The Torgoran Revolt (Plundering the Stars Book 3)

by James David Victor

  “How do you think I feel?” She came and sat beside me, wincing as she did so. I needed to know why she was injured, but that could wait until after I recovered from this barrage of groundbreaking information.

  “I know this is hard to hear. It changes a lot, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about you or the others. You will always be my family.”

  I took a deep breath. She was right. But it wasn’t her new royal status that worried me, it was that she was now a huge target for a tyrant that wanted her dead, and that would change how we lived our lives dramatically.

  That was a worry for later, though.

  “What happened to you?” I whispered harshly. “Don’t pretend like I didn’t notice, because I did. You’re hurt, and badly from what I can see.”

  Jinx bit her lower lip and averted her gaze away from me. “You have to promise you won’t be mad.”

  “I will make no such promise.”

  She sighed. “Jax took me to this awful dump world that Tarvath rules with an iron fist, treating the citizens like slaves. The injury…the injury came from being whipped.”

  “What?” I roared as I erupted to my feet. My ire was directed squarely at Jax, who no longer lounged so casually in his chair. “You let her get whipped?”

  He put his hands up. “I didn’t let her do anything.”

  I went at him. “You piece of—”

  “Yan, no!” Jinx yelled. She pulled me back. She gasped from the pain, which made me immediately stop. “It wasn’t his fault. We went so he could show me how bad my people are living. While we were there, I witnessed a public flogging. During it, a little girl ran out to be with her father, and the soldier was about to whip her. I…couldn’t let that happen. So I saved her.”

  I had no words. That sounded like something she would do. Jinx was always so selfless, so caring and kind, a beacon of goodness. She was much too good for me, much too good for this galaxy that tried so hard to kill us.

  “Yan,” Jax began, taking a step toward me. “I’m sorry. I should have done this better. I should have just told you and the others about Jinx.”

  “Yeah, you should have.”

  “I was just so scared for her, after seeing those inquisitors. I couldn’t… I couldn’t lose her again. I’d lost her too many times before then. Surely you can understand that, how desperate we can act for the people we care about.”

  I really wanted to punch him again. But he was right. I’d do anything for Jinx, for my friends.

  “I’m still mad at you, and you are not forgiven, but I understand your reasoning.”

  He nodded. “I know forgiveness will take time. But we’re together again.”

  Before I could shoot back something rude and snarky, the doors opened. In came a tall Torgoran man in a red dress uniform with more medals than I could count. With him was a woman about Jax’s age. She eyed us wearily.

  “Lieutenant, Your Majesty. I hope you’ve pacified our guest?”

  This was unmistakably the general I’d talked to from the ship. Yullarin or something like that. He didn’t seem happy that he’d failed in blowing me up.

  Jax cleared his throat. “Y-yes, sir. This is Yan. He was one of the prisoners with me when I was being held captive by the Elexaes. If not for him…” He looked at me and offered me a grin. “I’d probably be dead.”

  Yullarin pursed his lips and grunted as he looked between us. “Hm, well, I appreciate your help in bringing back my lieutenant, but that doesn’t explain why you’re searching for our long-lost queen.”

  Jinx visibly flinched when he called her that, but I did my best not to chastise him over it.

  “Jinx and I are best friends. We’ve been crewing together for years now and it was I who saved her from enslavement. So if you really want someone to thank, it should be me, General.”

  He did not like my attitude, and I didn’t like authority, yet here we were. He glared and looked to Jinx. “Is that true?”

  She nodded. “Yes. All of it.” Jinx looked at me and smiled, warming me instantly. My heart almost skipped a beat. She was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her. “Yan is everything to me. He and the rest of the crew are my family.”

  General Yullarin chewed that over. “Well, if that’s the case, then they are welcome to stay here as long as they like. I can’t promise them a permanent, safe home here, but for the time being, our base is their shelter.”

  “Thank you, General,” Jinx said, bowing her head.

  He managed a smile and inclined his head. “Your Majesty.” He turned to leave and jerked his head to the door. “Come with me, Lieutenant. We have some business to take care of. I need to get you up to speed on all you’ve missed during your absence.”

  Jax looked at Jinx and I for a long beat. He didn’t want to leave, almost like he thought I’d take her right back and leave and he’d never see his friend again, but in the end, he nodded at his superior officer.

  “Yes, sir,” he replied, following the general out.

  Once we were alone, I sagged my shoulders. “This whole ordeal has been something else, huh?”

  But she didn’t say anything. Instead, Jinx grabbed me and kissed me, silencing me completely. She wove her fingers through my hair, pulling me against her, as if desperate for me. Which, of course, drove me wild. I held her back and kissed her deeply. I wanted to kiss her as passionately as I could, but then she gasped as I put pressure against her back.

  I recoiled. “Oh, saints I’m sorry! I didn’t mean—”

  She smiled and grabbed my hands to calm me. “It’s okay, Yan.”

  “I still think it was so stupid of you to put yourself in that situation. You should have been smart about it.”

  Jinx pulled away from me. “I couldn’t sit by and do nothing.” She looked away, turning her back slightly to me. “Not when I know how it feels.”

  “I’m glad that you helped. Love that you did. I love how selfless you are, Jinx. I just… I just don’t want you to get hurt. If anything were to happen to you…”

  She put her hand on mine and gave it a squeeze. “I know. And I can’t tell you how romantic it is that you tracked me all the way back to Halyon.”

  I laughed. “It was not an easy journey. Very stressful.”

  “I can see that,” she said as she traced the bruises on my face from where Fallan had punched me. Her touch was as soft and gentle as ever, and each subtle touch made the hairs on my arms stand straighter. She put her head against mine and closed her eyes. I did the same. She breathed in deep.

  “Don’t ever leave me again,” I begged her, almost breathless. “I don’t know how much more of this separation anxiety I can take.”

  She snickered. “Then don’t leave me.” Jinx pulled away. I opened my eyes. Hers were locked on me. She took both my hands in hers. “I… I have something to tell you.”

  My heart started to pound. Her tone got serious. I didn’t like the way it sounded.

  “What is it?”

  “Remember before the heist, when I told you that I wanted to liberate slaves across the galaxy?”

  I nodded. “And I’ll still be by your side all the way.”

  She took a breath. “Well, I figured out a better way to do that. And I don’t know if you’ll want to go along with it.”

  “Jinx…”

  “In light of things I’ve seen, I want to help the resistance. I want to help them take down Tarvath.”

  I knew that was coming. There was no way she wouldn’t help them. Still, it was a shock. This would be different than being a pirate, boarding slave ships and freeing slaves. That was dangerous, but this was going against an entire nation, an entire military force. Being thrown into harm’s way was an understatement to say the least.

  Before I could formulate an answer, she continued.

  “I know that this wouldn’t be easy for you. You’d probably have to take orders, and this isn’t your fight. You have a family to think about, people you love. I understand if you don’t
want to be part of this.” Her voice was shaking. She was terrified that I’d leave her. That made my chest ache. “I wouldn’t want to ask you to give up everything for me. I—”

  I grabbed her and kissed her hard. She was shocked, but she kissed me back, tears streaming down her cheeks. We kissed until neither of us could breathe. Then we held each other close, our noses and foreheads touching.

  “I will never leave you, Jinx. I told you that before, and I meant it. If you need Yan Slim Hands to join the fight, then Yan Slim Hands will join the fight.”

  Jinx sob-laughed and pulled me into a hug. “I’m glad to hear it. You big idiot.”

  I kissed her forehead. “Now, as for the others…”

  “They might be harder to convince.”

  “I think we’re up to the challenge.”

  She smiled. “They’ll have to listen to me, I’m the queen, after all.”

  13

  Jinx

  After some more much-needed alone time between Yan and I, we returned to the Sanara, to have a long talk with our friends. Jax found us right before we left and joined us, having been dismissed from his meeting with the general. Yan greeted him with a grunt. But he was part of my family, so he was part of this new family, my crew, my friends, and they all had to know the score.

  I dreaded it the whole way, terrified at the possibility that they might not come with me. It was their right, and I wouldn’t judge them or think any less if some decided to go their separate ways. After all, I was asking them to go to war with a terrible regime that didn’t really affect their lives in any way.

  Yan, Jax, and I found everyone waiting in the main room. He had to help me up the ladder from the cargo bay because my back hurt so much and the biogel hadn’t fully set in yet. I could tell he was warring between concern for me and anger at Jax for taking me to that garbage dump of a planet. I wasn’t thrilled about it either, but I couldn’t be mad at Jax. He’d opened my eyes, for better or worse.

  As soon as we came into the room, I was engulfed by enthusiastic faces and smiles. Amara wrapped me in a hug, a rare show of physical affection from her.

  “You had us worried for a second,” she said. It was then that her eyes flitted beyond mine and found Jax. Uh oh. She bared her teeth and pointed at him, about to snap. “You lying, conniving, little piece of—”

  I stepped in front of her and put my hands up. “Whoa now, easy there. He had a good reason.”

  “Oh yeah?” she asked, her brow arched. She eyed me closely then, her gaze going wide. “And you’re injured! What did they do to you?”

  “I can explain that too. Just calm down. There’s something I have to tell you all and ask you.”

  Amara put her hands on her hips, as did some of the others. “Well, out with it then. His excuse better be good.”

  Yan snorted. “Oh, it is, but you’ll still want to punch him.”

  Ignoring that, I took a deep breath. This is it.

  We were all together, old crew and new. Yan, my best friend and the man I loved more than anything in the world. Jax, my oldest friend. Amara, the strongest person I knew and who was like a big sister to me. Ketellin, our stoic pilot who always had our back, or had words of wisdom to dole out. Pivek, our brilliant inventor and engineer, always able to get us out of a spot of trouble. Beleak and Rayvan, my newest friends, who’d pulled me from the jaws of death and risked their lives for a stranger they barely knew and uprooted their lives on Elarra for me. Finally, we had Elvonna, who admittedly I hadn’t gotten too close to yet, but she was nice and surly and stubborn in all the best ways, and I wanted the chance to get to know her more.

  Here they were, all the people I held most dear, who would risk life and limb for me, who I’d do the same for. Now I was about to ask them to do it all over again, for a cause that I wasn’t sure they would get behind.

  They looked at me expectantly. Arms crossed and brows raised—for the ones who had brows. Jax and Yan knew the score already, but it was time to let the whole family know.

  My hands trembled fiercely. How did I start this? Did I just say it? What if they didn’t feel the same way about me once I told them? What if they didn’t want to come with me and help me? I—

  Yan took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze. His smile filled me with warmth. “Don’t worry, you got this.”

  I nodded and cleared my throat. “Okay, so I, uh, I have some big news.”

  Everyone looked at me intently. The scrutiny of their gazes made my skin crawl, which shouldn’t have happened. These weren’t random strangers looking to me to lead them, these were friends that cared about me and I cared for them. So why am I so nervous?

  “Are you dying?” Rayvan blurted out suddenly. “Oh gods… Please tell me you’re not dying! We’ve only been friends for a little while, but you’re so nice and sweet and if you die, I’ll just— Ugh!”

  I couldn’t help my laughter. I really started booming, my chest heaving from the strength of my chuckles. Tears came to my eyes. Rayvan was so good at relieving tension, intentional or otherwise.

  “No, no, no, I’m not dying, Rayvan. Thank you for that.” I wiped the tears from my eyes. That was what I needed.

  “Well, then, what is it?” she asked. This was it. I straightened up and folded my arms behind my back. I tried to appear taller than I was. I didn’t know why.

  “I have recently found out that I am Jinxenna Taolin III, daughter of the late King and Queen of Torgor, and the rightful heir to the throne. It was me the inquisitors were after.”

  They were stunned. Rayvan literally gasped. Amara was about as shocked as I’d ever seen her. She was usually cool under pressure, hard to take by surprise or get a serious reaction out of, but now her mouth hung open, eyes wide. She grabbed her long head tentacle and rubbed it tenderly, something she did when she was anxious, which wasn’t too often.

  El was the first to collect herself and speak. “I— How do you know this for certain? Who told you? Have you always known?”

  “Alright, easy, El, let’s take questions one at a time, class,” Yan said with a smirk. El made a rude hand gesture back at him.

  “And she just said that she just found out recently,” Amara added.

  El’s cheeks flushed. “Well, sorry, the shock of the main news kind of blindsided me.”

  I smiled and did my best to stay composed as I answered every question. “Jax told me. Of course, I didn’t believe it at first, but then he showed me a picture of my parents with me as a baby. I look just like them.”

  ‘This is unexpected,’ signed Pivek, his eyes wide and antennae flickering with excitement.

  “You’re telling me,” I said.

  Amara turned into angry-mom mode and pointed a finger into Jax’s chest. “Why didn’t you tell us? Why did you kidnap Jinx?”

  He put his hands up. “Oh, I’m sorry that I concealed a life-altering secret that the more people that know could mean more chances for her to be caught. I was doing my duty. As for the kidnapping…” He gave me a long look, lips pursed, eyes full of regret. “I will admit I could have handled that better. And for that, I apologize to all of you.”

  “Yeah, let’s not do that again,” Yan remarked.

  “He’s lucky I don’t give him a black eye to go along with his bruised jaw,” Amara said, still sneering at him. Jax got mad at that.

  “Look, I had to get her away from there, away from the inquisitors. She would be safest with the resistance.”

  “That wasn’t your call to make!”

  I came between them and put my arms out. “Guys, stop fighting! It’s done. It happened. It wasn’t great, but I have forgiven Jax. He was just doing what he thought was right, what he thought would protect me. Let’s move on.”

  They glared at him. Clearly, he wouldn’t hear the end of it anytime soon, but there were more pressing matters to discuss. Amara, however, wasn’t ready to let it go. She stepped in front of me and put an arm protectively around me.

  “Why is she hurt, t
hough? What did you do?” She enunciated every last word of that sentence. Every syllable an underlying threat. It made my skin crawl. As always, Amara was not someone you wanted to be on the wrong side of.

  I groaned and ducked beneath her arm, putting myself once again between her and Jax. “I’ll explain that later, and at any rate, I was injured for something I did, not Jax. Let’s return to the matter at hand.”

  “Yeah, the fact that you’re a queen, or a princess or something,” Rayvan said, her hands waving for emphasis. “What are we supposed to do with that?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “You all don’t have to do anything with it. It’s my burden to bear. It doesn’t have to affect you if you don’t want it to.”

  “You are our friend, Jinx,” K said. “It affects us greatly.”

  “Yes,” added Beleak. “We will need to stay on the move, get more security equipment.”

  Amara nodded. “It will be hard, but I’m sure we can find a suitable place to lie low while we come up with a plan.”

  “No, enough. You don’t have to worry about any of that,” I said. Everyone stopped talking and looked to me. I scratched at my wrist. “I— I’m going to join the resistance. I want to help my people, help rid them of Tarvath. They’ve suffered—we’ve suffered—long enough.”

  I turned my back on them and took a deep breath. Here came the most important question.

  “I understand that some of you, maybe all of you, might not want to get involved in someone else’s war. You all have lives, goals, dreams, people that care about you, so if you don’t want to do this with me, then there will be no hard feelings. I’ll always think of you as family.”

  Silence, for several long and heavy seconds. My heart beat so hard, each one like a drum pounding in my ear. I swallowed hard and turned back around. Everyone was smiling at me.

  “I’ll always have your back, dove,” Amara said.

  Rayvan punched Beleak on his feathery, muscled arm. “B and I have a home to go back to, but we will help you get yours back first.”

  El punched a fist into her other hand. “I’ll always be up for a fight.”