The Defiant
Chapter Twenty One

The next morning, Four commed us all.

“I see the ships on the scanners. Get up to the bridge.”

I rolled out of bed and joined the rest on the journey up to Deck One. We all piled onto the bridge. Four turned around from the pilot’s console to look at us.

“It’s time. Three, the comm.”

Three took a seat at one of the computer stations in the back and put the headphones and microphone on. Four tapped some buttons, connecting her to the Eranian ships. I peered at them through the view screen. They really were small, and didn’t look very advanced. It was hard to believe the Eranians would let their royalty travel in those.

“Eranian vessels, this is the Cebosian cruiser Justice. Please submit yourselves to a routine security search before entering Cebosian territory,” Three said in as adult a voice as she could manage. She waited a bit, listening, then added,

“I know it’s irritating, and we apologize for any inconvenience. This is purely a security issue. Please dock your ships in our shuttle bay. If you cooperate fully, this should take no time at all.”

Little did they know.

“Thank you for your patience.” Three removed the headphones and stood up.

“They’re docking.”

I tapped my comm. “Seven, are you in position?”

“Affirmative, Captain.”

“Yeah, yeah. They’ll be here in just a few minutes. Be ready.”

“Gotcha.” She shut off the channel.

Ten minutes later, the comm buzzed again.

“Step one complete.” Seven reported. “You guys can come on down.”

The rest of us trooped downdeck to the shuttle bay, where Seven met us at the door, carrying a bag which I knew contained eight empty syringes.

“Everything went according to plan. I hid in the shuttle; once the decompression sequence was complete, I snuck out and threw the sedative bombs through the hatches. They went out like lights. Let’s go, we have to take them to the cargo bay before they wake up.”

We followed her into the shuttle bay, where the two Eranian ships sat docked next to our shuttle. The entry ramps were extended, and a tall, buff young man was slumped on the ground next to the first one.

I entered the second ship first, where I found three young women and a guard. The countesses, I presumed. The other ship contained the two princesses and the final guard. The princesses didn’t look much like Eight and I other than their dark hair. Their elegant gowns in shades of gold and blue and their elaborately styled hair certainly set us apart. The princesses were identical, like Eight and I were.

We teamed up to carry our unconscious captives to the cargo bay down the hall that we had emptied yesterday. Two and Five each dragged a guard. Six slung a countess over each shoulder. I held the shoulders of one of the princesses, and Seven took her feet. Three and Four carried the other in a similar fashion. A deceptively strong Eight scooped up the final countess and carried her.

The eight of us stood in the cargo bay, surveying the sleeping royalty. Two whistled.

“Dude, we just totally kidnapped half the royal family.”

All of a sudden, it was hilarious. We were all laughing, the kind of laughing that has you rolling on the floor, struggling for breath.

As suddenly as the laughter started, it stopped. We sobered quickly, grounded by the reality of what we’d just done. We were criminals now, interstellar criminals. We had kidnapped royalty and had plans to impersonate them.

It was a scary thought.

We were criminals, maybe, but not torturers. We had brought food down from the galley, and it was stacked on a crate in the corner of the cargo bay, which was just a huge empty room with only one access door, which Four had rigged to lock from the outside.

We had all given up the mattresses from our beds, and they were all laid out against the back wall of the bay. We took the guards’ weapons, of course, but left them on their ships so they could get them back when we released them. Our captives had water and food, anything they would need for the next twenty four hours while we accomplished our mission. I kept reminding myself this to stave off guilt.

Seven told us that the sedative would wear off in about an hour. As captain, the duty had fallen to me to go into the bay to explain what had happened. We didn’t want them to worry, which was stupid, since what else do you do when you’ve been kidnapped but worry?

But it was important for our consciences, so an hour after we’d locked the captives in the cargo bay, I stood outside the door with Five.

Someone was banging on the other side of the door, rather hard. It must have been one of the stronger guards, since the whole sturdy metal door was rattling in its frame. Perhaps we should have tied them up.

Jeez, I sounded nuts.

I took a deep breath, then pressed the button next to the door that would allow me to speak to the people inside.

“Please stand clear of the door. We are coming in. We do not wish you harm.”

I turned to Five.

“Have they moved yet?”

“No,” he said, consulting the feed from the video camera Four had installed for us on his handheld view screen. “They’ve got two guards, standing on either side of the door, probably waiting to ambush us.”

“Please move away from the door. I repeat, we are not going to hurt you. We just want to talk.”

“Okay, the princesses are arguing,” Five reported. “Looks like the one in the blue dress won. Now she’s talking to one of the guards. He’s shaking his head—Wait no, he’s walking away from the door. They’re all standing against the back wall.”

I exhaled, relieved. That could have gone a lot worse.

“Thank you. We are coming in.”

I tapped the access code into the door control panel, and Five and I walked inside, replaceing ourselves faced with eight very angry captives. I was reminded forcibly of my own crew, just a month ago, in nearly this exact situation. I felt a surge of guilt and remorse, but pushed it down. We had no choice.

“Who are you? What do you want?” demanded the princess in the gold dress as soon as we entered.

“We do not want anything from you,” I said carefully, sticking to the words I had practiced earlier. “We have a mission we have to accomplish, at the end of which you will be returned, unharmed, to your ship and allowed to return to your planet.”

“And why should we believe you?” asked Blue Dress.

“Do we have reason to lie? If we wanted you to be hurt, we had ample opportunity to do so. Please trust me,” I said imploringly. “If we could avoid taking these measures, we would.”

Gold Dress surged forward and opened her mouth to speak, but one of the countesses (Isabella, I figured, since she appeared to be the oldest) placed a restraining hand on the princess’s arm.

“Careful, my lady.”

From this, I surmised that Gold Dress was Princess Rosa-Marie, the one Eight would be impersonating. Rosa-Marie was afflicted with a disease that made her bones brittle and fragile, and she wasn’t supposed to engage in any strenuous activity. Eight-as-Rosa-Marie would not be able to perform the village step or the fire step at the ceremony, because it would be expected for her to avoid it for her health, but she could participate in the round step at a suitably sedate pace.

Rosa-Marie scowled and returned to her place by the wall. The princess in the blue dress, Rafaela, stepped forward to take her place.

“Why are there children in charge aboard this ship?” she asked imperiously, holding her chin high.

“We’re not in charge,” I fibbed. “We are the youngest members of our crew. Our captain sent us in here in the hopes that you would more easily relate to people of your own age.”

“I demand to speak with your captain!”

“That’s not, uh, possible because, uh—” Five stammered, looking at me.

“If we are not going to be able to speak to your captain, you will not either.” She then barked what sounded like a command, and the guards leapt forward to seize us.

I elbowed one in the face, and ducked the swinging arms of the other.

“Five!” I gasped. “Unlock the door!” I broke the grip of one of the guards with a vicious pinch, but took a hard punch to the cheekbone from the other that made stars dance in my vision.

Five delivered a blow to the neck of his assailant and made a mad dash for the door. Unfortunately, so did Antonella, the youngest countess.

I needed a distraction.

I kicked one of the guards, hard, in the shin, and he dropped. Another one rushed at me, and I screamed at the top of my lungs.

He was only startled for a second, but it was the second I needed to run.

I reached the door just as it slid open, as Five had keyed in the passcode.

I shoved Antonella to the ground and threw myself through the doorway. Five barrelled after me. The door closed behind us, and I heard something heavy hit it.

We backed away from the cargo bay door, panting.

That hadn’t gone well at all.