by Jake Bible
“There he is!” Shava Stemn Shava announced as a holo shimmered to life in front of the guards. “The man that always finishes what he starts. You do have Jonny Nebula, yes?”
“Yeah,” Roak said. “How about you come and get him in person?”
“No, no, no,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “But we will be face to face soon enough. I will have my security strip you of all those weapons you’ve dotted that body of yours with first, though. Then you will show me Jonny Nebula, and when it has been confirmed you have made good on your word, then and only then, will you be allowed to deliver the goods into my hand directly. I told you I would allow you to complete your job and get paid your chits. Then the rest of your sad story may begin.”
Shava Stemn Shava waved his obese arms then gave a short, stiff bow.
“Ladies? Gentlemen? Please relieve Roak of his armaments.”
Roak let himself be stripped of all of his weapons. At that point, he was glad he didn’t ever acquire a new Flott Five-Six concussion blaster with laser cluster spread. It would have been a shame to have to give it up to a piece of shit like Shava Stemn Shava.
“Jonny Nebula,” one of the guards barked.
“Right there,” Roak said and pointed his chin to a case on the cargo hold’s deck.
The guard opened the case and pulled out the tube with the glowing blue gel. He showed it to the holo of Shava Stemn Shava.
“Sir? This can’t be Jonny Nebula,” the guard said.
“Oh, that is Jonny Nebula,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “Bring him to me. And bring Roak as well.” The holo blinked out.
The security guards walked Roak out of his ship and down the rear ramp. As he passed the woman in black, she gave him a slight nod. He nodded back. Then he was shoved roughly into a lift and the doors shut on the woman in black.
Roak knew he’d be seeing her again soon. There was no doubt about that.
34.
“To think all of his glory could be distilled into this tube,” Shava Stemn Shava said when he finally had the glowing blue gel in hand. “So many iterations, so many victories, so many deaths. All of it coalesced into this very moment, into this vessel made of plastiglass and metal alloy. It’s almost sad.”
“Yeah, it’s breaking me up inside,” Roak said as he stood before the huge man, his hands and legs bound by plasma manacles.
Shava Stemn Shava eyed Roak then frowned at the manacles. “Take those off. Roak has done nothing but fulfill his end of the bargain. It is time I fulfill mine, and I cannot do that if he is bound like a prisoner instead of the professional contractor that he is.”
“Gee, thanks, Shava,” Roak said.
The huge man glared at Roak.
“Shava Stemn Shava,” Roak said.
“Better,” Shava Stemn Shava replied as the guards removed the plasma manacles from Roak’s hands and feet.
“This woman in black,” Shava Stemn Shava said, waving the tube around like it was a conducting wand. “She certainly has it in for you. To think that she was willing to give up a bounty in order to make a deal for your capture. I have never heard of such a thing. At least not from someone with the military resources she has. I certainly do wish I knew who contracted her. I might need to watch my back.”
“She didn’t tell you?” Roak asked.
“What? No,” Shava Stemn Shava replied, his hand pausing mid-wave, the tube pointed directly at Roak. “Do you know?”
Roak shrugged. “Probably not. What I do know is she isn’t giving up her bounty. You’ll hand me over then she’ll take that tube out of your fat hands. She might let you live, she might not. Want to know the odds on you not living? I can’t tell you the exact numbers down to the decimal, but I know where I’m laying my chits.”
“You are very good at creating doubt and imbalance,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “You have cultivated a reputation that puts people off before they meet you. You are a well-crafted personality, Roak. But you are done. No matter what you say, your time is over. There is no way out of this for you. I’ll pay you your chits per our agreement then you will no longer be my problem. It is unfortunate that you cannot enjoy your chits, but that is how the galaxy works.”
“Is it? I didn’t know that,” Roak replied. “You about done flapping your jowls, Shava Shava Ding Dang?”
Shava Stemn Shava’s face shook with rage and he almost threw the tube at Roak, but he took a couple of breaths and calmed himself then pointed a beefy finger at the bounty hunter.
“You,” he said and laughed. “What a waste…”
Shava Stemn Shava’s eyes widened then narrowed. Roak’s did the same.
“You’re thinking about doing something you probably shouldn’t,” Roak said. “I’ve watched plenty of crime lords get that look right before they plot their own demise. Ignore whatever you are thinking, Shava Stemn Shava.”
“Wise advice, but I am not a crime lord,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “I am a businessman. And I just realized that I have one of the best business opportunities standing right before me. It will mean a little creative shuffling of my agreement with this woman in black, but professionals understand that terms change.”
Roak sighed. “You are messing with things you shouldn’t be.”
“Oh, stop with the dramatics, Roak,” Shava Stemn Shava said then walked over to his massive desk and set the tube down. An energy field activated and the tube was gone. “There. Safe and sound. This woman in black may try to retrieve Jonny Nebula, but she will fail.”
“She doesn’t fail,” Roak said. “Just like me.”
“Well, you are standing before me in a place of great weakness and failure right now, aren’t you?” Shava Stemn Shava said as he activated his comm. “Porfoy? I need you.”
A Slinghasp came rushing into the room. The Slinghasp’s tongue flicked in and out of its mouth several times as it bowed then looked from Roak to Shava Stemn Shava.
“Roak, this is Porfoy, my new attaché,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “Too bad about Mr. R. An exceptional employee, but not exceptional enough to survive an assignment with the notorious Roak.”
“How may I assist?” Porfoy hissed, his sinewy body undulating under a formal robe.
Roak thought he looked ridiculous, but he thought that of most beings that didn’t wear body armor as their everyday attire.
“Porfoy, I would like to rearrange tonight’s Orb fight schedule,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “Can that be done quickly, please?”
The Slinghasp’s eyes went so wide that Roak thought they’d tear the skin around them.
“Sir, tonight is the fight between–”
“I know what the fight is tonight,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “But I have a much better one in mind.” He grinned at Roak. “A legendary bounty hunter versus a mystery woman in black.”
“Oh, pal, you are making a massive mistake,” Roak said. “You are about to fail so hard that it’d be hilarious if I wasn’t involved.”
The Slinghasp looked like he was having a stroke.
“Wipe that look off your face, Porfoy,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “Bring in Mr. Roak’s chits.”
“Roak,” Roak said. “Not that hard to remember.”
“Yes, bring in Roak’s chits,” Shava Stemn Shava ordered. “And bring in the woman in black, please. Her soldiers may remain below on the lower decks. Perhaps in the B-wing? That way they are contained if they were to get nervous. We’d hate to have any interruptions this evening.”
Roak stood there and waited. There was nothing to say. The big man was making a colossal mistake and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. Or would do about it. As far as he was concerned, the plan worked in his favor.
“You want to know who she’s working for?” Roak asked.
Shava Stemn Shava had started to move around behind his desk, but he paused and eyed Roak.
“So, you do know,” Shava Stemn Shava stated. “I assume it is someone that you fear or you wouldn’t be trying to warn me off my ingenious plan.�
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“Pechu Magafa,” Roak said. “You know that name?”
Shava Stemn Shava’s face went pale then began turning many shades of many different colors before he choked out, “Pechu Magafa. Oh, now I must do what I must do.”
“Yeah, you do what you must,” Roak said as Porfoy came back into the room with two security guards.
One was carrying a case that had Roak’s chits while the other had a carbine trained on the woman in black. There was no way to tell if the woman was angry or amused. Roak knew she wasn’t worried.
“Pay the man, Porfoy,” Shava Stemn Shava said as he walked over to the woman in black.
“Here you go,” Porfoy said as he took the case of chits from the guard and handed it to Roak. “Payment in full. Would you care to count it?”
“Yeah,” Roak said as he took the case and walked it over to the desk.
He set it down, but not before he gave the desk surface a good looking over. He saw what he needed to then unlatched the case and lifted the lid. Roak did a quick mental count then nodded.
“Is it to your satisfaction?” Shava Stemn Shava asked without turning his attention from the formless face of the woman in black.
“It’s all there,” Roak said. “Sure I can’t talk you out of what you plan on doing?”
“I am sure,” Shava Stemn Shava said.
“Hey, Porfoy, you’re going to have to step up your game if you want to fill Ple R’s shoes,” Roak said. “That guy knew when the boss was about to screw up big time. If I were you, I’d get my resume ready. Better yet, I’d book passage off this base ASAP. It ain’t gonna go well for him later tonight.”
“Why is that?” the woman in black asked.
“Ignore Roak,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “He’s being overly dramatic.”
“Not really,” Roak said. “Can I go now?”
The woman in black’s head turned towards Roak slightly.
“We had a deal, Shava Stemn Shava,” she said. “I allow him to return with the bounty so you may say you held up your end of the bargain, and I get not only Roak, but you share the genetic code of Jonny Nebula so I may fulfill my obligation to my employer.”
Roak chuckled. “You didn’t say that part, Shava Stemn Shava. You told her you’d give her the code? Shit.”
“Yes, well, that isn’t what will happen now,” Shava Stemn Shava said, addressing the woman in black. “I have a much better idea. It came to me before I learned the name of your employer, though, so do not think this is retribution for that duplicitous bitch.”
“You are making the last mistake of your life, Shava Stemn Shava,” the woman in black said. “You should rethink every choice you make from this moment on. I am giving you a gift.”
“She is,” Roak said. “I’ll leave you folks to figure this all out.”
Roak picked up the case and started walking towards the door. He actually made it halfway before Shava Stemn Shava snapped his fingers. The full contingent of guards present blocked Roak’s path.
“Thought I’d try,” Roak said. He held out the case. “Any of you bribable? This is a lot of chits. Put a couple blasts in your fellow guards and let me walk away and this is all yours.”
“Do not entertain the thought,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “You will be found and killed.”
None of the guards moved to take the case.
“Here is what I propose,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “I put the both of you in an Orb tonight for all the galaxy to see. You fight per heavyweight class rules, which means to the death, and the survivor gets to walk away a free…” He looked the woman in black up and down. “…person.”
“No,” the woman in black said. “The deal is the deal, Shava Stemn Shava. Deviation from the deal will result in automatic default on your part.”
“Oh, will it?” Shava Stemn Shava said and turned to look at Roak. “Is automatic default bad?”
“It ain’t good,” Roak said.
“You will be skinned alive,” the woman in black said. “You will not enjoy it.”
“Oh, dear,” Shava Stemn Shava said as he looked around his office. “I am so afraid of all of these scary words. Especially since I am in the middle of my own territory on a planet, on a base, where no one can touch me.”
He tapped his finger on his chin then tapped the same finger on the woman in black’s forehead.
“No. The fight will happen,” Shava Stemn Shava said. “The loser dies, winner lives and gets to leave Jafla Base. Those are the terms. The only terms. There will be no default or skinning alive.”
He snapped his fingers and waved his hand at the woman in black.
“Take them to be prepped for the fight,” he ordered. “Tonight will be special for the Orbs!”
Roak was grabbed. The woman in black was grabbed. They were both marched away to the entry hall.
“Hey, Porfoy?” Roak called.
The Slinghasp hurried up to the bounty hunter.
“Make sure these are somewhere safe, will ya?” he said and handed the case of chits to the attaché. “I’ll come find you when the fight is done and get them. Don’t go anywhere until then, okay?”
The Slinghasp blinked several times then nodded and took the case from Roak. Then he paused and looked down at a folded slip of paper that was shoved into his palm.
“A problem?” Roak asked.
“No, sir,” Porfoy said.
“Good,” Roak said. “Because you really don’t want to have a problem with me. I liked your predecessor, I’m hoping I like you.”
Porfoy tried to smile, but failed as Roak and the woman in black were led away.
When the two bounty hunters were almost across the bridge and away from the onyx tower, Roak looked back at the woman in black.
“You getting us out of here or am I?” he asked.
“I assume you already have a plan,” the woman in black said.
“I have the beginning of a plan,” Roak said.
“Quiet!” one of the guards snapped.
“You will die,” the woman in black said.
“There you go with your killing, killing, killing,” Roak said.
“You are going to kill Shava Stemn Shava,” the woman in black replied.
“Yeah, but he double-crossed me,” Roak said. “And I already got paid. He has to die. This guy here is just a guard.”
“He’s a rude guard,” the woman in black said. “I will teach him some Eight Million Godsdamn manners.”
“But he’ll be dead,” Roak said and sighed. “Shit, you have not changed a bit.”
“Neither have you,” the woman in black said. “When will you tell me your plan?”
“I said quiet!” the same guard barked.
The woman in black spun about and jammed a black-clad finger through the exposed skin in his throat, just under his helmet’s chin strap. The guard dropped to his knees as he struggled to breathe. Then he keeled over onto his side and went still.
“Shit,” Roak said as the guards attacked with stun batons and heavy alloy clubs.
35.
Roak woke up with a wicked headache and almost every inch of his body a mess of bruises.
“This will help,” a Ferg said as he injected Roak in the neck with some amber liquid.
All the pain went away and Roak was very awake.
“Yeah. That helps,” Roak said as he looked around the room.
He was in a locker room with about a dozen guards standing around by the walls, carbines all trained on him.
“This fight thing is happening, I see,” Roak said.
Roak was injected a second time.
“For the heavy-grav,” the Ferg said. “It will allow your body to adjust and not be crushed.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“Yes, it is,” the Ferg said and took out another injector, this one with a blue liquid inside. “Shava Stemn Shava has instructed me to give you this. I am unsure what it is.”
“Doesn’t that go against your oath as a
physician?” Roak asked.
“Physician?” the Ferg replied. “I’m a pharmacist’s assistant.”
“Great,” Roak said held up his hand. “You’re not putting that in me.” Then he looked at the guards. “He’s not putting that in me. You’ll have to shoot me.”
The guards didn’t respond. The Ferg shrugged and put the injector away.
“I will tell him you were uncooperative,” the Ferg said. “I do not think it matters all that much. Everyone is simply excited to have Roak in the Orb tonight.”
“Yay,” Roak said as he slid down off the table he was sitting on. He looked at himself and frowned. “I like a little more covering.”
He was wearing a pair of athletic shorts made from some type of dense polymer. The material was itchy as hell and he struggled not to start scratching.
There was a loud bell and the guards moved into position around the locker room’s only door.
“It is time to go,” the Ferg said. “Good luck, Mr. Roak! I have many credits riding on you winning!”
Roak ignored the Ferg and walked to the door. The door opened and Porfoy came in.
“You take care of my chits and everything?” Roak asked.
“I did,” Porfoy replied.
“He wouldn’t take the second injection,” the Ferg said.
“Oh, yes, well, it is too late for that now,” Porfoy said. “The fight is about to begin. We must get you into the Orb immediately before the vidcast begins.”
Porfoy walked out of the locker room and the guards made sure Roak followed close behind. They steered him down a dark corridor and out into a wide waiting room where a couple hundred people of all races were standing and clapping. Roak gave them all the middle finger and they laughed and cheered.
A door at the far side of the waiting room opened and Roak almost stopped in surprise.
“What the hell is this?” he asked as he was escorted from the waiting room into a space that was maybe a quarter of the size. In the center of the space was an Orb. That was all. “Am I missing something?”
From the opposite side of the room, a door opened and the woman in black was escorted in. Roak knew she was smiling as she was shoved along to the Orb platform. He could tell by the way she moved that she had just put down several guards before she was forced to enter the room. No way she wouldn’t be smiling.
