Jim Cartwright- Raknar Quest

by Mark Wandrey

Jim had packed his gear before emerging in the Soo-Aku system. He floated out of the bridge with Splunk and found his duffel floating in the airlock where he’d left it. Splunk’s gear was packed with his own.

  He entered the lock, verified a good seal, and cycled it open. Captain Su was there, as was Hargrave and Buddha. Buddha was the only one grinning. Su looked serious; Hargrave looked surly.

  “Requesting permission to come aboard,” Jim said.

  “Permission granted, Commander,” Su said, and Jim passed into the cruiser. Hargrave’s eyes followed him closely. Splunk jumped and caught onto Jim’s shoulder. Jim easily checked the added momentum with a hand on the lock’s side without thinking. Su gave an appreciative nod. “Your time in space shows, Colonel.”

  “It’s been a long trip.” He looked at Hargrave and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

  “You’re an asshole,” Hargrave said with a growl. Jim gave him his best innocent smile. Hargrave’s face hardened, and Jim winked. The old man broke into a chuckle. “All that matters is that you came back to us, son.”

  “Going to tell us all about it?” Buddha asked.

  “Give me an hour or so to get settled in,” Jim said. “We’ll have a meeting, then Enforcer Poltova wants to talk.”

  “Big guy, purple, loud voice?” Hargrave asked.

  “Bingo,” Jim said.

  “When the Peacemakers contacted us and told us you were halfway across the galaxy and met up with one of their Enforcers, I couldn’t believe where they said it was,” Hargrave explained. “Anyway, they offered this contract, and we figured you meant for us to take it.”

  “Exactly,” Jim said. “Let me get my gear into a cabin, then we can talk.” He looked at Captain Su. “Captain, as much as I hate for you to lose any people, I need to ask you to detach a small crew to take Pale Rider back to Karma Upsilon 4, please.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment, using her pinplants, then opened them again. “I have a qualified pilot and an assistant engineer I can send. Is it that important, Colonel?”

  “I believe so,” he said. “I have a feeling we don’t want dead weight mated to Bucephalus for what’s coming.”

  Jim floated along the companionway to his cabin aboard Bucephalus. It wasn’t quite as nice as Captain Su’s, but she was the ship’s captain after all. He opened the sliding door and came face to face with 70 kilos of pissed off woman.

  “I cannot believe you ditched me,” Adayn screamed and took a swing at his cheek. He caught the hand.

  “Whoa,” he said, “not even Hargrave took a swing at me!”

  “He’s a softy, and I’m your girlfriend!”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “Same thing I said to him, and the best I can do for you. I could not endanger anyone else, and we were running under the radar.” She glared daggers at him, pulling her long brown hair back into a ponytail because it had come undone. “Besides, I needed to do it by myself,” he admitted.

  Her face softened, and she gave a little nod. “Okay, I can see that.” She held her arms out, and he folded her into a hug. After months on his own, it felt good.

  “Hello, Funwork, ”

  “Hey, little watchmaker,” she said and tickled Splunk behind the ears. The Fae jumped off Jim and found her customary space.

  Jim looked at his cabin and noticed she’d been living in it. “Aren’t you supposed to be in NCO country?”

  “Jim, we live together on Earth.”

  “Doesn’t look right on deployment,” he said, scowling.

  “I was going to take a berth with the NCOs, but Hargrave had my stuff delivered here when you went AWOL.”

  “The last mission go well?” he asked as he stuffed his duffel into a cubby.

  “Typical garrison; boring as hell. Never fired a shot in anger.”

  “As long as the credits cleared.” He turned around and she had her top off and a shit-eating grin on her face. “Oof,” he said, as she floated over. “I have a meeting with the Peacemaker…”

  “Yeah, I know,” she said. “But you need a shower.”

  “I just had one,” he complained. Her breasts pushed against his chest, and he shuddered. Four long months.

  “Yeah,” she said and slipped a hand into his pants. “But you’ll need one in a few minutes.”

  * * *

  “Where the hell have you been?” Hargrave demanded as Jim floated into the conference room.

  “Sorry,” Jim said, wiping water from his eyes. His hair was still wet. “I…I needed a shower.”

  Hargrave scowled and picked up a slate. Buddha caught his eye and winked. Jim felt his cheeks getting warm.

  Only Hargrave, Buddha, and Captain Su were waiting in the conference room. This meeting was a quick debrief on what he’d encountered while away. Splunk and Adayn were back in his stateroom. After her…distraction, she said she’d get the story out of Splunk and the rest from him later.

  “So,” he said, “right after I left I headed for K’o in the Peco arm.”

  “Didn’t waste any time, did you?” Captain Su asked.

  “I had a list of candidate worlds. Finding Raknar and or data on them was my mission. There were a hundred worlds which might have yielded data, so I needed to winnow them down as far as possible. I left with 19 candidates.”

  “You didn’t go to nineteen systems, did you?” Hargrave asked.

  “He wasn’t gone long enough,” Captain Su said, glancing sideways at Hargrave.

  “Oh, right,” Hargrave said, looking chagrined for maybe the first time Jim knew of.

  “K’o was the location of an ancient Raknar/Canavar battle.” Jim spent almost an hour describing his journeys. How the Caretaker and its allies tried to kill him, and the data Splunk had stolen. Their visit to the Empire of Machines in the Kikai system, where he’d made the deal to help the Peacemakers. Everyone watched him in amazement as he talked about the cult on Kikai who wanted to be machines.

  “What happened to them?” Buddha wondered aloud.

  “Something horrible,” Jim said. “We had some luck there, but it was mostly another dead end. So, I decided to go to the heart of it. The Science Guild.”

  “You went to Capital?” Hargrave asked, shocked.

  “No,” Jim said, shaking his head. “I had no interest in going there. I went to Occul. The Science Guild’s main location isn’t on Capital. I thought it was on Occul; I was wrong. It’s apparently on some world called Supairaru. I searched for it but couldn’t locate it.”

  Captain Su closed her eyes for a second to concentrate on her pinplants, then shook her head as well. “Nothing in the Cartography Guild’s records I can find.”

  “All I can determine is that it’s either a code name or I was lied to. Anyway, I worked there for a week and finally got help from a Flatar who lived there.”

  “Flatar?” Hargrave asked, eyes narrowing.

  “Yeah, I was just as surprised. It wasn’t like any I’ve ever seen. Calm, quiet, kind of sad-like. Anyway, she helped me, but I didn’t get anything. It was hard working there.” He didn’t mention the chip he’d found after his return. Dozens of worlds were listed on the chip with no explanation. He’d run through the list and about half still existed. Maybe he’d check on them, if he had time.

  “By this point, time was running short, so I headed this way. I stopped at a world on the way with Raknar ruins, nothing.” He considered mentioning the fight and decided against it. “I also stopped on Aurora Station.”

  “Big tourist stop,” Captain Su said.

  Jim nodded. “Spectacular views, like an intergalactic theme park. Because it’s such a crossroads and some data kept pointing there, I…” He trailed off thinking about Cheka the blind MinSha tattoo artist. He’d looked at the tattoo on his stomach twice on the way home, just to verify he hadn’t dreamed it. Now he was reluctant to talk about it.

  “You okay, son?” Hargrave asked.

  “Yeah,” Jim said, shaking his head. “Just a long trip. Anyway, nothing happened th
ere, so I came to meet you.”

  “Quite an adventure,” Captain Su said. “Sorry it had so little payoff.”

  “Me, too,” Jim agreed.

  “I’m just glad you made it back in one piece,” Hargrave said, and Buddha nodded, giving Jim a wink. There was a knock on the door and one of Bucephalus’s NCOs stuck her head in.

  “Captain, the Peacemaker is here.”

  The captain glanced at Jim, who nodded. “Please show the Peacemaker in, Johansson.” A moment later the Oogar Enforcer floated in, followed by the Cavaliers’ other senior officers, and the meeting began.

  “First, on behalf of the Peacemaker Guild, you have my thanks for taking this assignment. As the contract stipulates, here are the payment details.” The Oogar Enforcer’s slate projected a Tri-V of the payment and stipulation scale.

  “It’s not much,” Hargrave noted.

  “Slavers,” Jim said.

  “Attempted genocide,” Poltova said. “I’ve been trying to nail who’s been doing this for years. The Aku are nearly extinct.” The Tri-V displayed the locals. They reminded Jim of box turtles on Earth. “The Peacemakers might seem like the most powerful guild, but we are not the richest.” He spread his massive arms wide. “What we offer in addition to payment is the respect of helping.”

  “I have no problem with the payment,” Jim said. Hargrave looked at him sidelong, but Jim just stared at him. “I said I’d help back in Kikai, and I meant it. Please, Enforcer Poltova, continue.”

  The Enforcer shared a number of satellite images of the planet Soo-Aku. “It’s not a very hospitable environment,” he explained. “The primary throws off massive amounts of radiation. The Aku have evolved to dig into the planet’s soft soil for additional protection in addition to their shell, which has a fat/water jacket to shield their internal organs from the same radiation.

  “Unfortunately, that natural resistance to harsh environments, as well as radiation flux which would kill anything except a Goka, has made them valuable workers. The Aku are not members of the Galactic Union, which gives them protection against exploitation and attack. It’s regrettable they have been unable to be convinced to join.”

  “Why?” Jim asked. “Doesn’t the protection serve in this case?”

  “It would, if they were better located. As I mentioned, the system is not hospitable. The radiation flux makes staying here difficult. The Peacemakers are unable to maintain a constant presence. Less reputable races have learned ways to get in and out without our noticing. It doesn’t matter how much we wish to protect them; over the last century millions of Aku have been taken away and sold into servitude or murdered.

  “When Peacemakers find them, they are freed and returned here, of course. But we’ve only found a few thousand to date and the galaxy is vast.”

  “Why are they murdering them?” Hargrave asked. “If they’re so valuable, I mean, why kill your own product?”

  “Good question,” Poltova said. “We believe it is because Aku meat is considered tasty to some species.” The Oogar looked somewhat pained to say it; after all, the ursine sapients were well-known carnivores.

  “I bet it’s the Besquith,” Major Alvarado asked. One of Jim’s company commanders, he trusted the man’s input and years of merc service. Jim nodded. He’d dealt with the viscous Besquith on more than one occasion.

  “Not the Besquith,” Poltova said. “We have a few candidates, based on seizures of enslaved Aku. The Pushtal and the KzSha are the highest on the list.”

  “Do the Pushtal even have the resources for this kind of stealth operation?” Jim asked.

  “Maybe,” Poltova said, “although the Peacemaker investigators believe the slaves caught with the Pushtal may have simply been in transit or stolen by them.”

  Jim nodded. The Pushtal were reminiscent of bipedal Bengal tigers, though with varying color patterns. They averaged over two meters tall and commonly weighed in around 200 kilos. However, they’d lost a run-in with the MinSha sometime in the past and were now little more than servants to the praying mantis-like race. Some Pushtal clans lived on starships, eking out a living as merchants, fleet escorts, and, too often, as pirates. To Jim’s knowledge, they were the only merc race to ever be thrown out of the Mercenary Guild.

  Which left the KzSha. He inwardly cringed at this revelation. The KzSha reminded him of meter-long wasps. He didn’t like wasps to start with, and the KzSha were tough as nails. It didn’t help that the KzSha were the only merc race he knew of which used an analogue of CASPers. Yeah, armored wasps.

  Poltova continued, “We have three tribes of Aku remaining, which are viable breeding pools. We detected a ship entering the system two days before you arrived.” A map appeared above his slate. “This village is the location they likely landed at. We know that if we take our ship into the vicinity they’ll run. It appears the slavers have figured our operating procedures out.”

  “That’s where we come in,” Hargrave said. Poltova nodded.

  “Okay,” Jim said. “I’m going to take Alpha Company in on the far side of the planet. It will be slow, but they won’t see us coming. Once we land, we’ll move Bucephalus into position to provide air support. I’ve discussed the ROE with Poltova, and because of our status in this operation we have some leeway which Captain Su will appreciate.”

  Jim continued laying out the order of battle. Poltova explained their limitations and his demands. “We need proof of which race is perpetrating this atrocity,” he said, emphasizing proof. “If you simply kill them all, we’re left with nothing. The Mercenary Guild Council is notoriously unforgiving of hearsay evidence. Are we in understanding?” All the Cavaliers nodded. “Good. Let’s get started.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Ten

  They moved in a single column, heads hanging almost to the ground. The slightly rounded dome of their shells protected their vital internal organs. The Aku were well adapted to their world, including a lower shell which had a protrusion that allowed them to settle to the ground and use their front limbs as hands. Now they only used them to walk.

  Spaced along the column every dozen meters, the guards watched the creatures’ slow progress with the same bored indifference all prison guards developed. These guards were only slightly more interested because, unlike common prisoners, the ones they were watching represented an impressive bottom line.

  “Not many more of these left,” a guard named Oso said to his KzSha leader, Koto. They wore combat environmental armor, carefully formed to their thick insect bodies. Their wings projected through ingenious locks at the back of the suit, and, at the point of their abdomen, another lock allowed their stinger to be used in close combat, something they dearly loved. The other KzSha buzzed his wings twice, their version of the ubiquitous shrug all intelligent races seemed to develop.

  “Who is to care?” He reached out with one of his fighting limbs and took a swipe at the nearest Aku. It didn’t try to dodge, and the KzSha overseer’s razor-sharp blade rebounded with a splash of sparks. The shell showed a deep score, and the Aku shuffled a little faster. “They’re tough, at least in parts.” The other nodded and turned his head slightly so his compound eyes could focus on a pile of viscera and cracked shell lying nearby in the foliage. A few bones were scattered haphazardly.

  “Expensive meal,” Oso said. “We get as much as a million each for these things.”

  “It disobeyed,” Koto said and then clicked his mouthparts, savoring the taste. Too bad they were so useful as slaves; they were ever so delicious. His combat armor’s computer beeped to tell him he’d passed the halfway mark for allowable radiation absorption.

  “We need to get them aboard,” Oso said, no doubt responding to his own radiation warning. “I guess it’s just as well; we’ve almost exhausted this planet. This entropy-cursed radiation never ceases, even at night. Maybe we’ll take the last tribes for breeding stock.” Koto nodded in appreciation. That was a good idea. If they had enough of the Aku, then the surplus could be utilize
d as prey and food! If they went extinct, it was no concern of his.

  Koto passed along the instructions to his platoon to try to speed up the slothful beasts. He didn’t want any of his platoon to take too much radiation. If they had to use nanites to counter the damage, it would eat into their profit margin. He watched up and down the line as his troopers began to jab, poke, and prod the Aku onward. They may have sped up a little bit. Maybe. One of the Aku nearby stopped, and Koto buzzed his wings at it angrily.

  “Move along you!” he snapped, but the creature ignored him, its armored head craning to look up at the sky with its naturally shielded eyes. “What are you doing!” he snapped, getting angry. He didn’t want another million-credit meal, but if this insolent beast didn’t listen to him, it might still happen. He snatched his laser rifle from the magnetic retention point on his armor and moved closer, ready to butt-stroke the being, when his antenna picked up a sharp, reverberating BOOM echoing in the planetary morning.

  Koto looked up, his antenna swinging back and forth to test the air for more sounds. He was about to discount it as an atmospheric effect when two things happened—the alarm sounded over the platoon’s radio, and a rattling string of additional booms sounded from the sky.

  “Incoming ballistic radar signatures,” the nearest ship’s sensor technician called over the radio.

  “How many?” Koto demanded. A series of optical enhancements dropped down over his multifaceted eyes. They revealed a sky full of burning streaks.

  “Looks like forty,” the technician replied.

  “We are going to engage them with lasers before they get below engagement height,” the ship’s captain, Eshto, reported. “Order your men to abandon the village!” On the ship, half a kilometer down the ravine, Koto saw two of the mobile laser turrets come alive and begin pivoting. He used an antenna to tap the controls on the combat armor and change frequencies while looking up, eager to watch the attackers explode. His suit said the lowest was still over 30 kilometers up. Perfect. The ship’s batteries fired a single pulse of coherent light, and lightning struck.