Marathon: The Complete Series (Books 1-9) (Complete Series Box Sets), page 8
part #1 of Marathon Series
He stood up and waved to his crew. “All of you stay put. This won’t take long.”
He motioned Clifton and DeWalt to follow him, and he escorted them to the ramp. “There you go. Have a nice trip back to Earth.”
Clifton stuck out his hand to shake Eckhart’s. “Thank you for everything. If there’s any way we can repay you, please don’t hesitate to let us know.”
“That won’t be necessary. Just get back to the Sol system. You don’t belong out here.”
Clifton pulled out the two sidearms that Eckhart had given him. “You’d better keep these. We won’t need them.”
“Yeah. You should be safe now.”
“Thank you. We’re very grateful.”
Eckhart laughed. “You said that already. Just get in there—and don’t tell anybody who brought you here. Don’t mention the Marathon at all. Understand?”
“Yeah. Sure. Anything.”
Eckhart turned to DeWalt, but didn’t even try to shake the man’s hand. “Well, Mr. DeWalt, it’s been interesting. I hope maybe you’ll realize now that not all aliens are bad.”
DeWalt opened his mouth, but shut it again. His gaze darted toward the ship’s interior. He started to turn away, and stopped himself. “Thank you, Mr. Eckhart.”
“You’re welcome. Do yourself and everyone else a favor. Don’t ever leave the Sol system again.”
DeWalt nodded, started to turn away, and halted again. “Will you please thank your crew for me…for saving my life?”
“It would have been better if you thanked them yourself, but since you’re leaving, I’ll tell them you chose this moment to finally be a decent human.” Eckhart waved toward the station behind DeWalt. “Go on. Get in there. You’re holding us up.”
Clifton grabbed DeWalt’s arm and pulled him out of the ship. DeWalt looked back once, and then they took off for the station.
Eckhart went back inside before he saw them enter the nearest quadraplex. He shut the ramp and returned to the bridge.
15
“Are they gone yet?” Bing asked.
“Yeah. They’re gone.”
“Good. My appetite might have gotten the better of me if they’d stuck around any longer.”
Dallas laughed, and Eckhart launched the ship. “Now we just have to drop off the crystal, pick up our Datrium, and we’re clear.”
“How long do we have to hang around on the bridge?” Dallas asked.
“We’ll keep the façade in place until we offload the crystal—just to be safe.”
Eckhart ignored Bing and Dallas chatting in the background. He kept a sharp eye out for any other ships—gang-related, Regiment, or otherwise.
Plenty of Regiment gunships crossed the Marathon’s path. They came and went in droves from the station, but they paid no attention to the Marathon, now that the ship had gotten clearance.
Even when the tactical web was clear, he didn’t relax.
It wasn’t until they finally set down on Drao outside Helvall’s headquarters that he at last entertained the thought that everything was going to work out.
A bunch of low hovels dotted a village cast in perpetual shadow. Mist and fog hung over the sloping rooves. Every building in the village looked like it was sinking into the bog.
“You can lift the façade,” Eckhart told Rixby. “The Marathon will be more welcome here than a Keisuke.”
“Finally!” Alice gasped.
“Now I can finally get something to eat.” Bing headed for the exit. “Having those two snacks around has made me hungry.”
He and Dallas both laughed, but Dallas didn’t leave when Bing headed for the galley. He and Alice shadowed Eckhart out of the bridge, down the stairs, and to the ramp at the ship’s rear.
Alice selected a heavy-duty plasma rifle from the ship’s weapons vault. “You won’t need that,” Eckhart told her. “We’re passing the crystal to Helvall and walking out with our money. Helvall is harmless. You know that.”
“I’m not worried about Helvall. It’s the rest of the bastards in his establishment who’ll shoot us in the backs as soon as we get paid.”
Dallas slotted his assault guns out of their compartments in his armor, inspecting the weapons with care. “How much Datrium do you have left?” Eckhart asked him.
“About half my fuel complement.” Dallas cocked his head to one side. “Rixby is sending me a message through my helmet. She says she’s requesting Helvall’s quartermaster to resupply the Marathon. The quartermaster is sending out Datrium stocks now.”
“Good. Let’s get this over with.”
Eckhart took a gas mask from a locker by the ramp and pulled it over his face. The dusty smell of compressed gas entered his nostrils as the mask started to function.
Alice’s mask and Dallas’ helmet both filtered the atmosphere for them. They didn’t have to worry about the planet’s toxic environment poisoning them when they stepped outside. A human would last about a minute in this soup before their lungs were damaged beyond repair.
Eckhart popped the ramp and took off running through the murk, with Alice on one side and Dallas on the other. The fog stung Eckhart’s skin, but the next instant, he burst into the nearest hovel and slammed the door behind them.
He pulled off his mask and surveyed the dim tavern. A fireplace roared on one side of the room, but it cast a bluish-green glow into the room instead of orange-gold, siphoning gas from outside in, where it burned instantly to dissipate the toxic vapors.
Low tables lined the room. Like the houses themselves, they all seemed to be in a state of perpetual decay. Even the aliens surrounding them slumped and slouched, as though only a massive effort kept them from crumbling into ruin.
The aliens in the room belonged to four different species. Most of the patrons were Vaatune, and they stuck together in one quarter of the room, cramming together in their corner and casting suspicious glares at the rest.
The Sone, by contrast, sprawled over more of their benches than they needed to. They were typical mercs for hire. Eckhart had been in gunfights with Sone that ended with drinks. The Sone fought as long as someone was paying and not a second more. But while they were on the clock, watch out. These ones were obviously in the employ of Helvall, and Eckhart remained wary. Where that was one Sone there were usually many, many more.
The small group of them here talked too loudly. They deliberately magnified their voices just to annoy the Vaatune.
Four members of the third type, the Monope, migrated between the benches, serving the patrons with food and drink. Eckhart made sure not to look too closely at what the patrons were eating, and he averted his gaze when they did. He’d made that mistake in the past, and he took pains not to make it again.
He worked his way between the benches. The patrons only acknowledged his presence by occasionally giving him a nod of recognition. Nobody here liked Earthlings on principle, and a few might kill one on sight, but Eckhart knew almost half the patrons in the room, and that usually settled the other half. They didn’t look sideways at Dallas or Alice, either.
Eckhart made his way to the very back corner of the tavern, where a single member of the fourth race sat alone. Eckhart gazed down at Helvall. The alien’s drooping eye pouches and sagging cheeks quivered while Helvall counted Seron seeds on the tabletop in front of him.
Helvall raised his bleary eyes, and gave no expression of surprise or any other emotion when he noticed Eckhart standing in front of him. “Did you bring the crystal?”
Eckhart pulled it out of his pocket and held it up. “Do we have a deal?”
Helvall turned to one side and rummaged in a bag that lay next to him on the bench. He pulled out a stack of rectangular chips and laid them in a neat pile on the table, keeping them close to himself where Eckhart couldn’t reach them.
“Seventeen. That was our deal.”
Eckhart nodded. “That’s right.”
Helvall’s gaze dipped to the crystal. He and Eckhart eyed each other while Eckhart held out the crystal and Helvall slid the pile of chips across the tabletop to Eckhart’s side.
They both stopped when the chips reached the halfway mark. Eckhart laid the crystal next to the pile. He and Helvall moved their hands at the same time. Eckhart picked up the pile of chips, and Helvall picked up the crystal.
Eckhart shuffled the chips in his hands. They felt nice and heavy and comforting. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Helvall returned.
Eckhart selected one chip and put it back down. “This is for the Datrium and Celdian.”
Helvall nodded. “If you need anything else, let me know. Your money is always good here, Eckhart.”
“Thanks.” He jutted his chin at the crystal. “I won’t be sorry to see the last of that. I’m sure the Regiment will be happy to get it back. Maybe, if they succeed, none of us will have to fly around in spaceships anymore.”
Helvall inclined his head to one side. “Why won’t we have to fly spaceships anymore?”
“That crystal—the Regiment wants to use it to produce a new form of instantaneous transportation. If they succeed, it’ll make space travel obsolete.”
Helvall’s impassive features betrayed the slightest hint of interest. “The Regiment has no interest in replacing space travel. Oksite is an explosive—nothing else.”
“I know. I just heard—”
“I’m surprised you’re so ill-informed, Eckhart. It isn’t like you. The Regiment wants this crystal because, once triggered, it would produce a doomsday explosion capable of wiping out entire planets. That’s all it’s good for. I thought you would know that, Eckhart, considering the access you have to so much useful information.”
Eckhart froze. “What possible use could the Regiment have for an explosive as powerful as that?”
Helvall made a huffing noise through his flat nose. That was as close to an outburst as he ever came. “To wipe out the aliens, of course! Honestly, Eckhart, what other use could they have for it? They want the crystal for Trinity Code, an interplanetary research body. Trinity Code plans to develop a weapon for use on the fringes. They aren’t going to use that anywhere near Earth!”
“They don’t…” Eckhart’s voice failed him. “They don’t need to wipe out alien worlds. Aliens are no threat to the Regiment.”
Helvall actually chuckled. “Not yet, they aren’t. You have to remember that the Regiment protects Earth’s interests. That’s the Regiment’s only function. They’re worried the aliens will get ideas above their station. The Regiment and whoever funds them think at least some aliens will eventually mount an effort to take over Earth and steal its vast wealth. The Regiment wants a doomsday weapon to annihilate all the aliens when that happens—or at least as many as they can.”
“If you’re right…” Eckhart’s head spun. “If you’re right, the Regiment might not have any reason to keep a weapon like that in reserve. There would be nothing to stop them from deploying it against the alien races preemptively.”
“Now you’re thinking straight, Eckhart. In fact, they’d have every reason to use it preemptively. They could rid the galaxy of the meddlesome aliens and take the resources no one can get to because too many aliens are guarding them. The Sol system wouldn’t have to spend vast sums on a full standing Regiment anymore. They could spend that money on exploiting all the aliens’ resources without interference or pesky considerations like ownership and territorial rights.”
Helvall gave another knowing chuckle, tucked the crystal into his pouch, and went back to counting his Sedon seeds.
Eckhart glanced behind him to scout a path to the exit when Helvall spoke again. He murmured down at his seeds as though Eckhart was already gone.
“The slug is probably dead already, along with his disposable bodyguard. Trinity Code planned to kill both of them when they brought the Oksite back to Earth, but now that the slug returned without it, the Regiment will certainly liquidate him.”
Eckhart shuddered, and immediately turned it into a shrug. He brushed Helvall’s comments away. “I never thought much of him. He’s better off dead, and now that the Oksite is off my hands, I don’t care what they do with it.” He held up his chips. “Thanks again, Helvall.”
Helvall nodded without looking up from his seeds. Eckhart jerked his chin at Dallas and Alice. They returned to the exit door, where Eckhart put on his mask.
They bolted into the gloom and raced back to the Marathon.
16
Eckhart ripped off his mask inside the cargo hold and slammed the ramp shut. “Tell Rixby to take the ship out of orbit,” he told Dallas. “You two come with me.”
“What’s the big emergency?” Alice asked. “We’re free of those ducks.”
Eckhart stuck his head into the corridor and yelled up the stairs. “Bing! Come down here.”
“I’m eating!” the voice replied.
“You’ll be eating Datrium if you don’t come now!” Eckhart fired back.
He listened only long enough to make sure he heard movement on the stairs. Then Eckhart returned to the weapons locker. “Load up everything we have. We’re going on a mission.”
Bing strolled into the cargo hold in time to hear him. “Did Helvall give you another job?”
“In a manner of speaking. We’re going to get Clifton and DeWalt.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” Alice rasped. “Not those two again.”
“You heard what Helvall said. The Regiment plans to use the crystal to build a doomsday weapon powerful enough to wipe out every alien race on the fringes. The conglomerate plans to kill both men as soon as they get their hands on the crystal. Clifton and DeWalt might already be dead.”
“I hope they are,” Alice replied. “What happens to them doesn’t concern us.”
“You don’t have to take part if you don’t want to, but I’m going back for them.”
Eckhart took down five rifles in rapid succession. He checked their Datrium supplies before draping them one after another over his shoulder.
“I took them to the Regiment station on Kukuri because I thought they’d be safe there. If I’d known I’d be handing them over to the people who planned to kill them, I never would have done it. Besides, I still don’t understand how DeWalt is involved in this. That was all right before I knew what the Regiment might be planning. Now I need to be sure those two don’t know more than they realize.”
“If you go back to Kukuri, you’ll put the whole ship in danger.” Alice turned to the others. “Back me up. Help me talk some sense into him.”
“I’m going with Eckhart,” Dallas replied. “I don’t care about those two bastards, but if the Regiment does develop that weapon and deploys it against the aliens on the fringes, we’d be responsible for that—or partially responsible. We would have to do something to stop it, and since we’re the only ones who know about it, we should do it now while we still can.”
“We aren’t talking about the weapon!” Alice fired back. “We’re talking about a couple of idiots who don’t know their asses from their elbows. Saving them won’t stop the Regiment from developing any weapon.”
“Alice is right,” Bing interjected. “If you really want to stop the Regiment from developing a weapon like that, we should be going after the crystal, not those two.”
“Oh, I plan to go get the crystal,” Eckhart replied. “We have to get it before Helvall passes it on to someone else.”
There was a moment of silence among the group, before Bing asked, “Why in the Galaxy did you give him the crystal in the first place, then?”
Eckhart held up the chips he just got from Helvall. “These. I gave him the crystal for these.”
“We were just on Drao,” Alice countered. “You were in the same room with him. You could have blown his head off and taken the crystal then and there. You could have taken those chips and any others he had in his pouch.”
Eckhart shook his head. “You saw who was in the tavern. We never would have made it out alive.”
“And where do you think you’re going to go after Helvall where he’ll be less guarded?” Dallas asked.
“We’ll deal with that later. The crystal isn’t in danger of being killed at any moment. We’re going after Clifton and DeWalt first.”
Alice growled something profane behind her mask, but Eckhart had already made up his mind. What a fool he had been. Even after everything Helvall said, he still didn’t understand all the puzzle pieces at play.
If DeWalt was worth so much more than the crystal, why was everyone trying to kill him? Did he know something even he didn’t realize? Or was he a better liar than Eckart gave him credit for?
Whoever had brought in the gangs to shoot down the Marathon on Chanus had been willing to detonate the Oksite to kill DeWalt. Who would do that?
He shook those thoughts out of his head and returned to the bridge. The crew must think he’d really gone around the twist this time, because they left him alone. Alice didn’t come to the bridge with him.
Rixby stood on her workstation. She didn’t look up when he entered and took his seat. Her fingertips flew over the controls, and her antennae waved more intensely than usual. They hovered an inch above the tabletop. She must be immersed in reading again.
She spent every spare moment poring over every scrap of information she could get her hands on. She remembered every detail, and could recall it with unerring precision. She might not be much good in a fight, but she could call up a vast store of every idea, stratagem, and scenario that had been tried in all of galactic history.
He took the helm and turned the Marathon back to Kukuri. The route took hours, and he didn’t hurry. He faced a much bigger challenge this time than just disguising the ship, landing on the planet, and dropping off a couple of passengers.
He rummaged through the façade data while he planned his approach. By the time he neared Kukuri’s orbit, Rixby still hadn’t spoken to him, and the others hadn’t made any appearance.
