The Rogue Prince

“You’re a nag, Erick. I’d say you’d make a good parent someday, but you’d probably have to find a woman first.”

  “Not necessarily. They can grow babies in labs, you know. I could even have myself cloned. Isn’t science wonderful?”

  “Wonderfully disturbing.”

  Erick headed out of NavCom, hopefully to grab his netdisc and start researching junkyards, but he paused in the hatchway.

  “How exactly do you think you’ll find Thorian?” he asked. “Blue Armadillo isn’t huge by system standards, but it’s still got hundreds of thousands of people, and I doubt Thorian is advertising his presence anywhere these days.”

  “When we were kids, I could sense him from quite a ways away. I’m hoping I still can.”

  Erick raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Can you sense me from a ways away?”

  “I don’t know. You’d have to go away and stop pestering me so I could check.”

  “Being grown and birthed in a lab might have improved your personality.”

  Jelena looked around for something to throw at him, but her stallion mug was not expendable. He left before she found a substitute.

  She finished the docking procedure and braced herself to send a message to Mom.

  Chapter 12

  Erick whistled cheerfully as he tinkered on an engine, the framework of a ground truck in the packed dirt next to him, heaps of junk forming a mountain range behind him. Jelena hadn’t seen him this happy in days. She handed him tools now and then, but mostly poked at her netdisc’s holodisplay while he worked.

  Despite her claim that she would feel Thor if they were close, she didn’t feel anything yet, so she was doing sys-net research. She’d feared that Thor would strike at his Upsilon Seven target before they arrived, but the news hadn’t reported any such thing yet. In fact, the headlines featuring him had died down since there hadn’t been any new assassinations in over a week. Her first thought was to consider that a good thing, but then she wondered if he’d been detained somewhere along the way. Had the Alliance caught up with him? Or what if he’d decided to skip Upsilon Seven and was already on Arkadius, hunting for his targets there?

  Shaking the thoughts away, Jelena focused on her research, looking up the prominent citizens in the area. A lot of cattle barons came up on the list, but she couldn’t imagine Thor would have a grudge against a rancher, unless that rancher had fought for the Alliance. Even that probably wouldn’t be enough of a crime. So far, he’d focused on those who had betrayed the empire. Especially the emperor. His family.

  “Here’s someone who used to be an imperial senator,” she murmured. “He retired on a five-thousand-acre ranch to the north of town. Hm.” She ran a few searches to see if he had done anything openly nefarious, at least from the imperial point of view.

  The clanks and clangs coming from under the truck frame were her only answer. Erick’s work ethic was admirable, especially with two warm suns beating down on them. It was summer here, the air muggy and thick with blood-sucking bugs buzzing cheerfully as they flew over from the wetlands near the junkyard.

  “We got a real treasure trove of parts for only forty tindarks,” Erick commented, ignoring her Thor topic in favor of a subject of which he approved.

  Jelena eyed the rusted engine parts, the dented oil cans, and the tire he’d patched three times before he could inflate it. “A treasure trove, yes.”

  The vehicle might be worth more than forty tindarks once he had it working, but she remembered what Erick had done the last couple of times he’d turned wrecks into operating conveyances, and she didn’t count on them earning any money to put toward their tickets to Arkadius. Besides, it was likely Mom would send some money once she heard Jelena’s message. Reluctantly, but feeling she had to come clean since there was a possibility the family could be in trouble because of Jelena’s entanglement with Stellacor, she’d explained everything. The only thing she had left out was that she was looking for Thor. Unless she actually found him, there seemed to be little point in mentioning it.

  “This Senator Albrecht is going to be my guess,” Jelena said. “There’s nobody else listed as a prominent resident here that I could imagine Thor targeting. Albrecht’s sys-net entry doesn’t mention any betrayal of the imperial government, just that he retired and came here after the fall. But considering he was a modest school teacher before lobbying for and being appointed to a position in the Senate, and considering that the senators weren’t paid a huge salary, well, five thousand acres is a lot of land, especially this close to a major city.”

  A thump sounded, followed by a rumble as an old combustion engine started up. “Hah,” Erick said.

  Jelena figured that was the closest thing to a response she would get and started looking up information on Albrecht’s ranch.

  “Those senators were all taking money under the table,” Erick surprised her by saying. “We studied this in school, in recent history classes. How do you think a school teacher made enough money to campaign for an appointment? He made promises to someone, someone whom he no doubt paid back once he was in office.”

  “Are you saying he could have gotten rich enough to buy a big ranch without betraying the emperor?”

  “I am saying that, yes.”

  “But,” Jelena reasoned, “even if those senators all got rich when they were serving, they got rich in imperial morats, money that lost ninety-nine percent of its value after the fall. There are a lot of ex-senators and other career politicians that are broke now because they had their money in imperial banks and their stocks in the imperial market. The ones who made it out of the war rich . . . well, it kind of presupposes that they had some knowledge of what was coming, doesn’t it? They were able to prepare, to protect their wealth.”

  “I doubt it took a genius in the end to see what was coming.”

  “I don’t know. A lot of people didn’t. Mom said the empire and most of its loyal citizens always thought it was too big, too powerful, to fall.” Jelena waved her netdisc. “I want to go out to Albrecht’s ranch and see if I can sense Thor. If Albrecht is his target, he might be sniffing him out right now.”

  “Is that before or after we deliver the animals?”

  “Once you have this fine vehicle running, we can do both at the same time. Maybe Senator Albrecht would like to adopt a dog.”

  Erick’s response might have been a grunt or a groan. It was hard to tell when he was under the frame of the truck again.

  • • • • •

  Jelena was glad to find the animals were being good when she and Erick returned to the Snapper, driving the rust-covered truck up the ramp that spiraled up to their third-level docking spot. She was less glad to find Masika sitting on a crate outside of the ship, wearing a pensive expression as she gazed out over the river and the city.

  Masika had walked out of the ship with her and Erick when they’d headed to the junkyard, and Jelena had locked the hatch behind her. She hadn’t wanted to tempt Masika to enact some sabotage or other mischief before she left. Even if Jelena had paid her and they were letting her go, she might still feel some loyalty to recover the stolen animals for her employer—or to see Jelena and Erick punished by her employer, since she was determined to think of them as thieves. Jelena did not like the way her gaze shifted skyward as she and Erick drove up. She wasn’t expecting Stellacor to show up here, was she? For that matter, how had they found the Snapper in the empty space between Halite Moon and Arkadius?

  “If you’re going to brood, could you do it elsewhere?” Jelena asked, making a shooing motion with her hand as she stepped out of the truck.

  “I’ve looked up the transports, and there’s nothing leaving today that’s going anywhere that will get me home with the money I have.”

  “Well, your invitation to remain on the Snapper has been revoked, on account of surly, armored people looking for you.”

  “And on account of her attacking us in NavCom,” Erick grumbled, heading for the cargo hatch.

  “Ah.” Masika s
miled faintly—disappointedly?

  What had she expected? She didn’t want to stay. She’d made that clear.

  Masika rose to her feet as Erick opened the hatch. He drove the truck into the hold to make loading easier.

  “You’re taking the animals somewhere?” Masika asked.

  “To find a shelter that will find homes for them.”

  “Do you need help?”

  Jelena eyed her suspiciously.

  Masika shrugged. “You paid me too much for that small amount of painting I did. And my work was poor and clumsy.”

  “It looked good to me.”

  Masika’s small smile took on a wistful aspect, but Jelena sensed a hint of condescension from her too. She probably thought Jelena didn’t know anything about art. And unless one counted the hours Jelena had spent tracing horse pictures as a girl, she would be right.

  “I’ve thought about it, and I can’t accept this much money for so little work. I considered whether it was fair to take it because you kidnapped me—”

  “Rescued you. Didn’t you see that crack in your faceplate? You were going to die.”

  “Because you pushed her off a cliff,” Erick called from the cargo hold, where he was trying to coax the pigs up a makeshift ramp and into the back of the truck. He would definitely need help. But because of that comment, Jelena decided to let him struggle for a couple more minutes.

  “Weren’t you the one to disable the ship that crashed into the cliff and truly caused her to fall?” she called back.

  “You helped with that.”

  “Listen, Masika,” Jelena said, turning back to her. “If you decide you want to snub your awful employers and you need a place to stay, we can talk—I’m sure we truly could employ you.” As the words came out of her mouth, Jelena realized that maybe she shouldn’t have said them. She didn’t expect Masika to take her up on the offer, but what if she did? Then she’d be stuck with someone that Stellacor was willing to go to great lengths to get back. “But I sense that you don’t feel you can leave them. And also that you don’t like us much.”

  “This is true,” Masika said, not fazed by Jelena’s bluntness.

  “Thank you so much for your honesty.”

  “You’re thieves.” Masika shrugged. “But very well. I shall leave your threshold.”

  “Good luck with your life.”

  Hearing meows and grunts of protest, Jelena jogged into the cargo hold. A pig zoomed past at top speed, chasing three dogs. Or maybe teaming up with the three dogs to avoid being rounded up. Cats meowed from up on the small catwalk that surrounded the hold. Erick was trying to telekinetically wrestle a couple of dogs into the truck’s cargo bed, but they were barking, alarmed at floating through the air. The animals jumped down as soon as they landed in the truck.

  “I used to be better at this,” Erick said, giving her a plaintive look. “At least with chickens.”

  “You haven’t spent much time bonding with these animals.” Jelena sent out a wave of comfort, trying to calm them all down. She gave the promise of food and cozy pens and cat or dog beds. Maybe a forever home one day soon. Alfie trotted up and sat next to her, leaning on her leg. “This is a nice planet, girl,” she said, bending to pat her head. “You’ll have a nice life here, better than you would on a spaceship.”

  An unexpected lump formed in her throat, even though she hadn’t been caring for the dog for long. Mom had always said no to dogs aboard the Nomad. It had taken Jelena years to argue and plead her way to her first cat. She wondered if Missie, Alex, Primp, and River would mind sharing their cabin on the Nomad with Alfie.

  “Jelena, a little help?” Erick asked from where he was trying to coax the cats down. “I know you’re good at this. You can always get your cats out of Leonidas’s armor case with a chin jerk.”

  “Yes, and if I could get the cat hair out of his armor case, he’d be even more pleased. He usually keeps the lid closed, but when he opens it to don his armor, it’s fair game. He grumbles a lot at the fact that all four of them magically know when they can jump in and curl up in the leg pieces. I believe the sanitizing process leaves everything in his armor case slightly warm and thus attractive to a cat.” A twinge of homesickness washed over her at the memories the words stirred.

  “I’m amazed he lets you have cats.”

  “He complains about them, but I’ve caught him reading on his bunk with cats lying on his chest. He doesn’t seem to object to their presence then.”

  Jelena reached out to the animals, coaxing all of them from their perches. Almost as if they were a singular entity, the dogs, cats, and four pigs trundled to the truck. She would have to keep a mental touch on them since the cargo bed was open, and they could jump out if they were so inclined.

  Erick scratched his head, looking stunned as they jumped into the truck. He had to help up the pigs and some of the dogs. The cats, being independent sorts with legs like springs, refused help.

  Alfie looked up at her, ears perked, head tilted sideways, as if to ask if they were going to do something fun. She also didn’t seem to think she was included in the gentle command to jump into the cargo bed. Hm.

  “I wonder how Leonidas would feel about dog fur in his armor case,” Jelena said.

  “I doubt it’s what he wants to see when he returns from his surgery.”

  Reminded of his predicament, Jelena let the subject drop. Erick closed the tailgate of the truck. Several faces peered over it and out to the open air beyond the Snapper and the space base.

  “Should we bathe them before taking them to the shelter?” Jelena wondered, eyeing the matted fur on one dog’s head.

  Since leaving Alpha 17, the dogs and cats had bathed themselves and each other in the usual tongue-washing manner, and they no longer had that antiseptic laboratory smell, but she thought they could be cuter and fluffier. Surely that would help people feel more inclined to adopt them.

  “I’m not trying to bathe any cats,” Erick said. “You should be more worried about whether or not they’ve had shots and about how we don’t have any record of that. We may get questioned by port authorities as we try to drive out of the base with a bunch of animals from off-world. Saying they’re from some mad scientist’s lab might not help.”

  “I wasn’t planning to say anything. I’ll convince them to lie low back there, and if necessary, maybe you can convince whoever questions us that there’s nothing of interest in the cargo bed.”

  “You know Stanislav frowns upon us using our talents to diddle with the minds of people, unless it’s a drastic situation and we’re facing enemies.”

  “The port authorities could become enemies to our mission if they learn about the animals.”

  “Your mission. Not our mission. Your mission that you made up for yourself.”

  “That’s how the universe runs. Some people make up missions and some people follow them. Let’s get going.” Jelena waved to the front of the truck. “Do you want me to drive?”

  “Absolutely not.” Erick jumped into the driver’s seat while Jelena and Alfie climbed in on the other side.

  “Because you don’t trust my piloting skills or because you want to see how fast your rusty truck can race away from trouble?”

  “Oh, we’ll see how fast it can go at some point, whether there’s trouble or not.” He smirked at her, looking for a moment like the gangly fourteen-year-old boy he’d been when she first met him.

  Alfie tilted her head.

  “Yes, we should have had him install harnesses, girl,” Jelena said.

  Erick drove down the winding ramp, and Jelena did her best to convince the animals to settle low in the back. The men in the port authority guard shack hadn’t batted an eye when she and Erick had driven in, but empty trucks going to pick up cargo were commonplace. It was the ride out where people were typically questioned.

  To Jelena’s surprise, the security men—four of them—were already out questioning someone. Masika.

  She stood with her fists on her hips
and her chin up, wearing the same gray military fatigues she’d had since Alpha 17—it wasn’t as if she’d had other clothing options along. She didn’t have any obvious weapons, but with fists like battering rams, maybe that didn’t matter. One man was standing in front of her, talking and pointing a finger at her face. Three others stood uncomfortably close, their rifles pointed at her.

  “Looks like we can slide by without the port authorities noticing us,” Erick said.

  Jelena frowned. “You don’t think we should help her?”

  Granted, Masika was more enemy than ally, but it seemed strange to abandon her to whatever trouble she’d found after they’d traveled together for several days.

  “Do you think she would help us?” Erick asked.

  “That’s a horrible attitude for a superhero to take.”

  “I’m a practical superhero. We’re driving a truck full of contraband, remember?”

  “How can you talk about the animals like that?”

  Alfie put a paw on Erick’s thigh and gazed up at him.

  He groaned. “You made her do that, didn’t you?”

  “She’s a very intuitive dog. Just drive up beside the guards, so we can get the gist of what’s happening.”

  “I can get the gist from here.” He continued forward, despite the words. “They think she’s a wanted criminal.”

  “Oh? Is she?” Jelena would find it ironic if, after calling her a thief all week, Masika turned out to have a criminal past. It seemed unlikely though. Stellacor would surely hire people who could pass background checks to be their security guards. Of course, they had already determined that Masika was something other than a simple guard.

  “I doubt it. She’s surprised and indignant.”

  Erick pulled the truck to a stop beside the group. Those rifles were still being pointed at Masika. Judging by the way her knees were bent, hands no longer on her hips but up in a boxer’s pose, she was ready to spring into action at any second.

  “Problem here?” Erick drawled, and Jelena sensed him trying to soothe the men with his mind, the same way she soothed animals.