“Fair enough,” Scallywag replied with a snort. “I’m actually here ta see a friend.”
“This friend wouldn’t happen to be on a detention level, would he?”
Scallywag smiled. “However did ya guess?” he replied.
The Sergeant shook his head derisively. “Name?” he asked.
“Bloke goes by Pinkbottom.”
The Sergeant typed a few strokes on his console and looked at the screen. “Is he a Rattan?” he asked. “Arrested for drug smuggling?”
“Aye, that be him.”
“Hold for security scan, please,” the Sergeant said as a robotic arm with a red orb emerged from the desk and scanned Scallywag. Once he’d been cleared, the Sergeant slid a visitor’s badge toward him. “Detention sub-level one,” he said.
Scallywag clipped on the badge and made his way to the teleporter, rematerializing deep down in the first sub-level of the tower’s detention centers. After going through even more security checks, he followed a guard to the visitor center where there were rows of booths with re-enforced ironglass partitions, each one with an archaic looking phone receiver in them. None of this surprised Scallywag much. He’d been in enough prisons to know most of them were centuries behind in technology, usually thanks to the building contracts going to the lowest bidder and no one really caring about providing inmates any of the latest gizmos.
He sat down where he was instructed to by the guard and waited for Pinkbottom to be brought out. It wasn’t long before the doors on the other side opened and two security-bots ushered Pinkbottom in. He was clad in a typical prisoner’s orange jumpsuit, and the big pink nose on his rat-like face sniffed the air nervously. His normal white fur was patchy and dirty, and it looked like his whiskers had been unevenly trimmed. Part of one of his ears had been chewed off long ago, but they both stood at attention when his beady pink eyes focused in on Scallywag. As if the look on Pinkbottom’s face wasn’t enough to let Scallywag know the Rattan was surprised to see him, the nervous twitching of the alien’s long, thin tail made it obvious the brute had never expected to see Scallywag alive ever again.
Pinkbottom sat in the chair and picked up the receiver. “Scally?” Pinkbottom said, surprised. “I thought ya were dead!”
“Thinkin’ never was yer strong suit, Pinkie,” replied Scallywag, “as evidenced by yer current situation.”
“This wasn’t my fault!” whined Pinkbottom. “The patrols took us almost the second we dropped out of hyperspace! It’s like they already knew we had a hold full of kibble! I was set up!”
“Of course you were set up, ya twit!” replied Scallywag sharply. “No one makes kibble runs ta the bloody Capitol! The Regal sensors can spot that blasted trash lightyears away.”
“They shouldn’t have been able to,” Pinkbottom argued. “I had the smuggler compartments on the Reaver re-shielded, Scally. Popped for re-enforced equalarium, I did. Nothing shoulda been able to scan our holds.”
“How the blazes were ya able to afford that much equalarium?” Scallywag asked.
“Got it on credit,” Pinkbottom said. “The job was paying enough to warrant it.”
“Credit?” said Scallywag, not liking the sound of that one bit. “What idiots in their right mind would give ya that much credit?”
“It were Glimmer.”
Scallywag sighed. “Of course, it was,” he grumbled. “Lemme guess… she made ya put up tha ship as collateral.” Pinkie looked down, ashamed. “Pinkie, ya bring a whole new definition ta the word ‘stupid,’” sneered Scallywag.
“It was the only way I could get enough equalarium, Scally,” Pinkbottom replied.
“Ya wouldn’t have needed that much if ya’d never taken the blasted job in the first place!” Scallywag argued. “Every pea-brained brute from the Border to tha Rim knows ya don’t run kibble ta the capitol!”
“Ya don’t understand,” Pinkbottom muttered. “They was offering ten million digicredits, Scally. Ten million.”
That figure took Scallywag back a bit. At that rate, someone was paying ten times what a run like that would normally be worth. It was no wonder it had grabbed Pinkbottom’s attention. “Who were ya makin’ tha run for, Pinkie?”
“Scally—”
“Who?”
Pinkbottom looked slightly ashamed. “Xao,” he said quietly.
Scallywag stared at Pinkbottom in disbelief. “Xao?” he said. “Xao???”
“Oy, Xao be totally different from when ya last saw him, Scally,” Pinkbottom said. “He’s a real big-shot now. The bloke practically runs stratum 12.”
“Xao never changes, Pinkie,” Scallywag replied. “He’ll always be a lyin’, connivin’, cowardly, and most of all – annoyin’ – little piece o’ trash. It ever once occur ta ya that he tipped off tha patrols hisself so they would seize the kibble?”
Pinkbottom’s eyes grew wide. “Why would he do that?”
“Cause it’s cheaper ta bribe someone ta sneak it out o’ tha customs lock-up than it is ta pay what he owes ya, idiot!” snapped Scallywag.
Pinkbottom’s eyes narrowed as he digested Scallywag’s words. “That lyin’, connivin’, cowardly, annoyin’ piece o’ trash…” he muttered.
“That is why we don’t do business with Xao,” said Scallywag. “Now, ya said the hyperspace patrols seized tha kibble. What did they do with the Reaver?”
“They impounded it,” replied Pinkbottom. “And since I had no official title ta the blasted thing, me lawyer said it was put up fer auction.”
Scallywag hung his head and tapped its side with the receiver in frustration. “Of, bloody, course it was,” he muttered.
“But Xao told me he’d buy it and hold it for me until I got out,” offered Pinkbottom.
“Ya mean ta tell me he not only screwed ya out o’ the kibble… but he screwed ya out o’ me ship as well?”
Pinkbottom’s lips quivered behind his two protruding front teeth. “Well, when ya put it like that, it doesn’t make it sound very good,” he whined. Scallywag sighed and was about to hang up when Pinkbottom tapped on the glass partition. “Wait!” Pinkbottom said. “Ain’t ya gonna bust me out of here?”
“And why would I do that?” asked Scallywag.
“Because!” replied Pinkbottom. “We’re mates!”
“Ya led a bloody mutiny and stole me ship!” growled Scallywag.
“It was only a slight mutiny,” countered Pinkbottom.
“Well then, I only slightly give a kitten what happens ta ya,” shot back Scallywag, before slamming the receiver back down on its hangar.
As Scallywag got up, he could hear Pinkbottom banging on the ironglass, his yelling muted by it. “Scally!” Pinkbottom screamed. “Scally! Where are ya going???”
“I’m going ta get back me bloody ship,” he grumbled to himself. “Even if I hafta tear Xao apart ta do it.”
Chapter 18
Jack followed a Royal Usher through the long hallways of the Palace Floor. This time, he wasn’t going to see Anna. He’d been summoned by the Supreme Commander of the Royal Vanguard himself. Though Jack had no reason to think the invitation was anything but cordial, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was somehow in trouble.
Eventually, the Royal Usher stopped before an arched doorway with an insignia of a raised hand clutching a radiant eye engraved upon it. The Usher turned and stood at attention by the door, signaling they had reached their destination. “Presenting the entrance to the Vanguard Barracks,” it said.
Jack looked at the door as if something should happen. When nothing did, he pressed the buzzer button on the wall and waited. After a few moments, the door opened to reveal Lugard. He wore a lush burgundy bathrobe with matching furry slippers and puffed on a pipe.
“Well hello, beautiful,” he said with a smile.
“Dude,” replied Jack. “Really?”
“Oh, right, you are a male,” said Lugard as though he just remembered. “Apologies. It is so hard to tell your genders apart.”
“It r
eally isn’t,” replied Jack.
“What brings you to my door, handsome?”
“I was told Seqis wanted to see me.”
“Ah, then please, come in,” said Lugard, stepping aside.
Jack entered into a large, spacious common room. It was perfectly square, with doors on every wall. The middle of the room was recessed into the floor by a few feet and contained all manner of sparring gear and weapons. Rionknidis was there, his muscular, furry body clad in nothing but padded work-out pants as he practiced his punches on a wooden dummy.
“The Supreme Commander is in his quarters,” said Lugard lazily as he made his way to one of the doors. “It’s the door made completely of gold. You cannot miss it.” With that, Lugard puffed on his pipe and entered his chambers. Before the door closed, Jack could have sworn he heard cheesy make-out music and the giggling of women coming from inside.
Jack looked at Rionknidis as the Tygarian attacked the dummy. Every blow rang out with a loud SLAP that seemed to echo throughout the room. The warrior’s strikes were so fast, his movements appeared to be nothing more than orange blurs. Jack took a moment and observed him, impressed with what he was seeing.
“Nice moves,” Jack said.
Rionknidis turned and his lips pulled back into what Jack hoped was a smile, his sharp teeth revealing themselves as he did so. “You like that, eh?” he said with a chuckle. “You should see me after I’ve warmed up.”
“So, this is where you guys live?” asked Jack.
“Live, train, eat, and sleep… when we are not guarding the Princess, anyway,” said Rionknidis as he went back to hitting the dummy.
Jack made his way down the steps leading to the training floor. “Don’t you guys do anything for fun?”
“This is what I do for fun,” said Rionknidis after hitting the dummy so hard, he broke one its wooden arms off.
Jack glanced back at the room Lugard had disappeared to. He was starting to get a sense of what each member of the Vanguard was about. “Where’s Dahuud?” Jack asked.
“It’s her shift guarding the Princess,” replied Rionknidis. “All four of us only attend to her when she’s in public. Otherwise we just take turns.”
“Right,” said Jack. “So what do you guys do when you’re not, you know, bodyguarding? Do you have actual lives or anything? Families?”
“We’re married to our duty,” Rionknidis responded. “No spouses. No children. We live for those we protect and nothing else.”
“Sounds intense,” Jack said. “So when you’re not guarding Anna, you guys just chill out here?”
“I don’t know what these other slags do on their off-time,” said Rionknidis. “But me? I work on increasing my DAMAGE!”
The Tygarian said the word ‘damage’ with such glee and emphasis, it caused Jack to recoil a bit. “Uh… damage?”
“That’s right, kid,” replied Rionknidis. “Some warriors are all about technique or strategy. Me? I just wanna maximize how much damage I can dish out every second. Watch this!”
With a wave of his hand, Rionknidis manifested a robotic training dummy, which he immediately attacked, hitting it with a flurry of punches so fast Jack could barely see what was happening until the Tygarian ripped the arms off the dummy and used them to beat it to the ground. The dummy let out a pathetic whine of surrender before it fell to the floor, where Rionknidis promptly stomped its head into a pancake. “Ha!” Rionknidis said. “See that? That there was at least six-thousand points of damage. Easy.”
“Uh, points?” asked Jack as he stared at the smoking heap of metal that was previously a full-sized training dummy.
“That’s just how I measure my output in my head,” said Rionknidis proudly. “Helps me improve. Every little number adds up to a bigger number, so every small improvement adds up to greater abilities. It’s like I can practically see the damage numbers roll off my opponents as I destroy them! Wanna see something really neat?”
“I guess…” said Jack, tentatively.
Rionknidis manifested a large hunk of metal, about a foot thick and six feet tall. “This here is ultanium, the hardest metal known to man,” he said. Rionknidis then turned, and Jack noticed something manifest around his right hand. Suddenly, the Tygarian spun and punched the ultanium block. The impact from the blow reverberated with a shockwave, pushing Jack back from where he’d been standing. Jack quickly recovered and looked at the metal slab, which now had a gigantic dent in it. Rionknidis stood there proudly, adjusting a huge robotic gauntlet that covered his hand. “And this here… is my power glove!”
Jack approached Rionknidis and took a close look at the glove. It crackled with a golden energy, the metal that comprised it looking re-enforced with all types of pistons, buttons, gears, and doo-hickies attached to it.
“Wicked,” said Jack.
“I’ve been working on this little weapon for decades,” said Rionknidis proudly. “Let’s me hit like a Deathbane missile, it does. I can take a man’s head clean off with one punch from this sucker! Total one-shot! Critical hit! Maximum DAMAGE!”
“That’s… really impressive, dude,” said Jack.
“I know,” replied Rionknidis cockily. “I’ve killed a member of almost every species in existence with this glove. Refined it each time, bit by bit. I’ve gotten it to the point now where I could kill almost anything in one hit, and if one doesn’t do it, two will. This, Earthman… is why the ‘K’ is silent!”
Jack nodded. “I think I get it now,” he said.
“Good,” replied Rionknidis as the power glove disappeared from his hand. “Now off with ya. Best not to keep the Supreme Commander waiting.”
Jack nodded. “Um… any idea why he wants to see me?”
Rionknidis chuckled. “Oh yeah,” he said before returning to hit his wooden dummy, not bothering to elaborate further. Jack frowned. He made his way to Seqis’s chambers and pressed the buzzer. The golden door slid open.
“Enter,” he heard Seqis say.
Jack walked inside. The room was pretty modest compared to the others he’d seen on the Palace Floor. It was filled with beautiful banzai trees. The walls were paneled with what looked to be bamboo and painted canvas. There was a small rock garden sitting upon a bed of sand in the middle of the room, and in the corner was a modest piece of bedding lying on the floor.
Seqis, clad in simple beige robes, was opposite the rock garden, kneeling on a small mat. He was straight-backed, with his hands resting upon his knees. Before him was a holographic image of a lush hillside with trees that sported pink and white blossoms and a large pale moon clearly visible on the horizon, hazy against a blue sky. Jack couldn’t help but think it was a beautiful sight. “Wow,” he said. “That looks amazing. What is it?”
Seqis lowered his head, touching it to the floor before getting to his feet and turning the image off. He smiled at Jack. “That’s my lawn,” he said.
“Your lawn?” asked Jack.
Seqis chuckled. “Well, that’s what I call it,” he said. “It is an image of the hillsides near my old home, on the planet where I was born. I find it helps me to meditate. I often think of it during times that require great focus on my part, such as when I’m engaged in battle.”
“You weren’t born on Regalus Prime?” Jack asked.
“No,” replied Seqis. “I hail from a planet known as Iyo Woguo, colonized during the Age of Conquest by Emperor Ryvaal many thousands of years ago. Legend has it that the Emperor was so amazed by the planet’s natural harmony and beauty, he believed it could very well be the place where all life began. That is why he named it what he did. Iyo Woguo is Old Solar for ‘origin of the sun.’ To its people, the planet stands as a beacon of light meant to guide lost souls to paradise. Whenever I feel troubled, I return to it in order to find my center.”
“Does that mean you’re troubled right now?” asked Jack.
Seqis chuckled. “No more than usual,” he replied. “I was far worse when the Princess was away at your planet and we did not
know what had happened to her or her escort. Neither I nor my companions were very pleased when she ordered us to stay behind. But the Princess felt we were necessary to keep up appearances that she was still here in the Capitol.”
Jack nodded. “So… what did you want to see me about?”
“A small matter, but an important one,” Seqis replied. “You are a great hero, and a newcomer to the Empire, so I felt it was necessary for me to explain certain rules to you.”
Jack didn’t like the sound of that one bit. “I’ve… never been very good with rules,” he said.
“Nevertheless, rules are in place for a reason,” said Seqis. “Rules are meant to keep us safe. They are meant to establish order. They are meant to ensure harmony. To break rules is to foster chaos, and trust me when I say, nothing is more dangerous than chaos. Some rules are so important that the punishment for breaking them could be quite dire. Case in point – men have been killed for far less than what you pulled with the Princess the other day.”
Jack suddenly felt very nervous. “Uh… you know about that?”
“We knew about it a minute after it happened,” said Seqis. “Lugard and Rionknidis were about to charge after you before I stopped them. I figured you were able to protect the Princess from a Deathlord Supreme, the dangers of the capitol shouldn’t be too daunting. It was I who informed Chief Alabaster about the situation. You’re lucky neither he nor I considered it a kidnapping. Half of Megabase Cygnus would have descended upon you.”
Jack shuffled his feet uncomfortably under the old man’s gaze. He felt like he was in the Principal’s office after messing up super-badly. “Sorry,” said Jack. “Anna was so sad at the memorial. I figured she could use some cheering up. Losing Shepherd… it’s been hard on her.”
Seqis frowned. “It’s been hard on everyone,” he said quietly. “Shepherd was like a son to me.”
“Really?” asked Jack, surprised.
Seqis smiled. “Who do you think trained him?” he asked. “I remember when he came to me, back when I was still head Warmaster at the Conclave, after the fall of Regalus Prime. Up to that point, he’d been a poet. Never even thought about raising a hand to fight.”
Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (Earthman Jack Space Saga Book 2) Page 22