Fire Fight (Star Runner Series Book 2) Read online

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  FIRE FIGHT

  (Book #2 of the Star Runner Series)

  by

  B. V. Larson

  The Star Runner Series:

  Star Runner

  Fire Fight

  Illustration © Tom Edwards TomEdwardsDesign.com

  Copyright © 2021 by Iron Tower Press, Inc.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

  Chapter One

  My crew and I wound up on a planet known as Tranquility. The planet was an unusual one among the stars of the Conclave, as it was dedicated to entertainment.

  Tranquility’s climate was perfect with countless beaches, lofty mountains and vast primordial forests on every one of its sixteen small continents. Thousands of resorts were scattered across this blue-green globe, and they catered to every whim. Some were ski chalets, others sat on sandy beaches, while those built in the wild inland areas were usually hunting lodges for sportsmen.

  Ignoring all that natural beauty, we sat in a dive bar off the main strip of Tranquility’s only city. My crew and I had gravitated toward this spot over all the outdoorsy locations due to our natural preferences. We were smugglers on a good day and pirates on a bad one, so our interests leaned more in the direction of urban entertainment.

  To clearly demark the difference between this densely populated zone and the rest of the planet, the town was named Frenetic. The city certainly had a different vibe when compared to everywhere else on Tranquility, being full of gambling houses, bordellos and freakish theaters. Every establishment also seemed to be full of unsavory guests—like us.

  After an hour of drinking, we ordered dinner. It was at that point that a stranger approached our table.

  “Captain Gorman? Could I have a moment of your time, sir?”

  The question came as a surprise. I was, of course, Captain William Gorman. But no one was supposed to know that.

  Jort, Sosa, Rose and I fell instantly silent. Together, we regarded the intruder who’d dared approach and speak to us without an invitation. We stared at him with suspicious eyes.

  “Who are you?” Jort asked, speaking up first.

  Jort was like a watchdog. Every stranger had to be barked at and challenged upon approach. It was a good instinct, and his Slavic accent sounded menacing even when he wasn’t trying, so I didn’t interfere.

  The man turned his odd, violet eyes toward Jort, as if noticing him for the first time. He had a bluish cast to his skin, his eyes were like those of a ferret, and he held his two hands high-up and against his chest. Each of them clasped the other, and he continuously rubbed his fingers over one another as he spoke. If he was human at all, he definitely wasn’t from a world that I knew of.

  “You are Jort, yes? The animalistic one? I have heard things... Yes… I’m now even more certain I’m talking to the correct crew.”

  Jort’s upper lip lifted from his teeth in a snarl. He began to stand up aggressively, but I put a hand on his arm. As Jort was from the high-gravity world of Scorpii, he could have easily overpowered my tug—but he didn’t. I was his captain, after all.

  Jort sat back down again, still bristling at the stranger.

  The man’s odd violet eyes moved back to me. “May I join you, Captain? I will be generous. Your bar tab has already been covered. You may all order anything you like.”

  My crew looked interested. We had money still, but we weren’t rolling in wealth. Most of our cash had gone into fueling and maintaining our ship.

  “Who and what are you, sir?” I asked the man.

  “I’m known as Dernel,” the man said in a slightly quavering voice. “I come from outside the Conclave.”

  “A colonial from the Fringe, then?”

  The man appeared to think this over for a moment. “Yes… your description would be accurate from your perspective.”

  “Why are you looking for this Gorman?” I asked, not yet willing to admit to my identity. After all, Captain William Gorman was a wanted man on many planets. There were a dozen planetary governors who had yet to forgive me for various misunderstandings in my past. This strange fop didn’t look dangerous, but he might turn out to be a paid bounty hunter, or a detective of some sort.

  “You are not Captain Gorman?”

  “You must answer my questions first, Dernel, if you want me to answer yours.”

  Dernel’s face lit up. He finally seemed to understand. “Ah yes… duplicity. Subterfuge. Misdirection. I should have expected this. As I’ve said, I’m known as Dernel, and I have need of your services. My world needs weapons—powerful weapons.”

  I hunched forward. He knew I’d been a gun-runner in the past. That was a sore spot, as transporting weapons to Fringe colonies was frowned upon by the misguided law enforcement officials of the Conclave.

  “What kind of weapons?”

  “Sardez rifles. Force-cannons—whatever you can offer.”

  My eyes slid around the room. There were perhaps two dozen patrons in sight, sitting at tables in the dim lit bar. An android dancer cavorted on the bar at the back of the establishment. She was a model-K, nude, perfectly proportioned, and programmed to never land a foot on a customer’s drink or hand. The patrons at the bar only glanced up at the performance periodically. They seemed more interested in their private thoughts and their beverages.

  Most importantly, no one seemed to be looking at us. No one appeared to be sizing us up for an ambush. That was good—but I didn’t let my guard down entirely.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, standing up. Surprised, Jort stood up with me, as did Sosa and Rose a moment later. “We were just about to leave,” I told Dernel. “I hope you find this William Gorman you’re looking for.”

  “Such a pity…” Dernel said, rubbing his strange blue fingers together.

  I walked out of the place. Jort followed, as did the others.

  “There was something wrong with that man,” Jort complained. “He was not normal. Did you see his eyes? He had the evil eyes of a night-crawler.”

  “He seemed all right to me,” Rose said. She was the most innocent and trusting of my crew, having been brought up as a wealthy kid on Prospero. “I was looking forward to a lavish meal—especially one that was paid for.”

  “Trust your captain,” Sosa admonished Rose. “His instincts will keep us alive. A bad deal is a bad deal, and they often seem too good to be true at first.”

  The two women frowned at one another, while Jort tried to look everywhere at once. He suspected a physical attack from every shadow we hustled past—but then, he always did.

  My mind was churning. I didn’t like the idea that a stranger could come out of nowhere and accost me during my vacation. Tranquility made a good place for criminals to hide, but he’d found
me here anyway. If Dernel could do it, others could as well.

  We went back to the seedy hotel room we’d rented and gathered our things. The women complained, particularly Rose. “This isn’t fair. Why do we have to cut and run every time I start to have a little fun?”

  “Because you joined a crew of pirates,” Jort told her sternly. “We make fast money, but we can’t let our guard down. Never.”

  “Jort is right,” I said. “We’re getting off this planet. Even if Dernel is on the up-and-up, he’s not supposed to know we’re here. He managed to find us, so who else might be on our trail? There might even be a squad of patrol bots right behind Dernel, using him as bait.”

  Grumbling but obedient, my crew bundled up our few belongings, and we rushed to the spaceport. We didn’t go to the commercial section, of course. We didn’t even head to the silver towers that stood over opulent private blast-pans. No, for our kind there were low-rent berths in tunnels underground.

  We quickly walked through vapor-laden caverns manned only by androids that scuttled out of our way when we approached. At last, we came to the most soot-stained, junk-filled chamber of them all. In the midst of this pit rested our ship, the Royal Fortune. She was sleek, well-cared for, and built with engines that could generate three times the thrust a small starship normally needed.

  But instead of rushing aboard and beginning our checklist, we all halted and reached for our weapons.

  Dernel stood there, in front of our ship.

  He wasn’t alone this time, either. At his side stood a female companion. Her skin was as blue as his, and there was a lot more of it to see. Her midriff was bare, flat and well-muscled. Her face was exotically attractive, and although her eyes were as reddish as Dernel’s were purple, they seemed to gleam wetly in the dim light, while his had more of a dull smoldering appearance.

  “Let me apologize for this rude intrusion,” Dernel began. “This is my daughter, Morwyn. She needs your help as well, Captain Gorman.”

  “Ah…” I said, eyeing Morwyn with interest. She was entrancing.

  “Uh-oh…” Jort said.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sosa muttered.

  I snapped out of it immediately. After all, my crew was right. A pretty face couldn’t be trusted any more than an ugly one. Perhaps less, if the truth were to be told.

  “Listen, Dernel. I don’t know who you are, or how you got down here before we did, but you should stand aside if you want to continue breathing.”

  Dernel spread his hands, unclasping them for the first time. He lifted those hands high, and his cloak fell from his bluish, skinny arms. Then he walked around our ship, like a priest worshipping an altar.

  “I’ve been studying your fine vessel. It is a lovely feat of engineering. I would estimate it could outrun any patrol ship—perhaps even a cruiser.”

  “She can,” Jort assured him proudly. “She’s faster than—”

  I waved a hand at Jort, and he shut up.

  “I repeat,” I said, “stand aside.”

  It was Morwyn’s turn to speak. So far, she’d stood back and watched.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “My father hasn’t spent much time in the Conclave. He doesn’t entirely understand how rude and barbaric people can be here. He isn’t threatening—don’t be alarmed by his mannerisms.”

  All our eyes fell on her. Every one of my crewmen frowned—except for me. I felt a smile form on my face. I couldn’t help it.

  “Perhaps you can explain all this,” I said. “You have thirty seconds. After that, we’re flying out of here forever.”

  Morwyn nodded. Her father lowered his thin blue arms and fell silent. A moment later, his arms were swallowed by his garments. Only those two hands with his squirming fingers stayed in sight.

  “Captain,” Morwyn said, stepping toward me a few paces. “We need your help. We’re from far out—past the Fringe.”

  “Outside the Conclave entirely?”

  “Yes. I was born under the light of a lonely star that sits in the expanse between the Faustian Chain and the Conclave. Our home isn’t in either star cluster, you see. It’s in the empty desert that exists between the two.”

  I nodded at last. This made some sense to me. I knew most of the worlds in the Conclave, even though there were hundreds of them. She wasn’t from any of them.

  The other large star cluster occupied by humans was known as the Faustian Chain. Over the years, we’d lost touch with our brothers from that region. We suspected they’d had trouble with various aggressive aliens that we’d encountered only recently.

  “You’re not quite a genetic match with a local human then, are you?”

  “No, not really. We’ve evolved away from the human standard due to our environment. We found that certain genetic traits made our planet more livable.”

  “Freaks!” Jort barked suddenly, but I shushed him.

  “Don’t be rude, Jort,” I said, then I turned back to Morwyn. “What do you want from us?”

  “Weapons, as my father said. And any other help you might be able to provide.”

  “You can pay for this?”

  “Of course. We are rich in metals and radioactives. Our world is bountiful, and we mine all the way down to the core of the planet.”

  I nodded with interest. “Why don’t you have your own weapons, in that case? You can manufacture whatever you please, being beyond the reach of Conclave laws.”

  Morwyn shook her head sadly. “The answer is complex. Let me simply say it’s one thing to mine metal, and another to build a factory to make fine weapons.”

  “I understand.”

  “Good… now, about our needs: I understand that you don’t trust us. Let us start small. We will ask only for safe passage upon your vessel.”

  I thought that over for a moment. “Passage to where?”

  “To wherever you’re headed. We don’t care. We only need the time the journey will provide for us to explain our problems and hopefully work out a deal.”

  Sosa, ever the practical one, stepped forward. “You can pay for your passage?”

  “Yes. We can pay with carbon.”

  “Carbon?”

  Morwyn opened a case. I saw a hoard of cut diamonds in there. “We understand these materials have value here.”

  Sosa and I eyed the glittering mass. It was true that diamonds weren’t as valuable as they’d once been, as some worlds had them in abundance. But still, the jewels were rare enough and could be used as currency anywhere.

  “All right,” I said. “You two can board our ship and travel with us long enough to explain yourselves. Gather your things.”

  “Why are we in such a hurry?” Morwyn asked, puzzled.

  I took out a scanner, and I showed her the screen. “You see here? That’s a full squadron in the tunnels above us. Four combat androids, class-Ks.”

  We watched as they marched in perfect step. They carried rifles, and they moved fast.

  “Patrolmen? They’re coming down here? How could they have—”

  “Because when you found us, you led them to us,” I explained.

  “We should kill them now, Captain,” Jort said, breathing hard over my shoulder. He was staring at the image on my scanner as well. “Leave them here. The exhaust from our jets will burn away all evidence.”

  I looked up at the circle of faces. Morwyn appeared to be shocked. Rose was somewhat horrified. But Jort and Sosa were nodding, liking the idea. They were true pirates at heart.

  Dernel, however, just watched us with those strange eyes and squirming hands.

  “What do you have to say?” I asked him.

  He shrugged. “You are the captain. You will do as you will do. I have already made my choices.”

  I nodded. “All right then, get aboard. Hurry now, all of you.”

  We took the stack of belongings our two passengers had at their feet and tossed them into the hold. Then we all hustled up the ramp and raised it behind us.

  Jort didn’t head to
the bridge as did the rest of us. He went below and wriggled into the belly turret instead.

  There, he manned our single anti-personnel cannon. It was a newly installed improvement, a close-range gun with a high rate of fire. Using kinetic projectiles in rapid bursts, it wasn’t built for space battles—it was designed to deal with enemies around the ship while it was grounded.

  “Captain!” Jort called me excitedly. “I hear the patrolmen. Let us wait for them! Let us end them all!”

  “You’re too bloodthirsty, Jort,” I said.

  “Nonsense! These androids don’t bleed—not real blood at least.”

  I turned toward Sosa. “Are you through the checklist?”

  “Only half of it—but we should fly.”

  I considered for a full second.

  “Everyone strap in,” I announced, and my voice boomed around the ship.

  Startled, our two passengers flipped down jump-seats and fumbled with their harnesses. Rose worked to help them with the squirming smart-straps. I could tell they were used to luxury vessels, not a runner’s ship.

  “Hold on, William,” Rose said. “They’ll be thrown onto the deck.”

  Ignoring both Jort and Rose, Sosa efficiently flipped toggles and swiped at a holo-screens. Daylight broke over the ship as the doors above us slid away.

  I didn’t have clearance to launch, of course. That required filing a flight plan and getting it approved—things I rarely did.

  I didn’t care. Running was what a runner did—and I was one of the best.

  “Give me thirty seconds with them!” Jort demanded.

  I glanced at Sosa. “How are the engines?”

  “We’ll need a minute to warm them up. Otherwise, the scoops might fragment when we hit them with a lot of power.”

  I nodded. “You’ve got your thirty seconds, Jort.”

  “Thank you, Captain! Thank you!”

  Moments later, I heard a ripping noise. It didn’t quite sound like gunfire—it was too fast, too smooth.

  Outside the ship in the landing pit, the four patrolmen advanced into the chamber. Jort met them with a stream of projectiles. The first three were torn apart instantly. They seemed to explode into fragments.