Omega Force 7: Redemption (8 page)

Jason could hear murmured voices as he walked up the back steps to his house. Despite all the other fantastic tweaks and enhancements Doc had performed on his body, his hearing was still vintage
Homo sapiens
, although all the damage that had been done to them over years around loud machinery and weapons fire had been repaired. He was relieved to hear three voices still: Lucky, Doc, and Kalette. When the second step from the top creaked loudly all conversation inside ceased.

They were all looking at him as he walked into the house a bit shamefaced. Kalette wore an expression of hope while Doc looked at him expectantly. Even Lucky, who had very little in the way of facial expression, seemed to watch him with a certain satisfaction as if he already knew what Jason had decided.

"Sorry for walking out earlier," he said. "I suppose we need to figure out the best way to go about getting this done."

"Does this mean you will help me?" Kalette asked.

"It does," Jason nodded. "Even though I'm standing by everything I said earlier, we can't very well send you out alone and just hope for the best. There are a lot of predators out there and too many lives hang in the balance to leave this to chance."

"What's our first move?" Doc asked.

"We relax," Jason said. "There are some arrangements that need to be made and plans to be finalized. First thing you need to do is make contact with the
Defiant
and tell them that you think you're making real progress and to standby for further updates. How did you get down here?"

"They let me borrow a short-range shuttle," Doc said. "Why?"

"Perfect," Jason said. "Take my ground car and head to the shuttle, then pull up the
Defiant's
orbital data. The nav computer should have an updated course for the ship. Download it to your com unit and then get back here."

"Why do you need the
Defiant's
orbital data?" Doc asked.

"You are rusty at this, aren't you?" Jason said shaking his head. "If we fly our ship out of here and that battlecruiser is sitting up there waiting on us, we won't make it very far."

"Oh, right," Doc said. "I'm not used to those considerations since we were always the fastest thing in the sky."

"Get used to it," Jason said. "Not only are we now in the running for least fastest, but we're also a strong contender for least reliable. Lucky, take Kalette into town and get her some clothes and anything else she may need for an extended space flight."

"What will you be doing?" Lucky asked.

"I'll see to getting our ship prepped and fueled for departure," Jason answered. "I'm going to try to call in a favor at the spaceport. I'm sure the
Defiant
is keeping an eye on both the house and our ship every time it passes overhead. If the spaceport crews are doing it hopefully it will appear to just be contract maintenance."

"Thank you, Jason," Kalette said, bowing her head slightly. "Thank you, all. I cannot fully express my gratitude."

"I'd hold off on that until we actually deliver something," Jason said with a half-smile. "The outcome of our missions doesn't always line up with our original intentions."

****

Once the trio had left the house, Jason made the call to the spaceport to arrange servicing for his ship, but that only took around five minutes. He looked around the empty house, unsure as to what he should do next. Despite his vocal misgivings and complaining, he was practically buzzing with excitement at the prospect of another real mission. He rarely admitted it to himself, and never out loud where anyone could hear, but he desperately missed his old job. Being a glorified delivery driver wasn't something he had ever aspired to. It was honest enough work, but it just wasn't for him.

As he paced aimlessly about the house he caught his own reflection in the mirror and instantly found what he could do next while he waited. His hair hadn't been cut for at least six months, and he actually couldn't recall precisely when he'd last shaved. Judging by the full, unkempt beard it had been a while.

After fifteen minutes in the bathroom with a set of clippers and a "razor" that actually used lasers to take out the hair all the way inside the follicle he began to feel like his old self. Now clean shaven and with his hair buzzed up the sides in a sort of "high and tight" style he walked into his room and stripped down before pulling a squat crate from the back of the walk-in closet.

Inside was the familiar gray uniform he'd been wearing when his crew had split up. He pulled out the loose cargo pants and top and set them on the bed before pulling out the soft black boots and a belt that still had a holster with a powerful plasma sidearm secured in it. Omega Force had always tried hard to stay anonymous so there were no insignias or name on the uniform, but Jason had a definite change in attitude as he put his old clothes on nonetheless.

Noise from inside the house broke him out of his reverie and he shook his head with a rueful chuckle, feeling a bit foolish at the introspection. They were just clothes, after all. He shut the lid to the crate after inventorying the rest of the contents, slipped his boots on, and walked out to see who had arrived back first.

Kalette gave a startled yelp when she saw him walk out of the hallway from the bedroom. "Jason?"

"Yep," he confirmed. "I figured I'd better get myself cleaned up if we're going to be going out in public. If you're going to try and stop an interstellar war there's no point in looking shabby while you do it."

"You look ... striking," she said.

"Certainly not the worst thing I've been called," Jason quipped. "How was shopping?"

"We were able to find everything Kalette needed and some things she simply wanted," Lucky reported. "I will admit to not understanding some of her choices, but she insisted that she knew what she was doing. She routinely asked my advice, and then promptly ignored all my suggestions."

"Is this your first time going shopping with a woman for clothes?" Jason asked, feeling a certain amount of pride at being able to keep a straight face.

"Yes," Lucky said. "Are you suggesting that this is normal behavior?"

"Well—" Jason started, but one look at Kalette's face and he changed course immediately. "I wouldn't know," he continued lamely. "Each species and culture is unique and what not."

"I see," Lucky said, still not any close to understanding. "Were you able to secure services for the ship?"

"Already taken care of," Jason said. "It'll be fueled and waiting for us."

"Where will we be going first?" Kalette asked as she organized her new wardrobe on the kitchen table.

"We'll need to pick up one more person," Jason said, looking at Lucky. "I'm going to need Twingo if we're going to try and push that pile of crap any real distance."

"I will send him a message," Lucky said.

"No messages," Jason said. "I can't chance that Crisstof isn't monitoring our com node. Or Twingo's. He seems to have contacts everywhere and it wouldn't be unheard of for him to get our slip-com addresses tapped."

"Very well," Lucky said. "I know where he is currently living."

"Now all we have to do is wait for Doc to show back up and make sure his end of things went smoothly," Jason said.

It ended up being about another thirty minutes before he showed up.

"I think they bought it," Doc said, handing Jason a tablet computer. "That has the
Defiant's
orbital data on it. I transcribed it manually off a general navigation tab in case the shuttle's computer is being monitored."

"Good thinking," Jason said with a nod. "How did you convince him that you're making progress?"

"The usual way; a little truth mixed in sells any deception," Doc smiled. "I told him you were being unreasonable and that it was difficult to talk with Kalette with you being such a distraction."

"He should buy that," Jason agreed as he flipped through the data Doc had taken from the shuttle. "It looks like our best launch window is right before midnight. The
Defiant
will be on the other side of S'tora. We can head to the ship a few hours before since they'll be well past line of sight by then."

"Where are we heading?" Doc asked.

"Gotta pick up Twingo," Jason said.

"That's good news!" Doc said enthusiastically. "In the meantime ... Lucky, do you think we could impose on you for a midday meal?"

****

It was just after 2100 hours local time (out of a twenty-seven hour S'tora day) when Jason made a final sweep of his house to ensure it was locked up and everything was secured before walking out to join the others by the vehicle they'd called from town to take them to the spaceport.

"All good," he reported. "Let's get out there and get to it.”

The others were quiet, but the tension in the air was electric. For the three former crewmates it was the thrill of working together again; for the displaced Avarian it was the relief of doing something meaningful to help the netjere.

The ride to the spaceport only took twenty minutes thanks to the aggressive driving of the local behind the controls and the complete lack of traffic on the already sparsely traveled roads. The boxy vehicle pulled up to a smooth stop behind the battered cargo ship and everyone piled out while Jason paid the driver in local currency.

"I will go and disable the shuttle so they cannot remotely recall it," Lucky said, grabbing a tool kit and heading to where Doc had parked the
Defiant's
short-range hopper.

"No need to be gentle," Jason called after him before turning to Doc. "I'm starting to enjoy this mission already."

"I didn't realize petty vandalism so thoroughly entertained you," Doc said.

"It's like you hardly even know me," Jason sighed as he keyed open his ship's rear hatch and waited for it to lurch and whine until it slammed into the tarmac.

"I understand why we are leaving in the middle of the night, but why are we damaging Crisstof's shuttlecraft?" Kalette asked.

"When they fly back over and see this ship is gone they'll try to raise Doc," Jason replied as he helped drag their gear up into the cargo bay. "When that doesn't work they'll send a recall signal to the shuttle to have it fly up to the ship on autopilot. Once that fails, they will either have to come down and investigate or abandon the shuttle to try and pursue us, but we'll be long gone by then. It's all about taking the small advantages when you can to increase your chances of success. Also ... we're doing it because it's funny."

Doc just shook his head as they finished securing their belongings. Even with as little as they were bringing the flight was still going to be cramped thanks to the spartan interior of the older ship.

"I have disabled the short-range communication systems as well as the primary fuel system on the shuttle," Lucky said. "A competent technician should be able to find and correct both in a few hours and I have caused no permanent damage to the craft."

"Good enough," Jason said. "Let's get engines started and head up top. The slip-drive on this thing takes a good hour or more to charge from a cold start so we need to get moving."

The escape from S'tora was blessedly uneventful as their cargo ship lifted off without complaint and managed to get them to the mesh-out point well before the
Defiant
was expected to come back around the planet. As a bonus, the slip-drive even engaged on the first try.

"Course is laid in for Woakx Prime," Jason said. "Woakx ... so that's Twingo's homeworld?"

"I would assume so," Doc said. "Why?"

"Just wondering," Jason shrugged. "What type of place is it? Is his species crammed onto the surface like Kage's?"

"What?" Doc asked, completely confused. "No ... it's his homeworld as in that's where he was born and raised. His species isn't from there."

"Ah," Jason said, falling silent for a moment. "So I have another question ... and this is going to sound bad, so I'd like it answered with no judgments and minimal insults mixed in."

"This should be good," Doc said to nobody in particular.

"Um ... what species is Twingo, exactly?" Jason asked, bracing for what he knew was coming. Lucky and Doc both wasted no time berating him.

"Are you serious? You don't know what species your best friend is?"

"You do not actually know?"

"See, that's why I didn't want to ask," Jason retorted with some heat. "I knew it would get blown out of proportion and then you'd all pile on. He was the first biological alien I'd met and by the time I thought about asking what his species was called we'd already been working together for a couple of years."

"He's a daemimm," Doc said. "You could have just asked the computer aboard the
Phoenix
. It had his complete medical history including species."

"Well, that seemed like an invasion of his privacy," Jason said lamely.

"Wait! Do you even know what species I am?" Doc asked. Jason just looked at him helplessly, refusing to answer. "Unbelievable!" Doc got out of his seat and stalked off the bridge.

"Lucky?" Jason asked once Doc had left.

"Doc is a nubhu," Lucky said. Just as Jason was about to raise his voice to call back into the ship, Doc cut him off.

"Don't even bother," he said loudly from the galley. "I heard the whole thing."

"Are you always such a ... spirited ... group?" Kalette asked.

"It has been a while since we have seen each other," Lucky said as if that explained everything.

****

"So there it is, huh? Woakx," Jason said as the ship slipped into orbit over the average-looking planet. "Are you able to access the local com network from here?"

"I am attempting to do so now," Lucky said.

"I'll hang out in orbit for a bit until you know for sure," Jason said. "I don't want to land on the wrong side of the planet by accident."

It was another two hours of sitting in high orbit over Woakx Prime when the com panel chirped and Lucky pulled up the incoming message.

"Twingo has provided landing coordinates for a small spaceport outside of the settlement he lives in that will accommodate the ship," he said. "He will meet us on the landing pad."

"Alright!" Jason said, excited to see his friend. "Let's get our deorbit clearance and get on down there."

Woakx Orbital Control promptly granted their clearance and gave them a direct flight path down to the city that Twingo had indicated. When they had first started operating the small cargo ship Jason had been amazed at how quickly they always seemed to get landing permits until Twingo explained that most worlds were always reluctant to let heavily armed gunships like the
Phoenix
land where they pleased.

The ride down through the atmosphere was smooth and Jason could see that the planet wasn't heavily industrialized or over-settled, which indicated that it was a colonized world and not one with an indigenous space-faring species. He banked gently to take them down over one of the southern continents and put them in a shallow dive that would put them at just twenty-five hundred meters altitude when they reached the city's outer limits.

"Cycle the landing gear," he said to Lucky as he turned onto their final approach and fully engaged the repulsors. "Go ahead and secure the engines and the slip-drive from flight mode; I'll bring us the rest of the way in on thrusters."

"Shutting down engines and slip-drive now," Lucky confirmed. "Landing gear deployed and locked."

Jason lined them up over the indicated landing pad and began reducing power to the repulsors, allowing the unwieldy cargo ship to settle closer to the ground until they felt a few jolts as the landing gear impacted the ground. He pulled the power back the rest of the way and the ship groaned and creaked as its weight was transferred from the repulsors to the landing gear struts.

"Secure all the primary flight systems and lock out the computer," Jason said as he popped off his restraints. "I'll go open the rear hatch." He strode quickly off the flight deck and jogged down the narrow corridor until he was in the cargo bay. Once he unlocked the rear hatch he waited impatiently as it seemed to take even longer than usual to lower to the ground.

"Can't say I miss this thing," a familiar voice said from the port side of the ship.

Jason walked out onto the still-lowering ramp and hopped off onto the ground, catching Twingo up in a huge bear hug and lifting him off the ground.

"How've you been?" Jason asked him once he set his stout, blue-skinned friend back on the ground.

"Can't complain," Twingo said with a huge smile. "But look at you! You look great, cleaned yourself up and everything. I was a bit worried about you when I left S'tora."

"Yeah," Jason said, a bit embarrassed. "Dark days, I guess."

"I have a feeling you showing up here on my homeworld
and
wearing that uniform isn't a coincidence," Twingo said seriously. "What's going on?"

"We can go over it in a bit when the others get out here," Jason said.

"Others?" Twingo asked. "It's not just you and Lucky?"

"No, he's dragged me along on this as well," Doc said as he walked down the ramp and embraced Twingo.

"Doc!"

They all took a few moments to greet each other and introduce Twingo to Kalette before heading to the spaceport's administrative building so they could arrange for transportation enough for the five of them.

Due to his technical skills Twingo had been able to secure a well-paying job at one of the backshops that serviced the spaceport and let him afford a well-appointed home in a good neighborhood. As on most planets, the home resembled a tall, narrow townhouse from Earth with the front up against the street and a tiny yard out back.

After they'd gotten him up to speed on the current situation Twingo sat back in his seat, silently digesting all the information. Jason took the opportunity to look around at the home more closely, noticing that it was unmistakably a bachelor's residence. He vaguely remembered that his friend had returned to his home to try and reconnect with his family, but he wasn't sure if that meant a wife and kids or his parents and siblings.

"You're all sure this is something you want to get caught up in?" Twingo asked, breaking the silence. "This isn't simply returning a stray to her home. No offense, Kalette, that's just an expression."

"No offense was taken," she said quietly.

"We understand that as least as well as you do," Doc said. "But good idea or not, we're already involved. By chance Kalette happened to sneak aboard Jason and Lucky's ship and we're not necessarily willing to let her take her chances, all things considered."

"Fair enough," Twingo shrugged. "What do you want from me?"

"Our ship isn't going to make an extended trip like that without some work and probably some major components replaced," Jason said.

"That could have been done on S'tora," Twingo said with a frown. "There are plenty of engineers and techs available."

"Yes," Jason agreed. "But I thought it would be a good opportunity to come visit and we needed to get out from under the
Defiant
quickly. If they saw techs crawling around all over the ship it would be a giveaway that we were planning on running."

"The engineers on S'tora would also require that we pay them, which will be difficult since we have very little money," Lucky said. Jason shot his friend an exasperated glare, but Twingo only chuckled.

"I had already suspected as much considering the emergency hull patches I put on over a year ago are still there," he said.

"I have told Jason that he should address that," Lucky confided. "But he said not to worry about it. Since I do not require a breathable atmosphere I have done just that."

"Anyway," Jason said loudly, "we'd appreciate it if you'd take a look at it."

"No problem," Twingo said, still laughing. "We can do that in the morning unless this is such an emergency you can't go out and enjoy a meal with an old friend."

"Sounds like a plan," Jason said.

****

As it turned out, dinner had a few surprises included with it. The open air restaurant Twingo selected afforded them spectacular views of the city as well as a direct line of sight into the kitchen, something that commanded Lucky's complete attention. Twingo looked questioningly at Jason, who only shook his head with an indulgent smile. Jason didn't at all understand the attraction to cooking by a being who lacked the ability to ingest or even taste food, but it made his friend happy so he chose not to question why and just accept it.

Just as they'd all relaxed and ordered drinks and Jason was about to inquire about who the extra chair at the table was for another familiar voice called out, "Look at this group of thieves and pirates!"

"Kage!" Jason said, so much in shock that he was unable to stop his next comment from coming out. "I thought you were in prison."

"You heard that, did you?" Kage said, shooting Doc a glare. "You know me ... they couldn't keep me locked up if they wanted to, and as it turned out, they didn't want to."

"Kage has been here for the last six months after he called me needing a place to land and regroup after his ... release," Twingo said. "He's running an investment scam in the next city over."

"That's an indelicate way to put it," Kage said as he made his way around the table to greet everyone. "I prefer to call it a creatively packaged opportunity."

"Nice to see some things never change," Jason said with a laugh as Kage slid into his seat. "So are you currently a hunted man?"

"Not at all," Kage said. "Not only was my sentence commuted, the entire record of all my
alleged
transgressions has been purged."

"I'm not waiting for this story," Doc said. "Spill it."

"Okay, okay," Kage said, waving them to silence as he placed a drink order. "It's possible that I had an emergency plan that automatically enacted should I ever be unable to stop it by, say, being wrongly incarcerated."

"Kage ..."

"It's fairly simple," Kage said. "There were some very damaging images, videos, and documents that I
might
have procured that certain powerful government officials would rather not have disseminated to the media or the public. When I failed to check in these images were sent to them first with a warning that in a week's time they would be sent to all news outlets unless certain requirements were satisfied."

"Why am I not surprised," Jason said, shaking his head. "How did you come by these supposed documents?"

"It's amazing what I've been able to do with the upgraded wetware Doc installed in my head," Kage said with a smirk.

"Great ... so I'm an accessory to blackmailing the Veran government," Doc said.

"Jason, this is the crew you spoke of in your story?" Kalette said. "They seem like a collection of common criminals ... no offense."

"Some taken," Jason said.

"Common?" Kage said indignantly.

"
That's
the part that bothers you?" Twingo asked.

"I've never tried to hide what I am," Kage said with a shrug. "So what's good to eat here?"

The next morning Jason, Twingo, and Lucky went back down to the spaceport to look the ship over. Doc had little interest and Kage was still recovering from overindulging the previous night. Jason was surprised at how quickly and easily the group fell back into old patterns and roles. He had to keep reminding himself that after things calmed down it was likely going to be back to him and Lucky, if the battlesynth even stuck around.

"I'll be honest, Jason," Twingo was saying as he crawled back out of a maintenance hatch. "This ship is well past its service life and it hasn't been taken care of very well. Did you know you've got structural spars cracked under the deck here?"

"Sure didn't," Jason said. "Can that be fixed?"

"Anything can be fixed," Twingo shrugged. "But the point I'm trying to make is that this thing is far beyond help. Legally I probably shouldn't even let it leave the spaceport."

"Can't you just—"

"You asked for my help, and I'm giving it to you," Twingo interrupted him. "There is no way for me to patch this ship up enough to make a trip all the way out to the edge of ConFed space, especially on your budget of zero credits. You need to make other arrangements."