by Sam Lippert
“Thank-you.” Nathan was still so shocked he could barely utter the words. He found himself anxious to leave, lest the dream turn into a nightmare.
“Peace be with you,” the Pontiff said, and Nathan and Remi were ushered out.
To Nathan it felt like he held his breath until they had left the Vatican. He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. The situation seemed too good to be true. Once they were several blocks away, Nathan let out a “Whoop!” and twirled Remi around.
“You,” he said with a huge grin on his face. “Must be my good-luck charm! I have never had such a disaster turn out so well! We just made a fortune, and if we play it right, we should be able to double or triple it on our next run!” He was so happy he nearly kissed her, but forced himself to stop short. Delivering her without any nasty entanglements would make this two million look like chump change.
“So, what's next, Captain?”
“Back to Nola, where I will wait for the folks from the Vatican. You, along with Omany will go to the marketplace. I want you to come back with an opinion on cargo and destination. I would suggest using the Nola's Nav computer first to find out what planets are within our travel radius.” Nathan led the way onto the public transit platform. “After that, we celebrate!”
* * *
It was several hours later when Remi and Omany pushed their way into the tavern. The place was packed! Extra tables had been brought in, along with extra chairs. Those that were seated had, along with their drink of choice, at least one rectangular card, and a pile of colorful plastic discs. On the card was a grid that seemed to be filled with a random assortment of numbers. At the front of the tavern, on the stage, was a rotating cage filled with small balls. Each ball was imprinted with a number and a letter. A priest and a barmaid were on the stage as well. The barmaid would rotate the cage. When it stopped the priest would reach in and withdraw a ball. He then stepped to a microphone.
“N 47,” the priest said. Many of the seated individuals placed chips on their cards. Remi and Omany scanned the crowd for Nathan. They found him in the back, with a beer and at least twelve of the cards in front of him.
“B 12,” the priest said as the pair came up behind Nathan.
“What's going on?” Remi asked, squatting down beside the captain.
“O 99”
“Hey, my good luck charm is here!” Nathan said, placing chips on two of his cards. “I
forgot that tonight was BINGO night!”
“I 21” Nathan covered several more squares.
“BINGO night? What does that mean?” Remi asked.
“I 15”
“It's a form of gambling that originated on Earth in the 20th century,” Nathan explained. “The object is to get five of your chips in a row by covering squares as indicated by the letter and number combinations being called out.”
“G 67”
“The game was popular among the populations of several of the nation-states of the time, in most cases because it was the only legally permitted form of gambling.”
“N 59” Nathan covered squares on two more cards.
“Catholic parishes were one of the first organized groups to take advantage of the game's popularity, holding weekly 'bingo nights.' For many of those parishes it was their second most profitable enterprise.”
“O 83”
“When the Catholics migrated here, they brought the game with them. All the games here are Church sanctioned with 50% of the profits going to the Church.”
“B 9”
“BINGO!” The shout was heard from across the bar.
“Sounds like we have a winner,” Nathan said as the tavern's staff began the process of verifying the win. Remi reached for one of Nathan's cards. “Not yet!” he stopped her. “We want to wait until it's official.”
“And we have a winner!” The priest said into the microphone. “Our next round is a twenty credit round! Twenty credits per card. You can either keep your cards, buy new cards, or go for a combination!”
“Too rich for my blood!” The man next to Nathan exclaimed as he got up and headed to the door. Nathan motioned to Remi to sit down in the vacated chair. He cleared the chips off of his cards and gave half of the cards to Remi. He put one hundred twenty credits on the table in front of both of them.
“Ready?” Nathan asked. “Five chips in a row in any direction is a 'bingo' and wins half of what was collected for this round. Put a chip on the center square of each card, that's a 'free' space.”
The pair drank and played bingo until the wee hours of the morning, with Omany observing. When they all finally made their way back to the Nola, they had won slightly more than they had spent, due to five bingos by the novice and one by Nathan himself.
The next morning the crew of three gathered in the galley. Over their breakfast of ample omelets, prepared, as usual, by Omany, Nathan asked Remi how she had fared in the market.
“It took a while, but given our current financial situation, I believe I know what we can lift with.” She said. “I know it is not the kind of cargo you usually carry, but I'm pretty sure you don't usually have several million credits to work with, either.” She grinned as she took a sip of coffee.
“Well, don't keep me in suspense, princess! What is it?”
“I'm sure you've been to the marketplace here numerous times, and have therefore started to view as commonplace many of the more remarkable items for sale here. I, however, was immediately taken aback by the beauty of the religious art! I think we should lift with either as much as we can carry, or as much as we can afford.”
“Interesting choice, princess.” Nathan mulled the idea over. “I have two concerns. First, religious art from New Rome is much like fine china from Rhadasia. Everyone moves it, so it can be a risky proposition. Second, it can be difficult to unload an entire hold full of art in one place. However, both of these can be overcome by selecting the proper destination. Where do you propose we go to sell it?”
Remi was prepared for his objections, and had done rather extensive research on the potential markets for fine religious art. Her answer was one word. “Nexus.”
Nathan nearly choked on the bite of omelet he had just delivered to his mouth. “Nexus?” he questioned after he managed to swallow. “Are we thinking of the same place? The Nexus? Or is there some other world named Nexus that I am unfamiliar with?”
“I do, in fact, mean the Nexus that I am sure you are quite intimately familiar with.” Remi replied with a sly smile.
“And what, pray tell, would the galaxy's most elite prostitutes want with religious art?”
“Not just any religious art. Specifically art depicting Mary Magdalene.”
“I see the connection you are attempting to make, but it was rather publicly acknowledged centuries ago that Mary was never a prostitute!”
“I realize that.” Remi said. “However, I remember a discussion back on Kalifet that the popularity of the once “lost” Gospel According to Mary is making a resurgence, especially on, or should I say 'in,' Nexus.” Remi smiled, she could tell by the look on Nathan's face he was impressed. “Besides,” she said, “I'm sure you can find a way to have a good time there, regardless!”
Nathan, having been successfully outmaneuvered, acknowledged the soundness of the plan, and he and Remi returned to the marketplace the next morning to purchase their cargo. As had become usual, Omany was tasked with resupplying the ship.
CHAPTER VI
Their departure from New Rome was uneventful, as was the voyage to Nexus, except for one night...
Omany had retired for the evening. Nathan and Remi found themselves in the Galley drinking beer, which in and of itself was not unusual. On nights like these the pair exchanged stories from their disparate backgrounds, Nathan providing stories of the adventures involved in being a free trader, and Remi tales of Court intrigue and amusing anecdotes pertaining to various heads of state. On this particular occasion the conversation took a more serious turn.
“I n
ever knew my father,” Nathan confided. “Whether he left when I was little or was never there in the first place, I don't know.” He took a big swig of his beer. “My whole world revolved around my mother. She raised me until I was five. We lived on the rural world of Homestead. Virtually no technology. I remember we had a wood cook stove, grew our own vegetables and raised our own animals which we slaughtered for food. It was a good life, while it lasted.”
“What happened?”
“One day, Mom went into town to get some things we needed from the market and she never came back. I spent a week carrying on as best I could, when one morning there was a knock on our door.” Nathan paused.
“And then?” Remi prompted, engrossed in the story.
“I froze. I just stood there in the middle of our cabin. I didn't know what to do. I knew in my gut that when that door opened, my life was going to be changed forever.
“When I finally mustered the courage to open the door, a priest was standing there. I had never seen the man before, but I knew he was a priest by his clothing. He told me that my mother had been attacked and killed by bandits. I remember falling to my knees in grief and the priest taking me into his arms.” Nathan paused and drained his bottle.
Remi sat entranced and looked into Nathan's eyes. In his haunted expression she could see the grief of the child who had lost so much at such an early age. She took a sip of her beer and waited for him to continue.
“On a planet like Homestead there are always families willing to take in an orphan. When you are farming by human and animal power, there is no such thing as too large of a family. So, I expected to be taken in by one of the neighbors. As it turned out, my mother had left explicit instructions in her Will that, in the event she died of unnatural causes, the farm was to be sold and the proceeds used to book me a ticket to an off-planet orphanage.
“Since the priest was the one who made the arrangements, I went to New Rome. Of course, you know how my life played out after that.”
“Have you returned to Homestead since?”
“I've never had the right cargo at the right time. Whether that has been due to fate or subconscious design, I couldn't tell you.”
Remi reached across the table and took Nathan's hand. She was acutely aware of the spark that traveled between them every time they touched, and she knew that he was aware of it too. A lesser man would have succumbed to the attraction a while ago, but he had not. At first it was the thought of losing all of the money that had kept him from giving in to the temptation. As time had drawn on, and the attraction had grown into something close to love, he refrained because of the crushing blow that would be dealt to the Princess' sense of duty. He couldn't do that to her.
Acting on impulse and instinct, rather than any kind of rational thought, Remi leaned forward to kiss Nathan. Just before their lips met, an alarm sounded. Saving the couple from each other and the moment.
Cruelly yanked from the pleasant situation that would have had a much crueler outcome, the pair raced to the control room to see what had triggered the alarm.
Nathan slid into the pilot's seat, examining displays and readouts as he did so. The first thing Remi noticed was the view out the cockpit windows.
“We're in normal space,” she said.
“Yes,” Nathan acknowledged while checking computer logs. “It appears that we passed too close to an uncharted gravity well. Are you up for recomputing now, or should we both try to get eight hours first?”
Remi had slid into the co-pilot's seat, as if she belonged there. “We may not have time to do either. I'm picking up spacecraft on long range scan. There are twelve of them, and they have us en-globed. It's as if they knew we would be here.”
En-globement is the most effective strategy in space warfare, providing you can pull it off. A number of ships position themselves in a manner that forms a sphere around the target ship, then they proceed to move inward until they are in weapons range. The key is to have enough ships to be able to fully block the target's escape. Twelve ships was definitely enough. Nathan was about to throttle up the sub-light engines to attempt an escape when Remi's next words stopped him.”According to the energy signatures, they are Puma P-25s. They can both out-accel and out-gun us, even with the modifications you have made to the Nola!”
“Well, if we can't run, and we can't fight, I guess we need to talk.” Nathan donned a headset and activated an outgoing channel on the ship's radio. Remi donned a headset of her own to listen in.
“This is private spacecraft Nola to unidentified warships. Although you have not attacked, your flight pattern is openly hostile. Please identify yourselves and state your business with us.” As soon as he released the transmit button, both headsets were filled with a piercing sound that left both Remi and Nathan unconscious.
* * *
Omany was deep in meditation when the alarm sounded. He identified it as non-critical, unless one was piloting the ship, and stayed in his meditative state.
He was unable to remain calm, however, when a shudder passed through the ship a half-hour later. Disturbed by the “unnatural” vibration, as if any vibration in a craft traveling through the depths of space could be considered “natural,” he collected himself and left the passenger cabin to investigate, grabbing his staff and a laser pistol as he did so.
Upon exiting, he saw a bright flash to his left, coming from the cargo bay. Laser pistol in one hand and staff in the other, he headed in that direction. As he made his way down the hallway he could hear voices. He was unable to tell the total number from sound alone, but he heard at least five distinctly different voices.
His mind went into overdrive. The best way to defeat an enemy when you are severely outnumbered is by surprise and stealth, using both to force the enemy to meet you one-on-one. The hallway offered no tactical advantage in that respect, as there was not anything that offered “cover.” Facing the group in the cargo bay itself would likewise be suicidal. His best bet was to go up the staircase and take them out one-by-one as they came up.
Unfortunately, there was no guarantee they would even leave the cargo bay! If they were pirates and only here for the cargo, they may not even bother with anything else on board. On the other hand, if they were here for the Princess...
His first duty was to protect Remini, however he did not even know where she was at the moment. Given the pilot's alarm from earlier, it would be reasonable to assume that she and Nathan were in the control room, which was one deck up. He knew that she had not entered the passenger cabin while he was meditating, and if she had been in the cargo bay, there would be no way to save her right now. The only room remaining on this deck was the gym. He decided he needed to check there before setting up his ambush.
Quickly and quietly, Omany dashed across the corridor and through the door. He made a quick inspection of the gym and found it empty. That placed the Princess, in all likelihood, on the deck above. He stole quickly to the ladder and made his way up it.
“There goes one of them up the ladder!” Omany heard shouted behind him. He knew he had only seconds to prepare his ambush.
The ladder rose straight through a hole in the deck. Fortunately for anyone, like Omany, who was preparing a defense of the ship, the opening was only large enough for one person at a time.
He laid on the deck and took a bead on the top of the ladder. Since the raiders would have to come up one at a time, he would be able to pick them off, one by one.
No sooner than he had assumed his position and sighted down the barrel of his laser pistol did a head protrude through the opening. Omany squeezed the trigger and burned a hole right between the eyes of the raider, causing instant death. The body went limp and disappeared from view, no doubt knocking several others from the ladder.
'Now we see how smart these pirates are,' Omany thought. If the pirates continued with a direct frontal assault, Omany would be able to take them all out and keep them from this section of the ship in the process. The real questions were how long w
ould it take for them to figure it out, and were they properly equipped to do anything about it.
The next thing up from the deck below was not a raider, but a gas canister, which rather definitively answered both of the prior questions.
Since he was lying prone, and the only muscular effort he had to expend was in his trigger finger, Omany seized control of his autonomic functions and slowed his breathing and his heart rate to nearly imperceptible levels. While this action would be unlikely to completely halt the actions of the gas, it would delay it long enough to give him the continued advantage of surprise.
Precisely three minutes after the arrival of the gas canister, another head started to rise out of the deck. Omany squeezed off another shot, and sent the body falling to the deck below. Two down.
Sixty seconds later, another head appeared and was dispatched in the same manner as the previous two. Another minute generated another raider body. Omany thought he recognized something familiar in the timing of the attempts, but in his current low oxygen state, his brain was not able to wrap its mental fingers around it.
Another minute, another body. The crew of the Nola was now up five zip, although a good referee would have likely awarded the two unconscious individuals in the cockpit to the raiders score.
Another minute, another body. At any moment the pirates would decide that the gas was not going to work, and would either retreat or try a different tact.
As if on cue, another object came up through the opening. Omany had just enough time to recognize it as a Kalifet military issue stun grenade before it went off and he lost consciousness...
* * *
It was a perfect dark. Nathan had never experienced a dark like this before. Not even the time he had been buried alive by a native tribe on Sashlool IV. He did a quick inventory and found that as near as he could tell, he had no body. He could not feel himself breathe, nor could he move any muscles, because it was quite obvious that he had none to move. That explained the dark, and the lack of noise as well, since he was quite sure his eyes and ears were with the rest of his body.
