Release

 
  by V. J. Chambers

  After seven years searching the galaxy, Keirth Transman has caught up to the Duke of Risciter, the man who raped and murdered his mother. Nothing's stopping his revenge, so when the duke's fiancé, Miss Ariana Gilit, allows the duke to escape, he's got no choice but take her ship and blast off in hot pursuit—even if she's still on board.

  Wanting rid of the prissy noblewoman, Keirth plans to dump her at the first port he can. Then he can focus his attention on what’s important. Killing the duke. But things get complicated when Keith realizes that the duke has focused his malevolent interest on Ariana. She is in mortal danger.

  Keirth’s no angel, but he's not a man who'll let an innocent woman be terrorized. He'll do whatever he can to keep Ariana safe from the duke. No matter how annoying she is.

  RELEASE

  © copyright 2012 by V. J. Chambers

  http://vjchambers.com

  Punk Rawk Books

  Kindle Edition

  Please do not copy or post this book in its entirety or in parts anywhere. You may, however, share the entire book with a friend by forwarding the entire file to them. (And I won't get mad.)

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I don’t know quite where I’d be without the vibrant and supportive community of the Kindle Boards Writer’s Café. This book’s blurb and cover are products of people taking the time to offer me opinions and advice out of the goodness of their heart. I wouldn’t make it without you guys!

  /body>

  Release

  by V. J. Chambers

  Chapter One

  When Miss Ariana Gilit, daughter of the duke of the Planet Wendo, heard the news that her suitor the Duke of Risciter was leaving the Planet Hallon, she wasn’t pleased. For one thing, Risciter had promised he would call on her later that afternoon. For another, she’d been absolutely certain that he would ask her father for her hand in marriage by the end of the week. For Risciter to be leaving so abruptly made no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, she was furious that he was leaving without saying goodbye to her.

  The news, however, was all over the public nets. Risciter was her dream man. She, like nearly every other girl her age in the Evon Sector, had grown up with quite a crush on him, collecting pictures of him on the nets and following everything reported on him on the vids. When he’d begun courting her, nearly two months ago, she’d been out of her mind with joy. It was at his suggestion she’d even come to Hallon for the summer season. This season, it was in fashion to spend the summer on her homeworld, Wendo. And she would have been there with her family if it hadn’t been for Risciter.

  His leaving her without so much as a word was completely unacceptable. She’d followed him to the ends of the universe—well, to Hallon, anyway, which was so unfashionable this season as to be synonymous with the ends of the universe—and he’d ditched her. Or at least, he was going to ditch her. In approximately one hour, according to the nets.

  Ariana buzzed for her lady’s maid on her comm.

  “Miss?” came the maid’s voice from the square communicator.

  “Is Miss Vintro awake yet?” Ariana asked. Miss Vintro was her Aunt Tildy. She and Aunt Tildy were staying in her family home on Hallon. Her father had a house on every planet in the Evon Sector and four on their homeworld of Wendo. But her family hadn’t accompanied her to Hallon, considering how out of fashion it was these days. Ariana was hardly permitted to travel alone, however, and so Aunt Tildy had been sent along as her chaperone and companion. Unfortunately, Aunt Tildy, who’d never married and showed very little interest in ever getting married, showed a great deal of interest in alcohol. Which meant that she slept off a hangover nearly every morning. By the time Aunt Tildy deigned to get out of bed, it was generally after one in the afternoon.

  “No, miss,” came the reply. “Shall I have her maid wake her?”

  That was probably a terrible idea. Aunt Tildy was generally in an awful mood when she woke up, owing to her hangovers. But Ariana wasn’t supposed to leave the house without a companion, and she had to get to Risciter before he left the planet. What was she going to do? Ariana chewed on her lip. “No. Just come up here and braid my hair and help me dress.”

  Ariana was formulating a plan. It was a plan that flew in the face of decorum and propriety, but this was a desperate situation. Her fiancé was leaving. Technically, of course, he wasn’t her fiancé, but he would be. She had to confront him, give him a chance to explain it all away. And if she didn’t see him before he left, then her life would be ruined. Possibly forever, but definitely for the rest of the week.

  Her maid appeared in the doorway to her chamber. “Miss,” she said, “you aren’t planning on leaving the house without Miss Vintro, are you?”

  Ariana tossed her hair. “Braid.” She gave the maid a sharp look. “It’s not your business what I’m planning, is it?”

  “No, miss.” She began braiding.

  Going to rendezvous with a man without a chaperon was indeed scandalous. But once she arrived, it wouldn’t be as though Risciter didn’t have his own entourage with him. They wouldn’t be alone then. So, really, she would only be unsupervised for a very short speeder ride to the spacedock. And that wasn’t that scandalous, was it?

  After her hair was braided and her maid had helped her into a no-nonsense jumpsuit suitable for the spacedock, Ariana told her, “Have the driver get the speeder ready for me.”

  The maid’s jaw dropped. “Miss, you are going to go out alone, aren’t you?”

  “Just do it,” said Ariana. Of course, she didn’t need the maids’ gossiping about her either. That would get around society quicker than if she posted her intentions on the nets. “And don’t go spreading it about either. This is an urgent situation, and there simply is no way around it.”

  “It’s about His Lordship, isn’t it? Duke Risciter? I saw that he was leaving today.”

  “Get the speeder,” said Ariana.

  The maid hurried out of the room.

  And so, within fifteen minutes, Ariana was in the backseat of a speeder, rushing towards the spacedock. For good measure, she kept the divider between her and the driver up and opaque, so that he couldn’t see her. Surely, that was enough to protect her privacy.

  Once at the space dock, she leapt out of the speeder and began rushing towards the bay where Risciter kept his ship. The driver got out of the speeder and yelled after her, “Miss, you need to be careful out here all alone! Why don’t you let me park the speeder, and I’ll come with you?”

  “I’ll be fine,” she threw over her shoulder. “I’ll be with Duke Risciter in a few moments.” And she ran on. The docking bay was crowded in the public area, where people could catch commercial ships to other planets, but relatively empty once she got away from the common area.

  Ariana had to swipe her access card to get into the docking bay where Risciter was leaving from. Luckily, her own ship was docked in the same bay, so she had no trouble entering at all. She inserted her card, pulled it out quickly, and the doors in front of her slid open diagonally. She stepped inside.

  And was greeted by the sound of blaster fire.

  Blasters? What was going on in here? She turned back to the door she’d just come through, but it was an entrance door only. The exit door was all the way on the opposite side of the massive room. And between her and the door was a man with a blaster.

  Ariana surveyed the scene. She could see Risciter, standing outside the loading ramp to his ship, his arms in the air. Beside him were his valet and his pilot, also with their arms up. On the ground, Ariana could see a body. It wasn’t moving. The man with the blaster must have shot him. Who was it? Another of Risciter’s servants, perhaps? She put a hand to her mouth.

  The man with the blaster turned his
head in her direction.

  Ariana dove behind another ship in the docking bay, out of sight. The man with the blaster was wearing a speeder driver’s uniform. She could almost swear she’d seen him before. He might work for the Duke of Hallon, in fact. Why was he shooting people? Why was he threatening Risciter? She peered around the ship and could see her love there, his cherubic face obscured by his blond curls. But even though she couldn’t see him clearly, she could see he was alarmed. Her heart went out to him.

  It didn’t matter why this madman was threatening Risciter. She was here, by luck, and she had to save her fiancé. Well, her almost fiancé. After she saved Risciter’s life, he’d have to propose.

  Ariana found her comm in the pocket of her jumpsuit. She switched it on, but in the upper corner of the screen a red light blinked at her. That was right, damn it, there was no comm service in the spacedock. It interfered with the tower’s ability to communicate with ships or something. She couldn’t call the police, then. What could she do?

  She couldn’t get all the way across the bay to the other door and run for help.

  The man with the blaster was talking. “I don’t have anything against your men. I only want you, Risciter.” Ariana watched as he gestured with the blaster to the valet and the pilot. “I won’t shoot either of you unless you get in my way, like he did.” He pointed to the body on the ground. “You understand?”

  “Now, look here,” said Risciter. “I don’t know who you are, but if it’s money you want—”

  “Don’t know who I am?” interrupted the man with the blaster. “Well, perhaps it has been seven years. Perhaps you wouldn’t recognize me.”

  Recognize him? Maybe he did work for the duke of Hallon. But why should Risciter recognize him? He was clearly lower class. He wasn’t important to someone like Risciter. The man with a blaster had obviously lost his mind. Ariana had to do something. She looked around frantically, trying to get some kind of idea.

  There was nothing in the bay except ships. Risciter’s ship. Her ship. Two other ships. What could she...?

  Her ship!

  Ariana was nearly positive that it was outfitted with a few ion canons, in the case of running into skirmishes in deep space. If she could figure out how to use them, maybe she could injure the man with the blaster, or at least frighten him.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t recognize you,” Risciter was saying.

  Ariana dashed behind the ship closest to her towards her own.

  “We met in Rilla Alley,” said the man with the blaster.

  Rilla Alley? That was ridiculous. That was the place prostitutes and drug dealers were always found. Risciter wouldn’t ever go there.

  “There’s no one of consequence on Rilla Alley,” said Risciter.

  “I suppose you wouldn’t think so,” said the man with the blaster.

  Ariana had made it to her ship. But now she was faced with another problem. She couldn’t get on board unless she lowered the ramp. Lowering itself wasn’t a problem. She had the keys in her pocket. But if she did that, it would be noisy, and that would let everyone know she was here. But she didn’t have any other options, did she? That man was going to shoot Risciter if she didn’t do something. She got out her key and pushed a button on it.

  The ramp lowered to the ground slowly, making a low whirring noise.

  The man with the blaster looked around the room, startled. “What was that?”

  Risciter didn’t hesitate. He took his chance and made a break for it, running up the ramp of his own ship.

  The man with the blaster opened fire, squeezing off loud, bright shots at Risciter.

  But they went wide, hitting the hull of his ship, and Risciter was safely on board.

  The man with a blaster ran after Risciter, heading for the ramp.

  But the ramp was being raised.

  The man jumped and grabbed onto it, his feet dangling off the ground. He must be trying to stop it from closing.

  He couldn’t. He was no match for the machinery. He let go, landing on the ground, surveying the pilot and valet. “Can he fly the ship without you?” asked the man with the blaster.

  “I believe so,” said the pilot. “Please, if it’s not about us—”

  “Damn it!” roared the man with the blaster.

  Sure enough, Ariana could hear the ignition sequence on Risciter’s ship beginning. He was going to take off. He was going to escape! Ariana felt relief wash over her. But it was short lived. She was still stuck in the docking bay with the man with the blaster. Terrified, she scrambled up the ramp to her own ship.

  “Hey!” yelled the man with the blaster. “Who is that?”

  He’d seen her. Ariana dove into her ship, struggling with her key to close the ramp after herself.

  She wasn’t quick enough. The man with the blaster appeared inside. He slapped the light switch on the wall so that he could see her face. And she saw him too, for the first time. He was young. His eyes were huge, fringed with long, brown lashes. But his face was hard. “Miss Gilit,” he said. “Here to save your beau, I suppose.” He pointed the blaster at her head. “Get off the ship.”

  Ariana had never had a gun pointed at her head before. She froze. She couldn’t make any noises except a sort of strangled moan in the back of her throat.

  In the distance, she could hear the ignition sequence of Risciter’s ship shift into high gear. He was moments from taking off.

  “The bastard’s going to get away,” said the man with the blaster. “Now get off the damned ship.”

  “It’s my ship,” said Ariana in a tiny voice. “I think you should get off.”

  The sound of Risciter’s ship was a high-pitched whir. Ariana could also hear the roof of the docking bay lifting up to let the ship out.

  The blaster was in her face. “Off!”

  Ariana started down the ramp. She could see that the exit door was closing after the pilot and valet. She looked up and saw the stars of space above her through the open doors of the docking bay. The only thing that was protecting her from the cold vaccum at this moment was a force field, and that would be lifted at any second to let Risciter’s ship out. She darted back up the ramp. “The docking bay’s open to space,” she said. “You kick me off this ship, you’ll kill me.”

  “Damn it all to hell,” said the man with the blaster. He hit a switch on the wall, next to the lights. It closed the ramp. “Well, I guess you’re coming with me, Your Ladyship.”

  “Coming with you where?”

  “After Risciter, of course. He’s not getting away that easily.” The man with a blaster yanked her to her feet and dragged her to the small bridge of her ship.

  * * *

  Nigel Ricter, the Duke of Tramet, cursed as he watched the two ships burst into the sky above the spacedock. Tramet had finally found Keirth Transman, after a search that had taken decades on and off, and he was fairly sure the boy had just blasted off into space, out of his reach. He’d been so sure he had him, when he discovered the boy was working for the duke of Hallon. Tramet had left his own planet in pursuit immediately.

  But he’d been too late. Perhaps he’d spooked the boy. He’d asked the butler at Hallon’s estate to get a message to Keirth, but Keirth hadn’t returned to his place of employment. Tramet had tracked the speeder Keirth was using to the spacedock. Now the boy was gone. How he was going to find him again, Tramet didn’t know. But he seemed to be following the Duke of Risciter, and Risciter could be tracked. At least Tramet hoped so.

  Chapter Two

  Keirth Transman punched in numbers on the ship’s console. He was putting in some override codes he’d picked up that should allow him to hack into Risciter’s ship and figure out his destination coordinates. Right now, he still had a visual on the vessel, but Risciter would make the jump to hyperspace within seconds, and if Keirth couldn’t figure out where he was going, he’d lose Risciter. “Come on, come on,” he whispered at the console.

  The screen blinked, “Searching for target...�
�

  “Come on,” Keirth snapped.

  The screen blinked, “Target locked.” And then it spit out Risciter’s coordinates. Keirth sat back in his seat, shaking his head. “He’s going out of the Evon Sector. To Kush. That weasely little...”

  “What?” said a panicked voice next to him.

  Oh right. The Duke’s daughter. He’d nearly forgotten about her. She was staring at him with wide eyes. “Risciter wouldn’t leave the sector. He knows it’s far too dangerous out there in deep space. The colonies are barbaric and backward and violent.”

  Keirth had to laugh. “You honestly think Risciter’s never been out of the sector before, sweetheart?”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  Keirth rolled his eyes. He had the coordinates. And Risciter, as much of a devil as he was, was too much of an idiot pretty boy to know the quickest ways to get there. You had to travel in darker circles for that kind of information. Keirth could beat him to Kush. And he’d even have time for a pit stop. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ll drop you off first. We’ll make a quick stop in Ossile.”

  “Oh,” said the girl.

  Keirth quickly programmed in the coordinates for Ossile on the console. He turned to the girl. “Better strap in. We’re jumping to hyperspace.”

  Ahead of him, Keirth noted that Risciter’s ship had just disappeared, winking out with a flash of light. He’d already made the jump.

  Miss Gilit strapped her seat belts over her body. “This isn’t going to work, you know.”

  Keirth strapped himself in. He palmed the light speed accelerator and squeezed. “Oh no? Why not?”

  “You’ll get caught,” she said.

  The ship lurched hard, and on the visual, the stars streamed out like bright ribbons, going green, red, and blue at the edges. They were pushed back into their seats and for a few seconds, they couldn’t breathe from the pressure. Then everything snapped, like rubber, and they were traveling through a tunnel of brightly colored lights—hyperspace. Keirth switched off the visual. Hyperspace always gave him a headache if he stared at it too long.