Wildcards part 4

Opine and I had talked about what I had in mind and what I needed to do this evening then made plans on how to do it. I had showered and changed cloths as Opine had ran back to her ship to do the same. Then when ready, armed this time, and minus all of the cash except for about two grand, I had headed for the place that I had been told was where everyone went to look for work. Blue Sky-jumpers bar, first place in the verse to look for work. So the sign read. They were not boosting either. It was. Only bar on the busiest space port on the closest planet to the sun. Made it what they claimed to be.

I had arrived about thirty minutes or so ago, got two pitchers of Guinness, seven glasses, a table, and tossed out my hat over the first pitcher after poring myself a glass and setting four others ride side up.

This told those in the bar a couple of things. Hat on table said I was hiring. Pitchers of beer said I was offering cash pay and could pay it up front if needed. And the four glasses up two more down meant I wanted four crew minimum, max six. And it all said drinks were on me if you got hired. And it also weeded out those that didn't know how to read the signs. I normally didn't have problems taking on a 'Green horn' but this job I wanted to... No needed to go smooth.

I relaxed back and reviewed the list of things to do tonight.

One, was get through it alive and able to get off planet in the morning.

Two, was get rid of this damn tracker with out alerting anyone that I had found it and there was only one way to do that. And it would be easier with O's help. Didn't like involving her but I knew she wasn't going to let it go down any other way without a fight. And in my condition she would probably win. So she was in.

Three, was hire a crew before morning to help me haul the agro-supplies I had being delivered in the morning to where they were going.

And it was this last one that had just become harder with the discovery of the tracker. Now I was aware that someone was following me and had to watch out for who I trusted. Hard enough when you're trying to hire a crew to make a rim-run from the core but almost impossible when you know any of that crew could be those tracking you.

But I had an ace up my sleeve this time and she would be walking in the door of the port bar in a little while.

I hadn't finished half my beer when a dirty blonde haired young man in worn faded black cargo pants and a equally aged looking black combat vest walked up holding the hand of a little brunette haired lady who's beauty didn't match the grease and dirt smudged into every visible part of her body. And that was a lot. She wore a leather jacket that looked like it had been altered from a much longer one but now only came down just below her ribs. The top underneath, what was left of it seemed to cover even less and her jeans were worn and just covered her bottom. The boots on her feet looked as if she had modified them from an on hard cap space suit, space suits designed with a durable plastic and metal exoskeleton to protect from floating debris when working on construction sites in space. These though were a size or two to big for her and covered in pins, clips, bangles and apparently anything else she had collected along the way. She carried a small backpack that had several tool heads sticking out of it including a five pound sledge hammer. The guy carried what looked to be an old frontiers duffle bag, the kind popular when I was a kid and people were in the dig push out to the rim and the promised- 'better life'. It was probably given to him by his parents or all that he could afford. And by the looks of these two what I was looking at was all they probably had.

The couple stopped a couple of steps from the table and the lady looked up at the guy and gave him a nudge in the side to go ahead and speak then she softly said as she turned to watch with hungry eyes as the waitress went by with a plate of food, "Hat says he is hiren'."

The guy looked down at her and squeezed her hand, not in a placating way but one that told me he was really hoping she was right.

I was surprised that she knew about the hat. Not a lot her age, which I placed in her early twenties, would.

Excuse me sir, your hiring?!” It wasn't really a question as he said it. More of a 'I have been told...' Statement, and for some reason I liked that. "Yes, I am. Looking for four to---"

The young lady reached out and pulled two glasses towards her "two to four now, if you are paying cash like your saying you are." She stated and I could see her hand and legs shaking either out of nervousness or hunger. One I understood, the other I remembered oh to well. I thought of my daughter Opine and how thin she was when I first met her.

Tonight was their lucky night. Even if they didn't get a job they would get a meal that could tide them over for a couple of days. "Is that so?" I asked motioning for them both to sit down. "Care for some beer?" I asked and they both immediately shook their heads NO even though I could see the dust on their lips. They knew better then to drink alcohol as hungry as they were. I raised a hand to the waitress as she was coming by "Waitress two of your specials and a large basket of bread please." I looked over at the two, "Hope stew is okay?"

The lady nodded with this innocent dirty face kid look that made me smile back.

The young man reached over and placed his hand on hers, "we can't pay for that meal and she isn't payment." He said straight forward and without blinking as he looked me dead in the eyes.

This couples chances of getting hired just jumped drastically in their favor. They just didn't know it yet.

I leaned back in my seat, "You know that takes a lot of guts and honesty to not only say your broke before the food arrives but to put your ladies virtue and your love for her before your own hunger and safety.". I smiled and leaned forward and picked up my glass. "Cause a lot of men would shoot you for what you just implied. And not much you could have done to-" I fell silent as I felt the flat of a steal blade tap the inside of my leg.

The young man held back a smile well, "everyone thinks that if your hands are one the table they have the edge."

I felt the blade fall away and heard a soft 'snick' sound. I liked this guy! "Well dinner is on me. Call it an interview meal. So how about we start with your names and what job you feel already have." I said more to the young lady who sat rolling her empty glass back and forth on the table as she leaned over and laid her head on the young mans upper arm only lifting it to see if the waitress was coming or not. She smiled and pulled her glass to her as if as long as she had it, she had a job.

The young man looked me over then put his arm around the lady, who snuggled in against him. "My name is Scott Felder and this is my girlfriend Jessie Stochus. She is the best mechanic you will find in the verse." He bragged kissing the top of her head.

Jessie smiled and her eyes sparkled. I smiled back then realized she wasn't looking at me as the waitress stepped up to the table and waited to see which of the three of us the bowls of stew were going to.

I motioned to them and she set the bowls down and a basket with an uncut loaf of bread in it.

The two looked back and forth from the food to me as I dropped some bills into the waitresses hand "and some soda for them," I caught myself, "unless you two have changed your minds on the beer?"

Scott shook his head no as well as Jessie "Soda is fine." He said.

Jessie looked up from were she had been staring at her bowl and trying not to lick her lips "Milk?" She asked with that innocent dirty faced look.

"One soda and one tall glass of milk." I told the waitress with a slight laugh. The waitress went to tell me how much a glass of milk would cost but stopped as I dropped more bills in her hand. She smiled and headed off.

Jessie smiled and looked at Scott, who gave her a small hug then looked back at me, “Thank you… I don’t even know your name.” he said holding out his hand to me.

“Everyone calls me TD.” I responded and took his hand and shook it. “Now eat you two, It won’t get any better as it gets colder.” I smiled and picked up my Guinness and took a long drink as I watched them tear into the stew.

They both ate as if they hadn’t eaten in a week and that is quit possible. These two are just the kind of people that the Alliance security that the space port gate doesn’t let off the port. They were not residents of the planet. They had no jobs and they had no reason to be here. So they had no reason to let them off the port. No if they didn’t get work on a ship leaving, they were not going to make it. The only work that was here for either of them was work that didn’t lead to a better life. Not for Scott and definitely not for Jessie.

“So I know that Jessie here is the best mechanic in the ‘verse,” I didn’t believe it but I wasn’t going to argue it. I had seen weirder things in my life and a young gifted mechanic was far from it. “But what do you offer me as a possible crew member?”

Scott paused in his eating, “I am pretty good at maintenance, know my way around a wielder, both arc and torch. But I am a pretty good pilot. I grew up on a cargo ship most of my life and learned to fly sitting on my mother and fathers lap when I was big enough to see over the council.”

Jessie grabbed the loaf of bread and broke off a piece and offered it to me. I waved it off so she handed it to Scott then broke off a piece for her self, “He is being modest. Last ship we worked on he shaved three days off a run from the border to here with his navigation and course adjustments. And did it with less fuel too.” She bragged for him.

“Lot good it did us.” Scott said looking across the bar at nothing.

“Get stiffed on a job?” I asked, setting down my beer as the waitress came back and set their drinks down.

Jessie grabbed up the glass of milk and took a long drink. She giggled, as I motioned at my own top lip to tell her she had milk on it, and then she licked it off and took another sip.

“You can say that. We signed on to a cargo runner out on the border. Jessie over hauled the captains engines as we made the ‘Short loop’”

Kid new the jargon of a pilot. ‘Short loop’ was a term for going around the border planets in the opposite direction they orbited. It shaved off travel time and saved on fuel since the planets were literally moving towards you in orbit as you traveled to them. Trick was making it profitable by having jobs at each planet as you came up to it.

“Then after one profitable run we took on a cargo of crates and the captain came and told me to set a course to here. Said he had a job that would make all the other runs look like petty change.” Scott was eating again but slowly.

“I have had promises of jobs like that.” I added in hoping to make him feel better.

“Sad thing was it was real. We dropped the cargo off here. Captain got paid and life looked good. He had promised ten percent of the profits to Jess and I both. Twenty percent of that run would have given us enough to live on for a year easy if work was slow. Or it could have started us off on our dream to own our own ship someday. But it turned out that the Captain had debts with people on this planet. And they got to him before he got to pay us. They took it all. Captain then tossed us off the ship and left. Said he couldn’t pay us and he wasn’t going to have crew on board that he knew he owed.”

Jessie looked at her spoon and the half empty bowl then set it down and leaned her head against Scott’s chest as she remembered what had happened.

Scott put his arm around her and held her for a moment. “The goram piece of shit barely gave us time to grab our bags here. We wouldn’t even have these if Jessie here didn’t insist on us keeping emergency bags together. We grabbed these as he ordered us off the ship and locked the doors behind us.”

I looked at both of them and then away, I had come across people like the captain they spoke of so to often in my life. Seemed the closer you go to the core worse people became. “Well, if you and your little lady here…”

“Jessie, names Jessie not little lady.” She said sitting up tall and confident.

I smiled and nodded an apology “Jessie. If you and Jessie are half as good as each other says then I could use you on my crew. But I want to know. Have you ever handled a ‘Whale’?” I looked to Scott using the nick name for the class of ship I had just purchased earlier that day.

“T6-hg by Kuniv? Or the 923-dh7’s by Orieonis?” Scott asked looking at me with intrigued eyes.

“Try the Asher Red 52 Rim-runner.” I answered.

“You’re kidding?” he asked dropping his spoon into his nearly empty bowl. “There are still Rim-runners out there?”

I bust out laughing. “You are not inspiring confidence in my new ship there son.”

“No don’t get me wrong, they are great ships but…. Well they had problems.” He tried to recover.

“Like their engines tended to over heat, burn through their shielding and ‘rad’ the whole crew. That is if they didn’t just stop working all together for no reason at all. Or if the port and stern engines didn’t fall off as you were making or braking atom and drop you like a ‘whale’ on land.” Jessie said wiggling her spoon at me as she talked with a mouth full of bread.

“She has been refitted with a new engine.” I answered Jessie.

“What kind?” She asked taking a sip of milk.

“Kenzer 750” I sipped at my Guinness.

“A, B, C or H?” Jessie asked tearing off another piece of bread and dropping it in Scotts bowl.

“C- I think.” I tried to recall what I had been told.

“Okay if it’s a C then you want to cycle the compression hydraulic fluid and make sure it isn’t burnt before you take it up. And grab a few extra Hydrogen Thermal injectors. The C’s like to burn through those or just kick them off like a zip popping when they start to go bad.” She informed me.

“You mean these are all things you will want to do as my mechanic.” I corrected her. I had made my mind up. They were going with me. She seamed to know what she was doing and yes, a part of me couldn’t leave them here. The core wasn’t any place for young honest innocent people like this couple.

Jessie blinked then looked at Scott her face beaming “We got the job!” she said hugging him.

“No you got the job. He hasn’t said anything about me yet.” He said looking from Jessie to me with a look of ‘Don’t make me make that choice’.

“You’re a pair, I can’t and won’t break up a set. Plus I need a pilot and you must be able to fly because I know you wouldn’t risk your lady… Jessie’s life on a lie. So yes, you got the job as a pilot.” I raised my glass to them both.

Scott winced as Jessie Squealed in his ear and hugged him hard “We got the jobs!!!” she squealed again.

Scott hugged her back and looked over her head at me and mouthed the words “Thank you.”

I nodded and looked away to give them as much privacy in their excitement as I could sitting at the same table. When they had calmed down from hugging and kissing and exchanging words of “See I told you we just had to stick together” and “This is going to be a new start. I promise” I turned back.

“So here is the deal. Your own quarters, meals, and..” I looked them over “And a small clothing allowance. Can’t have you two wearing the same cloths day in and day out on my ship, especially you.” I looked at Jessie and she blushed. “Plus 250 credits in cash, each, when we leave port….”

I had to pause as Jessie squealed loud enough to draw the attention of most of the people around us in the bar and hug attacked Scott again. “Plus you get another 250 each when we land at our final destination.”

The look on Scotts face made me think he was going to cry. I understood why. A thousand credits on the border or on the rim could go a long way to starting a new life. And offers like this didn’t come often in life.

Jessie jumped up and ran around the table and started hugging me before I realized what she was doing. I kept my hands out after giving her one simple pat on the back and told her it was “Okay” and that she was going to have to live up the Scotts praises of being the best mechanic in the ‘verse.

She blushed and went back to her seat and snuggled into Scott.

“TD, I don’t know how we can ever thank you. But trust me, we will work hard and earn every credit your paying.” Scott stated as Jessie nodded in agreement with her head pressed against his chest.

“Just … just finish eating you two. I can’t have my pilot and mechanic passing out from hunger first day out.” I said covering up my own loss for words at their gratitude.

Both looked at their bowls and suddenly remembered how hungry they still were and went back to eating, much to my pleasure. I liked helping people and doing what was right. But I couldn’t stand people looking at me like they expected big white wings to unfold from my back any moment. There wasn’t a Shepard in the verse that wouldn’t fall over laughing at people thinking of me as a servant of the all mighty if they knew just a quarter of what I had done in my life.

“Do you two have a place to stay tonight?” I asked after a little bit.

Jessie’s look at Scott told me the answer so I didn’t wait for him to speak “Berth 12 in section 23 is my ship.” I pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil and scribbled down a number on it “That’s the code to the door. Or it should be. Haven’t actually tried it yet myself but if it don’t work then my other ship can be found here” I wrote down the berth and section for the ship I had been in earlier today. “Why don’t you two go, pick out some quarters, any except for the captains, Get settled in, and maybe take a look at the engine room and what not. And most of all get a good night sleep where you don’t have to worry about watching each others back all night.” I pushed the paper over to them.

Scott just stared at it a moment then took it and nodded. He didn’t know what to say.

I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out some credits and counted out some and held it out to Scott. “Here, this should take care of the clothing and anything else you might need for the trip. And you” I looked at Jessie “Maybe grab some jumpsuits for working in the engine room.” I had just thought of something and flipped out some more credits “And get any tools you might need that you don’t have. If something breaks down I want you to have the right tool. Can’t have you trying to fix my ship with a five pound sledge hammer when you might be needing a screwdriver or wrench.” I told Jessie.

She eeped and turned bright red and hid her face in Scotts chest.

“Oh and before I forget, if I don’t get there in time in the morning, I have some cargo being delivered. If it gets there before me, make sure they don’t just leave it outside” I laughed.

Scott laughed because he understood. It would happen where delivery teams would drop cargo outside of a ship if no one was there to receive it or to make sure they actually put it in the hold. Then the crews would have to figure out how to get it in, what was left of it after others got a hold of it. “Not a problem. I will make sure they stack it and balance it in the holds.

“and leave holds 5 and 6 empty. I will need one for my ship and possibly 6 for docking another ship in.”

Scott nodded and pushed the paper into a vest pocket.

“Now eat you two.” I stated “Captains orders.”

The Wild Card part 1

I turned back out of my fifth Alley today and back onto the street, checking the map on the Flexxy I kept sticking half out of my left jacket pocket. A sigh escaped my lips as I cursed myself for making that mistake again, but what do you expect. The alleys on core planets are to damn easily mistaken for streets.
First off, alleys are not suppose to be that damn clean. That's how you know they are alleys. Dirt, garbage, litter and the smell of urine is always a good sign that its an ALLEY. But not here on a Core planet. No these freaks have enough time and money on their hands to keep their alleys clean.
Second, if there is a sign on the corner that reads "Quick cross to ...." and the name of the next parallel street that you can get to through that alley and you expect people to use it regularly for that purpose. IT'S NOT AN ALLEY, IT'S A FUCKING STREET. SLAP A NAME ON IT, STICK IT ON THE MAP!
I rubbed the spot on my wrist where the cuff had been rubbing at it all day and stepped over to look into a store front window of one of the business. I didn't care much at all for what was in the store. It was the glass and the reflection it provided that I was interested in the most.
A quick glance and I confirmed what I had been feeling for the last ten minutes. I was being followed. And by three guys that really needed to learn to not stop and pretend to be doing something else when your mark makes a sudden halt. It's a dead give away that your following him. But I cant complain. If they were good at what they did. I might just be in trouble.
I tightened my grip on the large metal security case hand cuffed to my left arm and dropped my hand into my right pocket to make sure the key to the cuff was still in there as I turned back onto the street and headed off. I only had ten blocks to go and this job was done and I was one step closer to getting off this planet and back to where you can feel safe.
Cause on the Core you cant carry weapons. Not a gun, not a sword, not a giant hammer big enough to crush a Reavers head in a single swing. Hell they made me turn in my pocket knife. WHAT THE HELL? It has a three inch blade. Yah sure I can kill someone with it. But really. Do you have to be that paranoid to make a man turn in a folding pocket knife.
I chuckled out of frustration not at any kind of humor in the idea and quickened my pace as I crossed the next street intersection. I didnt like being unarmed. Especially with what I knew was coming.
Nine blocks to go and if my pursuers didn't make a move soon then they would be out of luck. common since and any idiot thug knew that you didnt let your mark get within five blocks of his destination. If you hit him that close then the chances of him alerting the police and them getting to his scheduled destination before you could make his appointment and get away with the money increase so dramically that it wasnt worth the risk.
No in that case, if you cant get the package before that point you wait for the target to come out with the money and jump his ass then and that was so not on my plan for the day or even tomorrow or the next. I know, I checked my calendar before I got on this rock and made sure it wasnt on there.
I adjusted the cuff again and slid my hand into my pocket again. Yah the key was still there thank the 'verse for that.
It had taken twenty minutes of arguing, negotiating and finally threatening to get that key. And I wouldn't have taken the job if I hadn't gotten it. See most people who hire you for a job like this dont want to give you the key to the cuff. They are afraid that if they do you might sell the package to another client and cut them out of their share. Or worse. Ditch it at the first sign of trouble. Like I planned to do.
Yeh, that's right, these three make a move and they can have it, the case,the cuff and the key. Whats in this case is not worth dying for and I have no intentions of doing so. Call me a coward, call me unreliable. I don't care. At the end of the day. I get out with my life and my hand still attached to my wrist.
See thats the other reason to get the key. If your muggers are feeling generous enough to let you live and you dont have the key. Then their only option is to cut your hand off. And I know its corny to say, but I am attached to this hand. My mother gave it to me. Its part of a matched set.
Now I laughed at that.
I pulled the flexxy from my pocket and checked the route. Next street, turn right. three blocks then a left and another four to the building. Almost there.
This is where it gets dangerous.
I picked up my pace a little then turned right at the next corner and increased my speed to put as much distance between me and the street with my pursuers as I could.
I was halfway down when I stopped dead in my tracks
Yep, another alley.
I hate Core planets and their clean fucking alleys.
I turned in time to see the three turn the corner right behind me and stop.
They stood stunned as they spotted me standing there facing them.
I turned and ran.
Three sets of feet could be heard behind me as I made time down the alley.
Here is where a clean alley actually paid off. Nothing to run around to slow you down. Nothing to trip over. Just you and a straight shot to the next street. Hopefully. As long as the alley you picked wasnt a dead end. Thank the 'verse this one wasnt. I looked ahead just to be sure. Nope it wasn't.
I was gaining distance on the three when I brought my right foot down at an odd angle and tumbled to the ground. The case slammed into the ground first, then my stomach, then I hit the ground and rolled.
Goram it that hurt.
I pushed up and forced myself to move, gasping for air as my stomach and lungs spasmed from the impact of the case.
Yah that wasnt in the plan.
I risked a glance back over my shoulder and saw that the thugs were only about three meters behind me. And with my stomach hurting I wasnt going to out run them.
My hand shot into my picket and pulled out the key and fumbled to get it in the lock of the cuff as I faught to keep my shortening lead on the three.
The cuff clicked open and I threw the case off to the side and listened as it hit the wall and rebounded off it.
Here is where it really sucks.
There is no guarantee that your muggers are going to stop as a group for the case. One atleast will. but the other two can often contiue on to try and catch you. And if they do, your in trouble.
I bulted. running as fast as I could down the alley now able to see the opening of said allley onto the next street.
I risked a glance over my shoulder. One had stopped, two were still in pursuit.
Tāmāde hùndàns! I was afraid of that.
I put everything I had into reaching the next street. If I didnt it was so going to hurt.
Nope!
I felt the hand land on my shoulder and push me to the side. I hit the wall before I could brace myself and I hit it head first.
There was a moment of confusion then I fell the warmth of liquid running down my face a moment before I felt the boot in my side. Then another.
Seems these guys like to kick. And, Xióngmāo niào, they were good at it too.
I felt three of my rigs crack..... No, two cracked, one broke.
Instict told me to get up and fight, but I knew better then that. Even if I could get back up and put up a fight. There was a chance, a very good chance,that one of the three had something I didnt. A weapon. And that was the last thing I wanted to find out.
So it was lay here and take it.
"Wèi!, we got what we came for lets GO! Before someone get curious." A voice yelled from down the alley.
That was the smart one, the leader of this group and the guy I was hoping for. Cause he just saved my life.
I heard feet turn and run from where I layed on the ground then felt another swift kick to my ribs.
Yah and there was the sadist, there was always one and they had to get the last kick in.
He turned and ran.
Me, I just layed there and tried to breath with out hurting.
No good, it didnt work.
Wǒde tiān! I hate the Core.