Rodney looked at Rashad as they entered the docking bay that surrounded his ship. “What were you doing in the tower?”
“Why did you follow me to the tower?” Rashad replied. Rashad’s voice had a lyrical quality, not quite British, but not American newscaster either. He didn’t have the generic English most people in the Eastern hemisphere adopted growing up.
“I didn’t follow you. I was trying to get a lead on who Geoff Stikine had picked up. When he launched, he burned fuel to pick up someone who had transferred to the station.”
“And you figure the tower had a record of that transfer,” Rashad nodded. “Smart.”
“It doesn’t?”
“Normally it would, but not today. Nearly every record of that flight has been locked or expunged.”
“By who?” Rodney asked.
“That is the question isn’t it? Or to be more correct, it’s the second question. The first question is where is Mr. Stikine and the Sunshine Expanse?”
Rodney opened the airlock and waved for Rashad to step inside his starship.
“You’re a surprisingly trusting fellow,” Rashad said as he stepped into the Dawn Treaders main entry.
“Not really. I just figure, if you’re here with me you can’t be hurting people I care about.”
“There are people you care about?”
“So you do know me?” Rodney asked.
Rashad looked back and shook his head. “Just a little. I didn’t have much time to do a full work up. That’s the problemw ith this whole affair. No time. Everythin is a rush. Nasty business you see.”
“So what do you know about me?” Rodney wanted to see if he could tell who he was dealing with.
“You’re a Reclaimer. First rate by all accounts but you don’t do much business. Oh don’t look so surprised. If someone were wating in the detention center to talk to you and they didn’t know who they were you would do your best to find out now wouldn’t you?”
“You wouldn’t find much about me at Licensing, or detention.”
“I didn’t,” Rashad admitted. “You seem to keep your nose clean.”
“So why did you head to the tower? What were you looking for?”
“Not you if that’s what you’re implying,” Rashad shot back. “I was doing what you would expect a man without a ship to do. Go to the easiest place to hire a ride. Most of the taxis pick up from the tower.”
That made sense to Rodney.
“But what I didn’t expect to find there was you following me. Again.”
“Well, I wasn’t following you,” Rodney closwed the heatch then lead Rashad toward the center of the ship.
“I know. The man you were looking for is Tim Delany. Or Anders Volstag, or Heinz Basford, or anyone one of a dozen aliases. He’ something of a professional grifter who has made some powerful enemies.”
“What was he doing with Stikine? And who are these powerful enemies, they wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the clans would they?”
Rashad paused and looked directly at Rodney. “You sir are much more resourceful than you look.”
“Is that supposed to be a complement?”
“Take it however you like. It is true thought.”
“So this is clan business?”
“They seem to be involved yes.”
Rodney lead Rashad around a corner into the main room of the ship. The circular chamber felt like a round great room, with a kitchen on one end, a circular dining table in the middle and comfortable couches built into the walls. Openings in each of the cardinal compas points provided access and exits.
Rodney and Rashad walked in just as Tony and DJ the service android entered the room from the opposite direction.
Rodney introduced everyone. “Rashad, this is my partner and first mate, Tony. Tony this is Rashad, he’s goin gto be traveling with us for a little while. And this is DJ, our one synthetic to help keep things running smoothly.
Rashad nodded to DJ and shook Tony’s hand.
“So you’re a member of the crew then?” Ton asked
Rashad started to answer, but Rodney cut him off. “Definitely not part of the crew. He’s a guest.”
Tony nodded.
“How’s the fuel coming along?” Rodney asked.
“We’re about 95%, we can launch whenever you want.”
“Then get going.”
Rashad turned and looked at Tony has he left the main living area then turned back to Rodney. “But don’t you want to know where we’re going?”
“Do you know where we’re going? Rodney asked back.
“Well, no, but we haven’t even discussed general directions, or fascinates, or anything like coordinates.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t need them for this first part of the journey,” Rodney assured Rashad. “We have a date with destiny.”
Rashad stared at Rodney, “Where are you taking us?”
“To the Living Nexus.”
Rashad threw up his hands and said, “No wait a minute, just just a god damn minute. We’re not going anywhere near the Nexus! That’s suicide!”
“That’s racist,” Rodney fired back.
“Racist!? They’re fucking machines. They don’t care what we think.”
Rodney shrugged. He wasn’t wrong. “And yet, that’s where we’re going.”
Rashad shook his head. “Look, you don’t need to crack those codes. I know where Stikine was going.”
Rodney turned his back and focused on preparing the ship to launch. He loaded the target into the navigation system then said, “Go on I’m listening.” Then he sent the request to the Licensing and authorization returned instantly. Rodney frowned. “Did you signal anyone you were on this ship?”
“I may have,” Rashad sat down in the co-pilot seat.
Rodney stabbed the enter key with one of his thick fingers accepting the target. “You better buckle up. We’re about to get moving-“ The sounds of mechanical locks released reverberating through the hull and Rodney felt the air pressure change as the ship switched to it’s own internal life support systems.
“So where’s Stikine?”
Rashad crossed his arms across his chest. “He’s in a system with no name.”
“Thanks, that cleared everything right up,” Rodney checked the status screens and made sure Licensing was doing what they were supposed to be doing. They had taken control of the ship and had started to guide to the launch zone. Rodney sat down in the captains chair and turned his full attention to Rashad.
“Okay, no more bullshit.” With the Global Transportation Authority in control of the ship, they weren’t going anywhere for a while. “What’s going on?”
Rashad shifted in his seat. He tried to look comfortable but failed miserably, took a deep breath, then let out a heavy sigh.
“It’s against my nature to share information so openly, however,” He held up his hands in response to the look on Rodney’s face, “I can see its in my best interest to make sure you know what you’re dealing with.”
“Your friend-“
“Client,” Rodney corrected him.
“Your client, Mr. Stikine made a very bad decision when he became friends with one Timmothy Connacher.”
Rodney leaned back, “Is this going to take long?”
“So, not a man for chit chat?”
Rodney scowled. This was getting annoying.
“Here’s the part you need to know. ‘Tim’ was working for Keres Typhon.”
Rodney felt a chill run down his spin and a pit form in his stomach. “Blood Moon Clan? How the fuck does some corporate wank get mixed up with Blood Moon and a psychopath like Keres Typhon?”
Rashad leaned forward. “He didn’t just get mixed up with him, Connacher sought him out.”
Rodney felt his face flush with heat. “Are you telling me Keres Typhon is going to come looking for us?”
Rashad shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know what he knows or suspects, but I know this. He sure is hell bent on finding Connacher.”
“But Why?” Rodney looked intently at Rashad. “What the fuck does this have to do with Stikine?”
“Look, I have interests to protect, and I can assure you they are not tied to Blood Moon or any other clan, but here’s what I’ve been able to piece together. Our man Timmothy, or Timmy found something, something valuable. Or at least he suspected where something valuable might be found. I’ve been digging into Connachers background for a while, and it seems he’s a smooth operator. Has run a number of scams, mostly against the overfunded and underintelligent. This time however, near as I can tell he decided to up his game a whole new level. He tried to start a bidding war. You see, Aki Kumo is also looking for Mr. Connacher, in addition to my client - “ He paused to look Rodney in the eye, “Who shall remain nameless.”
“So you’re telling me two clans and another corporate wank are looking for this Connacher guy?”
“Not just any corporate - how did you say it? - wank? No, my client is, well let’s just say that while he is quite different from Typhon and the head of Aki Kumo, because his operations are legal, make no mistake. My client is just as, how shall I put this? Capable, Yes, that’s the word. He is just as capable as the other two.”
“Well then what the hell is an ordinary Joe like Stikine doing mixed up with Connacher and a bunch of clans?”
“And ordinary Joe with a Starship, and a starship that can be loaded on the ground.”
Rodney caught and held Rashad’s eye. “Connacher put something on that ship. Fuck, Stikine’s a fucking mule.”
“Most likely, yes. What ever is on that ship, Connacher couldn’t risk transporting it himself, so he had it stored on Stikine’s ship, probably either in cold storage, or at the dockyards before the Stikine family even showed up.”
“Then he jumped to the orbital platform at the last second, all nice and clean and joined Geoff at the last possible second before take off.”
“That’s what it looks like to me too,” Rashad confirmed.
At that moment the launch alarm sounded. They had reached the launch zone. They had less than one minute to buckle up or they would lose their launch window. Rodney motioned for Rashad to secure himself, and he hit the intercom. “Tony, you all good down there?”
Tony fired back. “We’re ready to go boss.”
Rodney looked over at Rashad and saw with some satisfaction that he had already buckled himself in, quietly and efficiently. He was an experienced traveler. Bridge chair harnesses were not as easy to figure out as passenger ones.
“There’s something I don’t understand, “Rodney said as he secured his own harness. “Why would Geoff invite a single guy on a family vacation?”
Rashad looked surprised. “But Connacher isn’t single, or at least he wasn’t. I checked the transport longs. He brought his family with him.”
Rodney straightened up “He did what?”
“He brought his wife and kids with him. Stikine probably believed they were taking a family vacation. I have no doubt Connacher worked to earn Stikine’s trust.”
“But if he brought his family…” Rodney trailed off, thinking of the Aki Kumo clan, and Blood moon. He felt cold, “Jesus Christ. Stikine thought they were going out for fun, he had no idea they weren’t coming back.”
Rashad nodded solemnly.
One second later, the Neutrino Translation Wave Payload detonated exactly as it was designed to, and instantly shifting the starship 100 light years from earth.