Starship Rogue series Box Set

by Chris Turner

  “No doubt.”

  Dolgra seemed smaller than the other tribesmen, lighter boned and with a face that at first glance seemed feminine: the fine nose, the soft eyes, the delicate lashes, all were testament to a misconceived gender. But on deeper inspection the layers of sinew on his oiled biceps and forearms showed muscle that’d been amassed after years of hard discipline. One of his dog-faced men pulled off his cap to wipe his sweaty brow and I saw darker hair underneath. So, they were not all fair. Many were lank-limbed with shaved chins, and there was a curious slant to their eyes, wide-spaced like oxen, but their skin and bodies were as lean as greyhounds and toughened from generations of stinking hot sun.

  “You have all the Beryllium crystal?”

  The chief held up a hand. “Here… Wait, you fools!” he yelled up at his loading men, then faced us. “You have the money?”

  Smoke from a nearby village curled farther down the valley. I guessed they lived up in the rugged hills. The 80k yols they were due, and the 120k later when the buyer paid out, would be nothing less than a small fortune. I jerked my head to the bag Wren clutched. “In there. All 80k yols.”

  “Good. Let me see.”

  “I unzipped the leather bag and held it up for the chief’s inspection.

  His emerald eyes twinkled with greed. He curled a finger in beckoning. “Pass it over.”

  “First load up the merchandise,” I insisted.

  The chief shrugged. He gave a brief signal to his men. The loader jerked forward.

  I frowned. There were only five hulking bins sitting tucked away to the side that looked anything like a stash of valuable ore. “Is this all of it?” I demanded. I’d expected more.

  The chief scowled and fluttered his fingers. “There were complications. My workers are this minute digging out the last of the beryllium crystal.” He motioned to his other loader and his men began tractoring the five heaping carts into Urgon’s hold.

  Raez’s mouth quivered in slack-jawed anger. “Is this a joke, Dolgra? We had an agreement.”

  Dolgra showed a line of brown teeth. “Couldn’t be helped. You’re getting the goods at a fair price, so consider yourself lucky. Be patient.”

  “Patient?” Raez cried, flinging a hand down at his bulging hip. “We’re running on a tight deadline here. If this deal goes south because of your incompetence—”

  “Relax,” I growled at Raez, grabbing his arm while lancing him a warning glare.

  Raez grunted and wrenched his arm free. “Don’t patronize me, asshole. Lay hands on me again, Rusco, and you’ll regret it. These fucking grease balls are trying to dick us around, don’t you see it? Pazarol is going to be eating monkey nuts for breakfast when—”

  “Shut the hell up,” I hissed. I turned to Dolgra, showing my most amiable face. “How long for the rest of the shipment? Two hours, maybe four?”

  He shrugged. “Probably longer.”

  I wagged my head. “Well, nothing we can do about it. We kick back and relax.”

  “What do you mean, ‘kick back and relax’?” uttered Raez. “No we can’t just ‘kick back and relax’, you lamebrain. Paz said—”

  “I don’t give a flying fuck what ‘Paz’ said,” I rasped. “Things are never optimal, Raez. Paz should have allowed for some contingencies.”

  “And he didn’t.” The thug’s hand went for his R4. The clink of metal sounded all around as Dolgra’s men trained barrels on us.

  I held up my hands, smiling like a cornered cat. “Okay…let’s all calm down. No need for violence.” Shit, this is going badly. That pissbrain, Raez. No wonder Paz-ass couldn’t trust his own men to handle this.

  “Control your dog, Mr. Rusco,” said Dolgra, “otherwise, there’ll be blood on the sand today.”

  I glared at Raez. “You heard the man.”

  A whine of engines came screeching out of the sky. Two V-Zon cruisers arched down armed to the teeth with glinting armor. I shook my head in dismay. What else could go wrong?

  “Who are they?” Wren croaked.

  “Gedra.” Dolgra swore. “They’ll want a cut.” He whirled on his aide beside him. “Vespie, I thought you said we were clean? Didn’t you scout out the area?”

  “They must have slipped underneath our radar, chief. Cloakers.”

  “That’s unacceptable!”

  “How much do they want?” I asked.

  “Probably 30% which is the usual Gedra tax.”

  “No fucking way, Dole-face,” Raez snorted. “Stall them, or kill them. It’s up to you, or this deal’s off.”

  Weapons came up, half on the approaching ships, the others cocked on Raez and me. Dolgra scowled, face curling in an indecisive snarl. “The deal stands, or you’ll be strung in those trees minus two arms.”

  “See, I told you so,” whined Raez. “While these morons were out sunbathing by the lake, we could’ve loaded up and been out of here. Now what’s your plan, Rusco? You going to leap around, do a rain dance or something?”

  “Shut up, I’m thinking.”

  “Think fast, because—”

  The first Gedra ship landed nearby kicking up dust; four armored men stormed out, clutching rifles and home-grown grenades in fists that were big, ugly, olive-colored weapons, the size of melons.

  The first man spoke in a guttural accent, “This is most irregular, Dolgra. You know Chief Jzrend’s policy. Report all goods to the central authority—or….”

  “I can pay next time, Avloz. Not this time.”

  “Famous excuses.” The Gedra smiled and gave his head a sad shake. “No deal. Make that 40% cut this time, for insolence and wasting our time.”

  I approached with a breezy confidence. “No need to bat heads, gentlemen.” I hefted the bag of yols. Putting on my most disarming smile, I let my words spew out in typical Rusco fashion. “I bet you boys are getting what, a tenth of a percent of your shakedown? if that, even if you are on salary? Let’s sweeten the pot.” Let a competitor think he’s getting a better deal, he’ll be all for it, and think you’re on his side.

  But there was no chance to explore that angle.

  Raez whipped out his R4 and sprayed bullets into the midst, taking off the head of the first Gedra. The others in his troupe fired, dropping two of Dolgra’s guards.

  Weapons exploded from all sides. Grenades launched in the air. I ducked. Reached out to pull Wren back. Shrapnel tore at the closest Gedra and skimmed off Starrunner’s back plates. Lucky that I’d set her down farther away.

  Another grenade landed closer to our payload and the flames licked out at the Urgon. Grisheimer was yelling, “Shit! Back to the ship!”

  I spoke harsh words into the com as I ran, “TK, get Starrunner running!” Grisheimer’s man got Urgon airborne, even as metal was flying by me. I caught a glimpse of Dolgra scrambling for the silver Sphinx, dodging bullets all the way. Some of his men caught lead and fell like flies.

  TK already had the hatch open as Wren and I zigzagged along, dodging shells and firing back over our shoulders.

  One of the Gedra air guard flew over us, raining bullets and spraying death. I hunched, crouching behind a dune, my AK trained on some movement to my right. Wren and Raez fell in behind, sucking in labored breaths. The leather on my right arm was torn and blood flowed. Raez had an ugly slash across his left cheek from shrapnel that had grazed him. Good. All of us were soot-covered from the blast.

  “You idiot, sabotaging our venture?” I wheezed at the acrid stench. “Whose side are you on?”

  “None, from where I’m looking,” Wren spat, blood curling from her lip.

  Raez spat. “I at least, had the guts to do what neither of you chickenshits did—blast those bitches away.”

  I lifted a fist. “I could have smoothed it out, fed them a line and given those messenger boys some baksheesh and it would have ended smoothly.”

  “You think? I highly doubt that given the size of the load they’d—”

  “Quit bitching and let’s get to the ship,” Wren cried.
>
  An opening presented itself. The crouching Gedra were concentrating on the Urgon, raking it with fire.

  I grinned. “Lick your wounds later, Raez. Let’s shake a leg, get back to the ship, if you want to live.”

  “I don’t take orders from you.” Raez lifted his barrel, my eyes darting to a furtive movement several paces away. An enemy creeping up behind my back. For a second there, I thought Raez was going to cap me. Instead he blew the stalker’s eyes out.

  The Gedra desert men stepped out from behind the sand dunes, spraying fire. That rat-a-tat of enemy fire was a hollow echo of nightmare to me. I knew one day one of those slugs would catch me in the wrong place and it would be all over. Would it be today?

  I shook off the pending image. The second enemy ship was in the air, taking sporadic shots at our freighter which nicked the underbelly’s cowling. I cringed, my heart lurching. If that ship went down…but obviously they just wanted to paralyze Urgon and spare the expensive cargo. Metal plates fell off her stern.

  We came staggering up Starrunner’s ramp, as I smashed the hatch button closed. TK got us airborne. How that rat-bastard Raez, huffing at our heels, had managed to survive the shells and bullets and flames mystified me. He’d done some kind of crouching dance, half snaking his way through fire flares and managed to avoid the onslaught. I raced to the bridge, took the controls, and swept TK out of the way. Raez came stumbling in, trailing blood, gaping at the viewport like some dumb animal.

  As soon as I had wrested the controls from TK, I veered us about in a desperate hairpin. Wren stayed at the weapons console, sighted on the closest Gedra ship and blasted it to pieces.

  Dolgra’s T-Arathron Sphinx came looping after us, a silver, glittering T-bone shape with modern engines, souped up forward thrusters, like the old rad-rockets of the first generation. We still hadn’t paid the chief Dolgra, so I guessed he’d be pissed. Going to be a shitload of angry parties before this was all over.

  Wren aimed her Uzi at Raez. “You stupid ass, you have some gall. What were you trying to pull down there?”

  “Things got a little out hand, bitch, no big deal. Mind your manners. Nothing that can’t be fixed.”

  “Fixed? What shit are you pulling? The devil’s got new horns, with you wasting Gedra, now the deal’s shot to hell.”

  “No it isn’t. We can salvage it,” I said. “No thanks to Raez here.”

  Raez bowed, flashed a cheeky grin. “Cap’n, I am duly sorry and hope you’ll accept my humblest apologies.”

  My fists turned white. “That smug shit isn’t going to work here, Raez. It comes out of your share—or Pazarol’s.”

  Raez shrugged. “Kind of like the minnow telling the shark to go bring him some fresh mackerel.” He spat a wad on the metal tiles. “Big P ain’t going to like that.”

  “Tough titty on big P,” Wren roared.

  Chapter 14

  We escaped Besi 6’s gravity and the freighter limped along, its starboard flank smoking. Dogra’s lightweight Ultra dogged us, weaving in and out, weapons spraying fire.

  “Rusco,” Dolgra’s voice screamed over the com. “I want my yols.”

  “You’ll get it,” I grumbled. “You expected me to waltz over there and hand it to you in the middle of a firefight?”

  “If this is a doublecross—”

  “Relax. Let’s plan on a rendezvous somewhere nearby once we clear Gizren’s gravity. Say Mora-Vaille, on the way to the dropoff point. You wanted to play escort, so this’ll work out for you.”

  “One condition—” Dolgra’s wheezing voice played over the com. “Two of my men go aboard Urgon to ensure safe passage and fair play.”

  “Fine by me.”

  “Like hell it’s fine!” Raez shook his greasy head as he came crowding behind me, breathing down my neck. “That wasn’t the deal.”

  “It is now,” I barked at him. “Get back and let me handle this.”

  “Gris will never allow it.” The man glared about like a wolf, shafting me a venomous look. His gaze shifted to TK, clacking away at the keys. “What’re you looking at, old codger?”

  TK turned, brows raised.

  “Yeah, you—the one who looks like head librarian around here.”

  TK’s lips pressed in a firm line. “Quaint, very quaint.”

  “Cap’n Jet put you up as a charity case?” He laughed at his own quip. No laughter came back. “Oi..! Are you guys just a bunch of stiffs?”

  “No, we just have a higher bar for humor,” said Wren.

  I wondered if I should be worried about Raez walking around freely with that piece at his hip. I moved over to him. “Hand over your weapon.”

  “Say what?”

  “You heard me. No loaded firearms on my ship.”

  He scowled down at my R4. “What about your piece then, and hers?”

  “I’m the captain and she’s the first mate.”

  Wren covered him while I held out my hand. With reluctance he unstrapped it and tossed it over.

  I locked the guns from the weapons rack in the forward bulkhead with Raez’s and motioned him back. “I’ll show you to your quarters.” And here my mouth slackened in a smirk. There being no spare private cabins, I took Raez to the most grimy, cluttered space by the hold with a rat-chewed mattress and rusty pipes rattling on the wall. I threw a couple of old dusty shipping blankets at him. It’d have to do, and I owed this miserable troublemaker nothing. “Head’s in the fore, not pretty in there, but I’m sure you’ll manage.” I left him seething and grumbling in the dimness, then I made my way back to the bridge.

  While Starrunner and Urgon had made some distance from Besi 6, we set out for the outer planets with four-fifths of our shipment. I looked over at Wren while the darkening feeling churned in the pit of my stomach. The old maxim of what doesn’t feel right, ain’t right thundered like a storm. Of course, Gris had refused to let Dolgra’s men board Urgon so I ended up parking at the space station orbiting Mora to give Dolgra his yols while Urgon sped ahead at subwarp.

  As I charted our course to catch up, while checking and rechecking our rendezvous with Jasmel, something gnawed at me. I knew we’d never make that destination. Why? Call it the voice of intuition that speaks in the dead of night when one wakes in a lucid moment. Everything was in order, and yet that disturbing hunch beamed like a hooker’s red light. Things had been barely smoothed over with Pazarol an hour ago! Raez had done his best to highlight how botched our job had been under my direction and we possessed only a portion of our cargo. I explained to Pazarol how it was impossible to go back to Gizren and get the rest of our freight without incurring casualties and risking the rest of the shipment. The Gedra would cap our asses and we’d have nothing to show for it, without less than an army to cut through that rat swarm.

  Long story short, the deal would proceed as planned, but with a third less payout. Okay, I could run with that, as this was our highest paying gig thus far, even split three ways, and I didn’t want to jeopardize it. Raez didn’t seem to care much at the lesser payout; he seemed to be in it for the kicks. A strange sentiment—but a hell of a lot more interesting than hobgoblining around that gloomy warehouse on Tarsus.

  I stayed on the bridge. The others had gone off to their quarters, and my tired eyes were seeing fuzzy shapes while the ship stayed steady on Molly’s autopilot.

  As I was making for my cabin while we kept up with Urgon, I heard voices down the corridor. Wren’s husky voice was raised, an audible murmur.

  I crept down the passage, paused before the next corridor, my jaw set.

  “How about it, Fox?” came a familiar weasely voice. “What’s say you and me slip between the sheets, keep each other warm? I know you and the cap may have something going, but no worries. He isn’t about to hear it from me and I won’t ruin your gig.”

  I caught the pregnant pause, then guessed Wren, for a second, had considered the sleazy offer and had almost given in.

  Then I heard her stony hiss. “Buzz, off, creep. I don’
t like your smell or your oily smile.”

  I smiled at that. Raez put up a fuss and spewed a bunch of spuriously offensive words, like ‘sloe-eyed bitch’, and ‘pissy dike’, so I stepped in, putting on a look of innocent concern.

  “Everything all right here? Wren, you okay?”

  Raez’s face lit up in a mocking grin. “No worries, cappie. Me and the bosomy lady were just getting to know each other better, weren’t we, Wren? I like to get under the skin of the people I’m working with.” The man’s patronizing, piss-licking grin made me want to plow him.

  Raez was one of those ungracious, low-class weasels who hung out at the casinos looking for easy lays—not that there was anything wrong with that—I’d done a few myself. Those feel-good-about-yourself screws, but there was a way to do it, with a certain modicum of class. Everything in this schmuck’s aura spoke of loutishness. A regular wise guy with some black and white around the edges. Irritant Raez, egging for a rude awakening. This little soap opera reminded me of some cornball vid back in that ancient earth collection I used to watch when having nothing better to do.

  Raez put up a bit of a fuss, me muscling into his game, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. He stomped off with a bruised cheek and some ruffled pride to his hidey hole.

  I followed Wren back to her cabin, keeping an eye on the lady. “Anything you’d like to tell me?”

  “No.”

  In the end we had a little nightcap, featuring some gin she’d snuck from the hamper. “Didn’t think you’d mind, Ruskie, one bottle missing.”

  I shrugged. “What do you think of our unwanted guest, Mr. Raez?”

  “A bottom feeder.” She grimaced. “I’ve known sleaze bags like him before. Think he’s trouble.”

  “Agreed. He almost got us killed.”

  She snuffled out a noncommittal sound.

  “So you think we should—”

  “Forget that rat, let’s think about us.” She crept closer and undid her tight leather then my shirt, her lashes fluttering, full lips parted in a breathless purr.

  “Good plan,” I murmured.