Captain Sofia Groves was used to dangerous jobs, but dealing with the SSM gang was a level of desperation she’d never had to reach before. Her stomach hadn’t felt right since the moment they’d gotten the message to meet on the desert moon of Pomona in one of the deep red canyons that streaked the surface like giant claw marks. They had cargo to unload, though, and she wanted it off her ship before any more trouble came to her and the crew of the Chariot.Sofia braced as the Chariot landed on the solid rocky moon with a gentle thud. She was out of her seat once the ship was settled, and Luke was up and following her just a second after, stretching his shoulder muscles while he walked.

  “Naomi,” Sofia shouted up the narrow ladder that led to the upper deck. Naomi’s head popped into view a few second later. Today, her hair was all black, and she wore round eyeglasses that she had to push back up the bridge of her small nose while she looked down at Groves.

  “I’m mapping the canyon,” Naomi said. “If we have to make a quick escape, this isn’t the ideal terrain to do it in.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Sofia said. “We’ll go deal with the Muertes. Do what you can with whatever time we’ve got.”

  Naomi disappeared from view, and Sofia continued to the back of the ship where the retrofitted cargo bay was located. Lyre, Luke’s twin brother, was there standing at the bay door control panel, waiting for Sofia to give him an order. He was already geared up to survive the visit to the moon, with his oxygen mask covering the lower half of his slim face.

  “Get the guns,” Sofia said in only a low rumble, aiming her words back at Luke. A grin spilled across his face. He threw a few punches in the air at an invisible opponent before he did as Sofia asked and opened up the hidden storage compartment on the wall. Sofia had learned early in life that guns and spaceships should never be mixed. One single energy bullet could take down an entire spaceship if shot in the exact right - or wrong - way. Though it took more time, she was always careful to store the ship’s guns and ammo carts in special chambers to avoid any accidents.

  Luke presented her with her own handgun, then its energy cart. She loaded the gun with care, then tucked the barrel into a custom-made pocket in her jacket so that she could reach it if necessary. She did this every time they made a delivery or picked up cargo, and she had gotten pretty good at the exact motion to pull the gun out and blast when she needed to. A dark laugh came out involuntarily as she remembered the first time she’d ever had to shoot after a fleeing vehicle when she was just a child hiding behind her uncle. After Luke gave Lyre another handgun, he opted to sling a bulky continuous-fire pulse gun over his shoulder. Sofia gave him a look.

  “I’m always careful, Captain,” he said with a smile and a shrug.

  “That careful nature is what you’ve always been famous for,” Lyre responded with an eye roll. Luke's smile was proud as he shrugged his thick shoulders and ignored his brother's sarcasm.

  “Let’s just get this over with.” Sofia gave the signal to Lyre to open the door. She lifted her oxygen mask over her nose and mouth until it sealed. Just behind her, Luke did the same.

  Two men within view, both with guns. One light class ship to fit 6 to 8 people, a Barge 28. Slower than the Chariot. Be careful of anyone lurking in the canyons away from view. Major luck!

  Sofia glanced at the message from Naomi on her comm, then swiped it off the screen. Naomi was staying behind on the ship to engage the autopilot if anything went awry. Sofia felt better knowing she was watching them from the ship’s cameras and using the computer system to gather as much data as they could.

  The three crew members stepped down the angled hatch of the bay door as soon as it was opened and resting on firm enough ground. The two SSM member stood like statues, their faces obstructed by mirrored face shields. Sofia took a deep breath of stale, artificial air pumping through her mask. The canyon was about the width of three Chariots, and the sharp walls went up like skyscrapers above their heads. It was a more claustrophobic feeling than being stuck for a week in the Chariot traveling through deep space. Her mind pictured the rock cliffs closing in and crushing them. She shook the image out of her head.

  “Where’s the cargo?” the left SSM member asked in a muffled shout. He was taller and skinnier than his companion, but other than that, they were exactly matching in jumpsuits and helmets and heavy boots.

  Sofia tried to get a scan of either man on her comm to search his identity, but nothing came up. With their faces hidden, she would need more data to ID them. Hopefully Naomi was on it with the ship’s computer.

  “One of you can inspect it,” Sofia answered. “You. Come on.”

  She pointed to the smaller one who hadn’t spoken. He looked to his partner, who made no movement or noise. They were obviously speaking behind their masks on a private comm line. The second man gave the smallest nod, then stepped forward. Though he had a gun at his hip, he approached with both hands raised up by his shoulders. Sofia took a few steps back so that she was behind Luke and Lyre, then turned to escort the inspector into the Chariot’s bay. Four heavy boxes were tied down in the same place they’d been when the crew had left the planet where they’d picked up the loot. The Muerte scanned the box with his comm, and Sofia’s eyes never left his hands. Her comm still hadn’t gotten a read on the men’s identity, but she didn’t have time to contact Naomi about it just yet.

  The man’s mirrored helmet reflected a distorted version of Sofia’s face back at her. He gave a quick nod. He grabbed hold of the ropes tying it down and tugged, but Sofia reached out a stopped him.

  “Ey, ey, what about the payment? 2000 bits?” She held her comm out.

  The man remained hunched over the cargo. She could hear that he was mumbling to his partner on their comms, though she couldn’t begin to make out what they were saying. With her oxygen mask covering her mouth, she hadn’t bothered with setting up a mic through her comm, so she couldn’t say anything to her own crew. She didn’t want to take her eyes off the Muerte, but she needed to get Luke and Lyre’s attention. A low, steady rumble began to grow louder somewhere outside the Chariot. Had the SSM powered on their own ship? The noise sounded too far away. Was this an ambush?

  “The bits?” she asked, grabbing the man by the front of his dark jumpsuit. She didn’t have any patience left for this transaction, and she wasn’t about to let any of these low-lives rob her.

  The man began speaking in a language she didn’t understand. He grabbed her wrist with both hands to pull away from her grasp. Sofia grappled to try to hold on, but he jerked back enough to break her hold, falling onto his back in the process. Once he was scrambling to his feet at the top of the cargo ramp, Luke caught sight of what was happening and finally joined in.

  Sofia’s comm began to chirp with the sound of a message coming through an emergency channel. She stopped in her tracks to check the comm screen tucked into its pocket at her wrist.

  Not our clients!!!

  She looked up only a split second after reading Naomi’s warning, and gunfire had already erupted. She let out a curse and ducked down beside the cargo. She pulled her gun out and turned off both of its safety cutoffs. After one more deep breath, she leapt up, gun aimed in front of her.

  Luke and Lyre had taken cover behind the hatch door. A trail of blood followed the short man who had come to inspect the goods, and he was now hobbling back towards his lightship. The tall one had two handguns and was shooting wildly at Luke and Lyre. His high-pitched laughter was echoing off the walls in between shots. She took aim at his helmet, locking on in just the right place. She pulled the trigger, and before she could even register the sound of the shot, the Muerte was knocked back and falling. His helmet flew off his head, exposing his face. He hit the ground and struggled in a panic to right himself again.

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  Sofia and her crew had beaten back the two men, but before Luke and Lyre could make it back into the ship, several more SSM members poured out of their ship’s passenger door, guns at the ready. Sofia’s only hope was suppressing fire long enough to get the brothers back on the ship and fly away. She blasted at the group, her gun jumping against her palm as it tried to correct her aim, then held her comm up to her mouth, instructing it to send messages to Luke and Lyre to get back inside.

  With the hopeful assumption that they wouldn’t want to fire on their own cargo, Sofia kept hidden behind it as much as she could while firing in the vague direction of the SSM ship. When the magazine of her gun ran out of energy and Luke and Lyre were back inside, the lack of gunfire was ominous. Sofia chanced a look past the cargo. The SSM were retreating. That engine hum that she’d heard earlier was getting louder.

  “Close the bay!” Luke said as he ducked behind the cargo holding onto his bicep.

  “Captain, there’s another ship approaching!” It was Naomi who spoke using the ship’s intercom system.

  “Another ship?” Lyre asked.

  Sofia held her comm up to her face. “We’re closing the hatch. Get us out of here Naomi. Now!”

  Captain Groves got to her feet, then stumbled as a shockwave rocked the Chariot. She was disoriented, and her ears rang after the booming sound. It was like a bomb had gone off. She raised her arm up to protect her head, though she didn’t even know what she was hiding from. She chanced a look through the closing bay door. The SSM ship was now a scattered pile of flames and metal.

  “The incoming ship fired on the Muertes,” Naomi said over the ship’s comm system. Sofia made her legs move under her to get to the button to get to the cockpit as the hatch door closed with a mechanical complaint behind her.“Strap in,” Sofia said into her comm as soon as she’d connected it to the ship’s speakers. The three crew members got to their seats. Sofia sat at the console, though Naomi was controlling the ship remotely from above. She strapped in her seatbelts and hoped the two boys did the same.

  “Go when you can, Naomi,” Sofia said, still connected to the Chariot’s comms.

  That was all the word that Naomi needed. The ship lurched, and Sofia gripped the seat beneath her. This wasn’t going to go smoothly. Another explosion in the canyon rocked the Chariot. Sofia swiped the ship’s console to display what the cameras outside could see. The attacking ship had fired on the SSM gang again, and there would be nothing left of them after that second shot. The Chariot wasn’t going to be the next target.

  “She’s not happy with me,” Noami said. To make it a point, the Chariot’s metal hull screeched against the canyon as it scraped by. “We’re going too fast to map everything out.”

  “She’ll be even less happy if she takes a missile like that other ship did,” Sofia responded.

  “They’re following us.”

  Sofia pressed the console to display only the back camera’s feed. She did a scan of the ship. It was exactly like the one in the canyon, a Barge 28 with the same serial code.

  “More Muertes?” she asked. There wasn’t an answer, only another jarring scrape against red stone. “Get us out of this canyon, Naomi!”

  “What do you think I’ve been trying to do?”

  Sofia ignored the answer. The Chariot was light and fast compared to most ships, but one sacrifice for that speed was a lack of weapons. The second SSM ship had a missile launcher, and based on a scan, there were turrets on top and beneath the ship. The Chariot and its crew could be obliterated with one shot if they slowed down too much. The health scan of the ship was already showing damage.

  It was like coming up from under water and taking a deep breath with burning lungs the moment they were out of the tight canyon. They were safe. With free and clear space in all directions but down, they’d be able to do laps around the ship pursuing them. What was peculiar was that this second SSM ship hadn’t fired a single shot at the Chariot.

  Sofia’s comm chirped to get her attention. She flipped her wrist up. It was a pending offer for 2000 bits.

  “Wait!” she yelled to Naomi. She looked back at the scan of the ship with its matching serial code, and the realization arrived in her mind. “These are the clients. These are the right Muertes. I’m landing us.”

  Sofia ignored the calls for caution from her crewmates and pinged a landing spot on one of the flat, rust-colored plateaus of the moon, far away from any of the claustrophobic crevasses. She sent the coordinates back to the SSM’s behind them. She commanded the Chariot’s computer to land them there.

  “Nothing about this feels right,” Luke said in his comm for all of them to hear.

  “They sent over the bits,” Sofia said. “We just need to deliver the cargo. I’m not looking to get on the bad side of the SSM.”

  The ship landed, then purred as the engine powered down to rest again. Sofia unstrapped herself from her seat. “Let’s do this again.”

  The three returned to the cargo bay, and Sofia opened the door. It groaned even louder this time. The SSM ship had landed not far from them, and its doors were already opening.

  “Let’s get this out of here,” Sofia said, gesturing to the cargo. With the bits already in her ledger, she was much more eager about getting this job finished. She loosened the clamped down ropes to get the cargo free.

  Four people, all in mirrored helmets and black jumpsuits approached. They presented their open, empty hands, signaling that they weren’t here for a fight like the others had been. Three of them stopped at the bottom of the bay’s ramp, and the leader stepped forward.

  “Hey, what the hell was that about?” Luke demanded, stomping towards the leader. Sofia caught him by the arm before he got too close.

  “Apologies,” the woman said with an accent that Sofia couldn't place. “An organization like ours has many imitators. The Syndicato does not like these types to get attention on the network. We will pay you for your troubles.”

  “No one will hear anything from us,” Sofia said, then gave Luke and Lyre hard looks. It was Naomi she would have to really talk to. No one loved to gossip on the logs more than her. “2000 more bits for our troubles?”

  The woman was quiet for a moment before she let out an amused chuckle. “Your troubles were worth a lot.”

  “The Syndicate’s reputation is worth a lot more,” Lyre said in his calm voice as he ran his hand over the cargo.

  The SSM leader pulled her comm out of her jumpsuit’s breast pocket. Sofia checked her own. 2000 more bits had been transferred, and she accepted them.

  “We can get this out of here,” the leader said, waving the others to enter the Chariot. “Mind that word of this event doesn’t get off this moon and the Syndicato won’t forget.”

  “I can promise you Captain to Captain,” Sofia said, shaking the other woman’s hand. They finished removing the ropes that had kept the cargo in place, and then the SSM members hauled the boxes off. Sofia watched them leave without any further aggression. She waited until the ship was out of sight before she relaxed.

  “What was that all about?” Lyre asked. “They were Muertes with the exact same ship and serial number, and they knew about this shipment.”

  “It’s none of our business,” Luke said before slapping his palm over the button to close the bay door.

  “Careful with her,” Sofia warned him. The manual button was the only way they had left to open and close the cargo bay at this point. It was just one of many faulty wires that they would have to get fixed one day. That day looked sooner with the payment they’d just received.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Luke said, poking at the shallow wound on his bicep and muttering to himself about it.

  “Back to Mythos?” Lyre asked.

  Sofia nodded and removed her oxygen mask. She let out a calm breath of air for the first time since they landed. Her body was aching, her ears were ringing, and there was a nagging anxiety in her chest at the state of disrepair of her ship. The three walked back to the cockpit and strapped themselves in. Sofia brought up the latest diagnostics scan on the Chariot. It glowed orange where it highlighted all the parts of the ship that needed maintenance, which was most of the ship at this point. At least there weren’t any critical failures this time. They could make it back to Mythos.

  “Naomi. You’re getting a thousand bits in about three seconds,” Sofia said towards the console’s microphone. “But you’re not going to update your logs with anything that happened today. The Syndicate paid extra for that rare gift of privacy. Understand?”

  “But...” Naomi began, then thought better of it. “Fine. Send the bits.”

  “Delete everything from the ship’s camera recordings too. We never came to this moon.”

  “Understood, Captain,” Naomi responded. Sofia couldn’t help but smile at the disappointment that colored her voice. She’d get over it once the bits hit her account. Sofia pressed the button on her comm screen to send them evenly to the crew.

  “Get us to Mythos,” Sofia said, then removed her comm from its straps on her wrist. She looked back at Luke and Lyre, who were grinning in their seats despite their lives being in danger just minutes earlier. “I think it’s time to find our next job.”