Renegade Magic (Star Renegades Book 1)

by Jennifer M. Eaton

  He glanced at the huge hulk of a ship filling the window. They were all about to die. The only question was, would they surrender or go down fighting?

  32

  Dania

  A deafening boom rattled the ship. Dania called up a small shield around her as she was thrown back, hitting the side wall. A hiss filled the chamber before a dull thump echoed through the emptiness as the emergency airlocks engaged.

  The lights flickered again.

  Was there anywhere on this ship not riddled with electrical problems?

  Not that there was anything in the vicinity to look at. Her cell was exactly what the captain had claimed. The spaces were not much more than enlarged stainless steel storage lockers, hers with an advanced revolving energy field to keep her inside.

  Once she was free, she’d need to look into this new technology and find a way to thwart it. Anything that could hold an enforcer must be deemed illegal and destroyed or there would be anarchy.

  A wave swept over her, like a slap that stung her skin, carried through her body, and came clear out the other side. What in the name of the king was that?

  It had to be some sort of a weapon, or a slap of power from a very irate prince.

  The engines stopped humming. The lights winked out, and this time, they didn’t flicker back on. The slight hum of energy surrounding her room and keeping her inside dissipated.

  The ship was disabled. She was free.

  A chill skated over her skin. Dania’s enforcers would board now. Within the next hour, she’d be herself again.

  She took one step toward the door. Was that what she really wanted? If asked to pass judgment on this crew, would she do it? Could she?

  She shivered, realizing once she fed, she would find everyone onboard the Star Renegade guilty of at least smuggling, and they would die for their crimes…maybe even Alanna if no one noticed or took interest in her remarkable gifts…but even this information might not be able to save her in the face of Bane fury.

  The ship jolted and a loud bang echoed through the halls. Dania fell to her knees, placing her hands down to steady herself.

  That wasn’t a weapon. Something had hit them.

  They’d probably been bumped by an enforcer ship drifting too close. It was a tactic she’d used herself before boarding a condemned vessel. It confused the crew, left them wary, unstable, and ripe for the slaughter.

  Dania jumped to her feet. Whatever happened, she was to blame. There would be no mercy for these people, even if Geron had watched the recordings she’d sent him. What was she thinking?

  She hadn’t been thinking.

  A new chill swept over her.

  On Kirato, she’d given a child food.

  The girl had thanked her and then smiled, waving goodbye to Dania.

  That’s what life was supposed to be like. People should care about each other. Help each other.

  But that’s not what enforcers did. They didn’t nurture. They punished.

  It was foolish of her to think there was any other outcome to this day. The crew of the Star Renegade wouldn’t get to plead their case in one of Earth’s courts. The enforcers were about to come in with primordial power blazing. The entire crew of this ship was about to die.

  She couldn’t let that happen.

  Holding out her hands, she called up what was left of the power swirling inside her. Primordial energy swelled up and burned from within. The power pulsed on the edges of her skin until she’d called everything she had…all that was left of the strength given to her by her prince.

  It was more than she should summon at one time. But weakened as she was, she needed every bit of her remaining energy to make a difference.

  Any other day, she wouldn’t worry because the one person who could save her if she overextended herself was in one of the ships outside.

  But that same person had done something to her. Something unforgivable. When she’d looked in Geron’s eyes when he’d intercepted her transmission to Alexander, she simply hadn’t cared about this crew anymore.

  Dania clenched her teeth. That wasn’t true. She had cared, but somehow Geron had managed to erase her worries, controlling her even from that far away.

  The doctor had been right all along. She wasn’t a person. She was a puppet.

  Holding out her arms, her feet rose off the ground.

  Her gut clenched. Nine years of conditioning told her this was wrong, that she should sit back and let justice be done. But there was no justice in the execution of this crew. This, she was sure of.

  A tickle of warmth moved over her, a touch she knew all too well.

  Geron?

  Her sponsor’s essence swirled through her. I’m here. I’m coming for you.

  Bile rose in her throat again. She pushed him out. She would not be erased again.

  His confusion flooded her, followed again by his warmth and his love.

  And worst of all…understanding. It’s all right, Dania. I’m here. It’s over.

  She wanted to open herself to him and accept all he had to offer. She wanted to fold into his arms and have him tell her everything would be okay.

  But then he’d make it okay. He’d change her back, make her like she had been.

  Part of her still wanted that…but she couldn’t. She wouldn’t let the people on this ship die because they stole to feed others. No one could make her believe this galaxy would be a better place without anyone on this crew.

  Tears streamed from her cheeks as she pushed her sponsor away.

  The warmth in his power left, momentary confusion turned to anger.

  I’m sorry. She choked out a sob. I wish I could make you understand.

  But he’d never understand, and she was about to make an enemy of the last person she’d ever thought she’d betray.

  33

  Cal

  The yellow light flashed in Ty’s face, leaving him pasty and sickly-looking in the darkness. “There’s a surge of power coming in,” he said.

  Cal dropped into his seat. “A weapon?”

  “I’m not sure. It’s almost like a transmission.”

  The main viewscreen flickered. The lights on the deck blinked once before rising to full illumination.

  Cal jumped up. “Did we just get power back?”

  “Not everything,” Ty said. “Some computers, lights, and minor ship functions. No engines. No weapons.”

  The ships circling them faded into the flicker on the screen. The static lessened. A form appeared, muddy at first, and then cleared into the shimmering, light blue and green face of a Kever National in a navy blue uniform with royal insignias. The haze in the air about the Kever nearly glowed. His skin seemed reflective and shiny, like the enforcers’ silvery-opalescent hair. The being contemplated the edge of what appeared to be something similar to a stick of licorice before taking a bite, ignoring Cal and the crew.

  Did he not know the transmission had opened?

  Cal stood, facing the screen. They were skunked no matter what they did, so he might as well see what they wanted. “I couldn’t help but notice we hadn’t been boarded yet.”

  The Kever flicked a glance in his direction and took another bite of his snack. Apparently, the Star Renegade was not important enough to interrupt his meal. Either that, or the Kever regarded them the same as he regarded the furniture, and he was making a point of letting them see it. Knowing the Banes, both options could be true.

  After the third bite, the Kever licked his lips and centered his gaze on the screen. “Calvin Espinoza.”

  Cal shivered. There was no use denying it. “Yes.”

  “You have something of mine. I want it back.”

  Cal released the breath he’d been holding. The only thing he had that a Kever would be interested in was Dania, which meant he was being addressed by Prince Geron of the Imperial House Bane.

  Geron wasn’t high in the royal pecking order, but Earth had still bowed to his father. No smuggler ever wanted to be stared down by a Bane for
any reason.

  Still, they hadn’t been boarded, as the other voice had promised. Had this turned into a negotiation? Could they have scanned the ship and found out that Dania was weakened and held within Doc’s revolving barrier?

  That technology was something new they hadn’t seen before. Maybe they were afraid Cal would use it against them, or they could be afraid Dania might get hurt.

  Cal scanned the deck, looking into the horrified expressions of his crew. They’d all known something like this was a possibility when they’d signed up. Smugglers eventually got caught, and the price on Cal’s head was pretty high.

  Of course, they’d brought this on themselves by bringing an enforcer on board. That would probably go down in the Star Renegade history as the dumbest thing they’d ever done.

  That is, if they lived long enough to make an entry in the ship’s diary.

  At the moment, Cal needed to do as much damage control as possible. He reset his footing, trying to look more confident than he felt. “I’m willing to talk this through.”

  Geron stared at Cal for a moment before snorting a bored laugh. “I want my enforcer back. Now.”

  The words or what itched on the edges of Cal’s lips. Why hadn’t they boarded and just taken her?

  “I’m willing to give her to you,” Cal said.

  Doc looked to the floor. Cal knew his medic wanted to try to save her. He wished he could have given him the chance, but now he had to trade her life for theirs.

  Cal cringed, remembering the sweet look on her face as she’d mounded her potatoes—the joy in something so simple as playing with her food.

  He gritted his teeth. This shouldn’t have hurt so much. She’d sold them all out.

  So why did he feel like he was betraying one of his own?

  He closed his eyes. She wasn’t one of his own. But the others were. And they were his responsibility.

  Cal looked back to the screen. “I’ll hand-deliver her to your ship.”

  “Cal, no!” Alanna cried.

  Ty jumped out of his chair, shaking his head. They knew as well as Cal did that stepping onto that royal cruiser was a death sentence.

  Cal kept his focus on the screen. “You’ll have your enforcer, and you’ll have me. All I ask is that you let my crew go. They had nothing to do with this.”

  The prince’s eyes narrowed. “That ship is wanted for smuggling and gun trafficking.”

  Gun trafficking? He glanced at Ty. His first mate didn’t look up, but Ethan flinched.

  Great. Just great.

  Hopefully, those guns ended up in the hands of colonists who needed to protect themselves, and not the people looting the innocent.

  Cal held out his hands. “Those are my terms.”

  The prince’s smile was acidic enough to melt the paint off the walls. He stared for a moment more before tilting his head. “No.”

  A tone sounded behind the prince. He looked off to his right. Two enforcers, silver-white manes of hair flowing like they were underwater, ran from one side of the ship to the other.

  The transmission went dead.

  “What’s going on?” Cal asked.

  “I don’t know, but something is definitely happening.” Ty leaned toward his monitor, squinting like he’d forgotten his glasses. “I-I think we have power.”

  His screen beeped. Alanna’s screens lit up, as well as the panels on the wall.

  Ty gaped. “Yeah, we have power. Not a lot, but we’ve got essential systems up and running.”

  A blast of light flooded the room. Cal stepped back, shielding his eyes. “What in the stars is that?”

  “Star is a good equivalent, boss. The readings are telling me that a miniature sun just appeared between us and that ship.”

  Still holding his hand up to the light, Cal turned to Ty. “A sun?”

  Alanna leaned over her station, still clutching her side and looking like she might fall out of her chair at any moment. “I’m showing a sun, too. It makes no sense.”

  This day kept getting crazier. “Do we have full power? Engines?”

  Ty shook his head. “No engines. Just systems.”

  A tone sounded, and Doc typed something into the wall. “Umm, Dania’s gone.”

  Cal looked over his shoulder. “What?”

  Doc tapped a few more places on the screen. “She’s not in her cell. Maybe she got free when the power went out?” He tapped on the screen again and then stepped away, squinting at the bright light hovering between them and the royal cruiser. “Cal, she’s not on the ship.”

  Not on the ship?

  The light lessened, the intensity easing back. Cal leaned closer to the screen as the brightness cleared, revealing a glowing woman with long, blonde hair floating in space.

  Cal gripped his control panel. What had she done? “Is she alive?”

  Doc tapped on the wall screen again. “Her heartrate is slower than my last readings, but yeah, she seems fine.”

  Alanna looked into her console. “That glow around her, it’s like a bubble. If these readings are correct, it’s like an oxygen shield.”

  And a slower heartrate wouldn’t use up the oxygen as quickly. That must have been what the enforcer had meant when he’d said they could survive in space.

  What was she doing, though? Was she trying to get back to that star-blasted prince?

  A swirl of energy spiraled in the area between her and the prince’s ship, like the several yards of space immediately in front of her blurred into a solid circle.

  Cal grimaced. She could be doing almost anything out there. “Can we back away?”

  “Negative,” Ty said. “We’re still surrounded, but the royal cruiser just retreated a few yards.”

  They were backing away from their own enforcer?

  Three more suns popped up, but they faded more quickly, leaving three more enforcers floating in space, as well as two single-person fighter planes. They didn’t advance.

  “Cal?” Alanna said. “Those ships have a weapons lock on Dania.”

  Cal shivered. They were locked on Dania because enforcers faced their targets. Soldiers stood in front of what they were protecting. Right now, Dania was facing the royal cruiser—her prince—and she looked like she was more than ready to kick ass.

  No matter what, though, the last place he wanted to be was this close to a fight between a bunch of beings with insane galactic power.

  Cal turned to his crew. “Get us out of here!”

  “We have no engines,” Ty said. “We’re still trapped.”

  One of the enforcers, a woman with glowing white hair floating about her, held up a hand and shot a beam of energy at Dania. The blast bounced off the swirling shield and dissipated into space.

  “They gotta be testing her,” Ty said. “I’ve seen enforcers throw ten times that much power.”

  But not in space. Still, those other enforcers were probably fully charged, where Dania was weak.

  The other two enforcers raised their hands, and two more bolts headed for Dania. They both bounced off, the one on the right shooting back toward the Renegade.

  “Incoming!” Ty grabbed his console.

  Cal fell back as the ship jolted. “Ethan, are we okay?”

  The engineer pulled himself off the floor and tapped a few buttons on the wall beside the screen Doc had worked on. “Yeah. The hull is intact. But we lost the sync navigator.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  Alanna shook her head. “Not if I have a clear line of sight.”

  At the moment, though, they didn’t have a clear line of sight, unless what she wanted to look at was a royal execution squad. Another bolt of energy bounced off Dania, shaking their ship.

  “Guys, we need an exit strategy.” Cal eyed the dashboard. He could override Ty’s control again and transfer piloting to himself. Of course, that would require engines, which they didn’t have. “Suggestions?”

  Alanna frowned into her screen. “Ummm…”

  “I see it,” Ty counte
red.

  Cal’s stomach sunk. “You see what?”

  “That.” Ty pointed across him to the far left of the window.

  Cal leaned closer to the glass. Just beyond the leftmost fighter ship, the blackness of space swirled, small at first, but then becoming larger. The small ship drifted toward it before the pilot engaged its engine and headed back to the cruiser.

  Dania still floated between the Renegade and the other ships, her arms out to her side, her legs slightly apart. She didn’t move. Not that Cal could tell, anyway. She just hung there like a ghost.

  He looked back to the swirling mass of nothing. Was she doing that?

  The ship shuddered. The yellow light started to flash again.

  “What’s going on, people?”

  “The proximity alarm is going nuts, and I already told it to ignore the ships.” Ty stared at the black, swirling space. “Alanna, what’s your take?”

  She shook her head. “You don’t want to know what I think.”

  All three of the floating enforcers winked out. The other two ships flared their engines.

  The hairs on Cal’s arms stood on end. Anyone in their right mind would run from an enforcer, but what did enforcers run from?

  Cal’s fingers tightened on the grips of his chair. “I would really like to know what you guys are thinking.”

  Their ship lurched. The cruiser started to drift toward the right, away from the anomaly.

  But wait a minute… “Are they moving or are we moving?”

  Ty scrambled with the controls. “We are.”

  Alanna pointed out the window, where the swirl had defined. “It’s another black hole!”

  The two small ships flew toward Dania. Bright red starbursts shot from both fighters, aimed right at her.

  Cal wiped the sweat from his brow. They were helpless, caught at the edge of a black hole’s grip, and Dania was the only thing standing—or floating—between the Renegade and that prince.

  And her own people had just opened fire.