by D. J. Holmes
“Very well,” Alaia said. “If he is currently on Ankara I’m sure he will meet you in the next couple of days. If he is not available, I will send word to you.”
“Thank you,” Divar said. “If we have any other needs, we know where to come.”
“Ranack,” Sarah said under her breath as she and Divar turned and walked away. Now I have a name for the face, she thought. A part of her couldn’t help but get excited. She was finally going to meet someone else from her species. In her mind, she pictured Ranack. Almost every day since taking command of Destiny she had brought up the image and examined it. Numerous times she had wondered about just what he would be like.
“You need to be careful,” Alexandra said several seconds later. Destiny was currently in stealth a small distance away from Ankara. Close enough for two-way communication, though there was a bit of a delay. “He may be from your species but he has lived a hard life. He could be a pirate as well as a smuggler for all we know. You need to be careful with your emotions.”
“I’m not a child,” Sarah thought back to Alexandra in annoyance. “I’ve already learnt to be careful.”
“Then I will leave you to your thoughts,” Alexandra replied. Her tone suggested she didn’t approve at all.
For the next hour, Sarah and Divar continued to walk around Ankara’s main market. They found two other information brokers and after brief discussions, gave both of them credit chips with forty thousand credits on them, just as they had Alaia. Though they knew it was a risk to be seen to be throwing so many credits around, they wanted Ranack to hear about them. More than that, they wanted him to be intrigued. Divar had suggested Ranack would probably be very cautious if he was a wanted man. Two people showing up flashing his image around, was as likely to make him run, as come to a meeting. Hopefully, Divar thought, once word got out they were willing to splash around huge sums of credits, his interest would be piqued. Sarah had readily agreed with him. From experience with Draxler and all the other pirates she had met, there was only one thing they understood, credits.
Satisfied that Ranack would hear of them if he was on Ankara, Sarah and Divar made their way back to the Raditz. Ankara didn’t seem to have too many hotels, obviously reflecting the fact that not many outsiders visited the black colony for any length of time. Nevertheless, the Raditz was quite large, and, as far as they could tell, by far the most luxurious hotel in the city. They had booked in for a week, again it was meant to be a sign of Sarah’s affluence. A bounty hunter was unlikely to stay in such a place.
“I guess we just take a seat,” Divar said as they made their way into the bar of the hotel.
“More waiting,” Sarah said with a sigh. After escaping the Elder attack on Elaijar, they had waited for more than two weeks. It had taken Klixar a week to give up and leave the area. They had then waited another week just to be sure. After that it had taken another three weeks to get to Ankara. All that time, Sarah had known finding out about her homeworld was one meeting away. If only they could have got to Ankara faster. The longer she had to wait, the more her desire to just know something, anything, was growing.
“At least you have plenty of reading,” Alexandra chimed in.
“At least,” Sarah thought back sarcastically. Alexandra had given them both datapads with reams of information to read as they waited for Ranack to make contact with them. There were still hundreds of things neither she nor Divar knew or understood about Destiny and her technology. Alexandra was of the opinion that her crew shouldn’t just know how to fly the ship, they should also understand the theoretical science behind how Destiny worked.
After ordering drinks and with nothing else to do, Sarah reluctantly pulled out Alexandra’s datapad and looked at all the different topics Alexandra had prepared for her. Spotting an article on Destiny’s particle lance, she began there. At least understanding more about how Destiny’s weapons worked seemed like it would be useful.
An hour later Sarah set the datapad down. Her brain was fried. “Tell me more about your homeworld?” she asked Divar. She needed some normal conversation to bring her back to the real world. This waiting is going to be tough, she thought as Divar began to speak. At least when they had been on Destiny, they had been able to run simulations.
*
It wasn’t until three days later that something happened. One moment Sarah was struggling to work her way through another article Alexandra had recommended. The next she was looking up into a face very similar to hers. Ranack had slid into the booth opposite her. She started to smile and opened her mouth to speak. Then she froze. He had a laser blaster pointed right at her chest.
Divar looked up from his datapad startled. Instinctively his hand moved towards the laser rifle he had sitting on the table beside him. “Don’t,” Ranack said. Slowly, Divar placed all four of his hands palms down on the table they were sitting at.
“That’s better,” Ranack responded with a nod. “Now,” he said, turning his gaze and his blaster back to Sarah. “You are not a native of Burakko. Who are you and what do you want of me? If you don’t give me an answer now, I will put an end to this right away.”
Sarah didn’t answer. She barely heard what he said. Her breath had caught in her throat and she was spellbound as she stared into his eyes. She was actually face-to-face with someone from her homeworld. She wasn’t alone in the galaxy after all. For so many years she had feared she would never see another person from her species. Now he was here in the flesh. And, Sarah had to admit, he was breath-taking. He looked tall and muscular and had white teeth that shone as he smiled a warning smile at Divar. His hair was blonde, curly and almost reached down to his shoulders. Most intriguing were his dark brown eyes. Sarah felt like she could get lost in them.
“I said, who are you?” Ranack repeated. “What’s the problem, never seen a human smuggler before? You can rest assured, I more than live up to my reputation.”
“Human,” Sarah repeated slowly as she carefully formed the word.
“Yes,” Ranack responded, clearly growing frustrated. “That’s my species. Now stop playing games. Thirty more seconds and I’m out of here. No one splashes as much cash around as you have unless you’re a fool, or you think you can collect the bounty on me. Let me assure you if it’s the second, neither of you will live long enough to get out of this bar.”
Human, Sarah thought as she stared down at her own hands. I know who I am. I’m a human.
“Sarah,” Alexandra said, breaking into Sarah’s thoughts. “If you don’t answer the smuggler, you’re going to be a heap of charred flesh in a just a moment.”
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said as she looked back up to Ranack. As soon as her eyes met his she decided to throw all caution to the wind. Reaching up slowly, she began to remove her headdress.
“What are you doing?” Divar said as his eyes widened.
“It’s okay,” Sarah replied. “I want him to know the truth.”
Ranack leaned back in surprise. “You’re human?” he said as soon as Sarah’s full face came into view.
“I believe so,” Sarah answered. “Though of the two of us, I think you are the expert on that. You’re the first human I’ve ever met.”
“Really,” Ranack said as a large grin spread across his face. He moved his laser blaster away from Sarah. However, it didn’t disappear, it was now aimed at Divar. “You’ve never met another human before? Where are you from then? You must have grown up on this side of the Orion Arm? Wait, I bet you’re not even a Burakkian noblewoman are you? The only way you made it to this part of the galaxy was as a slave, am I right?”
“Yes, I was a slave,” Sarah informed him. “I have almost no memory of where I was born, or our home planet. I grew up on Burakko as a slave, before that I know I was bought at the slave markets of Kashal. Though I don’t really remember Kashal or how I got there.”
“Well, I see you’re no longer a slave,” Ranack said as he pointed at Sarah’s neck. Standing up, he reached across the table and hel
d out his hand. “It’s always a pleasure to meet a fellow former slave. Especially another human. It’s been at least five years since I last spoke to a female from our species. It has been too long, if you know what I mean.”
Sarah didn’t quite know what to do with her hand and so she feebly held it out towards Ranack. When he grabbed her hand and squeezed it between his fingers, she mimicked his move. “I am glad we have been able to find you,” she said. She felt herself flush. She felt very self-conscious touching the hand of male from her species.
“And that brings us back to my original question,” Ranack said sitting down. “What do you want?”
Sarah took a deep breath. “I want to go home,” she said. “I came across your picture in a list of known criminals and I left to try and find you. I need to know more about where I’m from. I have a ship, but I don’t know where to go.”
At the mention of a ship Divar almost jumped to his feet. “Sarah,” he said. “You need to be care…”
“Shut up,” Ranack said as he raised his pistol towards Divar’s head. “Me and this little lady here are getting along just fine. You, I’m not so sure about. I think it’s best you’re seen and not heard at this point.”
“It’s okay Divar,” Sarah said as she placed a hand on one of Divar’s. “I know what I’m doing.”
“So, you want to go home,” Ranack said in a much lighter tone as he shook his head and chuckled to himself. “You flashed around tens of thousands of credits to try and get my attention all because you want to go home. I’m afraid you’ve wasted your time. Our homeworld is a Tier One colony. There’s no reason any sane person would want to go there. The best thing that ever happened to you was the day you were taken away from there.”
“A Tier One colony,” Sarah said as her heart fell. Her people would be no better than slaves. They would have next to no Elder technology and all but a few of her people would be trapped on their world. “That means I must have been born on our homeworld?” she said as another thought occurred to her. As far as she knew, no Tier One species were allowed to procreate off world. Any individual from a Tier One species who wanted to live in space, was sterilized.
“Unless your mother was smuggled away from wherever she was born and had you in space, I’d say that’s a safe bet,” Ranack answered.
Though her heart was torn by the knowledge her people were slaves, Sarah was relieved by the news. When she had imprinted with Alexandra, she was sure she had seen an image of her homeworld. Yet she had still had doubts that she had been born there. She had feared that finding her homeworld would turn into a wild goose chase. If she had been born in space, she would have had no homeworld and finding her family would have been all but impossible. If she was born on her species’ homeworld, then at least she should be able to find out something about them. They should still be there, she hoped.
“What more can you tell me about our people and our homeworld?” Sarah asked excitedly.
“That depends,” Ranack replied as he eyed Sarah intently. “What’s in it for me?
“We can pay you,” Sarah answered. “Our funds aren’t unlimited, but we can make it worth your while. There is more though, if you want, we can take you there with us. If you were a slave to, don’t you want to go home?”
“Ha,” Ranack said. “That’s an offer I think I’ll refuse. Your money on the other hand, that sounds more like it. Just what information do you want?”
“Anything you can give me on our people, and our homeworld. Specifically though, I need our homeworld’s coordinates, or at least what sector it is in,” Sarah said.
“I think I can do that,” Ranack said. “I don’t have the information on me right now, but I’m sure we can come to some kind of agreement. Tell me this, why do you want to go home? What’s in it for you?”
“I want to find my family. And I want to help our people if I can,” Sarah said passionately.
“Help our people? The Elders have our people enslaved. Who are you that you think you can help them?” Ranack asked. “I think you think a little too highly of yourself.”
“I have my secrets,” Sarah replied. “Though I’m sure I could use your help too. If you joined us, you could make a real difference to our people. The Elders are not unbeatable.”
“Now I know your delusional,” Ranack laughed. “I grant you, it’s at least possible one or two of their ships could be beaten if you gathered enough pirate ships, or protector world ships. But the whole Elder empire? They would destroy our homeworld before they would ever let our people go free. Besides, I already have a cause I am fighting for.” Pausing, he held Sarah’s eyes with his gaze. “However, maybe after I get you your information I can take you out for a meal. We can get to know each other better. If you really do have a plan to take on the Elders, then maybe you can convince me to join you. On the other hand, maybe I could convince you to join me.”
“I have no interest in being a smuggler or a pirate,” Sarah said, not sure what to make of Ranack’s tone of voice. “My ambitions are a little higher than that.”
“So are mine,” Ranack replied, looking hurt. “I said I have a cause. I want to help people too. I already do.”
“I’m sorry,” Sarah replied quickly. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I just thought… I mean, you are charging me for information on our homeworld. If you’re not a smuggler or a pirate, then why can’t you just help us?”
“Because,” Ranack replied, “I have people who depend on me too. We have plans in motion aimed at helping people the Elders have oppressed. Plans that require credits. I’m not above taking some of your credits if it can help others. I’m not in a position to be able to afford to just do things for free.”
“I think I understand,” Sarah responded after considering his words. “We’re not as different as I thought. I can’t tell you everything now, but once you get me the information I need, maybe we can discuss things more. If you knew the truth about us, maybe you would want to join us.”
“Maybe,” Ranack said as he stood. “For now, I’ll take my leave. Once I have the information you want, I’ll get back in touch with you.”
“Can’t you please tell me the name of our homeworld,” Sarah asked, desperate for anything more he could tell her.
“What?” Ranack replied with a grin. “So that you can go away and search out the planet on your own? I’m not that naïve. I’ll be in contact with you.”
Almost as quickly as he appeared, he turned and slipped away into the crowd. After a few seconds of trying to keep him in sight, Sarah lost him.
“I don’t trust him,” Divar said as he lifted his hands off the table. “You told him too much.”
“Didn’t you hear him?” Sarah said, turning to Divar. “He’s not a smuggler after all, he has a cause he is fighting for. That’s probably why the Elders have a bounty on his head.”
“And just what is his cause?” Divar asked. “He never told us. He didn’t tell us anything really. You’re the one who did most of the talking. If he is a pirate and he finds out about Destiny, you can bet he’ll do anything he can to steel the ship from us.”
“He wouldn’t,” Sarah protested, though a voice in the back of her head warned her that she was being naïve. “I bet that if he knew about Destiny, he would join us in trying to free our homeworlds.”
“I doubt it,” Divar said.
“As do I,” Alexandra chimed in. “I think your excitement at seeing someone from your own species is getting the best of you Sarah. If Ranack is a freed slave, you have to remember the kind of life he has probably lived. The things he has seen. You had a very sheltered childhood on Burakko, even though you were a slave. You need to be careful around Ranack. He could have spent his whole life around someone like Draxler.”
“I know, I know,” Sarah thought to Alexandra. “Come on,” she said to Divar as she stood. I think we have spent more than enough time in this bar. Let’s go for a walk around the city and then we can retire to our rooms. We can d
iscuss Ranack more later. If both you and Alexandra insist, once he sells us the information we want, we can simply leave. I don’t know what you’re getting so stressed out about.”
Chapter 21
A weird beeping noise woke Sarah. Opening her eyes, she looked around her dark room feeling disorientated. It wasn’t the buzzing Alexandra used to wake her before her nightmare finished. In fact, as Sarah remembered what she had been dreaming about, she blushed. Ranack had been there. They had been holding hands.
“I told you your emotions were getting the better of you,” Alexandra said a few seconds later.
“What woke me?” Sarah asked as she turned on the room’s lights.
“It wasn’t me,” Alexandra answered. “Whatever the noise was, it came from your room.”
Reaching across her bed to the datapad that came with the room, Sarah picked it up and saw it was still very early in the morning. Alongside the time, there was an alert informing her she had a message. Someone had left a message for her with the hotel.
