by Jaleta Clegg
"Just another few days," he said.
I leaned against the wall next to the door, my knees against the cushioned bench between the cockpit and the hatch. My cabin door stood open in front of me.
He paused, listening to something. "I can’t do that yet. You aren’t giving me much. . . As you say." He didn’t sound very happy as he signed off.
I slipped back to the hatch to gather the other boxes. I came back inside making as much noise as I could. I put the boxes on the table with the other one. Jerimon lounged on the cushioned bench, holding a reader and looking as if he’d been there for hours.
"I see you found the shop," he said.
"No, it’s gone, but the owner put them in storage at the Guild offices for me." I opened a carton and pulled out one of the pouches.
Jerimon set the reader aside and came over, looking curious and not the least bit guilty. It made me wonder even more. I’d have to sneak in later and trace his call. I opened the velvet pouch and slid out the jewelry inside. This necklace had three of the winged creatures in shades of green. They floated over my hand, shimmering and glittering.
"Those are incredible," Jerimon said. "I see why you wanted them." He reached for the necklace. I laid it over his hand. He shifted it, watching the way the light played over the wings. Every breath of air set them dancing.
"What are those?" Ginni asked, coming up from the engine room. "Habim says you need new filters," she added.
"He’s scrubbed the finish off them. But at least it doesn’t smell like animals in here." I took the two steps up to the small cargo bay at the back of the lounge. The walls were lined with bins and drawers of various sizes, perfect for small items like jewelry. I put the boxes on the floor and took out my hand comp.
I settled on the floor and opened an empty drawer and the first box. And then changed my mind. There were hundreds of the necklaces. It was going to take hours, if not days, to get them all properly inventoried. I could do it while we traveled. I closed the box and pushed it into one of the larger cubbies. I made notes on my hand comp and put the other box away, unopened.
"You want this back here?" Ginni asked. She balanced the third box on her hip. Her free hand held three of the necklaces. Tiny wings of purple, blue, and yellow fluttered. "These are gorgeous."
I took the box from her. She reluctantly slipped the necklaces back into their bags.
"Keep those," I said. "You’ve more than earned them."
"But, aren’t I going to cause you problems? I heard Jerimon talking earlier. You’re going to leave us here." She looked scared and lost again.
"Whatever he said, it probably isn’t true." I sealed the third box and tucked it away. "Jasyn checked. The Sidyathari haven’t put out any wanted posters on you and Habim. Not that we can find, anyway. She and Clark said they’d register both of you as crew."
"We’re crew now?" She sounded as if she was afraid to hope it might be true.
"You will be as soon as they get back with the papers." I stood, tucking the hand comp back into its niche. "Keep the necklaces. Give one to Habim. Has he ever tried making anything like jewelry?" I had the beginnings of an idea of how we could keep him occupied without risking him dismantling the ship.
Ginni shook her head. "He only does machines." She clutched the velvet bags, almost as if she couldn’t believe they were hers.
"I’ll see if I can pick up a box of broken com units or something for him. If he fixes them, we can sell them. And I’ll split any profits with you two."
She stepped back out of the cargo bay. I followed her to the lounge. Jerimon still had the green necklace. He breathed on it, watching the winged things float and dance above his hand. He glanced up as I came down the two stairs. His blue eyes were unreadable.
"Ginni says we need replacement filters," I said. Something about his look made me twitch. "I’ll go get them, so we can lift as soon as Jasyn and Clark get back." I still had enough credits in my pocket for filters, even after the inflated fees I paid at the Guild. "Do you want to teach Ginni how to do preflight?"
Ginni broke into a big grin. Jerimon nodded, still watching me with his sharp look. I edged out the hatch.
The sun was warmer, the afternoon heat built over the landing field. I walked across the plascrete, past ships loading and unloading cargo. I could have hitched a ride to the gate but I wanted time to think.
Something was definitely up with Jerimon. What was that call all about? Why did I have a twitchy nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach?
There were more police stationed at the gate when I reached it. They questioned everyone going in or coming out. I took my place in line and waited. The police commissioner himself stopped me when I reached the gate.
"Captain Dace," he greeted me.
"Problems?" I asked, trying to sound innocent and failing miserably, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.
"Rumors," he said evasively and gave me a bland smile. "I trust you don’t know anything about them?"
"We’ve been here less than six hours and you suspect me of causing problems?" I tried to stay pleasant, it was difficult.
"It took less than that last time you were here," he answered with a smile that would have made any predator’s mother proud.
"Good thing we’re planning on lifting in less than two hours," I said.
"Your business in the city?" I couldn’t tell if he was happy I was leaving so soon or not.
"Buying a few parts," I said. "Normal maintenance for my ship."
He consulted his pad. "I see you still have two crew members in the city."
"Taking care of paperwork."
"We’ll be keeping an eye on you, Captain. Good day." He turned to the next unfortunate person in line.
I made good on my escape. I walked quickly into the port city. And then realized I didn’t have a clue where the junk dealers were located. I found a city directory and checked. They were off in a direction I hadn’t been before.
The streets, so wide and full of flowers and pedestrians, changed as I moved farther away from the main district. The planters became fewer and smaller. Vehicles crawled along the streets. Pedestrians were fewer and walked with more purpose, there was no strolling here. There weren’t any sights to enjoy. The store fronts became more utilitarian.
I found a used parts store next to a lot full of junked ship parts. A thin woman sat behind a counter at the front of the store. The rest of the building was stacked high with various bits and pieces of starships. She looked up as I entered.
"I need filters," I said and rattled off the specs.
She typed for a second and nodded. "How many?"
The filters for the ship were fairly standard, easy enough to find. At least in places that specialized in older, smaller freighters. I told her how many. She got up from her seat and headed into the back regions of the store.
I read fading notices plastered to the wall and waited. I heard her shuffling things around. She came back with the filters stacked in a greasy box. She planted it on the counter.
"You want delivery?" she asked as she thumbed in the codes. "Two credits extra."
I looked at the dirty box. It was big and would be a pain to carry. "How fast can you bring it?"
"We’ll send Jake with you. He can pull the sled and bring it back."
"Fair enough," I agreed. I paid her, glad I had enough credits still in my pocket. It was close.
She bellowed Jake’s name. An old man, pot bellied and unshaven, rose from a heap of tubing. He scratched his belly and yawned. I watched as he fetched a small cargo sled from a dusty corner. He picked up the box of filters and stuck it on the sled. He held the handle of the sled and blinked.
I took the hint and started out the door. Jake followed me, rambling along with the sled banging at his heels. The lift unit in the sled whined erratically. I started back for the main gate to the landing field.
Jake tugged my arm. "Cargo port’s closer." He headed off the opposite direction. I shrugge
d and followed.
The cargo port officials subjected us to a close scrutiny before waving us through. The Phoenix was much closer to the cargo port. It was still quite a distance.
Jake stopped at the foot of the boarding ramp. He picked up the box of filters and put it down right at the end of the ramp. Without a word he turned and walked away, the cargo sled bumping and whining at his heels. I lugged the box up the ramp.
The hatch still stood open. I was glad about that. The box was awkward. The grease from it soaked into my shipsuit. I couldn’t see around it. I did my best to maneuver it through the hatch. I turned to take it down the engine room before the scene in the ship registered in my brain. A strange man sat at the table, flanked by two large men.
I put the box down at the top of the stairs to the engine room and turned.
A fist caught me in the stomach. I doubled over, gagging.
"Close the hatch," a cold voice said.
One of the large men kicked me, knocking me onto my knees. Another fist caught me on the shoulder.
"No marks," the same cold voice said.
I clamped my mouth shut against a surge of nausea and kicked out. I caught one of them, I heard a grunt. I came up from the floor, fists swinging.
I didn’t stand a chance. The one behind me grabbed my arms and twisted. I tried kicking back. The one in front swept his foot across both my knees. Something cracked. Pain shot up my leg. Whoever these thugs were, they knew a lot more dirty fighting tricks than I did. The one behind me got me in a headlock. They traded off punching me for a while. They didn’t touch my face, though. No marks, I thought as I tried to fight the pain.
They dumped me on the cushioned bench. I lay there, gasping and groaning.
Who were these thugs? Why were they on my ship? And where was everyone else? Where were Jasyn and Clark? Ginni and Habim? Where was Jerimon and was this connected to his mysterious call earlier? The questions spun in my head.
I opened my eyes with an effort of will. Everything from my shoulders down screamed with pain. My knee wouldn’t bend. If I took shallow breaths my ribs didn’t creak and protest. I wrapped my arms around my stomach and looked up.
Sitting at my table, drinking from my mug, was an older man. He had an air of suave gentility that didn’t fool me for a second. He looked over at me and smiled.
"Take the ship up," he said to someone behind me in the cockpit.
I turned my head with an effort that sent more pain through my middle. Three people I didn’t recognize were in the cockpit. The engines throbbed in time with my knee. They were flying my ship. Rage overcame pain. I got up and threw myself at the man in the navigator’s seat.
The thugs dragged me back and beat me some more.
When I could think again, I was back on the bench and the ship was well on its way to the jump point. The man at the table was still sipping from my mug and watching me with a cold and toothy smile.
"That was stupid, Captain," he said.
"Where are the rest of the crew?"
"Safe enough. For now."
"Where are they?" I started to stand and but thought better of it when the thug nearest me stepped closer and raised his fist.
"Your concern is most touching. Show her," he said to the thug nearest the cabin doors.
The man opened Jerimon’s cabin door. The thug looming over me jerked me to my feet and dragged me across the lounge to look inside the cabin. Clark and Jasyn sat on one bunk, Ginni held Habim’s hands as they sat on the other bunk. The cabin door slid shut. The thug dragged me across the lounge and dumped me on the bench.
"Where’s Jerimon?" I said through teeth gritted against screaming in pain.
The man smiled, stretching his thin lips wider.
I turned quickly and looked back in the cockpit. Jerimon sat in the pilot’s chair, my chair, he was flying my ship. I was going to kill him, slowly and painfully. Just not right then.
"Who are you and what do you want?" I flung it at the man like a challenge.
"You know who I am, if you think hard enough," the man said. "You cost me fortunes, Dace. I’m here for revenge."
I scrounged desperately through my memories. Who could he be? The list of enemies I’d managed to accumulate was depressingly long. And those were only the ones that I knew. How many more did I have that I didn’t know about?
"Don’t tell me you have no idea who I am," he said and frowned. I preferred that to his false smile. "Does the name Belliff mean anything to you?"
My heart sank. The Targon Syndicate had finally caught up to me. Belliff was a front for the Targon Syndicate’s smuggling operations. I’d managed to bust it wide open and turn over most of it to the Patrol, all while running away from Jerimon’s problems with the Sessimoniss. I should have known that coming back to Shamustel would be dangerous. Targon had a very substantial price on my head. Shamustel was just outside of their territory. What was left of their territory after I’d gotten through with them, I amended.
"They’re sending ships after us," one of the men in the cockpit called back. "Jump in two minutes."
The man smiled again. "I can see you’re beginning to remember. And now for the revenge."
"What do you want?" I asked.
"Your complete and total ruin, first of all." He put my mug on the table with a soft click. "Which is why we left Shamustel before all the fees were paid."
I swore. Taking off before fees were cleared carried heavy penalties, nothing I couldn’t deal with, though.
"We’re headed for Kimmel with a load of extremely ugly ceramics. What Juntis Shoot does not know is that all of his ceramics are now carrying packets of highly illegal drugs. Which I will personally make sure the Patrol finds. Shortly after we leave Kimmel, of course."
I launched myself at him. Maybe they would just kill me quickly. The thug behind me caught me by the back of my shipsuit and slammed me onto the bench.
"Lesson one, Dace, control your temper." The man snapped his fingers at the thug in front of the cabin door where they’d stashed the others. "The young girl, I think."
The thug opened the door and dragged Ginni out. Habim came after Ginni, his big hands reaching for the thug’s neck.
"Habim, no!" Ginni gasped.
Habim paid no attention to her. He crashed into the thug. Ginni went sprawling. Habim pounded on the man. The older man calmly took out a needler and shot Habim. Habim sprawled on the floor, twitching. Ginni reached for his hand, sobbing. The thug who’d been attacked kicked her away from Habim. He bent over Habim’s twitching body. A force knife glittered in his hand.
"Stop it!" I shouted. They all froze. "He doesn’t understand. Leave them alone." It cost me a lot to say it, but I couldn’t let them hurt Habim or Ginni. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself later.
"Take them back and bring out the other woman," the man said. "I want to be sure Captain Dace fully understands the price of her disobedience."
They dragged Habim away and dumped him on the floor of the cabin. Ginni was thrown in after him. They brought Jasyn out. The ship slid through the jump point. No one noticed.
The older man got up from the table, flexing the fingers of his hands. They pushed Jasyn to her knees in front of me. The thug grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. The older man had the force knife now. He stood to one side of Jasyn, head cocked. He watched me and Jasyn, sliding his cold gaze back and forth.
I knew him from somewhere, I’d seen him before. I wasn’t sure where. The familiarity tugged at my mind. The memory wouldn’t come.
He held the force knife in front of Jasyn’s face. Her eyes fastened on it, the hypnotic glitter reflecting the fear in her eyes. He brought the knife in close and stroked it along one cheek. Blood welled up in a line behind it.
"So beautiful," he crooned. She shuddered and tried to jerk back. He brought the knife close to her other cheek.
"Stop it!" I couldn’t stand it any longer. "Whatever you want, I’ll do it. Just leave them alone." I sagged on
the bench, unable to look at Jasyn.
They dragged her back and threw her into the cabin. The door slid shut behind her. The man stood over me, the force blade’s glitter marred by traces of Jasyn’s blood.
"Remember, Dace, you try anything, anything at all, and I will hurt them. And watch you squirm." The blade snicked off. He turned away. "You don’t remember me, do you? You can’t even remember my name. I’m hurt." He took his seat at the table and raised my mug to his thin lips. "You killed a friend of mine, and several of his associates. Does the name Enway Harris mean anything to you?"
I was sure I’d never heard that name before. "Is it yours?" I was rewarded with a kick in the shins. I bit my lip trying not to scream.
"Enway Harris was my son," he said. "Thanks to you, he’s dead."
Great, I thought. There was no way I was going to talk him out of his revenge.
"After we convince Juntis Shoot to press more charges against you, for planting drugs in his hideous creations, I think we’ll pay a visit on a mutual friend. Luke Verity would be most happy to see you again."
I couldn’t repress a shudder. Luke Verity had kidnapped me, thinking I was someone else. All of my past problems were coming home to roost. The only group that hadn’t shown up so far were the people who still believed I’d sold them out on Dadilan.
"You promised, Darien," Jerimon said from the cockpit door. "Leave Jasyn out of it."
"So loyal to your sister at least. I barely touched her. Behave or I'll do worse," Darien Harris said to Jerimon. "Did Dace know your loyalties were for sale to the highest bidder?"
Jerimon flicked a glance at me. "You promised to leave my sister out of it."
"Would you like to join her?" Harris offered. The look he gave Jerimon was colder than a methane gas giant’s upper atmosphere.
"Your quarrel is with Dace, not Jasyn."
"You push my patience, Jerimon."
Jerimon backed down. He muttered something about replacing the filters, ducking his head and walking towards the engine room. The greasy box I’d put at the top of the stairs had tumbled down to the bottom. I heard him picking up the filters. Darien Harris jerked his head towards the stairs. One of the thugs moved quietly down behind Jerimon.
