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Daisy set the One Way Ticket on a landing pad at the spaceport in the center of Doveport, an ironically named city split down the middle by a broad avenue that separated the MacKenzies from the Karahkwahan. Somehow these two major trade hans shared a city and a planet, but fought over control of the Fingers.
An armed contingent of Karahkwahan soldiers met them at the edge of the pad and formed a protective cordon around Mei Ling and her people.
“You are always welcome in my han,” she paused and pulled a small signet ring from her pinky. “Show this to any Karahkwahan and you’ll have our help.
“Or,” she laid a hand on his forearm. “You are welcome to simple hospitality.”
“Likewise,” Atom rested his hand atop hers and felt her warmth. “You will always have the heart of a wayward trader.” He leaned close. “And I have a knack for making problems disappear.”
Mei Ling nodded in understanding and left with her contingent.
“Takin’ a paramour, Mr. Ulvan?” Shi leaned against the open hatch.
“Far from it,” Atom shot her a look. “Never hurts to have good contacts throughout the black, especially when this contact heads the biggest spacing guild in the Fingers.”
“If you say so, boss,” Shi cocked her head to watch Mei Ling’s receding form and she gave a good natured laugh. “Looked an awful cozy contact if you ask my reckonin’ and I don’t know if you should be spreadin’ yourself so.
“It’s liable to ruin your rep,” she tried to keep a straight face.
“I pay you to kill things, Shi. When I want your input on how to connect with contacts, I’ll ask.”
“Just make sure you knock first. I want to be presentable when you show me how you make contact,” she laughed again and fled into the shadows of the ship.
Atom shook his head, hiding a smile as he turned to survey the spaceport. Then he turned his attention to the ring, holding it up to the light to examine the intricate seal. He bit his lip in thought as he unhooked a sturdy metal necklace and slid the ring on.
In the distance the convoy of Karahkwahan hover-cars disappeared into their side of the city.
“Captain Ulvan,” a thin, uniformed man flew across the pad in a small, open hover-skiff accompanied by two security guards. “I need to run a quick customs inspection.”
The driver braked and pulled up beside Atom with a whine of suspensors.
“I’m sorry if this is an inconvenience,” the official hopped out of the skiff without taking his eyes from his pad. “Rules are rules. Imperial writ says we’ve got to scan you to make sure you aren’t carrying contraband or fugitives. The quicker we get this over with the quicker you’re on your way.”
Atom scowled at the guards climbing from the skiff as the gaunt official looked over the One Way Ticket with an appraising eye.
“I’m just dropping passengers,” Atom crossed his arms to stand defiant before his hatch. “Fact of the matter is, they were distressed passengers I picked off a dying ship. I saved your citizens and you’re giving me a shakedown?”
“Hmm,” the man looked back down at his pad and scrolled through a few pages. “What is it you do?”
“Work the black. Trade. Transport. Merc when the money’s good.”
The official lifted his eyes from his holopad. He shifted close to Atom, forcing him to turn as he leaned in close. “You any good?”
Atom whipped his pistol out and pressed it to the forehead of the nearest guard.
The man froze, hands trembling.
“You wouldn’t be thinking of trying to pull something on a poor, helpless captain?” Atom gave a wolfish grin as he kept his eyes locked on the bureaucrat.
“You are good,” the man tucked his pad in his jacket and waved the guards away. Once they moved out of earshot he continued. “I have a job that needs doing and let’s just say it’s delicate. You say you’ve got a bit of merc in you, well I’ve need of someone who can make someone disappear.”
“Possible I’m that man,” Atom glared at the two guards. “Maybe we should run a quick inspection of my ship, talk things over.
“Rest assured, I would never bend the rules,” Atom gestured to his hatch.
“I believe that would be proper procedure,” the official gave a surgical smile. “My name is Polk in case you wondered.”
“Don’t really care. Tell all and don’t leave any details out. Honesty dictates whether I take the job.”
Atom led the way through the lower hatch and ducked inside without waiting for Polk. As they entered the hold Kozue brought the lights up and Atom turned like a marketer displaying his wares.
He smiled and bowed. “A cargo hold full of cryo beef. They’re set to be slaughtered when we reach our destination.”
“And that would be?” Polk peered into the narrow window on one of the pods. He turned away with distaste as the soft blue light inside the case flickered to life and revealed a fully grown cow in suspended animation.
“Wherever the market takes us,” Atom said with theatrical showmanship. “Right now we’re headed out to the Nievaal System. I have a few more passengers paying fare to get home to their families. The market says they don’t pay too well for beef, seeing as they have all their own range, but we’ll see. And if I can’t find the cred there I’ll burn for the Upper Knuckles.
“Maybe even the Palm if the profits are there, but who knows,” Atom shrugged.
“Sounds like a lot of fuel for beef”
“I got them at a discount, so if I hit the Palm I could almost retire”
“Discount? Do I need to check their tags?”
“Nope,” Atom held up his hands. “They’re legal. I just rolled a favor for a friend and he lined up a hold full of fresh beef as payment.”
“Sounds ideal,” Polk glanced at his holopad. “And looks solid.
“So let’s take a gaze at the rest of your ship, and make sure it’s all up to the line,” Polk looked around the hold and finding the exits, pressed through the crates toward the stairs to the upper deck.
As he set foot on the first metal stair Shi appeared at the upper hatch and began descending.
“Who’re you?” she demanded as she turned and caught sight of the official.
“Polk, Jimmy Polk,” he looked up at her with a similar expression to the one he had for the cows. He took in her short blond hair, the sun scowl, her ragged poncho and he turned back to Atom. “Please lead on to the rest of your ship, if you don’t mind.”
As Atom passed he leaned close to Shi. “Keep the galley clear for the next fifteen. I’ve some business to attend to.
“You call that business?” beneath her poncho Atom heard a cylinder click.
Atom fixed her with a hard look.
As the official passed Shi, the gunslinger gave a quick knuckled salute and two-fingered salute to his back. Then she hopped down the stairs, leaving Atom to lead Polk past the crew quarters.
“Do you need to see inside?” he asked as Margo trotted from their shared bunk. The girl studied Polk with uncertain hesitation. Then, without taking her eyes from the skinny man she retreated and reached up to her father. Atom studied the exchange and hoisted Margo up to his hip.
Margo glared death at Polk.
“No, I should be set,” Polk ignored Margo, instead focusing on his pad. He flipped through several menus before holding it out to release a pair of hovering drones the size of small ball bearings into the air. “These will do a quick sweep for contraband.”
The drones swept into Shi’s room.
“We can move on to the next area,” Polk touched the pad in his pocket. “The drones will only take a few moments in each room. They’re not too intrusive, just basic scan and they’ll catch up with us.
“I’m guessing this is your dining facility,” he stepped through the hatch into the galley. “Leaves something to be desired.”
“We’re a merch, not a lux-liner,” Atom laughed as he rolled his eyes behind Polk’s back. “Can I offer you something to drink while we jibber? Chai, bitter, maybe something a little stronger?”
“Do you have anything decent on this ship?”
“Typically no, but I might be able to rustle something up.”
“No, that’s not necessary,” Polk ran a finger along the clean countertop and wore an expression like he had stumbled into the vilest fogmatic den. “A simple coffee will suffice.”
“Coffee?” Atom cocked his head at the archaic term. “Bitter?”
Polk nodded.
Atom set Margo on the counter and busied himself in the narrow cooking space as Polk dropped into the booth. He immersed himself in his holopad and ignored his surroundings. Before Atom finished brewing the bitter the drones returned and settled into their nooks on the pad.
“Looks like you have nothing to worry about, Captain Ulvan. The drone sweep turned up nothing, which leaves us to discuss an extracurricular employment.”
Atom set the steaming bitter before Polk and instructed Kozue to shut the two galley hatches. Content in their privacy, Atom gathered Margo and slid into the seat across the booth. He waited in patient silence.
“How do I know you’re any good, or that you can actually accomplish the task I need done?” Polk took a sip of the bitter brew and pushed it away with a facial twitch.
“You don’t. In this line of work you don’t ask for references. A name is enough. More than that and you have a trail that can come back to haunt you.”
“I understand.”
“Remember what I said about honesty,” Atom crossed his arms and stared down at the man. “Tell me everything.”
“How do I know you won’t go sell this to someone else?”
“Like I said, you don’t, but if you want the job done you have to start somewhere. I don’t want to tell anyone, though. If I took your information to someone there’s a good chance I get dragged down with it. That’s not good for any of us. You tell me what you want done and I’ll tell you whether I’ll take the job or not.
“If I walk away,” Atom fixed Polk with a hard stare. “We never see each other again and your request disappears.
“Nothing to implicate either of us,” Atom whispered.
Polk hesitated. He pulled the cup of bitter back over, but caught himself before taking another sip.
“So here’s the whole of it,” nervous sweat broke across the man’s neck and face. “I’m actually the imperial governor of this planet.”
Atom raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.
“I’ve dug myself a hole,” Polk gulped. “I’ve been siphoning money from the tax revenues and building myself a little retirement fund. I just received word that they are rotating me out. I didn’t expect an early rotation and I won’t have time to fix the books.
“When the new governor arrives I’m through,” words flowed in a panic. “I can’t cover my tracks fast enough to keep the new governor from finding out.
“So here’s what I need to happen. The local guilds have some trouble. God knows why the two largest trade guilds share a homeworld, but they do and it’s driving towards open war. This will work in my favor. I need you to kill the new governor when he arrives. Then I need you to spin things so that the blame falls on the guilds. I don’t care which one. Hell, implicate both of them. But if we can do that I can make some arrests, seize some property, seize assets,” his eyes lit with an inner fire. “You see where I’m headed?
“Assets fill the financial holes in my books,” rapid gasps broke from his enthusiasm. “Arrests and seized property can be diverted and the whole order of business takes the guilds down a few notches which increases my power here.
“The empire’s power,” he caught himself. “But it also means my retirement is set. With the money I’ve put aside I could buy a small moon and be a Lord.”
Polk stared at Atom with hunger in his frenetic eyes.
“It was you,” understanding dawned on Atom.
“The incident?” Polk laughed. “Of course. I mean, it wasn’t me, but I ordered it. A couple bodies set off a border war that shifts this planet’s politics in my favor. I was planning on killing the new governor myself, but hiring you lets me build a better alibi and puts me in a position to be a hero in all this.
“And if you’re trying to record this, think again,” his laughter grew more maniacal. “My pad’s kicking out a damping field over this whole room. Nothing to hear.”
Atom held up a hand.
“I repeat,” his words came slow. “It’s not in my best interest to have recordings of anything. Honor holds it together, that and shared knowledge.”
“Good,” Polk straightened his jacket. “So you’ll take the job?”
“Of course. And payment?”
“Ten thousand ko,” Polk spat.
“It’s a little lower than my usual fee.”
“You can walk,” Polk shrugged and reached for his pad. “And my report might change.”
“It’s agreeable. But I want payment before I act.”
Polk measured him. “If you want it up front I’ll need some collateral,” his eyes darted to Margo. “In good faith of course.”
“No,” Atom gave a simple shake of his head. “I think you hold enough leverage over my head. You don’t need my daughter to ensure I’ll finish what I start. You can always lock down my ship and I go nowhere. The money is good faith on your part, not mine.”
Polk gritted his teeth, but after a silent running of scenarios he relented.
“I’ll have my man drop the money by in an hour,” he rose from his seat and planted himself in the middle of the galley. “Ten thousand and you make my problems go away.”
“Agreed,” Atom turned, but remained seated as he stretched out his hand to seal the deal. Polk looked down with a sneer and swept from the room.
Shi bumped shoulders with the man in the doorway and wandered into the room.
“What the hell are you gettin’ yourself into,” she demanded as she dropped into the booth. She scowled at Atom even as she slipped a bracelet of bright glass beads to Margo. “Verm like that don’t play well with others, with anyone actually. You talkin’ to him is liable to get us all burned.”
“It’s not your concern, Shi,” Atom cracked his knuckles as a knowing smile split his face “Just a little side job to earn some cred, nothing more.”
“Well, one of these days your side gigs are gonna pull the rest of us in,” she kicked her feet up on the seat next to Atom. “My preference in life is knowin’ what I’m shootin’ before it’s kickin’ my stones.”
“You don’t want anything to do with my side jobs.”
“Ha,” she barked. “I knew it. I told Daisy you’s a tumbler. You gonna tumble that old codge? No wonder you don’t want my help.”
Atom measured her, but his smile held “I’m not a tumbler and that boke’s definitely not my type.”
––––––––
Later that eve, as the crew sat at the table waiting for Byron to finish his turn at cooking, a sudden energy overcame Atom. For most of the afternoon a brooding lethargy had consumed him. But after several minutes of wordless finger drumming he leaped to his feet.
“I need information,” he declared.
The others started at his sudden movement.
“And a drink,” he looked to Daisy with a mysterious grin.
“I’m your huck,” the pilot returned the grin and joined Atom on his feet.
Shi shrugged, sliding from the booth with feline grace as she waved the mech over. “Byron, put up the food. We’ll save it for later.”
“But I’m just about to finish up,” Byron whined. “It might even be good this time.”
“Smells good,” Shi agreed. “And that’s an improvement over last time. But the cap just declared he’s takin’ us out on the town tonight. Don’t turn down a chance to spend another man’s cred on the zip and eats.”
“Fine,” Byron shut down the heating elements and threw the full pots straight into storage bins.
Atom stood at the door, just about to leave when Roger Thach coughed from the back corner of the booth. Freezing with a guilty look on his face, Atom turned with a pleasant smile plastered on his face. The rest of the crew shuffled past Atom to stand out of the miner’s sight
“You are welcome to join,” reluctance tainted Atom’s words.
“I think we stay. You serve passengers first, no?” Roger said with resigned dejection. “As long as you do not bother with leave passengers aboard ship unsupervised.”
“Kozue’s got eyes on the ship. Meanwhile, we go blow some steam. I deliver on some long promised dirt time. And we lift for Shelly first thing in the morn.”
“That is acceptable. I don’t like flying with disgruntled crew.”
“Exactly,” Atom thrust his hands in his coat pockets. “By, get that food back out for our passengers before we leave.”
Byron hopped into motion and in less than a minute he served two heaping plates of curried stew to the miners. With the flourish of a seasoned waiter he carried a pair of plates from the kitchen and slid them down the table. The two plates stopped with uncanny accuracy before each man. Then, like a nimble fingered magician, he produced a pair of spoons and sent them gliding after the plates.
“Everything to your satisfaction, bokes?” he flashed a beaming smile and bowed to the miners.
“Smells vkusno, young Byron,” Roger smiled as Barnes tucked into his plate.
Seeing smiling customers, Atom turned and trotted down the hallway on whispering soles. He slipped into the hold to find Daisy and Shi waiting by the small side cargo hatch. Daisy rocked the suspensor pram, gliding it back and forth despite the fact that Shi bounced Margo on her hip.
“Seems you two are embracing this parenting routine,” Atom laughed as he hopped down the steps with child-like enthusiasm.
Daisy released the pram, a bashful shyness forcing him to drop his eyes. Shi, on the other hand fixed Atom with a wondering eye, puzzled by her captain’s errant behavior and yet transfixed.
“What?” he demanded.
“Never actually seen you giddy before,” her silky drawl covered her curiosity.
“And you’ve never taken us out before,” Daisy followed.
“Fair enough. By should be right behind me,” he plucked Margo from Shi’s arms and placed a tender kiss on his daughter’s forehead. “He was slinging food like a stone across a pond, but he was hitting his mark when I left him.”
“That was thick of you to forget about those two bokes. How’d you pull that, sitting at the table with them and all?” Daisy asked. “Akin to leaving the ship without your pants. Embarrassing for everyone involved.”
Atom gave Daisy an agreeing shrug and dropped Margo into the pram. As he keyed the hatch open Byron bolted down the stairs behind them. Nobody paid the youth any mind as they stepped out into the cool evening air with freedom in their eyes. Byron jogged to catch up with the others and with a jaunty air the four crewmates sauntered across the spaceport, through the gate, and joined the thronged street beyond.
“Should we aim for a portside pub or press into the city for finer digs?” Atom asked as they walked in pairs down the side of the busy thoroughfare.
“I could go for a square,” Shi scowled at the crowd.
“I aim to drink an ocean tonight,” Daisy said. “I can eat or I can drink. I ain’t an uber.”
“Let’s go somewhere with ladies, darls,” Byron wore a leering grin.
All three adults swiveled their heads in shock.
“What?” the boy demanded. “I’ve been indentured my whole life, you bokes. I thinks it’s time to learn to talk to ladies.”
“You talk to me,” Shi flipped her hair with a coy air and winked at Byron.
“I mean a lady.”
“You sayin’ I ain’t a lady?” Shi growled as she slung her poncho. Her hands hovered just above the curve of her hips, a finger’s breadth above her pistols. “I reckon I should let you talk to these ladies.”
Byron gulped. “No, no, no,” he backtracked, dodging around the far side of the pram. “I’m not saying anything of the sort. I know you’re a lady.
“Please, Shi. I just didn’t figure you’d ever have an interest in a kid like me.”
“Neither will any ladies, unless you pay the tumbler,” she smiled as she dropped her poncho back over her guns.
“Don’t pay her no mind,” Daisy motioned for Byron to walk beside him. “She’s all talk with her friends. Shi’ll give you words, but she’ll watch out for you if you ever get into real trouble.
“If you’re looking for a lady to talk with this eve, stick with me,” Daisy draped a python of an arm of Byron’s shoulders.
“You’ll set me up?”
“I never said that,” Daisy flashed a toothy grin. “I’ll probably end up with a couple on my arm and you can have one or you can watch and learn a thing or two from an old professional.”
“Emph the old,” Shi chipped in as she thrust herself between the two, wrapping an arm around Daisy’s waist and the other over Byron’s shoulder.
The three pressed ahead, but Atom drifted along just behind them with a soft smile on his lips as he watched their familial interaction. He knew in that moment that he had chosen his people wisely. A crew that failed to mesh meant a crew that would fail to function at some point and Atom knew that time would come, whether he liked it or not. But Shi and Daisy had avoided a physical tangent, preferring to keep their working relationship friendly, but professional, thereby preventing any future drama. And they had both adopted Byron like a little brother.
Atom knew that Byron would someday chafe in that role, but for the time being their bond would hold strong.
“What’s taking so long, boss?” Shi called over her shoulder.
“Sorry,” Atom pressed the pram to catch up with the others.
They walked for a mile, skirting the edge of the spaceport. Not seeing any pub that stood out, they chose the next establishment to catch their eyes.
The Golden Hamster.
“What kind of name is that?” Daisy stared up at the furry sign.
Shi shrugged and looked over to Atom for an explanation.
“Delicacy or favorite pet,” he quipped.
“I saw a hamster once,” said Byron. “Some offworld boke needing a new coil stopped by the shop and had a ball of fur sitting in his pocket.
“Although,” he shrugged Shi’s arm off his shoulder and pressed through the throng. “It could have just been a furry bot.”
“That’s just strange,” Daisy followed Byron and at the doors he grabbed the boy by the top of his head and pushed him back so as to enter the pub first. “I smell the refreshing scent of joy on the air, mixed with a little desperation.”
“Try not to hurt yourself too much,” Atom walked a step behind, but he stepped aside to allow Shi to enter before him. “We do fly out tomorrow.”
Atom maneuvered the pram up the steps and found a side table in the corner where he tucked Margo and settled down. He watched Daisy forge through the moderate crowd and muscle up to the bar. There the hulking pilot scanned the Greek chorus of liquor bottles. Pointing over to Atom he ordered his first drink and a tab flashed on the holo-surface of the corner table. Atom scanned a cred chip and locked it in the slot at the table’s edge.
Shi dropped into the seat opposite Atom and began scrolling the tabletop, looking for food to catch her fancy.
“Where’d By go?” Atom asked, ordering an iced chai and a milk for Margo.
“He’s after Daisy like a tail,” Shi remained focused on the menu. “Should I get a Reuben or the house special, hamster balls?”
“Um, Reuben,” Atom hesitated. “Hamster balls sounds like something you’d order from a vet.”
“Reuben it is,” Shi punched in her order. “With iriko temp and a stout.”
“That actually sounds good,” Atom pulled up his own menu and ordered a yak chili bread bowl with a curried prawn crown. “So what do you think the eve holds?”
“Trouble,” Shi chuckled as she leaned back in her chair and kicked up her feet on the edge of the pram. “Daisy ain’t had a real drink since we picked him. He may have a stash of shots to keep from running dry, but he ain’t drained the ocean of late.
“You heard By and his talk of ladies,” their drinks arrived, carried by a hovering tray that retreated as soon as Shi transferred the heavy mugs to the table. “He’s goin’ to chase the wrong panties and rile the wrong boke. Daisy won’t let nothin’ happen, but trouble’ll be started. Daisy’ll end the trouble too, or else my ladies,” she patted her guns. “Will serenade some folk.”
“You check the gun laws here?”
“I should be safe so long as I ain’t the first to draw.”
“Let’s try to avoid that,” Atom sipped at his frothy chai. “I don’t think the Shelleyans would appreciate it too much if I keep putting them off.”
“Yeah, probably not,” she scanned the room out of habit.
In the corner a guitarist plugged in and began crooning a heavy love song over the hubbub of the crowding pub. Atom yawned. Leaning on one elbow he divided his attention between’s Shi’s machine-like surveying and Margo singing her own words to the musician’s song as she made her ragged doll dance on Shi’s boots.
The bot returned with the food. Shi dropped her feet to the floor and received a pout from Margo as she dispensed the food. With the crowd to her side, the gunslinger hunched over her plate and began shoveling food Imperial Marine-style without taking her eyes from the surrounding press.
“This smells wicked,” Atom pulled his bread bowl over, closing his eyes as he inhaled the savory scent.
“If you say so,” Shi tucked into her sandwich with relish. “This rube’s mighty meaty. Might be one of the best I’ve had while wandering this Finger.”
“See, the thing is,” Atom spoke around a mouthful of steaming chili. “A Reuben is the same wherever you get it, with some slight alterations on the size and juiciness, but chili changes based on where you are and who cooks it. Fact, the same person can cook chili on two different rocks, or even two continents on one rock and create a completely new culinary marvel.”
“Culinary? A might hoity, eh?” she spit out a piece of her sandwich as she laughed. “You sound like a phlegm-head from the Palm. Down here, we want the food hot and in our bellies so we can enjoy it before we die.
“Culinary?” she shook her head in disbelief.
“There’s good food everywhere,” Atom handed one of his spicy prawns to Margo. “You just have to look for it.”
“If you say so, boss.”
A shout from the bar interrupted her thoughts. “That didn’t take long,” Shi grumbled. “I was hopin’ to at least eat my food.”
Atom watched a drunken patron fly across the room and land atop a table amid a smash of plates, glasses, and splintering wood. The men and women at the table leaped to their feet, covered in food and drink.
“This looks to be bigger than I thought,” Atom took another bite of his chili, watching the show with interest.
“Glad you’ve a notion to watch.”
Atom crunched on one of his prawns.
Shi washed down her mouthful with a long swig from her stout. “I should probably get in there and make sure no one really gets hurt.”
“Give it a few,” Atom handed another prawn to Margo as he watch two men jump on top of Daisy, only to fly off in different directions. The pilot turned and slammed down another shot before turning back to his assailants with a maniacal grin.
“If you say so,” Shi relaxed and popped a couple crunchy sardines in her mouth. “How much time you think we got?”
“Well, it looks to be Daisy against everyone else in the bar. The bartender just placed the call, so I’d guess we have five minutes. There should be enough time to finish our food and scram before the sheriffs show.
“I’m estimating,” he enjoyed another bite of his chili and shared some with Margo. “I wouldn’t waste any time.”
“And what about Daisy?”
“He can handle himself, he’s a berserker drunk,” Atom shook his head with a sad smile. “He’ll wake up tomorrow wondering about cuts and bruises, but he won’t feel a thing tonight. It’s his curse.”
“Byron?” Shi jolted up from her slouch.
“I thought you were keeping an eye on him,” Atom said in faux shock. “Relax, he’s hiding underneath the bar beside Daisy. Anyone wants to get to him has to go through our pilot.”
Daisy picked up a table and used it as a shield to carve more space for himself. Shi craned her neck and found Byron cowering amid the detritus of the brawl with his hands protecting his head.
Swinging the table by one leg, Daisy crushed a crowd of assailants. The leg snapped off, sending the table flying like an oversized Frisbee into the room. Daisy stared at the leg in confusion, then with a shrug he began swinging the leg like a mace and with a roar of warrior joy he launched himself into the crowd.
“When you finish up your sandwich, do you think you could slip in there and retrieve Byron?” Atom tore a chunk from the breadbowl, dipped it, and fed it to Margo.
An attacker careened in their direction. Anticipating the trajectory, Shi rose to redirect the stumbling man away from the table. She grabbed him by the back of his coat and launched him towards the wall. The man collided with a sickening thunk and slid to the ground in a motionless heap.
“Not a problem,” Shi gave a sardonic smile, packed the last corner of her sandwich in her cheek, and ducked into the maelstrom.
“Well, I suppose this is following my plans,” Atom studied the situation.
Behind his back, Margo snatched another prawn and popped it in her mouth.
He rubbed at his chin.
“What plan was that?” Kozue asked. “I really would appreciate being privy to our strategies. You know it is possible I could aid in logistics.”
“This is a little free form.”
Pushing his bowl away, Atom rose to meet Shi as she ducked out of the crowd with Byron in tow. She guided the boy like a startled calf.
“By, can you take Go outside?” Atom flipped off the brake and swung the pram around the table “I need to clean this up and help Shi get Daisy out in one piece.”
Byron nodded with fear filled eyes.
Klaxons sounded in the distance.
“Meet me across the street,” Atom gave Byron a gentle shove.
After watching the boy skirt the barroom battlefield, Atom turned to Shi. “Give me your girls, quickly,” he held out his hands.
Shi eyed him with distrust. “Why?”
“If the cons get here before we get Daisy out, I don’t want you to have anything extra on your dock. I have some of those contacts, so guns shouldn’t slow anything down for me, but I can’t say the same for you.”
“Fine,” she drew her pistols, but hesitated to hand them over. “Keep them safe.”
Atom held out his hands. “Trust me,” he urged.
“I don’t want a scratch on them,” she flipped them with practiced dexterity. “And don’t play with them.”
“They’re in good hands,” Atom tucked the pistols in the pockets of his worn brown coat and sent a worried look to the door.
At that moment a dozen armor clad constables poured into the barroom.
“Faster than I expected,” he scowled.
“What?” Shi cast a worried look.
Behind her, Daisy continued to pound through the walls of human meat. Singing to himself with brash disregard as he took punishment, but dealt worse.
“I was hoping to avoid this,” Atom placed a hand on Shi’s shoulder.
“What?”
“This,” he punched her in the eye, not a devastating blow, but more than enough to knock her from her feet. “Keep an eye on Daisy. I’ll get you out as soon as I can.”
Shi sat in the wreckage of the bar, stunned. Squinting up she caught a glimpse of Atom throwing himself through the window behind their table. In an explosion of glass and wood he disappeared.
––––––––
Atom strolled through the night. Beside him Byron kept his pace slowed enough to shadow Atom, but his agitation showed in the jerkiness of steps.
“We’re just leaving them?” he demanded in a loud whisper.
“Nothing we can do right now.”
“But all that feke about family?”
Atom smiled and nodded a greeting to a shopkeep standing in his doorway. “Best to let the dust settle. We’ll pick them up tomorrow. By, every family has a regulated dose of crazy. You just witnessed ours.”
“You sure they’ll be released tomorrow?”
With a shrug Atom focused on the crowded street. “Maybe. I would assume a bar fight just outside the port would be flushed through the systems a might quick. If they don’t move them, the ships stay grounded and not a soul likes that.”
“Roger’s going to be flipped.”
“Unforeseeable consequences of letting my crew blow off some steam.”
“But what if they decide to take another ship? We haven’t made any cred on them yet.”
“They paid their fare. I’m pretty sure they’ll stay.”
“What makes you so sure?” Byron glanced over his shoulder.
“I have something to offer them they won’t get on any other merch.”
“And that would be?”
“Margo of course,” a soft light soothed Atom’s face. “How many ships can offer the joy of a child aboard? And I said I would offer some legal advice once we made planetfall on Shelley.”
“So you’re a lawman now?”
“Hardly,” the light fled from Atom’s face, replaced by his usual brooding darkness. After walking away from the bar he had guided them down a series of seeming random streets, moving in the direction of their gate, but keeping away from the busier thoroughfares.
“Hold a second,” Atom stopped before a plain storefront, lit by a small blinking sign despite the late hour. “This looks like it might be the right place. Wait out here with the pram a couple minutes. I need to pick up a few things before we head back to the Ticket. I think they might have what I need here.”
Byron squinted up at the gaudy, neon blue sign, but held his tongue and put a hand on the pram as Atom picked up Margo and ducked into the narrow storefront.
“Hello?” Atom called out as he parted a veil of tiny bells in the door.
As the tinkling died, the store fell silent.
Atom approached the long counter that lined one wall. Setting Margo down he turned and leaned back on the counter, surveying the two shelves that ran the length of the store and the endless variety of goods packed into every available cranny of the establishment.
“I guess this is what they mean by a general store,” he said to Margo as she hopped with exaggerated steps to a bucket of hand painted pinwheels. “Careful with those, Fiver.”
Obediently she picked one up with youthful care. Atom watched with a smile as she spun the wheel with a finger and sent the painted fingers dancing.
Margo cooed with delight.
“Can I help you, sir?” a tottering old man asked from behind the counter. Startled, Atom spun and his pistol leaped to his hand.
“Peace, stranger,” the white headed man stared down the barrel of the gun.
“Apologies,” Atom blew out a deep breath and shook his head as he dropped the rail-pistol back into its holster. “It’s been a tense eve and by the void you’ve got some quiet dew-kicks, pops.”
“I’ve been told that afore,” the shopkeep had a comforting laugh. He dropped his hands and steadied himself with the counter. “Now, you in the market for pinwheels?”
Atom cocked his head in confusion. Then Margo laughed, high with childish melody, and Atom understood. “No,” he relaxed and smiled “I’m in the market for some information. Nothing illegal or such, just common knowledge an offworlder might not be privy to.”
The shopkeep shifted back from the counter. “Why would an offworlder be looking for this information?” he locked his bushy, grey eyebrows together and fixed Atom with a stern stare.
Atom unhooked his necklace and slipped the ring off. He set it on the counter and with one finger slid the signet toward the old man. Keeping his eyes on Atom, the shopkeep picked up the ring. He gave Atom and Margo a glance before turning his attention to the gold band. With the eye of a jeweler he scrutinized the seal.
“Where’d you come by this little trinket?”
“A friend gave it to me for doing her a solid,” Atom replied.
“So, what is it you want to know, stranger?”
“The lord’s concubine and son were killed.”
“Everyone knows that,” the old man snarled.
Atom held up his hands in peace. “The vendetta that’s to take place, I need to know when and where?”
“You want a front row seat to the action?” the man’s features softened. “It was scheduled for tomorrow at dawn, but our lord had an accident on her trip out to gather her twenty-one champions.
“A stranger saved our lord,” the shopkeep studied Atom. “Seems she owes him a life debt.”
“What are the twenty-one champions?” Atom deflected.
“Each party of the vendetta selects their twenty-one finest warriors and then meets at a neutral site to settle the dispute,” the shopkeep handed Atom back the ring and he slipped it back onto his necklace. “They say she was saved from the black by a grey ghost and his daughter.
“What’s your girl’s name?” a weathered smile split the old man’s face. Margo gripped Atom’s pant leg, but returned the smile with a happy grin.
“Margo,” Atom tickled her neck, which brought a squeal of delight. “She’s my muse.”
“Well, your muse is welcome to that pinwheel.”
“What do you say?” Atom nudged Margo again.
“Thank you,” she squealed as she detached herself from Atom and ran in a little circle, making the pinwheel spin with her speed.
“So the twenty-one,” Atom turned back. “Will you have enough?”
“Aye, but they aren’t the finest soldiers of the han. They’re the best on short notice, but this could prove bad for us. If we lose this vendetta, the death of the lord’s concubine and heir will go unpunished and we will owe damages for the vendetta.”
“What do you get if you win?”
“Vendetta money for any soldier killed. Their families will receive a sum from the MacKenzies. Most importantly, their han will admit responsibilities and turn over the guilty parties, no matter how high up in the han they are.”
“Interesting,” Atom hitched his thumbs in his gunbelt as he rolled the ideas around his mind. “And where is the locale for this gala?”
“The neutral zone, spaceport.”
“You mean that strip running down the center of the city?”
“Yup,” the old man gave a lopsided grin and leaned on the counter again. “I’ll be there, but I’ll be tired. Working the late shift and the vendetta is bright and early. You going to be there, stranger?”
“If I wake up,” Atom gathered Margo up in his arms. “My ship is right there, so it shouldn’t be too hard.”
––––––––
“What do you mean we are to be stuck on rock another day?” demanded Roger as Atom busied himself in the galley, making himself a mug of bitter.
“I’m sorry, it really is out of my hands,” Atom dropped in a synth-cin tab for spice. “Daisy got himself into a fight and got snatched by the sheriff. He shouldn’t be in long, but I can’t leave without him.”
“And where is Shi? Can she fly this poki?”
“Watch it,” Atom sipped his bitter, but locked eyes with Roger. “This is my home, don’t go insulting it.
“They should be out later this morning and we should be departing no more than a few hours off schedule,” he walked over to Roger and joined him in the doorway. “Some things are just out of my hands.”
Cradling his bitter he slipped past Roger and headed for the crew quarters. He kicked at Byron’s door and sipped his steaming brew as he waited. Silence. Behind him Roger fixed him with a death-stare, but Atom ignored it as the miner stalked from the galley in the other direction.
Atom kicked the door again. “By, get up. I need you to run an errand.”
A grumble and a thump met his efforts.
After a final, resounding kick the hatch hissed open and a bleary-eyed Byron stood blinking in the dim light of the hall.
“What?” the mech demanded.
“We need to get Daisy and Shi out before sunup,” Atom snapped. “Get some clothes on.
“We? Why don’t you just do it?” Byron yawned and scratched his belly.
“I need to run another errand.”
“So you’re sending me off in the middle of the night?”
“Sums it,” Atom grabbed Byron by the neck and dragged him to the communal bathroom like an unruly kitten. “Get yourself showered and dressed proper. You’re headed to the lockup and need to look like you know what you’re talking about.”
“How am I to get them out? Charm?” Byron made a grab for the door frame.
Atom snatched him back and held up a thousand ko coin. “This should cover it. When you get there, lay out that we’re a merch looking to get underway and see if you can just pay the fines and be gone. If that doesn’t work I have another chip in my sleeve. Tell them your captain is the Grey Ghost and see if we can avoid having to get him involved with the han lord.
“Get in there,” he shoved Byron into the shower. “I’ll leave the ko on your rack.
Atom slammed the bath hatch and after dropping by Byron’s bunk he collapsed into his own rack.
“Koze, how many hours until sunup?” he mumbled as his eyes slammed shut.
“Just under four hours.”
“Wake me in three,” before he heard a reply he drifted into the welcoming arms of Morpheus.
––––––––
The sun rose over the neutral spaceport, burning the mist from the city-dividing complex. From either side of the mile-wide plasteel strip, crowds began to gather. Pipes and drums split the air as the separate hans began working themselves into frenzied states. Then, as the sun half crested the horizon the two groups drifted like glaciers, their paths on a collision course. As they moved, more and more bannermen poured out to support their families, until the entire center of the spaceport swirled in a seething mob.
Atom sat dangling his legs off the half-lowered cargo ramp, watching the two tides drift towards each other. The One Way Ticket rented a pad half a mile off the path of the two warring parties, close enough to see the action, but far enough away to keep all but the swirling fringes of the groups away from his ship.
As the groups forged across the plasteel pads, Atom rose to his feet with a groan and began pushing a bright-eyed Margo in her pram. He aimed for the intersection of the two parties.
From the ranks of both groups, smaller groups emerged.
Atom stifled a yawn.
“Are you sure it’s wise for you to bring Margo into this?” Kozue asked as he walked like Moses between the parted walls of the human sea.
“No, but she’s safer by my side than alone in this galaxy.”
Margo laughed and tried to catch the tailing whispers of the morning mist. Atom registered her delight but remained focused on his goal.
The drums pounded.
Pipes skirled.
The two sides drew together like titans on a collision course. The mobs swirled and cheered in a frenzied war dance. Ahead of them the twenty-one champions from each han, led by their lords, stepped forward. With measured strides they moved to face off in stoic silence, staring each other down from twenty yards apart.
The sun fully crested the horizon and a hush fell over the crowds. The warriors stretched and flexed, awaiting their moment.
Atom drew near.
“MacKenzie, Karahkwa hold a moment,” he yelled in the moment of silence.
Thousands of eyes turned to the interloper, but Atom kept his gaze on the heads of the two great guilds. Like a guest at a formal party he walked, stiff and proud, between the two warring people without a hint of fear, one hand on the pram and the other hitched in his belt.
As he drew near, he gave Mei Ling a slight nod.
“If you would wait a moment, I have some information that will save both your hans a great deal of bloodshed and wasted money.”
“What do you have that could be of interest to us?” demanded the head of the MacKenziehan.
Atom held up one hand to give them all pause and a moment later a pair of ground-cars came skimming along, humming along on well-tuned suspensors. From the governor’s compound, near the regional comptroller’s tower, the two vehicles sped. They approached from behind Atom, but he continued walking. Only when the first car whipped up beside the pram did Atom halt and give the car any mind.
“What are you doing?” Polk grinned with snake-like charm as he rolled down the blacked-out window and looked up at Atom.
“I’m preparing to carry out your task,” Atom wore a bemused look.
“But you can’t stop them from fighting,” Polk hissed. “We need their fight to cover what you’re going to do.”
“I know. I need to make sure everything lines up, timing-wise.”
“Oh,” Polk looked relieved. “So you’re just keeping things on schedule?”
“Hopefully,” Atom stretched his back. Then he shaded his eyes and scanned the sky.
“What are we waiting for?” the MacKenzie yelled, raising his arms in frustration. “The governor’s never cared about our scraps as long as we keep them localized.”
“And he won’t,” Atom kept his eyes to the sky. A small heated blur dropped from orbit, and Atom smiled a feral grin.
The ship sliced into the atmosphere with a sudden burst of burning atmo.
“That would be the new gov, right?” Atom kept one hand on the pram but leaned on the roof of the ground-car with the other.
“That’s them,” Polk said in an agitated tone as he craned his neck out the window to follow the low approach of the official ship. “What are you planning to do?”
“This,” Atom keyed a trigger on the handle of the pram and a blue-flamed rocket dropped from beneath the pram and fired skyward. Every eye in both crowds followed the missile as it soared above the morning sun. Like a hound, it flew true.
Polk’s mouth fell open as a fireball erupted in the sky, followed by a low, rumbling concussion. Atom shielded his eyes. Then, dropping his hand to his gunbelt, he squinted against the glare to track the falling carcass of the doomed ship. Once certain the ship would fall well clear of the One Way Ticket he turned back to Polk.
“Little public?” Polk jerked his head back inside the window.
“How else do you assassinate a public official?” Atom’s eyes opened wide in mock surprise. “Is this the point where you arrest me?”
Polk sputtered. “Well, yes. You knew?”
“Don’t play me for an old fiddle,” Atom leaned on the pram, causing Margo to dip as the suspensors reacted to the added weight. “Someone’s got to take the fall.”
Polk eyed the pram with suspicion. He turned and muttered something over his shoulder. As the governor took his eyes from Atom, the captain moved in a fluid blur. Removing his hand from the handle keyed a small energy that surrounded the entire pram to keep Margo safe.
Polk caught the movement and turned his head just in time for Atom to draw his pistol and put a round through his left eye.
The doors flew open and a dozen bodyguards poured from the two hovering cars.
Without hesitation Atom flew into motion. Two driving steps allowed him to slide over the hood of the first car, pulling his second pistol from behind his back as he dropped off the far side in a crouch. Training kicked in and he gunned down the guards as they turned to locate him.
He dropped to his shoulder, covered by the door.
Rail slugs tore through the shins of the guards on the far side of the car. As they fell he finished them.
Spinning around the front of the ground-car, he checked his ammo.
Bullets splashed off the plasteel landing pads. On both sides people sprinted for cover, trying to avoid the unexpected gunfight. Sporadic shields popped up, but most either stayed low or pressed for the scattered cover offered by the spaceport buildings and vehicles.
Atom ignored everything and everyone around him.
Peeking up over the hood he counted seven heads.
A hail of bullets and energy bolts drove him back into cover behind the car. He listened and knew his time ticked down.
“Koze, prep the swords,” he yelled as he ducked around the far side of the car and kicked the pram towards the second car. Not waiting to see where the pram glided to, he dove into the car, tumbling over Polk’s body as he dropped to the floor. “Fire.”
A small explosion ripped the air. Atom felt the impact and concussion as it pulsed through the hovering ground-car. Shoving Polk’s body from the car he ventured a glance from the open door. With wide eyes he measured the devastation caused by the explosion. Unexpectedly, his thoughts drifted to Mei Ling.
“It’s been a while since anything worked that well,” he whistled.
“All threats neutralized,” Kozue sounded impressed. “I’d say you planned well for contingencies.”
Atom emerged from the idling vehicle with pistols held ready, just in case. His cold eyes scanned the carnage. The explosion had fired five hundred fletchettes from the side of the pram. With indifference the steel spikes had torn through flesh and energy shield alike. Luckily, Polk’s men had been caught on the approach and the ground-car had provided a solid shield for the scattered MacKenzie hordes beyond.
“I’m glad the cars were bulletproof,” he toed one of the mutilated corpses splayed against the side of the second car. “Otherwise I’d have some explaining to do.”
Holstering his guns Atom turned to look back at the distant One Way Ticket. “Is By back with others yet?” he checked on Margo and found the little girl sitting with an astonished look on her face. The shield had protected her from incoming projectiles but had done little to shelter the girl from the concussion.
She turned her wide eyes to Atom as he approached. “Daddy, boom,”
“Yeah, that was louder than I expected,” he disarmed the shield and picked up Margo.
Snuggling her to his side he surveyed the smoking wreckage of the ex-governor’s two hovering ground-cars and then glanced at the flaming wreck of the new governor’s ship.
“Seems I left this rock in better shape than I found it,” he shook his head and turned to the few han soldiers who had remained. “I suppose I should fill Mei Ling in on what’s been happening on her world.”
“Do you think she suspects that she was set up?” Kozue asked as Atom picked up his journey where he had been waylaid.
“She had her suspicions, but she couldn’t throw rocks without proof.”
“Wait, was she your client or was it Polk?”
“Mei Ling was my unofficial client,” Atom laughed, relaxing the farther he walked from the dead. “She whispered a warning to me about Polk as she left. I just took it on myself to help her find some closure. The fact that Polk paid me to kill him was just a bonus.”
“And the new governor?”
“Unfortunate casualty,” said Atom. “The only reason he plays into this is it keeps the two hans out of the emperor’s eyes. By killing one I made it a feud between the old and the new governors.
“And I’m sure the monetary discrepancies will come to light.”
“Atom, what a pleasant surprise,” Mei Ling beamed a radiant smile. “And you brought little Margo with you too.”
As they approached, Margo leaned out of Atom’s arms, reaching for Mei Ling. With a sad half-smile, Atom set her on the ground and let the girl scamper over to the Karahkwahan lord. The woman laughed as she scooped up the bubbling toddler and hugged her tight. In a peaceful miracle, Mei Ling’s day had shifted from unavoidable blood to holding a laughing two-year-old.
“I figured I was still onworld,” he drew to a halt before Mei Ling and gazed into her eyes. “Couple of my crew got into some trouble last night.
“That’s what I get for giving them a night off,” a lopsided grin warmed his face.
“What you’ve done, I can’t repay,” she said as she leaned in close and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “But you’ve earned my friendship for as long as you need it.”
He nodded. The grin shifted, somehow fusing mournful sadness and heartfelt warmth into a single expression that encompassed Atom’s gratitude and understanding for Mei Ling. In a moment of emotion he reached out and took her hand. A gentle squeeze passed before he turned away.
He walked over to the MacKenzie contingency. “Sir, I don’t know you, but I’m Atom Ulvan,” he flashed a respectful knuckle of his forehead. “I’m the captain of the One Way Ticket.”
“Pleasure,” the old man studied him. “I don’t understand your place in this, but if you saved us a vendetta there are some kin that owe you their lives.”
Atom waved Mei Ling over.
“You were set to take the fall for someone else’s greed,” Atom said when she arrived with Margo on her hip. “The governor knows he’s just a secondary power here after you two. Polk set you up to take the fall for the new governor’s death. He did it to cover some embezzlement that would have landed him on the executioner’s block.
“The Lord High Admiral would have taken his head,” a dark look crept over Atom’s face. “But if we play this right you two will keep the power with your guilds and your hans.
“I had no real part in this,” he looked each of the lords in the eye and paused for effect. “When the inquiry comes nosing you tell them someone fired a rocket from Polk’s party and then they turned on each other. If you had to toss a guess, Polk hired someone to be the fall guy, but that boke didn’t take too kindly to his payment.”
Mei Ling’s melodic laugh broke the tension as she bowed to her counterpart.
“That’s what I saw,” she said.
“Me too,” echoed the MacKenzie guildlord.
“Too bad this whole scene threw off your ritual vendetta,” Atom continued. “I suppose it will have to be postponed for some other time.”
“Distant future,” the MacKenzie gave a knowing wink.
“Byron approaches the spaceport,” Kozue said in Atom’s ear.
“Speak to the future,” he frowned with thought and took Margo back from Mei Ling. “But I have a shipment and passengers that need delivering.
“I promise to drop on my return trip,” he bowed low from the waist, hugging Margo to his chest as he did so. “It has been a true pleasure.”
Atom turned, collected the pram, and began his walk back across the spaceport. Full of adrenaline and energy he hoisted Margo to his shoulders and set the pram to autonanny and allowed it to keep pace beside them. Glancing down into the pram he noted a cred marker. Leaving the payment alone, he waved over his shoulder to Mei Ling. He locked in his mind the image of her returned wave as she wandered away with her han.
––––––––
“What the hell happened?” Daisy peered through bleary, bloodshot eyes as twin plumes of smoke wafted across the spaceport, carried on a light morning breeze.
“Not much,” Atom met the trio at the side hatch. “I took Margo out for a walk. We got to see the explosion. A ship coming in must have lost a stabilizer on descent and crashed.”
“And the other smoke?” Shi glared.
Atom glanced back at the smoke. “Trash burn?” he said with an innocent shrug.
“I need a drink,” Daisy mumbled with a yawn. He turned and stumbled through the hatch with Byron tailing along like a worried retriever.
“Trouble?” Shi looked to Atom.
“I think he’ll survive,” Atom scratched at the stubble lining his jaw. “Once we get to the black he’ll be limited again.”
“Is it smart to let him free when we’re dirtside?”
“Probably not, but I can’t control a grown man,” Atom kicked the suspensors up and leveled the pram into the hatch. “Plus I’d rather he get all that out of his system off my ship. You’ve seen what he’s capable of. I don’t know that we could handle him berserk.
“If he becomes a liability, I’ll cut him loose,” Atom frowned up into the ship.
“But what if he runs his mouth about you?” Shi hopped aboard and slapped the hatch shut behind them.
“Won’t matter a lick. We’ll be gone long before any rumor trickles back to haunt us. Plus, it’s not like I’m hiding. I’m just aiming to dodge those that mean to do my family harm.”