Jacinto's Voyage
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Dane Stiger is a man on the run, but running is expensive when you're the Captain of a small cargo ship. To make ends meet, Dane and his crew take up mercenary jobs. Yet wherever they go, trouble never seems to be far behind.
On what should have been a routine cargo delivery, the ship is forced to make an unexpected pit-stop on the barren wastelands of Earth. There Dane meets a young man with no name or past, whose only companion is a leopard by the name of Spot. Feeling a connection to him, Dane takes the duo onto his ship, unaware of the trouble he has invited in.
When the young man's memories begin to surface, Dane leads his crew across space in search of a hidden past, to a backwater planet where something is very amiss.
**Contains scenes of a sexual nature between two men**
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Jacinto's Voyage - Daniel A. Kaine
Jacinto's Voyage
by Daniel A. Kaine
Copyright 2012 Daniel A. Kaine
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, providing the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Chapter 1
What's wrong with her this time?
Dane yelled, delivering a swift kick to Alessa's metal hull, her engines still billowing smoke. The ship gave a dull ring in reply and sent a bolt of pain shooting through his foot. Is it too much to ask to go one trip without breaking down?
Dane cursed under his breath and threw his helmet to the ground. He ran his hands through his short, blond hair. Blue eyes scanned the landscape, passing over fields of scrap metal and dry, cracked earth that stretched out to the horizon where the sun was just starting to rise.
Just my luck, landing on this God-forsaken chunk of rock. Earth. Or what was left of it.
The sound of heavy footsteps clunking against the metal ramp caught Dane's attention. He turned, and upon seeing the approaching man's lips pressed into a tight line his heart sank. Machupa stopped at the bottom of the ramp. At six foot four, he towered over Dane, casting a long, dark shadow of gloom over him. Chupe, as he was known to the rest of the crew, was the ship's mechanic. His skin was the color of dark chocolate, covered in splodges and smears of oil. Chestnut eyes peered out from behind a set of thick goggles. He bowed his head slightly to look Dane in the eye.
How bad is it?
Dane asked, already fearing the worst.
There's good news and bad news, Captain,
Chupe replied. Compression coil's shot. Good news is I can fix it. Bad news... it'll take a day or two at least before we're back in the air.
Dane's body tensed. Two days?
he gasped. Come on, Chupe. There must be something you can do. We've got nine hours before we need to be at Larros with the cargo. We miss this meeting and I'm not gonna be able to feed you guys, let alone afford any of the repairs we desperately need!
His shoulders slumped, the gravity of the situation weighing down more than just his soul. Alessa had served him well for the better part of a decade. Losing her now would be like losing his favorite body part, and Dane had no aspirations to be neutered anytime soon.
Chupe motioned his right hand in a sweeping arc across the never-ending field of space junk. You find me a half-decent coil in all that, and I'll have us up and running in a matter of minutes.
That could take days,
Dane wearied. It was looking more and more likely that he wouldn't be making the delivery time, and would be missing out on a rather sizeable pay check. And without that money, he would have nothing for fuel, food or repairs. Let alone pay for the crew. In short, he would be grounded, unable to travel across the universe. And, more importantly, unable to keep on the move. As a last resort, he would have to sell his ship. His baby.
Dane let out a long sigh and resigned himself to the task ahead. Maybe luck would swing his way for once. Maybe they would stumble across an intact compression coil in a matter of minutes and be back on track for making the deadline.
'And maybe I'll discover the secret to warp speed while I'm at it and be able to retire at the age of thirty,' he thought, discarding any glimmer of optimism as he picked up his helmet and headed back inside the ship to gang-press the rest of the crew into helping him search the scrapheap.
He walked up a flight of metal stairs to the walkway overlooking the cargo hold, where his second-in-command, Indra, was busy monitoring one of the computer screens. She paused for a moment, glancing her grey-blue eyes in Dane's direction as he stopped at her side.
Dane,
she said, acknowledging his presence before turning back to the monitor, her left hand reaching up to tuck a few rogue strands of shoulder-length red hair behind her ear.
Tell me you've got some good news for me, Indra,
Dane said. I've had more than my fill of bad for the day.
A smile spread across her lips. Define good. There's a human settlement two klicks south of our position. Scavengers, probably. If they've already salvaged the area, chances are they may have the parts we need.
Chances are they'd rather kill us and break Alessa down into scrap than barter with us,
Dane replied, having had more than his fair share of experience with scavengers.
Indra pushed herself away from the monitor and moved to the near wall, where she pressed a small, red button. There was a click and a hiss as a section of the wall gave way and slid down to reveal a small arsenal of weapons. Indra picked up one of the shotguns and cocked its barrel.
Just another day at the office then. Right, Captain?
Dane nodded and picked out a pistol to conceal at his back, and a larger plasma gun. As he tucked the guns into his holsters he silently prayed that, for once, he wouldn't need either of them.
Chapter 2
Blistering heat brushed against Dane's face as he rode on the back of the Rover south toward the settlement. Without a cloud in the sky, the sun shone brightly down on the arid landscape. In the distance the settlement loomed. Walls of rusting metal sheets fenced the compound, looking as though anything more than a gust of wind could send them toppling to the ground. The Rover's engines came to a stop a short distance from the settlement, hidden in the shadow of a large boulder.
Dane jumped off, his right hand going straight to the holster at his hip and drawing the plasma pistol. The inhabitants would have heard them coming a mile off, and yet there was no sign of any greeting. No cautiously outstretched hands, and no warning shots. Indra climbed out next, tapping a few buttons on the device attached to her wrist. A holographic display projected above the device with a cluster of red dots pulsing close to its center.
Still inhabited,
she said.
Well, let's go introduce ourselves,
said Kaidan, the last member of the group chosen to accompany Dane. Kaidan went to the back of the Rover and pulled out an assault rifle, which he slung over his shoulder. At twenty-two,