instead of brute force.
When they arrived at the great cabin, Ja’al lifted his palm to the glowing sensor and paused. “You don’t seem like a bad person, Lana Riley.”
Her eyes widened at the strange comment, but before she could form a response Ja’al palmed the scanner and the door hissed open.
Adaar sat back in a plush red chair, his feet resting on the steel table in the center of the room. “Lana Riley,” he said, beckoning her inside.
“You!” she shrieked as she rushed forward. So much for containing her emotions.
Ja’al’s reflexes were quick. He lunged with the speed of a Fel snake, grabbing her arms out of the air and wrenching them around behind her back.
“Let her go, Ja’al. It’s okay. She has every right to be angry. Poor girl has no idea what’s going on.”
The big man’s fingers tensed around her before he reluctantly released her.
“The hell I don’t,” said Lana, jerking away from her captor’s grip. “You’re a damned pirate. What was that act back on Tarksis? Trying to help when you can?” Her skin tightened in disgust. “Thought maybe you’d seduce a local? A girl in every port? Well not me. I’m not your girl.”
“Clearly,” he said.
“You’re nothing but a thug.” Her words caught in her throat. Even as she searched for an insult to throw at him, she couldn’t help admiring his calm demeanor. The perfect control he exerted over his emotions. And the radiant cerulean eyes that bored straight into her soul.
“I’m much more than that, Lana.”
“You’re…”
“Captain Adaar of the Gamma Raiders.”
“…the worst pirate in the sector. In the whole damn galaxy!”