Jess Granger

Part One, Posts 1-10

“Of all the smarking places to break down,” Ethel grumbled as she kicked the landing supports of her beat-up star-hopper. She contemplated picking up one of the rough looking stones littered all over the ground and throwing it at her limping hunk of space-trash she liked to call a ship, but star-hoppers were notorious for letting off sudden energy discharges.

Perhaps she shouldn’t tempt fate.

Snerk, she had already tempted fate by chasing off on this wild treasure hunt to begin with. She was just like her grandfather. Maybe that’s why he left her the map. He knew she wouldn’t be able to resist a puzzle, especially one that had the potential to be one of the richest quazine finds in thousands of years. She needed the money. She needed the money bad.

A quick shiver rushed over her shoulders as she leaned up against her useless ship.

“Awk! Piece of junk,” Keo squawked as her mechanically enhanced parrot flew out of the hatch and landed on her shoulder. “Sell for scrap.”

“Great idea,” she grumbled. “Does it look like we’re near a junker?”

Ethel swept her hand out to her side. Great towering buttes rose up out of the bleak purple sands of the desert. Here or there, a scraggly bush would peek out from the shaded side of a large rock, but she could see no other signs of life.

Keo hopped down her arm and perched on her hand. His little claws dug into her unprotected skin, but she didn’t want to complain. Last time she got on Keo’s case, he zapped her with his laser. The red light in the center of his breast-plate blinked. “What now?” he asked, cocking his blue head and shaking out his bright green feathers.

“I don’t know.” Ethel shrugged, her grandfather’s dark red Mooran overcoat felt heavy on her shoulders. “The way I see it, we haven’t got many options.” She lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the setting sun. In the shadows of dusk, she thought she saw light coming from beyond one of the buttes. Off to her right, a canyon opened up. “What do you think?”

Keo squatted down, shook his tail and left his liquid calling card on the nearest rock.

“Oh, come on.” Ethel jerked her hand up, forcing Keo to take flight. He promptly swung around and landed on her head. “How about you work off those extra grams and check out the lights over there.” He tangled his feet in her hair and flapped his short wings. The bird was built like a flying keg.

Keo let out a low grinding sound in his throat. “Keo do all work.”

“You need the exercise, chubby.” She reached up behind her head to try to get him to step down, but he bit her. She jerked her hand away. “That hurt!”

“Keo fluffy.” He crawled through her hair to her shoulder and shook out his feathers right in her ear.

“Yeah? How much does a ton of feathers weigh?” She lifted her hand to shield her eyes as she scanned the horizon. She couldn’t see any light from flight traffic, but a suspicious scar across a distant dune looked like it might be tracks from some sort of vehicle.

Keo shifted on her shoulder and she reached back enough to skootch the feathers on his little head. “Go check it out for me, and I’ll see what I can find in the preserver.”

“Treat!” Keo squawked as he took to the air and disappeared over the distant dunes with surprising speed for a fat bird.

The night sky deepened as more and more stars shone through the dimming light. A chill raced down Ethel’s neck. He was out there somewhere, looking for her. Uneasiness crept through her. She felt alone and exposed under the open night sky. Retreating to the interior of her ship, she decided to gather what supplies she had.

It didn’t take long to pack a simple storage sack. There was hardly anything to put in it. Keo needed to find something good over those dunes, or they’d both be in a world of hurt. Who was she kidding? They’d be dead.

Sitting on the edge of her worn pilot’s seat, she drew the tiny pewter-looking ball out of the pocket of her grandfather’s coat. It felt cold, heavy in her hands as she inspected the minuscule grooves and seams along the sphere. She manipulated it, forcing smooth knobs of metal into new seams as she whispered a secret command.

The orb glowed white and burned hot in her hand as it rose into the air with a low melodic hum. It trembled, the light pulsing outward. Suddenly it flashed, and a glowing blue bubble engulfed the sphere. Alien runes shimmered and shifted as they rotated through the swirling aura.

She stared at it, hoping somehow if she looked at it long enough, she could unwrap the mystery and all her problems would be over. But it didn’t work that way. “Close,” she whispered. Like a switch, the ball returned to normal and dropped into her hand. She stashed it back in her pocket.

If there was one thing she didn’t like to admit, it was that she needed help. She wouldn’t figure this thing out on her own. Part of her just wanted to give up. She could signal Devar, turn herself in, and maybe he’d be in a forgiving mood. Somehow she doubted it.

She could show him the map.

Her heart raced as she thought it. He’d take it from her, and she couldn’t allow that. For as much as she told herself it was about the money, it wasn’t really about the money. Okay, a lot of it was about the money, but not all of it.

The soft tick tick tick of Keo’s feet on the floor drew her from her thoughts. He waddled toward her with a hopeful look in his dark eyes. “Treat?”

She reached into the bag and found the last bit of dried yiggit. He flew up onto her hand and carefully plucked it from her fingers with his dark beak.

“What did you find?”

Keo held the yiggit in one foot, crumbling it into tiny pieces with his beak as his tongue delicately tasted it. She wondered if he actually ate any of it as the crumbs accumulated on her knee.

“Ore mine.”

“Inhabited?”

“Awk,” he affirmed.

“Do they seem friendly?” Hope kindled in her heart. Maybe she would find a way out of this.

“Drunk.” With one large chomp, Keo swallowed the last of the yiggit.

“Well, I guess we won’t be heading that way,” Ethel mused. The last time she had gotten mixed up with a bunch of drunkards, Keo got into his cups and started a bar fight.

Adjusting the strap on the storage sack, she crossed the ship toward the open hatch. It was going to be a long walk through the desert to find civilization.

Static buzzed on the screen behind her. She jumped and turned to look at the scattered image trying to break through the damaged link-system. Her heart raced as she stared at the screen. Dark eyes flashed beneath a slashing black brow.

She stumbled as her knees gave out.

He found her.

“I know you’re there,” he growled. Ethel shivered as she crept backward toward the hatch. “Damn it, Ethel, answer me.”

Her throat went dry as she clutched the sack. She took another step back, and placed her foot on empty air. She crashed through the open hatch and tumbled backward onto the hard desert. Grit scratched into her palms and her cheek as she tried to slow her heart and draw in a breath.

Lingering adrenaline made her hands feel shaky and weak as she dusted herself off. Keo landed on one of the struts and cocked his head at an angle only possible for a bird.

“Graceful,” he commented.

“Oh, shut up.” She pushed to her feet and marched toward the dunes. “The further she got away from the ship and Devar, the better. A dark rush tingled down her spine. She tried to forget the things his voice alone could do to her. And his eyes…

“I’m going crazy,” she commented to herself as the ground beneath her feet softened to course sand.

“Already there.” Keo landed on her shoulder and preened her hair as she trekked through the desert. At least the air of the lingering twilight felt cool and calm.

She had forgotten how deceptive distances could be in the desert, and it disheartened her that she already felt winded and shaky by the time she reached the tracks. The remnants of the lingering day faded into night while the stars opened up, endless and beautiful above her in the deep black expanse of space. Lights from the ore mine glowed brighter on the horizon. The tracks seemed to have originated from there. Where were they going? Perhaps there was a town or an outpost nearby, a place for trade and hopefully interstellar travel.

She tried to shoo Keo off her shoulder, but he swung onto her back and clung to her coat just between her shoulder-blades. She didn’t need any more weight pressing on her. The storage sack cut into her shoulder, and her muscles in her back and calves burned as she marched through the sand. Every painful step forward felt like half a step back as she focused on the ground and continued to trudge along the tracks.

What was she going to do about Devar? She liked to think he wouldn’t kill her, but she didn’t want to take the chance. He certainly seemed angry enough to put a plasma hole through her head. She had to find a way to pay him off, then maybe he’d leave her alone.

Her thoughts felt as heavy as her footfalls as the endless night gave way to an alien dawn. She looked up from her feet, her throat parched, and her eyes burning with exhaustion. She had to find shelter, or she’d die. Just ahead, in the swirling mirage of new light on the sleeping desert, she thought she saw a dark cluster of shadows.

Hope surged through her as she quickened her exhausted steps. With her stomach growling, and fatigue ready to overtake her, she carefully approached what looked like a small make-shift camp.

A portable dome-shelter hunched in the shadow of a short embankment. The vehicle that had made the tracks rested near a primitive fire with a canister hovering over the smoldering ashes.

“Hello,” She called quietly, unsure if she wanted the inhabitant of the camp to know she was there. “Rish?” she tried in Ellaic. The sun grew brighter, blazing over the horizon in a ball of red fury. She had to get out of the open, or she wouldn’t survive the heat of the day.

Creeping closer to the vehicle, she inspected the rest of the area. Books littered the top of a worn crate, while large footprints criss-crossed the camp. Keo flew to the vehicle. Using his beak, he swung inside a cracked window and hopped to the controls. “Still powered,” he called. “I can start.”

“Can you drive?” The footprints in the camp seemed to leave toward a small ravine just ahead.

“Has nav. Can find city.” Keo triggered the hatch and the vehicle opened to her.

Ethel ducked as she used the belt tread to haul herself into the control seat of the vehicle. Immediately her nerves tingled with anticipation as she scanned the controls. Where was the ignition panel? “Damn Ellaic interfaces,” she grumbled. While she had a decent command of the spoken language, the Ellaic alphabet and arch-symbols made her eyes cross.

The soft crunch of a footstep on gravel sounded somewhere behind her. Pain lanced through her neck as she whipped her head around to find the source of the sound. Her fear clawed at her throat as she reached up for the door handle.

“Keo, can you hack the ignition? It’s coded.” What sane person put a coded lock on a vehicle out in the middle of nowhere? It’s not like anyone was around to steal it.

Her logic caught up with her, and she furrowed her brow. It’s not like she had a choice.

Devar found her ship. He’d probably be able to track her to this dust-scrap excuse of a planet within a couple of time cycles. She had to get out of there.

Keo hopped on the controls and plugged the nano-spikes embedded in his claws into the frame-links. The red light on his chest-plate glowed as he squinted his dark eyes and let out a low rasping purr.

“Hurry, Keo,” she whispered as she tried to peer over her other shoulder, but the kink in her neck prevented her from turning her head that direction. A creeping feeling slid down her neck behind her ears. Then she felt the cold kiss of a discharger at her temple.

She swallowed the dry lump in her throat as she lifted her hands off the controls. Keo was still plugged in, and unable to help her.

“What are you doing?” a husky male voice asked. She looked up out of the corner of her eye, not wanting to make any sudden moves. In her blurred peripheral vision, all she could see was the glint of dawn on the sleek gun.

“If I told you I was just recharging the bird, I don’t suppose you’d believe me,” she answered, trying to diffuse the situation. “I’m unarmed.”

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t dangerous.” Thankfully, the gun eased away from her temple.

Ethel turned her head in spite of the pain in her neck. Her nerves fluttered as she slowly perused the sun-kissed man standing before her. With tanned skin, and pale hair curling out in short, unruly locks from beneath a wide-brimmed hat, he could have blended into the austere beauty of the desert itself. She couldn’t see his eyes behind his sun-shades, but the hard line of his jaw spoke volumes. He was not amused.

Great, another man who wanted to kill her. She could start a collection.

A cool breeze caught in the loose white material of his shirt. He had rolled the sleeves up past his elbows, and dust clung to his hands and arms. What was he doing out here?

“Who are you?” he demanded.

Considering she had a gun trained on her forehead, she decided against lying. She’d never been very good at it.

“My name is Ethel. My ship is disabled out in the desert. I was looking for help.”

Tension eased out of his shoulders, but not enough to make him drop the gun. “Name’s Qinn.” He seemed to consider her for a moment. “How far did you walk to get here?”

“All night.” She tried to flash him a pretty smile, but admitting her exhaustion seemed to make it press even heavier on her shoulders.

“And you weren’t trying to steal my conveyor?” The corner of his mouth twitched up, just slightly.

The vehicle suddenly roared to life, shaking and grumbling like a great beast. Keo squawked triumphantly and flew up off the panel. “Let’s go!” He landed on Ethel’s shoulder then crawled down her arm to perch on the open edge of the window. “Hi!” he greeted in his cheerful sing-song voice. “Where you want to go?”

Snerk! Damn bird didn’t know when to keep his big beak shut.

Ethel shrugged in apology as the wary look on Qinn’s face hardened.

She eased out of the conveyor and stood her ground against the gun-toting desert sun God. This wasn’t the first time she’d been on the wrong end of a weapon, and she had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last.

Keo fluffed up his feathers and growled.

Slowly, she extended her hand forward and offered it to Qinn. “We can stand here all day pointing weapons, or we can pack up and get out of the sun. I’m hoping for the latter. Truce?”

His head cocked in a self-assured manner that reminded her of her bird. “I don’t see you pointing any weapons.”

“You obviously don’t know the bird.” She slapped her hands over her ears and ducked as Keo took to wing and let out an ear-bleeding screech that made her blood run cold. Qinn shouted and ducked as Keo shot like a missile straight at the man’s head.

Ethel dove and rolled across the gritty sand, grasping for the weapon. Mr. Sun-god came to his senses enough to plow into her and scramble for the gun himself. Keo zapped him with a quick shot of his laser, as Ethel snatched the gun and pointed it at him.

“Get up,” she ordered. He rose slowly, his face half hidden behind the dark brim of his hat. He looked up, and her gaze locked with his steel gray eyes. They crinkled in the corners.

“Not bad, I’ll have to get a bird.”

“Take me to the nearest city.” Ethel shifted uneasily, then backed slowly toward the conveyor.

“Sorry, sweetly. But the conveyor is nearly out of charge. It has to solar for a few before we can go anywhere interesting. And you could stand there as long as you want, but you don’t have the combination for the climate generator in the tent. I wouldn’t want to hang out here all day without it. How’s your water supply?”

The bastard smiled. She was out, and he damn well knew it. Jerk.

“Why don’t we start over,” he suggested. “We can have a pleasant conversation in my tent, and you can tell me all about who is after you and why.” His crisp accent grated on her nerves. He sounded so intelligent and precise.

“What do you know?” She lowered the gun as he picked up his shades and a leather bound book and turned his back on her.

“You’re running scared.” He opened the hatch to the dome and gestured inside.

“I am not.”

“With your tail between your legs,” he added with a boyish smile.

Damn him.

Suddenly a rock not forty meters from the camp exploded with a chest crushing boom.

Ethel screamed as Qinn ran to her. He snatched the gun, fired off three quick shots and dragged her to the conveyor. “Get in!”

She dove into the vehicle, with Keo gripping her shoulder and squawking in alarm.

“Drive!” Qinn ordered as he hung out the window firing shot after shot at thin air.

“What is going on?”

“Just drive.”

Ethel grabbed the controls and spun the conveyors treads launching them forward as the vehicle crashed through the camp.

The conveyor smashed through a stack of crates, sending the broken shards of shipping composite crashing over the shield.

Qinn continued to fire out the window.

“What’s out there?” Ethel shouted as she pulled the controls around. The conveyor spun on its treads and tore over the sand toward the distant dunes.

She set the conveyor on a straight course toward the mine. It was their best shot at finding shelter and more people to fight. She just hoped the solar charge lasted long enough to get them there.

Qinn didn’t seem too interested in answering her question as he ducked into the conveyor. An explosion rocked the vehicle sending rocks and sand spraying through the open window.

Ethel watched in horror as a wall of sand rose up behind her. It swirled and churned, an angry storm on the horizon moving swiftly toward them.

“Greedy bastards,” Qinn mumbled, raising the side shields. “This is useless.” He tossed his gun to the floor before twisting around to unbuckle a case from the bed of the conveyor.

Ethel didn’t have time to ask again. The dunes swelled in front of her as she sped toward them. The sand storm edged closer, roaring like the engines of a Harkan destroyer.

Keo clung to her chest, then crawled under the lapel of her overcoat, snuggling down next to her neck in a compact little ball of feathers. “It’s okay, baby bird,” she cooed as she spun the controls again, launching them up the face of one of the dunes.

They tipped the crest and surfed down the sand as the towers of the mines rose up in the distance.

The engine whined as she crested the next dune and slid back down the other side. They were losing charge, and fast.

“I don’t think we’re going to make it,” she shouted at Qinn over the din of the oncoming storm.

“The Peva are using the storm as cover. If they spot us, they’ll fire their cannons and we’re done.”

“We won’t make it.” Ethel pumped the controls, trying to coax the last bit of charge out of the dying machine.

The conveyor skidded across the swirling sand as the oncoming front whipped the dunes into a frenzy. The flying dust buffeted the shields as the engine began to slow.

“Keo, I need you to tap into the core and redirect power from the SCRU directly to the engines.” Ethel turned the controls, straining as the force of driving the vehicle pulled on her overtaxed muscles.

Keo screeched in alarm.

“You can do it, buddy. C’mon,” she urged. She didn’t have time to wallow in the wave of panic that rushed through her heart. If Keo made a wrong connection, he’d be electrocuted.

“Not good. Won’t do!”

Something heavy thudded on the conveyor. The impact dented the roof and Qinn cursed as sharp metallic claws pierced the viewscreen.

“Gun it!” he demanded.

Ethel felt like she was pushing the treads forward with the force of her feet on the throttle gears, but the engine whined even as the thing on top of the roof let out a chilling mechanical scream.

Qinn opened the side shield and fired at the thing while swirling sand flew into the interior of the cockpit, stinging Ethel’s skin as it whipped across her face.

“Keo, we need more power or we’re dead!”

Keo’s deep black eyes looked huge as he crawled to the controls and hooked his claws into the vehicle.

He flapped his wings as the light on his chest burned bright.

The conveyor leaped forward, throwing Ethel back in her seat, as Qinn crashed against the shield-frame.

Keo let out a long shrill whistle as he frantically beat his wings.

Ethel prayed the little guy would pull through as she pumped the throttle gears and launched the conveyor over the top of one of the dunes.

They crashed through a fence, then barreled into the mining complex.

“Left,” Qinn ordered. “They’re shutting down the bunker, hurry!”

Ethel spun the treads, turning them swiftly toward the large doors of a domed building. She raced toward the opening as the dark promise of safety slowly closed off. The thick doors crept closer, squeezing their only hope for survival to a narrow slit.

“Hold on!” she shouted.

Keo screamed.

She hit the thrusters.

They crashed through the doors as people dove out of their way. Ethel yanked back on the brakes with all her strength while the conveyor spun out and crashed into a large mineral silo.

The fine red dust of traliine ore crashed over the vehicle, as Ethel slumped over the controls.

She shook off her pain and panic enough to grab Keo’s delicate body in one hand and tenderly extract his claws from the controls.

“Come on, little guy,” she urged. His head flopped back, while his white eyelids closed over his soft dark eyes. “Don’t give up on me, buddy.”

Her fear choked her as she stroked the feathers near the edge of his breast-plate.

“Give him to me,” Qinn insisted. He held out his hand.

Ethel looked up at his cold silver eyes. Aside from dust darkening his skin and the blood seeping out of a cut in his temple, he looked completely unaffected by their situation.

Ethel reluctantly placed her precious bird into Qinn’s palm. The man was a stranger. She didn’t even know what he did, or if he could help. What else was she going to do? She just hoped it wasn’t too late.

The storm raged outside, battering the shelter as explosions from the attack reverberated within the thick walls of the dome. Qinn cradled Keo close to his stomach as he pushed open the door to the conveyor. Ethel had to crawl over the seats to his side to get out. Her side was half buried in the pile of refined mineral.

A crowd had gathered. Ethel barely spared the dark-skinned miners a glance as she followed Qinn.

“Qinn, you survived,” one of the miners called. He waved off the woman as he placed Keo on an overturned crate. Then he took out a discharger from a holster under his arm and turned the dial.

“What are you doing?” Ethel demanded as she ran toward him. Before she could reach him, he aimed and shot her bird.

“No!” she screamed. “You shot him.” She flew at him in her rage. “You pankar! You shot him!”

She planted her feet, drew back her fist and punched him in the face. Pain lanced through her hand as he stumbled backward. Suddenly, what felt like twenty hands grabbed her, pulling her back. She’d kill him.

Qinn shook his head and glared at her. “So much for doing you a favor,” he snarled, then touched a dirty knuckle to his split lip.

“I didn’t want you to put him out of his misery.” Maybe he should just shoot her too.

“Awk…” A garbled little squawk came from the crate.

“Keo?” Ethel pulled away from the miners and almost fell as she stumbled toward the crate. Keo rolled over on his stomach and blinked his sleepy eyes. He made his soft keening call, the one he used when he snuggled with her and acted like a chick.

She scooped him up, and held him close under her chin.

“You’re welcome,” Qinn grumbled rubbing his jaw. “What’s going on with the attack?” he asked one of the miners.

“They’re trying to take out the cannons. It’ll leave us defenseless once the storm lets up. What are we going to do?” The woman removed her helmet, revealing a mass of tangled dark curls. She wiped a hand over her brow. “We don’t have enough food or water in the bunker for a long siege.”

“Where’s L2?” he asked.

The miner rolled her eyes. “She got drunk with half the crew from shaft-grid five. Who’s the girl?”

“Frances meet…” he paused. “I’m sorry, what was your name again?”

“Ethel.” She offered the miner a hand, but the woman refused to take it.

“I caught her trying to steal my conveyor out in the desert.” Qinn smiled at her, but the other miners in the room crossed their thick arms over their chests.

“You want us to confine her for you?” Frances asked.

“Nah, not yet.”

Ethel gave Qinn a wary look as he leaned up against the back end of the conveyor.

“Let’s see if she can make herself useful.” He watched her with an appraising look while Frances’s pouty mouth tipped down into a frown.

“We have to get an emergency signal through to the IFP, or we’re dead. If they take out the cannons, we’re rats in a hole. We need someone on the outside. Someone with firepower.” Frances replaced her helmet.

“Who’s out there?” Ethel asked.

“The Peva,” Qinn answered. “There’s a dispute over who has the rights to mine the shale field below us. I uncovered some ruins and a couple of relics that allowed the Bavoran people here to establish a claim on this land. The Peva have been trying to take it back by force ever since. We need to contact reinforcements from the city of Angar, before the Peva level this place.”

Ethel felt a sinking feeling slide through her spine. She knew someone with firepower, and he was probably already on his way. What was she thinking? She couldn’t contact Devar. She’d be at his mercy.

If they didn’t make it through this attack, she’d be dead.

“Look, thanks for saving Keo,” she offered. “I think there might be a way out of this.”

Ethel took a deep breath and pulled her twin braids forward. Her dark curly hair clung to her damp neck as she ran through what she’d learned about programming protocols for Ellaic-based defense systems.

“Gather all the miners into this room. We’re going to set an ambush but we don’t have much time. I need someone capable of getting me into the base code for the security systems. I’ve got to hack the defense grid.” She tucked Keo into a fold of her coat and placed her hands on her hips.

Qinn smiled and shook his head. “You’ve got to be insane. Who do you think you are?”

She stood straighter. It wasn’t the first time a man had underestimated her because of her round face and wide-eyes. She might look sweet and innocent: she was anything but.

“I am Captain Ethel Hibis Tel-Arnath of the Mooran. Now are we going to destroy these bloodsuckers, or die here?”

A stillness settled over the room.

“The Captain Tel-Arnath?” Frances asked. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“A convenient exaggeration.” She shrugged. “Who’s with me?”

The confused miners gathered together in a group. Thankfully her mother’s ruthless reputation worked. Now she had to get them to move, quickly.

Qinn looked at her with sharp suspicion darkening his bright eyes. He dusted off his hat and settled it on his head once more. Shots rained down on the shelter, shaking the dome around them. They didn’t have much time, or they wouldn’t be able to save the cannons.

A clamor started in a stairwell that led down into the underground tunnels. An android with too-smooth synth-skin and short cropped silver hair stumbled then righted itself.

Crap, there was nothing more annoying than a drunk android. She was probably their best bet for hacking into the defense system.

“You,” she ordered. “Come with me. Frances, arm as many people as you can. They’ll break in here with droids, which means we have about thirty minutes to set up a disruption shield. Qinn, take a group of miners and find masks for everyone, then load as much of the processed ore into the exchanger as you can. We’ll see if we can make it blow.”

“That will bring down the roof,” he protested.

“Exactly. Let’s hope we don’t have to go that far.”

“Android,” she called. “Hurry up.”

“My name is L2,” her metallic voice slurred.

“Fine, just get up here, now.”

She climbed up a grated metal staircase into a control room, then tried to find the main control terminal. L2 followed her up, then flopped into one of the operator’s floating chairs. She glided over to Ethel just as she yanked an access panel off the console.

She stared at the tumble of wires. It had been a long time since she manually hacked a system. L2 spun in lazy circles as her head flopped from side to side.

“Access the security grid, now,” Ethel ordered. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to hack the android too.

She stared at the string of code scrolling across the read-out. This would be tricky.

Ethel focused all her attention on morphing the string of coded gibberish into a single string of coherent nastiness as she blended it seamlessly into the security protocols. She had to pick up one of the nav-pings of the enemy ships, so she could enter into their command codes.

Her mother had more straight-forward and bloodier means of taking out the trash, she preferred stealth. Her dear mother had called her Mouse, intending it to be an insult. Ethel liked the name. She chewed holes in corners where no one ever looked, then sneaked in and took what she needed to survive. Mice were survivors.

Ethel tried to ignore the little voice of doubt that reminded her that mice were the bottom of the food chain on nearly every planet.

Code, concentrate on the code.

Her fingers flew through command sequences, a seamless extension of her rapid-fire thoughts. She’d done this before. It turned out well, not so much for Devar, but she’d escaped, and that’s all that mattered.

Her eyes caught the flash of a nav-ping.

“Got ya,” she whispered under her breath as Keo snuggled closer to her heart. She’d have to do this one on her own. She wasn’t plugging her bird into anything else until she was sure he was okay. She’d have to rely on her mind and what was left of the viral signature in her personal com from when she’d infected Devar’s ship.

She felt a disconcerting heat to her left, and nearly jumped out of her skin as Qinn’s roughened hand eased down onto the console. He leaned forward, inspecting the screen, even as the warmth from his chest seeped into the bit of exposed skin at the back of her neck. She could practically feel the rough stubble of his jaw as he lowered his face next to hers. She kept her eyes on the screen.

“The miners are armed and I’ve set them up in flanking rows along route-C. It will give them the best shot, and funnel the Peva into a smaller space for us,” he murmured right next to her ear.

She tried to stifle an unsettling shiver.

“You’re not old enough to be Tel-Arnath,” he accused.

Ethel’s gut dropped into her boots. “I’m well preserved.”

“I’m an archeologist, I know well-preserved.” He didn’t bother to look at her, but the reflection of his ice-like eyes skewered her from the screen. “You’re a liar.”

“You’ve said as much.” She pushed away from him and kicked the android’s foot. “L2, replicate this code into the security grid subset 0157-F.R code path 40976247.”

The android seemed to sober up with the input of a coding command. She swung around and plugged her hands into the security grid.

“I’m going to find out what you’re hiding, Ethel.”

She glared at him. Men! They were about to get blasted out of the stinking desert, and he just had to puff his chest out and thump it a few times.

“This isn’t a good time for me.”

He chuckled. “Whatever you say, captain.”

She thought about smacking him one. The first time had been strangely satisfying, but there were more pressing matters at hand before they all died. She had to figure out how to initiate her virus. She could use her com, but that would open up the signal to Devar, or she could risk her life and manually transfer the viral strain through the conduit to the amplifiers in the shields. The only other way to do it was to send someone into the storm in the conveyor.

Unfortunately, all three of those options could cost her her life.

The story continues in Part Two. Just click here!