Page 29 of Saving the Space Pirate

Epilogue

Killian

“And that finalizes the vote. Earth will remain closed.”

A cheer rose from around the room. I looked at Ruby where she sat beside me. She flashed me a smile.

“You did it,” I said.

“I did, didn’t I?”

“Ruby Robbins, savior of the universe.”

“With a little help from my space pirate.” She took my hand and squeezed it.

I’d never thought I would see Earth. It was beautiful, too beautiful for someone like me. I was meant for other things. I’d get uncomfortable with this much luxury in the end.

We’d taken two weeks to reach Earth and arrived just in time for the meeting. Of course, the Federation had already informed Pendleton that his daughter was safe and actually working for them. But I knew Ruby wanted to be here to see it all finish. We’d spent most of the trip holed up in my cabin, making love and not talking about the future. Avoiding Rekowski and Yolanda, and leaving the running of the ship to Creb, who was teaching Sarah, Maria, and Jayne—the other girls I’d rescued from the Bhaxian slaver—to fly.

Zak had stayed behind on Groth. His sister had gone into hiding, and he reckoned someone had to take charge. I guess he’d also decided it was time to grow up and claim his birthright.

Now the meeting was over. Earth was safe. What next? I knew what I hoped for. But did Ruby want the same thing? As we got to our feet, Pendleton approached us. He held out a hand to Ruby, and she shook it.

“Ruby, the Earth, and I, owe you a debt of gratitude we can never repay.”

She was grinning from ear to ear. I was happy to see her so happy, but at the same time, I had a niggle of worry. I didn’t want to stay on Earth. I had things to do. I was sure Zak would free the slaves on Groth, but they’d need help getting used to their new freedom. Maybe he would hand over the mines, and they could work them as free men. I didn’t know what the future held, but I wanted to be there.

“What will you do now?” Pendleton asked. “You know there’s a job for you in the Space Exploration Unit if you still want it.”

I knew that had been her aim all along. Was it still what she wanted?

I held my breath as I waited for her to answer. I looked away and my gaze clashed with Yolanda’s across the room. She pursed her lips and headed our way.

As it turned out, Yolanda wasn’t one of the bad guys after all. I still didn’t like her. She’d nearly caused Ruby’s death—though she claimed that the order for me to kill her had come from an overzealous underling. Plus, she was Federation, and that made her worse than the bad guys in my books. At least the bad guys weren’t hypocrites. And I suspected I was going to like her much less any moment now.

“Father, Ruby.” She gave them a small nod, then turned to me. “I’ve been given orders to arrest you. For ten counts of murder. You’ll be given a fair trial.”

Fuck that.

“You can’t arrest him. He saved your miserable life,” Ruby snapped.

She shrugged. “That’s beside the point. He broke the law. Several times.”

Ruby’s eyes narrowed. She slipped her hand behind her back and drew the pistol she had stuffed down her pants. Aimed it straight at Yolanda.

“Killian, leave,” she said.

No way was I going without her. “Only if you come with me.”

“Of course I’m coming with you. I love you.”

And the last of the tension drained from me. I had the love of a good woman. I could do anything. “Let’s go, then.”

I looked at Yolanda. I was pretty sure she could stop us if she wanted to. The place was crawling with Federation officers. But she just gave a small nod, and I took Ruby’s hand and we strolled out of the room.

Once we were outside, I picked her up and whirled her around and then kissed her. “I love you, Ruby Robbins.” Then I put her down and spoke into my comm unit. “Creb, bring theHelldiverand pick us up.”

Maybe we’d take the long route back to Groth.

The End