Release (2 page)

In the distance, she could hear the ignition sequence of Risciter’s ship shift into high gear. He was moments from taking off.

“The bastard’s going to get away,” said the man with the blaster. “Now get off the damned ship.”

“It’s my ship,” said Ariana in a tiny voice. “I think you should get off.”

The sound of Risciter’s ship was a high-pitched whir. Ariana could also hear the roof of the docking bay lifting up to let the ship out.

The blaster was in her face. “Off!”

Ariana started down the ramp. She could see that the exit door was closing after the pilot and valet. She looked up and saw the stars of space above her through the open doors of the docking bay. The only thing that was protecting her from the cold vaccum at this moment was a force field, and that would be lifted at any second to let Risciter’s ship out. She darted back up the ramp. “The docking bay’s open to space,” she said. “You kick me off this ship, you’ll kill me.”

“Damn it all to hell,” said the man with the blaster. He hit a switch on the wall, next to the lights. It closed the ramp. “Well, I guess you’re coming with me, Your Ladyship.”

“Coming with you where?”

“After Risciter, of course. He’s not getting away that easily.” The man with a blaster yanked her to her feet and dragged her to the small bridge of her ship.

* * *

Nigel Ricter, the Duke of Tramet, cursed as he watched the two ships burst into the sky above the spacedock. Tramet had finally found Keirth Transman, after a search that had taken decades on and off, and he was fairly sure the boy had just blasted off into space, out of his reach. He’d been so sure he had him, when he discovered the boy was working for the duke of Hallon. Tramet had left his own planet in pursuit immediately.

But he’d been too late. Perhaps he’d spooked the boy. He’d asked the butler at Hallon’s estate to get a message to Keirth, but Keirth hadn’t returned to his place of employment. Tramet had tracked the speeder Keirth was using to the spacedock. Now the boy was gone. How he was going to find him again, Tramet didn’t know. But he seemed to be following the Duke of Risciter, and Risciter could be tracked. At least Tramet hoped so.

Chapter Two

Keirth Transman punched in numbers on the ship’s console. He was putting in some override codes he’d picked up that should allow him to hack into Risciter’s ship and figure out his destination coordinates. Right now, he still had a visual on the vessel, but Risciter would make the jump to hyperspace within seconds, and if Keirth couldn’t figure out where he was going, he’d lose Risciter. “Come on, come on,” he whispered at the console.

The screen blinked, “Searching for target...”

“Come on,” Keirth snapped.

The screen blinked, “Target locked.” And then it spit out Risciter’s coordinates. Keirth sat back in his seat, shaking his head. “He’s going out of the Evon Sector. To Kush. That weasely little...”

“What?” said a panicked voice next to him.

Oh right. The Duke’s daughter. He’d nearly forgotten about her. She was staring at him with wide eyes. “Risciter wouldn’t leave the sector. He knows it’s far too dangerous out there in deep space. The colonies are barbaric and backward and violent.”

Keirth had to laugh. “You honestly think Risciter’s never been out of the sector before, sweetheart?”

“Don’t call me that.”

Keirth rolled his eyes. He had the coordinates. And Risciter, as much of a devil as he was, was too much of an idiot pretty boy to know the quickest ways to get there. You had to travel in darker circles for that kind of information. Keirth could beat him to Kush. And he’d even have time for a pit stop. “Don’t worry,
sweetheart
, I’ll drop you off first. We’ll make a quick stop in Ossile.”

“Oh,” said the girl.

Keirth quickly programmed in the coordinates for Ossile on the console. He turned to the girl. “Better strap in. We’re jumping to hyperspace.”

Ahead of him, Keirth noted that Risciter’s ship had just disappeared, winking out with a flash of light. He’d already made the jump.

Miss Gilit strapped her seat belts over her body. “This isn’t going to work, you know.”

Keirth strapped himself in. He palmed the light speed accelerator and squeezed. “Oh no? Why not?”

“You’ll get caught,” she said.

The ship lurched hard, and on the visual, the stars streamed out like bright ribbons, going green, red, and blue at the edges. They were pushed back into their seats and for a few seconds, they couldn’t breathe from the pressure. Then everything snapped, like rubber, and they were traveling through a tunnel of brightly colored lights—hyperspace. Keirth switched off the visual. Hyperspace always gave him a headache if he stared at it too long.

“You’re in a stolen space ship,” continued Miss Gilit. “The minute they figure out I’m gone, they’ll track it. It’s fitted with a tracking monitor, you know, and—”

“Is it?” said Keirth. “Thanks for telling me that, sweetheart. They keep it in the usual place?”

Her face had gone white as she realized her mistake.

Keirth unstrapped himself and headed for the back of the bridge. He reached above the doorway and yanked the material covering the wall away. Inside, just where they always were, was a hunk of plastic, wires, and blinking lights. Tracking monitor. Keirth ripped it down, dropped it on the floor, and ground it under his foot. It made a crunching noise.

“It doesn’t matter!” said Miss Gilit. “They’ll find you anyway. You’ve kidnapped the daughter of a duke, and you killed a man in the docking bay. You’re a kidnapper and murderer. They’re going to find you, and they’re going to sentence you to death.”

“I had my blaster set to stun,” he muttered. “Besides, I saw the other servants drag him out of the docking bay. I’m sure he’s fine. I don’t want to kill anyone except Risciter.” Miss Gilit was starting to get on his nerves. Maybe he should tie her up and gag her. That should keep her quiet.

“And why would you want to do that?” said Miss Gilit. “The Duke of Risciter is a good man.”

Keirth sat back down in the pilot’s seat next to her. “He’s the furthest thing from a good man there is, sweetheart. But considering the kind of people you come from, I wouldn’t expect you to understand that.” He cradled his head with his hands. “Now, we’ll be in Ossile before you know it. So why don’t you just shut your pretty little mouth and stop worrying about whether or not I get caught? You and I will be parting ways very soon. And then you can tell all your little high society friends about the time you were kidnapped by a murderer. Imagine how impressed they’ll be.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “You won’t get away with it.”

“Shut. Your. Mouth.” He smiled nastily at her. “Or I’ll stuff something inside it.”

She paled again. She didn’t speak.

* * *

Ariana’s heart was thudding in her chest as she sat next to the man. She wasn’t sure what he’d been doing on the console when they’d taken off. She’d seen Risciter’s ship disappear into hyperspace, but the man who’d captured her didn’t seem too upset about that, so she had to believe that Risciter wasn’t safe yet. This man planned to drop her off on the planet Ossile, but then he would probably go after Risciter. And he’d said that he planned to kill him. Risciter was her future husband. She couldn’t let this man hurt Risciter. She had to do something. 

She knew what their destination was, and that could prove to be a valuable tool against her kidnapper. If she could get word to the authorities in Ossile, they could stop him from pursuing Risciter. And she could get her ship back as well. The tracking device on the ship was destroyed, but she did have her comm. Communication in hyperspace wasn’t optimal, of course. Her comm had a limited hypercomm capacity, but it was only good for sending text, not voice or video, and one message out was going to kill her battery.

She was going to have to think very carefully about who the best person to alert might be. The first person she thought of was Aunt Tildy. If she’d awoken by now and found Ariana missing, she was probably worried. But Ariana vetoed the idea, because Aunt Tildy might not actually be awake yet. She had no idea how hung over Aunt Tildy actually was. Aunt Tildy might be too slow to react. It would probably be best, instead, to contact someone on the planet Ossile, perhaps the authorities directly. Yes, that was definitely the best idea. Once she was safe, the man in jail, and her ship safely docked, she’d have plenty of time to contact her family and assure them she was okay.

Now the only problem was trying to figure out how she was going to send this message without the man seeing her. He’d stop her if he knew what she was up to. But she couldn’t simply march off and demand privacy. Well. She could, but he’d follow her, and she wouldn’t put it past this man to use force against her. She eyed him. He was very strong. She could see that he had wide shoulders, and when he moved his arms, she could see his muscles swell and contract under his clothes. He could hurt her very badly if he wanted. She didn’t want to take that chance.

So how was she going to get to be alone?

She stood up. “I have to visit the facilities on the ship.”

He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“The bathroom,” she said.

He shook his head. “Hold it. We’ll be in Ossile in twenty minutes.”

Oh. Wonderful. She summoned her best pitiful voice. The man might not be made completely of stone, after all. Perhaps he would pity her. “I can’t.”

He laughed. “Well, I guess you’re going to have an embarrassing arrival in Ossile, then.”

He
was
made of stone. How dare he be so horrible? He was forcing her to soil herself. She was aghast. Of course, there was the matter that she didn’t actually have to go to the bathroom, but that was beside the point. “Why are you so completely cruel? Do you enjoy making me suffer?”

The man looked at her. He sighed. “All right, all right. But I’m following you and waiting outside the door so you don’t try anything.”

“What could I possibly try?” she said. “You’re an ogre of a man. I wouldn’t stand a chance against you.”

He escorted her to the restroom off the bridge. She took great pleasure in slamming the door in his face.

Once inside, she whipped out her comm and switched it to hypercomm mode. Emergency numbers for every planet in the Evon Sector were programmed into her comm, so she selected the emergency number for Ossile and carefully composed her message. “I, Miss Ariana Gilit, daughter of the Duke of Wendo, have been captured. A man has stolen my ship and plans to arrive at Ossile in less than twenty minutes. Please save me!” She hit send.

Sure enough, the minute the message went through, the battery on her comm completely drained, and the comm switched off. She shoved it back in her pocket, flushed the toilet for good measure, and exited the bathroom.

The man was leaning against the wall outside. “Took you long enough.”

“I have a shy bladder,” she retorted. “It’s not easy when I know you’re outside listening.”

He laughed. “Well, I hope you feel relieved.”

She’d feel relieved when they got to Ossile, and the man was locked up.

The rest of the trip to Ossile was uneventful. Since the man didn’t want her to speak, and since she had nothing to say to scum like him anyway, she simply sat still and stared forward, hoping her message had gone through and that the authorities on Ossile would be waiting for them.

She was gratified when they emerged out of hyperspace to the sound of a message over the ship’s comm system. “This is the Ossile Department of Police. We’re responding to a distress signal indicating a stolen ship will be entering this system with a kidnapped member of the nobility on board. Please identify yourself and prepare for scanning.”

The man turned away from the console, glowering. “You couldn’t hold it, could you?” He shook his head. “How could I be so stupid? What did you do, send them a message on your comm?”

So, he’d figured it out. It didn’t matter. They’d have him in custody in no time. Ariana tilted her chin up. “I can’t let you hurt Risciter.”

“Give me the comm,” said the man.

“It’s completely out of batteries. I had to use it in hypercomm mode.”

“Then you won’t mind giving it to me.”

“What does it matter? They’ve found you. Now they’re going to arrest you.”

He smirked. “Oh, we’ll see about that, sweetheart. Now are you going to give it to me, or am I going to have to take it from you by force?”

Well, it didn’t have any batteries, so she couldn’t use it anymore. She handed it over, shrinking from him. He couldn’t really get away from the Ossile Police, could he?

The ships’s comm system blared again. “Identify yourself.”

The man snatched her comm from her and stuffed it in his pocket. He didn’t respond to the police, but instead began punching something into the console.

“Unidentified ship,” said the comm system, “we are detecting you are preparing to jump to hyperspace. We are activating a tractor beam until we have successfully determined your identity and business in the Ossile system.”

Immediately, the ship began to tremble. Ariana looked around. She’d never been in a tractor beam before. Now, they were tethered to the Ossile Police, right? They couldn’t leave?

“Damn, damn, damn.” The man began punching at the console furiously. “A tractor beam?” He glared at her. “I was going to let you go. I stopped here only to make sure that you would be comfortable. This has nothing to do with you.”

“Risciter is practically my fiancé,” she said. “If you’re trying to kill him, then it has something to do with me.” The ship was still shaking.

He shot her a withering look. “You want to marry that asshole? You’re not too bright, are you?” He hit several buttons on the console. The shaking grew more intense.

“Shut up,” she said.

“That ought to do it.” He put in a few more numbers. The shaking stopped.

“What did you do?” Ariana was horrified, and a little scared. She was safe, right? He couldn’t get away from the police, could he?

“I disengaged the tractor beam,” he said. “I’m not getting captured on Ossile.”