Charley couldn’t help but grin. Bumping into this girl had turned out to be most helpful.
“Thanks. What’s your name?”
“Vanessa.”
Charley ventured into the sauna, lifted the grill and tossed all the coals to the floor. Under the gas element she found what she was looking for - a keypad.
“Bingo,” she said to herself.
But how to open it? On a hunch, she pressed the numbers corresponding to ‘Candy’. The keypad glowed green and a panel slid open to reveal the safe’s contents. A few credit rolls, perhaps amounting to 1000 bits. Loose change. The other items included a black, embossed dildo and a purple data cube. Charley tossed the dildo away in disgust and was about to do the same for the cube when a hand gripped her wrist.
“Slow down, sweetheart,” Vin breathed in her ear. “This is what we came for.”
36
Vin’s hands were covered in blood. Charley guessed he’d taken care of that other bandit. He activated the cube and a projection spread forth. The information looked extremely dry to Charley but Vin wolf-whistled as if she was stripping in front of him.
“What is it?”
“A mining requisition,” Vin said. “Gronko was right. Fallon was set to do a job for a huge, core world mining corporation. Don’t ask me how he knew.”
Charley blinked. It was just a job requisition. What did it have to do with them?
“I don’t get it,” she said.
Vin glanced at her. “I keep forgetting you grew up in the middle of the desert. This is an open requisition. The Silent Runners may have won the bidding war for this contract, but the job falls to whoever holds this cube. MinCorp knows this part of the galaxy is the wild west and they don’t really care who completes the job, only that it gets done.”
Charley nodded slowly, absorbing the information. This kind of gig sounded very lucrative indeed - just the type of job for the steadily building Pirate Guild.
“Where’s the job?”
“That’s the best part,” Vin said. “The asteroid in question is further along the Beluga Run. Just off Sanzar, a gas giant in this sector.”
Charley considered the prospect of completing the job.
“Will the Silent Runners come after us?”
Vin shook his head confidently. “Not on your life. Fallon was too paranoid to tell his men about it. Otherwise why keep the cube in his safe?”
“We’ll need a new ship,” Charley said. “The Surprise can’t handle a mining operation.”
She heard a tinkling sound and realized Vin was holding a necklace of glittering gemstones. She’d had never seen anything so gorgeous.
“Rainbow stones carved from the lagoon coral off the island. Extremely rare. I lifted it from Fallon’s wardrobe.”
“They’re pretty, but they can’t cut through rock,” Charley pointed out.
“Sure, but they can buy us a mining rig we can fit to the hull of the Surprise.”
Charley’s eyes narrowed. “How much?”
“At least 10,000,” came a small voice. It was Vanessa, looking at the necklace sadly. “He never offered me anything like that.”
“Of course he didn’t,” Charley said. “Rest assured we’ll be putting it to good use.”
“I want to come with you,” Vanessa said.
“I don’t think so,” Vin said with a glance at Charley. “We’re not exactly normal people.”
“What do you mean by normal?” Vanessa asked. “Like the rapists that guard this house day and night? Like Fallon?”
“Point taken,” Vin said. “But we’re not exactly a stable operation.”
“Anything is better than this hellhole. Please. I can’t fight but I’m good with people. I can run diplomacy and organize your resources.”
Charley considered the prospect of letting Vanessa join the crew. She was tall and lovely. Her long, chestnut brown hair was immaculately maintained. How would she go in a fight to the death?
“I don’t doubt your abilities as a negotiator,” Charley said. “But life is rough with us. Vin here is basically a lowlife and I’m from Abeya. Enough said.”
Vin raised his eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“I can see what you are,” Vanessa said. “Both of you have a glow. I don’t know you at all, but I know true independence when I see it.”
Charley was sobered by the observation. She and Vin had just killed several men. If that counted as ‘independence’, it was a particularly violent brand.
“Welcome aboard,” she said at length, convinced they were meant to meet this shy girl. “This is Vin.”
“Vanessa Taylor,” she said, taking Vin’s hand. Charley wondered if her presence was going to be a problem.
“Go get your clothes,” Vin said. “The rooms are clear but there’ll be serious heat soon.”
Once Vanessa was ready, the trio headed back down to the ground floor. Gronko was smashing his way through the front wall.
“They’re coming down on us,” he growled. “We need to fall back to the dock.”
“Let’s split,” Vin agreed.
He lifted the hand of one of the dead goons and cut a finger off with his combat knife. Vanessa looked away in horror.
“He has something in mind,” Charley said, reassuring herself for than anything else.
The party hustled down to the basement level, where a gleaming dune buggy was parked. It looked particularly rugged and sported a plasma turret on the back.
“That’s mine,” Gronko demanded. No one was prepared to argue. Vin took the wheel and Charley sat with Vanessa in the back seat. The former escort seemed alarmed by the renki’s presence and kept her distance. Vin wasted no time in pressing the bandit’s severed finger into the activation slot by the steerage bar. The engine throbbed into life. He tossed the finger away and pointed to the double garage doors.
“I can’t be bothered finding the switch,” he said over his shoulder.
A screaming wail of plasma fire erupted over Charley’s head and the double doors literally melted to the floor. Vin accelerated through the fiercely hot opening. Thankfully the buggy’s thick tires were heat and cold resistant. Only the best for Petyr Fallon. Charley yelled a warning as two pursuing buggies settled in behind them as they careened down a dusty path. The headlights pierced the darkness of the jungle, bringing the canopy to chattering life. Plasma bolts whistled past on both sides. One or two fizzed against the rear panel. Charley and Vanessa sank back into their seats. Gronko’s heavy, armored boot almost knocked Charley out as he turned the turret around and began firing. All she could see was the renki’s terrifying, bestial face, lit by the lime green of the turret’s plasma. Several seconds of concentrated fire resulted in a huge orange flare and a rolling sonic boom.
“Fuel tank,” Gronko muttered with satisfaction. An enemy plasma bolt thudded into his spiked pauldron and ricocheted into his cheek. Such a blow might have killed a human, but the renki pressed the tattered flesh back in and renewed his frenzied onslaught. Another concentrated, fearless attack was enough to send the second enemy buggy off into the dark, shapeless jungle. There was no further sign of the enemy, but Vin hardly slowed down. He careened through the jungle at breakneck speed, aiming for the pale spire above the port facility.
“Almost there,” he yelled above the growling engine.
The track graduated into a wide boardwalk filled with panicked vacationers. Gronko fired the occasional plasma blast over their heads to get them out of the way. Charley risked a glance over her seat and immediately wished she hadn’t. An entire convoy of vehicles were pushing up behind them. Several of the lead buggies had plasma turrets and incendiary missiles. One such ordinance whistled past, missing by inches. It crashed into the jungle undergrowth in a starburst of flame. The shock wave came very close to flipping the buggy and the jungle became a spitting inferno. Charley was grateful for a sharp dog leg that took them onto another boardwalk. Flames consumed the wooden palings behind them, blocking their
pursuers. Several enemies continued the chase on foot. Most wore heavy armor and carried heavy plasma weapons. Charley’s little band was no match for such well armed opponents.
“We gotta hustle,” she yelled above the general din.
“I’m on it,” Vin said, turning a red knob under the dashboard. Nitro boost. Charley lurched from her seat as the buggy surged down the boardwalk. They were now amongst the ships attached to the various port docks. An adjacent corvette erupted into scarlet flame, lighting up the night.
“Get the fuck out!” Vin yelled.
Charley and the others hurled themselves free of the roll cage and scurried into the waiting doors of the port hub. They would need permission to launch before they could reach the Surprise. Vin approached the panicked staff behind the counter.
“Deactivate the port brake on the Surprise,” he demanded. “We’re leaving immediately.”
“I can’t do that, sir,” the harbor master stammered. “Not while this facility is under threat.”
Vin was about to club the man with his rifle when a quiet voice piped up.
“Perhaps you might consider another alternative?” said a small, bespectacled man standing behind a small counter. Charley was filled with fresh hope. Something about this guy screamed “guildmaster”.
“Give us the pitch and hurry the fuck up,” Gronko sneered. The renki had clearly dealt with the Guildmasters before and knew that nothing ever came for free.
“The Guildmasters have invested in defense technology along the perimeter of this facility. It is available for hire should your guild require it.”
“Activate,” Vin said immediately. “Charge the cost to the Pirate Guild in Galveston, Danderly.”
The small man smiled. “Granted. You understand the Guildmasters always recover their outstanding payments.”
With that ominous warning, the little man’s fingers danced over his wrist pad. Several tense seconds dripped by before several things happened at once. A series of gun ports slid open above the windows of the port hub. The night was painted blue as they unleashed cutting edge quantum fire. Charley watched in amazement as security staff and bandits were cut down like they were made of tissue paper. She looked across at Vin, who seemed just as shocked.
“You gotta hand it to the Guildmasters,” he said. “They know how to build a gun.”
37
“Are they on our side now?” Charley asked breathlessly.
Vin shook his head. “Only until we get away. And even then, the price will be astronomical.”
Right then, Charley didn’t want to think about that. The renki was peering at a data report spooling from the control desk.
“My ship has been destroyed,” he said gruffly. “Will you humans take me to Lavars?”
“We can,” “Vin said. “But we’re stopping at an asteroid off Sanzar first.”
The renki considered this for a moment, his breath a deep rumble. “I agree to your proposal. It would take too long to kill you all and take your ship.”
Charley almost laughed but she suspected the big alien wasn’t joking at all. Shrugging, she followed the others to the other side of the port hub. Many of the docks there were still functional, but the Guildmaster guns had turned several buggies and their occupants into cinder. The smell of melted metal and scorched flesh was overwhelming as Charley hurried towards the Surprise. She saw Vanessa into the hatch while Vin and Gronko fired potshots at Silent Runners approaching from the east. Once everyone was inside, she closed the top hatch and slid into the co-pilot’s chair alongside Vin. Vanessa stood over Charley’s shoulder, doing her best to pretend that the big alien by the wall didn’t exist. Vin punched in a launch sequence and Charley diverted extra power to the shields. Several shots resounded against the port hull but weren’t nearly strong enough to trouble the dual layer shield. It wouldn’t be long before a ground turret of some kind was established. Vin disengaged from the dock and lifted blind. As the Surprise soared into the night, it was hammered by two incendiary missiles that caused problems with the aft shield and eventually shorted it out. By the time the inner shield was exposed, the Surprise was well out of firing range. Charley sagged with relief and showed Vanessa and Gronko to their quarters. All three living chambers were now occupied.
Once their “guests” had been settled, it was time to check the nav screen. Some light trade traffic but nothing to indicate the Silent Runners were scrambling to pursue.
“On to the Pankar Hub,” Vin said with satisfaction, plugging in waypoints.
“Where we score the mining gear,” Charley concluded. She knew the trading hub dealt with heavy industrial machinery for small to to medium mining operations.
“Should only take a few hours,” Vin said, spinning in his chair and grabbing her around the waist. “Plenty of time … to unwind.”
An hour later, as Charley lay languidly in bed, she remembered that the renki was wounded and possibly needed medical attention. She knocked on his door - no response. Overriding the circuit, she found the big alien sitting on the edge of the bed and covered in blood. Gronko was welding his wound together with some kind of primitive first aid kit. The smell was horrible. The assassin was taking regular swigs from a bottle of blue liquid.
“Get the fuck out,” he growled. “I’ll talk later.”
Charley hurried from the room. As she reached the doorway, an object lurched itself from under the alien’s bed. It was FIGJAM, rushing to escape with Charley.
“I was offline under the bed,” it said irritably. “Fuckin’ warthog took my room.”
“It’s OK, FJ,” Charley said. “You can stay with me and Vin.”
“Only if you get nekkid whenever I look at you.”
“We’ll see what we can arrange,” Charley replied, strangely happy to see FIGJAM again. The Surprise was a little crowded now. The anti-social PalBot would have to get used to sharing her.
Happy and relaxed, Charley fixed a citron chai, sat in the nav chair and watched the stars slide by. The Surprise made Pankar with minimal trouble. In fact, the lack of activity worried her a little. The Silent Runners had lost their regional leader back on Mina IV, so shouldn’t they be in hot pursuit? Instead, the Surprise was free to cruise into Pankar space and contact port authorities. Vin docked at a private node and made arrangements to see a local trader. Charley went to check on Vanessa, who was exhausted and seemed content to catch up on sleep. Complaining about the stopover, Gronko finally made an appearance in the galley.
“We’re sourcing mining gear,” Vin explained. “Patience, renki.”
The big warthog bristled at the concept but somehow refrained from physical violence.
“I don’t like this silence,” he growled.
“Me either,” Vin agreed. “But while we’re here, we may as well upgrade the ship.”
“Your affairs are no concern of mine,” the alien snarled before disappearing to his room.
“The sooner we’re rid of him the better,” Vin muttered. “First I’d like to find out why he was paid to kill Fallon.”
“Good luck with that,” Charley said.
“Let’s go, partner,” Vin said once they had permission to open the top hatch. Charley grinned as she followed him into a transit tunnel. She liked that name. Definitely a lot better than ‘scrench’ or ‘waste’ as she was called back in the arid wastes of Abeya. The pair headed down a polished corridor and into a busy foyer. A motley collection of traders were busy haggling and purchasing goods. A bipedal droid offered to escort the pirates to the trader they’d booked earlier. They followed the droid through several warehouses smelling like grease and circuitry. The droid rolled into a clean, spartan office that overlooked a huge factory floor. Pallets of mining equipment were stacked almost to the ceiling.
“Good evening,” said a woman dressed in the colorful sashes of the Okital system. “I was happy to make your acquaintance earlier today.”
Charley checked her wrist pad - it was indeed evening in this sector.
She couldn’t keep up with wildly oscillating time zones. It was messing with her notion of a good night’s sleep.
“You have a reputation for efficiency,” Vin said. “I’m afraid I’m about to put that to the test.”
“What are your needs?” the trader asked, unperturbed.
“Our target is an asteroid,” Vin said. “We need to outfit the vessel docked at 367B.”
The trader consulted her wrist pad, then looked at Vin with a patronizing smile.
“There’s not much you can do with a fighter like that,” she said. “A standard mining rig would pull your chassis apart.”
Charley’s heart sank. Would they need another ship? They certainly didn’t have money for that.
“I see,” Vin said. “What if I was to make a down payment on a small mining vessel?”
With that, he produced the coral stone necklace he’d taken from Fallon’s villa.
“I’m sorry, I’m not a jeweler,” said the trader with a trace of contempt.
“Precisely why you stand to make a little profit from that,” Vin said calmly. “As you say, neither of us have much idea on what that is worth.”
The trader shook her head slowly. “Even if I was to nominate a price, there’s no way it could secure you a mining vessel. I’m sorry.”
Vin clutched the necklace tightly. Charley could tell he was growing frustrated.
“We have a cargo hold,” she suggested hesitantly. “It isn’t much, but it might hold some tech.”
Vin seemed to gain inspiration from her suggestion.
“Like I said, our target is an asteroid,” he said. “What do you have in the way of mining vehicles?”
“We have a new range of bobcats,” the trader said. “Three of our smaller units could fit into your hold. If it’s empty.”
“Bobcats,” Vin repeated. “What are the specs?”
“Basic drill, processor, collector tray. They aren’t large enough for life support, so you’ll need air suits.”
Vin nodded.
The Pirate Guild Page 17
