The six P's
28 Dec 2015Desert Fox CXVII
I don't know how she did it, but somehow she suckered 50 grand out of me before she would tell me more. Apparently now that I was a client, I could trust her. Yeah right; maybe up until somebody made a better offer. It would have to do, though.I lower the gun as she counts the money, her steel fingers making soft clacking sounds as they touch each credit chit. Once she's done, she looks up at me, a wide smile on her face.
"All there?" I inquire.
"Yup. Every credit. So what did you want to know?"
"Everything you know about AF Leporis and the Federal operation there."
After nodding a few times, she stands up and walks towards the liquor cabinet, talking as she goes. "Its's a rinky dink little Indi border system. One station. Survives mostly off of mining profits. Drink?" She holds out a bottle of amber liquid towards me and gives it a little shake. I make a non-committal sound in my throat. "I'll take that as a yes." Once she grabs some glasses, she returns to the table and pours two sizable measures for each of us. I eye the glasses with a suspicious expression, but Anastasia just rolls her eyes and takes a sip from both. "See? No poison."
Satisfied, I grab one from her outstretched hand and take a gulp. Ugh. Old Sol. Why do these underworld types always drink this swill?
"So, the Alliance are trying to expand into Leporis and the surrounding systems. The Feds want it too, and have been secretly apposing the expansion. They've set up a couple secret bases in the region, which is where they launch their operations from. I got hired two months ago, and they had me working out of the base in AF Leporis itself."
"Where is it?"
"Underground on a little uncharted iceball. It's actually a pretty sweet setup; they get water, O2 and fuel from the ice, fly in food every couple weeks. There's only one entrance, and it's surrounded by anti-ship turrets and landmines."
"What about inside?"
"Five or six marines and how ever many mercs they have on the payroll. Plus two spooks, a suit and four eggheads. Couple of barracks, a lab, canteen, storage, armory, reactor room, life support, and a planning room. Pretty bare bones, all in all."
"Anything else?"
"There's a small hangar a kilometer or two from the base itself. Nothing heavier than a Vulture in there; mostly Condors and Eagles. The techs, mechanics and the pilots live in a barracks room there. They keep ship munitions in there too."
I nod, taking the information in. "And you know where this base is?"
She smiles again. "Yup."
"So you could take me there."
"I could."
"But not for free."
The sound of her laugh fills the room. "You catch on quick, sweetheart."
I sigh; In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose. "How much?"
"500, up front. If you want help storming the base, it'll be a million, on top of the five."
I sit in stunned silence for a moment before spluttering a response. "One and a half- you're out of your fucking mind! I could hire a small army for that amount of money."
"Oh please. You couldn't even A-rate a Gutayama Eagle for one and a half."
"No deal," I snarl.
She scoffs and takes a gulp of whiskey. "Fine. Take the base on alone, for all I care. No skin off my back."
"I have the might of the Empire behind me. I wont have to take the base by myself."
"Yeah, I doubt that; way I figure it, an officer like you doesn't usually do the grunt work. That being the case, why are you here, doing the grunt work? I don't think anyone knows you're here, which means you didn't want anyone to know you'd lost that data drive. You can't call for help on this one. Like it or not, you need my help." The corner of her lip curves up in a smirk. "You've been out foxed, Mr. Fox."
Ignoring the awful pun, she was right. She'd called my bluff. As much as I detested the idea of working with the woman who had gotten me into this predicament in the first place, I did need her. I grind my teeth at the prospect of paying her such an exorbitant amount of money. "I'll give you seven fifty up front. The rest will be an insurance policy to make sure you complete the job." My words come out as a growl through clenched teeth.
"What, don't you trust me Cassius?" She was enjoying this a little too much.
"No I don't. Or did you forget last time we were together?"
"Oh, I assure you, I have not forgotten." She gives me a playful wink and another smirk.
This was such a bad idea.
-------
Once I'd transferred the advance payment, we made our way to the hangar. I kept my hand in my jacket the whole way, ready to shoot her in the throat if she tried to alert the overseers; if I was going down, I'd be damned if I wasn't taking her with me. Thankfully we make it to the port without incident; Anastasia turns away and starts to walk in the opposite direction.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Um... my ship?"
"Ooh no you're not. You're coming with me, where I can keep an eye on you."
"Are you inviting me onto your ship, commander? I didn't think you want to-"
I cut her off. "You're either going to walk to hangar thirteen on your own two feet, or I'll drag you there. This isn't an invitation; it's an order."
"You're no fun," she says through a false pout. I cross my arms and tilt my head to one side, an expectant look on my face. "Fine, fine!" She throws her arms up in surrender and starts stomping off toward the hangar. I roll my eyes and follow her. She really wasn't going to make this easy.
After a few minutes of walking, we reach the lift to my hangar bay. We step in and I hit the button. The lift lurches into motion, and we fall into an awkward silence. Both of us sneak glances at each other, but avert our eyes when the other looks back. We were both evidently remembering the last time we traveled to my ship. And the events that followed. So yeah, it was a little awkward.
She's the one who breaks the silence, a confused look on her face. "Hey, landing pad thirteen is a-"
The lift jerks to a halt and the doors open, revealing Boudica in all her compact glory.
"-small pad... Goddamnit. You're going to stick me in a jump seat, aren't you?"
"Yes I am," For the first time that day, I have a reason to be smug, and I take advantage of it.
"What happened to your Clipper?"
"Oh you didn't hear? Somebody sabotaged my AI core and stole my nav data."
"Oh stop, it wasn't that serious. You could still fly."
"No, but I had to stash it somewhere so that the Legion wouldn't find out what happened. This is on you, so you don't get to complain." We reach the gangplank. Off to one side, the three deckhands stand silent and still as statues, their heads bowed. Another shiver runs down my spine. "How do you live here?"
She shrugs and steps onto the gangplank after me. "Could be worse; I could be living in the Pegassi sector."
"On that, you are correct, my dear." We pass through the airlock and into the ship. Once we get to the cockpit, I drop the jump seat and gesture for her to sit. "Buckle up."
She makes a face, but sits nonetheless. Satisfied, I step over to the pilot's chair and start powering up the ship. The main reactor spools to life and my displays pop on. Behind me, I hear the jump seat's safety harness click into place.
"So where's our first stop?"
"Carthage, I've got to withdraw the rest of your money and switch ships."
"Well you're gonna need something big to take on that base. What you got? Python? Ferdy?"
I chuckle; this whole ordeal might be worth it just to see her face when she saw Freyja. "Not exactly. You'll see."
-------
"No. No. Hell no! We are not flying all the way in this fucking thing!" Anastasia stands stock still, arms rigid at her sides, staring at Freyja with the most indignant expression on her face.
I lean against the railing overlooking the hangar, my flight helmet dangling from my fingers, trying to suppress a grin. "For the amount of money I'm paying you, I'd expect you to fly in a sidewinder if I asked you to."
"Jesus Christ, what is it's jump range? 20 meters? This is going to take days!"
"Oh relax. It's 12 jumps. It'll be quicker than our trip here. Stop being dramatic."
She glares at me, her grey eyes positively murderous. It was a nice change to be on the other side for a change. "You want me in the jump seat again, don't you."
"Yes ma'am!" I say with a huge smile and a bow. "Your chariot awaits!"
She rolls her eyes at me and strides off and down the stairs. I follow her, doing my best not to laugh.
A squad of Legionary infantry stand guard on the pad. They snap to attention salute as I approach. "Good afternoon, my lord."
"As you were. Good afternoon, sergeant." The marines return to parade rest and start scanning the hangar again. "I'm taking her out for a spin. You gents are relieved."
"What about Boudica, sir?"
"Already under guard. Stop worrying, sergeant. Not all officers are incompetent."
"Sir, I wasn't implying-"
"Don't worry about it," I clap him on the shoulder. "Give your men the rest of the day off. Tell your First Sergeant I okayed it."
"Aye sir, thank you sir." He turns to his marines and jerks his head to one side. As one, they execute a right face and start marching out of the hangar. The sounds of their boots and the sergeant calling the step echo off the walls long after they are gone from sight.
I turn to Anastasia, who has a strange look on her face. "What was that?"
"I take it you've never served? That was a well disciplined marine. I used to be just like him." I pause for a moment. "Well, maybe not exactly like him; the Legion is a little more, well, intense, than the regular military." I stare at the hall the squad had marched down. I can still hear the sergeant calling cadence, the sound bringing back memories from my days in the navy. "It's odd, being on the other side of it. I never realized all the bullshit my officers had to deal with on a daily basis. I just bitched and moaned about my orders like the rest of the joes. So I try to cut them a little slack, from time to time, you know?" I turn to Anastasia, who has an incredulous look on her face.
"No I really don't."
"Sorry, sorry. I waxed nostalgic there for a second. Old soldiers do that from time to time."
"Fine, whatever. Let's just get this over with." She's looking daggers up at Freyja, her arms crossed.
"Hey, be nice to her. This little thing has gotten me through more scrapes than I can remember." I lay a hand on her port engine pod. "Ready to show your teeth again?"
"Hey, let's go. Time's wasting."
"Right. Yeah. Come on." I pat the pod and follow her up the gangway.
She's already strapped into the jump seat, arms crossed. I'm sure she had a sour look on under her helmet. I chuckle as I throw on my own helmet and sit down. The suit hisses as it makes the seal.
After taking a few seconds to re-orient myself with the Eagle's controls, I start flipping switches; the reactor and the drive cores spool up, and my display flickers on.
"Are you serious? You don't have shields on this thing? What is wrong with you?"
I laugh again, but continue the startup sequence. "Ever hear of a stealth fighter? Instead of shields and cell banks, you load her up with armor. Besides, can't damage what you can't hit. We'll be fine, don't worry."
I can hear her grumbling about being suicidal, but I just smile and key up the tower.
"Marker tower, this is Praetor Cassius Fox, requesting immediate departure."
"Aye sir, you are cleared." The pad lurches forward and grinds to the surface. "Good luck and God speed, my Lord."
Ship released. Engines engaged. Landing gear retracted.
I slam the throttle forward and pull back on the stick. The engines roar to life, the sound reverberating inside the station. Once I'm clear of the pad and aligned with the mail slot, I hit the boost. Freyja accelerates even faster, streaking past a lumbering type-7 and scaring its pilot half to death.
Out in the black, the deafening sound of the engine is replaced by a dull rumble. The systems blue-white star is just cresting the horizon of New Carthage, it's rays illuminating Freyja's cockpit. I punch a button and the hum of the FSD charging up fills the cabin.
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The journey was quiet; I was busy flying, and Anastasia was busy complaining about her accommodations. I usually spent long journeys silent, but having someone with me, and still not saying a word was more than a little awkward to me.
So I try to break the silence. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure. Doesn't mean I'll answer it."
"Fair enough; why did you set up in Utopia? Antal isn't the welcoming to your kind." She takes a breath, ready for an angry retort of some kind. "I mean mercenaries."
"We prefer 'contractor,' but I get your meaning." She takes a pause, considering her next words. "It's really because of his views on us. It's a lot harder to establish yourself as a contractor in Utopia; gotta register yourself, for starters. There's a lot of paperwork, a long vetting process, background checks, the whole shebang. But because of that, the market is lucrative; there are less of us around than in Fed or Imp space, but the demand stays the same. Sooner or later, someone is going to want someone else dead.
"With that in mind, there's really no issues with competition, since, once again, there are so few of us around. We can afford to hike our prices."
We drop into the next system, and I pull the ship around for the next jump. "So wait, the government just lets you ride around blowing people out of the sky?"
"Officially, no. On paper I'm a 'counter insurgency and espionage specialist.' Just a fancy way of saying I ambush convoys and steal stuff."
"So then why were you working for the Feds?" The FSD starts charging up. "Two jumps."
"Simple answer is that they payed me. More complicated answer is that they wanted someone with finesse and that wasn't on the Empire's watchlist. Couldn't use any of their guys, since, if we're being honest, most Fed Mercs are about as dense as a black hole."
I let out an amused chuckle. "You got that right."
"Exactly. So they hired a bunch of us from Utopia, some from the Alliance. When some of them realized all they would be doing is patrol work and recon, they got bored and went home. I guess the ones that stuck around passed the test, and we started getting better jobs."
"Like what?" We drop into the next system. "Last jump."
"Ambushing convoys and stealing stuff." I can tell from the tone of her voice that she was smiling.
"Your specialty."
"You've been listening, good. Well, it was going smooth for a while. The credits were flowing in, and we were getting better and better jobs. But then they started sending us across the border; guess they didn't want to waste actual Fed resources. After all, if you loose a Fed regular, you gotta go through the process of recruiting and training a new kid. Lose a merc, and all you gotta do is hire another one.
"So anyway, once they sent us over the border, we started dropping like flies. Some were taken out by local security forces, some taken prisoner by the Inquisition. I saw it all, and I figured I'd take one last job and then high tail it back home. Put the whole ordeal behind me." She scoffs. "Look how that turned out."
"Anastasia, hate to interrupt you, but we're here." Freyja shudders like a leaf as she drops, and AF Leporis fills the canopy in front of us.