Death Dealer Read online

  Nerishka’s heart twisted as she heard the pain in Dresden’s voice. She had to wonder how much was for the killing of her lookalike assassin and how much harkened back to her cut-and-run.

  She reached out and curled her fingers around his arm. “You didn’t kill me, Dresden. I’m here,” she said softly.

  He nodded and looked away, then reached for the sandwich and took another bite, the movement forcing her to let go of him. “So, what do you make of it?” he asked softly.

  Nerishka tried hard not to think about how good it had felt to touch him. That had been a bad idea. She focused on his question and frowned as she said, “Looks to me like someone is making a concerted effort to kill Hand agents. They do their research. They know us so well. Which makes me wonder if there is a leak in the Hand. They knew where Karsin was, they tracked you down. They know where our missions are taking us.”

  Dresden shifted on his feet, then waved his forgotten sandwich in the air as he replied, “But I’m not with the directorate. So perhaps this mole is no longer around. Maybe the intel these killers are using is old. At least fifty years old? This wouldn’t be the first time someone in the Inner Stars got wise to the existence of the Hand.”

  Nerishka nodded, her skin warming as she realized what else had happened all those years ago. She thought back to her reasons for leaving him, convinced now more than ever that she’d done the right thing.

  “You know what the other option is,” she said, keeping her thoughts on the issue at hand.

  Dresden nodded, turning back to his forgotten sandwich. “Yeah, BOGA. Been awhile since I’ve run into them, though. I didn’t think they were active around here.”

  Nerishka laughed. “Orion is active everywhere. I’ve been up against them a few times in the last fifty years.”

  “Shit,” Dresden whispered. “No wonder you mopped the floor with their green women.”

  Nerishka nodded, thinking about what it would mean if agents from Orion had intel on Hand operatives. Are they hitting us themselves, or are they hiring Inner Stars contractors to do it?

  “I’ll prepare a packet for Jeriah with this intel. It’ll be a while before she gets it, though,” Nerishka murmured, filling the dead air.

  “Chances are she already knows.”

  She nodded absently. “Maybe. She told me a few operatives had been killed lately—which isn’t completely unheard of, but she hadn’t mentioned any failed attempts—though you’re not in the organization anymore, so maybe she didn’t feel the need to share.”

  “But first you need to concentrate on catching the bad guys messing with jump gate tech,” Dresden said sternly.

  “I really hope I’m not going to have my ass handed to me for this.”

  He shrugged, took a bite from his sandwich and, after chewing and swallowing, said, “No one is going to take you to task for shutting this down. You’ll probably be showered with medals. Jump gates in the hands of the wrong people could make the FTL Wars look like a skirmish.”

  “So now you agree with what you once called Hand indoctrination?” Nerishka asked.

  He wiped non-existent crumbs from his lips and stared at her face. “It’s not exactly what I meant. All I said was that we should be allowed to question a mission that doesn’t make sense because we are the ones on the ground. As operatives we need to also do our due diligence to ensure that particular mark really deserved to be eliminated. Otherwise, how would we ever be able to tell if the Hand is just being manipulated by other unknown parties making us do their dirty work for them in eliminating competition or threats. The Hand acts on information, and information can be manipulated.”

  “A very valid question. Had I been there, I’d have agreed wholeheartedly,” Nerishka nodded.

  Dresden smiled his thanks and finished his sandwich, swallowing it down as though it took a great deal of effort. “We have another twenty hours to go before we reach Yazata. I’m ordering the crew to get some shut-eye. You’re getting the same order.”

  Nerishka rolled her eyes but she didn’t argue. She really did need some sleep.

  “Oh wait…don’t tell me you’d rather be messing around with your little plants?”

  Dresden knew well enough she’d left the pod of plants back on Nimrud station in a secure lockup. She wasn’t about to risk taking them with her and then losing them in case the ship they’d chartered blew up.

  Lyra commented out of the blue.

  Nerishka growled.

  The AI didn’t sound in the least bit sorry.

  YAZATA

  STELLAR DATE: 10.18.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)

  LOCATION: Teshub, approaching Yazata Asteroid

  REGION: Ayra System (Independent)

  Yazata appeared in the Teshub’s holodisplay, the oblong-shaped rock measuring almost a thousand kilometers long and over two hundred across.

  The Teshub was ostensibly on a course to meet up with Terhan, an asteroid habitat an AU further ahead, but over the last three light seconds, Raz had shifted their vector to bring them close to Yazata. Once they were within half a light second, he’d kill the engines and use grav drives to bring them to the rock.

  Nerishka had reviewed the stats on the asteroid, and though it was listed as ‘depleted’, the rock still had plenty of iron mixed in with less useful minerals. From what she could tell, ‘depleted’ really just meant ‘currently not profitable’.

  Yazata’s iron content was still high enough to shield any testing activity within. And its proximity to Ayra’s inner system made it more convenient than a research station in the far reaches of the star system. In fact, it was so perfect, that Nerishka wondered if it’s status as a no-longer-viable mining site was falsified so it could be used for other purposes.

  All in all, Yazata couldn’t have been better as a location for jump gate testing—illicit or otherwise.

  But no matter how hard Lyra searched the networks within the Ayra System, she kept getting no results in terms of activity on the asteroid. If they were to believe the records, no one had set foot on Yazata in over five decades.

  The fiction was hard to swallow. Even with other economically viable asteroids out there, it was surprising that some enterprising soul hadn’t decided to scratch some of the remaining minerals out of the rock.

  Despite the improbable nature of Yazata, someone was covering up so well that Lyra hadn’t been able to find records of the incoming and outgoing deliveries required for even a small research facility to function.

  It was another thing that pointed to a person with power, an organization with the ability to reach across an entire system’s worth of records and wipe every detail out, covering their tracks perfectly.

  “Whatever the records say about this place being abandoned for fifty years? It’s some serious bulldust,” said Kelem as he studied the details on his scan.

  “Found something?” asked Nerishka, coming to his side to stare at the holo.

  “There,” Kelem highlighted a location on the rock. “That’s a dock leading into an interior bay, but it’s not one listed on the old mining operation’s schematics, and from the lack of scoring, it’s not ten years old.”

  “Oh, not to mention they have security,” Raz called out on the ships comm. “I just spotted a drone in a wide orbit around the rock, it’s altered trajectory toward us. Thing’s got some big guns, I’m pulling up our shields.”

  “Hold one mike,” Dresden responded to the ship’s captain.

  “Lyra? Any ideas on how we keep that thing from paying us a visit?” Nerishka asked aloud for the team’s benefit.

 

  A tense minute passed as the drone looped around the asteroid, altering its vector to break away for an approach to the Teshub. Then it applied braki
ng thrusters and re-entered its wide orbit.

  “Nice work, Lyra,” Kelem grunted.

 

  Four more specks of light were flagged and tagged as security drones. Each one shifted trajectory, moving to break orbit.

  Lyra proclaimed.

  “Why not do the same thing to those four as you did to the first one?” Judith asked.

 

  “The ship has beams,” Kelem suggested. “We can shoot the drones down.”

  “Given that someone blew up Greshan with a nuke—possibly to take us out, I’d rather not alert them to our presence here just yet,” Nerishka said and Dresden nodded. “I’d rather we get in and find out what’s going on before we have to run for our lives.”

  “Or die trying,” said Judith, her arms folded. Nerishka couldn’t quite make out if the woman was unhappy with being on the mission, or if she was maintaining a prickly disposition because she found it to be enjoyable.

 

  “Thanks, Lyra. Just keep your eyes peeled,” Nerishka replied.

  “How is it that your AI can just walk through these security systems?” Judith asked, one eyebrow raised.

  Because she and I are from a far more advanced civilization and Ayra’s security is a joke, Nerishka thought, though aloud she only said, “This is what we do. Let’s get armored up, time to earn our pay.”

  Dresden hadn’t spoken throughout the conversation and remained so until everyone had filed out to armor up.

  Nerishka looked over at him. “Something bugging you?”

  His forehead wrinkled as he scowled up at her. “Not really. Maybe?” He sighed. “There’s a very real possibility that someone will not leave this rock alive. I’m hoping to avoid that, but I’m not naive.”

  Nerishka frowned, studying his face for a moment. She knew what he was thinking. They’d skirted around it since they’d first met up on Nimrud and she’d begun to accept that she should come clean.

  Something else was happening, events neither of them understood, chess pieces moved in a game that included assassins making repeated attempts on their lives.

  She smiled sadly as she said, “You’re right. I do need to explain a few things, but this is the worst time to do it. Can I take a rain-check until after we inspect Yazata? Then I’ll tell you the whole sordid story.”

  He nodded, though he didn’t appear satisfied. “Just don’t get killed before you do, OK?”

  “Deal.”

  BREACH

  STELLAR DATE: 10.18.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)

  LOCATION: Teshub, Yazata Asteroid

  REGION: Ayra System (Independent)

  Raz expertly guided the Teshub through the access doors that Lyra opened, and into a long rocky shaft that was over three hundred meters wide. Lyra directed him to a cradle in Docking Bay 4, which still had power and would clamp securely to the ship.

  While he piloted the Teshub in, the team moved to the corridor outside the airlock, ready to disembark.

  Lyra advised.

  “That’s a relief,” Nerishka replied. “But stay sharp.”

  “Have you gained access to any internal systems?” Dresden asked.

  Lyra sent a feeling of consternation across the team’s combat network.

  “If that’s not a red flag, I don’t know what is,” Judith said, shaking her head before pulling her helmet on.

  Nerishka followed suit, locking her own helmet into place as Dresden gestured for her to turn around so he could check over her armor.

  Nerishka scowled at him through her faceplate.

  Dresden gave her a mischievous smile.

  Nerishka stretched the word out as she turned.

  Dresden’s team had only worn light armor during their excursion to Gershan—a decision prompted by the need to wear hazsuits overtop. But now they were in their powered gear, and it was impressive hardware for what amounted to a small group of mercs.

  Judith was in the heaviest set with the largest loadout, while—a bit surprisingly—Kelem was in the lightest gear. Dresden’s armor was plated, but only lightly powered, something he could get away with due to his muscle augmentations.

  Nerishka’s armor was her standard gear. Form fitting and suited to her preference for close-combat fighting.

  As Dresden checked her over, she couldn’t help but wonder if his hands lingered at her waist just a bit too long after he checked the straps holding her holsters and ammunition satchels in place.

  Then he tapped her on the shoulder and she ran over his, making sure everything was ready to roll.

  Raz announced over the comms, and Dresden glanced back at Nerishka, who nodded that he was good to go.

  Dresden said as he palmed the airlock control. They entered the lock as the ship settled down, pulling external feeds from the Teshub’s cameras as the airlock cycled.

  The feeds showed the bay to be clear, a visual which was confirmed when the airlock doors slid open. Judith and Kelem were first out, descending the ramp and taking cover near the cradle struts before Dresden and Nerishka followed after.

  The pair moved toward the bay’s interior doors, and once they reached them, Judith and Kelem advanced to nearby positions, ready to provide cover in case a surprise was waiting for them on the other side.

  Lyra said to Nerishka and Dresden.

  Dresden said as he flipped open the cover on the manual access pad.

 

  Nerishka asked.

 

  Dresden glanced back at Nerishka as he keyed in the code Lyra had provided, his finger hovering over the green OK button. She nodded, and he pushed it, then stepped to the side.

  The doors had only begun to slide open when ballistic rounds poured into the bay.

  Lyra called out and dropped markers on the team’s HUDS.

  Nerishka and Dresden flattened themselves against the bulkhead and Kelem cried out as a series of rounds hit him—though more in anger than pain.

  Dresden yelled as rounds ricocheted off the Teshub’s hull.

  Judith swung her heavy repeater toward the door, slinging rail-accelerated pellets through the opening. The rate of enemy fire decreased, and Kelem used the distraction to move to a new position and throw a grenade into the corridor.

  Flames shot out of the inner doors, and the deck shuddered under their feet, but no more weapons fire came through.

 


  Everyone chuckled at Judith’s report, and the crew moved out with Kelem watching their six.

  Lyra cautioned.

  suggested Nerishka as they headed down the main hall.

  Kelem grunted, still sounding angry he’d gotten tagged.

  said Nerishka.

  Judith added.

  Dresden muttered as the team reached a T-intersection and headed left, following the schematics on their HUDs. The communications and research sectors were seven levels down, and the team headed to the lifts at the end of the corridor.

  Judith said, eyeing the lift doors as they approached.

  Nerishka replied.

  Judith lifted off the ground a half meter and drifted toward the lift before settling down and prising them open.

  They descended the seven levels without incident, though at one point, Nerishka picked up a distant clang. The team froze for a minute, and she reached out to Raz via relays to confirm that he was secure. When he confirmed that all was quiet on the docks, they proceeded.

  Once out of the lift shaft, Nerishka deployed a passel of micro drones to give them extra eyes as they headed left toward the area labeled simply as ‘R&D’.