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As he exited the space lane gate, JACK’s control yoke shook under Joshua Faraday's experienced hand. Josh knew her like she was a part of his body, but she was old and held together by nothing but sheer stubbornness (and heavy epoxy). Even the best pilot couldn’t fully compensate for a ship made before most of the wormhole lanes had ever been punched.
His nav screen lit up with the info packet auto-downloaded from the system’s data transfer station. They were right on the edge of lane gated space. The system only had three listed habitable zones outside of the data station. And the next lane gate was almost a weeks travel away, on the far edge of the solar system. It was also a temp setup, without full stabilizers. JACK would be lucky to surivive the transfer onto the Lane.
So he could turn right back around, or go exploring. And try to figure out why one of his old Army buddies had forwarded him a supposed job offer in this little dirtpatch of a system. There had been very little actual data in the message he’d received. Just an old battalion code used to slip emergency requests around military sensors. Saying pretty much ‘come to this system, bring a ship, need off planet fast.’
If it had been anybody but damn Jack Horne, Faraday would have just run the other direction then and there. But Jack put about as much trust in the military as Faraday did, and he’d been the one to go against orders to drag Faraday’s uncoucious body back to base, when that last horrible failed terraforming event had wiped out three-quarters of their unit.
He finished the a system check, and sent a packet of weight and diagnostic info to the data station, before settling into a lazy orbit around the nearest moon. The system data was sketchy at best. The habitable zones were two small mining asteroids and an adjacent colony built on a newly terraformed moon listed as the Rose Creek Colony. All of them listed as property of Bogue Enterprises.
Faraday cussed, he didn't have much interested in getting mixed up with a war profiteer like Bart Bouge. The man was as black hearted as space itself. And so dirty that it would take toppling at least two multi-planet wide mafias before you'd be able to get anywhere near his money. If one of his old army buddies had started to work for that bastard, then whatever trouble they’d gotten themselves into, was their own damn fault.
Still, he’d promised Horne. Now he’d just have to figure out where he was supposed to go. Colony was most likely. Or at least the easiest to land on, without having to figure out some excuse for getting involved in Bogue’s business.
Once he got close enough to see it out of his view port, Rose Creek, looked a lot browner than he was expecting. A farming colony within its first five years should still be getting regular water and seed deliveries to help make sure that the terraforming didn't fail as the desert areas took back over. That was the whole point of bringing farmers out to the edges of colonized space. Even Bogue shouldn't be stupid enough waste the money it took to terraform a moon of this size. God knows anybody who’d been through the end of the war, should have put stable terraforming practices over anything else.
His breath wanted to catch in his lungs from the fear, but he'd lost his originals in to the ice crystals that had lanced through them as the atmos stripped off of the rock they'd been fighting on. And mechanical lungs just kept going, processing how much ever oxygen they could before he took his next breath.
His hands clenched around JACK’s yoke. Every instinct saying to turn around and run. Instead, he swtiched on the beacon, to alert the planet’s defences that he was making an unscheduled landing. God Damn Horne, if he died, he was going to find a way to fly through space and haunt his ass.
*
Rose Creek looked even worse from the surface. The sky was tinted yellow from smog and when he stepped outside it tasted of sulfur and almonds. A shudder of fear runs through him. He kept catching himself reaching for the blastesr at his belt. The air was missing the heavy ion charges that the bigger guns let off, and it would smell like blasted Gettysburg. Every instinct was screaming to run, and run now.
Before he could give into the urge, there was a buzz and the faintest scent of ozone. Ion pistol, FUCK!
A voice, deep and calm followed. "Keep your hands where I can see them."
Faraday raised his hands carefully away from his blaster. He didn't much fancy his shot against someone who'd gotten the drop on him and already had their blaster ready to go. "I'm not here to cause trouble. Just stopped by to get some grub and gossip."
A snort and the distinctive crunch of planet sider shoes against gravel. The tread much deeper and tougher when it needed to deal with things like uneven terrain and gravity. A dark, wide fingered hand reached around him. He tensed at the thought of this stranger touching his blasters. But they just hit the buckle instead, popping his belt loose from the mags that held it in place in antigrav. "You want to think about a better excuse why you're going fully armed on a farmer colony?"
"Old habits," Faraday snapped out, effecting an over-blown shrug. He tried to use the move to get his head turned enough to get a better look at who was behind him. They were carefully just out of range for how far his neck would turn. Definitely trained then, and not some poor paranoid farmer. "Is there a reason you're accosting spacers? I think I'd know if I was breaking any laws, and while social and political taboos around weapons happen, they aren't allowed to be applied to spacers or folks from other colonies. "
"I just want to have a friendly chat, see who I'm dealing with."
"I turned on my beacon before I came near your atmos, you know damn well who your dealing with." Faraday might have paid to have some info scrubbed from his record, and his military career was locked down under all sorts of confidentiality laws, but the basics were all there. The hand came back into view, this time holding a PAD with the Inter-Gov Ident software already pulled up and waiting for him to scan the chip inserted just beneath the skin of his inner wrist. "Oh hell no. It's illegal on pretty much any planetoid in the legal space to enforce full ident scans."
There was a sigh, and then a buzz followed by the feel of something hitting him in the back and surge of electricity arched through him. His no rubberized ship's shoes doing nothing to ground the taser bolt. It probably only lasted thirty seconds but it felt so much longer.
There was dirt in his mouth and breath wasn't coming back into his lungs quite right and he'd have cursed himself a blue streak if he'd had the air for it. Artificially created lungs were good for a lot of things, handling a sudden electrical shock wasn't one of them. They'd reset in a minute or two but until then they wouldn't process oxygen no matter how much he gasped. Spots were already spreading across his vision, while his heartbeat pounded overload in his ears.
He thought he heard some cursing after all, before the blackness took over completely.
Damn Horne to hell and back. He should have just kept flying
*
By the time he woke up, he was inside a dimly lit room. Probably got dragged all the way back to the town, which meant it wasn't just the taser they'd used to keep him out. Even the oxygen loss shouldn't have put him out hard enough to sleep through being dragged around and tossed into a strange room.
He moved cautiously, his muscles still shaky from the charge. Rolling to his side, he was able to get a decent look at the room. All wood furniture and unsecured knick knacks. The kind of shit that earthers were always collecting since they didn't need to worry about anti grav safety and engine weight limits.
There is no sign of his guns, or anything that he could possibly turn into a weapon. Unless he wanted to try and break apart some of the furniture. Not worth the effort when it was all made out of boards that were a few inches thick. Even if he had the strength to break any of it apart, it would take too much time and the noise would alert whatever ass had decided tasing private citizens was a good idea.
At least it probably wasn't one of Bogue's men. Otherwise, he'd have ended up with a bullet in his brain, instead of a cushy bed to sleep in. His legs were shaking and his thoughts were still scrambled, but it wasn't like he wanted to wait around for his brain to start functioning on all cylinders. That damn smell was still in the air, even inside.
He needed to get back to JACK before somebody took her and he was stranded here. He'd put a bolt through his own head before he lived through another failed terraform. And whatever asshole had messaged Horne could suck it. If they’d wanted help they could have damn well been there to meet him instead of the taser happy, locos.
He made it across the room and through the door, before finding himself facing a slim asian man with a cowboy hat like you'd see in an old fashioned space western vid. Who the fuck went around dressed like an old timey law man. The shock meant it took a few seconds longer than it should have for Faraday to notice the silver star blaster strapped to the man's waist. Marshall service standard issue. Fuck, what had Faraday's crappy luck gotten him involved in now?
"Glad to see they didn't manage to kill you." The man said. "You are Joshua Faraday, retired member, of the special forces unit Epsilon-8990, correct?"
That kind of question said by someone with actual authority was enough to make old instincts send a shot of steel up Faraday's spine, urging him to fall into at ease position. He slouched even further than had originally been slouching, just to be contrary. He wasn't a trained monkey and his instincts and training could fuck it. "I told the other guy that ident chip scans are illegal. So who are you supposed to be, one of them fancy actors from the core, all dressed up like one of them fantasy white hat heroes?"
There was a long moment, when the other man's face stayed solid as a rock, and Faraday was convinced he was about to be tased again, before a smirk lifted one side of the man's mouth. "Funny, I'm Billy Rocks, my partners brought you in the unconscious."
"I wonder how that happened." Faraday said, in the driest voice he could manage.
Billy shrugged and swung himself to his feet showing no embarrassment about his partner tasing a random passerby. "We were waiting to get started until you woke up."
With little choice, Faraday followed Billy out of the door and into a sunny and dusty central square. Surrounded on all sides by more wooden buildings. Was the whole goddamn place made out of the stuff? It was plain unnatural.
Whatever was going on here it was going to get messy, and fast. If the terraforming didn't kill them Bogue just might, he wasn't the type of man who cottoned on to Marshals getting up in his business. It did beg the question which one of Faraday's old Army buddies had been stupid or self-sacrificing enough to join the Marshals service.
Billy led them down a couple streets, across a large open area, and into another building. It smelled of rot gut strong enough to make Faraday's eyes water. But it drowned out the bitter sulfur scent. It's enough to let him relax at least a little, before he hears the voice. It's been years. Since Faraday had taken the honorable discharge that came with his new lungs. He should have known. Horne was trying to be a God Damned matchmaker.
Damn, Damn, DAMN! He didn't need this right now. Vas had been a great soldier and an amazing lover, but their parting hadn't exactly been the best. Faraday eyed Billy's back, could he make a run for it?
Billy turned and quirked an eyebrow at him. Probably noticing, his sudden stop.
Nope, didn't look like he could run. Not without drawing more attention to himself. Letting out a sigh, Faraday started forward again. Maybe he'll get lucky and Vas won't shoot him.
Vasquez was facing the other direction, when they'd come in. He was big and broad as ever, waving his hands around to emphasize a point. "I understand that you think this is some kind of gift from your creationist gods, but we can't trust a random spacer to be anything but trouble."
It was the perfect intro, if Faraday had ever heard one. "Aw, Vas, you still remember me!"
Vasquez froze, hands open wide, caught mid-gesture. He hissed like an angry cat and spun with a glare. His eyes sweeped over Billy for a second before his whole attention was on Faraday. He's handsome as ever, a few extra lines that Faraday wasn't expecting, maybe a few threads of silver in his black hair, but the same eyes. Dark and beautiful and trying to put a blaster bolt through him by sheer force of will.
"You,." Vasquez starts and Faraday braces for Vas to come leaping at him, but instead Vas spins to glare at a tall, black man, wearing a similar hat to Billy's. And while the angle isn't good, Faraday is willing to bet that that flash of reflected light at Vas' hip, is a Silver Star Blaster, twin to the one Billy is wearing. Fucking Vas with his morals and his belief in human betterment, of course he'd signed up to throw his life away for the just cause, as soon as the army had been disbanded.
A fourth man sits in a chair across from Vas, a hat tipped over his face and his feet up on the table, if Faraday couldn't see the careful tenseness of his hands Faraday would think the man had actually managed to fall asleep clutching a high power sniper blaster like a teddy bear.
Vas pokes a finger in the black man's direction. "Sam, you expect me to be able to work with a money-grubbing conman like him!"
Sam, didn't seem overly impressed by Vas's attempts to be intimidating, just kept talking. "I expect you to like a grown ass man and put the mission above your personal vendettas. Or would you prefer to wait here until Bogue comes back and wipes us all off the face of this moon?"
Faraday considered letting them keep arguing, to give himself a longer chance to recover and to learn a little more about why a handful of Marshals think they can take on somebody like Bart Bogue. But his legs are only getting shakier. Whatever they had given him to keep him unconscious had apparently included some kind of pain medication. That was now wearing off. He gave himself ten minutes at most before he was on the ground. Better to get this conversation over with and find himself a chair and a drink to settle his nerves.
He stomped up into Vas's space, getting an unholy thrill when the other man tried to shuffle away and almost tripped over his chair. "And what makes you think I'm going to agree to whatever death wish you have?"
Sam continued. "You know Vasquez. We've been sending out urgent messages begging somebody to come get help, since our ship got sabotaged by one of Bogue's men. Nobody's come here except you. That might have been a coincidence, you're listed as a trader. But if you know Vasquez then I'm guessing you didn't come here by accident."
"JACK ain't kitted out as a people hauler and her engines are too slow to get all the colony folks to safety carrying them a little bit at a time. I could maybe stack you Marshals in and make it through the space lanes to the next colony before we ran out of power or food."
"Regardless of what you may think of us, we aren't all dumb earthers, Sam said." I've got a member of the Comanche as part of my group. He took a look at your ship. Said the same."
That was at least enough to stop Faraday's calculations about how to explain weight limits to an earther. The Comanche had been one of the first spacer tribes. Pushed off their land back on Earth, they'd taken to the stars in hopes of finding a safe place of their own. Only for rich Earthers to buy the land out from under them all over again. If one of them had signed up with the Marshals squad, then they had to at least be semi-decent. "Really?"
Sam's smile was easy, and calm. Like Faraday wasn't just about calling him a liar. "Red's a good friend to me. Served with me in the war, and followed me into the Marshalls, said I'd get my fool self killed without him to keep an eye on things. If you want I can get him down here to negotiate for us."
Faraday let the last of his tension settle out. Earthers didn't tend to offer spacers fair opinions about their shit. "I'll want to meet him before anything gets signed, but why don't you walk me through the plan.
*
It was a shit plan, involving Faraday trying to win a race against Bogue's men to get to through two systems, to a data transfer station that wasn't controlled by Bogue's men. In hopes of getting a full Marshal gun ship to Rose Creek before Bogue managed the weeklong trip from the central colony's where he was based.
And none of that would matter, if the terraforming failed before Bogue got a chance to try and wipe them all out. Faraday really wished they had asked him to be a people hauler. He'd have been willing to pack every spare inch of JACK's space with kids, and limp along outside of the space lanes, in order to take the weight. That was at least doing something useful.
This was just committing slow suicide.
They'd at least given him the evening to decide. Billy had showed him back to the clinic where he'd first woke up and they were all pretending that they weren't guards on every exit to make sure he didn't try anything.
If he refused, they'd probably just try to steal JACK. And when they figured out that Faraday had a kill switch they would either have to go with the lifeboat plan, and let him take the kids, or try to figure out a way to take out Bogue with no backup.
Faraday wished he could trust them to be reasonable and cut their losses. He'd at least have a clean conscience then.
There was a knock on the door, and then Vas' gruff voice. "Can I come in?"
"I don't exactly got a way to stop you." Faraday called back. He'd finished Vas' drink and then had another one, before Billy had offered him something to help with the pain. Between it all he couldn't feel the ache in his chest, but he also wasn't in the mood to do much moving around.
Vas pushed the door open. He'd gotten mussed up since he'd fled the bar. His hair was falling forward over his forehead, instead of his usual slicked back style. His shirt is unbuttoned just enough to show the top of his chest hair. He looked far too tempting.
Then he opened his mouth. Speech slurring enough to make it clear that he'd been drinking. "Why'd you have to land here?"
"You know how it is, Vas. If there is a pile of bad luck for me to fall into, I'll manage it somehow." He rubbed at his chest. Remembering the last spell of bad luck the two of them had gotten into.
"I was doing good. Moving on and now this."
Faraday bit back a sigh. Earthers, always wanting things set in stone. "It you want to fuck, just tell me. And then we can discuss terms. I ain't forcing you to do a god damn thing."
"And then you'll go running off again. Like none of it matters." Vas staggered over to the bed, looming over Faraday.
If he thought Faraday was going to put up with that, then he had another thing coming. "Back off Vas, you don't get to do anything till we talk, and neither of us is sober enough for me to play along with whatever you got planned."
"I thought you loved me." Vas collapsed on to the bed, his head cradled in his hands.
And damn the man that he could still tug on Faraday's heart strings after all these years. "I did, but it wasn't the kind of love you could accept."
That was enough to get Vas's back up. He wrenched his head up and turned to glare at Faraday. Like of the sheer force of his anger would be enough to make Faraday flinch. "You could have stayed with me. The Marshalls make a difference in other people's lives. We work for a good cause. Not just trying swanning around doing whatever we want."
That was enough to get Faraday's own back up. The anger was enough to get him rolling to the opposite side of the bed from where Vas was perched. Then he was standing up, while Vas just kept looking at him with those same heartbroken eyes. "Your drunk Vas, so I'm not going to challenge you to a fight over that, but I damn well ain't staying here to let you talk to me like that."
He gets out into the street in front of the clinic before he realizes that he doesn’t have a clue where he's going to sleep tonight. Going to JACK is out of the question, and he's getting too old to try and sleep on a bar stool. And he doesn't have a clue where anything else in this stupid town is.
There is a whistle and when he looks up, the Comanche marshall, Red is motioning from his place on the roof. When Faraday looks where he is pointing, he sees a set of narrow steps that climb up the side of the building to the roof. Well it isn't exactly where he was hoping to spend the night, but Vas won't know where to find him and at least its flat.
*
Faraday had been right, they weren't willing to let him just take the kids and run. And damn him but he would never be able to walk away knowing the kind of danger was coming.
*
Vas ended up being assigned to go with Faraday to get the message out. Faraday would have preferred anybody else, but Sam wasn't going to leave his men in danger, and Goody and Billy were the best long range gunners they had. So if they needed someone to pick off Bogue's men it would be them. At least Sam had agreed to the compromise of letting Red come with them. Otherwise Faraday would probably have ended up tossing Vas out of the air lock before they got more than a day or two out of Rose Creek.
They'd also been willing to give him a couple crates worth of food to take with them. Nothing fresh, but given the failed terraforming that wasn't really a surprise.
JACK looked untouched when the three of them got to her, so at least Sam hadn't used Faraday's being unconscious to try to steel her. He rubbed an affectionate hand over her hull as he made his way to the air lock release. "Sorry I ran off like that, honey. You know how it is with my luck."
He'd caught Vas eyeing him worriedly, out of the corner of his eye. Well, he could just suck it. Faraday wasn't going to be mean to JACK just because he Vas was tetchy.
Vas of course managed to shatter all of Faraday's plans to ignore him, the minute he got through the airlock. "What the hell did you do to this ship? It looks like a god damn kids science project."
Faraday patted JACK's console in sympathy. "There is no call to insult her, she's a good ship. Always looks after me."
Vas rolled his eyes.
Red ignored the byplay and started getting the food crates strapped in. "Standard water rations?"
Faraday tried to use what passed for spacer small talk to calm down. "Yeah, once we are in space, I've got full recycle. Usually I'd have harvested moisture from the atmos to make up the difference, but didn't want to risk it here. So if we end up going for more than a week, we'll have to cut down."
Vas was still muttering to himself about the mechanics. Earthers, if Faraday had been a smarter person he would never have fallen for one all those years ago. How often had his Mama warned him about doing just that when he was growing up? "Best get yourselves strapped in, I'm going to start the engine."
Red double checked the food crates one last time before heading to the crash straps on the side of the cockpit. It was secure, if not as comfortable as a full seat like Faraday had, but it wasn't like Faraday actually had JACK kitted out for more than one occupant. Any extra weight had been stripped out to help her cope with the rigors of Space Lane travel.
Vas followed Red's lead, but it was obvious from his fumbles that he wasn't used to more stripped down strapping systems. Still with Red's help, he was secured in time for Faraday to finish the launch sequence without having to pause.
JACK rumbled under them, before the pressure kicked in and pushed them all back, hard against the straps. The antigrav compensated for some of the G force, but there was only so much that it could do. The force made the pain in his lungs flair back up. Still, he kept calm and breathed through it, focusing on keeping their launch arc as smooth and steady as he could.
The G force eased off slowly until it finally settled into the slightly lighter than earth average gravity, that was standard for ships of JACK's generation. He relaxed into it, and let his breath ease out. Before popping the straps and staggering to his feet.
"I'm heading to bed. Gonna sleep off the rest of the ache from that taser, ya'll can do what you want. Basic electronics are good to use, nothing fancy. A drink or two before you piss won't hurt anything. Otherwise, stay out of my way until we reach the spacelane. I'll pilot us through that. Get us into the next system over . Another half day at least from there till we reach the next Spacelane exit." With nothing more to say on the matter, Faraday headed into his quarters. They were the most lived in part of JACK. The common areas, living room and kitchen all in one were sparsely furnished, the added weight of a more standard set of furniture had never seemed worth it, not when he was on his own so much.
*
In his quarters, He had a thin futon mattress on a raised platform overlooking his electronics work bench, which was set against the opposite wall. And in the far corner was a hammock attached to the embedded launch cord mounts. He'd spent most of his childhood running around in Mama's old family ship, spending night swinging in a hammock under the stars. It was sign that for all he'd left his Mama's nomadic people behind he hadn't lost his spacer spirit.
It was also good for when he needed to sleep sitting up a little more to keep the pressure off his chest. He'd barely climbed in and started it to rocking before he was nodding off.
*
The space lane approach alarm sounded off, what felt like seconds after he'd fallen asleep. The damn thing could wake the dead, Faraday swore. Still, you didn't mess around with entering the lanes. One bad calculation and you might be trading paint with a bigger ship if you were lucky. If you weren't lucky it led to the kind of accident that would tear a hole in JACK's side and leave the whole lot of sucking down the black.
Vas was standing out in the hall, by the time Faraday made it out of the hammock and across the room. He was staring blearily around, dressed only in a loose shirt which showed far too much of his chest for Faraday's mind or hormones to handle. "What the hell you have going that needs that kind of alarm, guero."
Faraday doubted that Vas was even awake enough to realize he'd let that old nickname slip, He angrily told himself that there was no reason for it to warm his heart. "It's just the spacelanes warning, go back to bed."
"That ain't like any lanes warning I ever heard." Vas countered. Starting to wake up enough to get snappy, no doubt.
"The standard alarm was barely enough to wake a body up, much less get up moving me moving at quick march." Faraday snapped back, his mind already on getting into the cockpit and figuring out a way to fill out the paperwork so it didn't look like he'd gone and picked up a couple hobos from Rose Creek.
Bogue's men controlled the main transmission hub and space lane gate in this area, and they'd be able to see his weight calculations. And if they wanted to, compare them to the weight he'd logged when he'd first exited the gate. Well might as well make use of the fact that Vas was hanging around and being a pain. "You got a suggestion for what black market exports I could have picked up to make up a four hundred pound weight difference?"
Vas quirked an eyebrow. "You didn't think to ask Sam that when you were both planning this great conspiracy?"
"I wasn't exactly in a talkative mood. What with being forced to go on a suicide run." Vas should know him better. After all that argument was most of the reason that they'd gone their separate ways after they'd both left the army.
Vas shot him a dirty look, but scrubbed a hand through his hair like he was deep in thought. "Moonshine? It's illegal to make the stuff without paying taxes."
Faraday snorted. "Has Bogue ever been around to drink at the bar?"
Vas shrugged. "The locals didn't really say, maybe once or twice."
"Yeah, if he tasted that swill there aint no way he'd think that anybody would buy it for anything besides making their enemies go blind. It's piss poor taste, even if it does pack a wallop. No, it would have to be something I wouldn't have an exact weight for, since I doubt you and Red bothered to weigh yourselves or the food crates before coming aboard.
"Maybe some ore?" Vas offered. "If they were trying to get it out on the sly they wouldn't use Bogue's machine's to weight it."
Ore, goddamned ore. The stuff that Bogue was willing to blow an entire terraformed colony away over. "Yeah, you think he's going to just be find with me running off with some of his loot? Do we have different memories of him from back when we were serving?"
"He's a pencil pusher. Got no real power that he didn't pay for."
Damn Vas, to hell and back. "Yeah he paid for it, and payed good money. Money that he got from our government in return for running his little Private army around the quadrant blowing away the enemy. And nobody cared about the lives of a couple hundred spacers his little privateering operation took exception to. But that isn't as important as some nice, simple farmers who made a fucking deal with the man and got in over their heads."
Damn man, always did know how to step on Faraday's last nerve. "And you figure that what? You are going to stop Bogue from digging up resources with a court order. Just when I think I figured out how naive you are, I run into you again, and it's the same bull all over." Farday pushed past him and headed for the cockpit. He'd just have to chance logging the weight without and inventory. Hope Bogue's men figured he was too small a problem to bother with.
"It's not bull. It's important work. The type of thing that we used to do when we were soldiers. The kind of work that you could still do, if you were part of the Marshals."
Faraday breathed through the rage, and kept moving.
Then Vas makes a grab for his arm, like he actually expects to be able to stop Faraday from going to the cockpit, Faraday slams an elbow into his chest. "Nope. You don't get to touch me like that anymore. "
"Faraday, I just want to know why you left. Barely out of the military hospital and you still recovering from the lung transplant. Not even a note, I deserve an explanation."
"When we were at the hospital, we were happy. We had a future mapped out."
"No, you had a future mapped out. You wanted to help people, make up for what we did in the war. That was never my cross to die on." And how much did it hurt that the other man still didn't understand. Faraday hadn't joined the army because he wanted to help people. He felt bad for killing folks sure enough, but he wasn’t fool enough to believe that anybody looking to hire mercs and soldiers was in a good moral place. Bodyguards maybe, Faraday had worked that job off and on when he needed the money badly enough to be willing to stay grounded. "I'm glad you found a group of people who can help you find some kind of purpose for your life. I just wish you'd found the ones that weren't going to get your fool ass killed going up against a man like Bart Bogue."
Walking away from Vas hurt, his kicked puppy eyes burning through the back of Faraday's skull, but it wasn't a fight they had time for. And after he'd spent the last six months of his stay in the military hospital trying to convince Vas to run away with him. He'd finally given up, the day Vas started talking about heading back out into the field.
It didn't seem like much had hanged since then.
*
Even JACK could not make living in his exe's pocket a fun experience. In the ten years, Faraday and JACK had been traveling together Faraday had gotten used to a certain amount of privacy.
Half asleep, the day after they set off. Still exhausted from being drugged, sleeping on a roof, and then staying up half the night managing the Lane entry, he doesn't remember to put on anything but his briefs.
All he could think about was sweet, glorious caf as he stumbled out of his quarters and into the ships' main room. There was a choking noise behind him, and instinct kicks in. He spun so the wall was at his back. Grabbing a knife off of the mag rack in the same move.
It's only once he's crouched, ready to fight, that his memory kicks in. A blush creeps up his cheeks. Red is staring at the knife, but Vas' eyes were definitely a lot lower. "Didn't anybody ever teach you not to sneak up on a body?"
"You're the one who wandered in here practically naked. We didn't exactly have to sneak when you traipse I here like that. ." Vas countered.
Now Faraday had a choice, he could bluster his way through, or run back to his quarters with his tail tucked between his legs. He barely thought about heading back to his quarters, before he was straightening up, tossing the knife in a lazy spin, before catching it again.
This was his God damned home and Vas could just fucking deal with seeing him in nothing but his underclothes. "Well, you know how it is, caf is more important than social niceties. If you want, we could all just run around naked." Faraday lifted his chin in intensional challenge.
Vas was already reaching for the buttons of his shirt, when Red intervened. "If I see either of you naked, I will shove you both out of the air lock."
Faraday raised his mug in an acknowledgment of the threat, and the excuse it gave him to retreat to his quarters and get something else on. "And on that note, I'll head back to bed. Try to catch a couple hours more sleep before it's time to exit the lane. Then I'll have to do some actual piloting until we can swap to a different gate."
*
They made it halfway to the next gate, before they are surrounded by small, dart ships. Built for speed outside of the lanes. Jack couldn't out run them. If Farday even bothered to try.
Which he didn't. The JACK had a couple guns, enough to scare off the occasional pirate, who is desperate enough to come after them. Nothing that can take out multiple ships. And if he just takes out one or two there is no way that the rest are going to do anything but shoot them out of the sky.
He pulled JACK into a holding pattern. The transmission alert dinggend a few seconds later.
Bart Bogue in all his sanctimonious glory, popped up on the main console screen. "Trader Joshua Faraday I think you have something that belongs to me."
"I don't know what the hell your talking about. Unless you've got some sort of hard on for antique tech, I ain't got nothing of interest to nobody." Faraday let his accent show through. Nothing to see here nice rich jackass, just a stupid hick
"Really." Bogue's voice was sickly sweet, the fact that he thinks he's got Faraday free and clear is obvious. "So you didn't steal a few hundred pounds of ore from one of MY colonies?"
"Can't say that I did."
Bogue's face goes pinched, his eyes go even colder, hell Faraday might as well be looking straight into a black hole. "Well then, you won't mind if my men come aboard to search your vehicle.
"I'd be delighted." Faraday didn't know if Bogue was thrown off by his broad smile. Since he cut the transmission before the asshole can respond. Time to get this party started.
He left Jack's systems on auto, patting her console in consolation for what was about to happen to her. "If I don't come back, you give Bogue's men hell, alright sweetheart?"
The cockpit door locks behind him when he heads into the main living quarters. A second after that the depressureization alarms start going off. Red and Vas are already in their EVA suits, while Faraday scrambles into his.
There was banging from the outside of the ship. Grav boots hitting her hull, then the buzz of the airlock being overridden from outside. In the newer models, this kind of override can be dangerous if it goes wrong.
In a ship as old as JACK....
The buzz got louder for a second, before both of JACK's pressure doors opened at once, rocketing atmos out into the black at explosive speed. Faraday kept hold of his blaster and waits.
The first border's head pops through the whole a bare, few breaths later. Faraday pushes away the panic that is trying to eat into him. He's not been in pitched battle in over a decade. It's almost like being a fresh recruit again.
Almost.
Because the minute that the boarder pulled their blaster, instinct takes over. Faraday barely felt the jolt as his own blaster went off, eyes already moving to the next target. Red and Vas might as well not be at his back, all his attention honed in on the enemy. Tunnel vision took over. His brain pushed back into another fight.
A bright light flashed as a blaster went off beside him. Instict made him cringe away. Another boarder fell back. In the black, they have to rely on high powered light beams, over the more deadly, physical bolts that blasters usually use. They aren't enough to puncture through the hull of a ship, but they can do some damage to the electrical system of the sensor network most EVA suits used to compensate for the fact that their inhabitants couldn't actually feel anything.
Faraday isn't taking a chance that these runners aren't using the less maneuverable non sensor suits. It was what most pirates use, and Bart Bogue is a pissant, but he's not an idiot. Faraday, grabbed the vibroblade out of the scarab at his belt, and dove through the decompressed airlock, following Bogue's men.
The bastards had regrouped, using grav boots to keep from being pulled out all the way into the black. Except for one sorry soul that Faraday can see slowly drifting away. Probably the moron who'd popped the airlock.
They seem in shock to see Faraday coming down after them. It doesn't last long, as blasters start, aiming his direction in mass. Too bad it's already too late. Faraday is already within grabbing range of the first guy. The vibro-blade biting into the seals at the guy's neck. Sending a cloud of oxygen and blood to freeze into droplets that splatter into his faceplate as he goes after the next guy.
The bolts hit a dead man, one as he's leaping onto soon to be dead guy number two. Obviously Bogue didn't bring the heavy hitters out for this. Probably pulling them all with him to go to Rose Creek himself.
They were slow, reliant on their grav boots, and Faraday cut through them like they're made of tissue paper. Ignoring the two bolts that hit him. His suit was in good repair, but it's old. No sensors to short out.
Then it was just Faraday against one last guy. They threw their blaster away into the black and grabbed a blade of their own. Faraday felt himself smile, bloodthirsty and ready. It was the kind of expression that scared even more experienced spacers into going along with what he wants of them.
This poor schmuck though. He couldn't see Faraday's face through the polorized face plate. He didn't know death was coming for him.
Once the last one was gone, Faraday rocketed himself back up into JACK's main body. Red was using the extra gunner port to try and blast the Bogue's remaining men out of the sky. While Vas watched his back, blaster trained on the airlock.
There was a heart stopping moment when it doesn't look like Vas recognizes him. The blaster's tip slowly lighting up, and aimed straight at Faraday. Before, Vas jerked it away.
Faraday used the hand gesture for 'All Clear' since their suits weren't transmitting on the same frequency. Then he concentrates on digging into the air lock panel and overriding the command that they had used to open JACK up.
There was only the one gunning system, and if Red failed, they wouldn't have to worry about anything else as they get shot down. If Red succeeded, Faraday needed to be able to get back into the cockpit as fast as possible. Which meant getting at least at least survivable pressure back into her main hold. The door seals would keep the rest of the ship from losing atmos. So hopefully he won't have to worry about any damage from explosive decompression or severe cold.
He jumped as he caught sight of another EVA suit out of the corner of his eye. His knife came up before he realized Vas' suit. Vas motioned 'Hostile's incapacitated' and 'ETA'
'Five' Faraday gestured back, before turning his full attention to the wiring. Red must be some kind of damned Maverick to be able to incapacitate that many ships with just JACK's low powered system. Maybe they actually had a chance of getting out of Bogue's little fiefdom and to a system where they can get in contact with the Marshal's service after all.
He got to the right wires, and sent a shock through the air lock system to resets it. It slammed shut hard enough to send vibrations through the area of the hull Faraday was crouched on. It's a long moment of waiting before the vents start spewing the air and moisture back in cloudy stream.
The pressure stable alarm barely had time to sound, before Faraday wa launching himself into the pilot's seat and gunning it as fast as JACK is capable of, to the next space lane Gate. Hopefully Bogue's sending these morons after them, meant that he'd pulled security off of the gate itself. They'd still be able to close it, but only if they had at least thirty minutes to get the system shut down.
Otherwise, they'd blow the whole thing, and strand themselves right along with JACK.
Hopefully, Bogue's taste in self serving men, hadn't changed enough for that to happen.
*
They make I through by the skin of their teeth and the fact a that Faraday was actually capable of doing the lane calculations himself, without relying on the Gate crew to confirm.
Once they are in the wormhole Faraday can finally start to breath again. Tech has come a long way, but it's still impossible to actually have spaceships fight inside of a wormhole.
It means that Bogue will have all sorts of men laid out at the exit to the next gate, make sure they don't make it to the transmition center. But the next system isn't one Bogue controls, they will just have to hold out long enough for the local Marshal's to notice a battle going on inside their system, and get involved. Vas has already set the Marhsall's private codes into the distress beacons, so that they will hopefully be inclined to move their butts faster than usual.
The door cycled open and Vas came in. He wasn't dressed in anything but the undersuit for his EVA. Hair mussed and sweaty. "Red wants to know if it is safe to get back into the quarters."
"Should be fine." Faraday motioned to the pressure sensors on the side of the console. They were into the greener side of the yellow. I'd expect some atmos difference when you pop them, but nothing that is going to hurt you."
He expected that to be the end of it. Message delivered, Vas would head back out to tell Red, and leave Faraday to start getting untangled from his own EVA suit in peace. "You want to talk about what you did out there?"
"Not really. I took care of a bunch of pirates. It's not like I'm planning to moralize about it."
"You went alone. The plan was for the two of us to get them cleared out, while Red concentrated on gunning." Vas countered.
"I wasn't going to wait around for you to slow me down." Faraday snapped back, this is what he got for trying to protect the stubborn idiot.
"What is that supposed to mean? You know I'm a trained Marshal, hell we served together." Vas grabbed for Faraday's arm.
It was a mistake, Faraday had his arm twisted around behind him and his face slammed into the cockpit wall before logic managed to reassert itself. "Don't grab me."
He shoved Vas a little harder against the wall, before backing away. Let him think that Faraday had been giving him a warning, and not that he'd almost done serious damage.
Vas at least had the good sense to back away from the wall slowly, turning to face Faraday with his hands out, in plain view. "You want to tell me what that was, Guero."
That damn nickname along with him using the calm, understanding voice. It was too much. "I told you, I'm not a fighter like you. I travel, and I stay the hell out of trouble."
Vas reached forward, like he was about to try and grab Faraday again. Probably going for a hug or something. It didn't stop Faraday from tensing, preparing for an attack.
This time at least Vas seemed to realize what thin ice, he was treading on, he backed off, and headed for the door out of the cockpit. "You go ahead and stay in here as long as you need. We'll get cleaned up, check JACK over for any damage. I'll have some caf waiting for you when you're ready."
Then he was gone, and Faraday could push the panic away and start breathing again. Damn fight or flight instinct, damn Bogue. He collapsed into the pilot's seat, forcing his breath to slow down. He just needed to get this under control. Another two days in the lane. And then they would be home free.
He just had to not think about the whole shit storm of trouble they'd be flying through to get free.
*
By the time he managed to get calmed back down and out of his EVA suit, the caf was waiting for him, just like Vas had promised. Vas and Red were no where in sight, probably using the sonic showers to get something resembling clean.. They'd have to keep from using too much water until the system had a chance to cycle their moisture through. And even then it would be on rations until Faraday could get to a world where he could let the water reclaimers pull moisture from the atmosphere.
Damn boarding parties. Never could just talk politely like. The panel he'd pulled apart to get to the airlock controls had been closed back up, hopefully after they'd put the wires back together right.
The gnawing paranoia told him to check in, he did his best to push it down. He had two days, to take care of it. He needed to rest now, Fighting in an EVA suit was always dirty tiring work. The extra weight and confinement putting additional stress. The lack of gravity helped in some ways, since it kept him from actually having to be able to fight in a close to an extra hundred pounds of gear. But it meant keeping everything turns to avoid doing something like floating off into space.
If he'd used grav boots he'd be doing a little better, but he'd never got used to them, and being able to fly around like a monkey tended to put his enemies at a disadvantage, since it was the kind of skill only born spacers tended to have.
He turned away from the panel, and did his best to concentrate on the caf, as he made it over to the gunner port. He needed to see what kind of resources they still had. Ion cannons, he could use the time to recharge. Torpedoes wouldn't be as easy to replace.
They were about three quarters empty on torpedoes, Ion canons were still mostly charged, who the hell knew how Red had managed that.
It would put them in a bind, when they got to the next fight, but hopefully not more of a bind than they could handle.
There was a hiss behind him and he was tensing even before he felt more than heard the vibrations of another person walking up behind him.
"We're going to be in trouble when we get there." Red said. Calm and steady and like he didn't notice Farday's hand going to inching towards his belt. He stayed back though. Out of arms reach and it was enough to get Farday's instincts a little less keyed up.
"Yeah, the Ion cannons would have been an easier resource to recoup."
Red shrugged. "Whatever shielding they had wasn't reacting to the canon, so had to switch things up. I got a couple of them at once with the torpedos."
"So we can't trust that the ion cannons will do a thing, to whatever ships we end up fighting next?" Well that was just fucking typical of Farday's luck.
"Best go get cleaned up. I'll start something cooking." Red said, instead of actually agreeing with the fact that they were totally screwed. It was really unfair how sane and capable the guy seemed to be.
It made Faraday all kinds of jealous.
*
There was a knock on his door late that night, after they'd all eaten some sort of protein and fresh veggies, stir fry that Red had managed to make taste amazing. Faraday waited for a minute, to see if it was just Red or Vas accidentally bumping into the door while trying to manage the tight hallway. Red had apparently actually smuggled moonshine onto JACK after all, and they'd all indulged in a drink or two with dinner.
It wasn't enough to make Faraday more than a little bit buzzed, but who knew about the other two.
The knock came again. This time, followed by Vas calling out, "Can I come in, Guero?"
It was tempting to stay quiet. Act like he'd fallen asleep. But he fact that Vas was actually asking and waiting for a reply instead of just barging in was enough to make Faraday's damn curiosity act up again. "Yeah, go ahead."
Vas stopped just inside the door, taking in the room, eyes skipping from the hammock where Faraday had been preparing to go to sleep, on the futon. He came a little further in, leaning against the loft, so that he could face Faraday without sitting on the bed itself. "I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you, when you said you couldn't keep fighting."
That. That wasn't anywhere near what Faraday had been expecting him to say. He'd honestly expected another fight. To have to explain that just because he was damn well capable of defending his ship, that didn't mean he was prepared to go gallivanting all over creation picking fights with the scum of the earth. He wanted to say something snappy in return. All he managed to stutter out was, "What?"
And of course now was the time, Vas chose to bring out the puppy eyes again. "I said I was sorry."
"Why?" Why now, damn it. Why here, why not ten years ago when Faraday had all but pleaded with him to run away together. To leave the fighting behind. He doesn't realize he's curling up tighter, clawing at his arms, until Vas starts coming closer. Eyes so worried, and hand out where Faraday can see them.
"I was stupid, and young. And that's not an excuse. But I wanted you to know, that I was sorry. For what I said then, and for getting pissed at you when you showed up at Rose Creek." Vas' smile as so very sad. "I'm going to go back to my quarters, now. But I wanted you to know, first."
True to his word, he backs away slowly, hands in plain sight the whole time.
Faraday barely holds back a sob, until the door shuts behind him. This is everything he'd wanted ten years ago, why does it hurt so bad to get it?
*
For the next two days he did his best to pretend that the conversation had never happened. Most of the jumpiness settled down overnight. And if he woke himself up screaming occasionally, Red and Vas were at least kind enough to pretend that he had something resembling proper sound proofing in the quarters.
He and Red were able to get the cannons recharged by the end of the first day. Then it was just a matter of trying to jury-rig the ionic compressor to be able to let out a stronger beam, without blowing them up.
That took until nearly lunch on the second day. Nine hours until they would come out of the gate.
Faraday couldn't shake the nerves. Every time he caught Red or Vas moving out of the corner of his eye, he would tense up. Ready for an attack that wasn't coming. Damn space battles always left him jumpy, and having people in his space wasn't doing anything good for him.
He was fiddling with the air lock panel for what felt like the millionth time, trying to keep busy enough to ignore their impending doom, when Vas came up to him. "Would it help you if I kept watch while you slept?"
Faraday almost snapped that it would make things worse. But the idea of having Vas at his back, making sure nobody could get to him. It sounded so good, with the exhaustion clawing at him. And fuck it, it wasn't like there was anything he could actually do to make JACK's airlock any more capable of holding atmos, when forcibly opened. Damned Earther mechanics who didn't bother taking pirates and the like into consideration and left both airlock doors, connected to the same wiring structure.
*
"I guess it can't make anything fucking worse." He wanted to throw his tools down in frustration, but years of space travel kept that urge at bay. He stowed them in a secure compartment, before stomping off to his room. Carefully not turning, to make sure Vas was following.
He didn't strip all the way down, just to his skivies, before rolling himself up in a blanket and climbing into the futon. He'd been sleeping in the hammock, since they'd left Rose Creek. First, because his chest was too sore to let him lay flat to sleep comfortably. And then because every instinct insisted on being somewhere he could fight back from if something happened in the night.
There was a soft creak as Vas settled into the hammock, and the whif of ion from his blaster charging up. And despite everything, that was enough to let the exhaustion finally drag Faraday completely into sleep.
*
They leave the gate and are immediately surrounded. This time it isn’t just little dart ships. They've also brought a gunner.
Well, ain't that just swell.
When the Comm call came, it wasn't Bogue. Asshole probably doesn't want his name on what's going down here. Planning to claim the ships are pirates in stolen Bogue tech vehicles. And the hell of it is, that nobody was going to believe him for a second. But they also aren't' going to actually say he's a liar, for fear of the 'pirates' coming for them next.
The transmission center was half way between the two gates. Given the size of the nearby gas giant, both gates are set up near a day's travel apart, in the JACK. Which means at least a six hours before any reinforcements manage to make it from the transmission center. And that was if they realize the problem before Bogue's men just straight up shoot them down and make a run for the gate.
The man on the line had a thin face, with a mean tilt to his smile and a patch over one eye. "Joshua Faraday? I've been told that you have something that doesn’t belong to you. Surrender and maybe we leave your ship in one piece."
"And if I don't?" The smart remark was out before Faraday has a chance to think better of it. Not that thinking about it would actually have stopped him from saying it.
The man actually managed to make his smile look even meaner. Like a rabid animal coming to rip Faraday's throat out. "Well then, I guess you don't care about surviving. Nobody steals or the boss and gets away with it."
They send the darts after them first. This time not bothering to try and crack the airlock first. The damn transmission station in the last system had probably sent info on their last fight. This was the problem with fighting an enemy with all the resources.
The ion cannons worked a little better this time, enough that they are able to keep from taking any disabling shots to the gun array, without Red having to resort to using the torpedoes.
They are almost prepared to go vacuum again, in their EVA suits, with only their helmets left off so they could communicate.
The waiting killed Faraday, he wanted to be back in the cockpit, trying to maneuver JACK away from the blasts that keep shaking the decking beneath their feet. But it is too risky, having the controls subjected to pure vacuum.
Red cursed. The tension ratcheted up further. Faraday didn't know Comanche, but that kind of vitriol meant it wasn't hard to guess what it meant. "We got a transmit back from the distress signal. Transmission station is sending backup."
"Good news. So what was with all the cursing?"
"They just attached mag bombs to the hull. Darts are heading back to the gunship." The console blinked out, showing the new message signal before "Have fun in hell!" scrolled across the screen.
Faraday ignored how JACK bucked under their feet. It was probably just the wake of the gunner, heading for the gate. "How many bombs?"
Red shrugged, punching commands into the system. "At least four. Maybe more. We don't have the best sensor array."
Four, set to detonate in an unknown amount of time. Can he pop the airlock, make it out and get them off in time. What happens if he doesn't?
Oh God, poor JACK. They were going to blow her up.
And there wasn't a thing he could do to stop it. His suit was older, without mag boots. He'd take too long to get out the bombs. Maybe Red or Vas could do it. Their suits were newer, Marshall issue.
One of them, or both of them working together might be able to get the bombs off, but they were likely to die. He couldn't do that to them. Not even for her. "Come on. Helmets on. I've got an escape drop capsule. It'll be tight, but…"
God, he was going to miss her. He ran a hand over her frame as he headed into the back of the ship, to the emergency hatch. "Thanks baby, for everything."
The capsule is barely big enough for them to squeeze into. To tight to even wiggle once the three of them and their EVA suits were stuffed into it. He tried to breath through the panic of having people that close to him. He bit it back, and dialed in the launch code. JACK blew a few seconds after they are ejected. The explosion whites out the view port.
And then they are alone,with only the air they brought with them. Out in the black.
And everything Faraday has built is floating in pieces around them.
It is almost comforting to know that the others can't hear him sobbing.
*
They got picked up before their oxygen stores run out. And from there on, everything ran exactly as smooth as Sam had said it would. The Marshal's jump into action. Ships are deployed to stop Bogue and his men. Others to bring supplies, and terraforming stabilization equipment.
Mission God Damn Completed, and all Faraday could think about is poor JACK, strewn halfway across the system.
Vas found him wandering around the station's corridors, trying to come up with a way to get started again. He had a little money, but most of it had gone to keeping JACK running. It would be years before he made up enough money to get a new ship.
"Guess, I might have to come join the Marshal's service and fight with you after all. Become one of your damn earthers." He told Vas, trying to cut off the inevitable apologies that wouldn't change a damn thing. The words tasted like ashes. Admitting failure and a promise to spend the rest of his life alternately killing people or having panic attacks.
Vas didn't take the bait to start fighting. Instead, he handed Faraday a credit chip. "Sam explained to the Marshall Corp that you were instrumental in bringing down Bart Bogue. There's practically a whole system wide reward on his head. A one percent reward split between seven of us, might not sound like much, but I've been assured it will be enough to get you started over."
Faraday wanted to grab the chip, check that Vas was telling the truth, but he was too busy trying to piece together what this meant for Vas. To offer him a chance to run free, instead of standing to fight.
"And if you were willing, I was thinking you might could get something a little bigger. Maybe big enough for me to come with you, try to learn a little bit more about Spacer charms, in between my missions."
Damn fool man.
He yanked Vas in and sealed their lips together practically before Vas finishes his speech.
A new life, a new ship, It won't be the same, but it just might be better.
*
Fin