Chapter 10

Stopping at the Gru Asteroid Belt wasn’t in the original plans, but for Sloan a chance to visit Neven was one she wouldn’t easily give up. Plus, she had an additional incentive with Xan aboard. Sloan knew that Neven would be able to help with her request. It had been a year since she’d seen Neven, and he often sent deep space comms asking her to visit. Sloan hadn’t wanted to before because she knew it would be difficult to see him in person even after all this time, but something about Xan had her wanting to reconnect with her past and reconnect him with his.

Neven was probably the most important person in her life who was still alive. Without him, Sloan wouldn’t have the Arrow. They had spent time in the same house as servants. Neven was always kind—sometimes much too kind for his own good. Sloan, even after years under the thumb of various reprehensible individuals, could spot a kind person a mile away. His planet had been destroyed much like Earth, and they had both been taken from their families at a young age.

Their time together in the House of Rida had been a welcome reprieve from the torturous existence they sometimes lived. The rulers of the house were known for their leniency with servants and slaves and set clear guidelines for buying your freedom. For once, the first possibility of freedom since her eighth birthday became a reality. Looking at her meager “earnings” after one month of work, Sloan had realized that this promise of freedom was only a ruse to keep them in line. There was no way she would be able to buy her freedom before she was ancient.

The tears that had come at the realization that she would never be free brought her to Neven. He had been in the house for a year or so longer than she had. While others ridiculed her for her tears, tears she hadn’t allowed herself to cry for years, Neven had crouched down and handed her a scrap of fabric to wipe her eyes.

“Don’t worry. We all have that same reaction after the first month. It’s how the House of Rida ensures that no one gets out of line.” Neven’s kind eyes peered down at her. Sloan examined him, assessing his intentions. One of those kind eyes was completely surrounded by a giant black-and-blue bruise. He seemed older than her. He had feathery green hair that stuck up at odd angles. He also had a beaklike nose and dark-green eyes that seemed to see deep into her. His assessing look lasted only a couple of beats before he offered Sloan his hand.

“Come, let me show you something.”

Sloan had stared at him, unsure of his motivations. Growing up without parents, at the whim of flesh traders, had not been a kind or easy life. She had managed not to draw too much attention to herself and hadn’t been subjected to the more heinous possibilities that came with captivity, but the taste of a whip and the whoosh of air leaving her lungs after a punch were not experiences she could forget.

Deciding that she could probably take him in a fight if she needed to, Sloan made the decision to trust him—at least for now. Taking his hand, she stood from the ground.

“Name’s Neven,” he had said with a friendly smirk.

“Sloan.” She returned his smile and shook his hand.

“Glad to meet you, Sloan.” He guided her toward the servants’ quarters. As they rounded the corner, a group of men arrived. They waited—for what, she couldn’t be sure, until their eyes snapped up in her direction, well in Neven’s. She hadn’t seen them before, so she thought they must work on the grounds. Neven stopped abruptly.

“Neven, precisely the male we wanted to see.” The large gray male had snarled at Neven while leaning against the corridor wall. “It seems some credits were missing from this month’s allotment. I hope it was an oversight,” he said in a low growl, tapping a large pipe on the bottom of his shoe.

“I didn’t have enough to give you the full amount,” Neven had said, his eyes downcast as he moved his body in front of Sloan’s.

“Neven, your protection relies on us all being well paid.” The male had continued to tap the pipe.

“You—you keep adding more people to your circle, and I can’t exactly make more credits overnight.”

“Neven, that’s your problem, not ours. Perhaps you need more motivation to get us the credits we need.” The male had growled, pushed off the wall, and stalked over to Neven, pipe raised. Neven had flinched and tried to back up, but he bumped into Sloan. Sloan took a moment to assess the situation. There were four males plus the one with the pipe. Though they were bigger than Neven and Sloan, they weren’t exactly bodybuilders. They were slight and probably used their numbers to intimidate. Sloan hated bullies and hated those who preyed on people they thought were weaker than them.

Sloan had pushed Neven aside and walked up to the pipe holder, who stopped short at her advance. Neven had attempted to grab her arm, but she shook him off and shook her head at him.

“Well, what do we have here, Neven? It looks like we might be able to compromise on those credits if your little friend wants to work off some of your debt.”

“Sloan.” As the pipe holder had reached out to grab her arm, Neven whispered to her. Sloan whipped her arm away and again shook her head at him.

“You don’t want to do that,” she had said calmly, locking her eyes on his.

“And why is that?”

“Because Neven doesn’t owe you anything anymore. Neven is going to keep every credit he earns, and you will never touch him again.” She had glared at the pipe holder, never breaking eye contact. As she spoke, Sloan was aware of the other males attempting to surround her and push Neven back.

“And why is that?”

“Because if you lay one hand on him again or attempt to take anything from him, I will injure you all to the point that you are no longer worth it for this house to keep, and you will be sold.” She had countered the moves the group was trying to make, ensuring her back was to the wall.

The pipe holder attempted to throw her off by glancing back to his friends before launching his surprise attack, but Sloan was ready for him. She immediately threw a punch at his nose, which exploded with green blood. Bringing her fist back, she again rammed into his already bloody nose. He crumpled to the ground as his friends advanced on them. Sloan stomped on his crotch and heard a satisfying crunch as he let out a pained howl.

Sloan kicked at the first attacker, hitting him in his knee at just the right angle, causing the crunch she hoped it would. He, too, fell to the ground. The third attacker got close enough so Sloan could grab his belt to shove him off balance and punch him in the chest, releasing the air from his lungs. Next, she delivered a powerful kick to his throat that saw him hit the ground gasping. The last attacker backed down the hallway, his hands raised in surrender.

“I don’t want any trouble,” he said with a wheeze.

“Don’t come anywhere near him”—she pointed to Neven—“or me again. And we won’t.” The male nodded his head before he took off running. Sloan kicked over the pipe holder, who had long since lost his grip on his weapon, and got in his face.

“If I ever see you near Neven again, I won’t be so kind. Do not attempt to harm him ever again. Are we clear?”

He gurgled a moan and nodded, fear in his eyes. “Good.” She stood and walked over to Neven, who was staring at her with his mouth hanging open.

“How . . . how did you do that?” he said as she led him back to their quarters.

“I’ve been on my own a long time, Neven. I might not be as big as every species out there, but I can sure as hell hold my own in a fight. At least a fight where they don’t expect you to fight back.”

“Wow, thank you. Thank you, Sloan,” he said, walking behind her.

“Don’t worry. You gave me a hand, so I was merely returning the favor.”

“I gave you a rag to wipe your tears, and you singlehandedly made it possible for me to escape this place.” Sloan startled at the glee she heard in his voice. Neven had a smile on his face that could have rivaled a sun.

“What do you mean?” She was curious about why kicking the crap out of some bullies had brought on a reaction this ecstatic. Neven waved her into his quarters and sat her in the small chair beside his bed. He climbed under his bed, and, after some maneuvering, clinking noises, and grunting, he crawled back out with a small locked box.

“This is why those jilk dungs were always after me.” He opened the box, and Sloan managed not to fall out of her chair. Credit units. So many credit units. They didn’t have access to networked accounts, so many people traded physical credit units, but Sloan didn’t think she had seen this many in her life. She reached out, eyes wide, before taking her hand back. Why the hell was he here if he had this many credits?

“It’s not enough to start a new life,” he said as if he read her mind.

Sloan blinked back at him. “So, this is why those makes were trying to get more credits out of you. Where did you get all these?”

“I’ve worked out some ways to make extra credits, but it’s become more and more difficult as others have also learned how, and I’m not as adept at protecting myself as you seem to be,” he said, a reddish tint coming over his face. “I need a partner. Someone I can trust, someone who can help me protect what we earn and get us out of this place,” he said, eyeing her with vulnerability and hope in his eyes.

Sloan couldn’t turn him down, not after seeing what he’d been able to accumulate and knowing that others would take his stash from him if she weren’t there to protect him. “What do you need me to do?” she whispered, leaning forward.

From then on, the only hurdle was accumulating enough credits for their freedom. This is where Neven’s plan came in. Neven was known for his astounding computational skills. He could chart navigation paths and quantify vast amounts of data, and it just so happened that those skills lent themselves to some gambling on the side.

Neven ran the numbers, and Sloan sat at the table. She could hold her own if things went crazy and fight her way out of a game if need be. This was one of the areas where Neven had often ended up abandoning his winnings before he met her. During off time, they sneaked out of the compound and headed to the Dark District for nightly games of chance. Chance was less of an issue with Neven at her side.

They worked out a few signals and ways to communicate so they came out on top. Not always, but enough to not raise suspicions. Sloan was at the tables because her ability to stomach violence was much higher than Neven’s. Those games didn’t always end in a neat pile of credit transfer chips and a handshake. It was at those tables that Sloan honed her fighting, knife, and sword skills. Later, once they had built up their credit cache, she earned a blaster.

Although Neven and Sloan had credits, they needed to buy their freedom. They both knew they would need more to begin a new life. The continued to gamble, moving from less reputable games of chance to more well-respected ones with much higher stakes and even bigger payouts. The memory of their last game before they were freed was as clear as if it had happened yesterday.

“Nev, are you sure you want to go in there?” Sloan had asked, putting a hand on Neven’s arm to stop him from mounting the stairs to the Rexio Palace. “This is outside our usual range.”

“I know, Sloan, but there’s a huge pot here. And if we win, we can be out of here and off the planet before nightfall tomorrow. We need this last night, and we’re free.” He'd gazed up into the sky, his eyes glistening with tears.

“I can play more games. We can do this more slowly.” Sloan had tried to reason with him.

“I’m not sending you back to Dark District games.” He had poked her bruised rib, making her wince.

“That was my fault. I never should have dropped my guard,” she said, holding up her hands in surrender. “I won’t let it happen again.” Sloan had raised her hand, as though taking an oath.

“Tell that to your collapsed lung and broken rib. If we keep going at this rate, the med bills will eat up more credits than we can accumulate.” Neven gave her shoulder a bump. “Come on, let’s get in there, so we can get out.”

“You’re sure about this?”

“I am positive,” Neven said, a steely glare in his eyes that Sloan hadn’t seen before. Even more so than when he’d brought her into gambling for their freedom in the first place. The night had gone off without a hitch. Even better than they’d planned. That was the night they won the Arrow. They’d had enough credits to embark on their lives off-planet. They paid the surprised house commander for their freedom. No one had ever been able to buy their freedom before. They had walked out of the gates of the compound with the sun shining on their faces, and they’d never looked back. They’d hopped onto the first transport leaving the surface and made it to the space station orbiting the planet, then picked up the Arrow.

Remembering the chills that had run down her spine the first time the cargo bay doors opened to what was now their ship still made Sloan shiver with excitement. It was a luxury personal transport with everything you could need, from a med bay to furnished quarters to a pool, water, and transports. Their nightmare morphed into a dream in an instant. She gaped at Neven with tears in her eyes.

“We did it!” she exclaimed, running around the interior of the cargo bay. “We did it!”

“We sure did.” A small smirk played on Nev’s lips.

“How are you not freaking out right now, Neven?” She ran up to him and hugged him, squeezing him until he pushed her back, laughing.

“I never thought it would work. I never thought we would make it out.” Neven clutched their credit box to his chest.

“I’m sure as hell glad you didn’t bring that up when we were doing all this.” She gave him a wink and a nudge. “Let’s go check out the bridge.” She took off at a run to do exactly that.

Sloan had been studying pilot manuals for months, knowing they would have to get their own ship at some point. She’d been able to secure some flight simulator time with their winnings, so they were prepared for that first flight out.

Turned out Neven was not built for space. Space vertigo kept him in a compression unit most of the time. It was extreme to the point that a doctor, Erl, had been their first addition to the crew after Neven had almost given Sloan a heart attack during a particularly terrible bout where he was unconscious for a day. After only a couple of months, when they had picked up a few more crew, Neven let her know that he wouldn’t be able to be her copilot anymore.

“Nev, it’s not like you’re copiloting. I need you to keep me company.”

“I know, Sloan, but I can’t do it. I’m in the compression unit for more time than I’m not. I’m not built for space,” he said, gesturing to the vast blackness beyond the windows of the bridge. He handed her his comm pad.

“I’ve found a great place. It’s in the Gru Asteroid Belt. Quiet, out of the way. I can set up my own little place,” he said, his eyes shining with hope.

“I don’t know if I can do this without you.” Sloan’s throat tightened at the thought of flying all over the universe without him.

“You can do this and more without me. I’m holding you back. You can’t go into deep space with me on board. You can’t use the FTL for more than short bursts. I’ve checked this place out, and it’s the perfect location. Out of the way, but not too out of the way that you can’t come and visit me from time to time.”

“When do you want me to drop you off?” she said, clearing her throat and straightening up.

“I’ve charted the quickest course there.” He touched the screen and called up the nav chart. Of course, it was the most efficient in terms of time and fuel.

“Okay, I’ll set the course.” Sloan walked to the nav console and uploaded the directions.

“Sloan, this isn’t goodbye,” Neven said from behind her.

She shook her head, knowing she couldn’t face him at that moment. He left the room, perhaps knowing she needed some time to herself.

They arrived at the Gru Asteroid Belt less than seven days later. Sloan stood at the cargo bay exit as Neven walked off the ship. He waved to her with a pack on his back and all the credits he could need uploaded to his comm pad.

“This isn’t goodbye Sloan,” he said again. “We’ll see each other soon.” Sloan could only nod as she pushed the button to close the cargo bay doors, raising her hand in a small wave. She contorted her lips into her best shot at a smile. Her lips quivered.

As the wind from the door closing finally died down, Sloan felt her throat clog with tears that she fought to push down. They always leave, she thought. People always leave. No one ever sticks around for too long.