Old Grudges
‘And that’s it?’ Zelia asked as they walked back through the market square. ‘We’re just going to give up?’
Amity led them through the crowd, never taking her hand from the hilt of her sword. ‘Once Karter’s mind is made up…’
‘He wanted us to hand over Fleapit!’ Zelia exclaimed.
The Jokaero grunted in disgust.
‘We would never do that, Flegan-Pala,’ Mekki assured the alien.
‘There is more than one way to flog a mastodon,’ Amity retorted. ‘If Karter won’t help us, we’ll find someone who will.’
Zelia looked around at the crowd. Those who weren’t staring at Fleapit in fascination were glaring openly at Amity.
‘And how easy is that going to be?’ Zelia asked. ‘What was all that business about your friends?’
Amity stopped in her tracks to turn on Zelia.
‘Listen,’ she said, her voice low and dangerous. ‘I don’t have to do this. It’s not as if you’re even paying for my time. I have business of my own to attend to, so I suggest you don’t try what little is left of my patience.’
Tears pricked Zelia’s eyes.
‘Do we understand each other?’
She nodded, unable to speak.
‘Good.’ The rogue trader adjusted her belt and glanced around the marketplace. ‘Wait here.’
‘Why?’ Zelia blurted out, fighting the urge to grab Amity as she strode away. ‘Where are you going?’
The captain didn’t answer but strode over to a nearby hetelfish stall to strike up a conversation with the merchant.
Zelia knew what Amity was doing, leaving them alone in the middle of the crowd. It was supposed to intimidate them, to remind them how vulnerable they were in a place like this. Her skin crawled as she felt every eye in the market on her. What would they do if one of the passers-by made a grab for them? Sure, Talen could handle himself in a fight, but even he had nearly come unstuck tackling the Kroot. She might try to act tough, but inside Zelia had never been so scared in her life, and as for Mekki…
She glanced at the Martian to find him tap-tap-tapping at his screen, the servo-sprite on his shoulder, wings folded behind its back. Mekki’s pale face was an expressionless mask, but a vein throbbed between the electoos on his head. He was just as frightened as she was, no matter how much he tried to distract himself with his precious data.
‘Way to go, Zelia,’ Talen muttered under his breath. ‘Try not to get us marooned.’
She whirled on the ganger. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘You should be.’ He jabbed a finger at the back of Amity’s head. ‘She’s our only way off this dump. It’s probably best that you don’t annoy her like you annoy everyone else.’
‘This dump?’ Zelia parroted, crossing her arms and cocking her head. ‘What happened to “wow, it’s amazing”?’
Talen stepped forwards so they were almost nose to nose. ‘I’ll tell you what happened.’ He jabbed a finger at her omniscope. ‘I nearly got killed getting that thing back for you, but did you say thank you? Did you?’
Zelia’s face burned. ‘I never asked you to chase after it in the first place. What do you want? Another patch for your jacket. Something to show how brave you are?’
‘I want some respect!’ he snapped back.
Fleapit reached up to touch Talen’s arm, but the ganger pulled away.
‘And you can get off me!’
‘He saved your life,’ Mekki pointed out, looking up from his screen.
‘He’s a stinking alien,’ Talen bellowed.
Zelia’s mouth dropped open. ‘I can’t believe you just said that.’
From the look on his face, neither could Talen. His mouth bobbed open and shut, and he glanced at the Jokaero, who simply glared back. Talen looked away, ashamed of himself, but his expression hardened as he spotted something across the marketplace.
His nose wrinkled. ‘And there’s another one…’
Zelia turned to see a blue-skinned xenos standing near a stall selling animal furs. The alien was female, her head completely devoid of hair and a long slit running between her eyes where a nose should be. Her ruby eyes were narrowed and focused on Talen.
Before any of them could stop him, Talen marched towards the alien, jabbing a finger at her. ‘What are you looking at?’
Another alien stepped in front of the female. He was of the same race, but at least a head taller, with a frame as powerful as the woman was slight. His bulk was only accentuated by the armour he wore under his dark robes, while his intent was clear from the three-fingered hand he placed on the sword at his waist.
Zelia looked around. More of the slit-nosed aliens had appeared in the crowd. She could count at least three – two males and another female – all equally muscled and glaring straight at Talen, who seemed oblivious to the danger he had placed himself in.
In fact, the appearance of the woman’s bodyguard only seemed to rile him more.
He spread his arms, as if challenging her to a fight. ‘Think you can take me, do you? Is that it? You think you can do better than the Kroot?’
Zelia caught up with him, grabbing his arm. He tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t let go. ‘Talen, what’s got into you?’
‘What’s got into me? Can’t you see it? They’re everywhere, Zelia. Aliens. Dirty, stinking xenos.’
Sweat was beading on his forehead, his breathing shallow.
Zelia looked straight into his eyes. ‘Talen, listen to me. I realise this is all new to you, but you need to calm down.’
‘Calm down? How can I, with you always judging me?’
‘I-I’m not.’
‘Of course you are. Poor little Talen. So scared. So inexperienced. Not like you.’ He turned on his heel, throwing his arms out wide to take in the entire market. ‘You’ve seen it all before, haven’t you? Zelia the galactic explorer, taking everything in her stride.’
She wasn’t going to let him get away with that. She stepped up close, and let her voice drop. ‘You think I’m not scared? Talen, I’m terrified. This is a nightmare, and I’m only just keeping it together.’
She tried to touch his hand, but he pulled away.
‘Then you probably shouldn’t be around me.’
He turned and walked off, fists balled at his sides.
‘Talen,’ Zelia called after him. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Just leave it, Zelia,’ he called back. ‘Leave me alone. Maybe dad was right all along. No concessions. No compromise.’
‘What does that mean?’
A hand grabbed Zelia’s shoulder. She spun around, thinking it was another thief, but it was only Amity, her conversation done.
‘What’s his problem?’ the captain said, nodding at Talen.
‘Where would you like us to start?’ Mekki said flatly.
Zelia tried to gather herself. ‘He’s just letting off steam.’
‘Then he needs to be careful,’ Amity said, glancing over at the blue-skinned alien who had returned her attention to the stall, her intimidating associates having melted back into the crowd like ghosts. ‘I knew this place was near the Tau Empire, but never expected to see them on the station.’
Zelia glanced at the alien. ‘They’re Tau?’
Amity nodded. ‘At least they weren’t wearing battle armour.’ The captain guided Zelia towards the hangar bay. ‘We should get you back to the ship.’
‘What about Talen?’
‘Meshwing can keep an eye on him,’ Mekki told her.
Zelia’s brow furrowed. ‘Meshwing?’
Mekki nodded at the servo-sprite, who obediently shot into the air, zipping after Talen.
‘You gave it a name?’
Mekki shrugged. ‘Unless you can think of something better?’
Zelia shook her head. ‘No. I like it. Meshwing it is!’
But as they walked back to the Profiteer, Zelia couldn’t help but wonder how much help a servo-sprite would be if Talen got himself into another fight…