Bounty's Call

by Max Jager

  The data flashed onto Jameson's HUD inside his faceplate. A map winked to life, displaying a private residence tucked away south of New Madrid. It was active, too.

  Jameson leapt to his feet, rushing out of the room and into the massive hall. "Do what you gotta do!" he yelled to Mathison through his private comms. "I'm headed for Axus!"

  The elevator ride down to one of the transport platforms on a lower floor was painfully long. But it didn't take long for Jameson to acquire a private air cruiser and set off down one of the preprogrammed sky routes that bisected the city. Suddenly he wished they had set up shop somewhere more strategic; fighting city traffic was something Jameson wasn't in the mood to deal with right now. Especially if Axus somehow caught wind to their arrival and decided to pack up quick.

  The long flight across town and down to regular ground level streets left Jameson with too much time to think. All of the uncomfortable discoveries Mathison had made came floating back to the front of his mind.

  It didn't matter right now. He may not have known what to do about Gibraltar's dirty secrets, but at least he could put an end to Axus once and for all.

  "Shit!" Mathison screamed in Jameson's ear. "Shit, shit, shit!"

  "Now what?"

  Mathison grunted. "Axus's corrupted MATHISON back-hacked into the Crimson. It may be young, but it's clever."

  A flare of panic rose up in Jameson. "What happened? What's the damage?"

  "Still trying to figure that out… Ah, looks like my firewall kept it at bay. But Axus definitely knows we're here."

  That was damage enough. Jameson wished Mathison would have had more discretion before parrying in electronic warfare that had tipped off Axus. But he didn't know enough about the situation to rebuke the AI. And he didn't have time to learn more.

  Jameson gunned his cruiser.

  Strange of New Madrid, outside the city proper, there were a series of gentle slopes with winding cliffs. Various private residences hugged along these cliffs, surrounded by flora and solitude. It was a little flashy for Axus, but Jameson could see the appeal for hiding out here. The man seemed to enjoy a fine taste.

  Jameson set the overheated cruiser down roughly on the circular pad out front of the targeted house. It was a smaller structure, dome shaped and with a panoramic balcony on the second floor. A few lights were on inside with the oncoming evening, but there was no other signs of life.

  Checking for booby traps or dampening fields, Jameson pulled out his pulse rifle and migrated to the front door.

  "Mathison!" he hissed. "Get inside the house's mainframe and get me some friggin' Intel!"

  A beat passed.

  "I'm in," Mathison replied. "First floor is clear. But there's a blackout upstairs, master bedroom. There's also a rigged defense grid. I'm trying to disable that."

  Good enough. Jameson flashed his wrist gear against the door security panel, force booting the door open. He rushed inside, sweeping his rifle around quickly for hidden enemies. His HUD's sensors picked up no other traps or waiting surprises.

  Rushing up the cuneiform staircase, Jameson fired several pulses at waiting sentry drones. The machines shattered across the carpet, starting up small fires. Apparently Mathison had disabled all house security, because the automatic fire suppressants didn't kick on to put out the small flames.

  "The door is clear!" said Mathison. "But I have no idea what kind of security he's got waiting on the other side."

  Jameson paused off to the side. Once more, he flashed his wrist fob, force hacking the door to open. Then he waited, expecting gunfire to erupt through the open door.

  All was quiet.

  Finally, curiosity getting the better of him, Jameson spun around into the doorway, scanning the room beyond.

  The room was empty. And save for a single idle wall monitor, everything else had been packed up. Axus was gone.

  Jameson cursed under his breath, sliding against the wall in defeat. It was little wonder they had met limited defenses on arrival. In hindsight, he should have expected Axus to have set up hidden turrets to take out his cruiser as he came down from the sky. The man had obviously bailed the moment his MATHISON alerted him of Jameson's approach.

  "Mathison," Jameson added wearily, "tell me you can pull something from that MATHISON and get a lock on Axus's direction."

  "That's a big negative," Mathison replied with a grunt. The AI actually sounded tuckered out. "I should have realized it sooner; this isn't a local mainframe MATHISON. It's an older generation; something Axus probably stole while he was aboard Peacemaker. He obviously inserted it into the Fleet Mainframe after he arrived on planet."

  Jameson exhaled, kicking the door frame in frustration. Mathison continued to narrate, rambling on about its code being hard to pin down and slipping past all of his cyber assaults. Jameson wasn't really listening anymore.

  "But that's gotta be how Axus's been gallivanting around the Capitol undocumented. He's had this inside help, and the rest of the Fleet MATHISONs haven't pegged it. I can't imagine why, but—"

  "We'll worry about that later," Jameson interrupted. "If it's safe, let me patch a channel through to Madeira. We need to leave now."

  Mathison didn't say anything else, but a moment later, the call was going through to Madeira's receiver. He knew it would probably kill her to leave so suddenly, but it was their only chance. Axus had to have just barely fled the premises. If they could get back to the Crimson, Mathison could start pulling Sat imagery of the house; they might be able to track where Axus set off into orbit and which ship he disappeared aboard.

  If they hurried.

  Jameson sighed, trying to collect his thoughts. Madeira wasn't answering, though, which wasn't helping his mood. How long had it been since they last talked? She said she only needed about another hour for her tail to be fully grown. She was probably splashing around in the ocean right now.

  Jameson gritted his teeth. That was more time wasted.

  "Mathison, get me a location on Madeira's skiff. We need to go pick—"

  Jameson froze, the wall monitor in the master bedroom winking to life. After his eyes adjusted in the darkness, he felt his breath catch in his throat. Axus's sneering face was waiting on the screen.

  "Well, well, well, look who it is…"

  Jameson slowly walked into the room, stepping around to face the screen properly. Axus looked suddenly quite amused. He cackled to himself.

  "Jameson! You survived!" He sounded delightfully cheerful. "I believe congratulations are in order. You can't imagine how surprised I was to hear you had followed me here. That made my evening."

  Jameson stared hard at the screen. He could tell Axus was aboard a shuttle or a ship; he was broadcasting from the cockpit. But more than anything, Jameson was entranced by the sight of his rival's face largely imprinted on the massive screen in front of him. Like staring into an exaggerated image of the devil himself.

  With his faceplate down, Axus obviously couldn't see how engrossed Jameson was in this moment—something for which Jameson was grateful. Hopefully from Axus's screen, the bounty hunter simply looked reposed, calculating his next strike. Or perhaps tracking down Axus's exact location at this very instance.

  He hoped that's what Mathison was doing.

  "Of course, all of the congratulations are pointless when you consider that it was a pretty mermaid that saved you." Axus cackled to himself. "And what's more, you actually took said mermaid along with you! For what, I wonder? To be your concubine?"

  Jameson felt a sudden trill of fear begin to well up inside. Where was Axus going with this? And how did he know so much about Madeira all of the sudden…?

  As if bidden by Jameson's unspoken thoughts, Axus moved aside, revealing the far side of the cockpit. Jameson gasped silently, spying Madeira's unconscious figure lying bound in thick industrial cables in the corner of the room. She was still in her white cotton shirt only, her aquamarine colored tail not even tied up.

  Axus continued to speak from the corner
of the screen, giving Jameson plenty of view of Madeira's prone figure. "Found her on the beach while you were chasing fool's gold. I thought you were smarter than that, choppin'-block-doc."

  He walked across the cockpit, laying a gentle hand on Madeira's face. Jameson instinctively stepped forward. "If you hurt her…!"

  Axus cackled again. He glanced up at Jameson. "You always did have an eye for pretty girls." He paused, taking in Madeira's figure. There was hunger in those eyes that scared Jameson. "But," he continued, "I always got them in the end."

  Then the screen died.

  Jameson swore loudly, pounding a fist against the dark monitor. The impact left a crater in the wall.

  The bastard had Madeira. He had her and there was no telling what he would do to her. Especially since he was long past his game of simply winning over Jameson's girlfriends.

  He would destroy Madeira.

  "Jameson!" Mathison suddenly chimed in. "Get outside now!"

  Jameson glanced up, his eyes catching sight of a movement through the master bedroom balcony window. Something was landing on the pad in front of the house.

  Taking off running, he charged his pulse rifle. "Are we under attack?"

  "No, that's the skiff. I auto-piloted it here as best I could while Axus was busy giving his monologue."

  Jameson huffed breathlessly as he dashed down the stairs and outside to the pad. The skiff's engines still hummed, the side door opening as Jameson jumped in.

  "Bless you Mathison," Jameson breathed, settling in at the controls.

  "Oh, it gets better," the AI continued. "I managed to crack a few codes past the corrupted MATHISON. I freakin' got Axus's destination telemetry. Applause, applause."

  Jameson grinned, gunning the throttle as the skiff ascended high above Andorra and into the inky blackness of space. Dozens of other shuttles and spacecraft darted about him in orbit, a frenzy around the bustling Capitol World.

  "Well, don't leave me in suspense," said Jameson. "Where the hell is he making off with Madeira?"

  "Why, back to Kraven, of course."

  Of course. Because Axus didn't know what they had discovered since tracking him here. He may have gotten the drop on Madeira, but he didn't realize how quickly they were behind him.

  I'm coming for you Madeira. If that bastard lays one hand on you the wrong way…

  Jameson quickly found the Crimson in a sea of parked starships in orbit. He settled into his chair as the skiff slowed down, preparing to dock in the undercarriage.

  "Send a quick apology to Torik," said Jameson, releasing his faceplate. He needed a breath of fresh air. "Let him know we're pursuing Axus. He'll understand."

  He has to. Because I won't let him escape with another girl.

  Not again.

  Space Donuts

  Chapter 24

  Space Donuts

  * * *

  The Mediterranean Expanse

  Kraven Star System, Oort Cloud

  Aboard Crimson Night

  * * *

  Ice and comets danced across the view screen.

  Far off in the distance, beyond the outermost reaches of the Oort Cloud, Jameson could see faint sunlight from Kraven's star. This far on the fringe of the Kraven System, they were completely alone. And more importantly, Axus couldn't detect the arrival of the Crimson.

  Jameson steepled his hands, his eyes losing focus on the view screen, turning back to Mathison's holographic diagram floating over the command terminal.

  "He doesn't know we're here," Jameson voiced aloud.

  "Not specifically, no," Mathison replied. "But he'll know we're coming. We must assume that we don't have the element of surprise."

  Jameson wasn't so sure. They had tailed safely behind Axus the whole way here. It was a long flight, reaching out beyond the Capitol on Andorra in the center of Gibraltar space. And then all the way out here to a far corner of the Expanse. If Axus knew he was being followed, he hadn't shown any sign of it.

  The Crimson was fast, but whatever Axus was piloting was faster still. And equipped with stealth capabilities; perhaps more future tech. Either way, the confrontation was going down here at Kraven. If Axus had set up base here, it was likely he would watch the skies for Jameson's arrival—now that he knew he was alive.

  He may have had records of their first visit nearly two months prior.

  Jameson muttered a curse. "You may be right, Mathison. Axus may know we're coming."

  "Like I said…" The AI rebutted.

  "And you still haven't had any luck hacking into Axus's network?"

  "That's a big negative. I can't even begin to sort it out among the various data streams, even for somewhere this far out. But I'm keeping tabs on his corrupted MATHISON back on Andorra. It's in the Gibraltar network and still a decent source for Intel. I'll see if I can't pull anything useful from it."

  Jameson stared bodingly back out at the icy fields beyond. There was only so much planning they could do out here. Eventually they had to arrive in orbit; Jameson would eventually have to go down to surface. The only problem was knowing where to strike.

  "We can't waste anymore time," he finally said aloud. "That bastard has Madeira. I won't let him hurt her."

  Killing the holographic display, Jameson leaned forward and engaged the flight controls. A moment later the Lauritzen Drive purred to life, warping the fabric of space in front of the view screen. A dizzying moment later, the engine quieted down, space warping back to its regular features. The short hop in-system now positioned them fifty-thousand kilometers outside standard planetary orbits.

  Kraven hung in the blackness of space like a sullen orb. Much brighter starlight cast sunrise across the eastern hemisphere, bringing new day to the continent below.

  Jameson continued his approach, bringing the Crimson in on sub-light engines until he was in a standard parking orbit. They were hovering in particular over one of the vast northern seas, away from most surface-to-orbit traffic and stations. A nice, quiet place where Axus hopefully didn't have any watching eyes.

  "Keep a sharp eye out," Jameson said, standing up from the controls. He strolled out from the bridge into the main corridor. "It's only a matter of time before port authority wonders who the hell we are and why we're parked in an unregistered area."

  "Don't you worry about that," Mathison replied. "Even if Axus is hoping to catch us through the public record, I think I can easily trace him if he shows any interest. Just get down to the surface."

  Jameson grabbed up his usual gear, heading swiftly to the skiff, Grade on his tail. Even seeing the little spacecraft sent a jab of guilt through him.

  He should have known better than to let Madeira run off alone with Axus so close by. Jameson knew Axus; knew what kind of deceit and games he played at. And yet Jameson had so callously assumed they could waltz right into the Capitol and snatch Axus up with ease.

  Jameson couldn't afford to make that mistake here now at Kraven.

  He had to assume Mathison was right; he had to assume Axus knew they were coming. Maybe he could see them now, sneaking quietly in a distant part of the sky.

  Just don't touch Madeira until I've got you in my sights.

  The skiff descended quietly on a long arc across Kraven's atmosphere. His navigation terminal displayed a holographic map, indicating his gentle decline towards Chino and the local spaceport. He was right on target.

  Just as the sky was turning blue, wisps of clouds rushing by outside, Mathison chimed back in. "Got a hit! Security footage picked up Axus. And you're not going to believe where he is."

  A new screen winked to life on the display alongside navigation. Jameson could tell from the date stamp and file data that their guess was right; Axus was lurking somewhere in Chino, near his doppelganger from this time line. What startled Jameson was the familiar eatery with big neon wording that Axus was strolling into.

  "Space Donuts?" Jameson stammered.

  "Your guess is as good as mine," said Mathison. "But that's the last recor
ded location I've got on him. It's as good a place to start as any."

  What a coincidence. Or maybe not.

  Jameson bypassed the spaceport altogether, finding a general purpose landing pad just up the street from the diner. The skiff was small enough to fit on just about any of those pads, and he was certain Mathison could manipulate the system long enough to keep local port authority from jumping on his case for the illegal parking.

  Before the exterior hatch was finished loading, Jameson had jumped through the narrow opening, marching swiftly down the street towards the diner. Grade kept pace with him, having no trouble with the speed in his gate. The German shepherd instinctively knew they were on a mission.