The Reaper Diaries: Supernova, Part 5
14 Jan 2016Michael Wolfe
Well, there it is, I thought.
My stays at Novitski Oasis had been mixed, to say that least. The first time I came here, it was because I was tracking down Kyndi, trying to get even for that first bout of treachery that defined our early relationship. That was an interesting time. I had arrived with a healthy sense of vengeance and left re-partnered with her.
The second time was about a month later, when I ditched the Imperial Expeditionary Force as it was getting ready to jump into Kumo space to take the fight to Archon Delaine. Kyndi had needed my help on a job that had ballooned out of control. That second run was much better. Together, Kyndi and I did a little housekeeping, made some new contacts, and I got back The Professor, my Viper Mk III that had been locked away.
Now, I was hoping that those contacts were still in place. It had been a long damn time since I’d set foot on Novitski, and I hadn’t exactly called like I’d drunkenly promised to a few people- but there was no need to worry Nova about our situation.
For right now, it was enough that Nova and I could hide ourselves, the stolen data, and have some breathing room to plan our next steps and figure out what the hell was going on.
And clothes, I thought. I need to buy some damn clothes. I had been wearing the same damaged flight suit for almost five days now, and even if it was designed for heavy use, it was probably getting pretty rank under there.
For the first time, I found the destruction of my Asp a little humorous. Somewhere out there in the black, remnants of my goddamn boxers shorts were floating around. Thank God I left most everything in the Hand of Blue. Kyndi would kill me if I lost that leather jacket she bought me during that first job together.
Nova must have caught me chuckling to myself. “Well, we’re cleared to land. Something funny?”
“Yeah. Just thinking about how life works out.”
I could hear the apprehension in her voice. “Well, I’m glad that you think so. If I were you, I’d still be pretty upset over losing my ship.”
“Oh, I am. But it’s nothing compared to how bad it could have been.”
“Yeah?” I could tell the skepticism in her voice.
“Yeah. There’s a leather jacket back home in the Hand of Blue, and it really means a lot to me. I'm glad I didn't take it along.”
“The Hand of Blue?”
“My Vulture. What the Bluebird is to you, the Hand of Blue is to me. My baby, you know?”
I heard Nova sigh as the stolen Asp cleared the toaster rack. “Yeah. I do. So where’s the name come from?”
Chuckling, I watched as we approached the landing pad. “Would you believe me if I said that I have no idea? I was called it during the first job I took her on, and the name just kind of stuck. I’ll have to tell you about it sometime.”
I felt the familiar thump as the ship settled on its landing gear. Nova interfaced with the station controls, and immediately, the ship started to descend into the hanger. When it was all the way down I stood up, painfully stretching my stiff muscles.
“Nervous that someone will report an Asp with Lysenko markings?”
“Do you really want to take the chance?”
She has a point. “Fair enough. Let me make some quick calls and we’ll be on our way.”
“No problem. I wanted a shower anyway.”
For the next few minutes, I send out some quick transmissions to my contacts. I was hoping that they could help Nova and me out and keep us out of sight for a day or two. Neither of them answered immediatly, but that wasn’t unusual for them.
I took the ship’s lift back up to the crew quarters. The shower door was slightly open and the water already started. From behind the crack in the door, I could see Nova’s hands rubbing shampoo into her wet blue hair, steam already obscuring the view. Shrugging, I sat down on the Asp’s bunk.
No sense lingering by the door like some creep.
I knocked on the other side of the shower bulkhead from my bunk. Ow. “Ain’t no need to get all dolled up, darlin’. Novitski ain’t exactly got a dress code.”
From above the pouring water, I could hear Nova’s voice. “I always shower before stepping onto a strange station.”
Sighing, I knocked again. Ow. “Well, don’t hog all the hot water. I’ve been living in the same flight suit for three days!”
Nova didn’t respond, so I decided to do a little snooping. Breaking open the lockers of the two former crew members, I wanted to see if there were any clothes that I could liberate. There were, but my 6’4” frame was just too big for the shirts and trousers of the two crewmen. I was holding up a pair of trousers and frowning when I heard the shower door open. Nova was emerging from a cloud of steam, a towel wrapped around her body.
She smirked at my predicament. “I was just about to suggest that. Guess those two guys were a couple of shorties compared to you, huh?”
I shrugged. “Most other pilots are.”
Amusement shone in Nova’s eyes, even the bionic one. “You’re just going to have to look like a rookie until we get to a store. I’m going to get dressed.” She jerked her head towards the shower. “All yours. And no peaking when this towel comes off, either!”
“Well, that’s a ton better.”
Finally, I was in some clean clothes, as was Nova. Simple blue jeans, a grey shirt, and a charcoal leather jacket made me feel right at home here. Jeans, some t-shirts, a few pairs of shoes, and two new flight suits later, I finally felt like a pilot instead of a bum. My partner was dressed in a similar fashion- jeans, sleeveless top,and a black jacket. Nova had even bought a small duffle bag for our purchases. Before we did anything else, Nova and I agreed that the next order of business was to grab a drink at the nearest bar. Nova was sipping a mimosa, and I was making do with an unfiltered wheat beer. We drank in silence for a few moments, relaxing. Finally, Nova gestured around us.
“So, what exactly is your history with this place?”
I shrugged and let out a loud exhale. How the hell do I even answer that?
“Let’s just say I ain’t always had such good luck with my choice of partners. I had to come here to track down someone who threw me under the T-9 and left me to rot.”
Nova’s eyelids raised and she took a sip. “Sounds rough. How’d you get mixed up with someone like that?”
Again, I shrugged. Might as well tell her. “It was my first big fetch job. Two or three years ago, for an alien artifact, before they were such a big deal. We met on the way, found it no problem- and then she turned on me, shot up my engines, and made off with the loot.”
My partner shook her head. “What a bitch.”
I nodded and continued. “So, I used some connections to track down her home port, which I’m sure you’ve guessed is Novitski. Long story short, I met her at her apartment and I held a gun to her head while we settled things.”
Nova scoffed and took a sip of her fruity drink. “Settled things, huh? I hope you taught her a lesson.”
Smiling, I took a drink of my own and shook my head. “Not exactly.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“No one knew about the way that artifacts mess with a ship at the time, so she had to ditch the thing. Neither of us was getting paid until it was delivered, and I was the only other person who knew about it. By the end of our conversation in that apartment, we were partners again.”
The skeptical look on Nova’s face deepened. “Just like that? Like nothing had happened?”
“Well, of course I was mighty suspicious the entire time! But she was straight with me from there on out.”
Nova didn’t smile back. She just folded her arms, sighed, and shook her head. “She was cute, wasn’t she?”
I just smirked and looked into my beer. “Still is.”
Sighing, she picked up her drink and took a long sip, muttering to herself. “Even good men are still men.”
The lifts were gradually taking us further and further into the civilian sections of the orbital metropolis. Like most pilots, Nova tended to stay in the sections of a station close to the ships. As we walked and mingled, the people around us stopped being other pilots and hanger personnel and started being regular working Joes. Of course, a place like Novitski doesn’t have many of the smiling, happy families that you see planetside and on other starports- but civilians are civilians, even on Novitski.
“So, where is it we’re headed? Some kind of shitty motel?”
I smiled and put my arm around Nova as we walked. “The Bear Den. And it ain’t a motel. It’s a nightclub.” My wrist computer chimed with a new message notification, and I briefly checked it as we walked. “Looks like we’re expected, too.”
Nova’s face screwed up and she twisted out from under my arm. “A nightclub?” She looked up at me sarcastically. “This isn’t some slick attempt to take me out on a date, is it?”
That one actually made me laugh as I resumed walking. “Trust me, darlin’- if I was anglin’ for a romantic time, this is about the last place I’d take you.”
Nova’s face remained skeptical. “Well, we can only lay low in a club for so long. Sooner or later we have to get some sleep.”
“Already taken care of.”
She looked back at me. “And eat something other than bar food.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“And have showers!”
I doubt you’d want to use ‘em, darlin’. “That one I ain’t sure about.”
Nova just rolled her eyes and shook her head. Looked at her wrist computer, she exhaled loudly. “Well, station time is 9:30 in the morning. At least there won’t be many people yet.”
As we proceeded further and further in, Nova began to view her surroundings with suspicion. The station’s less-well off districts weren’t filthy, per se- but wall scuffs, graffiti, and burned out light fixtures were increasingly common by the time we reached the familiar (to me, anyway) neon sign of the two grizzly bears dancing together.
Nova eyed the sign, an unimpressed look on her face. “This is it, huh?”
“Yep. Our home until we figure out our next move. Ready to meet the owners?”
My partner pursed her lips. “Well, at least a bar is familiar territory for me. Let’s head inside.”
“Matteo! Bring it in, big guy!”
Two large, burley men had been working behind the bar counter with a bored look on their faces. Upon seeing me, they dropped what they were doing, grinned, and simultaneously walked up to give me an enormous, rib cracking bear hug. Owww. That would have hurt even if I hadn't been through a game of escape pod shake n' bake. Nova simply stood back, an amused expression on her face.
When I couldn't be bear-hugged any longer, I turned and gestured back and forth between Nova and the two owners.
“Nova, allow me to introduce Dan and Monty Collins, owners of this fine establishment. Dan and Monty- this blue-haired beauty is Nova Cassidy.”
Exchanging handshakes, Dan shook his head. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into, running together like this?”
Nova smiled wryly as she set down her duffle bag. “It’s been more than I bargained for, but Matt’s been a gentleman and a soldier.”
Monty shot her a look. “We were talking to him!”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Don’t worry about me, guys. Nova’s a solid partner.”
Both men raised their eyebrows simultaneously. Dan cocked his head to the side. “So- she hasn’t left you naked and stranded yet?”
Thanks, pal. Thanks for bringing that up.
Nova turned to me, the amused look in her face amplified. “Wait- what’s this about you being left naked and stranded?”
I gestured upstairs. “C’mon guys, can we get settled in already? No need to revisit ancient history, right?”
Nova just looked at me, an expectant gleam in her eye. Her lips curled into a smirk. “Uh, no. I’m beginning to think that there was more to that little ‘she backstabbed me and shot out my engines’ story you told me back at the bar.”
Dan just looked at her sideways and smiled. “Sweety, if that’s all he told you, then you don’t know the half of it!” He started leading her towards the bar. “And it’s a story that calls for a drink, even if it’s only ten in the morning.”
Monty started after them, turned to me, and gestured towards Nova’s duffle bag. It was still resting on the nightclub floor. “Aren’t you going to get that for her, ‘gentleman’?”
I shook my head. This may have been a mistake.
Well, it wasn’t even noon yet by Novitski time, but Nova, Dan, and Monty were already a little tipsy.
Ok, more than a little.
I had been sipping some Old Sol, but was careful to take it easy. Nova had been listening, giggling, and generally bonding with the two owners, trading glances and laughter at my expense as the two men filled her in on how exactly my first job with Kyndi had gone down.
As much as I disliked being the butt of their teasing, I knew that Nova was due for some light-hearted R & R after the past few days we had shared together. So I sipped my drink, smiled graciously when appropriate, and tried to plot our next moves in my head.
Ok. First thing’s first. Buy a new ship. Novitski’s got all kinds of used rigs for sale, so that’s easy. And there’s bound to be a Pilot’s Fed office here somewhere, so it won’t set me back that much if I just file an insurance claim.
I looked down at my drink, swirling it a little, watching the amber liquid course through the ice cubes.
Second, access those ship’s logs. If you can, break open that data core and find out what the hell was going on there, too. We’re blind without a little intel.
In front of me, Nova and the two jovial nightclub owners were again in the middle of a hearty belly laugh, no doubt at my expense.
And third? Third depends on whatever it is you find on that disk.
I was jolted out of my line of thought by Nova ribbing me in the side with her elbow. She was all smiles and glee.
“So, this Kyndi chick did all that to you, and you still partnered back up with her?” Nova shook her head. “I’d have put a bullet in her head for sure. Or at least left some friendly reminder bruises.”
I tried my best to smile and shrug, not knowing how thoroughly that Nova had been filled in. “I’ve, uh- I’ve got this thing about leaving bruises on women. It ain’t my style.”
Dan looked at me and shook his head. “Pretty sure that the rules of gallant gentlemanliness go out the airlock when assault, backstabbing, and theft are in play, Matt.”
All I could do was hold my hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Hey, well- things ended up working out, right?”
Monty rolled his eyes. “Worked out for you, maybe. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a reliable smuggler who doesn’t try to gouge you when all you want are some well-stocked shelves?”
I smiled apologetically. “Sorry about that. Her choice to move on, not mine.”
Dan cut in. “Her type never stays put for long. Do you and her still see much of each other?”
Not as much as I want, buddy. “As often as fate allows, maybe a little more when we contact each other on purpose. What about you?”
Both men shook their heads. Dan leaned forward. “Hardly ever. She was in about a week or two ago, first time we'd seen her in months. Mentioned that you and her had spent some time at your parents' house for some Old-Earth holiday.”
Monty chuckled and shook his head. “Never thought we’d hear something like that from Kyndi. Sounds like you two are getting serious no matter how little you two see each other.”
Nova turned and looked at me, her eyes narrowing. “A week or two ago? That would have been-” Her eyes shifted to the right as she tried to remember- “Christmas!”
She cocked her head to the side, a look of suspicion in her eyes. “So, is this Kyndi chick some kind of secret girlfriend you haven’t told me about?”
Monty’s mouth dropped, his face aghast. “Oh my God- we didn’t mean to- I mean, are you two together or something?”
Rolling her eyes, Nova turned to Monty and Dan. “Of course not. I’ve known this guy for four whole days.” She looked back at me. “But I see that he’s left out some details. So, you and this Kyndi are- what, exactly?”
Your guess is as good as mine. I took a sip of my Old Sol, thinking hard on the answer. Turning to Nova, I smiled gently. “Kyndi and I are- well, it’s complicated.”
Dan rolled his eyes. “What isn’t complicated with her? We don’t even know her last name or life story.”
I had to actively suppress a knowing smile. Well, I do pal. And you wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to finally hear it.
Nova smiled graciously and stood up. “All this talk about Matt’s faux love life is giving me a headache. Can you show us to our room?”
Dan and Monty stood up, as well. “Sure, but it isn’t much. And fair warning- it gets pretty loud here at night.”
As we started walking, Nova just smiled. “Used to be a bartender myself. Loud noises and crowds are like my second home.”
I slid the rice paper door shut. Dan and Monty had just left to tend their bar downstairs and help their staff with the lunch rush and early starters. Nova turned to me, hands on her hips.
“Of course, I didn’t ever spend the night at my ‘second home’. What the hell kind of place is this?”
As fate would have it, my friends had set us up in the same Old-Earth Japanese-style private room to which I’d tracked Kyndi. It hadn’t changed much. It still had simple bamboo floors, an ornate table and chair, the large cushion that took up half the alcove, and the large, clean wooden desk.
I smirked and gestured around. “The kind of place where big, hairy men go to party.” Shrugging, I added: ”With other men.”
Sighing, Nova looked the cushion over. “I figured.” She turned back to me, pointing to it. “No way I’m laying on that thing until you come back with a pair of blankets and some disinfectant spray.”
I nodded. “That, and a portable terminal. I’m fixin’ on plugging in those doohickies and seeing what the hell is going on.”
“No arguments here. How about we start moving in?”
We spent the rest of the afternoon doing more shopping. We bought some blankets, some noise-cancelling earbuds, some basic food, and a portable holo- tablet. It was almost evening by the time we got back, and the regulars were beginning to shuffle into the club. I got a few looks because that was the kind of place it was. Nova got a few looks because that’s the kind place it wasn’t.
As I set up the tablet for to read the ship’s log, Nova stood by the doorway, watching the all-male patrons drinking and dancing below us.
“Well, I know what you meant when you said that I’d be 100% safe around the men here.”
I looked up, thumbing the data disk in my hand. “Yeah. I don’t plan on staying long. If we can access this and get ahold of the situation, I say that we buy a ship in the morning and get gone.”
Nova sat down beside me, taking care to sit on the blanket that she had spread over the cushion. “Sounds good. What do we have?”
I inserted the disk, and it began interfacing with the tablet. The Lysenko corporate logo of a test tube superimposed against a planet appeared, while a progress bar showed the loading time. When it was done, the tablet sounded a single chime, and I pulled up the disk records.
As expected, there were hundreds of log entries to go through. Nova and I both rolled our eyes. I put my hand on her shoulder.
“How about you start going through these while I go downstairs and buy us a bottle of something?”
She looked over at me, a mocking gleam in her eye. “Aren’t you afraid of getting felt up on your way down there?”
I shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time. But I don’t care. I’m not reading through hundreds of mundane crew entries without a stiff drink.”
Nova and I spent the evening hunched over the tablet, reading through the crew’s ship entries and munching on the food we had bought. Also included was both private and corporate email, which revealed some interesting dynamics between the crew members, but little else.
I was standing by the entryway, sipping some vodka and energy drink. I would need it, since Nova and I probably had a long night ahead of us. I turned to her.
“Anything?”
She sighed. “Some guy named Jack had a thing for some chick named Rosie, who in turn had a thing for the late corporate lackey Giles. She was really bummed when he insisted on flying the T-9 all by himself.”
I chuckled, swirling my drink a little. “And that right there is why I work alone.”
Nova chuckled and moved on to the next set of private logs. “I hear you. I wasn't fibbing about partners from other jobs who were getting a little too familiar."
She giggled a little. "Of course, I haven't had your bad luck!"
Even with a couple pain pills down, I wasn’t in the mood to take over reading the logs just yet. Cracking open the rice paper door, I watched the squirming masses dance and grind below. As much as I didn’t want to get distracted, I couldn’t help but to think of Kyndi, and the stark differences between her and Nova. Both women had a fierce independent streak, but for different reasons. For Nova, it came naturally. In Kyndi’s case, the past horrors of her adolescence and fight for survival had made it a necessity. Kyndi didn’t call it a day unless she smoked at least a little Onionhead- and it wasn’t a party unless her body was playing host to a bevy of other substances as well.
And Nova? She seemed pretty squared away with good old-fashioned alcohol. She didn’t have any of the tattoo sleeves on her arms and body that Kyndi did- not that I’ve seen that much of her body, I reminded myself. Nova could hold her own, no doubt- but unlike Kyndi, she still possessed a certain leftover innocence.
Well, maybe not innocence, I thought. You did watch her shoot a guy in the face yesterday. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve been doing this longer- she kills for a living, same as you.
As the alcohol gradually took hold, I allowed myself to daydream a little. What if I had made different choices with Kyndi? What if I had pressed a little harder to be together that time when she finally opened up about her past? Is that what she might have wanted? Or would it have driven her away for good?
I looked down and shook my head. It doesn’t make a shred of difference. People like her and me don’t settle down- they just make the most of it while their lives touch for a bit.
“Matt!”
Nova’s voice shook me out of my melancholy. Her eyes were wide open, and her hands trembled a bit even as they held the tablet. She opened her mouth and closed it, like she was trying to find the words. I took another drink and slid the rice paper door shut.
“Whatcha got, darlin’?”
She didn’t answer at first, just shaking her head.
“You are not going to believe what I just found!”