One Between the Stars

Chapter 28

 They found the inner gate blocked by a small group of some of the strangest people Ionia had ever seen. Rough, dirty, with clothes in varying degrees of wear. Carson was in the arms of a giant mountain of a man who was shirtless, exposing his grey-green skin and had a rather thick looking piece of metal through his nose. Among him were a few cyborgs, a woman with a length of spines running along her scalp instead of hair, and a robot that seemed to be compiled of a bunch of scrap metal and spare parts, small enough to rest on the shoulder of the obvious leader: a man with bright blue hair tied back and skin that was riddled with ink over nearly every inch.

Ionia and Arthre had stopped in their tracks, and though she dared not speak the word for the sheer impossibility of it, Arthre muttered, "Pirates."

The leader smiled, revealing one tooth that was silver. "Well, I suppose they're not as stupid as they look. Well, at least the scrawny one." He cast an amused glance at Carson.

Carson seemed to be barely restrained, held back only by the gun held at his temple and perhaps the array of other weapons the rest of the crew carried.

"I'm going to make this simple," the blue-haired mean said. "My name is Starflare, and you're not going to make this difficult for me or my crew."

"Run," Carson warned. "You can make it to the weapons room if you - gah!" He was slammed against the wall by the man holding him. Blood dripped from his nose.

Starflare smiled, as if brushing aside a small inconvenience. "Ah. I see your friend has a problem with following directions. No matter." He shrugged, pulling out a gun and casually pointing it at Arthre and Ionia. "I'm sure that we can come to a sort of agreement to buy your silence."

Arthre's eyes widened with her own, and they slowly raised their hands. Ionia looked to Carson, who had fallen silent at this.

"Now," Starflare continued. "We're going to move your ship into our holding dock, because you have quite a nice little rig here."

"What do you want from us?" Arthre demanded. "Whatever it is, you can have it. We don't want any trouble."

Ionia wondered why Arthre was being so compliant. He was a warlock, after all; perhaps one of the most powerful beings in the universe. He could kill any of these people in an instant, couldn't he? Ionia felt sick thinking about that possibility.

Starflare chuckled. "See? Your squire knows how it works. I require two things from you. One, I think you can provide easily: your contraband."

Ionia furrowed her eyebrows, and Arthre mirrored her confusion. "We don't carry anything illegal," he said.

"Oh?" he asked, then turned to Carson. "That's funny, because I could have sworn my sources are never wrong."

At the crack in Carson's calm, Ionia started wondering what was going on that she was missing. Starflare's face lit up, like a delighted child. "Oh! A secret from your own crew? Interesting."

"Carson?" Ionia asked. "What's going on?"

Carson didn't answer, but his helpless eyes gave her enough reason to chill her insides.

"That brings me to my second request." Starflare looked to Ionia, his eyes traveling over her and stopping at her head. "I need the girl."

In an instant, Carson's face ignited with rage. "No. You can't take her. Ah!" He was shoved against the wall again, leaving a faint welp forming on his temple.

Starflare tsked. "So sorry, friend. But you've got to catch on if you don't want to get hurt. Now, the girl goes with my crew, and you'll take me to wherever it is that you hide your secrets."