Treachery: Celestial Empires Book 2 Read online

  I turned toward the controls and started pushing buttons, trying to find a way to open the door so our lovely, yet entirely unwanted guest could get off my damn ship before it lifted off. I pushed every button – twice – and tried to override the controls, but nothing worked. The doors remained closed. And locked.

  “Xavix, help me, please – ”

  “I can't, Gemma,” he said. “As I already told you, they've hacked into our mainframe and control everything – including the controls for the door. It's actually very impressive and they're quite good. Shockingly, whoever is on the other end is better than me. I won't be able to override it in time – ”

  A light flashed on the control panel, signaling there was incoming communication – audio instead of video. I pushed the button and listened to the communication. There was a brief hiss and then a familiar voice I recognized immediately oozed out of the speakers, making my skin crawl.

  “Gemma, oh Gemma dear,” Boygan said. “I would advise you against trying to override our programming. Your ship will be taking off when we say it will, and any changes you or your robotic companion try to make now will only piss me off – and I'm already quite pissed at you. Piss me off any further and well, your dear old mum and aunt may just have to bear the brunt of my anger. And you wouldn't want that for them, now would you?”

  “Listen Boygan,” I said. “We have a stowaway. I just need to let him off before we leave.”

  “What's going on here?” Theron said, standing next to me at the communications console. “Who are you speaking with? This is Officer Theron of the Air Alliance, I demand to know who I am speaking with.”

  “Irritating little man, isn't he?” Boygan said. “Annoying voice.”

  “Who – What?”

  Air Alliance Officer Theron's voice cracked and he looked absolutely flummoxed that he'd be spoken to in such a manner. His face was red, his eyes were wide, and he looked like he had no idea what to do.

  “My ship has been hacked, I am no longer in control of it,” I said with a sigh, the need for secrecy apparently no longer relevant. “The hackers are holding my family hostage.”

  Theron reached for his transmission radio, but as soon as he did, Mr. Boygan's voice came over the speakers again.

  “Don't even try using your radio. You'll find that it's already been disabled. In fact, all communications on this ship is disabled – except to me,” Mr. Boygan said. “And Gemma, really, you don't know how to handle a stowaway? Imagine what they'd do to unwanted guests back on Cromia and then do that. You're a clever girl, I'm sure you can find a way to be rid of him.”

  And with that, the communications line went dead. Theron turned to me, his eyes wide, his breathing a little shallow and ragged.

  “You're going to kill me, aren't you?” he muttered.

  “No, of course not,” I said. “I'm not like that. Don't be stupid.”

  “But that's what they'd do on Cromia,” he said. “I've read all about Cromians and – ”

  “But I'm not Cromian,” I said. “Sit down, buckle up and we'll let you off at the first fuel stop. I'm sure it won't be too difficult for you to hitch a ride back to Earth. I will warn you though - you will not breathe a word of this to anybody. The lives of my family are hanging in the balance and I swear to all that is holy, if you get them killed because you couldn't keep your trap shut, the things I will do to you will make Cromians look like teddy bears. You got me?”

  Theron sat down, stiffly, and refused to look at me. I could see fear in his eyes but he remained silent.

  “I said, do you understand?” I snapped.

  Theron nodded quickly. “I understand. I got it. Not a word.”

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose and tried to calm myself down. I felt like I was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown and knew I needed to dial it back and think. I took several long, deep breaths and let them out slowly, the fog in my head slowly clearing.

  I was not in control of the ship or our route. There was nothing I could do. Which meant, I needed to focus on the things I could control – of which, there seemed to be relatively few at the moment. I looked over at our unwitting passenger.

  “You're Air Alliance,” I said, sitting back and letting the ship do what it was programmed to do. “You don't frighten easily, or at least you're not supposed to. Why are you so freaked out?”

  “It's not everyday I'm aboard a hijacked ship,” he said.

  “But you've trained for situations like this, yes?” I raised an eyebrow in his direction.

  “Training and real life are totally different beasts,” he said.

  His eyes widened as the ship took off into the air, and I swear a yelp escaped his throat as he held on tight to his seat. There was definitely something odd about our Air Alliance officer. Something off. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something different about him.

  “You've never flown before, have you?” I smirked.

  “I've been grounded since training ended two weeks ago,” he said. “We are supposed to gain experience and knowledge on the ground and in simulators before – ”

  His voice cut off and his eyes widened when he realized he'd said too much.

  “Ahh – so, you're a newbie. Just a baby Alliance officer, I see,” I laughed and shook my head. “Probably better that way. If you were more experienced you'd probably try to regain control of my ship and then I would have to kill you.”

  He looked at me with an expression on his face that said he was trying to decide whether I was kidding or not. I wasn't. When it came to my family being in grave danger, I wasn't in a joking mood.

  “These people,” he said, “they have your family?”

  I nodded. “My mom and aunt.”

  “And you didn't report it?”

  I sighed. It wasn't something that somebody like good ol' Theron – somebody who followed the letter of the law without question – would understand. But sometimes you couldn't seek outside help. At least, not without suffering horrible consequences. Sometimes you had to do things yourself. Had to handle your own business. Especially, when it came to protecting your loved ones. When it came to protecting family, the letter of the law could absolutely suck it.

  “I didn't have time, it all happened so quickly,” I said. “And you heard what he said about communications. I couldn't risk it. My mom is deathly ill already and needs to get home so I can take care of her.”

  “But this is what the Alliance does – ”

  “It's also what I do, okay?” I snapped. “Listen, I appreciate all that you do, but let's be real with each other here – if I had followed the letter of your precious law and reported this, what would your supervisors have done?”

  “They probably would have filed a missing person's report,” he said. “They would have taken down information on the suspects and sent airmen to the coordinates you were given.”

  “Right. And knowing these people who took them, my family would be dead before your precious airmen even arrived,” I said. “You would have gotten my family killed – and very likely, wouldn't have even caught the bad guys. These aren't amateurs we're dealing with, Theron. These men are hardened killers. And I'm not willing to take that risk.”

  Theron was quiet for a bit, but I could tell he didn't care for me putting down his career choice. Air Alliance officers all had to drink the Kool-Aid and had to pretty much believe in their mission one hundred and ten percent. They'd practically been brainwashed to put the welfare of the solar system above anything else – even human lives. Which was exactly why I didn't trust them. They didn't care about my family so much as they cared about pursuing bad guys. If they caught the bad guys but my family had been killed, they would still count that as a win.

  While I was pondering my next move, Theron reached for his handheld comm device and pushed the button to speak into it. Even though the line was dead, I slapped it out of his hands. The comm unit hit the floor with a clatter, pieces breaking off of it. He stared at me with wid
e eyes, fear upon his face.

  “I was just testing it,” he mumbled.

  “Don't. You don't want to push the limits with these guys. Or with me,” I said, my voice low and menacing. “If they say no communication, they mean it. So just sit back, enjoy the ride and at the next stop, we'll drop you off. Got it?”

  “Fine. Yeah. Sorry,” he muttered.

  Of course, the idea of dropping him off worried me. Despite my threats, he could still talk. Still try to get the message out to the Alliance – and they could royally screw everything up. But at the same time, taking him all the way to Nyota was a bad idea as well. I hated to admit it, but Boygan was right – I should get rid of him completely. The problem though, was that I wasn't a killer. Not unless it was a clear case of self-defense and I have no other options.

  The one time I thought I might actually make an exception to that rule – well, that was the reason I found myself in the position I was currently in.

  Had I said no to Boygan at the very beginning and been done with it, I wouldn't be on my way to a far away planet on my hijacked ship, trying to rescue my mom and aunt. Then again, I also wouldn't have made it home at all. Because, without Kysos' money, there was no way I would have made it back to Earth on the jobs I was getting.

  Still, at least my family would have been safe.

  Anything would have been better than putting them at risk.

  Chapter Four

  The first scheduled fuel stop was a quickie on an asteroid depot not too far from Earth. As soon as the ship landed, I expected the doors to open, so I could decide what to do about the stowaway. But the doors never opened. They wouldn't open. I stabbed at the button over and over again and it still wouldn’t' open.

  “Dammit,” I said, fighting with the controls – and losing. “How am I supposed to fuel up if – ”

  “It appears that they're already on it,” Xavix said from his spot at the navigation controls.

  He was right. Someone from the depot had come over and started fueling up my ship as we waited inside. No message from Boygan, nothing else. And as soon as the tanks were topped off and the refueling was complete, the ship took off again.

  “I guess the upside is I didn't have to pay for that,” I said. “But God knows, I'll pay for it later somehow.”

  Theron stared at the door, starting to panic once more. “Wasn't I supposed to get off there?”

  “If it were up to me, we would have said our goodbyes already. But I guess the people in control have other plans,” I said with a shrug.

  After a very long day I was suddenly feeling exhausted and wrung out. We'd be flying for at least a full day and I needed sleep. I unbuckled my seatbelt and Theron looked at me, his eyes wide – like I was going to kill him or something.

  “There's an extra bunk if you'd like it,” I said. “Xavix doesn't need sleep, so he'll keep an eye on things. I'm going to get some rest before – ”

  “I can't believe how calm you are. You're acting like this is completely normal,” Theron scoffed. “You're acting like getting hijacked by criminals and taken to a distant planet happens every day and this is totally – normal.”

  I shot a look at Xavix who shrugged.

  “No, this definitely isn't normal. And this is the first time for we've ever been hijacked. But yes, Xavix and I have been through some shit,” I said. “This ain't nothing compared to what I've dealt with before. There's no communication and no way I can control the ship. I'm just along for the ride, the same as you. And I'm exhausted. So tell me, Officer Theron, what else am I supposed to do?”

  “I - I don't know,” he stammered. “But something besides sleeping. Coming up with a plan to save our asses maybe.”

  “Listen, when this ship lands, all hell is going to break loose,” I said, getting up into his face, the anger within me rising. “You have no idea who we're up against. Hell, I have no idea who we're up against. Not really. But what I do know is that they're clever and dangerous – they're some of the most dangerous criminals I've ever met. But until we land, me sitting around here bemoaning my fate is useless. Might as well rest up before the big fight. Being fresh is going to do us a whole lot more good than me sitting here freaking out about everything – everything I can't control, by the way. So, if you'd like me to show you to the spare bunk, come on. If not, Xavix can show you later.”

  “I'll stay here,” he said, staring straight ahead at the darkness of space through the view screen “In case I'm needed.”

  Rolling my eyes, I let it go. Turning to Xavix, I said, “Keep an eye on him, will you?”

  “Will do,” my robotic companion said.

  “Keep an eye on me,” Theron mumbled under his breath. “As if I need someone to keep an eye on me.”

  I paused and felt the tension in my shoulders – felt the dark anger inside of me swelling.Drop it, Gemma, I told myself. This was a useless fight with someone who was scared and feeling petty. Still, his very presence got on my nerves, and if I had the option of throwing him off my ship at some point, I'd gladly do it – especially the closer we got to Nyota. At least then he and his precious Air Alliance wouldn't be able to interfere as much and potentially get my family killed.

  “Goodnight, Theron,” I said.

  Of course he didn't answer me – he just sat there in his seat, glowering. Obviously, still pouting about being on board in the first place and about the fact that I wasn't racking my brain, trying to formulate some grand plan. The truth of the matter was that even if had some grand plan, there's no guarantee it would succeed. In fact, I would have put money against it succeeding. Boygan was thorough and meticulous. Every facet and nuance accounted for. I had no hope of out-planning him. My best bet was to out-action him once we got on the ground.

  Plans are all well and good, but as that old saying goes, plans seldom hold up after first contact with your enemy. Or something like that.

  But to think, these Air Alliance guys like to think they're so big and bad. They like to think they're the toughest. The best of the best. But the minute something doesn't go their way, they pout like a petulant child. Theron was no different. Young – almost too young for such a job in my eyes – but I could tell he came from a privileged background and had some strings pulled to get him where he was. He obviously came from a background that offered him opportunities and advantages I never had – like joining the corrupt-as-hell and otherwise useless Air Alliance in the first place.

  Only rich boys and girls with contacts and pull got into that program. They all wanted to wear a uniform and strut around, pretending they were soldiers and that they were badasses. They all had the opportunity to travel into space anytime they damn well pleased – something I had to fight and scrape for – supposedly bringing order to otherwise chaotic planets.

  But that's just what they wanted us to think. The reality of the Air Alliance was so much different than the fiction they peddled.

  I knew the truth about them, and that was the prime reason I didn't trust Theron. No matter how naive and young he might be, he was still part of an organization that did nothing but lord their status over us and shit on folks at the bottom of the ladder.

  People like me.

  Chapter Five

  Instead of sleeping though, I lay in my bunk and stared up at the ceiling. For so long, I had slept in this very bunk and dreamed of being at home, in my own bed – and last night was supposed to be the last.

  But alas, there I was, back in my bunk, aboard my ship once again. Back in the same uncomfortable, cheap bunk with the thin, lumpy mattress that came with it when I bought theUmbra from a scrapyard a long, long time ago. It felt like eons ago, honestly.

  I remembered the day I bought the ship – how I'd haggled the price down to something I could afford after I'd finished a particularly good and lucrative job hunting down an escaped killer. I'd even been paid a bonus for returning the guy back alive, so my clients could punish him themselves. It was a hard job, and yet, it had been only the beginning
of many years of bounty hunting. And all of those years had passed with one singular goal running through my head – to eventually get home. Get home to my mother, live a quiet, normal life, and never venture out into space again.

  And that goal had been ruined – or at least delayed – all because of men like Theron, I thought to myself. Bitterness seeped into every fiber of my being.

  Sleep was futile, so after about an hour of tossing and turning I got up and paced around my quarters for a few minutes. Restless beyond description, I decided to check on Xavix and our little stowaway.

  Slipping my pants and boots back on, I stepped out of my cabin and walked toward the front of the ship where I found Theron sleeping in the seat I'd left him in. Xavix was sitting there, doing nothing from the looks of it, but I knew his brain was always running. He was a computer, he was probably calculating something or another up there, or researching our destination and would undoubtedly spew out ten thousand useless facts about 51 Nyota.

  His ability to know things never ceased to amaze me, and despite his penchant for boring me to death beneath tons of trivia I'd never need, like theUmbra, Xavix had been a very good investment. It's rare that you can buy functional equipment that can also provide companionship.

  “Looks like he was tired after all,” I mumbled, looking at him enviously as I ran a hand through my messy mop of hair.

  I was so very tired, but sleep wasn't coming and trying to sleep was a fruitless endeavor at that moment. Eventually I'd be tired beyond the ability to function and drop off on my own. But who knew when that would come to pass. Right now my brain wouldn't shut off long enough to even try.

  “Yes indeed,” Xavix said. “He wouldn't go back to the spare bunk though. He kept insisting he wasn't tired.”

  “Typical male,” I muttered, sitting down beside my computerized companion. “So what's new?”

  “Nothing. Nothing at all,” Xavix said. “We're still on course and everything is going well. Or at least, as well as can be expected, given the circumstances.”