Chapter 4-3
1819 Words
Dusting her hands nervously, Melissa paced through the cargo bay. “Fourteen hours,” she whispered. “You only have to keep up the act for another fourteen hours.”
The sharp clank, clank, of boots on metal caught her attention. She made her way to the starboard side of the room and found Captain Bareo coming down a spiral staircase from the upper level.
clank, clank,He halted abruptly when he reached the bottom, grunted and then strode toward her. “Miss Solaya,” he said. “You’re up late.”
Melissa lifted her chin to stare down her nose at him. “I might say the same about you, Captain,” she countered. “One would naturally expect that you would assign night-shift duties to some lesser member of the crew.”
“I like to keep an eye on things when we have strangers aboard.”
“A wise precaution,” she noted. “Do you take on many passengers?”
He scrutinized her for a moment, puzzled by what must have seemed like a very stupid question. “We’re a cargo ship, Miss Solaya,” he said. “We almost never take on passengers.”
“And yet you made an exception for my friends.”
Bareo replied with a toothy grin that left a queasy feeling in Melissa’s stomach. Ilia was tense. She trusted this guy even less than Melissa did. “Well, the price was right,” he grumbled. “Leyrian tech is hard to come by.”
She stepped up to the man, holding his gaze, letting a little bit of Lady Melani bleed through. “If you don’t mind my asking, Captain,” she said. “What exactly do you ship?”
His grin widened, crinkles forming at the corners of his eyes. “Come with me, Miss Solaya,” he urged. “And I’ll show you.”
He gestured toward the massive cargo-bay door as if to say, “Ladies first.” Melissa wasn’t sure what he wanted to show her, but she didn’t much like the thought of turning her back on this man. Then again, spatial awareness was as good as eyesight most of the time. Often better! So, she started down the aisle between two sets of crates. Let the pervy, little creep see that she wasn’t afraid of him.
He was there in her mind: a misty figure that followed only two steps behind her. She sensed the contours of his face, the tightening of his jaw. No doubt about it; this guy was up to something. “Forgive me, but I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation with Jinsa,” he began. “He was right. You have a remarkable grasp of Vanasku.”
“Thank you.”
“You called my ship a devilish flying machine.”
“I was only joking, Captain.”
“Oh yes,” he said, reaching into his coat. “But what fascinates me is that you used the word ‘devilish.’ I’ve studied some of Salus’s major languages. You do that sort of thing when you’re a trader. Haloren has no word for ‘devil.’ The concept simply doesn’t exist in their lexicon. So, I find it interesting that a Haloren woman would use that term.”
He pulled a g*n out from an underarm holster, pointing it at Melissa’s back. His mouth quirked into the barest hint of a smile. “Who are you really?”
She closed her eyes, breathing deeply. “And it was going so well.” Calling on her Nassai, she put up a Time Bubble in the shape of a cylinder. The cargo bay was now a blurry haze, the crates on either side of her nothing but smears of colour.
Bending her knees, Melissa jumped, and as she neared the top of her bubble, she let it collapse. She back-flipped over Bareo’s head and dropped to the floor behind him.
He spun around to face her, trying to raise his pistol.
Melissa brought one hand up to strike his wrist, causing his fingers to uncurl. The g*n went flying out of his grip, bounced off one of the crates and landed about five feet away from her.
She seized Bareo’s collar, and his eyes widened in terror. With a hard shove, she sent him stumbling backward until he hit the cargo bay door. Dazed and winded, he fell to his knees, a groan escaping him. “What are you?”
Melissa sensed movement behind her, figures coming out of the corridor that led to the crew quarters. They stopped just inside the cargo bay: three men standing side by side, each one reaching for a weapon.
Melissa threw herself into a sideways cartwheel, snatching up the captain’s fallen firearm. Flipping upright, she spun to face her would-be attackers and raised the weapon in both hands. “Drop ‘em!”
One of those idiots tried to aim.
Melissa fired first.
Her bullet struck the man’s g*n at an oblique angle, tearing it right out of his hand, sending it skittering across the floor. Stunned by this sudden twist of fate, the poor guy blinked and then retreated into the hallway.
The other two dropped their pistols and threw their hands up, both backing away from her. Good! A little Fear of God served them right. Then again, any chance of maintaining a low profile was gone. It was only a matter of time before these guys put it all together. They had to have heard rumours about what Justice Keepers could do.
Although, funnily enough, it wasn’t enhanced reflexes or spatial awareness that granted her the ability to shoot with such precision. Melissa blessed her father for putting her through long hours of pistol training when she was a cadet.
She rounded on Bareo.
The man was cowering against the wall, raising a hand to shield his face. “What are you?” he stammered. “How can you…do those things?”
“I think you know.”
“You’re a Justice Keeper.”
Melissa narrowed her eyes. “And you were planning to sell us to someone,” she said. “That’s why you took us on board. It wasn’t the multi-tool. You thought you could sell a few Leyrians to…who? Some Ragnosian admiral?”
youBareo cringed, averting his eyes. Well, that was as good a confirmation as any. She would have to check the ship’s navigational systems. It was a good bet they weren’t headed for Velezia.
Behind her, one of the disarmed crewmen began to crouch, reaching for the pistol that he had dropped earlier, probably thinking that she wouldn’t notice. “Hey!” Melissa shouted, causing him to freeze. “Try it, and I’ll put a bullet through your head before you even touch that g*n! Do you understand me?”
The man abandoned his efforts.
“Wise choice,” Melissa growled.
She stepped forward, clutching the pistol in both hands, her lips parting to reveal clenched teeth. “Now,” she said menacingly. “You’re going to tell me exactly where you’re taking us.”
Bareo had his back against the wall, his legs stretched out before him. He let out a wheezing breath. “The Oniara System,” he admitted with some reluctance. “I’m taking you through the SuperGate. Back to Ragnos.”
“Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” the man snapped. “You said it yourself. I wanted to sell you.”
“Yes, but why take us all the way back to your homeworld? Why not just turn us in to Admiral Ethran?” The answer hit her like a bolt of lightning, a sudden epiphany that left her feeling numb inside. “You were never going to turn us over to the Confederate Military. You had another buyer in mind.”
Bareo trembled.
“You’re a human trafficker, aren’t you, Captain?”
He looked up at her with wide eyes, imploring her not to pull that trigger. Melissa had to admit that she was tempted. “Not usually! But you were so insistent on hitching a ride! We thought that you were Leyrian soldiers who had been left behind after the failed attempt to retake Salus. We didn’t know that you were-”
“Justice Keepers?”
“Yeah.”
A frown tightened Melissa’s mouth. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she asked. “That you would only kidnap people who were less capable of defending themselves?”
“I’m sorry.”
“What have you done to my friends, Captain?”
She got her answer when a pair of misty figures stumbled into the cargo bay. Larani was right behind them, grabbing one fellow by the back of his collar and slamming him down onto his knees.
When Melissa turned around, the former chief director met her eyes and winked. “These two tried to ambush me in my sleep,” she said. “I think they understand now why that was a bad idea.”
The blood drained out of Melissa’s face. “Novol,” she mumbled. “What happened to him?”
“We couldn’t find him,” one of the men spat.
“That’s because I’m in the cockpit,” Novol replied through the intercom.
Melissa stopped dead with one hand on her hip, turning her face up to the speaker. “The cockpit?” she exclaimed. “What are you doing up there?”
“Well, you provided me with such a wonderful distraction I figured I should make the most of it. By the way, Captain, if any of your men have first-aid training, you might want to send them up here. I’m afraid I had to incapacitate your pilot.”
Bareo leaped to his feet.
Before he took two steps, Melissa twisted around, extended her hand and pointed the g*n at him. She c****d her head, daring him to make a move. “Let’s not do anything rash, now.”
“Of course not, ma’am,” Bareo sputtered. “What…What are your orders?”
“Novol, do you have control of the ship?”
“I do,” he replied. “And you’ll be pleased to know that we are now on course for Velezia.”
Lowering her weapon, Melissa strode toward the deposed captain. “What were you going to do with us?” she asked. “If your little scheme worked.”
Bareo sucked on his lower lip, refusing to look up. “We had some zip-cuffs in the back,” he said with a shrug. “We were going to tie you up.”
“Well, then I think you can enjoy the same fine treatment,” Melissa said. “And hang out in the crew quarters until we turn you over to the Velezian authorities. Don’t worry. Leyrian prisons are actually quite humane.”
- Writer
