“I’m Director Shelley Cane of the Nix V colony,” she said. “Despite what I saw in there, I’d like to offer your crew a contract.”
Flynn gawked at the lady, unable to believe what he was hearing. “You can’t be serious. We just got our butts handed to us by those jerks, lady.”
“As auditions go, that was a pretty crappy one,” Shelley agreed, “but I saw the armbands those guys were wearing, and frankly, your two crews are the only ones on the planet at the moment.”
“So wait for another one to come along.” Lee turned to keep walking toward the colony’s spaceport.
“I can’t do that,” Shelley said. “My people need help right now. Another monster hunter outfit may not show up here for days, or even weeks. There just aren’t that many of you left anymore.”
Lee sighed. “I don’t figure it’ll hurt to hear her out.”
“Your call,” Flynn said to the old man.
“Best get to it then, lady. We got somewhere else we need to be,” Lee urged her.
“There’s something on Nix V that wasn’t there when we settled the planet,” she started. “Whatever it is, it just showed up in the last few weeks.”
“And let me guess, whenever you and your folks head out into the fields, it comes after you,” Lee kept his face straight and his voice flat.
“No,” Shelley shook her head, “that’s not it at all. This thing is killing my people in their homes. It comes at night, and the next day we find…” She paused like she didn’t really want to go on.
“Your people dead,” Lee finished for her.
“Worse than just dead.” Shelley stared at him as she spoke. “Mutilated. Whatever’s killing my people isn’t just some undiscovered indigenous monster. It’s a nightmare straight out of the depths of Hell.”
Lee found himself intrigued, partly because he found Shelley’s white hair made her extremely attractive. “Okay,” he said. “Surely you’ve made efforts to stop this thing yourself.”
“We have.” Shelley nodded. “We’ve tripled our guards around the colony, and every adult is required to be armed, day and night. We’ve even dispatched our own groups of armed men to hunt the thing. But it keeps coming into the colony every night, and if the thing has a lair, we’ve never been able to locate it.”
“How much are you offering for us to come deal with this thing for you?” Flynn cut in.
Shelley produced a tablet from the bag that hung from a strap on her shoulder, and handed it to Lee. “This is our offer, if you’re interested.”
Lee grunted as his eyes scanned the number of zeroes behind the seven on the tablet’s screen. It was an impressive amount for a fringe world. Nix V wasn’t a planet he was familiar with, but whatever was being grown there had to be of extreme value for the colony to be making the offer they were.
“I’ll show this to my partner,” Lee said to Shelley. “If she’s good with it, we’ll be in touch.”
“Thank you.” Shelley nodded. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you. The comm channel you can reach me on is on the tablet, too.”
* * * * *
Chapter 19
“That’s her offer,” Lee told Miranda as she stood in Strider’s pilot compartment. Brook sat at the ship’s helm, keeping out of their discussion. It was above her pay grade.
Miranda looked up from the screen of the tablet she held at the old man.
“Leave it to you to find us a gig without even hunting for it.” Miranda grinned.
“So? Are we taking it or not?” Lee pushed.
“We’re taking it.” Miranda nodded. “We need off this planet anyway.”
“You’re still worried about Earth Gov?” Lee asked.
“Aren’t you?” Miranda stared at the old man.
“If they were going to make a move on us, they would have done it already,” Lee said. “This place would have been the perfect place to do it. They let the chance slip through their fingers.”
“They’re getting more powerful out here in the fringes with every day that passes,” Miranda reminded him. “You told me Bear Wiggins was working for them now. That’s rather disturbing.”
“What isn’t disturbing about that man and his crew?” Lee joked.
“You know what I mean.” Miranda scowled, not finding his halfhearted attempt at humor amusing. “If they’re signing up folks like Bear and his crew as muscle, God only knows what else they’re up to out here.”
“Listen, Miranda,” Lee said, “we can’t hide from them forever, no matter what we do. Whatever happened between you and Senator Lindsey…we need to get on with our lives, and taking this job…it matters to me. And that’s where our focus needs to be, given that we’re taking Shelley’s contract.”
“It matters to you?” Miranda was taken aback by that statement. “Why?”
“It just does, okay?” Lee said.
Flynn, who had been standing just outside the pilot compartment apparently listening in on them, leaned into the pilot compartment where they stood.
“The old man has the hots for that director lady,” Flynn told Miranda with a smirk on his face.
“You’re dead, kid.” The old man glared at him.
A huge smile parted Miranda’s lips as Lee started toward Flynn. She blocked the old man’s path. “You can’t kill him yet. We’re going to need him for this job of yours.”
“Afterward, then,” Lee swore.
Flynn was deathly pale as he realized the old man was serious. He fled deeper into the ship, vanishing from sight.
Miranda knew better than to press Lee about the woman he seemed to have taken an interest in. It was hard. In all the years she had known the old man, Miranda had never seen him get worked up over a woman before. It was about dang time.
“Brook, set a course for Nix V and get us out of here,” Miranda ordered.
“Yes, ma’am,” Brook answered, trying to hide her amusement at the old man’s sudden romantic bent.
“Let’s go be heroes,” Miranda said, grinning at Lee.
Strider lifted off and streaked upward into the sky, punching through the atmosphere into the black outside of it. Nothing rattled. Nothing fell away from the ship. Her engines purred instead of roaring from strain. Miranda was impressed.
“I take it your work on Strider went well,” Miranda said to Brook.
“Oh, yeah.” Brook smiled. “She’s just as she should be. And she’s got a few surprises built into her now.”
“Glad to hear it.” Miranda squeezed Brook’s shoulder.
“Making the leap to Void Space,” Brook told her as the ship continued to pick up speed. A spinning circle of distorted black formed ahead of Strider. Brook took her straight into it. The transition was the smoothest Miranda could remember since she had joined up with Lee. Technically, Strider belonged to the old man, but Miranda thought of it as hers, too, and figured she had earned that right. They were partners, after all.
* * * * *
Chapter 20
Miranda wasn’t into making impressive entrances. Strider glided down through the atmosphere of Nix V like any other approaching vessel would have. Brook kept the ship steady and brought her into the colony’s small spaceport gently. As Brook powered Strider down, Lee and Miranda left the pilot compartment. The old man headed straight for the rear bay, but Miranda had to stop at her quarters to get suited up.
When she caught up with Lee, he was standing with Joe, Flynn, and Rachel at the ship’s exit ramp, waiting on her. All of them were decked out in their hunting gear. Joe held his sniper rifle propped upward against his shoulder. Rachel carried a small submachine gun, and her medical kit dangled at her side from its strap. Flynn was packing a wicked-looking automatic shotgun. The old man appeared to be unarmed, but Miranda knew better.
The five of them headed down the ramp. A woman who had to be the one who had hired them was walking toward the ship with an escort of armed guards. Her hair was a strange white, with thin, dark streaks of black that ran through it her
e and there. She was stunningly beautiful, and her body was well-toned and proportioned.
The most striking thing about her to Miranda, though, was her age. The woman couldn’t be more than thirty, unless she’d had gene or nano treatments of some kind. Though older than Miranda, the woman could have easily been Lee’s daughter based on her age. Still, Miranda could see the old man was taken with her, even if it was kind of creepy.
“Director Shelley.” Miranda stepped from the ramp to offer the woman her hand. “I’m Miranda.”
“I know who you are.” Shelley smiled at her. “You’re rather famous in these parts.” Shelley accepted her hand and shook it. “Welcome to Nix V.”
Miranda nodded. “I’d like you to meet my crew. Lee you’ve already met.”
“And Flynn too.” Shelley waved at him.
“That guy with the really big rifle is Joe,” Miranda said, drawing Shelley’s attention away from Flynn, “and the lady standing next to him is our medic, Rachel.”
Shelley gave them a nod of greeting.
“It’s good to see you again,” Lee said, taking a step closer to Shelley and offering her his hand as well.
Miranda watched the director closely to see how she reacted. Shelley’s eyes lit up as they drank Lee in, and Miranda breathed a quiet sigh of relief. For a moment she had worried Shelley liked Flynn, and that would have meant real trouble for her crew.
Lee and Shelley shook, but before the old man released her hand, he turned it over in his and kissed it. Shelley blushed slightly but kept her composure.
“I read over the data you sent about this monster of yours,” Miranda said. “Its behavior certainly isn’t the norm we deal with.”
Miranda saw Shelley studying her armor intently. “As I said, I’ve heard quite a bit about you and your crew, Miranda,” Shelley said. “I don’t have any doubt you’ll be able to handle it. But nightfall is hours away. Let me show you to where you’ll be staying while you’re here.”
“Thank you for the offer, Director,” Miranda said, as polite as she could, “but we’ll be remaining on Strider when not actively engaged in dealing with your monster.”
“Oh…” Shelley sounded disappointed.
“It’s standard procedure for us,” Miranda explained. “Don’t be offended by it. However, a tour of your colony would be a good place for us to start learning more about what’s going with your monster.”
“Yes,” Shelley agreed. “If you’ll follow me, we can get right to it, if that’s your wish.”
“Excellent.” Miranda smiled.
The colony on Nix V was surprisingly high tech for a fringe world. Its spaceport was top of the line according to Brook, and Miranda could see the colony’s wall from where she walked with her crew and Director Shelley. The wall was massive, and instead of guards, it was equipped with AI-controlled auto-cannons. The buildings of the colony reminded Miranda of images she had seen of those on Earth Gov’s core worlds. The people appeared to be well dressed for farmers, and there were no signs at all the colony was struggling economically, like most other fringe colonies were.
“What exactly do your people grow here?” Miranda inquired.
“Silcona,” Director Shelley answered. “It’s a pharmaceutical plant with many uses.”
Miranda had heard of the plant before. It was a key agent in the techniques used by some of Earth Gov’s highest in order to stay young, should gene therapy not be an option for them. That alone would make the crops of Nix V extremely important to the core worlds. Silcona had another use, too, that Miranda knew of. It was also the base of the mind-altering interrogation drugs Earth Gov relied on when simple torture failed.
She could only wonder how Nix V had managed to escape being directly under Earth Gov control. The only explanation she could conjure up in her mind was that Nix V had bought its freedom, not only with credits, but deals with other fringe colonies as well, trading a share of their crops for an alliance to keep the planet out of Earth Gov’s greedy hands. Given the state of things along the fringes, Miranda imagined those planets helping to keep Nix V free were going to sorely regret their alliance with Director Shelley and her people.
Nix V was sure to be at the top of the target list if the conflict between Earth Gov and the fringe worlds grew into an all-out civil war, like Senator Lindsey had suggested. Not that any of that mattered in terms of their contract with Director Shelley and Nix V. All they had to worry about was stopping the monster that was killing the director’s people, and then they could be on their way…hopefully before Earth Gov came calling.
Director Shelley and her escort of armed guards accompanied Miranda and her crew back to Strider when the brief tour of the colony was concluded.
“Do you have a plan?” Director Shelley asked.
“This thing only comes at night, according to everything you’ve told us about it.” Miranda nodded. “Tonight, we’ll be waiting for it.”
“We never know where it’s going to hit us next,” Shelley said. “There’s no pattern to the creature’s carnage.”
“Don’t worry,” Miranda assured the director. “We’re professionals. Just have your people lock down like they do every evening. We’ll take it from there.”
“As you wish.” Director Shelley nodded.
“We’ll notify you when it’s done,” Miranda said.
Director Shelley and her guards left the spaceport. Strider and two large transports were the only ships there. The transports were empty and unmanned, waiting to be loaded up as the crops of Nix V came in.
“I can see why you like the lady,” Miranda told Lee with a wry smirk, “but don’t you think the director is a bit young for you?”
“Age isn’t everything,” Lee grunted. “Let’s get to work.”
The plan Miranda had come up with was a simple one. She, Flynn, Joe, and Rachel would take up positions in the colony’s streets after nightfall, while Brook and Lee remained aboard Strider. Brook would use the ship’s sensors to detect anything abnormal if it appeared, and the rest of them would be her eyes and ears on the ground, to look for anything the sensors didn’t pick up. Miranda’s hope was to catch the monster completely by surprise as it came into the colony after its next batch of victims. Failing that, she hoped to catch the thing in the act. Either way, if the thing showed itself tonight, it was going to regret doing so, because they would be ready for it.
As darkness fell over the colony, Miranda stood in the center of its main street, her combat armor gleaming in the moonlight.
“Everyone in position?” Miranda asked over her comm.
“Roger that,” Joe said. As the crew’s sniper, he was perched atop the roof of the highest building in the colony. It gave him a clear view of most of the colony’s streets.
Rachel and Flynn’s voices echoed Joe’s, letting her know the crew was ready.
Rachel was on the other side of town from Miranda. Flynn’s position wasn’t too far away from her. Rachel was in the field to serve more as an additional set of eyes and ears than to engage the monster, if and when the creature showed itself. The medic could handle herself if push came to shove, but she wasn’t a real hunter like the others. Miranda wanted Flynn close enough to reach her quickly if the monster came for her section of the colony.
“Brook?” Miranda asked. “How are things on your end?”
“Lee’s grumpy, but we’re good to go,” Brook answered. “I’m running constant scans of the entire colony and the woods outside it.”
“Good.” Miranda chuckled, thinking about Lee. “I guess all we can do now is wait for the monster to show its hand.”
* * * * *
Chapter 21
Glen sat next to the front window of his small home. The house sat on the western side of town at the end of a block of similar structures. A double-barreled shotgun sat in his lap, cradled across his knees. Glen could see one of the monster hunters Director Shelley had hired moving about on the street outside. Her presence made him feel better, even
if she didn’t look like that much of a fighter.
The monster had been randomly hitting homes throughout the town every night, and Glen knew his turn would come sooner or later if the monster hunters didn’t stop the creature. The last few nights had been even more difficult than the others before it since the monster had appeared on Nix V. With each passing night, Glen had grown more and more anxious as it sank in that his family was no longer safe, despite the colony’s massive wall and his own locked doors.
Spending nearly half his savings to get it, Glen had bought the shotgun and a box of shells for it. If the monster did come for his house, he wasn’t about to let the thing get his daughter without a fight. She was sleeping in his bed. The kids at school had terrified her, partly through stories of the monster’s other attacks, and partly through their own fear. It had taken an hour passed her bedtime to get her tucked in and asleep for the night.
Glen knew the monster hunters were supposedly the best that credits could hire, but even so, he felt a personal responsibility to protect his daughter. Glen looked over at the picture of his wife that hung on his living room’s wall. The lights were out, but there was enough moonlight coming in through the front window for him to see it well enough. She was gone, dead two years. A freak accident involving one of the colony’s harvesting machines had taken her from him. Not a day went by that he didn’t think of Heather, the smell of her hair, the sound of her laugh, the sight of her holding their daughter Gabby in her arms…
When she had first passed on, Glen had barely been able to keep himself from popping a mouthful of pills and joining her in the next life. Only Gabby had saved him from that fate. She needed him, and he loved her. She might only be ten years old, but Gabby was his anchor, his rock. It was his turn to save her, and that was why Glen found himself sitting next to the front window clutching the double-barreled shotgun he had bought for just that reason.
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