The Empire's Rogues Box Set 1 by Richard Parry

Author:Richard Parry [Parry, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780473470876
Publisher: Mondegreen
Published: 2019-03-29T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter One

Leslie hadn’t changed much since Grace last saw him. He’d been in a cell, waiting on the Empire’s justice. Now he had the same hunched look and hateful eyes but breathed free air with the rest of them.

Don’t judge too harshly. You’re hunted by the evil and the wicked, too. She clambered back to the vine terrace above Starfire’s Engineering level, working her way toward Cam and Leslie.

Grace needed to get close to hear their conversation over the ruckus of this deck. The scream of saws and roar of plasma welders made this an excellent place to have illicit, hard-to-hear conversations. She crept above them, making sure the leaves around her didn’t tremble at her footsteps.

Cam fingered his comm like he expected Grace to materialize from it. He’d reattached the device to his belt, but his nervousness showed. He’s not like you. He’s not used to wearing masks and lying to everyone. “Casque, is it?”

Leslie, unaware of Grace above him, nodded. “You’ve got something to sell.”

“I do,” agreed Cam. “Do you want to do the dance where I say it’s worth a fortune, you tell me it’s not, and we eventually argue until settling on a middle figure?”

“Umm.” Leslie took a step back, eyes darting about. This wasn’t music he knew.

“I didn’t think so. Me neither.” Cam put hands on hips. “Here’s how it is. I’ve got the designs for a new breed of super soldiers. The Empire’s cooking ‘em up in a devil oven, and when they’re baked it’ll be the death of us all.”

“What?” Leslie looked around, as if super solders would materialize. Grace held herself still, but he didn’t glance up.

“Doesn’t matter!” Cam gave a hearty laugh. “Because by then we’ll be rich. We’ll retire to our own private moon. Ship in good Europan whiskey, beer from Earth, and food from anywhere we please.”

“Sounds good.” Leslie rubbed his chin. “Back to the part about devil ovens and super soldiers. Sounds implausible.”

“Of course it does. It’s what makes it so expensive.” Cam leaned on the word. Grace smiled. She didn’t know Cam was good at negotiation. He did better than she could.

“My cut’s fifty percent. No negotiation.” Leslie’s tone was hard like the decking at his feet.

Grace sighed, slipped from the vines, and landed behind Leslie. Her sword gleamed as she held it at his neck. “Hello, Leslie.”

“I meant five percent.” Leslie didn’t move a muscle apart from his mouth.

Grace got a little closer, so he’d be sure to hear what she said. He hadn’t turned to see her face but she was pretty sure he knew who held a blade to his throat. “I don’t think you have a buyer. You’re a liar and a thief. You stole my sword and tried to parlay away my freedom.”

“I do!” Leslie held up his hands.

“Who?” Cam eyed Grace’s prisoner with interest. An Engineer from a loading dock glanced their way, then shook their head in an expression of disgust, as if swords and fights were common here. Might well be.

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