Bounty Hunted by Ian Cannon

Author:Ian Cannon [Cannon, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

Twelve

REX zipped in from inner-warp as Ben guided them toward the super-orbit byways. Teridrone was a dark world, almost black, with veins of sodium carbonite rivers zigging across its surface. They shone from orbit like intumescent lightning strikes frozen in time. The world had been a dead one but being in the non-partisan sector tucked away behind the living zones shielded it from eyes. It became a refuge for the more unsavory types of the system. Once an unregistered colony was established they had come in droves, spreading their ilk in ever-expanding tentacles of low society. Being unregistered forced the homesteaders and colonizers to provide for themselves through whatever means they could—usually without law or regulation. From there came crime, corruption and all things repellent. Then it grew into its own sprawling megaplex.

“What do you think?” Tawny asked.

Ben shook his head staring down at the planet’s surface. He sighed uncomfortably and murmured, “This was Norg’s idea. Do we trust him?”

Tawny said, “We trust Norg. It’s Norg’s judgment I’m worried about.”

“Yep,” he agreed. “One way to find out.”

Tawny looked over, said, “We’ve got a channel.”

Ben cleared his throat. Their arrival was unexpected and neither of them was too sure how their sudden presence would be accepted. With this crowd, anything was possible. Friends could turn to enemies as quickly as enemies to friends, depending on the change in yield current. Money was sacred to these people. Blood was cheap. Even REX was nervous.

“Raider’s Bay, this is the private freighter REX on approach requesting dock,” Ben called. Tawny was normally the comms controller, but in the interest of avoiding a fight, he didn’t need the pirate scum nestled below to hear her voice. She agreed.

They waited. Nothing happened.

He took a breath, repeated, “Raider’s Bay, this is …”

“This is Rullum Det, Aegis Prime of Raider’s Bay. We know who you are. Set your sub-orbital drive to incoming route five. Proceed to Knave’s Blade district, port four at seven-six-nine southeasterly, universal.” The voice sounded disgruntled. Tawny and Ben looked at each other with a shrug. Maybe the Aegis Prime at Raider’s Bay was always in a bad mood.

“Copy that,” he said. “REX.”

“Uh-huh.”

They dropped through the thin atmosphere of free oxygen generated by generations of atmospheric engineering. It was enough to breathe for most species at surface level as air settled gravimetrically into the lower parts of the planet, collecting in valleys and crevices. That’s why Raider’s Bay was located inside the planet’s equatorial fault, a narrow crevice caused by the separating of its hemispheric tectonic plates. The fault split the world in half like a depthless canyon, relatively symmetrical at a few hundred meters wide, and extraordinarily deep, where the majority of its oxygen stayed housed. The colony hubs, causeways, domiciles and platform structures clung across the vertical sides of the gorge above an ocean of deep darkness. Bridges and walkways crossed the valley from north to south. The lights of civilization demarked the profusion of alienkind, illuminating the equator as they approached. This was Raider’s Bay.

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