Just when she expected him to make a move, he turned toward the door. Perhaps they aren’t so different after all, she thought as she trailed behind him.
Talon led them through a series of rooms and halls in his private quarters, and they finally stepped back out into the shabby main section of the space station. Dani could feel her wits returning, along with the sharp, fluorescent lighting, a welcome departure from the dim, warm lights in Talon’s bedroom.
“You know why we’re here, so show me what you and your crew do out here,” Dani said as they stepped onto a balcony overlooking a large room. Inside, a large cargo ship was being unloaded.
“Well, my dear, as you know, the GC has mined the life out of several planetary systems and left the inhabitants poverty stricken. Sad, really. The GC starts off like a golden beacon of technology when they set up camp, luring the people into a false sense of security with their gadgets and easy living. Then, before they know it, the GC has made off with any valuable resources the planet once had.”
Dani frowned. “Well, that isn’t entirely true.”
“Oh, really? And what truth have they been force-feeding their employees?”
She felt the anger rising in her once again. “Sure, there are some resources that are in high demand, but it’s for the war, so it’s necessary. It’s not like they strip-mine every planet they come across.”
Talon’s eyes seemed to search hers for a moment. “Regardless, far too many planets end up a shell of their former selves, unable to trade without their resources and struggling to feed their population. We just try to help them out a little.”
“How so?”
“Well, we provide them with raw materials, and they either purify or manufacture whatever we need. Win, win.”
Dani narrowed her eyes. “But where do you get the materials?”
“Oh, here and there,” Talon said with a wave of his left hand and then his right.
“And what are they manufacturing?”
Talon shrugged. “It depends on the planet, really. Usually something similar to what the GC had them doing before the mines ran dry. The GC tends to leave their old, broken-down equipment behind. I have a team that’s great at getting it up and running again.”
“And then you sell the products?”
“Or use them, either way.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to launder stolen goods.” Dani raised an eyebrow.
Talon winked at her. “Always trying to pin me with a crime. How... GC of you.”
His last comment made the skin on the back of her neck crawl, flashing back to her conviction and time in prison. She clenched her hands around the balcony rail as she looked down at the workers below.
Talon started walking away, seemingly oblivious to her anger. “As you can imagine, wormhole travel would help expand our work significantly.”
Dani’s grip loosened as her mind lingered on his comment. She hurried to catch up to him before he stepped into the hall once more. “Wait, did you know we were experimenting with wormhole travel before we got here?”
Talon smiled and continued down the hall. Dani followed along, questions swarming her mind as he stepped into another great room. This time, it wasn’t a hangar so much as a training facility. Below, a number of pirates were working on some kind of martial-arts training. Their collective grunts echoed through the chamber.
“Talon, answer me.”
He sighed. “I might have had some idea of what you were doing. I mean, we do have spies everywhere, and I know your ship doesn’t have a long-range hyper drive, so really it was the only thing that made sense. Getting into your ship’s computer simply confirmed my suspicions.”
“Spies everywhere? Where? The Houston? Osirion?”
Talon released a deep chuckle, which echoed down to the trainees below. They paused in their practices to look up at their leader before continuing. “Goodness, no. Who on Osirion is fit to be one of my pirates?”
Dani frowned at him. “So the Houston then?”
“Come, there’s still more to see.” He turned and left her once more.
Dani lingered behind, running through the Houston’s crew and who could possibly be working for Talon before she realized that if she didn’t move she would lose him. She finally caught up to him on the balcony overlooking the cafeteria, where a number of people were collecting food and sitting down to eat. It mimicked the prison mess hall almost exactly, which was unsettling for Dani to say the least. She grabbed Talon’s arm and turned him to face her.
“I need to know.” She leaned close and whispered. “Someone’s been sending me messages. Are you responsible for that?”
Talon seemed delighted at the closeness. With a twinkle in his eye, he leaned in. “If I were leaving you messages, love, you’d know exactly who they were from and their purpose.”
Dani’s heart sank a little. She thought she had finally gotten to the bottom of the mystery. Her disappointment must have been evident as Talon lifted her chin with his index finger. Deep in his eyes, there was the tiniest glimpse of compassion. “What kinds of messages?”
For a moment she debated telling him, but ultimately decided to keep her secret. She went to step back but his hand moved to her hip, electrifying her body while simultaneously setting off all kinds of alarms in her head. Still, his touch wasn’t entirely unwanted.
“Go on,” he continued. “You can trust me.”
Dani waged an internal war with herself. She knew that Talon wasn’t someone she could openly trust, but she longed to talk about the messages and the coordinates with somebody, almost anybody at this point. “I ca—”
“Hey,” he interrupted her. “It’s okay.”
Dani started to breathe a sigh of relief that promptly got caught in her throat when Talon swept a stray lock of hair behind her ear and leaned in, his lips softly grazing hers. A warm sensation ran quickly through her body, and she instinctually leaned into the kiss before reality snapped her out of the fantasy she had slipped into, and she pulled away. She had longed for Jag to be so brazen, despite GC rules, but her desires had gone unfulfilled.
She stared at Talon, a mixture of confusion and desire within her, until a loud crash from the cafeteria below snapped Dani out of her trance. Drawn to the source of the noise, Dani was even more surprised to see Geneva standing down in the cafeteria, with a sizable dent in the metal panel next to the door. Cruz and Cassia were with her, looking as shocked as Dani felt.
“Why did you do that?” Dani mumbled, turning toward Talon, but he was already heading through another doorway.
She chased after him, grabbing his arm once more.
“I knew you’d want more.” He grinned as he spun to face her.
Unsure of what to say, she instead raised her hand and slapped him across the face. “What the hell was that?”
Talon rubbed his cheek, now red with Dani’s handprint. “That was a bit extreme.”
“You did that just to mess with Geneva, didn’t you?”
“Heh, well, perhaps. It’s hard to keep a good pirate woman interested. They love the drama.”
“You’re an ass. Which way to the medical bay?” Dani felt used and ashamed and wanted to get away from him as soon as she could.
“Oh come on, it was all in fun,” Talon argued.
Dani raised her hand again, and he held up his arm defensively. “Alright, alright, go back down to the main level and just follow the green line on the floor. That’ll take you to your precious Jag.”
She had already made it down the hall and toward the stairwell before Talon finished talking. She hurried along, a flush on her cheeks from anger more than embarrassment. It was easy enough to find the crudely painted green line on the floor once she reached the right level. From there, she followed it through the inner halls of the space station before finally reaching what looked like some version of a medical bay.
“Dani!” Cassia’s voice called from behind right as Dani put her hand on the door. “Wait.”
She took a deep breath and turned to face Cassia.
“What was that?”
Dani shook her head. “He’s just an ass.”
“Well…yeah.” Cassia nodded. “But that kiss?”
“It was nothing. Just his attempt to rile up Geneva.”
“I can see that. I mean, heck, I’ve been there.” Cassia sighed deeply. “If you’re planning on telling Jag, just don’t.”
Dani bit her lip. She had planned on telling him. She figured it was better he hear it from her than anyone else. “Why?”
“You know how angry he gets about stuff. He’d have us all trying to leave before we can fix the cruiser. That or he’d try to kill Talon himself.”
“Yeah, okay. Maybe you’re right. At least for now.”
Cassia gave Dani a reassuring smile. “It’ll be fine.”
“How’s he doing in there?” Dani asked, gesturing toward the door.
“Much better. He’s been awake quite a bit. Sylvine is watching him right now.”
A clamor from inside the medical bay caused Dani to share a concerned look with Cassia before pushing open the door. Inside, Dani quickly saw that the problem wasn’t with Jag, but with Sylvine. She stood in a slightly crouched position, her long blade drawn and pointed at two pirate men who stood in front of her with their hands up.
“Whoa!” Dani said as she hurried to Sylvine’s side. “What’s going on?”
“Mingsa.” Sylvine muttered through a clenched jaw.
Jag held a scalpel in his hand, the rest of the medical tray on the floor. “These ex-GC idiots keep harassing Sylvine, calling her a lizard woman and saying she’s a Vaerian pet. I’m pretty sure she’s going to kill them.”
“Sylvine,” Cassia started, “Desush antulaken.”
Dani eyed the men. They wore outdated versions of the GC uniform—lower-level grunts who must have defected. Dani drew her own mini laser blaster and barked at the men, “Go on. Get out of here.”
The two of them shared a look before making a run for the door. Before they got there, Cruz stepped inside, eating a dinner roll, and the two men bounced off of him before hitting the floor then scrambling to get out of the room.
“Did I miss all the fun?” he signed, noticing the weapons.
Dani sighed. “Hopefully Howard will be able to fix the cruiser and Osirion so we can get the hell out of here.”
“Gee, if only someone could have warned you how bad of an idea this place was.” Jag rubbed his chin dramatically.
“And then Zadria would still be in charge while Cruz, Sylvine, and I were trapped in the cruiser.”
“Don’t you get it, Dani? They probably timed the explosion to damage the ship and cruiser on purpose.” Jag tossed the scalpel on the ground with the rest of the tray’s contents. “We wouldn’t be here if Talon didn’t want us here.”
“Speak of the devil,” Cassia muttered as the door swung open and Talon strode in with a fuming Geneva at his side.
“Jag, my sweet brother, how are you doing?” Talon asked, seemingly unaware of the death glare Geneva was casting on Dani.
“Why’d you bring us here?” Jag cut to the chase.
Talon almost seemed disappointed. “We haven’t seen each other in ages and this is how you greet me?”
“I know you’re up to something. Just spit it out so we can all get on with our lives.”
Talon sighed and plopped own on the foot of Jag’s bed. “You act as though I would only bring you here if I needed you.”
Dani stepped closer to Jag’s bed on the opposite side of where Talon sat. Geneva watched her every move.
Jag folded his arms across his chest and stared at Talon, unspeaking.
“Fine, fine,” Talon said with a sigh. “We need to get a hold of the Houston. We’ve been unable to contact our informant for some time now. With the change in GC leadership, I fear something serious is afoot.”
“Wait,” Dani interrupted. “Change in GC leadership?”
Talon looked back and forth between Dani and Jag, then at the rest of Dani’s crew. “Don’t tell me you don’t know.”
“Know what?” Dani took a step toward Talon, causing Geneva to take a step toward her.
“The President of the GC has been replaced,” Talon said matter-of-factly. “It was bound to happen. Just going off of what I know, the majority of the GC has been preparing for the coup for quite some time. They just had to wait for the right moment to circumvent protocol. Apparently the last straw was an explosion behind Vaerian lines and the Vaerians calling off the ceasefire the President had negotiated.”
After a long pause, Talon added, “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“I mean, we saw an explosion, but it wasn’t us that caused it,” Dani answered.
“I see,” he replied, his eyes lingering on Dani a little longer than she was comfortable with. “Well, regardless, some guy named Penn is in charge now.”
“Jackson Penn?” Cassia asked, alarmed.
“Yeah, that’s the guy.”
“Wow, he’s been angling for a position of power for a while now. And Talon’s right—this is serious. Penn has no interest in research and development. All he cares about is getting what he wants regardless of how he gets it. I’m surprised the cabinet elected him.”
Talon beamed at Cassia’s mention of him being right and added, “Yes, well, after a long, drawn-out war, people are more likely to go for someone drastically different than the prior president in hopes of change. How do you think I got to this level?”
“Dumb luck,” Jag muttered.
Talon continued, ignoring the comment, “We have an outpost that picks up all GC transmissions and rebroadcasts them to us so we can stay informed on these things. President Penn has already approved the construction of a new fleet of battle cruisers and, rumor has it, the technology being used is based on a particular prototype.”
With the mention of a prototype, his eyes landed squarely on Dani.
“Osirion,” she said flatly.
“So you see, there are many reasons I want you here, Jag: you’re my brother, we lost our connection to the Houston, and we need your ship.”
“I guess it’s a good thing it’s broken then,” Jag mumbled.
“It’s fixed,” Howard beamed as he threw open the door to the medical lab and strutted in with Zadria following behind with a smile. He stopped when he reached Jag’s bedside. “What?”
Chapter 6
Howard looked deflated after Cassia brought him up to speed on the current state of events. “Well, isn’t that some shit? Although that kind of explains why the Houston hasn’t tracked us down or made any attempt to communicate.”
Zadria paced the room, wringing her hands. “We should go, try to find them.”
“No.” Howard shook his head. “We can’t do that. At least not alone. Remember, Dani and Jag are dead, and Cassia and Cruz are wanted for questioning. We can’t just waltz in there and demand to see Patrick.”
“Howard’s right. We’ll need to approach this very carefully.” Dani racked her brain for a solution. First she looked to Talon, but he clearly had his own agenda, and she didn’t feel like they could trust him. In fact, she wasn’t sure who to trust. Their options were severely limited. She wasn’t even sure if they could get to Osirion and off of this space station. Regardless of their current situation, Dani never believed Talon would leave them worse off than how he found them.
“Sir?” A young man poked his head into the medical bay. “A word?”
Talon hopped off of Jag’s bed and exited the room. As soon as he did, Geneva pushed off from her position leaning against the wall and rushed toward Dani, catching her off-guard. Before Dani knew it, she was pinned against the wall by her throat and clawing at Geneva’s powerful hands.
“You think you can come all the way out here and steal my man?” Geneva growled at Dani through a clenched jaw.
Dani flailed, kicking her feet, but Cruz quickly clo
sed in on Geneva behind, his weapon humming as it pointed just above Geneva’s ear.
“Put her down,” Cassia ordered.
Geneva glanced over her shoulder at Dani’s crew. They had all drawn their weapons and had them trained on Geneva. She sneered and slid Dani to the floor before turning and briskly walking out of the med bay.
“Thanks guys,” Dani croaked as she rubbed her throat.
“What was that about?” Jag asked.
Dani couldn’t have been more relieved when Talon reentered the room and began speaking so she didn’t have to explain.
“Well,” he started with a sigh, “it seems that we didn’t clear the area fast enough before another Vaerian destroyer picked up which direction we were heading. Our long-range scanners indicate they’re on their way. Now, they may not find us, but chances are, they will.”
“Can your base stand up to an attack?” Dani asked.
“I sent Geneva to check on our cloaking and shield capabilities. We’ve had a team working on improving them. Though she seemed pretty upset...” Talon paused to glance at Dani. “So if they’re not ready, we may have to make a run for it.”
“Okay, what is going on here?” Jag asked again, looking between Dani and Talon. It was obvious his anger was increasing.
“We’re screwed, that’s what’s happening here.” Zadria had started biting at her cuticles as she paced. “Osirion can’t outrun anything right now. Not unless we miraculously got a new jump drive. You didn’t fix that, did you, Howard?”
“Er... no. But the cruiser and Osirion’s docking system are repaired.”
“See, we’re dead.”
“Z, we’re not dead yet. Try to take a breath.” Dani inhaled deeply in example.
Zadria plopped down onto another bed and started practicing deep breathing.
“Where’s Carl when you need him?” Cruz signed.
“Well, maybe they’ll negotiate. We’ve done that in the past,” Cassia suggested.
“We are not giving them Sylvine again.”
Sylvine perked up from the corner when she heard Dani mention her name.
The Complete First Season - Episodes 1-5 Page 33
