The blue light of its thruster pods shifted to bright yellow as they switched to repulser mode and the ship made its final descent. The struts between the engine pods had expanded into wings, giving the fighter the look of a long, double winged firefly without a tail. It set down between two other fighters, leaving just enough room for someone to walk along side. Jake, accompanied by two other similarly armoured crewmen were already on their way to greet Minh and his copilot. Ayan was suddenly very conscious that Ugo Dallego was watching her. “What can we offer you?”
“I see you have a lot of armed personnel. I would like to hire a few on occasion for security, and any extra food or other survival supplies you might have would be welcome. We're also low on mass power cells, so if you have a spare it could help us grow Drifton vertically. With space at a premium, and all the land around the town occupied, the only way to build is up, and there's plenty of scrap metal to get it done but we're at capacity for power.”
“I'll see what I can do, but like I said, we haven't completed an inventory.”
“All right, I can offer real money for security details, starting in a couple of days.”
“Expecting dignitaries?”
Ugo chuckled softly. “There are many residents who can afford protection. If I arrange it, they'll trust the source.”
“For a fee,”
“I'll take a finder's fee that will go towards the improvement of the Drifton Mission. The rest of the funds will go to you.”
“I'll need to know what or who our people are protecting. I make educated decisions.”
“How much would protection without question cost?”
“You mean protect someone without knowing the details? I don't know that there's an amount your customers could afford.”
“You'd be surprised. These are desperate times.”
“We'll cross that bridge when we come to it then.”
“Until then, why don't I give you a day or two to perform an inventory and determine what your protection is worth. Meanwhile, I'll quietly find out if anyone is in need of your services.”
“Emphasis on quietly. I don't want to ruffle any feathers with anyone who's already in the business.”
“They already have more business than they can handle. They'll welcome the help.”
“So, I'll be in touch with you when we have a list of things we can trade, aside from protective services.”
“Here's my ident. Be careful with Patrizia above all others.” They had walked to the edge of their encampment. A young boy in a ragged green long shirt and large shoes that had been taped to his feet waited on a small antigravity sled that showed numerous dents and divots from any number of misadventures. Ugo sat on the back of it and nodded to the sandy haired youngster, who revved up the machine and plopped a broad faced impact helmet on.
“Thank you for the warning, I'll keep my eyes open. See you sometime in the next couple of days.”
“It has been a pleasure meeting you, Ayan. Don't let the wonders of man distract you from the marvel of His stars,” replied Uno Dallego with a skyward glance. He pounded on the flat bed of the small antigrav truck and it accelerated away at an alarming speed.
Chapter 39
They couldn't have picked a worse time to burst into the main section of medical. Ashley had finally gotten Zoe back to sleep after her meal of dumplings and papaya salad. They bustled in like thugs, giving Larry more than enough time to reach into a duffel bag and toss Ashley a wide barrelled, threatening looking sidearm. She nearly recoiled, Stephanie had tried to teach her to shoot months before, only to fail miserably.
“Take it, it's better than a stun weapon, non-lethal and completely point and shoot. Oh, and it looks like hell in your hand.”
She picked up the weapon, a single barrelled handgun with a rotary cartridge loaded with four of the biggest slugs she'd ever seen. “I hate guns,” she whispered back.
“If you shoot someone with that, they'll be completely immobilized and unharmed. Hell, even if you shot Zoe she'd be fine and she might stay still for more than three minutes.”
Ashley put the weapon down in front of her and brought up Agameg's ident number. “Aggie, I think your people are here. Are you already on comms with them?” She waited nervously, watching the blip near the rear of the command deck on the holographic display of the Triton, hoping he wasn't in a dead spot. “Seriously, why would wireless be offline there?” She asked no one in particular.
The boot steps drew nearer, and she moved the gun to her lap. It was surprisingly light, more like a ceramic toy. Ashley tried to open comm channels to Oz, Jason and several other people who she'd heard on the command channel since she arrived in the conference room.
Larry brought up an analysis screen and checked the channels. “Looks like all channels are being jammed.” He pointed to the static wave that spiked randomly across the small portraits of everyone she was trying to communicate with.
“Hand's up!” demanded the first soldier as he rolled into the door, pointing his rifle at Ashley.
She threw her hands in the air and scowled at him. “I'm in uniform, you jack off!” She was just as insulted as she was terrified. It looked like he and his weapon had seen more combat than she could imagine.
“How do I know you're not from the Command Carrier in a stolen uniform?” He asked, genuine suspicion written all over his face. Two more ragged soldiers stepped into the doorway.
She glanced at Larry, who was no help. He looked rattled to the core, hands up in the air, mouth and eyes wide. His performance was impressive, but it also rendered him absolutely useless.
“I'm piloting the ship. Didn't anyone tell you I was up here, making our escape possible?”
“No, someone's been jamming us for hours.”
“Funny, as soon as you arrived, my signals got, well, jammed.”
Zoe stirred, waking up thanks to the racket and the lead invader's gun was pointed at her the moment she made a peep.
Ashley didn't think, she found a kind of bravery and speed she didn't think she had as she jerked the gun from her lap and levelled the broad barrel at the lead man. “If you don't put your gun down right now and start acting like someone with half a brain, I'm going to blast all three of you to pieces.”
“Explosive slug thrower,” one of his cohorts whispered, wide eyed. He was already slowly lowering his rifle.
The lead man looked towards her slowly and held eye contact.
Ashley could feel herself sweating; the only thing keeping her angry was where the man was pointing his rifle. The barrel finally lowered enough so Zoe, who was sitting up, startled to tears, was safe. The terrified huffing breaths of the child were almost enough to put her over the edge.
“How do I know-”
Ashley was as surprised as anyone else as the gun in her hand went off. In the blink of an eye the three men were suspended in thousands of thin blue strands. It was some kind of restraint material that looked as malleable as a spider's web, but held them firmly in place. It struck all three of them so hard they were frozen in mid air. After a moment of stunned silence she dropped the gun and rushed to Zoe, whose blue eyes were as round as saucers.
Larry picked the gun up and held it on the doorway, though it seemed more like an instinctive reaction than a useful act.
“What is this?” asked the lead fighter, trying to struggle but unable to move more than his lips. “Why does my face feel numb?”
Zoe's arms were around Ashley's neck like a thin vice, her face pressed against her cheek. The child was
