Starflight (35 page)

Doran’s shoulders sank. He had to be reeling with the fact that not only were both his parents liars, but also that the future he’d envisioned no longer existed. Once Spaulding Fuel collapsed, there would be no company to inherit.

“And here you are,” Gage said flatly. “In my lab, looking through my computer. Mom told me you were just like Dad. I guess she was right about that, too.”

“No,” Doran told him. “Dad sent me here, but I had no idea why. I would never destroy your work. The fringe needs it too much.”

“Right.” Clearly unconvinced, Gage flicked his aim at Solara, then at Renny and Kane. “Who are your friends?”

Before any of them could answer, the com-link speakers activated, and Captain Rossi called through their suits, “Time to wrap it up. Cassia found a tracker on the
Banshee
’s front landing gear. I’m guessing someone on New Haven planted it there to claim the reward for Daro the Red. So far the skies look clear, but who knows how long that’ll last.”

Solara went cold. “We have to go,” she told Gage. “Now.”

“She’s right,” Doran said. “There’s a pirate named Demarkus on the way, and you don’t want to meet him while you’re wearing my face.”

Gage lifted his pistol. “Nobody’s going anywhere. Not until I figure out what to do with you.”

Her pulse hammering, Solara glanced around the lab for a weapon to use against Gage or a way to distract him long enough to make it back to the ship. Her gaze landed on the bag of Infinium ore samples, and she made a snap decision. With one hand, she snatched the bag off the table and dashed out the open doors and into the hall, hoping Gage was smart enough not to shoot her and risk blowing them all into next week.

She heard the stomp of boots and the metallic clang of a bolt sliding into place. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Gage had locked everyone inside the lab. He’d set down his pistol and was pulling on an insulated suit with the kind of speed that prompted her feet to move faster.

While she ran, she stuffed the ore samples in her suit pocket and fastened her oxygen helmet. If she could reach the ship before Gage, she and the captain might be able to disarm him and free the others. She beat him into the air-lock chamber and shut the interior door, then wasted no time in climbing the ladder to the surface. With a mighty heave, she pushed open the top hatch and stepped outside.

Instantly, she froze in place. The pirates were already there.

At least a dozen mismatched shuttles had landed in a circle surrounding the
Banshee
, whose lowered cargo ramp showed that she’d been boarded. Solara’s heart jumped, and she darted glances in every direction looking for Cassia and the captain. The fact that he hadn’t warned her through the com-link suggested the pirates had captured him.

Or worse.

But there was no sign of the crew…or of anyone.

Gage caught up with her, but she ignored the pistol pressed against her ribs and pointed at the night sky, where a distant moon illuminated the pirates’ tank of a ship hovering just outside the planet’s gravitational pull. She was about to explain when an iron hand settled on her shoulder, and she whirled around so quickly that she landed on her backside. That same hand smacked the pistol from Gage’s grip and sent it flying.

With pain radiating from her tailbone, Solara craned her neck upward to take in seven solid feet of muscle encased in a thermal space suit. She couldn’t hear Demarkus’s voice, but she watched his lips curve in a familiar smile, equal parts charming and chilling. Those lips moved in a phrase she recognized easily.

“Hello, little bird.”

I
t took Doran and the crew twenty minutes to remove the lab doors from the hinges with a screwdriver they’d found in a drawer, twice as long as it should’ve taken because the shock of everything Doran had just learned was making his hands clumsy.

He couldn’t think straight. Nothing made sense anymore. The mother he’d missed for half his life cared more about vengeance than her own children. The father he’d idolized since he was old enough to toddle in the man’s footsteps had placed the family business ahead of his actual family. And Gage. The dead had risen. It was all too much to take in.

“Doran!” Kane snapped his fingers an inch from his face. “Wake up!”

Doran blinked, suddenly alert as he followed Renny and Kane into the hallway. He couldn’t afford to let his thoughts distract him, not if he wanted to reach Solara. She was counting on him to keep a clear head, and he wouldn’t let her down.

“The com-link’s dead,” Kane announced, tapping the button on his chest.

“Then someone shut down the system,” Renny said darkly. “And the only way to do that is from the pilothouse.”

That was all Doran needed to hear. He donned his oxygen helmet, and the three of them jogged toward the air-lock chamber. By the time he crawled onto the planet’s surface, he was tensed and ready for a fight.

Fists raised, he spun in a circle…and found nobody.

He lowered his arms, confused as he glanced to and fro. The icy landscape looked exactly the same as when he’d left it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary—until he turned his gaze skyward and noticed the pirate ship looming overhead, its hangar door closing behind a convoy of shuttlecraft. Then realization hit, and the fear of losing Solara and Gage caused him to push so quickly to his feet that he expected to rocket to the moon.

With a firm shake, Renny redirected his attention to the
Banshee
and her shuttle, still docked on the opposite side of the air-lock hatch. Doran’s legs moved to run, but Renny jerked him to a stop and used two fingers to communicate
We’ll check it out first
.

Once Doran forced himself to calm down, he nodded in agreement. Pirates weren’t likely to leave behind anything useful, like a ship and all her cargo. Some of them were probably still here.

Renny led the way to the boarding ramp. Once they reached the bottom, Doran peered inside and caught a glimpse of movement. He quickly drew back, but not before the two pirates rummaging inside the cargo hold had spotted him. One shouted to the other, and they clomped down the metal ramp to investigate.

Doran’s heart lodged in his throat, and he backed into Kane, who was futilely glancing around for a place to hide. There was nothing to conceal them, not even a boulder.

While they continued backing away, Renny ducked beneath the ramp until the men passed him by. Then he climbed up behind the pair and crept silently toward them. In the time it took Doran to blink, Renny swiped a pistol from one man’s holster. The pirates spun around, and he instantly shot them both in the chest. Before the smoke had even cleared, he used hand signals to announce that he was going inside and disappeared up the ramp.

Doran tried not to notice the steam rising from the bodies. He took the other man’s gun while Kane pilfered himself a pair of knives, and they joined Renny in scouring the
Banshee
. After searching every crevice of the ship and finding no other scavengers, they met in the bridge to discuss what to do next.

Boots paced the floor, none of them able to stand still.

“We can’t spend any more time here,” Doran said, tapping a nervous finger against the helmet latched to his hip. “We have to go right now. Demarkus could be—”

“Agreed,” Kane cut in. “Let’s get airborne and figure it out as we go.”

Renny tried reasoning with them, lifting a hand. “We’re up against a fully armed battleship, and the only weapon we have is the element of surprise. That’s why I haven’t activated the com-link yet. If we go off half-cocked, we don’t stand a chance. We can’t help anyone if we’re dead.”

Doran understood, but he couldn’t stand around while Demarkus killed everyone he loved. There was a simple solution, and it would only work if they hurried. “It’s me Demarkus wants. So take me to him.”

“Out of the question,” Renny objected, pulling off his glasses to rub his eyes. “Demarkus is smarter than you think. He won’t let anyone go; it would make him look weak.”

“I’ll make sure they get out,” Doran said.

Kane arched a curious brow. “How?”

“They have to be suited up, right? Otherwise they couldn’t have boarded the pirates’ shuttle,” Doran pointed out. “If they still have their oxygen helmets, I can—”

“Flush them out an air-lock, or an open hangar,” Kane finished, shifting his gaze to Renny. “It could work if you’re there to pick them up in the
Banshee
.”

“I’m hearing a lot of
if
s in this plan,” Renny said.

Ignoring him, Kane turned to Doran. “I’m coming with you.”

Doran shook his head. “We need you in the shuttle to collect anyone Renny misses.”

Kane gnawed on the inside of his cheek, silently turning the idea over until he locked eyes with Doran and made a single demand. “Promise you’ll watch after Cassy. I know what she did to you was wrong, but—”

“I’ll bring her back,” Doran said. “Or die trying.”

“All right. Then I’m in.”

Kane extended his hand, and for the second time since their fight, Doran shook it. But this gesture was more than an empty peace offering. When they clasped palms, a look of understanding passed between them, an unbreakable trust that they would do whatever it took to bring their people home.

S
olara peered out the multipassenger shuttle window and watched the pirates’ hangar door close. It didn’t seem so long ago that she’d entered this ship willingly. Now she would eject herself into empty space if given the chance. She didn’t want to be here when Demarkus realized he’d nabbed the wrong twin.

Glancing at her lap, she strained both wrists against her bindings, but they held firm and delivered a light electric shock as punishment. She jumped in her seat, bumping Gage’s shoulder and drawing the gazes of Cassia and Captain Rossi, who occupied the seats directly across from hers.

The captain brought both bound wrists to his helmet to unfasten it. “No use wasting your oxygen supply,” he said. “Might as well breathe the shuttle air for free.”

Cassia followed suit.

Stretching her spine, Solara peered toward the front of the shuttle and noticed that the pilots had left. She pulled off her helmet. “I escaped from this ship once, and I can do it again. But first I need to unlock these cuffs.”

As soon as Gage removed his headpiece, Cassia and the captain did a simultaneous double take. “Who’s this?” Cassia asked.

“Oh, him?” Solara said, scanning the floor for something to use as a lock pick. “That’s Doran’s evil twin.”

Gage rolled his eyes. “Excuse me for wanting to protect everyone stuck out here in the armpit of the galaxy. Which is exactly the point of my research, by the way.”

“If I were you,” Solara advised, “I’d shut up about that research. If you think your father’s bad, wait until the pirates find out what you can do.” Thumbing at him, she told Cassia and the captain, “Meet Gage Spaulding, the inventor of Infinium. His mom faked his death nine years ago, and they’ve been living out a twisted revenge fantasy ever since.”

“Wow,” Cassia said, wrinkling her nose. “And I thought I had baggage.”

“Enough about me,” Gage dismissed. Leaning forward, he peered out the window at the cluster of men chatting at the far end of the hangar. “What does this Demarkus person want with Doran?”

“To kill him as an example to his men,” Solara said.

“I imagine he’ll do the same to me,” the captain added. “For shooting him in the chest last year.” He lifted one broad shoulder. “Can’t say that I blame him.”

Cassia squirmed in her seat, clearly worried about her own fate. “I think he’ll do a lot worse than kill us.”

Gage snapped his eyes to hers. “What could be worse?”

“A trip to the slave auction,” Cassia said. “That’s probably where we’re headed. Pirates are scum, but they’re not stupid when it comes to business. They know we’re not worth anything dead.”

“Except for me,” the captain said with a half grin, rubbing the spot above his Beatmaster 3000. “They can sell my carcass for spare parts.”

Cassia nudged him with her elbow. “Don’t joke like that.”

“Who’s joking?”

A lump of fear rose in Solara’s throat, but she held her breath and counted backward from ten. The only way she would solve this problem was by staying calm, and by God, she did
not
come to the outer realm to be sold as a slave. When the countdown finished, she closed her eyes and imagined all the tools within her reach. An idea came to mind, and she touched her pocket to make sure the ore samples were still there.