“Fly away, fighter pilot. Fly away.” Briella belted out the lyrics of the popular Tegmen tune.
Her singing was loud and gloriously off-key. There was no one on the bridge, in her modified freighter, or in the universe who cared about her voice…or about her.
That freed her to do whatever she wished.
And what she wished to do right now was vocally murder her favorite song.
“Wage war on another heart.” She guided her ship toward Praecipua Trois as she repeated the soul-wrenching refrain. “There’s nothing left of mine. Ohhhhhhh…”
She extended that note into an ear-splitting wail and gunned the engines.
The fighting on the planet’s surface was already visible on the main viewscreen. Plumes from explosions billowed over the land masses. The Humanoid Alliance sought to decimate the more-peaceful local population and, by the looks of it, they were close to achieving that horrific goal.
“Fly away, fighter pilot. Fly away.” She sang louder, trying to drown out the tension building inside her. Her fingers splayed over the control panel. She flew her freighter faster toward the battle site.
Her ship would land in time for her to save the locals. Briella jutted her jaw. The beings were depending on her. She—
A light flashed on the console. She smacked the mute button. Silence fell on the bridge.
She opened communications. “If your credits are good, I’m your pilot.”
“A mercenary approach to life won’t fuel your soul, Beast,” Levi-Lucas the Third informed her prissily. Her contact at Beings For Peace had a stick the size of a support beam stuck up his ass. “We’re saving lives. That’s much more important than credits.”
“It’s not much more important to me,” she lied. There were easier ways to earn credits. She accepted the rescue missions for more-private reasons. “They don’t call me Beast merely because of my pretty face.” She skimmed her fingertips over one of the scars on her left cheek. “Some beings claim I have no soul.”
One of those beings had spat that declaration at her half a lifespan ago while he carved flesh off her face. She had screamed with agony and fought like the demon he believed her to be. The male, a father of a friend, had sought to gouge out her processor-equipped mechanical left eye. His efforts fortunately had been inept. Her father had stopped him before he was successful.
“Everyone has a soul.” Levi-Lucas the Third’s tone relayed he had doubts about that.
Great. Her lips twisted. She’d convinced another being she was evil. “Whatcha got for me?”
“This mission is dangerous.” He stated that obvious fact. The Beings For Peace operative only needed her for the treacherous tasks. “It’s too risky for any of my pilots.”
She, in contrast, was disposable. No one would miss her if she died.
“You don’t have to sell me on this assignment, LLTT.” She forced the lightness in her voice. “I’m in. Give me the coordinates.”
“It’s a pickup – twenty-eight locals.” He sent her their location. “They’re trapped in a dormant volcano. There’s only one exit to the site, and the Humanoid Alliance has it blocked. I doubt even you can pull off this rescue, but if you do, drop them at the usual location—the first friendly planet. We’ll take it from there.”
“Is there any intel on the opposing forces?” She wanted to know what she’d be facing. “Are the Humanoid Alliance using robots or any of those scary undead fuckers to fight this war?”
Those warriors didn’t care if they were blown to pieces, which made them pains in the ass to evade. They kept coming and coming and coming.
“The Humanoid Alliance has utilized exclusively humans for the fighting thus far,” Levi-Lucas the Third confirmed.
That was strange. She frowned. The Humanoid Alliance rarely risked their own kind.
But she was happy for that deviation. It upped her chances of surviving the mission.
“Gotcha.” She planned her route. “Consider this done.”
“You truly are a beast—fearless and—”
Briella ended the transmission, severing the male’s insincere fawning. She didn’t risk her lifespan for his empty words.
An image flashed through her mind. An older male with her coloring hugged an older female sporting a chin like hers. Another female and another male crowded around them. They all had their natural eyes, and they were smiling.
She touched the goggles hanging around her neck. Her family might’ve rejected her, might’ve sent her away without uttering any goodbyes, but she’d never stopped loving them, never stopped wishing they’d accept her communications, reach out to her.
When they finally contacted her, it’d been too late. “I couldn’t save you.”
Her pride had killed them. That guilt would cling to her forever.
She wouldn’t add more regrets to her vast collection. “I’ll rescue these beings.” She returned both of her palms to the control panel and scanned all possible routes to the pickup site.
That task took mere heartbeats. Her lips flattened. Her Beings For Peace contact had been right. There was only one viable entry point into the dormant volcano.
Water, long evaporated, had carved a pathway through the base of the funnel. The gap was close to the dry riverbed. Its span was an arm’s length wider than her ship.
That was why those beings remained alive. The Humanoid Alliance warships were larger than her freighter. They couldn’t fly through the gap.
And the human forces wouldn’t enter by foot. That was too risky.
They couldn’t advance.
But the locals were also trapped. The enemy waited with their missiles and their killing machines outside the circle of rock. The Praecipuans would eventually run out of food, would be forced to exit.
And then the Humanoid Alliance would slaughter them as they had slaughtered her family.
“Like Hyadum I’ll allow that to happen.” Briella steered her ship along the riverbed’s path.
The Humanoid Alliance redirected some of their firepower her way. Missiles arced toward her freighter.
Alarms sounded and lights flashed. She waited, waited, waited, then veered left. Wall panels vibrated as the missiles shot past her. That was how close they’d been to the freighter, how near she’d been to death.
“Fuck. This requires music.” She smacked the button, unmuting her tunes.
Vocals blasted. The bass pounded. Adrenaline pumped through her veins.
She swerved her ship to the left, right, right, left, avoiding a barrage of projectiles. Sweat beaded on her forehead, dripped down her spine. Missiles burst into color, into vibrant bits of energy all around her vessel. Metal rattled.
Her route became narrower and narrower. Her ability to avoid the missiles decreased. But the Humanoid Alliance forces below her ship thinned also. There were fewer battle machines to target her freighter.
She pulsed her engines, flying fast, fast, slow, fast, slow, slow, and tilted her ship upward, downward. Projectiles shattered the rock walls around her.
“Come on, baby.” Tension stretched across her shoulders. “You can do this. You can—”
The missile bombardment suddenly stopped. It must’ve been deemed too dangerous for the forces positioned on the ground. The Humanoid Alliance also knew they’d have another chance to down her ship.
She’d have to exit the same way.
That would be a challenge. She’d have to fly like the wind to avoid the strikes. But she could do it. She was the best damn freighter pilot in the fuckin’ universe.
That wasn’t a boast. That was the truth.
The rock walls closed in around her. She lowered her freighter and skimmed along the ground. Pebbles sprayed against the undercarriage. The pings were almost musical.
She carefully aligned the vessel’s nose with the opening in the stone before her. Entry into the dormant volcano would be tight. A purely organic pilot couldn’t make it. The systems on her freighter didn’t have the precision to target that small of a gap.
But she wasn’t one hundred percent organic. Her processor-equipped mechanical eye had been specifically designed for tasks like the one she now faced. She enabled sightlines and data on it, focused on her target, and inputted those specs into the control panel.
Her fingers trembled. If she made a mistake, if she was even a breath’s-width out of alignment, she would crash the freighter into the stone around her or plunge her vessel into the sand below her.
Either collision would kill her.
“You have this.” She uttered that encouragement to herself and to her ship. “You’ll make it.”
Metal scraped against hard surface as her wings grazed the rock.
For a moment, she thought she was dead.
But then her ship was free. Open space was all around her.
“Fuckin’ right.” She circled her freighter once, twice around the funnel. That signaled to the locals on the ground she was an ally. An enemy would’ve shot at them.
She lowered her ship to the planet’s surface, donned her goggles, then stalked to the doors and opened them. Warm air swept inside the ship. A massive boom temporarily deafened her.
The floor gyrated under her boots.
“What the fuck?” She rushed down the not-yet-fully-extended ramp and looked around her.
A group of purple humanoids stared with wide eyes in the direction from which she came.
Dread gripped her. She followed the beings’ gazes. Her stomach twisted.
A huge cloud of brown dust concealed the only opening to and from the site.
“The entrance is now filled with rock.” That frustrating truth was relayed in musical tones. The words were spoken in the universal language. “The Humanoid Alliance blew it up. We’re trapped.”
Briella met the newcomer’s gaze.
The female had matching eyes. Both of them were organic. Her skin and hair were a lighter shade of purple than her eyes. Her form was tall and slender, and she was dressed in flowing garments.
She was stunning. The dirt and grime covering her couldn’t conceal her beauty.
No one would ever mistake her for a demon.
The female was also heavily armed. She clasped guns in both of her hands.
They would need more than those weapons to escape their current situation.
“The river once flowed into the space.” Briella turned, scanning the stone walls encircling them. “The water had to flow out somehow.”
“That exit was sealed by rock long before I was born.” The female waved one of her guns at an indention in the stone on the far side of the funnel. “We’ve searched the perimeter for another escape route.” Sadness reflected in her perfect eyes. “There isn’t one.”
They were surrounded by high rock walls. Digging through them or under them would take too long, especially as they had no equipment manufactured for that purpose.
Briella tilted her head back. The funnel was too high, too steep for the locals or for herself to climb.
Up was the only viable path, however. She studied the space. The dormant volcano was wide at the bottom, extremely narrow at the top. But the diameter of the vent was larger than her freighter. “There’s an exit directly above us.”
“Is that a viable exit?” The female gazed upward also. “You didn’t enter that way.”
“It’s the only exit we have.” Briella shrugged. “But it’ll be risky. We could all die.”
“If we stay here, we’ll all die.” The female had reached the same conclusion Briella had. There was nothing but sand and rock and echoes of ancient deaths inside the dormant volcano. “I’ll talk with the others.”
The humanoid floated away. Her tread was soundless. Her gait was level.
“If she could truly hover above the ground, she would’ve gotten her tiny ass out of here.” Briella muttered that reminder under her breath. The female’s beauty unsettled her. “She needs you. She isn’t going to reject you.”
An unnatural rumbling rolled through the warm air.
Trepidation filled her. The Humanoid Alliance troops weren’t waiting for them to starve to death. They were mounting an attack.
“Decide quickly.” Briella yelled that advice at the female’s back.
The Praecipuans looked at her. One male, as tall and slender as the first female, grimaced. A female visibly paled.
Briella touched her goggles. They were in place.
All they’d seen were the scars on her cheeks, her forehead, and her chin. And those had horrified them. She pressed her lips together. Her eyes would cause them to flee.
“What is your name?” The first female stood in the middle of the group. She must be their leader.
Briella hesitated. If she relayed her name, they wouldn’t believe it. It was too beautiful for someone who looked like her. “Folks call me Beast.”
The female blinked once, twice. “I’m Mohini.” She smiled and turned her attention back to the others. Her hands skimmed through the air as she chattered. Her words were too softly spoken for the newcomer to hear.
Briella surveyed the group of beings. They all seemed capable of moving unassisted. Their wounds appeared minor.
Her ship was in rougher shape than they were. She clomped around the vessel, inspecting it.
New scrapes decorated the wings. There was a burn mark on the undercarriage. That was minor damage.
The freighter should hold together on the ascent.
She hoped it would. If—
“We’re going with you.” The female—Mohini—ushered her kind toward the ramp.
“Great.” She would try not to kill them all. “Turn left after you enter. You can use any of the chambers in the back. The bridge, to the right, is off-limits.” That was her space. “Strap yourselves in. This will be a rough trip.”
Mohini translated her words to the others. “We understand.”
Some of the Praecipuans didn’t look at her as they passed. A couple braver souls peered down at her, trying to gaze past her goggles. They wouldn’t see enough to scare them.
Briella waited, quashing the urge to tell them to hurry. They didn’t have all fuckin’ planet rotation.
Once the beings were finally loaded, she retracted the ramp, closed the doors, and returned to the bridge. She plunked her generous ass into the captain’s chair and took off her goggles.
Their escape would require the usage of both her eyes.
She placed her hands on the control panel. The engines continued to hum.
“We’re ready to go.” Briella guided the freighter upward, then circled the funnel, accelerating faster and faster.
The opening at the top was too narrow for a horizontal takeoff, and the speed would be needed. The rock walls were high. The freighter would require all the power it could get to climb it.
“A little faster. A little faster.” She forced herself to be patient. It wasn’t a trait she was known for. She preferred to rush into dangerous situations.
Because if she waited, if she thought about it, her survival instincts would kick in, and she would leave beings to die. That couldn’t happen.
And it wouldn’t happen now. Finally, she reached the desired speed.
She swooped the freighter downward, grazed the sand, and shot her ship straight upward. The force of the ascent pushed her form back into her chair. Screams originated from the rear of the vessel.
They should be scared. Briella was an experienced pilot, and she had fuckin’ concerns.
The opening at the top of the funnel was tiny. She focused on it, used her mechanical eye to center the ship.
“I can’t fail them, can’t fail another being.” Her knuckles whitened against the control panel. Her muscles cramped. The pain ripped at her.
She held firm because she had to do that. The only other choice was failure, death.
Metal shrieked as the freighter’s wings scraped the stone. They burst free of the funnel. The ship spun. She fought, fought, fought to level their flight. It took all the strength in her body.
But she did it. Their trajectory straightened. The strain on her arms eased.
They had escaped the dormant volcano, the planet and, temporarily, the Humanoid Alliance.
“Take that, asshats.” Briella slapped the console. Her success made her giddy.
It didn’t make her stupid. Or careless.
The Humanoid Alliance might send out ships to pursue them. That had happened in the past.
She continued to monitor their surroundings and didn’t slow her freighter’s speed, while she celebrated. “I pulled off the impossible. That warrants some tunes.”
She pressed the button and music filled the bridge.
“There’s nothing left of mine.” She sang with everything she had. Her heart pounded in her chest. She was high on danger, grateful to be alive. “Ohhhhhhh…”
“Are you hurt?”
“Fuck.” Briella hastily donned her goggles and muted her music yet again. “What the fuck did I tell you? The bridge is off-limits.”
“I thought you were in pain.” Mohini lowered herself gracefully into the chair next to hers. “I heard moaning.” Her fingers fluttered against her chest. “It was such a horrible sound.”
“That wasn’t moaning, you unappreciative music hater.” Briella shook her head. “I was singing.”
The female’s eyes widened. “It was—”
“It was horrible. I heard you.” Briella loved singing, didn’t want to hear any criticism of her vocal abilities. “Go back to your chambers. There are nourishment bars, containers of beverage, a medic pack if you need it—everything you should require.”
Silence stretched.
Her unwanted guest didn’t leave.
Briella tapped her fingertips against the console. She was tempted to blast the music again and frighten the Praecipuan away with her horrible singing.
“Look at me.” Mohini dared to issue a command on Briella’s own blasted bridge.
“I’m flying the fuckin’ ship.” But she obliged her because the humanoid had been through battle trauma and other shit, and, despite that name everyone called her, she wasn’t a complete beast.
It also didn’t take much effort to fly the freighter in a straight line, even at the speeds they were traveling. She looked at the female.
The Praecipuan attempted to meet her gaze through the goggles. “We require transport to Keid 9.” Her voice lowered. “You will take us there.”
“Like Hyadum I will.” Briella couldn’t believe the gall of the female. “The deal is, I take you to the first friendly planet—and that’s not it. Keid 9 is halfway across the universe, and it’s a Humanoid Alliance-controlled planet.”
Mohini’s forehead furrowed. “Look directly at me.” She grabbed Briella’s face and forced her to comply with her order.
The female was stronger than she appeared.
“You will take us to Keid 9.”
“Fuck you.” Briella slapped her hands, breaking the female’s grasp on her. “I will jettison you into open space before I do that.”
Mohini stared at her. “My abilities don’t work on you.” She tilted to her head the side. “How is that possible? They work on everyone.”
The fucker must’ve tried some Praecipuan mind tricks on her. “Figure that out somewhere else.” She returned her gaze to the main viewscreen. “You’re in my private space.”
“There’s no one else on the bridge.” Mohini leaned back in her seat.
Briella gritted her teeth.
The female had no intention of leaving.
“You must get lonely in here.”
She was also determined to chatter.
“I don’t get lonely anywhere.” That was a lie. Briella did get lonely, but that was preferable to the pain of rejection. “There are beings you can talk with in the back chambers.”
“They’ll ask me about our next actions, and I don’t know what those actions are. Yet.”
The way Mohini looked at her made Briella uneasy.
“If we had credits, would you take us to Keid 9?”
Briella lifted her eyebrows. “Do you have credits?”
“No.” The female’s lips quirked upward. “But I might be able to get some.”
“I require the credits in advance.” Briella’s tone was dry. She wasn’t born last planet rotation.
“You would require that.” Mohini laughed. “I like you, Beast. We’re going to be good friends, you and I.”
“Fuck no, we’re not going to be friends.” Briella hadn’t been friends with anyone since she’d been ejected from her home planet.
Being friends with someone required sharing confidences, telling the other being about one’s past, spending time together. Eventually she’d have to take off her goggles.
She wasn’t willing to open herself to that kind of rejection, of pain.
“Yes, we will be friends.” The Praecipuan propped her surprisingly sturdy-looking boots up on the console.
“Get your fuckin’ feet off the control panels,” Briella barked at her.
The female didn’t move her boots. “What are those two red dots on the screen?”
Red dots? Briella looked at the main viewscreen. “Oh shit.” Those two red dots were shaped like Humanoid Alliance warships.
“What is it?” Mohini finally lowered her booted feet.
“Could be something,” Briella muttered. “Could be nothing.”
The warships were situated far away from them, on the edge of their monitoring range. They might be en route to another destination, might not be tracking them.
Seeking to test that theory, she deviated from their course, steered the freighter toward a nearby moon.
The two warships immediately changed direction.
“Fuck.” She corrected the freighter’s course. “It’s something.”
The warships’ appearance on their monitoring systems was no coincidence. They were following her freighter, following them.
That frightened the shit out of her.
She wasn’t scared for herself. The missions she accepted were dangerous. She knew she’d eventually die during one of them.
But she didn’t want to die with innocent souls on board her freighter. She didn’t want to fail yet another group of beings.
“We’re being followed, aren’t we?” Mohini leaned forward. “What should we do?”
“You don’t need to do shit.” Briella was the captain. She was responsible for keeping her passengers alive. That was her primary role.
She quickly ran through her options.
Warships were much faster than freighters. If she stayed on their set path and all three vessels flew at their top speeds, their pursuers would catch up to them.
When the Humanoid Alliance warships reached them, they were fucked. The weapons on the freighter weren’t designed for battle. She didn’t have the firepower to down anything substantial.
They would be blown out of space, because their shields were equally shitty. Their defenses couldn’t withstand a bombardment of missiles.
There was only one way out of their increasingly dire situation—they had to deviate from their set path. She’d travelled amongst the stars since she had eleven solar cycles, knew the sectors like she knew the hum of her freighter’s engines.
Briella lifted her chin. She would utilize all that knowledge now to save them. “I’m going to shake these fuckers off our ass, lose them in the depths of space.”
No one else would die on her watch.