by S. J. Bryant
"I'm going to kill him," Nova said in the silence. "That's the only way. I'm going to kill him."
***
The Traveller's Rest was a seedy bar set in the basement of a dilapidated apartment complex on an empty street. The paint peeled off the outside and graffiti covered the stairs leading down to the bar. The only noise came from the raised voices and rowdy music floating up the stairs through the wooden door.
Nova took a deep breath and pulled her coat tighter so that it hid the gun in her belt. She'd changed into jeans and a simple black top. She'd be ready for trouble if it came along. If she knew Aart, it probably would.
She stepped down the small flight of stairs and pushed open the wooden door. It squeaked in protest, before light and noise poured over her. The atmosphere rushed through the open doorway like a river. The music had a strong rock beat that made the stairs vibrate. Smoke hung in the air and seeped up out the top of the door.
Nova slipped inside and closed the door behind her. People pressed together in the crowded bar. Most of them had drinks in hand and spoke loudly to each other. Swaying bodies made use of a small dance floor near the live band.
Nova scanned the bar-room. It wasn't hard to spot Aart. He rested against the bar and grinned at her. She rolled her eyes and stomped over to him.
"Best cheer up," he said before she could open her mouth. "I hear they chuck people out if they're wrecking the mood."
Nova couldn't help smiling. "What the hell are you doing here?" she said. "I told you to get your arse gone."
"Yeah, yeah," he said. "But I ran into some people."
"What people?" she said, eyes narrowing.
"Your surprise!"
He waved his hand and suddenly the people gathered around him turned and smiled at Nova. Her face went bright red. She knew most of them from The Jagged Maw. They were some of the few people she'd call friends.
"And last but not least," Aart said, nodding to the space behind Nova.
She frowned and turned around. Tanguin stood beside her with a blue drink in hand.
"What are you doing here!" Nova said, mouth dropping.
Her cheeks and ears flushed red. She hated attention and now here she was right at the very centre of it.
"I may have mentioned that you were having a bad time of it," Tanguin said in a low voice. She smiled, but looked guilty at the same time.
"So here we are to cheer you up!" said Aart.
Nova groaned. "You guys know I don't have time for this. I'm on a job."
"We know, we know. Hell, Tyra is working the same case," Aart said, nodding to the brown haired girl with a leather jacket.
Nova groaned. "Please tell me you didn't invite Vicki."
"No," Aart said, with a smirk. "Tanguin made me promise I wouldn't. I hope you appreciate that. She would have made this place a whole lot nicer to look at."
Nova shook her head and rolled her eyes at Aart. "You're a perv. And, you owe me a drink."
Aart smiled back and waved at the bartender. Nova ordered a blue Saturn. It came in a triangular glass with ice that glowed blue and a thin layer of mist across the surface.
"Let's take a seat," she said, nodding to the tables.
The other Hunters followed her and they gathered around a large table. Nova's drink was delicious. It tasted like blueberries mixed with lemon. The zingy aftertaste made her mouth tingle.
It didn't take long before the Hunters were contributing their own uproarious conversation to the general din. With the others distracted, Nova turned to Tanguin, her heart aching.
"They put me in an arena. Made me fight. It was a cyborg," Nova said.
Tanguin's eyes widened with horror; the Un-Connected were especially sympathetic to the cyborg cause, being almost the same thing in many respects. "You didn't kill it?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"I had to. It was me or him. Or both." Nova's head shook as she remembered the twitching body and the smoke wafting up out of the hole her shot had made.
"There must have been another way. How could you?"
"I had no choice!" Nova said through gritted teeth.
Tanguin turned from Nova and feigned intense interest in the far side of the bar. Her expression was unreadable, like a cold sheet of ice.
"Tanguin, please. You know I wouldn't have done it if I had another option."
"I know," Tanguin said, but didn't meet Nova's eyes.
Nova sighed and took a large gulp of her drink.
"Nova, I haven't had a chance to congratulate you on your wicked win," said Tyra, leaning across the table.
"That race was incredible," said Orion, slapping his hand on the counter and grinning.
"Kero's still furious, you know," said Tanguin, her gaze returning to Nova and softening.
"Do we really have to congratulate her?" Aart groaned. "Don't you think it'll go to her head if we keep pointing out how well she did?"
"Are you kidding?" said Orion. "Flying like that, she's allowed to have a big head."
Nova grinned. The space race had been spectacular.
"I'll assume those lecheon bastards didn't stand a chance?" said Aart.
Nova frowned and looked around, expecting to see a lecheon glaring at her from the shadows.
"Oh, as if they'd be here on Tabryn," Aart said, waving his hand. "They'd be shot before they breached atmosphere."
Nova nodded. He was probably right. Tabryn took a very dark view to the lecheon species. They were bad for business.
"How're you going with this case?" Tyra asked. Her eyes looked desperate. She'd probably had as much luck, or less, than Nova had.
"Not good," Nova responded. "Everything seems to run into dead ends. Although after the last few days, I'm not so interested in catching the thief as congratulating them."
She may be friends with these Hunters but that didn't mean she was going to give up her pay check by sharing her hard work.
Tyra rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. I'm thinking of just heading home with this lot. Save my time and do an easier job."
"It's crossed my mind too," Nova agreed, nodding.
"And what have you been up to, Gus?" Orion asked the big man sitting on the opposite side of the table. Gus had a bald head and tattoos, and his muscles bulged out of his shirt. Nova hadn't seen him since she went to Taive and was nearly taken over by a brain-slug.
"Same old," said Gus. He took a long swallow on the thick amber liquid in his jug. "Getting money where I can. There are some good mercenary jobs going at the outers."
"That'd be just right for you!" Aart said with a grin. "I wouldn't want to mess with you. I've seen what you can do with a gun."
Gus nodded without speaking and took another drink.
Their celebrations continued for many hours. The highlight was when Aart suggested they play a game of Mars-pool. The Hunters cheered and gathered around the table.
The bar had cleared and there was now room enough to move around easily. Some of the smoke had dissipated and it was much easier to see through the hazy air. The bartender had kept their drinks full and Nova had already had four Saturn blues. She figured another one would probably knock her right out. Still, she was determined to conquer the others at pool if it was the last thing she did.
"Alright," Aart said, taking charge as usual. "Standard rules. No cheating. No happypins. No yokels. No rounders. All clear?"
"Yes sir," the rest of the Hunters said in unison and gave Aart groggy salutes.
"Alright. Then game on. Today we're competing for the ultimate reward. The winner will get the title of greatest pool champion of all bounty hunter history."
The Hunters cheered and made a circle around the table. It was a simple enough game. Each player was assigned a ball and they weren't allowed to sink any ball directly. They had to use other balls and bounce them indirectly into the pockets. The last player with their ball still on the table won. It added another layer of difficulty onto the usual game.
"So alphabetical order i
t is," Aart said, snatching the cue.
Nova smacked her forehead with her palm. One day she'd remember to call out a different rule before Aart took control.
"Prepare to be amazed," he said.
The other Hunters looked on. Tanguin swayed on her feet. She'd only had two Purple Blasters, but she was the lightest drunk Nova had ever seen, thanks to her Un-Connected heritage.
Gus looked the most stable of them all, even though he'd had the most to drink. His eyes glittered as he watched the table.
Aart was up to his usual tricks. He often pretended to be far drunker than he actually was and he'd hustled countless games of pool with that strategy. Usually Nova helped him, but today she had to keep focused. She'd beat him.
Orion and Tyra hung off each other, laughing hard. Their hearts weren't really in the game. They'd probably take a few shots and get disqualified; no real competition there.
Nova smiled. Games like this always made her competitive streak come right to the front.
"Here we go," said Aart.
He leant over the table and pulled the cue back. He tested the shot three times and then let fly. The white ball shot out, slammed into the cluster of balls, and sent them skittering across the table.
The nine went down. No one had the nine, so Aart took another shot. This time he set up the shot to try and get Nova's seven down. He missed and her ball sailed just to the left of the hole.
"Cosmic craphole," Aart said, handing the cue to Gus.
Gus took his time. He walked around the table and examined every possible angle. He bent over and tested different shots only to stand up and do another lap of the table.
"Oh come on, Gus," said Orion. "We'd like to get out of here sometime this century."
"Magic takes time," Gus replied.
He settled on a shot, drew back, and struck. It was perfect. The six careened into the ten which bounced off of the twelve and dropped into the pocket.
"You did that on purpose!" said Orion, his face flushing.
"You're the ten?" Gus said, innocently.
Orion scowled. "This game is rigged!"
Play continued. Nova took her turn but she was a little bit shaky and overestimated the distance. The ball went way too hard and missed her target by three inches.
"Grishnak!" she cursed.
Orion was already out so he didn't get a turn.
Tanguin was so tipsy by the time it was her shot that she accidentally sunk her own ball. She laughed and collapsed onto a nearby stool.
After just three rounds, only Aart, Gus and Nova remained. It got harder with fewer balls on the table. There was less chance for a clean hit, and fewer options. It was Nova's turn. Gus's ball sat in front of Aart's. If she got the angle just right then she should be able to sink Aart's ball. It was a hard shot though; she'd have to rebound it off the cushion. She'd done much harder shots before but this time her eyes wouldn't focus.
She forced herself to take a deep breath and steadied her hand. She pictured the straight lines on the table; how the slight tilt of the table would cause the balls to curve. She bent over and closed her left eye, drew back her arm, and let fly.
The white ball rolled across the green table. In Nova's mind it moved in slow motion. It collided with Gus's ball which also rolled in slow motion. It curved with the tilt of the table and clipped Aart's ball on the side. Aart's ball bounced away and fell into the corner pocket.
"No!" he yelled. "No!"
Nova held the stick above her head and cheered. The other Hunters joined in, applauding.
"No!" Aart said again. "You can't beat me at the space race and pool."
"Sorry," Nova said with a wicked grin. "I guess this just proves who the real champion is."
"Now, now, let's not forget that it's not over until it's over," Gus said from the other end of the table.
Nova's cheers stopped and she handed Gus the cue. She held her breath, her chest tight. Somehow in the atmosphere of the bar and with her friends, the casino job didn't matter. All that mattered was that she won this game. She would be the greatest player.
Gus's shot was difficult. There were only two balls left on the table; his and Nova's. He would have to hit his own ball and use that to sink Nova's. Neither of them were in a very good position. He'd have to pull off a miracle to make it work.
Nova held her breath. He couldn't get it. He just couldn't.
Sweat dribbled down Gus's face as he studied the table. He took a deep breath, bent over, and shot.
It was wide. The white ball went way off course, barely touching his own ball, let alone moving Nova's.
"Grishnak!" he yelled, swinging the stick at the table. He managed to pull himself short before he snapped the cue in half.
"Alright," Nova said, taking the cue.
This was it. With Gus's failed shot, hers was lined up. It would be as easy as one-two-three. She bent over the table and lined up both balls. They made a straight path for the middle pocket. It wouldn't take much. She just had to watch her power.
She took three deep breaths, pulled back, and let fly.
The white ball went straight, set to smack her ball and then collide with Gus's. It was inches from Nova's ball when a dirty hand smacked through the air and grabbed hold of it.
Nova's mouth dropped open. Who would dare take a ball off the table mid-shot?
Everyone near the table went silent. Simple bar-room etiquette had been broken, and that never ended well.
Both Nova and Gus turned to face the man responsible. He sneered at them, revealing green teeth that went well with his twice-broken nose. He tossed the ball into the air and caught it.
"What the hell?" Aart said, jumping to his feet.
The rest of the Hunters looked furious.
The man had a crew of his own. At least five people stood behind him, ready for a fight. They scoffed at Nova and the other Hunters.
"Hunters are ya?" the man at the front said, still throwing the ball into the air.
His tossing of the ball was infuriating. Nova couldn't stop her eyes from watching it rise up through the air and then fall again.
"What's it to you?" Gus said. He stepped around the table, fists clenched.
"Well, you see," said the man. "I don't much care for Hunters."
"And I don't much care for backwater, in-bred, imbeciles," Aart said, stepping forward to stand next to Gus.
"What the hell are you doing, Shane?" the bartender yelled. He glared at them over the top of his bar. The other patrons stopped and turned at the sound of his voice.
"I was just saying I don't much care for Hunters," Shane said.
"I've told you a hundred times not to cause trouble in my bar," the barkeeper warned.
"Then maybe you should stop letting riff-raff in."
Nova bristled. The bounty hunters weren't welcomed in all corners of human society but on somewhere like Tabryn she hadn't expected this.
"I mean it, Shane. Shut up or get out."
"Don't think so," he said. "Make these turds leave. This is our place."
"It's my place," said the barkeep. "And I will ban you for life."
Shane turned and scowled at the bartended. "You wouldn't dare. I bring you good business."
"It's not worth the trouble."
"We'll see," said Shane.
With no further warning he pulled back his arm and hurled the solid pool-ball at Gus. It smacked him in the head and he crumpled to the floor, unmoving. Blood poured out of his forehead.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The Hunters leaped to the attack. The drunken haze dropped like a veil and they jumped into full fighting mode. Nova considered pulling her pistol, but decided against it as that would mean that things would get really ugly. She'd save it in case things got really bad. She wasn't above killing Shane or his goons if he threatened one of her friends.
Shane's cronies jumped forward as soon as he threw the ball. They swung their beefy fists at the Hunters. Their faces twisted with malice and a thirs
t for blood.
Aart was at the front. Two men jumped at him at once, but he ducked out of the way and spun around. His fists flew at his attackers. He lashed out with his left leg and caught the first attacker on his knee. An audible crack went through the bar-room.
The thug collapsed with a wail.
Nova didn't have time to watch any more. A man with a gold tooth was on her. He grinned and spread his arms wide as if meaning to take her in a bear-hug.
Nova kicked, ignoring the pain that shot up her side and burst through her shoulder. Her heel caught him in the groin and he winced, stumbling back. She brought the pool stick down over her shoulders and slammed it into the man's head. The stick cracked with the force of impact. Splinters flew in all directions.
Her attacker fell to his knees as blood dribbled out of a split in his head. His eyes glazed over and he looked like he was going to fall forward onto his face.
Nova ignored him and moved to the next attacker. She wielded the pool cue like a deadly weapon. She smacked the closest thug on the arm, leaving wooden splinters bristling out of his flesh. He turned and growled at her. She whipped the stick back and bashed his legs. He lost his balance and fell to the floor.
Meanwhile, the bar-room was in an uproar. The other patrons joined the fight, some with the Hunters and some against. Others started fights of their own. Glasses shattered against the walls and alcohol pooled on the floor.
The bartender bellowed at the top of his lungs, but no one paid him any attention. It wasn't until two men tried to climb over the bar that he really got involved. They went for the expensive alcohol and the bartender leaped at them, slamming the first man's head into the bar. He collapsed instantly.
The second man stopped with one leg already on the bar.
"I wouldn't, sonny," said the bartender.
The man glanced longingly at the alcohol but took his leg off the bar and returned to the fight. He picked up a barstool and slammed it into the woman next to him. She roared in response and smacked him with a bottle of bourbon. His teeth flew out of his mouth and he crumpled to the floorboards.
Tanguin was holding her own, but not for long. She rarely spent time in the field and her combat skills were minimal. She had almost no muscles to speak of and weighed less than some children. She ducked and weaved around Shane's goon; he was getting tired, but so was she.