Of Stars and Secrets

Chapter 3

3

Kiersten ran up the ship’s ramp, shouting orders as her palm slammed down on the button that would seal the craft. “Hells bells, Sid, get us out here! I swear, that is the last time I’m going to trust a Tamplian.”

Sid was already sitting at the controls, belted in, when Kiersten spun the copilot’s seat around, landed herself in it, and continued the turn until she was facing the window. Red blasts from the lasers deflected off the hull, only scorching the metal, not causing any real damage. She hoped. Just as Kiersten fastened the belt around her shoulders, Lioness launched from Templer II and escaped out of their controlled space. Once out of range of patrol vessels and among the stars poking through the black of space, Kiersten unsnapped the belt and shot out of the seat. She paced angrily the width of the helm, pausing only to kick a metal plate towards the bottom of the wall.

“Hey! That sounds like the plate of the air filter we just replaced last week. It would be advantageous if we could return home without dents from angry air boots,” Sid complained.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kiersten grumbled.

She leaned forward until her forehead rested on the cool metal that surrounded her, inhaling deeply, then exhaling as she puffed out her cheeks. It was supposed to be so easy. With one more delivery, she would be able to obtain the documents they needed to gain access to the next colony in need of what only she could deliver, and release Derek from the cage. If she played the game well, perhaps she would be awarded with what she most desired. She had blown right past her third plan, and she didn’t even want to retrace the steps of where the amended plan had begun to go awry.

Perhaps this was the way Source chose to communicate with her that she was to leave things as they were. There was always a consequence for every action, and if all desires were sated, then perhaps the will to continue fighting for the breath of life would cease. She smiled to herself as she thought of what Derek would say to her philosophizing and theorizing about Source. It was always something that offered fodder for their debates. And that thought brought her smile to a frown. Beings, her brother and the colonists, were depending on her.

She turned toward Sid, thankful that at least one thing was going her way. It didn’t seem to matter what she did because Sidvicious Stroman stuck to her like liquid welding gel. He was a part of her life before she went to the Academy, was there to greet her when she arrived safely back on Suma. When she spoke with him regarding her delivery idea, he insisted he join her. Besides his kindly advice about almost everything, they had saved each other a time or two, and each trusted the other explicitly.

The gray in his hair and well-kept beard were due to his age, what he liked to call his “experience.” The flight suit was a remnant from his younger days as a pilot in the Colonial Air Force. The scar on the back of his right hand a reminder of what happens when you trust the wrong person with the truth. The wrinkles surrounding his keen eyes never missed a thing, especially when it concerned Kiersten.

She turned to face the front of the ship and fisted her hands in the pockets of her trousers. She watched for a moment as his hands adjusted the controls of the Lioness.

“We need to devise a strategy to outwit those bastard Tamplians.”

Sid swiveled in his chair and raised an eyebrow in her direction.

“Sorry. Moronic Tamplians,” she apologized.

Her reward was a half-smile and a sigh from her partner in this foray.

“We still have the vaccine. Some of it might need to be traded for documents to allow us access to Windmere. If we can’t get there by the end of the month, the vaccine will be no good to the colonists,” Sid reminded her.

“You know, it’s been a while since we’ve visited Happy Jack’s.”

“Now, Kiersten, remember the last time we paid him a visit? How forgiving is he going to be when he recalls you were the one who tied him to the bed, dragged his trousers down around his ankles, and then called in his wife?”

“Yes,” Kiersten said as her eyes took on a faraway look, “that’s a fond memory. Besides, he needed to learn to keep his hands on his wife, and not on every female that entered his establishment.”

“That may be so, but he may not appreciate you returning and requesting more favors.”

Kiersten slapped Sid on the shoulder, saying, “We’ll have to see which is stronger, his memory of that lesson, or of the things I can bring him. Set the course for Station 5. Let’s see how happy Jack is to see us.”

Sid nodded, then turned toward the console to program the coordinates. Kiersten walked away mumbling about checking the diagnostics for any real damage from the blasts while making their hasty escape from Templer II.