Imminent Danger: And How to Fly Straight Into It Read online

  “No, it isn’t!” Eris exclaimed. “This ship is headed for Psilos. Everything is going just peachy, and we don’t need you to interfere.”

  The shaggy-haired Rakorsian leaned back against the door frame, looking amused. “Look, terrestrial, this ship’s flight plan shows its destination as Ssriss. I don’t know what story your Chakra pilot told you, but—”

  “Alyra is not working for Chakra Corporation,” Miguri stated firmly. “She is an undercover IFTAP agent.”

  “Alyra? Who in Kari’s name is Alyra?”

  “The Psilosian you sold us to,” Eris said through gritted teeth.

  “Ah! I thought the name sounded familiar.”

  “Look, Varrin, Alyra’s going to take us to Psilos. She promised,” Eris said. “So kindly throw yourself out the nearest airlock at your earliest convenience.”

  “Now that’s ridiculous.” Varrin waved a hand dismissively. “Chakra Corporation employees don’t accompany prisoners on transfers—that’s what guards are for.”

  “That’s because this is not a real transfer! Alyra works for IFTAP. She had to pretend this was a valid Chakra Corporation flight so they wouldn’t follow us. But we’re actually going to Psilos!”

  Varrin eyed her appraisingly. “Sorry, but I’m not buying it.”

  “What’s not to buy?” Eris demanded in frustration. “Both IFTAP and—SAGI, or whatever—they’re both working toward the same goal: our freedom!”

  “IFTAP,” Varrin said, sneering. “Idiots, the lot of them. You’ll be much better off with IGASA.”

  “But you used to work for IFTAP!”

  “I’ve worked for a lot of people.”

  “Even if we did believe you, how do we know you are not going to change your plans and sell us before we get to Psilos?” Miguri said.

  Varrin raised his hands in a gesture of innocence. “Would you believe I’ve changed? That I’m saving you for your own good?”

  “No!” Miguri and Eris chorused.

  The gray-eyed mercenary shrugged and then leveled his striker at them. “Unfortunately for you, I really don’t care what you believe. Come along now. It’s time to go.” He smiled. “I may be selflessly liberating you from a cruel fate at the hands of the nefarious Chakra Corporation, but I still have a schedule to keep.”

  “Alyra!” Eris screamed. “Help!”

  “Don’t bother. I stunned her five minutes ago.”

  “Why, you—” Eris raised her hand, intending to try to slap him again.

  “Striker?” he said, smiling as he jiggled the weapon at her.

  Eris dropped her hand.

  “Good. I wouldn’t want to stun you too, because then I’d have to carry you. Come on, let’s go.”

  Motioning with the striker, Varrin directed his two captives out of the lounge and past the cockpit. When Eris spotted Alyra’s slender form slumped over the control panel, she turned to Varrin and said, “You’d better not have killed her, or I’ll—”

  “Calm down, girl. I told you, I only stunned her.”

  “My name is Eris!” she hissed.

  “Bit of an odd name.”

  “It’s the name of an ancient Earth goddess of discord,” Eris said bitingly. “I’m sure you can respect that.”

  Varrin laughed. “It definitely suits you.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Just that you seem to yell and carry on a bit more than is strictly necessary.”

  “I wasn’t like this until you came along and ruined my life!”

  “I believe it was the Ssrisk who abducted you from Earth, not me. I, on the other hand, have rescued you twice now.”

  “Ugh,” she huffed. “You’re impossible.”

  “Impossible to resist,” he quipped, flashing her a lopsided grin. “By the way, what happened to your hair?”

  Eris’s hands flew up to her bald head. “Your evil Chakra Corporation happened to my hair, that’s what!”

  “I see. Well, enough banter. It’s past time we get back to the Nonconformity.” He directed them toward the airlock.

  “I knew it!” Eris said, throwing an annoyed look back at Miguri. The ship shaking was normal, huh, Miguri? “You latched onto the hull, didn’t you?”

  “Works every time.” Varrin smirked.

  “So, Rakorsian, are you going to lock us up like you did last time?” the Claktill asked. “Perhaps put binders on us again, to keep us out of trouble?”

  Varrin stopped and offered them an angelic smile. “I told you. I’m a peaceful representative of IGASA now. Our only goal is to help those victimized by illegal operations, not cause further distress.”

  “Then why are you pointing a striker at us?” Eris demanded. “This makes no sense!”

  “When has the Rakorsian ever made sense?” Miguri grumped.

  Varrin beamed at them. “You two are a galaxy of fun! I knew you’d make it out of Chakra in one piece.”

  “You did not!” Eris exclaimed. “You sold us to Alyra having no idea what would happen to us. I can’t believe you! You do such thoughtless things and then act like it’s all a game.”

  He affected a sorrowful expression. “Would it mean anything to you if I said I’m sorry?”

  “No!”

  “Ah. Well, never mind then.” He gestured toward the docking tube attached to the airlock. “In you go now. Look lively. Alyra will wake up any minute.”

  Eris decided to try one more time to get the stubborn, treacherous Rakorsian to see reason. “This ship really is taking us to Psilos, you know. If you just leave us here, when Alyra wakes up she’ll take us there herself.”

  “Of course she will. But then I wouldn’t get the finder’s fee, would I?”

  16

  Eris followed Miguri through the docking tube with Varrin close behind. They were soon back in the familiar environs of the Nonconformity. Firmly convinced that Varrin was going to lock them up again, Eris was surprised when he led them into the rec room and told them to make themselves comfortable. He winked at her and then headed for the cockpit.

  A few seconds later, a shudder jolted the ship.

  “We’ve detached from the hull,” Varrin announced over the intercom. “All passengers listening to this should stop glaring at the loudspeaker and come entertain me, unless they want to spend the whole trip locked up in their cabin.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Eris snarled softly at the speaker. She didn’t really want him to hear—she was in no mood to continue arguing.

  “I also wouldn’t dare sell you out to an evil, multigalactic corporation,” Varrin said. “And we all know how that turned out.”

  “How—”

  “Rakorsian enhanced hearing,” Miguri reminded her. “He can hear almost everything on this ship—even a whisper, it would seem.”

  Huffing in annoyance, Eris pushed herself to her feet. “Damn. Right. Then I want him to be able to see my face when I tell him exactly how much he’s going to regret it if he sells us out again.”

  Miguri threw her a resigned look as she stomped out of the room.

  When Eris flounced into the cockpit, she found Varrin leaning back in the pilot’s chair, feet up on the control panel, one hand lazily tapping the armrest. She glared at him and then threw herself into the copilot’s chair.

  “Come to amuse me after all?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “I’m not going to stay in the rec room while you sit here thinking up new and inventive ways to ruin our lives.”

  Varrin glanced at a monitor bank by her head. The security feed showed various rooms of the ship, including the rec room, where Miguri was activating the holo-viewer. “The rat doesn’t seem to have a problem with the change of pilot.”

  “Then not only are you a traitor, you’re also a bad judge of character.”

  Varrin pouted, though with a twinkle in his eye. “You know, I don’t entirely think I deserve all these harsh words.”

  “The hell you don’t,” Eris said. I don’t know w
hy I bother. It’s not like he actually has a conscience or feels any guilt about what he’s done.

  “I notice you’ve been cursing a lot lately,” he observed. “You should really work on that. It’s not at all becoming in a young lady.”

  “I thought I was just a lowly human.”

  “That reminds me …” Varrin threw her a rakish smile. “Since we’ve started spending so much time together, maybe I should start addressing you by your actual name. Eris, is it?”

  Eris was torn. Okay, I’ll try to play nice, she decided after a moment. “Yes. Eris.” Then, just as the tension between them seemed to be easing, she exclaimed, “But I swear to God, Varrin, if you ever try anything underhanded again, I will smack you from here to sundown. Or stardown. Whichever sounds more painful.”

  “Your threats are getting better,” Varrin noted approvingly. “Anyway, you should be thanking me for selling you.”

  “You want me to thank you for making me endure that hell? Do you have any idea what I went through?”

  He leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head. “No need to get snippy. It’s not like I had anything to do with what happened to you after Alyra brought you to Chakra.”

  Eris rolled her eyes.

  “Think about it,” Varrin continued. “Before I came along, you were a naïve, trusting little girl with the survival sense of a Sandipth mud worm. And now you’re confident enough to threaten—well, me.”

  “If you’re trying to rationalize your actions—”

  “No. Not at all.” Varrin looked appalled at the thought. “Rakorsians don’t second-guess themselves.”

  “Then they aren’t terribly clever, are they?”

  “How so?”

  “If you don’t examine past mistakes, you never learn from them.”

  “I learn perfectly well,” he said. “Rakorsians just happen to learn through the mistakes of others rather than their own. Then we exploit their weaknesses and crush them.”

  She scowled at him. “You’re unbelievable.”

  “And you’re incredibly attractive for someone of an entirely different species,” he said in a sultry voice, leaning in so close she could feel his breath on her ear.

  Eris stared at him in disbelief. He can’t seriously be hitting on me. After what he did, does he actually think I’ll let him kiss me again without breaking his nose? She clenched her fists in case he tried exactly that.

  Varrin smoldered at her almost as if he planned on seducing her just by looking at her. “Come now,” he said, his breath sending a shiver down her spine. “Let’s just put that whole unsavory business behind us and move on to more … pleasurable interactions.”

  “Thanks so much,” Eris replied frostily, “but I’d rather not.”

  “Why?” he murmured, leaning even closer. “Is there a problem?”

  “Is there a problem? Are you seriously asking me that?” Eris was irate. “You sold me out, you exposed me to unspeakable horrors, and you think that just by batting your eyes at me and whispering sweet nothings in my ear, I’ll forget it all and let you seduce me in my chair?”

  To her further outrage, he quirked an eyebrow at her. “I could seduce you on the control console, if you prefer.”

  Eris slapped him.

  He gaped at her.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” she demanded. “Haven’t you ever been rejected before?”

  Varrin’s conceited grin returned. “Let’s be honest, girl. You think there’s a single female in the galaxy that could spend five minutes with me without wanting to get a piece of this?” He gestured at himself as if he were some sort of grand prize in a contest.

  “Yes,” Eris said. “Me.”

  “You’re bluffing.”

  “You aren’t getting it, are you?”

  “No, but believe me, I’m trying.”

  Eris glared at him.

  “Fine,” he sighed. “Why don’t you explain it to me?”

  “All right, I will. I hate you. I hate you, I hate your idiotically named ship, I hate your monochrome clothes, I hate your arrogance, I hate your species, I hate everything about you! You’re mean, you’re selfish, you’re conceited, and you apparently think that exposing people to horrendous atrocities is a normal thing to do!”

  Varrin held up a hand. “In my culture—”

  “Your whole culture can go to hell as far as I’m concerned. Do what you like to me. I don’t care anymore. Sell me, trade me, throw me into a black hole—nothing could possibly be worse than having to sit here a moment longer in your despicable presence!”

  Eris leaped to her feet and ran from the cockpit.

  Varrin watched her go. “Hmm,” he said thoughtfully. “I don’t believe I’ve ever had anyone ask me to sell them before. Well, there was that Falkese girl on Bomboma, but that made sense in context.”

  “She did not actually mean it, Rakorsian,” Miguri said, striding into the cockpit. He glanced back in the direction that Eris had fled, a sorrowful expression on his face. Then he fixed a sharp look on Varrin. “Much as I am loath to speak to you, Eris’s anger is beginning to worry me. It is not healthy.”

  “Anger.” Varrin mulled the concept over. “I suppose a certain amount of anger isn’t unreasonable, considering how things played out.”

  “Excellent deduction.”

  “Now I remember why I try to avoid escort missions,” he grumbled. “You two could drive a person completely mad. I sold you out once, for Kari’s sake—get over it!”

  Miguri shook his head. “The one who needs to get over himself is you. Eris has no idea what horrible things the galaxy holds, but you and I do, and by your actions you subjected her to some of the worst.”

  “And you want me to feel ashamed?” Varrin drawled. “Hate to break it to you, Claktill, but the word guilt? Not exactly one you hear a lot on Rakor. Though come to think of it, I may have seen it once in a historical record.”

  “Did they have a few lines in there on basic decency as well?”

  “I wouldn’t know. I never got that far. The imperial archivist came across an entry claiming the first Rakorsian emperor was assassinated rather than dying valiantly in battle as everyone knows he did, so the book and its author were burned for blasphemy.”

  Hopping up onto the copilot’s chair, Miguri directed a stern expression at Varrin. “I understand how she feels. I hate you too, you know.”

  “I’ve been doing some research on that,” the pilot returned. “You’re that Claktill, aren’t you? The one who fired on a Ssrisk ship. And then your people banished you.”

  “Yes. I could not sit by while those I loved were placed in harm’s way.”

  “Ha,” Varrin said disdainfully. “The things some people do for love.”

  A curious look passed over Miguri’s face. “Have you ever loved someone, Rakorsian?” he asked. “Been in love? Had someone love you back?”

  “You know as well as I that my people don’t believe in that sentimental rubbish.”

  Miguri sighed. “And yet you wonder why no other species in the galaxy finds Rakorsians even remotely likeable.”

  Before Varrin could reply, the Claktill darted off the chair and down the corridor.

  Scowling at nothing in particular, Varrin slid down in his chair and replayed the day’s events in his mind. He did not make a habit of examining his feelings, but one thing in particular was troubling him: a certain feisty terrestrial who not only turned down his considerable charms, but also verbally lambasted him with all his supposed faults.

  During his years wandering the galaxy, Varrin had romanced more women than he could count. He had the art of seduction down to a science. Even the most reticent females had been putty in his hands, helpless to resist his well-practiced charms. And his betrayal of Eris certainly wasn’t the worst obstacle he’d had to overcome in his pursuit of female companionship.

  It occurred to him that the girl might only be attracted to other females. He had encountered such a phenomenon be
fore and been quite enamored of the idea. Yet she had been very willing only weeks earlier. Did humans change their sexual preferences in such a short span of time? More importantly, why did he find that thought so disappointing?

  Varrin decided he needed something to take his mind off his distracting terrestrial passenger. He slouched down farther in his chair, switched on a monitor, and opened a comm channel. Seconds later, an official-looking man in dark red body armor appeared onscreen.

  “This is the Rakor Planetary Communications Office. Identify yourself.”

  Varrin released a cathartic laugh. “Incredible. I leave for a few years and discipline breaks down completely.”

  The officer’s eyes narrowed angrily. “Identify yourself, or—”

  “I’ll give you a hint,” Varrin said. “If you were to look up a list of Emperor Ka’zarel’s progeny, you’d find me at the top with my name scratched out and insulting words scrawled across my portrait.”

  The officer stared at him blankly for several seconds before paling and beginning to tremble. “Prince Varrin! Forgive me, Your Highness, I did not recognize you!”

  Varrin gave him a conspiratorial wink. “Tell you what, friend. Give me a direct line to my father, and I won’t tell anyone about your embarrassing inability to recognize a member of the imperial family.”

  The screen went black.

  Seconds later, a handsome but intimidating older man with piercing gray eyes, slicked-black hair, and a furious expression appeared onscreen. “Varrin!” he bellowed, his voice so loud it shook the instruments inside the cockpit. “How dare you contact me!”

  “Father,” Varrin said, completely ignoring the emperor of Rakor’s rage. “To think you took time out of your busy schedule to speak with me. Let’s see, three in the afternoon … by Kari, you interrupted afternoon tea to speak with your eldest son! What an honor.”

  “Cut the sarcasm or cut the channel,” Emperor Ka’zarel commanded. “I thought I made it clear from our last conversation that I never wanted to see your disgraceful face again.”