Stars of Charon (Legacy of the Thar'esh Book 1)

by Sam Coulson

  “As your business is your own, so is mine,” Loid’s face was expressionless.

  “Yes, well,” Joof responded quickly. “What is your price?”

  Loid paused and tapped his finger on the desk, mimicking Joof.

  “Come to think of it, today I am trading first, then selling,” he said at last. “The drone. You’re certain you haven’t seen one? If you happen to recall anything, or even know of who may have sold or purchased it, then I may be more inclined to deal.”

  “I do not deal in names, I deal in hardware,” Joof returned, rising back to her feet. “And I have no information to trade. If that is what you’re after, I think it is time for you to leave.”

  “Another day then,” Loid gave a short bow and stood up. “Can you recommend any good lodging nearby?”

  Joof paused a moment, and tapping the side of her chin with a finger, “Karsh’s is the closest, but Talash Hall is much nicer and more private, A better value for certain.”

  “Talash Hall it is,” Loid gave another brief bow.

  “Safe journeys to you,” Joof returned the bow.

  “Come along,” Loid snapped his fingers at his to follow him, and turned and left.

  Chapter 19.

  The bio-reactive armor was a sign of honor. I slipped the armor plates on over my shins, arms, legs, and chest. The clasps caught, automatically retracting and fitting themselves to my form. The feeling was strange, foreign. For a moment I missed my clothes and simple armor. I looked over in the corner where I had tossed them aside. They were the markings of my old life, nothing but a pile of rags in the dark.

  I tried to stand slowly, but I found the suit had a mind of its own. My legs straightened too swiftly, and I toppled face-first onto the steel floor.

  The bio-reactive suit did its work. My smallest movements were amplified in strength. Slowly, I moved again. I put my arms down, and, this time, with control and patience, I rose to my feet. Once stable, I began to walk. Whatever motions my muscles began, the suit finished with doubled force.

  After several minutes of stepping, lunging, and jumping in my quarters, I felt more confident. At last, I came to look at myself in the reflector. My armor made me look fearsome. Strong.

  I quieted my mind and felt the rage within and threw my fist with all my strength. The suit, fed on my energy and enhanced my rage. The bulkhead rang as I my fist struck steel. I stepped back, rubbing my knuckles and looked back at the dented steel plate.

  Ju-lin and I followed Loid out of Joof’s shop in silence, walking at a brisk pace. We were about twenty paces away when Ju-lin grabbed Loid’s arm and pulled him aside.

  “What the hell was all of that?” She demanded. “Why did we leave? She had to have known those two were dead, she was testing you. We all know she had the drone, or at least knew who did. I’ve been around enough Noonan to know that she was opening negotiations, not shutting us down. If you would have bartered, she would have given us everything we needed.”

  “Hands off,” Loid pushed her hands away, speaking in low tones. “You’re servants, remember?”

  “I thought it was slaves?” Ju-lin quieted her voice a little, but was still seething. “What we are is your clients. Even Eli was surprised you gave up that easy.”

  I couldn’t disagree. We both looked at Loid, waiting for an explanation.

  “Look,” Loid grabbed both of our shoulders and pulled us in closer. “Those Celestrial fighters that the Draugari destroyed at the colony should have been back a few days ago, right? So whoever sent them is probably getting anxious, and when the Celestrials get anxious, they cover their tracks. Remember, they are always methodical, especially when they are scared. I’d bet my ship that they are watching Joof’s shop trying to find out where she got the drone and if she’s been in contact with anyone who may know what happened to their pilots.”

  “Then why did we go here?” I asked. “I don’t see what we can gain. Now they may know that we are looking for it. If they were willing to bomb a colony, won’t they just hunt us down and kill us?”

  “Not only that,” Ju-lin added. “If they were watching her shop, they probably have it bugged. They will know where we are planning to stay.”

  “Now you’re getting it,” Loid answered. “Actually, I would be surprised if Joof hadn’t sent out a wave and sold us out already. They would offer more for us than we could have paid for the information, and she knew it.”

  “First those pirates at the gas giant, now this, do you make a habit of walking into obvious traps?” Ju-lin asked. “They probably have assassins around the corner waiting for us right now.”

  “We’re not going to stay at where she suggested,” I broke in. “That will throw them off.”

  “No, we are going to go exactly where she suggested,” Loid answered.

  “What good does it do if we go exactly where they expect us to be?” I asked, irritated.

  “Maybe it gives Loid a chance to sell us out?” Ju-lin asked.

  “Sell you out?” Loid answered. “To whom? For what? You’re some kids from a backwater colony. I don’t mean to sound cold here, but I don’t see why the Celestrials would want to bother with you two at all. You don’t have anything of value.”

  “We saw what they came for before the ships destroyed the cave!” Ju-lin had said it loudly, too loudly. A pair of Celestrials down the passageway moved their heads, they were watching us.

  Her face flushed red.

  “Quiet!” Loid snapped. “Dammit, not another word. You saw something, you don’t tell me about, and then decide to scream it so that half of the Hub can hear you? You may have some crazed death-wish, but don’t drag me into it.”

  “I’m sorry,” she stammered, more to me than to Loid.

  “Not another word,” Loid said flatly. “Nobody will kill us, especially not now that everyone knows you might have something of value to them. They’ll prefer to slowly torture you until they find out everything you know. So shut up and follow me. I know what I’m doing, unlike you two.”

  After Ju-lin’s outburst, we went to Talash Hall as Joof had suggested. Loid reserved a two-bedroom suite, one for him, one for Ju-lin, and a mat on the floor of the main room for me.

  When we were shown to our room, he immediately complained about its smell, demanding another. I couldn’t smell anything odd, and from her sideways glance, I don’t think Ju-lin did either, but this time we both held our tongues and followed Loid’s lead.

  The concierge, a small, young looking Celestrial with flower tattoos on the back of his hairless head, couldn’t identify or locate the smell, but then, that’s normal enough. One trick of evolution is that what one human sub-species finds putrid the next species may find delicious. We were shown to a second room without hesitation, Loid pronounced the second room to be adequate.

  “There, they probably didn’t have a chance to bug this room yet,” Loid turned to us as the door shut. He made a sweep of the room, running his fingers along the windows, looking under the low-mounted desk, and moving around the cushions that were arranged on the floor that I could only assume were the Celestrial versions’ of chairs.

  Once he was finished, Loid turned to us, his arms folded across his chest expectantly.

  “What? Ju-lin asked defensively.

  “Time to talk: what did you find?”

  “There was a cave,” I began.

  “Eli,” Ju-lin cut me off.

  I hesitated.

  “Look, you’ve put me in the middle of this mess,” Loid said. “A simple ‘hey Loid’ let’s run to track who bought a stolen drone is one thing. But ever since we left your little world, things have been making my life more and more complicated.”

  “If you’re so afraid, why did we come here?” Ju-lin’s sass came completely untied now that we were behind closed doors.

  “I think we were followed,” I interjected. “There was an old man who looked Earthborn with a Celestrial, two that had been smoking down in the Hub, they left after we di
d. I thought I saw them behind us a few times on our way here, and then I swear we passed the human in the street.”

  “How can you tell one Celestrial from another?” Ju-lin turned to me hotly. “They all look the same to me.”

  “Their eyes,” I said. “The patterns are different.”

  “Their eyes have patterns?” Ju-lin asked, surprised.

  “Eli’s right,” Loid said, ignoring the tangent. “We were followed, by those two for sure, and I saw two or three other faces once too often. Ju-lin, you’re clever, so think it through. Let’s assume that Joof was either bugged, or sold us out for some coin. Most likely both. If we didn’t come here, then whoever is following us would be suspicious. If they are suspicious, they will be more careful, and we will never be able to figure out who they are. Though crime is different here, there are still laws. Intercepting and selling stolen coms drones is something that the Celestrial military would not be happy about. They are trying to build peace with the Earthborn, the last thing they want is a scandal.”

  “Okay, I give you that.” She said uneasily.

  “Back in the Hub I saw some Celestrials react when Ju-lin mentioned the cave,” I said. “Won’t they come looking for her? Won’t they want to know what we know?”

  “Yes, and that’s a problem,” Loid answered. “But first, tell me what the hell did you see back in that cave?”

  “Writing,” I answered. “Well, we think it was writing, ancient shapes drawn on the walls. We couldn’t read it.”

  “Writing?” Loid scratched his chin. “And they destroyed it?”

  “Yes,” Ju-lin answered. “They flooded the cave with plasma.”

  “Okay,” Loid dropped himself down onto one of the cushions on the floor. “So you saw some ancient writing on the walls of a terraformed world. That’s interesting. What about the messenger drone?”

  “The Governor of the colony that found the cave sent it out to notify their corporate leadership that they had found something,” Ju-lin said.

  “Was it just a message, or did it have images?” Loid asked.

  “The one we saw just had a message,” Ju-lin answered. “My dad intercepted the message when it was uploaded to the orbital coms relay, no images. Just a description.”

  “So then, Alonso intercepts it, sells it to Joof. Joof sells it to some Celestrials, and then the Celestrials send some ships to bomb the colony and destroy the cave,” Loid said as he paced back and forth. “That all makes sense, except the part where it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense at all.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “For starters, a coms drone would take time to decrypt. The Celestrials would have had to scramble the fighters immediately after breaking into it to make the time frame we’re talking about here.” Loid answered. “No preparation, no planning, they would have had to just send those fighters armed and ready to burn the site out.”

  “That’s not in their character,” I said tentatively, following his line of reasoning.

  “Damned right it’s not,” Loid said. “An Earthborn will respond quickly for passion. A Noonan will jump on a quick profit. The Draugari will move decisively for the sake of tradition and honor. But the only time a Celestrial responds that quickly is out of self-defense.”

  “How could some ancient symbols be a threat to the Celestrials?” I knew that my question would go unanswered. As my words hung in the air I pulled up a cushion and sat down. Loid was laying on his back, seemingly relaxed. Ju-lin paced the room.

  “The writing isn’t the threat,” she said. “It can’t be. Not on its own. It’s whatever MineWorks is after on the world. Maybe it wasn’t the cave, maybe whatever it is, it’s still on the planet.”

  “Why do you say that?” I asked.

  “Why else would they be monitoring Joof?” she asked. “Why would anyone be following us? If they destroyed what they were after in the cave, they wouldn’t bother with trailing us. There is something else to it. Maybe it has nothing to do with the writing at all.”

  “I think it still has something to do with the writing,” Loid said. “It means something to the Celestrials. But you’re right about the rest. They didn’t attack just to destroy the cave. If that was the case they wouldn’t have bothered to bomb the colony. Maybe it was to scan the area, maybe it was to frighten off the colonists. Either way, Gramps was right to send you two out looking. The colony is still in serious danger.”

  “We still don’t know how to figure out who sent the ships,” Ju-lin said.

  “Ah, but we don’t need to,” Loid jumped to his feet. For such a squat man, I was surprised by his agility. “All we need to find out now is who is paying to have us tracked.”

  “And that’s easier?” I asked.

  “Remember I told you that, to the Celestrials, crime is just another business?” Loid stretched. “The thing about business is that it’s regulated.”

  “Regulated? Are you telling me there is some kind of registry for shady lurkers and spies?” Ju-lin was skeptical.

  “Not quite, it’s nothing so bureaucratic.” Loid answered as he walked toward the door. “But there is a place for everything, even for shady business. And besides, I’m hungry. Come on Eli, you’re coming with me. Sorry Twiggy, you will have to order room service. Just be sure not to order off the second half of the menu, the Celestrials sometimes like it when their food is still struggling.”

  “You’re not going anywhere without me!” She barked.

  “The Celestrials are not a welcoming society, and they really don’t allow Earthborn women your age into the Par’eth.” Loid answered.

  “Par’eth?” Ju-lin looked disgusted. “You’re going to a Celestrian whore house?”

  “The Par’eth is nothing as crude as that,” Loid answered, nodding to me. “And the translation isn’t whore house, it’s ‘pleasure house.’ It’s a place for food, drink-”

  “—and all sorts of disgusting interspec—”

  “Look Twiggy,” Loid cut off Ju-lin before she could finish. “It’s also the place you go on Shindar II when you want to hire some local color to do your dirty work for you. I have a few friends there, and a cargo hold full of Kevarian ale. Between the two we should be able to pump some of the locals for information.”

  “Oh disgusting,” Ju-lin rolled her eyes at Loid’s inflection on the word pumped. “I want none of that.”

  “Good, it’s settled then. I’d best go freshen up!” Loid said as he turned to go into one of the bedrooms.

  “I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone,” I turned to Ju-lin.

  “Sweet of you,” she said, patting the weapon on her belt. “Me and my plasma torch will be fine.”

  She looked at me like she was going to say something else, but hesitated.

  Once we heard Loid had the water running she leaned forward quietly, “You still have the memory card, right?”

  “Yeah,” I answered. “I stashed it back on the ship.”

  “Good, let’s keep it quiet,” she said. “And be careful.”

  Her tone was kind, almost affectionate. All I could manage was to smile back at her stupidly.

  “Alright Eli!” Loid came bounding into the room. His hair was wet down and slicked back. “Time for some Par’eth!”

  Chapter 20.

  The four of us stood in the dim light as the battle raged around us. Our ship shook as our guns fired. Soon, I said quietly to myself. Soon.

  I looked across to Kal, Jen’tak and Tren. Kal was checking his weapons again, Jen’tak was tightening his armor, and Tren was just standing there, holding the handle on the bulkhead as we waited.

  There was a howl of triumph from the gunners, and the message went out over the shipboard coms. The ship had been disabled, we were going in to board. Kal, Jen’tak and Tren looked to me, waiting for my signal. They treated me with the deference that I used to hold for my elders. I was no longer their equal. The honor of the last battle was mine.

  I felt the soft impact of the bo
arding clamp and turned to the hatch. I had survived my last battle through luck and cowardice. And the failure of my survival had been commended as victory. I felt as if I were buried beneath the shame of it. But today, I would redeem myself. Today I would lead a boarding party and reclaim my honor.

  I opened the hatch, and leapt down into the enemy ship, knife in hand.

  It was well into evening when we left the hotel and made our way across the city. As the sun was setting, the city’s harsh yellows melded with the oranges and greens in the sky, creating a mellow and serene skyline. The surface of the moving walkways were covered with some sort of solar-luminescent paint. They glowed a soft shade of blue in the darkness like streams or veins. The overall effect was incredibly beautiful.

  I had no idea of what to expect from the Par’eth. The Celestrials were so aloof that it was hard to imagine what a pleasure house would be like. It wasn’t a concept that I recalled reading about on the Slate, nor could I remember any sort of thing in my memories And between Loid’s enthusiasm and Ju-lin’s disgust, I became increasingly concerned that it wouldn’t be the sort of place that I would enjoy.

  “Here we are,” Loid said as we neared a large domed building. “The local Par’eth. Now, I would warn you about what you will find in here, but that would ruin the fun.”

  Loid grinned at me, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

  “Can you at least tell me what we are looking for?” I asked.

  “Not what, who,” he replied. “I have a history with the Matron of this particular establishment. She owes me some favors.”

  “A Matron?” I asked. “Is she Celestrial?”

  “Of course. She owns and operates the Par’eth, but when I first met her she operated a trading outpost out on the verge near Collective space.”

  “How can she help us?” I asked.

  “The Celestrials treat a Par’eth like a kind of sanctuary,” Loid answered. “Think of it as neutral ground. Everyone has to leave their weapons at the door and is scanned as they come in. Rival shipping cartels, fringe groups, and all manner of unseemly folk use it to buy and sell goods and services. If we can find anything anywhere, it will be here.”