by Zach Winderl
Atom skidded on his knees, knocking low stools out of his way with the move, and used his shoulder to flip a heavy, stone-topped table on its side. Leaning around the makeshift cover, he ripped off a few more shots.
From the common area, several troopers darted into the cantina.
Atom dropped one of them as the other two flipped tables to provide their own cover.
Leaning against the back of the table, Atom closed his eyes as a mixture of energy bolt and ballistic rounds gouged craters in the tabletop. He topped off both guns. Without looking, he squeezed off a couple rounds from opposite ends of the table in the enemy’s direction.
Atom waited.
“Drop your weapons,” one of the soldiers called out.
Atom listened to scuffing footsteps as more imps slunk into the room to try and flank his fortress of solitude.
He kept his eyes shut and took a steadying breath. Focusing on his hearing, he slipped a low shot around the side of the table. A cry rewarded his efforts. Sitting cross-legged with his back to the table, he rested his fists on his knees with his guns draped across his shins with a casual grace.
“Now why would I want to do that?” Atom asked.
“We have you surrounded. There’s no way you shoot your way through all of us.”
“You’ll just kill me if I come out.”
“We aren’t looking to kill people. Our orders are to make sure people are staying locked down,” the soldier spoke with a calm, measured air Atom recognized from numberless training sessions. “You lay down your weapons and come with us. The worst you have to look forward to is getting thrown in the brig.”
“I’m fine right here, thank you.” Atom grinned. He listened to the rustle of the enemy shifting their positions. “I’ve already killed a few of you. I’m not exactly prisoner material.”
The soldier switched tacks. “You have any kids?” he asked. “I’ve a couple shin-kickers back home. If I were in your position, I’m pretty sure they’d want me to do everything I could to make it home to them.”
“Then maybe you should leave while you still can.”
The soldier paused, taken aback by Atom’s brashness.
“Do I look like I have any kids?” Atom continued.
“You could have kids,” the soldier continued, an edge creeping into his voice.
Atom’s grin darkened.
“Yeah, that’s me, full-time dad, heading for the bar before the sun is even up.”
The soldier fell silent.
“It’d make my day if you just up and left me to my own worries,” Atom said with an exaggerated sigh. “I could use a touch to take the edge off.”
Atom heard the whispered murmurs of a conference taking place.
“Maybe it’s time you walk away and save us all a verse of trouble.” Atom thumbed the hammers back on his rail-pistol and then eased it back with a click of a spinning cylinder. Like a nervous tick he repeated the procedure several times. “Fact is, I’d like a drink more than a few more winks of sleep.”
“No can do,” the soldier called out.
“I’m sorry,” Atom replied. His eyes drifted open and he lifted his pistols to his chest.
“What for?”
“That you had to die.”
Atom sensed the hesitation in all the soldiers. According to his senses, six squad soldiers had fanned out through the room and another four had taken up reserve positions in the common room. Six members of the squad had fallen, four in the outer hallway and two in the cantina.
A nervous laugh broke out from the imps.
“You think you’re going to take all of us out?”
“Nope, I don’t have to.” Atom fully cocked his pistols.
Atom heard a light skittering dance around the sound of laughter.
“Dada?” Margo’s voice cut through the growing tension. “Where you, dada?”
Atom froze. He heard the sharp hiss of breath from his enemies. Arching his back, he peeked over the top of the table to see Margo wandering through the common room.
All attention flew to the girl.
“Dada?” she sang. “Where you, Dada?”
She stopped at the fountain, oblivious to the soldiers pressed to the wall across the room. She climbed up to lean on the edge with her bare feet kicking the empty space behind her. With a squirm, she worked one of her arms out far enough to splash her fingertips in the water. Margo hummed as her fingers danced through the fountain’s ripples.
After a few moments, she hopped down and continued on her quest for her father. She wiped her wet hand on her coveralls.
The imperials remained frozen, their attention locked on Margo.
“Hi.” She smiled at the soldiers crouched against the wall. “You see Dada?”
“Um, Sarge,” one of the troopers whispered into her com. “What are we supposed to do with this? Do you think she’s bound to the guy in there?”
The soldiers hesitated, caught between Atom’s guns and Margo’s innocence.
“Get her out of here,” the commander hissed from the far corner of the dining room. “I don’t want any dead kits on my watch.”
Atom waited, neck craned, as he observed the drama unfold.
As she passed into the dining room, Margo waved at the troopers. Before she could make much headway, an older girl emerged from the hallway that led to the guest rooms.
Atom’s breath hitched as he caught sight of his middle daughter dressed in one of his shirts that hung down to her knees. His eyes widened, caught somewhere between fear and amazement.
“There you are, Go.” The girl stumbled to a halt when she caught sight of the armed soldiers and the playful smile fell from her face like a mask dropping to the floor. She stood like a prey animal, afraid any movement might trigger the hunter response of the carnivore staring her down.
A tremor ran through the girl’s skinny arms as she stared at the four rifles not quite aimed at her, but close enough to preach harm.
“How old are you, girl?” the same soldier asked. “Is this your sister?”
The girl’s mouth moved in silence as her eyes screamed.
“No harm, girl,” the female soldier rose and slung her rifle.
Across the dining room, Atom watched in amazement. A few of the soldiers kept their rifles trained in his direction, but most attention gravitated to the pair of girls standing on opposite sides of the common room.
The woman held out her hand. “We need to get you clear of this situation,” she said with a warm, disarming smile as she flipped up her visor. “What’s your name?”
“Lilly,” the girl squeaked. “I’m eight.”
“Alright, Lilly.” The woman shifted forward, careful to keep out of Atom’s line of sight. “Let’s you and I get your little sister out of here before someone gets hurt.”
“Yeah, I think that would be a good idea.” Lilly brushed her dark, shoulder length hair back from her eyes as she shuffled towards the soldier. “We were just looking for our da. He slipped out to find some breakfast and I thought we would catch up and eat with him.”
As the soldier drew near, Lilly lifted her wide, chocolate brown eyes and smiled with nervous relief.
The woman glanced over her shoulder, making sure to keep clear of the doorway. As she turned back, Lilly’s condensed mass focused into a lower leg kick that crumpled the soldier into a writhing heap.
The woman screamed. Her hands waffled between dragging herself away from Lilly and trying to protect her damaged leg.
Lilly, in her scrawny, eight-year-old form, pulled a blaster from behind her back and began to rain a deluge of fire on the unsuspecting soldiers. She darted to the side, making for the cover of the fountain, and crouched.
In the cantina, Atom rose like Triton from beneath the waves. His guns swept the room, searching for targets.
None of the imps moved.
Atom stood waiting.
An unearthly calm filled the room, only to be broken by Margo as she trotted toward
her father with an amused expression. “There’s Dada,” she crowed, grinning as she reached out for him.
With guns trained, Atom waited for the soldiers to make a move.
No movement came.
In the other room, Lilly ventured a glance over the lip of the fountain and called out in her juvenile voice, “You ok in there?”
“Not yet.” Atom slipped from behind his defensive table and positioned himself between Margo and his enemies. “How you look out there?” He drifted, one slow step at a time as he shifted to take a new angle for a shot.
“All down, one alive.”
Atom crouched and snapped a shot that caught one of the imps in the side. The man flopped sideways in an unnatural slump. Guiding Margo with his bulk, Atom shifted his aim. He let his pistols drift back and forth between the hunkered enemies, but no return shots met his ears.
A movement caught his attention. Atom’s rail-pistol leaped to track the motion.
“Easy,” Kozue said before Atom could squeeze the trigger.
He looked closer and found Cody crawling from the shadowed corner of the ceiling.
“Should be clear, Atom,” Hither called out from across the common room. “Byron let a couple of his pets off their leash.”
Atom looked over the fresh corpses huddled behind their makeshift bulwarks and holstered his guns. Dropping his eyes, he scooped Margo into his arms and snuggled her close. With a contented sigh, she squeezed her arms around his neck and nuzzled with his shoulder.
“We need to move,” he said before kissing the top of Margo’s head, savoring the scent of innocence that clung to her downy hair. “We don’t have much in the way of time.”
Atom carried Margo over to the bar and leaned over to find the cowering tender.
“I know you probably get this from time to time,” he said with a nod to the chaos of the dining room. He fished in the pocket of his coat to pull a chit and keyed in a couple hundred ko. “Hopefully, this will help with the cleanup, and feel free to keep some as hazard pay for being on the line.”
Atom turned and left the speechless young man. The others stood around the fountain, looking with amusement at Lilly’s current state.
“Reckin she could be yers?” Shi asked, tilting her head to study Lilly.
“She does look a lot like Clair,” Hither chipped in. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was your daughter. Although, it’s been several years since I laid eyes on your actual daughter.”
“Enough,” Atom snapped. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Sir,” Byron snapped a smart salute. “Permission to date your daughter, sir.”
Lilly punched Byron in the arm hard enough to leave the boy rubbing his shoulder. “Where’s your accent, street-rat?” she demanded.
“Just tryin’ ta be respectable,” he grumbled in reply.
Atom locked the pair with a glare. He peeled Margo off his neck, depositing her in the pram, and took the controls from Hither. Without a backward glance, he moved.
“Koze, link me up with Bex.” He exited the stone-clad inn and turned away from the One Way Ticket. Walking with unforced purpose, Atom led the crew in a subterranean path that carried them along the ridge.
A few minutes later, Bextiple responded through Kozue’s com.
“Sorry for the wait, boss,” he sounded harried. “Things’ve certainly gone sideways since you slipped in. I’ve a dozen ships on my slip and half of them are wanting me to do something special to hide them from the imps.
“On that flow, what can I do for you?” he asked with a weary sigh.
“Nothing too serious.” Atom watched as frightened citizens scurried through the stone warrens like rabbits with a stoat in the tunnels. “I’m going to let the Ticket rest. There’s nothing aboard that should cause alarm.”
“Except that interceptor you’ve tucked away at the front of your hold.”
“It’s not mine. Paperwork shows I’m just transporting it for a client. I don’t even have access to the interior.”
The broker paused. “That checks with your manifest,” he said after a distracted moment.
“The truth always does.”
“What are you asking of me?”
“I need you to put me in touch with some information.”
Atom led the group into a narrow side-tunnel and ducked into a small shop. The crew spread out, perusing the wares being offered. At the back of the long, thin cubby, a woman smoking a water-pipe glanced up at them and then returned her attention to the digital game holoed in the air above her counter.
“What sort of info are you in the market for?” Bextiple asked.
Atom hesitated. “Old references.” He searched for the right words. “I came across a note on a scavers map that referenced a rich haul. I think it was talking about a mining vein, but I can’t be sure.
“I figured an old timer might be able to point me in the right direction,” Atom said as he rocked the pram back and forth by the front door.
“If you’re looking for a mine, you’re in the wrong place. Mines around here are all local source. Our main export is scrap from the new moon. That and …,” he coughed. “Discretion.”
“Maybe it was referring to something else.” Atom shrugged.
“I’ll see what I can scrape. I’m a touch busy at the moment, but I can reach out to a few info-brokers and hope they can point you in the right direction. What’s the info you’re trying to track?” Bextiple asked.
“Nothing too specific. Just an old reference to Shepherd and a shelf,” Atom ventured.
“Nothing hops out of my pan,” Bextiple said after a thoughtful pause. “But I’ll reach out to a couple associates. If they can’t put you in touch with someone, there’s no connection.”
“Thanks,” Atom said and cut coms.
***
The crew wandered for the better part of an hour, flowing with the natural traffic of fearful citizens, and dodging the scattered imperial patrols. Several times a patrol forced them to change directions, but in the end they found themselves moving through one of the main entrances at the base of the ridge.
“Wonder why they ‘ave ‘em tunnels if’n they don’ really need ‘em?” Byron asked as they passed through a heavy set of doors into the hot, humid air beyond.
“It’s cooler,” Hither said as her wavy auburn hair began to pull into ringlets in the humid air.
Atom hid a smile behind a cough. “Probably to tuck the contra.” Atom slowed their steps as he caught sight of a patrol rounding up citizens at a bottleneck ahead. “I imagine it’s easier to keep things tucked away out of sight inside the earth.”
“They worry ‘bout pryin’ ocs out ‘ere too?” Byron stared at the imps and started to unsling his pack.
“No soul likes a meddlin’ gov.” Shi sidled wide as they drifted towards the imperial patrol, caught in the slow tide of traffic.
Hither caught Byron by the shoulder and slowed them, allowing several people to fill the gap. In a matter of seconds, their group had dispersed, leaving Atom alone with his two daughters to wander into the enemy checkpoint.
Shots rang out.
Chaos broke the dam.
Atom triggered the cover on the pram and yanked Lilly to his side as he fought against the surging tide of humanity. With relative ease, he lifted Lilly and used the pram as an ice-breaker to forge his way to the side of the street. There he found refuge in a courtyard surrounded by a waist-high wall.
Crouching down, Atom deposited Lilly and watched as the street vacated like a part of a street-magician’s act.
The smatter of shots died down.
The imperials turned away from the heap of bodies they left tangled against the wall. Without wasting any time admiring their bloody work, the soldiers fanned out into the now empty street.
“We have just received orders,” the soldier’s voice echoed through the still street, amplified by his light power-armor. “This city is in complete lockdown until further notice. Yo
u must stay wherever you are and are not permitted to return to your homes. We are looking for a specific fugitive. Our intel assures us that he has landed on this planet within the past cycle.
“His name is Atom Ulvan.” The imp projected a holo-shot of Atom above the street. “He is a fugitive of the empire….”
“Well, seems you’re getting a little big for your loons,” Lilly said with a knowing chuckle. “Bet you wish you could change your face right about now. Although, I don’t see how that would help lift the damper on the finding out info.”
“These people have no love for the empire.” Atom pulled his pistols.
Before he could take any action, a fusillade ripped from the rooftops on both sides, turning the roadway into a kill-box. Atom kept pressed to the stone block wall, and ventured a peek over. The fire cut down most of the imps with the first barrage, but a few managed to scurry for cover. Only the captain, in his power-armor, stood his ground in the middle of the road and returned fire.
Atom took aim as the man squeezed careful bursts at the rooftops.
A single shot blended into the cacophony of blaster and small-arms fire. The captain dropped, a single round punched through his faceplate.
“I see it now,” Lilly said as the guns fell silent.
Atom holstered his pistols. “Now we just need to figure out how to stay out of sight until Bex finds us what we need.”
“Think it will take long?”
“Longer with everything in lockdown. I assume they meant the planet was locked down as well. I can’t imagine them letting ships move up and down the well.”
“How will they enforce it with their limited troops?” Lilly rose and smoothed out the shirt she had converted into a dress for her miniscule frame. “Roaming squads with kill orders? Maybe a drone overwatch?”
Propping his arms across his knees, Atom leaned back against the wall and let his mind dash through possibilities and courses of action. As he proceeded, he tapped the pram open. Margo sat with a placid expression. She yawned. Then, with a smile, she clambered from the pram to stand in front of Lilly.