The Smuggler's Radiant (Renegades Book 2) Read online

  The girl had red and grey skin and grey eyes. Her dark red hair grew down the centre of her head, leaving the sides bare. Her hair was tied in a long plait down her back.

  She couldn’t have been more than thirteen, but already had a glint of trouble in her eyes. She grinned at Makios as he went by.

  Makios remembered what Sidha had said and made a mental note to see if he knew a way to contact his friends on the Temerin ship. Temerin were fiercely loyal and protective of one another. She was better off with people who understood her than on Tessa, where her heritage might see her closely watched and unable to integrate.

  The two lower storage rooms were being cleared out. Males would go in one—females in the other. The Temerin and Surilan girls were going in with Vella. A young Mvari boy was going in with Kenian, himself a Mvari ex-slave. Makios trusted him to care for the boy.

  When they caught up with Rhona, he would work something out. He hoped, from the way she had responded to the kiss, that she would be staying with him, but he didn’t want to assume. It had been a tense situation, and he didn’t know what her feelings were. Despite the way she looked at him, he didn’t want to assume that meant anything.

  But he hoped.

  Makios went to the medical bay where Dabin was waiting for him with Doug. ‘We only have five translation chips in stock,’ he warned as Makios walked in.

  They usually kept a few in stock for human slaves they bought from auctions. They’d never needed many as they usually only found the preowned slaves who already had chips. Having thirteen at once was unprecedented.

  It’s because Tolomus had been supplying the Cealin for their experiments, he reminded himself. His hatred of both Tolomus and the Cealin flared.

  ‘Save one for Rhona,’ he said. ‘She’s probably already got one by now,’ his fists clenched, ‘but save one just in case.’

  Dabin nodded. ‘There’s no way to warn the human this is going to hurt.’

  Makios considered her a moment. He looked at Doug, who was watching them both warily, pointed at the chip applicator, tapped the bone behind Doug’s ear and gritted his teeth, hissed in a breath, flinched.

  Doug’s eyes widened. ‘This is going to hurt then?’

  Makios nodded.

  ‘I stand corrected,’ Dabin said.

  He applied the applicator before Doug could stop him.

  ‘Wait… Ah, fuck.’ Doug jumped from the table holding his ear and doubled over. ‘Mother…’ He walked around the room hissing and holding near but not touching his ear.

  Dabin walked over to a console and switched the chip on. He nodded at Makios when it was done.

  ‘Doug, can you understand me?’

  Doug turned and looked at him, wide-eyed. ‘That really works,’ he said, his voice a couple of octaves higher.

  Makios smiled. ‘Yes, it does.’

  ‘What happened to Rhona?’

  Makios’s fists clenched reflexively. ‘She was taken, but we’re on our way to get her back.’

  ‘Can you do that?’

  ‘We’ll find out.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘I’m about to contact the Tessans. They’ll send a ship for you,’ Makios explained.

  ‘Who are the Tessans?’

  Makios was surprised. It had never occurred to him how out of touch the humans were with the races that lived around them. That was the result of their defences, he realised. No one risked Earth space except for the slavers, and some of them didn’t make it back. Tolomus was the most successful.

  Makios reviewed the events of a cycle before.

  ‘Tessa was a human. It is also the name of a planet she settled with her human daughter and her two Kuyon mates.’

  ‘Kuyon?’

  ‘A race that will mean nothing to you at this point. Males pre-bond in pairs. Tessa was their mate. They adopted her daughter, Alethia. After Tessa and her mates died, Alethia and I went around buying slaves. The planet was a sanctuary for them.’

  ‘Was?’

  ‘Still is,’ Makios said reassuringly. ‘Only now it’s also the home planet of the Protectorate. Their leader fell in love with Alethia and now he protects the planet and anyone who goes there. Even declared against slavery for the systems he protects. Lots of slaves are being freed right now because of them. Thanesh wants to open negotiations with Earth, so those who want to return, can.’

  ‘Why would he do that?’ Doug gasped.

  ‘Long story, but basically, he and his men were the people taken during what your planet calls The Violation.’

  ‘You can’t be serious! Those people would be long dead now.’

  ‘They were altered, their memories wiped by the Cealin. It didn’t go the way they thought it would. Thanesh and his men got free, now they’re on your side.’ Makios could still see doubt.

  ‘You’ll see when you get to Tessa. They’ll take good care of you.’ He smiled. ‘Alethia will take good care of you. She’s a good female.’

  Doug nodded, quiet and contemplative.

  ‘Would you be our go-between? Talk to your people, translate for us? We have three more translators, but we need someone they trust who will be the main source of information for your people.’

  ‘I will.’ Doug swallowed, his face becoming taut with grim lines.

  ‘Doug, will you talk to them now?’

  ‘Of course.’ Doug touched the spot the translator was applied and hissed.

  ‘For the pain,’ Dabin held up a medspray. Doug nodded his assent and Dabin applied it. ‘You will feel it in a metri.’

  ‘Metri?’

  ‘Around a minute and a half,’ Makios said. He and Alethia had long ago translated some of the measurements for those recently abducted humans. They took a metri while Makios filled him in on what was going to happen next and answered questions about the Tessans. Then Makios led the way out of Medbay. As he walked across the galley, manoeuvring around people, Doug walked to the stairs leading to the mezzanine and the storage above. He climbed them to the fourth step until he was standing over the crowd.

  ‘Can I get everybody's attention?’ It took a couple more calls, but finally, the room stilled and quietened.

  Makios crossed to the hall leading to the crew quarters and beyond that, the bridge, and turned to watch.

  ‘The captain,’ Doug pointed to the corner where Makios stood, ‘has asked me to speak to everyone—’

  ‘What about Rhona?’ The male was elderly, short, but seemed sturdier than some of the taller humans in the room.

  ‘He’s getting Rhona back, Abe. We’re on our way now?’ Doug looked at him for confirmation.

  Makios nodded. ‘I’m not leaving this sector of space without her.’

  Doug translated for him. When everything settled, and Doug was relaying what they discussed in Medbay, Makios headed to the bridge. There in the hallway, he found the Surilan and Temerin girls whispering.

  Makios grinned at them.

  The Surilan girl giggled, and the Temerin grinned.

  ‘What am I going to do with the two of you?’ Makios shook his head.

  ‘I don’t want to go home,’ the Surilan girl called to him as he passed. ‘My parents sold me.’

  Makios felt a flash of anger. He let it out in a harsh sigh. He wanted to hunt them down and—

  ‘I wanna go to my people,’ the Temerin said.

  ‘What are your names?’

  ‘Galla,’ the Surilan said, ‘and this is Tonni. We shared a cage on the Fedhith ship. I wanna go with Tonni.’

  Makios took a breath. He couldn’t really make that decision for her, and she was getting to an age where she was old enough to make it for herself. ‘I may have a contact. The Sindaal I just hired used to work on a Temerin ship. I’ll see if he can contact them.’

  Makios turned and put his hand to the reader. As the door slipped aside, Deyuul looked at him from the pilot’s seat.

  ‘Get out,’ Makios said, walking onto the bridge.

  ‘Makios, we have to
talk about this.’

  ‘Later.’

  ‘Not later,’ Deyuul said. ‘I am your executive officer. If we’re off, the whole ship is off. We need to talk.’

  ‘And what would you like to talk about?’ Makios asked through gritted teeth.

  ‘This mission to get this girl, then drop these people off. Each one takes us further and further away from our goal of returning to Caras.’

  ‘Caras,’ Makios nodded. ‘Where you were supposed to have my back and Tolomus kidnapped me and sold me as a slave?’

  ‘We stopped him before he had a chance—’‘I was there to be picked up, Deyuul,’ Makios snarled. ‘I’m an owned slave now. If the IGC picks us up, as a criminal, I’ll be returned to my rightful owner.’

  ‘Makios.’ Deyuul sounded horrified. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘And now you want me to walk away from my female? Then what, space the people we rescued?’

  ‘Of course not,’

  ‘Then what are you saying Deyuul?’

  ‘I’m just pointing out—’

  ‘Have you ever been sold as a slave, Deyuul?’ Deyuul’s mouth flapped. ‘Don’t bother. I already know the answer.’

  Makios looked around the bridge for something to punch. He chose the door. The dull thud filled the room. His knuckles stung with the pain, and red blood oozed over them. Still, he didn’t feel any better. His shoulders bowed under the memories.

  ‘You can’t know Deyuul. You can’t know what it’s like to sit there and be helpless. You can’t know what it’s like to watch the female you… to watch a female you care for be taken. To watch someone you consider a friend give up hope. To give up hope yourself.’

  ‘You’re right. I don’t understand. I just have to remind you this is the chance for your crew to become legitimate.’

  ‘And you will be,’ he promised. ‘We’ll retrieve Rhona and drop these people off and get the information from Caras and save the scientists and retrieve the radiant from the Goedan,’ Makios sighed, already tired by the thought.

  ‘But we’re getting Rhona first.’ He looked at Deyuul. ‘I won’t negotiate this. She’s my female. She was bought by a sadistic vrok, and I won’t let her be there longer than absolutely necessary. Do you understand?’

  There was a pause, then Deyuul nodded.

  ‘Good. Now get the vrok outta my sight. I can’t look at you.’

  ‘This isn’t my fault, Makios. Tolomus arranged for the riot on Caras. We got caught up in it. We tried to get to you.’

  ‘I know that in here,’ he pointed at his head, ‘but not here.’ He pointed at his heart. ‘I love you, Deyuul. You’re like a brother and one of my best friends. But until these are aligned, I can’t look at you.’

  Deyuul nodded.

  The door clanged shut behind him.

  Makios sighed and turned to look at the bridge. He’d grown up on this ship; it was home. It offered a level of familiarity and comfort that Makios could only extract from this place, Alethia, Dairon and their homeworld. A homeworld he was banned from entering until he had the radiant in his hold.

  Maruzen liked their environments dark. That came from the predator in them. The exterior and interior of the ship were black, though the galley had been redecorated by Vella. The black metal and animal hide of the bridge was sleek and sexy. The ceiling was lit from small spotlights that caused a play of shadow and light across the space. The front of the ship curved, and the bridge in front of the viewscreen curved with it. There were four work stations for crew set along the front of the ship—two in front of the viewscreen and one either side. The workstations were mostly black, though they were made up of holographic displays and dancing lights giving constant readouts of the ship’s status. There were also four seats against the back wall where crew members could buckle up for gate jumps. There had once been a captain’s seat in the centre of the room. Makios still had fond memories of listening to his adiff swearing like the soldier he was before retirement as he removed the seat.

  ‘Either I get rid of this durv, or sit you in it and you can be Captain.’ His adiff grinned and winked at Makios. ‘I am not trusting you to pilot the ship. Not yet.’

  Taking in a deep breath, Makios allowed the memories to calm some of the fire in his belly.

  No doubt getting the humans and other ex-slaves to Tessa was going to involve at least one jump. Makios did a quick survey of the seating they had on board where they could secure the people they rescued from the slave market. They should have enough if they deployed the medical bed and placed some in the bed restraints.

  He took the pilot’s chair and pulled up the tracker on the computer system. Tapping the screen, he pinched at the holo and threw it at the viewscreen where it blossomed to show a small blip pulsing on the edge of the screen. Tala was chasing Thalos’s ship, gaining on it. He estimated they were four hacri behind at most. The ship was fast, but Tala was faster. She was faster than most ships.

  ‘I’m coming for you, Rhona,’ he promised. He paused for a moment to compose himself, taking a deep breath and trying to expel the nervous pit from his stomach.

  ‘Sidha,’ he spoke into the comm. ‘Come to the bridge.’ One down. He followed that up with a secure comm call to Thanesh. There was a trilling as the call waited and a triple tone when it connected.

  High Protector Thanesh was as pale as his human albino mate. No, Makios corrected, he wasn’t quite as pale as Alethia, though his skin was pale and his hair was white. Only his pale amber eyes broke the monotony of his face. His paleness was contrasted by the black uniform he wore.

  Makios honestly didn’t know what his oldest friend saw in the Protector, but there was no denying she loved him, or how devoted he was to her. He had upset thirty-nine systems to make her happy. He also lost three of them. Raqhan, Teyas and Ajnia all left the Tessan Protectorate rather than give up the slave trade.

  There was a look of obvious relief on Thanesh’s face at seeing Makios.

  ‘Get Alethia,’ he called behind him. Makios watched a figure leave the room. ‘She has been inconsolable the past few weeks.’

  Makios smiled.

  ‘I sent agents, but Deyuul thought it would be better if they handled it?’

  The anger that flashed through him was unreasonable. Makios bit back a few choice retorts.

  ‘I know, Kathen,’ Thanesh said. ‘I remember being in that room and being helpless to stop Kallis experiment on my female. I know.’

  Makios let out a breath.

  ‘It was bad enough in the Cealin cells. Everything that happened after,’ he said. Three Cealin guards tortured Makios for fun. Later, he hunted them down and mercilessly slaughtered them. He was horrified enough with himself afterwards, only to find Kallis got Alethia while he was indulging in revenge. Shame rose like bile. He kept trying to swallow it, but it wouldn’t go away.

  ‘We all carry the shame of letting Alethia get caught.’ The emotion was plain on Thanesh’s face. ‘But we got her back and that is all that matters.’

  ‘I met a female in the cells,’ Makios admitted. ‘A human. An Amaran bought her.’

  ‘To free her?’ Thanesh was frowning.

  Makios shook his head. ‘He cut her in front of me. He took pleasure from her pain.’

  The lines of Thanesh’s face tightened. His jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed. ‘What was his name?’ Thanesh’s voice was filled with barely contained rage.

  ‘Drexan Thalos,’ Makios said. ‘My crew tagged his ship. We’re on the way to get her now.’

  ‘I will inform Dahnus,’ Thanesh said. Dahnus Ascendi was the Amaran leader, their Ilan and a personal friend to the High-Protector.

  ‘Can you put a hold on that?’ Makios said. ‘We’re four hacri behind them and catching up. I want to get her off before the Amarans act.’

  ‘They can get her out.’

  ‘But my priority will be to get her out. Not arrest Thalos.’

  ‘You can trust the Amarans to look after the vulnerable,’ Thanesh a
ssured him.

  ‘And if it were Alethia?’

  Thanesh shook his head. ‘If it were Alethia, I would get Dairon, call you, Korren and Keral, take some of my most trusted men and Invictus and get her back any way I could.’

  ‘So you understand.’

  Thanesh nodded. ‘Let me know when you have her, then I will call Dahnus.’

  Makios nodded his thanks. ‘Speaking of Invictus and Dairon,’ Makios started. Behind him, there was a knock on the door. ‘Just a moment,’ Makios opened the door and let Sidha inside. ‘Sit there.’ Makios nodded at the co-pilot’s seat. ‘Don’t touch anything and keep quiet ‘til I say you can speak.’

  Sidha nodded and did as he was told.

  On the viewscreen, Thanesh looked from Makios to Sidha and back again as he retook his seat.

  ‘New crew?’

  Makios nodded. ‘I saved other slaves. Sidha was one of them. Which is why I need a rendezvous with the Invictus, to unload them.’

  ‘I will contact Tolomus and arrange to buy his missing stock.’ Thanesh grimaced his distaste at the idea. ‘You are keeping this one?’

  Makios looked at Sidha. ‘Apparently, he’s good at hacking into systems.’

  Thanesh’s eyes widened for a moment before he focused his attention on Sidha again. ‘You are Sindaal.’

  Sidha nodded.

  ‘Your king pays me a great many credits to ensure none of your people leaves his space.’

  Sidha’s face dropped. He went still.

  ‘I am supposed to return you,’ he said. ‘But I could let that drop, for a job.’

  ‘Anything,’ Sidha said, his voice was low. ‘I can’t go back there.’

  ‘When you have done this job, bring Sidha to me.’

  ‘I’m not bringing him if he wants to leave,’ Makios warned.

  Thanesh returned his attention to Sidha. ‘If you agree to this, you are under my protection,’ Thanesh said. ‘I have a long-term job I need doing. My planet has been registered with the IGC, but we have enemies. I want us to ensure we are always aware of their plans concerning my people.’

  ‘So, a five-year job.’