A Brother's Debt (6 page)

Ignoring everything before him, most of which he’d seen outside, Step looked around for the person he was supposed to meet. Since he had no idea who would be meeting him or what they looked like, his visual search was largely a waste. Fortunately Crezia had either described him, or shown an image of him, to the person she sent to meet him.

“Mr Velkin.”

Step spun at the sound of his name and found himself face to face with one of Temptations Galore’s security officers. The officer differed from the two thugs who had attacked him in the station facilities the previous day only in the clothes he was wearing. The Grejlon and his companion had been dressed casually, while the man before him was dressed in a suit, which had the casino’s logo on the jacket pocket.

“I’m Velkin,” Step answered.

“Please follow me, sir; Miss Carboni has instructed me to escort you to her.”

Chapter Eleven

“Are you sure you know how to pilot this thing?” Crezia asked from the co-pilot’s seat.

“Yes, it’s just a little less responsive than what I’m used to,” Step told her as he steadied Gambler’s Luck on its passage into the atmosphere of Jum Palt, the primary planet of the system Hanratty station had been built in. Not only was the cargo ship less responsive than the fighters and scout ships he was accustomed to piloting, it was slower, and had a harder time punching through to the planet’s atmosphere.

In his fighter it would have been like slipping a needle beneath skin, and the scout ship he had flown for the Mulnoy navy would not have been much different. In the cargo ship he was piloting just then, it was like trying to push a spoon through mud.

He had not been impressed with Gambler’s Luck from the moment he set foot on board it, less than an hour after being met in the lobby of Temptations Galore.

From the lobby he had been taken to Crezia, who in turn took him to her father. Ettore Carboni accepted Step’s decision to take the deal being offered to him as if he had expected no other outcome from his night of contemplation. He then informed Step he already had a job for him, two jobs actually, though one was far more important than the other.

“Sorry,” Step apologised when he landed with a heavier bump than he intended in the bay assigned to him at Mitest space port.

Crezia gave him a look that spoke volumes, but made no comment on the landing, despite only staying in the co-pilot’s seat because the safety harness kept her there. All she said was, “I’ll be back within the hour.” She was gone before Step had even finished powering down the engine.

While Crezia left the ship to fetch the package he was to deliver to Onegal 3, Step made his way down to the cargo bay. It didn’t take long to get there since Gambler’s Luck was not a large ship, though it was large enough that he would have preferred not to be flying it on his own. At the least he would have liked to have an engineer, someone who could keep the engine running. His one quick look in the engine room had revealed it was in serious need of maintenance and repair.

Unfortunately for Step he couldn’t afford to hire anyone.

He was being paid ten thousand credits to deliver the package Crezia was fetching, a price that strongly suggested the contents were either illegal, or dangerous, and probably both. He wasn’t too happy with the thought of breaking the law, but since he couldn’t change his circumstances he did his best not to think about it.

Of the ten thousand credits, seven and a half thousand was being held back and deducted from the debt he had inherited, leaving him with two and a half thousand to cover current and future costs. One thousand credits had already been paid to him, while the remainder was to be paid upon delivery of the package to Carboni’s associate on Onegal 3.

In addition to the payment he was receiving for that delivery he was being paid seven hundred and fifty credits for a second delivery. The second delivery was actually his first, at least in terms of when it needed to be completed. Before he reached Onegal 3 he was to detour to Barth to deliver two cargo containers of leather goods.

The two containers, according to what he had been told by Carboni, would take up roughly half of his cargo bay. That was good news to Step since by his reckoning the profit from the two deliveries he had been given would last him no more than a month, and that would depend on how careful he was with it. The space remaining in his cargo bay would provide him with an opportunity to do some trading on his own, using the savings he had put aside from his navy pay to purchase goods he could sell in Barth.

Not being an experienced trader Step had no idea how successful he would be, he just knew there was no other option open to him at that time if he wanted to keep himself fed and the fuel tank of his ship full.

The cargo bay ramp lowered reluctantly after Step hit the controls, seeming at times to stall before moving again, and when it was just a few feet from the ground it dropped with a loud thump, sending vibrations through the floor of the bay.

With the ramp down sunlight poured into the cargo bay, adding to the light already there. During the brief tour of the ship he had taken while he waited for Crezia to join him for the flight to the planet, Step had seen the junk scattered throughout Gambler’s luck, he had also seen that his brother had lacked the necessary pride in his ship to keep it clean.

Seeing the dirt and piles of junk in the sunlight made them seem a whole lot worse than they had when all he’d had to see them by was the ship’s interior lights.

Though he wasn’t happy with the way things had turned out for him, Step was not the sort to just give up. He might be stuck with a poorly maintained, dirty and junk filled cargo ship, but that didn’t mean he had to let it stay like that. The dirt could be cleaned away, and the junk sorted, whether he threw it, made use of it, or sold it. He was also confident he could get the ship fixed and in good running order, even if it wasn’t something he could manage immediately.

The debt he owed to Carboni would be paid off in time, exactly how much time remained to be seen, but since he wasn’t a drunken gambler like his brother he expected to be able to make at least a small profit with the ship, which would enable him to pay off the debt in time. All he needed to do was keep track of his debt, be careful with what money he had, and explore every opportunity to make money that came along.

The navy had instilled in him a good work discipline, which included getting on with a job as soon as he knew it needed doing, and not leaving it before it was finished. Unfortunately there wasn’t time for him to start on sorting out the cargo bay just then, let alone the rest of the ship. The two containers he was to transport to Barth were due to arrive at any moment, their delivery having been arranged by Crezia while they were en-route to the planet.

Chapter Twelve

“PEACHES! ORANGES! FRESH HANFA BERRIES!”

Step had done his best to ignore the calls from the vendors at their stalls, each one stacked high with goods for sale, but hearing the call of ‘FRESH HANFA BERRIES’ he stopped in his tracks. With an eagerness he found hard to contain he turned to the fruit stall to examine the wares on offer.

Once the two containers of leather goods destined for Barth, and the mystery package he was to take to Onegal 3, were safely stored he had used the computer on Gambler’s Luck to research what was available for sale on Jum Palt, and what of those items he could hope to make a profit on when he reached Barth. The result of that research had been the expenditure of almost two and a half thousand credits from the sum he had saved out of his navy pay.

The money he had spent had bought him a little over forty tonnes of assorted goods, which he hoped would gain him a profit of at least a few hundred credits. Not a fortune, but profit was profit.

In addition to the goods he had bought Step had found his way to the port’s bulletin board. The board was a varied assortment of posts, ranging from requests for deliveries to be made to locations within the system, and outside of it, to people looking for passage, and rewards from the planetary authorities for dealing with problems they weren’t able, or willing, to sort themselves.

He ignored the assignments, and the people looking for passage. He already had things to do so couldn’t afford the time to take on any of the assignments, and his ship was in no condition to be used by passengers, not to mention he didn’t really want to take on potential trouble while there was only him to deal with it. The posts from people looking for work did attract his attention, but since he couldn’t afford to hire anyone he quickly moved on from them to the deliveries section.

In a short space of time Step had made arrangements to take on three deliveries going to Barth. None of the deliveries took up much space, the largest was only three medium sized boxes, and the money from them wasn’t great, but every credit increased the profitability of his journey so he didn’t complain.

With all other arrangements for the first leg of his journey sorted Step had only one thing left to do, stock up on supplies for the flight, which according to his research would take him seven days.

Ignoring everything else on the stall Step focused on the hanfa berries. They were a rarity in Mulnoy space, at least the parts he had travelled in, and too expensive for him to enjoy regularly, though he had had the opportunity to taste them a few times.

The selection before him was more varied than he had seen anywhere else. The green and black varieties were available in Mulnoy space, if not easy to come by, but the yellow and red were new to him and he eagerly dug into his pocket for the money to buy some.

“Andrei! Hey Andrei!” Since it wasn’t his name Step ignored the call, not thinking it was for him. He was proven wrong when he was taken by the shoulder and spun round, the next second he found a pair of lips on his, and a tongue eagerly sliding between them.

Caught by surprise Step found his lips and tongue responding to the kiss, before his brain could kick in and tell his body the kiss was not meant for him.

“You’re not Andrei.” The owner of the lips that had glued themselves to him pulled away, and Step found himself able to see the woman who had mistaken him for his brother.

“No, I’m not,” Step agreed.

“You look like him though, especially from behind. Who are you? And why did you kiss me back? That’s not a nice thing to do.”

Though the expression on her face suggested the young woman before him wasn’t happy he had kissed her back, when he wasn’t the intended recipient of her kiss, Step got the impression she hadn’t minded. “I’m Andrei’s brother, Step,” he told her. “That’s why I look like him. “Sorry about kissing you,” he apologised, “it was automatic, a pretty woman kisses me and I just have to kiss her back.” As he spoke Step wondered who the woman was, he supposed she could be Andrei’s girlfriend, but he didn’t think she was, at least not one he had been committed to.

“You’re Andrei’s brother alright,” the woman remarked, a slight smile playing about her lips as she studied him.

Step was just trying to think of a polite way to ask who she was when. “VELKIN!” He turned automatically at the sound of his name and was just in time to receive a fist to the side of his jaw. The blow knocked him backwards into the stall and he put a hand out behind him to stop himself, planting it in the middle of the yellow hanfa berries. The berries popped and burst beneath his hand, coating it in the thick juice that oozed out.

“I warned you what would happen if I saw you near my wife again!”

Step had to hurriedly twist to one side to avoid the second blow that was aimed at him, and pushing himself away from the stall he brought his hands up into a defensive pose. He didn’t want to fight the man who had attacked him, but neither was he just going to stand there and accept a beating on behalf of his brother.

When the fist came at him again Step dodged, blocking the blow with one hand. “I’m not Andrei,” he said, backing away, “I’m his brother.” He had no idea if he was heard, but if he was it made no difference, the man continued to move forward, throwing punch after punch.

After dodging or blocking at least half a dozen blows, and trying repeatedly to tell the man he wasn’t his brother, Step had had enough. Blocking the next attempted blow he drove his fist into the man’s stomach. Though he was tempted to put all of his strength behind the blow, he didn’t, he held back and punched him just hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.

While the man was bent over gasping for breath Step hooked one of his legs out from under him and shoved him backwards. He fell to the ground and Step pounced on him, pinning his arms to the ground. “Calm down!” He did his best to subdue the man as he bucked and heaved beneath him. “Hey!” He slapped him smartly across the face to try and bring him to his senses. “Listen to me. I’m not Andrei, Andrei’s dead; I’m his brother, Step.”

It was a couple of minutes before the man beneath him finally calmed down, though Step suspected that was more because he had tired himself out than because he had come to his senses. Cautiously Step pushed himself up and off the man beneath him, ready to defend himself should he attack again. “Are you going to stay calm now?” he asked. “I’m not Andrei, I’m not the one you want to be attacking, he’s dead.”