Star Brigade: Resurgent (Star Brigade Book 1) Read online

  There was a parting in the crowd, and at the main bar sat the target—an osvowraith. It was a mirror image of the hologram she and Jaellyn had seen before taking this job: rail-thin humanoid, seemingly composed of all sharp angles. Its lengthy nose, pointed like a blunt sword edge, with a deathly pallor obvious even under the dim lights. Oily black dreadlocks from the rear of its head fell down to its lower back. Ella still couldn’t believe that this being could pose a threat to anyone. According to their contact, male and female osvowraiths look pretty much the same, so Ella referred to the target as ‘It.’

  The osvowraith sat hunched over on a floating stool, coiled like a snake. Its entire attention was fixated on the performance happening to Ella’s far left. In its clawed fingers was a round cup of an untouched fizzy, yellow-orange, a tongue-burning Solar Scorcher by the look of it.

  After finding out that osvowraiths weren’t just nightmarish bedtime stories, Ella had almost fallen over with laughter. Apparently, osvowraiths were energy parasites that drain the life out of other sentient beings for sustenance. Even when seeing graphic images of osvowraith victims, all pallid and speckled from head to toe with eerie glowing suck marks, Ella just couldn’t see this scrawny thing as a threat. Now she noted the osvowraith’s laser-like focus on whatever was on the stage—a hunter tracking its prey.

  “I see him,” muttered Ella, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. The bounty hunter seriously had doubts about taking this job, especially when their data broker, Xubes, said the client was some human supremacist paramilitary group. “Why the hell do they need us?” a baffled Ella had asked.

  “You two, even though you’ve done quite well recently, are much lower profile than the more known bounty hunters,” Xubes had explained. “And you come cheap.”

  As low-priced as Ella and Jaellyn’s services were, the compensation had been way too good to pass up. If the first half of the payment was any indication, this job was triple their usual take for a grab ‘n’ bag based on the target’s rarity. Plus Ella and Jaellyn were in serious need of some real currency for better weapons, foodstuff with actual taste, and, of course, new ship parts. Ella had been able to patch up lots of nagging issues and leaks with their ship thanks to her techie knowhow. But it was only a matter of time before one such issue became serious enough to leave her and Jaellyn stranded in the middle of the Black.

  Ella downed the last of her drink and rose from her seat. Amidst the dim and stifling atmosphere, quite a few heads turned when she weaved through the crowd. Ella owed that interest to her near five-foot-ten inches in height. She had always been on the more full-figured side—unlike her skinny-like-a-stick cousin, Ana Lucia. But a subtle sway of the hips here, a sensual half-smirk there and Ella could draw her fair share of male attention.

  As she neared her quarry, Ella noticed where the concentration of Hugrask’s crowd resided. One look told her why the hostellaris was so packed.

  The stage on the far left belonged to a scantily clad near-human girl, her long, violet hair done up in intricate and elegant braids. The chalk-white humanoid was a petite little thing. Her heart-shaped face remained focused and blissful, despite the audience’s lewd catcalls and whistles. On that stage, she danced a slow and seductive dance, waving her arms hypnotically to the song’s alien string-heavy tempo. Her hips shook and shivered to the melodies, as if independent of her body. Gliding across the stage like an ice-skater in slow motion, the girl’s presence filled the entire hostellaris.

  Ella stopped and stared, mesmerized. The music, like the dancer, was Korvenite in origin, wreathing her every movement flawlessly, a beautiful fiery union between song and dance. Ella had never heard or seen Korvenite music performed when she lived on Terra Sollus. It had been forbidden in the Valdés household. Clearly she had been missing out. The performance was like nothing Ella had ever seen. Yet the passion…the fire of this Korvenite’s seductive dance, felt so like an old dance style Ella’s home country of Navarre had inherited from a long-dead Old Earth country. The Korvenite’s eyes, black sclera housing gold irises, lanced into Ella’s brain, blotting out every coherent thought…

  “Has the osvowraith exited yet?” Jaellyn interjected, a welcome stab of daylight through Ella’s mental fog.

  “Not yet,” Ella murmured clumsily. Whoa! She tore her eyes away from the performance, shaking her head to clear it. That Korvenite was putting out some serious psychic…something. No wonder the girl had the osvowraith’s undivided attention. All her telepathic mojo must look like an all-you-can-eat buffet sign. Ella, now clearheaded, took a good look.

  Under layers of makeup and barely there clothing, this Korvenite was a child writhing and dancing for unruly adults, some old enough to be grandparents.

  “Gods, how old is that Korvie?” Ella mumbled, rather unsettled. The tattshi she’d witnessed since leaving Galactic Union borders never ceased to shock her.

  “I made my first kill when I turned seven,” Jaellyn remarked in a disdainful tone. “The Korvenite can dance at any age she chooses.”

  Ella snorted and kept moving. “Excuse me for not being raised ‘Tarkathian-style,’ Jae.”

  Jaellyn muttered something in her native Tarkathian that sounded distinctly like an expletive.

  Ella glanced again at the Korvenite and then at the osvowraith, whose unblinking gaze never wavered once.

  All-you-can-eat buffet…

  A queer dread chilled Ella. The Korvie was its next victim.

  “MOVE.” A towering Nubrideen hulk of muscle shouldered forward past Ella, almost knocking the human off her feet. Too rattled to be angry, Ella quickly regained her footing and line of sight. The string instrumental music had stopped, replaced by boisterous applause from the packed-in crowd. The Korvenite smiled glowingly and took a deep bow. Was the performance over? Ella turned to the bar.

  The osvowraith looked ready to spring from its seat, the Solar Scorcher drink still untouched. From a strategic outlook, this actually worked in her favor; while the osvowraith found its evening meal, Ella and Jaellyn would catch it off guard. Boom. Easy grab. Easy pay.

  Any other coldblooded bounty hunter would have killed for such an easy scenario. Jaellyn definitely wouldn’t hesitate using the Korvie as bait, but that was Jaellyn. On many a time in previous jobs Ella had followed her head instead of her heart, sticking with a cardinal rule in bounty hunting: innocents killed during a job are collateral damage and nothing more.

  Besides, it’s a fucking Korvenite. Why should I care? Still, Ella couldn’t wrap her head around the sight of that Korvenite kid spasming as the osvowraith drained her dry…a life ending before it even had a chance to be lived....

  And in that moment, Ella made her choice. She pushed her way urgently toward the osvowraith.

  “Ella?” Jaellyn asked in the earcom. “What’s happening?”

  “Confirming target. Standby.” Ella ignored the irate objections and forcefully closed the distance between her prey. Now Ella’s fear began to rise, not for the Korvie, but for herself. Other patrons were chatting and drinking and arguing over mining sites, totally oblivious to the osvowraith’s true nature. Ella reached into a pouch on her utility belt, rubbing her fingers in the fine nanotech powder inside.

  The osvowraith moved to get up, raising the Solar Scorcher to its lipless mouth…

  ….until Ella snatched the drink from the beast’s hand and drained it in one long pull. She almost gagged. The liquid seared down her throat like liquid fire. Ella sucked in a needed breath to cool her mouth. “Couldn’t let such a fine drink go to waste,” she winked sassily, shoving the empty glass back in the stunned osvowraith’s hand. With a quick brush of her thumb, the powder was spread across the osvowraith’s bony knuckles. She dared a glance at her prey.

  The beast was even more oily-looking up close, its narrow and pallid face housing a pair of eyes that resembled dark, cavernous slits of blood-red, but without warmth. “Better down that Solar Scorcher while it’s hot next time,” Ella teased, suddenl
y feeling soiled under the beast’s unpleasant glare.

  She sauntered away, her eyes returning to the hostellaris’s left-hand stage. The Korvenite was gone, safely backstage. Thank God. Now, if only the osvowraith could find a new target….

  Ella cut through the crowded space of Hugrask’s, tingling from head to toe from that Solar Scorcher in her system. It kept the panic at bay, but not the wicked glee. Ella glanced periodically over her shoulder. She saw the osvowraith slowly standing up, eyes trained on her.

  That’s it, sucker. Come to mama. A victorious smile brightened Ella’s full and youthful face, making the Terra Sollan native look younger than her twenty-eight years.

  “Ella?” Jaellyn said curiously on the comlink. “I’m getting a bio-reading of some bizarre organism from the nanocyte trackers.”

  “Because I tagged our target,” Ella gloated, pleased with herself. “It’s heading my way.”

  “Heading your wa—WHAT?” Jaellyn’s shock quickly turned to anger, as usual. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing too dramatic,” Ella shrugged, eyeing a Nnaxan Phryne with disgust as she squeezed past. “I simply motivated our target to follow me so we could keep track of it.”

  Jaellyn’s fury nearly blew out Ella’s earcom, “You were supposed to—”

  “Calm the fuck down,” Ella scoffed, the nonchalance in her voice belying fear as she glanced back. Yep, the tall and gaunt osvowraith pushed through the heaving crowd, its blood-red eyes only on her. Ella quickened her pace, almost colliding with a rotund balloon of a sentient. “Who knows how long waiting would have taken? This speeds things up.”

  “Stupid human!” her Tarkathian partner spat in impotent fury. “You always take these stupid risks.”

  Ella smiled. Adding an insulting adjective before the word ‘human’ was the Tarkathian’s way of showing she was worried. Plus, Jaellyn’s Standard noticeably devolved the angrier she got. “Love ya too, Jae.” The human had finally muscled her way out the hostellaris exit.

  The vicious smack of triple-digit heat almost knocked Ella back into the hostellaris. Noriida Major was a blistering crimson ball, leisurely beginning to set. But due to Bimnorii’s odd orbit, its sunsets lasted for orvs. Ella gritted her teeth and forced herself out into the early evening furnace. She made a sharp left with brisk, long strides, putting some distance between her and the hostellaris.

  Rimhara’s streets were swarming with alien beings, some milling around street vendors, while others were returning from futilely mining for desert treasures that had dried up centuries ago. Ella slowed her gait to not be obvious, keeping pace with the crowd for cover. Up above, several hovercrafts soared past, most of them decades out of date even compared to the poorest Union memberworlds. The vehicles’ worn and rusted metal all glinted against the harsh radiance of Noriida Major, now a crimson half-sphere, unhurriedly dipping behind the horizon.

  “I see him,” Jaellyn stated within macroms, “tailing you from afar. I can drop him right here.”

  Ella frowned sharply, remembering the last time the Tarkathian teen pursued this option on a recent job. “Leaving me to clean up the mess, like on Embrose? No fucking thanks. Wait till I’m clear of any bystanders.” Before long, she found a narrow, winding alley right at her left. Ella dodged around a massive Aengerian, its bowling-pin-like body taking up most of the walkway, then slipped into the alley entrance.

  She looked back. No sign of the osvowraith—only the normal sounds and sights of pedestrian traffic pouring through the narrow alleyway egress. It’s coming, Ella assured herself. She continued striding past a scattered bevy of human and Nnaxan beggars looking for more currency to mine their fortune, or the street vendors too poor to pay for ‘protection’ out on the main streets. Ella ignored them all and turned right, into a more desolate part of the alleyway, narrower than the last one. This path appeared empty. Other than the far-off echoes of sentients and zipping hovercrafts on the main streets, Ella could only hear her thudding heartbeat. Perfect. Bounty hunter rules or not, Ella saw no need for innocents to die.

  “Jae? Where are you?” she whispered, trying to keep the nerves out of her voice.

  “Almost there.” Jaellyn sounded oddly frantic.

  “And our mutual friend?” the human asked. Glancing warily at the roofs of the rundown, stumpy buildings surrounding her, Ella slowly reached for the pulse pistol under her vest.

  “Ella,” the young Tarkathian cried, “it’s almost on you!”

  The bounty hunter whipped her head around, but saw nothing. Just a sand-covered pathway and the fading smolder of sunset peeking in from both ends of the alley. “Where—”

  Something in the shadows caught Ella’s eye. She spun toward it as a blur of motion plowed into her. The bounty hunter felt her feet leave the ground, and then the beast’s entire weight landed on her.

  Ella grunted. Her ribs screamed in protest, even through the armorweave vest. The sissing continued as a pair of sinewy arms bearhugged her waist like a vise. But by pure luck, the osvowraith didn’t have the bear hug fully cinched, allowing Ella to roll through and fight out of the hold. The osvowraith hissed and spat like a wild animal, trying to pin Ella to the ground. And she fought by thrashing and twisting her body every which way with a panicked ferocity. As they tumbled and wrestled across the alleyway, Ella knew in her bones this defensive flurry wouldn’t last. Already the beast’s iron-limbed strength had her wheezing, and those aching ribs made breathing increasingly difficult.

  Survival instincts learned from living on the galaxy’s fringe flipped on like a switch. She jerked her torso violently to one side, finally creating just enough distance between her and the beast, and kicked out with both feet as hard as she could.

  Ella struck something solid and heard a surprised hiss. Suddenly she was free. The human tumbled backwards into a three-point stance. Across the alleyway, her prey coiled on all fours, ready to spring. The osvowraith glowered, those unforgiving crimson eyes focusing on her with an intense, feral hunger.

  Ella shuddered. No way could she outrun her prey. The bounty hunter struggled back to her feet, but a fork of agony skewered her midsection, leaving the woman gasping. Fucking ribs…

  “Jae, where are you?” she murmured crossly, almost doubled over.

  No answer, which either meant the Tarkathian was nearby and didn’t want to blow her cover, or had decided to cut her losses and leave. Ella actually wouldn’t have blamed Jaellyn if she had chosen the latter. Either way, Ella would not go down without a fight. She reached for the pulse pistol in the back of her belt…and felt nothing. Shit!

  “Looking for this?” the osvowraith said in a venomous, otherworldly hiss. It raised a clawed hand, which held her cobalt blue, snub-nosed pulse pistol. The beast tossed it aside with a slow smile, displaying long, needle-like teeth. As the firearm clattered far out of her reach, Ella could no longer hide her panic. She backed away, looking for a way out. The osvowraith edged forward, matching her step for step.

  What I wouldn’t give for my RR-5 pulse rifle right now. She fought her unraveling nerves with a quick mental inventory of the weapons on her person: a dozen sonic marble explosives and three mini thermogrenades in her utility belt, both weapon types which would kill her and the quarry at such close range. Everything else was either for tracking prey or fixing her ship. There was the dagger hidden in her right boot—not much good against this type of quarry—and the mini blaster in her right gauntlet—also no good, since the setting was on Kill.

  Ella smirked, remembering the loaded shock dart shooter in her left gauntlet. Perfect. “Seems like I don’t need my pistol.” Ella pressed the arming device beneath her utility belt and snapped her left arm up, aiming at the osvowraith’s chest.

  The beast didn’t move, responding with a disturbing sissing noise that Ella could only compare to laughter. Something flashed in its narrowed eyes, a third eyelid perhaps.

  A baffling breeze began cooling away the oven-like heat in the alleyway, flowing thro
ugh Ella’s skin, seeping into her very bones. Tattshi!

  She had read about this in Xubes’ sparse data on osvowraiths, some type of psychic attack that literally crushed one’s willpower. At the time, Ella had found such a thing preposterous.

  Not so much now. Her limbs had just gone weak all of a sudden.

  She swayed and staggered about to stay upright, only for her knees to buckle. Ella couldn’t get back up. What’s the point? Both arms hung at her sides, leaden and useless. The biting chill made Ella feel like her brain had been plunged into a frozen lake, sapping away her strength. Her soul had suddenly grown so miserable…as if happiness was a half-remembered dream she would never know again.

  The osvowraith sprang forward too fast, catching Ella by the throat. It lifted her high up with one hand—slammed her back down hard. The air rushed out of Ella in a loud grunt. Lances of pain stabbed through her spine, neck and ribs.

  The osvowraith picked Ella up again, driving her ragdoll body down even harder. The back of her head bounced off the ground, almost knocking her out. Twinkly little stars danced along the edge of Ella’s vision. She looked up through blurred vision at the blood-red slits in that blank and sallow face—the last face she would ever see. The long-limbed beast straddled the bounty hunter, tightened its grip on her throat. Ella choked, pinned and helpless.

  “You stole a drink from me, frail,” the osvowraith hissed with a casual menace. “Only fair that I return the favor.”

  The osvowraith opened its mouth impossibly wide. The lower jaw separated down the middle into two halves. Out of that gap slid several shining tentacles, writhing like tapered worms as they inexorably slithered down to Ella’s prone form.

  With the osvowraith clutching her throat, Ella couldn’t scream, even if she had the motivation to. Doing that seemed so…meaningless. As she stared upward at the shiny tentacles slithering toward her face, Ella’s last thought was, God, I should’ve let that fucking Korvie die.