The planet PJ364-787 didn't possess enough worth to warrant an actual name. It was an insignificant iceburg at the edge of a collapsing super nova. Another 50 years and the planet would succumb to the gravitational pull of a nearby black hole. Too short a prognosis for corporate to sink resources into development. The only use for it's breathable atmosphere was as a staging area for deep space expedition, a profession for the desperate or the incarcerated.
TWO landed the Raza's shuttle 10 miles from the rendezvous. The planet's crust was glacial the ice constantly shifting making it impossible to land the shuttle for any period of time. Without SIX as an alternate pilot, the environmental conditions condemned TWO to stay with the shuttle. The consolation that she was closer than her normal overlook from the bridge of the Raza, did little to ease her gut instinct to ditch the deal and keep her family in for the night. But she wasn't a mother hen, so she watched ONE, THREE and FOUR suit up for sub zero temperatures.
Taking advantage of the activity Dr Hemb moved in on ONE who was struggling with the webbing on his parka's belt. The touch of fingers running up the back of his head made ONE jerk. Spinning ONE put his back into the wall and sent the doctor sprawling with a kick to the chest. It was over before anyone could react. ONE's heart beat jack hammered. He thumped his head back against the shuttle siding trying to wrangle his breathing back to a sub normal rate. THREE noticed and sent his concern in a look to TWO. FOUR rolled the doctor to take a measure of revenge while binding his wrists.
"Twitchy much?" THREE directed at ONE.
"I'll come thru." ONE answered, hitching the strap of their field equipment higher on his shoulder. He glanced over his shoulder to ensure distance between himself and Dr Hemb before stepping past THREE into the banshee wind of planet PJ364-787. ONE already felt like the crew was on high alert for any excuse to moth ball him. He needed to belong on the Raza because the alternative was a bloody Shakespearian tragedy were he suspected he played more Ophelia than Macbeth. He forced himself not to dwell on how his head had conjured up the comparison, running headfirst into the blank wall of amnesia only served to overload all the circuit breakers of his internal shipwreck. He needed to prove to himself that despite the past he had uncovered, he still brought value to this team; because he cared too much to drag them down. So he gave silent thanks to the bulky heavy weather gear for concealing the tremors and forced himself forward.
THREE watched a moment before turning to punch Dr Hemb in the shoulder. "Behave, or I'll stuff you down the first crevice we find." FOUR smirked, as he pushed the man down the shuttle's ramp in front of him.
"I'll keep the shuttle close, but this atmosphere is going to make communication spotty." TWO said from the pilot chair, "Play this paranoid, stay safe, and be on time for pickup." An alarm on the console was harping about the instability of the surface the shuttle had put down on. THREE gave a mock salute, grabbed an extra round for Betty, his long range cannon and moved out to cover their landing party's rear.
VVVV
PJ364-787's landscape was a study in opposites. The sky was a writhing sea of frothing dark and the ground was a phosphorescent powdered plateau of ice that took years to flow a meter. ONE lay flattened between the two on a crystalline ridge. Through binoculars he studied the vehicle and trio setting up shop at the rendezvous geo tag. They appeared completely unarmed as specified by the terms of the deal. But they looked too at ease, too oblivious of the dangers on the planet, to come off as anything other than bait. THREE crawled up beside him. ONE handed the binoculars over in an attempt to cover his shift away to pad the space between them.
THREE noticed but didn't voice the 'fine by me' comment that ran through his head. "What are we looking at?" THREE asked.
"A setup," ONE sighed, "They haven't even glanced at the horizon which means they probably have someone out here who already has eyes on us."
THREE nodded in agreement. "They show with the money?"
"Yeah, they made sure to open the black case and play with a few credits before leaving it unguarded in the center of camp."
THREE grunted, "Yeah, trap."
ONE pointed out a deep crease in the ridge to their right. "We probably get a blind spot if we go thru there on our way in."
THREE nodded, "OK, but it doesn't have sight lines for Betty to cover you while the deal goes down. Plus, that math don't work for us - four go in, three come out still tips our hand." THREE shifted to pull at the damn hood of his parka. Of course he got one that didn't fit right and sent a chill draft down his spine. Wait, maybe if he just adjusted some of the ties… He changed tactics to fiddle with the tie adjustments.
One grit his teeth, THREE was a big presence on his own, but every additional herky jerky movement put ONE further on edge. Suddenly ONE's hand whipped out grabbing THREE's shoulder wrenching him still. "What the hell?" THREE growled, his hand jumping to the pistol on his hip to check that it was still there. It was gonna take a while to forget how easily ONE could lift a guy's gun. But the brittle look on ONE caused a flash of concern.
ONE frowned and turned away to hide whatever had alarmed THREE. "We could…" but it took a second try to get the thought out. "We could put on a show. Make it look like the prisoner tried to escape and we had to knock him out. Then in the blind spot we slap together a decoy for the unconscious body. We dress Hemb like one of us and he walks in carrying his own unconscious dummy while one of us slip away to find the hidden trigger man."
THREE nodded slowly, "It ain't perfect, but it could work. Guess I can't blame you for finding a plan that involves braining the shock doc."
VVVV
FOUR dumped Dr Hemb's weight at THREE's feet and stepped away to the channel canyon wall to start stripping his outer layer. "The longer we take the more suspicious they will be," FOUR said pointing at the doctor. THREE frowned and glanced at ONE who's bloodied knuckles were busy pulling items out of the top of his pack. THREE turned back to FOUR who was now glaring. "Really? Why do I have to be the one to undress him?" THREE complained.
ONE tossed both emergency survival blankets from the med kit over to FOUR. With a little creativity FOUR added the blankets as insulation beneath his long underwear to serve in place of the outerwear he was losing to the rouse. THREE tossed the doctor's outer leggings with audible disgust then went to work on the parka. ONE filled the leggings with ice and snow and bound the legs. Soon THREE had Dr Hemb back on his feet and redressed in FOUR's gear. ONE helped get the dummy draped over the doctor's shoulder in a fireman's carry and they were back on their way. Three men and an unconscious prisoner headed to make the deal. FOUR waited a few beats before slipping out of the crevice the opposite direction.
VVVV
ONE set a slow pace to buy time for FOUR. He and THREE kept their eyes scoping the horizon as they walked Dr Hemb towards the heavily oxidized terrain rover. Beneath them the ice objected to their passing with bone deep pops and groans. They stopped several paces from the trio that met them. Bulked up in cold weather gear it was difficult to decipher details other than two were huge and the third slight. After several minutes sizing each other up while the heat of their breathing danced on the wind. The slight one pointed a finger at THREE, "Terms said no guns at the exchange."
THREE shrugged, "I don't go anywhere without my girl. You don't like it, then take off."
There was a slight shuffle and their eyes turned to ONE. ONE stared back without a comment. Finally the leader added, "That doc you carrying going to live long enough to be worth buying?"
"Yeah, the skills are there," ONE nodded. The hair on the back of his neck continued to whisper that these guys were a bad sort, but ONE couldn't bring himself to make the deal without some sort of disclaimer. He turned his focus to the horizon and added, "But I wouldn't trust him if I were you."
The leader nodded, "Sounds like he'll fit right in." He turned and waved them to follow. "We got payment, come step out of the wind and have a cup of Joe. Since we're giving disclaimers, I'll tell you it tastes like crap."
THREE gave a bark of laughter and smiled, "I like these guys." He said stepping past ONE heading towards the case. The others followed and ONE suddenly found himself alone with Dr Hemb. The doctor studied ONE deciding on an approach. "Would it help if I admitted I made a mistake?" Dr Hemb asked. ONE crossed his arms tightly, his answer was silence. "You may take issue with my methods, but it was all done on your behalf. All I ever wanted was to help." Dr Hemb moved towards his obsession hesitating when ONE quickly stepped back. "Why won't you accept help? Do you not see how much the people around you want to help? Can you not recognize that?" Dr Hemb worried his split lip, distracted by the pain. "Is the problem that you don't think you need it or that you don't think you are worth it?" That finally bought Dr Hemb a clear look into ONE's whisky hued eyes.
"It won't work," ONE said sounding like he was gutting himself. "None of us get a pass on the consequences of our choices, so enjoy your trip."
"HEY!" THREE shouted in sudden outrage, "This case is light."
The leader shrugged and handed a steaming cup into THREE's palm. "Don't sweat it big guy. The thing is we aren't a volunteer outfit and we're light across the board. So think of this more as a welcoming committee and a pay advance. " THREE reached for his cannon but a pop in the distance caused the mug of coffee in his hand to shatter. "Don't," The leader said with a smile. He waved towards his right, "Misha's a crack shot and the next bullet won't be as kind."
An alarm began emitting from the rover. The leader huffed, "Damn twitchy sensor!" he spat. The frosted ground beneath them gave a throaty bark. "Hey Jane, go check that. I'm not scrambling just cause this beast's sensors are a century old." He turned back to THREE with a look of apology. "The equipment's crap, but the company ain't bad. It's a better gig than Hyperion-8."
THREE gave the guy a cold stare. "Our captain's the possessive type, you sure you want to try this?" The ground shuddered and a plume of powder erupted just beyond the rover.
"Dammit, that looks real." The leader turned and started pitching orders. "Pull the stakes on the wind break. Forget the fire, just grab the gear. Get the rover's engine running…" He turned to THREE, "Guess you can think of this as a rescue now. Grab the case and get in the rover."
THREE reached for the handle and the ground dropped three feet out from under him throwing him on his ass. The rover's springs bottomed out with a loud metal on metal thunk, it's ground stability sensor continuing to wail. ONE struggled back to his knees when a piercing screech sent him scrambling to shield his ears with his hands. The money case slowly slid past THREE as the ground beneath them began to cant towards the rover. THREE took a moment to ensure ONE was in action before staggering after the credits. The other men had ditched their gear and were climbing into the rover. The leader hesitated at the door. He held his hand out to THREE in invitation even as the rover started to move.
THREE held his course. He had just managed to get a hand on the case when the tilt beneath his boots passed his center of gravity and swept him off his feet. The wheels of the rover rasped losing purchase and slipping sideways until the cab lost it's horizon line and slammed against the ice with a crack. THREE spit curses in horror as his sliding momentum picked up speed towards the spinning axel and under carriage of the vehicle. Beneath the powdery snow, the quartzite like ground left nothing for THREE to grab hold of.
When THREE turned after their pay, ONE didn't stop to think. He stumbled to his feet and sprinted. The flutter of the wind break staked into the ice sparked a desperate idea. Pulling his knife, ONE slid into the closest tie line. Looping it through his grip he cut it loose of the stake. Twisting he made a sliding dive downhill rationalizing that all things travel downhill, he just needed to get there first.