The Star Thief (Star Thief Chronicles 1)

She spotted the locker room door and sighed happily. Before she did anything else, she needed a shower. She wrinkled her nose at the delicate perfume of rotting garbage that still clung to her clothes from staking out the Cordoza compound earlier, along with the faint tang of her blood from jumping from the Radiowing and her even more recent sweat.

Her face flamed with heat. Finn had probably smelled it, too.

Once she was clean and her embarrassment had faded slightly, she stepped beneath the ultraviolet dryer, and a moment later, her hair and skin were dry. Now to explore the most beautiful thing she’d seen all day: racks and racks of clothing.

She approached a table full of undergarments and held up a pair of panties, frowning at them. “What the hell are these? Do they actually expect me to wear this?” They were soft white briefs, military-issue—a far cry from her lacy thongs back home, the bras with the special enhancements and frilly cups. Her usual lingerie would make even a prostitute blush. Then again, she’d learned most of her fashion sense from them in the first place, so perhaps she wasn’t so far off.

Sighing, Renna slipped into the boring underwear, then grabbed a satchel from the pile on the floor and stuffed it full of clothes. Panties and bras, tight-fitting shirts of some shiny dark material. Heavy leggings and fitted pants made from bulletproof fiber. Most of this stuff she’d only heard of or seen on the black market—military-grade, agent-approved street clothing. The kind they used to blend in off-world but could still serve as protection in a street fight.

She pulled on a pair of leggings and a shirt, then shook her head. The clothing she was nabbing probably cost more than three months’ rent on her apartment in the city. When her bag was full of the necessities, she scanned the room again. No ninja suits, but she beamed as her gaze fell on a rack of coats.

As soon as she slipped the new coat over her shoulders, she knew it was the one. The knee-length black leather fit like it had been made for her, soft and supple against her skin. It had a military cut, with silver buttons lining the front and a slit in back. It looked almost ordinary, but she’d seen these coats before. There was a special weave added to the leather to make it bulletproof and element-resistant. Usually, they were reserved for commanding officers.

Even better, it felt like she was wearing nothing. Always a plus in her line of work, when one wrong move could mean getting caught. Or worse.

Like today.

She added a shiny new blaster and a holster to the pile, and a heavy dark sweater, just in case. Finally she snagged a brightly colored scarf from the table and wrapped it around her neck. Black might be her preferred choice of clothing, but a girl had to have a little pop of color once in a while.

She shoved her own pack inside the new satchel, along with the rest of the new clothes. Less than fifteen minutes had passed when she hefted the bag over her shoulder and approached the door to the hallway. To Hunter…Captain Finn.

Renna chewed her lip. She’d always assumed Hunter was his real name, but now that she thought about it, everyone in the gang had used a nickname. Blur. Edge. Chase. Hunter. They’d even called her Spyder, an Old-Earth nickname for a thief.

Pull it together. Whatever had happened between them was a long time ago. She looked out for herself now, especially since she was stuck in this situation for the foreseeable future. Her skin still prickled with anger, both at MYTH and at herself for getting caught. Now she’d have to figure a way out that wouldn’t get her executed—or worse, exposed as the Star Thief.

But right now, she had to face Finn. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to let him walk all over her again. She pinned a smile to her face and ran a hand through her long hair. Time to put all her experience over the last seven years to good use.

But when she pulled open the door, Finn was gone, replaced by a fidgeting woman with wide brown eyes and dark hair. Renna hid her relief and held out her hand. “Sergeant Gheewala, right?”

The woman nodded, though it looked more like a twitch. Her skin was soft and warm as they shook. “Captain Finn asked that I take you to the briefing room. Please follow me.”

Sergeant Gheewala headed back the way Renna had come earlier. Her small, dancing steps were as far from military as possible, and her nervous tics could be deadly in the line of fire. This woman was as much of an anomaly on the ship as Renna.

“So, I noticed the major didn’t tell me what you do on the team. Care to enlighten me?” she asked.

Gheewala gave a half-hearted smile. “I’m just the empath. I’m not important.”

Renna forced her jaw to stay closed. She’d only ever met one other on her travels, and that woman had been bat-shit insane. The people with the gift—or curse, as it was—had a genetic mutation allowing them to sense things, depending on their skill or ability. The one she’d met on Krooss had been able to hear people’s thoughts and had gone crazy with the constant bombardment. Only a steady dose of clay had kept her coherent enough to even function.

“Have you been with MYTH for long?” Renna asked, trying not to look directly at the woman. She knew most empaths preferred to stay in the shadows, to not be the center of anyone’s attention. She totally understood the feeling.

“I was a founding member,” Gheewala said proudly, her voice lilting with the accent of her home world. Renna placed her somewhere in the Inner Quadrant, those planets who’d first joined the Coalition. From the way she spoke, Renna guessed her family had been wealthy and well-educated.

“So that’s how long?”

“Over ten years. Prior to that, I had a post on Vesper Nine, monitoring commuter traffic and interplanetary communications.”

Renna’s heart skipped. This woman was a tech empath. She’d heard of those, rarer than rare, who could recognize and intercept ship signatures, digital and light ray communications, and other particle sensory details. Most tech empaths committed suicide or overdosed on their choice of drug before they reached adulthood, but those who learned to control their abilities were highly sought after by the Coalition. The military was very lucky to have her.

She didn’t have time to ask any more questions as they came to the main communications area where she’d first entered the compound. The same workers sat at their same stations, and a jolt shot through her. It had been less than two hours since her arrival at MYTH headquarters.

Two hours and her life would never be the same.

“Dallas has pulled together six of the best MYTH agents I’ve seen for this mission,” Gheewala continued, interrupting Renna’s racking thoughts. “I hope it’s enough.”