“I don’t take orders from you.” Raez lifted his barrel, my eyes darting to a furtive movement several paces away. An enemy creeping up behind my back. For a second there, I thought Raez was going to cap me. Instead he blew the stalker’s eyes out.
The Gedra desert men stepped out from behind the sand dunes, spraying fire. That rat-a-tat of enemy fire was a hollow echo of nightmare to me. I knew one day one of those slugs would catch me in the wrong place and it would be all over. Would it be today?
I shook off the pending image. The second enemy ship was in the air, taking sporadic shots at our freighter which nicked the underbelly’s cowling. I cringed, my heart lurching. If that ship went down…but obviously they just wanted to paralyze Urgon and spare the expensive cargo. Metal plates fell off her stern.
We came staggering up Starrunner’s ramp, as I smashed the hatch button closed. TK got us airborne. How that rat-bastard Raez, huffing at our heels, had managed to survive the shells and bullets and flames mystified me. He’d done some kind of crouching dance, half snaking his way through fire flares and managed to avoid the onslaught. I raced to the bridge, took the controls, and swept TK out of the way. Raez came stumbling in, trailing blood, gaping at the viewport like some dumb animal.
As soon as I had wrested the controls from TK, I veered us about in a desperate hairpin. Wren stayed at the weapons console, sighted on the closest Gedra ship and blasted it to pieces.
Dolgra’s T-Arathron Sphinx came looping after us, a silver, glittering T-bone shape with modern engines, souped up forward thrusters, like the old rad-rockets of the first generation. We still hadn’t paid the chief Dolgra, so I guessed he’d be pissed. Going to be a shitload of angry parties before this was all over.
Wren aimed her Uzi at Raez. “You stupid ass, you have some gall. What were you trying to pull down there?”
“Things got a little out hand, bitch, no big deal. Mind your manners. Nothing that can’t be fixed.”
“Fixed? What shit are you pulling? The devil’s got new horns, with you wasting Gedra, now the deal’s shot to hell.”
“No it isn’t. We can salvage it,” I said. “No thanks to Raez here.”
Raez bowed, flashed a cheeky grin. “Cap’n, I am duly sorry and hope you’ll accept my humblest apologies.”
My fists turned white. “That smug shit isn’t going to work here, Raez. It comes out of your share—or Pazarol’s.”
Raez shrugged. “Kind of like the minnow telling the shark to go bring him some fresh mackerel.” He spat a wad on the metal tiles. “Big P ain’t going to like that.”
“Tough titty on big P,” Wren roared.
Chapter 14
We escaped Besi 6’s gravity and the freighter limped along, its starboard flank smoking. Dogra’s lightweight Ultra dogged us, weaving in and out, weapons spraying fire.
“Rusco,” Dolgra’s voice screamed over the com. “I want my yols.”
“You’ll get it,” I grumbled. “You expected me to waltz over there and hand it to you in the middle of a firefight?”
“If this is a doublecross—”
“Relax. Let’s plan on a rendezvous somewhere nearby once we clear Gizren’s gravity. Say Mora-Vaille, on the way to the dropoff point. You wanted to play escort, so this’ll work out for you.”
“One condition—” Dolgra’s wheezing voice played over the com. “Two of my men go aboard Urgon to ensure safe passage and fair play.”
“Fine by me.”
“Like hell it’s fine!” Raez shook his greasy head as he came crowding behind me, breathing down my neck. “That wasn’t the deal.”
“It is now,” I barked at him. “Get back and let me handle this.”
“Gris will never allow it.” The man glared about like a wolf, shafting me a venomous look. His gaze shifted to TK, clacking away at the keys. “What’re you looking at, old codger?”
TK turned, brows raised.
“Yeah, you—the one who looks like head librarian around here.”
TK’s lips pressed in a firm line. “Quaint, very quaint.”
“Cap’n Jet put you up as a charity case?” He laughed at his own quip. No laughter came back. “Oi..! Are you guys just a bunch of stiffs?”
“No, we just have a higher bar for humor,” said Wren.
I wondered if I should be worried about Raez walking around freely with that piece at his hip. I moved over to him. “Hand over your weapon.”
“Say what?”
“You heard me. No loaded firearms on my ship.”
He scowled down at my R4. “What about your piece then, and hers?”
“I’m the captain and she’s the first mate.”
Wren covered him while I held out my hand. With reluctance he unstrapped it and tossed it over.
I locked the guns from the weapons rack in the forward bulkhead with Raez’s and motioned him back. “I’ll show you to your quarters.” And here my mouth slackened in a smirk. There being no spare private cabins, I took Raez to the most grimy, cluttered space by the hold with a rat-chewed mattress and rusty pipes rattling on the wall. I threw a couple of old dusty shipping blankets at him. It’d have to do, and I owed this miserable troublemaker nothing. “Head’s in the fore, not pretty in there, but I’m sure you’ll manage.” I left him seething and grumbling in the dimness, then I made my way back to the bridge.
While Starrunner and Urgon had made some distance from Besi 6, we set out for the outer planets with four-fifths of our shipment. I looked over at Wren while the darkening feeling churned in the pit of my stomach. The old maxim of what doesn’t feel right, ain’t right thundered like a storm. Of course, Gris had refused to
