Sarayan Space, Standard Year 404

  “You’ll have to give up the gun.” Tony said patiently.

  Alanna forced her hands to unclench. She did not want to give up her gun. She’d had it since the moment she was released from prison. She liked having the gun.

  Unexpectedly, it was Lisa who stepped up, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You’re not just the bait.” She said. “And you’re not just there to get hurt. We’re coming for you. And we’re giving you back your gun.”

  “And then we’re gonna kill some Sarayan prison guard scum.” Prescott said cheerfully. “This is gonna be great.”

  Alanna nodded, finally taking off her holster and handing over the gun. It was hard to argue with that. She put on her space suit, waiting patiently as Tony chained her hands and then tied another chain around her neck. It was the thing to do if you wanted to make sure your prisoner did not escape while everyone was floating outside in the cold vacuum of space. It was perfectly fine, Alanna reassured herself. In a day or two, they would all be back on one of the Tundran ships, and she would have James and her whole family with her, safe.

  “Our contact is within range.” Tony said, a certain degree of tension in his voice. They had no way to get onto Saraya without help. If they went in on their own, the security patrols around the planet would catch them immediately. And once again, Jonno had stepped in. His smuggling contacts were more than up for the job of picking up a prisoner and a few of Jonno’s closest friends, floating seemingly at random in the cold vacuum of space. And not asking any questions was one of their specialties. Unfortunately, the no questions asked policy may not extend to enemy troops in Sarayan territory. The plan was for the crew of Tundran special forces marines to pretend they were Sarayans who managed to kidnap Alanna Summers, currently the most famous Sarayan traitor in the known solar system, and bring her back in return for a massive reward. And now the smugglers were within range. Which meant that from that moment until someone rescued her and put a gun back into her hands, Alanna would be a prisoner.

  Somewhat unsurprisingly, Jonno’s people were efficient. The small cargo shuttle came within range precisely on time, the air lock doors gaping open as the crew waited for them to come in. Alanna looked glumly into the well lit interior as she was inexorably pulled towards the approaching shuttle. A few minutes later, they were stepping out of the airlock into the cluttered cargo transport shuttle. Two nondescript men, likely brothers by the similarity of their features, were waiting for them. The similarity of their stance as they crossed their arms and looked doubtfully at the large group of people invading their shuttle, reinforced the family resemblance.

  “Is it really her?” The older brother asked, eyeing them all with equal disfavor.

  “Take off your helmet.” Tony said, turning to Alanna, his voice cold.

  Alanna took off her helmet.

  “Damn.” The older brother said, leaning forward in spite of himself. “Damn.” He repeated. “It’s really her. And she looks good in person. Your time on Tundra treat you well, I take it?” He spit in her general direction. “Well that won’t last, will it? Welcome home.”

  Alanna remained silent. There really wasn’t a whole lot she wanted to say.

  ---

  They were sitting on random cargo boxes inside the cargo shuttle, spaced in a rough circle so everyone could see everyone else. The older brother was also the pilot, which left the younger one alone to keep an eye on their guests. Outnumbered seven to one, not counting the prisoner, he did not look happy. His eyes kept straying to Alanna, who looked back at him, her face disturbingly blank. The lack of expression bothered him.

  “Scared?” He asked.

  “No, I’m thrilled.” Alanna said flatly.

  “Few hours before we get back.” The younger brother said somewhat hopefully, looking at the four other men sitting on his shuttle. “Plenty of time to have some fun.”

  “We’re not here to have fun.” Tony responded. “We’re here to do our job and get paid.” Nods from the others made it clear that there would be no sympathy from the newly arrived guests.

  The younger man’s eyes strayed back to Alanna. “Speak for yourselves, friends. I’m here to have some fun.”

  Tony and Prescott exchanged a silent look. This was not a positive development.

  “Come have some fun with me.” Lisa offered, baring her teeth happily. If he tried, that would be fun.

  “You don’t seem that fun.” The man replied, physically leaning slightly away from her.

  “Prescott, tell him I’m fun.” Lisa suggested.

  “She’s whatever she says she is.”

  Lisa smiled back happily. Because that was just how she liked it.

  “No I want to have fun with her.” The young smuggler said firmly, standing up and walking up to Alanna.

  The tension in the cluttered shuttle went up several notches as several of the Tundran marines shifted slightly, the overall result being that their guns were suddenly much closer to hand.

  Alanna caught Tony’s eye, shaking her head slightly to signal that he should not interfere. Tony’s only response was to place his hand even more obviously on his gun. Tony’s signal was also clear. He had no confidence in her abilities whatsoever, and planned to ignore her.

  “Why can’t we do our job, get paid, and have fun?” The young man said insistently. “Only requirement was to bring her back alive. I’m not gonna kill her. Just what exactly is your problem?” He asked, a note of suspicion creeping into his voice. “You getting cold feet? Cause let me tell you, nothing I’m going to do will compare to what happens after we hand her over to the professionals. You know what they do. You got a problem with that, maybe you’re in the wrong business.”

  Gritting her teeth, Alanna did her best to catch Tony’s eye again. Unfortunately, he was intentionally ignoring her. She caught Lisa’s gaze instead, raising an eyebrow slightly in a way she could only hope got her message across. They all needed to let her handle this.

  “Let him have his fun.” Lisa spoke up, ignoring the sharp glance Tony and Prescott both shot her way. “He’s right, it’s not our problem.”

  Alanna winced in distaste, leaning away slightly as the man came closer to her. Her hands were tied in front of her, more loosely than they should have been. But slipping her ties would only serve to raise the suspicion of the small shuttle’s crew members. And they needed the smuggler’s cooperation to get onto Saraya. To make matters worse, Alanna suspected she would only have a limited amount of time to handle the situation before Tony and Prescott stepped in. Clearly, neither of them had much confidence in her ability to handle it on her own.

  She rolled just in time, softening her fall as the man tossed her to the ground with one surprisingly strong arm. To her relief, she managed to roll onto her back, leaving her hands between her and the attacker rather than trapped underneath her body. Wincing in distaste as the weight of his body came on top of her, Alanna forced her muscles to cooperate. She didn’t bother taking the fork she had stashed out of her pocket. She simply grabbed it with both of her tied hands and stabbed outwards, as hard as she could. The man gave a highly satisfying shriek as he rolled off of her.

  “My dick.” He screamed. “She stabbed me! She stabbed my right in the…”

  Lisa laughed.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “You bitch!” He screamed, turning toward her. “You think this is funny.”

  “Yes.” Lisa replied immediately.

  “We all do.” Prescott agreed.

  “Whose fucking side are you on?” The man screamed, rocking back and forth in pain.

  “I’m on the side of the people who do their job and get paid, without fucking around.” Tony said mildly.

  “You let her have a fork. What the hell were you thinking?” The man moaned. He took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m going to make her pay for this.” He said, his eyes focusing on Alanna, who was now sitting up on the floor. “And I’m going to enjoy every goddamn…” He paused, looking up at Lisa, who had leaned over and taken him by the wrist, exerting a certain amount of pressure. Whatever else he had been about to say died into silence.

  “Here’s what I’m going to enjoy.” Lisa said gently. “I’m going to enjoy finding out what hurts more, getting stabbed in the dick, or a broken wrist. Unless… does anyone here already know?”

  There was a general shaking of heads amongst the group.

  “They don’t know.” Lisa said helpfully. “But I just bet they’d like to…”

  “What the hell’s going on?” The pilot of the shuttle walked into the room, casting a suspicious look around all of them. “We’re about to hit the patrols. Now is not the time…” His mouth tightened when he saw the way Lisa was holding his brother’s wrist. “Let him go or you’re not going anywhere.” He said, anger lacing his voice.

  “We don’t want any trouble.” Lisa replied, letting the younger man go immediately. “Sorry to say your brother is the one that started it. And I’m guessing you know him well enough not to be surprised. Tell him to behave and we can all focus on getting this done and going home.”

  There was a long pause as the pilot looked around the room. Finally, he gave a somewhat resigned sigh. “Come sit up front with me.” He said, looking at his brother.

  “I have to keep an eye on…”

  “Don’t worry about it.” The older man said with a shake of his head. “Come sit up front.”

  “Cameras.” Alanna mouthed, taking advantage of the moment the two brothers would be headed towards the front of the shuttle, but not there yet.

  Waiting a moment later to ensure that the pilot and his brother reached the front of the shuttle, Lisa raised her gun, pointing the barrel directly at Alanna. “Sit back down.” She said coldly. “No more fun for anyone.”

  ---

  Phoenix Penitentiary, Saraya, Standard Year 404

  “I can’t just sit here waiting to get rescued.” James said, forcing his eyes open for the thousandth time. “I’m James Hawk.” He added. It wasn’t entirely clear if he was saying this to Will, or as a private reminder to himself.

  “The motion detectors are set out all around the perimeter.” Will said patiently. “Invisible or not, I can’t disable them without being noticed. It’s not like we can just walk out of here. We’re going to need help.”

  “There has to be something more we can do.” James said insistently. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept, and the pain pf his current physical condition was an unwelcome distraction.

  “You can sleep. So that you’re not completely useless by the time the rescue party arrives.”

  “But…” James tried again.

  “Here.” Will said, enabling the holographic function on the cheap wrist comm they had been left with. “This might cheer you up.”

  James blinked, once again forcing his eyes open to focus on the blurry image in front of him. “Bitch knows how to make an entrance.” He admitted reluctantly, watching as Lorelai entered the scene.

  “So do we.” Will said with a slight smile.

  James continued to watch as a wall of what looked like red laser fire turned everyone on the screen to ash and Lorelai’s unconscious body was elevated upwards, until it disappeared. “I see what you mean.” He agreed. “And she’s still alive.”

  “We would all like to ask her some questions.” Will said, his voice deeply satisfied.

  “Outdoors.” James said thoughtfully, his mind already on the tactical implications of what he had seen. “I assume if they could do the same for you here, they would have already done it.”

  Will nodded.

  “So that’s the second distraction.” James said approvingly. As far as distractions went, that one wasn’t half bad.

  “Help is coming.” Will reminded him. “And they’re coming soon. Just wait.”

  “But…”

  “But reality is more important than your control issues.” Will interrupted firmly. “We’re waiting.”

  ---

  Phoenix City, Saraya, Standard Year 404

  Sophia sat ramrod straight in her chair, her eyes focused on Lorelai’s unconscious form as her mind attempted to process what she was seeing. The president of their planet was lying unconscious at her feet, her blood red hair spilling across the emerald green moss that lined most of the interior of the alien shuttle. The moss probably produces oxygen, her mind supplied. Sophia swallowed, oddly comforted by the random fact. Her mind was filled with random facts. None of them gave her much confidence in her ability to deal with the current situation. And the moss probably did produce oxygen. Even now, it might be feeding on the carbon dioxide Lorelai was exhaling. Because Lorelai was still alive. Daren had tossed her down onto the floor, his movements perfectly casual. It was the way someone might toss their bag after coming home from a hard day’s work, or a bag of trash they were taking out on trash day. There was no gloating, no relief, no sense of accomplishment. Just a casual toss. Sophia blinked. Lorelai’s unconscious body was still there, her chest moving lightly with each breath she drew. And Sophia could not look away.

  Daren glanced over at Sophia, relieved to see her focusing exclusively on Lorelai. Sophia never looked up as he walked towards the compact kitchen and picked a small microchip from the countertop. The microchip had not been there earlier. The kitchen had a number of automated functions, and the ship’s AI used that functionality to give Daren the broadest of hints. Not that he needed it. Daren agreed with the ship entirely. Reassuringly, he programmed in a request for the implantation device that would ensure the chip was implanted correctly into Lorelai’s brain. The ship provided it nearly instantaneously. Daren smiled slightly. It was unlike the ship to interfere. But then, it was also exceptionally unusual for the ship’s crew to be in danger. The ship expected them to be safe. And the events of the last few days had clearly left her on edge.

  Daren placed the chip inside the implantation device, paused, and carefully put both items back down onto the kitchen counter. The problem was that Daren’s worlds were colliding. And after a few centuries of observing the humans, he had enough insight to realize his next move would not go over well with Sophia.

  “How long will she remain unconscious?” Sophia asked, interrupting his train of thought.

  “Hours.” Daren replied. Which just might be for the best, all things considered.

  “Do you think you could convince her to order Will’s release?” Sophia asked, sounding hopeful.

  Yes, Daren thought. I could convince her to do anything. “I do not think anyone will listen to Lorelai’s orders after the way she disappeared.” He replied out loud, sitting down next to Sophia and putting his hand reassuringly over hers. “The way Lorelai was taken will leave her permanently compromised. No one understands what happened, and no one will trust any orders she gives.” And rightfully so.

  “But… isn’t it worth a shot?” Sophia asked uncertainly.

  “It’s too dangerous. They could easily take the order as a sign that Will was behind Lorelai’s capture, and refocus all their efforts on finding him. It could hurt more than it helps.”

  “Yes.” Sophia nodded, slumping down in her chair. “Yes, I think you’re right. But what will you do now?”

  Daren hesitated, his eyes straying to Lorelai’s unconscious form. “I have to try and rescue Will.” He said, hating the uncertainty in his own voice. Daren was an academic. Going commando on missions where he might get shot at really wasn’t his thing.

  “But you said others were coming to help.” Sophia responded, her unfortunately expressive eyes widening in concern. “Shouldn’t you wait?”

  “It will be another day before they arrive. And Will is in danger now. What if he gets killed before they get there? The danger is too great. And I can help now.”

  “You can also get shot.” Sophia said bluntly. “You’ve already been shot.”

  “The shoulder wound is manageable.” Daren said, somewhat uncomfortably. He had taken a great deal of pain meds before it became manageable.

  “Daren!” Sophia snapped, raising her voice quite uncharacteristically. “They have motion detectors. They know what you can do.

  “I will have an EMP.” Daren responded, his tone still tinged with uncertainty. “In theory the electromagnetic pulse will disable the motion detectors. No one should be able to see me.”

  “There are a number of methods to detect your presence.” Sophia said sharply. Historic old earth records spoke of dozens of ways to detect the presence of the alien chameleons. “A bag of flour spread across the floor and you will be captured in minutes. This is not a good plan.”

  “I cannot just leave him there, Sophia.” Daren said guiltily. He genuinely liked Will.

  “Getting yourself killed will do no one any favors.” Sophia said insistently. “And when the rescue party comes, you will not be able to help. And they will need your help. Daren please, just wait.” Sophia said, her tone insistent. She was very much aware of the conversation they had earlier. If one of the aliens died on their planet, the consequences would be catastrophic. Daren spoke of destroying the entire human colony in revenge. It was imperative that none of them died. And Sophia was very much concerned that Daren’s current plan would lead to his own death, and perhaps the death of the other alien, as well. Sophia drew a breath. She had never been particularly comfortable with the way Daren regarded her. And seeing him going invisible did not help. But at the moment, he appeared entirely human. And strange as it may seem, she was not entirely blind to the fact that Daren seemed… interested. The idea of Sophia seducing someone was preposterous. Then again, the idea of her fleeing a platoon of Sarayan marines on the back of a motorcycle was also preposterous, and she had just finished doing that. She turned towards Daren and placed a hand on his shoulder, opening her eyes as wide as they would go. Fortunately, nothing more was needed. Daren had been waiting patiently for a signal, any signal. And that was enough.

  ---

  Daren looked over, making sure Sophia was asleep before getting up. Silently, he walked across the moss covered floor towards the shuttle’s small kitchen. He picked up the implantation device and turned it around in his hands before carefully placing it back down. Still silent, he programmed in another request for the ship. After all, Sophia was already asleep. All he had to do was make sure she would not wake up. There was no need for Sophia to ever see what was going to happen to Lorelai.