Dania nodded, but she wasn’t really sure what she was agreeing to. This news was more of the same, and none of this bode well for her when they didn’t even know where they were in the universe, and which way to travel to get home.
A loud tone sounded from the overhead comm system.
“Heads up, people!” Ty’s voice shouted. “We’re about to be scanned. I need everyone out of those cargo bays and in the center of the ship in ten. Nine. Eight…”
“Come on!” Alanna grabbed Dania’s arm, and the doctor took the other. Dania scrambled to keep up, but the humans mostly dragged her into the hall and dropped her on the floor. Alanna hit the controls, and the doors shut before she huddled up against Dania, and the doctor put his arms around her from the other side.
The speakers continued with Ty’s voice: “Three. Two. One. Here we go…”
The lights winked out. The chill sunk in quickly, faster than it did in the upper levels. They needed to spend less time in the cargo areas until the incessant scans stopped.
Dania knew they wouldn’t stop, though, not until Prince Geron found her. These people were protecting her for no better reason then a human code of ethics that told them it was the right thing to do.
Dania hoped their odd morality didn’t lead to all their deaths.
The doctor drew her in tighter, and Alanna pressed closer from the other side. This kind of contact had repelled her at first, but she understood the need for body warmth when the cold of space reached through a ship, looking for lives to erase.
The captain worried the power might not come back on each time they shut down to avoid detection, and with good reason, with the amount of damage this ship had seen since Dania had come on board.
This was the fourth time they’d been scanned over the last two weeks, but Ty and Ethan’s strategy must be working, because no ships had dropped out of the abyss to kill the crew and drag Dania back to her prince.
Discovery was inevitable though. If they didn’t get out of there, if they didn’t find safe harbor, they would be found. And once her prince restored her to her former self, there would be nothing she could do to save this crew.
Chapter 2 Cal
Ty’s face glowed with each flash of the confounded orange light. Cal might have nightmares about that color for the rest of his days. Oranges were supposed to be a blessing, a tasty treat and a cure for certain diseases out in the dark expanses of space.
Why Ty had programmed such a wonderful color to mean “death is looking for you,” Cal would never understand.
They’d been dealing with a short that made the light blink yellow for a long time now. Yellow was a proximity alarm. No big deal, normally. Orange flashing was bad. Very bad. They’d all learned to hate orange.
Now, more than ever.
“Life support?” Cal whispered.
Ty simply held his fingers to his lips.
Could a long-range scan even hear Cal’s whisper? He wasn’t so sure about that. However, it wasn’t just anyone out there looking for them, but a full blown, angry, probably vengeful prince. With the Banes, anything was possible.
Ethan shivered, glancing up to the still flashing light.
Orange. Orange. Orange.
It seemed like every scan, the orange flashing lasted longer, like the blasted prince was picking something up, wasn’t sure, so he swept the area a few more times, just to make sure.
Cal looked out the viewport into the still unfamiliar stars. I guess this is what you get when you liberate a prince’s prized possession.
Still, he wouldn’t change anything.
Orange. Orange. Orange.
Dania had been a monster when they’d bought her on board. Now she was just like the rest of them. Wanted by the government, and on the run.
He drew in a deep breath, and the room spun, the thinning air not providing enough oxygen.
Across the room, Ethan grimaced and folded in on himself, protecting his hands from the encroaching cold. They couldn’t keep shutting down life support like this. One of these days, it wouldn’t come back on.
Orange. Orange. Yellow.
Ty held up one finger, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. The scan was still close, but moving away. That meant air, and blessed heat, would soon be back.
Cal hoped.
The Star Renegade was an old ship, and she wasn’t meant for this kind of abuse.
Orange. Yellow. Yellow.
Ty’s teeth glowed in the ochre light as he held up two fingers. Cal nodded.
Alanna had said it could be months before they found their way back to civilization. And they didn’t even know which way to go.
Yellow. Yellow. Yellow.
“Clear!” Ty called.
Ethan jumped to his station and started pressing buttons.
Ty triggered the ship-wide comm. “Heat and oxygen coming your way, guys, hold tight.”
The chill started to itch up Cal’s back. “Ethan?”
“Working on it!”
The floor started to hum. Cal exhaled as the vents pushed in beautiful, life giving recycled air.
Each of them slumped into their chairs, drawing in deep breaths.
Cal rubbed his cold hands on the tops of his jeans. “How long can we keep this up? Are we playing Russian Roulette with the air?”
Ethan shook his head. “We’re fine.” But he glanced at Ty, who looked away, avoiding Cal’s gaze.
Sometimes, what these guys didn’t say was more important than what they did say.
The truth was, they were sitting ducks out here.
Cal hit the comm. “I want everyone to warm up, and then meet me in the lounge.” He was done with floating out here, waiting to get caught. They needed to take control. He needed to take control. Luck wasn’t going to get them out of this one.
Cal sank into the seat at the head of the large table in the lounge. “We need to do our best to stop shutting the systems down.”
“Tell us something we don’t know.” Ty leaned back in his own chair.
“We can’t keep hiding forever. We need to get out of here.” Cal turned to Ethan. “When can you get the engines working to full capacity?”
The engineer smoothed back his curly copper hair. “Tomorrow.”
Everyone stared at him.
“Why are you guys always surprised when I work miracles?” Ethan held out his hands. “Hey, it’s me, remember?”
Ty folded his arms. “So you did something by accident, got incredibly lucky, and fixed it?”
Ethan laced his fingers behind his head. “Hey a miracle is a miracle. The how should never be questioned.”
“Fine,” Cal said. “Are you sure we’ll have engines back online tomorrow.”
He nodded. “You can have them tonight if I don’t sleep.”
The last thing they needed was a tired engineer when they might need him the most. “Statistically we have a few more days until that scan hits us again. As long as we’re long gone, and don’t have to shut off life support anymore, we’re fine. So everyone sleeps tonight.” Cal turned to Alanna. “If we’re up and running, how long to get home?”
“Still the same as I said earlier. Maybe three months. I don’t even know which direction to go.”
Dania kneaded her hands. “I can help with that.”
“I told you, no more black holes,” Cal said.
Dania opened her mouth to speak, but Doc touched her arm. “Honey, you nearly passed out heating something up. As your doctor, I am putting you on permanent light duty until further notice.”
“Until further notice? Then that wouldn’t be permanent,” Ethan said.
“Shut up, Ethan.”
Ethan held up his hands again. “Why is everyone always telling me to shut up?”
“What are the other options?” Cal asked.
“I told you I can help.” Dania stood up and walked to the center of the room. She closed her eyes, and then pointed. “Home is that way.”
Cal glanced around the
room. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She walked back to her place and slumped into her chair. Her eyes reddened before she closed them and looked down, letting her long, blonde hair cover her face.
Alanna put her arm around the former-enforcer’s shoulder. “How do you know?”
Dania folded further into herself. “I’m sick, and every fiber of my being is screaming to run home to my sponsor.” She pointed again. “He’s that way.”
Ethan held up a tentative hand. “Does anyone else think it is a really bad idea to head toward the homicidal prince?”
“I’m not saying we should fly directly toward him.” Dania straightened, looking at each of them as she spoke. “The chance that Geron is sitting right on the border of known space is slim. I suggest going in that direction until one of us, or the computers, recognizes where we are, and then quickly go in another direction.”
Cal rubbed his chin. “If we’re heading toward him, and he scans this junkyard, will the scan intercept us?”
She shook her head. “It’s not line of sight. It’s projected. The enforcers read the singularity I created before it collapsed, so they know where we went. They just don’t know if we survived.”
Cal nodded. It seemed like only yesterday when the prince had surrounded the Star Renegade. They were as good as caught, but Dania had used her enforcer abilities to create a black hole that sucked them out of civilized space and dumped them here, in the middle of nowhere.
If that scan would skip right over them, though, that would be a big boon. Still, Cal would rather be free and clear. “What will it take to make him stop scanning?”
She rubbed her forehead. “He won’t stop looking for me until he finds my body.”
Cal closed his eyes. He knew that would be the answer. He’d just hoped there would be a simpler solution. Shooting a cadaver into space wouldn’t save their hides this time. At this point, their best course of action was to get out of this fish bowl before they got hooked.
“All right. Dania, go up to the bridge with Alanna and point the way home. Alanna, take us back in small jumps just so we make sure we don’t accidentally appear on Geron’s doorstep.”
“I can’t,” Alanna said.
“You can’t?”
“Well, I can, but I don’t think we should.” She looked at Ethan and Ty. “No one seems to know for sure what that polymer Ethan bought is. It might hold, but then again, it might not. Jumping puts a lot of strain on the hull in the best conditions. With a breach…”
Cal rubbed his face. “Yeah, I get it.” He looked at Ethan. “You didn’t get a metallurgy analysis on that stuff?”
The engineer narrowed his eyes. “I’m not even really sure what a metallurgy analysis is, and for the price I paid, I don’t think they really had a whole lot of information.”
Which also meant they were trusting their hull integrity on some sort of glue that for all they knew might be rigged to explode.
“I should probably put a containment field around that deck,” Doc said.
Cal nodded. “Good call. Take anything you need from storage.” Cal turned to Ethan. “Let us know when the engines are running.” He stood. “Everyone else prep for immediate departure as soon as Ethan gets those engines online.”
Chapter 3 Cal
Cal let the door to the lounge close behind him. Without Alanna jumping them, their chances of getting out of this in one piece decreased far more than he wanted to admit. He couldn’t dwell on what couldn’t be, though. He needed to figure out what they could do to get out of this mess alive.
“Boss?” Doc pushed through the door and entered the hall.
“What’s up?”
“I’m worried about Dania.”
“Of course you are. You’re the doctor. It kind of goes with the territory.”
“Well, in this case I’m worried about how tired she got when she was helping Alanna. I told her not to use any of her powers, but it seems to be instinctual.” He sighed. “It would be like asking Ethan not to be annoying. He couldn’t do it. It’s just part of who he is.”
Cal held back a snicker. Poor Ethan. “What’s your point, Doc?”
“Dania told me that what she did shouldn’t have tired her out so much.”
“Well, we expected this, didn’t we? She’s been getting weaker all along.”
“Yes and no. Not like this.” He scrolled through a handheld tablet. “You know how I hate to be wrong, but I think I underestimated when the problems would start.” He looked up. “I’m afraid it might be her lungs, or worse.”
Cal bit back a curse. “What do you need?”
“Once we get to regular space our first stop needs to be sector Z8 so I can get the supplies I need to try to help her.” He stopped scrolling and put the device into his pocket. “I was serious when I said she’s like a junkie. She knows that the pathogen load inside her is bad but she still wants it. Her body craves it, but in her case, she actually will die if she doesn’t get it.”
“I get you loud and clear.” Cal continued down the hall. “We’re doing our best to get back to civilized space. We can’t really do anything until we get there.”
Cal paused. That sounded pretty cold, even to his own ears.
He turned back to Doc. “I promise you, we’re not giving up on her. As soon as we can get to sector Z8, we’ll do our best to help her.” And he meant it. She hadn’t been here long, but she was here by unanimous vote. Dania was no longer their prisoner, but a member of their crew, for as long as she wanted to stay.
His chest clenched as he realized he wanted that to happen. Another mouth to feed would be a problem, but at this point, the ship would feel empty without her.
Doc nodded and headed back down the hall, hopefully to work on that containment field. Maybe his big brain could find a way to solidify that seal enough that they could actually use Alanna’s jump ability. That would be a huge asset right now.
Cal pursed his lips as he entered the bridge and slammed into his chair. He didn’t like insinuation that he wasn’t going to help Dania. Even if she put them all in danger, she still saved them all in the end. Helping her didn’t mean that he trusted her, though. He’d never be stupid enough to trust her again. Although, deep down, he really wanted to.
The doorway behind him opened and Ty entered the bridge. “Hey, boss. Everything going good up here?”
“Sure, but you’re late to the party. I’ve got the whole ship running like clockwork.”
Ty snorted. “Yeah, a broken clock, maybe.” He tapped a few keys on his panel. “Do you really think it’s going to take us a few months to get out of here?”
“I don’t have the luxury of thinking that. I’m pretty sure you’re the one who pointed out we don’t have enough food to last that long.”
The light on Ty’s panel flashed orange once.
Ice flashed through Cal’s veins. It was too soon. They’d just been scanned that morning.
Silence hung thick in the room. Cal didn’t breathe until he heard Ty let out his breath when the light didn’t flash again.
“Must’ve been a glitch,” Ty said.
“We can’t have that kind of a glitch,” Cal said. “The yellow flashing was bad enough.”
“I agree. Do you want me to get on that first?”
With so many other things wrong with the ship? “Not unless it happens again. Our focus needs to be getting out here.”
Ty opened up his panel and started pulling out the burned and melted wiring. Cal worked on some of the more simple repairs himself. He was getting better at fixing things, but he’d never know the Star Renegade as well as Ty. The guy had been fixing the ship up since he was a kid, hoping that his employer at the time—Stanley, back on planet Kirato—would give the ship to him once the rebuild was done.
Unfortunately for the kid, Cal had come along. Stanley and his wife had hid Cal for what seemed like an eternity while the enforcers chased him down for a murder he hadn’t committed. And when it was time
to leave, Stanley gave the ship to Cal.
Luckily enough, Ty was more than happy to take the position of first mate, and neither of them ever looked back. Well, except for returning time to time, repaying the colony’s kindness with food and supplies.
Kirato had been cut off from the supply traders due to the war between the Banes and the Carteks. Which was also, in a way, how they ended up here. If Earth hadn’t bowed to the Banes for protection against the Cartek’s, Dania never would’ve been on board, and they never would have been running from that blasted prince.
Cal still had nightmares—when he was able to sleep—about the prince’s cold stare on the main viewing screen when he’d demanded Dania’s return. Usually, Cal would laugh at that kind of ultimatum, but dealing with pirates and smugglers was far less complicated. Normal criminals couldn’t blindside you with magical powers you have no defense against.
Still, Cal did his best to hide his fears. Although the growing circles under Ty’s eyes made him wonder how many of them were keeping their own anxiety to themselves.
The Star Renegade had always been a place for open discussion. Cal genuinely wanted to know what was on everyone’s minds. But lately, they’d been as silent as Cal about what had happened to them.
Maybe, after Cal’s migraine episodes, they were too worried about causing more stress. He hoped that wasn’t the case. He’d rather be plugged in than kept in the dark.
Ty, of course, had a way of knowing everything happening on the ship, with the personnel as well as the wiring. A fact that Cal needed to take advantage of more often.
“How is the crew holding up?” Cal asked.
Ty leaned underneath his panel with a screwdriver. “They’ve been through worse.”
“Worse than being lost in the middle of nowhere with no way to get home?”
“At the moment, no one is in the immediate vicinity trying to kill us.” Ty looked up. “I say this sounds like a vacation.”
Renegade Magic (Star Renegades Book 1) Page 30
