by Jake Bible
“Sath,” the second Maglor said quickly.
“Spickle and Sath,” Roak said. “What is it with S names in this galaxy? No one’s named Tim or Neil anymore.”
The Maglors blinked over and over.
“Never mind. You have until I’m done with my noodles to sell me on whatever it is you’re selling. Warning, I eat fast when I want to.”
Roak began slurping up noodles at an alarming rate. The Maglors looked like they were going to panic.
“We know Hammon cabin,” Spickle said. “We see him go there two nights.”
“Two nights ago or two nights in a row?” Roak asked.
“Two nights ago,” Spickle said.
“Two nights in row,” Sath said.
“So, you’ve been watching him,” Roak said. “Only you two or do you have others with you?”
“Other Maglors on station,” Spickle said and frowned. “Not with us.”
“Are you kidding? You people have barely been part of the general galactic bullshit and you’re already split? That might be a record.”
“Humans always split,” Sath said.
Roak was about to retort, but the Maglor had a point. He shrugged instead and let the comment fall away. Roak slurped more noodles, chewed and swallowed.
“Whatever. Where is Pol Hammon?” Roak asked.
“No tell. We show,” Spickle said. “We show so we get paid too. We get paid to show you Hammon. We get paid to show you around and off station so you keep Hammon.”
“We get ride off station,” Sath said. “Need ride. Bad.”
“Ah, there it is,” Roak said and chuckled. He drank deep from his beer. “These other Maglors onboard the station? They looking for you? You two on the run?”
“On run?” Spickle asked, confused.
“They look. They look because we good at finding targets. Best hunters of all Maglors,” Sath said and punched himself in the chest. He grimaced.
“Yeah, don’t hurt yourself, pal,” Roak said. “You two are hunters? Bounty hunters?”
“Best of all Maglors,” Sath repeated.
“You know that’s not saying much, right?” Roak held up his hand with the beer in it. “Don’t answer that.”
He took another drink then set the beer down and returned to his noodles.
“I’m not sharing my bounty,” Roak said. “You won’t get a single chit from my payoff. I can pay you for info now, but after that, nothing.”
The two Maglors looked struck. They stood and hurried to the corner of the observatory to confer. Roak let them go and focused on the darkness that was barely sprinkled with stars outside the station. One of the stars was moving. Getting closer. Roak squinted, but the view shield hadn’t been wiped clean in a long while and squinting didn’t make much difference.
“Hessa? Is there a ship incoming?” Roak asked.
“There are many ships incoming. Many outgoing, too,” Hessa replied. “This is a busy station.”
“I’m sitting in an observatory on…” He looked about and found an identifier. “Branch sixteen, level five. There is something big coming this way.”
“Let me check,” Hessa said. “Yes, I have a visual, but it is not coming up on scanners.”
Roak set his noodle bowl down, drank the rest of his beer, and stood up.
“You not finish noodles,” Spickle exclaimed. “We still have time.”
“I don’t,” Roak said. “You guys want the rest? Eat up. I have to go.”
“We take ride off station as payment,” Spickle said. Sath nodded in agreement. “And some chits for trouble. Help us settle someplace not here.”
Roak eyed the two Maglors then he gave the view shield one last look. Whatever was coming was in a hurry and had doubled in size. Roak still couldn’t tell what kind of ship it was, if it was a ship, but he knew the clock was ticking before something inconvenient happened that would gum up his job.
“How fast can we get to there?” Roak asked.
“Very fast,” Spickle said. He pointed at the noodles. “We still have?”
“Eat on way?” Sath asked.
“Have at ‘em, boys,” Roak said. “Eat on way.”
9.
Too easy.
Those two words ran through Roak’s mind as he walked the last few feet to the cabin door, his KL09 drawn and ready to take down his quarry.
“Scans show that the bio-signature in the cabin matches the bio-signature I found,” Hessa said. “I cannot tell if there are any weapons present. Readings show no, but he is the best tech in the galaxy, if the legends are correct. He could be hiding a plasma cannon array in there, for all I know.”
Roak didn’t want to alert his prey to his presence, so he chose not to respond.
Of course, he had company with him that weren’t bright enough to shut up.
“You knock?” Spickle asked. “We knock?”
“Who knock?” Sath asked.
“Shut the fuck up,” Roak whispered.
The two Maglors went silent as Roak studied the keypad outside the cabin door.
“I am working on bypassing security to get you inside,” Hessa said. “Oh.”
Roak waited.
“You have company. Armed and coming fast.”
“Hey!” a voice shouted from the end of the passageway. “Hands where we see them, mister guy!”
Roak growled and slowly raised his hands out away from his body, the KL09 still clutched in his grip.
“Hands are up,” Roak said with a calm, even voice. “No threat, pal.”
“We’ll tell you what is threat, mister guy!” a second voice shouted.
Roak slowly pivoted on his right foot to look at the sources of the voices. They sounded familiar.
Roak turned to see Spickle and Sath were gone. No sign of them anywhere. Instead, there were two different Maglors, dressed in Razer Station security uniforms, glaring at him.
“Here to collect a bounty,” Roak said to the two station guards, both of whom had an H16 Plasma Carbine Multi-Weapon aimed at him. “Nothing sinister. Nothing illegal. Just a little business. I cleared it with Binter.”
Roak’s experience with Maglors was limited, despite his recent interactions with the two that had fled like cowards. His limited knowledge of the race presented a problem since he didn’t know how trigger happy they were. His experience with all beings was the lesser the intelligence, the quicker to fire first and ask questions second. Roak’s hand with the KL09 was perfectly still, but he was ready to fire, if needed. Except killing two Razer Station guards would bring the heat. Binter would be upset and Roak didn’t want that guy upset.
But, shit happened. He’d blast the two monkey bastards out of their boots, if the situation warranted it.
“Blaster down, mister guy!” the first guard shouted. “On the floor!”
“You can stop calling me mister guy,” Roak said. “Name is Roak. Bounty hunter. Here to collect—”
The shot scorched the floor only a few centimeters from the toe of Roak’s right boot. He glanced down and stared at the smoking hole in the passageway’s floor.
“Seriously?” he snarled when he looked back at the guards. “Binter is gonna be pissed.”
One of the guards had a confused look on his face. The other gritted his teeth and pressed the stock of the carbine tighter into his shoulder. Roak focused on him.
“I’m setting my blaster down,” Roak said and slowly, very slowly, crouched so he could place the weapon on the floor without raising any alarms. “See? On the ground.”
“Knife too!” tight ass guard snapped. “On ground.”
“On ground,” the shaky guard echoed.
“Why? You’re too far for me to cut you,” Roak said.
“Put big knife down!” tight ass guard yelled. “Do it!”
“Do it!” shaky guard echoed.
It didn’t take Roak much in the way of deduction to realize which guard was the first to go when the shooting started. He sighed and unbuckled the cla
sp over the grip of the knife.
“Three more guards incoming,” Hessa announced over the comm. “Checking species.”
“Thanks,” Roak replied which confused the two guards. “Not talking to you.”
“Comms!” the shaky guard exclaimed. “He’s on comms with accomplice!”
“With an accomplice…? Pal, do you know which station you’re on?” Roak asked. “This place is nothing but accomplices. Kinda the point of Razer. Find an accomplice to help do what needs doing. Not that mine stuck around.”
That confused the guards considerably and the tight ass’s finger tightened on the trigger of his carbine. Roak was about to go for his KL09. He calculated he could dive and grab it from the floor, get a couple shots off, before the Maglors could get a bead on him. But Hessa spoke up first.
“Two humans and one Gwreq,” she stated. “You’ll want to talk, not fight, your way out of this.”
“You sure?”
“I am. It’s a big Gwreq,” Hessa confirmed.
“You must be deep into the security system to see that.”
“I have made progress, yes. Be careful.”
“I’m more worried about the two idiots with carbines pointed at me.”
Gwreqs were a four-armed, humanoid race with skin made of stone. Not literal stone, but pretty damn close. Even Roak’s KL09 at point-blank range would have had a hard time taking down a large Gwreq with one shot. Especially since a large Gwreq topped seven feet, easy.
“How about we talk things through with your co-workers before things get out of hand?” Roak asked.
Another shot from the carbine, another scorched hole in the floor by Roak’s boot. Roak looked down again and admired the placement. The tight ass could shoot, at least, which helped avoid an accidental blast to the body. Shaky guard was still a wild card, but Roak wasn’t too worried since the second Maglor followed his buddy’s lead.
Roak couldn’t help but wonder where in all the Hells his Maglors had gotten off to.
But, before he could do too much wondering, the three new guards came around the corner. None of them had weapons drawn. But as soon as they saw the Maglors, out came some heavy firepower. Roak didn’t recognize the huge pistols, but he knew deadly when he saw it.
“What the shit is this?” the huge Gwreq shouted when he saw the Maglors. “Who are you monkeys?”
“They aren’t with you?” Roak asked as the tight ass Maglor spun about and took aim at the three new guards while shaky Maglor kept his carbine trained on Roak. “That explains the confused look when I said Binter’s name.”
“You little shits are gonna want to put those weapons down,” the Gwreq bellowed. “This is gonna hurt no matter what, but you even think of shooting us, and I’ll make that hurt last a long, long time.”
“Gwreqs hold a grudge,” Roak said. “I’d listen, boys.”
Roak saw it all about to happen before the first shot was fired. He dove to the ground as both Maglors started blasting. One of the human guards fell as Roak snagged his KL09, rolled to the wall of the passageway, got up onto a knee, and shot shaky Maglor between the eyes. The being’s head popped wide open and its brains splattered all over the back of his buddy’s head.
Tight ass Maglor got several more shots off, wounding the other human guard in the thigh and scorching the Gwreq’s stone flesh on his lower right arm. But the Maglor was panicked and whatever good aim he’d possessed when facing Roak was long gone.
So was the Maglor’s head as the Gwreq rushed forward and snatched the guy up by the top of his skull. Then the huge guard squeezed and the passageway was filled with a crack and then a pop. The Gwreq spat on the corpse, stepped on it so it was crushed under his boot, then spat on the other corpse.
He glared at Roak then looked over his shoulder at the two humans.
“How is he?” the Gwreq asked.
“Dead. Took a blast through the throat,” the remaining human guard replied, one hand on his wound and the other checking for a pulse on the dead guard.
“Shit,” the Gwreq said then he faced Roak. “Do what you got to do and get off this station. Payment to Binter doesn’t include a free ride when one of our own goes down. You hear that, bounty hunter? Your time on Razer is numbered.”
“For what? Why?” Roak snapped as he slowly got to his feet. He had zero desire to make a fast move with an enraged Gwreq eyeing him the way the guard was. “These two idiots came at me. This has nothing to do—”
“It has everything to do with you,” the Gwreq said. “So get your job done and get off Razer before Binter declares you an enemy of the station. You don’t want that.”
“No, we do not,” Hessa said in Roak’s ear.
“Fine. I’m about done anyway,” Roak said.
“Good.”
The Gwreq pivoted and picked up the dead guard. He threw the body over his shoulder then let the wounded human lean on him as they left the passageway. Roak held his breath the entire time, only letting it out once spots began forming in his vision.
“You sure this is the right cabin, Hessa?” Roak asked.
“It right cabin,” Spickle said from Roak’s left side.
“Yes. Right cabin,” Sath said from Roak’s right.
Before Roak could yell or shoot at the two Maglors, shooting being his preferred way to handle their sudden reappearance, the cabin door slid open and an old man with a heavy backpack stepped out.
The man had to be in his late seventies. Ancient by galactic standards, at least out in the Edge. His face was almost as scarred as Roak’s. Almost.
But, despite his hunched nature and weathered features, the old man’s eyes sparkled with life and danger.
Roak new that look well.
“Oh, good, you’re here, Mr. Roak,” the old man said.
“Just Roak.”
“Just Roak. Yes, I knew that. I’m Pol Hammon. Thank you for taking my bounty. Can we leave this awful station now?”
“Told you,” Spickle said.
“Yes. Told you,” Sath said.
“You brought friends. How nice,” Pol said as the door slid shut behind him. “Now, which hangar is your ship docked in? We really need to leave before all the killing begins.” Pol noticed the dead Maglors. “Oh, I see you got going early. I hope they weren’t friends of your other Maglor friends.”
“We no have friends,” Spickle said.
“We bounty hunters,” Sath said.
“Ignore them,” Roak said. “Now, what is this shit about me taking your bounty? I’ve been hired by a corporate consortium.”
“No, you have not. But good to know that my deception protocol worked in a circle as tight knit and secretive as the one you run in, Roak.”
Roak started to argue then stopped. Things clicked into place.
“Oh, yes, I placed the bounty on myself and made sure you took the job,” Pol said in reaction to the look on Roak’s face. “I’m in need of saving, you see. No better person out there to get me off this station and to my destination alive and in one piece.”
“You have got to be Eight Million Godsdamn kidding me,” Roak said.
But before Pol could respond, the station shook violently and klaxons began to blare as explosion after explosion rocked Razer.
10.
“Uh oh,” Spickle said.
Without looking, Roak placed the barrel of his KL09 to the Maglor’s temple.
“Shut up,” Roak said, his eyes on Pol as the klaxons wailed and the floor shook. “What’s happening?”
“Edgers,” Pol stated matter-of-factly. “They want the station. I intercepted a communication that said they were taking Razer for themselves. That’s why I hired you. I didn’t know when the attack was coming, but I figured the legendary Roak would be the one to get me off this station no matter when the violence began. I do hope your reputation is at least partially true.”
“It’s all the way true,” Roak said. “But I don’t think you understand what the Hells it means. I’m not a couri
er. I’m not a transporter. I’m a bounty hunter.”
“Yes. You find your target and deliver it to a predetermined destination. Sometimes alive or dead. But the terms of this bounty are alive. I was very clear on that when I sent the information to your friend Bishop. Alive is the key. Did he give you the drop-off coordinates?”
“No,” Roak said. “That happens after I get you off this station.”
“Very smart. In case we’re intercepted or something goes wrong.”
Another massive explosion rocked the station and Roak grimaced.
“Yeah, I think something has gone wrong,” Roak said.
“This? No, this will make for excellent cover. We can escape without notice and those that have tracked me here will be none the wiser.”
Pol pointed a gnarled finger at the two Maglors that looked like they were going to piss themselves at any second.
“Are you here for me?” Pol asked.
“Yes,” Sath said.
“No,” Spickle said.
“I think they’re in over their heads and have just enough brains to know it,” Roak said. “They cut a deal with me in exchange for a ride off this station.”
“Good deal,” Pol said, smiling at the Maglors. “A ride off Razer is worth more than its weight in chits.”
“Speaking of,” Roak said. More explosions. Roak didn’t budge.
“On delivery,” Pol said.
“I have delivered,” Roak stated. “You put out the bounty on yourself. I have delivered you to you. My job is done.”
“That is not accurate,” Hessa said in Roak’s ear. “The wording of the contract does state delivery to a yet to be specified location is when payment will be received.”
“Oh, is that your AI talking to you?” Pol asked. He pressed right up to Roak and stood on tip toes, his eyes studying Roak’s face. “Oh, she is remarkable. And that implant she put in you! Simply remarkable. I cannot wait to meet her. May I have access to the comm channel so we may converse as well?”
“No,” Roak stated.
“I feel the same way,” Hessa said.
“We like leave now,” Spickle said. “Find Pol Hammon. Now go on Roak’s ship.”
“Yes. Go on Roak’s ship,” Sath said.
