by S. J. Bryant
CHAPTER 29
They burst out of the passage and into an open storage area fifty times the size of Ghost. The rusted hulks of a few wrecked ships lay scattered about but the only one that looked like it would hold against the vacuum of space was Ghost.
Kari sprinted, leaving the others behind as she ran for her ship. The main door started closing, the ramp pulling up as the engines rumbled to life.
That cretin was sitting in her chair! She'd gone into her pilot's pod. Kari would make her pay for that.
The door rose higher, almost closed.
Kari's boots banged against the floor. Each step sent a shock of pain through her legs. She had no idea when she'd been injured, but something wasn't right with her left leg. No time to worry about that now. Blanchard was going to get away with her ship.
Closing the distance from twenty feet, to ten, to two, Kari leapt and caught the edge of the closing door. She swung up and over, using strength she didn't even know she had, and fell down on the other side, tumbling into the corridor inside Ghost.
Her elbow smacked against the wall as she rolled to a stop and numb tingles washed over her arm, making her fingers spasm. The plasma pistol slipped out of her grip and she had to stifle a groan as feeling returned to her arm.
Ghost's engine rumbled beneath her, accompanied by the familiar smell of cinnamon. Kari could have cried. It was the smell of home.
She sat up straight and lifted her gun as feeling returned to her arm. Blanchard mustn't have heard her because otherwise she would have come and shot Kari while she was lying useless on the floor. Good. Blanchard would be distracted flying Ghost—it wasn't the most intuitive ship—and Kari might have a chance to take her out.
Standing, with the wall for support, Kari tiptoed down the corridor. Her fingers brushed against the yellow paint that read Phantom, feeling the familiar cracks. The private rooms opened on her left but she ignored them. Blanchard had to be in the pilot's pod. Kari could feel the ship maneuvering beneath her. Blanchard had lost all of her goons and was on the run. She'd get what was coming to her.
Kari crept past the dining room and crouched low as she entered the engine bay. Pipes and wires made a tangled jungle on the ceiling but other than a few tools, the floor was clear. She used the engine for cover as she went deeper into the room. Peering around the edge, she could just see the back of Blanchard's head as she leaned over the controls.
A window to Kari's right looked out onto the landing bay where Piper and the others stood between the wrecks, like tiny figurines. The wind from Ghost's engines buffeted their clothes around their bodies and they had their hands over their faces. They pushed toward Ghost although there was nothing they'd be able to do. They couldn't very well break through the hull with their bare hands and they wouldn't risk trying to destroy it.
As Kari watched, a bright burst of red lit up the window, blocking everything else. A moment later it faded, revealing a smoking circle on the floor of the storage bay, just to the right of Piper and the others. They'd been thrown aside by the blast. Blood trickled from Wren's temple.
The bitch had shot at them using Ghost's weapons! Even Kari had barely used the cannons—they weren't very strong and she'd found that using weapons tended to attract unwanted attention. Clearly Blanchard had no such concerns.
The floor where she'd shot cracked, revealing broken pipes and sparking wires. The overhead lights flickered and turned orange: emergency power.
Another red blast filled the window, so bright it forced Kari to look away. As soon as the glare cleared, Kari turned back, searching for her companions. The blast had gone just wide of them—the weapons weren't designed for close combat with small targets—and she saw Ryker's leg disappearing behind one of the broken hulks.
"Come back here, you scurvy dogs."
Kari tore her attention away from the window. Had Blanchard really just said scurvy dogs? She couldn't still be keeping up the charade, could she? As far as she knew, she was the only one within earshot. The woman had issues.
Another shot and the front end of the ship that Piper and the others were hiding behind disintegrated in a blast of bent metal and sparks.
Kari's heart leapt into her throat. What if a stray piece of shrapnel caught Piper, or Ryker? Or one of the others? What the hell was she doing standing around watching?
She didn't want to risk shooting into the control room. No, this required a more hands-on approach. Kari leapt up from behind the engine and closed the distance to the pilot's pod.
Blanchard must have heard the click of Kari's boots because she turned, already reaching for the long pistol at her belt.
Kari lunged, knocking Blanchard into the controls. Ghost's engines whirred and the front of the ship dipped, scraping along the floor of the landing bay.
Blanchard grunted and shoved Kari back, still wrestling with her gun.
Kari snatched Blanchard's wrist before she could get the weapon free and drove her knee into her gut. Blanchard grunted, bent double.
Kari brought her elbow around and smacked it into the side of Blanchard's head. Her arm went limp and she slid down the controls, making Ghost's lights flicker and dance like the entrance to some nightclub.
Blanchard landed in a heap on the floor of the pilot's pod, her breathing ragged.
Kari stood over her, gun aimed at the side of her head. One clean shot was all it would take. But Kari found her hand trembling. What was she waiting for? This asshole had been going to sell her into slavery. The Universe would be better off without her. But who was she to make that decision?
A flash of movement in Ghost's front window caught her attention and she remembered the others. They had no idea what had happened inside. They were probably still crouched behind some broken ship. She hit the button to open the main door and continued to stare down at Blanchard.
Without taking her eyes off her, Kari pressed the external speaker button. "It's alright, I've taken care of her."
A moment later, Wren, Piper, Aydin and Ryker appeared from behind a rusted hull. They limped across the floor to Ghost's side where Kari lost sight of them. Their boots clunked on the metal floor as they staggered up the passage toward the pilot's pod. They stopped inside the engine room, not invading her space.
"Is she dead?" Ryker said.
"No," Kari said.
They stood in silence.
"She deserves to be," Aydin said.
Kari nodded but still she didn't shoot. She'd killed people far less deserving than Blanchard, and yet still she found herself frozen in inaction.
"I'm going to get Atticus," Ryker said.
Kari glanced up at him, caught his eye. As much as he loved guns, Ryker hated violence. More than any of them he hated senseless killing. She silently pleaded with him to give her some kind of direction, but he shrugged and turned away. She didn't need to read his mind to know what he thought. They'd already caused so much death on this ship, any chance of redemption had long since passed them by.
"I'll do it," Wren said, stepping forward.
"No," Kari said.
Wren stopped, not quite inside the pilot's pod.
"No. If it has to be done, then I'll do it."
Wren shrugged. "Whatever you want, but I'm going to get something for these damn hands." She turned and walked away without a backward glance.
"We can't leave her alive," Aydin said. "If we do, she'll come for us. She won't let us get away with what we've done to her crew."
"Maybe she'll appreciate her life…"
"You're not that naive."
No… she wasn't. She knew people like Blanchard and she wouldn't rest until she'd either killed them all or returned them to slavery. So what should Kari do?
"You could give her to the slavers," Piper said.
Her soft voice cut through Kari's thoughts like a sharp blade and Kari's head whipped up, eyes locked on Piper.
Piper shrugged. "How many people has she sent to the same fate? And she's never thought twice ab
out it."
A shard of ice pierced Kari's heart. When did Piper become so hard? Shouldn't she have been fighting for Blanchard's release? Shouldn't she have said to give her the benefit of the doubt? And instead Piper had suggested that they send Blanchard to a fate possibly worse than death.
Aydin folded his arms across his chest, face expressionless, but Kari thought she caught a glint in his eye, as if he was proud of Piper, like he'd taught her to be so hard and cold. But it wasn't him. If anyone had taught Piper to shoot first and ask questions later, it was Kari herself. And all things considered, slavery did seem like the best outcome for everyone.
She leaned down, grabbed Blanchard's arm, and hauled her out of the pilot's pod into the engine room, dropping her at Aydin's feet. "Tie her up, make sure she can't get away."
"Aye, aye, Captain," Aydin said with a lazy salute.
Kari scowled. "Don't even think about starting that."
"I don't know," Ryker said, coming into the room with Atticus hanging on his shoulder. "I think it's catchy."
"Then you can both get off now and join Blanchard's friends when they get here."
Ryker lowered Atticus into one of the chairs that ran the length of the engine room. "I think I'd rather stay with you."
"That's what I thought," Kari said. She did her best to sound happy, to keep her tone light, but in truth she just wanted to sit in her private room with a plate of chocolate cake and a very good book. Once she'd showered of course.
"Where's Rusty?" Atticus said.
"I don't know," Kari said. "Probably wherever the coolant is." Blanchard and her people wouldn't have been interested in him. He'd be safe on board somewhere.
Atticus' eyes narrowed. "He should be—"
"If you're so worried, you can look for him. Just as soon as we get the hell off this space station."
"What about the others?" Atticus said. Blood trickled from his arm and leg and he looked as though he was only just clinging to consciousness. How did he have the strength to think about anyone else?
"Which others?" Aydin said.
"Gerbil and his group."
"They made their choice," Kari said.
Atticus locked hard eyes on her and she couldn't help a hot flush from creeping up her neck. How could Atticus make her feel embarrassed? She didn't care what he thought. He was just some tinker she'd picked up for a ride.
"We can at least give them a call," Ryker said. "Now that we know the ship is safe."
"We think it's safe," Aydin said. "And that's only until Blanchard's friends arrive."
Ryker's lips thinned. "They still deserve to be asked."
The beginning of a very strong headache pounded behind Kari's eyes. She didn't want to talk to Gerbil and his lot. They'd made their choice. They'd decided to stay behind like cowards while she and her friends risked their lives to get out. Now she was supposed to offer them a free pass? But the combined stares of Ryker and Atticus knocked down her resistance.
"Fine," she said. "I'll intercom them."
She went to the pilot's pod and tapped into the space station's public communications channel, not difficult seeing as Blanchard had already used her override to get into the systems, no doubt to open the airlock doors and get out of there. Kari brought up the security feeds and enlarged one that looked down into the cell.
Thin bodies huddled together near the bars, as far from the waste hole as they could get. They looked pathetic, little more than corpses. How long had she spent huddled there with them? Had she looked any different?
"Gerbil."
One of the huddled figures looked up.
"Gerbil, it's Kari. We got out."
Gerbil stood, looking between the cameras. Dirt smeared his face. They'd obviously tried to wipe the blood off his cheeks, but a crimson stain remained.
"You made it?" he said.
"Safe and sound," Kari said. Although that was an exaggeration, based on the injuries she and her crew carried. "Still want to stay here?"
Gerbil looked down at his sorry group of companions, then back at the cameras. "What about Blanchard and her crew. Are you sure they're gone?"
Kari half turned so that she could see Blanchard where she lay, her arms lashed to a thick pipe that connected the engine to the wall. "I'm looking at Blanchard right now. Trust me, she won't be going anywhere."
Gerbil's face hardened. "We won't travel with you, not for any length of time."
Kari's pulse throbbed at her throat. "I didn't invite you." There was no way in the Universe she was having cowards like Gerbil and his lot stay on board Ghost. "This is a one-way trip. Drop you off at the nearest safe planet, that's it."
Gerbil knelt by his group and spoke in soft tones so that the microphones didn't pick up his words. A few moments later, he stood. "Thank you. We would like to come with you."
Kari would have very much liked to fly off right then and leave them behind. That's what they deserved for not helping to fight. But she couldn't, or wouldn't. "Fine. Someone's coming to get you. Don't move."
CHAPTER 30
Kari did her best to stay away from Gerbil and his lot. They stayed together, huddled in the dining room, so she took her meals in the pilot's pod, away from the noise and smell. She'd insisted that they all shower as soon as they got on board, but somehow the smell of them lingered, almost strong enough to overpower the scent of cinnamon.
They flew away from the space station as quickly as Ghost's damaged engines would allow. Kari allowed Aydin to give her coordinates for the nearest friendly planet, seeing as he was far more familiar with this stretch of space than she was.
He guided them to a small, dusty planet, covered in small houses.
Kari strode through the ship to stand at the door to the dining room. "This is your stop."
Gerbil got to his feet and helped his weaker companions stand. "Thank you."
Kari nodded and stepped aside so that they could file through Ghost's passages and out onto the dusty planet.
"Will you be alright?" Piper said. "We can give you food, or money, or—"
"No," Kari said. "We can't. We've barely got enough for ourselves."
Gerbil looked up at her. "I understand why you don't like us. But I hope one day you will understand why we didn't want to fight."
"It's none of my business," Kari said. "And I doubt we'll be seeing each other again. The Universe is a big place." And Kari had no intention of coming anywhere near this part of it again.
Gerbil gave her a crooked smile. "Sometimes. But sometimes it can be very small. Whatever you think of us, we are grateful."
"Better get moving," Kari said. "This sun looks hot." She could already feel her skin warming under the bright glow. Not as bad as Zenith, but still she'd rather not be caught in it for any length of time.
Gerbil raised his hand. "Goodbye, and good luck."
Kari turned and stalked back inside Ghost, shutting the door behind her without a backward glance. She stomped to the pilot's pod and lifted the ship away from the planet into the cool blackness of space.
Piper stood just outside the pilot's pod, beside the engine. "Do you think they'll be okay?"
Kari couldn't understand why she still cared about the former slaves. They'd done nothing to help themselves, and certainly nothing to help Piper. So what did it matter? "They'll be fine," she said. "They've survived this long."
That was the worst of the strays sorted, she just had one left. In the dining room Kari found Ryker, Aydin, and Wren. They sat at the table as if expecting Kari.
"I'll drop you wherever you want," she said, locking eyes with Aydin. "As long as it's not too far away."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" he said.
Kari's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"You still have a cargo to deliver."
Kari kept her face expressionless, but she had forgotten about Aydin and that damn box. The transport mission was the whole reason they were in this mess in the first place.
"Aren't we a little
past that?" she said.
"You made a deal with my employer."
Kari rubbed her temples where a headache had formed. "How far is it?"
"Not far. And don't look so annoyed, you'll get the second half of your payment."
Kari sighed. That was something to be grateful for. She could definitely use the extra tokens. Blanchard and her crew had stripped everything of value out of Ghost.
"Then you're getting off," she said.
Aydin glanced to his right, at Ryker. "Actually, I was hoping to stay…"
"No," Kari said, not even pausing to consider the option.
"You can use the extra gun."
"I can't pay you."
"As soon as you get another job you will."
"No."
"Kari," Ryker said. "Can you put aside your foul temper for just a minute and consider what he's offering?"
Kari wanted to smack Ryker in the back of his head. But he had an annoying tendency to be a voice of wisdom when her temper got the better of her. Why didn't she want Aydin to join them? Because she knew nothing about him, and the last time she'd taken on unknowns she'd ended up a prisoner on a pirate ship.
But hadn't Aydin proved himself since then? He'd stuck with them, had fought with them, didn't that count for something?
But how the hell was she supposed to deal with another mouth to feed? And besides, she already had enough guns, with Wren and Ryker. What she needed was a merchant, or someone with connections and money, not another mercenary.
"I know these systems better than you," Aydin said.
That made Kari pause. It was true, she knew the Raxis system better than anyone, but out here? Nothing. Atticus seemed to know a few things, but not enough. If they were going to survive here they needed to know where to get jobs, which planets to avoid, where the checkpoints were.
"Good choice, Captain," Ryker said.
"I haven't decided yet!"
"Yes, you have." Ryker held out his hand to Aydin. "Welcome aboard."
Kari scowled. One day she was going to give Ryker exactly what he deserved and wipe that smug smile right off—
