The jump I made to get up was, in a word, pitiful, but with my crew there to help pull me up I managed, “Get us out of here Jurol!” Xario yelled as he and Juno helped me through the doorway and slammed the button that shut it.
“I’d love to, but unless you got a way to get us through those blast doors without killing us, I’ve got nothing but bad news.” Jurol said sarcastically over the speakers.
“The mining laser!” I shouted, “Use the mining laser on the centre slit, it’ll force them open!”
“At which point we’ll be sucked through a tiny hole and made into Spectre smoosh… Unless I can…” he droned off, but as we made our way up the stairs I felt a tremendous amount of force in my gut followed by the sound of screeching metal than nothing, “We’re out!” Jurol whooped before settling down and undoubtedly getting back to work, “I’ll uh… Give me a few seconds and it’ll be like we were never here.”
“Great work as always.” I said loudly as we went to the infirmary that was toward the back of the ship and had a hard-glass wall and door that separated it from the mission control area, which was basically just a large space that had weapons lining the walls and a big, blue, state-of-the-art holo-table in the middle.
“Let’s get you up on the bed,” Xario said as Juno pulled the blanket off it and made room for me, “and we’ll see what we can do.”
“Relax guys, I’m fine.” I said with the biggest smile I could muster, “Just hurt my foot on the way down is all.”
Juno made an unsure face and started undoing my laces, “I saw you go down, no way you’ve only hurt your foot.”
“I’m grateful for your concern, but I don’t know what to tell you. Just lucky I suppose.” I said followed by a great deal of seething as Juno gently removed the boot and sock.
“Well I’ll be damned,” she said with a scoff, “Xario, get her an ice pack, she’ll be fine in about half hour.”
I went to tell her ‘Told you’ but before I could even open my mouth she was gone, walking away to the bridge.
“What’s wrong with her?”
It took Xario a second to realise who I was talking about, but he got it eventually as he came over to me with a flexible ice pack, “She’s not been doing so well since Urbetes. Won’t talk about it at all, but she never does seem to talk about the stuff that really bothers her. How’s that?” he asked after he was done wrapping the ice pack in place.
I nodded and smiled as the pain slowly eased away, “Better.”
“Good, now you can sit in here or head down to your quarters. It’s your call, but you have to make an effort to stay off your feet.”
“Just to my room’d be great, thanks.” I said, gesturing for him to come over and help me, “I know we haven’t been on it long, but are you enjoying life on Alby so far?”
Xario nodded as he helped me down and acted as an extra helpful crutch, “Yeah, wouldn’t mind setting up a bench-press or somethin’ in the cargo bay. Last thing I need is to be getting soft out here.”
I laughed a little then nodded, “Yeah, sounds like a plan. As soon as my foot fixed up we’ll head to a Commonwealth-friendly bazaar station and see what we can find.”
We got through the rest of trip without saying a word before Xario left me at my door with a polite nod, “I’m just gonna see how everyone’s holding up upstairs. Later Cap.”
“Heh, yeah, later.” I said as I turned the handle on my door and pushed it open, but never managing to close it as I came to a limping stop in my room.
I blinked a few times to ensure that my brain wasn’t just playing tricks on me as my door swung shut behind me with a loud crash.
Why couldn’t they have just had faces?
The Couple
White figures, like mannequins, stood in my room, two of them, one looking over a book and stood at about 6’2, while the other rolled a pen on my desk around with its finger. It was so unbelievably creepy, like I was intruding on some kind of Zentai pre-party.
I’d have spent more time dwelling on my discomfort, but they spotted me and I instinctively pulled out the pistol that I still had from the crash and trained it on the one at the desk, “This is going to be very simple because I am very tired. Step one, tell me who you are and what you want, step two, get the Hell off my ship, step three, do step two firs-!” I stopped as I noticed the one who’d been reading the book was desperately pushing its finger to about where its lips would be while its other hand stayed high in the air.
I wanted to shout it down as soon as it moved its arm, but something about the whole situation seemed off. They clearly weren’t armed, and didn’t seem to be doing anything particularly bad when I got in other than waiting.
Then the other one rose to its feet, revealing it to be about 5’5, and grabbed something off my desk. I was twitchy to say the least, switching between the two like they were targets on a firing range, but neither of the things had offered any sign that they were planning to overpower me or do anything else sinister.
It stretched out its arm, which I saw was slightly shimmering around the edges, and offered me what it had grabbed.
I kept my gun on it as I put my hand out and took a few steps toward it. There was a pause before it dropped what looked like an out of date ear-piece into my hand.
I regarded if for a moment as I took a few steps back and then looked at the two things which had taken to huddling together, “If I feel so much as a pinch we’re going to have a problem, understand?”
They nodded in unison and I, after a few more seconds of cautious investigating, put the ear-piece in.
There was a shrill tone and I prepared to shoot the creepy things but stopped when I heard a familiar voice, “Please confirm identity.”
“Kell?” I asked before holstering my weapon.
“Identity confirmed. Relay active.”
As suddenly as Kell’s voice had appeared it vanished and was replaced with a steady tune of beeps.
“Heya Kurls!”
“Gar-?”
“Don’t waste your time kiddo, it’s a recording. Now, I know you’re probably worrying that it’ll be intercepted, but don’t. This is playing off of a box floating out in deep space while deleting itself. Clever, huh? Anyway, what you’re lookin’ at are two close friends of mine, they’re being disguised by a scrambler suit so that you have plausible deniability. What you’re gonna do, and don’t try to fight me on this, is get these two to the coordinates I’ve uploaded to your nav. It’ll tell you you’re gonna jump into the heart of a neutron star, but don’t worry about that, like I always say, don’t trust… ah, you know the rest. Oh, and if it comin’ outta the kindness of your heart don’t sound like fair enough payment, there’s also a crate with about six million credits worth o’ stuff in there. Best of luck Kurls.”
There was another set of beeps followed by Kell saying “Recording ended.” then nothing.
I took out the ear-piece and regarded the two before me, “So I take it that you can’t speak?”
They shared a look before nodding.
“Alright, and you don’t want to be found by Federation or Commonwealth, right?”
Again, they nodded.
Knowing they were human didn’t make me any less uncomfortable, but I forced myself past it, “Okay. Can my crew know?”
It took them a little while longer to respond to that one, clearly there were security issues, but they did eventually give me a cautious nod.
“Good, and you’re a couple I take it?”
Yet another nod.
“From now then I’m going to call the tall one Husband, and you Wife. Does that sound good to you?”
I think I heard them laugh, it was shrill and like it had been squeezed out of a balloon, but it was there and followed by a slightly less concerned nod than normal.
“Fantastic, let’s go meet the crew.”
The couple were hesitant at first, as expected, but eventually followed me and even helped me get up the stairs and to the hallway
that led to the bridge, the metal bars along the walls being what got me the rest of the way, “Open up!”
There was a loud clunk as the mechanism inside the door shifted before Xario pulled it open, a disappointed look on his face, “You’re meant to b- stop!” he shouted as he pulled out his pistol and took aim at the couple behind me.
“Put that away, they’re with me.” I grumbled, the pain from my foot shockingly not getting any better with constant movement.
Xario seemed unsure, and his shouting had brought the attention of Juno who, if Xario wasn’t holstering his weapon, would’ve surely been taking aim, “Who’re they?” she asked as I stepped through the door and made my way to nav-computer which I could lean against.
“This is the Husband, and the Wife. We’re taking them… somewhere, Jurol,” he wasn’t listening, he was far too interested in staring at the two who’d accompanied me and were standing in the doorway, “Jurol!” I snapped, getting his attention, “Load up the last saved coordinates, we’ve got a job.”
“What job?” Juno asked with a scoff, “Help the invasion force of the faceless ones? I think I’m good, thanks.”
“Oh I am so not in the mood.” I said, pulling out my pistol again.
“Ha! So, what? You’re gonna kill me? That’s the second time today someone in this little crew of ours has threatened to kill me today, and I’m just about sick of it.”
“Shut it Juno, you almost got us all killed out there, and this thing’ll barely knock you out.” I said as Jurol gently shifted me along to the next wall and finished punching in the coordinates.
“Are you sure about these? They look like they’ll put us in the m-”
“Middle of a neutron star, yes. Don’t worry, it’s a lie.”
Jurol nodded and went back to his seat, “So… why are they in disguise? And why can’t someone else take them?”
“Plausible deniability according to our client,” admitting it was Garrett felt a bit too much like ratting him out at that point, so I stuck with the basics, “and if either Commonwealth or Federation troops found them they’d be dead.”
Xario gave me a confused look, “But… aren’t we Commonwealth troops?”
“We’re Spectres. It’s our job to follow the Commonwealth’s orders should they call, yes, but I don’t see the point in actively seeking them out. These people need our help, and I think that should be enough to warrant it.”
“I’m with Jurol on this one,” Juno said, her arms crossed across her chest, “I don’t think it’s worth the trouble.”
“What about six million?” I asked coolly, “Because that’s the reward.”
Juno was clearly trying to hide her surprise, but her eyes had already widened by that point, “Yeah… I suppose that’d be fair.”
“Good, glad that’s settled,” I said, looking around at each of my crew’s faces who, unsurprisingly, all seemed equally as pleased with the risk to reward ratio, “now, they’ll be using my room until we reach our destination.” and that’s when I had funny idea, “And since Juno nearly got us all killed she can have the couch.”
She scowled at first, but got past it and started for the door, “I guess I’ll grab my things then.”
That was it, the first time she’d really started to accept my place as leader outside of the Academy. I wasn’t just the person that bossed the crew anymore, I was the person that paid them, the one who made sure they got taken care of and that the jobs got done.
I was their Captain, and they my crew, and we were gonna have a whole lotta fun.
Drop Off
The amount of worlds and moons I’ve been to since that day are almost too many to count, but hardly any of them hold a candle to where Garrett had sent us. It was tiny, a quarter of the size of the Cryser, but far more beautiful, lush forests, cascading deserts, beaches, two icy poles and a decent sized ocean.
Like a chibi planet.
“You’re positive no one’s hailing us?” I asked as I continued to watch out over the nose of my ship, the forest finally giving way to a lake where a small cottage sat at the edge.
Jurol nodded, “I’m not even sure there’s radio down there.”
Xario chuckled and looked at our two guests who’d joined us on the bridge, “Sorry, at least you’ll have each other’s company.”
The Husband visibly laughed but no sound escaped, before grabbing the Wife’s hand lovingly and pulling her close.
The journey to the unnamed world had been rather boring for all of us, barely taking a full twelve hours, but that was enough for my foot to heal and for me to space the Feddie clothes I’d acquired and create my first Captain’s uniform, courtesy of the collection that was on the ship.
I’d ended up going with a simple grey t-shirt that I’d tucked into a pair of khaki cargo pants, which were held up by my belt-and-thigh holster, and were folded in a military style at the calves just above my brown combat boots, which was a force of habit more than anything.
It wasn’t until I was right about to leave my room, which had been graciously vacated while I got dressed, that I realised I was missing something. I’d reopened my cupboard and instantly discovered an old, brown, three-quarter military jacket that ended at my ribcage with a slight angle along the bottom and had the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. After a good minute of looking over the gorgeous piece of memorabilia I finally pulled it on and felt complete.
The others had done the same, abandoning any resemblance of their Commonwealth ties and going for more relaxed clothing, Jurol wearing essentially what he’d been on the day I’d met him, Juno in a pair of tightfitting jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, and Xario in a white muscle shirt and black cargo pants.
It doesn’t sound like much, I know, but to us it was like we were transformed. We’d let our posture slightly slip, we emoted more, and even our walking had become more natural.
As we landed just beside the cottage I felt like we weren’t Commonwealth soldiers anymore, we were soldiers of fortune with a bit of loyalty.
“I’ll take the Husband and Wife down, Xario and Juno watch the door, and Jurol… just don’t take off without us.”
“No promises.” he joked as he flicked a few switches that powered down Alby’s engines.
I smiled and turned to the couple, “You ready to go home?”
They both nodded eagerly and walked out of the bridge before I could say anything else, clearly their excitement to get off my ship getting in the way of proper procedure.
I didn’t care that I wasn’t leading the way though, they weren’t my prisoners or anything, as far as I knew they were just a few souls looking for somewhere to lay low.
From the moment I’d stepped off the ship I could feel my lungs absorbing the fresh air, the scent of pine trees and crisp grass tickling my nose as I followed after the couple who were already walking through the cottage’s door.
“You sure you don’t want any company?” Xario asked cautiously as he scanned the environment around us.
I nodded and gave him a confident smile, “If it looks like trouble I’ll give you a shout.” I said, resting my hand on my pistol as I turned back around and stepped into the cottage.
It was nice, cosy even, and not a single sign of any sort of technology. An old typewriter sat on a writing desk by the window, along with a large box that was absolutely filled with paper, “I take it you’re a writer?” I asked as I looked around to the bookshelf.
“No,” a male Kaltjarnan voice said from the one side of the room I hadn’t checked yet, “always wanted to be.”
I turned to face the couple, who’d taken off the mask part of their disguise, “Good to see you trust me.”
“Well you got us here, didn’t you?” the man said kindly.
I nodded, “Suppose we did. Who are you anyway? Not trying to be rude, but I’d assumed you were-”
“Presidents and diplomats?” the Husband laughed, “No, ‘fraid we’re just two people that Garrett owed a favour to. Jadari, My
thias Jadari, and this is my wife Liriana.”
“Lovely to meet you,” I said with a polite nod, “Kurleida Xiao.”
“Captain Kurleida Xiao,” Liriana corrected with a smile, “you’re going to have to start using your title, from what I’ve seen you’ve truly earned it. Speaking of things you’ve earned, I believe that’s yours.” she said, pointing to a small metal crate near the fireplace that was about a foot-and-a-half wide and half a foot tall.
That started to set off alarm bells in my head that maybe I was being conned by Garrett and that it was another one of his tests, but I walked over and picked it up regardless and discovered it was actually pretty weighty, “Thank you very much. I hope to be seeing you again sometime soon.”
“As do we, best of luck Captain.” Mythias said as I left the cottage, “And do try not to get yourself killed.”
I laughed a little as I mounted the stairs, “That’s always the plan.”
The engines started to whir back to life and I caught Juno looking at the box, “Is that where our reward’s supposed to be kept?”
I hit the button to seal the door with my elbow and nodded, “Apparently, yeah. Let’s take it up to the bridge, don’t want to leave Jurol out.”
“Does it feel like a bomb?” Jurol asked over the speakers, “Because if it feels like a bomb you can just go ahead and keep it down there.”
“No way I’m letting you keep my ship.” I laughed as I took the elevator up then started up the stairs.
“Well just… keep it over there,” he said as I entered the bridge, “I can fly without the nav-computer, less so without my face.”
“Ha, yeah, righ…” I trailed off as I opened up the box and saw what was inside.
“What is i…” Xario said as he came over and saw.
Juno made a mocking face and started over toward us, “Heh, what’s got you two al…”
“Oh for Gods’ sake! Will someone tell me what’s in the box!?”
I tossed the box across the floor at him and started laughing, “Plastic cards, hundreds and hundreds of prepaid cards.”
Spectres (Æthyrium Rising - Spectres Book 1) Page 14
