Rogue Sign

by Elin Wyn

  “I had some thoughts on that,” Aryn spoke up, surprising us all.

  “We’ve had enough of your ‘thoughts,” Aavat snapped.

  A quiet rage flickered across Aryn’s expression, and she clenched and unclenched her fist.

  “I think it’s worth it to hear her out,” I said before I realized what I was saying.

  Dejar and Aavat looked at me with curious expressions, but at that moment I couldn’t be bothered to play with them.

  “She’s already shown us how skilled she is at moving around undetected. I think we should use that to our advantage.”

  “Exactly!” Aryn exclaimed. “I’ve worked with groups like this before. If you give me the chance, I can slip into their ranks and learn all their secrets.”

  “Are you insane?” I blurted. “I was thinking you could keep asking around, not walk right into the belly of the beast.”

  “Asking around might yield good info, but more than likely it’ll just yield rumors,” she retorted. “Captain, this is our chance to gain the upper hand. Aren’t you tired of running and hiding? Aren’t you sick of turning the same theories over in your head as if new information will magically appear?”

  “Do you have actual experience with this sort of operation?” Dejar sighed heavily.

  “Yes,” Aryn nodded with confidence.

  “You can’t seriously be considering this,” Aavat gaped at Dejar.

  “I’m not seeing an alternative,” Dejar said. “We can’t sit in this port confined to the Rogue Star for the rest of our lives. This is the first chance we’ve had to learn about who’s hunting us. We’re going to take it.”

  I didn’t miss the smile tugging at the corner of Aryn’s mouth.

  “Fine, but she’s not going alone,” Aavat huffed. “She needs some kind of backup.”

  “I really don’t,” Aryn argued.

  “You do. I’ll go with her,” I stepped forward.

  “I don’t think so,” Aryn shook her head and looked at Aavat. “Give me someone with training. No offense, Kovor but you’ve never done anything like this before. Once I’m in with them, I won’t be able to babysit you.”

  “What are you going to do if they find you out?” I asked. “What if they attack you? You’re walking into a den filled with men who don’t have an issue with hurting women, regardless of species.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Aryn muttered.

  “Maybe in the Terran System you could,” I admitted. “But you aren’t in the Terran System anymore. You don’t stand a chance in a fight. And as far as training, I’ve had more extensive experience and instruction than the majority of the Rogue Star crewmembers. A perk of that privileged upbringing you mentioned.”

  “He’s right,” Dejar cut in. “You will go with Kovor or you will not go at all.”

  “But-”

  “You’re not in a great position to be arguing,” Aavat warned her. “Consider yourself lucky. If I were captain, you’d be confined to the cargo hold until we left the station.”

  “Be smart about this, Aryn,” I urged.

  She turned her piercing gaze on me. I stared back, unblinking, until she was forced to look away.

  “Okay,” she groaned. “But if we get killed, you can be damn sure it’s his fault.”

  “Glad you’re being so reasonable about this,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “Are you sure Kovor is the best choice for this?” Aryn asked Dejar. I couldn’t help but laugh. She was feisty and relentless. Part of me admired her.

  Part of me wanted to lock her in a room.

  “I trust Kovor. I don’t trust you. It seems like an obvious choice,” Dejar replied. “Prepare for your mission. I want you and Kovor back on the streets tomorrow night. Dismissed.”

  Aryn

  “What’s the plan when we get there?” Kovor asked.

  “Let me do the talking,” I replied.

  We traveled light to create the illusion that we were drifters looking for work. Hidden within the folds of clothes in my small bag were vials and pots of skin dye and other cosmetics to keep the illusion I was a female Shein.

  No one would ask why two Shein were traveling together so late at night. If I disguised myself as something else, it might raise suspicions. And questions of any sort were the last thing we wanted.

  “I need more to go on than that,” Kovor said.

  “No. You don’t,” I said sharply. “Stay silent and look a little stupid. Whoever’s behind that door needs to assume you’re my lackey.”

  “Lackey?” Kovor exclaimed.

  “Sorry to bruise your pride,” I rolled my eyes. “But I don’t trust you enough to know you won’t blurt something stupid that’ll ruin everything before it begins.”

  “I give you my word.” Kovor lifted his chin. I stopped walking and turned to face him fully.

  “Look.” I chewed on my bottom lip, remembering how horrible it had felt when I’d insulted him before.

  Dammit. Being careful about someone’s feelings wasn’t exactly something I had a lot of practice with.

  “I’m sure where you’re from your word means a lot. I’m sure you’re true to it, too. But I don’t know that. I’ve never seen you in action.”

  “I’m not as useless as you think I am.” Kovor kept his voice level. His eyes were clear and genuine. He really wanted me to believe him. I took a deep breath.

  “You’re probably very capable,” I admitted. “But until I see that for myself, I need you to stay quiet and let me take the lead on this.”

  “Okay.” Kovor nodded. A sense of relief bloomed in my chest, but it wasn’t enough to negate my growing anxiety.

  I had more to worry about than just Kovor blowing our cover. I nodded and started to walk again, but Kovor gently grabbed my arm and held me back.

  “You’re going to have to start trusting me at some point,” he said. “This won’t work if you don’t.”

  “In my experience, trust gets people killed,” I replied as I pulled my arm from his grasp.

  He didn’t try to hold me back again as I walked on. “What is your experience?” he asked.

  “That’s my business,” I muttered at the ground.

  “What a mystery you are, Miss Tines.” Kovor looked up at the amber domes overhead. He didn’t sound angry or annoyed. In fact, he sounded intrigued. I couldn’t decide if I liked that or not.

  It’d been years since I could say anyone truly knew me. Maris knew me better than anyone, but even she didn’t know anything. All of us from Persephone Station had some kind of past. The unspoken rule was to wait until information was offered, not ask for it.

  Once upon a time, it wasn’t that hard to earn my trust. I’d always been good at reading people. I was never wrong, until the day I was.

  I had trusted Harper Browd more than I trusted my own mother. She and I grew up in the same neighborhood, two dilapidated houses down from each other. We were born at the same hospital within hours of each other. It seemed only natural that we became friends.

  Fated.

  In our neighborhood, Mama Imelda was as close as one could get to the queens of olden times. She was powerful, charismatic, and ruthless. If you wanted to make any money at all, you worked for Mama Imelda.

  Money was always tight in my house. Same for Harper. We started working for Mama Imelda when we were eight years old. Naturally, we didn’t fully understand the sort of woman she was. She would ask us, in the sweetest voice either of us ever heard, if we could help her find something she’d lost. Every week she lost something. Every week she’d send Harper and me out to find it.

  We never questioned it. If Mama Imelda said it was hers, then it was hers. Harper and I never failed her. Even if we had to crawl through basement windows or shimmy down chimneys, we always brought Mama what she wanted. She always paid us handsomely and we always came back for more.

  I’m not sure when we finally figured out that the items Mama Imelda asked us to retrieve weren’t hers
, just things she wanted. Often, she used us as a scare tactic to show anyone that she could get into their homes without them knowing. Harper and I didn’t mind. Mama Imelda kept us fed and clothed.

  As Harper and I got older, Mama Imelda trusted us with more complex jobs. She’d send us into neighboring territories to gather information on her rivals. There wasn’t a criminal organization within thirty miles that Harper and I didn’t fool. Lying and inventing new identities became second nature.

  Harper and I used every trick in the book to wiggle our way into the other organizations. Between the two of us, Harper was definitely the better actress. She could convince anyone to do anything. Once Harper got us in the door, then I would utilize my extensive skills to complete whatever assignment we’d been given. Pickpocketing, lockpicking, and my ability to blend in with the shadows served us well. Before long, all of Mars knew we existed, even though no one knew who we were.

  It went on for years. Mama Imelda would give us an assignment, Harper and I would weasel our way into a rival organization, and then that organization would mysteriously collapse. If the rival organization had believed in open communication, they might’ve caught us sooner.

  We were eighteen by the time someone figured out Harper and I were the ones responsible for their downfall.

  Wanted posters went up on every post within a fifty-mile radius, along with a handsome reward. I wasn’t ever worried when the posters went up, even though it was clearly Harper and me in the picture. No one knew our real names. No one knew where we were really from. Mama Imelda knew how to buy people’s silence.

  As long as we had Mama Imelda’s protection, we’d be safe. She’d told us time and time again how she loved us as if we were her own daughters. She made enough money and paid her other little worker bees well enough that I didn’t worry about anyone being tempted by the reward.

  If I could turn back time, I’d find my past self and tell her to stop being so naïve. I’d tell her to pack a bag and run the moment those posters showed up. I’d tell her not to put her trust in other people to keep her safe.

  Just one person was tempted by the reward money. Harper. My chosen sister, my other half, the one person I thought I could always count on.

  Even now, I wasn’t sure when she went to the authorities and how she pulled it off without me noticing. I woke up one morning surrounded by guns pointed at my face. I never saw Harper or Mama Imelda again. As far as Mama Imelda was concerned, I’d become a liability. She needed to cut ties in order to preserve her business.

  Harper collected her reward money and somehow, she convinced the authorities that her guilty conscience couldn’t be ignored any longer, that she was a changed soul.

  Harper took the reward so that she could start her life over.

  Within a week of my capture, I was sent to Persephone Station.

  “Aryn!” Kovor’s voice startled me. He stopped about twenty feet behind me. “It’s here.” He jerked his head in the direction of the metal door we’d found the night before.

  “Right,” I muttered. This was exactly why I needed to be here alone. I needed my head in the game, not caught up in thoughts of the past, wondering if I’d ever be able to trust someone in the future.

  We approached the door. From what I could tell, there was no guard or lookout. If there were cameras, they were well hidden. I pounded on the door with my fist.

  A large alien with armored plating, like an exoskeleton, answered the door after a few minutes. He fixed us with a mean glare that would’ve shaken most people.

  Good thing I wasn’t most people, and due to my little walk down memory lane, I was feeling pretty mean myself.

  “It’s late. Very late. I think you’re in the wrong place.” He smiled, but unless his species had entirely different mannerisms from the rest of the ones I’d met, it wasn’t a kind one.

  That was fine by me.

  I eyed the belt of knives he wore around his thick waist and smiled back. “I don’t think so.” I handed him a sheet of film. It contained nothing more than the mark from the bottom of the list of alien women.

  “My brother and I are looking for work. A friend thought this,” I tapped the sheet, “might serve as a recommendation.”

  I held my breath. I’d spent hours debating which mark to use. The two had to be related, but if they were individual markers, it was more likely this gang would recognize the brand from the bounty hunter’s wrist. We’d picked him up here on Qasar, after all.

  The one from the warehouse in Katzul seemed safer.

  Sort of safer.

  Maybe.

  Kovor tensed beside me. Hopefully, the large alien didn’t notice.

  “Where did you get this?” the doorman demanded.

  “Katzul,” I replied. “We’ve been there for the last few years. We figured it was time for a change of scenery.”

  “The law caught up to you?” he scoffed.

  “More like the boredom caught up to us,” I replied. “It’s no fun pacifying rich idiots. There’s no sport in it. They’ll believe anything, really.”

  The doorman chuckled. “What’s the name of this friend?” he asked.

  I smiled once more. “Now, if I told you that, I’d be betraying his confidence. Once I’m loyal, I’m loyal until death.”

  That seemed to win him over.

  “Come in and talk to the boss. If he likes you, you’re in.”

  Kovor

  We were led into the building and forced to follow what I assumed was supposed to be a dizzying array of turns.

  Unfortunately, the Drazian brute leading us didn’t seem terribly smart and we went by the same intersection at least three times.

  It’s so hard to get good help.

  Our guide ushered us into a room, and I looked at a very rudimentary office.

  There was a large metal desk in the center of the room and three metal shelves loaded with various items ranging from weapons to notebooks to boxes. I was curious about what was in the boxes, but the hulking beast that stood up from the desk garnered all of my attention.

  He was a Tutahn, one of the largest species I had ever seen, and he was not an average one. This one was a beast among beasts, and if I’d been a sane, lazy playboy, all I’d want to do was get away from him, now.

  There were moments that made me question my life choices.

  “They say they’re here for work.” I jumped and a small part of me was pleased to see that Aryn had been startled, as well. Distracted by the massive Tutahn, I’d failed to notice our guide had followed us in.

  The boss looked us both up and down. “Why are you here?” My eyes went wide. His voice was beyond deep. There was so much bass in his voice that it felt as though my organs vibrated whenever he spoke.

  Aryn stepped forward. “Like your man said, we’re just here to work. Friend of mine said there might be something here, so we’re here.”

  She had no fear.

  This beast of a man made Orrin look small and she talked to him like it was nothing. I was impressed, but also smart enough to keep my mouth shut and my emotions off my face.

  He looked at us. “Makes no sense.” He looked at the Drazian behind us. “I don’t remember asking for help. You?”

  “No, sir.”

  The boss nodded his head. “How you two know to come here?”

  I wasn’t sure what had come over me, but I answered the big man. “Like my sister said, a friend of ours told us there was work here. Is there or not?”

  Aryn flashed me a look that silently said I was going to get us killed.

  “Why your sister look at you like that?”

  “I’m not usually the talker, she is. Growing up, she had a big mouth. Now, her big mouth does all the talking for us both,” I gave Aryn a condescending smile to play up the statement.

  The look in Aryn’s eyes were essentially daggers to the heart. I smiled wider.

  The Tutahn laughed, a deep laugh that forced me to take a step back, which caused him to laug
h even harder. “I like you two, and your timing is good.” He sat back down at the desk, the chair audibly groaning under his incredible size.

  He looked at us. “You said you’re brother and sister?”

  We nodded.

  “How come you’re so much bigger than her? I thought Shein women were tall,” he said.

  “I was sick as a child, didn’t grow right. But,” she said with a look at me, “I’m as tough as any other Shein male. I’ll do the work.”

  He nodded again. “Okay. My name Skud. What your names?”

  The fact that he slipped back and forth between fluent and pidgen speech made me wonder as to how involved this little section really was in everything.

  He was certainly not your typical Tutahn, his size alone spoke to that, but his intelligent speech made me think that he dealt with many people that would not tolerate pidgen.

  Aryn was speaking. “…Koll, and my name is Ryn.”

  “Brother Koll and Sister Ryn. Greeted,” Skud said. The name fit him. Simple, yet scary. “Like said, your timing is good. We lose a worker a few days ago and we have shipment coming soon.” He looked past us. “First one in how long, Laz?”

  “Many months,” was the answer.

  “Like Laz says, first shipment in many months. It’ll come soon. You two, if worthy, will help.” He stood up, motioning us to follow him. “Come.” He led us out the back of his office deeper into the bowels of the building. “We’re small, but we’re good. When work comes, we finish it quickly and well.”

  “What kind of work are we getting now?” Aryn asked.

  “We get good job, Sister Ryn. It’s rare that it happens, but I won’t argue. It a good payday,” Skud answered as he led us through what was presumably a kitchen. “We’re not sure exactly when it will come in, but it will be soon. You two will have to do work before the shipment comes.”

  “We’re up for anything,” Aryn said.

  “Good. What do you say, Brother Koll?”

  It took me a second to respond, my mind was elsewhere. “Like my sister says, we’re up for anything. What kind of shipment are we talking about, if you don’t mind my asking?” I ignored Aryn’s stare.