Spice Crimes

by Dale Ivan Smith

  “In case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve all been rather busy.”

  “Not too busy for the important stuff.”

  Alisa shook her head, glanced at Leonidas. “He has a healthy respect for your former Imperial Scouts.”

  Leonidas smiled. “After the cyborgs, they were the Imperial military’s most effective force.”

  Beck wiped his forehead, took a breath. “Okay, so this is the part where you ask me to go relieve Sergeant Temur so that he can take a look at this cylinder, right?”

  “I’m that obvious?” asked Alisa.

  “Sometimes, Captain, but it’s a sergeant’s job to anticipate command requests.” Beck grinned. He marched off.

  “I’m not that obvious, am I?” Alisa asked Leonidas.

  “He is a good former sergeant,” Leonidas observed.

  She hugged him. “I see your diplomacy skills are improving,” she said.

  Her comm buzzed. “Marchenko,” she answered.

  Alejandro’s voice sounded strained. “It looks like the pirates just received reinforcements. A shuttle just landed nearby.”

  "Is it a big shuttle?"

  "I'm no shuttle expert," Alejandro said, his voice waspish, "but I suppose so."

  "In which direction did it land?" she asked.

  "Local southeast," Alejandro said, annoyed.

  That was near the Mafia encampment that they’d sicced the giant snakes on.

  She glanced at Leonidas. "I'll bet that was the shuttle that left the Past Due in a hurry." The shuttle had taken its time arriving. Perhaps it had made an emergency landing after departing the Protection Inc. ship, and they'd had to make repairs or something.

  “Thank you, Doctor, we’ll be right up.” She glanced at Leonidas. “Maybe they’ll fight the pirates?”

  He ran his fingers through his hair. “That would be optimal for us, but I suspect they will ally with each other.”

  She looked around at the spice lab. “This thing. Definitely more than just a spice lab."

  Temur entered. “You requested to see me, Captain?”

  “Yes,” Alisa said. “Would you take a look at what appears to be a miniature reactor inside this spice lab? We need to go to NavCom and get an update on the situation outside.”

  “Understood.”

  "Leonidas says this is an Imperial black box project."

  Temur's eyes widened. His gaze locked with Leonidas. Leonidas nodded.

  "You former Imperials are great with the non-verbal communication," Alisa said.

  "It came with the training," Leonidas said, dead-pan.

  Alisa quirked an eyebrow and gave him a sidelong glance.

  He grinned and she swatted him playfully on the arm. "You had me going for a second," she said.

  They left Temur kneeling in front of the miniature reactor, examining it.

  Alejandro jumped up from the pilot’s seat when Alisa and Leonidas entered NavCom.

  The view screens showed a sunlit landscape. Red-leather clad figures were lined up along one side of the clearing, on the opposite side were figures in black. The Protection Inc. mafia. "I hoped giant snakes would hold them up longer, if not eat them outright," Alisa said.

  Leonidas leaned in close behind her. He was warm, and smelled like rancid sweat and swamp stink. Despite that, she wanted nothing more than to have him take her in a wild embrace, but pirates, mafia and Alejandro all made that a no-go. She sighed.

  She started to say something, and then her comm buzzed.

  She opened the channel. “Marchenko here.”

  "Captain Marchenko, this is Silas Rutger, Protection Inc. supervisor.” His voice was calm, like he was calling up about the latest marketing numbers.

  She rolled her eyes, mouthing the word “supervisor” to Leonidas, who shrugged.

  "Mister Rutger, what brings you to the wilds of Waro Moon?" she asked.

  "We want our cargo back. Now.” The calm tone vanished, replaced by a forceful one.

  Alisa grimaced. He was the type that wasted no time. "Mister Rutger, I was hired by Nova Culinary Systems to deliver the cargo to Luxor. This is definitely not Luxor."

  She glanced at Leonidas. He didn't smile at her joke.

  "A fine distinction in this case, Captain." Rutger's forceful tone became menacing. "Nova Culinary Systems is one of our subsidiaries, so the cargo belongs to us."

  "What about the pirates across from you? They claim the cargo was stolen from them. Apparently, you stole our cargo from Dazzle Club."

  Rutger gave a harsh sounding laugh. "The pirates and my organization have reached a mutual understanding." He paused. "You see, you are doubly surrounded."

  "What about Dazzle Club? I suspect they'll object to you making off with their stolen property. Shouldn't I return the cargo to them?"

  "Captain Marchenko, that is between Dazzle Club and us. We will give you one hour to bring out the cargo, and then if you don't, we'll be burning our way inside the ship."

  "You should have gone into comedy," she said and terminated the connection.

  She leaned against Leonidas. "They've got us boxed in."

  "You could just let them have the cargo," he said.

  "That would be the intelligent choice," added Alejandro.

  Alisa frowned and pulled away from Leonidas. She had already forgotten the Doctor was there. Too bad he didn't stay vanished.

  She whirled around to face him. "You think for a moment they'll let us live?"

  Alejandro's lip curled. "Why kill us? What profit is in it for them?"

  "Payback."

  "What for?" Alejandro demanded.

  Alisa glanced at Leonidas.

  "We were forced to kill several of them," Leonidas said.

  "The Crimson Star Pirates probably want us dead as well," Alisa added.

  Alejandro wouldn’t let it go. "But you don't know that."

  Alisa crossed her arms. "Really, Doctor? What part of Mafia and pirates doesn't add up for you?" Alejandro never failed to get under her skin. The only time the doctor was useful was when someone needed patching up. Aside from that, he was just a pain in the posterior.

  She snapped her fingers. "Doctor, spice lab has a miniature reactor."

  Worry shot across Alejandro's face. "A miniature reactor?" He repeated.

  "Yes, a reactor." She nodded at Leonidas. "But Leonidas thinks the lab itself is the black box project."

  Alejandro visibly shuddered. "What a horrible thought."

  She smiled. "I'd like you to examine it."

  He backed away. “Me, why me?”

  “Because you know lab equipment.”

  “Medical equipment, sure. Not this.”

  “I want you to check it out,” she said. “Please.”

  "We should get rid of it!" He snapped.

  Alisa kept her voice level. "Like I said, Protection Inc. and their new pirate best friends will then kill us. Especially since Dazzle Club has a claim to this cargo. Killing us makes it easier to disappear the spice lab. We need to find out more about it."

  "Very well." Alejandro strode briskly from NavCom.

  "He could be right," Leonidas said.

  "Hah, that’ll be the day. No, they want our hides. Besides, like I said, if we're dead, there's no witnesses. We are on the wilds of Waro Moon, after all."

  Leonidas nodded. "True. So, what's our next move?"

  "We could strap on our battle armor and stride out to battle those idiots."

  His face lit up. "I like it."

  "But it's risky, and they could get inside the ship."

  "I don't want to be cautious." His face took on a grim look. "I have my armor. Let me go drive these mafia goons and pirates off."

  She reached up to stroke his face. "I don't want to risk you. There are an awful lot of them out there." He looked like he was about to leave, but he stayed. She smiled. "But we can still get into our armor, to be ready to attack out of the ship, as needed. How does that sound?"

  He smiled. "It’s a start."
/>
  She stretched. "Good, because I have an idea that will keep the horde out there off our backs." Assuming they buy it, she thought.

  “This is definitely a power source,” Temur said when Alisa and Leonidas had returned to the lab. “An extremely powerful one. It could be used to run all the systems on a warship.”

  Alejandro leaned against a counter, visibly pale, while Temur explained what he had found.

  “In a spice lab?” Alisa shook her head. “You must be joking.”

  Temur shook his head fractionally. “I’ve worked with a variety of power units, as well as ordinance, and this is a hybrid. I suspect the reactor is also a black box project."

  “But what gives with this? It’s a spice synthesizer.” A terrible thought came to her; what if it were a synthesizer for all sorts of biological substances? Drugs, almost certainly. Perhaps even weapons. She shuddered. The spices might just be a test run. The power would be necessary if it were also designed to recreate living matter.

  “Is this an actual matter synthesizer?” She mused out loud. “I thought those things were just ideas. And this real deal device just happens to be programmed in spice mode?” She shook her head. “Now I’ve seen everything.”

  “The Empire certainly pursued dangerous research,” Leonidas said.

  Temur nodded. “I believe at least the reactor is old technology, fifty years at least, from a black site research facility.”

  Alisa’s mouth dropped open when the second part of what Temur said sunk home. “Why haven’t we seen more of these? Why did the Empire never choose to use them?”

  Leonidas considered her question. “There may have been dangerous side effects. This system doesn’t seem particularly well-shielded.”

  She took a step back. “That means that Beck and company may have been irradiated?” That was a horrifying thought. But, they didn’t show any symptoms of radiation poisoning. “I need to make sure this isn’t emitting radiation.”

  “I don’t think it’s dangerous,” Leonidas said.

  “How can you be certain?” She looked at Alejandro, but the doctor seemed lost in thought.

  “Be right back.” She ran to engineering to grab a radiation detector. Mica was working on the drive unit when Alisa entered.

  “Don’t tell me something else broke,” she said as Alisa went to an equipment locker.

  Alisa opened the locker and found the detector. “Just making sure we don’t have a new source of radiation on board.”

  Mica’s eyebrows shot up. “What? Where?”

  “The spice lab.” Alisa held up a hand. “I’ll tell you later. Keep working.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  Alisa left engineering at a half-run.

  “Be sure and tell me if we are all going to die,” Mica called out behind her.

  The detector showed no radiation.

  “So, experimental super synth lab powered by an incredible micro-reactor is emitting no radiation.” She turned to Alejandro.

  "Care to add to this discussion?"

  He shook himself. "I'm sorry, I was thinking."

  That much was obvious. But Alejandro rarely if ever apologized. "Did you look over the spice lab?"

  He nodded, clearly still thinking. He blinked, ran a hand through his hair. "You are correct about this not just being a spice lab. It is indeed a synthesizer, capable of taking base elements and reworking them at a nano-molecular level."

  Alisa shivered at the term "nano-molecular." "Is that possible?"

  "It is, but there is an enormous danger." Alejandro swallowed.

  Alisa, Leonidas and Temur all leaned in to catch what he said next, in a near whisper. "This equipment can be programmed to become a disassembler."

  Alisa squinted at him. "A what?"

  "It can create a nano-molecular agent which can break any substance down to its component parts." Alejandro's hands were shaking. He paused, took a deep breath. "While Mister Luk was examining the reactor, I examined the computer display that runs the lab. It uses a security protocol I'm familiar with." His face took on a distant look for a moment.

  Alisa wondered what Alejandro might have done to know such a protocol, but now wasn't the time to ask. It didn't matter why, what was important was that he did know it. "What did you learn?"

  "In short, the synth lab and the micro-reactor can work in tandem to create and spread the nano-molecular disassembler so that it can break down all matter. In fact, it looks like it could break it down into hydrogen, releasing a great deal of energy."

  "Creating a thermonuclear bomb?" Alisa asked.

  "I don't believe so. A super-heated plasma is more likely. But the end result is that all matter connected to the disassembler would be destroyed."

  She gasped. "So, this is potentially a planet killer."

  Leonidas's expression was grave. "This project must have been hidden away."

  Temur nodded. "Archived."

  "Until the Crimson Star Pirates found it," Alisa said. "We can't let Protection Inc. or anyone else get their hands on this. We have to destroy it."

  Alejandro let out a shuddering breath. "I agree."

  "As do I," Leonidas said. He turned to Alejandro. "Do you know how to activate the disassembler?"

  Alejandro nodded.

  "So, if we could reach space, we could have it destroy itself," Leonidas said.

  "Yes. The hydrogen atoms and other matter in space are so thinly distributed it wouldn't have the "fuel," so to speak, to run itself."

  "The problem is we are currently on the surface of a large moon," Temur said.

  Alisa frowned. "I don't want us to have to die in order to destroy this thing. Could you rig a bomb to destroy it without triggering the disassembler?" she asked Leonidas and Temur.

  "If we inventory all the grenades we have, I'm not sure we'd have enough explosive force," Leonidas said.

  Temur nodded. "I have some additional explosives. And I recovered what I think is a DZ-4 bomb when we were arriving."

  Alisa smiled. "That was lucky."

  "The problem," Temur said, "is that it will cause a lot of secondary damage."

  "Good! We can use it as leverage against our friends outside."

  Leonidas smiled at this. "An excellent idea."

  Alisa checked the time. Less than thirty minutes before they attacked. She leaned her head out of the spice lab, and hollered across the cargo hold to engineering. “How much longer?”

  Her comm came on. It was Mica, sounding supremely irritated. “You know we have these for a reason,” she said. “Now what were you yelling about? No, wait, I can guess. The answer is, at least another hour. The system is flushing now.”

  “Speed it up if you can,” Alisa said.

  “Oh, now you want me to hurry.”

  Mica had a point. “Sorry, but we’ve got pirates and mafia outside now.”

  “It’s physics, not sex,” Mica retorted. “It takes the time it takes.”

  "Fine, keep me posted." Alisa closed the link.

  Temur cleared his throat.

  "Yes, Temur?" she asked.

  "I’ll need Beck to assist, since he used the equipment.” He looked at Leonidas. “The colonel would be useful, as well.”

  “Great, an all-boy get-together, and no room for the girl.” She sighed. “I suppose I’d better relieve Beck and guard our captives, since I don’t trust them not to escape again.”

  She didn’t care that Temur and Alejandro were there. She grabbed Leonidas, and gave him a passionate kiss.

  He arched an eyebrow in surprise. “I enjoyed that, but why now?”

  “Just in case you manage to blow us all up,” she said, trying to put a smile in her voice even as she thought about her daughter suddenly losing her mother. At least Jelena would have Stanislav to look after her. She shrugged off the dark thought and went to the makeshift prison cell on the upper deck. Alejandro went back to NavCom at her request, to keep watch, and didn't even make a face about it this time.

  She
opened the hatch to the spare crew quarters. Beck leaned against the near wall. Khouri sat on the edge of the lower bunk, her manacled hands in her lap. Zavon stretched out on the top one, resting his manacled hands on his chest.

  “Hey, Captain, what’s up?” asked Beck.

  “You’re needed; Leonidas and Temur will fill you in down in the spice lab. I’ll watch the prisoners.”

  “You want me to whip up something while I’m down there?”

  "No, thanks."

  He left and Alisa settled in his chair, resting her blazer on her lap.

  “That guy fancies himself a chef,” Zavon observed from the bunk, staring at the ceiling.

  “Better than being a thief,” she said.

  Zavon turned his head to look at her. “We’re not thieves. Your cargo doesn’t belong to who you think it belongs to."

  “That doesn't mean you aren't thieves.” He was getting on her nerves.

  “Don’t listen to him.” Khouri’s eyes were earnest. “You took what you thought was a legitimate job and it was, from your point of view.”

  “Why do you do this?” Alisa asked, suddenly feeling curious. Khouri Singh seemed smart, and she was a good pilot, too, if she could deadstick a powerless freighter to a safe landing. A damn good pilot in fact. Yet, she was traveling and working with the likes of Zavon Masters.

  Khouri raised her chin. “There is plenty of suffering because of the war. I want to help those suffering.” She smiled. “Maybe have some fun in the process, too.”

  “What about him?”

  “Thanks for speaking of me in the third person when I’m right here.” Zavon half-sat up.

  Alisa motioned with her hand. “Lie back down. I’m talking to Khouri.”

  Khouri looked uncomfortable and wouldn’t meet Alisa’s gaze. “I thought he shared my goals. I was wrong. Khouri looked at the floor. “When I realized you were the pilot whose ship, temporarily borrowed or whatever, we had just stolen, I was mortified. You had stopped Tymoteusz and saved the system.”

  “That’s what they say,” Zavon said.

  “Oh, is it?” Alisa’s face felt hot. She stood. “Listen, you weren’t there. You didn’t put everything on the line. What did you do during the war, for that matter?”

  “Ah, the war, I, uh, was running supplies, with some help at times from Khouri here.”