Beyond the Shadows Read Free Page B

the way to processing and accounting, or the bar.
    Her unease grew as she stared across the Freedock to the dark ship waiting for her on the other side. Her captain leaned against a landing strut, waiting.
    She’d spent hours looking for something, anything, even a complaint of hull vermin against him. She found nothing. That alone was odd.
    Her neck began to tingle, her skin growing sensitive as her heart beat faster.
    She wasn’t afraid of him.
    If he tried to pull anything, she’d just kill him, or Tuz would.
    He crossed his arms against his chest, his simple synthlin shirt gaped just enough for her to catch the edge of a scar on his chest. Who was he? In the modern age, scars were rare on people from tech, especially on Earth. That planet had at least a thousand-year history of seeking physical perfection through medical intervention. How did he get one? She had a sinking feeling it wasn’t from a medical procedure. It was a mark of violence.
    The muscles in her legs suddenly felt heavy and uncoordinated.
    She still wasn’t afraid of him.
    But he made her nervous.
    “Commander,” he greeted with a nod of his dark head. The orange glow of the gravity generators reflected in the lenses of his eye shades.
    Yara didn’t like being unable to see his eyes. She didn’t trust him.
    She walked forward with a steady and deliberate stride. It would be fine. As soon as she reached home, she could put the Earthlen out of her mind forever.
    “Captain,” she responded, holding her head higher even though she felt flushed. She tried to tell herself it was only the radiant heat from the ship.
    “Are you ready for this?” He smiled. It was a blatant invitation and an even more blatant challenge.
    “Absolutely,” she answered.

2
    THEY DUCKED UNDER THE SHIP AND YARA CLIMBED A RUNG LADDER THROUGH the cramped vertical airlock. She pulled herself up into the back left corner of the cargo bay. Looking around with a certain amount of apprehension, she hoped the ship was livable. It seemed like too much to ask. A single stack of crates was strapped with military precision against the forward bulkhead with a closed door just to the left of the stack.
    The outside of the ship seemed large. Why was the interior so small? What sorts of items did he trade in? Obviously he wasn’t a major supplier for the Union.
    “Impressed yet?” Cyrus asked as he picked up her bag and motioned to the bulkhead door ahead of them.
    “Hardly. This ship is tiny.” At least it looked clean. She inspected the area for signs of vermin as Tuz growled his disapproval and curled his long tail around his front leg. The lingering scent of stale joint grease and dust hung in the air.
    “That’s why I don’t take passengers. You’re lucky I took you on at all,” he mentioned as he passed her.
    “I should have talked you down to twenty.”
    Light glittered in his wicked eyes as he removed his shades. “It wouldn’t have happened, Pix.”
    She turned to him. “I could leave this ship right now.”
    He shrugged. “No refunds. You know the way out.” He flicked his hand at the open airlock hatch in the floor, daring her to back out.
    Damn him. Damn him to the filth and darkness.
    “You will not disrespect me, Earthlen.” She felt the heat rise again, felt her hands shake. She had to control herself.
    “Captain,” he stated.
    “Commander,” she corrected.
    “No, you will address me as captain on this ship.”
    “What?” He couldn’t be serious. She refused to play these petty games with him. He should know his place. And this piece of junk hardly counted as a ship. It was less than half a ship.
    “I think I made myself clear, Commander.” He shifted her bag to his other hand, then opened the doors from the bay into converted living quarters connected to the command center of the ship by an open archway with an energy shield generator.
    Yara felt as if she had taken a shock blast to the head. Handling venomous snakes seemed less hazardous than