by Troy Osgood
Here it came.
*****
“Captain Lancer,” Dresla began but I held up a hand to stop her.
I leaned forward and massaged my temples with my fingers. I knew Dresla was going to ask for my help, give me lots of reasons why I should. Recover a national treasure. Stop a thief. Blah and blah.
Looking to the side, past Dresla, I could see Kaylia. She watched me, expectant, and I wondered if she had an idea how close it was? The kid was a bad influence on me.
“I’ll help,” I told Dresla.
She looked shocked. Kaylia smiled.
“Torsi stole my escape pod, I want it back,” I continued, not caring if either believed me. “Those things are expensive.”
I really did want to get the pod back. They were expensive and I couldn’t afford to replace it. Just me, I wouldn’t have cared. But I had the kid to worry about. She’d been entrusted to my care and that meant I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
That was secondary though.
I can be pretty selfish sometimes but even I have some limits and some honor.
From the moment that I found Torsi holding that kid hostage and attempting to escape, I knew I’d help track her down and apprehend her. I’d done some work for the Territorial Protectorate through the years. The TeePees were the police force on Human controlled worlds and colonies. So I had no problem helping out the authorities.
I also had no problem helping out people on the other side of the law.
This whole situation with Storw was bad. These people were losing their planet and were becoming pawns of the Planetary Council. It was a crappy situation. They didn’t deserve to have their cultural identity and history sold on the black market along with everything else.
Especially by one of their own.
Sometimes I wished I was more of an asshole.
“If we’re going hunting you need to get someone to control your people,” I told Dresla. Not the nicest way to put it, but I was aggravated. Mostly at myself for being a sap. “They need to stay on the ship and out of Kaylia’s way.”
“Understood,” Dresla replied turning to leave the bridge. She paused, as if to say something else, but thought better of it.
Smart.
I glanced over at Kaylia. She was still studying me, smiling.
“Not a word.”
She turned back to her station, still smiling. It was even bigger if that was possible.
I shook my head and keyed in the commands to track the escape pod.
CHAPTER NINE
My bunk was a mess.
A fifteen by ten space, it was never all that clean to begin with. But there were two of us crashing in it now. Crowded too. Or more crowded than normal. When just me, there was only the bunk with drawers underneath, a desk and a chair. Now there was a collapsible cot for Kaylia and bags of her stuff.
How had the kid gotten this much stuff in a couple of months? Lots of clothes. So much clothes. Where had she kept it all?
And when did she wear it? I prided myself on being pretty observant but I’d never noticed Kaylia wearing this many and this different of clothes. I figured she had two or three outfits like I did.
Shaking my head I made my way over to the bunk, stepping around the cot and piles of clothes. The cot really hadn’t been slept in. The kid and I had been on somewhat off shifts so one of us was piloting and so been able to both use the bunk. I was just glad that Thesans didn’t shed.
I pulled open the right drawer, which was empty and not that deep. Feeling around the underside of the bunk, I found the button and a panel slid open on the bottom of the drawer showing a keypad of six numbers. I input the code and the false bottom slid open to reveal the hidden compartment.
Inside was my Sig Sauer T1700 blaster and holster. Standing up, shutting the drawer, I belted the holster on. Low slung, there was a strap on the bottom that fit around my leg above the knee, the rest a belt.
The powerpack was full and I felt better having the weapon strapped on.
I could handle myself just fine in a physical fight but with the wide variety of beings in the galaxy, firepower was always nice to have. Especially with no idea of who or what we’d be running into.
And that was why I ran into the storage room between my bunk and the bridge. I thought about using the secret hatch off my refresher into the room, but that would be overly paranoid. So what if one of the Storwo saw me going into the room?
There are two storage rooms on either side of the bridge, but the one on the port side had been modified. So had most of the Nomad’s Wind, but this one had a little more care involved.
I walked into the room and went to the far wall. There wasn’t much in the room itself. I didn’t have many possessions, just a couple of small trunks. If the Wind’s systems didn’t automatically keep the room dust free, I couldn’t imagine how thick it would be. I didn’t come in here or touch them that often.
Finding the latch and controls hidden on the wall, I opened a secret panel.
There was a thin compartment built between the wall of the room and the outer hull. There was a cavity running around the Wind, between the hull and the walls. Not enough space for someone to get into and there was a ton of wiring and piping but I’d managed to carve out some space and had the secret compartment installed.
This was where I kept the stuff I really didn’t want people to know about.
Most of it was legal to own, in some systems, but not in others.
A couple different weapons, some blasters and rifles, and even some gear that I’d managed to take with me when I left the 2Es. That stuff was definitely illegal to own in any Planetary Council system. I grabbed one of the rifles, a Carlyle 600, checked the power pack and closed the hatch. Slinging it over my shoulder I reached down and grabbed a Techon 750. A small blaster, it didn’t pack a huge punch but it had range and was accurate.
Not knowing what Dresla usually packed this was my best guess on what would work for her. I pulled out the holster and belt for it, hoping it would pull tight enough for her to wear.
I looked the stash over, seeing if there was anything else that I would need. Really wished I’d managed to grab some body armor. The stuff the Earth Expeditionary Forces used was top notch. Even the slimmer stuff I had used in Special Operations. I missed the extra protection.
Also wondered what was wrong with my life that I had so many weapons and was concerned with not having armor.
Most freight haulers didn’t worry about this kind of stuff.
It’s not like I went looking for trouble. It just seemed to find me.
A lot.
I sure as hell didn’t seek it out.
My sister called it the old Lancer luck. Trouble had plagued me my entire life. It’s what basically forced me to join the Earth Expeditionary Forces.
Which didn’t turn out that bad for me in the long run. Made me a better person. I’d always been scared of what my life would have been like if I hadn’t joined up. Would never know but I knew what I was like before and the path I was heading down. I could just imagine how much worse it would have been.
Probably would have been dead by now.
Of course the time as a soldier could have led to my death as well but it would have been a better death.
Dead is dead, but how you die is pretty important.
I closed the hatch, sliding the panel into position where it looked just like another deck plate. The hidden compartment was well made, no visible lines to indicate the panel even existed. Well worth the credits I had spent.
Of course back then I was fresh out of the military, not a care in the world and had no idea how expensive it would be to maintain a ship. Even one the size of the Wind.
No regrets though. That hidden cache had come in handy far too many times.
Walking back out into the hall, locking the storage room behind me, I stepped into the bridge and went to my pilot’s station. A couple clicks on the keyboard and I had the escape pods tracking da
ta uploaded to my wristcomm.
*****
The ship was silent as I walked through the galley and lounge. The Storwo watched me, paying attention to the weapons I carried, but no one said anything. Did they know what Dresla and I were planning?
Did they care?
I was about to step into the hold when a Storwo woman stepped in front of me. Turquoise hair, violet eyes. Those eyes looked up at me, trying to convey something. It took me a couple seconds to place her, I’d only seen her in passing quickly and hadn’t paid that much attention in the first place. She was the mother of the boy that Torsi had taken hostage.
She reached up and took my free hand, opened her mouth to say something and closed it. She didn’t know the words. Neither of us spoke the others language. I just nodded, hoping it conveyed that thanks weren’t necessary.
I hate bullies and I hate ones that target kids.
The woman nodded, tears in the corners of her eyes, and stepped out of my way.
I walked past her and into the hold. I threaded my way around the cargo containers, Strowo sleeping pallets, the blankets strung up for makeshift shelters and past the cargo I had been carrying when this all started. I still needed to deliver it. At some point.
Hopefully it wasn’t that time sensitive. With my luck, it probably was, which would end up meaning I wouldn’t get paid. And it probably wouldn’t be something I could turn around and sell to get some of the credits back.
I didn’t head for the loading ramp, which was still up, but instead went for the side door. Human sized, it was a foot or two above the ground. There was a set of retractable stairs that came out of the hull for when the landing gear was extended more, but here the ship rested a foot above the ground so no need for steps. The door was open and I could see a couple figures outside.
I could also see the form of a hovercar waiting just beyond the figures.
Kaylia and Dresla waited for me on the metal deck of the Yorunital docks. It was the matte black, painted dull to not reflect the sunlight. Painted stripes and landing lights dotted the surface, directing ships and people. The kid eyed the weapons as I walked out, she knew where I kept them even though she couldn’t access them herself. Hadn’t taught her the code yet.
There just hadn’t been time yet to teach her gun safety. Hopefully she’d never need to use the weapons but I was going to make sure she knew how. We’d have to find a planet with a firing range. Just one of many things on my list. Never seemed to be enough time.
The look Dresla gave was one of surprise. She was wondering where I had gotten the weapons and probably wondering why I was carrying this much weaponry.
The blasters wouldn’t be a surprise. Any ship carried blasters. There were pirates out there. Not that piracy happened often. There was a lot of coordination involved in piracy, and a hell of a lot of luck. It happened, just rarely. Both blasters were military spec, not civilian. But she knew my history so it shouldn’t have been surprising.
On the other hand, the rifle would be. It was also military spec but not something that most ship captains would bother carrying. It was too strong to use on a ship. The rifle was an infantry weapon, built for the front lines and warfare, not on board ship combat.
I doubted that she knew the particular model but there was no mistaking the purpose.
“The belt should fit,” I told her handing over the Techon.
Dresla took it and immediately drew the blaster. She checked the power pack and held it out at arm’s length, sighting down the barrel. She examined the blaster, turning it around, maintaining good trigger discipline the whole time. She was professional about it.
You can tell someone that was professionally trained from someone that was just handed a blaster. They just carry the weapon differently. Hard to explain but if you know what to look for, it’s there.
With a satisfied nod she replaced the blaster in the holster and started strapping the belt on. She had to pull the end pretty far to get it to fit around her tiny waist, having to wrap the excess around the belt itself so wouldn’t be in the way. She adjusted the fit and nodded again.
“This will work,” she said.
I looked past her at the hovercar. Getting it had been Dresla’s job. I didn’t care how she got it but we needed one that could go off roads. Most hovercars didn’t have compensators for changing terrain, just made to hover the same distance above flat surfaces. The one she found would work nicely. It was short, a two seater with a low wall cargo storage behind the covered seats. No doors, but there was a windshield. It rested a foot or so off the ground on four thrusters.
“That will work” I said and pointed at the hovercar.
Dresla nodded and started walking towards the vehicle. I turned to Kaylia. The kid looked worried. She had seen me in action before, as I had her, but that was before she had been my kid to look after. I think she felt somewhat responsible for my safety as well.
“Don’t worry kid,” I told her putting a confident and carefree smile on my face. Never let them see that you’re worried. That was one thing my old commander, Colonel Terrence Jessups, used to be fond of saying. Someone that commanded people should never show worry or fear, even if they are feeling it.
I was only worried because we were rushing into an unknown situation. I know my skills and what I’m capable of. There’s not much that truly worries me in missions like this but the lack of intelligence is a big one.
Missions like this? I’d been out of the service for five years and some habits were hard to break.
“You know what to do and who to contact if we’re not back in a day,” I asked.
She nodded very reluctantly.
When I took her on, became her guardian, one of the first things I did was tell her who to contact and game plan what to do if I was killed or went missing. She’s got a list of people memorized and who she calls is based on where she is and what the situation is. Getting her to memorize that list was not fun. It took awhile. I’m also pretty sure she has it written down and hidden somewhere.
I’m okay with that. As long as she knows who to call.
It was horrible that she couldn’t go home to her own people. But some of those people wanted her dead, so yeah, not ever going back. The other reason she couldn’t go home was the Tiat. I was pretty sure the Tiat had given up hunting for her, but better safe than sorry. They might remember what she was if she showed up back home. Could also prompt the Thesans to go down the genetic engineering rabbit hole again.
Like I’ve said, she was a smart kid. I had faith that she’d do the right thing. It just sucked that so far she hadn’t met any of the people on the lists. She knew what to tell them to get them to trust her but beyond that, she would be entrusting herself to complete strangers.
That had to change. She had to meet some of these people.
But that kind of travel cost money and we never got that kind of extra money. We barely had enough to survive as it was.
“Don’t let any of the Storwo off the ship,” I repeated. She was probably getting tired of hearing it. “No matter how restless they get. We might need to take off in a hurry and having to chase down some tourists is not in the plans.”
She nodded. Kaylia knew why this was important and had brought up some excellent points when I had told her to keep the refugees on the Wind. The main one being, why would they listen to her? That was where Dresla came in with whoever she had picked to kind of lead the refugees. Dresla wasn’t the boss, but they all seemed to defer to her. I didn’t know who she had picked but I was trusting she was also a good judge of character.
“Dresla,” I called turning to her. She stopped midway in pulling herself into the passenger seat of the hovercar. “Your temporary group leader knows to listen to Kaylia?”
“Of course. I made sure of it.”
“Good, I’d hate to have to kill any of your people if something happened to her.”
Dresla studied me for a moment, no doubt wondering if I was serious.
I was.
Anyone that ever hurt Kaylia would not be long for this universe.
I returned my attention to the kid and Kaylia managed a smile. She threw her arms around me tight and I patted her back with my free hand, holding the rifle as far away as I could but I returned the hug just as tightly.
“Hey kiddo. It’ll be okay.”
She finally let me go, running a finger below her eyes which I pretended not to notice. She stood straighter. Trying to stand at attention, or mimicking the position she had seen. It wasn’t close.
The Wind will be just as you left her Captain.
I chuckled.
“Back inside,” I told her nodding towards the Wind’s entrance. With a last wave to Dresla, Kaylia darted inside. “And lock the doors.” The door slid shut, sliding out of the metal hull.
I heard the satisfying sound of exterior door locks being engaged.
Good.
I climbed into the driver’s seat of the hovercar, handing the rifle over to Dresla to hold. It was pretty funny to look at. The rifle was almost as tall as Dresla was.
“How are we to find them,” Dresla asked as I started up the thrusters.
The hovercar shook a little, wobbly, as the thrusters engaged and lifted it a couple more feet off the ground.
“Tracker in the escape pod,” I told her looking down at the hovercar’s navigation screen and trying to figure out how to operate it. Thankfully all the commands were in Tradelan and not the local language.
“You have a tracker in your escape pod,” she asked surprised.
“Doesn’t everyone?”
*****
I took a couple minutes to get used to the hovercars controls. Every planet and station had their own version of a hovercar. Mostly they were set up to be useable by the planet’s dominate species with some variations. Busier ports have more generic vehicles. The Tuis one wasn’t generic.
If we had just been going into the city, I wouldn’t have bothered. They’re easy enough to operate for quick trips like that. But going into the unknown? A potential firefight? Where we might have to make a quick get away?
