Alpha Dawn: Book one of the Teragene Chronicles

by Morgan R. R. Haze

  Jason didn't seem surprised that his wife had just given him a loophole to his ‘no kill policy’. "I don't want Gabriel, Willow, or Pete around when the handoff happens. If possible, I want to keep Aria from it too, she may handle it alright but she will talk about it to someone." Jason ordered.

  "Yes sir. I will make sure Gabriel knows he can keep baking, as we won't be leaving the ship. I can have Aria run security checks from here. She should only be able to see the data feeds." I offered.

  "If the Zhang use an electronic device at the exchange for execution, I may be able to stop it from being lethal; it would have to appear to be lethal to appease the Zufu, though." Ell seemed to be musing to herself.

  "Only try if it's something that you can do easily. You don't need to hurt yourself trying to save someone like Liu." Jason instructed; he was obviously concerned for Ell's safety.

  "'The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.' (Marcus Tullius Cicero) We don't need to save the bad at the expense of the good." I added.

  Jason turned his attention back to the controls of the ship. We were making our approach on the docks, the ship could continue fully automated but Jason had a quirk about not letting the computer land for him. As we set down in our rented berth we could see the masses of people that made the thoroughfares of this planet almost impossible to navigate. I was relieved that none of us would be leaving the Waylay at this port. Many captains that were transporting items to and from this world employed local people on the ground so that no one had to leave the relative safety of their ships. The odds of returning unscathed from this god forsaken rock were always low.

  Once Jason had finished the docking procedures, he sent a message to the Zufu with our berth number. "Aria please report to the bridge." Jason said into the comm.

  "I'll go give Gabe the good news." I said. As I made my way down to the galley I wondered how involved Ell had been in our hunts before she had come on board. I was willing to say she played a larger part in our successes than any of us really knew.

  "Good news Gabe, we are getting a doorstep delivery with this bounty. No need for any of us to leave the ship. You don't need to stop your baking marathon to run security. Jason is putting Aria on it." I told him. You could see the stress fall from his shoulders at the news.

  "Good to hear. I'll have to make up something special to celebrate." Gabe gave me his broadest grin. It had been missing ever since he found out our bounty was on Shangri-La.

  I made my way down to the smaller airlock that we would be using for the exchange. No reason to open up more of the ship then was necessary. I double checked that all of the ship's security features were engaged. There wasn't room for slip ups here.

  Jason and Ell appeared at the designated airlock. Jason was carrying a strong box that I assumed held the payment for the exchange. "If you insist on being here, fine, but stay behind Mark and I. If this goes wrong you’ll have a better chance of pulling us out, if you’re not in the line of fire," He was telling Ell.

  The airlock had an iris-like opening, with eight slanting petal shaped door pieces that retract when opened. The walkway was wide enough for three large men to stand shoulder to shoulder inside of, giving us room to maneuver, but not to be overrun.

  "They are almost here." Ell spoke in a hushed tone that I was starting to associate with her using her abilities.

  I palmed the controls to the airlock and the iris dilated open. A wave of thick polluted air washed over us. Nothing on this planet was inviting. Four men moved forward carrying a rectangular container between them, large enough to carry a fully grown man. Jason moved forward to the edge of the ship, with his strong box.

  "Is Liu inside the container?" Jason asked.

  The man closest to Jason nodded an affirmative. Jason set the strong box off to the right side, and took a small step back. The two men at the front set the edge of their container into the airlock and moved away. The two men in the back continued to push the rectangular container into the Waylay. Jason lifted the lid, which opened much like a coffin would, and after taking a look inside he said, “Well let's get what's left of Liu into cryo before he starts to smell."

  The four men took the strong box, exited the landing pad, and melted away into the throng of people without a word. I sealed the airlock and the ship's environmental system flushed out the polluted air.

  Jason glanced at Ell and said, "What's the verdict?" At that moment the man inside the rectangular container drew a gasping breath.

  "Peter will need to attend to Liu before we can put him into cryo." Ell replied, and then continued, "Please insure he is restrained at all times. His file shows that standard tranquilizers have failed to keep him sedated in the past."

  "Ell, get Peter to the med suite. Mark, help me deliver this container to Peter." Jason instructed us. Jason bent to lift the head of the container, as I took the foot of it, Ell quickly moved ahead of us to notify the doctor. As Jason and I made our way to the med suite Liu gave minor convulsions; it made me wonder if his convulsions were a side effect of the treatment he received from the Zufu or if Ell was using a device that the Zufu implanted in Liu to keep him incapacitated.

  The Waylay Crew Deck -Day 346- Peter Singer

  Helping Willow go through her family's belongings was like looking into a window from her past. Her father kept many medical textbooks, but he had just as many books that were for enjoyment. We went through a number of crates that held only countless amounts of books. I suggested to her that I could ask Jason about turning one of the unused rooms into a library. Since both Mark and Gabriel used most of their own down time for reading, I didn't see any reason why he wouldn’t agree.

  Her father also had a collection of antiques. There were old hand crank time pieces, and artwork of different varieties. We came across some ancient looking swords along with some smaller weapons and what looked to be ceremonial garb. She gasped, "I thought he got rid of these."

  When I asked why, she confided, "They belonged to my mother. Father hated all forms of violence. Mother had served as a royal guard in her younger years. She had to give it up to marry father. She trained me in self-defense when I was young, but I had to keep it a secret from father. Two years ago, father and I came home from working at the clinic to find her murdered. The planetary authorities said that it looked to be a ritualistic execution from her home world, Mandurah. After that, father took the first offer of a physician post out of Kappa Sector, as far off of the star lanes as he could find. That's how we ended up on Talia. I never saw her things after we buried her. In his mind all she had ever been was a wife and mother. I think that if he thought about her life before, it made him think about how she died." She spoke quietly, as if she was telling me a secret.

  "What would you like to do with them?" I asked her.

  "If possible I would like to display them on the wall of my room." She said almost sheepishly.

  "We should be able to arrange that." I told her.

  The door chimed to alert us that someone wanted entrance. Willow called out "Come in." Ell and Aria promptly entered the room, carrying an air of seriousness with them.

  "Peter. You are needed in the med suite. Willow, please assist Peter, Aria will watch over Echo." Ell told us in a matter of fact tone.

  "Oh no, who's hurt?" Willow asked, concerned.

  "Our bounty was sent to us mostly dead." Aria volunteered.

  "We need him stabilized before we can put him into cryo." Ell informed us. "Jason and Mark are depositing him in the med suite now. He will be restrained when you arrive. Do not release him, no matter how sedated you have him." Ell warned.

  "He's a real nasty piece of work." Aria added.

  Willow, Ell and I made our way down to the med suite. I was relieved that I wouldn't be working on any of the crew, but I disliked exposing Willow to the darker part of our business.

  "It appears as though he has suffered multiple blunt force injuries and is missing some minor appendages. He was also
electrocuted to the point of death." Ell nonchalantly filled us in on our patient’s status on the way. Just before we arrived at the med suite we heard the unmistakable sound of the Banshee class engine powering up and felt it lifting off. We were not going to stay on this planet any longer than we found absolutely necessary.

  Mark was waiting with the patient who had been strapped down at both the wrists and the ankles. His face was a swollen, bloodied mess. If his body had received the same attention as his face had, his shallow breathing would most likely be caused by broken ribs. As I started to prepare my instruments, Willow started right in with cutting away his filthy clothing. The entire time we worked on our patient, she never flinched from the sight of so much damage. Even when Liu regained consciousness, and focused his entire menacing gaze on her, she never acted unprofessionally. She was very well trained already. After three and a half hours I deemed him stable enough for the cryo process. Jason and Mark transported him to the cryo chamber for the remainder of his journey with us.

  As Willow and I put the med suite back to rights I explained, "Jason doesn't usually let his bounties get to that state. He doesn't take on kill orders. We normally don't have to deal with things like this."

  "At least I knew he was a bad man. It wasn't a woman whose husband is a violent drunk, or a girl that had been raped and left for dead. My father treated many people that were the victims of crimes. There isn't much that I haven't seen." She had real steel in her eyes as she spoke of what she had experienced.

  "There is some kind of peace when a bad person is on the table and you are not able to take away all of their pain. I don't feel the same regret I do when treating others and I am unable to fix everything." I shared.

  "You still have to do all that you can, but there isn't the guilt waiting for you when you finish." Willow agreed, nodding her head in understanding.

  Once we were finished we found the rest of the crew around the dining table. It was laden with all of the baking that Gabriel had been doing today. "The ones that put in the most time on the job get the first piece of cake." Gabriel said as he sliced into a chocolate confection at the center of the table.

  When Willow saw that Mark was holding a sleeping Echo on his shoulder she gladly sank into a seat and accepted a slice. Everyone sat and talked with the air of people who had been bracing for a storm that had passed them by. We spoke of the drop off and where we would be heading after.

  "After we drop this bounty off, we will be heading to New Ireland. Ell has a buyer lined up for some of the extra cargo from Talia. It's as good of a place as any to unload the isolation ship since we didn’t have time on Shangri-la. New Ireland should be a good place for ship leave too. Anyone have any objections?" Jason asked.

  "It's not densely populated if I remember correctly. I can check the medical data for it; Willow, it may be a safe port for you to visit." I was excited at the prospect of her being able to enjoy ship leave. I had some tests running on ways to bypass her allergies to standard immunization vaccines, but finding a safe method would take some time.

  "I haven't walked on grass or breathed non-recycled air in months" she said hopefully. "Echo has never been outside."

  "Ell and I discussed it earlier, and you’ll be getting a fair cut of the bounty. You worked as hard as anyone else. You’ll also have the money from the sale of the isolation ship. You’ll be able to stock up on anything you may need while we are down on the planet. Give Ell a list of anything that Echo will need. We will be covering all of her expenses." Jason informed Willow.

  Willow seemed to be flustered but said, "Thank you" and went back to focusing on her cake. I wasn't sure if it was because of having everyone's attention focused on her or that she would now be compensated for the work she had been doing. The talk at the table turned to what the others needed to get when we were on leave and what they wanted to do with their down time. I hoped that she would be able to make this ship her home. I was starting to think that I would be able to finally feel at home here as well.

  The Waylay Bridge -Day 346- Jason Singer

  I'm glad things had gone so smoothly, bringing in Liu. Anytime we have a bounty go to ground on Shangri-La we have higher chance of losing someone.

  Still something had Ell on edge. I don't think that anyone else had noticed yet, but she is acting more robotic. I can tell she’s searching for something, but not coming up with the answers she’s looking for. I wasn't sure if it was about Liu or something else. We had gone after some real scum in the past but she never seemed to be affected like this before.

  After Mark and I got Liu strapped down on the exam table, I took us off world as quickly as possible. Ell met me on the bridge after she got Peter to take care of Liu.

  "How are you holding up, sweetheart?" I asked as she settled into the copilot seat.

  "I'm not sure. Something feels off to me." Her brow furrowed as she pondered something.

  "What's got you into knots? Do you think it has something to do with Liu?" I ask her, as I programmed the ship to hold a position in high orbit.

  "It may, this is the first time that I'm experiencing a bounty in person.” Her eyes glazed over, as she started sifting through the data streams again. “I have been going through the AlliedCorp frigate’s files which I hacked near Talia, and nothing so far stands out, but they seem off. I’m not sure, and maybe I’m just speculating here, but there seems to be faint traces leading to something to do with the Void… I don’t know, maybe I’m just uneasy because I never like the idea of being this close to the Void either. There's something disturbing to me about being on the fringes of the Alpha Sector. It feels like something could be waiting in the darkness...” She said, staring off into the direction of the Void, but then shifted her mindset back to the present, “Anyways, where do you want to drop Liu at?" She asked, turning the subject back to something that was simple to fix.

  "With the bounty warrant issued from his home planet, we can drop him with any max security firm we choose. I mentioned Avicii to the Zufu, but if being in Alpha Sector is what’s affecting you we can just hit the first max installation on the way to New Ireland. I figure the Zufu hasn't earned any special treatment from us, with killing our bounty and all."

  "Maybe I'm just anxious to unload the Teragene, but something just doesn't feel right to me." She reiterated.

  "Find us the best price between here and New Ireland. It’ll keep the trip short." I instructed.

  After a few moments, she found a supermax that wouldn't take us too far out of the way. I set the course and engaged the star-drive. Hopefully getting out of this sector would help get Ell back to her normal self.

  "I had Willow help Peter with Liu." Ell told me.

  “That's a good idea, he can always use an extra hand, and now he won't be bent out of shape for having to leave her." I couldn't help but smile at the obvious crush my little brother had on Willow. "Seein’ how Willow’s working with Pete and all of the time she spends taking care of Echo, I think that we should give her the same cut as the rest of the crew." I suggested.

  "I would also like for her to get the money from the sale of the isolation ship." Ell added on top of my idea.

  "Like back pay for all of the time she spent in it." I agreed, nodding my head.

  After our meal, I spent some time going over the drop off procedures for the supermax we were heading for. All of the different companies ran security their own way. I wanted to make sure things ran as smoothly as possible. Ell being on edge was making me take a second look at things I would normally just glance at.

  After I assured myself that there wouldn’t be any surprises waiting for me at the drop off, I checked my correspondence. I had all of the regular advertising messages and updates on the new bounties that were open to any takers and a few personal messages from contacts I had made over the years.

  The message that caught my eye first was from Ben. I had kept in touch with him over the years. Ben had moved on from being a pilot on the Guild ship we we
re on together; and was now settled down on a newly terraformed world, in Lambda Sector. His letters told of his adventures, settling new land that man had never been on before. His father must have put up a stake for him to be able to afford the high price of his claim. The one thing humans knew how to do the best was to outgrow planets. There were always more people looking for virgin land. Which made Teragene that much more valuable.

  I sent Ben a short note about the bounty we had in our hold and told him if I ever got out to his planet I would look him up. I think he likes to glorify the work that I do, but at least he was now safely farming his claim and only dreaming of being a white knight.

  A few of the other correspondences were from wardens that wanted to offer me an extra percentage if I would guarantee them x-amount of my future bounties. I saved those to my business file. I didn't like the idea of a long term contract, but sometimes it came in handy if I needed to negotiate a price with others to have proof that I could get a better deal elsewhere.

  The last message was from a name I didn't know, a Neil Allister, and it was tagged as personal. I decided to have Ell look it over before opening it.

  I checked in with the crew that was in the common areas of the ship. Gabriel was puttering around the mess, tidying up for the night and readying things for the morning. He seemed to have calmed considerably, now that we were in the black of space again. He had even offered to take the first shift of watch tonight. As a non-combatant crew member I didn't require that he normally take a night watch shift.

  Mark was running a last system check before turning in for the night himself. He was taking the third shift of the night. I assumed that Aria was already sleeping as she had the second shift.