Warhawk's Amnesty - Ch. 18 - The Plan & The Pilot - Beta (Patreon)

Seb took a sip of his drink before leaning over the balcony railing. He could see the entire station from his hotel room up on the eighty-third floor. He didn’t want to think how much the room cost, but he was certain Eni did some kind of magic to get them into the room they were in. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember them paying at all except for tipping the room service.

As much as he enjoyed the hotel room, brand new clothes, and room service, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. He wasn’t sure what conditions Nalla was currently in, but he knew there was little that could compare to where he was currently at. While he believed he earned it after the week he’d just gone through, the guilt always stayed with him. All he could do was wait for Eni and believe in her abilities.

After finishing the rest of his drink, Seb turned around and headed back inside. He passed the infinity pool that came with the room, which he took full advantage of as part of his morning exercise. It was a delightful addition to his typical calisthenics routine.

The rear patio door opened automatically when he approached. The central living area was defiled with Eni and Seb’s constant room service, leaving Seb with a sense of déjà vu of the first time visiting Eni’s apartment. Eni’s insistence that no one be allowed to enter the room while they were there prevented any of the clean-up crew from doing their jobs. Whatever her reasoning, he decided not to press it, telling himself he would get around to it eventually. However, his own indolence gave him excuses to prioritize his comfort over all else, given the uncertainty of when he would sample such luxurious accommodations again.

After setting his glass down in the kitchen sink, Seb walked across the large open room into the master bedroom. Just as he assumed, Eni was right where he’d left her. Even though the penthouse they were staying in had two rooms, Eni’s was nearly as perfect as when they’d first arrived.

After the three days they’d spent together, Seb had become accustomed to his short companion starting the night in her own bed or on the couch, but always finding her way back on top of him in the middle of the night. Each morning came with the same apology.

It made him wonder about her true feelings for him. When they shopped for new clothes, he saw how much she enjoyed having him try on unique looks. He’d felt her staring when she thought he didn’t notice. No matter how bad his jokes were, she’d give him shit but always laugh.

This left him feeling conflicted. He was starting to feel things not just for Nalla, but also for Eni. She knew everything he was doing was for Nalla, yet Eni still gave off signals that she was interested as well. It left him wondering what she wanted from him.

Is she trying to steal me away? If that was the case, why go through everything then? Maybe she’s okay with this being open? What if she was, but Nalla wasn’t?

He decided not to think too much about it, and let things happen naturally. If a decision needed to be at that point, he would decide then. For now, he was just going to take it a day at a time.

Seb frowned when he noticed a hologram of an orange envelope icon projected from Eni’s WICI that was unclasped from her wrist, sitting on top of the glass side table. He climbed on top of the bed and crawled in front of Eni.

“Hey Eni, it’s time to get up,” Seb said, rubbing the side of her shoulder.

“What time is it?” Eni groaned.

“Time for you to get up,” Seb chuckled. “The sky box is nearly at its peak.”

“So, I’ve got a couple more hours,” she said, pulling the covers back over her head. Seb grabbed onto the covers and yanked them off of her. She curled into a ball, rolling one of her ears over her face. Her night wear of a graphic t-shirt and thong was starting to become his favorite outfit of hers.

“I hate you so much right now,” Eni muttered.

“I love you too,” Seb said, smiling. “Come on, you need to get up. We can’t sleep the day away.”

“There’s nothing for us to do but wait. Once they respond, I’ll get notified.”

“They may have based on that icon on your WICI.”

Eni raised her head and looked up at Seb with one eye open. He nodded behind her, and she rolled her body over, sliding her arm into the open ring on her WICI. The metallic bracer shrank around her arm, and she clicked the orange icon. A hologram projected of a blonde woman whose hair was shaved on the sides of her head but braided on the top. Her cybernetic eyes glowed blue.

“This is Andrea Grider, sector leader for the ACR. I’ve received your message and sample payload. We’ve verified its legitimacy and are interested in making a deal. Please let us know your terms. If agreeable, we’ll contact you with the meet location. We look forward to hearing from you.” The hologram disappeared once the message stopped.

“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” Seb asked.

“Yeah.”

Seb watched as Eni focused long enough to get two messages created. Once she sent them, she pulled off her WICI and walked into the bathroom. Seb heard running water before jumping up from the bed and walking to the nearby doorway.

“Uh… Eni?”

“Yeah?”

“What did Andrea mean when she said she validated the payload?”

“I sent her snippets of the recordings that were on the black box with enough information they could validate that it was real but not anything they could use for their purposes.”

“Okay… so, are you going to tell me what our next steps are?”

“No.”

Seb ran his hand through his hair and pulled on it before taking a deep breath. “And why not?”

“I don’t want to have to repeat myself.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means we’re going to have company soon. You should probably get dressed.”

“Wait… you’re inviting Andrea here?”

Eni’s laugh echoed throughout the tall ceilings of the bedroom and bathroom. “No, you idiot, I’m inviting a friend.”

“What friend?”

“She fits in the plan I’ve put together.”

All of Seb’s courteousness went out the door. He stepped into the bathroom, staring at Eni’s naked body in the open shower. If it wasn’t for his anger, he would have been beside himself at the sight.

“Wait, what?” he shouted. “You’re involving someone else in this now? You never told me about adding someone else.”

Without missing a beat, Eni continued to scrub herself with a body brush as she spoke. “I’m telling you now because it’s pertinent. Before it wasn’t.”

“Why wasn’t it?”

“Because I didn’t know if I was going to have to use her. Now that I know the ACR wants to meet, we can move forward with my original plan, which involves us doing the meeting in person.”

“Why wouldn’t you do this virtual? You send the files and they send the money at the same time.”

Eni smirked. “If you knew as much as I did, you’d know how much of a bad idea that is. There are too many things that can go wrong with us doing it virtually. The only way we could do it safely and securely is to bring in a third party. Not only would that take us a lot more time, it would also cost us significantly and bring more awareness.”

“And bringing in this friend isn’t?”

Eni stopped scrubbing and placed her hands on her hips. “No, because she’s someone that I know I can trust. What’s your problem, anyway? I told you I’d take care of the plan.”

“Which I don’t mind that you do. I just don’t like being kept out of the loop. I hate finding out about things after the fact. You may trust this person, but I don’t know them.”

“You trust me though, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, if you trust me and I trust her, then you should be able to trust her too.”

Seb shook his head. “That’s not the same thing. I mean, shit, Eni. If you think about it, we’ve really only known each other for a couple of days. I trust that you’re invested in this for our mutual benefit.” When he looked up at Eni, he knew that said the wrong thing.

She shifted her jaw, covered her breasts with her arm, and nodded. “Okay. I see how it is. If you just want to keep this professional. That’s fine by me. You can leave.”

“Eni… come on… that’s not fair. I’m not asking for that. I’m just asking for better communication.”

“So… you do want this,” she said, pointing down at her exposed body.

Her forwardness caught Seb off guard. His eyes traced the dripping water from her wet matted hair, down the front of her supple breasts, over her defined stomach, and around her thick thighs. When he looked up at her eyes, she had a subtle smirk.

Seb turned when a knock came to their front door. Seb backpedaled and raised his thumb over his shoulder.

“I should probably get that,” he said, smiling.

“You might want to change into something other than your robe and underwear,” Eni said, pointing down at his clothes. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Seb smiled and nodded before rushing into the bedroom. He pulled out the clothing still in the shopping bags that he’d purchased the days prior when they both went shopping. The pants were rather basic, with a few utility pockets along the side paired with a graphic t-shirt with the design of a ship circling the moon. The last piece was a jacket that Eni picked out for him. While the tech design didn’t necessarily fit his tastes, he liked the pockets and inner bandolier that was strapped on the inside. It adjusted with the caliber of the various weapons, perfect for the massive caliber of his Lawbringer’s ammunition.

The entire ensemble came with a tier of armor protection above his skinsleeve, allowing him to run with or without it. He decided while on the station, not having to pull off all of his clothes every time he needed to use the bathroom was enough reason for him not to have to worry about it. However, he decided to keep it if in the future he was going to be off station.

After getting completely dressed, Seb marched across the front room and opened the door. Standing in front of him was a semi-translucent, blue-skinned woman wearing a custom skinsleeve split down the front, exposing her upper chest. It was paired with a red crop, racing jacket and black pants. She tapped the side of her black helmet, which disappeared into the coupling around her neck, exposing her blue hair, purple lips, and yellow eyes.

“You Eni’s friend?” Seb asked.

“Yup,” the woman said, with a mouth full of gum. “You Seb?”

“Yeah.”

The two studied each other for a moment before the woman finished.

“You going to let me in?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Seb moved to the side and closed the door behind her. He followed behind, stopping once they reached the living room area. She stopped and pointed down at the table with the previous night’s food containers.

“I can see Eni has made herself at home.”

“It’s partly my fault, too. If I would have known we were going to have company, I would have picked up the room a bit better.”

“She didn’t tell you I was coming, did she?”

“Not until ten minutes or so ago.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. She probably didn’t tell you I am staying here either.”

“No… no she didn’t, but that makes sense with how fast you got here.”

“If it makes you feel any better, she does the same thing to me.”

“I’m not sure it does,” Seb said, smiling.

“I’m Vi, by the way,” Her body vibrated and reflected the nearby light in a display of colors. The display was the universal orlindrian greeting and was as common as the human handshake. “I doubt she told you my name then.”

“Nope, but it seems like she told you mine.”

“Yeah, she hasn’t stopped talking about you since—”

Before Vi could finish her sentence, Eni walked into the room and shouted. “Hey Vi!”

“Hey Eni.”

Seb watched Vi get down on one knee and the two women shared a hug. Seb grabbed a nearby trash bin and cleared the table that sat in the middle of the recessed couch. When he was finished, he joined the other two, who were already sitting. He sat in the corner, facing the two women as Eni tapped on her WICI.

“Oh… Vi, this is Seb. Seb, this is Vi,” Eni said, looking up from her wrist momentarily.

“We’ve already met,” Seb said.

“Good, that saves me a little bit of time.”

“You should have told him I was here, Eni,” Vi said, poking her friend in the shoulder.

“All right, all right, I don’t need you getting on my ass too,” Eni said. “But now that you both are here, we can go over everything, okay?”

Eni looked at Seb and he nodded as he leaned back on the couch. She then turned to Vi, who nodded as well. Eni taped onto her WICI before projecting a visualization of her plan.

“Okay, this is rather simple and straightforward, but we need to make sure we’re all on the same page. I’ve asked Vi to join because wherever we’re meeting its best if we drive given most of my back up plans involve us leaving in a hurry.”

Eni looked over at Seb. “That’s why I’ve asked Vi here, Seb. She’s one of the best drivers and pilots on this station. You don’t have to worry about her splitting the reward, I’m covering for her.”

Vi scoffed. “Don’t let her lie to you. I’m doing this as a favor.”

“Oh no, you’re not. You’re going to get paid and you’re going to like it.”

“Eni, I owe you, like, fifty times over. I can do this one for free, like we agreed to.”

“I didn’t agree to that. You just said you got me on this one. But I’m not having it.”

“I’m getting the sense that you keep up a tough exterior, but you’re a giver, Eni,” Seb said, chuckling.

“Ever since I’ve known her,” Vi said, smiling.

“If it wasn’t for her, I’d have been sleeping on the street. She took pity on me when I needed it.”

“She did the same for me. I was halfway across the galaxy, broke, trying to sell signed memorabilia for scraps. When no one else around me believed me, she did. She told me that while she didn’t have any proof I was set up, she believed that I would never cheat. I could tell she was genuine. We traveled from Octorus all the way here to Pyrus Station. I’ve been doing odd jobs here and there while Eni’s helped me get back on my feet.”

“Memorabilia?” Seb asked. “Are you famous or something?”

Vi furrowed her brow and leaned back as if in disbelief. She tapped Eni on the shoulder and pointed at Seb. “Is he for real?”

Eni slapped her forehead before looking up at Vi. “I forgot to tell you something about Seb. He’s been… gone for a while. He likely has no idea about you or what happened.”

“That’s actually kind of nice,” Vi said, smiling. “It feels like I walk around with this dark cloud over my head all the time. Are you familiar with the Hypercore Zero series?”

Seb nearly jumped out of his seat. “Hell yeah I am. I love HC-0 races.”

“Well, up until a year ago I was ranked third on the Freelight Syndicate Grand Prix.”

“What! That’s awesome. I should have recognized it from the jacket, but just thought that was a fashion thing now. While I was thinking sector-wide fame, you’re talking galactic-wide. Trillions watch the HC-0 races.”

“Yeah, it was good while it lasted.”

“What happened?”

Eni sat up and interjected. “Maybe we should—”

“No, it’s fine,” Vi said, touching Eni’s shoulder. “It’s not like it’s a secret or anything. He’d probably wonder why I wear a helmet all the time, anyway.”

Eni nodded and sat back on the couch.

Vi cleared her throat and sat up on the edge of the chair. “It was my rookie year. No one had heard of me. I seemingly came out of nowhere. Which was fair because that was pretty much the case. See, I didn’t have the typical move up through the ranks from Hypercore two to one, then to zero. I came from derby shuttle racing. Are you familiar with that as well?”

“That’s dual seat ground shuttles racing around dunes and things, right?” Seb asked.

“Exactly. It’s two seat racing just like hypercore ships, except a lot slower and all open cockpits. The gunner is literally beating the others with an onigaram combat staff, while I am trying to pilot a victory. The courses tend to be in various mountain ranges and cave systems with lots of obstacles, making it that much more difficult to finish.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen some highlights. If I remember right, they were pretty brutal, with a lot of pilots getting injured or dying.”

“Yeah… I miss those days,” Vi said, smiling, looking off into the distance. “But, anyway, the HC-0 circuit was adding a new course on my home planet of Tyrios which is located in Freelight Syndicate controlled space. As part of the marketing, they were holding ride alongs with HC-0 pilots in modified HC-0 ships where they took the rear facing gunner seat and moved it up next to the pilot. The idea is they would do a slow lap, hit you with some serious g-force and see if you could take it. Most people would black out or throw up. If you passed without issue, you could pay to pilot an HC-2 ship.”

“Sounds like a great time.”

“Yeah, the only problem was the cost. See, these events are reserved for the elite of the elite. The people who attend those events are billionaires, celebrities, or the media. The entire system is built to keep people out. That’s why there are so few HC-0 racers. Not just because there aren’t people talented enough to pilot them, but also because of the massive investment required to build or purchase one ship.”

“Oh trust me, I know. One of my ideas while I was in college was to work for a race team.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, Seb is a total gear head,” Eni said.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Seb said, chuckling. “I used to have some sketch files for engine and ship designs while I was in university.”

“Eni, you didn’t tell me any of that,” Vi said, slapping her on the shoulder. “You’ll have to show me sometime.”

“Oh, I’m sure those accounts are long gone by now. But I’d be happy to talk shop whenever you’re free.”

“Now you’re speaking my language,” Vi said with a wink.

“Let’s get back to the story,” Eni said, moving her head between the two. “We still have to go over the plan.”

“Oh yeah,” Seb said, slapping his knee. “So, how did you get into the event in the first place?”

“Complete luck. Bufjord, my mechanic for my derby shuttle, won a contest giveaway. He got two passes to the event and took me with him.”

“That is pretty lucky. Funny how the universe works like that.”

“Yeah… looking back, though, if I could do it again, I’m not sure I would get back on that ship.”

“So, what happened then?

“I did the test lap, no problem. They put me in the HC-2 ship and I beat the course record.”

“I bet you were the talk of the show after that.”

“That’s putting it mildly. The media went into a frenzy, swarming the ship before I even landed. Security had to come onto the landing platform and usher everyone away just so I could land without crushing them. It was constant question after question, and then the sponsors came. Everyone wanted me to sign with their team. Not only was I the only female racer, but I was also the only orlindrian that raced in a standard ship. Most of the others require a completely sealed ship with a water filled cockpit. Since our bodies are rather malleable, the severe g-force on our body makes it hard for most orlindrians to pilot sufficiently. The additional weight from the water always made them slower.”

“How did you make the jump from HC-2 to HC-0 then?”

“Media pressure, honestly. They wanted to see if I could pilot a HC-0 ship since I crushed the HC-2 record by nearly five seconds.”

“When I qualified for the race. Raptor Racing made a spectacle by signing me right on the spot. At the time, I thought this was a dream come true. I didn’t hesitate. Looking back, however, they knew I was in over my head and took complete advantage of me.”

“How so?”

“Well, I could have gotten a lot more money and negotiated a better contract for one. However, I was stupid in signing before I even read the damn thing. They basically used me as a glorified model for the first quarter of the season. I was a three strung back up for the team. At the start of the season, the only time I got to race was during practice. Even though I qualified better than Mirko and Zan, they kept me on the sideline. It wasn’t until they both got injured that they had no other choice but to put me out on the track.”

“That’s pretty shitty.”

“It was, but it was my own fault, really. I don’t blame anyone else but myself.”

“Trust me… I know how that feels. I made the same mistakes when I was younger.”

“How so?”

Seb let out a heavy sigh and smiled. “A tale for another time, perhaps. So, it sounds like you got your chance and were on top of the world.”

“Something like that. I started creeping up the leaderboards with each finish. Near the end I was at third. There were two races left in the season. I was on every major news network. The media was constantly playing my story as it resonated with so many. They spun it as a from rags to riches tale. Everything became more exaggerated, like how I was an orphan, had never raced in my life, blah, blah, blah. It was getting ridiculous.”

“You didn’t even see half of it,” Eni added. “The holonet lit up like a wildfire. There was so much disinformation surrounding Vi that it took me weeks just to sort the truth from the fiction.”

“I can only imagine,” Seb said. “And I’m guessing someone didn’t appreciate it.”

“Whoever it was had a lot of pull. They didn’t kill me, most likely as to not turn me into a martyr for the people. They did the one thing that no one can tolerate in racing. They made me out to be a cheater.”

“What did they do?”

Vi just shook her head. “All HC-0 fighters come with front and rear mounted blaster cannons. The front ones are handled by the pilot and the rear ones are controlled by the gunner. The front ones are fixed, the rear ones have some mobility. The weapons don’t trigger until the final lap. Except mine did that day. It was the second to last lap. We were weaving through an asteroid field. Another pilot got too close to me and I jerked on the flight stick. In doing so, I shot a volley in front of me and hit another pilot. Normally, the ships have shields that activate on the final lap and the bolts that hit just disable a ship as if it was hit with an EMP. But that’s not what happened. It blasted the ship into dozens of pieces.”

“Who was it that was killed? Would I know them?”

Eni spoke up when Vi didn’t speak. “Xyle Himini”

“You killed the Black Baron?” Seb said, wide eyed.

Vi nodded her head. “After that moment, there was nothing I could do. I killed a legend in the sport. I took all the blame, lost all of my sponsorships, and got sued into oblivion. The people at the top did everything they could to crush me, and they did. I was close to giving up until Eni found me and offered to help.”

Seb slumped back onto the couch. There were no words that he could offer that could help. He wanted to say he was sorry, but knew from his own experience that they were meaningless. He also wanted to help, but he already had enough on his plate as is.

As if sensing the heaviness in the room, Eni cleared her throat and pointed up at the hologram that hovered over the living room table. “Now back to where we were… That was a long-winded way of getting across the point that Vi is the best damn pilot we could ask for.”

“It’s good to have you as part of the team,” Seb said with a smile.

Vi snapped her finger and clicked her tongue at Seb.

“Bringing us back into focus… If the ACR is smart, they’re going to give us a brief window to meet up at a spot of their choosing. That means we need to prepare for a quick getaway if things go south.”

“Do you think they’ll fuck us?” Seb asked. “All I’ve heard is that they are ruthless.”

“It’s all corporate propaganda. They paint them up to be something that they are not. Personally, I think it will go rather smoothly. The ACR does not have a lot of goodwill partners and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I doubt they’ll try anything. However, we’ll plan for the worst but hope for the best.”

“You realize you just jinxed us, right?” Vi said.

“I don’t believe in that, and you shouldn’t either,” Eni said.

“Just saying,” Vi shrugged.

Eni rolled her eyes. “Since we don’t have a lot of time, we’ll need to split up and move quickly. Vi, I sent you a list of equipment that I need you to pick up from one of my safe houses. Luckily, none of the others were compromised. While you do that, Seb and I will be doing some additional shopping. We’re going to rent three long-winded hover vehicles with enough space to transport all the cargo. I don’t know what kind of physical currency they’re going to bring, but we’ll likely need ample space.”

“You want me to bring all of this?” Vi asked. “Are we going to war?”

“No, but like I said, it’s better to be prepared. Once we’ve got everything purchased, we’ll meet you at the safe house where we’ll prep the primary vehicle. When the ACR gives us the meetup location, I’ll mark the location. Then we’ll plant the other two vehicles and ride up together to perform the exchange. If all goes well, we’ll all be coming away with fat paychecks.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Seb asked.

“Then Vi will get us out of there. I’ll guide us to the getaway car, we’ll swap vehicles, and then lie low for a while.”

“What if we get split up?”

“We’ll stay in constant communication. If you’re close to one of the vehicles, you grab one and head back to the safe house. If not, then whoever has the vehicle will try to grab the others. However, it’s important that you ensure you’re not followed. If you bring the badges back to the safe house, then we’re all fucked.”

“How much do you think we’ll be walking away with?”

“I’m going to start at a million and see where they counter. I’ll settle at 750k.” Eni said.

“Three hundred thousand plus isn’t a bad split.”

“Not at all.

Everyone sat in silence as they thought about the job ahead. This was the best they could do, given the circumstances. Seb brought the information and another gun to the table. Eni brought the plan and Vi brought her driving skills. He had to put his faith and trust in their ability to deliver.

“So, are we all good?” Eni asked.

Seb and Vi both nodded their heads.

“Okay, let’s get to work then.”