THE MOTHER LODE BY ABRAXIS
Chapter 37 – Hell's Bells Station
The hyper jump hadn't been as bad as Riddick had expected. Oh, the worry for Jenna had definitely been there but there had been a strange, soothing calm, as well. It was as if somehow he could feel Jenna's essence there with him. And Riddick didn't have any explanation for it. He had jumped with co-pilots before, many of them a lot more than once, and never felt any later effects like this. Of course, he had never jumped with anyone else where they ended up trying to swallow each other's tongues but he was pretty sure that that didn't have anything to do with it.
It was as if something of hyper had always been a part of Jenna or she a part of it but he just hadn't realized it before. Riddick had the feeling that it would have been down right spooky if it hadn't been so comforting. But, that it was so comforting wasn't something that he wanted to deal with at the moment, either.
As soon as the ship left hyper, Riddick made sure the BC was still totally invisible and set the security scans to the highest level. Once he was assured that there were no threats in the immediate vicinity, he fetched two large mugs of coffee from the galley and roused Syrus with the 'wake' hypo. He gave the man a short few minutes to recover before getting to business.
"We're going into a snake pit and the more 'guns' we got the better. Can we trust Rafferty?"
That Syrus paused significantly before answering and then qualified his answer gave Riddick confidence in his judgment.
"I don't think that he's completely on our side, yet, as far as the group is concerned but, in a situation like this one, yes."
"Then wake him with Casmir and Nagia. Let them have their choice from the weapons locker for blades and legal guns but everybody gets a lethal stunner, even Nagia. And show her how to use it. She's going to be locked in with the kids and, healer or not, she'll kill before she lets anyone get to them."
"What do you want?"
"A gage with plenty of ammo and one of the disrupter rifles with at least three extra power packs. And you take one, too, if you know how to use it without spacing a hull."
"I think I can handle that. I'll also inject sub-q trackers in everybody and pull tracker-units for all of us. You can track them off of our coms but the tracker-units do a better job of it. I'm sure that if Jenna left the Hole she would have used them as well. They will also protect us from the ship's security measures if the trouble is there."
Riddick thanked the fates for the doctor's quick mind as he began searching for the Hole. He had read all the security files but they weren't second nature to him yet as they obviously were for Syrus. If they had been, he would have used the sub-qs during the rescue rather than Rommy's less sophisticated equipment. Then, he suddenly had an image running through his mind of Sen throwing all kinds of surprise drills and pop quizzes at the group over the months of preparation. The idea of the group of geniuses acting like a bunch of grunts in boot camp was weirdly funny.
It didn't take long to locate the mother ship. Even from this far out, the huge freighter stood out against the background of many much smaller ships. By her solidity, she even challenged the hodge-podge collection of attached structures that made up the artificial world that was known as Hell's Bells Station.
At least the ship was well out from the station. Considering the legs she had on her, she could make it to a jump gate long before anything could catch her. There also didn't seem to be any suspicious activity around the huge ship, no threatening 'guards' hemming her in or scavengers farming her. Riddick took a chance and tried for a contact.
As a precaution, he not only used the security channel and a contact ping only but also routed the signal through the hyper com to make it seem as if whoever was trying to contact the ship was at least a jump away. To his great relief, even though the ping was answered by the same hyper route, it was voice transmission and it was Jack. This was tempered by the fact that she sounded like she was ready to start crying.
"Please, please, Bro, tell me that's you."
"It is, kid. What's going on?"
"You got to get here as quick as you can! Jenna and Jeeter went to do the deal and I don't think that they can get back! Just hurry and get here! I don't know what to do!"
Riddick would have liked to reassure Jack but couldn't take the risk of giving away the BC's location or its identity as an auxiliary of the Hole. The possibility that someone could be listening in wasn't something to discount. Jeeter was a self-admitted smuggler and had brought the Hole in here. It could have just been stupidity but it could also be something else. Nor could he keep his own anxiety from toughening his voice, as he fell back on the standard cover-story Jenna had devised for the ship.
"Calm down, Pilot-in-Training, and tell me everything that's happened."
After a silence, in which Riddick could imagine Jack screwing up her face in that funny way she had as she pulled herself together, she began speaking again in her junior-officer-to-senior-officer voice.
"The Captain and the Second Officer made contact with a Mr. Wiggler, an acquaintance of the Second Officer. They then accepted transportation from him to view several planet-landers he has for sale. They have been gone 14.25 hours. While the Captain has made regular check-in calls, stating that everything is going well, it is not standard procedure for her to jeopardize our tight delivery schedule in this manner."
OK, she was together and following Riddick's lead but definitely pissed off. Though she had every right to have reacted as she did, she was still only a kid, Riddick really hoped that she was pissed off at herself for doing it and not at him for calling her down on it. Jack could really hold a grudge when she wanted to. The only time he had really pissed her off before, when he had left New Mecca without her, it had taken a long time for her to finally forgive him. This wasn't anything that serious but it could be good for a couple of weeks of pouting.
"What is the ship's status?"
"We're on bridge lock-down, Sir, but all positions are crewed and hot."
Shit, that could mean trouble with the rest of the group. It definitely meant that Mira and Ben were on the bridge with Jack and, at least in the kids' opinions, they were ready to fight if necessary.
"Good. Keep it that way. Your Captain is a stickler for a tight ship." Then for any possible eavesdropper, "I'm sure the Captain has everything under control. The Patrol would laugh themselves silly if Dispatch called in a report of an Independent Captain taking a little unauthorized R & R. You've registered the jump plot with Central and that's enough to keep anything nasty from happening. I suggest that you run drills, particularly your flight plots, Trainee, to occupy yourself until the Captain orders otherwise. I know that this is your first bridge assignment and with a short crew but you are doing a fine job so far so don't ruin that record. Still, I'm sure you will be happy to learn that we have secured a new First Officer and he's ready for immediate pick-up."
The relief in Jack's voice was palatable.
"Yes, Sir! You can't know how happy that makes me, Sir."
"Good. Now, please inform the Captain of that and also ask her if she wishes me to arrange alternate transport for her next cargo pick-up or if she will be finished with her business in time to handle it herself. Com me with her answer as soon as possible." Then to cover the non-regulation beginning of their conversation and to give Jack a little long distance cuddle, "Hang in there, kid, you're doing the family proud. But keep it regulation until you're sure it's me on this end of the com. End trans."
"Thanks, Bro. End trans."
Riddick said another of his prayers-to-nobody that both Jack and Jenna would understand his quickly invented code phrases and turned to the security scan, setting it to find sub-qs. Even through the almost constant transmission static surrounding the station, spacers loved to gossip when given the chance, Riddick had Jeeter's and Jenna's trackers located within minutes. They were in the central section of the station that was, according to Riddick's memory of his one visit to the place, the personal domain of the station's owner. But his name wasn't Wiggler. It was Midas McGhee and he didn't deal in small shit like the planet-lander Jenna was looking for. He dealt in large shit … like the Hole.
After setting the scanners to the task of trying to map the internal labyrinth of the station, Riddick looked up to find Syrus, armed with the required stunner, a gage and a disrupter rifle and extra ammo bandoleers for both and holding a set of the same out to him. As Riddick took the weapons and bandoleers and set them beside the slot, he spotted Casmir and Rafferty standing behind Syrus. Casmir had chosen a gage and a handgun but nothing illegal other than the stunner. Rafferty hadn't bothered with legality at all, no gage and both a disrupter rifle and a laser pistol. Both men also had extra ammo bandoleers for their chosen arsenal. Syrus, aware of Riddick's jaw tightening at Rafferty's choice of weapons, gave him a small shrug as he injected a tracker into his upper arm.
"He says he knows how to handle them. What's the situation and what are we going to do about it?"
After briefly rehashing his and Jack's conversation and explaining Jeeter's and Jenna's location, Riddick gave an equally brief battle plan.
"So, we get as close as we can and wait to find out what Jenna tells Jack. If she needs help, we go in after them. If she says 'not', we run silent until they either get out of there or we have to go in after them anyway.
"If we do go in, we get right outside the commercial bay nearest their location and use a tractor beam to shoot a message buoy into the other end of the station as a distraction. Hopefully, they'll think it's just a piece of their own junk that holed them. Even a small hull breach will make a lot of them go running for their own ships and there will be emergency repair crews moving out so there will be bays opening and closing like revolving doors. No one should question a ship going in to pick up its people. Inside, we move quick, ignore anyone who ignores us and kill anyone who tries to get in our way until we find them.
"Casmir, you need to get out of those fancy robes. They'll attract too much attention. See what you can scrounge from our luggage if you didn't pack any 'working' duds. Now, somebody volunteer to get us something to eat and more coffee, a lot more coffee, while I see what kind of an internal schematic of that jumbled mess the scans have given us."
Jenna sat at the huge head table keeping a smile on her face, making social small-talk about the excellence of the food and entertainment and pretending to be slightly drunk and totally oblivious to Midas McGhee's not so subtle attempts at seduction and more subtle attempts to get information about her cover-story business and her ship and its cargo. The only clue to the anger seething inside her was the occasional daggered look that she threw at Jeeter when no one else was looking.
She had gotten herself into a right ugly mess and wasn't sure how she was going to get herself out of it. It wasn't even fair that she was taking it out on Jeeter, either. He hadn't wanted her to come onto the station, had tried his best to talk her into allowing him to do the deal alone. But, no, she couldn't resist satisfying her curiosity.
Everything had gone fine with the hyper jump and their initial contact with Jeeter's 'friend' Wiggler; a happy, rotund little man who could have been a used anything salesman any where in the universe. Their deal for the planet-lander also went smoothly. The little ship was a beauty, everything it had been promised to be.
It had plenty of illegal armament already and could be easily adapted to handle any upgrades Jenna decided to add. The central brain, com system, security system and engines were the same; would do for now and easily improved. There was even a possibility that hyper drive could be added to it, with only a small sacrifice of the cargo space, but Jenna would wait for David's opinion on that. During a short test flight both in free space and around the crowded area of the station, it handled like a dream.
Its accompanying skimmer wasn't as good. It was a basic sport model with nothing but a little more speed and sleeker lines than the standard businessman's commuter model, nothing that could get you out of a bad situation. It would require a complete rebuild and heavy modifications to bring it up to the level of usefulness Jenna would require. Jenna wondered if that was the reason the original owner wasn't around anymore.
When she used this thought as a bargaining point to get a better price out of Wiggler, she found out that she had been right. The man had been a local in-system smuggler, caught in a sting planet-side and captured in the skimmer before he could get to his sweet little yacht and escape. The only reason that the skimmer was still with the yacht was that he had chosen to land rather than being blown out of the air. After a quick and summary trial, the local police, judging the yacht by the skimmer without checking it out better, had released both to the widow who had quickly traded them to Wiggler for something legal before anyone could think to take a closer look.
Jeeter had been right about the unjustified hoodoo on the ship. Wiggler allowed his already equitable price to be cut to the point that, since G had kept his stash in large denomination bills, the 'trash cash' from Derius 4 paid for the ship. When they returned from the bay where the ship was berthed to Wiggler's office to sign the ownership papers and arrange for his payment, the trader's eyes had gotten as large as saucers when Jenna began counting out the payment and he realized that the four huge satchels, that Jenna and Jeeter had brought with them and had left sitting unguarded on his office floor, were not their luggage for a little R & R but contained bundles of money.
It turned out that it was an almost exact change deal and Jenna had thrown the small bit of extra and the satchels in for 'good will' as she might want to do business with Wiggler again in the future. The trader had still been somewhat dazed when he handed over the access codes for the ship, the authorization for its removal from the bay and the plot information for the hyper gate and jump that would take them back to New Mecca.
That made Jenna nervous and much more aware of just how stupid it had been to leave the Hole in the hands of three untried youngsters. She had been so worried about finding a way to get to Riddick that she hadn't considered the fact that the original information hadn't included a return plot and what that told about the nature of this station. This time she listened to Jeeter and his pleas that they take the ship and make a run for it immediately. But it was too late.
As they exited Wiggler's office and headed for the bay, they were suddenly surrounded by six large, very large, and very well armed men dressed in what seemed to be somewhat flashy security uniforms. Before Jenna could make any decision as to what to do about this, a slightly tinny voice called out from behind the wall of muscle.
"Stand down, boys. No reason to frighten our visitors."
The muscle parted as if by a prearranged cue, which Jenna had no doubt that it was, to reveal a surprisingly average looking man. He was average height, about Jenna's own with out the wedges; average build, if slightly overweight; average coloring, cream and light brown everywhere; even his clothing matched his own color pallet perfectly; and average age, maybe mid-forties. He reminded her of nothing more than a mid-level corporate go-fer that would never be anything more.
At least, that was the case until she got to the eyes. His eyes were like Sen's but with a lot less practice at the innocent, benevolent façade. She knew they were in deep shit before he turned his full attention on her and the tinny tenor of his voice turned oily.
"It's really nothing to worry about, my dear, just a small matter of registering your orbit with the Station Control Center. We are a small and provincial station but we do have a few regulations. Just paper work for traffic control, really nothing serious. If you'll come with me, I'm certain we can clear it up in no time at all. Oh, how crude of me not to introduce myself. I'm Midas McGhee. And you, my dear?"
Jenna introduced herself as Captain Lilly Wells of the independent freighter Excelsior and Jeeter as her Second Officer, Jay Homes, as she followed McGhee down the corridor. She couldn't think of anything else to do but accept the man's offer of escort. It could be nothing more than a bit of bureaucratic paper pushing and it would be stupid to turn things into a firefight until she was certain it wasn't. There was also the fact that she had serious doubts that she and Jeeter had any chance at all against the six security guards unless she could find a way to get them to relax and drop their total concentration on their job, something that they didn't seem apt to do anytime soon.
Things got worse as they walked and McGhee engaged her in a seemingly pleasant conversation that was nothing but a thinly disguised interrogation. What really irritated her was that while he seemed to be buying her cover story of an independent but working for a large co-op, a safety measure that had been put into the cover story since truly independents were such easy prey, he used that to weave his web of congenial hospitality even tighter.
Identifying himself as the owner of the station and therefore extremely interested in attracting more such prestigious traffic as her large freighter, he insisted that she allow him the chance to impress her with the suitability of his station for others with similar emergency needs as hers. He closed the trap with an offer of a percentage of any profits should she be able to direct any business his way, a chance for income that no true independent would refuse to consider.
Jenna could tell by the anxiety that was radiating from Jeeter that McGhee had no intention of broadcasting his well protected location to legitimate traffic, and thereby the Patrol. It took her a little while longer to understand exactly what he was up to. The key to it was the sweet little yacht, a very illegal sweet little yacht and not something a legal freighter Captain would usually be interested in. McGhee was stalling for time until he could be sure what he was dealing with, only a semi-shady independent or a sell out by someone and a Patrol sting, and if it was safe to pick the succulent plum that seemed to have dropped into his lap or he needed to start planning a quick escape.
Under the same circumstances, Jenna thought that she would have chosen to pass on that plum and opt for a 'vacation' until sure that the Patrol wasn't going to show up but McGhee couldn't seem to get around his greed and be that logical. He also seemed to be willing to take all the time he could get to make the decision. She found herself and Jeeter being taken on a detailed tour of the station, the 'important' traffic paper work completely forgotten.
Jenna soon settled into the game she was playing, her curiosity taking over, and actually enjoyed the novel experience. In fact, she had to be careful not to seem so interested after McGhee questioned her interest about some aspects of it and she had to cover by telling him that this was her first run so far from the central worlds and older, Company and Company patterned stations.
When he started flirting with her, she couldn't decide if it meant that he had bought her story or was just trying another tack to test if she were Patrol. Though being thought a Patrol plant seemed like the safer of the two options, she decided that keeping McGhee guessing as long as she could was the best plan.
She reasoned that an independent freighter Captain would want to do business, get it over with and get back on schedule while a Patrol plant would give him all the time he needed to hang himself. For this reason she allowed his flirting to divert her from any serious discussion of business but then switched back to that topic and only agreed to be wined and dined after the station tour with a great deal of persuasion from him. She had continued the same alternating tactic throughout the banquet.
But, she didn't have Sen's love for this and playing a game within a game was giving her a headache. Nor could she find a way to do anything else. The fact that McGhee didn't seem bothered in the least by her check-in calls to the Hole, made on a normal secured channel since no freighter would have the type of high-tech security channels the Hole had, told her that he was definitely monitoring them.
If Riddick or even Syrus had been on the other end, that wouldn't have been a problem. She would have trusted either of them to help plan a way to get her and Jeeter out, communicating with what would seem like normal ship's business but not confirming either McGhee's fears that they were Patrol nor his hopes that they weren't. But, with only Jack, Ben and Mira on the bridge, she couldn't take that risk.
Now, with the banquet dragging on and on and her headache growing worse and worse, Jenna had had it up to the teeth. She was going to have to handle this herself and it was time she did that. A quick re-check of the situation showed that the security sextet was at a more reasonable distance than it had been before and two of its members were concentrating on the scantily clad entertainment more than on their job. Deciding that this was about as good as it was going to get, Jenna gave Jeeter a warning nudge, palmed her dagger and was turning toward McGhee to request an escort to the bay to collect her purchase and leave, forcing him to finally choose between greed and caution, when her com beeped.
Nerves screaming, she hid the dagger under the flare of her long vest and quickly grabbed for the com hoping that McGhee would attribute her uncoordinated fumbling to drinking rather than panic. She made sure to put a little slur in her voice as she answered the call, praying that whoever was on the other end wouldn't say something that would put McGhee on alert any more than the unscheduled call probably already had.
"Captain here. Is there a problem."
"No, Ma'am, but it is a message and an enquiry from Dispatch that they require an answer to, A-sap. I'm to tell you that a new First Officer has been hired and is already waiting for immediate pick-up. They also wanted to know if we would be able to make our next cargo pick-up on time or if they should arrange alternate transport."
Hot damn. If she read that right, Riddick was here and wanted to know if she needed his help. To give herself time to think how to phrase her reply, Jenna turned to McGhee with a slightly tipsy smile.
"I know we haven't talked credits yet, Midas, but will you be paying me a big enough percentage as finder's fee to make the deal worth a lost cargo?"
Luckily, he gave her a vague enough answer to allow her even more time pretending to consider it.
"That would depend on how much business you can send me and how large a cargo you are going to lose, sweet Lily."
After a brief hesitation, Jenna turned to the com again.
"Tell Dispatch to go ahead with the alternate pick-up. And tell them not to be late. That cargo is very time sensitive and I don't want to lose that account. You made a good decision, Trainee, I'm always to be called on anything from Dispatch. End trans."
"Thank you, Captain. End trans."
Now all Jenna had to do was stall McGhee until Riddick made his move. From what she knew of his past, especially some of his escapes, she was almost certain that some sort of diversion, probably a very confusing one, would be part of that. She and Jeeter could use that to get away from McGhee and maybe even out of the station before Riddick had to come in after them.
When Jenna turned back to McGhee, she discovered that might not be easy. He was also ending a com call and he wasn't very happy about what he had learned, probably that his people hadn't detected the communication between the 'Excelsior' and 'Dispatch'. When she tried to initiate a discussion of the proposed business between them, his smile wasn't up to its usual standards but he did continue to play the game. He murmured suggestively that they retire to his private quarters, alone, to do that. Jenna squashed that idea quickly.
"As much as I might enjoy that, Midas, I have made it a policy not to become intimate with anyone I'm doing business with until after the deal is made. We talk business here and now. If I don't like the deal, I have a cargo to get to before Dispatch can send someone else. If we do agree on it …," She gave him what she hoped was a believable 'I'm interested' look. "Well, I could definitely make time for a little … personal celebration."
Jenna breathed an internal sigh of relief as McGhee shrugged and began talking business. Her play had been a good one. He was still undecided as to what she was. She was extremely thankful that she had had Sen to practice on all those years as she slipped her hand under the vest tail and kept it there, the dagger in her grasp and ready, while she began the haggle with McGhee and waited for Riddick to make his move.
She was running out of ways to extend the haggle when all hell broke loose. At the first whine of the speakers in what had to be some sort of emergency alarm, the banqueters broke into two groups. Those that Jenna had identified as probably visitors, like herself, immediately started a panicked dash for the exit with cries of 'hull breach' and demands to be taken to their transports while those that were probably permanent inhabitants of the station began turning it into an orderly exit. Jenna took her cue and jumped up with an almost yell to Jeeter that they had to get to their ship.
She had gotten about two steps away from the table when her wrist was captured and she was halted with such force that she almost fell. As she was pulled against his chest, Jenna realized that, while she had done well assessing his mental capabilities, she had seriously under estimated McGhee physically. He was a lot stronger than she had thought.
