by Tony Healey
"Why would they tell you that?" Max asked.
"Probably thought I'd be dead and it wouldn't matter." Pazo flexed his pecs. "Of course, they had no idea who they were up against. Only send five mercs to face a Mintok? Please."
Kort clenched his jaw. "We need to get back to camp right away and collect our reinforcements."
"Didn’t ya hear what I just said?" Pazo walked toward the cruiser and waved the trio to follow him. "By the time I swap out this blasted belt, it'd be nightfall before we reach camp. If we're going to save her team, it's going to have to be the four of us."
"We've got a plan . . . sort of," Max said. "I mean, it was devised with everyone's participation in mind, but – "
"Excellent!" Pazo lifted the cruiser's tread and attached one end of a belt around a roller. "You can tell me all about it on the way there."
Max shuffled his feet in the snow. "But . . . how do we make a plan for seven people work with only four?"
"That's the easy part." Pazo fastened the other end of the belt around the rear roller. "We improvise."
"Thank you, Pazo," Max said. "We appreciate your help."
"Just prepare to be disappointed, kid," Kort said. "He'd never agree to help these people unless there was something in it for him. You'll see what kind of ‘hero' he really is."
Kort went around the side of the cruiser and climbed in. Pazo shook his head and went back to work on the repairs.
"Same old Kort."
13
The cruiser rolled at a slow, steady pace across the ice. Frozen shavings kicked up from the treads and flew past the porthole window. Pazo had flicked the heater switch to FULL twenty minutes ago, but Max couldn't feel a difference in the coach's temperature, only an increase in the stale stench of cigar smoke.
The chill soaked straight through to the bone. Max saw his breath upon exhaling, and tried making a game out of it to take his mind off the cold. With each puff of visible vapor, he looked for recognizable shapes. One cloudy burst reminded him of K1R-B, which made him chuckle.
The cruiser's beige, bare metal interior wasn't helping matters. Only a thin layer of cushion separated Max from the frigid steel bench he sat upon.
I will never make fun of Kort again for insisting upon heated seats on the Maiden, he thought.
Kort hadn't spoken since the voyage began. Although he sat in the passenger seat beside Pazo, he hadn't so much as acknowledged the Mintok's presence. As far as Max could tell, Pazo didn't seem troubled by the situation. Max was dying to ask questions about their relationship, but he'd never seen his uncle react this way before. Whatever happened in their past, it clearly still bothered Kort, and Max didn't feel right opening old wounds.
On top of the undesired reunion, Max assumed Kort had to have had the Fair Maiden on his mind. They'd been on Quaris for some time, and the twenty-four hour deadline to vacate was drawing near.
They can't legally take possession of the ship, can they?
"Sorry about the heating situation," Pazo said. "This ol' gal is in need of a few upgrades that I haven't gotten around to yet."
Max hugged his body and shivered. "Oh, it's okay."
"Ya lying to be polite?" Pazo said. "Cuz I can hear your knees knocking together all the way up here."
Max slumped in his seat and moved his knees apart.
Pazo laughed in a loud, obnoxious manner that made Max's ears ring. "Yep, she may not be pretty, but she's reliable – provided many a safe passage across the tundra. Her treads are custom-made, ya know. I once ferried a mechanic who offered payment in the form of aftermarket schematics to improve her. We're talking Union-caliber private stock type of stuff. Second best investment I ever made." He tapped the grip of his crossbow.
Max looked outside the porthole. The snow fell hard, approaching blizzard-like conditions. He found himself mesmerized by the tundra's tranquil shade of blue below them.
"Gorgeous, ain't it?" Pazo said. "The ice is so clear that it acts as a window to the bottom of the ocean."
"Ocean?" Max inquired.
"Oh, yeah." Pazo gripped the wheel at twelve o'clock with his humanoid hand. "The tundra isn't actually a tundra at all, but rather a vast, frozen ocean. Remarkable, don't ya think?"
K1R-B performed a database check. "He's correct, Max. Records indicate that bodies of water once existed on Quaris, but turned to ice after a massive climate shift thousands of years ago."
"Ya fact-checking me now, tin can?" Pazo laughed. "Of course I'm right. I ain't much for lyin'."
Kort harrumphed.
"What's that, old man?" Pazo took the wheel with his claw and cupped his hand around his ear. "Ya finally got something to say?"
Kort ignored him.
"What's with you two, anyway?" K1R-B asked.
Max’s eyes widened. "Kirby!"
"Nah, it's fine, squirt." Pazo put his hand back on the wheel. "We've still got a ways to go, and it's bound to come up eventually, so might as well address the snow golem in the room. What do ya say, Kort? Shall I tell ‘em the story?"
Kort didn't reply.
"Your uncle and I go back a ways," Pazo said. "Used to be partners, as a matter of fact. Ran a decent-sized smugg – "
"Business operation!" Kort growled.
"Right," Pazo continued. "We ran a decent-sized business operation together, which brought us to Quaris quite a bit. Back in those days, the Union didn't offer as many mining contracts as they do today, so there was opportunity to . . . uh, liberate cargo shipments and sell them on outlier planets. And if someone on Quaris required a special order, we provided that service as well . . . for the right amount of credits, of course."
Kort glared at Pazo. "Because that's what honest merchants do."
Pazo winked.
"So, what happened?" Max asked. "Why all the tension between you?"
"Oh, that," Pazo said. "Your uncle here thinks I burned him on a merchant run." He made air quotes with his humanoid hand.
"You did!" Kort turned to face him. "I can't believe you're still trying to deny it after all these years."
K1R-B pointed out the porthole. "Uh, guys?"
Pazo sighed. "Think what ya want, old man. I'm tired of wasting my breath. My conscience is clear about that night."
Max noticed silhouettes of people emerging through the bluster.
"Is it? Well, I followed up on your ‘anonymous tip,' walked into a trap, and you never showed up to have my back as planned." Kort shook his finger. "What would you call that?"
A group of four men crouched around an object that Max couldn't make out. "Guys, I think we've got company."
"That's not how it went down, Kort, and if ya'd ever bothered to hear out my side of things, ya'd know that," Pazo said.
"Save it." Kort crossed his arms. "I was lucky to escape with my life. I should've known better than to ever trust a Mintok."
Max wiped condensation off the glass for a better view. Two men spun a cannon on a turret, lining up their shot at the cruiser.
"Oh, now ya wanna bring my people into this?" Pazo pounded the steering wheel. "Say whatever ya want about me, but don't ya dare talk crap about my kind. Ya hear me?"
"Hit a nerve, did I?" Kort said. "What are you going to do, pinch me?"
"Guys," Max said.
Pazo snarled. "How about I leave you in a heap out here on the tundra, and ya can walk the rest of the way?"
"Hey, guys," Max said, raising his volume.
"Leaving me behind, eh? That sounds familiar." Kort balled up his fists. "I guess that's your answer for everything."
Pazo grabbed a fistful of Kort's jacket. "You no-good, son of a b – "
"Guys!" Max yelled.
Pazo and Kort turned their heads. "What?" they shouted in unison.
The ground rumbled beneath them, jostling the cruiser. Pazo bore down on the wheel, correcting to keep the vehicle from spinning out. Another blast rocked the cruiser.
"Hang on!" Pazo yelled.
Max watched out the porthole as the unknown men ad
justed the cannon for their next shot. From his vantage point, he didn't observe any damage to the cruiser. Instead, steam billowed from holes in the ice around them.
Sweat beaded up on Pazo's brow ridge. His muscles rippled as he fought with the wheel to keep the cruiser on course. Max understood that should Pazo fail, the ice could send them careening into the side of a mountain, or worse, down a ravine. Either way, it wouldn’t end well.
"Lucky for us they can't hit the broad side of a barn," Kort said.
Pazo grunted. "That's cuz they ain't aiming at us."
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it," Pazo said. "We have to maintain low speed on the tundra, otherwise we'll slide out of control. How hard do you think it would be to hit a cruiser this size at eighteen miles an hour?"
"If they don't want to blow us up, what do they want?" Kort asked.
"I could tell ya, but you're not gonna like the answer." Pazo glanced over his shoulder. "That tin can know how to drive a cruiser?"
K1R-B gasped. "I have a name, I'll have you know!"
Max shushed the droid. "Kirby, can you access the intergalactic network from here?"
"Yes, quite sure" K1R-B replied.
"Okay, download the pilot's manual for this cruiser, and add the instructions to your internal memory," Max said. "You're going to get us out of here."
___***___
Pazo unchained a Gatling gun from the side of the cruiser. With the press of a button, a roof hatch opened, and a bronze-colored ladder lowered. Flurries of snow blew inside the cruiser, littering the floor with crystalline particles.
Pazo glanced down at Max from the first rung of the ladder. "While I'm up there, you're in charge."
"What do I do?" Max asked.
Halfway up the ladder, Pazo looked back. "Make sure that droid of yours doesn't crash."
Max made his way to the front of the cruiser, kneeling down between K1R-B and Kort. The droid positioned its hands on the wheel at ten and two o'clock. Kort fidgeted in his chair with a hand around the grip of his blaster.
"Damn this windshield armor!" Kort said. "I can't see what's going on out there."
"That makes two of us," K1R-B said.
Max palmed his face. "That's not very comforting, Kirby, considering you're the one with a window cutout."
The cruiser slid a few inches to the right, pressing Kort against the door.
"I thought you knew how to drive this thing?" Kort said.
"The instructions indicate how to drive the cruiser, not how to navigate the cruiser on ice." K1R-B leaned forward for a better view out the windshield. "Besides, where are we going, anyway? I don't have a map."
"The only direction you can go is forward," Kort said. "When the road stops feeling slick, we're there."
___***___
Pazo steadied the Gatling gun with his claw, and squeezed the trigger with his hand. His arms shook as the barrel spun clockwise, spitting high velocity rounds of two-inch shells across the ice. The mercenaries dove for cover behind mounds of exploding snow.
The mercenary leader barked commands at his team as they regrouped. Two long-range snipers pelted the side of the cruiser, forcing Pazo to withdraw. The mercenaries fired another shot from the cannon, puncturing a hole in the ice in front of the cruiser.
Pazo blind-fired a spray of bullets, missing his target by a wide margin. More sniper rifle fire clanged against the side of cruiser, shooting sparks into the air. Pazo grumbled and contemplated his options. Without proper visibility, his efforts did little to disrupt the mercenaries. Besides that, it wasted good ammo clips that weren't easy, or cheap, to come by.
How am I going to get a bead on these guys without getting my head blown off? he thought.
An explosion beside the cruiser buckled the left tread. Pazo stuck his arm between two rungs of the ladder and held on. The cruiser stabilized after a few tense moments.
"Nice job, tin can," Pazo shouted toward the front. "If we survive this, I'm going to get ya gold-plated."
Another explosion quaked the ground, this time behind the cruiser. Pazo swallowed hard. Enough of this, he thought.
Pazo activated the secondary fire mod on the Gatling gun. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A battle-cry in his native Tokang language passed through his lips before he popped back up through the hatch.
An immediate burst of sniper fire bombarded the thick metal armor plates around him. He squinted one eye, lined up the cannon in his cross hairs, and pulled the trigger.
The Gatling gun hurled a disc-shaped projectile. A gentle thrum intensified as the disc picked up speed and neared its target.
"Fall back!" the mercenary leader shouted.
The men turned tail and ran, escaping just before contact. The disc oscillated and whined, plunging into the side of the cannon and detonating. A plume of dark, acrid smoke burst into the air. The blast spewed shrapnel in all directions, striking one of the mercenaries in the back of the neck and dropping him. The rest disappeared into the trees.
Pazo kissed the barrel of his gun. "Never leave me, beautiful."
A cracking sound interrupted Pazo's momentary celebration.
___***___
The roof hatch slammed down, followed by Pazo jumping to the floor. The cruiser swayed side-to-side, as though coasting on a bed of waves.
"Take it easy, Kirby," Kort said.
"It's not him." Pazo strode to the front. "We'd better swap out, tin can."
The cracking sounds grew louder. Pazo held the wheel as K1R-B slid out of the way, freeing up the driver's seat. The cruiser bounced.
Kort gripped the armrests on his seat. "What's happening?"
The cruiser's weight shifted to the rear. Its nose angled several degrees upward.
"We’re tipping!" Max yelled.
"Hold on, everyone!" Pazo said.
Chunks of ice snapped like bone all around them. Violent tremors wobbled the cruiser, knocking around the crew inside. Pazo pressed the accelerator to the floor, spinning the treads in place.
"Come on, ol' girl." Pazo pounded the console. "You've never let me down before. Don't start now."
The ice broke apart in front of them, sending the cruiser into a tailspin. The force drove Max stumbling toward the back. K1R-B grabbed hold of the bolted down bench and cinched its legs around his waist.
"Everyone alright back there?" Kort called out.
"Yeah," Max said, gasping for breath.
Pazo cranked the wheel as far to the left as it would turn, then to the right. He found the sweet spot in the middle, and righted the cruiser. "Pray to whatever you believe in. Here we go!"
The vehicle's treads cut through a layer of ice and established traction in the furrows. The cruiser lurched forward, pulling onto solid ground. Once clear of the fragile surface, Pazo parked the cruiser and lowered the windshield armor plate. The crew looked on as the section of ice they'd just left behind broke apart and sunk into a pool of water.
"That's . . . impossible," Kort said.
"I'm afraid it's not." Pazo untwisted his safety harness. "And it's only the beginning."
Kort rubbed his eyes. "Help me out here, Pazo, because I don't believe what I'm seeing."
"What you're seeing, old man, is the true motivation of Officer Maynard Wils," Pazo said.
"I don't understand.”
"Wils has spent several years – and millions of the Union's credits – developing advanced weaponry in secret." Pazo entered a series of keystrokes on the console and pulled up a blueprint labeled CODENAME: MAELSTROM. "What you saw back there is only a taste of what Wils aims to accomplish with this technology. With that lone cannon, his men melted a slab of ice around us, thousands of years old. Imagine what he could do with a cannon twice that size."
Kort scratched his head. "But that's madness. If he were to melt millennia of snow and ice, the floods would be devastating. All life on Quaris would be at risk."
Pazo restarted the cruiser's engine. "Ya told the boy earlier that
I wouldn't have involved myself in this matter if there wasn't something in it for me. Well, Quaris may be a dump, but it's my home, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let that miserable piece of scum destroy it. That's what's in it for me."
Kort stared down at his feet.
"Whatever beef remains between you and I, let's put it in hold till we stop him," Pazo said. “Innocent lives depend on it.”
14
Pazo parked the cruiser at the tundra's end. Even with an array of fresh scorch marks and blaster holes, an Ice Runner's empty vehicle wouldn't attract much attention that far from civilization.
Compared to other Runners' vessels, Pazo had one of the most secure rides on the tundra. What it lacked in luxury, he compensated for with impeccable driving skill and military-grade armor, which made him the most sought after pilot on Quaris. However, by choosing to defy the rules of Officer Wils, he'd put his way of life in jeopardy. Max respected that.
Kort unfolded the map he'd taken from camp. "We're close. According to Mayday's calculations, we should reach the abandoned lumber yard if we keep heading east."
"The kid mentioned something about a plan," Pazo said. "Now's probably as good a time as any to bring me up to speed."
Kort handed one end of the map to Pazo and pointed to a circled area. "This here is the mining facility." He slid his finger over to an X. "Right here is an old lumberyard. We enter the lumberyard through these woods on the southeast side, and we can use the tower to see what we're up against."
"I like it," Pazo said. "The approach is solid, but Wils may be prepared for a rescue attempt. We should anticipate an increase in security. What's our arsenal situation?"
Max tapped his hip. "I've got a blaster."
"Alright, and I know the old man's got at least a couple stashed under his belt." Pazo inspected the droid. "Any weapons on this thing?"
"No, he's not a combat droid," Max answered.
"Hmm . . ." Pazo rubbed his chin. "So, we've got a handful of blasters, my crossbow, and an unarmed droid. Can't say I'm overly optimistic about our chances, but I've worked with less."
