Cleon Moon (27 page)

“Let me get a sample.”

Alisa muted the comm and pulled the bag of yellowish powder out of her pocket. With drugs sold in infinitesimal batches, the few ounces Yumi had given her had seemed an extravagant amount, but what would she do if this woman expected to see crates lined up behind her?

“Leonidas, can you make sure those weapons don’t show up in the vid pickup?” she asked, waving toward the comm camera. It was pointed toward the pilot’s seat, but would catch some of the background too. “I’ll have to turn it on to display my fine wares.”

Leonidas turned toward her, his crimson armor gleaming under the ceiling lighting, his arms full of weapons and bandoliers of grenades crisscrossing his chest. It had been a while since Alisa had thought of him as a walking nightmare sent by the empire to kill everyone in his path, but he definitely had that look at the moment.

“Ah, can you also make sure
you
don’t show up in the vid pickup?” she added, making a shooing motion. She thought about shooing Abelardus to the side, too, since that black Starseer robe was identifiable, but he was sitting in the seat behind Mica, and ought to be out of the picture already.

“Would a drug-dealing pilot not have a bodyguard?” Leonidas asked as he produced a tarp from somewhere to drop over the pile of munitions.

“A drug-dealing pilot who could afford an ex-imperial cyborg in full combat armor would be flying a nicer ship.”

“Ex.” Leonidas’s mouth twisted, showing his displeasure at thinking of himself in such a manner, but he did step to the side so the camera would not catch him.

“Sorry,” Alisa said.

She might never quite understand his reasons for feeling so loyal to the empire. Oh, she understood that Emperor Markus had spoken to him and treated him like a person instead of a machine or a monster, but was that enough to offset the horrors that had taken place during the centuries the empire had reigned?

“Captain?” the woman on the comm prompted.

“Maybe you should see if she’ll let us in
before
our route takes us crashing into the dome,” Mica said.

“We’re hovering right now,” Alisa said, giving her a flat look as she toggled the comm switch. “Yes, I have my sample here.”

She held the clear bag up to the camera, then wondered if she should have created a more artful display for something that was probably worth hundreds of tindarks an ounce. Perhaps she could have arranged it on a plate with garnishes.

“The boss’s team will have to test it before prices can be bandied about and deals offered,” the woman said.

“I wouldn’t expect anything else.”

Alisa managed to keep her tone neutral. Inside, she was delighted. This sounded promising and not like an obvious trap. She looked at Leonidas. Was it possible Solstice’s interest in him—or in
having
him—might have caused her to deal honestly with him?

“Am I in the vid pickup?” he asked softly, as he stood with his back against the wall.

Alisa muted the comm again—she could hear the woman talking to someone in the background but could not make out the words. “No, I was debating your sex appeal,” she told him.

Abelardus frowned.

Leonidas blinked. “
Now?
”

“She debates it often, I’ll wager,” Mica said.

“Shush,” Alisa said, turning back and unmuting the comm.

“What’s your name, Captain?” the woman asked. “Your ship doesn’t have an ident. Have we dealt with you previously?”

If only she knew…

“Andromeda,” Alisa said, wishing she had thought to come up with a name that sounded like something a drug dealer might have. A cartoon character probably wasn’t it. “That’s
Laser Edge
Andromeda,” she added, afraid the silence on the other end denoted disbelief. “People all across the system know that if they want the stuff, I got the stuff.”

Alisa looked at her crewmates and wasn’t surprised to catch various expressions of skepticism—or maybe that was pity—on their faces.

“You’ve been watching too many vid dramas,” Mica whispered.

“Very well, Captain Andromeda,” the woman said dryly. “You have permission to come in to have your Bliss tested. Theo will take care of you. Fly directly to Comet Compound in the center of the city. I’ll transmit landing coordinates. Do not detour anywhere else unless you’re given permission to partake in our hospitality.”

“Comet Compound it is,” Alisa said and slapped the comm button. “That’s the boss’s base, isn’t it? Did we just get invited down? That was easy.”

“Because it’s a trap,” Mica said.

“You’re so pessimistic.”

“Come on, you think it’s a trap too. They’ve probably got fifty armed men waiting at the coordinates they gave you.”

“Well, we have something that can pulverize armed men.” Alisa smiled back at Leonidas.

“Do you have trouble thinking of his sex appeal at the same time as you imagine him pulverizing people?”

“Less trouble than you’d think.”

“I’m concerned for you, Captain,” Mica said.

“You’re not the first person who has said that to me.”

Alisa took the charger through the lowered forcefield and into the dome. She wanted to be optimistic that this would work out, but she couldn’t help but think Mica might be right, that they were flying into an asteroid field of trouble. Even if Leonidas could pulverize the immediate opposition, would they be able to fight their way into the depths of some compound to find Beck and then escape the city with him?

“I am glad you haven’t suggested abandoning Beck, turning around, and flying back out into space,” Alisa told Mica, remembering that she had done that previously when Alejandro and Leonidas had been in trouble.

“I want to see those grilled pancakes.”

Chapter 16

“Here’s the plan,” Alisa said, grabbing a double-barreled blazer pistol from the weapons pile.

She had brought the charger down in the middle of a circular building with a large landing pad in the center and a long tail of buildings stretching away and into the city—calling the compound a comet was ambitious. She expected a greeting party to come knocking on the ship’s hatch any moment.

“I will go out first and confront whoever awaits, while you stay inside,” Leonidas said, his helmet fastened, weapons in hand with more on his person and within reach.

“That’s actually not the plan I had in mind.”

“Your plan may need adjustment.”

Alisa stuck out her hand, Yumi’s bag dangling from her grasp. “If I go out first, shooting should be less likely. What kind of mafia employee would shoot someone holding valuable drugs?”

“You’ve used arguments similar to this in the past,” Leonidas said.

“And?”

“There always ended up being shooting.”

“Are you sure that’s right? Mica, that’s not right, is it?”

“It sounds right,” Mica said.

Abelardus came up behind Alisa. “I could hold her from behind while you storm out and shoot everyone, mech.”

Leonidas’s eyes narrowed, though Alisa wasn’t sure whether it was because Abelardus was offering to touch her or because he had called him a mech.

“Actually…” Abelardus's expression grew distant. “There isn’t anyone standing outside.”

“Are you sure?” Alisa had not seen anyone when she had been flying down—the landing pad had been well lit, despite the middle-of-the-night hour—but she had assumed guards would stream out of the building as soon as they alighted. Surely, the mafia men wouldn’t take her word for it that she was a drug dealer with wares to sell. She could have been holding up a bag of cornstarch.

“No one is in the landing area,” Abelardus reaffirmed. “The corridors of the building, however, are busy. A lot of people running around.”

“I’ll go out and check,” Leonidas said, hitting the hatch button before Alisa could argue further.

As he strode out, she hurried to rush out at his side. He glanced down at her, perhaps thinking of pushing her behind him—or punting her back into the ship and locking the hatch.

She held the Bliss bag up and waved it. “Let me try to deal before you shoot anyone.”

Perhaps it was a vain hope, but it would be so much easier to get out of the compound and the city if they could sneak down and retrieve Beck without being detected. And if some problem was already bothering the White Dragon people, might her team not take advantage of the distraction?

She crinkled her nose. “I smell smoke.”

“Yes.” Leonidas pointed at an open door on the ground floor, just visible behind the nose of one of several transport ships and yachts parked on the large landing pad. Billows of black smoke wafted out through the doorway.

“Maybe someone else is already infiltrating the compound,” Abelardus said, walking out and standing behind Alisa and Leonidas.

“Or maybe another rescue is going on,” Alisa said. She had warned the chef’s warehouse guard, hoping for exactly that, but could his people have gotten something together so quickly? Or maybe someone was rescuing prisoners unrelated to Beck and the chef? “Mafia bosses take lots of prisoners to torture and blackmail, don’t they?”

“I’m not an expert on their practices,” Abelardus said. “Starseers don’t join mafia organizations. We have higher standards.”

Alisa kept from pointing out that the Starseers were similar
to
a mafia organization, with their separate government, blood ties, and hidden installations all over the system. All they needed was a secret handshake and an interest in gambling rings.

Really
, Abelardus said dryly into her mind.

“Let’s try that door.” Leonidas pointed toward the one with smoke billowing out of it. “I can hear shouts coming from inside. Something about escaped prisoners, but it doesn’t sound like anyone is near that exit, at least not yet.”

“Am I going on this incursion?” Mica stood in the hatchway, her satchel of grenades over her shoulder and a blazer pistol in hand. “Or do I wait here and keep the ship powered up and the hatch locked until you return?”

The ship was already powered up and ready. Alisa had seen no reason to turn everything off. Also, she worried about leaving Mica behind without anyone to protect her if someone tried to board the ship.

“Wouldn’t you be disappointed if you didn’t get to use any of your freshly made explosives?” Alisa asked.

“No,” Mica said.

“Come anyway. It’ll be safer with Leonidas.” Alisa waved.

Leonidas was already heading for that door, so she hurried after him. He halted when he reached the front of a yacht-like transport ship and held up a hand. Alisa and Abelardus stopped behind him.

“Wait behind this ship,” Leonidas said, pointing between the transport and a cargo hauler next to it. “Someone’s coming out now.”

As Alisa started to obey, she saw what he meant. Six men in gray uniforms strode out, rifles gripped in their hands and a hoverboard full of crates floating behind them. They halted, nearly tripping over each other, when they spotted Leonidas in his crimson armor.

“We’re here about a drug deal,” Alisa called, waving the bag, still hoping their ruse might work. Even if all they could do was get close enough to subdue those men before any of them could comm their employers, it would be worth it.

But the men did not seem to notice her. They only had eyes for Leonidas. Their weapons came up as they lunged back for cover in the doorway—two jumped onto the back of the hoverboard, using the crates to hide behind. Alisa found herself shoved behind the transport—Leonidas pushing her out of the way. As she stumbled into the shadow of the ship, he opened fire.

Return fire came at the same time, orange blazer beams streaking toward him. Instead of hiding, Abelardus stayed close to Leonidas, using his staff and his mental powers to deflect the bolts. Leonidas relied on his armor to do the same. He soon charged out of view, heading for the doorway and the men.

Alisa checked to make sure Mica was not in danger, but did not see her.

“Mica?” she asked, using her comm. “Are you safe?”

“I jumped back into our borrowed charger,” Mica replied. “My safety is yet to be determined. I expect someone to throw bombs at this ship any second.”

“Your pessimism knows no bounds.”

The firefight continued longer than Alisa expected, with blazer fire streaking through the landing area. Had reinforcements come out?

She ran along the body of the transport, thinking she might find a good angle to fire from at the far end. She doubted Leonidas needed her help against six guards, but who knew what else might be coming out of that building? If Solstice had androids, the White Dragon might too.

The hatch on the side of the transport was open, crates and luggage already stacked inside. Were the mafia bosses having it loaded because they thought they needed to flee? Or maybe someone inside had been preparing for a night departure before this trouble had come.

As she ran past the hatchway to the far end, an explosion ripped from somewhere inside the building. The pavement under her feet trembled, and a moment later, bricks and shards of rock pounded down around her. She leaned against the hull, covering her head with her arms. A piece bounced off the back of her hand, and she hissed with pain.

The firefight on the landing pad did not abate, and as soon as the rubble’s fall lessened, she continued to the end of the transport. She eased around the back corner, and the windows of the building came into view. She did not know what had blown up, but the walls she could see were still intact. She approached the other corner of the transport and leaned out from behind it, blazer in hand, to check on the doorway.

Most of the gray-uniformed men lay on the ground, and the hoverboard had pitched sideways, dumping its crates. Leonidas was grappling with what looked like a man, but could not be—it was matching his strength. Each combatant appeared to be trying to throw the other.

Abelardus flew out of the doorway, nearly crashing into them, his black robe hiked up to his waist.

“The way to the transport is blocked,” someone yelled from inside the building. “We need backup at the west door.”

Alisa grimaced and pointed her weapon at a man leaning out the doorway, aiming at Abelardus. She fired before he did, the blazer she’d grabbed from the pile having more kick than she expected. The sizable double bolts slammed into the figure hard enough to hurl him back out of sight.