by Rob Buckman
“You noticed that, did you?”
“Don’t you start!” Janice cock an eyebrow at them.
“Wouldn’t think of it, Madam.” Mike answered for both of them. Jenks just stood back and watched, listening to the banter with half an ear.
Mike walked over to a table and literally pick one drunk up by the scruff of his neck, and grabbed the other one by his nose before proceeding to throw both of them out into the street. This brought a laugh from the rough crown, and no one disputed his claim to the recently vacated table. The bar keep arrived and proceeded to wipe off the table with a reasonably clean rag.
“What you having?” He asked around the stub of a dead cigar in his mouth, as he looked the three over.
The kid might look young, but you don’t pick a guy up completely off the floor unless you knew what you were doing. The kid was displayed for the crowd, which said a lot. The other two were young as well, but not in the kids class. First trip out most likely. The little guy at the back was the one to watch. By the look of him, he’d been around the block a few times. He wondered for a moment if he was related to the kid by the way he was protecting his back. The little man looked at him and smiled, but there was no humor in it.
“I’ll have a mug of ‘Red Stripe’, and my friends will have the same. The ‘Lady’ with have a glass of the local ‘dead duck’ wine.” As he spoke, Mike laid a fifty credit note on the table. The barkeep nodded, a slight smile on his face. A kid he might look, but he knew his way around a bar. Most off-worlders didn’t know about ‘Dead Duck’ or ‘Red Stripe’ beer, but the kid obviously did.
“Coming right up.” He said, scooping up the note.
“Dead Duck?” Janice asked, giving Mike a look.
“Yeah. Probably one of the best red wines you’ve tasted in years.”
“Okay. I’ll take your word for it.”
“And ‘Red Stripe?” Pete asked.
“Great beer, just don’t drink too much of it. It has a bit of a kick.” As he spoke, Mike casually looked around the bar at the patrons as if sizing them up. He was, but for a different reason. What he was looking for wasn’t there.
Even without looking, he knew exactly where Jenks was, where he always was, and he smiled. One reason he’d gone along with Jenks coming with them was that he felt he owed him. The VC he wore on his dress uniform belonged to him and Taffy, not adorning his chest. They’d bled more than him, and taken the brunt of the fighting, but there was no way he could talk either of them into taking it so giving in and letting him come along made him happy. He was doing something he loved, no questions asked. He suspected Taffy was pissed, and he’d never hear the end of it when he got back. Jenks was in for it as well, figuring out a way to get into trouble without his friend being there to help. Mike smiled to himself. They’d work it out as they usually did. The drinks arrived, and Mike ordered food for them all, buffalo steaks, eggs, chips and green salad on the side. That got a few raised eyebrows from Pete and Janice, but Jenks just smiled.
“Just like down the Tottenham Court Road on a Saturday night.” He murmured behind Mike.
Much to Janice’s surprise, the steaks were perfect, as was the rest of the meal and her estimation of the ‘Copper Kettle’ went up a notch. The wine would have done excellent service at a Royal banquet, despite its name. As they eat, Mike watched the comings and goings as dockworkers and spacers drifted in an out for a drink, but two hours passed before what he was looking for walked through the door. An older man and a young woman walked in, and for a moment, the bar went silent. The man was impressive, standing over six foot six and as broad as the back end of a barn. The girl beside him looked petite, yet even she stood at least six foot. By their clothes, they were spacers, richly dressed in dark leather and white silk shirts. Between the open front of their long leather overcoats they wore, it was easy to see the worn, heavy duty blaster on their hips on one side, and an impressive long knife, or short sword on the other. It wasn’t the weapons that made people sit up and take notice, it was their attitude. They walked across the room to the bar as if they owned the place, nodding to a few people here and there. You knew without being told that these were people you didn’t mess with, and the locals moved aside to make room for them at the bar.
“Who on Earth are they?” Pete asked.
“Cocky looking.”
“They are crew off a Free Trader ship.” Mike answered.
“Free Trader… Wow. I guess they have a right to be cocky.” Unobtrusively, Mike took a small gold ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto the pinky finger of his right hand.
“Stay here and watch my back. I need to go and have a word with someone.” Looking over his shoulder, he winked at Jenks as he stood.
Picking up his empty mug, he strolled over to the bar and asked for a refill, shouldering between the locals and the big spacer. While he waited for his order, Mike placed his right hand flat on the bar and waited for a reaction. It wasn’t long in coming, as first the man, then the woman also placed their right hand flat on the bar.
“Didn’t take you long to find me.” He said at last, speaking into his beer.
“You weren’t exactly hiding, and you aren’t, what we led to expect.” The big man mimicked him by speaking into his beer.
“I know, but we can play this either way. I’m just the Captain of the warship the just landed as far as the locals know.”
“And the other way?”
“I’m not at liberty to say here, but an invitation to the Free Trader Guild Hall might help shed light on the situation.” For a moment, the big man didn’t speak, then held his clenched right fist out to Mike. Mike reciprocated, and touched his right fist to the man. As he did, Mike saw the cuff of his coat move and a greenish snout poked out for a moment before moving back out of sight. Mike smiled, remembering. To outside observers, it appeared to be nothing more than an unusual greeting between strangers, rather like shaking hands. What actually happened was a data transfer between the two rings, and it only took a moment to download the information for Mike to know who this man was. Much to his surprise, it was the Captain of the Free Trader in orbit no less, Captain Hughes. Mike saw the man’s eyes widen slightly as he downloaded Mike’s information.
“Why don’t you and your associates come to the Guild Hall and have a drink on us.
“Why, thank you, we’d be glad to.”
After settling their tab, Mike and the others followed Captain Hughes and his companion down the street, with Jenks as usual bring up the rear. One look at the traffic moving slowly along the street, they walked, ducking into side alleys and cross street as they made their way across the bustling city. Pete and Janice gawked like a pair of tourists, being their first time in a city like this, so different from the ones they knew on Earth. Rounding a corner, they came insight of a truly massive white marble building that looked as if had been plucked right out of ancient Greece, or Rome. Mike knew it to be a fortress, and underneath the beautiful decorative marble lay six inches of battle steel with weapon emplacements secreted behind the statues and intricate stone panels. About the only thing this place couldn’t withstand was a direct hit from a KEW. Anything else, including inbound missiles it could handle with ease.
“Wow. Impressive.” Mike commented. “How long has this been here.”
“The guild built it about twelve years back after the last place got pretty well beaten up during the last revolution. Some local idiots thought they could break in and rob the place.” Captain Hughes chuckled. “The council thought it would be better to build a new place rather than rebuild the old one.”
“Impressive.”
“Of course, we added a few um… let’s just say, a few extras.” He looked over his shoulder and smiled at Mike as he walked up the steps to the massive front door.
Even as he reached it, the doors swung open far enough to permit them to enter. During the day, those doors would be wide open to permit traders the enter. Inside they entered a vast hall, t
he gleaming white marble floor scattered with an assortment of easy chair, tables, couches and stools, all designed to accommodate a wide range of humanoid life forms in comfort, including those with tails.
“Wow! Nice place you have here.” Jinks commented. A balcony ran around the open space with row after row of bookshelves, each marked with alphanumerical symbols in a variety of languages.
“This is where we conduct the day to day business of the guild,” Captain Hughes remarked, “and where most of our trade deals are made.”
Captain Hughes walked around the outside of the area towards one of the elevators and pressed his ring again a silver plate mounted on the wall. The door opened and they all piled in, the door closing silently behind them.
“The residential area for guild member… and their guest start on the third floor.”
“There doesn’t seem to be much security here.”
“Don’t bet your paycheck on that, Pete. If the guild didn’t want you here, you couldn’t get through the front door with a pulse cannon.”
“I’ll take your words for it, Skipper.”
The elevator opened on the sixth floor, and Captain Hughes led them to a pleasantly furnished lounge. The trapping here were a lot less sumptuous here than down on the main floor, but again, the public didn’t get to come up to these floors, so the residence was furnished to the tastes of the guild members.
“Take a seat and tell the table what you’d like to drink.” He said, gesturing at the lounge chairs and sofas. “The Captain and I need to have a word in private.”
“Stay here Jenks, or if you’d like, there is a temple on the top floor you might want to visit.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it is Friday night after all.” Jenks gave him a look and nodded in understanding.
“You going to be alright on your own.”
“I’m as safe here as if I was on my own ship. Just press the button for the elevator and it’ll take you up.” Jenks pursed his lips for a moment, then nodded and walked off. As he walked away, Pete raised an eyebrow in question.
“Tell you later, Pete.” Mike answer as he followed Captain Hughes across the room to a secluded alcove with a bench seat in the round and a table in the center, sliding into the seat. Captain Hughes put his arms on the table, and the moment he did, a large, six legged, green lizard ran out of his sleeve and dashed towards Mike.
He didn’t flinch or hesitate and simply reached across and laid the back of his hand on the table. The lizard ran onto the palm of his hand and did a little dance for a moment, its forked tongue licking the skin before sitting back on its back four legs. It took his thumb in its tiny hand and brought it to its mouth.
“I see Hugo likes you.” Captain Hughes commented as he leaned back against the backrest.
“It’s been a long time.” Mike sighed as he reached over and ran the thumbnail of his other hand along the ridge crest of the lizard. “Hello Hugo. Nice to meet you.”
“So, Michael Gray, what can I do for you.”
“The usual. Information.”
“It’s been a while since you were on Avalon, and as far as I know, you are still a member of the guild in good standing.”
“I suppose you also know that I left under… shall we say unusual circumstances.”
“I do, and I can tell you a lot of people were very unhappy with the verdict in your case.”
“That’s water under the Bridge as far as I’m concerned.”
“True, in fact the family concern left Avalon soon after you vanished. The public outrage was too much for them and they departed for greener pastures. But a lot of people were very upset after you disappearing act, also much to the displeasure of you know who.”
“Yes, I can just bet he was upset.”
“Oh, I don’t mean your Grandfather. Another individual who couldn’t keep track of you, or figure out just how you managed to get off planet without him knowing.” Mike had to smile hearing that, betting his uncle was hopping mad.
“So, who are you at the moment, and what do you need?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
After dropping into the system, they put the ship into a parking orbit around a small moon and sent the shore party down in the runabout. It took almost three days before Pete reported back with the news that the ship they were looking for had passed through a week before, heading for Elders World, then on to Sirrien held space after that. That was good news, as it meant they could intercept her before she made transit. Mike, Pete, and the Janice put their heads together and work out the quickest route to get ahead of the Voss trader and a plan of action for boarding her. To do it, they’d have to cross Sirrien space, but both Janice and Pete thought they could do it if the used one of the more distant warp points off the main trade routes. There was a narrow margin for error, and they have to stay just outside the gravity well and dash around to their next entry/exit point, all without attracting the attention of the Sirriens patrol craft. Mike agreed with their recommendations, and they set course at Max speed, wanting to get through the Elders World/Sirrien, warp point before the Voss ship arrived. The trip through Sirrien held space passed without incident, and they arrived and picked up the drive signature of an inbound freighter immediately.
“What do you think, Skipper?” Pete asked.
“I’d say let’s do it as planned.”
“Aye-aye, sir.” He answered as he pressed the intercom pad. “Launch the gig, Mr. Rice, and stand by to board her.”
“Aye-aye, Skipper.”
“Comm, order the freighter to heave to.” Mike said over his shoulder.
“Voss freighter, heave too for inspection?” For a few moments, there was silence, but the Voss ship continued on it's course.
“Inspection? This is a Voss Free Trader under the command of Suritan Gelder, who are you to order me to heave too?” The humanoid face of the Captain, or Suritan, came on the main view screen, and it changed color several times.
“They’re powering up their weapons, Skipper.”
Mike assumed the Suritan was anger at someone daring to order his ship to halt. Like all Voss Captains, he was a Master of alien languages, and spoke correct Standard English, even down to the inflection of outrage.
“This is Captain Bear, of the mercenary ship ‘Hemlock’ under letters of Marquee from the Sirrien Empire!” By using a fake name and supposed letters of Marquee from the Sirriens, he also hoped to make Voss ship Captain think twice about accepting freight for them if they thought they’d be stopped and searched.
“He’s scanning for us, Skipper.” Janice Fletcher called.
“Bet he wonders where we are.” Gable chuckled.
“I don’t recognize your authority ‘Hemlock’, and we are carrying non-military supplies to your Master’s!”
“So you say.” Mike snapped back. “We’ll just come aboard and check for ourselves.”
“I reject your demands, and refuse to stop.”
“He’s not slowing, Skipper.”
“Guns, put a shot across his bow.”
“Aye, sir.” Gable answered, keying his board.
A moment later, a bright blue/white streak of a plasma bolt lit the space between the two ships for a split second. Mike watched, as five second later the bolt crossed the bow of the Voss ship.
“You dare fire on a Voss Free Trader!” The Voss Captain spluttered, for a moment switching into Voss and firing off a string of curses.
“Fire again, closer this time.”
“Aye, Skipper.” Again, the space between them lit up, this time almost grazing the hull of the other ship.
“The next one will be in your drive unit, now heave too!” Mike snarled. The Voss Captain’s face changed from blue to purple, and he snapped something over his shoulder.
“She slowing, Skipper.”
“Good, pull alongside and prepare to send the over the boarding party.
The two ships matched velocities, and the ‘Hemlock’ extended a docking ring betw
een them, locking onto the Voss Traders hull. The two ships came within ten feet of each other and stopped, before the docking collar extended and magnetically sealed itself around the airlock. The moment it did, Mike and the boarding party rush across, but they didn’t take chances and closed the facemask of the breathing packs, although the Voss were air breathers. Every ship has its own smell, no matter how well the air scrubber system worked. There were a few Earth ships he’d been on he wouldn’t have wanted to smell if he didn’t have to. Activating the breathing unit they passed through the connecting collar to the Voss ship, weapons out and looking mean. Suritan Gelder waited by the airlock, grinding his multiple rows of teeth together, his skin changing color like a chameleon. He hated stopped for anyone, but there was no way he could take on a fully armed mercenary ship with the weapons he had. His sensor couldn’t even find the vessel to shoot at.
