“I can’t guarantee that, Billy,” Hanna said firmly. “What she may or may not agree to, is her decision and believe me, no one here would even try to make it for her or promise anything on her behalf. I can promise, I will speak to her and do everything I can to convince her to follow this course.”
“That’s not much of promise,” Billy pointed out. It wasn’t a challenge. He was merely stating his position.
“That’s true. In this room are in all probability, the only four people in the Galaxy she trusts. If she will listen to anybody, it will be us.” Deni, Shannon and Chao all nodded their agreement.
“Alright, I can understand that.” Hanna smiled and he held up his hand, “but I need to know why.”
“Err, I just told you,” Hanna said in confusion and wasn’t sure what he meant.
“Not why you can convince her, but why she’s doing this. Why has she disappeared for years and is now killing off her own people? What happened to her?”
Hanna looked at Shannon and the woman looked back thoughtfully before nodding. “OK, Billy,” she took a deep breath. “It’s a long story and I don’t think you’re going to like bits of it very much...”
***
“Well that was fun,” Hanna said and dropped down onto the Sofa in their living room. She propped her feet up on the low table in front of her, closed her eyes and leaned back.
“It could have been worse,” Deni replied and Hanna heard the shrug in her tone.
“True,” Hanna looked across to where Deni was sprawled in an armchair opposite. The gang were all downstairs or back off doing what they normally did every day. Even Hayley had disappeared to deal with a shop owner who was behind on his payments.
“When I told them about Furioso,” she continued, “I thought Billy was going to go storming out of there.”
“I think Arlene would have, if she was in charge. That woman was not happy and I don’t blame her.”
“Nor do I,” Hanna sighed. “It sounds like she lost a lot of people in the sweep afterwards. How would we feel if it had been Sneaker, Troll, Barney and the others who disappeared because of Valerie’s actions?”
“Pretty pissed I’d imagine. It was a good thing they brought Billy Bacc along. He didn’t like it, but he saw that Valerie is worth more to them out and pushing the cause, than rotting on the Rock.”
“Heh. When he said his name, I thought I was going to faint.”
“You?” Deni laughed. “Did you see the looks on the Shannon and the other’s faces. They were so shocked they didn’t know whether to arrest him, shoot him, or run away.”
“I doubt running was on any of their minds. Pavel, definitely considered the shooting option for a while.”
“That would have made a real mess. The team Shannon brought with her were scary. If things went bad, my money would have been on them.”
“You should have seen them on Ison Island. Troll and Barney are the best team I’d seen, but these guys and girls move in complete unison. Valerie’s better, but she’s a solo act. Alpha team moved as an extension of each other. Oh and you wouldn’t have been able to place any bets. We would have been among the dead.”
“Don’t remind me,” Deni said with a visible shudder. “So what’s next, oh great leader?”
“Very funny. Need I remind you, it was your idea?”
“Yeah, yeah. Blame it on me like you always do, Hanna. Now answer the question.”
“Back to Blaze. There’s nothing more we can do here. We re-establish contact with the Grasshopper when it’s back in the system and see about getting a lift home.”
“When’s the ship due to return?”
“Nine days from now, I checked it out this morning.”
“Will they be able to take us straight away or will we need to set up the pipeline first, like Sneaker did?”
“I don’t know, Deni. I’m hoping the Captain will let us go straight aboard without too much trouble. Our ID’s and Passports are still clean. I’ll be able to whip us up some documentation for our baggage easily enough. I can’t see any reason for him not to. Sneaker gave me the contact details for the ships Purser, for just this reason.”
“So we have nine days to get everything ready around here,” Deni paused. “Should we contact Valerie’s mother-in-law before we go?
“I don’t think so. We believe she’s alive. There’s no point worrying the poor woman or exposing her any more than we need to.”
“Yeah, you’re right... Leaving’s a shame,” she mused. “I’ve enjoyed running the Workshop. I’ve never done anything like that before and it felt good.”
“See if you can talk Sneaker into backing you for one on Blaze. We don’t have anywhere like it in our territory. I’m sure he’d see the advantages to having a workshop he can trust for any modifications the Crew need.”
“It’s a nice thought, but can you really see us being able to settle down with the way things are going? The Rebellion wants Valerie to declare all-out war on the Pantheon. If she agrees, she’s not likely to do it half-heartily.”
“Ahhh, you’re right and we’ll be right there with her.”
“You can count on it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“Daphne!” the cry tore itself from Valerie’s throat and she shot bolt upright on her bunk. Her eyes were open, but only the sensation of her eyelids told her that. The darkness was so absolute she might as well be blind. The breath rasped in and out of her and her heart hammered in her chest.
Still the dreams had not stopped. If anything they became more intense with her lack of activity. Sitting in the dark she hugged her knees and panted heavily. Tears ran down her cheeks and slowly, ever so slowly, her heart rate calmed itself, and with it, her breathing. She sat there for a long time as the dream ebbed away and she could think clearly again.
Lying back on the hard bunk, she stared into the darkness. She had to do something. The inactivity was slowly driving her mad. It wasn’t lack of exercise, she made sure she did plenty of that. No, it was not being able to continue her crusade. When she was on Blaze and Olympus and not actively hunting those responsible, she knew things were happening. They were building a base to use, Hanna was Hacking into the datanet to gain information and Deni was out on the streets creating contacts. All of those things allowed her to know she would keep going forward, she would find those responsible and punish them.
Stuck here on the Rock, she had nothing. It would be all too easy to give up, let the madness take over and sink back into that pit of despair in which Hanna had found her. Shaking her head, Valerie swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. She could not, would not give up. While she was alive she still had a chance of completing her mission. Those responsible would live for centuries and so would she.
Unzipping her jumpsuit, Valerie stepped out of it and dumped it on the bed out of the way. Setting herself in the right position she jumped up and grabbed the bar overhead. In one smooth movement she brought her feet up between her arms, hooked her knees over the bar and let go to hang upside down. With her finger tips lightly on her temples, she used her stomach muscles to sit up while hanging suspended in the air. At ninety degrees she stopped, “one,” and lowered herself down before beginning again, “two, three, four, five, six...”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
A slight judder through its frame was the first warning the cargo shuttle had landed.
“I could have done that smoother,” Deni commented from the seat next to Hanna.
“How many cargo shuttles have you piloted?” Hanna sniped good naturedly. “Oh, that’s right, none.”
“So? I still could have done it better,” she griped.
“Whatever, you just keep telling yourself that, the rest of us know the truth.” Hanna unbuckled her belt and grabbed her bag from under the seat. The shuttle wasn’t designed to carry passengers and they were in the seating for crew transfers. The two of them were its only occupants that morning, the rest of the eighteen seats were emp
ty. The crew of the Grasshopper were currently busy unloading their cargo in high orbit over Blaze. The shuttle only needed the pilot, co-pilot and cargo handler on board. They were all up in the cockpit.
With Deni following with a sulky expression on her face, Hanna led them to the ladder going down, through the pressurised hatches, into the cargo area. The shuttle was full to capacity. It was a tight squeeze between all the large containers even for the slim girls. A shaft of sunlight and a rush of air greeted them as the main ramp begun to descend.
“Enjoy your flight?” a rough voice called when they came to the end of the containers.
“Yeah, thanks, Doug,” Hanna answered the cargo handler who stood to one side at the ramp controls. “Deni was complaining about the landing, though.”
“Again?” he laughed. “This isn’t an aircar, Deni. It weighs over a thousand tonnes with this lot in its hold.” He pointed a thumb at the containers behind them. “No matter how good you are and how light a hand you’ve got, you’re going to get a bump or two.”
“I bet I wouldn’t,” Deni shot back.
“Tell you what. If you fly with us again, I’ll talk the Captain into getting you certified and you can put your money where your mouth is!”
“Deal,” Deni grinned.
“Hah, the confidence of youth.” The ramp made its way down and Doug pointed to a crate smaller than all of the others. “There’s yours. I made sure it was at the front for you.”
“Thanks, Doug. You’re a diamond,” Hanna said. Deni activated the crates anti-gravs and started towing it down the ramp.
“No problem. You girls look after yourselves.”
With a wave, they walked down the ramp and out onto the landing bay. Inferno Space Port Three, rose over a thousand metres into the air with four landing bays on each side and ten levels. The shuttle was docked in bay seven, level six. Cargo trucks were already beginning to line up, ready to take the containers. Passengers were not allowed in a cargo bay, but no one paid them any notice as they got out of the way. A lift for crew members was off to one side and the girls headed for it.
The lift took them down through the tower and into the underground transfer area. Here the cargo was sorted and moved through the tunnels by trains to the freight distribution warehouses. There everything was checked, sorted into smaller loads and sent out across the surrounding area. Men and woman in stevedore uniforms bustled around them. When they landed on Olympus, the three of them had to go through comprehensive checks, but this was Blaze and everyone continued to ignore the girls.
Checking the map on her wristcomp, Hanna followed it as it lead them through the maze of corridors, moving floors and lifts, until they exited through a door into the main passenger terminal. Here is was much quieter. Manuals didn’t get to travel off planet very often and there weren’t many people moving through the terminal.
“Cabs are over there.” Deni said pointing.
“I see it. I’m going to be glad to get home. I hope Sneaker hasn’t sold the flat while we were away.”
“Would I do something like that?” A voice asked from a dark corner and the girls spun round together. A tall, dark skinned, blond man stepped out.
“Sneaker!” Hanna exclaimed and wrapped him in a tight hug.
“Oof,” he grunted as she hit him, swiftly followed by Deni.
“Hey, it’s good to see you girls.”
“How did you know we were here?” Deni asked.
“Captain Mensah commed me when the Grasshopper hit orbit.” He extracted himself gently from their arms and looked around. “Where’s Valerie?”
Hanna glanced at Deni before answering. “We need to talk and not here.”
“Did they?” he asked.
Shaking her head, Deni answered. “No, at least we don’t think so. It’s a long story and Hanna’s right, this isn’t the place.”
He looked at both of them carefully and nodded. “OK, grab your crate. Rush has the aircar outside and Troll and Barney have an airvan as well. You can fill me in when we’re back at the Sun.
***
“So, that’s the story. We think Valerie’s on the Rock and we think it’s in this system somewhere.” Hanna said as she finished their tale from Olympus. Deni and her sat in front of Sneakers desk in his office above the Casino floor. Neither had taken the time to go up to their flat to change or refresh themselves. Hanna wanted to get Sneaker up to speed as soon as possible.
He sat back in his own chair and stared up at the ceiling while drumming his fingers on the arm. He took a deep breath and sat forward.
“Alright, I’ll back your decisions. You know, I don’t leave a Crew member hanging out to dry, so I’ll do all I can to get her out.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “The thing is, you’ve committed the Crew to joining the Rebellion.”
“Assisting them,” Deni disagreed. “If Valerie wants to join, then Hanna and me will follow her, but we haven’t said the Crew will.”
Sneaker shook his head. “I wish it was so simple, girls. This isn’t something you can dip a toe into. We’ll need to provide accommodation, training areas and a pipeline for their gear. A couple of dozen wouldn’t be any trouble, but the figures this Julianna gave you add up to almost four hundred. It is going to put them deep into our organisation. Once they’re that far in, they’ll know an awful lot about us and will be able to push us into doing what they want.”
“I didn’t think of that, sorry.” Hanna said, and meant it.
“What’s done is done,” he sat back again and looked like he was thinking hard. He shook his head and opened a drawer in his desk. From it he pulled a hard copy document. This wasn’t a few sheets used for the secure transfer of information. It was a large, thin, bound book with a red cover. He dropped it on the desk in front of them. Hanna leaned forward to read what it said in small black type.
THE FREE PEOPLE SOCIETY by William Baccurin
“Is that..?” Deni said.
“Are you part of the Rebellion?” Hanna asked at the same time.
“Yes and no,” he answered. “Yes, it is the basis of the Rebel movement and no, I’m not a Rebel, not officially at least. I’ve had leanings in that direction for years. The truth is, many of the Tops and Bosses have. The Blaze underworld has been funding the Rebellion for years, though they don’t know that.”
“Why hide it from them?” Hanna asked.
Sneaker smiled wryly. “The Rebellion has been a magnet for the authorities since it began. As you can understand, we prefer not to have those authorities poking their noses into our businesses. You probably discovered the Underworld here on Blaze is somewhat more developed than the one on Olympus.”
“Their system security is a pile of shit, that’s for sure.” Hanna said.
“And we had the territory Valerie took over running much smoother in only a few weeks.” Deni pointed out.
“Exactly, and part of the reason we do better is we have been given far more leeway by the authorities. The Families who run this planet, like to think they take the cream off the top of all the crime happening here. They deliberately keep the police underfunded. That allows us to bribe and control the very organisation designed to control us. What the Families have never realised, what we give them is a tiny part of what we actually make. Some of what we make lines the pockets of the more unscrupulous Bosses, like Tumbler, some gets fed into supporting our territories and more goes off planet to the Rebellion.”
“It can’t be that easy,” Hanna argued.
“It’s not,” Sneaker agreed. “That’s an over simplification of a con the Blaze Underworld has been running for centuries. We don’t want the Privileged here, we never have, but we haven’t had the strength to do anything about it.”
“I don’t understand. Are you saying it’s time to end the con and join the fight?” Deni asked.
“Time to join the fight?” he shook his head. “No, it’s not. We’re not ready, but you may have forced our hand. I need to talk to the Tops ab
out this and it’s going to be their call. If they decide that freeing Valerie and backing her to take over the Legion is the right course, then that’s what we’ll do. If not, well,” he shrugged, “I’m sure you know what will happen.”
Hanna felt the blood drain from her face. She knew exactly what would happen. Those Rebel fighters would disappear, never to be seen again. “What, what about Valerie and Shadow Company?”
There was sadness, but no give in Sneaker’s face as he replied. “They’ll be dealt with as well.”
“It won’t be that easy,” Deni said firmly. “We’ve seen them and they won’t go down without a fight.”
“She’s right,” Hanna agreed. “Make sure you tell the Tops. If they go after Shadow Company, it will be bloody. I’ve seen them in action, imagine a hundred Trolls and Barneys, all trained for years by Valerie. That’s what they would be facing. Tell them to think of that when they make their decision.”
He looked back and forth between the two girls. “That good?”
Hanna shrugged. “Probably better.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The guards moved along the walkways in their light-blue, medium, unpowered armour. Each wore an Energy Baton on their left hip and Mag pistol on the right, at least most of them. Some had their weapons the other way around. Valerie guessed they were left handed. Strange that no one had been able to explain that peculiarity of humankind after thousands of years.
She pushed the errant thought away. Valerie found it happening more often as the weeks dragged into months, with nothing to break the monotony. She forced herself to concentrate on the guards. It was all she did most days. Pick an empty table and lay out on one of the benches, her head on the day’s new pillow for her cell. With her eyes focused on a spot of the ceiling between the suspended walkways, she would use her peripheral vision to keep track of the guards.
In that time she had learned they were disciplined. They moved around randomly, often stopping to talk to their buddies, but they never took their helmets off and never looked away from the prisoners below. The armour was not Legion issue. Valerie recognised it as a commercial variant. It was strong enough to stop a Mag round, but would struggle with shots from a Pulse weapon. The armour would not protect them from her, if she was close enough and landed a clean blow.
Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) Page 32
