Grayson reached into his pocket and handed their licenses and registration back.
“More good news,” he said. “You folks passed inspection. For non-residents, you did pretty good.”
They started to walk back toward the airlock, and Gen and Rina followed.
“Now,” Grayson said, “if I could make a couple recommendations. We at the Galactic Guard prefer to see emergency lighting along the baseboards of the major hallways.”
He ran his toe along the base of the floor where it met the wall. “Talk to any owner of a ship, and they can navigate it with their eyes closed. Visitors, not so much. When you’re between stars and the lights go out, you’d be shocked how many head injuries and trip and falls arise because nobody can see anything. When we have to save people, we always ask and examine for head injuries. Not only is it a safety concern, it’s an insurance issue as well if you’ve got passengers on board. And knowing what I know about insurance companies, I think just about everybody in the universe could do with fewer claims.”
“Thank you, sir,” Gen said. “We will consider that.”
“Will used to be a mechanic,” Grayson said, tapping his friend on the shoulder. “Where’s a good place to get a ship like this fixed up?”
“Mad Dog’s on Macalestern would be my first choice,” Will said. “Cheap, fast and friendly.”
“It’ll cost you what you paid in gas to get here,” Grayson said. “You’d be amazed how fast the lights go in. They’re just LEDs. Mechanics glue ‘em on. You’ll be halfway out of the galaxy before the glue dries.”
Rina patted her stomach and looked at Gen. “Well, that’s a great suggestion, isn’t it?”
Gen grunted in agreement. “You take care.” He started for the airlock controls when a thump came from the wall.
Grayson turned. “What was that?”
“Ship settling,” Gen said. “Thanks again.”
Thump.
Thump.
Grayson looked around. His instincts told him to stay onboard. “Your ship decide to settle all of a sudden now that we’re leaving?”
Will crept toward the wall.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“The hell?” Will said.
Grayson joined him at the wall. They spotted a hatch recessed into the metal.
He squinted and examined the wall closer.
The brushed metal was painted on. The wall was fake.
Grayson grabbed the hatch and pulled it.
A hidden door swung open and revealed an acrylic glass display. A dozen people were crammed inside, their faces smudged against the glass. They were naked, and they had burn scars all over their bodies. They had rags in their mouths and couldn’t speak. A small child beat against the glass.
Grayson and Will looked at each other.
Then they drew their handcoils.
But Gen was at the airlock controls. He smacked the engage button and the lights in the airlock flashed red.
The pressure doors closed in front of Gen and Rina before Grayson and Will could fire.
“Crap!” Will cried.
A computer chimed.
Airlock opening in three, two…
“Grab onto something,” Grayson said.
Chapter 2
Grayson spotted a tongued groove in the floor. He dove, reaching for it. His fingers were nearly on it when the bay doors opened and sucked him out.
The world spun around him. He reached out, not knowing where he was. Will passed him, screaming.
And then Grayson twirled out into space, the Galactic Cutter above, then below.
He tumbled, and the passenger ship was in front of him.
He reached out his hand again…
He caught the lip of the bay door. He pulled with all his might as the vacuum sucked his legs. He yelled as his fingers burned.
Another tongued groove.
Just ahead.
He heard Will screaming again.
His friend was floating in space, far away, flipping and twirling through the darkness.
“Will!” Grayson cried.
“Grayson, Will, what’s going on?” He heard Beauregard’s voice in his helmet.
“Turns out they’re smugglers,” Grayson said. “There’s at least a dozen people in there!”
“Jesus,” Beauregard said.
Grayson inched forward and dug his fingers into one of the grooves.
“Let go,” Beauregard said. “I’m calling the fleet. They’ll give chase.”
Grayson grimaced. “Like hell I’m letting go!”
“Stand down,” Beauregard said. “It’s too dangerous, Gray—”
Grayson pulled himself forward, groaning.
“Stand down,” Beauregard said. “Stand down! They’re activating the ship’s engines!”
A mechanical rumble shook the bay door and it began to lift upward.
Grayson looked up and cursed. He was on a collision course with the roof of the ship. The doors would squash him if he didn’t climb inside or let go.
“Let go, man!” Will cried through his helmet, still in range.
Grayson saw him floating in space.
“Those SOBs aren’t worth it,” Will said.
Grayson scowled. He didn’t respond. Instead, he clawed his way further up the door.
“Grayson, you’re freaking crazy!” Will said.
The ship rumbled again.
The engines were starting.
Still, he moved forward. He found another groove.
“You’re going to rupture your suit!” Will screamed. “Dude, let go!”
Grayson dragged himself farther.
The bay door inched closer and closer to the ceiling.
Closer…
Closer…
He roared as he threw his weight forward, over the lip of the door, narrowly missing impact with the ceiling.
The bay doors locked into place and he tumbled down, smacked against the wall and crashed on the floor.
He groaned as the airlock pressurized around him.
His chest heaved, and he rolled over on his side, inspecting his suit for tears.
None.
He sighed.
The ship kicked into gear and broke free of the Galactic Cutter’s magnetic ropes.
“Grayson,” Beauregard said. “Are you all right?”
Grayson staggered up as the ship began sailing.
He drew his handcoil.
“These guys are mine.”
Chapter 3
“What do you see?” Beauregard asked.
Grayson shut off the oxygen in his suit to conserve it. Then he unlocked the hatch on the airlock wall, revealing the hostages again. Looking at them closer, he noticed that they were crammed into a small hallway, packed so tightly they couldn’t move.
“Looks like at least a dozen people,” Grayson said, studying the victims. They looked at him with frightened eyes. “They all have burns across their bodies. No clothes. This must be a short trip since they’re packed in there naked.”
“Can you talk to them?”
“Negative. They’re gagged.”
He felt his way across the cold glass for a way to help the people out.
But there were no openings.
“They’re sealed away by acrylic glass, approximately two inches thick,” he said. “It’s strong enough to withstand the pressurizing and depressurizing of the airlock.”
“Who’d’ve thought smugglers would be using airlocks to transport people?” Beauregard asked. “It’s a big gamble.”
“The gamble’s paying off,” Grayson said, feeling the glass some more. “I can’t find an opening. My guess is that the criminals had these people crawl into here from somewhere else in the ship.”
He placed his hand on the glass, next to the face of a naked woman, who was crying. Her tears streamed down and landed on the leg of a man, who rapped on the glass at Grayson. “They look pretty scared, Beau.”
/> Grayson could hear Beauregard’s consternation from the other side of the radio.
“I don’t like it. You shouldn’t be there. You should’ve let go.”
“I’m here now,” Grayson said. “And I’m going to see this through. Man, those two really scammed us. Near the end, I was almost starting to like them.”
“I knew something was off. I just didn’t know what.”
Silence.
“How’s Will?” Grayson asked.
“I got him,” Beauregard said. “We’re following you at full speed. They’re moving pretty fast and it’s hard to keep up. I think they’re going to jump into hyperspace soon.”
“Did you call reinforcements?”
“They’re on the way. Grayson—”
“What?”
“I know you’re not going to listen to me. But you’re in a captive situation. If you want any good to come out of this, don’t confront Rina and Gen. As far as they know, you’re here with me on the ship or worse, floating in space. It’ll be more useful to—”
Beauregard’s voice cut out.
“Beau?” Grayson asked. “I can’t hear you.”
The ship’s computer beeped.
Entering hyperspace…
Grayson grabbed the hatch as the ship jolted forward. He swung across the airlock, but the hatch locked in place, saving him.
The view outside took on a shade of purple as the ship blazed through hyperspace. The purple plasma pooling around the porthole windows would have been beautiful in any other circumstance.
Grayson turned to the wall of victims. “I’m going to get you out of here,” he said. “But be patient for now, all right?”
And then he shut the hatch quietly over their faces, the fearful looks in their eyes burned into his memory forever.
“Beau?” he whispered.
But the communications were severed. The radio didn’t work in hyperspace.
He was on his own now.
Chapter 4
He snuck into the kitchen, crouched low to the ground. Gen and Rina had cut the lights off, so he had to navigate the darkness by memory. The tiled floor hurt his knees, even with the padding in his suit.
He drew his handcoil, ready for anything.
The kitchen had looked suspect to him earlier—just a little too pristine. He hated hindsight. Always made him feel stupid.
A flame-shaped air freshener plugged in above the stove puffed, letting out a quick burst of a lavender scent.
Clean criminals. It pissed him off.
He opened one of the cupboards. It was empty.
Then he noticed the bowl of fruit next to the first aid kit.
It was fake.
He ran a hand over a lacquered apple and cursed. Why hadn’t he noticed?
His mother always told him he was too trusting. She would have been shaking her head at him right now.
When he told her he was called into active duty, she didn’t tell him to be careful, like most mothers did. She didn’t even say a prayer for him. She knew he’d be careful and that God would look out for him.
What she worried about was Grayson’s good nature.
He shipped off on his birthday. He’d listened as his mom stood in the kitchen over a German chocolate cake that she always made for him every year. In her pink frock and hair still in rollers, she’d shaken a spoon at him.
“Boy, I don’t know anybody in the galaxy that can’t trust you with their life.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing, Ma?”
“Not everybody needs saving. That’s your problem. What’s wrong with letting somebody fall down and hurt themselves every now and again?”
She hated the idea of him in the Galactic Guard. She’d balked when he signed up for the reserves.
“Too dangerous.”
“It’s only one weekend a month, Ma.”
“Still too dangerous!”
But boy was she proud when he came home for the first time in a uniform. The decision never sat with her, but she learned to respect it.
He thought of his mom. Whatever time it was back home, she probably wasn’t going to sleep. A few hours ago, when he’d phoned her from the deck of the cutter to say he was embarking on his last mission, and that he’d be home soon, she’d scolded him and said she wished he hadn’t told her that.
“Rotten luck,” she said. “Gawd awful rotten luck.”
“It’s cool, Ma. Just a couple of ship inspections, maybe a rescue or two, and I’ll be back to teaching backstrokes and one hundred meters before you know it. And living at home and eatin’ dinner with you and Pop every night. Just for a little while, until I find a place, and the Guard benefits kick in.”
He told her loved her and had just hung up when Beau spotted Gen and Rina’s ship.
He pulled his thoughts back to the present and opened another cupboard. It was filled with bottles of water. Big, ten-liter containers, like the kind used in office water coolers.
Another cabinet. More water. And cylindrical containers with starship fuel.
The entire kitchen was stocked with water and fuel.
He’d expected to at least find weapons. Or drugs.
He crawled into the salon, where the television was unplugged and the couches unused, still with the tags on them.
He kicked himself again.
It was all there, right in front of him. And he hadn’t seen it.
Hell, Will hadn’t seen it.
He hoped Will was okay. At least he was safe, with Beau now. The crazy redhead was probably cheering him on, wishing he hadn’t been expelled into space. Will liked this sort of stuff. Action. They didn’t see too much of it aside from rescues every now and again.
Grayson started up the carpeted stairs to the cockpit.
One by one, hand over foot, he crept up the stairwell to an iron door with a window that looked into the cockpit.
Gen was flying, and Rina sat next to him, co-piloting on a brightly lit instrument panel.
Hyperspace billowed around them, a conical sphere of purple plasma dancing across the curved windshield. The stars blinked just beyond as the ship zoomed by faster than the speed of light.
All was silent.
Looking at them again from behind, they didn’t look like a husband and wife.
Rina probably wasn’t pregnant, either.
Grayson balled his fists at the revelation.
A holographic star map hovered over Rina’s panel. Grayson tried to read it, but the stars were too small.
He didn’t know where they were. From what he remembered, Beau had stopped them somewhere near the nebula border of the Rah Galaxy. But where were they now?
Gen grunted something and Rina gave a one-word answer.
Grayson readied his handcoil.
He could shoot both of them now before they even turned around. Then he could take control of the ship and fly it back to Provenance, return home a hero.
He reached for the door, sure of his aiming skills. He was a good shot.
His hand wrapped around the metal door handle.
But what if he missed? A handcoil shot to the windshield would kill all of them instantly. And if he missed, Gen or Rina might be able to shoot him.
He thought of the victims, stuck in the wall. If the latter happened, he’d let them down.
Damn it, he couldn’t just think of himself!
He shrank away from the door. A confrontation was too dangerous.
He retreated down the stairwell, looking for a place to hide, and settled on the engine room. He opened the oval-shaped door and climbed into heat and darkness. He had to watch his step. If he accidentally touched the wrong machine, he’d burn himself.
He activated thermal vision on his helmet, and the darkness lit up with hotspots. The wall-sized engine roared furiously like a furnace. Next to it, the hyper core, a cylindrical-shaped bellows, glowed purple as it pumped up and down.
Grayson took refuge next to a small port window that glimpsed into hy
perspace.
It was hot, but he endured it, resting his back against the wall.
He took off his helmet. His forehead dotted with sweat.
“Hope this is a short trip,” he said.
Chapter 5
The hyper core, which had been pumping like a mad bellows, suddenly slowed down.
A muffled computer voice spoke.
Successful exit from hyperspace.
Grayson startled.
He’d been lying in his cramped spot next to the window for an hour, sweating profusely and trying not to touch any of the hot engine parts. The gasoline fumes had almost overcome him at first, but he’d activated the oxygen in his suit to filter it out.
He crawled to his knees.
The hyper core let out a whooshing sigh and stopped pumping.
Outside, the purple plasma around the window disappeared, and black space returned.
He rushed to the window and looked out.
The ship was still moving.
Fast.
And then he saw a pebble of a planet coming toward them like a marble on an invisible track.
Far, far in the distance, an orange star raged in the darkness, vomiting flares and fire into deep space.
Grayson’s eyes widened as his suit beeped.
Massive radiation levels detected. Please remain in the safety of a starship.
The ship rumbled and a whining sound came from the engine.
Outside, a red, pulsing metal ring moved up and down the circumference of the ship, creating a nearly invisible barrier that protected it. It intersected with the ship’s yellow gravity ring, and together they twirled in opposite directions.
Grayson sighed with relief at the sight of the radiation ring. It would protect the ship. But gauging how close they were to the star… not for long.
The ship moved upon the planet fast, and from the trajectory, Grayson guessed they’d arrive in a few minutes.
Where the hell were they?
He didn’t recognize the planet. But then again, there were hundreds of planets in the Rah Galaxy and not even the most decorated professor of astronomy could keep them all straight.
But a rocky planet next to a star… he wasn’t sure if he’d even heard of such a place being habitable. Not in the Rah.
Honor's Reserve (Galaxy Mavericks Book 1) Page 2
