“It’s showtime,” I murmured as I walked toward my mostly unwanted guests.

Athena smiled as she saw me while the brothers gawked and Moonbean glared.

“I like the new outfit! Looks totally rad!” my friends said.

I smirked at the brothers. Sure, they were planning to betray me, but they were still attractive and their jaw-drop reaction was flattering.

Salamander looked more interested in the suit than me but then I’d already pegged him as a bit of a science fiction nerd and this was kinda a dream come true for him.

“Blast,” Viper whispered. “She looked even hotter in that than the skin-tight suit.”

“I know right?” Rider whispered back.

They didn’t expect me to hear the comments. The sonic sensor picked up the vibrations enhancing my hearing. I grinned and looked them both in the eye one after the other. “You think I’m hot? Thanks, I guess. You’re both kind of hot too.” I snickered as they both blushed a little. Then I led the way toward the shuttle, swinging my hips more than usual. Athena’s stifled snickers were clearly audible with my sensors. When we were halfway to the shuttle I glanced back and stirred the pot a little more. “Regretting your choices yet, boys?”

Seeing Rider and Viper flush was rather sweet after listening to the recording of them considering how to woo me for their plan to steal my ship. Drive the knife deep, Ginny… and then keep twisting.

My comments ticked Moonbeam off even more because Rider was still oblivious to her interest and there was no doubt he was admiring me. Vengeance was so sweet.

“Are you sure we need to rejoin the war effort already, brother?” Viper whispered to his brother. “Maybe it would be better to wait.”

“Just stick to the plan,” Rider whispered back.

“What are you whispering about?” Athena asked with fake innocence, but I could hear the mischief in her voice.

“It’s it obvious, Athena?” I asked turning to walk backward for a moment as I grinned.

The brothers exchanged a worried glance and I continued to twist the knife. “My nether regions of course!”

Athena burst out laughing while Moonbeam looked ready to explode. I gave her a wink and laughed merrily as I walked toward my sudden but inevitable betrayal.

“Why are you so happy?” Rider asked.

“I’m finally getting rid of unwanted guests,” I replied. “I can’t wait to have you out of my hair, though I will miss my friend Athena. Maybe I’ll visit again someday!”

“I’d like that. Then you could meet my mother,” Athena said with a smile.

“Sounds like a plan!” I said. “Come on, the shuttle is waiting.”

We made it to the hangar and the brothers slowed as I walked over to the shuttle.

“Wait, we’re not taking that one?” Rider pointed toward the salvage ship I’d picked them up in.

“Oh, no. That’s a scavenger ship. The shuttle is for transporting people. Might as well use it for its intended purpose, right? Hop in and make yourself comfortable. The sooner I can get on with my life, the better.”

“Is it armed? What if we run into trouble?” Rider asked.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ve got it covered. It's fully shielded and has some light armament. We will be fine. This baby has plenty of tricks up her sleeve.” I smirked though no one could see it as I walked up the ramp. More tricks than you think. I glanced at the fake wall and then moved into the cockpit.

“Athena, do you want to ride shotgun?” I asked.

“Um… what does that even mean?” she asked.

“Copilot,” I clarified.

“Sure.” She buckled in. “Where does that other saying even come from?”

“No idea. Maybe it’s like a gunner or something to assist the pilot?”

Athena shrugged. “Makes sense. So, um, am I supposed to do that? Shoot if we run into trouble?”

“Naw, nothing around here can even damage our shields.”

“Well, that sure is handy. Don’t suppose I could borrow it until the war is over?”

I shook my head. “We already talked about that.”

“Can’t blame a girl for trying.”

“You got the injection I gave you for your mom?” I asked.

Athena nodded. “Yes. Thanks again for that. I’ll never forget it.”

I double-checked everyone was strapped in and then signaled Bob to open the hangar. I lifted off and gilded us out. The sun was blazing in our faces as we descended toward the planet. Then we slipped into Zenith’s shadow and headed for the rendezvous point.

“It’s so stunning… looks so peaceful from out here,” Athena said quietly.

She was right. The planet looked so peaceful from a distance. Everything was pristine and alive. It almost made me want to help them, but I knew better. Up close and personal you had to deal with people. People always made things worse. Even I took what I wanted, and what I could. Not even from necessity, at least not anymore. I wasn’t killing people or doing it out of greed though. I loved the thrill, and besides, given my experiences, they probably deserved it anyway. No one had ever helped me. No one cared, so why should I?

* * *

“We’re coming in for a landing,” I hollered back.

There were no problems, even the weather was cooperating. The sensors didn’t pick up anything. That made me nervous. I hovered for a moment and then eased the shuttle down. I locked the controls, just in case, and then looked over at Athena.

She cocked her head. “Something wrong?”

“If something happens just stay out of it,” I whispered. I pulled a shield belt from under the seat. Put this on.”

“Um, okay? Why? What is it? Is everything okay?”

“Pretty sure I’m about to get ambushed. Don’t get involved. Understood?”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Athena looked worried. “Surely they wouldn’t… Would they?” I gave her a look and she swallowed.

“Please don’t kill them,” Athena said.

“I hate the thought of killing someone, but anything could happen, this is on them, Athena.”

“I know,” she said sadly as her eyes fell.

The passenger area took up most of the ship. The shuttle wasn’t very big but it could carry a full dozen not counting the flight crew. With just four back there it was pretty spacious.

“Are you friends here yet?” I asked as I walked past the brothers and triggered the ramp.

“They should be. I told them to stay out of sight to avoid detection. Figured you didn’t want too many people seeing your ship,” Viper said.

He was right about that. “Thanks,” I said, still playing the part.

“Off you go then,” I said. Moonbeam tried to shoulder-check me as she passed, but simply bounced off given my enhanced strength with the suit’s built-in robotics.

“Watch it!” she snapped.

I laughed. “Get your mouthy butt off my ship and take your personal rain cloud with you.”

The woman had been nothing but nasty to me since I tricked her and took her sidearm. I was tempted to give her an honest-to-goodness kick in the pants on her way past, but I restrained myself. Someone else could deal with her attitude adjustment. Without a concern in the world, I waltzed down the ramp.

As soon as my feet hit the ground, half a dozen grenades sailed toward me. One of the brothers slapped the ramp controls to close it and then the ordinance went off. It all happened so fast. I didn’t even have time to dive to the ground before six deafening explosions with blinding flashes went off all around me.

Thanks to the suit, my hearing and eyes were mostly spared. Enough sound got through my ears starting ringing but my visor dimmed to prevent the flashes from blinding me.

“She’s still on her feet!” someone shouted.

Something pinged off my helmet but I hardly noticed. Despite knowing I was walking into an ambush, I was still surprised.

“Bob, I need the SB units!”

An alert went off on my suit and the jump jet auto-triggered. An RPG detonated where I’d been standing and concussion grenades sailed into the area. Someone opened fire with a heavy machine gun but my jump pack took me clear of the combined assault momentarily at least.

“Deploy the stunner turret, Bob! Set it to automatic!” My shrill voice cracked. I was freaking out a little, but Bob understood the order and the main gun rose over my head and went to work. Stunner pulses fired out in rapid succession dropping the ambushers left and right. By the time my brain caught up to what was happening, it was already over. More than a dozen rebels were twitching on the grass.

“All hostiles neutralized, Captain,” Bob said, his calm voice reassuring me.

“T-thanks Bob. Is Athena alright?”

“I believe she is hiding under the seats in the cockpit. One of the SB units is guarding the door.”

I stumbled over to the shuttle. There was a crater where I’d been standing. So much for a peaceful heist. Even in my worst estimates, I’d grossly underestimated them. At most, I thought they would try to overpower me physically. Maybe try to intimidate me with a dozen people or so. The outright attack surprised me. The use of deadly force was even more shocking. This is the last time I knowingly walk into an ambush. Anyone else would have been dead. The only reason I was still alive was my tech was so far outside their capabilities I could tank their attacks. Even that RPG wouldn’t have killed me. The worst I would have gotten was a concussion, but the shield would have activated if my jump pack had failed. The kinetic absorbers would have dampened the blast and redirected the force even if the shield didn’t shrug off the attack.

My nanobots repaired the damage to my ears and the ringing stopped. I lowered the ramp with my wrist computer and walked back into my ship. Viper was still conscious though he was twitching on the floor and his pants were soaking up a puddle of fluids. I crouched next to him.

“We could have been friends you know, I probably would have even helped you a little but no, you were all so obsessed with your war. I can understand fighting for what’s yours, but that doesn’t excuse your actions. You tried to take something from me. It’s mine. Nobody steals from me!” My nose wrinkled as I looked at his wet crotch. “Ew, you made a real mess, you know that?”

I could see the fear in his eyes. By this point, he had to know his friends had failed. He was completely at my mercy.

“Athena? You okay?” I called.

“Y-yes? I’m fine. What about you? What happened?”

“Your friends tried to kill me,” I said.

“What?” Athena joined him in the passenger area. “Did your bots do this?”

I nodded. “I took out the rest, but there were only like a dozen or so,” I said, trying to sound cool and casual.

Her eyes widened. “A dozen!?”

I shrugged like it was no big deal. I had a reputation to maintain after all. “Why don’t you go check on them? I’ll take the trash out.”

“They aren’t…” Athena trailed off and sighed. “I’m sorry about them.”

“You should find better friends,” I replied.

She lingered for a moment and then walked out.

I looked back at Viper. “I knew this was coming. It might have worked otherwise. You see, the entire ship is Bob’s domain. He records everything.” I glared at him. “Everything.” I kicked him in the balls. He’d recovered enough by this point to gasp but nothing else.

“I hoped you would reconsider. That someday we could rebuild our friendship after the war, but no. You went and burned that bridge to ash. I liked you.” I struggled to keep it together as I spoke. “Then I sat through an hour of you and Gary talking about how to woo me and knock me up so you could steal my ship! I hope your country gets wrecked.”

I grabbed him by the leg and pulled him out of the shuttle. I tossed him into the crater his friends made. It was almost perfect for a grave… No! I’m not a killer, I had to remind myself several more times as I dropped his brother and Moonbeam beside him. A big part of me wanted to hurt them more, even kill them, but I didn’t. I seriously considered stripping them all naked, but I didn’t want to get pee all over me. Viper wasn’t the only one to lose control of his bladder.

“I’m so glad I have RB units that can handle cleaning duty,” I said as I dropped Salamander on top of Moonbeam, gaining an unholy amount of satisfaction in the fact that it looked painful when he landed on her.

With my work done, I found Athena who was fussing over her stunned comrades.

“Will they wake up soon?” she asked.

“Um, Bob?”

“They will be incapacitated for another hour. Those stunned by the SB units will be mobile in another few minutes.”

“Blast, I was hoping their friends would be able to see them piled up in the crater,” I said.

“You could always stun them again with your suit weapon,” Bob offered.

“Hey, great idea, Bob! I like the way you think!”

“Ginny, please! They are just trying to protect their home,” Athena said.

“By stealing mine?” I snapped.

“You’re a thief, Ginny. Is it only wrong to steal when it’s happening to you?”

“Shut up!” I shouted as tears started rolling down my cheeks. I wasn’t even sure what I was so upset about. The betrayal stung, but I’d experienced that before. This time it seemed to cut deeper though. I hadn’t even known them that well, but I’d felt almost like I was a part of something. Athena had been so welcoming even when I was just a prisoner I’d liked her.

My friend placed her hand on my arm. “I’m sorry things worked out like this, Ginny. I hope I’ll see you again someday. I’ll never forget how you helped me and my mother.”

I couldn’t speak, my throat was closed up with a lump. I couldn’t even wipe my eyes without removing my helmet. The thing was I could see a future with Tom. He was everything I thought I wanted, but even worse was the knowledge that if given more time, the betrayal would have been so much more personal. I had helped them multiple times. That was rare for me but it felt good to help someone. It made me feel special and like I wasn’t just a thief. I was giving something back and in the end, they just used me.

I finally managed to swallow and found my voice.

“Don’t die,” I croaked, then turned to leave. It was a crappy farewell, but it fit my mood and the situation.

Athena called out behind me though. “Do you need this back?” she asked, tapping the shield belt.

I paused and debated whether to leave it. I was sure someone would try to take it apart and it would be rendered useless. I just wanted my friend to be safe though… “Hang onto it for me. I’ll be back for it someday.” If I ever work up the courage to return to this awful place. “It only works for you. If anyone steals it, the nanobots inside will break everything down.”

“Thank you, Ginny. You’re a good friend.”

She ran over and hugged me. “Stay safe, Ginny.”

“You too, Rose.”

I walked up the ramp without a backward glance, closed it behind me, and headed back to my ship. The return flight felt longer than ever but I finally arrived. The landing went smoothly and I powered down the ship.

“I’m glad that’s over with. Hey Bob, get some RB units down here to clean this up. I need to get cleaned up.” I hurried to my quarters and removed the war suit. I stripped and hopped into the shower. I lost track of time as I huddled under the water and cried my heart out.

Things would get better. Life would go on. I flopped onto my bed, feeling wrung out and alone but it was good to be home.