Heart of Stone (10 page)

"Nay, I'm here to stay," Stone said,
smiling faintly. "I'm cruising in sunlight these days, not dark of
the moons. And the sat-com network is real, Tar. If you're not out
of here before starfall, the ISF will have a lock on your ship's
signature before you know what hit you. You saved me once, so now
I'm offering to do the same for you."

The other male shook his head
chidingly. "You on the side of the ISF, Masterson? Never thought
I'd live to see this day. Be a quarking female, I bet.
Cunt-dazzled, boy?"

Stone straightened, his smile gone.
"Time to leave, Tar," he repeated. "And stay gone, if you know
what's good for you. There's no room for you here, not
anymore."

"Who'll make me?"

Stone sighed. This was not going to go
well.

"Thought you'd never ask," Jark roared
cheerfully. "Us!"

He cannoned forward as Mobius' crew
surged to their feet. The tables on the other side of the room
emptied as well, a collective roar of battle erupting. Seemed
Mobius was not well-liked by the lawful workers here.

A laser charge streaked through the air
and hit the holo-vid Chaz Jaguari in his groin. He disappeared with
a crackle of static, but reappeared seconds later, insouciantly
shaking his ass toward his galactic audience.

"Hey," shrieked the sturdy blonde
behind the bar, a laser weapon appearing in her hands. "No shooting
in my lodge!"

One of the Mauritians raised a weapon,
but before Stone could react, the bar owner shot the pirate in the
back. He fell like a downed tarma-pine, smashing one of her
tables.

Four of the Mauritians came at Stone,
only to be clotheslined on Jark's huge arms and then stomped for
good measure. Only two got up again. Jark took them both on at once
with a grin of savage glee.

The rest of the room's inhabitants met
in the center. The hunters leapt to their feet, but instead of
diving for cover, they joined the fray. The woman high-kicked a
knife-wielding Mauritian, stopping him in his tracks, whirled so
fast she was a blur and kicked him again. He plummeted to the
floor. With a grin of fierce delight, she went after the two who
were engaging her companions, both of whom looked equally pleased
to fight.

Stone and Mobius did not take their
eyes off of each other. As soon as the fighting erupted, Stone saw
a flash of movement under the Mauritian's table. Without
hesitation, he fired his laser from the hip. It struck the
off-worlder in the shoulder, sending him tumbling
backward.

A laser charge seared by Stone's ear,
stinging. That was going to bleed. He strode forward, shoved the
table aside and stomped on Mobius' arm just as he was about to aim
his weapon again.

The Mauritian glared up at Stone. His
shoulder was oozing blood so dark it was nearly black through a
large rent in his clothing.

"You should've gone when I advised you
to," Stone told him. "As it is, you may bleed out before you can
get anywhere for medical help. That's if any of your crew is in
good enough shape to fly your ugly cruiser."

The fight over, the floor was littered
with Mobius' men, down like their leader. Raucous laughter and
cursing from the victors filled the room.

"Not bad for quarking tourists," one of
the Bone Arch men said to the three hunters. "Who are you three,
and where'd you learn to fight like that? If you don't mind my
askin'." Many travelers here would mind.

"We are Serpentian," said one, his eyes
dancing with amusement. He doffed his insulated hat, revealing
startling green-gold hair. "I am called Izard. This is Yvene and
Raile."

There was a short silence and then a
loud roar of approval. Everyone in the galaxy knew of the
hand-to-hand combat skills of Serpentians. They were the elite
guards chosen for the big space cruise ship lines and royal
houses.

"Thank you for your help," Stone said
without taking his eyes off of Mobius. "Drinks all around on me,
after we get these scum loaded back on their transport."

Strangely, the old pirate smiled. It
was filled with pain, but something else glittered in his eerie
eyes.

"You call me scum?" Mobius gloated.
"You're the same as me, Masterson. Always have been, always will
be. And nothing out there will change just because you throw a net
over your little planet. But never mind that, we'll go."

Why would Mobius be content suddenly to
leave? Unless he believed he had what he'd come for.

Stone's hair stood up on the
back of his neck. The cruiser—his cargo. Fury boiled up inside him,
white hot.
Quark it!
This whole encounter had been a setup to draw him away. Mobius
had known Stone would come and warn him, try to save him from the
ISF, and he'd used that to betray him.

He remembered the smell in the road.
Had it been bad fuel, or Jangoes?

"Jark!" he rapped out. "The cruiser!
They're after the cargo." And now there was something on board the
cruiser that even Mobius had no idea the value of—a small woman,
naked, asleep and defenseless.

He activated his comlink.
"MacNeil.
MacNeil!"

There was no answer. Stone looked down
at Mobius and saw triumph in the other's eyes. He also saw a second
weapon in the old pirate's free hand, the barrel lifting toward
Stone.

"I win this round after all," Mobius
hissed.

"No, you lose," Stone gritted and shot
him again. This time in the center of his broad, blue forehead. As
his one-time ally fell back, dead, Stone turned and ran for the
door.

"You owe me for the drinks, broken
furniture and any laser damage." The bar owner stood in his path,
fists set on her hips. "And for cleaning up the bodies."

"Put it on my tab," he snarled as he
dashed past her, Jark at his heels.

# # #

Dropping her sweater, Rose grabbed her
laser gun. She gripped it in both hands. Her heart was pounding,
her arms trembling, her breath coming in quick gasps. She looked
wildly around the sleeping cubby. The bed took up most of the space
and the cupboards were too small for a human to squeeze into. She
had nowhere to hide except the lavatory, and the thought of being
trapped in that small space, listening and waiting, sent panic
clutching at her throat.

"Stone?" she whispered
urgently. "
Stone
?"

She listened carefully, but no answer
came through her comlink. And the ship was not moving. They hadn't
crashed—she would have noticed that. She bit back a hiccup of
laughter edging on hysteria. All right, they'd landed somewhere,
and since Masterson hadn't answered his comlink, he was either
somewhere he couldn't hear her, or he was in trouble of some
kind.

Either way, he wasn't coming to her
rescue. And that meant she had to save herself. She scooted back
into the corner at the head of the bed, and crouched with the laser
propped on her knees. Oh, if only this didn't feel so much like one
of those nightmares where all she could do was wait for the
creeping menace to come for her.

Rose didn't have long to wait for this
one. The sibilant hissing noises outside in the passageway sorted
themselves out into a verbal communication between at least two
beings. She flinched as a tiny chime sounded in her ear. Her
comlink!

"Translator, on," she breathed. "Play
back."

Another chime sounded, and a voice like
that of a reception droid, sweet and impersonal, murmured in her
ear, repeating in Galactic what was being said outside her
door.

'Where device?'

'Hidden, you skrog-brain. Search for
it.'

'Not a skrog-brain,
cold
. Hate ice and
snow.'

'Shut your maw-hole. Find quickly,
before humans return.'

'You look there, I search this
place.'

There were thieves on board
Masterson's cruiser. And they were after something, some device
that was valuable enough to break into his cruiser for.
Where was Masterson?

Rose swallowed the whimper of fear
trying to crawl up her throat. She didn't know what kind of beings
were out there, but they were clearly malevolent.

If she hid in the lav, they'd think the
sleeping cubby was empty. She could leave the lav door cracked
open. But how horrible to hide in that small space and wait. Too
much like the nightmares she'd had after her parents died, of them
trapped inside their transport freighter, while she beat helplessly
on the hatch outside, trying to get in and save them.

She took a deep breath. She was a woman
grown, and there was no one to stop the pirates except her. She had
two things on her side: a weapon and the element of surprise. They
didn't know she was here yet. The passageway outside was narrow—if
she could get her laser aimed, they'd have to fall back. Every
sentient being in the galaxy understood the power of a laser
weapon.

She forced herself to slide across the
bed and step to the floor. Standing up, she reached for the
fastener of the hatch into the galley. Only to see it move before
she could touch it.

The hatch flashed open, and Rose found
herself face to face with a nightmare.

It was humanoid, with a narrow, brown
face, long snout and terrible mouth drawn open in a snarl. Two
slitted eyes glared from beneath a hooded garment.

A Jango—nightmare come to
life.

Rose screamed. Without conscious
thought, she fired. Red flashed from her weapon. Smoke puffed from
the dark folds of the Jango's garments. With a terrible hiss, it
fell backward into the passageway.

The hatch slid shut. Shaking so hard
she could barely move, Rose backed away from the hatch and sat hard
on the bed. Still too close to the hatch, she crabbed backward on
shaking legs, huddling into the corner with her weapon braced on
her drawn up knees. One thought reverberated through her mind.
She'd shot him—it. She'd killed a living being.

More hissing voices outside. Her
translator chimed again, translating in the same eerily cheerful
voice.

'Human in here. What do
with?'

'Open container. Kill.'

'Female. Take turns mating first, then
kill. Mobius no care.'

'Ah, yes. First fun, then steal
cargo.'

There were still two or more of them
left. And they were going to rape her--before they killed
her.

She gripped the laser so hard her hands
buzzed with the same numbness that wanted to envelop her mind. She
shook her head hard to dispel it, her hair flipping around her
face. One strand stuck to her lips, tickling her face. She ignored
it. How long until another Jango tried to get in?

She pointed the gun at the narrow
entrance. She was shaking so hard her teeth were chattering. It was
so quiet now she could hear only the rattle of her teeth, her
breath sobbing in her throat. The smoke of laser burn overlaid the
spicy hint of sex, and the sharp stench of her own fear-laced
perspiration. Despite the warm air soughing through the vents
around the bed, she was cold, so cold.

The hatch rattled, and she fired again.
A narrow black rift appeared in the surface of the door. A thud,
and a hissing cry echoed from the passageway. She'd hit another of
the creatures. Had she killed it? Would they go away
now?

The hatch slammed open, and a thin,
sinuous form shot through.

Rose screamed again.

The creature landed on the foot of the
bed and leapt for her.

Still screaming, a wail of terror that
came clear from her toes, Rose held the laser before her. She
fired—again and again and again. Thin red streams of laser light
disappeared into the dark folds of the Jango's garments.

"Rose!
Rose!"
Stone bellowed in her
ear.

Smoke erupted from the Jango's garment.
Two, then three dark red spouts blossomed around the burns. The
creature hung in midair before her, clawed hand almost touching her
leg. It glared wildly at her for an endless moment. She shuddered
as its jagged yellow teeth opened to reveal a slimy purple tongue.
With a choking hiss, it swayed backward and fell back off the end
of the bed. A terrible stench filled the air.

"Stone!" Rose cried.
"Stone—
where are you
?" She let the laser weapon sink to her knees, staring down at
it with awe and horror. Such a small thing to be so deadly. Now her
ragged, gasping breaths were the only sounds in the cubby. Her
heart was galloping so hard she feared it would burst from her
chest.

"I'm coming," he yelled.
"
I'm coming!
"

She drew a deep, shaky breath of
relief. It froze in her throat as a third Jango leapt through the
hatchway. This one held a huge, shiny knife.

Another scream tore from her. She fired
without even lifting the laser. The Jango twisted but kept
coming.

His knife swept up through the air. The
blade glittered in the light. Everything seemed to freeze into slow
motion. Rose dragged her weapon up, knowing it would be too late
even as she fired, knowing she had to try. The creature's mouth
opened in a triumphant snarl as the knife arced down toward
her.