by Troy Osgood
The Ghini slid itself back, sliding along the rocky ground. It shot me a hateful glance but I didn’t care. I looked it over, the parts I could see that weren’t covered in the long fur and didn’t see any weapons. Had to remember that Ghini were strong and those long arms gave it a reach that I had to stay out of.
I stepped forward, getting a comfortable distance from the edge.
“Why are you following me?” I asked as the Ghini hit the wall of a building. He started to get up but I motioned him back down with my weapon.
“Who sent you?”
The Ghini just looked at me, defiant. The eyes were a very bright blue, and set in a thick brow. The nose was flat, close to the face, with a mouth full of sharp looking teeth. The Ghini’s long arms ended in five fingers with long claw-like fingernails. Brown fur covered the entire body, flattened in parts by the darker brown pants and shirt it wore.
“Talk to me,” I said with just a hint of threat. “I don’t like being followed.”
He didn’t look like he was going to answer me and I wondered how far I was going to have to go. How much was he told about me? He had to know that I would kill him if I had to. Just because I was out of the military didn’t mean that I’d forgotten everything they taught me. Never leave a potential enemy behind if you can help it.
Killing this guy would send a message.
But make it harder for me to find out who sent him.
I admit it, I was curious.
This guy had ‘hired thug’ written all over him so my guess that the local criminal gang had interest in me was probably accurate. The question was why? I’d done my share of smuggling through the years and not all my jobs were completely legal, I had no moral issues there. But there were a lot of easier ways to hire me and a lot of other haulers that would be available. And probably cheaper.
I priced my services on the risk to my ship and my life. Smuggling was risky.
So this didn’t seem like a job offer.
“I’m waiting,” I told him, my tone getting angrier and annoyed.
His eyes darted all over, looking for a way out.
Just my luck to get the one guy that wouldn’t talk. Looked like I was going to have to kill him.
Crap.
Then a thought crossed my mind. Was he stalling?
I adjusted my stance so I could keep an eye on the Ghini and the entrance to the alley.
Too late.
Two figures stepped into the alley, one slightly behind the other, but both with blasters pointed at me. The one in front was a Curdo. Skinny, could be called too skinny, with dark black skin and tufts of feathers at the wrists, ankles and around the shoulders. It’s long hair was feather like with bird’s eyes and a beak for a nose and mouth. It had three fingers and held a specially made weapon. The one in back was Terran like me. She was average height, blond, pretty in a harsh way, with green eyes. She held a Remington Tech5.
“Drop your weapon,” she said without an ounce of warmth. The Curdo just squawked.
The good news was that they hadn’t just shot me. That answered the question on if they needed me alive. Always look on the bright side of any situation.
Stepping further away from the Ghini who was pushing himself up, I kept my free hand raised and holstered my weapon. Both hands now raised I turned to the woman.
“Hi.”
Three sets of eyes stared at me.
“What can I do for you?” I asked.
None of them found me amusing.
I couldn’t see a way out and really wasn’t looking for one. This had gotten interesting. Whoever it was had sent a three person team after me. I was a little pissed that I had fallen for the obvious tail which let his back-up get close.
That was a lot of effort to go through.
They must really like me.
Or hate me really bad.
Only one way to find out.
“Take me to your leader.”
The Terran cracked a smile. The Curdo shot me.
*****
I woke up groggy. Slowly and with great effort.
Hate stun blasts. I really do.
Each weapon manufacturer has their own frequency so it’s a crapshoot when using them. Each being in the galaxy is different, each weapon is different. Lots of randomness to using a stunner. You get to know what your own weapon can do and how it will affect different beings but there’s still some chance involved.
I’ve seen stun blasts fry parts of someone’s brain.
I felt decent coming out of this one. A low setting probably so I was only out an hour or two, maybe less.
As I awoke I could feel that my hands were bound behind me. I was strapped down to a metal chair. Not the first time. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit how many times this has happened to me.
I pulled at the bonds, could feel the edges of the plasticuffs digging into my wrists. Pretty secure. Great. My feet were loose, so that was a plus.
And I was clothed. Big plus.
Been a couple times I’d woken up in this position naked.
Opening my eyes fully, lifting my drooping head, I looked around.
Metal walls, metal floor, metal ceiling. Not much in the way of decorations. A single door in front of me, that I could see anyways, couldn’t look behind me.
Basically a big empty room.
Good tactic. The prisoner wakes up disoriented from the stunner and can’t place themselves because of the room. Keeps them off balance. Too bad it’s a tactic that I had used on people in the past.
Waking up in this room, hands tied, wasn’t really bothering me. I could wait this out.
I started whistling. An old Earth tune. I leaned back in the chair, as much as I could, and stretched my legs out in front of me, crossing them at the heels. I looked relaxed.
Whoever decided to kidnap me must not have known who I was, or my history. They should have known this wouldn’t work on me. I’d done much worse to many people. So I settled in to wait.
It wasn’t long.
The door swished open and two people walked in. First was the woman from the alley and the second was someone I knew and hoped to never see again.
Thomlin Romer
This just got bad. Really bad.
I thought I’d seen the last of his crazy ass years ago.
About my height and weight but much better dressed. His hair and beard were neatly trimmed, all gray. Dark brown eyes. Handsome, there was a regal bearing to the man. Anyone that really didn’t know him would think he was royalty. The outfit he was wearing, complete with a blue cape, was the height of earth fashion. The colors were picked to work with his dark skin color. He looked good, dashing.
I didn’t even want to know what I looked like compared to him. Black hair always in need of a hair cut, beard barely trim. Worn out EEF military jacket. Plain shirt and pants, both picked for durability over fashion.
He had worked 2E Intelligence. Before he went freelance. Wasn’t sure what he was doing now. Heard lots of rumors. Most were that he was into weapons smuggling. Looked to be successful, whatever it was.
“Thom,” I said, keeping the tone casual, not wanting him to know how surprised I was by his appearance. Or how worried I was. “How’s things?”
“Arek,” he said stopping a couple feet from me, well out of reach of my legs. “You’ve seen better days.”
The woman moved off behind me. I could feel her over my shoulder.
“We didn’t all have your connections to fall back on,” I said with just a hint of disdain. When Romer had left the EEF, under very bad circumstances, he had taken some of his contacts and connections with him. That’s how he’d set up his initial freelance network.
I saw a flash of anger cross his features. Gone quickly and he was back to his salesman look. It’s one I knew well. I’d seen it in operation many times.
“If you wanted to get together for a drink, there’s easier ways to do it,” I said, pulling at my hands.
“I didn’t think you’d
come if I had asked,” Romer replied with a shrug.
“That’s true,” I said. “How was your meeting with Coulson?,” I asked playing on a hunch.
Romer’s face flashed surprise, gone just as quickly as the anger. Interesting. I really didn’t want to know what Coulson was doing meeting with Romer. As long as they kept it far away from me that is, but it was a good way to keep Romer off balance.
“I’d forgotten how tight you two were back in the day,” I continued. “Didn’t know you still were. Did you know your boss was tight with the Earth ambassador to the Planetary Council,” I asked looking over my left shoulder. I couldn’t see the blond so that meant she was on my right. “Of course you did. That’s probably why you’re working for him. I can imagine the kind of jobs those connections bring.” I looked back at Romer. “You look like you’re doing well. Coulson must be paying you good.”
Romer just smiled.
“Same old Arek Lancer,” he said with a chuckle. “How long has it been?”
“Not long enough.”
He moved towards the wall, further away from me, and leaned against it. Arms crossed over his chest, that damn salesman smile never left his face.
“Come now Arek, don’t be like that.”
I tried to shrug but it came out as some kind of weird spasm like motion, but it got the point across.
“If you let me loose, I’d be a lot more friendlier and open to whatever it is you have to sell me.”
Romer studied me, still smiling. He finally shook his head.
“Not quite yet,” he said.
“So why am I here?” I asked, still trying to appear casual. I was getting tired of this though. I wanted nothing to do with Romer. Too bad the blond was behind me, I could have started working on the bonds if she wasn’t back there. “You obviously need me for something, what is it?”
Romer stood up straight and starting pacing across the room. It wasn’t that wide, so he was turning around a lot. His boots clanged against the metal with each step. It was kind of annoying so I just looked at the door, not following him.
“First, just to be clear, I don’t need you,” he said and stopped, pointing at me, before continuing again. “You just happened to be here when I needed someone.”
Great. More of the Lancer luck.
Also, I didn’t buy it. He needed me specifically.
“I need an item delivered,” he said, making it sound so simple.
There was no way it was that simple. There was a catch. With Romer, there always was.
“And,” I prompted.
“And what,” Romer said, still smiling. I wanted to wipe that grin off his smug face.
“Why not one of your many goons,” I said and pulled at the bonds with force. I moved the chair causing Romer to jump back and the blond behind me to rush forward. I felt her hand on my shoulder pushing me down. “Why me?”
“I have connections everywhere,” Romer replied, regaining his composure after being startled. “Except one place.”
Now it made sense. Now I understood ‘why me’.
*****
The galaxy is huge. Only about a tenth of it has been explored, if even that much. There is so much more still out there. And even in the areas that have been traveled for hundreds of years, there are remote little places that hardly anyone goes. Orso is one of those.
Not a planet but a small moon that’s on the edges of explored space, in an unnamed system that’s as hidden away as somewhat known systems can get. It orbits a dead world that also has no name. There’s no reason to go so no reason to name.
The moon has one settlement and that’s it. Just a small ball of rock.
But that ball of rock is the home base of the Yortusk, a multi-system criminal organization. You name it, they have their hands in it. It’s an oddly set up group. The actual members of the Yortusk are few but they are incredibly loyal. They kind of franchise out chapters to other systems and you get all the benefits of having the Yortusk name. But you also play by their rules and if you don’t, it’s not pretty.
The rock, Orso, is notoriously hard to infiltrate. They only let a select few know it’s actual location and even then a very few are actually allowed on the surface.
Somehow I became one of those chosen few.
It’s a long story. Not necessarily a good story.
But I’m one of the few trusted by the Yortusk higher-ups.
And Romer wanted to use that trust somehow.
*****
“No,” I said before Romer could continue. No way was I going to do anything to betray the Yortusk trust. I liked living thank you very much. I feared them more than anything Romer could do to me.
He just smiled. It was a smile that said I could protest all I wanted, it wouldn’t matter in the end.
Smug bastard.
“Now you understand why I had to restrain you until you could hear my offer,” he said.
I wanted to hit him. Badly.
“Not happening.”
‘You still don’t know what I want,” Romer said coming closer, smirking at me.
I shot him a look that was equal parts ‘I don’t care’ and ‘let me loose so I can hit you’. Maybe more of the hit one. I really wanted to hit him.
“It’s a simple job,” he continued, ignoring my look. “Just doing what it is you do now. Deliver. You take a couple crates and drop them off on Orso. That’s it. So simple.”
“What’s in the crates,” I asked even though I didn’t want to know. ‘So simple’, yeah right.
“Nothing important,” Romer said casually. “A legitimate order that you decided to fill this afternoon.”
I was about to say something snarky but stopped, catching his words.
“What did you say?”
“I knew you needed a job when you left Buhin so I went ahead and booked you one,” Romer said in his friendliest tone. I could see it in his eyes. He was enjoying this. “I found one that is going to Orso, although it wasn’t advertised as such of course.”
He leaned against the wall, smiling. He knew he had me.
Most of Orso’s supplies came from the Yortusk themselves but every once in awhile they needed something else and put out feelers to folks like me. Independent haulers that they trust. I find that job and take it, go to Orso, get paid very well.
How did Romer learn the code they used?
And he did have me, dammit. The Yortusk would already know that I had accepted the order. I couldn’t back out either. That was frowned upon because when they put out feelers like this, it meant they needed whatever it was pretty quickly. Taking the job and canceling put a wrinkle in their plans and the Yortusk hated that. Good way to find myself on their naughty list.
Doing this for Romer would find me there as well, but for different reasons.
What really sucks is that I would have taken the job anyways.
Sure the Yortusk are criminals, but I like them.
Romer waited patiently with that smug smile. I leaned back as much as I could, looking like I was thinking about it. There wasn’t anything to think about, I was kind of stuck. At least for now, until I could think of a way out of it.
But I didn’t want to make this easy on the bastard. The blond walked back around to the front and also leaned against the wall. One arm hung at her side and the fingers tapped against the metal. She was pretty when she wasn’t holding a gun on me.
I shifted positions, pulled my legs in, tried to shrug my shoulders and settled in again.
Another couple minutes passed and I figured it was enough.
“Fine,” I told Romer. “Not like I have a choice.”
He stood up, clapping his hands.
“Good, good. Glad to hear it.”
Romer motioned to the blond who once again walked behind me.
“You won’t be going alone obviously,” he said.
Of course, I figured he’d send one of his goons along. I gave him the ‘I’m not an idiot’ look. I really wanted to hit him.
“Valeri will be one of those going.”
“Who?” I asked.
The blond smacked me across the back of the head. Ah, her. That was Valeri. Well at least the company would be good to look at.
I heard the cuffs click open. Pulling my hands around front of me, I stood up, rubbing feeling back into my wrists. I glanced behind me to see that Valeri had her hand on the handle of her holstered weapon. I smiled. She glared.
*****
It was a quick walk back to my ship.
Romer stayed behind, of course, but Valeri was joined by the Curdo. He was named Squayerit or something. She called him Yer. I didn’t call him anything or say anything.
They marched me in front of them. The streets were less crowded now, the Buhin sun was rising and everyone had finally gone off to bed.
Funny how the sun rising does that, makes people go to sleep.
I’m sure there were some people working in the city but not down in this area. The buildings thinned out a bit and we turned onto the large metal deck that was hanging over the water. Ships filled the area and there was mine.
The Nomad’s Wind was a Castellan Light Cruiser Model F497. A medium sized, when compared to other ships, metal wedge that was colored blue. A gray wing came out at the midpoint, tapered towards the back and towards the front where it extended beyond the angled front, with two large stardrive engines mounted on the wings. It was a beauty, to me anyways. Not fancy but I loved it and it was home.
Two beings stood outside of it with four crates lined up next to them on maglifters. One of them was a Kern, about six feet tall and almost a shapeless mass. It had arms and legs and a head with no neck, the shoulders and head kind of one piece. A shade of yellow, with lumpy and wrinkly skin, the arms and legs were thick as was the body. The other was another human, male, looked like early twenties.
More company that I didn’t want.
The ship was designed for a crew of six but could be piloted by one. At least mine could. I’d rigged a lot of the systems. I had no other crew. Just me.
“Friends of yours?” I asked looking over my shoulder at Valeri.
She just glared at me.
She was good at that.
“What’s in the crates?” I asked as we approached the ship. The human and Kern repositioned the maglifters, ready to load them.
