by Celeste Raye
“Yup.” Jessica sighed. Her narrow shoulders slumped. “I’d also say they know exactly what they’re doing. It’s been exactly half an hour since they took the ship and they just launched the hull. Look.”
They all turned to the long windows. The ship they’d been on had been scrapped and stripped down to a bare gleam of metal. There was nothing left to identify it. The ship they were on let out a series of loud rumbles and the tubes opened to disgorge a dozen of the wreckers.
Jessica whispered. “That’s fourteen, and they stripped it in half an hour.”
Holy shit. It was impressive, no doubt. But what did that mean for them? Clara’s teeth chewed at her bottom lip. She scanned them carefully, her eyes assessing them. Jessica had been right. They were all definitely from the same system, but not the same planet. Some were shorter than the others, and some had eyes that were a lighter blue. They all spoke that language.
Clara asked, “What’re they saying?”
Jessica shrugged. “I brought you over here so they wouldn’t hear me saying I understood them. Unfortunately, I can’t hear anything but their voices either so I don’t know.”
The four gave each other long glances. Jessica asked, “What’re you in for?”
Clara said, “Running tables and carrying currency.”
Margie said, “I’m not a good citizen, and Ariel got sold off to clear debt.”
Jessica nodded. “Well then. I guess we are each other’s best bets for survival. The others didn’t seem to be too willing to fight or have the guts for it either. I wouldn’t leave them behind if I had a choice to save them, but I wouldn’t exactly trust them to be around if we do have to go to war with these guys.”
Clara nodded agreement. She already saw Jessica as an ally and the other two as potential ones. Margie and Ariel both had every reason to want to get out of there and to go somewhere else. But where?
Clara’s eyes went back to Renall. He stood close to Talon and a few other wreckers. The ship gave a long shudder and headed upward, parting the darkness of space as it slid through it.
Narnlia appeared, a small blue and orange planet to the right. Clara stared at it, relieved at not being sent there but still afraid that the next option might be even worse.
Talon came close. He said, “Renall wants to see you.”
His fingers pointed at Clara. Her heart sank. Why was she being singled out? She didn’t know, but she did know she didn’t have a choice but to agree. She said, “Fine.”
She followed Talon toward Renall. Renall said, “I’d like a private word.”
Great. He likely wanted sex. She eyed him warily. Did his kind have sex? Her nipples stiffened in an unbidden and unwanted way at the thought. She said, “Ok.”
He jerked his head toward a small hallway. Clara followed him down it. The hallway led to a series of smaller rooms, many of them with beds. Quarters, she surmised.
They reached a large bay. Renall stopped and turned toward her. His eyes raked her from head to toe. He held his hand out. There, on his elongated palm, set crypto-files. Her heartbeat ticked up. “What?’
“You’re a carder.”
The words hit hard. Ire surged up. “So what? Why do you care?”
“You any good?”
Her eyebrows rose. “Depends.”
Renall’s eyes bored into hers. “On what?”
“On who you ask.” Why did he care if she was a carder? It made no sense at all. She eyed the crypto-files. “You must have gotten those off the ship.”
“I did.” His fingers closed around them. “I have a proposition for you.”
She bet he did. “What is it?”
“You run a game for a year, high win rate. You walk with your crypto and with that identity chip your government put under your spine gone.”
Her mouth went dry. “That’s impossible. Removal triggers a mini-bomb.”
Renall grinned. “Our surgeon’s removed a lot of them quite successfully. Your planet is the least advanced in all ways you know.”
Was he serious? Her eyes narrowed. “Nobody does anything for free.”
“Didn’t say it was free. I said high wins, and a whole year.”
True. He had said that. Clara considered that for a moment. “Then what? I just walk?”
“Yes. Like I said. Here’s the thing, without that crypto and without that device, you could use any ID you want. You could get a surgery or two; give yourself an appearance of any planter system. You could even re-enter your home planet and buy a few slaves, right out of the cells.”
Her mouth went dry. Her family! She swallowed hard. “They might not be there after a year.”
“Carders don’t get bought. Besides, I know where they are all at, and I could make it so that they don’t get sold.”
Could he really? She wanted to believe that, but she knew all too well that lies were the first thing people used to gain loyalty, especially when the person they wanted loyalty from had something they really needed and wanted. “I don’t believe you.”
“Then how about this? In three months, if you earn high, I’ll bring your mother to you. She can tell you how the rest are doing.”
Goddamn him. He was hitting her at the hardest points of her hurt. She pursed her lips. This was a negotiation, and she knew it. Might as well negotiate. “You get my mom, and you got two carders willing to work it out for the rest of the family.”
Renall’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t suggest your father first.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Mom’s not only better, she’s in frailer health. She might not make it another three months at the serio-camp she’s in. It’s rough in there.”
Renall said, “It won’t be cheap to get her out. She’ll have to work out her costs.”
“Before anything goes to the bigger pot. Yeah, I can agree to that and she will too.” Besides, Mom runs the best table anywhere. She kept that thought behind her lips. She added, “We didn’t discuss my cut.”
“I told you what you get.”
“Bullshit.” Her hackles came up. “I want at least ten percent too. That’s fair.”
Silence filled the spaces between them. Under her feet, the ship let out soft vibrations. There were no windows where they stood, so she had no idea what direction the ship had turned to, and even if she had been able to see, this was an unfamiliar star and planetary system. She only knew Narnlia by reputation and from cryptographs she’d seen of it.
His lips twisted upward. “You can have four.”
“Seven and a half.”
“Five, and that is my final and very fair offer. After all, I’m tossing in the removal and the crypto-file for good measure.”
It was as fair as she would get and five percent of something was better than a hundred percent of nothing.
She’d woken up on a supposed bride ship heading to a colony she had no interest in, and in despair over her family. Since then she’d watched the ship she’d been on go down in figurative flames, and found out the government on her planet was essentially selling sex slaves to Narnlia. And now she was facing a being who turned her on and that she absolutely could not trust, and was about to strike a bargain he might never hold to.
In for a coin, in for a clutch of them, though, right?
She held out a hand. He took it. Little shocks ran through her body. Desire lifted its head once again, and she tamped it down. “Deal,” she said.
Chapter 2 - Renall
Renall watched Clara walk in front of him. She was stunning, and his body ached as he took in her lush curves. He sighed inwardly. He needed her in his gambling ship, not in his bed. He had a dream to accomplish. A world of his own. One small enough to be prosperous and livable but not so large to offer resources or profit to anyone who might consider plundering it.
He knew just the place too. But first, he had to get his coin in order.
Renall stopped at a door. He said, “This will be your chamber, unless Talon has as
signed it to someone else. It doesn’t look like he has.” He shot a look down the corridor. Weeping came from one chamber and sounds from others. He sighed inwardly. He hadn’t counted on walking off with women. They weren’t supposed to be on the ship. Once again, he was stuck with a human cargo, much of it worthless. Unless he wanted to trade it off to slavers, which he was violently opposed to doing.
So what to do with them all?
“Thanks.” Clara stood at the door. “What do we do until we get to wherever it is we are going?”
Hell if I know. He said, “I will have you informed of meal times and such.” Then he strode off.
Talon stood near the bridge guiding the ship in that easy way of his. Renall often envied Talon that talent. Renall was blessed with different abilities, and between the four brothers—Renall, Talon, Marik, and Jeval—they were steadily acquiring the necessary funds to get that world they all wanted.
One world. Four peaceful kingdoms on it. No more pirating, dashing in and out of far-flung galaxies where only the roughest and the most outcast of the space trash hung out and where shady deals were just all part and parcel of the game that played out.
The oreonium they had harvested from the transport ship would be taken to one of those planets where it would be given a fake log, and a shipper would take a large cut of the profit that they’d earned. That planet killed most off-planet inhabitants so few ever really knew for certain whether or not there was actually oreonium there or not, a boon. There wasn’t, at all, but who’d live to say if they went investigating?
Talon spoke. “I sent the others to a chamber.”
“I put her in one too.” Renall shook his dark head. “Give me the rundown on the others.”
Talon’s lips compressed. “We have a Capo onboard.”
Renall’s shoulders tensed. “Oh?”
“Yes.” Talon slanted a look at him. “She’s been in a healing cryo. She was beaten pretty badly. I ran a scanner on her memory, without mentioning it to her of course. If she’s a spy, she’s been wiped pretty clean. That doesn’t mean she won’t turn out to be the obvious Capo spy on our ship. It just means that she doesn’t know she’s a Capo spy on our ship.”
Renall considered that. The four brothers made no decisions alone. Everything was subjected to a vote. “How are you and the others leaning on her?”
Talon shrugged. “I saw what she went through. It may very well be that they wanted her gone for something she knew. But they wiped her so she wouldn’t recall it so whatever it was, they had to have her so far away she could not speak on it if she remembered.”
And a brothel would have made sure she had no voice. Besides, they had come across the transport almost by accident. It had been cruising fast and headed right for Narnlia, and with no manifest listing the women as being aboard. The decision to strip it so close to that planet had been risky and last minute. So the odds of the Capo using her to bait them into that stripping were nil.
“I think it’s just a coincidence, and a rather unlucky one. Let’s see if we can use her for something. She can sure fight.”
Talon chuckled. “I agree. She clocked me a good one.”
Renall took a seat. Marik appeared, a frown on his face. Renall asked, “What is it?”
Marik lifted a hand to his hand and rubbed at his forehead but didn’t manage to work the frown off his face. “One of them won’t make it.”
Renall asked, “Why not?”
Marik’s lips twisted angrily. “She’s carrying Low-rot.”
Talon said, “I hope you quarantined her.”
“I need to do more than that.” Marik’s eyes were troubled. “She can’t be on here when it starts getting worse. Why her government saw fit to sell her off in that condition is beyond me.”
Renall shook his head. “They likely didn’t know, not if she was not showing signs. The cryo pods would have kept it from getting worse.”
Marik’s lips went flat. “No, they knew. They just didn’t care. Her family sold her to get a brother out of pawn. Seems he’s a better-tiered worker. She is sick. So.”
Renall shook his head yet again. Humans never ceased to amaze him. “What do you propose?’
“Fast gas,” Marik said, “She won’t know it’s happening. We’ll jettison her. Best thing, really.”
He didn’t say that lightly. Taking a life was serious business. They all had, of course. Nobody could be in their business and not, but they usually reserved blood and death for heated battles, not the way that Marik was describing killing—and a woman too.
Renall blew out an exasperated breath. “Where’s Jeval?”
“Here.” Jeval appeared. “Just finished helping total up the take. Minus the cut for the crew and those bastards on Hylion, we still come out flush. Not bad for a little work.”
“We need to fast gas a woman that was on the ship,” Renall said.
Jeval groaned. “You know we don’t kill hostages unless they’re a danger.”
“She has low rot,” Marik said.
Jeval recoiled. Then he said, “That makes it different then, doesn’t it? Will it be painless for her?”
Marik nodded. “Fast too. I’ll make sure.”
Jeval asked, “Are we all in agreement?”
They were. That brought Jessica into play. Again, they all agreed she might be useful, and that the odds of her being a Capo spy were low enough to keep her onboard and not fast gas and jettison her along with the other woman.
Renall explained the situation with Clara and, as he did, her face swam up into his mind’s eye. Desire hardened his body. Ire came with it. The last thing he needed was an attraction to a human. Humans were untrustworthy and fickle. They had the temperament of children and lived far too short lives for them to ever be romantic life partners.
Besides, they had all agreed to marry the daughters of the ruler of the planet not far from the one they were eyeing. They needed alliances, and that meant that Clara Waters, the alluring human, had to stay out of his bed, and head. Not that he was considering bedding her. He needed her cooperation more than he needed sexual encounters in his life.
Chapter 3 - Renall
Clara and the others were rounded up hours later and led, by Marik, to a tiny and fairly dingy room. Marik went to a wall and punched in buttons. He said, “We load as much fresh stuff as we can of course, but we have to rely on the printers for food often. They go out equally often. We do our best, and you won’t starve, but we have some rules around cargo here.”
Clara glanced at Margie. As soon as she’d turned her back, the door to her chamber had closed, and there had been no way to open it from the inside. Jessica wore a wary expression. Ariel and Margie looked stunned and exhausted, and there were clear tracks along Ariel’s cheeks that indicated she’d been crying. Clara had no idea where the other women were and worry set in. What were Renall’s plans for them?
Marik continued, “Only take what you need. We don’t ask that you starve or do without if you’re hungry, but if it’s not something you need, don’t take it.”
The printer whirred. Food appeared. Clara eyed it suspiciously. Marik lifted the top of the small box he held to reveal some sort of oddly shaped things that were either fruit or vegetables. Clara was not sure which. He said, “I’ll leave you now. Do any of you know how to work the printer?”
They all nodded. He said, “Very well,” and walked out. The door closed behind him. Clara darted to the door and felt around. “Dammit. No inner latch on this one either.”
Jessica asked, “Did you expect there to be? I think we’re in the hostage quarters.”
That made sense. Clara drew back to the short-legged table and took a chair. They all reached for food. Ariel poked a finger into the box. “What is this?”
Jessica said, “No idea, but if it doesn’t bleed or fight back, we should probably eat it.”
Clara chose a small thing from the box. It was the size of her fist and a violent purple color. It was crisp and sweet when sh
e bit into it. “It’s pretty good. It tastes like an apple, sort of.”
Ariel gawked at her. “You’ve had an apple?”
Clara felt a smile form. “Once, and I only got one bite. There was a very rich man who liked the tables, and he had a greenery house on his property. I heard tell he had apples by the thousands there but all he brought to the table one night was one.”
That had been a good night. Clara’s eyes filled with tears she blinked back. She asked, “Have they said anything to any of you about what they want?”
Jessica nodded. Her skin looked like it had been stretched too tight across the high bones of her face and she applied herself to the food issued by the printer with real gusto despite its being nothing more than a pasty series of vitamins and proteins shaped like small round cakes. Between bites, Jessica said, “I think they have different plans for us than the rest. And each other. Talon came to see me. He offered me a chance to act as a security officer, on the ship and beyond. At their gaming house.”
Clara’s eyes fastened on the fruit in her hand. “I’m to run a table.” She didn’t mention the rest of the terms.
Margie spoke up. “He asked if I could really sing like my crypto file said.”
“Singing is illegal,” Ariel pointed out.
“Only on our planet,” Jessica replied. “What else did he say?”
Margie’s lips compressed. “He said if I want to be a singer in one of the halls, he will give me money and my crypto at the end of a year.”
But not the surgery? Clara didn’t ask. She had a feeling that Margie had been offered that and was keeping it to herself in case the rest hadn’t been. Smart girl.
Ariel sighed. “Talon talked to me too. Said I could marry if I chose. That I could find a husband in the halls if I wanted one. Or that I could be a Gurley girl.”
In other words, a prostitute. Clara looked away. Ariel added, “But he also said I could have part of what I make if I chose the latter. Better than what our government offered, I guess, but still not a big choice.”
Jessica took a break from the food to ask, “Anyone talk to the others?’
