by Kate Rudolph
Don’t panic, she told herself, don’t panic. Panicking gets you dead. She didn’t know what was going on and that was something she needed to fix. She leaned up close against the bathroom door and tried to hear sounds from the main cabin. It was loud and confusing, cries and yells from the passengers and angry shouts from whoever was trying to hurt them. How could this happen? Gamma Station was supposed to be safe. They weren’t far from the station, and there should’ve been security, should’ve been something there to stop people like this from preying on visitors.
But she couldn’t focus on that now; it didn’t matter that it shouldn’t happen, it was happening and no amount of denial was going to stop that. She could hear movement, and the passengers’ wails got fainter. They were being moved towards the front of the ship, maybe even off of the ship. It wouldn’t take long for their attackers to find her. A bathroom like this was no hiding spot, and they would be sure to check it. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon, but there was nothing. Why would there be? She wished that she had a blaster or a knife or anything sharp or hard, but she didn’t even have a shoe to throw at someone who wanted to do her harm. Suddenly the ache in her feet amplified and she curled her toes up, trying to ignore it. It was cold, and her toes were icy, but that was the least of her worries at the moment.
Though it terrified her to do so, she cracked the bathroom door open and tried to peek out. Almost all of the passengers were gone, and she spied one stepping out of the front door of the ship onto whatever they were docked to. Two large humans with giant blasters stood in the central hallway and checked the rows of seats, looking for stragglers.
“Looks like we got ‘em all,” said one of the men. He was wearing a red cap.
“Easy as punch,” said the one in a leather vest.
Red Cap rubbed his face with a scarred hand. “Captain said we can come strip the ship later. Fancy vessel like this will have everything we need. And we can sell everything else.”
Leather Vest laughed. “Including the passengers.”
“Of course.” Red Cap didn’t seem fazed at all by mention of the slave trade. “But a life support system like this is going to be more valuable than anyone on this ship. It’s not like we’ve got Oscavian royalty.”
“None of us is that lucky.” Without bothering to check the bathroom, the two scavengers walked back down the hall towards their ship.
Ruby sank back into her hiding place, her mind reeling. Selling people? Stripping the ship for parts? She’d had some vague plan of trying to access the cockpit to steer the ship back to Gamma Station when the guards weren’t paying attention, but unless she acted right now they could disable everything before she had the chance. Ruby didn’t know how to fly; her plan had relied on the hope that a vessel like this came with a robust autopilot that would do all of the work for her.
Even if that were true, she was still screwed. She didn’t know how to undock the ship, and whoever had captured them was sure to have some sort of weapon that could blow her out of space.
Her communicator chimed and Ruby nearly yelped in shock. She pulled it out of her pocket and barely spared a glance at the ident screen before answering. It could only be one person calling her, and all the questions and doubts and bad feelings she’d had for him in the past few hours dissolved and she could only feel relief when she heard his voice.
“Ruby,” said Nyco. “You’re there? Please tell me you’re safe.” He sounded like he was on the edge of panic and she was sure that he was pacing.
She tried to respond, but her lips were quivering on the edge of tears and she was afraid that if she opened her mouth she’d scream. She sucked in a deep breath through her nose and tried to get control of her emotions. That control was shaky at best, but it would have to do. “I-I’m n-not okay,” she finally stuttered out. She tried to keep her voice down in case any more men came onto the ship. The sound of her blubbering seemed to echo in the small bathroom. “I was on the shuttle, one of the tour shuttles. It’s docked somewhere, they’re going to strip it for parts. And sell...” She couldn’t get the last part out, too horrified at the prospect. News reports and terrifying articles were one thing to see when she was safe on Earth, but she had never imagined that something like this could happen to her. And there was nothing interesting about it when she was stuck on a ship somewhere in space. She just wanted to go home, or to find her way back to Gamma Station and into Nyco’s arms. They could figure out the rest later, but she knew that she would feel safe with him by her side.
“They didn’t take your communicator?” Nyco sounded surprised. “Are you in a cell of some kind? Tell me what you see. Were they human? Oscavian? Something else?” The questions kept coming and Ruby could barely keep up.
“I’m hiding in the bathroom of the shuttle,” she finally cut him off. “They don’t know I’m here.”
Nyco let out a noise of pure relief. “Good, good, that’s good.” He kept repeating it, as if saying the word would make it true, but they both knew that Ruby was in a great deal of danger. The longer she stayed out of sight of her captors, the more angry they might be when they found her. And they might just shoot first and ask questions later.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered. “I’m scared.” She didn’t think that she would have been able to say that if he were standing right next to her, but it was easier to admit through the distance of a communicator. “I shouldn’t have run.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Nyco responded. “I should have told you everything before...” He trailed off. “I should have told you everything.”
“We’ll talk about it when I get back,” she promised, even if getting back wasn’t guaranteed.
“Our second date will end much better,” Nyco agreed.
“This morning wasn’t our second date?” Focusing on flirtatious banter was better than dwelling on the situation and she almost found herself smiling. Almost. But the narrow confines of the bathroom were a harsh reminder of where she was and what could happen at any moment.
“We’ll talk about this morning later,” said Nyco. “But let’s get you safe for now. Can you stay on the shuttle?”
She wanted to sink to the floor and curl her legs up close and let the sound of Nyco’s voice envelope her with its promise of safety. But that wasn’t going to happen, any safety he made her feel right now was merely an illusion. “I heard two of the guys talking. They want to strip the ship for parts. If I stay here much longer, they’ll probably find me.” Saying it out loud made it real, and cold sweat dripped down her back at the prospect of being discovered.
“You can’t risk staying on the shuttle.” Nyco told her what she had already realized. “Do you think you can get onto their ship without being discovered?”
“I don’t know.” She really didn’t want to try.
Nyco was quiet for a long moment before he sighed. “I can get you onto that ship, but you need to do exactly what I say. Do you trust me?”
There was only one answer to give. “Yes.”
AFTER TELLING RUBY what to do, Nyco ended the call and tossed his communicator somewhere beside him on the bed. He slammed his head back into a pillow and covered his face with his hands to muffle the scream of frustration he couldn’t keep in any longer. His denya was in danger and all he could do was offer her advice and guidance from afar. What use was he? He had no way to track the ship, and no way to trail it while he was confined to his room. If he could get to his own ship, he could track Ruby’s communicator and be on them in no time.
But if the authorities of Gamma Station weren’t letting guests out of their rooms, surely they wouldn’t let them have access to any vehicles until the situation was resolved. He didn’t trust these people to get Ruby back. They couldn’t monitor their space well enough to keep a scavenger ship out of orbit. How could he expect them to put up a fight?
No, they would be doing something else. Probably calling Earth for reinforcements which would take hour
s or more to arrive. Any scavenger ship worth their money would be long gone by the time reinforcements arrived.
That settled it, Nyco wasn’t about to wait. He would take the damn ship out and rescue every single one of those humans so long as it meant that his mate was safe. But he couldn’t do it alone. He found his communicator where it had been buried under one of the sheets and stuffed it into his pocket. He wanted Ruby to find a place and hide, to stay as safe as she possibly could until he came for her. But that wasn’t going to be possible.
He was only one man, and though his ship was fast, he couldn’t take on an entire crew of slavers alone. Not without someone on the inside helping him. It pained him to even consider putting Ruby in more danger, but he knew that she would want to help. And this time he would ask her before making any decision, he had already learned that lesson. But it was useless to ask her before he was sure that he had access to his own resources.
Nyco packed a small bag and slung it over his shoulders, careful to retrieve everything that he might miss. There was a chance that he wouldn’t be allowed back on Gamma Station, and anything he left behind he would have to be willing to surrender. He carefully opened the door to the hallway and slunk back towards Ruby’s room. Before everything had gone wrong, Ruby had keyed the lock to his palm and he was able to enter without trying to break in.
He took two changes of clothes for her and the shoes that she had abandoned. He didn’t know what else of her belongings was important, and he wished he could take everything, but his bag was small, and he didn’t want to risk weighing himself down with something unnecessary.
Sneaking through the station should have been difficult, given the intensity of the security situation, but guards were scarce, and he was able to hide from the few bots that seemed to be doing all the surveillance work. It made sense. The threat was in space, not in the station, and passengers were confined to their rooms in an attempt to keep the situation under control and in the hopes that no one else got abducted. There was no reason to believe that any scavengers had made it to Gamma Station, and the base wasn’t going to waste resources when more passengers were in danger somewhere else.
He had to steal a survival suit from one of the maintenance closets and sneak out through an airlock near where his ship was parked. Nyco’s opinion of station security fell even further as he easily made his way to his ship. There were no guards to hide from, and nothing locking the ships down to prevent launch. If the people who had attacked Ruby’s shuttle had wanted to challenge the station, he doubted Gamma Base would put up much of a fight.
Climbing aboard his vessel was like coming home, and even with the peril that his mate was currently in, a knot unfurled in Nyco’s gut. He knew his ship, knew what it could do, and it would be enough. It had to be.
He wanted to power her up and fly away as quickly as he could, but that would surely bring attention to him, attention that he could not yet afford. He hooked his communicator into the main computer of his ship and engaged the call to Ruby. If she was still in the solar system, he could track her.
“What’s going on? You nearly gave me a heart attack,” she said instead of a greeting.
Nyco gripped the armrests of his chair and wanted to growl at the fear that he heard in Ruby’s voice. No one was allowed to make his mate feel powerless, and he would make all of those men pay. “Were you able to get on their ship?” he asked. There was so much more that he wanted to say, but they did not have time to waste. Not now.
Ruby seemed to understand that as well. “Yes, I found a closet to hide in. For now.” She didn’t tell him that her hiding space wouldn’t be good for long, she didn’t need to.
“I’m tracking your communicator. You need to keep it powered on. If you think they’re going to find you, stash the device somewhere to keep it hidden.” He hated to lose his only line to his denya, but he would do anything to make sure that he could find her again.
“Shouldn’t—” Ruby cut herself off and all he heard was the sound of heavy breathing for several long moments. “Sorry,” she whispered, “I thought I heard footsteps. False alarm.”
“It’s okay, you’re doing great.” Better than he would expect someone with no experience to do.
“Yeah, right.” She sounded doubtful.
“You’re a strong woman, probably one of the strongest I ever met.”
“You barely know me.”
Nyco could list a dozen things that he’d already observed in their short time together, but with her nerves already on edge and the stakes so high, he doubted that she would believe him. “I know enough,” was what he settled for saying. “And once we’re back together, I hope you let me know more.”
If it weren’t for the sound of her heavy breathing, he might have thought that she had ended the call, but after several long moments, she replied. “What do you need me to do?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
RUBY WAS GOING TO DIE. Or end up enslaved. And wasn’t that really the same thing? She wasn’t about to let some skeezy alien put a collar around her neck, and she would rather croak than submit to some monster’s tentacled touch. Every minute that she spent on this ship brought her closer and closer to that violent end. She knew what she needed to do, but right now she was just staring at the door to the closet and wishing that there was some magical way to follow Nyco’s instructions without putting herself at risk.
But there wasn’t, and the longer she waited, the less time she had to do what she needed to do. If they launched into FTL or made it to the solar system’s jump gate, all bets were off. She didn’t know how long it would take her captors to strip the Gamma Station shuttle, but she was pretty sure that she was working with a matter of hours, not days. Earth and its fairly robust defense force was too close for them to linger for long. And Nyco needed them to linger.
Ruby didn’t know if she could have done this if anyone else had asked her, but the absolute faith in Nyco’s voice had given her the strength she needed to believe that she could follow his instructions. None of it was difficult, it was just risky. She glanced down at the communicator that she held in her hand, the weight a familiar lifeline to the world that she had been snatched from. She so desperately wanted to put it back in her pocket. What if she needed to call Nyco? What if he needed to call her? But he said the most important thing was that he could use it to track her, to track the ship, and what she was about to do was too dangerous to take that lifeline with her.
The closet she was hiding in had plenty of storage panels embedded in the walls around her. She reached up high and flipped one open and wedged her communicator inside before any more doubt could stop her. She closed the hatch silently and took a deep breath. Her hands shook and she balled them into fists to try and stop it. You can do this, she told herself, but strangely the voice in her head sounded much more like Nyco than her normal internal motivator. She couldn’t wait to get her man back, and once they were together again, she vowed, she was going to listen to every explanation that he wanted to give her. Despite the way she had run from him, the way she had rejected him, he hadn’t hesitated to find a way to help. He could have waited back at the station. No doubt station security was in contact with the forces on Earth, who were equipped to deal with people like her captors. But Nyco hadn’t waited, he was putting himself at risk to make sure that nothing worse happened to her, to make sure that she got out of this safely.
The mate bond, the denya bond, scared her a little. She’d never thought something like that was possible, no matter what the Celestial Mates marketing materials said. But from the moment she had met Nyco, it had felt so right. So when she saw him again, she wasn’t going to run anywhere but right into his arms.
She just had to stop this ship from taking off first.
She placed her ear against the door and listened carefully, the sound of the ship’s engine and the life support pumping necessary oxygen through the vents far louder than she had ever noticed before. But she didn’t hear people talking,
and she didn’t hear footsteps. Good, good. She tried to remind herself that was a good thing, but her nerves would not be soothed so easily. One wrong move and this would all go wrong. No, Ruby wasn’t going to think about that now.
Now or never. She slid the closet door open carefully and peeked outside. Her ears hadn’t been lying to her, the hallway was empty. Getting out of the closet was the easy part, and now she had a job to do.
Theoretically what Nyco needed her to do could be done from any console hooked into the ship’s main computer. But Ruby was no expert at programming, and she couldn’t guarantee that the computers would display in a language that she understood. And that meant she had to do this manually. Nyco had convinced her that the crew wouldn’t be paying attention to most of the ship while they were rushing to strip the Gamma Station shuttle of all of its goodies. A few guards would most likely be in charge of keeping the humans in one place, a small crew would be on standby with the pilot, and the rest would be tearing the shuttle apart as quickly as possible.
Her biggest advantage was that they had no idea she was there, and she had to keep that long enough to get to the engine room. She got turned around twice on her journey, and had to duck down a side corridor to hide from one wandering crewman, but several minutes later she found a door labeled ‘engine’ and tested the handle before she could think better of it.
The door slid open and there were no shouts of outrage or alarm as she stepped inside. She was in an anteroom separated from the massive engine by a large wall of windows that hummed with the energy of the force field. If she had to get to the engine itself, she would have been screwed, but there were plenty of controls for her to test without putting herself in danger.
