Privateer Tales 3: Parley Page 20

  Cycling the airlock between the docking bay concourse and the main thoroughfare of Tower A was quick since there was pressure on both sides. The thoroughfare was L-2 space and we were able to relax the helmets of our vac-suits. I was grateful for having purchased the earwig on Puskar Stellar as it gave me great access to my HUD, even when I didn’t have my helmet on.

  We immediately saw evidence of Qiu having passed through this area. We’d programmed the AI to optimize the color of the nanites through our HUDS so more recent activity was a bright glowing green and less recent was red. The program would continually adjust this spectrum upon running into new nanites. Bottom line - green was good.

  “Follow the trail or get some breakfast?” I didn’t want to be too obvious in what we were talking about.

  “I’d like breakfast,” Tali said. I jumped a little when she took hold of my hand.

  “Easy there, big fella. Your blood pressure’s headed north. We’re just a happy couple out looking for something to eat.”

  I nodded. She was right. Seeing the trail was causing my heart rate to accelerate. It was mostly excitement. Her steady hand calmed me.

  “Suppose they have cinnamon rolls?” I said, mostly to play along.

  “I’m counting on it.”

  We walked down a wide hallway that was both well-lit and in good repair, if not somewhat worn. There were several retail spaces with glass panels overlooking the hallway. Only two of them were currently open and both of them looked to cater to the needs of asteroid miners, which made sense. It reminded me of where I had been only a few months before.

  “Want to stop in and browse?” Tali asked.

  “Maybe on the way back. I might pick up something for Dad.”

  So far, I was familiar with the route we’d taken. The Welded Tongue was four levels below us. This trip, we’d taken the elevator up seven levels instead. The Oval Plate was actually on the eighth level of Tower B, but the station administration was on the seventh level of Tower A. We’d be able to cross over to Tower B on a small cat-walk on level seven after a small detour past the station administrator’s office.

  We hadn’t seen more than a dozen people in the station, so far. I’d expected it to be busier. On approach to the Station Administrator’s office, a knot of people next to the entry door were discussing something in earnest. I saw, with concern, that one of the people was none other than Harry Flark. I broke out in a cold sweat. I didn’t want him to recognize me.

  “… you can explain that to Ms. Tracy once they’ve arrived. Tell ‘em to get their asses up there right now, got it?” Flark’s face was red with exertion. Too late, I realized I was staring at him. He looked over at us. He was going to recognize me and I couldn’t think of anything …

  My head felt like it had exploded and my cheek was on fire. I turned toward the pain and realized that Tali had slapped me hard with her open hand. She was saying something to me in an angry voice, grabbing the hair on the back of my neck and pushing me down the hallway away from Flark. I was having a difficult time gaining my equilibrium and stumbled.

  I actually heard Flark guffaw. He had obviously witnessed the exchange between Tali and me. We made it back to the elevators before my head cleared sufficiently to say anything.

  “I thought we were supposed to be lovers!”

  “You’ll learn not to talk to me that way,” Tali said in a stage whisper.

  Once on the elevator Tali raised her helmet and I followed suit. She obviously wanted to talk privately.

  “Did you see that? He had green trackers all over him. He’s seen her very recently and her blood pressure and respiration were sky high when he did.”

  I wanted to rub my jaw some more, as it was still throbbing. She hadn’t spared me much on her strike. “Uh, sorry, I kind of froze up when I saw him.”

  “Situational awareness, Liam. You need to anticipate what might happen so you can prepare for it. You knew there was a possibility of seeing him. Next time, you need to visualize a plan for what you’ll do.”

  “Did you visualize slapping me?” I asked, just a little annoyed.

  “I certainly did. I also considered grabbing your ass and kissing you, as well as a few other options.”

  “That would have been nicer,” I complained.

  “Wouldn’t have worked there, what with you staring at him.”

  “Sorry.”

  “I think we’re even on that,” Tali said with a chuckle.

  We traversed the hallway on the eighth level of Tower A. The hallway was adjacent to the exterior of the station and had armored glass panels, giving us a nice view of the center of the three Towers. Under different circumstances, I’d have liked to have been able to stand in the hallway and take it all in. We passed through the airlocks to a small catwalk that joined Tower A and B.

  Once in Tower B, we relaxed our helmets. I appreciated the ability to rub my cheek and I’d be willing to bet I had a red mark where she’d struck me. The Oval Plate was only ten meters from the airlock. It was a busy place with at least fifteen booths and tables, half of which were occupied. There were more people in the restaurant than we’d seen in our entire walk to get here.

  “Would you like a booth or a table?” a kid, who couldn’t be more than ten years old, asked. It wasn’t uncommon for the kids of miners to take jobs to help out with the family income.

  “Table’d be nice,” Tali said.

  We sat down and browsed the menu. It was limited, but held the breakfast essentials; eggs, waffles, bacon, etc. I found cinnamon rolls on the menu and couldn’t wait to order. Marny had introduced me to that delicacy at the resort and I loved ‘em.

  I ordered half a dozen rolls to go and a cup of coffee and another roll to stay. Tali ordered a large breakfast that appeared to be mostly protein based, although she also ordered a cinnamon roll.

  When the food came, I dug in. It was every bit as good as those we’d had at the resort on Coolidge.

  “Let’s run by The Welded Tongue on our way back,” Tali said.

  “Sure, if we go through Tower C, we can pass the security station too. And before you ask, I’ve a plan that doesn’t involve getting slapped.”

  I looked up to see two station security personnel arrive at the diner. They scanned the restaurant and headed straight toward us. They were wearing armored vac-suits and carrying long blaster rifles.

  Tali immediate opened a comm channel with Marny, “We’re about to be taken into custody, if we don’t resolve it within two hours, come looking for us.”

  Two more security personnel arrived and were standing guard at the entrance to the restaurant. All talking around us stopped as everyone watched the two armed men approached us.

  “Don’t do anything crazy, Liam,” Tali warned.

  “I’d listen to your girlfriend,” the smaller of the two said. He was a scruffy looking man with a poorly grown red beard. “Get up, you’re coming with us.”

  I stood up …

  “Gun!” The red haired leader shouted. He snapped his gun level with my head. His companion leveled his gun at Tali. The two in the hallway aimed into the restaurant at us. The fifteen or twenty people who had been nervously watching us to that point, scrambled chaotically for the entrance.

  I held my arms up to show that I wasn’t a threat and the little bastard slammed the stock of his weapon into my kidney. I fell to my knees and felt his foot push me down into the floor.

  “Keep your hands above your head,” he instructed. I felt him roughly remove the flechette pistol from its holster. “You won’t be needing that.” He pulled my arms around and slid cuffs over my wrists. “Search the woman.”

  “Yeah, got it,” his taller dark-haired companion agreed. I was able to see him roughly frisking Tali over her vac-suit. He paused inappropriately, groping and nudging her. She didn’t say a word. I wondered if she was going to go off on him or not. Finally, he finished and slid cuffs over her wrists.

  “Get up.” The red haired man jabbed me wi
th the barrel of his rifle, of course, right where he’d hit me before.

  “Gimme that,” he demanded and pulled my earwig off of my face. He didn’t bother releasing the earwig and it ripped some of the skin along my cheek before it let go. I appreciated that the taller man was gentler with Tali, although he pulled it off all the same.

  They escorted us out of the restaurant and pushed us down the hallway back toward Tower C. I thought about asking them what was going on, but I already knew. Flark had recognized me.

  DOUBLED-EDGED SWORD

  To say I was surprised to see Lieutenant Qiu Loo in the cell next to us would have been a stretch. To say she was in bad shape, wasn’t. Qiu had been beaten badly and she lay motionless on the lower bunk of her cell. They’d taken the time to remove her vac-suit and her suit-liner was torn. Her breathing was shallow, which led me to believe there were serious injuries.

  The room we’d been placed in looked like it belonged in an old western vid. The three cells took up most of the rectangular room, each cell separated from the other by round iron bars. There were bunk beds welded to the back wall in each room.

  “Qiu,” I whispered hoarsely through the bars. “How bad are you hurt?”

  “You should’ve left,” she said between shallow breaths.

  “Help is coming,” I said.

  “It’s too late. Get out if you can.”

  “How’d they catch you?” I asked.

  “They were waiting for me. You’ve got to get word to Belcose. There’s a mole on our side. You also have to tell him they’ve set up a base in the neutral territory.” She was in tremendous pain, struggling between each word for breath.

  “Who? Where?”

  The door swung open and none other than Harry Flark strode through. “Oh, how touching.”

  “What do you want?” I couldn’t help myself.

  “Want? Hah! Nothing from you … now. If someone had told me that I’d wake up today and find Liam Hoffen strolling around my station, I’d have shot ‘em for bringing up your name. You want to know the crazy thing?”

  I just looked dumbly at him. What could I possibly say?

  “No? I’ll tell you. I don’t even have time for you. Imagine that. Asshole number one flies onto my station with my ship and the best I can do is lock him up ‘cause I’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

  “We’ve already notified Mars Protectorate. They’re on the way. You won’t get away with it this time either.” That caught him off guard.

  “Seriously? We took Colony 40 for almost fifty million in ingots and all you got was a cutter that was ready for the scrap heap. And you think you won? No, finding you is just the icing on the cake. Once we’re on the way, I’ll send my boy, Ivan, up to take care of you. I’m sure Ivan will have a special treat for your girlfriend. No, by this time tomorrow, even the mighty Mars Navy won’t be able to touch us. Colony 40 was just a warmup. A way to get enough money for the real haul. I’d officially like to thank you and your family for their contribution.”

  “You’ll never get outta here in time. You can’t load all that ore before they get here,” I said and then it dawned on me.

  Flark’s smile grew as he saw that I understood.

  “Where would you get a big enough ship to move that asteroid?” I asked, momentarily drawn in.

  “It’s amazing what you can buy for fifty million nowadays, especially if you’re willing to make a good deal on several hundred million kilograms of refinery grade ore.”

  There was a knock at the door where Flark had entered. “Commander Flark, I have news,” a voice carried through the door.

  “What?” Flark snapped.

  The door opened and the dark haired man who’d groped Tali looked over at us, obviously not wanting to share this information with a room full.

  “I just …”

  “Out with it. You’re looking at so many corpses.”

  “Yes sir. The frigate and hauler have arrived.”

  “Perfect. Bring the spy along, she may yet have some value.” Flark’s lackey unlocked the door to Qiu’s cage and pulled her off of the bunk. She could barely walk.

  “You’ll get yours, Flark.” It was the best I could come up with.

  “No doubt I will, Hoffen, but not before you get yours. Enjoy your visit with Ivan.”

  Flark walked out of the room with the dark haired soldier and Qiu following behind. It was hard to watch. If I could have killed Flark at that moment, I would have.

  “You’d have saved us all a lot of time if you’d resisted earlier,” the red-haired soldier from the restaurant said, entering the room.

  Tali took this moment to finally say something. “Ivan?”

  A second slightly taller man had entered the room. They both had the unmistakable air of mercenaries.

  “Nah, that’d be this guy.”

  A third very large, heavily muscled man entered the room. He was larger than either Marny or Gregor Belcose and had a deeply scarred face and long greasy black hair that flowed down his back. I wondered how well that worked with his helmet.

  “I hate to be impatient, but we’re in a bit of a hurry,” Tali said. I’d been staring at the three, trying to figure out our best strategy. Even with Tali’s skills, we were in trouble. What was she thinking? Her words seemed completely incongruous with our situation.

  Her comment, though, caused Ivan’s shoulders to shake as a deep rumble emanated from him. I realized it was what he passed off as a laugh. It was terrifying, as it only enhanced my perception of him as a monster.

  “Bet that smart mouth will be singing a new song in a couple of minutes,” Red said.

  “Only one way to find out.” Tali took a step forward. She hit a nerve with Red as he lunged forward to grab her through the bars.

  “Bitch,” he said as he came up short.

  “Open it,” Ivan growled.

  Red pulled keys from a pocket. His hands were shaking. I suspect it was some combination of rage and excitement. He fumbled the key in the door’s lock, but finally opened it.

  I looked to Tali who stood relaxed, staring down Ivan. I had to give it to her, if she wanted to weird him out, she was doing an excellent job. I wasn’t handling it quite so well. I really had no idea where to stand or what to do with myself so I mostly fidgeted, looking between Red and Ivan.

  “Relax, Liam, Ivan won’t come in first, he’ll want to draw this out,” Tali said. “If he simply wanted to kill us, he’d have shot us from the door. Ivan’s looking for a fight. He’ll send his weakest in first to see what we’ve got.”

  “Right, big boy?” she taunted. This elicited a growl and a sloppy sort of grin from Ivan. “To be fair, you should take contestant number one, Liam.”

  Ivan shoved the taller soldier toward the door. I didn’t know who was crazier, Ivan or Tali. They seemed to have some sort of strange ritual going on and the rest of us were just props.

  I shook my head to help me focus and remove the distractions, which were now plentiful. I pulled my arms into the relaxed, natural stance I’d been working on for the last several weeks. My heart hammered and I heard blood pounding in my ears.

  The dark-haired man rushed into the room as if to tackle me. We were in very close quarters and there wasn’t much I could do to step out of his way. With more room, I’d be tempted to try to use his momentum by accepting it and rolling onto the floor and trying to throw him. It was more of an Aikido move.

  In the end, I decided to keep it simple. I stepped into his lunge and brought my elbow around and smashed it into his face. It was a simple technique Marny had taught me for close-in combat. This didn’t have the immediate impact I’d hoped for, other than to cause him to roar. Worse, I hadn’t done anything to counteract his momentum and my back struck the top bunk violently at the same time my legs hit the lower bunk.

  Had he hit me just a little lower I’d have been sandwiched between the two bunks with him on top. As it was, my chest and back took the brunt of his impact. We recoiled away from
the bunks, still entwined. With my less than spectacular elbow strike, my arms were both over the top of his bent back. He started to pull away and I recognized a setup to a move I felt more comfortable with. I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled down. At the same time, I brought my knee up as hard as I could into his mid-section.

  I felt his vac-suit stiffen, which reduced some of the effectiveness of my blow. He started to drive his legs forward in order to push me back into the metal bunks. It was a panic move and I brought my elbow back viciously into his ear. With no vac-suit to absorb it there, he received the full force of my adrenaline-fueled blow. He staggered to the side, releasing me.

  I knew better than to allow him to recover and followed with a hand-heel strike into his nose. Now that was a feeling I hoped to never experience again. My hand shattered his nose and I felt the cartilage and bone breaking as I pushed forward. He screamed in pain, but I didn’t know if I could safely let up, so I grabbed his neck again with my hands and brought my knee up into his face. This time, I knew it was enough, as he fell limply away from me.

  “I’d say round one goes to the underdogs,” Tali said. “Round two?” She was still staring at Ivan. “How about we skip to the finale? I’m bored.”

  Quicker than I could imagine, Tali grabbed her left wrist with her right hand, extracted a narrow knife from her cuff and flicked it at Red. The knife struck him just under the chin and buried itself into his throat. He reached up and pulled the knife out, then turned and ran out of the room.

  “Don’t …” Tali said, too late. “Frak. Why do they always pull ‘em out!?”

  Ivan’s eyes hadn’t left Tali.

  “I don’t suppose you’d call it a draw?” she asked wistfully.

  Ivan didn’t respond other than to advance on the cell’s open door. His eyes were burning holes in Tali.