The Elarri Heist (Plundering the Stars Book 1) Read online

  “You don’t need to convince me. I just don’t want you idiots getting caught and killed, or worse, by the mob.”

  “I appreciate the concern, Amara.”

  She blew me a mocking kiss.

  “We will figure it out. But this is our way in. We have the uniforms, schedules, and credentials.”

  “Then what did you need me, and now Rowan for?” Amara asked.

  “It’s always good to have backup. Besides, I’m thinking Pivek is gonna need one of you to access the security center. The other is gonna spring me.”

  “And after that?”

  I grinned. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

  They all groaned.

  “I hate you sometimes,” Jinx said with a smile.

  “I told you the plan was fluid.”

  “How do you plan on getting through Xarren’s bio-encryption?”

  “We’ll need to find out what kind of encryption is it. Fingerprint reader? Blood sample? Retinal scan? Other? I don’t know. That’s why Jinx is going to case the place for a few days before we hit it. We need info before we go in.”

  Jinx wasn’t surprised. She just nodded along. I hadn’t told her in straight terms what the responsibilities were, but she knew me well and knew how I thought and knew how I planned things. I knew her skillsets and she knew mine.

  “What if Jinx gets caught?” Amara asked. She wouldn’t risk Jinx so callously.

  “I won’t get caught,” Jinx protested.

  “The only one getting caught is me. Don’t worry.”

  “We need to worry. Caution can keep us alive.” Amara was ever the cautious one, which I found hilarious since she was also the one who delighted in blowing things up.

  “We have time to plan it out. First, we need Pivek to come up with something. We can’t have anything concrete until he does.”

  “And if he doesn’t?” Rowan asked. Amara arched an eyebrow, the same question on her face.

  “He will. He always does.” And that was the truth. Pivek always came through, even if all of us failed. I couldn’t count how many jobs we would have failed if it weren’t for his quick thinking. The others knew this too. They shouldn’t and wouldn’t doubt Pivek. They could doubt me all they wanted because my past was paved in blunders, but Pivek came through.

  Before anyone could speak more, K straightened. “Yan,” he said simply, his voice cold and grave.

  I felt the air shift into something deadly. We all went quiet as we sipped our drinks and ate our food. Out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted them. Armored mercenaries, a large group of them, sitting to my left. They were strapped with weapons. That would have been fine, but K noticed it, and I did too. They were silent, rigid, and kept glancing our way.

  “Ah, crap,” I said.

  Amara noticed too and sighed. “Here we go.”

  “What?” Jinx asked. She was never as savvy with spotting danger in crowds.

  No time to answer. Only enough time to yell, “Get down!”

  That was the exact moment when the bounty hunters stood abruptly and turned to us, blasters raised.

  Then all hell broke loose.

  Plates flew and glass shattered as tables were turned over to serve as cover. K threw our table over and we all ducked behind it right as red blaster bolts zinged over our heads. They exploded against the metal tabletop, making it shutter and shake, but it held. Patrons cursed and screamed and streamed around us, trying for the exits. It was chaos. Bolts flying all around, most from the bounty hunters but some other random patrons were firing back. No doubt there were probably other bounties here besides us.

  Jinx squealed beside me, her arms covering her head. She was not good under fire, and I hated seeing her so distressed, but there was nothing I could do about that right now. Best she could do was keep her head down. The others, fortunately, were far more seasoned. Amara was unfazed other than a deeply angry scowl. She pulled out her plasma cannon.

  “I was enjoying my meal, dang it.”

  I snorted. “They’re gonna get it now.”

  Ketellin sighed and produced a pair of short grav-blades that he kept on his thighs. I knew from experience that those were the only weapons he needed. But he’d need some cover. Which was where Rowan, Amara, and I came in. Rowan and I both pulled out blaster pistols. I almost hadn’t brought mine, but something told me to err on the side of caution. My gut was right yet again. Undefeated.

  Rowan took a breath and switched the bolts from stun to kill. “Did anyone count how many there are?”

  I left my pistol on stun. We didn’t need to kill the bounty hunters. But that was my choice. The others had to make that choice on their own. I shrugged. “Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw four.”

  “There are seven,” K said bluntly. He closed his eyes and started muttering a prayer. Something he always did before he killed.

  “You can handle it?” I asked him.

  “If you keep them occupied, yes.”

  I cracked a grin and locked eyes with Amara and Rowan. “We can do that, I think.”

  Amara nodded. “Tell us when.”

  It took him a few more seconds of prayer. He would not be rushed, not by us, and not by certain death. It didn’t matter that blaster bolts zipped overhead and pinged against the walls and table. No, he would be ready when he was good and ready. I admired that level of sheer stubborn fortitude.

  Finally, he stopped muttering, opened his eyes, and gripped his blades tight. “Now.”

  And so it began.

  As soon as there was a pause in the bounty hunters’ barrage, we popped up out of cover and unloaded on them. I was a decent shot in most cases, but I’d admit that under heavy fire, I wasn’t the best, mostly because my body was a coward and didn’t want to get pinched. I wasn’t cowardly enough to leave, but when the lasers were flying, my aim tended to get worse.

  But I didn’t need my aim to be true, I just needed to cover for K. So I fired, even though my arm shook and my breathing hitched and my heart pounded out a beat more frantic than that crappy music that was still playing. My bolts flew across the room and crashed against their overturned tables. The hunters ducked into cover as we sent back a barrage of our own, but not before I clipped one in the shoulder. That spun him around with a gasp as the jolt of my stun hit him.

  A half-second later, a green bolt from Rowan struck him in the chest. Dead. Not on me, though. Not my problem.

  Amara hadn’t fired a shot, because she was waiting for the right opportunity. She found it when three of the hunters popped up at once, guns drawn. That was it. They didn’t get a shot off, because Amara unleashed her fury and pulled the trigger of the plasma cannon. The air seemed to fizzle and crackle with a steady whir as the cannon warmed up and then…

  BOOM!

  A giant blast of pure plasmic energy shot forth looking like a mini star. It exploded into the bounty hunters. The three that were standing were consumed in a violent shriek. There was a flash and a loud bang, and then when my eyes cleared, there was only a pile of ash and a table with a gaping, smoking hole.

  I blinked and lowered my weapon. “Maybe lead with that next time,” I said with a sidelong glance to my little jade weapon-master.

  “Maybe be a better shot next time.”

  “Hey!” I put my fists on my hips. “I hit one.”

  “Well…” She flashed me a bright, faux flirtatious smile. “I hit three.”

  “You have an unfair advantage.”

  “This is not the time to have a conversation!” Jinx said, crouched beneath us, her eyes pinched shut and her arms still over her head. She was not enjoying this one bit. And she was right, now was not the time, though not because we were really in danger. The survivors were too stunned to even react.

  Which was all the opening that K needed.

  He erupted from the shadows and came at them, blades raised. The bounty hunters shouted and raised their weapons, but he was too fast. K was in arms-length of the first before he could pul
l the trigger. A blade went through armor and skin and muscle. Then out. Then he was on to the next, a blur, a dance of limbs and a spray of red. The bounty hunters were skilled, and the last two managed to pull out their own grav-blades and hold off K ever-so-meagerly, but it was all for nothing. They were dead.

  On the last one, K parried his blows before he spun around the flailing body like a dancer. He did a pirouette and on the return spin, plunged his blade into the hunter’s neck, and out again, and K was striding back toward us. The poor hunter clutched at his neck, gurgling, as blood poured from him, his life fading fast. He dropped to a knee, then two, and was dead before his body hit the cold ground with a thud.

  So, we won.

  I sighed and holstered my weapon. “That was something, huh?”

  I got no answers other than shrugs and grunts. Yeah, probably not the time for lighthearted banter. Amara and Rowan both put away their weapons and stepped out from behind our table. K sheathed his blades.

  “K, go back to the ship, get her ready. I wanna be out of this system in ten minutes.”

  He nodded and left the room. We didn’t have a lot of time. No doubt more hunters would be on the way, plus the mine’s security force. We didn’t start it, but we were criminals, so it was unwise to stick around.

  I knelt beside Jinx, who still had her eyes closed. She shivered. She really hated firefights, and I didn’t blame her. They were terrifying. We did what we had to do, but we certainly didn’t enjoy it. I put my arm on her shoulder and gave her a squeeze.

  “Hey, it’s over now. It’s okay.”

  She nodded but didn’t open her eyes. She kept on shivering. I knew that sometimes when Jinx got into traumatic situations—like a deadly firefight in a dingy tavern—it would trigger her PTSD. She’d been through so much, being a child slave and seeing so much horror. I knew this was hard. So I put my arms around her and pulled her to me and held her tight. I whispered into her hair an old prayer that we Goons used to say.

  “Keep your eyes open in the dark, because then you’ll eventually see the light.”

  It didn’t make sense for a lot of scenarios, but it always did the trick with making Jinx feel better. She sniffled as she tried to hold back her tears. Her fingers gripped my shirt as she pushed her head into my chest. I was her protection. Jinx was strong and capable and, in a pinch,, she was a good brawler, but when the guns came out, she wasn’t much use. So, I protected her, from physical dangers, and from the monsters in her mind. Or at least, I did the best that I could for my friend.

  As she was coming to her regular faculties, Amara called from beyond the table-wall. “Uhh, Yan? We have a problem.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. “One second.”

  “This is important.”

  “So is Jinx.”

  Which made Amara clamp her mouth shut. I’m sure what she needed to say was very critical, but she viewed Jinx as a little sister as much as she thought me a little brother, so she wouldn’t rush her.

  Finally, Jinx wiped her face against my shirt and looked me in the eyes. They were red and puffy but still so pretty. Glittering. She offered me a soft smile that would melt the hardest of hearts.

  “Thanks, Yan.”

  I smiled back, cupped the back of her head, and pulled her to me so that I could plant a kiss on her forehead. “I’m always here for you, gemstone.”

  She chuckled and wiped her eyes again.

  Jinx crawled off me and pushed to her feet, where she offered me a hand and hauled me to my feet. But she didn’t join me when I walked over to Amara and Rowan. She didn’t want to see the death. I didn’t fault her one bit on that front.

  Once by my friends’ side, and privy to the fact that the cooks and waitresses were looking through the door windows and holes to the kitchen, I crossed my arms and arched an eyebrow at Amara.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “That.” She pointed at one of the dead bounty hunters. The one that I’d stunned, before Rowan blasted him in the chest. My eyes followed the direction of her finger and at first, I didn’t know what she was referring to. But then I saw it, on his arm—a swirl of ink, a tattoo. A sigil, in fact. The family sigil of the Elexaes.

  “Ah, crap.” I ran my fingers through my hair.

  “They followed us here, Yan. This was no coincidence.”

  I nodded with a groan. “Yeah, yeah, I realize that.”

  Rowan was conspicuously quiet, but I didn’t press him.

  “Who knows how they found us?”

  “I don’t know, but we need to leave.”

  “Yan, what if they’re tracking us?”

  “Then they’re tracking us. We still need to leave. If they are tracking us, then more will come. And even so, the mine security will be here any second and I’m sure they’ll love to meet us.”

  Rowan snapped out of his stupor. “Well, they’d love me. I can’t speak for you two.”

  I punched his arm. “Ass. Come on. K should have the ship ready.”

  6

  We returned to the ship and promptly took off without delay. I looked out the cockpit window in time to see a sizeable force of security show up, ready to bust skulls. But all they found were dead bodies and frightened staff. And then my view ended as we angled up and up and shot into the blackness of space.

  As we soared through jump after jump, the others sat together in the comm room. Rowan stood against the wall with a tired frown and sweat beading down his face. Amara was tweaking her gun, and Jinx sat in a chair with her back to the rest of us and her knees hugged to her chest. We were all pretty shaken.

  Amara didn’t look up at me as she spoke. “Pivek is running a scan for tracking devices. Said it could take an hour, though.”

  I nodded. “Okay.” My voice came out as a soft whisper.

  “It was probably just a coincidence,” Rowan said, pushing off the wall. He grabbed a bottle of wine from one of the adjoining cabinets. “The Elexaes have troops of enforcers all throughout the stars doing who knows what.”

  “Maybe.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Amara. “They hadn’t ordered anything, and they all seemed ready for a fight. They knew we’d be there.”

  “So how did they find us?” Rowan demanded.

  She folded her arms and sent a glare back at him. “Maybe it’s as simple as there being a tracking device on our ship, and Pivek will find it.” Amara stepped closer to him. “Or maybe someone sold us out.”

  I don’t think anyone in the room appreciated what she was insinuating. “Okay, let’s calm down,” I said as I stepped between them. “We’re all family here. None of us would do that. Don’t ever think we would.”

  Amara blushed and lowered her gaze. “S-sorry. You’re right, Yan.”

  “We’ll figure it, okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “K will keep us jumping. We’re fueled up, we’re supplied, and at the least, we know we’re being tracked, or think we are, so we’ll be ready for them if or when they find us again.”

  The ship lurched as we jumped, and jumped again, and jumped again. We all took time to cool off and breathe. We took turns showering, to get the grime of blaster particles, sweat, and smoke off us. It was a very refreshing feeling. Water was always at a premium in space, so we didn’t shower all too often. But we found ways to keep ourselves hygienic.

  We sat around the comm room with some drinks and snacks as we waited for Jinx to finish up. She took her time because she was last, but I suspected she was still shaken from the fight. When she was done, her damp hair held back by a towel, she sat beside me and put her hands in her lap, her eyes on the floor. She still seemed to be far away, her mind reliving past traumas.

  I reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. “Hey,” I whispered, “You okay?” A stupid question, I knew, but language wasn’t my forte.

  Jinx smirked, a light little smirk that made my heart thump loudly. She squeezed my hand back. Her grip was warm. “I’m fine, Yan. I just… I need some
sleep or something to distract me.”

  “I can think of a few ways to distract you.” I winked.

  She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “You’re the worst.”

  “Maybe, but you’re smiling, aren’t you?”

  Her grin grew wider. “Yeah, I am. Thanks.”

  Ketellin came into the room and leaned against the wall as he grabbed a drink. At the same time, the metal stomping of Pivek’s approach resounded throughout the ship. A moment later, he bent down to enter.

  “So?” I began. “Anything?”

  ‘No tracking devices are attached to this ship or on board it, unless there’s a new type that I’m unaccustomed to.’

  “With how tech progressive you are? I doubt there’s anything new that you haven’t heard of.”

  ‘Let’s hope that that is the case, Yan.’

  “So what you’re saying is that we don’t know for sure,” said Amara, her scowl almost venomous. I swore it felt like she’d been wearing that mood for days now.

  Pivek chittered and fluttered his wings in a weird insectoid tsk-tsk. His version of being annoyed at the implication that he wasn’t doing enough to be helpful.

  ‘My scanner is top of the line. If there was a tracking device on this ship, it would find it. So either it’s a coincidence the bounty hunters found us, or someone sold us out.’

  Amara threw up her hands. “That’s what I’m saying.”

  Jinx and Rowan both looked uneasy by the accusation. I stood. “Stop! No one here would ever betray us. We are a family, and if I hear these types of accusations again, I swear to all the saints that I will thump you something fierce.”

  It was all bluster mostly because Amara could rip me in half quite literally if she was ever inclined to, and Pivek was a nine-foot insect that could shred me to bits, but they knew what I meant. Everyone blinked and stared then averted their gazes in shame. Good, that was what I wanted them to feel.

  “Sorry,” Amara murmured.

  I ran a hand through my hair and sat back down. “It’s okay. Let’s just… Let’s just all clear our heads, okay? We were in a firefight and it was a close call, but we’re alive and it was probably just a coincidence.”