Two. Where had they come from? If anything had happened to Mercury—the sound of the doors engaging sent Samantha dashing for the next doorway, but all the doors slid shut. Stars, she needed the hack to kick in. If the security protocols were still functioning, whoever had come back to the ship could use them to locate her.
She headed up the steps to the main corridor. Left would take her back to the pilot’s station, probably the first place they’d look. Right would take her to the commons, but anyone coming in the main hatch would also have to pass through there to get to the pilot’s station. Between her and the commons were a lot of dead ends and several turns. If she was lucky she might make it to the one cross corridor she’d seen before they found her.
She dropped to the floor and removed her boots, then went to the right, moving quickly but cautiously. The metal decking felt cool and smooth beneath her feet as she followed the corridors into the body of the ship. The telltale thud of booted feet warned her they’d already made it past the commons and were headed right for her. She spun around and sprinted back along the corridor, sliding at the turns like a drunk on an ice plane.
She rounded the last corner between her and the pilot’s station and ran smack into a solid male chest. Damn, where had he come from? His arms closed around her like a vise squeezing the breath from her heaving lungs.
“Well, look what I cornered.” The hunter spoke to someone over her shoulder. The other one must have caught up.
“No points.” The voice behind her was jovial and relaxed. “That was luck.”
“Being in the right spot is a skill,” the hunter protested.
Samantha struggled against his hold. She tried to get a knee to his groin but he held her too tight.
“Hey, mister lucky?” Getting his attention was the only tactic she could think of to get him to ease his grip. The moment he looked down to her, she wrenched her head back and then forward, clipping his chin with her forehead.
“Shit,” the man shouted. He was pissed. It hadn’t exactly felt good to her, but it worked. His hold loosened.
Samantha grabbed for the stunner at his waist and dropped to her haunches, letting her body fall like dead weight. It broke his grip and she scrambled.
She came away with the stunner and got in a shot as she did a one handed crab walk away from him. He dodged. She tried to adjust her aim, something slammed into her, flipping her over and flattening her against the deck.
A sharp, jarring pain shot through her shoulder. She couldn’t get air and before she recovered both men were on her. One lay with his torso across her, the other wrenched her arms over her head and tried to twist the stunner out of her hand. She fired. He yelped and released her. The high, shuddering whimper told her she’d gotten him good. Not enough to take him out, but enough to throw him off his game.
The guy still crushing her to the decking wasn’t distracted by the blast—he was too busy shoving her face into the floor.
She was trying to get her arm back around to get a shot off at him when she saw Lo coming down the corridor like the devil they called him. There was no sound, except her labored breathing and the grunts of the man pressed against her. Lo’s eyes flickered with red flames and he sprung into the air and flew at her attacker, claws extended. She saw it as if time slowed. She braced for the blow of Lo’s weight coming down on them, but it never came. His momentum carried him over them and he plucked the man off her as he tumbled past. The quiet, swift movements gave Samantha an eerie chill. She tried to push up to a sitting position, but her hands slipped in wet crimson. She hadn’t realized Lo had drawn blood but the evidence was soaking into her top.
The second man was trying to get a stunner in his left hand. The right hung limply at his side. The awkward movements slowed him down. She scrambled to get to him before he could aim. They both froze as a loud growl rolled down the corridor.
Mercury.
A blur of motion whooshed past in a quicksilver flash of heat and energy. She shivered as cool, ship-controlled air sucked back in to fill his wake.
Everything stopped.
The hunters, both injured and unconscious, lay barely breathing on the floor. Lo and Mercury crouched over them, hands bloody, chests heaving. They watched her and waited. Waited for her reaction. Waited for her to accept or reject them. Waited, unrepentant, for her to pass judgment. They needed her to go to them, to reassure them. She tried, but something between her brain and her body had broken.
The aftermath of suppressing her fear washed over her, leaving her trembling. Another flash of movement and Mercury pulled her into his arms. She buried her face in his chest and breathed him in. The subtle spice of him cleared the tang of blood from her nose and settled her nerves. She pushed back and slid her hands up to frame his face. “When they came, I thought something had gone wrong. That maybe you were hurt, or worse.”
“I’m fine and Drake lives.
“Carn is with the others,” said Lo. “They all live.”
“We’re all safe.” Mercury pulled her back into his arms.
She stretched out her hand to Lo. “Come here.”
He didn’t hesitate. He settled his big body against her side and wrapped his arms around them both as he pressed his nose against her neck.
They sat that way, quietly reassuring each other, for a full minute before Mercury shifted. “We must get these men out of here and help Samantha ready the ship.”
“I’ll take them,” said Lo. “You stay here and help her. Carn and I will return shortly.”
“Be careful,” said Mercury. There are at least four more in the area.”
“Just two. I ran into two in the forest. That’s why I headed back here.”
Samantha cleared her throat of emotion. “We’ll be ready when you get back.”
Everything moved quickly then. By the time she got back to the pilot’s station the hack had completed and she had full access to the ship’s controls. The moment Lo and Carn stepped back onto the ship she sealed the hatch and started the launch sequence.
The familiar rhythm of the work and the force of the ship shooting toward space fit like the comfort of old work boots. As they cleared the atmosphere, Samantha saw the Dove. “Bastards.” The damage was far worse than it should have been for the small directed charge she’d triggered in the cargo-hold.
“Samantha?” Mercury appeared over her shoulder.
She wanted to turn, to see his face, reach out to touch him, but until they cleared the planet’s influence she had to stay focused on the controls. “You should be resting.”
He dropped a hand on her shoulder. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
She pointed at the view screen. “When the hunters boarded looking for that tracker they made a mess of her boarding hatches and scattered the remnants of the cargo-bay blowout.” Maybe setting off an explosion hadn’t been such a good idea. “The debris field surrounding her will make it impossible to dock. We won’t be able to salvage a thing.”
His hand squeezed gently. “You hoped to salvage your personal possessions? Your mother’s cloth?”
“No,” she said. No, it had been nothing as sentimental as that. “I was hoping we could siphon some fuel from the Dove’s auxiliary tanks.”
“Fuel?”
“Yeah, this beauty was designed for speed, not efficiency.” She tapped the readouts on the control panel. “We only have enough fuel for one Skip and that won’t get us back to Roma.”
“Why would they travel without enough fuel?”
“They must’ve spent extra fuel getting here so quickly.”
As the ship moved out of range of G-45987, Samantha quieted. She checked navigation and set a course to take them out of the solar system.
“There are two refueling ports in range,” she explained. “We’re on the border between Gollerra and Earth Alliance territories, but the closest fuel depot is on the Alliance side.” She swiveled far enough to look at Mercury. “If Roma sent out a bulletin on you guys it could be dangerous to go to the de
pot on the Alliance side.”
“Drake wouldn’t have admitted his loss to anyone outside the company. He wouldn’t have believed we could evade recapture.”
She considered his words and her own feelings. She couldn’t let her own concerns and needs delay their return to Roma. “Okay, but, in an abundance of caution, let’s say he did. Or he tagged my credit accounts. I might not be able to pay for the fuel.”
Mercury nodded. “Our other option?”
She sighed, but held his gaze. “Haverlee.”
He reached out and ran a finger along her jaw, stoking under her chin. “We go to Haverlee, then.”
“I’m sorry, Mercury. I know Carn won’t be happy about the delay.”
He pulled away his hand and she immediately wanted his touch back. Had she become addicted?
“He’ll see the logic of it,” he said, for once unaware of the reason for the tumult inside her.
Logic had little to do with the jumble of her emotions. “I hope so.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Haverlee Port, Krena
Gollerra Sector
2210.170
Samantha yawned as Haverlee’s controller confirmed her account, finalized the portage and wished her well. Handling all the ship’s systems herself had made it a short but punishing journey. Before Samantha closed the communication channel she checked one more time for any response to the encrypted relay she’d sent out for Sevti, but there was nothing.
She stood and stretched, pushing her worry away. She could only hope Sevti was okay and being cautious. No use in assuming he’d been caught when she was too far away to help him. Besides, after a year away, she was back in Haverlee. Surely that earned her a few hours of peace before she had to start worrying again.
Turning to leave the pilot’s station she found Mercury watching her with intent eyes. She brushed her fingertips across his cheek and enjoyed the warm rush of affection that heated her skin when he pressed a kiss to her palm. His tongue traced a circle across the kiss dampened skin. Her pulse skipped and pleasure zinged outward to all her more feminine places.
She pulled her hand free. The last thing she needed was to face the Chief with her brain floating on a cloud of lust.
“I need to go speak with the Port Chief. He’s the local authority. He controls everything in Haverlee. I need to explain about the ship in case it comes up on a port bulletin.”
“I’ll go with you.” He crossed his arms over his chest, presenting an appealing show of strength and determination.
“You should all wait here. Haverlee is a multi-species port, so I don’t think you’ll stand out so much, but—”
“There could also be a bulletin on us—stolen property.”
She cringed and patted his bicep. “I’ll talk to the Chief about that, too.”
He didn’t budge to move aside or let her through the hatchway. “I’ll go with you. Carn and Lo will stay here.”
Over his shoulder, she could see the two men standing in the corridor.
“You should all stay here. I grew up in Haverlee, I’ll be fine.”
A rumbling growl reverberated in Lo’s chest.
Carn looked somber. “We listened to the ship’s data entry on this port. There’s a traveler warning posted.”
She couldn’t help the eye roll. Why had she taken the time to teach them how to use the ship’s com interface? “There have been warnings about Haverlee since I was no taller than your hip, but nothing truly bad happens here. I promise.”
Red fire sparked in Lo’s eyes and a muscle in his jaw twitched.
Mercury wrapped his hands around her arms, stroking with his thumbs. “If you don’t let me go with you, I won’t be able to keep Lo from following you. He doesn’t seem in a very agreeable mood. It’d be better if you let me stay at your side.”
Samantha humphed. “You think I’m falling for that?”
He nodded, face carefully neutral. “It’s true.”
Damn them. She knew she was being maneuvered, but she also knew Lo would do exactly as Mercury warned.
“Okay. You win this one.” She strode over to Lo and put her hand against the sleek expanse of his muscled chest. “You stay here. Mercury will go with me.”
The rumble quieted beneath her palm. His lips tilted in a half smile that pressed his prominent canine teeth against his lip. The man didn’t know how to look anything but deadly. She turned in a slow circle. What was she thinking? None of them could look anything but lethal.
She shot Mercury a grin. “Come on. First stop, we find something to cover you up. No way are you walking around out there with all those pretty muscles on display.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Pretty?”
She traced a finger down his sternum. “I call ‘em like I see ‘em.”
Ten minutes later, he walked at her side through the bustling port and into the market that sprawled right up to the gate. They found a hooded jacket for Mercury and arranged to have two more delivered to the ship in an hour. With the hood up, it covered Mercury’s ears and shadowed the distinctive features of his face, but there was nothing she could do to disguise his size.
The chief’s assistant led them into his office. Port Chief Pillar sat behind an ancient but tidy desk. A window looking across the port stretched across the wall behind him, like his own personal backdrop. The older Golley had the blue-tipped, silver hair that put his age well into his senior years, but to her he’d always looked old. The wrinkled gray skin and rounded shoulders were typical Golley, but as a child she’d thought him just another elderly human. That was back before she’d had access to the port. Most of the Golley worked and lived within its walled shelter.
Samantha sat in the faded chair across from him and Mercury stood behind her, one hand reassuringly on her shoulder. “It’s good to see you, Pillar.”
“And you, Sammie.” The chief eased his chair back. “You here to file a claim on the Bucket?”
Samantha shook her head. “No. My father left it to Shred. I’ve accepted that.”
His bushy brows shot up. “Shred doesn’t seem so sure.”
Samantha adjusted her boots beneath her seat. She didn’t want to talk about Shred. “I told him as much, last I saw him.”
The chief tapped crooked fingers against the arm of his chair. “Shred and the rest of the crew seem to think you’ll put in a claim to cut them out and throw them off.”
Samantha frowned. “I’d never do that. The Bucket is their home.” Of course it had been her home too.
“So you’re here for something else then.”
A miniature of the Earther scales of justice sat on the corner of the chief’s desk. A strange artifact to find in a Golley port office. On Haverlee he was judge, jury, and jailer should the need arise. He’d been on Halston before Haverlee and Golley Minor before that. He was more than a backwater caretaker, or had been. Samantha lifted the figurine in her hand.
“I need your expert knowledge of the Gollerra judiciary.”
He smiled, nodding his head in a way humans couldn’t duplicate. It was more like moving his head up and down rather than tipping it forward and back. “Clever start, acknowledging my ex-par-tese and appealing to my sense of self-importance. Go on.”
“This is a hypothetical.”
The chief waved one hand in sharp little circles, urging her to get to the point.
“How exactly does Gollerra law determine who is a person?”
The chief leaned forward letting the legs of his chair slam forward. “Now that is quite a question. You’re going to have to explain that one.”
“I mean, if someone claimed someone else wasn’t a person, that they were property, more animal than humanoid, how would they go about deciding it one way or another?”
The chief’s attention shifted briefly to Mercury’s shadowed face, before he turned serious and met her gaze levelly. “Well, it isn’t something that often comes up. It’d have to be basic sentience testing. Self-aware, able to communicat
e on some recognizable level, capable of comprehending complex social structures. But, if the person can question the claim of ownership and be understood, that’s evidence enough of sentience.”
“No genetic requirements? Nothing about DNA?”
He frowned, doubling the number of wrinkles across his forehead. “No. We have our share of prejudice, but it is usually more cultural than species related.”
“What about a claim of ownership…or creatorship?”
“Ha!” He let out a puff of amusement. “Parents create their children, doesn’t mean they own them.”
Samantha reached up to lay a hand over Mercury’s on her shoulder. “Good. Perfect.”
Pillar’s gaze tracked the movement. “I take it this hypothetical has some basis in reality?”
Fabric rustled from behind Samantha as Mercury pushed back the hood of his cape. The chief wouldn’t be able to miss his less human features. “This is Mercury.”
“The Roma Company created my people through genetic manipulation.” Mercury gave nothing of his anger away in his tone. “They have deemed us animals and claim ownership.”
“Roma?” The chief’s face scrunched with derision as he said the word.
“They own a small planet,” Samantha added. “In the Earth Alliance Beta sector.”
“I know the company, but they have no legal standing here.” The chief got to his feet and extended a hand to Mercury. “Welcome to Haverlee and Gollerra sector.”
Mercury hesitated for only a moment before he stepped forward and took the man’s hand. “Thank you.”
Samantha cleared her throat to draw Pillar’s attention. “I should also tell you that the ship I arrived in may have been reported missing or stolen.”
The chief settled back into his chair. “How did you end up with it?”
“I was hired to pilot some freight for Roma.”
“Your friend here?” He indicated Mercury with a tilt of his head.
Samantha nodded. “I took an unconventional route. When they realized that, one of the idiots they sent along tried to take over the pilot’s station.”
His brows lifted again, like two fuzzy caterpillars trying to walk off his face. “He thought he could fly a transport?”
Stealing Mercury (Arena Dogs Book 1) Page 21