Chapter 4:
Talon sat in his chamber with Harlon, a Revant who had been with his father and who now crewed on Talon’s ship.
Harlon spoke. “You know I have done everything ever asked of me by the family you are part of. I have never backed down from any fight, whether it was for the right to close the wormhole or the right to live. I worked beside you in the mines, Talon, and I don’t know how either of us has managed to live through all the battles we have seen.”
Talon leaned forward, his eyes locking onto Harlon’s. “I agree with every word you just said, especially the last part, but I think you are wrong about the taking of this ship.”
Harlon snorted. “A Federation ship is not so hard to take. We have done that before when we found them alone. This is not that. You are talking about taking a ship that is part of an armada, and in that armada are at least a dozen warships.”
Talon licked his lips. He gave Harlon a wary glance. “Do the rest of the crew feel the same?”
“Most. It is foolish, Talon. I know you, and I know if anyone could do this, it would be you. But this…it feels like arrogance rather than need. The truth is we do not need this ship. We do not need the trouble that will come from this either.”
That was true. The Federation was not going to take this well. They would definitely be angry as hell, and the last thing he really needed was that. On the other hand, it was no longer such a huge problem for him to be marked as an outlaw. They had Revant Two now, and it was outside Fed territory. At least for now.
He tapped his fingers on the table he sat at. He said, “I know this seems odd. It sounds crazy. But I know we can do it, and the truth is we are running low on weapons and supplies. Wrecking one of those ships would give us weapons like they have, and that is important since they raided the last outliers and managed to take such a huge lot of the black-market guns away.
“I can always back off if it seems bad.”
Harlon snorted. “You could, but will you? We all know you do not let go once you get a hold of things.”
Talon grinned. “That is so true. I can’t even argue that.”
Harlon stood. “You tell me what you decide on this one. The crew and I will follow you. You know that we will. We always have, and even the ones who have not been here to know that I have owed you something. Even if that something is our lives, which it very well may be this time.”
“I know that, but it could be our lives every single time.”
The words held the harsh ring of truth because they were true.
Every ship could bring death, whether it was from fighting the Gorlites or fighting off a ship’s crew so they could wreck the ships they took. Any and all of those ships that they had gone after over the years could have meant their death.
Harlon nodded. Talon stood and walked to his small porthole window. They had slid behind a star system and were still waiting for the fleet, moving slowly to conserve fuel, to pass by.
The darkness of space rolled around them, broken by a colorful and beautiful stream of light from the star shine.
He stared at it. Once upon a time, when had been a child, he had loved standing on the warm soil and grass of his homeland and looking up at the skies, wondering if his father was flying past.
He had always wanted to fly.
For as long as he could remember, he had wanted to fly.
The skies had called him like the sea had called the sailors of old lore. He frowned, trying to recall what planet had been known for those stories of beings that made ships and then set them on the seas.
On Revant, fish hunters took boats out to trap the enormous Sturg-fish and landlers that would feed several families for a whole sun and moon phase. They spoke of the sea the same way he spoke of the skies, and he found himself thinking hard about how strange it was that all beings seemed destined to wander and seek out things that should not have been theirs.
He turned away from the windows and went to his bed. The day had been long and tiring, and the fleet would take hours to pass. After it did, they would have to go slowly to come up behind it and stay far enough behind it to pick out any stragglers that they might be able to take.
That had been a smart idea.
He dropped his clothes to the floor and crawled into his bed, folding his hands behind his head.
Jessica. She was an odd one, always ready to go up against anything and anyone. She was a warrior in every way, and she was the one woman he could not have, but the only one he wanted.
Just his luck.
“There.”
Talon squinted, and a grin filled his face. “It is slowing down.”
