Pixie Hazard by Archibald Bradford (top young adult novels .txt) 📕

He turned and gave a nod to his first mate, who in turn signaled the bridge.

Several seconds later the purplish bloom of an antimatter explosion lit up the commodore’s face as the bodies were given an expensive sendoff from the Howling Dragon.

A nervous cough to one side caused the corner of Rufus’s mouth to twitch in annoyance though and he turned to glare at the jumpy messenger who had just come into the room.

“Sorry, erm, C-Commodore. But Dee-Marco is on the horn again.”

The drag-queen let out a huff of annoyance at the interruption of the sacred ritual.

“Gettin’ a little tired of that smug sumbitch.” He complained bitterly; “He better have something useful to say this time or we’re heading back to Mung so as I can gut him.”

The nervous messenger swallowed.

“He’s mostly just making the same offer as afore. I think he is still angling to get paid for the info.”

Rufus eyes widened at the gall of the small time crime-boss man and he all but snarled in response.

“You tell that fat mother-fucker that he’ll get paid if and when those armoured whores are dead and that boy is tied up in a cute little bow for auction! Then and not before!”

“Yessir! Will do sir!” He yelped and then fled.

With the interruption over and the antimatter explosion likewise coming to an end, the funeral soon broke apart; the line of clan members ending their salute as awkwardly as it began as they shuffled their feet and waited on their orders.

Though like their leader, many of them were wiping at tears standing on their cheeks from the solemn ceremony.

Rufus nodded sympathetically when he noticed, weirdly proud of their public displays of grief.

He stepped forwards and clapped one of the more emotional ones on the shoulder firmly, making him flinch.

“Don’t worry baby. Our time is coming.”

__________

In the end they opted to leave Bunny and Kyle with the transport and a week of supplies, while Davie programmed the ship to automatically slipjump to Lewanna’s system in thirty hours.

If the Pixie wasn’t back by then, her crew was dead.

The K’or-Macka was not happy about the decision, but Kyle certainly appreciated it.

Once they made the jump it didn’t take long for them to find what they were looking for. Because just as Eniella’s star-map predicted, there was nothing else there.

“Tell me we didn’t just waste twenty six light years of slipspace fuel?”

“Fifty two, assuming you want to get back to Bunny and Kyle.” Davie corrected.

“Not in the mood Reeves.”

“Just saying.” The pilot mumbled.

“Hang on!” Eniella said, sparing her girlfriend from an earful of Donnie’s ire; “I’ve got something! And holy shit are we lucky!”

“What and why?” The captain snapped.

“Don’t know, but it ain’t tiny. Whatever she is, we’re lucky we didn’t pop out inside of her.”

“I’m seeing it too.” Davie confirmed, but shook her head; “And no, not lucky, even factoring in twice the error rate we still had room to spare for the jump.”

“Settle it later. For now take us closer.” Donnie grumbled.

“Already moving.”

The skipper looked over the pilot’s shoulder as they approached the object.

Davie let out a low whistle when she realized what it was.

“It’s an asteroid, the only object for millions of kilometers. Lonely little rock.”

“How big?”

“It’s no Banana, barely eight hundred metres across. We’re coming up on it now.” The pilot reported.

Once they were closer, the Pixie’s running lights played over the asteroid, displaying its rough greyish-brown surface in vivid detail as they drifted around it.

Her eyes taking in the sight, Donnie spoke to Eniella.

“Is it big enough to stuff something inside of it?”

“Sure, but why would anyone-”

“Close the shutters.” She ordered; “Just in case something tries to poke our eyes out.”

A couple seconds later they were relying on their instruments to scan the rock for answers.

The FCO sat up suddenly.

“Wait... I’ve got heat. It’s faint. Must be deep in there. Nope, nevermind.”

“What the fuck Eniella?” Donnie sighed.

“Sorry, thermal scan lit up when we drifted over a bit. Heat. Lots of it. There’s a reactor in there, and definitely some air conditioning.”

“You find a door?”

“Not yet, Davie shift us down thirty degrees.”

“Copy.”

A few seconds later and Eniella was nodding her head slowly.

“There you are.” She said softly; “Docking airlock tucked into that crevice, someone was trying to hide it. We doing this?”

“That depends. Any weapon emplacements?”

“No, nothing. This rock is so remote they were relying on stealth to keep it safe.”

“‘They?’” Davie asked.

“Yeah, you know? Them.”

Donnie ignored ‘them’, opting to move on as she activated the ship’s coms.

“I need three marines in my airlock in full kit in ten minutes. We’re docking and I don’t wanna get caught flat-footed.”

There was a chorus of ‘copys’ and ‘rogers’ as the crew readied themselves for another adventure.

“And Bryan?”

It was a moment before he replied, having to figure out the coms panel in Maria’s room.

“Um, yes?”

“This place is literally in your DNA, so it’s your call.”

There was a long pause before he responded.

“I’d like to go with you, if that’s alright.”

The captain suppressed a groan, but accepted it.

“Yeah. I would wanna know too.”

Fifteen minutes later, they were in the airlock as it cycled through, the Pixie having docked with the mysterious asteroid.

Donnie audibly charged her shotgun.

“Alright people, Billy and Hooker with me, we clear the inside hard and fast. Be ready to fall back if it turns out we’re outmatched. Maria you hold the airlock with the kid until I sound the all clear.”

Bryan was at the blonde’s side, wearing Bunny’s patched up hazard suit and looking gray in the face.

“Yes ma’am.” Maria said before settling one armoured hand on his shoulder