Spice Crimes

by Dale Ivan Smith

  “Yes.”

  Zavon tried squeezing her shoulder but she shook him off. “Don’t touch me,” she said.

  Faint banging sounded from outside.

  “Listen, Khouri,” Zavon said.

  She held up a hand. The banging was from the direction of the hatch.

  The others were also listening.

  “Looks like someone wants in,” Beck said. Mica laughed humorlessly.

  Khouri sprinted up the stairs, taking two at a time, and charged down the corridor into NavCom. She threw herself into the pilot seat, and flicked on the view screen, toggling cameras until she could see the rear view.

  A group of men and women, in red leather coats and trousers, stood at the rear of the Nomad. One of them was pounding on the rear hatch with what looked like an old-style sledgehammer. Knocking or actually trying to get in?

  It must be the Crimson Star Pirates. That red leather was a dead giveaway. Khouri had been right. It hadn’t taken the pirates long at all to catch up with the Nomad.

  9

  The console indicated that the transmitter aboard the Nomad was still functioning, and that the ship had landed on Waro Moon. But what about her crew? What about the people who had stolen it, Khouri Singh and Zavon Masters? Why had the ship landed on Waro Moon? She looked over her shoulder. Temur sat guard beside Screechy and the mafia goon, who were slouched in their seats, hands cuffed, staring down at the decking. Leonidas was at the ready in the co-pilot’s seat beside her. Abelardus and Young-Hee were on the other side of the two prisoners from Temur.

  “Why would they go to Waro Moon?” Alisa asked Temur.

  He answered without looking back at her. “I have heard it said that at least one criminal organization keeps a depot on there.”

  “There? In the middle of the jungle? The environmental conditions there are supposed to be very harsh on metals; something in the atmosphere, perhaps because of all the organics.” That was all she knew, but it meant that maintaining a modern depot there would be extremely difficult, since metal would corrode, and electronics would begin to fail.

  “I understand they use local materials. You might consider the living conditions there to be primitive.”

  Alisa noted he said “you might”, meaning his standards were different. “It doesn’t sound like my first choice as a vacation spot,” she said. No, her first choice this time had been Cosmic Wonders, which had been fine until Singh and Masters stole the Nomad. At least Jelena was safe with Stanislav.

  “So, you think Masters took the Nomad to the mafia hideout on Waro Moon?” she asked Temur.

  “I do not know for certain.” He paused. “Masters is the sort of individual whose primary interest is himself.”

  “Ah, a selfish type.”

  He tilted his head in acknowledgement.

  Young-Hee and I have both scanned our mafia prisoner, Abelardus said in her mind. He has no idea of what happened to the Nomad. He’s just muscle.

  “Figures.”

  Leonidas raised an eyebrow. Alisa nodded her head at the goon. “He doesn’t know anything,” she whispered.

  “That was obvious,” he replied. “A thug, nothing more.”

  The goon lifted his head, probably sensing they were discussing him.

  “What’s it like being a cog?” Alisa asked him.

  “I do what I’m told, like a good soldier,” he replied. “The cyborg knows what’s that like.”

  Leonidas glanced at him, but didn’t say anything.

  “Time to head to Waro Moon,” Alisa said. She laid in a course to Waro Moon, and activated the tug’s drive. It was a relatively short flight from Sherran Moon to Waro Moon. Alisa familiarized herself with the sensor and grab beam array. She was about to take a break and head to the lav.

  Leonidas caught her hand in his. “Hold on,” he said. I hear movement coming from the hangar bay. Stay here.”

  He reached the hatch in two long strides, Temur right behind him. The hatch closed behind them.

  Alisa swiveled around, blazer drawn once more, and faced the two captives. “I don’t need to issue any warnings, do I?” she asked the pair. “Nope,” the goon said. Screechy’s lip curled. “No,” she said.

  Discharging energy weapons zapped and buzzed from the docking bay. Alisa desperately wanted to be able to see what was happening in there, but that would mean turning her back on the captives and toggling the view screen to the bay security camera.

  A red-leather clad man hurled down from above, crashing into Abelardus. Alisa looked up. A hidden panel in the ceiling had opened. Another man appeared in the opening. She fired, while Abelardus grappled with the first. The Starseer fell, bleeding. Young-Hee shot his assailant at point blank range in the face, and the man crumpled to the deck beside Abelardus.

  Alisa pointed her pistol back at Screechy, who had started to get up. Screechy froze, then slowly sat back down.

  Thunder boomed in the hangar bay. Alisa’s heart jumped. She thought she heard the airlock at the far end of the crew compartment, that connected with the docking bay, cycle, but maybe it was just her imagination.

  A moment later the hatch from the crew compartment opened and Leonidas came into NavCom, followed by Temur. Alisa saw the airlock at the far end of the crew compartment was now sealed. A red light flashed, indicating that the docking bay had voided atmosphere.

  Leonidas’s gaze darted to Abelardus and the corpse beside him, then up to the open panel in the ceiling and the dead pirate there, hanging partway out.

  “There were pirates in a hidden compartment in the hangar bay,” Leonidas said. “They tried to ambush us.” He looked at Alisa, concern writ large on his face. “And, apparently to draw us off so that their fellows could seize NavCom.”

  Alisa let out the breath she’d holding since she’d heard the thunderous boom. “What was that noise?”

  “The pirates used a DZ-4 bomb in the docking bay. It missed us.” He paused. “Unfortunately, it detonated against the hull.”

  Alisa swallowed. A breach of the tug’s hull could be bad, depending upon how large a hole “First the shuttle, now the tug,” she said. “I don’t like this trend one bit.”

  Young-Hee knelt beside Abelardus. “He’s wounded,” she said.

  Alisa joined her, kneeling beside the bleeding Starseer. Abelardus’s breathing was shallow. The knife had sliced open his chest just below the collarbone, and blood flowed from the wound.

  Leonidas carried him to the little sickbay just off the crew compartment, Alisa and Young-Hee coming with him, while Temur kept watch on the prisoners. Leonidas bandaged Abelardus.

  There was a fluid tank in the sick bay. Alisa helped Leonidas put Abelardus into the fluid tank, while Young-He watched, worry creasing her face.

  “Stay with him,” Alisa said. She and Leonidas headed back to NavCom. Given time, the fluid tank should fully heal him. Alisa just wasn’t sure how much time they had before catching up with the Nomad and Masters and Singh, and what else they might encounter.

  “It doesn’t look like we will be taking the shuttle after all,” Alisa observed, staring at the view screen in the tug’s NavCom, which displayed a large hole in the docking bay, and a smaller hole in the side of the shuttle.

  “It would seem to be difficult,” Leonidas and Temur said at the same time.

  Despite the situation, Alisa laughed. “Tough guy minds obviously think alike,” she said.

  “I don’t know why you’re laughing,” Screechy said, her voice a harsh rasp. “Last time I checked, you can’t land a tug. You are keelhauled, lady.” She laughed sarcastically.

  Alisa shook her head. “You really use that as an expression? She looked at the docking bay on the view screen again. That hole in the shuttle’s hull was large enough it would affect the shuttle’s aerodynamics, possibly terminally. Even if they flew down wearing spacesuits, that was no guarantee. And she hadn’t seen any spacesuits. There had to be some onboard.

  “Where do you keep the spacesuits?” she
asked Screechy.

  “Do I look like your co-pilot?” Screechy scrunched her face up. “I don’t know.”

  Alisa clenched her jaw. What was she thinking, asking Screechy? Alice looked back at the view screen, and panned the security camera. The atmosphere inside the docking bay had vented, thanks to pirates stupid enough to detonate a DZ-4 bomb inside the bay, leaving a large hole in the hull. This didn’t look like a repair tug, so chances were slim that there was a patch kit onboard large enough to fix a hole that size. The tug was space-only, so it was less important. But, the tug likely had a smaller patch kit for fixing holes in the shuttle. That patch kit would be in the bay.

  “Leonidas, could you check to see where the spacesuits might be?” Alisa asked him.

  He nodded, pushing past Screechy. Temur took his place, and fixed his emotionless stare on the pirate woman, who looked away, twisting her hands.

  After a bit Leonidas returned.

  “Any luck?” Alisa asked him, squeezing his arm.

  “Yes,” he said. “I found two, in a locker next to the airlock.” He glanced at Temur. “You’ll have no trouble.”

  “Good.”

  Alisa studied Leonidas’s face. He was disappointed. “But none that fit you?”

  “No.”

  “That’s what you get for being a hulking brute,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

  He rubbed the back of his head. “That is one of the downsides,” he said.

  “So, if Temur can patch the shuttle, then we’ll take it down to the surface of Waro Moon.” But even as she said that, she wondered what the extent of the damage inside the bay was. “What about the bay door?” The shuttle blocked part of the camera’s field of view.

  “I caught a glimpse as we ran to the airlock,” Leonidas said. “I thought I saw damage to the bay door.”

  Her heart froze. That could be very bad. “How extensive?”

  “It’s not that. It looks like the door may not be able to open.”

  “Damn it.” She sat back down in the pilot’s seat. So, they wouldn’t be able to take the shuttle out, even if they could patch the hole inside it.

  Cruel laughter burst from behind her. Screechy was laughing again.

  “I really wish we had patch tape for her mouth,” Alisa said. That woman was really getting on her nerves.

  “We’re all marooned,” the woman cackled, eyes squeezed shut.

  The Protection Inc. goon didn’t look so amused.

  Temur stepped up to him. “Do you know how to EVA?”

  The man shook his head. “I’m not telling you if I’m suitie,” he said, his voice suddenly sullen.

  Alisa frowned. “Suitie?” She asked.

  Leonidas looked puzzled as well.

  Screechy cackled. “They don’t know.”

  The goon’s grinned. “You don’t know, do you?” Sitting next to Screechy must have put the ornery back in him. “It’s what we call spacers.”

  “This a mafia-pirate thing?” Alisa asked, unable to keep the acid tone out of her voice. “Answer the man. Can you spacewalk?”

  The goon shrugged. “I’m not telling you.”

  Alisa’s eyes narrowed and she leaned forward. “How would you like to take a spacewalk without a suit?”

  The goon stared at her, blinked rapidly, then looked at his bound hands. “I wouldn’t,” he said in a quiet voice, sullenness abruptly gone.

  Leonidas grinned at her. “Now who is a pirate?”

  Alisa put on her best no nonsense face. “I don’t see a plank around here.” she replied. “But we could make do, couldn’t we?”

  “Certainly,” Leonidas said, chuckling.

  “Worried now?” Alisa asked the goon.

  He nodded quickly. “I can’t EVA. Never learned. And I don’t want to take a spacewalk without a suit.” That answered that.

  “I can EVA all you like,” Screechy cackled again. “All we pirates have the skill.”

  “No, thank you.” Alisa certainly wasn’t about to trust Screechy to help Temur. “I guess I’ll have to join you,” she told Temur.

  “I don’t think that would be wise,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “You are too important to risk. You are the only pilot. And your ship was stolen. You need to be able to regain it.”

  “No one’s expendable here,” she told him, then glanced at Screechy. “Well, except perhaps Screechy.” The pirate woman’s mouth twisted in a hate-filled sneer.

  “Perhaps there’s another option,” Leonidas said. “What if Temur can move the shuttle to provide a crude seal, enough so that we can pressurize the hangar, then I can help him do a blazer weld from inside the shuttle.”

  “A blazer weld?” She smiled. “Okay, nice expression. Yes, that might work.” They could use blazers to weld the shuttle to the hull around the breach. It wouldn’t have to be good.

  “Why bother?” the mafia goon said.

  “Because I’m going to land this tug on Waro Moon,” Alisa said. She worked at sounding cocky about the whole idea. Adrenalin rushed through her veins as she spoke, she felt her muscles tense, but what choice did they have?

  Screechy shook her head fervently. “That has to be the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. You’re a crazy bitch, you got that? You’re going to get us all killed.”

  Given that Screechy must have heard a great number of idiotic ideas and schemes in her time, her comment about the foolishness of Alisa’s plan spoke volumes, but Alisa dismissed it with a shrug.

  “I can land the tug.”

  Leonidas raised an eyebrow. “This vessel isn’t configured for atmospheric entry.”

  “That is correct.” Alisa swallowed, then forced a smile. “That doesn’t mean I can’t do it.”

  “That’s called crashing,” Screechy said. “Don’t be a bigger fool than you already are.”

  “Hey, I’m not the one prancing around space wearing red leather and boots,” Alisa retorted.

  “But the jungle will be an additional obstacle,” Leonidas pointed out. However, neither he nor Temur looked worried. Temur wore what she’d come to see as his relaxed, emotionless expression, as opposed to his worked up emotionless expression, or the one he used in battle, which was even more emotionless than the other two.

  Leonidas had a point about the jungle, Alisa acknowledged to herself. But an idea had been working its way up from deep down in her brain, to where she could consider it. She exhaled, and felt her face relax.

  “There is an easy solution,” she said. “We don’t land in the jungle.”

  “Your crazy keeps getting crazier,” Screechy’s eyes were wild now. “The whole freaking moon is covered in jungle, or didn’t you notice?”

  “You’ve been there?” Alisa asked her. Screechy didn’t answer. That spoke volumes about how little the pirate woman actually knew about Waro Moon.

  “We just need to find a body of water to land the tug in.”

  Alisa swiveled her chair back to face the tug’s console. They were still some distance out, but once they got closer, she’d begin a radar scan to locate a lake or even a sea. The tricky part would be finding one close enough to where the Nomad was. Once they were near Waro Moon, they’d be able to get a better fix on exactly where her ship was on the surface.

  She looked at the others. Screechy clearly thought Alisa had completely lost her mind, and the mafia goon was looking at her in a similar fashion. Temur was emotionless as ever. Leonidas on the other hand, smiled at her.

  “Glad you don’t think I’m crazy,” she told him.

  “I didn’t say that,” he answered. “But I approve of your courage.”

  Courage could get them killed, but what other choice did she, or they, have at this point, if they were going to reach the Nomad as soon as possible?

  She’d take the risky choice.

  A half-hour later Temur had managed to move the shuttle up against the hull, hitting the hull hard only once, which had nearly given Alisa a heart-attack. At least
Screechy shut up while the operation was underway. Alisa figured the woman probably couldn’t believe what she was seeing, looking over Alisa’s shoulder from the seat she was manacled to. Leonidas had found manacles in one of the cabins, and chained the two captives to their seats so Alisa could continue to pilot the Hercules and watch the operation in the docking bay, and not have to be constantly on her guard. Screechy had groused about being manacled and hand-cuffed, so Alisa asked Leonidas to take of the handcuffs. The manacles were made of thicker, stronger looking metal, too.

  He went to the hatch as soon as Temur finished the operation, which had been a very slow, careful affair.

  “The hangar is pressurized,” Leonidas’s deep rumble came over the comm. She wished, not for the first time in the past hour that his deep rumble would always come from beside her and not over a comm. But Leonidas was right: he needed to be in the bay to help Temur with the welding. A second pair of eyes was always a good thing.

  Alisa watched on the monitor as Leonidas entered the hangar, the hatch sealing behind him. Temur waited beside the shuttle. Leonidas joined him. She wished there was a suit onboard large enough to fit him. Yes, he was a big man, but surely these Crimson Star Pirates had a few hulking brutes among them. Just Leonidas’s luck that if they did, none were crew aboard the Hercules.

  The two men went inside the shuttle, Leonidas carrying a metal panel from somewhere. At least, she hoped it was metal. The edges of a plastic panel wouldn’t melt in the fashion they needed.

  She leaned back in the pilot’s seat, putting the metal water bottle she’d been drinking from down on the console. The seal shouldn’t take too long. She drummed her fingers on the console dash, and her mind reviewed how she had ended up here.

  The day had started with the supposed “delay,” after the too-lucrative-to-be real offer of a simple milk run from Baku Moon, to Sherran Moon, and then off to Luxor. She should have known that deal was fishy.

  The same for the “agent” offering her an admittedly-all-too-real set of gold passes to Cosmic Wonders. The agent who was actually Zavon Masters, playing her for a mark. Alisa’s jaw tightened again at the thought. Now she was piloting a pirate tug, trying to get her stolen spaceship back. This had officially become a very rough day.