by JN Chaney
Hitchens wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “Yes, yes. Of course, Captain.”
“Good. Now, hurry up,” I said.
The two of them got inside and I watched as the door slid shut.
“Sir, Fratley’s ship is signaling us to dock,” announced Sigmond.
“Just in time,” I answered. “Tell him we’re ready for him.”
I turned and raced out of the bay, my heart nearly beating out of my chest.
Eleven
The ravager shipped docked with The Star, and a dozen armed men in red armor entered through the airlock.
Behind them, a man with a thin beard and thick eyebrows followed. He wore a small, round hat with gold trim. In his left hand, he held a thin cane with primitive carvings, something he’d picked up on a backwater planet. He carried it, not because he needed the assistance, but because he simply enjoyed the design. “Jace!” exclaimed the man, giving him a wide and unsettling smile. “If it isn’t my favorite swindler.”
“Hello, Fratley,” I said, watching as he strode through the outer hall.
Fratley walked right up to me and gave me several pats on the shoulder. “There he is, my old friend. You ought to have gotten me and my boys some drinks while you waited.”
I didn’t bother smiling. “There’s coffee.”
He ignored me and continued further in, ogling the ship like it was his first time seeing it. “My, what a fine shithole you’ve made of this bucket.”
“What can I say? I like to decorate,” I said, walking slowly behind him.
He waltzed into the lounge and collapsed into one of the chairs. “Ah, now that’s the stuff.” He rubbed his hand along the fabric.
“Glad you like it,” I said.
“You spoil yourself, Jace. I hope you’re not spending the money you owe me on fancy chairs.”
I said nothing. Fratley knew full well that I hadn’t changed much about this ship before I got it. The only exceptions were a few things in my personal room, the coffee maker, Sigmond’s neural core, and of course, the cloaking device.
He grinned at the armed ravager nearest to him. “What do you think? Should we take these seats back to the ship?” asked Fratley, laughing. “Nah, I’m just playing. We’ve got ourselves a nice setup back on the ship, don’t we, boys?”
“Did you want to see the rest of the ship?” I asked.
“Oh, Jace, you always know just what to say. Sure! Let’s see this piece of shit in full detail. Why not?” He got to his feet, slamming his cane on the floor. The action gave me pause, and I half-expected Lex or Abigail to scream.
But there was nothing, thankfully. It seemed those two had enough composure to stay quiet. Good for me, since I wasn’t ready to die today.
I took Fratley and his men through the ship, showing them all the spots I wanted them to see. When we reached my room, there wasn’t much to see, but that didn’t stop his goons from tossing the dresser and mattress. In under a minute, I had sheets and clothes soaking in a pile of spilled water on the floor. I stared down at the jug I kept under my bed, slightly annoyed, but not enough to say anything.
Fratley only laughed. “They’re rough, but they get the job done. Don’t you agree, Jace?”
“Whatever works for you,” I said.
“Show me what you got in your cargo hold,” he ordered.
I did as he asked, and we stepped into the bay. As we entered, I felt a hand on my shoulder, holding me back. I looked to see one of the ravager men glaring at me to stay put.
Fratley continued into the room, his cane spinning in his hand. He looked around, clicking his tongue as he scanned the bay. “Tsk, tsk, Jace,” he said, shaking his head. “Doesn’t seem like you’ve had much work come your way. Big shame about those priests. I almost feel bad for killing them.”
I tried not to look at the section of the wall where I knew Hitchens and Octavia were hiding. “I’ll find more. Don’t worry about it.”
He looked at me from over his shoulder. “I’m sure you will.”
Fratley glanced around, his eyes jumping from one item to the next. I had several crates in here, mostly filled with tools and random shit I’d found. In other words, junk. I expected him to start rummaging through it all, maybe have his guys toss a few boxes. Instead, he eyed something beneath the railing. Something close to where Hitchens and Octavia were hiding.
That was when my heart sank. I’d left a crate out, the one we’d pulled away so the two of them could squeeze inside the wall. Did Fratley see it? Did he realize how out of place it was?
I tried to move so I could see what he was looking at, but the ravager thug kept his hand firmly on my shoulder. I could always turn around and kick his ass, but with a dozen more behind him, I was pretty sure I’d wind up a corpse.
For now, all I could do was watch and hope the bastard didn’t put the pieces together.
Fratley tapped his cane as he walked over to where the crate was sitting. He leaned in and looked behind it, saying nothing, and then banged the tip of his cane against the crate. “Now, why’s this one out of place, I wonder?” he asked, leaning forward to examine it.
“It wasn’t strapped in properly,” I lied. “You know how those slip tunnels are sometimes. I hit some turbulence on my way out.”
He waved his stick at the men next to me. “Let’s pop it open, boys.”
Three of them ran to his side like the eager dogs they were and attempted to open the lid. When it proved too difficult, they just knocked the crate on its side, spilling its guts onto the floor.
We all watched as several dozen pieces of clothing fell out of the box, each one air-sealed in plastic. “What’s all this?” asked Fratley. “You smuggling shirts now?”
The group of ravagers laughed.
“Those are from a job I pulled a while back. The client gave me some as payment,” I said.
“They paid you in clothes?” he asked, still laughing. “Damn, Jace. You just can’t catch a break!”
I wasn’t lying. The contents of the crate really had come from a client—a man named Arte who asked me to steal some high-end luxury apparel from a corporation called P&G Inc. Most of the clothes I delivered would sell well on the open market, except for these. This particular set of outfits were part of the discount line, which meant they were worthless. Arte let me keep them as a bonus, but I had no use for them. They weren’t even worth the time it would take to sell them.
Fratley left the clothes on the floor, ignoring the rest of the cargo bay. “I think we’re done here,” he said as he neared me.
“Thanks for stopping by,” I said.
He paused, a knowing smile on his face. “Since you’ve been a good boy today, I’m gonna be straight with you, Jace.”
“Straight with me?”
He nodded. “We came out here for you, but that’s not why I dropped so much fire on that church.”
I raised my brow, but said nothing.
“Y’see, there’s a warrant circling the gal-net. Seems the Union’s after a nun, and the picture they got shows her dressed in the same outfit as the kind these people wear.” He motioned for one of his men to hand him a pad, then showed it to me. Sure enough, it was Abigail, dressed in religious uniform. It looked like it was taken from security footage. “This is her, a few days after she broke into a Union lab and kidnapped a little girl. Can you believe that, Jace? Who does a thing like that?” He gave me a crooked smile.
“That’s weird,” I said, plainly.
“Warrant says the nun killed a man on her way out. A senator, from what I heard.”
“That so?” I asked, trying to sound like I didn’t care.
“This lady is supposed to be some kind of dangerous assassin, but I guess she ain’t too good with keeping herself hidden. Union cameras picked her up a few more times after this.” He tapped the pad and showed me another picture. “Sounds like bullshit, right? An assassin nun. Who would’ve thought?”
“That’s pretty wild. I hope you catch
her.”
“I’ll tell you what’s wild, Jace. I come out here to talk to you and I see you working for the same church as this bitch. That’s a wild coincidence, yeah? It really has me scratching my head.”
His eyes went cold and serious as he glared at me.
I stared right back at him. If he thought he could intimidate me, this prick had another thing coming.
He chuckled. “Ah, I’m just teasing,” he said, then slapped my shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll turn something up on the surface, one way or another. If the girl ain’t there, we’ll find her.”
“I’m sure you will.”
He pointed his cane at me, nearly touching my forehead with the tip. “I’m giving you one more week to get me that money, by the way. Don’t make me hunt you down again. I won’t be so forgiving next time, you hear me?”
“I’ll get you the money,” I said, pushing the cane with my finger.
“I hope so, Jace. As much as I like you, I can’t let a debt go unpaid. That’s bad for business.”
I watched Fratley and his crew leave through the airlock, making sure they could see me, and trying to look relaxed. I’d wait until their ship was fully detached before I let my stowaways out of their hiding spots. After that, I had no idea what I was going to do.
Fratley had given me a week to get his money. Who could say whether he’d left any survivors on the planet. I’d probably have to drop these people off on some rock, away from here, and find myself some credits, quickly.
Just when it seemed like everything was going to work out, the entire day just goes straight to shit.
Funny how that always happens.
* * *
“Open it,” I told Sigmond, and watched as the wall slid up to reveal the hidden compartment.
A drenched Abigail appeared inside, covered in sweat and breathing heavily
“We need to talk,” I said, stepping aside so she could come out.
“Are they gone?” she asked, climbing through the gap.
“For now, yeah,” I said. “But you and I need to have a long conversation about just what the fuck is going on with—”
Lex popped her head from under the floor. “That was gross and smelly. I don’t ever want to do that again.”
I helped lift her out of the hole. When she was free, I tapped the wall and it closed. “As I was saying, we gotta talk.”
Abigail went straight to the drink dispenser and tapped the button for water. She drank is so fast, I thought she might choke.
“Are you even listening to me?” I asked.
“Did you know it was that hot down there?” She filled the cup with water again and continued to drink.
“Of course I did, but it was the only option we had. Now, you gonna answer my question or do I have to ask again?”
“I don’t know what you’re asking me,” said the nun.
“Did you kill a man to save this kid?”
She stopped drinking. “What?”
“Fratley showed me a picture of you in the labs. He said you killed a senator. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I had no choice. I—” She paused, looking at Lex, hesitating to finish the thought. “Let’s talk about this later, privately. I’ll tell you everything.”
“I’m not doing anything privately with you, lady. I’ll talk to you and Fred together…and I want the fucking truth this time.” I turned toward the cockpit. “Siggy, go ahead and let the others out. Tell them to get in the lounge and plant their asses for a while, until I get us the hell out of here.”
“You’re leaving the system?” asked Abigail, setting her empty cup on the table.
“Of course, I am. We’re not staying here.”
“You need to search for survivors at the church. There’s safe spots all around the facility. You have to—”
“We can’t worry about that right now. If Fratley sees me sitting here for much longer, it’ll be all our asses.”
She started to say something, but closed her mouth. She hated the idea of running away, I was certain, but she also knew the reality of our situation.
“Just so you know,” I continued. “I still aim to get paid for all this.”
I left her there, taking my seat in the cockpit. I primed the engines and opened a new tear in slipspace.
Twelve
The Renegade Star sat floating in a loose orbit around the moon of Damos III, a system not far from Arcadia. The five members of the Church of the Homeworld, along with the little albino girl, sat together in the lounge, waiting for me to talk.
I didn’t know what to say, except, “What the fuck is going on?”
Octavia got to her feet and looked at Lex. “Say, how about we go play for a bit?”
An eager smile formed on the young girl’s face. “Okay!”
“I’ll come and get you when we’re done here,” said Abigail.
“Take your time,” answered Octavia as she and Lex began to leave.
As soon as they were gone, Abigail turned to face me again. “I’m happy to tell you everything, Mr. Hughes, but first I need some assurances.”
“That’s not how this works, nun. First, you tell me exactly what you’re doing with this kid. After that, I’ll decide if I want to assure you of anything.”
“I can’t just—”
“If you don’t like it, there’s the airlock.” I pointed to the back half of the ship.
“I’m sure the Captain will understand,” said Fred.
“Quite so,” agreed Doctor Hitchens. “He’s done a fine job of protecting us, wouldn’t you agree?”
“He only did that because he was getting paid,” said Abigail.
She was right. Before now, I’d been promised a payment. A rather large one at that. As it stood now, I had no reason to help these people, except the vague possibility of getting compensated for what I was owed. “I won’t leave you stranded. How’s that to start?”
Fred nodded. “See? There’s no harm in telling him.”
“Fine,” resigned Abigail. “But you should know I’ll kill you if you try to turn us in.”
The woman was so frank, I nearly laughed. Not because it was funny, but because I’d never met anyone with balls like hers. “You got it.”
She took a breath. “Lex isn’t your average little girl,” she began. “She’s part of something much larger.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Several years ago, back before the church first learned of her, Lex was a small child living on a fringe planet known as Deo. It’s a farming world and thus remains of little interest to the Union. Lex was living there when a group of scientists found her and brought her back for further research.”
“Why would they do that?” I asked.
“Because she was different. Not only did she look nothing like the other people in her village, but she had a rather unusual tattoo on her body. I’m sure you’ve seen it.”
I said that I had.
“The tattoo has certain properties to it that are unlike anything even the Union has seen.”
“Properties?”
She nodded. “You remember the chair she sat in, back in those ruins? Her tattoo activated the map in that place. It’s how we were able to use it. It was the key.”
“Her tattoo did that? How the hell does that work?”
“No one knows for certain, but it’s believed to be tied directly to a certain technology.”
“An ancient one,” added Hitchens. “Specifically, the lost engineering of old Earth.”
“The Union discovered Lex because of a rumor,” continued Abigail. “It was said that a pod from space landed in a field, and that the farmer of that land discovered a baby inside, bearing a strange mark. When a pair of Union merchants came to trade, they heard the rumor and wanted to meet the little girl with the tattoo. They were shocked to see she was, in fact, alive and real. The news eventually reached the Union’s science division, and it didn’t take long for them to find Lex.”
“We don’t know if the Union has pieced together the connection between Lex’s tattoo and Earth,” said Fred. “But they definitely understand there’s something important about her.”
“From what I saw in the labs, they seemed to be experimenting on her, trying to replicate the properties of the marking,” said Abigail.
“What exactly is that tattoo?” I asked.
“Like I said, it’s a key, but we don’t know how and we don’t know why,” she answered. “All we know is that it works.”
“In short, Captain,” said Hitchens. “That little girl holds the key to finding Earth. It may be the only means we have of ever reaching it.”
“If the Union ever gets their hands on her, they’ll eventually figure out what we already know—that she has a connection to Earth. After that, they’ll do everything in their power to extract whatever secrets are hidden in that tattoo, no matter the cost,” said Abigail.
“What stopped them before?” I asked.
“The tattoo is actually organic and relies on Lex’s own biology to function. The Union understands that if she dies, they lose the information,” said Fred.
“They were working on a way to extract it when I took her,” said Abigail. “I couldn’t risk that happening, so I acted before we were ready. That’s when things went wrong.”
“You mean the senator,” I said.
She nodded. “He was touring the facility when I made my escape. His men tried to stop us, but we managed to get through them. The senator was never part of the plan.”
“When you say we, do you mean you and Lex?”
“There was another person helping me,” said Abigail. “His name was Peter. He died on our way out. That was when the senator was killed, too. There was a firefight in one of the corridors. I protected Lex while Peter covered us.”
“It’s not your fault,” said Fred.
I scoffed. “Sure it is. You ran in blind and fucked it up. What did you think would happen?”
She looked at me, but there was no argument in her eyes. “You don’t have to tell me.”
The response took me by surprise. “So, you admit you fucked up. That’s good. Now you can learn from it and be better. You’ve got that kid to look after, so you can’t screw up anymore.”