She was turning to face the voice when someone grabbed her jacket and hauled her into the air. Without thinking, she pulled her favorite jolter out from one of the front pockets of her bag and jabbed it into the arm holding her.
The stranger let out a bellow of pain and another sound that was like a swarm of angry hornets. The hand let go and she was dropped to her feet. Facing the new threat, she backed up at the same time as she fumbled for a second weapon.
Her assailant was holding his arm where the jolter had burned him. Normally she turned the jolter down before using it, but that’s what he got for grabbing her!
“I’ll teach you manners, human!” he shouted, the angry wasp sound still coming from him. That’s when she realized this guy and the companion standing behind him must have been the two Talins Maslo said arrived together. The one who’d grabbed her was a light yellow color and the one behind him was a gray color.
“I’m a free person,” she told them. It probably wouldn’t help, but she wasn’t too worried yet. Filsin didn’t allow slavery, and they had a good security system. As long as she could hold them off, there was little chance they’d be able to hurt her. “You don’t have permission to touch me. Stay back or get burned again.”
She held the jolter between them, making sure they focused on that weapon and not the one she had in her other hand.
“Leave her,” the gray Talin said. “We’ll achieve fame and wealth by bringing Zephrum back to the empire to face judgment.”
Zephrum was the name of her bounty. She was right, they were after him too! Damn it, this was inconvenient.
“But bringing a human back would bring us even more fame and wealth!” the one still making all the noise argued. “If it’s a female, we can breed her and sell the babies or trade them for favors.”
His gray friend wasn’t convinced. “If she is a citizen of this station, we could get in trouble, and we’re far from the empire. I don’t want to end up in some cell until our diplomatic corps can free us.”
Yellow guy scoffed. “We won’t get into trouble. She’s only a human; no one here will care if she disappeared.”
None of this sounded good. Han backed up until she was pressed against a nearby ship. Because she’d been sneaking around, they’d cornered her in a spot out of view of pedestrians. It was unlikely anyone would hear her call for help over all the sounds in the busy dock.
She wished she could say this was the first time someone tried to kidnap her, but it was at least the third time. Maybe the fourth if she included the time a few Leemrons tried to force her to join their cult.
In her experience, staying calm was the most important part of remaining un-abducted.
“If you try to take me to your ship, someone will see. Station agents will imprison both of you. I have a lot of friends here, and they’ll trust me over either of you.”
The second Talin took a step back and looked around, as if someone was going to show up right then. The yellow Talin had the opposite reaction, as if her words were a challenge instead of a warning.
He stepped closer.
She pulled her lips back and showed her teeth. “Touch me and I’ll hurt you so bad you’ll end up on the floor.”
Both the Talins made a sound that reminded her of glass marbles clinking around in a cloth bag.
The yellow one looked back at the gray one. “Bluster must work well with other species.”
“It probably works because no other species is as well trained as we are,” the gray one said.
The marbles clicking sound must be their version of laughter. It wasn’t flattering to be laughed at, but that usually came with being underestimated, which was always an advantage.
Han planned out her moves so when the yellow one reached for the arm holding the jolter, she was ready with the manacle-ring in her left hand. When he was closing his hand around her right wrist, she slapped the manacle-ring around his forearm. She was fast enough that he didn’t get a chance to pull away, but she accidentally stabbed herself on one of the spines running up his forearm.
With a cry of pain she pulled back, but she still got the manacle-ring clicked on. The device did its job. The moment it closed around his arm it powered up, and the Talin was dragged down to the floor as the thick band of metal magnetized.
He got his knees under him and tried to pull free, but he was stuck solid. Without a power reducer or Han’s touch, he wasn’t separating the manacle-ring from the floor any time soon.
She moved her gaze to the gray Talin, worried he’d come after her next.
He was staring at his friend with wide eyes, then he looked up at her and made that angry buzzing sound. “How dare you!”
Was he really going to get upset because she defended herself? She hadn’t even killed the yellow Talin, only incapacitated him.
“If you let me leave, I’ll have a friend come over and free him,” she said, edging sideways against the ship behind her. Her left arm throbbed with pain, and she could feel blood trickling down her arm. She tried to make a fist, but it hurt too much.
Not good.
