by Bruce Adams
“That should cause a lot of confusion. Don’t you think?” As the mercenary spoke, he pulled another cigarette from a package and lit it, cupping his hand to keep the flame alive. He drew a long pull and exhaled slowly. Through the wispy smoke, the large warship rose out of its berth, the antigravity thrusters propelling the craft upward caused a shimmer in the air as heat fought with the latent cold of the mountain air. The faceless K’Tosk gave a grunt of assent, turned and walked back the way he had come and headed to a nearby landing bay with a small one man ship perched on the dock. Inside his ship he hurriedly gave the computer the coordinates to his destination and manually took the controls as the ship blasted out of the formidable gravity well of the planet Domovik.
Nine hours and three jumps later, the ship entered the star system known only on star maps as L5328-M. The system of five planets and two massive asteroid belts was well off the normal space-lanes – there were no navigational beacons indicated on his readout, but he already knew of his port of call and had programmed the navigation computer accordingly. As his small ship traveled further into the single star system far from the jump point, he gave a coded response to the unseen sentries that had transmitted a warning when he came within range of their deep radar scans. The robotic sentries orbited a large barren planetoid that was devoid of atmosphere - his destination. The dwarf planet was a remnant of the creation of this solar system and had not fully formed into a full planet. At five hundred and seventy-five kilometers radius it was considered a larger proto-planet, but scouts that had first surveyed this system had found nothing useful on it and it was never fully explored. The Vortex group had set up a base here many years ago and used it as a private retreat for those high in the ranks of their organization to recreate as they wished. As he landed at one of the numerous installations that Chol Cuxa lived at, he wondered how many sentients he had killed in nuclear fire. Normally such thoughts never entered his mind. He was barren of empathy for other living creatures…and only thought in strategic terms of the repercussions of such a violent act. The Horizon mercenaries had been attempting to muscle in on territory and star systems that Vortex laid claim to. This was a message they would understand. His target had been on that train – the leader of the Horizon mercenary group was just as ruthless and cruel as men such as himself…and such men as Chol Cuxa.
Humans called it a tavern, or a bar, but K’Tosk were straightforward and liked to use phrases that were unambiguous. He stood outside of the entertainment complex, he was tired and he had to report in person on what he had seen. There were other modules scattered throughout the enclave, facilities for ship repair, power supply, water and wastewater – even a few areas that were devoted entirely to food cultivation. Verinous made his way straight to where his leader had ensconced himself, the complex known as Blood and Honor. Chol would be living here at for the next few days, and then he would take ship and travel to another clandestine and secretive location. Chol Cuxa had survived as long as he had by frequently changing where he stayed. Chol didn’t trust modern communications much at all and wanted important messages delivered by a sentient and in person. No use trying to use a quantum relay or other sophisticated communication systems, as he would not use them. Verinous was used to the odd quirks of his employer and that meant he had to meet Chol Cuxa in person and deliver his report. Sounds of distant music and raucous laughter soon drifted to the mercenary as he carefully made his way through the underground tunnel passages and connected platforms that made up the bulk of the underground facility. He headed towards the central core of the port where the mass of shops and businesses were located. Business was business and the Vortex group made money by selling weapons, armor, food – basically anything someone would want that perhaps was illegal on Republic owned worlds and ports. He knew the way, he had been here before and the twisty maze-like passages were all numbered and categorized in a logical pattern. He heard the music first, and then the raucous sound of hundreds of sentients conversing, laughing, arguing and dancing. The racket was jarring and seemed somehow inappropriate when compared to the silence he had blissfully enjoyed in the familiar comfort of his personal starship. The never-ending party took place twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The galaxy was large and there were trillions of sentient beings that were trying to make a fast credit - mercenaries, pirates, and outlaws had been coming to the Blood and Honor for years to unwind, drink, eat, carouse, fuck and enjoy the numerous pleasures of the flesh. The mercenary made his way through the hundreds of people that inadvertently barred his path. The mercenary reached the main door, which had two large human guards flanking each side. They let him pass without a word. He was expected. Making his way inside, he threaded a circuitous path through drunken dancers and wild party-goers hyped up on drugs and the excitement of being in a dangerous place. The patrons were predominantly human, though here and there could be seen an Evene, or a K’Tosk and rarely an Orvod towering over all others. There was even a small group of Arrasian’s huddled together scheming to make their lives just a little richer. As he arrived the mercenary surveyed the interior of the impressive building. Most structures on this planet were patched, old and rusted, but not the Blood and Honor. Its walls gleamed and neon lights beckoned outsiders to venture inside. Prostitutes prowled the multi-storied lavish outpost looking for customers armed with nothing more than smiles and their own scantily clad and perfumed bodies. A robotic MEK offered him a drink and he ignored it. He climbed stairs that led to the third floor. An overhanging platform jutted out giving a grand view of the main hall. There were at least six bodyguards in attendance as well as numerous hangers-on and slaves to attend their masters every whim. Seated on a plush cushion of pillows was a very large but well muscled Orvod male. His attire consisted of hand woven Saklaht silks in bright reds and shades of orange.
“What did you see, Verinous?” Chol Cuxa asked while reclining and eating slices of a ripe golden-red fruit. Two beautiful Evene girls near the leader were naked and had been feeding him – giggling as they dangled fruit in front of his face. They never took their attention from the huge Orvod. The mercenary looked around at the sycophants gathered near the leader of the Vortex group.
“The task is complete. It went flawlessly. No mistakes.” His tone was cool and betrayed no emotion. Of course, Verinous had been a stalwart and trusted lieutenant of Chol Cuxa for three years and didn’t display emotions other than a total desire to generate huge amounts of money. Verinous never questioned his superior, he did what he was told and he did it well. The Orvod stood, waving away his Evene slaves. He towered over all those present.
“Come - walk with me.” Chol’s voice was rich and deep. It was not a request. Verinous fell in beside his boss as he walked to a private elevator. Once the doors shut, the leader of the Vortex group looked down on his man and smiled. Chol pressed a few buttons on a control panel and the elevator doors shut and began to descend deep under the establishment.
“Did you endure any difficulties in climbing?” The soft thud of the elevator reaching its destination punctuated the question. Chol Cuxa thought that he could have picked someone more skilled at such a task, a human perhaps - they had evolved from tree swinging primates on their homeworld. But Verinous was his most loyal…and capable lieutenant.
“No. It was tiring, but not overly difficult.” His muscles still ached from the exertion. He had slept through five of the last ten hours, but his body was still hurting. As he followed his leader into a secure underground bunker his mind was a blank. He was not curious and he didn’t care about what he had done. He had no ethical qualms about anything, planting a nuclear device and then setting it off would never cause him to lose sleep.
The room they stood in was stripped bare of the gaudy colors, materials and patrons of the frenetic dance-floor and bars far above them. The space they stood in was a fortified control bunker with dozens of data screens adorning walls – all streaming information on the dozens of missions and constantly fluctuating
fortunes of the Vortex Mercenary Group.
“Fortune smiles on us again! I have another job for you. There is a human target that needs to be captured – alive, and unharmed. Take as many men as you need and travel to Earth in the Sol Quadrant. I don’t want any incidents with human authorities either. Republic territory means you will be discrete. Use stun guns on the human but keep things quiet.” Chol Cuxa rubbed his chin and looked at his subordinate with cold humorless eyes.
“If you are caught by human authorities, I will not be able to help you. You realize that, don’t you?” Chol looked at Verinous with unblinking gaze.
Does he think I am stupid? Verinous tried hard not to say anything sarcastic. The only outward sign he gave was a small twitch in the corner of his mouth that lasted a fraction of a second. He was well disciplined when talking with his superiors – especially in regards to what he said around Chol Cuxa, who could be easily displeased. He leveled his gaze at his superior.
“I will take precautions but I wish to move quickly. I will take Fala and Maahir on this mission. They are both human and will back me up if things…go badly. What level of expenses can I incur in the pursuit of this target? Verinous let the last word linger on his tongue as if he could savor the hunt already.
Chol Cuxa looked at the dozens of data streams in the command quarters and smiled. “This Eli Bowman is wanted and the pay is exorbitant. Make sure that your expenses are not.” Chol turned his back on his lieutenant and Verinous knew that he was dismissed. On the ride up inside the elevator he thought about plans and contingencies. He was already talking to Maahir and Fala by the time he exited the never ending party inside Blood and Honor.
CHAPTER 8
Life aboard a military starship is inevitably dull – there is nothing to look at except the same gray durasteel walls and bulkheads day after day and there is nothing to do within the confined bulkheads and limited corridors. The Majestic was considered a hybrid vessel which had an impressive array of scientific instruments and laboratories to analyze and catalog specimens, in addition to a couple of large turrets, one positioned on the top forward spine of the ship and one placed aft underneath the spine. That way, the ship could fire on any threat in a three hundred and sixty degree arc to cover all possible attack vectors. The turrets were equipped with Heavy Particle Cannons which should be able to disable or destroy up to destroyer sized warships. It was the seventh day of the voyage, with two solar days left to enter the Shaedra system. Unlike the massive cruise ships that ply star-lanes and jump-points carrying thousands of passengers who gamble, carouse, dine at fancy restaurants and sleep on comfortable beds at night, military starship’s are all about clean lines and hard edges. A form that functioned very well in delivering lethal killing blows to enemy ships – a function unknown to most civilian starships. Eris could not fathom being part of the crew and having to endure such confinement for the long time intervals; she preferred hard land under her feet and a clear mission objective. The only time it’s not boring is during a firefight, and then boredom is replaced with adrenaline and sheer terror. Eris broke the daily monotony up as best she could with early morning exercises, target practice in the simulator, and making the rounds throughout the various compartments of the warship. She had just entered the engineering bay to have a talk with the crew stationed there and learn a little about the propulsion systems. Almost all ships were built around the concept and practice of modular construction. Each critical area – engineering, crew compartments, cargo bays, weapon turrets and command centers were all built as modules so their structural integrity wouldn’t be compromised in case of catastrophic hull breach. Modular designs also allowed greater capability and easier upgrades at the component and systems level. Such catastrophes almost never happened to civilian starships, but military cruisers were often sent on hazardous duty where the unexpected was planned for, with secondary and tertiary backup systems in place to account for primary equipment failures. The thrum of the fusion powerplant and steady frisson of the jump drive engines were palpable on her skin. She wondered how the engineers could stand such irritating sensations for so long. Eris supposed anyone could get used to anything if they were subjected to it long enough.
“How are the engines holding up, Doc?” Eris smiled at the large man who was in command of this section of the Majestic. She didn’t know where he’d been given the nickname or why, but it didn’t seem to fit the burly and cantankerous chief engineer.
The man’s TEC uniform was dirty and covered with spots of a dark, grimy substance. Eris didn’t know what the splotches were but he did smell of sweat and oil. He was taller than Eris and out-weighed her by at least forty kilos. He was fat.
“Commander Monroe, these engines don’t hold up, they do what I want them to do, and that’s to propel a mass of over ten thousand metric tons through N space and Lindstrom tunnels as needed. They’re machines and need to be constantly monitored. That essential monitoring is now being interrupted by you. He glared at her. He was part of the TEC crew and had nothing to do with her unit.
“I’m sorry to intrude on you, but you did reply to my message that you agreed to my visit. It is 0800 and it is Tuesday. Her eyes had narrowed as she spoke, perhaps being a little too stern in her approach. The big man looked unsure and his mouth hung open.
“It’s Tuesday?” He seemed remorseful with a shocked expression.
Eris gave him a little smile.
“Yes, yes it is.”
A young man and woman interrupted their conversation with a short cough. Their insignia and name patches indicated who they were – Morales and Chen. She remembered from the crew manifest that they were the first subordinates under the chief engineer.
“Sir, the port stabilizer calibration was a little off and we reset it. Thrust efficiency will decrease by point zero eight percent until we damp it down…” Petty officer Jessica Morales let her words trail off as she realized how upset her superior was.
Eris saw that Doc was about to go ballistic and she quickly put her hand on his right shoulder. “Chief, how about that tour you promised me? I’m sure your engineers can handle any slight inefficiency problems.”
At her touch, the big man seemed to calm. He muttered under his breath, “They shouldn’t be called engineers,” as Eris urged him to show her the whole area. Eris knew that she could have a calming effect on males of her species though it was much more difficult with females. Her looks were designed to have that type of effect and it gave her an edge in just about everything she did in her life. As Doc led her around the large engineering compartment, Eris noted everything he said and memorized it. Her eidetic memory allowed her instant access to anything she had seen or experienced in the past. It was one of dozens of gifts her designers had bestowed on her when she was created on Darol Station twenty seven years ago. If at some point in the future she wanted to remember how a piece of ship’s engineering machinery was operated or performed, all she had to do was think back to this tour. It was like opening up a computer file to the exact location of what the user wanted instantaneously and without any hesitation, confusion or second guessing. Of course, it wasn’t the same thing as being a trained technician or engineer taught in a university, but the info could be handy if she needed the knowledge to start the engines or shut them down. She noted how the chief engineer was happily engrossed in explaining every little technical item about his beloved engines. She let him keep talking, because that was why she had come down to this deck in the first place.
After an hour and a half of listening quietly to Doc, with the occasional ‘uh huh’, ‘how interesting’ and other conversation fillers, Eris pleaded with him that she had other duties to attend.
“The tour has been very informative, but I have a meeting to attend. I’m afraid I have to go now.” she said it with such sincerity and an earnest face that Doc was beaming with pride as she left him and headed up to the command and control deck. She did have a scheduled meeting with Captain Shaw to discuss how the
Majestic would approach the target planet and where they would scan for any Valdren bases. It was now 0750 and the day was just getting started.
In the ship’s ready room adjacent to the bridge, Eris sat in a too comfortable chair and watched Captain Malcolm Shaw demonstrate to her how the Majestic would enter orbit around the high gravity world Domovik and her team would descend using the transport drop-ship. The holographic data streams were colorful, three dimensional and compelling; but nothing she didn’t already know about. Eris stood up, walked over to the representation of Domovik and enlarged the target zone of the northern continent with deft movements of her hands.
“According to the data that the TEC has provided, this area was considered the most promising location for a Valdren base. If your scanner works as promised we should find an energy signature somewhere in these fifty square kilometers of terrain.” Eris moved her hands with precision, her left hand dragging the ground and her right manipulating what little data was known about the surface – including the gravity, atmospheric content and pressure, indigenous lifeforms and other tidbits of information. Her team would need to be wearing fully contained and sealed armor with air re-breathers and extra tanks on their backs.
“These pirate clans in the asteroid belt,” continued Eris, “What rules of engagement are you operating under if they come to investigate our presence?” She shifted her weight from her left to her right with a serious expression on her face. Captain Shaw covered his mouth, coughed a few times to clear his throat and then answered.
“Well, um, Commander Monroe, we didn’t come looking for a fight, though I think our little cruiser would easily be able to hold off any rabble that attacked.” He glanced at Eris with a troubled look. “Really, I firmly believe Majestic would be more than a match for any mercenary riffraff that dared to assault us.” He began to pace as he spoke, his voice rising. “However, if we do come under fire, and you’re on the planet surface, we may have to leave you.” Shaw looked at his feet, “At least temporarily…”
