Starship Rogue series Box Set

by Chris Turner

  Wren’s tomboyish energy was more feral feline tonight and I had trouble keeping up with her. After a rousing interlude, I stumbled back to my cabin, a bit bowlegged. On contact with the hard foam, I sighed and went to sleep.

  I awoke in the middle of the night, victim of a bad dream. Aliens, or some sort of freaks—those shoulder-high walking mantises that TK had described so eloquently—walked unseen. Mixed with that terrifying glimpse I’d seen out on the journey to nowhere with the phaso, it was a lethal combination. I shivered and shook off the memory, sitting up on my bed, wiping my dry eyes. A cold sweat had broken out around my neck. That bad feeling resurfaced, that larger-than-life feeling that something vastly unpleasant was brewing. It seemed contagious. I reached for my bottle of redneck Black Bull gin stashed under the bed and chug-a-lugged. Made my gut sour. Winced. Took another swig. That didn’t go down well either. My gut was burning.

  I donned my brown captain’s leathers and did my patrol rounds, making for the bridge. The console lights burned brightly and I caught the old man hunched over one of the command tables, deep in concentration. Billy was at his side, making little grunting sounds like a curious chimp.

  TK jerked up and gave me a guilty look. “Hey, Jet. How’s the night watch?”

  “What the hell are you doing?” I cried.

  “Relax. Just checking out the inscriptions on this device.”

  My jaw dropped when I saw what he was working on and the iridescent flash of a familiar disc. “You sneaking bastard. I told you to leave that thing alone—”

  “Couldn’t. Managed to trace some info on the central free store, Mentera lore, and figured I could backtrace some of the coordinates and test it out some.”

  “Are you fucking insane? That thing’s deadly.”

  “No worries, I’ve got it all under control.”

  “You think? I don’t give a piss in the wind what you’re thinking. Put it back.”

  “Just another few minutes, Jet. I’ve almost got a handle on it—”

  I pulled my sleeve over my hand and swept the shimmering disc off the table, away from his grasping hand before he could tweezer it with those rods he held.

  All the time Billy’s watching and getting more agitated, blinking with his googly eyes, moving from side to side like an adder, wringing his wrists and making funny little sounds in the back of his throat.

  The kid reached over and grabbed at that spinning top as if it were some toy. The old man cried out. TK lunged to stop him, but it was too late. Some combination of buttons and coordinates the boy touched and he was gone in a crackling haze of dusty color. The disc rolled, spun to a stop, glaring up at us like an evil eye.

  The old man’s mouth worked in a rictus but no sound came out.

  I swore. “I’m locking this destructo up.”

  “Look at what you’ve done!” He clutched at his hair.

  “You’re the bright one brought it out,” I stormed. “I told you the thing was dangerous.”

  He looked at me with shock then began rooting through the bulkheads, rummaging through hatches, searching for Billy like a madman before he dropped to his knees. “No! He’s got to be here somewhere!” The halfwit’s disappearance was tearing him apart.

  I rounded up the strongbox underneath the sensor panel and used my sleeve to put the phaso in there. I locked the lid.

  “We’ve got to get him back!” TK’s pathetic wail raised my hackles.

  “Fat chance,” I gusted. “Move away. Nothing you can do.” I knew I should have hid that strongbox better, remembering the eager glint in TK’s eye when I locked up that nasty little device, but it had slipped my mind.

  I heard bootfall behind me. I whirled to behold Raez. Great timing to stroll in. How long had the slug been there eavesdropping?

  He gave a low whistle. “A little love squabble? Where’s the kid?”

  “What do you care?” I growled.

  Raez stared at TK hard, hand pressed to his mouth. “Granddad, you gone and done something to him? You dirty old man.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” TK snarled.

  I didn’t know how much Raez knew or didn’t know, but I could only guess it would do us no good. More than ever I wanted to knock that bastard the hell off my ship.

  “Where’s Billy?” cried Wren, crowding in behind Raez. Where’d she come from? Was this party night on the Starrunner?

  “Dead,” I growled.

  “A joke, right? What do you mean ‘dead’?” she croaked.

  “What part of ‘dead’ don’t you get?”

  She looked around in disbelief.

  “I told the old man not to mess with the phaso, but what does he do—he goes and starts fucking with it.”

  “That’s not possible—” she frowned, a choked gurgle in her throat.

  She saw TK’s red eyes, tear-stained face and knew the truth. Unfortunate that Raez had heard all of this. In my anger I couldn’t stop the flood of heated words. But he didn’t seem to know what we were talking about.

  “Some kind of explosives we talking here?” he asked.

  “None of your business. It’s over and done.”

  I locked the controls on the bridge and left the others staring there as I took the silver box to my cabin. I was afraid to keep the phaso on my person in case I inadvertently triggered it as Billy had.

  What to do with the cursed thing? Part of me wanted to chuck it out in space, forget it ever existed. But it could be money, lots of it. The thing needed a new hiding spot, and my cabin was not the place—it was the first place anybody’d look to steal it.

  * * *

  No mention of the phase-distorter-shifter or Billy’s sad, mysterious disappearance the next morning. No sign of Baer and his ugly goats zooming in on us at our sub-warp vector. The phaso was a sinister episode better left forgotten.

  TK took me aside later in the corridor leading to the cabins and spoke in a distraught voice, “I’m still concerned about Billy. Dammit, Rusco, I think he may be still alive. How be I take a quick peek at the phaso and—”

  “N-O.” I grunted. “Forget it, Billy’s lost. A few moments out there, and the kid’s toast, let alone a few hours. Believe me, I saw the place.”

  “You don’t know that, Rusco. We’ve no idea where Billy ended up. Maybe he ended up on some deserted island or in some abandoned city, calling for help.”

  “Maybe, but I doubt it. Unless the phaso coordinates were reset. Without a manual, we’ll never know how the thing works, and without having it on him, he can never leave.”

  “But I can go there.”

  I stared at the man with awe, seeing the genuine expression of a fatherly love for a long lost son presumed dead. “Forget it, TK. The thing’s jinxed. Anyone who touches it, dies.” And I could see the glowering resentment in his eyes, those gray eyes that looked at me with fathomless despair and loathing and under the influence of the instruments working in his sawmill of a mind—and I didn’t like what I saw.

  Chapter 15

  It was going to be a long trip to Jasmel. The whole mishap with Billy had me rattled. Maybe I should have tried right then to go in after the kid, or some such insane scheme, but the moment had passed. Water under the bridge. You’re a real hero, Rusco. Proud of yourself? Saving an old man from sacrificing himself. What was going to go down next? Three edgy crew members, and Dolgra champing at the bit with Gris incommunicative, whom I didn’t trust farther than I could spit.

  As I was doing my hall rounds, I went to check on the phaso, something bugging me again. I reached the panel bulkhead where I’d hidden it in the small hallway leading to the utility room, then opened the strongbox. All seemed in order. I shook my head. Paranoia. It played tricks on the brain. I packed up the kit, made doubly sure the box was locked with a combo only I knew and walked away with a weary yawn to my cabin. Wren was watching the bridge; I could count on her. It was time to turn in, get some shut-eye.

  I paused. Raez was staring at me, his ugly face catching the dim l
ight from down the hall.

  “What do you want?” I growled.

  He lifted his hand in greeting. “Out for a little stroll, Rusco. I get insomnia on small space craft. Suffer from it all the time.”

  “Get back to your cabin. We’re keeping strict curfew here. Besides, this area is off limits to all but personnel.”

  “Oh, and spank my wee bottom, Cap’n. Gonna tuck me into bed too for a good night’s sleep?”

  “Don’t get cute with me, Raez. My ship, I make the rules.” I lifted my blaster, trusting the scoundrel less than ever.

  He held up his hands. “Okay, Cap’n, I’m hurrying. Don’t shoot me. I’m allergic to gunfire.”

  I saw him skip back to his grungy little cubbyhole and returned to my own digs, doing badly at falling asleep, wondering if I should call on Wren to help me relax. A bit of night play could do wonders for the soul.

  But not tonight. That disturbing feeling kept nagging me, even with all my precautions. I rustled on some clothes and staggered down the hall into the bath of dim blue light.

  I opened the strongbox. The phaso was missing. That fucker. Raez, you’re a dead man.

  I stalked to the hold looking for him.

  He stood by the emergency escape vehicle, fiddling with the hatch as if he meant to take it somewhere. Like over to Urgon. We were nearing Jasmel at the cusp of the asteroid belt and it would be an easy jaunt for a thief on impulse power to get there or over to Urgon.

  He was speaking in a low monotone to someone in his ear communicator. Must have hid that device on him.

  When he caught sight of me, he cut the connection as if in apology, while reaching for his left hip for a small concealed weapon. I put a bullet through his brain. He dropped like a stone, eyes staring up like glassy pearls. I kicked the body over, turned him about. Discovered the phaso in his black waist belt. Rotten bastard. I had to smile at the irony. The thief calling the beggar a thief. My smile didn’t last long.

  I ripped off Raez’s ear communicator, figured it would be useful down the road. Raez was about to jump ship and take the emergency vessel when we were close to a drop point. How he planned to accomplish this without getting his head blown off, or blasted by Starrunner’s fareon beams was beyond me. It kind of insulted my intelligence. But then, Raez was not the brightest bulb in the box. Yet this was the same guy who had stolen the phaso right out from under my eyes and was minutes away from his getaway. I needed a new hiding spot for the damn thing. I began bagging Raez’s corpse to jettison it out in the garbage hatch, all the while formulating a story to feed Wren and TK. He was stealing our share? No, what share? We got in a fight. He turned into a wise guy, and pulled a gun on me? Better. Yeah, closer to the truth, maybe I’ll stick with that.

  I got the body in the garbage compactor and released the load out to space. Relief. No evidence. Bye bye, Raez.

  I’d make some enemies with Pazarol when he got wind. The fat fuck deserved it though. Had he put Raez up to it? The schemer’d be cut out of his share. I’d steal his shipment and double bag the profits, provided his goons didn’t hunt me down and pepper us full of holes. There was still the problem of Gris out there in the freighter. A tricky business getting rid of him. The longer we stayed in this system, the more likelihood Pazarol’d catch up and deal with us, for double-timing him and murdering his man. Rusco, you’re making enemies like flies. Can’t help it, captain, just who I am.

  I snapped out my reverie. Okay, stop daydreaming and start thinking. Wake up the others and tell them what happened.

  We assembled at the bridge, TK groggy and Wren wiping her eyes. “You what?”

  “You heard me, Raez caught a bullet, on account of he kind of pulled a weapon on me and was taking Messenger for a ride.”

  TK groaned, his face in his palms. “Now what? We’re dead when Pazarol finds out.”

  “Not necessarily. Let me think—A longshot, but are you up for a blastfest?”

  Wren shrugged. “When haven’t I been?”

  “If I can figure out how to spin this…” I rubbed my chin, mumbling, letting the ideas run through my crooked mind. “Okay, how’s this?” I turned to TK. “Pull up as much data as you can on Urgon, the floor layouts, the sentry posts, weapons deployment, everything you got.” What I had in mind, was risky. I didn’t like keeping TK back on Starrunner, especially after the disappearance of Billy, but I had no choice. The few I could trust were getting fewer.

  Wren caught wind of what I was planning and glowed with enthusiasm. “Take Dolgra along for the ride. We’ll need backup.”

  “Good idea.”

  I contacted the Tanza crew. “Is this a secure line?”

  “I’ve flipped it to encrypt secure,” said Dolgra. “What is it?”

  “Raez’s meat. Fucker tried to kill me. Trying to make off with the escape pod, so I had to smoke him.”

  A wheezing groan came over the com. “Why would he do something stupid like that?”

  “Who knows what that devious fuckwad was up to? I suggest if we want to save our hides, we either scram, or take over Urgon. Personally I like the second option, as it gives us the flexibility of selling the cargo on our own terms.”

  There was a long pause. “What do you need from me?”

  “Get over here so you can help us take down Gris. We take the shuttle over, fake them out, and kill the crew.”

  “What, are you berserkers?” Dolgra barked.

  “Any other ideas?”

  “How do I know you won’t scuttle me and take me out like you did Raez?”

  “You don’t. But who do you trust—me or Pazarol?”

  “No contest. Okay, how many men do we need?”

  “Wren, me and two of your guys.”

  “That’s all?” He spat out a harsh croak. “Rusco, you’re a bold bastard. Well, you only live once.”

  I cut the channel and called up Urgon on Raez’s ear com.

  “Gris, it’s Raez here.” I disguised my voice.

  Silence, then a hard-edged mutter. “You got the piece? Did Rusco cause any trouble?”

  “I’m heading over in the pod now. Rusco went out like a lamb. He doesn’t know a thing. I’ve some interesting merchandise—think you and Paz might like it. Turn off the video and cut this channel when we’re done, in case our boy is on the wire.”

  “10-4.”

  I grinned my sour grin. “Let’s have ourselves a little rendezvous, Wren. Give a little surprise to our ‘partners-in-crime’.”

  I paused. Raez… I tried to understand the man’s game. The fuck could pretend he got tired staking out Starrunner and that the old man could be pinned with the theft of the phaso if anything were found out. He’d lie low on Urgon, use it as a shielded fortress to protect his ass and sit tight, keep both prizes, the fareon tech and the phaso. Not a bad plan, but desperate, and flawed. Leaving me a live unknown was as stupid a mistake as he could ever make. Glad I confiscated his R4. Should’ve checked him more carefully for that concealed pistol. He must have cached it in his boot. No wonder he so easily relinquished his weapon earlier.

  I glanced at the clock. 04:07. We had time. Raez wouldn’t be checking with anyone on Tarsus anytime soon. I faked a call to summon Dolgra over and piggy-back for refueling, keeping the communication on open channel. This way Gris could overhear.

  When Dolgra’s ship did dock on ours, Dolgra and two of his men came aboard, armed to the hilts.

  We entered the Messenger and reviewed our plans. “Four men we’re going to have to take down quickly,” I whispered in a raspy voice. We all stared grimly at each other like wolves before the hunt. “Pazarol’s going to get wise pretty soon, but if we can take over the freighter quickly, we can be off before Paz can do anything about it.”

  Dolgra peeled back his black mask. His nose twitched in a grimace. “It’s risky, Rusco. About even odds man-for-man in a blast-out, but we have the bonus of surprise.”

  I remembered Raez and the murderous look on his face which reflected the mur
derous schemes in his twisted mind. “This big crime business is ugly, Dolgra—risky and ugly.”

  The Urgon transport carrier grew large as we approached. It dwarfed our vessel like a grey toad floating in space. The monster’s hatch opened, mouthing an unpleasant grin. I guided Messenger in with technical ease. “On my signal.”

  The hatch closed, a dull clink reverberating through layers of steel. I deliberately kept the landing dock lights in our area dim. I hoped to hell this hare-brained scheme worked. The point of return had passed. Four sets of eyes looked on as the cold metal grates of Urgon’s docking platform materialized and the landing chamber re-pressurized from vacuum. We crouched, weapons gripped. Only a pool of pale light shone through the port windows from Urgon’s teal dockyard. I could see the whites of Wren’s and Dolgra’s men’s eyes gleaming in the half murk.

  The hatch peeled back and we hugged the walls of our own vessel, keeping back in the shadows. Gris’s first man strode in, the proverbial unsuspecting lamb. “Raez, about time you showed—What the fuck—?”

  The man exploded in a fountain of blood as Dolgra’s men lay bullets into him, head and chest peppered with R4 fire. He flopped like a puppet to the metal grates. Wren and I burst through, kicking the mangled body aside while I crashed a shoulder into his henchman only a few feet away. But the man’s Uzi came up and got off a blast, triggering the ship’s alarm.

  Shit. I twisted and kicked the weapon aside while Wren stomped on the man’s larynx.

  Two down. How many more to go?

  They’d be watching, closed-circuit video. I aimed my barrel and knocked out the sensor light poised high on the far wall. There could be more. Better to assume Gris had eyes on us; he was the most dangerous of the lot. I could tell by that efficient wastage of Gedra flesh down on Gizren.

  Soon blasts raged from around the hallway. Two more came in ducking around the corners, well-trained and fast. How many more of the ferrets manned this freighter? I cursed myself for not querying Paz more about the infrastructure of his ship and its manpower. A mistake that could cost us our lives.

  While Gris’s men bore down on us, Dolgra ducked around the side of the pod, motioning his men to sneak out and cover him.