Double Cross_From the Athena Lee Universe

by T S Paul

  Parker smacked into a large beefy man. Looking up, she gaped. He had to be some sort of Marine. He had a look she saw on the vids or pics.

  “Watch it, kid,” he said.

  A woman appeared next to him. She was a little older. “You all right?” she asked.

  Parker shook her head. “No. I’m, uh, in trouble.”

  The man looked up and saw the twins sprinting at them. “Those slime balls?”

  “Yeah. They won’t trouble you,” the woman said. “Kane can handle them. I’m Captain Dodge.”

  “Parker.”

  The man walked right at the twins, and they saw him and turned around. Even they knew not to mess with a man like this.

  “What did they want?” Dodge asked.

  “To sell me.”

  Dodge gritted her teeth. “That won’t happen. Look, I’m captain of a ship. I can take you someplace safe. To some family.”

  “I don’t have any. None that I know of.”

  “You poor thing.”

  The brute Kane returned. “I was hoping for some fun.”

  “A shame,” Dodge said. “Slavers.”

  “Now I’m angry. Let me go after them.”

  “Not worth the effort. We need to get this young lady away,” Dodge said. “Parker, would you like to join us?”

  “Can I?”

  “You can.”

  <<<>>>

  Back on the ship, Rea prepped to leave. Aldis and Nicole spoke. She refused to help in search of the captain. This wasn’t the first time, and Rea wasn’t going to make her. Not that Rea could. Nicole did want she wanted when she wanted to.

  The others prepared for the long trip. Steve went off the ship to get several supplies that they would need and to arrange for a refueling.

  Rea wasn’t sure what to make of this. How did Jack have so many credits? It didn’t seem possible that a pirate would be that rich. Then again, if they stole the right things, they could be. Even Kate didn’t appear to have that type of credits, and she was in charge of the planet.

  So many questions were left unanswered, and Rea was letting the credits get in the way of knowing what was going on. This was going to be a difficult job, that much was certain.

  Aldis looked up from his computer. “Same age as you,” he said. “Has two ships. One’s a freighter, the other a fighter. Nothing like ours.”

  “His money?”

  “That’s the thing. I can’t find it. How he got it at least. It’s there, that much I found. It’s almost as if he appeared out of nowhere ten years ago.”

  Rea didn’t like that one bit. “Keep digging.”

  Steve entered the bridge with Lindsey. “We’re ready,” Steve said.

  “Good. Let’s get off this planet.”

  Chapter Eight

  The ship entered space and made ready for its first jump. Steve was glad to be away from Celtica. It wasn’t a terrible planet. Just the way he had envisioned it. But Jack worried him. This whole thing did. Not knowing what was going on was never good. To top it off, Jack knew everything about the whole crew. Now they were doing a job for him.

  Steve stood in the gym on the ship. His second home. Right now, he needed to work it out and get his blood flowing to figure out what was going on before they arrived at New Detroit.

  It had a bad reputation, but it really wasn’t a bad system. It was nicer than people gave it credit, though, for Parker, it was a place of bad memories. Steve wasn’t sure if she was originally from there or just abandoned there. She didn’t talk about it much.

  It wasn’t long after leaving the Celtica that Steve felt the ship jump into space to start the long and tiring trip to New Detroit. This was going to be an exciting job. That much was for sure.

  Steve was the only one in the gym. That wasn’t much of a surprise. Since he had joined the crew, he worked to improve what was in it. He wanted to make it as close as possible to one that he had in the Marines. Rea fought him tooth and nail on it. She said it wasn’t worth the cost to the ship. Most of the upgrades came out of Steve’s cut of the profits.

  That didn’t matter to him. He was able to get what he wanted.

  He stood up from the bench. He was finished with most of his chest routine and had only one move left. Pushups to failure.

  Once done, Steve left the gym and headed back to his room to shower and do his best to distract him from the path ahead. Steve hated all the mystery.

  In the hall, Steve ran into Lindsey.

  “Just who I was looking for,” Lindsey said. She smiled, and her eyelids fluttered.

  “What’s up?” Steve hadn’t expected that. Not that he was complaining.

  “Rea is calling a meeting.”

  Not what he thought she would say. He was slightly disappointed. “Why?”

  “Parker is being weird and wants to look at the package.”

  Steve groaned. Parker and the package. That should have been something they’d foreseen, but Steve hadn’t. “She can’t do that.”

  “I know that you know that, but she is freaking out about going back to New Detroit.”

  Steve got that, but that didn’t mean they should open it. New Detroit wasn’t Parker’s favorite place for obvious reasons. Steve tried to cut her some slack. She was the newest crew member. She also hadn’t had to go to many places yet that she didn’t want too.

  She would just have to get used to it. Steve had visited a lot of planets he had no desire to. Many of them he loathed, but he gritted his teeth, went, and did his job whether it was when he was a Marine or here on the Rossi. It was part of being on a ship, a duty that one must do.

  “I’ll be there. Let me shower, and I’ll get to the bridge.”

  Lindsey smiled. “See you there.”

  Steve returned the smile. He rather liked her.

  <<<>>>

  Again, Steve was the last to arrive. This time, it was his fault since he took his time in the shower.

  This meeting was pointless. They weren’t going to open the package. It went against everything they stood for.

  Parker knew that and wouldn’t violate that. No one on the Rossi was stupid enough to do that. Not once in the time that Steve had been on the ship had a member opened a package. At least not one that they weren’t supposed to.

  The argument was already going on in full force. Steve was taken aback that one was even going on. He hadn’t expected this at all. Parker and Aldis were trying to get the others to open it. Not everyone was taking part in the disagreement. Nicole the CATT was on the bridge, stalking some sort of prey and ignoring the rest of the crew, though Steve figured she was paying attention. She always had an answer if she felt like giving it, that is.

  Lindsey saw Steve. “Good. A voice of reason.”

  Steve wasn’t sure he’d be a voice of reason, but with the way they were shouting at each other, he might have to be. “Enough,” Steve said. His voice was deep and forceful. “What is going on?”

  Parker spun around to him. “We can’t go to this planet. If we do, we must know what we are taking.”

  “Agreed,” Aldis said. “This whole thing is fishy. I don’t like it.”

  Steve nodded and then turned to the captain and Lindsey. Both had red faces and pursed lips. That wasn’t a good sign. Steve didn’t want to get on their bad side. “Well?”

  “You know damn well, we can’t,” Lindsey said. At times, she could be fierce and scary. It might be why Steve liked her.

  “My ship,” Rea said. “My rules.”

  Steve agreed. It helped that this was one area he was in lock step with her. “We can’t open it. We have a code. We are better than other crews, other ships.”

  “But,” Parker said. She tried to continue, but Steve held up a hand.

  “No. We won’t open it.”

  “Fine,” Parker said and stomped off.

  Chapter Nine

  Parker couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They didn’t even listen to her. They didn’t give her a real chance to show the
m that it was a bad idea. New Detroit was a dangerous planet, and Parker was sure that the pirate was tricking them.

  He had to be setting them up for a trap. Pirates couldn’t be trusted. They just couldn’t, especially if they were sending them to a place that was barely under control. To her, it was worse than Celtica. It was worse than any other planet.

  “Why won’t they listen?” she asked herself. She continued on dragging her feet through the ship. She knew where the package was. They didn’t keep it locked up or anything. Anyone could get it and see what it was.

  An idea floated into her head. She could just do it and ask for forgiveness later. Parker was sure that Rea wouldn’t kick her off the ship. Rea treated her like a child, one that she never had. Usually, Steve did too. Just not today.

  The more Parker fumed over it, the more she was certain this was the only way. They needed to know all the details. Aldis had tried to find out more but had failed. Parker wasn’t good with computers or tech in general. She tried to discover more about Jack Drake and failed. She’d found even less than Aldis.

  Parker found herself standing in front of the secret cargo room. If a person didn’t know it was here, they would miss it. The box was inside. They treated it like any other shipment, and that boggled Parker’s mind. It wasn’t just a different piece. The price alone told them that much. This was special and dangerous. Something needed to be done about it.

  With that in mind, Parker keyed in the code. The door slid open, and the light came on. Tentatively, Parker walked in and examined it. There was no special security in the room, and it appeared that was still the case.

  Each step she took her heart raced, her palms sweated. Her legs moved her forward as they shook with fear of being caught. Being punished by Steve or Lindsey would be horrible. She was terrified they would try to get her kicked off the ship and leave her back on New Detroit.

  None of that mattered. The truth was needed. The box sat on a shelf in the far right of the room. Parker stood in front of it, then she pulled down the box and set it on the floor. It wasn’t heavy. With a deep breath, she opened it and took a step back in shock.

  Chapter Ten

  Steve stood in front of the opened door to the secret cargo area. He knew exactly who was in the room. Parker. She was the only one stupid enough to do this, the only one who had the balls to disobey this order.

  She had a thick skull, and when her mind was made up on something, she would do it. Parker wouldn’t care what happened. Steve liked that about the girl, but this wasn’t the time or the place.

  He entered the room. Parker stood over the package, and it was already opened. She was stiff and not moving.

  “Parker,” Steve said.

  She jumped and turned to face him. “I’m sorry.”

  Steve shook his head. “I told you not to.”

  Parker hung her head. “I had to.”

  “You didn’t need to.” Steve walked deeper into the room. “You wanted to.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Steve reached her, pulled her in, and hugged her. She was in shock and mad at herself. That was clear to Steve. Steve avoided looking at whatever she’d found in the box. He wanted nothing to do with it.

  But even he had trouble avoiding it. His training forced Steve to know all of his surroundings, and that was now that was part of his surroundings. He looked in and saw a large stone. It shined brightly.

  “What is it?” Steve asked. While he disapproved of looking, that didn’t mean he didn’t want to know. He was worried about it as well. Just not enough to sneak a look.

  “The stone of New Detroit.”

  Steve stood, confused. That vaguely rang a bell to Steve. He wasn’t sure why. The history of the planets wasn’t a strong suit for Steve. He barely knew the history of his own world, let alone any others.

  “We have to tell the others,” Parker said. She had a look of pure terror on her face. This truly frightened her. She appeared completely overwhelmed by the sight of it.

  Now that they knew, Steve agreed. He was still angry with her, but they needed to tell the others. Not that Steve thought it would change anything. They were going to do the mission.

  “I’ll talk to Rea,” Steve said. “Go back to your room. Wait for us.”

  Parker nodded.

  <<<>>>

  Steve knocked on Rea’s room. She was supposed to be here. This wasn’t going to be a fun conversation. She might blame him for what Parker did. Not that he had anything to do with it.

  “Enter.”

  Steve entered her quarters. Most of the rooms had separate quarters. Rea’s was even bigger than his. It was much better than being on an Empire Navy ship. The rooms were tight, and half the time, Steve had to share a room.

  On the Rossi, it was like being on vacation all the time. Steve didn’t visit Rea’s room often. It was bare bones, which matched her personality. She wasn’t a person who went lavish with much of anything.

  “What’s up?” She sat at a plain desk, barely looking up.

  Steve examined her in hopes she was in a good mood before he spoke. He wasn’t sure, but he had to tell her. “Parker didn’t listen.”

  Rea slammed her hand on the desk. “Tell me she didn’t.”

  “She did.”

  Rea’s face was red, and her nostrils flared. Steve knew she would be angry, and she was furious. It was best that he was here and not the rest of the crew. Rea had a temper, one that years of serving in the Navy had made.

  “Damn that girl.” She went off into a blur of curse words, ones that even impressed Steve, which wasn’t easy to do. Her angry rose to peak levels. Rea didn’t like it when people didn’t listen to her orders.

  Steve almost felt for Parker, but he knew that once Rea calmed down, she’d be all right. Parker was like the child he never had, and that meant she’d get away with this at least for the time being.

  “We can’t change it.” Steve folded her arms over his chest. He was sure she would go on the offensive against him.

  “Ugh. It doesn’t matter. Parker broke our trust.”

  Steve knew that. He wanted to be angry with her, but he just couldn’t. Parker was still learning who she was and where she should be in her life. Steve wasn’t sure she’d be a smuggler her whole life, but she needed to figure that out herself.

  “She did,” Steve said, “but we know what it is. I’m not familiar with what it is, but she was terrified of it.”

  “Great. Just great.”

  Rea’s face was red, beet red. She was furious, and Steve didn’t want to push it, but she would like to know what it was. He knew that much, and all he had to do was wait her out. Eventually, she would come around. Not that it was going to be fun. It was never fun when a person was this mad. Steve had experienced it a few times in his life before when he’d been a Marine. He knew how to deal with people who got angry this fast.

  Soon, she started to calm down and regained her composure. Rea, being a member of the Navy, had an impressive vocabulary when it came to cursing, some that not even Steve would speak. It wasn’t that he didn’t know the words. He did, but he preferred not to use them. Especially on a ship with civilians such as the Rossi.

  Once she slowed the stream down, she looked up to Steve. “What was in the box?”

  Steve smiled. “I thought you would never ask.”

  “Shut it,” Rea said. She folded her arms over her chest. “Well?”

  “The Stone of New Detroit.”

  Steve waited for her reaction to the news. Since it meant little to him, he wondered if it would to her. She did have a broader base of knowledge to more systems and what was important to them.

  Her lips curled, and she tilted her head. “Could be worse. Could be better.”

  That wasn’t much help to Steve, and he wanted to know what was so important about it. He wasn’t sure why he did, just that he did. The way that little Parker reacted to it sent a warning to him, one that said he needed to know what was going on. This
was a new feeling for him.

  “I’m assuming you know why Parker was so scared?” Steve asked.

  Rea nodded. “It was stolen about ten years ago.”

  That didn’t help much, considering stuff was stolen every day. Nothing new there.

  “And?” he asked.

  “It was considered the life of the planet. Since it went missing, it went into decline, into war. The price for the people caught with it will be impossibly high. We don’t want to get caught with it.”

  Steve tried to imagine some of the ways they could be killed or even worse things. There were worse things than death. That much Steve knew. The stone must be important.

  “Why have us smuggle it back?” he asked.

  Rea shrugged. “No clue. That seems odd. Something smells fishy.”

  Steve agreed. It made no sense to smuggle something that was stolen from a planet back to it. They needed more information. This whole job was nothing but missing data, and Steve didn’t like it.

  “Should we tell the rest of the crew?” Steve asked. He knew the answer but figured he’d get it out of the way.

  Rea rolled her eyes. “Ugh. I’ll get them together.”

  <<<>>>

  Thirty minutes later, Steve stood on the bridge as the last crew member arrived. Lindsey didn’t look pleased.

  “This better be important,” she said. “I was in the middle of some maintenance on the boosters.”

  “It is,” Rea said. She had calmed completely down. That was an incredible feat. “I won’t summon us for nothing.”

  Lindsey nodded. “I know.”

  “Good.” Rea looked each of the members in the eyes, lingering on Steve and Parker the longest. It sent a chill down his spine. “You want to tell them?”

  She didn’t specify who she was talking to, but Steve figured it wouldn’t matter who. He didn’t want Parker to have to deal with it, so he stepped forward.

  Before speaking, he cleared his throat. It was dry, and he was nervous. This wasn’t going to be fun. “The package we carry is the Stone of Detroit.”

  Lindsey and Aldis stared at him in stunned silence.