The Smuggler's Ascension

by Christopher Ingersoll

  Sabine had been a virgin, Kristof had quickly learned that first time, though it shouldn’t have surprised him. She had just spent the past eight years alone on a planet with nobody but old men and women around. When she cried out in pain that first time he entered her he had known, but that cry of pain had just made him want to take her harder. She had been submissive but very eager, and the next few hours had flown by in an orgy of unbridled desire until they had both collapsed in exhaustion.

  Kristof lay there holding this tiny woman in his arms and knew things wouldn’t be the same now. He knew that once they reached Purannis it would break Sabine’s heart when he left, nor would his own heart hold up well from having to leave either. Somehow this diminutive woman had become entwined in his heart in just a matter of days. There was no place for someone like him at court, however. The members of the royal court would likely spit on him rather than associate with him, and he knew under normal circumstances Sabine would do the same, even if only for appearance’s sake.

  Kristof couldn’t help but think of Anasha as he lay there holding Sabine, a woman who greatly resembled her in so many ways. No matter how he tried, Kristof could not decipher the chaos of his thoughts about these two women, and whether his desire for Sabine was nothing but memories of Anasha transposed over Sabine’s presence. He didn’t believe that was the case, though. While similar, Sabine was very much her own woman. The similarities had just made it easier for her to get past his barriers, he realized.

  Thoughts of Subat entered Kristof’s mind too. It was likely the old man would kill him when he found out that Kristof had deflowered his precious adoptive daughter, and Kristof knew Subat would find out. Nobody would have to say a word, the old man always just seemed to know things. Perhaps the only thing Kristof would have to look forward to now would be to have a head start before Subat came for him. Why the man had sent Sabine off with him was mystery, surely he should have known what would happen. Yet Kristof remembered the mysterious look Subat had given them before they had left the Sanctuary, and he wondered if Subat had in fact known this would happen.

  Sabine stirred in his arms, and all further thoughts scattered in the wind as Kristof felt her hand glided down his across his chest and abdomen to grasp him. His own hand slid down her back to grasp her ass as she turned her head to look into his eyes. They spoke no words, for none came to them and none were needed. They simply lost themselves in the moment once more as she straddled his waist and took him inside her, while outside the ship the black holes of the Devil’s Eyes looked on, seeming to wink in the distance.

  ~*~

  ~14~

  Sabine looked on as, three days later, Kristof reactivated Max. The Wraith had exited the far side of the Devil’s Eyes without incident and Kristof had landed the ship on an asteroid caught in a slow fall towards the black holes before climbing below to bring the android back online. The return to a bit of normalcy was welcome after the past three days, which had left her physically and emotionally sore, yet happier than she could remember having been in a long time.

  As the lights returned to Max’s eyes, Sabine wondered how this dangerous looking, foul mouthed and seemingly independent android felt about serving Kristof. Max was obviously a combat model android based on his color scheme and design, which made it odd to find him serving aboard a smuggling ship as Kristof’s copilot. It was a story for another time, however.

  Max rose to his feet as his joint servos finished their startup cycles and took in the sight of Sabine and Kristof there together. His look was penetrating and knowing, and Sabine felt herself flush slightly. She watched his head tilt to one side as he looked first from her and then to Kristof, then his mouth blurted out “You fucked her, didn’t you?” at Kristof.

  Kristof immediately punched Max in the face, sending the android crashing against the wall. Max seemed unperturbed as he picked himself up from the floor and exited the room, shaking his head.

  “Don’t be mad at me, I did warn you not to,” the android called back over his shoulder as he climbed up to the cockpit.

  Sabine blushed wildly at the android’s comments as Kristof shook his hand, which he’d apparently hurt after punching the synthetic being moments before. She giggled at his plight, which elicited a quick playful slap to her ass as they exited Max’s bunk and also headed up to the cockpit. As was always the case now, whenever he touched her it caused her heart to race wildly.

  “I’m actually going to hate for this voyage to end,” Sabine sighed as she climbed the ladder. She could feel Kristof below her, staring at her behind most likely. The man had made no attempt to hide his attraction for that part of her anatomy. Were it up to her, she would be caressing and biting his chest and abs since she’d developed a similar attraction to those parts of him. She had to shake her head to get her thoughts back on track.

  “I know,” Kristof replied from below her. “Things will change a lot once you’re back on Purannis, and this will all be just a memory.” His voice echoed her sadness at the thought. They both knew she had responsibilities, though; great responsibilities that did not include a lowly smuggler as a consort.

  They found Max in the cockpit, already monitoring the sensors and checking the navigation computer. Kristof slid by her, caressing her ass lightly as he’d become fond of doing as he went by, to take the seat beside the android and he also began checking the sensors. She could see a number of blinking lights on the screens that indicated ships in the distance that hadn’t been there moments ago when they’d exited the rift.

  “Odd,” Kristof muttered, clearly baffled by the ships’ presence and not liking it.

  “What is it?” Sabine asked, picking up on Kristof’s sudden alertness, all sense of his playfulness a moment before now gone. Her own thoughts were now alert as well.

  “The sensors detected a group of Puranni Naval ships at the edges of our sensor range,” Kristof replied. “A cruiser and two frigates, along with a squad of fighters flying cover formation.”

  “What are they doing way out here?” Sabine wondered, speaking mostly to herself. “They’re far too close to the blockade to be out here alone,” she added.

  “Perhaps your government sent an escort to look for us?” Max suggested.

  “Nobody knew which way we were coming, not even Subat,” Kristof answered. “No one should be here. Ships avoid the Devil’s Eyes at all costs.”

  Sabine looked over Kristof’s shoulder at the sensor screen. She reached down and touched the monitor to call up a visual of the lead cruiser. It was a large warship bristling with weapons. On its hull near the bridge was painted the family crest of the Great House that operated this cruiser. Sabine recognized the sigil of the House of Duranis, and a dark thought crept into her mind.

  Kristof noticed her sudden tension and lifted an eyebrow in question as he looked back at her.

  “Do you know who that is out there?” Kristof asked Sabine.

  “The sigil on the ship belongs to the House of Duranis. Duranis has often been in opposition to my family, House Arctura, over the centuries” Sabine replied. “Theirs had been the ruling family on Purannis before my ancestors ascended to the throne over twelve hundred years ago. They have always been ambitious, and at times sought to reclaim the throne when my family had a weak ruler or had no direct heirs.”

  “Do you think they have might have had something to do with the assassination of your mother?” Kristof asked, though Sabine could tell he already believed it was so.

  “It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” Sabine admitted, her anger beginning to rise.

  “If memory serves, and I know it does because I can’t forget anything,” Max interjected, “the territories of House Duranis border the Forcun system, and Kristof told me that it was a group of Forcuns who carried out the assassination.”

  Sabine swore as she realized Max was correct. Suddenly all of the pieces fell into place, including one she was loath to accept as it dawned on her. Kristof instantly voiced wha
t she had already come to suspect.

  “The only way they could know we would be coming through here is if someone tipped them off somehow,” Kristof stated, clearly thinking along the same line as her.

  “Stephan,” Sabine said simply, though anger crept into the final syllable of his name.

  “But why would your own seneschal betray you?” Max asked curiously. “He seemed most adamant about providing for your safety.”

  “He’s of House Duranis, isn’t he?” Kristof made it more a statement than a question, and she nodded in answer.

  Sabine swore loudly again and stormed back into the communal area. Kristof followed but kept his distance as she let loose a very unladylike string of expletives that would have made a pirate blush. He was sure Max was taking notes back in the cockpit.

  “I trusted that man!” Sabine nearly screamed, anger filling her voice even as she felt herself near tears as the sense of betrayal set in.

  Kristof took her in his arms as Sabine broke down from the implications of betrayal from a man who had taken a large part in raising her over the past eight years after she went into seclusion. A thousand memories rushed through her mind of all of their conversations, their laughs and jokes, his disapproving eye rolls at her attire or her manners while she teased him not to be so uptight. She felt the loss of being able to trust Stephan now almost as keenly as the loss of her mother.

  “We don’t know the extent of his betrayal,” Kristof said softly after Sabine had calmed. “All we know for sure is that he gave up the fact that you were headed home, and tried to place that hyperspace beacon on the ship. That may be the limit of his involvement.”

  “But why would he have tried to hide the beacon onboard then, if it wasn’t to find you if you betrayed me?” Sabine asked, her thoughts too chaotic at the moment to reason it out herself.

  “Stephan didn’t know what route I planned to take to get you home. He may have been told to place the beacon onboard so that the ships out there could meet us to see you home safe,” Kristof told her. “He’s been in seclusion with you for eight years, it’s doubtful he could have been deep in any plots to kill you or your mother. It’s more likely his family used him for information and directed him to place the beacon on the ship without telling him anything else. It’s also possible groups of ships have been sent to cover any possible route past the blockade, no matter how crazy.”

  Sabine forced herself to calm her mind before pushing her way free of Kristof’s arms. “The only way to know for sure is to get me home so I can begin pulling answered out of the Duranis family, forcefully if necessary,” Sabine said finally.

  “Then let’s get you home, Your Majesty,” Kristof replied with a wink and turned back to the cockpit.

  ~*~

  ~15~

  Kristof returned to his seat and studied the sensor display. The cruiser and its escorts were too close to be able to slip away unseen now, he saw right away. It was a wonder they hadn’t been spotted when they had first exited the rift, he mused. The sensors on the cruiser would have normally picked them up long before they had been spotted themselves. It was probably only the Wraith’s small size combined with distortions form the black holes that had masked their arrival.

  The Wraith could neither outrun nor outgun the ships waiting for them, Kristof knew, so he racked his brain for any way to escape. With the black holes at their backs, their options to escape were severely limited. After a while a desperate idea came to him as the end of his conversation with Sabine moments before came back to mind. It could be that Stephan would inadvertently help save them instead of getting them captured or killed.

  “Was that a hissy fit back there?” Max asked, referring to Sabine’s curse laden tirade moments before. Kristof chose to ignore the android’s question, though it did make him laugh. Max had hit pretty close to the mark with his observation.

  “Do we still have that hyperspace beacon Stephan tried to hide onboard with us?” Kristof asked Max, hoping the android hadn’t destroyed it.

  “Yes,” Max replied. “After I deactivated it, I pulled the power core and placed it in a shielded container just in case. There was no sense giving back good tech that we could use ourselves after this pleasure cruise. Why?”

  Kristof ignored the android’s question and pointed jibe at his and Sabine’s relationship, and asked another question of his own. “Do we have any of those recon drones we used on that last gun run left, or did they all get destroyed on Praxus?”

  “I repaired the one that did manage to return to us,” Max answered. “I see where you are going with this. I will go get it ready.” Max rose and headed aft, obviously having picked up on Kristof’s plan.

  “Why do we need a drone and the beacon?” Sabine asked, though it dawned on her as soon as she finished the question, Kristof saw. The young Queen’s mind was sharp, which only compounded his attraction to her.

  “Max will attach the beacon to the drone and launch it in the opposite direction we intend to take,” Kristof explained plainly anyway. “After a good distance away from us, the beacon will activate and hopefully our friends out there will run off after it. With enough luck it will give us enough of a head start to get clear of the black holes’ gravitational disturbances and allow us to jump to hyperspace.”

  “What happens if we try to jump while we’re still too close to the black holes?” Sabine asked with some trepidation.

  Kristof grunted at the prospect.

  “Either the engines blow from the strain of fighting the gravity and trying to open the hyperspace wormhole at the same time, or we end up somewhere we didn’t intend to go because the gravitational fluctuations from the Devil’s Eyes will throw off the navigational computers,” Kristof informed her, clearly not liking either possible outcome. “Odds are about even on which outcome could be worse, since we could find ourselves powerless and falling back into a black hole, or accidentally jumping into a sun, for example.”

  Sabine agreed that both of those options weren’t very desirable. She watched the blips on the screen that marked the positions of the Duranis cruiser and its escorts and felt the fury build in her again. The Duranis family would pay, she vowed to herself, if she found they truly were complicit in her mother’s assassination. Most of them would pay with their lives. Sabine knew that her gender and size would make people underestimate her repeatedly unless she made an impression early on in her rule.

  Several minutes passed before Max returned, during which time Kristof began to debate their course and destination with himself.

  “The drone is ready,” Max announced. “It is in the port side waste chute ready to go. I programmed it to travel along the event horizon away from us, and the beacon will activate when after it travels fifteen thousand miles.”

  “Excellent,” Kristof said. “Sabine, if you would take the seat up here with me, I want Max on the weapons console, just in case.”

  Sabine slid into the copilot seat next to Kristof as the android took the seat behind her and switched on the weapons console. She could hear the echoes through the ship as the hatches that hid the laser turrets clanked open and the turrets locked into firing position. She also saw that the sensor screen before her had changed to include firing data for each of the ships that included range, target class, and target shield strength. Right now none of the targets showed signs of defensive shields, but she knew that would change the moment the beacon activated.

  Kristof made a quick adjustment to the navicomputer’s settings before he released the landing clamps that held the Wraith to the asteroid they had landed on, his inner debate about their course now settled, and the Wraith slowly drifted away. Sabine watched him intently as he feathered the ships controls to keep the asteroid between them and the ships in the distance.

  “Launch the drone,” Kristof ordered quietly. Max did not reply, but he heard another clunk back within the ship and knew the drone had launched. He knew that, given the drone’s size and the distortions from the black hol
es, the drone would be invisible to the distant ships’ sensors until the beacon activated. The distortion would also serve to keep those same ships from determining the beacon was attached to nothing bigger than the drone until they were much closer.

  “Beacon activation in ten seconds,” Max announced.

  Kristof brought the engines to full power and grasped the throttle controls tightly. If the crews aboard the ships in the distance were as alert as he expected, they would be in pursuit of the drone in less than a minute after detecting the beacon. He planned to give them a full minute of pursuit before he slammed the throttles forward and make a break for it. He hoped it would be enough, but any longer and they would detect the ruse and reverse course back towards them and catch them before they reached the minimum safe distance to open a stable hyperspace wormhole.

  “5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1” Max counted down, and the drone’s beacon instantly appeared on the sensor screen speeding away from them. Kristof watched as the cruiser and its escorts gave pursuit moments later and then started a silent count down in his head. When he counted to sixty he slammed the throttles forward and the Wraith shot out from behind the asteroid like a rocket.

  The ship buffeted in the gravitational waves along the edge of the black hole as the Wraith skimmed the event horizon opposite the direction the drone had gone. Kristof hoped to use the same distortions that were hiding the drone’s details from the cruiser’s sensors to hide their escape for a moment longer. On the sensor screen two of the ships continued after the drone, but one of the smaller frigates slowed and turned to come after the Wraith.

  “They’ve spotted us,” Max announced needlessly, since Kristof had already seen it. The frigate was far faster than the cruiser and had the only chance of catching the Wraith now, other than the fighters which had also turned in pursuit. The fighters would lack the firepower to stop the Wraith in time to prevent their escape, however. Kristof knew that they would try to intimidate him into changing course, but he also knew they would fail.