"What if the transmission is tracked. You put us all in danger," argued Beryl.
"I don't care," said Ky, standing with hands on hips behind the holo unit in the conference room. "It's been over two weeks since I left Rishi, and I need to contact my crew."
"Afraid farm boy's gotten himself into some trouble he can't think his way out of?" snarked Skavak.
"Shut up!" yelled Ky and Beryl in unison.
"If you get us caught, I'm not saving your ass," huffed Skavak.
"Why not? You've been after it for the past two weeks," sneered Ky. "Stay or go as you like, but I'm making the call."
Ky plugged her datapad into the holo unit and uploaded the frequency that was the most heavily masked and encrypted. It would just have to do. She pressed the connect button.
"Mar'e, Ner Vod," grunted Akaavi, her face frozen in a scowl. "Where are you, and when will you return to us?"
"Good to see you, Akaavi," Ky smiled at the hazy blue image. "Can't tell you where and it's likely to be a few months. How you guys holding up?"
"We make due. Bowdaar is troubled and worried, and Gus spends much time in meditation, although I suspect drink rather than religion keeps him on his knees. He often falls over."
"Just make sure he doesn't hurt himself," Ky chuckled. "And Corso?" She held her breath.
"Bowdaar and I take turns keeping an eye on him. He is not doing well, I fear. He has lost weight, and his face has a worn look to it as if he doesn't sleep. He works for his cousin, Rona, and seems to have a set route he travels with another man, perhaps boundary checks. We do not interfere and would step in only if needed. So far, it has been unnecessary, but he is not the Corso we knew. I warned you this would happen."
"I know, but it's done now," said Ky, exhaling the long breath, and hiding all emotion behind a mask of indifference. "Any other news?"
"Seph Okarr contacted us about four days ago. Said to tell you that the package has been retrieved in good condition. He did not go into detail."
"Thank the Maker," murmured Ky. Scourge was alive and one item she could erase from her long list of guilt.
"We have not heard from Risha yet but will try and contact her in a few days if the silence continues. There is not much else to tell."
"If you guys smell even a hint of trouble, leave and keep moving. I need to keep this short, but I'll call again when I can. Take care, all of you."
"Ret'urcye mhi, Ky." Akaavi disconnected.
Without a word to Beryl or Skavak, she exited and trundled to her room on legs made of wood. She lay on the bed, pulled the world in around her, and went numb, preferring the hollow refuge to the painful alternative. Corso's misery mirrored hers, reflections of reflections, empty hallways extending to infinity. For good or ill, she'd made the decision for them both. There was no going back.
Ky sat in the cockpit studying the star map on the nav computer screen. They were five days out from the entry point to the Eidolon, a vast area at the edge of a star cluster known as the Redoubt, and although she'd heard tales, she had no idea what she was flying into. She was expected to find one planet orbiting a star in the middle of trillions of kilometers of other stars with bad attitudes.
All she had to go on was information received over fifty years ago noting general direction and distance. Space and time were not static, they were fluid, always moving. On top of that, she'd have to contend with cosmic dust, magnetics, gravitation drifts and radiation that liked to get it on with the kinky mind fuck. What the hell was she thinking?
The only upside she could see was that her brain would map the path if they made it through the first time; a kriffing big if. She turned off the screen and slouched down in the seat, propping her feet on the console. The sip of whiskey she held in her mouth bit into her teeth and gums, and she swallowed the heat attempting to stave off the chill of loneliness and dread that settled across her shoulders.
Nights were spent with Corso's ghost, ravenously snacking on crumbs of memory but never feeling full. Fantasy and self-gratification only left her hungry for more.
Skavak stalked her days, not physically pursuing, just being there with the ever-present innuendo-heavy comment. He'd advance, she'd repel his advances, and was already weary of the barbed exchanges. It had become ridiculous bordering on exhausting, and sooner or later someone would bend; the winner yet to be determined if there was a winner at all.
She drained the glass and hoisted herself to her feet still arguing the options of refill or bed and stopped short in the passageway when Skavak exited his room, shirt unbuttoned with the tails brushing his hips.
Ky gaped at the expanse of his chest, her eyes drifting south over his stomach to the dark strip of hair peeking out from the waist of his low riding trousers.
"Care to have a drink with me?" he asked, taking up a position in the middle of the hallway.
Her attention snapped back to his face. "No thanks. Already had one."
"What's the matter? Like what you see but too afraid to sample?" His mouth widened into that smug smile she hated so much.
"Stars, you're tiresome." She walked forward. "And this is supposed to turn me on? For crying out loud, just get out of my way you horny, pre-pubescent little shit."
Well, that struck a nerve.
The grin disappeared, and his eyes narrowed, but he moved aside and let her pass, and, for once, didn't have a witty comeback. Score one for the spacer chick.
Damn the woman! Skavak thought as he poured the rum, his preferred drink, into the glass and slung it down his throat in one quick motion. Air seethed in between his teeth as the fiery liquid hit its mark in the pit of his stomach. He poured another and leaned against the counter, the edge hard against the small of his back.
She had more walls than a shadow vault with not one chink to be seen and been a thorn in his ass that prickled and irritated ever since Port Nowhere. For some unfathomable reason, he couldn't let this go, and the game they played went beyond getting laid or making the score. He'd even missed their antagonistic banter once she'd stopped chasing him all over the galaxy. It'd been like halting a mystery vid in the middle without ever knowing who done it.
Shit like that drove him nuts. Despite the chaos he liked to stir, he was a completionist at heart, and she was still an unanswered question.
Fuck, it's gonna be a long night.
"And you were going to tell us this when exactly?" asked Skavak, setting his fork on the plate with a clatter.
"I'm telling you now," said Ky. "I didn't even think about it until last night."
"Rommeth IV would be the last relatively safe place for us to land," said Skavak. "You sure you need to do this?"
"Look, if this planet we're headed for had some geologic upheaval and if those have continued, it's likely the whole place is nothing but a dust ball. You really want to chance the repulsor fins getting clogged up and burning out the drives? We need a closed cooling system, at least for the landing and take-off. I need valves and tubing to reroute the coolant from the hyperdrive to the repulsors and a couple of extra power cells, just in case. I can always sublight in, but I'm still going to need those repulsors to slow the descent and land us right side up."
"You're going to sublight into an atmosphere and gravity well?" scoffed Skavak.
"That's why I'm here, isn't it? You should try it sometime, it's a blast. Besides, I need to get off this ship for a while if only to scrounge around in a used parts place."
"You're absolutely sure about this?" asked Beryl.
"You know the spacers credo; better to have and not need, etcetera."
Rommeth IV was a little too much like Rishi for Ky's liking. The air was saturated with humidity and sea salt that settled in a crusty layer on the boardwalk and crunched beneath their boots. A light breeze stirred the scents of brackish water and smoked fish with an undertone of seaweed too long in the sun.
Not exactly a hub of activity, in the galactic sense, the locals milled about with haggard faces, giving way before them as if they were someone of importance or someone to be feared. People hung together in different groups by storefronts and eateries, and sullen eyes followed her and Skavak as they made their way through the town perched on pylons high above the breaking surf.
Beryl had stayed with the ship to see to refueling and get Rook started on preliminary work to accommodate the fittings that were to be installed. Skavak wasn't her companion of choice, but beggars and all that.
"This way," said Skavak, directing her to follow him down a side street.
"You've been here before?" Ky asked.
"It's been a while. Hopefully, Lomacc is still in business. He should have everything we need."
"Tam, my old friend. You've been away far too long," drawled the man behind the counter, his cybernetic eye and cheek implants winking in the overhead light. "Ah, who is your lovely lady?"
"You actually have a friend?" Ky leaned closer to Skavak and murmured while flashing a charming smile toward Lomacc.
"Very funny," Skavak growled under his breath and pasted a brilliant smile of his own across his face. "Lomacc, buddy, how are things?" He placed his hand on the small of Ky's back. "I'd like you to meet—"
"Captain will do," said Ky, squirming away from Skavak's touch. "And, I'm not his lady. Happy to meet you anyway."
"Yes, well, my mistake. So, what can I do for you?"
An hour later they walked out of the store with a box of overpriced microvalves, elastex tubing, and two not quite fully charged power cells.
"You want a drink," Ky said as they passed the entrance to a cantina.
"You asking?" said Skavak.
"No. I'm telling. Follow me."
They ducked into the cantina and took a seat in a corner booth under the close scrutiny of the bartender. Every male eye in the place that wasn't face down on the bar followed Ky—some hungry, some drunk, most just tired. A low whistle or two came out of nowhere, typical dive behavior; no offense intended, none taken.
The place smelled like month old piss, week-old puke, and cheap cigars. A haze hung from the rafters where smoke of all flavors gathered and danced in currents of forced, vented air.
"What'll you have," asked the lone waitress who'd sidled up to their table. She'd seen better days, and the thick makeup didn't help.
"A whiskey and rum. Two steps up from swill if you have it," answered Ky.
"We don't run tabs," the waitress stated.
"Didn't ask," said Skavak.
Ky propped her elbows on the table. "You must be slipping."
"Hardly, sweetheart. A sloppy job of surveillance, whoever they are."
"Exactly. Best to be in here where shit can be contained. I don't fancy a tranq dart or blaster bolt coming from a rooftop or alley."
"Shouldn't be long before the idiot brigade shows up," said Skavak.
The waitress returned with their drinks, bending over the table to give Skavak a clear view of her cleavage, including the wrinkles and one too many stretch marks.
Skavak slid the credits onto the table and then poked one between the woman's ample breasts. "Buy something pretty, honey, and you might want to go shopping now if you get my drift."
The woman returned his gaze with world-weary eyes and nodded.
Skavak and Ky clinked glasses and raised them to their lips, but neither drank. They slid closer together, and Skavak stretched his arm across the back of the booth, his free hand drifting to the grip of his blaster, smooth, nonchalant, never missing a beat. Ky giggled and leaned back into his shoulder, placing her hand on Skavak's chest—just two spacers with eyes only for each other.
As if on cue, two men, a Gamorrean and a woman strode into the cantina like a walking bad joke. The bartender's face blanched to the pasty white of bread dough, a couple customers caught a whiff of trouble and departed. Ky heard the 'fresher door open, and swing shut again, whoever it was choosing the company of urinals to the shitstorm that was about to happen out here.
The four began to spread out around the room, taking up vantage points from different directions.
Ky and Skavak kept up the act while monitoring movements out of the corners of their eyes.
"Woman has a wrist launcher, probably tranqs. She'll hold back waiting for the shot. Skinny blond has a holdout in his boot, Tusker will be a problem, tall, dark and handsome is packing throwing daggers in his vest, likely edged with tranqs or poison. That about sum it up?" asked Ky.
"And one outside to guard the door," answered Skavak. "Yeah, I'd say that about covers it."
Handsome spoke first. "Ky Aragath, give up, and you may get through this unharmed. We are after you, although, Skavak is a nice bonus. Your contract wants you alive, dead is fine for him, proof of kill required. You have one minute."
"Do you trust me?" asked Ky.
"What? No," answered Skavak.
"You'd better start. Follow my lead," said Ky.
Her body mass would make too easy a target if she stood, and the booth was too confined for easy movement. She went limp in the seat and slid, bonelessly, off the edge and under the table, pulling her blaster as she went. The whistle of a dart whizzed overhead and plunged into the back of the booth.
Skavak slid to the floor beside her. "Knees and balls?"
"Balls and knees. Get your priorities straight."
"You fast?" he asked, pointing to a table not far in front of them.
"We'll see," she said and bolted from under the table, rolled to her feet and dove at the table top, pulling it over as she went to form a barrier.
Another dart plinked against the metal surface. She glanced behind her, saw blondie trying to flank her. The table scratched along the wooden floor as she crab-walked sideways pulling it with her.
"I've got pretty good aim from this angle and I ain't above ruining your sex life," taunted Ky.
"Do your worst, bitch," snarled blondie.
She peeked over the top of the table when blaster fire opened up in Skavak's direction. The Gamorrean was closing fast, and the fuckers had body shields. Damn, so much for balls.
"You know arena speak?" yelled Ky.
"Some. Kinda busy here." Skavak yelled back.
"Fly and swatter. Watch blondie. Making my move."
The room became a slow-motion vid as Ky burst from behind the table, blaster back in its holster and garrote removed from her boot. Blondie was closer, but Tusker was the bigger threat. If he took Skavak, they could both kiss their ass's goodbye. Plasma bolts floated across the room in bulbous green masses, leaving stylus thin lines in their wake. Ky weaved through them as effortlessly as threading her way through trees on a forest world.
Skavak heaved the table to its side, took cover, and focused his aim on blondie, taking pot shots at Tusker and Handsome in between. Ky dodged two knives thrown by Handsome and barely moved in time to avoid a tranq dart that glinted as it flew by. A plasma bolt grazed her thigh from behind, adrenaline blocked the pain, Tusker turned toward her, dropping his blaster and filling his hands with a twin-bladed battle-axe.
"What you gonna do, little girl?" Tusker's mouth split into a toothy chasm.
"You like monkeys?" asked Ky as she sprinted forward, dropped to the floor under the whooshing arc of the axe, and grabbed Tuskers belt. She swung upward across his side, but not before the edge of his axe grazed her arm, slicing deep into the flesh. Her arm went numb as she wound the hair-thin filament around his neck and yanked with both handles. The wire sliced through the thick hide and windpipe, getting stuck in the meaty muscle underneath. She rolled free as his hulking body dropped to the floor, flexed her fingers to return some feeling and went for the knife in her belt.
"Fly's getting beat to shit out here. Where the fuck's my swatter?"
"Trying not to get my head blown off," Skavak hurled back.
"Stop being a pussy and do something," Ky panted, veering out of the path of another incoming dart followed by a series of blaster bolts.
Her mind expanded defining each action down to intent before the body could respond. Handsome holstered his blaster, arming himself with twin blades that twinkled and winked, egging her on. He'd assumed he was the next target. He was wrong.
She flung herself in his direction, straight for his loving arms, ducked under his elbow, leaped, slid across a table top and tackled the woman. Thrown off balance, the woman staggered going for her knife, too late. Ky drove her blade under the woman's ribcage and rode her body to the ground, raised the arm with the launcher and fired a dart at Handsome. His eyes went blank, and he slumped to the floor.
"It's safe, you can come out now," scoffed Ky as she limped over to Handsome and knelt down.
She'd expected to see Skavak pop up from behind his cover and was surprised to see him standing over blondies downed body. A bruise bloomed on his cheek, and his disheveled hair hung around his face. Damn, he is a sexy bastard.
She searched Handsome and took his datapad and communicator, throwing them into the box of parts. "We need to get out of here," she said and frowned when Skavak clutched his side. Specks of blood formed around minuscule holes that peppered his shirt grazed by a plasma burst, but he'd live.
Her arm was bleeding like a stuck Ronto, and Skavak couldn't carry the box by himself. She took one handle with her uninjured arm, and he grabbed the other with his.
"Sorry about the mess," she said to the bartender who had just lifted his head above the top of the bar followed by the customers who'd taken refuge there as well.
She and Skavak walked out of the cantina, the box between them, almost holding hands, but not quite.