by Troy Osgood
They looked like humanoid cats.
This one had a pleading look to her eyes. Like I was her only hope.
From the noise I knew whoever was chasing her had come to a stop in front of me. The crowd was murmuring and all footsteps had stopped around us. I looked up.
And cursed.
A Tiat.
Two of them. The one in front of me and another behind looking at the crowd which was quickly moving away. Staring them down.
I studied the one in front of me.
Tall, light blue skinned, cold purple eyes and white hair. Dressed in a perfectly fitting uniform, no creases, no stains, no blemishes. Rigid. About a foot taller than my six feet and thin. But not spindly. Still looked balanced and tough.
That’s the thing about Tiat. They may not look like much but don’t let it fool you. They’re tough bastards. Bones like steel, muscles and tendons like wire. They don’t look it, but they’re strong. I’m not a xenobiologist, don’t know why, just know that they are.
Tiat were the galaxy’s bullys. I tried to avoid the bastards as much as possible.
They were militaristic, their matriarchal empire spreading out and taking what they wanted. We had fought a war with them that in some places and ways was still ongoing. It’d been five years since I left the Earth Expeditionary Forces and it’d been that long since I’d been face to face with a Tiat.
Punching one is like hitting a wall. Getting punched by one is like getting hit by a hammer.
Been there, done that.
Not something I wanted to do today or any other day. Something I never wanted to do again in this lifetime.
But it appeared there would be no avoiding it.
The girl still clung to me but I managed to push her behind me, using my body as a shield.
I looked up at the Tiat standing five feet in front of me and tried to keep the second in sight. That one had shifted to my left so he could look around his friend. It helped me keep an eye on him but also helped keep me in his view.
Why were two Tiat chasing a Thesan? I thought there was a non-aggression pact between the two races? Just like the one between Terrans and Tiat. Which is violated on a regular basis. I’m sure the same was true of the Thesan and Tiat one. But how could that involved a young girl?
“Can I help you?” I asked, keeping my voice calm.
“Move human,” the Tiat said. A command, no room for anything but doing what the big guy said. His voice was firm, deep.
It occured to me that I didn’t know the score here. I could be stepping into the middle of something big and bad. The Tiat could have a legitimate reason to be chasing this Thesan. They could and I could also be the richest guy in the galaxy, which I’m not. Not even close.
I hate Tiat. I hate bullies.
I could feel the girl trembling against me.
There really was no choice.
I was probably going to regret this.
“Sorry, what did you say,” I said to the Tiat, watching his eyes.
Always watch the eyes. You can tell when they’re going to move by the eyes.
Sure enough, his eyes twitched and he took a couple steps towards me, reaching out with his arm. Giving the Thesan girl a light push backwards, I stepped forward and into the reach of the Tiat. He was bigger than me, longer reach than me, outweighed me because of his bone density and stronger than I was so he had lots of advantages.
But I had leverage.
I grabbed his reaching arm with mine, hooking mine around his. I pulled him down and twisted my body so my free shoulder was slammed into his chest. It hurt, like hitting a wall, but my shove had put the Tiat off balance. I leaned down, taking the weight of the Tiat on my shoulder. He fell forward, off his feet, and when I had the full weight and it was a lot of weight, I pushed forward. The Tiat fell to the ground. Hard. And I released its arm.
When I had moved the other Tiat had moved. The bastards were quick.
I glanced at him and ran to the girl. Poor thing was frozen in fright, watching it all. Granted it had only been a couple seconds but still. She grabbed for me and I took her hand. I had the urge to grab my blaster but there was no way I was opening up a firefight in the middle of The Oval.
We ran down the lighted hall towards the hanger. The walls were smooth, metal and curved to the ceiling. No exposed rock here. Bands of lights ran along the top, making the hallway the brightest thing in the asteroid. It was wide too, the only way to get cargo from the hanger and into the center of the rock.
People, aliens of all sorts, moved through the hall in both directions. They stopped to watch us run by. I could already hear the Tiat behind us. They moved fast.
I wished the hall was more crowded. We needed to lose them before we could make it to my ship. I didn’t want them getting a look at it or the registration codes painted on the hull.
Not long, the hall emptied out into the large hanger. A wide open space carved out of the rock with metal lining the walls and floor and rough rock ceiling. It was a couple hundred feet long and deep. I could see the far end open to the void of space. Just a magbarrier between us and the vacuum. Black background, white stars and other asteroids floating by.
The hanger was filled with ships of all shapes and sizes. CU145792 was limited in how many ships it could hold. The asteroid was only so big and most of it was used for the mines. The center of the docking bay was open, lines painted on the metal with running lights that would direct ships from the berths into the center where they could pass through the magbarrier and out into space. Because of its size, the traffic was tightly controlled.
Even if we made it to my ship unseen, we weren’t leaving until the scheduled time and that was a couple hours away still. We needed some place to hide now so the Tiat couldn’t follow us to my ship.
I wouldn’t have come this way in the first place but I’d already been heading this way when the girl bumped into me. There are plenty of places to hide back in the Oval, but not in the hanger. I knew the Tiat were right behind us but I took a couple seconds to look around and try to come up with something.
Ships lined the perimeter, the back wall where we were and the sides. Crates and other equipment between the ships. Maybe thirty ships total. Lots of crates. No good places to hide.
Think Arek, think.
I was already regretting doing this until I looked down at the Thesan. She looked up at me with those eyes and they spoke volumes. They said she believed in me. She gripped my hand tighter, but not from fear but reassurance.
Dammit.
I looked around the space, thinking harder.
There. I hoped.
I pulled the Thesan to the right, heading for a group of aliens two ships down. About four of them stood together, watching another two pushing a couple maglifters up a ship’s boarding ramp. Crates were stacked near them, two on each maglift. We were running towards them and it had caught their attention. I could see a couple lowering hands to blasters strapped to their sides.
Different shades of green skin and blue hair, purple eyes and humanoid. The same size as Terrans, they wore neatly tailored and matching uniforms. One of the many trading consortiums. I didn’t know which one, I only knew their species.
Dyers.
I didn’t know much about them as a species or their world, the few that I knew were independents and not that connected to their people. Dyers had a very strict society. Very regimented and controlled. There were reasons for it, or so I had been told. Almost every aspect of their lives was controlled by the ruling government. Independents, like the ones I knew, were rare and considered an anomaly. What I did know is that no Dyer was a friend of the Tiat. The two races hated each other. It was only because the Dyer weren’t as strong as the Tiats that prevented them from going to war. The Tiat knew this and teased the Dyer with that knowledge.
I slowed, holding up my free hand, glancing behind me, trying to convey that I meant them no harm. The Thesan girl looked behind us, fear in her eyes. I knew it was ge
nuine and the Dyers were picking up on it. They glanced at me and the girl, a couple looking behind us. I changed my angle so I would go past them and quickly turned to be behind them. One followed us with his eyes but the others were focused on the entrance to the hanger and the two Tiat that had now entered.
Looking both ways, the Tiat split up.
The Dyer that had been watching us looked to one of the others who was staring at the Tiat. Without looking towards us, he nodded. Another Dyer motioned to me and started walking to their ship. I followed, pulling the Thesan tighter to me. The Dyer adjusted his pace so he was between me and the approaching Tiat. One of the crewers pushing the maglifter stopped and moved so it was now blocking us. He kept the maglifter even with us as we walked up the ramp into the ship.
The hold of the Dyer’s ship was long, the full length of the vessel. It was an underneath hauler, meaning the hold was the bottom half with the rest of the ship’s functions above. This design allowed for a lot of cargo. Inside I saw lots of crates of various sizes organized throughout. The Dyer were mostly known for their efficiency and it showed. Their regimented lifestyles carried over to all aspects of their lives. The ship was clean, well maintained. The maglifter continued on and our Dyer escort led us to a storage closet against the wall.
Still without a word he hit a button and opened the closet door. He motioned us to enter.
It wasn’t that large, barely enough room for me and the girl. It was dark and I wasn’t sure about letting someone else control the door but I was already throwing a lot of faith into this, trusting in the Dyer’s hatred of the Tiat.
The Thesan looked up at me and I smiled at her, trying to be reassuring. Hoping I faked it because I sure didn’t feel it. Taking a breath, I nudged her into the closet. I pulled her closer, arms wrapped around her and felt hers tighten around me as the Dyer closed the door and we were lost in the darkness.
*****
The girl wouldn’t stop shaking and I couldn’t blame her. I lost track of the time and the air was getting stuffy in the small space. There were no vents to let new air in. We got some from the ship’s ventilation system, but it still wasn’t comfortable. I patted her shoulder, trying to comfort her.
I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t have kids, barely knew anyone that did. I had been a soldier, a frontliner, Special Operations, never had time for that kind of thing. My sister, who I had not seen in a long time had a couple. I forgot how many.
Some uncle I was.
What was I doing? I still had no idea what was going on. I didn’t even know the girl’s name. I was running on instinct.
Which had never really run me wrong before.
So we waited in the dark.
We heard footsteps, boots on metal decking, coming our way and I tensed. The girl felt it and she grabbed me tighter. I wanted to loosen up but I needed to be ready for anything. There was no space in the closet to draw my blaster. The footsteps stopped and I heard the sound of buttons being depressed.
The door opened with a soft release of pressure and I breathed deep of the cooler air in the ship’s hold. I looked out, ready to see almost anything and was relieved that it was just the Dyer that had led us here.
“This way,” he said, turning and leading us to the ramp.
I followed cautiously.
I could see the hanger through the still open ramp. No maglifters were moving up, the hold was now filled with the crates I had seen outside. I couldn’t see anyone or anything in the hanger from this angle. Another of the Dyer was standing at the top of the ramp looking out into the open space of the docking bay. He was dressed in the same uniform as the others, but there were some additional bars on his collar. He turned as we approached.
An older Dyer, streaks of darker blue in his hair, he had a scar along his right cheek from jaw to scalp. Old and puckered, a battle wound most likely. He stood military straight, his hands clasped behind his back. He studied me, looking up and down. I still walk like a military man and he could tell. He studied the Thesan girl, who held my left hand with both of her smaller ones.
The moment creeped on. I let it. This was the Dyer’s play. He had helped us.
“I don’t think I want to know what this is about,” he finally said.
“I wish I did,” I answered and the Dyer gave me a weird look.
“The Tiat left the hanger,” he said and I took that as my cue.
“Thank you,” I told him and held out my hand. “Arek Lancer.”
The Dyer shook and smiled.
“Garrin Delt,” he said. “Earth Expeditionary Forces?”
“Captain,” I replied. The Dyer nodded, satisfied. “I owe you one.”
“It was my pleasure. Anything to annoy the Tiat.”
I laughed and led the Thesan down the ramp. Even though the Dyer had said the Tiat were gone, I still looked both ways and kept my head on a swivel as we walked to my ship.
CHAPTER THREE
Making our way from the Dyer ship to mine, only six ships down, was painful.
We moved slow, trying not to look out of place. I gave the girl, who still had not talked, my dark green military jacket to help hide her shape. She pulled the collar up to hide her features and hunched a little. I was very aware of the security cameras mounted on the walls.
This was a Pierd owned asteroid and there was no reason to suspect that they’d work with the Tiat, letting them review the security footage, but better to be careful. The Tiat had gotten a good look at me in The Oval and I really did not want them to figure out which ship was mine. My face was attached to my ship’s identifiers, which would now be in the asteroids system. So I kept my head turned away from the cameras.
I had the urge to run but that would draw attention from the Pierd security forces, who were probably already combing the Oval for me and the girl. They might not have responded to the fight yet. Fights were very common in places like this asteroid so security rarely reacted unless there was a death.
But this was the Tiat I was dealing with and they wanted this girl for some reason. They could put a lot of pressure on the Culkin Union if they really wanted to.
It’s funny how quickly old instincts and training come back.
I can’t remember how long it had been since I’d run an infiltration mission but this was starting to feel like that. Keep moving, don’t draw notice and pay attention to everything. My eyes darted all over the place, checking everyone and everything. I watched all the different beings in the hanger, their movements, which ones looked towards us. I noted when one started walking towards us, studying its hands and movements. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding when the alien, a species I didn’t recognize, continued past us.
I really wanted to question the girl but this was not the time or place. That could wait.
The last ship before mine was a giant cruiser that blocked our view. Not good. I lightly touched the girl and slowed her down. If the Tiat had already figured out who I was, they’d be there waiting.
Or I was being overly paranoid.
Deciding to be cautious but not paranoid, I stepped around the cruiser and looked on my home.
Compared to the cruiser behind us, the Nomad’s Wind was nothing, not even half the size of the Dyer’s ship. A Castellan Light Cruiser Model F497, built back on Earth, it wasn’t much to look at. I’d heavily modified it but the lines were unmistakable. The Castellan’s were not the most original ship designers, all their stuff had the same basic style.
Essentially two levels, cargo and some living on the bottom and the rest of the living plus engineering on the top, the mid part of the ship on all sides but the back had a gray metal “wing” that came off the blue metallic sides and went around to the front. It extended beyond the front of the ship and angled in. The wing ran to the back of the ship but didn’t extend beyond, also angling in towards the hull. Mounted on top of the wing at the back were two large engines. The rear of the ship was straight making the ship look boxy from that view,
the cargo doors and ramp on the lower half. The front was different, the top and bottom halves were angled, sloping away from the wing.
Basically a blue wedge with a gray triangle attached to it.
Not the prettiest but it got the job done.
Designed to crew six but could be run by two or three, I’d modified mine so it only needed one crewer. Me.
There were three decent sized crates stacked outside the Wind’s closed ramp.
“Crap,” I said and the girl looked up at me, worried. I gave her shoulder a squeeze to let her know it was nothing to worry about.
I’d forgotten that I’d agreed to deliver some cargo for Tesk Un Lil.
This complicated things.
I led the girl to the side of the ship and keyed my code into the plate. The door slid up into the hull and I gave her a slight nudge to enter. There wasn’t much reluctance, for some reason the girl seemed to trust me.
First time for anything I guess.
I paused as I stepped up into the opening, giving the hanger one last look. Nothing caught my attention. No one paid any attention to us and I couldn’t feel any eyes on us.
Time to get some answers, I thought as the door closed behind me.
*****
The girl was starving. I led her to the galley which was on the lower level and handed her some food. She tore into it.
“Stay here,” I said and she nodded.
I had to do something about Lil’s cargo. If I took it onboard, I’d have to deliver it. A hauler that didn’t deliver wasn’t one that got jobs again. But if I left it out there and canceled my contract with Lil, I’d have the same issue. Chances of finding work, especially with the Kry, would be difficult. My options were already limited, I couldn’t afford to limit them more.
Moving into my ship’s small cargo hold, I grabbed the maglifter from where it was stowed against the wall and took it to the back. Hitting the controls the ramp lowered. I tensed, watching as more of the hanger was revealed, expecting to see Tiat or Pierd Security Forces standing there just waiting for me. But there was no one there.