The Transporter's Favor by C.M. Simpson (pride and prejudice read .txt) 📕

paying off. His boot caught the wolf in the knee with enough force to bend it the other way. There was a sickening crack, and the wolf dropped to his good knee, but he didn’t let Rohan go.

I watched as Rohan twisted in its grip, and lashed out, again. This time, he caught the wolf in its other leg. He missed the knee, but it was a good hit, anyway, and he was still pulling away, tearing his shirt collar out of his captor’s grip, and running at the warrior holding his dog.

Cascade turned his head, and whined, and Rohan slowed, noting the long arms wrapped around the animal, the blaster protruding from under Cascade’s body.

“He’s okay?” and he stopped, as the wolf nuzzled the dog’s ear.

“Good dog,” it said, its words thick with teeth and gutturals.

Cascade whined, and licked its nose, before going limp, again.

Rohan stared at the dog and the wolf holding it.

“You won’t hurt him?”

And the warrior lifted his lip in a silent snarl. Rohan lifted his hands and took a step back.

“I meant no offense.”

“Your dog will be fine,” it said. “I will care for him.”

The relief on Rohan’s face was almost comical. When the wolf turned to carry Cascade into the airlock leading to the ship proper, the boy made to follow, and stopped at the rattle of the wolf squad raising its weapons.

“But…” he said, glancing back at them, and looking suddenly much younger as he gestured helplessly after his pet.

The wolf leader growled, and Rohan seemed to remember who he was supposed to be. I watched him age, as he straightened up and turned to face the wolf leader. The leader wasn’t impressed.

“I thought you had surrendered.”

Rohan glanced over his shoulder, but the door to the airlock had closed, and Cascade was lost to sight.

“It is my duty to protect my crew—even when they act foolishly.”

And now the wolf was amused.

“The dog is your crew?”

“Cascade is my friend.”

He stopped, turning his head as he caught the movement of the injured wolf warrior getting to its feet. I watched him pale, his blue eyes widening as the warrior got to its feet and flexed the leg he’d kicked out from under it. His throat moved as he swallowed against his fear, and his hands curled. I watched his feet shift, and knew he was preparing for an attack. The wolf turned its head towards him, but its leader spoke, dragging Rohan’s attention back.

“And what is the penalty for striking a superior?”

I watched as Rohan registered his words, and then connected them to every time I’d ever slugged Mack when I’d come back from a mission, and I couldn’t really blame him for smiling.

“Three rounds on the mats,” he said, “to settle the difference of opinion.”

The wolf gave a bark of amusement, and then all amusement faded.

“And do you surrender, cub?”

Rohan’s smile also disappeared.

“Who am I surrendering to?”

“I am Hunt Master Erkan of the Star Shadows. We have been contracted to retrieve the Shady Marie and all its crew.”

I watched as Rohan thought about it, and knew he’d come to the same conclusion Case had made when she’d told him to surrender. His shoulders sagged, and his breath huffed out of him in a sigh.

“I surrender to Hunt Master Erkan of the Star Shadows,” he said, and managed not to do more than flinch, when the wolf he’d injured came and secured his hands.

“I want satisfaction,” it growled, looking to Erkan.

Rohan tensed but kept his eyes on the wolf leader.

Erkan looked at the young man, and then back at his subordinate.

“Three rounds on the mats,” he said, “just as soon as he unlocks the ship.”

He looked back to Rohan.

“Do you have a regen tank on board?”

Rohan swallowed hard, and nodded.

“Yes,” and he started to smirk, “but it hasn’t been calibrated for wolves.”

The wolves thought that was as funny as hell. Rohan’s challenger curled his lip, took hold of his collar, and steered the boy towards the airlock leading into the ship.

“Remind you of anyone?” Abby asked, and I rolled my eyes, wondering just how much of Rohan’s attitude could really be laid at my door, because he was doing exactly what I did when I knew I was going to lose and didn’t want to back down.

I’d like to say I’d never have been so stupid as to taunt my opponent like that, but I remembered… I pushed that thought aside, and turned my attention back to the viewscreen. Abby hadn’t pulled a spider trick on me for ages, and I didn’t want to give her an excuse to start now.

5—Arrest and Incapacitation

Watching the Shady Marie fly away was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Even knowing that Abby watched it with me, even knowing we could trace its path, it was hard just to sit still and let it go.

“This really sucks, Abs.”

“I am not happy, either, but look.”

She highlighted the single drop-ship that left the Shady Marie’s hull, and returned to the world below.

“We’ll follow them back. I cannot detect either Mack or Tens on the Marie.” She paused. “I cannot detect them on the planet, either.”

It was the most uncertain that I’d ever heard her, so I laid a comforting hand on her console.

“It’s okay, Abs. If they went downside, they’ll have left a trace—even if it’s just evidence of where they’ve been.”

“They were on schedule,” Abby said, after a few seconds.

“What?”

“They would have found us at the time predicted, if something had not gone awry here.”

“Oh.”

“I have pulled the communications logs from the nearest satellite, as well as the files logging entry and exit of ships to and from this system. The Shady Marie was on schedule to meet us as I planned.”

As she’d planned? But I knew that. She’d told me that, had planned my snatch and isolation so I could catch up on the background data without Mack and Tens breathing down my neck—that, and so she could run her own, brief, form