Ares

by Jessie Rose Case

  “They’re coming in to board us girl, we’re dead in the water, get us moving. Now.” Mack was starting to piss her off. She ran around the core and bi-passed and patched several components. Ripping wiring out of one then another.

  “Give me a fucking minute here Mack.” She told him through gritted teeth.

  She manually pulled out cable and turned back to the control. The generators were cool enough now. She patched a connection to forward drive and linked it to both generators. Again, she knew they weren’t meant to work in tandem like that, but if they wanted any hope in hell of getting away, she needed both. Kim connected them and hoped it didn’t blow up in her face. Her gift told her it was the right move. Kim took the coolant off line. She turned it all back on and all switches went to green. Another hit rocked the ship. Now or never, she told herself. She punched the restart. Both generators kicked in. The core powered up.

  She clicked the comm. “We have power. Go for broke Mack.” She told him and felt the moment the core engaged. She hadn’t had time to re-set stabilisers. The whole ship shot forward as she landed on her ass and with relief, it kept going.

  Kim grinned. Take that suckers. O yeah she was good.

  ***

  They’d been caught with their pants down. Rage stormed around the Bridge. They’d been about to board and then they were gone. That pissed him off. He looked around the Bridge holding on to his temper. He was called Rage for a reason and spoke aloud. “What the hell went wrong? We had them.” Pain, his First, turned from his comms station.

  “That ship is not meant to have that capacity. It was dead in the water.”

  “Well it isn’t now. I want to know how that was done. We need that cargo back.” He told him. He looked at the vid screen, the vessel no longer in view. They’d be seeing that again and soon.

  ***

  Kim spent the next six hours nursing the engines and her bruises. Putting out fires, both figuratively and literally and patching up equipment. Those pirates were cleaver, she’d give them that. They ‘d hit the engine room for a reason. They wanted to incapacitate the ship and had done it. Something sour burnt in her stomach. Pirates. That meant they wanted the ship or something on it or both. Her gut twisted. It had been a long time since she’d had to run from that. She clicked her comm.

  “Mack how’s it look?”

  “Good job Kim. No direct pursuit. But they must known our route so I’m going to zig a bit. Engines up to that?” He asked her. Kim blew out a breath. It would put an extra load on it.

  “We’ll need a Port soon but they’re ok for now. It’s a mess back here, but it’s working. I need a month on those engines Mack and soon.” She could imagine him nodding and looking pissed. A month in docks meant no revenue and spending some. Mack didn’t like that.

  “Get some rest. I’ll keep an eye on things.” He told her.

  Kim didn’t need telling twice. She checked everything was secure and in the green and walked back towards her quarters. She stopped at the medical bay and grabbed a scanner. Two ribs damaged. A sprained wrist. Two nasty cuts on her head and concussion. Fantastic. Not that any of that was a big surprise. She’d been fending off the aches and pains for a while.

  She grabbed the med pads, cleaned the areas and patched herself up. On her way out she grabbed some pain meds. They’d make her sleep. Her head still banging, she made her way to her cabin. Ready to crash into a healing sleep. Kim opened the door and shuddered. That had been a close call.

  ***

  “So tell me, how’d we lose that ship?” Rage sat behind his desk in his office off the Bridge. His men around him. He’d given them enough time. Now, he wanted answers. Burn, one of his team leaders, gave him the run down. He’d been monitoring the ships systems while they’d attacked.

  “The spec and intel from that ship was clear. It has hold capacity for 100 cubic. Is run by its main computer. Has manual back up. Designed for 5 crew. We had two life signs. Our intel told us it this ship only had two crew. It was a match. We waited until the one in engineering was clear before firing. The ship was already running at twice the capacity of its registration. The only way to slow it down was to targeted the engines. They should have been knocked out and stayed out. We hit it several more time’s to show we meant business. Sent over desist and prepare to be boarded, no one answered. Then their engines fired at almost light speed. It shouldn’t be possible. That suggests some fancy re-model not registered or tec we don’t know about.”

  Rage didn’t like the answer. “What information do we have on these modified engines? Can we catch them?”

  “We were faster before we knocked out their engines, now they are.” Burn told him. “Whatever they did, we could use that.”

  “Agreed.” Rage told him. “Find them.”

  ***

  They had been in port for two weeks and Kim had never been happier. Mack was pushing her to finish. But not this time. Kim headed towards her favourite place on this Port. Well, favourite that didn’t include food on the menu.

  She’d had to strip everything out and re-build from scrath. And to make her designs work, she’d needed to get creative and she had. New ideas on engine capacity that she hadn’t been able to use before, she put in. Now, she wanted to tweak it. She was sure they would get another 25% out of the new design, compared to the old ones and what she’d managed under fire. It was a good move, if he would just give her the time to get it done.

  She wanted it new and perfect. She couldn’t help it. Her gift saw how things worked. How it could be improved and a need in her just wanted to make it happen. This would hold them for a very long time. Unless, Mack let her upgrade again. Kim smiled. If they didn’t come under fire again, that is. It might be years before another full upgrade would be possible. She knew her gift would itch at that.

  But this design was that good and the new one, the next gen one, was even better. Way beyond anything she’d thought of before. She just knew, it would work. So when Mack started to umm and err, she’d got nasty and threatened to quit if he didn’t let her do her job. And a reminder that her work had saved his ass had helped. Kim grinned as she walked in the door of the shop she wanted. Mack loved her and she loved him but he was a pain in the ass.

  “Good morning Lady Kim.” She smiled at the unusual way Remix always spoke to her, when she came into his chop shop.

  “Good morning to you Remix. I’m here for my order.” She told him cheerfully. Then leant on the counter. “What did you think of the new engine design I sent you?” Kim noticed he looked a little distracted. That wasn’t normal for Remix when money was involved. She narrowed her eyes, as the hair on the nap of her next stood up.

  “It was very creative Lady. Would it work?” He asked her, not really committing to the conversation.

  Kim nodded wondering what was going on and played along.

  “Yeah it would. It would be something special and I’m keeping that one to myself. The parts alone would cost many credits but once completed it would out ran everything out there.”

  Remix started shuffling from one foot to the other. She knew this to be a sign of his agitation. They’d been to this Port enough times for her to build up relationships with those that lived here. Something was wrong here. Kim then sensed the presence. She grabbed her gun and held it by her leg. Remix wasn’t easily upset and that told her everything.

  “You ok Remix?” She asked him guarded. He glanced to his right and she followed his eye line. Two males came out from behind some large shelving. She hadn’t noticed them at all. That was bad and stupid. They made no sound as they came into view. And how the hell had she missed them she couldn’t figure. They were just so ….. huge.

  “That’s far enough.” She told them and lifted her gun. Even at this range she had to look up. “I’m going to assume this was opportunistic,” she told them. “Wrong place, wrong time. I’d rather things didn’t get messy here.” Kim wrinkled her nose in distaste.

  Both the men looked at each oth
er and grinned. Ok that couldn’t be good. The larger one stepped forward and Kim took one back. He pointed to Remix.

  “This one tells us you re-built the engines on your ship. It now has more than three times its capacity to light speed.” Kim glanced towards Remix keeping a firm check on the two males. She gave him ‘what were you thinking’ look. Kim thought he looked a bit green.

  “Telling tales Remix? That’s bad for business.” She told him. They goes your payday.

  She noticed the larger male take a step closer to her. “Move again and I’ll blow your fucking head off.” She told him. He put up both hands.

  “We are interested in the information.”

  Kim considered lying, but Remix knew the truth. She’d bet a years wages, these guys already knew who she was and what she could do. They were just playing with her. She started to back out the store.

  “Remix, we will discuss this.” She told him keeping her eyes squarely on the men in front of her. She saw Remix bob his head from the corner of her eye. Was he tearing up?

  Kim reasoned, if she could get outside, she could lose herself in the crowd. The men moved apart faster than she could track. She fired ahead of the first one and heard a grunt as she turned and fired wildly at the second. She ran hell for leather into the crowd outside. Keeping low she dodged and weaved.

  Rage favoured his left leg walking out the doorway of the chop shop. She was fast. His mind registering the obvious. Dark stood beside him, checking his arm. It was bleeding.

  “She’s fast.” Dark told him. Rage nodded. She’d caught him in the leg. She’d deliberately shot low to incapacitate not kill and had anticipated his speed and direction by just that initial movement. That was …… unusual. She’d done the same with Dark and that was on the fly.

  “I think we need a little chat with our firefly.” He told Dark, his body expelling the bullet. His med bots going to work to heal the damage. Rage looked in the direction the female had ran. He liked this one.

  ***

  Kim headed back to her ship. She checked behind her and doubling back several times to make sure she wasn’t followed. She hoped, they’d come looking for the tech not her specifically. If not, she was so screwed. Seeing the ship in sight, she hid behind some crates and watched. If anything was out of place, she’d find cover and contact Mack to take off. Nothing looked out of place. No one hanging around suspiciously. When she spotted Mack coming down the loading hatch she made a break for it.

  Running straight to him, she grabbed hold and tried to move him back inside.

  “We need to move.” She hissed looking around. “Now. Some large men were asking about the ship and engines, it got a bit testy Mack. We need to go.” She started to run up the ramp.

  “We’re staying.” He called after her. “That cargo was lifted and re-sold on. The real owners are here and want a meet. Its cleared by Corporate so we’re staying.”

  Kim turned back. A sick feeling hitting her. No. No. No.

  “We can’t stay Mack. Wait what? Those weren’t pirates?” He shook his head.

  “Nope. They thought we were.” Kim wasn’t sure what was going on but every instinct she had, was telling her to blow this joint. And if they weren’t pirates, then she had a bone to pick with them over her injuries, Mr Sparky was gonna be busy.

  She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise again. “Just remember Mack, the only thing you control here is the cargo and jobs.” She told him turning back and heading inside. This was a disaster, not good. She told herself. Mack had a habit of talking before he started thinking, but he would never betray her.

  Kim walked into the kitchen area and pressed for the beverage that was laughingly classified as coffee. She pulled her gun from its holster and checked it was fully charged, then placed it in front of her. She reminded herself you could get used to anything when you had too, and slumped into the bench seat around the table, keeping an eye on the doorway.

  Grabbing the data pad she sent a message off to Remix. She felt sorry for him but he’d given her up to those goons. That was bad business. He owed her for several of her designs. He sold them on, on her behalf as well as some jobs she’d done for him. She reminded him he’d better pay or the gravy train was over. That he didn’t want her to come calling. She gave the account details again. Business had been good and she liked this Port and its people, but nothing was forever. It’d be a shame to have to move on.

  Kim felt the movement of the automated unloading arms engaging inside the ship. She guessed that Mack had secured payment and was happy to unload the cargo to the rightful owners. They still got paid, those were the rules. Her comm pinged. “Kim, our guests would like to see the engines.” Her gut clenched. Here we go.

  “Your ship Mack, your engines.” She replied.

  “They would like to speak with you too.” I bet they did.

  “Nope. You know our agreement.”

  Kim stared into her coffee. She didn’t like this. They really needed to get off this rock. She hadn’t heard the footsteps and stilled, when she heard the sound of a chair being dragged over. Trouble was, she knew it wasn’t Mack. Kim gripped her mug and turned to face her guest. Mr Large sat and looked at her.

  She had to give it to him. For all that brooding maleness that normally just annoyed her, he was stunningly good looking, and probably knew it. His hair had all that shine going on, a bit on the girly side but on him, well, he just carried it off much to her annoyance. And those eyes. So clear, so green. Kim wondered if they were natural. He was all male alright. She hadn’t missed that the first time. She could almost taste how chiselled he was going to be. Her mouth watered. Her belly did a little dance and her panties got wet. A guy that good looking, had to be trouble.

  “I said no.” She told him blankly.

  He gave her a cold smile in return. “Shooting me take’s away any choice you had.” He told her calmly.

  Kim couldn’t help it, she laughed. It was ridiculous. He had all that big, strong male alpha solider thing going for him, and he came out with something lame like that. He suddenly looked confused and she laughed harder.

  “Does that ever work?” She asked between breathing.

  She needed a drink. Kim got up and went back to the dispenser and put in her request. “Want a drink?” She asked over her shoulder. He didn’t answer so she turned around. “Drink? Simple question. Yes or no. Either works for me.” He gave her a nod, Kim turned back and got another.

  She put both drinks down and retook hers, pulling it towards her. “How’s the leg?”

  “Flesh wound nothing serious.” He told her. Well that was just great. He was insulting her skill with a firearm.

  “I can do better.” She told him sweetly. All that alpha male stared back at her. Then burst out laughing. Now that, was just … heart clenching.

  Mack came walking into the kitchen looking confused. His gazed swinging from her to the large male. He was followed by the other guy she recognised. Seems like she was two for two. Mack thumbed back at the new comer.

  “Sorry Kim, he doesn’t understand how you did it.” Kim sighed and just nodded. She knew he wouldn’t.

  “So how’d you do it ….. Kim?” Mr large asked. He’d used her name while leaning forward intimately. Kim decided it sounded good on his lips. She licked her own and watched him follow the movement of her tongue. Her body clenched. She needed to get this under control.

  She shrugged. “Trade secret.”

  Mr large leaned back, looked over at his man. He shrugged at him.

  “It shouldn’t work but it does.” His man told him. Kim grinned. They wouldn’t be able to see all of her modifications unless they took it apart and that, wasn’t happening and if they did, it was unlikely they’d get it back again. Mr large turned back to her.

  “I think we got off on the wrong foot.” He held out his hand to her.

  “I’m Rage.”

  This female was too used to hiding Rage decided. Well no more. He liked her. She tri
ggered emotions in him that he had turned off long ago. She was so tiny, yet fearless. She reminded him of lost images of the fabled pixies of Old Earth. Only she had the smell of metal, electronics and grease along with that all female smell so uniquely hers. Rage breathed in. His sensors lit up. She aroused him. Suddenly his focus narrowed on her. Her scent lingered in the air. He could smell her desire for him. They’d be no hiding that from him. His body hummed. It called to him.

  Kim automatically took the hand and gave it a firm shake her dad would have been proud of. Rage continued to hold it and Kim felt slightly uncomfortable going for a slight tug to get it back, to no avail.

  “Could I have my hand back?” She asked annoyed she’d had to ask.

  “No not yet.” Kim grinned.

  “Not yet? Why not?” Rage continued to stare at her.

  “I like it.”

  Ok thought Kim, this was getting weird.

  “Let go of my hand Rage.” She gave him a pointed stare. He brushed his thumb across the back of her hand and goosebumps sprang out over her body. She tried to hold in the shiver. Rage grinned at her. He knew dam it. She slapped his hand with her other one quick and fast and he let go.

  “If we’ve had enough of the patty cake,” Mack interrupted concern and amusement in his voice, “I have new cargo to load.”