Chapter 18

The Astral Feather approached Junkers Refuge on a course to reach Dock Seven. They passed several voidtugs that were maneuvering large derelict vessels towards scrapyards for breakdown. Long ago, the system was a dump yard for several interstellar shipping corporations abandoning vessels and cargo no longer deemed profitable. With the discovery of minerals on the lone, barren world and several of its moons, prospectors were coming in by the hundreds to work the mines. That also created opportunity to salvage the dump zones and bring back hauls to the Refuge. There, they would be processed and sold to the large corporate freighters that were contracted to transport the planetary minerals. All this activity made Junkers Refuge a busy port despite its relatively lawless status.

The Astral Feather was guided in by a pilot craft that was about twice the size of Jack’s Scapa. It was covered in a variety of flashing lights and navigational beacons. The process of docking was a slow one. The onboard computers constantly relayed info with the pilot ship and made navigational corrections where it was needed. Port speed in almost all docking lanes was incredibly slow as an accident with debris could tie up a dockyard in lengthy cleanup routines for days or even weeks. With a major dockyard like Junkers Refuge, that would create a significant logistical situation. The pilot craft veered up and away as the Astral Feather locked onto a dock beacon and slowly maneuvered into a berthing gantry. The adjustable gantry secured the vessel and maneuvered it into position, so the stations airlock lined up with the one on the ship, then locked everything in place.

Jack, Pri, Cardox and Sita took up positions around Lucinia. They formed a square with the captain in the middle once they had passed the security officer handling new entries. He warned them that they would be on their own from that point on and to keep out of trouble if they valued their safety. As they moved down the dockway, a second group moved up to approach them, all armed with subguns or pistols.

“You won-a-da Canton’s customers, yeh?” The tallest of them said, gesturing towards the superstructure of Junkers Refuge with his subgun.

“Yes,” Lucinia replied. “You’re here to take us to him?” She looked at his hard looking features, pale skin, large chin, violet eyes and shaved head.

“Yeh sees, jas followin us yeh, no funny stuff and we get along real good now.”

“Noted,” Lucinia looked at Cardox, who gave her a nod in return.

“Callin me Freddy if ya be feelin it,” The leader of Cantons’ entourage said. “Be’ind me be Axel, Shan-ba and Render.” They each nodded as Freddy said their names.

Axel was a Cordivain, a rodent like race with sharp features and large ears, though his were covered under a canted helmet that did little to match his poorly fitted body armor. Shan-ba was a Zandivae, long lived and fae-like with some physical traits like Terrans. Differences included cloven hooves for feet, light brown furred body, bovine like tail, fuzzy ears and modest horns off her head. She wore a smaller helmet and some kinetic protection on her torso, upper arms and legs. Pale blue eyes looked over Lucinia and her crew with a warmness that seemed out of place for the location and situation. Render was a human, dark skinned, large and broad shouldered, his dark eyes regarded everyone carefully from behind a mask of scars and faded injuries. Jack figured he was likely the first to fight and the immediate muscle if things went wrong. Jack gave him a nod when their eyes met and noted with some relief that Render nodded in return. They may be hired guns, but they still acted like people, treating Lucinia’s crew as potentially profitable customers.

“I’m Lucinia, Captain of the Astral Feather. My escort here, Jack, Sita, Pri and Cardox.”

Freddy nodded at each in turn, giving Pri a bit of an awkward glance before turning to lead the way.

What was that for? Pri wondered as she followed the others, seeing Jack look at her momentarily with a reassuring expression. Is this more reptile hatred? Mistrust? Something else? The stuff on my eyes? Must be the cosmetics...

They moved up the dockway and onto a larger appendage of the station where traffic picked up, primarily lifters and loaders transporting crates to and from waiting vessels.

“I had no idea there was this much traffic on the station.” Jack remarked.

“Be hard ta feed tousands yeh, with little to grow onboard eh.”

“So, most of this is foodstuff and necessities?” Jack asked.

“Aye, tis. Steady flow round ere yeh. We stockpile lots adda surplus. No repeatin Anda station ere yeah.”

“Good call,” Jack thought momentarily of the story of Anda station and the critical shortage of food they suffered during a freighter guild strike related to increasing pirate attacks. Anda station was an industrial post in the Remus system located over Remus three. It was a staging location for miners going planet side to work in the various mining posts across the freezing planet. During the strike, supplies dropped to almost nil and when the League authority stepped in to make food shipments resume, pirates jumped on the opportunity. They made things difficult for another month before enough of a counter piracy force arrived to chase them off. For that month however, the pirates would commandeer shipments to then sell for excessive prices to the starving miners.

They moved down the larger docking spine before entering the station proper, emerging into a large open space reminiscent of a city layout. It was all capped by a high, meters thick plastic dome that held in atmospheric pressure. Externally, it was protected by armored plates and was defended by laser projectors to burn away any rock or debris that could threaten station integrity.

“Jus up ere anodda block aye.” Freddy motioned up the lane.

Jack looked behind him momentarily to catch sight of everyone’s position before returning his attention to the front left side of their formation. He also kept an eye on the large volume of people moving up the lane. There was no large volume civil traffic on the station. Most transport was provided by monorails or small single seater vehicles with some cargo capacity for supply runs. Rarely, a cargo lifter would come up the lane and make the foot traffic part like water around a rock. Jack occasionally caught sight of the destitute on the station, people that came to the refuge looking for a big break and never found it. They lingered at the entrances to the alley ways, making him even more wary about using them for travel if the need arose. The destitute could turn desperate when they saw a chance to get their hands on some valuables. Sometimes being armed was not enough of a deterrent either, as rover gangs usually came equipped for a fight. Jack saw many carrying homemade charge rifles that fired a .30 cal pellet by means of electrically compressed air. The speed of these pellets was usually at the stations legal velocity limit which could easily kill at close range. They were anything from single shot to semi-automatic and usually carried no more than ten rounds in a magazine.

“Ya wantin da star rockets uh?” Freddy asked.

“Yes, if their condition is new,” Lucinia replied. “Otherwise, we can do without.”

“Eh, tha boss got lots o stock, deals with all kind o’ arms dealers outta here. He gonna be able ta look afta ya eh?”

“I’m hoping so,” Lucinia caught his look and gave him a professional smile.

“Dem star rockets good, yeah?” Freddy asked passively.

“Pretty good,” Lucinia replied. “Gives you more options in our line of work.”

“What work be dat, ah?”

“Counter drone piracy.” Lucinia kept it short and sweet.

“Ah yeah, dem pirate fucks be makin tings ‘ard round ‘ere sometime, know what I say?”

“I can imagine.”

“Dey go afta da freight ships, makin a pain all tha time.”

As they approached Cantons Supply, Freddy turned to Lucinia, “Jus inside ‘ere, me crew gonna wait outside, ya can take a crew or two in with ya if ya like.”

“You are ok with me bringing armed crew into your store?” Lucinia confirmed it was ok to enter with armed crew.

“Ya, we run a munitions business ‘ere, not a slave market or da like, know what am sayin?” Freddy gave her a smile and a nod.

“Ok, Cardox with me. Jack, Sita, Pri, extra security out here.” Lucinia spoke to them in turn and received nods in confirmation, then passed through the door with Cardox.

Jack yawned and pulled out a smoke. “Ok to smoke here?” He asked Axel, who along with Shan-ba, had remained outside.

“Yup.” Axel replied and went back to fiddling on his commpad.

“You buggers get much trouble round here?” Sita spoke to Shan-ba who stood close by.

“Is sometimes,” Shan-ba spoke fast. “They come round tryin to steal guns or ammunition, but we fuck them up.” She seemed disappointed in her answer, as if she regretted having to do what she did.

“That lawless round these parts?” Sita put on a bit of a backwater accent.

“Yup. Got us a bunch of groups fighting for control of whole station. Fight hard an dirty.” Shan-ba replied. “Place is not a good one. Not safe.”

“Never have any problems with law enforcement fucking around, trying to restore ‘order’ on the station?” Sita said.

“Na.” Axel joined in and answered her. “Junkers Refuge ain’t recognized by the League. No recognition, no official support and no law enforcement unless the station pays for it.”

“And since the station was founded by prospectors and traders, no-one wants to pay, right?” Jack spoke.

“Is right,” Shan-ba nodded. “Must look after oneself here.”

“What a fuckin mess.” Sita muttered and leaned up against the wall beside Jack.

“I hope the captain gets what she needs.” Jack watched a few youths of several races playing with a ball near one of the alley entrances. “This whole place needs a proper fucking economy. Kids that grow up in this, are often doomed to be a part of the problem later. It’s all they know, so they don’t often change.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Sita watched the same youths playing around for a moment, before looking further up the lane towards the large plaza ahead.

Lots of people moved about the lane, most carried something or other like boxes, packages and food deliveries. They were knee deep into their late-night work routine with little in the way of day shoppers, accounting for everyone’s frantic pace.

“I always get fuckin nervous when I see people scurrying about.” Sita took a tighter grip on her subgun and motioned up the street. “Like them fuckos, hundred paces up, left side.”

Jack and Pri both watched the ‘fuckos’ cautiously, seeing them moving in a bit of a tactical posture with charge rifles at the ready. They disappeared into an alleyway and Jack let out a sigh of relief. He dug into a pouch and pulled out a Zamblast packet, a sugary powdered drink mix one would add to water. Jack opened the top, wet his finger and dipped it into the mix.

“Watchya got there?” Sita looked at him with a bit of a childish smile.

“Yummies.” Jack offered her the packet and she took it, coating a finger.

“Zammies, fuck yeah.”

She handed the packet back to Jack and stuck the coated finger in her mouth.

“Eh?” Shan-ba gave them both a curious look.

“Hm?” Jack offered the packet over to her.

“Is goof powder?”

“No.” Jack kept down a laugh, barely.

“What is?”

“Just a drink mix. Tastes sweet.”

“Ok.” Shan-ba took the packet and sprinkled a bit in her mouth, noting the taste with enthusiasm. “Good.”

She handed it back to Jack, who then offered it up to Pri, and received a look of mild disgust in answer. Jack grinned and next made an offer to Axel, who just shook his head and pulled out a smoke before focusing back on his commpad once more.

As Jack, Sita and the other two cast nervous glances up the street, Pri caught sight of someone crossing over. They moved fast, heading for the building entrance next to the munitions store. As Pri maintained a careful watch, they suddenly revealed a glittering light made of different colors and random flashes. They were designed to give an abductor an edge against the martial prowess of a Sikarran by means of temporarily mesmerizing them into a complacent state. Pri’s attention was solely focused on the light, despite knowing what was happening, she just could not break the paralyzing effects of the hypnosis. A moment later she felt a sharp jolt of electricity as a stunner was fired from hip height by the kidnapper’s free hand. Pri went rigid as an arm shot out and grabbed her before her vision was blocked by a burlap bag being placed over her head.

Jack cast a glance over his shoulder as he saw the back half of Pri standing at the entrance of the alley, suddenly lifting away as an arm picked her up. In just a second, she was gone with the feathers of her tail dragging across the ground, something Sikar’Sezar would never consciously do. Jack ran to the head of the alleyway and stuck his head around the corner to look, seeing a very large man carrying Pri over one shoulder. The large man turned and saw Jack, fired a hipshot from his charge gun which struck the wall close to Jack’s head.

“Holy living fuck,” Jack snapped as he pulled back into cover. Immediately he was on the radio. “Breadbasket, Breadbasket this is Appleseed, over.”

Cardox came over the radio, “Appleseed, this is Breadbasket, send traffic, over.”

“Breadbasket, Candle has been subdued, currently abducted. Request permission to unfuck situation with Mallet, over.”

“Appleseed, you’re clear, Breadbasket and Goblet moving to support, over.”

“This is Silver Platter, what the fuck? Over.” Jack gritted his teeth as he heard the somewhat distorted voice of Proculus over the radio, listening in from aboard the Astral Feather in the C.I.C.

“What the fuck, out.” Jack ended the conversation immediately.

“On your six, Appleseed.” Sita put her hand on his back, near his shoulder as he rounded the corner.

He had his subgun up, watching down the alley ahead while she covered behind, struggling to keep up as he raced to the end. Jack saw the man carrying Pri as he ran for another alley, followed by a pair of scrawny gunmen. There was a burlap sack over her head, likely containing a chloroform agent strong enough to subdue her and held in place by an elastic bottom.

“Fuck.” Jack spat, then relayed over the comms the direction they were heading as he broke cover and ran for the next alley.

Sita dropped a flare at the entrance of the alley they were heading into so Cardox and Lucinia could follow, then rushed to catch up to Jack as he reached the end of the next alley. As he peeped around the corner, a few charge gun shots rang out and struck close to him.

“Fuck! Contact, several gunmen.”

“Roger that.” Sita kept watch back down the alley.

Jack peeped again and caught sight of two of the gunmen aiming their guns at the alley.

“Gotta push out, we can’t take them here.” He saw the man carrying Pri take refuge by some steel crates part way up the intersecting alley.

“Fuckin need smoke or flash, fuckin nuts to make the dash.” Sita huffed. “Go auto, give ‘em a fuckin mag dump so I have a chance.”

“Copy that, get ready.” Jack flipped the fire control selector on his sub gun and prepared for his next action.

Sita rested her hand on his shoulder and tapped twice, fast, signaling him to lay down suppressive fire. He leaned out and let off a burst into the window where the first gunman hid and saw unexpected results as the gunman dropped his weapon out of the window and slumped. Jack was already suppressing the second target as the dropped charge gun hit the ground and Sita took off in a full run across the intersection, sheltering at an alley corner across the way. As Jack took incoming fire, Sita peeped around and saw two shooters on a barricaded balcony. She took fast aim and knocked one down with several pulls of the trigger, then hammered the barricade to pin the other. She pulled back into cover as Jack fired on the same balcony, allowing her to take a breath, then step out and move up the alley in pursuit of Pri. Sita found cover behind a large metal crate and fired up through the thin floor of the balcony. She heard a muffled slump, then a few moments later, droplets of crimson liquid dripped down to the ground below.