Star Chaser (Galactic Shield Book 2), page 1
Copyrighted Material
Star Chaser Copyright © 2022 by Variant Publications
Book design and layout copyright © 2022 by JN Chaney
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from JN Chaney.
www.jnchaney.com
http://www.scottmoonwriter.com
1st Edition
CONTENTS
Don’t Miss Out
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Glossary
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1
“You’re sure this is the world you want?” I asked. Kalchev’s informant hadn’t been as talkative as I’d hoped. Fathers, Yolo, and Kyn had interviewed him individually and in pairs. I was starting to think taking him from Perseus Station had been a waste of time.
There were few things cops enjoyed less than getting played by a small-time scam artist.
“Yeah, this is the place.” He walked cautiously down the ramp, hesitated at the flight line, then forced himself forward.
I watched his nervousness, spotting it easily. He wore a plain jumpsuit and carried a backpack, gifts courtesy of the APOP Soft Touch. Other ships were disembarking their passengers as well. On the far end of the complex, massive pallets of supplies were being loaded onto a large, long-haul starship. No one involved with the vessel appeared happy. I guessed they were traveling across several systems for vital facility repairs at the edge of human space.
Some were convicts who had traded freedom for a mission that would take most of the rest of their lives. That serious limitation to transit technology could never be escaped. I was glad our longer trips were short compared to what these people were facing. Every few years, top scientists promised new technologies, but though advancements were needed, no one could improve on the faster-than-light travel that had been used for nearly a thousand years.
Ripper looked nervously at a pair of female guards eyeing us. I didn’t know much about the place, only that men were definitely not dominant here. The sentries guarding the small commercial landing pad reinforced that reputation. Exactly the same height, wearing perfect uniforms, and displaying rope-like braids of hair falling down their back. They were at once attractive and intimidating—and I wasn’t exactly a pushover most days.
“This is where my sister said to meet her.” His street lingo had slipped during the trip and vanished once we stepped off the ship. I could still hear his rough, uneducated vocabulary and spot his distrustful mannerisms, like the way he checked over his shoulder every so often and rarely responded to polite greetings.
“Welcome to Jenna’s World,” the first guard said. “What is the purpose of your trip? Business or pleasure?”
“Family reunion, I hope,” he said.
The guard narrowed her eyes—kindly, I thought. Did she know him?
“I’m dropping one off,” I said, pointing at Ripper.
The guard looked me over, her face unreadable. “You’re APOP?” she said as our eyes locked.
“I am.”
“Shield.” She held out one hand.
I pulled my badge from inside my shirt and showed it to her without removing the lanyard from around my neck.
She opened and closed her fingers twice in rapid succession, and I understood what the intimidating part of her demeanor was for—not Ripper—me. I found that interesting because any cop in the galaxy would identify him as trouble. This guard looked like a good officer. She did all the right things. Both she and her partner were alert, professional, and displayed an excellent command presence. They were two women who demanded and received respect, no matter who stepped onto the landing pad.
The question was, why had they zeroed in on me instead of the career criminal? His flashy, long-sleeved outfit only partially covered his tattoos—void the police and you only live once, with a G-5 syringe and gun graphic visible on his neck and trapezius muscles. Very classy. When a section of his slicked back hair fell even a little out of place, a scantily dressed woman was poised with a rail weapon in one hand and a pair of gambling markers in the other.
The second guard studied the ink with interest.
They definitely knew he was in the life. Original gangster all the way around the sun. Laugh now, cry later, and show me the money.
Ripper looked like he was trying to impress a parole board instead of sneak onto a planet known for law, order, and equality.
I lifted the chain over my head and dropped it into her palm. She examined the intricately minted badge without pulling back her hand. Once she had tested the weight of the Alliance of Planets Outworld Police shield, she held it higher, turned it to see it in all angles of light, then passed it to the other guard—who refused to take it for several seconds. When she accepted it, something was weird.
“The last group of APOP agents who came here refused to show their badges, only their ID cards and wrist tattoos,” the second guard said. “Do you have those?”
I hesitated but answered. “We don’t have ID cards or tattoos.”
“Why not?”
“You can scan the badge with any AP approved identification regulating device. There is an invisible barcode on the back, and the metal is unique to our badges. The penalty for forgery is twenty years without parole, and the materials are hard to get even if you know what they are.” I checked my audience and understood they were both watching me carefully. Neither revealed their emotions. Playing poker with these women would be a disaster. “Tattoos would make it impossible to perform undercover duties, and I’m squeamish about needles.”
“Now you are showing deception,” said the first guard. “I doubt you are squeamish about much. Hannah, please take the badge to our guard post to scan it.”
The second guard, Hannah, saluted and complied.
The first guard watched me. “That doesn’t make you nervous? My sergeant taking your precious shield out of your control?”
“Do I look nervous?”
“No. That is why our rails have the safeties off,” she said. “We take spaceport security seriously.”
“What did the imposters do?” I asked.
“Need to know,” she responded. “And you don’t need to know. They moved in pairs like other cops I had known. You’re escorting this man solo. Does that mean you are a badass or stupid?”
“He hasn’t caused me problems,” I said.
She turned her attention his way, then held up a small work screen to compare a picture to his face. “Greg David Smith. Hmmm. I can almost see why you chose such a ridiculous nickname.”
“Didn’t choose it,” he said, then added, “ma’am.”
She raised one eyebrow. “Do you think telling an officer of the law you earned the name Ripper is a good idea?”
He blushed. “Didn’t start as that kind of Ripper. My sister named me. Maybe I talked it up a bit to get some street cred. Keep me out of fights, you know. A name like that, the right kind of Ripper, makes people think twice about jacking someone. I’m not all big like him.” He hooked one thumb at me. “Don’t got no badge to get my way.”
She stared at the street hustler for a minute before she smiled thinly. “I know your sister, and where you actually got the name. Once we’re done with the APOP agent, I’ll have a glide car take you to her.”
“Is she okay?” he asked. “You know her? Really? She… sent you?”
“She is good with animals,” the first guard said. “It will make more sense when you have seen more of our world and her veterinary clinic.”
Ripper’s throat bobbed up and down. His eyes teared up and he couldn’t talk for a moment. “She didn’t have enough schooling…”
The guard waved it away. “Where there is a will, there is a way.”
Hannah returned with my badge and stared at me strangely. She pulled her supervisor aside. They talked rapidly in hushed voices.
“Man, you’re in trouble,” Ripper said. “I bet you’ve never been arrested.” He laughed. “They found something they didn’t expect when they checked your badge.”
I watched the spaceport guards and hoped they weren’t calling for backup—or the APOP field office.
“I knew your name was a convention,” I said.
He shook his head. “Don’t know what that means, but yeah, I made it up.”
“Thought you said you didn’t know what a naming convention is.” I directed my full attention to him. My plan had been to sneak in some final questions, double-check information, as we said farewell. Hannah and her supervisor had just changed my timeline. “You have them convinced your sister gave you a silly nickname, and you turned it into something sinister.”
“Yeah, man. It worked too, didn’t it?” he said. “I never hurt no one, even when I robbed them. Gotta do that stuff to stay alive on the streets. But I never ripped anyone apart, even when I was ripping them off. Scams mostly. You know what I mean.”
I glanced at the Soft Touch and wondered if I could win a race to the loading ramp. Could I beat the Jenna’s World guards in a sprint? Hopefully, but the distance was just enough to test my endurance, especially if I was running flat out.
How undignified would that scene be? You’re ridiculous, Breaker.
“Don’t try to run, man. Cops always catch you.” Ripper laughed. “I love this shit, man. Tables turned, bro.”
“Not your bro.”
“They’re gonna hook you up, and not in a good way,” he said. “I could put in a good word for you since they like me.”
“You’re forgetting which one of us is the APOP agent.”
“All cops are dirty. You’re gonna get jacked up because you’re corrupt like the rest of them, or they’re gonna wreck you for the same reason,” he said. “Bunch of assholes. All of you.”
“Why did you keep working for Kalchev?” I demanded.
He gave me the first really hard look that meant something. Everything before now had been an act, or mostly an act. “He looked out for my little sister and brother. Said he couldn’t send them to Jenna’s World, but he could get them to Earthdale for a better life.”
“Why are you going to your older sister instead of the younger ones who probably need more help?” I asked, following a hunch.
“Don’t wanna mess nothing up for them,” he said a bit forlornly. His eyes watched the guards, and his shoulders hunched.
“Is Kalchev dirty?” I asked right when he was vulnerable.
He faced me. “All cops are filthy, man. But he never did the stuff I spread on the street. No way I’m gonna vouch for him about other things, so don’t ask me. Do your job. Find out for yourself.”
I reviewed everything he had told me and my agents during multiple interviews on the way here. His information had helped and not helped. My loyalty to my old friend still clouded my judgment. I didn’t want any of the Breakers to be dirty, or drug addicted, or indifferent to the plight of our brothers. Kalchev, Saint, and Boomer had all let me down.
How would I let them down?
I filed the question for later. “Can you tell me where Saint would go if he was trying to feed his addiction?”
“I don’t know,” Ripper answered. “Most worlds have dope. Maybe not Jenna’s World. That’s the main reason I want to be here. Seeing my big sister would be great, but I just want to not see all the fiends anymore. Tired of it.”
The supervisor returned. “Greg David Smith, you’re free to go. Please stop at customs. I suggest you leave while you can. Your sister is in the directory. Do not embarrass her during your visit.”
He gave me a mock salute. “See you later, Breaker. Try to stay out of trouble.”
I ignored his departure.
The guard supervisor put both hands on her hips. “I am Commander Angelina Roth. Originally, I came to see if Ripper was who he said he was via the automated pre-customs portal. Hadn’t expected much from the shady asteroid, but his info checks out. And you…” She made a show of examining her handheld work screen. Her dry, measured tone suggested she wasn’t impressed. “Breaker 105, also known as Alliance of Planets Outworld Police Lieutenant Benjamin Wrath.”
I spread my hands. “Got me. What did I do now?”
“What didn’t you do?” She stowed the screen and crossed her arms. “On the one hand, Captain Jensen, your direct supervisor, has put out a detain and report order for you and your crew.”
“My crew hasn’t done anything wrong,” I said.
She flicked her fingers at my interruption, cutting off further argument in that direction. “On the other hand, Morales put in a personal plea for professional courtesy should you be located. He asked that you not be inconvenienced in any way and to support lawful requests for assistance.”
I said nothing.
“This leaves me caught in the middle. I don’t love it,” she said.
“Did you serve under Morales?”
“No, but that doesn’t matter, does it? Everyone respects Morales and his power.” She pinched the bridge of her nose in obvious frustration, held the pose, then released it with a sigh. “I’m going to take the very dangerous middle road—report your presence only. The order to detain you will follow quickly, so I suggest you don’t loiter.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that,” I said. “How far is your Avian quarter?”
“For the ever-loving void and all her saints,” she said. “You really know how to push your luck.”
“My sergeant will accompany me to ensure my good behavior,” I said.
On cue, almost like we’d planned it, Sergeant Cynthia Nova strode across the landing zone, all business.
“That’s your second-in-command, Hot Shot?” Commander Roth said.
“You know her?”
Roth muttered a curse under her breath. “I worked for her.”
“Angelina,” Nova said as she arrived and shook the commander’s hand. “Good to see you again. You’re looking fit.”
“Right back at you, Captain,” Roth said.
Nova smiled wryly. “That rank, and that life, are in the past.”
“I miss those days,” Roth said. “Especially when this happens.” She hooked a thumb at me.
“We’ll be quick,” Nova said.
“Of course,” Roth said. “I can’t provide you a car, or a guide. You understand, of course.”
“Of course,” Nova said, then jerked her head toward the gate to Jenna’s City. “Shall we?”
I shook Commander Roth’s hand. “Thanks.”
Nova and I marched toward an archway that signified the exit. A dozen starships other than the Soft Touch were parked on each side of a linear runway. Few needed the space to launch, but there was always one that required a thruster-based takeoff. The Soft Touch had good anti-grav coils and outclassed most of her competition here.
“Commander Roth seems dutiful,” I said.
“She’s a hard worker. I’m surprised she is only a commander in the spaceport security force. Jenna’s World isn’t an easy place to move around. There are security checkpoints everywhere. Crime isn’t tolerated. Have you ever worked a case here?”
“No,” I answered. “The APOP office here is small. One agent and two support specialists, and the office is on the opposite side of the planet. How fast can we reach the Avian quarter?”
