Lucius Serrano was a man on the move.

Despite being forced into this colony program against his will, his plan of escape was starting to take form, and he would only need a little more time to put it into action.

Soon enough, he would be on Dangallu, surrounded by his own people and enough whores that money could buy.

It would almost be like being on Earth again before his arrest, when he commanded the loyalty of his entire organization.

And to think, he’d already gotten a head start on the whore situation.

“Would you like something else to drink, Master?”

Serrano turned his head to look at Daniela, the woman that had been assigned as his companion. She was no beauty but she had a set of holes that made her a very bearable companion. He’d also instructed her to call him master as the I-Mate did.

“Get me another water at once,” he barked at her. “And I want you to get more lube from the ship’s storage room. I plan to take your ass again later.”

Daniela started to shake with anxiety. He’d already had her ass twice since she’d been assigned to him, and it was obvious she hated the activity.

Still, that wouldn’t stop him from getting what he wanted.

No matter how sore her ass was.

Daniela quickly fetched him more water before leaving to do as she was told, leaving Serrano temporarily alone at his table in the mess hall of their section. The rest of the hall was full at the current time, and it was now mingled with men and women since the addition of the companions.

He wasn’t alone for very long. Several of his men soon arrived at his table, taking their seats around him as they waited for him to elaborate on why he’d called them together.

“By the way boss, thank you for securing that companion bitch for me,” said one of the men, a muscle-head by the name of Ross. “She’s so much better to fuck than that I-Mate.”

Serrano nodded. “Any attempts by her previous owner to take her back?”

Ross shook his head. “Not a chance. He was still blubbering on the floor when I took her. He won’t be a threat.”

Serrano gave him a leering grin. “Well then, enjoy your new prize. And remember, all those that serve me loyally can expect such rewards in the future.”

“You got it, boss. I’m your man.”

“Good,” said Serrano before looking out on the rest of the table. “You’re all wondering why I called you here. It’s time to put the plan into motion. We’re now only days away from arriving at Vesta, and I don’t intend for this to be anything more than a pit stop until we can get moving to Dangallu. We’ve put together a plan to make this happen.”

“Who’s we, boss?” asked Grant Lido, his face still cut up and bloody from his last encounter with Hawthorne.

“That would be Ross here,” said Serrano. “He used to pilot these ships before killing one of his officers who was stealing from him. That makes him ideally suited to take it over and get us to Dangallu.”

“You know how to fly a ship like this?” asked Lido to Ross.

Ross scowled. “I can fly a ship like this in my sleep. They are all laid out in the same way. You’ve flown in one, you’ve flown in all of them. We’ll have to ditch the O’Neill cylinders but there will be plenty of space for us on the main ship once we’re rid of the colonists and most of the crew.”

“What about getting onto the bridge in the first place?” asked another man at the table. “Security has been tight since they found out about the doctor’s death. No thanks to Lido on that one.”

“He got what was coming to him,” growled Lido. “Especially after the comments he made about my cock.”

“Security here is a joke,” scoffed Serrano. “Nothing that men of our caliber can’t handle, even without being armed. But I do intend to have us grab our pulse pistols early though, just so there will be no doubt who’s really in control of this ship.”

“So what’s the plan then?” asked Lido. “What are we waiting for?”

Ross was the one to answer that. “We can take the ship over at any time but we are better off following the path to Vesta and beyond to the 51 Pegasi star. We can loop around the star to build up speed, using it as a slingshot to start the journey to Dangallu. It should save us some time in getting there but for now, we need to continue on this navigational path to Vesta.”

“But to answer your question, Lido, we’re going to spring the plan into action tomorrow evening,” said Serrano. “Ross can maintain our heading to the star before we switch course to Dangallu. All we need to do is bring the ship under our control and it’s a done deal.”

“What about any other resistance from someone other than the ship’s crew?” asked another member of the gang.

“What the hell do you mean by that?” barked Serrano.

The gang member gestured to Lido’s face. “I know the security on the ship didn’t fuck up Lido’s face like that. It’s the big man that did that. The one called Hawthorne. What the hell are we going to do about him?”

It was a good question, one that Serrano didn’t have a good answer for yet. His efforts to recruit and then to intimidate Hawthorne hadn’t worked, and he knew that the man was more than a match for him. How could he sideline him without risking the entire plan?

Serrano got his answer a moment later when he watched a tall, blonde beauty make her way into the mess hall to eat. A grin started to grow on his face.

“You leave him to me,” said Serrano as he eyed his prey. “I know just how we can distract Hawthorne long enough to neutralize him.”

*****

Alex made sure that Sam was back in his cabin before returning to his own. Sam was still upset about Adela, and Alex didn’t blame him for that, especially since they’d really hit it off in just the short time they’d been together.

It was the total opposite experience than the one he had with Jenna.

By the time he arrived back at his cabin, Rick was already waiting there for him, as was Nikki.

“I hate to even say this but can we even help Sam with this problem?” asked Risk, his nerves evident in the strength of his voice. “He’s in no condition to get Adela back himself and we have bigger problems on our plate. We might have to stop Serrano before we can even attempt to work on the Adela situation.”

“We’re going to do both,” insisted Alex. “One way or another, we’re going to set right everything that’s been fucked up by Serrano. But the ship takes precedence since everyone’s life is at risk until we stop them.”

“And that means we’re going to have to do it ourselves,” scowled Rick. “With no help from the incompetent captain or his security force.”

“They would only get in our way,” said Alex. “I’d rather have one good man to watch my back than any of them. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re my one good man.”

“But isn’t this going to be extremely dangerous?” asked Nikki, eyeing both of them. “You both could be killed. Just like those two men that were killed already.”

“We could just as likely be killed if we do nothing,” said Alex. “And I’m not the kind of guy that will just take bad news without doing something about it. I want to go after Serrano and his men, and I want to do it immediately.”

“We’re going to need more than a couple knives to make that happen though,” said Rick, gesturing to the small sheath on Alex’s belt.

“Agreed. We’re going to have to test out those new Sabert 32 pistols early.”

“But if one of those goes off, you’re going to rupture the entire ship!” protested Nikki. “Then we really will die!”

“We’re going to have to take our chances,” said Rick.

“Especially with the lower-ranking people of Serrano’s gang,” added Alex. “Serrano will know that we can’t fire the pistol on the ship but his other goons might not. We’re just going to have to rely on subterfuge until we’re in a position to even the scales. But my thought on the matter is if we take down Serrano and maybe Lido as well, the whole thing will crumble. Most of those men just want a strong leader to fall in behind. Without the head of the snake, the rest of the body dies.”

“But what happens if one of those pistols really goes off in the ship?” asked Nikki. “And the ship gets damaged beyond repair. What happens then?”

“Well, there are plenty of escape pods,” said Alex. “We’ll just have to hope we can make it to one before it’s too late. The ship’s hull is reinforced and it’s self-sealing for small breaches. That should buy us enough time in case something happens. We’ll also grab some space suits from the supply depot as well, though we might have to knock out a couple guards to get access to them, similar to the pulse pistols.”

Rick chuckled. “You’ve been around criminals for too long, Alex. You’re starting to think like one.”

Alex grinned. “We do what we have to do, right? If they’re going to treat us like criminals, there’s no reason why we can’t act like it sometime.”

“My only question is whether we’ll be too far away to land on Vesta if we have to eject too early,” said Rick. “Those escape pods have navigational systems?”

“They do but it’s crude,” replied Alex. “It’s the same model they used to have on the orbital ring around Earth. Good thing we’re already in the system but we’ll need good timing to make sure that if we have to use them, we’ll be close enough to the planet that we can still get there if shit hits the fan.”

“Well, it’s better than nothing, I guess,” replied Rick. “How soon do we want to put this into action?”

“How about tonight?” asked Alex. “No time like the present and if we can foil this before they launch their attack, all the better.”

Rick opened his mouth to respond but the next sound that all of them heard was a hard pounding on the door. It shocked Nikki and Rick, both of whom jumped at the sudden interruption, but this was something that Alex had been expecting ever since he had his fight with Lido.

He knew that sooner or later, retribution was coming.

And it looked like it was finally at his door.