Lion

by Jessie Rose Case

  With a barb that it was for her safety and wouldn’t budge. And….. she couldn’t disagree after that first attack that he’d been wrong. And the source of her nightmares now….or so she thought…

  She’d been walking home some months later from her friends when everything went wrong. She knew she had security but didn’t really see them and it was easy to forget that they were even there. Innocence did that to you.

  This night, they were there waiting for her. She’d not seen a thing wrong. That that the area was empty. Or too quiet. Lost in her own thoughts with her nose in her datapad. Until they’d rushed out of the darkness towards her. She remembered feeling frozen to the spot. So scared that her feet had taken root. A group of men suddenly stepped out of the darkness, guns raised, knives drawn. Telling her to keep quiet or they’d kill her. She was useful but didn’t need to be alive. Pilar remembered how cold she felt. How alone. The shaking had been the worst.

  As they moved in on her, the Cyborgs came out of nowhere. Shielding her, taking out those that had tried to take her. For what purpose, was unclear but they’d said enough to hang them. Her father had overseen the interrogation himself. They didn’t need to kill her, but they would have if it suited them. He was enraged.

  They could have taken her life at any time once they’d drawn their weapon’s, but they’d held back and moved in to take her. No, they wanted her for something more. To steal her, barter her, ransom her, sell her off, most likely to manipulate her father. She hoped they got paid well. They didn’t live for long after it.

  It had been a young girl’s wake up call. She’d taken up weapons then and fighting skills. She stopped complaining and her security came out in the open. Two Cyborgs were with her at all times and her father kept four more around the trading post and at the house. There was no mistaking their abilities or size and she found them strangely beautiful to look at. Like a piece of art. Everything in perfect balance. Long and short hair, all glossy. Clear skin even with scars, piercing eyes, tall and broad. They were magnificent male specimens.

  Not that they acted like normal men. They didn’t. In the 16 years since that incident she’d never seen any of them date. Or take time off even though they were rotated to do that or do anything other than eat, train or work weapons and train with her. They always stood alone. And were paid like anyone else.

  They had no idea what credits were really for as far as she could see. That, had been an unusual conversation. They only seemed to pay for their board and meals or new weapons. Over the years she’d tried to broaden their horizons and they’d…….. humoured her.

  And soon as her father had passed, she’d found out the truth. He’d had the Cyborgs for a very long time. Way before she’d first seen them. They’d come with him from Earth Corp to protect the outpost. That seemed impossible when she looked at them. They all appeared to be in their 30s and yet, the documents were clear. Their transfer had been given to her father as part of his contract with Earth Corp to protect their interests.

  A bit more digging told her where they’d been all that time. Securing the mines and sticking to the shadows.

  Her father had deliberately kept her away from the mines. Too dangerous he’d told her. It felt like a betrayal once she’d found out. She’d taken it personally, like he’d hid it from her deliberately and maybe that was right. Was he ashamed of how they came to be on their world? She didn’t know. But the outcome was the same, she’d never been there and was pissed that she’d not known. They’d had one hell of an argument before she’d stormed off. Her Spanish blood firing on all cylinders once more. Passionate in her belief of what was right. She faced off with Four and Five. Ranting about how she’d been kept in the dark. That she wasn’t a child…

  Not that they had argued back. Nope, they just stood there while she ranted on about how unfair it was to them and what was her father thinking! Had he made slaves of them? had slipped passed her lips as her tears had finally came. She’d slumped to a seat as they’d quietly stood around her.

  “He did what he could to save us.” Four had told her.

  The words had penetrated her distress and she looked at him. His voice rough, they rarely spoke. “What?”

  “Earth Corp were looking to terminate a number of us. He took as many of us with him as he could.”

  “He did? When?”

  “Somehow he knew 183 of us were for termination. He contracted for us. Put up a good argument that Earth Corp couldn’t ignore if they wanted the mission a success. Got others who were shipping out to do the same with other groups of Cyborgs on the kill list. Our estimate is that he saved nearly a thousand of us by doing that.”

  The words took a moment to penetrate. She’d been so upset. He’d saved over 1000 men? The rock that had been in her heart, thinking her father had done something so horrific, lifted.

  “But I’ve only ever seen the 10 of you.”

  He gave her a slow nod. “The others are all at the mines. We have a compound there. Work security. Do recon to other parts of this planet and report back.”

  Pilar had sat shocked. “Do you know where the other groups are? “

  “We know where they went. I’m unsure now.”

  Pilar frowned. She’d known there had to be records. “How are you being paid?” she whispered running it all through her mind and then realised. They had normal contracts just like any other worker. Her father had hidden them as ordinary mercenaries from everyone including her on the payroll. It made perfect sense. No wonder they weren’t messed with like some of the other companies on her world. Her father had killed two birds with one stone.

  Once her father was gone, she’d immediately given them their freedom officially, knowing that if they all left, her father’s company was over. She couldn’t live with it any other way. She offered them a new contract to work for her legit and to her surprise, they’d stayed. She’d gone out to the mines after that and met with all the others. All 169 men that were still with them and offered the same deal. They’d be no going back to Earth Corp for them. They were free men and could choose. She wasn’t sure what had made them choose to stay with her, but she was glad they did.

  Banging on the table brought her attentions back to the meeting. No matter how many numb nuts were around the table she needed to focus on the now. E-4, Four and E-5 stood behind her. They had other numbers but had chosen to be known as their first. She had always suspected that many of them shared some DNA. They looked very similar. These two were almost twins. Very good-looking ones. Not that either of them showed any interest in her or she in them. It didn’t feel right. They were like her …..uncles.

  The table was getting rowdier. Pilar rolled her eyes. Punches were being threatened. Guns would be drawn soon. The partners weren’t happy. She hadn’t expected them to be. This was the semi’s. Only one more round after this and she’d be free of her fathers less advised dealings once and for all. She took out her gun and banged the hand grip down on the table several times. They slowly quietened.

  She looked at her gun. A repeater. It fitted her like a glove. “You know, I’ve been listening to you yak for years. And God help me, you’re still at it. For the past two years, I’ve told you what was going to happen when this round of contracts was up. I asked you to make changes, to prepare, to get on board and in line with what we’re doing here and now we are at the point of no return, and you are still arguing the toss. There are no more negotiations to be had gentlemen. This is it.”

  She looked around at each one. Eight of her contractors Captains all with a finger in this pie. She’d be sad to lose a couple. They were good traders and more than one had been an entertaining bed fellow. She sighed and threw her arm up. “I should just kill you all now and bring in your seconds.” Boiling quiet, simmered around the table. No one looked surprised. A couple looked to Four and Five. She was her father’s daughter after all.

  Benito leaned forward. “Come on Pilar, you cannot expect us to be happy. You’re telling us no m
ore trafficking. You know how well that trade pays. Cutting it because your too sensitive about it makes no sense.”

  Pilar cracked a smile. “You think I’m sensitive? Benito, I didn’t know you cared. That’ll cost you extra.” There was chuckling around the table, some of the tension lost. She wondered if that’s why he did it. They’d been close, once. Until he’d screwed her over. No. She doubted it was for her benefit. Pulling up her data pad, she listed the information she had and swiped it to the main viewer.

  She pointed to it. “My intel tells me that’s, what each of you paid for your last two cargo’s. What the cost of transportation was. What it cost to feed them, clothe them, give them medical treatment and what you got when you traded on. Can you see the problem?”

  Most of them didn’t look happy. She knew why. Profits weren’t as great as they appeared. Good profit margins relied on bulk. Too much bulk in that cargo and you got problems, like disease and death. That cost them. A lot. She leaned forward to give the kicker. Highlighting the cost of both.

  “There are people out there that would willingly pay to be transported here to work if we had the work for them to do. Other’s out there would pay for the goods we make. Have you forgotten that’s how our families came to be here? I’m reliably informed, this,” she put the next screen shot up, “is the price for one transport ticket to a similar destination. They pay all fees, duties, food, medical the lot.” There were several stunned faces around the table. They were getting the message. “Can you see the difference? What we need gentleman, is a legitimate transportation network that supports a legitimate business growth. Buy the warehouses, make the goods, sell the goods and there’s room for each of you to take a different passage network and do some legit trading on the side too. We all have land that could be settled on this world. That’s a healthy profit right there.”

  “There are others that do the transporting.” Xian told her.

  “True, but we do not have an organised transportation company, that reflects the colony here. Not rust buckets that double up. Prestige transport. Transport people want. With an offer of a new life. Land, home, a job, a future as a package. That will in turn, bring in more money to our other businesses right here. It’s a package people want. I’m offering that to you.”

  “We could do that without you.” Paul told her bitingly.

  He didn’t like her. Pilar laughed and held her hands wide. “Right cos you thought of that all by yourself, right?” she shook her head. “You can try but there’s a reason you haven’t already. You don’t have all the pieces in place to make it work or the connections.” She inclined her head. “I do. A trading company with my contacts makes that easier, makes it possible. Is less likely to fail, besides I have commitments from our trading partners to offer one to each of you and pre-sales that say this is a good venture.”

  Benito laughed. “You’re selling tickets without a commitment from us?”

  Pilar shrugged. “If you don’t take it, I’m doing it anyway. I have others interested on the side lines. Not all my eggs are in this basket gentleman. I know a profit when I see it.”

  “Maybe we need someone else at the helm of this ship, steering it in the direction we like.” Jorge called out.

  Pilar knew there was no point harping on about it being her father’s trading company and therefore hers. It belonged to the one that could hold it. Pilar gave a distained smile.

  “I’d love you to try. If you come for my father’s company, you better make damn sure you can take it.” Her message was clear. Try and lose, it will cost you. He stared at her for what seemed a few minutes, then gave her a nod. She carried on. “Land prices are currently standing at….” She swiped to the main screen. There were some appreciative nods. “With the full package we’re talking about, a parcel of land, a job, transport here, goods and materials they will need to buy from our companies to make it a success, this is what you can expect as a return against an initial investment to upgrade your ships in the first year based on six transports a year with a full complement of travellers….” She swiped the last screen shot up.

  It was big money. There were several shocked faces. She stood. “I’ve been generous. Maybe too generous. I could have just cut all ties and left you hanging in the wind but didn’t. Remember that. Take the offer or not. You have three weeks then I’m shutting down this part of the business. If I find you still doing it? Well, we all know where that leads. You want to take it elsewhere that’s fine, but you won’t trade with me any longer.”

  “You would cut off 20% of your trade over this?” Benito again.

  “Are you stupid? I’d cut off 70% if I had too. And actually,” she pointed to the vid screen. “That’s a 180% increase anyway. What’s not to like. Think on that.” She turned to leave.

  She got as far as the door. “Your father would never have allowed this to happen.” Peiter, one of the older traders shouted after her.

  She pointed to the vid screen again still showing the profit that could be gained by legitimate trading. “That, is all he cared about. And those of you who knew him well, will know the truth of this. He’d rather cut it away than let it linger. That, is the better option and he would take it. Now you have the chance to do the same or not. Don’t waste it.”

  She walked out the main office and conference room of her business in the back of the trading post offices, down to her own office. She’d not taken over her fathers. It didn’t seem right. She could still hear their raised voices as she walked away. Idiots….

  “There will be trouble.” Four told her as she sat behind her desk. Telling her something she already knew. It was one thing to show the figures, another entirely to let go of one known income for one that wasn’t. “There are others that will not like the next round of changes or take them as calmly.” He told her.

  “I know that,” she snapped biting back her annoyance and edginess. “Sorry, this is harder than I thought it would be. Make sure the boys see them out.” He glazed over. She knew him to be communicating with his men. It always seemed a marvellous thing to be able to do. Mind speak. His eyes cleared. “Thank you,” she told him. “I don’t want to pull the men off the mines. They could be targeted at any time we need them there.”

  “Agreed. You need more men.”

  Pilar sat up and looked at her Cyborg friend and smiled. He rarely talked unless he had something to say. She liked that about them.

  “I do, you have a suggestion?”

  “I have data on a Cyborg Empire out here.” Pilar sat up. “It came off a download with a trader. Free Cyborgs, that run their own Empire and offer their services to other worlds.”

  “Really. Do you know them?”

  “Negative. Likely created before or after our time with Earth Corp. We were isolated for decades. It is a logical next step for Cyborgs if they survived.”

  Pilar didn’t like that Four naturally expected most of his kind to have died. Just wasn’t right.

  “Can we trust them?”

  “If they are true Cyborgs they cannot lie, and deception is not logical to us.”

  Pilar nodded. She knew that. “Will you be harmed by them coming here?”

  “That would not be logical unless they are harmful to all of us and then it would be a fight anyway.”

  Either way it would come to a fight. She knew that. It was obvious contacting this new Cyborg Empire came with its own risks to all of them. Bringing people to their home-world could end up harming them. Not a good move but Four was right, she needed men and maybe a leaf out of her father’s book was the right move but on different terms.

  “Can you get a message to them?”

  “The trader is still here.”

  “Good, tell him to keep the information to himself if he wants to keep doing business. Send the message. I’d like to meet. Pick somewhere off world. Somewhere neutral. And negotiate with the Empire to offer security to the company, maybe to this world.”

  He gave her a nod and left. Pilar bl
ew out a breath. It would’ve been easier to sell the damn company and move on.

  She was sure she could hear her father’s laugher from his office….

  Shit….

  Chapter Two

  Morgan, Cyborg Commander and mate to Pain stood at the top of the meeting. Pain was with her representing the Admiral. They were all her men and all directives came through her although they were all one Empire now. The only female Cyborg Commander, although human but enhanced in the Empire. She’d earnt her position by saving them all and fighting beside them for nearly two decades. Not that she looked in her late 40’s. Like all of them, her nano’s kept her young and healthy.

  Orian System Port, Space Station Delta had held a lot of surprises for their team. Arriving to investigate a Cyborg take over, it was soon clear that it had been taken in salvage honestly, by the newly declared Cyborg Empire and Earth Corp, the previous owners had no grounds to demand it back. Sucked to be them.

  “Lion, you’re up,” she called out. He gave her a nod. “New request from the Admiral. You’re to meet a liaison for an Old Earth Trading Port. We don’t know how much influence Earth Corp had or still has, but it was a Cyborg tag that contacted us via a trader. So they’re alive and in service one way or another. The Admiral wants to know all there is to know. They are interested in meeting with the Empire and want security. Neutral ground. You’re taking point on this one Captain along with your team and a full compliment. Troops 4 and 5 go with you. Move out in 2 hours.”