AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll be okay,” I promise her. “I’m finding new opportunities.”
I hear Kaye’s sniffles, and Frankie’s low voice whispering reassurances as the guards take me away.
CHAPTERTWO
NIKO
There’ssomething comforting about being on a ship where nobody trusts anybody.
You won’t find yourself jumped in any hallways. You won’t be ganged up on if you score big. Because not a single soul on this space trash crew trusts any other person far enough to make a pact towards mutual benefit.
I’ve been on crews where that wasn’t the case. There had been cliques and power structures, systems where you might find yourself the odd one out. I’m not staying anywhere I might get my meal tokens stolen, because there’s no point raiding on an empty stomach. It sucks the rutting joy out of it. But then, I’ve also been on crews where there was no discernable reason as to which ships would be boarded and stripped for all their worth. You know what else takes the taste right out of your rations? Stealing from the beings that don’t deserve to be stolen from.
The Krid Puncherprovides the perfect balance—no unnecessary bonding and no unnecessary brawling. We do our duty to the ship, beat up some space scum, and mind our own business. This is a pirate ship populated by loners, and it suits me just right.
I emerge from my quarters at the false dawn to take my turn monitoring the comm log. I’ve been onThe Krid Puncherfor almost a stan-pass now, and it’s the first time I’ve reached that long on a crew without getting restless for a new situation. There are only a few others on board that have been hanging around as long as I have. It’s a crew characterized by transience. No one asks questions about your past.
It’s an easy morning, and I man the comm log with a hot canister of tea in my hand. I don’t receive a single call for several intervals.
The first mate taps on the window of the comm booth, startling me.
“We’re raiding in fifty,” he says.
I nod, dropping the headset to prepare. It’s been cyles since our last good take, so the crew will be ravenous for this raid. The captain’s rules tend to keep the crew from getting bloody, but there’s always a chance of a fight. I slip on my gloves, tighten my bootstraps, and check that all my favorite weapons are in their proper holsters.
The first mate takes over my position. Raids like this one always have a chance of going sideways, so the risk is reserved for the contract crew members. The captain and his permanent crew will split a percentage of whatever the rest of us manage to plunder from the ship, cargo hold, or drone crate we happen to be infiltrating. When I enter the main hallway toward our cargo hold, there’s already a jam building ahead of me. Everyone wants to be the first inside to have the best chance of finding good loot.
“What is it this time?” I ask a Svarrtix nearby.
“Tried to airwhip an unmarked ship. The target dropped the cargo hold to escape us,” he rasps in reply. “Definitely smugglers of some kind. We’re gonna hit the hold and then split quickly.”
I nod and look away, not wanting to stare at the Svarrtix too long. Their lack of skin and eyes unsettles me.
Captain Kyrrth starts a countdown from the overhead comm system.
“Prepare to raid in thirty taps,” he announces.
Males start muscling for a good starting position as I reach the mouth of our own cargo hold. We’re haphazardly clamped onto the target, but the doors haven’t been opened yet. I hang at the back of the crowd. Most know better than to push or shove me, but I’m not going to join the fray at the front.
The doors to the fresh cargo hold of loot finally shudder open with a metallic groan.
There’s a rush of bodies pushing toward the secured storage shelves and safes that contain the most valuable items. I tend to avoid the conflict that goes along with battling for space in situations like that, opting to scan the floors for less desirable scrap. Shiny bits might attract the most attention and guarantee a nice payday, but often foodstuffs, livestock, raw materials, and various ship parts can be just as good a salvage. I don’t have to waste my precious time fighting someone either. I lazily pick through crates until something catches my eye.
I’m not seeing much today. I see empty cages and cringe. They aren’t in use, but their purpose is clear by the chains dangling within—a slaver’s container for shipping their new captives. I pass by them, spotting a few canisters of fuel in the corner. It’s low-grade stuff but it will be a decent take if I can’t find anything else worth carrying.
I tuck the canisters under my arm and glance around the corner of the last crate, in case something good has been hidden in the back corner of the hold.
“GreatKa,” I whisper.
There’s a female there, an alien species I don’t recognize, splayed on her back as if dead. And at first, I think itisa dead body. It wouldn’t be the first time there were bodies strewn about during a raid. I feel a strange spark in my chest as the twitching of her fingers signals that she is very much alive. I put the fuel down on a nearby crate top to cautiously approach the female. She’s breathing shallowly, perhaps knocked unconscious by the force of our ship air-whipping a grip on this cargo hold.
I crouch down beside her for a closer look, glancing over my shoulder to confirm that I am not being watched by any others.
They haven’t noticed me here, too preoccupied with more exciting loot on the opposite end.
What surprises me most is that this alien shares an astounding similarity to Kar’Kali features. Her skin is smooth and hairless like my own. She has a mane like me, though she has chopped hers into a short, blunt style with even shorter pieces hiding her forehead.
I dare to brush at those pieces to be sure she has no hidden eyes or horns. Her head has no strange protrusions. I gently find her ear and tuck the soft hair behind. This, too, is a match for Kar’Kali kind, curved and defenseless on the side of her head. While there are plenty of species that walk on two legs with thumbs and the same general facial layout, usually they possess other strange features. The Zaledians have their tails and vaguely reptilian features. Malvorans are animalistic, with furry ears, claws, and horns. But this female could be mistaken for my own kind if not for her light brown skin tone.
