by Drew Wagar
‘Still freaked out?’ The lizard inquired, peering at him intently.
‘You’re going to tell me you get used to it?’ Coyote snapped back, annoyed.
‘Nope. Still makes me want to puke after five years,’ Derik chortled.
‘What happened? Without the really gory details… por favor.’
‘Thargoids in the main,’ Derik replied, a trifle wistfully. ‘Though he wasn’t in great shape before that. Let’s just say he’s been around a bit. More than a couple of lifetimes I’d be guessing.’
Coyote shrugged.
‘Why is he here?’
‘Same reason as the rest of us. Elite combateers assembled on false pretenses.’ The lizard looked briefly aggrieved but it was difficult to be sure of expressions on the reptilian face. Derik flipped a small piece of card around in his claw. It was identical to Coyote’s.
‘All answers at eighteen hundred, eh?’
Coyote grinned and lit a colita, leaning back in his leather button-backed seat and staring out of the windows. The private lounge was not far from the station egress, in the premier real-estate zone. Coyote had been encouraged to ‘make himself at home’ by the subservient staff. No stranger to the finer things in life, he’d been impressed by the level of opulence on display in the lounge. Entertainments ranged from the exotic to the carnal and back again. So far he’d accepted only the drink.
‘What did they spin you?’ Coyote asked.
‘Political upheaval on Tionisla,’ Derik replied. ‘My services were needed apparently. The Roh’i’s do have significant influence in the Senate. That is actually something I want to get involved in when I’ve finally rid the ‘verse of pirates. You?’
‘Special Ops,’ Coyote said. ‘Usual deal… Something moved incognito with a high price tag… Contacts were sound and the job checked out… I figured it was some secret to do with the war effort.’
‘For certain,’ Derik said with surety. The lizard always spoke his mind. Coyote liked that. He figured Derik would be a loyal ally or an implacable foe, with no room in between.
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Shulth Industries,’ Derik said. ‘Our mutual friend is the brains behind the Caduceus bio-ship. Bio is his business. Extremely dirty technology. Extremely dirty indeed.’
‘Udian Foraga Shulth?’ Coyote said. ‘Caray…’
‘The same.’
Coyote whistled.
‘I heard that he sterilised a bunch of Thargoid infested worlds…’
‘Chart four. Fifteen systems.’ Derik nodded. ‘I learnt to respect his abilities a long time ago. I worked with him once.’
‘Do you trust him?’
Derik laughed showing twin rows of immaculate razor-sharp white teeth. ‘Trust is not a word that sits easily with the Shulths. If he’s pulling some of the strings behind all this we’re in for some fun, that I do know.’
‘I guess we’ll know soon enough… ’ Coyote said, looking at the ancient chronometer that was marking time on the wall as it had for centuries. It was an old naval piece, a mechanical antique from long ago. It was fifteen minutes to six.
Coyote rubbed his chin thoughtfully and resumed his study of the ships outside. Derik’s Caddy bio-ship caught his eye again. The strange hull plating seemed to be rippling, as if the ship were shivering in the cold of space.
‘You’re thinking of our little tete-a-tete with the bugs?’ Derik changed the subject abruptly, another lizard characteristic. ‘That plasma weapon?’
‘I’m thinking our little senorita left a lot of questions unanswered… ’ Coyote said, favouring him with a look. ‘She knew a little too much about what was going on.’
‘Who was she?’ Derik asked.
‘I had her checked out,’ Coyote handed a comm-tab over to him. Derik scanned it briefly.
‘Commander Weston. Age 39. Deadly. Native of Tianve. Trader. Sheesh… nice credit balance. Wonder who gets that now?’ He paused in surprise, jabbing the display, expecting to read more. ‘Is that it?’
Coyote nodded. ‘Exactly. No history with the bugs, with Galcop, nothing. According to this she was never even tagged ‘Offender’ and I know some people who… know some other people. Nobody is that clean with that much money, trust me on that.’
‘Takes one to know one.’
‘Claro,’ Coyote replied with a chuckle.
Derik looked askance. ‘Galcop insider?’
‘She had history we can’t see, mi amiga… Turning up like that was no co-incidence.’
‘True enough. Maybe she was on our mystery list too,’ Derik said.
‘She was only deadly… This show was for elite combateers. You said so yourself.’
‘You saw how she flew. She’d been around. If her background is bunk maybe the rating was too…’
‘I pulled her ass out of the fire… ’
‘Almost.’
‘Not my fault she bought it,’ Coyote fired back. ‘She shouldn’t have gotten involved.’
‘She probably saved all of us from an early demise,’ Derik countered. ‘That trick with the off-axis…’
Coyote stopped and glared at the reptiloid. Derik returned the gaze without reacting, his reptilian ancestry making it easy for him to appear inscrutable.
‘Flying a little close to the sun there aren’t you, gecko-face?’
‘I have a surprisingly thick skin,’ Derik inclined his head slightly. ‘Listen, it’s not your fault. Like you say, we warned her. She knew what she was doing. It happens. At least give her the credit for making a difference.’
The damn lizard is right. We’d have been wiped out. I just don’t like being indebted to anyone. Especially if I can’t pay them back…
‘Maybe you’re right. I just want to know why the bugs wanted her so bad they were prepared to die for it,’ Coyote said, relighting his colita.
What happened to the last ship?’
Coyote frowned in recollection, puffing out a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke. ‘It just sat there, squawking on the wideband as if it were standing guard. That same phrase over and over again… until I put it out of its misery. What the frag does that mean? There’s nothing in the data-banks…’
‘You expect Thargoid comms to make sense?’
‘No but they’re usually consistently weird. I don’t like mysteries… That last ship willingly died so it could divert its power to a long range transmission. They were trying to take her alive and when they couldn’t…’
The doors to the lounge spun apart, retreating into the walls in a lavishly flamboyant style. Coyote turned his head slightly as a huge mechanical contraption made its way into the room. It moved slowly forwards on three articulated legs accompanied by the creaks and whirrs of bio-mechanical muscles. Coyote recognised aspects of it; a support pod, the auxiliaries from a cargo mech, ports for energy capacitors. Other parts were less obvious, appendages that could perhaps have grasped tools or guns, optical feeds and sensory apparatus. Some were clearly mechanical, others looked disturbingly biological.
What has to happen to a man for him to be content to live like that? When my time comes…
‘Answers will shortly be forthcoming,’ the machine rumbled, moving further into the room. The doors closed behind.
Coyote and Derik looked around. ‘What?’
‘The woman survived,’ Udian replied.
‘Really?’ Coyote replied, looking back at the wreck of the Eclipse on the viewer. It didn’t seem possible anyone could survive that.
‘Well all hail Randomius,’ Derik cackled. ‘It’s a miracle.’
‘Isis ships remain impressively tough, despite their rather ostentatious design. The cockpit remained remarkably intact. Her injuries were not extensive despite the wreck of her vessel.’
‘Coming from you, Udian, that’s not exactly reassuring,’ Derik quipped. ‘Are we talking “Yes, recognisably still a human” or is she going to be floating in a bottle of nanobot juice with her vital organs sloshing about?’
‘Lacerations and minor peripheral damage caused by inertia. Nothing of any concern. She will make our little rendezvous.’
Derik nodded at Coyote. ‘Told you she was on the list.’
Coyote pushed his Sombrero up a touch and regarded the bio-mechanical creature. ‘You going to tell us what all this is about?’
‘I’m as much in the dark as you are, Carlos Estevan Maynard.’
Coyote schooled himself not to react. Hardly anyone knew his real name and for a stranger to find that out…
‘Coyote to you… and I find your statement hard to believe,’ Coyote replied, carefully, trying to gauge the meaning behind the threat.
‘An intriguing invitation was all I received. I have my suspicions, nothing more,’ Udian replied, evasively. ‘Doubtless you know my background?’
‘I may have read something in passing,’ Coyote was accustomed to having eye-to-eye contact with an adversary. Being unable to read Udian’s expressions left him feeling at a disadvantage, though he had no desire to gaze a second time on what lived inside that cold metallic exterior.
‘Then you’ll know I have no love for the Thargoids and a penchant for bio-technology. I can only assume I am here for that reason. You, on the other hand, are a smuggler of enviable reputation. Derik here, is a feared and respected bounty hunter of some notoriety. Someone has assembled us for a purpose; we would appear to be experts in our respective fields. I can only assume this woman has some unique skill of her own. She clearly was apprised of this situation in some fashion.’
‘And you’re going to tell me you know nothing of this…’ Coyote scanned the data-tab. ‘This… Weston woman?’
‘I have not encountered her before today,’ Udian continued, interrupting Coyote’s next question. ‘And I’m as interested as you to discover why the Thargoids found her worthy of their attention.’
A tiny hatch opened on the side of the machine and a small manipulator arm flicked out. It withdrew a small piece of card and placed it on a nearby table.
Coyote didn’t believe a word of it. He glanced at the chronometer. Ten minutes.
Jim stared in horror at the video feed from the Tionisla system. The attack on the third Tionisla station was terrifying and when it was destroyed both he and Sonia were aghast. Ships were flashing into destruction wherever the camera was pointed. They watched in dismay as the invading Thargoid warships began heading out towards the next station.
‘Why don’t they shoot them down?’ Sonia demanded.
‘Can’t even get close,’ Jim snapped. ‘Didn’t you see that weapon?’
The video feed swapped to the beleaguered remaining station.
They don’t stand a chance! That looked like a plasma accelerator! How does that make sense?
The young woman from the Tionisla Chronicle was still overlaying her own thoughts on the events over the events as they happened, her voice close to hysteria. Jim saw four ships taking position between the station and the incoming invaders.
‘What are they doing?’ Sonia asked, puzzled.
‘Making a last stand,’ Jim said sadly, ‘Brave but stupid. They’ll be cut to scrap.’
Jim watch the battle unfold, surprised to see the defenders weren’t instantly cut to ribbons. The defence strategy was ingenious.
Almost as if someone knew what was going to happen…
The ships were hard to see, mere bright spots against the darkness of space. One of the cameras managed an unsteady close up. Jim saw two large menacing vessels, a familiar Cobra and then a snub-nosed vessel, spinning around evading the Thargoid fire.
Vampire! It can’t be…
He managed to grab a freeze-frame and enhanced the hull markings.
‘What are you doing? This is happening now!’ Sonia asked, irritated. ‘Un-pause it!’
‘This is important,’ Jim fired back, scrutinising the image.
Oh God, it is!
‘What’s so special about that ship?’ Sonia demanded. Jim didn’t answer but he did resume the video feed.
The battle raged, some of the Thargoids being destroyed. The defenders suffered damage too, the two bigger vessels backing off. Jim saw the remaining Thargoids tracking the Vampire, with the Cobra in a vain pursuit.
The Vampire was clearly damaged.
‘No…’ Jim mouthed, almost silently. Sonia looked at him and then turned back to the screen, her eyes narrowing shrewdly.
The ships vanished into the distance of the Tionisla Graveyard. The girl from the Chronicle was still providing the commentary.
‘We’ve lost sight of them now! Can’t see much. There are still flashes of laser fire. Can’t see why they went for the Vampire… Explosion! Someone bought it… more fire! It’s not over yet. Another flash… two ships destroyed! Which ones? The laser fire seems to have stopped. Yes, looks like it over one way or the other…’
Jim reached out and switched off the monitor, his face ashen.
‘Are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ Sonia demanded, crossly.
Rebecca examined her face in the holofac imager, scrutinising the repair work done by the bio-operatives. She felt good, nothing more than a slight headache. Everything looked perfect; the medical nano-bot infusion still impressed her even after all these years. Her insurance had covered the close to astronomical medical bills incurred.
It was not something most folks could afford and even she blinked when she saw the Health Extreme invoice. Not that credits were a problem for her nowadays. She’d never been particularly vain but in a moment of self-indulgence she’d signed up for the treatment, usually reserved for celebrities and the super-rich. Nano-bot injection kept you looking as young as you wished, even past the galactic mean age limit of two hundred years or so.
I deserved it after what happened with him…
She’d been tempted by some of the other services offered. Health Extreme could alter your DNA, allowing you to augment your body and change your physical appearance. Most people did apparently; Rebecca had settled for ensuring that grey hair would never be an issue and removing an almost invisible scar from her right cheek. As a result she looked younger than she had a decade ago. It was something she’d found very useful in negotiations; she’d got used to being underestimated but it was even more of an advantage now.
A little to close for comfort that time though…
A melancholy feeling crept over her as she reviewed the incident. Her ship, Eclipse, was wrecked. Some trash collector had already claimed salvage on what was left of the hull and it had already been written off as a total loss. It had been a good ship, her refuge in too many escapades; a friend, a trusted companion.
Never seem to keep friends for long…
Now it was gone, shot to pieces by those insectoid scum.
They’ll pay for that.
She called up the Chronicle vid-footage of the attack and watched it end-to-end. She frowned as the Thargoids singled her out, chasing her up and away from the station and into the graveyard with the Cobra pilot, Coyote, struggling to keep up. It had happened too fast, taking her by surprise. She bit her bottom lip as she saw the Thargoids rip into her ship, draining its life and finally leaving it drifting out of control. Coyote’s Cobra dispatched one Thargoid and was heading towards her but it was too late, the Eclipse was crippled. The Thargoid floated, poised nearby.
But it didn’t kill me.
The Thargoid simply sat stationary, its engines and weapons quiescent. It was transmitting, blasting out with all its power a simple repeating message. Rebecca pinched the holofac sound from the display with her fingers and flung it onto a new screen, requesting a translation of the words.
Search term “Ragazza dux ducis incolumitas.”- no results.
Coyote’s Cobra barrelled into view, dumping prodigious firepower into the immobile Thargoid. It made no defensive move, succumbing a few seconds later. Coyote’s Cobra took the battered remains of the Eclipse in tow.
Damn. The arrogant ‘goid saved my life, he�
�ll be insufferable.
Time to go. Missing the preview of the new ship was not an option, especially now she was back in the market. She’d have to deal with the combateers afterwards, she was half surprised they weren’t waiting outside her dorm, with a bunch of questions and maybe a blaster or two.
The Isis instructions were specific.
Latitude Bar : 18:00 : Station Time : Tionisla 5
The door snapped open as she arrived. The bar was virtually deserted. She caught a faint whiff of some noxious fumes she didn’t recognise. She gazed uncertainly around. There was no obvious sign of anything to do with the Isis Corporation at all. She tensed, sensing a trap. Her hand strayed reassuringly to a small device on her belt. She tapped it gently, her hand then lightly resting on the svelte holstered hand blaster strapped to her waist on the left side.
Other than a few serving staff, there were only two other individuals in the room. A figure reclining in one of the luxurious seats wearing a ridiculously oversized hat that concealed his face from where she was standing and a tall reptilian creature with a replacement eye, who might have been grinning at her, it was difficult to tell. Other than that the place was deserted, though there was a strange pile of cargo mech equipment in the far corner. It looked peculiarly out of place in the plush lounge. She wondered why it was there.
‘Isis interstellar?’ she asked.
The lizard strode across to her, covering the distance a few strides. He towered over her. She regarded the strange eye-implant and the large bulky looking weapon strapped to his side with caution.
‘Quite possibly.’
Rebecca immediately recognised the clipped voice, her eyes widening.
‘You’re…’
‘Derik.’ The reptile was definitely grinning now. ‘Good to see you in one piece.’
He held out a claw. Rebecca took it and was rewarded with a swift violent shake that almost dislocated her shoulder.
‘Is this some kind of trick?’ she asked, looking around at the otherwise empty room.
‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ Derik replied, straightening his posture and looking down at her. ‘I’m assuming you recognise this?’
