1.76 - Nowhere to Run


 

Ship repairs have taken almost three weeks. During that time Edan and I remained on the station; he had to stay with his ship and I didn’t have anywhere to go. The station is named Ario Hr Trews, and I still haven’t learned to pronounce it. While Tortuga was more akin to an entire country; Ario would be more like a city. A small city, but a city. There’s still public transportation to get you from side to side, bars and apartment complexes. While Tortuga’s population crossed 20 million, Ario hovers around five hundred thousand. It’s a coporate station, mostly. A lot of the jobs around here revolve around receiving and shipping out products for various companies that pooled resources to build the station. That leaves the bars open for us most of the day. Edan is still drinking and drugging, but to a lesser degree.

Edan has been rambling about how I need to get married and have some kids to carry on the family lineage because he’s a hardened criminal. I’m just scrolling through messages. Renan is planning to leave his mom’s place and take a shot at returning to the ZGBA, Zero Gravity Basketball Association. Taffy has got some new prosthetics and they’re working great for him. Beatrix is going to take an attempt at starting a fashion zine.  

“You know I’ve never liked real bananas,” Edan slurs his speech. “The texture is all stringy, and the taste is bland. But, I think these banana martinis are the answer to all my problems.”

“Edan Gray,” A giant alien with a second set of arms extending from his torso approaches our table. His eyes look angry, a smile is locked on his face as his jaw extends forward. He doesn’t carry a gun but a long metallic staff. “Surrender now, or be taken dead.” He has to be at least eight feet tall and is as muscular as any human or Smilodonian that I’ve ever seen.

“Would you like a drink,” I ask.

“Quiet scum,” The giant shouts at me.

“What crime,” Edan slurs.

“Theft, receiving stolen property, burglary, fencing illegal goods,” The giant bounty hunter starts to list crimes as Edan finishes his drink.

“So the normal stuff,” Edan cuts him off. “How about you just go away and we call it even.”

A quick scan with my wrist comp and I learn that a Sudalit is standing before me. A strong war like race that was locked in a feud with The Draconians for centuries. Draconians destroyed their food sources and polluted the water, severely crippling their society, yet they remained unconquered despite losing all but the three planets in their home system. They’ve been recovering in population for the last two centuries but have been locked in a civil war and unable to once again expand to an empire that rivals the Draconians.

“Hey, you should shave that pony tail,” I pick up the tail end of their conversation as Edan turns to jokes. “Also, that armor is outdated. You look like a volunteer soldier not a bounty hunter. Business must be rough.”

The Sudalit shouts, “Enough,” drawing the attention of the bar. For some reason that causes me to laugh. I haven’t had nearly as much to drink as Edan but the warm sensation and sweaty palms I’m feeling aren’t signs of fear. I’m only a little drunk. The Sudalit cracks the knuckles on their smaller hands causing my jaw to drop. I was hoping those arms were vestigial.

“Efrem,” Edan says. “Shoot him up, bang, bang, pew, pew,” Edan laughs at his own joke.

“Look at him. He’s eight feet tall and built like a tank. You’re the martial artist. Why don’t some kind of death grip on him,” I ask.

“Because he’s got four arms and he look he throw those hard punches. What’s your excuse.”

“I don’t have a gun with me.”

“I hear you,” The Sudlit shouts.

“Chill, we’re having a strategy meeting,” Edan waves him off and leans into me. “I got a plan.”

“What’s the plan?”

“I can’t tell you, just follow my lead.”

Edan lifts the table ramming it into the Sudalit, I instantly join and we’re able to overpower him, knocking him to the ground. I don’t even let the words leave Edan’s mouth before I take off running behind him. Tawa calls, but I ignore it as we cut through several alleyways. After a few blocks we hide behind a dumpster and wait to be sure we’re not being tracked.

“Feels like when we stole Evan’s condoms and used them as water balloons. He chased us for hours,” Edan laughs.

“We could not get them to pop,” I catch my breath. It’s always harder running with liquor in your system or maybe I just feel alive.

Another call from Tawa, his sixth. I finally answer. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“There’s a bounty on Edan’s head from Yana. A sudalit hunter named Ajani has taken the bounty. He’s never failed a job based on his record,” Tawa shouts. “You need to get out of there.”

“Can you cancel the bounty,” Edan asks.

“Yeah but it’ll take time. She didn’t exactly put it out over clear channels,” Tawa sounds worried.

“Just keep us updated Tawa. We’re resilient. We’ll get to the ship and get out of here,” I assure him.  

“You don’t understand, this is a kill or capture bounty,” Tawa’s voice goes up.

“Hey, I said I’d come see you before I left. I can’t die before that so relax. Just work on getting that bounty cleared okay.”

Tawa doesn’t respond immediately, “I’ll get it taken care of as soon as possible.”

“Thanks,” I end the call. “Edan make sure the ship is ready for us ASAP. I’m going to plot us a route to the garage.”

“We need to hit the hotel to grab our things too,” Edan adds before making his own call.

“Good thing the sun is going down.”

1.75 - A Little Longer


We made it through the asteroid belt and headed straight towards another space station. We’re still in the area where Revrell and Draconian territory overlap, but this area is obviously more Revrell. The ship had some serious damage but we did manage to evade the bounty hunters. Others have gone off to explore, but I chose to stick with Edan and the ship. I’m hoping it brings less trouble to me than any time I tried to explore Tortuga. It took a few days for us to finally get a mechanic, but I’m grateful for the moment of peace to think and recover. After seeing Tortuga, I doubt any space station will ever excite me as much. My wrist comp notifies me that there’s been a transaction done on my bank account. I’m hoping there’s not any fraudulent charges being made.

I’m left speechless when I view my account, there’s got to be some kind of error. There’s enough to buy the farm and have a little left over. Edan said the payment for the warehouse job would be coming soon but I didn’t expect this much. This has to be some kind of mistake. This needs to be split with everyone.

“Hey, is this right,” I ask Edan as he sits on the bench next to me. I hold out my wrist comp for him to view the transfer.

“Yeah, that’s your cut,” he smiles.

“Are you rich,” the question leaves my mouth without passing through my brain.

“No,” Edan burst into laughter. “Most jobs don’t pay that well but you wanted to take everything they had. Some of it was pretty valuable. You’ve turned me into a real space pirate. Nobody says it when you start but the best crews get a big pay day and lay low for a while living a modest life. You take time to hone your skills, maybe learn a trade. Everyone doesn’t do the run and gun every week thing,” Edan stares up above us.

There’s no artificial sky here; it’s an older station that leaves no misunderstandings about what it is. You could be born, live your entire life on Tortuga, die there and be completely happy. This station is a place to repair ships and sleep between destinations. Sure, there are stores and people live here; but they all long to escape. Each time I talk to someone, it’s as if they just know you’re a traveler. They ask about planets we’ve been to; what we do for a living and stories of the adventures they assume we all have. They all want more out of life, and it’s contagious. I have no doubt that Edan would happily allow me to work with him until the end of time and I would enjoy it for a while. But in the end, I would grow to hate it. Like all of these people I would want more. This is Edan’s dream not mine. I wanted to go from planet to planet helping people, maybe having a few glorious battle moments and this is not it. Working for Creed and wondering if every mission would be my last wasn’t it either.  

“You should move to Nyame,” Edan says bluntly.

“Can’t live without your big brother,” I joke.

“No, I can absolutely live without you. That doesn’t mean I have to or even want to. You can keep working on that farm and I’ll stay in the city. We’ll make sure to see each other when I’m home,” Edan pauses, looking from the cieling to me. “I know we didn’t get along right after Evan’s death, but you’re still my big brother. As much as you ran away from the family, you were pushed away. We all pushed each other away. You were just strong enough to leave first. I felt like it broke the family. Dad was never great, but he started drinking more than ever. Mom just pretended nothing bad was going on and you got out of there as fast as you could. As much as I claimed to hate you I took off right after. Do you know why,” I simultaneously love and hate how open Edan is with emotions.

“No, I couldn’t tell you,” I look above us again as I answer.

“Get out of here as soon as you can, don’t let it drag you down like Evan,” the words leave Edan’s mouth now, but they’re my own. They were mine once, a long time ago.”

“Sorry about that, I was a jerk,” I start to apologize but Edan cuts me off.

“We were all jerks, but you didn’t lie. I guess part of me was glad you didn’t think I was ruined, that someone believed I still had a chance. That’s when I forgave you, because in that moment I looked up to you more than I ever had. I even stalked you online and went to your academy graduation. I just couldn’t bring myself to speak to you because I had become a whole criminal already. I didn’t want to embarass or upset you.”

I punch Edan in the arm, “you idiot. Criminal or not, I’m still proud of you. You had the guts to do what I never could and that was follow a dream and see it all the way through without getting distracted or thrown off course. All that time we missed together; I wish I could have it back.”

Edan laughs, “gross. Don’t go all after school special on me.”

“Don’t laugh at me. You know I’m right. Besides, you’re the one trying to get me to move to the place you called a cesspool for crime.”

“Well, you’re a criminal now. You’ll have a mugshot in no time,” he jokes but stops laughing when he sees I’m not laughing with him. “You’re going back aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m going back.”

“I knew you were going back to the military,” Edan’s tone shifts, not disappointment, but a unique sadness. “I knew this wouldn’t last forever; I just didn’t know it’d end so soon.”

“Yeah, you told me when we first started this little adventure that I would end up back there.”  

“Are you going to work with that Creed guy again? He sounds like the type to hold grudges.”

“Probably for a while, but I’m hoping for a different division. Something that lets me have my own crew and ship. Something where I can choose my own missions and have real time off,” I take a deep breath. “I envy you and your crew. You’ve all been welcoming to me, even Nastas in his own weird way. But it’s your ship and your crew that you’ve built. As great as you’ve all been, I want my own.”  

“I get it, you don’t have to explain. I get it,” he nods.

“Good because you’re really open with emotions, and I’m not. That was hard for me to say. I’ve been rehearsing in my head for days,“ I exxagerate a sigh of relief causing Edan to chuckle.

“Let’s make the best of what we have left then. We never got to go to an amusement park,” Edan jokes.

“We should because I’ll probably be going to prison when we get back to Nyame.”

“Still want to do it?”

“I need to make things right.”

“Well, don’t be afraid to take a plea deal. Only plea to things you actually did, take any other charges to trial. A jury trial, not a bench trial. Keep to yourself and use the time to learn something new.”

“I forgot you’ve been to prison.”

“No, I’ve been to jail. Big difference. Jail is short term. I can go home from jail. Prison, that’s a little more permanent. Be strong, do your time, don’t let your time do you. Your body is in prison but not your mind, and all that,” the two of us stare at each other for a moment with serious faces before bursting out in laughter. I’m going to a military jail, probably soon, and that’s a good reason to laugh with my little brother.

1.74 - Asteroids


I’ve been on ships that were shot at while landing or taking off. That’s nothing out of the ordinary for some missions. I can say I’ve never been on a ship that’s flying through space at full speed as it’s pursued under fire. I’m strapped in but my body is being flung in all directions. Everyone else seems to have a role to play in defense but I’m useless. Sicker than the first time I went through a bangbepunkt. I’m just swallowing hard, trying to keep the vomit down. Focusing on the burning sensation of stomach acid on my throat as everyone else shouts information between their battle stations. Hollow booms echo as The Pariah returns fire. The sound of thunder shakes the ship with each blow that it takes. This isn’t a movie. There’s no losing them in warp speed. Even if there were a  Hafengdan near by jumping through in the middle of a dog fight would mean certain death for everyone. It’s kill, or be killed. Maybe we get blasted and survive in an escape pod but I don’t think I’ve seen one on the ship. They’re living on the edge.

There’s shouting at the front. Disagreement about what to do before something large crashes into the ship. It’s not like gunfire. Even if the shields had deteriorated, gunfire wouldn’t shake the ship like this. Another pounding sound and the ship rattles. Silence falls over the crew; some kind of tense situation my mind isn’t reading. Shots are no longer being flung back and forth. A few more ship rattling collisions and we start to slow. In the initial quiet, nobody speaks to each other. Just deep breaths, an occasional glance, and the occasional mutterings of what seems to be a prayer from Nastas.

“What’s going on,” I ask.

“Janet has chosen the best escape for us is through an asteroid belt,” Edan responds with none of his usual excitement or even sarcasm. It’s a voice reserved for serious situations. A voice for when he needs to be the captain of his crew and not their friend. I don’t answer as another asteroid scrapes the side of the ship. The sound of metal crunching and stone dragging across it pains my ears but nobody else flinches.

 I just close my eyes and wait for this to be over. Fleeing through an asteroid belt isn’t unheard of. It’s just stupid, something a military ship would never do. I’m trying to keep a calm exterior to show that I’m not worried. I don’t know if Janet is a good pilot, if she does this all the time, or even if I could trust her skill. Inside, my heart is pounding and I’m gripping my safety harness to prevent my hands from shaking out of control.  

The crew of The Pariah remains in complete silence, not even uttering an affirmation to Janet as she pilots us threw. None of them look too worried, staring at wristcomps or leaning just enough to gaze into the pilot's nest and watch Janet at work. The feelings of adrenaline and mission going south are all too common. It wasn’t long ago when I was on Xioshaa walking hand and hand with death. I’ve got scars and a metal arm to prove it. But this is different. In the military, you just die or you’re held as a prisoner of war and eventually given back or rescued. But with this, I might die, smashed into nothingness like the rest of the junk that litters asteroid belts. Even worse I could end up in prison, an accomplice to whatever charges the crew has gained.

“And we’re clear,” Janet speaks.

I breathe a sigh of relief but everyone else acts as if this is just a daily occurrence. I need to go back. I can’t do the farm life, but this is not the life for me either. Fleeing from threats of death, fine. Even fleeing capture, fine. But everything has been a risk. I’ve been drugged, ambushed, dragged into a warehouse raid and helped fence stolen goods. I can’t do this.

“Need a drink,” Edan asks.

“Yeah,” I answer without hesitation.