Rotek had temporarily abandoned her interrogation. She and the deranged pirate named Karr were locked in a heated, but hushed discussion.

  “They just launched a few shuttles,” Tarl reported, “They flew into the asteroid.”

  “They didn’t tie up your bodies on the bridge?” Eli asked.

  “Na, not seen as a threat. I gotta ask. How did you manage to get in trouble with the Lashua syndicate?”

  “I don’t know. It might have had something to do with that incident in the casino.”

  “Ya, that sounds about right.”

  “Storming one of their ships to take a prisoner from them might be a part of it too.”

  “Nice. Well, it looks like we’re screwed.”

  “We’ve still got a few aces up our sleeves,” Eli reassured him.

  “Do you actually have the dead man switch activated?”

  “No. What if something happened to me? It would screw you two over.”

  “Good point. What now?”

  “Depends on what Gami does.”

  ***

  Gami softly opened up the maintenance panel and placed the used Iredell inside before closing it back up. She was hiding in a little alcove in the section of the ship that housed the life support systems. Her stealth system finally adjusted to the change caused by the bullet hole and the pressure dressing she had placed over it.

  A loud clank which sounded like it came from the power core. She decided that this was worthy of investigation. The bullet wound in her left side throbbed with every step. She paused and checked to make sure that she still wasn’t leaving a blood trail before she pushed on.

  The loud clank had been a toolbox being sat down. A pirate was examining the bomb that had been placed among the countless pipes and cables that ran in and out of the core. This being was green round, held up by four legs. Two arms moved around the eyestalk on the top of its body in a gesture of deep contemplation. The wide mouth that spanned most of one side of its torso smacked, a tell among that species that they were nervous.

  The decision to kill him was based less on a desire to preserve the bomb and more out of the fear that he would accidently set it off and cripple the ship.

  The one that was working on defusing the bomb had protection. Another being was acting as an overwatch. It was humanoid, not too dissimilar to Eli’s people, other than the grey skin and long ears.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Using her dart launcher would be a bit of a risk as it might not kill a member of his species. The poison that she currently had loaded into it was an especially versatile one, instantly fatal to many common species. The issue was that she was unfamiliar with either of their species. A blade to the throat was harder to pull off, but a guaranteed kill. The one that was examining the bomb didn’t have a neck, but it did have that eyestalk.

  The throwing knife became visible when it left her hand. The grey-skinned pirate caught sight of it far too late. The one that was diffusing the bomb turned to see why his crewmate was staggering around with his hands clutched at his throat.

  The dash forward was very painful. Her sword went a little higher than she had wanted. The top third of the eyestalk fell away. It started to let out panicked cries. She brought the sword down vertically and it went silent. It took two more swings to fully bisect it. Not her cleanest kills, not by a long shot. As she hid the bodies, she wondered just how bad her wound was.

  Moving up the stairs, she could hear them clearing the passenger quarters. Encountering one in the corridor, even while invisible, would be fatal. She could also hear one of them trying to break open the weapons lockers in the workshop.

  Peering into the hallway, she watched a pair of pirates enter one of the rooms near the end of the corridor to search it. She slipped into Tarl’s room and shut the stealth field down.

  “Gami just walked in,” Tarl’s primary body said into the com.

  “Sorry. I wasn’t able to speak till now, too risky.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Yes, caught a stray round when I was running to the ship. I’m not sure how bad. I took out the pirate that was trying to diffuse the bomb. What’s our plan?”

  Eli spoke over the com, “It’s only a matter of time before they check on him. Gami, they know that you’re aboard.”

  “Damn, I thought that Pygram saw me, but I wasn’t sure. I was distracted when that stray round hit me. I managed to get behind cover before the invisibility field failed.”

  “They’re holding off on taking Cavalier aboard their ship till you’re delt with.”

  “But at the same time, we need to get aboard.”

  “You think that you can disable it?” Tarl asked.

  “I know that I can,” she said, settling down on the edge of the bed.

  “Don’t overexert yourself!” Tarl warned, “I have no doubt that you could pull it off but not with a bullet in your gut.”

  “In my side,” she corrected, “There aren’t any vital organs there.”

  “Just very useful ones,” Eli joked, “Gami, I trust you to make a judgment call on whether or not you’re up to the task.”

  “Yes. Just give me a minute,” she stammered, pulling a multi-tool out of the pocket of one of Tarl’s jumpsuits. She opened it up, so that it became a pair of pliers. Terrible sounds came out of her helmet’s speaker as she worked it into the hole. After a minute she pulled it back out and put the dressing back into place.

  Gami held the deformed rifle slug up like it was a jewel or hunk of precious metal that she had found.

  “See,” she said, still breathing heavily, “I got it.”

  After saying this, she collapsed backward onto the bed.

  ***

  Rotek and Karr ended their conversation. Karr activated his com, “Pon, how’s it going with that bomb?”

  Tarl’s primary body told Gami about this.

  “Alright,” Gami said, clearly still in a great deal of pain, “timetable’s been moved up. I’ll start picking them off one by one. They won’t kill Eli as long as he’s got the detonator. Securing the bridge won’t help that much because we can’t leave while that ship’s still here.”

  “The cameras!” Tarl said triumphantly, “If you can free my butar on the bridge, I can use the camera feeds to tell you where they are.”

  Karr tried two more times to raise Pon, then he tried the pirate that had been guarding him. Neither answered. He looked at Rotek knowingly.

  Rotek pointed at two of the pirates in the hangar, a pair of dangerous looking humanoids, “You two, come with me. We’re going hunting.”