Armageddon Theft: An Arek Lancer Novella

by Troy Osgood

  “You know what to do and who to contact if we’re not back in a day,” I asked.

  She nodded very reluctantly.

  When I took her on, became her guardian, one of the first things I did was tell her who to contact and game plan what to do if I was killed or went missing. She’s got a list of people memorized and who she calls is based on where she is and what the situation is. Getting her to memorize that list was not fun. It took awhile. I’m also pretty sure she has it written down and hidden somewhere.

  I’m okay with that. As long as she knows who to call.

  It was horrible that she couldn’t go home to her own people. But some of those people wanted her dead, so yeah, not ever going back. The other reason she couldn’t go home was the Tiat. I was pretty sure the Tiat had given up hunting for her, but better safe than sorry. They might remember what she was if she showed up back home. Could also prompt the Thesans to go down the genetic engineering rabbit hole again.

  Like I’ve said, she was a smart kid. I had faith that she’d do the right thing. It just sucked that so far she hadn’t met any of the people on the lists. She knew what to tell them to get them to trust her but beyond that, she would be entrusting herself to complete strangers.

  That had to change. She had to meet some of these people.

  But that kind of travel cost money and we never got that kind of extra money. We barely had enough to survive as it was.

  “Don’t let any of the Storwo off the ship,” I repeated. She was probably getting tired of hearing it. “No matter how restless they get. We might need to take off in a hurry and having to chase down some tourists is not in the plans.”

  She nodded. Kaylia knew why this was important and had brought up some excellent points when I had told her to keep the refugees on the Wind. The main one being, why would they listen to her? That was where Dresla came in with whoever she had picked to kind of lead the refugees. Dresla wasn’t the boss, but they all seemed to defer to her. I didn’t know who she had picked but I was trusting she was also a good judge of character.

  “Dresla,” I called turning to her. She stopped midway in pulling herself into the passenger seat of the hovercar. “Your temporary group leader knows to listen to Kaylia?”

  “Of course. I made sure of it.”

  “Good, I’d hate to have to kill any of your people if something happened to her.”

  Dresla studied me for a moment, no doubt wondering if I was serious.

  I was.

  Anyone that ever hurt Kaylia would not be long for this universe.

  I returned my attention to the kid and Kaylia managed a smile. She threw her arms around me tight and I patted her back with my free hand, holding the rifle as far away as I could but I returned the hug just as tightly.

  “Hey kiddo. It’ll be okay.”

  She finally let me go, running a finger below her eyes which I pretended not to notice. She stood straighter. Trying to stand at attention, or mimicking the position she had seen. It wasn’t close.

  The Wind will be just as you left her Captain.

  I chuckled.

  “Back inside,” I told her nodding towards the Wind’s entrance. With a last wave to Dresla, Kaylia darted inside. “And lock the doors.” The door slid shut, sliding out of the metal hull.

  I heard the satisfying sound of exterior door locks being engaged.

  Good.

  I climbed into the driver’s seat of the hovercar, handing the rifle over to Dresla to hold. It was pretty funny to look at. The rifle was almost as tall as Dresla was.

  “How are we to find them,” Dresla asked as I started up the thrusters.

  The hovercar shook a little, wobbly, as the thrusters engaged and lifted it a couple more feet off the ground.

  “Tracker in the escape pod,” I told her looking down at the hovercar’s navigation screen and trying to figure out how to operate it. Thankfully all the commands were in Tradelan and not the local language.

  “You have a tracker in your escape pod,” she asked surprised.

  “Doesn’t everyone?”

  *****

  I took a couple minutes to get used to the hovercars controls. Every planet and station had their own version of a hovercar. Mostly they were set up to be useable by the planet’s dominate species with some variations. Busier ports have more generic vehicles. The Tuis one wasn’t generic.

  If we had just been going into the city, I wouldn’t have bothered. They’re easy enough to operate for quick trips like that. But going into the unknown? A potential firefight? Where we might have to make a quick get away?

  Nope. I had learned the hard way to make sure I knew the equipment I was using. Sure there were times that I had to improvise but prior planning saved many a life and mission over the years.

  I pulled the hovercar around in front of the Wind to see if there had been any damage from Torsi’s escape.

  The Nomad’s Wind is a medium sized freight hauler, not designed for speed or agility. It’s two levels, cargo and some living on the bottom and the rest of the living plus engineering on the top, the mid part of the ship on all sides but the back had a gray metal “wing” that came off the blue metallic sides and went around to the front. It extended beyond the front of the ship and angled in. The wing ran to the back of the ship but didn’t extend beyond, also angling in towards the hull. Mounted on top of the wing at the back were two large engines. The rear of the ship was somewhat straight making the ship look boxy from that view, the cargo doors and ramp on the lower half. The front was different, the top and bottom halves were angled, sloping away from the wing.

  It looked like a blue wedge with a gray triangle attached to it.

  The top half of the wedge was the bridge and the viewing window, which was not visible from this angle. I liked the window but because of the steepness of the angled hull it was pretty useless for visibility well flying. Still had to rely on the sensors.

  The bottom half of the angled front had two sliding doors. A larger one for the escape pod and a smaller one for the airlock. Both were closed, showing a tight seal from what I could see. There were some scorch marks along the edge of the pod door, where the thrusters would have hit the metal when the pod launched. Nothing that bad. Easy enough to repair. Just some cleaning and paint really.

  Or not. There were already enough scratches, blaster marks and scorch marks on the hull. The little scars added character. Much like the ones I bore.

  Looking at the tracking display on my wristcomm, I adjusted the hovercars trajectory and set off away from the city. We had flown in from the south, so that was the way I headed.

  I took the car over the metal of the docking pad, not following any of the marked lanes. I swerved around the parked ships, most bigger than the Wind but a couple smaller. We moved quickly, almost but not quite hazardly.

  The end of the pad came up and the hovercar’s front end shifted as the thrusters went from the solid surface of the metal to the natural grass surface. The vehicle compensated once all the thrusters were over the grass. The plain stretched for miles in front of us, the trees distant. There was a flatness, almost unnatural, and I wondered if the land had been shaped to look like this. It was a decent defense, able to see anything coming along the ground before it even came close to the city.

  But why would the Tuis need to have a kill zone around the city?

  I had expected a bumpy ride but it was relatively smooth. The wind rushed by, blocked by the windshield and we left a trail of flattened grass behind us. The thrusters were quiet, no bounceback noise like you would get when over metal. The hovercar was almost gliding over the plain.

  Now that we were in the open grasslands I increased the speed. No more having to worry about maglifters, other cars or people moving about.

  Dresla gripped the side of the car, the only place she could grab, tighter. The small bounces were nothing to me, but they were bigger bounces to her.

  “Shouldn’t you slow down,” she said as the windshield
started to shake with the force of the wind and speed.

  “We’re on a time limit,” I told her but didn’t elaborate. She was a cop, she could figure it out.

  Torsi already had an hour or so on us and she could have completed her deal and be on her way off planet by now. That’s why I was going overland and hadn’t taken the marked paths when we left. Speed was important now.

  I also didn’t want to get stopped by the Tuis Security. We’d deal with them when we got back.

  And I’m sure there would be a lot to talk about. No doubt they were tracking us. An object, any object, speeding away from the docking pad was cause for concern. They probably thought we had stolen something.

  They’d be on the right track, just not with who was the thief.

  Security would be tightening around the dock and they’d be sending out some ships to investigate.

  Which was part of my plan.

  Instant back-up.

  Briefly I wondered if they were tracking the escape pod. Had they even noticed it had launched? If they did, it would be a simple enough matter to track the ship it had come from. There could be Security Forces approaching the Wind and Kaylia right now.

  Good thing I had briefed her on what to say if they did.

  The truth.

  Why lie? I had no problem lying to the authorities when I needed to but only when needed to. The truth would only help us in this case.

  The trees grew taller as we got closer and I had to slow down. They were spaced pretty far apart, just enough for the hovercar to make it through. Dresla gripped the side even harder, if that was possible, as I sped and swerved through the trees. I really should have slowed down, I didn’t know the forest, but I kept the speed constant.

  Just shy of too fast.

  It was like a slalom course. Swerve around one tree, then another, trying to maintain the same track. The branches were high, most above our heads but some low enough to break against the top of the hovercar. High and thick, casting most of the forest floor in shadow. The limbs started higher up the trunks, a bonus for us, as that was where they could get at least some sunlight.

  I glanced down at my wristcomm and the tracker. It showed the pod at least twenty miles or more away. Too far.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Our progress slowed as the trees grew thicker and we entered a long valley. Trees along the top on all sides and down the slopes to the bottom where they were closely packed together and a river was barely visible.

  The tracker put the pod down in the valley and using the rifle’s scope I could see the burn marks on the trees where it had crashed through. Only two miles away. Or close to. I had parked the hovercar far enough back from the edge so the metal wouldn’t catch the sun and along with Dresla we had walked to the edge.

  On my wristcomm I could see the path the escape pod had taken. We hadn’t been able to see it from the Wind, but Torsi had taken the pod in the same direction we had gone for awhile. That worked out for us as it shortened the distance.

  I couldn’t see any movement from up on the valley’s edge.

  Or any sign that someone was still there. Only the scorch marks told us that Torsi had been there. She wasn’t a very good pilot. That clearing where she had landed was large, I could tell from up here, and any half decent pilot could have landed the escape pod there without damaging the trees.

  I was afraid to see what damage she had done to the pod itself.

  “Let’s go,” I told Dresla and started making my way down the slope.

  It was steep but there were plenty of tree roots and small rocks to use as footholds.

  I could feel the time ticking away. It would be just my luck that Torsi would leave just as we were almost there. I had to hold out hope that she had been early for her rendezvous and hadn’t counted on me being able to track the pod.

  Which was a logical assumption. Besides myself, I didn’t know or hadn’t heard of anyone putting trackers in their pods. I had been joking with Dresla earlier. No one did it.

  Why would they? Pods were meant to be one way. Your ship was going to die somehow; run out of fuel, explode, lose life support, something. You used the pod to get away and survive. Why would you use the pod to go back? You got to where you needed to go, or drifted in space until somehow you were found, and that was it.

  There was no need to track a pod.

  Unless you were me and in your past life you had needed to.

  Hitting the bottom of the slope, where the valley leveled out, I waited for Dresla. With a grunt she slid down next to me, breathing heavily. Her smaller legs were going to slow me down but there was no way I was going to let her lag that far behind with so many unknowns.

  From this point forward, I was assuming we were in enemy territory.

  I took off at a jog, adjusting my speed to make sure Dresla was able to keep up.

  The trees were too close for the hovercar but far enough apart for us to run through comfortably. Plenty of space to adjust the course around ones that popped up in the way. Keeping the straight line was difficult so I relied more on the signal on my wristcomm. I kept glancing behind me, watching Dresla and making sure she was still there.

  She was doing a good job of keeping up but my longer strides naturally pulled me ahead.

  The spacing of the trees was nice in that it helped us run but it was going to be a drawback the closer we got. It wouldn’t be good cover. We’d be too visible.

  A problem for the near future. We had to get there first.

  And hope our targets were still there.

  *****

  I slowed as the wristcomm told me the pod was just ahead, twenty feet or so. Ducking behind a tree I saw Dresla do the same another twenty feet behind me. I leaned around the trunk, hearing the faint sound of a hovercar some distance away. Torsi’s contacts? Arriving or leaving? Were we in time?

  Glancing back at Dresla, I sized her up and compared her to the rifle. She could hold it and shoot but not accurately. I looked up into the trees, finding one that would work. Waving my hand to call Dresla I moved to the new tree. She crouched down next to me as I looked at the branches, choosing my route.

  Earth Expeditionary Forces Spec Ops had developed a series of hand signals, a code that conveyed a lot of information. Using that I could have told Dresla what I wanted her to do with three hand codes. Instead I’d have to speak the instructions. Quietly, of course, but if there was an Xhan or another of those species with crazy hearing that can hear a whisper a mile away, it would give our position away.

  Of course if there was a species like that, they already knew we were coming. Another lesson from Jessups was to not overthink it.

  “Circle around,” I told her pointing towards one side of the clearing ahead. “Doesn’t matter which side. Start firing when I give the signal.”

  “What’s the signal?”

  I half expected her to protest. She was the cop after all. Torsi was one of her people and had stolen from her. I was just a freight hauler. But instead Dresla just nodded.

  “You’ll know,” I answered and adjusted the rifle slung over my shoulder.

  I watched Dresla make her way through the trees and when she was far enough that any noise I might make would not draw whoever waited down on her, I started climbing.

  I keep in decent shape. Do a lot of sitting around on the Wind so I force myself. I’ve seen too many fat and out of shape freight haulers. No way was that going to be me.

  Also all the trouble that I somehow run into helps.

  I climbed up the tree, jumping to catch the lowest branch, and made my way as high as I felt safe going. The tree was starting to thin out, the branches closer together but not thick enough to take my weight. I was high enough and with some shifting I got into a good position that gave me a decent sightline.

  Carefully unslinging the rifle I rested the barrel on a branch and looked through the viewfinder. My vision narrowed to a small circle, lots of readouts around the edges showing me wind speed, temperat
ure, elevation and anything else that could affect the shot. The rifle was a plasma blaster, like my pistol, so there were still outside and environmental effects that could alter a shot.

  I located the hovercar first.

  It was coming through the trees, moving slowly. The clearing had an opening at the far end and there were scorch marks along the ground. Looked like this spot got used pretty regularly. The hovercar was a basic four seater model with attached flat bed. Nothing special. Focusing in on the driver and passengers I was surprised.

  I had expected Tuis.

  Instead they were Herftos.

  Each would stand about six and a half feet tall. Probably around two hundred pounds. Pale white skin. They had long arms that ended in three long and multi-jointed hands and fingers. Their heads were elongated. Thick at the top where they had two long eyes, thinner in the middle and thicker at the bottom with a wide mouth and whiskers.

  What were Herftos doing here?

  They weren’t one of those races that typically got hired out as muscle. They weren’t one of those races that were smarter than others. They didn’t have a particular cultural dark bend, so they weren’t seen as crimelords. I didn’t think they were art fans either. I’m sure there were some among the millions of Herftos, but enough to deal in black market goods?

  Question for another time.

  I shifted my attention and found Torsi.

  The clearing was long and skinny. The sloped grassy ramp at the far end, a stream that snaked in from the side and continued through the clearing, and bordered in trees. A peaceful enough spot.

  Torsi was standing next to the escape pod, leaning against it. I couldn’t see the Daelot, it had to be inside the pod. I could see some damage from where Torsi hit the trees.

  I could also see the ground behind the pod was dug up, indicating that it had skidded to a landing. She hadn’t even engaged the landing gear. That would make getting it up difficult.

  The hovercar came to a stop and three of the Herftos got out. The driver stayed. There was nothing remarkable about any of them. Standard Herfto clothing and weaponry.