Free Wings of Retribution by David King, Sara King

between her eyes.  “You’re an agent ?”
    He grinned, displaying perfect teeth.  “I’m a pirate, just like you.  Now stop the ship and let ‘em board.”
    Someone started pounding on the other side of the security door.
    Keeping his eyes on her, Smallfoot walked over to the emergency control panel and brought out the small key that Athenais kept with her at all times.  With it, he unlocked the glass panel and flipped the switch that would fill the outside living compartments with sleeping gas. 
    Outside, the pounding stopped, followed by a thud as something hit the ground.
    “I said, let ‘em board.”
    Dallas turned back to the controls and considered punching the security-door lock and letting the sleeping gas pour into the helm.
    “Don’t even think about it,” Smallfoot said.
    Frustrated, Dallas launched the sequence to initiate in-space boarding.
    “Good girl.  Now go stand over there while I chat wi’ my friends.”  Smallfoot gestured towards the corner of the cockpit with the muzzle of his—or, rather, Athenais’s—gun.
    Bristling, Dallas stood and walked over to the side wall, where she waited.  Her hangover was gone, replaced with adrenaline and fury.
    Smallfoot sat down and opened a frequency between the Beetle and its attacker.  He put the earphone against his head and laughed.  “Why hello, fellahs.  Yeah, they’re here.  I recommen’ bio-suits for boardin, though.  Might be a lil’ gas left over.  What?  No, that wasn’t me.  A copilot.  Naw, I din’ kill her.”
    Smallfoot frowned at the console, then glanced at Dallas.  “They wanna hire ya.”
    “Tell ‘em they already fired me once.”  She crossed her arms and scowled at the emergency airlock.
    Smallfoot relayed her message and laughed at the reply.  “We’re taking the energy charge from the main engine block,” he said, turning to her.  “Ya can either come with us or die on Beetle .”
    The little hairs on Dallas’s neck lifted.  “You’re gonna scuttle her?  What about the others?”
    Smallfoot scoffed.  “Goat’s a weeder, Squirrel is a uppity bitch, Dune would screw his machines if he could, and the Cap’in is dead.  Not much left here to save, way I see things.”
    Dallas’s heart spasmed.  “You killed her?” 
    “Couldn’t very well leave that one alive, now could I?”  Smallfoot laughed.  “After all, I’m selling her precious shifter for three million credits.  She wouldn’t take that very well, and we know how our Cap’in liked to hold a grudge.”  He frowned at her.  “So?  Ya wanna come or stay?”
    Dallas flinched at the way he said ‘liked.’  If Athenais was dead, there was no one to fly the ship other than Dallas.  Goat knew where to fly the ship, but not the how of it.  If they were stranded, Squirrel could radio the Devil and get a response, but she didn’t know the first thing about flying.  Dune could keep the engine running if the core itself failed, but he’d never touched any controls other than the steering-wheel of a dunebuggy.
    That left Dallas.
    But without the energy charge, Beetle wasn’t going anywhere.  Ever.  Squirrel had a better chance of radioing Hell to alert them that they were on their way.
    Dallas bit her lip.  She didn’t want to die, but she didn’t want to leave her friends, either. 
    Well, as close to friends as she had, considering the lot of them had abducted her to work for Beetle when the Space Force had fired her.  She’d always gotten the idea they all hated her. 
    Outside, the Beetle jolted as the Utopian ship joined with it and closed the seal.
    “Come on,” Smallfoot said.  “It’s not a tough decision.”
    “I’m staying.”
    Smallfoot stared at her.  “You’re as crazy as that bitch Cap’in.”  He opened an emergency cubby and took out two flashlights.  He tossed one at her.  “Come on, then.  Maybe yule change yer mind.”
    “I won’t,” Dallas said.
    “Maybe,” Smallfoot said,