by M. D. Cooper
“I appreciate that.” Rogers chomped on a roll. “Anyone know what’s in the butter surprise?”
“Tofu mixed with olive oil.” Ricket laughed, slamming her hand down on the table. Simultaneously, Rogers and Winter groaned and spat out their rolls into white napkins.
“Ricket!” Winter leaned forward and pointed his fork at her. “You can’t be feeding us tofu. You’ll get our macho cards revoked at the door.”
“Door prize for Winter.” Ricket threw her arm around his shoulder and pulled him down closer to her. “Silky tofu and a tutu skirt. I’d love to see you wearing it on your head.”
“Baah!” Winter turned several shades redder than he already was. Which looked a little gross on an albino. Kylie doubted anyone would get away with that other than Ricket. She had a way of disarming people with her nonsensical, yet compellingly funny banter.
Bubbs tossed a pea into her mouth, her lips twisting into a grimace-like snarl that Kylie had learned was the woman’s smile. “I’d like to take a picture of that and cast it all over the Nets. You know? Tough boy, Winter. Except when he’s wearing a tutu,” Bubbs said.
Winter scowled back at her. “Bubbs, some days you make me want to put you into a choke hold—for a good three or four minutes, at least.”
Bubbs raised her eyebrows. “I’d like to see you try. Might be good to take a few wagers then. Anyone else as bored as me?”
Rogers and Ricket cheered. Kylie nodded as she sat back and poured some of the slow-moving coffee down her throat. She watched as Ricket established a betting pool on the shipnet, credits and bets appearing on the ledger.
Winter shook his head adamantly. “I’m not putting her in a choke hold. Bubbs, I’m not doing this.” Desperate now, Winter turned to Kylie. “Help me out, captain.”
“You dug your own hole, Winter, gotta dig yourself out.” Kylie sat back and crossed her arms, determined to enjoy the show.
Bubbs rose from her seat and Kylie once again marveled at the woman’s height. She brushed her short brown hair out of her face and took a step back.
Always prepared for battle, Bubbs wore a thin carbon-poly skinsuit that was both kinetic and EM resistant. It wasn’t as good as the ISF’s flow armor, but she said it suited her better. The armor’s black sheen highlighted her bulging muscles as she reached down and grabbed Winter by his shirt.
Kylie raised her hand, covering a grin at the look of desperation on Winter’s face as he was pulled out of his seat and half-dragged into an open space a few tables away.
Bubbs dropped into a crouch, knees bent, right hand raised, ready to strike. Winter stood a few paces away and made a slashing motion through the air with his hand. “I’m not doing this, I already said—”
“Man up, already,” Bubbs said.
Ricket and Rogers stood up for a better view, and Rogers called out, “Whoop whoop!”
Or maybe it was because of the bets and the violence.
Kylie reached forward and grabbed the rest of Winter’s roll, sitting back to watch the fight as it unfolded. Bubbs had lunged forward and now held Winter in a choke hold while repeatedly pounding her fist into his stomach.
Winter, for his part, was desperately trying to get away, but seemed to be attempting to do it without hitting Bubbs.
Kylie wasn’t sure if smarts had anything to do with it, or if it was just unbridled fear. Winter was a huge man, used to winning, but Bubbs was just as large, and far more ferocious.
In the end, Bubbs claimed victory, and credits were transferred to the winners. Ricket squealed as she slapped Bubbs on the back and Kylie saw that it was Rogers who looked disappointed.
She checked the ledger and saw that he’d lost big. Kylie placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let that be a lesson to you. Never bet on Winter.”
“Sorry, man. I’ll try harder next time.” Winter shrugged as he took his seat. He gave Kylie a surreptitious wink, then frowned at his plate. “What happened to my roll?”
“Your tofu roll?” Rogers asked.
“I’m pretty sure Ricket was kidding about the tofu.”
“I’m going to go get some more coffee.” Kylie rose from her seat and was surprised to see Winter follow her to the kitchen. “You trying to avoid Bubbs, or you want some extra strong fuel?” she asked.
“Both,” Winter admitted, rubbing his hands together as they walked into the cavernous room. “Just checking in.” He flipped a mug end over end in his hand. “You doing all right? I mean, really all right, not the standard ‘I’m fine’ BS you’re always giving everyone else.”
Kylie shrugged and stared into the blackness filling her mug. “What’s there to say?”
“A shit-ton.” Winter leaned back on the counter and studied her. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, you just want to be here in the black, solving problems.”
“And you think that’s a bad idea?”
“Nah, it’s a great idea, but you can’t avoid what you’re feeling forever. It’ll come out somehow, make you batshit crazy if you let it—I know, I’ve been around you a long time. But I’m here for you, Cap. We all are. So, if you need to go a little nuts, come find me, OK?”
“Thanks, Winter.” Kylie nodded. “I think I’ll do that.”
“I know what you’re going through. Maybe not on the same scale, but I’ve seen a lot of crap, been betrayed by the best…and the worst. Betrayed them too. Did what I could to look out for number one. All of it led me here, which I’m glad about, don’t get me wrong.”
Winter didn’t often talk about his past. Even after their years together, Kylie had no knowledge of his family or even where he came from. She’d always respected his privacy, not wanting anyone to pry into her past either. “I’m glad, too. Place wouldn’t be the same without you.”
He snorted and waved his hand. “You’d just threaten to space someone else instead. Figure it’s safer to keep me around.” He grabbed a handful of leftover cheese from the counter and walked back into the dining hall.
Kylie followed more slowly, a little mystified as she watched him. Maybe her head was in a bad place if Winter was playing shrink to her.
Kylie watched the crew as she sipped her coffee. Bubbs picked up her dish with half a serving of mashed potatoes still left on it and headed out of the dining hall. Curious, Kylie followed her out into the corridor. “Hey, you going somewhere with those potatoes?”
“Is potato-thieving a crime now?”
Kylie caught up to her. “No, it’s not. Not really.”
Bubbs paused and then turned back around. “I just want to finish in my quarters, if it’s all the same.”
Kylie crossed her arms. “It’s really not all the same to me. Mission is about to start, and I’d like us all to eat together. It builds relations. Keeps us tight.”
Bubbs’ jaw stiffened and her eye shifted as if she was considering making a break for it. “I appreciate the chance you’re giving me. I appreciate that Winter’s opinion carries weight with you, but I need to be in my quarters. It’s important.”
“Why?” Kylie asked and stepped up just a bit closer. “Tell me why. If you give me the truth, I might understand, but right now you’re just spewing nonsense.”
Bubbs mumbled something under her breath while staring down at her plate of leftover food. Kylie couldn’t quite make out what it was she had said.
“Can you repeat that?”
Kylie’s eyes widened, and she gave a soft laugh. “You have a cat?”
<
br /> Bubbs flinched at the accusation. “He’s big and mean, I promise you that! He helps…with the mice population.”
“I’m sure he’s a very good mouser. What’s his name?” Kylie asked.
Bubbs rolled her one good eye. “Chuck. Can I go now please, Captain? He’s waiting for his mashed potatoes.”
Kylie nodded after a small consideration. “Tell Chuck I said hi. I look forward to meeting him some day, Bubbs.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Bubbs muttered. She turned around and walked quickly, but stiffly, down the corridor, as if she was worried that Kylie might change her mind.
Kylie grinned to herself.
Marge proclaimed her innocence by sending across an angelic smile complete with a halo.
Kylie groaned.
Cake didn’t even begin to describe it.
ORDERS
STELLAR DATE: 11.03.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Chimin-1
REGION: Hanoi System (independent)
He groaned as Liberty’s request came into his mind. There was enough going on without having to talk to her. The woman was insufferable at the best of times.
He pulled up the lists of incoming vessels—of which there were few—and saw a ship named the Barbaric Queen that had made a request to send a shuttle in.
He sucked in a long breath.
He bristled at the accusation.
The man rubbed his palms into his eyes and across his forehead.
CHIMIN-1
STELLAR DATE: 11.03.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Barbaric Queen
REGION: Chimin Asteroid Group, Hanoi System (independent)
Kylie waited in the Barbaric Queen’s forward docking bay for Rogers and Ricket to join her. They were taking longer than she’d expected—especially since the auto-armoring system the ISF engineers had installed only took a minute to apply any type of armor a person desired.
After debating available options, Kylie had settled on the ISF’s Mark X FlowArmor. It had taken moments to put on, and she had complemented it with a pair of tall black boots that held extra power supplies with room for a backup pistol and two knives.
Despite the fact that her body was covered neck to toe, it felt as though she was naked—though the armor covered her nethers—and took a bit to get used to. Still, it was a thousand times more comfortable than the Trylodyne IA99 stealth armor she’d stolen from the Mark’s stash back on Jericho.
The flow armor’s default appearance was a dark matte grey, but in that configuration, it looked like she was ready for a military op—which made sense, since it was military armor. After twiddling with the settings, she’d settled on an iridescent blue that made her look more like a wealthy ship owner, and less like a pirate.
She’d added a belt holding two sidearms and was inspecting them for the third time when Ricket entered the bay; also wearing flow armor, hers a gleaming emerald in hue.
“Took you long enough,” Kylie said. “Where’s Rogers?”
Ricket snickered and looked over her shoulder. “He’s not used to wearing something so…revealing.”
“Revealing?” Rogers poked his head around the corner. “There’s a word for this, and that word is a few levels beyond revealing!”
“Rogers!” Kylie kept her voice just below a shout. “We don’t have all day.”
He grimaced but nodded. And a moment later, a slouching Rogers walked into view, his hands held over his groin as he entered the bay. Like Ricket, he was also wearing the flow armor, but his was a bright red.
“How come you get blue, and she has green, but I have to wear this color?” he asked. “And how do you pee in this?”
Kylie frowned. “Well, it’s flow armor, it just flows away from wherever you want it to—but don’t think about it!”
She was glad Rogers had his hands down low, or they would have had an interesting show.
Rogers’ face turned the same color as his flow armor. “Dammit, Kylie! I’m going to go get some clothes to put overtop of this. I look like a fire extinguisher.”
“Well, just change the color,” Kylie said with a shrug. “I think we should all go blue. Looks like a uniform then.”
“Go blu—” Rogers stopped and stared at Ricket. “It can change color?”
Ricket began to giggle, a look of pure mirth in her eyes as her flow armor shifted from green to the same shade of blue as Kylie’s
“Dammit!” Rogers said. “Why can’t I do that?”
“I uh…may have hacked the interface for your armor,” Ricket said, continuing to laugh. Her eyebrows pinched together and then she gave a small nod. “There, now you should see the configuration options on your HUD.”
Rogers groaned as his armor changed to blue and reduced the definition between his legs.
“OK, we good now?” Kylie asked trying not to grin at Rogers’ discomfort. “Team BQ, ready to kick some butt.”
“Well,” Ricket said as she walked the rest of the way to the shuttle. “Ask questions first, kick butt only if necessary.”
“Right.” Kylie nodded. “Subtlety is my middle name.”
“Tell us another one, Captain.” Rogers snorted as he approached, looking up at the shuttle Kylie stood in front of. “So we taking this old jalopy? What about the shiny new pinnaces the ISF gave us?”
Kylie glanced at the three ISF pinnaces resting on the cradles further down the bay. “Too upscale. I don’t want that sort of attention.”
“Smart play,” Ricket said as she palmed the control and the shuttle’s airlock door opened. “We can save those later for when we get to the butt-kicking.”
“We’re just here to talk to my contact,” Rogers said as they stepped over the threshold and into the airlock.
“Right,” Kylie said with a long-suffering sigh. “And when has it ever ended with a simple conversation.”
Rogers laughed as he made the flow armor on his hand change color to black, then back to blue.
“Good point, Captain.”
A minute later they had settled into the shuttle’s cockpit and Rogers ran through a quick preflight check before lifting the craft off the cradle and out of the docking bay.
Behind them, the Barbaric Queen continued on in a long elliptical loop around Chimin-1 which would see it pass by the station again in an hour. Plenty of time—provided everything went according to plan.
Kylie groaned but didn’t engage further.
Ricket and Rogers had taken the only two seats in the cockpit, and Kylie stood behind them, watching the view outside the window. She leaned down over Rogers’ shoulder, a hand on the back of his chair as she gazed at the asteroid he was angling toward. “Any other details about the place we should know?” Kylie asked as they made their approach.
“Standard fare,” Rogers said. “Like I said before, miners, food-grow op, services that go along with it.”
“Small setup,” Ricket said as she flipped through scan readings. “Only has a few thousand workers who maintain the infrastructure and the city itself. It’s where all the miners and farmers live. Looks like most of the mining work is now on other asteroids and the miners head out on multi-day shifts.”
“How many of those people?” Kylie asked.
Ricket paused, reviewing the information. “A lot, actually. Tens of thousands across the asteroids, but some are pretty remote. Few thousand more for the farms. From what I can see there are a few more asteroids they use for habitations spread in the Chimin Group, but this is the largest one.”
Laura dropped the words without any equivocation, and the tension level in the cockpit rose a notch. Kylie did her best to ignore it, and Rogers eased things as he always did.