Icarus (Interstellar Cargo Book 1)

by Matt Verish

  “It’s like a family reunion,” Cole said, raising his outstretched arms to indicate the four of them. “Only I prefer this one to my own.”

  “Charming.” Emmerich’s stare never softened, nor did it leave Rig. “We’re not here for pleasantries or to recall fond memories. Just give Dartmouth what we came for, and we’ll be on our way.”

  Cole laughed, half coughing. “She really has no tact.” He made a fist and shook it at Rig. “Still pissed you clocked her noggin,” he whispered as though Emmerich couldn’t hear. His attention shifted to Lin, whose eyes had settled on someone behind him. He flinched when a hand lighted on his shoulder.

  Rig nodded, his smile gone. He tapped his glass nervously against the table a few times. “Yeah, about that family reunion....”

  20

  DARKSTAR

  “Hello, Cole.”

  “Ah, shit...” Cole exhaled a long, defeated sigh. “Hey, Jude.”

  They know each other?

  Two dark, meaty hands gripped the base of Cole’s neck and squeezed in a massaging manner. The man named Jude leaned close to his ear and sang in a soft, slow baritone: “Hey Jude, don’t make it bad. Take a sad song, and make it better...” He let the lyrics from the song hang in the air, as though he was expecting applause or some sort of an introduction. His gaze alternated from Lin to Emmerich.

  Lin could not hide her confusion or her pending terror.

  Cole tried and failed to sit forward. He cleared his throat and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to my underworld crime lord brother: Jude Revan...better known as Darkstar of the Ravens.” His smile was forced.

  His brother is Darkstar! Lin’s eyes bulged. She was in the presence of one of the System’s most notorious gangsters.

  Jude stepped back with a flourish, his arms spread wide in an ostentatious presentation. He was indeed an intriguing figure, imposing in both size and appearance, yet clothed like a wealthy businessman. Now that Lin looked at him, they did bear some facial resemblance, though that was where the similarities ended. Jude’s complexion was much darker, his eyes bottomless pits. His had a prominent jaw line, and his head was smooth-shaven and polished. Even with Cole seated, she could tell the pilot was several inches shorter and much leaner. There was close to a ten-year gap between them.

  “The Beatles, people! Please tell me you’ve heard of them.” Jude begged, arms still extended. His black eyes searched Lin, digging into her soul. “Nobody?” His arms dropped to his sides with a clap, and he sighed. “ ‘Nah, nah, nah, nah-nah-nah-nah? Nothing?”

  “They’re not connoisseurs of twentieth-century music,” Cole said, his back to his brother.

  “But the 1900s are all the rage these days!” Jude exclaimed. He snatched the nearest chair and slammed it down beside Cole, straddling it. “Beats the nonsense kids are putting out these days. Must’ve been something in the water back on Earth...before that same water covered most the planet.” He laughed at that and slammed his hand palm-first on the table.

  Lin nearly jumped out of her seat. She failed to hide her trembling. All of Jude’s actions left her edgy. She glanced at Rig—the one responsible for Jude’s appearance—and wondered why he brought a gangster into the equation. The mechanic caught her glance, and turned his eyes down to the table.

  “I didn’t think you still had dealings on the Moon,” Cole said. He finally turned to face his brother. “Thought it was beneath you.”

  Jude grinned. “Little brother, I have dealings all over the System. The galaxy is my oyster. Heh.” He pressed a sausage index finger into the table. “And as it turns out, I have dealings with you.”

  The hairs on Lin’s neck went stiff. Had they not all been through enough without having to answer to a notorious criminal? She wondered how much Jude knew of their situation. The answer became clear on the wall of screens.

  “You’ve become quite the celebrity on SNN,” Jude said to Cole, though his attention was upon the occupants of the table. “All of you are quite famous...infamous, rather. Heh.”

  Lin watched in horror as a montage of imagery played out in silence. It was all there: the investigation of the Terraport shutdown, the destruction of the terraformer and the deaths of all those associated with the debt colony, and the escape from SolEx custody. In-between the segments, five familiar faces were prominently displayed for the entire galaxy to study, remember, and hate. Even Rig was there, meaning Terracom was moving quickly with their investigation. She wondered what Jude’s thoughts were in harboring an escapee whose Ocunet lenses were still tethered to the Terracom debt colony.

  “Your name is Chrysanthemum?” Cole asked Emmerich, and Jude laughed.

  Lin thought Emmerich might tear off Cole’s head right then and there, so red was her face. His awkwardly timed comedy calmed her nerves ever so slightly. A part of her believed he was on the verge of taking control of the situation. His humor was how he coped with incredible stress. But how much longer before he buckles beneath the weight?

  “It’s Chrys, if you must,” Emmerich said, her voice surprisingly calm.

  “What about Mum?” Jude asked. “Isn’t that what the British used to call their queen?” He laughed again, not expecting an answer. “To think countries still maintained monarchies well into the twenty-second century.” He shook his head and somehow managed to slide his chair even closer to Cole’s.

  “It’s no worse than you going by Darkstar,” Cole pointed out.

  Jude shrugged. “Can’t be helped once a title is acquired. I wonder what they’ll label you.” His grin was venomous. “I always knew you had it in you, Cole. Dad did too. You pretended to be a good little soldier for a time—kept yourself in denial over who Mama Musgrave really was... Heh. But we knew better. That crazy slut got what was coming to her.”

  Emmerich shot up from her chair, rage in her eyes. She jabbed an accusatory finger toward his face. “How dare you slander Admiral Musgrave! You, who court the devil every waking moment of your repugnant existence, could only wish to have been half the person she was!”

  Jude’s smile was ear-to-ear as he addressed Cole. “And here I thought you were the last living person who cared for your mother. “They must have been lovers, to warrant such an outburst. Dad always said she was kinky.”

  “Sit! Down!” Cole roared when Emmerich was poised to lunge for his brother. “Now!”

  Lin’s hands were shaking terribly, and so she sat on them. She watched as Emmerich, though her disgust remained clear. Cole was protecting her, though it was now obvious to Lin who was truly in control.

  “Heh. Glad to see you have a handle on your dogs,” Jude. “That’s why I trust you’ll be of assistance to me.”

  Lin gasped as Jude produced her father’s Rook from inside his suit jacket. He set the object on the table with a mother’s touch. His attention was entirely on her as he spoke. “Rig, here, told me a fascinating tale about this little cube. And judging from Dr. Dartmouth’s expression, I know he wasn’t fibbing.”

  “How could anyone ever lie to such an endearing face?” Cole asked, his tone level. “It’s not like you would castrate Rigger with your own hands if he had.”

  Lin caught the slightest twitch of Rig’s left eye.

  Jude’s knuckles popped menacingly on his right hand as he considered Cole’s words. “Heh. He told me about his glass prison as well. I certainly trust the old rotorhead, but even I had trouble believing the “soul” of the Singularity was trapped inside this Rook. I mean, who would?”

  “His physical consciousness,” Lin corrected before she could stop herself. “Not his soul.”

  Jude nodded, his penetrating gaze undressing her. “And that the three of you walked into a snake pit for our recently deceased Kingston Dartmouth speaks volumes.” He collected the cube and replaced it inside his jacket. “Let’s get down to business, shall we? The four of you are going to perform a small task for me.”

  Lin flinched when Cole laughed.

  Jude gave the m
an at the nearby table a glance, and he nodded, giving a few quick flicks of his wrist to activate the gate at the front of the bar. It closed and locked. The screens on the wall changed to become one large image of the dock where the ICV-71 was stationed. Howerton, the logistics coordinator, was beside a large mechanical item on a pallet.

  “You will infiltrate the Galactic Web Satellite and install that skimmer to allow me complete access to the whole of the System’s information.”

  There was a bout of stunned silence, followed by Cole’s fingers tapping impatiently on the table. Lin stared at him, wondering why he was hesitating to speak. When he finally met his brother’s gaze, he frowned.

  “So what’s the actual job you want us to do?”

  Jude’s smile grew to reveal his perfect teeth. “The details of how you complete this task, I leave entirely up to you.”

  Cole’s jaw fell, but only for a moment. He reached down at his side, unbuckled his sidearm, and offered it to Jude. “Here. It’s best you just put a hole between my eyes right now to save us from flying to certain death.”

  Jude made no attempt to claim the weapon, nor did he seem surprised Cole had it on his person. “After the calamity the four of you have caused, I expect this will be a walk in the park.”

  Lin truly thought Cole would smash the heel of his sidearm into Jude’s face, but he merely sighed and replaced the weapon in its holster. “Alright. But you’re going to take a pretty big loss on that skimmer thingy when UniSys turns us into cosmic dust.”

  “You give AMBER too much credit,” Jude said. “All five divisions are constantly plotting to undermine each other. Their little UniSys pet project is hardly the juggernaut they claim it to be these days.”

  “Hey, if they’re such creampuffs, why are you depending on a third party to do your handiwork? I thought you were the almighty Darkstar.”

  Lin’s blood chilled when Jude’s smile diminished. Brothers though they were, she wondered how much farther he would let Cole mouth off before taking him up on the offer to shoot him. She and the others would follow.

  “Are you refusing me?”

  Cole said nothing, and Lin could see that he was at wit’s end.

  Jude sighed. “I don’t often extend the olive branch, Cole, but seeing as you’re my blood, I felt I owed you as much. I would hate to see your impressive run come to a grinding halt because of your stubbornness.”

  Lin saw a glimmer in Cole’s eyes, and she knew pandemonium was about to erupt.

  “We’ll do it!” she shouted before any regrettable actions could be taken. All eyes turned to her, but Jude was the only one smiling. She was standing, she realized, shaking hands in full view. She clenched her fists and lifted her chin. “I know a way to pull this off.”

  21

  PIRATES

  The shuttle arrived and docked at the port much sooner than Lin had anticipated. What initial confidence she had displayed up to this point now fled in the face of reuniting with her former lover. Despite what she had told the others, there was no guarantee her plan would work. For all she knew, the crew of this vessel might have been authority figures sent to detain and bring her to justice for her crimes.

  No. He would never do that to me.

  Her heart jumped into her throat when she saw him disembark. Alone. She suddenly feared for his safety. If the identity of her contact was to be discovered by any of the seedy locals—outside of Jude and his people—there was a fair chance of him being kidnapped.

  My act must have been more convincing than I thought, Lin thought. Or he is still in love with me. She remembered how broken he had been when she left him for the life of a radical. Could it be he never moved on?

  Giving a nod to one of Jude’s escorts, she stood from the bench and made her way to the UniSys Administrator for Galactic Information Systems. She could see the uncertainty in his movements, but the conviction in his eyes was undeniable. Someone like him did not achieve a lofty status without being driven. And Saras Turing was driven to a fault.

  For a moment, Lin thought she would turn her back and abandon her cause. She would forever regret involving him in criminal activity, and his beloved career would come crashing down. But it was the only way she would be able to reclaim her father’s Rook and save herself and the others from Cole’s brother. What came after that was yet a mystery, and she hoped to live long enough to put her life back together and start over. She raised her arm and waved.

  “Lin?” Saras’s soft voice barely carried over the noise of the loading dock. His eyes lit when he spotted her.

  Lin managed a smile for him when she heard her name. Before she knew it, her feet were rushing her into his open arms. Tears poured down her face, for though they had parted on poor terms, years apart seemed to have eased some of the pain. She felt a new and powerful urge to turn her back on the mission, Cole, and her father. She followed Saras onto his ship, her hand in his.

  ~

  Cole watched the viewport screen as Lin made her way toward the UniSys shuttle. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, wondering if he would ever see her again. He wanted to trust her, but what she was attempting was borderline insanity—if she was indeed about to carry out what she had presented to them all at the bar. If she failed, he would be forced to make yet another impossible decision. Adding his brother to the list of enemies would officially erase his list of allies.

  “Tell me again why you didn’t just put a hole in your brother’s head?”

  Cole looked at Emmerich, repulsed. “Did Rig give you brain damage when he knocked you out? Aside from fratricide, murdering Jude would spark a manhunt the likes the System has never seen. We already have Terracom, SolEx, and Research looking for us; we definitely don’t need the mob tossed into the mix.”

  Emmerich was unfazed by his response. “That piece of garbage blackmailed you into a suicide mission! Besides, he’s your half-brother, and he was practically alone in that dive.”

  Cole nodded. “Yep. Brain damage. First: he wasn’t alone, despite all appearances. Second: half-brother or not, why would I kill the one person willing to give us a chance to prove ourselves? It’s not like we had any other pressing plans. Third: had we gotten Lin’s Rook back from Rig and taken off, what do you think our next move would’ve been? Other than eternal escape?”

  “You’re lucky Darkstar didn’t snap that finger off your hand and stuff it up your nose,” Rig said to Emmerich. “Nugget, here, ain’t lyin’ about him not bein’ alone. If Dr. Mute hadn’t opened her yap, we wouldn’t be sittin’ pretty in this ship.”

  Emmerich would not offer Rig the courtesy of a direct response. She turned to Cole. “My mistake; it’s him you should have shot.” She tilted her head toward the mechanic. “He’s the one who ratted us out.”

  Cole couldn’t argue her point, though he had no intention of murdering anyone. “I was wondering about that, Riggy. Any reason why you sold us out to Jude?”

  Rig’s face twitched at the nickname. “I needed a job and some cover, so I hightailed it off Mars and headed back to my old stompin’ ground. Didn’t take long for the Ravens to find me, and it’s best not to keep any secrets from them. They’ll know if you’re hidin’ anything.”

  “Like the Rook,” Cole assumed.

  “And your eyes,” Emmerich added, her own staring daggers.

  Rig nodded twice. “Didn’t think it would be a big deal spillin’ all the details since you were all destined for the debt colony. Imagine how I felt when your ship contacted me through Ocunet.” He uttered a mirthless laugh. “Gettin’ that call probably saved my life. Yours too.” He nodded toward Cole and Emmerich. “Who knows what would’ve happened if you came lookin’ for me without Darkstar’s protection.”

  Cole shrugged, satisfied. “Fair enough. You still owe us. Big time.”

  Emmerich was anything but satisfied. “My hero. Maybe we should offer you a medal for valor,” she scoffed and turned back to Cole. “Regardless, you don’t actually believe for a second that w
e’re going to become pirates, do you?”

  Again, Cole shrugged. “You got any better ideas? I mean, what do you think our life is now? You saw the news. Everyone knows it was us who did all those things. Doesn’t matter what the circumstances were; we’re to blame. Ever hear of the Court of Public Opinion?”

  Emmerich appeared perplexed. “There’s got to be a better solution than more criminal activity.”

  “Hey, after Art’s big-time blunder, maybe Research is hiring. We can work in the private sector. An escaped convict, a Starforce retiree, an engineer with questionable morals, and a washed-up SolEx pilot with a checkered past. We’ll fit right in.”

  “Hey, I was with Starforce too,” Rig reminded them. “Remember?”

  Cole smiled and dragged his palm across his face. “If we somehow manage to miraculously pull off this job, we’ll at least have my brother’s respect. That’s better than nothing, which is exactly what we have now.” He crossed his arms behind his head. “I don’t know about you, but becoming a pirate is starting to sound pret-ty good right now.”

  Emmerich stared long and hard at Cole. “You talk a big game, and you hide behind your string of good luck as though it will last forever. You like to pretend you know what you’re doing, or that you’re even in control, but you’re not. Soon you’re going to lead us all into the fire.” She took a breath to calm down. “But seeing as you are our leader—for now, at least—I suppose we have no other choice than to become space pirates.”

  “Pirates,” Cole said, amused. “Just pirates. Adding ‘space’ before it is unnecessary.”

  “Perhaps I was wrong about you as our leader,” Emmerich grumbled.

  That you consider me to be a leader of anything is amazing in its own right, Cole thought. Her perception of him, was far more accurate than he would ever let on. He had no clue how to proceed if they were to survive this job. He talked his “big game” mostly because people seemed to listen to him in times of strife, but he knew he was little more than a bullshitter and a smartass. No amount of talking would save them from the fire of which Emmerich spoke. And his brother was the Sun. Becoming a pirate was not a choice, no matter which way he sliced it.