The sneering face of the Triv ambassador as he told me my fate filled my mind. The ache in my butt from the hard courtroom chair, the rough handling by the Triv Enforcers. The betrayal by Rider and Viper—the Holden brothers—Salamander, Moonbeam, and all the other excrement I’d had to deal with all welled up in my mind. Childhood memories mixed with the fresher wounds in my heart and a deep painful ache emanated from my chest.

I ignored the ache as my fingers popped from squeezing my hands so hard. Why were people so bad? It wasn’t just Humans. I channeled my anger and used it to fuel my cyber attack on the enemy ship.

My assault moved at the speed of thought. Mental powers were overpowered. I hit their weapons and shields first, ripping the coding apart as if it were my mortal enemy. I blasted through the code like a monkey on a keyboard, jamming keys like I was high on banana-induced happiness. I deleted pieces and scrambled the rest before moving on to other systems.

I was ideally away from some pressure building in my mind. There was some odd piercing wail of noise too, but I ignored it as I continued my rampage. The communications were next. I absolutely destroyed the programming and erased all their stored messages. Next, I hit their computers. Those were almost as critical as life support for a modern ship to function and support a crew. More coding was torn apart, I felt a smile form on my lips as I obliterated my enemies.

Next up was their life support systems. My vengeance would be swift. I was unstoppable. I would destroy it just like—

What are you doing? The voice in my head snapped me out of my rampage.

I inhaled suddenly as a sharp mental pain stabbed me between the eyes. My hand rose to massage the headache. I fumbled to remove my helmet, but I barely noticed as a chill swept over my entire body. I shuttered involuntarily as goosebumps formed on my arms.

I began trembling as emotions welled up in my chest. I dropped to my knees, my magnetic locks automatically adjusting to the movement. I cupped my face in my hands as tears welled up. My emotions took over and I sobbed.

All the hurt and pain came boiling out like a volcano. I felt a mental presence inviting me in. I slipped into my mind. Nestra patted my back. Then rubbed it as she soothed the pain. She huddled with me on the floor, sobbing lightly with me. Everything I thought or felt she did too.

As we held each other, time passed at a crawl in the real world. The experience was no less real here with my mind sister. The ABAT treatment worked as advertised. Allowing me to think, process, and plan… or have a good cry when I got overwhelmed, all without wasting valuable time.

Nestra rested her forehead against mine as we calmed. I hugged her tightly as I sniffled.

“Thank you.”

I could sense she was just as thankful in return. She didn’t say it though. Instead, she helped me stand up. She hugged me again.

“You can’t just hide in here you know,” she whispered.

“I wasn’t going to,” I said.

“I know.” And she did. I idly thought about it, but we both knew it wasn’t happening. It would be far too boring.

“For anyone but me,” Nestra said with a smile.

“Right.” I sniffled and wiped my nose. “Ew, so glad that’s just mental snot.”

Nestra laughed at me and I retreated from my mind. I saw why she found it so funny when I inhaled and sniffled again in the real world. It was just as much a mess. I grabbed my helmet from next to the floor and then a tissue from my nightstand.

After blowing my nose, I quickly secured my helmet. “Sta—” My voice broke. I tried again. “Status, Bob?”

“The enemy ship has stopped firing. Sensors show no indication of a power failure.”

“I disabled them.” I winced as another pain drilled into my mind right behind my left eye. That was the worst place. I stifled a moan and prayed the nanites would hurry up and fix whatever was going on.

“How long until we can go?” I asked.

“Three minutes.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. It would take the Triv longer than that to make repairs. They had no communication and— Wait… Oh, oops. I realized several things at once. One, the Triv had quantum-linked communications, the wrist computer I wore had been modified with a quantum link I’d taken from a Triv officer. Second, all their computers could link together so as soon as they made a call and sent a transmission, everyone in the freakin’ Triv Empire would know what happened to the ship, and they would want that capability themselves. I’d just shown my hand and inadvertently placed a target on my back. I didn’t even bother cursing about it.

I sighed and headed for the bridge. I diverted through the medical bay to check on my guests.

“I’ve sedated both patients, Captain,” the medical bed informed me.

My eyebrows rose at that.”Really? Why?”

Bob answered. “I thought it best you not have distractions while we were in the middle of a battle, though it seems we’d once again gained the upper hand.”

“Yeah, say, can we safely do a flyby and blast their weapon emplacements off?”

“What about their engines?”

“Yeah, sure. They deserve to be stranded for a change. Take out their hanger bag too. No point in making it easy for them.”

When I reached the bridge I took my seat. A moment later I felt the ship begin to move. Repairs were finished and we were underway! A smile pulled at my lips. The Triv might have been the dominant power in the area but they had just got their butts kicked by little old me. I couldn’t help but feel a little, okay, a huge amount of satisfaction at that.

I piloted us into position and Bob opened fire. The weapons pounded the enemy's shields for a few minutes before they failed, then we stripped the ship of its guns. It was entirely at our mercy and I wanted to make a point. The engines took the most time to wreck. Damaging them enough without venting huge sections of the ship to space was difficult, but Bob got it down.

Triv personnel were probably killed in the attack but I didn’t want to know. I didn’t ask and Bob didn’t say.

“Orders complete.”

“Right, let's get out of here. No! Wait,” I exclaimed at the end. “I have an idea.”

I told Bob what I wanted. We circled back toward the helpless Triv dreadnought and Bob got to work. Once he finished I couldn’t help but smile. My headache was still killing me but it did nothing to diminish my grin.

Etched into the ship's armored hull plates with Shadow Hunter's weapons were the words… Er, was the sediment ‘Don’t mess with me.’ The actual wording was much less polite.

I nodded once. “Punch it.”

“To the unknown region, Captain?”

“Yup, that's the plan. I have a debt to repay.” What kind of man are you, Draden Walker? I glanced at the Triv tracking signal information. It was holding steady, somewhere out there in the unknown.

“Course plotted, standing by.”

“Execute.”

The engines engaged and Shadow Hunter vanished from space.

* * *

Helena was looking much better after treatment. Grant had finally settled down and stopped hovering over her. She had pretty brown hair, an oval face, a small nose, and sparkling green eyes. She was a few inches taller than me but still well short of Grant’s height. She was built like a dancer, lithe and slim.

“Thanks for saving us,” Helena said.

Her words pulled me out of my examination. Helena ran a towel and threw her still-damp hair. Like me, she’d wanted to clean up and had just finished a shower.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

I couldn’t even express how nice it was to be clean, I reached up and ran a few strands of hair through my fingers. It was finally clean again.

“No problem, I was passing through.” I smiled and she returned it.

Grant finished up his shower and joined us. “Ladies.”

He’d just finished his shower and joined us for lunch. At least I considered it lunch, my internal clock was all messed up right now.

The timer dinged and I removed the pot from the stove. It was food and I ate it. It was good food too. I strained the noodles and added the rest of the ingredients.

I was glad I’d gotten to resupply at Prince of Wales Station. It wasn’t exactly needed given I have plenty of other food, but for once, that food wasn’t emergency rations.

The spaghetti wasn’t world-class by any means, but for my poor abused taste buds, it didn’t have to be.

Grant moaned in delight.

“This is so good,” Helena said.

“Um, thanks.” I wasn’t a cook. Box instructions weren’t hard to follow though. I piled parmesan cheese on top and stirred it in before immediately going for the meatball.

My mouth watered as my teeth sank into the meat. So good! This must be what it feels like to be rich.

As I considered that I realized by any reasonable measure, I was rich. In my head though, I didn’t feel that way. Rich people were a different breed. They thought and acted differently. I didn’t mind. It made them easier to steal from. No matter how much money I accumulated, my mindset would always be that of a girl who grew up on the streets. I was fine with that. It was a part of who I was.

The meal passed in silence but as the food was finished conversation resumed.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask before, but where are we headed?” Grant asked.

I froze. Right, I probably should have dropped them off before heading for the unknown. The siblings noticed my deer-in-the-headlights look and exchanged a glance.

“Um, right. Well, you see… I kinda am in the middle of a… Of something.” I took a deep breath and just told them. “We’re heading for the unknown region, beyond Prince of Wales Station. Sector grid C9 on a standard star chart.”

They both inhaled sharply. Dang, I should make them play poker! Even as I snickered to myself, my hand under the table settled on the taser strapped to my hip.

The siblings exchanged a look. I could see the tension in their bodies. Helena bit her lip and looked down as if lost in thought. Grant leaned back and I figured he’d be fingering his weapon if he had one. Yeah, I’d secured the one he’d picked up during our escape when he was sleeping. I’d learned my lesson.

Helena looked up and met my eyes. “What do you plan to do out there? It’s the middle of nowhere.” Her voice strained toward the end.

“I owe someone a debt.” I leaned forward. “I intend to repay it.”

“What kind of debt?” Grant asked.

I didn’t feel like talking about it. It was annoying admitting you owed someone for saving your life, but it was true. “They saved my life.”

The siblings' tension eased. “Oh,” Grant chuckled. “Who?”

I locked onto him with my eyes but I mentally asked Nestra to watch Helena. “Draden Walker.”

That drew a reaction. Grant was pretty good but I was paying attention and noticed that his eyes widened despite him trying to hide it. Helena wasn’t subtle at all.

“What?” she explained. “Daddy saved your life? When? How? I—”

“Helena!” Grant hissed.

Helena realized she’d completely failed to maintain her composure. She froze and her face paled.

“Daddy?” I asked, still clutching my taser under the table.

“I, um.” She figured and looked over at her brother.

He just sighed. “Yeah, he’s our father. His name is known on Prince of Wales station. We aren’t exactly welcome there hence the deception with our names.”

“Are you even siblings?” I asked.

Helena nodded. “Yeah, that’s all true.”

“What else should I know?” I asked.

Helena bit her lip and then her shoulders sagged. “She’s going to find out soon enough.”

“Find out what?” My head swiveled as I looked from one to the next and back again.

“Dad practically runs the independent moon colony, Calico,” Helena said. Her brother sighed heavily and didn’t look too happy. “Don’t look at me like that. She saved our lives and she’s going to meet Father anyway.”

Grant seemed resigned. “The colony has been struggling of late, Helena was supposed to pick up supplies and return days ago. When she didn’t turn up I went to find her. We met when I was waiting on a contact to gather information on what happened to her.”

“Wait, you played pool and laughed and joked with me when your sister was missing?” I couldn’t believe it.

Helena didn’t look pleased either.

“I had no reason to suspect something so awful had happened! When I left we all thought she’d just had to wait for a delivery or shipment to come in to get the supplies we needed. Communication is out because we don’t want anyone tracing it back to the colony.”

“Oh, and all I had was a burner. You didn’t have the number.”

“Exactly!”

“Okay, whatever,” I didn’t really care. It wasn’t me tied up and beaten. “Why did thugs have your sister tied up in the back room of their lair?”

“I don’t know.”

“Their boss, some guy named Moss, wanted to know where all the supplies were going. He smelled a profit or something.”

Grant groaned. “I knew we shouldn’t have ordered all that mining equipment at once.”

Helana laid a hand on his arm. “It’s alright. There was no way to know if some lowlife would take an interest in our purchases.”

“Still…”

“We needed it. Still need it…” She sighed and her shoulders sagged.

“You alright, Helena?”

Grant explained. “The colony has been struggling. Resources are difficult to acquire and most of our excess capital was tied up in that supply run. Not to mention the ship we lost.”

I scratched my head and felt myself relax a bit. “I might be able to help.”

I almost offered to give them some of Mossy’s funds I’d stolen, but that wasn’t my way. I was a thief, not Robin Hood. Still, I liked helping people… well, a few people. Very specific people, like friends. Okay, it didn’t happen very often. My chest tightened as I wondered when these people would turn on me but I shook it off. Rose was a good friend. I missed her but I had things to deal with here and now.

“How?” Helena asked. “We already owe you for saving us.”

“Well, I’m an Acquisition Specialist. Once I take care of my business… or… Huh. Maybe helping you get your colony back on its feet will be payment enough for my debt.” I stood and slapped the table, making Helena jump. “Um, sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

I stood there awkwardly as they both rose to their feet. I took my plate to the gally’s sink. “Right, well, not much point making plans right now. We’ll have time for that once we arrive.”

That ended the conversation, they were both still wrung out and I wasn’t much better so we dispersed to our rooms. I didn’t worry too much, I had Bob to keep an eye on their movements.

I retreated to my room and fitted it with my wrist computer. My thoughts kept circling back to Rose. I missed my friend. Giving in to my nostalgia, I attempted to use my quantum link to contact her. I lost track of time but hours passed before I found the right connection. The planet was hundreds of lightyears away, but I eventually linked it with a computer on Zenith. I had her real name so I looked up her residence. I didn’t know if it was still accurate, what with the war going on, but I found the number and placed the call.

“Hello?” a young boy’s voice sounded in my ear.

“Yes, is this the Charleston residence? I’m trying to contact Rose.”

“Just one moment, ma’am. I’ll let her know.” There was no attempt to cover the mic and he shouted for her. “Rose! Telephone for you.” “I don’t know!” “Okay, I’ll ask!”

The boy addressed me then. “Can I ask who’s calling?”

I smiled despite myself. “I’m her friend Ginny.”

“Ginny?” Skepticism filled his voice. “Do you really have a spaceship?”

“Yes.”

“That’s impossible. No one knows how to travel the stars anymore. Only the colony ship was able to do that.”

“Huh?” I was a little lost. Why did he ask if I had a spaceship then? He didn’t believe me.

“You shouldn’t be trying to trick my sister with your—hey! I was talking!” The shout at the end grew more distant even as Rose’s voice drowned it out.

“Hush Levi! Ginny, is that you?”

I winced at the volume, her excitement reached me from across the stars and fused me with warmth. There was no mistaking her voice and bubbling enthusiasm or the genuine happiness and hope in her voice.

“Hey friend, how's your mom doing?”

Rose squealed. “Ginny! It's so good to hear your voice! Mom is doing well! I can hardly believe it. The doctors were completely stumped. You should have seen their faces…” She rattled on, talking my ear off.

I curled up on my bed and listened as she shared what was happening in her life, no mention was made of the resistance but she touched on the war. Things were grim but she held out hope the Coalition forces would relieve their besieged country soon.

We talked for hours before she had to go, then I lay in bed thinking. It was a dangerous pastime for me, I know. Much like the rest of my life. I’d come a long way from the back alleys of Radon. I hugged my pillow as I thought about my best friend back when I was still a child. I could still see it in my mind, the sneer on Cidny’s face when she’d told her how she’d used her. Jordan Davis, her boyfriend at the time had been cheating on her with her best friend, working a con which had ultimately implicated her in a burglary of the place she worked. Her ID card, stolen by her boyfriend, had given the thieves access and sent her to juvie.

“But I have a new best friend,” I told myself. “And she’s nothing like Cindy.”

I smiled at the thought. Maybe it's not so bad to hope a little bit. I’d promised Rose that I’d visit her again, and the charming folks of New Port. I’d had a lot more fun with the latter but hadn’t connected so deeply with any of them. Benedict, Frederick, and Allison had formed a connection and I’d consider them friends. Even the boys, I smiled as I remembered their antics. Even if I was alone right now, I had friends.

The jury was still out on Grant and Helena, but I wanted to like them. Helena was quieter and shy at first but seemed to warm up to me and Grant, well I’d had a blast almost beating him at the pool, and he was attractive too. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to trust someone fully with my heart again, but a lot of strange things had happened to me lately. It wasn’t beyond the realms of possibilities.

Grant was attractive. I would just have to ignore that for now. That didn’t mean some harmless flirting wasn’t allowed but we’d see how things went once I met his father. I knew quite well how split loyalties could turn even seemingly honorable men like the Holden brothers against me. I cursed them again in my head for trying to play with my emotions before rolling over. I was safe and we were on our way to Calico. My worries could take a hike, I’d deal with them some other day.