The Renegade Star Series: Books 1-3 (Renegade Star Box Set)

by JN Chaney

  When we made the turn at the end of the corridor, heading toward the open hangar, Abigail turned to me and said, “You could at least say thank you!”

  “And give you the satisfaction?” I asked, still screaming over the ringing in my ears. “I’d never live it down!”

  * * *

  The airlock closed and I ran to the bridge, ready to give the order to leave, when I heard Freddie’s voice. “Someone’s outside!”

  “Of course they are!” I returned. “We’ve got Sarkonians after us!”

  “No, it’s not a soldier,” he said.

  Hitchens ran to the window. “He’s right! It appears to be a young girl.”

  “A girl?” asked Bolin, who was sitting on the couch. Octavia was in the process of bandaging his back shoulder, but he pushed himself up. “What does she look like?”

  “It’s Camilla,” said Abigail. “Quickly, Sigmond, open the door!”

  “Understood,” said the A.I.

  I looked outside to see the preteen running to the airlock, and shrugged. “Get her inside if you want. I’m getting us out of here in two minutes!”

  I hustled to the cockpit, fastening my harness as soon as I was in the chair. “Siggy, tell me the second we’re ready for lift-off.”

  “Acknowledged,” he answered. Roughly ten seconds later, he followed it with, “All systems are ready for take-off.”

  “Is the girl onboard?” I asked. “Camilla.”

  “She just entered,” Siggy informed me. “Closing the airlock now.”

  “Good,” I said, flipping the ignition switch. We lifted off the ground, hovering momentarily, and then blasted forward in a damn hurry, breaking half-a-dozen flight laws in the process.

  Several of the nearby ships wavered in place, but none took any serious damage. In a few short seconds, we were clear of the moon.

  “Any pursuing ships?” I asked, quickly.

  “None so far,” said Sigmond.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s get gone,” I said, leaning back in my seat. “I think I’ve had my fill of people for today.”

  EIGHT

  Bolin was in tears, hugging his little girl when I came back into the lounge. His hand was still wrapped and bleeding, but he barely seemed to notice. All his focus was on his daughter.

  “Papa, I’m okay,” she said, her voice muffled as he squeezed her.

  “My little girl!” he cried.

  “You’re both safe now,” said Abigail. “That’s what matters.”

  “Everyone good?” I asked, looking at each of them. No one, aside from Bolin, appeared to have any injuries.

  I also spotted Lex next to Octavia, watching the entire scene, a curious look on her face.

  “Thank you so much for getting us out of there,” said Bolin, turning to me. He had wide eyes and his cheeks were red from all the crying.

  “We’re cloaked and on the move,” I explained. “The tunnel isn’t far. We were headed to a space station, not far from here. If you want, you can find an outbound ship to take you away from the border. I’d recommend getting as far from Sarkonian space as possible. I’m sure you’re wanted fugitives by now.”

  The girl looked at her father. “What are we going to do now?”

  “I don’t know, Camilla. I suppose we’ll have to start over.”

  She frowned, sniffling. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble, Papa.”

  “It’s not your fault. I never should have gone to that awful place.”

  It actually is her fault, since she stole that box in her arm, I thought, but kept my mouth shut.

  “We should have left the second we arrived. I was a fool to think it had what we needed,” said Bolin.

  “Which was, what, exactly?” I asked.

  They both looked at me.

  I decided to clarify. “What did you go to that moon for?”

  “Opportunity,” said Bolin. “I wanted a fresh start. We both did.”

  “A fresh start from what?” asked Octavia.

  “The Sarkonian Empire invaded our system,” explained Bolin. “The occupation forced people to leave, and now most are scattered across the system. The new government began offering work a few months later, so I took one.” He shook his head. “I didn’t want to, but it was the only job I could find.”

  “I get it,” I said. “Gotta do what you can to survive.”

  “Exactly. The Sarkonians won’t let you leave their territory once they consider you a citizen, so I could only take what I found. This was the best option.” He dropped his head. “Gods, listen to me.”

  “It’s okay, Bolin. You did the best you could,” said Freddie.

  “I almost lost my daughter today,” he muttered. “I’ll never forgive myself.”

  “But you didn’t lose her,” I said.

  “No thanks to me,” he answered. “It was you, sir. You saved her.”

  I fanned my hand at him. “She saved herself.”

  I returned to the front of the ship right as we approached the next tunnel. A rift formed and we went in, leaving the colony behind and, with any luck, the Sarkonians with it.

  * * *

  I gave Camilla my room while Bolin slept on the couch. It was fine, since I preferred to stay at the helm. Our flight time through the tunnel was short, so all I could afford was a nap. It would have been a decent one if Hitchens hadn’t come knocking, interrupting me.

  “Sorry to bother you,” he said, stepping into the cockpit. He was entirely too fat to be here, but I didn’t say anything.

  “What is it?” I asked, hoping to cut through the small talk.

  “With everything happening, I was never able to follow up with you.”

  I wiped my eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Back in the lounge, when Lex and I were opening that box. I asked if I could speak with you about something. It was actually rather urgent, but the situation escalated and—”

  I held up a hand. “I get it.”

  He nodded. “Right, of course,” he said, continuing. “It’s about the star chart and our current heading.”

  “Oh?” I asked. “You find a better route?”

  “Not quite,” he answered. “I was studying the chart with Lex and comparing it to the galactic net’s universal starchart. Granted, there are many unexplored regions, but it seems our end destination has already been explored and no planets were found.”

  “You mean the map leads to nothing?” I asked.

  This was just great. I was a wanted fugitive in two empires without much money and hardly any supplies, and for what?

  “Oh, no, Captain, that’s not what I was saying. There’s definitely something there. It simply isn’t Earth.”

  “You’re not helping your case, Hitchens. Just tell me what it is.”

  “In short, a planet, but nothing like what we’re after. I believe, rather, this to be a second step along the path. I suspect the atlas is leading us to the beginning of the next leg of our journey.”

  “Next leg? You think this atlas of ours is only the first half or something?”

  “That could certainly be the case. I wish I could say I knew.” He scratched the side of his face. “In any case, we must continue to follow the map. I’m certain we’ll find an answer if we remain vigilant.”

  “Not like we got a choice,” I muttered. “We can’t go back.”

  “No, I don’t suppose we can,” he said, shaking his head. “But at least we can keep moving forward.”

  * * *

  The slip tunnel took us into a system right outside a nebula. There was a bustling space station here, which happened to be just outside of Sarkonian territory. According to the galnet, the station was owned by a scientific research organization that paid a healthy tax to the Sarkonians to allow them access to this region.

  Seemed like a waste of money to me, but what did I know?

  “There are three ships with Deadlands identifiers,” informed Sigmond.

  “Put
me through to the one with the cleanest record,” I said.

  A few seconds later, I was chatting with a guy named Hutch about taking two passengers into safer space. He agreed to a modest payment of four hundred credits and a bit of manual labor while onboard, and I told him that was fair. I knew Bolin would do whatever he had to in order to get his daughter to safety. If that meant cleaning some dishes and mopping a few floors for a week or two, I figured he could handle it.

  I docked The Star with the science station, but didn’t plan to stay very long. The encounter on our last stop still had me looking over my shoulder for the Sarkonians, which wasn’t a feeling I enjoyed. The faster we left, the sooner I’d be satisfied.

  Of course, our path had us heading directly into Sarkonian space again, which wasn’t exactly ideal, but slipspace tunnels weren’t flexible. They only ran through specific paths and ultimately didn’t give a damn what you wanted. Our next tunnel, if we still planned on moving forward, remained our only option.

  Once I had the ship docked, I opened the airlock and told everyone to get out and stretch. “Grab a drink if you’re thirsty. Get some food. We lost our supplies in the city, so this is the place to pick up what you can.”

  “What about us?” asked Bolin.

  “I’ve already found a ship willing to take you,” I said.

  He looked surprised. “You did that for us? Thank you so much!”

  “It was nothing. I just made a phone call. Go to docking platform three and ask for Hutch. He’s the captain of that ship. It’s a cargo transport that specializes in…what was it, Siggy?”

  “The procurement and transfer of adult entertainment, including video, holographic, handheld devices, and artificial humanoid replicants,” responded Sigmond.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said. “He transports exotic goods. Nothing to worry about.”

  The girl, Camilla, was standing a few meters from us, talking to Lex. Her father called her over, after a moment, and told her it was time to leave. “Already? I was hoping to stay.”

  “These people have done enough for us, Camilla. We need to take care of ourselves now,” said Bolin.

  She nodded, looking at me. “I kept the box,” she finally said, and lifted it up. “I left it inside on the couch. You can have it for saving us.”

  “That’s nice of you,” I said.

  “I just found it in that pit, and we would’ve sold it to you if those soldiers didn’t come.”

  Bolin smiled, hugging his daughter. “She’s a good one, my angel.”

  The kid was a thief, so not much of an angel, but I didn’t argue with the man. If he wanted to believe she was an innocent do-gooder, then by all means, let him delude himself.

  “Bolin, a word?” called Octavia. “I need to check those wounds before you go.”

  “Ah, yes, thank you!” said the former shopkeeper. He looked at me. “Thank you again, Captain.”

  He went quickly to Octavia, who waited patiently with a medkit in her lap. Hitchens was there to assist, as usual.

  Camilla stayed next to me, her eyes still on me.

  I glanced at her, wondering why she hadn’t followed her father. “Why are you still here?” I asked.

  She seemed to study me. “You’re a Renegade, aren’t you?”

  I raised my eye. “Who told you about that? Was it Abigail?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve heard of Renegades. You steal and do what you have to do to stay alive. You’re like me.”

  “You ain’t far off,” I told her. “But you’re also not close. You do what you have to because you have no choice. I do it because I like it.”

  “You like stealing?” she asked.

  “Only under the right circumstances,” I explained. “But yeah, I do, and I’m pretty damn good at it.”

  “I only did it to help my Papa,” she said, glancing at her father. He had his shirt off next to Octavia, who seemed more than eager to touch his back and reapply his bandage. “He does everything for me.”

  “You’re right, he does,” I said. “You want to take care of him?”

  She nodded.

  “Then, stay out of trouble. Do what he tells you. Don’t be like me, kid. It ain’t good for your health.”

  She lowered her head, her face full of disappointment. I could tell she wanted more.

  I let out a long sigh. “Look, kid, you’re not bad at thieving, but you keep going about it the way you are, you’ll wind up dead or in a cage. You gotta get some brains if you wanna stay ahead.”

  “Brains?”

  “When I was your age, I got arrested for stealing some bread. This was back on Epsy and I lived on the streets. Once they let me out of juvy, I got set up with a parole officer. You want to know what he told me?”

  “Something about being good and getting off drugs?” she asked.

  “Nah,” I said, fanning my hand. “He said if I wanted to stay out of trouble, I had to work on not getting caught.”

  “What? Your parole officer said that? Why?”

  I smirked. “His name was Jesson. Not really your average parole officer, but he was a good guy and he taught me to steal.”

  “He taught you? But isn’t that bad for a parole officer to do?”

  “Not on Epsy. That place was bad news. You had to be smart to get through those streets. Jesson understood that. He didn’t waste time teaching us how to be upstanding citizens, only how to survive. That’s the trick to this galaxy, kid. You gotta learn how to keep yourself alive. Sometimes that means stealing a loaf of bread to feed yourself. Other times, maybe it means you gotta shoot someone. Either way, the point is survival. Jesson showed me what I was doing wrong, running in blind, not understanding the layout of a place. He taught me how to set a mark and follow them. Study them. That’s your problem, kid. You didn’t case that facility before you snuck in. Even if you think you did, you didn’t do a good job, because those cameras picked you up and that’s how they got you. That’s how you got caught. You gotta know all the blind spots, all the cracks in the glass. Next time, plan it out better. Be better than the fools chasing you and you’ll always come out ahead. More importantly, when everything finally does go to shit, have yourself a way out.”

  She nodded, slowly. “Blind spots. A way out. I think I get it.”

  “No, you don’t,” I said, patting her shoulder. “But maybe you will in a few years, once you’ve fucked up a few more times.”

  NINE

  I made sure we didn’t stay on the station for too long. I figured it would be better for survival if we kept moving.

  Hitchens and Octavia returned with a cart full of machines. I had no idea what any of it was, but I figured if they went through the trouble, it must be worth it.

  We still didn’t fully understand what was going on with Lex, after all, and something told me it would do us well to figure it out.

  I moved The Renegade Star towards a nearby gas giant, closer to the next slip tunnel. “We ready to go, Siggy?”

  “Yes, sir. Activating the slipspace drive now.”

  I brought up the star chart, examining the data I’d pulled from the device Hitchens had given me. The entire galaxy came into view, and a thin golden line stretched from one system to another, somewhere far from here, towards the outer rim. It was out of known space, as far as I knew. I had a hard time believing Earth, if it even existed, was so far away.

  But hell, this map had to lead somewhere. They usually did, from my experience. Maybe this was the flight path of an old research ship from two thousand years ago, back when this technology was in its prime. Maybe we could scrap what we found and sell it off. If this whole expedition fell apart, there was still a chance I’d walk away with something.

  Shit, you had to stay optimistic, right?

  A tear in space formed ahead of me, just above one of the gas giant’s eighty-six moons.

  “The tunnel is clear, sir. Shall I proceed?”

  “How long are we looking at this time?” I asked.

  “
Fifteen hours, approximately.”

  “Long enough for whiskey and regrets,” I said. “Take us in, Siggy.”

  “Proceeding, sir.”

  The ship shuddered as our thrusters ignited, followed by a loud SNAP.

  My seat jerked.

  The Foxy Stardust on my dash bobbled violently.

  “Sir, I am detecting unusual activity along the outer hull,” said Sigmond.

  The Renegade Star rattled again, this time so much that I felt my body slam into the harness around my shoulder. “Is that a fact?” I snapped. “Stop moving and scan the ship. Find out if we were hit by some kind of debris.”

  I activated the ship’s com. “Attention, we’re experiencing some turbulence. Sit your asses down and buckle up.”

  “Captain Hughes!” screamed a voice from the lounge. “You need to get out here now!”

  I unbuckled my harness. “I swear to gods, Siggy, if you ran us into an asteroid, I’m going to kick your digital ass.”

  “I pray that isn’t the case, sir.”

  The cockpit door slid open and I stepped into the lounge. Abigail was standing near the window, staring with a wide-eyed expression. She turned to look at me, open-mouthed. “We have a problem!”