“No ma'am!”
Walking into the lobby, if you could call it that, Lisa, Jack and Draza Mac exchanged curious glances before he rotated to watch the door behind them. Lisa folded her arms not wanting to touch anything.“Excuse me...”
“Just a minute,” snapped the woman, who had resorted to throwing things on the floor in search of the object of her desire.
Jack spotted a thin stick protruding from her back pocket. “Could it be that thing sticking out of your back pocket?” he offered helpfully.
The woman paused momentarily patting her pants and finding the puff stick, straightening up slowly. “The question is,” she said, turning around still irritated. “What were you doing staring at my a...” Her eyes scanned the trio, stopping on Jack. “Oh, hello,” she said smoothly, not missing a beat. Her short-cropped platinum-blond hair framed her pixie-like features, accentuated by one eye as blue as ice, the other as green as an emerald. She instantly broke into a coy smile. “Cheriska Skye,” she announced, extending her hand. Each person took a turn to shake her hand but her eyes never left Jack. “And you are?”
“Jax Mercury. This is my assistant, Lisa Stone and my Chief Engineer, Draza Mac.”
“Are you off that sharp little frigate that just came in?”
“The Raven, yes.”
“Want to sell it?”
“Uh, no...”
“I had to ask,” she shrugged, “I collect things...”
“I can see that,” replied Jack, glancing around.
“Want to fix it?”
Jack shook his head, “No, nothing for the Raven.”
“Then what can I do for you?” Cheriska asked, puffing on the stick. A smokeless menthol aroma drifted through the air.
“Hey boss?!”
“Not now, Mouse!” she shouted over her shoulder. “I'm busy...” she said sweetly, turning back.
“But Boss, I can't find that LG-542-Z you wanted!”
Cheriska pursed her lips before turning around, “At the end of Aisle Five on the right! Eye level!”
“I looked there!”
“I swear to you,” she screamed, “if I come back there and it's right where I told you, I'm going to kick your ass!” She turned back. “Sorry, it's so hard to find good help nowadays.”
“Found it!” shouted Mouse. Standing at nearly seven-feet, he decided there was a distinct difference between what she considered eye level and what he considered eye level. He hefted the sizable part over his shoulder and headed off to shipping.
Cheriska rolled her eyes. “Of course you did,” she said to her guests. “It's surprising what they can accomplish when there's an ass-beating at stake.” Her eyes sparkled. “So, what is it that you need?”
“We have a parts list...”
“Of course you do...” she said glancing over at the security monitor, waving them behind the counter. “I don't suppose you folks had anything to do with that little incident up the street in our fair neighborhood, did you?”
“Well...”
“Come, come,” she waved. “Don't be slow; they'll be looking for you in a moment. Can't have them finding you. It will cost me,” she urged, as the trio rounded the counter through the maze of boxes and columns.
“Cost you how?” asked Lisa.
“By ending your little shopping spree, of course,” added Cheriska, ushering them through the open warehouse doors. Over her shoulder, she checked the security monitor on her desk. “Too!” shouted the woman, her voice larger than her size, “Escort these folks to the back of the warehouse!”
“OK!”
Cheriska pointed down a dimly lit aisle, stacked on both sides to the ceiling with crates, “Go that way, she'll meet you. Stay quiet.” She turned back toward the office.
They walked down the aisle which seemed to reached into infinity. “TESS,” whispered Jack, “any map of where we're at?”
His earpiece tweeted, “No sir. Just an open space on the map. This is the single largest room on the entire planetoid. Over twelve-hundred feet long and nine-hundred feet wide. It is interesting to note it also has its own bay doors to the outside.”
“Space outside?”
“Yes, that is the only outside possible...”
Smart ass artificial intelligence...
When Cheriska silently appeared in front of them at the intersection of a cross aisle, it took the trio by surprise. Steele stopped short, Lisa bumping into him. “How did you do that?”
The woman cocked her head to one side, motioning them to follow. “Do what?” She turned away to lead.
“Get ahead of us...” Steele thumbed over his shoulder, “I thought you went back to the office.”
“Cheriska went back to the office.”
Steele was having a difficult time processing the third person reference. “Yes, you went back to the office...”
“Not me. Cheriska.”
“But you're Cheriska.” said Lisa.
“Well yes, but I am Too.”
“Jack and Lisa glanced at each other quizzically. “You are too..?” said Jack, shaking his head.
“Yes.”
“Too, what?” asked Lisa.
“Cheriska Too,” replied the woman, matter of factly, leading on.
“Why am I not getting this?” mumbled Jack, running his fingers through his hair. “You're both named Cheriska?”
“Yes...”
“So she's Cheriska One and you're Cheriska Two?”
“Not two as in numbers, Too as in also,” she waved. I am Cheriska also. We are clones.” She shrugged and waved again, “Actually, Cheriska is the original, I am the clone.”
“That is so cool. So you're identical then...” commented Lisa, “interesting.”
“Not identical,” replied Too. “Cheriska has one blue eye and one green eye; I have one green eye and one blue eye...” She directed them to a back corner before reaching the end of the aisle. “Go all the way to the end and turn left. There will be a gap between the wall and the racks, squeeze past and go behind them. Stay there till one of us comes for you. And turn off your electronics, they can pick up the frequencies. Stay quiet. If they check the warehouse they rarely come back this far... but if they do, it could be bad for all of us.”
“Where are you going?” whispered Lisa, suddenly aware of their precarious predicament.
“I need to go back up front.”
“Why are they doing this?” whispered Lisa after Cheriska Too had walked out of sight. “Protecting us, I mean.”
“For the money,” replied Draza Mac, his voice hushed, walking behind Lisa and Jack. “I'm sure they have a rather diverse clientele... This is probably not the first time they've had to hide a client from the authorities.”
“The question being,” whispered Jack, “what it's going to cost us. I don't imagine this is out of the goodness of their hearts...”
CHAPTER NINE
RIKOVIK'S REEF : DUALITIES
“Skipper, there's a couple of Rikovik's Lawmen down here at the ramp. They want to come aboard...”
Sitting in the Raven's galley, halfway through his meal, Commander Brian Carter dropped his fork, activating his mic. “Absolutely not,” he interrupted. “No one boards.”
“They're being rather insistent...”
“I don't care, it's not negotiable,” Brian cut in, rising from the table. “I'm on my way.”
“Trouble?” Warrant Officer Dale Alaroot had pushed his plate aside and half rose from his seat.
“Maybe,” replied Brian, “you're with me.”
The boarding gangway attached to the starboard side of the Raven's hull was not far from the galley. Brian and Dale made it there in short time, two of the ship's Marines looking like scruffy freelance security personnel, were physically barring access to the ship, carbines slung across their bodies. To an average observer their positions were fairly casual. To someone knowledgeable, they were completely ready for a gunfight.
“Skipper's here, step aside boys,”
called Dale Alaroot.
Brian strode between them, stopping at the open hatch entry, standing squarely in front of the two Lawmen. “What can I do for you?” he asked politely.
“We need to see the Captain of your...”
“You got me,” waved Brian, interrupting. “Commander Carter. What can I do for you?” he repeated, irritation creeping into his voice. It was then that he realized the two men were the exact same height, weight and build with the same facial features. He made no mention of it, despite his curiosity of their duality.
“We'd like to come aboard and speak with you about...”
“We can speak here.”
The one with the number 42 on his jacket waved toward the ship's interior, “Perhaps we'd be more comfortable...”
“We can speak here,” said Brian adamantly, giving no ground.
“Fine.” The Lawman sighed and glanced down at his e-Pad, “There's been an incident in the Peninsula Sector...”
“What kind of incident?” asked Brian, cutting in abruptly.
“We're not completely sure yet...”
“Then how does it concern us?”
“Because we believe it involves these people,” said Lawman 42, handing the e-Pad to Brian. “Aren't these people, members of your crew? ”
Brian glanced at the dark picture of Jack and Lisa who appeared to be sitting in a vehicle of some kind. “They might be...”
“They're being sought for questioning,” said the Lawman, accepting the device back, “in connection with the incident in the Peninsula I mentioned.”
“Which was...” prompted Brian with a wave, looking for more detail.
The Lawman looked mildly annoyed. “There was some property destruction, a few casualties...” He frowned, “Look, I'm not saying these... casualties... were star citizens. Far from it, but seeing as witnesses seem to be scarce, we would like the opportunity to interview your folks,” he waved the e-Pad, “to find out what really happened.”
“So you're not sure our people were even involved then...?”
“No we're not. But there are some strong indicators that they were there. I didn't catch their names...”
“Because I didn't give them,” replied Brian, remaining stoic.
“Well, would you mind?” asked Lawman 42, his finger poised over his e-Pad.
Brian pursed his lips for a moment, trying to decide what to say to the inquiry, when a thought hit him. “John Smith, Mary Smith and Bob Smith...”
The Lawman's eyebrows arched. “Smith? That's kind of an odd name, isn't it?”
Brian shrugged, “Family name, what can I say?”
Lawman 42 looked down at his pad and back up again before deciding to make a note of it. “You'll give us a call if you hear from them, won't you?”
“Absolutely, of course,” nodded Brian. He watched the Lawmen walk down the gangway, checking curiously over their shoulders as they headed back to the dock.
“You're not really going to call them, are you?” Dale whispered in his ear.
“Oh, hell no.”
“You worried, Skipper?”
Brian shook his head, “No, if they can't find them, that's a good thing.” He thumbed the screen on his eGo-h. “TESS, can you ping Jax Mercury?”
“Yes Commander, pinging.” She was silent for a moment. “I am getting no response to my ping, it appears Jax Mercury's TESS is currently dark.”
“Is his TESS shut down?”
“TESS units are never off in the conventional sense, Commander. We can, for the lack of a better term, hibernate. This allows the unit to be undetectable to nearly all electronic scanning systems.”
Brian and Dale walked backed towards the galley, leaving the security team to resume their duties at the boarding hatch. “They're hiding then,” said Brian to Dale. “Do you have a last known location, TESS?”
“Checking Commander.” Her holo-screen opened with a map, her animated character to one side, an icon blinking on the far end of the planetoid. “It appears Commander, that they made it to a location marked as Deep Black. It is listed as a parts and supply warehouse...”
■ ■ ■
“I hear voices,” whispered Lisa fearfully, barely audible.
In the darkness between the wall and the racks, Jack held his finger to his lips, listening intently. There was more than one male voice but only one female voice. Try as he might, he could not make out the actual discussion, just the fact that it was somewhat heated. Peeking between the crates and boxes did nothing to better his understanding of what was going on, his little voice shouting cautionary warnings in his ear.
When Mouse's hulk squeezed past the racks and silently appeared around the corner, Lisa almost screamed and Jack almost had a heart attack. “Easy, easy,” he urged, his voice hushed. “I'm Mouse, I work for Chariska. We need to move you, the Law isn't taking the normal bribe, they want to search the whole warehouse, they're waiting for extra Lawmen.”
Steele rose to his feet. “Where can we go? We're kinda trapped...”
Mouse pointed at the floor below his feet, “You're standing on the exit,” the big man waved, “step back,”. He pulled open the back of a false crate stacked on the nearest rack, revealing a hidden electronic command panel. Entering a code on the screen prompted movement of a panel of the floor. It swung up on hydraulic arms a tunnel shaft dropping away into the darkness below. Dim lighting flickered on, revealing a ladder reaching down into the darkness. “Go,” he pointed. “I'll be last.”
They descended through ten feet of the planetoid's solid rock to a level below, Mouse stopping a couple feet below the floor at another control panel mounted next to the ladder, to secure the escape hatch. Stepping off the ladder, stale, musty air clung to their faces, almost moist, its weight almost tangible.
“Sorry,” apologized the big man. “We don't pull power unless we're actually down here for something.” Calling up the controls on his e-Go, the lights flickered to life, the air system kicking on. “The air will get better in a few minutes... Cheriska said you have a shopping list?”
But Jack had already walked away, looking at all the dust-covered ships parked throughout the cavernous secret warehouse. “Sure, in a minute,” he waved dismissively. Stopping and staring at two dust-laden Warthogs sitting side-by-side he reached up and wiped off the filth under the canopy release where the pilot's name would be, but it had been purposefully sanded off. The ship's name on the twin-tails still remained, the faded words UFW YNOSA still lettered on the tail.
“The Ynosa,” he breathed, somewhat mystified to have found them.
“What is it?” whispered Lisa, sliding up beside him.
Jack cleared his throat. “The Freedom was the Ynosa before the pirates raided her... Before we had her...” he whispered back.
“How do you think they got here?”
“Captain Kidd must have needed the money and sold a couple of them off...”
“You don't want those dusty old relics,” called Mouse, waiting patiently near the ladder. “We got those about four or five years ago and they were at least twenty-years obsolete back then...”
Lisa pointed further across the room, “What's that one? Isn't that like the one we lost?”
“Good eye, kiddo!” grinned Jack. “Hey Mouse, how much for that dark gray one over there?” pointed Steele.
“The Remora fighter?” he said, walking in that direction. “I don't know if you'd want her... she's an older model and she's stripped.”
“What do you mean stripped?” asked Steele, heading towards the fighter with Lisa and Draza Mac in tow.
“No armaments. All her guns have been pulled off. She came in like that.”
“She still run and got all her electronics?”
“As far as I know, yes. We can plug her in and you can take a look if you want...”
“I want.” Jack walked underneath the fighter and started a precursory preflight inspection. “Doesn't look like she's ever been hit...” He was noticing small
, flush, silver dots on her hull and wings – something he'd never seen before.
“She's been sitting for quite a while... she's probably dead.” Mouse was dragging a heavy cable off a reel to the nose, popping open an access panel, plugging the cable into the fighter to power her up. He reached up and activated the pilot's access panel, the canopy motoring back slowly on its track. “I don't have a ladder but I can boost you up if you want to take a look...”
Steele accepted the lift and climbed over the side of the canopy into the cockpit, which despite the wear, was still clean and tidy. Cells charging, he began testing the systems. The dash, gauges, screens, sensors and air immediately came to life. Activating the flight systems, he watched the control surfaces match the flight stick motions along with the gimbaled maneuvering jets for space flight. Two last tests... He activated the anti-gravity system and the fighter quickly bounced off the floor.
“Hey!” shouted mouse, “What are you doing?”
“Easy Mouse,” Jack waved over the side, I got to make sure everything works. You want to sell it, don't you?” He watched the big man nod slowly and shut down the anti-gravity the fighter settling back to the deck. One last thing... He crossed his fingers and hit the starter, hearing the engine spin up, releasing it immediately. Nice. Hitting the igniter button produced a throaty bump. “Looks like it's all good...” he called down. “What's this ARC system, Mouse? I've never heard of that...”
“I don't fly, I don't know.”
“Well, we don’t have any weapons to accidentally go boom so let's try it...”mumbled Jack, reaching for the switches. Activating the ARC system, a small independent screen swung into view, a message rolling across the readout. Initiating ARC - Automatic Reflective Camouflage system. A schematic of the spacecraft appeared, covered in markers. STAND BY system checking emitters... System reading and calibrating... System active... The whole process took less than thirty-seconds.
Wings of Steele: Revenge and Retribution Page 14