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Reaching for the Stars
Chapter 01: Drop off and Pick up
"You think you can do this to me? You're dead, you hear me! My men will get me out, and when they do-"
"Ran, did the bounty specify that our talkative friend here had to be delivered in good shape?" I ask, not looking up from the ship console as I plot our descent to the space-port.
"I believe the bounty said 'Wanted Alive', never said how alive he had to be." Ran answered with a smirk, watching the cuffed alien in amusement.
"You bluff, you wouldn't dar-"
Ignoring the sounds of a booted foot colliding with our guests jaw, I message the landing bay and request permission to land, not wanting to run afoul of the many laws the Luos Syndicate have to catch outsiders off guard.
Ran is a good second in command, which doesn't really mean much on a ship with a crew of two but that doesn't stop him from liking the fancy title, and he knows how to deal with our mouthy passenger.
"Uck Yuu."
I'm sure that noise that sounded oddly like someone having their jaw broken was nothing that needs my attention. It sounds like he has it all under control.
Answering the incoming call, I hide my annoyance at how long we have been orbiting around Veruta.
"This is Captain Maxim Russ aboard the Viper, requesting permission to land. I have Druzron Bazura on board ready to be turned in for the bounty." I say quickly, knowing that it is just a basic VI on the other end of the line, no need for manners with a machine.
It takes almost five minutes before it finally replies, I can never tell when they are keeping me waiting so they can confirm my story or when they are just doing it for fun.
"Acknowledged and confirmed, please proceed to landing bay S-67. All weapon and shield systems are to be disabled before descent. Failure to comply will result in heavy fines and disintegration." the robotic voice replies bluntly, making me roll my eyes.
It'd be almost amusing if I knew it wasn't completely serious. The Luos Syndicate love their fines, and they would have no problem tracking down someone vaguely related to me to fine after turning my ship into space dust.
The war between the Federation and the Empire has them on edge and security is at an all time high thanks to it, you don't get to keep your neutrality for so long without being very careful. Both the Empire and Federation would love to bring the Luos Syndicate to heel.
"Stars, I hate dealing with Syndicate planets." Ran grumbles as the line goes dead, a quiet moaning coming from our payday.
"They pay the best, I didn't want to deal with the Empire and you didn't want to deal with the Federation. Not like we have a great amount of choices." I deadpan making Ran shrug. "The Syndicate are a pain in the ass, but you can trust them to keep their word, they take contracts very seriously. We land, I hand over the idiot, we get paid and be out of here before they talk us into signing anything."
"So I'm staying with the ship?" Ran asks, before shrugging. "Works for me, I know you say we can trust them but I wouldn't feel comfortable down there without a weapon, and I know I can't afford their fines for bringing in unregistered weaponry."
"And I don't want to have to find a new second in command because you're serving a lifetime of 'indentured servitude' to pay off your debts." I agree making him chuckle darkly.
The Empire practises slavery, the Federation outlaws it and the Syndicate? They practise 'indentured servitude'. You owe them money? They'll get it out of you, one way or the other. They'll find a place for you to work off your debt, be it at one of their brothels or in their mines. Get too much debt and they'll decide you couldn't pay it off in your lifetime, put you in a 'lifelong' servitude contract then grab your family to pay off the rest.
This is what happens when you let a group of stupidly rich corporations make their own government, and they have too many dreadnoughts for you to stop them.
"Syala, bring us in for landing." I order, watching the tiny orange holographic figure on the console flash into life, the tiny woman bowing to me.
"Of course Captain." Syala, our on-board VI replies with a sultry tone, her light yellow skin mostly exposed with only a few black strips covering where her privates would be is she was a real woman.
Every starship has an on-board VI or AI, Syala is ours. Admittedly, she's isn't the most useful since military VI's cost a fortune, and we had to make do with the cheapest one we could get our hands on at the time. She was programmed for entertainment, not combat.
But then, if we get into a real dog-fight with the Viper, something has already gone very wrong.
She works for what we need, and that's all that matters.
Taking my hands off the console, I lean back in my chair and watch the planet rapidly grow larger. It's a beautiful planet, if nothing else the Luos guys know how to keep their things looking aesthetic as fuck.
As we land, the sights of lush forests and sprawling plains being replaced with cold steel i rose from my seat, walking over to the bloodied alien, a glare on his pink humanoid face.
He isn't so talkative now, probably thanks to the fractured jaw, but he still has some fire in his eyes. Honestly, if I didn't know how fucked he is going to be in Luos hands, I might be worried about him actually coming back for me.
But people who get taken away by the Luos Syndicate don't tend to come back, and the only reason they want him alive is to make an example of him.
They really don't like people who rob them, and our friend here has been hitting their transports for a while. He had a powerful gang of pirates at his command, but the strongest ship in the Galaxy won't save you when you are so predictable, and he made frequent stops to Tartarus station, every pirate, smuggler and mercs favourite destination.
I just bribed an escort he hired frequently to drug him, and since he liked playing rough, convincing her to help was easy enough, though I think she'd be kinda pissed if she realised how little I paid her in comparison to the actual bounty.
Why raid his heavily defended base filled with pissed off pirates when you can just grab him when he takes a trip to get his dick wet?
"Come on, up you get." I say as I grab him by the shoulder and force him up, ignoring his groan of pain. It's been a long journey from Tartarus Station to Veruta, and he's spent most of it screaming profanities in the holding cell.
You'd think he'd learn the first time we beat his ass for insulting us that he should stay quiet, but he really didn't.
He says… something in response as I drag him towards the exit, but the whole broken jaw thing means I can't understand whatever he is babbling.
The translator implant I have has trouble with speech that's slurred or otherwise impaired, but it gets the job done most of the time and I don't actually care what he has to say.
Dragging him out of the ship, I ignore his moans as I move quickly, I don't want to be here any longer than is strictly necessary.
The Luos Syndicate pay mercs like us very well, and they aren't the type to try and cheat us out of our money, but that doesn't mean I like dealing with them.
Leaving the ship, I'm not surprised to find a dozen armoured guards waiting at the bottom of the ramp, a well dressed human in a suit that probably costs more than some space stations waiting for us.
That would be our employer, Arsus Donnall, a member of the Luos board and one of the richest men in the Galaxy. This right here is why you don't rob Luos transports, even if you only cost them a few million credits, they won't hesitate to spend triple that to bring you down.
It's not about the money, it's about sending a message that you can't attack them or their property without considerable consequences.
It's also why the guards all have their weapons trained on me, and why I left my gun back in the cockpit. Stars I hate dealing with big shots, this is why I like working through fixers, I normally don't have to meet the clients myself.
"You live up to your reputation, Captain Russ." Arsus says, his voice silky as he smiles at me, it'd seem almost friendly if I hadn't spotted the sniper aiming at me.
"One wanna-be pirate lord, as requested." I say simply, tossing the alien onto the ground in front of him.
"Excellent, the credits have already been transferred to your preferred account." Arsus says happily, I do like the efficiency these people have.
And as he casually pulls out a small golden pistol and shoots the pirate in the head, not even giving him a second look as one of his guards drags the body away, I am reminded that I'm dealing with a psychopath. He's as bad as half the pirates and scum I deal with, he just has a fancy suit and a big bank account.
"A pleasure doing business with you, Captain. It's so hard to find reliable mercenaries these days." Arsus says with a happy smile, passing his gun to one of his guards.
"Always happy to accept such a well paying job, Director." I reply, making him chuckle.
"Yes, I imagine you are. I don't suppose you have given any more thought towards my offer?"
"My answer remains the same, the Viper is mine. No amount of money is going to change that." I answer immediately, watching his smile fade slightly, before he shrugs
"So be it, you may leave. Though do keep in mind, your modifications won't throw the empire off forever, you know that Lieutenant. The Luos Syndicate could help you with that." Arsus says with a sly smile.
"I'll keep that in mind. Have a good day, Director." I reply stonily, turning and walking back up the ramp before he can reply.
This is why I don't like dealing with the Luos Syndicate, they know entirely too much.
I can feel their eyes on the back of my head as I quickly head back into the ship, but as I said… they like contracts.
I doubt they're going to try and keep us here, but I'd rather be gone before he decided he likes my ship more than he likes following his weird code of honour. I should have known accepting a job that needed me to actually go and meet the client in person was a mistake, but the money being thrown around was too good to pass up.
...we were fucking broke and the fuel the Viper needs is pretty expensive, but she is my baby and I stole her fair and square.
"Syala, take off and get us into the sky." I order the moment I enter the ship, hearing the clamps disengage.
"Are we good, or do I need to go get my guns?" Ran asks seeing me rush in.
"We should be good, but the further we are from the place the happier I'll be. Syala, check the ship bank account, time to see if we actually got paid for this." I order again as I take my seat.
"Fifteen million credits have already been transferred to your account Captain." Syala confirms making me smile as Ran chuckles.
"Not bad for a couple of weeks work, huh Boss?" Ran says with a smirk.
"I give it two months before we are broke again, but we are set for now. Syala, transfer two and a half million to my personal account and two and a half million to Ran's. We'll save the rest for fuel, upgrades and rainy days." I say as I take my seat at the helm, starting to plot our journey.
"So, what now?" Ran asks as he leans against the console.
"Well, we just got paid... time to spend it. Back to Tartarus for some good old fashioned R%R. I need to take to Wes and see if he's found anyone anyway." I say as I lean back, letting Syala handle the piloting.
She can do the most basic piloting, and going from point a to point b is something she can handle easily enough, which is good because neither me or Ran are actually pilots. We have always been more... feet on the ground type guys than pilots and our last pilot turned out to be a pirate who wanted to steal the Viper since he figured it was unique enough to be expensive.
We ejected her out of the airlock, but that left us without a proper pilot.
Without a skilled pilot, we've had to limit what jobs we can take, and one of us has to stick on the ship just in case, disabling an on-board VI is difficult but entirely doable and leaving the ship empty is just asking for us to be robbed and left stranded.
So either we stick to jobs I can do alone, which limits us considerably, or we get a new pilot.
And where do you find someone willing to join a pair of idiots blundering about the Galaxy, occasionally getting paid and pissing off almost every major faction in the process? Why Tartarus Station of course.
The home of the desperate and stupid.
It's no wonder we fit right in.
- Tartarus Station -
"So, you didn't think to warn me that the client had asked for me, specifically? That they wanted my ship?" I ask as I sit opposite the weaselly looking alien making him shrug.
"You got paid, and honestly you'd be better off ditching that high-tech target on your back for something more subtle, anyway." Wes counters, it's not his actual name but his real name is something long and barely anyone can pronounce it.
He looks like a weasel, and Wes is easier to say than Weas, it might seem like an insult but he doesn't give a shit. He probably got a few million just for passing that job my way, that's what Fixers do. Clients send them jobs or bounties, and they give them to however they think can get the job done, everyone gets paid and the client and the contractor usually never even meet.
Wes is an asshole, but he is a trustworthy asshole because if he was going to screw me over he would have done it a long time ago, he knows enough about me to cause some real trouble if that Empire bounty ever gets tempting enough.
Thankfully, he hates the Empire enough to spit on their money, which makes him a very valuable asset.
"Probably, but also fuck you. I've killed way too many people to get that ship and far more to keep it." I counter making him shrug again.
"You humans are so possessive. So, are you here for another job?"
"...maybe, we have money now but that never lasts. But you know why I'm here, any luck?" I ask making him smile smugly as he reached into his desk, pulling out a datapad.
Taking it from him, I pause as I start to read over it.
"Wes, you do know I am fairly smart right?" I ask as I look over at him, a sheepish look crossing his face.
As someone who has had a fake identity or three in my time, I know a fake identity when I see one. The background story on the datapad is almost identical to the one on my current identity, Wes always has been somewhat unoriginal.
"It's not as bad as it looks." Wes says after a moment making me stare him down.
"I asked for you to find me a trustworthy pilot, what about this looks trustworthy?" I ask as I skim over it.
"Because I know the girl, and I know as much about her as I do you. You think it's easy looking for a pilot who can handle a ship like yours, won't mind the questionable legality of half the jobs you do, won't mind the fact that you're wanted by the Empire and your right hand man is wanted by the Federation, won't be tempted by the considerable bounty the Empire has on your head or the one they have on your ship. She's young, desperate and has her own reasons to avoid the Empire." Wes says simply making me sigh.
He isn't exactly wrong, and trying to find someone to recruit by ourselves didn't exactly pan out.
"Who's she running from?" I ask making him roll his eyes.
"You do know that the whole point of paying me to make her disappear kinda comes with the implication that I won't tell anyone who asks her life story?" Wes points out. "Look, stop being so paranoid. She doesn't have a bounty, and you don't need to worry about anyone dangerous coming looking for her. It's just family troubles, she's a good pilot and she needs money badly enough to be desperate enough to join you idiots."
"I swear if this ends up like another Zurotov, I'm throwing you out of the nearest airlock." I say after a moment.
"...that was entirely out of my hands, his credentials seemed perfectly legit." Wes says quickly, holding his hands up defensively. "How was I supposed to know he was a pirate?"
"And you'd think a forger would be able to spot fake credentials, but whatever. Fine, set up a meeting." I say after a moment, sighing to myself. This girl better be worth it, but it's either this or buy a piloting AI which would cost us everything we just earnt and then some, and I don't trust AI.
"They were very good fake credentials! Should charge you double just for putting up with you." Wes grumbles as he types.
"And I should have shot you the first time you sent me into a trap, accidentally or not."
"Eh, you know I wouldn't put you in any real danger. You make me too much money, and an ex-Spec Ops operative is a rare gem for a fixer like me. Your success is my success." Wes says making me roll my eyes.
Wes made my new identity, and he knows more about me than almost anyone else. He's right though, Federation Spec Ops agents don't tend to 'retire', so finding one willing to do mercenary work is hard.
"Speaking of success and profits, can I interest you in pissing off the Empire even more?" Wes asks, smirking slightly as I sit up straighter.
"What's the job, and how good does it pay?" I ask making him chuckle.
"I knew I liked you for a reason. Long story short, it's a smuggling job. Of course you'll be smuggling people, not goods this time but it should be pretty simple." Wes explains, pausing as I stare him down. "Okay, maybe not 'simple' but it should be easy. All you have to do is pick up some refugees on the edge of Empire territory and drop them off on a Federation planet, easy right?"
"Wes..." I say warningly making him sigh.
"Fine, you need to pick up the survivors of the Mivurn massacre, and deliver them to a Federation Senator on Nitune. The Empire have been denying they had any part in the slaughter but they also thought their death squads got everyone. Some survivors escaped and have been hiding ever since, they got in contact with the Federation who got in contact with me. This jobs needs a ship that can get into Imperial territory and back out without being detected, and it just so happens you have a top of the line stealth ship and you've already pissed the Empire enough that a little more isn't going to hurt. It pays as well as you'd expect "
"You know, the whole point of changing my name was so the Empire would leave me alone." I point out, making him laugh.
"You want them to leave you alone? Get rid of the one of a kind ship you stole from them." Wes points out making me chuckle.
Never.
"Fine, send me the coordinates." I say with a slight sigh, I do like pissing off the Empire to be honest.
"Already sent it to your ship VI, and I've sent your new pilot to your ship as well. Take her with you on this job, if it doesn't work out then at least she'll have earnt enough money to get off Tartarus, and if it does then you get a new pilot and can actually do the bigger jobs I have lined up." Wes offered making me pause.
"Fine, one job. To be clear, she definitely doesn't have any dangerous people who are going to hunt her down and pull me into a load of bullshit, right?" I ask, waiting a moment. "Wes, why aren't you responding? Wes?"
- Later -
"Are you Captain Russ?" a soft voice calls out making me look up from the datapad in my hand, pausing as I spot the human girl stood at the bottom of the ramp to the ship, clearly nervous with a small bag on the floor next to her.
That... is a very nice voice. Very upper-class, and very Imperial. If I had to guess I'd say she's from one of the Imperial Core planets, and Wes hates people from the Core planets.
Her hair is what stands out first, the bright pink with blue highlights is rather hard to miss, but the tight black bodysuit is a close second, a considerable amount of cleavage on display thanks to to the low-cut and frankly massive breasts.
Focusing on her face, I notice something else noteworthy. She's young, incredibly young considering the skills Wes claims she has. At least a decade younger than me, maybe more. I'd say she's barely old enough to drink, let alone fly my ship. I'd wonder if she was even legal, but this is Tartarus and legal isn't exactly a strong focus around here.
It's the advantage of having an independent space station sitting on the edge of Luos territory, the Luos Syndicate allow it to exist because it has plenty of assets they can use but it isn't under their control and there are very few laws around here.
Aside from the body-suit, all she has on is a tiny pink jacket that's hanging open and a pair of aviator sunglasses resting on her forehead, Wes wasn't kidding about her being broke and desperate because she looks like she is just wearing random things she found on the floor, or on a corpse which is entirely possible around here.
"I'm S- Naya Cates." 'Naya' says quickly blushing at her slip up.
"Not used to the new name? It takes a bit to get used to." I say with a slight smirk as she turns bright red. "Let me be clear, I really don't care about your tragic backstory. Can you fly as well as Wes claims?" I ask making her perk up, nodding. She tries to speak but I continue and cut her off. "Then as long as your past doesn't come back to bite me in the ass, welcome to the Viper, Miss Cates."
Moving past her, I head up the ramp and smile slightly as she grabs her tiny bag and follows behind. She could barely fit a change of outfit in that bag, and I'm guessing that's her entire worldly belongings.
I already know I'm going to regret this, but at least I have more company than Ran and Syala now. It's a fairly long journey to our cargo and a longer one to Nitune, so I have time to decide what to do with her.
Heading into the ship, I freeze as I make eye contact with Ran as he tries to stand in front of something quickly, making me raise an eyebrow.
"Naya, the helm is that way. Go and get familiarised." I order, watching her scamper away as Ran avoids my gaze. "Ran, what is that?" I ask, looking at the feminine robot.
The anatomically correct feminine robot.
"I can explain." Ran starts before he pauses. "It's... exactly what it looks like."
"You bought a sex bot. And how much did that cost you?" I ask with a growing smirk.
"...Two and a half million credits."
"Of course it did, we've been here for half a day. Well, good news. We have another job." I say as I walk past him. "...this is why you are always broke."
"...at least I didn't gamble it all away this time." Ran says with a shrug. "This is why you handle the money."
"Honestly, I don't care what you do with your money. Nice first impressions with our potential new pilot though." I say as I start to chuckle, Naya was bright red as she ran past.
"I have no regrets." Ran admits as he joins me. This is going to be a long and awkward journey.
Authors Note: This fic is going to get the same treatment as Slippery Slope, simply being updated when I feel like it and having shorter chapters. Honestly I've had trouble getting the motivation to write lately and I'm hoping starting something new will help me with that. Lock down sucks.
Next Update: Freedom .5