riptide_asylum (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
riptide_asylum) wrote2008-12-24 05:24 pm
riptide_asylum) wrote2008-12-24 05:24 pm
Entry tags:
"Neuros Are For Never, II" (Riptide in Space)
Title: Neuros Are For Never
Rating: R
Summary: The Riptide takes on a freighter carrying highly sought-after cargo and find they have taken on more than they bargained for.
Part I
Murray stared at the screens in front of him, glasses firmly in place, bionic eye asleep. This was a question for human minds, not hardware.
All but one screen was dark.
Murray sat with his arms folded, chewing on a fingernail, staring unblinking at the screen. An unending, rotating display of the Stargoblin's structure--her layout, weaponry, heat signatures, security and projected route over the next 12 hours. Roboz sat next to him, dark and motionless.
Nick pushed himself up off the floor of the deck, shaking his head and willing his eyes back into focus. His wound was gone, neatly covered with a microderm patch. Nick pushed himself uneasily to his feet and made his way unsteadily to Murray's side. "Cody," he said. "Murray, we've gotta go get him. Now."
Murray looked up, as if noticing Nick for the first time. As if he hadn't been shooting furtive glances in Nick's direction for the past hour, and asking Roboz for repeated scans. "Nick, we can't do this by ourselves. We have to go for reinforcements."
Nick scowled. "Murray, turn this fucking ship around. Cody's still on the Stargoblin and neither of us are going anywhere until he's safe. Do it, Boz. Now."
Murray looked at his hands, folded in his lap. "Nick...the Stargoblin is a Unity x-class gunship. She's armed with--"
"Murray I don't give a fuck if she's armed with the entire Unity and their brothers. Turn this ship around right now. We've gotta get him back."
Murray sat silent and implacable. Next to him, the Roboz whirred to life.
"Murray...Murray, please. Please. You know what they're doing to him right now, don't you?" Nick's voice broke. "He's a known member of the Resistance. Murray...please. Please." Nick dropped to his knees. "Please. We have to go, right now."
The navigator turned. "Nick, the Stargoblin is too much Unity for the two of us. A four-dimensional numerical analysis of the situation indi--"
Nick roared with pain. "Murray, we don't need an analysis of the situation. We need to go get Cody, right now, before he gets himself in any deeper than he already has. Okay? Murray, the plan failed, okay? Our original plan failed, and even when Cody and I were still Unity, we knew: you never leave a guy behind, okay? Okay, Murray?"
Murray was silent.
"Boz, please tell me you're listening. Please...we've gotta get him back. Boz..."
Murray put his hands on his knees, skinny arms akimbo. "Nick, what I figure is this: we need firepower to get onto the Stargoblin. We're gonna need a lot of firepower. Our only chance is to call Mama Jo and ask her to back us up with--"
Nick shook his head. "She'll never go for it. She's the one who warned us off the Stargoblin, remember? She won't go near it."
Murray held up his hands. "Nick, Nick, listen to me. I know this is hard--"
Nick was across the room in one quick angry movement. "You don't know shit, Bozinsky."
"Nick!" Murray sighed. "We call Mama Jo and ask her to back us up with the crew of the Contessa. Those girls....well, those girls can fight and shoot like nobody's business. They're kind of, well, they're kind of scary, actually, but all the analyses point to a much greater firepower than the two of us--and Roboz, naturally--can provide. I just don't see any other way."
An uneasy silence fell on the bridge. The two of them stared at each other, painfully aware of the absence at the center of the room, the easy smile that would normally have brought them together for the craziest of plans, the toughest of odds. Murray broke eye contact first.
"Nick, I, uh...I understand how you feel about getting Cody back..."
Nick drew his pistol, aiming it at the navigator. "Murray, turn this fucking ship around. That's an order."
Murray stood up gingerly, and took a few paces towards Nick. He mumbled something.
Nick strained to hear. "What was that, Boz? Speak up."
Murray pushed his glasses back up. "I said, I outrank you. Navigator is also first mate, Nick. Second in command." He reached a hand up slowly to intercept Nick's pistol. "I outrank you. And I'm telling you we need help on this one."
Nick cocked his weapon, tears brimming in his pale blue eyes.
Murray hung his head. He took off his glasses and wiped them on his tunic. Nick's aim didn't falter.
As Murray put his glasses back on, Nick clicked the safety back on his pistol; holstering it, he stalked across to the opposing bank of controls and collapsed in on himself. He slid down into a heap and resting his arms on his knees, he sobbed bitterly, shaking and withdrawn.
Murray returned his attention to the screens in front of him. After a few minutes, Nick pushed himself to his feet and made his way over to Murray's navigation chair. Putting a hand on Murray's shoulder, Nick said haltingly, "Murray...I'm sorry. I..."
Murray shrugged Nick's hand away with a vague wave. "In three hours we'll be in the perfect position to launch an ambush. Provided we have backup, of course." He looked up at Nick, who was staring at his hand as if it were diseased.
"Nick," Murray continued. "We have to contact the Contessa. It's the only way." He spun around and stared.
Nick returned his stare with equal intensity. After a minute, Nick broke the contact; he wiped his nose and stood up straight, hands clasped in front of him. "You're right, Murray, just like always. I'm sorry, man."
"Forget it." Murray nodded, his brown eyes serious. "We'll get him back, Nick. Okay?"
"Okay." Nick swallowed hard. "Patch me through to the Contessa, Boz. Let's get this over with."
---
"I warned the two of you off because it was a trap. Is it my fault if you didn't listen?" Mama Jo glared at them, arms folded across her chest. Seeing her on a vidscreen did nothing to diminish the threat she posed. As leader of the Resistance, she could blow them out of the multiverse and have six or seven ships swear she was fifty galaxies away at the time.
"Look, Mama Jo, we're sorry, we thought, we thought you were just trying to keep the pods for yourself," Nick explained.
"Don't think I won't!" Mama Jo sighed. "Look, I know how much Cody means to you, Nick,"--the two of them eyed each other levelly--"but why would I give a wet proton about getting him back? He has no effect on my organization!" Mama Jo's tone softened. "Look Ryder, every war has its martyrs. This might be one time where--"
"No!" Nick bellowed at the vidscreen. "Cody is not a martyr, because we are going to get him out of there alive! Right now!"
"Sometimes, Ryder, you make small sacrifices to get big gains. In this case, we trade your partner for the chance to learn who's buying that shipment of neuropods. Have you forgotten everything since you left the service?"
"Don't bring that 'serve with honor' crap into this! I'm willing to sacrifice, you know that, you know that better than anyone. But this is one sacrifice I'm not willing to make. We get Cody back here, alive, right now!"
Mama Jo stared.
Nick stared back.
Murray looked intensely uncomfortable, and even Roboz floated into a corner.
"Name your price," Nick growled.
---
Quinlan marched onto the Stargoblin's bridge and stood in front of its young captain, eyeing him with dislike. He'd called Allen a pretty boy, sure, but that pirate was tougher than Captain Karl Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, son of a high-ranked Unity official, held his rank as a favor to his father, no more. Quinlan had learned early on that the captain was interested in three things: bounties, promotion and Zimmerman. In descending order. It had been a hard sell, getting him to spare the Riptide in the hope she'd lead them to the elusive leader of the Resistance.
No idea of strategy, Quinlan thought. Out loud he said "Allen's a prisoner. He hasn't talked yet, but he will. Have you got the Riptide under surveillance?"
"Of course!" Zimmerman snapped. "I know my job, Lieutenant." He spat the word. "The minute they make contact with anyone, we'll know. I still think you're wrong." He turned sharply to the main viewscreen and gestured at the stars visible through it. "They've got a start now. There's no reason for them to come back. How do they know the prisoner's still alive?" Impatiently, he stalked towards his chair.
Quinlan looked at the captain's retreating back pityingly. That's why you'll never make a soldier, he thought. Never leave a man behind. Even if all you bring home is the body. Ryder and Allen were Unity men before they went rogue. They were soldiers, Quinlan had spent enough time looking through their files to know that. "I know Ryder, remember. He'll be here after Allen any time now, and I'd prefer that we were ready for him." Quinlan pasted on his sweetest smile. "Sir."
"I doubt he's going anywhere." Zimmerman's lips twisted into a sneer. "We gave him a little going away present."
"What sort of present?" Quinlan felt his blood start to boil. He'd specifically laid out the plan - capture the first boarder, repel other attacks, activate but on no account deploy the anti-matter guns. And when the Riptide ran for help as she'd have to do, outgunned and outmanned as she was, nail themselves to her shiny ass and follow. The pivotal point of the plan was that Ryder and Allen would no more leave the other in trouble than loop-the-loop around Jupiter's moon at rush hour. If Ryder was out of the equation, he had no idea what Bozinsky would do with the Riptide - Bozinsky was an enigma to him. Alien-boffins, especially goofball alien-boffins, weren't the kinda guys he understood.
"Just a little flyby with an anti-matter gun," Zimmerman purred. "Nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about?" Quinlan's voice rose. "An anti-matter gun's nothing to worry about?"
"We didn't hit his ship with it." The captain looked at Quinlan with dislike. "Although it was tempting. All he experienced was spatial displacement due to concussion." Zimmerman looked at his watch. "And now Quinlan, if you'll excuse me. Perhaps you can go back to questioning your prisoner."
---
Time was running out.
The Stargoblin was speeding farther away with every passing moment, carrying the neuropods--and Cody--beyond the Resistance's grasp.
The Contessa had gone to full battlestations, a klaxon calling the crew to arms. Buxom, Amazonian crew members filled the corridors, strapping on weapons, shrugging into armor, braiding each others' hair.
Nick strode over to the transporter, Murray close on his heels, but a lithesome brunette blocked his path, half hanging out of a complex halter top-type garment. Nick made to step around her, but Murray stood stock still, staring. The brunette grabbed Nick's arm. "Help me lace my gauntlet?" she asked seductively. Nick scowled and pushed past her, but Murray stepped forward hesitantly. "I'm, uh, that is, I'd be happy to help with any costuming needs you might have." The half-clad Contessan smiled, leaning towards Murray's outstretched hands just as Nick pulled Murray towards the transport's open door.
"Randy!" Mama Jo stepped in front of the disappointed girl, arms crossed. "Gauntlets go on your arms, as you well know. Now get your butt down to the engine room, pronto!" The Contessa's captain fixed her errant crew member with a steely gaze. As Randy ran from the room in tears, Mama Jo shook her head. "That one's got the common sense the Goddess gave a wikken," she muttered, strapping on her favorite twin laser pistols.
Nick and Murray had come aboard the Contessa at her insistence. Her exact words had been: "I'm not having some half-assed space bum firing off like a loose cannon because his boyfriend's got his dick caught in a Unity rat-trap," which had caused the comm to be turned off for a moment for Nick to throw things before responding. Now they were here, there was only one thing left to do: put out a Stargoblin-shaped welcome mat.
Mama Jo had issued forth the Contessa's offer of solace, friendship and highly skilled female companionship with a special rate for Unity officers. It had been eagerly accepted, and now it was time to go charging in, lasers blasting. The Stargoblin was about to experience companionship like never before. Followed, of course, by a thorough debriefing, and the amnesia gas that kept their cover as a harmless if enjoyable floating bordello intact.
Nick and Murray huddled together in the middle of the transporter pad, surrounded by thirty glamorous members of the Contessa crew, all with more weapons than clothing... and Mama Jo. They were waiting for the Stargoblin to lower her shields and send over a boarding code, at which point the Contessa would zap everyone across and, at Mama Jo's signal, unleash Prell. Nick could tell that the scent of the Contessa's regulation shampoo was making the Riptide's navigation officer giddy with anticipation. And giddy was not the mood he preferred from his backup, not to mention the almighty asskicking Mama Jo was about to deliver, judging from the look in her eyes. Nick gave Murray a warning nudge and he yelped.
"What? I'm fine, really, I'm...totally boss, just totally..." He tugged at the collar of his protective gear. "Is it getting hot in here, or is it just---"
The light in the transport chamber turned a sickly green, and Nick closed his eyes. He loved this part.
There was the sensation of falling, like drowning while being electrocuted, but pleasant, and as Nick sucked the air back into his lungs, the Stargoblin's deck materialized under his feet, his hand on his holster. Mama Jo slipped around the corner of an unknown corridor, and Nick heard the telltale zap of lasers and a masculine cry cut short with a gurgle. Around him, the Contessa crew dispersed with a high-pitched, giggling warcry.
Nick scowled and as a Unity officer lunged for him, he flipped the guy over, snapping his head back, pistol at his throat. "The Resistance prisoner? Where is he?"
"Prisoner?"
Nick slammed the butt of his pistol into the officer's temple, pulling his hair for extra measure. The guard struggled with a snarl, and bit at Nick's hand. Nick shot him, stepping over the body as it fell. Another officer appeared in his view, throwing a punch. Nick dodged and subdued the second officer against a background of laser fire and the grunts of dirty fighting. As Nick watched, a green-eyed brunette raked her nails down her attacker's face and kicked him in the throat as he went down. Nick looked at his captive. "Resistance Prisoner?"
The man struggled, snarling. "Die, pirate scum!"
Nick head-butted him, eliciting a roar of pain. The young officer struggled in Nick's grasp, and Nick, taking a cue from a nearby Contessan, kneed him in the groin. The guy collapsed in his arms, groaning. "Hold. Three left turns and through the door marked 'No Admittance'."
Nick nodded and, tossing the guy at the green-eyed, face-raking brunette--for better or worse--strode down the corridor. While the battle raged on around him--the screams of the dying and wounded echoing off the blue matte walls he remembered from his enlisted days--Nick's only thought was of Cody. He couldn't--wouldn't--imagine what he'd been through at the hands of the Unity. Nick ran down the staircase the officer had described. He looked around wildly, then his heart caught in his throat.
In the deep, cold cargo hold, Cody hung limp between two sets of chains, his silver suit in tatters around his waist.
As Nick reached him, he pulled a sonic lockpick from his belt to release Cody's shackles. He grabbed Cody around the chest, taking his weight on. Cody's eyelids fluttered but he stayed silent. Nick babbled with relief at the faint movement. "Come on baby, let's get out of here," he murmured. Cody's freed wrists dropped against Nick's hips with meatlike thuds.
"Come on, Cody, come on, talk to me." Nick laid his friend down against the riveted metal floor. Kneeling over him, Nick gently slapped at both cheeks. As the sounds of battle raged overhead, shaking the walls around them, he leaned closer, listening to Cody's uneven breathing. Too soft, too shallow.
Nick ran experienced hands over his partner's body, the skin laid bare where the silver suit had betrayed him, skin golden in the dim yellow light. His breath caught and he winced before his hands reached the stunners' telltale marks, distinctive horseshoes of pain and destruction. The tissue around each mark was mottled green, necrotic. Nick knew, without immediate medical treatment, the necrosis would spread; stunners ate away at the crucial nerves powering every muscle, leaving death in their path and death as their destination. "No, baby, no," Nick sobbed. He sat up straight. Contessa had a medpod.
Nick was up and moving before the thought flared into life across his brain. Slinging Cody over his shoulders, he turned for the stairs.
"Not so fast, flyboy."
Nick took a deep breath. "Lieutenant Quinlan."
The Lieutenant stepped out of the shadows, pug nose and squinting, accusing eyes focused on Nick and Cody. He was shorter than Nick remembered. "Didn't think you'd make it out of here with your half-naked deserter friend, did you Ryder? Because you and I, we have unfinished business."
"Come on, Quinlan, be human for once. If Cody doesn't get medical treatment, right now, he'll die. Your stunners saw to that."
"Cry me a lullaby, Ryder. A pretty one about how the neuros are made from defenceless women and babies? Your friend here tried to sing that one, only he hit a few sour notes with me. Those neuros are made in supervised Unity facilities, under supervised Unity conditions. And you two highwaymen aren't going to take them anywhere."
Nick shifted under Cody's weight, wishing his friend would stir, speak, anything that would let Nick know he had time for this conversation. "Don't talk to me about Unity facilities, Quinlan. You and I both know those Unity 'facilities' are nothing more than prison camps--innocent people, living in torment so that some rich Haath'k--"
"Or Caldarian..." Quinlan sneered.
They stared at each other. Nick's eyes glittered dangerously. "Can get their rocks off on the blood of chil--"
"Enough."
Quinlan and Nick both turned at the sound of Mama Jo's voice. She stalked down the wide, functional stairway, every step echoing like old-fashioned bullets.
She stood between the two of them, eyes locked on Quinlan's. "Let them go, Ted. My girls and I have checked this vessel, stem to stern. There are no neuros on the Stargoblin. Not a blasted one. That signal you sent up, the molecular signature of the blasted things? A damned clever trap, I'll give you credit for that one. But give me one good reason I shouldn't put my foot so far up your ass that I can wear you like a moonboot." Mama Jo moved close, standing eye to eye with Quinlan.
He smirked. "Maybe because that would be assault on a Unity officer, including the fact that after my boys arrest you--and have no doubt--" He leaned offensively close to Mama Jo. "--they will, the other charges will include treason, conspiracy to hijack Unity cargo, boarding a Unity vessel under false pretenses, conspiracy to commit prostitution without a license...and looking damned foxy." Quinlan gave Mama Jo a long, lascivious look, head to toe. "Joanne, it's been too long." He took a step towards her.
Mama Jo stood her ground. "Not long enough. Goodbye, Ted." She beckoned to him, unzipping her catsuit an inch at the cleavage. Quinlan swaggered towards her and Nick sensed, rather than saw, the pulse of ions. Quinlan looked puzzled for a second, then slumped to his knees before collapsing facefirst on the deck.
Nick stared at Mama Jo. "So that's how the amnesiac foam works. You know, I'd--"
"Save it, Ryder. Let's get you and Blondie back to the Contessa."
Nick shook his head and shifted Cody on his shoulder. "After you, ma'am."
She gave him a look, and he sighed, then took the lead.
---
The fight back to the transporter was not pretty.
Several Contessans had to be forcibly separated from their prey, post-interrogation, and a few Unity officers had underestimated the killing prowess concealed by big hair and tight halter tops. It took the Contessans awhile to put the Stargoblin to rights: cleaning up the blood, jettisoning the bodies, altering records, creating cover stories. The remaining Unity officers were questioned, foamed and taken to their quarters, amid much disappointed whining.
"Save it, ladies. Another seven years in space will ease this melancholy."
A louder chorus of complaints greeted this pronouncement, and several of the girls found witty rejoinders on their tongues. Rejoinders that withered and died under Mama Jo's biting glare.
Nick wavered on the transporter pad under Cody's weight, eyes focused on the stunner mark on Cody's chest. The grey slowly expanded as he watched, and Nick's blood chilled in his veins. He tightened his grip and shot a warning glance at a curvaceous blonde whose pink-taloned finger was drifting towards the small muscles in Cody's back. As Nick locked glances with her, she pursed her lips, reaching a hand towards Cody's tousled blond hair.
"Ryder." Mama Jo made Nick's name sound like a curse. "The next time you two cowboys get your asses in a sling, don't come looking to me for help. Not when cleaning up your mess puts my girls in jeopardy. Am I clear?"
Before Nick had a chance to object, the light turned green and he drowned under Cody's weight.
Back aboard the Contessa, Nick raced towards the medical unit, frantic, breaking into as close to a run as he dared with Cody riding on his shoulder. When he'd stood on the transport pad, he'd listened to Cody's breathing turn ragged, labored. Nick turned a sharp corner, long heavy steps across the plush gold carpet, ignoring the matte grey walls hung with exquisite artworks. None of it was worth Cody's life.
Suddenly, Mama Jo blocked his path, cutting off his access to the pod, to Cody's only chance. Hands on her hips, she demanded, "And how are you planning on paying for his treatment? I don't run a charity here."
Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Be fair, Mama Jo. Without access to the pod..." He couldn't bear to finish the statement, letting his pleading eyes speak for him.
Cody shifted on Nick's shoulder, muscles spasming, gut clenching. A gout of blood hit the floor as he retched. Nick stood still, panting from the exertion of carrying him. His eyes never left Mama Jo's face.
She stepped aside with a sigh. "Okay. It looks like the two of you are going to need a line of credit."
Bowing his head with relief, Nick pushed past her, through the permeable membrane of the medical unit, hustling over to the medpod.
To salvation. To safety.
"Baby, stay with me," Nick muttered. He laid Cody gently in the open maw of the pod, watching as the scanners lit up, displays whirring to life, soft blue light roaming over Cody's battered body, honing in on Cody's chest, his thigh, the places the stunners had begun their devastation.
As the medpod sealed shut, Nick crouched next to it, eyes unfocused, waiting for it to save his partner's life.
---
For the fourth time in as many hours, Nick stood in the Barefoot Contessa's transport chamber, this time accompanied by both his partners. Murray stood beside him, and hovering on his other side was the stretcher carrying Cody, still only semi-conscious after his session in the medpod. The gentle buzz from the stretcher's anti-grav was strangely soothing.
As green light suffused the chamber, Nick tightened his grip on Cody's hand. The familiar rushing drop had never felt so good. He opened his eyes slowly and took in the familiar bridge of the Riptide, and Roboz hovering in welcome in front of the transport pad. Home.
Murray gripped Nick's shoulder briefly and stepped off the pad. "It's good to be home," he said quietly, moving over to the navigation console.
"It sure is," Nick agreed. "You don't need me up here, do you, Boz?"
"No, Nick, not at all." Murray turned and flashed him a smile. "I'll get the damage reports completed, but tomorrow's soon enough to start on repairs. And by then Cody'll be able to help you with them."
"Thanks." Nick smiled back at Murray, and took a deep breath. The young navigation officer was right. The medpod had done its work and Cody was out of danger, the stunner damage repaired. The stretcher floated obediently next to him as he stepped off the pad and headed for the stairs, Cody's hand still clasped in his. Nick felt weak with relief. All Cody had to do now was to sleep off the effects of the forced regeneration.
In their stateroom, Nick freed Cody from the remnants of the silver suit, lifted him from the stretcher and laid him on the bunk. He deactivated the stretcher's hover and moved to store it in the closet.
"Nick," Cody muttered fretfully, reaching out without opening his eyes, and Nick turned back anxiously.
"I'm here, baby," he reassured him, quickly pushing the stretcher into the cupboard. He was back at his friend's side before the closet door had hissed back into place.
"Don't go 'way," Cody whispered as Nick's hand closed over his again. "Nick..."
Nick perched on the edge of the bunk and smoothed the thick blond hair back from his partner's forehead. "I'm not going anywhere, Cody," he said softly. "I'm right here. You're safe now, man. Just sleep, okay?"
"Okay." Cody sighed and his hand closed on Nick's forearm. "Nick..."
"I got you, Cody." Nick lay down beside him and pulled him into his arms. "I got you. You're safe, baby." Cody nestled closer, burying his head against Nick's neck, breathing slowing as he relaxed. Rubbing his back, Nick said the words again, the same familiar mantra that banished Cody's nightmares. "I got you, Cody. You're safe here."
He kept rubbing Cody's back as sleep claimed him, feeling his partner slipping deeper and deeper into the healing rest he needed so badly. Nick lay still, not sleeping, feeling the small twitches in Cody's muscles as his body caught up with the aggressive regeneration process. Each tremor was like a gift--Nick choked, thinking about how close it had come. 'Too damned close.' They'd been lucky so far, in this Resistance cloak and dagger gig. Thank the Goddess that their luck had held this time. Perhaps I mean thank Mama Jo, Nick thought ruefully. We owe her big-time for this. And knowing her, she'll make us pay up with interest.
Nick sighed and stroked the back of Cody's neck. Paying Mama Jo back was a problem for another day. Cody was safe, and all three of them had made it through another mission. That was what counted. Warmth flooded through him and he closed his eyes, remembering the day Cody had persuaded him to turn pirate. The touch of Cody's hand on his arm that day, the enthusiastic sparkle in his blue eyes... "I love you, pal," Nick whispered, very low, and he let himself drift on the safe, sweet sound of Cody's deep and even breathing.
---
"Freighter dead ahead!" Murray sang out, and Nick winced. He supposed he'd eventually stop associating Murray's inevitable exclamation with the Stargoblin fiasco, but right now... Nick shivered and turned to look at Cody, standing at the helm.
Cody ran a hand through his blond hair and shot a look at Nick. "What's her molecular signature say?"
"Currency." Murray looked over his shoulder at Nick and Cody, lips pursed in awe. "Caldarian Sungadins, by the looks of it. And - according to the scans, we're not talking loose change here, guys. Looks like this is the big time."
Nick blinked. Caldara - his planet of origin. A planet devastated by the Furvian Wars twenty years ago, the original settlers killed or left in poverty - it had been little more than a dustbowl last time Nick had seen it. Since then, it had been resettled, he'd heard. In fact, gossip had it that the Unity had set up resorts there, spas for the rich elite to indulge their every whim. And now, a ship loaded with the currency was here, in the outer reaches of Rodin-9, where no ship headed to or from Caldara was likely to be. "Murray--that doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? Out here?"
Cody left the ship's instrument panel and came to stand beside Nick's seat. He dropped a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Buddy, you're right, it doesn't." He sighed. "Still, we could use the cash. With everything we owe Mama Jo--"
As if on cue, a series of beeps sounded and the Roboz hovered into view from the direction of the stairs. The orange robot's screen flashed "INCOMING MSG: MAMA JO."
"How the hell does she do that?" Cody muttered. He waved at Murray, and the image of the Resistance leader filled the main viewscreen.
"Top of the morning, fellas." For once, a feisty grin adorned Mama Jo's face, and the crew of the Riptide looked at each other warily.
"Well, hi, Mama Jo," Cody said cautiously.
"Cody! You're looking a hell of a lot better than you were last time I saw you!" Mama Jo exclaimed jovially. "Must be a damned good medpod we've got, if I do say so myself. You didn't look worth a skinned wikken last time I saw you."
Nick bit hard on the inside of his cheek. He wasn't ready to hear anyone joke about the close call on the Stargoblin, but Mama Jo wouldn't be deterred by anything he said.
"What the hell's a wikken?" Cody muttered under his breath.
"A wikken, Cody?" Murray spun his seat to face Nick and Cody. "It's a small, herbivorous creature, native to equatorial Griffen-742. In fact, I used to--" He stopped speaking in response to Cody's raised hand.
"Well, thanks Mama Jo," Cody said, turning back to the main screen. "What can we do for you?"
"You boys open for business? You got that heap of space-junk you call a gunship flying again, Ryder?"
Nick stiffened at the insult to his beloved craft. "Mimi's as ready as the day she was launched," he replied stiffly.
Mama Jo snorted and turned back to Cody. "That's what I was afraid of. Cody, that currency barge you've got a bead on. Her cargo'll pay the debt you boys owe me very nicely, don't you think?"
"Uh--well, sure, Mama Jo." Cody shot a look at Nick, then at Murray.
"Glad you agree." A satisfied smirk crinkled the Resistance leader's eyes. "The info you'll want's coming to you now. I'll expect to collect - let's say, Tuesday. Out!" The viewscreen went blank.
"Everything we do, she knows," Nick said resignedly. "She's probably watching right now."
"She can't be, Nick," Murray said doubtfully. "Roboz's got the Riptide sewn up tight. I'd spot any kind of tracer in minutes--"
"Let's not worry about that now," Cody interrupted firmly. "Murray, can you access this data Mama Jo's sending? And let Nick have the weapons specs?"
"Aye aye, Captain!" Murray grinned and swung back to his keyboard. "Wow, this looks like easy pickings!"
Nick sighed and stood up, pushing his shoulder against Cody's. "I sure hope it's easier pickings than the last one, man."
"Yeah, Nick, so do I." Cody slung his arm over his partner's shoulders and pulled him close. "So do I."
Rating: R
Summary: The Riptide takes on a freighter carrying highly sought-after cargo and find they have taken on more than they bargained for.
Part I
Murray stared at the screens in front of him, glasses firmly in place, bionic eye asleep. This was a question for human minds, not hardware.
All but one screen was dark.
Murray sat with his arms folded, chewing on a fingernail, staring unblinking at the screen. An unending, rotating display of the Stargoblin's structure--her layout, weaponry, heat signatures, security and projected route over the next 12 hours. Roboz sat next to him, dark and motionless.
Nick pushed himself up off the floor of the deck, shaking his head and willing his eyes back into focus. His wound was gone, neatly covered with a microderm patch. Nick pushed himself uneasily to his feet and made his way unsteadily to Murray's side. "Cody," he said. "Murray, we've gotta go get him. Now."
Murray looked up, as if noticing Nick for the first time. As if he hadn't been shooting furtive glances in Nick's direction for the past hour, and asking Roboz for repeated scans. "Nick, we can't do this by ourselves. We have to go for reinforcements."
Nick scowled. "Murray, turn this fucking ship around. Cody's still on the Stargoblin and neither of us are going anywhere until he's safe. Do it, Boz. Now."
Murray looked at his hands, folded in his lap. "Nick...the Stargoblin is a Unity x-class gunship. She's armed with--"
"Murray I don't give a fuck if she's armed with the entire Unity and their brothers. Turn this ship around right now. We've gotta get him back."
Murray sat silent and implacable. Next to him, the Roboz whirred to life.
"Murray...Murray, please. Please. You know what they're doing to him right now, don't you?" Nick's voice broke. "He's a known member of the Resistance. Murray...please. Please." Nick dropped to his knees. "Please. We have to go, right now."
The navigator turned. "Nick, the Stargoblin is too much Unity for the two of us. A four-dimensional numerical analysis of the situation indi--"
Nick roared with pain. "Murray, we don't need an analysis of the situation. We need to go get Cody, right now, before he gets himself in any deeper than he already has. Okay? Murray, the plan failed, okay? Our original plan failed, and even when Cody and I were still Unity, we knew: you never leave a guy behind, okay? Okay, Murray?"
Murray was silent.
"Boz, please tell me you're listening. Please...we've gotta get him back. Boz..."
Murray put his hands on his knees, skinny arms akimbo. "Nick, what I figure is this: we need firepower to get onto the Stargoblin. We're gonna need a lot of firepower. Our only chance is to call Mama Jo and ask her to back us up with--"
Nick shook his head. "She'll never go for it. She's the one who warned us off the Stargoblin, remember? She won't go near it."
Murray held up his hands. "Nick, Nick, listen to me. I know this is hard--"
Nick was across the room in one quick angry movement. "You don't know shit, Bozinsky."
"Nick!" Murray sighed. "We call Mama Jo and ask her to back us up with the crew of the Contessa. Those girls....well, those girls can fight and shoot like nobody's business. They're kind of, well, they're kind of scary, actually, but all the analyses point to a much greater firepower than the two of us--and Roboz, naturally--can provide. I just don't see any other way."
An uneasy silence fell on the bridge. The two of them stared at each other, painfully aware of the absence at the center of the room, the easy smile that would normally have brought them together for the craziest of plans, the toughest of odds. Murray broke eye contact first.
"Nick, I, uh...I understand how you feel about getting Cody back..."
Nick drew his pistol, aiming it at the navigator. "Murray, turn this fucking ship around. That's an order."
Murray stood up gingerly, and took a few paces towards Nick. He mumbled something.
Nick strained to hear. "What was that, Boz? Speak up."
Murray pushed his glasses back up. "I said, I outrank you. Navigator is also first mate, Nick. Second in command." He reached a hand up slowly to intercept Nick's pistol. "I outrank you. And I'm telling you we need help on this one."
Nick cocked his weapon, tears brimming in his pale blue eyes.
Murray hung his head. He took off his glasses and wiped them on his tunic. Nick's aim didn't falter.
As Murray put his glasses back on, Nick clicked the safety back on his pistol; holstering it, he stalked across to the opposing bank of controls and collapsed in on himself. He slid down into a heap and resting his arms on his knees, he sobbed bitterly, shaking and withdrawn.
Murray returned his attention to the screens in front of him. After a few minutes, Nick pushed himself to his feet and made his way over to Murray's navigation chair. Putting a hand on Murray's shoulder, Nick said haltingly, "Murray...I'm sorry. I..."
Murray shrugged Nick's hand away with a vague wave. "In three hours we'll be in the perfect position to launch an ambush. Provided we have backup, of course." He looked up at Nick, who was staring at his hand as if it were diseased.
"Nick," Murray continued. "We have to contact the Contessa. It's the only way." He spun around and stared.
Nick returned his stare with equal intensity. After a minute, Nick broke the contact; he wiped his nose and stood up straight, hands clasped in front of him. "You're right, Murray, just like always. I'm sorry, man."
"Forget it." Murray nodded, his brown eyes serious. "We'll get him back, Nick. Okay?"
"Okay." Nick swallowed hard. "Patch me through to the Contessa, Boz. Let's get this over with."
---
"I warned the two of you off because it was a trap. Is it my fault if you didn't listen?" Mama Jo glared at them, arms folded across her chest. Seeing her on a vidscreen did nothing to diminish the threat she posed. As leader of the Resistance, she could blow them out of the multiverse and have six or seven ships swear she was fifty galaxies away at the time.
"Look, Mama Jo, we're sorry, we thought, we thought you were just trying to keep the pods for yourself," Nick explained.
"Don't think I won't!" Mama Jo sighed. "Look, I know how much Cody means to you, Nick,"--the two of them eyed each other levelly--"but why would I give a wet proton about getting him back? He has no effect on my organization!" Mama Jo's tone softened. "Look Ryder, every war has its martyrs. This might be one time where--"
"No!" Nick bellowed at the vidscreen. "Cody is not a martyr, because we are going to get him out of there alive! Right now!"
"Sometimes, Ryder, you make small sacrifices to get big gains. In this case, we trade your partner for the chance to learn who's buying that shipment of neuropods. Have you forgotten everything since you left the service?"
"Don't bring that 'serve with honor' crap into this! I'm willing to sacrifice, you know that, you know that better than anyone. But this is one sacrifice I'm not willing to make. We get Cody back here, alive, right now!"
Mama Jo stared.
Nick stared back.
Murray looked intensely uncomfortable, and even Roboz floated into a corner.
"Name your price," Nick growled.
---
Quinlan marched onto the Stargoblin's bridge and stood in front of its young captain, eyeing him with dislike. He'd called Allen a pretty boy, sure, but that pirate was tougher than Captain Karl Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, son of a high-ranked Unity official, held his rank as a favor to his father, no more. Quinlan had learned early on that the captain was interested in three things: bounties, promotion and Zimmerman. In descending order. It had been a hard sell, getting him to spare the Riptide in the hope she'd lead them to the elusive leader of the Resistance.
No idea of strategy, Quinlan thought. Out loud he said "Allen's a prisoner. He hasn't talked yet, but he will. Have you got the Riptide under surveillance?"
"Of course!" Zimmerman snapped. "I know my job, Lieutenant." He spat the word. "The minute they make contact with anyone, we'll know. I still think you're wrong." He turned sharply to the main viewscreen and gestured at the stars visible through it. "They've got a start now. There's no reason for them to come back. How do they know the prisoner's still alive?" Impatiently, he stalked towards his chair.
Quinlan looked at the captain's retreating back pityingly. That's why you'll never make a soldier, he thought. Never leave a man behind. Even if all you bring home is the body. Ryder and Allen were Unity men before they went rogue. They were soldiers, Quinlan had spent enough time looking through their files to know that. "I know Ryder, remember. He'll be here after Allen any time now, and I'd prefer that we were ready for him." Quinlan pasted on his sweetest smile. "Sir."
"I doubt he's going anywhere." Zimmerman's lips twisted into a sneer. "We gave him a little going away present."
"What sort of present?" Quinlan felt his blood start to boil. He'd specifically laid out the plan - capture the first boarder, repel other attacks, activate but on no account deploy the anti-matter guns. And when the Riptide ran for help as she'd have to do, outgunned and outmanned as she was, nail themselves to her shiny ass and follow. The pivotal point of the plan was that Ryder and Allen would no more leave the other in trouble than loop-the-loop around Jupiter's moon at rush hour. If Ryder was out of the equation, he had no idea what Bozinsky would do with the Riptide - Bozinsky was an enigma to him. Alien-boffins, especially goofball alien-boffins, weren't the kinda guys he understood.
"Just a little flyby with an anti-matter gun," Zimmerman purred. "Nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about?" Quinlan's voice rose. "An anti-matter gun's nothing to worry about?"
"We didn't hit his ship with it." The captain looked at Quinlan with dislike. "Although it was tempting. All he experienced was spatial displacement due to concussion." Zimmerman looked at his watch. "And now Quinlan, if you'll excuse me. Perhaps you can go back to questioning your prisoner."
---
Time was running out.
The Stargoblin was speeding farther away with every passing moment, carrying the neuropods--and Cody--beyond the Resistance's grasp.
The Contessa had gone to full battlestations, a klaxon calling the crew to arms. Buxom, Amazonian crew members filled the corridors, strapping on weapons, shrugging into armor, braiding each others' hair.
Nick strode over to the transporter, Murray close on his heels, but a lithesome brunette blocked his path, half hanging out of a complex halter top-type garment. Nick made to step around her, but Murray stood stock still, staring. The brunette grabbed Nick's arm. "Help me lace my gauntlet?" she asked seductively. Nick scowled and pushed past her, but Murray stepped forward hesitantly. "I'm, uh, that is, I'd be happy to help with any costuming needs you might have." The half-clad Contessan smiled, leaning towards Murray's outstretched hands just as Nick pulled Murray towards the transport's open door.
"Randy!" Mama Jo stepped in front of the disappointed girl, arms crossed. "Gauntlets go on your arms, as you well know. Now get your butt down to the engine room, pronto!" The Contessa's captain fixed her errant crew member with a steely gaze. As Randy ran from the room in tears, Mama Jo shook her head. "That one's got the common sense the Goddess gave a wikken," she muttered, strapping on her favorite twin laser pistols.
Nick and Murray had come aboard the Contessa at her insistence. Her exact words had been: "I'm not having some half-assed space bum firing off like a loose cannon because his boyfriend's got his dick caught in a Unity rat-trap," which had caused the comm to be turned off for a moment for Nick to throw things before responding. Now they were here, there was only one thing left to do: put out a Stargoblin-shaped welcome mat.
Mama Jo had issued forth the Contessa's offer of solace, friendship and highly skilled female companionship with a special rate for Unity officers. It had been eagerly accepted, and now it was time to go charging in, lasers blasting. The Stargoblin was about to experience companionship like never before. Followed, of course, by a thorough debriefing, and the amnesia gas that kept their cover as a harmless if enjoyable floating bordello intact.
Nick and Murray huddled together in the middle of the transporter pad, surrounded by thirty glamorous members of the Contessa crew, all with more weapons than clothing... and Mama Jo. They were waiting for the Stargoblin to lower her shields and send over a boarding code, at which point the Contessa would zap everyone across and, at Mama Jo's signal, unleash Prell. Nick could tell that the scent of the Contessa's regulation shampoo was making the Riptide's navigation officer giddy with anticipation. And giddy was not the mood he preferred from his backup, not to mention the almighty asskicking Mama Jo was about to deliver, judging from the look in her eyes. Nick gave Murray a warning nudge and he yelped.
"What? I'm fine, really, I'm...totally boss, just totally..." He tugged at the collar of his protective gear. "Is it getting hot in here, or is it just---"
The light in the transport chamber turned a sickly green, and Nick closed his eyes. He loved this part.
There was the sensation of falling, like drowning while being electrocuted, but pleasant, and as Nick sucked the air back into his lungs, the Stargoblin's deck materialized under his feet, his hand on his holster. Mama Jo slipped around the corner of an unknown corridor, and Nick heard the telltale zap of lasers and a masculine cry cut short with a gurgle. Around him, the Contessa crew dispersed with a high-pitched, giggling warcry.
Nick scowled and as a Unity officer lunged for him, he flipped the guy over, snapping his head back, pistol at his throat. "The Resistance prisoner? Where is he?"
"Prisoner?"
Nick slammed the butt of his pistol into the officer's temple, pulling his hair for extra measure. The guard struggled with a snarl, and bit at Nick's hand. Nick shot him, stepping over the body as it fell. Another officer appeared in his view, throwing a punch. Nick dodged and subdued the second officer against a background of laser fire and the grunts of dirty fighting. As Nick watched, a green-eyed brunette raked her nails down her attacker's face and kicked him in the throat as he went down. Nick looked at his captive. "Resistance Prisoner?"
The man struggled, snarling. "Die, pirate scum!"
Nick head-butted him, eliciting a roar of pain. The young officer struggled in Nick's grasp, and Nick, taking a cue from a nearby Contessan, kneed him in the groin. The guy collapsed in his arms, groaning. "Hold. Three left turns and through the door marked 'No Admittance'."
Nick nodded and, tossing the guy at the green-eyed, face-raking brunette--for better or worse--strode down the corridor. While the battle raged on around him--the screams of the dying and wounded echoing off the blue matte walls he remembered from his enlisted days--Nick's only thought was of Cody. He couldn't--wouldn't--imagine what he'd been through at the hands of the Unity. Nick ran down the staircase the officer had described. He looked around wildly, then his heart caught in his throat.
In the deep, cold cargo hold, Cody hung limp between two sets of chains, his silver suit in tatters around his waist.
As Nick reached him, he pulled a sonic lockpick from his belt to release Cody's shackles. He grabbed Cody around the chest, taking his weight on. Cody's eyelids fluttered but he stayed silent. Nick babbled with relief at the faint movement. "Come on baby, let's get out of here," he murmured. Cody's freed wrists dropped against Nick's hips with meatlike thuds.
"Come on, Cody, come on, talk to me." Nick laid his friend down against the riveted metal floor. Kneeling over him, Nick gently slapped at both cheeks. As the sounds of battle raged overhead, shaking the walls around them, he leaned closer, listening to Cody's uneven breathing. Too soft, too shallow.
Nick ran experienced hands over his partner's body, the skin laid bare where the silver suit had betrayed him, skin golden in the dim yellow light. His breath caught and he winced before his hands reached the stunners' telltale marks, distinctive horseshoes of pain and destruction. The tissue around each mark was mottled green, necrotic. Nick knew, without immediate medical treatment, the necrosis would spread; stunners ate away at the crucial nerves powering every muscle, leaving death in their path and death as their destination. "No, baby, no," Nick sobbed. He sat up straight. Contessa had a medpod.
Nick was up and moving before the thought flared into life across his brain. Slinging Cody over his shoulders, he turned for the stairs.
"Not so fast, flyboy."
Nick took a deep breath. "Lieutenant Quinlan."
The Lieutenant stepped out of the shadows, pug nose and squinting, accusing eyes focused on Nick and Cody. He was shorter than Nick remembered. "Didn't think you'd make it out of here with your half-naked deserter friend, did you Ryder? Because you and I, we have unfinished business."
"Come on, Quinlan, be human for once. If Cody doesn't get medical treatment, right now, he'll die. Your stunners saw to that."
"Cry me a lullaby, Ryder. A pretty one about how the neuros are made from defenceless women and babies? Your friend here tried to sing that one, only he hit a few sour notes with me. Those neuros are made in supervised Unity facilities, under supervised Unity conditions. And you two highwaymen aren't going to take them anywhere."
Nick shifted under Cody's weight, wishing his friend would stir, speak, anything that would let Nick know he had time for this conversation. "Don't talk to me about Unity facilities, Quinlan. You and I both know those Unity 'facilities' are nothing more than prison camps--innocent people, living in torment so that some rich Haath'k--"
"Or Caldarian..." Quinlan sneered.
They stared at each other. Nick's eyes glittered dangerously. "Can get their rocks off on the blood of chil--"
"Enough."
Quinlan and Nick both turned at the sound of Mama Jo's voice. She stalked down the wide, functional stairway, every step echoing like old-fashioned bullets.
She stood between the two of them, eyes locked on Quinlan's. "Let them go, Ted. My girls and I have checked this vessel, stem to stern. There are no neuros on the Stargoblin. Not a blasted one. That signal you sent up, the molecular signature of the blasted things? A damned clever trap, I'll give you credit for that one. But give me one good reason I shouldn't put my foot so far up your ass that I can wear you like a moonboot." Mama Jo moved close, standing eye to eye with Quinlan.
He smirked. "Maybe because that would be assault on a Unity officer, including the fact that after my boys arrest you--and have no doubt--" He leaned offensively close to Mama Jo. "--they will, the other charges will include treason, conspiracy to hijack Unity cargo, boarding a Unity vessel under false pretenses, conspiracy to commit prostitution without a license...and looking damned foxy." Quinlan gave Mama Jo a long, lascivious look, head to toe. "Joanne, it's been too long." He took a step towards her.
Mama Jo stood her ground. "Not long enough. Goodbye, Ted." She beckoned to him, unzipping her catsuit an inch at the cleavage. Quinlan swaggered towards her and Nick sensed, rather than saw, the pulse of ions. Quinlan looked puzzled for a second, then slumped to his knees before collapsing facefirst on the deck.
Nick stared at Mama Jo. "So that's how the amnesiac foam works. You know, I'd--"
"Save it, Ryder. Let's get you and Blondie back to the Contessa."
Nick shook his head and shifted Cody on his shoulder. "After you, ma'am."
She gave him a look, and he sighed, then took the lead.
---
The fight back to the transporter was not pretty.
Several Contessans had to be forcibly separated from their prey, post-interrogation, and a few Unity officers had underestimated the killing prowess concealed by big hair and tight halter tops. It took the Contessans awhile to put the Stargoblin to rights: cleaning up the blood, jettisoning the bodies, altering records, creating cover stories. The remaining Unity officers were questioned, foamed and taken to their quarters, amid much disappointed whining.
"Save it, ladies. Another seven years in space will ease this melancholy."
A louder chorus of complaints greeted this pronouncement, and several of the girls found witty rejoinders on their tongues. Rejoinders that withered and died under Mama Jo's biting glare.
Nick wavered on the transporter pad under Cody's weight, eyes focused on the stunner mark on Cody's chest. The grey slowly expanded as he watched, and Nick's blood chilled in his veins. He tightened his grip and shot a warning glance at a curvaceous blonde whose pink-taloned finger was drifting towards the small muscles in Cody's back. As Nick locked glances with her, she pursed her lips, reaching a hand towards Cody's tousled blond hair.
"Ryder." Mama Jo made Nick's name sound like a curse. "The next time you two cowboys get your asses in a sling, don't come looking to me for help. Not when cleaning up your mess puts my girls in jeopardy. Am I clear?"
Before Nick had a chance to object, the light turned green and he drowned under Cody's weight.
Back aboard the Contessa, Nick raced towards the medical unit, frantic, breaking into as close to a run as he dared with Cody riding on his shoulder. When he'd stood on the transport pad, he'd listened to Cody's breathing turn ragged, labored. Nick turned a sharp corner, long heavy steps across the plush gold carpet, ignoring the matte grey walls hung with exquisite artworks. None of it was worth Cody's life.
Suddenly, Mama Jo blocked his path, cutting off his access to the pod, to Cody's only chance. Hands on her hips, she demanded, "And how are you planning on paying for his treatment? I don't run a charity here."
Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Be fair, Mama Jo. Without access to the pod..." He couldn't bear to finish the statement, letting his pleading eyes speak for him.
Cody shifted on Nick's shoulder, muscles spasming, gut clenching. A gout of blood hit the floor as he retched. Nick stood still, panting from the exertion of carrying him. His eyes never left Mama Jo's face.
She stepped aside with a sigh. "Okay. It looks like the two of you are going to need a line of credit."
Bowing his head with relief, Nick pushed past her, through the permeable membrane of the medical unit, hustling over to the medpod.
To salvation. To safety.
"Baby, stay with me," Nick muttered. He laid Cody gently in the open maw of the pod, watching as the scanners lit up, displays whirring to life, soft blue light roaming over Cody's battered body, honing in on Cody's chest, his thigh, the places the stunners had begun their devastation.
As the medpod sealed shut, Nick crouched next to it, eyes unfocused, waiting for it to save his partner's life.
---
For the fourth time in as many hours, Nick stood in the Barefoot Contessa's transport chamber, this time accompanied by both his partners. Murray stood beside him, and hovering on his other side was the stretcher carrying Cody, still only semi-conscious after his session in the medpod. The gentle buzz from the stretcher's anti-grav was strangely soothing.
As green light suffused the chamber, Nick tightened his grip on Cody's hand. The familiar rushing drop had never felt so good. He opened his eyes slowly and took in the familiar bridge of the Riptide, and Roboz hovering in welcome in front of the transport pad. Home.
Murray gripped Nick's shoulder briefly and stepped off the pad. "It's good to be home," he said quietly, moving over to the navigation console.
"It sure is," Nick agreed. "You don't need me up here, do you, Boz?"
"No, Nick, not at all." Murray turned and flashed him a smile. "I'll get the damage reports completed, but tomorrow's soon enough to start on repairs. And by then Cody'll be able to help you with them."
"Thanks." Nick smiled back at Murray, and took a deep breath. The young navigation officer was right. The medpod had done its work and Cody was out of danger, the stunner damage repaired. The stretcher floated obediently next to him as he stepped off the pad and headed for the stairs, Cody's hand still clasped in his. Nick felt weak with relief. All Cody had to do now was to sleep off the effects of the forced regeneration.
In their stateroom, Nick freed Cody from the remnants of the silver suit, lifted him from the stretcher and laid him on the bunk. He deactivated the stretcher's hover and moved to store it in the closet.
"Nick," Cody muttered fretfully, reaching out without opening his eyes, and Nick turned back anxiously.
"I'm here, baby," he reassured him, quickly pushing the stretcher into the cupboard. He was back at his friend's side before the closet door had hissed back into place.
"Don't go 'way," Cody whispered as Nick's hand closed over his again. "Nick..."
Nick perched on the edge of the bunk and smoothed the thick blond hair back from his partner's forehead. "I'm not going anywhere, Cody," he said softly. "I'm right here. You're safe now, man. Just sleep, okay?"
"Okay." Cody sighed and his hand closed on Nick's forearm. "Nick..."
"I got you, Cody." Nick lay down beside him and pulled him into his arms. "I got you. You're safe, baby." Cody nestled closer, burying his head against Nick's neck, breathing slowing as he relaxed. Rubbing his back, Nick said the words again, the same familiar mantra that banished Cody's nightmares. "I got you, Cody. You're safe here."
He kept rubbing Cody's back as sleep claimed him, feeling his partner slipping deeper and deeper into the healing rest he needed so badly. Nick lay still, not sleeping, feeling the small twitches in Cody's muscles as his body caught up with the aggressive regeneration process. Each tremor was like a gift--Nick choked, thinking about how close it had come. 'Too damned close.' They'd been lucky so far, in this Resistance cloak and dagger gig. Thank the Goddess that their luck had held this time. Perhaps I mean thank Mama Jo, Nick thought ruefully. We owe her big-time for this. And knowing her, she'll make us pay up with interest.
Nick sighed and stroked the back of Cody's neck. Paying Mama Jo back was a problem for another day. Cody was safe, and all three of them had made it through another mission. That was what counted. Warmth flooded through him and he closed his eyes, remembering the day Cody had persuaded him to turn pirate. The touch of Cody's hand on his arm that day, the enthusiastic sparkle in his blue eyes... "I love you, pal," Nick whispered, very low, and he let himself drift on the safe, sweet sound of Cody's deep and even breathing.
---
"Freighter dead ahead!" Murray sang out, and Nick winced. He supposed he'd eventually stop associating Murray's inevitable exclamation with the Stargoblin fiasco, but right now... Nick shivered and turned to look at Cody, standing at the helm.
Cody ran a hand through his blond hair and shot a look at Nick. "What's her molecular signature say?"
"Currency." Murray looked over his shoulder at Nick and Cody, lips pursed in awe. "Caldarian Sungadins, by the looks of it. And - according to the scans, we're not talking loose change here, guys. Looks like this is the big time."
Nick blinked. Caldara - his planet of origin. A planet devastated by the Furvian Wars twenty years ago, the original settlers killed or left in poverty - it had been little more than a dustbowl last time Nick had seen it. Since then, it had been resettled, he'd heard. In fact, gossip had it that the Unity had set up resorts there, spas for the rich elite to indulge their every whim. And now, a ship loaded with the currency was here, in the outer reaches of Rodin-9, where no ship headed to or from Caldara was likely to be. "Murray--that doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? Out here?"
Cody left the ship's instrument panel and came to stand beside Nick's seat. He dropped a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Buddy, you're right, it doesn't." He sighed. "Still, we could use the cash. With everything we owe Mama Jo--"
As if on cue, a series of beeps sounded and the Roboz hovered into view from the direction of the stairs. The orange robot's screen flashed "INCOMING MSG: MAMA JO."
"How the hell does she do that?" Cody muttered. He waved at Murray, and the image of the Resistance leader filled the main viewscreen.
"Top of the morning, fellas." For once, a feisty grin adorned Mama Jo's face, and the crew of the Riptide looked at each other warily.
"Well, hi, Mama Jo," Cody said cautiously.
"Cody! You're looking a hell of a lot better than you were last time I saw you!" Mama Jo exclaimed jovially. "Must be a damned good medpod we've got, if I do say so myself. You didn't look worth a skinned wikken last time I saw you."
Nick bit hard on the inside of his cheek. He wasn't ready to hear anyone joke about the close call on the Stargoblin, but Mama Jo wouldn't be deterred by anything he said.
"What the hell's a wikken?" Cody muttered under his breath.
"A wikken, Cody?" Murray spun his seat to face Nick and Cody. "It's a small, herbivorous creature, native to equatorial Griffen-742. In fact, I used to--" He stopped speaking in response to Cody's raised hand.
"Well, thanks Mama Jo," Cody said, turning back to the main screen. "What can we do for you?"
"You boys open for business? You got that heap of space-junk you call a gunship flying again, Ryder?"
Nick stiffened at the insult to his beloved craft. "Mimi's as ready as the day she was launched," he replied stiffly.
Mama Jo snorted and turned back to Cody. "That's what I was afraid of. Cody, that currency barge you've got a bead on. Her cargo'll pay the debt you boys owe me very nicely, don't you think?"
"Uh--well, sure, Mama Jo." Cody shot a look at Nick, then at Murray.
"Glad you agree." A satisfied smirk crinkled the Resistance leader's eyes. "The info you'll want's coming to you now. I'll expect to collect - let's say, Tuesday. Out!" The viewscreen went blank.
"Everything we do, she knows," Nick said resignedly. "She's probably watching right now."
"She can't be, Nick," Murray said doubtfully. "Roboz's got the Riptide sewn up tight. I'd spot any kind of tracer in minutes--"
"Let's not worry about that now," Cody interrupted firmly. "Murray, can you access this data Mama Jo's sending? And let Nick have the weapons specs?"
"Aye aye, Captain!" Murray grinned and swung back to his keyboard. "Wow, this looks like easy pickings!"
Nick sighed and stood up, pushing his shoulder against Cody's. "I sure hope it's easier pickings than the last one, man."
"Yeah, Nick, so do I." Cody slung his arm over his partner's shoulders and pulled him close. "So do I."
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Hugs,
Myristica
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Squee! I'm so glad you're enjoying this AU. I totally love writing in it, and there will DEFINITELY be more stories from it. Definitely.
Thanks so much for your comment! *bounce*