OMEGA Exile (8 page)

Joni pulled up the nav screen and set the course. "Bleurgh. The name alone should tell you to keep away from that stuff. I don’t get why so many people enjoy getting blotto-ed. I like to be aware of whatever is going on around me."

I replied, "There are a lot of people out there who lack the drive and ambition that you have. They feel trapped in their existence, and that
junk
offers them an escape. Some don’t seem to care that it is addictive and that they will crave it for months after doing even a single dose. What I find strange is that it has a nearly identical effect on almost all species. It is a near-perfect drug for corrupting the masses. It’s cheap and easy to distribute. I heard that some of the outer colonies offer hits as part of their weekly pay packages. Those workers will be enslaved to those companies for the rest of their lives."

As the
Angel’s Fire
came into view on the nav screen, an all-stop order was sent. An angry captain first refused to comply and was quickly persuaded under threat of a complete power system shutdown. Every ship in the AMP and then again in the New Alliance was required to have a shutdown circuit integrated into their systems. Noncompliance was met with an immediate confiscation of a ship and its cargo and an arrest of its captain with a lifetime sentence imposed. In my forty years of service, I had never come across a ship without the circuit being active.

As Joni and I stepped out onto the deck, the manifest administrator met us with his logs. "We are on a tight schedule, detectives. You will find the logs in order, as an inspection was performed at SS9 only two days ago."

Joni said, "Thank you, Mr. Dapner. Now, if you could direct us to hold number four, we would like to perform a spot inspection."

Roger Dapner stood with a stunned look on his face. "Wha, what? Why number four?"

Joni smiled. "Either we can follow you to the inspection door, or you can lead us."

The administrator began to raise his hand to press the comm button on his arm pad. Joni grabbed his wrist. I took note of Joni having her other hand on her blaster as she reached out.

Joni moved his hand away from the arm pad. "Alerting the captain will not work in your favor, Mr. Dapner. Full cooperation may yield a lenient judge if contraband is being transported by this ship. As detectives, we do have discretion over what we include in our reports. A favorable report can make a world of difference to your future if an issue is found."

I slowly shook my head in a warning to three crewmen who had picked up hand weapons in an attempt to defend their administrator. After I tapped my finger lightly on the side of my blaster, the three men stepped back into the shadows of a dimly lit maintenance area.

The administrator slowly lowered his arm. "This way."

Hold four had one large container sitting in its center, magnetically bonded to the deck plating. A quick measurement yielded a positive result for bleurgh.

The administrator was read his arrest rights, and electronic handcuffs were powered on, binding his wrists behind his back.

Joni said, "The logs show sixteen crewmen on this ship. How should we handle this?"

I replied, "I would round up and bind the crew, set a nav course for the station, and ride this transport back to victory. That container has thirty thousand liters of bleurgh in it. That is a major score for any detective, let alone one who has yet to finish her probation period. I would ask this: How does your uncle feel about the transport of bleurgh? This ship is under subcontract to Motlin through a third party. You have to dig to find it, but it is there."

Joni shook her head. "From everything I know, my uncle has never been one to allow the open transport of anything like that. I know it shows up in the outer colonies, where inspections are performed at a much lower frequency, but this ship was headed for Gelnac. That’s right in our neighborhood. Thirty thousand liters is enough to keep a quarter of that planet zonked for a couple of months."

I looked up at the container. "I would guess that most of it is headed for elsewhere. Either way, it stops here."

As I turned away from the container, I was confronted by a crewman wielding a large knife. I spun quickly to the left, taking a hard but glancing blow to my left rib cage. As my attacker passed me by, Joni dropped to the floor as she pulled her blaster. A single shot caught the assailant in the upper chest. As the ion bolt expanded, a spray of blood, guts, and bone fragments burst outward, covering Joni as she rolled away.

With the attacker dead, I turned my head back toward the door just in time to see a second crewman raising a blaster of his own. Before I could draw, Joni fired a second bolt that was just as precisely sighted as the first. The crewman exploded into the hallway behind him as a third attacker came up behind him. I dropped to my right knee, took aim, and negated his attempt at assault as my strike impacted and exploded from his right arm, knocking him backward, again into the hallway.

I turned and grabbed Joni by the arm, dragging her as I ran to cover behind the large container.

As I rounded the corner, I slung her petite frame around behind me. I released her arm as I turned back to face the door.

Several seconds passed before Joni stood behind me, rubbing her forehead. "What did you do that for?"

I replied, "I was trying to save your life."

Joni half laughed. "By slamming my head into that container? Thanks, but I think I would have done better out there."

As Joni finished her complaint, three more crewmen entered the room with their blasters firing.

I yelled out, "I would be careful what you are shooting at! This substance is flammable! You hit it and this whole ship goes up!"

Joni spoke. "Bleurgh? Is flammable?"

I waved back behind me with my free hand. "Shush! I’m trying to buy us some security!"

Joni winced as I again spoke out. "I just sent an alert out for backup! Give up now, and I will consider you as uninvolved crewmen in my report!"

As I peered around the corner, I could see the lead crewman directing the others toward the back of the tank. I turned back to see that Joni was no longer behind me. In a moment of panic, I ran to the back side of the container. The two other crewmen were standing with smiles on their faces and their blasters raised. I was caught.

I slowly leaned over to set my blaster gently on the deck. As I began to rise up, I was again caught by surprise as two ion bolts entered the crewmen from above. Their heads and upper torsos exploded. I was soon awash in a heavy spray of blood and guts.

As I reached down for my weapon, the third crewman called out from behind me: "I wouldn’t do that if I were you."

Before I could turn, Joni dropped down from the top of the tank, hammering the butt of her blaster into the man’s skull. But her blow was only glancing. With immediate reaction the man spun around, striking her square between the eyes with the ball of his elbow. As he turned fully toward her, I raised my blaster, placing a bolt dead into the center of his back. The spray of blood and guts covered Joni as she fell sprawled out on the floor, knocked unconscious from the crewman’s elbow.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of further movement at the doorway. It was the ship’s captain, holding a blaster to the back of his nav officer’s head.

The captain said, "You will have no more trouble, Detective."

Two additional crewmen then appeared behind the captain with their blasters raised. One moved in front of the captain to take control of the nav officer.

The captain lowered his weapon. "Is your partner dead?"

I looked down. "No. But she is going to have a massive headache when she wakes up." The second crewman with the captain moved in to place a hand on the still-cuffed administrator, pulling him to his feet.

The captain walked up to the container. "Is that what I think it is?"

I nodded as I placed my blaster back at my side. "Thirty thousand liters of addiction and torture. Can I guess that your administrator and nav officers are new?"

The captain shook his head. "I’ve known each for at least a dozen years. It’s sad to see what the lure of quick money will do to a man, especially with times getting as tough as they are. These two have been well paid, and each is only six years from a pension that would have given them a modest but comfortable life. I know their families."

I could see the look of distress in the captain’s eyes as he looked at the remains of the crewmen. "They all had families. With this criminal activity, the company will not pay out any benefits to their wives or children. They were all good men."

I shook my head. "They were not all good men, Captain. They may have been at one time... not when they died."

I turned back to help Joni as she began to wake up. "Thanks for helping me, Knog. Were you just going to let me lie there in that pool of blood?"

I replied, "I’m not a physician. I was always told to let a person wake up on their own after a knockout. If they don’t wake up, you go for help."

Joni pinched the bridge of her nose as she squinted her eyes. "What happened?"

I laughed. "You took an elbow right between the eyes. Why didn’t you just shoot him?"

Joni stood silent for a second as she gathered her thoughts. "I wanted him alive for questioning. I was expecting him to be the one knocked out. He must have had a skull that was an inch thick."

I turned to the captain. "Can you set a course for SS5, Captain?"

The Captain nodded, "I can. We have showers too, if you would like to clean up."

I shook my head. "Thanks, but no. We have a shower on our ship."

I turned to Joni. "Go clean yourself up. I’ll get started on our report."

Joni looked at me with a strained expression. "Our report? This was my bust, remember?"

I offered a smile. "You are correct. Captain, could you have your men bring her a towel? She would like to get started on her report."

The captain gestured to a crewman, who immediately turned and left the bloodied hold.

The captain looked back at the container and then back at Joni. "I would say someone might get a star out of this."

Joni shook her head. "I couldn’t accept it, Captain. I’ve only been at this for about a month. I have too much to learn before I earn a star."

The captain looked back at the container. "Suit yourself, young lady, but capturing thirty thousand liters of blue death says otherwise."

Joni looked at the slash across the thick shirt of my uniform. "How about you? You OK?"

I pulled open the cut with two fingers. "I’m all right. You don’t fight Gruntas with a knife; our skin is too dense. He gave me a good scrape, but nothing serious."

Joni again squeezed the bridge of her nose as she repeatedly blinked her eyes. "Thick skin, I’m kind of envious of that right now."

Upon our return to SS5, the Captain was in a rage. "Who do you think you are? You can’t keep putting her in harm’s way! If she gets killed or even injured, we are going to be stuck cleaning the bilges of returning ships for the rest of our careers!"

I replied, "Captain, had I known it was going to be anything like it was, I would not have allowed it. She has to learn, though, and you learn best by doing. If we somehow get caught in a similar situation, she will now be more confident in her ability to act. That is something classrooms cannot teach."

The Captain paced about. "I just don’t know what to do with you two, Knog. The Chief has been all over me to keep you safe, but at the same time she is grinning from ear to ear over this bust. Her rookie, a Salton no less, just made a major bust. I have two dozen agents from the media standing outside those doors, clamoring for an interview with the rookie who brought in thirty thousand liters. If they find out that it was done by a Salton, they will go nuts!"

I nodded. "Well, Captain, you’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen. If her name hits the mainline news, she will become a much bigger target. We’ll have to have two dozen destroyers escort us wherever we go."

The Captain stopped. "You have to take credit for this bust, Knog. With those stars, it won’t be much more than a puff piece as compared to what it is in reality."

The Captain raised the Chief on the comm. After two minutes of private conversation, he returned and stared at me.

I shrugged. "Well?"

The Captain shook his head. "The Chief wants credit for the department. Wants to take advantage of the press while she has their attention. She is insisting that we change the reports to give you credit, and that I put you in for another..."

I leaned forward. "What was that, Captain? I couldn’t quite make out what you said last."

The Captain snarled, "I said, I have to put you in for a commendation, OK! You are probably going to get a fourth star for something that was a screwup!"

I laughed. "Wow, Captain. That must be painful for you to take. Look, if it’s any consolation to you, Captain, this did happen under your watch, and you will now be responsible for two of the stars on my shoulder. I know you feel I am a pain in the ass sometimes, but part of me is that way because of working for you. You are a partial reflection of your detectives, and if I’m not mistaken, your teams have been ranked at or near the top of the security service now since you took command. If this turns into another star, credit will be due to you as well."

The Captain stopped his agitated movements and stared. "That’s enough, Beutcher. I don’t need my feathers fluffed this morning. Go work on that report— and you are confined to this bay until the Chief has had a chance to speak with you. That goes for Miss Salton also."

I nodded as the Captain turned back toward the bay door. "Got it, Captain. And thanks for the talk!"

I walked back up the ramp-way to Joni, who was putting the polishing touches on the report of her first major bust.

I sat in my chair beside her. "I’m afraid I have some bad news. The media got word of a major bust of bleurgh, and they are beating down the doors out there wanting to interview the detective responsible."

Joni made the motion of straightening her uniform. "I can handle the press; I’ve seen a thousand interviews given by my family."

I shook my head. "Your family is the issue. You can’t take public credit for this, or the word will get out that a Salton is out there making busts. You will become a huge target for those opposed to your family. We can’t put you in the spotlight like that."

Joni half smiled. "I’m OK with that. I’m not doing this for the publicity anyhow."

I again shook my head. "Unfortunately, this bust is a big deal, and the media already knows it happened. The Chief wants credit, and she knows we can’t put you at risk, so, they want the report rewritten."

Joni stood. "What? They can’t do that! This is my bust!"

I pulled the report up on my screen. "Firstly, they can do that. And secondly, your name has to be removed altogether. Should the report go public, which it will as a matter of record, you can’t be on it, as it would make you a huge target. My job here is to train you and not to get you killed or kidnapped. I have to agree with the Chief on this one. You have to be scrubbed from the report. They have been doing that to all your others already."

Joni sat back in her chair in disbelief. "You know, for years now I have busted my ass in the classroom to try to be a detective. This is my accomplishment, this is exactly what I have wanted to do since I chose this line of work. And now, I pass my first—no, my second big test, and I can’t take credit for either one!"

I turned my chair toward Joni. "Look, if it means anything, I know what you did and how you performed out there. You saved my life. Those two who had me caught—I was a dead man. And that load of cesium ore—had you not had the instinct to go into that hold for a deep inspection, that ship and all those men would have disappeared. You have accomplished more in a month than most detectives do in their first dozen years. Because of your name, you can’t take public credit. You did, however, accomplish both of those feats without getting you or your partner killed. Others may never know what you did, but you and I, and the Captain, we always will."

Joni stared at me. "They are making you take credit for this, aren’t they?"

I replied, "It’s the easy and logical choice. And just so you know, I did want you to have the credit here. In fact, I am going to insist that we keep two copies of the report: one that goes in as public record, and yours, which the Chief will deliver to your father. I know part of why you are here is because you want to show accomplishments of your own, without the family name being involved."

Joni looked back at her report, reached up and pressed the delete button.

"Why did you do that?"

Joni replied, "I don’t need to prove anything to my father. He already has confidence in me. Besides, if a copy of that was to somehow leak out, my cover here—not that I really have a cover—would be blown. I like this job, Knog. I like what we do, and I want to keep doing it. I feel free out there. People react to me as a detective and not as a Salton."

I nodded. "If it’s any consolation, I already believe you to be as good a detective as any out there. And I should know, I have these three stars to back up that opinion. And while we are on the subject, the Captain says the Chief wants to submit me for a fourth star."

Joni threw her arms up in the air as she tried to contain a laugh. "Un-huh! I see what’s going on here! You are stealing my bust to get that fourth star!"

I again nodded as I pointed to her eyes. "You see what I said about you being a good detective? I can’t slip anything past you, can I?"

The fact that Joni was taking the news of her report so well spoke volumes about her character. She was a good detective, and I had no doubt that one day she would have four stars of her own.

For the next week, we were grounded in Bay-17 as the Chief worked on her media campaign. Joni’s father was filled in on the actual bust and gave his blessing to my receiving a fourth star. The ceremony was drawn out, with the Chief speaking continuously to each of the media outlets. I was given a single line to rehearse and was told to not utter another word besides what had been written for me. When the celebration was over, I returned to the
Daunte
.

Joni greeted me as I came up the ramp-way. "Ah, look at you, four stars on that shoulder. Wow, that is a rare sight."

I looked at the stitching. "This one on the end here, it’s yours. I’ve never been one to want a partner, but as long as you are willing, I would be honored to have you as such."

Joni laughed. "Honored? Ha! You need me as a partner! How else are you going to get to that fifth and final star!"

I smiled. "No, it is an honor, Joni Salton. I had hoped that one day one of my boys would want to be a detective, but they have shown no interest in what I do. It is refreshing to see and to work with someone who shows your enthusiasm."

Joni shook her head and laughed. "Now, you aren’t going to start tearing up on me, are you?"

I replied, "I promise to not do you such a disservice, Miss Salton. Now, if I am not mistaken, the Captain promised to have a new schedule posted by the time the award banquet was over. Let’s see what further trouble we can get ourselves into."

Another week passed without incident. I could see the boredom building in Joni. Her attitude toward the captains was nearing a point that would be considered unprofessional.

After one such encounter, once we were again aboard the
Daunte
, I said, "I just wanted to say that you have been doing an outstanding job with your searches; however, your interpersonal skills have begun to slip. It’s one thing to be firm with an administrator or captain, it’s another to border on being rude."

"Some people are just asking for it."

I nodded. "I wouldn’t disagree, but we need to operate on a level above them. You are coming in here not knowing if a person is having a bad day or perhaps a bad month. Always being professional sets you apart from whatever their troubles are, which puts you in a position of authority. Most will recognize that and give you the respect the position commands. If they persist, you then have the discretion to apply whatever pressure you see fit, but always in a professional manner. When doing so, you leave little room for complaint."

Joni sighed. "So, you are saying that I need to ease up unless given real reason to be a hard-ass. I can agree with that. It’s just that I don’t know how many more of these cakewalk inspections I can do without exploding from boredom. Maybe it’s time we used a little of our discretion for another random search."

I replied, "We have five hours until our next stop. We can scan for the next available ship in this area, or we could request a portal jump to somewhere more distant, although I doubt it would get approved."

Joni smiled. "I say we put in a request. If they deny it, we can always stay local."

I raised the dispatcher on the comm. "Hela, this is Knog Beutcher. We are requesting a jump out to the shipping lanes near the Gonath system for a random inspection. I was looking over the public logs and noticed there hasn’t been an inspection out there in twenty-eight days."

Hela replied, "I’ll run it by the Captain. Will let you know as soon as I have an answer."

I closed the comm. "I’m sure we will hear within a few minutes. The Captain has a call out to be notified immediately about anything to do with us."

Hela came back moments later. "You have approval, Mr. Beutcher. I will set up the jump. The Captain would like a word with you first. He should be in contact with you any moment."

As I closed the channel with Hela, the Captain hailed us. "Knog, I wanted you to know that I thought this was a bad idea. The Chief, however, wants to give you a little rope on the chance you two bring in more good publicity. I think it’s an asinine reason for approval, but you got it. Keep me informed of what’s going on, and don’t hesitate to call in backup if things get even remotely dicey."

I nodded. "Understood, Captain. We’ll do our best to not get shot."

The Captain pointed a finger at the screen. "Don’t be screwing around out there, Knog. Everything I said before still stands. We can’t risk an incident."

When the comm closed, the coordinates for the jump, as well as normal shipping schedules for the area, came over the data feed from Hela Gruend. I acknowledged with a textual thank-you and prepared for the portal sweep.

Joni had heard the whole conversation. "I say we just ask the Chief next time. She seems much more reasonable than the Captain."

I replied, "Don’t sell the Captain short, Joni. He’s been out in the field and knows what can happen, while the Chief is a political appointee."

Joni shook her head. "I thought the Chief was an earned position? Since when are they appointed?"

I looked at Joni. "Since those working for your family deemed it a necessity. Most offices with authority over law, trade, or even movement of people are now controlled by appointees. There are a lot of veteran workers out there who moved up through the ranks only to find themselves out of a job. You Humans love your cronies."

Joni half scowled. "Hey, don’t throw me in with that lot. Common sense tells you that it should be the best person for the job and not your pet’s groomer’s cousin because you owe them a favor. If I was calling the shots, things would be different."

I moved the
Daunte
to its new location near Gonath. "We all like to think we would do things differently. The decisions that have to be made for governance on that scale have to be staggering when it comes to their effect on others. It’s easy for us to say what we would do from here. Our actions might be totally different if we were in that position."

A dozen ships came up on the nav screen as Joni spoke. "Well, we aren’t in that position, so I guess those problems won’t get solved today. We have a slew of ships to pick from. I wouldn’t have thought this was as active a system as it is."

I replied, "In my experience with the Gonath system, I generally have had to wait several hours for a single ship. Let’s move in a bit closer. I’ll have portal command change the microportal location to follow us in case we need to jump."

After several minutes of observation, I said, "Those are all personnel transports except those two over there. Those are…gunships."

I opened a channel to security command. "This is Detective Beutcher. I’m passing in a video feed from the Gonath system. It looks like there is a large-scale movement of people going on here. I have two unidentified gunships that appear to be acting as escorts or monitors. I think we might be witnessing a raid on the colony."

Hela Gruend replied, "Mr. Beutcher, hold your position, do not approach further. Word just came through from portal command that the Gonath system portal is under blockade. I am going to request a sweep out of there for you, Mr. Beutcher. Please hold."