Project Charon 2 by Patty Jansen (best interesting books to read TXT) 📕

Rex touched the corner of the screen. It brought up the picture and information she had already seen: the pirate-sanctioned biography of Jackson Hirsch, or Artan.

People started to push to the sides. The red-skinned pirate was followed by other pirates with grey skin, who set up two lines on either side of a path that formed through the crowd. Tina could see this because Rex flipped out a little step from the side of his leg, and pulled her up so that he could support her while she stood on it.

“Pretty handy,” she said.

“Yes, I discovered this the other day when I was helping Finn.”

The pirates were followed by a bunch of bedraggled people who were marched into the hall. Their hands were tied behind their backs, their faces were dirty, their uniforms ripped.

Federacy uniforms.

The pirates pushed and kicked these people, some of whom were doing their best just to stay on their feet. They were injured.

The group was paraded through the crowd to much whistling and jeering. They were coming in the direction where Tina and Rex stood, and the pirates at the front of the column motioned the crowd of onlookers aside. Tina and Rex ended up only a couple of rows back from the thoroughfare.

The line started with the formidable figure of the pirate leader. Apart from his dark red skin, he also displayed a veritable garden of growths on his skin, hanging from his jawbone, his ears and neck. His nose had regressed into his face until only two holes remained. His mouth was small and surrounded by dark lips.

Tina made sure that she was not in direct view of him, because she felt that those beady eyes could see everything.

He was followed by a number of his soldiers, each of them pushing a couple of Federacy soldiers in front of them. They were close enough that she could see the emblem on their chests. They were from the Star Fighter Manila.

Tina felt cold. That was the ship where her daughter Evelle served.

“Come on, we can get through now,” Rex said. He let go of Tina’s arm, so that she could descend from her perch to the ground.

But Tina wasn’t moving. She hung unto Rex’s metallic shoulder and studied the faces of all the captured soldiers who filed past, some injured, most of them looking tired, weary and dirty.

Rex shook his arm. “Come on, Mum.”

But Tina still wasn’t moving.

Standing out amongst the prisoners was a young woman with spiked up blond hair.

Even though Tina hadn’t seen her for almost twenty years, she recognised her face, because a mother never forgets the faces of her children.

It was Evelle.

Chapter Fourteen

Tina saw her daughter only briefly.

Her face was pale, with dark smudges and a bruise on her cheek. Her uniform was ripped at the shoulder, showing a red graze on her pale skin, and her hands were tied behind her back. Her weapons had been removed from her belt, but she held her chin high. She looked straight ahead, ignoring all the people who stood on the side, and who either cheered or jeered at the prisoners. She marched past with the column, disappearing into the passage on the other side of the hall.

“Mum, what’s going on?” Rex said. “Who are these people? Why is everyone cheering so much?”

Tina said in a low voice, “The pirates have captured one of the Federacy’s major warships. Those prisoners are Federacy troops.”

The entire group had passed, and everyone had started walking again, even if only slowly.

There were far too many people here and they were far too close for Tina to tell Rex what was going on. She couldn’t risk anyone overhearing, at least not any of the many people around here who were sympathetic to the pirates.

Everyone in this crowded hall and crowded passages had become an enemy.

Of course they were that already, but she had always assumed these people to be station citizens, caught between two warring parties and not caring much about either side.

Tina led the way through the passages. The crowds thinned out, so it became easier to move. She set a good pace, and Rex followed her, with his powerful footsteps that went zoom-zoom-zoom each time the harness engaged.

They arrived at the ship, where Finn was down in the engine maintenance compartment. When Tina and Rex entered the main cabin, he came up the steps, wiping his hands on his trousers.

“Shut the door, I have something important to tell you,” Tina said to Rex.

She went over to the controls and made sure that none of the recording devices were on.

“Good, now I finally get to know what you’re so grumpy about,” Rex said.

“Tea?” Finn asked in a mock-cheerful tone. He was in the kitchen at the hot water dispenser.

No one responded.

“Fine. I’m making some anyway.” He pulled out some cups, the jar of powdered tea, and proceeded to pour hot water into the cups which he then carried over to the table. Steam rose from the surface.

“Two things have happened.” Tina said when they were all seated around the table.

“First of all, for your benefit, Finn, when we came to the Ship Supply office, Rasa was in a different room. She managed to get into the priority queue, and she said she should be able to get a permit to leave the station today.”

“She is good, isn’t she?” Finn grinned.

“You didn’t wait until I got to the part where she said it would cost five thousand credits.”

“What?” Finn said.

“I don’t have five thousand credits,” Tina said. “I spent all my money on trying to do not too badly to the businesses at Kelso Station. My accounts are empty. My credit is maxed out. It looks like we’re stuck here unless someone else comes up with some funds.”

She looked pointedly at Finn.

“Is Rasa still in the queue?” Finn said, as usual, deflecting the question.

“I left her there, but I’m thinking we may need to retrieve her. When she gets to the end and it