"No. Thanks. I'm good here."
"Oh, okay. Uh, just give me a minute then." Lar took the Gefreety inside and carried it into a back room, out of Jake's line of sight.
Jake nudged the door with his boot to open it the rest of the way, then stepped a little to the side, still outside, and put his hand on his holstered blaster. He glanced to the outside corners of the front of the house, then trained his eyes on the doorway Lar took into the back room.
"You sure I can't get you something to drink before you head out?" Lar said from the back room, still out of sight.
"Just the payment." Jake checked his flanks again to make sure no one was sneaking up on him. "Like I said, I'm in a bit of a hurry."
Lar didn't say anything else, and third seconds became a minute, then two.
Jake knew it was about to start. He pulled his blaster from its holster and turned sideway, taking another half-step back to cut off the angle from inside.
Another minute went by in silence, but Jake knew better than to get impatient and go inside. That's what they want me to do, he thought. He checked the corners of the house again. Nothing. He had no idea if the house had a back door, but he hadn't heard one open, and the distance of the house from the street and the other buildings in the area made it easy for him to hear even the gentle rustling of the leaves in the one tree out front.
He kept his blaster ready and said nothing.
Two more minutes.
So much for hospitality. I told him I was in a hurry. Get on with it already.
One more minute.
"Hey, Lar!" Jake took a slow breath, making sure his muscles were relaxed, ready to spring into action. "Do me a favor. Tell your friends to hurry up. I don't have all night and my trigger finger is tired of waiting on them."
Lar said nothing.
"And bring my payment out too. I sure as hell don't want to have to take the creature back." Not that I would, even if you don't pay. Let's be serious. I'm getting shafted on this one.
Jake spotted the man of a man's head barely jutting out from behind the edge of the doorway into the back room of the house. He could tell by the height of it, it didn't belong to Lar. A second later, a hand holding a blaster creeped out just below it.
Jake took the shot.
The man scream in agony as his blaster fell to the ground, along with the man's trigger finger.
Jake pulled his head back just before another man revealed himself, inadvertently stepping on the fallen hand as he came out shooting at Jake.
Seeing all of the shots go by him out the front door at eye level, Jake crouched and waited for the man to pause his barrage. When the man did, Jake leaned out slightly and returned fire, first taking the man to the floor by removing most of the muscle and bone from the lower part of one of the man's legs. The man dropped his weapon as he fell, but Jake put a shot through the man's firing hand, making sure he wouldn't use it again.
Jake could still groans from the first man he shot, though the screaming of the second man nearly drowned them out.
Jake dashed to the other side of the front door, still outside, but switching sides. He glanced into the house to see if any more men had stepped up. The two on the floor had almost finished scooting back out of sight. They left wide erratic smears of blood on the wood floor.
"Next!" Jake stayed out of their sight, but listened for his cue.
"I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch!"
From the strength of the man's voice, Jake knew it was a new contender. He decided to taunt the man, hoping to get him riled up even more. Jake knew from years of experience, not only from these sort of deliveries gone bad, but from his mercenary past he usually tried to forget, that, with rare exception, a man too crazed often couldn't shoot straight and usually made dumb choices in a fight.
"If you can't shoot any better than your buddies," Jake said, "I have serious doubts about your chances."
Jake waited, peaking around the corner a couple of times, but the man didn't come out and the back room of the house was quiet. Then Jake heard it, the sound of a back door creaking.
You sneaky bastard.
Jake knew he probably had only a few seconds before the man came around the outside corner of the house, going for the kill. What if there's two of them? He glanced to each corner. There was nothing in front of the house to use for cover, Jake realized, except the tree and it was too far away and not ideal, regardless. He might be able to take them both out, but it would be risky. And what if another comes out the front at the same time? Shit.
He moved into the front room of the house, dashing to one side hopefully before Lar, the two men Jake already shot, or anyone else who might be in the back room noticed he'd come inside. Pulling the upgraded comm device that Tiffin gave him from his belt, he pushed a button on it. "Why don't you toss your weapons and go hand-to-hand with me?"
Jake pressed the button again, then hit the one next to it before tossing the comm device onto the floor and dashing to the opposite side of the room and taking cover behind a large green chair. A second later, thick dark smoke began to pour from the device, quickly blanketing the entire side of the room where it Jake had tossed it. The audio clip he recorded began to play. "Why don't you toss your weapons and go hand-to-hand with me?"
Jake pointed the barrel of his blaster across the room and waited. A few seconds later the smoke had filled almost the entire room, while his words kept playing from the device, pausing only a second before repeating each time.
From the back room a man yelled, "Smoke!"
Jake stayed ready. Damn that works well. He couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of him. He leaned against the back edge of the chair, using the upholstery as a mask for his mouth and nose. Despite doing so, he felt the need to cough, but he restrained the urge.
"What the hell?"
Jake couldn't see the man, but could tell from his voice that he'd come in through the front door.
"Get in here," the same man said. "He must be inside, but the place is on fire."
Jake heard his own voice across the room. "Why don't you toss your weapons and go hand-to-hand with me?"
"He's right here!" The man somewhere close to the front door shuffled blindly farther into the room.
Jake heard him, at least he guessed it was him, slamming into some furniture, just as the other man came inside the house. "Where?"
"Why don't you toss your weapons and go hand-to-hand with me?"
"Oh, crap!" The man at the door, still invisible to Jake because of the smoke in the room, shot his blaster at Jake.
Or so the man thought he did, but Jake remained crouched by the chair.
"Why don't you toss your weapons and go hand-to-hand with me?"
The man who'd stumbled now fired too.
"Did you get him?" ehe guy somewhere by the door asked his partner.
They both fired again in the direction of the comm device.
Then Jake fired. Twice.
He heard both bodies hit the floor.
After waiting a few seconds, listening for any movement, Jake, hearing nothing but his own voice across the room, darted for the front door.
Once outside, he looked around for any more of the men, but there weren't any. He finally let himself cough, as he hurried to the side of the house.
A few seconds later he came to the back door. Hoping whoever was still alive in the house would be focused on the front room for at least a few more seconds, he went in, ready to fire, but hoping at least one man was still alive to tell him what he needed to know.
When he opened the door, it hit something. He shoved the door to make enough room to get through, then he saw what was blocking it—the man missing a big chunk of one of his legs. Jake noticed the man wasn't breathing.
He stepped over the body and shut the door leading to the front room, to block any more smoke from reaching him. Then he followed the trail of smeared blood into the another room, hoping the man who made it was still alive. Or Lar
, but he may not even be a willing part of this.
Jake found the man sprawled across a chair in the corner of the room, holding a makeshift bandage he'd wrapped around the hand Jake shot earlier. Jake could tell the man was having a hard time dealing with the pain.
The man cowered at seeing Jake, who had his blasted trained on the man.
"No," the man said. "Don't. Don't shoot."
"Where's your friend, Lar?"
The man shook his head. "I think he ran. He was a just a guy."
"He owed me credits." Jake stepped closer to the man and raised his gun a little, pointing it at the man's head.
"No! Please! We were just doing a job."
"For who?"
The man shook his head more, flicking sweat from it. "You don't want to know."
"The General," Jake said.
The man looked surprised, but more scared. "Yeah. That's right."
"You know where to find him?"
"I..." The man's eyes widened. "I can't tell you that." The idea of betraying the General clearly scared him more than Jake did.
Jake realized he needed to make himself a little more clear to the man. "Because he might kill you?"
The man nodded.
Jake took another step and put the barrel of his blaster inches from the man's forehead. "Here's the thing. I'm not having the best week. I flew all the way to this planet to deliver some hellish little creature to the man you tell me ran off into the night...without paying me. Yesterday, some asshats like you tried to kill me on the last planet I visited. And now, while I'm trying to do my job, you and your buddies throw me an unwanted surprise party." Jake tilted his blast and looked at the side of it, pretending to check that it was ready to fire, then straightened it and pushed the barrel harder against the man's head. "I just want to get this day over with, so I can go back to my ship. So, I'm going to make the choice a little easier for you. Tell me where I can find the general, or If you I will kill you. No maybe about it."
The began sniveling, tears spilling from his eyes.
Jake knew his bluff had worked.
Chapter 29
Despite the pain from his severed finger and, the man Jake left in the house managed to cope enough—after several quick drinks from a strong liquor Lar kept on the kitchen counter—to follow Jake at a discreet distance back to Jake's shuttle. He waited in hiding until Jake boarded, then attached a tracking beacon to the elevated underside of the shuttle before moving to another less public spot and contacting the General using the comm device he took from the ring leader's corpse in the house.
After several seconds of signal relay hops across multiple planets in multiple systems, the connection was made.
"General?"
The channel was open, but there was silence.
"It's Biden." He knew the General was expecting one of the other men, but that obviously wasn't an option. He hoped the General might hold him in higher esteem, since he was the only one who'd survived.
"Did you call to tell me Jake Mudd is dead?"
"Uh, it didn't go as well as we planned."
After a long moment of silence, the General said, "Which is why I'm talking to you, and not to one of the others."
"Yes, sir. He..." Biden worried how the General was going to react to what he was about to tell him, but he took a chance. "He wanted to know where you are."
"It was only a matter of time, as I predicted. So, you told him what he wanted to know?"
"Yes, sir. That was plan B, right? That's what Barry said."
"He wasn't suspicious?"
"No, sir. I...I made it seem like I was scared," Biden lied.
"I'll bet you did."
"Uh huh."
"Since your pilot is dead," the General said, "what are you going to do about following him? I need to know when he's going to arrive."
"Oh, that's not a problem, sir. I put a tracking beacon on his ship."
"Hmm. You might be more useful than I thought."
Biden smiled. "Do you want me to come there, like Barry was going to? I could be a big help there, with the main operation, I mean."
"The main operation, eh?"
Biden didn't know what the main operation actually was, but he wanted to sound like he did. "Yes, sir."
"You've shown some initiative, Biden. I do think you might be ready to take on more responsibility."
"I am, sir."
"But not here. I have something else for you."
"Whatever you need, sir."
"I've been negotiating with some people there, about the mining rights to the planet's ferenium. I want you to take charge of that operation."
"You secured the rights? That's excellent."
"Almost. There's a small problem I need you take care of first, then we'll be operational there."
"Tell me what to do, sir."
"There's a man by the name of Barr. He's holding up the deal. I need you to eliminate him for me. This...Biden, will go a long way to help the main plan."
"You can count on me, sir."
"I knew I could. And be sure to send me the access chain to the tracking beacon."
"Absolutely, sir."
Biden heard the channel go dead, and he turned his thoughts to his newfound status with the General, all because he was the one man who could send Jake Mudd to his unexpected demise, though at the General's hand, rather than by his own. But he could still call that a victory, and soon others would know he wasn't a man to be ignored.
Chapter 30
"Do you think he found out?" Tiffin asked Dewey.
They were both sitting in the lounge. Tiffin was managing the ship, giving the two of them some time alone. Dewey noticed Tiffin looked stressed out ever since Jake left the ship to drop off the Gefreety. Dewey understood. He was worried about Jake too, but he also knew Jake wasn't going to be blindsided this time, since he was expecting a run-in with more of the General's men.
Dewey did feel bad about not going with Jake to help him, but Jake insisted both Dewey and Tiffin stay behind this time. Dewey got the impression Jake didn't want anyone around to see what he was willing to do to handle the situation. That impression made Dewey uncomfortable, but he also accepted that Jake couldn't hold back if his life was on the line.
He looked at Tiffin, glad she wasn't going to have to face another life-and-death situation. The ship is safe, he thought. At least it is now that she fixed the energy core.
"Dewey? Are you listening to me?"
"Oh. Sorry. Just tired, I guess."
"Jake," Tiffin said. "Do you think he learned what he wanted? About where the General is?"
I hope not.
"We'll know soon enough," Dewey said. "He should be here before long."
"Sarah wouldn't say." Tiffin glanced out at the view of stars. "I think that means he did."
Dewey wasn't sure what to say, so he kept silent.
A few moments later, Sarah's voice came through the overhead speaker, "He's here. He asked for both of you to meet him on the bridge."
"We'll be right there," Tiffin said, looking at Sarah's camera.
Dewey sat in the navigation chair, next to Tiffin.
"Thanks for meeting me on the bridge," Jake said.
"How'd it go?" Tiffin asked. She'd been turning her her chair, but sat still as she waited for Jake's reply.
"Mostly the way I expected." He glanced at one of Sarah's cameras in the room. "Except not getting paid for the delivery."
"We'll manage," Sarah said through a speaker.
"I heard from Sarah," Dewey said, "that more men came after you."
Jake nodded, rolling his lips in a little with his mouth still closed.
"But you..." Tiffin didn't seem to want to say exactly what Jake might have done.
"Took care of them," Jake said. After a pause, he smiled at Tiffin. "Thanks to the upgrades you made to this." He tapped the comm device on his belt. "Saved my skin."
Dewey noticed Tiffin looked troubled.
"I'm glad y
ou're okay," Tiffin said. "Did you...actually use the electric discharge?"
Dewey could see Tiffin was having regrets about making something so lethal, and he found her all the more attractive because of her aversion to killing. He'd seen to many men going into the arena back on Eon eager for the chance to take another man's life. Tiffin seemed to know how precious life is. He felt the same way, which is why he had taken an administrative path early in life, despite enduring the derision of his peers.
"No." Jake said.
Dewey saw Tiffin relax a little.
"But the other two tricks came in really handy," Jake said.
"What now?" Sarah asked.
Jake looked at one of her cameras. "You know what. We have the coordinates. We go after him."
Dewey sighed audibly, though he didn't mean to do so. He looked at Tiffin, to gauge her reaction to what Jake said. She appeared to be thinking it over.
"I told you two before," Jake said to Dewey and Tiffin, "this is something I have to do...but you don't. It's not too late to change your mind. No shame in taking care of yourself."
Dewey watched Tiffin closely, hoping she'd tell Jake she wanted to leave the ship after all. He had nothing against Jake or Sarah, in fact he like both of them, and he found the ship interesting. But heading into a direct confrontation with the General, from what he understood, might be a suicide mission. He wanted no part of it. And yet, he could never tear himself away from Tiffin. Though he hadn't given her his life bond, he couldn't think of making that pact with anyone else. Talking her out of staying on the ship had proved impossible. So, his fate was wound up in her decision in this moment. Despite wanting to keep his budding relationship with Tiffin private, he put his hand on hers, hoping he might somehow sway her.
She looked at his hand, then into his eyes. She mouthed 'sorry' to him, then looked up at Jake. "I'm part of this crew. If the captain has a mission he deems necessary, that's where we go."
Dewey's heart cracked a little, knowing Tiffin, and he, might seriously regret the decision before this was all over.
"Dewey," Jake said, "what about you?"
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