Omega Rising (13 page)

The ship passed effortlessly through the forcefield that held the atmosphere of the hanger in place and immediately started hissing and popping in the warm air. After touching down it spun on its Y-axis like a top, the rear wheels of the main gear able to roll sideways as well as forwards and backwards. It continued its rotation until its nose was pointed back out towards space and the rear cargo ramp was facing inward.

              "Let's go," Deetz said simply as he placed all essential systems into a standby mode.

              "Should I be armed?" Jason asked as he followed the synth off the bridge.

              "No!" Deetz and Twingo said simultaneously, the effect odd through the translator in his ear. Deetz continued with a sidelong glance at Jason, "I wouldn't suggest it, and not just because station security would frown upon it." This seemed to confirm, at least in Jason's mind, that whatever they were doing wasn't exactly aboveboard. They walked in silence the rest of the way to the cargo hold and stopped as Deetz lowered the ramp and opened the internal pressure doors. Again, Jason was assaulted by an entirely new variety of strange, unpleasant ambient smells.
I wonder if anyone ever really gets used to this.
The unlikely trio walked down the ramp and were greeted by a tall, very thin humanoid with olive skin and muted facial features; no prominent nose or ears. The eyes, however, were very green and very bright, nearly incandescent in the hanger's flood lights.        

              "Deetz...." It's voice was low and sibilant, exaggerating the
sss
sound greatly. It also spoke with an obvious disdain for the synth. "So where, exactly, is Klegsh?" Deetz looked nervously from the speaker to the two armed figures of the same species behind him before answering.

              "There were some... complications... on the last run. The crew never made it back to the ship. I made a run for it and still took some heavy damage, but we had stashed your property before leaving Breaker's World, so it was safe and sound during all the unpleasantness." Deetz was talking very fast now in the alien's native language, luckily Jason's translator kept him up to speed. "With the Captain gone I had no way to get it back out of storage, so I enlisted this human," he gestured towards Jason, "to help me sign it out and bring it straight here. I know we're late, Bondrass, but you have to believe that I was trying to get here as soon as I could."

              "I don't have to believe anything," Bondrass said with venom in his voice. He gestured to the two behind him, "Go check it out and let me know what you find." While he spoke he never took his eyes off the DL7 crew and seemed especially interested in Jason. The guards immediately jogged up the ramp and began scanning the barrels in the cargo bay with some sort of handheld device. Jason was captivated by the alien in front of him, but he had also seen Twingo's reaction when Deetz had called him by name. It was the same reaction Jason felt he would have had if he had been hitchhiking and found himself standing in John Gotti's garage facing the Don himself with two of his goons behind him. For the first time since boarding the gunship in that clearing, Jason began to think that it wasn't likely he would actually survive this little adventure.

He was actually grateful when he heard the two armed being marching back down the ramp if for no other reason than to interrupt the uncomfortable silence between them and the imposing Bondrass. The pair went straight to their boss and one whispered quietly in his ear as he continued to stare blankly at the trio, his face belying no emotion. Suddenly, his face broke into a huge, oily smile, exposing his short, pointed teeth. “It seems all is in order. I’ll admit, I had my doubts.” He walked over and put an arm around Jason and Deetz, the latter involuntarily flinched away slightly at the gesture. “But you understand that, don’t you Deetz? After all, you guys disappeared with my cargo at the pick up and it’s taken all this time for you to bring it back here. I half expected the containers to be full of sand,” with gentle pressure Bondrass was leading them away from the ramp, “but now all is well and you’ve shown yourselves to be standup guys. We can maybe talk about some business later. Don’t go anywhere.” The last sentence was most definitely not a suggestion. The tall alien removed his arms and strode away towards the exit, his two guards falling into formation behind him.

Jason was slightly confused as a work crew seemed to materialize out of nowhere and began unloading the cargo hold using some sort of hovering sleds and another alien, the same species as Bondrass apparently, albeit much shorter, appeared in front of him with a tablet computer. “As you’ll see here, Bondrass has graciously agreed to pay ninety percent of the original contract, most generous considering how late you’ve been. If you’ll please place your imprint here,” he indicated to another highlighted circle on the screen. Jason looked to Deetz, who nodded almost imperceptibly, and pressed his thumb into the circle. The tablet beeped and the alien looked at the screen and frowned, “I’ve never heard of a… human?... interesting. No matter though, your bio print matches the ship’s record, payment is being transferred to the DL7’s treasury as we speak. Once the cargo is unloaded you’re free to re-board and grab your personal belongings, Bondrass has arranged for a suite to made available for you and will notify you shortly if he has further use for you. If not, you’ll be cleared to leave.” The officious being spun on his heels and marched out of the hanger, leaving Twingo and Jason both apprehensive and relieved at the same time. Deetz, on the other hand, looked only relieved. 

It took the crews another twenty minutes or so to clear the gunship out and spirit the cargo away. During that time Jason had walked over to lean against the nose landing gear and stare out of the gaping hanger opening into space. Intellectually he knew there was a forcefield holding the atmosphere in the hanger, but part of him was still quite leery of the hard vacuum that was just a few yards away. Once the ground crew had left he walked up the ramp and into the middle of an argument between Twingo and Deetz: "This has nothing to do with me! I'm booking the first flight back home and YOU'RE going to pay for it!"

              "You know exactly who that was out there. Do you really think he'd make the distinction between you wanting to be here or not? As far as he, and I, are concerned NOBODY is leaving until he says otherwise. Believe me... I'd like nothing better than to dump you right here and now, the fact you're onboard was not my choice. The fact Bondrass has told ALL of us to stay, including you, is also not my choice." Deetz's voice remained calm, but the steel in his demeanor indicated that he meant to back up what he said.

              "Look here you chunk of scrap metal, I don't give a leap what you've got cooked up with whichever crime lord you're dumb enough to have dealings with. I'm not bound to any of it, and I'm leaving!"

              "ENOUGH!" Jason's shout froze both of them just as Deetz looked like he was winding up for another long-winded retort. "Deetz... with the money this job paid, do you agree to send Twingo back to Breaker's World on the first available transport?" He waited for the synth to nod his assent. "Thank you. Twingo... would you agree to this with the condition you wait for a bit to see what's what with this Bondrass character? I know you'd rather leave, but I'd rather you not put us in danger, or mark yourself."

              "Fine," Twingo said without conviction. He'd have much rather been on the first flight away from Pinnacle, but he knew he'd gotten all he was going to get out of the other two.

              "Ok. That's settled. I suppose we can just grab what we need and head out. I'm guessing that little guy still waiting by the door is going to show us to our rooms." Jason didn't wait for a response as he headed back to his quarters to grab what few belongings he had to take with him; a change of clothes and the toiletries he'd managed to coax the fabricators into producing.

He about had everything bundled into a neat roll with his change of pants on the outside when there was a soft knock at his door. He walked over and slapped the spot on the wall that would open it. Twingo was standing there with a similar bundle to his own, "May I come in, Jason?"

              "Of course. Something wrong?"

              "Honestly, yes... but I don't think you fully realize it yet," the engineer came in and sat down in the chair at the desk. "This Bondrass is a notoriously bad, bad guy. I don't get a good feeling about staying here any longer than necessary."

              "I can agree with you there, but I honestly don't think we have much choice at this point. I know I'm a backworld rube to you, but I recognize a gangster when I see one. What do you think he wants with us?"

              "I can't really imagine. My first instinct tells me he's going to want another job done, but he has to know that Deetz is more of a con artist and you, although trained as a soldier on your own world, are very much out of your element here. He could buy and sell a thousand of me so that's certainly not it," Twingo said, pausing as if he wanted to say more.

              "Go on," Jason prompted.

              "It may be the ship. While something like this bird isn't necessarily unobtainable, it is a bit of a rare mix of firepower and speed. It would certainly be worth getting rid of three nobodies for."

              "Something tells me you're here because you have an idea on how to prevent that rather than to just give me a warning."

              "Very perceptive," Twingo smiled. "I'd like to use your authority to put some locks in place on the ship's computer. Bondrass' people would correctly assume Deetz has been in command of the vessel, but when you were named First Officer you automatically outranked him as far as the computer was concerned. I'm not sure that he realized that when he gave you such a high rank. The locks, that only you can control, could be used as leverage for anyone who would want to take the ship, be that Bondrass or Deetz." The last part surprised Jason somewhat, he hadn't realized just how deep Twingo's distrust of Deetz went. While the synth was supremely annoying, he didn't think he would deliberately put them in danger or run out on them.

              "Ok, tell me what to do," Jason said as he sat down on the foot of the bed. Over the next five minutes Twingo talked him through the commands he needed to give the computer to gain access to the security protocols and safeguard them so only he could rescind them. Once finished, they grabbed their gear and headed back towards the cargo bay where they found a very impatient synth waiting for them.

              "Where have you two been? You only have one change of clothes to your names..."

              "What?" Jason asked as he walked by. "We have a schedule to meet or something?" Deetz rolled his eyes and activated the security lock up, unwittingly triggering Jason's new subroutine, and walked down the ramp before it could raise and lock.

The concierge, who had been waiting patiently by the hanger access hatch, led them through the bowels of the lower station, his impeccable clothes clashing with the grimy surroundings. They arrived at a set of lift doors and were ushered inside. They rode the lift further and further until even Deetz's brow shot up as they traversed into the extremely posh upper decks of Pinnacle Station. The doors finally opened and they walked out into an opulent passageway, still following the concierge until the reached an open hatchway. Walking inside they were momentarily stunned by how well appointed their temporary quarters were. Jason was the first to speak: "We're being buttered up for something. This can't be cheap."

              "This is one of many suites Mr. Bondrass keeps on retainer for clients who may be passing through." It was the first time the concierge had spoken since they had exited the hanger. "If there won't be anything else, sirs, I'll leave you now. If you're needed, someone will send for you." He spun and walked out, shutting the hatch behind him,

              "Anyone want to bet that it's locked?" Twingo asked as he sprawled out on the sofa, deciding that he may as well take advantage of a little luxury while he could. Jason walked around the suite and, as on the gunship, was struck at how familiar the furnishings and fixtures were. He said as much:

              "Why has everything looked like it could have come from my planet? For that matter why aren't the aliens I've met been all that exotic?"

              "Aliens?" Deetz laughed at him. "Take a look around, you're the most alien being on this station right now." He laughed again, ignoring Jason's glare.

              "There's a logical reason for that," Twingo spoke up. "For whatever reason, intelligent life seems to evolve along a certain few tracts, mostly. Warm-blooded creatures all tend to be bipedal with bilateral symmetry once they reach a certain level of evolution. Some have more appendages or specialized sensory organs, but we're all pretty similar, and as such we tend to congregate together. On some worlds, insectoid life becomes dominant, or prime, and those species tend to stick together as well. It's more out of a lack of communication ability than any real prejudice, although some of them are a fright to look at. There's simply no real common ground for us to meet on. Beings like us tend to be more individualistic while insectoid life is more hive-oriented with a strong group-think instinct." He took a sip of something he had grabbed from the wet bar before continuing.
Ooo... is that beer?

"There have been some pretty nasty wars between the two, but for eons there has been a steady peace between us in this part of the galaxy. Well, more or less. We don't really compete for the same resources and aren't motivated by the same factors, so we've learned it's better to just ignore each other. Of course, there are some truly bizarre folks out there, energy beings and what not, but you don't get to interact with them all that much if you stick to the established worlds and space lanes." ...another sip... "Any other questions?"