Cosmic Dust

By Clover Down

Sometimes home isn’t a planet, a building, or a ship.

Sometimes home is just the people you belong with in a galaxy full of threats.

Amaya, Ghazi, and Tetsu grew up on the most dangerous planet in the galaxy and despite all the odds, they escaped. Together they made their way out into the stars, found work as mercenaries, and have been living job to job trying to save up for their own ship.

That home among the stars is almost within reach, their own tiny piece of freedom and solitude at hand. But will they be able to hang on to it? More importantly, will they be able to hang on to each other when the threat of death seems to be around every corner?

This story contains—violence, loss of limb, explicit sex, profane language, hurt/comfort, references to sketchy and abusive childhoods, coping mechanisms, and an emphasis on consent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clover Down
• Release date: May 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9789198695366

Clover Down

Clover Down has stories in her heart.She lives in a house with walls, in a place near trees.Her favorite color is in someone else’s eyes and her favorite song is a drum solo inside their chest.If she could have any job in the world, it would either be Space Pirate or Professional Romantic.She has no education in romance other than falling in love. She is, in fact, no one in particular at all, but she does hope that you enjoy some of her stories.

Book preview

Cosmic Dust takes place a few cycles before Found Between Stars.

Characters in this book have developed their own sign language. For ease of reading, I’ve written it as though it has the same grammar as English even though it probably wouldn’t.

I also imagine a number of spoken languages and blends of languages being used in the Solar Court but the optic implants/electric eyes would handle the translations automatically. So, so far, it’s not yet been an issue that comes up in the books.

But it will…

CHAPTER ONE

GHAZI

Freya was a dried-up mining colony, a small planet of pink deserts and half-buried ghost towns. It had survived by location and the vision of opportunists. Many trade routes passed by Freya and the lone outpost on the planet had become a playground for those with credit to spend.

Ghazi had been there many times, but always on business. Usually guarding some rich asshole from the prime quad. This time they had been left to guard the ships—because this particular rich asshole didn’t want to park his jet in the lot the with the rest of the planet’s visitors.

They’d been waiting for hours, sitting on the back of the ATV and watching the only road.

Another lash of wind pulled at his hood. A mini, hot pink, cyclone danced across the desert in front of him. Sand dusted his jacket, his pants, and his boots. He hated sand planets. They reminded too much of his home world. Vester had also been a mining colony once, long before his birth, but it was far from any trade route. It was past the edges of Solar Court Space, almost into Eaton territory. When the Vester mines closed, the planet was abandoned and quickly claimed by pirates looking for their own base. Everyone needed a home, right? But growing up in a pirate’s home wasn’t any way to grow up at all. Ghazi had been lucky to survive and even luckier to escape.

Amaya paced in front of him, rifle hanging against her side and bumping on her hip. The pink sand clung to her arms, shining like a fine glitter on her brown skin. Her dark hair was twisted into two tight braids, following her scalp from the front of her hairline all the way back to the nape of her neck and then forward, falling long down her front. Her light brown eyes flicked around at their surroundings from behind yellow sunglasses. She tsked inside her face mask and continued to pace. She had never been a patient person, not even when they were kids. The only time he’d ever seen her quiet and still, aside from sleeping, was when he or Tetsu had hands on her. She quieted then, attention honed on them and them alone.

Tetsu, on the other hand, could outwait both of them if it were a challenge. He sat with one leg over the edge of the ATV and the other bent with his boot resting on the metal seat. Ghazi had been sitting between his legs for the last hour, leaned back into his chest. Tetsu’s fingertips traced the crisscross of scars on Ghazi’s neck, back and forth, up and down, over and over. He did that when he was zoning out. There were plenty of scars to trace. They pressed into his skin on the right side of his face and neck, covering most of his chest as well as his forearms and palms. Less than a cycle before they’d escaped Vester, some pirates had caught Ghazi stealing food. They held him up against an electric fence and kept him there until he lost consciousness. Amaya and Tetsu had taken care of him for months after that. He had still been sick from infection when the Eatons came with their ships to rescue as many of the abandoned locals as possible. Amaya and Tetsu had literally carried him off their home world.

He’d heard all the stories about that day, even if he could barely remember any of it himself. They’d lost one of their own in the fight to escape—she had been the closest person to a mother or sister any of them had ever had.

When they got to the Eaton station, Amaya, Tetsu, and Ghazi had lied about their ages, adding a couple cycles and signing up with a shipping company to get as far from their home world as possible. They had always wanted to see the galaxy.

Three cycles later and they were working for a mercenary outfit in Solar Court called Parasoll.

All that time and distance, and he was still sitting on a shitty planet with too much sand.

Amaya’s hand flicked at her side, catching both his and Tetsu’s attention. They’re watching us, she said with those gestures.

When they were kids, Ghazi had found Tetsu and Amaya. They didn’t talk with sounds. They used a language they had created themselves with hand gestures and facial expressions. Ghazi had been desperate to learn it too—to be a part of them. The other kids he followed, Josephine, Hugo, and Atlas were all older than him, but Tetsu and Amaya were around his age. It had taken almost a cycle before they realized that Amaya could speak, she just hadn’t really learned. She and Tetsu had been alone together since they were five or six, and since Tetsu couldn’t hear, Amaya had never bothered to learn to speak—not until they joined Josephine’s crew anyway.

Ghazi looked past Amaya to the other mercenaries on the job. Four of them waiting in the shadow of the powered-down jet. They were definitely watching them. Probably talking too, but the face masks to keep sand out of their lungs made it impossible to know at that distance.

"Do you think they’re planning to kill us and steal our cut?" Ghazi half-joked, hands moving. One of the other mercs straightened and narrowed his eyes at him when he did.

Tetsu’s fingers stopped tracing Ghazi’s skin when he looked across the dunes at the other group. The wind pulled at his black hair and his optic implant gleamed a ring of blue light around his iris, looking purple behind his yellow sunglasses. They’re getting up the nerve to hit on one of us.

Amaya laughed and finally stopped pacing, turning her back on the other mercs and looking at her own crew. We should shoot them either way.

Ghazi smiled. He had always loved when she did the finger gun gesture for shooting. He didn’t know why. It just always looked cool with her slender fingers and often dark-painted nails.

Tetsu tapped Ghazi’s arm twice, easily mistaken for a twitch, before he dropped his hand to his side—where his gun was strapped to his thigh.

One of the other mercs left the group and crossed the dunes toward them. Ghazi had to think back to collect his name. Morris? They had worked with a lot of different mercs over the last cycle with this company. They’d done a few jobs with Morris and his crew. He was a large man with a synthetic arm and electric eyes, shining green all the time. Ghazi had briefly wanted to get electric eyes when they first got off Vester and were looking at getting the optic implants. Really, the optic was a neural implant, but no one wanted to think of it that way. Better to just imagine it as permanent contact lenses that gave them access to the net, their bank accounts, a host of media, and hundreds of upgrades with a thought—rather than talking about how they’d been injected with nanites that cut a pathway through their brains, hardwiring them to that connection.

The difference between the optic implant and electric eyes, like most things, was a matter of commitment and want. While the implants were an addition, electric eyes were a completely synthetic replacement of the organic tissue. Optic implants shimmered when they were in use, but electric eyes were always shining on some level. They came with more upgrades, of course, and better vision in any light setting, but Ghazi wasn’t ready to give up his organic eyes just yet.

Morris approached and Amaya turned just enough to have him in the corner of her vision when he neared. She liked to do that, to give possible enemies her back when he and Tetsu had them in their sights. It looked cocky or careless, but she was trusting them to handle the danger if it came, to give her a heads up or to bring it to an end before it reached her. Ghazi got a little thrill every time she did it.

Testu always smiled when she did it too, his gaze flicking over her before settling on whatever she’d turned her back to.

Morris stopped just within their imagined circle. Ghazi, you’re a mechanic, right?

Ghazi shrugged, noncommittal. He was a mechanic. He’d had no formal education, but he passed all the exams the companies gave him. He’d learned to take things apart and piece them back together as a kid scavenging on Vester. He liked machines. They either worked or they didn’t and if they didn’t, he could fix them.

Morris nodded like that was an answer. You’re with me. The asset’s ride broke down halfway between here and the outpost.

"So?" Amaya asked, she spoke aloud and gestured at the same time. Pick him up and ditch the vehicle. Rich asshole can buy a new one.

Morris pivoted to look at her, brow creasing in something like a sneer when his gaze ran over her. It was hard to read for certain with his face mask covering his mouth. There was no guessing why he looked so bothered by her. It could be any number of reasons, least of which wasn’t the possibility that she’d offended him personally at some point. Asset wants their car.

The rich kid they were chaperoning had brought the most ridiculous ATV and driven the monstrosity of a vehicle right out of the jet with a howl of excitement. It had giant wheels and was painted matte gold with snorkels and oversized exhaust pipes. He had explained that it was the best on the market and the only vehicle that could handle any terrain on any settled planet or moon in the whole Solar Court.

Ghazi rolled his eyes at that now and hopped down from the back of their vehicle, boots landing in the sand.

Tetsu followed but Morris shook his head. I’ll take him out to the asset, and we’ll come back with the rest of the convoy. You two stay and guard the ship with the others, he said loudly, waving at Tetsu to sit down. Morris knew Tetsu couldn’t hear and assumed that meant he couldn’t understand him. Tetsu had upgrades in his optic implant that translated sound into text or color waves in his vision. He could identify a gunshot outside any of their hearing range, pinpoint location, and even determine caliber. The upgrades had cost them a small fortune, and a little extra to keep it off his records. All Vester refugees knew the advantage of being underestimated.

Amaya’s hand slid to her rifle, finger brushing the trigger and body turning toward Morris. We’ll take him out to the vehicle.

I said you stay put, Morris raised his voice, like the bite of his tone would startle her. He was in charge of this mission, after all.

Amaya grinned inside her mask—Ghazi could see it in her eyes. We don’t split up, dipshit. It’s in our contracts. So, either you’re joining us for the ride out and can sit right by me, or you can go back to the ship and wait for us to return with the asset.

Morris’s hand was already on his rifle. His arm flexed but he visibly resisted the urge to move his finger to the trigger and escalate. That restraint was probably why he got to play boss for the day. Your contract says you go on the same missions and here you all are. But I only need Ghazi to fix the vehicle and I’m not giving up two more guards at the ship for it. You two stay put.

Ghazi considered their options and the chances that this guy had nefarious intentions. They’d worked with Morris before. He wasn’t an evil mastermind. Just you and me? Ghazi clarified, hands moving when he spoke.

Morris nodded, still watching Amaya.

"Fine. Let’s go," he said. It wasn’t far and the sooner they got this done, the sooner they could get off-world. He tapped Tetsu’s shoulder before walking past him. It was one of their, it’ll be fine, signals.

A transparent rectangle of text appeared in the right hand of his vision when Amaya sent a message. -Are you serious? Aside from everything else their optic implants gave them instant access to, the Vester trio had a private chat going for the last five cycles.

-It’s one guy. I’ll kill him if he steps out of line. It had happened before. Self-defense was a common explanation for murders among mercenary groups on missions. They hadn’t had to kill any of their own in a couple cycles, but it wasn’t unthinkable.

Morris got into the driver’s seat and Ghazi jumped into the passenger side of the ATV. He hung on to the overhead bar when they took off, bouncing across the sand.

The sky was a dark purple, the pink sand reflecting to tint the black of space from where they sat. It was always dusk on Freya, the planet rotating around one star but crossing the light path of others. It was never quite night, but the stars were always faintly visible.

I have to ask… Are you siblings or something?

Ghazi almost laughed, glad for the mask that hide his full grin. What?

The three of you. I mean you don’t look anything alike, but you have the same last name. Is it a Vester thing? To have the same name?

We’re family.

Morris nodded, mistaking it for some sort of confirmation maybe. His brow creased in thought. Not really a good idea to work with family.

Ghazi raised an eyebrow, glancing sideways at the guy.

Text flickered across one corner of his vision.

-Okay? It was Tetsu in their group chat.

-This asshole’s giving me life advice, Ghazi answered with a thought.

-As long as he’s not giving you dick or a bullet, I guess that’s good? Amaya added and then seemed to change her mind, -Just shoot him.

It makes things personal, you know? Morris continued, shouting over the wind. I’ve been working on a plan to start my own outfit, cut out the middleperson, you know? I could use a guy like you.

Ghazi resisted the urge to look away and roll his eyes. He wasn’t with his crew. He needed to keep his focus on this guy just in case this was a trap. If Morris decided to draw his gun, Ghazi needed to see it coming and pull faster.

Where do you see yourself in ten cycles, Ghazi? Morris tired again. Still sitting on planets like this? Still running errands for the corporations? Still living in crowded barracks in windowless stations? He shook his head like he knew better. I’d pay you twice what Parasoll does, and you’d be doing better work with real time off in between. You could have a real family if you wanted. You could have kids and a home if that’s your thing and if it’s not, then shit, you’ll be able to go wherever you want between jobs.

A real family? Ghazi bristled.

I don’t mean any offense, Morris said, more observant than Ghazi initially gave him credit for. But you’re just wasting your time here. They’re obviously closer to each other than they are to you. It’s better to get out on your own before you get left behind, right?