Gale sets down a full plate of food and a personnel file. It being paper was rare, mainly because of how much it costs to make paper, plus shipping it to a space station. The file has Graven’s name on it, which took the morning slouch out of Kat fast. She grabs the file about to flip open the folder but Gale places her hand over Kat’s.

  Gale says, “Not before your breakfast. You are going to have plenty of time on your hands to read that.”

  Kat says, “But…but.”

  Gale just shakes her head.

  “Fine, I won’t.”

  “Good, now hurry up before it gets cold.”

  Knox sits down at the table and Gale already has his plate ready before his butt hits the seat. She then grabs one for herself. They spend the next twenty minutes talking about the past, the years that Kat spent with them. How raising a teenage daughter was the most difficult thing either one of them has ever done. That they wish they could have seen her when she was younger and watched her grow up. Kat tried to tell them as much as she could remember about her childhood. All the times that she felt like she was flying with her father, one of her stronger memories of him. The times she and her mother would spend cooking, which she never quite got the hang of. Kat was more of a helper than a chef. Then the table got quiet.

  Knox fills the void, “They should have most of the boxes at the dock by now. It's going to take some time for the two of us to load them in.”

  Kat nods, “It will. I’m not sure how to tell you how thankful I am for all of this.”

  Gale says, “Nonsense. You just did. Katrice you are our daughter and there isn’t anything else you need to worry yourself about. We are just helping out. You’re going to have to do the hard part. Staying hidden while staying afloat.”

  Whisper says, “I can confirm there are about seven different deliveries of crates.”

  Kat says, “Whisper I thought we talked about you and Fury not talking in front of other people.”

  “I know we did but you already introduced us and I can see around the ship thanks to the surveillance cameras around it.”

  Gale says, “I could think of a few times that would have been useful in my other life. What about you dear?”

  Knox confirms, “No kidding. That would have made things easier and I might have a few less scars too.”

  Kat asks, “Are you two ever going to tell me what you used to do?”

  Knox laughs, “We will someday, but not today. You’ve already got enough on your plate. No need to be hearing our old tales.”

  Whisper says, “There are a few people that have gathered outside of the dock. They’ve been there from right before the crates started to arrive. They are heavily armed with not quite as lethal weapons. One of them is Wrex.”

  Kat asks, “How many people?”

  “25.”

  Knox says, “That backstabbing good-fer-nothin’ brother of mine.”

  Kat asks, “What are they doing?”

  Whisper says, “They inspected all of the crates and have just been waiting there. If you ask me, it looks like a normal security detail around a single entrance point but they look like they are expecting something to happen.”

  Posting that many people around a single door is more of a stay-the-hell-away statement, not normal at all. Kat was worried that Wrex might have flipped on Knox. It was six million credits. She wouldn’t blame someone for doing it either. It is just enough to set someone up for life. As Ryker’s head of security, she was only making a hundred and fifty thousand credits a year, turning in Graven and making twenty times her old salary sounded awesome. She couldn’t do it but understands how easy it would be to justify.

  Knox slides out from the table.

  Gale says, “Knox just calm down. He hasn’t done anything yet.”

  Knox says, “I know but the more time they’re there the more attention they’re drawing to that ship and Katrice. Our window of free time just closed.”

  Kat slides out too and gives Gale a long extended hug. “I’ll be back and keep in contact. A lot more than last time I swear.”

  Gale smiles, “You’d better missy. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  It doesn’t take long for her and Knox to get down to his dock. When they come into view of Wrex and the guards, all of the guards point their weapons at Knox and Kat. Kat stops but not Knox. He keeps walking right up to his brother. Wrex waves at the guards to put their weapons down. Knox walks right up to Wrex and punches him in the gut.

  Knox says, “You backstabbing little shit. Why the overboard detail around the door, are you trying to attract attention?”

  Wrex says while still nursing his stomach, “Gees, you still got a good punch for an old man, you know that?”

  “Just answer my question, Winston.”

  Wrex’s eyes squint together and he stands up straight. All the joking tone is taken out of his speech as he says, “We agreed never to use our real names ever again.”

  “You’re messing with my family. So answers. NOW.”

  Wrex cracks his neck to one side then the other and takes a deep breath. “I did this because you asked me to keep her safe for the next 24 hours. What I didn’t know at the time was two of the bigger bounty hunters in Empire space are already staying on this space station. For of all things, vacation. They were already snooping around here hours ago, it is the only way to keep them away.”

  “Then why didn’t you call me or message me about what was going on?”

  “You already had enough on your plate and I was handling this like I always handle all of my problems.”

  Knox lets out a breath and tilts his head down a bit. “Sorry, Wrex and thank you.”

  Wrex says with his usual tone while throwing over an arm around Knox’s neck, “It’s all good brother. You just owe me and my boys a few drinks after this.”

  Knox laughs, “Of course I do. You never change.”

  Knox waves Kat over and they walk into the dock. There are around a hundred wooden and plastic crates around the cargo bay door of the Felicity. Kat holds Whisper up to her mouth and tells her to open the door without replying. Which she does as Kat thanks God for the little miracles in life. Knox gets Wrex and a few of his larger men to help with the crates. Some going to the common area, some to the armory, utility, engine room, and one next to the captain’s room. Once all of the crates are in and the other men leave, Kat watches Knox and Wrex talking from up in the cargo bay of her ship. Wrex waves up to Kat before walking out of the dock. Knox comes up the ramp with a crowbar in hand.

  He says holding it out, “You’re going to need this. I didn’t see one around so you can take this one.”

  Kat takes it and says, “Thanks, Knox. For everything.”

  “Gale already said everything that I was feeling and you’re welcome. I just want you to be happy Kitty Kat, so stay safe, keep your nose clean, and don’t let Bob scare you. He’s harmless.”

  Kat gives him a hug, knowing this is going to be the last time in the next six months at least that she is going to see him. She felt safe there but it wouldn’t be that way for long if she stays. There are already three bounty hunters that know she is there. Which are three too many. She had to leave if she wanted to or not. Now all she has to do is figure out a way to get Ryker uninterested in her.

  Before Knox leaves, he tells Kat about a few additions he did. Since he only had a week there aren’t as many as he would like. He shows her a blue pipe running next to other pipes, running his hand around the back of it. Telling her that once the engines get going, the pipes will heat up on the outside to the touch but are hollow on the inside of them because they’re smugglers holds. Pulling out a rectangle piece of metal he runs it along the front of the pipe and the whole pipe opens up. The rectangle is a special opener with old technology in it that no one looks for anymore. He tells her it won’t trip any sensor scans or open for any signal other than the one he’s holding, which he hands over to her. There were a few more places he quickly shows her, all in the same royal blue color. He tells her that if she saw that color in her ship, he placed it there because as she might already know, the military doesn’t use that color in building their vehicles.

  Knox leaves the ship after one last hug and Kat tells Whisper to close the door. He waves one last time and she waves back. With the door closed, Kat is now left alone with Graven. Again. She gets into the cockpit on the bridge and contacts Bexar Omega flight controls for a departure. Within in a few minutes, she’s back out in space without anywhere to go. She sets a course for Hilton Station, a small yet busy place on the borders of the Empire, Conglomerate, and Guild. She didn’t want to stick around Bexar Omega while she is getting things put away and have the bounty hunters come after her. Plus, it would give her a couple of days to think and get settled.

  19

  The file with Graven’s information is the most tempting thing to start with but also the least productive. So Kat puts aside her curiosity for the moment and goes to her room. It is weird to think of it as her room but that is what it is going to be for her foreseeable future. The crate outside of the room is heavy but nothing her cyborg self couldn’t handle. The top thing in the crate is a photograph in a wooden picture frame with the word family burned into it. The picture is of her, Knox, and Gale when she was about seventeen. There is a disk under it that contained a letter from Gale and all of their family photos that she had been collecting throughout the years. The letter tells Kat never to forget where she came from and she will always have a place with them. To not forget they want more pictures and send them to her. The rest of the crate was filled with clothes and enough bathroom supplies to last a year.

  With her room finished she stares heavily at the folder on her built-in dresser. There are so many other boxes for her to put away. A kitchen and armory filled with them. But she couldn’t resist any longer and sits back up in her bed to read it. Most of it is pretty boring. She already went through a lot of it when she was working for Ryker looking for a temporary replacement for her job. It went through how he lost his whole family due to an assassination. Someone wanted his bloodline wiped out. His recruitment date is close to hers but that wasn’t too surprising. There was a war going on at the time. Kat then passes through a heavily redacted portion. Only a few words are left, one of which is his name. That’s what she hoped to find but it’s unreadable. Now she really wants to know. The rest of the file is just more of what she already knew. Non-military jobs taken for information not for money. He is listed as the killer of six rebel leaders and a dozen other known hitmen the rebels used for assassinations. He is a man with a mission, which isn’t a bad thing. With Ryker being the rebel mastermind, it would make sense that she could trust him at least for that.

  Kat slides out of bed leaving all of the papers strewn about and heads to the medical bay. He is still there, still strapped to the table and unconscious. She grabs a chair from the wall and pulls it up beside him. He is a handsome man. Something the reports left out, which isn’t abnormal. Those things are usually all about the facts of someone's life and deeds not the subjective, like looks. It would have a picture and that's it, but his didn’t. She figured that Knox and Gale didn’t include it because she already knew what he looked like. She lifts his eyelid and his blueish-green eye stares blankly back at her. It is like he isn’t there; like the lights are turned out in his mind. The machines monitoring him say he still has brain activity and his vitals are stable but he just isn’t awake. She reaches out toward his head hesitating less than an inch away. Closing his eyelid back she pulls away her hand and leaves the room to go organize more boxes.

  Two days pass in the blink of an eye. Boxes, boxes, boxes. If she saw another one she had to unpack it would be too soon. Graven, Knox, Gale, Wrex and Bob have been rotating the spotlight in her mind. Whisper keeps telling Kat they need to contact Bob to get a job lined up with him. She isn’t ready yet and they just reached Hilton Station. If she wants to park they would need credits. Which she doesn’t have access too. Meaning she needs to contact Bob and action beats out procrastination as she tells Whisper to get him on the line.

  Kat waits in front of the cockpit staring at the large screen in front of her. Bob appears. He doesn’t seem like a horrible person like Gale was talking about. Brown eyes filled with fire, cleanly styled brown hair, soft looking brown skin, and no facial hair. His shirt was the only clothing she could see and it is a clean white button up with a collar and the top two buttons unbuttoned. The smile he shows is clean and bright. Kat can’t figure out why Gale was so against him.

  Bob says, “Well, what do we have here? I don’t remember ordering any companionship today.”

  With that, Kat knew this is going to be a long call.

  Kat says, “I’m not nor would I ever be a hooker, whore, or stewardess. I’m Katrice Steele, Knox’s daughter. He told me to contact you for a job.”

  He cocks his head to the side. “Knox Steele’s daughter. I was unaware he had one.”

  “He said to tell you if you don’t give one to me he would call in a favor with you.”

  “Not necessary my dear. I wouldn’t want your father on my back for something so trivial as a job. That and just look at you. The possibilities for you are wondrous.”

  Kat watches as his eyes glide down her body with a quivering upper lip. She could feel him undressing her through the call. It is the first time in her life to be utterly creeped out and chills rush over her like diving into a cold lake. She crosses her arms over her chest trying to get some amount of dignity back.

  Kat says, “Bob, I need a job.”

  Bob blinks a few times, “You, my lovely, are correct and I am a purveyor of jobs. What skills do you have?”

  Another chill runs over her but she composes herself. “I have a ship that can haul cargo, not a lot but enough for small runs. It was a gift.”

  “Well, that’s disappointing. Like father like daughter I suppose. It is coming up on my dry season for cargo runs but I do have one left. I was about to assign it to one of my regulars but for a vision such as yourself, I think they can do without.”

  “Thanks, I think. What’s the job?”

  “It’s a delivery. I have a client that needs a package delivered to Hilton Station from the Saturn moon Titan.”

  “What’s the package?”

  “One crate.”

  “Do you know what’s inside of the crate?”

  “No, and I would suggest that you don’t find out. A small selection of my clients ask for anonymity with their deliveries. This is one of those. It is a good starter for our working relationship.”

  “If it talks, I’m opening it. I am not into human trafficking.”

  “Neither am I. With the legality of goods, not so much. Humans are for pleasure, not capture. My clients know this about me. If you would like to know more about me I could gladly arrange a little meeting. Just the two of us, drinks, food, then we can see where that leads.”

  Kat knew she could trust Gale’s word but wow. She would never have guessed that a man like this would be around anymore.

  She says, “No thanks to the meet and greet, I’ll take the job, though. So I take it you’ll send where I am supposed to pick up and drop off this mystery crate?”

  “Yes I will and my offer will always stand if you ever change your mind.”

  Kat waves and says thank you before shutting off the screen as fast as she could. There has never been another time in her life where she feels like she needs to take a shower after talking with someone, which is exactly what she does, while telling Whisper to set a course for Titan.

  20

  It's a three-day trip to Titian and Kat doesn’t get the pickup information till she arrived in orbit. She lands on a small remote island about twice the size of Felicity in a clearing of trees near a hill. A section of the hill opens revealing two large armored people with a crate about their size. One black with white trim, one white with black trim. Kat opens the cargo hold and tries to introduce herself but they don’t say a word. They do hand her a note and half the payment. The note saying the other half of the payment will be released to her by Bob once the delivery is complete. With the crate in the ship the two retreat back into the hill and close the doors as quick as they had come out.

  Kat couldn’t help but scan the crate a little after takeoff. Just far enough away to where she didn’t think anyone would be watching. She had to make sure there isn’t a person inside because if there is she would be sticking this crate up Bob’s backside. Every test came back negative for life but there is a layer of some type of metal under the wood, one that she couldn’t scan through. So she knocked on it and still nothing. It is like that for her over the three days it took her to get back to Hilton Station. Wake up, food, check box, talk with Whisper, then Fury, lunch, exercise, play games, check box, dinner, check box, shower, sleep, do it again tomorrow. She docked where she is instructed and an automated grabber retrieves the crate. It is one of the easiest things she’d ever done.

  After making the delivery and getting paid it felt good to have some credits in her hands. It is enough to live on for a few months, which is exactly what she needed. If everything works out this easily this will be a dream job for her. No fuss, just pick up goods and drop off goods.

  Bob contacts her to tell her how good of a job she did. How the delivery was faster than expected and the client is pleased. Bob told her it is a good start to a great career, that if she could keep satisfying him like this, in the most innuendoed tone someone could use, she would have a name for herself in no time. It is great to hear praise for a change, even if it is coming from Bob. The one thing he did say that was a bummer is that he doesn’t have any more work but once something came through he would send it over.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16