by Nina Croft
“Is that when you escaped?”
“No, not that time. It’s weird, but I told myself that I needed to plan, needed to get supplies, think of a way off the asteroid. But really, I was just scared of the idea of freedom. So I climbed my way back to the surface and slavery.”
“When did you escape?”
He’d gone quiet. I wanted to see his face, and I pulled free and turned so I sat on the sandy floor facing him. “Tell me.”
“I had a twin sister. Kara. She was sold to a brothel just before I became a helldiver.”
“You were only fourteen—children. How could they do that?”
He shrugged. “Kara was the only person I ever loved. And I could do nothing for her. Occasionally, she’d get messages to me. Then one day—I was eighteen—one of the guards told me she was dead. A group of soldiers had bought her for the night. Fucked her so hard, they killed her. Apparently, they had to pay extra.”
His voice was filled with years of pain and bitterness, and my heart ached for him. I could see now why he’d been so against me going back to the slaver ship. But also why he’d wanted me to succeed. Reaching out, I cupped his cheek. “I’m so sorry, Killian. But we’ll stop this. We’ll bring them down and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Good luck with that. Things will never change.”
“They will. If enough people want them to.”
He shrugged again. He didn’t believe me and that made me sad.
“I went crazy,” he continued. “Nearly killed the bastard guard who told me—he was gloating about it. I was due for a flogging, though not too bad—I was valuable—and not until I’d done my work for the day. Anyway, as it turned out, that day I was scheduled to work on this tunnel. As I fell, I cut the cable, and I was freefalling. I almost kept going, but at the last moment the urge to live was too strong. I saved myself and once again made my way to the surface.”
“How did you get off the asteroid?” Hopefully, it would be something we could repeat now.
“Well, that was where I had a little good luck. I met Zak.”
“Was that when he was crown prince here?”
“At the turning point. He’d been kidnapped by his uncle in a coup to give control to his sister.”
“The lesbian-from-hell sister?”
“That’s the one. His uncle had brought him here. The plan was to shove him into the mines where there were no witnesses—at least, none that mattered—and let his body burn. He’d simply vanish. I killed Zak’s uncle, thought about killing Zak, but in the end I decided he’d be more useful alive than dead. We stole his uncle’s ship, renamed her the Helldiver, and away we went.”
“And you’ve been friends since?”
“Sort of. We had a few patchy moments. I was never particularly fond of Groths, so it was a hard slog. But he’s a good guy.”
“What did you do?”
“First, we found the men who had killed Kara. They all died and not well.”
“I’m glad,” I said fiercely. Before this, I’d never wanted anyone to die before.
“Then we just got whatever jobs we could. We always thought one day we’d return to Groth, get rid of his sister, put Zak back where he belonged, right all the wrongs…”
“But?”
“That sort of stuff is hard work. Instead we just fucked around. Made a bit of money, spent it. Got into trouble with some bad guys, agreed to free a slave girl from Earth…and here we are.”
“Thank you for saving me.”
“My pleasure.”
I took a deep breath. Okay, time to get serious. “What do you think is happening on the planet? Do we have any way of contacting someone?”
He shook his head. “I lost my comm unit in the crash. But hopefully your friend Rekowski made the rendezvous with his traitorous bitch of a fiancée. And hopefully, they’re well on their way back to Earth now. Zak will drop them off and then come back for us.”
“Will he be able to find us?”
“He’s still homed in on the tracking device in your head.”
“Why didn’t he just come back and find us now?”
“We discussed it, but decided that if the situation arose, then likely the place would be on the alert. This is safer. I know my way around. We can survive. By the time he gets back, things will have quietened down, and he can slip in and pick us up without anyone noticing.”
“Sounds like a plan. So all we have to do is wait?”
“We’ll need to steal some food from the stores, but that shouldn’t be too hard. We have water.” He waved at the stream. “Other than that, we’ll just have to find a way to pass the time.”
He reached for me just as a knife whizzed past my head and embedded in the wall behind us. I jumped and twisted around. A man stood in the tunnel entrance and behind him I could see others.
“Killian fucking Sharpe,” he said. “What the fuck are you doing back from the dead, you little bastard?”
Chapter Two
Killian
Shit.
I stared at the knife embedded in the wall, and then back to the man who’d spoken. For a few seconds, I didn’t recognize him. It had been a long time. Twelve years, and he’d changed in that time. A new scar ran from beneath his nose to his chin, bisecting his lips, turning his expression into a perpetual scowl. Otherwise, he looked a lot like me.
“Got nothing to say to your old uncle Joe?” he said, stepping into the cave. His gaze strayed from me to Ruby, who was sitting naked in the sand, her arms wrapped around her knees, staring from me to Joe. Her eyes were wide and worried. I’d told her we were safe, and now she clearly didn’t believe me.
And in all truth, I had no clue whether we were.
Joe and I had never been friends. In fact, I hated his fucking guts.
I got to my feet, ignoring him for a moment, and crossed to where my shirt lay on the sand. I tossed it to Ruby. She flashed me a small smile and shrugged into it, dragging it closed across her front. I pulled on my pants, then sat on the sand and tugged on my boots. I picked up my holster, strapped it on, felt a little better.
I paced the floor a few times.
I was in no hurry to talk to Joe. Though what the hell was he doing here? Last I’d seen, he’d been a slave in the mines just like me. Though he’d always talked a lot about insurrection and breaking free from the oppressors, he’d never actually done anything about it. He’d tried to recruit me once, when I was fifteen, for some group he claimed he was part of and who were going to change the world.
Fat chance. He was all talk.
Except here he was, with his ragtag band of rebels. They were all badly dressed, no real weapons that I could see, though they looked healthy enough. They must be surviving somehow.
I crossed the cavern, pulled the knife from the wall, and headed back to where he stood. I handed him the knife. “You should be more careful,” I said. “You could hurt someone with that thing.”
He might have been aiming at me, or maybe even actually aiming for the wall, but he could have hit Ruby, and that was not acceptable.
Behind me Ruby scrambled to her feet. She came to stand next to me, pressing close to my side. Her hand slipped into mine.
“Aw, isn’t that sweet?” Joe said. “Kill’s got a girlfriend. But then he was always one for the ladies. Thought he was better than us.”
“Knew I was better, more like.”
“Yeah, the fucking great helldiver. And then you died, like all the rest. Not so great. Except here you are, still alive, with your fancy gear and your fancy girlfriend. Pretty little thing, isn’t she? Are you going to introduce us?”
Was I? I’d really rather not, but before I could decide what to say, Ruby stepped forward and held out her hand, a sweet, if slightly forced, smile on her face.
Joe’s eyes widened, but he took her hand and shook it as though surprised into good behavior by her action.
“Hello, I’m Ruby Robbins.”
“Joe,” he said. “Jo
e Sharpe.”
“You’re related to Killian?”
“He’s my uncle,” I replied. “My father’s brother. And you can let go of her hand now.”
My father had been a helldiver like me. He’d died a month before I was born, so I’d never known him. Everyone told me I looked just like him. My mother hadn’t lasted much longer. She’d succumbed to a blood infection only hours after my birth. Women who bore children in the mines didn’t look for happy endings. There weren’t any.
Joe finally released her hand. “So how come you didn’t die?” he asked me.
“Caught a ledge near the molt. Found a way out.”
“And a way off the planet. How the fuck did you do that?”
“It’s a long story. But I met someone who helped me. Actually, we helped each other. Stole a ship.”
“So what are you doing back here?”
“Another long story and none of your business.”
“Actually,” Ruby interrupted, “he was rescuing me.”
“From what?”
She lifted one shoulder. “It’s a long story.”
A low rumbling sound filled the cavern. For a second I had no idea what it was, then it came again. Ruby’s stomach.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
I turned to Joe. “I don’t suppose you have any food?”
“We might. How about you come back with us, we give you food, and you tell us one of those long stories. I want to know how you got off this godforsaken place. I want to know if you can be of any help to us. Then I might decide if I let you live.”
I pulled the laser pistol from its holster and aimed it at his chest. A murmur ran through the room, but no one moved. Finally, Ruby put her hand on the barrel of the pistol and pressed it down. “He’s not going to hurt you,” she said. “He’s your uncle. And there’s no point. Besides, I’m hungry.” She batted her lashes at me and gave that sweet smile. I was being played, but she was right. I didn’t believe Joe would kill me. He might give me up if he thought there was a reward though. Or Ruby. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her.
I slowly holstered the pistol, wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and pulled her close. “Lead the way,” I said to Joe.
He turned and strode out of the cavern. The others parted to let us through and then closed in behind us. I didn’t like it. Prickles ran up and down my spine, but I kept walking. I thought we were heading up to the surface, but before we arrived, Joe turned left along a man-made tunnel that hadn’t been there last time I was here.
At my side, Ruby was limping. Without thinking about it, I picked her up and carried her. Joe glanced back over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. There wasn’t much chivalry in the slave mines. The women tended to be as tough as the men.
“I’ve got sore feet,” Ruby said to him, wiggling her toes.
He shook his head and continued on.
“Are we going to be all right?” Ruby whispered. “He won’t really try and kill you, will he?”
“Probably not.”
“He’s your uncle. Didn’t you get on?”
“He was an asshole.”
She grinned. “Maybe it runs in the family.”
“Hey, I’m not an asshole.”
Her hair was drying in curls around her head. She looked like an angel out of the old Earth books I had seen. Her stomach rumbled again.
Finally, the tunnel widened and we entered a cave hewn out of the rock. There was no natural light here, but torches flickered in sconces around the room. It was big, maybe twenty feet by twenty feet and several platforms had been cut out of the rock wall, presumably for sitting and sleeping. I placed Ruby down on one of these and looked around. The place stank, reminding me of the old slave cells; too many people, who didn’t wash enough, too close together. A flicker of the old despair threatened to catch hold. I forced it down and sat next to Ruby. Just being near her kept the old feelings at bay.
The men had followed us in and started doing stuff—hopefully cooking some food. One lit a small fire and another went to a chest, pulled out a sack and a small cauldron. He added water from a leather satchel and grain from the sack, then set it over the fire. I leaned back against the warm rock wall—nothing on the asteroids was ever cold—and pulled Ruby close. Shutting my eyes, I relaxed for the first time in…probably since we had landed on Groth. I might hate my uncle, but I felt safe here, safe enough to let down my guard. I must have fallen asleep immediately, and I had no clue for how long, but Ruby awoke me with a tap on my real arm. I blinked. A man stood in front of us, holding out two bowls of steaming food.
I took one and Ruby the other. She dipped in her spoon and put some of the sludgy, gray gruel in her mouth. I had to bite back a smile as she tried her best not to grimace at the taste. I took a mouthful of my own. It wasn’t that it was bad. No, it was more that it was…nothing. Totally bland and without flavor. Mealie meal was the staple food of the slaves, but it provided energy and not much else. It was supplemented by a monthly injection of some sort of vitamin and mineral concoction that kept them healthy enough to work.
All the same, she cleaned her bowl and I did the same. We’d better get used to it as we could be here a while.
“Hmm, that was…tasty.”
“Liar,” I muttered.
She gave me a haughty look. “Don’t be rude.” Then she fluttered her lashes at the man stirring the cauldron. A dazed look washed over his face, and he came over, took Ruby’s bowl, refilled it, and handed it to her.
“Thank you,” she murmured. “You’re so kind.”
He made no move to bring me any more food. “Stop flirting.”
“I’m not,” she said, taking a mouthful and swallowing it quickly. “I’m just being nice. You should try it sometime.”
“I never learned how and I’m too old now.”
“No, you’re not.” She turned to study me. “How old are you?”
“Thirty.”
“Oh. You look older.”
“Yeah, I probably looked thirty by the time I was twelve.”
She filled her spoon and held it out to me. “Here, have some of mine. I can be nice enough for both of us.” I ate the gruel, because she offered it, and she was nice, and I wanted to make her happy and keep her safe and… Hell, I didn’t know what else. I had no clue about this stuff.
At that moment, I was saved from any more soul-searching by Joe. He took a seat opposite us, and that appeared to be a sign for everyone to sit down. There were thirteen of them in all. All men, which was probably why they were finding Ruby’s presence so disturbing. Well, they could look, but they’d better not touch.
I decided to get the meeting going. “So,” I said, waving a hand around the group. “Who are you? What are you doing?”
Joe answered, “We are the Rebel Coalition of Groth.”
Fucking posh name for a load of loser tossers, living in a cave and eating gruel. “And how’s the rebellion going?”
Joe’s eyes narrowed. Good, I was pissing him off. “Slowly,” he said.
“Admit it. You’re just a bunch of escaped slaves, eking out an existence little better than slavery.”
“We’re still in the planning stages.”
I snorted and anger flashed across his face. This was what I wanted; some real emotion, get to the heart of the man. That was the only way I’d know if I could trust him.
“At least we stayed,” he growled. “At least we didn’t run away like a coward.”
He had to be kidding. “You think I should have stayed and done fuck all like you assholes?”
Joe got to his feet, fists clenched at his side. I tried to jump up, but Ruby gripped hold of my arm and held me in place. I satisfied myself with a glare.
Joe glanced from me to Ruby and back. “Pussy whipped as well as a coward.”
I sat back and curled my lips into a smile. “At least I’ve got some pussy. How long since you had any, Uncle?”
“Will you stop winding him up?” Ruby said
before he could answer. “Joe, thank you for the hospitality and the food. We really appreciate it, don’t we, Killian?”
My lips twitched, but I managed a nod.
“Now, I’m sure your coalition is doing some fine work and perhaps you might be able to help us a little more.”
“Maybe. But why should we?”
“Because we both want the same thing—the end of slavery on Groth.”
Joe pursed his lips then turned his attention to me. “Is that what you want as well?”
It was weird, but I’d never really thought about it too hard. Slavery was just the way things were. How could we change it?
“Of course he does,” Ruby said. Clearly, I was taking way too long to answer.
Now, I really thought about it for the first time. And she was right—I would like to tear the whole slavery system apart. I would like to bring the crappy imperial house of Groth to its knees. Make them clean their own goddamn palace. Mine their own goddamn asteroids. Then I’d like to utterly destroy the Federation and all those dickheads supposedly in charge, who stood by and did fuck all while their stupid rules were endlessly broken.
“Yes,” I said. “I want that.” And by saying the words out loud, I had a strange inkling that my life was about to change forever.
Bye-bye, fun.
Hello, serious stuff.
But maybe it was time. “I want to utterly destroy the imperial house of Groth and all the free people who never did a thing to stop this. I’d like to toss the lot of them down their own asteroid mines.”
“Actually,” Ruby said, “we want to bring them to court for breaking the Federation’s rules.”
Nice idea. But who did she really think had been standing by while all this went on? The goddamn Federation, that’s who. But I didn’t want to burst her bubble.
“Great plan,” Joe said. “But I think I’ll settle for tossing them down the mines.” He nodded to someone behind him, and the man came forward with a bottle and glasses. He handed one to me and Ruby and Joe. As he filled them up, the pungent scent of raw alcohol stung my nostrils. Obviously, Joe had decided to at least listen to us. Ruby was sniffing at the glass as though it might poison her. She took a small sip, and her eyes widened. This was the local brew, distilled from the grain which was the staple diet, and not for the uninitiated. She took another sip and smiled. “Good.”