by JN Chaney
“Abby?” I said, glancing at the nun.
The two of them stared back at me. I could sense their desperation. The need to survive, to keep going. If I didn’t get them home, they might not have a second chance.
The truth was, I’d already decided not to toss them, but they didn’t have to know that. Let them worry for a few more seconds about what the heartless Renegade was about to do.
“Tell me everything,” I said, holstering my pistol. “You do that and maybe I’ll take you the rest of the way.”
“It’s complicated,” said Abigail.
I scoffed. “A fighting nun smuggles a frozen girl on my ship and tells me it’s complicated. Lady, how much worse can it get?”
Five
A lot worse, it turned out.
“Repeat that for me, one more time,” I said, trying to process what I had just heard. “Because it sounded like you said you had the Union after you.”
“That’s right,” said Abigail.
“The Union,” I repeated. “The largest and most expansive government in thirty-two systems. The one with the most advanced military fleet in known space. That Union?”
She nodded.
“What in the hell did you do to piss them off? Aren’t you supposed to be a holy woman? Or maybe you’re some kind of assassin with all those moves you threw down on me a minute ago.”
Abigail got to her feet. “I’m a lot of things, Captain.”
“That much is clear,” I remarked.
I wanted to turn and walk away from her right then, and maybe I should have, but I also wanted to congratulate her. I was no fan of the Union, by any means. They made my job more difficult every month with all their bullshit regulations and new laws, constantly encroaching on Deadland space and other territories that were supposed to be outside their authority. Half the reason anyone lived in those sectors was to avoid their massive oversight, but they were always pushing things. Always threatening to come in and wipe us all out.
Being a Renegade, an outlaw, was never as hard as it was right now. Not when the universe’s biggest dictatorship decided to tell people how to live their lives, even when they weren’t a part of their empire. Some believed it wouldn’t be long until those bastards consumed the whole of humanity under their unified reach. All the free men and women, all the Renegades and independent colonies, would end up being nothing more than Union slaves, probably in the next few years.
If that happened, I’d have to change my name and find a new career.
Maybe something in agriculture. I always liked farming.
“Look,” she began to say, but stopped herself, looking at Lex. She paused before continuing. “Let’s talk in the hall, please.”
I shrugged. “Whatever you say, Your Holiness.”
We walked into the hall and left the weird-looking albino kid alone in her box.
She’d be fine. Probably.
Once we were out of earshot, I leaned against the corridor and said, “So, what’s the story?”
“Before I tell you, it’s important for you to understand the this may implicate you. Everything we’re caught up in could come back on you, Mr. Hughes.”
“Just get on with it,” I said, unphased.
“Fine. The short answer,” began the nun, “is that a division inside the Union has been abducting children. They’ve stolen them from across known space, from dozens of Union worlds, even a few outer-rim colonies, and, I’m not certain how much you know about the government, but—”
“Enough to believe what you’re saying is probably true,” I said, not ashamed of the hate I had for the government. I’d spent time with Union officers on several occasions. Most of it involved me getting shot at. I had no love for any of them.
“Good,” she answered. “Those people have been doing this for years. The tests they’re using on those children are complicated, so I won’t get into it, but trust me when I say that Lex is lucky to be alive.”
“Okay, but how did you get involved with a kid like that?” I asked.
“Someone in the department reached out to my congregation. They told us about the children, but specifically about Lex, and we intervened. With the help of our contact, we managed to smuggle her out of the compound. We’ve traveled twelve systems to get this far, but now we’re almost there.”
“Twelve systems? That’s three weeks of slipspace. Did she stay in the box the entire time?”
“For most of it. We had to refill the cryogenic fuel a few days ago, so we stopped at Taurus Station. I rented a room until you took the contract.”
“Worst mistake I’ve made this week,” I said. “And that’s saying something.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“You’re sorry? I started this trip with just one crazy nun and now I’m stuck looking after some kid. You should be paying me double, trying to sneak a stowaway aboard like that.”
“Double? Are you serious?”
“You paid for one ticket, not two. How is it fair to let that kid ride for free? This isn’t a charity.”
I expected anger, some sort of outburst at the notion of more money.
But her eyes were soft and easy now, less angry than before. She seemed to accept what I was saying, like it made sense to her, or maybe she just didn’t care. “Take us the rest of the way and the church will pay the rest. How does that sound to you?”
“Like a smart move on your end,” I said, picturing the ten thousand credits I’d have at the conclusion of this trip.
I didn’t like manipulating a nun for extras creds, but with Fratley breathing down my neck, I didn’t have much choice. He was pushing hard for payment and I was running out of time. If I had to be a little mean to get it done, then I’d do what I had to.
Ten thousand wouldn’t cover much of the debt I owed, but it was certainly better than five.
“Does that mean you’ll fulfill the agreement?” she asked.
“Don’t worry, lady. I’ll get you to where you need to go. You just worry about paying me that money. That’s your real job. Getting those credits. You got that?”
“I do, Captain,” she said, taking a step back into the cargo bay.
“Call me Jace,” I told her, but she didn’t say another word.
She simply returned to the little girl in the box. The albino child with the porcelain hair and the blue tattoos.
* * *
I sat in the lounge, staring at the little girl and her guardian nun as they slurped on some expired soup from my pantry.
Neither seemed to speak much, and when they did it was usually a short whisper.
Maybe they didn’t want me to hear anything or maybe they just weren’t talkers. Either way was fine with me, I decided. I liked the awkward quiet moments. They reminded me we weren’t friends.
They also kept me alert.
“Sir, may I have a moment of your time?” asked Sigmond, piercing my ear like a cawing bird in the early morning.
“What the fuck, Siggy,” I blurted out. “What is it?”
Both of the females looked at me. I had forgotten that Sigmond’s voice was coming through my earpiece rather than the overhead speakers.
“Just a second,” I told them. “Small alert from the system. No big deal.”
Abigail’s expression didn’t change, but I could see her fingers pressing into the table. The sudden outburst of mine had made her tense. No real surprise when I considered who she was running from.
I leaned back in my seat, placing my arms behind my head, staring at her in the most obnoxiously relaxed way I could. “What’s up, Siggy? Got something for me?”
“We’re reaching our first S.G. point,” said the AI. “Shall I prepare to raise the cloak?”
“Sure. Can’t be too careful,” I said.
Abigail kept her eyes on mine. “Is everything all right?”
“We’re about to hit a S.G. Point, so I was confirming with the ship’s AI. Don’t worry about it.”
“S.G. Point?” a
sked the girl, her eyes perking up.
I felt a pain in my stomach. I was so hungry. When was the last time I ate? This morning? “Siggy, do we have any of that Artesian bread left over?”
“I’m afraid not, sir.”
“Damn it. I could’ve sworn we did. What am I supposed to eat? More soup?”
“What’s an S.G. point?” Lex said again, apparently not satisfied.
“It’s where the ship comes out of slipspace,” explained Abigail. “Only for a moment, though. Don’t worry.”
“Actually, that’s only part of it,” I said, but only because I wanted to make the nun feel stupid.
“She doesn’t need the full definition,” said Abigail, giving me a look.
I ignored her, naturally. “It’s called a Slip Gap Point. You know what slipspace is, kid?”
The girl nodded.
“Well, we use those tunnels to get around, but sometimes on long trips you have to leave one to enter another. It’s like short pitstop. You follow?”
“I think so,” said Lex.
“Right, so we just need to go back into normal space for a minute or three, then we’ll launch into another slip. No big deal.”
“Why can’t we use the same tunnel until we get there?” asked Lex.
“Because not all of them go to the same place,” I said.
“Oh! Are they like roads?”
I nodded. “Sure, kid.” I took a drink of my beer, then looked at Abigail. “Better not be any Union ships when we come out, either.”
“I wouldn’t expect any. We’ve been exceptionally careful.”
“Not enough,” I said, taking another gulp of alcohol. “I found you out, didn’t I?”
“You were lucky.”
“Or you were sloppy,” I said, forming the shape of a gun with my finger. I aimed at her and pretended to fire. “Either way, it doesn’t matter. All that really matters is that it happened. You were found out.”
“What’s your point?” she asked, staring at my finger.
“That anything can happen, Ms. Pryar. None of us are ever safe.”
* * *
The space between Taurus Station and Arcadia was riddled with all manner of unsavory sorts. That included pirates, smugglers, ravagers, and anyone else trying to avoid the eye of the Union. In other words, people like myself. I knew this stretch of space better than most, so I was aware enough to avoid staying in one spot for too long.
Countless jobs had me flying through this cluster of systems, which meant I had to be prepared for a multitude of dangerous possibilities. That was why I had the cloak installed in the first place, despite the costly overhead. I paid double the price of my actual ship for this thing, but it had saved my skin more times than I could count. At this point, I wasn’t sure what I’d do without it.
We arrived out of the slip tunnel and back into normal space before long. “Initiating cloak,” announced Sigmond.
I sat in the cockpit with the tracker on, checking to see who was around. The display showed a handful of ships positioned a short distance from us. This was not uncommon, since S.D. Points were often used as rest areas with traveling merchants setting up temporary shops to sell their goods. Unfortunately for us, I could already see this was not the case.
“I’m reading three ships,” I said, examining the tracker.
“It appears they are ravagers,” said Sigmond. “Amber class.”
“So, small ones,” I responded.
“Shall I fire a warning shot?”
“Is the cloak up?” I asked.
“It is,” said Sigmond.
“Then, wait,” I said. “They should know better than to mess with a cloaked ship.”
“I believe you give people too much credit, sir.”
I was about to tell Siggy he was wrong when one of the ships fired blindly at our position. I watched as the shot missed us and faded into the darkness of space. A quick glance at the tracker showed all three ships continuing toward us. “Here we go,” I said.
“The enemy is using a hyperion shield generator. Be warned that our cannons will be ineffective at long-range.”
“Great,” I said, grabbing the controls. Hyperion shield generators were a massive pain in the ass because they could encompass an entire squad of ships, shielding all of them with at once. We would have to pinpoint which of the three had the generator onboard and then get in close enough to perform an accurate strike.
I activated The Renegade Star’s thrusters briefly, giving us some momentum before I cut throttle. The Star drifted forward, through the enemy formation as they continued firing blindly at the place we’d just left.
“Your orders, sir?” asked Sigmond.
“Wait until we’re inside their shield. Once we’re close enough, hit the one with the generator with the quad cannons.”
“Understood,” said Sigmond. “Entering enemy shield space in four seconds.”
“Don’t miss,” I muttered. “And as soon as we down them, open a tunnel and move. You hear me, Siggy?”
“I hear you, sir.”
I waited for the red light on my dash to turn green, indicating that we were close enough. I moved us behind the ship so that we were facing their exhaust. It was the weakest section of a ravager ship, by far, and it would give us the best chance.
The yellow light for the cannons came on, showing they were primed. “Preparing to fire,” Sigmond said.
“Do it.”
My seat vibrated as a series of missiles left The Renegade Star’s cannons and struck the ravager vessel, ripping it apart. The ship exploded, sending chunks of debris forward into the void, a large piece of which nearly hit one of the others in the nose. The remaining two began to turn, but as they did, I fired again, directly through the field of debris, hitting several pieces of the destroyed ship, but also managing to strike the second in the wing.
He came forward, activating his thrusters, attempting to maneuver through his deceased comrade’s remains. He must have figured that the debris would give him cover, but the same was true for me.
I released a mine, then activated my cloak and moved away from my current position, dropping thrusters as soon as I was able. The enemy ship approached my last position as it left the debris field, unaware of my actions.
As the ship activated its thrusters again, the mine attached itself to the ravager’s hull, latching on and activating.
The explosion split the ship into three pieces, keeping the forward section intact. The pilot might actually survive this encounter, if he was lucky enough to be rescued.
But I wouldn’t be the one to do it.
Before I could set my sights on the third ship, a shot came at me, grazing the side of my shield. Nothing to be concerned about. I responded with two of my own. The first hit the ravager in the upper hull, doing little damage, but the second managed to blast his weapons system, leaving him defenseless.
“Enemy ships disabled,” said Sigmond.
I was able to fire again when the vessel turned toward the tunnel and performed a slip, disappearing and leaving me behind.
“There he goes,” I muttered.
“Shall I pursue?” asked Sigmond.
“No, let him go,” I said. “He’s done.”
There was a bang on the cockpit door. “Mr. Hughes!” came a muffled voice from the other side. “What’s going on out there?”
“Quiet down, nun,” I said, ignoring the question.
“It sounded like we were hit by something. Are we under attack?”
I went and opened the door to find the woman standing with her arms crossed. “A few ravagers tried to ambush us when we came out of slipspace,” I told her. “I took care of it. Relax.”
“Took care of it?” she repeated. “You mean you killed them.”
“That’s one way to put it, sure,” I said, tapping my chin. “Another would be that I saved your life.”
“Or nearly got us killed,” she said.
“Either way, we’re still aliv
e, and ain’t that what matters?” I asked, giving her a smirk. I turned my head, glancing back to the front of the cockpit. “Siggy? You ready?”
“And waiting, sir,” he responded.
“Let’s hit it.”
I felt the ship rattle and, together with Abigail, I watched as a swirling blue light formed outside the cockpit window, expanding as we began to move into it. In a few seconds, we were inside, riding the currents of the slip, moving toward our final destination.
Six
We arrived in the Arcadia system with little hindrance. The ravager ambush gave us some delay, but only by a few minutes.
When we came out of slipspace, I could sense the relief on Abigail’s face. Her mission, as she saw it, was nearly at its end. I knew the feeling well, having performed so many jobs of my own, crossing borders with smuggled cargo, stealing precious items of interest from rich guys like Emmerson, and even ferrying crazy nuns from one corner of the galaxy to another. I always got that feeling of satisfaction when the goal was in view. I never fully let myself relax, because that would be shortsighted and stupid, but having most of the job behind me was always a good feeling. For Abigail, in this moment, she had to feel like all her efforts had been worth it. All the bullshit she had to go through was finally justified.
As we neared the planet, a representative of the church hailed me. “Incoming vessel, please identify yourself.”
“You first,” I said, deciding I wanted to be an asshole to this guy for no reason.
“This is Deacon Castiel. I am with the Church of the Home—”
“Thanks, but I’m just here to drop off your nun,” I said.
“To whom are you referring, sir?” asked Castiel.
“You know, the one who stole the little girl from the government and stuffed her in a freezer. Sound familiar? I hope it does or I might have to turn back around.”
There was a short pause on the com before Castiel responded. “Y-Yes, sir! I’m so sorry. Please land at the following coordinates.”
“Why, thank you,” I said, tapping the bobblehead on my dash and watching its pink head bounce.
“Shall I inform the passengers of our arrival?” asked Sigmond.
“Might as well. Make sure you remind the nun she has to pay me,” I said, but paused. “Actually, I’ll tell her. Think you can handle landing The Star?”