Running With Argentine (7 page)

“Once we’ve done all that we can worry about approaching any
astrogator we turn up,” he concluded.

ΔΔΔ

Argentine had
tried to catch Janet alone before she’d departed with the rest of the crew, but
she’d seemed to be avoiding him.

Lieutenant Stark had taken the shuttle and departed the ship
with his team and one crate of unprocessed asteroid ore. He’d returned with an
empty shuttle.

Argentine had overheard him explaining to the chief, “They’re
full of self-importance and waiting for a secret rendezvous.”

The crew departure took several shuttle trips but also went
smoothly.

They didn’t have to wait long for one of them to signal that
they had a lead on an astrogator.

“My name is Marley,” said the voice from the comm link. “I
understand your astrogator wants to talk business with another astrogator.”

Argentine grimaced, that wasn’t exactly the message he’d
wanted to put out.

“Yes, we’d like to talk to an astrogator. Would that be
you?”

“No, but I can put you in touch with him – for a price.”

“As long as it’s not too big a price,” Argentine responded.
“It’s really not that big a deal, we’d just like to confirm some data.”

“That’s not what your former crew is saying,” Marley
sneered. He then named a price.

“That’s absurd. I wouldn’t give a third of that.”

“Make it half and I’ll set up the meeting,” he replied.

“Done,” Argentine said. “But the meeting will be in a public
place.”

“Fine, I’ll send you the time and place. Just be sure you
bring the money and your astrogator.”

The conversation had been conducted over the bridge’s
speaker so the chief, Sami, and the lieutenant had been listening.

“Thoughts?” Argentine asked.

“I don’t trust him,” said the chief.

“Of course not, but how do you think we should proceed?”

They all found themselves looking at the lieutenant, waiting
for his answer.

In
A Bar On Praxis III

The three of
them walked into the dimly lit tavern and paused just inside the door to let
their eyes adjust.

Argentine used the moment to reflect upon their decisions,
hoping they’d made the right choices.

Before they’d left the ship he’d had a conversation with
Rory.

“Look, I’d take you with us but somebody has to stay behind with
the ship.”

“Sure, if you say so. But there’s not much here to guard,”
Rory responded.

“Let’s hope it stays that way,” said Argentine. “But I’m
going to have Lieutenant Stark walk you through how the ship’s weapons work
just in case. Eh, have you ever worked a ship’s weapons before?”

“No, but it’ll be a piece of cake. We’re in orbit and
everything is going to be moving relatively slowly and besides, I’ve never met
a ship’s system that didn’t like me.”

“Well I’m not sure the weapons are going to feel one way or
another about you Rory, but you need to be ready to use them just in case. If
somebody does try to board the ship your best chance, maybe your only chance to
stop them, is before they dock.”

“Okay, but they do.”

“Who does what?”

“The weapons, First. They definitely have feelings. All the
ship’s systems talk to me. You’ll see.”

Deciding not to dig into that any further Argentine went
ahead and discussed other contingencies and protocols with him. He couldn’t say
that he was totally confident leaving Rory alone and in charge, but what choice
did he have?

They didn’t dare bring Sami into the bar with them so they’d
left her behind the locked hatches of the shuttle at the spaceport.

The first stop had been a local bank to convert some metals
into the local currency. They’d gotten in just before the bank had closed its
doors for the day.

Now Argentine, the chief, and the lieutenant were going to
check out Marley.

They walked into the dark room, let their eyes adjust, and
made their way to the bar.

“I’m here to meet someone called Marley,” said Argentine to
the bartender.

With a frown the barkeep said, “Turn around.”

When he did he realized that four men had walked up behind
them. They were all rugged looking and one of them stunk – not that this is
what commanded his attention…

Another of them was as huge as a mountain. Half of his face
and a good part of his neck were covered in scars, but he was actually the best
dressed among the four. His jacket looked like it’d once been part of some kind
of uniform.

Marley was, naturally, the smallest man in the group.

“Which one of you is the astrogator?” he demanded.

“None of us,” said the lieutenant. “Do you really think
would be stupid enough to bring him in here?”

Marley shifted his gaze to him.

“What are you trying to pull? That was the deal. You were to
bring the money and your astrogator. Do you even have any money?”

“We need to know that you can put us in touch with an actual
astrogator before anything happens,” Argentine spoke up. “And so far, you’re
not giving me a lot of confidence.”

“It’s just as I thought boys,” Marley said. “These guys are
full of shit and this is a waste of time.”

Marley pushed past them and walked to the door with his men
close behind.

Once they’d left Argentine turned around and ordered three
of whatever the house normally served. The bartender poured them three shots
and he asked him…

“So where will they jump us?”

The barkeep held his gaze until Argentine pulled out some
credits and set them on the bar.

“There are several possibilities but I’d guess they’ll be at
the first alley you pass on the left.”

“Much appreciated. I won’t let your friends know that you
tipped us off.”

“Friends? They’re no friends of mine, just customers.”

The three of them held their shot glasses up to each other
and downed their drinks. It wasn’t good but Argentine had swallowed worse.

“First? Are you sure you’re ready for this?” the lieutenant
asked. “I could use your help but this is how I earn my keep – I can handle
them if you need me to.”

Argentine looked at him with an ever-increasing respect.

“You could really handle those guys all by yourself?” he
asked.

The lieutenant just shrugged.

“I’d say we’re all in this together, so let’s get it over
with.”

Earth
2027 A.D.

Professor
Garfield picked up the impossible artifact from the table in front of him.

In reality, his mind was only now coming to grips with the
fantastical story that their employee had told them… What was his name? Cris?

The professor had fired him, of course. To try and play such
an obvious prank on a reputable archaeological team like the professor's was
not just illegal; it was insulting.

Still, he'd been so insistent… Actually coming to tears in
proclaiming his innocence. He actually thought the boy might have a future in
the theater if he could get his act together long enough to pursue it.

Still…

He looked again at the piece before him. It
was
remarkable.

There was still a large amount of clay fused to it; the original
figurine must've actually been kilned with the object already inside. Which was
the whole point, really…

The professor admitted to himself, though, that he'd never
seen this type of crystal before. Was it actually acrylic? It seemed too hard
for that and was totally devoid of any scratches – and it was crystal clear.

And of course the rectangular dimensions seemed to be
perfectly cut.

He was almost regretting that the forgery was such an
amateurish attempt. If it hadn't been for the tremendous amount of almost
microscopic laser writing engraved inside the crystal he might've at least been
tempted to believe it.

As it was, though, it was written in English.

In
Her Shuttle at the Spaceport

Astrogator Sami
Parker was excited. She didn’t even mind waiting in the shuttle by herself.

They were embarked upon a real life adventure. She hadn’t
had many of those in her life.

She’d grown up the daughter of a single father who’d worked
hard to put her through school. She hadn’t known that he’d been suffering from
the wasting disease until after she’d graduated. By then there was nothing to
be done. He’d died a happy man knowing that his daughter would have a better
life than he’d had.

She’d always been good at mathematics but she hadn’t
realized she had a talent for astrogation until the People’s Republic
evaluation exams had flagged her name.

So instead of being assigned as some midshipmen grunt, they
had sent her to one of their elite schools for another couple of years of
training.

She’d almost flunked out.

It wasn’t because she didn’t excel at astrogation; it was
because the coursework bored her. Her instructors constantly thought she was
cheating because she could arrive at complex solutions without following all
the steps. She had also never quite learned the importance of being discrete;
she saw nothing wrong with correcting her professors if they made a mistake in
their equations… Which they’d done often enough.

Even astrogators with average marks, however, were given
access to the greatest toys and technology the Republic could provide. All in
all it had been a happy time in her life.

The Pelican was actually her first assignment. She’d been so
happy to actually be living the life… Manipulating space-time and gliding the
curves that so many people couldn’t see… She was so in her element that she
hadn’t even realized the captain had discontinued her training.

They’d probably never know why he’d ordered it discontinued,
but it was standard practice for all astrogators to continue learning and
developing their skills via the plethora of simulations stored in the ship’s
computer.

Once the new First Officer had realized that she
wasn’t
being given the training, he’d quietly corrected the situation.

And she had bloomed.

Her skills were good before she’d come on board, but now…
Now she was so much more. She owed Argentine big time – and she’d never forget
it.

That’s why she didn’t mind waiting in the shuttle, even if
she didn’t have access to her simulations. She’d do just about anything he
asked her to.

ΔΔΔ

One thing she
was
able to do was stay in touch with the Pelican orbiting above.

She remotely monitored its sensors, making sure that no ship
of the Republic was following them.

The only real activity in the system, however, was that
crazy speed demon who was still careening around out of control… Or was he?

She realized that he’d somehow managed to slingshot himself
around the system’s outer gas giant and was now heading deeper in-system.
Curiously the slingshot hadn’t given him any acceleration; his relative velocity
was actually slower than it had been on approach.

She theorized that he must’ve used an atmosphere skimming
breaking maneuver – a really gutsy move in an already damaged ship.

The best she could tell, his velocity was still much too
high to rendezvous with the only inhabited planet in the system.

What was he up to?

The
Streets of Praxis III

Sure enough,
just as they approached the alley, four men stepped out in front of them.

It was starting to get dark and the street was empty.
Exactly why Marley had chosen this time a day for their meet.

“Let me guess,” the chief spoke up. “We can do this the hard
way or the easy way…”

Marley grinned. “Well now, maybe you’re not as stupid as I
thought you were. Hand over your money and then let’s talk about where your
astrogator is.”

“You don’t want to mess with us Marley,” Argentine said.
We’re from the People’s Republic of Chezden and the Republic won’t take kindly
to you messing with her officers.”

“Well now, you see, that’s not the way your former crew
tells the story. The way I understand it you guys are on the run and the
Republic probably doesn’t even exist anymore. So let’s just cut the crap and
get down to business.”

He made a motion and two of his men pulled out sidearms and
pointed them at the group. The big one stood behind them with his head slightly
cocked to one side.

“Okay, no games. But our astrogator is up in orbit and
you’ll never get to her. We also weren’t stupid enough to bring any money with
us. See? Your little scheme is all for not. Why don’t we just go our separate
ways and nobody gets hurt?”

Marley shook his head and said, “I guess we’ll just take the
money off your dead bodies.” He made a subtle gesture with his hand.

In a blur of motion Lieutenant Stark drew a gun from
somewhere. But before he could fire the big man had placed his hands on either
side of his two armed colleagues’ heads. He violently cracked them together
with a loud crunch of bone.

It was almost in slow motion that they crumpled to the
ground.

A surprised Marley took it all in and then was off like a
shot. The lieutenant stepped forward to go after him but Argentine shook his
head.

“We’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

Turning to the big man Argentine asked, “Why did you do
that?”

He held his hands slightly away from his sides, palms
forward and shrugged.

Argentine frowned. “Well, thank you but now we have things
to do.”

They had only taken a few steps when they realized he was
following them. They stopped again.

“You want to come with us?” the lieutenant asked.

The big man nodded once.

“You know who we are; that we’re shorthanded and on the
run?”

He nodded again.

“You’re not very talkative, are you?”

The big man just stood there.

Making a decision he said, “First, Chief, wait here just a
moment.” He then trotted off back to the tavern they had just left.

Walking inside he motioned the bartender over.

“The big man that was with those other guys, do you know
him?”

“I know who you’re talking about,” the barkeep answered.

“How long has he been with Marley?” he asked as he put more
money on the bar.

“Gossip? Not long. He’s only been on praxis for about a year
or so and he only recently hooked up with those guys. He usually keeps to
himself. I guess maybe he ran out of money.”

“Gossip? That’s his name?”

“That’s what Marley and his crew called him.”

“Geez… You know where he’s from?”

“No, but that jacket he’s wearing carries some patches I
recognize. They’re from Cromwell’s Legion. They were a fairly well-known
mercenary group in this sector.”

“
Were
fairly well-known?”

The barkeep shrugged. “They were one of the more reputable
groups but rumor has it they got decimated on Tripoli a while back. Kind of a
sad story – they were betrayed by their employer.”

“Anything else I should know about him?” he asked.

The bartender looked him in the eye and said, “He’s never
caused any problems around here but I hope you know what you’re doing. He’d be
a hard man to control.”

“Or a good man to have at your side,” he added.

The lieutenant started to walk away from the bar and stopped
himself.

“Hey, one more thing…”

The barkeep glanced at the bar top, indicating more money
would help.

The lieutenant just glared at him.

He sighed and said, “What is it?”

“We need a star map. We’re new around here and we need to
know where we’re going.”

The bartender laughed. “Is that why you were looking for an
astrogator? That was stupid.”

When the lieutenant started glaring again he quickly added,
“All you need to do is go to the Miner Guild’s offices. You’ve got a ship; tell
them that you’re interested in hauling some freight and you want to get an idea
of what routes are available. They’ll help you out.”

“Isn’t that kind of dangerous? Advertising their routes like
that?”

“Na, there’s not much piracy around here, especially for raw
ore. Besides, they need all the transport they can scrounge up.”

ΔΔΔ

When Lieutenant
Stark trotted back up to the group he looked at Argentine and said, “First, I’d
like to hire this man.”

Argentine glanced at the chief and then shrugged.

“If you hire on with us,” the lieutenant said to Gossip,
“You’re going to have to earn our trust. If you betray us we’ll either drop you
off on some obscure planet or kill you, whichever is easiest.

“Can you live with that?” he concluded.

Gossip nodded once.

“I heard your name was Gossip; is that what you want us to
call you?”

The big man again held his arms out from the side and just
shrugged.

“Can we get back to the shuttle now?” the chief asked.

Argentine was undecided. It was getting late but they still
hadn’t found out what they needed to know.

Finally he said, “Let’s head back for now and get a fresh
start tomorrow morning. We need to come up with a strategy and find out where
we’re going from here.”

After a brief moment Lieutenant Stark said to them,
“Actually, I already have the answer to that…”