Your Life Is Forfeit: A Space Opera Adventure Legal Thriller (Judge, Jury, & Executioner Book 4)

by Craig Martelle

  “It’s on the other side of town,” he said, brightening with the words. “Thank you. I don’t think I could have stayed here.”

  “Leave them taped together,” Rivka said. She pumped her fist and headed toward the stairs. Red waved at Lindy to get in front while he stayed behind to make sure the locals didn’t try to follow.

  A bottle flew from the doorway and hit Red in the chest. He leveled his railgun, but they weren’t intimidated. A second item, a strange piece of metal, flew at him. He easily dodged it, then aimed high and sent a string of hypervelocity darts through the wall above the doorway. When the Ledonians screamed and ran for cover, Red dashed away to join the others.

  “You didn’t?” Rivka asked him.

  “Nah,” Red replied. “The little fuckers started throwing shit at me, so I sent them a message, without hurting them. Well, maybe their eardrums are blown, but besides that… They shouldn’t have thrown things. Don’t bring a rock to a gunfight.”

  “Usually there’s some semblance of common sense, but I didn’t see it in either of those two. They were completely embroiled in rage. It was searing,” she shared.

  When they were outside, Lindy reactivated the mech suit and climbed in. Once upright and combat capable, she started leading the way and then stopped.

  Ankh, give me a map, please, Lindy requested.

  The map appeared on her HUD and she looked down on the Ledonian, who watched in awe. She activated her external speakers. “I’m taking this road for about three kilometers, turning left and following that road for six kilometers, then turning at a park. Our goal will be on the right. Does that sound correct?”

  “That’s the long way,” the Ledonian replied. “We can take a few side streets, and it’ll be a bit shorter.”

  “We don’t care if it’s a little longer. We prefer more open space where we can maneuver. Do you know if there are any roadblocks out here?” Rivka asked.

  “I don’t.” He pointed toward the data storage facility. “I was stuck in there.”

  “Maybe we can hear your story, but for now, we have evidence to collect.”

  “Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to break through a military barricade and attack a well-defended position in order to secretly emplace an electronic coin thing,” Red droned.

  “It’s a case, and we’re collecting evidence.”

  “It’s a combat mission. All four—five if you count him—” Red tipped his chin toward the Ledonian, “are going to duke it out with the government.”

  “Maybe they’re willing to talk,” Rivka suggested, wrinkling her nose at the unpersuasive sound of it.

  “Just like those in there.” Red didn’t need to say the words. It was what they were all thinking.

  “Lindy, get hold of Ankh and tell him to fire up the ship in case we need air support.”

  Roger, Lindy replied over their internal comm before switching to the suit’s more robust comm system.

  A few seconds later, she gave the thumbs up, hoisted the suit’s oversized railgun in one armored hand, and lifted the shield in the other. She started walking at first, and the errant jerking was less than before as the suit continued to compensate. Lindy loped easily along the street, pounding heavily with the mech’s armored feet. Rivka and Jay had the Ledonian between them as they supported him. Red filled the position of tail-end Charlie, watching for anyone coming from behind as well as possible ambushes from the sides. Lindy powered forward.

  The group ran through ruined roadblocks and the desolation of a city in distress. The deserted streets echoed with their passing.

  We’re getting close, Magistrate, Lindy reported.

  Slow to a walk, if you would. Let’s gather our wits and maybe conduct a fly-by of the building and its defenses, Rivka replied. They looked at Jay.

  “With great ability comes great responsibility,” Red told her.

  She chuckled briefly. “And I was worried that I hadn’t been contributing sufficiently to the team.” She pointed in the direction they’d been going and the mech nodded, confirming by pointing the railgun.

  “I’ll be right back.” And Jay was gone.

  Rivka pulled a water bladder from her small pack and handed it to the Ledonian. He was panting heavily, chest heaving as he tried to draw in more air. He took the water and drank it all. The Magistrate fought against rolling her eyes. Red passed his over, and Rivka took a drink. He downed the rest before checking his railgun, scrubbing at it with a small rag he kept handy for the sole purpose of keeping his weapons clean.

  Jay appeared before the group. “He was right. It’s a fortress.”

  “Blazer is ready,” Red declared.

  Rivka tapped her datapad. “Ankh. We need Peacekeeper to open the door for us.”

  “Because the mission requires air support?” Red raised his eyebrows in challenge.

  “Because the case requires evidence,” Rivka countered.

  “Mission.”

  “Case.”

  “I hope that one day I get to live in your world. We’re running our asses off and shooting at stuff that shoots back. We’re preparing to attack a fortress. That sure sounds like a mission to me, but if you want to maintain your legal fairytale, it’s your call.”

  “You used to have fewer opinions regarding the legal side of my job. I like the new Red. First food bar when we get back on Peacekeeper is on me.”

  “I feel like I missed something.”

  “Nothing at all. Jay, can you draw us a map of what’s up there?”

  They squatted around a patch of dirt while Lindy faced away, using the camera in the back of the suit to watch what was going on while still maintaining vigil.

  Jay outlined a rectangular building, adding small squares at each corner and then an outer line. “They have a barricade of wire with vehicles with weapons, including tanks. The corner buildings are blockhouses with machinegun-type things on top. There are a lot of people, behind cover, roving and watching. There are also dead bodies out front. It looks like a group approached and the defenders didn’t like it.”

  “They left the bodies?” Rivka wondered aloud.

  Red shook his head. “Doesn’t sound like they’re very happy about all this.”

  “The anger. Red, would you be so kind as to plan our tactics? I want the evidence, and if Tod Mackestray was the catalyst who turned these people into this, I’ll have his head on a platter.”

  “I think the volcano was ready to blow. A few choice words wouldn’t be enough to send them raging if they weren’t already mad.”

  “Are you arguing to exonerate your old boss?”

  Red vigorously shook his head.

  “But I agree. Something else was going on here, but once the fuel was lit, we lost the ability to talk to them.”

  “What’s your goal, Magistrate?”

  “I want the data but don’t want to kill anyone to get it.”

  Red looked at the diagram drawn in the dirt before taking in his assets. Lindy with the mech suit. Rivka who he was contracted to protect. And Jay.

  The Ledonian was restless. “What’s up?” Rivka asked.

  “I don’t live far from here,” he answered.

  “You can leave anytime you want. You probably don’t want to be a part of what’s coming. Go on. Once the shooting stops, come on back and see what there is to see.”

  He nodded and headed out the door.

  Red sat back and closed his eyes. “Stay frosty, people. I need to think.”

  Chapter Nine

  K’Twillis shambled along with a small contingent of hired muscle. They fanned out to the sides in perpetual flex, barely swinging their arms. Billister walked in front, casually twirling a small pipe. In the small of his back, he carried a blaster in case the pipe wasn’t enough.

  Since safety wasn’t an issue, no fence surrounded the work area. No signs marked the dangerous areas, whether to walk or drive. Great vehicles maneuvered with precision by experienced drivers. Dead and wrecked vehic
les were pushed aside. K’Twillis never made a subsequent payment on any of the equipment.

  He was always gone by then. He figured the companies would reclaim what was theirs, refurbish it, and put it back into service. Or not. He didn’t care either way.

  There was a small shack where the mine foreman worked under a false name so he wouldn’t be jailed for the shortcuts he was promoting and the resulting injuries.

  Only two deaths so far, but those had been buried both figuratively and literally. In the far end of the pit, a hundred tons of tailings, the waste stone after processing, marked their final resting place. No one would dig that up. And those who knew would be eliminated when the operation wrapped up. All the foreman had to do was give the Aborginian their names, and it would be taken care of.

  Billister was first into the shack. The foreman jumped but remained in his chair. “You’re behind,” the security man accused.

  “Not by much. We can recover on night shift!” the foreman claimed.

  A shadow darkened the doorway but didn’t enter the shack. K’Twillis didn’t want to get stuck inside the small building.

  His microphone helped project his voice. “The original schedule is no longer viable. With the impending turmoil on the council, we have to be finished and gone within two months. You need to pick up the pace. Hire more workers.”

  “It’s not the workers, it’s the equipment. We’ve rented everything that was available.”

  “Then steal what you need.”

  The foreman had no idea how to go about doing that. He held up his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

  “I thought you were the one who would get things done if the restrictions were removed? We did that, and yet you don’t get things done. Are you all talk?”

  “No!” the man cried.

  “Put your hands on the desk,” Billister ordered. The foreman shook his head and started to slide his chair backward. One of Billister’s men strolled around the desk and wrapped a thick arm under the foreman’s throat and forced one hand onto the desk. Billister raised the pipe, and the foreman screamed.

  The pipe slammed into the desk a finger’s breadth from the quivering hand.

  “Next time, we break every bone in your body,” Billister promised.

  “I’ve removed all restrictions,” K’Twillis said. “So why are you in here and not out there?” He pointed with a leafy arm.

  “On my way,” the foreman replied. He tried to stand, but the security man held him in his chair.

  “Do you understand how important this is to me?”

  “Yes,” was all the foreman was able to say.

  “Billister and his team of production specialists are going to remain on site until the job is finished.” K’Twillis fluttered his leaves in a motion that meant nothing to the humans and humanoids. The Aborginian shuffled away.

  The thug holding the foreman lifted him from his chair and threw him over the desk. Papers and rock samples followed him to the floor. He brushed himself off, stood, and apologized profusely as he headed for the door. He stopped and looked at the muscle waiting outside.

  Billister grunted. “The last thing you want is for him to return, so what do you say we do a little management by walking around? Let’s get the lay of the land and start motivating the good people in the pit to do what he’s fucking paying them to do!

  “It’s a big pit, and there are a fuckload of workers, so I brought some additional efficiency experts with me.”

  The foreman turned back to Billister. “I know who I climbed into bed with. If those lazy bastards aren’t getting it done, they deserve whatever’s coming to them—me included. It’s a lot of work, but fuck, man, it’s good money, and we aren’t bothered by regulations or inspectors. Follow me, gentlemen.”

  “I like your new attitude,” Billister stated.

  “It’s usually not the problem that needs to be solved, but the attitude about the problem. I’m sorry I needed to be reminded of that.”

  Billister waved for the others to follow them as they stepped onto an angled path along the side of the pit, leading down to where engines droned and whined as they fought against the rock to free the desired ore.

  “Margaret, play some violin music,” Tod Mackestray told his ship’s AI. He continued to lean back and search the media web for opportunities for when his work on Amberstrom came to a close. The news swarm had taken Tip Nel down in a matter of days. Fil Pol was installed as the interim Chairman amid the call for new elections.

  The Blokite had no intention of overplaying his hand. He’d earned a cool million and a half from the six-planet conglomerate in the Gridlow Expanse, but it was time to move on. He was looking forward to the next challenge.

  “Margaret, how close are we to our target number?”

  “Seven million credits,” she replied.

  “Just a few more gigs and we can wrap things up. Then what will we do, Margaret?”

  “Whatever we want, Tod. Fifty million credits is the magic number where you will never have to raise a finger again. You will live in the comfort and style that you deserve.”

  “I like the way you talk, Margaret. What do you think of the planet called Capstan? There seems to be some turmoil at the highest levels of government, but are they high enough?”

  “You have always been surprised at what people will pay to acquire positions of lower power because they see those as leverage to climb higher.”

  “I used to be surprised by the lust for power, but my entire business is based on it. You are correct that people will pay a half million for a low-level board position, but they want the one seat at the top of the pyramid. All of them. I think I’ll raise my prices. Three and a half million to rule the entire planet. When are Capstan’s presidential elections?”

  “Capstan has a Premier, and the election cycle is already underway. Voting is in two months.”

  “Perfect, Margaret. That is just perfect. What do you say we leave the good people of Amberstrom to their duly elected and wholly unethical leader while we move on?”

  “Capital idea,” the AI agreed.

  A violin concerto filled the silence while the AI put the Pandora Express into the Gate queue.

  Lindy wanted to get out of the mech suit. She was starting to sweat. They’d moved inside an abandoned building, where she was half hunched over.

  “What do you think, Red?” Rivka asked.

  “A diversion late at night; a snatch-and-grab, except it’ll be a drop-and-run. Then we wait to see if Ankh can find what you’re looking for.”

  “You want to send Jay in there to place one of Ankh’s devices while we have their attention focused elsewhere? That sounds like the plan I was looking for. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.”

  “You feel the anger, don’t you?” Jay interjected.

  “It’s there at the back of my mind.” Rivka’s face contorted as she confronted the emotions. “I can’t believe the power of their feelings.”

  “Maybe that’s the norm for their society?” Red suggested.

  “Regardless,” Rivka replied, shaking her head. “Two in the morning? Three in the morning?”

  “Two. Lindy will light them up on the far corner, destroying the barricade in that area. I’ll provide supporting fire. Jay will wait until they start returning fire and then dodge in, get as far inside as she can, and drop a couple of the devices at opposite ends of the building.”

  “What about me?”

  “I can’t protect you while this is going on. You stay back and keep yourself from getting hurt. Lindy and I will retrograde in that direction, circle back, and everyone meets up here. The operation should take a grand total of ten minutes.”

  I only have one question, Lindy asked. Can I get out of this fucking suit?

  “Yes. I’ll handle the first watch, and then the Magistrate will take over so we can get our beauty sleep. Come two in the morning, we get into position and rock and roll.”

  The mech had already powered d
own and unzipped the back. Lindy crawled out, stretching when she was free.

  “There’s a limit to how long one can be in that thing, and I hit it an hour ago.” She staggered toward the back of the building to find the bathroom.

  “Get some sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s your watch.” Red kneeled behind a front window where he could best see outside. Rivka and Jay found spots to lie down and wait.

  Rivka pulled out her datapad and contacted Ankh.

  “We will be dropping off your coins tonight. I hope this works.”

  “If the equipment is operational and if the devices are close enough, I’ll be able to gain access to the data,” the Crenellian replied.

  “That’s a lot of ifs.” Rivka felt less confident about their chances, but she saw no other plan. She couldn’t calm the Ledonians long enough to have any conversation, let alone a meaningful one. “Hold your position, and be ready to provide air cover if we need it.”

  “Peacekeeper is on station at twenty-thousand meters. We can be there in seconds.”

  “Thanks, Ankh.” Her datapad went dark as she signed off.

  “No law to research, Magistrate?” Jay asked, laying her hand gently on Rivka’s shoulder.

  “As much as I want this to be about the law, it isn’t. This is about establishing dominance. The one with the biggest stick will be in charge. Quoting the law in the middle of a civil war will get us all killed. Red is right. This is a mission. We’ll beat them senseless so we can gather the evidence.”

  “Don’t tell Red that. He’ll get a big head.”

  “His head is already the size of an August watermelon.”

  The two women chuckled. “I don’t know what that is,” Jay admitted, “but it sounds funny.”

  “Get some sleep. This could be over very soon. There’s nothing I’d like more than to see Leed’s Planet from our tail camera.”

  Jay held the neutron pulse weapon in her hand. “Take it. I don’t want to use it.”

  Rivka waved it away. “You’ll need it more than I will.”