Dark Space: Origin (45 page)

Angel heard the explosions rumbling in the distance and felt the subtle vibrations of cannons and beams firing back at whatever was shooting them. She stood gazing out the small viewport in her room at the chaos of blooming explosions and flashing lasers. The only ship she could see clearly was one of Brondi’s baron-class cruisers flying in formation alongside the
Valiant.
Boxy and rectangular, it looked like a smaller, truncated version of a venture-class. As she watched, that cruiser got hit by a flurry of bright purple projectiles. Explosions roared across its hull, and then it flew apart in a spectacular burst of light.

She gasped and turned away from the glare, shielding her eyes with her hands. When she opened her eyes once more, they darted around her room—from bed to bathroom and back again. The walls were too close. She imagined what would happen if some jagged piece of debris slammed into her viewport and shattered the transpiranium. Would she be sucked out into space or get stuck halfway in and halfway out? Would the force be enough to crush all of her bones and force her through that tiny hole?

Angel shuddered with those thoughts. She didn’t want to find out. Brondi had confined her to this room because he thought it would keep her safe, but that wasn’t true anymore.

She had to get out.

Angel went straight up to the door and began banging on it with both hands. “Let me out!” she screamed. A moment later the door opened, and a short, pudgy man poked his head in. He wore a leering grin that Angel was all too familiar with.

“Hoi, there . . . what’s the matter, girlie?”

“I need to get out,” she said.

“Just gotta scratch that itch, is it?”

“It’s not safe in here.”

“Tell ya what. You do somethin’ for me and I’ll see what I can do for you.”

Angel smiled demurely at the man, giving the offer some thought. She couldn’t afford to stay in her quarters any longer. The whole point was to get out. If that was the price she had to pay . . . but he was such an ugly man—with a lumpy face and crooked yellow teeth. An odd light shone in his small, squinty eyes, and she realized that he could be dangerous if she gave him what he wanted.

She turned to the other guard and noticed that he looked at her with a hesitant, almost apologetic smile. Here was a shy man, inexperienced with women.

“What would you like me to do for you?” she asked, turning back to the first.

“You got a perty mouth. Maybe ya can show me what ya do with it.”

“Tagard, you know what Brondi said. . . .” the other guard warned.

“Shut the frek up, Dofan. She’s not gonna tell, are ya, girlie?”

Angel shook her head. “Our little secret,” she said.

“Besides, you heard what’s goin’ on out there,” squinty eyes said. “We’re all goin’ to the nethers anyway. Question is, how’d ya rather go? Ima go with a smile on
my
face.”

“Mmmm, you’re a very bad boy,” Angel purred.

“You have no idea . . .” he said, stepping inside her quarters.

Alara didn’t back away, and when he grabbed her roughly by the wrists, she didn’t resist. Brondi had taught his playgirls how to handle the dangerous ones. Alara nodded to the bed. “Why don’t you go lie down, soldier boy,” she said.

Tagard grinned nastily at her. “Kavaar, you’re a dirty little sclut!” He chuckled softly. “I jus’ knew it.” He did as she asked and she followed him there, already unbuttoning her blouse. She began to dance lithely as she undressed, giving him a proper tease. He watched from the bed, mesmerized as she drew near. When she reached the bed, now dressed only in tight-fitting pants and bra, she climbed on top of him and leaned down close to his face to tantalize him with her cleavage. The scent of her warm breath momentarily lulled him, while her hands strayed down to his waist to fumble with his gun belt. The door
swished
shut, and they both turned to look. “I guess he didn’t want to join us . . .” she said in a sultry whisper, pretending to be distracted by the noise.

“That’s his problem,” Tagard said, watching the door with a thoughtful frown. Maybe he was worried that his buddy had gone to report him.

Whatever the case, Angel turned back to him with a smile, and said, “Now it’s your problem.” Her hand came up from his belt holding his sidearm.

“The frek! I’m gonna—”

She shot him in the face before he could say another word. His body convulsed and his limbs jittered. Angel frowned, thinking it was unfortunate that the man had his weapon set to stun. She didn’t mind her job and she didn’t usually hate her clients, but some men brought out another side of her. If they wanted to hurt her, she’d hurt them first.
Guess you were just a lucky skriff, hoi?
Alara thought.

Angel climbed off the unconscious guard and hurried back to the door. This time as she banged on it, she affected a tortured wail. “Help me! Ahh! He’s going to kill me!” The other man had already shown his softer side by trying to dissuade his friend from taking advantage of her, so she wasn’t surprised when he came rushing in to save the day. She shot him, too, but this time she was glad the pistol was set to stun. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she stepped over him. “I might have enjoyed working with
you
, but there’s no time for that now.”

She had to get to the bridge and find Brondi. It had to be safer there than where she was now, and if not, at least she wouldn’t die alone. She’d die standing beside the only father she’d ever known.

*  *  *

Brondi stood at the captain’s table, watching the
Valiant’s
shields drop one percentile at a time. The deck shuddered underfoot. Lights periodically dimmed as the carrier fired her main beam cannons at nearby Sythian ships, cracking them open with just one or two shots. Brondi looked up and out over the mighty top side of the carrier to see literally hundreds of Sythian missiles impacting one after another in tiny flares of light. They weren’t even halfway through the enemy formation and their shields were already down to 69%. They stood a good chance of escaping, but it would be very close. The admiral’s ship, on the other hand, was down below 50% shields. Granted, the
Tauron
had started out with partially depleted shields in the first place, but their chances of escape were slim to doubtful. Ordinarily Brondi would have been happy about that, but Hoff was the only one who knew where they could go after this. Without the admiral and his enclave, Brondi and his men would be doomed to wander Sythian space until they were found and obliterated by another Sythian armada.

“Incoming message from the
Tauron!”
Brondi heard his comms officer say.

“Patch it through,” Brondi replied.
Speak of the skriff,
he thought.

A holo of Hoff’s age-lined face appeared overlaid on the main viewport. He looked grim, but his gray eyes burned with fire. “Brondi.”

“Admiral, make it quick please. Your head is blocking my view.”

“Shut up and listen, Brondi. I’ve just discovered something critical about the enemy formation.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“I can’t be sure the Sythians aren’t listening to this channel right now, so I need you to trust me.”

“With what?”

“Follow us, and stand by for further orders.”

Brondi couldn’t help the laughter which bubbled from his lips. “You want me to follow you and take
your
orders without asking any questions? You really are an old skriff. Forget it. We’re almost clear. See you at the rendezvous . . . if you make it, that is.”

“Brondi! We have a chance of winning this fight!”

“Yea, like you thought you were going to beat me? You seem prone to delusional thinking, admiral.”

Brondi watched with a gaping smile as Hoff’s face turned a bright shade of red.

“I had a cloaked ship bursting with sentinels, just waiting to slip on board the
Valiant
. You would have lost, Brondi!”

“That
does
sound like a potent weapon. Of course, it’s convenient that your story is impossible to prove. Well, if you do have a cloaked ship around here somewhere, maybe you should ask
them
to follow you blindly into battle. I’m sure they won’t mind. Best of luck, skriffo.” Brondi gave a mocking salute and killed the comm feed. A moment later he saw the admiral’s battleship change course, peeling away from the
Valiant
.

Good riddance,
he thought. “Comms! Have our ships spread out to fill the gap along our port side. We’re parting ways with the admiral. If he wants to go off on his own and get himself killed, then he’s welcome to do so, but we’re not following him to the netherworld just yet.”

“Yes, sir.”

Brondi turned back to the grid and watched as Hoff’s battleship now came under fire from all sides. Its shields began dropping fast.
That’s what you get
, he thought.

“Sir!” Brondi looked up to see who had addressed him. The voice was familiar. He turned to see Sergeant Gibbs from his security detail come striding down the gangway. “We have a visitor outside the bridge,” Gibbs said. “It’s Angel. She wants to see you.”

“She got out?”

Gibbs nodded. “Do you want me to take her back to her quarters, sir?”

There was an eager gleam in the sergeant’s eyes which told Brondi exactly what would happen if he sent Gibbs and Alara back alone. “No,” he decided. “Bring her in.”

“Yes, sir.”

If we do manage to escape,
Brondi thought.
I could use the distraction of some female companionship myself.
He’d never been very good at sharing.

*  *  *

Ethan watched as his son followed the
Tauron
on a new heading, breaking off from Brondi’s fleet. “What’s going on?” he asked. 

Atton shook his head. “They’re splitting up.”

“Why would they do that?” Hoff asked, leaning forward against his seat restraints to peer at the star map over Atton’s shoulder.