by Jaleta Clegg
Chapter 25
We landed again on some nameless planet somewhere. Harris went past me on the bench to talk to someone over the com before we landed. He had ignored me ever since I made that call to the Avenger. He was preoccupied with something else. I suspected he was unbalanced mentally. He went through manic phases with a regularity that I could have set the ship’s clock by. He worked feverishly for hours. Then he disappeared into my cabin. He came back out, looking refreshed. And went back to work on whatever it was he was doing.
I sat on the bench. If I needed something, I had to get Tom to escort me. My thug was never more than arm’s reach away. I ran a hand over the stubble on my head while Jerimon and the other pilot eased us into an orbit and down. The landing had to have been tricky, considering we had no working stabilizers. I stared at my hands while they landed my ship. I wanted to be in there, in my chair, where I belonged, not back here on the bench.
The force cuffs I wore constantly were just another piece of clothing. I had a hard time remembering how it felt to have hands that moved separately. At least Harris hadn’t tried chaining me again.
Ghost appeared out of the access port overhead as the ship shut down. She showed up occasionally, usually when Harris and his thugs were elsewhere. She tolerated Tom, mostly because he’d started feeding her. Maybe he had a heart after all.
"Darien." My voice was hoarse, I hadn’t used it in days except for simple requests to Tom.
Harris looked over at me. His eyes were cold and hard.
I swallowed what pride I had left. "Let the others go, please. I did what you asked. Keep me and do whatever you want to me, but let the others go. Please."
He looked amused. "Certainly. I’ll let them go here." He laughed at the sudden hope on my face. "You have no idea where we are, do you?"
I shook my head.
"A nameless little planetoid in a system the Empire never bothered to do more than catalog. Red dwarf sun, no planets to mention, just a lot of small rocks." He stuffed papers into a bag. "I’ll let your friends out on the surface here. I’ll even give them spacesuits."
"And in a few hours they’ll be dead, when they run out of air," I finished for him. I heard someone hooking an airlock to my ship.
"Most astute, captain," Harris said.
"Then let them go on the next inhabited planet," I begged. "I’ve done what you want. Take your revenge on me and not them."
"Keep trying, Dace. You’re not pathetic enough. Although the haircut helps." He and his three thugs opened the hatch. He used the airlock, sending one of the thugs first to test the airtight seal.
It must have been tight enough. There wasn’t a body in the airlock when he cycled the door open again. He went through with his other two thugs crowding behind.
I sagged against the wall, tucking my feet on the cushion. I had to keep trying. I had to do something. Maybe I could get Tom to help me.
"Tom," I said.
"No," he answered before I had a chance to ask anything. "I got my orders. And they don’t come from you."
"Just open the door, let me talk to them. They’ve been shut in there for days." I waited, giving Tom my most pleading look.
He didn’t budge. I petted Ghost who had curled up in my lap. I kept the cuffs away from her the best I could. Tom relented enough to take the cuffs off.
"No funny business," he warned me. "Or I’ll get the chains."
Harris wouldn’t be back for a while, I surmised. Which meant my screaming wouldn’t bother him. I shuddered and promised Tom I’d be on my best behavior.
Jerimon and the other two came out of the cockpit. The others headed for the airlock. Jerimon stretched and watched them leave. His eyes drifted down to me. I ducked my head and watched Ghost’s ears twitch.
He moved away and unlocked the door to the cabin where the others were being held. Tom looked up sharply.
"They aren’t going anywhere," Jerimon said. "Not without fuel and new stabilizers."
Tom still looked suspicious.
"Call Harris and ask him, I got his permission earlier." Jerimon sounded convincing enough that Tom backed down.
My thug leaned against the wall, eyes back on me.
Jerimon opened the door. I half hoped Clark or Habim would jump him and pound him into the fibermat floor. They didn’t. Jerimon went into the cabin. I heard him talking to the others.
Jasyn came out of the cabin. She looked over at me on the bench. Tom gave her a glare and folded his massive arms across his chest. Jasyn chose to ignore him. She crossed the lounge and sat near me. Ghost perked up and mewed at her. She reached over and scratched the cat under her chin.
"Do I want to know what they keep doing to you?" she finally asked. "We heard you screaming."
I shifted on the cushion. I still had bruises from the last beating. "They tried chaining me to the wall. I’ve found out I’m just as phobic about that as I am about open fires."
Jasyn nodded. She had her hair in a loose braid, a single strand slithered over her shoulder. She tucked it behind her ear. "What happened to your hair?"
"Ask your brother."
She let that slide by without comment. "What do they want of us? Of you?"
"Darien Harris is one of the top people in Targon. He wants revenge. How’s Habim holding up?"
"Clark has to keep breaking the three com units we’ve got so Habim can keep fixing them. The problem is we’re running out of parts. Habim can put things back faster than Clark can remove them. How much longer, Dace?"
I shrugged.
Tom shifted uneasily. "That's long enough." The implied threat was that if Harris came back and found the others out of the cabin Tom would be blamed. And then he’d make my life miserable.
"Do we have any hope?" she asked me, leaning in close to whisper.
Tom gave her a black look.
"Tayvis knows," I said quietly and hoped it was true.
"No problem, then," she whispered.
"Jasyn, I’m sorry you got mixed up in this. It’s my fault."
"It isn’t always your fault, Dace." She stood and smiled at Tom. "Do you mind if I fetch some clean clothes from my cabin?"
He looked suspiciously at me before he nodded.
"You stay put," he grumbled to me. He moved to stand in the doorway of Jasyn’s cabin so he could watch her as she rummaged through her drawers. I stayed put, he was still within arm’s reach. His arms were huge.
Jasyn came out with an armful. She smiled at Tom, the high wattage one that no male had ever resisted. "You’re not so bad."
Tom watched her walk into the other cabin. His jaw hung loose. He turned back to me suddenly. "Don’t say nothing," he said to me.
"Never," I said.
Ginni stuck her head out the cabin door. She looked scared. Tom’s patience was wearing thin. He glared at her and she scuttled back into the cabin.
Jerimon came out and shut the door behind him. He didn’t lock it. I hoped Tom wouldn’t notice but he did. He glared at Jerimon until Jerimon flipped the lock on. Tom settled in his chair, staring impassively at me, just like he had for the last week. Jerimon went into the end cabin.
I petted Ghost and waited for time to pass.
Jerimon kept watching me, studying me as if he was looking for evidence that I was losing my mind. His watching drove me crazy. I tried my best to ignore him. I was mad at him, wasn’t I? I wasn’t sure anymore. It took too much energy to keep the rage going.
Harris didn't come back until two days later. Tom relaxed enough to let me visit with the others. He listened to every word we said, though. I watched what I said and hoped I was giving enough silent signals that Tom missed.
As soon as the airlock began to cycle, Tom snapped to attention. He dragged me out of the cabin and slammed the door, locking it with record speed. I did what I could to pay him back for the favor. I settled on the bench and pretended I hadn’t left it at all the last two days. I even put the force cuffs back on. Tom moved to stand over me, watchi
ng and making sure I really had fastened them all the way. I hated doing it, but I didn’t want to make trouble if I could avoid it, not until I had a plan.
Harris breezed in, all smiles. He patted my cheek. I jerked away from his hand.
"Touchy," he commented. "No matter. I’ve made arrangements for you, Dace. I found a buyer who was most interested in you. He says you put him in prison and he hates you for it."
"Which one?" I asked tiredly. There were more than I wanted to count.
"Oh, I had several very good offers. Only one of them actually had the money, though. After we collect the ransom money from the Patrol, I deliver you to your new owner. I love getting paid twice for the same merchandise." He looked around the ship. "This isn’t a bad ship. I think I’ll do some remodeling, though. The decor is a bit tacky."
"And what about my crew?"
"What about them? There are always jobs with the Targon Syndicate, such as it is. I worked out a deal with Blackthorne Conglomerate. Mutual territories and information trade, business as usual. Your friends will be wanted criminals, but as long as they follow the rules, they might live. For a while." He laughed.
I wanted to kick him where I knew it would hurt most. "How do you know the Patrol will pay what you made me demand?"
"If they don’t, they’ll regret it. I have plans for that contingency, although I rather hope the Patrol pays. You aren’t worth much to me dead."
With that cheerful comment, he breezed into my cabin. I was left with dark thoughts. Who had bought me? What future did I have if Tayvis hadn’t understood my message? Darien Harris was not a man of his word, except when it was in his best interest to be. I wondered if Jerimon understood that when he’d made his deal with Harris.
Harris made a few more calls later that day. We were visited by a grubby old man who fixed the stabilizers, grumbling to himself the whole time. I wanted to tell Harris that I could fix my own ship, that I preferred to do it myself, but I doubted he would listen or trust me. I itched to touch my ship again, to fix something and to fly it again.
We lifted off soon after the grumbling old man shuffled out. Whoever was on the rock we landed on detached the airlock with a lot of banging on the hull. Jerimon walked past me without a single glance in my direction. He lifted us off with casual skill. I wanted to be in there so bad I could taste it.
Harris looked up from the table where he drank from the mug with my name on it. Darus had bought it for me on Parrus. He smiled and raised the mug in salute to me. I turned away, staring instead at the access panel next to my head.
"I think I’ll paint over the jungle scene," Harris said. "I like the fish, though. Maybe I’ll keep them."
I didn’t respond. It would only let him know how much that stung.
He kept trying to bait me while the ship built up speed, reaching for the jump point. We slid through into hyperspace. Harris gave up taunting me and went back to his planning.
I retreated into sleep. It was the only safe place left, despite the nightmares that haunted me.
I found myself dreaming of the forest on Burundia. No matter how fast I ran, Luke Verity was always right behind me. And Rinth kept dying, over and over. No, sleep wasn’t a safe place. It never really had been.
I gave up and tried daydreaming instead. Except I didn’t know how. It was a very long trip.
Chapter 26
The Avenger slid into normal space. Tayvis stood near Suweya as he captained the ship. The com tech placed the call to traffic control. Tayvis watched as they passed a gas giant and came in sight of the station.
Viya Station was a gleaming ring of metal spinning sedately in space. Half the docking ports held huge ore freighters that mined gases, metals, and rocks from the planets orbiting in the system. There was also a fairly large Patrol base at Viya. He wondered if they’d remember him. He’d caused them enough troubles that they might not be very cooperative.
He tugged at his collar. He was back in Enforcer black, without insignia. There were limits to what miracles the quartermaster could work, especially in deep space.
Darus was in the gunnery station, at his post. Tayvis had no intention of relieving him of that duty. He glanced at the clock display near the main viewscreen. It had been seven days since the call from Dace. They had less than three to collect the money and be at the rendezvous point. Without cooperation, he might not make it. No, he couldn’t let himself think that way. He had to be there.
His plan was still tenuous. He hadn’t told Darus yet. He was half afraid Darus would tell him it was stupid and talk him out of it. The problem was he couldn’t think of anything better.
The station grew slowly in the viewscreen. The bridge of the ship was deathly quiet, except for the necessary talk. The air around the captain and Tayvis felt at least forty degrees colder than the rest of the ship. No one at the two bases they’d stopped at for refueling would confirm or deny Tayvis’ status. Tayvis knew Suweya would demand real proof here at Viya. If Tayvis couldn’t produce it, he was in big trouble. And so was Dace. He couldn’t let that happen.
The com tech turned and looked uncertainly over his shoulder at Tayvis. "There’s a message for you, sir."
Suweya stood.
"Not for you, captain. They sent it to Sector Commander Tayvis, sir."
Suweya sat back down. The rigid line of his back told Tayvis this wasn’t the confirmation he wanted. Tayvis stepped off the command platform and crossed over to the com tech.
"Please play it for me."
The com tech, a man he’d played comets with more than once when he was still an ensign, gave no sign that he knew Tayvis. He was stiffly correct in his manner. He typed in the retrieval code and shifted over so Tayvis could read his message.
The cryptic note was only ten words long. Welcome back, Commander. Situation Dace understood. Viya Patrol Command 10:00. It wasn’t signed, it didn’t need to be. Tayvis glanced at the clock. Nine thirty. They were docking on a priority signal. It would take the ship another fifteen minutes to dock. It would be tight. Just like Lowell had planned. Have Tayvis show up rushed and unprepared. It would keep him off guard and give Lowell that much more leverage. As if he didn’t have enough already.
Tayvis wasn’t about to play that game. He erased the message and took his place back on the command platform next to Captain Suweya.
"You want confirmation of my status?"
Suweya looked up.
"Come with me and meet Lowell in person," Tayvis said. "He’s waiting for me on the station."
"As you say, Commander," Suweya said formally.
They slid past the waiting freighters, a slim predator swimming through the wallowing whales. The Avenger docked. Tayvis waited while Suweya supervised the connections. He glanced at the clock. He was going to be late. And he was not going to worry over it, either. Let Lowell wait. It would serve him right.
Suweya stood when the ship was docked. "Jimmon, take the ship. Commander Tayvis and I have business on station." He motioned to Tayvis. "After you, Commander."
Tayvis led the way off the bridge.
Darus stood near the airlock when they approached. He looked at Captain Suweya. "Permission to accompany you, sir," he said and saluted.
Suweya shot a glance at Tayvis. "You’re stealing my Gunnery CO, Commander."
"Only with your permission."
"Permission granted."
Darus fell in behind them. He wore formal dress, Tayvis noted. The dockworkers in Patrol uniforms snapped to attention and saluted as they passed by.
The offices weren’t far, just inside the docking ring. They were obviously expected. Aides stood at attention and sent them farther into the maze of rooms. The carpet got deeper and plusher the farther they went. They passed a final set of aides, these wearing full uniform and higher ranks, and were ushered into a conference room that was huge, for a station. The carpet underfoot was thick and soft. The lights were mellow, not the harsh lights of the docking bay. The table in the center was real woo
d. Tayvis noted all this, a subliminal reaction that had been trained into him until he couldn’t have not done it if he tried. All of his conscious attention was focused on the people standing around the table, watching him.
"Sector Chief Querran," he greeted the slender gray haired woman standing just to the left of the center of the group.
"Commander," she replied. "I do hope there are no hard feelings about the last time we met. You play a very convincing ensign."
Tayvis pretended he didn’t hear Suweya’s stifled cough. "No hard feelings, Chief." He turned his attention to the only other person he knew in the room. "I can’t say it’s much of a pleasure to see you again, Lowell."
"Sooner than I expected, Commander." Lowell’s look warned Tayvis he was pushing Lowell’s patience. There would be words later, in private.
Tayvis nodded, an unspoken answer that said he understood.
"Let me introduce the rest," Lowell said. "I see you brought Captain Suweya with you. And Darus Venn." He smiled and nodded at Darus. "Since it’s your daughter involved I think we can make an exception and let you stay."
The others around Lowell shifted. Tayvis didn’t miss the suspicious glances that passed between them.
"You’ve already met Sector Chief Querran," Lowell continued. "This is Sector Chief Drummond. Fleet Commander Jenoshi, commanding the battle group currently patrolling the sector. Their staff," Lowell concluded, waving at the others. "And Station Master Tiyl." Lowell indicated the man standing stiffly next to him, the only one not in Patrol colors. Tiyl wore dark blue with the emblem for Viya Station embroidered on the front pocket. Tayvis nodded at them. Lowell gave Tayvis one last bland smile before turning back to the others. "May I introduce Sector Commander Tayvis, currently masquerading as an ensign on the Avenger?"
The others murmured the appropriate comments. Suweya turned to leave.
"Captain," Lowell stopped him. "Please stay. Your input on this interesting situation would be most appreciated."
Suweya turned back and took a seat at the table when the rest sat. He still looked out of place, outranked and intimidated by the sheer number of high ranking officers present.