Fool Me Once (Privateer Tales)

by Jamie McFarlane

  Taking off on the grav-bike was considerably more exhilarating with my eyes open this time. Puskar Stellar's skyline was off in the distance. Tali continued to accelerate until we were moving at an incredible speed.

  “How fast?” I felt like I had to yell. The bike’s protective shield extended on the front but we were still being buffeted pretty soundly.

  “A little over a hundred meters per second. We’re coming in from the South. It’s why I was able to get to you so quickly the other night, no traffic or LEOs out here.”

  Once we hit town, she slowed significantly, as there was traffic as well as speed limits. We didn’t talk much as we flew over town. I recognized the orange tile roofs of the University about the same time Tali slowed even further and set us down on a parking ramp.

  “Student?” I asked.

  “Associate Professor. Goes by the name of Bit Coffman and she’s a real character. Be best if we brought some snacks with us.”

  After picking up a large carbonated drink and a big bag of jalapeno flavored popcorn, we finally arrived at the side door of a small brick house with the same tile roof as the rest of the campus. Tali knocked on the door.

  The woman who opened it was tall, just a little heavyset and had buzz-cut red-blonde hair. She filled the doorway with her large frame.

  “Heya bitches.” She looked at the large drink in my hand and the bag of popcorn. “That’d better be for me.”

  I handed her the drink and she smiled. “Come-on-in-and-bring-the-popcorn.” She spoke almost too fast to follow and disappeared into the house. Tali was first through the door and I stayed close on her heels. Bit’s home was a single room efficiency which probably hadn’t seen a thorough cleaning since she’d taken residence. A table, in what I would have classified as the dining room, was loaded with electronic equipment and vid screens. Wires were strewn everywhere. I couldn’t imagine what all of it was used for.

  Bit dropped heavily into a plush chair and pulled it in close to the table. “Just set the popcorn down. I just had some salty and now I need some sweet.”

  Tali pulled a candy-bar out of a coat pocket and put it on the table next to her.

  “Oh sweets, you really are the best. So, this girl you gave me. She’s in with a bad crowd. You really got your work cut out for you here. Her sister’s a dead whore and best I can tell, Domiva’s Grace is running slaves. Not sure if she was a volunteer or not, sister like that ‘n’ all.”

  I winced at the reference but didn’t say anything.

  “Maybe put your sensitivity filter on there a little?” Tali said.

  Bit spun in her chair and looked at me. “Oh, shite. Relative?”

  I looked back at her and made a decision. “Dead prostitute.”

  “Oh, crap, no shite. Hey look, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean anything.”

  I stopped her. “How about you make it up to me and help me find her. I guarantee she isn’t a volunteer.”

  “Really, I’m sorry. I just say whatever comes to the top of my head.”

  “What’d you find?” Tali asked.

  “zeatch this.” She spun back around and one of the vid screens showed a ship I presumed was Domiva’s Grace. Jenny was talking to the call box, and carrying a small bag. She looked tiny standing there next to the ship. Bit fast forwarded a few minutes and a boy not a lot older than Jenny opened the door and escorted her in.

  “That was two months ago, give or take, on Terrence. I’ve watched every bit of footage from that ship and she never got off. I tracked three different person-sized or bigger crates that were off-loaded and followed them to their destinations. I saw two of them opened and one is still sitting in storage.”

  “You watched that crate for two months?” I asked, not completely buying what she was selling.

  “I don’t watch every minute but I have a program that catches the highlights when stuff changes. Not very high tech, to be honest.

  “How about after that?” Tali asked.

  “The ship flew on to Delta. Nothing was offloaded, but they might have picked up another girl. Can’t be completely sure, she didn’t just walk up to the ship like the target.”

  “Jennifer,” I said.

  Bit turned to me with a chagrined look, her already fair skin turning bright red. “Right. Jennifer. Sorry. So after Delta they went on to Jeratorn. Lots of packages taken on and off. I have trackers on six of the offloaded ones now. They aren’t drawing any interest. So that’s it.”

  “That’s it?” Tali and I asked at the same time

  “Oh, wait, right. Domiva’s Grace is en route to Puskar Stellar. They’ll be here in a little less than a week, give or take.” Bit took a long drink of fizzy soda.

  “Standard fee?” Tali asked.

  “Already sent you the bill. I also sent you a copy of the vids. Remember who loves you, Tali-whacker.”

  “No nicknames, Bit,” Tali admonished.

  DOMIVA'S GRACE

  We left Bit’s apartment and Tali was in the mood for pizza, so we stopped at another one of her favorite hangouts close to campus. I secretly wondered if she regretted skipping college when she joined the Marines.

  “You just can’t beat this.” I watched in awe as she finished a fourth piece of the large pie in front of us. One slice and I was more than done, but not Tali. It was odd, she might outweigh me by fifteen kilos, but ate like she'd never be allowed to eat again.

  “So I’m thinking I will have to get on that ship. Maybe I’ll try to break in,” I said.

  “No good, too much security around those big freighters. They’ll shoot first, ask questions later.”

  “Any ideas?” I asked.

  “Hold on. I got an urgent comm coming in.” I barely understood her since she had just taken another giant bite of pizza. “Repeat last.” The change in her demeanor was immediate, something was up. “Okay. Thanks Bit, we owe you big.”

  I waited impatiently for her to finish. “Is that about Jenny?”

  “Sort of, Domiva’s Grace just landed. Bit’s working on getting live video. She’s better at post-mortem however. If we wait for night, we could tag along with some of the crew. They probably have shore leave. We should be able to get in the ship that way.”

  My heart raced. It wasn’t a terrible idea, but there were too many ifs. How could we be sure they would get leave before they unloaded? It was then an idea hit me. “Let me make a call. I have an idea.”

  Tali looked at me questioningly.

  “Give me a second,” I said.

  Open comm with Benny.

  Benny’s raspy voice answered, “Heya, Doll. I was hoping you’d call. What can I do ya for?”

  “I need your help, Benny.”

  “Uh oh. You in some more trouble?”

  “It’s not me. I need to get on a ship that just landed.”

  “At my yard? We’ve been pretty quiet.”

  “No. It’s a family freighter.”

  “Oh, that won’t be easy. Tons of security around them.”

  “What about the people who load and unload? Can’t they get past the security?”

  “Stevedores. That’s all union jobs. Mostly mechanical with some supervisors.”

  “Benny, it’s important. Could you get us on as supervisors if you had some money?”

  “How much money we talking about, Doll?”

  “What would it take?”

  “Might be as much as a couple thousand.”

  “Your cut in there?” I asked.

  “Ah, you hurt me.”

  “Benny.”

  “Yeah. On the house this time. Let me make some calls.”

  I hung up with Benny. “I think I can get us both on. I know I shouldn’t have spoken for you. You don’t have to go, but I couldn’t sound flakey to Benny.”

  “Maybe you haven’t figured it out yet, Lena, but I’m on Team Lena now. In for the duration. Isn’t Benny the one who sold you out to the Red Houzi?”

  “It’s complicated.”

 
“You trust him?”

  “On this I do.”

  “There’s a uniform replicator over near Kathryne’s Boutique. We can change at her shop.”

  “He hasn’t even called back.”

  “He will.”

  I received the call from Benny while we were in flight to The Open Air District where Kathryne’s Boutique was located.

  “It’s a go. You have half an hour to get to the yard. The boss will ping you. It’s thirty-five hundred and I had to call in a few favors. Hope you have the funds.”

  “I owe you one Benny. You still interested in dinner?”

  “Yeah, Doll. Maybe you pick the place this time.”

  “It’s a date Benny, I promise. If I get through this thing, it’ll be you and three of the best looking women you’ve ever seen, hanging on your every word.”

  “Ohhhh.” Benny was speechless.

  As promised, I received a comm from Bruno Bentrod before we even got to Kathryne’s with our uniforms. I was surprised at just how brazen he was. The communication had a thirty-five hundred m-cred required payment attached. In exchange I had two identity patterns that we could replicate at any Class-1 replicator. I suppose they had to hire people all the time, but the whole thing seemed like it lacked any real security.

  The stevedore uniform was a loose white coverall. The middle constricted with an integrated belt. It wasn't very flattering, but the outfit was inexpensive to replicate.

  “I suppose they get disposed daily,” Tali mused as we looked at each other. “They will be scanning for blasters, but they won’t pick up your nano-blade if you put it in your boot.”

  We were a few minutes late, but I figured that was probably keeping with the role. Bruno wasn’t impressed.

  “Get over there and oversee the mechs. Check off every crate with the corresponding line on the pad. It’s not transporter science but union agreement says we inspect every piece that gets unloaded. Now get a move on!”

  Tali and I jogged to where Domiva’s Grace was parked. I couldn’t have walked if I wanted. Jenny had to be on that ship.

  The freighter was a large blocky ship that sat on four giant circular thrusters. It was rectangular, twice as tall as it was wide, with rounded corners and a round nose on the top. A series of five doors were evident on each of the five levels of cargo bays. A lift was already in place, raised up and providing a wide platform even with the bottom of the lowest bay door. An elevator on the side of the large lift waited to take us up to the platform.

  In front of the elevator, a young man sat on a chair, doing his best to look bored or annoyed. When he opened his mouth I could tell which he was going for. It was the boy from the video. He'd let Jenny onto Domiva’s Grace on Terrence. It took all I had not to say something.

  “You certainly took your sweet time. Been sitting here for the better part of an hour.”

  I nodded and moved to get on the elevator.

  “Hey, wait a minute. I gotta scan your creds.” He jumped up from his chair.

  “Make it snappy. Maybe you could give us a little advance and you wouldn’t be stuck sitting here,” Tali said.

  The kid harrumphed and accepted our freshly printed credentials. I held my breath, but he handed them back after a limited inspection.

  “We’re only unloading decks one through four. You aren’t allowed on deck five. Got it?”

  Tali replied, “Sure kid, whatever’s on the list.”

  The elevator dropped us off on the platform and we walked past three large container-moving robots. The robots had an upright portion that was knee height and ten centimeters wide on one side. Two large forks, a meter and a half long and set apart by half a meter, were connected at nearly ground level to the upright portion. They were used to slide under the containers.

  The cargo hold door wasn’t open, so we looked at it for a few minutes. I was starting to wonder if we were missing something when the door slowly lifted out of the way. The hold was completely packed with containers all the way up to the top of the doors.

  The robots came to life and fired their arc-jets. They jetted up and neatly slid their forks beneath three of the centermost containers. The middle bot pulled its load out first. I immediately understood why there were three of them. The container on the right side started to slide when the middle container began to move. The bot on the right side made adjustments until the middle container slid free.

  With the container loose, the bot dropped to the platform faster than I was comfortable with and slid over next to me. I looked at the reading pad Bruno handed me and noticed a highlighted row with numbers that matched the container held by the robot. I touched a virtual button that read ‘confirm’ on the pad. The robot raced off the platform and dropped immediately out of sight.

  “Where do they go?” I looked at Tali.

  She shrugged. “I imagine they have a warehouse.”

  I felt a breeze next to me and Tali’s eyes widened. A loaded robot had dropped down next to me, waiting for me to confirm its payload. I looked at the tablet which had a new number highlighted. I checked and the AI had once again identified the correct item. I hit the confirm button and it raced off after its buddy.

  I knew what was coming next so I waited and, sure enough, the third robot dropped down with its package. I looked down and, of course, the correct number was highlighted.

  “So … this isn’t an extra challenging job then.” I said.

  Tali shook her head with a grin.

  “Hey! You can’t get started without us.” Two men jumped off the elevator and angrily gestured at us.

  The first robot returned and slid under another container, lifted it and returned to my side. I now understood why they moved faster than I liked. Once you knew what to expect, you might not want to wait around too long.

  “Can’t have it both ways, dickhead. You can’t get your little gopher to whine at us for being late and then decide we’re going too fast. Time is money. Get your shit together or do you want me to report abusive behavior?” Tali was several centimeters shorter than me but she wasn’t intimidated by anyone.

  “Stow it, Jep. They’ve moved three containers.” The second man was older, maybe mid-thirties. They both had several days beard growth and I caught a whiff of body odor as they approached. I found it odd, considering most suit-liners could remove odor for many days. Ugh, unless they weren’t actually wearing liners. In addition to their bad personal hygiene they both were sporting holsters with blasters.

  Jep, the angry younger one, also held a pad. “Which ones you get already?”

  I showed him my pad, “Try to keep up, we’ve got a break in thirty minutes.”

  “What?”

  “Union rules.”

  “Crap. Okay, I got ‘em.”

  “You sure?”

  He just looked at me. I turned to the robot that was waiting patiently for me. I confirmed the number. Apparently he got the same on his and the robot took off. The whole process felt like it could be automated.

  I wanted to discuss things with Tali. We needed a plan that would get me inside that ship so I could search for Jenny. As it was, we could only see a bunch of closed containers. They were so closely packed that she certainly wasn’t in any of them.

  Thirty minutes in, the first hold was half empty. “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em,” Tali announced.

  I looked at her. “Smoke what?”

  “Never mind. I need a coffee.”

  “Coffee? Now?” I asked.

  Tali raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, remember we didn’t get one on the way here.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about but I'd go along with her. “Oh, right, can’t believe I forgot.”

  “You boys want to grab a couple of coffees for us?”

  “Not likely.” Jep was quick with an answer.

  “Righto. Okay, hold our spots. We’ll be back as soon as we find some coffee.”

  “Leave your tablet at least,” Jep complained.

  Tali was qui
ck with her response. “Not likely.” She mimicked his voice.

  “Frak. Fine. I’ll have the little turd get ‘em if you get back to work.”

  “Coffee first, maybe we’ll make it a whole hour if it’s nice and hot.”

  The kid who had greeted us showed up with coffees. I tasted it. Bitter - big surprise.

  “Well. Back to work then,” I suggested.

  We continued unloading until the first hold was empty.

  “Jep, how about you raise the platform so we can get started on number two,” Tali said.

  “I thought you guys always did that.”

  “Nope. Drinking my coffee. More efficient breaks this way.”

  Jep shook his head like we were messing with him but raised the platform.

  Ninety minutes later, Tali’s plan became evident. We were halfway through the fourth cargo hold and it was clear Jenny wasn’t there. The coffee had worked its way through my system and I needed a break in the worst way. Tali noticed my discomfort and nodded.

  “Break time,” I said.

  “What now?” Jep had lost his patience. In his defense, we had been pushing his buttons for the better part of a couple of hours.

  “I gotta tinkle,” I said with my best girlie voice.

  “OH MY GAWD!” Jep exhaled. “Fine. We’ll wait. How about you?” He looked at Tali.

  “Stuff it,” she replied.

  “Back in fifteen. You know you could let me use the head,” I said.

  “Not likely,” Jep said.

  The emergency was real. I took the elevator down and went to the Stevedore’s Union office. Fortunately, Bruno wasn’t around. I finished and got out of there, walking slowly back to the ship trying to formulate a plan. I just couldn’t come up with anything.

  “You sure took your time. Let’s get this done.” Jep had cooled off a bit.

  “Bad news, boys,” Tali said. “Guess I have to go after all.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. What kind of crap is this!? I’m going to report you freaks.”

  “Oh, I suppose we’re done here then if you’re just going to report us,” Tali said.

  “No. Wait,” he said.

  “Look, Jep. I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. But that little creep you had greet us needs to learn not to mess with the union and you boys have been getting the brunt of it. How about you let me use the head real quick and we’ll wrap this up? Otherwise I’ll be back in fifteen or twenty. It’s a bit of a walk to the Stevedore’s Union.”