The Knockabouts

by DK Williamson

  They approached a waist-high wall made of heavy blocks. On the other side was a wide and open area littered with corroding abandoned vehicles amongst a variety of scattered equipment.

  “Spread out,” Teller said quietly. “Ord, you and Urs cover right. Ned and I have the left. Ho, stay back and pitch ‘nades as you see fit.”

  As the five moved forward, the Jing’s Town ground station broadcast an update. They stopped to listen. “Another ship made it dirtside from the blindside, folks. Put down somewhere south of town. Got us a regular traffic jam on Meltan. Don’t know who they are yet, but we know the other ship that came in is Gotmil according to Doc Lurl. Heavy hitter mercs with a lot of firepower. Looks like someone chose Meltan to host a small war. To all involved that might be looking for a fight, steer clear of Jing’s Town and have fun! Survivors are welcome at the bars.”

  Fawcett, Gotmil, plus who knows what else... just how much was the bounty on us? Teller thought. He looked at Ned and mouthed, “Seriously?”

  Despite the news, Ned smiled at Teller’s silent comment.

  “To the right, footfalls!” Ho said quietly. Moments later the Humans heard them as well.

  Ord pointed at the bent shape of a ground truck. Ursula ran behind it soon joined by Ord and Ho. Teller and Ned crouched behind a rusting generator.

  Moments later, a Human and an Ork walked into sight. The Ork saw the two men behind the generator and brought his weapon up, but a bolt from Ord’s heavy assault blaster bore through the monster’s head before he could fire.

  Bolts and beams flew from the right, hitting nothing but night air, dirt, and rocks as those firing shot blindly in the direction of Ord’s location. The Human near the intersection bellowed, “Stop it! Cease fire!”

  The shooting stopped immediately. The man turned toward the five from the Lance and held open palms toward them. “Parley,” he said loudly. “We have enough firepower to burn you into ash, but that’s not what we’re here for. Parley.”

  Teller looked to his right and saw Ord shrug. He looked to the man in the road. “We’ll talk.”

  The knockabout immediately regretted his decision when he saw the force that walked into sight and gathered behind the man. It was a collection of monsters, a helmeted and armor vested Tyko, and nearly two dozen Orks and Gorsaurians. All were armed, several carried stunners with more lethal weaponry holstered or slung over their backs.

  The Human and Tyko stepped forward, the other monsters spreading out and moving behind the cover junk equipment could provide.

  Teller silently cursed at himself and then stood. “That has to be Norg Fawcett,” he said just loud enough for his companions to hear him. “I got us into this, so I’ll gab with him. It will buy us a little time to see who and where we need to hit first. Be ready to fire, because it may go off when we least expect it. It would be better if we kick it off, but let’s wing it.”

  Teller walked forward and saw Ned following slightly behind and to his left. He stopped. “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Coming along. He has a second. I thought you should as well.”

  Teller glared at the night sky for a moment. “This isn’t a duel.”

  “You sure about that?”

  Teller conceded that the man had a point. “Stay a little wide of me. I’ll probably draw the most fire. Watch them. Watch me. Move at the first inkling of gunplay. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  Teller walked forward a few more steps and stopped, not wishing to be too far away from cover.

  The Human and Tyko stood in front of the rest of the bounty-killers. “Name’s Fawcett,” the man said. “Maybe you’ve heard of me.”

  Though not much smaller than Ord, Norg was the smallest of the bunch and the only Human. That fact, and his apparent willingness to talk, spoke volumes to Teller.

  The knockabout looked the group over. “Lizards and Orks and Tykos, oh my! What, no Thuntos? I guess you have enough stupid to deal with.”

  The Tyko near Fawcett glared at Teller.

  “You’ve drawn the ire of all sorts of beings from all over the galaxy, Skellum,” Fawcett said. “At least two major corporations, several system authorities, and even members of your own cult, these Makreurys. The latter were very forthcoming with information about you, and wished nothing more than your death in return, especially a fellow named Norman. He sends his regards. We followed the Mum’s Lament, but they were quite savvy and managed to evade us. The Lewis fellow was not quite so wily. That was the clincher. Led us—and apparently others—here. I’m surprised you’ve stayed free and alive this long, but one of those ends today. It was very clever coming to a place that makes locating beings so difficult. No matter now. Easy or rough, alive or dead, you choose.”

  “Is it in the rulebook that you have to explain all of this or is it a technique to bore your opponents to death. If it’s the latter, it’s working.”

  The Tyko hissed at Teller’s remark, tightening his grip on the grenade launcher equipped blaster musket he held in his paws.

  “This is Wego,” Norg said with a gesture at the Tyko. “You might have heard about him. He’s used that weapon of his to kill more beings than you would believe. Blaster bolt or bayonet, and sometimes both. Used the bayonet to put down seventeen Hursta headmen on an execution-for-hire gig we pulled five Standard ago. He’s good at it and likes it.”

  “Typical Lawless Tyko,” Teller said with a sneer. “Fearless when killing the helpless, but when someone puts up a fight, they mess their flanks.”

  The fur on the Tyko’s neck rippled.

  Norg raised a hand. “Wego….”

  “The Human seeks its death.”

  “He seeks your anger,” Norg said calmly. “Stay your rage… for now.”

  Teller smiled at the Tyko and then turned his attention to Norg. “I hear you usually do dead, not alive. What’s your game?”

  “You’re worth more alive. Much more. Enough that it’s worth the trouble.”

  Teller knew better. “Pure poog. It’s the cases you’re after. You need us alive until you locate them. Zatto offering that much?”

  Norg’s face showed he was impressed. “Very good. The cards are on the table, as gamblers might say. You have little choice in the outcome. Live or die, that is all. Lead us to the cases and you will not be harmed in the slightest. That is my word.”

  Ned saw the subtle change in Teller’s posture. He’ll want to move first, Ned thought, but they must be watching him closely. They are probably overlooking the middle-aged engineer who was foolish enough to step out where he can be easily killed. What if I fire first? They’re all looking at Teller. He mulled the lunacy for a moment. Well, they can only kill you once.

  Ned drew, Fawcett responding to the move immediately, Teller doing the same in response the bounty-killer’s actions, and a chain reaction of movement on both sides began. Beings fired or sought better cover, or in some cases did both at the same time.

  Despite the speed of Norg and Teller, Ned’s shot was the first away. Norg’s and Teller’s came soon after, with the bounty-killer’s bolt burning a hole in the air as it went skyward and the man falling the opposite direction into the dirt with a hole in the head from Ned’s attack.

  Teller’s shot missed as well, his target falling out of the line of fire, but the bolt scored a hit on one of Norg’s Gorsaurians instead.

  A storm of fire crossed the space between the two groups. Ned turned to run and felt a burning agony as a laser beam burned its way into the upper part of his left arm. He ducked and fired blindly in the direction of the opposition as he ran for the blocky shape of the old generator, Teller closing on the same piece of cover from the other side. Ord and Ursula fired blaster bolts at the bounty-killers, each dropping a Gorsaurian foolish enough to attempt transition from stunner to blaster without seeking cover.

  The firing soon lessened and then ceased. A silence fell over the tiny battlefield.

  “You might hang’em up,” Teller yelle
d mockingly at the bounty-killers. “You’ve lost much of your force. We’re all fine and dangerous. That ought to tell you something.”

  “It does,” Wego shouted. “Bigger splits for those of us left.”

  “Maybe you are as stupid as you look and don’t understand that zero times whatever you think you’re getting out of this is zero.”

  “Norg always liked to talk. I like to kill and induce fear.”

  “Kill first, induce fear later? That makes a lot of sense, you of the soiled flanks. We’ll wait while you wipe your—”

  Wego fired in Teller’s direction, sparking another round of fire.

  Despite his wound, Ned fired at the same time as Teller, peppering Wego’s position with bolts. They could hear his hissing growls over the racket of the fight.

  Ho hurled a trio of grenades one after another, their soporific energy fields blooming bright sky blue amidst some of Norg’s killers. Most of them wore armor that covered part of their bodies which could help mitigate the grenade’s effects, and Gorsaurians and Orks were highly resistant to somnolentic effects, but neither factor rendered them immune.

  Ord and Ursula fired blaster bolts at the bounty-killers, their shots accurate enough to force many into cover. A trio of Orks tried to move to the right of Ord and Ursula’s position. Slowed by the effects of Ho’s grenades, they were a prime target for a fragmentation round from Ord’s Doomcaster.

  Heavy fire came from the left of ARC Lance’s crew, beyond their sight with all of it aimed at Fawcett’s group. Ord and Teller both yelled, “Back!” at the same time, realizing they could soon find themselves under fire from two sides if they didn’t vacate the area near the road. The five ran in crouches, pulling back to the block wall as Wego and his killers turned to face the newcomers.

  “If we’re lucky, they’ll kill each other,” Teller said as he drew a small medpac from a pocket. “Let’s look at that arm,” he said with a point at Jessop’s wound.

  “We couldn’t be that fortunate,” the engineer said as he drew his sleeve above the injury.

  “No, but a guy can hope.” Teller examined Ned’s arm. “Taking down Norg. That was reckless and risky…,” he trailed off with a smile. “I approve. It’s just what I would’ve done, but give a guy some warning next time, quick-draw.”

  Teller placed the medpac over the wound and began wrapping it around from both sides. “It didn’t go all the way through, but it’s deep enough you’ll need a medico to give it a once over.”

  “Can I go look for one now?”

  Teller laughed. “And miss out on all the fun?”

  “Well, when you put it like—”

  The whump of a grenade exploding among the unknown force on the left cut Ned’s reply short. Heavy fire erupted from behind the group, heavy blasters and the deep staccato of an autoslugger added to the din. Much of the fire intended for the force caught in the middle tore into Wego’s group and vice versa, and the beings in the crossfire didn’t last long. In little time, the fight became one of Wego’s force against the latest group and it was clear the new force held an advantage in numbers and firepower.

  “I have the coms from the newest participants,” Ho said. “They are Gotmil.”

  “Mercs. And who might their employer be?” Jessop said.

  “Does it matter?” Ursula said.

  “It doesn’t. Not now anyway.”

  Ho aired the Gotmil communications through his vox. “—and checked one of the bodies. They’re Zatto Oblust operatives. The others are bounty hunters,” said one merc as the sound of the fight rattled in the background.

  “No sign of Altairie’s targets?” asked another.

  “Why would four fugitives be mixing it up with Zatto ops and bounty hunters at the same time?”

  “It would be lunacy if they were.”

  “He has a point,” Ned muttered.

  “The two warbots are following the ridge hunting for the ARC Lance. We should pull back and look around the town. No point getting any of more of our folks killed fighting bounty hunters. Find the ship, cripple it, and the four we seek won’t be going anywhere.”

  “Better hope not. We’re running out of time. Word’s out about their innocence, so it’s just a matter of time before the contract is pulled. Fulfill it before that happens, we get paid. Otherwise we’re risking our tails for nothing.”

  Ursula’s face tightened in rage. “They know. They know and they’d….”

  “I know how you feel,” Teller said.

  “Can we get back to the ship and make a break for it?” Ned asked.

  “The same risk exists as before,” Teller said. He pointed skyward. “We don’t know what’s up there.”

  “Then we finish it down here,” Ursula said in a cold voice. “We shoved proof of our innocence down their throats and it still wasn’t enough. We have dim-witted bounty-killers who don’t know or don’t care that we’re not wanted any longer. We have mercenaries intent on murdering us before they lose a contract while knowing we did nothing wrong… I’m tired of running.”

  “So we stop them,” Jessop said.

  “Yes.”

  “And how do we do that?” Teller asked.

  “That’s your purview,” Ursula said.

  “Purview? I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those before.”

  Ord chuckled. “It means—”

  “I know what it means, you big lug,” he snapped. “I curse the day I came across that language program. We have—” Teller stopped as the firing ceased. He peeked around the edge of the block wall and saw Wego pointing in several different directions as he spoke to his killers. After several seconds, they moved down the road in the direction they originated and out of view.

  “We have three groups to worry about,” Teller said. “The Gotmil bots and the mercs are looking for the Lance, so we have an idea where they’re headed. Wego and his psychopaths went off in the opposite direction and I’d bet they aren’t giving up.”

  “Moving back toward Jing’s Town, but the long way,” Ord said. “They have a reason.”

  “You’re right, and we don’t know what that reason is. How do you want to play it?”

  “Ord will follow Wego and see what they intend. You protect Lance.”

  “I don’t want to fight them near the Lance. Better to find a place well away and set an ambush. In any case, you aren’t going alone, big man.”

  “I’ll go with him,” Ursula said. Her tone made it clear arguing with her was not a good idea.

  “Okay,” Teller said. “We’ll pursue the mercs and see what route they’re following. We’ll deal with the warbots when we can. We get clear of these folks, and see about making a run for the black. If there isn’t anyone to alert them, maybe we have a shot.”

  “I will locate the warbots,” Ho said, “and eliminate them if possible. I have no inhibitions placed upon me concerning such action.”

  “They’re warbots, Ho,” Teller said. “Built for combat.”

  “Yes. That gives them some decided advantages, but I have some over them as well. I am a sentient being. I am capable of independent thought, and I am not unfamiliar with war.”

  “If you truly think you can pull it off, they’re yours.”

  “My honor to serve, Captain.”

  Teller took Ho’s statement to be a joke at first, but quickly realized what the Mech meant. “Honor’s mine, Ho. See you on the other end of this.”

  “I will recover a weapon from the site of the battle and be on my way.”

  The other three Humans wished him well.

  “Stay on the data pad bands,” Teller said, “and monitor the Jing’s Town broadcasts. They might give us useful info.”

  “Affirmative,” Ho replied. He ran toward the scattered bodies near the road and picked up a blaster musket fitted with a drum magazine. He looked back at the four Humans and waved, then ran out of sight.

  “We better get moving as well if we want to catch Gotmil,” Jessop said.

&nbs
p; Teller stood. “Well, we aren’t waiting on me.”

  Ord and Ursula stood. “Watch over Ned,” the giant rumbled. “Keep contact with Ho.”

  Teller glared at his friend and then smiled. “Any more orders?”

  Ord laughed. “Don’t get killed.”

  “Make you a deal, I will if you will.” Teller put his arm on Ursula’s shoulder. “Just like the simulator. Concentrate on your sights, the target, and trigger pull. Don’t rush your reloads. Let Ord do the heavy lifting and use cover. Got me?”

  “Got it.”

  “Good.” Teller waved at Ned. “Let’s go.”

  The two men moved out.

  “Shall we?” Ursula said.

  Ord grunted, waved his arm forward, and led off in a long stride.

  . . . . .

  . . . . .

  15

  What Lurks in Darkness

  . . . . .

  Excerpt from, Cap’n Cosmos’ Guide to it All, the Interstellar Guide for Endeavoring Spacers.

  Cap’n, I’d like to be a spacer when I escape the education system. What languages or lingos might I learn to prepare myself?

  -J. Justjohnny

  Super question, J! And good on you for thinking ahead.

  While there are untold numbers of languages in the known galaxy, there are but a few you really need to know unless you frequent a particular area of space that doesn’t use common tongues.

  Syndicate Standard is the default business language(lingua spatium in the old tongue) in much of the galaxy and the most widespread common language in Human space, but there are other lingos used in other trades. In the spacer biz it’s Guild Talk, even though hardly any spacers belong to guilds anymore, or they belong to dozens, which amounts to the same thing. The Skemak tongues are a common business language as is Carperan which is also a common general use tongue. You can learn all of these through commonly available and affordable means.

  One language skill that has no formal instruction available as far as the Cap’n knows, is insults. You will need this as a spacer, and it truly is a vital skill. My suggestion is find a knockabout who’s willing to share or visit an old spacer’s home for some choice words.