Nia nodded slowly, then grudgingly admitted, “That makes sense.” She side eyed me as I put in the coordinates for The Flying Rock, a waystation in the ring where we could lay low. “Have you contacted him yet?”

  I ignored her question as I finished setting up the autopilot. Once we were in the actual asteroid ring, we would have to steer manually, but we had a few hours until then.

  “Ill take that as a no.” Nia leaned over blocking my view of the holo.

  I sighed. “No, I have not.”

  “And you’re waiting for….”

  I glared at her. “How eager would you be to see an angry ex?”

  She flinched as if I had slapped her, her face pinched with anger, but she leaned back into her chair, turning away from me with her arms crossed.

  That was more of a reaction than I expected, but whatever. We stared out at space. The galaxy was a splash of pinks and purples against the black void on our screens, but up ahead lay a ring of asteroids. The pirates called that place home, and it is the last place I imagined I would ever come back to.

  But we were desperate. The bounty hunters and the godtouched would find us soon.

  After sulking in aggressive silence for a few minutes I had enough. Nia knew to monitor everything, especially since we could still have bounty hunters on our tail. My stomach was cramping with hunger and an ache was pulsing behind my eyes. I bet there was some heated meals in their fridge though. The kitchen was around the corner so I bailed.

  “How can you eat at a time like this?” Nia asked as I headed in that direction.

  I paused long enough to give her an arch look. How was she not hungry? You had to refuel whenever you could.

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Right, running from angry mobs and law enforcement is another Tuesday for you.” She sounded a little too bitter considering that was how we were both raised. Maybe she was still angry about my ex comment. I was still uncertain why that had affected her though, I was the one avoiding asking my ex for help, not her. She turned back to monitor everything, keeping a vigilant eye out for pursuers.

  I shrugged while stepping into the kitchen, she wasn’t wrong. The kitchen was just wide enough for me to squeeze past the table which folded out of the wall. Two small chairs also folded out the wall. The fridge was full size with two cupboards making up the rest of the kitchen. Three dirty mugs lay in the sink next to a counter which could barely fit two plates side by side. Small but functional enough.

  Stacks of frozen meals and bottles of vodka filled the freezer.. Meh, better than freeze dried or protein mush, I’ll take it. I threw an unlabeled package of frozen dinner entree into the heater. The shower was calling me too, I felt grimy and my hair was a knotted mess. I was definitely not worried about that because of who we expected to run into soon. Nope. Not at all. I offered Nia a frozen meal, piking my head from around the corner, but she scoffed and turned away.

  I scarfed down the bland mushy food, then found a wash station, the tiny space version of a shower integrated into the bathroom. It wasn’t exactly state of the art, but It would do. I cleaned up, brushed my hair, then contemplated my nails. They were short and a bit jagged from playing the guitar, but I left mine behind on the ROG. It was probably gone forever now unless Nox got our home out of there in time. I wondered how he was doing. Maybe I could get a communication out without alerting everyone of our location.

  Probably not.

  When I stepped out, Nia was sitting in the cockpit, gazing into the stars. She seemed less tense though. The asteroid ring was closer now. Most of the rocks were several times larger than our little stolen ship. We expected arrival within one to two hours. It wasn’t exactly safe depending on who found us first, but we might be able to hijack another ship if we're lucky. I steeled in watching the stars. Pirates never expected you to go for their ship. I smiled remembering the time Nia and I had pulled a similar heist before with a crew that was pushing our territory. The looks on their faces as we flew off with their ship still made me smile.

  “Oh, I know that look.” Her voice jolted me out of my memory.

  “What look?”

  She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. “That look that says you’re already plotting to steal another ship.”

  Well duh. “How else are you expecting not to get caught? Those imbeciles will have reported their ship stolen by now. We need to drop this junkard as soon as we land at the Flying Rock.”

  She chewed her lip, clearly annoyed that I was right.

  “Do you have another idea?” I plopped into the seat next to her and put my chin on my hand as if I couldn’t wait to hear it.

  “We could go to the authorities.”

  I blinked. “You mean the authorities that are actively hunting us? Those authorities?”

  She gave me a look implying I was the dumb one. “Of course not. The authorities from the trading alliance. They will help us.”

  Oh my sweet naive sister. “They will arrest us for stealing this ship. Then they will turn us over to the Guardians so as not to lose their alliance with them. That’s why we’re headed deep into the pirate ring where the enforcers won’t dare follow us. Bounty hunters and Guardians might, but we’ll lose one tail and we’ll be blend in better.”

  She pursed her lips in silence, clearly still trying to think of a rebuttal. We didn’t have any issues on Sylvestor’s station because he and Nox paid off most of the crew to protect their criminal interests. We lost our influence once we left the planet. The Guardians might be weaker out here, but so were we.

  “Luckily, we had a decent head start. They shouldn’t be able to catch us before we enter the ring, where they won’t follow.”

  Nia sniffed the air. “Are you wearing perfume?” Nia sounded perplexed.

  “Ummm” I had hoped she wouldn’t notice.

  A sly grin was growing, the expression of a predator whose prey just waltzed right into their trap. “You’re wearing makeup too.”

  “You’ve been gone three years, maybe that’s just how I roll now.” That sounded convincing right? I certainly wasn’t trying to impress a certain ex in case we came across him.

  Her smug grin faded a bit at the reminder of our time apart. “Perhaps. Some days I feel like I left home just yesterday, and other days, living with you in the ROG port feels like another life.” She rotated that ring, eyes gazing into the distance.

  This is the opener I needed. Best if I started with something innocuous though. “Was it a gift?” I nodded to the ring.

  She startled, caught off guard by my question. “Yes.” She answered softly.

  I waited for her to expand but she doesn’t. I tried a different track. “How were you able to do that in the River of Gore yesterday?”

  Instead of answering me though, she asked me a question, “Do you think that mob was right? About the Monstravi hoarding resources?”

  That was an odd question because we both know its true. We grew up with it waved in our faces every day that supply ships flew past us, never even bothering to offer us trade. And we were their neighbors. They sure as shit wouldn’t share with other planets. “Of course it is. How was the sweet life, living among their gilded castles?”

  She turned that ring again, frowning. “Its amazing. More magical than you could imagine.”

  “Try me.”

  “Well, the castle is carved from the very cliffs and burrows deep into the caves where ancient texts are preserved. Its the heart of the city and the home of the Syndicate where I studied. Its ancient, its roots connected to the Monstravi below. At night, sometimes I could even hear it whispering in the wind.” Her eyes took on a slight fervent shine to them.

  I shifted, but she continued.

  “The city of Xenalba is home to several clans, each with a unique blessing.”

  I tried not to snort at that. The blessings are powers granted by the Monstravi, but at a steep cost.

  She continued “The diversity of clans and blessings are what makes Xenalba so affluent. Some godtouched make the food grow along the cliffs, so you can pick fruit right off the wall, others carve the walls, creating magnificent spaces, ornate and beautiful throughout. And the animators use their creations to do most of the heavy labor needed.”

  “You make it sound like a utopia.”

  She finally looked up from her ring then. “It is.”

  I waited for her to follow that statement with a laugh, but she’s not joking. She’s completely sincere. We grew up hating that place. Hating that we yearned to visit despite knowing how they abandoned and ignored us. Our people were once allies. But once we lost our Monstravi, we were dead to them. And now that my sister had infiltrated our enemies, she was being brainwashed by them.

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  “Of course, it’s their utopia, not ours. They believe only the faithful can partake of the blessings. But I have learned many of their… strange ways. Its no wonder they keep to themselves.”

  I blew out a breath. Okay, maybe not brainwashed after all. I was worried for a second there.

  I’m curious what she was going to say instead of strange though. With someone like the Cleaver and that creature I barely survived in our heist, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

  The ship suddenly jolted.

  Shit.

  We pulled up a holo showing the ships surroundings. There was an enforcer ship on our rear like a goddamn parasite. “They showed up out of nowhere and latched on!” Nia exclaimed.

  “They must have had camouflage shields up. Who is it?” If it was Jin, we’d be fine, but he would have alerted us first on the comm. I pulled up the image of who had latched on and it appeared to be an enforcer ship, given the symbol of a falcon on the side of their ship. This was not good. I really thought we were going to make it to the ring before they could catch up.

  I pulled out my blades. “Lock down the deck, so they can’t get through.”

  The moment I said it, the ship announced “successful latch” in an offensively calm feminine voice.

  “Don’t let them in, ship!”

  “All enforcers must be obeyed.” she responded. Apparently the smugglers we stole this ship from hadn’t known how to disable that particle feature. And now we were screwed.

  The hatch opened with a clunk. Nia slammed down on the emergency shield which separated the console from the loading dock just behind us in case of emergencies. The electronic shield zapped on just as the hatch opened and five enforcers poured in, all aiming large guns at our heads. They noted the shield and stopped in front of it, but didn’t lower their guns. They were in navy suits with the symbol for the Enforcers on their left shoulders. Each man had a buzz cut and hard eyes.

  One of the enforcers stepped forward, his gun pointing at the ground. “Nia and Naomi xx you are under arrest for the theft of this vehicle and assaulting a citizen.”

  He didn’t mention the bounty on us… strange. They were dressed in smart armor, a fabric which can become impenetrable in the blink of an eye. It was a lot nicer than the stuff I was wearing. I’m pretty sure it altered to fit any human shape. If only I could get my hands on it.

  “Drop the shield and put your hands up.” My mind raced, but we were vastly outgunned.

  When we didn’t comply, they started shooting at the shield, overloading it. We didn’t have long until it died, so I ran back to the controls to send out a message. We were just outside the pirate rings territory but close enough that someone would get our hail for help. I turned on the thrust to push us into their territory. Shouts rang out behind as they felt the ship lurch. Our shield was still up but I could hear a buzzing sound. They were going to blow it.

  I locked the controls and dove with Nia to the side as the shield fizzled out and five armed men rushed us. They hit us both with stuns and we fell to the ground in a heap our limbs twitching. Our arms were jerked painfully behind our backs and cuffed in an embarrassingly short amount of time. I think of myself as being pretty tough but this was just embarrassing. I had never come across Enforcers before and clearly was underestimating them. The leader was trying to dismantle what I did at the controls but with no luck, given his swearing. At least I got that right.

  Someone roughly pulled me to my feet, my shoulders straining in protest, but I got a glimpse out the window. We were in the rings, I just needed to stall for time.

  Apparently Nia was way ahead of me though because she collapsed as they tried to drag her into their ship.

  “My baby!” She howled in agony, collapsing onto the ground as the enforcers panicked. She clutched at her stomach, face contorted in agony.

  “Nia!” I yelled and threw off my captors to reach her. They surrounded us in a circle but paused as if uncertain what to do, while Nia howled as if her life force were draining away. Some of the men looked bored, clearly not falling for her bullshit, but two of them had deep concern etched on their faces.

  “Move aside, let me check her.” The leader barked, shoving me away.

  I couldn’t see past him but something must have concerned him because he yelled. “Get the medic bot!”

  Wait, was she actually injured. I thought she was stalling. Panic gripped me and I thrust myself forward again, trying to get to her but strong hands grabbed my arms and pulled me back.

  A small white robot with a red cross on it rolled in and zipped over to her, metal arms extended out of its body and started scanning her. After a tense moment, no one moving, the robot finally chirped “Minor contusions to the left arm and abdomen, both life forms are in stable condition. I will inject appropriate pain medication now.”

  I swear, everyone in the whole room breathed out a simultaneous sigh of relief. Glad to know these enforcers weren’t monsters.

  Wait, what the fuck did it mean both lifeforms?!

  After a moment, Nia stood back up, her head down, hands cradled protectively over her stomach. She avoided my eyes as she walked willingly into the enforcers ship.

  I stared after her in shock. She was pregnant. And she hadn’t even told me. That guilty look on her face, told me she knew.

  “She’s fine. Let’s go,” a gruff voice ordered but they didn’t grab me or push me this

  The fight had drained out of me anyway, my feet following my sister of their own accord. This changed everything.

  You could tell a lot about people by the state of their ship. For example, the junk we stole from the smugglers was crusty and invaded with cobwebs-who knew spiders could survive in space?- while this ship was so clean you could probably eat off the floor. I wondered if they had cleaning bots or if the enforcers scrubbed the floors neurotically. We passed through a stark bay hanger, depressingly empty kitchen and halls, and into a cell with a bench and a toilet. I’ve met robots with more personality. Our cuffs were removed and the shield wall engaged with a buzz. Once we were settled into the prisoner quarters, Nia and I sat in silence in the tiny cell together.

  Perhaps taking a pregnant Nia to the pirate rings wasn’t such a great idea after all. Funny how my plan went from simple yet brilliant to insanely dangerous.

  What was I thinking? We had no way of knowing who would find us. Not all the pirates knew my family, I could have doomed Nia and I to be brutally murdered.

  One of the enforcers sat guarding us. The guard in front of us had his helmet off now, but his armor was still on. He had light skin with a buzzcut and a trim beard.

  I swallowed, suddenly aware of how dry my mouth was. Nia must be thirsty as well. In fact, when was the last time she ate? I wasn’t sure she had eaten while I was showering. And she was pregnant! Maybe she was queasy, that’s what she said back in the pub when she refused to drink.

  “Can we get some water?” I asked.

  He grunted and pulled two metal bottles out of a fridge in the far wall. He slipped them through a small window in the shield which he closed again after. Not taking any chances with us I see. I handed the bottle to Nia, who drank gratefully.

  “Are you ok?” I asked tentatively. We were sitting so close, our hips were touching, but I kept my eyes on the ground, rubbing at my aching shoulders. I wanted to rage at her for keeping secrets but was holding on to my emotions as much as possible.

  She must have been aware because she looked very guilty as she nodded. “Yes, I’m fine.”

  I chewed on my lip, eyeing the guard again. I wanted privacy to talk to her, which we wouldn’t get. I didn’t even know what to say though. I sighed and leaned back against the wall. The guard was sitting directly in front of me but his eyes were glinting with an implant, so he was probably watching something. My legs felt restless and I huffed, standing up. This cell was so small I could only take three steps before turning around again.

  As I passed the guard for the third time, I paused. His left eye was twitching. I turned to face him more fully. His jaw seemed awfully tight too. What was he watching? I waved my hand in front of him but he didn’t register it at all. The twitch at the corner of his eye seemed to be growing.

  “Hello? Enforcer?”

  Nothing.

  “Can we get some food?”

  Still nothing. I leaned closer. He was sitting several feet away from me, his posture stiffer than I recall it being earlier. His eyes looked a bit more bloodshot too.

  “Hello?” I said more loudly this time.

  “What is it?” Nia asked.

  “I’m not sure, something seems off though.” I continued to watch his face closely. The twitch was expanding, the muscles in his cheek now jumping. Behind me Nia was shifting and she stood next to me.

  “Naomi, when a ship docks, do the cloaking shields stay on?”

  I froze. “No, they would have been fried by the latching mechanism.”

  “Shit. you don’t think?”

  We both leaned in, staring intently at the man’s face, looking for a sign that Cleaver was about to burst through.

  “What the fuck are you two doing?” His eye were now narrowed on us.

  We both jumped in shock. Holy shit I think my heart stopped for a second there.

  “You weren’t responding, we were worried.” Nia said.

  He gave us a look that said he didn’t buy that for a second. “I’ll bring you some damn food.” He got up and left.

  I giggled nervously. “I think we freaked him out staring at him like that.”

  She chuckled back, also clearly sweating from the scare. “Yeah, he was probably watching porn or something.”

  I huffed then realized we were finally alone. Well, we were probably on a camera somewhere, but this was close enough, “So Nia…”

  She stiffened at my change of tone but said nothing.

  “You know you can tell me anything, right?’”

  She finally faced me, hands up in supplication. “I know, I know, but so much has happened I don’t even know where to start?”

  “It has been difficult to communicate in code for so long. But we’re together now. I’m here for you. But it's difficult to help you if I don’t know you need it.” I tried to say this lightly but it came out more bitter than I intended.

  “I’m sorry but it just never seemed like a good time with everything. And you were so exhausted last night and mad about me about having to run.” She crossed her arms, her back straightening.

  “I’m not mad at you. I was just caught off guard. This might be a stupid question, but are you really ok?”

  Before she could answer, the lights dimmed and the ship lurched.

  We froze, listening hard. On the other side of the door we could hear muffled yelling. The door slid open and an enforcer stumbled in.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  He lurched forward, leaning heavily against the wall, blood was smeared on his face and coming out of his ears.

  “Pirates” he rasped. The door was still open behind him and I could see pure chaos.

  He was breathing heavily, clearly injured somehow but he made it to the control panel where he opened the shield that was locking us in. What was he doing?

  “Come with me.” he pointed to another exit. I glanced at Nia, still uncertain. I looked back out the door but didn’t recognize anyone. Screams bounced off the walls. Yeah, we should probably go now. We followed him out and into an escape pod. It was big enough for the three of us but he collapsed before we could get in.

  Blood was now pouring out of his eyes and ears. Were they using some new weapon? I grabbed his gun off his holster and stepped over him.

  “Let’s go.” She nodded, still eyeing the enforcer in concern, but as she stepped over him, he grabbed her leg and yanked her down with him. His face was melting now, his skin shifting and, I gagged. I grabbed for her arm, but the dying man’s grip was like steel.

  “Oh fuck, the Cleaver is coming.”