Alexander Outland: Space Pirate (31 page)

“Why is the biggest crime lord in the history of the galaxy the only one who wants this armada stopped?” Lionside sounded both frustrated and interested. I really hoped he wasn’t going to try to play hero by arresting us. He did have some skills it would be a shame to lose.

“Because it’s bad for business.” The Governor chuckled. “Your ability to think like a military man is a great help, Major. But you also need to start thinking like a businessman. Because that’s what most successful criminals, pirates included, truly are, at their cores. They’re in business. And there’s nothing worse for business than a market that isn’t free.”

The planet still seemed completely uninhabited. This was good. Air was still breathable. Also good, not that I planned to go for a hike.

“It’s fine if you have the monopoly.” Lionside truly was from Herion. They were big on monopolies on Herion.

“Not really. Monopolies, like dictatorships and kingdoms, get toppled because they’re restrictive. Free trade allows the most forms of individual success—and the galaxy is made up of trillions of individuals, after all.” The Governor sighed. “Major, think of all the problems you just had within your own military organization, and then accept that they exist on every civilized planet. If you want to stop these pirates and save your solar system, then you’re going to have to do it our way.”

“But first, we’re going to set down on Trennile Main’s little brother and see if anyone notices.”

“Why?” This was chorused. Even Audrey joined in. I resisted the urge to shout out “Percy Almondinger” and see if that created the group silence again.

“I would think that’s the last thing we’d want to do,” Lionside said. “We just escaped from the armada. How will we escape if we’re on a planet?”

“Exactly.”

S
ensors found a good area to land. Hulky altered and now we could see the terrain. All clear.

I set us down, my usual perfect landing. Not even a bump. The
Sixty-Nine
didn’t like to be jostled and I couldn’t blame her.

“Outland, really, why are we here, specifically, and on the ground?”

“Audrey, all systems off other than sensors, both short and long range.” I turned around. “Because we don’t have any allies to run to. So we have limited resources and they have to be conserved.”

“I echo Bryant. Why are we setting down? We can run on low in space, too.”

“Why are all of you so dead-set against it?”

“Because it’s stupid,” Tanner answered. “It leaves us sitting ducks.”

“Do you think Nitin, or Lucky Pierre, or anyone thinks I’m stupid?”

Lionside answered slowly. “I believe Nigel did indeed think you were stupid. But I’m sure he no longer does. And, if you’re right, Lucky Pierre no longer does, either.”

Randolph shook his head. “Nap got us away from the full armada. They knew he wasn’t stupid before we landed on Herion.”

I glanced at the Governor. He looked pleased. “It’s so nice to see
you learning, Alexander.”

“Learning what? How to live dangerously?” Slinkie shook her head. “Nap, this is stupid and reckless, even for you.” She jerked. I loved it when she did that. “Oh. Um, sorry. It makes sense now.”

“How so?” Randolph was, as always when intrigue reared its head, slow to catch on.

Tanner laughed. “Oh, damn. Okay, yeah, good plan.”

Lionside shook his head. “Not if they’ve figured out how to think like you.”

“Tanner’s guess is that our current Lucky Pierre does think like me. However, I’m not really thinking like me, so much.”

“Who are you thinking like?”

“My Great-Aunt Clara. And Janz the Butcher. They have a lot of similarities.” I avoided catching the Governor’s eye, somewhat to ensure no one made the connection but more because he knew how I felt about Great-Aunt Clara and rarely enjoyed my making a positive comparison.

“The Butcher is hidden away,” Lionside said, eyes narrowed in, I had to admit, thought. “Some say hiding in plain sight, where no one would suspect him. Others say he’s on a planet like Trennile Main, safe and hidden, but where he can get wherever he needs to, whenever. You’re hiding us in plain sight, if you will, but where no one who has the slightest experience with you would think. You’re a pilot—pilots feel safest when they’re flying. And we’re running away—and you’d normally just focus on getting away. But you’ve been told you can’t do that, but the only people who know that for sure, and who also know you’d actually turn and fight when you weren’t cornered are all on this ship.”

Slinkie was right—he’d been playing dumb, possibly for most of his life. But he wasn’t. The feeling in my gut that had mentioned Tanner wasn’t going to be getting off-ship on Runilio churned up and said that, in all likelihood, I’d better start getting used to Communications Chief Lionside pronto.

“I don’t get why we’re not running and not hiding where we can
escape, Janz the Butcher’s orders or not.” Randolph was still trying to catch up. I wondered if it bothered Audrey, who was, if my guess was right, well ahead of the others now in terms of my overall plan.

“Randolph, the Captain has us on-planet because it’s the last thing anyone would expect him to do. He assumes Lucky Pierre will figure this out, but it gives us time to regroup and determine a plan of attack, while conserving our resources.” Audrey sounded cheerful, but then, Randolph hadn’t had any time to alter that programming.

Speaking of which. “Randolph, first thing, please fix it so that Audrey can sound upset or cranky if she wants to. The constant cheerfulness is going to cause me to kill something, and you’ll be the most likely choice.”

He shrugged. “If you want. I think her voice is soothing and uplifting.”

“I think I want to help Nap kill something,” Slinkie said.

“It does tend to lessen the impact of urgent orders such as ‘duck’ or ‘run’, Mister Billur.”

“Oh, Major, really, call me Randolph. We only use formality when we’re trying to impress pompous, rigid gasbags that we’re law-abiding and live to follow rules to the letter.” Randolph said this to Lionside’s face without a trace of sarcasm or irony. I was pretty sure there was a ton of sarcasm and irony intended. I was impressed with his self-control.

“So we only refer to each other formally when meeting with Herion Military and its equivalent? I can abide by that. And, it’s Bryant, Randolph. As the captain said, I’ve retired from active duty.”

“Thanks, Bryant, I appreciate that.” Again, no sarcasm or irony showing. Maybe I was assuming too much—it was Randolph, after all.

“So, Not-Really-Almondinger, what’s your pleasure?”

“Never hearing the words ‘Percy’ or ‘Almondinger’ again, for starters. Tanner works just fine, Major.”

“Ah?”

“Fine, Bryant.” Tanner sounded flattered and a bit embarrassed. We’d gotten him out of Herion Military just in time, it seemed.

“I’d prefer you stick with Governor, Major. And, if you don’t mind, I’d like to continue to refer to you by your rank. It was honorably received and dishonorably taken from you, much like my own title. So, humor an old man and allow me to keep both my and your former glories intact.”

“As you wish, sir, I shall take it as a great compliment, coming from you. And your preference, Miss Slinkie?”

“Just plain Slinkie, Bryant. Only the Governor calls me Miss Slinkie. And, really, only the Governor is allowed to get away with it on a regular basis.”

“With pleasure.”

The love in the cockpit was getting nauseating. “Yes, wonderful, we’re all pals. Randolph, Audrey’s vocal programming? Let’s get that fixed, shall we? Tanner, I think a decent meal would do everyone some good. Governor, while Tanner’s cooking, please continue to look at the papers I took from Nitin. Slink and Lionside, let’s make sure this ship is set to fight and run away. I want all weapons ready, locked and loaded, the universal communicator not only up and running but, if possible, linked into the
Sixty-Nine
’s systems so we don’t lose it in case we lose the original communicator. Randolph and Audrey, once the programming fix is done, I want another full schematic run on the
Sixty-Nine
. Have Hulky help with that, just in case.”

“What are you going to be doing, Nap?” Slinkie asked as everyone started to go take care of their assignments.

“I’m going to be sifting through everything I took from Nitin, to see what other information about the Family de Chance I can determine.”

E
veryone went off to do their assigned tasks. I went to the dining area. I had a feeling I’d want the Governor’s input, possibly Tanner’s too. Hopefully the kid could cook and decipher at the same time.

Tanner bustled about, looking happier than I’d seen him so far, including when he was in the bathhouse. Then again, I hadn’t looked at him overlong while he was occupied with the girls. He was efficient—I could smell food cooking already. My stomach reminded me that we hadn’t had any food since breakfast at Jabbob’s.

The Governor was at one end of our dining table. He had the papers spread out, but I wasn’t concerned. Like most spaceships, the table had a small GravCreate that ran separately from the ship’s larger, internal gravity creator. Food and drink floating through the air were not positives, and the less said about floating cutlery the better.

I emptied my pockets and took a look, though I left Tanner’s calling card in my inner jacket pocket with my false ID and universal card. I didn’t show it to the Governor. Not because I wanted to hide it from him, but I didn’t want to risk Slinkie seeing it. At least, not until I knew what was going on with Tanner’s mission and how it related to her.

Immediate needs first, however. I ran everything for tracking devices, bugs or bombs. The
Sixty-Nine
’s sensors showed nothing untoward. The penlight had been handy, but was clearly Herion Military issue. Same with the gun and holster. I kept the penlight and put the gun aside to add into our armory.

Pulled out the array of cards Nitin had carried and spread them out. Same with the variety of items I hadn’t catalogued yet. Small combo knife and every other possible thing you’d need set, including nail clippers. Useful and unexciting. Set that aside for Randolph.

Still had his system tracker. Also put aside to see if Randolph or Audrey, or even Tanner or Lionside, could do something with it. Still had Nitin’s keys. Put them by the cards, just in case. I pulled out the small key he’d had in the zippered pocket of his jacket and examined it. Nothing exceptional, but it was important, considering where he’d stored it. Important, but not frequently used.

I compared the little key to the others on his key-ring. None of them compared, though there were several I’d never seen before. More for the others to take a look at. He also had a couple keys that were obviously for Dragon locks. I looked closely at those. They weren’t for Dragons on Herion, the mark was wrong.

“Huh.”

“What, Alexander?” The Governor didn’t look up from his translations.

“Confirmation, more than anything. Nitin has two Dragon keys. One’s from Trennile Main.”

“And the other?”

“No planetary mark.”

“It will correspond to something our current Lucky Pierre holds dear, most likely on his ship.” He didn’t sound like this was conjecture.

“Any other givens you want to share with me?”

“Not at this precise time. Tanner, a moment?” Tanner trotted over, saucepan in hand. They discussed some code intricacy, argued
a little, reached consensus, and Tanner went back to the truly important things. They could send all this intrigue right to an asteroid belt—I was starving.

Went back to Nitin’s stuff. He had the usual male assortment, including an embroidered handkerchief, with the initials ‘N d C’ in one corner. “Pretty positive he’s a direct Lucky Pierre descendent.”

“Perhaps that will give us something to go on, but I wasn’t exaggerating. The likelihood that de Chance left an assortment of children all over the galaxy isn’t farfetched.” The Governor looked up. “He was quite like you, only not careful.”

“So, not quite like me.” The Governor shrugged and went back to his translations. I went back to the rest of the junk. Most of it was junk. Nitin had a sweet tooth—there were a variety of wrapped candies. Checked them all with my ring—not poisoned. They’d come in handy if anyone was overly hungry, but didn’t give me a lot to go on—they were standards you could get anywhere in the galaxy and definitely on Herion.

The only remaining item of interest was a small disc, about the size of a circle made with my thumb and forefinger. “Audrey, can you come here, please?”

She arrived, gleaming like always. “Yes, Captain?” Still sounded cheerful and calm.

“Oh, sorry, thought Randolph would be done with the programming by now.”

“He is. I don’t see a need to be distraught at the moment, so I’m keeping my voice calm and cheerful like Randolph enjoys.”

Decided not to argue. “Can you play this disc? And can you ensure it won’t cause a problem, for you, the
Sixty-Nine
, or Hulky if you do run it?”

She examined it. “I believe this will not cause issue. I’ll run it through anti-virus first.” Audrey pushed something on her neck and a small tray slid out from her stomach.

“Oh, I did so not need to see that.”

“Apologies, Captain.” She put the disc in and closed her stomach.
She twitched. “Interesting. It’s clean. However, you will want to see this immediately.” She turned towards the wall with the least obstruction and her eyes glowed—not like they had when she was using them as headlights, but like she was projecting through them.

Which, as I looked, she was. As the images flashed on the wall, the knowledge that Nitin and Lucky Pierre would be hunting me down to the ends of the galaxy settled firmly in my stomach.

“Ah, Governor? You might want to take a look at this.”