by Siren Allen
According to his father, females were the weaker sex. Yet, they were the givers of life. Silver had often wondered why they were considered weaker when they could give life. Surely that made them the stronger sex. But he wasn’t one to question the wisdom of his father.
His duty was to defend the females in his family and once he had a family of his own, his duty was to protect them with his life. Images of his mother and sisters filled his head. Their laughter soothed him, taking the edge off the ache pounding behind his eyes.
After his father died, his family turned to him for guidance. With the money his father left him, Silver had purchased The Striker and together he and his three best friends put their currency together to make The Striker the best ship in the galaxy.
To take care of his family, Silver or Sebastian rather, joined the Galactic Raiders, a raiding unit under the command of his father’s longtime friend, commander Rhodes. Because of his crews’ skills, they quickly gained the commander’s trust and became the go-to ship when the commander needed a top secret task completed.
With his earnings, he’d taken care of his sisters and mother until his sisters were married and his mother, stars rest her soul, joined his father in the afterlife. It wasn’t long after his mother passed away, that the Regime of his home world learned of Silver and his crew’s pirating.
They were banished from Zedona and forbidden from ever returning. That meant Silver would never see his sisters again. He only had peace with that decision because he knew both of his sisters were married to honorable males, who agreed to contact Silver by any means necessary if they ever needed him.
Now with no home to return to, he raided to save for his future with his mate, a future where he could settle down, find a new place to call home and live his life in peace. Perhaps raise a few little ones.
More memories bombarded him. One memory in particular stood out, a memory of Malia. However, it wasn’t Malia. But the woman was important to Malia, he could feel it. How the hell did he have this memory?
Silver tried to cling to that memory, wanting to know more. The memory occurred during the Time-Dwellers’ attempt to turn Venus into a black hole. Sebastian Johansson had been sent to watch the locals, to determine if they were a threat to the raiding party.
Misting to the area, he’d grown distracted by a certain scent. It compelled him to seek it out. What he found was a young woman clinging to her mother, afraid of him and his kind. Her scent beckoned him, however it wasn’t her scent.
Sebastian had become confused, until he touched his hand to the girl’s forehead and saw into her future. What he saw changed his world and his thoughts on the war that was about to take place.
He and the girl were connected. This girl, this little Venusian his unit was prepared to destroy, would be the great, great, great, grandmother of the female he craved. That information stunned him. He couldn’t destroy this world?
Doing so would destroy his mate before she even had a chance to live. Loyalty was important to him, but the loyalty to his mate came before the loyalty he owed his raiding party.
That night, Silver told the people of that neighborhood about the impeding threat to their world. At first they hadn’t believed him. They questioned why anyone would want to destroy them for no reason.
When he told them what he was, they realized that their lives were truly at stake. He told them of the spaceship hovering just outside their world, too close for comfort yet far enough away to go undetected by their perimeter scanners.
He was the traitor that had cost the Time-Dwellers the war. He was the reason his people had lost that battle. And if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn’t change a thing. His mate was alive and well. That was more important to him than any black hole or any war. More memories assaulted him.
He clasped on to another one that held Malia in it. He’d thought he’d met her for the first time that night in her diner, he was wrong. He met her when she was a kid. She was a child, lying in bed.
The scent of death clung to her. That scent had called to him across the galaxies. He’d taken a month’s leave from work, stating family emergency, so he could seek her out. She’d been five at the time.
The doctors had told her parents a tumor was the cause of her illness. They’d given her a year to live. A year to live! Life was unfair like that. Silver had stared down at her small frail frame, wondering why the fates had chosen to punish her this way.
Was it because he’d stopped the war so that she could live? Could his mate be dying now because he’d had the audacity to change the future? If that was the case, then fate could kiss his ass.
He was a Time-Dweller. They lived to change the future of their people. How many times had he and his crew travelled to the past to change a war? It was a crime punishable by death, but that had never stopped them or their commander.
Changing the future and raiding was how they made their living. They weren’t called Space Pirates for nothing. The afterlife couldn’t have his mate. She belonged to him. That night, Silver bonded his life to hers, sharing his life-span with her.
This was how his ship knew where to take them. In case of an emergency it was programmed to take him to his mate. More memories filled his brain. He relaxed and allowed them to enter.
He recalled his last mission. They were ordered by their commander to assist in the destruction of a research facility. However, they realized too late that the facility housed two hundred young ones.
It was supposed to only house adults, or so they’d been told. The scientists there were rumored to be working on a technology to defeat the Time-Dwellers, not just those that raided for a living, but the peaceful Dwellers on their home world.
The commander had led Sebastian to believe that their world was in danger. That his sisters would die if he didn’t help stop the evil scientists that were plotting to destroy them and their way of life. That wasn’t entirely true.
After they set the detonators that Epsilon, rather Alexander had created, they left the planet and boarded the Iron Bender. There Sebastian had overheard the commander telling his second in command that the cargo they’d stolen would help him rule all the galaxies.
Stolen cargo? No one had mentioned stolen cargo to him and his crew. They’d simply been told to destroy the planet, before the researchers there had a chance to destroy them. Loyalty or death. He was loyal to his people. No threat to them could go unpunished.
Yet, the commander had not mentioned stealing cargo. Hiding in the hallway, Sebastian had continued to listen in on commander Rhode’s private conversation. What he heard disgusted him.
Apparently while he and his crew were risking their lives planting detonators in various locations on the planet, the commander’s second in command had been murdering innocent people and stealing cargo from the facility.
Among the innocent lives taken were young ones that the second in command, Dosavich, joked had more fight in them than the adults. According to the Commander, the cargo he’d stolen would change his life forever.
It was something that would aid them in their raiding. No planet would ever be able to stop them. He joked that they would rain down on other worlds like acid rain. They would rule the universe and every knee would bow to him.
Sebastian knew that no one should have that kind of power. He was okay with raiding. He was okay with killing anyone who threatened his people. What he was not okay with was trying to rule the universe.
He definitely wasn’t okay with the fact that he and his crew had just doomed the fate of thousands of innocent people just because Rhodes craved universal domination. Instead of going to the main dining deck to begin celebrating with the rest of the raiders, he’d pulled his crew to the side to inform them of what he’d learned.
Like him, they too were disgusted. Epsilon, well, Alexander, had suggested going back onto the planet and destroying the detonators. That was too risky. And it was too late for them to destroy the signal to the detonators.
&n
bsp; They would have to do so from their own ship which was docked on the landing pad of the Iron Bender. If they tried to disrupt the signal while they were docked, the Iron Bender would pick up on the transmission.
There was nothing they could do to save those people. But they could thwart the commander’s plans. Without thinking of the consequences, Sebastian and his team had stolen the cargo and fled to their own ship.
Their plan had been to leave while the others were drinking and celebrating the destruction of the research facility. Since they supposedly knew nothing of the cargo, no one should’ve suspected they’d stolen it.
Unfortunately, the crew of the Iron Bender figured out what they’d done before the Striker could morph into warp speed. Beta, whose real name was O’Connor Washington, figured that the commander had a tracking device attached to the cargo.
Them moving it alerted the commander to their activities. They’d been struck numerous times, but they’d managed to use the planet they’d destroyed as a black hole and travel to another galaxy.
The unplanned black hole jump hurled them into another galaxy, another time. With the crew unconscious, Striker had taken them to the one place he knew Sebastian wanted to be, Venus, near his mate.
And those were his last memories. The large tubing rose from around him, returning to the ceiling. The room spun. Silver tried to stand, only to drop to one knee. His crew was there in an instant, helping him to his feet.
He took a deep breath, trying to keep the contents of his stomach from rising. Silver thought back to the time before they entered the black hole. Though he hadn’t visited his mate again since saving her life when she was five, he had kept up with her age.
Once she reached adulthood he’d planned to seek her out. Before travelling through the black hole his mate had been only twelve years old. Now she was a grown woman with her own establishment.
“I don’t think we only jumped to another galaxy. I think our blast was strong enough to hurl us through time,” Silver told his crew.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Epsilon told him.
“Why do you think that?” Beta asked.
Before Silver could think of an excuse, Ep spoke up. “I found a calendar in my room. I also saw a calendar when I was stealing from the technology store. The years don’t match up.”
“I mean, that blast was strong,” Beta said. “But it wasn’t strong enough to push us forward in time.”
Epsilon rubbed his chin. “It had to be our presence that made the blast push us through time. Four Time-Dwellers travelling through a blast of that magnitude could cause a rip in time.”
Gamma shook his head. “To time travel we need an item or person from that time to use as a grounder, something to link us to that specific time. What linked us to Venus and to this time?”
Again Ep responded. “We’ve all been here before. We were the link here. As far as the specific time we arrived in, I think the strength of the blast took care of that.”
“What do you think Captain?” Gamma asked.
“I say we go with Ep’s reasoning.”
Epsilon’s story was much better than Silver’s. Silver wasn’t ready to explain how he knew it was a different time. He wasn’t ready to tell his crew that he’d met his mate twice before coming here and that the only reason the ship brought them to Venus was because Silver’s mate was here.
That would lead to him telling them that he was the person responsible for them losing the war with Venus. That would make him a traitor to his crew. They would look at him differently. They would think of him differently.
Silver stared at his team. Beta and Gamma had grown up in the same neighborhood as he had. They’d all met Epsilon when they’d reached the upper grades in school. Since then they’d been inseparable.
They fought. They argued. But they remained loyal to each other. They were family. All of that would change the moment they learned of his role in the loss of the war. The only way to regain trust as a traitor was to offer up your life and seek redemption in the afterlife. Silver wasn’t ready to die.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” Silver announced, finally leaning away from Beta, regaining his balance.
“True, we have,” Beta commented.
“But that last mission changed our lives. I’m sure commander Rhodes is searching for us.”
“He’ll never find us. He’ll be searching not only the wrong places, but the wrong time,” Ep added. “Even if he travels through the same hole we did, he’ll have to match our speed exactly in order to arrive here, in this time. He’d also need to replicate the magnitude of our blast. Nearly impossible to do.”
“True, but I’m sure he’s placed a price on our head. That price will increase each year and won’t expire until we’re dead. I’m eager to find out what weapon was worth all of this. Take me to the cargo hold.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” Beta lead the way out of the clinic and across another bridge Silver had forgotten existed.
Chapter Six
“Here it is.” Standing at the entrance of the cargo hold, arms folded, Beta nodded at a large box. “We didn’t open it. We wanted to allow you the honors, captain Sebastian Johansson.” Beta moved closer to the box.
Captain Johansson. Yes, that was his name. But he liked the one his mate gave him. Plus, captain Johansson was a wanted male. Silver wasn’t.
“My name is Silver.”
Beta frowned. Leaning against the wooden box he asked, “You still want us to call you by that ridiculous name?”
Silver eyed him, brow raised, lips thin. His mate had given him that name. “It’s what my mate calls me. She doesn’t think it’s ridiculous. It reminds her of my eyes.” Shit. Why had he just said that?
“Your eyes are more gray than silver, but,” Beta shrugged. “Whatever you want. Welcome to the cargo hold captain. This room is filled with items we’ve stolen from different places and different times.”
“Grounders.” Silver stared around the room at all the items they used to travel from one place and time to another, links to the past and the future. With one touch they could travel to wherever each of these items had been.
“Now, do you want to open the box or should I?” Beta asked.
Silver strode over to the large box, keen to see what type of weapon it held. The lock on the outside of the box wouldn’t break. Silver tried pulling it apart. Nothing. He stepped aside when Beta swore he could open it. The male was wrong. None of them could remove the lock.
“Perhaps I could be of assistance,” Striker’s voice filled the room.
“Now I remember why I thought it was creepy to have a ship that could watch your every move,” Gamma whispered.
“I only supervise your actions when I sense a certain level of distress,” Striker announced.
“Can you open the box?” Silver asked the ship.
“I cannot. There is a laser in the corner of the room. You acquired it and more weapons when you raided the outpost on Terreon. You could use it to blast the lock off.”
“And risk destroying the weapon inside or possibly activating the weapon and destroying ourselves?” Silver shook his head. “We need another option.”
“I sense no weapon inside the box.”
No weapon. There had to be a weapon inside. He’d heard the commander say those exact words. Weapon inside. Perhaps the Striker was still faulty from being fired upon so many times.
“Are you sure?”
“One hundred percent certain. I sense no weapon inside.”
“What the hell did we steal then?” Dread threaded through his chest. Had he been wrong? Had he made his crew wanted males for nothing?
“I sense life forms inside the wooden vessel.”
“Life forms, as in more than one?” Silver stared at each member of his crew. He was sure his face mirrored the confusion on theirs.
“Yes captain. Lifeforms. Plural.”
“What the hell was the commander up to?” Beta voi
ced.
“We’re going to find out.” Silver turned to Ep. “Hand me the blaster from the weapons chest.”
Epsilon grabbed the blaster. Weapon in hand, he smiled at it fondly. “I remember that raid. The people of Terreon were threatening to destroy our home world. They vowed to rape our females and littles ones to death. They swore they would disembowel us males and hang our innards from their ship.” He tossed the blaster to Silver.
Catching it, Silver grinned. “And we showed them what happens to those who consider harming our people.”
The people of Terreon had been determined to find out what made Time Dwellers immortal. They were willing to kill and dissect any Dweller they found to achieve their goal. Terreon was now a black hole, a gateway to another galaxy. May they rest in peace.
Silver aimed the blaster at the box. “Step back,” he instructed. To Striker he asked, “Is there a chance I can destroy the beings inside the box?”
“There is a twenty percent chance you could damage the cryo chamber they are in. There is a ten percent chance that you could destroy them.”
“I’m okay with those odds,” Beta said to the group.
So was Silver. He stepped back, turned the blaster to its lowest level and pulled the trigger. The lock fell to the ground. Silver walked over and opened the lid. Sure enough, inside was a cryo-chamber but it was covered in ice.
“Why the hell is it frozen?” Beta peered into the box.
“I have no idea,” Silver handed the blaster back to Ep. “Beta, help me lift it out of here.”
Once the cryo-chamber was on the floor, Silver attempted to wipe away some of the ice coating the outside of it. It was impossible.
“Striker,” Silver called out. “Is there a chance we can remove this ice with the blaster?”
“Allow me to scan the chamber. Scan complete. There is no way to remove the ice. It is impenetrable.”
Could this situation become any weirder?
“I’ve heard of ice giants,” Gamma announced.
The situation had just become weirder.
“Seriously,” Gamma stated as glares were cast his way. “There’s a whole planet of them. Maybe the research facility we destroyed had captured one of them and the commander wanted it for himself.”