by J. N. Chaney
"I've got a better idea, considering our circumstances," I said. "Jelly, send the Nightmare a secure message. Hide it in a maintenance routine. Henshaw will know what to do with it. Let's get them over here. By the time we're done offloading survivors onto the Bold Freedom, Novasdaughter and Henshaw should be able to bring the carrier close to our location."
"Right away, Captain," Jelly said.
I disembarked with a group of refugees and escorted them to the makeshift medical bay of the BF. Elise joined me.
"Why are you interested in the medical bay?" Elise asked. "We've done our job getting them here."
"I'm playing a hunch," I told her.
"You're looking for Bug," Elise guessed.
"First X-37 tries to read my mind, now you're doing it," I said.
X-37 squealed. It was similar to a beep being hit with a hammer. "That is an untrue statement that could get me into trouble if anyone believed it."
"Relax, X. We all know you're just a limited artificial intelligence. I was just pulling your chain."
"I've asked you before, Reaper Cain, to stop with the nonsensical metaphors," X-37 said.
"You have, about five hundred times," I agreed.
"One hundred and three times, to be exact," X-37 provided.
I was stunned. "That's all? Never mind. Help me scan this crowd."
"Oh, cool," Elise said. "I'm going to see a Reaper in action."
"You've seen me work before," I said as I scanned the crowd of people. The room was packed full of scavengers being treated for all manner of injuries. There were rows of cots where men and women wearing mismatched hospital clothing attended to them. The doctors and nurses—some more qualified than others—were as likely to wear janitor scrubs as lab coats. I identified them by their behavior, not the way they dressed.
"I've seen you kill people and some monsters. But I've read books and watched action holos. When I was a kid, I always thought the scenes where the heroes were searching the crowd for their victims was just to ratchet up the tension," Elise said. "Now I understand how freaking impossible it is."
Normally, I enjoyed this type of interaction with Elise. Today, I didn't have time and I wasn't in the mood. "You're still a kid."
She didn't take the bait this time. "I'm less of a kid now."
"Whatever." I stopped and looked around. "The air purifiers on the ship have to be working triple time. There are too many people here."
"What can we do about it?" Elise asked seriously.
I realized then how much the pressure of back-to-back missions in a constant fight for survival affected her. Of course she was tough. I knew she was accustomed to running and surviving in impossible situations even before I met her. But we needed a break. Her ability to crack jokes and genuinely be excited about a trivial activity like searching a crowd for Bug was a warning sign. I was a jerk for not giving her five minutes of normality.
"We can't do anything about it, unless we can get these people to Wallach, and that's assuming they still want to go there or that the people on that planet will accept them. And that the Union doesn't send three more fleets after us and wipe everyone from the galaxy."
"Someone's grumpy," Elise complained.
"You're right," I admitted. "This is my fault. We shouldn't be looking for Bug."
"This won't take that long. We'll just do a quick walk-through like in the movies, find your target, except not kill them because this isn't a movie and we like the kid, and get back to work," Elise said.
"That works for me," I said, moving deeper into the storage bay that had become a field hospital. An older woman in a white lab coat asked me to get out of her way and I did. She was polite about it, but obviously tired and stressed out.
"I don't remember what Bug looks like," Elise said.
"You never met him face-to-face?" I said.
"It seems like I did. But I'll recognize his voice," she said. "Maybe we should call out to him. Can X-37 do voice analysis?"
"Not under these conditions," I answered. "X, have you got anything?"
"I have not matched our brief encounter with the child with anyone I've observed so far in this inadequate excuse for a hospital," X-37 said.
"It was worth a shot," I grumbled. "Any news on the Nightmare or Necron?"
"I'm working with Jelly and Novasdaughter. This would be easier if I could contact the Nightmare’s AI directly," X-37 said. "Standby, Jelly is providing an update. Apparently, Novasdaughter is unable to talk with us directly. Necron is having a prolonged debate with Henshaw."
"I'm not sure if that's good or bad. What are they arguing about?" I asked.
"Part of my virus has taken hold. It's a simple line of code that allows Necron to see Nebs's actions through the filter of Union values," X-37 said.
"We are so screwed," Elise commented, crossing her arms and watching the crowd pass by us with medical supplies in their hands as we talked to X.
"On the contrary," X-37 argued. "The codified laws of the Union and what their politicians are constantly telling the population often mimic strong civic values. It's the implementation that becomes toxic and antithetical to human freedoms. Necron is very powerful, but Nebs restricted him to basic functioning."
"I see where you’re going with this," I said.
Elise nodded vigorously, also putting it together. "You’re causing stress to Necron’s system, setting him off balance. Couldn’t that go horribly wrong?"
"Yes, Elise, it could get us all killed," X-37 admitted. "But it is our only chance."
"It’s the mister," a boy yelled. "Get out of my way, you stupid asswipe. I need to tell him thanks for getting us off that deathtrap. Yeah, you fuck off. I don’t care if you’re a doctor. I’m checking out."
A young man with a scar that divided his face horizontally backed away from Bug, clearly intimidated despite having an obvious age and height advantage.
"Elise, you know Bug is going to be trouble," I muttered, regretting my decision to seek the boy out.
She laughed. "That’s nice, coming from you. Or from me, for that matter. Neither of us are exactly low maintenance."
Bug swaggered toward us. He’d grown about three inches, not quite reaching his natural height. I estimated he was about thirteen. Back on Dreadmax, he’d claimed to be fifteen but sounded much younger. As for life experience, he’d probably seen more violent murders than a kill team. There had been a reason he and his friends hid themselves away in a security tower.
"Mister!" Bug said, spreading his arms like a cross between a used shuttle salesman and a party host.
"Good to see you, Bug," I said, an idea forming in my head. I was definitely going to be saddled with the obnoxious cheese-cracker-eating rascal forever. Good Job, Cain.
"Yeah, that’s what I think," he said, acting cool and looking around as though there was a crowd of spectators—which there wasn’t. We were just in the way here.
"I’m down with joining your crew, or team, or whatever you call a bunch of Reapers. My friends all bugged out—ha, ha, that’s freaking hilarious, isn’t it? I ditched most of them on Imni 7 before this piece-of-junk ship left the Deadlands. They were scared of you. Between you and me and the hot chick, we don’t need them. Better off doing our own thing. Fucktards."
I tried and failed to get a word in edgewise. Elise kind of, sort of suppressed laughter as she watched the byplay.
"I looked for you, but people are stupid. Half the dumbasses on this ship acted like they’d never heard of you and kept telling me Reapers weren’t even real. I shanked a few to set things straight," Bug said.
"Bullshit, kid. Talk like that will get you kicked off the team," I said without thinking it through. Give this street punk an inch and he was going to take a mile.
"There is a team! Hell yeah, mister. I was worried," Bug said. "Did you bring me a gun?"
"No. That’s not where you start," I said, thinking quickly.
"Be careful, Reaper Cain," X-37 advised. "I strongly advise against
this course of action. The boy will only be a liability unless you find a camera tower to stick him in."
Ignoring X, I leaned toward Bug, making sure he realized I was as serious as a Reaper blade in the face. "You’re going to learn sensors. Elise will train you on the basics, then Henshaw will round out your education."
"Fuck that!" Elise blurted.
I gave her a warning look, then stood between her and Bug to prevent them from going at it. "You do what I say or you’re done. That’s the way it works."
"Doesn’t sound like it," Bug said. "She just told you to fuck off."
I narrowed my eyes at the kid. "No she didn’t."
"Pretty close," Bug insisted.
"Do you want on the team or not?" I asked.
"I want to be a Reaper. There are a lot of people I need to find and snuff out. Fucking rats and bullies and all-around assholes," Bug said.
"This will be a problem," X-37 warned.
I grabbed Bug by the front of his jumpsuit. "I’m not running a revenge crew. You want to roll with me, then you do what I say."
Bug swallowed hard. "Sorry, mister. I get it. You’re the boss man, the big cheese, the tough guy."
"I believe I have seen through his hard exterior," X-37 said.
"Yeah, X, me too," I said, then released the boy.
"Who are you talking to?" Bug rubbed his chest where I’d grabbed him.
"My conscience," I said.
"He has a limited AI, Bug. Don’t let him fool you. He doesn’t have a conscience," Elise said.
I shrugged rather than argue. "She’s not lying to you. Let’s go. We have things to do."
Bug cheered up immediately, turning to wave a finger at the crowd of caregivers and wounded who mostly ignored us. "See you, losers."
"Don’t do that," I said.
"Do what?" Bug asked.
"Fuck me," I grumbled too low for anyone but X-37 to hear. "We’ll talk about it later, Bug. Just don’t be a dick."
"Rule one, don’t be a dick," Bug stated cheerfully.
13
"We have a problem," X-37 chirped in my ear.
I didn’t need more problems. The Union was breathing down our necks, two stealth carriers, squadrons of micro-fighters, and void-capable Archangels were searching ships and debris fields like they wanted to kill me and all of my friends.
And they certainly did want to. There was no doubt about that.
"What is it, X?" I patted my gear for a lighter and found not only did I lack a way to light a cigar, but I lacked cigars.
"Horvath is confronting Brion Rejon, the leader—or a leader—of the scavengers, about Gunner," X-37 said.
"Send their location to my HUD. I’m on the way," I said, then glared at Bug. When I held out my hand, he put a cigar in it.
"You little sneak," I said. "Give me the other two."
"There were only two, not three," he insisted. "You’re trying to cheat me!"
"You stole the cigars from me," I blurted. "How could I possibly cheat you?"
"You’re trying to make me give you three when you only had two. That’s bullshit," Bug insisted. "You’re trying to cheat me."
"Don’t pout. Give me the two cigars and never steal from me again," I said.
Bug handed over the second cigar.
"You’re too young to smoke anyway," I scolded him, tucking away the cigars with my best sleight of hand to confuse him about which utility pocket they actually went in. Pickpocket defense was an art I hadn’t needed to practice for a while.
"He’s totally going to steal from you again," Elise said. "But he won’t steal from me because I’ll push him out an airlock."
"You’re hot," Bug said. "Maybe we should hang out sometime."
"Airlock," Elise said, staring down at him.
He spread his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay."
"I feel like I’m running a daycare, X," I said at a volume I thought was private.
"Don’t lump me in with him," Elise said. "I’ve earned my place."
"Yeah, yeah," I said. "I forgot how good your hearing is. He can shadow Tom when you and I are on away missions."
There was more back and forth as we moved through the crowded hallways of the Bold Freedom, but we didn’t exactly cover new ground. Bug was going to be a pain in the ass, but he’d saved us on Dreadmax, so we owed him.
I led the way through the extremely short docking tube to the Jellybird where Horvath and Rejon were squared off.
"What the hell is going on?" I demanded.
"This honorless scavenger claims his people aren’t cannibals," Horvath said. "And he won't tell me where Gunner’s body is."
"We do not consume each other," Rejon said, remaining calm despite the accusations—reasonably calm at least. He didn’t look like he would throat punch Horvath right this second.
"There’s nothing to eat in space—" Horvath said, pointing a finger in Rejon’s face.
Rejon slapped it away.
I pushed between them and held them away from each other. "Stop. I’m the only person on this ship who gets to kill people on a whim."
Horvath and Rejon stared through me, eyes locked on each other.
"Your friend will be returned with honors," Rejon promised.
"I don't believe you," Horvath said.
"Then you will be unhappy and bitter," Rejon said. "It will change nothing. Your friend’s body will be returned. That is all. I cannot resurrect the man."
"I won’t forget this," Horvath muttered, saying something under his breath about cannibals getting his friend.
"Enough!" I shouted. "We’ll get Gunner back, one way or another. Drop it."
Horvath glared but said nothing more.
By the time I reached the bridge, I was thoroughly done with Horvath and Rejon. The latter followed me with the agreement he would provide answers about his people and what had happened in the system.
I flopped down into my captain's chair, thoroughly exhausted. I couldn't think of what I had done to cause so many aches and pains and the intense desire to hit the rack for a few hours of sleep. A good solo mission would've been a lot easier than being a leader.
"Jelly, give me an update if it’s not a shit-ton of trouble," I said.
"Of course, Captain," Jelly said. "The Dark Lance is advancing on our position at their best possible speed. After consulting with X-37, the Lady Faith, and Novasdaughter, I believe the Dark Lance is the new flagship of the Union stealth carrier fleet."
"Makes sense," I said, knowing that X-37 would tell me if there was more to the discussion. "Are we prepared?"
"We are as ready as we can be," Jelly said. "The Nightmare is on final approach to our sector but will not be able to fight as effectively as the Dark Lance due to the continuing problems with Necron."
"Hae we made any progress with him?" I asked.
"We are still dealing with Necron. My recommendation, and I believe X-37 concurs, is to formulate alternate plans such as abandoning the Nightmare if necessary," Jelly said.
"Trust me, I've already thought of that," I said. "It doesn't look like the Dark Lance is moving in for the kill. Correct me if I'm wrong."
Several silent moments passed. Elise, the ship computer and my LAI, and Novasdaughter all worked diligently from their respective locations.
"It doesn't make much sense," Novasdaughter said from the Nightmare’s bridge. "But the Dark Lance has altered course and is heading for one of the ruined planets in what should be the green zone of this system. I would expect there to be colonies on the two worlds orbiting a habitable distance from the sun, but it seems they were ravaged by very old wars."
"Rejon, what do you think?" I asked.
The look on his face told me most of what I needed to know. He was pale and contemplative, clearly upset that the Dark Lance was heading toward the planet.
"Talk to me, Rejon. Do you have a settlement on one of those planets?" I asked.
He hesitated, but then met my eyes. "We have people everywhere. Wh
en you're living on the fringe as we are, even the most inhospitable places are better than the void."
"Voice analysis suggests he is minimizing his interest in the planets," X-37 said to me privately. "I suspect the scavengers have a significant presence on or near the planets and that Nebs must have detected this and is en route to punish them."
"Rejon, I need you to be straight with me. The man in charge of this Union fleet has a very special vendetta against me and my people. For him to break off and go after something else is significant, if you get my drift," I said.
He swallowed hard and refused to make eye contact. "Perhaps he is looking for hostages."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's what he is after," I said, not trying to hide my annoyance with the subterfuge. "He thinks I’ll be swayed by my obvious concern for a bunch of strangers—people who would be easier for him to capture right here in the debris fields."
"There are more people on the planet than you might suspect. We've worked hard to accentuate the appearance of un-survivability," Rejon explained. "Once, we thought we could rebuild a fleet from the ships hidden there but the fuel cost required for landing and launching from the planet is high. The people on the planet are forced to stay on the planet, as miserable as that experience is."
A hidden population still wasn't enough reason for Nebs to alter course, but I let the scavenger leader think I was convinced. If he wasn't going to answer my questions, I would have to find the answers in his actions.
I'd hoped he would be a natural ally but wasn't sure if we were going to be on the same side for long. Maybe he was responsible for destroying dozens of fleets in the system just like Vice Admiral Nebs claimed. Maybe he was a ruthless, throat-slashing pirate. Brion Rejon could be more dangerous than my archenemy.
"X, we need to figure out what the hell Nebs is doing," I said.
"Perhaps it would be better to continue this discussion in private," X-37 advised.
He was right, but I didn't care. "What could be so important that Nebs forgot how much he hates me?"