"Good, make yourself at home, Space Ranger."
As Rikan moved off and started sending his security detail in his direction, Noah started imagining all the ways the shape shifter could screw him over. There was always the hope that things could stay straightforward, that he could create a safe harbour at least for a while and engage in a little simple commerce, but Noah Lucas stopped trusting his luck on Iora.
Forty-Five
Catching Up
* * *
The Doxan System reminded Alice of several off-trade route stops she made while she was in hiding. That felt like a previous life until she saw the list of stations, ruined ports and competing outposts that populated the system map. She tapped her finger on the edge of the navigation console, listening to the Hart News Report for the third time. Woone was flying, it was her third time in the pilot's seat. The only outward sign of nervousness was how she licked her chops every once in a while, that pink tongue running from her nose then back along the length of her jaws before it disappeared. Her anxiety was plain to Alice, though, and she wished she could reach out and turn it down for her, but she had to depend on old-fashioned reassurances. "Remember, Lewis has you on easy mode. He's running the flight assist program," Alice told her.
"I know, I know," Woone said quietly as she guided the Clever Dream towards Doxan III. They would have moved faster if Alice was at the controls, mostly because she'd have the ship on autopilot, but the absence of Ute was keenly felt. There was only one person experienced at flying the Clever Dream with her gone. Inexperienced pilots had trouble training aboard her ship. It had the agility of a fighter along with the sensitive controls but there was a lot more to account for. Even Alice depended on flight assist software to smooth some of the jagged edges of her flying out, something she'd have to work on.
Quan was muttering with impatience to at the communications panel as he struggled with a few of the finer details of the system while Faloo was taking instruction from Iruuk at the sensors and sciences station. She'd manned it before, but he was teaching her a new level of detail that she hadn't started training on. At least that seemed to be going well.
Yawen popped into the bridge hatch, leaning in. "Look at all the learning going on here." They could hear her smile if they didn't bother to look up at her. "How's it going?"
"Pretty good." Alice could feel Yawen's eagerness. Whatever feelings the woman had were pushed aside by the urge to get off the ship and explore.
"Woone has promise as a pilot," Lewis said. "She needs a little more patience, but I've barely had to assist her. True competence will require practice, but I see qualifications in her future. Quan does not like the live directory system and is easily frustrated by junk advertising. I could help, but I find his quiet frustration amusing. Faloo is smarter and faster than I anticipated, her general inability to read detailed scans without me translating them will be corrected soon."
"Thank you?" Faloo snickered.
"Oh, it was a compliment. Most people can't learn how to read scan data at that detail level so quickly. Your intelligence easily makes up for your shedding habits."
"Still feel like that was less compliment and more criticism there," Faloo snickered, holding her nose for a moment.
"Shedding is not a habit," Iruuk said. "We must shed."
"I disagree. There are grooming machines, and shaving is a valid…"
"Lewis," Alice interrupted. "Remember that conversation we had about hygiene and privacy?"
"Right. How people keep themselves is their business," Lewis sighed. "Bringing me to the status of our Captain. Alice seems uncharacteristically impatient and on edge. I have a feeling it has something to do with her impending reunion with Noah Lucas."
"Yeah, about that," Yawen said. "I took a look at the floorplan and specs of Angel's Landing. The main station is a great spoke design, like some of the older astronomy hotels, but the drift that grew off its starboard side is a mess. Security wise it can handle the rabble, and compartmentalization is good, but against military hardware it's a joke. We can do whatever we want there. Maybe that's why Noah picked this spot to start reaching out to resistance groups?"
"He didn't so much pick the place," a light, clear voice said. "It was a convenient spot to explore while we waited for you."
"Who's that?" Alice asked Quan.
Quan looked over his shoulder at her, a helpless expression on his face. Confusion and frustration mingled in his head. "It's not coming through the communication system as far as I can see."
"That is Elise, I've been speaking to her since we arrived on the edge of the system," Lewis said. "She's my counterpart on the Corsair."
"I thought you said communications weren't possible with Noah right now," Alice said.
"That is true. He's a few metres below the main fusion reactor for the station. It's old, the shielding isn't as good as what you'd expect from a modern system, but he's safe, and the people in the bar beneath enjoy the inability to communicate or make clear recordings," Elise explained. "I was able to communicate with your ship, though, and Lewis answered my call. We've been talking, it's been interesting. Theodore said he was going to tell you, he's been in on the conversation for several minutes."
"How long has the conversation been going on?" Yawen asked.
"Three minutes, five seconds, fifty-three milliseconds," Lewis said. "It has been lively."
"So, what is Noah up to right now?" Alice said, glancing at the Navnet hologram. They would be in a direct line to scan Angel's Landing in less than a minute, able to dock in fourteen. With a few gestures she requested to be reassigned a more direct route to the station. The Navnet system responded, giving them a route that would allow them to dock in just over five minutes.
"I am printing the first batch of KA-Fifteens for the station. They're human analogue security bots that Noah sold to the station in trade for a meeting with The Underground, a prominent resistance group in the Doxan System."
"He works fast," Yawen said.
"Are the station owners members of the Underground or any other resistance group?" Alice asked.
"Not that we know of."
"He's going against orders then?" Iruuk asked. "Wasn't he only supposed to sell to resistance groups?"
There was a part of Alice that agreed with Iruuk, those were his orders, even if he was encouraged to improvise. That part of her thinking came from her time in the Academy during the first Apex Program. It might not have lasted long, but that was a formative time that she remembered fondly.
The rebellious, improvisational side of her appreciated what he was doing though, and she knew him well enough to be fairly sure that he wasn't doing something that would bite them in the ass later. "It's not like this mission would benefit from me putting him on report. He probably had to get the door open." Alice looked the robots he sold up on a hologram to her right and nodded. "These things aren't dangerous to us unless you put serious hardware into their hands. Skitters are smarter."
"I know, I think that's why he wasn't reluctant to sell them. I did print a New Type Haven Shore Guardian for myself, too. That one will not be for sale, but I had to have security aboard since the Fifteens I'm printing are walking out the airlock and a few lookie-loos have gathered to watch from the nearest hub."
"Can I talk to him?" Alice asked.
"The reactor has been turned up, our communications have been basic and intermittent for over an hour. I can verify that his suit is reporting good health and low stress, however," Elise said.
"Lewis, take over," Alice said. "Get docked with the station. Iruuk; you're on watch. Yawen, Knud, Theo and Krooke; you're with me. What are the docking fees here?"
"Three platinum per hour," Quan replied. "That seems high."
"That's all right, we're only getting dropped off, then the Clever Dream will orbit the station." The navigation station showed that they were cleared to dock at Angel's Landing, and Alice locked it. "We're going with our hoods up, no one gets to see our faces
. Personal shields will be on, we will be fully armed, but our heavy suits will not be deployed."
"Rifles and secondary weapons?" Yawen asked. "You realize we can blow holes in any part of that station if we turn them up, right? This isn't a military installation."
"We're putting on a show." Alice could feel Yawen's excitement, Iruuk and Woone's disappointment at not being allowed to join them, and she tried to muffle her empathic sense. It worked a little, the people around her didn’t seem as intense. "I don't know what kind of narrative Noah's building, so we're going to join him as his personal security force."
"That's wise, Captain Valent," Elise said. "He's building a solo operator legend, very similar to what I've seen in the training manuals. There's a little Robin Hood in there, too, but it gets a little screwy considering how much platinum he's making on this deal. If you go in as his protection, then his work will remain intact. I'll send him a text message so he knows you're coming."
"Don't include our names, just in case someone demands to see the message. Call us The Muscle," Alice said. Elise was surprisingly similar to Lewis, she even liked to talk, choosing a friendlier tact instead of the most efficient one. Only time would tell if she actually liked the artificial intelligence, though.
"Wise, again. I feel I'm going to learn a lot from you, Captain Valent," Elise said warmly.
"Sensors off, newbie. That's my Captain," Lewis grumbled.
"Sorry, I'll defer to your judgement in terms of access and exposure, since you are the artificial intelligence assigned to the Clever Dream."
Alice and Yawen made their way down to the embarkation compartment. "Tell me everything about Noah's deal, Elise."
While Knud, Yawen, Theodore, Krooke and Alice got ready, Elise told her every detail, playing parts of the conversation back as needed. They removed all emblems from their thick military vacsuits and changed their colours. Alice went with powder blue, Yawen's was yellow, Theodore's was green, Knud's was a startling silver, and Krooke's was turned glossy black. The vacsuit detail was turned all the way up so his fur looked like spikes coated with dark steel. Alice's heavy armour captain's long coat was styled the same as Noah's, the V shape of the armour slats were chromed. Her boots and the rest of the jacket were a matte navy blue.
The changes happened fast, and Alice barely paid attention as she smiled at Noah's simple negotiations. Waiting around took patience, and investing in the station management was a risk, but they would definitely be meeting with someone today.
* * *
YOUR MUSCLE IS COMING, SIR. FIRST DELIVERY OF 10 ANDROIDS IS COMPLETE. THE CORSAIR IS SECURE said the text message on Noah's wrist.
"What's that? You get communication down here?" asked Onir, the Mergillian in power armour across the table from him. He was a representative from the Underground, so he said, but if the ragtag trio he arrived with was any indication, they were barely in shape for a fight.
"Yeah," Noah said, enlarging the text on his arm and showing it to him. "More of my people are arriving, things are going well on the station."
"Good, good, so what weapons are you selling? Do you have anything today?" he asked.
"I could use some armour, how much does that under suit cost? I can't even scan through it at two metres," one of his human companions asked.
"Hang on," Noah said, smiling. "Rikan didn't say I'd be meeting anyone named Onir, and you still haven't answered my question. How did you get on board the station?"
"We are freedom fighters with the Underground. They dropped us off," Onir shrugged.
"What kind of muscle is coming?" asked one of Onir's men. He had a shell treatment on his head and shoulders that made him look like he was coated in violet metal. It moved with him, making him look more like some cartoon character than something Noah found intimidating.
Noah disregarded the violet man's question. "Okay, but I don't see any Order of Eden fighters here. This is a backwater to a backwater of a station, why would the Underground drop such fine, capable members off here?"
"That is not your business," Violet said.
"Right, not your business," Onir agreed. "Now, what guns?"
"I'm here to meet with and sell to resistance fighters. I mean, maybe I'll branch out someday, but stock is limited. I could spare some polish or something if Violet there wants to shine his dome a little, but no guns unless I see you are true freedom fighters against the Order."
"How do we prove that, simian?" Violet asked.
"Show me footage. Maybe some important stolen Order of Eden data. I mean, even a black box from one of their combat shuttles or fighters would do as long as it verified that your ship shot it down or you pirated the ship somehow. There are plenty of ways. If you're a resistance fighter, you'll be able to confirm it somehow."
"You can read Eden black box?" Violet asked.
"Sure, can't you?" Noah asked. He could have sold the thugs a bunch of hardware that was just a hair better than what they had, but Elise would run out of resources in two hours, so her printing capabilities were limited. They'd have to go gather some raw materials and soon. "Listen, if you're from the Underground, then you can get out of this reactor's jamming range, contact someone from them with negotiation power, and come back with proof of who you are. As it is, you're not who Rikan said I'd be meeting, so this is all a bit sketchy."
"Sketchy?" asked Onir the Mergillian. "What is 'sketchy?'"
"He's not going to sell to us," Violet said. "We take him for Nore then."
The double doors across from Noah opened, revealing five armoured figures carrying rifles that were more powerful than weapons found on most of the starfighters in the solar system. He guessed Alice was in the lead in form fitted powder blue and a captain's jacket like his own. Knud and one of the thick bodied Nafalli crewmembers towered in the rear, while Yawen and a human male beside her were in the middle. He wondered if it was Theodore, that would be his guess since his stature was absolutely average. He was the only one without a rifle. "There's that muscle you were asking about. Move along." He was relieved to see them. A firefight was coming, and he'd win unless someone was hiding a grenade or two, but he didn't want to cause trouble on his first day of negotiations.
Violet, Onir and everyone else in the bar looked over their shoulders as Alice led her group of five across the large space. Muted white light from the reactor above flickered throughout the place as they marched to his side. The group at Noah's table slipped away quietly. Alice and the rest of her people arranged themselves behind him, the sound of their boots ringing out as dozens of patrons looked on. A laser link symbol appeared on Noah's command and control unit. "Hope we didn't screw up negotiations," Alice said, her voice welcome in his ear.
"No, they were the third group to have a seat since word got out that I was the latest arms dealer brave enough to sell to anyone other than gangsters. I think they were about to try to put me in restraints and sell me to Shlaki, the pirate group I pissed off, not that I'd let them. Your timing was perfect. Oh, and you look amazing in the blue suit, but you probably already knew that."
Krooke snickered, his black coated spiky head looking more sinister than he realized, Noah was sure. "We can all hear you, she made a laser link net."
"Oh, he means the new colour enhances her attractive figure," Theodore said. "You know, that gets confusing with slang and how attractiveness is so subjective."
"Good to hear you, Theo," Noah said with a smile, still not looking back at him. "I'd give you a great big hug but I don't want to spoil the cool image I've built up over the last few hours. That goes for all of you."
"That's good to hear, my empathy is so muffled right now that I feel almost normal," Alice said.
"I'm crazy happy to see you," Noah said under his breath, casually covering his mouth. "In case you were wondering."
"She was, she definitely was," Krooke whispered. "Pretending that we're all your stiff-necked guards, showing no emotion must be driving her nuts. Everyone wants to see what happens nex
t in your mating ritual."
"I believe that was inappropriate," Theodore said. "Or at least embarrassing."
Noah lost his composure, laughing not only at the antics of the Clever Dream crew, but with relief at not being alone. Then he spotted Rikan as he entered. He smiled at a group in the corner booth to his left. They got to their feet and fell into step. The three of them were wearing helmets that covered their faces down to their upper lips that matched the plate and environment suit armour they wore. Patches of yellow and red were visible on the flexible parts of their suits where wear and tear had rubbed the green and black coating off. Noah recognized the prismatic quality to the overcoat paint they put on their armour. It was made to reflect beam weapons and dissipate stunner blasts. "Welcome," Noah said as they approached.
One of them, he wasn't sure if it was a man or a woman, sat down and held out a small, high resolution holographic projector. An image appeared of an Order of Eden Customs Corvette. "Rikan said you needed proof," said the petitioner, her voice was disguised, electronically lowered and rasped.
Cannon fire to either side of the view made it plain that he was watching footage from a ship's nose recorder as rounds raked the customs corvette. Target indicators along the bottom of the holographic recording showed that its shields were failing, and in a jarring, sudden move, the ship made contact with the Order vessel. Audio of creaking metal and plasma drills proceeded to switch to the first-person view of a helmet camera.
The soldier in the lead moved through a shattered airlock door, blasting Order of Eden troops as he went. His kinetic rifle rattled rounds off at the defenders as they were torn up by the explosive impacts. The soldier who was providing the point of view had to change magazines every few seconds, and the group behind him made sure that he was covered as he did so. It seemed they all had to do the same, perhaps their rounds were powerful, but large so they had to reload constantly. Even still, Noah watched as the footage detailed how they killed several Order of Eden soldiers, none were Knights, but it was still impressive. Fourteen were gunned down as they made their way to the nearest access point to the ship's data core and cracked the security by hooking it up to a computer the size of a keg. It was old fashioned piracy, done well, but at great risk and expense. "My system can verify that there are no signs of doctoring in that recording," Alice said. "Now you just have to figure out if it's hers." Only Noah could hear her, and it was good to hear her voice even though he was sure there would be a serious discussion about how many enemies he might have made on his way into the system and how over-exposed he and the Corsair were. Maybe she was right, but he hoped it would be worth it, he hoped he was actually meeting with leadership from a real resistance group without setting foot on Doxan III.
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 13 Page 36