Renegade Magic (Star Renegades Book 1)

by Jennifer M. Eaton

  Dania stared at the screen. The real truth. What did that even mean?

  Her stomach churned. How could the details of this murder have been so clear only a few hours ago, and now be so muddled?

  She looked up at Espinoza, the face of the man whose head she was still bound to sever and bring back to her sponsor. She couldn’t deny a direct order. The conundrum was, would she hand her prince the man’s head and then say, ‘Oh, by the way, Espinoza didn’t actually do what you thought he did,’ or would she take another path?

  She blinked and looked at the floor. Could she belay the order and ask for clarification?

  A stinging pain started at the base of her neck and carried through to her fingers. It had been years since her programming had sent her a harsh reminder of her vocation.

  She swallowed and took a deep breath. The royal family’s commands were absolute, and their enforcers were physically incapable of not following through on their orders. Her prince had been quite adamant. Espinoza needed to die, no matter what.

  Ty moved back beside her and leaned close, as he had in the tavern. “Do you see now how it might be possible for people to do things that are illegal, but for good reasons? I mean, if this truth was wrong, how many others are wrong as well?”

  An interesting question. However… “It’s never right to break the king’s law. Rules are there for a reason, and those who break the law need to be punished.”

  Ty shook his head. “Maybe she just needs to see a little righteous lawbreaking in action before she’ll understand.” He and Alanna folded their arms, staring at Espinoza.

  The captain’s lips twisted into a sneer. “You can’t be serious. We are not bringing her with us.”

  Dania cocked a brow. Now, this sounded interesting.

  “Why not? Let’s give her a visual. We just got you off the hook for murder. Now let’s work on the rest of us.”

  Only, Espinoza was not off the hook. True, he had not committed the crime of murder, but her prince’s orders had been specific: ‘Bring me back Espinoza’s head.’

  Prince Geron had not asked for the head of Filluck Palogivan’s murderer. If he had, she would be looking for that child now.

  Espinoza walked toward the observation window. “As soon as we’re safe to fly, we’re taking her to a colony somewhere and dropping her off, just like we planned.”

  Ty and Alanna smiled at each other. “No, we’re not.”

  The crew mulled around Dania, continuing the repairs as she scanned more data feeds, looking for anything to distract her as she tried to soothe the roiling in her gut.

  Filluck Palogivan had been Geron’s good friend. Could her prince have come across this file? Had he sealed this evidence himself to save his friend’s name? And if so, why ask for the head of an innocent man?

  She cringed. Espinoza was far from innocent, but still, she needed to execute him in the name of the correct crime. Smuggling, yes, but not murder.

  She rubbed the bridge of her nose as she’d seen so many humans do. It didn’t help.

  Dania needed to consider the possibility that her beloved prince may have broken his own father’s laws.

  But that wasn’t possible. Geron wouldn’t do that. Certainly, he had his faults. He was every bit the womanizer the rumor feeds said he was. He was more interested in his own personal pleasure than the law that his station called him to abide by, but he never broke any laws that she was aware of, and he’d never overlook the law being broken, even if by a friend.

  A tone sounded, and a voice came over the speaker. “This is your friendly neighborhood doctor. How’s it going up there?”

  “Slowly, but we should be up and moving in an hour or so,” Ty said.

  “Awesome. Do you think we’re clear from trackers? Can we turn our instruments back on?”

  Espinoza looked at a time meter on the wall. “Yeah, we are more than in the clear. If they were following, we’d be dead already.”

  “Okay, then if it’s all right with you guys, every book I’ve read on medical protocol says that a foreign entity should be checked out by the medical team before they’re allowed on your ship.”

  “What?” Ty said.

  “Well, I happened to notice you had a non-human tied in the corner of the bridge. I think that would qualify as a foreign entity.”

  “He’s right,” Espinoza said. “We should get her checked out.”

  “Checked out for what?” Dania asked.

  “You know, the regular.” Ty fiddled with a few wires sticking out of a panel. “Microorganisms, viruses, sexually transmitted infections…”

  Alanna slapped him. “STIs? Seriously?”

  “Hey! My mother taught me it’s important to check.”

  “Focus, people.” Espinoza stepped between them, holding back a smile. “Bring the power up slowly so we don’t catch on fire again.”

  “Got it, boss.” Ty saluted before walking over to Dania and pointing at her chair. “May I?”

  She stood, relinquishing the captain’s station.

  Espinoza gave Dania a gentle tug. “Come on. I’ll walk you down to the med bay.”

  The med bay…could she get so lucky? She’d seen doctors use instruments before. If she tried hard enough, she might be able to discern one that might be able to cut through the steel around her wrists. And with her hands now bound in front of her, she might have a better chance of not burning off any fingers.

  The door slid open, and they stepped into a dark hall. The lights slowly rose as the ship’s systems came back online.

  “I don’t have any diseases,” Dania said.

  He guided her down the hall. “Probably not, but you of all people should understand the rules.”

  Dania certainly couldn’t argue with that.

  Thick, metal ramparts rose around her. The ship was old but sturdy, meant for versatility rather than comfort. She stopped, staring at a scorch mark on the wall. “Is that from an ion blaster?”

  “Yeah, that wasn’t the greatest of days.”

  A few feet away, another burn mark mottled the wall. It seemed this ship had seen as many battles inside its walls as it had attacks from the outside.

  They curved around several bends. The ship was tight, compact, and much larger than it looked on the outside. With its multiple floors, it could easily house a much larger crew. Either that, or ridiculously large and illegal amounts of cargo.

  A doorway slid open, and they walked inside.

  The man who had been shot earlier in the day clapped his hands. “How is my patient doing?”

  Dania pursed her lips. “I should be asking you the same question.”

  He pulled open his shirt, exposing dark, curly hair covering a slight pink mark on his chest. “As good as new. Please give your friend a big hug for me next time you see him.”

  “Can we cut the crap and get to it, Doc?” Espinoza asked.

  The doctor leaned toward her. “You have to excuse Cal. He has no bedside manner.” He tapped her bindings. “These need to come off.”

  Espinoza shook his head. “No way. They stay on. She’s too dangerous with them off.”

  Which was true…unless the blasted shackles had already drained too much.

  The metal hummed around her wrists again, and she grimaced. Every hour or so, they’d warm or sometimes cool. The temperature didn’t matter because each time, more of her power ebbed away. Hopefully, that was temporary, and she’d be more than ready to do her job once she got them off.

  She had to believe that. The alternatives were unthinkable.

  The doctor placed his hands on his hips. “How do you expect me to give her a proper examination?”

  “They stay on.”

  “Whatever.” The doctor tapped a gurney board. “Jump up here, please.”

  Dania sat on the hard steel and waited while he ran several scanning devices over her. None of them looked strong enough to cut through Palian steel. More instruments lined the walls behind clear panels…probably steril
e holding chambers. Nothing she couldn’t break through, even restrained.

  The doctor frowned, looking into the device. “How old are you, sweetie?”

  Sweetie? “I’m not actually sure. We don’t count our ages like humans do.”

  “Hmm. What is your earliest memory?”

  Her earliest memory…

  Opening her eyes, and her prince smiling at her, holding out his hand.

  The sense of love and belonging.

  Prince Geron bringing Alexander home to play with her a few days later.

  She smiled. “I grew up in the palace with my sponsor and his family. What does that matter?”

  The doctor pulled the cap off a small white container. “Just curious, making conversation.” He ran the scanner over her again, then he poked her finger with something sharp. A bead of blood formed, and he squeezed it into the container.

  “Ow.” She drew her hand away, shaking her finger.

  He tapped her shoulder. “Sorry, sweetie. That was the worst of it.”

  Espinoza paced like a rabid beast looking for an opportunity to strike. “You have that look on your face, Doc.”

  “I’m just getting some perplexing readings, but that’s not unexpected.”

  Dania straightened. “What do you mean?”

  “Well.” The doctor sat on the edge of her gurney. “No one has ever done any medical research on an enforcer. I mean, people have written papers, but they’re mostly supposition. I’m actually deliriously excited to look over these readings.”

  What an odd man.

  Espinoza continued to pace. “Did you run that doohickey over her enough times to clear her to board the ship?”

  Doc waved his hand in front of his face. “For heaven’s sake, yes, she’s fine.” He turned back to Dania. “But I’d love it if you could stop back tomorrow morning. This might be my one and only chance to make history.”

  By scanning her? Ridiculous, but that would give her more time to find a light scalpel, or maybe even something stronger.

  She jumped off the gurney, and the room spun.

  The doctor grabbed her. “Are you okay?”

  She pulled away. “Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  He held up his hands. “My mistake.”

  Blinking until her head cleared, she followed Espinoza from the room.

  What had happened in there? She looked down at the shackles. It couldn’t be the illicit metal causing that much weakness.

  Was she ill? Had she contracted some sort of disease from these humans?

  The ship hummed beneath her feet as they stepped back into the hall. The lights flickered.

  “Are we moving?” Dania asked.

  Espinoza hit a few buttons on the wall. “Ty, what are you doing?”

  “You said you didn’t want to hang here like a bunch of sitting ducks, right?”

  He rubbed his face. “Yes, but where are you going?”

  “To Agenica. Carl says he has a package to pick up.”

  Espinoza licked his lips, glanced at Dania, and then back to the wall. “All right. Let’s make it quick.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  Dania stood beside Alanna on the main bridge, watching as Ty and Espinoza met a lone man with long, dark braided hair in an otherwise deserted docking port just outside their ship. They shook hands and slapped each other’s backs in the way human men frequently did. She’d never understood the strange greeting customs of Earthans.

  Espinoza opened a small container and showed it to the man. The hairs on the back of her neck stood as she imagined what might be inside that package.

  “What new larceny are you up to this time?” Dania asked.

  Alanna glanced at her, then looked back out the window. “No larceny. We deal with Carl all the time. This is a perfectly legal trade.”

  Dania was sure it wasn’t, although the woman’s temperature remained neutral. After more talking, the man, Carl, apparently, pushed three large containers out. Ty opened them up and rooted around inside.

  “What’s in those?” Dania asked.

  “Just normal, legal supplies. Nothing for you to worry about.”

  Dania gritted her teeth. She needed to worry about this. She was bound by her prince to stop anyone breaking a law, yet she stood, rapt. The cargo might be illegal, but the trade looked fair enough. It didn’t even seem like the men on either side had guns.

  They wouldn’t be foolish enough to break a law right in front of her, though.

  But maybe that was why she was up here, where she could not see what was being traded.

  Unless it actually was a legal trade.

  Her mind whirled and she blinked. Why was she having such trouble focusing?

  As Espinoza shook Carl’s hand, Ty pushed one of the three containers toward the cargo ramps below them. Dania would have to find out what they were bringing on board. The containers would probably be stored in the lower levels with countless other kinds of contraband. Once she saw the contents for herself, she could decide who was guilty on the ship and who, if anyone, was innocent.

  Espinoza’s voice rang over the communicator in the wall. “Alanna, everything still okay?”

  She glanced at Dania. “Yeah, we’re just having some girl time.”

  “Good. Bring her down to the brig area.”

  Dania stiffened. If they locked her up, how would she be able to get more information? Even worse, she wouldn’t have the opportunity to pick up a forgotten tool that might free her.

  “Is that necessary?” Alanna asked.

  Dania mustered half a smile. Somehow, she’d gained an ally in the woman. She needed to keep it that way.

  “We all need some sleep,” Espinoza said. “I need to know she’s contained for everyone’s safety, including her own.”

  Dania scowled, sure he had no concern for her safety whatsoever.

  She rolled her shoulder and winced against the ache from having her wrists fastened behind her back earlier. Maybe a short sleep would do her good, but she’d need to get out of her cell as soon as possible.

  She grimaced at the shackles as they cooled on her skin. The now all-too-familiar tingle set in as more of her power drained away. She turned her back to the woman and pulled against the steel bindings, but they only seemed to constrict. The illicit metal was every bit the horror she’d been told it was.

  This was all the more reason to try to get back to that med bay to look through the instruments housed in glass. There had to be something in there that would cut through Palian steel. She could do so when the humans fell asleep.

  First, she’d have to break out of the confinement cell Espinoza was about to put her in, and she’d probably have to do this without her powers. It had been a very long time since she’d had to rely on her skills of body and mind, rather than primordial energy.

  She was about to find out just how resourceful she could be.

  11

  Cal

  Cal waved his hand over the panel in the hallway, and the door to the infirmary slipped open. Doc stood behind his lab table, leaning over a microscope window.

  “You wanted to see me?”

  Doc looked up. “Yes. Thanks for coming down.”

  The seriousness in Doc’s voice chilled Cal. “What is it?”

  “I’ve found some strange things in the enforcer’s blood.” He frowned at the scope. “It’s like there are pathogens living inside her red blood cells.”

  “Pathogens? That’s bad, right? Are we in danger?”

  Doc shook his head. “I don’t think so. They aren’t attacking her platelets. It’s more like they’re in some kind of symbiotic relationship.”

  Cal moved closer. “I don’t know what that means.”

  Doc tapped his lips with his fingers. “Well, they seem to be coded to her, for one thing. I gave them a drop of my own blood, and they just ignored it.” He looked at Cal. “That means it’s not contagious. They’ll only affect the host, but that’s not the most interes
ting thing.”

  “Are you dragging this out on purpose?”

  Doc smiled before looking back to the microscope. “They’ve completely mutated her blood, but beneath all that, she’s human.”

  Cal balked. “That’s impossible.” There was no way that psychotic killing machine was human.

  Doc motioned to the scope. “Do you want to look and see for yourself?”

  Cal narrowed his eyes. Doc knew Cal would have no idea what he was looking at.

  Anyway, it was going to take quite a bit more than a self-taught doctor to make him believe that the woman locked up in his brig was human.

  “Look at her. She has that silvery hair that flies around on its own, and enforcers can do all that crazy stuff like making a bullet rise out of your chest.” He pointed at Doc’s heart. “You saw that firsthand, up close and personal. The only thing worse than running from an enforcer is running from someone in the royal family themselves.”

  Cal considered the woman’s nearly lifeless silver-gray eyes. None of that was human.

  Doc started to pace. “When we first saw her on the space station, her hair was flying around all medusa-like. So was her drop-dead gorgeous friend’s, the one who healed me. It was like they were standing in a windy room, but the rest of us weren’t.”

  “Your point?”

  He held up his palms. “Her hair isn’t flying around anymore.”

  He was right. When Cal had locked her in her cell last night so they could all sleep without worrying about her trying to strangle one of them, her hair had been flat, nearly normal-looking, except for the shimmering silver color. “It was flying around when we were trying to fight our way out of the station. I saw it.”

  “Yes, but not anymore, right?”

  Cal looked at the ground, thinking over the last few times he’d seen her. It had seemed to lessen after that battle, and now the movement was pretty much gone, or so slight, he hadn’t noticed.

  “I’ve watched the pathogens split apart and fade in the blood sample she gave me. I think they’re dying off.”

  “Could it be because you removed the blood from her body?”