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“Noted, Sen Sidik,” I said. “Just so we’re clear, know that the same applies to you.”
His chuckle resonated behind me as I stepped out of the vehicle.
“I hope we do meet again, little Veredian,” Doruk said. “I will enjoy you.”
Looking over my shoulder, I smirked at him. “No, Sen Sidik.Iwill enjoyyouon your knees, like a good boy, receiving the punishment you more than deserve.”
Doruk burst out laughing, an undefinable glimmer in his eyes.
“Arrogant, just like your mother,” he said, shaking his head. The passenger door closed and, without sparing me another look, he turned the vehicle around and left.
A heavy weight lifted off my shoulders as he faded from view. I walked up the stairs to the two-story mansion, surrounded by a landscaped garden. I’d never quite understood why my father had acquired this specific house. Isolated on a large parcel of land, built in all metal and glass, it looked as cold as it was sleek with curved angles and wall-to-ceiling windows. Inside felt just as clinical with an overabundance of white and light grey. At least it made the rooms appear even more bright and spacious than they already were. I had visited this house once as a child. My father had explained that an interior decorator had taken care of furnishing it. I had realized then that he only owned it to have a place to stay during his rare visits to Guldar, but he didn’t consider this place his home. Thank the Goddess, as I wouldn’t shed a tear if—when—it got seized once I left.
With the clock ticking, I hurried out of my ridiculous, traditional, Guldan dress. I loved dressing sexy and showing a bit of skin, but not when my body was exposed due to the laws of men.
The amount of work that awaited me was daunting. But thankfully, I had arrived a few days ago and had started sorting through my brother’s files in my father’s former office. Varrek had made it his own since our father’s passing.
After packing all the items and mementos I intended to bring with me, I settled down at Varrek’s desk and began downloading and transferring every single file on record.
Chapter 2
Mercy
The chiming sound of the perimeter alarm going off on my armband startled me. I muttered a curse word at the unwelcomed intrusion and secured the crate I’d been placing inside my personal shuttle’s hold. Turning on the surveillance monitors inside the shuttle bay, I quickly scanned the various camera feeds. To my relief, there only appeared to be two men headed for one of the side entrances of the house. By the flickering of the images, they had activated a scrambler that hadn’t yet managed to break through Varrek’s rotating frequencies. Despite the house’s isolation and the added bonus of the cover of night, it made sense for the intruders to seek the most inconspicuous location to hack the locks and break into the house.
Had they delayed ten more minutes, they’d be staring at the fading lights of my shuttle taking off. I pondered for a minute whether or not to confront them. They wore civilian clothes and didn’t appear armed, although they probably had a concealed weapon of some kind. If Doruk had sent them, he’d know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was alone in the house. Since he didn’t know the extent of my combat skills, he’d likely assume me to be easy prey. Yet, I doubted he was behind it. He’d given me until morning, and I trusted he’d keep his word.
That left Belduk.
Seeing me come alone to his office this morning likely tipped him that I had no protector in residence. I believed him greedy enough to have me abducted. He had the means to make my wealth disappear into his own coffers without a trace, and me along with it. While confident in my ability to take down those two men, fighting them struck me as an unnecessary risk. They could have backup beyond my detectors’ range. Worse, they could have some crazy new Guldan tech that I couldn’t fend off, even with all the Tuurean enhancements my ship could boast, courtesy of my baby sister.
Between Doruk molesting me and Belduk’s nonsense, I would have welcomed the opportunity to vent today’s frustration. But it would have to wait for another day. I cursed again, remembering the bag I hadn’t brought down yet from my bedroom. A quick glance at the monitor indicated the men closing in on one of the side doors. In the time it would take them to hack through the lock, I could run up to fetch the bag, get back down, and take off. But that also felt like too great a risk. The bag contained nothing of sentimental value; just some clothes, toiletries, and a few womanly comforts.
Hopping inside the shuttle, I fired up the engine and opened the shuttle bay door. The short runway outside, and flood lights alongside it, lit up. Although the intruders wouldn’t have heard the door opening, the lights would be a dead giveaway. By now, they were likely racing to the entrance to see what was going on.
I shot out of the shuttle bay and launched a wide range scan. Through the window, I watched the two men running to the entrance of the house, looking at me. Even though they couldn’t see me, I waved mockingly at them. They raced towards their personal shuttle hidden behind the tall bushes a short distance from the estate. To my relief, the scanner didn’t pick up any other vessels nearby. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t be coming.
As I raced upwards to clear Guldar’s atmosphere, my radar displayed up the two men’s shuttle in pursuit. Like me, they were flying right below the speed limit that would trigger an inquiry from ground control. I couldn’t afford to draw their attention. A single female, Free Woman or not, had no business leaving the planet without supervision. Once I left Guldar’s atmosphere, I’d be free to push my shuttle to its highest speed. With my current head start, those bastards would never catch me.
And then a second vessel showed up on my radar, this one moving on an intercept course. Calculating our trajectories, by the time I cleared Guldar’s restricted speed zone, they’d be right on top of me. They’d likely use a tractor beam to immobilize me, which would make my job of dispatching them easier. But I needed to prepare in case they tried to hit me with an EMP blast to fry my ship’s systems and leave me dead in the water.
I diverted all non-essential power to my shields and maintained a steady course. The ship’s com beeped with an incoming hail from the intruders’ shuttle. I ignored it. Minutes later, Guldar’s shimmering night sky gave way to the infinite, starry darkness of space. No sooner did we clear the restricted zone than the second ship fired its tractor beam at me. My shuttle jerked under the pull which forced it into a quick stop.
I smiled.
“Time for you bastards to discover why you shouldn’t mess with a Veredian.”
As much as I wanted to play with those sons of a krillik, I needed to disable this second ship before the would-be-intruders’ shuttle caught up to us. I fired my own tractor beam at them, not to pull their ship, but because mine would release a series of nanobots specially encoded with a single command: shutdown any non-vital system. As expected, within seconds of their vessel getting hit by my tractor beam, its lights began to flicker as its systems all became disabled.
That was how I had disabled my brother’s ship when I’d captured him a few weeks ago.
The intruders’ ship finally caught up to us. They didn’t use their beam on me. When I tried to use mine on them, their shield prevented my nanobots from reaching their systems. Instead of the EMP blast I’d expected, they fired photon torpedoes at me.
What the fuck?
Were they actually trying to kill me? Despite getting brutally rocked by the impact, my shields absorbed the damage. But I wouldn’t wait to see how much they’d be willing to throw at me. While charging my EMP, I executed some evasive maneuvers to dodge their other shots. I had no problem killing. Under different circumstances, I would have blown up their asses after the first shot. However, taking a Guldan life in Guldan space would trigger an investigation I didn’t need. The less they knew about me, the better.
My EMP chimed, indicating a full charge. Taking aim, I fired a first shot to take out their shield, and then immediately fired a second one to fry their systems. Their distress beacon launching was all the confirmation I needed that they couldn’t pursue. Selecting the preset course to the Belevar space station, I initiated the warp jump to get out of here.
