Pirate's Gold (Argurma Salvager Book 2)

by S. J. Sanders

  “Kaylar, increase your rate of speed.”

  “As you know, increasing speed beyond safety limits is highly dangerous and not…”

  Veral snarled impatiently and transmitted his visual recording and the downloaded files. Silence fell as he waited for Kaylar to open the files.

  “Data received. I will be there in sixty-five standard galactic hours.”

  Nearly three standard rotations early. It would have to suffice.

  17

  Terri stirred, her brow furrowing. It couldn’t be time to wake up already. Something was tickling her nose. She groaned and swiped her hand at her face to brush whatever it was away. It moved away, and she grumbled unhappily. She hated when Azan messed with her while she was sleeping.

  Something touched the bridge of her nose again.

  “Azan knock it off, already,” she mumbled, slapping at whatever the pirate was tormenting her with.

  It moved, and a weight landed on her head. What the…? Her eyes opened, and she squinted at her hand in the dark. A soft green glow illuminated her hand, and her breath stuttered in panic as it scurried up her wrist.

  No, no… No!

  With a shriek, Terri jerked up, stumbling to her feet as she whipped her arm around, trying to dislodge it as it scurried beneath the opening in her armor at the wrist. A hair-raising scream left her, her fingers digging at her sleeve, attempting to push it back out from beneath it.

  It’s not working!

  Her breath came out in ragged pants as terror coursed through her. Giving up on trying to push it out, she slammed her wrist against the wall, hoping that would crush it.

  She could hear Veral’s panicked roar, but it sounded faint, distant. The sound that was more immediate was the one that came from the pirates leaping up, shouting out in alarm, pistols and blades drawn as they looked around for a sign of danger. She ignored them all as she cried and slammed her hand repeatedly on the wall.

  Terri didn’t care if everyone saw her blubbering like a baby. She was justified in losing her shit as she frantically attempted to get that thing off her arm.

  Pain pierced her forearm just as Azan shoved her firmly against the wall. The pirate’s scales were dull and pale pink. As one pair of arms held Terri in place, another pair yanked her arm forward, stretching it out. Terri was distantly aware of Veral shoving his way through the gathering crowd, his hard snarls threatening males who had leveled blasters at her. Azan pushed up the flexible sleeve of her armor, and they both gasped in horror as numerous tendrils whipped out from the body of the bio-tech. Blood flowed around its body as its primary legs assisted it as it burrowed into her forearm.

  “What in the name of the gods is that!?” Azan shouted. “Cursed shit of all things profane! I am going to try to dig it out.” Yellow eyes met brown, the female’s pinprick pupils dilating with emotion until they were clearly visible black sideways ovals. She yanked out her dagger and placed the tip at the side of the glowing green body. The tendrils were flowing around her forearm, jabbing into her and sinking into her.

  “Please…” Terri said. “Get it off of me.”

  A spurt of blood appeared at the side of the blade seconds before a dark hand spun out and knocked the dagger away. Azan hissed as the clatter of metal hitting metal echoed through the room.

  “Do not,” Veral snarled as his face lowered threateningly. “Can you not see that it has fully attached itself into her arm? It is a symbiont. Bio-tech created by the Elshavan.”

  “What is a symbiont?” snarled an Igwin.

  “A parasite,” Azan returned, her lip curling at it.

  Terri was half amused to note that, for once, an Igwin looked at her warily rather than with the usual carnal hunger. It was a refreshing change. In fact, all the Igwins were drawing away from her. Hysterically, Terri wondered if alien tech suddenly made her foul to them.

  Well, good. That was one good thing to come from the crap ton of pain.

  “A tech symbiont is different. Its programming drives it to link to a type of being it has been engineered to recognize. The Elshavan, though they have scales, have a softer appearance like my mate. In order to fulfill its purpose, it must do as it is programmed to do. At this point, now that the merger is complete and it has joined to her body, it is nothing more than a tool that she must learn to use. One that cannot be removed without irreversible damage to her body. Tech implants are not to be trifled with except by experts in the field, and only in dire emergencies. Some Argurma weapons operate it in this fashion, though they lack the obvious sophistication of the bio-tech that has bonded to my female. One thing would be noticeably the same, however. It cannot be removed.”

  “For what purpose was it created?” Egbor asked as he pushed through the crowd. His pistol was still primed in his hand, but it hung lax at his side rather than pointed at her. “Will it harm us? Or do you think it might be valuable?” Greed lit his eyes as his tongue swept over his lips hungrily.

  Terri instinctively wanted to tuck her arm out of sight before he got an idea to attempt to hack it off.

  Veral frowned and shook his head. “I do not know if it would have any value since we do not know yet exactly what it does. Even so, given the way that it has bonded to her, if you did remove it, you would end up damaging it in addition to killing her. For anyone else, it is just a bit of metal and biological material. I do not think it will harm anyone in the crew as it is now a part of her. I found a lab, and from what I understand, a scientist designed the tech to protect against something far worse.”

  “What can possibly be worse than that?!” a pirate shouted, gesturing to Terri’s exposed arm.

  She grimaced. It wasn’t pretty.

  Blood still seeped around the green body of the symbiont, though it was slowing as if the thing was working with her nanos to speed up her already accelerated healing. Despite the slowing trickle of blood, the skin was still swollen and flushed a painful red. What was more alarming might have been the weird green fluid that dripped out along with her blood, and the fact that her arm felt like it was on fire, the pain spreading upwards. Around the imbedded symbiont, tiny tendrils of green light could almost be seen flashing under her skin like a spiderweb of metallic veins.

  Veral brushed Azan aside, and the female reluctantly moved away, giving Terri’s mate full access to her. His claws were still out, betraying the lingering heights of his anxiety as he lightly touched the symbiont with his claw.

  He frowned and brought his claw up and slashed down at it. Terri’s entire body tensed with horror, but even as he brought his hand down, the symbiont exploded into action. Several tendrils shot up, weaving rapidly into a pair of barbed whips that slashed at her mate. He only just barely moved out of the way on time, his lips pressing into a thin slash of concentration.

  What in the holy fuck was that?

  The corner of his mouth turned up, his mandibles vibrating in a soft hum as he let out a sharp trill. The asshole was utterly delighted that the thing attached to her just attempted to flay him. Terri’s mouth dropped open as his claws retracted, and he nodded with satisfaction.

  “You did that on purpose! Are you fucking insane?” she shouted.

  Veral leaned forward and brushed his nose against her jaw, his mandibles caressing the sides of her neck in a show of affection, stepping away before it occurred to Egbor that they were breaking his precious rules.

  “It was a calculated risk. I suspected that it would seek to protect you even when not summoned if a direct attack was made.”

  “As sickeningly sweet as this all is,” the captain interrupted, “you still have not explained just what exactly it is meant to have protected them from.”

  Veral’s lips parted, his brow furrowed. She knew this look. He was attempting to put together a reasonable reply that the pirates would understand when a horrible, screeching roar blasted over the wreckage. The sound was hollow like air blowing through a mechanical tube, and yet with all the ferocity of something very big, and very an
gry.

  Egbor turned around as everyone slowly faced the gaping hole in the side of the wreckage. A head suddenly dropped down, its wide, shovel-like mouth parting, revealing rows upon rows of jagged metal teeth. A large violet eye, glowing with small threads of light, peered at them as it let out a terrible hiss.

  As it leaned forward, a large metallic hand descended, flattening against the ground. Although it had the appearance of a matte metal, Terri could see veins and musculature, as if it were living flesh. Like something organic, but made entirely of metal. Its claws extended farther, tearing up the dirt as it dropped its head lower. A long silver tongue whipped through the opening to curl around the nearest pirate before he could gain any distance from it.

  The tongue didn’t just wrap around the male, but the tip stabbed into the struggling Igwin’s abdomen. His mouth gaped open, his screams echoing. The tongue pulsed like a muscle, and Terri watched as his belly caved in and his skin shriveled over his frame. The male didn’t move anymore at that point, hanging limp, his eyes staring out lifelessly as the monster’s tongue snapped back, drawing his body into the enormous waiting mouth.

  Veral pushed her back behind him, moving her deeper into the ship as the pirates fled from the creature lurking at the gap in the wall. “I believe that may be one of the things that were created on the Evandra.”

  “Oh my fucking gods,” Terri whispered. “They were creating monsters.”

  “Engineering the perfect war machines,” he observed.

  “But why create something like this?”

  Claws scraped at the opening, the metal screeching in protest. The metal folded back a little where it was weakest, but otherwise held.

  “Because it would bring certain death,” Veral hissed. He turned to address the captain. “As far as I can tell, this particular tech organism requires nocturnal conditions that it would be programmed to hunt during. We happened to be within its territory during its active time and it scented our presence. We are fortunate that we found shelter in something that deters it from killing us. This gives us time until sunrise. If we remain where we are until then, it will depart. I must insist that we take that opportunity to return to the ship and abandon our mission.”

  Egbor’s head jerked up in surprise as he turned from the creature to stare in disbelief at Veral. “But you just said it will leave the area before sunrise. It is only another rotation or two until we arrive at the crash site.”

  “And there will be more of its kind—or worse—and we may not be so fortunate next time. According to the scientist’s records I found there were many such experiments that he suspected got loose on the starship. The closer we get to Evandra, the more of these bio-techs we will discover. Death waits for us at the wreckage. Nothing more.”

  “I disagree,” the captain said coolly. His face broke into an excited smile as he rounded on his crew. “Just think! If they are creating things such as these, then they must be protecting even greater wealth than suspected on Evandra. Can you imagine the treasures that these guardians must oversee?” He turned his head and fixed Veral with a smile as the pirates murmured uncertainly around him. “And we have little to fear with a legendary Argurma warrior and expert salvager leading the way. These would be the kind of potentials he would have trained for.”

  Veral’s face clouded with fury. “There is a good possibility that if you do this, you will be sentencing my mate to death.”

  “If you do your job well, that should not be a concern. Besides, does she not have protection now? And Azan as well. She is better protected than all of us.”

  Her mate stalked forward. “And what makes you think that I will not kill you now if she is so protected?”

  The pirate met the obvious threat with a knowing smirk. “Because we all know that, while that symbiont is impressive, it is doubtful that even it can stop a blaster shot, or several, directly to the head… Azan.”

  Terri felt the nudge of metal at the back of her head followed by an instinctive surge of fear. Desperately, she wiggled her fingers, trying to get the symbiont to react and protect her.

  Nothing.

  Fuck! Why couldn’t the tech just have a magical on switch? How the hell was this going to be of any use to her?

  “I am sorry,” Azan whispered regretfully. Veral’s furious snarl almost drowned out the female’s words as he stiffened, his vibrissae rattling as he began to turn toward them. It was only the firing up of her blaster that made him halt.

  “I know. And if he kills you, I’m sorry too.”

  “Fair enough,” Azan replied.

  “It seems her tech does not immediately recognize the threat of a blaster. Must not have been in its programming. A pity. All for the best,” Egbor continued. “I am sure you are also aware that my ship will still not hesitate to shoot you down before you even manage to leave the atmosphere. With this in mind, I would not react foolishly if I were you. Nothing has changed. You are still very much under my control.”

  “As you say,” Veral growled. “I will remember this moment on the day I tear you apart with my claws.”

  “I suspect you might, if you had such an opportunity,” the pirate agreed with a tight smile. “For now, however, you defer to me. Now get some rest, everyone. We move out at sunrise.”

  18

  As calculated, the creature departed just before the first rays of light filtered down through the canopy. No one had been able to sleep after the attack. Although it had made it difficult for Veral to pick off another male from the group, the creature had managed to kill two males.

  A reasonable trade.

  It did not escape his notice that the planet was doing most of his work for him when it came to thinning the crew. So much so that, as they continued to trek further into the forest, he abandoned all immediate plans to kill the males.

  Statistically, it was logical to keep what was left of the crew alive so there were extra bodies between Terri and anything else that might hunt them. Even armed with a symbiont that would likely react to the presence of the creatures, despite her current lack of skill in utilizing it, Veral wanted bodies between her and the creations of the Elshavan.

  One way or another, they would all die.

  The captain, however, he would particularly relish killing in slow, painful ways. He would make certain that the punishment was great enough that the male would regret even in the next world that he had forced Veral to take his mate to the Evandra.

  The only good thing to have come from recent events was that fear of attack from the bio-tech creatures kept everyone together. That Egbor encouraged it was telling. The male did not even send Veral out to scout further ahead, wanting to keep his protection close by.

  The pirate did make one concession, perhaps to ensure that Veral remained near. Other than a few stern reminders about the foolishness of taking his mate and fleeing, Veral was no longer forced to remain separate from Terri so long as the human remained close to Egbor. It provided comfort to him and reduced the continuous strain to his systems that Terri was now between him and Azan at the fore, despite the captain and his guard following close behind them.

  Veral clicked to himself as he cut a quick glance at the males pushing through the thick green fronds surrounding them. Garswal stood just off to the side, the blade he carried too large in his hands, as he cut away growth at the captain’s orders. His small body and blade kept most of the brush from directly touching Egbor, who peered at the wild surroundings with a distasteful curl of his lip. That male did not appreciate being out in the wilderness. It was just another thing that distinguished him from the few pirate captains Veral had known or heard of in passing.

  Egbor did not willingly touch anything that had not been sterilized. The male constantly smelled of high-quality disinfectants. Even his blaster, he regularly wiped down. Though he surrounded himself by those who did the unpleasant, unclean work for him, he still managed to wield complete control over his crew.

  Veral had long noted that the capt
ain ruled not by might and ability as a pirate, but rather through cunning and manipulation alone, reinforced by a ruthlessness that kept his crew working under his orders. Keeping Veral in close proximity now was just another part of that. On a planet where they would have to battle both bio-tech creations and a local wildlife full of deadly predators, Egbor’s primary concern was to assure his own safety in pursuit of the Evandra. He would sacrifice every one of them to accomplish his means, even if he was the only one to survive.

  A movement in the path ahead zipped through his awareness along his sensory input, a reminder of the hazards that threatened them. Veral swept his arm out, knocking away the creature that stalked them in the low hanging vines with the branch he had armed himself with upon leaving their shelter.

  Since the captain forbade him from having a blaster or any of the weapons utilized by the crew in concern that Veral would use it upon them, he was forced to improvise to protect his mate as they walked deeper into the forest. The thing snarled with a trembling shriek as it drew back up onto its numerous thin legs and scurried forward.

  Veral’s muscles tightened as his eyes tracked the predator, Terri’s muttered curse close at his side as she too watched it. It raised the front of its body, its front legs spread, exposing a mouth full of hooked fangs as it let out another shriek. The front of its body was long and stick-like, providing the perfect camouflage for its bulk, despite being nearly as large as Veral’s leg. The body, however, tapered down into a long, thin, prehensile tail that was also raised in the air just behind its head, the forked end jerking forward in a subtle stabbing action. Venomous barbs no doubt tipped both points of the fork.

  An agitated growl left Veral’s throat, his claws sliding out just as a blaster raised in the air beside him. Azan fired at the thing, the single shot hitting it amidst the tight cluster of its three eyes. Another shrill sound left it upon contact before it dropped into the dark grass surrounding it.