Renegades: Origins

by Kal Spriggs

  “Oh?” Simon asked.

  “Yeah…” Illario peered at Simon for a long moment. “Uh, pula, has he talked with you about it?”

  Simon just cocked his head, “Should he have?”

  “Well, you see, he said he wanted your advice. And I know you used to be a…” Illario caught himself and gave a fake smile, “… well, a cop.”

  “I did law enforcement, yes,” Simon corrected.

  “Yeah, well, I wanted to clear the air between us,” Illario said. “You know, make sure we don’t misunderstand each other.”

  And here we go, Simon thought.

  “So, since Mike really trusts you, I wonder what it might take to get in good with you.” The offer seemed so openly spoken that it assaulted Simon’s sense of self worth. Why not just slap me on the ass and call me a whore, Simon thought.

  “Excuse me?” Simon asked

  He saw sweat bead up on Illario’s forehead. This would be the moment of truth, it would show how much a threat Simon should rate the former, or not so former, criminal. What tactic will the man choose, Simon wondered.

  Illario went with one Simon would never have suspected: he went with the truth. “Look, pula, this is the best offer I could ever get for honest work. I got a place here, one where I can make good money, one where I got safety. All I need to keep it is to get you to tell Mike I’m good. I want to know what that will take, and anything that won’t jeopardize this will be worth it.”

  Simon stared at him. “You want to prove you’re trustworthy by bribing me?”

  Illario shrugged, “Call it a bribe, call it a tax, call it a gift, or just call it a favor, it’s all the same. I can get things, that’s my skill, that’s what I can bring to this crew besides muscle, and the dog and the cat bring more of that than any one human can provide.” It took Simon a moment to catch the slang about Rastar and Anubus. That’s right, Cats and Dogs, Ghornath and Wrethe. “You wear that cheap suit you got off the wreck like you think you’re special, but I know how all you cops have your needs, just like other people. Me, I bet you’ll want me to get you some women when we hit port.”

  “No,” Simon snapped.

  Illario smiled, “Ah, sbirro, I see, you watch the fish here while the ‘fish’ you want is just out of reach. You need a little help reeling her in? I can help you there, too. She’s a good looking piece, I admit, but not all up there,” Illario waved his hand around his head, “Just like most mind-freaks.”

  Simon leaned close, “Just a suggestion, you want me to tell Mike to trust you, you shouldn’t try to piss me off.”

  Illario’s smile vanished, “Now I see what you got in you sbirro, and I see you think you’re an honest pula, and that just means you’re the worst kind. All full of yourself and how important you are, too afraid to go out and get the things you want, do the things you want… so you take your fear out on the people brave enough to do it.” Illario cracked his neck, “Cops like you, they burn out or they go bad worse than the rest. You won’t take a gift, and a friendly warning wouldn’t work, someone would get hurt.”

  “Is that a threat?” Simon asked.

  “No, sbirro. I wouldn’t threaten you anyway, too obvious,” Illario said. “I might go after that pretty little blonde mind-freak, but not you, you probably got a martyr complex like my mother.”

  “Her name is Ariadne,” Simon snarled, “And if you touch her-”

  “Hey bro, I got nothing against her,” Illario said. “Besides, I’d sooner stick my cazzo in a recycler than get her pissed at me. Got a cousin who messed with one of Shadow Lord Imperious’s drug shipments. I ain’t getting no mind-freaks cross with me after what they did to him, not over a sbirro like you, anyhow.”

  “So why are you still talking?” Simon asked. I should have kept my cool, Simon thought, I tipped my hand and Grandpa Montgomery would kick my ass for letting so much slip.

  “Pula, I’m just passing the time,” Illario shrugged. “I bet you’ll tell Mike to ditch me at the first port we make. You’ll tell him I’m a druggy, a convict, and probably a killer. You’ll tell him I’d kill my own brother over a whore and pimp my sister for drug money.”

  “Would you?” Simon asked, his voice level. “I see the needle marks on your arms. I can see the green tint on your iris, you probably did Morphate, maybe Dreamweed or even some real hard stuff like Primus. Some of those you would sell your soul for a second hit.”

  “Sbirro…” Illario looked almost sad for a moment, “I done worse than that. But I’m clean now, not a damned thing in my system. What you don’t realize is that even if Mike doesn’t trust me, he can use me. Someone like me brings something that even a sbirro like you can appreciate.” Illario smiled, “I’m disposable. It’s not something I might be proud of, but it’s true. Got a job so dirty or dangerous that not even a martyr like you wants to do… well, send me instead. I get caught, well, just a bad seed, nothing to tie it to Mike or anyone else. You pula use people like me all the time. You just don’t want to associate with me because I’m the mirror on all the shit you hide in the bottom of your soul.”

  “I don’t like you because you’re weak,” Simon growled. “You’re an addict. You might claim to have it together, but that first port we hit, you’ll have all those drugs right at your fingertips. And someone out there will want information on us. You’re weak, and your weakness will make us vulnerable.”

  “Fuck you, sbirro,” Illario said. “Not all of us grew up with money. Your daddy may have sent you to a nice school and given you money for your birthdays, my dad died working the hard labor mines at Volaterra. My stepfather beat the shit out of me and kicked me out of his apartment for my thirteenth birthday. I earned everything I’ve ever had with blood… mine and the people in the way.” Illario stood up, “You go ahead and tell Mike that I ain’t worth shit, but you wait and see, he’ll see my value.” The ganger turned away and swaggered off.

  Simon took another sip of water. For just a moment he wished for a good beer. Well, that went well, Simon thought with sarcasm.

  * * *

  Simon found Mike up on the bridge. “Captain, got a moment?” He saw Mike had pulled up the flight simulator on the captain’s terminal. With the Ghornath-sized terminal, he looked almost like a kid at play on his father’s computer.

  The ship’s captain glanced up, “Ah, what’s up, brother?”

  “I just talked with Illario,” Simon said.

  “Let me guess. He’s a danger, probably turn on us for drug money, and you want me to ditch him first chance we get?” Mike asked. He didn’t look up from the flight simulator.

  Simon paused, his eyes narrowed, “You already knew what I’d say. Why’d you tell him to talk to me?”

  “I figured it best to get that out in the open, and I held out some hope he might convince you,” Mike said. “But really, I decided to hire him on regardless.”

  Simon gritted his teeth, “Mike, scum like Illario are-”

  “Dangerous, I know. Worse, he’d probably pimp out his sister for drug money and shank his own brother over a whore,” Mike smiled slightly, “But that’s beside the point.”

  Simon waited patiently.

  “The point is, Simon, that regardless of that, we can use him. Illario, like told me and he probably told you, is both expendable and deniable. Better than all that, he’s loyal, as far as it goes. He’ll do a job that even Anubus might hesitate over.”

  “I hadn’t realized we might take that kind of job,” Simon said.

  Mike sighed, and paused his simulation. He turned to face Simon. “Look, brother, would you torture someone for information? Would you slap around the Nova Roma Ambassador if we needed it to happen? Would you know where to sell an illegal cargo if we picked one up?”

  Simon looked away.

  “And yeah, we might come to that,” Mike said. He reached out a hand and rested it on Simon’s shoulder. “The way I see it, we got three options when we get back. We go our separate ways, we try to take some mercenary
work… or we try our hand at privateering for whoever will take us.”

  “Piracy?” Simon asked, he couldn’t keep the shock out of his voice. He stepped away from Mike, “You’re thinking of going pirate?”

  “No.” Mike shook his head, “Privateering for a government, probably going after the Chxor, so I’d say Nova Roma or the Colonial Republic,” Mike shrugged. “It pays better than straight up mercenary work, and we can run cargoes along the way to earn some spending money.”

  “With this ship?” Simon asked.

  Mike shot a glance at the open bridge hatch and then at the camera that Pixel had installed. He pitched his voice low, so as not to carry, “Look, brother, this ship is Ghornath military, high tech, rare, probably worth a lot… but there’s not one government in human space that would let a bunch of nobodies like us keep her.”

  Simon frowned, “Why not?”

  “It’s well armed, for one thing. Most governments get nervous with well-armed civilians. Makes them worry about revolutions and such,” Mike shrugged. “Worse than that, it’s well-armed, alien-built, and irreplaceable. Plus Nova Roma went to war with the Ghornath and it has served as a privateer against them. They’ll want her as a trophy if nothing else. On top of that, the Chxor went full out against Nova Roma. They captured Danar… well, that’s what Crowe found on the Sao Martino‘s log, anyway. So the Nova Romans will want every warship they can get. A small fast ship like this is perfect for a scout or escort.”

  “Danar?” Simon asked. He remembered the system had been mentioned before, but he hadn’t paid much attention, to be honest. Everything outside the Confederation had seemed so distant and of little importance before he went on the run from his own nation. In the time since his escape from the Chxor, he hadn’t paid much attention to where they were headed, so long as it was away from the murderous alien empire.

  “A major military hub, only one jump away from the Nova Roma system itself. They’ve got the second largest shipyard outside of Confederation space there and the only big yards besides Nova Roma. That means the Chxor can threaten the Empire’s capital. I would bet the Nova Roma Fleet will throw a hell of a lot of ships at Danar soon enough in an attempt to take it back, but that kind of battle will mean they’ll be low on ships like this, especially if they lose.”

  “So we lose this ship,” Simon shrugged. “We could hire on with…”

  “Screw that. I worked as a crewman for a dozen crappy tramp freighters. We got a good team here and I’m not going to let us get broken up in a big crew, as assistants and hired help,” Mike grimaced. Besides that, I’ve got a few other ideas… some info I picked up before the Chxor captured me. There’s some very valuable things on some of the planets the Chxor overran. We could do some recovery. I mean, half those places probably aren’t even considered worth guarding by the Chxor. There’s museums, art galleries, alien archeology sites…”

  Simon stared at the other man, “You’ve clearly been thinking this through.”

  “We’ve had plenty of time… and I try not to sleep too much anymore,” Mike grimaced. “And truth to tell, getting some back on the Chxor… that seems like damned fine thing to me right now.”

  Simon winced at the reminder of what Krann the Chxor had done to Mike. Or the creature that had worn Krann’s body like a suit had done, in any case. I wonder if he still suffers from nightmares over the experience, Simon thought, at least he doesn’t wake up screaming anymore. They still didn’t know what the purple slime inside the female Chxor might be, but Run had locked the remaining samples in his improvised lab and labeled them with all manner of hazardous symbols.

  “All right, brother, now that I’ve given you plenty to think about, I’ve got to get back to this simulation. Damned Ghornath systems are designed for four arms… takes a lot of getting used to for battle maneuvers.”

  Simon winced at the reminder of the hours and hours of simulations they’d run. “I thought we wouldn’t keep the ship?” Simon asked. He understood the importance of rehearsals, and to be honest, as the main person on sensors, he should probably work at that task as much as possible. But he hated the odd Ghornath displays and he’d become increasingly frustrated at how complex the simulations had become. Mike seemed determined to work them hard.

  “That doesn’t mean we won’t have to fight while we’re aboard,” Mike said as he turned back to his console. “I’d like to be able to at least dodge well if it comes down to it. Besides, there’s always a chance we can keep her. With our luck, who knows?”

  * * *

  Simon watched the rest of his companions assemble with a suspicious gaze. Mike’s earlier words, especially about privateering, lingered in his mind. Though Mike had made it out to be some kind of service, Simon saw it as something less than that. Privateers are little better than pirates with a piece of paper and mercenary work can be less legitimate and far riskier, he thought with a grimace. Mike’s words and his position on Illario rubbed Simon the wrong way… and made him reconsider his decision to stay with the others.

  Run interrupted his train of thought, “You did not show up for today’s inventory of ship resources. As a result, I noticed a thirty percent decrease in my overall efficiency. This is unacceptable.”

  Simon looked down at the little alien. “My apologies, I had to discuss some crew issues with the Captain.” Oddly enough, Simon found he got along with the diminutive Chxor better than he did with most of the others. For all his weirdness, at least Run liked things orderly.

  “I will accept this, but only so long as my schedule is not disturbed in this manner again,” Run said. “We must keep to the schedule, so that I have sufficient time to conduct my experiments.”

  Simon gave him a nod in reply. As the Chxor walked away, Simon returned to his study of the others. Run, he guessed, would not care whether they went privateer or even outright pirate. For that matter, Simon somewhat doubted the diminutive alien would even care if they attacked more of his people. He certainly showed no remorse for those they had already killed.

  At that thought, his gaze went to Eric Striker. The former commando and mercenary would probably accept any decision that led to more combat. If his previous behavior showed any sign of his future actions, Eric would probably initiate hostilities just for the opportunity to fight. When combined with his ‘hobby’ of improvised explosives, Simon wondered how much longer the other man would survive, especially given the temperament of others aboard the crew.

  That thought, in turn, brought Simon’s gaze to Rastar. The Ghornath’s temper had already put them in one brawl. Yet he seemed to possess a honor code, of sorts. He had already mentioned that he took mercenary work before. Simon wondered how the alien’s ethics would hold up, particularly given the chance to fight the Chxor. Then again, Simon didn’t know how the alien might handle work with the Nova Romans or if he might already have fought them.

  Pixel, the ship’s engineer, might go either way, Simon would guess. Despite himself, Simon had taken a liking to Pixel. His obvious pseudonym irritated Simon, yet whatever secrets he might hide, the engineer showed a level of honesty and hard work that Simon could appreciate. Even so, Pixel seemed willing to do things that set Simon’s teeth on edge. Particularly his fascination with explosives, which he and Eric indulged when they thought he wouldn’t notice. As if I wouldn’t notice the mess the two of them make and the burns and scorch marks from their failures, he thought.

  Simon didn’t really have to even think about Anubus. The cannibalistic Wrethe would welcome any potential fight and gladly steal and murder. Simon still marveled that the violent sociopath hadn’t tried to kill them all and take the ship for himself. Really, Simon hoped that Mike would send him on his way once they made port. Preferably after he tips off the authorities, Simon amended.

  And that left Ariadne. Simon didn’t want to think that she’d go for the privateer or mercenary work. Yet… she seemed hooked on the idea of the group as some kind of surrogate family. If Mike pitched it to her r
ight, she might be convinced to look after the others and stay on. The thought of just how badly things might go for her afterward made Simon wince. He stared at her for a moment as she talked with Pixel. Her easy smile and open face made him worry even more. There’s a thousand ways that mercenary work can go bad, he thought, and most of them lead to bounties, courtrooms, and either executions or long prison stints.

  When privateering went bad, the subjects normally just wound up vented out an airlock.

  Simon shook his head. Better that someone with some knowledge of the law stuck around. If nothing else, he might be able to nip some of the more harebrained ideas in the bud. Failing that, he could at least point out the guilty parties to the authorities.

  “Alright,” Mike said. “We’ll reach 567X43 in a couple days.” Simon nodded at that, he had been aboard the bridge when Ariadne plotted the course, some of the others, such as Rastar, had not though. A brief like this, Simon felt, was essential to operation of the ship. Standards and procedures like that would make sure that they overlooked nothing. “When we get there, it’s likely that we’ll encounter someone, possibly someone friendly enough to help us out.”

  “If not, we can find someplace quiet there and shut down,” Pixel said. “Then I can finish up the repairs to the fusion reactor.” Simon caught the engineer’s glare at Eric. He wondered if it would be enough to break up their love affair with scratch-built explosives.

  “Using up more of my gold?” Anubus snarled. His gravelly voice made goosebumps rise on the back of Simon’s neck. Anubus was flat out terrifying in a lot of ways. Useful in a fight, Simon had to admit, but terrifying.

  “Using our gold to improve our ship,” Mike answered. “Unless you want to be aboard a defenseless vessel? We need full power from the reactor to power weapons and the defense screen at the same time.”

  “I’ve got my prowler,” Anubus growled.

  “Right, in case you want to be stranded aboard a ship without Shadow Space capabilities,” Mike said. “Be my guest. We could have left you back there where you found your little toy… I’m sure given enough time you might have found where Ghost dropped the Shadow Space module.”