by Jake Bible
“Then I don’t want one,” Rage said.
“You don’t drink? I thought you drank,” Fig replied.
“I do drink, just not shit that isn’t all alcohol. Screw that fizzy shit that’s in there,” Rage replied. He looked down at the pink synthetic-skinned man. “You mind scooting your plastic ass over? There’s a whole fucking lounge. Why are you sitting all up in my shit?”
“I wanted to know if you were alright,” Fig said. He sipped the drink again then set it down on the table in front of the couch. “I’m surveillance, remember? I see things. Right now, I see that something is bugging you. Since you’re the team leader, I thought I’d ask what that something is in case it affects our job.”
“Not sure,” Rage replied.
“Not sure that it affects our job?”
“Not sure what is bugging me.” Rage looked about the lounge, eyes narrowed, taking in every detail. “Weird vibe. Maybe it’s the bots… Fuck if I know. Does this ship feel off to you?”
“Off? No, not that I can tell,” Fig said. “But this is my first time on this ship. You were on it before, so you’d know best.”
“You’d think so…” Rage huffed then stood up. “I’m going to sit over there on that couch. Don’t follow me.”
Rage crossed the lounge and plopped down into a different couch. A few seconds later, Mosh joined him.
“How hard we gonna hit the station?” Mosh asked.
“We’ll talk logistics later,” Rage said. “Right now, I want to sit and think. In peace and quiet. Alone.”
“Oh. Okay,” Mosh said and stiffened, his back becoming straight as he crossed his metal arms over his metal chest. “I’ll make sure no one disturbs you. We can talk while I do this.”
“No. No talking. That would be disturbing me. You may want to kick your own ass now. You know, for disturbing me.” Rage said the last sentence very slowly.
“I am not into self-harm,” Mosh replied. “I will stop talking and disturbing you, though. That’s fair.”
“Gee, fucking thanks, Tin Man,” Rage said and got up.
He moved to another couch. Mosh and Fig watched him, but Rage ignored their stares. He sat down in the new couch and rubbed at his temples.
“Headache?” Lisha asked as she crossed from the bar to the couch. She sat down and pressed her body against Rage’s, her fingers shoving his out of the way as she took over rubbing his temples. “Maybe we should move this to my quarters. I can give you a true massage and take all that pain away. Nothing like a full-body rubdown to ease tension. I have a lot of skill at getting a release from pent-up stress.”
“Sweet fucking hell,” Rage muttered. He stood up and clapped his hands. “Fine. Let’s go over the full plan, okay? I’m obviously not going to get any thinking time, so might as well dive in.”
“Thinking time?” Watchdog said. “I do not believe they have invented a unit of measurement that can track something that small.”
“They did for your dick, Bolt Butt,” Rage replied.
“I have access to many phallic attachments, Rage, and none of them can be considered small,” Watchdog replied.
“What kind of attachments?” Neela asked as she sat on a stool at the bar. “How many orifices are we talking here?”
“No,” Rage said. “Just no. Bolt Butt? Do that holo projection thing of yours. Start with where we’re landing on the station.”
“As you wish,” Watchdog said and projected an image of Horloc Station into the center of the lounge. It swiveled and zoomed, showing the landing pad where the Hourglass would dock once they reached their destination. “My lady assures me that this landing pad will be reserved for us. So we may begin our job here with certainty.”
“And that’s about all the certainty we’ll get,” Rage said. “We have Velpoohian pirates after this goddess. We have some Charbeshun sect sworn to protect this goddess even though they suck at that. And we probably have Earth Corp after this goddess.”
“Why do you say that, Max?” Lisha asked, all bubbly innocence. “Do you know something I don’t?”
“Always,” Rage said. “But you ever know Earth Corp not to have their fingers in something like this? If pirates know and the Charbeshuns know, then it stands to reason Earth Corp knows, right? Or should we ignore one of the largest corporate and military organizations in the galaxy just because?”
“So you are being cautious. Is that it?” Lisha asked, still with the bubbly ignorance.
“That’s my job,” Rage said. “May I continue?”
“Oh, please. My apologies for interrupting, Max,” Lisha said and closed her lips with a smack.
“We’ll also be dealing with every damn loser on Horloc,” Rage continued. He moved up close to the image and tapped the landing pad. “The moment we dock is the moment our job starts. We assume that every being we encounter is clued into why we are there. Which they will be.”
“I do not see how they can all know why we will be there,” Watchdog interrupted. “What possible reason is there for the entirety of Horloc Station to be alerted to our purpose?”
“I don’t know, Bolt Butt, maybe because of a fucking goddess working in a strip club?” Rage replied. “And Horloc Station is filled with criminals and scumbags which are two demographics that tend to have a sense of when shit is about to go down? That and the fact that we have pirates, Charbeshuns, and Earth Corp all involved and none of those groups is known for being leak proof.”
“So you do not know for sure then,” Watchdog said.
“Of course not, but I’m not going to assume we’ll be allowed to stroll through the station unmolested just because the whirring gears up in that bucket head of yours don’t think that our cover will be blown by the time we land,” Rage snapped. “Hey, and I’m just throwing this out there, how about you all shut the fuck up until I’m done talking? Can that be the first part of our goddamn plan?”
“Everyone will remain silent, Max,” Lisha said, sounding annoyed. “Please continue.”
“Thanks so fucking much,” Rage replied. He took a deep breath and did continue. “We land here. This is an assault heist. Snatch and grab. We’ve all had to go into a hostile situation and extract a target before. That’s how we’ll handle this.”
Rage watched as the protestations began. He headed them off.
“After Neela infiltrates the club and Fig has the entire station under surveillance,” Rage said with a smirk. “You all thought I was going to pull a lock and load and order that we drop anyone that gets in our way.”
“You aren’t?” Neela asked.
“Not on the way in, no,” Rage said. “On the way out? Yeah, it’ll be a run and gun extraction. Ain’t no way we can nab a goddess out from under Morlaw without him going full apeshit. He has pull on Horloc. We take his prize and I’m sure he’s going to exert that pull. We’ll go in with wary and curious scumbags watching us. We’ll come out with angry scumbags shooting at us.”
“The whole station?” Fig asked, his pink plastic skin looking a little green. “Like everyone?
“I don’t know if it’ll be the whole damn station, Pinky,” Rage said. “Probably some of the lazier scumbags will sit the fight out, but there’ll be enough to make our trip from here,” Rage pointed at Sector 42 and the club to the landing pad, “to here more than a little uncomfortable.”
“I’ll crush and kill them all,” Mosh said.
“Good. I like that attitude. You do that crushing and killing,” Rage said. “But, and I need you to listen to this, not until we are leaving and have been engaged. We’ll sure as shit finish the fight, but we ain’t gonna start it.”
“You are quite sexy when you’re in charge,” Lisha said.
“Good to know,” Rage replied, rolling his eyes. He turned to Fig. “You. Tell me what you can do.”
“I, uh… What do you mean?” Fig asked as he looked around for assistance. Everyone only stared at him. “You mean step by step what is my process? Or just the broad strokes of m
y specific abilities?”
Rage took a deep breath. “Tell me what you can do. Can you get into every security system or only the surveillance systems? Can you move seamlessly from one system to another? Because there will be a bunch of cobbled together systems on Horloc. The place is an erector set of shit waiting to fry and go out. Can you bring a system up if it crashes so we aren’t in the dark when we need to be in the light?”
“Oh, well, lights and utilities would be more of a Watchdog task, I believe,” Fig said.
“I’m going to break your face now,” Rage said.
“What’s an erector set?” Mosh asked.
“Hold on now,” Fig said as he tried to push himself into and through the back of the couch. “No need to get violent, Mr. Rage, sir.”
“Mr. Rage, sir?” That brought Rage up short. He shook his head. “Jesus, how did you live this long without someone…?” Rage studied the man’s synthetic skin. “Oh, right. They did fuck you up. My bad. You think you can walk us through how you will be handling surveillance? Maybe start from the landing pad and go from there? Can you handle that, Pinky?”
“I really would rather you didn’t call me Pinky,” Fig said. “Being born with the name Fig is hard enough.”
“I bet. Don’t care. Start talking,” Rage snapped.
“Be nice, Max,” Lisha said. “Fig is here to help you get off the station, not just to get on. My relationship with the head of security will mean you won’t have any issues getting to the club.”
“No issues by the station’s official security personnel,” Rage said. “But everyone is bought and paid for on that station. I’m not exactly an unknown quantity in this galaxy. Someone will see me and want to get paid for that information. Same with Mosh. Neela can change shapes and appearance, so her getting to the club won’t be as much of a problem. But if she is caught changing form, then that intel will be worth a lot and her cover will be blown. We need to get on that station as unseen as we get off.”
“Get off,” Lisha said.
“Jesus…” Rage glared at Fig. “Talk, Pinky.”
Fig glanced around the lounge once more and there was still no assistance or sympathy heading his way. He cleared his throat.
“The landing pad is outfitted with a Tangle Nine buffer system,” Fig started then changed tactics as Rage growled. “But you don’t need to know that. So, once we land, I will be able to loop the ship sitting quietly indefinitely. If anyone is snooping, they will never notice that a team disembarks from the ship or returns to it. No matter what they do, the image will look to them like it is in real time and authentic. That’s the easy part.”
“What’s the hard part?” Neela asked.
“The rest of the station,” Fig said. “The corridor that the landing pad is connected to has a very simple digital signal system in place. While the tech is simple, tricking it is not. The low-resolution and low-tech system will glitch if I try to loop it for more than thirty or forty seconds.”
Fig got up and walked toward the holographic image. He eyed Rage carefully, but didn’t shy away as he got close and pointed to the image.
“These corridors here, here, here, here, here, and here, are all outfitted with the same system,” Fig explained. “Cheap tech, but hard to bypass. Now, these corridors here, here, here, here are all outfitted with Knockfurst quantum surveillance arrays. Very top of the line equipment. Very top of the line. And easy as pie to work around. I simply have to get inside the quantum clocks of each and tell the systems that it is the day before and not the current time. They will replay everything from twenty-four hours earlier. And it will look real because it was real. Again, no one will have an idea something is off.”
“Unless they recognize an occurrence from the day before,” Rage said.
“I still want to know what an erector set is,” Mosh said.
“Ah, no, they won’t recognize anything because of the quantum processor,” Fig said to Rage, obviously pleased with being right. “The reason is that quantum systems don’t utilize time in the same way. So, even if it replays the previous day’s feed, the images will seem new to anyone watching them because according to quantum physics, they will be new since they have never been shown in that time stream.”
“I barely understood that, but it sounded sexy,” Lisha said.
“It did?” Neela asked.
“What else?” Rage asked.
Fig looked offended that his explanation of quantum physics wasn’t more appreciated by Rage.
“Well, we have the two atriums here and here,” Fig continued. “Each of these areas has individual systems designed and built on the station. I won’t be able to tackle those until you reach them. Once you do, I will need you to physically tap into the systems for me and transmit the data back to this ship so I can figure out how to override them.”
“Whoa there, Pinky, I’m not tapping into shit,” Rage said. “You’ll be the one tapping.” He looked to Lisha. “He knows he’s coming with us, right?”
“Am I?” Fig asked Lisha.
“Well, if Max believes it is appropriate, then yes,” Lisha said, sounding slightly unsure. “I did not hire Fig for his combat skills, Max. He might break easily. Are you sure taking him with you is a good idea?”
“Yes,” Rage said. “I may need him to work something on the fly and I don’t have time to do a back and forth.”
“Will I also be accompanying you?” Watchdog asked.
“No. You stay on the ship and work from there. I need a door open, you open it. I need a lighting system to go down, you take it down. I also need you to make sure the comms are operational at all times,” Rage said.
“I can do that while on the go,” Watchdog said. “Having me with you may be a wise strategy since my combat skills are equal to yours.”
“Not even close to equal, Bolt Butt,” Rage replied. “And, no, you stay on the ship. Horloc Station’s infrastructure is sketchy. Can’t afford for us to end up in a situation where your connection to the station’s tech goes down. I’d rather you were in the ship and at a stable interface.”
“You’re worried I’ll try to harm or kill you,” Watchdog said. “Fear of the double-cross is your true reason for having me stay behind.”
“I might double-cross you as well, Mr. Rage,” Fig said.
“Nice try, Pinky. You’re still coming with,” Rage responded. He focused on Watchdog. “I’m always afraid of the double-cross, Bolt Butt. That’s why I’m still breathing after all these years. You stay on the ship.”
“You are the team leader,” Watchdog replied.
“I am,” Rage said and turned his focus to the rest of the team. “One more time. Neela goes in, gets to the club, and begins hunting for the goddess’s true name. Mosh and I, with Fig in tow, will follow soon after. Just some horndogs heading to the nastiest strip club in the galaxy. Fig makes sure we aren’t noticed as we head to the club. Once there, hopefully, Neela will have the goddess’s name. We say her name, break Morlaw’s hold on her, scoop her goddess ass up, then hightail it back to the ship. That’s when we’ll need Watchdog clearing a path for us and Fig making sure we don’t walk into any ambushes. We reach the ship with the goddess, start up the engines, then get the hell off Horloc Station. After that, it’s fucking champagne and caviar.”
“We get paid,” Mosh said. “Paid so much. I’m going on a vacation. You ever stay in one of those ice hotels? They’re cool.”
Rage glared at the huge metal man, unsure if he was making a pun or not. Rage decided not to ask. Mainly because he really didn’t give a shit what went on inside the guy’s head.
“Everyone good on the plan?” Rage asked.
Everyone nodded.
“Then let’s get geared up and ready,” Rage said. “How soon until we reach the station?”
Lisha grinned. “Tomorrow.”
“That’s…fast,” Neela said.
“Um, yes, it is,” Fig agreed.
“Ships go fast, so what?” Mosh said.<
br />
“Tomorrow,” Rage said and looked about. “You got one hell of a ship here, boss.”
“I certainly do,” Lisha grinned.
Eighteen
Rage pretty much expected the knock on his quarters’ door. The woman was all sorts of things, persistent being the top of those things.
“Hello, Max,” Lisha said as she slid inside his quarters before the door had barely opened wide enough for her to fit.
Her hand hit the controls and the door stopped then closed quickly behind her. She leaned back against it, her short dress pressing against her body, telling Rage that the dress was all she was wearing.
“Boss,” Rage said, sitting at a small table, his rifle disassembled before him as he carefully cleaned every part.
Lisha stared at his shirtless torso. She pointed at his chest.
“You got a little grease on you,” she said as she pushed away from the door and walked over to him. “Need me to wipe that away for you?”
“I’m good right now,” Rage said.
“You sure?” Lisha asked as she reached the table. Her finger swiped the small dot of grease on his chest, smearing it across his pectoral muscle. “Oh, dear, I made it worse. Let me get something to clean that up with.”
Lisha left the main room and walked into the bathroom. Rage watched her go and couldn’t help but smile at the extra sway she put into her hips, knowing full well he was watching.
“Do you feel confident about the job?” Lisha called from the bathroom.
“As confident as I can be when it comes to Horloc Station,” Rage said. He finished cleaning the rifle and reassembled it in less than five seconds. “That little nugget of intel might have been good to know when I agreed to take this job.”
“Would you have agreed if you’d known?” Lisha called, still in the bathroom.
“Maybe,” Rage said. “Anyone in their right mind would have walked away, but Horloc is a challenge that’s hard to resist. The place can be more insane than a barrel of Tittle squids, but sometimes it’s just amusing as hell.
“Amusing?”
“Idiots picking fights for no reason,” Rage replied. “That never gets boring. And the goddess part is interesting. Would I have taken this job if I’d known everything upfront? Hard to say.”