Voyage of the Sanguine Shadow 1: Shadow Galactic (4 page)

“Are you alright?”

Taryn nodded.  “He wasn’t hearing no, so I bent
back his fingers.  Maybe broke one or two, not sure.  The jerk ditched me after
that.”  She smiled brightly.  “So… I figured it’s been a while since I’ve seen
you, and I really wasn’t in the mood to call a cab.”
 
Taryn Sikes looked taller than she was, lean and strong of build, yet elegant
besides.  She was ospyrean, proud and fierce.  Snow-white down blanketed her
birch-white skin, and brilliant red feathers cascaded from her head, tied up
loosely at the shoulders.  Her keen eyes were more golden than brown.  She wore
knee high steel-toed boots draped in buckles, tattered net leggings under
ripped shorts and a threadbare black T-shirt over a tight, long-sleeved gray
undershirt.

“Stop dating humans,” he chuckled.

“Fat chance.  Is Takeo with you?”

Gavin nodded.  “Fogg is too.”  He led Taryn back
to the entryway, smiled toward the woman with blonde dreadlocks and pushed open
the door.  “We should hurry.”

Taryn glanced about.  “Where are they?”

“See you, Chris,” Gavin said to the bouncer, and
he pointed further down the block toward Fogg’s rotating police light.

“Hasta.”  Chris dipped his massive forehead horn
toward Taryn.  “Ma’am.”

She gasped as she took note of the bound
assailants, of Takeo looming over them in the distance.  “Oh my God!  What
happened!?”

Gavin laughed quietly, dryly as they stepped out
into the cool morning air.  The door closed behind them, and it was suddenly
and deafeningly quiet.  “That’s part of why we need to hurry.  We got mugged by
a maugal and his crew of human thugs, but it’s alright.  Takeo took care of
it.”

“We’re so lucky he’s our friend,” she said.

“And that he agreed to come,” Gavin added.  “I
talked down the maugal, though.”

Taryn smirked.  “Yeah, right.”  She squeezed
Gavin’s hand, quickly kissed its knuckles, and held it close against her
chest.  “Not everyone gets to be a hero, and you don’t need to impress me
anymore.”

“I really did, though!  Right after I got my ass
kicked by one of his goons.”  He pulled free his hand.

Taryn stopped, stood directly across from Gavin. 
“You promised.”

He breathed out heavily.  “I’m not lying.  I
swear.  Not to you.”  His ears were quite red, and his shoulders sank.  “I
swear.”

She nodded and returned to his side as they
resumed walking.  They passed the group of people near the trash bins Gavin had
earlier encountered.  “Fine, I’m choosing to believe you.  How did you do it?”

Gavin stole a glance toward the huddle and
shivered to find the tall woman silently staring at him.  He leaned in and
whispered, “I told him there was a radio signal broadcast as soon as Takeo took
his first shot and that there was a Yakuza special weapons team already en
route.”  He looked at her sidelong.  “I sort of charmed him after that, and he
left.”

Taryn huffed, amused.  “Only you, Gavin.  It still
counts as lying, though.”

Gavin shook his head gravely, gesturing as if
cutting his throat and mouthing “no” repeatedly.

“What?  There’s no Yakuza weapons team.  So you
lied, but in this case, I can excuse it.”  She winked, before suddenly noticing
his growing panic.  “What is it?”

“
Now you die
!” roared the stone giant as it
stepped back into view on the far side of Gavin’s truck.

“Maugals have excellent hearing,” breathed Gavin,
and he swallowed visibly.

“No more of your tricks!”  The maugal looked up
and down the street, ignored Takeo as he demanded the granite thug stand down.

“We should run,” advised Gavin.

Taryn’s eyes went wide.  She spun her friend
around back toward the club as music roared from its momentarily opened doors. 
“Good idea!” she urged and gripped his elbow, led him stumbling as they dashed
toward a group of club goers that had just exited.

From behind him, he heard Takeo bellow, “Gavin,
look
out
!”  He heard the creek of his truck’s shocks, the groan of its metal as
the maugal lifted it off the ground.  Takeo emptied his gun into the truck near
its fuel tank, but none of the bullets struck home.

Startled by the gunfire, the small crowd of club
goers screamed and scattered.

Like a cannonball, the pickup rocketed through the
air toward Taryn and Gavin.

Taryn lost Gavin’s elbow, spun about in time to
behold his massive vehicle on a direct course for his back.  She stumbled and
fell.  Breathing out, she closed her eyes and hit the sidewalk hard.  Gavin dove
with arms outstretched, and he landed protectively on top of Taryn.  Terrified
screams filled the air, but they abruptly stopped.

They were replaced by astonished gasps, and
whispers of, “That’s impossible!”

Gavin rolled away with Taryn in his grip, tumbled
into the alley and came to rest with her atop him.  Her eyes met his only
briefly however, and she fixed her attention on where the two of them had just
been.  Suspended in the air, nearly as high up as the street lamps, was his
Hulkr Rhino.

Thunderously, it crashed down, a burst of broken
things, skewed wheels and a shower of glass.

Gavin breathed out and closed his eyes.  “My truck.”

From the huddle, the tall woman stepped into view
wearing an interested smile as she regarded Gavin at her feet.  “Told you he
was going to be here, Captain.”

Booming, the maugal resumed his mad charge toward
Gavin.  From behind the tall woman, a much shorter figure stepped out onto the
sidewalk.  She leveled a snub firearm that glowed brightly of orange along its
top ridge.  She squeezed the trigger, and a searing line of white and yellow
intersected the maugal.  In a flash, the gun was sheathed, and the maugal
crumbled into a heap of white hot molten rock.  Another round of screams
erupted, and the scattered club goers took cover where they could find it.

Chris the bouncer crossed his arms and stood right
where he had been all night.

Breathless, Taryn sat up on Gavin’s legs. 
“That’s… that’s impossible!”

The shorter woman ordered, “D’Arro, you and a
couple guys go bring me his friend.  We’ll make offers to all three.”  She
turned her attention toward a lanky man.  “Krane, warm up the shuttle.  We may
have the best psychic in the galaxy,” she half smiled toward the tall woman,
“but there are plenty of runners up.  This one’s hot, and we’re jumping out of
here yesterday.”

“On it,” said Krane, and he loped away.

“Captain,” said D’Arro, and he nodded toward a few
others in the huddle.  D’Arro towered over most every other creature he met,
save for his fellow male ospyreans.  His body feathers were bright green and
white, his head feathers massive, colorful, and extravagant.  He and his
associates dashed along the sidewalk, where they soon reached Takeo.

“You alright?” asked the captain, and she pulled
Taryn up to stand.

Taryn nodded and brushed herself off.  “I’m fine. 
Who are you?  What’s going on?”

“I’m Zerki Ibarra, captain of the
Sanguine Shadow
. 
There’s a lot to explain.”

“
Desperation
is the raw material of drastic change.  Only those who can leave behind everything
they have ever believed in can hope to escape.
” –William S. Burroughs

“Hey there,” said Zerki,
and she watched Takeo approach as Gavin got to his feet.  D’Arro and his
associates followed Takeo for a few paces before finding their way back to the
huddle.  “I met your friends, Gavin and Taryn.  You must be Takeo.”

Onlookers peered from behind cars and bins.

“Sure,” answered Takeo, and he returned his
firearm to the small of his back.  “What’s going on?”

Zerki puffed her cheeks.  “It’s… complicated.” 
She glanced toward the tall woman.  “I’ll explain it all, if you’ll let me, but
I need to do it aboard my starship.  We don’t have a lot of time.”

Takeo raised his brow.  “Your starship?”

“My hauler, the
Sanguine Shadow
.  She’s a
registered merchant navy starship.  Nothing dangerous.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Please.  It’s the least you can do for me.  I
saved your lives.”  Zerki pulled back her hood, letting her blonde locks tumble
to her shoulders.  Her pale blue eyes glinted.

“I’m sorry,” grumbled Takeo, “but this whole thing
feels staged.”

“It was not staged, I assure you of that.”

Gavin stepped close.  “Zerki?”

The captain nodded.

“Thanks for saving our lives, sincerely, but this
really is a bad time.  You can see what happened to my truck, and I have no
idea how I’m supposed to explain this to the insurance company.  Sorry, but we
have to say no.”

“I’ll buy you a new one,” Zerki countered.  “Free
and clear.  Just hear me out.  That’s all I’m asking.”

Gavin brightened.  “Free and clear?”

Again, Zerki nodded.

Gavin rested his hand on Takeo’s shoulder.  “Let’s
hear her out.”

Taryn nodded.  “I’m OK with that.”

Takeo rolled his eyes.  “Fine.  But I need to be
back home by tomorrow night.”

Zerki smiled and nodded.  “That won’t be a
problem.”  She hurried along the street with Gavin, Taryn, Takeo and her crew
in tow.

Chris the bouncer watched them go.

The group made their way quickly along the street
to a public landing bay that had not yet opened for business.  Parked near the
arrival center, hunched and turtle-like in appearance, a sizable shuttle
awaited them.  Its engines quietly hummed, and its landing lights shone
brightly.

Unseen by the captain or her crew, Fogg took the
form of a haze and glided swiftly past them.  He slipped through the door at
the end of the boarding ramp and scanned the vessel.  A moment later, he
settled in amongst the tools and collapsed, becoming an atom wrench.

After they were all aboard, the captain struck a
large, red dome-shaped button mounted to the wall just inside the cargo area. 
Warning lights spun, and a loud beeping sound filled the air as the ramp pulled
up, locked into place, and the shuttle lifted off.  “Please show Taryn and Takeo
to their quarters,” she said, and D’Arro led his charges away.  They vanished
through a bulkhead at the far end, along with most of the crew.  Zerki and the
tall woman remained with Gavin.  “Right this way,” she said and crossed the bay
to a bulkhead opposite the one Taryn and Takeo had gone through.

She gestured for Gavin to enter, and she guided
him along the hallway to a door that slid aside at his approach.  She nodded,
and he stepped through.  “Make yourself comfortable.  I have to check in with my
crew real quick, and I’ll be back after that.”

“Thanks, I’ll try.  Nice to meet you.”

Zerki smiled.  “You too.  Thanks for coming.”  The
door slid closed. 

Gavin took stock of his surroundings.  “This isn’t
so bad,” he muttered.  Across from him, a double bunk bed had been bolted to
the wall.  A hideaway latrine was jammed open, and a florescent tube hung at a
defeated angle over a boxy wash basin positioned a few paces away.  “Actually,
that’s kind of depressing.”

Exhaling audibly, he plopped down on the lower
bunk and retrieved his phone. 
No service
.  He supposed they must
already be off planet.

·· • ··

The tall woman followed her captain to the
shuttle’s cockpit.  The door slid away as they drew close, and they were
greeted with a vista of stars.  The lanky man hunched forward over the pilot’s
console and silently raised his hand in acknowledgment of their arrival.  “Hey,
Krane,” said the tall woman as she stepped in at the heels of the captain. 
“Nice save with the flying truck.  How did you do it?”

“It wasn’t me,” he said, and he twisted toward
Zerki.  “Here, I got the scanner readings you asked for.”  He lobbed a gleaming
metal cube her way.  He smiled slightly as she caught it and raised a brow.

“Thanks.”  Zerki examined the cube.  Turning
toward the tall woman, she said, “Valerie, can you plug this in and start
crunching the data?  I’d like to confirm we have the right guy before we dock
with the
Shadow
.  I know your vision showed you a human man, but I would
cry if it was the rhidorm.”

Valerie took the cube and casually saluted.  “I’m
on it, Captain.”  She turned about and hurried over to the scanning station,
seated at the back of the bridge.  Carefully, she set the storage device down
into a faintly glowing recess, and the console flickered brightly alive.

Blowing into her hands through puffed cheeks,
Zerki eased down into a chair near Krane and stared absently at the starry
abyss.  She pulled up her hair as if to tie it into a ponytail, but ultimately
let it drop back to her shoulders.  It would be some time before the shuttle
reached her starship.

·· • ··

Taryn and Takeo waited within the confines of a
small chamber.  Similar to Gavin’s, a double bunk bed took up most of one wall,
and a softly lit washbasin stood near a recessed latrine.  Upon its surface, a
biohazard placard had been emblazoned, decorated with a wealth of scribbled
graffiti.

“Hey, Takeo,” Taryn began, and he turned to her. 
“What do you think stopped Gavin’s truck?”  She crossed her arms, leaning
heavily against the door.

Solemnly, Takeo shook his head.  “I’m not sure.”

“You think maybe it was Gavin, somehow?  I mean,
maybe that’s what all this secrecy is about.”

“It wasn’t Gavin.  It was someone on the shuttle,
I’m sure.  Shields or a tractor beam.”  He nodded insistently toward her. 
“That gun the captain is carrying is advanced tech.  Military grade.  Who knows
what else they have access to.”

Taryn smirked disapprovingly.  “Shields would’ve
burned our faces off, and there’s no such thing as tractor beams.”

“It wasn’t Gavin.”

·· • ··

Valerie stood up from her console, grinning.  “It
was him!  He’s our man, without a doubt.  Not only that, I think he’s the one
that stopped the truck!”  She could scarcely contain her excitement.  “Captain,
you have to take a look at these numbers.  He’s no ordinary Navigator!”

Zerki opened her eyes and came quickly to her
feet.  At times, there was a certain tone in Valerie’s voice that meant her
subject needed to pay attention immediately, and she was using it, despite her
giddy excitement.  “I’m coming,” and she hurried to her companion.

Side by side, with Valerie hunched over somewhat,
they poured over the data.  After a moment of silent study, Zerki whispered,
“Are you sure this is right?”

Valerie nodded.  “Triple checked for data
integrity.  It’s as authentic as it gets.”

“He’s a Wellcaster.”

Valerie beamed.  “They really exist, and we have
one!”

Zerki closed her eyes and exhaled through steepled
fingertips.  “Interesting.”