ANDROMA
HER DREAMS WERE WILD, full of ships spiraling out of control. A tattooed man made out of stars with a handsome, devilish smile took the throttle as they spun endlessly into the black.
It wasn’t his ship, and somewhere in the darkness, she heard the screams of her crew. Lives she’d sworn to protect, to keep safe no matter the cost.
“Give me the throttle before you kill us all!” Andi tried to stop him, but when she reached out, his tattoos turned to tallies.
Hundreds of them.
Always, the tallies, countless numbers of those she’d struck down in years past, and the ones she would in years to come.
There was one that stood out the most, a dark mark on his forehead, right between his eyes.
“The first kill is always the hardest, Baroness,” he whispered.
He turned into Valen, and his eyes, once hazel, turned to gold and began to drip red with hot, steaming blood.
* * *
Andi woke to the kiss of sunlight on her skin.
And the too-sharp claws of a horned poof as it pounced onto her face.
She yelped and skittered backward, slamming her skull against the headboard as Gilly appeared in her open doorway, laughing as she scooped up the hellish creature and wrapped it in a tight embrace.
“That thing,” Andi said, as she rubbed her throbbing head and glared at the orange fellibrag sticking out from under Gilly’s arm, “deserves to be skewered.”
Gilly stuck her tongue out. “You have no heart.”
“I do have one, actually, and I’m convinced that monster wants to consume it.” She frowned. “What are you doing in here anyway, Gil?”
The door to her room was cracked open. Servants rushed by outside, hauling boxes, sweeping the floors, speaking in hushed but excited tones.
Gilly yanked the covers from Andi’s body, then grabbed her hand and practically ripped her from bed. Havoc hissed in defiance, and Andi sneered back at it. Someday, she’d kill it. Accidentally. With her bare hands.
Gilly’s eyes flashed with excitement as she bobbed up and down on her toes. “We’re going to become beautiful today! It’s time for the ball!”
Before Andi could answer, Gilly tugged her along, out the open door and across the hallway, where another door stood ajar. She could hear Breck’s voice inside, yammering away, colorful curses spilling out into the hall.
Gilly kicked the door, and it swung wide, revealing the girls inside.
Breck stood before a large mirror, holding a billowing yellow gown to her chest.
“This,” she said, turning to look at Andi and Gilly as they entered, “was made for a queen.”
“And tonight, you’ll be one,” Andi said as she yawned and shut the door behind her.
Breck sighed and began to sway, hugging the shimmering fabric.
“Not that one,” Gilly said. “I told you, I want to match.”
“Matching gowns, Gil? There is nothing less fashionable in all of Mirabel.”
“Well, tonight, I say we match.” Gilly ripped the dress from Breck’s arms, giggling as she curled it into a ball and tossed it across the room. It landed on the bed, where Lira sat, her legs dangling over the edge.
When she saw Andi, a slight smile came onto her face.
“How are you?” Andi asked. “I heard Lon is recovering well.” She crossed the room and settled down on the bed beside her pilot while Gilly tried to recruit Breck to her matching-gown cause, and Breck howled about how she would only agree if Gilly got rid of her bloodthirsty little devil beast.
“Lon will heal,” Lira said. “And Alara has arrived safely on Arcardius. We had a bit of a reunion last night, the three of us.”
“I knew he’d survive,” Andi said, as she tugged on a silver tassel on one of the pillows. “And I’m so glad that Alara came through the attack unscathed. How are you though?”
Lira tilted her head.
“Since our conversation, on the way here,” Andi said. If she closed her eyes, she could almost taste the lingering flavor of Griss. The thought alone made her want to vomit.
Lira looked down at the scales on her arms. “It is customary, on my planet, for us to mourn for three days upon the passing of our loved ones.”
Andi wanted to reach out and touch her, but she wasn’t sure how Lira would react. Lira was calm and calculated most of the time. But she also felt things deeply. Sometimes, it was as if Lira’s heart was not kept inside her chest, but held in her hands.
“It will take time to move past what happened on Adhira,” Andi started, but Lira held up a hand.
“My three days of mourning have passed. Lon’s and my aunt’s, too. Now we, and the others who lost loved ones during the attack, must give the lost spirits to the stars, to the trees, to the wind.”
Lira never spoke openly about her beliefs. They were things she treasured, and kept close. Just like the reality of her aunt’s true career, and what she’d offered Lira long ago.
“How will you know if they’ve been given up?” Andi asked.
“We will know.” Lira smiled softly. Her gaze swept to the window, where sunlight was trickling in like a golden river. “We will feel them.” She smiled then, a genuine, glittering thing. “I have a surprise for you all.”
Andi quirked a brow at her friend.
“Well, it’s not exactly my surprise, but a surprise from my aunt.”
Andi secretly hoped Queen Alara had brought them a bottle of Jurum, because she would need a glass or two if she was going to survive the night.
“Despite her feelings on the matter, she knew how much I love piloting the Marauder, and how having to leave it behind hurt us all.” She looked at Andi. “So...she brought it with her.”
Andi couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.
“No way!” Gilly screamed, while Breck’s jaw dropped.
“It’s here? On Arcardius?” Andi questioned in amazement.
“It sure is.” Lira smiled at her friend. “And fully repaired. Believe me, I’m as surprised as the rest of you.”
Andi pulled her into a hug. She would have her ship back after all, no matter what General Cortas had to say.
“Thank you,” she whispered to Lira. Then she turned to her gunners. “Get your stuff together. Before we leave for the ball, we’ll pack up the ship, so we can get the hell out of here the moment it’s done and the general wires us our funds. And Gilly, that includes Havoc. But I want him caged if he’s to be on the Marauder.”
Gilly sighed before mumbling in agreement.
“Is it okay if Lon gets transferred to the Marauder during the ball?” Lira asked. “He’s not well enough to attend, and after I would like to take him home myself. I know it’s an extra stop, but...I figured, after this is all done, we won’t be in a rush to get to another job anytime soon, with all the Krevs the general is about to give us.”
“Of course, Lir.”
“Ladies,” Breck said, smiling at the news. “After tonight, we’re going to be rich.”
The mood in the room lightened tenfold.
The girls sat together for a time, enjoying the peace of each other’s presence. They had always been this way, like the many parts of a whole. The captain and her pilot, the sounds of Breck and Gilly in the background like music to soothe their souls.
There was a knock at the door, and a red servant droid rolled in, clawed hands holding out a silver box.
“For you, miss,” the droid’s robotic voice spoke. “From Mr. Valen Cortas.” The droid placed the box on the bed beside Andi, bowed once and rolled out of the room.
“What’s in it?” Gilly asked.
She set her beast down, and it immediately began to claw at the thick plush blankets, tearing a hole the size of Andi’s fist in the fabric.
“Gilly,” Breck breathed out, her teeth gritted. “Take the monster back to its cage.”
Gilly ignored her, gently nudging the creature from the bed. It scurried past Breck’s feet, and the giantess leaped onto the mattress, causing the box’s lid to tumble over.
“Damn,” Gilly said as she peered inside.
Lira smiled, her lips pressed together. “It would seem, Androma, that Valen intends to make you a centerpiece at the ball.”
“Not the kind you’re thinking,” Andi said. “We talked about it last night.”
She was about to reach into the box when a knock sounded at the door.
“That had better be the matching gowns I ordered,” Gilly said. Breck groaned.
The door slid open, and three workers entered, their loose skirts fluttering around their ankles, boxes of makeup and hair products held in their arms.
“We’re here to assist Madams Lira, Gilly and Breck in their preparations,” the tallest of the women said.
“The Godstars must be real,” Breck responded with a sigh, staring longingly at the Arcardian beauty products. “Come on in, friends.”
Andi stepped aside to let them pass, smiling as she watched her crew. They deserved this morning, deserved this small gift of normalcy.
She was about to leave the room when another woman slipped inside. A white hood lined with tassels hung over her face. It fell back as she stopped before Andi, her blond ringlets glowing as bright as her smile.
“My, how you’ve grown,” she said, her voice delicate as a blossom.
It couldn’t be her, not after everything Andi’s father had said the night before.
She stood frozen as her mother wrapped her in her arms.
* * *
Glorya Racella had always had the power to make anyone feel comfortable in her presence.
Her voice was like music, her scent as sweet as the finest Arcardian petals and her smile, always present on her face, lit up her features like the moons lit the night sky.
Andi sat in a chair, staring into the mirror as her mother stood behind her, running a brush through her hair.
So many times growing up, they had done this—shared secrets during their quiet moments together, Andi relaxing as her mother’s fingertips gently pulled at her scalp. It should have soothed her like it always had in the past.
But today she felt frozen in a memory, like the subject of a photograph or a painting. Clearly visible, as if she were truly alive, but not quite.
And yet, as her mother spoke, Andi couldn’t catch even a glimpse of brokenness in her tone, in the sparkle of her eyes. In the way she drank a glass of bubbling pink liquid that a servant drone brought in for her.
“All the things you’ve missed,” her mother said as she gently tugged the brush through a knot at the back of Andi’s head. “There’s so much, I can hardly consider which to tell you first. Dahlia Juma, from your Academy year, do you remember her?” She waved a hand, her polished nails sparkling like her dress as she tossed back her golden head and laughed. “Of course you do—you two were always at odds with each other. Well, she’s engaged to the son of the head strategist on the general’s team! You’ll see her tonight, I imagine.”
Her words faded away as memories took their place. Andi lost herself to them.
Andi’s mother, rummaging through her massive closet, flipping through dress after dress as Andi stood in the doorway, begging her mother to tuck her into bed.
“I’m busy, darling. There’s a ladies’ banquet tonight at Rivendr Tower, and I’d so love to be seen. Perhaps tomorrow.”
The memory fast-forwarded to Andi sitting at the glass kitchen table, silent as her mother shared the latest society gossip and her father flipped through his holoscreen, nodding absentmindedly at Glorya’s words.
Andi, on stage at her dance recitals, watching as her parents arrived late, shuffling their way to the front of the crowd.
Andi, seated alone in the Academy office, sporting a bloody nose and facing down another punishment.
General Cortas coming to greet her. Offering her a chance to become a Spectre.
Andi and Kalee together at a military ball. Andi’s mother, parading around the room, making sure everyone knew who she was. “That’s my daughter,” she’d said. “The youngest Spectre in Arcardian history.”
Andi, cuffed at her trial, watching her mother sob silently into a silver kerchief. But when it came time for them to stand up in her defense, her mother’s tears had stopped. She’d never lifted a hand, never spoken a word to protect her daughter.
Later, in Andi’s cell, Glorya hadn’t come to say goodbye.
“Darling?” Her mother’s voice drew her back to the present. “I asked if you’d like to attend the luncheon with me next week? Only the best of the society girls will be there—”
“I won’t be here next week,” Andi cut in. “I’m leaving as soon as this job is done.”
Her mother laughed. “Nonsense, Androma. According to your father, once the Ucatoria Ball is over, the general plans to lift your punishment. It will take time, I’m sure, for people to get past what you did, but surely your rescuing Valen will help them along.” She gently patted Andi’s cheek, frowning at the metal implants. “These don’t suit you, darling. Whatever have you done to yourself?”
She sighed, then bubbled over with words again. “No matter. Imagine the suitors you could have. Why, you might even find yourself betrothed to the general’s son. Think of the headlines on the feeds! A romance to defy the stars. There will be plenty of negotiations, of course. Your father will have to speak to the general, see if he can land you a public interview after your pardon, perhaps even with your father and me there, as well, so the people will—”
Andi stood suddenly, cutting her mother off.
“Did you get my messages?”
Glorya looked momentarily caught off guard. Then she smiled, took a sip of her drink and shook her head. “Oh, you know how those things go, dear. Busy schedules. Hard to keep up with them. I did so want to respond, but your father...he advised against it. For our own protection.”
“But you got them,” Andi said. “You saw how badly I needed you. I was starving. I was stealing scraps from garbage piles.”
Her mother wrinkled her nose. “Now, that’s a silly thing to do.”
Andi’s mouth fell open. “You’re screwing with me, right?”
Her mother looked like she’d been slapped. “A lady does not speak in such a way, Androma! I know I raised you better than that!”
Heat grew in Andi’s face, rising from her neck to her cheeks, soaking down into her skin, turning her words to fire. “You didn’t raise me at all, Mother. You let me waste away, alone, halfway across the galaxy, while you attended parties. While you drank your bubbling concoctions and shoved the truth down deep.”
She slapped the pink drink from her mother’s hand.
It dropped to the floor, where the glass shattered. Broken the way Andi’s heart had been the very last time she’d seen her parents’ faces in the crowd. Turned away from her. Ashamed of their own blood.
She understood their reasons. She knew the Arcardian ways, and yet she had never actually been faced with the reality of them. The harshness with which her planet was run.
“Androma.” Her mother lowered her voice. “Calm down. This is a special day.”
“It’s not special at all,” Andi hissed. She took another step backward, realizing how taken in she’d been. How stupid, to share even a moment of her time with this woman after all her father had said.
But she’d wanted to believe. She’d wanted a chance to get one of her parents back, even if losing the other hurt.
“You abandoned me,” Andi said. “You let me escape this planet alone and afraid after what happened. I could have died, just like Kalee. She was more to me than you ever were. She accepted me for who I was without dressing me in diamonds or pearls or throwing me on a stage in a glittering costume to dance for all the world to see. Now she’s gone, and I’m still here. And you’re acting as if nothing ever happened. As if this,” Andi waved her hand between the two of them, at the ever-widening gap, “could ever be anything real. The two of you turned out to be just as traitorous as I was, by letting me go free. What would your precious Arcardian society think of that?”
Her mother was now taking steps toward the door, that smile still plastered on her face, and now Andi realized that her father had been right. Her mother truly was broken. Glorya Racella was completely swept up in her fantasies about the world. Andi wasn’t the subject of a painting or a photograph. Her mother was. All of Arcardius was, too, like a beautiful, shimmering diamond, tempting to touch, but sharp enough to cut like a knife when you actually pressed your fingertip to it.
This was not her home.
This woman before her was not her family.
“Father said I was dead to him,” Andi said. Her mother reached the door, the smile finally slipping from her face. “But I’m beginning to realize that, despite all that’s happened, the day I left here was the day I finally came to life.”
“What have those beastly girls been pouring into your brain?” her mother tried again. “Really, Androma...”
Andi held up a hand.
Her mother could insult her and belittle her and ignore the past as much as she liked. But no one in all of Mirabel was allowed to speak ill of her crew.
“That is not my name,” Andi whispered. She allowed the darkness to come up into her voice, the mask of shadow and steel to sweep across her face. “My name is the Bloody Baroness. And if you or Commander Racella ever so much as utter a single word toward me or my crew again, I will personally strip the skin from your body and wave it like a flag from my starship.”
Glorya let out a soft squeak.
Andi snarled with all of her teeth.
It was then that Havoc dashed out from the shadows of the room, yowling as he chased the cap of a perfume bottle that had rolled across the floor. The beast pounced, landing at Glorya’s toes with his claws outstretched like tiny daggers.
Andi’s mother screamed, sprinting from the room, shouting for the general’s Spectres.
When the sounds of her shrieks faded, Andi slumped back into her chair, picked up the brush and began to smooth out the ridiculous ringlet curls her mother was so obsessed with.
She liked the way she styled it better anyway. In a braid that could lash like a whip.
Havoc curled up at her feet, a loud purr rumbling in his throat. This time, Andi didn’t mind the sound.
If Gilly had accepted the creature, then Andi could, too.
Family did things like that, made sacrifices when it wasn’t the first choice they wished to make. And now Andi knew, perhaps better than she ever had, that the Marauders were more than just a crew of skilled space pirates.
They were family.
She was theirs, and they were hers.
Andi continued to brush her hair as Havoc chomped on the shattered remains of her mother’s broken champagne glass.