Set the Terms

by Mia R Kleve

  “What about the Peacemaker?” Reynor asked. “We should have exposed him. There’s no way he came from the Academy. We just came from there.” Reynor’s whiskers twitched in anger.

  Sempay put a calming hand on Reynor’s shoulder. “I’m glad you kept it under control. You did yourself credit there.”

  “Are you sure he’s a fake?” Reynor asked. “Maybe he was appointed while you were on training rotation?”

  “I’ve met all of the Besquith Peacemakers. We have to give up our clan and join with the Peacemaker clan. There is a ceremony where all the Besquith Peacemakers past and present come to welcome the new Besquith into the clan.” He tapped his nose with one claw. “So, I’ve met them all.”

  “I’m not sure how he set himself up as a fake Peacemaker. Are there even twenty Enforcers in this sector?” Reynor asked.

  Sempay snorted. “Not in a sector this small. Probably three or so back at the garrison, at most. Even three in one location is a lot.”

  “Where do you think he is going for two days?” Reynor asked.

  Sempay shook his head, “It’s a ruse. He’s probably sitting up in orbit counting his money and laughing at the puppets he thinks he’s forced into dancing to his tune.”

  Reynor felt a little better. He admired Sempay’s calmness. I have a lot to learn from him. Once again, jumping in with Peacemaker badges would have caused more problems than they solved.

  “You go get those workers out of that shop,” Sempay said to Reynor. “I’m going to go set the hook. Then we can meet back at Silver’s.”

  Reynor was excited to finally be doing something. “I can do that.”

  The two headed in separate directions into the evening.

  * * *

  Reynor’s earpiece chirped from the drone, signaling it was time to go. He carefully shut the door and exited the back of the building with the last of the workers. He jogged with them for a block then cut into a side street. He pulled out his slate to get a feed from the drone.

  He could see a couple of ground cars and a truck moving under low power, lights off, toward the warehouse. He tapped the slate and sent the drone in an orbit a couple of blocks out to where he saw a couple more vehicles coming at the building from the opposite direction.

  “Time to go before I’m caught in the middle,” he said to himself.

  He tapped his earpiece, “Sempay, the bread is out of the oven and the sauce is ready.” He shrugged at the lack of response, set the drone to observe, and headed off to the rendezvous point. It felt good to be making a difference. Reynor just wished that Sempay trusted him enough to tell him more of the plan. He sighed as he shuffled along. Patience, he could hear his instructors say.

  The trip back to Silver’s bar was uneventful. He checked the slate every once in a while, not wanting to get too absorbed in the two crews slugging it out. Shortly, he pushed open the door to the bar.

  The place was empty of customers and Silver was sitting at one of the tables, not standing in his usual place behind the bar. He didn’t look at Reynor when he came in.

  Reynor pulled out a chair. “Where’s Sempay?”

  Silver just sat, staring morosely out the window. After a time, he said quietly, “They took him.”

  Reynor shot to his feet, knocking over his chair while a bolt of wild emotion washed over him: panic, shock, outrage, fear. All swirled, threatening to overwhelm him until he used his Peacemaker training and pulled in a long, slow calming breath. Once he was more in control of himself, Reynor asked, “Who and how?” His calm tone drew a glance from Silver.

  “I warned you to leave,” Silver said sadly. “Two of the Orange Circle toughs were in here when Sempay got back from seeing Tivek. They hit him with a neurolytic weapon.” He picked up his glass and took a long pull of the dark liquid, draining it in one go. “He didn’t have a chance.”

  “How long ago was this?” Reynor asked pulling his slate out.

  “About twenty minutes.”

  Several minutes passed as Reynor worked. “Ah!” He set the slate in front of Silver and tapped on the screen showing the frozen image of an unconscious Sempay in a cage resting on a multicolored brick floor against a white-washed wall. “Where is this?” Reynor asked.

  Silver cocked his head and looked at Reynor for a long moment. Reynor felt as if he was being evaluated. Apparently, Silver liked what he saw because he nodded then squinted at the slate. “That’s the back side of their compound.” He looked up at Reynor. “The bar across the street from us is the front side of it. They own the block of buildings behind it and sealed it all up so the only two ways in are the bar at the front and the garage on the far side.” He got up and shuffled to the bar.

  Reynor tapped on the slate a few more times, changed to the drone app, and set it to orbit the compound. Silver set a fresh glass in front of Reynor then grabbed the bottle to fill both glasses to the brim.

  Reynor studied the Jakota for a moment, picked up the glass, and raised it. “Honor the threat,” he said quietly and downed the entire contents of the glass, then set it upside down on the table. The intoxicant blazed its way down his throat to explode like a nova in his gut. Reynor’s eyes watered and he grabbed a cloth off the table to wipe them. When he was finally able to see again, he noticed Silver was sitting rock still, his eyes wide and fixed on him, glass frozen halfway to his mouth.

  Silver was finally able to croak out, “Peacemaker.”

  * * *

  Reynor quickly looked behind him. The place was empty, and the door shut. He realized Silver was focused on him. He sighed.

  Silver shuddered, then he too slammed back the drink, poured himself another, and downed that one, too. When he reached for the liquor again, Reynor grabbed the bottle holding it away from him.

  “No one can know,” Reynor said softly.

  “You two.” Silver took a deep breath. “You two came here on purpose, didn’t you?” he asked accusingly.

  “Nope. This vacation spot was an accident,” Reynor said. He was about to say more when the slate emitted a soft beep-beep. He tapped on the screen, leaned in, and zoomed the picture. He held the pad out to Silver. “What is this?”

  He peered at the image. “The drain?” He glanced up and shrugged. “It allows the monsoon rains to drain from inside the courtyard. Otherwise, the basements flood and undermine the foundations.” Silver looked confused. “Why?”

  “That’s my way in,” Reynor said with a smile.

  “No one can fit through that,” Silver said with certainty. “Maybe a small child but that won’t help us.”

  “I can. I’m a Radskhat,” he said proudly. “We don’t have a fixed skeleton. I can fit through the smallest openings. It’s how we are able to liberate so many things.” Reynor said with a grin.

  Silver snorted. “You mean steal.”

  Reynor waved a hand. “Labels,” he said dismissively. “Okay, let me set this in motion.” He tapped on his slate, switching over to the implant Sempay had dropped.

  “Tivek!” Reynor said.

  Silver sputtered. Reynor waved at him to be quiet.

  Tivek’s voice came across the slate. “Who is this?”

  “That doesn’t matter. What you should care about is that the Orange Circle just took out your warehouse and you’re next,” Reynor said matter-of-factly.

  Tivek sputtered, “How do you kno—”

  Reynor tapped the slate to cut off the transmission. He met Silver’s eyes. “That will cause the stir I need to get Sempay out. Can you get transport over to the garage doors?” he asked.

  Silver shook his head. “You’re crazy. Yeah, I can get there. When?” He stood up.

  “I’ll need twenty minutes,” Reynor said and started emptying his pockets into his bag. Once ready, he reached into the bag and pulled out his weapon. He tucked it into a reinforced thigh pocket made specifically for it. “Okay. See you in a bit.”

  Reynor headed out the back of the bar. Once outside, he looped down the alley to get
a decent vector on the compound. The streets were deserted. In a few minutes he was across the main drag and looking at the back wall of the compound. This was similar to a couple of the training exercises he had been on, only this time they wouldn’t get shot with stunners if he got caught.

  He took a deep breath and pulled out his slate. A couple of taps and the drone oriented to give him a view of the main street. There was movement from the Paper Hand. The activities from the last couple of days had whittled down the size of the crew, but there was a decent group headed toward the Orange Circle bar. Another tap on the slate, and the drone hovered over the courtyard. It was still deserted.

  Reynor stowed the slate and pulled out his weapon. He knelt by the opening for the drainpipe. Looking down, he saw only dust and a faint light of the courtyard on the other side. He breathed out slowly and squirmed into the small opening, weapon first.

  The Radskhat physiology evolved from their ancestor’s ability to get into and out of trouble. It allowed them to loosen the ligaments and tendons of their musculature, thereby enabling their cartilage to bend and flex. With practice, it became simple for them to get through spaces that normal beings couldn’t possibly fit into. This unadvertised ability came in handy when a fellow Academy graduate locked Reynor’s data slate in an equipment lockup as a prank.

  The space under the wall was about three meters long. He stretched and relaxed and wriggled. He was about three-quarters of the way through when he heard footsteps in the courtyard. Reynor froze. His heartbeat hammered in his ears, and he kept the pistol pointed forward.

  He heard a pair of voices talking about what they were going to do to the Besquith. His breath caught, and he resumed wriggling forward. The seam in the drainpipe caught on his sleeve, binding him up for a moment, but with a tug it ripped free. What would normally have been a small sound was amplified by the pipe.

  “What was that?” one of the guards asked.

  “I don’t hear anything,” the other said.

  Footsteps moved closer to the opening.

  Reynor readied his pistol and held his breath.

  The thug stopped in front of the opening. His boots clearly visible. Reynor heard faint pops of pistol fire. The guard swore, and they both ran off. The Paper Hand hitting the front of the Orange Circle facility was perfectly timed.

  Reynor frantically wriggled the rest of the way out of the pipe, shook himself, and moved toward the cage. Sempay watched him as he approached.

  “I didn’t know you could do that,” Sempay said.

  Reynor shrugged. “This has been a learning trip all around,” he quipped and examined the lock on the cage. It was a simple twenty-four hexagonal-key keypad. He pulled his slate out and held it to the pad. He triggered a cypher cracker and waited the few seconds for it to brute-force the pad with combinations, the indicators flashing blue, then amber, and finally green. With a click, the lock disengaged.

  Reynor stowed his slate and pulled the cage door open. “Can you walk?”

  Sempay stood and walked out of the cage. “Other than a headache, I’m unharmed. What’s the plan to get out?”

  “Transport outside of the garage. Let’s move.” Reynor turned in the direction of the garage and led the way, his pistol at the ready.

  The door to the garage was unlocked. It was empty inside except for a hover bike being worked on, a tool rack, and a desk with a terminal.

  “Hang on. Let’s get some intel,” Reynor said and pulled a connection stick from his chest pocket. It was a small metallic object about the size of a coin only designed to be inserted into the port on a terminal. He plugged it in. A series of screens flashed on the terminal. Reynor grunted once and pulled the device out and put it away. “Okay, we have a backdoor into their mainframe.”

  There was a small portal door next to the large double doors of the garage. “Our ride should be outside any minute,” he told Sempay.

  Sempay nodded approvingly. “You’ve been busy, haven’t you?”

  Reynor grabbed his slate and oriented the drone on the street outside; it was clear. He orbited the drone to the front of the bar. There he could see several bodies in the street and in front of the bar. He showed Sempay the image. “It looks like the distraction might have played out. When the ride comes, we need to get out of here.”

  They could hear the whine of a vehicle outside the door and they stepped out. Reynor engaged the inside lock on the garage’s door and pulled it closed gently while Sempay climbed into the taxi. Reynor joined him.

  “Where to?” the mechanical voice of the driver-assist module spoke.

  Sempay looked at Reynor questioningly.

  “Three Two Four Jurak Centro,” Reynor told the bot, and the vehicle surged forward and turned at the next intersection.

  “What’s that address?” Sempay asked.

  “It’s the dry cleaners near Silver’s place. I saw it when I set the workers free.” He slumped back in the seat and closed his eyes for a brief moment. His slate pinged at him, and he sat up, fishing it out of his thigh pocket. He tapped the screen and murmured thoughtfully. “This is interesting…” He showed Sempay.

  Sempay smiled a big toothy grin. “Oh. That is interesting.”

  * * *

  The next morning, the pair were in the constable’s office.

  “Are you ready for this?” Sempay asked him.

  The constable didn’t look happy but sighed and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

  He grabbed a device with a microphone attached with a cord and headed out into the street. Once there, he raised the microphone and yelled into it. “Tivek, get out here!” He turned a dial. “Oladipo, get out here.” He nodded at Sempay. “The constable override will get them out here.”

  There was movement at either end of the street. From the casino, Tivek and two of his guards, a Zuul and the Lumar, stepped out. “What do you want, Cancar?”

  All this time, Reynor realized, he never knew the constable’s name was Cancar.

  From the other side of the street, the Orange Circle crew stepped out, a Jivool, a Zuul and a Pushtal. The Jivool spoke, “What is this Tivek? Haven’t you had enough?”

  Tivek laughed. His arms waving in amusement. “How’s your brother, Oladipo?”

  “Better than you’re going to be.” The Jivool looked at the bar and waved an arm. The Oogar who had been working for Tivek came out. He had a neuro-stun baton in his hand. He grinned.

  “Graga! You traitorous scum! I’ll turn you into a rug,” Tivek screamed.

  The Oogar huffed. “Tivek, you are welcome to try.” He lumbered down the street. On Tivek’s side, the Lumar shouted a challenge and lumbered forward. The constable scrambled away from between the two groups.

  Sempay looked at Reynor and nodded meaningfully at the street. “The time for subtlety is over.”

  Reynor nodded. He stepped to the edge of the porch, pulled his weapon, took a breath, let a bit out, and as the Oogar passed in front of him, he took aim and fired.

  With a loud crack, the side of the Oogar’s head erupted with a spray of blood and brains. Both groups, who had been moving toward each other, skidded to a halt in the dusty street.

  Reynor stepped into the street holding his pistol, smoking barrel skyward, in one hand and a glimmering badge in his other. “I am Peacemaker Reynor. You will submit, or you will join this sack of shit in the dirt.”

  “You’re not a Peacemaker. Get him!” Tivek screeched.

  Another crack came from behind Reynor, and the Zuul next to Tivek fairly exploded.

  “I am Senior Peacemaker Sempay. My colleague has offered you a way out. I suggest you take it.”

  Reynor watched the Orange Circle crew while Sempay covered the Paper Hand. Both groups deflated. “Constable Cancar, would you please escort these groups to your holding area?” Reynor asked.

  The constable, who had been staring at Reynor openmouthed, shook himself and jumped forward. “Yes, Peacemaker!” He picked up the stunner from the ground by the
Oogar’s corpse and pointed it at the gangsters. “All right! Get moving.” He waved them toward the office.

  “Not a moment too soon,” Sempay said pointing at a ship descending. “Shall we go greet our colleague?”

  Reynor looked at the ship and nodded. “Constable? You have this?”

  Constable Cancar nodded. For the first time, he didn’t look defeated. “Yeah, I got this.” He poked at the crew filing into his office. “Straight back. Orange Circle in the left room; Paper Hand on the right.”

  Reynor holstered his pistol and started for the landing area. They got there just as the landing ramp touched down on the tarmac.

  The Besquith, Marrok, strode down the ramp. He saw Sempay and Reynor and immediately headed for them.

  “Well, Rhys, did you take care of business?” Marrok asked.

  “Almost, we have one more thing to take care of,” Sempay stated. He gestured to Reynor. “If you would do the honors?”

  Marrok looked irritated. “Do I need to bring the Enforcers out here?”

  Reynor looked at him. For the first time in his life, he felt calm and unafraid. “Go ahead. Call them out here.”

  Marrok was infuriated. He roared at Reynor. “How dare you oppose the Peacemakers?”

  “How dare I?” Reynor smiled. He lifted his left hand to show Marrok his badge.

  Marrok’s eyes bulged, glued to the Peacemaker badge. His hand grabbed for the weapon in his holster. Crack!

  Fixated as he was on the Peacemaker badge, he never saw that Reynor had drawn his own weapon.

  Marrok glanced down at his chest, blood welling down the front, then looked up at Reynor. “Peacemaker…” He started and slumped on the ground.

  Reynor sighed but kept his pistol trained on Marrok.

  “You okay?” Sempay asked softly.

  “I will be,” Reynor said.

  * * *

  Silver and Constable Cancar walked the two Peacemakers to their shuttle.

  “Silver,” said Reynor pulling out a data stick, “this is a list of the lithium buyers I pulled from the Orange Circle’s systems. With this, you can work directly with them, and the town can stand on its own.” He handed it to the Jakota.