My name is Gypsy Peligro. Yes, my parents were horrible weirdos, and no, I’m not a stripper. You see, my last name was given to me by the adoption agency when no one took me in. My tendency to cause trouble and cause havoc earned me the nickname Danger, hence the last name Peligro, which translates to, you guessed it, Danger. Gypsy is a rather racy name but its origins of course originate with the traveling folk of old. Aka, Traveling Danger. It doesn’t help that Gypsy Danger sounds like a stripper name. That’s why I go by Ginny.

I’d landed myself in hot water, as per usual. Trouble had a way of finding me. I’d traveled far from the orphanage in South Bends but even at twenty-four I still attracted trouble like a magnet. My tendency to take things literally didn’t refer to speech. No, I was a kleptomaniac or in common speech, a thief. That is why I couldn’t help but break in and take a few things from the Triv ambassador’s suite when he and his plethora of staff were attending meetings or some other boring social affair. I’d never stayed in such a fancy hotel and just wanted to have a look around, but when I spotted such a prize just sitting on the counter, I couldn’t resist.

I should have known better. When my eyes see something interesting, my fingers turn to magnets. 

The Triv aliens had the penthouse suite at the ritzy Biltmore Hotel, five stars of class and another two tacked on for security and delicious food. Slicing through the security was almost a challenge but I still made quick work of the high-end system. Waltzing into the room like I owned it, I couldn’t help the gleeful smile as I ran and jumped on the bed.

Watching the playback of a recording as my butt grew sore from sitting in the hard courtroom chair wasn’t nearly as fun. We’d been here for hours. It’s a wonder criminals didn’t give up crime for the inhumane torture they forced us through with these sentencing trials.

My hands were cuffed to the desk and my ankles shackled together. They did allow me one small mercy, I wore slacks and a button-down blouse instead of the godawful yellow-striped jumpsuits Radon planetary security used for its inmates. Wretched things.

“Do you still deny stealing three vials from Ambassador Norwin’s suit?” The legal bonehead asked, pointing at the screen and his ‘evidence’ of my theft. “This is clear proof you were in his room.”

I gave him a flat smile. “That could be faked. Heck, I could make something more convincing in half an hour with the right gear.” How could I not take them? They were sitting right out on the counter, practically screaming ‘Take me’!

“Members of the jury, the recording has been verified by three separate experts as being genuine. Miss Peligro was indeed in the Ambassador’s suit the day of the robbery. She was caught fleeing the scene, and residue matching her gloves was found on the vials recovered from the waste chute. These facts prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Miss Gypsy Peligro stole the Ambassador's property.”

My stomach sank, and as the prosecutor turned his flinty gray eyes on me I couldn’t help but swallow hard. My goose was well and truly cooked. Prosecutor one, Ginny zero.

There wasn’t much to say after that. The jury ruled and I was found guilty of all charges. The only deviation from the expected norm was being turned over to the aliens to pay for my crimes in whatever manner they deemed fit.

“Wait, what?” I demanded when someone finally got around to telling me.

My protests were way too late to matter, even if anyone had cared to indulge me. The Ambassador's men, Triv Enforcers, had already arrived to collect me.

They wore black body armor and looked more menacing than Radon space marines. Without a word, they hauled me from the cell and pulled me toward their shuttle, ignoring my protests the whole way. Twenty years in prison was nothing to look forward to, but I knew the rules and what to expect. Once in the alien's custody, anything could happen. Before we even left the prison building, one of the enforcers injected me with something.

“What was that?” I demanded, my panic rising ever higher.

“Tracking compound,” a metallic voice replied.

I don’t know why he answered, it was the first time had spoken. Probably just to hammer home how hopeless my situation was.

The aliens were humanoid and roughly the same height as humans. They had soft pale blue-gray skin and large eyes like aquatic creatures. They were also way more advanced than us. Radon had FTL technology and even a fleet of warships but the aliens known as the Triv, could run circles around us and that didn’t even account for their vast empire and killer tech like quantum communications. Our only advantage was our high birthrate and that would only serve to give them more targets if we ever tried to fight them.

So yeah, I was screwed. Even if someone wanted to intervene on my behalf, no one would dare. Not for a thief who robbed the Triv ambassador. I’d be shocked if they weren’t falling all over themselves to please the aliens. No doubt surrendering me to their custody was part of that butt-kissing.

The enforcers had no trouble managing little old me. I didn’t resist. There was no point. Even if they weren’t wearing power armor, there were eight of them and I was still chained up. I wasn’t some kickass fighter, just a skilled thief.

They took me into their shuttle and blasted off even as they strapped me in. My heart pounded with fear. I was completely in the dark about what was happening, or where they were taking me.

Looking out the window, I caught one last glimpse of my homeworld, Radon, before the shuttle banked away. We cleared the planet's gravity enough to alter course without wasting excessive power and headed for the Triv ambassador’s flagship.

None of the enforces spoke to me on the flight. Some minutes later I sensed a change. The artificial gravity shifted slightly, a sign that we had altered course. I tried to stay calm but I was almost shaking as fear and adrenaline mixed into an unholy cocktail in my system. Without warning, one of the enforces dropped a bag over my head. I couldn’t glean much as we landed and they led me off the shuttle. The echoing sounds told me I was in a large hangar but we didn’t stop.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

After too many turns to count and several elevator rides I was finally forced into a chair and the bag was removed. My breath was shallow and my pulse pounded rapidly. My hands trembled in fear. I tried to get a hold of my jittery nerves but it was hopeless. Across from me sat the Ambassador himself.

“You shouldn’t have stolen from me,” he said, eyeing me coldly with his unblinking fish-like eyes. He spoke my language quite well.

I swallowed hard. “Sorry?”

“You will be,” he promised. “As amusing as it is to see you left in the dark, it will be more satisfying if you know your fate in advance. You will be transported to Trival to stand trial for theft where upon confirmation of your guilt, you will be sent to the Breakers.” He smiled nastily. “The Breakers will take you apart piece by piece until you beg for death. Unimaginable pain and suffering await you, Gypsy Peligro, and only when they are satisfied you’ve paid the penalty in full will you be allowed to die.”

I could feel the blood drain from my face. He laughed at me and smiled. “Yes. Three vials of life-extension therapy will see you suffering for years before you’ve paid your debt. There is a reason the crime rate is practically nonexistent in our society. If you humans punished your lawbreakers appropriately, crime would plummet but no. You employ a very soft legal system. On Trival, we know how to build a better society. One without disorderly troublemakers.”

He waved his hand and the enforcers closed in on me. “Wait! Please! I’ll do anything!”

My desperate pleas were ignored. I kicked and screamed but only managed to bruise my arms and legs as they pulled me from the chair.

The Ambassador laughed cheerfully at my hopeless struggles. Before I was hauled from the room he said, “Place her in stasis for the journey. I wish I could be there when she’s handed over to the Breakers. Unfortunately, I had responsibilities here. Give my regards to your Captain.”

 Stasis was bad. It would leave me no opportunity to escape. I knew without a doubt if I went into stasis, my life was over. I fought with all my strength but it changed nothing. I was forced into the pod, strapped down, and the pod engaged. I strained my muscles fighting the bonds until the very last second. Then the drugs took me and I knew no more.

Somewhere between Radon and Trival:

With a flash of light, a sleek spaceship appeared in space. The crew quickly ran checks and matched their location with the information they’d received. All checks were green. The target would briefly drop out of the hyperway before recharging its hyperdrive to continue its journey. 

The twin suns orbiting each other nearby blanketed the system with harsh radiation. It degraded the sensors but the ship’s shielding protected them from harm. The timer slowly ticked down. With a similar flash of light, another ship dropped into the system. Orders were called out, weapons locked on and the battle was joined.

Despite the ambush, the target ship put up a heck of a fight, six of their ten weapons were disabled before they stripped the enemy ship of its weapons. Boarding parties were launched. The boarders fought their way to the stasis pods leaving wreckage in their wake. Small arms fire and explosions filled the ship but the resistance was overcome. They quickly deactivated the maglocks and removed one pod in particular and were about to retreat to their shuttle when one of the defenders, mangled from an explosion, fired a final grenade from his launcher before bleeding out.

The grenade exploded, killing two more of the boarders and damaging the power line to several stasis pods. The borders didn’t notice the damage, nor did they care. They already had what they came for. The last of the boarders punched in a new course to take the stricken prison ship into the sun. There would be no evidence of their rescue and no reported survivors of the missing ship.

Aboard the Triv prison ship:

I woke with a gasp, trying to suck air into my lungs. I hacked up some fluid before finally getting a breath. My arms were bound and I could feel sweat beading on my brow. The stink of fried electronics filled my nostrils.

I could hear something burning and the red warning lights flashed through the glass cover on the pod. Something had damaged the stasis pod I was in and severed one of the straps holding me down. I wiggled my hand until it slipped free and then released the rest of the restraints. My feet were shackled still by my hands but had been freed to put me in the pod. I pushed the pod open with a grunt and looked around.

My pod had been moved at some point after I’d been put under. Instead of the small room I'd been in before, I found myself in a large bay with dozens of pods around me. The hum of machinery told me something still had power but the row of pods were all flashing warnings. I coughed and struggled to breathe due to the smoke-filled air. Fire suppression systems had discharged their foam all over but something still burned. Mangled bodies were lying all over. I recognized the Triv enforcers by their armor. Other dead bodies wore similar gear but of a different design.

One badly mangled body caught my eye and turned my stomach. Nauseated at the sight, I puked. Fluid from the pod splattered across the deck plates. 

Moving to one of the flashing pods, I examined it. The power line had been destroyed and the occupant was dead. The pod's occupant was a Triv. Dead eyes staring up at me with its mouth hanging open. I jerked back in surprise as a pitiful cry sounded from my mouth. 

A steady stream of stasis fluid drained from his nose and mouth. He’d drown to death when the system malfunctioned. I tore my eyes away and moved to the next one. A glance was all I needed to know he’d shared the same fate. Ten more pods, all dead.

“How did I survive?” It was no real mystery. After a little investigating, I spotted a puddle of stasis fluid pooling behind my pod. An explosion had knocked my pod around and inadvertently saved my life. The others weren’t as lucky. I was the only survivor. A space caught my eye. There was a pod missing.

“Maybe not the only one then,” I muttered.

I braved the gore and moved to one of the dead enforcers. I was still in my prison jumpsuit from Radon and barefoot. I couldn’t wear his gear but I took his sidearm and the comm from his helmet. On one of the borders, for they couldn’t be anything else, I found a wrist computer and several small charges for breaching doors. I claimed them and moved on.

I left the pods behind and moved into the hall. More bodies littered the floor. I was breathing hard. The air was hot and smokey. The ventilation systems must have been damaged too.

Everywhere I went I found bodies. Was everyone dead? I found where another pocket of resistance had fought to the end. The enforcers had put up a serious fight, killing nearly as many as they lost. I followed my intuition as I searched for a spacesuit and oxygen. The air was quickly growing unbearable and I was drenched in sweat from the heat.

I finally found an emergency kit by an airlock and hastily pulled on the light spacesuit. The oxygen mixture the Triv used in their air tanks was a close match to Radon’s atmosphere. I breathed in deeply and when I stopped coughing, I continued to the bridge. I kept my guard up, but everywhere I looked I saw damage and bodies. My gut told me I was the only living person aboard.

The bridge had seen heavy fighting. The Captain was sprawled out on the floor next to his command chair and his officers still lay where they fell. A few borders kept them company on the deck plates. By that point, I was growing numb to the carnage. My focus was on survival above all. I’m sure it would haunt me later, but for now, I kept the panic at bay.

I used the wrist computer to link with the ship's computer but access was denied. No surprise there. I sliced through the security using a virus I found on the wrist computer. The borders had been well prepared and in a few minutes, I had partial access. It wasn’t enough to do much but let me view a lot of data.

I wish I hadn’t. What I found was not good. Not good at all. The ship was on course for one of the system's twin stars.