Should he really be out walking around so brazenly? Wouldn’t the officers on Erebus have plastered his face over every IPC commpad, viewer, and crystal display across the universe by now? He’d let his whiskers grow out a little, though that probably wasn’t much of a cover-up. Maybe he should have considered some kind of actual disguise before he’d left the ship.
But the officers seemed more intent on drinking their coffees than looking for escaped prisoners. Shortly after, he followed Rian out the large glass doorway into the street.
A line of wheeled land vehicles hummed in wait underneath another line of aerosphere vehicles. A pay station listed destinations and prices.
Rian pulled out a currency card and paid for a land vehicle. One rolled forward, hatch opening as it stopped in front of the pay station. Rian slid in first and Tannin got in next, not wanting to hang around outside in case there were anymore IPC officers about. Once Lianna and Callan had secured themselves, Rian tabbed the hatch closed and entered a destination. The vehicle came online, but before it moved off, Rian switched from autopilot to manual.
“Not again.” Lianna reached behind herself to pull the safety straps across her chest.
“Gutless sissy.” Callan crossed his arms and made a show of not putting on the harness. Tannin started to reach for his own belt when Rian took off, shooting the autocar away from the spaceport and into the traffic, amid a wail of proximity alarms.
With hasty movements, Tannin got himself strapped in, cringing when they cut by another moving vehicle and a road barrier.
Rian kept the autocar cruising faster than all the other vehicles on the road, weaving in, out, and around them as though they were stationary. Never mind worrying about IPC officers catching him, if Rian didn’t splatter them against something, Rim security would disable the vehicle and have them all arrested long before they arrived at Huata.
They remained silent throughout the trip, until Rian pulled into another waiting line of vehicles outside what looked to be a large shopping complex.
“We’ll walk the last few blocks,” Rian said.
The hatch swung open and they climbed out to skirt the crowds of people, heading away from the multiplex. This sector didn’t look as well maintained or clean as the spaceport and surrounding area. The people were living rougher, their clothes older and not as good quality.
The farther they got from the shopping complex, the less crowded the street. The buildings were more run down. For the next block and a half after that, they didn’t see a single person. The surrounding structures appeared to be monolithic factories, empty caverns that caught and echoed the slightest sound.
Rian led them into a dead-end alley and walked to the far fence of mismatched metal panels. At first, it looked liked nothing but a blockade in the street, but then Tannin discerned two moveable panels, one larger to fit vehicles through and the other man-sized.
With a firm tug, Rian got the smaller door open, the sound of metal grating on metal echoing off the nearby walls. The captain walked through without hesitation, followed closely by Callan. Tannin shared a dubious look with Lianna before the ship’s nav gave a tight shrug and disappeared through the opening. Looked like Lianna had as many doubts as he did.
On the other side of the barrier, six burly men lined the street with nucleon rifles in their hands. Rian strolled past them as if they weren’t even there, looking ahead to the trading center, which sprawled out in complete disorder. While the streets beyond the barrier were deserted, Huata itself looked packed full of people, the noise cacophonic.
“How come we couldn’t hear any of this from out in the street?” he asked Lianna as they moved into the crowd.
She motioned to the general area. “Apparently, they have some sort of advance cloaking field around the entire perimeter. That’s why you need someone like Rian who knows how and where to get in. I guess the criminals wouldn’t want just anyone walking around in here.”
“And how did Rian know where and how to get in? I wouldn’t have thought these sorts of people would want an ex-IPC war hero wandering about.”
Lianna cut him a look that seemed part worry, part warning. “There are a lot of things Rian knows that we don’t ask about. There were a few years during the war that he was missing. Zahli thought he was dead, but then he turned up, kicked some ass and pretty much won the whole war for the IPC. We don’t know exactly what happened to him while he was missing, all we do know is it had something to do with the Reidar. If you want to keep your head attached to your shoulders, I wouldn’t go poking around looking for that kind of information.”
Tannin nodded and then followed the crew through the throng, not sure what to look at first or for how long. There were merchants selling ship-parts, some selling foodstuffs, some who seemed to sell bits and pieces of everything. People gathered around large grills where exotic food cooked, and at more bars, pubs, alehouses, cardhouses, and gambling dens than he could count.
One gaudy and colorful establishment caught his eye, where women in various states of nakedness lounged, waiting for customers. A red-head wearing only thigh-high black leather boots reached out to touch him as they passed, but Tannin managed to avoid her fingers. The other three were similarly accosted; only Rian seemed to not care about the plump blonde who tried her best to gain his attention. Their captain kept on walking as if she hadn’t even been there. Lianna executed a maneuver that could have only been practiced to free herself from the same redhead who’d tried to grab him—obviously she wasn’t discriminating about where her business came from—while Callan seemed all too interested in the black-haired twins draping themselves over him.
“Roarke, save it for later. We’re here for one reason only,” Rian yelled back over his shoulder, continuing on his way without waiting for any of them.
They navigated through a blur of people and stalls until Rian passed between another brothel and a gambling house, knocking on a door in a shadowy recess. Callan took a wide legged stance with both palms resting on his guns while Tannin and Lianna stopped a few steps back.
The door opened and a hulking bald man with a short grey beard filled the entrance.
Rian nodded. “I’m here to trade with Uzair.”
The man crossed his arms, not looking like he planned on cooperating anytime soon.
Rian hooked a hand in his weapon’s belt. “I hear Erron’s sells the best beer. Guess I’ll go get a pint and come back later.”
Baldy raised an eyebrow and then stepped back to allow Rian to enter.
“What was that, some kind of coded message or something?” Tannin murmured to Lianna as they walked into the dim interior. He might have spent twelve years living on Erebus, but all this cloak-and-daggers underworld stuff was beyond him. Lianna shrugged, looking about as comfortable with this situation as Tannin felt.
They followed Rian down a short, dim concrete passage and came out in a bare room. In the middle of the space, a rectangular table with eight chairs made up the only furniture.
Rian glanced over his shoulder at Callan. “Stay back here and watch my ass. Make sure no one tries to come through with any surprises.”
Callan nodded and stood guard at the door, while Tannin and Lianna moved to stand against the wall, out of the way, after getting a sharp look from Rian
Sauntering to the table, Rian dropped into one of the chairs as the far door opened and three men walked in. One came to the table and sat opposite Rian.
“Sherron, isn’t this a surprise. How many years has it been?” The man clasped his fingers together on the table. His smile seemed more predatory than friendly.
Rian didn’t move a muscle, his blank expression betraying nothing. “Janon, I’m here to trade with Uzair, not his bitch.”
Janon’s jaw tightened. “You always did have more balls than brains. Why are you here?”
“I told you, to trade with Uzair.”
“And what makes you think you have anything of worth that Uzair would want to trade for?
” Janon leaned back and slung an arm over the empty chair next to him. “How’s that sister of yours, what’s her name again? Not so pretty in face, but that body… Yeah, I’m sure we could come to some arrangement in exchange for her, whatever it is you’re after.”
A surge of white hot possessiveness and jealousy seared through him at this back-Rim-scumbag even mentioning Zahli. Despite thinking he’d kept things under wraps, Janon’s gaze narrowed on him. Tannin locked down his muscles.
“One of your men doesn’t seem to like my idea, Sherron.”
Rian half turned to glare at him. Great. What would the captain’s reaction to this be when they got back to the ship later?
“The way I hear it, you don’t need any more trouble on your plate, Sherron, and Uzair might think you’re too big a risk to trade with. Word is you’ve got IPC on your trail.”
Ice clogged Tannin’s veins as Janon stared at him a little too long before focusing on Rian. The thug knew something.
“You see, I heard about this old Nirali classer making emergency repairs on Erebus, and then that same ship had IPC officers search it on Arleta, looking for an escaped prisoner,” Janon continued, his assessing gaze returning to Tannin. “Not many Nirali junk-loads flying around these days.”
Rian’s bored expression didn’t alter. “Sounds like a heap of shite. You know no one’s ever escaped from Erebus. Not alive, anyway.”
Janon didn’t seem deterred. “Information about how to hypothetically get someone off that prison planet would be extremely valuable. Very profitable for you.”
Rian shrugged. “Can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
“You should consider my offer, because you know better than anyone there are ways of making someone cooperate. Maybe I’ll take your pissed off friend over there out the back for a little chat.”
Shoving to his feet, Rian braced both hands on the table, showing some emotion at last. And Tannin would have been happy to never witness the seething darkness that radiated from their captain. He’d turned into the Rian Sherron of legend, the one who scared seasoned soldiers.
Rian’s body had gone tight with fury, yet fallen unnaturally still at the same time. His expression was one of death, of icy, fatal danger. Janon pressed back against his seat. But to give the thug some credit, he didn’t move; if Tannin had been on the receiving end, he would have already ripped the door off its hinges trying to escape.
In all the times he’d thought Rian was angry or incensed by his presence, that’d been nothing compared to this. Zahli had been right—Rian had been in a good mood.
“I don’t like what you’re insinuating, Janon, and I don’t like people threatening my crew or talking trash about my sister. I’m here to trade with Uzair, so take your lily white ass back there and find him before I get any more pissed off.” Rian flipped his pulse pistol out of its holster and shot one of the thugs standing in the background without taking his cold stare from Janon. A split second of silence passed, before the brute fell to the floor with a muffled thud.
Janon jumped up from his chair and pulled out his gun as the other muscle did the same. In a blink, Callan and Lianna had hands on their weapons and pointed across the room. Tannin palmed one of the guns he’d been given earlier and aimed it in the general direction of the bad guys, trying to keep Rian out of his sights.
The far door opened, ratcheting the tension even higher. A slimy looking man with slicked back hair and a fitted suit walked in, holding his hands out to show he was unarmed. He stepped over the fallen thug, not seeming to care about the injured man.
“Gentleman, please, negotiations never end well when people start pointing guns at each other.” He stopped next to Janon at the table. “Remember how many dead bodies Sherron left behind last time he was here, Janon? We don’t really need to start a new tally.”
Janon shoved his gun away with a jerky movement and retreated to the door. Tannin lowered his weapon and then re-holstered it, since the theatrics appeared to be over.
“Now, Captain Sherron, what can I do for you?” The man motioned for Rian to take his seat.
Rian eased back down with slow movements, some of the tension leaving his body. “I’m after a delta-shield, Uzair.”
“I see. Planning on doing some gate travel, then? Finally got sick of all those long trips through void-space to get anywhere?”
Rian inclined his head.
“I have several delta-shields. The cheapest needs refitting, it’s nine thousand. The one you want, a brand new model I just acquired from an Epicurean class cruiser, only needs to be installed. That I’ll give you for twenty-two thousand, hard currency.”
They could have brought a whole ship for twenty-two thousand credits. Of course, it would have been a junker, barely space-worthy, but still, for the price of this delta-shield Rian could have made the startings of a fleet.
“I’ve got eighteen thousand hard currency,” Rian replied.
Uzair tapped his chin. “I see. The only other deal I can do for you is to take your eighteen thousand hard, and I’ll give you the shield for seven thousand red electronic currency on top of that.”
Had Uzair had jacked up the price from twenty-two thousand to twenty-five thousand? And Rian had just agreed to it.
Rian and Uzair exchanged details for the delivery of the shield and conversion of currency then they traded greetings, and Rian led them out into the chaotic bazaar of Huata.
“What just happened?” Tannin asked Lianna once they were weaving through the crowd and Rian couldn’t overhear him.
Lianna shook her head slightly. “Rian just agreed to go into debt to Uzair for seven thousand credits. But by the time Uzair adds his interest onto it, the sum will probably be closer to fourteen thousand. In effect, Rian agreed to pay three times what the shield is actually worth.”
“I thought the point of coming here was to get something cheaper.”
Lianna shrugged. “The shield is probably just as much, if not more expensive, than buying it retail. All ships with delta-shields and gate travel capacity have to be registered and pay fees to the IPC. That’s on top of what it costs to actually take a trip through a transit gate. We’re saving time and money by not going through the official channels.”
“Then how are we going to go through a gate if we’re not cleared?”
“Callan will forge the file and upload it to the ship’s registration records.”
“Callan?” Tannin glanced at the ship’s security advisor. He’d assumed Callan had been employed for muscle and not much else.
“Before Rian employed him, Callan worked as a universal-class forger for Elizar Dillon.”
“The crime lord?”
Lianna nodded. “That’s the one.”
There seemed to be more than a few mysteries amongst the crew and cargo onboard the Imojenna. He got the feeling he’d only just scratched the surface.
Once they slipped out the barrier fence, Callan dropped back to walk next to him and slapped him on the back hard enough to make him cough. “You owe us all a beer.”
Tannin shrugged off the pain. “How do you figure?”
“Tradition. When a new member of the crew is made official, they buy everyone else a beer.”
Tannin stumbled over a raised section of street then hurried after the three of them when they kept going without him. What the hell did Callan mean new member of the crew?
“Sorry, but I must have been on a different trading excursion. When exactly did this happen?”
Lianna grinned. “Didn’t you hear Rian when he said he doesn’t like people threatening his crew? He was talking about you, so it’s official. You’ve got a permanent place with us on the Imojenna.”
“Unless you’ve got somewhere else to be? Though since you’re an escaped prisoner, I can’t imagine you would,” Callan finished.
Tannin looked at Rian, who walked a few paces ahead of them with his hands braced on the grips of the guns on each hip. The captain didn’t acknowledge the con
versation, didn’t deny or confirm what the other two had said. Was it that simple? Had Rian acquired all of his crew by telling them instead of asking? Tannin wanted this, had come to realize his best chance of staying out of IPC hands and avoiding a return to Erebus would be with Rian onboard the Imojenna.
And the idea of being stuck indefinitely on the same ship as Zahli sounded about as close to heaven as he’d ever thought to get. Of course, there was still the ginormous obstacle of her brother between them. Yet feeling as ecstatic as he did right now, he’d leave that bridge to cross later.
The multiplex they’d left their transport at came into view, and Callan shoved him in the arm. “There’s a few rules you need to know now.”
“You actually have rules?” Making a joke seemed like a bit of a risk, but now he’d become crew, he’d be more likely to get away in one piece.
Lianna gave a short laugh. “Don’t worry, you’ll pick them up as you go.”
Callan gripped his shoulder as they stopped at the end of the line waiting for transport. “Yeah, either that, or Rian will cut your fingers off.”
Tannin would have laughed, but he got the sense Rian really would cut his fingers off if he got pissed enough about something.
Rian turned and looked at him with a stern, measured gaze. “I’ll give you a head start. One of my rules is no fraternization between crew members.”
Any ideas Tannin had about finding a way around Rian’s apparent opposition to Zahli and him withered and went up in a poof of ashes.
They arrived at the front of the transport line, saving Tannin from having to come up with a reply. Because what in the fiery pits of Erebus could he have said to that?
The girl or the life.
Chapter Thirteen
Zahli sat at the bottom of the ramp with a bottle of cold aerated electrolyte water in her hand, watching the buzzing activity in the large hangar as she waited for the trading party to return.
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