by Becky Black
"If any of them want to leave, if you try to stop them, station security will be all over your ass, you bitch."
"They won't leave, Major. Why would they, when I'm the one who can protect them?" She laughed and closed the door. The echo of her laughter mocked Jax as she staggered to her feet, helped by a couple of the marines.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," one of them said. "There were just too many of them. We couldn't do anything."
"I know. You tried. Now…" She looked at them, their downcast or angry faces. "I don't think there's anything we can do." What could she do? Get more men herself and start a gang war? And pay them with what?
A couple of Klaff security officers came over then.
"You having trouble, Major?"
Jax shook her head. "Nothing you can do anything about." Then she regretted her bitter tone. Unfair. Station security had always treated her fairly. So she managed a smile at them. "There's been a change of management. Do me a favour and keep an eye on the girls, please."
They glanced at each other, and then one said, "Happy to, Major." They strolled off on their patrol. The marines still stood around, looking unsure of what to do. There was only one thing to be done.
"Boys, I guess I'm dismissing you. It's everyone for themselves now. Smartest move for you is to get off the station and try and hook up with the Trebuchet again."
"And you, Major?"
Jax shrugged. She didn't even have quarters, her room was on the other side of that door and she wasn't getting back in there. She'd demand her belongings back tomorrow. Right now…
"I need a drink."
~o~
Max saw her come into Dav's, with the marines from the brothel, all of them looking quite battered, and miserable. He smiled. It seemed that Etta had dealt with that as planned; using the men he'd sent her. Max hadn't been present personally of course. Any more than he had been earlier when this bar got a new, ahem, security contract.
The good old protection racket. How long had that been going on? Did Neanderthals muscle their way into their neighbour's homes and stomp around saying ‘cave is nice, be terrible if something bad happen to it'?
Anyway, Max couldn't show his face at any of the actual operations. That wasn't part of the plan. Chatting to Major Jax was though, perhaps buying her a drink or three…
~o~
Lon looked around at the shattered remains of the free clinic's waiting room. He'd just received a visit from some men who considered him a rival for their customers. And that's what he had been recently. No respectable people came here anymore. Just the drug seekers and those with suspicious injuries, especially ones that they maybe didn't want station security to know about.
Well it didn't matter. His stock of drugs, at least of the sort the junkies wanted, was exhausted. The nurses he'd hired had left, as he could no longer pay them. The rent on this space would fall due in a couple of days and he had nothing to pay it with. Same went for the power and water.
The free clinic was dead. As Sheni had warned, one day Bara would stop coming to the station and the money would dry up. With a sigh, Lon closed and locked the door. He went back to his consulting room and packed his doctor's bag with his personal gear. Once that was done he brought up the station's business directory on his computer panel and found the category for movers.
~o~
A few drinks later, Jax was sitting at the table with Max and laughing about the way their names rhymed. The marines sat at another table and gave him suspicious looks. But they had their orders too, Max knew, not to interfere with his plans.
"Perhaps I'll just call you Commander instead," she suggested. "And you can call me Major."
"You can call me anything, anytime, Major," he said, smiling and leaning closer. She was merry enough already to believe his attentions sincere. Well, they weren't entirely insincere. After all, this woman was trained in the arts of pleasure. Her looks may be fading, but if her skills remained, Max wouldn't say no to her.
"Barring the Treb. Tha's where ‘s all gone wrong," Jax said. "Say what you like about the captain, and not gonna deny, she's madder than a box of frogs. And scary, fucking hell, scary. But's only been couple of days since the blueys banned her, an this place is already going to hell in a hand basket."
"So you think it was better when Captain Bara was around?"
"Better. Yeah." Jax tossed back another drink and slammed the glass down. Max signalled the bar for another round.
"I think a lot of people are likely to agree with you. I've been hearing about all kinds of trouble since the announcement. Some people are trying to take advantage."
Speaking of taking advantage… he moved a little closer and slid his arm around her waist. She didn't object, in fact she turned to him.
"You're a handsome lad," she said. "No wonder I never saw you in the house. You don't have to pay for it, do you?"
"Not so far. You know, Major." He leaned close, to whisper in her ear. "If you need a bed for the night, you ca--"
He broke off mid word, his body frozen solid. Her hand… she had her hand… The thought raced screaming through his mind that a woman trained in making a man feel exquisite pleasure could also have special insight into ways of causing him excruciating pain. His eyes started to water. Jax smiled gently into his face.
"Don't be so cheeky, sonny." With her free hand, she patted his face. He didn't move. Too terrified to move. "Try again when you make full Commander."
Then she was sliding out from behind the table and he unfroze, wanting to slide himself. Slide off his chair and under the table. The marines were grinning.
"I've been on this station a lot longer than you, Commander. I can find my own bed for the night."
A waiter arrived at the table, with two drinks on a tray. Jax grabbed both, downed them one after the other and slapped the glasses back onto the tray. Then, while Max stared, she turned and walked out. She wobbled a bit, to be sure, but not so badly that she couldn't make a dramatic exit.
Max waved the waiter away, with a request for his bill. He felt like going home to bed. Definitely alone. That hadn't gone exactly as planned. But he'd achieved his main aim. Jax thought things had been better when Bara was coming to the station, and she'd tell everyone she met that same thing. How soon before all the humans on the station were saying it?
That depended on how quickly things got worse.
~o~
A couple of hours after he closed the clinic, a tired Lon and several bored looking men with crates on trolleys walked into Dr Sheni's clinic. The receptionist stared at him and he gave her a weak smile.
"Hi. Can I see Dr Sheni?"
She came out a few minutes later, with Anishk following her.
"You were right," Lon said. "I was…" This was difficult for him to admit. Such words didn't come naturally to a confident young doctor. But he gritted his teeth and got them out. "I was wrong. The free clinic is closed. I brought the equipment and what drugs I had left, to give to you. If you'll accept them. And, if you'll accept me, I've brought myself back too."
Sheni looked at the boxes and crates and some larger pieces of equipment and then back at Lon.
"I'd like to have you back, yes. As for the equipment. Well, I think you've earned it. So yes, I'll accept it."
For a moment, he thought he would cry. He wanted to sink to the floor as the tension and fear drained from him. Why did this tiny old woman make him feel safe again? Because of her allies. The best people on the station, he realised that at last. The good people he could rely on. They didn't stamp around shouting about protecting Sheni's clinic. But you just knew that to hurt the doctor would be a bad idea.
Anishk ran up to him and threw her arms around him. She did weep, he saw, just before she turned her face away to hide the tears. He held her tight and she snuffled against his shoulder.
"You are an idiot," she told him.
"I know, but I learn eventually."
Chapter 35
Maiga's waiting paid off, when A
lex walked into the brig and dismissed the guard. Maiga sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes and pretending she was just rather annoyed at being woken up. A glance at her watch told her it was 03:06.
"Don't you sleep?" she asked him.
"I'm on night shift. The captain is sleeping though."
"Oh good, I was getting worried. She looked tense."
He ignored her sarcasm and came closer to the cell, held onto the bars.
"I… I can trust you," he said. It wasn't a question, strangely. No, he'd already decided he could trust her, or he wouldn't be here.
"And?" she said.
"And I need to talk to you."
This would be like pulling teeth. He wanted to talk, but the anguish on his face told her it wouldn't come easy. She glanced around. He trusted her, but could either of them dare speak plainly?
"I've disabled any listening devices," Alex said.
She looked back at him. "The ones you know about."
"I… yes." His voice dropped to a whisper. "So not here. I can't talk here."
"Well, I'd invite you out to dinner, but as you can see, that could be a little tricky."
"I know. Here." He held his hand through the bars and she came forward cautiously. He dropped two small items into her hand. "Put the chip into that reader the captain gave you. It's got plans which will show you how to get to the shuttle bay. Your ship is prepped. Plans and codes to override the computer and open the bay doors are in there too."
"You know my ship can't outrun this one."
"I know. But in a few hours we expect to intercept a cargo freighter. That's when you should do it, while we're tied up there. When our people are on the freighter and the Trebuchet can't leave, I'll cut the power in here for five seconds. That's your signal. The lock will be disabled too. You'll have to move fast."
"The guard?" Maiga asked.
"That…" He nodded at the other thing he'd given her, a tiny tube. "Twist off the end and there's a needle. Prick the guard and squeeze the device."
"Lethal?"
"No, of course not! But it will put him down inside three seconds."
"Right. And after I get out?"
"I've programmed co-ordinates into your ship. We'll dock there for shore leave in six days. If… if you care about your space station, you'll meet me there."
She nodded. She'd meet him. And not just because of the station. He still had more to tell her. So much more.
"Thank you, Alex. Whether this works or not." Butter him up a little. She'd had a plan to get out of the brig before she was even captured, but Alex's contribution would make it easy.
"Don't thank me. Just be there."
He strode out and Maiga lay down, waiting again--for the signal. She slept, gathering her strength, and the roaring of the guns woke her hours later as the Trebuchet attacked, just as Alex had said.
Time passed. The Trebuchet's marines would go across to the freighter and take over, ready to strip out the valuable cargo. Almost an hour passed before Alex's signal came. The lights flickered. The guard looked up, frowned, and then the lights went out.
"Just a power loss," he called to his prisoner, "it will reroute in--hey!" Maiga caught him as he went limp and helped him slide down to the floor without hurting himself.
"Been nice knowing you," she said as the lights came back on, showing his peacefully sleeping face. "Bye now."
Maiga left the Trebuchet.
~o~
Max was impressed with his fellow humans. They'd needed so little prodding. A suggestion to the local criminals that this might be the time to take advantage of the situation and so many others had followed their example. As if they too sensed the time had come to seize an opportunity. Only a week had passed since the Trebuchet had been banned from the station and the Chronicle had already started to use the term "crime wave."
Max had nothing but contempt at almost every level for the organised and disorganised criminals that were making the human sector a tense place to live now. But he at least respected their timing.
Now, with his shiny new Watch Commander badge, he sat in a meeting with Chief Neex and the rest of the Watch Commanders, while they discussed their response to the crime problem. He didn't draw attention, sat at the back and stayed quiet. He hadn't even had to give the rest of the commanders any additional orders, Bara had told him she'd made it clear from the start what she expected of them. They were here to get it. And Neex suggested it himself, which really did tickle Max. When he was sitting in Neex's chair he'd remember that, and laugh.
"My people are overstretched already," Neex said. "The Watch has proved an effective peace keeping force until the last few days."
"We're doing our best," one of the commanders said, "but--"
"I know," Neex said. "Your powers are limited. That's why I've spoken to station management and they've agreed a temporary solution. You will be deputised to station security, giving you the same powers as regular security officers, though only within the sector of the station where the humans live. And station security officers will still have seniority. I'll be assigning some to supervise your people."
Max had a hard job hiding his smug smile, as Neex gave the Watch exactly what they'd wanted all along. Exactly what this crime wave had been engineered to get them. Power. With various safeguards of course, that Neex was outlining now, but shortly, they were not going to matter.
The humans were going to be forced to choose between either a crime wave or heavy, even oppressive policing. When the third option presented itself--herself--there'd be barely a whisper of protest. There were a few likely troublemakers of course. But their names and addresses were noted. Max smiled a private little smile. You could say they'd be the first to know when it started.
The meeting broke up after a lot of tedious talk about rules and regulations, that Max ignored. It wasn't going to matter to him at all, never mind for a short time. Most of the commanders headed off for a celebratory drink. But Max headed back to his quarters, saying he'd see them later.
That was a lie. In his quarters he packed a bag with the few belongings he wanted to take with him. The rest he put into a couple of storage cases. They'd be here when he came back. And he would be back. In style. He laughed as he closed and locked the cases. He'd sent the instructions to put them into storage, along with an advance payment on the storage and notice to give up these quarters. Leaving the small, bleak rooms made him feel damn good. Not that his new ones would be any larger, smaller most likely. But they'd have other advantages.
He left his quarters and made straight for the docks. There he boarded a passenger transport, not giving the station a backwards glance. He's done his job here. A job he'd accepted quickly, just glad to have orders and a mission again. And he'd done it well. He could feel satisfied with his work and he'd receive his reward.
Jax had told him to come back when he made full Commander. That was exactly the plan.
Max left the station.
Chapter 36
Maiga sat in the darkest corner booth of the bar. A hood, pulled well forward, hid her face in shadow. If any of Bara's crew came in they wouldn't spot her. Unless they were looking for her--like these two.
Alex and Sev walked into the bar, both out of uniform. They looked around and Maiga raised a hand to beckon them over. Alex hurried straight over, while Sev went to the bar. Alex slipped into the booth, opposite Maiga. He looked ashen, as if he hadn't slept in a week. Sev looked better than him, when he arrived, but he too had dark circles under his eyes.
Sev didn't join them in the booth. He took a chair nearby and sat astride it, arms crossed on the back, watching the door.
"Okay, I'm here," Maiga said. "What do you want to say to me?"
"I have to tell you about Bara's plans." Alex entwined his fingers until the knuckles stood out pale against his dark skin. "She's going to try to take over Hollow Jimmy."
"Tell me something I don't know."
He shook his head. "You don't know all of it. She
wants to make it a base of military operations. Recruit other human ships. Form a fleet."
"Sounds like a crazy idea."
"It is crazy! She's crazy! She has been since…"
He stopped and wrung his hands. Sev glanced back at him, when he raised his voice, then turned to the door again. Alex wanted to tell her, Maiga could see. He just needed some encouragement to get over the ingrained, but now misplaced loyalty.
"Alex, you need to tell me everything. You need to, or you'll end up as crazy as her."
"It's hard. She's my captain."
"No. She's not. Not really." When he looked at her, not understanding, she went on. "Her rank is commander. You have to start by telling me what really happened to the captain."
His eyes widened, and then he dropped his gaze. Maiga saw Sev glance back, but turn away again quickly. She noticed his hair, suddenly. It had been long, but it only reached his collar now, and was rather unevenly chopped. For a moment Maiga thought about the day she'd cut off the hair extensions Tesla had made her wear. But she didn't think Sev had hacked his own hair off.
She turned back to Alex, who had composed himself again, though still had a touch of panic in his eyes, and a frantic undertone in his voice. But he kept it under control as he started to speak.
"We were a long way out when the recall order came. Many of the officers, Bara included, had wanted to head back to Earth long before then. We all believed in what the… what Ilyan was saying." He looked at her for a moment and she dreaded the "what was he really like?" question.
Intelligent, confident, curious, funny, sometimes naïve and sometimes elitist. Guilty. Determined. Principled. And always, always kind and gentle and always, always she loved him.
But Alex didn't ask the question in the end. He continued his story.
"We didn't make it. Not even close. We heard the news about the defeat, the destruction and we knew it was too late. Before we could decide what to do, we were intercepted by a couple of Chia warships. The ceasefire had just come into effect then and they gave the captain a choice." His face twisted, with remembered anger. "If he agreed to let them disarm the ship, they wouldn't destroy it."