Alien Outlaw

by C. F. Harris

  I couldn’t leave him. I wouldn’t leave him. He was mine, and I was his, and everything was right with the galaxy as long as that was so.

  26

  Vrath

  I settled into my command chair in the combat center and paused to look out over the crew. Everyone was in their places, and they all turned to look at me.

  The command center was more sparsely populated than the last time we’d all been gathered here. Vlox and all the rest of his mutineers were gone, of course. They’d been thrown out of the airlock and would be orbiting this star until the heat death of the universe for all I cared.

  None of them looked at the biggest change in the room, though. Rachel sat at the information technology station with her hands poised over the controls. I was sure there had to be at least a few crew who didn’t like the idea of having a human on the ship, or having a human with so much power over the ship, or even the idea of the relationship I had with that human.

  I didn’t care. She was mine. I was hers. Nothing would change that now. She had my weapon until the end of my life and beyond, and that was something that I took very seriously. For all that it wasn’t strictly legally binding. Especially an oath made in the heat of the moment in the middle of combat.

  “Are we ready?” I asked.

  I turned to look at Rachel. This all depended on her. I was still locked out of the systems on my own ship, but she’d at least been good enough to not point that annoying fact out to the other members of the crew.

  “We are ready,” Korval said.

  I turned to Rikar. “And we’re certain that all mutineers have been accounted for and are now floating outside the ship?”

  “Confirmed, my captain,” Rikar said, stiffening at the mere suggestion that he might have missed someone as they swept the ship. “They will be orbiting this star for eternity, and it’s what they deserve for daring to betray us.”

  “Very well,” I said, taking in a deep breath and turning to Rachel one more time. “And we’ve taken care of all the issues with the computer?”

  “We have,” she said.

  There was a moment’s hesitation from her. The Terran ship was still out there. I could see it up on the screen. They weren’t repairing that commlink anymore. No, they would no doubt be screaming into every method of communication they had about the dangerous Vosk pirates who’d entered the system and tried to kill them.

  I smiled. They could screech all they wanted to the Aegis Fleet. We wouldn’t be here when they arrived.

  Assuming Rachel handed over control of the ship like she’d promised. I could understand her hesitation. There were a lot of rumors going around Terran space about the Vosk. I’m sure there were just as many as flew around Vosk space when it came to the Terrans. The point is I’m sure she was wondering whether or not she’d find herself back in the brig she’d escaped from earlier once she gave me control.

  Finally she took a deep breath and hit the button. The panels on either side of my command chair lit up with all the little doodads and widgets that let me keep an eye on everything that was happening on my ship at all times. I smiled and sighed in relief.

  It was good to have the ship back under my control.

  “Systems are back online completely,” Korval said, then he hissed.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, immediately on guard for something terrible that Rachel might’ve put into the system.

  I didn’t think she would do something like that. Especially not when she was sitting right there and would be as much a victim of any tampering as the rest of us, but stranger things had happened when it came to betrayals.

  “Everything seems much better than before,” Korval said. “The menus are moving faster and…”

  “Yeah, I took the liberty of grabbing a few updates from Standard Shipyards through the comm array,” Rachel said. “The thing is still busted so it’s not going to be able to pump the kind of comms traffic the Aegis Fleet is used to using, but it’s more than enough to get a burst from Standard Shipyards way faster than you’d ever be able to get it if you’re in warp space or tooling around some backwater that doesn’t have an array and has to rely on the warp space background.”

  I looked at my own readouts and realized they were different as well. They looked somehow newer. All the designs had been changed in subtle but obvious ways. I grinned.

  “I assume this also means we will be far less likely to accidentally activate the self-destruct?” I asked.

  “Of course it means you’ll be far less likely to accidentally activate the self-destruct,” Rachel said, hitting me with a grin as she tapped something out on her screen.

  A message popped up on one of my screens. A message for my eyes only, and as I read it the reason for keeping it to my yees only became quickly apparent.

  “Besides, I’m the only one who can activate the self-destruct now,” the message read. “A little bit of insurance. ;)”

  I wasn’t sure what that last symbol was. I’d have to have her explain it to me later. It looked like someone winking, though, and I decided to take that to mean she wasn’t outright threatening me for all that what she’d just typed to me was very much a threat.

  I didn’t see it that way, of course. It was just her way of letting me know that she had some leverage, and I wouldn’t expect anything less of the glorious human tech warrior who’d decided to take me on with nothing more than a glorified repair tool in a battle among the stars.

  I grinned as I turned to the rest of my crew. I didn’t know what the future held for me, but I did know that it was looking much brighter because Rachel would be there beside me through it all.

  I held my arm up and pointed off in a vague direction.

  “Take us back to Vosk space,” I said.

  “Any particular heading?” Korval asked.

  I glanced to Rachel. She bit her lip again and glanced to the door. That caused a stirring between my legs because I had no doubt what that look meant.

  “I don’t care,” I said. “I’ll be in my quarters if anyone needs me though.”

  There was a tone to my voice that said it would be a very good idea if no one needed me while I was in my quarters. Some of the men grinned. Others rolled their eyes.

  I stood and gestured for Rachel to join me. She only blushed a little as she looked at the rest of the command center crew and no doubt thought of what they must be thinking. Though that embarrassment and the way it was so obvious on her cheeks only made her that much more alluring to me.

  Then she looped her arm into mine and we headed for the door. After all, it was just a simple trip through warp space to one of the outlying stations far enough from Vosk power that I didn’t have to worry too much about being picked up.

  And I suddenly found myself with something far more interesting than pushing around spreadsheets of our latest haul to occupy my attention on that trip between the stars!

  “Captain!” Rikar shouted. “A new ship has just dropped out of warp space!”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. The damned Terran Aegis Fleet shouldn’t have had time to get here! We should’ve had hours, yet!

  “Bring us into a defensive posture and prepare to punch our way out of their fleet,” I said, reluctantly disengaging myself from Rachel.

  “It is not a Terran ship,” Korval said.

  “What?” I asked, hitting Rachel with an apologetic look. She smiled and patted my arm, then shooed me towards my command chair.

  “We are tracking a modified Corverian Light Cruiser,” Korval said. “Looks like whoever owns the thing has really tricked it out, too.”

  “The hijackers!” Rachel said.

  “Anything that would give us trouble?” I asked, knowing the answer before Korval spoke up.

  “Not at all,” he said. “Though scans are showing that ship would be quite a fat prize if it were taken. Ship identification is tentative, but the Vosk Galactic Net is showing a hefty reward if it’s what the computer thinks it is on top of the salvage
value.”

  I grinned. Looked around to the crew. I glanced at Rachel.

  “Even with the Linda filling the heavens with warnings it’ll still be a few hours before the Aegis Fleet could possibly get here,” she said.

  “More than enough time,” I said. “Looks like we’re going to get our money’s worth on this trip after all boys!”

  More from C.F. Harris

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