The Fringe Series Omnibus

by Rachel Aukes

  “I asked what you are doing here. This concourse belongs to the Collective. I run this area,” Simon said.

  “Correction,” Reyne said. “This concourse is managed by the Collective. It belongs to Tulan Port, and as its stationmaster, I have ultimate authority here.”

  Simon’s scowl was evident even through his goggles. “Well, what are you doing here?”

  “I’m just touring the facilities and checking to see how construction is going.”

  “Construction is going fine. I’ll even have this concourse done ahead of schedule. That is, if you don’t keep bothering my crews and me.”

  “Bothering?” Reyne said. “Exactly how am I bothering anyone?”

  “My crews are citizens. They aren’t comfortable with colonists constantly looking over their shoulders.”

  Reyne held up a hand in defense. “Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to get out of your way as soon as my associate and I download the camera feeds.”

  Simon’s eyes widened. “I heard those cameras weren’t operational.”

  “Oh, they’re operational all right.”

  Simon sputtered. “Oh, well, why do you need the feeds? Do you have nothing better to do than to watch citizens work?”

  Reyne replied, “On the contrary, I heard that Legacy Star lost a hundred or so bots. I’m helping out by pulling feeds to see what we can see.”

  Simon glared. “Those missing bots are Legacy Star bots, which makes it Legacy Star business. I certainly don’t need your help.”

  “No, but I’m glad to help, anyway. If we happen to have a thief in the area, I’m sure you would like to see them caught as much as I would.”

  “Fine. Have it your way.” Simon grumbled something, then wagged a finger at Sixx. “And you. You just wait. I’m not done with you yet.”

  “You need to calm the hell down,” Sixx said. “Seriously, whatever you think I stole, I don’t have it.”

  Simon spun and strode away, his coat fluttering behind him.

  “He’s certainly not your biggest fan,” Reyne said.

  “He has anger issues,” Sixx said.

  “I don’t trust him one bit,” Reyne said. “You see how nervous he got when I said the cameras were working? Even if he didn’t take those bots, he’s done something he doesn’t want anyone to see.”

  Sixx looked over Reyne’s shoulder and grinned. “Hey, nut!”

  “Dad!” Lily let go of Bree’s hand and ran toward Sixx. Her thick coat made her look more like a brown snowball rolling toward them than a little girl. Even though he wasn’t her father, she’d taken to calling Sixx “Dad” within a week of meeting him, and calling Bree “Mom” soon after. Reyne figured it was because she’d never had a decent father figure, and when one had stepped into her life with enthusiasm, she’d embraced the concept with just as much energy.

  Sixx held out his arms and caught her up in them. “How was school?”

  “It was great. I lost a tooth. See?”

  As she went into the details of her tooth’s demise, Reyne frowned at Bree, who stood frozen in place, focused on something in the area of the Legacy Star crews.

  “Is everything okay, Bree?” he asked.

  She snapped out of her trance. “Oh, nothing. I just thought I saw a familiar face.” She brushed off the thought with a chuckle. “But that’s impossible.”

  Reyne’s wrist comm pinged. He read the message and his eyes widened. He turned to his friends. “Time to go. Boden says he’s found the guy trying to kill me.”

  Ten

  Unwanted Hitchhikers

  Devil Town, Spate

  Critch arrived at the docks to find the Honorless sitting in a bay near the far end. Even after twenty years, his heart still leapt at the sight. She’d been a luxury yacht, belonging to some Alluvian fishing business magnate, when Critch commandeered her and gave her the name she now proudly bore. He’d spent ten years morphing her into the most feared pirate ship across the Collective, capable of taking on any CUF ship smaller than a destroyer, though he’d taken on one of those before and survived.

  The Honorless dwarfed the passenger ships and transports docked nearby, making her impossible to hide while on the ground. She was meant to fly, and Critch was looking forward to getting her back up and into the black.

  He wasted no time in filing his departure plan with Devil Town’s dock control and boarding his ship. After scouring the ship and its systems, he was relieved to find that the greedy pilot hadn’t screwed her up as badly as he’d expected. Critch’s cabin remained locked, even though there were scratch marks around the keypad where Gabe had obviously tried to circumvent it in an attempt to break in. Several rifles were missing, likely pawned off for credits. And he’d already known both drop tanks would be missing, after hearing they’d been used up in one of Gabe’s escapes from either the CUF or Critch’s specters.

  Critch took a seat in the captain’s chair, and suddenly he felt like he was home. He closed his eyes and relished the sensations of being back in the only place that’d ever brought him peace. When he opened his eyes, he pulled out a tiny model of a ship and fastened it to a lever with a string. The ship was nothing special—it could be found in any toy shop on any planet. But this particular one bore great meaning. Having it on board was the closest thing to fulfilling a promise he’d made to a young Terran during the war. Kassel had dreamed of flying. The boy had reminded Critch of himself at that age. As fate turned out, Critch would never be able to teach Kassel how to fly, but he could at least see that a small part of Kassel would experience flight.

  He abruptly refocused and began performing system checks. Both he and the Honorless needed to be off world. He felt claustrophobic on the ground. He had finished nearly all the pre-flight checks when he heard footsteps.

  Critch spun in his chair and whipped out his handgun from his thigh holster.

  The dock worker’s eyes widened and his hands shot into the air. “Don’t shoot me!”

  Critch eyed the worker. The middle-aged man was terrified and had no sign of weapons on him. Critch holstered his gun before the man pissed himself. “What do you need?”

  The worker lowered his hands slowly. “Ah-all your fuel tanks are full.” He gulped. “Is there anything else?”

  “I’m good. Just waiting for my final clearance codes.”

  The worker glanced over Critch’s shoulder and nodded in the same direction. “My boy has one just like that. You have a kid, too?”

  Critch’s eye twitched, and he glanced back at the toy ship. He shook his head. “It’s from a kid I knew.” He added, “We good here?”

  “Oh, yeah. You’re all set.” The worker frowned. “Don’t you have a crew? This is a big ship. You need—”

  “I’m on my way to meet up with them.” Critch’s response was only a half-truth. While he was on his way back to Nova Colony to connect with what was left of his crew, the fact was that he’d been losing his crew one by one. First, Chutt. Then, Birk. Now, Gabe, though he wouldn’t miss that piece of shit. He’d have to backfill the positions with fresh meat and spend years building trust and rapport. Sometimes he wondered if it wasn’t time to hang it all up and settle down at Nova Colony.

  He chuckled inwardly at himself. Like he could ever settle down.

  The worker spoke again. “Well, if you need any crew members, I know of a couple guys looking for work.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Now, I need to get going.”

  “Sure. Have a great trip. Come back to Devil Town.” He spun on his heel and headed back down the hallway.

  Critch turned back to his panel. A few seconds later, he heard footsteps once again. He sighed and turned around to face the dock worker. “Listen, I said—”

  A cold object pressed against his neck. Critch froze. Knife or gun, he couldn’t tell, not that either mattered, since both would guarantee death. He gave up the thought of reaching for his gun. The earlier feeling of being followed now made sense.

  “Who are you?” Crit
ch asked.

  “My name doesn’t matter. What matters to you is that I was sent by Mason.” The voice was most certainly not that of the dock worker. This voice was smooth and steady.

  Critch’s jaw clenched. “Mason’s dead.”

  “There’s a new Mason.”

  Critch scowled. He’d expected his past to catch up to him, but he’d always figured he’d die on his feet with a gun in his hand. He took a breath and forced his body to relax. “Just get it done, already.”

  A bright flash, and then everything went black.

  Eleven

  Enemies, Enemies, Everywhere

  Tulan Port, Playa

  Reyne sat on the couch next to Bree. Sixx sat on the floor with Lily, who was busy playing a video game. The living room was small but had a homey feel to it, like the rest of the apartment Sixx shared with Bree and Lily. Sixx had never had a taste for decorating, so Reyne assumed it was Bree who’d found artwork and rugs to bring color to their stone living quarters. In fact, there were so many rugs and pieces of art, there was hardly any visible stone.

  The front door opened, closed, and Boden came jogging into the room. “Sorry. I couldn’t get a taxi,” he said, panting.

  “Hey, Uncle Tren,” Lily said with a quick glance up from her game.

  “Hey, Lily-bear,” Boden said.

  “You said you found something?” Reyne asked.

  “Yes, I found him,” Boden said, and then looked around. “I’m thirsty.”

  He disappeared into the kitchen and returned moments later with a glass of water and a kitchen chair. He sat and then took a long drink.

  “You were saying…” Reyne drawled out.

  Boden swallowed. “I reviewed the summary report of personnel Hadley gave me. Everyone is clean, not a single red flag.”

  Reyne frowned. “I don’t get where you’re going with this.”

  “Well, there’s no way any construction crew could be that clean, so I waited until after Hadley left for lunch, and then I stopped by her assistant’s desk and asked nicely to see the files.”

  Boden was good looking and had charm, and he was excellent at applying that charm when he needed a Sweet Soy fix. That Boden had charmed someone to help out someone other than himself surprised Reyne. Maybe Boden truly was recovering from his addiction.

  “I didn’t get full access, but I didn’t need it,” Boden continued. “Once I saw his picture, I knew he was the one who tried to kill Reyne.” He pulled out a piece of carbonized paper and handed it to Reyne. “Anyway, I could only get a hard copy, but you can see for yourself, it’s him.”

  “Him who?” Bree asked.

  Boden seemed startled by the question. “It’s Laciam. Max Laciam. He’s working at the docks under the name Mark Leonard.”

  Sixx cocked his head.

  “You’re saying the guy who was Corps General for a really short time is working a construction crew on Playa?”

  “Yes,” Boden replied.

  “He was on Gabriela’s Heid’s crew before that,” Reyne said without looking up from the paper. He stared at the picture of an athletic man with a strong chin and a bluish tint to his skin, marking him as a Myrad. His hair was longer, but his features still bore the stiffness and superiority of a CUF officer.

  He passed the paper to Bree. “It sure looks like him.”

  “I agree with Sixx. It doesn’t make any sense for him to be on Playa,” she said.

  “I’ll ask Seda if he knows anything about what happened to Laciam after the war. Maybe he left the CUF.”

  “Knowing that hothead, he was discharged,” Sixx said, and looked directly at Reyne. “But if he is here, it makes sense he’d come after you. After all, it was you who basically got him demoted from Corps General back at Darios.”

  “He did it to himself,” Reyne grumbled, but he agreed with Sixx that Laciam had more than enough motivation to want to kill him.

  Boden stood.

  “Where are you going?” Reyne asked.

  “I can’t stay. I have a date with Melody,” Boden said.

  Bree cocked her head after handing the paper to Sixx. “Who’s Melody?”

  “Hadley’s assistant,” Boden replied.

  “Boden, Boden, Boden.” Sixx shook his head slowly, chuckling. “You’re doing it all wrong. You’re supposed to hightail it out of there once you get the information. Then you're supposed to avoid your mark, and that means never, ever go on a date with her.”

  “I had to do it. She asked before she let me see the files,” Boden said.

  “Then stand her up,” Sixx said.

  “Go out with her if you want to,” Bree said. “I bet she has nothing to do with what happened to Reyne.”

  Boden put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

  “A word of caution,” Sixx said. “Don’t let her think you’re taking her on a date just to get into her files.”

  “You’re hopeless,” Bree said to Sixx.

  “What?” Sixx said. “I meant that things will turn nasty fast if she finds out she was being used. That’s all.”

  “I know how to treat a woman,” Boden scolded.

  “Really? Because as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been pretty dang lousy at it,” Sixx said.

  Boden gave Sixx an amused look.

  “Bye, Uncle Tren!” Lily yelled without looking up from her game.

  “Bye, Lily-bear,” Boden said before he exited through the door.

  Sixx handed the paper back to Reyne. “If it’s not Laciam, he’s got a twin running around. I think we should pay him a visit tomorrow. And by ‘we’ I mean us and at least twenty of our armed security forces.”

  “Hold on a minute,” Reyne said. “We have to think this through. If he sees us coming, he might take off running or, worse, do something stupid and try to hurt someone.”

  “Well, it’s not like we can talk to Simon about interrogating Laciam. Simon’s a weasel. If that guy in the picture is Laciam, then the two are connected somehow.”

  “Oh, shit.” Bree’s jaw slackened.

  Lily pointed. “You swore, Mom!”

  Reyne and Sixx watched Bree, whose back was now rigid.

  Sixx rushed over to kneel by her side. “What’s wrong?”

  She looked down at the man with his hand resting on her thigh. “You’re not talking about Simon Tate, are you?”

  “Yeah.” Sixx drew out the word slowly as his brow furrowed. “He’s the Legacy Star leader in the docks. Why?”

  “That’s who I thought I saw at the docks,” Bree said.

  “I know Simon Tate.” Lily scrunched her nose. “I don’t like him. He was always telling me what to do. Do this, Lily. Do that, Lily,” she mimicked the words of a man nagging her.

  Bree let out a breath. “Simon Tate was Axos Wintsel’s best friend.”

  Reyne looked at her. Bree had been an indentured servant under Axos Wintsel, her job was to keep Axos’s guards “entertained.” Axos was a Myrad with a mean streak—and Lily’s father. Throttle had killed Axos after he’d kidnapped and tortured her, and Reyne wished he could kill him over and over again for hurting Throttle and Bree and for killing Sixx’s wife, Qelle.

  Bree shook her head as though trying to clear it before she spoke again. “I don’t think he remembers me. After all, I was just one of the staff, so he probably wouldn’t even recognize me. I bet he doesn’t know that we know.”

  Sixx watched Lily play for a long minute before he lowered his forehead to Bree’s knee. “He’s here for Lily.”

  Bree frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  Sixx looked up. “He told me I stole something from him. I didn’t take it as a big deal because, let’s face it, I’ve stolen from a lot of people. But now it all makes sense. It’s the only thing that makes sense” He took Bree’s hand. “We’ve got to get Lily as far away from here as possible, and we’ve got to do it fast.”

  Twelve

  Dangerous Commitments

  CUF Armada, outside Myr


  Anders looked across the room at the CUF’s twenty-two commandants. Several wore concerned expressions, several others looked at him with confidence because already they knew why they’d been invited.

  “Thank you for coming today,” Anders began. “As you know, I’ve never held a face-to-face meeting with my entire senior staff before, but I believe the importance of today’s discussion demands an in-person meeting. You may have heard that the Unity and the Littorio and their complements are undergoing renovations. That is true. However, those renovations are not to improve their fighting capabilities, but rather to repurpose those ships for deep space exploration. They will be the beginning of a new branch—the Collective Exploratory Forces.”

  Some brows furrowed, while others rose. He imagined many were surprised that they—the CUF’s most senior-level officers—had heard nothing of a new branch.

  Anders continued. “Parliament has rejected my course of action, but I reject Parliament, as it has not served the needs of its citizens for some time. Therefore, I’ve taken it upon myself to make the hard choices needed for the Collective’s long-term survival. Without the colonies, Alluvia and Myr are struggling, and will continue to do so. I’ve learned that the Alliance of Free Colonies has already sent a colony ship outside our system, which means the Alliance will grow and accumulate resources while the Collective stagnates.

  “While the CUF is crucial to the Collective citizens’ protection, Parliament has no vision for the Collective’s future. That’s why I’m establishing a new military branch. Beginning today, one-third of the CUF’s ships will be reallocated to the Collective Exploratory Forces. All personnel have the opportunity to remain within the CUF or transfer to the CEF to crew the colony ships. As the CEF is a long-term mission, families of personnel may of course join them on board the colony ships. I will command the CEF at the helm of the Littorio, and I expect Parliament will select a new Corps General to command the CUF. Before I continue with my plan, what questions do you have?”