Fenturi Fate (Spacestalker Saga Book 1) (34 page)

From the upcoming
Reclaiming Mystique

The Nearworld System

“We aren’t going to make it if we don’t get out of here,” Nesham said quietly, seemingly unconcerned that despite his piloting skills, the ship was about to be blasted into the far reaches of space.

Castor swore and checked the ship functions again. “I told you those Meklens would be nothing but trouble.”

Jace A’rel, captain of the
SpaceStalker
, opened his mouth to respond to his second in command. Instead, he barely managed to avoid falling into the control panel as another laser blast hit the side of his ship.

With his options severely limited, he did what he had to do. “
Damn them
. Nesham, head to Dark World.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Koneru asked. Normally the good-natured Rovi remained unruffled, catching him off-guard an almost impossible feat. If not for the severity of their situation, Jace would have laughed.

“No, I’m not kidding,” Jace said grimly. “Nesham, hurry it up. We can’t take much more abuse from these idiot rebels.” Had the Meklens just one person with half a brain on board the vessels chasing them, Jace could have used his secret psi abilities to avoid this battle. But the Meklens were known more for their violence and strong-armed tactics than for their intelligence.

“What did you say to them on Pith to set them against us, anyway?” Castor grimaced and rubbed his head where it had banged against the wall. “I thought your work on the planet had been to gather information.”

“It was until you showed up and ruined things,” Jace growled.

“Oh. Right.”

Angered more at himself than his Second, Jace tried to contain his rage by speaking in calm, precise words. “For the past ten years I’ve been a successful space pirate. You joined the crew last year, and ever since, your reputation as a System lawman precedes you.”

“I, ah, think I’ll go join Mikhel in the back.” Castor hurried from the control room. Smart man.

Jace watched as Koneru fired the ship’s small store of weaponry back at the Meklen warships. The
SpaceStalker
had been built for stealth and speed, not for battle. If only the Meklens hadn’t taken them by surprise, blasting the hyperdrive beyond simple repair…

  Jace supposed he shouldn’t have faulted Castor too badly. How could any of them have known that the Meklen rebellion, thought to have been nearly extinguished by the System Legionnaires, still had a hardy crew of hangers-on just waiting for a chance to get even?

Jace had met with the Meklens on Pith to gather information about the Cazeth, mythical, dark beings said to wreak destruction on all they touched. What no one knew was that the Cazeth were far more than a myth. They were the source of a personal vendetta begun more than a decade ago.

 He’d been so excited at finally getting a break and learning about the Cazeth that he hadn’t thought to mask Castor’s familiar face on the offchance he might be recognized. Unfortunately, Castor’s fierce reputation as an elite Legionnaire Stalker had aggravated the Meklens into this hunt to the death.

Dark World was the closest planet to them, and the only one that might deter the Meklens from following. It didn’t matter that once a ship landed on Dark World, it was rarely heard from again, or that all manner of things—demons, devils and the like—purportedly occupied the planet. It was either take their chances on Dark World or face imminent death under Meklen fire.

Jace had come too far now to succumb to death’s unforgiving state.

They approached Dark World, an aptly named Nearworld planet. The Legion System was comprised of five large Motherworlds and twelve known smaller Nearworlds. Jace and his crew tended to gravitate toward the Nearworlds, where the law normally turned a blind eye.

“The Meklens have eased off,” Nesham reported.

“Great.” Dark World had a reputation for death and destruction unequalled in the System. Jace had personally met a survivor of the planet, but the man hadn’t been too sane. At all.

He shrugged and prayed for the best as the ship shuddered down into a large gray field.

As they landed, Castor and Mikhel joined them in the control room, all five of the
SpaceStalker
crew studying the harsh landscape. Dozens of empty ships littered the planet’s surface. From what little they could see, there was no vegetation on the planet save several small clusterings of spindly, orange-leaved trees. The dirt beneath the ship appeared gray, the sky beyond pitch black.

Mikhel stared in wonder. He was the newest member to space travel, a full-blooded Fenturi from the planet FenBy, and he’d only been in space for as long as he’d been a member of Jace’s crew. In that short time, Mikhel’s horizons had been broadened beyond anything he might have imagined.

Hels, Dark World surpassed even
his
imagination, and Jace had been a space traveler for decades.

“It teams with life,” Mikhel said. His blue eyes glowed, his Fenturi senses picking up more than most could see. “But that life is tainted.” He shuddered as he stared at the closest grouping of orange-leaved trees. “I do not think we should venture outside this ship.”