Ransomed by Kashatok Read online

  “Ahem.” A throat cleared just behind her shoulder.

  She spun, cheeks heating as she stared up into Gassy’s bearded face. You haven’t done anything wrong—at least, not that he knows about, she reminded herself. “Uh, whatcha need?”

  “You won’t find anything about Denaidans on the galactic web.”

  Her throat felt tight. “Why’s that?”

  “Syndicorp controls the news services.”

  Mention of the media had her stomach doing flip flops and reminded her to start recording. “Why would Syndicorp want to keep your race a secret?”

  The lines around his eyes hardened. “Because they destroyed our planet and everyone on it.”

  She sucked in a breath and half turned to the comm as if it might refute his story. “That can’t be true. I’d’ve heard of something like that.”

  He snorted and turned toward the cargo bay. “You underestimate the ‘corp. And with the majority of off-world Denaidans being troopers, it made it easy to eliminate the few people who cared about the Termination. Those who escaped, well… There’re only about a hundred of us left in the entire galaxy.”

  She followed him out of engineering, her mind swimming with so many questions, she wasn’t sure what to ask first. Pausing to pan the camera over several crew members prepping weapons and gear for the upcoming hijacking, she asked, “You were a trooper?”

  “Aye.” He continued past the men toward the bay door.

  Taking a long, slow perusal of Kashatok sitting on an empty cargo pod with a long pulse rifle across his knees, she was startled when Aleknagik thrust the butt ends of two pulse pistols her direction. “What’s your preference?”

  Her stomach lurched into her throat and she stared at the guns. Did a shuttle mechanic also take part in the fighting? Once again, she realized she hadn’t fully thought this plan through. She didn’t think she could shoot someone, even if her life depended on it. Yet refusing to participate would certainly raise questions. Extending one shaky hand toward the smaller weapon, she tried to keep her voice low and steady. “What’re we shooting?”

  From across the bay, Kashatok called out. “The kid’s staying on board.”

  Thank goodness. She flicked her gaze toward the captain once again. His intent stare made her insides flutter. With one hand, he reached absently for the rum beside him, but Jhikik chose that moment to leap to the floor, long tail toppling the bottle. The crash of breaking glass filled the cargo bay.

  Kashatok rose, his face cut into deep scowl lines. “I ought to use you for target practice.”

  Jhikik scurried up Joy’s pant leg, settling on her shoulder. His soft tail wrapped loosely around her neck as he peered around her head at his master.

  Aleknagik guffawed. “What do you know? The little monster likes the new boy. Just watch your socks, kid.”

  One of Kashatok’s eyes twitched in irritation. “Jhikik, come here.”

  Joy nudged the creature, but instead of moving, it purred in her ear. Maybe she could at least take some of the heat off the poor little thing. “Uh, you want me to clean up for you, captain?”

  That only made Kashatok scowl more. “I can do my own cleaning. Gassy needs you. Go.”

  Turning, she hurried to the docking platform where Gassy stood watching the events. He surveyed Jhikik, still perched on her shoulder. “I guess you can work with him hanging around. Odd, though.” The old engineer met her eye. “He doesn’t generally like other men.”

  Her breath caught. He’d said men, not people. Did he suspect she was female? Looking for a quick change of subject, she tried to resume their previous conversation, her gaze drifting back toward Kashatok. “Was the captain a trooper, too?”

  Gassy turned to the console and began pulling up sensor data. “Nope. He left Denaida-daru to join the cartel. Still the only cartel member in the fleet.”

  “Huh. I thought all pirates were part of the cartel.”

  He shook his head. “Rest of the fleet traded with the cartel in the past, but there’s been some bad blood between us and them lately.” He handed her a calibration unit and pointed to the bay door. “Take this over there.”

  Joy complied, following his instructions with ease. Her mind was on her exposé, which was turning into a bigger story than she’d first imagined. Every time she asked one question, a dozen more popped up. And she was still baffled that she’d been unable to pull up anything on the Denaidans, especially if some of them had been troopers. A small piece of her had begun to fear that at least some of what Gassy claimed about Syndicorp might be true.

  If it was true, there had to be records somewhere. Her mother was the Communications CEO; perhaps she could provide some clues, assuming Joy could catch her with her guard down. What will she think if I blow open a major Syndicorp cover-up? Part of Joy was terrified at the thought. The other part was rubbing her hands in glee.

  Kashatok woke at the sound of his alarm and reached for the rum, rinsing his mouth and swallowing before rising from his bed. He’d had to drink himself to sleep to clear the kid from his mind, and hoped he didn’t regret it during today’s burn; he hadn’t experienced a hangover in years, but even he had limits. He rolled over, looking for Jhikik, who was usually in his face looking for breakfast. The little tunrak better not have started sleeping with the kid, too.

  He found the netorpok chewing on a sock in the corner. “Really, Jhik? That’s disgusting.” Sighing, he retrieved the sock and tossed it into the recycle bin before opening the hydroponics cage and plucking a few naujiar leaves. “Here.”

  After checking the water and nutrient levels, he relocked the cage. His little friend couldn’t be trusted with the plants any more than he could be trusted with the crew’s socks, and the small garden was the creature’s main source of food. He was a little worried at the number of dying branches he’d been trimming. Soon as they’d finished this job, he’d get Joey in here to look at the thing.

  Returning to the desk, he keyed his desk comm. “Aleknagik, we ready for final burn?”

  “Uh, you’re going to need to come down here and talk to Gassy about that.”

  “Why?” Kashatok drew out the word. Gassy’d been growing a little forgetful of late, but he’d been with the ship so long, Kashatok hesitated to retire him.

  “There’s something going on with the docking tube.” In the background, raised voices sounded like they were arguing.

  Grumbling, Kashatok jerked away from the desk and stalked toward the door. “Come on, Jhik.”

  The netorpok stuffed the last leaf in his mouth and leapt onto Kashatok’s outstretched arm for the brisk walk to engineering. Gassy’s voice echoed down the corridor from the cargo bay, his gruff tone underscored by a dull roar. “There’s a differential in the hydraulic pressure you have to take into consideration when you make your adjustments.”

  Continuing past engineering, Kashatok paused at the threshold to the cargo bay. A flat piece that looked suspiciously like a piece of the docking ramp hung suspended from the ceiling. Gassy’s broad-shouldered figure loomed beside someone short and thin. Each wore a blocky face shield, and Gassy directed the blue flame of a welding torch along a portion of the ramp, sending out sparks. The smaller figure pointed and said something Kashatok couldn’t make out over the roar.

  Kashatok stomped into their field of vision. “What in the name of Ellam Cua is going on here? We need to get off this station.”

  Gassy switched off the torch, throwing the cargo bay into sudden, echoing silence. He lifted his visor to reveal his craggy copper face and iron-gray beard. “Glad you’re here, captain. Can you climb up there and steady the alignment spanner while I adjust this coupler lock?”

  “Me?” Kashatok grit his teeth. Gassy had been trying his best for years to turn Kashatok into an engineer. “Why do you think I hired a mechanic? Is he not qualified?”

  Gassy’s face flushed blue-green. “Joey’s the one who noticed the coupler was loose, so don’t you be firing him. I’m the engine
er, it’s my responsibility.” The lines in his face deepened into a scowl. “Just go back to your bottle. I’ll comm you when we’re done.” Slamming his visor back down over his face, Gassy limped back to the coupler and resumed welding.

  Feeling a little stung by Gassy’s dismissal, Kashatok turned to the kid. Gassy’d been with him a long time. He was the only one who knew the real reason Kashatok’d joined the cartel. The one person the captain actually attempted to please.

  “Can I talk to you a sec in private, captain?” Joey chewed one corner of his bottom lip, his brows drawn tightly together. There was a smudge of grease on one cheek, and Kashatok had to resist the urge to reach out and wipe it away.

  What the hell is wrong with me? Regretting leaving his rum bottle behind on his desk, he waved a hand for Joey to follow. He stalked across the cargo bay, stopping on the other side of the escape pods. Joey had to jog to catch up, his curly dark hair bobbing in the dirty light. Kashatok put his hands on his hips and forced himself to frown. “Well?”

  “Did you notice his foot?”

  The question caught Kashatok off guard. He dropped his hands. “What about it?”

  “He tried to walk up the wall as if he was wearing grav-boots. He fell pretty hard.” Joey shook his head, a furrow between his brows. “He’s claiming to have superpowers.”

  “He does. Usually.” Kashatok stepped out from behind the pods so he could see his old engineer. “Is he okay?”

  Joey blinked, looking confused. “I think so. But I’m afraid he’s going to try it again.”

  Satisfied his old engineer was indeed all right, he turned back to Joey. “Gassy’s getting on in years, which is why I hired a mechanic in the first place.”

  Joey looked away, face turning a luscious shade of pink. “I’d go up there, but the grav-boots don’t fit me. Gassy tried to put them on, but they didn’t fit him, either.”

  Kashatok licked his lips, wondering why he was noticing such small details about this kid. Why he so badly wanted to make everything all right. It had to be his concern for Gassy bleeding over. Or maybe he’d reached an age where he needed to find a protege. “We’ll get you a pair of grav-boots at the next port.” His elbow brushed Joey’s arm on his way back toward the dangling ramp, tingling through his nerves clear into his chest. Damn, I need a drink. “I’ll help Gassy out this time. We’re going to miss our opportunity if we don’t get going soon.”

  Joey nodded, scurrying beside Kashatok to keep up. “Yes, sir.”

  “But I want you to stick close to him and call me if he has trouble again.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Gassy lifted his visor at their approach, one eyebrow raised. He pursed his lips and examined Joey a fraction longer than Kashatok liked.

  Kashatok picked up the alignment spanner, feeling oddly defensive. “You can’t expect the kid to do everything you can do.”

  “Never said I did,” the old man replied.

  “I’ll get Joey some grav-boots at the next stop. But I can help you right now so we can get out of here before Syndicorp arrives.”

  “Sure.” Gassy lowered his visor again. “Hop on up there and we’ll get it done.”

  Joey picked up his own visor but didn’t put it on, watching Kashatok instead. The kid’s gaze made the captain want to hold his spine a little straighter. Kashatok summoned his ionic power and leapt to the top edge of the suspended ramp with one graceful bound. For a moment, he balanced on one foot along the narrow upper edge of metal, acutely aware of Joey’s increased heart rate even at this distance.

  The visor fell from the kid’s fingers and is brown eyes went wide. “You actually do have superpowers?”

  “Ionic powers. I told you.” Gassy tilted his head. “Stop showing off, captain, and hold that spanner steady.”

  Kashatok did as requested, and soon the coupler was back in place and the ramp reattached. When he returned to the bridge for liftoff, his steps felt lighter than they had in a very long time. Maybe he’d take the kid under his wing after all.

  Chapter Four

  For this final leg of the journey, Kashatok planned to come out almost on top of the freighter. The Denaidan crewmen were using their ionic shields instead of nav-grav seats, standing battle-ready in front of the cargo bay door. Kashatok strapped a second sidearm to his belt, watching Chignik and Ekwok do the same. Normally, he’d man the bridge while his men handled boarding, but today he relished the diversion. What was it about the new crewman he found so distracting? His mutinous pet seemed infatuated, too, and was sitting on Joey’s shoulder in the nav-grav seat right now. Just wait until the kid grows some whiskers, then he’ll be as distasteful as the rest of the crew. Yet somehow Kashatok doubted that.

  The familiar, slightly nauseating sensation of the ship exiting burn raced through his veins. Aleknagik’s voice came over the comm. “Sensor range in sixty. Venting cargo bay now.”

  Kashatok took a final breath before strengthening his shield against vacuum. Chignik’s multiple braids whipped and coiled like live snakes in the hurricane of depressurization. The Denaidan ability to withstand vacuum gave them a strong edge when it came to hijacking ships; no waiting to synchronize the ships’ atmospheric shielding.

  The deck shuddered, and Aleknagik’s voice vibrated in his cochlear implant. “Captain, we’re taking fire. Brace for evasive maneuvers.”

  Scowling, Kashatok bent his knees slightly. While it wasn’t unusual for a freighter to carry light armament, his Intel hadn’t included information about heavier guns. The ship vibrated again and jerked left. After a few more maneuvers, a hard jolt told him they’d made contact. “Grapplers in place. Captain. They’re refusing to evacuate the bay.”

  Kashatok grunted. The moment his men popped the door, the freighter’s cargo bay would lose pressure. The sudden equalization wreaked havoc on living organisms, and he hated dealing with dead bodies. If he could’ve sighed, he would’ve. Well, they’d been fairly warned. Crossing the boarding tube, he popped the freighter door’s control panel and shoved his palm against the wiring, sending an ionic pulse through the mechanism. Most ships were frightfully unprotected from ionic pulses. The door slid ajar, allowing a mist of air to blow by as the two cabins equalized. Catching Chignik’s eye, Kashatok nodded the go-ahead.

  His men surged across the boarding tube, weapons drawn.

  Inside, the freighter’s cargo bay was lined with stacks upon stacks of detention cells.

  Kashatok’s twin hearts sank. He’d hijacked a fucking prison ship? Painted lines on the floor delineated walkways between the cages and Syndicorp emblems glared from the walls and floor. To prevent breakouts, Syndicorp would run ships carrying convicts under false manifests, but there were usually tells; excess loading of supplies, cargo weights that didn’t change between ports. This sector was a long way from Nunam-qa, however, so the possibility of a prison ship hadn't crossed Kashatok’s mind. Because your mind was preoccupied, you stupid shit. Fuck, he needed a drink.

  From behind the bars, humanoid faces stared back at him, arms groping and eyes bulging as their bodies reacted to the reduced pressure. He opened his mouth to order his men to find the controls for life support, but Chignik was already on it. There was a chance the prisoners would survive. Closing his eyes a moment, Kashatok was tempted to offer up a prayer to Ellam Cua, although he’d stopped believing in any sort of deity long ago. Why hadn’t the freighter’s captain mentioned the bay was full of prisoners? Or had he, and Aleknagik chose not to mention it? Sometimes Kashatok and his first mate didn’t see eye-to-eye.

  The moment the cargo bay was at full pressure, he opened the interior airlock and strode down the hall toward the bridge. The other cargo holds likely held more people, but he’d leave his men to sort through them. He was going to find the captain and secure the prisoner list. If there were any cartel members on board, he might yet break even on this job. Ransoming a high-ranking cartel member might even make the hijacking worthwhile.

  The empty corridors e
choed with the wail of sirens. Ahead, a man stepped from a doorway, his pulse rifle aimed in Kashatok’s direction. Kashatok threw the full force of his ionic shield in front of him and took the blast without slowing a step. Pulling his own pistol, he blasted the fellow right between the eyes and continued forward.

  As expected, access to the bridge was locked. He blasted the interface and shoved his palm against the wiring. The door hissed and popped open a crack. Heat seared past his cheek as someone inside fired through the opening. Stepping to one side, he pulled the sliding door the rest of the way open. More pulse fire heated the air.

  He waited until they paused to let their weapons cool, then hardened his shield and stepped into view. Two human males wearing bandoleers aimed weapons his way. A third had his back toward the door, his pale blue shirt darkened by sweat. Kashatok dodged, sweeping the closer gunman’s feet out from under him. Then he dropped the one farther back with a single shot to the chest.

  The third man grabbed a nearby pistol and spun to face him. Kashatok fired again. Sparks erupted from the console as the man dove to one side.

  The nearby gunman regained his feet and lunged. Kashatok slammed an ionically charged fist into the man’s face. The man’s eyes rolled up in his head and he toppled backward over the captain’s chair.

  Spinning, Kashatok caught a searing blast across his shoulder from the man in the blue shirt, who dodged into the corridor. Ignoring the pain, Kashatok leapt for the door in time to see Chignik lay the man out with a point-blank shot to the chest. The man’s body flew backward and landed spread-eagle on the floor. The scent of burned flesh filled the hallway.

  Chignik hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward the cargo bay. “Captain, you’re not going to like this.”

  “There’s not a single thing I do like about this,” Kashatok replied, pressing a hand against the burn on his shoulder. His fingers came away sticky with turquoise blood. “Ruined my lucky shirt.”

  “There’s kids on board.”