-BEN-

  Ben had seen the trap coming. He had seen it in the eyes of the Captain when Ben had left him. There had been seething anger and hatred in the man’s eyes. It was the kind of hatred that plotted vengeance. That was why Ben was not surprised when the elevator doors opened and he was met with dozens of blaster rifles.

  They fired at him, and the bolts hit Ben's reflector shield. The shield absorbed the hits, then spat the bolts back at them. The armed men screamed as the reflected bolts bore holes in their bodies. Some of the men died instantly. The unlucky ones fell to the ground holding maimed limbs and perforated abdomens.

  Ben sensed the strength of his reflector shield diminish. He skipped over the dead bodies, but there was another group of armed men lined up behind.

  Stupidly, they also fired. The bolts bounced back again, and they also fell to the ground screaming. The strength of his reflector shield diminished again. He would not be able to take many more volleys.

  Ben could hear approaching footsteps, likely more men coming to attack him. He sprinted in the opposite direction. He had a fair idea of the layout of the Freighter, and he would need to descend a few more levels to get to the deck.

  That meant he needed to find another elevator or a transporter platform. The Captain's men found him first. Ben rounded a corner and was met with blaster bolts flying at him. He counted about half a dozen men. He ducked and weaved, but some of the bolts struck his shield. It grew even weaker.

  Four of the men fell as reflected bolts hit them. Ben attacked the two who remained. He punched one in the throat, then swept the other's feet and finished him off with a punch to the face.

  Ben then breathed out slowly, savouring the moment of peace. It didn’t last long. Four more attackers rounded the corner he had just passed and pointed their guns at him.

  Ben swore.

  He moved to face the attackers but something whipped past him and thudded into the men, snapping their heads back. They crumpled to the ground, and when Ben looked closer, he saw that each of them had a shiny throwing star buried in their forehead.

  The throwing stars disappeared.

  "Agent Wilson."

  Ben spun around. A man clad in black stood a few feet away from him. He was a ninja.

  This trip is full of surprises. Ben said to himself. Though, when he thought about it, it made sense for a ninja to be here. The man was likely accompanying the Order of the First Light as a sort of secondary guard.

  The Ninja clans liked to offer their services to religious organisations. Their subtle touch was appreciated in those circles. Ben hadn’t met many ninjas, but he had heard the stories. They had many clans, though only about five of them were prominent. Each of those clans had peculiar magic, which they called their secret arts. They were not innate magics but had to be taught, and could only be developed if one had certain mana characteristics.

  Ben had once tried to research those techniques, just for educational purposes. Shortly after he began that research, he became aware of a presence observing him. The presence disappeared after his research ended up fruitless. Ben couldn’t prove it, but he was certain that some, if not all of the great ninja families had been tailing him at that time. Maybe this ninja man had even been one of them.

  The ninja man had on a black mask. He reached up and removed it, revealing a stern clean shaven face. He had fair skin and jet black hair which was tied in a bun.

  "My name is Hanzo," the man said. "Priestess Amara sent me to find you."

  "Right," Ben replied. "I'm glad to hear she is safe." Ben gestured at the four dead guards. "And thank you for the help."

  Hanzo nodded. "The priestess asked that I bring you to see her," the ninja man said.

  "I'm afraid I can't do that," Ben replied. "I need to find my partner."

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "That is understandable," Hanzo said.

  Ben arched his brow. He knew ninjas to be very principled warriors. They tended to follow their master's instructions to the letter. He had expected pushback from Hanzo.

  Hanzo continued. "While it is true that the Priestess sent me, my objectives have changed. I will not be taking you to see the Priestess, but I'm afraid you cannot go to your partner's aid either."

  "And why's that?" Ben asked.

  Hanzo replied. "While searching for you, I overheard some of the crew members discussing matters concerning the Freighter. It would seem someone has tampered with the Freighter’s engine and navigation systems. If something isn't done, we will crash and will all die."

  That was a very serious statement delivered in a very monotone voice. Ben thought back to what Ekon had said about them burning up. Was this a part of the man’s plan? Was this Silver’s plan? They needed to find a way to stop it, but Ben wasn’t sure he was the man for the job.

  "That's a problem," Ben said. "But I'm not sure I'm going to be able to fix it."

  Hanzo's stoic expression cracked a little. Hesitation crept into his stance. "My understanding was that you had experience modifying and working on Starships," Hanzo said.

  "Hardly," Ben replied dryly. "My partner is the one who spearheaded those modifications on our ship. And even he might not be able to help you. We had a lot of help modifying our ship."

  A thought ran across Ben's mind. "But I think I know someone who would be able to help," he said.

  Hanzo nodded. "Just tell me where they are and I'll lead the way."

  -KAJA-

  Kaja Khan warmed up to Ramis very quickly. She put that down to one of several factors. First of all, he listened to her. In fact, he went even further than that: he obeyed her.

  Kaja had spent the time since Blaze had left, barking orders at Ramis. Each time, he saluted and did the task she instructed him to do. Kaja quite liked that.

  Another reason she liked Ramis was that he was quite funny. The crewman liked to talk as he worked and his speech was dominated by anecdotes about his friends. In the few minutes they had known each other, Kaja had heard a myriad of embarrassing stories about Ramis' colleagues. Ramis liked to poke fun at Portos in particular.

  The last reason Kaja warmed up to Ramis was that she liked the way his hairlike tendrils quivered as he spoke and laughed. Kaja had not met a Kinuan before. She hadn’t even known they existed prior to meeting Ramis and his friends.

  She honestly hadn’t met many types of humans prior to her father’s death. Kaja had spent most of her life on her home world, being groomed for a role she didn’t want to play. Back then, her only light had been her father. Her world had become very dark after his death.

  Now, she found that for the first time in a long time, her heart felt light and the world had genuine warmth to it. She was glad to have Ramis around.

  The warmth Ramis had brought abruptly dissipated when the StarHawk's door opened and Ben Wilson stepped in. As usual he had an all too serious expression on his face. He locked eyes with Kaja.

  "You're needed," he said flatly.

  Kaja tensed up.

  "No," She replied, and went back to tapping away at a control panel trying to reconfigure the StarHawk's scrambled systems. It was a pretense. All that had been left for her to do was press a button.

  Ben spoke again. "If you do not come, we will all die."

  Kaja gritted her teeth. She swore and spun around. "Why does everyone threaten me with death?!"

  Her shout brought Ramis running from the cockpit into the lobby, rifle in hand. He paused and frowned at Ben.

  Kaja waved at Ben. "Ramis meet Ben Wilson. Ben Wilson, Ramis."

  The two men exchanged confused nods. If Ben Wilson had questions, he chose not to ask. Instead he looked back at Kaja.

  "Where’s Blaze?" he asked. "I tried contacting him but the comms weren’t working."

  "He ran off," Kaja replied. "Said he needed to go protect the Priestess." Kaja placed her hands on her hips. "Where have you been?" she demanded. "A lot of stuff just happened. Your partner could have died."

  Ben winced. "There was something I needed to take care of," he said. "But I am here now."

  Kaja mumbled under her breath. "You’re late is what you are."

  "What was that?"

  "Nothing," she said with a smile.

  Ben sighed. "Anyway, I’m not threatening you Kaja Khan. We will die if you do not come help us."

  "What do you need me for?"

  Ben looked back at someone standing behind him.

  "Some sort of machine problem," he said, without a hint of sarcasm.

  "Some sort of machine problem?" Kaja echoed.

  "Yes."

  "I really don't like you, Ben Wilson. Do you know that?"

  "The feeling is mostly mutual."

  They stared at each other for a while then Kaja sighed. "Let's go Ramis. Apparently we've got a job to do. Some sort of machine problem," she added sarcastically.

  "What about the ship?" Ramis said.

  "The ship is fixed." Kaja punched the button and a low buzz swept across the ship. She flashed Ramis a thumbs up then followed Ben Wilson off the ship. There was a scary looking man in black waiting for them outside. He glared at Kaja as she descended.

  "This is Hanzo," Ben Wilson said. "He will lead you where you need to go and will keep you safe."

  Kaja looked at Ben in panic. He held up his hand to silence her incoming tirade.

  "Hanzo is safe," Ben said. "You will be safer than you will be with me. And this is life or death. There is no option."

  "And where are you going?" she asked him.

  "I need to find Blaze and the Priestess," Ben responded.

  Kaja sighed. She couldn't really argue with that. She looked behind her. "Are you with me Ramis?" Ramis clicked his rifle and stared down the man in black.

  "100%" he replied.

  "Great," Kaja said. A bit of the warmth was back. "Okay scary looking man. Take us to our destination."