Turn About
24 Feb 2024Ryuko Ntsikana
Turn About
Colonia Region
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One of the perks of a suite like this was the service androids that came with it. My eyelids slowly opened to the smell of coffee, the sweet tinge of last night's wine, and the sharp scent of cheap perfume. Stretching my arms slowly, my hand brushed against the raven-black hair on the pillow next to me.
Old habits were hard to break, as I carefully worked my way out from under the covers to begin navigating the minefield of miscellaneous strewn and thrown items - raucous casualties of the evening. I stepped over and around several, weaving my way towards a real lavatory, across the large, expansive bedroom.
I stood in the shower, savoring each moment. I had become so used to sonic cleaning that I had almost forgotten what real hot flowing water felt like. The suite’s location was towards the outer side of the spinning station, producing half of Earth's gravity. Due to the station’s immense size, there was no perception of movement, unlike onboard a ship, where you had to put it into a fast unassisted spin to get a centrifugal effect. There was also the lack of the foot and handholds that were ubiquitous on a ship, for navigating and fixing oneself to a particular place, in micro-gravity.
As I was drying, random ideas began to appear. The feeling of the temperature-controlled tiles under my feet, produced a dull glow as I stepped on them, lighting my way even if the main switch was turned off. The feeling of the steam in the room. Even the layout of the sink and the multi-functional mirror, which like onboard my ship, could produce a myriad of separate smaller tiled windows on its surface so that a person could catch up on the news, markets, information, or watch their favorite holographic media, while preparing themselves.
I didn’t know much about passenger cabins; hell, I was still learning about hauling around all of these rich and liquored-up business types. What the old me was thinking was a potential to make more credits.
The suite’s door chime sounded as the attendance android went to answer. It opened the door to a pulsing light before closing it, then returned to the suite's kitchen to check on preparations for a morning meal, if the client so desired, unsure of why it had been standing in the doorway.
****
A person could get used to a place like this, which was a trap of allure and comfort. One that made a person go soft and generate a sense of power and over-importance. I used to prey on people like that, and it made me a lot of credits doing it. Then I learned how much more I could make preying on those who preyed on these types, and I became obscenely wealthy, greedy, and too quick on the trigger.
My entertainment from last night remained fast asleep. If I were a man without care, she would be worth exploring further, but that too was a trap. I had more care than I needed at the moment. Still, I would see that her efforts were rewarded. That brought a smirk to my face, washing down the last bits of my meal with some coffee. Either I was becoming soft, aged, or both. The younger me would have left her like so many others at ports the crew I ran with used to frequent. Now it was just little old me, a small fish in a large ocean.
The android attendant had my suit and undergarments freshly pressed, and they fit nicely on my frame, as I began to head out, leaving the droid with a message that I would pay for this room for a few more days, for her to enjoy its trappings, as a thank you. At least Aby would be satisfied that I had found some form of recreation that wasn’t criminally minded.
Aby was waiting for me once I made it back to the ship. My benefactor had a new list of places to scan, along with a station where I was to deposit Aby for conferral with something called a land agent. I didn’t have the start of a clue what that was.
Aby didn’t roll his eyes or show any of the annoyed facial forms that I had shown him. He simply looked at me with those creepy Android eyes, explaining that it was about one of the planets that was on my scanning list. Planet side, to someone like me, meant outposts and colonies. Now it was my turn to be naïve, but Aby didn’t roll his eyes or show any of the annoyed facial forms that I had shown him.
Aby brought up the list of business contracts as I settled into my pilot’s seat. By this point, I knew the drill. Take whatever passenger contracts I wanted, as long as I scanned what was on my benefactor’s list, with the new additional caveat of depositing and waiting for Aby.
“Are you thinking about the list?”
Aby had read off the available contracts, but I got distracted by my own thoughts of how automated a process all of this had become.
“Since you have an appointment, you pick.”
A group of businessmen appeared on the external cameras, making their way to the waiting android attendants as a destination I did not recognize appeared on the navigation panel.
“This will be a new location for the two of us, and a point that can be scanned. It pays a nice 2.3 million credits, and it is better to be ahead of the benefactor’s desires, should he find interest in this system.”
I nodded, impressed that Aby had chosen one that would fit within both of our desires.
“The droids know the drill. Get them fastened in and liquored up, and I will get our launch clearance.”
Neither process took long as the hangar pad lifted to the station’s main launch and retrieval level. There was little traffic to navigate around as the Python lifted from its perch, accelerating smoothly through the mail slot and into the surrounding open space.
A message appeared at the same instance that I was lining up the ship with the jump point. The trip would only take five minutes, but the listed contract time was three hours.
“This is new,” Aby stated, sending the message to my heads-up display for me to look at directly.
A carrier would be arriving later this relative evening, with two representatives that I was to link up with at the same station where Aby was to meet with the land manager.
“Is this good or bad?”
“I recognize the names of the persons of interest. Both are trusted high-ranking employees for your benefactor. If they are arriving here, then the statistical probabilities are very high that there is a deeper interest in one or more items on our list.”
A smirk formed as I couldn’t resist throwing it back at him. “That didn’t answer the question.”
Aby looked at me, aware of the turnabout. “This is good … mostly.”
The last part didn’t instill any comfort as space swirled around the ship, then turned into a colored clouded tunnel, as the jump drives engaged, propelling us to the destination system. The entire venture lasted only ten seconds, as the tunnel collapsed, zipping us next to the system’s primary star.
Within seconds of arrival, the communications panel chimed again, as Aby read the message while I navigated away from the star.
“This is unique,” Aby commented, sending the new message to my display.
It was an internal request from one of the business clients onboard. A pirate transport was listed as being next to the system’s navigational beacon. The client was offering an additional million as a bonus if I would intercept and prevent this transport from delivering its cargo. If I wanted the bounty, I could claim that as well, on top of the bonus.
“We have the time, and if the ship is in fact a wanted transport, who am I to say no to an easy million credits?”
Aby didn’t even stare at me this time, the steering cue shifting to the local navigational beacon.
“Can you stream my heads-up display to his quarters?”
Aby nodded, tapping out a few keys on his console, as I dropped into the beacon’s location, selecting a course that would take me to the outside of the traffic nearest its location, placing me within easy top-down view of the gaggle of ships.
It didn’t take long to spot the transport as I maneuvered into a position behind it, powering up my kill warrant scanner.
“There she is. Just as the client stated. The Sinann. A juicy Type-6 transport under the command of one Ethan Bodey. Soon to be poorer if the scan comes back as promised.”
The scan only took 3 seconds before a big red ‘wanted’ signature appeared.
Ethan had detected the scan and began evasive maneuvers. The Type-6 transport might be a nimble craft when cracking rocks, mining in asteroid-rich rings, or navigating near an orbital station, but against other ships, it was a space cow, and easy for my Python to keep fixed with its sights, as I powered up the weaponry.
“I almost feel bad for this guy. Look at the bounty payout. Only a hundred and forty-three thousand credits. That is almost worthless. What would make this guy worth a million in bonuses for such a low bounty?”
Aby shrugged. “More your area of expertise than mine.”
“Correct me if I am wrong, but the message said to prevent him from delivering his cargo … and if I wanted, to collect the bounty, correct?”
“Basically.”
A smirk formed again as I targeted his thrusters. “Well, let’s lighten his weight then.”
Twin large overcharged fragmentation cannons and two medium overcharged fragmentation cannons with corrosive and incendiary rounds, with one large overcharged beam laser with thermal venting modifications, destroyed the transport’s shields and thrusters within seconds, as the Type-6 tumbled away from the kinetic forces of the impacts.
“That is an interesting approach,” Aby commented, as I looked over with a smile broadening on my face. “Wait, it gets better.”
My ship was not equipped with magnetic grapples so I had to do things the ‘old school’ way and use my ship as a physical contact buffer to arrest the transport’s velocity and rotation. This meant I would get in front of it and let our shields impact, slowing it with each blow until it was at a manageable velocity for what I had planned next.
Even though Aby didn’t have a nervous system, he still flinched with each impact, until the transport had slowed.
“Hailing Commander Ethan Bodey, pirate transport. You are interdicted and disabled. Your words will determine your fate. Either live to see tomorrow, or perish with your cargo.”
A boyish face appeared on the monitor, with an innocent and scared look in his eyes. This kid was new to this life and had just enough experience to pilot a small transport and not run it into others.
“Mister … Sir, I can’t even pronounce your last name. I don’t know how to address you, but I don’t know what the cargo is. I was just told to fly it to the local station here and I would get paid.”
Aby tilted his head as his programming attempted to understand what he was hearing and seeing. Unfortunately, I knew this game all too well, and the space dung types that put a large target on his back.
“Alright kid, you need to listen to me closely. Here is what’s going to happen. I am going to drop your shields and laser open your cargo hold and dump everything that’s inside. I don’t care what it is and I don’t want whatever it might be, but I am being paid good credits to make sure it doesn’t arrive. I am telling you this because you have been played as a fool by those who sent you out here to be killed on their behalf. All I want from you is to activate your Remlock flight suit and push yourself out the airlock, and I will pick you up and get you to a safe place.”
The poor kid was in the starting stages of a panic attack.
“Listen closely. If you can’t calm yourself then you need to activate the ejection sequence. The escape pod will activate and encapsulate you instantly. The pod itself will monitor your vitals and inject you with a sedative. I can then take you on board, and no one will be the wiser.”
Aby looked over at me, knowing as well as I that I had no cargo space to take aboard an occupied escape pod, but I could go outside and pop the kid out of his and bring him onboard that way. Plus, I could then lase the pod, and it would look like he was vaporized and any who came looking, which would likely be no one, would give his death a second thought.
“Do as he commands. You will live and start a new and better life. Those who sent you will never know,” Aby stated flatly.
“Sir, I…”
“Do it you little shit or I will blast you where you sit!”
There was a millisecond flash as the presence of a capsule appeared on the contact screen.
“That was rather abusive,” Aby commented, looking at me with his head tilted again. Naïve or not, this whole situation was beginning to piss me off, as I scowled, glancing towards Aby.
“I am familiar with the types that would use an innocent and naive kid to go out and die on a fool’s errand. His type is used to being threatened so that’s what I did and it worked. If you want a lesson, look at the businessman who is paying us an extra million for this. His type is just as bad, and to a person, each of them would have smiled while paying, knowing that we vaporized a kid. This is a harsh lesson in reality that you need to learn.”
“You mean a lesson about pirates…”
My arm instinctively drew my Zenith laser pistol on my hip, pointing it at Aby.
“You and I need to have an understanding. Not all of us are like the shits that sent that kid to die. Some of our kind found joy in flaming their types. Whatever crap cracked program you downloaded about pirates, is pure shit. But make no mistake. You compare me to their types again and I will gladly forfeit the arrangement with my benefactor and scrap you where you sit.”
“That would not only be my ending but yours as well.”
I holstered my pistol and brought the Python in close to the floating escape pod.
“At least my soul will be clean on its journey, and I will take a few of the bastards he sends with me.”
Aby nodded, turning his attention to the scanner. “I apologize then.”
All I could do was grunt in acknowledgment, which is far more than what I would have done a few months ago. Perhaps whatever it was about this place was changing something inside of me?