by T. R. Harris
And then to add insult to injury, the remainder of the contract fee never materialized, leaving him broke and with every swinging-dick bounty hunter in the galaxy out looking for him. The next two years were horrible, as he lived a squalid existence hiding in the worst slums in the galaxy, always on the run and afraid of his own shadow.
He thought he’d found salvation when the next assignment fell unexpectedly into his lap. Unfortunately, that one was a fiasco, as well. That contract involved the assassination of his quasi-friend Adam Cain, the most famous Human in the galaxy. However, what made this assignment more promising was the fact that he negotiated his fee to be paid in advance, having learned his lesson from the Quanin affair.
Mike never intended to kill Adam; instead, they teamed up to expose the Maris-Kliss Regional Director Wolfgang Stimmel as the person behind the would-be assassination. But as before, this contract also turned out to be a ruse, designed as a distraction so Stimmel could steal three Dark Matter Collectors from the mutants, Lila and Panur. The DMCs made Stimmel the most-powerful being in the galaxy, and with ambitions far beyond those he professed to hold for the Dead Worlds.
Adam Cain and friends eventually defeated the Director; however, no sooner had Mike pulled the trigger that was supposed to end Adam’s life, then the enormous contract fee mysteriously disappeared from his bank account. He didn’t think that was possible, not with the security protocols of the Expansion Credit System. But when you’re dealing with MK—the largest company in the galaxy—it seemed nothing was impossible.
This left Mike once again broke and on the run, with the Juireans still after him for the killing of their Quid-Elder. Mike had no illusions; the aliens would never give up searching for him, no matter how long it took. His only salvation would come from acquiring enough credits so he could completely disappear, with a new identity, on a new world, and as a whole new Mike Hannon.
And now, looking at the table covered in a rainbow of colored Juirean credits, that time was now. And all of this was thanks to his Gracilian friends, Vodenik Kreul and Kovach Baloric.
Vodenik stepped up to the table, carrying another load of JCs.
“We should begin preparations to leave Navarus,” said the black-skinned alien with the pyramid-shaped neck and shoulders. If Mike didn’t know better, he would have mistaken the mean-looking aliens for fearless and feared fighters. Instead, they were pacifist geniuses who seldom resorted to violence. They used intelligence to conquer instead of their brawn. Besides, they had Mike to do the fighting for them.
“Patience, my friend,” Mike said. “Every ship leaving the spaceport for the next ten days or more will be tracked and searched. We can remain here indefinitely, or at least until the heat dies down.”
“I understand the meaning of your statement,” Vodenik said, “yet we have detected none of your so-called heat. It is like the other thefts; met only with silence.”
“Don’t let that fool you,” Mike said. “Just because the Juireans aren’t making a fuss about the robberies doesn’t mean they’re not trying to stop us. Five thefts in three months; it has to be driving them crazy. They’ll be using every asset at their disposal to find out who’s doing this. Because of that, I think it’s time we back off a little, at least until things cool down even more.”
“We cannot do that!” the alien snapped. “We need many more credits. And time is running short.”
Mike knew the reason the Gracilians were robbing the Expansion banks. What he didn’t know was whether or not he believed them. They said it was so they could finance a revolution in the Dead Zone, to free their people on Gracilia and the others from the tyranny of the Empires. Yeah, whatever. What they did with their money was their business. But recently, the pair was spending a lot of time on secure commlinks while pressuring Mike to speed up the planning and execution of more robberies, not slow them down. Already the team had over eight hundred million credits between them. Surely that was enough to get started financing a revolution. But the aliens weren’t funneling any of the money to their comrades in arms, at least not yet. Instead, they hid the credits on an unnamed asteroid in another star system and of no use to anyone.
In a moment of levity, Mike suggested that they deposit the money into Expansion Banks for safekeeping. That’s when he learned Gracilians didn’t have a sense of humor.
Fortunately, Mike’s goals were far less ambitious than funding a revolution. With his share of the profits he already had, he could achieve all his goals, and then some. He thought about calling it quits and let the Gracilians handle it from here on out. But they were rotten planners and literal in their thinking. That’s why they came to him in the first place after their first heist nearly went bust. They had to abandon their starship and do a hasty removal of the beam generators, costing them nearly their entire take just to get back on their feet. Since then, Mike had the enterprise working as smooth as a special ops mission, with every contingency planned for. At first, the Gracilians complained about the money he was spending. But now the cash was flowing in. And still, the damned aliens wanted more. But as any good Delta understood, one shouldn’t continue pushing one’s luck. Eventually, that luck would run out.
But what the hey, it was easy money—insanely easy. It was hard to walk away from the prospect of even more.
“You do realize that each time we hit one of their banks, it gives the Juireans more evidence that could lead to us,” Mike said, still advocating for a pause in their activities. “Listen, when I first joined your little band of bank robbers, you gave me authority for where and when we hit. So far, that’s worked out pretty well. We ain’t been caught yet.”
Vodenik shook his head in a very Human-like gesture. “The situation has changed. If you do not increase the frequency of the thefts, then we must target larger facilities.”
“We’ve talked about this before. Hitting a Regional Depository is out of our league—meaning more than we can handle. Just look at us. The ship is already packed as it is, and we’re only able to download one grab at a time. And the grab spheres are only so big. The only way to make more from hitting a Depository would be to use multiple beam-sets at a time. Then we would need more computers and a lot bigger ship—multiple ships—which would mean more crew.”
At the beginning of their criminal affiliation, the renegade Gracilians gave Mike a brief overview of how their system of beams and waves worked. Being the man he was, he promptly forgot what they said. But over the months, Mike seen the equipment in action enough to have a pretty good understanding of how it worked. He couldn’t see how they could pull off a theft at a Depository without a major upgrade in equipment, facilities … and alien-power.
“We must make an effort, even if it involves additional investment.”
“Hey, if you want to spend your money on upgrades, knock yourself out. But now you’re talking about doubling or tripling the number of ships and generators.”
“We already have the ships; however, you insist on keeping them in reserve. I say it is time we use them.”
“I keep those ships in reserve in case of emergencies. When you first brought me in, you’d already lost one ship, and that wasn’t easy or cheap to replace. I have those ships in reserve so we don’t lose time if we have to dump one.”
At least that’s what he told the Gracilians. It was early on in their affiliation, and Mike had no idea how long the gravy train would last. So, he’d skimmed several million credits off the cost of acquisition and outfitting of the three backup vessels. Sure, they could come in handy—if the situation called for it. But three of them? That was just overkill. “And now you want to speed up the timeframe and go for bigger targets. The last thing I want to do is get caught because we push too hard.”
“It is the same for us.”
“Then what are you saying; we do one more hit, and that’s it? We blow the entire wad at one time?”
“I fail to understand the translation, Mike Hannon, but I grasp the concept. Yes, we eit
her increase the frequency of the smaller operations, or we strike at a Regional Depository.”
Mike thought for a moment. More hits meant more chance of getting caught. But one last job, and that would be it. He’d be done and rich beyond belief, ready to begin the next phase in his life. “This will involve bringing in more crew who will want their cut,” Mike pointed out. “I don’t want to spend any of my money to make that happen.”
Vodenik scowled at the Human. “We are in a partnership. We share the proceeds; we should all share the expense.”
Mike pointed at Vodenik then himself. “Majority partner, minority partner. I didn’t sign on for something this big. I have enough money already that I don’t need anymore. And frankly, so do you.” Mike knew how to negotiate with Gracilians. You simply draw a line in the sand, and they submit. Sure, they’ll yell a lot, but then they’ll give in.
“We do not have enough!” Vodenik was visibly trembling. “Not yet.”
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Mike asked, narrowing his eyes at the erratic alien. “You’re not telling me the truth. This money isn’t for funding a revolution, is it? If so, then you’d be feeding it to your people already. But you’re not. Why not? I won’t help without knowing the full story.”
Line in the sand, drawn.
The Gracilian glared at Mike for a full thirty seconds before he slowly calmed down. “What I have told you is true, mostly. We are funding a revolution, but not in a conventional sense. We need credits … so we can make a purchase.”
“What kind of purchase? What the hell costs eight hundred million credits?”
“Very valuable items. And we need much more than eight hundred million credits. We need one-and-a-half-billion, and if we do not come up with that amount within the next twenty-four days, the items we seek will be sold to another buyer.”
Mike let out a whistle. “Dude, cut your losses and keep the damn eight hundred million! Nothing is worth one-point-five billion.”
“These items are. They represent the future, a future which my people have dreamed of for many standard years. The purchase will help us fulfill our destiny and be able to reclaim our rightful heritage. Because of that, we must continue whether you help us or not. And we do not have much time.”
Mike studied the huge alien for several seconds. He had nothing against Gracilians; he considered them harmless, knowing that he could kick the ass of any one of them. And they were gullible to a fault. They’d come to him because they knew of his past affiliation with Wolfgang Stimmel, as a hired assassin, skilled in the ways of the criminal world. Of course, they didn’t know the full truth about the relationship. They thought he and the Director were buddies when they were nothing of the sort, especially after Stimmel stabbed Mike in the back and stole all his money. But when the Gracilians needed a tactician for their nefarious capers, they turned to Mike. He negotiated a sweetheart deal for himself, even though he had very little to do during the actual thefts. His expertise came from his ability to keep the team safe. He cased the banks, purchased the starships, acquired items the Gracilians couldn’t, and tracked down derelict transponder codes. Then he advised on the movements of the team before and after a heist. So far, they were still walking free, so he must be doing something right. And as far Mike knew, the Juireans had a clue who was behind the robberies, even after the debacle of the first heist. He was taking no responsibility that. He wasn’t part of the team at the time.
“Okay, Vodenik, I’ll help with one more grab. But as I said, I’m not putting any of my money into the venture.”
“We will pay for the additional crew ourselves, but you will have to secure them. At the moment, Gracilians are wanted beings because of our past affiliation with the Director. We are not able to move about freely.”
“I know, that’s why I’m so valuable to you.” Mike slapped the table. “Okay, one more heist, but this one will be the mother of all heists.” Mike smiled, seeing the frown cross the Gracilian’s face. “That means a really big job, the biggest of all time. It will be glorious, my friend.”
Chapter 13
“Mike Hannon? Are you sure?” Adam asked, although he already knew the answer.
Of course, Mike Hannon would be involved in an operation like this, if given the opportunity. And that made Adam furious. The ex-Delta Force operative had a nasty habit of getting himself mixed up in all sorts of nefarious schemes, and most with galactic implications. And Adam had multiple opportunities in the past to put him away for good. Now he’d somehow gotten himself involved in a high-tech operation such as this, and working with the Gracilians to boot. Adam had to hand it to him; Mike always seemed to land on his feet. At least right up to the point the anvil dropped on his head.
“Hannon’s not as smart as he thinks,” Monty said with a smirk. “Besides being able to track the stolen chips, the Juireans also surveyed every registered spaceship in the system where the first robbery took place and tracked down the ship that was used. Hannon got away, barely, but it gave the Juireans a clue as to what to look for. After the second heist, he switched out his routine, sticking around the planet for a while rather than bolting away like someone guilty of a robbery. Still, the Juireans tracked Hannon’s ship after the second heist, and that’s how we found out who’s behind all this. He used an alias, but it wasn’t hard to see that it was Hannon. We began tracking the ship but then we lost the transponder signal. He changed it out. We didn’t sweat it; we already knew the next target bank because the stolen chips inside it. We just didn’t know when the heist would take place. And now we’re on Navarus and only a few days after the latest theft. It’s the closest we’ve been to him, and if he follows his standard protocol, he’s still here. If we do our jobs right, this is where it ends for Mr. Michael Hannon.”
Adam raised his eyebrows. He was impressed that a series of thefts, taking place across a thousand light-years, could be so easily traced. And if all went according to plan, the Juireans would have the situation locked down in no time, thanks to Monty and his team. But then the Juireans would be seeking the answers to Overlord Andon’s other questions: How was this done, and how widespread is the technology? Adam already knew the how thanks to Panur and Lila. Hannon and the Gracilians—once captured—will tell them if this technology has leaked out to the general public. If so, then things were about to get a lot more interesting in the Milky Way.
The PA team only stopped by Cain’s for a quick check-in with friends before heading back to their ship at the Kanac Spaceport to begin the hunt for Mike Hannon. It shouldn’t be too hard to find him. The bounty-hunting team went on to explain how he was manipulating the transponder codes on his ship to disguise its movements, changing it after each heist. This was where the genius of Tidus Fe Nolan came in.
It was illegal to change transponder codes, but criminals did it all the time. Since every ship needed one to enter a star system and make landfall, they often acquired legitimate—yet ancient—codes from derelict vessels left in vast starship graveyards. Once the black box was recovered, they would disable the legitimate transponder and replace it with the counterfeit code. To get around this, Tidus found a way of comparing the active codes with the registered age of a vessel. If the ship was newer than the code would indicate, then it was probably stolen. Once in port, digital scanners could check the construction marker for a starship and then compare it to the age of the transponder signal. Tidus worked up the comparison program, and now his team had the software in their datapads. All it would take now was a stroll through a spaceport, checking each of the target ships, the ones that fit the description of what type of vessel would be required to pull off such an operation. With Tidus’s program, they could spot the illegal transponder codes without too much effort. It also meant they could find other fugitives, a bonus if there a bounty was on their heads.
Adam had to give the bounty hunters credit. Even though Hannon thought he was being clever with his habit of laying low for several days after a theft, it look
ed as if it would be his downfall. It gave the team time to survey spaceports for the target vessel. The noose was tightening. And although he didn’t know it at the time, Navarus would be Hannon’s last stop.
After getting their fill of the best genuine bar-b-que this side of Mars, Summer and her team headed back to the Kanac Spaceport to begin their hunt for Mike Hannon. They held no false hope that they would find him in the Kanac Spaceport since there were now fourteen decent-sized facilities on the planet. But Kanac was by far the largest, with over three hundred ships in port at any given time. A great place to hide a freighter full of Juirean credits and scheming Gracilian scientists.
Adam and Riyad volunteered to help with the search, blowing off the Juirean Overlord for more time with their friends. They broke into teams, and Adam asked to be paired with Summer. He was worried about her and wanted more one-on-one time. She looked worried after Adam insisted, but then agreed when refusing would seem too weird.
The spaceport had changed a lot over time, growing from a once burned-out section of jungle to where it was now a sterling example of organization and efficiency. No longer were ships allowed to land and take off helter-skelter. There were designated landing and takeoff areas, and ships would then be towed to parking spaces, allowing for more vessels in the port.
As the pair strolled down the row of starships, Summer had her datapad out, checking the larger freighters for their manufacturer’s plates and then comparing that information to the transponder codes. The problem: About every third ship was a freighter of some sort, carrying product to or from the growing metropolis of Kanac-Balamar. There were also a few passenger liners, at least those small enough to land on the surface. They could also be used to carry the equipment required by the thieves. Summer and Adam would stop near a suspected starship and work the computer. It only took a couple of minutes to make a scan.
