Page 10 of Stealing Mercury
Yes, they were dangerous. Yes, she knew they could be deadly. But if they were nothing more than animals, why was the arm cradled to her chest uninjured? No blood, no pain, no scratches.
And, because she’d failed—for Diablo, Carnage and Mercury—there would be no food.
Chapter Three
TheDove
EarthAllianceBetaSector
2210.149
Four days into the trip and Samantha was exhausted. Exhausted and lonely. The exhaustion was no surprise. TheDoveshould have a four-person crew. Most of the systems were automated, but systems checks and navigation updates ate up her days. Dinners with Drake and Resler taxed her better nature and did nothing to make her feel any less lonely.
The loneliness was the biggest surprise. She’d told herself she’d become self-sufficient. That she needed no one. Stars, how she’d lied.
Samantha pulled her legs up onto the seat and rested her chin on her knees as she stared at the blackness of space. It filled up the exterior monitor and threatened to spill into the small pilot’s station. The work area to her left, with its empty seat, was completely dark. A small monitor to her right provided the only light, a soft glow as her calculations for the next skip-point crunched by in a scrolling fountain of numbers.
The metal wall that curved up from the monitors to curve over her head was bare. On her father’s ship, the walls had been covered with paintings she’d made as a teenager, her first year traveling with him. She couldn’t help but wonder if Shred had left them or had he scoured the walls, back to the metal. Back on the Reliable, she’d been too busy crawling around the enormous ship’s systems to dwell on the betrayal of her father’s crew—men she’d lived and worked with for years. And then there were the more complicated emotions twisted up with her father’s death.
She tapped the monitor, switching to a view of the cargo-hold. Like every other time she’d checked on them, the strangely beautiful men were all lying on the floors of their cages. Not sleeping, but quiet and calm. They were probably conserving energy. She sighed. These so called “Dogs” had been better passengers than the jerks currently drinking their way through a container of whiskey in the crew commons room.
Samantha zoomed the view of Mercury’s cage. It had been bad enough to know they were going hungry while she ate her fill, but now she was facing the prospect of watching them starve for three damn weeks.
The rendezvous ship should have been waiting at the last skip-point. Ten hours ago. If they didn’t show at the next one, chances were they weren’t coming. And she’d have to make a decision. One that could cost her any hope of holding any job in Alliance territory, let alone the chance to pilot her own freighter.
On the small monitor, Mercury scrambled to his feet. Samantha tapped the screen, returning it to the wide view of the hold. All three men were up and agitated.
Her feet dropped to the floor like the clumsy legs of a marionette, and her spine straightened. She was leaning toward the screen when the back of Resler’s head came into view. She pushed back, unable to think of any good reason a drunken Resler would be in the hold in the middle of the night.
As he moved further into the room, more of him came into view. He held a stun-stick in one hand. She bolted for the nearest hatch and the corridor beyond. Samantha sprinted down toward the cargo-hold. Her heartbeat echoed the heavy thunk of her boots on the decking.
A tiny voice in her head warned that getting between Resler and his prisoners would be dangerous. Would make things harder for her if the rendezvous ship never appeared, and she had to make the hard choice. But all of that was later. Right now, she couldn’t let him hurt them.
Sliding to a stop at the cargo-hold hatch, she jabbed the code into the entry pad, then twisted the handle and shoved. The moment the seal broke, she heard the shouts and snarls and agonized yelps. She shoved open the door. Resler stood at the end of the line of large cages on the far side of the hold.
He shoved a stun-stick into the nearest cage. “That’s right,” he taunted, as Mercury’s body twisted and bowed. “Can’t get away now, you bastard. You need to learn to keep your damn mouth shut when I’m talking.”
In the next cage, Diablo snarled and snapped.
“Hey!” Samantha yelled, but Resler seemed too engrossed in his torture to notice. Bile rose in the back of her throat as another bolt jerked Mercury’s body. His muscles locked in response to the shock, making him helpless to avoid the next attack.
“Hey,” she yelled again as she sprinted across the hold. She closed the last few yards and gave Resler a solid shove. His heavy bulk landed hard against the metal floor, pulling her down with him. He expelled a whoosh of breath as Samantha landed on his ribs.
She fisted the heavy cloth of his shirt and shook him. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Despite the adrenaline giving her an extra boost of strength, she expected him to throw her off, but his hands came up and he latched onto her arms. He leaned up, shoving his face inches from her nose. “You want a piece of me, bitch? I’ll give you what I was saving for Carnage’s whore.”
Spittle and rank air struck her face as solidly as a blow. She jerked away instinctively, but his grip on one arm tightened to bruising force while he released her other arm and took a swing at her.
Pain bloomed in her cheek as her head reeled. She leaned in close, not wanting to give him a chance to put any more power behind his next punch.
His body jerked beneath her, and he was pulled toward the cage. “Fuck!” His eyes widened like the boggle-fish of Celas5.
Taking advantage of the moment, Samantha rolled, jerking free. On hands and knees, she panted. She had to catch her breath. By the time she scrambled to her feet, Resler was thrashing madly.
He wrapped a hand around her ankle, trying to pull himself away from the cage in a belly crawl. “Get him off! Get him off.” Red faced, he screamed.
Samantha’s gaze shot to Mercury. Reaching out of the cage, he gripped one of Resler’s legs. Resler kicked his free leg back toward the bars, but he couldn’t connect with Mercury and his kicks weren’t well-planned enough to get any momentum pushing off the cage. He was doing more thrashing than anything. Mercury jerked Resler back and used the bars to wrench his leg. The sickening snap of bone blurred with the sound of Resler’s high-pitched squeal and, suddenly, her ankle was free. Over the din she heard the slap of feet running toward the hold. She hadn’t bothered to close the door and the noise must have carried through the corridor to Drake. This was only going to get worse.
