Star Streaker Boxed Set 1 (Star Streaker Series)

by T. M. Catron

  Still rolling over and over, Rance allowed her arms to float out to her side, preparing to give in.

  And then a hand grabbed hers. Its grip was strong, and it almost dislocated her arm as it pulled her through the water. As soon as she realized what was happening, she fought harder to hold her breath.

  It became harder than ever. Her lungs were going to burst. She had to breathe.

  The next second, Rance was hauled up into a pocket of air. She gasped. The icy water tugged angrily at her body, the current trying to reclaim its prize. Someone grabbed her by the neck of her suit and pulled until she banged against something thin and metal—a pipe. She grabbed onto it in the darkness, holding on to save her life.

  Then, the person was gone.

  Rance sputtered and gasped. She must have inhaled water at some point because her chest burned. The metal pipe she was holding had a twin at her elbow. Another was at her knee.

  They weren’t pipes. It was a ladder.

  She climbed up, hauling her bruised and battered body out of the water. Before her boots were clear, somebody else burst out of the water. No, two somebodies.

  “Hey!” she called, groping down to grab someone. She found hair and pulled anyway.

  Solaris yelped. “Watch it! I’m trying to save people here!”

  Rance let go. “Sorry! Here, give me somebody!”

  Solaris hoisted the other sputtering person onto the ladder. By the sound of it, he’d found Moira.

  “I’ve got you, Moira!” Rance said. “Hang on and let’s get up higher!” Rance was already shaking with cold, but her heart chilled more as she thought of Abel, Tania, and Sonya.

  “Abel has Tania and Sonya,” Solaris said, anticipating her question.

  Rance sagged against the ladder in relief. Moira pressed herself against Rance’s legs, shaking like a wet kitten.

  “Move up,” Solaris said. “I’m freezing.”

  They climbed up farther. Rance was shaking so badly now with cold that she had trouble holding onto the ladder. Her left hand slipped, sending more pain through her dislocated fingers.

  “Okay, I’m good,” Solaris said. “We’re out of the water. Okay, Moira?”

  Moira had yet to say anything, but she whimpered through chattering teeth. Then she sniffed and asked, “What h-happened to T-Tania and Sonya?”

  “Abel’s got them on another ladder,” Solaris said. “I spotted these maintenance shafts just as the water hit us. I almost had you, Rance, but then the water tore you away from me. The next person to hit me was Abel, so I grabbed him and pointed him toward the ladder. With his suit, he had been swimming around, searching for us. Then we went after everybody else. That man can swim like a lantess, even in armor.”

  “How do you know they got into the other ladder?”

  “That shaft has light. I saw them. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to climb this one in the dark.”

  “Better than being too dead to climb anything,” Rance said.

  Without further conversation, she began climbing. Rance had always preferred action to sitting around pondering, and they had nowhere to go but up. Her back scraped along the rear wall, and she silently cursed the short maintenance crew. She engaged her magnetic boots and used them to steady herself on the metal ladder. The going was easier after that, but her thighs were soon burning with the effort. With no light to gauge distance, and barely enough room to squeeze through, she felt as if she were climbing a never-ending tunnel. Before long, her heart was pounding along with the burn in her legs.

  And still they climbed. Rance hoped they came out in the same place as Abel and the others, then realized that unless the other tunnel went sideways, they would end up just down from them. The thought cheered her and motivated her to keep climbing.

  Below, Moira was struggling. Her breath came in gasps, her tears came in gushes, but she didn’t ask them to stop. Occasionally, Solaris called up to her, alternating between encouragement and threats.

  Rance’s leg muscles moved from burning to cramping. Her bruised body ached with every step, and even breathing hurt. She thought she might have cracked a rib. She knew she’d broken at least one finger. And then they still had no idea how far they had to climb.

  Just when she felt like she couldn’t go any further, she banged the top of her skull against something metal. It rang with the blow. “Son of Triton,” she said. “I think we’re at the top.”

  “And?” Solaris asked.

  “Hang on a minute.” Rance fumbled her cold, numb fingers around on the metal, looking for a handle or latch. Then she found it—a recessed handle near the ladder. She managed to get her fingers underneath it and pulled.

  Nothing.

  She yanked on it as hard as she dared without breaking anything else.

  Still nothing.

  “For the love of the Founders, it won’t budge.”

  “Did you try pushing?” Solaris asked.

  “Of course I…” No. She hadn’t tried that. Rance pulled the handle and simultaneously pushed up with as much strength as she could muster. Her ribs ached. Every bit of her body protested.

  And then the door popped open.

  The first thing Rance noticed was fresh air on her face. The next thing she noticed was the light. It was night, but after climbing up a black tunnel, the little light up top was as good as daylight. Rance resisted the urge to whoop for joy and climbed out.

  She sprawled out on the ground, facing the sky, and relished stretching her legs and her cramped, sore body. Moira came out next and crawled away from the manhole to sit against a tree.

  Then Solaris appeared. Even in the dim light, Rance saw his bloody, bruised face. He must not have had his helmet on when the water hit them. She couldn’t remember now. He heaved himself out of the tunnel and lay on his back beside her, breathing heavily.

  They were silent a minute, then Rance whispered, “Thanks for coming to get me.”

  Solaris laughed and then moaned with pain. “As always, Captain, you’re my ride. What would I do without you?”

  “Did you get into this much trouble with the Wizards?”

  “It’s a close tie, I think.”

  “Seriously, I thought I was gone,” she said. She needed him to know. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  They lay in silence a bit longer, savoring the feeling of freedom and life. Then a horrible thought occurred to Rance. “What side of the river are we on?”

  “Don’t know. I’m just glad we’re not underneath it.”

  But Solaris sat up—carefully—and looked around. Then he looked up at the sky. “I think we’re in the Senate section. This street looks familiar.”

  Rance sat up too, looking around at the wide street lined with trees. “How can you tell?”

  “He’s right, Devri,” Moira said.

  Rance jerked around at her name, and then sharp pain shot through her neck, and she wished she hadn’t. “Rance,” she corrected.

  “Rance,” Moira said. “We made it.”

  “Not yet we haven’t,” Solaris said grimly as he climbed to his feet. He held out a hand for Rance, who was too tired to refuse his help. When she gripped his hand, she noticed his skin was unnaturally smooth. It didn’t have the usual callouses and ridges he’d had there before now. Then she was on her feet, and he let go.

  As they attempted to get their bearings, three starships sped by overhead, weaving among the tall buildings.

  “Pirates,” Solaris said, watching the sky. “Looks like they’ve begun landing in earnest.”

  “Then we’re out of time,” Rance said. “We’ve got to find Abel and get out.”

  “Abel will meet us at the ship.”

  “I’m not leaving until we see them climb up out of the ground!”

  “Captain, Abel is armed to the teeth and wearing combat armor, and those girls are tough. They’re probably already on their way.”

  But Rance insisted on searching the area, so they fanned out, lo
oking for another manhole. One street over, they found one just like theirs. It was open, the light shining all the way down as far as they could see.

  “This has to be it,” Solaris said. “Now can we go to the ship?”

  “Alright, I had to be sure.”

  “Your loyalty is admirable, Captain.”

  “I don’t know any other way to be,” Rance muttered.

  They hurried along, looking for any recognizable landmarks. Finally, they found a street they’d used a day ago. Rance could hardly believe it had taken that long to get back here. But her tired, bruised body reminded her at every step.

  After they had turned down the street, they encountered crowds of wanderers fleeing other parts of the city. Although they couldn’t see the fires, smoke drifted around the buildings on the wind. More ships passed overhead, cruising slowly now. They followed the crowds, heading in the same general direction.

  “Wonder where they’re all heading?” Rance asked.

  “The Senate building, looks like,” Moira said.

  They still hadn’t seen Abel, Tania, or Sonya. Rance kept her eyes on the crowds, in part to find Abel, and in part to spot trouble.

  “At least the sirens aren’t blaring anymore.”

  They passed a working screen taking up the whole side of a building. It displayed footage of the pirates landing, along with a message to go to the Senate.

  “No reason, though,” Solaris said. “That doesn’t bode well.”

  “Looks like people are doing it.”

  “They don’t have much choice. Their homes were burned.”

  Rance swallowed the fear building and concentrated on their goal—to get to the Star Streaker. She opened a private channel and tried hailing James again. Just as before—no answer, not even static. Her comm must have busted in the tunnel below. If only Rance could talk to him, she’d feel better. She sighed and walked as fast as her body would allow.

  They saw the first group of pirates in the street, herding Prometheus’ citizens toward the Senate building. Rance, Solaris, and Moira stayed in the middle of the crowd, careful not to make eye contact with anyone. They weren’t likely to be recognized, but they didn’t want to be stopped, either.

  Rance wondered what had happened to all the people below. Had water burst through everywhere? She doubted it. The river would have only flooded some of the most damaged sections. Would the pirates go down there and get people out? Probably. Eventually. When all that was left would be bodies.

  Finally, the crowd bottlenecked in the street, and Rance peered over heads to see what was happening.

  “We’ve got a problem,” she said a minute later. “Checkpoint. They’re making people identify themselves.”

  “How?”

  “Looks like retinal scan.”

  “Fantastic,” Solaris said in a voice that indicated he thought it anything but.

  “Oh no,” Moira said. She hadn’t spoken in over an hour.

  “What?” Rance asked.

  “They can’t figure out who I am.” She gripped Rance’s sleeve again. Rance winced. Her sore body needed to be handled gently, not pinched.

  “They don’t need to figure out who any of us are,” Rance said, thinking of her father and the ten million credits he would pay anybody who found his daughter, pirate or no.

  “You don’t understand, Dev—Rance. My husband was quite outspoken against the pirates. He supported torture and the death penalty for them. If they find out who I am—”

  Rance glanced at Moira, who seemed about to hyperventilate again, and whispered to Solaris, “Will a retina scan reveal your true identity?”

  Solaris took a deep breath. “I can disguise us. All of us. It won’t be easy though. And once I do that, I’ll be too drained to fight much. I still haven’t fully recovered from our landing.”

  “Our magical landing. As soon as we get out of this, I want you to tell me how you did that.”

  “If I told you exactly how your eyes would glaze over.”

  “Try me, just once.”

  “Okay, I will. When we get out of this mess.”

  “Deal.”

  Feeling calmer, Rance strode ahead through the crowd, keeping an eye out for Abel. Finally, she spotted him standing next to Tania at the edge of the crowd.

  “About time,” she said, and elbowed her way through disgruntled noblemen and their assistants.

  Abel’s weapons had disappeared. Like everyone else, his face was bloodied and bruised—how had that happened inside his helmet? His armor had huge dents in it. Likely they would have to pry him out of it later. Tania was pale and quietly held onto his arm.

  “Abel!” Rance said, smiling.

  Abel forced a smile when he saw her. “Hey, boss.”

  Rance ducked her head to whisper, “Roote is going to disguise us to get through. Where’s Sonya?”

  Abel’s face paled. Tania stifled a sob.

  “She didn’t make it, boss.”

  “Didn’t make it?” Rance repeated, not sure she’d heard him correctly. A cold feeling washed over her. Moira covered her mouth with her hand. Solaris’ mouth pressed into a thin, hard line.

  “I found her, but I was too late.” Abel cleared his throat. “She drowned.”

  Rance’s eyes stung. Solaris had said they’d all got out. He’d been sure. A flash of anger shot through her, but she had nowhere to direct it.

  Except at the pirates who were shouting at people to get a move on.

  Abel looked horrified at the expression on Rance’s face. “I’m sorry, boss.”

  “Not your fault, Abel.”

  “If only we’d been faster—” Solaris began.

  “It’s not your fault, either!” Rance snarled. “It’s their fault!”

  She pointed at the pirates while her vision blurred at the edges. She didn’t know if it was the tears or her anger.

  Solaris pulled out his staff and flicked it out to its full length. “They are a menace to the empire, but we cannot fight them here and now. Rance,” he pleaded, “we have to get out of here.”

  But Rance’s face only grew hotter. The pirates were responsible for all of it. For the destruction of a beautiful city, for the death of an innocent woman. Prometheus may have had its share of corruption, but plenty of good, peaceful people lived here. How many had died? How many more would die before the nightmare was over?

  “Devri,” Solaris whispered.

  That got her attention. “I told you, don’t—”

  “Look at me, please.”

  Rance glared at him.

  Solaris put a hand on each shoulder. His hands were warm, heavy. “You won’t avenge Sonya’s death by getting yourself killed. I know a bit about this, remember? Breathe.”

  As he whispered the last word, an intense calm washed over Rance, and she felt like she had no choice but to do as he said. She took a few deep, calming breaths, expelling the anger from her body.

  “What did you do to me?”

  “Just something you wanted to do for yourself but couldn’t.”

  Solaris was doing the same thing he’d done to Turkey. But he couldn’t be. She still knew where she was, still recognized her surroundings. Rance stared at Solaris.

  The crowd jostled past, and someone bumped Rance’s shoulder. She winced in pain, suddenly aware again of others around her. Solaris removed his hands, then grabbed his staff. In a moment’s work, all five of them looked like completely different people. Even Solaris looked shorter than usual. Rance remembered him telling her that he never disguised his height because it took a lot of energy.

  He was already draining his power. She couldn’t let it go to waste.

  So, she pushed through the crowd, toward the checkpoint. The first guard waved her over. He was a brutish, smelly young man who would have been good looking if he’d had a bath recently. He held a small scanner up to Rance’s eyes and waited.

  The scanner beeped, and a light turned green. “Varea ar noll,” he said. “City cleaner. Clea
red.”

  Rance had no idea who Varea ar noll was, nor how Solaris had stolen her retinal signature, but she breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped through the checkpoint. The others followed behind. Solaris, the last to be cleared, looked drawn and haggard.

  Once clear, they hurried down the street, turning aside from the rest of the crowd, toward the Star Streaker.

  “Hey!” someone called.

  Rance glanced back and grimaced. One of the pirates had noticed them split off from the main crowd. He waved at them to move back into line. She pretended like she hadn’t seen him and kept walking.

  But Abel, who had a rear camera in his helmet, said, “They’re following.”

  With her injuries, Rance didn’t think she had the energy left to run. But when she looked back at the pirates and saw them running after them, she burst into a run too. The others followed.

  More shouts from behind. With the effort to breathe, Rance’s ribs felt like they were trying to burst out her skin. She stumbled, but Abel caught her and they kept going. Then, he turned. Rance saw him stop and plant himself in the middle of the street behind the crew, preparing to face the pirates alone so the others could get away.

  “No!” she cried and stopped with him. Moira and Tania ran past.

  Solaris caught Rance’s arm to stop her from going after Abel.

  “Let go!”

  “I got him,” Solaris said. And then without another word, he ran toward the pirates, wielding his staff above his head like a two-handed sword. When he passed Abel, he swung the staff. This time, no purple bubble appeared, no visible wall of energy.

  But the pirates were thrust backward like they’d been hit with a wrecking ball. They flew down the street and landed in a heap near the crowd. None of them moved. And Rance knew that without armor, few people could survive a blow like that.

  Without waiting to find out the pirates’ fates, Solaris and Abel joined the others. They turned down a side street. As soon as they rounded the corner, they assumed their normal appearances. Although Solaris’ usual face wasn’t his true one, he adopted the usual disguise. His left eye was still swollen although the cut above his eyebrow had finally stopped bleeding. He panted heavily, his face ghostly white.

  After getting her bearings, Rance assumed the lead. The Streaker was close, next to a park. She wouldn’t be able to see it if it were still disguised, but she remembered the tall, dark-faced building they’d landed next to. She scanned the area for a sign.