Soldiers of Fortune

by Joshua Dalzelle

  "That was great," Bostco said. "She rarely has to backtrack on one of her plans."

  "Is she going to be upset for long about that?" Jason asked as he and Doc followed the Commander into the passageway, leaving Crisstof in the briefing room.

  "Who Captain Ice Princess? If so she'll never show it," the orange haired alien laughed.

  "I'm sensing she's difficult to work for," Doc stated.

  "Nah, not really. She is just entirely focused on her job and only her job. But, she's easily the best Captain I've ever served with. She's saved our asses plenty of times and never comes off a mission empty handed," Bostco said as he led them through a series of passages they'd never been through. "I did like your plan though, Captain Burke. Crisstof is sometimes too unwilling to take risks for the greater good. He wants to play it safe and treat everything like a passive police action. That's why you got so much push back on what should have been an obvious course of action."

  "That explains some things," Jason admitted. "I had wondered why they were so resistant to what amounts to basic investigative work. I had thought that's why we were hired in the first place." Bostco simply shrugged, flashing his infectious smile and leading them through a secure door into a large cargo bay. The large storage area was packed with palletized cargo containers of all shapes and sizes, many bearing the crest of one government or another.

  "So what do you think would be good?" Bostco asked as he grabbed a tablet computer from a holder by the door and brought up the manifest.

  "Something that would seem plausible to steal, but something that's fairly rare and traceable," Jason answered.

  "We obviously can't hand over crates of actual armament that could be used against civilians later on. Parts for specific makes of starships are also out," Bostco mused to himself. "Oh! This might be something; focusing rods for infantry beamers." Jason had learned that "beamer" was slang for a laser emitter. Beamers were lasers, blasters fired plasma bolts, but Jason, true to his Earth heritage, preferred weapons that fired solid metal slugs.

  "I thought you said no weapons," Doc said.

  "The rods aren't the whole weapon," Jason answered for Bostco. "It's a critical piece, but it's not even the most expensive part of the weapon. The emitter source and power supply are high-cost items, but without the more rare focusing rods to polarize the light and let only the proper frequency pass to the lens, the other parts are useless." Bostco simply nodded in agreement at Jason's explanation. Doc also nodded, he was continually surprised and impressed at how quickly Jason was able to integrate into his new surroundings. Sometimes he forgot that only two short years ago the human had been wholly unaware of the galaxy beyond his own star system.

  "Do you think that will work?" Bostco asked.

  "I think so. It would be something that we could claim we were stealing for another buyer, and then they backed out, so we had to run. It would explain how we came by them and why we suddenly appeared with them," Jason said.

  "There are eight full crates of these rods," Bostco said, reading off the manifest, "and they come from a planet called Essoc. It's an average ConFed world that isn't all that far from the Concordian Cluster. Seems believable, but how are we going to enter the theft into their database so it starts to propagate out?"

  "We'll take care of that," Jason said with a smile, pulling his com unit out to call Kage and get him started breaking into Essoc's criminal tracking database.

  Jason and Doc followed Commander Bostco through the bowels of the Diligent back to the hanger deck. The two members of Omega Force weren't prepared for the sight that met them; the Phoenix had completed her transformation from sleek predator to dilapidated smuggler's scow. "What a piece of junk!" Jason exclaimed, quoting one of his favorite movies at a most fitting time. Twingo, who had never seen Star Wars, didn't understand his Captain's glee nor why he was smiling ear to ear. The comment snapped the engineer’s last frayed nerve and, after giving Jason an evil glare, he stomped up the ramp and into the cargo bay. Even Doc gave him an odd look, but said nothing.

  The Phoenix looked to have buckled hull plates, energy weapon scorching, and severe corrosion issues at first glance. It was all cosmetic, however, even down to the crumpled hull panels. Twingo had manufactured warped and scorched plates and affixed them to the outer hull with a nano-adhesive, once the signal to the molecular machines ceased, the plates would just fall off. The rest was simply creative application of colored coatings.

  When they reached the ship they could see Crusher nestled in one of the main landing gear assemblies, using the two inboard wheels as a sort of hammock, snoring away. "He got bored halfway through the modifications," Lucky explained as he walked up to the small group. The synth was covered in paint and grease, evidence that he had helped out extensively in the work.

  "It's not really his specialty," Jason said with a shrug. "Lucky, I'd like you to meet Commander Bostco, Captain Colleren's First Officer. Commander, this is Lucky, one of my crew."

  "It's an honor to meet a genuine battlesynth, sir," Bostco said, seeming to be somewhat star struck.

  "Is there such a thing as a non-genuine battlesynth?" Lucky asked.

  "Actually, you'd be surprised. People fab up robots, or try to model androids after you guys. The fakes are easy to spot though, they just never move quite like the real thing," Bostco answered.

  "Quite interesting," Lucky said. "In any case, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Commander Bostco." The Commander beamed as he shook Lucky's hand.

  They waited for another twenty minutes or so before a large door opened up in the aft bulkhead and two Diligent crewmembers pulled two hover carts through loaded down with the crates holding the focusing rods. They traversed the length of the hanger deck and, at Jason's direction, loaded them up into the Phoenix's cargo bay. Once the loading and securing was complete, the crewmembers left and Jason followed them down the ramp to the deck. He was greeted by Crisstof and Captain Colleren.

  "Good luck, Captain," Crisstof said, extending his hand. "I know you'll prove me right in hiring you." Jason just nodded and shook the older man's hand. He was surprised when Captain Colleren stepped forward and offered her own hand.

  "Be careful, Captain, these are dangerous people. If you get yourself in too deep or need backup, we'll be in the area ready to assist."

  "Thank you, Captain," Jason said as he shook her hand, enjoying how soft it felt after being stuck on a ship with all males for months on end. "I appreciate both the advice and the assistance." With a final nod to both, Jason turned and walked back up the ramp, hitting the controls to close the ship up as he headed for the bridge.

  He walked directly to his seat and clicked on the intercom, "All right boys and girls, we're about to get underway. Get everything secured and ready for flight." He was anxious to get out of the Diligent and into space. He fiddled with the nav computer, studying the way-points Kage had programmed in for their slip-jumps, waiting for clearance to begin taxing out.

  Jason saw a red, strobing light reflected off the wall and listened as the Diligent's com officer gave them clearance to leave. One of the small, hovering bots that had greeted them when they had first arrived flew in and, again, hovered in front of the canopy, now slowly pulsing a green light. He did one final check to make sure everyone was on board and looked at the aft video feed to ensure the space behind the Phoenix was clear before rolling his ship out of the servicing bay. He followed the directions of the bot in front of his ship as he taxied backwards at a crawl, not wanting to take any chances within the confined hanger bay.

  The hovering bot steered him so that his nose was pointing forward in relation to the Diligent and guided him towards a different platform from the one they came in on. It made sense to Jason, it kept an aft to fore flow to the hanger deck that would be advantageous during hectic flight ops. Once they rolled up onto the platform, the bot flashed a yellow strobe three times and then flew off; "standby."

  With a jerk, the elevator began lifting the
Phoenix up to the launch deck, which was actually the top of the Diligent's hull. They cleared the electrostatic barrier that kept the atmosphere in the hanger bay and stopped. "Gunship Phoenix, you are clear to bring primary flight systems online and launch when ready. Good hunting, Omega Force, Diligent out," the voice of the Diligent's com officer came over the ship's intercom.

  "You heard the lady," Jason said. "We seem to have worn out our welcome. Twingo, bring the reactor up and get the engines online. Kage, start aligning the nav system."

  "Copy."

  "Copy, Captain."

  Jason felt power start to pulse through his ship as the reactor ramped up and fed the grav emitters of the primary drive and the other flight systems. In under five minutes the ship was ready to launch. Jason did one more check of his instruments and crew and then nudged the Phoenix off the platform. He cycled the landing gear up and began to drift away from the Diligent on thrusters in a tangential course before throttling up the main drive and turning towards their first jump point. Twenty minutes after they had left the Diligent's deck, and all their systems had come online and checked out, the Phoenix meshed out of real space and was racing towards the Concordian Cluster and its next mission.

  * * * * *

  Since Crisstof was footing the bill for their operational costs, as well as their contract fee, Jason didn't bother with trading speed for fuel economy and had the Phoenix cranked up to eighty percent of maximum slip-space velocity. The blistering speed would put them at the edge of the Cluster within twenty hours, well ahead of their support vessel for this mission; the Diligent. Captain Colleren was flying in a well established shipping lane and was keeping their speed comparable to a like-sized cargo hauler. The result was that the Diligent wouldn't enter the Cluster for an additional eight days after the Phoenix did.

  With such a short flight, the crew had little time to do anything but prepare for their first attempt at contacting someone associated with the raiding parties that had been plaguing Eshquarian shipping. They started by cutting back, and in some cases eliminating, their hygiene regimens; Jason's wild, course hair stuck out in places and a full day's worth of beard was already visible. Crusher's "dreadlocks," which were actually sensory organs, were now splayed about his shoulders instead of pulled back neatly. The other's didn't "dirty up" in such an immediately visible fashion, but they made up for it by creating a wardrobe that looked like it hadn't been updated, or cleaned, in years. Kage, who had shown himself to be a fairly talented artist, had adorned Lucky with threatening looking symbols and phrases. Jason had to laugh at the effect; it looked like the synth had just come out of a supermax prison.

  Their first stop was a small moon, Felexx, that had been terraformed in the hopes that it would become a resort world. But, despite the stunning views the moon offered, the climate never stabilized enough for people to want to visit. As a result, the major investors had pulled out of the project and largely left it to whoever wanted it. That mostly being people who would rather not be interfered with by local or ConFed governments. The moon had a stable nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere thanks to the processors pumping out air, and gravity, while light, was also solid. The issue came from the atypical orbit the moon had assumed once the terraforming had begun, as well as a distinct wobble that had resulted from the process. For reasons the project scientists were not able to fully explain, the moon's orbital apogee increased and that shift in orbit was thought to have caused the polar axis wobble. As soon as it became apparent Felexx would never be a suitable resort location, the company involved abandoned it and over the next few hundred years it was settled by enterprising traders as well as bottom feeding criminals. It made for an exciting mix.

  The Phoenix swung into a wide orbit around the host planet and began chasing Felexx as it crossed the terminator and into the light of the primary star. Jason chose the lesser developed of the world's two spaceports to make landfall. The procedure was absurdly simple; broadcast an all-channel announcement on the com that you were attempting to land, and then wish for the best. This didn't necessarily mean others couldn't also try to leave at the same time, it was just a friendly heads-up. With no traffic control system, or controllers, ships could be seen on the sensor display coming and going at random vectors, often jumping to slip-space while still quite close to Felexx. This should be all kinds of fun.

  Once Kage broadcasted their warning on the local com channel, Jason took a quick breath and plunged the gunship into a steep entry dive, spiking the hull temperatures almost immediately. "Take it easy on your entry vector," Twingo shouted over the intercom from engineering. "Our new panels aren't hanging on by much."

  "Too late now," Jason replied. "I'll keep that in mind next time."

  They couldn't fully bring up the navigation shields without interfering with the Phoenix's "costume", and coming in hot with the combat shields raised might give the locals the wrong idea. He did reduce his speed dramatically, however, and decreased the friction burn over the hull. The canopy soon cleared as they pushed into the lower atmosphere and Jason got his first good look at the surface of Felexx. It was rather pretty, it seemed such a waste for it to be little more than an unimportant trading depot. He steered onto a new course that would take them directly to the spaceport and watched the rolling green hills pass underneath them.

  If the traffic above Felexx was disorganized, the spaceport itself could only be described as utter chaos. Ships came and went with no regard for how their flight path affected others, and the landing pad seemed to be a system of first come, first served as pilots just touched down where they could fit their ships on the tarmac that lined both sides of the main taxiway. Jason just shook his head as he tried to find a place near the outskirts of the complex that would accommodate his gunship. The less eyes on her the better; even though they had disguised her, there was still no doubt that she was a warship and not one of the light or micro freighters buzzing about the spaceport.

  Jason swung the shabby looking Phoenix in a low, wide loop that gave much of the chaos a wide berth, the number four engine blowing a steady stream of smoke in an artful touch by Twingo. He settled the ship non-eventfully on a broken section of tarmac and went about putting the ship's systems in a standby mode that would allow them to lift off quickly if needed. "Crusher, Lucky... you're with me. Doc, you and Twingo get the cargo ready to move," Jason said as he vacated his seat. "Kage, you know the drill; monitor all the com traffic and keep me up on anything that sounds interesting." He walked off the bridge to a chorus of affirmative responses as his crew set about getting ready to start the operation.

  After stopping by the armory so he and Crusher could arm themselves, Jason walked to the rear of the cargo bay and opened the ship up as he settled his plasma sidearm in its holster at his hip. When the ramp lowered enough, they saw a timid looking being waiting for them at the bottom. It was short, wide, and covered with a sleek, black fur. It also had large, bizarre looking eyes that sported three pupils of varying shapes and sizes, experience told Jason it was likely this alien saw over a much more broad spectrum than his eyes naturally would.

  "Can I help you?" He asked as he walked down the ramp. The alien looked Lucky and Crusher over before answering.

  "Yes," the being said, his deep voice seeming to indicate he was a male. "I'm the dockmaster for this section of the facility. I was just wanting to welcome you to Felexx and inquire as to the nature of your visit." The small alien didn't look like he served the spaceport in any official capacity, and Jason had encountered any number of scams trying to shake a few credits off of them when they first arrived someplace.

  "Let me guess... landing fees?" Jason asked sarcastically.

  "What? Oh my, no!" The alien exclaimed, taken aback. "If the port manager thought I was charging fees for something like landing I'd loose my franchise. I'm simply here to expedite any business you might have by pointing you in the right direction or facilitating meetings with the right people." Although still skeptical, Jason decided to
give him a chance.

  "Ok. I tell you want, we have a load of somewhat specialized cargo we'd like to offload," he said. "If you can point me in the right direction to sell it there could be some credits in it for you." At the mention of payment the alien perked up and gave Jason the location of three different buyers who might be interested in moving small arms components. After sending him on his way, the trio locked the ship back up, armed the defensive systems, and made their way to the main terminal so they could hire a ground vehicle to take them around the town that surrounded the spaceport.

  The first two were a bust; the instant the merchants caught wind that the items were illegally obtained they abruptly ended the meeting. The third, however, seemed to be far less squeamish about moving items that may have been stolen. He instead called another contact of his, who arrived shortly afterwards. The newcomer unoriginally introduced himself as "Mr. Black," an obvious alias, so Jason in turn introduced himself as "Mr. Smith." Black was concerned about the potential traceability of the items, so he insisted on a sample. Jason had already anticipated this and removed a small, cigar sized tube from his pocket and handed it over. Inside, the well-padded tube was one of the rods from the crates they were hauling. The shady trader took the crystal rod and moved over to a microscope, explaining he wanted to check the clarity and structure of the rod. Jason wasn't fooled; he was looking at the micro-etching on the side of the item that gave the name of the manufacturer and the specific lot number. This was exactly what he was wanting. Mr. Black would probably go through his own back channels and hopefully discover the "theft" that Kage had carefully planted in as many databases as he could. After that he would hopefully give them a nudge in the direction they needed to be going.