by AZ Kelvin
“I’ll tell ya, kid,” Cal leaned in and said, “I’m a lot more fun than these two, that’s for sure. And when we get back to the ship, if there’s anythin’ that ya need, just tell me and I’ll get ya set up. Deal?” Cal held his fist up.
“Deal.” Pene held up her own fist, then they thumped the outsides together, pinky to pinky, and she smiled again.
“Do you have any relatives, Pene?” CJ asked. “Maybe we can contact them.”
“I don’t remember their names.”
“It’s okay. We’ll work on it together.” Gina rubbed Pene’s shoulder then gave it a squeeze. “Captain?”
“Yes, let’s go,” CJ answered the unasked question. “Everybody strap in, we’re out of here.”
Pene, at her age, couldn’t really grasp the meaning of ‘What life has in store,’ but she did wonder what was going to happen next. Her father had lost his job at a mining company, but knew of a hidden way into the ore stockpile. He began with sneaking out only enough to make do, but fell in with some men, who after a while, offered him a job as a black-market smuggler.
They wound up with meager quarters at Skriti Station with her mother and father as driver and shotgun, respectively; taking on every ‘low dough’ bootleg run that no one else would take. They never came back from the last one. Pene had spent the time since then just trying to survive and remain as unseen as possible, which was getting tougher and more dangerous, given she was becoming a young woman.
Now, BANG, here she was: a cook aboard a starship! How wonderful! she thought to herself. I’m going to be the best cook ever. She daydreamed of a big kitchen filled with many tables and food of every kind. Little did she know that the galley aboard the Altered Moon was only a little bigger than a closet and planet-grown foods were, for the most part, a luxury for those who sailed among the stars.
Pene felt her seat rumble when Gina powered up Moonshadow’s flight systems, cleared their departure, and engaged the main engine as soon as the docking clamps released their hold on the shuttle. She heaved a sigh of relief and apprehension as Moonshadow turned away from Skriti Station.
Back on the station, Leland Stile weighed his options. If I don’t go now, I never will, he thought as he closed The Cold Shoulder Bar a little differently that night. He packed a few personal belongings into an old stow bag, along with a meager stash of cash he had squirreled away and his Rellia K-13 pistol. He looked at the bag that was no bigger than his torso. The accumulations of his whole life could fit into one stow bag. He put the deed and station contract for the bar into a poly sleeve and shouldered his bag. He paused at the door to look around at the empty bar. No regret, no reluctance, he felt only relief at finally breaking the hold Skriti Station had on him.
Leland crossed the station to The Gravity Well, a competitor’s establishment and walked up to a security guard at the entrance to the back offices.
“I need to see Blobby,” he said to the guard.
The guard sneered for a second at his boss’ unflattering nickname; Leland was the only one on the station to get away with using it out loud. The guard spoke quietly in a hidden comms unit and then said, “Mr. Bluay will see you.” He opened the door for Leland to enter. Leland walked past several gaming areas and exotic dance parlors on the way to a raised floor that held the never-ending parties of Bobby Bluay.
“Leeelaaand! You old pub bucket. It’s good to see you.” Bobby called out a jovial insult as he drifted over to meet Leland in a suspensor chair big enough to include its own command console. The chair had been a necessity since Bobby “The Blob” went over two hundred kilograms many years ago and kept right on growing. Silk robes wrapped the immense body while heavy fat pushed his eyelids down to a narrow slit. Bobby Bluay had a shaved head except for a long ponytail hanging from a round patch of hair on the back of his head, which gave the ‘merchant of all things pleasurable’ the look of a Siamese emperor of ancient Earth.
“Blobby,” Leland nodded a greeting to the huge man. “Nice chair. Outgrow the old one?”
“Ha! Pleasant as ever!” Bobby’s body quivered with laughter. “By the Stars, man, what brings you to my humble home?”
“I need a word in private, if you would.”
Bobby took a second look at Leland and noticed the stow bag on his shoulder and the poly sleeve in his hand. “Yes, of course, my friend. This way, please.”
Bobby and Leland talked lightly during the few minutes it took to get to the back of the entertainment floor, where a cordoned-off area was manned by Bobby’s personal bodyguards. His jovial manner was an honest expression on his part, but when crossed, his wrath was quick and bloody. He was a long-time resident of Skriti Station and had amassed great power through his years there. The servants and barely clothed male and female eye candy were ushered from the room with a single word from Bobby to his guards. Two clear door panels slid shut and went opaque, as did the rest of the wall panels.
“You’re leaving?” Bobby asked in disbelief, and then joked, “Was it something I said?”
“Which time?” Leland joked back and continued seriously. “You’ve always been after The Cold Shoulder. Well, here’s your chance.”
“You’re serious?” Bobby looked out of the flabby corners of his eyes at Leland. “What the hell happened over there tonight, Leland?” he asked, even though his agents had told him everything already.
“McCarthy was goin’ to throw Pene out the friggin’ airlock,” Leland told him angrily.
“Ehh—that McCarthy’s a nasty bastard, sure enough. She still yet lives?”
“Yes, but she’s gone now. She left with the crew that stepped up for her when Borne’s goons were roughin’ her up.”
“That’s good she’s out of here. This is no place for a child alone.”
“Me either, Blobby, I’ve had enough. I don’t want this place to be my last stop in life.”
“So what’s on your mind, then?”
“These are the papers for The Cold Shoulder.” He handed them over to Bobby.
“And in return you want what?” Bobby looked over the deeds and contracts and saw everything he needed to acquire The Cold Shoulder Bar was, indeed, there.
“Immediate and unregistered transport to Trydden.”
“Trydden?” Bobby looked at him in surprise. “Leland, you’re sure about this?”
Leland nodded his head.
“All right.” The big man eventually nodded in response. “I believe we have an accord.” He stuck out a fleshy hand; Leland slapped the palm with his own, then the two men pumped fists to seal the deal. Bobby poked an icon on the control panel of his suspensor chair. A well-dressed man came into the room. A few quiet words from Bobby and the man disappeared.
“Here, Leland, a toast.” Bobby raised a glass to Leland’s health and they talked lightly about inconsequential things for several minutes. It was a conversation between two people who knew that they would, most likely, never meet again. A man dressed in a flight suit stepped through a back door with the man who was there earlier.
“This is Detrik. He will get you to Trydden,” Bobby said. Leland walked over and handed him The Cold Shoulder passkey card.
“Thanks, Blobby.” They shook hands one more time.
“Good-bye, Leland. Farewell, my friend.”
Leland stopped a moment as he joined the pilot by the door. He looked back at Bobby with a dark thought in his mind.
Bobby Bluay must have known exactly what just went through Leland’s mind at that moment. “Leland Stile, we have been competitors, but never enemies. I would be greatly saddened if any harm should befall you. On my honor as a fat bastard, you will reach Trydden alive and well.”
Leland relaxed his suspicions and gave him a half smile and a nod before he left with Detrik out the back. He led Leland down an access shaft to where he had stashed an old flight jacket and hat.
“Here, put these on. If we see anyone, don’t make eye contact and just keep moving,” Detrik cautioned. They made it to the shuttle without
seeing anyone along the way. Detrik powered it up and they slipped from Skriti Station with only the bribed flight controllers to notice.
*~*~*
Chapter Thirteen
Gina locked in the waypoint for their rendezvous with the Altered Moon and set the autopilot to take them there at fifty thousand KPH. “Everything’s set, Captain.”
“Copy. Any contacts in pursuit?”
“Negative.”
“Keep an eye out.”
“Roger that.”
Several dozen uneventful minutes passed by as Moonshadow opened the distance between itself and Skriti Station. CJ could hear Cal and Pene talking idly in the back seats about what the Altered Moon was like. An intermittent signal appeared just at the edge of sensor range matching their course and speed. CJ and Gina looked at each other. They both knew someone had started to follow them.
“Maintain course and speed,” CJ told Gina before he told Cal over his shoulder, “Strap yourselves in back there, it may get a little bumpy.”
“Aye, sir.” Cal checked Pene’s seat harness before he sat down and secured his own. Pene looked up a little alarmed. “Don’t you worry, Pene, Gina’ll get us home.”
A second contact appeared on the screen, followed closely by a third, one ahead and above, one ahead and below of their position, respectively. “Two more, Captain, off both, starboard and port bows. The one behind has increased speed and is closing on us.”
“Understood. Steady as she goes.”
The three contacts continued to close in on Moonshadow’s position. The appearance of the second and third ships took the situation out of the realm of coincidence, especially when all three ships were on intercept courses.
“On my mark, go to course zero-eight-zero by two-seven-zero,” CJ said. “Go to full burn for sixty seconds, then we drop countermeasures and power down to complete blackout and coast from there.”
“Aye, sir, understood.”
The three interceptors steadily closed the distance on Moonshadow until the rear pursuer locked weapons and launched two missiles.
“They have weapons lock,” Gina said calmly. “They’ve launched two missiles.”
“Steady,” CJ advised, “ready—now.”
Gina dropped the nose ninety degrees and accelerated to full speed for sixty seconds. CJ dropped the missile evasion and detonation devices just as Gina cut the engines and powered down. Moonshadow went dark as the missiles were fooled by the sensor ghost the countermeasures created and detonated.
The detonation was the signal Boss needed to carry out his part of the plan. “GABI, now!”
GABI set the coordinates of the explosion as the destination and jumped the ship. The Altered Moon slipped back into normal space in the middle of the three ships, fully powered and ready to pounce. The Altered Moon was not classified as military, but she was a formidable ship, indeed. Not only did she have her own String Field Drive to calculate and initiate a quantum jump, she was fitted with four missile batteries, two fore and two aft, and two K-200 charged hydrogen particle cannons.
Boss initiated the Moonshine Special Tactic Option as soon as they emerged from the jump. The Moonshine STO was used for either defense or counterattack. A high-intensity light blast and sensor jamming bursts were emitted from four pods located on the ventral hull and on the ends of the three wing tips. The Moonshine STO gave the Altered Moon a chance to pull off a quick position change and sneak attack before an enemy’s visual and electronic sensors could recover.
Instead of using it to cover moving away, Boss used it this time to cover his next move. “Fire!”
Cat was at tactical while Cal was off ship. She fired three Geese missiles, one at each ship, and a Heater missile as well, for the ship coming from the station.
“GABI, attack pattern Crazy Eights!” Boss called out, as soon as all missiles were away.
GABI maneuvered the ship through a huge figure-eight pattern keeping the bow of the Altered Moon always pointed toward the center of the eight. The three Geese missiles hit all three ships before they could recover from the Moonshine’s jamming effect. The electromagnetic pulse they generated ran over the ships like a shockwave shorting out the attacker’s electrical systems as they went. The Heater missile struck the single ship as the EMP dissipated.
The medium attack ship didn’t have a chance as the thermogenic fusion warhead superheated everything in the blast radius. The ISE power core of the ship overloaded and the blast blew the ship to smithereens. The Altered Moon had already moved through the Crazy Eight pattern to attack the second ship as the first one exploded.
“Cat, target the bridge and slip ‘em a Freezer,” Boss said harshly. “Then light ’em up with the cannons.”
“Aye, sir.” Cat loaded and fired a cryogenic fusion warhead. The second ship began to recover on auxiliary power to move away, but it was not enough. Cryogenic fusion worked by creating a molecular link with any matter within its shockwave radius to the void of space, turning it into a heat sink immediately transferring all heat out into space. The cryogenic effect froze everything solid, as it disrupted the ship’s power systems and turned the metal alloys as brittle as glass.
The area around the impact point shimmered from the escaping heat then turned frosty white as the cryogenics took effect. The particle cannon fire blasted the brittle hull plating to bits and ripped the bow of the ship clean off.
A series of hard rumbles let them know the third ship had engaged its auxiliary power systems and opened fire with their cannons. “Try to move in behind them, GABI,” Boss called out. “Cat, lock on that ship and load two Heaters in the forward batteries!”
“Aye!” GABI increased speed to get in behind the third ship.
“Forward missiles ready!” Cat called out.
“Fire!”
The pair of thermogenic fusion missiles sped off toward their target when two lines of high-speed plasma rounds shot from the back of the third ship intercepted and destroyed the incoming missiles.
“I’ll burn you miserable shits out of my sky!” Victor Borne screamed in rage over the comms unit. Borne’s ship turned quickly and fired with the main plasma cannons.
“Evasive—” was all Boss could get out before the powerful plasma blasts hammered the Altered Moon. The blasts ripped through the portside fuselage and mangled the shuttle bay doors. The impact rocked the Moon and then sent a shudder through the entire ship as the port shuttle bay door was ripped halfway off.
“Shit! Return fire! GABI, keep that other ship between us and them. Cat, two Heaters, forward tubes!”
The wreckage of the second ship spun idly around as the two opponents maneuvered for a shot at the other. Victor Borne blew his mate’s ship in half, regardless of those still left alive, just to get his shot at the Altered Moon.
“Fire!” Boss said as soon as the second ship split apart. Cat fired the Heaters through the space between the pieces of the ship that still burned and sparked. Borne destroyed the missiles before they were even halfway to him with the same high-speed plasma weapon. “Damn, that thing is fast! GABI, Evasive pattern five!”
Borne had already launched two more missiles at the Altered Moon and a barrage of red plasma cannon fire, as well, at the time of Boss’ command.
“Brace for impact!” Boss called out, as a streak of blue came between the two ships destroying one, and then both, of Borne’s missiles. Borne fired his plasma cannons at Moonshadow as it ripped through at full speed. The nimble shuttle dodged the main blast, but the shock wave was enough to knock it off course and out of control. The brief distraction was exactly what Boss needed to take the advantage.
“Cat, cannons, now,” Boss hollered out his orders, “Lock two Heaters and fire!”
Cat blistered the front of Borne’s ship with cannon fire as Moonshadow came out of nowhere again to add its sting as well. The two thermogenic fusion warheads slipped through this time and found their mark. The blast wave of super-hot energy instantly melted the bottom half
of the ship and blew Victor Borne’s nasty ass straight to hell.
“Yes! Eat that Borne, you asshat.” Boss shook his fist at the destroyed ship on the view screen. “Well done, everyone. Chief, how we doing down there?”
“A-Okay, sir,” Katy reported over the comms. “Main systems are unaffected and operational, but I think we may have scratched the hull plating again.”
“Yeah, I think you may be right there, Chief.” Boss joked along with her. “Keep me advised, bridge out.”
“Aye, sir.”
Boss poked the ship-to-ship icon. “Come in, Moonshadow, how do you read? Please state your situation.”
“Five by five, Altered Moon,” Gina replied. “All hands alive and well.”
“…and when we turned all the lights off, that was so stellar. I’m sooo glad we didn’t explode,” an unfamiliar young voice said excitedly in the background.
“Ah, Moonshadow, anything you need to tell me?” Boss asked.
“Oh, that’s Pene, our new cook,” Gina replied matter-of-factly.
“Oh, okay, I look forward to this debriefing,” Boss commented. “That was some good work out there, kiddo. You came in just at the right time.”
“You can thank the captain for that one. It was his idea to build up speed and coast in the dark until the last second, then hit ’em and run.”
“Good thinking, Captain,” Boss said.
“Hey, thanks, Boss, but it was Gina who really pulled it off,” CJ said offhandedly.
“Well, By the Light of the Stars, good job, everyone!” Boss said with mild exasperation.
“How are things on your end?” CJ asked him.
“Ah, well, we scratched the paint a little,” Boss told him. “And you may not be able to land—not right away, anyway.”
“Oh?” CJ waited for the rest of the story.
“Yeah, we may have scratched the shuttle bay doors a little too,” Boss said sheepishly. “You might do a flyby and tell us how she looks from out there.”
“Sounds like that may be all we can do,” CJ said back. “We’re coming up now. Bring the Altered Moon to dead stop and give us a minute. Gina, bring us around to the portside.”
