“I can do that, if you prefer. Are you looking for something specific?” he asked, curious when she carefully pulled a bag out of the pocket of the first man he had killed.
She looked over her shoulder at him. “I need credits for fuel cells. They are dead, so they don’t need them anymore,” she stated, turning back around and picking up the dead man’s weapon. She slid it into an inside pocket of her coat.
“You are robbing the dead?” he asked in a dubious tone.
La’Rue looked at him and scowled. “We are on Turbinta. These men would have stripped the clothes from my dead body. I’ll at least leave them that. They can’t use the credits and I need them to get off this dark cesspool of a planet. I also need more weapons. They are expensive. I guarantee you that in less than ten minutes, even the bodies will be gone. Someone will sell those as well,” she rationalized.
Sergi shook his head. “I am not judging you,” he muttered, rubbing his side.
His hand paused when he saw her watching the movement with concern. A slight smile twisted his lips. She was such a contradiction of toughness and compassion. Her attention shifted to searching the second man. She released a soft whistle and grinned as she stood up.
“I was hoping they would have a fair amount of credits on them and they did! I bet I have enough for the fuel cells without touching my own funds,” she said, tossing one of the black bags up in the air.
Confusion darkened Sergi’s brow. “What do you mean you were ‘hoping they would have a fair amount of credits on them’? You knew they were following you?” he demanded.
“Of course I knew! It was only a matter of time,” she said, sliding the two bags of credits into her pocket before removing two round disks from her utility belt.
Sergi bit back a retort and frowned unhappily as he watched her slap a disk to each man’s chest. He was glad she could use a dangerous situation to her advantage, but the fact that she was in danger at all felt absolutely intolerable. “You could have been killed or worse,” he couldn’t help grumbling, flashing back to Mei’s incredulous glares whenever his new and bizarre protective instincts had flared up around her.
“But I wasn’t,” she said, stepping past him. “You might want to step away.”
Sergi turned and followed La’Rue as she walked back down the alley. He stopped when she paused near the end, turned, and depressed the button on a thin, silver cylinder. His gaze moved to where she was looking. The bodies of the two men glowed for a few seconds before they became two piles of ash in the alley.
He turned to look at her with a wary expression. “I think I may have underestimated you,” he ruefully admitted.
She gave him a wry smile as she slid the cylinder back into her utility belt. “Most people do. It is how I stay alive,” she retorted before she grew serious. “Why did you leave without telling me?”
Sergi studied her face as he mentally debated what he should say. After her reaction to his kiss, he wondered if he may have drawn the wrong conclusion earlier.
“I overheard you telling Slate that you knew how to get the credits he needed. If I remember correctly, you told me that the Legion is offering a large bounty for me,” he confessed.
La’Rue’s eyes widened briefly in understanding, and she ran her fingers along the coarse, gray material of the shawl that rested near his temple. Her eyes followed the movement as her knuckles brushed along his smoothly shaven cheek. She paused and looked into his eyes.
“I might be a lot of things, Sergi, but I don’t betray a trust or turn my back on a friend, even if that friend is an ass. There are some runs I can make that pay a lot. I can do a couple of them and make the credits Slate needs,” she said, her eyes turning away from his.
Sergi lifted his hand and cupped her cheek, forcing her to look up at him. “These runs – they are dangerous to you, da?” he demanded.
“Yes, they are dangerous, but I’m good at what I do and the Star Runner, when she is in good running order, is one of the fastest freighters out there,” La’Rue stated.
“Why would you risk your life for a man who has betrayed you?” Sergi probed, feeling another emotion he had never felt before – jealousy.
La’Rue’s expression filled with regret. “Because life doesn’t always let you pick and choose who will be there to watch your back,” she murmured, tweaking the shawl before she released it. “This is a good disguise. I never looked twice at you.”
Sergi grinned. “I would have preferred a nice red or royal blue,” he teasingly reflected, replacing his gun in the waistband of his trousers.
“You’re crazy,” she chuckled with a shake of her head.
“Only for you, dusha moya,” he replied, catching her hand and lifting it to his lips.
“What does dusha moya mean?” La’Rue faintly asked, gazing up at him with dark, curious eyes that made him want to kiss her again.
Once again, he was shocked to realize that he had only met this incredible woman the day before. So much had happened in the past twenty-four plus hours that he was still trying to process everything.
“My soul,” he answered in a deeper voice.
Chapter Ten
“Stay here. It will look strange if you come in at the same time,” La’Rue said, pausing outside of the parts shop that they had passed a short while ago.
Sergi nodded. “I will be here when you come out,” he promised.
He watched as she disappeared into the parts shop. Bowing his head, he gripped the sturdy walking stick and stepped across the narrow alley until he was standing under the protective overhang of the building facing it. From this position he could see La’Rue inside through the large open doorway.
Sergi silently watched as merchants and customers went about their daily activities. He noticed that they moved in pairs or small groups. Every once in a while he would see a lone figure that made him wonder if it were one of the assassins who lived here. One thing that stood out was that there wasn’t a lot of talking between people, instead people looked suspiciously at each other as they passed. After what had already happened to La’Rue, he could understand their distrust.
He narrowed his eyes when he noticed two men come out of the parts shop and walk across to where he was standing. He hunched his shoulders and pulled the shawl down a little more over his face before he casually leaned against the walking stick. He was surprised when the two men turned and leaned against the wall beside him, acting as if he wasn’t even there. One of them pulled out a long, narrow flute from the inside of his coat and lifted it to his lips.
“We need to leave here before the Legion has a chance to close off the planet,” one of the men muttered, his eyes following the movements of a merchant carrying supplies down the alley.
“You heard what Andronikos did to Jeslean, didn’t you?” the other man asked.
The first man nodded. “He’ll destroy anyone who gets in his way,” the man grimly replied, lifting the flute to his mouth once more.
The other man drew in a deep breath before he released it. Both men grew silent while several people passed by them. He waited to see if the men would continue their discussion.
“They say that two of the Ancient Knights of the Gallant have returned. I heard from another source that one of them defeated a Legion squadron single-handedly on Tesla Terra,” the second man said.
The first man nodded. “I heard the same thing. I also heard that the Director sent a squadron of warships to flatten the cities on Tesla Terra only to have his fleet intercepted and destroyed by the rebels in a surprise attack. They say the Ancient Knights have returned to lead the rebels,” he added.
“Do they think any of the Ancient Knights are here on Turbinta?” the second man asked.
The first man shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know why they would come here. The Turbintans won’t join in the fight unless they are paid to do so. The rebels wouldn’t stand a chance if the Legion were to hire these bloody assassins,” he growled with distaste.
/> “I heard from another freighter captain who was in a market on Torrian that there was a Turbintan seen with an Ancient Knight. She was fighting with him against the Legion forces there, not against him,” the second man shared.
Sergi could sense the first man’s surprise. His own desire to ask for more information about who these Ancient Knights were made him want to shake both men and demand answers. Instead, he gritted his teeth and hoped that they would continue to talk.
The men looked up when a third man appeared in the doorway across from him. They straightened when the man walked over to them. Sergi could sense the man’s gaze sweep over him before the man dismissed him. An old, infirm woman was no threat, after all.
“The parts will be delivered to our bay,” the man said. “I could use a drink. That damn merchant demanded almost twice what the part was worth.” The man paused and looked around with a frown. “Has anyone seen Germ and Amaric?”
“No, and I’m not waiting on them. You should never have hired those two. They are trouble,” the first man replied, sliding the thin flute back into his coat.
“The merchant told me the Legion is here searching for those two missing pods. Word has it that Turbintan natives are evacuating the city. He said General Landais himself is here – the older one, not the younger bastard. We need to get the ship repaired and then get off this damn planet,” the man continued.
“We were just talking about that. I heard that they are searching for pods of some sort. They are offering a large bounty for one and even more for a pod’s contents,” the second man replied.
The man who had stepped out of the shop nodded. “I heard the same thing – and that one of the pods was already found and taken to Tallei’s bar. There is no way I’m messing with that deranged assassin or the Legion. We repair the ship and get the hell out of here,” the man ordered.
“I’m with you, Captain,” the first man agreed. “I’ve got a family.”
Sergi watched the three men walk away. His mind swirled with this new information. He looked up when he saw La’Rue appear in the doorway. She was carrying a box by its handle. She looked up and down the alley before she crossed over to him.
“Did you get everything you needed?” he asked, watching as she placed the box down on the ground and began removing the long, silver tubes.
“Yes. Cost me twice what they should have, but they are in good shape. I made the merchant test each one in front of me,” she answered, sliding the tubes into a bag she had pulled from the pocket of her coat. “With the repairs we did yesterday and these, we should be able to get off the planet.”
“There is something I need to do before I leave here,” he murmured.
La’Rue straightened and looked at him with a frown. She lifted the straps of the bag over her shoulders and pulled the tabs to tighten the bag securely against her back. Her gaze searched his face as she waited for him to continue.
“I overheard two men talking about someone named Tallei. She has one of the pods. I need to see which one it is,” he said.
“No!” La’Rue loudly hissed before she lowered her voice. “No, Sergi. Tallei isn’t just an assassin, she is a master assassin. You know there were two pods on Turbinta. One was yours; the other was washed away by the flash flood. The merchant said the Legion forces are here as well. Not just the Legion, but General Coleridge Landais. He is as bad as Tallei. If either one of them sees you…. Sergi, they would kill you and it wouldn’t be a pleasant way to die because they will get whatever information they want out of you first,” she warned.
Sergi almost smiled at the worried expression on La’Rue’s face. He started to lift his hand to caress her face before he caught himself. He clenched his fist and looked toward the end of the alley to the main road. Returning his gaze to La’Rue, he nodded.
“We’ll go back and repair your freighter,” he agreed.
Her shoulders relaxed, and she gave him a brief smile before she pulled her goggles down over her eyes and used the material around her neck to cover her lower face. He sighed regretfully, already missing the sight of her face.
I have it bad. Mei and the others would never let me live it down if they knew, he ruefully thought.
He drew in a deep breath. He knew that Mei had survived and there was a strong possibility that at least one or more of the others had as well. He also had two other planets as possible landing sites – Torrian and Tesla Terra.
“We need to hurry. I’ve got a bad feeling that things are about to go from bad to worse rather quickly. Have you noticed that even the merchants are closing up shop?” La’Rue commented.
“Yes,” Sergi murmured.
Merchants were moving to seal their doors while the few customers who had been out and about seemed to have vanished into thin air. They reached the end of the alley and turned the corner. Sergi scanned the area ahead, sweeping over the few people still out on the main road. He was about to turn back to La’Rue when a lone, cloaked figure caught his attention.
There was something very familiar about the way the man was walking toward them. Sergi couldn’t see the man’s face, but he had a nagging feeling that there was something important here. He had learned a long time ago never to ignore such strong feelings.
He drew La’Rue behind him when the man was almost to the corner where they were standing. As he got closer, disbelief washed through Sergi when he heard a familiar soft chuckle followed by a voice he recognized.
“Damn, I feel like I’m back in Vegas,” the man said, though he wasn’t slowing down and didn’t appear to have noticed Sergi in his disguise.
Sergi remained frozen as his mind processed who he was seeing. He didn’t know how, but Ashton ‘Ash’ Haze was on Turbinta. His mind raced as he wondered if Ash had somehow been able to trace the signal to Sergi’s pod. If he had, he was walking into a trap.
“What is it?” La’Rue said, after the man had walked past them.
“Get to the freighter and repair it,” Sergi instructed, trying to keep his eye on where Ash was going.
“Sergi…,” La’Rue started to protest.
Sergi turned to La’Rue and reached up to cup her cloth-covered cheek. He wished things could have been different – that they had met in a different time and place – a different life.
“I can’t go with you. Repair your freighter and get out of here,” he ordered, wishing he could see her eyes.
“What is it? I’m not going to leave you, Sergi,” she protested.
“You have to. That man – he is from my world. I have to go, and so do you. Something far too dangerous is about to happen, and I don’t want you anywhere near it. You are a very special woman, La’Rue. Perhaps…,” he started to say before he shook his head, pulled down the cloth that had covered her mouth, and pressed a hard kiss to her lips. “Stay safe, dusha moya,” he instructed before he released her.
“Wait— I… You be safe as well, Sergi,” she said, brushing a kiss to his lips before she withdrew and pulled up the cloth over her mouth and nose again.
Sergi watched her look back and forth before she hurried down the walkway in the opposite direction. She didn’t look back at him. For a split second, he almost followed her instead of Ash. It was only the knowledge that this might be his only chance to connect with another member of the Project Gliese 581g mission and the possibility that Ash was walking into a trap that stopped him.
Chapter Eleven
Legion transport outside the city of Tribute:
Coleridge Landais stood looking out of the window of the military transport. The craft moved above the trees toward the main trading city of Tribute. His piercing gaze swept over the dull, gray landscape, constantly searching. The craft passed low over an isolated stand of trees. A frown furrowed his brow when he thought he saw a ship on the ground below them, but when he looked again he decided it must have been the combination of light, weather, and shadows that had made him think so. He returned his focus to the structure coming into sight ahead of them
.
The city of Tribute was as depressing as the rest of the planet. From the transport’s current position, he could see the entire city. Gray stone buildings lined the main road and divided the city into two sections with numerous side alleys branching off. The spaceport was located in the northwest section of the city. He could see the Legion shuttles scattered among the other spaceships.
“Are all transports being thoroughly searched before they are released?” Coleridge asked, turning to look at the Sergeant standing at his side.
“Yes, sir, just as you ordered,” the man stated.
“Do not allow any more ships to depart,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the Sergeant replied, turning to relay the General’s orders into the communications link attached to his ear.
Coleridge’s grip on the metal support tightened as the transport swung around the outskirts of the city. The moment it touched down, the doors opened. A cold blast of air swept through the vessel along with the heavy mist.
“Move out,” the Sergeant yelled above the sound of the engines.
Coleridge jumped out of the transport and strode toward the main street. Behind him, the Sergeant, along with half a dozen men, followed him while another half dozen spread out in formation and moved ahead of them.
Tallei’s bar was at the end of the street and to the left. Coleridge reached down and withdrew his weapon from the holster at his side. On each side of the street, the doors to the businesses were closed, and the sidewalks were deserted. A sense of satisfaction swept through him. He would have to convey to his brother that even the Turbintans were not immune to the overwhelming power of the Legion.
The small, orange-striped Turbintan wiped his blade on the front of the dead Legion Commander’s shirt. Blood smeared across Commander Taug’s name tag. Zoak had saved the Commander for last. All he had learned was that his master was in danger. His lips curled into a snarl.