Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

KHORAHN

I double-checked this system's charts as I approached the verdant planet. Narlin Four in the Prime Twelve system was known for two things. Its mineral-rich soil and the Wsoau who mined it. Neither boded well for me. Yet, this was the closest location for refueling and repair, both of which my quarry would need because I'd damaged his cells just before he jumped.

Hailing the largest of Narlin Four's mining camps, I requested permission to land under the guise of a mineral trade. As soon as they granted it, I preset the landing sequence and left the nav center.

The rapid cadence of my footfalls echoed in the large ship. The vessel, which had been my home since my beginning, had everything I needed. Ample space, a luxury cleansing unit, and a huge cargo bay. Those before me had worked hard to ensure I would lack for nothing.

Nothing except a companion.

At my approach, a door opened to the rarely used med bay, a room that had paid for itself several solar-runs ago. While I kept the sys-unit in top working order, that wasn't the reason I visited this room. I needed to check the hidden stasis bay installed by the most discreet tech runner in the systems.

I typed in a code on the sys-unit's access pad, and a panel of the med bay's wall slid out into the room. Four of the five stasis plates already encased lifeforms. Hopefully, by the end of the flare, the fifth would be full as well, and I could make my way to the nearest Helix station to collect my chits and new bounty assignments.

The biometrics light flashed on the third holding plate, and I pulled up the readings. The numbers were the same as the flare before and the one before that. Stable was good. Stable would see the ship's cells recharged for the next round of assignments and, if I was lucky, some spare chits to add to the grow bay.

I closed the panel and went to secure the rest of my ship. Most ports didn't require ship inspections; however, edge-of-the-system planets like this tended to have their own rules that kept their supplies stocked.

After securing my rations, I checked my weapons cache. The walls hid the bulk of my phasers. The rest, I wore. Two were affixed to each thigh–one secured to my left side and another on my right hip. Wearing six in the open kept things civil.

By the time I finished securing my ship, the landing warning sounded, and I strode to the cargo bay door. The terra-connection vibrated through my feet a moment before the faint whir of the drives went quiet. Using the remote access pad, I ran another check on the atmosphere before opening the small, single-person bay door.

Fresh, clean air blasted into the ship.

Ducking, I stepped out onto the ramp and straightened to my full height. Wsoau moved around the rustic port, unobtrusively watching me breathe in deeply and take in my surroundings in a sweeping glance. Several more Wsoau with burn packs paced the perimeter of the landing site, scorching the vegetation that grew as I watched.

Two other ships were docked, but neither were my prey.

"What are you here for?" a Wsoau asked, scuttling up to my ship.

The black orbs of his eyes were a mirror of my all-blue ones. There, our similarities ended. The Wsoau were an exoid race, beings with their skeletal enforcement on the outsides of their bodies. Their large, dark plates made them as hard to kill as their weak minds made them impossible to reason with. They understood negotiation and trade well enough, though.

"Cleansed terra."

The Wsoau made a sound that his next words confirmed was a laugh.

"You don't possess the chit for it."

"Try me."

"Five hundred stacks for one unit."

I whistled low, which made every Wsoau in the area pause.

"A unit of terra wouldn't even fill my hand, and you want five hundred stacks? Five hundred chits, possibly. Ten thousand isn't worth it."

"Our terra is the richest in the systems."

I didn't miss the way his plates trembled as he spoke and knew I needed to tread with more care.

"What kind of waste does it produce?"

"Clear minerals of many colors and thick white and yellow mineral veins that can be melted."

"Any tonong?"

The Wsoau eyed me shrewdly for a moment.

"Perhaps."

I grunted and pretended to watch the vegetation around the landing site.

"I know someone who would be interested in the tonong at void-chit prices...along with information about a void-runner who landed on this planet a few arcs before me. Perhaps we could trade information, and I could have a look at your mineral waste myself."

The Wsoau waved me forward.

In short order, I was back on my ship with one thousand units of mineral waste in my cargo bay and the coordinates of another camp. My cred-stick was five hundred chits lighter than it had been before I landed, but thanks to the waste, I wasn't worried about the loss. I smiled, the stark whiteness of my teeth reflecting on the view port, and thought of the cleansed terra the mineral waste would provide. Terra-rich was better than chit-rich to some.

Leaning back in my seat, I watched the planet's veg as I flew over it and inhaled deeply. Thanks to having the bay door open for so long, the air smelled fresher than the recycled stuff I'd been breathing for the last lunar-rev. Hopefully, breathing in fresh air wouldn't be a problem soon.

A faint tingle from the stim tracker on my wrist increased in intensity the closer the ship drew to the coordinates. The terra-connection was rougher at this site, but the ship stabilized without a problem.

Wsoau with burn packs paced the edges of the new landing site, keeping back the vegetation. A blast of flame emerged from the overgrowth straight ahead. The plants withered, showing a wide path.

As soon as I opened the bay door, a Wsoau gestured to the path.

"He went this way."

The Wsoau's rushed speech struck me wrong, and I paused on the ramp. The exoid rattled its plates in agitation.

"Is there a problem, my friend?" I asked, itching to reach for my phasers.

The rattling ceased.

"The path will not stay clear long, and your friend is two hours ahead of you."

I didn't believe that was the reason behind his agitation, but I continued down the ramp.

"Thank you for your concern, my friend. I'll be back quickly."

Scorched, withered plants curled away from the blackened terra that crunched under my boots. Tamping down the urge to hurry, I paid attention. Only the Wsoau lived on Narlin Four for a reason. The terra diggers didn't spend much time on the surface with the plants, choosing instead to live in the safety below the roots.

The tingle from my stim tracker remained steady as I progressed. Either my quarry was on the move, or a fair amount of distance was still between us. Noting the tiny sprouts of green already emerging from the blackened path, I wondered how the smuggler managed to traverse as far as he had.

A clicking sound followed by a muffled roar answered my question.

"Don't char me, my friend," I called before I spotted the Wsoau around the next bend.

As soon as he saw me, his plates rattled.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm following a bounty. Perhaps you've seen him? Four arms. Two legs. A face only a birther could love."

The Wsoau's plates quieted.

"I keep this track clear. It splits ahead. One leads to the camp. One leads to the mines."

My impatience grew, but I kept my tone pleasant. "How many chits to tell me which way he went?"

The Wsoau's black eyes took in my phasers and durable gear.

"He paid me twenty chits to keep quiet."

"I'll pay another twenty if you tell me where he is."

"Forty."

My brows rose in surprise. I had the chits, but the Wsoau weren't known for their interest in system-standard currency. They wanted supplies. Always.

"What are you going to do with sixty chits? Is there a station around here that I don't know about?"

"We have an Oebri bathhouse. Worth every chit."

An Oebri bathhouse was rare. Too few females were willing to charter with one, no matter the lure of riches and pampered lifestyle. Likely, the Wsoau had procured a sex-bot. It would explain the obscenely low bathing price. It also explained the territorial plate rattling and their hurry to get rid of me. These simple fools were protecting their sex-bot.

Instead of grinning, I tucked that interesting bit of information away to explore after I had my bounty.

"Okay. Forty. Which path did he take?"

An arc later, I was cursing the fleking smuggler's persistence and every Wsoau on the planet. Stooped in the humid, squat tunnels, I ran after my quarry, my patience at an end. The tunnels formed an endless maze, and I had no doubt my bounty knew I was on his tail. He was running in circles. Thankfully, the heavy scent of fear proved a more accurate means to trace my bounty than my stim tracker.

A scuffle of noise ahead gave me warning, and I pressed to the side of the tunnel. The phaser blast meant for me seared the terra where my head had been.

"Go easy, my friend. Damage me, and I will repay like for like."

"You're no friend of mine. Die, hunter!"

I lunged around the bend in the tunnel, barreling into my bounty before he had a chance to fire his next shot. With one hand around his throat, I pinned him down.

"Anerman Cu Behan, you are being detained in accordance with warrant 75204377."

I moved my stim tracker toward his forehead.

His tail wrapped around my neck, along with two of his hands, and squeezed. I squeezed harder. He wheezed and punched my sides with his other two hands. My stim tracker touched his head, and he jerked.

"Warrant 75204377 confirmed," the tracker intoned.

He released me and tugged at my wrist. I sighed, preparing myself for the begging and bargaining that always came at this phase. It was so much easier when the bounties didn't have translator implants and thought I couldn't understand them.

"They have females," Anerman said.

"Given their numbers, that's obvious." And I pitied their females, kept chained in the tunnels by the wealthiest males and bred like crazy.

"Not Wsoau females. Humans."

My grip on Anerman's throat tightened. Humans were on every warrant vid in every Helix station. Extremely reproductive and delicate, the females of that species were being farmed from their home planet as birthers for those with enough chit to pay for them. While the Wsoau had the financial means, they didn't have the genetic compatibility. Why would they want humans?

"That's a heavy accusation."

"Bathhouse," he rasped.

I low-pulse stunned him, and I watched his eyes roll back in his head. Grabbing his claw-tipped foot, I turned around and started dragging his dense form back to the entrance. Anger fueled me. When I reached the surface, I gave in to the need to hurry.

Human females. Here. And bathing Wsoau for only sixty chit.

I understood well what that meant. The Wsoau did not understand the treasure they held. Considering how the Wsoau treated their own females, I started to jog.