Beyond Galaxy's Edge

by Anna Hackett

  Nissa’s smile matched his. “Let’s find out.”

  ***

  Nissa swung her Sync around the room as it scanned the entire space. Beside her, Justyn was searching behind the painting for a safe.

  “Damn, nothing,” he said.

  “Too obvious.”

  He moved onto the tiny closet, searching through the debris left inside. Probably the rotted remains of Captain Griffin’s clothes. After a cursory look, Justyn backed out quickly. “Man, something smells bad in there.”

  A noise made her look up. She frowned, glancing over her shoulder. It sounded like…skittering.

  She shook her head. Now she was hearing things. There was no way anything else could be here with them. She focused impatiently on the Sync. “Come on, come on.”

  “The Constitution’s waited a thousand years, Nissa. I think it can wait another minute.”

  “Maybe it can, but I can’t.” Again, a faint skittering noise. “Justyn, did you hear that?”

  “What?”

  “A noise. It sounded like…I’m not sure what.”

  “You think something or someone survived in here for a thousand years?” There was amusement in his voice.

  “Okay, laugh it up, but I heard something.”

  “Probably some part of the ship keeping this room pressurized is starting to fail since there’s no one here to do maintenance.”

  He was probably right. Her Sync beeped. “There’s something under the floor beneath the desk.”

  Justyn shoved the heavy desk aside. Under the plush rug, they found a rectangular door set into the floor.

  It was protected by an old-fashioned code lock.

  Nissa knelt and set her Sync to work. It whirred quietly as it worked to decipher the code. The lock beeped and the door popped open an inch.

  Her heart pounding, she stared at Justyn for a second.

  He nodded. “Go on, Captain. You’ve earned this.”

  “We’ve earned this.” She wouldn’t have made it this far without him. She grabbed his hand and placed it beside hers on the safe door. “Together.”

  “Together.”

  They yanked it open.

  She shone her light directly inside.

  The safe was empty.

  “No.” Nissa’s stomach dropped to the floor. “It can’t be empty!”

  “Wait.” Justyn reached in and gave the bottom a knock with his fist. It gave a hollow thunk. He grinned. “Old smuggler’s trick.” He gave the fake floor a hard punch and it broke away.

  Nestled beneath was a long metal cylinder.

  “Goddess.” With trembling hands, she pulled it out. Swallowing past the knot in her throat, she waved the Sync over the cylinder. “Scan says it contains paper that appears to be over a thousand years old and is covered in protective plas.”

  “Open it, Nissa.” His tone was solemn.

  Her hand still shaking, she pulled the cap off the end.

  She pulled out the document and simply stared.

  The fake had been good, but this was clearly the real thing.

  “The US Constitution.” Justyn laughed, tugging her to his side. “We did it!”

  The document exuded a sense of age and history and importance. Nissa couldn’t wipe the silly smile off her face. She, Captain Nissa Sander, had found the US Constitution. Well, with a little help from a rogue smuggler.

  She slid it back inside the cylinder. “We need to get back to the Nomad.”

  He was still grinning. He bumped his helmet against hers. “Damn, if we weren’t wearing these things, I’d kiss you.”

  “Well, hold that thought and I’ll kiss you once we get back.”

  “You’re on, sweetheart.”

  She was still smiling at him when something rammed into her legs from the side, knocking her to the floor. Her light swung wildly. The cylinder flew out of her hands and rolled across the floor.

  The skittering noise was back.

  Right near Nissa’s head.

  And now she knew what was making it. Claws against the metal floor.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Nissa!” Adrenaline surging, Justyn moved fast, focusing his light on where Nissa went down.

  She was already sitting up.

  “You okay?” He crouched, running his gloves over her. Her suit looked intact.

  “I’m fine.” She gently pushed his hands away. She was staring at the shadows, her face wary.

  “What happened?”

  “Something hit me.”

  What the hell? Justyn looked around. He didn’t see anything except the cylinder holding the Constitution lying on the floor. He leaned over and grabbed it.

  And saw eyes glowing in the shadows.

  Two sets of eyes, glowing blood red.

  “What the fuck!”

  The creature sprang.

  Justyn fell backward, the animal at his throat. He gripped its jaws, holding the gnashing rows of teeth away from his helmet.

  “Justyn!”

  He heard Nissa moving, her heavy breathing coming through the comm line.

  The creature let out an ear-piercing growl. Justyn shoved it back enough to get a look at it. It was about the size of a dog, but its body was long, sinuous and covered in metallic, overlapping scales. It had a multitude of spiny legs, two sets of eyes and a large mouth filled with rows of wicked-looking sharp teeth.

  And it wanted his blood.

  Moving faster than Justyn could have thought possible, the creature came at him again. He caught the beast’s jaws again, wrestled with it, all the while praying those teeth wouldn’t pierce his spacesuit.

  Suddenly, something smacked into the animal’s body, knocking it away. It let out another scream and tumbled onto its back, flashing a smooth belly that glowed bright green. In a blink, it righted itself and shot into a ventilation duct, leaving a smear of green on the floor.

  Justyn snatched up the Constitution cylinder and let Nissa help him to his feet. He saw she clutched the lamp off the desk in her other hand. It was dripping green goo.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked.

  “No idea.” He stared at the duct. “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s something that’s been mutated by the radiation.”

  “Maybe they had animals on board?” She shook her head. “Whatever it is, let’s leave it here and go.” She glanced at her Sync. “We only have twenty-two minutes of safe radiation exposure time left.”

  He hitched the strap on the cylinder over his shoulder. “Then let’s get out of here. Back to the Nomad.”

  They headed back into the corridor, floating toward the bay where they’d left the skimmers.

  He activated his earpiece. “Nomad, this is Phoenix 3. You there, Ry?”

  “Nomad here. How’d your trip go?”

  “Excellent. We found the goods.”

  Rynan whistled. “Well done, bro. Look at you, upstanding savior of the galaxy.”

  Justyn said a pithy word that had his brother laughing. “We’re on our way back.”

  “Okay, see you when—” Rynan broke off with a curse.

  “Ry?”

  “Fuck. Justyn, five starships just uncloaked between the wreck and the Nomad.”

  Justyn caught Nissa’s gaze.

  The sound of laser fire reached them and the wreck shuddered.

  Ah, fuck. “Ry?”

  “Justyn, we’re engaging…” static broke across the comm line “…to the Nomad.”

  The connection went dead.

  “Ry? Nomad, do you copy? Damn it!” Justyn slammed a hand against the wall.

  “Come on. We have to go.” She pushed forward.

  “Nissa, we can’t risk going out there on the skimmers. There are five unfriendlies between us and the Nomad. We both know it’s Gunn.”

  She held up her Sync. “We have nineteen and a half minutes to get back to the Sky Nomad, or the radiation will kill us anyway
.”

  Damn. Justyn mentally screamed every curse word he’d ever learned. The odds of getting out of here alive were looking slimmer with each passing moment.

  They continued down the corridor, had almost reached the skimmers, when a light at the other end of the corridor caught his attention. He grabbed Nissa’s arm to halt her.

  A team of four wearing black spacesuits, lights mounted on their helmets, rounded the corner.

  “Move!” Justyn gave a huge push off the wall with his foot and propelled both of them toward the bay with their skimmers.

  Laser fire lit the dark corridor, hitting the wall beside them. Justyn simply focused on reaching the door. Beside him, Nissa was calm and focused. God, he loved the woman.

  They made it back to the skimmers. Through the tear in the ship, he could see blue laser fire lighting up the sky above the moon.

  They started the skimmers and disengaged the magna-brakes. As they maneuvered out of the ship, he saw the first black-suited figure reach the doorway.

  “Go! Go!” he shouted.

  They shot through the gap and pointed the skimmers upward.

  Ah, shit. A large cuttership sat directly between them and the Nomad. Four smaller ships were angled around the cutter, also firing at the Nomad.

  Justyn wasn’t worried about his brothers. Rynan had put in a shield system on the Nomad that could withstand just about anything. And his brother’s talents with weapons were even better.

  At that moment, one of the smaller ships exploded.

  “Nice work, Ry,” Justyn said.

  There was still no response from the Nomad.

  “We should angle to the left, around the farthest ship,” Nissa said. “If we get too close though, we might get hit by the laser fire.”

  Justyn looked back at her. She was focused on the space battle raging ahead of them, her hands easy on the skimmer controls. That was his girl: cool under fire, molten under his hands. “Agreed.”

  They gave the ships as wide a berth as possible. They couldn’t go too far or they wouldn’t reach the Nomad before the radiation got them. The clock was ticking. He frowned. It didn’t matter how they went, they’d still be cutting it close, and getting way too close to the laser fire.

  Another fierce barrage of fire was traded between the ships. The Justyn saw a port open on the cuttership.

  “Shit! Ion missile.”

  Nissa gasped.

  The missile rocketed out of its launch bay, headed straight for the bridge of the Nomad. Justyn’s lungs constricted.

  It was a direct hit. The Nomad’s shield flared to brilliant life in shimmering silver.

  Remnants of the missile rained down in a shower of fiery sparks.

  “Yes!” Nissa yelled.

  “Come on, Captain Smooth. Let’s get out of here.”

  But seconds later, the closest ship spotted them.

  Justyn’s stomach turned hard as space rock as he watched the ship’s laser cannons turn their way.

  “They won’t shoot us.” He hoped. “They want the Constitution.”

  Laser fire whizzed past them.

  Close.

  Too fucking close.

  “Apparently, I was wrong. Forget about stealth. Aim straight for the Nomad.” He urged more speed from his skimmer. “Fast as you can, Nissa.”

  “I’m right behind you.”

  The Nomad was bringing more weapons online. He watched the bank of plasma cannons firing up to join the fight.

  Plasma fire tore into the ship that had been firing on them. The ship started spinning out of control.

  In their direction.

  “Nissa!”

  “I see it.”

  The ship was moving too damn fast. It loomed large above them.

  Then it exploded.

  Justyn ducked his head, pressing his body as close to the skimmer as he could. Shit, shit, shit.

  Then Nissa’s desperate cry echoed in his helmet.

  “Nissa!” He cast a frantic glance over his shoulder.

  A piece of debris from the ship had hit her. One of her hands had slipped off the controls, her body lifting off the machine.

  “Hang on.” He wrenched his skimmer into a tight turn.

  “I…can’t…reach…” Her gaze collided with his. Even separated by their helmets, he saw the emotions churning in her wide eyes.

  “You can do it, sweetheart. Grab on and let’s get back to the ship. A hot shower and dinner are on me.” He willed her to grab the controls.

  She gave a hiccupping laugh. “Justyn—”

  Another piece of debris flew past him and slammed into Nissa’s stomach.

  “No!” the cry was torn from his throat.

  With a scream, her fingers slipped off the skimmer and she flew away from the machine. Her body tumbling over and over.

  Out into space.

  ***

  Nissa couldn’t stop spinning. She couldn’t see where she was.

  Bile rose in her throat and her heart was beating so hard she thought it would burst out of her chest.

  She was flying away from the Nomad.

  Away from Justyn.

  Goddess, she didn’t want to die.

  She forced herself to take a slower, deeper breath. First thing, she had to stop panicking. As she spun, flashes of laser fire caught her eye, along with flashes of the green gas giant below.

  Justyn would come for her.

  No, wait. Her heart gave a rap against her ribs. If he did, it would take them both too long to get back to the Nomad. The radiation would kill both of them.

  Then she realized he was calling her name, over and over. His voice hard and tight.

  “Justyn?”

  “Thank God, sweetheart. You okay?”

  “Not really.” She felt like she was on a ride she couldn’t get off. “You need to get back to the ship. You have the Constitution—”

  “Fuck the Constitution. I’m coming for you.”

  She closed her eyes and swallowed. “No. There won’t be enough time for both of us to get back to the ship. Go. Please.”

  “No.”

  Anger spurted through her. “There’s no point in both of us dying!”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  She heard the rock-steady stubbornness in his voice. “Goddess, don’t turn into a hero now.” But she knew deep down he was. Under the roguish charm was a good man right to his bones.

  “I’m not a hero. But you’re mine, and I won’t leave you.”

  Her breath hitched. “Justyn—”

  “Don’t say anything else. You can tell me when we get back to the Nomad.”

  Nissa felt tears in her eyes. Damn, she hadn’t cried for years. Not since her mother had died. After that, she’d had to be the woman of the house. Help her dad, care for her brother, always be perfect.

  Except with Justyn. With him, she’d just been herself.

  “I love you, Justyn.”

  He swore. “I said not to say it. Wait until we’re on the ship. Then I can kiss the daylights out of you. Right before I spank your fine ass for scaring me like this.”

  She gave a choked laugh. “I love you.”

  He made a growling noise. “I love you, too.”

  “I’m sorry exploding spaceship debris hit me and scared you.”

  “So you should be.”

  She laughed outright. Life with this man would have always been laughs and adventures. Nothing sensible or stable or perfect.

  It would have been exactly what she wanted.

  Her laughter died away. “You aren’t going to go back to the ship, are you?”

  “Nope. If we’re going to die, I’ll damn well do it holding onto you.”

  Tears were making her vision blurry.

  And, it seemed, they were making her see things, too. There was movement against the green of the gas giant. Something…? Or nothing?

  But as she spun around agai
n, the movement grew larger. And she realized something big was coming toward them. From the planet.

  She spun again and this time she blinked rapidly and focused hard.

  “Oh. My. Goddess.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  At Nissa’s exclamation, Justyn’s head shot up.

  And his mouth dropped open.

  A…creature…was flying out of the gas giant. Headed toward the space fight.

  It looked like a dragon, or a giant snake, except it was huge—as big as the starships nearby. Its body—covered in metallic scales—undulated, its long legs flowing back behind it, almost like tentacles. When Justyn saw the double sets of red eyes, he realized the creature on the Nero had been a baby.

  This was obviously mama.

  “I’ve never see anything like it,” he murmured.

  “The rumors were real,” Nissa said. “It’s the same creature from the wreck.”

  Yep, and when this one opened its mouth, they were going to see some massive teeth. Teeth capable of tearing a ship apart and stranding it on a small, rocky moon.

  The creature keep coming with its fluid movements.

  Straight at them.

  “Shit. Nissa, watch out—”

  “Can’t control where I’m going here, Justyn.” Her tone was irritated. She was still spinning, her arms outstretched, liked she hoped she could grab onto something.

  The creature loomed over them, absolutely huge. Bigger than the starships.

  It brushed past Nissa, and the impact sent her shooting in the opposite direction—straight back toward Justyn.

  She slammed into him and he grabbed her with one arm. He yanked her into his chest and held on tight.

  Her arms wrapped around him like steel bands. “Don’t let go.”

  “Jesus, I won’t.” He’d never, ever admit to her how afraid he’d been, seeing her drifting away from him.

  Suddenly, one of the creature’s legs whipped around and smacked into the skimmer.

  Shit. “Hold on!”

  The blow sent them shooting forward. Justyn kept one hand on the controls and the other arm clamped around Nissa.

  They were moving fast. Much faster than the top speed of the skimmer.

  Ahead, he watched the creature reach the enemy cuttership. It opened its mouth—yep, it had huge, spiky teeth—and then spat something green at the ship’s hull.