Reaper Inc.

by Thomas Wright

  "One will be available for show only twenty one of your cycles. It will do as it is told but will have none if its skills developed. It will be enough to start the destruction of his mind. Sixty cycles, both warrior and seductress assassins will be ready."

  A leathery finger tapped a button, it scrambled and transmitted.

  ****

  Ben stood in the hold looking out into the black. He knew he may not survive and it was ok. He knew losing to a formidable opponent would make the losing much easier and he planned accordingly. He would give it everything he had, knowing it would never be enough.

  On the bridge, E'Aria and Lorelei were arguing.

  "We need to run now while they are stopped and their Captain is in a shuttle.

  "No, listen E'Aria, for us it is a win-win. For Ben, not so much but he has done some crazy things against crazy odds and come out on top. He needs to get this out of his system now. If he doesn’t, when he gets to Allond, he will pick a fight with the biggest, meanest bastard he can find and start a whole bunch of trouble for the delegation and probably get killed. Leave Onak here to watch the screens and if need be, get us out of here. The rest of us girls and boys should all be armed to the teeth and down there in the hold. I don’t think you Trillond girls should let that Allond dog talk about you that way."

  E'Aria nodded and said, "The shuttle will be here soon. Let's go greet them." Ben was standing, waiting, not speaking to anyone. Grubb and Buddy were watching him, not knowing what was about to happen. After some arguing, Natalia stayed to guard the Prime Minister while Emily armed herself and joined the other women. Ben never turned around as they filed in behind him but Buddy and Grubb were impressed.

  Lorelei motioned for them. "We have company coming who have a piss poor attitude when it comes to these ladies. Grab your weapons and join us."

  "Aye Ma'am," both chimed and quickly walked out.

  The shuttle landed smoothly and three Allond exited. Two males and a female, none of them as tall as Captain Dakkon, but still an impressive seven to seven and a half foot tall. E'Aria walked up and stood next to Ben. Her twin short swords across her back and her rail pistol replacing the less lethal laser model. Making a small hole in the hull was a small price to pay to keep her ship.

  The three advanced then stopped about six feet away. Ben thought that was a smart move; just out of striking distance. They made a slow purposeful sweep of their eyes taking in the armed crew who were doing their best to look angry. The captain snorted as if to dismiss them and focused on Ben and E'Aria who decided to speak first.

  "Captain, you obviously know who we are."

  "I saw the message you sent," he smirked. "You are an insignificant princess from an insignificant empire. They will not arrive in time to prevent what is about to happen."

  "Ben asked, "What is it you think is about to happen?"

  "I am not going to soil my hands with your blood so I brought my second officer and she will kill you. I thought it fitting considering your crew, but she is not so weak and pathetic as them. She is also a cousin to Captain Dakkon so this should be amusing as the game continues."

  "I think I understand," Ben said. "You are playing politics. The emperor gave us a ship and you want to take it away. You make the captain’s cousin fight me and possibly kill me another slap in the face of the current monarchy."

  "You show some intelligence."

  "And you don’t." Ben interrupted him and shifted his weight. The second officer reached for her side arm.

  "Hold up, don’t get excited," Ben growled at her. "I needed to shift my weight to my good side. Why don’t we get on with this before I stiffen up and can’t move?"

  "That is a excellent idea. What are the rules?" Ben pushed E'Aria hard back towards the crew and continued the motion, kicking the captain with his good leg pivoting on the injured. It was solid kick, unexpected and right in the knee joint. His motion stopped. He planted both feet and jumped up, swinging a left hook at the slit he thought was a ear. It connected with hard bone and cartilage under the skin. The third Allond who hadn’t been introduced attacked and Ben straight armed him with a surprise.

  The crew standing around watching were caught off guard and distracted by E'Aria who pushed down on her ass right in front of them. Looking up they saw one, two and then the third Allond fly back against the hull. The second officer still had her hand resting on her sidearm but made no attempt to draw. She was a little mesmerized about what was going on around her. She caught a movement outside the ship and saw a second shuttle approaching.

  Ben should have never glanced at the female Allond, taking his eyes off the Captain. He took the full force of the kick to his chest that set him five feet back on his ass. He heard the whine of a number of weapons being powered up. Ben opted to stay down and scored another kick to the same knee causing some pain this time. The second Allond who had attacked had not got up off the deck.

  E'Aria saw the second shuttle maneuver into position and the door open. For a second, nothing happened then three Allond jumped one after the other from their ship to the open door of the Claymore, running inside. They wore no suits. A slight frost that had formed on their skin melted a second later. The leader was the biggest Allond she had seen, even taller than Captain Dakkon. His two companions had their weapons out. Instead of pointing them at her crew, they took up position by the first group and pointed their weapons at them.

  From the floor, Ben saw the giant and figured he was done. Then it got real, but not for him. Looking at the captain, he could see fear and self preservation take over. He started to step over Ben and run for his shuttle but Ben sat up and grabbed onto a leg and hung on. Then he felt himself jerked in the other direction.

  "Let go," a deep voice rumbled. Ben obeyed and leaned back, getting a prime seat and view. The Allond standing spitting distance away had to be eight foot five or six. His fist struck the captain on the other side of his head and Ben heard a crunch. It didn’t stop there. Two more followed the first then he threw the captain to the deck next to the one Ben had knocked out. Blood dripped off his fist and it wasn’t his. The second officer stepped in front of him, bent down, and pulled him to his feet with little to no effort.

  "Thank you," Ben said and she just nodded and stepped back. "This one is dead," Ben heard a soldier report to the giant in charge. Ben walked over to the gym area, grabbed a towel and handed to the giant to clean off his hands. It hurt to walk and he thought he had new bruises on top of his old ones.

  "You are the one they call Reaper."

  "Yes, but I feel like Rubber would be a better name."

  "As you wish, Rubber. I am General Raza. Prime Minister Jinwasys sent us to assist you and escort you part of the way, then Captain Dakkon will join you."

  Ben was smiling. This guy missed out on humor when they were handing it out. "General, I apologize at my attempt at humor. Please call me Reaper or Ben." The General maintained a straight face for a second then smiled, sort of.

  "It seemed appropriate, the way you were bouncing off the deck."

  "I bet it did." Ben decided he would like this giant that punched his fist through bone.

  "You are a brave but stupid human to take on three of our kind. Even these three are much more powerful than you. Yet you managed to kill one and inflict some damage on another. If the young female would have joined them, you would have lost your life."

  "Very true, I am thankful she didn’t. I didn’t want to hurt the cousin of Captain Dakkon. General, how well do you understand females?"

  "About as much as any military man. Why?"

  "Do you see the Trillond female with the twin swords on her back? Does she look angry to you?"

  "I would say yes, her skin is much darker and her eyes redder than the other Trillond females."

  "She is the Princess E'Aria Aok and Captain of this ship. Maybe I could introduce you and slip away."

  "I had heard you were brave."

  "Did they also mention intelligent, smart
? Pick your battles General. You should know that."

  "Agreed. Let me address the second officer first." He turned to the female who had watched and listened quietly to them.

  "Second Officer Dakkon, you are now acting Captain. Return to your ship and bring it into formation. The first officer has been removed to my ship and will face charges on our return. The Emperor will make your appointment permanent and you will receive a new posting. Your father is very proud of you." She bowed to the General who motioned to one of his soldiers to go with her. Thirty seconds later, they were gone."

  "Who is her father?" Ben asked. The General smiled.

  "You will find out if they want you to know. Now take me to your Captain." E'Aria was a step ahead of Ben.

  "Captain E'Aria Aok meet General Raza."

  "General." E'Aria bowed. The General bowed in return.

  "Captain." His voice a low rumble.

  "You take your helmet off and look at me," E'Aria ordered and the crew began to gather around him. Ben unbuckled and removed it, his long hair hanging a little wild. "Now the armor." Four sets of hands started removing his armor as he just looked at them. The General stood watching, amused. They stripped him down to his thermals.

  "You are confined to quarters for the duration until we reach Allond."

  "But E'Aria wait…" Someone pulled down his thermals and he felt a pinch. "Shit! What did you do?" He saw Binda walking away smiling, holding the medical injection gun.

  "Go to your quarters!" E'Aria ordered. "Grubb, you and Buddy help him and lock him in." Ben walked away, bare feet on the cold metal deck. He could feel the drugs beginning to work. He also felt himself getting angry, he just couldn’t decide whose fault it was. They arrived at his new quarters and the door slid open. Grubb gripped his arm, not letting go.

  "The next time ya feel like you wanna kill yourself, jest let me know. I’ll open the hold and you can take a stroll right out the back. I like the Captain and her crew. They are good people and you endangering all of us like that is wrong."

  "You finished? Yes, you are finished. Get your hands off me," Ben said, feeling very unfriendly.

  Chapter 15

  E'Aria, Prime Minister Aok, and Senator Sims entertained General Raza for a couple of hours and all the ships were brought into formation around the Claymore. They spoke of the upcoming summit. The two attendees wanted to know more about the other races who would be in attendance. The general would not be a general if he knew nothing of politics. He sidestepped as many questions as he could. The only time he seemed to be interested was when they told him of what happened on Hyson days before and Andrea's death.

  They toured the ship, meeting everyone at their stations and Onak asked the General an interesting question.

  "General Raza, do the Allond have any ships with the ability to cloak or hide itself?"

  The General asked, "Tell me what you have seen." E'Aria looked at Onak and nodded.

  "On a few occasions, I have seen a disturbance, usually at the very edge of our scanner range. The first time it seemed it could be anything and it was quite some distance away. I hadn’t seen it again until we stopped. I was here watching the scanners the whole time because we feared the Allond captain was trying to deceive us. I saw it again briefly, then it disappeared." The General got a faraway look in his eyes.

  "I have heard rumors about a large, cloaked ship. It has managed to elude our best captains, always staying far enough away to escape long before a ship can reach it. I will pass the information on to all the captains and Captain Dakkon."

  E'Aria could tell he wasn’t telling everything he knew but she would not push the issue. She did not feel they were in any danger in the middle of an escort of warships.

  Ben woke up nine hours after he was escorted to his quarters. The ship was quiet. He made his way to the mess and found it empty, so he decided to go to his makeshift gym and stretch. He wanted to exercise and work out some soreness. Binda and Elanac were exercising and talking. He didn’t pay attention to them. Binda had given him that damn shot and part of him knew it was for his own good for a number of reasons. It didn’t stop him from giving her a dirty look; his thoughts written all over his face.

  He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look at her and started stretching. Sitting on his butt, legs stretched out in a V, he began reaching for his toes. Fifteen minutes later, he changed position. This went on for a hour then he went back to his quarters. He felt a fraction better until he opened the door.

  "What part of confined to quarters do you not understand?" E'Aria asked.

  "All I did was some stretching. I didn’t have any contact with anyone. I came straight back. Did someone tell you different?"

  "No, surprisingly. You need to stay in your quarters. You need to grieve, but not feel sorry for yourself. Natalia needs you, I need you. You may think we are safe but we are not."

  "What are you talking about? We are in the middle of four warships and I think they are our friends."

  "Don’t be so short sighted. This second, we are or should be safe but we will reach the heart of the empire in a short time. Then we need to watch our backs."

  "I am sure we will be fine."

  "Sit down and listen to me. First, the captain that General Raza killed knew a lot more than he was telling. Second, we are really nothing more to them than a curiosity, I don’t think friend applies, but I believe that there is a bond of respect between you and Captain Dakkon. Third, your species is young; while your ancestors were striking stones together to make fire, the Allond were already ancient. There are factions within factions and spies everywhere. Those who oppose the Emperor wouldn’t hesitate to have us killed and blame it on someone else to make the Emperor and his people look bad. This maybe a peace summit but it is also a huge opportunity for the Emperor’s enemies."

  "So what you are saying is stay on my toes, shoot first and ask questions later."

  "No! Are you out of your mind?" she said exasperated.

  "Yes, E'Aria. I am. Now get out of my quarters." E'Aria sighed.

  "I sometimes wonder what we saw in you." She knew she was being harsh and knew how much she cared for him.

  "Don’t know, don’t care. If I can't leave my quarters, then have someone bring me some food." Ben knew he was being an ass and didn’t care.

  "We are approaching a small system of planets and stopping to pick up the governor. General Raza informed me we could be here for a couple of days or we could go on our own. We are ahead of schedule so I think we will stop and give everyone a chance to get off the ship."

  "Ok, why are you telling me? I am confined to quarters."

  "Because I thought you might want a change of scenery. No armor, no weapons, just take in a culture you are not at war with"

  "I will think about it."

  "Either way, I am assigning a guard for you. I think it would make that person happy if you went along with us."

  "Who would that be?"

  "Me! More than likely."

  "I’ll let you know." He smiled, giving the impression he would drag out that decision till the last second.

  "I am requesting permission to take the Claymore planet side. The general is going to join us with a small group of his officers. We will stay at a small villa owned by the governor. It should be nice." E'Aria tried for a lighter tone. Ben said nothing. She hoped he would come around. It was still only just a few days since they lost Andrea but they weren’t the enemy.

  ****

  Aisling sat in her state room reviewing star charts, looking for a place they could hole up where the crew could get a little R and R. She thought about the three hours she spent with Andrea's team telling and retelling stories that got taller as her whiskey supply grew smaller. She would have to research to see if the Trillond had any spirits she could replace hers with. Her officers were due to arrive any moment.

  Aisling heard the door chime and all five of her chiefs came in at once. Four officers and one enlisted. XO Holmes, Chie
f Medical Mathews, Chief Engineer Miller, Lieutenant Jared marine detachment, and Sergeant Major Kim in his new role as Chief of the Ship. It was probably her best decision she ever made under the influence of Irish Whiskey.

  ****

  Aisling's first decision was to integrate Andrea's team in with the rest. Gunny went to the Marine detachment along with Ronnie and Genius. He put Snake with the Master at Arms and his crew at the brig. Told him she wanted to keep him close to home. Snake would handle any issues with the marine detachment.

  "It has been a week since we left our home system. These are the locations I have found to provide us with the basics we need. My plan is not to stay at any one place too long. I am sure our pursuers will find a place to enter Trillond space and come looking for us if they haven’t already. Once we have explored these locations, I say we move deeper into the empire. There will come a time when we need supplies and fuel. It is my thought to provide an escort service to ships or convoys in exchange for the things we need. We could also check for bounties on pirates which we could collect and then confiscate anything we can use from them."

  Dr. Mathews asked, "This is only a temporary measure till we can return to our home system."

  "Yes," Aisling replied. "Unless it becomes permanent."

  "What does that mean?" Dr. Mathews asked.

  "Don’t be dense Doctor. The circumstances we find ourselves in may take some time to be corrected. It has occurred to me that there would be some who wished they had got off back at Anubis. I am hoping all of you stay but I won’t force anyone. I also am not going back so any departure will be to a Trillond planet of my choosing. Most likely whatever is closest to us at the time. That will be the last time I will make the offer."

  "It sounds like a start, Captain," XO Holmes commented. "Do we have a long-term objective in our new mercenary bounty hunter role?"

  "I am hoping to do some exploring, possibly Allond space if negotiations work out at the summit as well as more of the Trillond Empire. Both are truly massive compared to our little alliance. XO we need to inventory everything as if we had to stay on the Warhammer for months. Research armament and arms, medical supplies, food, water and fuel. I plan on evading not engaging unless we are hunting, but. . .shit happens."