by Dixon, Ruby
I won't believe it. I can't. Instead, I try to focus on what Shaalyn said. Escape pod. My brother with a human. It must have been Kaspar. Must have. And if they intercepted the escape pod, Kaspar didn't have to tell them anything. Any decent pirate worth their credits would just space the occupants and download the flight route from the pod, follow it back to the source. Kaspar would never say a thing. "You're full of shit."
"Am I? He told me that you have an entire hold full of human slaves, just waiting to be sold." Her mouth curves prettily and she taps my chin again. "And he told me you stayed here with one to keep you company. Slumming a little since I left you, darling?"
"Actually, the slumming was when I was with you—"
CRACK.
Stars flash in front of my eyes as the side of my cheek explodes in pain. Dimly, I realize one of Shaalyn's goons used the butt of his blaster on my face. Guess he didn't like that comment about her. I tense, waiting, because I'm afraid that Jade's going to blow her cover if they hurt me. As long as she's in that wall, she's safe. They can't hurt her if they can't find her.
Shaalyn frowns at the soldier to my side. "Darling, don't hurt him before he tells us what we want."
"There's no human here," I lie, rubbing my throbbing jaw. "Just take the ones in the hold and leave me here. I won't stop you." It's a bluff, of course. I can't stop them either way, but it never hurts to throw the idea out there.
"I want all the humans," Shaalyn says softly. "Including the one you're hiding. I don't believe in leaving a credit behind. You know that."
I do. Shaalyn is as cheap as she is keffing ruthless. I glance up at her, her lovely features ice cold. They do nothing for me now. All I can think about is Jade, and how I need to keep her safe. How can I fix this? If I grab Shaalyn, can I kill her before the others kill me? Probably not, but I'm willing to take that risk, as long as it keeps Jade safe. The problem is, if they attack me, I can't be certain that she'll stay hidden. She'll want to help me, and then we'll both be keffed.
"There's no human," I say again. "Other than the ones in the hold."
Shaalyn sighs heavily. "Darling, you are nothing if not utterly predictable. Tell me where you're hiding her or we'll start flushing the air out of each room. I don't know a lot about humans, but I do know they need air."
I say nothing. It's an empty threat. Shaalyn is many things—stingy, amoral, selfish—but she's not stupid. She knows this ship is falling apart. She's probably seen all my re-routing efforts and the fact that a lot of the life-support systems have been re-wired and tinkered with. She can't access the controls without hard-rebooting the computer's control system, and she knows if she does that, she runs the risk of it dying on her entirely.
And Shaalyn won't leave a credit on the table. She wants Jade alive, because she's no doubt hoping that Jade has access to the systems and can get her a way in, so she can tow the Buoyant Star back to port to strip her of every last credit's worth. She needs Jade alive.
It's me that's expendable.
"If you value that human's life," Shaalyn says softly, "you'll speak up now."
I say nothing. Inwardly, I hope Jade trusts me and remains silent where she is. Please stay put, Jade. We're both safe as long as you do. Shaalyn's going to keep me alive and torture me until I give up Jade (which won't happen), and Jade's safe as long as Shaalyn thinks she's got the answers she needs.
Long, agonizing moments slide past. The room is silent.
Jade doesn't get out of her hiding space, and I let out the breath I'm holding in relief.
Shaalyn pouts. "Always have to do things the hard way, don't you? All right." She turns toward one of her men and puts her hand out. The pirate automatically pulls his blaster from the holster at his hip, turns it, and offers it, handle-first, to Shaalyn. She studies it for a moment, then flicks the switch, powering it on…and holds it up to my brow. "I didn't want to do this, darling, but I have no choice. If you don't produce that human before I count to five, I'm going to have to take drastic measures. And this time? I'll make sure you're dead."
The cool metal of the blaster presses to the plating on my brow. I ignore it. It's a bluff. Instead, I get ready to grin at Shaalyn, a joke rising on my lips.
A hand hammers on the wall behind me. "Wait," Jade cries. "Don't hurt him! I'm here!"
Ah, kef.
62
JADE
I can't do it.
When they threaten Adiron's life, I can't stay silent any longer. I pound on the panel, and a few moments later, a big blue alien hauls me out. I stumble forward, and then I'm dragged in front of the woman.
"My goodness. That little trick works every time, doesn't it?" The female chuckles, the sound low and lovely and somehow menacing.
Shaalyn.
I can't believe I'm looking at Adiron's old lover. When he mentioned her name, I think he was just as surprised as me. I didn't know that she was a pirate, though. For some reason, I'd just thought she was a shitty, murdering thief. Of course it makes sense that she's a pirate—she stole his ship once, after all. But to find her here? It's the worst kind of luck. I stare at the woman who held Adiron's heart before me. She's…not what I expected. Her name is a soft-sounding thing, and I know I'm certainly not badass, so I thought Adiron's tastes would go more towards…daintiness? But Shaalyn is anything but.
She reminds me of a viper. A dangerous, slithery snake that's both beautiful and utterly deadly. Shaalyn has a high, sleek ponytail, ringed piercings, and a loose-flowing one-piece jumpsuit that manages to look feminine and elegant on her while still broadcasting an air of authority. She has no weapon at her waist. Doesn't need one with all the men around her packing heat. She's got the same proud, strong ridges on her face that all the mesakkah do, but I get the impression that she's older than the others. There's an unyielding hardness in her lovely eyes, a bitter history to the curve of her mouth. She's tall and lean, though, and surrounded by all these looming, muscular mesakkah, it's impossible to not feel short and dumpy and very, very human.
"Isn't she precious?" Shaalyn coos, reaching out to finger a lock of my natural curls.
"Don't you keffing touch her," Adiron growls. He jumps to his feet, only to have two more blasters shoved in his face by the pirates.
"Touch her?" The female mesakkah tsks, glancing over at him. "If you mean harm her, I don't plan on it, darling. Humans are far too valuable to be bruised up. We'll take her on board and get her all straightened out, so she can be sold for top credits." Her smile is all sugary sweetness. "You know that I love a good auction." She turns her gaze on me and talks very slowly, as if I'm an idiot. "We'll take good care of you, little one."
"Go fuck yourself," I tell her.
The female corsair's eyes widen in surprise. "I see that you've taught her your manners, Adi." She flicks her fingers at the pirate holding me by the shoulders. "Go take her back to med-bay. Run a scan over her and make sure she doesn't have parasites or diseases or something." Shaalyn's mouth purses in distaste at the thought. "You never know what these creatures carry."
I look over at Adiron as I'm dragged away. I want to apologize to him for busting out, but I couldn't let him be threatened. I didn't know they didn't plan on hurting him. I don't regret my actions, because I'd do it again to save him. I'm not entirely stupid, either. When the room filled up with the horned pirates and Adiron started talking in that speedy, too-casual way of his, I knew we were fucked. I undid the front of my tunic and shoved the barrel of the blaster between my tits, laying the handle flat under one breast. I'm wearing a breast-band, and my tits are so tightly bound and heavy that they snugly hold the gun in place. I've held pencils in my enormous cleavage before as a joke. I've held a beer there at festivals.
And now, it seems, I'm hiding a space gun.
It's not the best way to hold it, of course. If Adiron knew the blaster was pointing at my face, he'd probably have a damn heart attack. It's another gamble, of course. The way Shaalyn talked to me, I'm hoping no one thinks
to search me for a weapon. Like Adiron, I need to play it stupid and innocent. So as I'm hauled away, I say a silent little prayer that Adiron will be all right, and then I throw myself into acting.
"Where are you taking me?" I whine. "I'm scared."
The man sighs like it's a huge inconvenience to take care of me. All the while, he half-drags me forward, his steps much bigger than mine, his hand biting into my arm so hard I know I'm going to have a wreath of bruises there tomorrow. "Just be quiet. No one's going to hurt you."
Somehow I doubt that. They might not hurt me—much—but I know Adiron isn't safe with them. After all, his lover is their captain and she stabbed him. Repeatedly. Plus, I know from experience that no good things happen to humans in the hands of aliens. Most aliens, anyhow. Just because Adiron is the shining difference in the universe doesn't mean the rest get a pass. I think about my first captors and how they treated me. To them, I was an oddity that they could fuck, slightly unintelligent, and definitely unhygienic.
All of these are things I can use to my advantage.
The alien drags me across the ship-to-ship connection—the flimsy, ice-cold enclosed tube that connects the two ships together. It feels dangerous, that tube, so I don't try anything then. Not when a wrong move could rip the tunnel's sealed walls and send me out into the vacuum of space. The blaster nestled in my sweaty cleavage feels like it's starting to slip, though, and I need to somehow hide it.
"Where are we going?" I whine, doing my best to sound like a sulky, petulant child as he leads me onto the other ship. "I don't like it here."
Sure enough, he starts talking to me like I'm incompetent. "We're going to take good care of you," he says in that tone of voice adults reserve for children. "We'll take you to med-bay and then feed you, and then we'll put you in a nice, safe cage."
"I'm scared," I whine again. It's the truth, of course, but it also sells my idiocy. All the while, I look around, trying to make note of my surroundings. This ship doesn't look at all like The Darkened Eye or the Star. The tunnel-like halls feel tighter, more narrow, the lighting darker and ominous. We pass something that smells vaguely like noodles—probably a mess hall—and there's another door farther down with another female alien leaning against it, her arms crossed. She has a crude eye patch over one side of her face.
She looks irked, too. "What the kef is that?" the newcomer snarls as she stares at me.
"Merchandise," says the other. "I'm taking it to med-bay to see if it has parasites. You never know with humans."
"I had a human once,” the female muses as she turns back into the room. "Unclean little shits. Give it a good scrub."
Fuck you, too, I think as the male hauls me along after him. If he scrubs me, he'll find the blaster hidden in my breast-band. "I have to urinate," I say, desperate. "Right now."
"It can wait," the male says.
"No," I cry. "Right now! Or I'm going to go everywhere!"
The alien growls in frustration and takes a sharp right turn into a side-hall. Before I can say anything again, he slaps a hand on a door panel and it slides open. "If you keffing shit everywhere, I'm going to make you clean it up," he snarls at me.
I don't have to feign my whimper, and when he makes a disgusted sound and slaps the door panel again, I watch as the door whizzes shut. He must figure I'm safe here on the ship. That I'm helpless and stupid.
Well thank god for that. Quickly, I fish the sweaty blaster out of the underside of my breast-band and look for a place to hide it.
63
JADE
"Did you know that you're pregnant?" The male holding the med-scanner glances up from it to look at me.
"What?" I'm seated on the table in the med-bay, wearing a plas-film little gown as he scans my mostly naked body. I should feel vulnerable and afraid, but I'm too worried over Adiron in Shaalyn's clutches to give myself much thought.
"Pregnant. You." When I continue to stare at him, he talks slower. "There's a baby growing inside your belly."
I blink, stunned. I touch my stomach. Here I thought I was sick of noodles and my breasts hurt because we were too vigorous in bed. Instead…I'm pregnant? "How is that possible?"
The male pirate sighs, as if utterly beleaguered by my questions. "When a male puts his penis inside of a female and ejaculates, his sperm can fertilize an egg inside of her."
I know that part, I want to snap at him. I press my lips together firmly, so I don't lose my shit. "I don't understand how I can be pregnant," I say, choosing my words carefully. "I'm not mesakkah. I thought humans and mesakkah weren't compatible."
"They're not, usually." He shrugs, tapping away on his device as if it's far more important than answering my questions.
I reach out and put a hand over the damned thing, getting his attention. I ignore the cross look he gives me. "So…how?"
He tilts his head. "How did you end up on that ship?"
I lick my lips, thinking hard. "I…I don't know. I was stolen from my planet. Woke up in a stasis pod."
He pries my fingers off his device. "That'll do it, then. It's common among some slavers to give merchandise fertility treatments. They shoot you full of hormones and put you to sleep. Your new owner can decide if he wants to breed you or not. Kinda a bonus for reluctant buyers, you know?"
Oh my god. I think back to the other humans in the stasis pods. How there were a few pregnant ones. How, when our captors first woke us up, they were very, very careful to always use plas-film…
Oh my god.
It never occurred to me that this could happen. Now it's not just me and Adiron in danger. It's this baby. Shit…I don't even know if Adiron wants a baby. Kinda late to ask, though.
My captor turns back to the device in his hands, frowning. "Not sure if Shaalyn's going to want me to take it out of you, though. She didn't say."
"Leave it in for now," I blurt.
He looks up at me. "What?"
"More leverage," I say. "It's Adiron's. He's going to be very protective of it."
The pirate grunts. "Good point. I suppose we can always get rid of it later if we have to."
I want to scream at how casual he is. I want to wrap my arms around my waist and race out the door, but I know I have to play this cool. I have to be just as stupid as they think I am, so they don't suspect anything. Then, when their guards are down, I can go retrieve the blaster I have hidden away underneath one of the sinks in the lavatory, and do some damage.
For now, though, I have to be a dummy. "So," I say brightly. "Will my next owner have a neat ship like this one?"
He shrugs. "Dunno."
I want to ask how many people are on here, but that might be too obvious. "Will I get a room of my own?"
The pirate snorts. "Doubtful. But if you're good, you might get to sleep at the foot of someone's bed."
I make a positive noise in my throat, even though I want to choke a bitch. Sleep at the foot of the bed like a dog, huh? For a moment, I let the fantasy of shooting this man in the nads play out in my mind. Then, I get back to work. "What about Adiron? What's going to happen to him?" I phrase it as cool as I can, even though I'm anxious as fuck inside.
To my relief, he just shrugs. "Boss has some history with him, so I imagine she'll toy with him for a while. Once she's tired of him, then she'll likely space him unless he joins the crew."
I let out a terrified whimper. My Adiron.
The pirate just pats my shoulder, then wipes his hand on his pants leg. "Don't worry. I'm sure the captain will keep you nice and safe. She's got an eye for things that make her credits."
I say nothing to that. Of course he thinks I'm worried about my own hide. I'm worried about Adiron, though. If something happens to him…I don't know what I'll do. I hug my arms to my chest as the alien continues to scan me with his device, and I try to be calm. Emphasis on “try.” My thoughts are whirling, though. Kaspar and Alice are dead, according to Shaalyn and her crew…but Adiron didn't act worried. I have to have faith in him. If he doesn't think th
ey're dead, then they're not dead. He hasn't steered me wrong so far. I take a deep, calming breath.
We just need to worry about our own asses.
"All right," the pirate says, and puts the medical device away. "Looks like everything's a clear scan. You're good to go into stasis."
I make a sound of protest in my throat. "Stasis? I don't want to go into stasis."
He snorts and taps a command onto the wall. "Well, we're sure not feeding and entertaining you for the next few months. Stasis makes more sense than a cage, especially with you pregnant."
As if my worst nightmares are coming true, a slender stasis pod slides out of the wall. He initiates another sequence, and then the door panel to the stasis pod opens, showing a lightly cushioned bed for the occupant. The knot in my throat is growing bigger and bigger. I can't go into stasis, because then I can't help Adiron escape. I can't go into stasis…because I'll lose all control of myself. What if I wake up two years from now? Ten? What if I wake up to find out Adiron's been killed? What if I wake up and they've taken my baby?
What if I wake up pregnant with someone else's baby, like the girls in the cargo bay back on the Star?
Panic floods through me, and when the alien reaches for my hand, I jerk away.
"Don't make this hard," he growls. "You—"
"Enough for now," a new, cool voice interrupts. We both turn, and Shaalyn is in the doorway, looking as elegant and put-together and nail-hard as ever. Her eyes narrow as she focuses on me. "I'd like to talk to Adiron's little plaything before you put her in cold storage," she says.
I wonder how much trouble I'd get into if I claw her eyes out?
64
JADE
My skin prickles with fear as Shaalyn saunters toward me. How is it that one person can manage to look so completely menacing and yet sultry all at once? She eyes me up and down, considering me, and I can practically hear the dollar signs in her head. I'd forgotten what that look feels like—the one where you're regarded as a prize bit of livestock instead of an actual person—and I remain still as she circles around me. I glance out the door, but I don't see Adiron behind her.
