Ransomed by Kashatok Read online

  The words stopped Kashatok cold. His frustration at this being a prison ship transformed into revulsion. No one sent kids to Nunam-qa, not even the ‘corp. Kids on board only meant one thing. “Slavers.”

  Chignik nodded. “Looks like it.”

  “Uminaq!” Kashatok looked at the splayed man with disgust. He wore combat pants tucked into the tops of his boots, but his blue shirt was definitely not military or even prison-issued. The pulse pistol lying a few feet away was also not standard-issue. Kashatok swore again.

  Back on the freighter’s bridge, the first gunman was dead, but the one he’d punched was still breathing. “Tie him up,” Kashatok ordered. “Then release the slaves. I’ll be on the Kinship trying to salvage some of this mess.”

  “Aye-aye, Captain.”

  Kashatok strode back through the cargo bay and across the boarding platform, trying not to think about the bottle of rum in his quarters. These slaves were going to need assistance, and his men weren’t going to be happy there was no profit in this hijacking. He hoped at least one of the slaves could fly the damned freighter.

  Joy joined the rest of the crew at the big U-shaped table in the galley, her camera taking in each face in turn. While she’d been relieved to be spared the fighting, she’d quickly realized it would be impossible to gather footage while Gassy had her adjusting valves in the jungle. She lingered her recording on Kashatok’s wide-shouldered frame. One shoulder of his shirt was torn and stained dark turquoise down one arm, which she could only assume was his blood. This story was going to pack a wallop once she’d put it all together. She not only had pirates and gunfights, but slave traders. All I need now is a love story to round things off, she joked to herself. Not that there was much love to be felt in the room at the moment.

  Across the table, Cooper dragged a hand over his bald head, his dark eyes nearly buried in his scowl. “How the fuck’d this happen?”

  “Bad Intel.” Kashatok set his rum down and placed both palms on the table. “However, as your captain, I take full responsibility. Next job, I’ll relinquish my shares to make up for it.”

  “After we stock up on rum.” Gassy smirked and gave Joy a wink. He passed a second bottle of rum in her direction.

  No one else chuckled, and the scowl on Kashatok’s face made Joy think baiting him wasn’t a good idea. She pretended to take a sip and passed the bottle on.

  The other human, Moore, licked his lips. “They were probably destined for some sex planet. Enayshu Five pays top credits for kids.”

  Joy cringed. Slaves were bad enough. Child sex slaves? What the hell had she gotten into?

  “How many slaves are there?” Manopup’s upper tentacles writhed. “I know a man on Orlenny who may be able to unload a few of the males at the beryllium mines.”

  Kashatok bared his teeth. “We don’t deal in slaves.”

  “You’re not going to sell them?” Joy blurted. The black market still traded sentient life, especially outside of Syndicorp space, so she’d assumed that’s what would happen.

  “No live cargo.” Kashatok spoke through gritted teeth.

  Gassy laughed and pointed at Jhikik pacing the back of the captain’s chair. “Not since that shipment of exotic pets ran amok.”

  Joy affected a scowl. While the little netorpok’d been a pleasant companion, she was concerned his affection would give her away. She’d already had to shoo the little creature off twice since sitting down at the galley table. “What’ll happen to the slaves, then?”

  “Not our problem,” Aleknagik said.

  Kashatok added, “Doc’s over there now, sorting out the casualties.”

  Joy re-counted the crew, realizing one of the Denaidans was missing. She hadn’t exactly been formally introduced to them, and keeping track of the odd names had been difficult. The crew seemed polarized, with the Denaidans turning to Gassy and the other men turning to Aleknagik. Like planets around a sun, they all maintained a respectful distance from their captain.

  “Fucking waste of our medical supplies, you ask me,” Cooper grumbled with Moore nodding agreement.

  “I have some added bad news.” Aleknagik waved away the rum as it came in his direction. “We took light damage from their guns during our approach. Long range sensors are down.”

  Leaning back in his chair, Kashatok sighed. “I also damaged the freighter’s bridge with my pulse pistol during the fight. It’ll need repairs. No sense rescuing them only to let them sit here and rot in space.”

  Joy’s assessment of the captain shifted once again. Sexy. Mysterious. And now, altruistic. Like some kind of Robin Hood. He was totally going to smash her female demographic. She zoomed her camera in on his face once more and panned down his chest to where his fingers toyed with Jhikik’s tail. What would those fingertips feel like tracing across her skin? She shook her head to clear it. Yep, going to smash ‘em.

  Gassy grunted. “Joey can handle the freighter’s bridge repairs while I go outside and have a look at our sensors.”

  “You sure, Gassy?” The Denaidan with a buff-colored beard asked. “I could take a camera out for you.”

  Gassy scowled at him. “Don’t be treating me like an invalid, Ekwok.”

  “Just trying to help.” Ekwok held up both hands defensively and turned to a Denaidan with elaborately braided beard and hair. “You find someone on board able to navigate?”

  “A few seem capable. I’m more worried about them maintaining their systems until they come up with a safe place to go.”

  Cooper crossed his big arms and scowled around the table. “I can’t believe we’re just handing a perfectly good freighter over to a bunch of slaves.”

  Aleknagik sprawled back in his chair and cut a sideways look at the captain. “I wonder, as well.”

  Kashatok rose slowly, his presence suddenly filling the entire room. “You want to argue with me?” Edgy silence filled the galley. “As soon as they’re on their way, I’ll have a new job lined up.” Joy’s heart nearly leapt out of her body as he leaned toward her. “I want you to pull up any ‘corp information you can find on their system while you’re over there fixing their bridge.”

  She cleared her throat, feeling light-headed under his smoldering gaze. “Syndicorp information? But they’re not a ‘corp ship.”

  “Don’t fool yourself, kid.” Kashatok broke eye contact and swept his bottle to his lips for a long swallow. “Syndicorp turns a blind eye to its subsidiaries as long as they’re turning a profit.”

  She’d eavesdropped on enough of her mother’s conversations to know the corporation didn’t always play aboveboard, but slavery? No way. Still, she didn’t want Kashatok’s anger directed her way. “Aye-aye, sir. I’ll run a check.”

  Kashatok lowered one arm to allow Jhikik to scurry up his shoulder. “I don’t want to spend a lot of time here, everyone, so get your jobs done and let’s burn out of here. I’ll be in my cabin.”

  Joy rose with the rest, declining another sip of the shared rum, and headed to the freighter with her tool kit. Anything she could do to stay off the captain’s radar was fine by her.

  She crossed the boarding tube, camera taking in everything as she entered the other ship’s bay. After hearing the crew talk about the decompression, she’d tried to prepare herself for what lay ahead; the reality turned out much worse than she expected. Rows of corpses lay on the floor, and the stench of unwashed bodies clogged her throat. How long had these people lived in these small cages? At the end of the huge bay, the tall, copper-skinned Denaidan doctor was administering oxygen to one girl, while a man cradled a limp child nearby. A wailing woman knelt a few bodies over. Others walked among the rows obviously searching for loved ones.

  Joy steeled her spine and turned her focus toward the corridor to the bridge. Footage be damned; if she looked any more, she’d lose it. The air reeked of devastation and heartbreak. Do not, under any circumstances, cry. She marched with heavy footsteps, holding her breath as long as possible across the cargo bay.

 
Reaching the bridge, she found two men and a woman already had a damaged console pulled apart. The discolored panels and melted wiring lay scattered on the floor. She cringed. She wasn’t completely familiar with the freighter’s systems, and now she didn’t even have a baseline for how it had been put together to begin with. She sighed and showed one of the ex-slaves how to reroute the main interface, then checked on the other systems.

  After sending two ex-slaves off to readjust the life support, she plugged a data cube into the system and set up parameters to look for anything related to Syndicorp. The freighter had been destined for a stop in the rakwiji-controlled Onskzu system. She shuddered, imagining the horrible things planned for slaves owned by rakwiji. Another stop was scheduled at a Syndicorp aligned planet in the Pulati system. She double checked, frowning. The freighter had valid planetary access codes.

  Fuck.

  The captain was right. Someone inside Syndicorp must be running slaves. Mother was going to be pissed. On the other hand, this might be an even bigger story than an exposé on pirates. Joy settled in to download the slave ship’s files. After she finished with these pirates, she was going to track down the Syndicorp slavers and blow the lid on their operation.

  Chapter Five

  Kashatok’s men were discontent now, and rightfully so. Hell, he was pissed, too. This entire effort had been money and time down the drain. He swiped past cartel information that was already outdated due to his careless selection. Even a relatively wealthy fleet ship like his existed on a job-to-job basis, and what he didn’t invest in fuel and supplies, he spent on rum. His men had nothing to spare, either. Between gambling and drinking, his Denaidan crew always came back penniless, while the posungi and the humans understandably spent most of their time and money at a brothel.

  Looking up from his review of manifests and shipping routes, he rubbed his lips. What would Joey choose to do once he was awarded a share?

  Realizing he was daydreaming, he resumed his search for a new target. While he didn’t mind ransoming an odd prisoner or two, selling innocents into slavery was a completely different level of piracy in Kashatok’s view. He avoided passenger or colonist ships for a reason; he didn’t want to offer his men the option of making money selling slaves. If he let that happen, they’d be raping and pillaging people’s homesteads.

  His desk interface flashed as the ship’s warning lights went on.

  “Captain,” Aleknagik’s voice came over the comm. “The freighter must’ve gotten off a distress call. We have troopers on short-range scanners. They’ll be in range in less than five.”

  “Uminaq.” Kashatok shot to his feet, sending Jhikik scurrying away. “Disconnect and ready us for burn.”

  “Doc and the new kid are still on the freighter.”

  “Tell them to get their asses back on board.”

  “I already told the doc through his implant. But I can’t reach the kid.”

  Kashatok swore again, striding to the door. The Kinship came first—his crew knew that—but he’d sent Joey to go fix the freighter. It was Kashatok’s responsibility to make sure he made it back aboard. “Hold position until I tell you to break.”

  “Aye-aye.”

  Racing to the cargo hold, Kashatok covered the boarding platform in two bounding strides and headed for the freighter’s bridge.

  A scrawny slave blocked the corridor, eyes wide beneath his bushy brows. “Is something wrong?”

  “Troopers.” Kashatok shoved past him toward the bridge. “If you want to hang onto this ship, I suggest you get this ship operational and fly your asses out of here.”

  Aleknagik’s voice vibrated in his cochlear implant. “We’re taking fire, Captain.”

  “I’m on the freighter. Hold until my say so.” He dashed the last few steps to the bridge.

  Joey looked up at him from the freighter’s comm seat. “Captain?”

  “Come on.” He held out a hand.

  “Uh, okay.” The kid licked his lips and looked around. “Let me gather my things.”

  “No time.” He grabbed Joey’s arm and all but dragged him past the gawking slaves. The ship shuddered and alarms wailed in protest.

  He picked up his pace, but Joey’s shorter legs were no match for his ionically-enhanced strides. Barely pausing his steps, he swept the kid up across his shoulders, wincing as his wounded arm took the weight, and ran for the boarding platform. Ahead, the airlock to the cargo door stood partway closed, a canister lodged between the panels. Air rushed past him toward the gap. Great Ellam Cua, the boarding tube was compromised?

  The airlock behind him clanged shut.

  Debris-filled air rushed around him, emptying from the nearby compartments. On instinct, he brought up his ionic shield, shutting out the impending vacuum. Joey’s weight wriggled against his neck. He couldn’t extend his shield over the kid in this position. Setting Joey down, Kashatok shouted over the roar of evacuating air. “Climb on my back and don’t let go!”

  Joey hunched against the insistent pull of the wind and mounted up without any further encouragement. Wrapping his legs around Kashatok’s waist, he pressed his chest against Kashatok’s back. The unmistakable sensation of breasts met Kashatok’s shoulder blades. What the hell?

  But there was no time to think on that now. The air would be gone in moments. Kashatok drew hard on his power, shrouding Joey along with himself. He couldn’t maintain the extended shield for long, but the boarding platform was only a handful of strides away.

  He shoved the blocked airlock open wide enough to allow him to pass. The cargo bay on the other side was already empty of anything and anyone not locked down. Through the gaping maw of the cargo hatch, he could see the Kinship drifting away. Uminaq!

  Aided by the last of the escaping air, he bounded across the floor and leaped out the open hatch toward the boarding platform. Joey’s cheek pressed hard against his shoulder, limbs like trembling bands of iron around Kashatok’s hips and shoulders. On all sides, lifeless slaves spun in a slow-motion dance, following the slow wake of the Kinship’s departure.

  Framed in the light from the open boarding hatch, Aleknagik stood with one hand poised on the boarding tube control. The atmospheric retention shield flickered to life over the opening. The tube continued to retract. Kashatok strained forward, but even his ionic power could do nothing except hold back the vacuum. All he had was his momentum to catch the ship.

  He reached the narrowing opening moments before the hatch shuddered to a close, pulling himself and Joey over the lip and into the cargo bay. Rolling across the deck, he circled both arms to protect Joey’s head. He came to a stop poised on both elbows, looking down into very feminine, liquid brown eyes.

  For the first time in over a decade, he thought of Aiyana. Remembered her dual, racing heartbeats in the final throes of passion. A giddy, anxious rhythm not unlike this woman’s now.

  He lurched to his feet, wrenching himself away from the bittersweet memory.

  And from the desire to do it again.

  Clinging to Kashatok’s back through the empty weightlessness of space without a suit—and surviving—had been more than Joy could process. Now he leaned over her, breath caressing her face. She was paralyzed. Exhilarated.

  Kashatok stared at her as if she’d slapped him, then rose to his feet without a word and faced his first mate. “You fucking pulled the boarding tube.”

  Joy rolled to her knees, heart racing with adrenaline. A hard jolt nearly flattened her against the deck.

  Aleknagik held up both hands. “We’re taking fire.” The deck shuddered as if to prove his point. “I couldn’t hold the door forever, not if we expect to raise our shields and hit burn before they blow us up. Besides, you made the jump.”

  The lights flickered, and alarms began to sound. The comm crackled. “Direct hit! Burn drive is offline!”

  'Fuuuck!” Kashatok stumbled to the nearby console.

  Joy’s racing heart skidded to a panicked halt. No burn drive? And they were under attack?
She struggled to her feet. Gassy would need her help.

  Kashatok shouted into the comm. “Gassy, can you get us up and running?”

  Silence.

  Kashatok repeated, “Gassy, report.”

  Joy bent her knees, trying to remain upright on the shuddering deck, and aimed herself toward the door to engineering.

  “Aleknagik, get your ass to the bridge and pilot us out of here,” Kashatok ordered behind her. “I’ll help Gassy.”

  The first mate darted past her without a hitch in his stride, apparently not walking on the same ship she was on. Then a huge hand all but lifted her by the scruff of her tunic. “You. To a nav-grav seat.”

  She kicked her legs, pedaling along helplessly. “But—”

  “No buts. I don’t know what your game is or why you’re on my ship, but until we hit the next port, you’re to stay in your quarters.”

  He knew. Holy hell, he knew she was a woman. Well, of course he would. Every inch of her had been locked against him during the jump back to the ship. There was no way he didn’t notice her softness against his broad, hard back. Yet surely he wasn’t going to relegate her to quarters now? “But Gassy may need my help.”

  He growled—actually growled—a low sound that carried up his arm and into her bones where he held the collar of her shirt. “This ship is no place for a woman.”

  Half-carrying, half dragging her, Kashatok propelled her toward the area behind the bridge with the nav-grav seats, the deck rocking and swaying beneath them. As they passed the open door to engineering, the scent of melted conduit and burning hair wafted out.

  Kashatok released his hold on her tunic and took a step inside the doorway. “Gassy?!”

  Steam and coolant misted from the room, but Joy spotted the engineer in the jungle, wedged between two mangled pipes. She pointed. “There!”

  Ducking past Kashatok, she wove between the pipes and edged past an arc of scalding spray to reach the shutoff valves. Everything was coated in boiling coolant. She grabbed hold of the scalding metal and twisted, ignoring the heat against her palms. The spray slowed to a trickle.