Ep.#12 - A Price Too High (The Frontiers Saga - Part 2: Rogue Castes)

by Ryk Brown

  Jessica looked surprised. “They gave you coordinates, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, but we have no data on their system,” Nathan explained. “Assuming their system and world are both analogous to Sol and Earth, and the position of the jump point in relation to that of their star, we should be jumping in close to their orbit.”

  “That’s reassuring,” Jessica quipped.

  “If they use the same approach system as most of the industrialized systems seeing regular jump traffic, then they are probably bringing us into a low-traffic zone reserved for first-time visitors. I’m hoping they’ve assigned us a private arrival point, one they haven’t given to any other ship.”

  “You’re hoping?”

  “Jumping into a system is dangerous, no matter how you look at it,” he told her. “Especially one you know nothing about. Hell, jumping period is dangerous. Luckily, even interplanetary space is so vast that the odds of jumping in dangerously close to the position of another ship are astronomical.”

  “Yet, on the second jump ever, in the history of the jump drive, you managed to do so,” Jessica reminded him.

  “My claim to fame,” Nathan joked. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they wait a reasonable amount of time before assigning the same arrival location to another vessel.”

  “I wasn’t worried until you started talking about it,” Jessica pointed out.

  “We’re at approach speed,” Nathan reported. “Punch the code they gave us into the transponder.”

  “You got it,” Jessica replied, entering the proper code.

  “Shall we?” Nathan asked, looking over at her.

  “Let’s do it.”

  Nathan turned back to his flight controls and activated the jump sequencer. “Jumping in three……two……one……”

  The cockpit windows turned opaque for a second and then cleared, revealing the stars once again. Nathan studied his navigational display for a moment and then announced, “We’re here. It looks like we’re about five hundred thousand kilometers beyond the orbit of SilTek,” he added as the sensor display began populating. “Damn, there’s a lot of traffic in this system.”

  “Newly arrived shuttle squawking code One Four Seven, Two Five Zero, Zero Eight Four Five, SilTek Approach Control. Identify yourself.”

  “SilTek Approach Control, Karuzari Alliance Shuttle, Captain Nathan Scott. I believe we are expected?”

  “Karuzari Alliance Shuttle, SilTek Approach Control, affirmative,” the control confirmed. “Your comms designator for the duration of your stay will be Kilo Alpha Two Six. Please state identities of all occupants.”

  “Kilo Alpha Two Six, two souls, Captain Nathan Scott and Lieutenant Commander Jessica Nash,” Nathan replied.

  “Understood. Is your vessel armed or carrying any weapons, Captain?”

  “Our vessel is unarmed, but we do have a weapons locker containing four sidearms.”

  “Kilo Alpha Two Six, please secure your sidearms and prepare for landing. Do you have remote auto-flight capabilities and textual data communications?”

  “Kilo Alpha Two Six, affirmative to both.”

  “Excellent,” the controller replied. “Transmitting authorization codes and control frequencies now. Please configure your auto-flight system for full remote automated landing and standby for activation.”

  “Uh, I’d prefer to keep override control local, if you don’t mind,” Nathan replied.

  “Sorry, Captain, but SilTek is a high-traffic corridor, and your vessel is not equipped with anti-grav lift systems. Should a problem with auto-flight occur, we will release control to you.”

  “Understood,” Nathan replied, setting up his auto-flight to accept the codes and frequencies now displayed on his textual communications display.

  “You sure that’s a good idea?” Jessica asked.

  “I’m not crazy about it, no,” Nathan admitted. “If Josh were here, he’d be livid, but it’s understandable, given the amount of traffic here.”

  “Kilo Alpha Two Six, SilTek Approach Control. Remote auto-flight control confirmed. We now have control of your flight systems. You will be landing in Iso-bay one two five, at the Bayside Spaceport. ETA: twenty-seven minutes. Enjoy the ride, and welcome to SilTek.”

  “Thank you,” Nathan replied. He leaned back, looking at Jessica. “You heard the lady…enjoy the ride.”

  * * *

  The entire team stood watching the holo-display in the living room as Master Sergeant Farrish flipped through the station’s security monitoring archives. “He comes out of the bar here,” the master sergeant explained, calling up the video of Marcus exiting the bar near the entrance to the Jungle. “He immediately picks up a tail,” he added, calling up another camera view showing a skinny, poorly dressed young woman.

  “Well, I doubt she took him down,” Corporal Vasya commented.

  “Don’t let her looks deceive you,” the master sergeant warned. “She’s had some training, at least at shadowing a mark, anyway.”

  “She’s a watcher,” Neli told them. “How did you get access to all this?”

  “I established a fake account with command-level access. Took all of two minutes,” the master sergeant replied.

  “What’s a watcher?” Lieutenant Rezhik asked.

  “The capis track the movements of everyone who comes into the Jungle. They have an army of them.”

  “You’ve been to the Jungle?”

  “No, but I’ve been to places like it on other worlds,” Neli replied. “They don’t have access to the camera feeds, so they use watchers.”

  “Then Marcus knows of them, as well,” Rezhik surmised.

  “I’m certain of it,” Neli insisted.

  “I’m pretty sure he was aware of her,” Master Sergeant Farrish told the lieutenant. “She got distracted a few times, and Marcus had to make an effort not to lose her.”

  “I guess she isn’t that skilled, then,” Neli commented.

  “I guess his level of impairment due to his visit to the drinking establishment was minimal,” the lieutenant surmised.

  “It takes a lot to impair Marcus,” Neli assured him. “Trust me. I’ve seen him drink twice his volume and still be kicking.”

  “Anyway, he wanders around the market for a while and finally ends up here.” The master sergeant called up a map of the Jungle with a flashing red dot indicating Marcus’s position at the time. “After a few minutes, he moves to a business front, just behind the vendor booth and slightly to the left. At that point, his signal strength drops by seventy percent. He moves around a bit, changing his position by about ten or twenty meters, finally stopping at the backside of the section, where he has been for the last eighty-seven minutes.”

  “Any idea what level he is on?” Sergeant Viano wondered.

  “His signal strength is too low to get vertical movement readings,” the master sergeant replied. “They must be using some sort of sensor jamming system.”

  “But you’re still getting his signal, right?” Neli wondered, concerned.

  “It was probably designed specifically for Sanctuary’s security sensors, not our transponders. The drop in signal strength is not uncommon, depending on where you’re located on the station. However, since there was no movement pattern suggesting the use of stairs, my guess is he’s still on the main level. At most, one level up. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know for sure.”

  “Based on movement, could he be on a different level?” the lieutenant inquired.

  “It is possible,” the master sergeant admitted.

  “Do we have any data on that section?” Sergeant Viano asked.

  “Only that it is leased by the Rayzion Corporation,” the master sergeant replied. “We also have the basic floor plan for every level, but no indication of who the occupants are. They could have just the main level or all four levels in th
at section.”

  “The entire section or just a single level?” the lieutenant asked.

  “The entire section,” the master sergeant replied, “but they own several buildings within the Jungle.”

  “Rayzion is probably a separate organization that just leases space to others,” Neli suggested. “That’s how they do it on other worlds. It masks the identity of the people leasing the business space.”

  “There are several businesses on the main level, all of similar ill repute, so they could be part of the same organization,” Specialist Brill suggested.

  “Or not,” Specialist Deeks added.

  “We need more intel before going in,” Lieutenant Rezhik decided. “We can only send in a few of us without leaving Miri and her children insufficiently protected.”

  “You think this is a diversion op?” Sergeant Viano wondered.

  “It is a possibility,” the lieutenant admitted.

  “What’s the plan, LT?” Master Sergeant Farrish inquired.

  Lieutenant Rezhik took a breath, letting it out in a long sigh as he studied the images on the holo-display. “She is our target,” he decided, pointing at the image of the skinny, young woman who had been tailing Marcus. “Vasya will make contact with her, with Brill as backup.”

  “Why me?” Corporal Vasya wondered.

  “Because you haven’t cut your hair since we arrived; therefore, you look less like a Ghatazhak than any of us.”

  “I’m trying something new,” the corporal mused.

  “You also have the additional advantage of being a pretty boy, which may appeal to her feminine side.”

  “Hey, it’s a gift,” Vasya bragged.

  “What if she likes girls?” Specialist Brill wondered.

  Lieutenant Rezhik looked at Brill, then at Vasya. “Still good,” he added with a slight grin.

  * * *

  Nathan and Jessica gazed out the forward cockpit windows as their shuttle flew over the city on a gradual descent into the Bayside Spaceport complex.

  “This world is incredible,” Jessica exclaimed.

  “Everything looks great from the air,” Nathan commented, “but I have to admit, it does look better than most I’ve seen.”

  “I keep forgetting about your life as Connor,” Jessica admitted. “You’ve probably visited a lot of different worlds.”

  “Not as many as you might think,” Nathan admitted. “Thirty or forty of them, I’d guess. Most of the time, it was the same ten or fifteen worlds, though. Still, I have to admit, this tops all of them.” Nathan scanned further ahead, noting a large complex. “That must be the spaceport. It’s bigger than I expected.”

  “If they felt they needed to tell us which spaceport we were going to, then they must have more than one,” Jessica surmised.

  “Like I said, a lot of traffic.”

  They continued to peer out the windows as they descended into their final approach to the Bayside Spaceport. Nathan glanced at his flight displays at regular intervals, ensuring that the remote auto-flight system was performing properly.

  Once they passed over the outer fence, their shuttle dropped down to thirty meters above the surface and turned toward one of the many wheel-and-spoke style terminals that made up the spaceport.

  “Aren’t we kind of high?” Jessica wondered.

  “I don’t think they like our lift thrusters,” Nathan replied. “Probably burns their pretty, green grass. They’ll likely drop us in directly over our landing spot, to minimize thruster damage to the rest of the tarmac.”

  “Do our thrusters actually do that much damage?” Jessica asked, finding it difficult to believe.

  “No,” Nathan replied, “they’re probably just playing it safe. Same reason they’re putting us in an isolation bay.”

  As expected, their shuttle steered to a position directly above a small landing pad, after which they descended to it, touching down gently.

  Nathan immediately began the engine shutdown process.

  “Kilo Alpha Two Six, Bayside Ops.”

  “Go for Kilo Alpha Two Six,” Nathan replied.

  “You may disembark when ready. Upon exit of your ship, proceed to decon-lock for decontamination.”

  “Understood,” Nathan replied. He looked over at Jessica. “You ready to get naked?”

  “What are you proposing?” she teased back.

  * * *

  Corporal Vasya and Specialist Brill had entered the Jungle separately, each of them through a different hatch, dressed in common civilian attire, purchased on Sanctuary, and wearing hats. A little slouching and avoiding direct eye contact with others had been enough to avert undue attention from most. However, as expected, each of them had picked up a watcher of their own.

  Specialist Brill’s had been a good one, sticking with him through every twist and turn, yet always at a distance, making him difficult to notice. Corporal Vasya’s watcher, on the other hand, seemed to have very little experience. It had taken the corporal all of ten minutes to lose the kid, circling back and coming in behind him, and watching the poor sap wander deeper into the Jungle in search of his lost mark.

  After losing his watcher, Corporal Vasya took a seat at an open-air café of sorts. There, he could watch passersby in an inconspicuous fashion. With several other patrons on the dining patio, none of the Jungle’s upper echelon would be able to tell that the corporal had no watcher tracking him.

  “How you doing, Mori?” the corporal asked over his hidden comm-set, keeping his voice low to avoid being overheard.

  “Nothing yet,” the specialist reported. “I’m surprised this place is so busy this late.”

  “I don’t think this hellhole gives a crap about night and day,” the corporal said.

  “Yeah, a lot of interesting characters in this place.”

  “Did you see the guy with that huge mane of hair?”

  “The one in the exoskeleton? How could I miss him?”

  “The guy looked like a pella-cat.”

  “I heard someone talking about him,” Specialist Brill replied. “They called him a ‘Noji’. They live on a world with really low gravity.”

  “That explains the exoskeleton, but what about all that facial hair?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s fashionable there.”

  “I don’t know how much more of this freak show I can take,” the corporal admitted.

  “Hey, I think I may have something,” Brill reported. “Skinny, little, dirty blonde. I can’t tell if she’s tailing anyone just yet.”

  “Should I head toward you?” the corporal asked.

  “Not yet,” the specialist replied. “I’m not even sure it’s her, and I’m not very far from your location anyway.”

  “Move to a better angle.”

  “Already doing so,” Brill replied.

  Corporal Vasya waited patiently, continuing to watch the collection of criminals and social outcasts who populated the Jungle.

  “It’s her,” Specialist Brill reported.

  “What’s the plan?” Vasya asked.

  “Head for the service corridor between sections forty-seven and forty-eight. I have an idea.”

  “I’m on my way,” Corporal Vasya replied, rising from his seat and heading out.

  Specialist Brill followed the young woman for a minute, in order to clearly determine her mark. Once satisfied, he moved past her, eventually coming to stand next to the man she was tracking. “I’ll make this brief,” he explained to the man without looking at him. “I’ll give you one hundred station credits if you take a stroll down that service corridor behind you and then go through the maintenance hatch on the right.”

  “Why the fuck would I be dumb enough to do that?” the guy grumbled, continuing to examine the weapon he had been looking at.

  “Because you’ll get paid and
you’ll lose your watcher.”

  “There’s much better ass available in nearly every one of the brothels around here, and for about half the price.”

  “I’m not looking to fuck her,” Brill assured him. “I just want to ask her a few questions. Do you want to make some easy credits, or not?”

  The man finally looked up at Brill. “Two hundred…up front. And if this is a trap, I’ll kill you and whoever you’re working with.”

  “In position,” Corporal Vasya reported over Specialist Brill’s hidden earpiece.

  “Fair enough,” Brill replied, placing two chips, worth one hundred credits each, on the table in front of the man.

  The man picked up the chips, discretely placing them in his pocket. “You station security?”

  “A very loose affiliation,” Brill replied, “and if you cross us, we’ll kill you.”

  The man flashed a toothless grin. “Fair enough,” he replied, turning and heading for the service corridor behind him.

  Brill picked up a weapon on the display table, looking it over, pretending to be interested; at the same time, keeping an eye on the girl as she followed her mark down the service corridor. “She’s on her way to you, now,” he told Vasya over comms. “I’ve got her six.”

  Brill followed the girl from a safe distance, keeping visual contact on her, but staying far enough behind so she wouldn’t notice him. As soon as she disappeared through the hatch to the right, he quickened his pace.

  “Hi there,” Corporal Vasya greeted, stepping out from behind a vertical support beam. “Looking for someone?”

  The skinny, young woman stopped dead in her tracks. “Uh, I thought I saw a friend of mine come in here…”

  The girl’s mark stepped out, as well, grinning. The girl immediately turned to run but was blocked by Specialist Brill, who had just stepped through the hatch behind her.

  “Fuck,” she cursed, pulling a knife from under her loose-fitting coat.

  “That would be a mistake,” Corporal Vasya assured the girl.

  “Oh, this is getting good,” her mark stated, moving over to the side to watch.

  “Let me go, or I’ll cut you both.”

  “Cut away,” Corporal Vasya said, walking toward her confidently with his arms wide.