Hard Bargain, page 9
There. Hopefully, that was the message for him, and not a honeytrap designed lure him in and kill him.
Valentinian had a second course plotted, just in case it was. The benefit of taking the time to drop out of warp this far out. He could set another looping course as a backup and trigger it as soon as he decided he was nervous. This one would be even more fun. It was as exact a reciprocal for Cronus Prime as he could calculate from here.
Someone watching him go would look at his vector and their nav computer would spout apparent gibberish at them. Who returned to the scene of a crime?
Dominion-427, departure outbound on lane 27. Destination Meskle.
Just what it should read, except that it should have been cleared off the boards six days ago, assuming they had chased him into warp the first time. It might still be a trap.
The current list of ships docked at the station didn’t include any Dominion-flagged vessels, let alone Dominion-427, although that would change if all went well today, adding Longshot Hypothesis.
Valentinian hadn’t considered that they might have to reflag the Longshot. He supposed that made the most sense, at the end of the day. The Dominion wasn’t safe for any of them, so they should look for citizenship elsewhere. At least his ship should. The crew had some time before they had to make a decision.
“And?” Dave asked.
“And my paranoia has the better of me,” Valentinian admitted. “The evidence suggests that the Widow took the bait. I’m going to drop back into warp for a few seconds, until we get to the normal drop-out point, but I’m ready to run like hell.”
“And you think Bayjy will still be there?” Kyriaki asked with an odd tone to her voice.
Valentinian had explained the whole thing to her over the last few days, to prepare her for the fact that the crew might be expanding to four shortly.
“It’s not like she had anything pressing when we left,” Valentinian said. “Or anywhere to go. I’m really just hoping she’s not still mad that we left her.”
He engaged the overdrive and blinked through the intervening light hours fast enough he could have held his breath.
Bohrne Station appeared in front of them as their bubble popped and space became a mathematical certainty again. A quick slider on the controls and the autopilot shifted them onto the new heading with the thrusters still off, rolling down and away while still falling forward.
Valentinian sent a hard sensor ping downrange to see as much of the station as he could from here. The locals would have had no idea what direction he might return from, so they wouldn’t know what the blind side might be. Plus, they were supposedly broadcasting what he hoped was a complete and accurate list of everybody docked or close by, and none of them were bad guys.
As long as it was truth.
“Bohrne Station, this is Longshot Hypothesis, requesting lane assignment for docking,” Valentinian sent downrange with a brief prayer.
His hand was still poised on the overdrive button, ready to cast them back into warpspace as fast as the engines could cycle up. He’d sort it out later, if he had to. Just getting gone and surviving would be the important part right now.
“Longshot Hypothesis, this is the Stationmaster,” her voice came back. “We’ll have a chat about maneuvering rules in my zone, when you land, but Sheriff Bolat-Nurlan says he’ll vouch for you. At least for now. Your crew and cargo will meet you on bay seven. Lane assignment transmitted.”
Valentinian grinned. They were playing that final hand of Arcades now, and the dealer had just given everybody their seventh card, face down.
The Build card. Time to see if you managed to complete your Arch, or had to bluff into something else.
He spun the ship again, this time dropping ass-first towards the station, and lit the engines to bring them to rest. Hopefully, the reference to crew meant Bayjy, and not the Widow and a crew of gunmen.
He’d burn that bridge when he got there.
14
Kyriaki
Back to the scene of a much-lesser crime, but Kyriaki was still nervous. Technically, boarding Longshot Hypothesis in flight had been an act of piracy, something Laurentia took almost as seriously as the Dominion. Valentinian could decide to press charges right now, if he wanted to. It would be a quick and easy way to get rid of her, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Longshot Hypothesis had docked, with a rare, subtle grace and lithe ability that she had come to understand from Dave was uncommon in any other pilot. Most ship-handlers were better off letting the auto-pilot dock something this big with a station, especially backing in and doing the whole thing with cameras, instead of nosing in, like Dominion vessels did, where the airlock was directly in front of your window.
Apparently, Valentinian really was that good.
He turned to her now with an unreadable set of emotions on his face, but Dave got the same look. She almost wondered if he was measuring her for a coffin, but wouldn’t say that out loud. At this point, she needed these men probably more than they needed her. And it was his ship.
“Let’s go see who’s here to welcome us,” Valentinian announced as he powered the ship mostly down. Aft, the automated systems were linking them umbilically. Air, water, waste systems were now connected to the station, and recharging.
Kyriaki turned and keyed the cockpit door open, moving into the rec room. Neither man could move until she was out of the way. Valentinian came first, studying her as he walked by, but at least the scowl had receded somewhat. Dave had a big grin for her as he emerged, so she hoped that meant she had at least one ally here.
Valentinian was used to having just one crew member. Artaxerxes until very recently. Now he was looking at having four people on this ship permanently. She wondered how he would react to having to deal with so many humans constantly.
The man struck her as something of an introvert that way. Able to turn his charm on when he needed it, but happy to retreat to his own deck and lock the hatches behind him the rest of the time.
“I had considered sending you out first, while I watched the ship,” Valentinian said over his shoulder as he made his way aft. “But I’m not that guy, so I’ll go chat with the Sheriff. Dave, you can haul Kyriaki to the chandlery, I’ve set up credit accounts for both of you on-station, so you can get whatever you need and Kyriaki can get some more clothes. We’ll worry about heavier gear once I’ve had a chance to talk to Bayjy and get her list of needs, since she doesn’t have much more than the clothes on her back, either.”
Kyriaki caught the reference to more clothes. Like maybe she could keep the two sets of pants and shirts she had gotten from him plus the Henley. Maybe she had cooties and he didn’t want them back afterwards?
She was fine with that. His smell was mostly washed out and covered with hers now, but it had been a pleasant few days. Maybe she’d swap a shirt from his closet when he wasn’t looking, just to have the smell again.
She couldn’t tell if she was nuts. Or rather, which direction insanity had actually taken her.
They all filed down to the rear airlock and Valentinian called up a deck image of the space beyond. The station had opened they inner bay door, so they could exit anytime they wanted to.
Valentinian had his shock pistol in a thigh holster, like always. Kyriaki suspected he slept with it under his pillow, but wasn’t about to say anything. Dave had a matching pistol under his jacket, and that telescoping baton where other people might holster a pistol. And he was probably more dangerous with the stick than the gun.
She was unarmed, beyond her White Hat training in close combat, which was probably sufficient for most situations. Valentinian had told her flat out that he didn’t trust her with a gun.
She amended that to yet in her head, but really couldn’t fault the man. She had chased him clear across the Dominion and almost across Laurentia, intent on doing him some level of harm. So he had not taken the time to key her into the ship’s systems. She would need Dave to get back aboard.
The hatch beeped as it slid open towards them. Valentinian went first, then her, then Dave. The welcoming committee was a weird mix, but she could identify all of them, from the stories the two men had shared.
The Sheriff looked exactly like he had been described. Tall and lanky, with short gray hair under a cowboy hat, and a mustache. Keen brown eyes with a delightful humor in them. And a silver badge over his heart as a mark of how important, and dangerous, the man was. Plus a shock pistol of his own. Valentinian had said he had never seen someone who could draw as fast.
The woman standing next to the Sheriff must be his niece, Stephaneria, from the similarity in bones and color. She was taller than Kyriaki by several inches, but probably weighed the same, skinny with almost no curves. She had a warm smile for Valentinian that Kyriaki decided to ignore for now, as she technically had no claim on the man.
The last member of the party awaiting them was probably the most interesting, anyway. Sure enough, layered up to her eyeballs in a heavy jacket, scarf, gloves, knit cap, and hood. All Kyriaki could see was a thin slice of purplish flesh and those black and red eyes.
Bayjy Endon. Supposedly human in form, just executed differently, coming from a Variant Humanity that had been engineered for extreme heat. Like Stephaneria, she was tall, but built more like a man, with powerful muscles evident, even under all the layers.
“I’m sorry,” Valentinian said out of the blue to Bayjy as they got close. “That’s really all I can offer you, at the moment. Things got out of hand and I had to run for my life. But we’re back, I’m sorry, and I hope you have good news for us.”
Kyriaki was almost as surprised as Bayjy was from the way her eyes got big. She had apparently never expected to hear this hard man go soft and vulnerable like that. It was a side of Valentinian Kyriaki had never expected to see daylight.
Bayjy was rocked back on her heels in a stunned silence. Before she could speak, Valentinian gestured to Kyriaki and addressed himself to the Sheriff.
“So I may have picked up a hitchhiker while I was gone,” Valentinian said. “Is that going to be a problem? Kyriaki Apokapes, this is the Sheriff of Bohrne Station.”
The Sheriff turned a cold, appraising eye on her now. He just emanated cop, a smell she was used to.
“It was my understanding that you had been aboard that other vessel, when it first came in to dock,” he said with a tight voice. “How did you come to be with Valentinian, ma’am?”
“If I told you the truth, Sheriff, it would make you an accomplice to everything that happens after this,” she replied with a shrug. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather plead ignorance?”
“I’ll vouch for her,” Valentinian, of all people, said quickly. “And Dave will as well.”
“Will you now?” the older man asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Yes,” Dave said simply. “I owe her my life at least once. Maybe twice. Valentinian as well.”
“All right, I’ll take that into account,” he said, turning to include all four of them, Bayjy also, as he spoke. “Your friends left in a bit of a huff, so we hopefully have some time to sort things out. Y’all are invited to join me and my niece for dinner in about four hours. And we’ll go from there. Valentinian, you have a meeting with the Stationmaster to get yelled at in about an hour, so expect an angry woman, but the fines won’t be all that bad.”
“Yes, sir,” Valentinian replied.
Valentinian turned to her now with a grim smile.
“I might be a while, but we should be ready to run like hell anyway,” he said. “I’ll work with Bayjy now and then the Stationmaster. You two go shop and we’ll meet back here in a few hours and plan for dinner, assuming Dominion-427 doesn’t drop out of warp on us right away.”
“If they do, we’ll treat them like pirates for now,” the Sheriff surprised her by saying. “This isn’t the Dominion, and they claim diplomatic privilege. That cuts both ways around here, especially if they threaten a neutral cargo transport on my dock.”
Kyriaki shivered at the cold tone in the man’s voice. But he was right. Even the Widow wouldn’t dare provoke the Laurentian government by herself. If she was smart, she’d ditch the courier at some point and hire herself a proper privateer. Plausible deniability.
They weren’t unheard of, but the penalties for piracy were the same. It would, however, give the woman more leeway to chase them.
Kyriaki felt eyes on her. She turned to see Bayjy scoping her hard, eyes squinted. Bundled up like that, it was impossible to see the rest of her face, but the eyes were intense.
Kyriaki’s chin came up, just a bit. Challenging, but not threatening.
If you want to play games of pack dominance, I’ll show you a few things, lady. Variant Humanity or not. I’ve taken down men bigger than you by myself.
Kyriaki packaged that into a serene smile and wafted it back at the woman. The message seemed to be understood, because the eyes grew a little friendlier. The other woman, the niece, wasn’t quite so friendly, but there was nothing Kyriaki could do about that.
She glanced up at Dave, apparently watching everything with a silent grin, like he did. A man who thought before he acted.
“Shall we?” she asked politely.
Dave nodded and turned to the right, those long legs setting a pretty good clip that she had to stride hard to keep up with. At least it got them away from the rest of the setting quickly enough.
“Is this going to work?” she asked him quietly, in a very different voice, as they got far enough around the curve of the station that the others started to fade from sight.
“Maybe,” Dave offered.
That’s what she liked about the man. If he wasn’t certain, he wouldn’t lie about it. And if he was unsure, then maybe the rest of them were, as well.
Fifteen minutes’ walk on a largely empty promenade brought the two of them to the more commercial district, past the bars and the food court. Dave had apparently been here previously, as he walked right to a particular shop and entered the space. A bell chimed as they entered.
Without a card-reader, Kyriaki was almost a non-person, but Dave assured her that they would have her picture and vital stats on record. Just in case, she sought out the woman behind the counter.
“Good morning,” Kyriaki said. “I am currently recovering from losing everything in a crash and don’t have a card-reader or identity papers. My captain should have entered me into the station database? Kyriaki Apokapes.”
“Can you spell that?” she asked, so Kyriaki did. “Ah, here you are.”
She spun the screen around to show the picture of her that Valentinian had taken on his cargo deck, wearing his clothes. The credit amount next to it nearly made her goggle, but she controlled herself, assuming that she would be working that off as debt going forward.
“Thank you,” she said, leading Dave deeper into the store and to the left, where a nice selection of women’s clothing was to be found.
After five minutes, she moved over to the men’s section, looking for pants with pockets big enough to be more than decorative. She had a package of four gray or black t-shirts that wouldn’t be too tight across her chest, but still fit well enough to show off her muscles a little. None of the pants over there would work, that was certain. Too much emphasis on being girlie, apparently.
She wondered if all female spacers out here had to go someplace special for that, or just wore men’s clothing. Or maybe just didn’t go into space in the first place. Stephaneria, meeting them at the dock, had worn a long skirt, clear down to her ankles and flowing. It looked nice, but would never fit into a suit.
Granted, the most you were supposed to wear in a full suit was a T-shirt, with everything else plugged into plumbing of some sort, but still.
The only thing she didn’t bother with was a package of brassieres. She was in good enough shape to not need them now, and not big enough that she needed the support.
Gray-green pants, three of. Undershirts, one package. Hooded sweatshirt with kangaroo pouch. Two blue Henleys and a button-up flannel in red and black. Socks. Panties. Gloves. Knit cap.
Enough to get her by for several days at a time, provided she did laundry on a regular basis. And the machines were on her deck upstairs, so it wasn’t as long a walk as it was for the boys.
And she had used only about a third of the money Valentinian had advanced, so she looked for other things.
“Am I allowed a weapon?” she asked Dave as they departed the store, two big bags in her hands.
Dave shrugged.
“As long as it’s a knife or baton, probably,” he said. “Vee’s still a little nervous around you, so I wouldn’t push it on a beam, just yet.”
“What’s his dysfunction?” she asked with a little more snarl than she probably intended to sound.
“If I had to guess, he still sees you as a cop, Kyriaki,” Dave said quietly. “A White Hat. And he’s had some bad experiences with that kind that he needs to get over. Plus, I’ve got a head start on coming to grips with you over him.”
She kept her grumbles to herself.
“I will remind you,” Dave continued in a voice low enough she had to lean in against him to hear as they walked. “You could still kill us both and concoct any story you wanted for the Widow. They might even buy it, without anybody else to gainsay you.”
“You know that’s bullshit, Dave,” she barked back.
“I know that, Kyriaki,” he said to her. “Vee’s still got to process that internally. Once we’re well and gone beyond anything the Widow can do, I expect he’ll calm down some.”
What was worse was that Dave was right. She was an alien here. A renegade cop already so far past recovery that there was nowhere to go but forward.
Hopefully, Valentinian would understand that at some point.
Even if she did decide to kill them both and haul a pair of heads back to the Dominion, she had no doubts that the first thing someone would order was to put her to questioning under truth serum, from which she would probably never awaken, once her own crimes came out.
