Child of Hades

12. Living the Life (Lié)

My heart dropped. All I could see was Rutha's throat and the sharp multitool pressing against it.

"No, please.", words escaped my mouth. The officer pressed the sharp edge even deeper into Rutha's throat and he started bleeding a little.

"I will teleport you back to your ship but leave Rutha alone.", it was strangely unfamiliar to hear my voice shaking. "He has nothing to do with this."

"Log me into the ship", he pointed at Hubris's control panels. I logged in without hesitation, then looked back to Rutha. The officer pushed me aside. One second later he and Rutha had left the ship.

"No, no, no", was all I could think. I pressed my hands against my head trying to come up with a solution. I had to get the boy back to safety. Relative safety. 

I initiated a security reboot in the Hubris and then shifted its position. 

My hands were shaking, I called KM-13: "Are you still connected to the Lex-ship?"

"I could be if you wanted me to, honey. Why do you ask?"

"I need access to all cameras on my techdevice, now."

He transferred the login rights to me. Benefits of being friends with a cyborg. Hacking ships becomes much easier. 

"What are you planning? Who is that boy?", KM-13 asked teasingly, yet curious. Rutha was being dragged into a cell by the officer I had just seen.

"Just get the stuff. I will call you when I am ready to leave."

"You sure ask a lot from this friendship", KM-13 said. "Extra time means more money for me, don't forget that."

I hung up.

After scanning the basic frame of the ship and locating all guards I teleported to an empty room close to the cell where the captain was holding Rutha. The officer was still with Rutha, angrily talking. He had grabbed a gun. It was hanging from his belt, unsheathed.

"Tell me everything you know about the elf.", I heard him say through my own ears. Rutha did not respond. Such a good boy.

"You have got to give me something here, I don't want to have to hurt you.", he raised his voice.

Hurt Rutha? Over my dead body.

"Why would you ever want to protect such scum?" he paused.

"Are you one of them? You are one of them, aren't you?"

I checked the cameras, then I scanned the nearby area for other soldiers. The captain was more or less alone.  

My time to shine. I snuck up to him as quietly as I could, focusing on all footsteps I could hear walking across the ship. None of them would be with him before me. And I have never encountered any human that heard me coming. A hit to the head did the trick, just like the first time around. I took his techdevice and opened the door to the cell using his hand. I embraced Rutha, tears streaming down his face. No time was lost before I teleported him back home to my ship.  Back to relative safety, I signaled to KM-13 that he could leave. We would meet again at the time and coordinates that we had previously agreed upon.

It was a shame that I had not gotten any ransom for the captain but I knew that KM-13 had stolen some parts of the Lex-ship while everyone on board was distracted. They would sell for a fine price. Most pirates may not be able to hack into Lex-technology and override it. They would not be able to capture a Lex-captain. Parts of our plan had failed but we were still a credit to Chaus.

"Don't ever interfere with my business again," I ordered Rutha.

"Maybe if you taught me to fight, that guy wouldn't have overwhelmed me so easily," Rutha responded stubbornly. How could someone so vulnerable be so headstrong? Weak people usually don't argue.

"You could have died!", I shouted, my voice reverberated all over the ship.

Rutha did not answer at first, caught in my echo. 

"I don't care. I don't want to live on this ship and never leave. I don't want to be alone every day while you are busy working. Maybe I would rather die than forever be a burden to you. You don't even believe in me. Why are you keeping me around anyways?"