Wings of Retribution (48 page)

“He would, at that, wouldn’t he?”  Rabbit sighed as he plugged the chip into the console.  “Unfortunately, Colonel Howlen is most likely not coming back.”

“What?”

Rabbit switched the mapper to 3-D rendering and began entering commands into the computer.  Distractedly, he said, “He had an altercation with Athenais and separated from us.”

Dallas narrowed her eyes.  “You mean she pissed him off and he went looking for new work.”

“No, he went looking for his wallet,” Rabbit said, eyes on the screen.  “I’m sure he fully intended to return.”

“What do you mean, ‘intended to return?’”

“By pointing fingers at the locals, he most likely found his way into a meat market.”  Rabbit hit a button and a three-dimensional plot of the Quads appeared on the screen.  He tapped a few more keys and most of the stars faded, leaving only a few dozen, outlined in red.

“A
meat
market?” Dallas cried.  “And you’re
okay
with that?!”

Rabbit sighed, looking up at her from the map.  “He pulled a gun on Athenais.  He’s got problems with you.  He’s got an irrational fear of aliens from his days in the S.O.  He doesn’t like criminals.  We can do without him.  Hell, I’d say he’s better off on Odan, because if he stays with us, eventually Attie’s gonna kill him.”

“So
that’s
who beat the shit out of Athenais?” Dallas cried.  “
Howlen?!
  The old prude’s got balls.”

Rabbit shrugged.  “He won’t for much longer.  They usually remove them on aging Utopis.  Leaves them better suited for clerical and secretarial positions.”

“Go get him.”

Rabbit glanced up.  “I was just joking.  He’ll keep his balls.  They only do that to youngsters that don’t make the stud grade.”

“Go
get
him!” Dallas repeated.

A frown creased Rabbit’s brow.  “He was the riskiest member of the operation from the start.  Former Utopi.  Possible undercover.  Unpredictable.  Intolerant of aliens.  It crossed my mind several times that his dismissal was just a setup to get the shifters back once Governor Black kidnapped them.  If that’s the case, they’ll rescue him in the slave pens somewhere.  If it’s not, well, he shouldn’t have attacked Attie.”

“She’s a raging bitch!  I say good for him!”

Rabbit shrugged.  “If you want to go find him, you can, but
Retribution
leaves dock in three hours.  With or without you.”

Dallas was dumbfounded.  “You’d leave him behind?  After he helped you?”

“The man turned on us.  Frankly, I don’t think he’s suited for pirating.  If he had a chance to sing to the Utopia to get his job back, I’d give him a ninety percent chance of learning the opera.  On top of that, I’d give him a thirty percent chance of being undercover Utopi.  I run twenty-two casinos on T-9.  Probabilities are my forte.”

He’s right, you know,
Stuart said.

But Dallas wasn’t listening.  “It takes twenty minutes to shuttle planetside,” she growled.  “How do you expect me to find him and get back here in three hours?”

“Frankly, I don’t.  I was planning on leaving him somewhere after we got Attie anyway.”  He returned his attention to the vidscreen and selected a red star, seemingly at random.

Careful, Dallas,
Stuart warned.
  Rabbit’s like Athenais.  He doesn’t say things like that lightly.

Dallas’s jaw stiffened. 
They’re not doing the same thing to Howlen they did to me.  I won’t allow it.

Then you’d better hurry.

“I want my last six weeks’ pay.  Right now, in case I don’t come back.”

Rabbit glanced up.  “That’s eighteen thousand credits.  Why do you need them?”

“Just give them to me.”

Rabbit shrugged.  “Fine, but as soon as you leave the ship, I’m changing the override codes.  Too dangerous for me if Howlen’s undercover and they interrogate you.”

“Fine,” Dallas said, hands fisting.  “Do what you have to do.”

He gave her a long, solemn look, then nodded.  “As you wish.” 

Dallas stumbled into the hub in a daze.  Behind her, the ship’s airlock slammed shut.  She flinched.

Calm down, Dallas,
Stuart said. 
I’ve been here before.  I’ll help you.

“Yeah, but how are we going to find him?” Dallas whimpered.  “We’ve got a whole
city
.”

The first thing they would’ve done is move him to another city before offering him for sale.  If they’re professionals, it can take less than an hour to get him in another province and equipped with a fake tag.

“Oh,
great!”
Dallas snapped.  “So that leaves the whole planet!”  She looked up and realized that the group of vendors were staring at her, keeping their distance, undoubtedly noting that she had come out of the same door as the bitchy space pirate.

First off, get to the shuttle.  We don’t have much time.

“Yeah,” Dallas muttered.  She strode past the wary vendors and into the shuttle hub.

Take one for Jeriah province.  It’s close to the Blue District, but does not uphold extradition or fugitive laws from other provinces.

“Where the hell’s the Blue District?” Dallas demanded.

That’s where Athenais and Rabbit would have gone to look for the shifters,
Stuart said at the same time a bored shuttle attendant said, “The Blue District’s for the fine slaves.  You don’t go there unless you’re somebody who’s got a few thousand credits to spend or somebody who wants to steal them.”  He pointed to a door.  “Shuttle Seven.”

“What about the Jeriah province?” Dallas asked.

The attendant squinted at her.  “Little thing like you, you don’t wanna go there, miss.  Believe me.  Outsiders don’t belong there.”

“I want to go,” Dallas insisted.

“Why are you even going planetside?” the attendant asked.  “One of the other provinces will have what you’re looking for.”

“Jeriah,” Dallas insisted.

The man shrugged.  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, miss.”  He nodded at another door.  The floor around it looked barely worn.  “Twenty credits.  Bigger fee ‘cause nobody goes there.  Not outlanders, anyway.”

“Thanks,” Dallas said.  She strode to the door, offered up her credit coin for the fee, and then returned it to her pocket and climbed into the empty cab as the autopilot waited for more passengers.  Ten minutes later, with no more fares, she held on as the autopilot closed the airlock and dropped them into the atmosphere.

We’ve got two and a half hours to get back, Dallas.

“I know that,” she muttered. 

Landfall in three minutes Standard,
an automated male voice said. 
Please exit with all of your belongings.  Unclaimed luggage will be destroyed upon discovery.

Dallas frowned.  “That bad, huh?”

Jeriah is home to criminals, ecoterrorists, and every neurological disorder humans can contract,
Stuart replied.
  Port Authority likes to stay on the safe side.

Dallas thought of the neurological disorder
she
was bringing to the province and she smirked. 

When the shuttle landed, Dallas disembarked and went into the decontamination room.  She stripped, gave her clothes and credit coin to the guard on duty, and stepped into the man-sized black booth.  Behind her, the locks clicked shut, as they had in every decontamination booth she had ever entered.  This time, however, she felt a stab of panic and almost tried forcing her way back out.

Don’t worry,
Stuart assured her, pulling her hand away from the door. 
Stay calm.  Just stand normally or they’ll know something’s wrong.  The only planets that still scan for
suzait
are Millennium and Jonin.

“Jonin?  Never heard of it.  It military or something?”

Jonin was a colony planet that my kind populated in an attempt to escape the One Species charter.  Of course, humans didn’t
know
we had populated it, and they put their own colonies down.  After being stuck for many years in near-animal hosts, some of my kind got the taste of human versatility and they switched from the planet’s native fauna.  The fever spread and my kind raced to find good human hosts.  Problem was, there was about a thousand times more of us than them.  The fighting killed off most of the humans.  When word got back to the Utopia, they assumed we had destroyed the human colonies on purpose.

Dallas felt the antiseptic tingle and coughed at the mist.  An ultraviolet light engulfed the room, killing whatever the spray and sonics had not.  Then the door opened and she stepped into the light.  There were no S.O. troops, no armed forces, just the one bored guard who handed Dallas her pile of flash-sanitized clothing.

“So now Jonin’s on constant alert?” she said once they were back in the terminal.

Yes.  They killed off everything on the entire planet, all the way down to the microbes, then built it up from scratch with animals that resist our acquisition.  I think their motto is Never Again.

“Bummer,” Dallas said.  “So basically you guys had a feeding frenzy.”

Yes.

“That what started the war?”

No.  As soon as the Utopia discovered us—which took a long time, by the way—we were considered hostiles.  Obviously, they recognized the conflict between our species.

“
So why don’t they just engineer a host for you?  Something better than humans?  You know, good senses, stronger bodies, more stamina, dexterity…  Give you guys a reason to stop taking us as hosts.”

Would you give an enemy that kind of power?

Dallas hadn’t thought about that.  “Um.  So where am I supposed to be going?”  She had stopped at the exit to the terminal.  Outside, the single tram was sitting unused, rusting.

This is where you gotta be careful.  Exiting the terminal is the most dangerous step in this whole process.  Step to the sidewalk, but make sure you can see in all four directions and it’s clear.  Then wait.  Keep the guard in sight through the door.  Ignore anyone who walks up to you.  After a few minutes, a green skimmer should drive past.  These are the cabs used by locals.  Hail it, and tell him you just saw a friend to the shuttle and need a ride back home.