Hired Gun - A Bounty Hunter Space Opera Adventure (Aeon 14: Machete System Bounty Hunter)

by M. D. Cooper

  “Kippy’s like a brother. We’ve never been a couple.”

  Trey looked surprised. “I see.”

  “But yes. We’ve been each other’s right hand for a very long time. We’ve run all kinds of scams and hijinks together over the years.” She looked at Kippy, working the blender at the other end of the bar, feeling fond.

  “Too bad he didn’t go into your line of work. He could have been your partner instead of me.” From another person, Trey’s words would have come out sounding combative. Snide. But somehow, he conveyed them in an entirely calm and forthright way.

  He was an unusual guy.

  “Kippy needs a place to belong to and look after. This is where he needs to be.” She’d watched him open the bar and flourish into a grounded, content man.

  “And you don’t?” Trey pressed.

  “Not exactly.”

  “What do you need, then?” he asked.

  “Something to fight.” She reached into the basket of chips and stuffed one into her mouth so he wouldn’t expect her to say more.

  Kippy returned and made them both laugh with his observations about customers and their drink orders. The rest of the evening passed pleasantly,

  She finished off her third lemonade and plunked it down decisively. “That’s it for me. I’m going to go home and get some sleep.”

  Kippy came around the bar and gave her a vigorous hug, jiggling her one way, then spinning her around. “Take care, little bear. Check in with me from time to time so I know you’re okay.”

  “I will. And look after Aunt Ruth for me, okay?”

  “Always. Even if she didn’t cook for me, I’d do it anyhow.”

  She pointed at Trey. “You, I’ll see at the launch site in the morning. Don’t be late. They’re serious about the schedule.”

  “Will do.” She hopped off her barstool, looking from Trey to Kippy and back. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move to leave them together, but she wasn’t going to stick around and babysit.

  At home, she watched a few minutes of one of Aunt Ruth’s game shows with her before going to bed.

  As she stretched out on the cool sheets, Rio curled up against her shoulder. She closed her eyes and savored the feeling of being home. It might be several weeks before she got to sleep in her own bed again. Or longer.

  She’d enjoy every moment of it she could.

  IAGENTCI

  DATE: 03.19.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)

  LOCATION: Ohiyo Regional Spaceport, Akonwara

  REGION: Machete System, PED 4B, Orion Freedom Alliance

  “Remind me why your planet doesn’t have a space elevator.” Trey looked queasy as he shifted in his seat on the small shuttle as it lifted into the air. “What civilized planet doesn’t have one?”

  Reece understood his displeasure all too well. “One that has massive heating and cooling, and a crust that expands and contracts tremendously. And a few key corporations who don’t want to pay their fair share for such an expensive undertaking.”

  “I guess there’s something to be said for a central government not driven by profit,” he replied, peering out the window with a worried expression.

  “Don’t kid yourself,” Reece said as she relaxed into the seat. “Governments are always about money. Some just hide it better than others.”

  The man seated in front of her glanced back, reminding her to keep their conversation in neutral territory. For all she knew, he was the CEO of one of the Big Four corporations that ran Akon—then again, no CEO would be on public transportation.

  Still, she didn’t want Trey to say something brash and leave her to suffer the consequences at the hands of some offended exec.

  “I guess that’s one way to look at it.” Trey shifted in his seat, trying to get comfortable—a fruitless effort as Akon’s ships weren’t made for someone his size.

  “You’ll feel better when we get on the liner up on the station. I made sure to get us a cabin. When we go interstellar I’ll make sure we have one with all the amenities.”

  “Glad to hear it. But aren’t you hoping we get the job done on Iagentci, and not have to go any further?”

  “Sure. I hope so. But I’m realistic. The odds of that are low.” She shot him a meaningful stare to keep him from saying more about their objectives.

  Rather than looking chastised or just plain agreeable, he wore an amused expression.

  It irritated her. Not simply because he was amused, but because he had a particular way of looking obnoxious while experiencing his state of amusement.

  Whatever. She stared at the back of the seat in front of her and began looking through the data she’d downloaded to a handheld device, since her overlays couldn’t connect to the Akon network once she was off-planet, and the shuttle’s inflight feeds were beyond dull.

  The flight to Noyi Station was uneventful, and an hour later they disembarked. It felt good to stretch her legs, and she could only imagine how Trey felt.

  They made good time through the passenger terminal to the ship that would take them to Iagentci. Trey caught a few looks, but not as many as down on Akon. People who lived in space were more comfortable with mods—they lived in machine-worlds to begin with, further from nature and humanity.

  At least that’s how Reece saw it.

  They boarded the Waya’s Flight with fifteen minutes to spare, and found that Schramm—or more likely one of his assistants—had upgraded their booking to include a cabin.

  Unfortunately, it was just one.

  After dropping off her luggage, Reece left Trey alone in the small space and found the ship’s bar. Akonwara and Iagentci were nearly in conjunction, making the trip only take eleven hours.

  Reece could spend eleven hours in a bar, easy.

  When the ship was only thirty minutes from docking at Igaguti Station—which sat atop Iagentci’s space elevator—Reece returned to the cabin to find Trey walking toward it from the passageway’s opposite end.

  “I didn’t realize you’d gone out.” She palmed the door open and stepped inside to see her luggage undisturbed.

  She saw Trey shrug out of the corner of her eye.

  “I wandered around. Saw you at the bar, but you had your ‘alone face’ on, so I found a game room and relieved a few other passengers of their surplus credits.”

  Reece laughed. “I like how it’s okay for you to play dumb with gambling, but you look down on Kippy and me for our bar hustles.”

  “Maybe because everyone knows what they’re getting into when they gamble.”

  “And everything is supposed to be on the up-and-up in a bar fight?”

  Trey gave a short, toneless laugh. “Fair point.”

  After collecting her luggage, they walked in silence to the ship’s debarkation lounge and waited for the Waya’s Flight to make seal and match air pressure with the ship.

  A few minutes later, a tone sounded and a voice came over an audible system.

  “We are now docked at Igaguti Station, four hundred and seventeen kilometers above Iagentci. The station is a comfortable twenty degrees, and if you’re planning to visit the planet below, the temperature at the base of the elevator is twenty-eight degrees. Passengers who are disembarking, please make your way in an orderly fashion to the departure lounge, and thank you for choosing Tri-Star Flights for your travels.”

  Attendants at the far end of the departure lounge began signaling groups of passengers to depart through the airlocks, and five minutes later, they were off the ship and on the deck of Igaguti Station.

  As they walked through the terminal, a moment of separation anxiety hit Reece and she reminded herself that she was only one planet away from home.

  Igaguti was a massive station, with nearly a hundred million residents. Another elevator topped with a similar station was on the far side of the planet and another six billion Machete system citizens resided on the planet’s surface.

  Reece paused and took a deep breath. She wasn’t alone. She wasn’t far from home. The emptiness of
space wasn’t reaching out to crush her.

  It was fine.

  She even had friends on Iagentci. Familiar faces always made her feel more rooted.

  Trey glanced at her as she took another breath. He lifted her bag off the ground and shouldered it before grabbing the handle of her luggage once she started moving again. Her first instinct was to insist on taking it back, but then she checked herself. Why? To make some existential point about her independence?

  Whatever. Dude was built like a tank, and if he wanted to handle her suitcase and bag, then it was fine by her.

  At least she didn’t have to collect her weapons from the ship’s secure packages department. Her security clearance permitted her to keep even her projectile weapons on her person during flight. She actually thought that was rather foolhardy, but if the ship and station allowed it, she’d take advantage of their lassitude. She always found the weight of her Rikulf Specials comforting.

  Before long they were swept along in a throng of travelers exiting through the Waya’s Flight’s multiple airlocks. Since it was the direction she wanted to go anyway, Reece became part of the throng. She looked to Trey, whose attempt at stoicism was ruined by his distinctly uneasy expression.

  Some people ignored him entirely, some gave him a double-take before ignoring him, and others edged away.

  He had reason to be apprehensive, merely because he made others feel that way.

  “How familiar are you with Iagentci?” she asked as they diverged from the ship-to-ship transfer crowd and walked toward the station’s maglev platform.

  “I’ve passed through the station a couple times. Only went down to the surface once.”

  “Well, I imagine it’s like any other planet down there, but I’ll fill you in as we go.”

  They grabbed the maglev that was going toward the space elevator’s shaft and the hotels that surrounded its departure decks.

  The maglev let them out in a broad atrium that was filled with gardens and small copses of trees. One side looked down on the space elevator’s passenger terminus, while the other looked up at a kilometer of decks rising up on the other side.

  She signaled to Trey to follow, and he hauled the luggage out of the maglev train. The hotel she’d booked was half a klick on their right, and she considered calling a deck-car to take them, but decided that a walk through the atrium’s gardens would be just the thing.

  Trey didn’t even break a sweat as he continued to haul their luggage, and twenty minutes later, they arrived at their rooms.

  At the door of hers, she took her bags from him. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. How long do you need to freshen up?”

  “How’s ten minutes?” Reece had done the necessary research while on the way to Iagentci and was ready to roll with her investigation into the purchases that had been made with Fitzmiller’s account.

  “Perfect.”

  * * * * *

  “What exactly is this place?”

  After getting out of the taxi, Trey stood on the sidewalk, staring at their destination. It had no sign to announce itself, just a nondescript building like all the other nondescript buildings on its block.

  “Biogrow. It’s an industrial supplier of hydroponics and other indoor growing supplies.” She’d told him that on the ride over. Had he not been listening?

  “Right. I know. I mean are they privately owned, what’s their reputation, that sort of thing.”

  “Oh. They’re a subsidiary of a larger family of businesses, but function like a moderately-sized company. They service large-scale growers with corporate accounts as well as small hobbyists, and everything in between. They’re a system-wide supplier with distribution centers on Akon and Soson. They’re a major supplier for the system’s stations as well.”

  He nodded as they entered the building. “Good. What else?”

  Had he done no research of his own? Or was he just seeing how much she’d done?

  She hated working with a partner. She wanted to do her job, not wonder about the inner thoughts and motivations of someone who shared her objectives.

  Instead of letting her impatience get the best of her, she kept herself firmly rooted in professionalism. “From what I could find, they’re entirely clean. No corruption or scandal. Just a company going about its business.”

  “Any hint of the nature of Fitzmiller’s connection with them?”

  “I have an idea,” she admitted, “but it’s just a hunch. Let’s wait and see what we find out about the transaction number trace once we get in there.”

  “What makes you think they’ll run a trace?” he asked as they got off the correct floor and approached the main entrance.

  “Because I’ll ask them to. Nicely. With all the authority of Rexcare behind me. If, for some reason, they refuse, I’ll threaten them.” She looked to him to see his reaction.

  He nodded thoughtfully. “I see.”

  At least he hadn’t objected. It would be inconvenient if he took issue with such a benign tactic.

  Before entering she took a moment to gather her thoughts and focus. She squared her shoulders and strode in like she owned the place.

  A woman behind a counter smiled at them. “Can I help you?”

  “I hope so,” Reece said. She flashed her Rexcare credential. “I’m looking for someone who has made a recent purchase from Biogrow.”

  The woman’s smile smoothed out into a flat line and she held out a hand. Reece handed her the digital reader so she could verify the documentation.

  A moment later she gave the credential back. “This appears to be in order. Welcome to Biogrow, Agent Reece. How exactly can we assist you?”

  Trey quirked an eyebrow at Reece when he heard the “agent” title, but she ignored him. “I’ve linked my overlays to the local network. If you give me a place to send the info I have, you’ll see what I’m after.”

  “Of course.” A ping came over Biogrow’s network, and a box appeared next to the woman on Reece’s overlays. Reece flicked her eyes at the box, and uploaded the transaction information she’d found on Fitzmiller’s personal account.

  “Received.” The employee stared intently at her vidscreen as she tapped commands. “Yes, I see that this transaction occurred three days ago. It was a purchase of growing agents that cause rapid maturation.”

  “Why would someone use those?” Reece asked. Horticulture was not her forte.

  “Rapid maturation causes plants to grow three to four times faster, but it damages their reproductive capabilities, and severely decreases their longevity. As a result, they have very limited use. The only real purpose is to grow large numbers of young plants for immediate harvest.”

  “What kind of plants would be used like that?” Trey asked.

  The woman paused, and answered without looking at Trey. She maintained eye contact only with Reece. “Not many species are worthwhile as youthful plants. Most need to mature and move into another stage, like blooming and fruiting. Typically, this is only done with greens which are best when tender and youthful to prevent bitterness.”

  “You mean like salad greens?” Trey asked.

  This time, the employee flinched when he spoke. It took her a moment to recover her veneer of calm and say, “Greens and lettuces for salads and such, yes.”

  Reece and Trey shared a look. Clearly, he was making the woman nervous.

  “I’m going to get some fresh air in the hall,” he said.

  Reece was relieved that Trey took the initiative on his own. No doubt he was annoyed—probably insulted—but he was stepping back to help her get the information they needed.

  As he left, Reece said, “What about research purposes? Would someone force-mature plants for the purpose of experimentation?”

  “Unlikely. Like I said, the forced maturation changes their biochemistry. Any research would be flawed because of the difference between the unnaturally matured plants and normal ones.” Her head tilted to one side, giving her a thoughtful look. “Although, it’s po
ssible someone would do research on the maturation process itself. Maybe to improve the current science of rapid maturation.”

  “Or to search for new properties within plants that have been altered by the process?” Reece asked.

  “It’s possible,” the woman said. Her eyes darted to the door, where Trey had exited and she lowered her voice. “Is Rexcare employing meat-machines now?”

  Irritation flooded Reece, but she wasn’t sure if she was annoyed with the woman, or with her own self for so recently using that phrase.

  She tamped the feeling down because taking this woman to task over an offensive phrase would not help them reach their goal. “His mods are minor. As far as I know, he’s the only genmodded person Rexcare employs.”

  “Still.” The woman grimaced. “Aren’t you afraid of being put out of a job by people like him? I would be.”

  “No,” she lied. “Never occurred to me. He’s not that different from anyone who has overlays and an auditory implant. He’s from the Perseus Arm. You know how things are out there.”

  “He won’t have an easy time of it on Iagentci,” the woman warned. “There are people who would start a fight without saying a word.”

  “Good to know,” Reece answered. “Thanks for the advice.”

  The employee smiled and nodded, once again calmly self-assured in her role of customer service representative. Or whatever her title was.

  “I’ll make a note in my report that you were very forthcoming and helpful in our investigation. Rexcare appreciates Biogrow’s help.” In fact, Reece didn’t feel at all grateful, but she wanted to keep the line of communication open in case she needed it again. “If I have any further questions, is it okay to contact you personally?”

  The woman brightened. “That’d be great, of course you can. My name’s Talaina. Just save the contact attached to the file destination and let me know if I can be of assistance.”

  “Excellent. Thank you again for your help.” Reece smiled. It was a practiced movement rather than a genuine expression. A tool of the trade.

  As she left, she felt shitty about not standing up for Trey’s personhood, as well as annoyed that she felt that way. They weren’t friends. Why should it bother her?