Cherry and Josh stared at the old captain. Cherry finally asked, "Does this mean we're enemies?"
"No, it means I'm a Hanami. Your friends – your race taught mine a lesson they needed. It might even have been a cheap lesson. Your race could have wiped out our entire space Navy and conquered our Federation. They didn't."
Josh asked, "So, where do we go from here?"
"Were you serious about trying to find my family? Do you think you can?"
Josh said, "Finding people is what we do. We're just getting started in this area, so it'll take some time to set up our network of information. We also have a priority to get rid of this pond scum and their boss." He waved at the five trussed up aliens.
Cherry's eyes flashed a warning but Josh ignored it. Josh said, "I don't know if we can get everyone in the organization, but we can destroy it, especially the head."
Cherry asked, "Captain, do you think the ones who attacked you are with this bunch?"
"No, I'm pretty sure they are paid kidnappers or assassins from the planet I destroyed. They've followed me the last ten years. Usually, I'd pack up and leave now. But things are different this time."
Cherry asked, "How?"
"I've made some friends here and have been working to redeem myself. I'm taking care of some widows and orphans. I can't leave them. I need to figure out a way to throw the killers off or deter them."
Josh said, "If we had our network set up, we could help, but it'll take some time."
The Captain said, "I can help with that. Thirty years of trading around the universe has left me with a pretty extensive network. I have friends who have friends, if you know what I mean."
Cherry said, "We'll need some money, too. We have parts we need for Belle and looking for people always goes easier if you grease the right palms."
Lemmy suddenly piped up, "I'm hungry. It's daylight already."
Josh said, "She's right. So am I. This is not the place to have a discussion about this. I really don't want to do it where they might hear something. Maybe I should just —"
Cherry grabbed his arm as he reached for his blaster. The Captain said, "I can take care of them. Besides, we should keep them around for a short time. Once we get into this, we might have a question or two for them."
Josh said, "Captain, I don't think it would be safe for you to go back to your usual haunts right now. How about coming with us to Belle?"
"Is Belle your spaceship?"
"Yes."
"I'd be glad to do that. I've wanted to check out one of the Alcantaran ships ever since I first heard the stories about them. Is it true they can be made invisible?"
Cherry's eyes narrowed, "Ours doesn't – as far as we know, but it doesn't have an Alcantaran AI. I don't think our ship will operate to its full potential until we get that."
The Captain pulled out his comm and made a call. He said, "I have a friend who will pick up the trash here in about an hour. She'll keep them on ice as long as we need her to."
Lemmy asked, "What's she going to do with them?"
The Captain answered loudly enough for the thugs to hear, "As long as they work in her mine, they'll eat. No work and they become the bait for some of the local carnivores."
Cherry strode to each one and shot them with a stingerray. He said, "That will keep them out of trouble and ease their worries until your friend gets here. We need to get back to Belle. We have food supplies coming."
They climbed into the vehicle with Lemmy joining the Captain in the back seat. Josh drove back into the city. No one said much until they were dodging the traffic. Then the Captain said, "You know, if you capture that ship in orbit, that could ease all of our money problems. I know someone who would take it off our hands. They would make sure that it didn't fall back into Exurbiu Entertainment's hands again."
The rest of the way to the spaceport, they discussed what the ship could be profitably used for. As they drew up to the gates of the spaceport, the Captain asked, "I see my enemies' ship out there. How do we get into yours without letting them know where I'm at?"
Josh said, "Just scrunch down in the seat. I'll take care of it. We don't want this vehicle on display either."
As they drove through the gate, Cherry opened the lower cargo bay door. Josh drove the vehicle in and Cherry closed the spaceship door. Josh parked then everyone except the Captain jumped out to secure the vehicle.
The Captain nodded, "Glad to see you're not a Sunday sailor. Leaving something like this loose, even if you plan to use it in a few minutes, spells trouble. One day you don't make it back out and that thing becomes a projectile when you have to take off – maybe when you're in a hurry."
Josh grinned at him, "Cherry and I learned that a long time ago."
Before they could show the Captain around, the food supplies came. Lemmy fired up six robots to move the supplies to the galley. While Lemmy and Cherry stowed them, Josh fixed breakfast.
As they ate, the Captain said, "So you're bounty hunters. Strange that I've never heard of you."
Josh said, "Bounty hunter? I don't recall saying that's what we do."
"When you hunt people for money, that's what I call them. How come no one here knows about you? Isn't that strange?"
"Not so strange. We come from across the universe in the pursuit of a pirate. We didn't advertise our presence much there and we don't intend to do it here. We're very selective about who we go after."
Lemmy spoke up, "You and Twinkles are bounty hunters? You chase pirates like the guys in the videos?"
Cherry said, "Yeah and we chop off the heads of the idle curious. Did you notice that in the videos?"
Josh glared at him as Lemmy ducked. The Captain still had a look of concern on his face. He asked, "What are your parameters for going after someone?"
Josh said, "We would search for someone like your family or like the pirate we were after. He killed the crews on every ship he stopped. He didn't need to do that. We stopped him. The head of Exurbiu Entertainment is another that will be stopped."
The Captain's eye brows lifted, "You don't take all of them in for a trial, do you? Some are never heard from again."
Josh looked him in the eye and nodded. He asked, "Is this a problem?"
"No, I've run into too many who should have suffered the same fate but didn't. Any Bugs you run into should be sent into the closest sun, regardless of what they are doing."
Cherry said, "You don't like Bugs, do you? Why?"
The Captain said, "If you'd seen what I have, you wouldn't ask that. They have no morals, redeeming qualities or scruples. The people they kidnap are never heard from again. Your – fellow citizens are the only ones in known history who have escaped. I take that back. They released thousands when they captured those mother ships."
Josh stood up to start cleaning up the dishes. The others pitched in and soon they had everything cleared away. Josh said, "We need to get the stuff out of the trunk of that vehicle. I want to see if there's anything in there that could get us on that sewer in orbit."
Cherry said, "I'll get it. You show the Captain some of our interviews. Between the four of us, we'll find a way."
When Cherry came back, he dumped the weapons, comm units and other personal effects on the table. Josh picked up a comm unit. Flipping it over, he studied it. He mused, "I wonder if they use these as IDs on that ship. We could use them to get inside. Work our way to the cockpit —"
Cherry asked, "And do what? How would we know who is a slave and who's a bad guy? What would we do with the ship if we captured the cockpit?"
Josh said, "We could bring her down to the planet here and let the police arrest the bad guys."
The Captain said, "I don't think that will work. How do you think that ship is able to keep coming back here even after people disappear? Someone is on the take. How many? You might be arrested for piracy."
Josh said, "Maybe another planet."
The Captain
said, "It's the same wherever these ships stop. If you took it to a Hanami Federation planet, they wouldn't do anything because the ship hasn't done anything in their sphere of influence."
Josh gritted his teeth, "Then let's just start working our way through the ship, shooting the bad guys."
Cherry said, "I'm with you. Point out the bad ones and I'll shoot them."
Lemmy said, "You don't even know how many there are. What if they have a ship standing by somewhere with soldiers?"
Cherry said, "There's another little problem, too – the ship next door. Those people are after the Captain. We can't fight a battle on two sides."
Lemmy said, "Too bad you couldn't get them to fight each other."
The Captain said, "We really don't want to start anything here. Both sides would be coming here in force. I've got too many friends that could get hurt. They don't have anywhere to run like we do."
One of the comm units beeped. Everyone stared at it. A voice came over it, "Lavali, what are you doing? Why don't you answer? We've got some of the shills coming down. You need to escort them around and get another load of suckers up here. The Captain said if we don't get enough this load, we're pulling out and heading to Vidar. The pickings are a lot richer there."
Josh looked at Cherry, "Can you mimic the driver? Answer him."
"What'll I say?"
"Tell him you've been busy trying to secure another spaceship with a load of gold and silver."
Cherry picked up the comm and answer as Josh had suggested. The voice on the other end became excited, "A full load of gold and silver? What's the spaceship like? Will it make a good bonus for us?"
Cherry mimicked the driver, "What do you mean for us? Me and the boys are the ones who captured it. I want you to know it wasn't easy. The crew fought like madmen. We ain't sharing this bonus with anyone."
"Did it cause any problems with the spaceport people?"
"Naw, we did it off site. The big problem is getting back into the spaceship and opening the secure storage."
"Well, hurry it up. Like I said, I've got shills I'm bringing down. You need to work them."
"Wait until dark to bring them down. They won't be any good until then and that'll give us time to settle this spaceship thing."
"I'll run your idea by the captain. Gee, some people are sure lucky."
"Not luck. Skilled and good looking."
The voice laughed and signed off. The four looked at each other for a moment before Josh said, "We've got a short reprieve. Now we really need to come up with a plan."
They kicked around ideas for over an hour. Frustration and tension filled the air. Finally, Josh stood to pace the room. Cherry eyed him then a small smile came to his lips. Lemmy looked between the two.
Josh halted and looked at the Captain, "How many crew will be on that ship over there?"
"I'd guess no more than ten. They thought it would be an easy snatch and grab."
"You think there might be any rewards out for any of them?"
"I don't know. Maybe. What are you thinking?"
Josh paced a little more before he answered, "We need to take over that ship. I don't think we can be gentle about it. If that ship in orbit became convinced that these goons were trying to take over their territory, they might jump out of here ahead of time. We know where they are going, so we can follow and do our thing there."
The Captain said, "Having that ship could give us more mobility. The rewards would give us money to operate for now."
"Yes, and if we use it right, that floating sewer will think they are attacking them. With a little judicious broadcasting, we can have a turf war."
The Captain said, "Just so it's not here. Vidar would be perfect. It's a little bigger with more money at stake."
Cherry asked, "So how do we get into that ship?"
The Captain said, "If I had a weapon, I could take care of that."
Josh said, "Take your pick. If you don't like them, we have some others."
"I was thinking of something else."
The Captain now had all of their attention. He said, "Maybe a cobalt bomb."
Cherry said, "What? You've got to be kidding. That could wipe out half the spaceport here."
The Captain chuckled, "If you had one sitting at your backdoor, would you open it to keep from getting blown up?"
"Yeah, sure. You'd have no choice. No spaceship sitting on the ground is going to survive."
Josh said, "That sounds good, but where are you going to get a cobalt bomb around here?"
The Captain said, "We make it."
Lemmy said, "Now you're starting to sound as crazy as these two. You can't make a cobalt bomb. We don't have the facilities nor the components."
"I know that and you know that, but those goons over there don't."
Josh and Cherry's eyes lit up in understanding. Lemmy still didn't get it, she asked, "How are you going to convince them you have a cobalt bomb? Won't you have spaceport security all over you in about ten seconds?"
"All the killers have to do is see a little radiation and they'll panic. Those types aren't used to someone threatening them. It doesn't even have to work."
Cherry said, "If you had a shield generator that went over the ship, it would make it more believable. It would contain the blast and only destroy that ship."
Josh said, "Yeah, we could be on that ship in no time and take the assassins prisoners. They could be dealt with later. Lemmy, how do we build a fake bomb that will fool a ship's scanners."
She thought for a moment then told them. When she finished, she asked, "What about the shuttle and the shills that are coming? How are you going to take over the Pomodore?"
Josh said, "One problem at a time. We have a few hours. Let's take control of that ship then worry about the shuttle and the Pomodore later. Cherry, you'd better carry that comm and answer them. Come on, it's time to get into action."
Cherry said, "You know, maybe I could send a message from the ship next door. Tell their bosses that the Pomodore has taken the Captain. Make up some story about them giving him asylum or something. That should build up even more resentment. If we can fan the flames a little, we just might start that war between the bad guys."
The Captain chuckled, "I knew there was a good reason having a drink with you guys felt right. I think it's time to strike a blow against some dirty underhanded people. I'm tired of hiding and running. I want to make them sweat for a change."
The four went to the workshop in the lower cargo bay. As Lemmy and Josh built a fake bomb, Cherry and the Captain checked the weapons the Captain had chosen. When they were satisfied everything worked, Cherry and the Captain went to get a grav-sled.
They loaded a shield generator on it and Cherry set it to block everything, including light. He showed the old man how to turn it on and reset it to allow them to pass through it. Pushing it back toward the workshop, Cherry stopped to activate a robot to push it.
As they approached the shop, Cherry asked, "Do we know how many people are on the ship? Are there any in town looking for you?"
"I don't have a clue. That's a chance we'll have to take." He poked his head in the workshop, "How much longer?"
Lemmy said, "An hour or so. I'm getting close. This won't pass a detailed scan, but if you pressure them enough, they might not do one."
"I think I can do that. I've dealt with stubborn aliens all my adult life."
Before anyone could say anything else, the driver's comm beeped. The voice on the other end said, "We're going to be there in an hour. The captain didn't like your idea. He sent the Exec to take over getting into that gold and silver. You're supposed to get these shills out on the street and get us some customers."
Josh looked at Cherry then said, "Captain, it looks like you'll be on your own. I need Cherry to help me get the shuttle and subdue those people. Can you handle it or do we wait?"
Cherry said, "Lemmy could help." br />
"Oh, no I can't, Twinkles. Don't be volunteering me for heroics."
Cherry grimaced disgustedly, "That's right. You don't step into any kind of danger if you can help it."
"That's right and don't you forget it."
Cherry cocked his head like he heard something. He said, "Thanks, Demmy. We'll accept your help and leave her here safe and sound."
Lemmy's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh, no, you don't. If Demmy is going, then so am I. What do I need to do, Captain?"
He looked at Cherry, then at Lemmy. Doubt clouded his eyes, "I don't know, Lemmy. I need someone who could shoot a thug if need be."
"I can do that. Let me finish this bomb. Josh, you and Twinkles go get ready."
Chapter 21