Page 26 of Star Champion

“Aye. Don’t make Arran send me back for ya, Aves. I won’t be so lenient next time.” Red Beard turned to her next. “I’ll be betting on you this Eighthnight, Sea Kestrel. I expect to win like always.”

People scattered as the trio returned to their truck and drove off.

Jemm retrieved her sens-sword and ran to Nico. Blood stained his best sweater, the one he had chosen to impress the off-worlders tonight, and his collar was torn. More mending work for Ma. On his forehead was an ugly lump. Blotches under his eyes were already turning purple. “It’s broken,” she murmured and touched her towel to his swollen bloody nose.

“It ain’t the first time.” Grunting, he used the wall next to them to keep his balance as he straightened. “On the bright side, no cracked ribs. Arran, that stinking cog. Sending his goon-cogs to rough me up. Talk about nerve!”

She swallowed, trying to work moisture into her mouth, her voice measured despite her entire body shaking with adrenaline. “What are we gonna do, Nico? Arran means to control us.”

“He can’t stop me with a busted nose and a few sore ribs.”

“He’ll have ya killed and me shipped off to the prison league.”

Nico gave a pained laugh. “Jemm. This is street bajha. This kind of thing, it happens all the time. It’s only posturing. Part of the game.”

“Some game.” But this was Nico’s world, one she had never fully understood. It was dangerous and volatile and why she had to get him out of here before it caught up to him. “What’s Ore’s Head? A club?”

“Aye. I leased it.”

At her first attempt to reply, no sound came out. “You leased a club.Leased.”

“I’m leasing to own, actually.”

“By the dome,” Jemm croaked. “And you were meaning to tell me when?”

“It makes better sense than renting since I’m building my own team of players. They need somewhere to practice. How Arran found out already, I’ve no idea.”

“You’re supposed to be managing our money.”

“I am! Eventually, I’ll own that club. I’ll use the profits to buy more clubs. I’ll be more powerful than Migel Arran one day.”

She could not meet his animated eyes. The harder she worked to get her dreamer of a brother off-world, the harder he seemed to try to stay here. She glanced toward the docks. “They’re probably wondering where we are.”

“You go on alone, Jemm. We’ll meet here later and I’ll walk ya home.”

“You’re coming with me.”

“No, I ain’t. Go on. You can handle anything they’ll throw at ya.”

“I know that, but—”

He spread his hands. “How’s it gonna look, you showing with me like this?”

The air went out of her in a weary sigh. He was right. The sight of him beaten up would not impress the off-worlders. She used the corner of the soiled towel to wipe away a smear of blood from his cheek. “You’re a good manager, Nico. I’ve not said it enough.”

“You’ve not said it at all,” he corrected with a crooked grin.

“I should have. I wouldn’t have made it this far without your help. Whatever happens tonight, know that any failures on my part weren’t because of you.”

“Ah, Jemm. You won’t need me there to convince them you’re the champ they’ve been waiting for. Mark my words.”

The look they exchanged held so much hope, but it was tempered with the knowledge that most of the time on Barésh dreams never reached orbital velocity.

Then Nico turned away to light up a vape, and Jemm resumed the walk to the docks as if the terrible interruption had not happened, as if prison leagues and clubs leased with Button’s lunch money had not been discussed. All of it had to be buried. Only the next few hours mattered.

Where the dome curved to the ground was a portal wide enough for the road to pass through and tall enough to accommodate large trucks. Through the opening blew a steady breeze of cool, dry air, telling of a difference in air pressure between the city and the docks beyond. The port proper was a hubbub of trucks uploading supplies and unloading ore, but as she left the busy area behind, the passage narrowed into a transparent tunnel that branched off into other tubes, each with starships clamped on to their ends like kits suckling on a teat.

The tubes were for travelers and tradesmen to transition from Barésh’s habitation dome to the vessels that would transport them anywhere they wanted in the known galaxy. Her eager steps carried her into a land of giants. The great ships gleamed in the starlight and floodlights, their massive landing truncheons firmly planted on the gritty surface outside. Other craft hovered in stationary orbits far overhead, requiring shuttles to reach them.

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