by Isaac Hooke
She smiled, wrapping her arm around his side.
When Rade stepped into the tight compartment that formed the bridge, he found himself standing up against the series of curved stations that composed the brain center of the Argonaut. Those stations were placed side-by-side so that they formed a circle, affectionately called the Sphincter of Command by the crew. Usually shortened to the Sphinx.
Tahoe, Manic, Bender and Fret were currently seated at those stations. No instruments of any kind were present on the bare surfaces in front of them. Instead, the men interfaced with the stations via their Implants.
Each of them inclined their heads as Rade squeezed by, and in turn they muttered: “Boss.”
Rade took his seat at the main station, while Shaw sat beside him.
“Have a good maintenance session with your chick?” Bender asked with a wink. The incredibly muscular black man was decked out in his usual array of gold chains and earrings.
“I’m right here you know...” Shaw said.
Rade shifted uneasily.
“Oh, that’s you??” Bender acted all shocked. “My bad my bad. My eyesight isn’t what is used to be.” He leaned forward and mock squinted at her.
“Asswipe,” Shaw said.
“Wipe I do and ass I is,” Bender replied.
Manic, seated across from him, covered his lips, apparently trying to hold back a laugh. His most distinguishing feature was a port-wine stain, vaguely moth-like in shape, over his right eye.
Manic glanced at Bender and then finally started giggling uncontrollably. “I think—” He had to stop to catch his breath. “I think he’s actually proud you called him an asswipe!”
“Shut it,” Bender told him. He flexed his neck and cracked his knuckles as if he hadn’t a care in the world, or was getting ready to fight. Manic caught on and bit back his laugh.
“Anyway, it must be nice,” Bender told Shaw. “You two get to shack up all cozy with each other while the rest of us here starve. There are fourteen women aboard skilled in the art of pleasure and we can’t touch a one of ‘em.”
“Tell that to Lui and TJ,” Fret said. Compared to Bender, Fret was a skinny stick. But he was the tallest man present, taller even than Rade, though it wasn’t obvious at the moment with him seated at the Sphinx.
“You’re such a rat, bitch,” Bender said.
Fret cringed. “Whoops.”
Rade furrowed his brow. “Bax, where are Lui and TJ?”
“Lui is in the stateroom he shares with Harlequin,” the Argonaut’s AI responded. “TJ is in the stateroom he shares with Bender.”
“Is anyone else with them?”
“Affirmative,” Bax replied. “One of the newly arrived passengers is with Lui. Two more are with TJ.”
Rade frowned. All of the bridge crew were looking at him. Shaw’s gaze seemed keenest of all.
Rade had standing orders strictly forbidding his ex-MOTHs from seducing any of the expected passengers.
I shouldn’t have given those orders, maybe. Then again, if I hadn’t, I’d have no one running the ship right now except the AI.
He also realized it was more than likely the passengers had done the seducing, or at least played an equal part, given the way the women had behaved during the weeks leading up to their rescue.
Rade glanced at Tahoe. “Dock them half a month’s pay each.” That would help meet payroll. With luck, more of his crew would misbehave in the coming weeks. “I’ll leave the rest of their discipline up to you.”
“Got it,” Tahoe said. He was a Navajo, and almost as big as Bender. “By the way, speaking of the month’s pay... can I talk to you in your office?”
Rade sighed, then he squeezed past the edge of the stations toward the hatch leading to the adjacent compartment. Tahoe joined him. It was difficult for the pair to navigate the tight space, given their sizes, but they managed. It definitely wasn’t the sort of ship that would suit a claustrophobic.
Rade entered the compartment where his cramped office resided. Rade took a seat in a metal chair abutting the bulkhead. Space was at a premium throughout the vessel. Though the Argonaut appeared about a quarter the size of a military corvette on the outside, most of that was hull armor to protect against cosmic radiation, and the rest was cargo space.
When the hatch sealed behind Tahoe, Rade beckoned for him to sit in the hard-backed chair opposite him, in front of the tiny desk.
“So, what is it?” Rade asked.
“We all pooled our money to make the Argonaut’s downpayment,” Tahoe began. “We’re all investors in this business. But the thing is, we gotta live, too. We need our salaries. Many of us have family back home. Veteran’s pay only goes so far. And sure, some of our family members are eligible for basic pay, but again, it’s not enough. We can’t just take money out of the Argonaut’s hull, you know what I’m saying? So my question to you is, how are you going to meet the salaries next month? Let alone the installment payment on the loan.”
“That’s what I like about you,” Rade said. “You were never one to beat around the bush. But as I told you before, I already have something lined up.”
“Why do I find that hard to believe?” Tahoe said.
“Unlimited Universe Security has made a name for itself in the security consulting industry,” Rade said. “People are always visiting our InterGalNet site. I get a message at least once a month from prospective clients. Not to mention pings on the consulting message board.”
“Yeah, and what’s going to happen to the Unlimited Universe name now?” Tahoe said. “After what we did to Kenzo? One of our own clients?”
“Nothing,” Rade said. “If our clients are honorable, and not doing anything illegal, they have nothing to fear. If they’re like Kenzo, well, then they shouldn’t be hiring us in the first place. In fact, I prefer it this way. It weeds out more of the dishonorable clients, who we don’t really want to work for anyway. Human traffickers. The scum of the galaxy.”
Tahoe shook his head. “We should have never taken on the job. You should have listened to me. Providing security for a warlord never turns out well.”
“We did our research,” Rade said. “His harem seemed legit. How were we supposed to know they were kidnapped women he was training as pleasurers so he could sell them?”
Tahoe shook his head. “It’s too bad we didn’t wait until he paid his latest bill. You know, in another month, I’ll be eligible for basic pay again. We all will. It’s been six months since our last payday.”
“That long?” Rade said, feigning ignorance.
“That’s right, pretend you don’t know,” Tahoe said. “By the way, have you gotten in touch with the bank yet? Any luck getting your escrow money back from the reserve accounts?”
“I’ll try contacting them when we’re in the next system,” Rade said. “But they haven’t been very cooperative, to say the least. You’d think the bank would be happy to help its loan customers stay in business. It’s good for them, after all. But apparently they’re not.”
“They’re happy to take the ship as collateral,” Tahoe said. “Not to mention the shuttles, the combat robots, and all the mechs we’ve bought. This new client of yours better come through, or we’re going to lose everything.”
four
Rade resided in the well-stocked, if tiny, workout area. He had converted the two guest berthing areas and half the sickbay to make that gym. It was one of the first refurbishments Rade had made when he bought the Argonaut. You couldn’t expect a bunch of ex-MOTHs to room aboard a vessel without one. The crew members would have directed all that pent-up, unspent physical energy against each other in the form of brawls otherwise. His next biggest expenditure after the gym was the conversion of the second cargo bay into a mech launch facility.
Because of the gym’s small size, Rade had been forced to allocate different workout hours to each member of the crew. He was currently training with Shaw and Tahoe.
“This bench needs to be replaced,” Tahoe said. He
ran his hand along the yellow foam protruding from the worn fabric of the head region. “Every time I lay down to press, feel like I got a seagull doing its business on my hair.”
“Are you sure that’s a seagull doing its business, and not your wife?” Rade said.
“Har har.” Tahoe lay back.
“How is your wife, by the way?” Rade said.
“She’s fine,” Tahoe said. He lowered the bar to his chest. The robotic spotting limbs attached to the rack followed the bar all the way down, prepared to give aid if necessary. Rade spotted him, too—just in case the robot limbs failed. “In her last message, she thanked me for the bread pudding recipe you sent. My daughter loves it.”
“Don’t thank me, thank Shaw,” Rade said.
“It’s an old family tradition,” Shaw said. “Vanilla chutney bread pudding.”
Tahoe finished his set and racked the weight.
“I’m going to have to program one of the gastronomy robots to make it for me sometime,” Tahoe said. “Well, assuming we can find the ingredients aboard. All we got is chicken, chicken, and more chicken.”
Rade shrugged. “It’s the cheapest to purchase and store. And can we not talk about food right now? Some of us are dieting.”
Shaw tried to pinch his waist, but Rade deftly sidestepped. Or rather, not so deftly—he slammed his side into the adjacent squat rack.
“Aww my poor baby,” Shaw said when he flinched.
“She’s mocking you,” Tahoe told Rade.
“I do it often,” Shaw said. “Usually when he takes his clothes off.”
Rade chuckled softly and rubbed his side. He had knob-like metal hardpoints protruding from his arms at various points, used for mounting a strength-enhancing exoskeleton, such as those found within the military-grade jumpsuits the team used for away missions. One of the hardpoints on his wrist snagged a tender area near his ribcage, and he flinched.
“You should probably leave your side alone,” Shaw said.
“Probably.” Rade resisted the urge to rub the region further, and then he helped remove the weights from the bench press so that Shaw could do her set.
“We should really pick up some adjustable weights sometime,” Shaw said. “Would save a lot of room. We are short on space, in case you hadn’t noticed...”
“Yeah,” Rade said. “And we’re also short on cash.”
When she was done with her set, Shaw said: “So what do we know about this new job of yours?”
“Not much,” Rade told her. “Other than it’s an escort sort of deal.”
“Escort?” Shaw asked. “As in, we have to provide a security escort planetside? Or in space?”
“A bit of both, I think.” Rade helped Tahoe load more weights onto the bar. “The Argonaut will escort their ship to the target, and then we’ll potentially provide ground security at the destination, whether that’s aboard a station, or on a planet.”
Rade lay back on the bench. Tahoe was right, that exposed foam pressing into his head did feel quite awkward.
“Mind if I read the current message exchange with the client?” Shaw asked.
“Have at it.” Rade transmitted it to her, and Tahoe as well, then proceeded to do his set. The hum emanating from the servomotors of the spotting limbs was slightly distracting, but he was able to block it out well enough. More distracting were the funny faces Tahoe was making while acting as the backup spotter above him.
When Rade racked the weights, he turned to Tahoe and said: “You looked like you were taking a shit there, bro.”
“Hey, just mimicking you,” Tahoe said.
“So you’re meeting them at Etalon station?” Shaw asked when Rade was done.
“Yeah.” Rade sat up and vacated the bench so that Tahoe could do his set. “The contact has agreed to meet me there. That’s actually perfect, because we have to drop off the passengers with Graavian anyway.”
“I want to come with you,” Shaw said.
“That’s a negative,” Rade said. “I always meet with clients alone for the first time.”
Shaw crossed her arms. “I didn’t really like the tone of the contact’s messages.”
“What’s wrong with the tone?” Tahoe said. His eyes were defocused. He had obviously decided to read the message exchange for the first time.
“I don’t know,” Shaw said. “It’s a bit condescending. Like we’re just another set of moving parts. Expendable.”
Tahoe shrugged. “That’s how most of our clients view us.”
Rade received a call from the bridge. It was Lui.
“We’re nearing Chitsu Gate,” Lui sent.
“Gotta go,” Rade said. “Duty calls.”
He weaved between the closely-packed gym equipment and made his way toward the exit hatch.
Shaw had followed him. She touched his shoulder hardpoint, stopping him. Though the metal didn’t have any tactile sensors on its own, he felt the pressure on the surrounding skin.
“Are you all right?” she said softly.
“I’m fine,” Rade said, matching her volume.
She glanced at Tahoe. Rade did as well, and saw that his friend was watching the two of them with concern.
Shaw extended her noise canceler around him.
“Your strength is down,” she continued. “Normally you do eight sets at that weight. You only did four.”
“It’s the diet,” Rade said.
“You know I love every last bit of you.” She tentatively reached forward to pat his slightly protruding belly, but then stopped herself—she knew how much he hated that. “Maybe it’s time to put that diet at an end.”
“I don’t diet just for you, Shaw,” Rade told her.
“Don’t you?” she teased. She wrapped an arm around his waist, pulled herself close to him, and looked up into his face. Rade stared down into her seductive brown eyes, wanting her.
“I have to be in shape for this line of work,” he said, slowly extricating himself from her grasp. “Not to mention, if I pack on too much flab, I’ll lose the respect of my crew. I’ve grown soft since leaving the military. That’s got to change.”
Shaw sighed. “All right.” She gave him a mocking salute. “Get back to the bridge, Captain.”
He planted a moist kiss on her lips. She returned it vigorously; her tongue darted into his mouth, promising something more later. Much more.
“Come on,” Rade said when he came up for air. “Not in front of Tahoe.”
Shaw reluctantly let him go.
He hurried to the bridge, wanting to be present in case the Argonaut needed to deal with customs officials. He missed his old military days, when the only time he ever needed to handle customs was when operating undercover in Sino-Korean space.
Rade edged between the bulkhead and the Sphinx to take his place at the head station.
“We’ve queued to pass through Chitsu,” Manic said.
Rade nodded distractedly. “Good.” He accessed the external forward feed and saw ten other ships lined up ahead of them. Despite the system’s location near the outskirts of Asiatic Alliance—and explored—space, it had a surprisingly active merchant culture, due to the deposits of the rare gem Suramantine found in the mountain ranges near Yorokobi city. Kenzo was only one of many warlords who controlled the trade in said gem.
Not unexpectedly, most of queued ships were merchant class, with one pleasure liner. They formed a line on the righthand side of the Gate. Incoming traffic meanwhile would enter on the left side. The arrangement was meant to prevent Gate traversal collisions, which could be devastating at the speeds common to space flight.
“You know what Chitsu means in Japanese, right?” Manic said.
“Yeah,” Rade replied.
“What does it mean?” Fret said.
Bender sniggered. “Bro, it means pussy.”
“Oh.”
“Vagina, to be exact,” Manic said.
“Why the hell would they name it Vagina Gate?” Fret said.
“The Asiatic
Alliance has an interesting sense of humor,” Manic said.
It took some time for the queue to clear. Apparently there were a lot of bribes that needed paying that day.
“Looks like we got ourselves the greedy shift today,” Bender said.
“Never good when that happens,” Rade said. He considered turning around to come back later, but that would only draw their attention.
The Argonaut eventually reached the front of the line.
On the external video feed, Rade observed the two Asiatic Alliance corvettes waiting for them. The long, thin, slightly curved ships reminded him of samurai swords. He counted thirty obvious heavy laser turrets protruding from the hulls of each vessel. The same large Japanese character was stamped into the side of either craft. His Implant translated the symbol as “Customs.”
“They want us to proceed to secondary screening,” Manic said. “We’re to prepare to be boarded and searched.”
“What, why?” Rade said. “We’re using the same registry information as when we first entered the system, aren’t we?”
“We are,” Lui said.
“Maybe they’re pulling over all Marauder class vessels,” Fret said. “Apparently Kenzo has more clout than we originally thought.”
By then Shaw had returned to the bridge and resumed her role as astrogator, taking control of the ship from Bax; Rade reluctantly gave her the order to bring the Argonaut to secondary screening. There was no point making a run for it, not with the firepower those warships possessed.
Tahoe was still down in the gym, apparently trying to squeeze every last moment out of his workout.
“Tahoe,” Rade transmitted to his friend. “Get down to the cargo bay and move our passengers into the hides ASAP.”
As part of his refurbishing, Rade had set up a network of hidden panels in the deck, distributed at key points throughout the ship.
After the Argonaut had maneuvered into the screening area, Lui spoke up: “A boarding shuttle is approaching.” He paused. “This is odd.”
“What?” Rade said.
Lui glanced at him. “It just turned back.”
Rade glanced at the tactical map overlaying his vision, which represented the ships immediately surrounding the Argonaut. The shuttle was indeed moving away.
