The Lost Corsair (The Corsair Uprising Space Opera Series Book 4)

by Trevor Schmidt

Saturn leaned into the table and said with a stony expression, enunciating to demonstrate her determination, “If there is a way to reverse the process, I am going to find it.”

  Ju-Long was silent a moment, seeming to process what she was saying. He had the mind of an engineer, and despite his quirks he was about as analytical as they came. Saturn could tell he was working through a number of scenarios in his head. For a second she thought of a hamster spinning on a wheel in his head and nearly let herself smirk.

  “I don’t even know if it’s possible,” Ju-Long finally said, his initial hesitation morphing into resolve, “But, I’m with you ‘til the end. If there’s a way to get him back we’ll find it.”

  26

  Nine Days Later

  The metal door clanked under Saturn’s closed fist. She felt the meat on the bottom of her hand reverberate and send a chill up her arm all the way to her elbow. It was the third time she’d knocked and Saturn was beginning to grow annoyed.

  “Open up, Nix.”

  Saturn heard a rustling from behind the door. A mechanical click sounded and the door slid aside on its track. The Dinari stood before her, disheveled and tired, with the skin beneath his eyes crowding together like creased leather and remnants of drool caked around his mouth.

  “Jesus, Nix.”

  “What is it?” he asked in what appeared to be an attempt to maintain his composure.

  “Let me in, we need to talk.”

  Before Nix could answer Saturn entered his quarters, brushing past him and moving to the center of the small room, limping along on her still-healing leg. Several idols lined his sole wall shelf and beneath Saturn’s boots lay a rug which seemed strangely familiar, a corkscrew of dark dye coloring the thin weaves and bleeding out into the adjacent threads. Saturn moved closer to the various idols, each made from a different material ranging from a lightweight wood to white marble. They depicted a number of beasts with which Saturn was growing more familiar every day.

  “Where did these come from?” Saturn asked, putting off the real reason for her visit, “They’re very well made.”

  Nix pressed the wall plate and the door slid closed once again.

  “Did you really come to compliment my artifacts? It’s not like you to be interested in curios.”

  Saturn turned and examined his globular gold eyes. Perhaps it would be better discussed later, she considered.

  “No, I didn’t,” Saturn said at last. “It’s about your father.”

  Nix slowly made his way to his worn sleeping pad and found a comfortable position on its thin surface.

  “I expected as much.”

  “You didn’t tell the others.”

  “How could I? You saw what he did. And now I’m back in this ship, constantly reminded of how it and the others were truly made. Hunted down and imprisoned...It’s not the way the stories went. The elders spoke of glory over the sort of evil monsters that give life to the old stories. None of that was true.”

  “Nix, the only way we can make it right is by using their power for good. I think it’s what your father would have wanted.”

  The Dinari shook his head and tears fell along his cheeks, doing nothing to soften his cracked and scaled skin.

  “I have no idea what my father would have wanted. I never knew him, not really. For years I’ve fought the stories when people spoke ill of him, but how can I do that now? Either he was a coward or a monster. I’m not sure which I prefer to believe.”

  “There’s got to be more to the story, Nix. You can’t let one holo ruin your perception of him.”

  Nix leaned back on his sleeping pad and covered his eyes with his arms.

  “I think I’ve had enough chatting for the moment.”

  Saturn nodded solemnly and moved to leave, stopping just short of the door.

  Facing the door, she reminded him, “You know, there’s a bigger mission here than your gripe with your father’s legacy. Death Wish, Zega; there are monsters we know.”

  “I know,” Nix said softly.

  “When the time comes, I’ll need you ready to do the right thing. This system isn’t the only one at stake.”

  Saturn placed her hand on the pad and waited for the metal door to slide aside, then made her way out into the hallway. The door closed quickly behind her. Saturn used one hand to brace herself against a bulkhead and took some of the weight off her pained leg. Was she too hard on him? No, she thought. He’d respect tough love over empathy any day.

  She tried her leg once more and gritted her teeth. It was worth powering through the pain if it meant she didn’t have to use Ju-Long’s poor excuse for a crutch anymore. Saturn continued to limp down the hallway and turned into the cargo bay. There, she saw Astrid’s bottom half sticking out of a large cargo crate while Ju-Long tinkered with some spare parts, occasionally stopping to glance at the Ansaran’s behind.

  “Where did you say they were?” Astrid asked, voice obstructed by the walls of the thick crate.

  “Over to the left, I think,” Ju-Long replied with a snicker.

  Saturn shook her head and kept limping through the cargo bay, her boots clinking and clanking as she moved across the grates.

  “How is he?” Ju-Long asked when he noticed her walking past.

  “Same old.”

  Astrid came up for air and moved into a sitting position.

  “You never did tell us exactly what happened down there.”

  Ju-Long nodded, “It’s clear there’s more to that story.”

  Saturn didn’t stop, continuing her hobble past Ju-Long and Astrid.

  “I can’t. It’s not for me to tell.”

  “I don’t like being kept in the dark,” Ju-Long commented, “We’re a crew, remember?”

  Astrid nodded her agreement.

  Saturn stopped and regarded Ju-Long.

  “He’ll be fine by the time we reach Rumani. He just needs to get his priorities straight.”

  Ju-Long muttered something under his breath and began soldering two wires together on whichever pet project he was now working. As Saturn began to move toward the curving hallway to the cockpit, she heard Astrid and Ju-Long continue their bickering.

  “If I have to eat that meat substitute one more time I’m going to vomit,” Astrid griped. “Now tell me where you stashed the good stuff.”

  Saturn couldn’t help but smirk as she rounded the corner.

  The cockpit was quiet, seldom few lights blinking and the autopilot managing their course and engine output. Saturn shuffled past the fifth seat, bolted awkwardly in the center aisle behind the other four chairs. It had never actually been used, she realized. Though, probably as soon as they could remove it and scrap it for parts they’d find a need for it. Nix had brought up the subject of its removal once and she’d quickly shut him down. If Liam returned they’d need it after all.

  Saturn lowered herself down into the pilot’s seat and took note of their position. She brought up the sensor array and checked for nearby vessels or anomalies. Nothing. They should have caught up to Death Wish’s ship by now if the reports were correct. Something didn’t feel right about the whole thing.

  She turned off the sensor array and sat back in the leather chair, the creak of the Arondak lizard’s pulled skin almost nostalgic for Saturn as she found her favorite position in its embrace. Her eyes drifted to her blank console. Saturn twisted and looked toward the rear of the cockpit. Beyond the fifth seat the hallway was empty. She turned back to the front.

  Stars moved slow but steady as The Garuda moved through space, the planet off in the distance growing larger with every passing hour, though still days away. Saturn checked the console again, hoping for any sign of him. She turned on the screen and absently sorted through the menus. She typed in several appeals to him, without answer. A number of minutes passed and her eyes remained locked on the screen, growing blurrier with each passing second as tears filled her eyes. In that moment she would have given anything just for a sign. Anything. She slammed her fist down on
the console and swore loudly.

  “Damn it Liam, where are you?” Saturn sobbed.

  27

  Fortuna Outpost, Fourteenth Moon of Rumani

  Sluzba Loruk watched the Dinari ship’s thrusters fire as it slowed its descent onto the wide platform. The Ansaran’s black eyes flicked over to Kalesa, his Dinari assistant. She was busy scouring her bracer’s computer for the docking manifest and flight logs, the orange image projected up from her left forearm. She wouldn’t find anything. Sluzba recognized the ship, though he hadn’t seen it in years. The casual onlooker might not have noticed such a ship. Its general shape was similar to many Dinari designs. Sluzba Loruk had seen thousands of ships and he’d see thousands more, but it was the flow of the Aether along their struts which set them all apart. That and the sound of their engines. He waved a long-fingered hand to his assistant.

  “This one will remain off the books,” Sluzba informed her.

  The Ansaran’s awkward features became exaggerated at times, especially when craning his neck to get a better view of incoming vessels. The quartermaster’s thin frame nearly allowed for his garments to slip off his shoulders, though any self-respecting Dinari assistant would never let such an embarrassment occur.

  “As you say,” Kalesa replied, waving a hand over her forearm to turn off the image. After reaching over to fix Sluzba’s tunic, she placed her arms behind her back with a sense of calm, taking in her surroundings with care, the way a good Dinari should behave.

  The Dinari ship touched down on the platform and exhaust ports vented all around the vessel’s underbelly, spewing a white mist into the air which dissipated in seconds. A few moments later, the hydraulic ramp lowered and three figures appeared, illuminated by the orb-light within.

  Kalesa asked, “Shall I prepare quarters for them?”

  “No need, Nix never stays long. However, I do have a job for you.”

  The Dinari smirked back at him.

  “As you say, sir.”

  •

  “Let me do the talking,” Nix told them, “The quartermaster and I go way back, but it wasn’t always smooth, if you know what I mean.”

  Ju-Long and Saturn nodded their agreement and followed him down the ramp and onto the long bridge from the landing platform. Some ways ahead they saw an Ansaran with oversized clothing speaking to a mousy Dinari girl. She looked in their direction and then scurried off toward the wide doors which led to the main, domed complex.

  The surface of Rumani’s fourteenth moon was relatively unimpressive, but Nix had always liked it. It was pockmarked from a number of asteroid impacts over the millennia, but the terraformers had created a decent atmosphere. The several-century process was still in progress on most of the moons, but that didn’t stop various trading outposts from cropping up. Though the fourteenth moon had no valuable minerals or resources its topography allowed for a relatively protected colony, and the barons of trade weren’t keen on letting opportunities like that slip by them.

  The roughly ten thousand permanent residents of Fortuna Outpost lived in a single city within a large, clear dome. Roughly half of the dome was protected under an outcropping in the rock, dug out over time by asteroid strikes. Depending on the time of year, crop yields, and mining hauls, the population could spike dramatically with traders from various planets and moons in the Ansara system. However, the bulk of the traffic was between the main colony on the planet Rumani and its fourteen other moons, each with outposts performing various functions in the sub-economy of the Rumani region. The fourteenth moon might not be as valuable as the others in terms of resources, but it had perhaps the best gambling of any of the small lunar colonies. Nix enjoyed Fortuna Outpost.

  There were dozens of landing platforms, each with catwalks leading to the central area where Sluzba now waited for them. Along the thin walkway there were a number of supply crates and tools used in ship repair scattered about seemingly without order. A row of metal tanks lined part of the circular platform, a small rectangular section of glass on their walls revealing the purple energy swirling within.

  “What did you say this place was?” Saturn asked.

  “Do you want the official answer, or the truth?”

  “You pick,” Ju-Long said with a chortle.

  “Officially this is a trading outpost. Minerals and spices from Rumani come here first for sorting and packing onto cargo freighters. They then fly off to the rest of the planets in the system and bring back goods from other worlds for the Rumanians.”

  “And unofficially?” Saturn asked, curiosity stroking her voice.

  “The best outpost in the system for gambling, boozing, and any number of other unsavory activities you could imagine.”

  Ju-Long picked up a rusted spanner from atop a cargo crate and examined it more closely. Nix quickly retrieved it from his hand and returned it to its proper place.

  “Don’t touch anything,” Nix warned, “This place is run by House Loruk.”

  “Is that supposed to mean anything to me?” Ju-Long quipped.

  “They’re an influential Ansaran clan who own half the outposts in this region of space. If ever there’s a deal made, they’ll extract their cut.”

  “Or what?”

  “Believe me, you’re better off not knowing. Just follow my lead and everything will be fine. For whatever else this place is, if you’re looking for information there’s hardly a better place in the system.”

  Saturn sighed and said, “In my experience the kind of information we need comes with a price.”

  “I’m well aware,” Nix said, patting his chest and jingling the bag of Ansaran Rooks in his inner pocket. He smiled and continued down the narrow walkway.

  The odd Ansaran approached them with long arms widespread, his elongated fingers accentuated by thin purple claws. His needle-like teeth were bared in a wide grin and his black eyes shifted between Nix and the rest of the crew with interest. He was more than a head taller than any of the crew, his long legs appearing to add much to his stature.

  “Nix, it’s been years,” Sluzba Loruk said, taking Nix’s hand in his and bracing his upper forearm tightly. “I see you’re still flying that old thing.”

  “Wouldn’t have it any other way, Sluzba.”

  The Ansaran cocked his head and peered down at Nix.

  “She does have an interesting sound to her, doesn’t she?”

  “You could say that,” Nix tenuously agreed.

  “What brings you to Fortuna Outpost? Surely you’re not looking to lose your cloak again at Dhokha?”

  “Fidia cheated and you know it. Hell, the whole outpost knows it.”

  Sluzba’s dark eyes opened as wide as his jagged smile.

  “Even if that were so, should we blame the cheat or the man who knowingly plays with a cheat?”

  Nix folded his arms over his chest.

  “You know for a long time I’ve wondered if he was on your payroll, out suckering newcomers.”

  Sluzba’s saccharine voice cooed, “My dear Nix, that would be unethical.”

  “You slimy piece of—”

  “Nix,” Saturn interrupted.

  Sluzba tilted his gaze to Saturn and moved to examine her more closely, his curiosity overflowing.

  “You are a remarkable one, aren’t you? The traders coming from Garuda Colony have spoken about the Hoomans in great detail, but none of their descriptions matches your...radiance.”

  “Humans,” Saturn corrected with venom in her voice.

  “My, you do like them feisty, don’t you Nix? Do you know what I could get for her in Ulaan Alley? The men would line up for such an exotic specimen.”

  Nix preemptively gripped Saturn’s arm and retorted, “She’s not for sale.”

  Ju-Long cracked his knuckles and stared down the Ansaran quartermaster. Sluzba’s eyes finally left Saturn and he stepped in front of Ju-Long.

  “Yes, I know of you as well. The unlikely champion of the Tournament of Fists. I lost a lot of money betting against you, you k
now.”

  “Good,” Ju-Long spat.

  “A mistake which won’t happen again, I assure you. You know there are fighting rings on Fortuna Outpost if you have the time. A few years with me and you’d be an incredibly rich man.”

  “Sluzba,” Nix interjected, “We’re here for other reasons.”

  Sluzba Loruk deflated a little and gave a solemn nod.

  “Yes, I understand. Perhaps you’ll stop by The Lucky Rook on your way. Plinket games start on the hour and a fresh shipment of Coressan Ale has just arrived.”

  “If there’s time,” Nix assured him, doing his best to remain cordial.

  “Very well. It’s good to see you again. And for the new faces, as long as you follow the rules, we invite you to spend your Rooks and enjoy our famous hospitality.”

  Sluzba’s eyes found Nix and added with a bitter note on his tongue, “Nix can explain everything in detail, he should know better than anyone what happens when the rules are flaunted.”

  The Ansaran nodded and then slithered away, crossing his hands behind his back and humming a peculiar tune to himself as he did.

  “What a strange person,” Ju-Long remarked.

  Nix shook his head.

  “You don’t know the half of it.”

  28

  Saturn tried not to notice the piercing stares on the packed, narrow streets of Fortuna Outpost. There were enough flashing lights and colorful banners to hold her interest without worrying about the mixed Dinari and Ansaran colonists and traders. The outpost reminded Saturn of an Earth nightclub in all the worst ways; loud, sweaty, and full of skeevy men looking to score.

  The buildings rose up three stories on either side of the street, while the clear dome hung a hundred meters above her head. Even with all the distractions on the street the stars were clearly visible and at least partially redeemed what was otherwise a cesspool of degenerates, gamblers, and the kind of filth she thought she’d long left behind on Earth.

  A large Ansaran bumped into her shoulder and spat, “Watch it, Outsider.”

  Saturn squinted her eyes in his direction, trying her best to quell her sudden rage. The Ansaran continued on through the crowd.