by Dan Oakley
Finn held one hand in the air, circling his fingers together in a miniature chokehold, and I realised he was casting a spell to strangle the captain.
It wasn’t a nice thing to witness. The captain was an evil man. I couldn’t dispute that, but to see the life choked out of a man...
“Finn, don’t get his blood on your hands. We’ll take him to the brig. He’ll be punished.”
Finn loosened his grip just a little and turned to face me. His pale eyes studied me as he cocked his head to one side. “But he will be strangled. There will be no blood.”
He was taking me a little too literally.
“You know what I mean. You don’t need his death on your conscience.”
“I don’t know about that,” Kira muttered beside me, still aiming her gun at the captain’s head, her finger close to the fire button. “I don’t think I’d mind having his death on my conscience.”
“No, we take him to the brig,” I said firmly.
I had no idea what would happen when we finally docked at Marrachi. If we were boarded by security forces or customs officials and they found dead bodies on board, I was pretty sure we’d have a lot of questions to answer.
Finn lifted his hands, and the captain was plucked from the ground. He hung in the air, his feet dangling as he let out a gurgling noise.
“Finn stop!”
The pirates were still desperately trying to unstick their heads from the floor and had started to make a lot of noise.
Irritated, Finn silenced them with one wave of his hand.
If we ever got out of this, then I really wanted Finn to show me how to cast that spell. Being able to shut people up like that would be very useful.
“What right do you have to tell me what to do?” Finn demanded.
“I’m talking to you as a friend,” I said slowly, recognising that the young man was dangerously close to the edge. He had powerful magical abilities, and I really didn’t want to get on the wrong side of him.
“I know what he’s done to you, but when we dock at Marrachi, we will have to explain what went on aboard the ship. Right now, you haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”
Finally, Finn released his grip on the captain’s neck, and the pirate fell to the floor, gasping for breath.
Kira let out a growl of dissatisfaction.
The captain tugged at the collar of his shirt and rolled onto his back, whimpering.
“Let’s get him to the brig,” Kira said, turning to Finn and giving him a tentative smile.
Finn nodded once and held out his hands in front of him, slowly raising the captain from the floor.
Kira quirked an eyebrow. “Impressive. I wish I could do that.”
The side of Finn’s mouth lifted in a smile as he made the other pirates hover in front of him, too.
As Kira and Finn left to escort the floating pirates to the brig, I turned to Trella. “What’s next?”
“Well, we’ve ticked ‘deal with pirates’ off our to-do list.” She grinned. “And I didn’t need to lift a finger. Now we need to take control of the navigational instruments on the ship. Let’s go find the bridge.”
I’d grown up dreaming of travelling through space, and despite the fact we were aboard an old ship that had seen better decades, I still felt a thrill of excitement at the idea of going to the ship’s bridge.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s get up to the bridge.”
Trella grinned at me and winked. “Aye, aye, Captain Tomas.”
The ship was a rust bucket, a decaying lump of metal floating through space, but that didn’t dull my excitement. Though I hadn’t seen the outside of the ship, I could only imagine it was almost as bad as the inside. It wasn’t pretty.
As I’d expected, the bridge wasn’t huge, but it was an open area with one large viewing screen and various consoles scattered about.
The view on the screen was breathtaking. I didn’t think I would ever get tired of looking at the stars. Trella seemed quite at home, slipping into a chair behind the central console and placing her hand on top of the data display.
Data scrolled on the screen in front of her.
I inspected various instruments around the room, having no idea what most of them did. I looked at the display from the scanning navigational system, which showed a selection of nearby planets. I was wondering if there was some way to zoom in so I could see our course, when Trella groaned.
“What is it?” I asked turning around.
She peered closer at the data screen, her face scrunching up in concentration. “I think we might have a problem.”
Chapter 15
I didn’t like the sound of that.
Stepping onto the raised platform, I walked over to Trella.
She was frowning at the sprawling data.
I leaned closer, but not too close. I wanted to see what the issue was but didn’t want to accidentally press any buttons.
“What’s the problem?”
Trella let out a long breath and then ran her hands through her hair. “The navigational course has been set and locked. We are currently heading for ring nine of Marrachi space station twelve.”
I nodded, so far so good. But when Trella didn’t elaborate, I thought perhaps it wasn’t good after all.
“Do we not want to go to space station twelve?”
Trella bit down on her lower lip and then turned to look at me. “If the pirates are working with someone on Marrachi, which is highly likely as he was sending someone video feeds of his potential slaves, I think we should avoid going to the expected docking position.”
“Right. That makes sense. Can you change it? Can we dock somewhere else?”
“That’s what I was hoping to do, the thing is, all this equipment is old. I’m not familiar with the data processing, and I can’t figure out how to make the changes yet.”
“Yet?”
Trella nodded. “I’m good with technology. Within a few hours, I’ll be up to speed. The trouble is we don’t have a few hours.”
“Why not?” I was getting a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach and wasn’t sure I wanted to hear Trella’s answer.
“It’s going to take at least a couple of hours for me to get familiar with the system.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“But according to this…” she said, pointing at the scrolling data, “…we are due to dock in two hours.”
I blinked at her, sure I must have misheard. “Two hours? How is that possible?”
Trella shook her head slowly. “I can only guess they’ve been working Finn hard. General Kingdoms law stipulates all jump mages are only supposed to perform one jump per day, so it should have taken us at least three days to cover this distance, but I can’t argue with the data.”
She gazed at the numbers. The green tint of the screen gave her face a greenish glow. “The data doesn’t lie. We are due to dock in two hours. That’s not long enough for me to get to grips with the new system and reprogram our route.”
I exhaled a long breath, thinking hard. “Let’s ask Finn for help. He’ll understand the navigational system…”
Trella nodded. “I think we’re going to have to ask him for help because I can’t handle this alone.”
“I don’t suppose I can do anything to help?” I asked.
Trella shook her head. “No, it would take me too long to explain it to you.”
“Fair enough. I’ll go and find Finn and Kira.”
I left Trella puzzling over the data and accessed the main corridor that ran along the length of the ship. I was starting to get my bearings now. We seemed to be on a long cylindrical vessel. One corridor ran along the length and cargo storage was at the rear. Private quarters and communal areas were subdivided and accessed via the main corridor.
That meant I couldn’t get lost. It also meant Kira and Finn would have to use the same corridor, so I should be able to locate them quickly.
I found t
hem walking back from the brig, chatting happily to one another.
Finn seemed more relaxed.
When they saw me, Finn regarded me suspiciously and Kira smiled broadly. “The brig was full of cargo so we put them in my old prison cell,” Kira said. “Finn managed to repair the steel bars, so they won’t be getting out any time soon.”
“Good work,” I said. “But I think we might have a problem.”
“The navigational system has been set to dock at ring nine of space station twelve. Trella thinks it’s a good idea to change that in case one of the pirates’ associates is waiting for us at the docks.”
Finn nodded urgently. “Yes, we should definitely change it. Ring nine is a lawless place. We don’t want to dock there if we can avoid it.”
“Then we need your help,” I said. “Let’s get back to the bridge.”
“What do you need me to do?” Finn asked. “I don’t need to do any more jumps. We are in range. I estimate we should be nearing the space stations within a couple of hours.”
I nodded as we walked back briskly down the corridor towards the bridge. “That’s what Trella thinks too. The trouble is she’s not familiar with the system, and she needs your help in figuring out how we can change our landing point.”
Finn nodded confidently. “I should be able to do that. I suggest we aim for ring seven. That’s the best one, in my opinion. It’s safe, but not too safe, if you know what I mean.”
Kira gave him a puzzled look.
“It’s not closely watched,” Finn clarified. “Which will give us a chance to slip away from the ship unnoticed.”
“But don’t you want to report what the captain did to you? We haven’t done anything wrong. We should report them to the authorities,” Kira said stubbornly.
Finn flinched and wrapped his arms around his midsection as we neared the bridge. “Marrachi politics is unusual. Getting captured by pirates is seen as a mark of shame against your family. I’d prefer they didn’t know. That way my family can tell their neighbours and friends I went on a space voyage.”
Kira raised her eyebrows. “Really? They would blame the victim?”
Finn shrugged. “It’s complicated.”
“Why are we going to a space station and not the actual planet?” Kira asked.
“Oh, hardly anyone lives on the planet these days. There are only a few colonies left, filled with stubborn colonials or scientists. The radiation from the sun is too strong and thought to be a health risk. The space stations are the first phase in the evacuation.”
Kira looked surprised. “Marrachi is being evacuated?”
“Well, it’s a slow evacuation,” he explained. “It will be staggered over the next thousand years or so. We’ll be perfectly safe on the space stations. They’re very high-tech. I think you’ll like them.”
I’d heard long ago about the Marrachi space stations, but I couldn’t help wishing we were going to a planet where I could stand on solid ground, look up at the sky, feel the wind in my hair and soft, cool rain against my skin. Sure, I’d been living on planet Tor, but I didn’t count that. The climate was awful.
But Marrachi had always been a hot planet, with little rainfall and now most of the planet had turned to desert. Maybe the space station wouldn’t be so bad. At least the climate would be controlled.
I pressed the door release button, and we entered the bridge.
“Finn says he can help,” I called out to Trella, who was deep in concentration, rapidly flicking through streams of numbers on the touchscreen.
“Great.” She looked over her shoulder at us. “Finn, how did you manage to cover so much distance in such a short time?”
“Errr,” Finn began, his pale cheeks flushing. I didn’t know whether he was embarrassed or proud when he said, “I’ve actually got super jump status.”
Trella blinked and looked impressed. “That’s amazing.” She gave a low whistle. “The pirate captain must have paid a pretty packet for you.”
The smile slid from Finn’s face. “Yes, I did reach a premium at the auction.”
Kira gave him a sympathetic smile. “Well, all that’s behind you now. Where did you live on Marrachi?”
“Space station twelve.” Finn smiled, and this time he definitely looked proud. “It’s the nicest space station. And the biggest. We get all the upgrades before everyone else.”
Finn settled in beside Trella. He accessed some log files and explained how they were kept in separate stacks. Kira and I decided we should go and check the weapons.
I hoped Finn and Trella could alter our course, so we arrived at ring seven and had no need of weapons, but if we landed on ring nine and one of the pirate’s associates was waiting for us, we needed to be ready.
We took half an hour going through the weapons haul and brought the best items back to the bridge. I also found our wrist devices, in a pile of discarded electronics in the weapons room. I fastened mine to my wrist and slipped Trella’s into my pocket to give to her later.
When we got back, I was pleased to see Trella and Finn working together and confidently tapping away on the consoles.
“Is it going well?” I asked.
Trella looked up and smiled. “Very well. Finn has deleted the first navigational program and has contacted ring seven to book a docking slot. It’s all automated, but it means we will have a space reserved before we get there.”
“So it looks like we’re not going to need these?” I held out one of the laser guns.
“Thankfully not,” she said and pushed her chair away from the console. “In fact, since Finn has got a handle on this, I’m going to try and set up a communication line with someone I know on Marrachi. I want to find out if they have any information on my sister.”
“We can do that from here?”
“I think so.”
Trella began tapping away on the keyboard again, and an idea popped into my mind. Perhaps I’d be able to contact Maureena from the space station. I would have liked to send her some more money. I still had her account number memorised. I’d sent her my first pay check, but since the Kingdoms officials now thought I was dead, they were unlikely to make any more deposits into my account.
“Is there anyone you want to contact Tomas?” Trella asked.
I shook my head. I didn’t know how to get in touch with Maureena directly.
I sat at the navigation station and watched the view screen as we sped towards Marrachi. The sight was beautiful, a sky of black velvet filled with stars, and at the centre of the screen, a huge orange planet dominated its surroundings.
The orbiting space stations looked tiny compared to the giant planet.
I couldn’t see water anywhere on the planet’s surface. From this distance, the planet seemed to be made entirely of orange dust. It had to be a hostile place, but it had a singular beauty, and I stared at it, mesmerised.
I could hear Trella talking in the background, but tried to tune her out to give her some privacy. Though she didn’t seem to mind us listening in at first. She hadn’t even put on the headset.
But then the woman Trella was speaking to said, “Your name is on the watchlist.”
It sparked my interest, and despite my best intentions to give her privacy, I turned to see Trella’s reaction.
She snatched up the headset and put it on. So I could no longer hear the other side of the conversation.
What was the watchlist? Why did Trella look so worried?
“It must be a mistake,” Trella muttered into the boom of her headset, but she didn’t sound very sure.
I couldn’t get much from the rest of the conversation. She barely spoke. She listened to the person on the other end of the call, and every now and then, she would reply in monosyllables.
Though I didn’t know what the watch list was, I could tell by Trella’s expression that it wasn’t good news.
When she hung up, she slowly took off the headset and turned to face us. “My sister is being held in a temporary holding cell on one
of the Marrachi space stations. Her trial starts next week.”
“Does she have a good lawyer?” Finn asked looking up from the console.
“I doubt it,” Trella said with a mirthless laugh. “Commander Taggert is determined to see her pay for her relationship with the resistance.”
“But she wasn’t part of the resistance, though… Was she?” I asked.
Trella didn’t answer.
I exchanged a look with Kira. I had a feeling Trella hadn’t told us the whole story. She’d led us to believe her sister was a supporter of the Kingdoms, who’d been wrongly accused of being in league with the mage resistance.
“What can we do to help her?” Kira asked.
Trella shook her head sadly. “I don’t know.”
“At least we’ll be close,” I said, unsure what else I could say or do to help. “I’m surprised her case hasn’t been dismissed now that Commander Taggert has been disgraced.”
Trella’s clear green eyes met mine.
“Commander Taggert is still on active duty. He hasn’t been punished for the death of his sister.”
I couldn’t understand it. Surely a crime like that would be all over the Kingdoms’ media. How could he be permitted to work for the Kingdoms when he was responsible for sending his sister to her death just so he could inherit the family fortune?
“That’s not right,” I said. “We’ll have to do something. He can’t get away with killing his sister.”
“It’s not fair. After everything he did…” Kira’s voice shook with emotion.
She’d witnessed the death of Commander Taggert’s sister after he sent her to Tor on a suicide mission, with no mage and no functioning weapons.
“I don’t care about Commander Taggert right now,” Trella snapped. “My sister is in imminent danger and…” She turned away, trembling with rage, but I knew she wasn’t really angry with us. She was frustrated at the system and being unable to help her sister.
After a few moments, Finn broke the awkward silence. “Everything is on course, we will be docking in ten minutes. They’ve locked onto us and I’m powering down the engines.”
