2113 MA (2084 AD)

“Norvsekal? Really, Margu? Couldn’t have done something less in the middle of nowhere?”

The older man chuckled as he sat down next to the younger woman. “Liss, do you really want to do this in the middle of Tuaut?”

“We’d attract less attention,” the woman said, moving a braid behind her collar, as much out of habit as anything.

“Don’t think so,” Margu said. “And neither do you; you’re too smart to try to run out of Ashay-Ashay-Three. I’ll have a Hustain,” he said to the quiet server. “Aiat, if you’ve got it.”

“We do,” the man said. “Credit first?”

Margu grinned. “Of course. Of course,” he said, handing a card to the man and pressing his thumb on the pad.

“All right, sir, I’ll be right back,” the server said. Margu chuckled.

“He’s been in the joint. Wonder where.”

“Him? He doesn’t seem the type.”

“You get to know the look. Well, wasn’t Rura Penthe, I’d have run into him there. And they don’t parole ya to Norvsekal.”

“Which is why I don’t think this is….”

“Your Aiat, Mr. Nuprate.”

“Thanks,” Margu said, downing the drink in one go.

Liss quirked an eyebrow. “Fake thumb?”

“Real thumb. New fingerprints. And spoofed DNA. Which is why you should call me Mr. Nuprate, Ms. Peten.”

Liss rolled her eyes. “Wanted to get a new start that bad?”

“More that Dama wants to get rid of me, and I loved him enough to oblige him. You know how that is, though.”

Liss sighed. “He didn’t want to end up married to someone on Rura Penthe. Bad enough he was the son of someone there.”

“He shoulda trusted you. Moving those items…you’re careful. Smart. Made a killing, I know. You ended up owning the Akelois free and clear, didn’t you?”

“You know I did, Mr. Nuprate, so cut to the chase.”

“Ah, ah. Not here. I have two recruits here on the station. Should we meet on your ship in four hours?”

Liss finished her kapskrasi and set it down. “All right, fine. But if you’re wasting my time, I’ll space you.”

“I’m not the one who was late on Neith.”

“True,” Liss said. “And I should space you no matter what.”

* * *

Liss walked through the dock and keyed in the code for the Akelois. She did love this little ship. Nothing flashy, but it had plenty of room for cargo, a very reliable engine, and a cloaking device that was extremely illegal for civilian use, and impossible to find without tearing the ship apart. Losing Dama had been hard…but damned if this wasn’t a great consolation prize.

Liss walked through the cargo bay and into the small common area – well, the whole damn ship was a common area, but this part had a table, and besides, it wasn’t like she shared it often. She started toward the ladder to the upper deck, when she paused.

She walked over to the galley, and pulled out a projectile taser rifle – not powerful enough to kill, she didn’t need that kind of headache – and ascended the ladder. She walked to the door hit the code, and waited for it to open. When it did, she swung around and aimed dead at the person sitting in a navigation chair.

“Emperor’s taint, you’re still going with a Forjot encryption? This was cracked years ago. You want the Empire to read your logs? And don’t tell me you don’t keep logs, you’re a captain, you’ve got a log, it’s like a disease with you guys.”

“Who the frak are you?” Liss asked the woman, who had not even turned to look.

“I mean, I thought Nuprate said you were good. This is basic crap.”

“I’ve got a lock on you,” Liss said. “Giving you until three. One, two….”

The woman sighed heavily. “I’m Dizmona,” she said, glancing over her shoulder.

Liss kept the gun on her, and the girl gave her another glance. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“Yeah. Is that supposed to mean anything?”

The girl paused in her work. “Didn’t you hear about the cyberattack on the New Trantor stock exchange? Dizmona claimed credit?” The girl turned, and pointed to herself. “Dizmona.”

“You gave yourself a superhero name!” Liss said with mock awe. “How precious! Now, your actual name, kid. I’m completely within my rights to blow your brains out, legal and everything.”

The girl shook her head. “Xele Cesil is my birth name.”

Liss’s eyes grew wide. “Cesil? As in….”

“As in Jota Cesil, yes. Yes, one of my dads is a bigoted asshat politician, no, I don’t care for him much; he left my other dad when I was two and tried very hard never to pay support.”

“I don’t need the exposition, kid. I’m the one who put the name together.”

“Stop calling me kid. I’m 23. What are you, 85?”

“29, and I’ll call you whatever I want, it’s my ship,” Liss said. Still, she dropped the weapon just a bit. “Look, I don’t care what you believe, if you’re good as you seem to think you are, that’s fine. But if you’re gonna start calling me a blueface or braidhead or something….”

Xele’s face grew a bit softer. “No,” she said, standing up carefully lest she provoke the captain. “No, I’m…I know how most of the Federationers are. Buch of bigoted frakmachines. There’s a reason I left there when I hit fourteen.”

“How’d you manage that?”

Xele shrugged. “Well, my ID said I was 22, and named Tusan Wat. And I had a bank account with fifty thousand creds to spend, and if the gate agent questioned it, the fact that I had a chit with a thousand more convinced him. By the time they figured out that I’d hacked fifteen systems to get that done, I was in Tuaut.”

Liss sighed. “Not sure if you’re yanking my tit or if you’re really that good, but I’ve gotta admit, I like your swagger. Liss Peten,” she said, lowering her weapon and reaching out a hand.

Xele smiled. “Captain Peten. Well. I apologize, I knew that Nuprate said we were getting a good runner, didn’t know he knew the White Shaar.”

Liss smiled at that. “Kid,” she said, “you’ll find Nuprate’s full of surprises. Some of them are even good ones.”

* * *

Margu walked toward the dock where the Akelios was berthed, and was about to head to the airlock, when a meaty hand found its way onto his shoulder.

He paused, and calmly turned, and sighed, releasing the insouciant façade he had adopted. “Frak, Vilum, you about scared me to death.”

“I thought your new identity was foolproof, Nuprate.”

“Nothing’s foolproof, you fool. Why’d you stop me?”

Karral Vilum pointed to the three peacekeepers walking quickly down the hallway, two of them in battle armor.

“Ah. Inspection.”

“Her reputation precedes her.”

“True of anyone worthwhile. All right, grab a drink?”

“Don’t drink,” Vilum said, quietly.

“Good for you,” Margu said.

They walked quietly and quickly away from the dock. “I’m taking a chance on you, you know,” Margu said to the mountain of a man on his left. Vilum grunted in acknowledgement.

“I’m serious,” Margu said. “I don’t like working with maggoth—”

Margu realized that Vilum might be upset when the brute grabbed Nuprate’s shirt and guided it, and him, hard up against the wall. “I don’t drink,” Vilum said, not raising his voice above conversational level, “I don’t do recreational drugs, and I don’t do maggots. Not anymore. I paid for my stupidity, Nuprate, and I’m still paying for it. I’m working with you. But those days are behind me. I am not a maggothead, and I will kill you if you say that again, got it?”

“Got it,” Margu said, with the slightest of smiles. “And I’ll say this, Vilum. You know your stuff. You knew what the peacekeepers would be up to.”

Vilum lowered Margu down, and gently straightened the older man’s shirt. “I did the job long enough. I should,” Vilum said. “I’ll buy you your drink. I’ll be sticking to mosaberry juice.”

* * *

“As I said, everything is in order,” Liss said, as the peacekeepers checked the common room.

“Right,” the leader of the peacekeepers said. “You think I was born yesterday, Peten? Your reputation stretches all the way out here.”

“My reputation is exaggerated, Princeps….”

“Orgin.”

“Right. Princeps Orgin, I have filed a flight plan, per regulations, and filed an even-more-detailed inventory than required; I have standard rations plus a crate of Avartle beadwork – all declared and authenticated. I’ve told you that I’m taking three passengers with to Vorsha – you’ve met Ms. Lex. They’re all Imperials, all are running domestically, and unless you have reason, you legally can’t question them. I know my rights, and my passengers’ rights, and I’ll protect theirs more than mine. Now, I know that my ship passes muster, I know that my cargo is legal, and I know my flight plan is legitimate. If you have cause to hold me, produce it, or produce a legal hold – and if you can’t produce those, I’m due to depart in an hour, I need to warm up the engines.”

Orgin shook his head, but he knew she was right – he couldn’t hold her. But at least he’d annoyed her, and maybe made her think twice about running contraband through Norvsekal. That was enough for now.

“All right, captain. I thank you for your cooperation, and wish you a safe flight. I’ll make sure Vorsha Alpha knows to expect you.”

“How kind of you, peacekeeper. Have a safe day,” Liss said, as she waited for them to depart.

It wasn’t too much later that her last two guests were aboard, and not long after that, the Akelois broke orbit. Margu waited for Liss to get the ship on autopilot; he didn’t want to have to give this presentation more than once.

“Okay,” she said, climbing down the ladder. “First off, bierdna, I’ve got dried carba meat in the galley; tear it up and start making stew.”

“Why me?” Vilum asked.

“Because I’m the captain, the guy from New Trantor hasn’t ever used carba before, and the Federationer damn sure hasn’t. There’s mek in the cooler.”

Vilum grumbled, but set to work. “You got carbanikala?”

“I’ve got you making carba stew, don’t I? All right, Margu, what’s the plan?”

“Who’s Margu?” Xele asked.

“Margu Peten,” Liss said. “Come on, did you really think Nuprate was his name?”

Xele looked at the older man in shock. “You…you’re the Comet?”

“I was,” Margu said. “Long time ago. But he’s dead now, at least officially. This is Liss’s ship, she’s the runner for this job.”

“We’re all in on the run, unless I miss my guess,” Liss said, sliding into a seat at the table.

“True enough,” Margu replied. “It’s a mek run, though.”

“So what’s the job?” asked Vilum, salting the stew. “Avartle artifacts?”

“Can’t be,” Liss said. “We’re heading the wrong way. You brought Captain Amazing along, we running data?”

“No, no. Think lower tech,” Margu said.

“I’m not running Dunnermac roe,” Vilum said. “Done enough business with the insectoids.”

“Heh,” Margu said. “No, not roe. But it is biological. Animals, actually.”

“Animals? Emperor’s balls, Margu, I don’t run animals. Too messy.”

“No, no – I’m not talking damn klipkaers or anything. Look – what’s the most expensive pet on the market?”

“Dunno,” Xele said. “Tuppsekmah?”

“Maybe in the Federation,” Vilum grunted. “Not in Jotnarherath. You already said it wasn’t klipkaers. What’s that one pet from the Ler Lands called? The krkrrrkntgghrrntgh?”

“No, no,” Liss said, staring Margu down. “No. It’s humans. We’re running humans?”

Margu grinned. “300 creds a pop if they’re trained.”

Liss covered her eyes. “Margu…even if we’re knocking over a farm, we’ll get, what, a hundred? You called me in for thirty large?”

“Try ten million,” Margu said with a grin.

Liss blinked. “That…that would mean thirty, forty thousand of them.”

“Exactly,” Margu said. “We’ll pick up a habitat on Vorsha. Then on to grab the cargo, and then rendezvous with friends at a small base in the Kokinit Restriction Zone. We’ll have them less than a day. Easy. We’re getting paid 250 creds a pop.”

Liss blinked. “A minimum?”

“I’ve already been given a million. Another one guaranteed as long as we bring at least five thousand.”

“But where are we gonna find forty thousand humans?” Vilum said, bringing bowls over to the table.

Margu grinned, and turned on a holorecording. “This is Avalon,” he said. “It’s a moon of a planet called Herakleos, it’s on the charts as Tarsuss IV. There’s a human preserve there….”

“Are you cracked!?” Liss asked. “That’s Pryvani Tarsuss’s moon! Her personal moon! And the preserve is sitting right under Valhalla!”

“Main preserve is. While I was on Penthe, I met a guy, member of the Shan caste. He had been on a job that went really bad. He ended up getting jacked by imperators, but he was the lucky one. His partner bit dirt on…Narena, I think he said. But they were a distraction; the slag who went landed on Avalon got herself killed. Crashed her ship, they say. That may even be true. Not saying this Pria slag didn’t crash, but if she did, she’s an idiot – any competent pilot should be able to land there. Probably better for her if she did, though – she was gonna make a raid on Tarsuss’s compound there, and…well, I’m not saying Pryvani Tarsuss would have killed her if she caught her, but it wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Exactly my point. Which is why people who aren’t suicidal don’t frak around with Pryvani Tarsuss. So you’re suicidal, Margu?”

“No, Captain. I’m not that stupid. We won’t be raiding Tarsuss’s compound. We’ll be a good ways away. You see, the main habitation’s near the Tarsuss compound – one person could just walk into it, I suppose, but even if Tarsuss herself is off-world, there are a few Titans living on the planet, full-time, and they keep an eye on it. The Tarsuss Compound is on this mountain here. If our patrons had asked me to raid the main habitation here,” he said, pointing not far from it, “I would have laughed at them. No frakking way. But the thing is, the humans have spread out. There are habitats here, here and here,” he said, pointing to far-flung areas. “This one, to the northwest – this is our target. Kilos away from the Tarsuss compound, kilos away from where all the Titans on the planet live.”

“Why aren’t there other Titans over by them?” Xele asked.

“Three-Archavia gravity. They’ve got gravitics in the compound. Takes portable inhibitors to go out onto the rest of the planet, though. Not practical for them to live there.”

Liss looked at the terrain. “So you figure we dock at Valhalla and fuel, then loop the moon and come up the back side, drop low, grab them, and go?”

“Exactly. Dizmona handles any automated sensors, Vilum handles the herding and any surprises. Liss, you’re flying. And I’m the guy with the connections to move it. Each of us walks away two, three million richer.”

Liss leaned back. “I don’t like moving animals, Margu. Not at all. But…I’ll make an exception for three million.”

“Damn right,” Xele said.

“Three million. That could take care of everything,” Vilum said.

“So we’re settled,” Margu said. “How long until we hit Vorsha, Liss?”

“Three days unless we want to attract attention.”

“Three days it is,” Margu said, with a grin.

* * *

“Bottom left rack is mine, you three can fight among yourselves,” Liss said, pointing the passengers to the spartan sleep quarters. “Anyone on the cargo deck without telling me, I open the drop gate and you take your chances breathing vacuum. You already saw the common room, head is off of that. Kid? Bierdna? Either of you have pilot experience?”

“License is in order. Had a third class rating in the corps,” Vilum said.

“Great. You’ll take third watch. Margu, you’ve got second. Basically involves sitting in the pilot’s seat, watching a vid on your pad, and calling me if anything happens; we deviate from our course I will be woken up, so no freelancing. But I’d rather have someone on the stick than not.”

“It’s like you don’t trust us,” Margu said. Liss just laughed.

“All right,” she said. “I’ll take this watch. Margu, you’re on in 28.”

“No doors on these?”

“It ain’t a cruise ship, kid. Be glad I’ve got four racks. Pillows in the cupboards there. Get some sleep. We’re all going to need to be alert. Except for you, Margu,” she said. “You come with me. I want to show you systems.”

Margu resisted the temptation to say that he’d been on a Kursus IV before, and that they hadn’t changed control systems since Kursus II, but he stuffed it, because he knew Liss did not intend to talk to him about that.

She settled down in the pilot’s seat, and gestured to Margu to sit to her right. She checked her course, checked systems, then looked over at her erstwhile father-in-law.

“Who’s the patron, Margu?”

“Liss, come on. You know I can’t tell you that. The people we’re working for were very direct; they did not want to be identified. They barely wanted me to know.”

“And that’s what worries me,” Peten said. “We’re not fracking around fencing some pads on the street. This is Pryvani Tarsuss’s world. This is high-risk.”

“Oh, I know,” Margu said. “Syon Fand is in the dungeon after tangling with her. I’m not unaware of the risks. Or the rewards.”

“Not just her,” Peten said. “You know her security chief took down Vasha Zakrov, right? Heard a rumor it was over one human. One. We’re talking about ganking 40,000.”

“Don’t get cold feet, Liss. And you’re right, it was over one human. But just one. You know the old saying, one death is a tragedy – a million is a statistic. Zakrov’s mistake was that the human she mistreated was owned by that security chief, and she didn’t take kindly to it. It was a personal affront. We won’t be kidnapping Pryvani Tarsuss’s favorite pet, Liss. Just some humans who’ve left her sanctuary. Hells, we’re probably doing her a favor. Collecting her strays for her. Don’t worry.”

“That’s a stupid thing to say, Margu. Of course I’m gonna worry.”

“You’re not thinking of dropping out, are you?”

“I didn’t say that,” Liss said. “I said I’m gonna worry. Gonna worry all the way to the drop-off, and then I’m gonna make gorram sure you transfer me the creds before I see the back of you.”

“I told Dama you were a smart one,” Margu said, with a sigh. He got up, and headed toward the back. “I am sorry, Liss,” he said, before he departed. “I should never have gotten you involved.”

“I made my choice,” Liss said. “You made yours, and Dama made his. Get some sleep.”

Liss didn’t look back as Margu Peten departed the cockpit. She wasn’t sure whether she looked angry or sad, but she was sure it was one of them, and she didn’t want him to see her face either way.