Rivers of Orion by Dana Kelly (a court of thorns and roses ebook free .TXT) 📕

he clung to the last moment he had shared with April. She promised me something—something I can’t forget. If I can just hold onto it, I’ll be fine. He grimaced. What was it? “Please, no,” he whispered, and the fog swallowed his memory of her too.

Orin’s eyes darted around the lab. He found Ky staring back at him, smiling. “Excuse me, sir?” said Orin. “Where am I?” He struggled against his restraints. “What’s going on?”

Ky chuckled. “Ain’t that somethin’…”

◆◆◆

Casey piloted the shuttle away from the asteroid, and April stifled a yawn as she stared at the stars. “How much did we get for him?” asked April. She bit down on a hangnail.

“Thirty thousand. Not bad, considering.”

“Three hundred thousand would’ve been better. That’s what we would’ve gotten if we’d delivered him to the lab, ourselves.”

Casey sought April’s eyes, but her cousin looked away. “Not if it cost us our lives. What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing,” April sighed.

Over the commlink, Krané said, “Excuse me, Captain. Ky Rego transmitted the coordinates to his starship.”

“Is he close?” asked Casey.

“Less than a two-hour flight from our current position,” said Krané. “Shall I transmit the coordinates to you so we can all meet there?”

“Sure, thank you.” Casey studied April. “Actually, belay that. Maintain your current position.”

“Aye, Captain,” said Krané. “Awaiting orders.”

Casey ended the call and pivoted to face April directly. “Seriously, are you okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this gloomy after a job before.”

April smiled slightly, and she shrugged. “I will be.” Her heart pounded a bit harder. “I can’t be your first mate anymore.”

Casey paused. “You’re joking, right?”

“You can drop me off somewhere on Rhyon. I’ll find my way.”

“I can’t tell if you’re joking or not,” said Casey.

April looked at her with a mix of fury and tears in her eyes. “What do you think?”

“Oh.” Casey swallowed hard. “Why?”

“You’ve been knocked too far off course,” said April. “Doing the right thing used to matter to you, but after what you just did, it’s clear to me you’re only capable of drawing upon your courage when you no longer require it. Though it saddens me to bid farewell, I will never serve under a captain without principles.”

Casey nodded. “I see.”

“Good.” April dabbed her eyes with her sleeve. “I’m glad.” She tabbed through a list of Rhyondan starports.

In her periphery, Casey noticed an orange light blinking with increasing urgency. “Can you do one more thing for me?”

“Maybe. It depends on what it is,” said April.

“The proximity alarm’s just been triggered, but the sirens aren’t working. Can you ask Cajun to look into that?”

April sat forward. “Proximity alarm? I thought this place was abandoned.” Her fingers danced across the console.

“I thought so, too,” said Casey.

Scanners displayed a warthog-shaped starship on approach. “It’s a short-range shuttle,” said April. “Heavily armored.” Portions of the systems schematics flashed red. “I’m detecting active weapons and magazines.” She looked aghast at her cousin. “Pirates! It must be. What are pirates doing out here?”

“Rocksaugh’s been abandoned for a long time,” said Casey. “Maybe it’s their hideout.”

April shook her head, poring over the data. “Don’t be absurd. See if you can find the shuttle’s point of origin.”

Casey regarded her questioningly. “Hey, I’m still the captain, here. You don’t give the give the orders. I do.”

April glanced at her sidelong. “You’re not my captain. Not anymore.”

Wincing slightly, Casey nodded. “Right. Point of origin,” she muttered, and she worked her half of the console. After a moment, a trajectory map appeared in place of the shuttle diagram. It led directly to a massive vessel outlined in red. “The starship Excrucio,” said Casey, and she studied the vessel’s transponder information. “Gobthar Veskgron is the owner and captain, and… Excrucio is a Colima-class battlecruiser.” Casey looked nervous. “I’m getting a lot of accompanying pings on the scanner—starfighters, mostly. There’s also a dreadnought, two missile cruisers, and four frigates. It looks like she’s part of a flotilla.”

“Definitely pirates,” said April. After a quick search, she found hundreds of Rhyondan newscasts related to the warship’s captain. She selected the most recent one for playback.

From aboard the smoking remains of a gutted starship, a spacesuit-clad journalist reported. “With a seemingly insatiable appetite for violence, Gobthar Veskgron claims personal responsibility for this latest senseless massacre. More commonly known as Blacktusk, he is perhaps the most dreaded space pirate ever to plague the stars of Rhyon. His fleet is responsible for countless acts of terror—like this one—directed against Monarch Cruises’ own starliner, the SS Champion.”

The camera operator panned along scorched passageways, pausing to showcase several rows of blurred heads skewered on pikes. “Despite his brazen attacks on vital shipping lanes, federal authorities are slow to act. While local authorities claim they lack the resources to mount a meaningful response, it’s well known they are far too terrified of his notoriously brutal acts of reprisal to challenge him.” The operator returned the camera’s focus to the journalist.

“Recently, Blacktusk has made several attempts to recruit powerful binaries to his cause. Should he succeed, his reign of terror would be unequaled, and scenes like this one could become commonplace.”

April paused the playback and cast her cousin a seething glare. “I wonder why he’s here!”

“No, because Ky promised. He wouldn’t dare!”

“At least you got your thirty thousand,” said April.

Casey opened the navigation console and recalled Rocksaugh’s coordinates. She gripped the controls and turned her vessel about.

“What are you doing?” asked April.

Casey offered a determined smile in response. “I’m changing course.”

◆◆◆

Ky led Orin down the boarding ramp. From all around, warning lights spun, and broken alarms cried out in warped tones. “Rinshi, gonna need you to wait right here,” said Ky. “I’m fixin’ to inject the imprintin’ agent, and I don’t wanna confuse the poor boy any more ‘an he already is.”

“You got it, boss,” said Rinshi, and he stopped halfway down the ramp.

Ky shoved Orin forward, prodding him with his blaster pistol. Moments later, the warthog-shaped shuttle taxied into the space where Casey’s shuttle had been, and she docked. Heavy armor plates covered her fuselage, and