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I’ll admit I feel bad keeping that part from her. I wish I could trust her with my secret, but I don’t trustanyone. There’s just too much at stake. My mother is the only other person in this entire world who knows I’m not a full-blooded human.
Out the window of the rec room I can see the starry lines of hyperspace streaking past. It’s the only view I’ll have until we reach our destination, underscoring the weirdness of my current assignment. Everything about this trip has been under heightened security. Under normal circumstances, a transport ship carries a full complement of prisoners, with every cell full. This time we onlyhave one prisoner, and we’ve been assigned two extra guards from UPE Security. The route we’re taking to the corrections facility has been chosen at random, and we’re flying at hyperspeed the entire time, without a break. Someone has also taken care to ensure that at every point on our flight path, we’re still within range of backup should we need it.
Apparently someone high up in the UPEreallywants to make sure that Turan Butarza arrives safely for his televised execution.
As I’m munching on an after-dinner cookie, something occurs to me: neither of the UPE Security guys assigned to this voyage have showed up to eat dinner. Usually I see those smug assholes lounging around in the rec room every chance they get.
This strikes me as suspicious. Especially since Ben is the one on guard duty, and I’ve noticed that both he and the two Security guys seem to have developed a mean streak when it comes to thisparticularprisoner.
So with a sigh, I wipe up my cookie crumbs and head down to the prison deck to reassure myself that my suspicions are incorrect.
Unfortunately, they’re not.
“Not so tough now, are you, you fucking shim,” I hear a voice sneer as I reach the bottom of the steps.
I wince.Shimis an extremely offensive slur for a Voorian. As I turn the corner, I see Ben standing along with the two security guys, Brandon and Chad. They’re all circled around Turan, and as I get closer, I can see that his tranquilizer dose is turned all the way down. His eyes are open, his blank expression a mix of resilience, and… Could that be fear? Helplessness?
It’s the helplessness in his eyes that upsets me the most. Whatever these pricks have been doing to him, it stopsnow. That isnothow we treat prisoners on this ship.
“What the fuck are you guys doing?” I snarl, putting as much authority into my voice as I can muster. They all turn. I can see that Brandon and Chad are both holding zapsticks, which are onlysupposed to be allowed out of the armory in the event of a prison riot.
“Nothing,” says Brandon, his tone dismissive. “Go back to bed.”
“Like hell I will. Get away from the prisoner.”
“Do you really have to be such a bitch?” says Chad, rolling his eyes. “We’re just having a little fun.”
“Apparently, I do. As head of the guard on this ship, I’m ordering both of you to get the fuck off my prison deck.” I focus my attention now on Ben and address him by his last name: “Hendrix, consider yourself suspended from duty until further notice, and your rec privileges revoked. And I’m going to recommend to Captain Dithers that you be court-martialed.”
He actually has the gall to look surprised. “Seriously, Aspen? Head of the guard isn’t even a real rank. You’re not even an officer.”
I glare at him. Maybe it was silly, but I had expected at least some hint of guilt or apology from Ben. We’ve been part of the same crew for a while now, even if he’s never been all that nice to me. This sucks so fucking much. Most of the prison guards I work with already resent taking orders from a woman, and now they have another reason to hate me.
It’s going to be a long road before I get promoted to officer. And an even longer three days in hyperspace until we reach the facility where Turan is set to be executed.
For a moment the three men look defiant, as though they’re considering disobeying me entirely. Then Brandon and Chad share an exasperated look, turn, and start walking up the steps to the bridge without another word. A moment later Ben follows, not making eye contact with me. I keep staring them down until they’re gone from the prison deck.
The moment I’m alone, I let my head fall into my hands in frustration. If anything, I’m lucky the situation played out the way it did. Ben is right that my status as head of the guarddoesn’t actually give me much real authority, and he probably knows thatmy threat of a court-martial was more or less empty. Reporting this incident will accomplish nothing. Nobody with any power in the Imperial bureaucracy gives two shits about prisoners being mistreated. Not as long as the executions happen on time, and the quota for incarcerated workers gets met.
When I look up, I see that Turan is watching me. It’s hard to read his face, but it could almost be possible for me to interpret his expression as gratitude.
I half-smile at him. “Sorry about that, big guy,” I murmur, turning up his tranquilizer dose until his eyelids droop. “I won’t let anything like that happen to you again. Promise.”
Stars streak by outside the window as I walk back up the stairs to the bridge deck. I watch the glowing lines out of the corner of my eye, not really paying attention.
And then the entire spacecraft shakes as our ship grinds to a halt, the lines solidifying into dots all at once. Suddenly we’re at a dead stop in the middle of empty space, with nothing more than twinkling stars visible for light-years in the distance.
This isn’t right. We’re supposed to have another three days of travel ahead of us.
What the fuck just happened?
***
