Alien Assassin (The Human Chronicles -- Book Two)

by T. R. Harris

  “You are in luck,” Kroekus said, standing behind his desk. “The crewmember is still alive and resides here, in Dargor. She never flew again after the incident, and it seems your actions over that day ruined the sorry creature for life. Be cautious when approaching; I’m sure she will not want to see you again.”

  Sherri stood, followed quickly by Adam. “Kroekus, I am eternally in your favor,” she gushed. “If it was not for you, I would still be in prison, rotting away. You saved my life. If I can ever return the favor, please let me know.” She reached out to take the data chip, but Kroekus quickly retracted his hand.

  “There is one thing…It is my understanding that a considerable amount of credits are missing from Seton’s safe,” he said to Sherri.

  Sherri and Adam stood silent.

  “I suppose a fair price for this information would be in the range of 50,000 credits. I will, however – based upon our long history together – allow you to bring me the credits in a timely manner, knowing that you probably do not have that many on you at the moment.” He handed the chip to Sherri, but held onto his end of the chip as he said, “You probably already know that I always collect on my debts.” Then he released the chip.

  Sherri stared back at Kroekus evenly. “I will bring you the credits. You can count on my word.”

  As they began to leave the room, Kroekus punctuated the meeting by saying, “It’s your credits I will be counting, my friend, not your word. I will expect them by Day14 today.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  When they returned to the transport, Sherri inserted the data chip into a portable reader she carried with her, while Adam checked their weapons.

  As suspected, Kroekus’ Silean guards had replaced the power packs in the weapons and on their holsters with dummy packs. They looked real enough, and even a cursory inspection would make one believe they were real. But Adam had an inherent distrust of aliens, and so he knew what to look for to make sure. He also noticed that the exciter points on the MK’s had been damaged as well. So even with new power packs, if they’d made a quick exit and been able to retrieve their weapons, they still would not have worked. Bastards!

  But Adam was prepared for such an eventuality. From the Cassie I he’d brought a supply of new power packs, as well as various replacement parts for their MK’s. As Sherri was scanning the information from the data chip, Adam was restoring full functionality to their deadly weapons.

  “Her name is Sileen Jorus,” Sherri announced as she read the screen. “She lives on the other side of the city from here. We better get going if we’re to get back in time to get Kroekus his money.”

  Dargor was laid out like the spokes in a gigantic bicycle wheel, with major thoroughfares radiating out from the central government buildings. Traffic was light, and they made good time traversing the eighty-four kilometers from Kroekus’s office.

  As they neared their destination, the structures, businesses and even the beings on the streets, began to deteriorate rapidly. This definitely was the wrong side of town. Even for a society built on criminal activity, this place was the worst of the worst.

  They found the address just as dusk was descending on the city of Dargor, and various beings wrapped in tattered clothing stopped along the street to watch the movement of their vehicle.

  As they parked and slipped out of the transport, three aliens approached. “We need credits. Do you have credits to give?” asked a skinny, hairless creature with opposing eye sockets and a small snout, moving closer to Sherri. The creature held out his hand.

  Sherri was in no mood for this. Instead, she was trying to concentrate on the coming confrontation with the creature from her past, and what ramifications the information she may provide would have on her life. So Sherri simply grabbed the beggar’s hand, and crushed it in hers.

  The beggar’s eye sockets grew even larger, and he let out a blood-curdling scream that echoed throughout the neighborhood. His two companions rushed to his aid, but Adam simply picked them both up by their coats and tossed them against the nearest wall.

  Then the two Humans turned to the see several other creatures approaching on the sidewalk towards them, anger in their eyes. Yet at Adam’s glare, the six or so other beings stopped in their tracks, and began shuffling backwards, away from the two Humans.

  “I think you should approach the door first,” Sherri said to Adam, ignoring the confrontation and the other nearby creatures, as they entered the building. “She doesn’t know you.”

  “That’s fine. What do I say?”

  “I don’t know, maybe something about some back-pay she’s owed.”

  On the trip there, Sherri had read the full file on the crewmember. Sileen was from a planet in a neighboring Sector and had been crewing on cargo haulers for much of her adult life. She had been mated before and apparently had about eighteen offspring. Damn, Adam had thought. She’s fertile little minx!

  Sileen had been on a ship that was owned and operated by a Silean company called Reessing. Since returning to Silea with a dead crew and a rabid alien locked in a storage locker, her license to crew had been revoked, and she never fought to get her status reinstated. She had been surviving on the meager pay of a loadmaster at one of the minor spaceports in the area ever since the incident.

  Sherri remembered that even during the mock trial the Sileans held, Sileen would not sit in the same room with the Human. Now having that same crazed alien show up at her doorstep three years later would certainly be the highlight of her day.

  Sileen’s apartment was on the fourth floor of the building, which according to Silean tradition was the worst location in a structure to be housed. Sherri drew her MK-17 and stood a few meters down the hall, while Adam approached the door. There would be a security camera on the entrance – every doorway had one – so Adam stood with as pleasant and non-threatening a look on his face as he could muster, and pressed the button.

  Almost immediately, a voice sounded through the comm unit. “Who is it? What is your business here?”

  “I’m looking for Sileen Jorus. I’m from Reessing.”

  “Reessing? What do you want?”

  “I’m here about the back-pay that you are owed.”

  “I don’t have any credits coming to me from Reessing. You are mistaken. Go away.”

  “You are Sileen Jorus, aren’t you?”

  “I do not have any credits owed.”

  “That’s okay with me. These are not my credits. I will get paid whether you take them or not…”

  He paused for a moment; aliens were not known for their rapid decision-making. Finally, he heard a click as the lock on the door was released.

  “You can enter, but be warned, I am armed.”

  “All I want to do is give you credits. You don’t have to be so upset about it.”

  The door slid open, and Adam entered a dimly-lit, unkempt room about ten meters square. There was a couch along one wall and a comm center above a cluttered desk; a transmission was playing on a monitor above the desk, a newscast of some sort. Another opening led to a small kitchen area, while another led to the sleeping quarters. And the entire place smelled of feces and dirty feet.

  Sileen Jorus was about one-and-a-half meters tall with long, willowy arms that ended at four-finger hands with what appeared to be suckers on the finger tips. Her face was long, with large black eyes and stringy hair that flowed down to cover most of her face. She stood on spindly legs that seemed hardly thick enough to support her weight, and she was dressed in a loose pullover dress made of a gray colored fabric. She was standing by the opening to the kitchen, and holding a small laser pistol in her right hand.

  “So where are these credits you say I’m owed?”

  Adam had entered carrying Sherri’s portable data reader, so he raised it and pretended to check the readout.

  Just then, two larger creatures of the same species – obviously males – sprang from the bedroom opening and scurried up the walls and onto the ceiling just above him. One of t
he creatures let loose and fell onto Adam’s right shoulder, while the other dropped to the floor and grabbed his legs. Adam struggled momentarily to get a grip on the slimy creature on his back, before launching it forcefully against the wall near the comm center. The other one at his feet was not having any luck tripping Adam, so the Human simply gave him a powerful kick that sent the creature flying into Sileen.

  Then Sherri was in the room. She ran toward the diminutive alien, whose eyes literally grew to twice their normal size at the sight of the Human female. She let out such a high-pitched scream that Adam had to cover his ears just to tolerate the sound.

  The alien began to shudder so hard that she dropped the laser weapon. Then she jumped and stuck fast to the wall above the couch.

  Sherri stood a few meters away, holding her MK-17 steady at the alien. The two males had recovered somewhat and moved to the couch below Sileen.

  “Don’t kill my offspring, please!” Sileen screamed. “Please spare them. They had nothing to do with what happened on the ship.”

  “Relax, I’m not going to kill anyone,” Sherri said softly, trying to calm the hysterical alien.

  “Oh please spare my offspring. Please!”

  “Relax!” Sherri finally yelled, loud enough to penetrate the whimpering of the alien stuck on the wall. “I’m not here to hurt you or your…offspring.”

  Sileen blinked rapidly several times, as her eyes began to return to normal. Then slowly she slipped down the wall, propping herself on the back of the couch.

  Then Sherri turned to Adam. “That’s how she kept from being killed in the first place. That thing can squeeze into the smallest openings and stick to just about anything.”

  Then she turned back to Sileen. “All I want to know is where you picked me up at? It had to be your last port before returning to Silea.”

  Again, Sileen blinked several times, while her two sons huddled together on the couch, one of them licking the back of the other’s head. Adam just wrinkled his nose at the bazaar scene.

  “That is all you want? You don’t mean to harm us?”

  “No. All I want is information—”

  “Locin-Annan!” said Sileen quickly. “That was the location.”

  Locin-Annan! Adam nearly fainted when he heard the word Annan. During all his research into the word and its meaning, he had been going in a completely different direction. Annan was only part of the name – and the name of a place!

  Sherri had no idea what was going on in Adam’s head at that moment, so she simply asked, “Where is that? Is it a planet or a city?”

  “It’s the uranium mines on Zylim-4. Over in the New Regian system.”

  Sherri turned to Adam with a large, satisfied grin. Sileen and her offspring recoiled at the sight of Sherri’s long, white teeth, but she didn’t care. “There you go. Zylim-4. In the next system over.”

  “But the mines are off-limits to most merchants,” Sileen added. “The radiation is quite strong there from hundreds of years of waste being deposited on the surface.”

  “Let us worry about that,” Sherri said to the still trembling creature. Then she moved in closer, and Adam saw all three beings shrink to about half their body thickness as they pressed deeper into the couch. “We are going to leave you now,” Sherri said, her voice deeper, threatening. “If you say one word about us coming here, or the information you gave us, I will come back and I will kill you—” then she glared at the two males “—and all of your offspring, and then all of their offspring. And I won’t just kill you all – I will eat you, too, bloody and raw. Do you understand?”

  One of the males appeared to faint, while the other climbed into the grasp of his mother. “Yes. Yes I understand.” Adam noticed a wet stain begin to spread on the top of the couch. He did his best not to grin; Sherri was really laying it on thick – and it appeared to be working.

  “Let’s go,” Sherri called to Adam as she brushed past him, heading for the door.

  Adam hesitated for a moment, looking at the terrified creatures. Then he couldn’t resist. He leaned in closer and said, “Boo!”

  The other male fainted, while Sileen let loose with a loud farting sound, and the putrid smell of feces in the room suddenly grew even stronger…

  Chapter Twenty

  As the Juirean shuttle approached Silea, the comm unit began to blow up with calls from the government, requesting destination, purpose, accommodations requested and more. Riyad answered none of them. Instead, he had located a quick emergency exit off the main cargo bay that he would use for his escape once on-planet.

  He was in the pilothouse, bringing the small shuttle in toward one of Dargor’s major spaceports. Then at the last minute, he changed course, setting the ship down quick and hard in one of the outlying freight ports, about fifteen kilometers from his original destination. It would take the authorities at least an hour or so to regroup and send the official greeting party to this new location.

  Once down, Riyad slipped out through the emergency exit and mingled with the other spacers who were coming and going in the port. It was nearing dusk, so his movements went unnoticed. He made it through the main gate of the facility by mixing with a group of noisy Sileans anxious to get home to their mates – or to the nearest bar.

  Once in the city, he separated from the group and set off down a side alley to carry out the second part of his plan for recovering his money. The first part had been to get on the planet without being apprehended aboard a Juirean shuttle. Since he had no credits, the second part of his plan had to do with securing some, at least enough to get him to his final destination.

  Riyad stationed himself in a side alley, near a crowded and boisterous tavern, and then waited.

  It wasn’t long before two creatures of unknown origin left the bar and headed his way. They were dressed in modestly expensive robes and were even foolish enough to be displaying gold jewelry on their wrists and dangling from their ears. From their gait, Riyad knew they had been partaking in the excellent intoxicants Silea had to offer. These two would be perfect.

  As they came upon the alley, Riyad slipped in behind them, grabbed the backs of their fancy robes and spun them into the alley.

  Twisting his head and body to regain his balance, the tallest of the pair focused on Riyad. “You should refrain, else we rip your head from its socket,” the creature growled at Riyad. “You have picked the wrong Lonilans to attack!”

  Riyad had never heard of Lonilans before, but he didn’t care. He was in a hurry. Riyad swung with his right hand, and the unfortunate creature did not even see it approach in the dark of the alley. Riyad heard the crack of bone, and the being collapsed with a thud on the paved street. His companion had not seen the blow, either. So he lunged at Riyad, attempting to grab him around the neck. Riyad sweep his left arm across his body, easily brushing away the limbs of the Lonilan. Then he chopped down at the base of the creature’s head and neck, sending this one also to the pavement.

  Riyad quickly rifled through their pockets and robes and found a money belt on each. He emptied the contents into the pockets of the utility coveralls he wore and tossed the empty belts on the unconscious aliens. This money would tie him over until he could get to his five million credits.

  Leaving the two corpses where they lie, Riyad hurried down the street for about a kilometer before hailing a transport. He gave the driver the address, then leaned back in the rear seat and began to flesh out part three of his plan to get his money.

  Over the years, Riyad had made a lot of credits as the leader of the Fringe Pirates. The bulk of this fortune had been on K’ly when the Juireans first attacked. Those credits were lost. Then he had another sizeable stash on Dimloe. And now that, too, was gone. But over the years, he had also been secretly sending deposits to be held by the head of the Silean underworld, a fat blob of a creature named Kroekus. That was it – just Kroekus. Riyad reasoned that if you were powerful enough, you only needed one name. Everyone knew of Kroekus, and no one messed with him.


  Riyad had never met him face-to-face, but they had been tacit partners in many a criminal adventure for years. Kroekus was the Fringe Pirate’s major fence. He could move any merchandise, from gold ornaments to starships. And he also had the most-secure bank in the Fringe; even the Jurieans would have trouble tracking all the movements of the credits within his system. Riyad’s money would be safe, even if it came with a very steep fee of twenty percent.

  Riyad reasoned that gaining an audience with Kroekus shouldn’t be too difficult, not after he dropped his name and affiliation. And there would be plenty of references to be made that would verify his identity, even though he carried nothing official with him.

  The only concern Riyad had with walking into Kroekus’s stronghold was the fact that he had no weapon, nothing but his human abilities. They had never failed him before, but this time he was confronting the most-powerful criminal in the entire Fringe. And if an issue arose, he would surely be outnumbered a hundred to one.

  It was well past dark when the transport dropped Riyad off in front of a massive complex of office buildings, yet even at this hour, most of the windows in the four-story building still exploded with light. The pirate knew eyes were upon him the moment he stepped from the transport, so he confidently walked up the short flight of stairs to the main entrance. As expected, four armed Silean guards approached as the large glass doors slid shut behind him.

  “Your business?” one of the brown-leather uniformed guards asked, while suspiciously eyeing Riyad’s laborer coveralls.

  “I am here to see Kroekus. I am—”

  The guard laughed. “Do you have an appointment, at this hour?”

  “Relay to Kroekus that Riyad Tarazi is here to see him.” Riyad stood a little taller and tried to sound as forceful as possible. Even though he was dressed in a clothing of a common laborer, he needed to make the guards believe he was more than he appeared.