She smiled at them. “You’re welcome.”
Cal’s knuckles whitened on his backrest. “You’re welcome for what?”
18
Dania
Espinoza jumped up from his chair. He pointed out the window.
“You did that?” His eyes were wide. Manic.
Did he actually think the doctor had saved them, or maybe Alanna?
Dania tilted her head. “Of course.”
The skin along the edge of his dark hair glistened with perspiration. He actually looked surprised, like he had no idea how powerful enforcers could be. Maybe he had never encountered a full general before. Which made sense because if he had, he’d have been caught by now.
He spoke through clenched teeth. “You shoved us down the throat of a black hole.”
To somewhere safer. What was his point? “I saved you.”
“You could have killed us all.”
But she hadn’t. Why wasn’t he happy with the result?
Dania glanced through the window. Holding the singularity should have been simple, yet she’d nearly lost control twice. Her hands trembled, and she wanted to sit, but she couldn’t appear weak in front of these humans. Not now that she was free.
She was weak, though. She’d never had trouble focusing her primordial energy. She needed to get back home before she starved to death.
Espinoza advanced on her. “You will not put this ship and my crew in danger like that again. Do you hear me?”
“Your ship is fine.” But he was right. If she’d lost control, they all would have been crushed.
Only Dania and one other enforcer—and the king, of course—had successfully called up a singularity for travel. It was dangerous, and she’d been warned to use the gift in an emergency only, and only when fully fed.
Dania’s knees shook, and she backed up a step to support herself against the wall. She’d never felt so frail. The steel had done its damage.
Her sponsor could make her whole, though. Prince Geron always saw to her needs. He took care of all of them.
Espinoza’s eyes softened slightly. “Are you okay?”
She nearly spat at him. How dare he insinuate there was something wrong?
“I’m fine.” She pushed away from the wall. Her head spun, but she kept herself upright.
Ty jumped to his feet and grabbed her arm. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She shook him off and flopped into Alanna’s chair.
Ty and his captain stared at each other and then looked back to her.
“Maybe we should bring you down to see Doc,” Ty said.
“No.” Now that she was seated, she was fine, and they had serious issues to contend with—topics far more important than her being tired. She turned to Espinoza. “That power supply you just traded away could be turned into a weapon.”
“I know. That’s why I traded with Glenn. He doesn’t want to see innocent people suffer any more than I do.” He rubbed his eyes. “I trust him to get it to a colony that will use it for the right reasons.”
There was no change in the smuggler’s temperature, no sign of a lie. Both statements were true: that he didn’t want to see anyone hurt, and also that he trusted Glenn.
Still, her stomach roiled. She’d feel safer if she had watched the device installed in the colony rather than watching it walk away where it could be lost or stolen.
There were other matters to deal with, though. “Were those containers you traded all filled with citrus?”
Ty turned to his station and tapped on the console. “According to the manifest, it’s mostly fruits, some vegetables, and a few hundred pounds of protein bars.”
How could he stand there and speak so calmly about stolen food? “I suppose the black-market value of that haul is enormous.”
“Yes, it is.” Espinoza sat in the captain’s chair. “With that haul, we could live like royalty for years.” He leaned toward her. “But you would know all about what that was like, living in a palace most of your life.”
The air of sarcasm threatened to cut like a knife.
Geron didn’t live in a palace. However, she did realize the Bane family home on Keveron, and even Geron’s personal cruiser, were far more lavish than most commoners could ever dream of. She’d never really thought about it before. It was just the way it was.
Another tingle ran up her arm, like the shackles constricting even in their absence.
She flinched and shook her head to clear it. Espinoza was trying to deflect from the problem at hand.
Dania looked out at the stars. “I brought us here because this trajectory matched your flight plan, but why here? There aren’t any trading outlets.” And most criminals stayed in clusters. Their motto was safety in numbers, or something ridiculous like that.
The speaker sounded, and the doctor’s voice filled the room. “Cal, can you come down here?”
Espinoza paled. “Is something wrong with Alanna?”
The doctor snorted. “Yes, she’s a horrible patient. She’s worse than you.”
Espinoza smiled. It changed the structure of his face, his eyes. Dania warmed inside, but she wasn’t sure why.
The captain stood. “I’ll be right there.” He headed for the door and stopped, glaring at her. “There are things in the galaxy that are lightyears more important than making money, lady.” He turned away. “If you could get that through your head, you might make yourself a better cop.”
Things more important than making money…like taking care of the pretty navigator?
This captain made no attempt to hide where his favors lay. The crew was a liability he probably wasn’t even aware of. Dania just needed to find a way to use that to her advantage.
19
Cal
If Cal stayed there with the enforcer much longer, he’d probably punch a wall…or worse. They’d all agreed not to tell her where the food was going, that she needed to see the transaction as a crime, but a crime for good. Doc had seemed fairly certain that would unravel that obnoxious enforcer rigidity.
With that one-track mind of hers, though, Cal wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to accept that the law wasn’t always right.
For some odd reason, he needed this to work. He wanted her to believe in them.
In their mission.
In him.
Obviously, they still had a lot of work ahead of them.
Dania blocked his path. “I’m going with you.”
He raised a brow. “You are?”
“I brought your navigator back to the ship. I want to make sure your doctor cares for her properly so my efforts were not in vain.”
Cal smiled as he headed down the hall. This was one thing that was going really well, and it hadn’t even been part of the official plan. “It’s nice to see you and Alanna are getting along.”
Dania stopped short. She stared Cal down, and he could only dream of the maniacal thoughts running through that thick enforcer skull.
She started walking again. “Your navigator has some curious talents. I’d like to find out more about them.”
That wasn’t really unexpected. Dania’s expression had hardened when Alanna had called up the jump circle.
Jumpers were rare in the galaxy, but they weren’t illegal, as far as he knew. Maybe Alanna’s gift could buy them all some more time. “It seems like you two have been talking a lot, too.”
Dania seemed to consider that. “The conversations have not been unpleasant.”
Which would make them—dare he suggest—friends?
Cal kept walking. He wasn’t sure if an enforcer was even capable of that kind of emotional attachment.
The door to the infirmary slid open. Across the room, Alanna sat on her bed and grinned at him.
“I thought you’d been shot?” Cal asked.
“Clean wound.” Doc fastened a bandage on Alanna’s arm. “One graze to the torso, and the shot to her arm went right through. She was lucky.”
Alanna rolled her shoulder. “Hurt
like the dickens, though.”
Cal grimaced. He needed to keep Alanna onboard. He hated to admit how much they all depended on her jump ability for their escapes.
She liked to get off the ship once in a while, though, and he couldn’t blame her for that. Everyone needed to take a breath of fresh air from time to time.
The unfortunate truth they all needed to remember was that what they did for a living was dangerous. They could all get hurt at any time, as Alanna, Ethan, and even Doc could attest to.
Doc wiped his hands on a white cloth. “I am okaying her to return to light duty. No lifting, and I think it would be best to avoid navigational jumps for a while.”
Alanna’s mouth fell open. “Why can’t I do jumps? I don’t need two arms for that.”
Doc sighed. “There is no research on the effects of recent surgery on jump capability. There are too few people with that kind of power.”
Dania shifted her weight. Her lips thinned. Had jumping been added to the king’s list of crimes? Impossible, since the king could jump ships himself, and ten times farther than Alanna could. Maybe her ability just made the enforcer uncomfortable, since all registered jumpers were royal.
Doc threw the towel into the recycler. It popped out the other side, folded. “I’d like her confined to the ship as well.”
“What?” Alanna stood.
Doc held up his hands. “You’re hurt. I know we’re short-staffed, but I’m seriously considering keeping Ethan in bed, too. I shouldn’t have let him leave the ship as it is. Now you both need some rest.”
Cal dragged his fingers through his hair. He’d hoped to get Ethan back to normal duty. They really needed a full complement once they reached Kirato. If he timed it right, maybe they’d all be back in the game by the time they got there.
All that citrus had an expiration date, though. The clock was ticking, and he needed to be prepared, just in case.
The plan had always been to bring Dania to the surface for the last trade. But that was when she’d been in handcuffs. Now that she was free, Cal wasn’t sure how to manage this and keep all their heads intact.
Being shorthanded, though, might be the perfect excuse.
He turned to her. “It’s time to start earning your keep.”
The enforcer looked confused. “What?”
“Like Doc said, we’re shorthanded. I’m going to need your help with our next mission.”
She frowned. “Why can’t you wait for your crew to heal?”
“Waiting is not a luxury we can afford.” Espinoza called up a viewscreen. “This is where we’re headed.”
He pointed to planet Kirato’s orbit around its sun.
“There is a small window of opportunity when it’s safe to drop into orbit. In about thirteen hours, the sun will be in direct alignment with the long-range communications station on Elbus Three.”
Dania walked over to the screen. “So?”
Cal pointed to the spatial representation, showing her the line of sight. “This leaves the colony on the planet in the dark communications-wise for three weeks.”
She stared at him, obviously not understanding. That was because she didn’t think like a smuggler.
“With communications down, we can get in, do what we need to do, and get out before anyone can squeal and bring the enforcers down on us.”
Dania balked. “You’re going there to trade the illegal food.”
Yeah, this was when she’d probably blow a fuse. “Yes.”
Her eyes flashed. “I will not be part of your larcenous dealings.”
Cal turned from the screen. He shouldn’t have expected another outcome.
It would have been nice if she’d agreed. They could have landed on the planet like one big, happy family. He would have told his crew he was sorry for doubting them and happily agreed that even enforcers could change.
They still needed her on the surface, though. Cal had agreed to that much. They just had to make sure no one died before their point had been made.
He eyed the bandages on her arms and grimaced, remembering the sounds of the trappers’ screams and the smell of charred flesh.
Dania was every bit the same monster as the enforcer who’d killed Cal’s father. Death was nothing more than an easy way to erase problems for them.
But Cal had seen Dania take small steps in the right direction, and if Ty was right, seeing Kirato would be enough to finally push Dania into realizing that the universe’s laws shouldn’t be so rigidly defined.
Dania took another look at the screen, shook her head, and walked to the center of the room.
He couldn’t have timed that better if he’d tried.
Doc nodded, and Cal took a deep breath.
He trusted Doc, but the only thing that was certain was that one way or another, the enforcer was about to be royally pissed off.
Cal threw Dania a blanket. “Here.”
She caught it and stared at the dark fabric. “What’s this for?”
Cal hit the blue button on the wall. Doc could have done it, but Cal was still officially wanted for murder. This would just be one more charge to add to his list, and one less that Doc would be burdened with.
A spray of white light fell over Dania.
She reached out, and the shimmering field buzzed. She drew away, looking at her fingers. “What is this?”
“It’s a specially calibrated force field, made from some of the medical equipment. We figured, without the Palian steel, you’d probably be able to walk right out of our detainment cells.”
She narrowed her eyes, looking down at the blanket. “Do you really expect me to sleep on the floor?”
Really? He’d locked her in a six-by-six box and she complained about sleeping on the floor? “You’ll need to get over it. You can’t have free run of my ship.”
“We’ve already discussed that I will not kill you today.”
“Yeah, today. I don’t want to wake up one morning and find out you’ve changed your mind.”
She balled the blanket in her fists. “Fine. I will not kill you, or your crew, tomorrow, either.”
Espinoza smirked. “If I thought I could trust you, we wouldn’t be talking through a force field.”
She sighed, dropping the blanket to the floor.
Alanna eased off her bed. “I’ll stay with her.”
Dania’s head jerked up, and her lips parted.
Alanna grabbed a blanket and rolled it up, placing it on the end of a cot. “I know I wouldn’t want to be alone down here all night.”
“What am I?” Doc asked.
“A guy,” Alanna said.
Cal smiled as he slipped out of the room. This was actually good. The enforcer seemed to have taken a liking to Alanna. His navigator might be the ticket into breaking through the enforcer’s titanium exterior.
Doc met him outside. “I’m a little surprised that worked on the first try.”
“That’s why you are the master of all things.”
Doc pulled a small gun out of his waistband. “This is for a last resort only. I can’t be sure, but I think it will pack enough punch to take Dania out, even if she calls up one of those crazy magical shields.”
Cal slipped the gun into the holster above his boot. “Thanks.”
Hopefully, he would never have to use it—for more reasons than he cared to analyze at the moment—but he knew they were all living on borrowed time with that woman. She could snap at any time, and if she did, he’d have to be quick. Maybe quicker than he really wanted to be, if he were being honest with himself.
His gut twisted, but he knew he’d need to be the one to shoot first.
The enforcer wouldn’t give him a second chance.
20
Dania
Dania paced her tiny prison. Did Espinoza really think he could get away with trapping her here? She sent a burst of energy into the shield, but it bounced back, stinging her.
The doctor turned a dial on a panel in the wall. “I’ve studied the pathog
ens in your blood and the way they resonate when you center your energy. This force field is calibrated to change constantly to keep ahead of your magic.” He looked up at her. “It might sting a little more each time you try to get out. Sorry about that, sweetie.”
There was that word sweetie again.
So, once more, she was trapped. And they’d done it so easily. Embarrassingly easily. “I suppose you will sell this technology to the highest bidder the first chance you get.”
He shook his head. “I have nothing against enforcers. I think laws are good, and people should always try to do the right thing.”
“Yet you’ve imprisoned me.”
He adjusted the dial again. “I just think the enforcers can get carried away sometimes.”
Alanna kicked her feet like a child as she sat on the edge of her gurney. “He’s right. For instance, Cal shouldn’t die just because someone thought he killed someone.”
Dania lifted her chin “I agree.”
The woman’s eyes widened.
“However, he still has to die for his other crimes,” Dania continued.
Alanna stopped swinging her feet. “Do you really think the only punishment for any crime, no matter what, should be death?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. That’s the king’s law.” She strolled to the opposite side of her prison, studying the way the light resonated as she approached. “Was your previous penal system any better?”
Alanna lowered her gaze. “Maybe not, but death as the punishment for everything seems a little harsh. Some crimes are no big deal.”
“Breaking the king’s law is always a big deal.”
“What about children?” Doc asked. “Kids aren’t always even capable of understanding they’ve broken a law.”
Alanna wiped her palms on her thighs. “Have you ever killed a kid?”
“Executed,” Dania corrected.
She wouldn’t have them insinuating that she’d done anything wrong.
Then again, the cries of that mother when Dania had pried her adolescent son from the woman’s arms, the sound of the family wailing as the boy had screamed, twisting on the dirt trying to put out the flames as Dania’s fire consumed him…
Renegade Magic (Star Renegades Book 1) Page 14