“Would you mind forwarding me a boilerplate contract?” Nick asked.
Mr. Chen pinched the air in front of him and tossed it at Nick’s tablet.
“I’ll get our lawyer to look at this and then send it back to you,” Nick continued.
“That’ll work. How about you let me negotiate with the co-op? Like I said, since I’m an investor, our objectives line up together.”
“That makes sense to me,” Nick said.
Walking out of the restaurant, I had a good feeling. I couldn’t think of a better way to honor Adela Chen than to talk about sailing. Nick and Marny went to the electronics shop for earwigs and by the time we got back to the resort it was late again. We took a dip in the hot springs but found ourselves back in bed before midnight.
The rest of the week turned into an easy rhythm; up at 0800, light breakfast, training with Marny in squad tactics in the morning and different outings in the afternoon. I loved hanging out with the two of them. Our group felt oddly like it had once been with Nick, Tabby and myself, with the obvious addition of having to avert my eyes occasionally.
Friday morning I had that sense I get when things are about to change. And boy, I couldn’t have been more right.
“Morning, Cap,” Marny said in her usual cheery tone. “Breakfast is on the counter and then I need you to put on an armor suit.”
Marny was already decked out in her black combat armor. I marveled, once again, at her transformation from normal person to warrior. The combat armor’s tight fitting, but slight additional bulk, accentuated her extraordinarily muscular build. I’d seen her in action before and knew this wasn’t simply for show.
“Why do we need armor? I thought we got to be the bad guys today,” I asked.
“Most of the time it’s just for safety. Today, however, we are up against a martial only team.”
“What’s martial only?” Nick asked from the couch.
“No ranged weapons unless they are thrown.”
“Ugh, not sure I want to get a knife in the throat,” Nick's face went a little pale.
“We’ll have helmets on and they’ll have safety weapons. Nothing to sweat about.”
We looked pretty awesome walking through the lobby of the resort and drew more than our share of attention. It was a short cab ride to our destination, but we unloaded at a new location. The last four days in a row we’d gone to the same building that kept reconfiguring itself to Marny’s designs. I’d been the most impressed with the forest encounter, enough so that I’d made Marny and Nick go on a hike in the forested hills near the resort Thursday afternoon. But this morning we didn't know what we were going to be in for.
“The way this works is we’re extras in their encounter. The players won’t know if we’re real or holo. The holo actors will respond to our actions so be careful about giving away your position. When you’ve taken incapacitating damage, your helmet will light up bright blue. Do not try to re-engage the players once you are blue. Also, once you’re down, the AI will show you an exit after the players have passed. Follow the path the AI gives you, you might be able to re-enter the encounter.”
Marny had bright red patches on her shoulders and Nick and I didn’t.
“What’s with the patches on your shoulders?”
“I’m announcing that I’m open to martial combat. If one of the players wants a tussle, I’m willing to cooperate.”
“Are you nuts?” I asked, even though I was a little impressed.
“Aye Cap. That I am. Only way to stay sharp is to know the next one’s gonna hurt.”
We pulled on the helmets that were sitting on a shelf in the first room we entered. I grabbed a flechette pistol. I figured if I brought a blaster rifle I’d never get a chance to use it. These guys would want to fight close up and were probably good enough to make sure that happened. I needed a gun I could quickly maneuver.
My AI interfaced with the scenario and a map popped up. It was different than what we’d run, but I suspected there were millions of variations. I loved the way this one was organized. Instead of a hallway with adjoining rooms this was some sort of large mechanical room. There were giant pipes, small alcoves, stairwells and catwalks. From my perspective, I'd prefer to drop a bomb, because you’d never successfully clear it. There were too many hiding places.
My thought was, whoever we were up against was going to be really good. Obvious hiding places wouldn’t fool them for a moment. I checked to see where the holo actors were located. There were some out in the open but a number of them were tucked away in shallow alcoves.
I picked my first spot - wedged behind a large pipe and had a good view of two of the holos hidden in alcoves. I couldn’t see how anyone would be able to take out those two without me getting a decent shot on them. All of the holo actors were wearing the same helmets we had. A couple of them even had red patches on their shoulders. I was sure this was to keep the playing field as level as possible.
Players have entered the scenario. Prepare for contact. The AI’s warning was ominous and caused my blood pressure to rise. It felt more like the start of a pod-ball game than the incursion Marny and I executed back near Baru Manush. Marny was right, since they couldn’t really hurt me, it made a difference.
I kept the pistol up near my chest. I wanted to give myself the best chance I could at actually getting a shot off. My confidence with the fletchette had grown significantly in the last several weeks. Marny worked with me on the ship and I was able to get at least thirty minutes of practice in every day, even while we were on shore leave. The nice thing about the flechette was you could practice just about anywhere, printing practice ammo to fit the situation.
From the corner of my eye I caught a slight movement, but didn’t want to give away my position by reacting too quickly. I stayed completely still, scanning the area, but couldn’t find anything. I thought someone could be up and to the right. Frak, maybe I was just hallucinating, too amped up on expectations.
The attack on the first holo player happened in the blink of an eye. A small, lithe figure, dressed entirely in black (imagine that), jumped silently from an upper level, rolled forward, extended a long black pole and thwacked the holo actor’s head violently. I lowered my gun in her direction but before I could get a bead on her she’d vaulted back up over the alcove and disappeared.
She - I presumed it was a she based on her relative size - had been on the ground for no more than a couple of seconds and made no more noise than a slight scuffing. She might as well have been operating in zero-g as easily as she’d vaulted up and out of the way. I was starting to consider the openness of this encounter as a disadvantage to me.
I imagined she would make the same type of strike on the second alcove. No way had she seen me. I lowered my gun to try and fire at her, but her back was to me.
“Nice try, cheesecake.” A rough whisper in my right ear, just before I felt the pressure of a soft object swipe across my throat. My helmet lit up blue. I looked over at the chiseled face of a man several centimeters taller than myself. He had bright blue eyes that were alight with amusement at taking me so easily.
I nodded, not wanting him to think me a poor sport. How he had so easily dropped in on me, I had no idea. I wondered if that had been the entire gambit. They’d discovered me the first time I’d spotted movement. Then the black-suited woman kept me distracted at the same time she took out another combatant. I vowed I wouldn’t ignore a warning like that again.
“You still up?” Nick asked through the comm.
“No. I had a slight warning but really didn’t stand a chance.”
“I didn’t see anything. My helmet just went blue right after I felt a thump on the back of my head.”
“You get a look at ‘em?” I asked.
“Yes. Guy about your height, really muscular, like Belcose.”
“One who got me was tall, fairly muscular. I also got a good look at their third. I think a woman, small and incredibly fast.”
“Marny still
up?”
“Yup. She’d be on channel if she wasn’t”
“I’m down, damn it.” I was surprised. Marny wasn’t prone to cussing. “Got suckered. I saw a big old boy and I wanted to get into it with him. Someone tapped me out right then and there with a thrown weapon.”
“Sorry Marny. I’m about to re-enter.”
“My fault, Cap, won’t happen again.”
The next few scenarios ran pretty much the same way. I got a couple of shots off but never came close to hitting anyone. It was always a misdirection. One of them would get my attention in one direction and then someone else would take me out from another. I needed a better approach.
The final scenario was set in a heavily wooded forest. Ugh, I had virtually no experience in the forest. The scenario map showed two buildings; a barn and a building next to a stream. I’d been pretty consistent in trying to set traps, waiting for someone to attack a holographic combatant. I wondered if they might be keying off my predictable choices. This team had probably run enough scenarios that they could easily figure out where the holo players would be set up. By now, they knew right where to find me based on how the holo players were reacting.
It was time to mix things up a bit. I felt like this team was relying on the predictability of the holo players too much. Maybe I could use that against them. Nothing else had worked, so it was worth a try.
My understanding of the holo players over the last few days was that they operated in a limited area. They would path around; some using a linear path, some just a set of boundaries, like a room, hallway or small building. Marny had said that the holo players responded to us. If I had enough time, I was pretty sure I could make something work.
“Nick, on my six!” I said.
“Roger.” Nick ran out from behind a tree and we sprinted down the road to the other side of a bridge and into one of the old wooden buildings we’d seen on the map. As I expected, there were four holo players in the building on the first level.
“You willing to be bait?” I asked.
“Can you take one out?”
“Better odds, I think.”
“Let’s do it,” he said.
I explained my plan and we took our positions. Nick hid behind a large wooden cupboard. It was a good hiding spot and would give him a chance in a normal scenario. Of course, this wasn’t normal.
I held my pistol as if I were pointing it at someone directly across from me. I’d seen holo players lining up like this a million times over the last few days. I picked my route and started pathing it faithfully. It was all about repetition. I kept my eyes alert but didn’t move my head side to side, like someone who’d been thwacked a dozen times in the last couple of hours.
One moment I was walking up the stairs and the next I heard a slight scuffling below, near Nick’s position. I spun around and fired just above Nick’s position on full automatic. The figure who’d just thwacked Nick with a Bo Staff was launching themselves up the stairs at me. His helmet lit up blue.
“Frak!” He gave me a quick salute and sat down. My helmet lit up blue just after I felt a soft thud on the back of it. It had required sacrificing both Nick and myself to take out one of them, but I felt like we’d still achieved the impossible.
In the end, we’d played scenarios, not real life. Our opponents had been relying too much on the weaknesses and limitations of the holo players. For me, that was the crack in their armor.
“Come down. It’s an impasse.” I heard a woman’s alto voice call from outside the building. “You’re past my weapon range and you’ll never hit us.”
I looked at the extremely muscular man who was seated on the wooden stairs. He shrugged at me as if to say, why not? I gave him my hand to help him up. He surely didn’t need my help, but he accepted it. I have always liked a good sport. The three of us exited the building and walked toward the clearing.
“Mano a mano takes all,” Marny called from a nearby tree.
“Accepted,” the small woman said.
The woman had no sooner responded when Marny swung down easily from a lower branch of the tree and into the clearing. She landed in a three point stance with her eyes locked on the small figure. In her free hand, Marny held a long black Bo Staff. I had no idea where she’d come up with the weapon. It was the second time I’d seen her with this staff in a combat situation. The first had been on the pirate base near Baru Manush.
The small woman didn’t hesitate and launched an attack at Marny. Her speed was difficult to follow, the staff she held spun around her body at angles that were visibly impossible to identify. It was mostly just a blur. A fourth figure joined us - the taller man who had taken me out so silently in the first scenario.
Marny gave ground to the woman who was less than half of her own mass. She was obviously trying to judge the enigma that approached. Making her decision, Marny stepped into the whirlwind. The staffs connected with a resounding crack. Having successfully stopped the maelstrom, Marny pushed her advantage and started methodically striking and trying to overpower her adversary.
The small woman made a surprising move and dropped her staff to the ground. She did this at the same time Marny swung through with a hard strike. Marny was pulled forward, off balance. Up to this point, Marny had been hammering the smaller woman, and with each blow, advancing.
The small woman jumped forward, placing one of her feet on the side of Marny’s calf, using it as a step to bring her even with Marny. She unloaded a vicious blow into Marny’s helmet with her fist. Helmet or not, I would have gone down. Marny staggered but didn’t fall and had the presence of mind to use the smaller woman’s momentum and her own over-commitment to allow her body to spin around.
The woman was thrown forward as Marny gave an extra push with the back of her staff. I recognized the next move as the woman, instead of landing, rolled over her shoulder and back up to a standing position. It was a basic Aikido maneuver that one of my own adversaries had taught me not so many weeks before.
Marny, seeing her opponent without a staff, threw her own aside. She gave the smaller woman the universal signal for ‘bring it’ and beckoned her forward.
The woman gave a small forward nod and brought her fists up in a classic boxing stance. It looked ridiculous. She was giving up forty kilos and twenty centimeters. Marny took it plenty seriously and adopted a wary martial artist stance. Apparently, the woman was bluffing since as soon as she saw Marny’s stance, she also switched up.
She launched herself at Marny in a flurry of blows. Marny defended, moving at speeds that I thought were beyond her. For nearly a minute the two women traded strikes. The smaller trading two for Marny’s every one. Their fatigue was evident, especially Marny’s.
The bout finally ended when Marny slightly overplayed one of her strikes. The smaller woman ducked under and slithered up Marny like a snake in a tree, ending up behind her, with her legs wrapped around Marny’s chest. One arm was hooked under Marny’s jaw and the other levered it like a vice.
“Submit?” she asked breathily.
“Frak. I submit.” The woman immediately let go and dropped to the ground, sitting unceremoniously. Marny fell back heavily and lay out on the ground next to her.
“Marny Bertrand.” Marny held her hand over to the seated woman.
“Tali Liszt.”
IT'S A SMALL WORLD
The heavily muscled man, whom I’d lured, using Nick as bait, turned to me with an easy smile and stuck his hand out to me. “Ben Rheel, friends call me Jammin.”
“Liam Hoffen,” I replied. “And this is Nick James.”
“Jordy Kelti.” The taller of the two joined us. At two meters tall, he was significantly taller than all of us. He was also well muscled but not to the extent of Ben. “Nice takedown on Jammin. Maybe we grab a beer and you tell us how you did that.”
“Just got lucky.” I definitely felt that way.
Jammin looked from Jordy Kelti back to me. “That wasn’t luck.” It was a statement of fact. There wa
s no challenge or question, simply a statement. I didn’t know how to respond, so I looked back toward the two women on the ground.
“That was quite a show,” I said.
“Yeah, Tali’s going to be pissed,” Jordy said, chuckling.
“How’s that?” Nick asked. “She came out on top.”
“Tali’s more of a one-shot, one-kill type of gal. The fact that it took her seventy-six seconds is going to really chafe her.”
“I had seventy-eight,” Jammin said.
We walked over to where the two women were recovering. Marny sat up as we approached.
“Everyone still whole over here?” Jordy asked.
This earned him a glare from the smaller woman, Tali.
“Aye,” Marny said. “But I’m gonna need a patch for my jaw tonight.” She nursed the side of her face.
“Are you sure? It felt like an iron plate to me.” The woman smiled admiringly at Marny.
I held my hand out to Tali as Nick had already made it to Marny. She accepted the help and it only took the lightest pull on my part and she sprung to her feet.
“Liam Hoffen.”
“Shite, no kidding. Tali Liszt,” she answered. I looked at her, slightly confused, but pushed on. “And my buddy, Nick James.”
“We got a thing going tonight, Captain. You guys join us for barbeque?” Tali asked. This caused me to do a double take. I quickly replayed the conversation and couldn’t find a reference to my being a Captain. Tali obviously noticed my confused look. “You show up. I’ll explain. Say, 0600?” She pinched an address and tossed it at me.
My HUD showed the location to be well south of Puskar Stellar in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. Odder and odder. I looked at Nick and Marny, who both nodded their agreement.
“We’ll be there,” I said.
“Until then,” She nodded to us and walked to the nearby exit, Jammin and Jordy following along in her wake.
“Well, that kinda spiked my weird-o-meter,” I said.
When we exited the building we watched three grav-bikes flying away at high speed, all in different directions.
Privateer Tales 3: Parley Page 11