“And the survivors?” I said.
Stryder shrugged. “We can hold them for ransom. The Vestroil always pay well for captured personnel.”
I pressed my lips between my fingers. It wasn’t every day you came across not just one but two damaged ships. The earnings were considerable.
I felt the sickness beginning to make a fresh sweep over me once again. I nodded. “Do it. And you take point on the mission. I don’t want any mistakes. We need to be in and out as soon as possible.”
I got up from the chair and marched toward the exit.
“Sir?” Stryder said.
He sidled up to me and glanced over his shoulders at the other men. He lowered his voice so they couldn’t hear him. “Why are you allowing the human female to walk freely among the crew? She might be a spy or worse.”
“She’s not a spy,” I said, my lips quirking up at the thought of her and her gorgeous curves. I hoped my fun and games with her might become something more one of these days, but I wouldn’t count my chickens. “And she’s not capable of anything worse.”
“Her existence among the crew might be somewhat… distracting. They haven’t seen a healthy female for many months. I wouldn’t want to take the risk they might… act on their baser impulses, sir. It’s safer if we return her to her pod.”
And let the crew continue poisoning me? I don’t think so. “I appreciate your concerns, Stryder. I know you have her welfare in mind. But she’s staying where she is. She’ll be leaving us shortly anyway.”
Stryder nodded. He thought I was referring to the master we were meeting in two days, not returning to her home planet.
Sometimes you needed to keep secrets from your crew for everyone’s sake. Including your best men.
I returned to my quarters to recover from the sickness already beginning to steal over me. Stryder later reported he’d brought the survivors on board and had placed them in the pods. The pirate ship was too damaged to salvage but we towed the Vestoil vessel behind us.
No shots were fired and everything went without a hitch.
The humans had a good expression. I accessed it in my translation strip:
When something appeared to be too good to be true, it very often was.
The armed units entering the engine behind Alice were not Vestroil. I knew this because I’d seen their kind before. They were Changelings, capable of mimicking the shape and size of any creature they came in contact with.
How did I know this? It was in the way they moved, the way they walked and talked.
Most of all, it was in the way their blaster pistols shifted from the mutinous crew and to me and Alice.
“Not us!” Alice said. “Them! They’re the bad guys!”
I pressed my hand on her arm comfortingly and shook my head.
“I don’t understand,” Alice said. “What’s going on?”
Hot sweat that had nothing to do with the battle dampened my brow. “They’re not Vestroil. They’re Changelings.”
The Changelings morphed, shifting shape into mirror reflections of the mutinous crew. They looked identical unless you knew what you were looking for.
I turned to Stryder. “How could you do this to me?”
Stryder dropped his subservient demeanor and stood with his back straighter, his chin higher. “I always expected you to change your mind on transporting children. They’re merchandise, like anything else we transport. But you just wouldn’t let go. I knew I would have to step in and force you out. I found the crew was very open to betraying you. Money is a more convincing ally than morals.”
“I don’t understand,” Alice said. “You betrayed him?”
“My dear girl, please try to keep up,” Stryder snapped, pacing toward the Changelings. “You were the only unforeseen problem. You were never supposed to wake up. I suppose the galaxy will throw us little curve balls now and then.”
I couldn’t believe that of all my crew, Stryder would be the one to betray me most. He was their leader. He organized all this. He might have been smaller than the other crewmates but he was one hell of a lot smarter.
“Why are you working with the Changelings?” I said.
“I’ve been working with them ever since I joined your crew,” Stryder said. “It pays to work hand-in-hand with your paymasters.”
Stryder leaned in close so no one but me could hear. “And once I have enough credits to set up my own colony, I’ll call the Enforcers and tell them I’ve been working undercover this entire time. And they’ll believe me, do you know why? Because I’m not the captain. I didn’t make the decisions. I’ll collect the reward and get off scot free. The rest of the crew will work in a camp somewhere on the outer rim.” He leaned closer to whisper in my ear. “But don’t tell them that.”
“You asshole!” Alice said, swinging her hand, open-palmed at his face.
He moved, serpent fast, and snatched her arm out of the air. “I admire your passion. Is that what he fell for?”
He brushed a hand over her skin and I growled. Before I could take a step forward, the Changelings raised their pistols.
“Oh yes,” Stryder said. “I think I’m going to enjoy breaking her. I suspect the entire crew will.”
The crew chuckled and the Changelings mimicked them.
I glanced at the open emergency escape pod door. It was the only way out of this situation… but it was too far to reach.
“Your plan has already failed,” I said. “Unless I yield, there’s no way you or anyone else can command this ship.”
“Unless you yield or you die,” Stryder corrected. “Either way, the end result will be the same.”
He nodded to Rattigan, who stepped toward me.
“You’re making a mistake,” I said, backing toward the escape pod. “He’s going to betray
