by Alex Kings
For one long, drawn-out moment, everything seemed to go silent.
Sukone looked at his broken weapon. “You too, Zino?” he said softly.
Then it was as if time had started up again.
Sukone hurled the destroyed rocket launcher at Zino like a spear. Simultaneously, Mero and Eloise opened fire on Sukone.
Zino turned to the side and stepped back as the rocket launcher flew past him. It hit the opposite wall with a thunderous bang and broke apart.
Zino took another knife out of his pocket and threw it at Sukone, who was advancing. Rurthk, struggling through the pain, managed to level his rifle and shoot at Sukone too.
Sukone, arm raised to protect himself, stumbled forward. “I'll kill you all!” he roared. “Worthless, traitorous, pathetic …”
He continued a never-ending tirade of adjectives as he swatted at Mero, then at Zino. Both dodged. Zino unloaded knife after knife into Sukone. Rurthk and his crew did the same, rather faster, with bullets.
Sukone swiped again, this time blindly. His curses began to die down. He crushed two terminals almost incidentally with another attack. His tail lashed at the air. Then, at last, his legs collapsed from under him.
“All of you,” he muttered.
He reached out once more, this time slowly, almost lovingly, towards nothing.
Then he stopped moving.
Chapter 84: The Base Falls
Rurthk and Zino looked at each other. A knife glittered in Zino's hand. Rurthk tried and failed to stand up.
“You're in a bad way, Rurthk,” Zino said.
“Believe me, it's more painful than it looks,” Rurthk told him.
Zino shrugged. He kept the knife out, as if daring Mero or Eloise to attack him. “Good luck on your escape,” he said, turning to the door.
“I suppose you'll be throwing your lot in with Albert Wells now?” Rurthk said.
Zino laughed. “No,” he said. “The man hates me.” He stopped to kick Sukone's body. “I was never in this to get to the top. I just wanted the lizard to think he'd won before I killed him.” Without offering any further explanation, he strode out of the operations room.
The room seemed to quiver again, three times in quick succession. The whine of the rocket had become a wavering growl sounding through the bulkheads.
“Can we get the hell out of here now?” said Mero.
Rurthk nodded. He nearly blacked out as Eloise helped him to his feet. They stumbled down the corridors.
Eloise activated the comms on her suit and broke radio silence. “Doctor,” she said. “We need a ride.”
After a moment, Wolff's voice came through. “Ms. LaBelle, you're still alive! I was starting to worry. How are the rest of the team?”
“Alive. But Rurthk needs help, or he won't be for long. It's safe to call the Outsider down. Meet us by the left rocket,” said Eloise.
“That may be easier said than done,” said Wolff. “The base has started to fly erratically. My skills aren't quite on the level or Mr. Iskultine's …”
“I trust you,” Eloise said.
“In this situation, that may not be the wisest course of action. But I'll see what I can do.”
*
Aboard the second shuttle, Wolff opened the comms systems. “Backup shuttle to Outsider. You're free to come out of hiding. We're ready for extraction.”
“On my way,” came Kaivon's reply.
Wolff looked out the window at Sukone's base and grimaced. The flame of the right rocket was fluttering. Every so often it would flare, and the base would lurch, twisting to the side. It was already losing altitude, descending into the thick, soupy atmosphere.
But it would only get worse if he waited. Wolff brought the shuttle in close, zeroing in on the left rocket while avoiding its flame.
The base tilted sharply. One edge of the triangle swung towards the shuttle, threatening to swat it. Wolff pulled back, barely avoiding in.
The base was locked in a descending spiral now. There wouldn't be another chance. On its second pass, Wolff matched velocity.
He was flying parallel to the rocket maintenance corridor when the base tilted again. This time, it was away from him. It fell out of its spiral and began to nosedive.
“Damnit!” snapped Wolff. Running on a mix of adrenaline and instinct, he dived with it, matching velocity. The shuttle's pressure gauge began to shoot up.
Finally he was in position. Wolff brought the shuttle down on the base too heavily, with a bang that shook his bones and set off a damage alert.
He activated the clamps and began cutting through the hull.
Then he went to the comms. “Ms. LaBelle, you're going to need to hurry. We're dropping into the planet.”
He opened the hatch on the shuttle's floor and looked out into the corridor.
Nothing.
Then Eloise appeared, standing sideways from Wolff's perspective.
A barely conscious Rurthk came through first. Wolff helped haul him up through the hatch, with Eloise guided the captain from the other side.
The pressure gauge kept on rising. The shuttle's hull was beginning to squeak.
“Hurry!” snapped Wolff as he laid Rurthk on the floor.
“We're hurrying,” grumbled Mero. He was next through, and bounded over to the shuttle's console.
Eloise came next and helped Olivia through. At the same time, an audio alert sounded through the shuttle: “Warning! Maximum safe pressure tolerance exceeded.”
“Shut up, you stupid machine,” growled Mero.
Eloise slammed the hatch shut.
Mero gestured at the console. The shuttle detached from the base, and accelerated upwards.
Beneath them, the base continued to dive. Its rocket sputtered, making it dance about chaotically like a drunken butterfly. Soon it became a tiny dot, visible only through the telescope. Its habitable space imploded, crumpling in on itself instantly. The flattened remains performed a final pirouette, then exploded in a sudden flash.
The shuttle crawled up through the atmosphere. The pressure gauge began to drop. Inside, Wolff worked quickly on Rurthk, doing his best to stabilise his organs and stem the internal bleeding.
At last the shuttle shot up through the clouds of ammonia, breaking into the upper atmosphere. The Outsider floated above, victorious and beautiful, ready to take them all on board.
Chapter 85: Send
Eloise sent the full records of Sukone's misdeeds, and news of his death, to Albert Wells as soon as the Outsider was away. A day or so later, they received a curt message promising them freedom from being hunted and thanking them for saving Wells some extra work. That was it. It seemed Wells had nothing more to say to them.
The full reaction would come later in bits and pieces through various underworld contacts. Sweetblade was reorganising itself after losing one of its most important players. Sukone's sphere of influence was being carved up and given to Wells – and Wells himself was next in line to become boss of the entire organisation.
One afternoon, Eloise sat in the observation lounge, opposite Mero, Kaivon, Wolff and Olivia. All had their tablets out.
“Our payment,” she said. “One hundred and fifteen thousand credits each.”
Mero snorted. “Those were some frigging expensive shuttles,” he told Kaivon.
“That was not your concern when you were caressing the weapons systems,” Kaivon said.
Mero shrugged. “A hundred thousand,” he said. “Nice, but not quite enough to retire on.”
“Does that mean you will be staying with us after all?” Eloise asked.
“Only if you promise to stay out of the employ of people who want to betray and kill us,” said Mero.
Eloise smiled faintly. “I'll do my best,” she said.
There was a clang, and the door swung open. With some difficulty Rurthk stepped through.
“You shouldn't really be walking yet,” Wolff said.
“Since when have I ever worried myself over orders, Doctor?” said Rurthk.
<
br /> Wolff rolled his eyes. “Or by what's sensible.”
“Just two things, then I'll be back in the medbay,” Rurthk said. “First, holidays. By the bloodline, we need one. So we're taking a month off before we start looking for another job. I want you all to start thinking about where you want to go and get suggestions to me in the next couple of days. Second, Olivia. I want to thank you formally – as formally as we ever get on board this ship, anyway – and in front of the entire crew. You saved our lives down there when Sukone had us trapped. So well done.”
“I, uh … thank you, sir,” said Olivia.
Rurthk nodded, then grimaced. He turned back to the door.
“Are you sure you'll be alright?” Eloise asked, getting up.
Rurthk nodded. “We're still flying. And if you're still flying, you're still winning.”
After that, they dispersed. Eloise and Dr. Wolff escorted Rurthk back to the med bay. Kaivon took Mero to finish their investigation of the new shuttles.
Olivia went back to her quarters. She passed the painted sunflowers in the corridor and smiled to herself. Perhaps she could add some wildlife to the mural. In her quarters, she flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling.
After a while she picked up her tablet and gestured at it to bring up her letter. She read it through once more, then clicked send.
Epilogue
“What the hells is going on there?” muttered Rak.
“It will all become clearer in time,” Laodicean said calmly.
Illipa grumbled quietly to herself.
Along with the rest of their department, Laodicean and Illipa had been taken off their case and assigned to work on Sweetblade. With Volpone locked down, Tommy Egliante murdered, and the recent fight at Nereus, it was clear something was going on. But what, precisely, wasn't clear yet.
Laodicean was reviewing logs and records with a machinelike efficiency. Footage and transponder data flickered through his neural link to appear floating in front of his vision. He wanted this over and done with as quickly as possible so he could return to his previous case.
“Aha,” said Rak. “Call from one of our insiders.”
Laodicean began to look at data from Nereus.
Rak fell silent for some time. He gestured at his terminal. Then he froze. After a few seconds, he said, “Thanks,” and gestured at the terminal to kill the comms link.
“Holy shit,” he said. “Laodicean, Illipa. Someone's killed Sukone.”
Laodicean, fully engaged in his neural link, kept flicking through data.
Rak turned to him. “Did you hear me? Sukone's dead.”
“Laodicean?” said Illipa.
At last, Laodicean stopped the data flow and with a flick of his tentacles turned to face Rak. “That is … notable.”
Illipa leaned forward him until her nose touched the wall of water. “What is it? She asked.
“The patchwork ship,” said Laodicean. “It was at Nereus too.”
“It must be involved with Sweetblade,” said Rak.
“I have details,” Laodicean told them. “Spaceport data. Footage of the crew. In short, we have a lead: The Outsider.”
*
Albert Wells settled into his velvet backed chair and gave a brief, aristocratic gesture at the table in front of him. A sheet of smart matter rose up from the table's surface and formed into a screen. At the same time, the roaring fire quietened.
A Petaur appeared on the screen.
“I believe congratulations are in order,” said Wells. “You have done magnificently, especially in delivering that crew to me. They performed very well.
“You are too kind,” said Mr. Hand, giving him a polite nod.
“I am in your debt,” said Wells.
“And I have no doubt you will repay that debt. I trust in your honour.”
“Yes, allies.”
“Of course,” said Mr. Hand. “There is still Stage Two.”
“Stage Two can wait, for the moment,” said Wells. “I need time to consolidate my position. And it would be suspicious for Sweetblade's leader to die so soon.”
“Of course,” said Mr. Hand. “I shall await your schedule.”
“Excellent.” Wells took the glass of wine off the table and raised it to the screen. “To those two great organisations, Sweetblade and Glass Beach.”
Betrayals
A note from the author:
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Also by Alex Kings
The War of the Ancients Trilogy
Betrayals (prequel novella)
The Dauntless
The Destroyer of Worlds
The Reckoning
Outsiders Trilogy
Lasers, Lies and Money (This book)
Starship Swindlers (Coming soon!)
Revengers (Coming soon!)
