by James McEwan
Inside the office, the Nekton entered and walked up to the desk. Seven stood up, “Ah Horota my old Friend.” Seven had worked with the Nekton on many jobs over the years and he was probably the closest and only thing Seven could call a friend.
This greeting surprised Horota, because he had never met Drake before, “Sorry, but we have never met before, how could we be old friends?”
Forgetting he still had the Drake hologram on. Seven deactivated the holo generator, “Sorry, is that better?”
“Well look at you, aren’t you slipperier than Zaorc (a small slimy fish that is a Nekton delicacy),” Horota said as he watched the hologram dissolve reveling his old and only friend. Nektons generally despise and mistrust other races. They especially hate their own kind that work with or for others. Horota didn’t care who paid him as long as he got paid. This made him an outcast amongst his own people. “I see you have moved up in the verse,” Horota said as he shook Seven’s hand.
Seven knew that he wasn’t giving him a compliment, but instead he was poking fun at him, “And I see you still haven’t got that eye replaced. Still fancy yourself a pirate?” He threw a verbal jab back at him.
Horota laughed as he liked the eye patch and did fancy himself as a pirate of sorts, “Why should I get it replaced? The females love it.”
Seven laughed, “The only thing the females love about you is the size of your credit account.”
“True, so true,” Horota said shaking his head, “but the size of my credit account is why I’m here. You have a job for me?”
“Yes,” Seven said then activated the holo projector on his desk. In the air just in front of the two killers was the hologram of St. Claire. “This man, Dominic St. Claire, he is your new target. I would like to get him alive, but as always, dead will do too.”
“You always pay better if the target is alive. I will do my best to bring him in alive,” Horota said as he studied every detail of St. Claire’s face.
“Be careful this man is one of the most dangerous men you will ever hunt. He might even be as dangerous as me,” Seven warned him.
Horota knew just how deadly and dangerous Seven could be so he took the warning seriously. “I understand. What intel do you have on him?”
Seven handed him a data chip with all the files on it, “Everything we know about him is on that. I will tell you we think he is on Sarapis.”
Horota made a slight croaking noise that Nektons do when they don’t like something, “A Ralnai world. What makes you think he is there?” Nektons hate the Ralnai above all others. “If he is there and I have to go to a Ralnai world then it is going to cost you.”
“Credits are no problem, name your price and I will double it if you bring him in, triple if he is alive,” Seven said.
“Now back to my question why Sarapis?” Horota want more information.
“I have gotten reports that a human male that we have been tracking for some time is on Sarapis and responsible for blowing up the slave market,” Seven answered.
Horota was starting to like his target. Even though he was an outcast amongst his people he still liked them and he knew that many Nektons had been slaves of the Ralnai and that they were the worst treated of all the slaves. If humans were the favorite pets, Nektons were the disposable beasts that usually end up in the Ralnai mines or other equally nasty or dangerous work. “I see.”
“Horota I know how you feel about the slave market, but don’t let that cloud your judgement. This man would not hesitate to kill you,” Seven said as he read the expression on his friends face.
“Not to worry. I am always a professional. He will be in your office in chains or his head in a box soon, my friend.”
Jenny was stunned, not because of the contract with the Nekton bounty hunter, but at the fact that Drake wasn’t Drake. There were a good number of people that were loyal to Drake and if it hadn’t been for their support the NGE could never had taken over Isis. This was big, it was like, nuclear big. If it got out that Drake was not Drake, but an impostor, support at the highest levels could crumble and the NGE could break apart before it gets any stronger. She had to do something. She had to get the information into the right hands. She also knew that it was time for her to leave Isis for good.
She disconnected from the office feed and went into the identification data base and hacked it. She created a new set of identification documents for herself.
The only ships coming and going were military and supply ships. There were a mass of ships bringing in raw materials to be used by the replicators to make new parts to repair the planet’s atmospheric generators. The storms were getting worse and the planet core temp continued to fall. If they didn’t get the planet’s atmosphere under control soon the planet will become a frozen waste land.
Her ticket out was on one of the outgoing freighters. She booked passage on one as a new crew member under her new name. She then unplugged her interface and placed into her bag. She set the coms to auto answer and she left walking as normal as she could. No one in the building paid any attention to her as she left. It was natural for her to come and go like this. However, to her, anytime anyone looked at her or gave her a smile her heart skipped a beat. She was shaking on the inside. She had no idea how she was not shaking on the outside.
Horota left the office with Seven, but wearing the hologram of Drake. He was going to have Jenny put in an order for an advance for Horota’s expenses, but she wasn’t there. “Where is your female?” Horota asked.
“I don’t know, you know females, probably in the restroom, small bladders,” Seven said and they shared a laugh.
Chapter 14
“Of course I know who you are. I always make it a point to know who is running around my Empire killing and blowing up my slave market,” Tor Tran-kor answered Thad.
“Then you have me at a disadvantage,” Thad replied.
“You do me great dishonor, for I am the Grand Battle master Tor Tran-kor!” The Ralnai roared with much puffing of his chest.
Thad didn’t care. He was tired and not in the mood. He was done with looking for his wives. He wanted them back and he wanted them back now, “Great for you. Now I don’t give a shit if you’re the Grand freaking Poobah! You have something that belongs to me and I want them back!”
This only seemed to anger the Ralnai, “You are in no position to make demands. You will be lucky if I don’t remove your head and mount it on my wall!”
Good, Thad thought. Keep getting angry. Anger leads to mistakes and a mistake is what he needed to get out this. “You are welcome to try you walking piece of luggage. I’m sure my ladies could use with a new pair of Ralnai skin boots since their last pair got blown up.”
This got under the big lizard’s skin. He was growling and howling so fast that the translator box couldn’t keep up with his tirade so it just buzzed. Thad decided to push it further and walked up with his hands still up and slapped Tor Tran-kor. The Ralnai was so stunned that any one, let alone a human, would dare to strike him. Tor Tran-kor just stood in complete shock and did nothing, so Thad slapped him again.
“Yeah that’s what I thought, now if you want to live to see the morning you will release my wives to me right now and they will be unharmed,” Thad said.
“Your threats mean nothing to me. I hold,” he paused, “what is that you humans say? Oh yes I hold all the card.”
“Cards you big dumb lizard,” Thad corrected him.
“I have your wives, yes. I have your friends also, and I have destroyed your ship,” Tor Tran-kor said as he pointed to a screen on the wall behind Thad. Thad turned and watched the footage recorded by the Ralnai ships that shot down the Gemini.
Thad slowly turned back to face Tor Tran-kor, “That was a mistake. A very big mistake,” he said softly and deadly clam.
“I’m done playing with you. Seize him,” Tor Tran-kor said, yet no one moved. “I said seize him!” Again no one moved.
“Problem?” Thad asked.
Tor Tran-
kor turned to face his troops, “What is the matter with you? I gave you an order!” Again not one of the Ralnai moved.
Thad looked at the back of his hand as if he was checking his nails. “They aren’t going to do damn thing you say until you answer my challenge.”
Tor Tran-kor had been so shocked that he had forgotten that when Thad slapped him he had challenged him to single combat. He turned back to face Thad who was still looking at his hand. Tor Tran-kor grabbed the hilt of a laser sword that had been hanging off his belt. He flicked it on and the three laser heads in the hilt converged into a single point creating a bright bluish blade of light. “Someone give him a weapon.” Tor Tran-kor shouted.
Thad activated one of two small emergency DDSDs that he had built into his sleeves. They only could render saved patterns and couldn’t save anything new. A force sword appeared in his hand hilt first, “Don’t worry I brought my own.”
The two adversaries squared off while the rest of the Ralnai circled around to get a better look at the fight. Tor Tran-kor had never been beaten in single combat before and was widely known amongst the Ralnai as the best swordsman that the Ralnai had ever seen.
Tor Tran-kor struck first with a quick lunge, it was a move to test Thad’s skill and defense. Thad easily parried the thrust. However, when the two different weapons came into contact the force fields that made both weapons operate repulsed one another. The blades bounced off each other with a flash of light, and so their dance of death began.
They went back and forth and round and round, slashing here and thrusting there. The fight raged on and Thad was struggling to keep up. Tor Tran-kor was good, maybe even better than Thad. As they danced around it became dangerous for the spectators as Tor Tran-kor slashed at Thad’s head. He wasn’t able to get the blade up in time to block so he ducked and rolled out of the way. However, the Ralnai who was standing behind Thad was not so quick and the laser sword took his head clean off. That gained a cheer from the rest of the crowd.
The next Ralnai to die was due to Thad’s blade. After the first Ralnai was killed it gave Thad an idea. He needed to whittle down the number of Ralnai if he was going to get out of this. He saw an opening and it was one of the only mistakes Tor Tran-kor had made. Instead of exploiting the mistake, Thad used it to get Tor Tran-kor to deflect his blade so it bounced into the chest of yet another one of the Ralnai warriors. Again the others cheered. They were so caught up in the blood lust that they didn’t realize they were the target now and not Tor Tran-kor.
A half a dozen Ralnai died as collateral damage before they realized they were also getting killed so they started to back away or move every time one of the combatants came close. As the fight dragged on Tor Tran-kor began to fight more and more dirty. Several times he tried to use his tail to trip Thad. Thad himself was starting to tire as he was operating on little sleep and had already exerted himself a lot just to get here. Tired meant slowing down and slowing down meant death. He knew he could heal from most stuff, but wasn’t sure he could survive losing his head. Thad decided that it was time to end this fight. Thad was looking for his out when the tail he had been doing so well to avoid struck him like whip. The blow took out his left knee and he lost his balance and fell to the floor. Tor Tran-kor struck in a flash and Thad felt the hot burn of the laser sword as it passed through him and into the floor.
Rod was fast asleep, as was everyone else except Eve, who never slept. She was out patrolling around the edge of their little camp. No one noticed the slow moving vines that wrapped themselves around the sleeping humans. They had dropped down from the trees and even Commander Cotton Paw hadn’t noticed them. She was asleep in the same position that she was resting in on the tree branch.
When one of the vines started to enveloped her, she snapped awake instantly aware of the danger. She tried to jump up, but she slipped and fell. She twisted to land on her feet, but the vines wrapped round her hind legs and tightened. She hung upside down as she hissed and screamed, “Wake up you fools, wake up!” Lex snapped awake and tried to move, but she too was wrapped up in vines too tight to move, “Oh shit!” She exclaimed.
The twins awoke in the same situation and could see that they were in trouble, “Eve,” they screamed in unison.
By the time Eve came smashing back through the thick brush Rod was the first to be pulled off the ground. He was pulled upward at an alarming rate. He was pulled through the lower canopy and up towards the top of the trees.
Down below they didn’t have any idea that the plants that lived on the trees higher up were Carnivorous. Once they had stopped they presented themselves as prey. The attack was not malicious; it was just nature, but deadly none the less.
Eve jumped through the air and in one fluid motion sliced through the vines that were starting to pull Cotton Paw towards a slow, but certain death. Cotton Paw landed on her front feet first then her back feet. Now that the vines no longer held her tight she was able to wiggle out of its hold.
“Go!” Eve yelled without looking at her.
Cotton Paw dug her claws deep into the trees flesh and like a tree topper she raced upward towards Rods cries for help. Eve made quick work of the vines holding Freya and Fiona, but even Eve wasn’t fast enough to stop the plant from lifting Lex off the ground.
“Grab her!” Freya yelled as she jumped and grabbed Lex’s feet. It wasn’t enough to stop it and both women were pulled off their feet. Fiona grabbed her sister’s legs and held on, but even with her weight the vines still pulled upward.
“Eve!” Fiona screamed as her feet started to come off the ground. Eve jumped up and grabbed the vine just above Lex’s head. All together they slowed the vines down, but didn’t stop it. Eve swung her force blade at the vines and in one quick slice the group of women crashed down to the ground in a heap of flesh and vines.
Rod tried to struggle, but it seemed to only make it worse. He could only watch and accept his fate. The vines pulled him toward what looked like a giant flower. It was more of a mouth than a flower, but he thought at least the thing that kills me is pretty. It pulled him inside and finally the vines let lose. He tried to push against the soft interlining of the flower mouth, but it was no use. He was trapped in the dark and not able to move. He waited. At first nothing happened, then after the vines had completely withdrawn he heard a hissing sound then felt the warm wet liquid spraying him head to toe.
Rod wondered if the slime that now covered him was some kind of digestive agent. He didn’t notice anything right away, however, it was not long before his skin started to burn and he started to panic. He didn’t want to die, not this way, at least. He screamed and pushed and kicked with everything he had, but the plant didn’t let go. It was getting hot and hard to breath and he was now worried he would suffocate long before the flower ate him.
Cotton Paw raced up the tree until she came to the top of the trees where they all seemed to have these strange flowers that grew out of the top of them. She listened and sniffed the air. She couldn’t pick up Rod’s scent over the scent of the flowers. She looked around and noticed one of the flowers was closed and moving back and forth violently. “That’s got to be the one,” she said as she made her way out onto a branch.
Down below Eve finished cutting the girls free, “Stay alert, there’s no way to know if those nasty little plants will try again.
Inside the pod Rod started to feel light headed and it was really hard to breath. His skin was on fire and he thought he could smell his hair burning. Outside the pod Cotton Paw went to work on the green leafy flesh. It didn’t take her long with her razor sharp claws to shred the wall of the pod.
Rod breathed deeply and let out a cry for help, “Get me the fuck out of here!”
“I am working on it,” the cat replied calmly. A few more minutes of slashing and hacking and Rod was free. The two of them started the long climb down to the jungle floor.
Thad felt the pain burning through his chest and he knew this was his only chance. He screamed out as dramatic
ally as he could and then with all the bravado he could muster he played to the crowd, a crowd that was hooting and hollering. He gave a performance that even Rod would have been proud of. He died; at least that is what he wanted them to believe, and it worked.
Tor Tran-kor pulled the laser sword out of Thad’s chest and held it high above his head and with his other clawed hand he beat his chest and let out a series of grunts and woot sounds. He was too busy enjoying his victory to notice the hole in Thad’s chest already starting to fill in and heal. “Take the body to the cold room; we will prepare it for shipment to the Emperor in the morning.”
Two Ralnai grabbed Thad by the hands and drug him from the room. He was taken to a room that was aptly named as it was indeed very cold. The room was just above freezing. Stored in here were all kinds of meats and other things that needed to be kept cold. Most of it looked like food storage for the human slaves. They placed him in the middle of the room and left him on the floor. They then departed without even a second glance.
Thad lay on the cold floor waiting for his wound to heal completely, which didn’t take long. He sat up and looked around. He checked his body, they had stripped him off his weapons, but they didn’t take his DDSD. “Stupid lizards,” he said in a whisper.
Cotton Paw would have made it down quite quickly if it hadn’t been for Rod. She didn’t want to leave Rod alone to be attacked all over again. He wasn’t looking to good. The hair on his face and arms was gone and his beautiful head of hair was now falling out in chucks. His skin was turning an angry red and looked like it was quite uncomfortable.
Finally they made it to the ground to find the girls fending off vines with make shift torches, “They don’t like fire,” Lex said as she singed one of the vines, trying to set ablaze.
Eve grabbed Rod under his left arm, “We need to be moving now and by the looks and smell we need to find water soon and wash this stuff off Rod, or else he is going to look rather strange without skin.”