Omnia Online (Omnia Online Series Book 1)

by Christopher Booth

  The man dropped the rest of the way to the ground and ceased moving.

  Drake could now hear some noise from the saloon.

  He could now see that the man he just shot had some sort of holdout blaster that he managed to pull in the brief second before he was shot.

  ‘Damn,’ thought Drake, ‘this man was fast.’

  He decided to pick up the holdout blaster later after he dealt with the new threat. So he kicked the gun away.

  He grabbed the roll of duct tape he was about to use on the last man and carefully approached the saloon. He could hear what sounded like two confused men waking up and getting sick.

  Drake wondered what Brice had used on this crew.

  It seemed that whatever the drug was the Dwarf and Human in the saloon had more of it then the last man because they didn’t wait to get to the head before spewing out their guts.

  Ew, he hoped he didn’t get stuck with the cleanup.

  The two of them were surprised to see Drake appear holding a gun on them. For a second it seemed that they were looking around for something to use as a weapon.

  Drake decided to put a stop to any thoughts of escape. So he shot the Dwarf in the foot.

  The Dwarf jumped grabbing hold of his foot, and this action caused him to fall on his ass in front of the couch. He yelled, “What the fuck did yeah do that fur?”

  “Now you know I’m serious when I say, don’t move. To tell the truth, the two of you are more a bother to me alive than dead… So I changed my mind, move. Give me the excuse I need to not feel bad shooting you. Or, you can go with plan A and wait for the authorities. I understand they won’t execute you, so that’s the plan where you live.”

  “So, what’s your answer?” Drake pointed the blaster at the Human.

  Looking down the barrel of the gun the man said.

  “I want to live.”

  Drake tossed the duct tape onto the couch beside the man.

  “First rule, no sudden moves or I’ll shoot. Tape up the Dwarf. Tape his ankles together then his hands behind his back.”

  Drake pointed his gun at the Dwarf who was pissed and in pain, but in no condition to run the five meters toward his assailant.

  “Lay down or take plan B,” said Drake. “Slowly, face to the floor.”

  Drake waited as the Human taped up the Dwarf.

  He then said, “Now your turn, move to an open spot on the floor and sit down, tape your legs together.”

  He waited for the man to follow the directions.

  “Now toss the tape, toward this wall, and lay face down to the floor.”

  Drake watched carefully at this point since it was the man’s last chance to make a desperate move.

  But he did just as directed.

  Drake picked up the tape, trying to not take his eyes off the man. This next part could be dangerous since he had to get close to the pirate.

  “Put your hands behind your back. Now I’m going to tape up your hands, but since I’m so close to you, if you as much as sneeze, I’ll shoot you in the back of the head.”

  “So don’t sneeze. I just hope you aren’t as stupid as the last man who thought he could move faster than my trigger finger.”

  Drake carefully taped the man’s hands together, with the blaster just a couple feet away from his head. He seemed to take the warnings seriously and didn’t move a muscle.

  So now clean up.

  Drake checked on the Captain first.

  He was still passed out half on the bed. Drake decided that he had the time and the duct tape to do a better job.

  He used more tape on the Captain. Since his ankles were taped together, he taped his legs together just under the knees. Then he pulled the man off the bed, the drop to the floor woke him up.

  Drake ignored the man’s cursing for now as he dragged him out into the saloon.

  Drake then checked the man he shot near the ship’s top deck head.

  He hadn’t checked for a pulse before. No pulse. But he shot the body again to be sure. Nope. No sign of life.

  Drake thought that an observer might think he was a bit demented. But to Drake’s way of thinking a body is either dead or not, and if you’ve decided a man needed to die, one extra bullet doesn’t matter one way or the other.

  Drake gathered up the bag with all the weapons and added the holdout blaster he found earlier.

  Now he had extra duct tape. Drake took all the gear to the saloon.

  The Captain was still yelling when Drake got to the saloon.

  So Drake yelled, “Keep yelling and I’ll shoot something off of you.”

  Then he fired a blaster shot about a half meter from the man’s head.

  Ah, the silence.

  “Better, like I told your fellows. I don’t want to keep you alive. You’re too much of a risk, but there are people who would rather you continue breathing. I have to work with some of these people, but if I have an excuse like I’m getting a headache and I decided your yelling was an attack… then I can kill you and just tell them I had to.”

  “Ok?”

  Drake ignored the odd looks he got from the captives.

  “Now to be sure you’re not a risk, which means you get to live, I’m going to tape you all up some more.”

  At this point, Drake put down the blaster in the bag with the other weapons… He still didn’t have his blaster belt back. His belt and holster were on the man taped up on the floor. It could wait.

  With just the knife on his belt for a weapon, if something went wrong. Drake started taping the three remaining pirates up from shoulder to feet, in more tape. He just put tape were their elbows were, taped their wrists to their bodies and taped their legs together.

  He had one last thought.

  “Just one more thing. If you feel the need to take a piss or shit before my friends arrive in thirty minutes… Feel free, don’t bother asking. You can just go in your pants.”

  With that said he sat back on the couch and waited for the help to arrive while watching the three tape turds.

  Chapter 20 – Trust Between Partners

  When Apapetux finally arrived, he thought the taped up pirates to be a funny sight.

  Drake told him the since he caught the fish, the least his team could do was clean up the mess, including the vomit.

  He thought that was less funny. But it turned out the ship had a bot to clean the floors.

  They at least brought proper restraints, and with them taking care of the ‘fish’, Drake had time to search for his missing gear.

  Once dressed, he sat down in the small ships mess and waited to talk to Apapetux, and find out what the rest of the plan was.

  When Drake finally saw Apapetux, he said; “I don’t remember that our agreement was clear about who would get any captured ships or gear. So since I captured this one, is it mine, or is 45% yours like the split on the bounties?”

  Drake smiled at the Dwarfs deepening frown. It looked like he either didn’t think about it or had purposely left it out of the terms thinking his team would do the work and capture the ships, thus have full claim to both ship.”

  “I’m willing to think that you didn’t think about that little addendum. But I wonder what would happen if you had captured the ship, would you even offer me a cut?”

  More frowning.

  “So are we going to change the terms of the agreement, now that it appears incomplete?”

  “While I’ve been waiting I’ve been checking on the cost of a ship like this, it could cost as much as 200k credits new. Of course, this one is a couple hundred years old and sure to use some work, but it could sell for 60 to 70k.”

  Apapetux finally said something. “The trouble would be holding onto it. The Imperium doesn’t like to see real military vessels in private hands. There are workarounds of course.”

  “No, I didn’t intend to screw you over on the split when making the deal. It was only later that any of us thought about it. We’ve been so focused on getting Sid’s sister back that it s
lipped. Then we argued about contacting you to change the terms. Frankly, we were still split when this mission started. It’s one of the drawbacks to having an even team with equal votes. I’m only the leader because no one else likes dealing with people much.” said Apapetux.

  “Well get your team together, you’re going to have to make up your mind. I could by right claim this ship, and anything on board, including data. The only thing we agreed on is the bounties, which I get 55%.” said Drake.

  ‘Or we can say you get 45% for being no help in this one.’ Drake thought, but he didn’t want to escalate the argument.

  “It might not be your fault, but I’m feeling a bit pissed about how this all played out.” Drake continued.

  Drake waited until the whole team was together. They had been off talking to each other for a while, and now they finally came into the mess together.

  “So what do you have to say for yourselves? Is this how you deal with partners?” asked Drake.

  A couple of them looked a little guilty; Tredido looked pissed, but Drake wasn’t sure he could read the Karurian very well.

  Apapetux was the only one that Drake couldn’t get a read on.

  Apapetux said, “Well part of the previous argument we were having was, that as a team, the ship we’ve been using has been getting cramped. When this whole business was over, and we had Sid’s sister back, we were going to start looking for a larger ship. So when we found out that the Pirates had a real military scout craft, we wanted it. We’ve built up a good standing with the Imperium over the years and have contacts in the Imperial Government that know we can be trusted, we could get something this small licensed. A couple of us thought it would be perfect if we could have full claim to this ship. Now it appears we’ve made another mistake.”

  “We would like to amend the deal, and fix our mistake. We will take this ship in exchange for ours, and in the future, the deal we had for the bounties extends to ships and gear too,” said Apapetux.

  Drake didn’t like being told that they were planning on screwing him on the deal. But they were right about this ship. The best he could hope for is selling it to the local planetary government. The lack of people that could bid on the ship could kill any chance of unloading it. Add the fact that there was an Imperial warship in orbit, and he would probably get screwed.

  “What type of ship would you trade?” asked Drake.

  “We have a Zenon 12. It was originally marketed as a scout vessel, like this one, but much smaller. But the company couldn’t find any contracts so they downgraded the weapons and sold it as a courier, and light packet freighter.”

  “The Zenon 12 only requires one pilot, and its weapons are designed to be fired forward like a fighter, so one person can crew our old ship. It can carry only small sized packages in its cargo hold, so it’s not really a trade ship. Some people like them as smugglers since they’re fast and maneuverable. We reinstalled military grade weapons and shields. But it only has one cabin and a sleeping berth for two, and we’re tired of bunk beds and sharing one head.”

  “For us, this XR2 Scout Craft would be perfect. It has 5 cabins, two heads, and a full sized mess. It does require two pilots and two gunners, but that works for us too. We would even have a spare cabin to turn into a brig if we want.” said Apapetux.

  Drake considered the deal. Once again it was a matter of contacts and reputation. He didn’t have either, but what the hell, he could get a ship, and get to space. He just saw one problem.

  “First, let’s be clear. This Zenon 12 is free and clear of any debt, and is in good working shape?” asked Drake.

  “We’ve no debts outstanding, and even the pad she is on is paid up until the end of the month, two more weeks. As to the condition, we’ve kept up on all maintenance, right Sid?” asked Apapetux.

  The quiet girl nodded in agreement.

  “So, yes, the ship is yours, free and clear,” said Apapetux.

  “You guys are clearly getting the better end of this deal. So, if you want to trade ships, you have to cover any fees the guild will charge on either ship. If so, then I agree.” said Drake. He hoped he covered all the bases this time.

  Apapetux looked to his group to be sure he had a consensus.

  Apapetux said, “Done, we agree.”

  Drake was glad to have all that business settled. It still left a sour taste in his mouth. He thought he was working with a group he could trust. But in part, he blamed himself for not going over the terms of the deal with Samantha.

  Of course, the bounties were still to be collected, but what about the rest of the pirates?

  Drake said, “Let’s try to put that behind us. How do we get the rest of the pirates? I’m sure you already had the thought I came up with of using this ship to get into their base, where ever that is.”

  “Oh, here.” Drake handed the black key card to Apapetux.

  Apapetux said “Yeah, we were thinking about that. If we want a chance to surprise the rest of the gang, we need to keep this success under wraps.”

  “We also have the problem of the Destroyer in orbit. If we try lifting this ship without letting the Navy know about the change in ownership, they could blast it from the sky. Not my idea of a retirement plan.” said Apapetux.

  “So the first thing we do is check out the ship systems, and find where it’s been too. That should give us the base location. If not, we can ask our guests locked up below.”

  “I have to be straight with you, on this last group, we might have to make a deal with the Navy to get to the last ship. I’m sorry for any loss of credit that might be involved. But we have an overriding desire to find out what happened to Sid’s sister. To us, the money takes second place.” said Apapetux.

  Drake responded, “I can live with that. When you find out, let me know. I might be willing to help.”

  “While you’re working on a plan, I need to get back to the Guild Hall to get some sleep. I have work tomorrow after all. Could you give me a lift back..? By the way, what happened to the vehicle that brought me out here?” asked Drake.

  “Yes, Lorna, could you give him a lift in your air car? As for your other question, they probably rented whatever they used. One thing about renting automated vehicles, to return it; you just give it a command to return.”

  Drake was feeling tired, or he wouldn’t have even asked that question.

  Lorna’s Aircar was a lot like a ground car, just no wheels, instead in had shrouded gravity-coils giving the vehicle lift.

  Drake was almost asleep by the time he was dropped off in front of the Guild Hall. So, he immediately went up to his room and logged off.

  Chapter 21 – Taking Account

  After breakfast the next day Kevin asked Samantha about the bounty on the pirates he captured the previous day.

  “Well, you didn’t get the leader Rados Ragnvald. But you did pick up some significant bounties. I’ll just list them by their last names; Arkadiu’s bounty was 4700 credits, Wequan’s bounty was 6500 credits, Gislen’s bounty was 3700 credits, and the man you found in the captain’s cabin, Frang’s bounty was 7600.” said Samantha.

  “You should also expect to receive 1000 credits for Brice since we can demonstrate his connection to the pirates.” she continued.

  “So after the pirates are turned in, and Aggressive Solutions gets their share, and you pay the 5% guild cut, you can expect 5 credits.” joked Samantha.

  “Haha, I know, it feels like everyone gets paid first, I’m sure if the Navy gets involved, my take will be nothing. So what’s the real numbers, Sam?”

  “You should be able to do this math in your head, lazy. Your cut after the split with Aggressive Solutions will be 12,925 credits, the guild will receive 646.25 credits. So the final take for yesterday was 12,278.75 credits and a ship. Be thankful that Aggressive Solutions is paying the guild share of the captured ship.”

  “There will be a few credits yet to come from captured armor and weapons, but not much compared to the bounties. You can tell by
the level of the bounties, just how many people were pissed off at this group. The Imperium allows companies and planets to add to someone’s bounty after they have been adjudicated as guilty by the Imperium. So there have been cases where a criminal’s bounty has been truly epic.”

  “This amount of money is not enough to get you your next genetic treatment. But it should be enough to cover the cost of fitting out your new ship,” said Samantha

  “What do you mean by that?” asked Drake.

  “Aggressive Solutions only promised you the ship, not anything else. So you may have to buy fuel, meals, spare parts, tools to repair the ship. The list can be very long. You might want to find out just what you bought.”

  “Owning a ship can be very expensive. You don’t even have a license to pilot an atmospheric craft, let alone to orbit, or beyond. Then if you’re the only person on board, you need to be a pilot and a ship's engineer.” said Samantha.

  “When you get a few more credits we can pay the 100 credits to add your new Zenon 12 to your training room.”

  “Well, looks like I have some details to clear up with Apapetux about what comes with the ship. I’m sure they will leave spares of anything that doesn’t fit their new ship, but the credits I just earned do not sound like the huge pile they were just a few minutes ago,” said Drake.

  “Well, time to get to training so I can get to work and earn those 3 credits an hour,” Drake said as he headed for the training room.

  ***

  After Drake had logged into Omnia, he sent a message to Apapetux to asking what they were planning on taking out of the Zenon 12. The response was a bit of a relief; they were just taking their personal belongings and a few other things. They were leaving the fuel, food, and most spare parts. He did mention something about taking the fabricator.