by T E Olivant
“But you recognize it, do you not? Your partners know where they are kept. I wish them to be returned to me in three days.” Lu Tang took the portal engine and placed it gently back into its case. He snapped the lid shut. “When I have my items, I will let you have the engine. Not before.”
“I will have to speak to my friends,” the young man said, his hair now plastered across his sweating forehead.
“See that you do,” Lu Tang replied. He allowed the man a few minutes to exit, then made his way outside to wear Tibo was waiting.
“I still don’t see why you had to have the meeting on board my ship,” Tibo moaned. “I thought you wanted to keep a low profile.”
Lu Tang shrugged. He was getting a headache, one that started at the back of his neck and radiated all the way to his right eye. “After our small demonstration on the planet there is little point in hiding. They will know where we are soon enough. Besides, once I make the exchange, it does not matter where I am.”
“It matters to me, you old fool,” Tibo said. “What if the gangs decide to go after the person that gave you the weapon? I don’t share your death wish.”
“You have already been compensated more than adequately for this task. After the exchange I will send you to any star system you wish. Wait a decade or so and you will be perfectly safe to come home.”
“Wait a decade? Damn you, Augment.” Tibo stalked off towards the control room. Lu Tang found it hard to register the man’s displeasure. He was exhausted. He needed a rest, but that was about as likely to happen as the stupid Idris was to get the portal drive. In other words, not very likely at all.
Chapter 17
Barely three hours had passed since they had received news of the explosion on Eritree, but it felt like a month to Biddy and her frazzled brain cells.
“We will be in orbit of Eritree in less than thirty minutes,” Hastings announced. Biddy looked over at the Captain and was disturbed to see the glassy look in his eyes. Normally he would be cracking jokes, looking forward to landing the ship. Now he looked on edge, like any unfiltered remark might send him into a fit of rage or floods of tears.
It was the thought of the Augment and what had happened to his brother. It was sending Hastings to a very bad place. Biddy should have taken him out of command, but she simply didn’t have the opportunity. Not with her not-so-neutral Observer watching their every move.
“You are still sure that the Augment is on that ship?” Biddy asked the woman.
Macleod had found herself a chair from somewhere and was looking at a datapad, examining the news reports flooding in from Eritree. She looked like a harmless old woman in her own living room, and that wasn’t helping Biddy’s temper.
“I am confident in the reliability of my intel.”
“Your intel?”
Macleod let out a dramatic sigh, but Biddy didn’t break eye contact.
“Well, if you must know… We looked into the initial escape from Widdershins 3. As you might imagine, we were eager to know how he had evaded our security systems. Our first clue was the drone. It was an unusual model and there were only a handful made. These connections eventually came up with the name of a middleman who sourced the drone. I’m not aware of his birth name but around here he’s known as Tibo.”
“Hang on,” Biddy said, “the middleman? Does that mean there’s someone bigger involved?”
“I would have thought that was evident. Unfortunately we do not know the organization behind the Augment’s escape. But this Tibo may be the key. He owns a number of spacecraft and this one is certainly the flashiest.”
Biddy stared at the ship. It was completely ridiculous, and utterly beautiful. Just the sort of thing a God would travel in.
“All right,” Biddy said finally. “I think we can reasonably assume that our guy is on that ship. Looks like we’re going to get the Augment. But we’re going to do it my way. No Scotclan backup. Is that understood?”
Macleod scowled. “Against my advice, of course, but it is your ship.”
“Damn right. Now I want some options on getting onboard the ship. Phil?”
Her bodyguard snapped upright from the corner he was lounging in. “Plenty of ways of getting aboard that flimsy little thing, but I’m guessing you would prefer to leave everyone alive when we do it?”
“That would be the optimal solution, yes.”
Phil walked over to Elvis’s position and tapped at the console. “We could use some sort of ultra-EMP, right?”
Elvis nodded. “We have a couple of these onboard. They are very small missiles, minimum of physical damage. But once they attach to the hull of a ship they let out an EMP, disabling all systems.”
“What about life support?” Francesca asked. “Not much point in using a non-lethal missile if we stop all the controls for oxygen and heat.”
Elvis was already shaking his head. “That’s a brand new ship you’re looking at. State of the art. There will be an emergency backup for all the essential systems. The ultra-EMP won’t affect them. But propulsion, weapons, everything like that will be out.”
“Speaking of weapons,” Biddy said, “is there anything we need to worry about?”
“Shouldn’t be,” Elvis said. “Although…”
“What?”
“This guy just exploded a mine that is ten miles across. A starglider wouldn’t come with weapons as standard, but that’s not to say that he wouldn’t want to customize what he has.”
“But you couldn’t fire missiles from something like that, could you?” Hastings asked.
“Probably not. In fact, with the sails and everything, I don’t think they could fire anything from the ship. There’s nothing to say that the osmium mine next to it isn’t chock full of missiles. But I’m more concerned with any smaller weapons that might be on board. Even if we disable the ship, there’s nothing to stop them coming at us when we board with whatever hand-held weapons they have.”
Biddy frowned. “Okay. Phil, I want you to focus on what we do once we’re on board the ship. Make me a tactical plan for taking custody of the Augment and neutralizing whoever else might be there.”
“What weapons do you want us to carry?”
Biddy grimaced. She hated carrying lethal weapons. “See if you can get me a scenario where we just need our stunguns. Otherwise I’ll have a rethink.”
Phil nodded and hunched over the console, already lost in his task.
“Right, Elvis, I like the idea of these ultra-EMPs, how long to launch them?”
“Less than ten minutes when we’re in range. Captain?”
“We can be in range in twenty minutes, but he’ll know that we’re there,” Hastings replied.
“Hang tight for now,” Biddy said. Her heart was racing but it didn’t worry her. This was it: the thrill of the chase. This was the reason she had become a detective.
“Just one thing,” Macleod said and Biddy couldn’t help but let out a groan. “I want to board the ship with you.”
“Out of the question,” Biddy replied. “It’ll just be me and a maximum of two crew members. All trained in close quarters combat. Not that we’ll need it. We’re also trained in how to bring about resolutions that don’t require that sort of training.”
“Now listen to me, little newbie ‘tec,” Macleod hissed, “I know exactly how you have been trained because I wrote the god damned manual. Literally. They asked me to do it twenty years ago and it doesn’t look like Scotclan have learned anything since. I’m a Very Reverend member of Scotclan and that means no one can teach me anything, not even the Chiefs. You want someone who knows how to think on their feet, someone with a whole lifetime’s experience of catching scumbags, and that’s me.”
She panted a little as she finished the speech.
Biddy raised her eyebrows. For the first time she had managed to get the old woman rattled. “Fine then. I will admit it, I hate to ignore any useful resource. But if you take one step out of line when we are on that spaceship I will stun your
ass, got it?”
“Got it.”
“I just need you to sign a little something for me first.”
As if she had prepared it already – which of course she had – Biddy pulled out her datapad with a document already loaded up. Macleod scanned it for a moment, then shrugged and placed a finger to be scanned.
“It’s done,” the old woman said. “Are you finally happy now?”
“Ecstatic. Okay, Hastings. Begin the approach.”
It was a tense half hour. Hastings’s right leg was jittering, and Biddy was gripping the edge of her console so hard her knuckles were white.
It’s going to go wrong, she thought. This wasn’t the way she usually ran her missions. She was a hunter, yes, but not some sort of savage predator. Normally she would spend hours planning this sort of capture. But the explosion on Eritree had changed things. So had the presence of Macleod and the constant threat that Scotclan were about to intervene. All she wanted was to come out of the next hour with her crew alive. The Augment too, if at all possible.
“We’re coming close, Mackay,” Hastings shouted from the helm. “If they haven’t already spotted us, they will in the next few minutes.”
“All right. Everyone stand ready for the occupation of the starglider. I’m just going to try one thing first. Francesca, will you open a call to the spacecraft?”
“What? You’re just going to call them up? What about the element of surprise?” Macleod was practically dancing with rage.
“I’m going to give them a chance to surrender,” Biddy said firmly.
“Stupid,” Macleod muttered. Biddy ignored her and waved to Francesca to carry on.
“Placing call.”
Everyone looked up at the viewscreen. It went black, then a broad face grinned back at them.
“Yes?”
Biddy stepped forward. “I am Biddy Mackay from Scotclan. We believe that you are harboring a wanted criminal by the name of Lu Tang. We are here to place him under arrest.”
A pair of bushy eyebrows went up. “Is that right?”
“You would be advised not to impede our progress.”
Still the man didn’t seem impressed. “Would I?”
“Be aware that Scotclan has absolute interstellar jurisdiction in this matter. We would rather not have to act with force.”
“I would rather that too,” Tibo said. He had pulled a tiny metal implement from his pocket and proceeded to pick at his teeth.
“Then hand over the Augment.”
“Ah, did you say an Augment? Yes, I do have one of them onboard. He told me he needed a quick ride off the surface, and paid me handsomely for it.”
Biddy felt flutters of excitement in her stomach. “I’m afraid he is wanted for murder.”
“Is that right?” The man said once more. He didn’t seem overly concerned by the news.
“Where is the Augment just now?”
“Taking a nap.”
“Do you think you could wake him?”
“He does not like to be awoken.”
Biddy heard Macleod tut beside her, but she ignored her. “Then we will come and wake him ourselves.”
Tibo paused, then waved a hand lazily in front of the screen. “Well, I see no reason why you shouldn’t come aboard. Do you have a mid-flight docking portal?”
Biddy nodded. “Yes.”
“Then connect it to the entrance on the port side of the ship. You’ll come out in the cargo bay and just make your way to the command center at the front. As I said, I am alone on the ship so I will not be able to come and greet you.”
“Of course,” Biddy said, feeling somewhat wrong-footed. The man was behaving strangely, but she could hardly object to the fact that he was actually doing what she asked.
“Then I will await your arrival.” The screen went blank.
Biddy turned to Macleod, more than a little smug. “That’s how you do things my way,” she said.
“Don’t be so naive.” Macleod replied. “You’re heading into an ambush. Do I need to remind you of what happened to the Westward Ho!”
Biddy strode over to the woman and jutted out her chin until they were mere inches apart. “What exactly did happen on that ship, Macleod? Because I would really like to know.”
“He brought it down and murdered every single person on board. Including some of my men.”
This was new - Biddy hadn’t realized they were Macleod’s people that were on the ship, although it made sense. It also showed that she was in this up to her scrawny neck.
“I am aware of the allegations against the suspect. I am not being naive. We will board the ship prepared for Phil’s scenario where we use force. If the Captain was honest with us and the Augment is willing to surrender, then we will have no need of it. If events go badly then we will be in a good position to defend ourselves.”
“I still say you are underestimating them.”
“You are welcome to stay on the Black Maria if you are so worried about coming with me.”
“Ha!” Macleod threw her head back in dismissal.
“Well then, I suggest you prepare yourself for space.”
Just a few minutes later Biddy, Phil, Elvis and Macleod were standing next to an airlock. They were wearing spacesuits as a precaution - the docking portal should ensure a seamless transfer between the ships, but there was nothing to stop someone on the starglider turning off their section of airlock and allowing the vacuum of space to get at them. Biddy hoped that would not happen. It would be seriously embarrassing to be floating around space with Macleod until Hastings could come and rescue them.
“Everyone ready?”
A chorus of ‘yes’ let her know it was time to go.
“All right Hastings, connect us up.”
There came a series of beeps and clicks while the docking portal engaged with both airlocks, then the lights went green and they stepped aboard. They moved in an agreed order. Elvis first as he was the most agile. Phil next as he was a weapons nut and loved a bit of violence. That was also why he was behind Elvis as he had a tendency to rush in without thinking when left to his own devices. Then Biddy and Macleod at the rear. Biddy would have preferred not to have had her at her back, but at least she couldn’t get into any trouble from there.
Phil and Elvis had stunguns out and nastier weapons strapped to their backs in case they needed them. Biddy had her own stunner that she held in her right hand and pointed at any corridor they came to. She didn’t like carrying a weapon, but she wasn’t stupid. And this whole set up was making her glad of the weight of the stungun nestled in her palm.
They didn’t see a soul and far too soon they were stood in front of the doors to the command center.
“Right. I want Phil on my left, Elvis on the right. When the door opens you two go in fast and low. If you see anyone holding a weapon I want you to stun first ask questions later. No risks this time, okay?”
The two men nodded and Biddy took a deep breath. Then she pressed on the entrance pad.
A second later the doors opened. There was a rush of movement, and Phil and Elvis were gone. She waited for the sound of gunfire, but there was none.
“We’ve secured the place, boss, but you’re not going to be happy,” her bodyguard said, poking his head back around the door.
Biddy followed Phil onto the command deck. There was no Augment. There was a large man with a broad face who had his hands on his head, about a dozen nasty looking weapons stacked up on tables and Elvis, standing around looking awkward.
“Where the hell is he?” Macleod shouted, pushing past the rest of them into the room. For once the older woman seemed to have lost her cool.
Biddy followed Macleod as she stalked over to the big man. “The God. What have you done with him?” She bellowed in the man’s face.
The man – Tibo, it had to be, even larger than he had looked on the viewscreen – seemed seriously unintimidated.
“Who are you looking for?”
Biddy placed a hand
on Macleod shoulder, ignoring the woman’s death stare. “You know who we are looking for. The Augment.”
“Ah. I’m afraid I was mistaken. He was not taking a nap. He has already left.”
“You bast–”
“Macleod, that is enough!”
Tibo looked around. His eye caught Macleod and he lapsed into a grin. “Macleod, was that what she called you? The years have not been kind, have they. Well, you of all people shouldn’t expect an Augment to hang around. You’ll never catch him now.” The man started to laugh.
And then Macleod shot him.
Chapter 18
The tiny escape pod was barely fifteen square feet. It was entirely made from plastic, which was why it could evade any sensors from troublesome people trying to follow him. It was rather unsettling: travelling through the void of space in something that could be broken into by a few good thumps with a hammer, but it served its purpose.
Lu Tang tapped at the controls and allowed himself a grin. The spaceship that Tibo had supplied, the starglider, had been utterly ridiculous, and he never would have gotten aboard if it hadn’t been for this handy little craft. And it had proved to be the right decision.
As soon as he had seen the Scotclan spacecraft looming on the viewscreen, he knew it was time to leave. In fact, he was kind of disappointed that they hadn’t caught up with him earlier. He hadn’t exactly been keeping a low profile. A hundred years ago law enforcement had really meant something. Now it was just a bunch of kids playing around in spaceships that they barely knew how to fly. Pathetic.
The portal drive was wedged between his boots. Not a very auspicious place for such a precious object, but needs must. He could feel the heat of the little engine through the soles of the boots, pulsing like a heartbeat.
“Unlucky, old man,” Tibo had said as he had helped strap him into the escape pod. There had been more than a little relief on his face as Lu Tang had disappeared into the atmosphere. Well, Tibo had it all wrong. He hadn’t been unlucky at all. This was just the next stage in his plan, that was all. Sure, it would have been nice to have completed his transaction on Eritree with no interruptions, but there was still every possibility that his plan would meet with success.