Blackthorn (Taurian Empire)

by Nate Johnson

  Sighing, Logan stood up and smiled at her. “So, do we kill them now or later? We can always take them and drop them out an airlock.”

  Kaylee couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. It really didn’t matter to her at that moment as she threw herself into his arms. All that mattered was that he was all right.

  Chapter Ten

  “You won’t kill them,” Kaylee pleaded from the ship as he prodded the two men down the gangway. He’d draped jackets over them so from a distance, you couldn’t tell they had their hands tied.

  “Not if I don’t have to,” he said to over his shoulder. She had thought he was joking when he mentioned killing them. He had decided that it was best if she continued to think that. No reason to give her the wrong impression. Of course, that meant he had to stash them somewhere. Alive, unfortunately.

  He prodded the men again. “Of course, if they give me a reason. At least now I can kill them without having to worry about the mess.”

  Both men turned pale as their eyes frantically searched for some escape.

  Logan laughed to himself, there wasn’t a chance in hell these two were getting away. Not yet.

  “In here,” he said, indicating the warehouse he and Kaylee had used to enter the dock area. “Sit down, next to that pole, back to back.”

  The two men pleaded with their eyes. The tape over their mouths stopped any final begging. He could well imagine what was going through their minds. If the roles had been reversed, they wouldn’t have hesitated in killing him.

  Nothing personal, just business. Although, the burly guy might have enjoyed it. Logan’s jaw still hurt from where the man’s punch had connected.

  Once he had them situated the way he wanted, he broke out Kaylee’s tape and used it to bind them together with the pole. Around and around he went with the tape until it was all used up.

  “Someone will find you eventually,” he said as he tossed the tape’s tube to the side. “In the meantime, enjoy yourself.”

  Both men looked up at him, their minds frantically scrambling to understand. Was he not going to kill them? Were they going to live? Logan could tell that they were having a hard time believing their good fortune.

  Spinning on his heel, Logan headed back to the ship. He didn’t like the idea of leaving Kaylee alone, even for a few minutes. The girl had a habit of drawing trouble wherever she went.

  As he ran up the gangway he yelled, “A6127, close the hatch, make preparations for immediate departure.”

  “Acknowledge,” the AI replied.

  “Did you kill them,” Kaylee asked, her eyes boring into him, both hands on her hips, daring him to lie to her.

  “No,” he said as he brushed past her and onto the bridge.

  She turned to follow him, “Are you sure?”

  He laughed, “Kaylee, believe me, I would know if I killed them or not. They are fine. Although, they don’t deserve to be.”

  “That is not up to us. It is up to the authorities,” she said as she continued to search his eyes.

  “Yeah, well, remember, we aren’t going to be here to give evidence. The authorities aren’t going to be able to hold onto them. They won’t even have a reason to. From their perspective. Those two men are victims. Not cold blooded murderers.

  He could see the idea was finally settling in.

  “In addition, they are going to give our descriptions to those very same authorities. And every person chasing us is going to know where we are and where we are going. But hey, you wanted them to live. So they lived.”

  Kaylee finally relaxed. “It was the right thing to do,” she said.

  He laughed, “Tell me that in two weeks. I can tell you one thing. It never would have happened on Corona. Those two would have been fed to the rats.”

  “We aren’t in Corona,” she said softly.

  “No, but at least there, I knew what was right and what was wrong. I’m not so sure in your world,” he said as he indicated for her to sit down.”

  She sat down and strapped herself in.

  “A6127,” Logan said, “disengage, take us out of the port and up to orbit. Our immediate destination is the primary beacon and its departure point. Eventual destination is Taurus.”

  “Acknowledge.”

  “Is it that easy?” Kaylee asked, her expression letting him know just how doubtful she was.

  “We will see,” he said, “of course, we’re using a rookie AI that used to be in charge of cooking eggs and making fruit drinks. And we’re in a ship that hasn’t seen a good maintenance yard since Noah learned how to swim. So, we will see.”

  The ship disengaged from the port retaining arms and floated free for just a moment. He found himself holding his breath. A slight hiss let him know that the impulse engines had been engaged and then they were underway.

  The ship maneuvered around a tug and barge and then began to rise in the air as the anti-gravity thrusters kicked in.

  Kaylee smiled at him, her eyes filled with admiration. All he’d done was swap out a couple of parts. She acted as if he’d invented electricity.

  The radio suddenly began to crackle.

  “Vessel departing the port of Montlake, return immediately.”

  Logan didn’t move to respond. No need to give them more information.

  “Um ... Starship departing Montlake,” the voice on the radio said. “Return to dock immediately, you have not received clearance for departure.”

  Kaylee looked at him, her eyes big with worry.

  “Are you going to get in trouble?” she asked.

  A bark of laughter exploded from Logan as he reached over and turned off the radio.

  “Let’s see,” he said, “they want me for assault, stealing a starship, kidnapping a princess, failure to carry out my orders. And oh yes, being AWOL and missing movement. I really think not paying the dock fees is the least of my concerns.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kaylee said. Her eyes downcast, she looked as if she actually means it, he thought, as a sad feeling washed through him. The poor woman had been through so much. The last thing she needed was worrying about him.

  “Like I said Princess, this isn’t about us.”

  “I told you, I am not a princess.”

  He laughed again. “You are to me, and that’s all that counts.”

  .o0o.

  Kaylee’s heart was finally returning to some semblance of normal. She couldn’t believe they had gotten away. She had been so positive that they would be shot out of the sky.

  But nothing had chased them but frantic radio calls.

  “Don’t forget,” Logan had told her. “Montlake isn’t part of the Empire. There is no permanent imperial navy presence here. No Imperial starships, at least none with weapons. Not officially anyway. Besides, the people chasing you can’t call on the Montlake government for help. Not without exposing themselves.”

  She still couldn’t believe it. Logan had made it all go so smoothly. She wondered once again what kind of man he was. Quietly working on a beacon tender one moment. Interplanetary rescuer the next.

  As she made her way through the ship, she shook her head. The place was a pig sty, and that was an insult to pigs everywhere. Each room was littered with discarded laundry and trash. Plates of food that hadn’t been brought back to the galley, and a stale stink that seemed to rest on everything.

  Shaking her head, she started gathering junk into piles. There was no way she was spending the next two weeks living in such filth.

  Almost an hour later, Logan found her on her hands and knees pulling trash out from beneath one of the bunks.

  She felt him staring at her backside as she worked to get the last piece of food container. The thought wasn’t completely unpleasant.

  “What are you doing?” he asked with a curious frown and a twinkle in his eyes.

  “I’m cleaning,” she said with a huff, as she stood and brushed past him, throwing the trash into a heap in the passageway. “Although, I don’t know where I am going to put all of t
his” she said as she looked at the long pile of trash down the center of the passageway.

  Moldy mattresses, tattered clothes, scraps of food, and more dust than was possible on a space ship. All of the items she had tossed from each compartment.

  “Look what I found,” she said as she stepped over the pile of trash and into the compartment across the way. The double bed in the corner made her hesitate for a moment.

  Of course, she knew she needn’t fear Logan. It wasn’t him she was worried about. It was herself. Please, do not make a fool of yourself, she silently prayed.

  Shaking her head, she brought herself back to normal and smiled. “See, girl clothes,” she said as she held up a floral dress. “My size. I’ll have to wash them three or four times of course. But, I won’t be stuck in the same clothes until we get to Taurus. I can even get out of these clodhopper boots.”

  He smiled and nodded his approval. He glanced at the big bed. “It must have been the captain’s wife, or his girlfriend. I hope she was here willingly. See if you can find something for me to wear.”

  Kaylee’s heart dropped with the thought that the woman had been held here against her will. That would have been her fate if not for this man and his friends.

  “Maybe she was the ship’s captain,” she said with a hopeful smile.

  He laughed and nodded. “Maybe, I didn’t think of that.”

  She smiled, “Well, you can be a bit of a cave man at times.”

  He chuckled then turned and examined the room then smiled. She noticed that his eyes rested on the big bed for longer than would have been normal. What is he thinking? she wondered.

  “You can have this room. I’ll take one of the other staterooms.”

  Her heart sank just a little as a feeling of rejection washed through her. She should have been happy that all the drama had been avoided. But the feminine part of her was upset. He hadn’t even joked about it. He hadn’t given her a chance to say no.

  Logan said, “Come here, I’ve got an idea for the trash.” Smiling, he led her to the bridge and sealed the hatch behind them.

  “A6127, seal all hatches.”

  “Acknowledge.”

  Kaylee stared at Logan, trying to figure out what he was doing.

  “A6127, once you have a good seal. Open both doors to the airlock and vent the main passageway.”

  Awareness of his plan made her smile.

  “Acknowledged,” the AI said.

  A sudden whoosh let Kaylee know the airlock’s doors were open, and she assumed, her trash problem gone.

  “Thank you,” she said. The idea that the filth had disappeared made her feel slightly cleaner.

  “Aren’t you worried about littering?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “That stuff is on a fast trajectory to beyond the wormhole. It doesn’t have a Higgs field, so it will just keep on keeping on. Off into deep space where no one ever goes.”

  She nodded. It made sense. She wondered if she would ever completely understand all the ramifications of space. How time and distance meant different things out here.

  “Once we’ve repressurized,” Logan said, “we will go explore the ship. We need to make sure everything is secure, and I want to check out the Higgs engine.

  Kaylee nodded, it was going to be a long two weeks, she realized. Maybe the longest two weeks of her life.

  Chapter Eleven

  Logan bent down to examine the Higgs engine and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The readouts on his screen had said everything was fine, but only after examining the engine himself had he felt safe.

  Of course, he had no idea what he was looking at. Only Higgs techs ever got to dig into the guts of these engines. The wrong move and a small black hole might very well consume everything in the area.

  The relatively clean engine room made sense, he realized. The pirate’s safety depended on this engine. Without it, they were a sitting duck. He’d spent the last two hours going over the ship with a fine-tooth comb. He’d identified a dozen different pieces of equipment that needed to be repaired. Or in need of some serious preventive maintenance.

  Kaylee had abandoned him after the first thirty minutes. Probably bored out of her skull, he thought. She didn’t seem to find this stuff interesting. The thought baffled him.

  How could someone not enjoy fixing stuff? Figuring out the problem. Developing the correct solution. Using your skills to implement the solution. That sense of accomplishment when you were done, and the damn thing worked.

  Standing, he placed both hands on his lower back and massaged his sore muscles. The fight that morning had twisted something, and it hadn’t felt right all day.

  “Dinner is ready,” Kaylee called down the passageway.

  His stomach rumbled as he smiled and headed up the passageway.

  He was greeted by a vision in forest green. Kaylee had showered and changed into a calf length dress, with black shoes that were about twelve sizes smaller than Jonesy’s boots. She’d also done something with her hair. Soft curls fell around her shoulders.

  She looked like a housewife greeting her husband after a long day at the office. The domestic transformation was remarkable. He was going to comment, but he caught a hint of fear behind her eyes.

  Frowning to himself he tried to understand what she could be afraid of. She had to be the sexiest thing he had ever seen. A combination of innocence and pure female.

  He swallowed hard and fought to bring himself back under control. This was an Imperial ambassador’s daughter, he reminded himself. She came from a different world. The last thing she needed was some horny spacer pestering her.

  If he tried anything, she’d either get upset, or worse, laugh at him. The thought of her laughing at him sent a bolt of fear down his spine.

  “What’s for dinner?” he asked as he followed her into the galley.

  “Sandwiches,” she said as she sat down across from him. “I couldn’t get the system to work. There are more than enough supplies, but the heating thingy doesn’t work.”

  He nodded as he took a bite of a ham and cheese sandwich. The salty goodness settled his soul. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was. Smiling to himself, he thought of that new technical term ‘thingy’. He’d have to remember that one.

  “Thank you,” he said around another bite of food.

  She blushed slightly and dipped her head in acknowledgment.

  An awkward silence fell between them as they ate. Logan tried to think of something to say. Now that they weren’t in immediate danger, it seemed that he had forgotten how to talk to a pretty girl.

  “That’s a nice dress. It looks good on you,” he said as he tried to break the ice forming between them.

  Her cheeks grew pink, “Thank you,” she said. “I found some clothes for you. I put them in the room next to mine. The one closest to the bridge.”

  He nodded as he took a second sandwich.

  “Good, I’ll check it out later. After we pass through the wormhole later tonight.”

  “Do you expect any problems?”

  “No. Not really,” he said.

  Once again. There was that awkward silence. She really was pretty he thought. Sometimes, he would see something in her eyes that made his heart jump. He wondered what she was thinking.

  He didn’t normally have this kind of problem around girls. But then, he hadn’t really been around girls like Kaylee.

  Sighing, he took his third sandwich.

  “So, I told you my story, why don’t you tell me yours?” he said as he sat back.

  Kaylee balked for a moment then her shoulders shrugged.

  “There’s not much to tell, I grew up in embassies. Taught by tutors. As I got older, my father would take me on his travels. I would sit outside his meetings, reading, watching people. Like I said, nothing special. And definitely nothing exciting.”

  The picture popped into his head of a little girl, decked out in a frilly dress. Sitting on a hard chair, her feet swinging back and forth as she waited for
her father.

  His heart went out to her, the little girl looked alone, and worse, bored.

  Smiling, he said, “You mean this is your first time fleeing across the galaxy, pursued by bad men with evil intentions.”

  She laughed at his joke. “Yes, first time, but then it was bound to happen eventually.”

  He relaxed inside. That was the thing about Kaylee, she got his sense of humor and responded in kind.

  “What about your mom?” he asked.

  The color of her face drained for a very brief moment.

  “She left,” she said as if that ended the matter.

  He raised an eyebrow and waited.

  She studied him for a moment then, at last, relented.

  “She wasn’t cut out to be an Ambassador’s wife. Too many rules. Too many expectations. She also wasn’t meant to be a mother, if you ask me. Too many responsibilities. Too much interference with her time. Too much competition for her attention.”

  Logan winced. Wow, there were some issues there, he realized.

  “She left when I was around six.”

  “Do you remember her?” he asked.

  “Oh, I’ve seen her since she left. Every so often she would pass through whichever planet my father was stationed on. She always made it a point of visiting.”

  The coldness in her voice surprised him. He could hear the pain and anger in each word.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “That must have been rough.”

  Kaylee laughed and smiled up at him. “This from a man who survived Corona. Really, it is not that big a deal. Overall, I had a pretty easy time growing up. A father who loved me. Always living in new and different places.”

  He stayed quiet for a moment as he processed what she had told him. A lot of it lined up with what he had imagined her life had been like. A different world.

  The silence that grew between them was no longer awkward. It was as if they had passed a turning point and were now moving in the same direction.

  “Tell me, Logan,” Kaylee said, “What are your plans for the future. Are you going to stay in the Navy?”