Page 17 of Written in the Stars

FIRST CONTRACT: THE LIFE AND LOVES OF ANDAM SY, MERCENARY

The dark underbelly of Talbrek Station was even worse than I’d imagined it. Machinery rattled in the walls, the air tasted of burning plastic, and perhaps a quarter of the lights worked.

A perfect place to hide, if you could stomach it. I snuck through the shadows, avoiding the rare patches of light and carefully watching for sentries.

Every time I was sure no one might overhear, I checked in with Megan, reassuring her and making sure she was okay. We never spoke long, and only in hushed tones. If anyone overheard me, things would get ugly fast.

Thus it was a surprise when my comm vibrated. Only Megan had access, and she wouldn’t risk distracting me by calling unless it was important. Something had to be wrong, badly wrong. With a sinking feeling, I moved into the deepest shadows before answering.

“What is wrong, Megan?”

A moment of silence followed before she replied in a rush. “Don’t come back, Drask—it’s a trap.”

The sound of meat hitting meat echoed sharply through the comm channel. Megan cried out, then fell silent. Another voice replaced hers.

“Hello, Drask. I apologize for the deception, and I hope you can look past it to make a mutually profitable arrangement. After all, you are on your way to kill me right now.”

A’Lun. It had to be him. How he’d learned of the plan was a problem for later, but whoever had warned him would answer to me.

“You have hurt my Megan, so there will be no peace between us.” I said, wishing I could cross the distance between us instantly. “If you hurt her again, your death will be slow and painful. Leave her and go.”

A long sigh echoed through the comms. “I was afraid you would take it that way. Well, it’s no matter, and perhaps you will be more reasonable in the future.

“At this moment, though, I will have to use a more heavy-handed approach. You care about this human? There is only one way you can save her. Bring me the head of the Stellar Kings’ boss, and I will let you both go free.”

I ground my teeth, pushing down rage that wouldn’t help anyone. “And if I fail?”

“I am a reasonable man,” A’Lun said, his smugness washing through the radio waves. It was an effort not to laugh bitterly. “If you die in the attempt, your human goes free. But if both you and he live, Megan will not. Do you require a demonstration of my resolve, or will you spare us all that necessity?”

“Don’t harm her,” I snarled. “If you hurt her, there is nothing in the galaxy that will stop me taking revenge.”

“I am glad we understand each other. You have until third shift to hold up your end of this agreement and meet us at Written in the Stars.”

* * *

Rage consumed me,and I could not keep it in. Disconnecting the comm, I slammed a punch into the wall. The steel bent under my assault, and the pain of bloody knuckles gave me something to focus on. There was no time to waste on a tantrum. With a snarled series of curses, I crept back the way I’d come, trying to come up with a plan. It wasn’t easy.

I had no real loyalty to the Stellar Kings, but I likewise didn’t trust the Black Hole Gang to keep up their end of the bargain. But they had Megan and saving her was my most important priority. I needed to at least appear to be following A’Lun’s orders.

On the other hand, one of them had struck Megan. At a bare minimum, I would take that man’s hand. He should count himself lucky if that’s all he lost.

The Black Hole Gang weren’t the only inhabitants of this dying level. On my way down, I’d stayed away from signs of life. Now, though, I looked closer. It was a chance to see what life under the Black Hole’s protection was like.

It wasn’t encouraging. The squalid shanties and improvised tents were bad enough, but the direct signs of the gang’s presence made things worse. I saw people hung from chains, their crimes spray-painted on the walls beside them. ‘Disobeyed the Black Hole’ was a common one. ‘Disrespect’ another.

These were the poorest inhabitants of Talbrek Station, those who couldn’t afford to live anywhere else. They’d ended up here, in the bowels of the station, and managed to survive. Now, a gang had taken up residence and taken what little freedom they’d scraped together.

There isn’t much to be squeezed from these people, but the gang is taking every drop.I shivered, heart aflame with rage. They had taken over this place that no other gang would touch and drained it dry to fund their expansion. It was a monstrous tactic, one that would ruin the people down here, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Not yet, anyway. An idea tickled at the back of my mind, but I had no time for it now.

The spiral walkway carried me upward through a cloud of holographic smoke and light. I paid no attention to the adverts this time, all my focus on coming up with a solution that would leave me and Megan alive and whole. A’Lun hadn’t given me much time to work with, and everything about his gang led me to distrust his promises.

Absent any other direction to go, I found my feet taking me back toward Written in the Stars while I thought. I didn’t risk going down the corridor to the shop itself, though. I paused at the corner to peek down at my Megan’s prison. At least, I hoped she was imprisoned there, and not entombed.

Looking at the heavy, shuttered door, I realized I would not take a step away from Megan. I would not,couldnot, leave her in danger one heartbeat longer than absolutely necessary.

“You’re Megan’s new friend, right?”

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