Vaant (The Galaxos Crew Book 1) Read online

  Vaant

  The Galaxos Crew: Book One

  Juno Wells

  Layla Nash

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Epilogue

  Connect with Juno

  Also by Juno Wells

  Copyright © 2016 by Juno Wells and Layla Nash

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover design by Kasmit Covers.

  Chapter 1

  Isla

  Isla Lennox sat in the mess hall on the Earther ship Argo, frowning as she stirred a juice cocktail. They were a luxury, since Earther fruit wasn't available much anymore, and she savored every chance she had to taste the rare mango concoction. She adjusted the collar of her uniform and flipped the page of her book. She'd studied her whole life to become an interpreter and translator in alien languages, and to get a commission to travel on a Fleet ship to defend the Alliance. The opportunities to see new places, fantastic cultures and planets, and technologies she couldn't even dream of overrode the frustration of the ship's captain not treating her like an actual officer.

  Isla tried to re-read the last paragraph, since she'd stared at the words at least three times without actually understanding what it said. The Argo received a hailing call from another ship not even an hour before, and Captain Witz of course summoned the other — male — interpreter, Prescott, to the bridge. Even though the strange ship appeared to be Xaravian and Isla was one of half a dozen recognized interpreters for the three highly complex Xarav dialects. So Isla went to the mess to fume and soothe her temper with the coveted juice.

  She glanced up as someone flopped into the chair across from her, and the highest-ranked female security officer, Cecily Griggs, propped her boots up on one of the other chairs. "What's with the sour face?"

  "Xaravian ship called, and Witz..." Isla shook her head as irritation almost overtook her and spurred her into insubordination. She couldn't openly disparage the captain, not in the mess when a couple of junior officers loitered near the windows.

  "Witz called Prescott, didn't he?" Griggs made a face and laced her hands behind her head, also staring out into the vast expanse of space. "Well, screw 'em. He doesn't know what he's doing, keeping you from leading the charge. Besides, Prescott doesn't speak Xaravian, does he?"

  "No." Isla folded her arms over her chest. "Of course he doesn't. It's a Category Five language, and he can't handle anything more than a Cat Three. And yet he's the one who gets to attend all the meetings and ratify all the agreements and interpret treaties and trade deals and... It's not fair."

  "I know." Griggs glanced over at her. "And I'm not up on the bridge with the rest of the security team, despite being the obvious choice for personal protection for the captain. He should know better than to try any funny business with the Xaravians, particularly this ship."

  Isla sipped her juice and tried to enjoy the taste, despite the increasing frustration of her assignment. "What do you mean?"

  "It's a military ship, but it has trader markings." Griggs shook her head and adjusted the stunner on her belt as she sprawled in the chair. She caught the junior officers staring at her in awe, and sent them a dark look that had the kids scrambling to avoid her scrutiny. Griggs had quite the reputation on the ship, and in most of the Fleet, from what Isla heard. "Which is almost illegal, but juuuuust on the right side of acceptable. The captain of that ship — I think it's the Galaxos, from the hull markings — used to be some high-ranking dude in the Fleet, but left when most of the other Xaravians busted the treaty and went home."

  "That is weird." Isla checked her communicator for any alerts, wondering how long Witz and the Xaravian captain would meet. What could the Argo have to do with what sounded like an illegal trading ship? "Where were they coming from?"

  "The Primus Major quadrant, which is even more suspicious. Nothing good is going on in that sector." Griggs rubbed her jaw. "Main safe haven for the damn rebels."

  The rebels, plague of the Alliance. Just as the Earthers and all other advanced civilizations came together to establish universal standards for rights and freedoms and responsibilities, to create shared laws and means of protecting less developed planets, and a host of other economic and political benefits for allied planets, a sudden rebellion sprang up and claimed that the Alliance intended to exploit everyone who didn't join. Which was patently absurd. Isla attended every academy necessary for an Alliance officer, including some on faraway planets, so she could study obscure languages. She never saw any hints that the Alliance was anything but well-intentioned.

  Griggs sighed and fiddled with the touchscreen on the table, waiting until a small serving robot arrived with a cup of Hyderapid coffee to go on. "So it might be a good thing that you're here and not up on the bridge. No telling what the Xaravians actually want. If the alarms go off, head straight for the emergency pods and don't fucking wait for anyone, do you hear me?"

  "It won't come to that," Isla said. "The Xaravians aren't stupid enough to attack a Fleet ship."

  "Maybe not, but we don't know who else is in this sector. It might not just be the Galaxos — there could be a whole pack of rebels, just waiting for us to lower our shields."

  Isla's stomach clenched at the thought. "You think so?"

  "Dunno." Griggs shrugged. "There's always that chance. We're not far from Primus Major, and we're on our way to one of the medium-sized planets they've been trying to shield from Alliance communications. It's possible they want to make a statement."

  Damn. Isla closed her book and fought back jealousy. "I want to be on the bridge. I want to hear what's going on. What if Prescott misses something? There's a lot of nuance to the Xarav dialects, and if Witz insists on using their translators, Einstein only knows what kinds of miscommunications they'll have. If the ship doesn't want to destroy us now, just give Prescott enough time and it'll get to that."

  "So go up to the bridge." Griggs frowned as her communicator beeped, and she checked the messages. "Go up there and take your place. Don't wait for Witz to ask you, because if you do, you'll spend this entire deployment bored out of your mind and reading weepy Hustili poetry."

  "It's not weepy," Isla muttered. "It's the most beautiful linguistic expression out of the Coleoptera galaxy."

  "Right. Well, take your beautiful linguistic expressive ass up to the bridge." She pounded the rest of her coffee and shoved to her feet. "Since I'm heading that way, too, I'll drag your ass with me. Let's go. I need an interpreter to make sure I don't tell the Xaravian captain to go fuck himself. Do you know how to say 'fuck' in Xaravian, or should we stop by your room f
or a dictionary? I need to make sure I have the full range of linguistic expression at my disposal."

  Isla snorted and finished her juice, though she got up and followed Griggs out of the mess. "You are a disaster. Don't start any wars today, okay?"

  "They're just rebels. Intergalactic trash trying to ruin the peace everyone else benefits from." Griggs patted her stunner and winked at Isla. "It wouldn't be a war; it'd be an epic ass-kicking. If Xaravians have asses. Do they have asses? Do I have to kick something else?"

  "I swear, I can't take you anywhere." Isla laughed as she tried to keep up with Griggs's longer legs and steadily-increasing pace. "Why are you in a hurry?"

  "Got a feeling," Griggs said. Her eyebrows lowered and something tightened in her expression. "I can't explain it, it's just... something is off."

  Isla slowed. She wasn't a coward by any means, but that didn't mean she had Griggs's appetite for rushing headlong into a fight. They'd gotten into a lot of trouble at the academy because of Griggs and her temper, and generally got out of it because of Isla's brain or silver tongue. Facing down a bunch of unpredictable and barbaric Xaravians wasn't high on her list of priorities, particularly if the ship was near illegal and intent on plundering the Argo.

  She cleared her throat as Griggs looked back at her. "Then shouldn't we head to the security office first and get backup? Or ready the emergency pods? Anything except running straight into a potentially dangerous situation?"

  "We could." A hint of a twinkle in her green eyes made Griggs's stern expression ease as she faced Isla, but she continued to walk backward toward the bridge. "But where's the fun in that?"

  "Sometimes I really hate you." Isla put her hands on her hips, not budging. "Fine. You go cause some chaos, and I'll go to the medical bay to prepare for the inevitable flood of injuries, and —"

  She froze as her communicator went off, and Isla stared at the message that scrolled through. The captain requested her on the bridge for assistance interpreting with the Xaravians. Isla's heart jumped and adrenaline surged as she looked at Griggs. Finally. Finally, her time to shine. She couldn't bite back a grin. "Let's go."

  "Now who's the loose cannon?" Griggs squeezed her hand just before they reached the doors to the bridge, and as the entrance quietly whooshed open, Isla composed her expression into something befitting an officer of the Alliance.

  She took one look at the tall, imposing Xaravians and nearly had to pick her jaw up off the floor. She'd only seen pictures of Xaravians, but they didn't do them justice. They were humanoid, though head and shoulders above Witz and the other bridge officers, with a slow kaleidoscope of colors and tones moving through their slightly scaled skin. The Xaravians had long hair, tied in braids that were occasionally decorated with beads and other notions, but that took nothing away from their otherwise warlike demeanor.

  Something one of her instructors said long ago came rushing back to Isla as she stared at the tallest, most intimidating alien she'd ever seen. They looked like warriors, not soldiers. Wild and uncontrolled and fighting for passion and their homeland, not at the orders of some king or emperor. He had what looked like a few bones and polished gems in his hair, and hard eyes that glinted silver in the artificial light of the bridge. Based on the insignia on his uniform he had to be the captain of his ship, and he absolutely took Isla's breath away.

  She cleared her throat and managed to look at her own captain. "Sir, you called?"

  "We've run into a few hiccups in our negotiations. We need your assistance. Introduce yourself to our guests." Witz, gray-haired and perpetually irritated, barely looked at her as he spoke.

  Isla steeled herself and faced the Xaravians, hoping she chose the right dialect by going with the highest-class grammar. She didn't want to insult them by using a lower-class dialect, although it would be insulting if they didn't understand the higher dialect and had to then admit they weren't well-born enough to understand what she was saying. So she spoke slowly and carefully, untangling the tricky syllables as a dozen Earthers and six Xaravians watched her.

  "Good day. I'm Commander Isla Lennox, one of Captain Witz's interpreters."

  The tall Xaravian arched a perfect eyebrow as he glanced at Witz, the human expression strange on the slightly alien Xaravian face. And then he spoke in equally perfect Earther. "You're right. She's good."

  Isla blinked as she looked between the two men, and was suddenly intensely aware that she and Griggs were the only two women on the bridge. Griggs lounged against the wall near the doors, arms folded over her chest and eyes narrowed, and observed the goings-on. She looked ready to fight at a moment's notice, which made Isla feel a little better. She tried a polite, disinterested smile and continued in Xarav, so at least no one else would understand. "Thank you. What is it you need me to translate?"

  "Not a thing." The alien captain smiled with only half his mouth, and Isla found herself frozen in his gaze. She almost didn't hear as Griggs started cursing behind her.

  Chapter 2

  Vaant

  Vaant and his crew tracked the Earther ship for quite a while as it headed for some of the defenseless planets in the Primus Major sector. He didn't like assuming the worst of every Alliance ship they came across, since some of the captains and crew were actually good officers who wanted to make the universe a better place, but too often their missions adversely affected everyone who wasn't part of the Alliance. He was sick of it.

  When they had a bit more information on the Argo and her captain, Vaant moved in. They hailed the ship and approached, ready to board. The Argo appeared to be involved in smuggling and potential technology theft, stealing whatever innovations they could find from the less advanced planets and then claiming the advances for themselves. They'd done it before in a long stretch through some of the less populated quadrants, then returned to Earth to exploit the tech and reverse engineer it so the Earthers could then sell it to the rest of the Alliance. It set all of his teeth on edge just to think about it. Xarav had been exploited in the same fashion, and still struggled with the consequences.

  So Vaant and his guys agreed to leave the Alliance and work independently on behalf of all those voiceless planets who couldn't fight off the Alliance's blood-sucking minions like Witz and the Argo. They hadn't quite crossed the line to where the Alliance had a bounty on their ship, but Vaant knew that could change in a heartbeat. Part of his reasoning in hailing the Argo was to put out feelers for whether the Argo was on a mission to hunt down rebels or the Galaxos itself.

  He immediately didn't like the captain. The asshole smirked when he saw the bones and feathers and stones in their hair, and hadn't even bothered to meet the Xaravians in the landing bay. He made them walk to him like supplicants or servants, and it set the tone for the meeting.

  To make matters worse, the Argo captain apparently hadn't bothered to learn any of the four or five “universal” languages the Alliance said all of their officers spoke, to facilitate communication, and instead used a shitty interpreter who could hardly string three words together in Lower Xarav. In the interest of time, Vaant spoke a little Earther, though he disliked the sounds of the words and the way they made his mouth twist.

  Vaant didn't bother to sit, even though the captain didn't offer him a chair, and instead paced along the front of the bridge, keeping an eye on the door the whole time. He didn't trust the Earthers for a second. Luckily he brought five of his crew with him, including Vrix, his security chief. The only officer on the Galaxos more dangerous than Vaant himself was Vrix, though they gave each other a run for their money every morning in the battle hall of the ship. Vrix never smiled. Ever. And as he glowered at the Argo captain and the mealy-mouth little shit who struggled to interpret even in the universal languages, the Earthers started looking nervous.

  Vaant pretended disinterest, as if he was just making conversation. "You just left the Primus Minor quadrant, correct? We have been looking for trade in that area."

  "We had a few stops," the gray-haired captain said.
Despite wearing his duty uniform instead of the dress uniform, the asshole pinned his elaborate medals on his chest anyway, wanting everyone to remember he'd been awarded a few tokens for bravery or good sportsmanship or whatever. "I'm sure you'll find lucrative trade opportunities there. I'm not sure we'll be able to assist a non-Fleet ship with those sorts of contacts, but in general the Arcadis planets are open to dealing with almost anyone."

  Typical. "And yet your ship spent a surprising amount of time on a nonaligned planet, doing research. But you want to protect those contacts?"

  "We're sworn to confidentiality," the interpreter said, but Vaant didn't pay any attention to him. The kid barely registered as a threat.

  The captain shrugged, though his attention sharpened as if he caught Vaant's meaning. "We can't disclose Fleet business."

  "Quite surprising for an Alliance that treasures openness and communication among all races and planets, even those who are not sworn to them. And the Fleet is the first representation of the Alliance's top laws, so surely the judges would be interested if a Fleet ship violated some of those laws?"

  Vaant folded his arms over his chest, not just to intimidate the shorter man, but also to pat the ceremonial dagger he kept at his side. Just in case. Threatening a captain on his own ship generally wasn't a good idea, but Vaant tired of the games. Xaravians weren't known for their patience.

  The captain's eyes narrowed, and he watched Vaant for a long time before shooing the interpreter and a few other officers away, and drew Vaant to the overview of space in front of the Argo. "We're on sensitive business. What will it take to inspire you to continue on your way without worrying about where we came from or where we're going?"

  Vaant's dislike for the man grew. No telling what he'd actually do to make the Galaxos go away. At least he wasn't threatening Vaant or his crew. "Tell me what you're offering. I'll say when I'm feeling inspired."