Blake’s heart thumped inside his chest as he was jostled in his seat. He was excited and afraid.

This could easily go wrong. Innocent people could be killed.

That word again...

The loud engine of the ATV muddled his thoughts. The vehicle was designed for desert excursions. It was very rugged. Rork had hundreds of them. Most of them didn’t work, but with everything the original colonists had left behind, Rork’s men were able to repair and maintain a lot of these vehicles.

Blake was literally lifted out of his seat as the ATV jumped a small mound of hard dirt. He squeezed the dash and overhead handgrip hard just before they landed. Surprisingly the jolt Blake was expecting was a lot less jarring than he thought it would be. These vehicles had good shock suspensions and were well maintained.

He continued to squeeze the dash and handgrip as Razen swerved out of the way of another ATV in front of them. Razen laughed.

The dust cloud of the two dozen or so ATVs ahead of them was massive. Like Razen, the rest of the clan was having fun on this drive, whooping and screaming. Some men leaned outside their ATVs on the footsteps as they gripped the roll cage, letting their free arms dangle as they shot their guns into the air.

Blake smirked. The first time he’d seen this on Acheron as a fresh drop, he’d nearly shit his pants. Now Blake was one of them, except he didn’t act like an adrenaline crazed junkie. As he glanced ahead and to the left, one driver was purposely creating dust clouds as he turned three sixties adding to the massive cloud they’d already made.

That Silverman prick thought Rork was going to kill everyone aboard that ship except for himself and the Retuailian diplomat. But Rork didn’t kill people needlessly. Blake was thankful for that. If the leader of the Iron Kin of War was a different man, Blake would have either become a monster saturated with guilt, or he’d be dead. He was neither.

You’re still a selfish coward, he told himself.

He tried to get his mind off of all that shit and whooped when the ATV jostled against a pitiful bump in the ground.

Razen gave him a look and shook his head.

Blake was technically in higher standing than Razen in the clan’s command structure, but this wasn’t the military and Razen had the lead on this excursion.

Hopefully there were no security people on that ship, otherwise it would be a shootout and people would probably die on both sides. Everyone on that ship—

No.

The plan was to show up and make Rork look like their savior. Nobody would have to die.

* * *

Craning his neck, Marcus shielded his eyes against the sun as he looked up the steep incline of the rocky mountain ahead of him. The hike to the highest dune took a little more time than he’d expected it to. It would take at least another hour to reach the mountain and Marcus wasn’t a mountain climber, nor did he have the right gear or the amount of water needed to make the climb.

He slid the goggles over his forehead and turned back toward the Kerris. He closed his left eye and raised his thumb. It covered the entire ship at this distance. Marcus lowered his hand and took a drink of the water hanging at his belt. His light skin was probably already burnt.

He frowned, squinted as he peered across Acheron’s dusty, arid surface. There was a dust cloud about five times the size of the Kerris heading straight for the ship. Strange. But Marcus didn’t know anything about desert environments. Maybe that was natural? Of course it was.

He unslung the case on his back and lifted out the IC unit once more. If he couldn’t get a signal up here, than he wasn’t going to get a signal at all. It wasn’t like he could climb the damn mountain.

“Come on,” he said, pointing the device upward toward the sky as he turned about on his feet. This was ridiculous. The emergency IC unit wasn’t working when there was an actual emergency.

Marcus shook his head, chuckled. It was ironic. The damn thing was designed to send interstellar communications! It was rated at several dozen light years but he couldn’t get a message off planet?

He scratched his chin and frowned. If Escort Delta wasn’t still jamming them, could somebody else be? Acheron was supposed to be a place the Alliance exiled people to. Cerberus Station guarded the system. Is the station jamming me?

Why would Escort Delta have to jam the Kerris’ communications if Cerberus Station was already doing it for him?

Something wasn’t flying right. Cerberus Station hadn’t even gotten suspicious until after Escort Delta blew up the other fighters. The station should have detected the Kerris whether or not Escort Delta was jamming their communications.

The only explanation was that somebody on Cerberus Station was in on this operation—it was the only way!

I knew this wasn’t over.

Marcus packed the IC unit back in its case, took another drink of water and turned back toward the ship. The Kerris wasn’t visible. It was surrounded by that dust cloud.

His stomach heaved when he realized what was happened.

They appeared like little brown specs to the naked eye, but Marcus could see them as they circled the ship. He unslung the IC unit from his back and got the digital ocular enhancement unit out of the case.

When he peered through the device, he saw dozens of vehicless of various colors ranging from dark brown to cream colored spinning their tires, kicking up dust as they encircled the ship.

Shit!

* * *

Blake coughed as he moved through the smoke, Razen a few steps ahead of him. Men were still whooping and screaming as they fired their guns into the air. There were already half a dozen men working at the cargo bay door.

With the new guns Silverman had been dropping for the Iron Kin of War, it wouldn’t be long before they got through that door.

Blake shielded his eyes from the sun. His ears were starting to hurt amidst the cacophony of gunfire and ATVs. At least they were beginning to settle down.

Men shouted in the cargo bay. They had evidentially gotten through the door. Dozens more piled into the cargo bay and into the ship. Blake did not follow, neither did Razen. In fact, he had his back turned to the cargo bay. The man had a thing for the dramatic.

A few minutes later the passengers and crew of the ship were being herded out of the cargo bay. Some of them babbled or yelped when pushed forward.

The ATVs had stopped now and the dust was settling. The men yelled at the prisoners, told them to keep quiet as they forced them to their knees a few feet in front of Razen’s ATV.

Razen turned around dramatically. Blake nearly chuckled, but kept his mouth shut. He could already see the dust cloud Rork and his men were making.

Razen started to pace in front of the prisoners as he inspected them critically. “My name is Razen,” he said, raising his voice so they could hear him, “Leader of the Dust Dogs!”

One of the prisoners, a Retuailian woman, yelped when a gun was pushed to the back of her head. The man guarding her from behind told her to keep her eyes ahead of her after she’d tried to look around. She sniffled.

Razen looked annoyed. The interruption was spoiling his show.

There was another Retuailian woman next to the whimpering one. She was more stoic and in control of her emotions than any of the other prisoners, even Silverman. But Silverman was probably trying to put on a good show.

The stoic Retuailian was obviously Diplomat Tau’anae Kolivar.

Razen continued. “You are now the property of the clan,” he said leering. “And this ship,” he said, gesturing to the vessel as he smiled, “Is ours.”

A man pushed through the crowd of clan members. “Razen,” he said excitedly. “The Iron Kin are coming!”

And he needs acting lessons, Blake thought.

Razen frowned. “Get ready for a fight, boys!” With that, all the clan members scrambled about, most of them moving their ATVs in a line to the stern of the ship. Others took positions behind the vehicles, ready for a gun fight that wouldn’t happen.

Blake shook his head as the prisoners were lined up in front of Razen’s group.

* * *

Shit! Shit! Shit!

Stomach clenched, Marcus scrunched down against the hot sand with the DOE goggles. He didn’t want to get spotted up here by those marauders. It looked like there were two different groups.

Marcus wiped the sweat from his forehead. There was no way he could go back to the Kerris. But he couldn’t survive out here either. All those men and their ATVs had to have come from some place. But how far was it?

He couldn’t hear what was being said, but it looked like the two groups were talking. There was a man in front of each group. The leaders?

One of the prisoners scrambled out toward the second group and was bashed in the back by a man with a gun standing behind him. Marcus swallowed as the man with the gun put a boot on his back.

Marcus swallowed, then wiped at his forehead again with a trembling hand. If he didn’t go down there to surrender himself, he would probably die out here. He only had enough water for a few more hours and it obviously took a vehicle to get back to wherever these two groups came from.

He let the DOE goggles slide from his fingers, slammed a fist into the sand. “Fuck!”

* * *

Rork had nearly the same number of ATVs as Razen. It needed to look like it would be a fair fight, the kind of fight that neither side could win.

As Rork’s men took positions, feigning readiness for a fight with Razen’s group, Rork stepped out of his ATV. He drove it himself. He was the leader of the Iron Kin of War, not some jumped up, flabby prick who barked orders to his lackeys.

Rork glanced at the prisoners, then to Razen.

“We got here first,” Razen snarled.

“Please,” Silverman said, scuttling forward on his knees. “Please don’t let them—“

“Shut up!” a Dust Dogs pretender bellowed as he slammed the butt of his rifle into Silverman’s back, forcing the Ambassador’s face into the dirt. The Dust Dogs pretender proceeded to place a boot on Silverman’s back, forcing him to continue eating dirt.

“Fuck!” Silverman croaked. Blake smirked. This was actually kind of fun.

“Keep the ship,” Rork said in a calm tone. “I’ll take the prisoners.”

Razen shook his head. “No, they’re coming with us, along with the ship.”

“I’ve seen the brutality of the Dust Dogs,” Rork said, voice getting louder. “I know what you do with your prisoners.”

“It’s none of your business what we do with our prisoners, Rork!” Razen’s tone went mocking. “Leader of the merciful Iron Kin of War.”

Razen was playing his part well.

“Give me the prisoners,” Rork said dangerously.

Razen shifted nervously. “What are you going to do, Rork? Kill me? My men would put a bullet in you before my corpse hit the ground.”

“And then our men would kill each other to the last man,” Rork said. “Do you really want to die for a hunk of metal and some worthless prisoners?”

“It’s not about that,” Razen snapped. “The Dust Dogs is the strongest clan on Acheron!”

“The Dust Dogs are strong,” Rork admitted. “But so is the Iron Kin of War.”

They stared at each other for a moment longer. “Fine,” Razen said. “We keep the ship—you get the prisoners.”

Rork nodded agreement and Razen stepped forward. The two men grasped each other’s forearms, making the pretend deal.

“Let the prisoners, go,” Razen said.

Rork stepped forward. “Come,” he said gesturing with his hand. “You’re safe now.”

The prisoners stepped forward tentatively.

“Come,” Rork continued, half turning toward his ATVs. “I will take you to my city where you will be safe.”

They loaded the prisoners up into their ATVs and left, making another cloud of dust as they went.

Razen smiled, dusting off his hands.

“All right,” Blake shouted to the rest of the men. “You know what to do! Strip this thing to its bones!”

Men went crazy as they got out various tools for the job. This ship was the motherload. It was a shame they had to strip it for parts. From the look of it, the only real damage was the missing communications array and the main thrusters. If they could get the ship back to Life City in one piece they wouldn’t have much trouble bringing it back to working order.

But that was impossible. The real Dust Dogs would never allow the ship to end up in Rork’s hands. It would probably be destroyed as the two strongest clans on Acheron fought tooth and nail for it. This way, they could dismantle the ship slowly; bringing the parts back to the city undetected and the Dust Dogs would never even know it.

Besides, Rork already had a working ship that he didn’t use.