The guy nods, looks around him, gives me a mock salute, then bounds away in the low gravity.
I turn to Pedro. “What do you think?”
“It wasn’t much information for the price. But having heard of Sloper, I’d say it is almost certainly the truth.” Pedro is quiet for a while. I sense there is something he still wants to say.
“And this Darpesh? What do you know of him?”
Pedro looks at me. “If Darpesh and Fassbender were in a fight together, I wouldn’t know who to bet on to win.”
“Great—”
The door slides back open behind us, and one of Pedro’s men rushes out. “Boss, you better get in here. It’s all going bad.” Pedro races back inside and the man looks at me. “You too, miss. Your friend’s in trouble.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
We head back inside the side entrance, and there is carnage on the floor. Looks like everyone is involved in a massive brawl. Kicks and punches are fast, as are reactions, but anytime mag grip is lost, or a hand slips from an anchor point, bodies fly in ballet-like slow-motion across the dance floor. Until someone kicks them.
I pull Pedro’s man close to me and shout in his ear. “What the hell happened?”
The guy places his big hands around my ear, and shouts back over the noise. “Seems your friend only wanted to pay Fassbender half what he owed. Fassbender objected, so he tried to do a runner. He must have had a few friends he’d paid off in the crowd, because they closed in around Fassbender. But as you can see”—he gestures at the melée—“Fassbender is more than a match for all of those guys at once.”
I stand on tiptoe, then realize in the low gravity I can actually float up and down, so I release the electromagnetic force on the boots, and slowly bounce up and down to get a view of the fight.
I spot Jordi, backed into a corner, three guys defending him. Trying to get by them are a couple of Fassbender’s goons, and behind them is Fassbender himself. I look up at the ceiling, and a thought occurs to me. I release my electromagnetic grip, and use my next landing to bend my knees. I spring up to the ceiling, and grab hold of a mounting bar used for lighting. I wait until my swing has settled, then bring my legs up to my chest. I jerk myself backwards until I have swung far enough back to kick my legs against the lighting rig behind me. In one move, I let go my hands and kick my legs straight to launch back to the floor.
I fly down in a direct line to Fassbender. I slam into the back of the man, and push him over. He gets back up, spins around, and holds out an illegal, but highly desirable, shortened laserSword in front of him.
The Blue Bar goes quiet. Someone killed the music.
His face lights up when he sees me. “Aha! Feisty lady. With red hair too. I like that.” He leers, and advances toward me, brandishing the laserSword.
I realize my cap has come adrift in my flight to and from the ceiling, and my long red hair has caught Fassbender’s attention. “I don’t want to fight.”
He continues to come toward me, and I back away.
He grins. “But I do. I like ladies who fight.”
I roll my eyes and give a bored sigh, and reach for the zipper of my jerkin.
Fassbender waves my hand away, “No no no, I’m not interested in seeing those. Not yet anyway.”
“Don’t worry,” I say, as I pull down the zipper, reach in, and whip out the baton. “You’ll never see them. In fact, if you even try, you might not ever see again.”
Fassbender’s face creases in a smile. “Bring it on.”
I sigh again. I hold the plasma baton up. “I told you, I don’t want to fight.”
Fassbender advances. “Then make me.”
“You asked. Just remember that.”
Recalling Papa’s ninja MMA lessons clearly, I counter-intuitively advance toward Fassbender’s laserSword arm. The man grins more, and readies himself to swing. I can see he’s no fighting fool, but I also expect, like most men, he will underestimate me.
I drop down, and stab upward with my plasma baton. Fassbender has to leap backward to avoid the baton spearing into his manhood, and I use his movement to dive low into his body, shove my head between his legs and my neck under his groin, which no man expects from a woman.
My shoulders slam into his thighs, and I heave up and back. Fassbender has no choice but to somersault over me in the low gravity, but as he does, I wrench the laserSword from his grip. I turn around and stand ready, laserSword in one hand and plasma baton in the other.
Fassbender has already landed, if somewhat awkwardly, He picks himself up and turns around to face me. He looks pleased. “Very nice. You really are the complete package. May ask your name, before I kill you?”
“My name is revenge.” I ignore him briefly and scan the crowd, who are now gathering to spectate. I see money changing hands, presumably betting on the outcome of Fassbender versus the tall redhead. I see Jordi making his way to me shaking his head at me vigorously. I look back to Fassbender.
I hold up the laserSword in one hand and the baton in the other. “I told you I don’t want to fight. You could try to kill me, but you won’t succeed. In return I will spare your life, as long as I never have to see you again. Once my friend has paid the remaining credits, there will be no recriminations.”
Fassbender collects himself. He stands with his arms beside him, and surveys me. “Words you may regret.” He looks around the room and his gaze settles up toward the main entry. He calls up. “Moretti. Gustav. Get down here, we need to take these two in.”
I see movement from the slo-lift up above. Two big guys armed to the teeth are already descending. I turn back to Fassbender, and I thrust forward with both the laserSword and the plasma baton, and push him back into the crowd. Jordi is now by my side. “What the hell—”
I pull Jordi with me and run to the side door where I see Pedro. Fassbender tries to come after me, but I see Pedro’s men have cleverly put themselves in his way, and he is unable to move. I throw the laserSword back into the crowd just in front of Fassbender and watch the surge of low life scramble to stake claim to the valuable weapon. There is no way he can get to us through that mob.
“I’m not going to steal from you, and I keep to my word,” I call across to Fassbender. He watches us, oblivious to the free-for-all in front of him, his expression unreadable.
Jordi and I turn and flee through the side door, and Pedro immediately closes it behind us. We race out into the dark streets.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Now what?” Jordi looks angry.
“After I saved your ass? You should be thanking me.”
“Thanking you for ensuring that most of Ganymede will be chasing me, and the rest will be betting on the outcome? Sure thing, thanks.”
But I ignore Jordi and scan the streets. “There.” I hail a flaretrike, transport unique to Ganymede. The driver slows to pick us up and we climb into the three-seater.
“The spaceport and fast. Make sure no one follows.” To incentivize him further, I throw a couple of big denomination physical credits into the guy’s lap.
We blast away from the Blue Bar, and I hope Pedro is able to deal with the collateral damage.
***
The trike, though jet-powered, uses an electromagnetic grip, which occasionally lets loose when we hit a bump in Ganymede’s rough man-made surface. We hit one such bump and the trike swoops into the air before reclaiming the grip with what, on a high-grav planet would be a thump, but on Ganymede is a slow rolling series of bounces and skips. I hear some people find it exhilarating. I find it unsettling.
“Indy!”
“What?” I snap back at him. “Is there something else you’ve neglected to tell me?”
Jordi’s face drops. “I have to repay Fassbender or he will come after us.”
“Us?”
“Especially us. Now that you’ve shown him up in front of one of Ganymede’s most boisterous crowds, he won’t stop. And … he doesn’t play nice with women.”
“I notice
d. Luckily I don’t discriminate. Man or woman, I don’t care whose arms I cut off. Nobody messes with me and my—”
“Search for the truth? You’re such a cliché.”
I’m about to slap Jordi, when the trike bounces again and skips to a halt. The driver looks back at the two of us in the seat behind.
“Spaceport, miss. I suggest you get inside fast, if the chatter”—he gestures to his glowing datapad on the trike’s bars—“is true.”
I throw the guy a few more credits, and we jump off the trike. Jordi follows me into the spaceport building, and pulls me to a halt once inside the dome. “I can’t leave. I have to pay him back.” He looks distraught.
“But how? How exactly are you going to repay him?”
He looks at his feet, and mumbles something.
“What?”
He looks up at me, pale. “I said, I don’t know.”
I put my hands on my hips. I need Jordi. I need a good pilot if I’m to make my 3He trades work. I take a deep breath and let it go. I look around the spaceport, and notice a few people staring my way. Then I realize my red hair is probably not an advertisement I should be promoting right now. I turn back to Jordi, and pull out my datapad. “How much?”
He shakes his head. “No—”
“Come on. How much?”
Jordi fidgets. I use my free hand to grab his collar. “Jordi. How. Much.”
“1.5 million credits,” he says softly, his eyes meeting mine.
I let my hand go from his collar slowly. “1.5 …?”
I’m stunned into silence. How did Jordi get into Fassbender for three million credits? I notice more people looking and realize it’s not the time for a debate. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I swipe open the datapad and look up at Jordi. “Usual account?”
He nods.
I tap in the amount, swipe the confirmation and close the datapad down. I put it back into my suit, and look up at Jordi. “We’re running out of time. Can you make the transfer in the ship?”
Jordi freezes.
“Well?”
He looks uncertain. “I guess …”
I can’t wait any more. I grab Jordi, drag him behind me and we make our way to the security checkpoint. We show our credentials and I hold my breath. The checkpoint guy looks up at me. “Sorry, miss. You’ll need an exit visa.”
I slump momentarily, then remember my mission, and draw a deep breath. “I have a visa waiver.”
The guy looks at his datapad again, then looks up at me. “I can see that, miss. But someone has revoked it.”
“Someone?” I stare at the guy. He shifts uncomfortably.
“I’m not at liberty to say, miss.”
“If someone has revoked it, can you have it un-revoked?”
He looks at me, then looks around the dome to make sure no one else is observing us, although I notice there are still people pointing to me. The guy seems satisfied and turns his attention back to me.
“I do not have the authority to un-revoke it, miss.”
“But?” I fix my gaze on him.
He looks around again, then looks at me and says nothing.
I sigh. “How much?”
He tells me, and I almost faint. It’s almost all my remaining credits. Now I will have no money, a modified but not exactly pirate-worthy courier ship, no ability to trade up to anything better, and a pending deal yet to be confirmed with Bruno the Bad.
And that’s if I can get off this moon.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I look the guard up and down. “But this is not un-revoking the visa, right?”
He shakes his head. He leans in to whisper. “All I can do is let you through, miss. It’s more than my life is worth. But I worked for your father.” He draws away and looks at me with a serious face.
I glare at him. “If you were loyal to my father, then you’d know he didn’t tolerate corruption. Either way, you better make good on it.” I transfer yet another pile of credits. The irony that I am also violating one of Papa’s core values is not lost on me.
The guy nods and motions us through the security gate.
I go through first, and I’m a few meters into the checkpoint, when I realize Jordi is not behind me. I turn around.
Jordi is already backing away from the security guy. He calls across to me. “Sorry, Indy. Let me be the diversion, and make sure you can get away. I’ll stay here, and I’ll pay you back.” Then he turns and runs, his electromag boot soles clicking as he skips the floor.
I know exactly what Jordi plans to do to “make good on his debt.” It’s the only way he’s ever made money, and unfortunately, the way he’s lost more than he’s made.
If Jordi sinks further into Ganymede’s gambling den, he may never leave.
But as much as I may have really needed him, I’ve had enough of him right now.
Unfortunately, it also leaves me doing this on my own.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I head through the spaceport without incident, and while I have no idea what “diversion” Jordi has been creating, it seems to have worked.
I’ve also taken the time to tuck my hair back inside my cap, which at least has reduced the number of people staring.
In minutes I am back inside the courier ship. I can fly alone, but I’m not the pilot Jordi is. It might be time for some intensive training.
I boot up the ship, and as soon as the comms line is open, I receive the codes and my pick up point from Bruno. At least something has gone my way. For once.
The comms unit is flashing with a message. I punch it open and the holo flashes up in front of me. It’s my brother, Mitch.
“Hey, Indy, what gives? I just heard a rumor that you are en route to Rykkamon.”
How in hell Mitch manages to pick up on these things when they have only just happened is beyond me. I watch the rest of the message.
“Seems like fate has thrown us back together. I’ve been looking for something unusual, and someone told me a certain Rykkan has it. I’ll explain later. How about we meet up on the way? I’ll flash the coordinates. It would be good to catch up. Like old times.”
His last sentence twists my gut.
Mitch’s face disappears from the holo and the coordinates flash up. I punch them in, back the ship out of the spaceport docks, and settle in for the long trip. Seems I won’t be doing this on my own after all.
It’s time to pick up my forty-odd tons of 3He and reunite with my brother.
And persuade him to help me find Sloper, and avenge Papa’s death.
I hope you enjoyed “A Bar Room Brawl on Ganymede”!
If you’d like to follow on with Indy’s adventures, then pick up a copy of “Constellation,” the first book in the new Blood Empire Trilogy!
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"This series fills the Firefly-shaped hole in my heart!"
One snarky heroine and her band of misfits up against, well, pretty well everyone else.
Indy Jackson is a stubborn space pirate with two goals in life: keep her father's underground operation alive and hunt down his murderer.
When Indy is framed for an alien massacre, she is forced to go on the run to clear her name and attempt something dozens of professionals before her have failed to achieve: find Constellation, the Sector's fabled battlecruiser.
Missing in action, and believed to be destroyed in the last Great War, Constellation is the only warship capable of defending the Sector against its mightiest enemy, the Blood Empire.
But the Sector is crumbling and on the brink of civil war. If Indy sides with the wrong faction, then no one will survive the Blood Empire's onslaught. Especially not Indy, her brother, and her ragtag crew.
Will Indy make the right choice, and successfully play the Sector’s fragile politics ... or will the Galaxy fall into disarray, bringing death and destruction to all?
Constellation is the first book in a fast-paced space opera saga. If you like inten
se stand-offs, unexpected twists, and planet-loads of hidden agendas, then you’ll love Robert Scanlon’s Blood Empire series.
***
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