Vengeance (Celestial Empires Book 3)

by Raymond Cooper

  He consulted his monitor. “Four thousand meters and closing.”

  A large rock banged off the hull, making the ship shudder, reminding me that Xavix was good, but he wasn't perfect. Up ahead of us, the Star Queen's guns started to flash and tracer rounds cut through the darkness of space. But, they were firing blind. It actually seemed like they were firing at everything but us.

  They obviously knew we were out there, but had no idea where we were. Xavix had been right – the asteroid belt was giving us plenty of cover. The magnetism of the rocks was probably creating shadows and ghosts on their radar screens – and their guns were trained on and firing at those.

  Xavix swooped around a few medium-sized asteroids and increased our speed. The Umbra was burning bright and moving quickly. My adrenaline was flowing and I couldn't wait to put this ship down.

  “Two thousand meters,” Theron said. “Coming up on their starboard side.”

  From my control panel, I pushed a few buttons to get us ready. “Powering up,” I said. “As soon as we pop out of the belt, I want to hit them with the cannon.”

  “Hopefully, before they have a chance to get a missile lock on us,” Theron said.

  “Have you always been this much of a scared little girl?” I said. “Or am I just now noticing it?”

  He looked at me, a wry grin on his face. “I prefer to think of myself as the voice of reason.”

  “Scared little girl sounds more apt.”

  “I hate to break up your ever-so-witty banter,” Xavix said. “But we're almost out of asteroid belt to hide in.”

  Theron spun back to his console and I looked up, seeing the end of the asteroid belt in front of us. Once we cleared the bet, we were going to have nowhere to hide.

  “Theron?” I asked.

  “Eight hundred meters,” he said. “You can deploy the weapon in five, four, three... ”

  I listened to the countdown, my finger hovering over the button and anticipation flowing through me. The Umbra burst out of the asteroid belt and the Star Queen was right there in front of us, just waiting to be picked clean.

  “... one,” Theron announced, almost shouting.

  “Radar lock,” Xavix said. “Missile bays opening.”

  I hit the button, a growl escaping my throat and a predatory smile on my face. A low droning sound reverberated throughout the ship as the EMP cannon pulsed. I watched with satisfaction as the Star Queen went dark and the engines died.

  It was now, nothing but a dead stick floating in space. Theron looked back at me, a shaky grin on his face as he let out a sigh of relief.

  “Let's go collect our reward, boys,” I said.

  Chapter Two

  “Hard seal secure,” Theron said.

  I took a breath and nodded. Xavix stepped forward and used the laser to start cutting through the Star Queen's hull. As hairy as things had been outside, things were about to get a whole lot dicier. Breaching and boarding a ship was – as I learned through hard experience and a couple of very close calls – the hardest part of these missions.

  The trouble was, you just never knew what was going to be waiting for you on the other side of that breach.

  Xavix had said there was a crew of fourteen aboard the Star Queen. More than we usually had to deal with - and more than was necessary to crew a ship the size of the Queen. Which meant that Boygan was stocking his smugglers with extra security.

  Which, in a way was gratifying. For one thing, that he was having to spend extra money to hire security meant that we were becoming a big enough pain in his ass that he had to take extra precautions. And, for another, it meant that it was yet more money out of his pocket.

  And if I was ever going to flush him out, it was going to be because the cost of remaining in hiding was getting too high and he was finally going to have to deal with me. And when that time came, I was going to put a bullet in his head. Until then, I was just going to keep bleeding him.

  “We're ready,” Xavix reported. “The hull has been breached.”

  My nerves jangling and my heart racing, I took another deep breath and let it out slowly. After nearly getting ourselves blown to pieces a number of times, we'd had to refine our methods. Our breach now went in two stages – the first was to cut two holes. While the fighters, who were undoubtedly on the other side of the door we were cutting for ourselves, were focused on the laser cutting through the hull, we cut a secondary hole – smaller and less noticeable.

  Once the holes had been cut, and while the fighters on the other side were focused on the larger hole we'd be coming through, we popped out the smaller hole and threw in a canister of gas. We'd give the gas a few minutes to take effect and when we felt pretty good about the hallway beyond our breach point either being clear, as the fighters took shelter from the gas, or they were just knocked out completely from it, we went in.

  I turned to Theron and nodded. “Masks.”

  We both slipped on our masks and secured the face shields. After that, we checked each other's respirators, making sure we had an adequate supply of air. With our EMP blast having knocked out all of their power, their fans and air filters wouldn't be working. And the last thing we needed was to go in, guns blazing, get a big snootful of the gas, and knock ourselves out.

  Not only would that be embarrassing, given that we were dealing with Boygan's men, but it would undoubtedly prove fatal.

  When we were both locked in and secured, we gave each other a nod. Good to go.

  “Let's do it,” I said. “Give 'em the gas.”

  Theron punched out the smaller hole he'd cut and tossed the canister inside. I looked at the chronometer on my wrist and counted off two minutes. When time was up, I looked at Theron and nodded.

  Xavix handed us both rifles that were locked, loaded, and ready to roll. There was a time when I hated guns. When I'd been incredibly uncomfortable around them. Of course, there were a lot of things I never envisioned myself doing. But that was before Boygan upended my whole life by murdering my mother.

  Once I took up my crusade against Boygan, I'd forced myself to get not just comfortable, but intimately familiar with a wide variety of weapons. As well as various forms of hand-to-hand combat training. I wasn't a master of those disciplines by any stretch of the imagination, but I was at least competent.

  I trained hard, learned everything I could, and really pushed myself. All of it was necessary for what I was doing. And you just never knew when those kinds of skills would come in handy.

  “Okay, let's do it,” I said.

  Xavix pushed the metal plate he'd cut through out of the way and stepped aside. Theron and I went in low, weapons at the ready. There was a thick fog hanging heavy in the corridor – but there was no gunfire.

  Staying low with our guns up, we made our way down the corridor. We didn't have far to go before we encountered the crew. They were sprawled out on the deck, weapons beside them, out cold. I looked over at Theron and nodded.

  “Okay then,” I said. “Get the emergency power on and get the air filters on this bucket working.”

  He gave me a crooked smile and trotted off as I flipped on the comms in my helmet.

  “Xavix,” I said. “We're clear. Get to work on the Queen's dock loaders. I want the crew in position and the weapons loaded into the Umbra's cargo hold before the gas wears off and they wake up.”

  “I am on it, Gemma,” he reported back.

  I grunted to myself. Satisfied, but not particularly happy. The Umbra had taken a beating, which meant that we were going to be down for repairs for a bit – taking us out of the fight. The thing that bothered me more than that though was the new weapons tech aboard the Queen.

  Boygan's ships had never been outfitted with advanced tech like that before. Which meant that he'd either made a substantial investment in upgrading his smuggling ships, or he was getting help. And the question of who he was getting help from is what worried me.

  Not everybody had access to tech that advanced. I didn't think it was goi
ng out on a limb to say that it was military-grade tech. And that left me feeling uneasy and more than a little concerned. And it was something I intended to ask the Queen's crew about.

  This one hadn't gone as smoothly as I would have liked, and it was a close scrape, but we'd won another round.

  Chapter Three

  “Oh, good, you're all awake,” I said. “Finally. Have a nice nap, boys?”

  Xavix stood next to me as I sat in a chair before the large, clear door of the airlock. The fourteen crewmen of the Star Queen stared back at me, a dark anger on all of their faces. They looked a little groggy as they got to their feet, but they seemed to be coming back to themselves, now that the gas was wearing off.

  Theron was back aboard the Umbra, securing our cargo and prepping the ship to fly. He never cared to be party to this part of our missions. He thought it barbaric and cruel. Even unnecessary. And he wasn't necessarily wrong on any of those assertions.

  It probably was a bit barbaric. But this was always my favorite part of the mission. It felt like a more direct, personal way of sticking it to Boygan. And, because I couldn't get my hands on that slippery son of a bitch, this was going to have to do for now.

  “I demand you release us,” said a man who stepped toward the glass. “What you're doing is criminal and you have – ”

  He was humanoid, easily seven feet tall, thick through the chest and shoulders, but had the paunch of a man who enjoyed the finer things in life – or rather, the finer food in life. His skin was tinted blue and his eyes were yellow, with a slit pupil that looked almost feline. He was from the planet Etros, which was also Argyto system. Which meant he'd probably love nothing more than to see his rival planet, Thysis, fall into chaos and ruin.

  Aside from what was probably a lucrative payday, it was probably why he was running guns for Boygan.

  I cocked an eyebrow and looked at the tall, portly man. “And you are?”

  “Captain Mobyr,” he growled. “And I demand – ”

  “Well, then, Captain Mobyr,” I cut him off. “Shut the hell up, why don't you.”

  The man's face darkened with rage and his eyes narrowed. Etrosian society was patriarchal in nature. On Etros, the men ruled everything and women were little more than decorations and breeding stock. Which made me hate him from the get-go.

  And the look on his face when I spoke to him the way I had was priceless. He looked like I'd poured a bucket of cold water over his head while kicking him in the balls. Assuming Etrosians had balls, anyway. I wasn't that familiar with their anatomy.

  I looked at him evenly, a small smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth. “I want know who outfitted your ship with such advanced weapon tech,” I said, and then added with as much disdain as I could muster, “Captain.”

  Mobyr seemed to have gathered himself. He stood ramrod straight, staring at me with those yellow, feline-esque eyes of his.

  “You have unlawfully detained my vessel,” he said. “We are carrying agricultural equipment bound for – ”

  “Save your breath, asshole,” I said. “We've already offloaded the illegal weapons you were carrying for Boygan – ”

  If he could have, the Captain would have blanched at my statement. But he quickly composed himself and interrupted me.

  “I have no idea who you are referring to – ”

  “Boygan,” I replied. “Surely, you've met your employer. Tall, slim Zhakan man. Bunch of eyes. Sounds like a pretentious prick when he speaks?”

  Mobyr shook his head and lifted his chin defiantly. “I don't know who you're speaking of,” he repeated. “As for the weapons – ”

  “Shut up,” I said, shaking my head. “Just shut the hell up.”

  Mobyr looked at me, the anger at being spoken to in such a way – by a woman, no less – burning bright in his eyes. His men mumbled and grumbled behind him, shooting dark, angry glares at me, but said nothing, preferring to let their Captain do the talking for them.

  Mobyr opened his mouth to say something, but I held up a hand to silence him. And shockingly enough, he closed his mouth again, remaining silent. I got up out of the chair and walked to the glass of the airlock door.

  “Here's what's going to happen since you don't seem to be willing to give me the information I want,” I said. “I'm going to ask you some questions and if you refuse to answer them, I'm going to push that red button over there, open the airlock, and shoot you all out into space.”

  There was a frightened murmuring among the men, but Mobyr silenced them all with an icy glare. He turned and looked at me again, lifting his chin in that gesture of defiance, and refused to speak.

  “Let me ask you again,” I said. “Who outfitted this flying bucket of shit with military-grade hardware?”

  Mobyr continued to stare at me and said nothing.

  “I'm not screwing around,” I said. “I will shoot you out of the airlock.”

  He looked at me, his eyes boring deep into mine. The directness of his stare sent icy fingers slithering along my spine. Although we were separated by a thick piece of glass, the air between us was saturated with tension. The tense moment of silence continued on for almost a full minute before I finally looked away. He chuckled grimly and shook his head.

  “I don't think you will,” he finally said. “I can see it in your eyes, you're not a killer.”

  “You don't know the first thing about me,” I snapped.

  “I don't need to,” he replied calmly. “It's not your fault, of course. It's just that your gender doesn't seem capable of doing what is necessary to – ”

  A flare of anger, bright and hot, shot off within me. I turned back to him, my jaw clenched and my eyes narrowed. If looks could have killed, Mobyr would have been dead a hundred times over. But, feeling so smug and superior, he stood there looking at me, his lips pulled back into a reptilian-looking grin.

  He was right. I wasn't a killer. At least, I hadn't been, once upon a time. But after seeing my mother and my aunt dead – murdered – something within me changed. Something fundamental. Something primal. Something within me died that day and something else was born.

  Something darker. Much darker.

  A year ago, I wouldn't have taken a life unless it was absolutely necessary. Unless it meant me, or somebody I was defending, would die if I didn't. But now, things had changed and I didn't think twice about putting somebody down – so long as that somebody was directly connected to Boygan.

  I was a darker, more brutal person today, but I wasn't a cold-blooded killer. I didn't do it for fun. I did it because it was necessary.

  “It's not smart to underestimate your adversaries, Captain Mobyr,” I spat.

  He shrugged. “It's not an underestimation if it's a factual statement,” he said. “Now, enough of these games, little girl. Open the airlock and – ”

  “Captain Mobyr,” Xavix cut in. “We have undertaken seventeen mission against Mr. Boygan's smuggling vessels. There has not yet been one case in which Gemma has not followed through on her threats, meaning – ”

  “Shut this bucket of bolts up,” Mobyr spat. “I'm tired of listening to you both.”

  “Last chance,” I said. “Tell me who outfitted your ship with the new tech.”

  Mobyr sighed as if his patience with me was wearing thin. “I told you to open the airlock,” he snapped. “And you will obey me, girl.”

  He was obviously a man who was used to being obeyed. Especially, when it came to giving his orders to a woman. That flare of anger he'd ignited settled into abiding inferno burning in my chest. I glared at the Etrosian with nothing but contempt and disgust.

  “You just don't know when to shut up, do you?” I said.

  “I told you to open the airlock,” he growled.

  I nodded. “I heard you.”

  Never taking my eyes off of his, I walked over to the control panel beside the airlock. I had a momentary flash of satisfaction when I saw his eyes widen – just before I hit the red button. An alarm brayed, announcing the
opening of the airlock. The outer doors slowly and deliberately opened. Mobyr and his men were screaming as they were plucked out of the airlock and shot out into deep space.

  When the airlock was cleared of all the garbage, I hit the button and shut the outer doors again. I looked over at Xavix and nodded.

  “The ship is ours,” I said. “Let's salvage whatever we can use, set the auto-destruct sequence, and get the hell out of here.”

  “I already have a list of needed items,” Xavix said.

  “Then let's get to work.”

  Chapter Four

  After salvaging what we needed from the Queen, we'd set its auto-destruct sequence – giving ourselves plenty of time to get out of harm's way, of course. Watching it explode – blowing it into a million pieces of flaming debris – was incredibly satisfying. Almost as satisfying as shooting Mobyr and his men out of the airlock, but not quite. It was a close second though.

  Taking out another crew and another ship meant that Boygan was going to have to spend to replace them. And, given the damage we'd done to his revenue streams, I had to imagine that finding the cash to continually replace crews and ships was starting to take its toll. At least, that was the hope.

  “We are breaking atmosphere,” Xavix reported. “We've arrived on Acrov.”

  Once we started on this quest, Acrov had become our hiding place. The place we went for rest and repairs, to sell our wares, get fuel and supplies, and of course, get information. Information was the thing that was most important to me. Though, the information I usually wanted – Boygan's location – wasn't to be had.

  Despite that, Acrov was usually a treasure trove of useful information. Not only could I get tasty little tidbits in the seedy marketplace in Old Town, but having friends in high places helped too. I was good friends with the Acrovian Prime Minister, Hugo Kysos, and he usually fed me fantastic little bits of actionable intel.

  It was a nice bit of symmetry, really. Kysos was the man Boygan had originally contracted me to assassinate. I'd changed my mind and ended up saving his life, fighting off and killing a few of Boygan's men in the process. And now it was Kysos doing his best to help me track Boygan so I could ultimately kill him.