Chapter 13

Fox

Axl wakes me from a deep sleep. "Fox, get up. We have news." I jump up out of bed and put on my uniform quickly as he talks.

He brings out his IC and shows me the VM. It's from a Silver trader on Gala. "Alliance Force. I may have something of yours. As I need a favor from you, I'll keep her in the back for the next two galactic hours. If you don't claim her, I'll sell her to the highest bidder during my next auction."

"How far away are we from Gala?"

"Twenty minutes, and the message was sent an hour and forty-five minutes ago. Lev responded immediately that we were coming for her, but since we're in stealth mode, we couldn't prove it."

We're walking towards the bridge. "We're going as fast as we can. Any faster and we'll ruin the engines."

"Ruin them. Get us to Gala before she's sold."

The bridge is quiet as they follow my orders. We're pushing this ship to its absolute limits. But every minute is worth a thousand UCs. If I lose Helga to someone else on Gala, I may not be able to get her back without breaking GC laws, and if I do that, I'll lose my position. And I know myself, I wouldn't be able to let her go to anyone else. Her fate is in my hands, and in turn, mine in her freedom.

"It's going to be close," Lev says unnecessarily as we dock at Gala. I'm already suited up with my armor and gun on my hip, as is Axl. Anna is between us wearing a Dulu holo so that she appears Alliance. To anyone watching us walk in, it would appear that she's a middling-class trader on some very important business. So important in fact, that she couldn't trust it to any of her underlings. And she's valuable enough to have an Alliance military guard. I must admit, Anna's not wrong now. Everyone is going to give us a wide berth. No one will dare cross an Alliance woman.

As soon as the doors open, the familiar stench of Gala hits us. I breathe through my mouth for a second. Anna dry heaves.

Axl takes her elbow. "Just relax. It won't kill you. It's just a bad smell. The smell of too many aliens together for too long."

"Keep walking," Anna says in Alliance. "We have to go. I won't slow us down."

We walk in. It takes all my strength not to run, but that would cause too much suspicion. Some people stop and look at us, but most pretend they didn't see us. No one wants to be involved with an Alliance woman with official guards.

Axl is holding the sensor to lead us to the Silver's stall. I thank the goddesses that the human traffickers must have felt some remorse and left her with the least popular trader they could find who usually only deals in miniature non-sentient pets.

We approach the Silver just as he is auctioning off Helga. My heart leaps. She's not been sold yet. But she looks terrible, tired and dirty, and still wearing her dirndl, which is stained, and she's missing her shoes. I want to run to her, but Axl puts his hand out to stop me. "We must walk."

As we approach, it looks like we are just curious about the sale and happen to be stopping by. The auctioning has already begun, and the price for Helga is quite high. Three thousand UCs. Once we are close enough to bid, I nod to Anna.

She yells out a bid in slightly accented Alliance, "Three thousand and fifty."

The Silver trader acknowledges Anna's bid.

I'm staring at Helga, willing her to see me and know she's safe now. But she's still searching the crowd almost frantically with her red-rimmed eyes. Why doesn't she see me? I'm here. You're safe now.

Anna continues to bid higher and higher. She keeps looking at me for confirmation, and I continue to nod. I'll find the UCs from somewhere to cover this and the High Priestess can be damned for putting a price on Helga's freedom.