Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 16 - Predictability (Patreon)

Mira always thinks everyone is going to turn on her, and more often than not, she’s been right. And I think that’s a terrible tragedy because the entire world is not the mob of self-interest that she thinks it is. There are good people out there. She just doesn’t let herself see them.

Patrick Ward

The passage of the hoverbike kicked up a rooster tail of dust as I guided it through the desert. For the most part, I kept to a straight line, often ramping high into the air after ascending the steep slope of a sand dune. However, on more than one occasion, I was forced to skirt around them. So, it took a little longer than I expected to reach the rendezvous point. All the while, I kept tabs via the Secure Connection I shared with Patrick, and what I’d heard so far wasn’t good.

As I crested the last hill and looked down upon the Leviathan, Patrick said, “They’re arguing, and Isaac is demanding that we go.”

That didn’t surprise me. Not really. Even if they weren’t planning on betraying us, we were supposed to be on a schedule, and we were already running late. Soon, the Dingyts would figure out that something had gone wrong – if they weren’t already aware – and the search for the hijackers would begin. Obviously, the plan was to be well out of the area before that happened. There was still some time left, but we were cutting it close. So, it wasn’t shocking that they wanted to leave me behind.

The moment I entered communications range, I announced my arrival by saying, “You didn’t leave me. Surprising.”

“You made it!” Avery half-shouted.

“Knew you’d take care of it,” said Rex.

“Is it gone?” asked Isaac. Paulo added something, but it was lost amid a burst of static.

Askar was the only one who’d remained silent.

I told them that I would arrive in thirty seconds, which was met with a few sounds of relief. The alien still hadn’t said anything, which remained the case until I reached the ramp leading into the cargo bay. Once there, I saw that no one had escaped the hijacking unscathed. Avery bore a wound on her shoulder that looked like a plasma burn, Rex was holding an arm over a foam-bandaged gut wound, and even Paulo had a bloody cloth wrapped around his head. Isaac lay on the floor, his torso held upright by a huge crate. His lower half didn’t even twitch. Askar was standing near the stairs that would lead toward the cockpit, an angry expression marring his sharp features.

“Where’s Huascar?” I asked, glancing at the dozen other nondescript people in the cargo bay. Wearing black coveralls, they looked like hired laborers, which was probably accurate. Someone had to do the heavy lifting, after all. The results of their labor had been pushed to the edges of the spacious cargo bay, where each crate had been stacked neatly and secured in place.

Except the big one in the center of the bay.

“Didn’t make it,” grunted Isaac, his voice strained. “Took a plasma bolt to the face. The idiot never did know when to take cover.”

I hadn’t expected that. In fact, according to all the intelligence the others had gathered, the convoy was supposed to have minimal security. That the FACS had been there should have been an indicator that the information was wrong, but I’d somehow convinced myself that its presence was the only alteration. Clearly, I was wrong.

“Heavy resistance?” I asked, glancing at Avery. Paulo hovered over her like an overprotective parent. Judging by the fact that she kept trying to edge away told me that his was an unwanted presence. Not surprising, given that where he went, an unpleasant odor usually followed.

She answered, “That’s an understatement. Those little gnomes were supposed to be pushovers, but –”

Just then, the Leviathan trembled as it lifted from the ground. Most of the gathered people grabbed something to keep from falling over, but I easily maintained my balance. As we rose, the ramp retracted, and the cargo bay closed soon after. Before long, the bay was sealed, and the inertial dampeners had engaged. They were a necessity, especially in Earth’s atmosphere. Without them, we’d all have to be strapped in.

“Waited as long as I could,” Patrick said over our Secure Connection. “If they try to pull anything, I’ll disengage the dampeners. Should give you an advantage.”

“Understood,” I said. That was the first – and probably most important – part of our contingency plan. If it came down to it, I trusted my [Acrobatics]skill to give me an edge. Even so, the moment I’d stepped into the cargo bay, I’d activated Multi-Shot and selected my targets. Askar would get the original round. Then Rex. Avery. Isaac. Finally, Paulo. After that, I’d deal with the laborers. It split my concentration a half-dozen different ways, but with my Mind attribute as high as it was, I could handle it.

I still didn’t draw my weapon, though. I wouldn’t, so long as they played nice. Once any of them stepped out of line, I’d do what I had to do, even if I regretted the necessity.

“So,” I said, stepping up to the big crate. It was a good foot-and-a-half taller than I was, and it was at least as big as a cargo truck. I slapped my hand against the metal exterior, asking, “This is what all the fuss was about, right? What’s in it?”

“That’s not your concern,” said Askar, finally turning to look at me. He looked angry and annoyed. “Tell your pilot to open the cockpit. He has no idea where we’re going.”

“No.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” I said, resting my hand on my pistol’s grip. I knew I could draw it in less than an instant, and so long as I got one shot off, everyone in that cargo bay would be dead. I saw the crowd of laborers out of the corner of my eye and amended that to everyone that mattered. “Tell me what’s in the box.”

“Or?”

I sighed. “Or I’ll get angry. I might kill everyone in here,” I said. “Or I might just accept it as none of my business. I haven’t decided yet. But what I do know is that every piece of intelligence you provided was wrong, and without me, every single person in this ship would already be dead.”

“So, you think we owe you?” asked Askar.

“I think I deserve to know why your threat assessment was so horribly wrong. You underestimated your enemies at every turn,” I said. “First, if you’d sent Avery into that compound, she would have died. Full stop. I don’t care what skills she has. If it pushed me even a little bit, she would’ve ended up as a bloody splatter on the wall.”

“I disagree,” he growled. I could hear his teeth grinding in frustration. Or anger, maybe.

“It’s not an opinion,” I stated. “It’s fact. The same with the train. Those combat bots? Yeah – you and your merry band of amateurs might’ve taken a few of them out, but the whole horde? And that’s saying nothing about the drones. Again, without me there to pull you out of the fire, dead.”

Before he could object, I went on, “And then the convoy is guarded by the most advanced bot I’ve ever seen. If I hadn’t pulled its specs from the security terminal back in that satellite compound, even I would’ve ended up dead. None of you would have stood even the slightest chance. So…invader. Tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Just show her,” growled Isaac.

“What?” barked Askar.

“You’ve seen what she can do,” the injured man stated. “If you push her, she’ll kill every single person in this ship. Easily.”

“Not before I –”

“And we’ll all still be dead!” Isaac spat, slapping his hand against the floor. The movement cost him, though, and a moment later, he doubled over in a coughing fit. I’d had internal injuries before, so I knew just how unpleasant that could be. A moment later, he croaked, “Just tell her. Or I will.”

Askar looked as if he was going to argue, but then, he glanced at Avery. It was just a moment, and then his eyes were back on me, but it was enough that I knew precisely what he was thinking. I didn’t know their relationship, but I did know that he cared about the girl. He was probably willing to roll the dice and risk his own life. Most of his crew, too. But Avery? He couldn’t stomach that.

The fire drained from his expression, and his shoulders sagged. “Very well. You want to know? Then know you shall. But I warn you right now that you’ll regret it,” he stated.

“In my experience, knowing is always better than ignorance,” was my response.

He gave a slight shrug, then descended the steps. His footfalls clanged against the corrugated metal, loud in the mostly empty space. Everyone else was silent, save for Isaac, whose breathing had become labored. My Triage ability told me that unless he was treated soon, he would almost assuredly die.

To keep my eye on him, I circled as Askar approached the container in the center of the hold. He didn’t seem to notice. Or care. Instead, he stepped up to a security terminal on the crate, retrieved his own personal link, and jacked into the terminal. For about thirty seconds, nothing happened, but then, the crate trembled. A second later, the metal sides began to retract, folding into the four corners and revealing a glass case.

Inside was the most adorable child I’d ever seen.

“What the fuck?” I breathed.

“That is the granddaughter of Duke Arbolex of the Dingyt Confederation,” Askar said. When I clearly didn’t understand what that meant, he went on, “Arbolex is the second in line for the Dingyt throne, which means that if his brother were to die, he would rule an entire solar system of habitable planets.”

“Pick, we’ve got a huge problem,” I silently said through the Secure Connection.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know yet, but Askar might have just put the biggest target in existence on our backs,” I answered.

Meanwhile, Askar continued, “The Dingyts aren’t just some backwater frontier power, either. They are a core system.”

“And you chose to kidnap the ruler’s granddaughter? Why? More importantly, why the hell is someone like her on Earth?” I demanded.

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “And neither is anyone else. Not until I know what the hell you dragged me into. So, get to talking.”

He sighed. “I haven’t been completely honest with you,” Askar said.

“There’s a shocker,” I muttered.

“I didn’t choose this world by chance. Instead, I chose it because I knew the Dingyts would come here,” he said. “I’ve been targeting them since the very beginning. More precisely, I was waiting for this very situation. The child is the daughter of Duke Arbolex’s second son, who was sent here to oversee their operation. He’s dead now.”

“In the convoy?”

“No. A month ago. He had an accident,” Askar said. “The little girl, who was born here on Earth, was on her way to the closest Bazaar access point, which was the first step in her journey back to the rest of her family.”

I nodded. “I’m guessing you engineered all this?”

“I did. I ensured that the gnome was surrounded with beautiful females, and once he finally got one pregnant, I kicked off my plan,” he explained.

“Why? What do you hope to gain?”

“I intend to ransom the girl back to her family, of course,” Askar said. “No – I don’t want credits. I want authorization to settle in the core.”

“I assume you’ll be taking your…daughter with you?” I could tell by his change of expression that I’d gotten it right. “Right. I get it now. Do a bad thing to an innocent child so you can ensure that your own kid has a better life, right?”

“Mira,” Patrick said. “My long-range sensors are picking up multiple ships. Evasion has failed. What do you want to do?”

“Shit!” I spat. I knew what I had to do. Before any of them could respond to my outburst, I said, “Look. You’ve got two options here. One ends up with you dead. The other doesn’t. I’m good either way, but I’ll admit that I don’t want to kill the girl.”

“Hey! What ‘bout me?!” Rex demanded. “I thought we had a connection, you and me.”

“Fine. I don’t want to kill the cowboy, either,” I admitted. I nodded toward the group of men and women in coveralls, adding, “Them, either. You and Isaac, I’m fine with putting down, though.”

I hadn’t mentioned Paulo, but I didn’t feel one way or another about him, so I didn’t much care about the omission.

“And what determines the outcome?” asked Askar.

“You. I’m going to take the girl,” I said. “Chances are, she’s got a tracker on her, so there are two ships following our every move. We’re not getting away from them. And even if we do, I’m pretty sure this ultra-powerful duke what’s-his-name has enough gnomepower to send more. Our only option is to give her back.”

“What? No!” Askar shouted, and I nearly shot him right then and there. “I’ve spent decades putting this together. I won’t let you –”

I yanked Ferdinand II from his holster and shot him between the eyes. The entry wound was a neat hole that only leaked a little blood, but the exit was a different story altogether. Skull, brains, and blood exploded from the back of his head, and a second later, he fell.

But nobody else got hit because I’d cancelled Multi-Shot at the last second.

Even as Askar crumpled to the ground, I raised my voice and said, “Not a debate, people. Be happy I’m not killing the rest of you. So, here’s the deal – I’m going to take the girl off on my own. Patrick is going to drop you all off somewhere reasonably safe. And then, we’ll never see each other again, okay?”

“What ‘bout the loot?”

“Take half,” I said. “No more, no less. And if those circuits aren’t here, I’ll hunt each and every one of you down and kill you. Slowly. Got it?”

I didn’t get any more argument from the crew. So, I told Patrick what was going on, and predictably, he objected to me going off on my own. “I can get away from them, Mira!” he argued. “Just –”

“I know you can,” I said. “But this problem isn’t going away. I can almost guarantee that if we keep this girl, we’ll end up being hunted from one end of the planet to the next. Our only option is to give her back.”

“And how do you plan on surviving the hand-off?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out when I get…wait, what’s the name of the nearest town with Bazaar access?”

“New Cairo,” he said. “Two-hundred miles or so northeast. You’ll see it from a good ways away. Apparently, they have pyramids.”

“Pyramids? What kind?”

“Big ones. It’s, like, their whole thing,” he said.

“We know anyone in the area?” I asked.

“Yeah, but you’re not going to like it,” Patrick answered. “You remember Vanna and Simon?”

“Ugh.”

I definitely remembered the pair. They’d handled different parts of my training back in Mobile, so I didn’t really consider them hostile. However, the last time I’d seen them had been during the year after Nova’s fall, and I had not acquitted myself well. They’d tried to help me, but I’ve always had a bit of a stubborn streak, so it didn’t really end the way anyone wanted it to.

“You want me to contact them?” asked Patrick. He’d seen them more recently, and apparently, they’d known his stepfather, Remy.  So, that reunion had gone much better than my own meeting with them.

“No. Where can I find them?”

“They own a bar,” he said. “Called The Haunt. I don’t know anything else.”

I sighed. “Fine. I’ll figure it out.”

With that, I turned to the stunned onlookers and said, “Alright. If anybody has any objections to what I just did, speak now. If you try anything after I’m gone, just know that the Leviathan’s security system is capable of killing each and every one of you. The only reason Patrick hasn’t already done it is because I didn’t want to spend the Rift shards to power the system. But he’s not quite as frugal as I am.”

It was a lie. The ship didn’t really have any internal security, aside from a few cameras throughout the ship. But they didn’t need to know that.

Rex said, “We’ll behave.”

That’s when I noticed that Isaac had bled out. He hadn’t even uttered a death rattle. I glanced toward Avery and saw that she was shaking. I had just killed her father, so, I guess it was understandable.  For a moment, we locked eyes, and I saw that she was weeping. Suddenly, she stepped forward, her arms out wide, and the movement surprised me so thoroughly that I didn’t even react when she wrapped them around me in a tight hug.

“Thank you,” she muttered, burying her head against my chest. “He…he did…things…I don’t…I didn’t know how I was going to get away. But…t-thank you…”

She continued to sob as I connected the dots. As I did, my stomach churned. I didn’t know the details, but then again, I didn’t need to. Whatever he’d done, whatever abuses he’d subjected the girl to, it had been a horrible experience. That was enough to assuage any guilt I might have felt. My only regret was that I couldn’t kill him again, and more slowly.

“You’re welcome,” I managed to say before pushing her away.

Then, without another word, I retrieved my personal link from the Hand of God, then headed over to the cubicle’s security terminal, and jacked in. In only a few seconds, the glass – or whatever clear material comprised the container – slid aside with a puff of air. The girl, who was the size of a toddler, but with more maturity in her eyes, glared at me.

She immediately started crying.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “I really don’t want to do this,” I muttered.