by Celeste Raye
"I was curious. You know I have to see everything for myself. I flew high over the smoke, but it hid too much from me. I went closer. Two factions were fighting. There were bodies all over the ground. Screams of agony came from inside the burning building. I'm so sorry, Tann. I couldn't get inside to help them. The heat and smoke were getting to be too much for me. I was leaving. I rose above the building and heard a woman call for Aisaak."
"My dragon form is golden like yours," Aisaak interrupted. "She mistook you for me in the smoke."
"I couldn't leave her. She begged me for help. She was stuck on the roof, and it was about to cave in. I dared to go close. She grabbed my claw and almost slipped off when water hit us. I couldn't go far with her weight, so I put her down behind a big metal container. It hid her and blocked the fire. The flames had gotten to me when I went for her. I'm sorry. I was too scared and hurt to stay. I only wanted home."
"You did well, child," Aisaak praised her. "You saved the one you could: the one who matters most to me. It was too late for the rest. Krane would have made certain there was no way to exit the bar. He's behind this. There is no one else so evil."
By the time Tika had finished her narrative, she had a large audience. Tann's crewmates had spilled from the spaceship, and Constantine's derelict pirates had joined them.
"It was the one called Krane, alright," Tann's captain replied. "After you filled me in on the happenings in the city last night and let me know we had a visitor I could trust, I had the communication devices tuned in to the news feed. It started squawking just before the little dragon returned. They are calling it a massacre. It appears Krane went up against his boss and lost. He'd made the mistake of taking retribution without the big man's permission. Tourists were murdered. The authorities will be swarming, and the big man couldn't let the investigation land on him."
"Thank you for saving my love," Aisaak told Tika. "I owe you a debt. If you should ever need me, I will come. I have to go and find her. She will still be in danger."
"Not from Krane, she won't," the captain cut in. "He's reported to be among the dead. Disobedience that makes the big man look foolish isn't tolerated. Krane was dead the minute he chose to betray him. Your woman is the safest she's ever been. Hell, the big man's probably protecting her himself."
"Why do you refer to him as the big man when everyone else calls him the big boss?" Constantine asked.
"Because he's not my boss and I won't proclaim him as such. Tann tells me there may be pirates involved with the missing women. Our reputation is bad, and we deserve it, but we don't steal women off the streets. We're not nice, and I can't say we show women much honor. Forcing them to become prostitutes when they have other options, though, is a whole different thing. We would like to help weed out those responsible. So, my crew is at your service, Aisaak."
"Well, I won't be outdone by the likes of you, Captain. I'll join up and any of the free men who follow me can if they want," Constantine added.
"For now, it's information I need. The fighting will come later," Aisaak addressed the men. "Was Krane the one authorizing the taking of young females or was there someone else behind it? Will it stop now that he's dead? Where are they kept? Are they alive? Have they been removed from Delti Utopia 6? Does it go farther than this way station? According to Tann and Tika, it probably does. Is it sex trafficking or merely legal prostitution with Krane's twisted ideals thrown in? We have more questions than answers."
"Then, we send in listening ears," Tann replied. "Constantine already has spies in town. He can give them a new objective. The captain can send out a crew to gamble and party. It's to be expected of pirates and won't be questioned. Drunken people tell stories and say things that shouldn't be said. The crew will listen. Mariana is excellent at winding the gamblers around her tiny fingers, so she can retake her place at the main casino. I won't risk her disappearing, which means I'll reprise my role as her bodyguard. I can drop a few gold coins Lolita's way, and she'll give me information in return."
"Lolita ain't in the strip club no more," one of Constantine's men informed them. "She's gone off and got herself a job that pays bigger. I heard she sold out to the big boss. Torbin would have himself a fit over it."
"All the more reason to find her," Tann retorted. "She'll have an inside track. She's never done me wrong or lied to me. No matter what she's paid, she won't turn her back on us."
"She sure as shootin' turned it on Torbin. He would have taken her with him, but she done chose the big boss over him."
"I don't care where her loyalties belong. If she knows something, I'll force it out of her. Savanah has to be found," Aisaak growled.
"There won't be a need for violence, and I wouldn't let you harm her anyway. Lolita is an old woman with a kind heart. She's worked herself almost to death for pennies. I can't say I understand why she didn't go with Torbin. He still loves her, and I'd bet she loves him. However, I do understand why she'd take a high paying job offer. Her days as a stripper should have ended ten years ago. If Torbin and I hadn't tossed some money her way, she'd have starved to death. If there's anything she can tell me, she will. I'll trust her until my dying day," Tann stated.
Chapter Fifteen
***Irene***
"Is it over? Has everything calmed down?" Irene croaked through her still scratchy throat.
"The fighting ended before I brought you in, but the patrols will continue for a while," the doctor replied. "The big boss's men are supposed to keep tourists out of the wreckage. He doesn't want sightseers taking videos and spreading them to all the planets. It would be bad publicity for the way station. It's always been advertised as safe and the most entertaining among the stars. War doesn't fit into that picture."
"What was done for Jimbo? Is someone taking responsibility for him, maybe Aisaak?"
"He's to be shipped to his home planet. That's what they're doing with all the casualties. Most have a family member who will see to everything. Those that don't will be handled by the government on their home world. Your young man hasn't shown his face yet. I don't know how to reach him. It's possible he left since they opened the space dock and began letting everyone leave. The authorities have gotten it into their heads that the backup and long wait had something to do with the fight. Pent-up anger and frustration is what they're claiming."
"You mean the authorities here that the big boss pays to say whatever he wants, don't you?" Irene asked. "He's putting a spin on the truth to keep tourists from being frightened away. You know he's capable of making all this simply go away."
"Of course he is. Otherwise, Delti Utopia 6 wouldn't be as prosperous as it is. Would you like to go home, back to Earth? The passage is free for all those injured. I can get you on a spaceship by tomorrow," the doctor announced.
"I'm not leaving. You know the story. My sister is still out there. You're the one who told me about the sex trafficking! How can you even make such a ridiculous offer?"
"What's done is done, Irene. She's gone. One way or another, Savanah's beyond your reach. They'll take more, including you. Don't give them the chance. Leave while you can. Even if you found her, she'd be a different person now. I can't keep you here much longer. I'm too big a coward to take responsibility for you and have attention drawn to me. You don't have a job, a home, or a champion anymore. With Jimbo gone, who'll watch out for you?"
"I will," Aisaak said from the doorway. "I should have been here to protect you in the first place, Irene. Because of my confusion and selfish attitude, Jimbo's gone, and you could have been lost as well. I was a fool who couldn't see past the fog in his brain. I was so busy living in the past and trying to replay it that I almost missed my future. My love for Vega was a childish one, born out of being thrust into her proximity all my life. It was a gentle, easy, companionable love that the two of us mistook for passion. We might have been content to be together forever, but I want more than content. You've shown me what love could be: what it should be. Wild, fun, passionate, argumentative, and impe
tuous love is what you gave me. It changed minute by minute, promising I would never be bored or take you for granted."
"Your words are too tame for what we shared, Aisaak. It was flammable and explosive, but not in a way that would burn out. It's endless. Don't ever leave me like that again. It hurt so bad. I won't try to erase her from your memory. What happened between you shaped who you are now, the man I love above all others. I just want a place in your heart and head, for myself."
"You have one. Let me take you from here while there's a lull in the storm. Doc, you don't need to worry. No one's coming for her or you right now. The man behind all this wants peace and complacency to become the norm once more. He stirred up a hornet's nest and got more than he bargained for. News will travel from planet to planet no matter how many lies he puts out there to explain what occurred. He'll want tourists to find the way station to be exactly as seen in the advertising videos when they arrive. For a short time, it will be that entertainment place with its secrets hidden deeper than ever. The women who come here are safe for now. We'll be using this time to search for Savanah. There will be less resistance because of the tragedy," Aisaak explained.
"Where will you take me? We're homeless and jobless, Aisaak. Charity isn't likely."
Aisaak laughed, "You've got a surprise coming. We have allies, a family of sorts. They are quite odd, diverse, and distrustful, but friends just the same. I don't fully agree with some of their ethics. However, they could argue against mine as well. We've agreed to disagree and be of aid to each other as long as we don't encroach on each other's way of life."
"You aren't making sense. Who are these friends?"
"It will make perfect sense once you meet them. I think you'll give them more of a chance at first sight than I did, especially since they are searching for Savanah. Right now, men are all over the way station gleaning information while drinking and gambling. We'll use what they learn to make an approach into the big casino tomorrow night if you are up to it. For now, I'm to take you to the encampment. Your rescuer lives there."
"My rescuer? The gold dragon! You've met her? Is she well?" Irene asked with excitement.
"She was burned a bit, but she's healing. Her disobedience most likely saved your life."
"Who did she disobey? Was she punished because of me? I have to explain to them. Take me there. Hurry!"
"No one punished her. They would have if she hadn't been hurt and she would have deserved it. You see, she is only a child: fourteen years of age. She was told to stay away from the city and its dangers. Instead, she flew all the way here during the night," Aisaak told her.
"It is no wonder I felt her fear. The blaze and war would have been terrifying to a child all alone at night. Add to that the fact that she was disobeying someone and it's a miracle she risked herself to save me. I thought she was you. She was golden, just like your dragon."
"She told me you called out my name. It grieves me I wasn't there to answer. I owe her a debt I am not certain how to repay."
"We'll find a way, together," she soothed. "If these friends don't live in the city, then where did you go?" Irene inquired.
"I had no plan. There wasn't anywhere to go, so I flew into the unknown. I covered a lot of ground and saw pieces of this station that to me are much more beautiful than the city. There are green spaces, streams, ponds, trees, and smaller dwellings. It very closely resembled Earth. I saw firelight and was guided by it to an encampment. There resided pirates, derelicts, the unsavory, and unwanted. I felt something in common with them at that moment. Needless to say, they were wary and unwelcoming in the beginning. There were calls to string me up, but a man intervened. Actually, Tann is a Naga. He is also a pirate: second-in-command to a crew that once belonged to Torbin."
"The old pirate who bested the big boss?"
"Exactly," Aisaak replied. "He and the captain have an agreement with Constantine, the derelict's leader. They all tolerate one another. The encampment is like a tiny town. The two groups make the rules, and everyone is fed and sheltered. Once we heard the news feed and added in Tika's tale of the war and your rescue, it was decided we'd make our own army and get Savanah back."
"All of them agreed: pirates and homeless too? Why? I don't know any of them. Savanah and I mean absolutely zero to them," Irene protested.
"Tann has an interest in this that I'm not at liberty to tell. It's his choice whether to say anything to you or not. Suffice it to say, he wants the way station cleansed of all the corruption, though he often sides with the pirates. Believe it or not, Constantine was distressed to learn that other pirates might be involved with the women's disappearance. As he says, they don't always value women, but forcing them into sex trafficking is beyond even his sins."
"Then you know about the other women, too? The doctor told me after Krane tranquilized me. I never had the chance to tell you. You ran off that night before we could talk properly."
Aisaak bowed his head in shame. "I know. It wasn't my best effort at calmness. In my defense, I did have other things on my mind. Things I'd very much like to repeat and take more time in doing. We will have a long talk about what we've done and learned while we were apart, but I really would like to redo that night over first. Will you come with me to the encampment and let me show you that you are my true love?"
"I want that. Some small part of me is still angry because you ran off, yet my heart is overruling it. You also owe me the full story of your past. But, you're right. It can wait. We need to be together as one. I've never felt anything as strong as the need emanating from you. It wraps itself around my soul and ties me to you with a cord that can't be broken. I will come with you. I just don't know how. You fly and I can't," Irene admitted.
"There will come a time when you can properly ride on the back of the golden weredragon. Now, is not that time. You haven't regained your strength, and you would definitely require it to ride that far. As luck would have it, my friends are excellent thieves. They've confiscated land skimmers, a few at a time, and I'm certain you can ride back in the care of one of them. I assure you, most of them are harmless," he teased.
Constantine himself volunteered to take Irene to the encampment. His passenger was remaining in the city to gather more information.
Irene rather liked the pirate. His tattoos and piercings seemed to be a natural part of him, the same as his soul-reading blue eyes and his long chocolate brown hair. His clothes were mismatched and patched, but clean. He may not have held women in high esteem, but he was friendly and welcoming to Irene.
"Let's get you settled in, snug and comfortable like. It's a long journey and I ain't the best driver in the bunch. I won't go at top speed. We'll still be zipping along at a fast pace, though. These things ride smoother the faster they go. You'll have to hang on tight."
"Are you sure you want to be the one to do this? If I'm putting a kink in your speed you can shove me off on one of the others," Irene teased.
"Ah, you give me an excuse to act my age," Constantine retorted. "Besides, I've got a soft spot for the little girl who saved you, and I want to be the one that presents you to her. She's tough like I'd want my kid to be."
"Well, then, let's get going. Aisaak's going to fly along in case of trouble, but I imagine you could handle anything that came up by yourself."
"You bet I could. You don't get to live as long as I have in this profession unless you can."
Chapter Sixteen
***Irene***
Constantine hadn't been kidding. Irene held on so tight her knuckles turned white. The small land skimmer slid between buildings and around obstacles so fast she barely had time to figure out what they were until she was already past them. Her nerves eased a bit once they left the crowded city behind.
Aisaak's description of what lay outside the city had been excellent. It did remind her of Earth, especially the valley she had shared with Savanah and her parents. Her heart ached for her family. She did her best to set aside the pain and enjoy the moment free from t
he strife she had been living with the last few days.
The area after the beautiful greenery that contained nothing at all bothered her. She felt the emptiness of it inside and didn't like the way it made her look to her own feelings to fill the void. She was so used to having empathy for those around her that she was uncomfortable with the idea of just herself. She allowed her mind and heart to reach out to the sky and find Aisaak. He was floating along on a breeze, up and down as it dipped and whirled. She sensed his joy and clung to it. Closing her eyes, she floated with him. She became so attuned to his emotions she began to realize there was another one just beneath the joy. It was desire. The warmth entered her body, stunning her with its ferocity. Her eyes opened, and she silently urged Constantine to go faster. Fear had dissipated with the more urgent need.
The encampment was buzzing with life. There was laughter, bawdy songs being sung, dancing, cooking, and an argument here and there. Most of all, Irene sensed happiness and freedom. Despite their less than luxurious circumstances, the pirates had what those in Delti Utopia 6 didn't: a lack of fear and no tyrannical man to control their every move.
Irene had envisioned Aisaak taking her to his quarters where they could be alone to reunite in proper fashion. She longed to ease the desire they both suffered from. The pirates had other ideas. She was greeted by a motley crew of misfits, grinning and offering her refreshment.
"We saved the best pieces for you since you just about died. It ain't much, but it'll keep you going," a woman with one side of her hair shaved and the other side braided and purple told her. On the plate was mystery meat, slightly charred, and some wilted greens resembling spinach. The glass held a murky liquid that smelled of alcohol.
"I picked the greens myself," the woman continued. "My mate killed the beast in honor of your coming to join us. We've been hearing the news from the city and feeling bad for you. What they be doing ain't right. You'll be safe here. We made a pact with your man." She grinned, showing the gleam of a gold tooth.
