A Sea of Stars

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

Jay pressed a hand to the tiny, porthole-style window of the LS Yvette, framed by silver, titanium-alloy walls and tucked behind the piles of boxes in the cargo module. It was colder than ice. All she could see was the inky blackness of space, stretching out as far as the eye could see, and further. Even though she knew that there was nothing around for thousands of kilometres, she let herself think that she was seeing a bright pinprick of light in the distance. A star, she imagined. Some place outside of the galaxy she’d grown up in. Hope.

Around her, red lights flashed, alarms blared, and Jay supposed, somewhat distantly, that she was about to discover how long someone could last without a suit outside the safety of a ship. She wondered if it was even enough time to scream.

Jay watched as an escape pod ejected itself from the side of the ship.

The Yvette shuddered with another hit.

She stumbled into the wall, grabbing at the boxes piled high beside her to steady herself.

People were coming, she knew. People were coming to rescue them. The alarm was evidence of that—the distress signal had been launched; they were only two jumps away from Aeldrot’s outermost space station.

People were coming, and if they recognised her, she would die.

When the pilot had chosen his route across this particularly empty expanse of space, notorious for its pirate infestation, Jay had wanted to curse him out, take his shoulders and shake with a firm enough grip that some sense would be knocked into him. But instead, she’d watched from behind a slightly ajar door, and ducked back behind the generators they were transporting when they’d glanced in her direction.

And now here they were.

Another jarring, shuddering, shaking hit. The alarms seemed louder in her ears. Run, run, run, they screamed.

She’d been running for two weeks—two weeks that felt more like two years.

Right afterwards, each too-loud breath and thump of her heart had felt like her own body’s betrayal. Where she had before walked through the streets of Eniah with buds blasting music into her ears, she was forced to look over her shoulder, pull up the hood of her jacket to avoid the cameras, hide behind walls when a car passed whose windows were tinted just a little too dark to see inside. Her black pants had disguised the blood stains, but anyone she walked by still stared at her, concerned. Maybe it was her shell-shocked expression, or the tears still tracking down her face.

It seemed stupid that after everything she’d been through—doing things she never thought she would do, let alone could do—this was how she would die.

It wouldn’t be because of any mistake she made, or any unimaginable prowess on the part of her hunters.

No—it would be an accident.

Her only consolation was that she would probably die before the Aeldrian police force arrived.

There were people yelling out in the main nodes. Jay felt eerily still, waiting for something, anything, even as another artificial earthquake struck the Yvette. Her feet were swept from beneath her by a box sliding across the floor. She smothered a cry of pain as she went down, her knees then chest slamming into the cool metal floor.

The breath was forced from her lungs, and she lay there, gasping like a fish out of water for a few precious seconds. Seconds that she didn’t have.

She was a survivor—that’s what her father had told her, brushing gravel from her knees, dropping a kiss on her head, holding her shaking hands with a tired smile as the bullet in his back stole his life.

Jay took a deep breath.

Inhale, exhale.

Then she pushed herself up and launched into action.

All licensed ships had two escape pods, one at each end, but the one at the head of the ship had already been taken. The remaining pod was her only hope for escape from both the attacking pirates and the Aeldrian police who were surely on their way.

Jay stuck her head out of the storage hold. Multiple somebodies were yelling curses in the distance, and it sounded like it was getting closer. Crew members who had been left behind. She was racing against the police, the pirates, and now the remaining crew of the Yvette, who were trying to get to the same pod as her.

It was a race she had to win.

She had a head start, but they had the benefit of familiarity. The three days she’d spent hiding in the storage hold, holding her breath whenever anyone walked by, had gone to good use memorising the map of the ship plastered by the door, but the thing must’ve been old. Jay stopped at a crossroads which she didn’t remember seeing on the map, and then, hesitantly, continued ahead.

A wrong turn could cost her life, but her options were limited. She could only hope that the pirates would delay the remaining crewmates long enough for her to slip into the pod in front of them and make it out alive.

Jay ran through the corridors, navigating as best as she could. Shots from the pirates came sporadically, one every few minutes, and she kept her hand pressed to the cool silver walls as to steady herself against the onslaught. The white, artificial lights beat down on her, their whining hum her constant companion.

The Yvette wasn’t huge, just a cheap trader made only to go a few jumps out of Aeldrot into the next solar system, or galaxy, at a stretch. According to the people she’d heard complaining, this outfit was even more understaffed than most. It was more than enough for a quick interplanetary mission, but not nearly adequate for travelling to another galaxy. Especially not through pirate-infested sectors.

At first, Jay tried to be quiet, but when the crew member’s voices began growing louder, she broke into a sprint, weaving left, left, right, through the maze of halls and nodes. Thankfully, the anti-grav hadn’t been damaged yet, so she wasn’t swimming, but she knew that sooner or later, something vital was going to get hit, and then, if she was lucky, she would no longer by running.

If she was unlucky, she’d be sucked out into the empty abyss of space and die in seconds.

Out here, without a space suit and so far away from any sort of star, her organs would crystallize in her body, blood freezing. She’d barely have enough time to choke out a prayer to the rulers the Aeldrian people likened to gods, who had forsaken first her father, and now her.

Jay shook off the thought, sprinting along the Yvette’s long main corridor. There was just one more turn until she reached one of the escape pods—she could only hope it was still there.

If someone had somehow snuck around her, taken a different, more efficient route, she was doomed.

Before she could step around the corner, there was another jolt and boom as the Yvette was hit. The noise was deafening, the crushing and creaking of metal different to all the earlier shots. This time, the lights went out and Jay was plunged into darkness, the familiar drone of the ship’s machinery abruptly cutting off. Gleaming silver walls turned black. There weren’t any stars nearby to light the way, so it was as though she had been pulled into an inky pool, unable to even see her hands in front of her.

For a moment, Jay held her breath, pressing herself against the wall, the cool metal her only reminder that she was still alive.

They weren’t close enough to anything to drop, but her stomach swooped anyway, in remembrance of what her father had told her, that night before he was killed. They’d been sucked back into the atmosphere, the lights had gone out, and he had become the sole survivor of the crew of sixty.

With a flicker, and dull hum, the lights turned on again, the backup generator kicking in. But for Jay, it was too late.

There were footsteps and harsh voices floating around the corner—swears and raucous laughter—and they were getting louder. The pirates had finally boarded.

Jay turned to run in the opposite direction. She completely disregarded stealth, despite the echo chamber that was the main corridor, legs pumping, boot-clad feet slamming against the metal floor. As she went past them, Jay tried door after door along the hall and found them all reset and locked, thanks to the power going out. The shouts behind her grew louder as they heard her frantic attempt at escape.

She had been so close.

Another Aeldrian suddenly crashed into her side as she ran through a crossroad, sending them both sprawling. He was one of the crew members, and he looked terrified, eyes widening further when he looked behind her to see the advancing crowd of pirates that had given chase.

Jay scrambled to get up, shoving him aside, but the slight delay had cost her dearly. She only made it a few steps before the group of pirates were on them both. A huge thug grabbed both of her wrists in one meaty fist, squeezing tightly as she struggled. It only took her a few moments to go limp.

She was a survivor, but she also didn’t want her wrists snapped.

The alien with her in his grip tugged her towards who appeared to be the leader of the small band. He wasn’t wearing the classic red captain’s ribbon, so she was pretty sure—unless this crew was utterly untraditional—that he was probably second- or third-in-command.

His skin was blue and bumpy, and it looked tough enough that the stun gun hidden at the small of her back wouldn’t really be able to get through it. Maybe at his neck, where it looked smoother, but even if she did manage to get free and stun him, she’d have to contend with the rest of the group. There were ten of them—mostly Aeldrians with a mix of other species, like the veritable giant holding her up, and Big Blue.

Play dead, Jay reminded herself. Escaping wasn’t worth it, for now.

“Good catch!” Big Blue roared guffawing with laughter as one of the Aeldrians easily held the crew member’s arms behind his back. He tossed cuffs at both that Aeldrian and the thug behind her, the metal rings snapping into place over her wrists. The giant moved his hand to wrap around her arm instead. “Not hard, eh, Gil?” He stepped closer to Jay. “Very nice.”

Jay forced herself not to react as Big Blue trailed a rough finger over her cheekbone but that didn’t stop his touch from feeling like a bucket of cold water being poured over her head—unwelcome and uncomfortable shock to the system.

Big Blue grinned nastily as he leaned in closer to her. “Pretty one, isn’t she? Are all the Aeldrian girls like this?”

It was a rhetorical question, but one that still managed to draw a laugh from the gathered pirates.

He leant back again. “Tokan!”

A young boy, half Aeldrian, half something else, judging from the green tinge to his skin and hair, stumbled forward. His eyes were wide, and his fingers curled into a fist at his side, nails pressing crescent moon shapes into his palms. “Sir?” he asked, voice high and reedy.

“Escort this pretty lady to the cells,” Big Blue said, with one final glance over her. Jay remained frozen still, even though she wanted to squirm under his gaze, which lingered like sewerage in a pipe. She didn’t want to think about why she was being taken to the cells. The nearest slave trade market was three galaxies away—too far for any pirate to want to cart a slave around to get sold.

“Yes, sir.” The boy—Tokan—stumbled forward. Gil relinquished his hold on her arm, replaced by Tokan’s small hand and cool grip. He was shorter than her by a few inches, but Big Blue had obviously deemed her so non-threatening that she only needed a boy to transport her to the cells.

She hated that he was sort of right—the self-defence lessons her father had given her as a kid wouldn’t help her in most fights. Laying low would be the best way to get out of this mess alive, even though she itched to punch his ugly, blue mug as Tokan nudged her in the direction the pirates had come from. Jay remembered enough to do that.

“And give her a cell nice enough for visitors,” Big Blue called after them, to the raucous laughter of the rest of the group.

They leered at her as the kid easily pulled her away. Jay would take anything over staying with the blue thug, and her chances were better with the kid than with the huge group of battle-hardened pirates. They turned a corner, but the voices of the pirates still rebounded in the unfurnished metal corridor.

“Now, what are we going to do with you?” Big Blue sneered at the crew member who had got her caught. The other pirates yelled out suggestions that Jay tried to tune out.

Tokan walked a little faster.

The trader’s agonised screams echoed down the hall. Jay pinched her lips together so hard that they turned white, feeling slightly ill. But if she tore from Tokan’s grip, turning back to help the poor fellow, her head would be next on the chopping block. Instead, she let the kid, who looked equally rattled, drag her towards where the pirates had forcibly docked.

They had latched onto the side of the ship, forcing its metal shell to bow inwards, creating a big enough gap for the pirate crew to stream in and take over the poorly defended trader. It ensured that the Yvette couldn’t jump without bringing the pirates’ ship along for the ride, and when the pirates left, the sudden depressurization from the giant hole would leave no witnesses remaining. It was a strategy employed by most pirates, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why—unnecessary death and destruction was a pirate’s bread and butter.

She could see the escape pod right there, but the pirates had already mangled the door, transforming it into nothing more than a particularly fancy coffin.

A huge pirate with luminous green skin and tentacles waving from his skull was guarding the incision, and he narrowed his eyes at the pair of them as they approached. He was almost too large to fit through the small gap, but despite his suspicion, at Tokan’s jerky nod he moved aside to let the kid tug Jay through the hole, into the pirates’ ship.

It seemed like the ship was empty, almost the entire crew having boarded the Yvette to gut it for all it was worth. Inside, it was similar to the Yvette—larger, but with the same smooth, titanium-alloy walls and harsh lights, bare except for the signs of laser fights scorched up the walls, and the drag scratches along the floor.

Tokan directed her to the left. She let him drag her along, all the while fiddling with her cuffs, until they got to another fork. This time, when the kid tried to pull her left, towards the belly of the ship, she resisted.

He looked back at her, brows furrowing in a confused expression which was almost comical on the young boy. Jay finally managed to unlock the cuffs on one wrist. She pulled the stun gun she’d stolen from the Aeldrian police from where at sat in the waistband of her pants, clamped her other hand over Tokan’s mouth, and tased him in the side.

He went down like a sack of granooles.

She pushed down the surge of guilt that rose in her stomach, quickly propping his body up out of the way, against the wall. The thought of hurting a kid would’ve once turned her stomach, but, well, times had changed. She had changed. And she was getting out of here alive.

He would be awake within the hour, if a little groggy and with a killer headache. By that time, she would be gone. She couldn’t make it out of the ship without bypassing the huge green pirate at the door, so the pirates’ escape pod was her next best bet.

Jay took off in the opposite direction of where Tokan was trying to take her. She didn’t recognise the make of the ship, which meant she was basically running blind down the corridors, hoping for some map or sign to make itself apparent to her.

If she went far enough before the pirates returned, she would eventually find an escape pod, if there was even one to be found. Jay pushed that thought away. There had to be a pod. If there wasn’t, she was screwed.

A sudden cacophony of yells and shouts somewhere in the distance—as well as the shaking of a hit on the pirate ship—heralded the arrival of the Aeldrian police, and barely a few seconds later she felt the jolt of the pirates’ ship uncoupling from the Yvette. With the giant hole in the side of the ship, any of the crew members who hadn’t been slaughtered in the pirates’ indiscriminate quest for anything they could sell on the black market would now be sucked out into space, and if they hadn’t managed to get themselves into a space suit in time, they were dead.

Jay didn’t spare a thought for the poor souls, she’d come too far to break down now. And she had bigger problems. If all the pirates were back on the ship, they would find Tokan in the next few minutes, if they hadn’t already.

The ship shook as they jumped.

Jay grabbed a hold of one of the door frames, clutching tightly to the structure so that she didn’t go flying. After a few seconds, the rattling settled, and she took off again.

It would be a while before the Aeldrian police would figure out where they were headed and get after them, which meant that for now, she was safe from them, and honestly, switching ships was probably one of the best things she could’ve done to get them off her tail. Best case scenario, they would assume she would one of the shrivelled bodies floating through the wreckage of the LS Yvette.

The crews’ shouts grew in volume, getting closer. Jay kept running in what she hoped was the direction of the escape pod. This ship, in comparison to the traders’, was small, but yet it seemed never-ending. It was another minute before she rounded a corner to see a surprisingly familiar reinforced door with a scratched and shredded panel of instructions stuck to it.

It was one of the Galaratan makes, which her father had favoured in his designs, and probably meant this ship was either the 2174 or 2179 Gal models, from the older look. More importantly, it meant she could fly it. Jay advanced on the pod at top speed, but before she could make it all the way there, somebody stepped out in front of her.

The man was Aeldrian, sort of. He sported the characteristic dark skin and high cheekbones prized by Aeldrian nobles, but his lips, instead of pink, were deep purple, and his eyes matched the shade. His hair was almost black, with the wavy strands pulled back into a messy bun at the back of his head, tied with a red ribbon.

Jay made a break for the escape pod, as the clamour behind her became dangerously close, cannoning into the man. She felt the air leave his body in a rush as her shoulder thrusted into his chest, but he gave as good as he got, socking her in the jaw and grabbing her arm to throw her to the ground. She twisted out of his grip, chucking a wild punch at his face and glancing off his cheekbone. But by then his crew was on her, wrestling her to the ground, and a familiar voice was pleading with the lone man.

“She’s stronger than she looks, Captain—I didn’t mean—." Big Blue’s voice was cut off by the Captain raising a hand as Jay was grappled into submission on the floor. Three huge men had a grip on her and held so tightly that she knew she would bruise later. It didn’t stop her from continuing to fight against them. If she didn’t get away now, she never would.

Her chances dwindled with every second.

The three thugs forced her into a kneeling position in front of the Captain. The ship was eerily silent, except for her laboured breathing and the quiet hum of machinery.

The man waited a beat. Perhaps he was trying to increase her trepidation, or perhaps he was trying to be annoying. Jay didn’t really care, twisting and struggling again—only briefly, but enough for a fourth alien to grab her shoulders, forcing her still.

“Who are you?” the Captain asked.

Jay looked up at him, blue eyes flinty and as cold as steel beneath the wisps of dark hair that had escaped from her braid. Instead of responding, she spat at his feet. The blood and saliva mix splattered onto his expensive Jorgen-hide boots, but he just smiled at her—cold amusement and arrogance bundled up into a quirk of his lilac lips.

He didn’t even bother responding, just turning on his heel to stride off and waving over his shoulder for her to be dragged away.