Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 3: Vengeance (18 page)

“Where would we be if I was always listening to that nagging little voice?” I asked.

“I’ve always wondered the same,” Serrath said, “if it’s the fact that you always ignore your good common sense that has kept us alive all this time.”

“Hopefully that’s the recipe.” I said. “Because this goes against every bit of good common sense I possess. That little voice is screaming at me something terrible.” I admitted.

“I’m having such similar thoughts
myself.” Serrath agreed. “Yet here we are.”

We were coming in for our final landing now and I was hunting for a spot. There was no order of course so I just picked a spot amongst some rabble s
hips and settled Warmonger in. Warmonger would take care of herself while we were gone but that wasn’t the question. The question was whether we’d be able to take care of ourselves. It was a question I didn’t want to have to face at the present moment.

Yet here we were.

Chapter 43

“Let’s try not to draw attention to ourselves
, for once.” I said as we walked away from Warmonger.

“What
you telling me for.”

“No shopping trips, in other words.”
I explained more fully, as if that was necessary.

“I can abstain from shopping for a while if you can abstain from your murderous rampages.” Serrath replied easily. Tell Serrath she was pretty and she
might
stumble over her response but attack her and the response came swiftly and surely. The result was generally abrupt and final.

“A herbivore wouldn’t survive long here
.” I opined as I carefully noted the groups of lurking reptile ruffians- clearly waiting to see who and what we were about. They were plainly about their
business
in broad daylight, though the blue tinted light of the system’s star was a bit unaccustomed. The Fsyth were obviously known here or I seriously doubt we would have made it out of the spaceport grounds. It became immediately clear to both of us that under normal circumstances two lone beings would have drawn an immediate robbery attempt. There were groups of ruffians lounging everywhere amongst the haphazardly parked ships- playing games of chance and bones while waiting for victims- but that all came to a halt and all eyes were turned in our direction the moment we appeared on the fusion-fused tarmac. I hoped, for their sakes, that none decided to lounge too near Warmonger while awaiting our return. The reaction would be painful and final.

Th
is place was going to prove to be far more dangerous than I had imagined and I think that says it all. We weren’t ten steps beyond Warmonger when Serrath pulled both her blasters, but it wasn’t in response to a direct threat. It was a warning and it was understood. It was just about that moment that I noticed that my own blasters were in my hands as well, though I didn’t recall drawing them. This was a place of death for those who weren’t prepared and for many who were. These ruffians made their living fleecing the sheep and no sheep would ever make it back out of this place. We walked right through the groups of ruffians and somehow- mainly bluff and bluster, to be sure- made it out of the spaceport with our lizard skins intact. Only the fact that in order to detain us they would have had to kill us- and use weapons of mass destruction to do it- and the fact that there wouldn’t have been much left after to salvage the only reason it didn’t go down. It would have been a pointless waste of time when clearly there would have been no profits to be gleaned. It had simply been a business decision and nothing personal. If we hadn’t walked through them with our blasters in hand they would have fallen on us en-mass and no reptile would have been able to fight his way clear of that.

“A quick ride to a dinner table.”
Serrath replied, responding to my earlier statement now that we were out of immediate danger, though as I began to absorb the teeming crowds in the open-air bazaar where we were entering and which completely encircled the city-proper I had to wonder if we had only escaped the butcher’s knife to be served up alive and kicking. The reptile races weren’t unknown for having a taste for living flesh.

“I’ve heard that rich reptiles often have hundreds of living snacks kept in docs.” I commented easily.

“Not a pleasurable way to spend eternity.” Serrath replied as she put her blasters away. Though she seemed calm and unconcerned she was as alert as I had ever seen her.

“I wonder if they gag them or if the screaming is part of the culinary delight?” I asked.

“They like the screaming.” Serrath said. “The Fsyth are also well known for their taste for living flesh- a Fsyth would never turn down the offer of such an exquisite
culinary delight
.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I said as I tried to figure out where we were supposed to begin. The mines were
in the very center of the city and we wouldn’t be able to just walk up to the entrance to that. The mines were the most heavily defended place on this planet and that on a planet already far more dangerous than any I had visited.

Chapter 44

“This may be one of those times where a little violent misadventure or two could gain us some notice and possibly a key to their very door itself.” I commented as we approached a cart vendor to have the first of what I was sure would be many drinks this day. If Serrath agreed with my plan, that is.

“I’ve heard worse plans.” She said as she stopped short of the cart. I’d caught what she was looking at. The cart vendor had one cup- you drank your drink and then you gave the cup back to the cart vendor so he could fill it for the
next patron. She turned aside and I reluctantly followed.

“That may be the norm.” I said. “I’m sure whatever concoction is in that barrel keeps the cup plenty
sterile.”

“I’m a big girl now and I get my own cup.” Serrath replied. “I was
also thinking something a little more upscale and a little closer to the heart of the city and the action.” She meant the mines of course.

“No reason
I
can’t start now.” I said as I veered off for the next vendor in our path. There were a great many of them- all serving their own individualized concoctions and most busy serving up drinks. I headed for one with a line of truly seedy looking reptiles waiting to be served. I thought that a pretty good indication that whatever was in this vendor’s barrel was the truly rough shit. No reason to break a lifetime’s character now.

“You’ll need this.” Serrath said as she joined me in line, handing me a small handful of real metal coins. I recognized trinium, gold and silver but clearly meant to walk away from this vendor with a handful of the local variety as well.
Don’t ask me how I had thought I was going to get the drink without coin, but I supposed subconsciously I had planned to take it in the usual way.

I closed my hand swiftly on the shiny metal but not before numerous sets of eyes were drawn to the sound of the bright clinking of valuable coin. I didn’t bother staring my annoyance at Serrath as she had probably done it on purpose and I would only have to look at the triumph in her eyes. Instead I said; “Change your mind and decide to drink with us common folk?”

“It’s come to my notice that there may not be an upscale part of this city.”

“Maybe not up to your scale but that’s where the
action is going to be and that’s where we are going.” I said.

“There’s a reason us
common
reptiles drink here.” A reptile in line ahead of us told me with a steely look. I didn’t recognize the race but it recognized ours- it was speaking Fsyth. A reptile familiar with the Fsyth wouldn’t make a good companion because
this
Fsyth didn’t know a whole lot about being a Fsyth. I had skipped those lessons, as I recalled, in favor of spending that time in blissful intoxication while Serrath did all the hard work. Since Serrath couldn’t help her meticulous nature there was no point in both of us having to do all that hard work when I was already assured she had thoroughly done it all for the both of us.

“Mind your own business.” I told the reptile with a steely look of my own, which it didn’t like but after
Serrath added her stare to the contest turned its rubbernecking head back into the forward position. It was next in line anyway and it got its drink and was on its way. Whatever type of reptile it was it didn’t seem too intimidated by us. The Universe was a wide and diverse place and I wasn’t the type to underestimate any creature It had created- especially ones that didn’t intimidate easily.

“I think we were supposed to act subservient.” Serrath said as I downed my drink. I got a handful of dark colored coins in return but probably only half of what was supposed to be there.
The shit burned going down worse than anything I had ever imbibed and highly pleased I made the vendor fill my cup again. The reptile vendor did as I bade and no reptile said a word as I drank it down. It was as I had thought. The reptile I had pissed off was a special case. It was a race to watch out for even for reptiles apparently as feared as we Fsyth.

“You made a new friend
and get your first misadventure all rolled into one.” Serrath said as she lowered her emptied cup and handed it back to the vendor without looking in his direction. I was already looking in the same direction. I had noted them simultaneously and it wasn’t good news.

“I make new f
riends everywhere I go.” I said as I noted that my new friend was no longer alone. That he had friends of his own and they were headed directly for us. My new friend and his companions weren’t coming back for more of this vendors rot-gut shit, of that at least I was sure, though of a great many other things at that exact moment I wasn’t quite sure about at all. How we were going to survive was a good example of one of the things I wasn’t quite sure about at that moment. A betting reptile always automatically counts the odds and my calculations weren’t good for this reptile’s survival ratio.

“You’ll get yours now.” The vendor said behind me as he quickly wheeled his cart away. I ignored him because there were much bigger reptiles to fry.

Chapter 45

“At least a dozen.” Serrath said as her blasters came out and mayhem erupted.
It wasn’t the mayhem of blaster fire but the mayhem of wary reptiles getting the fuck out of the way of certain death. Blaster fire was not discriminatory in who it scorched. Serrath and I went the other way amidst every manner of scurrying, hopping and otherwise fleeing reptiles as like a herd of frightened herbivore they scattered in every direction.

It was a busy day here in the bazaar- at least to my ignorant eye- and we were immediately lost in the crowds.
We moved along for a while and then found a place of semi-concealment along a rotted mortar wall to watch our back-trail. When after a quarter-hour had elapsed and no pursuit had developed we merged back into the flow of traffic and went back to our casual stroll through the unusually deadly city.

“I do despise leaving undead enemies behind myself.” Serrath said after a while. I think I can speak for the both of us
that we were about as alert as reptiles could be.

“There are alw
ays exceptions to the rule.” I pointed out as I kept a sharp lookout.

“I think we’ll have the opportunity yet.” Serrath said, but she wasn’t speaking about that very moment
in Time and Space but the fact that we would have to go back through what was clearly their gang turf to get back to our ship.

“Depending on how determined they are you may yet have your opportunity.” I agreed.

“Which is why I so despise leaving enemies behind myself.”

“I agree with your sentiment,” I agreed, “but you may have noticed
that there were a number of them and they were all armed with blasters.”

“I noticed.” She said. “I’m also beginning to wonder how we’re ever going to get Leethea out of here
. If the common reptiles crawling the streets are this aggressive, those which guard the mines will be even more so. There is no law here but the blaster and they’ll shoot first and not ask any questions after.”

“I hate to be the harbinger of bad news,” I said, “but I’m not sure how we’re going to get
ourselves
out of here, much less find, free and get Leethea out with us.” I did not voice the nagging thought that my instincts were screaming at me to get the hell out of there while I still had a lizard skin to do it in, but in the end I once more quelled those thoughts because I knew that Serrath and I would either win Leethea free or die in the attempt. There were no other options. Marc Deveroux would never leave one of his own behind and this lizard skin I was wearing didn’t change that fact one iota.

“Yep.” Serrath agreed. “Pretty sure we’re going to die.”

“Only question is the hour of its coming.” I said.

It was then that I noticed the reptile fifty meters distant through a chance break in the crowd. The bazaar here was just a wide-
open space with cart vendors, semi-permanent food stands and crowds of lizards about their daily business. I didn’t recognize the face but I recognized the breed- it was the same race as my recently separated new friends. One of my new friends I hadn’t yet had the pleasure of meeting personally. When my eye was drawn to his there was mutual recognition- I was the reptile he was looking for and he had found me. “They’re back.” I said as the avenue of chance which had opened between us amongst the crowd closed once more. I pointed in the direction I had seen the lizard. “I saw one directly ahead but I think I may theorize that we’re completely surrounded.” I added.