Andi turned to face him, arms crossed. “You and I will always be enemies,” she said, her voice low.
“You don’t know the whole story, Androma.”
“I know enough.”
He huffed out a laugh and ran a hand through his mussed hair. “Five minutes. Just...five minutes, to let me say my piece.”
Andi opened her mouth to respond, but Gilly’s voice filled the void between them.
“Cap?” She bounded over, her hair freshly braided. “It’s almost time.”
Dex sighed. “Later,” he whispered to Andi. “We’re going to have that talk.”
Andi turned away as Gilly took her hand and hauled her back toward the waiting crew. This was the second time Dex had tried to talk to her about what had happened between them, and while she had no desire to revisit the memories of the past, she couldn’t help being curious about what he had to say.
She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things. They had a job to do.
Andi turned her attention back to the view of Dark Matter. She had never been here before, but she could imagine that if anyone found out a girl with her reputation was near, they would happily kill one another to turn her in for the biggest prize. She’d been on Mirabel’s wanted list for years, ever since she’d escaped Arcardius and taken up a life of pirating. Most didn’t even bother looking for her at this point, because too many had already lost their heads trying to chase her down. But here, in a den of enemies, she was walking right into their hands. One would be stupid not to take a chance at capturing her.
She tucked her hair beneath her hood, cloaking her face in shadows.
“You’ll keep a low profile,” Andi commanded her crew. “Eyes on us at all times. You smell trouble, you see anyone step out of line, you sound the alarm and get the hell out. No mistakes.” She glared sideways at Dex as the girls nodded. “No surprises.”
He crossed his tattooed arms and smiled. “I wouldn’t dare.”
He would. Oh, he would. She turned away from him, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from saying another word. “Lira?”
Lira sat in her pilot’s chair, hands loosely gripping the throttle as she guided them closer to the docking bay. “You don’t need to say what you’re thinking. I am fully aware of what must be done in there.”
“Good,” Andi said. “We’ll have to move quickly once we get inside. No more than forty minutes.”
“Plenty of time to raise hell,” Gilly said as she bobbed up and down on her toes. Her golden gun was sheathed on her hip beside a belt loaded with handmade Sparks. Breck had a matching one—the two girls were plenty capable of igniting chaos with them, if their past jobs were any indication.
“Then we’re all set,” Andi said. A flutter of nervous excitement winged its way through her chest. It was quickly replaced by nausea as she removed her blades. Dex sighed as he removed his gloves and slapped them down on the dash.
“If anyone messes with these while I’m gone...”
“Nobody wants your disgusting palm juice,” Gilly said.
“What the hell is palm juice?” Breck asked.
Gilly sighed. “Man sweat.”
“Where’s Alfie?” Dex asked, ignoring their comments as Lira eased back on the throttle and the ship slowed in response. “I need him to send a check-in to General Cortas before we move.”
Nobody answered.
Andi turned to Gilly, who was clearly trying to hold back a laugh.
“Why are you looking at me? I have no clue,” Gilly said.
Andi raised a brow.
Gilly smiled innocently back at her.
“I’ll just com the general myself,” Dex grumbled as he walked out the door.
The Marauder angled toward Dark Matter, slipping through the liquid darkness like a weapon ready to unleash itself upon the world.
* * *
Meanwhile, deep in the belly of the ship, Alfie sat alone in the locked waste bay, staring out at the stars.
“Hello, Alfie,” Memory said. “Would you like some company?”
At the sound of her voice, Alfie looked up and smiled.
Chapter Seventeen
* * *
ANDROMA
ANDI HAD BEEN in plenty of back-alley bars, unruly clubs and pleasure houses that had more going on behind closed doors than what was expected.
The atmosphere inside Dark Matter, however, had a particularly unpleasant feel.
The metal doors screeched as they slid open, unleashing a thick wave of recycled air that smelled a little too much like vomit for her taste. The room was curved, the metal walls dented at random, as if bodies had been thrown against them, leaving their mark. A rusted bartop, thick with stains of both the bodily and the brew type, stood in the center of Dark Matter. The patrons littered around it were all in different states of drunken disorder, some of them slumped haphazardly on their stools, others shouting at the four-legged, six-armed bartender for a refill.
She doubted they’d notice who she was even if she stared them straight in the face with her name tattooed on her forehead.
Andi took note of the exits as they stepped inside. One directly behind them, where they’d just entered. The other was straight across the crowd, the dimly glowing red sign half blocked by a bald man nearly triple Andi’s height. No doubt from New Veda, a planet where the inhabitants were built like giants. Years from now, Breck would likely grow to close his height, a warrior woman that none would dare cross. Andi smiled at that thought.
She hoped Breck, Gilly and Lira would get their exploding Sparks in place quickly, then move out before their plan shifted into high gear.
Across the bar were others Andi recognized from the intel they’d gathered on the ship. A table full of Lunamere guards, likely off-duty, as they guzzled pint after pint, yellow foam dripping down their unshaven beards—or in one case, a spiked jaw. She knew that they all had electric whips on their hips, ready to stun or kill at the flip of a switch, and heavy electric gauntlets to match.
And eyes constantly on the lookout for someone to toss behind bars.
We’ll see you later, boys, she thought. That was, of course, if everything went according to plan.
Beside the Lunamere guards, a woman playing cards whistled and signaled for the bartender to refill her ale. Burns covered half her body, forming a line that neatly bisected her face. Beside her, a four-legged male Tambaruun was puffing on a piece of Adhiran rainforest bark, the cloud of smoke changing colors each time he exhaled. He, too, was covered in burns that ran up his six muscular arms, turning his hands into swollen hunks of skin.
Most of the patrons had burns or scars, mutilated limbs, empty eye sockets sitting like black holes. They were survivors of The Cataclysm’s bloody ground battles, almost every one of them, with the marks to prove it. Since the war, Andi had seen her fair share of people with souvenirs from battle, but this scene was different. This was an entire room full of them at once, broken and bruised, guzzling alcohol to keep the pain of the past at bay.
Andi had an inkling of how that felt. She’d tried it many times herself.
War was a heartless thing, claiming lives left and right. But it was the survivors who had to continue battling even after the fight was over.
“This,” Dex said, spreading his tattooed arms wide and pulling Andi from her thoughts, “is the gem of the Olen System.”
“You haven’t seen very many gems, then.” Andi pulled her hood low over her face as she wove her way through the throngs of people heading toward the bar. “Let’s get on with it.”
Dex followed in silence, his head held high as if he owned the pub. She’d always admired his zest for life, a quality that few had. Andi was not one of those people. She’d choose solitude and silence any day over going out in public.
Dex could enjoy this place for the
both of them—Andi was used to finer places in brighter systems, spoiled by all the extravagant balls she’d had to attend on Arcardius, a constant shadow at Kalee’s back. And in the mere seconds they’d been here, she already feared she’d never get the stench of Dark Matter out of her bodysuit and cloak.
The fact that she’d had to leave her blessed, beautiful swords on the ship only added to her annoyance. She’d have to make do with her cuffs as her weapon. They were heavy enough to suffice for now.
“We should split up.” She sidestepped a man hobbling past on a golden crutch made from an old android’s leg. “We’ll find your informant faster that way.”
“We’ll find her eventually.” Dex stopped to survey the room. “I’d rather we stay together.”
Over his shoulder, Andi saw Breck, Gilly and Lira slipping among the crowd. One by one, they’d set their Sparks in place—slipped under tabletops, wedged in dark holes in the metal framing of the room, stuffed into the air vents in the floor. Andi smiled as she glanced away. When the girls detonated them, they’d cause one hell of a scene.
Enough to distract, but not enough to destroy.
“Soyina can be a little...off-putting,” Dex said. “The two of you have that in common.”
Andi gave him her trademark glare.
“I simply meant that you can both terrify any man with a single glance.”
She flashed him her teeth.
He shook his head and signaled for a waitress to join them. A cyborg woman tottered over on mismatched feet, one metal and one skin, both covered in strappy silver heels.
“What can I do for you, Tenebran?” the woman asked, leaning against the bar, giving his marked skin a curious glance. “Haven’t seen you around these parts before.”
“I’m looking for a frequent patron of yours,” Dex said. He took a step closer as Andi took a step away, missing the weight of her swords on her back. “Migratory tattoos, big mismatched moon eyes?”
The cyborg shook her pink curls. “Sorry, Tenebran, haven’t seen anyone who fits that description.” Her eyes flashed as they raked Dex up and down. “But I might be swayed to look a little harder if...” She held out a hand.
Andi sighed and stepped forward, ready to pummel the answer out of the woman. But Dex lifted an arm.
“I’ll take your knowledge, and a pint of Griss.” He tossed the woman a golden Krev. “And while you’re at it, add on a double stack for my lady friend. She could use it.”
Andi scowled at him from the shadows of her hood.
The waitress smiled, tucking the Krev into the space between her breasts. She flicked her head toward a dark corner at the back of the room. “You’re looking for Soyina. She’s over there. Though I should warn you...she doesn’t like to be bothered. When you’re done with your business, feel free to come back. I’ll buy you a drink when my shift’s over.” With a wink, she went back to take orders from her other customers.
“There are other ways to get information, you know,” Andi said as Dex turned back to look at her.
He threw his head back and laughed so hard, she got a glimpse of a chipped tooth in the back of his mouth. Andi was pleased to see it. She’d broken it with her elbow long ago, and it was worth the tiny scar she still had as a trophy. That was the day she’d completely disarmed him during training for the first time. The day that led to their first kiss, which led to more kisses, and a night spent...
“Why are you laughing?” Andi growled.
Dex held out a hand for her to pass by, feigning courtesy she knew he didn’t possess. “There’s one thing you never did learn from me, Androma.”
“Loyalty?” Andi asked. “How to keep my mouth shut?”
“No.” Dex patted her on the cheek, then sidestepped her swing at his face. “How to have fun.”
With a laugh, he shot past her and headed toward the dark corner of the room, where their shadowed informant sat waiting.
* * *
“Well, if it isn’t my favorite small-balled bastard.”
“Dearest Soyina,” Dex said as he pulled up a chair across from the woman and slid into it backward, arms folded over the top. “How I’ve missed your heartfelt compliments.”
The last time he’d seen Soyina, they’d shared three bottles of Griss and locked themselves in the bathroom of a wealthy Tenebran’s mansion until morning.
The night had been glorious, but when he’d woken the next day, his Krevs were missing, and his pants along with them. He was tied to the golden toilet pipes, all his glory out for the poor servants to see.
Oh, what a lover she’d been. A little off course, but wasn’t everyone in Mirabel? Dex had never been one to choose his companions with care. His past with Andi was proof of that. Of course, he’d done plenty of wrong. More than he’d been able to stomach. He’d hated himself for it, and still did. If she would just talk to him, listen to his side of the story...
Focus, Dextro, he told himself.
He smiled now as he drank Soyina in.
She sat lazily across from him, her legs casually propped up against the table. Bloodstains—of that Dex was sure—marred her worn boots, equally as menacing as the smile on her rouged lips. Her hair was braided back from her face to reveal her lovely eyes. One brown, like Dex’s, the other a pale, ghostly white to match the lost souls of the prisoners she’d brutally tortured and killed on Lunamere. Writhing migratory tattoos swam across her skin, the patterns twisting and turning as they chose new locations on her body at random.
“You’re a brave woman, agreeing to meet me like this, Soyina,” Dex said now. “The last time I saw you...”
Laughter bubbled from her painted lips. “All fun and games, Dex.” She stared him down for a moment with those unsettling eyes. Then she downed her drink and turned to look at Andi. “You, little miss starlight,” she said, eyeing the tips of Andi’s white and purple braids, hanging from beneath her hood. “You, I have heard stories about. Let me get a look at that pretty little face.”
Andi didn’t move, a silent statue in the darkness.
“You’re better off trying to get in the good graces of the queen of Xen Ptera,” Dex said.
Godstars, what was he doing here, with two of the most fearsome women he’d ever been with? They were so similar it sent a shock running through him. One wrong move, and it was possible they could become...
He shuddered to think it.
...friends.
He could only imagine the hellstorm they’d rain down on him then.
A squeaky yellow droid rolled over and refilled Soyina’s mug, then turned to fill Andi’s.
She lifted a hand to stop it, the silent movement enough to send the droid rolling away into the crowd.
“My brainless colleague and I are not here for idle chitchat,” Andi said, hood still covering her face in shadows. “I believe Dextro here filled you in on the problem at hand?”
Soyina nodded. “He did.”
“And do you have what we require? Dex says you’re in the mood to cause a little trouble.”
Soyina giggled in a way that reminded Dex of the little gunner on Andi’s crew. To his surprise, he’d begun to like having her around. But he’d always had a soft spot for kids with attitudes.
“Show me your face, girl,” Soyina said, “and I’ll be your faithful servant.”
Andi sighed. Dex searched the room for something he could use as a weapon. He knew she could turn on Soyina in a flash, and they couldn’t afford that today.
To his surprise, Andi reached up and slid her hood back from her face, revealing herself to the other woman.
“Ahh,” Soyina said. She swung her feet off the table, then leaned forward to stop with her nose a mere inch from Andi’s face.
Soyina had a passion for darkness, and Androma Racella’s soul was the darkest of them all.
“Beautiful,” So
yina whispered, her breath blowing the hair back from Andi’s face. She ran a sharp fingernail down Andi’s metal cheek implant, the migratory tattoos swimming down her arm as if afraid.
Dex had to hand it to Andi. She didn’t flinch beneath Soyina’s stare. He allowed himself a moment to admire her finely sculpted face before looking away. She was beautiful, but he wasn’t allowed to think of her that way anymore. Not after what he’d done.
“I can almost taste the death on you,” Soyina breathed. “How many lives have you stolen, Bloody Baroness?”
Andi whirled on Dex. “You told her who I was?”
He shrugged, giving her the carefree look he knew she hated with every inch of her soul. “What can I say? Soyina’s a big fan.”
“Have you ever tortured anyone, Baroness?” Soyina asked, pulling Andi’s attention back to her. “I can only imagine the things you could do with that darkness you harbor. The Xen Pterran queen would be wise to hire you on as a colleague of mine. Or a mercenary, perhaps.”
“A colleague?” Andi raised a brow at Dex as she scooted back in her chair, clearly done with Soyina’s closeness.
Dex took a sip of his drink and nodded. “Soyina practices the art of torture,” he explained, smiling as Andi’s eyes widened a bit at his explanation. “She works on Lunamere as one of Queen Nor’s more forward ways of getting information out of the prisoners.”
“A nasty job, most would think,” Soyina said. She ran her fingers down her dark curls. “But it’s not without its certain charms.” She giggled, then folded her hands on the rickety table in front of her. Her tattoos swirled like a nebula across them, then trickled back toward her elbows. “Daggers and sparks of fire. Channels of electricity. The screams of the women are good and well, but the men...oh, they do so love to plead with me.”
Dex sighed as she continued.
“Of course, it’s not all bad,” Soyina said, twisting a braid around her fingertip. “When they die, I don’t always leave them dead.”
Andi raised a pale brow, and Soyina smiled that same gorgeously chilling smile that had drawn Dex to her in the first place. He wondered what she looked like to those on the fringes of death, as they spouted information about whatever they knew of the Unified Systems. It was rumored that, though there was a peace treaty in place, Queen Nor still seethed with the desire for revenge and sought a way to destroy the other systems. They’d never be able to come back from the destruction The Cataclysm had caused for them, though. The damage was too much, the lives lost, too many.
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