by E. A. James
“Dario!” Thor yelled out as he lifted his gun and sent a surge of energy flying into the face of one of the pirates. “Get out here—now!”
Finally, Dario came running down the ramp and leather bag slung over his shoulder. Seeing the scenes unfolding around him, he quickly scampered back, taking cover with the others behind the ship.
The heavy footsteps of the pirates were louder now, signaling that they were closing in on them quickly. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Arcanum soldiers began to rustle, slowly awakening from their inhibited state.
“What do we do?” Alaria asked.
“Run!” Thor said, pushing Alaria and Dario forward.
Kira and Thor spun around, just as the pirates rounded the ship and recommenced firing on them. In a fury, electric energy, and particle beams spilled out of their weapons. They watched as some of the men fell to the ground, and took off running before the others could retaliate.
The group raced along the docks, turning quickly down a crowded, busy market street. The pirates now accompanied by the Arcanum soldiers were still hot on their heels, firing their guns into the air, causing the merchants and customers to fall to the ground for cover.
"This way!" Dario yelled out, taking another sharp turn and leading them down a smaller side street.
Just as they rounded the corner, a surge of electricity buzzed past Kira’s ear, nearly taking off her head. Undeterred, she continued running, maneuvering her way through the crowded street with adrenaline-fueled focus.
“I have an idea!” Kira yelled out. “Turn right! Turn right here!” As they rounded the next corner, Kira pushed herself to the front of the group, taking the lead. “Follow me,” she instructed them as she continued forward.
She led them down the main street of the Market, trying to get her bearings. She had spent some time in Vandor previously, although it wasn’t extensive. The pirates continued to shoot into the air, the explosive sounds ringing out and threatening to pull her concentration back to them.
Shaking her head, she forced herself to think, to focus. When she spotted a familiar street, she turned abruptly, nearly losing her followers. Scanning her surroundings frantically, she searched for her hopeful destination. Her mind was clouded by the intensity of the pursuit and her usually sharp senses were beginning to fail her.
“If we were having this chase in space, this wouldn’t happen to me,” she thought to herself as she continued to scan her surroundings for something familiar.
Finally, her eyes landed on the unmarked doors she was looking for. “Here!” she called out, running towards them, balling up her fists and banging on them frantically.
Thor ran up behind her and beat at the door as well. Alaria began pressing the call button with a feverish fury and Dario looked back over his shoulder, watching for any sign of their pursuers. The camera hanging overhead swiveled towards them, and Kira looked up at it, still banging heavily on the door.
A few second passed, but finally, the door swung open. The group rushed in, nearly collapsing on the ground as Thor pushed the door closed with force and purpose.
“What is this place?” Dario asked, leaning forward to catch his breath.
“The Hangar,” Kira said in between pauses to recapture her own breath.
The building they had taken refuge in was aptly named and served as a ship hangar. The large, sprawling room filled with parts, engines, weapons, and other objects one would find normally attached to a space-faring vessel. The only sign of movement came from the far corner of the room, where someone hunched over their work, welding together a sophisticated looking piece of machinery.
“Hopefully, we’ll be safe here,” Kira added.
“Hopefully?” Alaria asked, stepping forward and taking in her surroundings with suspicion.
“Identify yourselves!” a booming voice echoed off the metallic walls around them.
The group spun around to find a pulse rifle pointed in their direction. The owner of the gun and the roaring voice was a Bandurian man. His face, covered with the ripples typical of his kind, was stern and unemotional.
He took another step in their direction, swiveling the gun slowly, locking each of them in turn in his sights. “I said speak!” he demanded.
“Hello Bron,” Kira said to the menacing figure before them.
“Remember me?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The group remained silent, each of them waiting for the next to speak. Kira lifted her hands over her head, showing she had no intent to do harm. She took a step towards him, hesitantly.
“Bron,” she said, “Bron—it’s me, Kira.”
The Bandurian man looked at her skeptically, the dark brown skin around his eyes wrinkling as he stared at her intently. Finally, a shimmer of recognition flashed across his face.
“Kira?” he asked, lowering his weapon and hurrying towards her. “Kira? What the hell are you doing here?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have time to go into details,” she said, glancing back at her companions over her shoulder. “What I can tell you is that a handful of Roughnecks and a small, but very angry, group of Arcanum soldiers are searching for us. We had nowhere else to run. That’s when I thought of you and remembered my visit here several years back. We need somewhere to hide, or we might just be dead.”
“Nothing’s ever easy with you,” Bron said, patting her on the back.
“You know me—always living on the edge,” Kira replied with a shrug. “Will you help us?
“Of course,” Bron said, eying her three companions over her shoulder. “But you can’t stay out in the open. Those Arcanum pricks are relentless. ”
Kira winced slightly at his comment, hoping that Thor wouldn’t take anything personal from it.
“They’ll start building to building searches after they realize that we have eluded them,” Thor replied, seeming not to notice the slight.
“Lucky for you, you’ve come to the right place! Living in this cesspool means I have to be prepared for this type of situation far more than should be common,” Bron replied.
He turned abruptly and walked to the back of the hangar. Kira and the others exchanged confused looks, not sure if they were meant to follow him or stay put.
“Come!” Bron yelled out, answering the question on all of their minds.
They hurried after him. He stopped as abruptly as he started his mini-march and pointed to the floor. “Here,” he said, leaning forward and pulling up one of the metal floor panels – it was perfectly concealed.
They all looked on as he reached down into the hole and grabbed hold of a rope, pulling it towards him. Another concealed section below lifted up, revealing a hidden compartment.
“This is where I hide contraband,” Bron said proudly as he looked down at the gaping hole at his feet.
“That’s convenient,” Dario said, stepping forward and lowering himself into the hole.
Alaria followed behind, then Thor. Kira was the last to kneel down and lower herself into the hiding spot.
“Thank you, Bron,” she said, as Thor reached up to help her down.
“Thank me if we all manage to live – how is it that whenever you’re with me I’m fighting for my life?” Bron quipped.
“It seems to be my curse, but at least you can’t say time with me is boring” Kira chimed back.
Bron grunted in agreement and lowered down the floor paneling, covering the hole and plunging the group into darkness.
Not more than two minutes passed when they heard heavy pounding on the door reverberate through the hangar. Kira felt as if the sound shook the walls around them and the dirt floor under them. The entire group held their breath as they waited to hear what their expected visitors had to say.
“Who the fuck are you?” they heard Bron say after he pulled open the heavy metal door. Kira winced hearing Bron’s lack of tact.
“We’re looking for someone—a group of someone’s actually,” the Roughneck captain’s voice responded.
“If you bring no business, I have no time for you.”
“I think you’ll make time for us,” the captain replied.
Kira and the others could hear a number of men enter the hangar. Their footsteps were heavy, echoing down into the compartment as they clanged across the metal floor panels.
“I’m losing my patience pirate,” Bron said firmly.
“Just hand over what you’re hiding, and we’ll vacate the premises.”
“Hiding? The only thing I’m hiding is my rising urge to kill you all where you stand,” Bron said.
“We saw them come down this way. They are not in any of the other buildings nearby—they have to be here, with you Bandurian.”
“I will tell you again and for the last time, get out of my hangar,” Bron’s tone sent chills down Kira’s spine.
The captain let out a bellowing, haunting laugh that caused Kira to shrink back slightly as the memory of their first encounter with him flooded her mind. Thor reached up and rested his hand on her shoulder.
“Do you think you are intimidating to me, Bandurian?” the captain mused out loud.
“I could never expect someone so mentally deficient to perceive the danger that they’re in,” Bron shot back.
The sound of rifle actions locking into the loaded position rippled through the room above them.
“Enough! We will not ask again,” the captain said ominously.
“No need to ask again, I’m done talking!” Bron said at a near shout in reply.
Kira’s breath caught in her throat as the sounds of weapon fire rang out. She tried to push herself forward, wanting to run to Bron’s aid. She cursed herself for involving yet another person in this mess. The feeling of guilt worked through her, propelling her forward.
Thor tightened his grip on her shoulder, pulling her back quickly. “No, wait,” he said firmly.
“But…” Kira tried to object, but another round of shooting rang out, muting the words as they came out of her mouth.
Kira, Dario, Alaria and Thor huddled together in the darkness, listening as a struggle took place just over their heads. The shuffling of feet eventually died out, and an eerie silence fell over the hangar.
Kira held her breath as she listened for movement, the guilt pressing on her chest increasing – she instinctively tightened her grip on her Phantom.
Finally, someone above them spoke.
“Why’d you go and do that?” a small, almost child-like voice said. “I had them right where I wanted them.”
Kira let out an audible sigh of relief when Bron responded, “I was doing fine on my own.”
As he spoke, the sound of heavy footsteps followed by lighter, quicker steps grew closer to their hideout and echoed down on the small group. Kira pushed herself forward, letting Thor’s hand drop from her shoulder, and waited for the floor panels to lift.
“Like hell you were!” the child’s voice rang out. “You’re lucky I was here to have your back.”
“Lucky! Ha! I’ve been cracking skulls long before you floated into the galaxy,” Bron muttered.
Just then, the panels above their heads lifted and the light from the hangar came pouring in. Hovering over them were two individuals—Bron and a Terran child. The boy looked to be in his early teens, although he carried himself with the authority of a man, still clinging to the butt of the rifle slung over his back.
“Can you believe this kid?” Bron asked, stretching his hand out to Kira. “He takes out three pirates and suddenly he’s the one who saved the day – sort of reminds me of you, Kira.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Kira let Bron help her out of the compartment as Thor leaped up next to her. The two men helped the other two out, Thor lifting Alaria with ease and Bron tugging forcefully at Dario's arm.
“Thank you!” Alaria exclaimed as she emerged from the underground bunker. The excitement on her voice quickly faded as her eyes fell on the scenes around her.
The hangar was littered with bodies—at least eight Roughneck pirates were lying lifeless on the ground around them. The stench of blood and sweat permeated the air and the heat from the electric blasts and pulsating energy released during the exchange still wafted about.
Kira took in the scene quickly and then turned her attention to Bron and his young companion. “Thank you, you didn’t have to help us,” she said.
“My pleasure, I think that about puts us even Kira Winter,” Bron said, smiling. “Plus, I wouldn’t live on this desolate rock if some part of me didn’t enjoy the excitement of fighting for my life.”
“Me too,” the young boy piped up.
Kira looked at him with an amused expression and then glanced back at Bron, waiting for an introduction.
“This is Vinnie,” Bron said, wrapping his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “He’s a fiery little shit, but somehow, despite that, he’s someone you’ll never regret keeping around.”
“Hey!” Vinnie exclaimed, pulling away from Bron’s embrace.
“Vinnie was an orphan, dropped in Vandor and left to rot,” Bron continued. “I’ve taken him in, given him a job, and he repays me by saving my life from time to time.”
“Damn right,” Vinnie agreed.
Kira recognized the boy as the person who was busy at work when they entered the hangar. From a distance, somehow, he looked bigger than he did up close. Still, he stood nearly shoulder to shoulder with her. Hopefully, for his sake, he still had some growing to do.
“I don’t know about you all,” Bron said, turning around and walking back towards the workbench on the opposite wall of the hangar, “but I could use a drink.”
“Sounds good to me,” Thor said, following behind him. “What do you have?”
Bron reached up into the cabinet hanging over the dust-covered counter and pulled out a bottle of aged Bandurian whiskey.
“A little taste of home,” Bron said, turning back to the group.
"It's not my home, but I'll sure as hell drink it," Thor said, grabbing the bottle from Bron's hands and plopping himself down at the makeshift work table in front of the counter.
Kira, Alaria, and Dario joined him, all eagerly waiting as Bron rummaged around for glasses. When he finally found enough, he walked over and joined them, Vinnie on his heels. Thor took his time, pouring each drink slowly, careful not to let one drop go astray.
“To living to fight another day,” Dario said, grabbing hold of the glass in front of him and lifting it up.
The others quickly grabbed for their drinks, eager to toast. Just as Kira reached for the last remaining glass, Vinnie’s hand slipped in and snatched it away. Before she could respond with amused surprise, Bron took hold of the glass from Vinnie and shoved it in her direction.
A look of incredulity spread across the young boy’s face.
“One of us has to keep his wits about him,” Bron said with a shrug, causing the expression of disbelief on Vinnie’s face to turn to one of purpose.
“Maybe all of us, the Arcanum soldiers are still out there, searching for us,” Kira added.
“Tell me, Kira, how the hell did you find yourself mixed up with the Arcanum?” Bron asked.
Kira's eyes shifted to Thor, who was sipping slowly on the whiskey in his hand. He looked back at her and nodded as if consenting to her revealing the nature of their mission.
After taking a long drink from the glass in her hand, Kira recounted the events that led her to Bron’s hangar. She told of her mission to deliver Thor to Nico Rax, the infamous bounty hunter. She recounted their run-in with the Roughnecks and Dario and Alaria’s heroic stand-off with the pirates that lead to their rescue. She said all she could think of, not leaving out any of the events of the previous few days.
“I have a question,” Alaria spoke up. Her cheeks were flushed, and it was clear that the whiskey was already taking its toll on her. “How did we end up here?”
Kira laughed, setting her glass down on the table. “Alaria, that’s what I just got done explaining.
”
“No,” Alaria said, shaking her head quickly. “Here—why are we here?”
“I think what Alaria is trying to ask is why you thought to come here. What is your relation to Bron?” Dario explained.
"Oh," Kira said, still laughing at the bright red color that was forming on Alaria's pale white cheeks. "I know Bron from way back. He used to serve as a mercenary, helping out the Terran Alliance on high-profile, covert missions. We worked together on a few occasions."
“Kira saved my life,” Bron added. “I was a dead man, surrounded by a small Zel’Dar swarm with no hope of escape, and she just swooped in and took them out. I’ve never seen so much tact and precision from a fighter pilot in my life.”
