Freelancing

by Adair Hart

  Seth narrowed his eyes as he peered in that direction. “Don’t see him.”

  Blake wrinkled his nose. “Oh, he’s here.”

  “You and your vampire sense of smell,” said Seth, shaking his head.

  “It’s saved my ass more times than I can count. Hygiene usually isn’t the top concern for most mercs, alien or otherwise,” said Blake.

  They paused on the side platform.

  Blake scanned the crowd getting into transportation units. His eyes traveled across the center part of the tunnel where the units were loading and unloading.

  On the other side was DJ Shrike, leaning against the wall and vaping.

  They walked to a bridge that had steps on each side and allowed travel across the center of the tunnel. Once they crossed it, they approached DJ Shrike.

  “Didn’t think you were coming,” he said.

  “Security gave us a hard time,” said Blake. “However, as promised, the goods.” He handed over the storage container.

  DJ Shrike tapped at the digital interface on the side of the storage container. After a moment, his eyes widened. “Man … you weren’t kidding.”

  “Now about your part of the deal … ,” said Blake.

  DJ Shrike slipped the storage container under his arm and licked his lips. “Alcarez. That shitbag is in District H. He runs a small spaceport on the edges of the district. Illegal ships and all that.”

  Blake interacted with his forearm device, causing a screen to flip up. After a moment, he turned the screen toward DJ Shrike. “Mark it.”

  DJ Shrike tapped at the screen for a few moments, then nodded. “Done.”

  “Now … who are his rivals in the area?”

  DJ Shrike furrowed his eyebrows. “Mainly the Red Wave. Tough group, and they have marked their territory. There are some smaller groups, but they pose no threat to Alcarez’s crew.”

  Blake nodded at the screen.

  DJ Shrike tilted his head.

  “Draw a rough outline.”

  “Oh,” said DJ Shrike. He ran his finger across the screen for a bit. “It would be a lot easier to give you one of our maps, but I suspect you don’t want this to be traced.”

  Blake grinned.

  “I have to ask … why do you want to meet him?”

  Blake laughed. “Meet? More like take back what’s been stolen.”

  “Good luck with that,” said DJ Shrike. “You know his crew is mostly robots and androids, right?”

  “Auto aim?” asked Seth.

  DJ Shrike nodded. “Yep. He doesn’t trust anyone. Probably because he’s a damn cyborg. All that metal crap messing with his head, is my guess.”

  Blake narrowed his eyes. “I’m surprised that the Vizerian are letting his android thugs walk your turf.”

  DJ Shrike shrugged. “Alcarez has some political clout with the city. We’re still trying to figure out how he was able to move in so fast.” He shook a finger. “That spaceport used to be the another group’s base, until Alcarez appeared and decided he wanted it.” He tilted his head. “If you do end up taking out Alcarez … the Vizerians would be … appreciative.”

  Blake smiled. “Of course they would. Enjoy your media.” He tapped Seth’s arm. “Let’s go.”

  DJ Shrike pursed his lips and glanced at Seth. “After whatever you’re doing is done, feel free to stop by and hang out. Could listen to some of this music. Got some … things … that can help you relax.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” said Seth. “I don’t know what my status will be after this.”

  “Cool, keep it in mind,” said DJ Shrike. He nodded as he walked away.

  As Blake and Seth traveled over to get a transportation unit, Blake chuckled.

  Seth glanced at him. “What?”

  “You don’t know what just happened, do you?”

  “Umm … should I?” asked Seth.

  “Our boy DJ Shrike was inviting you to feed off of him.”

  Seth’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “You would get into a mood all right, one that would probably end up with your pants off.”

  Seth cleared his throat. “He was coming on to me?”

  “He just wanted a bit of chocolate, I think.”

  “You’re just messing with me,” said Seth. After a moment, he tilted his head at Blake. “Right?”

  “Nope. You probably didn’t notice him checking out your crotch several times. Don’t worry, he checked out mine too.”

  Seth harrumphed.

  Blake figured Seth would be surprised, since he did not know how depraved the Vizerians could be. The last time Blake had been out there, he had several offers. Although he did not participate in any of them, he did watch some of what went on. Gender and species were of no concern as long there were willing participants. It was no surprise that they were one of the bigger pleasure providers of the city. The Raskarian strain, in particular those who were Vizerian, had an unusually high sexual appetite, for anyone or anything, more so than Blake’s strain. “Anyways, it’s almost 9:00 p.m. We should get some food and call it a night, then head out in the morning,” said Blake.

  “Sounds good to me,” said Seth.

  After taking in a late dinner at one of the food stands near the spaceport, they spent the rest of the night in their ship. The next morning, they headed to the transportation system. Once they got into a unit, Blake selected District H.

  As the unit slid onto the middle platform and began to move, Seth turned toward Blake. “Sounds like we got a fight on our hands maybe.”

  “Maybe,” said Blake. He glanced at Seth. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with first.”

  “Well, at least we have a lay of the land.”

  “Definitely, although … we may be able to play one faction off another, depending on their relative strength. We’ll check out the Red Wave’s turf while we’re out there.”

  Seth nodded. “Wish we could just fly over and scan all of this.”

  “Except we would be shot down. Tooka doesn’t mess around with ships inside the city.”

  “I know. It must be pretty bad out here for them to outlaw it.”

  “Given the history of Fredorian rim worlds in general, not a bad policy,” said Blake. He remembered reading about the early days of most rim-world colonies. Ships being able to fly in the city was one of the major damage dealers in that time period. Of course, being destroyed from space was always an issue.

  When the unit came to a halt an hour later, they went topside.

  Blake surveyed the environment. Like District G, District H was a concrete-and-metal jungle. Most of the buildings were only three or four stories high, but there were a few that went much higher. He pulled up his map. Alcarez’s area, as outlined by DJ Shrike, was octagonal and sat on the upper left of the map. A red dot indicated where they were, on the bottom right. Blake pivoted his screen toward Seth and then pointed at an area to the southwest. “If we head directly west, we’ll be south of Alcarez’s turf and run into Red Wave territory.” He pointed at a building far off in the distance. “If we head north, and then east a bit, we should get a good vantage point from there to check out Alcarez’s place.”

  Seth nodded. “Where to first?”

  “The vantage point. You can start scouting while I head to Red Wave turf. They have something I need.”

  Seth narrowed his eyes. “They do?”

  “I’ll need one of their outfits, or at least whatever makes them look like Red Wave. Guessing something red. I’ll need to look like a member when I start a turf war.”

  “What?”

  Blake smiled. “We’re going to need a distraction. Whatever it is, you can grab the ship and fly out.”

  “That assumes the codes we have are right and the ship hasn’t been modified already. Plus it might have its own security.”

  Blake waved a hand out. “They’ll be too busy with the Red Wave to worry about that.”

  Seth sighed. “You could be caught in the cross fire, man. Sounds risky as hell.�
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  “I’m Blake Brown,” he said with a big smile and his hands out to the side.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know,” said Seth, chuckling.

  Blake slapped Seth’s arm. “C’mon.”

  After forty-five minutes, they reached the tall building that Blake had pointed out earlier. It sat northeast of Alcarez’s turf.

  Blake noticed that the building seemed empty as they took the elevator up. His vampire senses could smell that there were others around, but they seemed to stay to themselves. He could also hear the electrical buzz of robots, but he did not know where it was coming from. When they got to the roof, they knelt next to the roof’s edge.

  Seth pulled out a pair of advanced binoculars. “Spying time.” He looked at Blake. “Is this what you used to do?”

  “Usually. Always good to do reconnaissance.”

  “Cold up here,” said Seth. He took a peek out over the edge and into the distance. After a moment, he said, “I can see Alcarez’s place from here. Looks like a shipyard and a large warehouse. DJ Shrike’s outline wasn’t too far off. Looks like the whole area is walled off in an octagonal shape.”

  Blake stood. “Good. See if you can find the ship and figure out any patrol patterns. Contact me if you run into any problems.”

  Seth flexed his hand for a moment. “Yeah, sure.”

  Blake eyed Seth. “This is the first time you’ve scoped a place, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe.”

  Blake smiled as he slapped Seth’s back. “Well, this is the easy part. Just note anything you can, and I’ll be back shortly.”

  Seth gulped. “All right, man. Good luck.” He shook his head. “I know, I know, you’re Blake Brown.”

  “Don’t you forget it,” said Blake, laughing as he headed to the roof exit.

  Seth sighed as he settled in. This was a new experience for him and a far cry from flying freighters. He had his doubts about being in the field and often felt out of place next to Blake. Supporting Blake was an easy decision. On top of the possibility of getting a lot more credits, there was also the opportunity to explore instead of flying the same routes over and over.

  Seth checked the advanced binoculars he had set up on the knee-height edge. The last hour had been uneventful, but in that time, he had found the ship they were after. The patrols around the shipyard seemed random to him, and they seemed to consist of low-end robots that were barely humanoid. The robots had legs and arms attached to a solid cylindrical body. Their heads were more of a dome with red indented grooves. He knew that was how they scanned using light detection and ranging. They probably had radar too, from his experience.

  Scanning the warehouse showed a lot of activity. The open door was busy with cargo moving to and from the ships in the yard. Whatever Alcarez was up to, he was active at all hours.

  Seth recognized the various ships in the yard. Most were small transports, and a few medium-sized ships as well. He suspected that anything larger might draw the eye of city security. There were towers at various points around the perimeter, with a concrete wall between them. He counted only a few robots attending the towers. It was the drones flying around in the large, open area in front of the warehouse that caught his eye. He was not sure what type they were, but he suspected they were guard drones that could shoot.

  He shook his head. Distraction or not, there was a lot of security out and about. Still, it was a challenge, and one he had no doubt Blake would handle. He tapped at his forearm interface and pulled out a screen. After a moment, Blake’s face appeared.

  “What you got?” asked Blake.

  Seth interacted with the interface. “Just sent you targets I’ve marked. Place is pretty secure.”

  Blake nodded. “No surprise. Someone like Alcarez doesn’t just appear without muscle.”

  “Yeah. How’s things with you?”

  “Just got to Red Wave turf, roughly south of Alcarez’s area. Going to head in and check it out. I don’t suspect it will take me long. Then I’ll meet back up with you.”

  Seth nodded. “All right. I’ll continue looking around, but I think I’ve got most of what we’ll need.”

  Blake smiled. “All right.”

  Seth closed the screen and sat back against the edge. He looked up at the clear sky and smiled. Even Tooka could resemble Earth if you looked up. Although it was his first time there, he had already learned more than he suspected he could on his own. That was one of the allures of traveling with Blake.

  His eyes squinted as a sound echoed from the doorway that led to the building underneath. He took cover behind a vent and pulled out his FLP-40. His heart pumped furiously when he realized the binoculars were still on the roof’s edge. He peeked around the vent and saw a male android in a light power suit with several robot guards around him. With a gulp, Seth pulled back and looked up. He wanted to contact Blake but didn’t want to bring attention to himself. Maybe it was a routine patrol.

  “You can come out,” said the android. “We have much more firepower than whatever you might have.”

  Seth’s skin went cold. The android was probably right, and they had the benefit of accurate aim. He opened his forearm screen and called up Blake. The busy signal made him close his eyes as he trembled. He pulled off his forearm device and set it down. It took him a moment, but he set it to record and relay to Blake. With a deep breath, he stood and stepped out with hands raised.

  “There you are,” said the android as he approached Seth. “Kneel. Hands behind your head.”

  Seth complied.

  One of the robot guards had walked over to the binoculars and grabbed them. In a deep, digital voice, it said, “He was spying.”

  The android nodded as the robot guard gave him the binoculars. “Of course he was. Why else would he be up here? It probably never crossed his mind that we would monitor such an obvious position. So … what faction are you a part of?”

  “Just sightseeing,” said Seth with a smile.

  The android slapped Seth. “Don’t test me, organic filth. I could just kill you right here. Another slab of meat rotting in the wind, or what passes for it in this city.”

  Seth clenched his jaw and looked down.

  The android grabbed Seth’s hair and knelt near his face. “If you don’t want to answer, we have … techniques … that will help you in that regard.”

  “Look. It was just a contract to find a ship.”

  “Which one?”

  “The one taken from the Tansih guild.”

  The android stood back up and, after a moment, tilted his head. “Alcarez might want to talk to you. Stand up, meatbag.”

  Seth complied.

  The android motioned forward. One of the robot guards went behind Seth and put its arms under Seth’s armpits. The guard then locked its hands behind Seth’s head. The other robot guard grabbed Seth’s legs and pulled them out horizontally. The android walked forward, placed a hand on Seth’s left ankle, and twisted it hard.

  Seth yelled out.

  “Set him down,” said the android.

  Seth writhed about in pain. His breathing staggered. “What the fuck was that for?”

  “You won’t be trying to run away,” said the android. He motioned forward.

  The two robot guards stood Seth up and stabilized him.

  “Now, time for you to meet Alcarez.”

  Seth’s mind reeled as the pain from his dragging ankle surged through him. This was not as easy as Blake had painted it to be. Seth tried to focus as he was pulled forward. His only hope was that Blake would check the recording and come after him. Otherwise, he did not think he would live long under Alcarez’s watch.

  After a painful hour-long trip to Alcarez’s base, Seth felt like his ankle was going to fall off. The robot guards had lifted him under the armpits, one on each side. Several times during the trip, they had lowered him, which put weight on his ankle. His immediate yelps caused them to lift him back up. He was at least able to see the ship they were supposed to retrieve. It sat off to
the right of the warehouse.

  When they arrived at the warehouse entrance, more guards approached them.

  He was transferred to them and carried inside. The large matter replicators stood out to him. These were level four. He knew that meant they could produce minor ship upgrades, and almost any type of handheld weapon. The matter conversion units were tiny in comparison, but it was the storage tanks that seemed to fill up most of the warehouse.

  After five minutes, he was brought into a room and tossed onto the ground. He saw about fifteen cages, six of them filled with naked aliens that looked like they worked for the Tansih guild. The smell of shit and piss permeated the air. He winced as the pain from his ankle reminded him of its uselessness. His breath staggered as he tried to sit up. Two robot guards hustled in and stripped him naked.

  After tossing his clothes onto a pile in the corner of the room, they stood next to the entrance.

  Seth scowled. “Assholes.”

  “They are not to blame,” said a light-gray-skinned man as he entered the room.

  Seth studied him. It was Alcarez. The one-piece suit could not hide the metallic components across his body. His long, scraggly black hair and scruffy beard stood in stark contrast to the smooth metallic plates that dotted his head.

  Alcarez pulled up a chair from the wall and set it next to Seth. After sitting down, he said, “So … you hoped to retrieve a ship. I must say, they really are scraping the bottom of the barrel these days if they sent you.”

  Seth grunted as he sat up.

  “How much did they pay you?”

  Seth gritted his teeth.

  Alcarez slapped Seth, causing him to spill to the ground. “I said … how much did they pay you?”

  “Fifty thousand,” said Seth, looking down.

  Alcarez let out a deep laugh. “Idiots. You know that you’re the third merc to come this way, and I use the word merc lightly in this case.” He eased back into his chair. “I had to kill the other two. They thought they were tough.” He peered at Seth. “Do you think you’re tough?”

  Seth sighed. He did not want to give up any more information than he had to, but he figured maybe some misdirection would work. “You got me, all right. I was just supposed to confirm where it was. I mean … look at me. Do I look like someone that would storm your base?”