Armageddon Theft: An Arek Lancer Novella

by Troy Osgood

  “I have no idea who you are so how am I to know if I should make an enemy of you or not?”

  If something was going to happen, that remark would set it off.

  I watched the Herftos as best I could. They were my first concern. Even though the Guykiks were the more dangerous, the Herftos were closer and to my flanks. I could easily take out Gur but I doubted that would stop his thugs. That made him last on the list. In a normal situation, but this wasn’t normal.

  Gur’s tentacles twitched in that way that I thought of as irritation. I could see his fingers balling into fists, clenching tight. His eyes squinted. Whoever this guy was he was used to getting respect.

  I probably should have been treading lighter. I really had no idea who he was but he had money and thugs, so he could in fact be someone I didn’t want to mess with. I thought about backing off, trying to smooth things over, but that’s not really my style.

  “Who are you anyways?” I asked. I actually was curious. It’s usually pretty smart to know who I’m dealing with.

  “I am but a humble art dealer,” Gur replied. He didn’t sound it, but I could tell he was still annoyed.

  “Humble? Don’t think so,” I said and nodded towards the gaudy yacht. “And I’m pretty sure you’re more than an art dealer.”

  Gur’s tentacles quivered a lot more. He stood up straighter, smoothing the front of his clothing and I could tell he was forcing himself to get calm.

  “You have something that belongs to me,” he finally said, trying to put threat into his voice. The Guykiks stood taller, seeming to increase their already intimidating bulk. Or trying to anyways. “I would like it back.”

  I fought the urge to laugh.

  “Don’t think so,” I said instead.

  He looked like he was going to speak so I continued talking.

  “If you mean the Storwo artifact that you bought from Torsi, that was never hers to begin with and the transaction between you two would be considered illegal in pretty much every system in the galaxy.” I paused long enough for Gur to start to talk and again I continued before he could. “If you want your money back, Torsi is off in the forest there. Maybe you’ll get lucky and make it there before the authorities do.”

  Gur glanced that way before turning back to me, tentacles twitching.

  “Maybe not,” I finished and shrugged.

  I stood straight, no longer leaning. If anything was going to happen, it would be now. Gur had to weigh his anger against starting a fight in the middle of the Tuis dock. I’d lose any fight. We both knew it. The numbers weren’t on my side and we were in an open space. The question was how badly would I hurt him and his people? How hard would it be to put me down?

  And would he then still be able to get the Daelot? Would he be able to escape clean or would Tuis Dock Control tag him?

  He ran through all the scenarios and he had a lot. I was lucky. I had just one. How to do the most damage before I died. That was an easy one to work out. Kill Gur.

  I smiled and stared at Gur. The smile was full of confidence, not a care in the world. The stare told him that he was going to be my target.

  His tentacles quivered. A different movement this time. I took it to be the equivalent of a sigh. He raised his hand and made a quick motion. The Herftos stepped back to his side, never taking their eyes off me.

  “Captain Arek Lancer of the Nomad’s Wind,” Gur said, voice filled with menace. “I think we will meet again.”

  He turned and walked away. The Herftos took the front and the two Guykiks stared at me for a bit before also turning and following their boss.

  I waited until he was back on his ship, the boarding ramp retracted, before I fully relaxed.

  Add one more to the list of the people that wanted to kill me.

  It was a long list.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I couldn’t find out much about a Divut named Gur. Not through the Feed or anything that was available at the time so when we left Tui I put some feelers out through some unofficial channels. It helps to know a lot of people scattered across the galaxy.

  But because of the way the hops work, I had no idea when or if I’d get any replies or any useable intel.

  So I basically put it out of mind. A worry for another day.

  At that point in time Gur was the least of my worries. I had a ship that needed some repairs, some cargo that was very late in delivering, no other jobs lined up and a pretty close to desperate need for credits. What did it matter if some crime boss wanted me dead?

  Tui to Hoin, with the hops in between, was uneventful. Dresla spent most of the time down in the lower level with her people so it was just me and Kaylia in the bridge. Neither of us went down that much, just when needed.

  I was glad to hop into the Hoin System. I wasn’t necessarily eager to see the Storwo gone but this trip had cost me a lot, in credits and time. As well as adding a new enemy to the list. I had to wonder when the good karma this should have earned me would arrive.

  Hoin turned out to be a brown world. Not quite a desert planet, but close enough. Very different from Storw, which had been a water planet. That pretty much confirmed my suspicions that the Planetary Council had ulterior motives in relocating the Storwo here.

  I could see some ships in orbit, larger passenger carriers and support ships. Shuttles moved between them and the surface. Lots of shuttles. The orbit was crowded. Beyond the passenger ships I could see heavy freighters and larger shuttles. Probably moving construction equipment and material. This many new residents needed places to live.

  Wonder who was paying for that?

  There was some blue on the planet and that was where I was being directed to.

  In a way it proved lucky for my passengers that the Wind was the only ship around that could enter atmo. This meant they got on the surface faster and would be housed faster as well. I had no idea how many Storwo were still in orbit as facilities were being built for them, but it had to be thousands. My passengers would probably be in hastily built tents and shoddy buildings but at least they’d be on planet.

  Which was a vastly different place from where they came from.

  *****

  The wind whipped across the plains, pushing the dust and dirt with it. Large and bare mountains, as brown as the ground, were visible in the distance.

  Not a particularly welcoming place.

  I walked back around the Wind to where the view was a little better.

  There was a decent sized lake with large expanses of grass around it, a few trees. An oasis in the middle of the barren rocky land. The ship was parked on the edge of the grass, well away from where a collection of refugee housing was being built. The wind off the plains still cut through, pushing at the grass. A sharp wind, angry.

  The buildings were all one story, square, plain and made of polyconc. It was a pretty common material. Pourable and hardened quickly. Common but cheap. The workers were all Storwo using borrowed machinery supplied by the Planetary Council. Beyond the homes I could see where some were starting to build a wall to help block the wind.

  This was just one of a hundred or so similar new cities built around the oasises on Hoin. A lot of construction with cheap materials. Nothing like the new fancy port being built that we had passed over. A couple of gleaming new shipyards with the latest tech and what looked to be a landing deck twice the size of the one on Tui.

  The Hoinite were making out pretty good on this deal.

  Not like they needed the oasis. They all dwelled in the plains and liked it, tribes scattered across the planet. When we had first landed there had been a collection of them just on the edge, watching and waiting. They’d gotten bored and moved on.

  Tall and gangly with long arms and legs. Thin looking arms and legs that were thicker at the joints: elbows, knees and shoulders. I couldn’t get a good look at their heads as they were wrapped in some kind of cloth robes that left their arms and legs exposed. They had ridden some kind of reddish beasts that looked like giant
lizards.

  This was the best planet the Council could find for the Storwo?

  And what were the Hoinites really getting out of this? Did all of them even want it? How angry would they be with their new neighbors? Would they get along over time?

  I watched a stream of Storwo walking down the Wind’s ramp. Kaylia was at the bottom, hugging some and laughing and poking the kids. Other, more official Storwo, were directing them on where to go. They were heading towards a large building closer to the lake’s shore. Some kind of community building.

  It had been funny to see the self-important Cortl run immediately to the officials only to get brushed aside.

  Dresla walked down the ramp still holding the Daelot. We hadn’t spoken since returning to the Wind on Tui. She paused on the ramp so our heads were level and looked out towards the lake.

  “You were correct,” she finally said and paused, shaking her head before continuing. “I have always upheld Storwo law, followed it exactly. As I thought it should be. Torsi stole the Daelot because I followed the law exactly.”

  No wonder she had taken it personally. She felt it was a failure. Not just her own but of the system she had upheld for so long. I knew what that was like, finding out the thing you held as sacred really wasn’t what you thought. I glanced at the Wind, the thing that had replaced my sacred following of being a soldier in the Earth Expeditionary Forces and wondered what Dresla would find.

  Maybe she’d stay a cop. The settlements would need good ones.

  “Leaving Torsi behind like that was not the letter of the law,” Dresla said and turned towards me. It was not exactly a question or statement, she was looking for validation.

  “No, but it was justice,” I replied.

  I looked out towards the new homes, watching the Storwo walk through the grass towards the larger building. There was no excitement about their new home. They were tired, disappointed and sad. A raw deal but at least they were alive and could rebuild.

  “Sometimes the law and justice are not the same.”

  From The Author

  The second Arek Lancer novella is here and it was a little behind schedule. Okay, a lot behind schedule.

  I had given myself a schedule of every other month and by that schedule this should have been out at the end of July and not the beginning of September.

  Sorry. I’ll try to do better going forward. And I should. The events that caused this to be delayed, well still ongoing, won’t have as much schedule impact as they did when they first started.

  Cryptic I know, but that’s personal life for you.

  The common theory for indie publishing is that of rapid release and monthly or bi-weekly release for series. At this point in time, I can’t do that with Lancer so every other is what I’ll try for. I have a lot of things that I want to write but Lancer is the first priority and it will be the only continuing series until get into a good pattern. The other concepts will be done when they are done and will be released in three or four book chunks rapidly when all are completed. Except for my fantasy series, Taleweaver’s Song, those are second priority behind Lancer (and the second book of that series is running way behind schedule). Basically I’m looking at a Lancer story every 2-3 months and a Taleweaver’s at least twice a year.

  I’m hard at work on the 3rd Arek Lancer novella (working title: Debris Field) and there is a third Lancer short that will come out soon (The Europan Switch) and when I have more details on that I’ll post on my website and newsletter.

  Also working on setting up a Patreon page. I’ll be doing exclusive stories there, “chapters” a month. It’ll also be a place some other concepts get to come out and play. When it’s set up, I’ll let you all know.

  Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this adventure and come back for more.

  Thanks for reading,

  Troy

  As always, you can find me on the web (Ossy Writes), twitter (@troynos), Amazon and Goodreads and don’t forget to join the Ossy's News mailing list.

  Other Books by

  Troy Osgood

  www.ossywrites.com

  All stories available on Amazon unless noted otherwise. All stories ebook only unless noted otherwise.

  (Current at the time of publication)

  Short Stories

  Doom Walking

  Two Gunslingers

  Taleweaver’s Song

  (published by Barking Fire Publishing)

  The Skeleton Stone

  (print and ebook)

  Arek Lancer

  (published by Barking Fire Publishing)

  (listed in chronological order)

  Kinn’s Pirates

  (part of the New England Speculative Writer’s mailing list: http://newenglandspeculativewriters.com/mailinglist/)

  Delivery To Orso

  (available with sign-up to the Ossy’s News mailing list)

  The Last Child

  Armageddon Theft

  Armageddon Theft is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  First Edition 2018

  Copyright 2018 by Troy Osgood

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Barking Fire Publishing, Northwood New Hampshire

  Barking Fire Publishing and its logo are registered trademarks of Barking Fire Publishing, LLC

  Cover art by GermanCreative

  Barking Fire logo by Kat Howell

  www.barkingfirepublishing.com