Tag Archives: short-story

Jace’s gun was in his hand in a blink. To her credit, so was Kayla’s. Mark held up a hand, hoping to ward off impending stupidity. “Woah! Hold on, guys!”

At the same time, Bertrude bellowed, “Cut that shit out! Both of you!”

Jace bared his teeth. “Are you crazy? Do you know what kind of bounty she has?”

Kayla smirked, “Just try and claim it, fuckhead.”

Bertrude slowly sat back down behind her desk and said, in a very clear and calm tone, “If you two don’t put your iron away right now, I will call my men in here and have them vent you both into space for the sheer aggravation you’re causing me. Believe it.”

Her tone let them both know, unequivocally, that she was not bluffing. Slowly, they both complied. Bertude gave it a beat, and then nodded. “Now, here’s how it is. I don’t care how big a bounty she has on her head for being stupid.”

“Hey!”

She leveled a finger at Kayla. “I owe her.” 

Her finger smoothly swung to Jace’s chest. ” And you,” her thumb thumped against her chest, “owe me, and I’m calling in your marker. ” She looked Jace directly in the eye and added, “This isn’t a suggestion, kid.” She shrugged as she leaned back in her chair. “You don’t want to comply, I’ll space you and move on to the next mope that owes me. You two jackasses just happened to be convenient.”

Mark could see Jace tense, so he placed a calming hand on his brother’s shoulder. Jace relaxed, just a bit, and asked, “What the hell did you steal to get that kind of bounty?”

Kayla spat a curse and replied, “I don’t wanna talk about it!”

Bertrude barked out a laugh. “She ‘stole’ the wrong asshole’s wife!”

Jace’s eyebrows shot up and he grinned. “Oh, really?”

Kayla rolled her eyes and swore under her breath, “Fucking A.I.D.A.!”

Mark caught it and perked up. “Wait! Did you just say A.I.D.A.?”

Kayla looked up at him and blushed, “Uh, yeah. Don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t get it.”

Mark elbowed his brother in the ribs, “She’s a C.M.!”

Kayla leaned over Betrude’s desk and shouted, “What did you say?!” at the same time as Jace.

Mark returned his attention to Kayla. “You mentioned A.I.D.A. You’re from the Colony!”

Kayla blinked. “Holy shit, are you for real? Both of you?”

Jace nodded, visibly dumbstruck. “Uh, yeah. Our accounts are linked.”

“Holy shit,” Kayla whispered again.

Bertrude looked from the brothers and back to Kayla, visibly confused. “Well, I don’t know what the fuck you guys are talking about, but if it means you’ll stop being a pain in my ass and get the fuck out of here, I’m all for it. Now, it just so happens that I’ve got a way for you to square the sexual dynamo here with the guy she pissed off, while still making some creds for yourselves.”

Jace was still shaking off the shock of finding another C.M., but he nodded absently, “Okay, I’m listening. What’s the scheme?”

“The guy Kayla here pissed off is a scumhole named Barton Maggs. He’s a local gangster. Nothing big time, but he’s got enough swing in this system to be a pain in the ass. The only person he’s currently pissed off at more than your new friend here is his former Lieutenant, Martin Zayle. Zayle pulled a big job for Maggs, but then betrayed and killed the crew before skipping with the creds. Bring in Zayle and Maggs will pay you triple what he’s asking for her,” she hooked a thumb at Kayla and then shifted her gaze in that direction, “and he’d be more than happy to trade your bounty for his head. You two get a payday, Kayla gets her life, such as it is, back, and I pay off a favor; while still receiving my ten percent finder’s fee, of course.”

Jace snorted, “Of course.”

“Work together and this ends happy for everyone.”

Jace looked like he was about to argue, but Mark elbowed him in the ribs again. “She’s one of us. We have to help her!”

Jace crossed his arms, still obviously annoyed at being bossed around. “Problem is without her bounty, we don’t have enough creds to fuel our ship.”

Bertrude rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, “Broke assed hunters.” 

“Get her to your ship. I’ll flip you the creds to fuel.” She gestured with a finger, and for a split second her right eye flashed blue. Both brothers just about lost their shit when the same thing happened to them half a second later, as text was projected over their vision in blue “+500 credits transferred”. Bertrude looked disgusted at their reaction. “What the hell is wrong with you two? You haven’t started dusting have you?”

Jace ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “No, it’s just been a long ass day. Okay, we’ll get her out of here. How do we find Zayle?” 

Gertrude made another gesture, and again the display flashed in the upper left corner of his vision. 

File received.

She grunted. “That’s everything I’ve got on the both of them. Should give three experienced mercs like yourselves plenty of places to start.”

Jace looked over at Kayla, frowned, and gestured with a finger at her purple spiked mohawk. “I don’t suppose you’ve got a cloak or something to cover that up, do you? It’s like a walking shoot me sign.”

Kayla flipped him the bird in reply, but reached behind her head and pulled up a hood to cover her hair. 

Bertrude nodded. “Good. Now-“

A beep from her desk cut her off. She stabbed a finger at a button and bellowed, “What?”

“We’ve got a small crowd of mercs gathering out here. It looks like more are coming. I think someone dropped the dime on your girl.”

“Dammit! Okay, keep them tied up as long as you can.” She keyed off the comm and then cursed again. “I was hoping we could get you on your ship before anyone got wise.” 

She spent a few seconds typing furiously on a screen that Jace couldn’t see, and then she grunted. “I’ve got your ship fueling now, and my boys are preflighting your ship. You should be ready to jet as soon as you’re on board.”

Jace hooked a thumb on his gunbelt. “Great. Now, how do we get her there without getting swarmed?”

Bertrude snorted and flipped another switch under her desk. A portion of the wall behind her clicked and then slid up, revealing a dimly lit corridor beyond. “Always have a back door, kid. This’ll take you straight to the hangers. They’ll have spotters looking for the girl, but they probably won’t twig to you two bozos yet. If you’re quick, and don’t do anything stupid, you might even make it.”

Kayla pulled her cloak a little tighter around herself. “Thanks, Bertrude.”

“Thank me after you’ve gotten off the station alive and nabbed that bounty. Now fuck off outta here.”

They fucked off outta there.

The corridor was pitch black, but after a few steps a dim light lit the hall just in front of them. As they continued to move forward the dim lights would appear before them and then go out behind them. Anyone who tried to follow would be virtually blind. Smart. Jace’s respect for Bertrude went up a few notches. It didn’t take long to get to the end of the corridor. There was a panel with an obvious red button. 

Jace glanced back at the others and whispered, just to be safe, “Okay, I’ll open up and take a peak around. Make sure the way to the ship is clear.”

The others nodded, but stayed quiet. Jace drew his gun and punched the button. The wall panel swished silently up, just as the one in Bertrude’s office had. Jace cautiously eased his head out and looked both ways. The door opened behind a stack of crates. Again, smart. Jace eased his way out and crept along the crate until he could peak around it. Jace assumed the ship just in front of his crate was Bertrude’s. It was a stubby purple shuttle barely big enough for two people. Jace figured it was built for speed, not comfort. Just beyond the ship he could see the wider hanger. The Lonestar was on the far side from where they were, because of-fucking-course it was. Unfortunately, the entire hanger was already crawling with mercs who were clearly on the lookout. 

“For fuck’s sake! Nothing can ever be simple!”

Jace crept his way back to the others. “Okay, good news is our ship is about fifty yards thattaway.” He hooked a thumb behind him. “The bad news is Punk Chick’s fan club is already waiting for her autograph. There’s at least seven that I could see.”

Kayla spat a curse. Mark scratched at the back of his head. “Were they guarding our ship, or just generally milling around?”

“Milling around. I think they’re just doing like Bertrude said and making sure she can’t hop a ship and leave. They probably wouldn’t hassle us if we headed to our ship, but that won’t do her any good.”

Mark grinned. “Sure it will.”

They waited to make sure not too many were looking their way, and then Jace and Mark stepped out from behind the crates and walked around the shuttle to head for their ship. One of the mercs noticed and elbowed his partner. “The hell they come from?”

His partner, a portly older guy in leathers, spun around, revealing a massive fire-red beard that completely covered the man’s mouth. The thicket bobbled up and down, and a muffled baritone could be heard exclaiming in their direction. “The fuck’re you two assholes doin back there?!”

Mark made a show of wiping at his hands with a dirty rag he found while Jace let his frustration with the entire situation come through in his performance. “The fuck you think we were doing, shit-for-brains? We were servicing ‘her majesty’s’ fucking puddle skipper as penance for being late on a damn payment. Now, we’re getting on our ship and fucking off outta here. I’ve had enough of this place for one trip.”

Beardy’s partner nudged him again. “Ain’t thems the Reynolds boys? Oy, why aren’t you lot looking for the purple haired girly? Didn’t you get the ping?”

Jace snorted. “Yeah, we got it. Us and every other merc on this hollowed out rock. You guys wanna fight each other over the bounty, go ahead. My brother and I got business elsewhere we gotta jet to.”

He threw the two a mock salute and walked past, Mark in tow.

Once they were out of earshot mark muttered, “Nice job.”

“Thanks; I almost pissed myself. Head on up and holler when you’re set.”

“Aye, Cap’n.”

Mark hurried up the boarding ramp while Jace tried to look casual by leaning against the landing strut. 

Mark plopped in the pilot’s chair and hurriedly glanced over his status screens. Bertrude’s guys had fueled them up and gotten the ship ready to go, as promised. He let out a momentary sigh of relief. “Great, now where’s the guns? I just freaking saw it right before we… Ha!”

He punched a button and the swivel cannon dropped down from beneath the cockpit. He took another steadying breath and then keyed the comm line they’d established with Kayla. “Alright, I’m in position.”

Jace’s voice came back slightly distorted in his ear. “Okay, Kayla. Let’s do this. I got the three on the left.”

“Got it.”

Mark watched through the cockpit and Kayla, cloak pulled tight down over her face, came out from around the shuttle and started heading for the Lonestar at a pace that wouldn’t draw attention. Once again, it took a few moments, but Beardy and his partner noticed and went to interrogate her. 

“Hey, it’s another one! Now, what the hell were you doin’ back there? And don’t say servicin’ no shuttle cuz-“

Kayla didn’t even break stride. She pulled her shotgun from under her cloak and shot Beardy right in the face. His partner didn’t even clear his holster before she turned him into meat confetti, too. Jace went to work with his own sidearm, while Mark used the swivel gun. The hanger was clear in under three seconds.

Jace surveyed their handiwork as Kayla reloaded her shotgun. “Huh. That actually went pretty smoothly. I don’t think anyone but us even got off a shot! Hot damn, are we good or are we good?”

Of course, that’s when a small battalion of more mercs, alerted by all the gunfire, swarmed into the hanger.

“Meep!” Jace exclaimed heroically.

“You just had to fucking jinx it, didn’t you!?” Kayla snarled as she booked it for the boarding ramp. 

Rounds ricocheted off of the hull by Jace’s head as he quickly followed Kayla into the safety of the ship. “Chewie, get us outta here!”

“Hold on to something!” The deck lurched beneath Jace’s feet and almost sent him ass over tea kettle as Mark lifted off and slewed the ship around to exit the hanger. Kayla let out a yelp and there was a crash, but Jace missed what had happened. He’d just managed to regain his balance when Mark kicked in the thrusters and sent him sprawling again. “Yeeehaw!”

Jace rubbed at a lump that was starting to form where his head had met the deck. “Ow.”

Mark’s voice echoed from the cockpit. “Engaging the skip drive!”

There was another, more gentle lurch, and Jace let out a sigh of relief. “Well, that was fun.”

Kayla grunted as she pulled herself up off of the deck. “Yeah, you two are a blast to hang with.”

“Hey! We weren’t the ones that got caught screwing a gangster’s wife!”

“I didn’t do shit! That was the fucked up backstory A.I.D.A. stuck me with, asshole! This has been the absolute worst fucking cycle start yet!”

Mark emerged from the cockpit and tried being diplomatic. “Well, the important thing is we got away and we have a job that’ll help all three of us. Plus, it’s kind of amazing that we found each other! The odds of C.M.s running into each other during a cycle are supposed to be damn near impossible!”

Jace grimaced. “Yeah, and I don’t like it.” He held up a hand to forestall comment. “No offense, Kayla. I just mean it’s kinda disconcerting. Sure, it could just be a glitch or a fluke…”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Will you relax?”

Kayla frowned. “No, what were you going to say?”

Jace plopped into a chair and shrugged. “I’m just saying, I’ve been noticing little things here and there. Little….glitches, I guess. Nothing major. Objects briefly spazzing out or disappearing for a split second and then reappearing. I noticed it a few times in the last few months just before the reset. Now, something that’s supposed to be damn near impossible just happened. I just hope it’s not a sign that something might be up with A.I.D.A.”

Mark shook his head. “You worry too much. You’re starting to sound like dad.”

Jace replied with a single finger.