The First Nova I See Tonight by Jason Kilgore (the false prince .txt) 📕

the voice a bit. "The ship is secured. We are ready to transport the captured vessel." A secondary screen showed his own image, greatly distorted and unrecognizable with interference.

Shit, Dirken thought, as Captain Chen appeared on the main screen. She'd survived the bombardment by the pirate. "Team One, please explain," she responded. "What transport? Where is Commander Prasad?"

"Commander Prasad is attending to the Governor. He ordered the ship to be taken to the Guiana Spaceport impound yards, since it isn't spaceworthy."

There was a long pause as the line went silent. Captain Chen turned and spoke to someone off to the side. Dirken held his breath.

Yiorgos looked over to Dirken, eyebrow raised in concern. He closed his eyes and tilted his head, going into the computer for a moment, then he came out of it, muting the line. "They're trying to hail Prasad, but he's not responding. If he's inside the pyramid, the signal may not be penetrating the stone walls."

Finally the line opened again. "Has your team seen any sign of the Heart? Or the two passengers who went missing, Nova and Ganas?"

Dirken and Yiorgos exchanged knowing looks. "That's a negative, Captain."

"The Heart's here somewhere. It's the only explanation. Be sure to search that vessel thoroughly upon impound, then report back," Captain Chen said. "Enter your flight code,"

Dirken nodded at Yiorgos, and the cyborg entered the old United Worlds code from their Mars gig from two Earth years before. Then, once again, they waited. Dirken eyed the scimitar. It wouldn't be of much use if the feds stormed the ship.

The Excellentia line opened again. "You are cleared to launch, Team One. Please notify us if there are any flight difficulties. The ship is badly damaged."

And just like that, things had gone their way again. Dirken rubbed his lucky runestone and said with a smile, "Will do, Excellentia. Team One out."

Yiorgos closed the channel, laughed out loud, and pulled up the navigation maps. With a roar of thrusters, the Speartip shook as it lifted off. In moments, the landing gear was up and they were soaring southeastward across the Yucatan Peninsula.

"You crazy fucker!" Yiorgos said, ignoring a dozen alarms coming from the damage control console. None of them were necessary for atmospheric flight. "This has got to be the biggest heist we've ever dared!" His smile faded a bit, and then he added, "This is why I stick with you, Dirk. You have some lame-brained, half-cocked plans, but somehow we always come out ahead."

Lame-brained? Dirken decided not to argue. He had to admit, things had gone pretty sideways. "Well, partner, we're a team, aren't we? Couldn't do it without you."

Yiorgos tilted his and gave a nod. "Now what, partner?"

"Take us beyond their detection range, then swing wide to the south over the sea. Stay low." He pulled up a map on his holo display and started scrolling around. Minutes later, he'd found the location he'd been thinking. "Head to this location."

Yiorgos pulled the map over to his navigation console's holo display with a wave of his hand. "The southern coast of Chile? There's nothing in this region but a bunch of islands and mountains. No real cities or spaceports."

"Exactly. We need to lay low. Repair ourselves and our bodies. There's a black-marketeer I did business with down there for ship parts, long ago. I think he's still in the biz." He cocked his head. "Besides, I know a great little brothel in an alien commune nearby." He flashed a smile. "They have Ursans with, um, modified tentacles!"

"Ah," Yiorgos said, rolling his eyes. "That explains it." He set the coordinates, then looked back over to Dirken. "Um… look at your shoulder."

"What?" Dirken said. And then he saw it. The wound had healed, but his new skin was green with tiny scales. "Shit!"

"You fool," Yiorgos said, laughing. "You injected yourself with Aquarian centaur nanites!" The cyborg doubled over with laughter, sputtering.

Dirken couldn't help but chuckle along with his partner. "Next thing you know I'll sprout another pair of legs!"

This set off another round of laughter until they were both struggling to get control over themselves.

Minutes later, Yiorgos swung the ship around, leaving the land behind and flying low over the waters of the Caribbean Sea. For the third time that day, Dirken's lucky runestone had come through for him.

He finally had a ship of his own again.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA

After Dirken and Yiorgos absconded with the Speartip they continued southward, soaring along the ridges of the Andes, then down to follow the Pacific coastline. Hours later they touched down in a forested valley in southern Chile surrounded by the breathtaking, snow-capped heights of the Cinco Hermanas Mountains and the imposing peak of a dormant volcano, the Volcán Macá. The last time he'd visited this place he had been hiding from the Zlyye Lokhi, a Martian crime syndicate, when he was still captain of the Brilliant.

After tending to their wounds and getting some much-needed rest, Dirken and Yiorgos explored their new starship... only to discover they weren't alone. A dozen roly-poly Dracordan mechanics were living in the engine room and trying to fix the gravwell generator. The leader of this little crew, named Dimbok'toy'chu, stood up on her four stubby legs and pointed three of her six arms at Dirken. "Who da fuck are you?" she proclaimed through a translator bracelet, her emerald eyes narrowing at the end of waving eyestalks.

It turned out the Dracordans didn't care who was in charge of the ship as long as they got paid with raw chicken, Pleiadean muscat, and inter-species BDSM pornography, of which the Bloodhawk had promised them a never-ending supply. This explained the multiple freezers full of chicken meat and kegs of muscat in the galley and the special memory drive labeled "NOT YOUR MOMMA'S PORN" (beside it was another drive labeled "MOM'S PORN" with a picture of the pirate with the laser-scarred face) in an alcove next to the galley.

It was a good thing the Dracordans were