by Matt Novotny
“Not good,” said Amos. “He’s got a ship for us. Folks we lifted with before, helpin’ Jac-son—”
“That’s great news!”
Amos held up a hand. “It is if we only take ten troopers. Dem corvettes ain’t big, and we got a grip of people all fired up. I’ll figure out somethin’. Probably should have tried ta buy a ship a long time ago, but da timing was never right. Besides, ships is taxis, all dey do is get you to the fight.”
Race was quiet for a few minutes. Amos watched as he nerved himself up for something.
“Mr. Delacroix—Amos—I—” Race stammered.
“Say your piece, Race,” said Amos.
“When you go after Sabine, I want to go with you. I had great scores on my VOWs. You know I can handle my machine, Amos, and I—”
Amos shook his head. “I think it a bad idea.”
“But I—”
“Race, you handle you CASPer just fine, and VOWs is all well and good, too, but you ain’t a merc.”
“Sign me up!” Race begged. “Give me a contract! All I’m looking for is a chance to prove myself!”
“That’s da problem,” said Amos. “First, Cajuns is family; you got to earn that, and it don’t come easy. Second, if I sign on a new merc, it’ll be an old fart like Junkyard. You’re still wet behind the ears. Third, this dustup is a rescue. That ain’t no time to be tryin’ to prove yourself. Now, there’s gonna be folks staying here takin’ down them as hit us, and that I think you’d be goo—”
“This is because of my father, isn’t it?” Race gave Amos a hard stare. “You think I don’t know he had me blacklisted? That all I hear about is that I’ll get over it and go work for Romero Enterprises like a good boy?”
“It ain’t tha—”
“Of course, it is, Amos! No one ever stands up to the great Raul Romero, and you’re just like them.”
“I knew your daddy, once,” Amos said softly. “Raul never scared me none. He thought everything was about credits. It ain’t. I gave you my reasons. I ain’t got time to help you grow up right now.”
Race was silent. He swallowed. “What if I could get you a ship?”
“Got one in your pocket, do you?” Amos said with a smile.
“I don’t. But Romero Enterprises does.”
“We don’t need no rich kid’s toy!”
“How about an assault carrier? Dad says sooner or later Earth has to produce its own ships, or we’ll never compete,” Race said enthusiastically. “Romero Enterprises is building prototypes purpose-built for CASPer deployments.”
“How’s he doing that? Survey ships and freighters, sure, but fighting ships? We’re so far behind it’ll take us forever to catch up,” Amos said doubtfully.
“In the finest traditions of my ancestors, we are buying pieces from everyone and assembling them at the old Luna shipyards. You said you aren’t afraid of my father. Here’s your chance to prove it.”
“Your daddy ain’t gonna see me. I gar-on-tee!”
“Why not?”
“We got history, is all,” said Amos.
“He’s on Luna, now. I can get you in. But if he gives you the ship, I want to go.”
Amos thought about it while his conscience weighed what was right against what was fair. “You get me in, I’ll speak for you. Best I can promise. I won’t stand between a man and his son.”
Race nodded. “Okay.”
Amos held out his hand and Race took it. Then Amos moved to the cockpit to see if Tia could get approval for a trip to Luna. A few minutes later, she looked into the passenger compartment.
“We’re approved. Do you have somewhere special in mind?”
Race sent her the coordinates, and she gave him a thumbs up.
Amos leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.
This ain’t gonna be any fun, he thought.
* * * * *
Chapter Seventeen
Peacemaker Secure Information Facility
Kleve
Rains made his way back to the waiting area. Remmy had already packed up and was ready to head out. The pair opened the door and exited into the night.
“Everything go all right?” Remmy asked as he straddled his hoverbike. The systems came up clean, and the beast thrummed with power. He pulled his goggles on and watched Rains pull down his augmented glasses. Even a speck of dirt could ruin an eye at the speeds Remmy liked to go. With a couple ticks to his pinplant software, a low light came on. He threw a thumbs up to Rains, who responded with the same. Remmy roared out into the night, and the Peacemaker facility faded behind them.
Since Rains had his glasses and earbuds on, Remmy hit him through his pinplants.
“You have the data we need?” he asked.
“Yes. When we get to the shop, I can pull the location off the chip,” Rains said. Remmy noticed that the usually tight-lipped man was even more quiet.
“You okay?” Remmy asked. He was worried about the man. He had been through a lot in his life, and this run couldn’t have been easy for Rains. Going up against his guild had to rub the wrong way.
“Yeah,” Rains responded. “It wasn’t easy. Let’s talk more at the shop. I need time to process.”
Remmy could respect that. He didn’t know if he could go against the Haulers. Snowman had pulled him out of a rough patch in his life and that ran deep. Remmy had a lot of respect for Rains. He wasn’t sure how he would respond in a similar situation: to either betray your loyalties or your loved ones.
They flew down the deserted highway and headed for a repair shop Remmy had ties to through his Hauler connections. They dodged around a couple of roving bands, but Remmy didn’t think any of them were the group they had roughed up earlier.
In short order, they were in front of Jevlik’s Electronika, advertised as the premier supplier of elSha and Izlian technologies. The shabby exterior was in desperate need of a power wash and the grating protecting the display windows was bent in several places. They pulled the bikes around the back, and Rains tapped on the loading door with his ring. It made a reverberating sound reminiscent of a wind chime. After a couple more tries, the door cycled open, scrolling into the ceiling.
“Krak jet poojah’k,” a voice uttered. The translators couldn’t decipher it and emitted a “No known language” message, but Remmy grinned.
“Poo-et jet laash,” he replied, winking at Rains, who just shook his head. A light came on in the building, illuminating a receiving dock and a little elSha. “It’s Jevlik’s mom’s clan language,” Remmy explained.
Rains seemed impressed. “And how did you learn that?”
Remmy was about to answer when the elSha interrupted him. “He spent a lot of time in hyperspace with my sister.”
Remmy shrugged, and with a grin, pushed his bike inside. Rains shook his head and quickly followed suit.
“How’s it hanging, Jevlik? You still ripping off the locals selling that cheap elSha knock-off crap?”
“Are you still trying to bed the female half of the Humans?” Jevlik responded.
Rains coughed a laugh. “Looks like he knows you, Bouchard.”
“Is that a new name? Should I call you that? Boo-shard?” Jevlik tilted his head at Remmy.
“Ha, no. Um, I mean yes, that’s my name. Remmy Bouchard.”
“You confuse me, Human.” Jevlik looked at Rains. “And who are you?” He held up a clawed hand, his eyes transfixed on Rains. He made a couple of exaggerated sniffs in Rains’ direction. “Ugh, Peacemaker,” he said disgustedly.
Surprise showed clearly on Rains’ face. His eyes wide, he stammered, “H-how did you…?” He glanced at Remmy. “He can smell that?”
Remmy and Jevlik looked at each other, then burst out laughing, the elSha hissing his mirth.
“Nah, man. I told him you were coming,” Remmy confessed once his laughter died down.
“Ha, ha,” Rains said flatly. “Really funny. Can we get down to business?”
The elSha went to a desk in the corner and brought
back a little box that he handed to Rains. “Connect this to your slate and you should be able to read most data containers.”
Rains tapped a couple of icons on his slate and had the box blinking green in short order. He set both on the seat of his bike and fished the chip out of his right front pocket. The box had a depression in the top about the same size as the chip. He set it on top. As soon as he did, the indicator flashed through a range of colors, finally flashing blue to indicate a connection had been established. Rains tapped another icon and opened up an interface to the chip. Galactic coordinates appeared in a window.
“Is that the delivery address?” Remmy asked.
“Yeah, I think so. Let’s see where that is.” Rains tapped a command in a separate window. A series of maps opened, ending with a map labeled “Hope’s End.”
“Really? Hope’s End? Is this a James Bond vid?” Remmy asked. Rains looked at him blankly. “Double-oh-seven?” Remmy asked. Then nodded as recognition dawned on Rains face.
“Okay, let me kick a message off to Amos with the information.” Rains typed rapidly on the slate’s little on-screen keyboard. “There.”
“Ah, Remmy?” Jevlik spoke up.
Both men looked at the little lizard. He extended a single clawed digit and pointed at the box. They followed his finger. The indicator on the device was now flashing red.
Rains snatched the chip off the top of the box and the light faded to amber. “How long was it blinking?” he asked. Remmy and Jevlik both shook their heads.
Remmy spoke, “It couldn’t have been that long—”
A tap-tap-tap sounded on the rear door.
They looked at each other.
A chime sounded from somewhere else in the building.
“That’s the front door buzzer,” Jevlik said quietly.
“There’s no way they could have found us this fast. It has to be a coincidence,” Remmy whispered.
The tapping at the back door started again. Tap-tap-tap.
“I’ll go see who it is. It might be a delivery,” he offered weakly.
The room went dark. The power to the building had been cut.
“Get ready,” Rains yelled.
The world jumped sideways as the door disintegrated in fire.
* * *
Romero Enterprises Facility
Luna
“Coming in for a landing,” said Tia. They had arrived at Romero Enterprises’ lunar facility. What looked to be a midsize base from orbit turned out to be a much larger facility built into one of the Moon’s many small craters. Race had directed them to a landing pad that lowered the shuttle into an underground bay. He took Amos through the base while Tia waited with the shuttle.
“Go on, I have plenty of studying to do,” she said as she shut down the engines. “Ping me on your way back so I can run preflight checks.”
Half an hour later they were waiting outside Raul Romero’s office.
“Your son is here to see you, Mr. Romero. He has a guest,” said the severe gray-haired woman into the intercom. Amos watched her with a critical eye. Her bearing and demeanor advertised ex-military like a billboard.
“Send them in,” came the reply.
Amos followed Race into his father’s well-appointed office. Real wood paneling and oil paintings of spacecraft done in the styles of Earth’s art masters gave counterpoint to a two-story span of armorglass dominating one wall that provided a stark view of Luna’s mountains and an oblique view of a crescent Earth against a field of stars. The impression was one of walking into a feudal lord’s hunting retreat if it had been built on the Moon.
The man himself was of medium height, clean shaven with salt and pepper hair. Fit rather than slender, he moved with an economy of motion that spoke of having long since adapted to Luna’s lower gravity. Dressed in tailored pants with a button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves and no tie, Raul Romero was the very image of the hard-working executive. An expensive smile split his tanned face as he came around the desk to greet his son.
“Race! I wish you’d called ahead. I have a board meeting in a few hours and—” He finally noticed Amos still standing in the entry. “You! I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you can turn right around and climb back into whatever hole you crawled out of.”
“Raul, wasn’t my idea, but believe you me, you the last man alive I want to ask for help. You might be my only chance though, so I come to ask,” Amos said.
“Dad, what’s going on?” said Race, looking back and forth between the two men.
Raul pointed a finger at Amos. “I wouldn’t help you to save my life. Don’t make me call security to see you off.”
“Not askin’ for me,” said Amos.
“Dad! Amos is my guest! They took his family, and he needs a ship to get them back. He came to us for help,” said Race.
“That right?” asked Raul after a long pause.
“More or less,” said Amos.
“Damn you, Amos.” Raul walked to a bar next to the window, poured himself a stiff drink and knocked it back, then took his time making the next one, three ice cubes and an orange twist. He gestured at the bottle. Amos shook his head, but Race walked over and poured himself a drink.
Raul sipped his drink and stared out at the surface of Luna.
“You’d better tell me then,” he said.
Amos did. When he’d finished, Raul started on his third drink. “Race. Take a walk,” he said. Without a word, Race got up and left, leaving his drink nearly untouched on the end of the bar.
“What did you tell him?” said Raul.
“Nothing. That was the deal,” said Amos.
“You think you can get them back? Bes and Sabine?” Raul said.
“I don’t know. I have to or die trying,” said Amos.
“I can’t let you have the REX, Amos.”
“I’ll buy it.”
“No.”
“Name your price.”
Raul snorted. “You haven’t even seen the specs for it! It’s not about money, Amos. The REX needs a crew, and there’s no one anywhere close I’d trust to fly her. Believe me, I’ve looked.”
“You don’t have a crew? All bus and no driver? Makes no damn sense!” said Amos.
“We have plenty of people with qualifications, but you want to take an untested ship into combat,” Raul said. “REX needs a crew. People who can cope with an unfamiliar ship and still make it work.”
“What if I can make that happen?” said Amos.
Raul made a rude noise. “Mercs, Amos? You’ll all die to no good purpose. They may fight like the devil, but that’s far from a navy endorsement. You don’t even know what you’re facing yet.”
“How ‘bout a Peacemaker crew?” said Amos.
“Sure!” said Raul sarcastically, “that’ll happen. Tell you what, you get a Peacemaker crew to shakedown the REX and you have yourself a ship.”
Amos slapped his thigh. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about! You won’t regret it, I gar-on-tee! I got some calls to make.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Raul.
Amos sobered. “What about Race? I promised I’d ask.”
Raul shook his head “No. Not my son. Not with you.”
“I understand, Raul. I told him you’d say that, but you better talk to him, ‘cause it’s only a matter of time.”
* * *
The following day, Captain Lorm arrived in the Turunmaa for a tour of the REX-06. When Raul received the official confirmation from the Peacemaker Guild that the REX had been requisitioned by the guild for an operation under Peacemaker Rains, deputizing Amos and the other Cajuns, and naming Lorm captain, Raul looked like he was going to lose his mind, until Amos explained that if the REX was lost Raul was now covered.
Amos walked in on Captain Lorm and Chief Achatina while they were getting an overview of the REX from Romero’s engineering team. The head of R&D, Dr. Satish Rajan, was busy pointing out various features of the ship. The display showed a standard design
with three bands of heavier armor, one in the middle and the other two splitting the difference on the ends of the ship.
“What are those?” Amos asked.
“Those are the gunnery rings,” Rajan said. “Each carries three weapon emplacements, railguns in the center ring and lasers in the fore and aft rings. The rings can rotate, plus the turrets can move up or down to a limited extent. The REX needs all her internal space because of the hyperspace shunts, so she doesn’t have room for a core or spinal mount like some ships use. The turrets produce a lot less power, so we compensate by allowing the smaller weapons to line up on a single target, or independently on separate ones.”
Rajan warmed to his audience as only an engineer explaining a new toy could.
“The rotation also allows them to be used as gravity rings in zero G.”
“Looks like a lot of moving parts,” Amos said doubtfully.
“So does a CASPer, Mr. Delacroix, but those have proven highly effective. At any rate, how well they work is what I believe you are going to find out for us,” Rajan said, a touch smugly.
Amos acknowledged the hint. “That be true. I’ll leave you three to it.”
The REX, which stood for Romero EXperimental, was heavy on point defense lasers, carried enough armor to get in close and take a beating while launching dropships and CASPer assault pods, and get back out intact enough to do it again. She had a heavy, if limited, punch from fore and aft missiles. The rail gun primary weapons were respectable but designed more as stand-off weapons than a front-line assault ship. At least, they would be when the installation was complete. Still, Raul’s people were good, and the teams worked magic in the short time they had.
For the next few days, Captain Lorm went over the specs of the ship one by one and through the lists of volunteers for shipboard duty. Having agreed to take on the task, she was determined to give the REX a proper shakedown, even if the whole thing were called off. Chief Achatina grilled the engineers and shipwrights on an impressive list of this-has-to-work-right-every-time items. Amos was present but stayed out of the way unless he had questions about CASPer operations, and Tia had brought Bev and Greasy up to look over the bays and equipment. Rikki, Tikki, Tavvi, and Sebastian came aboard to look over the dropships and supplies.
