Zane sprints successfully for the back of his ship, but I can tell in a second I’m about to take a bullet. I dive to my left, toward the same ships Bat is hiding behind. They’re a good twenty feet away, and just because I’m fast doesn’t mean I’m faster than that thing.
But it misses. Heat flashes right by my shoulder. It would’ve hit me. Right, I damaged its eyes. I’d laugh if I wasn’t currently making a running dive for my life. But I manage to roll behind the nearest single-person vessel as a few more shots hit too close for comfort.
As I catch my breath, I peek through the interior of the ship I’m plastered against. No guns. Damn. Just our luck. In the absence of gunfire, Yvonne’s enraged voice picks back up. Well, she’s definitely not hurt.
“Aaron!” She shrieks. “Aaron, watch out for the other one, it called it—ow! I swear I’m gonna get you scrapped for parts!”
I peek out of the ship, but she’s still struggling enough I’m sure it didn’t actually hurt her. Well, the male number called up its partner. Not sure what that means, but they’ve been in contact. This cannot be as straightforward as it seems. I take another sweep across the hangar, but I can’t see anything out of the usual.
“Did Lee call you?” I whisper to Bat when he crawls up beside me.
“A minute ago. Said he can’t find anything on the cameras. He wants to bring us reinforcements.”
“Will he?”
“I think so, but I don’t know him.”
Right. I fully believe Lee wants me to kill these things, but I’m not sure he’s going to head back to the hangar with more guns. And I’m almost certain none of his men are going to join in. We’ll still have the same problem: I don’t know where the other number is, and I have his giant rifle already. As good of a shot as I am, I can’t fire at that thing from this distance and not hurt Yvonne. This gun will decimate anything it gets near. Even if I hit the number dead in the face, I’ll probably cover half Yvonne’s body in burns. I wince.
“What’s Zane up to?” Bat asks.
“Don’t know. Call him.”
“Tried. He just said he’s getting more guns.”
Doesn’t sound right. Maybe he’s firing up his ship, but I’m not sure he’ll fire it in here, and even if he would, we have the same problem as we did on Amethyst. We need to get Yvonne away from that thing before we shoot it with anything big enough to take it down.
Hopefully take it down.
“Dammit,” I mutter again, and slip down under the belly of the parked ship, behind the landing gear so it doesn’t get any ideas about shooting me. Setting down Lee’s huge rifle, I take out my pistol. I can see it watching me. Watching my heat signature. A shot fires in my direction, bouncing off the landing gear and burying itself in the metal of the floor with a burning hot red. I take another long breath. Calm down. Separate myself from the situation. This is any other job, and I need to bully this thing into dropping Yvonne, if only for a second. Just like last time.
“I’m not opposed to breaking her arms,” the number says, with the same calm tone when it informed me it was going to shoot me if I didn’t surrender.
I wince. I believe it. Yvonne goes off on more threats about what her parents will do to it if it lays a hand on her. It should work. Most any number would take her in but make extra sure not to leave so much as a bruise. Her parents will be livid. But I told Yvonne once, and she didn’t really grasp my words—Captain may be their protector, but he doesn’t answer to the royals, not really. And he’s just about pissed enough nothing they say or do will matter. Just because her father and mother are in charge doesn’t mean they have any real way of threatening Captain. He’s the most powerful creature in the galaxy, if not in name, but in actuality.
“Don’t,” I say, because it wouldn’t be my fault, but hearing her screams if it decides to hurt her is something I don’t think I can bear. I’m not certain when that became important, but I’ve no time to analyze it.
“Come out. Bring the younger princess.” Its voice is so calm. Rage makes my pulse beat behind my ears, my injured implants throbbing worse. Should I bring Anya out? Will it help me get closer to it? No. Then it’ll just have them both. This isn’t an exchange. This is both princesses being taken back to Neyla Ve. If it was just that, only that, I’d let them have both princesses. Forget their bounty, we could all get out safely.
But those numbers want me as well. Probably Zane and Lalia as well. Bat, if they can get him. We’re all on Captain’s shit list now, and pushing Anya out here and running for it isn’t an option. It’s literally standing between me and my ship, and I don’t know what Zane’s planning if he’s planning anything at all.
Besides, the idea of handing that little girl over to the monsters makes my stomach turn so violently I nearly feel ill. Out of the question.
“Aaron,” Bat whispers. “Zane says he’s going to start up his ship to distract it.”
“Tell him yes.”
Louder, so the number doesn’t get any ideas, I say, “I don’t have her, and you’re going to shoot me if I move.”
“If you get her, I won’t.”
“And your partner?”
There’s a pause.
“I’m not moving if I don’t know where she is. If you don’t shoot me, she might.”
The pause lasts a few more seconds. Which is just enough time for Zane’s ship to fire to life behind the number. It jumps, a moment later blasted straight in the face with the blinding exterior lights of Zane’s vessel. I can see its bloody eye from here. The other one still working but momentarily stunned. Yvonne is struggling.
Bracing my arm against the landing gear, I aim my small pistol, try to ignore my glitching eyes made worse by the pain in my temple, and fire.
I thank Audra for every hour of teaching she gave me and all the practice I did these years after for hitting the number dead in its remaining good eye. It’s tough enough apparently my shot doesn’t take it down, even from such a sensitive part of its body, but it stumbles back, finally letting off a harsh scream.
Yeah, having no working eyes isn’t so great, is it?
Lee’s rifle in one hand, I bolt across the hangar at full speed. The other number be damned. If it shoots me…well, it won’t be the first time this month and it probably won’t be the last. They have small weapons with them, and I’m tough to kill.
Yvonne’s eyes get big right as she realizes what I’m going to do. I crash into the number, aiming my body at its right side, avoiding the arm still clinging to Yvonne. It’s not going to hurt it much, but that isn’t the point. Shooting it didn’t make it drop the princess. I need to get it to let her go. A shrill whir of Zane’s ship’s guns firing to life fills the air. He’ll definitely shoot it if I don’t get the chance.
The three of us hit the ground, Yvonne getting the lightest landing atop the number. Its arm knocked loose enough I grab its hand and Yvonne’s arm and yank her out of its grip with every ounce of synthetic muscle I have, flinging her a few feet across the hangar floor.
The number isn’t nearly disabled by the attack as much as I would like—suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by now. It kicks out at me hard as I try to scramble just far enough away to get the rifle up into its face, screaming in rage, face bloody from both shots. Its hand clamps around the back of my neck and I twist out before it can get any ideas about crushing the port back there. Beside me, Yvonne yanks my pistol out of its holster and fires into the thing’s chest, barely distracting it.
Bat’s tiny claws come clinking across the floor…there is no way in hell I’m letting this thing touch him. Its hand on my arm digs down through muscle and skin as if it can crush the very metal of my bones—it’ll snap Bat in a heartbeat no matter how tough and fast the little critter is.
I struggle, yanking back from the grip, nearly dragging it away before falling onto my back. It collapses on my legs, blindly clawing at me and still screaming. I don’t know where the partner is, but it can’t be far now.
Taking an arm free, I twist up Lee’s oversized gun, aiming as best I can with the grappling hands, and squeeze off a shot. Yvonne shrieks in surprise but is too far away to be hurt. The first one knocks it sideways but mostly misses. But it’s all the space I needed. I pull the gun up, brace it against my shoulder, aim, and fire off a shot that rattles my synthetic ears down to my skull.
The big creature twitches, knocked back several feet, and lies still.
I stare at it, finger still on the trigger, ready to shoot it again. It seemed dead once and somehow got back up. Bat slows to a halt behind me, crawling slowly onto my shoulder, watching. Yvonne is sitting on the ground alongside me, hand over her mouth, staring with wide eyes. I wonder if she’s seen anything so gruesome in her life.
Carefully, I get up, legs wobbling, my body starting to complain again at the new bruises I’ve added in the struggle. I nudge the number’s side with the toe of my boot, then kick a little harder. No breathing, but it didn’t last time. Glancing at Yvonne’s overwhelmed expression, I crouch beside it and roll the heavy body over to its side. There’s a panel there, on the back of it’s neck, just like mine. Bat drops down as I pry it off, digging his little metal fingers into the ports better than I can, digging out the chip.
“Come on, get up,” I say to Yvonne, avoiding her eyes. “We don’t know where the other one is.”
I gesture at her, but she grabs my hand as if I was offering, pulling herself up and standing so close to my side I can practically feel her. Well, I guess she isn’t too freaked.
Bat extracts the chip, looks at me, and shrugs.
I don’t want to shoot it again. This shot decimated half its face, I’m certain it’s not coming back from that between the injuries and the shot it already took to the chest. But I’m going to keep an eye on it. I squint at Zane’s ship through the bright lights. He dims them.
“I’ll call Lalia,” Bat says.
I nod, nudging Yvonne. “Get in the ship, we’re leaving.”
“Anya—”
“La has her.”
Yvonne visibly sags, then ducks under the belly of my ship and grabs something. Anya’s prosthetic. Right. The number must’ve carried it in here and dropped it on the ground. I scan the hangar, vulnerable in the open but wanting to ensure the humans get in the ship. The quiet has returned. I wonder if Lee was watching on the cameras. I remind myself I don’t care.
Across the hangar, the sleek little black ship the numbers came in on hovers to life. I jump to the side, behind my vessel, Bat alongside me. Behind us, I see Lalia freeze a dozen feet away, Anya behind her, before dragging her to the side of the ship beside me. Yvonne is frozen just inside the airlock of my ship, safe but staring at me in alarm.
Found the other number, I guess.
Must’ve snuck into her ship while I was busy killing her partner. Is she just going to leave? I looked into that female’s eyes—there was something off enough for me to believe it isn’t going to give up just because it’s working alone now. I glance at the dead number on the floor, but it remains sprawled, lifeless.
“What’s it doing?” Bat asks as the ship continues to hover no more than a foot or two off the ground.
“I don’t know—”
It turns on its side with a speed more impressive than I’d expect for a ship of even it’s small build. Two guns hum to life, glowing a sharp purple. Before I have time to panic, it fires.
And Zane’s ship explodes.
Zane sprints successfully for the back of his ship, but I can tell in a second I’m about to take a bullet. I dive to my left, toward the same ships Bat is hiding behind. They’re a good twenty feet away, and just because I’m fast doesn’t mean I’m faster than that thing.
But it misses. Heat flashes right by my shoulder. It would’ve hit me. Right, I damaged its eyes. I’d laugh if I wasn’t currently making a running dive for my life. But I manage to roll behind the nearest single-person vessel as a few more shots hit too close for comfort.
As I catch my breath, I peek through the interior of the ship I’m plastered against. No guns. Damn. Just our luck. In the absence of gunfire, Yvonne’s enraged voice picks back up. Well, she’s definitely not hurt.
“Aaron!” She shrieks. “Aaron, watch out for the other one, it called it—ow! I swear I’m gonna get you scrapped for parts!”
I peek out of the ship, but she’s still struggling enough I’m sure it didn’t actually hurt her. Well, the male number called up its partner. Not sure what that means, but they’ve been in contact. This cannot be as straightforward as it seems. I take another sweep across the hangar, but I can’t see anything out of the usual.
“Did Lee call you?” I whisper to Bat when he crawls up beside me.
“A minute ago. Said he can’t find anything on the cameras. He wants to bring us reinforcements.”
“Will he?”
“I think so, but I don’t know him.”
Right. I fully believe Lee wants me to kill these things, but I’m not sure he’s going to head back to the hangar with more guns. And I’m almost certain none of his men are going to join in. We’ll still have the same problem: I don’t know where the other number is, and I have his giant rifle already. As good of a shot as I am, I can’t fire at that thing from this distance and not hurt Yvonne. This gun will decimate anything it gets near. Even if I hit the number dead in the face, I’ll probably cover half Yvonne’s body in burns. I wince.
“What’s Zane up to?” Bat asks.
“Don’t know. Call him.”
“Tried. He just said he’s getting more guns.”
Doesn’t sound right. Maybe he’s firing up his ship, but I’m not sure he’ll fire it in here, and even if he would, we have the same problem as we did on Amethyst. We need to get Yvonne away from that thing before we shoot it with anything big enough to take it down.
Hopefully take it down.
“Dammit,” I mutter again, and slip down under the belly of the parked ship, behind the landing gear so it doesn’t get any ideas about shooting me. Setting down Lee’s huge rifle, I take out my pistol. I can see it watching me. Watching my heat signature. A shot fires in my direction, bouncing off the landing gear and burying itself in the metal of the floor with a burning hot red. I take another long breath. Calm down. Separate myself from the situation. This is any other job, and I need to bully this thing into dropping Yvonne, if only for a second. Just like last time.
“I’m not opposed to breaking her arms,” the number says, with the same calm tone when it informed me it was going to shoot me if I didn’t surrender.
I wince. I believe it. Yvonne goes off on more threats about what her parents will do to it if it lays a hand on her. It should work. Most any number would take her in but make extra sure not to leave so much as a bruise. Her parents will be livid. But I told Yvonne once, and she didn’t really grasp my words—Captain may be their protector, but he doesn’t answer to the royals, not really. And he’s just about pissed enough nothing they say or do will matter. Just because her father and mother are in charge doesn’t mean they have any real way of threatening Captain. He’s the most powerful creature in the galaxy, if not in name, but in actuality.
“Don’t,” I say, because it wouldn’t be my fault, but hearing her screams if it decides to hurt her is something I don’t think I can bear. I’m not certain when that became important, but I’ve no time to analyze it.
“Come out. Bring the younger princess.” Its voice is so calm. Rage makes my pulse beat behind my ears, my injured implants throbbing worse. Should I bring Anya out? Will it help me get closer to it? No. Then it’ll just have them both. This isn’t an exchange. This is both princesses being taken back to Neyla Ve. If it was just that, only that, I’d let them have both princesses. Forget their bounty, we could all get out safely.
But those numbers want me as well. Probably Zane and Lalia as well. Bat, if they can get him. We’re all on Captain’s shit list now, and pushing Anya out here and running for it isn’t an option. It’s literally standing between me and my ship, and I don’t know what Zane’s planning if he’s planning anything at all.
Besides, the idea of handing that little girl over to the monsters makes my stomach turn so violently I nearly feel ill. Out of the question.
“Aaron,” Bat whispers. “Zane says he’s going to start up his ship to distract it.”
“Tell him yes.”
Louder, so the number doesn’t get any ideas, I say, “I don’t have her, and you’re going to shoot me if I move.”
“If you get her, I won’t.”
“And your partner?”
There’s a pause.
“I’m not moving if I don’t know where she is. If you don’t shoot me, she might.”
The pause lasts a few more seconds. Which is just enough time for Zane’s ship to fire to life behind the number. It jumps, a moment later blasted straight in the face with the blinding exterior lights of Zane’s vessel. I can see its bloody eye from here. The other one still working but momentarily stunned. Yvonne is struggling.
Bracing my arm against the landing gear, I aim my small pistol, try to ignore my glitching eyes made worse by the pain in my temple, and fire.
I thank Audra for every hour of teaching she gave me and all the practice I did these years after for hitting the number dead in its remaining good eye. It’s tough enough apparently my shot doesn’t take it down, even from such a sensitive part of its body, but it stumbles back, finally letting off a harsh scream.
Yeah, having no working eyes isn’t so great, is it?
Lee’s rifle in one hand, I bolt across the hangar at full speed. The other number be damned. If it shoots me…well, it won’t be the first time this month and it probably won’t be the last. They have small weapons with them, and I’m tough to kill.
Yvonne’s eyes get big right as she realizes what I’m going to do. I crash into the number, aiming my body at its right side, avoiding the arm still clinging to Yvonne. It’s not going to hurt it much, but that isn’t the point. Shooting it didn’t make it drop the princess. I need to get it to let her go. A shrill whir of Zane’s ship’s guns firing to life fills the air. He’ll definitely shoot it if I don’t get the chance.
The three of us hit the ground, Yvonne getting the lightest landing atop the number. Its arm knocked loose enough I grab its hand and Yvonne’s arm and yank her out of its grip with every ounce of synthetic muscle I have, flinging her a few feet across the hangar floor.
The number isn’t nearly disabled by the attack as much as I would like—suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by now. It kicks out at me hard as I try to scramble just far enough away to get the rifle up into its face, screaming in rage, face bloody from both shots. Its hand clamps around the back of my neck and I twist out before it can get any ideas about crushing the port back there. Beside me, Yvonne yanks my pistol out of its holster and fires into the thing’s chest, barely distracting it.
Bat’s tiny claws come clinking across the floor…there is no way in hell I’m letting this thing touch him. Its hand on my arm digs down through muscle and skin as if it can crush the very metal of my bones—it’ll snap Bat in a heartbeat no matter how tough and fast the little critter is.
I struggle, yanking back from the grip, nearly dragging it away before falling onto my back. It collapses on my legs, blindly clawing at me and still screaming. I don’t know where the partner is, but it can’t be far now.
Taking an arm free, I twist up Lee’s oversized gun, aiming as best I can with the grappling hands, and squeeze off a shot. Yvonne shrieks in surprise but is too far away to be hurt. The first one knocks it sideways but mostly misses. But it’s all the space I needed. I pull the gun up, brace it against my shoulder, aim, and fire off a shot that rattles my synthetic ears down to my skull.
The big creature twitches, knocked back several feet, and lies still.
I stare at it, finger still on the trigger, ready to shoot it again. It seemed dead once and somehow got back up. Bat slows to a halt behind me, crawling slowly onto my shoulder, watching. Yvonne is sitting on the ground alongside me, hand over her mouth, staring with wide eyes. I wonder if she’s seen anything so gruesome in her life.
Carefully, I get up, legs wobbling, my body starting to complain again at the new bruises I’ve added in the struggle. I nudge the number’s side with the toe of my boot, then kick a little harder. No breathing, but it didn’t last time. Glancing at Yvonne’s overwhelmed expression, I crouch beside it and roll the heavy body over to its side. There’s a panel there, on the back of it’s neck, just like mine. Bat drops down as I pry it off, digging his little metal fingers into the ports better than I can, digging out the chip.
“Come on, get up,” I say to Yvonne, avoiding her eyes. “We don’t know where the other one is.”
I gesture at her, but she grabs my hand as if I was offering, pulling herself up and standing so close to my side I can practically feel her. Well, I guess she isn’t too freaked.
Bat extracts the chip, looks at me, and shrugs.
I don’t want to shoot it again. This shot decimated half its face, I’m certain it’s not coming back from that between the injuries and the shot it already took to the chest. But I’m going to keep an eye on it. I squint at Zane’s ship through the bright lights. He dims them.
“I’ll call Lalia,” Bat says.
I nod, nudging Yvonne. “Get in the ship, we’re leaving.”
“Anya—”
“La has her.”
Yvonne visibly sags, then ducks under the belly of my ship and grabs something. Anya’s prosthetic. Right. The number must’ve carried it in here and dropped it on the ground. I scan the hangar, vulnerable in the open but wanting to ensure the humans get in the ship. The quiet has returned. I wonder if Lee was watching on the cameras. I remind myself I don’t care.
Across the hangar, the sleek little black ship the numbers came in on hovers to life. I jump to the side, behind my vessel, Bat alongside me. Behind us, I see Lalia freeze a dozen feet away, Anya behind her, before dragging her to the side of the ship beside me. Yvonne is frozen just inside the airlock of my ship, safe but staring at me in alarm.
Found the other number, I guess.
Must’ve snuck into her ship while I was busy killing her partner. Is she just going to leave? I looked into that female’s eyes—there was something off enough for me to believe it isn’t going to give up just because it’s working alone now. I glance at the dead number on the floor, but it remains sprawled, lifeless.
“What’s it doing?” Bat asks as the ship continues to hover no more than a foot or two off the ground.
“I don’t know—”
It turns on its side with a speed more impressive than I’d expect for a ship of even it’s small build. Two guns hum to life, glowing a sharp purple. Before I have time to panic, it fires.
And Zane’s ship explodes.
