Wings of Retribution (34 page)

Rabbit snatched up the com set.  “This is
Retribution,
out of Terra-9.  I’m Jake Ferris.  I’ve come to see Angus Greele.”

There was a long pause on the other end, then,

Rabbit?

“Affirmative.  I need to talk with you, Angus.”

What the hell were you doing skulking in the shadows like a damned pirate?  Come on in. 
Lee, Wayne, s
how him the way.  And Rabbit, let your pilot know you’re in for a rough ride.  Big storms this time of year.

“Will do,” Rabbit said.  He turned to their ‘captain.’  “You landed planetside before?”

“On a simulator,” Dallas said, nodding.

“You did all right?” Rabbit asked, looking concerned.

“Well, there were a couple rough patches,” Dallas said, “But I think so.”

Immediately, Thomas stepped forward.  “I can handle this.  I’ve made numerous landings in a wide range of climate variances—”

“Then take it slow,” Rabbit said to Dallas, completely ignoring him.  “There’s megastorms down there that could tear a freight carrier apart.”

Tommy stared at them with his mouth open.  “What is this?” he demanded.  “Flight Training 101?  Why are we going with a boot, when I’ve got the skill—”

“They’re moving closer,” the parasite noted.

Indeed, the two gunships moved to take up positions on either side of
Retribution
and the TARGET LOCK warning went dead.  Tommy let out the breath he’d been holding. 
Robert E. Lee
began transmitting coordinates and Dallas flipped on all systems to normal and set a course for Angus’s landing pad.

“Your name is Jake?” Darley said into the silence that followed.  He looked stunned.

“It’s Rabbit,” Rabbit said.

“But Jake’s your real name?”

“It’s Rabbit.”

“So how’d he know who you were?” the mechanic insisted.

“Code.”

“That didn’t sound like code.  That sounded like your real name’s Jake Ferris.”

“Darley,” Rabbit warned.

“Just wonderin’ why the hell you call yourself Rabbit when you got a perfectly good name like Jake.”

“There’s millions of Jakes in the Quadrants.  As far as I know, there’s only one Rabbit.”

“That’s because Rabbit’s a damn sissy name.  What kind of man wears a name like Rabbit?”

The scruffy booze-ridden drifter had a point.

“God damn it, Darley, just let it be, okay?”

Darley lifted his hands.  “Fine.  But the guys at The Shop are gonna hear of this.”

Rabbit let out a huge sigh.  “You don’t want to do that.”

“Why not?”

“That would piss me off.”

Darley laughed.  “So?”

“I own almost all the bars on Terra-9.”

“Oh.”  Instantly sober, Darley lowered his head.

So
this
was the notorious crimelord that had T-9 authorities in knots.  Tommy looked him over, assessing the wiry little man.  Funny, Thomas had thought he’d be a lot fatter.

“We’re entering the atmosphere,” Dallas announced.

“Everyone find a chair,” Rabbit said.  “Turbulence in this place is a killer.”

Tommy strapped himself in to the navigator’s seat and watched with trepidation as the two gunships peeled away, leaving
Retribution
to finish the final descent herself.

“Dallas, make sure you give us a rough landing,” Rabbit ordered.  “Let the wind knock us around a bit, falter on the updrafts, then hit the dirt a bit too abruptly, got it?”

Dallas frowned at him.  “Why?  I can handle this no prob.”

“I know, but I don’t want Angus to know that.  The more incompetent he thinks we are, the less likely he’ll take us seriously.”

Dallas got a devious look on her face.  “I can do incompetent.”

Of course you can, you ignorant little twit,
Thomas thought. 
God
, he itched to put his hands on the controls and wrench them from her petite little fingers.  Let a real pro show her how it’s—

His thoughts were interrupted as the ship caught a blast of wind and started listing to the side.  Dallas over-corrected and
Retribution
started to roll.

Fairy Spreads Her Wings

When Stuart and the others emerged from the ship, both of his companions were green in the face.  Colonel Howlen had elected to go with them, after all, since the smell of vomit was still thick despite the antiseptic spray.

A roaring greeted them as soon as they stepped out of the airlock and a broad-shouldered man with a dark brown goatee and ring-covered knuckles moved forward to embrace Rabbit.

“It’s been so long!” the big man cried, wrapping Rabbit in a hug that made his wiry body disappear.  “I thought you’d forgotten about me.”  He released him, then thumped him on his scrawny back, grinning like a fool.  “
Good
to see you!”

Several of his teeth sparkled with the glint of gold, Stuart noticed.  Hell,
most
of the man sparkled, either with the glint of gold, the facets of gems, or the gleam of silk.

“Good to see you, Angus,” Rabbit managed weakly, sounding queasy.

The big man turned his attention to Stuart and the Colonel.  He saw the sickly look on Howlen’s face and laughed.  “What’s the matter?  That pilot of yours give you a run for your money?”  He roared with laughter and slapped Rabbit on the back.

Rabbit promptly retched all over the entryway.

“God, Rabbit!” Angus said, quickly retrieving a gold-trimmed boot from out of range.  “You look like you went through a centrifuge.  You need a new captain?”

“Needed one for awhile,” Howlen muttered.  Stuart resisted the urge to glare at the fool.

But Angus nodded.  “I’d agree.  Watched the poor bastard come outta the storm like a bow-heavy torpedo.  Didn’t land into the wind, so he had to try three times before he could land close enough for my dockers to get hold of your ship.  Thought you guys were gonna come sailing through the bay once or twice, on the way by.  Really, Rabbit, those storms aren’t something you should let a boot screw around in.”

“Amen to that,” Howlen growled.

“Where’d you get him?” Angus demanded.  “Academy washout?”

“He’s better in space,” Rabbit managed.  He had gotten back to his feet, but had needed to steady himself on Stuart’s arm.  He sounded miserable.

“Ah, never flown planetside?  Well, they’ll let anyone fly a ship now.  It’s deplorable.  Who gave him his certification?”

“Academy,” Rabbit muttered, wiping his mouth.

“Knew it,” the big man said, slapping a meaty thigh.  “Well, no wonder the Utopia dropped him.  You wanna leave him here with me?  I’ll give you someone with some hair on his balls.”  He glanced behind him at the five men waiting for them in the hall.  One of the men was wearing a butler’s uniform, carrying a tray of drinks on one hand.  “But enough chat.  Hate to do this to you, but you feel good enough to eat?  It’s dinnertime here on Erriat.  Kinda interrupted me in the middle of things.  Mel’s got places set for you, if you’re up for some good ol’ fashioned beef ‘n potatoes.”

Stuart felt his host’s stomach churn, on impulse.  Beside him, his two comrades had paled considerably.

“I take that as a no,” the big man said, glancing from one to the other.  “Fine, I suppose I can skip dinner for once.  My wives won’t like it, but what can you do?  Usually just a gossipy bitch-fest anyway.”  He sighed and made a dismissive gesture at his butler with a gold-heavy hand.  “Come on.  I’ll take you to the den.”  He grinned at them.  “Speaking of bitch-fests, did you hear there was a woman dropped off the other week?  A woman!  What kind of twisted freak is that Governor Black, anyway?”

“That’s why we’re here,” Rabbit admitted, taking up a spot at Angus’s right.  Stuart followed a short distance behind him, and Colonel Howlen reluctantly fell in beside him.

Angus Greele nodded as they walked, not looking surprised.  “Thought so.  I rarely ever get a special delivery from T-9, and it’s even rarer I see you.  So the two put together can’t really be a coincidence.  She a friend of yours?”

“One of my employees.”

Angus pursed his lips.  “Poor man.  I hear she’s a real harpy.  Escaped Orplex three times already.”  Then he cocked his head.  “But Hell, that’s prolly why you hired her, eh?  I still haven’t gotten a good look at her.  Was kind of waitin’ for the wardens to calm her down a bit before I checked her out.  Could use me a fourth wife.  It’s hard to convince women to move to a dusty hellhole like Erriat.”  He waved a gemmed hand at the fancy reception hall they were passing through.  “Not even a big bank account’s enough anymore.”

“We need to talk to her,” Rabbit said.  “She’s got some codes I need.”

Angus flipped a big, ringed hand to one side.  “I get it.  You want to
talk
to her.  Wink, wink.  She disappears and it’ll be one big mystery.  Am I right?”

Rabbit shrugged.  “Would like to take her back with me, but if not, it won’t be the end of the world.  Just need the codes.”

“Oh come on,” Angus laughed, “Just because I’m the Overseer doesn’t mean I won’t make a few allowances for my friends.  Technically, everybody here is a citizen of Erriat, and I can do whatever the hell I want with them.  So if you want her back, just say so.”

“We want her back.”

“There!” Angus boomed.  “Was that so hard?  Do you really trust me so little that you’d think I’d turn you in for coming to save a friend?  Really, Rabbit, I thought you knew me.”

Rabbit looked a bit abashed.  “We haven’t had a chance to talk in awhile.”

“So true!  I’ve had nothing to do here but play cards and count my prisoners!  You know, I grossed more than a billion last year?  I’m thinkin’ about buying a nice little tropical planet near the Black.  Get me out of this place once and for all.  Put a manager in charge, let
his
ears fill up with sand.  Did you know that if you don’t wear headgear around here, your ears fill up with sand?  It’s nasty stuff.  There are bugs in it that lay eggs in your head and then hatch inside your eardrum.  You ever had a migraine?  Well, that’s nothin’ compared to this.  It’s like your eyes are gonna pop out of your skull.  Sometimes they do, from all the pressure.”

Stuart cocked his head at Angus’s back, trying to determine if the casual comment could have been more than a random subject of conversation.  Already hyper-sensitive to S.O. operatives, he was not liking the parallels the man was drawing.