Page 25 of The Alien's Stolen Rebel

Kreel was just as distracted, which made things a little better emotionally, but a lot worse practically. If it hadn’t been for the stocky, purple-skinned merchant calling out to me, we might have walked past the prize we were searching for.

“Captain,” he cried, waving all four of his hands to draw my attention. “You want a hyperdrive? I have one, and a good price.”

I turned as slowly and impassively as I could, raising an eyebrow. The merchant’s broad shouldersand scarred face made him look more like a pirate than an engineer, even if his workstation advertised repairs and parts for sale.

As an engineer, the shop made me shudder. A filthy mess, with pieces of ships lying in haphazard piles, most damaged beyond use. But, taking a second look, I saw he’d been sorting through the junk and pulling high-quality components aside to clean and repair. And at the back of his stall, sure enough, a ragged section of bulkhead sat with a gleaming hyperdrive still bolted to it.

Not the neatest removal, but it looked the right size to fit theStarshadow.Behind me, Kreel rumbled approval.

“How badly damaged is it? I am not in the market for scrap.” I put as much ice as possible into my voice. Showing our desperation wouldn’t make the bargaining any easier. The alien shrugged, a fascinating sight given his four arms.

“No scrap here, no, captain. I do not trade in things of no value.”

He saw me glance at the filthy pile of components and shrugged again. “Ah, there will be treasure to find in the dross, yes. The rest, I will sell for the metal’s price. But the hyperdrive? It doesn’t have a mark on it, and it works perfectly. I swear it by my name, Horzul tch’Ok.”

I didn’t know how much stock to put in that, but no other hyperdrive leaped forward to be bought, so Igave Horzul a slow nod and walked around the table to inspect his offering.

It was, I’d be the first to admit, a beauty. Having checked out theStarshadow’sdrive, I had some idea of what to look for, though I didn’t understand the mechanics of hyperspace any better than any other human. As a species, we hadn’t advanced beyond the most primitive faster than light engines. This was far beyond the dreams of Earth’s brightest scientists, let alone a Martian engineer like me.

But I recognized enough of the design to spot three things straight away. First, it was of Vehn imperial manufacture. A relief, since it would be much harder to install an incompatible system. Second, it was of much lower quality than theStarshadow’sdrive. While still elegantly manufactured, it lacked the poise, the grace, of our current drive.

Third, and most important, it held a much more capacious battery. Even a partial charge would be enough for a jump, and it hummed with energy. This drive was the answer to our prayers.

“Why is it still here?” I asked, gesturing my ‘servant’ forward to inspect the merchandise. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Ah.” Horzul clasped two hands behind his back, the other two gesturing vaguely. “Nothing is wrong with it, captain, except location. We get few visitors on Talbrek who both need and can afford a hyperdrive, and it takes too much work to install for me to let it go cheap.Unless your crew can do the work themselves? Bargain if you do not need labor as well as parts.”

I smiled. Horzul’s unwillingness to let his prize go at a discount wasn’t great business practice, but it had kept this drive around long enough for us to find it. Now it was just a matter of meeting his price.

“All I really need is the battery,” I said. “That will be faster to swap out.”

Horzul sucked in air as he shook his head, raising his hands as though to ward off violence. “Perhaps in a shipyard, Captain. Forgive me, Talbrek does not have such a thing. Dismounting a charged battery from the drive? It would risk an explosion.”

My face paled as I considered that idea. The amount of energy needed to throw a ship across light-years of space was frightening. Imagining it being discharged intomewas enough to shut down any thoughts of doing it without the proper equipment. A ten percent chance of failure was way too high.

“Okay, fine, we’ll take the whole thing and remount it ourselves.” Even as I spoke, I had my doubts. The battery was one thing—dangerous, too dangerous, but I knew what was involved. Removing the old, fully integrated drive from theStarshadow would be a long and difficult task. Without a manual for each drive, it would take time to work out how to do the swap. Time we didn’t have. Safer than the battery swap, but slower, and we didn’t want to be sitting around for days.

Kreel’s growl cut through the conversation beforeHorzul replied. “Captain, perhaps we hire this engineer to do it? He is familiar with the drive.”

“Happy for the work, but time is more expensive than the drive,” Horzul said. “Much more. Must shut the shop, lose profit. I need to be compensated, yes?”

“What’s the point of being a pirate if you can’t pay for things?” I forced a grin as I spoke. The engineer held out all four of his hands, palm up, a universal gesture meaningshow me the money.

Acutely aware that I was in the middle of a market full of pirates and thieves, I looked around. We’d certainly attracted enough attention to make me distinctly uncomfortable. This whole ‘hiding in plain sight’ idea had seemed a lot safer back when we’d come up with it. Out here, we were being watched.

Fuck it, let’s go.I opened my lovely new coat and pulled out our trade goods—jewelry from the Imperial wardrobe. These weren’t the fanciest pieces, the previous owners having sold off anything truly valuable long ago. Still, the jeweled bracelet and the ornate gold necklace were beautifully hand-crafted and made with exquisite materials. Even an emperor’s junk jewelry was worth a small fortune.

“These should cover your expenses.” Haggling might have been a good idea, but I wanted to get out of the market as quickly as possible.

Horzul’s eyes widened, but he made no move to take the treasure. “Usually I charge in Credits Imperial, or barter for parts. Don’t have contacts for selling those on.”

“Hey, I’m a little short on CrImp right now. You’re getting a bargain. To the right buyer, these are worth a lot more than your hyperdrive, and I can see you know that.”Okay, apparently, wearehaggling after all.

“If these ‘right people’ were here, you’d be selling to them yourself.” Horzul took the necklace and examined it as he grumbled. “Have to sell these out-system if I want a good price.”

Kreel growled, an impatient sound that made my knees go weak. “Captain, we should go. If this fucker can’t see a bargain, we’ll go elsewhere.”

I nodded, hiding my reluctance. This might be our only chance to buy the drive we needed, but if he knew we had literally no choice, Horzul could demand whatever price he wanted.

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