She approached the chair just as the man released another faint moan. Ryonna slapped him across the face without thinking twice.
When he tried jumping out of his chair, he was rewarded with strong pain from the energy lassos holding him in place. The pain generated increased exponentially the more the subject struggled, a fact he quickly became aware of. He soon stopped struggling.
“Who sent you to kill me, bounty hunter?”
The man looked straight at Ryonna, his bright-blue eyes trying to gauge her.
That was when it happened. She saw the moment of his death, and it looked as if Ryonna would be delivering a knife to his neck. She pushed the thought away. She rarely spared a man who had tried to kill her anyway.
“I’ve asked a question,” warned Ryonna in an icy tone.
The man looked at his restraints and then around the room.
“Last warning,” she added, with more than enough menace in her voice.
The man spat on the ground and looked at Ryonna with a wide grin. “Go fuck yoursel—”
He never finished his answer. Ryonna punched him in the stomach with full force and he spat blood onto her forearm. She grabbed his dark, purple hair and wiped the blood off his face. He tried to bite Ryonna, but she was ready for such a move. She jabbed her elbow into his throat, pushing a little more each second.
“You were saying,” said Ryonna, before sniffing heavily, “you stinking piece of crap.”
His eyes were closed from the crushing pain of Ryonna’s elbow on his throat. He could barely breathe. Just when Ryonna felt he would lose consciousness, she removed her elbow. The man wheezed heavily and coughed a little more blood before he was able to get some much-needed air back into his lungs.
“Let’s try this again. I suggest you don’t play with my patience. It’s been one of those days.”
“W . . . what . . .” He took another painful breath and tried clearing his throat. “What was the question?”
“Who sent you to kill me?”
“I can’t tell you that and you know it!”
“Wrong answer.”
Ryonna took one of the man’s own blades and jabbed it straight into his right thigh. He screamed loudly. Already suffering a headache from the alarms constantly resonating within the ship for the last half an hour, Ryonna took the man’s blaster and put it in his mouth, which promptly stopped him from shouting. His look changed from defiant to terrified in a split second. His face painted a picture of pain.
She lowered her face to his level and looked straight in his eyes.
“I suggest you suffer in silence or I’ll make sure you never make another sound again. Are we clear?”
The man slightly tilted his head up and down, one eye closed and teeth clenched on the muzzle of his own blaster.
“Now can you please turn this commotion off? I can’t hear myself think, and that usually results in bad decision making on my part.”
She took the blaster out of his mouth. He took two deep breaths. “Computer, alarms off.”
The multiple audio signals all turned off at once, and finally the headache Ryonna had had since shortly after her arrival on board started to dispel.
“Thank you. Now, if you’d be so kind as to unlock the main computer and give me full access.”
He looked at her with doubts, which Ryonna decided she had to eradicate quickly. She took the blade out of his thigh and blood started gushing. The man moaned.
“I can do this all day, but I’d rather we make it quick.”
“What’s my incentive to help you? You’ll kill me anyway.”
“That really depends on what information you give me. And in your line of work, I don’t think I need to remind you that there are many ways of killing a man, some more painful than others.”
“Not good enough. I need assurance you will let me go.”
“I give you my word.” She knew full well she wouldn’t be able to keep it.
“While Droxians are known for their honor, I don’t trust your word. No offense.”
Ryonna exhaled in frustration. She needed to get going as soon as possible. She decided to go back to physical threats and amp up her game if necessary. She didn’t enjoy torture much, but it was an effective tool when pressed for time, as she was at the moment.
She took the bloodied blade she had extracted from the man’s thigh and wiped the blood off, using the man’s dark pants. His eyes followed her every movement with concern. She then put it next to the other weapons she had confiscated from him, and started browsing the different blades, tapping each a couple of times before moving to the next, until she stopped at the morning star. She flipped it in the air like a coin and stopped it from spinning by catching it between two extended fingers. She examined it for a while, turning it around.
“This will do.”
“Will do for what?”
She grabbed his hair and bent his head backwards as she planted the morning star right under one of his eyes.
“Well, you don’t need your eyes to answer my questions.”
“WAIT!”
“Talk . . . fast!”
“Okay, okay, just don’t remove my eye.”
“Eyes.”
“I received my warrant from a guy named Grolax.”
“That no good piece of . . .” She paused in mid sentence. ”How much am I worth since my last visit to him?”
“One hundred thousand.”
“I should have ended him on Hathan Prime.”
“I can help you correct that mistake.”
“Why on Droxia would I ever need your help?”
“Well, it’s not a selfless act, obviously. I really would like to keep breathing, and it seems to me that if I have something to provide, you may be more inclined to let me.”
“Speak.”
“Grolax did amp up his security, and I don’t mean just more guards. You must have rattled him ’cause he’s got shadow droids patrolling around every place he goes, and he hired sentinels too.”
Ryonna clenched her teeth. She must have spooked Grolax for him to adopt such heavy measures in less than a day. Sentinels were renowned for being the best bodyguards in close-quarter combat. And shadow droids were no picnic either. That would make approaching him more difficult. But she had to deal with Grolax nonetheless. Not before making sure she got some important information out of him. If there was one scumbag in this part of space who could help her locate someone with information about Hellstar security measures, it was probably him.
“I take it from your silence that you’re considering my offer?”
“Don’t celebrate just yet. I was mostly thinking about what I would do to this piece of Tran’Kahr droppings once I get my hands on him.”
“Somehow I get an idea . . .”
“Believe me, you don’t.”
The man swallowed hard.
“What’s your name by the way?”
“Alix Dar.”
“Well, Alix, as a gesture of good faith, would you please give me computer control.”
He looked at her, trying to gauge if his speech had worked.
“You don’t really have a choice here. I can get access on my own and you know it. It would just take longer, unless I make you scream again and use your vocal patterns as identification for the second layer of security.”
“You thought of that, did you?” said Alix, resigned.
“That would be my next move, yes. You gave me the idea when you squealed a few moments ago.”
“Speaking of that, would you mind if we did something about that wound? I’m starting to feel light headed.”
“Then I suggest you speak faster, starting with computer control.”
“Computer, accept executive-level control by all current passengers.”
“Confirmed,” replied the onboard control.
“Thanks,” said Ryonna, jumping into the chair next to Alix’s.
“What are you doing?”
“Setting a course f
or Hathan Prime. Fortunately, we aren’t very far away, but I’d rather not lose any more time.”
“What’s so urgent?”
“None of your business, Alix,” snapped Ryonna, pointing a warning finger at him. “Let’s get this straight right now. I’m willing to spare you, for the time being, but you may want to restrain from asking questions about things that don’t concern you.”
“My bad. I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m really sorry,” said Alix with fear in his eyes.
Ryonna realized she probably overreacted to that last question, but she didn’t feel like acknowledging it. After all, this man had tried to blow her out of the stars, a fact she wasn’t going to forget anytime soon, no matter how useful he proved to be.
“Course set,” said Ryonna, just a second after the engines started humming. “Looks like your self-repairing systems are quite efficient. We still don’t have jump-engine capabilities. Must have damaged that too.”
“My nano repair circuitry is the best. I’m sure it will be fixed soon. We’re only a few hours away from Hathan at full, sub-light burn. The jump engines might be fixed by then.”
“I hope so. I’ll need your ship for a few days.”
“If it means I keep breathing, you can have it.”
Alix’s eyes blinked rapidly.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I . . . I don’t feel so—”
But Alix never finished his sentence and lost consciousness.
“Great! Next stop med-bay, I guess.”
Chapter 3
When Alix came around, Ryonna was standing over him with a hypo spray.
“Feeling better?” she asked, without a hint of worry in her voice.
“I . . . I guess. How . . . how long was I out?”
“Not long. About half an hour. I’ve used your medical facilities to patch you up.”
“I would hardly call myself a facility,” said a tall, lean and pale-skinned humanoid with blond and gray hair and beard.
Alix yawned as he extended his arms at his sides.
“I see you found the holo-doc.”
“Yeah, he activated himself automatically as I entered the med-bay.”
“Glad to see it works. I hadn’t required his assistance until now. Hello, Doc,” said Alix with a slight wave of his hand.
“Hello, Captain, your wound has been fixed, and we have administered painkillers as well as a stimulant, though this last was done against my better judgment,” said the doc, shooting a cold stare towards Ryonna, shortly before turning his attention back to Alix. “You should be back to full health in less than a day.”
Alix nodded. “Thanks, Doc.”
“You’re perfectly welcome.”
Ryonna looked at the holo-doc, then at Alix. “How do you turn him off?”
“Please refer to me as ‘Doctor.’ As per your previous inquiry, I would like to stay active so I can monitor my patient.”
Ryonna frowned at the tone of the hologram. “That won’t be necessary. Turn off . . . Doctor.”
“I must insist.”
“Now!” said Ryonna.
“Very well. Don’t hesitate to reactivate me if needed.”
“We’ll do just that,” said Ryonna, rolling her eyes, annoyed by the hologram’s condescending tone.
The holo-doc vanished into thin air.
“That’s a practical yet rather annoying piece of technology.”
“It’s this sort of technology that we will require for you to approach Grolax safely.”
“I don’t follow. Explain.”
“I purchased this particular holo-doc tech as well as other pieces of tech from a friend in the Zathnor sector. I grant you his AI personality matrix is somewhat quirky, but overall his tech is very good quality. The other piece is a holo-camouflage suit. You could use it to approach Grolax without him knowing it was you.”
“Interesting. How does it work?”
“You feed it DNA, and then the suit projects the new DNA.”
“Who should I approach Grolax as?”
“Well, me, obviously. In the pretense of cashing in your death warrant.”
“We’re not exactly the same corpulence, you and I, though you’re pretty big for a humanoid.”
“I know. You’d better go disguised in my full-combat body armor. That should pretty much fill the gap. The device will do the rest.”
“Won’t he ask for proof of my demise?”
“I’m sure he will. We can doctor that, present him either a fake video of your ship blowing, or present him your head or something.”
“My head?” Ryonna raised an eyebrow. “How exactly do you propose we doctor that?”
“Well, you see that piece of equipment over there,” said Alix, pointing toward a cylindrical tank with big wires attached to it.
“What about it?”
“It replicates living tissue perfectly, in case I ever need to replace a limb or something. I’m sure it can make a pretty convincing replica of your severed head.”
Ryonna smiled. She had to admit Alix was surprisingly resourceful. She wondered why she had seen herself kill him in her vision. At the moment she rather enjoyed his ideas. But perhaps this was all part of his plan to lower her guard and make another move when the time felt right. She would have to stay on her toes.
“That could work, and it would make a hell of an entrance too.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Pieces were starting to come together in Ryonna’s mind and a plan was taking shape.
“We still need to find a way to separate him from his security,” continued Alix, “but at least you have an approach.”
“I’ve got an idea for that part. That is, if you’re willing to help.”
“Like I said before, whatever keeps me breathing.” Alix attempted a smile.
“About that. Let’s make one thing clear right now. I will need to trust you when we reach Hathan Prime. You could use that to escape, but I just want to make sure you understand what would happen if you double cross me.”
“I have a pretty good idea.”
“Good.”
When Ryonna entered the bar on Hathan Prime, she looked like Alix in full combat gear, which drew weird looks from people nearby. Fortunately, all sorts of people and races came here, so she didn’t look too much out of place. Discreetly, she dropped a small device under the nearest empty table in proximity to the barman and then looked around for Grolax’s table. He had moved to a much more defensible position within the bar, which gave him a good look at anyone approaching his table and more than enough time to react.
Paranoid are we? Well, you’re right to be.
She walked towards him and the sentinels detected her and locked their gazes onto her.
“Back already?” said Grolax. “I hope you come bearing good news.”
Ryonna grabbed her bloody, replica head from a bag and threw it on the table. It was a weird experience and sent a shiver down her spine. Grolax was startled when the head hit the table, but was soon grinning from ear to ear.
“How’s that for good news?”
“Excellent! You certainly live up to your reputation, Mr. Dar.”
Ryonna really hoped that if Alix wanted to double cross her it wouldn’t be now. He was essential for the next part of the plan. She activated the beacon that would alert him, while holding her arms behind her back.
“Please sit, Mr. Dar, so I can provide your payment. I’m in such a good mood that I think I’ll give you a ten percent bonus for your swift and decisive results.”
Ryonna sat opposite Grolax. She had to fight all her instincts to prevent herself shooting the bastard between the eyes. She needed him alive a little longer.
“Would you mind?” said Grolax, pointing at the gruesome head in the middle of the table.
Ryonna picked up the prop head and dropped it onto the floor. It made an unpleasant squishy noise.
“Sorry about that. I have terrible manners sometimes.”
>
“That’s okay. I like your style Mr. Dar. So much so, in fact, that I might have more jobs for you soon.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Ryonna tried to keep conversation to a minimum. While her holo-suit replicated everything from the provided DNA, voice included, she didn’t know Alix well enough to pass herself off as him. He had briefed her somewhat, but as time was of the essence, she preferred keeping things simple: like not talking too much.
Grolax took a small, glass communications device and entered a few commands. It flashed green for a moment.
“There, one hundred and ten thousand credits have been wired to your account. Would you like to get something to drink? It’s on me.”
“If this place carries Brin’s beer I’d gladly have one, thank you.”
Grolax gestured with his head as he put his personal computer back into one of his pockets. One of his sentinels went to the bar to order the drinks. Now was the time to act. When he was near the table she had prepared earlier, she put both her hands under the table and activated the detonator hidden on her wrist. She closed her eyes and covered her ears. Before anyone could react the flash bomb detonated, temporarily blinding everyone in range, as well as releasing a deafening and disorienting sound. The first sentinel was thrown against the barstool. It hit very hard, but Ryonna thought she saw a brief, yellow force field absorb most of the blast.
Crap! If that was a protective smart shield she just saw . . .
The answer came with instant pain as the second sentinel, clearly unimpaired by Ryonna’s diversion, punched her square in the jaw. The sheer power of the blow gave her an unusual sensation. While she had been beaten before, she rarely felt such power behind a single blow, except when it came from other Droxians. Still, it did not send her down. But she had lost the element of surprise that her plan was resting upon. She needed to react swiftly or there would be dire consequences. She only had a few seconds before Alix came for her on a timed flyby. She needed to be outside the bar with Grolax in less than a minute.
The first sentinel stood up and ran towards their table just as the second sentinel, who had just punched her, attacked again. She dodged the arching kick just in time and grabbed her attacker’s leg. When she smashed her elbow against the man’s knee, she was rewarded with yet another jolt of pain. The personal shielding didn’t let her break the leg as she had hoped. She reacted quickly, powering through the pain by kicking the man’s other leg. That meant receiving yet another jolt of pain, but she caused him to lose balance and crash to the ground. By then the other sentinel was incoming, in midair, ready to deliver a flying kick. She arched her back to dodge the attack, grabbed her blaster, which was set to kill, and shot three times in quick succession. The first two shots were absorbed by the smart shields that briefly radiated yellow upon impact, but the third laser fire went through. The sentinel ended his course by crashing headfirst into the table.
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 35