Pirate's Fortune

by Gun Brooke

  Perhaps she should merely regard this experience as nothing but an extraordinary start of an ordinary day among the worst scum of outer space. If nothing else, it took her mind off any potential regrets about letting Weiss in on her most guarded secret.

  *

  Ayahliss studied Reena as they sat down to have breakfast. Soon she would join the team that guarded the diplomats, but for now it was only the two of them. Ayahliss scrutinized Reena’s forehead, which didn’t even show a scar.

  Shuddering at the memory of the deep gash that had bled all over Reena’s face, Ayahliss gripped the mug of coffee tighter. She had thought for several tormenting seconds that Reena was mortally wounded. Not sure where her strength had come from, she had carried Reena aboard the MEDEVAC shuttle. The medics pushed her out of the way, which put her self-control to the test. Only the fact that they acted in Reena’s best interest made her step back and observe as they treated her.

  “We have half an hour before we’re due in the shuttle bay.” Reena looked up, her eyes warming as she regarded Ayahliss. “Don’t,” she said softly.

  “Don’t what?” Ayahliss said, stalling.

  “Don’t look at me like you don’t expect to see me ever again. Kellen and Captain Todd have made sure that we’ll have twice as many security officers with us when the negotiations take place.”

  “I want to go with you.”

  “You have your own assignment with the resistance fighters. If anyone should be concerned, it’s me. You’re doing far more dangerous things than I.” Reena clearly meant to keep the mood light, but she had a haunted expression as she took Ayahliss’s hand.

  “I will use caution,” Ayahliss vowed quietly.

  “I will hold you to it.” Reena sounded just as serious. “You are important to me, Ayahliss. I…I cannot lose you.”

  Ayahliss felt like tiny icicles she never knew about melted inside, creating a flood of tears that she simply couldn’t allow herself to shed. She held on tight to Reena’s hand. “I fear for you. I fear losing you. I can’t even imagine never knowing what caring for you would be like.” Ayahliss held her breath, knowing full well she was being presumptuous.

  “That’s just it. We both need to be careful. We have to make sure we’re alive and well, and ready to come back to each other. I know it’s early yet, but war leaves you with a huge magnifying lens when looking at your life and what matters.” Reena caressed the back of Ayahliss’s hand with her thumb. “You know you matter to me—more than I can say.”

  Ayahliss gasped, and even if she somewhere was aware of the other people in the mess hall, she saw only Reena. The cascading, wild red hair, her long lashes shadowing the brilliance of her eyes, and most of all, the untamed exuberance that seemed to endlessly call to Ayahliss.

  “I never expected this. I mean, to feel this way.” Ayahliss clung to Reena’s hand. “You understand?”

  “I do. When we have the opportunity to be alone again, I will share in great detail just how well I understand.” Her eyes twinkling, Reena smiled, a thoroughly naughty and infectious smile. “I look forward to it.”

  “So do I.”

  They finished their meal, and outside in the corridor they walked their separate ways: Reena to her quarters to gather her documents, Ayahliss to hers to assemble her gear. This could be the last time they saw each other, but Ayahliss deliberately shook off the feeling. Instead, she promised herself that next time she and Reena were alone together, she would confess her love.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “We are ready to dock with the Ondamann in five minutes, Captain,” said the Salaceos’s helmsman.

  “Cloak still operative.” Madisyn kept her eyes on the readings.

  “Unless we want them to start firing from sheer embarrassment that we sneaked up on them like this, I suggest we decloak now,” Weiss said, her voice dry. “Onotharians spook easily.”

  Podmer frowned in Weiss’s direction. “I never said this was an Onotharian ship.”

  “Please.” Weiss gestured dismissively. “The name? The configuration? Pretty obvious.”

  “Ha.” Podmer cleared his throat. “Pimm, you heard your buddy. Decloak.”

  “Aye, Captain.” Madisyn punched in the command that switched off the cloaking feature. Buddy? She had a flashback of how she had awoken that morning with Weiss tucked in close behind her. The sensation had been more alien to Madisyn than any new-world life form, and she remembered how she had pressed against Weiss, reveling in the sensation of her slender body.

  “The Ondamann is hailing us, Captain.” Struyen manned the ops station, his eyes narrow and contemptuous as he glanced up. He had always kept his distance from Madisyn, and the way he looked at Weiss suggested he was more than wary of her. Perhaps since she could take him down with one hand tied behind her back.

  “On screen.” Podmer stood, adjusting his jacket. “This is Podmer of the space vessel Salaceos.”

  “Lix M’Ossar. Welcome to the Volice asteroid belt. You are, however, quite late, and we need to put our plans in motion instantly.” A diminutive man, his voice as crisp as his exterior, came into view, all decked out in white.

  “Our apologies. We had to calibrate our system to allow for the magnetic disturbance within the belt.”

  “Most successfully. We didn’t expect you to be able to use your cloaking device.” His voice dry, M’Ossar seemed reluctantly impressed. “Elect your most trusted associates and report to our conference room.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Madisyn could see that Podmer didn’t appreciate the obvious order. Admiral Jacelon wanted the specs for each Onotharian ship they ran into so, scanning the ship, she used the algorithm she had written for moments like this. If the other ship had sensed her scan, it would have been a very unfortunate situation. Now Madisyn piggybacked on the cloaking device she had just shut down, though not entirely. This way the beam was virtually undetectable and could easily be mistaken for normal background space noise, especially this close to a magnetized asteroid belt.

  “Weiss, Struyen, you’re with me. Pimm, you have the bridge. Keep an eye on these fools. They possess great wealth, but also the habit of wanting a lot for a little. Be prepared to lock on to their weapons array.”

  “Yes, sir.” Madisyn took the command chair as the other three left the bridge. Junior bridge officers took Weiss’s and her stations. Madisyn knew better than to turn her head and look at Weiss, but she augmented her hearing temporarily, which was enough to hear a few fading words in the elevator.

  “Onotharians are famous for playing it safe, and in this situation it’s a matter of stunning first and asking questions later.” Podmer laughed, a joyless sound. “Keep your weapons on stun, but your backup piece on a lethal pulse setting.”

  Affirming murmurs suggested Weiss and Struyen followed orders.

  “Any last-minute ideas, Weiss?”

  “We won’t be able to sneak any weapons by them.” Weiss sounded calm. “How’s your combat hand-to-hand training, Struyen?”

  “As good as anything you throw at me.” Struyen’s voice was thin, but abrasive.

  “It’s not me you have to worry about.” Smooth and patient, Weiss’s voice began to fade, getting out of reach. “I need to know you can fight.”

  “I can…”

  It was impossible for Madisyn to strain her hearing any more. She knew firsthand that Weiss’s close-combat skills were impeccable. As for Struyen, like so many other pirates, he relied on his weapons. Any potential fighting would most likely rest on Weiss’s shoulders.

  *

  Weiss walked behind Podmer through the vast corridors of the Ondamann. The Onotharians’ preference for gilded ornaments and their affinity for decorating even their warships were evident throughout the craft. Even the bulkheads shimmered in iridescent blue. Huffing under her breath, Weiss lengthened her stride, secretly pleased that Struyen had problems keeping an even pace with her and the much-taller Podmer.

  The Onothar
ian guards, dressed in battle gear as if they expected to be placed on a hostile planet at any moment, stomped evenly in front of them as they escorted them to the conference room. Weiss had counted twelve guards, six in the front and six behind them, which she found still more proof of Onotharian overkill.

  Eventually, they reached a conference room big enough to host a hundred people. Podmer stepped inside, and Weiss let Struyen elbow his way in ahead of her. Two other guards moved up and scanned them. The procedure took long enough to make Podmer growl impatiently, but eventually one of the guards asked them to sit down.

  Weiss took in her surroundings, reluctantly impressed by the size of the large screens along the left wall. A multitude of small viewports ran along the opposite side, where Weiss could barely spot the Salaceos if she leaned forward.

  “Attention! General M’Aldovar present.” The Onotharian guards stood straight as rods, their eyes rigidly directed forward.

  M’Aldovar? The familiar name puzzled Weiss. Where had she heard it before?

  A dark-haired man, handsome and young-looking for his impressive rank, entered. He rode in a hover chair, a hissing sound revealing that he was hooked up to an oxygenizer, and placed himself at the head of the long table.

  “I’m General Trax M’Aldovar,” the man said, his voice low and clearly strained. Faint traces of scarring just above his tall collar suggested that his neck had once been injured.

  “I’m Podmer. This is Weiss Kyakh and Lucco Struyen, two of my senior crewmembers.”

  “Weiss Kyakh. I see.” M’Aldovar nodded slowly. “Your reputation precedes you.”

  “General.” Weiss didn’t let on whether the general’s recognition pleased her or not, but merely nodded politely.

  Podmer and M’Aldovar began to discuss what they had stolen on the Nemalima moon and the data Podmer had confiscated aboard the Koenigin. Weiss listened to the two men with a meticulously bored facial expression, knowing this was something Madisyn would need to report back to Jacelon.

  “And you let the ship resume course toward SC space?” The general raised his voice for the first time, giving it a raspy, startling sound. “Are you insane?”

  “We meant to jettison her bridge crew—” Podmer tried to explain.

  “Meant to?” M’Aldovar’s strained outrage sounded more menacing than if he had actually been able to yell at them.

  “General, even if they got word back to the SC, they haven’t had enough time for a new vessel to deliver the altered command codes.” Podmer pushed his hand forward in an apologetic manner.

  “That is the only thing that redeems you, Podmer.” M’Aldovar glanced over at Weiss. “And why has someone of your reputation hooked up with someone like him?”

  “A free ride well out of SC territory.”

  M’Aldovar laughed, a horrifying hissing sound that reminded Weiss of a Torrvordian lizard that had bitten her as a child. It had made that exact sound just before it sank its fangs into her arm. She’d been five, but the memory was vivid enough for her to recognize the lizard’s look in M’Aldovar’s eyes. Wait. Wait a damn minute. M’Aldovar? Weiss recalled the extensive background material from her SC operative training. Trax M’Aldovar was the name of the man who had nearly killed Jacelon the first time she’d gone with her spouse to Gantharat. Instead, Kellen O’Dal had killed him. Or so everybody assumed. Unless this was an imposter, Trax M’Aldovar, formerly of the Onotharian Clandestine Service, was now a general of the very same. And with a strong motive for revenge.

  “Good point.” M’Aldovar returned his attention to Podmer. “I need the davic crystals and the intel. Deliver them and—”

  “Half now. Half when we get paid.” Podmer inflated his chest. Lowering his chin, he looked at M’Aldovar as if he was measuring his true power.

  “What?” M’Aldovar looked more puzzled than angry.

  “Half now, half later. Standard procedure.”

  “All right.” The general dragged out the words as if really contemplating them. “All of the data, half the crystals.” He spoke gently, gasping against the oxygenizer in an increasing speed.

  “Sir, please.” One of the guards, who Weiss now saw boasted a senior physician’s badge, stepped up next to M’Aldovar. “Remember how we practiced this. Nice and slow.”

  “Damn it.” M’Aldovar bit down around the last word fast enough to make the other man jump. “Leave me alone.” He clasped his right hand around the armrest, the other lying rigid around a contraption that probably kept the hand from shriveling up completely.

  “You listen to me, Podmer. I don’t intend to waste what little oxygen I have on you. You will deliver the crystals and hand over the data according to our initial terms.” M’Aldovar glared at Podmer, and Weiss thought that the way his amber eyes sparkled, they should burn a hole in him.

  “That’s not—”

  “That’s how it will be.” M’Aldovar could obviously use his voice well despite being short of breath. His low growl impressed even Weiss, who had stared down more men than she cared to remember. “It’s either that, or you will sit there with useless intel and crystals you won’t be able to move.”

  “Fine,” Podmer said. “This is not how I conduct business, but very well.” He managed to make it sound like he was doing a friend a favor, but Weiss could see from the small drops of perspiration around his temples that he was shaken. She assumed this was a first for the pompous pirate.

  “Excellent,” M’Aldovar said smoothly. “My associate—M’Ossar, here—will tend to the details. Once he has verified that you’ve fulfilled your end of the arrangement, you will receive payment in full.” M’Aldovar gestured toward a sparsely built man standing just behind him.

  “All right.” Podmer rose, his complexion blotchy. “Weiss can handle it. I have other things that need my attention.” If he intended to insult M’Aldovar, he failed. The Onotharian seemed indifferent.

  “Very well. Good-bye.” M’Aldovar turned the hover chair and left the conference room.

  Weiss sighed. Podmer had been humiliated, and he would take it out on the crew or anyone within his field of vision.

  “Shall we, Ms. Kyakh?” M’Ossar asked, interrupting Weiss’s thoughts.

  “By all means.” Weiss opened the small case on her belt and pulled out the chip holding the data they’d stolen from the Koenigin. Madisyn had sent word to Jacelon regarding the attack on the cruise ship, but they hadn’t heard back. They had to go through with Podmer’s deal, hoping that Jacelon would have enough time to get new intel to the troops heading for Gantharat. If not, the convoys could find themselves in the hands of the Onotharians, who would anticipate and countermand every one of their moves.

  M’Ossar scanned the chip carefully, handling it with long, wiry fingers as if it were an explosive device ready to go off if not treated like Volocuvian crystalline droplets. “It seems accurate,” M’Ossar said in his low, dry tone. “Now, the crystals.”

  “Well, what do you know, I didn’t bring them with me.” Weiss found the man annoying enough to warrant tossing him out an airlock.

  “We must arrange for you to deliver them instantly. General M’Aldovar does not appreciate any delays.”

  “The general will have to accept the fact that moving them will take at least as long as a shuttle trip back and forth.”

  “I suggest I take a shuttle from our ship to yours. I need to verify the crystals’ purity and oversee the transport myself.”

  “Very well. See you later, then.”

  “Good-bye.” The thin man nodded curtly and left the room.

  Escorted by two guards, Weiss returned to the shuttle bay. Once there, she realized Podmer had left without her. She cursed loudly enough for the guards to grip their weapons tighter. “Kyakh to the Salaceos. Come in.” She yanked at her communicator.

  “Salaceos here,” Madisyn replied. “I have already sent a shuttle for you. It should be there in a few minutes.”

  “Thank you. I don’t exactly feel li
ke hanging around any longer than necessary.”

  “I hear you.” Madisyn’s voice calmed Weiss enough for her to stop pacing.

  “Prepare the crystals to be moved at once to the Ondamann’s shuttle docks. A crewmember from this ship will oversee the procedure. No mistakes.”

  “Got it.” Madisyn gently cleared her throat. “See you when you get back.”

  “Yes. Weiss out.”

  Madisyn signed off and Weiss gazed around the shuttle bay. It held an impressive array of shuttles, ranging from small two-seat fighter vessels to large cargo/troop transporters. She might as well send Jacelon this new intel, together with the fact the man everyone thought the Protector of the Realm had killed was very much alive and holding even more power than before.

  “Your shuttle is cleared to dock. This way.” One of the guards motioned for Weiss to follow them to an airlock. For a second, Weiss wondered if this was a trick, but then chastised herself. If they wanted to eliminate her, they could just shoot her. Who would stop them? She stepped into the airlock and saw it connected to a Salaceos shuttle. Entering the small ship, she strapped herself in behind the pilot.

  “Get us back to the Salaceos fast.” Weiss couldn’t explain her sense of urgency.

  “Aye, ma’am.” The shuttle made a wide pass around the Ondamann before approaching Podmer’s ship. The asteroid belt shimmered like a precious stone necklace in the light of the distant sun. Her loot, her whole future, was hidden on one of those asteroids. It had always been her prime goal to one day be free and start a new life far away from the SC and its surrounding sectors. Now she wasn’t so sure. In fact, she wasn’t sure at all.