Wanted, Foul, and Worthy - Part 5

Part 5

En Route

There were approximately half a dozen prisoners in all on the detainment transport ship.  They were all heading toward bounty sales where they’d be purchased by whatever corporation wanted them the most for their prison sentence.  Those who couldn’t be sold were occasionally freed, but were usually killed.  A single laser blast to the chest was cheaper than the vengeance the prisoner sometimes brought upon the captor.

Two guards watched the prisoners from seats on a slightly raised platform while the pilots sat just beyond a locked door.  Dillon noticed that one of the guards fidgeted, seeming to be searching for an excuse to walk among the prisoners.  He decided to give him one.  “When do we get to pee?” he asked.  Though the one guard twitched, neither responded.  “Hey, when do we get to pee?” Dillon reacted.  When there was still no response, he went into child mode.  “I had a lot to drink and I really got to go and it’s really uncomfortable and I don’t want to soil the bench, you know this is really uncomfortable and it’s gonna smell a lot and come to figure it I might poo ‘cause I had a big burger and…”

“Shut your yapper!”  The order came not from the guard, but from one of the prisoners, the one next to him.

“But I gotta pee,” Dillon said pathetically.

“Then hold it in,” the prisoner retorted.

Dillon built upon the mentally deficient character he had established.  “I won’t be able to ‘cause I can’t put my hands behind so the pee will slip onto the bench and flow over to you and…”

The other prisoner smacked him with his bound hands.  They were all wearing magnacuffs on their wrists and ankles, so the iron bindings left a mark on Dillon’s face.  Dillon cried out like he was hurt, but took note of the fact that the one guard had been on his way toward him when the prisoner took care of the problem.

Dillon looked at the guard, who was now sitting down and cried out, “He hit me!  That’s out of perif, he hit me!  Aren’t you gonna do something about this?  Where’s the justice?”

As the others laughed at him, Dillon used his cybernetic eye to scan the guard.  He found a holdout blaster ticked in a back pouch in addition to his standard sidearm.  He locked onto that, then looked at the other guard.  “Aren’t you going to do anything about this?  This isn’t right!”  The other guard laughed, and Dillon locked onto his faceplate, the weakest point.  “I can’t believe it!  There’s no just…”

The other prisoner hit him again.  Then the one on the other side hit him in the back.  They didn’t have much maneuverability, but they used what little they had to make it hurt.  The guards sat back and watched.

“Guess I can’t expect any justice.  Not from a pretty little princess like you,” Dillon said.  Now the prisoners were laughing, and the fidgety guard reacted.  “After all, you wouldn’t want to get your sister’s armor scuffed up.”  Now the other guard started laughing.  Everyone was laughing at the one guard, who now stood and started toward Dillon.  “Careful mosing off that platform.  Your high heels might break.”  Everyone now roared with laughter.

The guard reached Dillon, and stared at him a moment.  There was no need to rush.  The prisoner wasn't going anywhere.  The other guard leaned back in his chair, looking forward to watching the mouthy one get a beating.  The standing guard raised his rifle with the butt facing the prisoner.  Dillon folded over in his seat, presenting his back to the beating.  Just as the guard swung down, a beeping noise sounded from near the prisoner's ankles.

It was the sound of the magnacuffs releasing both his hands and feet.  Dillon lurched forward, dodging under the blow and hugging the guard.  Before anyone knew what was going on, Dillon had the holdout pistol in his hand.  It snapped in the direction he had recorded in his cybernetic eye and he fired.  The shot went directly through the facemask of the sitting guard.  The standing guard broke free so he could fire his weapon, but Dillon fired into a weak spot on his armor, taking him down.

The other prisoners were now on Dillon's side, asking him to free them.  He ignored them and started for the cockpit.  He could hear gas shooting into the chamber.  The pilots were aware of what they were doing.

Dillon stepped atop the platform and approached the door to the cockpit.  He studied it only a moment before raising his wrist to the control.  There was no reason to check the door; he knew it was locked.  It was time to use his second, and only remaining, EMP.  The first had released the magnacuffs, so if this didn't work, he would be stuck falling unconscious with the lowlifes.

The control panel flashed a moment, then fizzled, and the door came loose.  Dillon pressed up against the wall, then shoved open the door.  Laser blasts shot out from the pilots.  Without looking inside, Dillon whipped his hand around the corner, firing at the console.  He knew that doing so would distract the pilots and cause them to look forward.  When the firing stopped briefly, he leaned in and shot them both down.

The other prisoners were still calling out for Dillon to free them.  He stepped inside the cockpit and sealed the door behind him.  Shoving the bodies out of the way, he sat at the controls and looked them over.  He found where the gas controller was and saw that a neurotoxin intended to knock out the prisoners or anyone else they didn't want in the hull of the ship.  'This is too light,' Dillon mumbled, and he turned up the toxicity to a lethal dosage.

He then turned to the maps and searched for anything resembling Ocsasm, the word that the doomed pilot had muttered when Dillon found him during the battle.  He found Ocasol, a close enough likeness, and one that the corporations were fighting over.  It was likely enough that someone who worked for one of those businesses had heard about a treasure on one of these planets.  So he laid in the coordinates and the prison ship was on its way.

*          *          *

Jude was riding in style on Nikos' ship the Golden Stallion... or whatever name he had switched it to now, shedidn't want to keep track.  She was stretched out in his lounge watching the swirling shades of black through the transparent portion of the floor.  Two mercswere on the other side of the room watching a holoshow.  Patchcon had sent them, and three others, as an escort to both aid Nikos and make sure he brought back a share of the profit to the home office.

Nikos entered and strode across the clear part of the floor, purposely making himself appear to walk over open space.  “Have you found every amenity your heart could desire?” he asked.

“Do you have a hair stain station?” she asked.

“I must admit that that is a luxury item I do not yet possess,” he answered.

“Too bad,” she said, running her hand through the long strands of her hair; first red near the roots, then brown, then back to red at the tips.

“Do you prefer to switch it for every planet?” he asked, slipping into the bar section of the lounge.

“This shade brought me bad luck.”

“You don't strike me as a woman who relies much on luck.”

“Oh, I believe in luck,” she said.“All of life is playing the odds.  You just want to weigh the dice on your side before you roll them.”

Nikos smiled as he filled the dinks inside the leavening condensers. He didn't ask her what she wanted.  Jude's attention was focused on one of the animal heads Nikos had hanging on his wall.

“I regret that we cannot repair your enhancements,” Nikos said, as he brought the drinks over to her.  As he walked, he made a subtle motion to the two mercs to leave.“But something tells me that your share of the treasure you're leading us to will be more than enough to buy some of the most powerful cybernetics you've ever had.”  He sat close and she took the drink.

“Leastways the Devil Jackson was able to stop the spasms,” she said, and then chugged half the drink.  Nikos stalled, then tried to match her speed, but had to stop at little more than a sip.  Jude pretended not to notice and crossed her legs on the sofa, one of the legs folding over his knees flirtatiously.

He then said, “Something sways me you can do well enough without the enhancements.”

“I can rec by,” she replied.

Nikos rested one hand on the knee folded over his leg and asked, “How did you get so good at what you do?”

Jude paused a moment.  Nikos could feel her muscles tighten.  He had hit a nerve; something that was difficult to do with Jude.  Then she answered, “I trained with the Irreto Organization.”

Nikos' eyes jumped wide.  Surprising him was not an easy task either.  “That doesn't figure like the sort of organization you would belong to.  Weren't they strict?”

Jude shrugged.  “I surm like any military organization.”

“The Irretowere not just any military organization.  They didn't even hail to any one entity.  Their students were some of the most ruthless and disciplined...” Nikos looked at Jude and recognized the tension in her face.  Her glass was empty.  He handed her his and asked her what it was like.

Jude downed what was in the glass and said, “They gave you a poozoo when you entered.”

“I heard.  Your animal companion that you train throughout your schooling.  Is it true they made you kill it when you graduated?”

Jude bobbed her head a little, and Nikos noticed a slight smile.  He took her glasses and asked her to explain.

“I named her Maxine.  Mad Maxine.  They didn't tell us what we were going to do to them at the end... But I had a suspicion.  Still, I trained her every day.  They gave us tricks we were supposed to teach them; exercises both to help us remember what we'd aprended, and so they could play the antagonists to our training sessions.  The others, they would teach their poozoos their tricks, then play with them a touch of time.  It was their only link to humanity.  All the rest of the while we were too busy, and the trainees were mocked if they had fun with each other.  We were still kids, and we had an instinct to play, so they spent what little free time they had rolling around with their poozoos.  Not me.  I finished the lessons we were taught to train, then we worked on more lessons.  Maxine whimpered and begged for free time, but I wouldn't let her.  I snapped my fingers and demanded more lessons.  She aprended, despite herself.  She looked at the other poozoos with envy, wishing she had time to play like they did.  But she was not allowed.  When the butchering time came, you could vis more tears from the other students than during all their whippings in the three years we were there.  They had raised them from the time they were one year old, and now we had to be their killers.  Students who refused were flogged, then made to watch as their poozoos were tortured and killed.  Then the student was marked with a tattoo that said dropout across their foreheads, and they were regressed to their families in shame.  The rest... most of them anyway, gave their pets a swift death.  You could see their hearts die through the look in their eyes.”

“Most of them?” Nikos asked.

“There were a few... sadistic ones that had been anxiously awaiting that day.  Those poozoos suffered.  Those students were promoted to teachers.”

“I need another drink,” Nikos said, standing and walking to the bar.  “So what did you do?”

Jude's eyes remained inert, as though she was watching herself all over again.  “I arrived at the headmasters' on the day of my graduation.  We were supposed to have the collars of our poozoos with us to prove we had passed our final exam.”

“I give that you had done it quickly,” Nikos said as he filled the glasses.

“No,” Jude said.  Nikos froze, staring at her.  “I arrived at the headmasters' with Maxine in tow.”

“I'm abso that went over well,” Nikos said.

“They were shocked.  The others had tried to smuggle their pets out, or tried to free them.  I took mine with me at the end of a leash.  They asked me why I had brought it.  One of them gave me the benefit of the doubt and surmed that I would be killing it in front of them to show how tough I had become.  After all, I had my sgian-dubh knives with me sheathed across my arms.  I silenced him by saying that was not true.  The lead headmaster then asked why I had brought it, and I explained that I had found a better use for the animal.  She was not amused, and she told me I was expelled, and would be branded.  Two of the four guards in the room approached me... You're spilling the drinks.”

Nikos was holding the glasses, and his shaking was causing the liquids to fall out the sides.  “Sorry,” he said, and he put them down.  “I don't scry a brand across your face.  So what passed.”

“Training,” she said.  “Poozoos have some of the strongest back legs in the galaxy when they're allowed to develop correctly.  They can spring across a fifty foot cliff in just over one second if allowed.  I allowed her to go at the lead headmaster.  She ripped her head off in just over two seconds.  As for the guards going after me... Did you know that Azami armor has a weak spot in its nose plating?  A small dagger flung at high velocity from a low angle can puncture the armor and send the cartilage directly into the brain.  The other two guards took a touch bit more work, but the organization had trained me well.  And I had trained Mad Maxine well, too.”  A smile of pride grew across Jude's face as she remembered.  She described the sight, of one headmaster after another trying to defend itself, and Maxine shooting through them like a bullet with teeth, tearing off limbs and throwing body parts into more of them before disemboweling them.

“She did everything I trained her to do,” Jude said.  “But some of the headmasters were armed.  This didn't make much of a difference at first as there were more headmasters than poozoo, and they didn't want to shoot each other.  But when it came to only a few remaining, they were able to fire at her without fear of hitting one another.  They wounded her, and the last one took her down.  I removed that man's eyes before making him taste every inch of death.”

Nikos had downed both drinks now, and filled the glasses again.  “So that's why the school closed.”

“Oh no,” Jude said, a half-crazed smile now across her face.  “No, they could have replaced the headmasters and continued.  But as I held the lifeless body of my beloved Maxine in my arms, I realized how many others must have cogeted this practice.  The other teachers, the president, the owners of the school.  This graduation requirement was no secret.  I hunted them all down; one by one.  I used every lesson they had taught me against them; the most important one being never let them know you're coming.  That's why I did it all in one day, before anyone could aprend what had happened in the convocation hall.  When I was done, I could not re-enter regular society, which is why I joined Unterorg... You gonna let me drink one of those?”

Nikos had downed a glass and a half again.  “Sorry.  I'll get you another one.”  He rapidly placed the glasses back into the leavening condenser.

To be continued...

Wanted, Foul, and Worthy - Part 2

Part 2

Past Debts

Nikos was musing on the thought of the Mandrake Leonne most of the way to Cleef.  It was said to be a metallic bouquet whose twisted handle ended in two spikes, and whose top bloomed outward like leaves.  Its value came from the combination of rare precious metals, some of which could only be forged from elements in a star; and whose craftsmanship was nearly unmatched in millions of years of intelligent life.  A glow was supposed to emanate from deep inside, and it was believed that a perpetual power source could be generated from within.

The relic was originally crafted by the Abnani, a civilization that had existed along the fringe of the Orion Nebula approximately 25 million years ago.  Little had ever been studied about their race as it was shrouded in mystery.  They were thought to have powers that seemed almost magical that other races only attained through technology.  They were also the first of their epoch to be destroyed by the Siguerans.

The creation of the Mandrake Leonne was said to be evidence of their powers.  Ancient texts of other civilizations spoke of the legendary item whose construction was believed to be impossible for any other species to make.  Its use was unknown, and only a few were ever constructed; all being said to have perished in the wars of the time but one.  There may have been updated information on the item's purpose, but Nikos couldn't care less.  He was interested in its modern day monetary value.

Cleef was not within the sphere of Abnani worlds, which was curious at best, and suspicious at worst.  Why it, or any clue of the device, should be here, Nikos did not know.  But he supposed he would soon learn.

He was getting close, so Nikos attended to his way onto the planet.  Patchcon was the primary corporation, so he brought up his forged credentials for their organization and plugged them into the electronic signature of the ship.  Instead of the Avoca, his ship was now the Gold Stallion, and he was an efficiencies director who made sure the workforce was lean and who recommended layoffs.  Most of his alternate IDs used this position; it caused a lot of employees to stay away, and those he approached always wanted to make him happy.  (Layoffs, of course, could be deadly, as a person’s employment was also their home government.)

The chromatic rip in space opened up and Nikos shot through.  He traded his grav-sails for solar sails and got his bearings.  The planet was nearby to the right, so he sent a hail with his accreditation.  Flight control responded by asking for his destination and work assignment.  Nikos recognized a small amount of fear in the flight controller’s voice; the pauses before speaking.  Just the reason he chose the pseudonym that he had.  “I’m here to blick an inspection at the Baulers operation,” he said in a polite, yet firm voice.“However, I seem to have been given improper information as the coordinates I have figures to be in the ocean.”

“Please stand by,” the controller said.  There was a pause while Nikos scanned the planet.  Just as he had heard, Cleef was made up of a major hub where Patchcon’s primary business was, and smaller organizations dotted other areas of the planet in random intervals.  All were connected by some form of road or rail to the main hub except those separated by an ocean, which were few in number.

At last the flight controller emerged from hold.  “We are sending you the coordinates for Burgos.  That’s the Bauler Conglomerate’s community.  You will be connected with their local traffic control center.”  Relief could be detected in the man’s voice, just the way Nikos liked it.  He wanted everyone to want to pass him on to the next person in line.

Nikos followed the coordinates toward the surface.  As the flames of re-entry enveloped his ship, he brought up everything his computers had about Burgos.  It didn’t take long before his interest was piqued by something he found.  Carolyn Hiser was the local administrator.  A bemused smile grew across his lips as he ran through recent information about her.

He remembered with fondness more distant information.  Back then he knew more about her than any of her employees.  Maybe even more than her husband, who, he hoped, had never learned what the two of them had been up to when she was on her “business trip.”

Going to Carolyn would be a risk.  She would likely see through his disguise, but that was only going to last so long anyway.  He would need access to information only someone in authority could provide, so the gamble for her support would be worth it.

After emerging from reentry and once his communication worked again, he called the local flight control station at Burgos.  They had already gotten word of his arrival and had a platform where he could land.  As he neared, he spotted a small scar in the ground just outside of town where signs of ancient ruins emerged as though trying to escape from their muddy prison.  They looked to be Huto to Nikos’ trained eyes.  Though not Abnani as he had expected, the Huto people had combined with the Abnani when both were defending themselves against the Siguerans.  The alliance had created an entirely new species scientists uncreatively called the Huto-Abnani.  As such, it made sense that the Mandrake Leonne, or information about it, had once been here.

He did not ask for his old friend.  He wanted that to be a surprise.  He just requested a meeting through the standard procedures under his assumed name, and then chuckled with delight at how he imagined she would react.

After landing he was reminded of another reason he liked this disguise; hangar personnel immediately got to work refueling and cleaning his ship.  He made sure to lock it up, however.  He didn’t want them to see what was really in there.

Administrator Hiser straightened herself in the mirror, fussing with her collar to make sure everything was perfectly even.  Just to make sure, she had a holoreflector scan done and she looked at herself from all directions as a 3D image.  No dust.  No wrinkles.  Nothing to cause an inspector to dismiss her as expendable.  Well, she thought, it was time to go.  Best not to leave the man waiting.

Carolyn headed down the hall and strode into the meeting room where the man in the white suit was waiting.  “Director Newburn, this is an unexpected pleasure.  If we had known you were coming, we would have had…”

Administrator Hiser was cut short as Nikos turned around to face her, his signature arrogant grin permanently splashed across his face.  Carolyn’s jaw initially dropped, then she subsided, turning momentarily to make sure the door had closed behind her.

“You view lovely, my dear,” Nikos said.

“Administrator Hiser, not dear, Nikos Kazakis,” she said.

Nikos tensed inside, but made sure not to show it.  Her wall was up, and he would have to break through it or he could be in some serious trouble.  “You will always be dear to me,” he said, stepping toward her.

Carolyn rolled her eyes and said, “Perpetually the charmer, aren’t you?”

Still a wall, but she was smiling, and she made a step toward him.  Nikos stopped.  The seminal rule in seduction was always to get them to come to him.  “It doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

“Is that why you left sans a goodbye?”

“What would your husband register of that?”

“Figuring he’s light years away now, I can’t imagine.”

“You separated?”

“He was transferred.  We didn’t have a say in it, so… But no one transfers you, do they?”

Nikos shook his head.  “No one controls my fate.”

“I credit that’s what I liked about you,” Carolyn said looking down at her hand stroking the table.  A sign of weakness, and an opening Nikos could exploit.

“Your spirit is no different,” he said.  “Wild, like a stallion.”

Nodding, Carolyn said, “I should have ciphered the name of the ship.  You always use that word.”

Nikos blushed.  Not on accident; providing a moment of vulnerability was part of the seduction process.  It worked.  Carolyn took a maternal step toward him.  “Why did you come?” she asked.

“Because I have something that's going to bling your spirits.”  Carolyn shot him a glance of ‘get real.’  She was never one for clichés, and a line like that wouldn’t work at a bar on her, let alone in an office.  He looked at her the same way in protest.  “Business before pleasure,” he said, and he walked away from her.  “More on the note, I have something to show you right beneath your nose.”

“Here in Burgos?”

Nikos stopped walking, as though her words had commanded him, and he turned to her with a smile and a nod.

Carolyn took a few more steps toward him and asked, “What do you know about this place?  We just do some manufacturing and a little mining.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.  You rule over a major metropolis.”

Carolyn chuckled.  Nikos’ intent to both provide humor and denigrate her accomplishments so as to undermine her self-confidence were both working.

“I’m talking about the ruins that your people found.”

“Yeah, but there wasn’t anything of value there,” Carolyn said.

“Wasn’t there?” Nikos asked.

Carolyn took several more steps toward him until she was only a yard away.  “What have you heard?”

Nikos was coy, looking her in the eyes as if to ask if she really wanted to know.  Then he took a step toward her and said, “Someone under your employ may just have found something… shiny.  Chances be, even something that would impress your critical eye.”

Carolyn smiled with pride and looked down.  Again, part of Nikos’ plan to undermine confidence so he could be the one to build it back up.  He touched her chin and lifted her face toward his.  “It’s worth millions.  And someone who works for you took it.  I’d like to know where they went.”

The faint smell of his cologne touched her nostrils the way his nose was nearly touching hers.  “We split the profits?” she asked.

Nikos nodded slightly.

Carolyn drew in a breath, then said.  “I’ll find out who’s been inside and have them all questioned.”

“And while they’re being questioned…” he asked.

“What kind of wine do you prefer?” she asked.

*          *          *

Carolyn’s fon snapped her out of a numbing daze.  Between the wine, the cozy bed, and Nikos’s warm arm across her torso, she was in a state of inanimate bliss.  But the noise was the alarm from her office, informing her that there was something she had to attend to.

Nikos barely moved, hoping that if he seemed to sleep, she would spare the reach and would just tap the device to go to speaker.  She did; but she kept it low, not wanting to interrupt Nikos’ slumber.

“We’ve categorized every employee that’s entered the ruins,” the voice on the other end said.

“Great.  Very good.  Send the list to me along with residences.”

“The list isn’t very long, Administrator Hiser.”

“Okay then.  Fine.  Send it to me please.”

“The problem is, the hand of people who went were an appraisal team.  After them it was locked down.”

“So were they from another world?” Carolyn asked.

“No ma’am.  They’re your employees.”

“Then send the list.  It shouldn’t be difficult to go through.”

“The vanda is, all of the appraisers were drafted into the Patchcon military.  When they required a minimum number of draftees, you said to send all non-essential personnel.  Appraisers were non-essential since the ruins had already been explored.”

“So they’re in Cleef.”

“No, ma’am.  Patchcon sent them on an invasion.  They’re on their way to Wallach Upon Tuco to attack Fencorp for a hostile takeover.”  Carolyn ran her hand through her hair in frustration.  “I do have a little info that might help,” the assistant said.

“Okay,” Carolyn said.

“You said that you wanted to know who chances could have left with something or some kind of information, so we queried people who know those workers.  One of them said that one of the appraisers, a Mr. Ferguson, had bragged about having aprended evidence of the coordinates of a valuable item.  Some kind of mandrake thing.”

“Evidence in the ruins?” Carolyn asked.

“Yes.  But it’s not there anymore because he destroyed the room that had the information.  Apparently he didn’t want anyone else finding it.”

“So now this Ferguson will be the only way to find out what that information was,” Carolyn said.

“Yes, ma’am.  But as I said, he’s in a war zone now.”

Carolyn heard movement from the other side of the room and saw Nikos was already half dressed.  “Nice work,” she told the assistant.  “It will be noted in your yearly bonus.”  She hung up and turned to Nikos.  “So you’ll be packing up and jondering off just like that once again, huh?”

“If that man is killed, or worse, my path to the Mandrake Leonne is cut.”  Nikos neither noticed nor cared about Carolyn’s longing and lonely expression.  He just said, “I had a lovely time, though,” and he hurried out the door.

*          *          *

The hotel was nothing to write home about; but then again, Jude had no home to write to.  It was in a dusty town called Wallach on a dusty planet called Tuco.  But this was where Fencorp had their home offices, and where they’d pay top dollar for the bounty on her prisoner.  Or at least the top dollar they could pay.  Each successive extradition had shallower pockets.

Her prisoner was across the room, his feet and hands bound.  He was free enough to feed himself, but moving at any speed was impossible.  Jude would not be able to sleep tonight as she would need to keep an eye and the end of her gun on him.  But the following morning should prove it all worthwhile.

The prisoner kept his eyes on her, as if in a staring contest.  He willed her to go to sleep, but she wouldn't.  At one point her eyelids began to lower, but the distant sound of a boom shot them back up.

Then Jude heard footsteps in the hall.  She had heard others earlier; they weren’t the only ones in this hotel.  But these footfalls were unique.  They were slow, meticulous, trying not to be noticed.  Someone was sneaking up on them.  Jude could tell that the prisoner heard them, too, but he was pretending not to.

Jude rose from her chair and approached the door.  She stood with her feet planted firmly on the floor, spread out boldly and confidently.  She blinked and brought up her infrared bionics.  There were three of them.  None were disciplined or even trained.  They knew enough to keep their heads down, but they were indecisive about where to position themselves, and they weren’t in any sort of formation.

Jude readied her pistol.  Somewhere in the distance, another faint boom sounded.  Jude tuned it out; not part of her immediate problem.

One of the hallway thugs knocked on her door.  “Who’s there?” she asked, making her position within the room as clear as she could.  No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she leaped with her cybernetic legs onto the door frame, turning around 180 degrees to look down on the room.

She jumped just in time, avoiding a barrage of laser fire that cut through the door and the wall.  Even the prisoner had to hop out of the way of the blasts.

After the volley, the attackers rushed into the room, two of them still firing.  Jude shot one in the back as she dropped down and kicked another in the head.  The third turned his gun at her and she ducked under it.  Grabbing his hand, she forced him to shoot the one she had kicked in the head, then she flipped him over and shot him in the face.

A moment later, a laser blast came out of seemingly nowhere, destroying Jude’s pistol.  Her head jerked up in the direction of the blast, and saw it had come from the window.  A man was there, crouched on the ledge, laser pistol in hand.  He looked somehow familiar, but Jude wasn’t sure from where.  “Smart people use the window,” he said.

Jude recognized the voice.  “Dillon!” she exclaimed, building a smile on her face as she turned her whole body to face him.  “You view… peachy neb.”

“However I look it’s no thanks to you.  Last time I vised you, Ferdo, Carres, and you were leaving me and Dierdre to die on Dovan.”

“Dierdre!  How is she?” Jude said, trying to buy time as she figured out a way out of this.  Somewhere in the distance, she heard loud thudding, like oncoming explosions.

“Same as you’re gonna be in a moment,” Dillon said, hopping into the room.  “I just wanted you to sav why you’re losing your life before I take it.”

“This really isn’t about me,” the prisoner said as he hobbled toward the door.  “So I’ll be goi…” Dillon shot the man dead.  Jude leaped at Dillon, her bionic legs kicking her ahead at incredible speed.  Dillon was equally fast to react, ducking under her and firing a wire around her neck.  She flew at the window and he helped her out of it with a kick.

Caught in a noose, Jude flipped over out the window and came to a sudden stop.  The wire tightened around her neck, digging into her throat and cutting off her breath.  Her hands grabbed for the wire but it only buried itself into her skin, making it impossible to claw out.  She tried to grab for the ledge but he lowered her down.  She was three stories up with no hope of touching the ground.

Helpless, Jude’s face was turning blue and she was beginning to lose consciousness.

To be continued...

Wanted, Foul, and Worthy - Part 1

Part 1

The Wanted, the Foul, & the Worthy

Wanted

The wind whispered softly down the long, dusty street.  Flecks of sand hitchhiked in the air and dispersed left and right, as though getting clear of the three strangers staring one another down.  Two were on one end, one was on the other.

They watched each other closely, none prepared to move.  The man and woman on one end were waiting for the signal from the figure on the other.  They had never seen this person up close, and knew nothing about him or her; just that he or she or it would be there at this time.

This was a nearly deserted colony.  Once a thriving mining settlement for the Somano Corporation, it had sucked its query dry and now its citizens had moved on to other locations on the planet or transferred to new mines off-world.  Those left behind were people who refused to move on and individuals who didn’t want to be found.

The figure on one end began walking forward and the other two followed suit.  The rhythm of their steps matched in the crunching dirt beneath their feet.  Their silhouettes grew as they neared until the details of their clothing and faces took shape.  The lone figure was a grizzled man, the kind you would expect on a bounty like this.

Peeking faces had spied them from a few windows, but the body language of the three individuals had warned no one to interfere, so the street remained empty.

They stopped before the door of a depressed cantina.  A perky sign with lively font described a once hopping meeting ground, but it was now a mostly empty hulk.  The lone man pulled a disk from his pocket and held it before him.  A holographic head appeared above it, revealing the face of their target.  The other two nodded.

They all drew their guns.  When the lone man nodded, they rushed inside.

A flurry of gunfire emerged.  It began immediately upon entry, as though they saw their target immediately, or it had been waiting for them.

As quickly as it had started, it had ended, and there was silence for a moment… but only a moment.  The window crashed open and a new man rolled out.  His foot caught on the bottom frame and he tumbled to the ground, rolling into the dusty street.

Quickly he got his footing again and rose up, hot pistol in one hand, the other clutching an ivory hewn item in the other.  It was an artifact of significant value he had looted fair and square.  Maybe it was from an ancient site located on a planet claimed by one of the more powerful corporations, but he had taken great pains to steal it; and it was therefore his by right of skill if not might.

This was Dillon, and he knew it was time to leave this rock before more bounty hunters showed up to reclaim his prizes and serve his head to their masters.  He took one look at the door to make sure they weren’t coming out, then turned and dashed down the long road toward one of their hoverautos.  He would hotwire theirs to get to his ship hiding in a cave in the desert.  He didn’t trust the old landing pads; they were too large a target.

The lone gunman that had led the assault on Dillon emerged from the building.  He was staggering, barely able to move.  Blood was leaking from his lips, but he had one last shot in him.  He took it, but the shot went wild.  Yet another in many misses to take down the infamous criminal.

Foul

The mansion stood atop the crest of the tall hill where marble rocks covered in moss and low trees rippled down to the wavering sea.  In the distance, streams of the emerald aurora borealis drifted lazily on the horizon while the soft light reflection of two moons evenly illuminated everything.

A single road led out of the walled-in, private estate, watched over by guards, cameras, and robotic security equipment.  Even the waterway approaches were protected in case of an unexpected amphibious attack.

The family who lived there was not used to such precautions; nor were they prepared for the sudden lavish lifestyle of privilege.  Though they appreciated the resources it brought, they found it lonely and isolating.  And most of all, the heightened security scared them.

Only Mauren, the father, understood fully the necessity of it all.  He had told the others it was to protect them from the poor of the planet who wanted to take their home from them, but the precautions were really a result of how he acquired the wealth.

He was presently enjoying that wealth by lounging in his hot tub, one of the water jets massaging his back.  He felt the cool breeze blowing against his hair as it contrasted with the heat soothing his body.  He took a sip of his drink and enjoyed the moment he had worked so hard to achieve.  This was the life.

Then he remembered, he hadn’t opened the window.

Mauren twisted quickly and reached for his towel, splashing a tsunami of water out of the tub.  As he turned, he found himself facing a well-dressed man with a sharp chin and a clean cut face leaning against a wall.  It was Nikos Kazakis, the man Mauren least wanted to see; the one man his security force was hired to keep out.

Nikos didn’t flinch at the man’s sudden movement.  In fact, he seemed pleased by it.  “Hello, Mauren,” he said.

“How did you get past my security?” Mauren asked.

“That’s the thing about security guards,” Nikos said.  “They go hither and yawn based on money, and I have more.”  A silence followed, during which time Mauren remained still, frozen in the pose reaching for his towel.  “Speaking of Electros,” Nikos said, wandering from the wall to a chair where he placed one foot, “where did you sell the piece you stole from me?  Looks like they paid you a might bit of plastic for it.”

Nikos had exposed a part of his hip that had been covered by his jacket, revealing a holstered, ivory handled pistol with gold trim.  Mauren couldn’t take his eyes off it.  This could be his doom.  Nikos made a clicking sound with his tongue and said, “Hey Mr. Lookie Lou, my eyes are up here.”

Breathing heavily, Mauren stared into Nikos’s eyes.  “I sold it to Flur Corp.  They offered more than I could refuse.  You’d have done the sa…”

Nikos clicked his tongue.  “Now Mauren, you know I can’t get to them.  They’re part of the Navarus Empire; and their spirits are about as blinged with me as mine are with you right now.”  This was the most frightening thing of all for him to say, for Navarus had a death warrant out for Nikos, and if he had a family, they’d be hunting them, too.

“My family had nothing to do with this…” Mauren tried to say.  Nikos only shushed him, and one of his hands moved closer to his pistol.  Then Mauren said, “Yes, I am a con artist who attaches himself to treasure hunting expeditions, as much as you are a looter of ancient relics.”  Nikos straightened slightly; both offended and a little proud.  His hand got closer to his gun.  Mauren continued, “I'm good at it, too.  One of the best.  That's why I know about another score, far better than that worthless piece of junk I took from you."

"Careful," Nikos said.  "That worthless piece of junk got your family this fine mansion."

"They call it the Mandrake Leonne.  It's supposed to be worth millions."

"Hundreds of millions," Nikos said, recognizing the name, but skeptical of its source.

"I know which corporation has it, and I know what planet where it was last vised.  You take me with you, and I'll show you where you can pick up its trail."

"Its trail."

"That's right.  If I knew exactly where it was, don't you think I would have gotten it myself?"

"Good point."

"So I'll get dressed, and we can hypo out tonight."  Mauren stood and began drying himself off.  His out of shape form was not pleasant to Nikos's eyes, which were used to always resting on the most beautiful things.  But they kept him in their peripheral vision while Nikos took another look at some of the decor around the room.

"You coming won't be necessary," Nikos said.

"You'll need me to show you where it is," he said.  "And I'm not going to give you the location.  You'll just shoot me and moze out to find it yourself."

"No, I really don't need you to come," Nikos said.  "Your furniture and the framework of the windows and doors all come from Patchcon, even some of the more expensive items.  That implies you have some connection with them.  You have a picture of you and your wife in front of the Marricone Tower in Lavau Upon Cleef, one of Patchcon's primary distributors.  But that's not where you learned about the Mandrake Leonne.  Patchcon has several operations that stretch out into the rural reaches of the planet.  Most of them have different organizations associated with them."

"And if you want to aprend which one, you're going to work with me," Mauren said, trying one last time to bargain.

"No, I'm not.  Your bath tub is lined with a special fusion mineral that only Baulers Corporate Conglomerate manufactures.  They're working with Patchcon in one of the outposts."  Mauren was staring at Nikos dumbfounded.    "I don't know the name of the outpost, though," Nikos said.  Mauren sighed with relief.  "But I can find out," Nikos said, and he shot Mauren.

Nikos strolled about the room, looking closer at the decorations, and various photos and holo-images, making sure he had read them right.  He turned to the door, his gun raised, when he heard small feet scampering to them.

It was Mauren's 10-year-old son.  He had one of his father's guns at the ready, but he hesitated when he saw Mauren's body lying back in the tub.  Nikos fired.  The gun in the boy's hands smashed to pieces and he fell back.  Nikos kept his gun steady on the boy.  His mother was crying from somewhere downstairs.

"No shame in this, boy," Nikos said.  "Some day when you're ready, you come blick me out.  We'll settle up then."  Nikos then grabbed a couple hand photos from the desks, and showed himself out the window.

Worthy

Jude pushed her prisoner toward the exchange point.  Chained both hand and foot, he cursed her as he stumbled forward across the metal ground of the space port.  Five individuals in the haphazard uniforms of Seeorg greeted her with formal smiles.  They were unloading their ship of deliveries to the planet and making room in a cell for their new guest to stay.  Two of them were balancing a group of crates overloaded on a magno-dolly that was sinking to the port's floor, one was pulling a large animal out of the pen where they would be keeping the prisoner, one was supervising the two events, and the last one was greeting Jude with a payment pad.

As they got closer, the prisoner became more desperate.  Despite their present polite demeanor, their plans for him were less than savory, and he spat violent curses at Jude as he tried to get away.  She pressed a button on a remote which sent painful shocks through the footcuffs, then sedatives through the handcuffs.  These made him much more cooperative and he continued forward by her guidance.

"Lovely," said the man who was greeting them, his chin pressed forward and his eyes on the prisoner.  "Your work is impeccable as always, Jude."

"You always come through with payment, so I always come through with the goods," Jude said.

"You're both fecal leftovers and you'll rot in..." the prisoner jumped then relaxed as Jude hit the button.

The man with the payment pad smiled smugly.  Behind him, the man pulling the animal down the ramp began to hit it and curse his own colorful phrases.  "We verballed 50,000 for the bounty," said the man with the payment pad.

"Plus 25 large for the speed bonus."

"That's... right rip," the man said adjusting the amount on his hand device.  Behind him, the animal squealed in pain as the man beat its legs with his electro-stick.

Jude's cybernetic eyes focused on what was happening on the ramp, despite the monetary dealings in front of her and the fact that the others were about ready to lose their payload on the dolly.

"Very good.  Now if you'll simply adjust his custody settings to my settings, we can conclude our business."

"Payment first," Jude said, her focus still on the man abusing the animal.

"That's not how we handle our affairs..." the man said patronizing.

"It's how you do it with me," Jude insisted.

The man drew a deep breath, then began the payment process.

The animal wailed in pain as the man on the ramp hit it full blast with its electro-stick.  Jude saw that it struggled to stand.  Its handler made it more difficult by hitting it repeatedly, counteracting what it wanted the animal to do.

"Let the fillygeld get up so it can move!" Jude insisted.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Jude in annoyance.  The one making the payment said, "That was rude."

"It is.  He shouldn't be hurting that animal like that," Jude said.

"I mean you.  Don't speak to my employees like that."

"I speak however I dango please."

"I can attest to that," the prisoner said.  Jude hit him in the back of the head and told him to be quiet.

"Do you want to be paid?" the man with the pad said.

Jude drew in a breath and looked at the large animal struggling to its feet.  She needed this payout.  Much more time without income would mean she'd be stranded without fuel.  So she nodded.

The paymaster began the transfer.  Jude grabbed the device to transfer the prisoner from her hip bag.

"Can't say I'm gonna miss you, you dirty malfas," the prisoner said.

The one on the ramp returned to the animal.  It winced, and he began hitting it about the head.

"Okay, that's enough," she insisted, putting back the transfer device.  "You're going to let that beast go."

"You mind your own geffaren business," the man on the ramp said.  The assistant to the paymaster put his hand on his pistol, ready to draw, and the two by the dolly turned their attention on Jude.

The paymaster stopped what he was doing and eyed Jude patronizingly.  "You want your money, or do you want to make a speech.  Either way, we're leaving here with our prisoner."  The animal handler now hit the beast in the back, shocking it into moving as it howled and cried.

Jude rolled her eyes as she placed a target tag on each one of them with her bionic eyes.  "Fine," Jude said.  And she kicked the paymaster into his assistant as she drew her pistol and shot the animal handler.  The two by the dolly scrambled for their weapons as their stack of crates came tumbling down.  The assistant pushed his boss aside and shot at Jude.  She fired and her laser blast knocked his shot into the paymaster.  She then shot the assistant in the face.

One of the others managed to get his gun out and Jude received the necessary alarm in her peripheral vision, so she rolled aside.  Her cloak-skirt flowed out above her, obscuring where exactly her body was and the man's shots went wild.  Jude fired and took out her target with a single shot.  The final one took cover behind the pile of fallen crates and drew her weapon.  Jude launched herself with her cybernetic leg and flew up above the woman.  The woman at the crates tried to follow, but was not a fast enough shot.  Jude was, and she hit her square in the chest, landing right in front of the last opponent.

Others in the space port saw what was happening and were contacting the authorities, but Jude's main concern was her prisoner, who was making a break for it.  Jude strode up to the animal as she pressed the remote.  The prisoner froze, shaking in place.  Jude released the animal from its bindings and set it free.  Then she caught up to her prisoner with ease and attached her leash.  He began laughing.

"What's so funny?" Jude asked, annoyed.

"You just gave away an epic bounty," he answered.  "Now there's no reason to keep me."

"You've caused enough havoc to be wanted other places.  Now get to the ship before I decide I don't want to make anything off of you."  Jude and her prisoner hurried to her ship and got away from the klaxon noise.

To be continued...