by Natalie Grey
“They exist,” Ryu pointed out. “They’re just internal.”
“Oh, good point!” Tabitha brightened and shot the mercenary several times. He screamed and went limp. “Not the same effect, but it’ll do.” She looked around at the other mercenaries. “So what’s it going to be, you whale-shit stains? Are you going to run away and make us hunt you down one by one or are you finally going to act like warriors?”
With a roar, they charged as one.
“Finally,” Tabitha exclaimed. “Jesus, didn’t think I’d be giving a pep talk to mercenaries today.”
“I thought it was very inspiring,” Akio told her.
“They will die with…” Hirotoshi grimaced as he cut down a couple of the mercenaries. “I cannot even joke about it, Kemosabe. They have no honor whatsoever.”
“Focus on the important parts, Hirotoshi. How many have you killed?”
“Twenty-seven,” Hirotoshi told her. He whirled, his blade catching another across the chest. “Twenty-eight.”
“Fourteen,” Akio called.
“Thirty-nine,” Ryu answered.
“Ryu’s kicking your butts! And mine, actually. I can’t allow this.” Tabitha took a running leap into the densest part of the crowd. “All right, motherfuckers, it’s time to learn some manners! From my Queen directly to your face. Welcome to High Tortuga! Enjoy your fucking stay!”
“We were here before you!” one of them yelled at her.
Tabitha backhanded him and he staggered sideways. “The fuck you were. You were on Devon—a place you thought you ran. You’re on High Tortuga now, cupcake, and you are not running this show!”
Half the mercenaries found this infuriating and the other half ran. Tabitha and the Tontos went into action with a vengeance, calling out numbers to one another as they took out knots of fighters and chased down the people running away.
A few mercenaries had the bright idea to make a break for the mining town, thinking to do some damage there. Tabitha made sure those died painfully. She flipped through the air and pushed off the wall to land on the dusty road ahead of them and laughed when they skidded to a stop.
“What’s the matter, never had your asses whipped by a fine-looking lady before? I hope you don’t prefer that as a literal thing, because I have zero intentions of doing it. Yuck!”
She thought she heard Carter laugh as she cut down the mercenaries who had come to the gates and she flashed a smile at those on the wall before heading back into the action.
It wasn’t long after that the entire mercenary camp was quiet. Tabitha looked around herself, pleased.
“One hundred twenty-eight,” she announced.
“Is that counting all the kills I fed you?” Ryu asked. “One hundred fourteen.”
“You’re one to talk. You stole six of mine,” Akio bitched. “Ninety-seven.”
“One hundred thirty-five,” Hirotoshi told her with pleasure.
“You’re lying,” Tabitha accused.
“I would not lie about this.” He sounded offended.
“So Akio drinks Pepsi for a year?”
“And buys us all sandwiches,” Hirotoshi agreed. “I am looking forward to trying them.”
“Much as I hate to say it, before we get sandwiches we should get Elisa to Carter,” Tabitha told them.
Akio pointed and Tabitha turned to look over her shoulder. Carter must have been watching when they hid Elisa because he had snuck into the foothills and was now sprinting for her hiding place. As they watched, she came out and ran to meet him.
“Awww,” Tabitha cooed. “They’re so cute.” She frowned. “I wonder where the kids are?”
They headed up the hill to talk to Carter and Elisa. Hirotoshi cleaned his sword as they went.
“I gave you that thingy that cleans it for you,” Tabitha groused.
“Taking care of one’s weapon is a practice that is both about the weapon and the warrior,” Hirotoshi replied, untroubled. “Leaving it in the care of anyone—or anything—else would not be at all proper.”
“I got it for you for Christmas. Just use it once!”
“Yes, Kemosabe,” Hirotoshi acquiesced with the attitude of someone who is preparing to do something very stupid and complain about it for a long time after. “As soon as we get back.”
They reached Carter and Elisa, who both had big relieved smiles on their faces.
“Thank you so much,” Carter told Tabitha and the Tontos. “I cannot tell you how grateful we are.”
“Did she tell you that she managed to sneak most of the way out of the camp?” Tabitha asked, and grinned. “And then she stabbed that Shrillexian bastard when he caught her. It was great.”
“You killed Rald?” Carter asked Elisa.
“Nooooo,” Elisa admitted. “Just the guard at my tent. Tabitha killed Rald. He managed to disarm me.”
“Didn’t have to do much,” Tabitha told him. “Just enough that maybe a sandwich wouldn’t go amiss.”
“She can’t stop eating the sandwiches there and Barnabas drinks the juice all the time, of all things. What do they put in the food there?” Akio asked Ryu.
“It’s good, whatever it is.” Tabitha shook a finger at him. “So don’t get them closed down, no matter what you might find in the bottles in the basement.”
Carter swore softly.
“Oh, yeah,” Tabitha told him. “We know. We figured it out.”
Akio interrupted. “Barnabas figured it out. You just—”
“Shut it!” Tabitha glared at him. She turned back to Carter with a smile. “Just be careful not to mix up the bottles when Bethany Anne comes to visit. You don’t want that pain. Yeah, I see you getting ready to be all manly and like, ‘I could take it.’ Nope. You don’t want to mess with that shit. She’s a fan of saying that pain is an excellent teacher, and you will learn a shit-ton if you feed her that devil-stuff.”
“Uh-huh.” Elisa elbowed Carter. “So shut it.”
Carter laughed as he looped an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Point taken. I have to say, though, if I’ve got one beef with all of you it’s that everyone seems to have gotten some shots in but me.”
“You run a bar, sweetheart,” Elisa told him soothingly. “You’ll get some shots in sooner or later.”
Carter brightened. “I suppose that’s true. Who’s up for a round of sandwiches? On the house,” he added. “Least I can do.”
“Actually, Akio’s paying,” Tabitha explained. “He did the least work against the mercenaries—”
“The least work? You all left me to chase your escapees! I lost time in transit.”
“Uh-huh. Nice way to justify your numbers. By the way, should somebody call Barnabas to tell him this is all cleaned up?” A call buzzed on Tabitha’s wrist unit and she smiled. “That’s probably him now. ‘Sup, Big— No, it’s an automated message. What—”
She broke off, staring at it.
“What is it?” Hirotoshi asked her quietly.
“We have five gunships inbound,” Tabitha told them. “So much for doing this on our own.”
“Good afternoon.” A falsely-pleasant female voice spoke from their communications devices simultaneously. “Thank you for calling Vigilante Enterprises. We have detected a threat inbound on your position and will be there presently to turn this potential unpleasantness into a beautiful fireworks display. Here at Vigilante Enterprises, we strive to have only the best client experience. To rate this message, press—”
Elisa frowned at Tabitha’s hysterical laughter.
“Who is that?”
“Shinigami,” Tabitha wheezed. “All right, everyone, let’s go find some snacks and sit back to watch the show.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Not long before Shinigami’s message to Tabitha, Barnabas had gotten back to find an eerily silent ship. Until he saw it devoid of Shinigami’s presence, he had not realized how alive she made the place. He could sense that the cameras were not watching him as he walked.
She was e
ither disabled or hiding.
To his surprise, he felt a wave of fury. How dare someone come onto this ship and hurt her? He was going to make them pay—but first he was going to turn her back on so she could watch.
It was the least he could do for a friend.
His abilities let him walk near-silently and he went through the familiar corridors with his eyes half-closed, listening for whoever was on the ship.
His ears perked up. There was someone ahead.
You idiot, Gar told himself. You don’t have any of the upgrades yet. You’ve just been watching some kung fu movies and pretending to be a big-shot. You’re going to get yourself killed.
Funny how that wasn’t enough to slow him down. He wrapped his long fingers around the pistol and edged through the hallways.
He had heard some screaming echoing strangely through the ship, and some gunshots as well. He had no worries about Barnabas, and the fact that he hadn’t come across a veritable massacre told him that no one had done anything too stupid.
Yet.
But who the hell was in here? He supposed it made sense for Fedden to have planned the entire thing—get Barnabas off the ship, then have someone steal it.
Perhaps he should call Barnabas back. But no, there were the captives to consider. They couldn’t leave Fedden alive.
Gar would have to handle this.
He edged into one of the hallways and heard someone muttering to themselves ahead. The sound was very faint, and Gar froze. If he could hear their voice, they might hear his footsteps. He slipped off his shoes, tucked up his robes, and continued. The pistol in his hands was shaking badly.
His world narrowed to the scope of each footstep. It had to, or he would turn and run. Every instinct was telling him to flee—or throw himself on the person’s mercy and say anything, offer whatever knowledge he had, to get them to spare his life. He had been a coward for so long that the habits were ingrained.
I could die here.
Was he ever going to get used to this?
He gritted his teeth and forced himself onward. He was going to do this, and what was more, he did not intend to die here. He intended to survive this, and—
He came around the corner and saw what the mercenary was doing. He wasn’t trying to steal the ship.
He was trying to steal Shinigami herself.
He was fucking furious. The mercenary, a Yofu, was digging around with a series of tools trying to extract Shinigami’s AI core from its cradle. Gar could barely think, he was so angry. It was like watching a friend be butchered. He knew what they wanted to do to her, too—they wanted to make her a slave. Until then, she’d be turned off, senseless, alone.
Like hell was someone going to do that to his friend.
Gar stepped out into the hallway and walked quickly and quietly up behind the Yofu. Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think.
He needed to make sure his shot didn’t go into the vulnerable AI core, and he had to do this all in one motion. He couldn’t afford to pause and let the mercenary react. He came around the Yofu’s side, gun rising, and shot him at point-blank range.
Pain burst up his arms and Gar heard himself scream. Luvendi didn’t shoot guns—the recoil was too much for their bones.
Make sure he’s dead. You have to be sure. Before he could give himself time to think about the pain that was coming he squeezed the trigger again. He felt the bones fracture, and the world went dark.
He came to not long after. He was in the Pod-doc, its cover open and Barnabas’ voice nearby.
“I’m guessing that they knew it would be a tight turnaround,” Barnabas was saying, “So they didn’t take the time to destroy the colony. It’s a small mercy, at least. We’ll still want to drop by to bring them the money from the mercenaries, though.”
“Already on it,” Shinigami reported. Gar, though still dazed, was relieved that she was doing well. “I’ve arranged to have it partially converted to cash and valuables, which will arrive there soon, and there’s also an open account that they can access for the rest of it. That way all their eggs aren’t in one basket. Gar is awake, by the way.”
Barnabas came into view and Gar smiled slightly. “Hello,” he managed. “I don’t feel so good.”
“We did a fairly quick fix,” Barnabas explained. “Your body knitted the bones together very fast with the help of the Pod-doc, so you’re going to feel a bit tired. Other than the fractures, however, you sustained no injuries.” He smiled as Gar sat up. “You did very well for never having fired a gun before. That was one dead Yofu.”
Gar managed a laugh. He could still remember the pain. “I was so angry,” he confessed. “I couldn’t let him do something like that to Shinigami.”
“I’m grateful,” Shinigami told him. Her voice softened. “Although I’m a bit embarrassed that I needed to be rescued.”
“Everyone needs to be rescued sooner or later,” Barnabas told her succinctly. “It’s one of the hazards of the job—which, I have to say, Gar is taking to rather better than I expected.”
Gar climbed out of the Pod-doc. “It’s much easier to be brave for someone else than it is to be brave for yourself.”
“Very true,” Barnabas agreed. “Thus speaks a vigilante.”
There was a pause while Barnabas and Shinigami spoke silently. Gar waited patiently. He was used to the brief pauses in conversation by now.
“We will be upgrading you,” Barnabas told Gar. “Shinigami and I are in agreement that if you are to be part of this crew, you should be upgraded enough that you aren’t constantly being injured.”
Gar could not speak for a moment, he was so touched.
“I would be honored to be a part of the crew,” he told them finally.
“Good, then it’s settled,” Shinigami enthused. “We’re thinking we’ll give you claws and make it so that you can breathe fire.”
“What?”
“Joking, joking. Your face was great, though. By the way, Barnabas, no further word from Tabitha yet. Would you like to send a message?”
“She’d have sent an update if she had one,” Barnabas told her. He frowned. “See what you can find from the satellites. I don’t want to interrupt her, but I would like to know how it’s going.”
“Give me a few moments.” Shinigami worked quickly, muttering to herself in the background as Gar and Barnabas headed toward the bridge.
“You don’t have to be a part of the crew, you know,” Barnabas told Gar. “It’s only one possibility. You could stay here for a while doing…whatever you wanted, really.”
“I know.” Gar shrugged, the latest human movement he’d unintentionally adopted. “I want to, though. I’ve had enough of spreadsheets and management. I want to be doing things.”
Barnabas smiled at him.
Power surged through the ship and they felt the engines kick into high gear. Both of them looked up, worried.
“The initial group of mercenaries is dead,” Shinigami reported. “However, someone else must have been keeping tabs on the situation because they’re sending gunships—and these aren’t any of ours. Someone is determined to make those miners pay.”
“I take it you think we can intercept them?” Barnabas’ hands had clenched when Shinigami told him what was happening.
“Yep. Sending a message to Tabitha to tell her we’re on our way. Everyone strap in—we’re going in hot.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Farfaldri Kat was not foolish.
He had supported the Shrillexian, to a point. After all, a show of force made sense. Allowing the mine events to go unpunished would be bad for business in the long run, and Rald had done a good job of getting support.
On the other hand, Jutkelon’s compound was still smoking a month or so later. Kat knew that anyone who could do that, or who could fight dozens of mercenaries on their own, would be more difficult to kill than Rald was anticipating.
Had Rald not paid attention to the stories? This human had not had dozens of allies o
r a small army. He had taken on a small army.
Singlehandedly.
It was clear that Rald was intending to take a large number of mercenaries and charge in headfirst, so Kat simply sent in the hired gunships carrying the guards he’d sent to capture footage, sat back, and waited for the carnage to begin.
Which was how, when that group of humans summarily slaughtered the entire group of mercenaries as he watched in horrified amazement, Kat could put another plan in motion. He called for the gunships to be loaded and move in.
It was impressive, and it was too bad that humans did not seem likely to hire themselves out as mercenaries. They could clearly make their fortunes doing so if they chose.
Humans were notorious for their refusal to submit. However, even humans could not avoid the missiles from five gunships.
Soon this would be over and the point would have been made. Kat smiled thinly and settled back in his chair. This should be a good show.
The Shinigami broke atmo with a hollow boom and streaked across the sky toward Tethra. Even with the ship’s fake registration, the approach was enough to get the attention of some of the satellites, and Shinigami spent a few moments trading increasingly arcane verification information with the EIs on the other side of the planet.
They were going to make it, but just barely.
Still, Shinigami reflected, that was better than it had been on Banton, where they’d arrived to find the colonists already captured.
She opened a video channel to Tabitha. “Vigilante Enterprises here.”
“Hey, Shinigami.” Tabitha grinned from the viewscreen. “So when’s the fireworks show starting? We’ve got snacks, we’ve got… Well, no beer, but we do have fruit juice. It’s surprisingly good.”
“I told you,” Barnabas reminded her. “You said I was crazy.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve seen the light now. Anyway, what’s the word on the pretty explosions?”
“You’ll see them very soon,” Shinigami promised. “It’s a delicate balance, getting them close enough to be visible but not so close that there’s any chance of shrapnel. Still, we at Vigilante Enterprises—”
