by E. A. James
“Yeah,” Thor agreed. “Maybe he…”
Running straight into the back of possibly the largest individual in The Pits caused Thor’s words to catch in his throat. Kira let out a terrified gasp, something she never did when the massive creature turned around and glared down at them with eyes red with anger.
“What the hell was that?” the enormous beast-like individual asked.
His voice was low but loud and seemed to shake the ground under their feet. Or, perhaps it was just Kira shaking with fear that caused that sensation. All out terror, like the terror she felt in that instant, was not familiar to Kira, just as the individual who had instilled that terror in her was not familiar to her. She had never seen any species like him in her life.
He stood at least a foot taller than Thor. His shoulders were easily triple the size of his, and his skin was a dark orange. His face was smashed into an expression of anger. Kira wondered if that wasn’t just what his face always looked like. He had four arms, each with more muscles than she had in both of hers combined. His exposed abdomen was a washboard of muscles and his chest looked like two pillars nestled together.
“I said, ‘what the hell?’” the creature asked again, this time balling up one of the two huge fists on his right side and lifting that arm to let it fly at Thor.
Just as he released his arm, Thor stepped to the side, effortlessly gliding out of the path of the punch that would have easily put him into another coma.
“I didn’t mean…” Thor started.
But, he didn’t get to finish his statement when the massive creature let out a frustrated cry and threw one of his two left fists flying at Thor. Again, Thor was able to side-step the blow with ease, only infuriating his opponent more.
Again, an angry, frustrated cry escaped the four-armed giant. A crowd was beginning to gather, and with each attempted strike by the giant and quick-step out of the way by Thor, the circle that had formed around them closed off a little more. Kira's heart began to beat quicker. The only advantage that Thor had over this giant was his speed. But, with the crowd gathering around them, his speed did him no good—he had nowhere to retreat to.
Thor darted to the right then to the left, throwing a quick jab at his attacker, but doing very little to detour his will to fight—doing a lot to increase his rage.
Letting out a mocking cry of aggression, the orange beast attempted to throw a punch with one of his right arms, as he reached out to grab hold of Thor with the other. Again, Thor’s agility out-weighed his brute strength.
As he moved, Thor spun around once, delivering a perfectly placed kick to the orange monster’s gut. Kira shrunk back, realizing as quickly as Thor did that that was not a good idea. His opponent stumbled back, but only out of surprise. With an amused laugh, he reached down with one of his left arms attempting to take hold of Thor one more time.
He anticipated Thor’s quick reflexes this time, though, and just as Thor darted to the right, both of his trunk-sized right arms were waiting for him.
Kira rushed forward, her intention to distract the giant long enough for Thor to wiggle free of his hold. It didn’t work. Before she was able to deliver a punch, the rock-shaped creature delivered one of his own.
One of his left arms came around, slow and steady, but backed by more force than she could have mustered in her entire body, and landed in her gut. She was sent flying back into the crowd that quickly dispersed as she barreled toward them. None of them attempted to help her. She went crashing to the ground, a bolt of shocked pain rippling up her spine upon impact.
She tried to push herself up, but the crowd had once again filled in the space they had vacated for her to plummet into. She could only see glimpses of what was happening. She did see the attacker triumphantly lift Thor off the ground. She also saw a pair of rodent-like feet pad their way calmly to the center of the circle the crowd was huddled around. Leaning over to get a better view, she recognized him immediately.
“Excuse me,” the Rengar they had spotted early said, walking up behind the large, four-armed creature.
Thor’s attacker either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the fur-covered Rengar tapping him repeatedly on the side.
“Hey,” the Rengar said, a little louder, still tapping incessantly on the giant’s side.
“Go away,” Thor’s attacker said to him quickly. “I’m busy.”
"I see that," the Rengar replied. "And I happen to remember a time when you were busy with something else not that long ago—something that got you into trouble. Something you needed help getting out of."
The large, orange skinned beast looked back at the Rengar over his shoulder and huffed. He slowly lowered Thor back down to the ground.
“That’s a good Dralaxian,” the Rengar said, patting him on the back. “Good.”
“This isn’t over,” the orange-skinned beast said, leaning in and glaring at Thor.
“Yes, it is,” the Rengar said calmly. “Come on, now. You owe me one. Let’s call this guy my ‘one’.”
“Let’s call this incident your ‘one’,” the attacker replied. “Just make sure he stays out of my way. Because next time, you won’t have any favors to call in to protect his scrawny Terran ass.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Engines ignited,” Alaria said, sitting back in the co-pilot’s chair.
“Good,” Bron replied, grabbing hold of the controls.
His hands shook slightly as he prepared to lift the Curio off the repair bay floor. It hadn’t been that long since he had flown a ship. But still, there was a certain pressure that rested on his shoulders now that he was participating in a mission to save the entire Galaxy that made him more nervous than he usually would have been.
“Let’s go, you big lug!” Vinnie called through the intercom. “All systems are online—shields, weapons, engines. What are you waiting for?”
“I’m waiting for you to shut your mouth,” Bron replied, glaring at the speaker set into the wall to his left.
Alaria laughed slightly and leaned back in her chair. “Take your time, Bron,” she said softly. “It doesn’t matter how quickly we get there if we end up crashing along the way.”
Nodding slowly, Bron pulled back on the controls and lifted the Curio off of the ground. Guiding the ship toward the large airlock, he forced himself to relax slightly and settle into the role as temporary captain.
“It’s nice sitting up here,” Alaria said, her eyes fixed on the viewscreen in front of them. “You can see everything. It’s much better than the view I get down in the engine room.”
“It is kind of nice, isn’t it?” Bron asked as he guided the ship into the air lock and waited for the second set of doors to open.
When they did, Alaria let out a soft gasp as the sight of thousands of far-off stars dotting the pitch-black sky filled the screen in front of them. There was nothing but wide-open space in front of them.
“It’s beautiful,” Alaria said, pushing herself forward, her eyes still fixed on the endless expanse.
“Surely, you’ve been on a flight deck during flight before,” Bron said.
“A few times,” she agreed. “Kira always has us meet up here, so there were those times. And maybe once or twice before that. But, I’ve never been right here, sitting in one of these seats with nothing but that in front of me.”
“Well, you have the next week at least to sit in that seat as much as you want,” Bron said. “You can even sleep up here if you want.”
Alaria giggled and leaned back in her chair again. “I’m not sure Vinnie will like that very much,” she said. “He’ll probably want a turn up here with you.”
“He’s been up here plenty of times,” Bron replied. “When we first started putting this thing together we took it out on practice flights hundreds of times. I even let the little shit fly it a time or two.”
“Vinnie can fly?”
“He can keep the thing in the air,” Bron replied with a chuckle. “I don’t know if I’d call
that flying.”
“It’s more than I can do.”
“You want to learn how to fly?” Bron asked, looking over at her.
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I think it would be a beneficial skill to have. I mean, what happens if Kira gets hurt one day and can’t fly the ship? I guess then you could pilot it. But what if you got hurt, and then Vinnie, and then Thor? If that happened, I’d have to know how to fly to get us to safety.”
"If all of us got hurt, I'd say we're pretty much screwed, anyway. But, you do have a point. It is always good to know the basics of flying a larger vessel like this just in case."
“Maybe one day you can teach me,” Alaria said, looking over at Bron and smiling.
“Sure,” Bron replied, his voice slightly higher than it usually was.
His cheeks began to flush red and he could feel her still looking over at him. He tightened his hold on the controls as he tried to compose himself. He had been wanting to have some time alone with Alaria for a while, and now that they were sitting there, on the flight deck with a blanket of stars sprawled out in front of them and no one anywhere around, his nerves caused his stomach to fill with so many knots that it felt as if one of them drifted up to his throat to prevent him from speaking.
“Hey Alaria,” Vinnie’s voice came through the intercom. “I think Zola is looking for you.”
“Really?” Alaria asked, jumping up quickly and clapping her hands together.
“Yeah, she’s been meowing really loudly, and wandering around the engine room.”
Just before Alaria could respond, telling Vinnie that she was on her way, a soft ping rang through the intercom. A chill ran down Alaria’s spine the second she realized what the sound was.
“It’s a message from Thane,” she said, looking over at Bron.
“What do you want me to do with her?” Vinnie asked.
“Bring her up here,” Alaria said, reaching down to switch off the intercom.
She slumped back in the co-pilot’s chair, any excitement she felt about being up there suddenly gone. All she could think about in that moment was that her father wasn’t there to receive Thane’s message. No matter what the contents, he always looked forward to getting to see him.
“He didn’t get to come back for the communicator,” Alaria said, pulling her legs up into the chair and resting her chin on her knees. “He would have never left without it if it hadn’t been for that no-good Nico Rax.”
"He probably wouldn't have been allowed to take it into the prison with him anyway," Bron said, trying to make her feel better. "So, if you think about it, it's better that he didn't come back for it. At least this way, we can still have some idea of what's going on."
“That’s true,” she admitted, still somewhat melancholically. “I just wish he were here, or at least that I knew he was safe. Him and Kira and Thor—I’m worried about them.”
“So am I,” Bron replied.
“Cat delivery,” Vinnie chimed, stepping through the door to the flight deck as it slid open.
Holding out the ball of fur directly in front of him, he marched across the room and set the cat down in Alaria’s lap. Zola, happy to be back with her favorite person, snuggled up in her arms and began to purr softly.
“Don’t get too cozy,” Alaria said, getting to her feet and walking back to the row of consoles behind the captain’s chair.
Setting the cat down gently, she found and detached the communication device that Dario had hidden as a small cybernetic implant in the cat’s neck. Lifting up the small cube slowly, Alaria turned to face Vinnie and Bron. They were both looking back at her with anxious looks on their faces.
Her hands shook as she shooed Zola away and set the communication device down on the console.
“Maybe we shouldn’t listen to it,” she said, spinning back around quickly to face the others. “It is for Dario and all. What if it’s personal.”
“None of the messages he’s sent to date have been overly personal,” Bron pointed out.
“And what if he has some kind of important information?” Vinnie asked, walking over to her. “What if Grimm’s about to blow everything to shit?”
“That’s not helping,” Bron said, scolding his little sidekick.
Quickly entering in the coordinates for the Galactic Bazaar, Bron initiated the autopilot and pushed himself up. Walking over to Alaria, he rested his hand on her shoulder.
“We should listen to it,” he said.
“You’re right,” she replied, smiling up at him.
Holding her breath, she turned her attention back to the small metal box. It always surprised her that such a small device could hold so much weight. Her stomach fluttered nervously as she pressed the only button on the side of the cube and stepped back quickly.
In a flash, the image of Grimm’s assistant occupied the space above the cube.
“Dario,” Thane said, his voice shaky. “It’s getting serious. I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but it is. Grimm is on a rampage. He knows you and the others are following him; he knows you know his plans. That’s only made him angry, Dario. He’s very, very angry.”
Alaria took another slight step back; Bron nervously wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Vinnie leaned in closer, his eyes fixed on the holographic image of the man who was now pacing back and forth nervously.
“He’s advancing the plan—speeding it up. I think he’s already found his target, but he won’t divulge what it is to anyone. I don’t know how long we have, but it isn’t long.”
A shiver ran down Alaria’s spine. Bron tightened his hold on her, trying to comfort her from something that disturbed him just as much.
“He knows your Captain is in Jaantu 7,” Thane continued. “He’s taking advantage of that. He’s afraid of her, Dario. She knows him too well. He’s going to strike soon, fearing that she’ll be released or break out. I hope you have a plan. I hope you get this somehow. I saw your face on the bounty list again. Please, tell me you’re okay. My dear, sweet, Dario, I hope you can save us. You have to save us.”
With that, the message stopped. As suddenly as it appeared, the image of Thane was sucked back into the small cube.
"Oh my," Alaria said, swallowing back the tears that were building up in her throat. "Oh, my."
“It’ll be okay,” Bron said, still holding onto her. “We’ll figure it out. It’ll be okay.”
“Whoa,” Vinnie said, spinning around to face them. “We got to get our asses in gear. We really need to get Kira and the others out of there. Did you hear what Thane said? Grimm’s afraid of her? Damn. I knew she was a badass, but…”
“Vinnie,” Bron said, cutting off the teen’s excited rant. “Go check the engines, make sure everything is in ready for FTL warp.”
“On it,” Vinnie said, spinning on his heel and running toward the door. He bounced up and down a few times as he waited for the sliding doors to open. Once they did, he was gone.
“What are we going to do?” Alaria asked, turning to look up at Bron.
“We’re going to stick to the plan,” Bron said, resting his other hand on her other shoulder. “We’re going to bust them out and hunt down that son of a bitch.”
Alaria’s eyes, filled with tears that she fought to keep from falling, met his. “I’m so worried about him,” she said softly.
“I am, too,” he replied. “But I’m sure they’re fine. They’re probably keeping their heads low, staying out of trouble, and doing exactly what we are—sticking to the plan.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Okay, okay,” the Rengar who had done the sweet-talking said, addressing the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight. “Show’s over. You can all move along now. That’s right, nothing more to see here. Go on; go on.”
As the crowd dispersed, Thor hurried over to where Kira was still lying on the ground and helped her up to her feet. Dario, undeterred by the encounter, rushed over to their Rengar savior before Kira had a chance to fully g
ain her footing again.
“Who are you?” he asked.
The Rengar didn't turn to face him but continued waving off the remaining onlookers. "Go on, now. You're not wanted here."
“I asked you a question,” Dario said.
Now the Rengar did turn to look at him, a rather unamused look on his face. “I’m the man who just saved your friend’s ass. A little gratitude is in order.”
“I will express my gratitude when I know to whom to direct it,” Dario countered.
Thor and Kira walked over to them, both of them wanting to know as much as Dario who their rescuer was. They had all spotted him before the attack, and the hope that their assumption of who he was, still lingered in the forefront of all of their minds.
