by J. K. Mabrey
“You could have been killed,” she said.
He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I was clear by at least three feet. Not a problem.”
She just stared at him, refusing to let a smile shine through. She put her head on his chest. "What was the noise?"
"Zavik lost half the cargo," Brax said.
"How do you know it was my fault?"
"If it was Charra's fault, he'd be a lot more mad than this," Brax said.
Zavik nodded. "Fair enough."
Charra didn't take losing very well and was always hardest on himself when he made mistakes. He would force himself to workout twice as hard and twice as long after every failure. Zavik was sure it was some Rovun training ritual.
"He'll be in there for an hour getting over this," Brax said.
"What are we going to do?" Dani asked.
"About Charra?" Brax responded.
"No, about the shipment. We're supposed to deliver four crates of weapons to Rodderick. You're saying we only have two."
"Did you check them? They're the right package?" Brax asked.
"Yeah, I opened them," Zavik said. "About two dozen carbine blaster rifles."
"Maybe that'll be enough to satisfy Rodderick," Brax said, his arms held out as if he were pleading for a miracle. That’s what it’d take.
"Even if we'd have gotten the whole shipment it wouldn't be enough for Rodderick," Zavik said. "I should have never gotten involved with him."
"Zavik," Dani said as she drew herself close to him and put her arm around his waist, "it's not your fault that Telamere didn't work out. Their civil war cost a lot of people, and no one saw that coming."
"She's right," Brax said. "We don't blame you. If we did, we'd be gone, at least I would." He forced a grin.
"Thanks, I think," Zavik said.
"What I'm trying to say is we're a team, and a good team sticks together even through the bad. So this shipment won't settle our debt with Rodderick, it will bring it closer. Once that's done, we can stop doing crap missions for five percent commission and get back to some real jobs. Ones we actually want to do, and that pay well. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have disposable income.
"Haven’t we all,” Zavik said. “I just hope he’s reasonable.”
“Now that is doubtful,” Brax said.
Zavik went to the rear room on the starboard side of the Rinada. It was once his room alone. Now he shared it with Dani, and he was absolutely fine with that. It was a small rectangular room that would have been cramped with four people standing in it. A fold out bed was strapped to the wall. A chest height locker sat at the back of the room and a computer terminal sat opposite the bed near the door.
He pulled the bed down and laid back. The room was a mess. His clothes were thrown in a pile against the back wall. It reminded him that he was two weeks late in finishing a systems check on the engines. Why did he always procrastinate on his ship? It used to be his pride and joy, he loved tinkering with it and improving every aspect he could. Now, it was a chore, something to dread, and make excuses to get out of doing. What was it this time? Watching the dashball match? Getting drunk down at the nearest bar? He couldn’t remember. He didn’t want to. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Dani came in after what seemed to Zavik like only five minutes, but it was actually much longer.
“How are you?” she asked in her soft and calm voice. It was a tone he'd come to love over the years.
“I’m fine,” he replied a little harsher than he liked.
“Really? You don’t look fine.” She sat down next to him.
“I just wanted this to be the last time we had to work for Rodderick. I want to start doing things that matter again, not help crimelords make more profit by ripping off other crime-lords. I never got into this business to help people like that.”
“I know, Zavik. I also know that sometimes that’s what we have to do. It’s not the first time, we both know it probably won’t be the last time. Brax and Charra understand too. We all agreed to move to Telamere and to do that we needed funding from somewhere. Rodderick was there. We’d done missions for him before and he was always fair. If Telamere had worked out like we planned, we would be through dealing with him. It was a risk that we all accepted. You can’t regret that.”
“I know,” Zavik said. “I just want to make it right. They deserve better. You deserve better.”
“I do not,” she said with a hint of laughter behind it. “I love you, no matter what. We’ll get out of Rodderick’s shadow and be able to do the jobs we want soon enough. I know Brax wants to help a contact he has on a Chokmnd colony and Charra, well, I’m not sure what Charra wants to do, but he likes to fight.”
“Good thing he excels at that,” Zavik said, “and is on our side of the fights.”
Dani was silent for a moment. Finally, she asked, "Are we going to go back to targeting Red Moon's operations when Rodderick's paid off?"
"Yes," he said, "I want to make sure they're put out of business for good."
"But all recent reports are that the whole organization has dissolved into numerous factions throughout the Galaxy. It's nothing like it once was."
"It's still a dangerous organization,” he said, “and the Council has almost forgotten what they did. To them, the enemy was Varin all along, and they think he's gone, so there's no need to pursue Red Moon to its extinction."
"Zavik," she said resting an arm on his shoulder, "Varin is gone. The Council is right to think of him as the enemy, but that threat has passed."
"I know," he said trying to force himself to believe it. "I just want his network to be destroyed. Every remnant of him gone. Are you ok with that?"
"Yes," she said, "and I think Brax is fine with going after Red Moon, to a point. We have to eat, you know. I think Charra is ok for now, but I'm not sure how long he'll go along with us before he gets other ideas. Hunting Red Moon remnants doesn't pay as good as it used to."
"That's the truth," he said. "The Blue Blazes used to pay a grand just for the location of a Red Moon base. Now, they're likely to just give you a drum of fuel, not even enough to cover the trip, for an entire tactical readout of a base. They just aren't as threatening to the other syndicates without Varin."
"No, they're not," she said, "and the longer he's gone, the more worthless the organization will be to everyone, including us."
"I think that would be the best thing for the Galaxy," Zavik said. He took her hand and squeezed it tight.
"Then what will we do?" she asked. "We need a purpose, Zavik. You used to give us one before Red Moon took away your focus. I don't want to chase a ghost forever."
"I know," he said. "I'll make you a deal. After we pay off Rodderick, we'll take a job that has nothing to do with Red Moon. It doesn't even have to be in the Outer Spiral. You think they’ll like that?"
"I know I will. I can’t wait to get out of this sector of the Galaxy for a bit. It’s very…depressing.”
The intercom in the room chimed on and Brax said, "Rodderick's agreed to meet us. When should I tell him we'll meet?"
Dani said. “Are you ready to go now?”
“Hmm…do we have to go now, or do we have a few minutes?” he asked, pulling her close. He kissed her neck and she giggled.
She let out a low moan and then pushed him back. “No, I’m afraid we don’t. He’s expecting us, and with not all good news we don’t want to keep him waiting.”
Always the reasonable one, he thought.
"Uh, hello?" Brax said quietly into the speaker.
“Ok, fine,” he said, “but, I’m gonna want a rain check.”
She bent down and kissed him passionately. “Deal.”
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