The Thief's Dark (Renegades Book 3) Read online

  The Thief’s Dark

  RENEGADES: BOOK THREE

  L.P. Peace

  © 2020 L.P. Peace

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  [email protected]

  www.lucypeace.com

  Cover by Sam Muraski

  Editing by Ly Publishing

  To my wonderful husband, for all of your love and support.

  And to my best friend Andrea. I can’t wait until we can go out and share a meal together again.

  Contents

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Glossary of Terms

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Author Note

  Also by

  About the Author

  A thief running from his mistakes. A woman racing toward her destiny. Together they have one chance to save her crew.

  Zoe is astronavigator on the Earth ship Endurance; their mission: to submit Earth's application to the Intergalactic Council, make the trade of human slaves illegal and in so-doing save the Sol system from malevolent alien forces. But when the ship is boarded by slavers and her crew taken, Zoe finds herself the possession of a male who claims her as his own. Can she ever allow herself to find happiness with him?

  When Daris takes a job, 'no questions asked' he doesn't expect to find himself on The Crucible slave ship. He also doesn’t expect to find his mate. When his actions place her in danger, he has to use every trick at his disposal to get both of them to safety. Only then can he bring news of her ships fate to Earth's allies and in so-doing, gain the trust of the only female he could ever want.

  But can they escape the enraged Fedhith slaver and save the crew of Endurance?

  Being in this place felt like being out there in the vacuum of space.

  Zoe watched the inner walls of astronavigation display the space outside of Endurance. She was rapt and had been since she stepped foot into this room eight months ago when she won her commission on board.

  She was one of the first people Captain Rebekah Durrani brought onto the crew. Zoe buzzed with pride.

  Astro-navigation was an octagonal room in the heart of Endurance. The telemetry from the ship’s sensors was fed here and displayed on the walls, ceiling, and floors in real-time and could be projected as a holograph into the room itself. Zoe was one of five crew members currently observing, checking, and correcting their course where necessary to get the first Outer-System Armed Forces ship from Earth all the way to the Intergalactic Council. Finally, five years after the Tessans had extended the hand of friendship, and three-hundred and forty years after The Violation, humans would be able to stop the attempts to enslave the planet.

  This was the most crucial endeavour humanity had ever undertaken.

  Many had asked why the OSAF didn’t call the ship Endeavour. Captain Durrani’s speech before they left Earth outlined the message Earth was sending the aliens out there. No matter what they did to humans, Earth would endure. That, she said, was humanity's superpower. Zoe wasn’t quite sure she agreed, but it sounded good.

  Zoe saw a blip out of the corner of her eye and looked up to find the space in front of her shift slightly.

  Frowning, she looked down at her workstation and tried to pull up the course correction.

  There wasn’t one.

  ‘Ensign Bjornsdottir.’ Zoe looked at the copper-haired young woman across the room.

  Pyri looked at her. ‘Yes, sir?’

  ‘Was there a course correction?’ Zoe looked back at the screen. ‘I just saw it, but there’s nothing logged.’

  Zoe looked up at Pyri and saw the woman’s smooth brow furrow. She turned to her station and pulled up the data.

  ‘There’s nothing here, sir,’ she said, looking back. ‘Erm, hang on.’ Pyri set to work.

  Zoe crossed the room and leaned over the young ensign. She watched Pyri’s fingers tap over the touch screen and pull up the log. She did something, and suddenly dozens of entries that hadn’t existed a moment before appeared in red lines across the screen.

  ‘What the hell is that?’ Zoe murmured.

  Pyri shook her head. ‘I have no idea, sir, but it looks like the computer’s been making course updates and then deleting them.’

  Zoe’s eyes were attracted to something on the side. She pointed to it. ‘That’s not the computer. Can you pull that up, check it out, and send a report?’

  ‘Yes, sir. To whom?’

  Zoe thought of her chain of command and suppressed a sigh. ‘Lieutenant Kessler, Lieutenant-Commander Abrami, and me.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Pyri said.

  Zoe stood, feeling awkward. She nodded at the ensign to signal her approval. It didn’t matter how long she had been in a command role, or how many staff she oversaw; she still felt like she didn’t have the right to give orders.

  ‘I’m going to go tell Kessler.’ Zoe looked at Pyri. ‘You have nav until I’m back.’

  Zoe looked around the room at the walls, one quick glance to orient herself and walked over to one wall. The screen parted into a door, allowing Zoe to leave the room.

  She stepped across the hall to Kessler’s office. He was supposed to be in nav, of course, but the man often complained about his migraines. Astronavigation had been different for the old ISAF members. Zoe remembered the rusty old bucket of her father’s ship, The Bixby, where she had cut her teeth as an ensign. Three or four working screens was a luxury; a room of working screens was extravagant. Her father would have hated it, and just that thought alone made it worth being here.

  Zoe hit the comm.

  ‘Come,’ she heard Kessler call. The door opened, and Zoe stepped inside the dark office.

  Nathan Kessler was only a year or two older than Zoe. His green eyes observed her from behind a hand that was rested on his head. He seemed to be in pain.

  ‘What can I do for you, Lieutenant?’ he said, looking up at her.

  ‘There’s been a strange course correction, sir. The course changed, but the log was deleted. I had ensign Bjornsdottir pull up the logs, and she found that there've been dozens of these tiny corrections.’

  Kessler watched her for a minute in silence, as though inviting her to continue. Zoe held her place and felt the time creep across her skin, cutting into her awareness, an insidious creature that plucked at her nerves until that was all she could feel.

  ‘Did it ever occur to you that these might be minor course corrections the computer is programmed to make to
rectify user error?’ he asked in a mocking tone.

  Zoe felt the familiar rise of prickling humiliation across the back of her neck and gritted her teeth. She hated this. Loathed this self-doubt in the face of scrutiny.

  ‘I haven’t heard of such a thing, sir,’ Zoe said.

  ‘I don’t suppose you’d need to.’ Kessler looked down Zoe’s body slowly. She felt her embarrassment rise.

  ‘Having seen the logs, sir, I believe they may be coming from our Halidan escort.’

  Kessler’s mouth opened in shock.

  Finally, Zoe waited for Kessler’s response. After half a minute, he straightened in his seat. ‘Lights.’ The room flared into focus. Zoe felt a little of the tension in her body ease.

  ‘Fuck me. You really hate me, don’t you?’ Kessler stood. ‘I get that you’re still salty about me getting his position, Winters, but actively trying to sabotage me?’

  Zoe opened her mouth, but for a moment, nothing came out. ‘Sabotage, sir?’

  ‘I okayed the Halidans access to our nav, and you formally protested. You think Abrami didn’t tell me?’ Kessler walked around his desk, getting in Zoe’s face. ‘I earned this commission, Winters. I didn’t get it because the captain used to babysit my best friend.’

  Zoe couldn’t help the snort that came out.

  Kessler’s eyes turned cold. ‘And what does that mean?’

  Zoe tried to say the words. She opened her mouth to speak, but her throat refused to work. She clenched her jaw in frustrated anger.

  No, you got it because your admiral father skipped you up two ranks to take it from me.

  ‘Nothing, sir,’ she finally managed between gritted teeth.

  ‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘Because you know I earned this.’

  If you’d truly earned it, you wouldn’t have to go around reminding everyone you’d earned it continually.

  ‘Whatever it is you have planned, go back in there and tell Bjornsdottir to stop and I’ll overlook this incident.’

  The door to Kessler’s office swished shut behind her. Zoe looked up and down the hall, and after seeing that it was clear she gave herself a moment.

  I’m so stupid. I’m such a coward. Why can’t I speak up for myself? Why can’t I defend myself? It’s so unfair.

  With that out of her system, Zoe stepped back into nav and walked over to Pyri.

  ‘How’s it going.’

  ‘I’ll have the full report in less than an hour,’ Pyri answered.

  ‘Cancel the report,’ Zoe said out loud.

  Ensigns York and Welch looked up from their conversation. From across the room, Lieutenant Faulkner gasped.

  ‘Sir?’ Pyri looked up at her, her blue eyes full of confusion.

  ‘Lieutenant Kessler’s orders.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Pyri said. There was a noticeable reluctance in her voice.

  ‘Lieutenant Faulkner, could you take over F-station? I want a report on random bodies before the end of the shift.’

  ‘Erm, that report’s not due until tomorrow, sir?’ Alethea frowned.

  ‘Let’s get a jumpstart on it,’ Zoe said, forcing a light tone to her voice.

  Faulkner logged off her workstation before crossing the room and sitting next to Pyri. Pyri looked up from her to Zoe.

  ‘Bjornsdottir, take B station please.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Pyri was already logging off. Zoe suppressed a smile.

  As Pyri crossed the room, Zoe gave her a significant look. Pyri nodded her understanding.

  Zoe sat at her station and tried to quell the butterflies in her stomach. Her nerves felt like they were on fire, and her fingers twitched as they hovered and stilled over her own workstation. Any moment now, she expected Kessler to come in, spitting fire and blood, and promising to use his father to see an end to her career.

  She couldn’t go back to living with her family. She wouldn’t. As time passed, her anxiety only grew.

  When the doors opened, Zoe jumped in her seat and yelped.

  Lieutenant Ian Lansdown walked in and frowned at Zoe’s response.

  ‘Everything okay, Zo?’

  Relief flooded her and she managed to smile at him.

  ‘Just concentrating.’ She beckoned him over with a wave of her hand. Ian pulled up a chair beside her.

  ‘We have a problem,’ she whispered. Ian pulled in a little closer. ‘Pyri’s discovered lines and lines of deleted course corrections.’

  ‘Kessler’s back door for the Halidan?’

  ‘I suspect so. I have Pyri pulling a report, but when I told Kessler, he shut it down.’

  ‘How long do you need?’ Ian asked.

  Zoe looked at the time. ‘About another twenty minutes.’

  ‘Pyri,’ Ian got up and crossed the room, ‘I know it’s near the end of your shift, but do you think you could hang around and help me with a special project?’

  Pyri glanced at Zoe and flashed her a smile. ‘Yes, sir,’ she answered.

  After officially handing over to Ian, Zoe left astronavigation and headed to the mess located three floors above. She knew she could leave the report in Ian’s capable hands, but she wanted to be there. She couldn’t be, of course, because Kessler would notice and realise what was going on. Still, the urge to turn around made her hesitate in her tracks more than once.

  ‘Zoe.’

  Zoe groaned and sped up.

  ‘Zoe,’ the Australian accent called after her. ‘I know you can hear me.’

  A moment later, the Earth’s envoy to the IGC rounded on her.

  James Whittaker was a handsome man in his late forties. He smiled down at Zoe from his almost six-foot height and placed a hand on the wall in front of her, forcing her to stop.

  ‘Why are you ignoring me, beautiful?’ he murmured.

  Zoe felt a flash of annoyance and tried to push past him. ‘I’m late meeting Sophia and Tara,’ she told him. Her eyes fixed on the door to the mess, which was only several meters down the hall.

  ‘They can wait.’ Whittaker moved closer to her, forcing Zoe to back up to avoid him pressing his body against hers. ‘I need your attention now.’

  ‘I’ve told you no,’ Zoe muttered. The words barely made sense. Frustrated, Zoe tried to look at Whittaker, but every time she made eye contact, her stomach would revolt with a violent roll and her eyes looked somewhere else.

  ‘That’s not what you told me on Sentinel 4.’ Whittaker smiled at her. ‘Seven months ago, you couldn’t get enough of me.’

  Zoe gritted her teeth. Seven months ago, she was one of a handful of women on board and Whittaker was being shown around as a courtesy. Zoe accompanied Captain Durrani and Whittaker on the tour. He was romantic and sweet, and Zoe had enough daddy issues that she fell for it. As soon as the other women started showing up, he’d lost interest. Word had it that Whittaker had slept with most of the female crew by now. Zoe felt sick that she was counted in those numbers, but at least she had the excuse that she hadn’t known what a creep he was when she had slept with him.

  ‘I really wish you’d leave me alone,’ Zoe muttered.

  ‘You don’t really want that,’ Whittaker said, pushing against her. ‘Come on. Let’s go to my suite.’

  Down the hall, the doors to the mess opened and Sophia Abara appeared. Sophia saw Zoe pinned to the wall. Anger clouded her face. Her full lips became a grim line of determination, and she crossed the hall towards Zoe.

  ‘You really are the biggest fucking creep, Whittaker,’ Sophia said loud enough for anyone in the hall to hear.

  Whittaker went still, and a look of anger appeared before it was quickly smothered as he released Zoe. He turned to Sophia.

  ‘Are you always this disrespectful?’ he hissed between gritted teeth.

  Sophia inserted herself between Whittaker and Zoe. ‘When I see someone creeping on my friends, yeah.’

  Zoe moved using Sophia as cover and backed away from Whittaker, towards the door to the mess.

  Sophia’s eyes flicked to her then pinn
ed Whittaker in place.

  ‘Didn’t your captain have a chat with you yet,’ he sneered.

  A smile appeared on Sophia’s face. ‘Yes, she did,’ Sophia said. She stepped up to Whittaker who was only an inch taller than the five-foot-ten Sophia. ‘And she told me to start lodging formal complaints. So I am.’ Sophia’s grin grew. ‘From this point on, I’m going to make sure every woman you harass lodges a proper complaint so that it’s all there for everyone to see.’

  ‘Do you really think that will make any difference to anyone?’ Whittaker smirked.

  Zoe studied him, shocked by how his ugly personality twisted his handsome features.

  ‘I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?’

  Whittaker stared Sophia down for another minute, before throwing a disgusted look at Zoe and walking away.

  ‘You okay?’ Sophia grabbed Zoe’s arm and walked with her towards the mess.

  Zoe nodded, still too overwhelmed to say anything.

  The mess was packed. Zoe groaned, unable to deal with the serving line. Sophia pulled over to a table, upon which sat three loaded trays of food already waiting. Zoe gratefully went to her seat.

  ‘You’re not supposed to be able to get more than one tray of food,’ Zoe said reproachfully. Sophia fixed her with a huge grin.

  ‘Addison is an angel.’ Zoe looked over at the service line and saw Addison standing behind the counter. Her hair was tightly bound on top of her head, the dreads attempting to break free of the hairnet.

  ‘That girl is way too intelligent to be serving food. Bullshit neuro tests.’ Sophia shook her head, a look of disgust on her face, which quickly changed into a huge grin when Addison looked over. Addison smiled back.