Part 4: Homecoming Dance

Alex was dumbfounded. He stared at the grinning man in the bed, a man who a few hours earlier looked dead. Not just dead, but dead a long time. Even a few minutes before, the guy was absolutely incoherent. Alex looked at John, who could only smile and shrug his shoulders.

He was ready to ask this “Michael Henry” what, exactly, was going on. But he never had the chance. In a flash, the smile on John’s face was gone, and so was the quiet in the room. Michael dropped his hand, letting it fall to his side as if he could no longer use it, and began shrieking at the top of his lungs. In the small space, the sound was deafening.

Alex clutched his ears, to no avail. He tried to shout above the din. “JOHN, DO SOMETHING!”

John, who to this point was also trying to save his ears, nodded and opened a medical kit, grabbing a syringe. Michael caught the motion out of the corner of his eye, and stopped screaming. John stopped for a moment, surprised, but that wouldn’t last long. Moving incredibly fast, he leapt from the bed, grabbed John, who, for his part, looked absolutely terrified, and flung him at Alex.

Alex dodged his flying intern, and lunged for the syringe, now skittering across the floor. Kwame vaulted the bed, quickly gaining control of the centuries old madman. Michael squirmed and fought, the screams beginning again. Kwame could barely hold his grip. “DO IT ALEX!” he shouted.

Alex grabbed the syringe, and jumped to his feet. He firmly drove an elbow into Michael’s throat, cutting off the screams, and jammed the syringe into his neck. It only took a second, and Kwame found himself holding a limp body.

Alex put his hand beneath Michael’s nose. “Still breathing.” He looked down the syringe, reading the information on it. “This should keep him out for a few hours.”

John was dusting himself off. “I’m ok,” he said, raising a hand, “if anyone was concerned.”

“We weren’t,” Alex said. Kwame was laying the unconscious astronaut on the bed, and pulling out straps to keep him there. “John, do we have enough sedative to keep him out?”

John rummaged through the medical kit.  “Yeah, I should be able to do that.”

“Keep him out until we get back to the Rock. Then I will figure out what we can do with him. Kwame?”

“Don’t worry Alex, I’m not going anywhere. I work too hard to keep this ship together. I will not let this madman tear it apart.”

“Good man.” Alex turned to leave, and found a pajamaed Jade standing there.

“Can’t a girl get some sleep around here?” she peered over Alex’s shoulder to see Kwame tightening the straps on the bed and John picking up the medical supplies that had been thrown about in the struggle. “What happened?”

“Pillow fight,” Alex said. “C’mon, let’s go get some rest. I have to say, it’s been a long day.”

Jade grinned as she prepared to drop the Bucephalus back into real space. “Now is when the fun begins,” she said, to no one in particular, seeing as she was alone in the cockpit. Outside the viewport, the thick blackness gave way to stretched starlines, then to a field of stars. Those stars began to blink on and off, as asteroids tumbled back and forth. Proximity alarms began to blare, but she switched them off.  Jade reached for the intercom. “strap yourselves in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”

The Rock, as it’s known to its inhabitants, was originally known as Rockefeller Mining Consortium �" Operation 1138. The mine had long been abandoned, the ore completely spent. That left a large asteroid with existing space facilities, plus room to grow into the core. During the Kilon-Redipsilon War it had served as a base for human privateers striking at the Redipsilon supply chain before the arrival of the Terran fleet at Kilos. After the Venusian crisis, it became a haven for those who wished to live outside the control of the Terran Republic… or its Kilon masters.

Getting to the Rock was not simple. While it was generally a place where no one looked over your shoulder, there was some nominal management. To dock there, you needed to be given a transponder. The Rock, being in an asteroid field, was never in the same place you left it. Transponders were carefully tracked. Should a Rock inhabitant be boarded, they were to destroy the transponder.

Jade switched on the transponder, casually rolling the ship out of the path of a careening asteroid. A code was transmitted to her. “Shoot,” she said, fumbling in her pocket. Before leaving, she’d been given the reply code. She pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her jumpsuit, and typed in the response. The transponder dinged, and instantly on her navigation hub, a path was highlighted through the rocks.

Had she not provided the correct reply, she still would have been given a path through the asteroid field, but not to the Rock. Instead, authorities that had managed to capture a transponder were directed deeper into the asteroid field, and directly to certain doom. No Kilon Expeditionary vessel had ever successfully returned from an incursion into the asteroid field. Jade just hoped the “5” she typed in wasn’t really an “s”.

Following the nav markers lead her zigzagging through asteroids flying over and around her. She swooped between them, cutting corners and taking shortcuts when she saw them, the HUD be damned. Switching on some music, she synced herself with the beat of the synth-hop, and let the ship flow with her. She was in the zone.

All too soon, she saw her destination. The nav arrows all lead to one gigantic asteroid. As she drew close, lights blinked on across the surface. Floodlights illuminated a cavernous entrance. Her communication console crackled to life. “Drake is pissed.”

Jade groaned. The fun part was over. “Drake will get paid, Alex is on top of it.”

“He better be… but that stunt he pulled, shooting up the docking bay? He’ll have to answer for that.”

“You know,” she responded, “right now, I really am not that concerned. I just want to land and get a hot bath.” She guided the ship into the asteroid. As she turned it around a corner, her view exploded into a hive of activity. On all sides of her, make shift docking bays and landing pads had grown across the old mining surface, like bacteria in a petri dish. Jade was careful to stay in the center of the space, as each one would have set up its own artgrav field, some of which weren’t properly capped, leading to the occasional ship hitting a gravity well, over correcting, and crashing into the surface. For Jade, though, it was a walk in the park.

The Bucephalus docked at the back of the Rock. Jade eased her into their bay, flipping the ship around to adjust for the gravity. Waiting on the ground was a tall, rough looking figure, surrounded by what could best be described as thugs. Jade flipped on the intercom, “Alex, we have a welcome party.”

Alex groaned. He and Kwame were putting the finishing touches on concealing the capsule in a smuggling compartment. He didn’t want anyone to know about it before he knew what it was worth. There was a small compartment, usually used for hiding passengers who wanted to avoid law enforcement, where John was strapping in their mystery passenger. He dozed peaceably, his blood filled with chemicals to ensure he stayed that way.

Kwame just finished securing the compartment when they felt the ship touch down. Alex stretched his back, took a deep breath, and hit the switch to open the front cargo doors. As they opened, a long shadow stretched into the cargo bay.

Alex put his hands up. “Drake, I can explain.”

The figure stared back at him, then walked into the ship. Alex unconsciously took a step back. Kwame stiffened, and slowly reached for a shotgun strapped to his lower back. The figure spoke.

“There is no need for violence here, Kwame.” A hat came off, and her long hair fell down her back. “Unlike that terrible delivery you made.” She crossed her arms. “Why did you need to be so rude to my friend Kessel?”

Kwame relaxed, but just a bit. Alex started to approach her. “Why didn’t you tell us he doesn’t negotiate in good faith? We had a deal for 50.”

“Did you not think I would discount the goods, on account of the difficult delivery? Kessel has been a very good customer, and his side was about to make a breakthrough. He was going to be a valuable customer for the foreseeable future.” She opened her duster, letting it flow behind her, and walked to Kwame. “But since you saw fit to shoot the place up,” she said, gently placing one hand on his chest, using the other to grab his shotgun, “ I’m afraid I require the full payment we agreed upon. It will take many bribes to keep that market open.”

“I’ll pay you,” Alex said, turning to face her, “You can have 30 now, and I’ll get you the other 10 as soon as I can.”

“I’ll take the 35 now, I’m afraid,” she said, nodding at her men. They filed into the ship, forming a circle around Alex and Kwame. A pair of them grabbed John and dragged him over from where he’d been crouching behind a crate, shoving him into the middle.  

Alex steamed. “I need that 5 to refuel my ship, pay my crew, and prep for another job. I need to work so I can pay you back.”

“You’re right, you do need to work to pay me back. But no one will hire you, not after that last fiasco, at least not after I put the word out.”

“So how, exactly, do you propose I pay you back?” Just then, everyone turned to see Jade walking into the docking bay, duffel slung over her shoulder. She eyed Alex, then Drake, and gave a small nod.

“Jade, how are you?” Drake asked, her tone conversational.

Jade walked through the bay towards the open door. “Good, good. I’m going to go take a bath, if that’s ok with you.”

“By all means, my dear. Please, contact my organization when you finish, there are plenty of ships who would leap at the chance to hire you…” she turned back to Alex, “if you were to find yourself without a ship to fly or a captain to fly for,” Drake finished, a cold smile spreading across her face.

“Will do,” Jade shouted back over her shoulder, leaving the ship. She stopped for a minute, turning back, and said, “go easy on these guys, it wasn’t their fault.” Then sauntered off the ship.

       “She’s right,” Drake said, grabbing Alex by the chin. “Maybe I can let you pay your crew…” she looked around, appraising the cargo bay, “and just take your ship.”

Alex stiffened up. He clenched his jaw. Directly beneath them was a cargo that could buy their way out of this entire situation, he knew it. If he told Drake about it, she would just take it, and he would still need to pay her, which would be tough with the likelihood of her blackballing the Bucephalus. Drake was the most notorious arms dealer operating in the Rock, and her word was valued far and wide. She could end him, force him to start over from scratch, some flunky crewing some decrepit ship. He didn’t want that. He already owned his own decrepit ship.

Before he could answer, another figure approached the door. Drake’s thug swiveled around, and raised their rifles at him. The figure threw his hands up.

“Hey, hey, hey! This is just a friendly visit.” He stood up on his tip toes. “Alex, did I come at a bad time?”

“Not at all,” Alex replied. “Come on, join the party.”

The man kept his hands raised, and cautiously approached the group. “Drake, is that you? I can’t quite tell, what with the dozen or so armed, erm, employees crowding in here.”

Drake sighed, and slumped her shoulders, “What do you want, Byron?”

“Nothing… nothing,” he replied, walking closer. He stopped when one of Drake’s men placed the barrel of his rifle into his chest. He smiled. “I heard you and Mr. Megálos, excuse me,” he caught himself, “Captain Megálos, had come to an impasse over the matter of 40,000 creds? Is that right?”

“Stay out of this,” she replied. She let go of Alex’s chin, shoving him backwards. Kwame caught him as he stumbled back.

“Just thought I could help’s all.” Byron said. He looked at the thug with the gun in his chest. “Wouldja mind?” The thug looked at Drake, who was walking over. She nodded, and he dropped his weapon. Byron sighed, “Thanks.”

“I’m listening,” Drake said, sizing him up.

“I heard about what happened with Kessel,” he started, walking around Drake. She followed him with her eyes, but did not move. “I know that Captain Megálos cannot afford to pay for the goods he delivered. Nor can you allow such a bad business transaction go, eh, unresponded.”

Drake arched an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

“Take his 35,” Byron started.

“Hey, wait a damn minute!” Alex shouted. Drake shot a look to one of her men, who jammed the butt of his rifle in to Alex’s back. Kwame turned to react, but Alex grabbed his arm, and shook his head. “I’m ok,” he said, pulling himself up.

“Continue, Byron,” Drake said.

“You take his 35, and I will pay you an additional 15.”

“50? What’s the catch? What’s in it for you?”

“After what happened with Kessel, Captain Megálos here may have trouble getting work. I happen to like this ship and crew, I figure, I could get some use out of them.”

Drake considered the offer. She had a reputation for ruthlessly dealing with those who upset her. On the other hand, she was a business woman, and credits spoke more loudly than retribution. “Deal.”

Byron looked over to Alex. “Is the payment down here, or do I need to go upstairs?”

“Son of a-,” Alex muttered under his breath. He turned to one of the thugs. “Excuse me.” He walked to the wall of the cargo bay, and banged out a short rhythm. When he finished, a small compartment opened. Alex reached in and grabbed a case.

Byron smiled. “See? This ship is full of surprises!” He walked over to Alex and put his hand out for the case.

Alex handed him the case, looked him in the eye and whispered, “Jade?”

Byron smiled. “Jade.” He turned on his heal, and gave the case to Drake. Pulling out his HoloCom, he tapped out the transfer of the 15. Once Drake had her confirmation, she pointed towards the door. Her men dutifully filed out.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” she said.

 As Drake exited, Jade climbed back into the ship, dressed in clean civvies, her hair wrapped in a towel, a smile across her face. Alex shot a scowl at her, but she just smiled and said, “when do we start?”