Chapter 1

That night, under the cover of darkness, Alliyanna slipped out of the castle, her heart heavy but determined. With her meager belongings packed in a backpack, she navigated the quiet streets of the sleeping city. Her destination was the spaceport, where trade vessels and freighter ships came and went. As Alliyanna approached the bustling docks, her nerves turned to steely resolve. She had heard whispers of a certain freighter captain—Talak. Longbow. Known for his cunning and skill, he often took on contracts that others would refuse, running goods and passengers discreetly. She was ready to plead with him, hoping he would see the value in helping her escape her dire fate. But she also knew that if she told him before liftoff, he would deny her passage and kick her off the ship. He might even go so far as to call the Port Authorities or, worse, her father’s men. She assumed her father would find her missing by no later than morning, and his first call would be Jora el Karjan, a fancy way of saying that Jora was tied to the House of Karjan for life. First by owing her family money, and then by becoming indispensable as her father’s bodyguard, and now his Man—at—arms. He was a rugged individual who you did not want to pursue you. He’d find you he never gave up, and he eventually he wore you down. Eventually, his prey made a mistake, and he used it to capture them.

When Alliyanna reached the ship, the stars twinkled brightly above against the inky sky. The “Star Shadow” vessel was a weathered freighter but had a certain charm. She climbed aboard. She looked around and found no one onboard, a good sign she waited for alarms, robots, or security to discover her. She had no indication of her presence being detected. She looked around and found some maintenance supplies. She found some oil, a grease gun, and some dirty rags. She dabbed the rags into the oil, added a small amount of grease, and mixed it well until it had a paste-like consistency. Then, she applied it to her face and arms. She looked for a knife or pair of scissors to cut her hair.

She was too recognizable and decided she wouldn’t use her name to escape. Allie figured if she was thought of as a stowaway, she might have a better chance of not going back to her father. She found a vibroblade on a workbench, cutting her long, luscious, auburn hair short. She hoped that maybe if she wrapped her breasts well enough, she could pass for a young boy looking to escape the farm and looking for adventure in space.

She made her way to a pressurized section of the hull. Unfortunately, it was also refrigerated, which made sense, given agriculture products being the primary export. She grabbed a thin blanket from her backpack and wrapped it around her. Hopefully, wherever the ship was headed, it would be a short hop through hyperspace.

Captain Talak Longbow made his way back to the ship. It was late or early, depending on your perspective. He was not drunk yet. But he was closer to drunk than sober. He didn’t usually go out and hit the bar like this, but it had recently been a streak of bad luck. He had to make enough on this turn to make up the late payment on the Star Shadow, Plus turn a profit for him to continue to stay in business. He wasn’t broke; as his clan’s leader, he had access to the entirety of the clan’s accounts and his family’s private funds. But he had made a promise when he started this venture: he would not use any of that money to finance his dream. He wanted to earn his way into the guild, build a trading consortium, and possibly, eventually, become a mega Corp.

He wasn’t poor by most standards. The Star Shadow was nearly paid off, but the most significant issues were the ports he kept having to choose because of the expensive docking and port fees and taxes on both imports and exports. Because he was independent, he got hit by all sides. If he were a member of the trading guilds, it would be simple: the fees would be nearly half of what he paid now. Of course, there would be the guild tithes, but that was better than the graft and bribes he had to pay now.

He sat down in the pilot’s chair. He asked Viki, his ship AI, to plot a course to a class M planet, which was currently in need of agriculture imports; he had frozen meats and vegetables. He had made a good deal on seeds and lucked out on frozen embryos and sperm for fertilization of animals. Introducing a certified clean gene pool from off-world could help breed better, healthier herds. And increase your cattle’s value during sale time. He waited for Viki to respond with a suitable planet. She gave him one just over 5 AU’s, and they could be there within a week by traveling a max hyper-speed; it was still a minor planet not on the major trade routes, but he’d been there before the port tax was reasonable. The people drove a hard bargain, but they were fair. They didn’t cheat you. They paid in hard currency and didn’t tax you to the breaking point. All in all, he was happy to revisit Farmworld III,

Viki, go ahead and set the course for Farmworld III and the autopilot to take over after the jump to Hyperdrive. It will take 40 hours to get out of the system, so let the autopilot take the first watch. Wake me up for the second watch, and you handle the third watch and hold my hand when we jump. I don’t want what happened last time, where we got lost in some unknown sector because of a tiny math error.

“Yes, of course, Captain, but I must point out the math error was yours, and I did try to warn you about it before you made the jump,” Viki replied smoothly.

Captain Talak went down below to his cabin, a small, cramped space with a bed and a small bathroom called a head on a ship. It had a closet, a desk, and a single chair. That was the extent of the amenities of the Captain’s Quarters as it was known. He was a simple-nonsense kind of guy. He spent a stint in the Empire’s Navy and spent time on the bridge as an officer. He was a fighter pilot in the famous Guardian Squadron, a squadron comprised of nobles and the aristocracy. Eventually, he was promoted and was too highly ranked to fly fighters and did his rotation as a ship captain. And what he was doing now would make sure the navigation computer was functional and appropriately updated as needed. He had no desire to hire a navigator or another pilot, hence Viki, his AI. That was his most significant expense when he retrofitted the merchant trader when he bought it 15 years ago. It was why the bank had a lien on his ship. He took out a loan to purchase the state-of-the-art AI. Now, ships AI were 30 generations faster and better; many of them could control the entire ship without a single human on board; in fact, many exploration ships looking for new habitable planets did just that. It saved on having to crew a boat or use cryosleep. This allowed quicker reports and more planets to be explored without risking human lives. An alarm awakened Talak; he was immediately awake and alert. The alarm signaled that sensors detected a life form in the forward hold. At first, he wrote it off as a rat. Then he quickly remembered he had recalibrated the sensor to sound the alarm only if a human-sized life form was detected. He got dressed and started towards the forward hold.

“Who’s there?” Talak barked but softened his tone when he saw the fear and desperation etched on her face. “I’m Alliyanna Karjan, heir to the House Karjan and daughter of Baron Karjan von Oranthe. “ She blurted out and immediately regretted it. She had olanned to not use her name or family to influence the man. “Please, Captain,” she said breathlessly. “I need your help. I must leave Oranth. I cannot marry Duke Birsha. He will destroy me.” Talak’s expression went from curious to calculating. “Married against your will, I presume; wait, you’re the baron’s daughter and want me to help you run away from home. Oh, I am not sure I am comfortable with that. Everyone will be looking for you. And I will be charged with kidnapping or smuggling or something. They’ll impound my ship if they don’t blast it out of space. No. You’d better leave; this is a dangerous business, girl. What do you offer in return?”