Hybrid Saga 01 - Hybrid by S M Briscoe

worth his while. After all, these people were to be the compensation for a service rendered, and dead slaves were of no value to him or anyone else.
    He supposed he would have to make due with what he received though. Durak would not appreciate any complaints on his part. Especially considering that a number of ships had managed to escape the compound, and the individual he sought had most likely been aboard one of them. In fact, he surmised that Durak would, in all likelihood, wish to slaughter the entire outpost in retribution for the loss, and nothing short of predicting Orna’s next destination would save him his new slave acquisition.
    Traug smiled to himself. Luckily, that was a prediction he could easily make.

Chapter 5
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Rolling sand dunes stretched out seemingly forever, in all directions across the soon to be blistering desert landscape, the sun just beginning to break the horizon between blue sky and white sand. It was a sight Jarred had intended to view from a much higher altitude, as he now found himself trudging over the crest of one of the dunes, lugging a heavy backpack. Coming to a stop, he glanced over his shoulder to find Elora close behind him carrying a similar pack, followed by Ethan and Orna. Looking further back, he caught sight of the plumes of black smoke rising from the crash landed remains of his ship and scowled inwardly.
    He hated being wrong.
    The old freighter had taken too much of a beating escaping the wasteland outpost. It would have been incapable of making it off world with all the breaches in the hull. He’d only just managed to keep them going at minimal power for about a half hour before the ship’s few functioning systems began to fail. With the main propulsion drive shutting down, it had been more luck than skill that he was able to set them down, though roughly, but in one piece.
    All he could do now was decide the next best course of action. The spaceport he had hoped on making it to before going down was to the north and he estimated that it was only about a standard days walk or so from where they were. What would happen once they got there was something else entirely. Taliss wouldn’t exactly be thrilled with him when he showed up empty handed, especially after having communicated that he’d secured his bounty. Not that he really had much of a choice at this point.
    Jarred took a final look back at what was left of his ship. He had salvaged everything he could use from the wreckage, which was really very little, but as he stared back at it, he suddenly felt an odd sense of loss. It almost felt as though he was losing a companion in a sense. He’d spent so much time alone in the rusted bucket, traveling from place to place, it had become the closest thing he’d had to a home in years.
    He silently said his last farewell to the old freighter and turned away from the crash site, noticing that Elora was observing him from off to one side.
    “Did you want to say something?” he asked.
    “Well, I hate to say I told you so,” she replied, a bit sarcastically.
    “Then don’t.” Jarred frowned, all the more annoyed as he could see Elora smirking out of the corner of his eye. “Nobody likes a gloater,” he added, before turning to walk away.
    If there was anything he hated more than being wrong, it was having someone else inform him of the fact. He knew he was wrong. He didn’t need this woman, who had forced and guilted her way into his company, rubbing it in. Glancing back to find her still smiling to herself, he scowled, more at himself for letting her get to him than anything else. He had more self control than that. At least he thought he did.
    He cast aside his wounded ego and refocused his mind on the moment. The most important thing now was to make their way to the spaceport and put as much distance between themselves and the crash site as possible. If any Sect patrols were searching the area, they would see that billowing