Chapter 21: Escape

Varna slept fitfully, running plans of escape through her mind. For some reason she did not understand she was certain Mark would come for her. But she was no shrinking maiden waiting for her knight to rescue her. She was determined to take matters into her own hands and escape.

It niggled at her that they had taken her alive. Of course she didn't object in the slightest, but why? For the bounty all they needed was her ears and her thumb with her personal ID chip. Keeping her alive was a risk and a drain on resources. She could understand in Nora's case, but her own family, while they had connections, they were nowhere as rich and influential as Nora's and she herself had been banished as a failure anyway. No one would pay extra to keep her alive that's for sure, so there had to be something else going on. She had to see if Nora would be more forthcoming and help her.

Unlike the animals in the cage next door her food was available from a synthesizer set in the back wall above the sink. Still, it was pretty obvious that her "wolves" as Nora called them couldn't press buttons. Varna assumed the word wolves was a human one. She liked the sound of it and it suited the animals far better than what they were called in Grojan.

She sat leaning against the opposite side of her cage from theirs, watching them. They would sometimes pace, other times sit or lie down but always they kept an eye on her. She could see why they were highly prized and almost priceless. They were beautiful powerful animals, the ultimate status symbol, only in Varna's case she was sure they were keeping watch on their perspective meal.

She knew instantly when Nora was on her way, the deecrets stood quivering, looking towards the door. Varna stood, and moments later Nora entered the hold.

She walked to the cages. "Good morning, Varna, did you sleep well?"

"No not really."

Nora smiled at her. "I will talk while I'm cleaning, keep facing the wolf cage please as they have fewer security cameras in here than they would like. Unfortunately for them this place was not designed for prisoners." She opened the cage, fed her wolves, and then sent them to roam. "We need to take over this ship, Varna, will you help me?" She started to clean the cage with her back to Varna.

Varna laughed softly. "That's what I was going to ask you. I don't think either of us would survive long once they reach their destination. Your family won't know anything about you, and if they do a DNA test you are dead. I have no idea why they are keeping me alive, the bounty is always paid for ears, and in the case of a Grojan or Grojani thumb with ID chip."

"What is a Grojani?" Nora asked as she started to replace the animal's water.

"Servants to the Grojan. They can be identified by their dark hair and eyes."

"Ah, sort of like dark elves and high elves."

"I don't know what you are talking about, Nora."

Nora shrugged. "Doesn't matter, I will tell you one day." She started to wash her hands, keeping her back towards Varna. "If I can get you a tablet with full logon would you be able to hack into the system and lock all doors except that one over there and the control room?"

"Yes probably Nora."

"Good, there are ten crew, there used to be twelve, but two did not come back from the raid."

"Yep I know, Mark killed them." Varna didn't bother to cover a note of pride in her voice.

"Typical, all brawn and no brain, that one."

"Hey he's got brains, he..." She trailed off at Nora's smirk. "Ah, you're teasing me."

"Anyway," Nora continued. "They alternate shifts five on, five off. At this time every day a meal is served in the mess so there are only two crew in the control room. If you lock all the doors, then the off duty ones are trapped in their quarters and three in the mess. I can't get weapons, but I don't need to, my two wolves will take care of them. They are lightning fast so they won't have time to pull their guns." The other advantage for this time of day is the captain is on duty; she's a bitch so it won't bother me when her throat gets ripped out. I like the second in command, I think she can be brought round to our way of thinking, so I want her just locked in our cabin.

"We have to move quickly because I think they intend getting to their destination in the next couple of days."

"Can you get me the tablet this afternoon, Nora?"

"Yes of course, and I have the code for your cell door as well." She gave Varna the sequence.

"What's to stop your pets from ripping my throat out, Nora? They sit eying me up as if I'm next on the menu."

Nora giggled. "Don't worry, they won't touch you, my brother can be such a grouch sometimes and I really don't want to have to tell him you got eaten, I would never hear the last of it."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Varna paced her cell and went through a workout to maintain her fitness. She pushed herself hard as there was nothing else to do in her small cell. By the time Nora came for the evening exercise of her animals Varna lay on the floor of her cell breathing deeply. Nora walked straight to the animal's cage, and without looking in Varna's direction asked her to move to the side of the cage where she was working. She had brought a tray to hold an extra bowl of food. As Varna sauntered over to the connecting bars, Nora pulled a tablet from under a cloth and passed it to Varna.

"We have a problem," Nora hissed.

"What's the matter?"

"We are scheduled to dock with a Grojan cruiser in the next seven hours. Apparently, because of the family I'm supposed to belong to want to know who I am and where I have come from. They are apparently powerful enough to get the Grojan military involved."

"Fuck!"

Nora raised her eyebrows. "Ah, a Grojan expletive that has a similar meaning to a human one, but I have to agree in this instance. At least the captain is still in the control room so the shift rota is correct and half the crew is asleep, but we will have to tackle all five of the watch because there are no further meals. My wolves are fast and so am I, but five armed crew is going to be a problem."

"It will take me a little while to hack into the ship's systems. Nora. Ancestors, I wish Theasa were here, she would have had it done while we were talking."

"Well I wish Theasa were here as well, whoever she is, but she isn't, so it's on you, being the only Grojan with the same goal as me."

"Oh, and what goal would that be, Nora?" Varna looked up from the tablet; she had got into the system and found the logon was administrator level.

"Get to my brother of course."

"Of course." At the Mention of her brother Varna suppressed a sigh. The seed of doubt returned. What if he was going to reject her? On a level deep within her she didn't want to know, didn't want to face him, rejection would kill her.

Nora had returned to her cleaning and she was attempting to get into the operating system when the ship's general alert sounded. Nora turned from her task and glared at Varna. "Did you do that?"

Varna shook her head "No of course not, I've not even got into the operating system yet."

"Can you see on the tablet what's wrong?"

"Yeah, just a moment, Nora ... Oh fuck!"

"You're rather a foul mouthed little thing for my brother! Well, what's wrong then?"

"Looks like the cruiser has arrived early and we are standing down. The jump engines are not charged enough to get away and it has all its weapons hot, targeting us."

"Fuck! Are they going to shoot?"

"Now who's foul mouthed, Nora? No they aren't going to fire on us at the moment, we have been ordered alongside and the captain is complying. She obviously doesn't want to fight a heavy cruiser."

"Well that's our plans scuppered then."

"They don't have genetic testing facilities on military vessels so there is still time to escape. Perhaps we could steal a shuttle?"

Nora pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Their security is going to be far tighter than here, and how many crew do these thing have?"

"Oh, a couple of hundred." Varna shrugged. "It does make things a little more difficult I will admit."

With a bitter laugh Nora knelt and hugged her deecrets. "I hope they look after them."

"There is no doubt about that, one of those animals is worth more than the captain's pay for a year. A pair, and the female about to pup, I would shudder to think of the value. No, don't worry, they will outlive us."

There was a clang that reverberated through the ship and the engines cut. "Well here we go Nora, good luck."