Page 56 of Devin
Val didn’t hesitate. She fired and Charlette slumped over.
“Shit,” Val said as she looked at Grena.
“As tempted as I am to expel her out of an airlock, she needs to face justice for murdering her husband,” Grena said. Val nodded and the two of them hoisted the limp Charlette and unceremoniously dropped her the four feet into the cargo container. Grena pushed the buttons and sealed it up.
“So now it’s just the two of us against everyone else on board?” Val asked.
“It’s just the captain. He’s too stingy to split his fares with any other crew. Everything else on board is automated. Once we get to him, we tell the computer to turn us around. He’s smart enough to put traps in the code though, but I still like our odds. Even if we just sit here dead in space for a few days, I’m sure Devin will find a way to rescue us. My son is very resourceful.”
Val wished she had the same faith in Devin that his mother had, but they had the upper hand and the advantage of surprise. It was clear that Charlette was not supposed to have opened their container.
Val followed Grena through the corridors of the ship, pausing to peer around the corners as they did on the vids. By unspoken agreement, they both remained as quiet as possible. Grena paused outside a door, and Val shivered. Space was cold, and she was dressed in a tank top and shorts. Her arms broke out in goosebumps, half from the temperature and half in anticipation for the possible fight to come. She knew the rules. Fire first, fire fast. This wasn’t the time for mercy or talking.
Grena nodded and Val returned the nod. The door slid open to reveal the captain sitting in a chair with his feet propped up onthe chair next to him. He only had the slightest moment for his face to register his alarm before Val aimed and shot him. Then, the look on his face was sheer annoyance. He stood without showing any signs of impairment from the weapon.
“Stupid little Terran. Did you really think I’d hand over a weapon that did any damage to me? I’m Adrastian! Poison and most shock weapons have no effect on me.”
Val wasn’t prepared for the fire to burn across her cheek as he backhanded her and then grabbed Grena by the neck. The weapon clattered to the ground as Val was thrown back. Captain Cocak brought both of his hands to Grena’s neck and began to squeeze.
Val grabbed the gun, mainly because it was the only thing she could see that might have any weight and mobility to it. She made a flying leap and landed on his back. Val used the weapon and started bashing Cocak’s head. Unfortunately it was too light weight to do much damage, but it served its purpose. Cocak released Grena to start pawing at Val. Grena slunk to the ground and began to hit him in a more vulnerable area. That really got his attention. He backed away from Grena and flung Val into a wall.
“Bitch!” Once again Val’s head exploded with pain as she sagged down the wall. Cocak snatched the weapon out of Val’s hand and shot Grena, who immediately passed out. He trained the weapon on Val, but didn’t immediately pull the trigger. She saw the look, had seen it several times in the eyes of a drunk or just nasty patron who was about to play really dirty.
“You know that when the Mahdfel find you, they’re not going to throw you into prison. They are going to kill you,” she spat out.
“This is not my fault,” he said, waving the weapon in the air.“This is your husband’s fault. I was supposed to be- It was all going to be simple. I was to deliver the princess, and then bringher right home. And then on the way home, beset by pirates, she’d be whisked away to be their problem.”
“For a modest fee. From the pirates,” Val said. As long as he was talking, he wasn’t considering doing other nasty things.
“These are pirates you don’t say no to. I couldn’t just show up, my cargo hold full of delicacies and no princess. At the very least they would have taken everything I had. At the most, they’d take everything I had and then kill me.”
“So you figured Charlette would take the blame? No one is going to believe she forced you into kidnapping us,” Val said.
“You lack faith in my ability to spin the facts to my advantage.”
“And what happens when we’re rescued and tell the truth about what happened?”
“I will be far, far away on the other side of the galaxy. You see, we Adrastians have the other advantage of looking alike. All other aliens see is our super pigmentation. A few name changes, a ship upgrade, and a new captain rises from the dead!” He raised his arms in emphasis. They were short stubby things that made him look slightly comical.
An alarm sounded from the console.
The captain let out a gurgly chuckle as he went over and pushed a few buttons on the panel. Val felt a shudder run through the ship.
“And that’s them docking now. How do you want to do this? Conscious, or unconscious?”
It wasn’t much of a choice. If she was out, she couldn’t protect Grena, or guarantee that she’d even wake up at all. They were after a princess, not her and who knew if they were into excess baggage?
The door hissed open and three aliens stepped through the door. Val had seen an alien or two before, and she’d seen plenty of pictures and vids, but most of them featuredMahdfel, most of which were built like sexy gods, but these were definitely not Mahdfel. For one, they were much smaller and thinner. Secondly, their skin was a sort of transparent pink jelly, like an amoeba she’d seen under a microscope. They still had two arms and two legs, but they were less defined, as if they molded themselves into a shape that resembled the most common appendages. They weren’t wearing uniforms as much as an agreed upon color scheme of a sort of forest green with a bright blue that Val would have never put together. It was a bit of a shock to see them, looking so alien, and yet able to have a perfectly normal conversation through the hole in their face that must be a mouth.
“Hello, gentlemen,” Cocak said as gave a little bow and a big black toothy grin. The pirates were not in as congenial a mood.
“What the hell is that?” the tallest one said, pointing toward her.
“That is a bonus prize. Two princesses for the price of one!”
“She’s not Takalian.”
“No, but she’s the daughter of one. That’s why I’m throwing her in to the deal. It’s better to have two. They stay calmer that way. And if one steps out of line, you just threaten the other.”
