by Scott Moon
She’s talking, Thad. Keep your mouth shut, he thought.
“Humans will be the death of us. Trankot did not understand this or believe it. I know what it means to be subjugated. Our traditions will die. Our children will forget us. We will be moved to other parts of this planet or to other planets, as has happened throughout all of history. So let me answer your question now that you understand me better. My family is no longer in danger because I am in charge and I do not trust humans. My family remains in danger because my dead husband left us a legacy of his debts and other failures. My family is no longer in danger because you have seen the human thugs and will deal with them.”
"Did you kill your husband?"
“No, but I do not miss him.”
"Did an Unglok kill your husband?”
She held his gaze for several moments. "No.”
"Why did they kill him then? Was it during the robbery? Did he try to resist?" Thaddeus asked, immediately realizing he had asked too many questions at once.
"The robbery was humiliating. He did everything they said because they were Ungloks. The leader of the human mercenaries found the thieves, punished them, and came to demand payment from Trankot. He paid. The human called Victor is filled with hate for all things living. He came back after his men had left. When the violence was done, he said that he did it for fun.”
"Could you identify these humans if I showed you pictures?”
She nodded.
"Would you testify in a court of law?"
“Not in a human court, no.”
“You could have told me this the first time we were here,” Thad said.
“Why would I?” she asked.
“Fair enough. You don’t like me. That’s fine.”
The faintest hint of a smile appeared on her face and her eyes softened for two seconds. “Perhaps I could like you more than the rest of your stumpy race.”
He winked at her. “My mother always said I was a charmer.”
“No. I was wrong. I despise you more than the others because you think you are different.”
Chiklak stepped onto the porch and gave her mother a hug around her waist. "Do I have to marry Askoak now?”
Kandor accepted the hug, but did not look down at her. "That depends on whether the human sheriff can declaw the beast."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Real Mother Lode
P. C. Dickles stepped through the dust as his crew laughed and joked and slapped each other on the backs. He moved farther ahead than was allowed by safety regulations. The voices died down as the men watched him almost reverently. He went to the edge of the giant cavern they had discovered. The light on his helmet shone into blackness. There was no way to see all the details of the place, but precious stones and veins of ore twinkled on what had to be the walls and ceilings. It looked as strong as it was vast. He couldn't believe his eyes. This was another world far below the surface of Ungwilook.
"Good job, men. We need to shore up the arch supports in the tunnel leading here and start cleaning up. Let's get to it. Bring an extra crew forward. Use the Ungloks if you have to. They've been getting restless with us doing all the work," he said.
His crew laughed.
Normally, he would work with them, both supervising and getting his hands dirty. This was a different moment, a special discovery he would cherish until the day he died. For a man who had spent his entire life fascinated with underground exploration, this was a miracle to behold.
A crew of his men set up powerful generators and work lights.
P. C. Dickles stood staring at the underground vista like a man who had seen the face of God for the first time.
“What do you think, boss man?” Jerry asked.
Dickles shook off his reverie. “We need a survey crew. I’m not sure it’s safe in here.”
“It would have collapsed a long time ago if it was going to collapse.”
“Wrong, Jerry.”
“What do your famous instincts tell you, boss man?”
He barely heard Jerry speak. The moment was too grand, the discovery too dangerous, and words too trivial.
“Jerry. We need to be careful how we report this. Everyone on this dig must be on the same page. We aren’t going to ship everything at once. We’ll ration it out, send back a good load each day,” Dickles said.
“I get it. No exotics rush. If SagCon realizes how much exotic ore we’ve found, they replace us with the pet crews and career officers. I can get the men on board with your plan. Probably the Ungloks too. They never say jack or shit about much anyway,” Jerry said.
Dickles merely nodded without looking at the man.
"There’s always a lot of drama back in Darklanding anyway. No one pays attention to us.”
“They catch the Unglok murderer?” Dickles asked distractedly. Stars seemed to appear at the far end of the tunnel, reflections of gemstones, metals, and phosphorescent fungi he had only read about.
“Rumor mill says the Glok was hiding a bunch of money from ShadEcon or something,” Jerry said. “Are you listening?”
Dickles turned around, popping his knuckles without thinking about it. “Yeah, Jerimiah. I heard you. Figures we would have ShadEcon on Ungwilook. I’d always hoped this was a straight mining job without all the black-market price wars ruining everything.” He paused. “We are going to keep ShadEcon out of here. Keep them away from our discovery. Understand?”
Color drained from Jerry’s dirty face. “Yeah. That’d be bad if they knew about this.” He looked over his shoulder, turned back, and seemed to appreciate the grandeur of the larger scene for the first time. “No one calls me Jerimiah.”
“Sorry, Jerry. We’ve got work to do. Let’s get to it.”
***
Dixie took over at the bar when Pierre went back to his room to rest. Pale, sweaty, and moving like every muscle in his body ached, he had been as useful as a screen door on a starship.
She hadn't done physical labor for a long time. The first hour was kind of fun. She hustled up and down the bar, mixing drinks as though she did it every day. More and more of the patrons sat on barstools and tried to chat her up as she slipped drinks this way and that. It was obvious from the beginning that the Mother Lode would be having a record night for drink sales. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Pierre would be pestering her to bartend all the time if he found out.
But she couldn't resist. All eyes were on her regardless of which direction she was facing.
After a while, it became more work than she was interested in doing. She hung up her counter towel and put one hand on her hip. Several of the men whistled at her. She ignored them and talked to the young Pierre. "That's how you do it, sweetie. Talk to people. Have fun.”
"I'm not staying in Darklanding. This place is a dump.”
She gave him her favorite wide-eyed ‘don’t mess with me’ look and turned with a flourish that drew more whistles and catcalls from her new fans at the bar. "Well, you're not leaving tonight. These men are thirsty. I'm going upstairs to check on Pierre.”
She could feel the energy leaving the room as she climbed the stairs. Most of her new and very drunk friends were already shuffling toward the door or back to tables where they would grumble and complain about being worked to death by SagCon. She didn't have time for that. Pierre was sick as a dog. She had to check on him, but she also had an important meeting at the greenhouse.
She entered his room without knocking and found him lying in bed, sweating through the sheets. His thin mustache looked more pathetic than usual. She sat on the edge of the bed and pushed his hair back. "What the hell happened to you?"
"I tried some of that Unglok drink.”
"You drank Tigi?”
He turned his eyes to her and narrowed them as he considered her words. "You know what it is?”
She let out a big sigh and patted him on his chest. "I know they want to use peaches to make it. Apparently, they've been trying to make it with SagCon sugar packets, which aren't always sugar
.”
"Well, whatever they do with it, I don't recommend serving it to humans. I only had a spoonful and that was at least a week ago. Time has been a little bit sketchy since then," Pierre said. "I bought some when we first opened the Mother Lode and kept it in storage. I figured I needed to learn what it was and how much to charge the Gloks. The problem I found out right away was that if I served it, there wouldn't be any room for human patrons in the saloon. I also figured out the supply is very inconsistent. Then I gave some to the deputy and it fixed him right up after he got back from his spirit quest.”
"I don't know what a spirt quest is. But I do know that the supply of Tigi may become much more reliable. I was contacted by a group of locals who claim they can make it. I don't know why they want the peaches but assume it's kind of like any other type of alcohol,” she said.
Pierre shook his head with his eyes closed. "Don't make the mistake of comparing it to alcohol.”
She smiled at him, realizing he was barely able to pay attention. "I'm going to get you into a bath and strip this bed. These sheets are soaked with sweat.”
He started rambling about how thankful he was and telling her he loved her and all kinds of other nonsense. She went from life-of-the-party bartender to nursemaid in a single evening. By the time she had him squared away, she was so tired and just wanted to go to bed, but her meeting with Ummak was too important to cancel.
She found the old Unglok waiting downstairs. He seemed nervous and a bit depressed.
“I'm sorry about the wait, Ummak. I had an important business meeting that is relevant to our current venture.”
Ummak looked up. He seemed to struggle to understand her words. "All is good now. I was waiting. Now I cannot wait.”
They took a nearly random route to the greenhouse. When they arrived, it was the middle of the night, or middle of the early morning to be more accurate. The greenhouses blazed like small suns in the middle of the city. Half of their agreement was done during their walk.
"What you say seems simple enough for me to understand in your language," Ummak said. “We pay for peaches, use them for Tigi, and give you a percentage of our profit when we sell the Tigi.”
Dixie gave him a tour of the produce and continued their discussion. "Don't forget the non-compete clause.”
This confused Ummak more than anything else. Most of their walk had been discussing the importance of this condition. "We will buy no other peaches or similar items from anyone else. Dixie is only one to sell peaches to us and profit twice from our labor.”
"That's right! See, that's not so hard," she said.
"But there is no one else to buy peaches from. Why would we need to promise not to buy peaches from no one?"
“The non-compete clause is a very important human tradition. Trust me.”
“Trust is important to Ungloks as well. We agree to contract. Ummak send men. Carry peaches for Tigi.”
“When they are ready. Not before.”
“Yes. Ummak will wait.”
***
Shaunte reviewed the shipping report from the mines for a third time. The numbers were bad. If she didn't see improvement, her father was going to come to Darklanding and chastise her. Which would be easy, as much as she hated his disapproval, compared to what SagCon would do. Her career was over if she didn't make a breakthrough soon. She had negotiated off the books contracts with human and Unglok workers. She had padded the financial reports by infusing it with her own money. She was so broke now that she was thinking about selling some of her black-market clothing, which she knew came through the infamous ShadEcon. SagCon intelligence specialists claimed the local black-market was a poorly run local affair. They were probably working for ShadEcon, playing both sides of the field.
ShadEcon was to a local black market what a destroyer was to a pirated freight hauler. Even her father respected their cunning and power. She remembered him telling her not to ever get sideways with the Shadow Economy.
She heard a quiet knock on her door, so quiet that she wondered if it wasn't a rodent in the walls. Not that Darklanding was infested with such things. It was one of the few perks of this frontier town that she hadn’t been plagued with the local version of rats. She started typing her letter to SagCon, emphasizing the promising message from P. C. Dickles that they had found a decent dig site and would be back to regular production very soon.
The knock came again.
She stopped typing and turned in her chair so she could stare at the door. Several moments later, there was another soft knock.
"Come in," she said. Very few people were allowed to enter her apartment office. Most of those just knocked and walked in like they owned the place.
The door opened and she saw an Unglok child holding a hat in his hands as he stared at her nervously. “Company Man Shaunte? I have a message about the sheriff and his deputy.”
"Is it a message about them or is it from them?"
The boy moved inside a step and looked around nervously. "Well, Company Man Shaunte, I don't think they want me to tell you. So it isn't from them. So it must be about them. So do you want me to tell you or not?”
“You speak very good Galactic Common, the unnecessary repetition notwithstanding. Give me the message,” she said.
"They are going to confront the Four Horsemen. There won't really be four of them, because Dixie's girls have one tied up in their dressing room. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Shaunte understood perfectly. Thaddeus was up to his old mischief again. “What is your name, boy?"
“Andronik.”
"Thank you, Andronik. You did the right thing by telling me. Now you will do the right thing by taking me to them before they get killed.”
"Are you calling the Marines from the spaceport?"
She opened a drawer to her desk and pulled out the Peacemaker Mini blaster from her father. It was a small weapon, but state-of-the-art and built specifically to fit in her hand. "There are no Marines. Just us. Let's go."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: A Woman’s Wrath
Lying prone on top of a building for most of the night, Thaddeus watched the warehouse that Andronik had pointed out. According to the boy, and his various sources, some of which Thad believed were Dixie's girls, this was the location of a major black-market shipment. No one had seen Victor or his other mercenaries at the location, but it made sense that Askoak would use his big guns to protect the large investment.
"I am looking and keeping my eyes open as you suggested," Mast said. "But I do not see the three remaining horsemen. Or horses. I've never seen horses. I do not understand this naming convention.”
Thaddeus shifted to one side. His toes were going numb from lying on his stomach. It was usually his neck that bothered him in this position, especially when it was held for a long period of time. Mast didn't seem to mind the uncomfortable surveillance routine. "The Four Horsemen is a reference to the apocalypse. ‘Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer’,” Thad said.
“This clarifies nothing. I will take your word that the Four Horsemen is a terrifying name for a group of mercenaries,” Mast said.
The black-market goods arrived in the morning. With the truckloads of boxed freight came the guards. Every one was human. This didn't surprise Thaddeus. Ungloks might be able to hide stolen or diverted goods, but they would have difficulty moving them through SagCon checkpoints on this planet and they would never get them through customs. Non-humans were scrutinized at spaceports and on starships. Askoak had little choice but to employ humans.
"I think the ShadEcon chapter on Darklanding is controlled by Askoak and his Unglok warriors. He has people like Victor and his mercenaries to deal with humans. He's smart enough to know that Unglok-on-human violence would spark brutal reprisals. Bad for his
business,” Thad said.
"Bad for Ungloks.” Mast shifted uncomfortably. "Can we get up now?”
Thaddeus looked through his binoculars to study the details of the security guards. Some wore uniforms, others didn't. After about thirty minutes, he saw what he was looking for. Victor stepped into one of the large bay doors and put his hands on his hips near his two blasters. His hat differed from the sheriff’s in both style and color. His was a faded green and had a band around it made from claws and shell casings.
“What can we do to draw him out? We cannot muchly get past the security guards.”
“The guards are soft, probably untrained men working a second job for some spending money. They have cheap jumpsuits and blasters with a couple of charges each, at least that’s what I’m guessing. But you’re right. We’ll wait for him to leave. Make yourself comfortable.”
Victor and his two remaining mercs toured the operation, gave orders to the chief security guard, and left. Thad and Mast followed at a distance. It seemed the mercenaries were heading back to Askoak’s stronghold.
“We need to grab Victor before they go much farther. We’ll cut them off before they reach the food market,” Thad said, not liking his options. “Keep following them. I am going to race ahead and get into position.”
“It will be three against two,” Mast said.
More like three against one point five, Thad thought. He kept his ungenerous but accurate thoughts to himself. “Nothing for it. If Sledge and Penny were here, this would be easy.”
“Yes. Muchly.”
Thad raced through alleys and cut across the scorched earth of the old jail. He crept to the corner of a building to check on Victor’s progress. The man and his two remaining gunslingers were moving much faster than anticipated. They had to be running part of the way, as though they understood this was a race. Thad didn’t like the idea. It distracted him from what he was going to do when he finally caught them.