Buccaneer: Starship Renegades, Book 4

by S. J. Bryant

  "Give it here," Piper said.

  Kari glanced at her. "But—"

  "Give it to me."

  Kari handed Piper the bag and in seconds Piper spread the supplies out in front of her. Her hands moved with practiced ease, pressing an absorbent wad of material against the wound, then wiping it clean with antiseptic.

  Kari tore her eyes away. She had to trust that Piper knew what she was doing. Right now, they all had bigger problems.

  "What are you going to do with us?" Kari said.

  "Ah. Now we're getting to the 'big' questions. Were you awake for our change in course?"

  "What?" Kari's gaze snapped to the window but of course all she saw were stars zipping past. "We don't have enough katium for detours."

  "Not if you want to get to Ferion, no. I have to say, this is an old boat you've got. It took me a blasted long time to get it turned around."

  "Where are you taking us?"

  "Small space station. You wouldn't have heard of it."

  "Taylor, what are you doing?" Aydin said.

  Taylor sat on the edge of the table. "Aydin, you could have joined me and we could have been rich together, now instead you're going to be sold into slavery with the rest of them."

  Slavery. Kari's mind shied away from the idea. She'd heard rumors that the human slave trade was still going strong, but in the Raxis system there was hardly any point. The people of Zenith were already little more than slaves anyway, so why formalize it? But out here in the other systems… What about Piper?

  "We had a job," Aydin said.

  "Yes, one that paid peanuts. Do you know how much more money there is in piracy?"

  "Piracy?" Kari said.

  "I knew it," Piper said, still working on Ryker's head.

  "Yes," Taylor said with a frown. "You were never very fond of me. Why?"

  Piper shrugged but didn't look up. "I could see it in your eyes."

  "See what?"

  Piper glanced up at him. "Desperation."

  Taylor's face darkened. "I'm not desperate for anything."

  Piper went back to her work.

  "I'm not desperate. I just climbed as high as that old trader could take me. He doesn't have the cashflow I'm looking for. But my new partners…"

  "They will tear you apart," Aydin said.

  Red flushed Taylor's cheeks. "Excuse me?"

  "You don't have the balls," Aydin said. "They will tear you up and spit you out."

  Taylor's mouth twisted. "Let's see if you're still so damn sure of yourself when you're in the slave pens. Then you'll be wishing you were a little nicer to me. I would have let you in on this deal, if you weren't so damn condescending all the time."

  "Whatever helps you sleep at night," Aydin said. "But you'll always be a two-bit lackey to me."

  Taylor's hand scrunched into a fist and it looked as though he would strike Aydin, but then a sour smile twisted his face and he stepped to the door. "Keep smiling, Aydin. I'll enjoy watching that smirk get wiped off your face. This is my time. I win. Game over."

  CHAPTER 9

  A grinding, grating sound echoed through the ship, like claws on a metal sheet.

  "The bastard didn't put on the cushion pumps," Kari said, straining against the chains that held her to the dining room table. She imagined the outside of her ship being torn to shreds by whatever clamps the idiot—Taylor—had flown them into. How many hundreds of tokens was that going to cost her to get fixed?

  "He did it intentionally," Aydin said.

  He'd sat in almost complete silence for the two days it had taken them to arrive at wherever they were. Most of that time he had spent glaring at the opposite wall and not acknowledging that any of them existed.

  "Why?" Kari said.

  "Because he's a vindictive bastard."

  Ryker snorted. "You can say that again." He'd come out of unconsciousness two days ago but, based on the constant hisses and grunts he let out whenever he moved, he was still suffering a lot of pain. At least he didn't seem to have incurred any major brain damage from Taylor's boot.

  "When I get my hands on him," Wren said, reaching out as if wrapping her fingers around someone's neck and squeezing.

  Kari tried not to blame Wren for what had happened. Taylor had overpowered them all. But she couldn't help thinking that if Wren hadn't tried medicating herself, then she would have been better prepared to fight Taylor and he might never have even made it to Ryker and the others.

  "Where are we anyway?" Ryker said.

  "A long way from Zenith," Atticus said. "We've been in FTL for a while."

  Kari shoved her thoughts aside and stretched as far as she could toward the window. In front of them loomed a massive space station; they'd docked to one of the lower levels.

  "What the hell?" she said.

  Ryker tried to twist and look but his chains were too short. "What is it?"

  "It's a space station. But they've done something to it."

  Painted onto the side, forty foot tall at least, was a black rectangle with a white skull and cross bones in its center. The rest of the space station sprouted spikes and rusted chunks of metal and some of it had barbed wire draped across it, like some kind of modern art.

  Aydin took one look and snorted. "Idiots."

  "What's going on?" Ryker said.

  Kari shrugged and slumped to the floor. "Whoever we're being taken to has a keen interest in decorating."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "They've painted a bloody great pirate flag onto the side of the station."

  "You're kidding," Ryker said.

  "I wish I was."

  Kari stared at the dining room door. Taylor would be coming to get them soon. He'd bragged enough times over the last two days that she had no illusions about his plans. They were going to be sold like cattle. Well, damned if she'd let that happen. But what kind of people painted pirate flags onto their space stations? Did they want people to know they were criminals? Weren't there armies, or law makers or something in this part of the Universe?

  Apparently not.

  The door hissed open and Taylor sauntered through. "Alright, you lot. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

  "Do you have a book of clichés?" Aydin said. "Or do you memorize them all on your own?"

  Taylor's mouth twisted. "I'm going to enjoy watching you get sold to some mining camp. Here's how it is; either you all follow me nicely and no one has to get hurt, or, you fight and struggle and I knock the living daylights out of each one of you."

  Ryker let out a soft groan and reached to the back of his head. Inside, Kari had to agree. She didn't think any of them would do well from another concussion, and for what? They couldn't fight Taylor while chained and he'd probably called for backup from the station.

  "We'll come quietly," she said.

  Wren glowered at her. Kari shrugged. It didn't mean she planned on letting them all get sold to some slavers without a fight, but they had to pick their moment carefully.

  "Good," Taylor said.

  He knelt beside Kari, pulling a key from his pocket. He undid her chains, then moved to Ryker and the others. Wren looked ready to leap at him and strangle him with the chain that dangled from her wrist, but Kari caught her eye and shook her head once. She knew in the pit of her stomach that they were being watched. One wrong move and they'd all end up dead.

  Taylor went to Aydin last and paused, hand hovering over the lock. "If you cause trouble," he said, his voice soft like rotting meat. "All of them will die."

  A muscle in Aydin's jaw pulsed but he nodded.

  Taylor released the chain and stood. "Follow me."

  They stood. Pins and needles raced through Kari's legs from sitting for so long. The others groaned and staggered across the room, rubbing their legs as they went.

  Taylor snorted. "You make a sorry lot. So much for the profit I was hoping to make on you."

  Kari glared at the back of his head and wished that it would explode. How could she have eve
r thought he was charming? Now his casual swagger looked forced, the equivalent of yelling 'look at me. Look at me.'

  He led them through Ghost to the outer door which opened onto an airlock. A man and two women stood inside. One of the women stepped forward and lifted a casual finger to her forehead in salute. Taylor returned the gesture.

  The woman wore tight pants and wide boots with the tops folded down. A band of gold circled each boot, matching the sash she wore at her waist. A white, puffed shirt with wide sleeves tucked into the sash. A gun and a knife hung from her belt.

  "Welcome to the station, Captain Taylor," she said.

  "Captain Blanchard," Taylor said. "Thank you for having me."

  Kari looked between the two and then at Ryker and raised an eyebrow. He lifted his shoulders a half inch and shook his head. The others stood with their mouths hanging open so Kari had to assume they were just as baffled.

  The man and woman behind Captain Blanchard wore similar clothing. It was as if Taylor had dragged them into the middle of a dress-up party. What the hell was going on?

  "You've obviously done well," Blanchard said. "We made the right choice with you. I think you'll go far."

  Taylor grinned, cheeks glowing. "Thank you, Captain."

  "They'll be taken to the others and you'll receive a cut of the sale price, as we discussed."

  "And the ship?" Taylor said.

  "Yours, provided you pay the membership and docking fees."

  "Of course. I—"

  "Not bloody likely," Kari said, unable to hold herself quiet for a second longer. "This is my ship and you will keep your thieving hands off it."

  Blanchard's gaze ran from Kari's foot to the top of her head and then came to rest on her face. "Former captain, I assume."

  "It's my ship."

  Blanchard held her arms wide. "The laws of piracy. If you can't keep control of your own ship, then it will be taken by someone who can."

  "There are no laws of piracy! When the Intergalactic Patrol find you, you'll all be killed for—"

  Blanchard let out a short bark of laughter. "If the patrols had any chance of finding us then your words might hold water. But I assure you, former captain, this island will not be found."

  Kari gaped at the other woman. What the hell was she talking about? Was she deluded or was it some turn of phrase?

  Blanchard turned back to Taylor. "Now, if you're going to be one of us, we'll have to do something about your clothes."

  "All she's missing is an eyepatch," Ryker said.

  Blanchard's lips thinned. She gestured to the man behind her. "Take them to the hold. I'm getting sick of their voices."

  The man gestured for Kari and the others to follow. For a second, Kari hesitated. The deeper they went into this station, the harder it would be for them to get out again. But then… what other choice did they have? They couldn't very well choose to make a stand right there with no weapons against armed opponents.

  She gritted her teeth and followed the man out of the airlock and into the corridor beyond. She'd half-expected the hall to be full of cutlasses, or paintings of ships, but it looked much like any other space station—smooth metal surfaces with doors on either side.

  The man didn't speak as he led them to the end of the corridor, then right through a doorway, and down a long set of stairs that spiraled around themselves.

  "Haven't these people ever heard of elevators?" Ryker said.

  "Elevators probably aren't in character," Atticus said.

  "Oh, and I suppose giant space stations are?"

  Atticus shrugged.

  At the bottom of the stairs they entered a dark corridor that stank of sweat and filth. Bars stretched from floor to ceiling, and behind them huddled several dozen people. A few glanced up, but their gazes soon dropped to the floor.

  The man they'd been following huddled over a keypad and a moment later, a cage door opened. "In."

  Sweat trickled down Kari's forehead. If they went inside then they'd be trapped behind yet another door, and it would be even harder to escape. But what else could they do? She could try to attack the man, but there'd be cameras, and his companions would be on her in minutes.

  She dragged her feet as she stepped into the cage, followed by the others. Prisoners huddled on the floor near the back of the cell.

  The man shoved the gate shut and it clanged, followed by the click of a lock.

  "Stay quiet, don't cause trouble," the man said. "Or you'll be thrown overboard." He turned and stomped up the stairs.

  "Does he mean spaced?" Ryker said.

  "Of course he means spaced," Aydin said.

  "Then why didn't he say it?"

  "I don't know, because apparently they're all living in some kind of fantasy land?"

  Kari shuffled away from the door to a patch of floor that looked slightly cleaner and dryer than the rest, and sat down. The others joined her in stony silence, although Aydin sat slightly apart and Wren took a place in the shadows, where the dim light of the overhead lamp couldn't reach.

  "They'll be watching us," Atticus said.

  "Three cameras," Piper said, pointing to three parts of the ceiling, although Kari couldn't see anything but darkness. "With sound capabilities."

  Ryker squinted at the blackness. "Are you sure? I can't see a damn thing."

  "Yes," Piper said.

  Ryker shrugged.

  Kari knew better than to ignore Piper's words. Whatever the Imperium had done to her, she had some powers of observation that Kari didn't think she would ever properly understand. "Great," Kari said. "Not much point planning for escape then is there?"

  "So what?" Wren said. "We sit here and wait to be sold to some slaver from Piter?"

  Kari shrugged and stared at the regular lines of shadow cast by the bars. She hoped that a stroke of genius would hit her soon because so far she'd seen no way to get out. But she couldn't bear the thought of Piper—and the others—being sold into slavery, especially not when it was partially her fault. If she'd just trusted her own crew, they wouldn't have been locked up, and Taylor would never have been able to overpower them. But she'd been so damn unsure after what had happened with Wren on Ryevo.

  Kari sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. She hadn't slept properly in what felt like weeks. Perhaps if she had a small nap, just fifteen minutes, she'd wake up with some bright idea.

  It didn't sound likely, but either way, she couldn't keep her eyes open for another second.

  CHAPTER 10

  Kari woke to a piece of gravel digging into her cheek and the hot, sour breath of someone leaning over her. She jolted upright, reaching for her knife but found the sheath at her waist empty.

  The man who'd been bent over her jerked back. Dirt stained his cheeks and clothing, covering him in a single layer of brown. The rest of Kari's companions were asleep except for Aydin who sat with his back against the wall and stared at her with his cold, dark eyes.

  "Good job keeping watch," Kari said. In truth she couldn't very well blame Aydin, she should have organized with the others—Ryker and Wren specifically—to have a rotating watch. But she'd been so tired she hadn't even thought about it.

  "He wasn't doing any harm," Aydin said.

  "He has a name," the man said.

  Kari raised an eyebrow. She'd expected him to be dumb, or violent, or not-quite-human. Why else would he be locked up in a cell, covered in dirt? But then she looked down at her own filthy clothing. Perhaps she'd been too quick to judge, given she was stuck in the same foul cage.

  "Sorry," she said, rubbing her eyes. "You startled me."

  "You looked familiar."

  "I doubt it." How far from Zenith were they now? Kari couldn't be exactly sure where Taylor had flown them, but it was far beyond the Raxis system and there was no way she'd been anywhere nearby before.

  "Yeah," the man said. "She was nicer."

  Kari snorted. "I get that a lot."

  The man held out his hand. "Welcome to the pits. I'm Gerbil."
/>   Kari gripped his fingers. "Gerbil?"

  "Not my real name of course. But seems easier for people to remember. I'm kind of an unofficial leader down here."

  "He's talking out of his ass," said a woman hunched further along the wall.

  "You'd know, Maggie," Gerbil called over his shoulder.

  The woman—Maggie—shook her head but a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

  Kari tried not to stare at them, but she found it hard to drag her eyes away. How could they joke and make fun of each other in a place like this? Didn't they know where they were headed?

  "Ah," Gerbil said. "I've seen that look before."

  Kari blinked, meeting his pale blue eyes.

  "It's better to enjoy the journey, than think about the destination."

  "There is no destination," Kari said. "We're getting out of here."

  Gerbil sucked air between his teeth. "Best not talk like that." His eyes flicked to the ceiling. "They're watching and they don't like it."

  "So you'll happily be led to the slavers blocks?"

  Gerbil held up his hands and looked around. A few of the other prisoners grumbled and glared at Kari. "Shh. Why don't you come to my office?"

  He gestured to the far corner of the cell which was relatively clear of people. Kari realized why once they got close—a hole in the floor served as the bathroom and the stench wafting out of the dark pit made her gag.

  "You'll get used to it," Gerbil said, hunkering down near the hole.

  Kari pulled the top of her shirt up over her nose and mouth but it did little to block the smell.

  "Now," Gerbil said, lowering his voice so that the other prisoners wouldn't hear. "You're new, I understand. So you can get away with a few things that the veterans wouldn't. But there are rules, and the sooner you and your lot learn them, the better."

  "Are you serious?"

  "Deadly." All humor left Gerbil's face. "You're the leader of your group?"