by J. K. Mabrey
“Nothing like rotten beef and stale grains to make you crave some real earth food.”
“Suit yourselves,” Brax said.
“What was your take on Janus?” Zavik asked as he continued to gnaw on stiff grains.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “I know I don’t trust him, but it seems like he wants to make a buck, and we’re in a position to do that.”
“This is the best chance we have,” Dani said. “If he can’t come through with the supplies where do we turn too?”
“Nowhere,” Brax said. “At least, I can’t think of anywhere. Iridim, I thought was our best bet, but we know how that turned out.”
“I think this’ll work,” Zavik said. “I don’t feel any presence of Red Moon on this system, and Janus doesn’t seem to care what the Council thinks.”
“I hope you’re right,” Dani said.
They ate the rest of their meal in silence, each imaging possible scenarios of their impending encounter with Janus. Zavik took his empty bowl to the sink and heard the Rinada’s communicator erupt. Janus’s secretary told Zavik that he was to meet Janus at a spaceport he owned across town. She assured him that it would be more secure for them to continue discussing the transaction and allow them to set a timetable for the supplies to be delivered.
***
They arrived at the spaceport and were greeted by Janus standing outside. He led them inside. A dome roof covered the nearly empty floor. It looked to have been deserted for some time. Only old, empty, crates lined the station. It was definitely a secluded place as promised. “Ah, gentlemen, lady, welcome. I hope this won't take long. I understand that you’re in a hurry to get word back to Earth that you have secured these supplies.”
“Yes, we are,” Zavik said, mindful of the unease creeping into his mind.
“Good, then I won’t waste any more time, Zavik.” Janus motioned his hands forward, and five figures moved in from out of the shadows of the crates. Janus drew a pistol, as did the other figures.
“What the hell is this?” Zavik demanded, as the trio slowly backed away from the group.
“What?" Janus said in mocked surprise. "Did you really think a fake name would fool me? Your faces are plastered all over the networks. Don’t act like you don’t know about the million-dollar price on your heads. It’s nothing personal, but I mean to make ten times more money, by giving you to Red Moon, than I would've gotten from our little deal, and I won’t risk pissing them off.”
“You son-of-a-bitch,” Brax said.
“Look, this doesn’t have to get messy,” he said inching closer to the group. “I’m willing to give you over to them alive, but they will pay the same dead. So hands up, and get on your knees.”
“Just don’t shoot," Zavik said. "We’ll listen to-“
A blast suddenly echoed throughout the port. The figure on the far left turned his blaster on the one nearest him. He collapsed to the ground, smoldering. Janus turned to see the figure disappear behind a crate and yelled out, “Take cover, he’s a traitor!”
With their attention diverted Zavik signaled them to move. He grabbed Dani and moved behind the cover of a shipping crate. Brax moved to the right and ducked behind a support beam. Zavik told Dani to stay down, fearing for her safety more than his.
“Zavik, we're going to have to shoot our way out of here,” Brax yelled across the back of the room.
Zavik nodded his understanding and told Brax to not target the one who betrayed the group. Brax wasn't so sure the other could be trusted, he could've just seen an opportunity for a bigger payday and decided to take out the others in his way. If they killed him, though, they would never find out.
Zavik took out his pistol and fired four shots toward Janus. He moved behind cover, having already lost two men to the traitor in his group. Brax moved to the right of his cover and flanked the figure on the far right. He fired multiple shots and his target fell to the ground. He motioned to Zavik that his target was down.
“Good, only Janus left.” Two on one were good odds in Zavik's mind. Dani was behind the crate as he moved up the left side, and Brax exposed himself from behind the beam to the right. This mysterious figure was a wild card, and Zavik had no idea where he was hiding out. Shouting over to Brax in a hushed voice, Zavik said, “Brax! Let the other guy go after Janus. Just sit tight.”
They heard Janus cry out, “You traitorous Iriquios. I should’ve known not to trust you. You just want the bounty for yourself.” Three shots rang out from Janus’s position. “I’m not going down as easy as these guys.”
“Give it up, Janus," a mysterious voice said. "If you leave now, you don’t need to die."
“Screw you!” he yelled back. “You’re the one who’s going to die, and then I’ll take them out and get the reward.”
Brax peeked out from his cover and had a clear shot of both subjects. He sat back down for a moment contemplating what course of action to take. He looked at Zavik and nodded, then stepped out of cover and aimed a shot at Janus. The Savin turned his blaster on Brax, before he could get a shot off, and unleashed a volley of fire on his position. Brax managed to slip behind cover again but was pinned down by the constant fire. Janus moved in, closer to Brax, moving himself out of cover. Brax was frozen. Any movement might expose him to fire and, afraid to expose himself to the Iriquios, Zavik's line of fire was compromised. Suddenly two blasts rang out. Zavik turned back behind the crate to try and reach Brax. Dani was no longer hiding there. His heart raced as horrible thoughts flew through his mind. He ran around the crate to see Dani crouched in the corner, motioning for Brax to come to the larger cover. She had fired the two shots that caught Janus in the side and back as he closed on Brax's position. He was motionless on the floor. Zavik placed his hand on her shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief. Still unknown were the Iriquios' motives.
“Captain Khan!" the Iriquios shouted. "Please come out of your hiding, we have much to discuss.”
“Put your gun down!” Zavik cried.
“As you wish,” the Iriquios laid his gun down and kicked it in the direction of the crate. “My name is Alberan Gant. I mean you no harm”
Zavik, Dani, and Brax glanced around at each other and then moved from out of cover, their weapons were drawn on the now exposed alien. “What do you want?” Zavik asked.
“I was sent to help you,” he said calmly. The Iriquios looked familiar, yet still very foreign to Zavik. His bald head was concealed by a cloak hood. The tattered gray cloak flowed down to his knees, obscuring most of his body. He stood with his hands slightly up and remained still.
“Who sent you?” Brax asked.
“Greda, Conchu’s chief of staff. She felt you could use some help in fulfilling Ambassador Hains quest.”
“So the ambassador knows you’re here?” Zavik said as they approached the alien, dropping their arms slightly as they neared.
“I would doubt it," he said in that airy tone that is typical of most Iriquios. "Unfortunately, we cannot openly support you. What you’re doing is illegal, in the Council’s eyes, and currently unknown to them.”
“And we’re trying to keep it that way," Brax said.
“As you should.”
“Thank you, for helping us," Dani said.
“It’s what I was sent here for. They had set up this trap to give you to Red Moon. They have a million dollar bounty on your heads.”
“Aren’t we just the lucky ones?” Brax said. “Wait, does that include me?”
“No, who are you?” Alberan said.
“Alberan, this is Dani Epson, my copilot, and this is Brax Miro, he’s helping us find the supplies we need.”
“Yes," Brax said, still clenching his pistol in a direction near Alberan, "and after this little fallout, I’m very much doubtful that we’ll find anything now.”
“You may be correct," Alberan said. "I’m afraid Janus never had the intention of delivering the supplies Earth needs. Once he realized who you were, his goal turned to cashing in on the reward. I managed to conv
ince one of his crew to include me in on the capture. Janus was suspicious, of course, but figured he would need all the men he could get to make this easy. And it is a large sum of money.”
“It’s lucky for us you were here,” Dani said.
“Greda thought you might find trouble after that little mishap with Red Moon. They are a vile group, full of vile creatures. No offense, of course, Mr. Miro.”
“Yeah, sure. None taken.” He lowered his pistol only slightly more.
“Brax here used to work for those vile creatures,” Dani said, trying to lighten the mood.
“Used to, being the optimal word,” he said.
“What is your plan now?” Alberan asked.
Zavik shrugged. “We still need those supplies for Earth. I guess we should contact Mike,” he said to Dani. “He works for the United Earth Forces. He’s been our main contact since we started.”
“That seems like a good idea," Alberan said. "Hopefully he’ll have some new direction to send you.”
Motioning for the trio to head for the exit, Zavik said, “Well, again, thanks for the help. We need to get moving so I guess this is goodbye."
“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Alberan said standing tall and firm. “Part of my task is to follow you and help you, not just here, but until your journey is concluded.”
“Oh, ok," Zavik said slightly caught off guard. "I don’t think we’d have a problem with that. We are running a little low on room in the Rinada. You can bunk with Brax.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” Brax shouted turning around. "I didn't realize you planned to turn that ship into a bed and breakfast here."
“I'm just kidding, calm down. We’ll find some room for you." Zavik extended a hand and said, "Welcome aboard.”
***
The group returned to the Rinada and Zavik went to the cockpit to radio Mike. Alberan followed, but Brax grabbed Dani and asked her to wait a moment. Once alone in the corridor, she asked him what was wrong. Softly he said, "I just wanted to thank you for saving me back there. If you hadn't taken that shot at Janus, I would not be alive."
"Of course," she said astonished by his humility. "You're part of our team, fully. That's what teammates, and friends, do."
"May I ask, is that the first person you've killed up close?"
She thought for a second then said, “Yes. As pilot for Zavik, and my previous jobs, I've fired on and destroyed many ships. But that's nothing like placing the crosshairs on someone you can see and pulling the trigger. It's so much..."
"More real," Brax said. "It's a difficult thing to get used to, hopefully, you won't be put in situations like that anymore."
"No!" she said. "I want to help, and I want to be able to help. If I need to kill people who are threatening you, or Zavik, or now Alberan...at least, now I know I can do it."
"That's good resolve to have,” he said, “because I don't think this is going to get any easier from here on out."
She put a hand on his shoulder and they made their way to the cockpit. Zavik had already radioed for Mike. His hologram suddenly appeared on the console. “Zavik!" Mike said, not in his usual tone, but with an anxious and worried demeanor. "I’ve been trying to reach you for over an hour, we have a lot to talk about.”
“I know,” Zavik said not noticing the stress in his friend’s voice. “Look, we haven’t been able to find a secure source of supplies. We thought we had some here on Qualim, but it turned out to be a trap to collect Red Moon’s bounty on us. We’ve wasted a lot of time on this.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Zavik,” Mike said somberly, and this time Zavik took notice. “The Earth Council already authorized the raid.”
“They did what!” Dani cried out as they entered the cockpit.
“You have to stop them, buy us more time!” Zavik said.
“It’s too late,” Mike said shaking his head. “It commenced immediately after they authorized it, about two hours ago.”
“My God," Zavik said. "What do we do now?”
“You need to stand down and lay low,” Mike said. “The Council will be furious when they learn what we’ve done. Humans all over the galaxy will be targeted by other races.”
“Why didn’t they wait?" Zavik asked. "Ambassador Hains should’ve told them there was a team out looking for supplies.”
“Ambassador Hains was the reason it happened so quickly,” Mike said, the stress in his voice being replaced by dread.
“Really? Why?” Dani asked.
“She was attacked on Cedona, after meeting with the Council.”
“Is she ok? Who attacked her?" Zavik asked.
“She will be fine," Mike said. "While she was leaving the Council her transport was bombed. The blast killed her head of security and five other bystanders, but she escaped relatively unharmed. Her security officer shielded her from most of the blast and shrapnel. Doctors say a few weeks in the infirmary and she’ll be better, nothing permanent. Earth deemed this attack a continuation of the recent attacks from Red Moon and made the decision that the Council could no longer provide the security and supplies we need. We've chosen to cease reasoning with the Council for supplies. This attack was the first step in securing our future. It’s not ideal, that’s for sure, but it’s the course of action they have decided to take.”
“So that’s it then?" Zavik asked slumping in his chair. "We just basically declared war on the Council.”
“It will probably be taken that way. I’m re-upping my efforts to get our defenses ready. We think the Council will mount an effort to attack Earth soon.”
“That would make sense," Brax said. "I’m sure Varin will urge Paquiko to treat our raid as a direct assault on all Council races. Many of them will follow him.”
“Maybe all will," Mike said.
“I would not think all, Lieutenant Colonel,” Alberan said.
“Zavik, who is this?” Mike asked.
“This is Alberan Gant, he helped us out of that ambush set up here. The Iriquios councilor’s chief of staff sent him.”
“Yes," Alberan continued, "and I don’t think the Iriquios will follow along with the Council on this. We’ve long suspected Red Moon of interfering with Council matters, and we don’t trust that group as well as the Chokmnd do. My government may not be able to openly support Earth, but we will do what we can.”
“That’s good to know,” Mike said. “I’ll keep that kind of information to myself.”
“That would be appreciated,” Alberan said.
“Well Zavik, it looks like you’ve put together quite the team there.”
“Yes," Zavik said as he surveyed the room. "What good it did us. We failed to get the supplies we needed, and now we’re steps away from a full-fledged war."
"You sound like your giving up," Mike said.
"What's there to keep doing?” Zavik asked in frustration. “We can't fight this war. We can't stop Varin. We're useless now."
"No!" Alberan said. "You can't give up so easily. You have to keep fighting, we must stop Varin."
"I'm with Zavik," Brax said. "We can't help anymore. Anything we do would just put us in danger or cause problems for Earth. Would you be kind enough to drop me off on Tarekun, I need a lot to drink,” he paused, “and to find someone to drink it with."
He turned to leave the cockpit. “Wait!” Dani cried. She turned to Zavik. “You can’t be serious about just giving up?”
“What else is there for us to do?” Zavik asked. “We’re already on the top of Red Moon’s hit list. We can’t go anywhere without someone trying to collect our bounty. I think it’s a good idea for us all to lay low for awhile.”
“What if we went after Varin directly?” Alberan asked. “Would you be interested in taking him down?”
Zavik sat for a moment, thinking of the possibilities. “Yes,” he finally said. “He needs to pay for what he did.”
“If we can expose Varin, he will loose what little bit of power he now has,” Alberan said. “We need to show the Council th
at he is leading Red Moon. This will help explain why Earth attacked Theros, and show that it was Red Moon who attacked the ambassador and forced your hand.”
“I like where he’s taking this,” Mike said. “You cut off the head of the snake, and the body dies.”
Zavik sat in silence for a moment. “You’re right,” he finally said. “If we can find a way to expose Varin, we can end this conflict immediately. We can save a lot of lives.”
“Are you sure you want to keep going, Zavik?” Alberan asked. “It will not get any less dangerous. Now we’re going after Red Moon. Even the Council knows not to cross them too often.”
“Yeah,” he stood up, “he has to be stopped. He’s gotten too powerful. We can’t let him take control of the galaxy. What about you, Brax? You with us? We can save a lot of Chokmnd lives too.”
Brax looked around the room, taking in all of the overly eager faces. He put his hands over his face and rubbed his eyes. “Screw it. You can drop me off at Tarekun after were done, assuming it’s still around after we destroy the galaxy and all.”
Zavik shook his hand and said, “Glad you’re on board. Dani?”
“Of course, Zavik,” Dani said. “Besides, you wouldn’t know a security firewall from an OS subroutine. How do you expect to land on any planet without alerting every bounty hunter in the sector?”
Zavik looked at Alberan for confirmation. “I’ve been tasked with protecting you,” he said. “The Iriquios take their assignments very seriously. It is required that, if need be, I sacrifice myself for your survival.”
“That is appreciated,” Zavik said, “but hopefully it won’t be necessary.”
“Your plan may convince the Council that Red Moon is the real enemy here,” Mike said over the comm, “and end our disagreements. That is the only way to save Earth from being placed under the military rule of the Council. That’s what will happen should our forces fall to the Council.”
“We’ll do what we can to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Zavik said.
“Good luck, Zavik.”
