Rift Breaker (14 page)

‘Yeah,' Milton chuckled. ‘Who would?'

Thirteen

Luylla's heart woke her with a rapid beat. She jolted and whipped out her sidearm. The hyperspace tube whirled before her. Still on the ship. She sat back and inflated her lungs. The flight console had smudged with her breath. She holstered her weapon and rubbed the skin on her left collarbone, from where her artificial limb extended. The metal got bitterly cold on space voyages.

The destination indicator cut her moment short. She switched to manual and grabbed the controls. The
Inhibitan
slowed at a crushing rate, ejecting from the tube.

The sphere of Greatek appeared. Its eerie night-life twinkled across its continents. The world was the capital of the Yezmoi sector where five of its six major trade routes intersected. Greatek was also beyond the reach of Composite jurisdiction. Whoever had summoned her was well aware of her situation. Of course they would be; the Tyde knew everything.

She eased her steering and angled past the trade depot. The
rectangular structure was compartmented by long walls and had several cargo freighters stacked in their allocated docks, loading and unloading who knows what. Smaller delivery carriers deployed to and from the planet. Luylla did not opt to receive any transmission, but her contact somehow beamed specific instructions across the forward pane: the direction to follow, what speed to fly and even how to manoeuvre. She made the necessary adjustments to her flight path.

Luylla wasn't a real hunter by professional standards. With only two successful bounties she was an amateur at best. Given her location, she was going to have to fake her qualifications from here on in. A meeting with the Tyde was the biggest opportunity she had for networking to the underworld. But the excitement was short-lived. Crushing memories of why she began her journey and the anxiety that came with them took over momentarily. But as usual, she harnessed that same anxiety and turned it into something she could use to push on, releasing the anger that focused her.

Weapons would have to be held especially close for this one. She was entering a territory full of gun-toting mercenaries who would do anything to cash in on her price tag.

The clearance message came in and prompted her to change transmission frequency. The new coded channel transmitted the exact coordinates of her destination. She locked a path into the navi computer and spub into the atmosphere of what was unofficially regarded as the Tyde capital.

The section of the city was closed to the public, so traffic was mild. Her wing lights beamed through the fog. The area was one of the many corporate owned sections of land and airspace on Greatek.

As she flew she kept an eye on the holographic map. It zoomed through the buildings and halted in a slow pan of a large, domed complex surrounded by five landing towers. Luylla was beginning to think she was lost until two of the landing towers materialised from the mist.

Following the delegated routine, Luylla eased the controls to the tower on the right and lowered her ship to the platform.

The
Inhibitan
's engines softened into a discomforting silence. The fog outside clouded the pulsing red pad lights. Luylla checked her side arms, ammo levels full, and safeties off. She tightened her holster an extra notch on her way to the hatch. Chilled mist wafted inside as the door folded open. She descended with eyes wide open. The heel and ball of her boots clicked distinctly on the ramp.

The fog barely revealed anything of her surroundings. The
Inhibitan
's lights, close behind, blurred in the cloud. She hit the roof surface and did her best to scope for danger. Between her ship lights and the pulsing red glow that marked the edge of the platform she could make out vague shadows on the roof; some looked to be statues, evenly spaced around a path that led to the entrance.

Luylla touched a control on her arm computer. The cargo
ramp retracted with a drawn-out squeal of hydraulics. The light from the cargo hold reduced to a fine rectangular beam before shrinking to vanish with the hollow click of the lock.

‘What now?' she whispered.

Something shuffled along the roof with a clicking of metal. Luylla whirled. She blinked. The statues had changed position. Keeping her eye on the figures, she slowly lifted her hand and touched the butt of her pistol.

A red beam stabbed the shroud and placed a dot at the centre of her chest. Another appeared from the left, putting the target between her eyes. Two more appeared from different directions, aimed directly at the top of her thighs, the thin parts of her body armour. She froze, pinned in her spot and having lost the option to whip out her pistol in a quick draw. She moved her hand away. The laser sights lacked the slightest hint of divergence.

One of the statues stepped forward. It uttered one word in a croaky electronic voice. ‘Disarm.'

Luylla unbuckled her gun belt. It dangled from her hand as she slowly snapped closed the buttons, securing her pistols in their holsters. She then swung the belt forward and the shadow snatched it from the air.

A low-flying craft swooped from overhead. A bright blaze momentarily lit the platform and the sharp updraft of wind sliced the fog.

The guard was a machine. Its flat face was covered in circular lenses of different sizes. The red beam came from its right arm,
above the tri-barrel of a plasma weapon. Its body was relatively thin compared to its hulking forearms and legs.

As darkness once again swallowed the platform, the sentinel's beam disappeared. Its weapon clicked and the tri-barrel rotated half a circle and disappeared into its arm. A scanning device sprang from the underside of the wrist and a horizontal sheet of green light burst forth and shone over Luylla. Detecting nothing, the device finished with a positive sounding chirp. With that, every laser sight disappeared and the sentinels stepped aside with clicking mechanical joints. They formed a path between them.

Luylla reluctantly advanced. She kept her head straight but glanced at them from the corners of her eyes. The machines' neck joints whined in unison as they tracked her. Ahead, a door slid open, spilling light onto the ground. She stepped into a glass-walled pneumatic elevator. Three of the sentinels followed and surrounded her in the tight space. The door sealed quickly and they dropped.

A bead of sweat crawled down her face but she made no effort to wipe it away. Her thoughts raced and her heart pounded but her expression was blank. She turned her back to them and faced the opposite door, feeling even more vulnerable with them out of her sight. A chime sounded and the elevator door opened, unveiling the sound of a soft orchestra melody. A cold hand jabbed her back and pushed her forward onto plush maroon carpet.

‘Easy now gentlemen, that's no way to treat a lady,' sang a lively voice.

The lady sat in a high-backed chair on the opposite side of a long, polished, horizontally positioned, corporate looking table.

‘I hope they weren't too rough on you, Ms Warride,' she added.

The machines stepped in behind Luylla. Two positioned themselves evenly behind her. The third remained blocking the elevator.

‘You're a Krusian?' exclaimed Luylla, noting the lady's characteristic emerald eyes.

‘Just like you,' said the lady with a smile. She swirled a glass of orange liquid. On first glance Luylla could tell she was artificially enhanced. She was close to the middle of her life cycle but seemed to have perfect skin. Her shiny red hair was tied in a meticulous bun. Her outfit looked expensive. The off-the-shoulder dress, made of intricately woven golden scales, tightly hugged her upgrades. Her matching earrings were golden twisted leaf shapes with a strip of black that ended with a swirl. She glistened under the hovering chandelier.

The room had three walls. Behind the lady lay a gaping sphere-shaped void. The pressure of the room however made it feel small, an indication of a transparent force field. A colourful and elegant body shot past the gap. The dancer flexed her body as she floated down to the centre of the void where other costumed figures swirled. They leapt and twirled, moving majestically among what was clearly a customised array of gravity planes. A heavier figure appeared between them, armoured with sharp
brown wings. The others scattered in a coordinated swirl at an equal and precise distance apart.

The private box was complete with a sunken lounge area. Down the step a red and yellow plant seemed to twist and sway to the music, mimicking a burning flame.

‘I apologise in advance for the show,' she said, waving her hand in dismissal at the window. ‘It's quite … average tonight.' She sipped her drink and turned back. ‘Welcome,' she chimed. She waved at the empty chair opposite. ‘Take a seat.'

Luylla eyed the sentinels and hesitated.

She gave a light shrug. ‘Or not, whatever puts you at ease.'

Luylla panicked. She quickly went to the chair and sat. Being with another Krusian sparked mixed feelings. She fretted at the thought of this lady knowing her full identity.

‘My name is Adel,' said the lady.

‘
The
Adel?' Luylla replied. The name was one of the first she'd heard while enquiring of the Tyde's notoriety.

The crime lordess nodded. ‘Does it surprise you? That one of your own could hold such a position?'

Luylla took a moment to form a reply. ‘It is not my interest to comment on our race's place in the galaxy.'

Adel half smiled. ‘Very good,' she said. ‘I understand the reward on your head has made business difficult, yes?' She placed her glass on a coaster. ‘Ms Warride, may I call you Ms?' Adel didn't wait for a response. ‘I have a proposition for you.'

Adel lowered her hand behind the table and lifted into view an object wrapped in a white cloth. She set it down with care to not scratch the polished wood table, then removed the covering, revealing a metal box beaten to a distorted shape and dotted with black burn marks. Luylla leaned in. She bit her lower lip on recognising the scratched logo on the front panel — the same mark as the cargo shipment in her hold.

The force field crackled and rippled; a white rectangle appeared. The logo materialised on the screen before spinning to the top right-hand corner, revealing a monochrome surveillance image of a gloomy hangar.

Adel explained, ‘I personally know you had nothing to do with the
Reconotyre
incident. And I'm sure, after seeing the surveillance footage, authorities would also be convinced. With that in mind, my contacts will have no trouble persuading the Composite as to what really happened on the
Orisurrection
colony, which is whatever we decide.'

An on-screen flash momentarily washed out the image. When the picture became visible again, the heavy hangar doors were breached. Jagged edges of the smoking hole had warped inward, having been exploded from the outside. The image vanished.

‘We have the rest, of course, everything recorded on the attack, safely stowed away at a nearby stronghold.'

‘And what do you want?'

‘The Freegu,' Adel answered. ‘I want you to bring him to me.
Then I will give you the data, we can clear your name, and you'll be free to continue your journey.'

‘What do you want with him?'

Adel sighed. ‘You ask many questions for a hunter.'

The comment was piercing. Luylla suddenly felt herself a fraud. She
was
a fraud. But could a fraud be doing business with
the
Adel?

‘Tazman is a criminal,' Adel explained. ‘This is a Tyde matter. You needn't worry yourself with his transgressions.'

Adel's tone turned serious and her smile disappeared. ‘I know what it's like to be blamed for a deed not done. We too are taking blame for the
Orisurrection
attack. This is not good for business. We are not senseless murderers like the Composite would have you believe.' She leaned forward. Luylla got a whiff of her tangy perfume. ‘It's people like you, Ms Warride, that keep society together, people who aren't controlled by regulations, people that have the guts to do what needs to be done, even in the face of judgement. It's not an easy job, being a bounty hunter.'

Adel swivelled back to the force field. Another image appeared: the data from the patrol bot back on Lubric. ‘Watch, this is my favourite part,' she giggled.

The patrol bot's point of view turned to face an image of Luylla, aiming her pulse pistol down the lens, then a bright flash.

Adel broke into a high-pitched cackle, throwing her head back. About ten spuckons of straight laughter ensued. Luylla glanced back at the sentinels. They stood unmoving with a locked gaze.

The crime lordess caught her breath, ‘I … admired the way you handled yourself on Lubric,' her laughter subsiding as she wiped a tear away with her pinky finger.

‘Unfortunately, the Composite, bless them, cannot fathom your vigilante ways and as a bonus you're wanted for something you did not do. By now your network is turned against you.' She took a drawn-out sip from her glass, not breaking eye contact, even as she set it back on the coaster. ‘Ms Warride, in your position you can't trust anyone.'

‘Then why trust you?'

‘Good question,' Adel cried, leaning forward and slapping the table. ‘Ms Warride, the fact that you will leave here unharmed should be enough. To be forward, I'm the only choice you have. How long will you be able to cope with such a price on your head? What other hope, if any, do you have?'

Luylla tried not to look her in the eye for too long and glanced away, consciously shifting her gaze between the box, the dancers and the machines on guard.

Adel continued. ‘You've no doubt discovered that the simian can be somewhat irritating. We'll be more than happy to take him off your hands. Do we have a deal?'

Luylla took a subtle breath and sat taller. ‘Where do you want him?' she asked sternly.

Adel reverted to her original smile and plucked her drink from the table. ‘Just fly into our airspace and you will be prompted.' She shot a glance at the sentinels. They swiftly moved
in and grabbed Luylla's upper arms from behind, pulling her to her feet and into the elevator.