by Leslie Chase
Selling it ourselves would be hard work for Alice, but it would cut out the commission Syrcen would charge. For a prize this big it would be worth the effort, especially since he’d be able to skim even more off the top of this sale. It’s not like we had a reference for what the pod was worth.
Both airlock doors hissed open and Alice groaned theatrically, looking out onto the dock beyond. “Too late for that.”
Syrcen stood there, along with a group of his Drall guards. His smile was that of a predator on the hunt. Or was that just his crocodile face? Hard to tell.
“Welcome back, humans,” he called up as I stepped forward. “I hope that you have what you owe me, because the interest is piling up and to be frank, I’m not sure you’re good for it, see?”
He didn’t sound too unhappy with the prospect. If we defaulted on our debt, he’d take our ship and between that and the interest we’d already paid, he’d make a tidy profit. If we paid up he’d make more money but slower.
“We’ll pay,” I said, walking down to meet him. Better to sound confident than weak, I’d learned that watching my father’s dealings with the mob. “Just need to sell the salvage we’ve brought in, then I’ll come and see you, pay off our debt complete with interest.”
“Ohhh.” His smile broadened. “Must have been a good haul, then. Congratulations. I’ll broker the best deal you’ll find, save you the trouble of selling it all yourselves. I look after my clients, see.”
There was nothing sincere about Syrcen’s words, not a hint of anything to believe, and I knew better than to think he wanted the debt paid. No, he wanted us paying interest on it for as long as possible, and then to take away everything we owned once we failed to pay.
That was another lesson my father had taught me, a hard-won experience for him. I won’t end up the same, I promised myself, forcing myself to grin back as though nothing was wrong.
“Good enough that we’ll want some work done on the ship,” I said. “Might need another loan for that, though…”
Dangling the promise of more money in front of Syrcen and his gang was a risky move, but I really didn’t want him to think his best route to profit from us came from stealing our cargo and our ship. He nodded, eyes sparkling, and I thought we had an understanding. I hoped so, anyway.
A protection racket wasn’t good, but it would be worth it to keep Syrcen off our backs. As long as I kept our loan payments to a minimum we’d be able to turn a profit. And once we’d made enough, we’d skip the station and head home.
The cargo ramp hit the deck with a thump, and the others started hauling down our treasures. Enough money there to tempt the Drall, but trying to hide it would only make them suspicious.
It was hard work, even with the gravity clamps, and the six of us were sweating heavily by the time we’d finished unloading. The Drall watched us, amused — with their muscles it would have been an easy job, but I wasn’t about to ask for their help and they wouldn’t offer it.
The stasis pod came last. Gravity clamps rendered it weightless but did nothing to stop its mass. Given its size, the pod would crush anyone if we lost control of it, so we took care to keep it slow and gentle.
For the first time, the Drall stopped talking amongst themselves. A brittle silence settled over us all as Syrcen approached.
“Now that is a treasure,” he said, running a hand along the side. “An old Vehn stasis chamber? In working condition? Priceless.”
You’d better not mean free, mister. I didn’t say it, just thought it loudly before I answered. “Yeah, I expect it’ll fetch a good price. You’ll get a good cut from this run.”
“I’m sure I will. Is it occupied? The pod’s valuable, but if you’ve caught yourself a Vehn noble, well, I know how to profit from that.”
“Of course you do,” I said, a little sharper than I’d intended to. I really didn’t want to get involved in some ransom scheme or whatever he had in mind, but whoever was in the pod was no Vehn. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have any value to the Drall syndicate.
I slid back the cover on the transparent panel, and Syrcen blinked as he looked inside. His jaws clicked shut, his thick fingers tightened where he leaned on the pod, his eyes narrowed.
Alice would be better at reading his body language than me, but I was sure what he saw shocked him.
“That is a Caibar,” Syrcen whispered, an unfamiliar tone of awe in his voice. “A sleeping Caibar warrior. Where did you find him?”
I shook my head. “No way. We’re not sharing that with anyone yet, not till we get a salvage plan together.”
An annoyed look in his eye, Syrcen hissed his disappointment. I looked back, as steadily as I could, and shrugged. “Hey, you still get to profit off it, right?”
“Were there more? More tanks like this, more Caibar?” Syrcen’s sudden interest put my hackles up. The pod was a valuable prize, but this was over the top for a working piece of stasis tech.
He seemed more interested in the man inside, this ‘Caibar’ — was that the name of his species? His culture? An organization? — than the pod, anyway. Admittedly so was I but Syrcen’s interest wasn’t the same.
“We didn’t see any,” I told him carefully. “If we find more, we’ll tell you.”
Syrcen hesitated, then nodded, drumming his thick, lizard-like fingers on the pod’s lid. “Yes, good. Bring them to me and I’ll make you rich. And I’ll take this one off your hands, right now, to clear your debt.”
I blinked. That was the closest any of the Drall syndicate had ever come to generosity: I’d hoped that, between the pod and our hold full of other, less important finds, we’d claw our way into the black. Now the rest of our finds turned into profit, enough to set us up securely.
My dad hadn’t raised a fool, though. If they were willing to pay that much, the pod and the alien inside had to be worth much, much more. As tempting as getting out of the Dralls’ debt was, I wasn’t dumb enough to take the first offer.
Nor was I going to sell a sapient lifeform. Nautilus Station was home to a slave market, and we’d all agreed that we’d have nothing to do with that awful trade. Straightening my back, I fixed Syrcen with a glare.
“No. The pod’s not for sale yet, not until we’ve valued it,” I said. “If you want first refusal, sure — we owe you, after all — but you’ll have to wait.”
A menacing hiss filled the air, and I was uncomfortably aware of how isolated we were. We’d claimed the landing space where we’d fist set down, out of habit more than anything. When we were fresh meat, keeping our distance from danger had seemed prudent.
Now, looking at the half-dozen humanoid crocodiles fingering their weapons, it seemed like a terrible idea. Not that the other crews would have stepped in to help us, even if they had been nearby.
“You don’t understand, human,” Syrcen hissed again. “I was not asking. We’re taking this pod, clearing your debt, and you should be grateful I’m being that generous.”
“And how do you think your business will run once the rest of the scavengers find out you steal from your clients?” Alice’s voice, usually warm and bubbly, was cold as comet-ice. She hissed and clicked something, sounds that had no business in a human throat, and the Drall blinked and stared at her.
“Your accent is awful, human,” he said eventually with an unconvincing chuckle. “Few outsiders learn our language, and that gets you a pass. But don’t threaten me again.”
He turned back to me. “The deal I’ve offered is good. You can’t complain, and even if you could it wouldn’t help. We are taking the pod, right now.”
A quick gesture to his guards and they stepped forward, pulling off our gravity clamps and lifting the pod easily. This was over now if I didn’t try something stupid.
The others wouldn’t blame me. I’d tried my best, and we were still getting paid more than we’d expected. That didn’t matter — I’d know, and I’d always blame myself if I didn’t act now.
“There are more of them,” I blurted, the onl
y line that I was sure would capture the Dralls’ attention. And it did, stopping them in their tracks. Great. Now I had to back it up. “We can get more, at least two more. But you have to cut me in on whatever your deal is, first.”
My mouth sped way ahead of my brain, leaving me struggling to keep up with my own lies. Syrcen looked at me, cocked his head to the side, then nodded.
“If you can get more Caibar, that’s very interesting,” he said slowly. “Okay. Fine. Come with us and I’ll bring you up to speed. There’ll be enough profit for all of us.”
Now what have I talked myself into? I looked back at the others, who struggled to contain their horror. Not unreasonable; without the tide of adrenaline flooding my bloodstream, I would be too.
“Michaela, you’re in charge till I get back,” I said, preempting any argument. She opened her mouth, closed it again, and settled for nodding.
Before I chickened out, I turned to follow the Drall into the back corridors of the station, trying to think of a part two to this plan.
The walk gave me plenty of time to think. Too much, in fact — the Drall carried the pod into the deep corridors of the station, out away from the working life support systems where no one went if they could help it.
I’d have worried that it was the perfect place to leave a body, but no one would care if Syrcen killed me. The closest thing Nautilus Station had to police were the gangs protecting their clients.
If he was planning a murder, he’d have done it by now, I told myself firmly, rubbing sweaty palms on my pants and hoping that the aliens wouldn’t see my fear.
Syrcen ignored me, and the group walked on in silence until he led us into a large room. The air smelled of chemicals and rot, the lights flickered, and a worrying crackle from the electronics made me want to flinch away from the walls. We’d finally reached our destination.
“What’s here?” I asked, looking around at the bare walls. Someone had stripped the doors from their frames, half the wall panels were missing, and the only thing here was an abandoned empty crate. Syrcen sat on it, gesturing for his minions to put down the pod.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” the alien said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together. “The best kind of privacy: no one can guess where I took us, no one can listen in. We can talk and work in privacy, see?”
And he can leave whatever bodies he wants to. I bit my lip, unable to shake that thought even if it was silly.
“So, what’s so important about this, what did you call him, cyber warrior?”
“Caibar,” Syrcen corrected. “Elite Vehn soldiers, the best of the best. They held the Vehn together, spearheaded their conquests, made them unbeatable in war. The Vehn controlled them somehow, and with access to this one we’ll work out how. With a Caibar under our control we’ll take over the whole station — and I do mean ‘we’ human. If you can supply more of them you’ve earned a place at the table.”
Was he serious? His crocodile smile made me doubt it, but with his face it was the only smile he had to offer. Not that it mattered when I was lying about the other Caibar. Sincere or not, Syrcen would kill me when I failed to deliver. Yep, this is a great plan. Well done, me.
“At least two more occupied pods, maybe more. I can’t promise that the Caibar in them are alive, though. We need better cutters to dig them out of the wreckage safely, so we figured we’d sell this one, buy the tools, and go back for the others.”
Syrcen nodded and rumbled approval. “I can loan you whatever tools you need for that. And some of my men to help with the heavy lifting.”
“No.” I met his gaze. “My crew can handle it just fine, and I don’t need to owe you any more than I do. If we’re partners, we’re partners, and I’ll pull my weight.”
Syrcen nodded, and I thought I’d scored some points. If I took his people aboard the Ladies’ Choice, I doubted they’d have any qualms about seizing control of the ship.
Okay, I’m doing well at negotiating a deal I don’t want. Come on brain, what’s part two of this stupid plan?
Stalling for time, I wandered over to the pod and looked inside again. The blue-skinned figure lay there, squeezed into a space too small for him, tail wrapped around him. A soldier, a super-soldier from an Empire that died decades ago. How would he react to when he woke up?
My heart ached for him, thinking about that gulf of time. He’s lost everything, and now Syrcen wanted to bring him back as a slave. To profit from him and his survival.
On the other hand, a warrior for the Empire might have committed any atrocity. The station we were on orbited a planet that was still burning after all this time. What other horrors had this Caibar unleashed?
There was a rough-hewn nobility to his face, I decided. It wasn’t much to pick sides on, but there was something that made me choose him. This wasn’t a monster.
“How will you control them?” I asked. “Not much point in gathering them if we can’t use them.”
Syrcen rose from his makeshift throne and ambled over. “I’ve always been a collector of Imperial technology, and I’ve studied the Caibar. I have a few theories, see, I just need a subject to test them on. And, no offense to you, that’s my secret, the same way the Caibars’ location is yours.”
Did he actually mean it? At least for now, he was treating me as an equal, and that was an unfamiliar feeling. Not enough to make me like him, trust him, or want to side with him, though.
I remembered the mobsters on Earth, the way they’d been agreeable and cheerful until they saw a profit. The worst thing about them was that they were sincere: friendly, nice even, willing to do little favors until the moment they turned on a dime.
This was the same. No matter how friendly Syrcen was, as soon as he had more to gain from screwing me over than cooperating, he’d turn on us and eat us alive like the predator he was. Someone like Syrcen didn’t have friends, not really.
If I hadn’t already made up my mind, that would have decided me. “So you don’t have it figured out just yet? Do you think you’ll get control of him by the time I bring you more? I’ll need profit from that trip.”
Syrcen rumbled something in his own language. “We’ll take care of that, don’t worry. Get me those Caibar and I’ll work on controlling them. Then we can rule the station together.”
“Two or three of them against everyone else?”
“With my Drall, yes. And we won’t have to fight everyone — when they see Caibar on our side, most of the gangs will back down. That’s how the Empire did it, only they did it on a planetary scale.”
I’d never expected to hear a loanshark sound wistful, but there he was, dreaming of conquests bigger than a single space station. Even Nautilus was too much to leave in his hands, though, and I wouldn’t condone slavery under any circumstances.
There was only one way I to stop him, and I knew I’d been putting it off. It had been clear from the beginning; I’d just hoped I’d find a better way.
One that I might survive.
Too late for that, I thought, and grabbed the recessed release handle beside the pod hatch. My sudden movement caught Syrcen flatfooted and he didn’t react fast enough to stop me. Throwing my weight against the lever, I pulled it back and the clear panel hissed open. The Drall stared at me in shock.
I might hate the way they’d dismissed me as a threat, but it had given me the edge I needed. It took them precious seconds to react. Seconds in which I looked down at the Caibar warrior, hoping I’d made the right choice.
He didn’t stir, didn’t so much as twitch. Come on, wake up, you’re our only hope.
Behind me, Syrcen shook off his shock and snarled.
“What have you done?” Not so much a question as an accusation. Without going me a chance to answer, he grabbed my shoulder and hauled me away from the pod. I didn’t resist — why bother? I’d done what I could. It was out of my hands now.
“What have you done?” The loanshark repeated, roaring his question into my face and gesturing desperately with his
free hand. Another Drall leaned on the pod’s opening hatch, trying without success to force it closed. Another rushed forward and fumbled with the controls with no more success.
Out of the corner of my eyes I saw the others glance between their boss and the open pod. Two edged towards it, two more away. Before I saw anything else Syrcen shook me roughly by the throat, pulling my full attention to him.
“I didn’t…” my words barely got out past his hand, and I struggled to breathe. I didn’t even have an excuse to offer.
“I offer you the chance to be part of something big, but instead you decide to die,” he snarled, snapping his awful jaws shut inches from my face. His free hand struck my cheek, sending me flying back against the wall. My head struck the metal and stars blossomed in my vision.
“Get that shut before he wakes up, idiots,” Syrcen snapped to his men, looming over me as I tried to get to my feet. “I’ll deal with this one.”
Okay, this was turning out to be an even worse plan than I’d expected.
6
Delkor
Time started again and my consciousness swam up from the abyss of hibernation. Dreams faded fast, leaving me disoriented and unsure what was memory, what was fantasy, what was reality.
My body ached as it came alive. Drained by my long stay in the bubble of near-timeless hyperspace, all my reserves were low. Hopefully I wouldn’t need to leap straight back into action.
Voices surrounded me, meaningless sounds snarled and shouted. Odd. My implants held every useful language in the Empire and this wasn’t any of them.
Into whose hands had I fallen? Not the Empire, clearly. But they didn’t sound like allies, either. Some third party, joining the war to take advantage of the Empire’s weakness? That didn’t feel right.
I stayed silent and still, hoping I’d learn more if my hosts didn’t suspect I’d woken. My implanted computer would learn the language with enough exposure, though not quickly.
Trying to get a feel for the situation, I opened my eyes a crack. Just enough to see without giving myself away. What I saw almost made me forget my decision to keep still.