“Welcome to Station One-Eight-Two,” the Yollin said. “My name is Denigh. How can I help you?”
Tabitha held out her hand, and the Yollin looked down at it, then up to her face. “Do I take your hand?”
Tabitha nodded before remembering he wouldn’t understand human mannerisms. “Yes, in our world it is a customary greeting. The practice goes back in time, where it showed we didn’t have a weapon to stick into the person we were meeting.”
Denigh reached out and grabbed the smaller alien’s hand. “I assume, since your hand is so soft, that squeezing hard would harm you.”
Tabitha raised an eyebrow. “How about we give it a try? The first one who says ‘Uncle' has to buy the other a drink.”
Tabitha grinned and the Yollin didn’t answer, just started squeezing. Tabitha continued smiling as his mandibles started making an almost imperceptible noise like two horns rubbing against each other. Denigh looked at her as she calmly accepted his effort.
“Now, Station Manager Denigh, it is my turn,” she told him and started to squeeze.
The larger Yollin, whose hands had minor levels of chitinous armor protecting his fingers, looked down in surprise as the smaller hand began to cause him substantial pain. “I’m not sure if you need your hands, Station Manager, but I guarantee I will continue squeezing until you say ‘Uncle’ or I break through your hand’s tough outer shell to get to the squishy insides.”
Denigh’s mandibles started tapping together quicker and quicker as he put everything he had into smashing the alien’s hand. “YIELD!” he screamed.
But she didn’t let up.
“Benkle!” he yelled as he went to his knees, the cracking of his hand’s armor loud in his ears. “No, UNCLE!” he cried, and the pressure was released.
“I hope you have some good drinks,” Tabitha told him. “You owe me. What say we go get some now?”
Denigh was rubbing his hand. “Sure. It will probably help me with this pain.”
Moments later, Ryu walked ahead of the group and Hirotoshi brought up the rear as Denigh and Tabitha walked through the space station, the manager explaining what they were seeing as he rubbed his hand.
“Down this hall,” he pointed left, “are the quarters for most who live and work here. We are a smaller station, with docks for twenty ships. If a ship is too large, we have two shuttlecraft that can each hold twenty Yollins. We use them to ferry crew and passengers back and forth.”
“How many work on this station?” Tabitha asked. “From the outside, it looked like this station was at least a hundred stories tall.”
“What are these ‘tales’ you talk about?” Denigh asked. “and how do you use ‘tales’ to figure out size?”
Tabitha thought about her comment for a moment. “Sorry, stories in our world also speak to levels of a building. I’m suggesting it’s a thousand feet tall.”
The Yollin worked the height difference out in his head. “We are actually about twenty percent taller than what you suggest if my translation is correct about your feet to Yollin units.”
Tabitha whistled. “It should be, and damn, that is huge.”
The Yollin puffed out his chest. “We aren’t the largest station in the Eubos System. We are sixth, and those that are larger than us exceed our size by a large margin.”
“Why so many?” Tabitha asked.
“Well…” Denigh started warming up to the conversation, but then pointed to his right, “oh, and down that way is my office, if you should need me.” Finally he continued the explanation. “This solar system doesn’t have a decent world to inhabit. It’s smaller—considerably smaller than Yoll—and has had a significant amount of meteorite impacts that have taken out a large part of the population, so the local species never got off planet. However, for those of us who can mine in space, it is like going around and picking up precious metals off the ground.”
He looked over at the alien. “It isn’t quite so easy as that, but it is significantly easier than trying to dig far into a planet.”
Tabitha nodded. “I understand.”
Two turns later the four reached the area on the station which had a few places to eat, and as many places to drink. When they entered the double doors of one of the drinking establishments, Tabitha did a double-take.
There were humans here?
“Who is that?” Chrillen pointed to the four who had just walked into the bar. He and the other two Skaines had dropped into Station One-Eight-Two just hours before. They had spent the last three days in the back of nowhere, having finally sold their last two slaves to a small mining outfit.
“Probably someone working on this damned station,” Mrik said, raising his drink to his mouth. “But it is my first time here, so it’s a guess.”
Chrillen turned to look back at his business partner. “Most Yollins you see work for the station, idiot.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m talking about the new aliens next to him. The two in the corner look like Torcellans, but their skin is darker, their hair is not white, and I don’t think they have purple eyes.” He looked again. “Too dark in here to see that much detail.”
Avar leaned forward in the booth to look at the new people. “Torcellans make excellent slaves. Very practical with their hands, and damned easy to train.” He leaned back. “Shame the two here are protected.”
“What about the Yollin?” Mrik asked, his curiosity peaked. Three Torcellans would be worth as much as a dozen of the slaves they just sold.
Plus, they had buyers already lined up.
“Try to pay him off?” Chrillen asked.
“Aww, damn,” Denigh said aloud.
“What?” Tabitha asked.
“There is a table of Skaines in the back. I suppose they just landed recently, or I’d have heard complaints already. As a race, I’ve never found one who isn’t into some business that is usually forbidden or frowned upon.”
“Murder?” Tabitha asked.
“For profit?” Denigh considered. “Actually, not normally. They rob, steal, cheat, slave, pimp, cheat… Wait, did I say cheat already?”
“Yes, and I’m confirming you said ‘slave,' right?” Tabitha asked.
“Yes, certainly. In fact, they are wearing the colors of a slaving ship.”
“Oh, perfect,” Tabitha answered. “They seem to be getting up.”
“Probably thinking you are a type of Torcellan or,” he looked at the top of Tabitha’s head, “no, not even a Skaine would think you are an Aen.’
“Why not?” she asked.
“You have hair on the top of your head,” he answered.
“You think they are coming over here?” Tabitha asked.
“Oh, definitely. I’ll get rid of them. They will talk to me first, to make sure they can buy me off before they try to take you.”
“Oh, get your cut, Denigh,” she told the surprised station manager. “Just make sure you get it up front, because anything that is on their bodies after we get done with them is ours.”
Denigh looked sideways at the alien. “You aren’t trying to catch me doing something wrong?”
“Actually, I consider it wages for acting,” Tabitha told him. “Make it look good, so they won’t realize it isn’t for real.”
Worked for him.
The three Skaine walked up, and the whole bar turned to watch the groups face off.
“Achronyx?” she subvocalized. “Anything about Skaines that can cause us problems in a bar brawl?”
“They cheat,” he responded through their implant, “and they are pirates and slavers. Assume that if you lose you will be enslaved.”
Nothing like a little encouragement. “Pass that on to Tontos One and Two.” Both vampires turned to look at their boss, and Ryu rolled his eyes when the EI passed on the warning.
The first Skaine, his outfit dark blue with gold edges, looked the three up and down. “Torcellans?”
Tabitha raised an eyebrow as she slowly looked at the three aliens, their big heads hooded, and replied, “
Assholes?”
Ryu snorted before he could stop himself, and Tabitha chuckled. One of these days she would catch Hirotoshi off-guard, and then her life would be complete.
Apparently, the translation programs worked just fine. All three aliens became agitated.
Next to her, the Yollin started speaking in a language she didn’t have loaded. “What the hell, Achronyx?” she subvocalized again. “Why can’t we understand anything they are saying?”
“Working on it, Ranger Tabitha.”
Damn, her EI got all proper when it was his underwear down at his ankles, didn’t he? She would have to see if the EI’s ego was deflated by comments about previous mistakes, just like a guy’s. If so, then her communications with the EI were going to be so much easier.
“They are using a rare dialect. A trading language. Updating your implants…now.”
“And that is why they are worth the money, Chrillen. They are twice as useful as a Torcellan.” He pointed to Tabitha. “She might be puny-looking, but she is stronger than she looks. Perhaps they are from a high-gravity world…I don’t know.”
“One-sixty is the highest I’ll go for the men. I’ll give you two-hundred for the female. I can always say she is a good incubator,” the alien told Denigh.
Tabitha carefully kept a comment safely tucked behind her teeth, although she planned on knocking this asshat’s teeth right out.
“Ok, but I want payment up front. If they understood what we are saying, my future will be shit.”
The middle alien paused, then nodded. The one to his right reached in his clothing and pulled out a purse. He dumped the contents into his hand, then grimaced. “It’s four-eighty…just a little short.”
Tabitha noticed he had pocketed four coins at the last moment.
Denigh hmmphed, but held out his hand. The Skaine slipped the coins back into the purse and tightened the top, then tossed it to the Yollin, who turned to walk away. “Good luck.”
Tabitha watched him walk away. Just who the hell was he wishing good luck to?
16
So, you didn’t get the memo?” Tabitha asked the middle Skaine, who wearing the blue robes. The two on each side of him were dressed in gray. “Don’t suppose the clothes colors tell me anything about you guys?”
“If you aren’t an ignorant Torcellan, what are you?” Chrillen asked. “I’d like to know so I can sell you appropriately.
Tabitha, keeping an eye on the three but with turned her head slightly to Ryu, said, “You got that, right?”
“Hai.”
“Ok, just making sure.” She turned back to the three Skaine. “One second, you jackasses are my first bag in Eubos, so please be patient,” she put up a finger, “for one fucking second while I find out if my recalcitrant pain-in-the-ass EI has your ship locked down.”
“I did not,” Achronyx replied in her ear, “but I should have. Ok, they are locked from leaving. I have taken over the Yollin station’s systems, but, it will take me time to confirm their ship is under control. I don’t have any Skaine protocols.”
“Well, get them,” Tabitha told him. “Don’t make me show you how to do it.”
Back in the ship, the EI calculated whether the Ranger could accomplish her threat. He calculated a twenty-three-point-seven percent chance of success on her first try. After two days, she had an eight-eight-point-one percent chance of success.
The EI finally replied, “Working on it.”
“Ok, so here is what the memo said.” Tabitha spoke loudly so as many people in the bar as possible would hear her. “Yollins, and the systems claimed by the Yollins, are now part of the Etheric Empire. That places the Eubos system under Empress Bethany Anne, and she has issued an edict that slavery is to stop. Those who are slaves will need to be moved to non-slave status. For those who continue working the slave trade inside the Etheric Empire—you will be summarily executed if you choose not to comply immediately.”
“Uh huh,” Chrillen commented. “For a slave-to-be you have a big mouth, I’ll give you that.” The Skaine leader commented. “Any particular reason you think you won’t be a slave in a few moments?”
“You know, you should probably never ask a Ranger shit like—” Tabitha, Hirotoshi, and Ryu moved.
The Skaines on either side of Chrillen were turning something in their pockets, and little bumps became visible. The two Skaines were definitely pointing something through their robes.
Tabitha jumped into the air, and Hirotoshi and Ryu went out to the sides.
There was a high-pitched thrumm, and she heard Ryu bitching. Hirotoshi grabbed a chair made out of some sort of plastic and used it like a fly-swatter, hitting his target upside his head.
Ryu pivoted on his right leg and swung a fist behind him as he moved forward. Ryu’s eyes were red. The surprised Skaine caught a backhanded fist in his face, and his eyes blanked before the sheer power of the punch threw him backward.
The lead Skaine’s eyes registered surprise, then narrowed in annoyance. He tried to keep her in sight, looking up and over his shoulder to find her behind him, and he had only managed to turn halfway around when her kick caught him under the arm.
Two Yollins were arguing. “There is no way that we can drop the gravitics energy twenty percent and still have the food grow properly. They need to strive against gravity to strengthen the fibers in their stalks…” The first Yollin reached for the door to the bar, yanking it open as he continued his argument, “in order to…”
A body in a dark blue robe flew out of the now-open door and slammed against the wall to their left.
Both Yollins froze, surprised at the unexpected violence, as the clang of the body hitting the wall reverberating. A few individuals came out of their doors to look up and down the hallway to see what was going on.
“That’s a Skaine,” the second Yollin told his friend.
The Yollins stood transfixed as another person walked out of the bar.
She was dressed in black and was wearing a bulky coat, and she looked pissed. “Come back here, you lazy-assed cheating nut-knocker! I’m not done with you yet.” She grabbed the obviously unconscious Skaine’s foot and turned around, dragging him back into the bar. “Try to start the fight before we say ‘Go?’ Fuck you and the ship you rode in on. I’m going to shove my size-eight boots up your alien ass, you fucktardian asshatus maximus. Gott Verdammt, trying to shoot my guys like that.” She looked at the two surprised Yollins.
“Thank you for holding the door. That was very gentlemanly of you,” she told the first Yollin, who was still holding the door open. “I’ll be done in a moment,” she called back as she walked back into the establishment. Unfortunately, the Skaine’s head caught on the frame. They heard her say from inside the place, “Oh, give me a break!”
They watched as the Skaine’s head bounced twice against the door hard before it moved enough that the lady inside could pull the body back into the bar.
Crack!
Chrillen felt the pain blast through his senses. “Wakey-wakey, asshat!”
He opened his groggy eyes to find himself staring into the eyes of the alien. He was still in the bar, but his arms were bound behind him.
Chrillen heard Mrik next to him. “I’m telling you…” he started, but the female looked to her left.
“Didn’t I already tell you to shut the hell up?” Chrillen heard a tearing sound, and one of her associates placed a strip of something gray into her hand. She leaned toward Mrik and placed it over his lips. “Now maybe you will give me a little damned peace and quiet. Who knew you dipshits were so talkative when your little cheats don’t work?”
“I think you broke my ribs.” Chrillen coughed.
She looked back at him. “I fucking hope so. I was going for maximum power, and my teacher would be pretty disappointed with his student if I weren't good enough to break a few ribs.”
Chrillen could taste the blood in his mouth. “What will it cost to release us?” It pained him to admit he needed to buy their fr
eedom. This was going to get him busted in rank, but he could argue that no one had fought these non-Torcellans and therefore they should be given a pass.
“Your lives, of course,” she told him. “I’m working with my trusted advisor—”
Ryu said from behind her, “I thought you called him your recalcitrant pain-in-the-ass EI?”
She looked over her shoulder at her man. “That was before he got into their ship’s computers and located another slaver group operating near one of the commercial Gates, trying to deliver slaves under the auspices of paying off transfer fees.”
They had gotten into in his ship's computers?
She turned back to Chrillen. “Don’t worry, we already found the destruct codes and changed them. We aren’t sure how you got the message to it, so we changed the passcode too.”
Chrillen’s lips pressed together. That explained why he hadn’t felt the explosion rock the space station. “Just kill me now, because if you don’t, other Skaines certainly will.”
“Oh, don’t worry.” Tabitha smiled. “You will be punished, trust me. I’m not big on slaps on the hand,” she looked at the Skaine, “but I’m the law, so Justice will be part of the program.”
Tabitha stood up and looked at the three Skaines sitting on the floor with their backs against the bar. She raised her voice. “I really appreciate all the information you guys have provided. Your lives will be spared.”
“Grab one each, guys. I’ll take this one.” Tabitha reached behind Chrillen and grabbed a fistful of his clothing. She pulled him up with one arm and turned him around, so everyone in the bar could see his face. Most of them were smiling, and a few of them looked like they were thinking about how to use the information they now had.
For one, they now knew that the aliens could pick up a Skaine without straining. They watched the little procession leave the bar. Tabitha stopped and looked to her right. “Denigh?”
“Coming, Ranger.” The station manager joined the alien, who was easily holding the Skaine leader behind her back. She didn’t seem to be bothered by his weight at all.
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set Three: Books 15-21, Never Submit, Never Surrender, Forever Defend, Might Makes Right, Ahead Full, Capture Death, Life Goes On (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 37