Free Star Rising: Heartless by Cesar Gonzalez Page B

down your hatch and prepare to be boarded.”
    “This is an official Bastion vessel,” countered the pilot. “An attack on it is punishable by death.”
    “Save me the speech, Bastion dog,” countered the voice. It held no tone of anger or accusation, only a monotone sternness that made it clear that the man on the other side of the speaker was not one to be meddled with. “I know full well who your masters are. Now put down your hatch and prepare to be boarded.” There was a brief moment of silence. “Do it not, and I will blast your ship into a thousand pieces.”
    Beatrix quickly recognized this as an empty threat. Whoever their attackers were, they had no intention of killing them. Why else would they go through the trouble of disabling the ship and hacking the communicator, but leaving life support intact? No. These people had more in mind than simply killing them, of that she was certain.
    Apparently she was the only one who had come to this conclusion.
    “We can’t let them in, they will kill us all if we do,” said the guard. “The hatch is the most encoded part of the ship. They won’t be able to hack it before Bastion reinforcements arrive.”
    “We’ll be space dust by then,” squealed the pilot, fear in his voice. “I’m going to open the hatch. It’s the only chance we got.”
    No one argued with him this time.
    Beatrix held her breath as the pilot pressed a button on his navigational panel. A second later there was a loud whine as the gray hatch slid open. She was now staring at three human figures, two males and one female. The two men could pass as twins. They were both tall and lanky with oversized noses and bushy brown hair. Their skin looked leathery. The only visible difference between the two ugly men was that one had a grimy mustache, while the other did not. The woman, on the other hand, was much shorter. She had thin lips and short hair that ended a little below her shoulders. All three wore long blue trench coats over their clothing. Beatrix’s eyes looked past that, settling on the metaton arms they all possessed. She’d heard many stories of energy users, but she had never actually seen one.
    The female pirate lifted her metal hand as it grew red in color. “Put your weapons down,” she ordered. “Or I’ll turn you all to a crisp.”
    Before she had even finished voicing her threat, the guards had already placed their blasters on the floor.
    “Now, face down on the floor and don’t look up,” added the mustached pirate. He aimed his metallic hand, which was crackling with yellow lightning, at the guards. “You wouldn’t want me to accidentally release a burst of energy.”
    The trembling guards refrained from saying a word.
    “What do you want with us?” asked Beatrix. Questioning murderous pirates probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but her mind often moved faster than her common sense. Besides, she had no intention of cowering like the guards were doing. If she was going to die, she was going to do so on her feet.
    “We got a feisty one here,” said the mustached pirate. With his crackling hand pointed at her chest, he moved towards her and reached for her hair.
    Disgusted at having his oily hand on her, Beatrix batted his weaponized arm away.
    Two screams followed. One belonged to Beatrix’s hysterical mother, who couldn’t believe her daughter had just slapped away the weapon without fear of retaliation. The other scream was one of low rage emitting from the pirate.
    “How dare you?” His metallic hand shot up once more. “I will teach you to—”
    “Jesemiah!” thundered a deep voice.
    The mustached pirate’s face froze. From within the tunnel that connected the vessels, a tall man, who looked to be a few cycles her elder, emerged. He had a squared chin covered by dark stubble. His right eye was a clear green. Like the other pirates, he wore a long trench coat over a white shirt and blue pants, though his coat was a dark brown instead of the