Remnants of Hope: A Rogue Star Story

by Antoine Henderson

  PREQUEL TO THE ROGUE STAR TRILOGY

  BY ANTOINE HENDERSON

  © 2018 Antoine Henderson

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: ah@ahauthor.com

  Dedicated to Gaby, for without her this wouldn’t be possible…

  ..

  CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter One – Floating Death

  Chapter Two – Ultimatum: Join or Die

  Chapter Three – Planet Abuula

  Chapter Four – Village of the Abuchillas

  Chapter Five – Remnants of Hope

  Chapter Six – A Captain’s Duty

  Chapter Seven – Battle on Abuula

  Chapter Eight – A New Path

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  Author Note

  Chapter One

  Floating Death

  “Of all the parci in the System I chose for my crew—it had to be one that complains, all the time!” said Lake. He didn’t look at the short pear-shaped, green-skinned and wide-eyed parci. Instead, he focused his attention on cleaning his blaster. “Do us all a favor Blurb, and shut up!”

  “Like you humans are any better?” Blurb argued. “I’m sorry if I don’t want to be in the middle of space, going to a dust-bowl of a planet searching for zaranium—a metal alloy that no one has found for over two decades, for a criminal who’ll kill us if we don’t!”

  “You’re not sorry.”

  “Of course I’m not!” said Blurb. “I was being sarcastic!”

  “I know! Just shut up already,” said Lake, shaking his head. “A dust-bowl planet,” he mocked, as his attention went back to his blaster. “What kind of description is that, anyway?”

  “It’s exactly as it sounds. You’ll see when we get there.”

  Lake was sitting by one of the three windows that surrounded the six-station bridge of his freighter ship, the Iron Saber. Blurb, his Chief Tech Engineer was sitting at his station below the Captain’s station, tinkering with a silver and black blaster rifle. Lake was used to the green-skinned amphibian parci complaining about the dangers of every job they accepted, but he didn’t understand why this time around. Abuula was in a part of the system that few ventured to as it was insignificant and barren compared to planets like Solaris Prime and its cityscape or Buma, a tropical paradise and vacation planet for the rich and elite types.

  Lake’s attention drifted from his blaster, to outside the window, staring at Solaris, the star that served as the only light source in the darkness that surrounded them, aided by the radiant light of the gold nebula spread throughout the System. “From the holoimages I’ve seen of Abuula, it’s a beautiful planet and you forget—we’re criminals too, Blurb.”

  “You may be a criminal, but I don’t see myself as one,” said Blurb, correcting Lake with a stern and arrogant voice.

  “Oh really? What are you then?”

  “A technical wizard whose skills are unmatched, that happens to be surrounded by criminals, actually.”

  Lake blurted out a laugh while shaking his head. “You’ve been drinking too much of pluel lately, I see,” he suggested. “The bottom line is, we accepted the mission and we’ll be there soon, so there’s no point in complaining anymore about it.”

  “Excuse me, Lake, but have you ever been there?” Blurb asked, standing from his station and fixing the leather tool belt around his wide waist, before adjusting his black shorts. His large, oval-shaped, hazy green eyes with black slits focused on Lake. “Or are you still trying to convince me that this job was a good idea?”

  “No, but like I’ve said, I’ve seen holoimages.”

  “Exactly!” Blurb exclaimed. “I’ve been there! It’s a dusty-red planet, with sand everywhere, getting into the cracks and crevices of everything! Does Garbon think there’s zaranium there? He’s a fool if he does.”

  “I can’t wait to tell him you said that.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!” Blurb panicked. “Would you?” Lake shook his head and smiled. “Of course not, you scaredy-cat! He’d kill you and use your skull for a bowl if I did. Just relax, everything will be okay, B.” He looked outside the window of his ship a moment, while cleaning residue from his blaster.

  Lake was used to Blurb’s complaining as he’d done it on every job they’d been on since they become friends. At seventeen, Lake became the captain of the Iron Saber when he stole the ship from Ora Zoret, his former captain, mentor and leader of the Black Reign smuggler’s group. Blurb was merely Ora’s slave when they met, and their friendship grew from there. It was five years since that time and their bond was stronger than ever.

  “Do you think there will be trouble, Lake?” Blurb whispered.

  “Nope, but it’s never a bad thing to come prepared,” Lake responded.

  “Cleaning that Ripper is more than being prepared, Lake. You only do so when you plan on using it and nothing ever good comes from it.” Blurb gazed at the blaster in Lake’s hand.

  “Delta, can you remind Blurb how many times I’ve saved his life with this Ripper?”

  “Approximately thirty-four and a half times, Captain,” a female voice answered over the ship’s communications.

  “Thirty-four—that is absurd!” Blurb argued. “That time on Solaris Prime doesn’t count. And most of the time it’s me saving you!”

  “Will you two keep it down?” A female voice shouted over the intercom of the ship. “I can hear you arguing all the way back here!”

  “Sorry, Ti,” said Lake, closing the square charges that extended from his blaster when firing.

  Blurb scoffed before moving closer to Lake. He leaned in, clearing his throat. “I still don’t understand why you allowed her to travel with us.” Blurb whispered. “You do remember she tried to kill you, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  “Then explain it to me!”

  “You really want to know?”

  Blurb peeked over his shoulder as if worried the woman in question was around. When all he saw was an empty corridor and heard only the sound of humming of the ship’s engines, he turned back to Lake and nodded.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you,” said Lake. He looked to his left, then his right before leaning closer to Blurb. “She told me she’d kill you if I didn’t.”

  Blurb swallowed hard and his eyes widened. “W-what? She told you that?”

  “No.” Lake laughed. “For the twentieth time, Blurb, Nadal-Ti saved my neck more times than I’ve saved yours. Not to mention she’s good with a blaster and can handle her own.”

  Blurb sighed. Frowning, he slapped Lake’s shoulder. “Don’t do that to me!” He took several seconds to compose himself. “That being said, I still don’t trust her, Lake.”

  “It’s been a year, get over it already!”

  “Alright fine!” Blurb threw his hand up. “When you wake up one day with one of her blades in your back, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Duly noted,” said Lake, rising from his seat and placing his Ripper back into the holster that hung from a black belt around his waist. He picked up the crimson jacket that sat beside him and slid it on, covering his toned broad shoulders and covering his black shirt underneath. Before walking toward the captain’s chair and taking a seat, he brushed his short brown hair from his grey eyes, sweeping it to the side before pulling the sleeve back, revealing a gauntlex on his left hand, kicking his feet up on top his terminal, resting his boot-covered feet. The gauntlex was a device that allowed him to monitor the ship’s computers, communicate with h
is crew, among an assortment of other unique features. Using the device, he ran another systems check, a routine he’d do every few hours on long journeys such as this, giving the old state of his ship, while Blurb continued to curse under his breath.

  “Blurb, you’ll be the one not waking up because of one of my blades being in your back if you don’t shut up!” Nadal-Ti’s voice rang over the intercom.

  “Oh, you heard that?” Blurb asked. “I was just—”

  “Shut up!” she shouted.

  The sound of Blurb’s mouth clamping shut echoed over the beeping of the computers and the sounds of the engines. The parci fixed his brown vest over his slumped shoulders and took his seat at his station before going back to work. He continued to mumbled curses at both Lake and Nadal-Ti, but did so that not even Lake could hear, but he could tell what he was doing from the way he slammed his instruments on the table every so often.

  Lake smiled before turning his chair and facing the window of his ship. He’d grown accustomed to Blurb’s fear and Nadal-Ti’s threatening nature. He loved his crew even though each of them were different in their own right, but they were family through it all.

  Blurb was the Chief Technician of the Iron Saber. When it came to technology, Blurb was acute to it, slicing in programs, improving and modifying the ship. Lake wouldn’t have gotten as far without him in the smuggling business if it wasn’t for him. Nadal-Ti was the Weapons Specialist and equipped the Saber with the most advanced and unique weapons ever seen in the system according to Lake. And last, but not least, was Delta Eight-Eleven, a pilot class android, created to control major aspects of the ship and operate as the ships main computer. That left Lake; as the Captain and at twenty-one years old, he was–as far as he knew–the youngest person to captain his own ship.

  “Captain Strider, I’m picking up several unidentified objects in our path, but I cannot seem to make out what they are,” Delta alerted, alerting the entire crew.

  Lake removed his resting legs from his control panel and tried to enhance the objects as a holo image appeared on his screen. Nadal-Ti walked from the sleeping quarters of the ship with long strides as Blurb turned his chair to see what Delta was talking about. She fixed the black vest over her white shirt that covered her chest, keeping her long black braid on the outside it. She carried twin blaster pistols, holstered on her belt, over her black leather pants and black boots. Twin blades were strapped to her back, her preferred weapons of choice. Her crystal blue eyes contrasted perfectly with her tan skin, making her beautifully dangerous to those that know her.

  “Delta, scan the area for any debris we may have to worry about as well as any signals. If there’s a ship hiding somewhere, I want to know about them before they know about us.”

  “Right away, sir.”

  “How many times have I told you, Delta—just call me Lake or Captain, sir makes me feel old,” he said. “You’re more than just a pilot, taking orders, remember that.”

  “My apologies, Lake.”

  “What is it?” Nadal-Ti asked, taking her seat next to Lake on the right. “Garbon didn’t tell us anyone else was out here.”

  “Garbon never tells us much,” said Lake. “Always a surprise with that guy.”

  “This is bad,” Blurb said.

  “Have some faith, B,” Lake replied while pressing buttons on his terminal. “It can take you far in this line of work.”

  “Faith?” Blurb scoffed. “An archaic notion if there ever was one—faith gets people killed nowadays and if by taking us far, you mean working for a psychotic mercenary like Garbon, then excuse my lack thereof.”

  “Lake…”

  “I see it, Ti.”

  “What is—”

  Their attention went outside the window as the shape of a humanoid body became clearer as they approached. Broken pale skin lined the facial features, and the body was stiff with a face of horror and despair.

  The image was etched into Lake’s mind as he leaned forward. Blurb and Nadal-Ti rose and walked toward the front of the ship to get a better view as they passed the lifeless corpse.

  “Lake, there are more ahead,” Delta said.

  “What happened?” Lake asked. “People usually try to stay out of this sector of the System.”

  “Except for us… and anyone else Garbon sent after the zaranium.” Blurb responded.

  “Delta, scan the area for signs of life.” After Lake gave the order, he punched a few buttons on his terminal, assisting Delta in widening the search grid.

  “Scanning…”

  Nadal-Ti and Blurb stayed by the window looking outside as the planet Abuula came into view. From a distance, it looked like a red orb covered with snow and three smaller orbs circling around it. But the image became distorted when several figures obstructed the view of the planet.

  “There are no signs of life, but—”

  “Don’t say but—I hate buts, Delta,” said Lake.

  “There are over fifty more ahead.”

  The bodies of species in different shapes and sizes appeared within moments, obstructing the view of Abuula. Delta, piloting the Iron Saber, did her best to avoid them, but there were too many as some collided with the ships force shields, bouncing back in different directions into the darkness of space.

  “I recognize that blaster,” said Nadal-Ti as her blue eyes followed one of the corpses. “That’s an R-11 blaster rifle—those are only made on Uthera and used by their soldiers.”

  As far as ranks went, Uthera was the seventh most habited planet in the star system and was critical in the formation and of the United Solaris Star System after the darkness overtook space. Governed by a monarchy, Uthera holds high ranking offices within the Solaris Senate and maintains its fortune by trading wincy, a rich protein fiber harvested from the cocoons of the larvae Ohtbi reared in captivity.

  “Is that possible?” Lake asked.

  “It is. I’ve searched for all Utherian shipping lanes and we entered one a few hours ago. Perhaps pirates attacked their vessel and stole their cargo,” Delta explained.

  “Or the ship itself,” Blurb commented.

  “Everyone, get to your battle stations, Delta, increase the radius of your scan—look for any transmissions, incoming or outgoing.”

  They followed Lake’s commands without question and retreated to their stations, strapping themselves into their seats, and accessed their terminals. The Iron Saber’s engines stopped before the lights inside dimmed and the windows darkened without warning.

  “Delta, what happened? Why has the Saber entered stealth mode?” Lake asked.

  “This isn’t good!”

  “Stop panicking, Blurb!” Nadal-Ti shouted.

  “I placed the ship in stealth mode,” Delta responded. “There’s an escape pod… directly below us.”

  “What? How did we miss that?” Lake asked, panic laced in his voice.

  “I don’t know, maybe it was the graveyard of floating bodies?” Nadal-Ti remarked.

  “Did they pick us up on their scanners?” Lake asked, ignoring Nadal-Ti’s comment.

  “It is possible,” said Delta.

  “We’re going to die! I don’t—”

  “There’s seems to be an outgoing transmission coming from the pod on an encoded channel, but I managed to bypass its encryption,” said Delta interrupting Blurb’s panicked shout, before playing the transmission for the crew.

  “This is Taran Lo, Captain of the Uthera transport vessel, the Quinnes. If anyone is listening to this broadcast, we were attacked by pirates and the Quinnes was lost. Myself and another crew member, Bulgrim Moor, are all that remains of our crew. The escape pod is low on fuel and soon oxygen—”

  The transmission stopped and static followed.

  “Delta, what happened?” Lake questioned.

  “The signal was terminated. I’m scanning the area for other ships in case of an ambush, but I’ve—”

  “H-hello?” A broken unrecogniz
able voice radiated through the Iron Saber’s deck. “Hello, we can see you—this is Captain Taran Lo of the Quinnes—did you hear our transmission?”

  “Lake, it seems as though they are still alive. There are two life forms aboard.”

  Lake swallowed hard and turned to Nadal-Ti who shrugged. He turned to Blurb, whose eyes were wide as he shook his head feverishly for Lake not to respond.

  “Lake, how do you wish to proceed?” Delta asked.

  “Let’s ignore them and leave!” Blurb shouted.

  Lake sighed before leaning back in his chair. “Let’s help them.”

  “We’re so dead,” Blurb remarked.

  Chapter Two

  Ultimatum: Join or Die

  “Are you sure this is the best option right now, Lake?” asked Nadal-Ti. “We’re on a mission right now and can’t afford to take any chances, especially with Garbon.”

  “I understand, but I can’t just leave them out here like this. The pirates could still be around.”

  “What about us, Lake?” Blurb asked, the question sounding more like a plea. “You said it yourself, the pirates could still be around and I don’t want to be here to find out! Can’t we just give them some fuel or maybe a slight nudge toward their home planet and let gravity do the rest?”

  “That is not practical. We have enough fuel to get to Abuula and back to Nadir. If we fuel their pod, we will not make it back,” Delta explained.

  Blurb turned to her in a fury. “Not practical? I’m talking about life or death here, android! My life.”

  “Based on your response, I believe android was meant as an insult because fear has overtaken your function to think clearly. This is the sixty-eighth time you’ve displayed such behavior while I have been in your presence. Might I suggest having a seat and breathing calmly while counting to ten? From what I understand that will help you most in this situation.”

  “Might I suggest—”

  “Blurb! That’s enough. Delta’s right,” Lake interrupted. “We don’t have enough fuel to give them. Look, I know you’re scared and you have a right to be. We are not in the best situation right now. But it’s up to me as your captain. As your friend, I wouldn’t willfully put you in danger, but I also I can’t leave them out here.” Lake looked at him as he explained. “We bring them on board and put them in the cargo hold, get to Abuula, complete our mission and take them to Nadir. They can find their own way from there.”