Talia Jager

by Without Hesitation

  “Eggs. I like the way Huxley makes them.”

  “I’d like to try them.”

  “Next time I’ll ask him to make some.”

  I finished the cereal and then asked, “So, are you going to give me a tour?”

  “Would you like one?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” She stood up, put my dishes in the sink, and waited for me to follow.

  She showed me around the different rooms; mechanical, lounge, weapons training, and then led me into a large observation room with windows so big and clear, it felt like I was actually outside rather than in a spacecraft. “You’ve seen the bridge and kitchen. Not much else, but the crew’s rooms.”

  “And yours,” I said, softly.

  Everleigh’s eyes widened for a few seconds then she turned and started walking. I wasn’t sure if she was taking me somewhere else or to her room until she stopped in front of her door and put her hand on the pad. The door slid open and she stepped aside to let me go in first.

  A large bed sat in the middle of the room covered in fluffy pillows and warm looking blankets. There was a good size wardrobe and a desk with a computer screen wall. There weren’t any pictures or anything really personal out in the open, except for the ceiling. That had to be personal. It was a painting of beautiful wild animals in a forest.

  “Wow.”

  She stood next to me. “Gives me something to look at. I don’t have any windows.”

  “It’s beautiful.”

  Her shoulder brushed against mine and every inch of my skin reacted as if she’d touched me intentionally. Think of something to ask. Think of something to say. Just do something.

  “Where’s your planet?” I asked.

  “I don’t have one.”

  Her fingers brushed against mine. Now that was intentional. I looked at her and found that she was staring at me. My stomach did a lazy flip like it had that first time I’d jumped from one place to another. The air grew thick as my gaze traveled down to her lips and back up to her eyes. I tangled my fingers in hers, wanting to pull her closer, but afraid to make the first move. Everleigh swallowed and her mouth opened then closed again as though she was holding back words she wanted to say. After a minute, she broke our gaze and stepped away and the miniscule space she’d made between our bodies made me feel cold.

  “So what now?”

  “I have some work to do,” she replied.

  “Is it strenuous?”

  “What?”

  “Your work?”

  “No.”

  “Good. You should still rest. Your body needs to heal. In fact, I should probably check the stitches.”

  “Later.” She said then gestured for me to follow her out of her room.

  “You said you steal things. Is that what all four of you do?”

  She narrowed her eyes like she thought it might be a trick question, but then she nodded. “We’re a team.”

  Raised voices greeted us as we approached the bridge. When the door opened, they stopped abruptly and stared at us. I must have been the topic of their disagreement and I could guess why.

  Smile, I reminded myself. “Good morning! You have an awesome spacecraft. And Huxley, I hear you make eggs. I would love to try them.”

  Huxley looked confused, but he nodded. “Sure.”

  “She shouldn’t be here, Everleigh,” the one named Zabe blurted, his voice gruff.

  “And where should she be?” Everleigh asked, her voice calm and even.

  “She’s a target. She should be locked up,” he said as he glared at me.

  “We’re not locking her up. She saved my life.”

  “Hardly.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

  “You’ve had worse injuries. You’re playing with fire, Ever.”

  “I promise you I’m not a threat,” I said, attempting to reassure him—to reassure all of them.

  “It’s not you I’m worried about, Empress,” he said. He spat out my title like it was a dirty word. “Nor is it our place to decide. We were sent to acquire you and--”

  “Enough!” Everleigh growled and went to her control center. Zabe kicked a chair across the room and stormed off.

  The silence that followed his exit was awkward. I walked to the window and stared into the great dark. Thinking back to my conversations with Bristow and how we wanted to explore. He’d be very jealous right now. Well, except for the fact that I wasn’t on an adventure. Not really. Zabe had just made it clear that I was meant to be a prisoner. How long before Everleigh agreed? She was their commander and of course they would follow her orders, but…people did bad things for money.

  “Everything okay, Empress?” Briar asked, coming to stand beside me at the window.

  “Just Akacia.” I was never one for formal titles and Empress always felt like too big of a title for me. Besides I was trying to get these guys to like me. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

  “Did you sleep well?”

  “I did.”

  “I have found news regarding the attack on Caipra,” Zia, the computer, interrupted.

  Briar returned to the computer. “Go ahead.”

  “The news reports say there were two Wapi spacecrafts involved. The Authority destroyed one. They’re in pursuit of the other,” Zia continued.

  “See what the public knows about what happened at Caipra,” Everleigh said and soon they were all lost in research and talking.

  With everyone busy, I found myself wandering around the spacecraft. Soon I arrived at the training room. There was an array of weapons. I knew many of them, but there were still quite a bit I didn’t recognize. I admired a black prince dagger with a leather wrapped handle. My eyes traveled around the room amazed at the collection. These weapons were impressive and dangerous and if all of them were as skilled as Everleigh, I stood no chance against them.

  I picked up a rapier and swung it around for a minute. It didn’t feel right in my hands so I put it back and grabbed a sabre, but that wasn’t really my style either. One of the swords further down caught my eye—a broadsword—and I picked it up and gave it a few swings to see how it felt in my hands.

  “Want to spar?”

  I spun around to find Everleigh standing there with a smile playing on her lips that was somewhere between a flirt and a challenge. “Sure.”

  She picked up a claymore and we stood a few feet apart in the middle of the room. Circling with swords up, I studied the way she moved. She seemed relaxed. Too relaxed. Was she underestimating my skill? I struck first, taking a looping swing that she blocked with little effort. We did that for a while, trading blows back and forth, striking and blocking. It didn’t seem to be going anywhere, so I leveled a stronger, more deliberate, blow at her chest and she barely evaded with a quick jump backward. Before she had time to renew her attack, I delivered a series of strikes that whooshed near her head.

  Her lips widened into a sexy sneer and then she sprang at me, delivering a vicious and unrelenting attack, forcing me backward. Her blows were fast and solid, and she kept at it until she whacked the sword out of my hand.

  I held up my hands, giving up. “You win.” She was good, perhaps better than me. This was nothing like sparring with Bristow. I realize now that he may have gone a bit easy on me.

  Everleigh smiled and lowered her sword. “You’re good.”

  “We should do that again. It’s been a long time since—”

  “You’re bleeding,” Everleigh interrupted, grabbing my arms alternately, searching for cuts. .

  “It’s not me. It’s you. Your stitches.”

  “Oh.” Relief flooded her face.

  “We shouldn’t have been sparring with your injury. I’m sorry. I forgot.”

  “It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt.”

  “Let’s go fix it.”

  She gave a small nod and led me to the med bay. I pointed to the table and she let out a little sigh and then climbed on.

  “Lay down.”

  S
he huffed and lay on her back as I searched for all the supplies I needed. Turning back to her, I swallowed hard as I pulled her shirt up just enough to examine the wound. My fingers grazed her skin and a gasp escaped her lips. The bandage was soaked with blood. I peeled it off carefully, but quickly. Using some damp gauze, I cleaned the cut, sprayed a numbing spray, and then stitched her back up. A quick smear of ointment to aid in healing and keep it from getting infected went on before I applied a new bandage.

  “Looks good. Don’t overdo it,” I said, pulling her shirt back down. I took a few more steps back and watched as she stood up.

  “Thanks.”

  For the next couple earthdays, I let myself get close enough for them to warm up to me a little. I could tell it was working, at least with three of them.

  Briar and I were standing shoulder to shoulder while she studied maps of different galaxies.

  Curiously, I inquired, “Are you looking for something in particular?”

  The others looked at her. Their glares were almost cautionary. “No,” she answered. “Just fun places to explore.”

  I knew it was a lie, but now wasn’t the time for me to push. “Have you guys been to many planets?”

  This seemed to get Briar and Huxley to open up. They talked about many of the places they had been and shared some of the places they still had to see. Everleigh would even jump in here and there, her face lighting up when she spoke of the places she still wanted to visit. As usual, Zabe stayed quiet. I was beginning to wonder if the scowl on his face was permanent. He wanted nothing to do with me.

  “I have a call to make. You can stay with the crew,” Ever said something to Huxley, who in turn nodded.

  He walked over to where I was seated and asked, “Know how to play Loaded?”

  Smiling, I responded, “Yes.”

  He waved over Zabe and Briar. Zabe came reluctantly and as they sat down, I realized they all had the same arrow tattoo on their necks. One just like Ever’s. The four of us played a few hands of cards. I was good at this game and apparently that threw Zabe for a loop because he was used to winning. Huxley laughed at the even bigger scowl Zabe now had on his face when I won my third hand.

  Huxley slapped Zabe on the back. “We finally found someone you can’t beat.”

  “Don’t jinx my luck,” I teased. “How long have you guys been part of Everleigh’s crew?”

  “Couple of years, but I’ve known Ever for a long time,” Huxley replied, dealing another hand.

  “And you two?”

  “We’ve all been together since the crew started,” Briar said. “I didn’t know her before.”

  “Me either,” Zabe said. “But we’re all family now.”

  “You all have the same tattoo on your neck,” I stated. “What does it mean?”

  “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Huxley replied. “But it does show that we’re part of the same crew.”

  “Everleigh has another symbol next to hers.”

  “It means chief. It marks her as the leader of our crew.”

  “What is she like?”

  “She’s the best,” Briar responded.

  I wanted to know everything I could about her. “She seems so guarded.”

  The three of them nodded, but said nothing more. It was clear I wasn’t going to get any information out of them. They were loyal to Ever and any answer would be a betrayal.

  Chapter Four

  Everleigh

  I STOOD IN THE DOORWAY, WATCHING Akacia play a game with Zabe and Briar. Strange, but having her here made my crew feel complete. The crew and I had been a family of sorts from day one, but I always felt like something was missing. This was it. But all of that was complicated by the fact that she was a target to be delivered to Caspar. Akacia wasn’t part of our family. She never could be.

  “She’s cool,” Huxley said, walking up next to me.

  I nodded.

  “I see the way you look at her, Ever.”

  I shot him a sideways glance.

  “We can’t keep her.”

  I choked back a laugh. “She’s not a puppy, Hux.”

  “She most certainly is not, but you know what I mean. We have to finish the job.”

  “Tell me how,” I demanded through my teeth. “How do I just turn her over to that evil bastard?”

  “We’ve done it plenty of times.”

  “Not with her.” My eyes burned with unshed tears. “I have to find a way out of this.”

  Later that night, after Akacia had gone to bed, the four of us convened on the bridge. Unable to come up with a solution of my own, I did the only thing that made sense—sat down with my crew to find a way around it.

  “I can’t hand her over to Caspar. The attack on Caipra bought us some time. Zia told us the Authority hasn’t confirmed how many were killed or released any names yet. I insinuated to Caspar that she could be one of them.”

  I knew my crew was looking at me like I had lost my mind as I paced the bridge muttering ideas. “What if we just took off? Went somewhere nobody could find us?”

  “So you’re going to abduct the Empress, never return her, and we’re all going to vanish into the great unknown?” Zabe said.

  “Sure.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “You’re not thinking clearly.”

  “Why couldn’t we?”

  “She might have a problem with that, for one. And you really think Caspar is going to let us disappear?” Huxley furrowed his brow.

  “What if he takes it out on our families?” Briar asked.

  “Then we take him out.”

  “You want to kill him? Is she that important to you? You don’t even know her!” Zabe exclaimed.

  “We’ll fix the FTL drive and vanish until we can come up with a plan to kill him. As long as Caspar doesn’t know we have her, we have time.”

  “How long do you really think he’s going to give us? He’s already mad he doesn’t have her yet,” Briar was the voice of reason. It wouldn’t take him long.

  “Maybe a couple of days. That should be enough time to come up with a plan.”

  “Ever, you have to think about the big picture here.” Huxley reached out to me.

  I put up my hand to stop him from saying anything more. “Come up with more options then.” I said, then I left the bridge and retired to my quarters.

  In the morning, the conversation I had with my crew last night weighed heavy on my mind as I made my way to Kaci’s room to tell her breakfast would be ready soon. Would she want to stay with us? Outside her door, I hit the button to signal to her I was there.

  Instead of just answering the intercom, she opened the door still wearing the cami and shorts she slept in. My heart rate accelerated.

  “Hi.”

  “What’s up?” she asked, smiling brightly.

  Her smile made me feel weird inside. Tingly. Warm. “Eggs,” I blurted then cleared my throat. “I just wanted to let you know the eggs are almost done if you want to have some.”

  “I’ll just get changed. Do you want to come in or…”

  “I’ll wait for you here.”

  She nodded and the door closed. I paced back and forth while I waited for her. What was I doing? Was I really considering giving up my life for someone I didn’t know? What if she didn’t share my feelings? What if she laughed in my face when I told her everything?

  The door opened and she stepped out. “Ready.”

  Wordlessly, I led her to the kitchen. We plopped down on opposite sides of the table.

  Huxley filled our plates with eggs. “Eat up!”

  Akacia picked up her fork and dug into the food. Her face lit up as she chewed it and swallowed. “Oh damn, this is so good.”

  “Thanks, Empress.”

  “Akacia,” she corrected him.

  She didn’t tell him to call her Kaci like she had with me. I found satisfaction in that bit of intimacy. I watched Kaci as she enjoyed each bite of eggs. Her expressions made me smile.

  “We’ll
be docking at the station in a couple of hours. Do you want to go out and explore while the ship gets fixed?”

  Her brow furrowed. “How do you do that? Aren’t you like…wanted?”

  A smile stretched across my face. “Money goes a long way. There are certain stations we can’t go to. There are others that like a little extra money.”

  “Okay, then. I’d love to go out with y—” Her cheeks blushed something fierce. It was the cutest damn thing. “To go exploring.”

  I turned before she could see the blush in my own cheeks and cleaned up our plates. Briar was grinning at me from across the room.

  “Do I look okay?” she asked innocently.

  It was a simple question, but one that required me to look at her again. Her only clothing was the protective suit she wore to the summit meeting and that was a mess. She had been wearing my pants and T-shirt since. “I can give you another shirt.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  Briar’s expression faded and she lifted the tablet that she held and tapped on the glass. “We have a problem,” she announced, meeting my eyes.

  “What?”

  “My source at the Authority says Valinor contacted them claiming we have abducted the Empress.”

  “They must have figured out who we were.”

  The look on Akacia’s face said it all. “It’s my fault. I sent Bristow a signal that I needed help when we talked. I didn’t know what to think then. I was worried about what might happen to me. I’m sorry.”

  I searched her eyes and read her body language. She was being genuine. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. Make sure our Gledi contact gets a bonus.”

  We walked in silence back to my room. When the door closed, she said, “I really am sorry.”

  I fingered a button on my pants. “I know.”

  “I’ll make it right.”

  I almost laughed. “It’s just another charge on our criminal log.”

  “Still, I’ll fix it.”

  Something in me told me she would. She’d at least try. We would have to be extra careful at the space station.