THE PRIZE: BOOK TWO - RETRIBUTION (29 page)

The station was a typical imperial ‘spinning top’ design and maybe an outlying Imperial base at one time. With an ever-expanding Empire, this place was now lost in the backwaters and abandoned, making it the perfect haven for the riffraff of the Empire. After raiding the late captain’s safe for money and credit chips, she took five of the girls and did a survey of the station. They walked out without anyone challenging them. However, someone had noticed their arrival and hookup, as a quick look outside through the port in the connection corridor proved. The ship wouldn’t be leaving any time soon, as it was now locked to the station. Until the bill was paid for the liquid supplies, this ship wasn’t going anywhere. After checking their weapons, they followed Ellis out onto the main ring concourse, and found the place a riot of color and smells. The cross section of beings from across the Empire and beyond all mingling together surprised her, as normally many weren’t so friendly with each other. A good many were lowborn Tellurians Surls with some Pittbranian, UUsarian, Gort, and even a couple of Thrakee thrown in mingling with the crowd. Ellis eyed the Thrakee for a moment. Both Thrakee looked seedy and run down, their usually bright scales looked dull and sickly. Neither wore the usual cross webbing harness to indicate their family allegiance and she was betting they were either outcasts from their nest unit, or spies, more likely the latter rather than the former. Not that she cared as long as they stayed out of her way. The booths and shops along the concourse sold a multitude of food, drinks, weapons, and supplies to cater to every whim or fancy, both legal and illegal. It didn’t take long before Ellis spotted a clothing shop, and like a bee to honey, she was drawn to the display of boots and shoes in the window. Penn would have laughed had he seen that and made a joke about women and shoes and how irresistible they were. Like catnips to cats. Ellis smiled thinking of that, as there was some truth to it. Of course she would have thrown his obsession about weapons, tech and ‘boys toys’ in his face, not that it did much good. He always took the moral high ground in the argument by pointed out that those things were both practical and for protection, whereas a pair of strappy high heel shoes or boots were only good for making her feet hurt. Of course, that did give her an excuse to get a good foot rub, which he was happy to supply. That of course led to him working his way up her legs on the off chance some other part of her body needed massaging as well. She chased the thought away and, leaving Gwen on guard, three of them went in and started browsing the racks of clothing. As they did a tall, thin humanoid being appeared from somewhere in the back, but Ellis was at a loss to know what species he, or it was. Its clothing gave no indication if it was male or female. It looked at each of them in turn before walking over to Ellis.

“May the eternal stars aways guide you along the true path, honored she.” It said, bowing.

“Oh… um… well, same to you.” It was a very odd greeting.

“How can this unworthy one be of service to one such as you.” It asked.

“We’re looking for some decent clothes to wear.”

“And shoes.” Jenny added. Even so, the being’s eyes remained locked on Ellis, yet it wasn’t a scary look, more of one of adoration.

“Of course, young one.” In all it took an hour before everyone, including Gwen was dressed to their satisfaction.

Jenny was grinning from ear to ear as Ellis let her pick out a wild looking scarlet body suit that emphasized every curve of her young body. Ellis had her doubts about letting her walk around like that, but the blast pistol on one hip and wicked looking blade on the other would give any would be lecher second thoughts. Not that she was going to let her daughter out of her sight dressed like that, but she had to give her room to fly. At first, Ellis couldn’t find anything she liked until the being brought something from the back of the store. This was a body forming, silver colored body suit, and when she tried it on, it immediately tightened to form against her body. While standing there trying to make up her mind amid the admiring looks from Jenny, the strange being glided up.

“I might add, for one such as you, this model also comes with a defense mode.”

“What?”

“The material is such that under certain circumstances, it is reactive armor. It will stop most light to medium blast bolts and stun rounds, as will that of the young one.” Ellis hadn’t realized that he’d also brought Jenny a suit from the back.

“And why would you offer such clothing to us of all people?” The being bowed again.

“When I was younger, before I left my home planet to travel the galaxy, there was a story told of one of my kind who went to a strange planet with a mountain sized building on it. He traveled for many days inside the building, meeting and cheating death at each turn. Sadly, death caught up with him, and he died, yet came back to us, reincarnated.” Ellis took a step back, wondering if the being presented a threat in some way.

“I know of this planet, and building,” Ellis responded

The being bowed again. “The mark is upon you, honored one, for like him you have an aura about you that most cannot see. But, until this moment I thought it to be nothing more than a children’s story.”

“Mom, he’s talking about home.”

“I know dear.”

“You live on this fabled planet?”

“Yes, we do.” That seemed to send the being into some sort of shock, as it began keening softly and muttering something in its own language.

“It is said that only the gods themselves can come and go to that place at will.”

“I’m no god that’s for sure.”

“My Dad also went through the pyramid. He and Mom got all the way to the top, or whatever the end is called.”

“You have seen this place, young one?”

“Seen it. All the kids play inside. It’s no big deal.”

“Hush, Jenny. I’m sure this being doesn’t want to hear…”

“Is what the young one said, true?” Ellis felt a little embarrassed.

“Yes, it’s true. My mate and I got to the prize and can now come and go as we please, but what of this… person of yours that came back?”

“He lived many lifetimes and became a great leader. He led us out of darkness into the light and we made war on each other no more.” Ellis nodded.

“It is so with us.”

“If you should be in need of any service, any service at all, you only have to ask.”

“You have done enough by giving us these clothes. I have gold or imperial credits to pay you.” The being took a step back and held both hands up, palms outward.

“No payment is needed, honored one. It is such a small token I offer you.”

“But…” Ellis was at a loss what to do.

“I have to give you something for all these clothes, for these and the others.”

“Your blessing is sufficient payment, honored one.” Ellis did the only thing she could.

“May the eternal stars ever guide you along the true path, gentle being.”

“Thank you, honored one. My name is Troth, and I shall be ever grateful that I have had the good fortune to meet you and receive your blessing.”

Stepping outside the shop after donning her weapons, Ellis was still bemused at the encounter. It would appear there were many levels and benefits to winning the prize. Some, such as this were totally unexpected. They moved through the crowd, stopping to eat and drink, but warning the girls to stay away from the hard stuff, and watch their drinks. If it tastes funny, don’t drink it. She wouldn’t put it past one of this lot to slip something into their drinks and grab them. Inevitably, someone, a rock hopping asteroid miner by the look of his clothes and partly drunk grabbed Jenny.

“What the…” Was all Ellis heard. She reached for her blade as she turned only to find Jenny with her blade in the man’s crotch. “You want me to hand you your dick, barf breath?

“Oh fuck!”

“Keep your sweaty hands to yourself, asshole.” The man, a Tellurian Surl by the look of it turned pasty white and backed away.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean anything… wanted to ask if you wanted to go and have a drink.”

“Right and Director Markoff wears panties.” Ellis snorted. Just the mention of Markoff’s name was enough to have the Surl running away in panic, pushing people aside in his haste to get away from them.

“Keep an eye on each other, girls,” Ellis muttered softly. They nodded.

In all it took three hours to make a full circuit of the station’s main concourse and find the vulnerable spots, enduring a lot of indecent propositions along the way. Whoever was running this place relied on the security cams to keep tabs on the comings and goings, as she hadn’t seen a lot of security types hanging around. It made a sort of sense considering the people who used this place. They wouldn’t take too kindly to being harassed by any sort of police as that was bad for business. After returning to the ship, Ellis pondered the layout on the main screen and came to the conclusion that this station was an old imperial design. That could mean the Imperials, or probably IMPSEC was still running it from the background as an intelligence-gathering platform. That brought up the uneasy feeling they may have matched her face to a wanted bulletin.

“Whatever we are going to do we’ll have to make it fast.”

“How so?” Gwen asked, lounging back in the late captain’s seat.

“Because, as much as I hate to say it, I’m probably the most wanted female in this part of the galaxy at the moment, and not in a good way.”

“Oh shit!”

“Sooner rather than later, one of those IMPSEC assholes is going to put my face against a wanted poster and they’ll come knocking.” Just then, the chief engineer came onto the bridge.

“Have some good news and some bad news, which do you want first?” He asked with a chuckle, remembering the old joke.

“Let’s have the bad news first, I suppose.” Ellis groused.

“The bad news is I’ve found a nice ship to take but it’s an old Imperial Fleet Corvette.”

“And the good news is?”

“I’ve found a ship we can use.” He laughed.

“Thanks a lot.”

“Happy to help. I will say, that out of all the ships here, that one’s the best, and my crew and me can run it. The others maybe not, depending on how good a condition they’re in.”

“Poor to worse unless I miss my guess. Slavers and pirates aren’t known for maintaining their ships.” The chief remarked.

“Stupid of them really. You’d think they’d want to keep their ships in tip top shape, seeing the business they’re in.” Gwen added.

“Why should they? If the ship gets too run down, they’ll just go steal another one.”

“True, but how do you know it’s an Imperial ship?”

“Not much to do on this ship between watches, so I do a lot of reading. I’m always scavenging for parts, and if you know the right people you can get anything for a price. Including the specifications for that ship.”

“Go on.”

“As I said, she’s an old Imperial design, not like the tin foil ships they build now, but I guess if you have great shield tech you don’t need a super strong hull like that one has.”

“Makes sense. But what about that ship?” Ellis asked impatiently. “If she’s Imperial, that could mean she’s here for another purpose.”

“Oh right. The word is she was um… ‘Salvaged’ and pressed into service as a raider, or pirate ship, not that anyone has ever seen any plunder come off her.”

“That probably means she’s a courier ship for IMPSEC unless I miss my guess. Not good.”

“If that’s the case, one good thing is she’ll be full of consumables, fuel, air, water, and fresh CO2 scrubbers and such. Add to that, she’s got a good turn of speed to run away from anything nasty, and enough firepower to shoot the hell out of anything she can’t run from.”

“So how do you want to go about taking that Corvette, ma’am?” It was an honest question and not just a sarcastic remark.

“I’ll have to think on that for a while, and let you know.”

“Good to know. After you do, all we have to do now is figure out a way to get everyone aboard without tipping off the assholes on the station.”

“You think they’ll care?”

“The boss running the ship paid a lot of good credits to make sure none of our families left, so yeah. They don’t know he’s dead yet so they’ll be watching us like hawks now that we’re back.” It was a valid point.

“Do your families ever visit the ship?” The chief looked at her with surprise.

“Yeah, they do -- well they used to until they found out what she was.”

“You and the rest need to get them all here, maybe for a birthday party or something. No luggage or carry-ons and hide anything they really want to take inside wrapped as presents.”

* * * * * *

“You sure you want to trust this suit, ma’am?”

“Got to. It’s the best one out of the bunch.”

“That’s not saying much. It’s a piece of junk and should have been recycled a decade ago. Shit! Look at the time on the suit clock and the maintenance log. This hasn’t been serviced since before JC was a carpenter.”

“I know, but there’s no way we can take that ship from the dock side. Way too many auto defense systems and guards.”

“If you say so, but I don’t like the look of the suit, or the liquid-air bottles. No telling when they were last hydro tested.”

“Chief! Will you stop waffling and hook me up. Christ, you’re worse than my husband.”

“You listen to him?”

“Sometimes when he puts his foot down.”

“Like to meet him someday, sounds like a man after my own heart.”

“Maybe you will if he gets his finger out and get’s here.” The chief shot her a look of surprise.

“You mean he’s on his way here… but how will he know where you are?”

“Oh, he’s on his way, no doubt about that. I thought he wouldn’t one time, but never again.”

“But how is he going to find you?”

“Knowing him, he’ll carve his way through half the slavers to find out.”

“Shouldn’t you leave him a message or something so he knows where we’ve gone?”

“No need, besides that I don’t know where we are going ourselves at the moment. That so-called navigator is just about worthless and thicker than two short planks. All he knows is Imperial Nav Buoys but he hasn’t a clue where we are in the universe.”