Omega Force 7: Redemption (7 page)

While not at all like any auction Jason had ever seen on Earth, he quickly learned how it worked. The bidding quickly went very high until it was only Jason and one other person bidding on what could end up being a poorly kept Galvetic corpse. After another two rounds the other bidder, obviously quite angry, bowed out and stalked off.

"Sold to the ... whatever you are," the auctioneer said. "The agreed amount will need to be paid in an accepted currency, ConFed Universal Credits included, and before you take delivery."

"I have it on my ship," Jason said. "I can pay you when he's delivered to my cargo bay."

"That's not how it works," the auctioneer said firmly. "You'll pay me here, and now, and then you can worry about how to get the body back to your ship." This put Jason in a serious bind since the amount of the winning bid far exceeded the total amount of money aboard the
Phoenix
. "I hope you did not bid an amount you have no means to pay," the auctioneer said ominously. In truth he was just another Watcher in a ridiculous suit and very obviously armed. At his tone, two more stepped forward and gave Jason a decidedly unfriendly look.

"Of course he didn't," a voice said smoothly from behind him. "He was simply entering a proxy bid for me. I will be paying the full amount."

"Of course, Saditava Mok, sir," the Watcher said, his tone shifting from aggressive to servile in an instant. "My apologies to your associate."

"It's fine," Saditava said with a dismissive wave. "I'm sure you weren't hired here for your intelligence. Please speak to my bodyguard about securing payment."

"What's this all about?" Jason asked suspiciously as the Watcher walked over to the bodyguard with a tablet to transfer the funds.

"I told you," Saditava said with a smile. "I owe you a favor. This paltry sum is just one way I may repay that favor."

"You must have inherited a fairly lucrative chunk of Bondrass's operation," Jason said, swallowing at the amount of money the gangster was tossing around like it was nothing.

"You have no idea," Saditava said, still smiling. He reached into his coat and pulled out a thin data card. "Here, take this. There are various points of contact on there by which you can reach me should you ever need my help again."

"Thanks," Jason said slowly, taking the card. He knew something like that didn't come without strings attached, but it would be rude not to accept it. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Please do," Saditava said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I wish to return to the fights and I'm sure you would like to tend to your friend. Until we meet again, George Washington."

"Sir, if you'll come with me I can show you to your prize," the now-respectful Watcher said as Saditava and his Korkaran guard departed.

"Lead the way," Jason said as he and Lucky fell in behind the smaller being.

They followed the Watcher down through a series of roughhewn corridors, the floors as smooth as polished marble from centuries of feet shuffling over them. The Watcher stopped at a security door and keyed it open, waving them through. Crusher still lay on the wheeled sled, his blood dripping steadily on the floor.

"Here he is," the Watcher said without interest. "If your plan was to keep him alive you probably should hurry to your ship. I have to tell you though ... any plans you might have of using him as a soldier should be abandoned. He's killed seven Watchers since he was brought here, even after our ... enhanced ... security measures. You're better off killing this one, but if you let him live, never turn your back on him."

"Thank you, that will be all," Jason said coldly, his hands beginning to shake as his anger built and his turbocharged adrenal response began to cloud his reason. Recognizing the signs, Lucky intervened quickly.

"We would like to take the Galvetic warrior to our ship immediately," he said. "Do we use the same passage we came in through?"

"No," the Watcher said, looking at Jason closely. "Go left out of here and all the way to the end of this corridor. Go right and then it's straight on from there to the security exit that will let you out onto the landing pad."

"You have my employer's thanks," Lucky said. "We have no further need of your assistance."

"Sure," the Watcher said, backing out the door. "No problem." Once he left the pair moved quickly to the sled.

"He's still alive," Jason said. "Hold him down and I'll dose him." Lucky leaned over and gently restrained Crusher as Jason pulled out three auto-injectors that Doc had rigged up, each containing a cocktail of drugs and nanobots that were designed as a catchall for whatever condition they might find him in.

Jason pulled the safety caps off with his teeth and pressed the devices firmly into the thickest part of Crusher's shoulder. The big warrior grumbled and shifted as the heavy needles deployed and the injectors shoved the viscous mixture into his bloodstream.

"These will start working fast, but we've got to get him to the infirmary quickly," Jason said. "Let's go ... you lead and I'll push him along."

Lucky opened the door and Jason maneuvered the unwieldy sled out and to the left, waiting for the battlesynth to move ahead of him and take point. He should have known better than to think things would go so easily, as if they could just wheel Crusher out to the
Phoenix
and be on their way. As soon as they made the right turn into the last corridor they could see the path was completely blocked.

"You have something I want," the same alien who had been in a bidding war with Jason called out. "I intend to take it." He had at least twelve bodyguards with him, their bulk completely obscuring the view ahead.

"I don't think the Watchers would appreciate you trying to strongarm one of their paying clients within their own walls," Jason said. "Do you?"

The alien thought this extremely funny for some reason, laughing in a bizarre cough/wheeze sort of way. "Who do you think paid them to have you make your way down this back corridor with my prize?" he said. "They are fully aware of the situation."

"Please let me handle this, Captain," Lucky said, walking calmly towards the group. They all tensed up, but held their ground.

"I know what you are, battlesynth," the alien said. "But you know as well as I do that any energy weapons fired in this corridor will trigger the security measures and we'll all die, including your boss. You're nothing more than another strong body here."

"I am fully aware of the restrictions placed upon us," Lucky said calmly, still walking. He pulled off the tunic he'd inexplicably been wearing to reveal two of Crusher's wickedly curved long blades fastened to his back. "I have no need of energy weapons to dispatch you and your hired muscle."

Jason watched with fascination as Lucky reached behind his back and grabbed both blades, releasing them with an audible
snick
and bringing them around, crossing them in front of his chest.

"You don't want it to go down like this!" the alien called shrilly. "Just give me what I want and I'll be on my way." Lucky was only ten feet away at this point so Jason just stayed silent and watched to see what his friend had in store.

Lucky stopped and held his arms wide, the blades angled down slightly. Once he saw the battlesynth had no plans to let them by, the auction loser signaled to his security detail to attack. The results were much as one would expect.

The first two to reach Lucky were hurt, badly. The battlesynth smoothly stepped up and crashed the pommels of both blades into the sides of their heads. This eliminated two threats, but it also let the remaining ten know that a battlesynth wasn't just a synth with energy weapons bolted on. The strength and agility had taken them by surprise and now they were exercising much more caution, trying to use tactics over brute force to take him down.

It didn't matter. Lucky was a blur of motion, disabling three more guards with a combination of two well-placed slices and another bone-crunching hit with the base of a knife. A shuddering moan caught Jason's attention and he looked down in time to see Crusher convulsing so hard he almost flopped off the sled, a mixture of blood and saliva foaming out of his mouth.

"No more playing Lucky!" Jason shouted. "He's dying! We have to move!"

Lucky responded immediately and changed tactics from disabling to annihilating. Both blades whistled through the air, decapitating one guard and biting deep between the neck and shoulder of another. He bodily lifted the latter in an effort to dislodge the blade, the body crashing into the boss who had been trying to sneak along the wall and escape. Jason began pulling the sled quickly towards the fray, stopping long enough to lean down to the now-blubbering losing bidder.

"What the hell was so important you'd kill all these people to get him?" Jason snarled.

"He was to be a gift for my father," the alien blubbered. "I was to have him preserved and hung." When it sunk in that he meant to have Crusher stuffed and mounted like a big game animal, Jason reared back and kicked the alien in the throat, the toe of his boot caving in the soft tissue and tearing one of the major blood vessels.

Jason looked up in time to see that Lucky was down to the last three. He reversed his grip on both knives and plunged both blades into the chest of one, using the knives as handles to pick up the hefty guard and fling him out of the way where he lay and gaped like a fish out of water as his lungs filled with blood. The remaining two seemed undecided whether to flee or try and take on the battlesynth together. Their hesitation was their final act in life as Lucky leapt across the gap and killed both with two armored fists.

"We are clear," he said, turning to Jason.

"Great," Jason said, pulling the sled along. "Now make me a path through the bodies and don't forget to grab Crusher's blades."

The rest of the way was clear although the security gate sentries looked startled as a battlesynth holding two enormous knives and soaked in three types of blood walked around the corner and politely asked that they open the gate. As soon as the shielded doors parted Jason heard his com unit beep as it reestablished a connection with the
Phoenix
.

"Twingo!" he practically shouted into the device. "We're at an entrance approximately two hundred meters west of the main security gate. Taxi the
Phoenix
over as close as you can get her and make sure Doc is waiting for us in the cargo bay."

"
We're on our way!
" Twingo said.

It wasn't even a minute later when the ground began to tremble and the
Phoenix
rolled into view. Jason watched as Twingo skillfully swung the nose over and rotated the ship even as the ramp was dropping so that they would have a minimal distance to expose Crusher to the dangerously cold conditions. As soon as the ramp slammed into the tarmac, Jason and Lucky both moved him as fast as they could, the stronger battlesynth pulling the sled and the human sprinting alongside stabilizing his friend.

"Move aside!" Doc barked as the sled rolled to a stop in the cargo bay. Jason smacked the controls to raise the ramp and close the pressure doors while Lucky gently picked Crusher up and placed him on the bed of the makeshift trauma center they'd rigged up in the cargo bay. The thought was that should they have to blast their way out of Duat it would be better if Crusher could be immediately stabilized and treated instead of having to be carried up to the main deck and all the way to the infirmary.

"Twingo, we're in!" Jason said over the intercom. "Get us the hell out of here as fast as she'll fly." Even before he'd released the intercom button the deck began to vibrate as the engines built power and he felt the ship lift herself off the ground.

"How's he going to be?" Jason asked, approaching Doc and Lucky, almost afraid to look down on the bed.

"I don't know how, but he's still alive," Doc said. "The level of trauma is severe; some of it occurred well before today. He has a long way to go, but I'm tentatively saying that if he makes it through the next twenty-five hours he has a much better chance of pulling through. I'll know more after a few hours and he's had a chance to stabilized."

"I'll take first watch with him," Jason said. "Lucky, you go get yourself cleaned up. Doc, grab some rest and chow ... you'll need to be at your best in the coming few days, I think."

It was some time after the other two left when he heard Crusher stir next to him. As he watched he was amazed as the warrior’s eyes simply popped open, fully alert, albeit confused. He looked around the cargo bay for a few moments before fixing Jason with an intense stare.

"I'm out," he said simply. "No more. I don't want any more." Jason sat back in his chair and tried to ponder what he had meant as Crusher fell back into a deep sleep.

"After Crusher left we tried to keep it together for a bit longer, but it was never really the same," Jason said. "Kage was the first to leave afterward and then Doc decided he wanted to return to doing research in a lab. Twingo, Lucky and I ended up out here shuffling light cargo until eventually it was just Lucky and I running a few hard-won contracts."

"This ship you spoke of, the
Phoenix
... that cannot be the same ship I snuck onto," Kalette said.

"Actually—"

"Good morning," Lucky said before he could answer. "I apologize for not informing you that Kalette requested to stay here last night, Jason."

"No problem," Jason said. "We were just having a talk."

"Oh?" Lucky asked, his interest obviously piqued. "Might I ask what about?"

"Just telling her some war stories about the old crew," Jason shrugged. "Something to pass the time."

"I see," Lucky said. "We have received a message from the
Defiant
. Doc is on his way back down to speak with Kalette."

"He is the 'Doc' you spoke of from your old crew?" she asked. When Jason nodded, she continued, "Why does he now work with Crisstof? Does he have no loyalty for Crusher?"

"He does," Jason said uncomfortably. "But it's a bit more complicated than all that. Doc is an idealist before anything else and he'd lived the sheltered life of an academic before we were all tossed in together. If there's a chance to accomplish something good, like helping people affected by a plague, he'll swallow his pride and do whatever it takes to get it done."

She seemed to consider this for a moment. "I suppose that has a sort of dignity all its own," she said.

"Well said," Lucky said. "I am going to the market for breakfast. I will return before Doc arrives." He turned and left before Jason could put in a special request or Kalette could make any dietary requirements known.

"Is he always so imperious?" she asked Jason.

"You have no idea," Jason groused. "He continually claims I'm in charge of this operation, but I've never been bossed around so much in my life. He does enjoy getting out among the locals, though. That wasn't always the case."

"Don't they find it odd that a metal being comes into their market center to buy food?" she asked.

"They're used to it by now," Jason said. "The locals aren't overly sophisticated and I'm beginning to suspect some have started worshiping him as a shiny, well-spoken god."

"You jest!" she said with a bright laugh that Jason found adorable.
Where the hell did that come from?

"Mostly," he said with a smile, the expression actually feeling odd on his face after wearing a permanent scowl for so long. "There's only a single bathroom in this place. If you'd like to go get cleaned up first I'll see where Lucky put your clothes."

"Thank you, Jason Burke," she said, rising from the chair. "I will not be long."

Jason just shook his head as she walked into the house. He had a bad feeling his life was going to be seriously disrupted by the girl. It wasn’t that he was particularly fond of his existence as it was currently, but at least it was familiar.

****

"No Crisstof this time?" Jason said by way of greeting as Doc walked in the front door.

"He felt his presence was an uncomfortable disruption," Doc said as he and Jason embraced. The pair had had their many differences, but Jason was genuinely happy to see his old friend.

"Hey! He's not as stupid as I thought," Jason said as he walked back into the kitchen area where the surreal vision of a battlesynth cooking breakfast over an antique stove greeted them.

"You know that's a lot of the problem, Jason," Doc said, blinking as he watched Lucky flipping an assortment of local vegetables in a pan like a professional chef.

"Don't ask," Jason muttered. "He's taken a real shine to cooking recently for some reason. Anyway ... what's a lot of the problem?"

"You're always so combative," Doc said as he took a seat. "We made our choice, but Crisstof also had to make his. He had a lot more at stake than a single person's life."

"We've talked this to death," Jason said, dismissing the subject with a wave. "Crusher deserved a better effort than Crisstof gave no matter the circumstances. He'd earned that much. By the way, how are the Galvetic Marines doing?"

"They're gone," Doc admitted. "I keep mostly to myself when aboard the ship, for obvious reasons, but I heard there was serious discontent in the ranks after they'd discovered what happened on Faulli. Mazer learned that Crusher had returned to Galvetor and gave Kellea notice that they intended to depart as soon as their contract was up." Doc looked at Jason expectantly, waiting for him to ask the obvious question after he'd mentioned Kellea's name. Jason refused to take the bait.

"Was it Crisstof's lack of concern for their Guardian Archon or his trying to hide the facts afterwards that pissed them off the most?" he asked instead.

"I'd say a sixty-forty split of both those factors," Doc said. "Crisstof had been beside himself that he'd lost control of such a valuable asset. In the end he released them early and took them back to—could you be any less obvious with that smile on your face?"

"Hmm?" Jason asked innocently. "Oh, sorry. Please continue."

"As I was saying," Doc went on, rolling his eyes, "he released them from their contract and had them flown back to Restaria. They had made it pretty clear they had no intention of giving much of an effort on any new missions Crisstof had for them."

"Poor Crisstof," Jason said in mock sympathy. "He had to learn the hard way that there are consequences to using and manipulating people."

"I don't think that's a fair—"

"Hello, Doc," Kalette said as she walked out into the main living area. She had put Jason's shirt back on while her hair dried.

"Good morning, Kalette," Doc said, giving a Jason a look that was equal parts exasperation and disgust. Jason shook his head emphatically at the unsaid accusation and pointed at Lucky's back. Doc waved off Jason's protestations and made a choking motion with his right hand, the old Omega Force gesture for when someone was screwing things up beyond all measure.

"Am I interrupting?" Kalette asked as she watched the silent conversation of hand gestures for a moment.

"Not at all," Doc said. "Please, have a seat."

"Jason has been entertaining me this morning with tales of your old crew," she said as she slid into one of the chairs surrounding the table.

"Really?" Doc asked in genuine surprise. "How was I portrayed in these
tales
?"

"A reluctant participant, maybe," Kalette said, squinting her eyes as she gave the off-the-cuff question serious consideration.

"That describes most of my adult life," Doc muttered sourly. "Anyway, while I'm thrilled at the chance to visit with my old friends, I did come back down to the surface to talk specifically to you."

"Let me save you some time," Kalette said, raising her hand in the galaxy's universal sign for stop. "I do not trust Crisstof Dalton. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is his convenient timing in showing up here almost the exact instant I did. I will not go with him willingly."

"What would be your preferred outcome at this juncture, Kalette?" Lucky asked as he walked from the kitchen balancing three plates on one arm and clutching three sets of flatware in the opposite hand.

"I need to find a way to get word back to the Empire," she said. "They need to know the exact details of what happened to the netjere. But I need to do this without escaping from one bad situation and immersing myself into another."

"So simple transport would be your main priority?" Lucky asked. Jason dug into the plate in front of him, completely oblivious to where Lucky was leading the conversation, as Doc picked at the food suspiciously with the two-pronged fork he'd been given.

"Yes," Kalette said.

"So if you were to find someone who had an interstellar ship capable of transporting you somewhere from which you could make contact with your people, that would be acceptable?" Lucky asked.

"Yes," Kalette said again, this time with more hesitation and confusion at the convoluted questioning. The words had been flowing around Jason while he ate, but his eyes popped open as they finally sunk in and he nearly choked on his food.

"Now wait a damn minute!" he started, only to be interrupted by a moaning from Doc that stopped the conversation cold and made them all wonder what the hell he was doing under the table. "You alright there, buddy?"

"Lucky, this is incredible," Doc said, talking around a mouthful and ignoring Jason completely. "I haven't eaten anything this good since the last time we were on Aracoria. Where did you learn to do this?"

"When I inquired about how to prepare local foods at the market the vendors were kind enough to instruct me. I have been experimenting on my own since then," Lucky said, beaming. "I am very pleased you like it."

"Like it?!" Doc said. "This is exquisite, and I'm not just saying that because I've been eating ship food for a month."

"The
Defiant's
mess deck isn't exactly 'ship food,'" Jason said, waving at Doc to shut up and go back to his meal. "I see where you're steering this, you sneaky bastard, and the answer is no, for a few reasons."

"Such as?" Lucky pressed.

"That pile of garbage can't make the flight, for starters," Jason said hotly. "At least not if we all want to survive the trip. Second, we can't ignore the contracts we have here. Third—"

"Would I be correct in assuming there would be a substantial reward for your return?" Lucky asked Kalette.

"Oh yes," she said, nodding emphatically. "The Sovereign would be most generous."

"That's not the point!" Jason insisted.

"Then what is your point, Jason," Lucky said calmly, not letting up.

"This isn't what we do anymore!" Jason shouted. "Omega Force is gone, Lucky. You and I are just a couple of junk haulers now."

"No, this is just what we are doing at the present," Lucky insisted. "This is not who we are."

"Why can't you just accept—"

"Please! Stop!" Kalette cried out sharply. "I do not wish to be the reason for this fighting among friends. I will find another way."

"I apologize for our lack of manners, Kalette," Jason said calmly, standing up. "If you'll all excuse me." Without waiting for an answer he walked out the back door and down onto the beach, trying to put some distance between himself and the conversation he'd left behind.

He walked aimlessly along the beach for a bit, lost in his thoughts. The nice thing about having a local population that had an inherent fear of the open water was that the beach was almost always deserted. He found a place to sit where he could watch the waves, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't push the intruding and unwelcome thoughts from his head.

"That annoying bastard," he said in disgust, kicking an offending pile of sand as he stood up. "He can never just leave well enough alone."

The sun was pushing up to its midday zenith so Jason knew he must have been sitting for a couple of hours, but he could hardly account for the time, so lost was he in his own head. He retraced his steps back to his house, unsure about how to proceed once he got there. Part of him wanted to wash his hands of the entire mess that had, literally, dropped into his lap. But Lucky's words had burrowed into his mind and had been turning over and over ever since he'd stormed out of his own kitchen like a petulant child.

"This is not who we are ..."